Disclaimer: I own nothing characters belong to Dick Wolf. I just wrote the story inspired by the episode Brazil
Connie lay there, wide awake, staring at the ceiling. She turned her head to her right and watched Mike's chest rise and fall and he slept. She raised her head slightly to look at the clock beside him, she just read 2:47AM before Mike' s arm around her waist tightened and she lay back down as he continued to sleep, content his bed partner was still there. Connie breathed in and exhaled slowly. She couldn't sleep; she couldn't stop thinking about Mike's newly revealed childhood. Mike didn't talk about his parents much and now she knew why. She mentally kicked herself for every time she mentioned her family. Connie was extremely close to her family. Connie spoke with her parents and her sister every day and even though she hardly ever had time to see then ordinarily, she never missed Christmas or birthdays. She knew she was incredibly lucky to have such a loving family; it had
She was pulled from her thoughts from Mike's sleepy voice, "Connie I'm fine, go to sleep."
"What?" she looked over at him.
"Stop thinking about my situation with my Dad and go to sleep. It really doesn't bother me, it was twenty five years ago." He said pulling her closer to him tucking her head under his chin.
"I'm sorry Mike, it's just I never knew that about you and I feel horrible knowing you've listened to me talk about my family so many times when you haven't seen you're Dad since you were ten." She said.
"I haven't seen my Mom since I got my law degree." Mike told her.
"Is that supposed to make me feel better?" she asked.
"Look Connie, the point is it was a very long time ago and it's never going to change. Do I wish things could've been different? Of course I do, he was my Dad, but there's nothing I can do about it. I know you're very family orientated and that's a beautiful thing. But I don't resent you because I don't have that. I don't need that. The only thing that I can't bear to lose is you. You're all I need, and I know that it's not the same for you, and you need your family, because you've always needed you family and that's okay and that's good, but Connie please stop worrying about me because unless you're going anywhere I've got everything I need." He told her.
She looked at him; she could feel her eyes brimming with tears that began to escape down her cheeks.
"Mike, you are my family. You're right I do need my family, but I need you just as much because you're part of it." She told him sincerely.
"I love you." He whispered as her leaned forward and kissed her.
"I love you too." She breathed as they broke apart.
A YEAR LATER
"Connie I'm home." Mike called as he returned home from work early for once, he walked into the lounge to find his heavily pregnant fiancée tapping away in a lap top. He smiled.
"Connie, when are you going to stop stressing out about missing work? You're on maternity leave, you're not supposed to be working." He said slowly as he sat down next her and kissed her cheek.
"I know but there's nothing to do otherwise, I'll cut back on work when junior's born." She explained.
"Okay, um we're not actually going to call our child junior are we?" he asked.
"No, but seeing as you opted not to find out whether we're having a boy or a girl junior is easier than saying 'Emily or Daniel' all the time." She explained,
"Fair enough but you know whether or not we have an Emily or a Daniel I am going to teach them how to play baseball as soon as they can crawl." He smiled at her as she laughed.
"Hmm, can you believe we're actually having a child?" she smiled.
"I know, you know I never saw myself having a family, but I can honestly say this is the best thing that's ever happened to me. I can't wait to be a Dad." He smiled and kissed her before putting one arm around her and the other on her bump.
He felt one of the baby's limps press against Connie's abdomen.
"Oh here we go again." She groaned straightening up as the baby got restless.
"Seriously though Connie if that's an arm, our kid is gonna be amazing at baseball." He grinned at her. She rolled her eyes and kissed him, then laid her head on his shoulder as he chuckled silently thinking that it didn't matter to him that he hadn't seen his father since he was ten, because this was his family and he was never going to leave them.