"How about Lindsey?"
"No, too…poofy."
"Anna?"
"I don't want her taking after eccentric celebrities."
"Selena?"
"It's pretty but no."
Bobby and Alex sat at their desks in the squad room debating over the name of their daughter. The sonogram had tested positive for a baby girl and ever since Bobby had been reading up on fatherhood, looking up names, and making Alex, sometimes unwillingly, get plenty of rest. At times Alex got irritated, and they had their fair share of fights over exactly who was pregnant, but all in all they were excited about the baby who was due in about three weeks.
"How about Mike?" said Logan, walking up to Bobby.
"Logan I'm not naming my girl child after a man." He closed the book. "We'll work on it later."
"Why not?" said Mike. "I like the idea…"
"Mike, no." said Alex. "It's not happening.
Nola looked up from her desk. "Trust Logan to inflate his own ego."
"Thanks Falacci," said Logan, mocking being hurt and returning to his desk.
Ross walked out of his office, calling "Detectives Goren, come here". The detectives rose from their desks and walked over to the captain's office. He ushered them in, saying to the pregnant Alex "Sit down, make yourself comfortable." Closing the door, he went to sit down and began to debrief them."
"Mary Smith was raped and murdered two days ago, the latest in a string of murders committed over the last three months. Now, I know you may have been wondering why this department is working this case, and the answer is that the call came from the higher ups. You see, all of the murdered were at one time or another marines stationed in Iraq.
"Now, I know you two don't normally work together, but since Alex is on desk duty, it checks out. Bobby you will work with two detectives from SVU, Olivia Benson and Eliot Stabler. Alex, you of course will remain on desk duty researching the case. I'm counting on you two to help the other two detectives catch the killer."
"We will," said Bobby, and walked outside. Alex moved to join him.
"Eames- I mean Goren- stay behind." Alex sat back down. Ross sighed and reached for his pen. "How are you?"
"Fine captain, really, I am."
"How's the pregnancy?"
"It's good. I didn't have any morning sickness and relatively little cramping." She looked towards the window at the summer sky. "I wish I wasn't stuck at my desk all day."
"It's for the best," Ross said, putting the pen down. "Alex, have you been going to therapy?"
"Yeah, Bobby and I go every Tuesday."
"Good, I'm glad the two of you seem to be recovering from the abduction well. It was a sore spot for many people in Major Case when we found out that one of our own men was leaking information."
"Really, captain, I'm over it," she said, turning back to face him. "If it were you, would you dwell on the past or move on to accept happier times?"
"You're right," he said. "I just wanted to check in with you." He switched gears. "When's the baby due?"
"In about three weeks, end of July."
"Have you two thought of a name yet?"
Alex smiled. "We can't seem to agree on one."
Ross got up and walked her to the door. "I'm glad we had this talk Eames- I mean Goren."
"No problem, I'll respond to either name." She walked out and into the work room.
CICICICICICICICICICICI
The Goren house was filled with large boxes. Bobby and Alex decided a month ago that they would leave to move into a bigger house in Brooklyn, wanting more room for the baby. Alex came into the kitchen where Bobby was making dinner. "What's on the menu tonight?"
"It's a surprise," said Bobby. "Wait in the living room for about ten minutes."
She sat on the couch for a while until he came through the door. "Close your eyes," he said, extending a hand.
"Bobby, what's going on?"
"Trust me," he said. She took his hand to stand up and closed her eyes. She walked while he led her until he said, "You can open her eyes now."
She looked into their bedroom. There was a table with rose petals around it and two plates filled with delicious food. She looked back up at Bobby. "You did all this?"
"Yeah," he said, putting an arm over her shoulder, "let's eat."
The last two months had been crazy, and although the couple wasn't as wild as in the first trimester they still found ways to be intimate. They had enrolled in therapy after the abduction and a lot of the work that was done was rebuilding their faith in the job. Living as cops had, at times, interfered in Bobby and Alex's personal lives, so for now they focused more energy on their home lives. They sat and ate, knowing that the separation between the job and home was working.
Later that night while Bobby was sleeping, Alex sat up staring through the window into the warm summer night. "Thank you," she whispered to an invisible God, and laid down for another night's sleep.