AN: Thank you for the reviews, here is your last chapter.


Chapter 16: His dream comes to life

One year later

Thomas is sitting down in a chair, in a hospital room, next to a hospital bed. He looks at his wife sleeping then he looks down at the small bundle in his arms and smiles. Even though he really believed that this day would eventually come he was still surprised that it was finally here, he finally became something he had always wanted, a father.

As he was looking down at his newborn son he thinks back to when his wife told him the best news of his life.

Flashback

9 Months ago

Aubrey came home after she had gotten off work and saw that Thomas was up, he had worked earlier so he slept the whole time she was at work.
After she gave some love to her dog Smokey, Thomas and Aubrey kissed each other hello then she asked. "So I was wondering if you were up to it, can I take you out?"

He wraps his arms around her waist and said with a smile. "What, like a date?"

She nodded her head with a smile and said. "Yeah like a date. Just because we are married now doesn't mean we can't go out and have dates."

He nods and said. "I agree and accept."

He leans down and as he was about to kiss her she pulls back to look into his eyes and said. "Now since I asked, I pay." He opens his mouth to object but she puts a finger to his lips and said. "Please. It maybe just dinner and a movie but I'll feel better if I get to do something for you."

He sees that she really wanted to do this and even though he didn't mind paying every time they went out he will let her pay tonight to make her feel better so he nodded with a smile and said. "Ok, you're on."

She smiled, pecks him on the lips, pulls back and replied. "Ok be ready at 6 and meet me right here."

He nodded with another smile and after another kiss she went upstairs practically skipping and he chuckles while watching her, loving how she was so happy, he didn't know if it was because he was allowing her to pay or going out or if it was something else. In fact all week she has been in a happy mood, he just didn't know what it was, he tried asking her but she dogged his questions and changed the subject and really as long as she was happy he wouldn't go all CSI on her and interrogate her, he just let her be.

3 hours later Thomas walks to the spot she told him to be at, looked at his watch and counted down the seconds. '5,4,3,2...' Just as he hit one he heard her voice. "I see you didn't get lost."

He smiles as looks up then his breath caught in his throat, he loved anything that she wore but when he saw her in that dress, something he doesn't see very much, his breath just left him. It was a thin strap, blue, long dress that went down to her ankles, she put on a little makeup, was wearing that familiar dolphin necklace and a new bracelet he gave her on their six month wedding anniversary.

Finally he talks when she was standing in front of him. "I made sure I took the right turns to get here."

She chuckles, wraps her arms around his neck and said. "You look handsome."

He was wearing black slacks, a blue shirt that brought out his eyes, a suit jacket and his hair was gelled.

He smiles bigger and said. "And you are always looking beautiful, no exception tonight." She bit her lip as she looked down and he chuckles. He didn't care how many times she did it, it always gave him butterflies that he still had that effect on her.

After a kiss on the head he pulls back and asked. "We ready?"

She looks back up at him and said. "Yes." He pulls back, puts his hand in his pocket, pulls out the keys, hands them to her and said. "Here you go, you asked me out, your paying and you get to drive if you want."

Her face lights up as she takes the keys and said. "Thank you." His heart flutters when he sees her eyes light up.

He smiles again and replied. "You're welcome." Then after saying goodbye to Smokey they walked out of the house then he got a kick out of if when she walked him to the passenger side door and opened it for him, he just kissed her cheek, smiled and got in the vehicle, happy to play along with her.

3 1/2 hours later they walk back into the house after having a wonderful dinner and watched a good drama movie.

She puts the keys on the hook by the front door, looked at him and said. "Meet me in the living room, there is one more thing I want to do for you."

He was about to open her mouth but she puts a finger to his lips to stop him and said. "It's still my night." She starts walking away before he could respond.

He smiles and says a little loud so she could hear him. "Do you want me to open some wine?"

He realized at dinner that she didn't drink wine and even though she was driving he knew that one glass wouldn't affect her but she still skipped it. He was surprised a lot tonight and this time was no exceptions when she shouted no but asked for a water instead. He just shrugs his shoulders and went to get the waters.

10 minutes later she walks into the living room and was changed into a t-shirt of his and sweat pants with both hands behind her back. He watched her walk up to him then saw her move her hands in front of her with a medium-sized box. He raises an eyebrow, looks up at her and said. "If this is a birthday present you're a little late and if this is a Christmas present you're two months early so which is it?"

She shrugs and said. "Just because. Open it please."

"Alright." He takes the box, looks down at it, unties the bow, moved it off of the box, opened the lid, moved the tissue paper and when he saw a little shirt that said 'Daddy loves you.' He gasped as his eyes started to water.

He looks up and asked with his voice cracking. "Aubrey?" She nodded with a smile to his questioning eyes and before she could open her mouth he was already off the couch and brought her in his arms for the most powerful kiss she had every felt and when they pulled back he brings her in his arms softly and buries his head in her neck then a few seconds later she feels wetness on her shoulder and hears him crying.

Her eyes watered up at his reaction as she wrapped her arms around him then she feels his shoulders shaking so she kissed his head and said. "It's ok baby."

After five minutes he pulls back sniffling then he wipes his tears away, shakes his head and said. "Sorry."

She shakes her head with a smile, puts her hands up to his cheek to wipe the wetness off and replied. "You have nothing to be sorry about, I welcome your emotions ok?" He nodded and after another sniffle she said with another smile. "I take it your happy?"

He chuckles with the biggest smile she had ever seen and said. "You have no idea." He kisses her softly then said. "I love you."

He pulls back and she said. "I love you too."

He smiles again and bends down on his knees so he was eye level to her stomach then wraps his arms around her waist, kisses her stomach through her shirt and spoke. "Hi little one, I'm your daddy and I love you so much. Your mommy and I are going to protect you so you be strong and I'll see you in nine months but don't worry you'll hear my voice so much and everyday that when you come out you'll probably say 'shut up dad' his eyes start to water at that word then he looks up and said. "I'm a Dad."

She nodded and puts her hand on his cheek and said. "You are honey."

Then after another smile, he turns his head and puts his ear on her stomach and continues to hold her waist while she runs her fingers through his hair.
They just stay in that position and had no plans on leaving this spot anytime soon, they were soaking up this moment as long as possible, especially him because he had been wanting this moment for a long time.

End of flashback

He came back to the present when he heard his wife say his name.

He looks over at the bed and she smiled while saying. "What has gotten you so engrossed?"

He smiles and replied. "Looking at your favorite boy in this room."

Thomas sees Aubrey's eyes just light up as she looked at their little one so he stands up as she was sitting up slowly then once she was comfortable Thomas transferred his son to his mother's arms.

Aubrey looked down at her son then Thomas said. "I think you topped it." She looks at him confused and he continued. "Remember on our one year anniversary I took you to the house for the first time and you wasn't sure how you'll be able to top it?" She nodded with tears in her eyes and he puts a hand to her cheek, rubbed his thumb up and down and said. "Well you topped it and I couldn't ask for more than what you have given me so Thank you Aubrey.

She replied emotionally. "You're very welcome and Thank you for believing this could happen. You don't know how much I wanted this for you, of course I wanted this little one too but it was more for you because you have been wanting one a lot longer."

He wipes her tear away, leans down and whispered. "I love you."

They peck each other on the lips then pulls back and she replied. "I love you too."

They look down at their son again and she asked. "So did you think of a name for our little guy?"

He nodded with a smile and said. "What do you think of the name Christian Thomas Dixon?"

She looks at him with a lump in her throat and said with her voice cracking. "Christian?" He nodded and she said. "After my dad?"

He nodded again, puts his hand on her cheek to wipe her tears away and said. "He was a very important person your life and I would like to honor him, if you want."

She nodded, looked down at her son and said to him. "You hear that little one, your named after the two best men that I love with all my heart." She brings the baby up closer to her and kissed his forehead then she looks at Thomas and said. "Thank you."

"You're welcome." He was about to lean toward her and kiss when there was a knock on the door. He pulls back and said. "It looks like the first of the guests are here, are you ready?"

She nodded and replied. "Yeah."

He smiles, leans down, kissed his son's head and spoke. "Now be a good boy Christian, they may seem a little crazy at times but believe me they always have your best interest at heart." Aubrey chuckles a little as he pulled back, they look into each other's eyes and she nods then he cleared his throat and said. "Come in."

The door opened and they see Sara then Grissom, who was holding 1-year-old Holly, come in the room.

When the door shuts he looked at the them and asked. "Aren't you missing a kid?"

Sara gives him a little smile and said. "She asked for a little time."

He looks at them concerned and asked. "What's wrong?"

"I think all the changes that's been happening the last two years. You know she use to be the only kid in this group and now with Catherine and Nick's daughter, Ella, Greg and Amanda's son, Kaden, a new sister and now this little one she needs a few minutes to process it all." Catherine and Nick had successfully adopted a five-year old little girl named Ella, she had the same hair color as Catherine and the eye color as Nick she could pass as their biological child but they would have loved her even if she was different.

Thomas nodded in understanding then Aubrey started to introduce Christian to them, Thomas smiled while watching them but then he looked at the door feeling a little sad that his princess was sad. He was looking at the door for a few seconds when Sara's voice reached his ears. "Go talk to her." He looks at her and she was now holding his son with a smile. "I know you want to. Go."

Thomas nodded with a smile, turns to his wife, kissed her temple and said. "I'll be right back."

Aubrey nodded with a smile then he gets out of the chair and walks to the door, opens it and steps out, looks to the left and a few steps away he sees Isabella sitting in a chair looking down. He takes a breath, walks up to her and said. "Hi Prin..." He stops, remembering that she sadly told him that she didn't want that nickname anymore, it made him sad because it's been his nickname for her since she was born but he respected her wishes.

He cleared his throat and said. "Hi Isabella." She nodded, showing that she heard him. He sat down next to her in silence for a few minutes then looks at her and said. "A lot of changes in a short amount of time huh?" She nodded again and he continued. "You know what that means though, right?" She looks at him but doesn't say anything, he smiles and speaks again. "It just means that you'll have more kids to play with, you can teach them things especially what is right and wrong and be the boss anytime you feel like it."

She just shrugs and looks down again, he sighed, puts his hand on her shoulder and said. "You know we still love you right? That not matter how many kids come into this group our love will never go away from you." He lifts her chin up so she was looking at him and he could see the tears building in her eyes and he said with emotion. "I know you don't want to be called this but you'll always be my princess."

She shook her head and said. "No I won't, you have your own prince now. You don't need me anymore." She looked down closing her eyes as tears came down her cheek.

He now understood why she was so sad it wasn't about the other kids it was the fact that he had a kid now so she was afraid that she wouldn't be as special to him as she had been in the past. He wipes his own tear away, leans down, kisses her head and said. "Isabella I'll always need." He lifts her chin up again so she was looking at him then he puts his hand her cheek and said. "I may not be your father but the first time I saw you and heard your heartbeat I knew we would have this bond, this very special bond that no one can touch and it's still true. I was with you from the very beginning and I'm not leaving you now, no matter who comes into my life, can you say the something for me?"

He wipes her tears off her cheek and she sees how sad he looked so she nodded and replied. "Yeah. I love you Uncle Thomas and I'm sorry."

He smiles while shaking his head then brings her in his arms and said. "You have nothing to be sorry about, you were just scared that I would leave you but now you know I won't." She nodded and he kissed her head then said. "And I love you too Prin...Isabella."

She shakes her head, pulls back, smiled and said. "Can I be your princess again?"

He smiles puts his hand on her cheek and said. "Always princess." He gives her a quick tickle and she starts to laugh a little then after he wiped the rest of her tears away he and said. "Somebody really wants to see you now. You ready?"

She takes a breath, nodded her head and said. "Ok. I'm ready."

He stands up, holds out his hand and she takes it without hesitation then after he helps her up they walk toward the door, he pauses for a second then opens it and waits for her to take a step in the room first then he followed, still holding her hand. He looks at Sara and Grissom and they smiled at him, they knew if anybody could help Isabella get out of her funk it would be Thomas.

They walked to the hospital bed then Thomas sits in the chair, picks Isabella up, sets her on his lap and Aubrey lays on her side so she was closer to Isabella and she said. "Isabella this is Christian, you want to say hi?"

Isabella nodded with a smile and said. "Hi Christian I can't wait till you get older then I can play with you and sometimes boss you around." They grown ups laugh then just continued to listen to her talk about all the things she wanted to teach him.

Thomas looked over Isabella's head and looked at Sara and she was smiling at him with tears in her eyes and was giving him a look that he knew she was telling him congratulations and that he will be a good dad, he does a short nod then looked at Grissom and he gives him a short nod and smile too then after a smile back from him he looks back at his wife and son and with his princess in his arms he felt he could do anything, today was a very good day.

A few hours later and before the end of visiting hours there was a knock on the door, Aubrey looks up from laying on her husband's shoulder and asked. "Did you invite anybody else?"

He shook his head and said. "No. Everybody that I knew was going to be here was already here." The outside of Vegas family and friends weren't going to show up till tomorrow so they were both a little curious on who it was.

He continued to look at her and she nodded then he looked at the door and said. "Come in."

The door opened and in came Dylan with pink roses, her favorite color of roses, he smiled at them and said. "I hope it's ok that I am here."

They both nodded and Thomas gets up off the bed and said. "I'll leave you two alone."

Dylan replied. "You don't have to."

Thomas waves it off and said. "It's ok." Dylan just nods then looks down as Thomas kissed both Aubrey and Christian, just because he stepped back from Aubrey it was still hard seeing them kiss. He looked back up when Thomas walked by, he watched him walk out of the room then looked back at Aubrey and gives her a small smile.

She speaks, breaking the ice. "Where is Colby?"

He steps closer to the chair, puts the flowers on the small table next to the bed and as he sat down he speaks. "We went to the park and I saw Sara and Grissom there with the rest of the group and he wanted to stay and play, in fact that's how I knew you were here."

She nodded in understanding and said. "I'm sorry we didn't call you."

He shakes his head, waives it off and said. "I understand, it's not like your first call would be to your ex-boyfriend to tell him that you had the baby with your husband."

She chuckles a little and said. "Yeah I guess you have a point but we are still friends right?"

He smiles and said. "Always." She smiles back then he looks in her arms and asked. "Who is this little guy?"

She smiles bigger, looks down at her son and said. "Christian Thomas Dixon."

"Christian?" She looks at him and nodded and he continued. "After your dad. He would be so proud to have a grandson to carry on the name."

She nodded again and replied. "I believe so too." They look into each other's eyes then she looked away, cleared her throat and asked. "Do you want to hold him?"

He looks at Christian and shook his head then said. "I can't, not today. It took everything in me just to walk into the room."

She nodded in understanding and said. "Alright." He looked down and she asked in concern. "You ok?"

He nodded, cleared his throat and she could tell that he was barely holding on to his emotions but he got the words out. "Congratulations Aubrey I know you'll make an excellent mother, just like I had always known."

He looks down, closing his eyes trying to hold his tears in and she said. "Dylan..."

The door opened cutting her words off and Dylan cleared his throat again, stood up, walked up to her, leaned down kissed her forehead and said. "Again Congratulations."

She looks up and asked. "Will you be ok?"

He gives her a smile and said. "Of course. I'll leave you three alone." Aubrey still looks at him concerned and he repeated. "I'm fine. Bye Aubrey."

"Bye Dylan." He nods then turns and leaves the room, passing Thomas with a short nod.

Thomas lets the door shut when he walked in and as he walked to the bed, after moving the bassinet closer to the bed, he asked. "Will he be alright?"

She nods, kissed her son's head and told him she loved him then speaks to Thomas as he was doing the same thing. "Yeah I think in time he will be. I guess seeing me with a baby kind of hit to close to home like when I saw Colby for the first time."

Thomas tucks the baby in his bassinet then gets back on the bed and after putting his arm around her shoulders he kissed her head and replied. "And how are you doing? It's got to be kind of hard for you too."

She sighed and said. "A little, I mean I'll always feel the loss of my first child and imagine what he or she would be like but the best why to honor him or her is to have the best life I can have and to raise Christian the best that I can."

He nods in understanding, he never wanted to keep her emotions about losing her first child inside so he will always listen when she wants to talk about it. Then he smiled, kissed her temple and said. "Christian is a lucky son to have you as his mother."

She smiles and replied. "And I think he is pretty lucky to have you as his father."

He smiled again, lifts her chin up then leans down and pecks her on the lips, pulls back and said. "Love you."

She looks at him sleepily and said. "I love you too."

Then she looked down and yawned, he chuckles a little, brings her closer to him so he could wrap her in his arms and after kissing her head he said. "Sleep tight honey, you had a busy day and Thank you." She nodded then a few second later she was asleep.

He sighed in content and just laid there with the woman he loved in his arms and his baby right next to the bed and as he was laying there he just remembered what day it was, three years ago on this day was the anniversary of their first meeting and he just smiles bigger thinking how luck he is at this moment.


Three weeks later

It's been three weeks since Christian was born and now it was another special day, they were at the Grissom household having a party for Isabella's 8th birthday and she couldn't be more happy to have everybody here to celebrate with her, including Preston, Becky, Sydney, Carey and even her best friend Colby, those two were practically joined at the hip, you couldn't see one without the other and everybody was thinking there could be something between them when they got older but they will deal with that issue when the time comes. Dylan wasn't there because he was still having a tough time being around the Dixon's and they understood but he didn't stop Dylan from hanging out with them, he was very thankful they welcomed them both with open arms.

While everybody was on the deck or inside cooing over Holly, Christian and Kaden, Grissom was standing at the end of the deck looking out in the yard watching, Colby, Ella and Isabella playing with Hank and Smokey. At first Hank didn't get along with Smokey because he was use being the only dog in the house but after easing them in, Hank got use to him and started to play nice even though he would still try to get the most attention if he could.

Sara smiled as she looked out in the yard too then she looked over at her husband and said. "We better keep an eye out so they won't take our daughter."

Grissom chuckles and said. "I take it she is still a hit."

She scoffed and said. "Are you kidding? With your eye color, hair color and your smile how could she not be?" She cuddles up to him, kissed his cheek and said. "She is cute just like her father." He looks down a little embarrassed and she chuckles seeing his reaction, she loved it when she could do that, she thought it was so adorable when her man blushed like a teenager.

A few minutes later he looks back up, cleared his throat, sighed and spoke after he wraps his arms around her shoulders. "Can you believe this?"

She lays her head on his shoulder and said. "Believe what?"

"That it's only been three years since we found each other again, I mean it should feel longer right?" He didn't mean that in a bad way it just felt like more time should have passed.

She nodded in understanding and replied. "I know what you mean and I am glad we have a few new people in our lives to share days like this with." She sighed in content and said. "And excluding our wedding or should I say weddings." He smiled and she continued with joy in her voice. "Our children's birth and meeting you, I don't think I have been more happy than I am right now."

He looks at her and said. "I feel like I am the luckiest man on earth and it's because of you. You're the reason I have all of this." He puts his hand on her cheek and she looks into his blue eyes while he continues. "You're reason my heart is still beating, you and the kids are the reason I get up in the morning. I love you three so much and I want to cherish every second of it."

She puts her hand up to his cheek, wiped a tear that leaked out of his eye away and said. "I know you do. So do I and I love you three so much too." He gives her that grin she loves then they looked at each other confusingly like they feel people looking at them from behind so they turn around and they were correct, every one of their guests were looking at them.

He raised an eyebrow and said. "What? we already gave you the once in a lifetime show two years ago."

Sara looks at him and said. "I think they want an encore. You game?"

He slowly smiled and said. "You?"

She puts her hand back on his cheek brings him closer and whispered. "What do you think?" She could never say no to kissing her husband and she didn't care if it was in front of a household full of people either.

He stops just before their lips touched and she moved so her lips was touching his and they kissed, while everybody was cheering.

After a few minutes they pulled back from their kiss and looked back to where the kids playing, he wraps his arm around her waist, kissed her temple and said. "I love you Sara."

She smiles and replied. "I love you too." Then she cuddles into his side again and they just stood there being surrounded by the most important people in their lives and happy where their path has taken them so far and they couldn't wait to continue down the road.


AN: And this is it, I hope I didn't disappoint on the sequel and you enjoyed it. I don't have anything planned right now on continuing the series but don't be surprised if I do post something in the future. Once again look out for some more of my stories, I have some older ones that I need to tweak a little so be on the look out, if interested. Enjoy the rest of the week and weekend.

Also Thank you to reviewers, readers, followers and favorites, I really do appreciate it all.