She walked straight into the bedroom, barely stopping to rid herself of her coat gun and badge.
"Donnie, I'm tired" She mumbled when she entered the dark bedroom, not even sure if he was awake.
"I bet you are, you just pulled a double and you're four months pregnant" His voice floated through the darkness. She clicked on the lamp on the nightstand. His tired baby blues squinted in reaction to the light.
"Are you going to lecture me on working too hard?" Jess whined.
"Mmm, no, too tired" She deciphered his words as he buried his head in the pillow.
"When did you get home?" She wondered, peeling off her clothes and dropping them to the floor to join his. It was too late to care about the clothes making it to the laundry basket.
"Bout forty five minutes" He answered. She turned to her dresser and pull on her PJs. "Did you eat?" He asked in a concerned tone.
"Yeah" She replied.
"Jess, did you?" He wanted to make sure she wasn't lying. Sometimes if she ended up wrapped up in work she forgot to eat, then she got tired and no longer cared. Don pushed himself up into a push up position, ready to get out of bed. "I'll make you something" He offered.
"Don, I ate, ask Stella, we grabbed a bite together on the way to get a suspect." She defended herself. She watched him settle back into the bed. She began to walk out of the room.
"Where are you headed?" He called after her.
"I just want to go through the mail" She tossed back at him.
"I can keep you company" He mentioned, moving to get up again.
"No, you keep the bed warm, I'll be back soon" She directed. Don smiled against his pillow. Jess returned five minutes later, gently easing herself onto the bed. She figured Don had already fallen asleep. She decided to leave him be and curled into herself as best as she could.
"What are you doing all the way over there?" His voice startled her. He could feel the bed shake as she flinched. "Baby, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to scare you" He crooned, sliding his body around hers.
"It's ok; I just thought you were asleep."She whispered.
"No, can't sleep without you" He breathed. Jess only laughed.
He watched her get ready for work. He stared at her reflection in the mirror, using his tie as a cover so she didn't catch his gaze. He was very surprised no one had caught on to their news. He assumed the weather was to thank for that, the days were still cold. Coats and layers hid her changing body to some extent.
"Quit staring, handsome" Jess reprimanded him. Don blushed, he had no idea she could see him.
"Sorry" He apologized.
"If you want to look at me, that's fine, just don't ogle me like a piece of meat" She instructed.
"But you're so beautiful" Don sighed, walking in her direction. Jess nibbled on her lip and he wrapped his arms around her. He slid a hand into one of her back pockets and slid the other hand to her abdomen. He leaned down a kissed her.
"Keep doing that and you just might earn yourself some staring time" She quipped. He laughed.
"I can't believe no one has noticed" Don mentioned.
"I haven't really been around though, I've been running old leads and finishing paper work" She noted.
"Very true" Don nodded.
Flack and Danny had caught the guy and were bringing him back to the station. As he parked the car, he noticed Angell walking down the front steps. Seconds later, she was at the car sharing quick updates. In a last stitch effort for freedom, the perp Flack and Danny had apprehended took off running. On instinct, Angell jogged after the man before Flack could even protest. He followed his wife. Danny was holding back, figuring with two of New York's finest after the guy, the situation was under control. Just as Flack caught up with Angell, the man shoved her shoulder. She gasped as her footing began to fail her. Reacting quickly, Flack grabbed her before she could fall.
"Danny! Get after that idiot!" He screamed over his shoulder. Danny sprinted away. Flack looked down at the woman in his arms. Her head was buried in his shoulder and he could feel her pulse racing. He ushered her over to the police car and gently maneuvered so her back was against it. She still clung to him. He carefully pried her off of him and lifted her chin so she was looking at him. "Jess, honey, are you ok?" He needed to know. She nodded feverishly. "I need to hear it" He demanded softly.
"I'm fine, it scared me, that's all" She obliged. She wrapped her arms around his midsection, needing him closer than he currently was. He slid a comforting hand up and down her back. "I just need a minute" She whispered into his chest.
"Take whatever time you need" He offered.
"Hey, is she ok?" Danny called over the noise of the streets, still not really sure what happened. Flack turned his head to see the detective had successfully caught the suspect, again.
"Yeah, you go on in, I'll be there in a minute" Flack replied, deciding he needed to have a talk with his wife that couldn't wait. "Let's go for a walk" It wasn't really a suggestion, but it wasn't exactly an order either.
The two walked down a block, slowly removing themselves from the commotion caused by the daily buzz surrounding the plethora of police cars taking up residence in front of the precinct.
"We have to tell them" Don blurted out. Jess looked up at him somewhat confused. She began to protest. "Hear me out" He begged. She gave him a look that told him to continue. "I didn't realize this is actually affecting your safety and the last thing I want is for either of you to get hurt." He started. "Because if the people you're working with don't know, they expect you to carry out your job as usual and well currently you are more or less limited" Don paused, carefully putting together the words in his head.
"I can do my job just fine" Jess fired back, defensively. Don sighed as the hormones reared their ugly head again.
"Jessica" He needed her attention. Her eyes blazed at the use of her full name.
"What?" She nearly growled. This conversation had taken a foul turn. She extracted her hand from him and attempted to get away. It was times like these when he had to be most understanding of her.
"Honey, wait, please" He groveled, reaching out to stop her. As she turned back around, he half expected to see her crying, since it was the favored emotion these days and was rather surprised to discover she wasn't. Her dark eyes were just flat out angry. He set a hand on each of her shoulders. "I'm sorry; you do your job very well. You're an excellent detective. I just don't think you should be running after suspects. You never know what could happen. I've seen you get hit by cars, fall from high places, get kicked in the chest and thrown into things, not to mention you could trip over something or simply just slip. Jess, you're my wife and you're carrying our child and I love you both, I couldn't…" His voice trailed off. Jess finally looked up at him at the absence of his voice. She could see the concern in his blues eyes, almost completely drowning in tears.
"You couldn't what?" Her voice was light and inquisitive like a child.
"I couldn't function if anything happened to either of you" He admitted. Jess set her hand on his cheek.
"Don" She breathed.
"If we just tell them, you won't have to run after suspects. They'll look out for you and give me some peace of mind." He tried to convince her. She ran her thumb under his eye forcing a single tear out and wiping it away before it could fall. She knew she would soon start crying soon.
"I, uh, I, Don, I" she couldn't even put the words together. He shook his head sharply and brought her to his chest hugging her tightly.
"I just worry about you" He whispered in her ear. Jess moved so she could look up at him. On his face hung the most adorable water logged smile. She wiped her own eyes with the back of her hand.
"Ok, we can tell them, so you don't have to worry so much" She smiled.
"Thank you" he exhaled leaning down to kiss her. On the walk back to the station, the couple pulled themselves together to keep the questions to a minimum.
Jess and Don spent their evening coming up with the perfect plan to tell their friends, plans including the party he promised months back. The following day at work, they put their plan into action. As the team strolled into the break room they found the note taped to a shoebox sitting in the middle of the table. Stella picked up the note.
"What's it say Stel?" Hawkes asked curiously.
"It says, put together the word puzzle, then open the envelope in the bottom of the box. Love, Flack and Angell" Stella read aloud.
"Let's see what we've got here" Lindsay said, opening the box. Inside there were thirty six note cards, each with a letter on them.
"What are these two up to?" Danny wondered.
"I guess we'll find out" Stella shrugged.
"Yeah, eventually, but right now, we have crime scenes, during your breaks or while waiting on results, you can work on this, but cases are priority." Mac noted. Everyone nodded and headed out to the field. Adam stood from the couch as he watched them leave. Currently, all he had to do was wait for the evidence to flood in. He went to the table and took the note cards out of the box. He noticed there were letters in seven different colors. He sorted the letters in to stacks by color, figuring that was a significant discovery. While dividing them up, he noticed, one was not a letter, it was the number seven.
"What did you figure out?" Stella's voice broke his concentration.
"Oh, Stella, you're back soon" He commented.
"It was a dump job, not much evidence to collect; now we just need to find something to lead up to the primary" She explained, overlooking his work on the table.
"Well, the letters are different colors, so I sorted them, and in the green stack, I found the letter seven" Adam informed. Stella shuffled through the green letters.
"I've got it "7PM"" She announced, setting the letters out.
"Adam, can you help me out?" Hawkes asked.
"Yeah sure" The young lab tech said, leaving Stella to the puzzle. Stella figured there was a date somewhere in the rest of the words. She flipped thought the stacks until she discovered the word "tomorrow" in yellow letters. As she set the new word out Sid paged saying he was ready in autopsy.
Next Lindsay found her way back to the break room. She surveyed what progress had been made. She quickly determined that the pink stack of letters spelled out "The". Knowing that doog, dogo, godo were not words, she deducted that the blue stack spelled out the word "good". Smiling at her good work she continued, knowing Adam was still laboring over DNA samples.
"Montana" Danny stated, walking up behind her and setting on hand lovingly on her hip, scooping her into his side. With his free hand he fingered through the remaining three sets of letters.
"I think this is the word "news" with an exclamation point" Danny mentioned, setting out the black letters.
"Nice Messer" Lindsay complimented, discreetly kissing him. He tried his luck once more and discovered the word "come" from the purple stack.
"Woah! Did you save any for me?" Hawkes gasped, seeing most of the puzzle done.
"Just one" Danny laughed. The former ME frowned as he looked through the last stack of letters.
"Celebrate" He said exuberantly, solving the last piece.
"Come celebrate the good news! Tomorrow 7PM" Mac read, surprising the three CSIs. "Good work, go find Stella and Adam, and we'll open this envelope." Mac instructed. Lindsay ran off into the lab. Soon everyone was gathered around waiting anxiously for Mac to open the envelope. He ripped the top open and pulled out the folded piece of lined paper. He didn't even try to hide the smile that consumed his expression as he found what was folded up in the paper.
"I know that look, come on Mac, what is it!?" Stella begged in and irritated tone.
"Looks like they're having a baby" He responded. Mac lifted the small sonogram picture up for everyone to see. He chuckled at the shocked looks on his team's faces. He was surprised too, but it was much funnier to watch their reactions.
"So is that all that's in there?" Lindsay asked curiously, peering over at the labeled sonogram picture in her fiancé's hand.
"No there is a note that says "We know you're all probably ready to kills up for telling you this way, but we wanted you to work for it. You're detectives, it shouldn't have been hard. Now please forgive us and join us for a "hey we're having a baby and we finally told the people we work with" dinner party. There is no better name for it is there? Dress is semi formal and the party is at our place at seven tomorrow. Hope to see you all there!" Mac added.
"They are too cute!" Stella gushed.
"Seriously, what kind of best friend is Flack, I find out he getting married by getting an invitation to his wedding and I find out he gonna be a father by a game of hangman, can't the dude tell me anything! Hell, I wouldn't have even known he and Angell were together if I hadn't run my mouth" Danny grumbled.
"Hey there, you should be happy for him. Quit complaining" Lindsay lectured, playfully slapping him on the arm.
"Ow, ok, I am happy for him, it's just, whatever" He retreated when he saw the look on his bride to be's face.
At the end of the shift, Danny passed the locker room. He saw Flack gathering his things.
"So now yesterday's event suddenly makes perfect sense" Danny said, entering the room. Flack looked up and smiled.
"Yeah" He nodded.
"I'm sorry man, if I woulda known…" Danny's voice trailed off as Flack stopped him.
"Dan, it's ok, it made me realize why you guys needed to know." He mentioned.
"Well congrats" Danny added, shaking his friend's hand.
"Thanks" Flack's smile broadened."Are you coming tomorrow?" He wondered.
"Wouldn't miss it for the world" Danny confirmed. "Even if I wanted to, Linds wouldn't let me" He joked.
Angell walked out of the station, ready to go home. She heard someone calling her name. She turned around to find Adam standing behind her looking somewhat nervous.
"Hey Adam, what's up?" She greeted him.
"I just wanted to uh say congratulations" The young man said sheepishly.
"Well thank you" She replied brightly, setting a hand on her abdomen. She was going to turn back towards the parking lot, but she sensed Adam wasn't finished. "Anything else?" She prodded.
"Uh yeah, would you mind if I uh bring Mel tomorrow?" Adam questioned.
"Of course" Angell permitted. "I'd like to get to know her better, she seems sweet" She added.
"Thanks" He stated before running off.
Jess bounced on the balls of her feet, she peered into the bottom of her closet.
"What's wrong honey?" Don asked as she released a frustrated sigh.
"I can't decide what shoes to wear, anything that would be comfortable doesn't match my dress. I just don't want to wear something that's going to cause my ankles to swell." she explained. Don cocked his head like a confused puppy.
"Unfortunately, pretty much anything with heels makes my ankles swell, not all of aspects of pregnancy are "beautiful"" She added putting air quotes around beautiful. Her husband rolled his eyes at her and laughed lightly. He approached her and pulled her to him, dropping a kiss under her ear.
"How about you don't wear shoes at all?"He suggested. Jess looked up at him to see if he was joking. His facial expression said he wasn't.
"Really? No shoes for a semi formal event?" She pondered the idea.
"It's at our house and I think they'll understand" Don mentioned. She saw his point and decided his idea was a good one. She had gotten her nails done that morning in anticipation for their party. She weaseled out of his arms and bounced down the hall to make sure everything was ready. The doorbell rang signally their first guest had arrived. Don peered through the peep hole. He saw Mac and Stella. He watched for a second as Stella adjusted his tie, then leaned in to kiss his cheek, lingering a little longer than normal. Don breathed a light laugh. He finally opened the door.
"Wow a two-for!" He grinned. Jess slid up beside him.
"Yeah we were both just finished a shift at the lab, figured we'd just ride together" Mac explained. Don didn't push it any further.
"Look at you two, you match!" Stella pointed out. The couple looked at each other, she was right. Jess had picked out a short sliver dress that hung just above her knees. It had thin braided straps and an empire waist with a light blue tie around the waist. Don has chose another shirt very similar in fit to the one he wore to Lindsay and Danny engagement party except this on was powder blue. To complete the outfit he had on a pair of grey pinstriped pants.
"Flack, I really like that look on you" Stella complimented. He smiled and nodded in appreciation. "Now Jess, I can't believe I didn't notice you're pregnant!" She laughed.
"Well, I don't think it's really been that noticeable yet" Jess replied, she couldn't resist putting her hand on her stomach.
"All I can say is congratulations you two" Mac added, shaking Flack's hand and hugging Angell. He placed a kiss on her cheek as he pulled away. Soon Hawkes, Danny, Lindsay, Adam and Melody showed up.
"So how far along are you?" Lindsay wondered.
"Four months" Jess informed.
"Now, I know I don't know you really well and it might not be my place to ask, but why don't you have shoes on?" Melody ventured to ask. Jess laughed as all the women looked down at her pedicured toes. She wiggled them for extra effect.
"I was going to wear shoes, but Don told me I didn't have to. I've been having problems with my ankles swelling." She explained.
"I'm serious; I can't get over how cute you two are. He is always looking after you. I can't tell you how happy I am for you guys" Stella responded.
"So Lindsay, have you set a date for your wedding?" Jess questioned.
"We've got a few things in the works, but nothing definite yet." Lindsay answered.
"So Flack, you're going to be a dad" Hawkes said with a pat on Flack's shoulder.
"Yep, in five months" Flack said proudly.
"You want a boy or girl?" Danny wondered curiously.
"Actually I haven't really thought about it." Flack answered honestly.
"Come on, you know you want a boy to watch sports with" Danny tried to persuade him.
"I just want a healthy baby, gender is no issue" Flack stressed.
"That's a good way to look at it" Mac commented.
The party was a success filled with congratulations, childhood stories and lots of laughs. Eventually everyone bowed out, most of them having to be at work the next day. Luckily both Don and Jess had the day off.
"Hey gorgeous" Don said from across the room as Jess shut the door on their final guest. Jess blushed at his statement. "Do the same rules apply to this shirt as the black one?" He teased. She bit her lip and walked towards him. She quickly untucked his shirt and pulled it over his head. A sly grin crawled across her husbands face.