"Natalia," I whispered, "don't get up. Horatio made me promise that you'd come in at noon."

"Okay," she mumbled, rolling over and succumbing to sleep once again. I left for work and arrived to a full days worth of cases, losing track of time as I usually did.

"Ryan, you're needed out in the field," an anonymous voice called from down the hallway. I sighed and grabbed my kit, heading out to downtown Miami with Calleigh. It was nothing new, drug addicts, murder, things we were used to. As we walked, we discussed Natalia, Eric, and the kids. Working at a crime lab was a tough subject to broach with children, especially when they were as young as Jayden and Landon. I hadn't thought far enough ahead about how to tell my daughter about my job. I guess I was going to have to discuss it with Natalia.

When we returned to the lab, it was around 11:45. I was expecting Natalia soon, although I wouldn't put it past her to be late. As we entered through the doors, Calleigh and I ran into Eric on his way out.

"Going out to grab you lunch," he nodded towards Calleigh, answering the unasked question.

"See you soon," she replied. We parted ways; her towards ballistics and me towards the evidence lockers. As I immersed myself in analyzing the evidence, I heard my phone ring.

"Wolfe."

"Ryan, it's Eric. Get down here now!"

"What? Why?"

"Get your ass down here right now!" Eric shouted into the phone. I was half jogging down to the front of the building, but I didn't' know where I was running to.

"What's going on?"

"It' Natalia!" he yelled, and hung up. I started sprinting towards the stairs, taking them two, sometimes three at a time. I burst through the front doors of the lab, looking left and right for my wife. I briefly caught the sight of Eric's lab coat and ran towards it. I stopped to take in the sight. He had his arm around Natalia, bruised, battered, and bleeding. She came towards me as soon as she saw me, and I could feel her sobbing heavily in my arms. I couldn't speak; all I could do was glance up at Eric with a shocked expression on my face.

"It's Nick," he explained, and then I saw Natalia's ex-husband, face down on the ground.

"What the hell?" I asked, gently rubbing my hand down my wife's back. She winced as I touched, her, and I quickly pulled my hand away.

"There's an ambulance on its way. Hang in there, Nat," Eric commented, hanging up his phone.

"Natalia," I started, gingerly pulling her away from my chest. "Tell me what happened." All she could do was cry and fall right back into my arms.

"Shh, alright alright. What hurts? I need to know."

"Everything," she whispered, barely audible. I gasped, and realized the severity of the situation.

"Where's that ambulance? We need it right now!" I yelled, holding onto Natalia.

"That bitch will be fine," a voice muttered from the ground.

"What did you say? Get up," I commanded, yanking Nick to his feet.

"I said she'll be fine."

"And why is that?"

"She's been hurt before, never stopped her."

"You asshole. You just think you know everything, don't you?"

"Get out of here."

"Well let me tell you something you don't know. She's pregnant!" I screamed, towering over Nick. I leaned in closer to his face, about ready to throw a punch. "And I swear to God if anything happened to that baby—"

"Are you about to threaten me?" he provoked. "Because I wouldn't suggest it. The results of my anger seem very clear," Nick circled around Natalia.

"Get away from her," I demanded through gritted teeth.

"You know what makes me mad, don't you sweetie?" He gently touched his finger to her cheek. I started towards him, but he put his hand out. The look on Natalia's face stopped me straight in my tracks. I was unable to move. There only one emotion showing through in her eyes…defenseless.

"Yes, you do know. And you really proved it to me this time." With that, Nick took his hand and slapped Natalia clear across her face, hard enough to make a sound. Almost instantly, I grabbed his wrist and punched him straight on, sending him reeling backwards.

"Ryan, RYAN!" Eric yelled, suddenly appearing out of nowhere and pulling me away. Quickly Eric secured Nick in handcuffs, making sure he was far away from both me and Natalia.

"Natalia," I ran over to her, embracing her in my arms. I couldn't have taken her in soon enough. As soon as I closed my arms around her she fell, weaker than I had ever seen her.

"Baby, the ambulance is here. You're going to be okay." I scooped her up in my arms and let her cry, almost in tears myself as the paramedics took her away. I tried to go in the ambulance with her, I tried to fight everybody. But I knew protocol, I knew what officer down meant. And I knew there was no way I was going to be in that ambulance.

"Get in, we're going to the hospital," Calleigh pushed me into her Hummer. I said nothing, but for once her maniac driving went to use.

"Wolfe, Natalia," she demanded, flashing her badge. The nurse instantly pointed us in the right direction, knowing the situation.

"Go Ryan. Find out what's going on, we'll all be waiting." I looked back at her and nodded as I searched for the right room number. I opened the door to room 339 to see Natalia, asleep in a hospital gown. I had to stop to take in what I saw. It wasn't what I thought, a bruised and injured victim. Instead, it was a peaceful woman, sleeping softly with the beams of sunlight shining through the window.

"Nat," I whispered, crouching down eye level. She didn't reply at first, but after a couple seconds her eyes slowly opened.

"Ryan." She smiled, and outstretched her hand. I took it and entwined my fingers with hers.

"I'm so glad you're okay," I expressed, letting out a deep sigh of relief and burying my face in her hair.

"I'm okay now. Everything's alright."

I kissed her, releasing all of the emotions that were pent up inside of me. "Thank God," I muttered, and kissed her again.

"Lay with me." Natalia moved over to the side of the bed.

"I will, I have to go talk to the doctor first. I'll be quick, I promise." I gently pressed my lips to her hand and walked out, in search of a doctor.

"Mr. Wolfe," somebody called from behind me.

"Yes?"

"In regards to Natalia, she's—"

"The baby, tell me about the baby," I begged, praying for good news.

"Healthy. Natalia and the baby are perfect. Lucky, but still healthy."

"Oh thank God, this is a miracle."

"It is. I need you to talk Natalia through this, help her emotionally heal. It's going to take time, and lots of it."

"I know, we've worked through things before. Thank you so much." He may not have been finished, but I was. Natalia was waiting.

"How's the baby?" she asked the second I opened the door, her face white.

"Fine. You're both okay." Natalia broke down as the words left my lips, crying tears of happiness, but more of relief.

" I know baby, I know." I climbed into the bed next to her and wrapped my arms around her, letting her cry into my shoulder. After many long minutes her tears subsided, and we laid there in silence.

"Ryan, I know we need to talk about this. But not today, please not today," she begged, with an edge in her voice.

"Of course not."

"I love you so much." She pressed her lips to my cheek.

"I love you, too." Gently I kissed her, being as careful as I could not to hurt her.

"Where's everybody else?"

"Outside, waiting."

"Go get them. I want to see them."

"Are you sure you're up for it?"

"Yeah, just go." I returned with Calleigh, Eric, and Horatio. Natalia's face lit up when she saw them, and Calleigh immediately embraced her.

"How you holding up?" she asked, comfortingly rubbing her shoulder.

"Better than expected."

"You're strong, Natalia. You'll get through it," Eric contributed.

"I think you know what this means," Horatio started. "I want you and Ryan off work for a week. No complaints, no arguments. Understood?" We nodded. "Then it's settled." Just then, a familiar face burst through the door.

"Baby, what are you doing? I thought we agreed to keep you out of here?" Alexx exclaimed, running over to Natalia.

"Well, this wasn't really part of the plan," my wife laughed.

"I'm so glad you're alright…Horatio, you need to keep your team together," Alexx said, creating laughter in the room. "And as for you," she pointed to me. "You need to take care of her better than you ever have before, understand me?"

"Yes ma'am."

"Good, that's my Ryan." She winked at me. "Now everybody out, she needs to rest." Alexx shooed everyone out of the room before leaving herself. Soon it was just back to me and my wife.

" Did you hear that? You have to take care of me all week long," Natalia smiled, and I slipped back into the bed next to her.

"As if I don't already." She took a deep breath and closed her eyes, thinking in silence.

"We need a vacation."

"I know we do."

"Before the baby comes."

"Before the baby," I repeated, unable to mask the smile on my face.

"What are you smiling at?" Natalia asked, catching me.

"I was thinking about the baby. That beautiful little baby we have." I placed my hand on top of the sheet covering her stomach.

"I was thinking long and hard about this baby the other night."

"And?"

"I don't know, something clicked. I realized…I don't know, I guess I just discovered how important she is to us. It's like all of a sudden there's something so big in our lives that we didn't even realize it."

"I love you two so much, there's no way to describe it."

" And I love you back. But that's not my point. We're going to be parents, Ryan. Do you realize how big of a step that is?"

"I want to say yes, but realistically I probably don't. We'll figure it out soon enough. We're going to have to."

"Eric, he's around back. GET DOWN, GET DOWN!" I yelled, throwing my bodyweight on top of the sprinting suspect. It was the first time somebody had ever escaped from under me. There was nothing else to do but chase after him. Again, Eric and I bolted, only stopping after we had him safely secured in handcuffs.

"You okay, Wolfe?" Eric asked, smiling as he patted my shoulder.

"That's the worst chase I've ever been on," I replied. We watched with smirks on our faces as the stoned suspect was shoved into a patrol car.

"He really got you good, huh?"

"Yeah. Really good," I said with sarcasm.

"Don't worry. I'll never question your strength again, especially after what you did to Nick."

"Well, that was out of rage."

"It's alright, I'm impressed," Eric smiled. "Speaking of that, is Natalia holding up okay?"

"She's better. Honestly, I think we're both more relieved that he's in jail for a while. It's a lot of stress, with the baby and all, and it's just better this way."

"Tell me about it," he said as we walked into the lab.

"Ready to interrogate this guy?" I changed the subject.

"Ahh, here we go."

"Mr. Rodriguez, what are you hiding?"

"I ain't hiding nothing."

"Really? Then why'd you run?"

"Got scared."

"Why?"

"Thought you were gonna come after me again."

"Again?"

"Some of your police guys came after me last year, and they had the wrong guy. Didn't want it to happen again."

I sighed and tried a different approach. "Do you know this man?"

"Yeah, that's my brother." We suddenly had his attention.

"Do you know where he is?"

"He used to live in the Bahamas. Why? What's going on?"

"He's involved in a major drug war, possibly in a murder. We need you to write down every single thing you know about him." The attitude of our suspect had drastically changed since he realized his brother was in danger. Quickly we submitted all the information to Horatio, waiting for our next orders.

"Thank you, gentlemen. Go home."

"But it's-."

"I don't want to hear it. Go home." Eric and I exchanged confused glances but headed to the lockers, slightly excited to leave early.

"What was that about?" I asked.

"I don't know, maybe he heard about your little mess-up this morning?" He smiled.

I punched his arm. "Whatever, Delko."

"Just saying."

When I walked into the house, I was surprised to see Natalia home too.

"Hey. What are you doing here?" She abandoned the laundry she was folding and planted a kiss on my lips.

"Horatio sent me home early. What are you doing here?"

"He sent me home too. What's going on?"

"You're asking the wrong person."

"Huh. That's weird."

"I guess we can ask him about it at work tomorrow."

The next morning Eric and I realized that all four of us, him, Calleigh, Natalia, and I were all sent home early. Yet nobody had the courage to question Horatio's motives.

"In the meeting room, please." H ushered us in and closed the door.

"It appears our suspect has left the country."

"What? To where?" Calleigh asked immediately.

"The Bahamas."

"That's where his brother is," I said.

"I know. And that's where we're all going to be."

There was a silence in the room, until we realized what he was saying.

"We're going to the Bahamas?"

"Yes. I need all four of you packed and ready to leave for a week tomorrow morning. Calleigh, Eric, bring the kids with you. Tickets and accommodations have been arranged and pre-paid." The second we started to object, he held out his hand. "None of that. Be at the airport at 6:30 tomorrow. You have the day off to pack." And with that he put on his sunglasses and left the room.

The four of us stood there in shock and silence for god knows how long. Finally Natalia said, "Well, I guess we need to go pack." All at once smiles broke out on our face, and we left the building in happiness.

Alright guys, that's the final chapter for this story!

Just kidding, I wouldn't do that. There's a lot of unfinished business going on right now. But I will have a sequel up shortly; i just thought this story was getting a bit long.

xoxo