Disclaimer: The established crew of CI are not mine, unfortunately, but some characters in here are. Enjoy them all and accolades to Mr. Wolf and his company. Please, no suing.

Reading and Reviews are always appreciated.

Why an Affair?

Captain Dan Ross walked into the observation room where a uniformed officer stood against the back wall and kept an eye on a woman who was watching inside the room. She had long hair that was pulled up into a clip at the back of her head and she was watching the two way mirror intently.

"Hello. I'm Captain Ross." He said, dismissing the officer with a twist of his head.

She turned to look at him and he was surprised at the grief on her face and the pain in her eyes. "Hello. Emma Fencer." She said and turned back to the mirror.

Bobby Goren was sitting in the interrogation room talking to an older man who was agitated and defensive. The sound was turned down but it didn't take much to interpret what was going on. Ross reached up and turned the sound on. "…I didn't mean to kill him. He was, he was taking my wife. He was going to run off with her. I couldn't let him…" Ross turned it back off.

"He needs a lawyer." He told the woman.

"I have one on the way. My husband is not a bad man, you know."

"He killed someone." Ross reminded her not altogether unsympathetically.

"Yes, he did. And he spent all night coming to grips with what he's done. I told him he had to come in. I told him it was the right thing to do. He knows that."

"Then why did he do it?"

"He's been a good husband for 35 years. A good father, a good provider and a support for friends and family in need for all those years. You see how heavy he is? He gained that over the course of time. All of a sudden here we were, facing our retirement and he couldn't support everyone any more. It was a terrible blow to his male pride. Then he started to see what was happening to his world, the one he had lived in for years and didn't really see anymore.

Our kids are grown and gone, living their own lives, his job is too much for him anymore and he has nothing left. He turned to see me for the first time in 25 years and noticed that I had lost a lot of weight, that I had kept going to the gym and looked younger than he thought. He thought I was cheating on him. And he thought Roger, the man he killed, was the one I was cheating on him with. The two argued and Roger antagonized him, I'm sure. So he stabbed him. That's what he told me. He did it because he was scared."

"We all get scared. That's no reason to murder someone." Ross said.

Mrs. Fencer turned to look at him. "I see you're wearing a wedding ring, how long have you been married?"

"A year. But that's…"

Second marriage?"

"My personal life…."

"You probably still see your wife. You go home and notice what she has on, what kind of day she's had, and whether she's in the mood or not. You still take her out to dinner, still want to please her in bed, to hear what she thinks about things. You might even notice if there's a new rug on the floor. I'll bet the first words out of your mouth when you get home is "Hi, not what's for dinner?" and "Which bill came today?" You probably still tell her she's pretty and want to kiss her more than just hello and goodbye."

"I don't see your point…."

"No, I guess you wouldn't. After so many years, you wonder what's the point. The only time you get kissed is when he's after sex always in the same position, you get blenders for your birthday and weekends are for football and resting from the week. Romance is "Which movie are we watching tonight?" and pillow talk is "Did you call the pharmacy for my prescription?" I never cheated on him and I never would, but he thinks I did and he didn't listen when I said no. So he and Roger got into it and now the very thing he was trying to prevent is going to happen. We're going to be separated, by bars and guards, because he never saw what was going on around him.

I never had an affair, I still love him, but he couldn't see it. In his mind I did and that's all that counts. Now I'm going to be alone every night for the rest of my life because he didn't see what was coming. He did the very thing he was trying so hard to prevent.

Why an affair? I didn't but to him it doesn't matter." She turned to Ross. "Don't do that to your wife. Show her you care, look at her and see if she needs you. Do you have kids?"

"Three and one on the way."

"Busy man. Don't let the kids keep you from being with her in your mind too. I see they're handcuffing him. Can I see him before you take him to wherever?"

"For just a minute." He acknowledged.

He led her over to the interrogation room and let her in. "Emma, I'm sorry. I don't know what to do anymore."

"It's okay, Frank. We'll get through this. Just rest where you can. I have a lawyer coming. I love you."

"I love you too. Why did you have to do it Emma? Why? Wasn't I enough for you?" he asked as they escorted him out.

"See, Captain, it doesn't matter. In his mind I did."

"You should ask for a psych evaluation. I don't think he's…." Bobby put in.

"I've tried for years, but now I have the power to have it done. Thank you, gentlemen, for your handling of him." She walked back out the open door.

Ross looked at Goren who looked back. "Such a sad story." Ross said.

"He was so lost and afraid of losing her. I don't think she had an affair."

"She denies it. I'm going to go home and spend some time with Karla. I suggest you do the same with your wife. And Goren, whatever you do, keep looking at your family. So they doesn't get lost."

"Uh, yes, sir. I will."

Dan Ross left the office early, much to everyone's surprise and showed up at home while Karla was giving Skyler her bath. Karla was surprised to see him home. "Is everything okay?" she asked trying to rise from the floor around her growing girth.

Dan lifted her to her feet and lifted his soaking wet daughter out of the tub and hugged them both close. "You're beautiful, and so are you, Missy. And I love you both very much."

"Dada." Skyler kicked her feet nearly getting a very tender part of daddy.

"Easy there, Tiger, Daddy has plans for later. How about if we all go out to dinner tonight?" he teased his daughter but wiggled his eyebrows at his wife.

"I'm, uh, running out of things I can wear in public." Karla blushed.

"Then we'll buy you some beautiful new things. I love you, Karla Ross."

"I love you too, Dan Ross."

"Wuv ooo." Skyler cooed.

Across town, Bobby had just gotten home and surprised Alex with a big bouquet of roses and tickets to see the Broadway play that she'd been dying to see. The tickets had been sold out within twenty minutes of opening the window. Alex was disappointed but tried not to show it.

Bobby had pulled quite a few strings to get them and then he had plans for his beautiful wife for afterward. They were going to go through Central Park in a Handsome cab and look at the stars. It was going to be a cool night which suited him fine, as he had plenty of room for her to snuggle up to him in the carriage then back here for a massage with oil he had hidden in his coat pocket with a timer for just the right hour and then……

TBC in your own imagination.