Could She Be There

Disclaimer: I do not own Cold Case. I am trying to write an episode but I am nowhere near to owning it. Trust me. I'm not.

By: Emma-lee (ewriter)

***

"Lilly?" Scotty asked as he walked into the apartment that they had secretly shared for the past three months.

She called from the bathroom, "Yeah, Scotty?"

"Where are you?" He asked, walking slowly into their bedroom, his footsteps light against the plush carpet.

"I'm in the bathroom…Is something wrong?" She asked with a slight worry in her voice.

"Everything's...great," he said, grinning, "I just have something to ask you," he said, sitting on the edge of the bed and taking a little black velvet box out of his coat pocket.

"So…how was work without me?" Lilly walked into the bedroom, the sound of her voice seductive as she spoke. She sat down behind him and gently massaging his tense shoulders.

"I missed you today…" He looked back at her, his dark eyes sad, "Why does boss have to give us separate days off?"

She frowned, "I don't know…was that the question you wanted to ask me?"

"No. Lil', I want…everyone to know that we're…together."

"Oh, really?" She smiled wryly, wrapping her arms around his shoulders from behind. "How will we tell them, Scotty?"

He looked down at the box in his hands and handed it to her, his voice soft. "We'll tell 'em with that, Lil'."

Lilly opened to box and held it in her hands as if it would break at any moment. "Scotty?"

"Will you marry me, Lil'?"

"Yes," She murmured before her lips found his. She pushed him down onto the bed, loosening his tie. "But…I have something to…tell you first."

He looked up at her, his hand stroking her silky hair. "What, Lil'."

"We're pregnant," she said softly.

"Thank God," he murmured before pulling her lips to his. She was his. Completely his.

***

Scotty cursed, jerking awake. It was always at that moment, that moment when he had Lilly and was the father of their child, when he had everything he'd ever wanted, that he woke up from his recurring dream. He sat up and held his head in his hands, Why does this always happen to me?

You need to tell her, a small ever recurring voice told him. As if it was the easiest thing in the world to just waltz up to Lilly "Ice Queen" Rush and tell her that he loved her.

Should I? He thought, his head starting to hurt. Or should I…not?

You should. He grabbed his cell and dialed her number before all the reasons that told him that he was being insane made him change him mind.

"Hello?" When he heard the adorably sleepy voice of Lilly Rush on the other line, he smiled.

"Hey, Lil'. It's…me. I can't sleep again…" He said calmly, even as he was beating himself up for his stupidity, "and I was wonderin' if I could come over."

He heard the rustle of sheets and a disgruntled meow as she sat up, "Scotty…what time is it?"

"Two a.m.," he said quietly, glancing at his watch.

"Two a.m.? Well, I need to…tell you something anyway. You still have the spare key, right?"

"Yeah," he said gruffly, "I'll be there in ten. And thank you so much, again. Okay?"

"'Kay," she said groggily, "Bye, Scotty."

Scotty hung up and sighed. "Love you, Lil'," he said to the woman of his dreams, even though she wasn't there to hear the words fall from his lips.

***

"Lil'?" Scotty asked, relocking the door as he entered his partner's eerily silent apartment. He knocked softly on her bedroom door, his instincts telling him that something wasn't right.

"Yeah, Scotty?" He heard her ask, her voice strangely muffled. "Come in." He opened the door slowly to see Lilly. She sat on her bed, basking in a lamp's dim light, with a letter in her hand.

He saw the tears shining in her eyes. "You okay?"

She laughed, "Chris is dead. And she left me her baby girl."

Scotty hesitantly sat beside her. "What's her name?"

"Andrea Lily Rush," she shook her head and looked up at him, her sapphire eyes filled with pain. "I don't know if I can do it, Scotty. I don't know if I can take care of a baby or if I even want any part of her in my life."

"She needs her family, Lil'," he said softly.

She nodded and handed him a envelope. "Can you read this for me? I can't bring myself to…read it." She laughed bitterly, "Chris is sending me messages from the grave."

He opened it slowly and read:

Lil',

I'm sorry for dropping this on you, Lil', but...I can't take care of her. Not where I'm going. I'm in trouble and I don't want her to have the life I've had. It wouldn't be fair to her.

Please? I don't want her getting hurt and…it's the last favor I'm asking of you. With the trouble I am in dying is inevitable. There was never any father. Please, my sister?

Love you lots,

Chris

Lilly looked down at the guardianship papers and picked up a picture, "I'll be her guardian, but…" She looked up with a plea for help in her eyes, "Scotty, can you…be the second guardian?" She asked hesitantly, her fingers tracing along the edges of the picture tenderly.

"I'll help you take care of her, Lil'," Scotty said as Lilly looked down at the picture of Chris' baby girl, the girl with sapphire eyes and pale curly blond hair showing some resemblance to both Rush sisters making it obvious she was related to the beautiful Lily Rush. He wrapped his arms around her shoulders to take away some of the pain he saw in her eyes; Lilly looked back at him with a questioning look.

"I promise," he said softly, feeling Lilly's silken hair brush against his cheek. If only she was his.

Please review. It only takes a little time. Thanks for reading! And thanks to Elfi Blue for beta reading.