Notes: Well, I guess I have learned an important lesson… serious stuff does not sell, so I made "Living" go away! Thank goodness, fluff is usually well received! Ok, good to go! This one should be much fluffier.

This is the end of my Goren family stories. I was thinking about one last one from Caity's pov, but decided against it as it would be a bit depressing. I may just write it for myself.

Thank you to everyone who has read and commented on my stories. I appreciate the time that you took to do this.

Dreams

Never in my wildest dreams did I ever believe that I would actually get here. Yet here I am, standing on this sandy beach holding Ali in my arms and saying our vows. Never in my wildest dreams did I think that she would ever feel the same way I do. I still feel like I need to pinch my arm, every now and then, just to make sure that this is not some wild, wonderful dream.

Cicicicicicicici

I had always dreamed about having the perfect life. The storybook house, with the white picket fence, the brown and white dog. Two children playing on the swing set in the back yard, another one, my son, wearing a paper pirate hat terrorizing his sisters. My wife would be lying on a lounge chair, enjoying the sunshine, and telling the boy to behave. The baby would be sitting on a blanket with an umbrella poked into the ground behind her, shading her little head. She would be playing with her toes, even though she would have five or six little toys scattered around her. I, well, I would be trimming the hedge.

For most of my life, I had been able to see the faces of the children, but the face of my wife was always a mystery. It had stayed a mystery until the day that Alexandra Kathryn Eames walked into my life. From the first day, when I dumped coffee all over her pink shirt, the face of my fantasy 'wife' was clear.

The problem was, we were partners. The police force had strict rules on partners who became romantically involved. Until Alex came along, I had gone through dozens of partners. Alex and I 'got' one another. Rather, she 'got' me, she just did not know how much she 'had' me.

The flirting and sexual tension was evident to everyone from the beginning of our partnership. Speculations about the two of us were flying before the end of the first week, and the rumors never did dry up. We ignored the busy bodies that were spreading the tales, with the exception of the one that flew when people became aware of Alex's pregnancy. That one we stomped on quickly.

When we finally broke down and gave in to our feelings, the results were amazing. I often wondered why we had waited so long. What had been wrong with me that I deprived myself of this woman's love for so long? I would look into her eyes and see her love for me, as strong as mine was for her.

We had to learn how to separate work and personal life. It was not easy to let the job stay at the job. For so many years, we had spent much of our 'off' time talking about cases and bouncing ideas off one another. We came to an agreement that we would give ourselves half an hour, usually after dinner, to talk about work, and that was all.

Within a year, Alex had moved into my apartment. Her apartment was in a better neighborhood than mine, but thanks to rent control, mine was larger and less expensive. It was interesting. I had not lived with a woman for many years, and so many of her little habits caught me off guard. I grew to love many of her little quirks, and tolerate others, for example her cat Zoom-Zoom. I am not a cat person, and Ali's cat was no exception. Zoom-Zoom was nearly 20 years old, and Ali was the only one that could go near her. Zoomy and I learned to live together, and tolerate each other, but just barely.

The time came, as it always does, to meet each other's parents. Her family I knew. I had spent time with the Eames'. Over the years, I had been invited to share many Sunday suppers, and holiday meals. She had an amazing family. It was large and loud. They teased, argued with, and tormented each other constantly yet they were very protective of their own. It only took a few Sunday meals before her brother Declan clued in to our relationship. He took me outside under the pretense of showing me the family's sailboat. It was clear that while Declan did not approve of his baby sister becoming involved with her partner, as long as I never hurt, or brought shame to Alex, he would accept me. We returned to the crowded kitchen, and Declan announced that Ali and I were officially a couple. The news was met with a silence never before heard in the Eames home. I ended up having private conversations with nearly every member of Alex's family. I am not sure if her father, to this day, accepts me.

Alex had been to Carmel Ridge, my mother's assisted living center and had met my mother, but it had been a bad day. Mom had not even recognized me, she had just had a psychotic break, and was so drugged, that an introduction was just not appropriate. A few days after breaking the news to the Eames family, I called Carmel Ridge, and asked them to call me on the next good day Mom had. It had taken almost two weeks, but one afternoon my cell phone rang, and we begged off work and traveled the long distance for Ali to meet my mom.

It was an excellent day for mom. It was almost as if someone knew that I needed her to be lucid and coherent. I knocked gently on the door to her room, then tentatively pushed the door open. Mom was sitting in her overstuffed chair by the window. Her gray hair was tied neatly into a bun, and she was neatly dressed in her favourite gray pants and pink blouse. She looked up as I pushed the door open and a smile crossed her face.

"Robert!" She said in surprise. "Tomorrow is Saturday, I did not expect to see you today."

"Mom, you look well," I said, and leaned over to kiss her cheek. "I have someone special with me. Someone I would like you to meet. My Alex."

"Finally," Mom said. "I have been wondering when I would get to meet your partner. Where is he?"

"He?" I questioned as I felt Ali's hand on my back. She stepped around from behind me, walked to my mother's chair, and held out her hand.

"Hello, Mrs. Goren," she smiled. "I am Alex."

My mother's mouth fell open as she slowly reached for Ali's hand. "Robert," she said. "This is a woman!"

"Yes Ma'am," Ali said with a smile. "I take it you were not expecting a girl."

"My son has talked so much about 'Alex'. First as his partner at work, then as the person that he was falling in love with, and finally as the person he now lived with, the person with a cat." Frances Goren mused. "My dear, I had no idea that he was talking about a woman. I assumed that 'Alex' was another man!"

My mouth fell open as I listened to the words my mother was saying. My mother had thought that I was gay!

Ali's musical laugh filled the room. "I can assure you Mrs. Goren, that your son is absolutely straight." She then looked at me with a smile.

"You," she directed at me with twinkling eyes. "Were the one that told me that your mother does not like nicknames. You never thought to refer to me as Alexandra?"

We had a very good visit with my mom. I was amazed at how together she seemed. It was, unfortunately, the last one that we had in which she was not tormented by her demons. She passed away a few months later, after suffering a MI. I was tremendously happy that Ali had actually had the opportunity to meet my mom.

I knew that the day would come when I would ask Ali to marry me. I had found the perfect ring early in our relationship, and had purchased it, then stashed it in a safe place until the time came. When I thought that the time had come, I asked her to be my wife. Her reaction surprised me. She spooked and ran. I spent a restless night looking for her and worrying about her. She found me back at the apartment the next morning, jumped into my arms saying 'yes'.

Setting a date was not easy; in fact, it was almost impossible. Between our work schedule and that of her family, it looked like the nuptials would never happen. Until the day, the day that I was almost taken from her.

We had been working on a difficult case. Someone had murdered a prominent member of the Gioceppi family. Threats had been made against Ali, and myself, by 'unknown' sources. This was the only time in our partnership that I had insisted that Ali step back, and Deakins agreed with me. She did, but very reluctantly, and Logan was partnered with me. Ali and Carolyn worked together on the paper work, phone call aspect of the case.

I was quite correct in my concern. The case ended badly with an explosion in a house to which Logan and I had been lured. The murderer was a member of the Mob family and knew that once he had been found out, he would either die in jail or be annihilated by another family member. He had decided to end it, and he was determined to take Logan and I with him.

I am not sure why we were not killed, or for that matter seriously injured in the explosion. I recall a great deal of commotion, and a brief trip to the hospital, before Deakins took me back to 1PP. Ali was waiting for me in his office. She was in my arms the moment that I walked through the door. Her arms wrapped tightly around my neck, raining kisses all over my face. I held her close and caught her in a deep kiss. Deakins wordlessly took a step backward and closed the door leaving us alone.

"Don't you ever do that to me again!" She cried, when she finally let go and had pushed me into a chair. "Bobby, I was scared to death! What would I ever do without you? It was hard enough losing Drew, I… I … I cannot do that again. I can't lose you!"

I pulled her into my lap and just held her tightly. I assured her that she would not lose me. I was there forever. Our favourite word.

That night, between the nightmares, I had a wonderful dream. Ali and I were standing on a warm sunny beach, with beautiful blue water out in front of us. We had just said our vows and were leaning in to kiss, when she whispered something in my ear, something that I did not hear, I had just asked her to repeat herself when I jarred awake. Naturally, I could not get back into that dream. Instead, I pulled her closer to me and fell back asleep.

The next day at work, I went in to see Deakins. I asked for Ali and I to have mutual time off. I wanted to take her to that warm sandy beach in my dream. I was ready for an awkward conversation with my boss, but he smiled his omniscient smile and signed off on the time, with a 'Congratulations', and a 'you could not have waited three more weeks? This means I am out fifty bucks to McAllister.'

I had cautiously approached Ali with my idea, certain that she would argue. Instead she kissed me soundly and wondered why we had not thought of it before. We met with a travel agent, and booked the trip for the next week. We then kicked into high gear getting all the necessary paperwork and blood testing done.

Cicicicicicicici

Here we are one week later, standing on the pristine white sand beach in Playa Del Carmen Mexico. Having just finished saying our vows, we just leaned in for the kiss and Ali whispers into my ear. This time I hear. If I had thought just a moment before that I was the luckiest man on earth, after her words I knew it now. As I picked her up swinging her in a slow circle, she repeats her words…

"Bobby, we are having a baby!"

Dreams do come true.