Walking up stairs while you're pregnant is never easy. Doing it while walking in a snow storm, clutching onto the arm of your best friend who kept telling you to be careful, doesn't make it easier. I guess the only thing I'm grateful is that I was on my last step and as soon as that door opened I'd be that much closer to the only man in my life who has ever made me feel like a queen.

As Carlos pulled open the front door of the small office building for me, I stepped in quick, unzipping my jacket. I smiled big at the cute young guy sitting behind the desk who stood up, one arm out stretched. I waked to him, taking off my jacket and handed it to him looking at the closed door of my husbands office. "He was on a phone call but I haven't heard him in a while. You could probbaly go in Mrs. Mitchell." I turned back to the receptionist, James and nodded turning slowly. I set a hand on my belly and gave a small smile to my partner, Carlos, who put a hand on the back of the 17 year old victim's neck who had been with us since about noon today. And it was almost 6 which meant Logan's office was almost closed. He probably didn't have any more appoitments today. Well he did now but he just didn't know about it.

"Let me go talk to him. And then I'll have you go see him Kendall." The tall blonde kid only nodded as Carlos led him to the nice comfy looking set up of two couches and four huge chairs. I waited to see Kendall sit donw, unzipping his jacket and sigh out before I turned and gently pushed on the huge wood door smiling almost instantly.

Logan's office was huge. On one side was a nice long black leather couch with a fuzzy warm looking blanket folded on the back. There were three throw pillows placed along the length along with another blanket folded on one arm rest. There was a nice brown chair adjacent to the couch with a coffee table in-between the two. Behind the couch was a huge bookshelf that I distintly remember helping him build. As I walked in, pushing the door open even more I turned my head to look at the other side of his office which is where he was. He was behind a nice sleak looking desk one hand holding up his head as he looked at his computer. I gently knocked on the wood of the door and without turning away from his computer he cleared his throat. "Come on in." I frowned walking in and lowered my hand form my belly clearing my own throat. Logan turned slightly before standing up, taking off his glasses. "Baby...what are you doing here?" I laughed gently shutting the door and walked to him as he came out from behind his desk. "How'd you get here?" I rolled my eyes as he approached me and let him pull me into him. Like usual, one hand rubbed over my belly while the other rubbed my back. I put both hands on his face and pecked at his lips closing my eyes.

"Carlos drove me. I was thinking we could do a little grocery shopping when you got off." He only hummed in response as his lips moved down to my neck and I opened my eyes. "Also..."

"There it is." I laughed as he started walking me to his desk and set me down on one of the two chairs in front of his desk. When I was fianlly sitting he moved in front of me and sat down on the edge of his desk putting his hands in the pockets of his pants. "What's going on?" I sighed out, sitting back and put both hands on my very large belly closing my eyes.

"We got a call this morning, about 11. Usually, because I'm on desk duty with Los, we wouldn't be called but the scene was...it was brutal." I heard him sigh which made me open my eyes. I smiled shaking my head and raised on leg rubbing my shoe up his leg on the inside. "Carlos was pissed we got called but every other detective was on another case. Besides...when we got there...the crime was already solved." He turned his head ever so slightly and I gently pushed myself up. "A man...a husband and father shot his wife. In front of thier 17 year old son. And then he killed himself. Not after beating the shit out of his kid." Logan lowered his head and shook it taking his hands out of his pockets. He crossed his arms and I stood myself up grabbing his forearms walking into him. "This kid...he's a mess. He isn't talking to Carlos or I...I mean not a lot. I just wanted you to talk to him...make sure he's okay."

"He's not going to be okay for a long time." He glanced up and reached up cupping my face. "Bring him in and I'll talk to him as much as I can. But it's still very new and fresh. He might not be ready to open up." I nodded, turnign to walk to the door. But one of his strong hands grabbed me and held me in place. "Does he have any other family in town? Or close by at least?" I chuckled and looked down lacing our hands together.

"None. We called his dad's mother, but she didn't answer. We had a unifrom cop go out ot her house and no one was there." There was a soft kiss to my forehead before he slowly led me out of his office.

I let Logan wrap an arm around my waist as he walked us out and Carlos stood up gently putting a magazine on the table in front of him. "Hey Carlos." Carlos nodded at Logan as Kendall stood up and looked between Logan and myself. I led us slowly over to Kendall and smiled at him as he locked eyes with me.

"Kendall...this is my husband, Logan Mitchell. Or Dr. Mitchell, which ever one you want to call him. He is one of the best phsycologists in town and would like to talk to you." Kendall looked down fast and I saw his shoulders tense up, along with his fists closing up tight. I turned my head slightly to catch eyes with Logan who was only smiling.

"Would you feel more comfortabel if Alicia and Carlos were with us?" Kendall looked up fast and swallowed hard nodding. "Okay. Let's go ahead in my office." Logan gently pushed us aside as he motioned Kendall to walk in. Kendall seemed hesitant at first but walked in anyway. I looked to Logan as he led us back to his office looking over my head. "James...hold my calls and start closing everything up."

"You got it." I looked back in the office and saw Kendall standing in the middle, looking awkward. I pulled away from Logan walking to Kendall smiling at him.

"Let's take a seat on the cocuh." I pointed to it and Kendall simply walked to it, me following. As he sat down, I did as well, sitting close enough to him, to let him know I was there, but not crowding him too much. We watched In silence as Logan closed the door and Carlos grabbed an extra chair putting it next to Logan's. Logan grabbed a notepad and walked to us, locking eyes with me. I gave him a weird look making him smile as he sat down clearing his throat. "You don't have any other appoitments today?" He wiggeled his left arm a bit until his watch was face up and he shook his head.

"Slow day. The snow has alot to do with that. I had at least three people cancel." I nodded and sat back looking between the three guys sitting around the coffee table. "So Kendall..." Logan sat forward putting the notepad on the coffee table leaning on his knees. "Tell me about your morning. About what happened." Kendall sat back putting his head down and started playing with his hands in his lap.

"School got canceled. All of the buses in town couldn't move. I tried telling my dad...but he was drunk." I wanted to pull this kid into me and hug him, but remained sitting. I got the bare minimum of what happened so I knew, hopefully, he would tell more. "My dad...he was a horrible acoholic. The only time he wasn't drunk was when he eventually blacked out. Anyway..." He looked up and stared rigth at Logan. "He accused me of skipping school. He told me I was a bad kid and he was going to call my mom at work. I told him he could call the school and figure it out himself and thats when he started hitting me." I closed my eyes looking away and placed a hand on my belly. "He used his fist on my face once but..." I felt him moving around and opened my eyes seeing him standing. He pulled up the black sweater and shirt underneath exposing pale, skin and bones. I sat up a little seeing Logan doing the same and pressed my lips hard together. There were welts, no doubt from a belt, along his rib cage. There were brusies, purple, black some even blue all along his stomach and back. "He really liked using his belt. It was the thing that made me cry the hardest. But eventually he got tired of the belt and threw me donw the stairs to the basement." Logan stood up quick but so did Carlos.

"We already took him to the hospital. He got checked out and they gave him some pain killers. Nothing is broken and he doesn't have a concussion, considering." I watched Logan shake his head turning back to Kendall who was lowering his shirt and sitting back down.

"I remembered laying there...thinking I wanted to fight back, but I coudln't move. That's when my mom came home." Logan sat back down and made himself look a little softer and kinder.

"DId your mom know about you being beat?" Kendall laughed sitting back, holding one arm over his stomach.

"Of course. But if she tried to do anything, he'd beat her too. I learned very quick to keep it to myself. I would rather have him do it to me, than my mom." I turned to Carlos who looked pissed off again. Like when we heard this the first time. We see alot of shit in our job but seeing a helpless child get beat by a pathetic excuse for a father or mother, got us angry every time. "I heard my mom walk in the house and stood myself up. They started screaming at each other. My dad said I was lying about not goign to school and my mom screamed back that it was true. I managed to get myself up the stairs and when my mom saw me...I don't know. She snapped. She slapped my dad hard and told him that was it. She would rather live under a bridge, just the two of us, rather than with him anymore. She said she was going to file for divorce and started to pull me up the stairs. We didn't get very far because my dad shot my mom in the back of her head." Kendall stopped, and suddenly he became very still. His eyes were wide and as I stared at the side of his head I noticed for the first time, some blood dried in his hair, and on his jaw line and neck. Probably his moms. "He shot her...right by me. I watched her body fall to the stairs, blood pouring out. I remember screaming but hearing that other gun shot...made me frozen. I heard my dad's body fall to the floor hard but remained motionless. I don't...I don't remember anything else except police coming in and being taken to an ambulance, Detective Alicia beside me." I looked over at Logan who was looking at me with sad eyes. "I'm scared." His voice sounded so small and broken. I did the only thing I could think of and put a hand on his shoulder. He turned quick and fell on me, crying out. I wrapped both arms around his shaking body and gave a pleading look to Logan.

"Are you scared because you're parents are gone?" I felt him nod his head on my chest and i ran my fingers through his hair. "Kendall...I'm very sorry about your mom. And I'm sorry you were ever put in this type of situation. I wish I could tell you it will get better, but right now, your brain is going to tell you it's all bad. And I'm sorry that it is." I frowned never hearing Logan sound so bleak but didn't say anything. "He has no where to go?" I saw Carlos nod as he sat back looking down at the ground. "We need to get a hold of one of the foster homes here..." Before he could finish Kendall shot up fast and wiped his face.

"I don't want to go to a foster home." I swallowed hard and pushed myself to the edge of the couch watching Logan stand and stare at Kendall.

"I know it sucks Kendall but we have to take you somewhere safe." I stood myself up and as Logan spoke, an idea came to my head. "You can't go back to your house...and you can't be homeless. We need to make sure you are safe."

"Logan." Logan turned to me and I nodded to his desk. i squeezed Kendall's arm as I walked away from him and went to the corner by Logan's desk. I turned and looked around his body at Kendall who was sitting back down, head in his hands, crying quietly. "I don't want him to go to a foster home." Logan frowned and leaned against his filing cabinet. "What if he stayed with us? Just until we could find a safe, good home for him?"

"Because there is a lot of paperwork with something like that. We can't just let the kid move in over night. CPS has to get involved. They have to be the ones to make that call."

"So because of some paperwork, you don't want to help this poor kid?" We locked eyes and I shook my head. "I can call my sergent right now and have him deal with all of it, in a matter of an hour, and you know it. It's not about the paperwork Logan. What is it really about?"

"First of all you can't save them all." I raised an eyebrow and he stepped closer. "Second of all he is a 17 year old orphan who just watched his mom get killed right in front of him and..." He stopped and I crossed my arms over my belly wacthing him deflate a little and look down at my stomach. "Okay. He can stay with us." I kissed his lips quickly and moved around him smiling big. I walked right back to the couch and set a hand on Kendall's back making him look up. He wasn't crying anymore but his face was red and wet. I softly wiped at his cheek closest to me and sighed out.

"Kendall...how would you feel about staying with Logan and I?" Kendall's eyes shifted quickly from my face to Carlos and Logan who were standing next to each other, back to my eyes. I nodded reassuringly and again wiped his face free of tears making him smile small, and nod once.

For the next three hours we drove to different stores, grabbing things for Kendall and our home. My sergent, just like I knew he would, took care of all our paperwork for us, and even thanked Logan and I for taking this poor kid in. I felt like it was a no brainer and as Logan drove us to the next store, him and Kendall started to talk a little more at ease. Logan was still on doctor mode, figuring things out about this kid. We found out as we got him a bed, and sheets and clothes that he was a huge hockey fan and loved to write poetry. I kept that in the back of my head as we got the things we knew he needed, for at least tonight. Kendall was, uncomfortable, I could tell about all the thigns we were getting him, but remained mostly quiet. Whe we bought him a small TV for his room he insisted it wasn't necessary but Logan and I pretty muched ignored him. And when it was all said and done and the back of Logan's truck was filled with groceys and Kendall's things we got ourselves a quick dinner and made it home.

Because of the snow still falling Logan backed up into our three car garage, giving each side some room. I slid out of the passenger door frowning at my tiny four door BMW, I haven't been abel to drive because of the weather. I shut my door and put my purse on my shoulder walking rather slwoly to the bed of the truck, where Logan and Kendall already were. They were talking about a hockey game, which was no intrest to me. I got beside Logan and reached in to grab some grocey bags. However Logan turned to me, grabbing my hands and bent down kissing my cheek. "Go sit down and eat. You look worn out beautiful." I sighed but nodded, not realizing how true that actually was.

I sat at our dining room table, looking through mail as Kendall and Logan walked back and forth between the garage and the kitchen. They decied to wait on brining in the bed and the rest of Kendall's stuff because they were both hungry. Kendall sat next to me at the tabel and dove into his hamburger and fries, like he hadn't eaten in days. It made me sad to see the bruises on him as he took off his sweater but remained quiet. As we ate, Logan put away cold things in the fridge, eating as he did, and when all the grocery's were put away he was done eating and fianlly sat donw at the head of the table drinking a cup of coffee. "So Kendall." I sat back putting my hand on the back of Kendall's chair and watched him sit up wiping his mouth. "We have two extra rooms. One is donw here, the other is next to the baby room. It's obviously vacant right now..." He pointed to my stomach and I laughed making Kendall laugh quietly as well. "But within the month a crying baby boy is going to be in there. So I was thinking of maybe having you in the downstairs room? All that's in there right now is a desk and a bunch of boxes of random things from our work." Kendall nodded and sat back eating a fry. "You'll have your own bathroom which is a plus."

"Thank you." He said it quietly, right before he yawned quietly. I gently reached out putting a hand on his shoulder and smiled as he turned to me.

"Why don't you go relax for a little bit. I'll help Logan bring in that bed frame and we'll set it up for you. Seriously. You look exhausted." He tried to protest, and tell me he was fine, but Logan stood up and cleared his throat.

"Go Kendall. You need to take some pain killers. I can tell." Kendall sighed grabbing his soda cup and stood up. "You can turn the TV on if you want. Just make yourself at home." Kendall nodded walking out of the dining room slowly, unzipping the black zipper on his body. I sat back grabbing my Diet Coke and watched Logan sit back down, grabbing his coffee cup. "He's fighting it." I frowned as I started to unbutton my black slacks around my waist, feeling too fat to be wearing clothes. "He's fighting the feelings...the fact he just lost his parents. He's covering up his emotions. I can tell."

"So how do you help someone like that?" Logan sat back raising an eyebrow as he loosened the tie around his neck. "I don't think I've ever felt this way about a victim before Loges. I feel attached to him."

"It's because you see yourself in him. Because of your own relationship with your dad." I looked down quickly and tensed up feeling his hand rub over my belly. "I know I told you, you can't save them all baby girl but I think you've done a bang up job of starting with this kid." I smiled looking up and leaned forward as he did. We shared a sweet little kiss that todl each other we loved the other. It wasn't alot but it was enough for us in this moment. I pulled away and reached down, without looking and grabbed a few bills raising them. He laughed and took them from me shaking his head. "Fucking bills." I laughed running my hand through his hair pulling my phone out as he did the same, so we could tag team the bills together.

We spent a good 15 minutes taking care of bills, and cleaning up our huge kitchen. Logan made me a small cup of coffee and when we finally walked out it was almost midnight. I stopped short feeling like crying seeing the curled up bundle of a broken teenager on my couch. I gently handed my coffee to Logan and walked to the couch. Kendall was sound asleep, legs pulled up to his chest, one arm under his head, the other wrapped around his legs. He had a small throw pillow under his head and his sweater covering his arms and body. I quickly took the blanket off the back of the couch, unfolding it, and covered him carefully. He remained unmoved as I sort of tucked him under the soft fabric and stayed bent over him. I wanted to hold him and let him cry on me until he couldn't anymore, but didn't make a move. until a hand traced up and down my spine. "You are going to be such a good mom." His voice was a whisper that made me shiver. I stood up slowly looking down at the sleeping boy letting Logan wrap around me. "Let's get you to bed." He kissed my neck, along with some of my hair that had fallen out of the braid it was in. I turned in his arm slowly and locked eyes with him as he put a hand on the small of my back. He gave me a look, a look of love and I beleived, pride. The look of two people in love, who have each others backs, no matter what.