When Max made it home, he was shocked to see the scene that waited for him. Isabel was in the kitchen happily cooking and singing to music. She was drinking a tomato juice with Tabasco minus the vodka. It was so good to see her happy and smiling.

“Max! Just in time for dinner.” Isabel finished stirring a pot, and returned the lid. “It’ll be done in another ten minutes or so, which is plenty of time for you to get changed and ready for dinner.”

“What is it?” The creature inhabiting his usually quiet and lonely apartment was one even he didn’t know.

“A surprise. Go clean up, and we’ll eat.” Max hesitated, but finally went. Whatever it was it smelt good. When Max came back, Isabel was setting the table and pouring them both bottled water.

“So you want to tell me what’s making you so happy?” Max asked sitting down after kissing her on the cheek.

“I met someone today.” Max held his breath waiting for Isabel to tell him that she met Jonathan Stiller. “Maria introduced me to a friend of hers, a Jonathan Stiller. I had lunch with him and Maria, and then he took me out to The Tea Room.”

“So it was a good date.” Max asked quietly.

“Not really a date, but a meeting. He’s going to push my application for educational funding through this Foundation thing he’s CEO for.” Isabel leaned forward excitedly. “Max, he said that since I took a leave of absence from the University in Albuquerque, and all my grades were in good standing, that I should be able to get admitted to the University here as a transfer student! The session has already started, but there are some night classes and half semester classes I can take while I wait for the Fall semester, and...there is this summer.”

Max watched his sister’s excitement rising. “So he’s going to help you with the paper work?”

“No. I mean yes, but technically, no. He told me to come by his offices tomorrow and one of his assistants will help me to fill everything out.” Isabel leaned forward and giggled. “And...and! He gave me a contact number, which I called for this clinic downtown. I got a job!”

“A job? Today, you did all this in one day?” Max sat back amazed.

“I did. Okay, the job sort of sucks. The pay is lousy, but the hours are flexible. It is a sort of crisis clinic like the one I worked in when I was in Arizona, but it’s supported by this Foundation, and it is staffed by students from the University with a few trained psychologists.” Isabel took up the plates and started serving. “The best thing is that they'll work with my class schedule.”

Max took the plate that Isabel offered him. “That sounds great, Iz. So did you call Michael and tell him, yet?”

“No chance, but I wanted to call Maria and thank her for the help. I guess she’ll tell Mikey at the same time.” Isabel served salad in the bowls and passed one to Max. “I don’t know how to thank her. She just introduced me to someone, and then suddenly it was like doors opened.”

Max just nodded tasting the food. “Things happen that way around Maria.” Frowning at his plate, Max looked up at Isabel. “What is this?”

“Coq au Vin. Mom’s recipe.” Max looked at his sister closely.

“You okay?” he asked quietly. Isabel nodded choking back tears. Max took another bite, and looked at Isabel again as a tear ran down her cheek. “I don’t remember Mom’s Coq au Vin tasting like this. This is good.”

“It didn’t.” Isabel wiped the tear off and smiled. “Remember the frittata?”

Max laughed with Isabel. “God, that was awful! Don’t tell me that you’ve got that recipe, too?”

”I do. Frittata di Spinaci e Cacio. ”

“What the heck does that mean?”

“Basically, spinach and cheese omelet, but whatever Mom did to it made it inedible. I couldn’t figure out how everything she cooked tasted like dirt or ashes.” They laughed and reminisced over other cooking disasters. “I miss her. I miss her bad cooking, and the way she was always there when I needed her.”

“I know.” Max said quietly. “I miss her, too. And dad.” Isabel just nodded. Max looked at his sad sister, and for once she seemed sad, but serene in it, accepting. “You want to go visit them?”

Isabel looked at him, and in silence they shared a world of pain. “Yeah, I would. I think it’s about time.” They were great parents. And not for the first time, both of them wished their parents had been small time family practice lawyers in a smaller town like Roswell instead of criminal lawyers in Albuquerque, but life was full of 'what ifs' and wishes that would never come true, and it was time to face reality and go on.

“So what are you going to do about this whole baby thing?” Isabel asked later as they were drinking an after dinner coffee.

“Baby thing?” Max was confused for a moment thinking Isabel knew about Michael and Maria, until suddenly he realized she was talking about Tess and his baby. “Have a baby, I guess. It’s pretty much a done deal.”

Isabel looked at him. “You seem calm about it. What’s going on in that head?”

“Truthfully?” Isabel nodded. “I don’t know. It’s possible that the full implication of what it means hasn’t hit me yet. I asked Tess to marry me.”

“Marry? But...”

“She said no. Part of me was disappointed, and another relieved.” Max drank his coffee and leaned back on the sofa. “The only thing I really know is that I’m a mass of contradictions, and confusion seems to be ruling my personal life. The only thing I’m sure about is my work.”

“So you’re not freaking?”

“Surprisingly, no. I think I’m okay with it. Tess is a nice woman, and she's smart and gentle, a perfect mom type. I just guess I never really saw her, or knew her. There was something though...”

Isabel just sat back and listened as Max tried to explain and talk about his relationship with Tess. Her interest piqued when he mentioned feeling a sense of familiarity in the same way that he felt with Michael when they first met, but how that sense had something more intense to it.

“Sounds like I need to meet this Tess. After all, I am going to be an aunt.” Max nodded, but refrained from mentioning to her that she might actually be an aunt twice. That was Michael’s news to tell.

“You are.” Max closed his eyes and rested for a moment. Thinking of that piece of paper Maria gave him, he let uncertainty wash over his body. Life was too hard sometimes.

“So what’s causing all the grimacing on your face now?” Isabel asked. Max opened an eye and looked at his sister. She looked so beautiful, so alive, and for the first time in forever, ready for tomorrow.

“Just thinking.”

“Thinking? About what? Just things?”

“Yeah, things.” Max moved around and lounged full length on the sofa so he could look at his sister in the large comfy chair. “I once thought I found someone that was special to me, that might have made a difference in my life. She...I don’t know. She touched me.”

“Tess?”

“No. Tess did touch me in some way, almost like a clouded memory. This woman was different. I felt...” Max shrugged as he searched for words, descriptors, anything that could capture a feeling into simple words. How does a person describe a unique feeling that they never felt with anyone else.

“Max?”

“I don’t know. I felt alive, like I was hotwired. Hard to explain. There was something about her, something so pure and honest.”

“What happened?” Isabel asked. She sort of felt that once, or felt a glimpse of it.

“Right girl, wrong time. Maria explained this concept to me once, a sort of selective speciation.”

“Do I want to hear this?” Isabel asked after having spent lunch with Maria, she was beginning to believe that Maria had a lecture for every subject.

“Maybe not, but you asked what went wrong, and I think this is it.” Max smiled as Isabel quickly went to refill their coffees. “Maria said that species didn’t mate across species lines often for many reasons. Sometimes it was a chemical imbalance, like the chromosomes didn’t match. There could also be physical barriers like ‘tab A’ didn’t fit into ‘slot B’, so breeding was impossible. Or the hormones of attraction didn’t appeal, or their mating season were off.”

“So you and this woman’s tabs and your slots didn’t match?”

“No more like our mating seasons were off. We met the right person, but at the wrong time. I was busy with everything in my life, a high profile murder,” Max refrained from mentioning Isabel and her problems. “And then I met a glimpse of what I was searching for in Maria and Michael, and it felt out of reach. This woman’s life was too complicated, as was mine. Her needs too great, as were mine. Everything at the time was wrong, and when I thought it might be right, she moved on.” Max occasionally still regretted not even once kissing Liz Parker.

“I’m sorry.” Isabel wondered if it was a curse of theirs to just brush next to that something special, but let their lives prevent them from really touching it. Alex Whitman.

“Me, too.” Max couldn’t begin to say how sorry he was. It was like he missed a big clue in his life, and had been floundering ever since.

“No chance? Ever?” Isabel hadn’t realized until that moment that she was hoping for Alex Whitman still.

“I don’t know. It just seems that my life is for crap right now, all over the place and up in the air. Who would want to walk into the life of a man who has a child on the way with another woman, and then there’s my confusion over who I am.”

“I can relate. Even if I found something real, it wouldn’t be right. Not until I straighten out this mess I made of my life.” Isabel finished her coffee and sat it on the coffee table. “I want to meet the love of my life, whole, and free to love him without conditions. I want what Michael has found.”

“Same here. I don’t want to meet someone and hand them all my baggage and tell them to deal. I want to be free to love unconditionally and be loved the same way.” Max sighed. He wasn't there yet. “You know Michael had problems, but so did Maria. The difference was their problems weren’t f-ucking them up. They were both repressing emotions, but at the same time, they were fully aware of it. They both recognized what was wrong, and they were coping and fixing thing for themselves. When they got together it just made it easier for them, but they weren’t expecting the other to fix it, or live with it. Being with each other made them want to be more open and honest, and find ways to overcome their pasts. I saw it work, and I wanted that strength, that freedom.”

“He’s changed. Michael’s changed.”

“No he hasn’t. Not really. I keep seeing the Michael I always knew, that person deep inside that was there before his dad died. Maria just helps him move past the pain, and lets him come out again.” Max laughed remembering Michael’s run-ins with various people over the last year. “Essentially he is still the same bad haired, bad tempered son of a bitch that mows over everyone in his way.” Max laughed in good humor. “Now he just smiles when he does it, and really, really enjoys it.”

“Great. Love to see his psycho crazed smile driving up behind me.” Isabel shuddered delicately for show. Looking at her brother, she let a question she had passed over come back around. “So what do you mean you’re confused over who you are?”

“It’s nothing.” Isabel refused to budge. “Really. It’s just a slight identity crisis I think.” Isabel’s eyes became narrow in speculation. “I kissed a man in a gay bar.”

“I go away for a year and the world turns around in a crazy alternative universe.” Isabel gets up, and quickly pushes Max’s legs off the sofa so she can sit beside him. “Okay, start at the beginning, don’t leave out any details...actually feel free to embellish a little. So this kiss was it hot, not so hot, or nuclear?”

“Isabel...” Max begins to whine.

“Wait!” Isabel jumps up with her hand out halting him. “I’m going to make us some microwave popcorn.” Isabel rushed into the kitchen to quickly make the corn and pour them both a cola when a scary thought hit her hard. “Oh God, it wasn’t Michael was it?”

“NO!” Max horrified voice came from the living room. Isabel sighed a deep relief. It was one thing to have the entire world turned around, but taking a wicked twist into the twilight zone would’ve been more than she could’ve handled.

~~~

Michael groaned as the ringing of the phone woke him. Gathering Maria tight to his side and slightly under him, he quickly answered the phone before it woke her. It had taken forever for her to fall asleep, even after calming down during the movie. He sat through a total mushfest watching her cry her eyes out, and couldn’t believe he had missed the clue of her recent more emotional mood swings. Normally Maria was a person who turned the channel when the damn Hallmark commercials came on.

“Yeah?” Michael blinked his eyes trying to focus his eyes on the bedside clock. Dammit, two in the morning. Michael became more alert as the dispatcher gave him information. “Tell units I’m rolling in ten. Code Eight Evans to meet on site. Also, shake up DeLuca and Valenti to scene.”

Michael went to get dress. Before he left the loft he quickly wrote Maria a note and put it where she would find it when she woke up. Kissing her quickly and resting his hand on her body, he left the loft.

It was chilly in the early morning air. When Michael made the scene, the surrounding area was clean and dark. It was one of Roswell’s largest parks. Searching the dark tree lined areas, he quickly went under the police tape and flashed his badge. His belt was still missing, so he had hooked his badge to the chain around his neck holding Mikey’s dogtags.

Seeing only two units on site, and no support teams, he quickly radioed in for ETA for support teams. They were still ten minutes out. Finding a uniform officer, Michael asked who was the first on site.

“Peterson, who’s my RP?” The man pointed at another officer talking into squawk.

“Harris. He was patrolling this section of the Park when he found the body.” Michael nodded and moved off towards the officer that called in the scene.

“Harris?” The man nodded. Michael recognized him as a generation cop with ten years experience. “You were first on scene?”

“Yes, sir.” Michael looked at the area. It was a small restroom area with garbage receptacles.

“How long ago?”

“Less than half an hour. I had patrolled through this section only an hour previous, but didn’t notice anything. The last time through I noticed dogs, about three of them, messing around the area.” Harris shined his light along the path to the parking area where his patrol car was parked. “I proceeded up the path, and the dogs ran when I approached. As soon as I saw the wrapped body I called into dispatch.”

Nodded, making notes in his book. “Then Seven David Charley responded?”

“About five minutes after I called. I requested a Code One backup to patrol the park and move in from the entrance.” Michael nodded.

“They pick up any movement when they responded and patrolled through?”

Harris shook his head no. “The park was empty, no entering or leaving vehicles. Seven David Charley checked all standing vehicles and took information on park lurkers, mostly young couples parking. Peterson’s partner has the information and list.”

Michael looked over at the parking area when Max’s car drove up. He could see other vehicles moving through the dark park as their lights lit up the night sky.

“Anyone mess with the body?”

“No, sir.” Michael nodded. Harris was a professional. He would’ve kept the scene pristine once he knew what he was looking at.

“Copy me your report, and see if someone can call down to Power to turn on this grid.” Michael pointed to the baseball diamond that the bathrooms serviced. The restroom area had extra lights that where lit during night games. Harris nodded, understanding that Michael was assigning him to the team as first on the scene. Michael looked out at the dark woods and frowned. “Harris, also call in extra units. I want them to spread out into the woods and walk in. Look for watchers. They find anyone, have them bring them in. Can you cover?”

Harris nodded. He was officially in charge of the foot uniforms. On his way back to his unit, he started calling it in.

Max came up to Michael as Harris walked away. “What we got?” Michael inclined his head to the plastic wrapped body by the garbage. Swearing under his breath, Max looked around the area. It was too dark.

“Keep everyone off the scene until the lights come up. The body was probably rolled from a car again, but this time they would’ve driven on the dirt access that the disposal trucks use. We might get some clear tracks, and tire tread.” Michael looked at the closest parking space. “Have the boys start combing the parking area with lights.”

Max nodded as Sean and Kyle arrived. Simon and his men were close behind as the baseball diamond's lights suddenly came on. Good man, Harris.

They found where the car had backed in and rolled the body. Then it was dragged for about two feet to be set up next to the dumpster. Michael and the rest moved off the tape to mark the crime scene to include the tracks.

“Simon.” Michael said pointing to an area.

“I see them.” Simon called to one of his men to start recording a pair of footprints with clear edges and boot treads.

Michael finally moved towards the body, while pictures were shot and the body outline taped. Using an edge of a pencil, he lifted the plastic away. The dogs had been chewing though the plastic and had uncovered a foot. Michael stared for a moment, and then rubbed his hands over his face as he crouched beside the body.

“Have someone call Whitman in.” Michael said quietly. Max just hung his head and closed his eyes. Too late, they were too late.

Michael quietly watched the autopsy. He and Simon exchanged silent looks, much like they had done at the scene. This body was processed too, but not to the same extent Janet Seers had been. Krystal Whitman’s body was coated in the clear shellac, but her blood and internal organs still remained in her body, untouched.

”What is it, Michael?” Max asked later as they hit the coffee, again. It was almost five a.m., and they were all feeling the tiredness. Kyle and Sean were both doctoring their coffee with milk and sugar, when Simon came in to join them.

“Maria was right. The dumping is wrong. Even though this body isn't as processed as the other one, all this work implies that he's keeping them or has a purpose, but for some reason he dumps them.” Michael ran his coffee cup over his forehead enjoying the warm feeling. He could feel an early morning headache coming on and a slight rising nausea. Morning sickness. How long does this last?

“Michael.” Simon handed Michael a list and some other papers. “Here’s the initial report. We’re running blood analysis, but she’s been dead about twenty-four hours.”

Michael nodded, and read down the initial report. Tattoo on right hip. “Simon, the tattoo, what was it?”

“It was a tiny butterfly, very small. Technically it was on her right asscheek, but up high, more on the hip. I almost didn’t notice it at first, and then I thought it was a temporary.” Simon watched that dark faraway look come into Michael’s eyes. “What is it?”

“Janet Seers had a barely noticeable birthmark on her inner thigh.”

“That’s correct.” Simon shifted on his feet. “You said to let you know when Alex Whitman arrived to identify the body.”

“He’s here?”

“Yeah, about five minutes ago.” Simon looked at Guerin and then away. He knew what Michael was going to do, and he didn’t envy him. “You want me to...”

“I’ll take care of it.” Michael put down his coffee cup on the table and headed for the door.

“Michael, you want me to come too?” Max asked quietly. Michael just shook his head no.

“I’ll be back.”

Michael found Alex sitting in a chair in the hall outside Simon’s office. He was unshaven and looked to not have slept in days. Mentally steeling himself against it Michael did what he always did, his duty.

“Alex.” Michael felt the coldness in the eyes, the knowledge that was too far seeded inside not to be aware. Alex knew why he was there, and nothing would ever change that. Alex just stood up and with a slight gesture in Michael’s direction waiting for the man to take him to his cousin.

Alex followed as Michael led the way. He stopped to talk to a technician and take a clipboard. Simon had moved the body back into cold storage, and Michael went to open the door to pull out the cold slab.

Before he could pull back the sheet, Alex beat him to it. Standing tall above his cousin, Alex’s eyes surveyed every inch of her face. He nodded slightly. Michael silently handed him the papers and watched as Alex quickly signed his name.

“Can I have a moment?” Alex asked after he handed back the papers. Michael just moved away to stand against the wall and wait for Alex to be through. Sean was standing just inside the door. Michael hadn’t even realized that he had come in. Both men remained quiet and gave Alex some privacy with his cousin.

Alex looked at her, searched her face for a hint of life. The only thing about her that still looked alive was her red hair which was obscene against the paleness of death. Reaching over, he opened her eyes and stared into their empty orbs. Then leaning down he whispered into her ear and then kissed her lifeless mouth before straightening and covering the empty wasted shell of his cousin. She, who once was Krystal and Squeak to him, had already gone.

Alex left the room, hardly nodding to Michael, but did pause long enough to thank him for finding her. Michael rested his head back against the wall and closed his eyes. He didn’t bother to watch Alex walk away, and Sean just stood silently, staring at the back wall of stainless steel morgue drawers.

“Why did he open her eyes and look at them?” Sean finally asked.

Michael sighed and moved out of the room with Sean following him. Handing the papers over to Simon’s assistant, Michael went to the elevators.

“He had to look. When my father died in my arms, I watched the light of life disappear from sight, be snuffed out. I knew he was dead. Alex would’ve never walked away if he hadn’t checked to make sure that not an ounce of life wasn’t still there. He had to know.”

“It was obvious, Michael.”

“The mind knows, but the heart refuses to accept until the eyes can see. Now he knows, and now he knows what he has to do.”

Michael went back into the breakroom to retrieve his coffee. Alex was going to be a problem. He was closer to the streets, to the hunting ground than the cops. He would use all his resources to hunt and kill the person who drew blood from his veins, and from his club.

“I’ll call us in to Cap. All of you, go take some personal downtime until this afternoon. I’m calling off poker, so plan to work into the evening.” Sean and Kyle left together. It would be hours before their labs and results started trickling in. All the initial legwork had already been done while Krystal Whitman was just a "missing person".

“Alex...is he okay?”

“No, would you be?” Max just shook his head. They had all stood there before. Michael with Mikey, and he with his parents. He had identified their remains and sometimes years later, he still woke up to the memory of them laid out on a cold slab. “Go home and sleep, Maxwell. It’s breaking dawn, and we’ll have hours of time to work the facts.”

“Was Maria still asleep when you left?” Michael nodded and looked at the time. That was over three hours ago, almost half a workday and a lifetime ago. He needed to go home. He needed Maria.

“Did you talk to her?”

“Yeah.”

Max waited but Michael seemed distracted. “And?”

“Positive. I’m going with her to the doctor’s office this morning. So if I’m late just page me, otherwise I’ll be in after that.” Max looked down into his empty cup.

“How’d she take it?”

“Freaked. Pretty much as I expected.” Michael swallowed the last of his coffee. “Actually, that’s not true, or not completely. I expected her to freak, since that’s usually Maria’s initial reaction to most things. But then she calms down and lets reason and reality work its magic on her. Last night she totally lost it. It was beyond freaking, it was cold icy fear.”

Max didn’t understand that. “Fear?”

“She’s seeing this huge responsibility and she's afraid she’s not going to be equal to the task, that she’s going to be a terrible mother. Maria is afraid that she’ll fail and the baby will suffer for it.” Michael didn’t know how else to describe Maria’s reaction.

Max couldn’t even wrap his mind around the idea of Maria not being the greatest of parents. The woman fixed everyone’s life around her, but the problem was she seemed unaware that she did that, that she was a nurturer.

“So why don’t you tell her that she’s not alone, that you’re there to help too?”

That was a thought, a concept that had slipped under his radar. He just assumed she would know that, but remembering her fear over raising the baby alone, and forgetting everything essential, Michael frowned. How could she not know he would be there too?

“I didn’t think about that.”

“Well it’s not like you two are married, or that you even said the ‘I love you’ words yet.” Michael scowled at Max. That was privileged information, information he told Max about months ago. Max couldn’t understand why the couple remained silent after a year when every touch and look literally shouted the words.

Michael thought about it for a second. Of course she was feeling uncertain. It was an earth shattering event, a life altering one. How can she know that this will last since they had only made a commitment to live together? Poor Maria, who had spent years chasing after her flaky mother, bailing her out of jail or being arrested with her. She was afraid that she’ll be the same kind of mother, and all the baby will have to depend on.

Maria needed to be married, married to him so she could feel better about the baby.

“Maxwell, I need to go.” Max watched a look of pure determination cross Michael’s face, and he felt a rush of trepidation run up his body in the form of a cold sweat.

“Michael what are you up to? Maybe you should...”

Michael headed out. “Don’t worry, I’ve got it covered.”

Max stood in the room after he left and shook his head. “That’s what I’m afraid of.”

~~~

Maria was still asleep when he got home. It wasn’t quite six in the morning, and she had called Tess the previous evening to cover her morning classes so she could go to the doctor’s office. It was hours before she needed to be up.

Michael stood over her watching her sleep. Her hand was resting on his side of the bed, almost like she was looking for him. Too many nights he got called out, and she had to sleep without him. Too many nights he worked late or was on stakeout and his side of the bed remained empty. No wonder she was worried and afraid.

Staring at her, his eyes took in every detail. After seeing Alex identify his cousin’s body, he felt a need to find her. To look at her and search every inch of her to make sure she was okay, still safe. Standing in that room, the three of them shared a common understanding, a deep brotherhood of pain knowing the cost of losing someone under their protection. Sean and Michael could see and feel it in Alex, and there were no words, no gesture that could give back or fill that empty place.

Michael knew that there would be no sleep for Alex, only a bottle of burning liquid to match the burning inside his soul. For Sean there would be another night slaying and killing Cassie as she mocked him with her presence in his mind. Michael rushed home to stand over Maria and his child like some hellbeast determined not to let anything touch them. They were all the same.

Michael went into the bathroom, and stood under the shower to let the hot water pound on his skin, to wash away the smell death left there. Maria made a soft protesting sound as he lifted the covers to slid into their bed as the cooler air hit her skin. But she quickly settled as the warmth of his body, still slightly moist from the shower, moved up against her.

In her sleep, she could sense him, smell his scent that was exclusively his, feel the radiating heat of his blood as it coursed through his body, and she moved into his arms. Slowly waking to his need, her mouth was drawn to his neck and along his shoulder as drops of moisture still clung to his skin. She sucked on him while his hands and body moved over her, surrounding her as every inch of her body was touched.

Michael appreciated her soft calling of his name as he wrapped himself around her. The sensation of her hit his stomach, emptying it out as his need for her increased. After all this time, she still knocked him flat, moved him. It made him afraid. It was easier before when he had nothing to lose; everything was already gone. Mikey was dead, and he lived sheltered from the world because everything he truly valued was already ripped away. But then she moved into the emptiness mending the wounds, giving him a reason to care, and a reason to be vulnerable again.

“Maria, I need...”

“I know.” She said softly, and she pulled him into her.

~~~

Michael sat in the doctor’s office looking out of the corners of his eyes at all the women occasionally watching him. Maria was reading a magazine she brought with her, and occasionally making a clucking noise under her breath. Michael tried to find something to read but all the magazines were about women’s health, with not a single one about cars or sports.

“Stop fidgeting.” Maria whispered to him. Michael frowned at two women giggled to each other as they kept staring at him.

“I’m not.” He whispered hotly back at her. “They’re staring at me!”

”It’s your imagination.”

“No it’s not.” Maria glanced up quickly and noticed that some of the women were watching Michael.

Smiling to herself, she went back to reading her journal. It was to be expected. He was the impregnator , able to beat birth control pills in a single bound, on top of being so very masculine in a dominatingly feminine office with his pissy demeanor. What woman could resist being utterly fascinated? Maria out of the corner of her eye watched him reach for his gun, and unsnap the safety as he started to pull out his arrest book.

“Put it away.” she said casually. He looked at her, and shrugged. He was only going shake down a few of the more obvious offenders and maybe ticket them, except for that one in the corner who kept trying to catch his eye with weird gestures. She was obviously deeply disturbed.

“I thought your doctor was a baby doctor, not a shrink.”

“He’s an OB/GYN, not a baby doctor. That’s a Pediatrician. And OB/GYN docs are not shrinks. They are women’s doctors.” Maria said quietly and offhandedly.

“ He? ” Michael whispered hotly. The women around them giggled quietly, as Maria sighed, shaking her head. Michael scowled at a few women near him. He. Maria never mentioned her doctor was a he. That means he looked at her...checked her over...saw her without...Michael reached for his gun again.

Maria slapped at his hand. “Behave.”

“Maria?” Maria turned her attention back to the nurse calling her name and smiled. Closing her magazine she started to follow her in the back room.

“Wait, where are you going?” Michael asked nervously.

“It’s my turn.”

Michael quickly got up and crowded into her. “You’re not leaving me alone in here.” Maria looked at the room and had to agree. God only knew what kind of trouble he would get into out here alone. Taking his hand, she took him with her.

Michael watched as the nurse took down all of Maria’s vital statistics. His eyes narrowed at her weight. He hadn’t realized she was that small, making a note to feed her more when the absurdity of the thought hit him. She ate like an army. When they took her blood he bit back a response, his jaw muscles clenching as he shoved his fist in his pockets. Maria just calmly took her other hand and reached up to touch his arm to calm him down.

“You okay?” Maria asked quietly looking up at him. He just nodded. “Come down here.” Michael squatted next to her chair and she moved her hand over his cheek as he closed his eyes and rested against her. He knew they needed her blood, but watching the needle...he looked away.”

The nurse, Carolyn, watched them for a second. “All done.” She put a colorful BandAid over Maria’s arm holding a cotton swab in place, and bent her arm up. “Just keep pressure on that for a few minutes until it stops bleeding.” Reaching into a drawer, she took out a lollypop and handed it to Michael. “You did really well.”

Michael stayed in the lab room with the nurse when Maria went to the bathroom. She refused to let him go with her while she got a urine sample. Carolyn watched him and smiled. He seemed to take up the whole room just standing there, unsure whether to keep standing or to sit.

“Is it your first?” she asked him.

Michael looked at her for a moment until the words sunk in. First. “Yeah, our first.” First, that implied one in the long line of many, and that meant they needed to be married before they started begetting more. “We just realized that she was two weeks late so we did a home pregnancy test. It was positive.”

Carolyn smiled at the sound of his voice. He sounded like he created the test himself, clever little soul. She heard the special specimen window close, and went and retrieved Maria’s urine sample.” Taking a small amount she added it to a special small vial and noted the reaction. Showing Michael. “Well congratulations. It’s official. Definitely pregnant.”

Michael loosened up enough to go over and watch her work. “What is that?”

“It’s a test that checks for HCG, a special placental hormone that stops the body from menstruating. It’s only present if a baby is onboard, or taken as a fertility drug. Basically the same kind of test you did at home, but more accurate.” Carolyn smiled as he continued to watch her label Maria’s blood. “So did this cause you to freak, when you did covered your girlfriend was pregnant?”

Michael shook his head no. “Fiancée, and no I was fine. Maria was the one that freaked. She doesn’t do change well.” Michael looked over as Maria came out of the bathroom.

They waited in the exam room for the doctor after Michael said goodbye to Carolyn. Maria watched in amazement as Michael struck up a conversation asking questions, and Carolyn promised to find him literature. Getting undressed, Maria sat on the exam table while Michael was reading a brochure.

Pulling off the tape on her arm, Maria looked at her puncture wound to see if it had stopped bleeding. The taped pulled at her skin, and Michael was beside her immediately at the sound of her reaction to the pain. Taking her arm in his, he gently removed the tape and looked at the wound. Maria watched his face, when suddenly his body shuddered and he bent his head to cover the wound with his mouth.

“Oh damn!” Maria moaned closing her eyes. He couldn’t start that here. Not now. “Michael.” He looked up and they shared a look before both of their eyes dropped to the other’s mouth as Michael moved forward resting his hands on the table on either side of her and his mouth moving closer to hers, as the door suddenly opened and the doctor entered. Michael moved away quickly, straightening and rubbing the back of his neck as Maria cleared her throat.

“Maria.” The man looked over at Michael in surprise. “And Michael. This is a surprise, Detective. I would have bet my entire life savings that you’d be the last person I’d ever see in my offices.” Michael just scowled at the gray haired gentleman he had met a few times over the last year at parties he and Maria attended. He never realized that the man was Maria’s doctor.

“Jim. How are you?” Maria cleared her throat again to take out that husky sound.

“I’m the doctor. I think that’s my question.” Jim looked over at Michael. “Michael, do you think you’ll be more comfortable in the waiting room while I examine Maria?” Seeing the larger man’s deepening scowl, Jim smiled. Perhaps not the waiting room. “How about my office?” Michael just shook his head no.

“I’m fine here.”

Jim leaned forward and asked Maria in a quiet whisper. “Is he going to shoot me?”

“You’ll be fine. I’ll protect you.” Jim nodded, but uncertainly. He wasn’t too comfortable under the dark scrutiny of those eyes. But he got to work asking Maria questions and examining her. Everything was fine until Maria winced once at the coldness of the instruments and Michael started to stand up.

“It’s just cold. Stop worrying.” Michael sat down again. Maria turned her attention back to the doctor. “So, do you hear from Harry?”

The man smiled. “Too often for my liking. Every time he calls, he needs more money. Senior year in College, and he seems to spend more and more.”

“That’s not going to change, Jim. He’s starting medical school this fall, right?”

“Yeah, I’m already seeing the bills.” Jim looked over at Michael. “I might have to increase my fees to cover them all.” He watched Michael’s eyes narrow, and just shrugged. Okay, joking was out.

Standing up, he covered Maria up and went to the counter to mark in her chart and fix the slides for lab. “That’s it for now. Why don’t you get dressed, Maria, and you and Michael can come into my office and we’ll set you a delivery date.”

Afterward, Michael lightened up, and asked lots of questions. As they were leaving the office Jim and Michael were actually conversing freely, much to Maria’s amazement. Hello! Who was the pregnant person here?

“So she doesn’t need another appointment in a few weeks?” Jim patted Michael on the back as they walked down the hall towards the reception’s desk.

“No. Not this early in the pregnancy. The receptionist will set you up for the next appointment. Just follow the diet, exercise, and take the prenatal vitamins. No more caffeine, and alcohol abstinence is a given. If morning sickness gets to be a problem call me and I’ll give her something.” They stopped as Carolyn came up and gave Michael a small pile of literature. Maria rolled her eyes in disgust. “So Michael it looks like you and your girlfriend are going to have your lives pretty full in about seven and a half months.” Maria frowned at that. Girlfriend? Hellooo, the name is Maria! The knocked up one-the frickin’ patient!

Michael flipped through the literature and smiled his thanks at Carolyn, then answered Jim’s question. “Fiancée, and yes I suppose we are.” Michael missed Maria’s startled look at him.

“Fiancée? I didn’t realize! Congratulations you two!” Maria looked at the two men in utter shock. Neither did she.

But Michael appeared to be enjoying himself. Pig. What the hell was wrong with him? By the time they left the office he had the doctor’s private number and emergency number, a crapload of literature, knew half the office workers' names, and carried a balloon, two stickers and a lollypop. Maria growled when she heard voices wishing Michael a good day on their way out. Maria was surprised they didn’t lose her in a closet or something with all the attention anyone paid her.

On the way to the PD, she kept looking over at him in the passenger seat reading through a brochure. Occasionally he would read her a fullfledged passage about the changes soon to befall her tortured body. Finally Maria couldn’t take any more. Cutting off another car, she pulled into a parking lot. Michael looked up at the Dunkin’ Donuts shop. Great idea. He could eat, but Maria better have herbal tea, and...Michael searched his book quickly...too much sugar was bad. Maybe an egg and ham croissant for Maria. Protein was essential.

“What the hell is wrong with you?”

“Me? Nothing. I’m just reading.”

“I’m not talking about that. What is with telling everyone I’m your fiancée?”

“What about it? It’s what they call the person you’re going to marry before you actually get married.”

“That usually implies that you ask the person, you intend to marry. Oh, let me see...” Maria paused dramatically. “Nope, don’t remember a proposal of any sort. Ergo, not a fiancée.”

Michael frowned. He was supposed to ask? Hadn't he? Dammit it shouldn’t be this hard. Of course they were getting married. It was a given. “Maria, okay, maybe I forgot to ask,” Michael continued ignoring her snort of derision, “but you should have realized that with the baby coming and...”

Michael winced in pain at the loud high screech of indignation that emanated from her. Maybe he said the wrong thing? “Baby? This is about the baby? Aw, oh...I? Oh...” Maria actually turned red and Michael looked at her in concern. She didn’t look like she was breathing. This could be very good for the ba... “Get out!”

“What?”

“Get out of my car.” Michael was confused by her reaction, but complied before she burst a blood vessel.

“Maria...” Michael jumped back quickly to save his feet, as she gunned the car into gear and took off, stranding him in the parking lot of a Dunkin’ Donuts. “Maria!” Michael flopped his arms at his sides in agitation. What the hell did he say?

Taking out his cell phone he called her number. At the answer, “Maria?” which was followed swiftly by a disconnecting dial tone. Michael dialed again…

“Max? Look, can you pick me up at the Dunkin’ Donuts shop on the corner of 37th and Fillmore?”

Michael headed into the shop to get himself some breakfast and coffee. Ring. He couldn’t believe he forgot the ring. This was Max’s fault. He could have mentioned a ring last night. Maria’s reaction was startling, but Michael comforted himself with the knowledge that she was more than likely highly emotional and hormonal. He had just read about it in that one brochure.

“Could I have another half a dozen glazed buttermilks over here?”

“So you going to tell me what happened?” Max asked as he retrieved his donut laden partner.

“Maria. It was Maria. She stranded me in the parking lot.”

“Uh huh.”

“We were talking, and suddenly she went all pissy and angry, ordered me out of her car, and then she almost ran over my feet.” Michael was starting to feel really put upon.

“What did you do?” Max asked in a resigned sigh.

“Me, I didn’t do a thing. I went to the doctor’s office with her, was all supportive...you know, showing her she wasn’t alone in this.” Michael said, very proud of his actions. “I think she took offense at me telling people we’re getting married.”

“Why? She must have known that people would find out once she said yes.” Max frowned leaning closer to a mumbling Michael trying to catch what he was saying as they drove into the PD garage. “Did you just say that you forgot to ask her?”

“Technically, yeah. But, it’s not my fault. I got home early this morning, and we sort of were busy...Well anyway, between that and going to the doctor’s office, it might have slipped my mind.” Michael wasn’t going to let Max put all the blame on his doorstep. “Did you have a ring ready when you asked Tess?”

“No. I just figured if she said yes, we’d choose it together.” Michael nodded. Exactly. So not having a ring wasn’t that big of a deal. “Of course, I did ask her and not just inform her by announcing it to the world at large.”

“You might have mentioned that last night!” Michael growled. What? Did they have f-ucking books on this sh-it?

“Hey, don’t put this on me!”

“I don’t see what the big deal is.” Michael said as they headed for the elevators. “It’s a given that we’d get married with the baby on the way, and all.”

Max turned and looked at Michael in horror. “You didn’t say that to Maria did you?”

“Sort of, but hey, she didn’t let me explain. Next thing I knew she was kicking me out of the car and then she almost ran over my damn feet.” Max just groaned. Yeah, like Michael trying to explain was going to make it better and not worse. “Then she hung up on me when I tried to call her. I can understand it though,” said Michael as he got in the elevator with Max. “She’s all hormonal and everything, highly unreasonable.”

Max couldn’t take anymore. He just buried his head in his hands and groaned.

“What? What the hell did I do?”