Disclaimer - Maria Frank, Scott Munch, Iva Munch, Alex and Ace are my own creations. John Munch belongs to Law and Order: SVU.
Author's note - this is the sequel to On To The Olde Town (based in 2002) and is based a year and a half later.

December 10, 2004

Seven year old Scott sprinted down the hallway from his room to another room, softly knocking before opening the door and leaping happily onto the bed. "Get up!" He patted the two lumps under the covers with his hands and laughed with a foot lifted and gently kicked him off the bed. "Dad!"

John raised his head and stared down at the boy before raising the comforter over his head. "It's Sunday, sport. Bugger off."

"But... it's almost noon," he happily stated, standing back up and moving back onto the bed, avoiding a gruff sounded grunt of the black dog laying between the two bodies.

"You're a pain, don't you know that?" Maria asked, the lump that was hers moving closer to the other one. "It's a weekend. Go watch cartoons or something."

The boy frowned for a moment. "There's never any good cartoons on when it's Sunday." He placed his hands on his hips and watched two heads gradually pop up from under the covers. "You guys suck."

Not able to take his seriously with his forced expression of anger, both Maria and John started to laugh. "Oh, please. Don't do that, buddy." Maria sat up, holding the comforter over her bare chest. "We're just picking on you," she explained, turning her head towards John, who flopped back down and pulled the covers back over. "We'll be up soon, all right?"

Scott happily sprinted off and closed the door behind him, leaving them in silence. "Last night was amazing, Mar," John blurted out. "Wanna go see if we're lucky this time?"

"I've told you, I have to wait a week or two until I can positively be sure I'm expecting." She reminded him, almost rolling her eyes from the number of times she's had to tell him.

He sighed and poked a finger at her stomach. "Well, you can still check since we did have sex a week or two ago."

"Yes, but still John - "

"Please?"

"Yes, in a few minutes before I get into the shower." She closed her eyes for a moment and felt his fingers gently tracing along her back. "What if it's negative again?"

"Don't worry about it, sweetheart. We both know it's not us; it could be just our timing." Munch sat back up and reached out to pet Ace, the now retired police rottweiler dog. Shortly after John left seeing her and Scott a year and a half ago, Ace and Maria were caught up in a hostage situation that resulted in Ace being badly injured. In the end, he lost his left eye and was headed up being heavily gun shy at the sound. "Besides, we both had appointments last month and we're both healthy."

Since being hitched six months ago, John and Maria had been trying to conceive to no avail. Any free moment they had from work - John working at SVU with Maria working as the police shooting range instructor - they tried. The month before, they sought out help from a doctor and everything checked out well. "I guess it's just our timing." Maria sighed as she stood up, reaching for her robe. "I'm going to take a test and then a shower. Want to join when I'm done testing?"

"I'll be right on in," he reassured, noticing the look in her eyes. The more negative tests she received, the more deterred she was becoming. "Think positive!" He yelled in the direction she went, receiving a yell back. Pulling his robe on, John walked out into the living room where Scott sat, sitting on the floor and stacking his blocks. "Mind if I help?"

"Sure," Scott replied, holding out a blue block for him to take.

"Are we doing anything creative here?"

Scott pointed to one stack behind him. "That's my main tower and this one is a house." He pointed to the blue block in John's hand. "That one can go over there where my other buildings are going to be."

Munch reached over and placed the block next to a yellow one, observing what creation Scott was up to. "Looks like a town you're building."

"It's New York city, silly." The boy sat up on his knees and pointed to another stack. "That's the police station where you work and that one over there," he pointed at the stack next to it, "is where mom works."

Since they had moved into John's apartment, he had to do some renovating with his belongings for them to scoot in, but it was working out well. The main bedroom was big enough for their master bed and a crib whenever Maria was going to be expecting their second and the spare was Scott's room. Once his younger sibling was old enough to sleep through the night, he was going to share the room.

"Very cool, buddy. Very cool." He smiled at the boy and admired the well thought out planning he had done. "Just be sure there are no blocks in mom's walk way, 'kay?" With a quick wink, Munch stood up and ruffled Scott's hair before moving down the hall to the bathroom.

M*M*M*M*M*M*M*M*M*M

Maria stood there in the bathroom and frowned at the test. It was another negative. "Fuck," she muttered, tossing it into the trash right before she heard a knock at the door. "It's okay. You can come in."

"Well," John asked as he entered and closed the door behind him.

Shrugging her shoulders and giving him a small smile, Frank shook her head. "Not this time."

Sadly smiling and sighing, Munch reached around her and turned on the water to warm it up. "We always have next time."

"Well, true." She smiled at him and almost leaned into his hand when he reached up to tuck a dark strand behind her ear. "Not like I'm enjoying our fun times almost every single night, though."

Laughing and undoing her robe to hang it behind the bathroom door, Munch did the same with his and made sure the water was the perfect temperature before stepping in. "Well, I'd hope you're enjoying it as much as I am. Otherwise, I may as well be doing it for my own enjoyment."

"Oh, nice. I'm a real version of a blow up doll," Maria remarked as she stepped in, giggling when he lightly slapped her backside. Pressing up against the far wall of the shower, she gave him a sly smile and raised her arms up. "Take me, I'm yours!"

"Do not tempt me like that, you minx." He stood over her with an evil grin and traced his fingers along her chest, admiring a very faint bite mark on the side of her left breast. "Hm, it's finally starting to fade." He leaned forward a little and traced his tongue lightly along it, sending shivers down Maria's spine.

Her fingers wove through his hair and gasped when he tenderly kissed the fading bruise and lifted her leg to wrapped it around his waist. Maria knew where he was going with this and didn't want it to end. "John...," she whispered hotly as he trailed his kisses up her neck before deeply kissing her. One thing was for sure - they couldn't get enough of each other. They were both an addictive drug for the other.

As the steam began to fully surround them, John eased himself in without breaking the kiss and grasped at the leg around his waist. Wrapping her arms around his neck, Maria broke the kiss for a moment to trail licks and nips along his jaw and down his neck, stopping just below his Adam's apple.

As he began to slowly pick up speed with his thrusts, he hummed in his throat when she nipped him roughly at the base of his throat. "How would you like this?" He asked softly.

Pondering it for a minute, Maria raised her head and stared into his dark eyes. They never broke their eye contact as he continued at a slow pace, his hands moving up to brace against the wall to keep his balance. "I don't want to rush this."

"Okay," he smiled down at her and lowered his head, gently claiming her mouth passionately.

M*M*M*M*M*M*M*M*M*M

Scott knew to not both his parents when they were alone, knowing they liked being together. Hearing giggling finally coming from the bathroom, he raised his head for a moment before going back to stacking his blocks. The youngster hadn't heard his mother laugh or even giggle as much as she has been before John came back into their lives, taking him under his arm and making her smile more.

Hearing the phone ringing on the wall, Scott stood up and sprinted over to answer it. "Scott here."

"Hey, Scott. It's Don Cragen. Is your dad there?"

"Hold on one second." He ran to the bathroom with the phone in hand and knocked on the door. "Dad! Phone for you!"

John grumbled and rested his head against the wall. Thankfully, they had finished their love making a few moments before but he still didn't want to deal with a phone call. "Do I have to?" He asked quietly, hoping Maria was going to tell him he didn't.

"I think you do," she honestly replied, shifting her position so he was able to extract with ease. "Besides, I need to really get clean now."

Continuing to mutter to himself, he stuck his head out and called for Scott to enter with the phone. He dried his hand and took the outreached phone. "Hello?"

"It's me. We have an emergency."

"I'll be there in twenty." He hit end button and handed it back to the seven year old. "Can you turn on the coffee machine and get my traveling mug ready, pal?"

He nodded and ran out to the kitchen, switching the coffee machine on and standing on a step stool to grab a traveling mug from the cupboard.

"Okay, now I need to clean up, too. Don says it's an emergency." He lathered up his hair as Maria started scrubbing his back. "Thought for sure we would have a day off."

Frank shook her head and lathered up the washcloth to wash his lower region carefully. "Don't worry about it. Dinner will be ready when you get home."

He winced slightly as she cleaned him and rinsed his head thoroughly. "Thanks. You don't need to stay up if I'm not home before eleven."

"All right." She finished and rinsed the cloth before handing to him to scrub everything else, reaching for the shampoo. They were both out of the shower within five minutes and John padded off with his towel to get dressed. Maria rushed out of the bathroom in her robe and got his coffee ready with some toast to gulp down while on the road. "Scott, grab his coat and work shoes, please?"

Scott sprinted to the door and pulled his coat down with his shoes in his hands. "Is everything okay?"

"Dad has an emergency at work and needs to leave as soon as possible." Once she was certain everything was set for him to just grab and go, Maria sat down at the table and blew out a breath. "What would you like for lunch, Scott?"

He wasn't sure what to decide for lunch as John came rushing out. "I'm sorry I have to leave. Hopefully there's a break in the case I've been working on for three months-"

Maria stood and straightened the collar of his suit jacket, silencing his excuses. "Shush. Just finish getting ready, dinner will be ready when you get home and just be safe."

Giving her a quick kiss, Munch got his shoes on, slipped on his coat and grabbed his mug with the toast hanging from his mouth. "Love you," he mumbled and he was swiftly out the door.

Sitting back down at the table, Maria crossed her right leg over her left and turned toward Scott. "So... wanna go to the park?"

John just about sprinted into the squad room as his boss, Don Cragen, was settling down with a meeting with the team. "I'm here. I'm here."

"Finally. Sorry to call you in on your day off, but something came up," Don explained, motioning to an empty chair. "What we have is your rape victim has recanted."

John's brows furrowed and his air caught in his throat. "She what? Why?"

"Because she lied about being raped by the taxi driver," Fin explained, handing Munch the report that was filed. "Nelly has stated she was really sorry about accusing the wrong man and has said that it was really her boss at the movie theater."

"And we're to believe her because...?" John asked, eying everyone around him. "What makes you think I want to believe what this woman says? We've been dragging this case along for the past three months - trying to convict the wrong man, mind you - and we're just suppose to believe what she says?"

Cragen held up a hand, hoping John would take the hint to calm down. "I know you're frustrated, John. We all are about this situation. Since the wrong man's been held in Rikers for the past two months, I'm going to see what our options are."

Munch shook his head and tried his best to contain his anger. "I can't fucking believe this. I held this woman's hand while she went ahead and picked the wrong guy from the line-up. She looked me straight into my eyes and told me it was him." He stood and paced around for a moment. "Where is she now?"

"Her lawyer's talking to her," Benson answered quickly, hoping he would calm a little. "She called him once we told her how serious this is."

"She doesn't fucking deserve a lawyer from the way she dragged us through the mud," he muttered, placing his hands on his hips. "When can I talk to her?"

Don lifted the window shade in his office, revealing the rape victim and her lawyer. "I'm giving them a few more minutes before letting you in. Just try to contain how pissed you are for a few minutes while you're in there. She's already a miserable mess."

"Serves her right." John walked out of the office and slumped down in his desk chair. "She deserves every little emotional pain she gets."

"Guess you were disturbed while being with the missus?" Fin asked, having followed his partner out.

John raised his eyes to his dark skinned partner for a moment. "Damn straight." He leaned back in his chair and placed his feet on his desk. "We're trying to conceive with every free moment we get. It's hard trying to when I'm being called in because my case is going to the shits."

Fin slowly sat at his desk, wondering what he could say to distract John from their dilemma. "You been to the doctor?"

"We both went in and we're both healthy. My sailors are in perfect condition and her eggs are as healthy as they can be."

"Maybe stress is causing it." He sighed as he leaned back as well, twirling a pen through his fingers. "Stress has a funny way of doing that to people. How has her work been going?"

Munch shrugged, picking at a hangnail. "New students coming in every day, it's amazing she still has her fingers. There's a test day coming up on Friday and she's hoping all of them will pass or she's going to become great friends with Jack Daniels."

Blowing out a whistle, Tutuola stared at his pen for a second, thinking. "Sounds like you two need some time off to just chill, man. Hard to get knocked up while under stress."

"Yeah, I guess. This circus of a case is just going to add more sand to our suck-ass fire." John blew out a breath and stared at a framed photo of Maria on his desk. "We'll figure it out. Mar won't get time off until February, so chances of getting some free time without stress isn't going to happen until then."

"Munch!" Don called John and motioned him toward the interrogation room. "They're ready to talk."

He stood up, muttering, "This is going to be fun."

M*M*M*M*M*M*M*M*M

Laying in bed that night, Maria stared at the ceiling and wondered when John was going to get home. After a day at the park and taking Ace and old man Alex for a walk, and helping Scott with his homework, there was nothing else to keep herself distracted. Her hand laid flat against her stomach and she wondered why is was being so hard.

With an annoyed sigh, she rolled over and hugged John's pillow close to her. As she inhaled in familiar smell, Frank began to long for him being right there beside her. "Where are you, hun?"

As if something heard her question, she heard the sound of his keys in the door lock. Without pausing, John continued to walk toward the bedroom as he stripped off his coat, shoes, work jacket and opened the door. No words spoken, he closed the door and slipped on top of the covers and held her close. "Sorry I'm home so late."

"Just so long as you're home, it's all right." She shifted the comforter around her and wrapped a free arm around him. "What happened?"

He sighed heavily and reached up to remove his glasses for the night. "My case is going to hell. The wrong man is in jail because she didn't want to seem like a racist about who raped her."

"What?" She sat up with a perplexed look on her face. Munch rolled over onto his back and stared at the ceiling. "She didn't want to look like a racist, so she allowed the wrong man to be put away?"

"Yeah, I know and the ADA is pissed beyond anything." He turned his head to see her looking down at him, a worried look on her face. "It may not look like it now, but we'll get it straightened out."

She placed her hand on his light grey work shirt and forced a smile. "I hope so."

He placed a hand over hers and noticed where his pillow was. "Did you miss me?"

Laughing, Maria placed the pillow back where it belonged. "I know it's sounds ridiculous since you were only gone since noon, but I missed you and kept wondering when you were coming home."

"Well, I missed you, too." Munch slowly moved his fingers along hers and his smile grew. "It gets tough knowing you're home while I'm at work."

"Yes, it does." She admitted softly, shivering when his hand slowly ran up from her hand to her shoulder. "I have to get up early tomorrow morning, John."

"So do I," John whispered as he sat up, softly pressing his lips to her neck. Smiling to herself, there was no way to reason with him about being up early. Maria gave in when he removed her night shirt, also knowing he needed it.

To be continued...