A/N: Howdy folks! How's it going? I've got myself another little story here for you. It's gonna be a multichaptered, but like the one I've just completed - it's completely written in it's entirety. I was actually debating posting it all in one go, but the way I wrote it gives natural breaks in the flow so I figure it might be better as a chaptered story. Hope you guys don't mind this.
I actually tried to post this last night but wasn;t playing. Hopefully it's all fixed and working now!
I wanted to write something like this for a while and I actually wrote it one sitting. all 10,000+ words. What a shame I couldn't do my degree on DL because my thesis paper would have been quite the wonderful experience. hahah! Although, saying this... I feel DL may not have helped my career as a teacher much... anyway, I digress.
Okay, I've got a little bit of a disclaimer/self-defence thing now. hahah I feel like self-defence sounds kind of like whoaaa, what's wrong... but just, bear with me for a minute. hahaha; as you surely know based on the amount of free time I have I'm not a mommy yet, therefore never had a baby... As a result I've decided to gloss over elements of childbirth etc in the story the best I can. I am however a kindergarten/reception teacher so you guys will have to deal with my inner teacher coming out through the characters when they're talking to Lucy. I only realised what I'd done once I read it back. But hey, what you gonna do? hahaha.
I realise this will A/N essentially gives away the actual happenings of the story, but let's face it, you were going to find out eventually.
p.s. hope you guys like this!
Killing the engine and taking the key from the ignition, Lindsay laid her head against the head rest, seeking solace in the fact that she was home after a long, tiring day. Her days were usually long and draining, but hauling around a Messer baby – and a Messer baby boy at that – made the tasking days that bit more difficult.
"Mommy… are we gettin' out?"
"Give Mommy a second, sweetheart," Lindsay said, glancing up in her rear-view mirror. Lucy was sat, perched on the edge of her booster seat with eager eyes.
"Are you ok, Mommy?"
"I'm just tired, honey." Lindsay said, laying a hand on her stomach. "Baby has really taken it out of me today."
"You should tell him to quit." Lucy concluded. "Or make Daddy look after him for a little while."
"Maybe." Lindsay said absentmindedly as she unfastened her seatbelt and reached for the casefiles and her purse that she'd piled in the passenger seat. She opened the car and heaved herself out of it. It was times like this that she cursed her tiny frame. She'd been the same when she'd been pregnant with Lucy. She was fine and then boom, she wasn't anymore. Sure, she and Danny created beautiful, flawless babies… but boy did she pay for it while they were growing inside of her.
She was two weeks away from her due date now and if she was completely honest, she wasn't entirely sure she'd make it to her due date. She wasn't even sure she'd last another day at this rate. She'd been a few days late with Lucy, but she suspected things would be different with this little guy.
She rounded the car with heavy footsteps as her heavy eyes blinked shut as she made her way to her daughter's side of the car. She opened the door and placed the casefiles on the roof as she carefully and cautiously bent as best she could to retrieve Lucy from her seat. Lucy stretched her arms out towards her mother and Lindsay frowned almost instantly.
"I don't think we can do that today, honey." Lindsay said softly.
"But… why?" The hurt look on Lucy's face broke Lindsay's heart in record time.
"Because Mommy is hurting and baby is making it hard for Mommy to move today."
"But… you always carry me into the house from the car." Lucy pointed out. "Always Mommy."
Lindsay closed her eyes as she fought the frustration rising within her. Her baby was six. She didn't know that she was heavily pregnant and about to pop with what could only be described as a toddler. She should have known pro-creating with Danny Messer was only going to end in pain.
Lindsay silently held her arms out and the tears that threatened in Lucy's eyes instantly disappeared. Lindsay somehow managed to balance Lucy on her hip as she shut the car door with her free hand before locking it and grabbing her case files from the roof.
"We can't do this for much longer, okay?" Lindsay said through gritted teeth as she made her way up the drive. She knew in her heart of hearts she shouldn't be lifting Lucy, but she couldn't bring herself to say no to the little girl. So much had already changed and her baby brother wasn't even here yet. Lindsay wanted to remind herself regularly that while she was adjusting to the idea of welcoming a son into her's and Danny's life, she also had a little girl to think of. A little girl that was used to having Mommy and Daddy all to herself for six long years.
Lindsay placed Lucy down on the ground on the porch as she dug in her purse for her keys. She slipped them into the lock, wondering why on earth she'd shoved them back into her purse after locking the car door when she knew she'd be opening the front door soon anyway.
"We're home!" Lindsay called into their home. After debates and discussions ranging through the last few years of whether they should or shouldn't buy themselves a house, Lindsay falling pregnant had sealed the deal. There was no way they could have functioned in a two bed apartment with two children. They needed a home. A base for where they could grow as a family. Where their children could grow.
And as Lindsay watched Lucy settle into her surroundings, she realised this is exactly what she'd always wanted; a home with her family.
"Hey girls! I'm upstairs, Linds!"
Seeing that Lucy was happy enough reuniting with her toys she'd clearly missed over the course of the day, Lindsay padded up the stairs to the sound of where Danny was clearly hammering something.
She followed the sounds and she realised they were coming from her son's room. She poked her head in and instantly placed her hand against her chest as emotions threatened to overwhelm her.
They'd bought the furniture months ago – when they'd first moved in. But just like they had with Lucy, they hadn't dared to assemble everything just in case. Neither had expressed their fears out loud, but Lindsay knew that the last thing either of them could deal with would be disassembling an unused crib and changing table.
But as she laid her hand on her heavily pregnant stomach, she had a feeling that Danny had suppressed his nightmarish fears and had spent his day off work assembling their son's nursery.
"What do you think?" he said, turning in his jeans and wifebeater. "Is it what you wanted?"
"And more," she whimpered as she absorbed everything he'd done.
The dark-wood crib was resting against the wall, the matching changing table was in the corner and the closet was filled with his clothes on tiny little hangers. Stuffed animals filled empty spaces and in the corner, Lucy's old rocking chair was stood proudly, waiting for the first evening where they rocked their son to sleep.
"Danny, it's perfect." Lindsay whispered. "It's everything I wanted it to be. Thank you."
"Anything for you, Linds." He said, crossing the room and dropping a kiss to her temple.
"Ew, you're all sweaty!" she implored, feeling his sweaty skin stick to her bare skin.
"You're not usually complainin'."
"Yeah but usually, I'm sweaty too… wait, that's what got me into this mess… so you sweaty can't be a good thing."
"Hmm, I think you don't mean that."
"I probably don't." she smirked at him as she stood on her tiptoes and pressed a kiss to his lips. "Go shower. I'll get dinner going."
"Okay." He said, pressing a kiss to her forehead before admiring his work for a prolonged moment. He then made motions to leave the room, leaving her behind. He disappeared for a moment, before she felt his presence behind her again.
"What?" she asked, not even turning around to see him. She absorbed the image of the nursery before her casting her eyes over her shoulder.
"I'm gonna say this once more… If I see you carryin' her into the house again, I'll kill you Montana. Will you stop with that?"
Lindsay rolled her eyes. She was surprised his chastisement hadn't come sooner… like as soon as they'd stepped through the door like it usually did.
"Okay, I promise." She said, just like she always did.
"Uh huh," he muttered, "Sure."
She laid her hand on her stomach and sighed as she made her way into the newly transformed nursery. She sat herself down in the rocking chair and began rocking herself softly to and fro. Everything was in place and they were now just waiting for their new little arrival.
And judging by the twinges in her back and the feeling in the pit of her stomach, they weren't going to be waiting for much longer.
She yawned heavily as she reached for the file she'd been mulling over in the break room. She'd felt a little stiff sat at her desk and had decided on a scene change about fifteen minutes ago… but something didn't feel right. She didn't feel right. Reaching for her drink, she stopped mid air and took a deep breath as she laid her hand against her back; bracing herself as the wave of pain flittered through her. She gripped the tabletop in front of her as she gritted her teeth together.
She knew this was going to happen. Of course. Why wouldn't it? She couldn't be at home with her bag packed, ready for the ride to the hospital. She took a deep breath as she hauled herself off the stool she'd somehow managed to climb on earlier.
She grit her teeth together as she fought through her butterfly nerves as she padded through the hallways, in search of her dear husband – the only reason she was currently in this mess!
She stood in the middle of the hallway, thanking the powers that be for the glass walls. When she wanted some privacy to cry silent tears, or spend a quiet moment with Danny, she cursed them… but right now – she couldn't be more thankful for them.
Spying Danny hunched over a computer screen in the AV lab, Lindsay set off for him as she placed her hand firmly against her stomach, trying to ease off any pain before she reached him. In her head she was counting the time between the contractions. She'd experienced one about ten minutes ago, but then she'd just thought it was something she'd eaten repeating on her… apparently not.
She gripped on the edge of the door as she felt the next contraction hit her in its force. Six minutes apart, but they were getting quicker, she noted. She must have been panting and breathing heavily because it got Danny's attention. He turned in his seat and eyed her worriedly, watching her carefully.
"Is everything alright, Linds," He asked with wide eyes.
Lindsay shook her head silently as she fought through the last few seconds of her contraction. "no, no things aren't alright."
"What's the matter?" he stood and almost flipped the chair over with his force as he stood. He made his way over to her and placed his hand over her bump, running his hand over the tight skin, searching for some answers as if her stomach was a crystal ball.
"Danny, my water broke." She whispered, her eyes glassy, looking up at him with fear and excitement in her eyes. "I think I'm in labour."
"But… you're not due for another two weeks!" he implored.
"Oh that's right." She blinked. "Sorry, I'll just let him know that, shall I?"
"Right, right. Yeah, sorry." Danny blinked. "Um…. Ok… let's uh… let's… what do we do?"
Lindsay stared at him for a minute and shook her head. "You know what, you wait here. Let me go and find Adam. He was better at this than you clearly are."
"No. no. we don't need him." Danny said, grabbing her hand. "I'll uh… you wait… fuck, Linds, tell me what to do."
Lindsay sighed heavily, feeling the words she said to Adam six years ago being repeated. "Go get the car and meet me in the garage in five minutes. I'll go tell Mac we've got to go."
"Okay."
"Log off your station." She told him as he motioned to leave the AV lab. "Or at least get someone to finish it off."
"Yeah, yeah." Danny turned and Adam had already picked the chair Danny had thrown on the floor and was finishing off Danny's series of searches already.
"I got it, buddy. You go have yourself a kid."
"Thanks Adam," Danny said, clasping his hand onto Adam's back. He then turned and pressed a kiss to Lindsay's forehead. "I'll see you in a few minutes. Take it easy. I'll be waiting for you in the garage, okay?"
Lindsay nodded as she felt his hands cup her cheeks. She swallowed heavily and blinked up at him. "I'm scared."
"Me too." Danny whispered, "But we'll be okay. We're good at this. We can do this."
Lindsay licked her lips and nodded in agreement. "Okay, I…. I… contraction!"
Danny gripped her hand tightly as his other hand went to support her back. He rubbed her lower back in soothing circles, whispering words that Lindsay couldn't quite catch into her temple. Just being in his presence made her feel a little bit better. The wave finished a little quicker than the others before had done and she wondered if that was a good or bad thing.
"We've gotta go." She told him before her thoughts could consume her. "But Danny, I changed my mind; I don't want you to leave me."
"I won't, I promise. I won't leave you." He paused and she could see Danny visibly thinking of his plan of action. "Alright, let's go to the office, grab your bag, tell Mac, ask him to get Lucy and then we'll go."
"Okay." Lindsay swallowed. She began walking towards their office and she felt him take her hand and squeeze it tight. She closed her eyes as she took a series of deep breaths. It wasn't how she'd imagined – but she couldn't have hoped for anything better either.
And now it was time to have her baby.
Messer baby number 2! or at least the beginnings of! I hope you guys don't mind but I needed to fill in the blanks for myself... so figured I would share to. let me know what you think! I hope there's some of you still out there. even if you're lurking in the shadows! come and say hi! :)