Chapter 1:

Present Day…

Courtney gave a slight gesture in the direction of where Flint was bent over the engine of his classic car. She rolled her eyes, giving Shana a smirk. The women were leaning on Shana's car after Courtney had "checked out" a complaint Shana had about it. They had made sure to stay on the opposite side of the car of where Flint was working on his.

"I can't believe she wants to go the appointment alone," she said, soft enough so that it wouldn't carry across the whole garage where the Joes kept their personal vehicles, but loud enough that the intended target would. "I mean, the fifth month! I know how important it is…I remember how excited my sister was to find out the sex of the baby!"

Shana suppressed a smile. She noticed that, for a moment, Flint's body had stiffened, but then he continued to work on his car. She knew he had heard them. So, Courtney's scheme seemed to be working. Pretty sneaky, Court, she thought, proud of how devious her friend could be.

"Yeah, I know what you mean," Shana agreed aloud. "My brothers refused to miss that appointment with their wives! At first, they wanted the whole 'surprise' element when the baby was born, but as time got closer, they wanted to know. I know their wives sure did! It helped to plan everything, from the nursery, to toys, to names….I mean, they're never 100%, but yeah, usually they can tell if it's a boy or girl!"

Courtney sighed. "I almost envy Allie. I mean, not that I want Beach and I to have anything just yet – we have oodles of time before we even THINK of that, not to mention me convincing him," she giggled, "but wow, to have a little life growing inside you. Man, that kid's going to be spoiled with so many Joe uncles, not to mention the two greatest aunts in the world!"

The two women covertly glanced over at their target and, seeing how they had his attention since he was just leaning over the engine, his hand paused in mid-air, they decided to go in for the kill.

"Well," Shana said, looking nonchalantly at her nails, "I really don't think she should go through this alone. I mean, your emotions are already at the surface with your hormones all messed up…and well, with you-know-who not even speaking to her at the moment," her voice held a disapproving tone she hoped he was picking up on….she wouldn't even get into that now, she thought, realizing she had her hands clenched…."Well, I think we should surprise her tomorrow and be there for her. The appointment's at ten. I'm sure Hawk won't mind if we take a few hours off, take Allie out to lunch and celebrate, you know? I figure if we get there around 9, she won't be gone yet. Either that, we could call her," she said thoughtfully, her voice trailing off.

Courtney smiled, winking at Shana. "Yeah, I'm not sure where the doc's office is. Best to meet at her house."

Shana decided to go in for the kill. "Yeah, I mean, I know Remy's been hanging around, but he's so unreliable. He comes and goes so much…he seems to care for her, but in a family way, not romantically. It's not like it's his kid." She sighed. "I just want Allie to be happy. She deserves that."

The two women, deciding their work was done, crossed the garage, continuing the conversation for appearance sake. They paused outside as they heard an engine rev. Courtney's eyebrows raised, wondering if their plan had already worked so quickly. When no car was forthcoming, she sighed.

"Give it time," Shana told the younger woman, patting her on the arm. "Rome wasn't built in a day."

"Surely he can't be THAT heartless," Courtney grumped, frowning. "I sure wish I knew what the hell happened between those two. Neither are talking about it, other than Flint snapping off everyone's head in a five mile radius and Allie getting that faraway sad look in her eyes when she thinks no one is looking, then finding out she's pregnant, and Flint signing on for that three month assignment with that special force…it's just weird! I can't imagine what would take a normally decent guy like Flint to act like such an ass! I mean, really…surely he doesn't think Allie's baby is someone else's!" she said, her voice horrified.

Shana shrugged. She had a couple of theories, but none of them seemed too plausible. She had a suspicion it had something to do with the six month covert assignment Allie had been on in the previous year.