Chapter 1-Something out of the Ordinary

Bobby Goren rubbed his eyes as he shuffled down the hallway to his apartment. After four extremely long nights of stake-outs and cold coffee, they finally found the guy they were looking for a couple of hours before dawn. After spending several hours in the interrogation room, he and Alex were closer to closing this case, but not quite there yet. Sighing heavily, he inserted the key into the door and entered his apartment.

Closing the door behind him, Bobby took off his leather jacket and ran his fingers through his hair. He tossed his leather binder, badge and keys on the table by the door. Something wasn't right here. Everything looked fine, but his gut screamed that something was out of the ordinary. Closing his eyes briefly to fight off the fatigue that seemed to be clouding his mind, he reexamined the apartment. A blue quilt lay on the couch, instead of on the back, a couple of pillows from the couch were scattered onto the floor. Bobby walked over to the couch and absent mindedly straightened up the pillows and quilt. He sat down on the couch and removed his shoes, briefly wishing he could just stretch out on the couch. The television reflected the quiet contours of his living room. Quiet. It was too quiet.

Bobby walked into the kitchen, and found his step-son, Jason, happily eating a bowl of Cheerios. Noticing the mess on the counter, he quickly realized that the six-year old kindergartener had managed to fix his own breakfast. "Good morning, Jason."

The boy's eyes lit up as the sight of Bobby, jumping down from his chair and ran to give him a huge hug. Bobby lifted Jason up off the floor and wrapped him into a huge bear hug, and gave him a quick kiss on the cheek. Jason rubbed his face, "You need to shave. Your face is prickly."

"Hey, I kinda like my beard." Jason shook his head no, and returned to his cereal. As Bobby cleaned up the mess on the counter, he glanced over at Jason, "Where's your mom?"

Jason answered real quietly, "She's sick."

"Sick?"

Nodding, he replied with a mouthful of Cheerios, "Mommy threw up this morning." He spewed wet Cheerios over the table as he spoke.

"Don't talk with your mouth full, Jas. I'll check on Mom in a minute, but first you need to get ready for school."

Jason nodded, and lifted his bowl to drink the milk. He then trotted to his room, with Bobby on his heels. Bobby hoped that his wife, Rena, had put out Jason's clothes as usual the night before. Noticing that she had, he handed Jason his favorite dinosaur sweater and blue jeans, then herded him into the hall bathroom to change and brush his teeth.

Returning to the kitchen, he checked the schedule for school. Several moms that attended Jason's school had gotten together and swapped out taking and picking up the kids for school. Fortunately, Mrs. Williams was picking up today, so Bobby didn't need to worry about getting Jason to school.

Jason bounced into the kitchen with his shoes in hand. While he knew how to tie his shoes, he preferred an adult to do it. About the time that Jason's shoes were tied, there was a knock at the door. Jason ran into his room to grab his backpack, while Bobby opened the door.

Mrs. Williams took a step back at seeing the tall and barefoot detective, since he rarely was home at this time. Slightly surprised, she tried to regain her composure, "Mr. Goren, how nice to see you."

Smiling sheepishly, "You as well, Mrs. Williams. I ran home from work for a few minutes to grab a shower and change of clothes."

"You need to slow down and take care of yourself, Mr. Goren. Don't let them run you into the ground." Behind her, her six year old son and eleven year old daughter argued over who was going to sit up front with their mother in the van.

Jason then darted between the two adults, glanced over his shoulder, "Bye!"

Grabbing Jason's jacket, he gently tossed it to the boy in the hallway, "Hey, buddy, you're going to need this!"

Frowning Jason peered up at Bobby with big blue eyes, "But it's too hot in the afternoon!" he whined.

Bobby didn't answer; he just looked at Jason with the same gaze that made many suspects confess their crimes. Jason's face fell in defeat, "Ok. I'll put it on!"

Grinning, Bobby waved, "Have a good day at school!"

Laughing Mrs. Williams turned to Bobby, "Hey, can I borrow you to deal with my middle-school daughter? I mean one look, and he folded!" Laughing she followed the kids down the hallway, "Remind your wife that she has mornings next week!"

Bobby nodded then closed the door to the apartment. As soon as the door closed, his expression became worried and concerned. Rena was nowhere in sight. Even when she's not feeling too well, she's never failed to come out to get Jason ready for school. Walking through the apartment, a sharp pain in his foot caused him to stop and curse. Looking down at the floor, he saw several stray Legos scattered across the hallway. How he managed not to step on one earlier was almost miraculous.

Limping slightly into his bedroom, he quietly opened the door. He could hear the water running from the master bathroom. Tapping softly on the bathroom door, knocking it open to reveal his wife, still dressed in her pajamas splashing water on her face. "Hey, beautiful."

She glared at him, "I not so sure about that."

Wrapping his arms around her and kissing her cheek, "No matter what, you're beautiful."

Rena pushed him off, "Must not be that beautiful since you haven't come home all week."

The tone in which she replied stung him, deeply. Following her into their bedroom, "Babe, you know I can't control that."

"Whatever. I don't really feel talking about it right now." She began rummaging through the closet, and tossing clothes on the bed.

Bobby felt the tension from his wife, and tried to change tactics, "Jason said you were sick this morning."

"I'm still fighting that stomach bug I had this weekend."

Concerned, he tried to get closer to his wife, "Perhaps you should call in today, and see a doctor."

"I'll be fine; my stomach is just really sensitive right now."

"Rena..."

She interrupted him, "I've got to get ready for work." And she slammed the bathroom door in his face.

Bobby sighed. Not knowing what else to do, he grabbed a towel from the hall closet, and went into the other bathroom to grab a quick shower.

After finishing his shower, he wrapped the blue towel around his waist and headed back to the bedroom, carefully avoiding the scattered Legos that were on the hallway floor. Still pondering how to soothe his agitated wife, it took him a few moments to realize that she was sitting on the edge of the bed, only partly dressed, staring at a white plastic tube on the dresser.

Gently, he touched her shoulder, "Babe, are you ok?"

Startled, Rena turned toward him and snapped, "I'm fine."

Unwilling to let the tension between them continue, "Really? So you barely crawl out of bed, you don't get Jason ready for school, you not dressed yet and you expect me to assume that you're fine?" Bobby let loose his temper, "So don't sit there and tell me everything is 'fine' when I know that it damn well isn't!"

Unexpectedly, Rena burst into tears. Bobby dropped the towel, and held her as she cried. After a few minutes, he tilted her head up and brushed her auburn hair out of her face. "Come on, baby. Tell me what's wrong." He softly pleaded.

Tears still flowing, "It's just we never talked about it. I mean the possibility has always been there." She stood and began to pace the room, "Whenever we talked about the future we've always talked about the three of us."

With a puzzled expression on his face, Bobby stood up and once again, wrapped his arms around her, "Babe, tell me what's wrong. Talk to me."

Rena peered up into his warm dark brown eyes, trembling slightly, "Bobby, I'm pregnant."

One heartbeat. Two heartbeats. "Are . . . are . . . are you sure?"

Pointing at the white plastic tube he noticed earlier, "That's the third test I took."

"How? I mean I know how, but . . . but when? I've been working so much lately and fitting in Jason's soccer practice and games. . ."

Rena glanced at him, "Pennsylvania. About a month ago for our anniversary. Remember that little place?"

His mouth turned up into a smile, "I remember you getting jealous over the attention that country store manager was giving me."

Unable to resist smiling at his teasing, Rena punched his arm, "I was not jealous. Just defending my turf, buddy."

Bobby cupped her face with his hands and kissed her deeply. "Thank you."

"For what?"

Placing his hand on her stomach, he gently answered, "For this. For you. I love you more than I think words can ever fully express."

Rena's face reflected the love and compassion that she felt, "Even when I'm going to drive you crazy with wild food demands and mood swings?"

"Even then." He grinned. "Let me go into the office and clear up a few things, and both of us will go to see the doctor together. No arguments, either. I'll make the appointment myself if I have to."

Jovially, she took a step back, as she scanned him and the fallen towel, "I think you might need to get dressed first though."

A few hours later, in the Major Case Squad room, Bobby sat at his desk, trying to give the impression that he was diligently working on his paperwork. Instead he stared off into space. It took Alex a few minutes to realize that her partner, while physically sitting their in the squad room with her, definitely wasn't there mentally.

"Hey, do you need to grab some sleep upstairs?" She paused. When Bobby didn't answer her, she gently prodded, "Bobby?" Waving her hand in front of his face, "Earth to Bobby! Anyone there?"

Surprised, Bobby sheepishly peered at Alex, "Sorry about that. I've got a lot on my mind today." He attempted to go back to his paperwork.

"Want to talk about it?"

Shrugging, he didn't reply. Alex, as stubborn as her partner, didn't relent. "Come on, it can't be that earth shattering can it?" Grinning mischievously, she tried to get her partner to open up, "It's not like Rena is pregnant or anything."

Bobby bolted up in his chair at the comment. Studying her for a few long moments, he tried to decide if she was just joking, or if she already knew. Words at this point seemed to inadequate express anything, so he just nodded. Very slowly and deliberately.

Alex's jaw dropped. "Bobby, I was just kidding. Are you serious?"

Rubbing the back of his head, he leaned back in his chair. "Yeah. She told me this morning when I went home to change."

With a grin that made the Cheshire cat's look small, "Bobby that's great! Why didn't you tell me earlier?" Then she stopped, "Is the world ready for another Bobby Goren?"

At that moment Danny Ross appeared at the two detectives' desks, "What's the progress on the Renshaw case?" After looking at the two detectives, he just had to ask, "And why would we want another Bobby Goren?"

Alex beamed, "You want to tell him, or should I?" Bobby leaned back in his chair and waved her on. "Rena just informed Bobby that he's going to a proud papa."

Ross's eyebrows shot up, "Congratulations, Detective." Checking his watch he added, "Both of you have lived here pretty much all week, turn in your paperwork and head out for the day. Reacquaint yourselves with your families."

About twenty minutes later, Bobby entered Ross's office to give him the paperwork on the stake-out that yielded the suspect in the Renshaw murder. As he turned to leave, Ross spoke up, "Close the door and have a seat Goren."

Puzzled, he did as Ross requested. He and Ross had never developed an easy relationship, and part of the blame for their tense relationship sat on his shoulders.

Ross set two glasses on his desk, and pulled out a bottle of whiskey. As he poured for both of them he spoke, "I clearly remember the day my ex told me that she was expecting my eldest son." Chuckling at the memory, he continued, "I think I walked around with that same dazed expression that you have for about a week." With a knowing smile, Ross handed Bobby a glass, "Congratulations, Detective."

Holding his glass up for the toast, Bobby sipped at the whiskey, slightly surprised at how good it was. "Sorry if I was a little out of it today. I'm still in shock."

Ross chuckled again, "I've been in your shoes, Goren." Waving towards the elevators, "Head on home. Remind yourself what home looks like, and don't bother coming back until Monday. You and Eames have already run up enough overtime to have the Chief breathing down my neck."

Bobby finished he drink, "Thanks for the drink, Captain. See you Monday."