Roots and Seeds
a Law and Order: CI story
by RoadrunnerGER
Disclaimer: Dick Wolf still has not agreed to sell them, so they're not mine. This is just for fun and practice.
Summary: Sequel to Australian Christmas Greetings. Nicole's back… and ready to turn Alex and Bobby's lives upside down! She's not the only one… Enjoy! :D
A/N: Thanks for reading my Christmas story last year. I planned to do the sequel much earlier, but somehow it just did not happen. Then Blucougar57 coaxed me into trying to write a NaNo project and as I did not have anything more than the general idea of the sequel I decided to write it for the we are writing a 50,000 words counting novel in 30 days challenge. LOL Well, I hope you'll enjoy this one, too. Special thanks to Bammi1 for beta reading as well as to Blucougar57 and McParrot for encouragement and advise.
Chapter 1
The telephone ringing in the middle of the night was nothing new for two seasoned detectives with the Major Case Squad of the New York Police Department. Still Alex Goren, nee Eames, groaned loudly when she heard the annoying sound. She was nine months pregnant and Captain Ross had agreed with them not to put Bobby on call during her last four weeks.
"Ooooh, if that's not important I'll kill them!" Alex groaned as she slapped Bobby's head. Unlike her Bobby was a sound sleeper. So she had to pat him again until he responded.
"Huh?" he moaned. "Alex? Is it time? Are you in..."
"The phone, you idiot," she growled.
It was odd how he had changed since their wedding. Having a wife and soon a family of his own chased away his restlessness. He settled down with her in her house and she noticed with concern that his priorities changed from chasing murderers to being house husband. That impression became even stronger since she had to change to office duty.
Now that she had to stay home he could not fuss over her all the time. Instead he had talked her sister into that role while he was working all day. When he came home in the evening he dropped on the sofa beside her, having grape juice instead of wine because he did not want to tempt her, and watching the most romantic, tissue requiring, movies with her.
"Now if that's not important," he growled. "I asked them not to put me on call until after the birth."
"I know," Alex murmured. She was tired. She had just managed to fall asleep when the phone rang.
Still the rings repeated themselves annoyingly. So Bobby shifted his position to reach for the phone.
"Goren," he grumbled.
"Bobby?" The female voice on the other end of the line sounded pained. Still Bobby recognized it at once, even though she just spoke one word.
"Nicole?"
Alex almost fell off the bed when she heard her husband's arch enemy's name.
"Bobby, I need your help."
Nicole was breathing hard. Alex could hear it even through the phone. What made the psychopath call Bobby in the middle of the night? Was it not enough what she did to him last year so close to Christmas? Why did she have to stir everything up again?
"What's wrong, Nicole?" Bobby asked, sounding concerned, actually.
Alex was confused… until she remembered exactly what Nicole Wallace had done to him. And to her, too, one way or the other.
"I… I'm in… labor," Nicole gasped.
"Shit," Alex murmured. She could hear everything now because Bobby had pressed the button for the speaker.
"Naomi… she's dead. She… died in… an accident. Aaaah!"
"Nicole? Where are you? Are you at a hospital?"
"Nooo…"
"What?" Bobby was thunderstruck. Why did she not go to a hospital? Because she's still wanted for murder, he realized. She would risk getting reported and arrested.
"Where are you?" he repeated.
By now he was out of the bed and getting dressed. He did not bother to put on a suit, but slipped into jeans and a sweater instead. Now he put on sneakers before he reached for his cell phone and gun holster.
Nicole gave him the address and Bobby put his gun in the holster. He was about to leave their bedroom when Alex stopped him, "Where do you think you're going?"
Stunned he spun around.
"What do you mean?"
"Where are you going?"
"I'm going to get her and take her to a hospital. She can't give birth all on her own. She needs medical attention." He saw Alex scowl deeply. "Well, the child needs medical attention," he added for good measure.
She still looked skeptical.
"Why would you care?" Alex spat, surprised by the venom in her own voice. "After everything she's done to you. After everything she's done to me! Why?"
"This child is my child as much as hers. Should I let it die just out of spite?" Bobby looked thoroughly confused. "What do you want from me? Are you asking me to stay? Nicole might be… she is in trouble. She's about to give birth. She and the child could die."
He looked at her pleadingly.
"Do you want me to give up the child just because its mother is a psychopath?"
He's right. Alex shuddered. The kid is innocent. It's not responsible for what its mother has done. Knowing what Nicole did to her daughter it might be better to go and save the child right after birth. Nicole still is wanted for murder. Bobby will call a bus and a patrol car, they'll arrest her and the kid will be safe…
"It is my child, too, Alex," he shook her out of her thoughts. "I just can't sit and do nothing. It was not fathered voluntarily, but it is still my child. My flesh and blood. I can't…" He trailed off when he saw her pale. "Alex? Are you okay?"
What a silly question, she thought. Doesn't he see that I'm not okay?
And really, Alex started to shiver. She gasped for breath as a first pain stabbed her back.
No!
"Alex?!" Rising panic made his voice waver. "Alex, what's wrong?"
"I… I think… I think I'm going into labor," she gasped.
"What?" Now Bobby's voice was breaking with that one word. "You're not serious, are you?"
"You won't go to Nicole, Bobby," Alex growled. "You'll stay with me."
Alex did not care how selfish that sounded. All she knew was that her own baby, their son, was about to be born, too, and Bobby would be present for the birth. If he was not he would lose important body parts.
Bobby was torn.
Torn between Nicole, his arch enemy, the woman who had tried more than once to turn his life into hell, and his Alex, the woman he loved more than life itself who stood by him through thick and thin, through all his ups and downs, and who was about to give birth to their son.
Torn.
It was not that hard a decision to make.
Bobby took his cell phone and pushed a speed dial number. After about fifteen rings a sleep drunk voice answered him, "Log'n…"
"Mike! It's Bobby. You'll have to do me a favor."
Groaning came out of the phone.
"You have any idea how late it is?" Mike complained. "It's the wee small hours, about half past three… Why don't you sleep like normal people?"
"We're about to get a kid like normal people," Bobby replied.
Thump!
Whatever Mike had done, it could be heard through the phone, along with his howl of pain. Maybe he sat up too quickly and hit his head or shin or something.
"Alex is in labor?" Mike demanded to know.
"Yeah," Bobby confirmed. "And so is Nicole Wallace."
"What?"
"She called here to let me know that she's about to deliver our baby… I promised her to pick her up to bring her to a hospital, but just when I wanted to leave Alex went into labor, too."
And there was no question about who Bobby would accompany now.
"So what?" Mike asked, even though he harbored a strong suspicion about what he was expected to do. "What do you need me for?"
"I need you to go and bring Nicole Wallace to a hospital, Mike," Bobby told him. His earnest tone left no doubt about just how serious he was.
"Okay, give me the address," Mike agreed, knowing that he had no chance to get out of this.
"Satisfied now?" Bobby asked Alex, snapping the phone shut.
"I think so," she murmured. She sat on the bed again, gently stroking her swollen middle. Was she really in labor? Maybe her body was playing a trick on her. No, there was the rising pain in her lower back. It would take quite a while, but she definitely was in labor. Damned Nicole Wallace, she thought. That's not how I imagined getting my own son.
"Are you okay, Alex?" Bobby asked.
He appeared in front of her, her favorite pants and sweater in one hand, her hospital bag in the other. Her heart flowed over with love.
"Yeah. I'm okay. Do you think Mike will be okay, too?"
"I hope so," he chuckled. "Come on. I'll help you to dress. Do you need to go to the bathroom?"
Taking his offered hand she got up, this time a little awkwardly. "No, I don't think so," she said once she was standing. She put on her clothes and they were ready to go.
tbc…