A phone rang loudly next to the head of mussed and sleep flattened brown hair. Reaching blindly with her eyes still closed, the woman found the offending item, swiped without looking and held the phone to her ear.
"Lane." Lucy greeted with a yawn
"Luce…I need some help." came the voice of Maggie Sawyer and best friend since college.
Lucy bolted upright, her brain quickly coming into full consciousness at the whispered and worried words, "What's wrong? Who's been arrested?" Since college, even though Maggie was actually a cop, she knew that a phone call late at night meant trouble of sorts. As the lawyer ripped the blankets off her legs, Maggie sighed into the phone, "No one, I just need some advice."
Lucy sighed in relief but them bristled when her eyes caught her alarm clock. "Maggie Sawyer, it is three in the morning and you're calling for advice?!" She dropped her body back against her pillows and covered herself back up; bringing the blanket up to her chin, "What the hell is so important?"
"Oh nothing." Maggie responded with a slight shake in her voice, "just agreeing to adopt a child with my fiancee, 10 hours ago."
Lucy thought a moment and then smiled softly, "I for sure thought that Danvers would carry, but hell, adoption is good too. Let me know if I can fast track some paperwork for you guys, down the road."
"Lucy. Not down the road. Like… this week."
The lawyer slowly sat back up, "What?"
The detective looked around her fiancee's apartment to find her Alex still asleep as she stepped out onto the balcony, "Long story short, we found a baby in an explosion, parents are gone, she's all alone and heaven help me, she's adorable and I thought…I thought I'd made great strides in some personal issues, but apparently not, because now…now I'm freaking out." the detective took a deep breath to calm her raging heart and heavy breathing.
"Maggie, just breath a minute. And slow down. Who brought up the idea of adopting the baby?"
"I did."
Lucy's eyes widened in surprise, "Really?"
"Yeah…spur of the moment and such. Babies are like crack." she explained, "They're so damn cute and make you feel so good." Maggie grumbled as she leaned against the railing.
The lawyer chuckled, "But wait…you've never wanted kids. What's changed?"
"Honestly?" Maggie took a deep breath, "Alex." she couldn't stop the smile on her lips, "Damn that woman, but she just gets me, you know? I love her so damn much."
"And how has she changed your mind about this?"
"I don't know. But, like every day, every moment with her, I just want to give all of myself to her. Luce, she's changed my entire view on relationships. Like shit. Seriously. You know me, Lucy. You saw me go through college and experiment and for the last few years, I've not been able to keep a relationship longer than a couple of years. I never saw myself with someone for a long time. But with Alex…" she paused and felt her heart warm at just the thought of her woman, "I can see myself with her forever. Luce. She's it for me."
Lucy smiled and laid back down in bed, "And kids?"
"Fuck. If she wants kids, I'll have kids."
"So why are you calling me at three in the morning for advice?" Lucy laughed.
That brought back Maggie's earlier panic, "Because. Fuck. I'm going to be a terrible parent! That's why!" Maggie's worried voice was making a reappearance and Lucy couldn't help but smile.
"Okay. Babe. Listen. Literally everyone ever, at some point, thinks they'll make a terrible parent. And yeah, some do turn out to be bad parents."
"Yeah, look at mine."
"Right. But also, some of the others turn out to be great parents. And honestly, I think you'll make a pretty great mom."
"Yeah but…"
"You were a great mom to me, Mags."
The detective was silent as she pondered over Lucy's words.
"You handled me at my worst; at my most rebellious. You reigned me in, brought me home from the bar when I'd had too much and then you cleaned me up after I eventually collapsed by the toilet. You comforted me after every phone call from my father, telling me how disappointed he was in me for not following his footsteps. You nursed me back after every single horrible hangover when I binged a little too much the night before. You held me after I failed the bar the first time because I was so stressed out about what my father would think." she paused, listening to Maggie's quiet breathing, "Yeah, you didn't change my diapers, or teach me how to walk or to read. But you were a great mom in other ways. I know you've got a lot of love to give…even though you're pretty stingy with it."
Maggie let out a watery chuckle.
"Let Alex change the diapers and deal with the vomit and feeding. You just love the thing with everything you've got, and then go from there. It'll all fall into place eventually."
Maggie took a deep breath and sighed. She could feel her tension starting to ease, though there was a niggling feeling in the pit of her stomach.
Lucy could sense Maggie's panic start to rise again and sighed, "Maggie, don't work yourself up again. Three AM is not the time to dwell on major life choices. You're tired and emotional and you've probably had a few drinks, right?"
A loud sigh came from the detective.
"Those three things are terrible things to combine. Go snuggle up to your black ops fiancee and we can figure out all the other stuff tomorrow when you've had some sleep, okay?"
The detective took a deep breath and nodded, "Okay, I guess you're right. Thanks Luce, I appreciate your help."
"No problem. Goodnight Sawyer."
"Night."
The next morning, Maggie and Alex woke to the sound of knocking on their front door. Alex, knowing Maggie had spent the night tossing and turning, took pity on her dead-to-the-world girlfriend, and slipped out of bed with a groan. Sleepily, she opened the front door to be faced with Lucy Lane in all her glory. Linen pants, loose sweater, hair in a messy bun, sunglasses on her head, tray of coffee in one hand, phone in the other, and a laptop bag hanging from the crook of her elbow.
Looking up from her phone, Lucy smiled at the somewhat disheveled agent, "morning sunshine. I heard there's a bun in the oven that needs some attention." She announced as she pushed past Alex into the apartment.
Alex looked towards her wrist for her watch to see it gone and rubbed the naked skin, "what?"
Lucy looked towards the large bed of Alex's apartment to the lump that was Maggie Sawyer, "Your lady called last night, said you were "expecting" in a sense, and I thought I'd help along the process."
"Oh." The agent ran a hand through her hair, still confused towards her friend's sudden appearance in her apartment, "let…let me wake up Maggie and I guess we can talk."
"Perfect, I'll set up." Lucy dropped her bag and handed Alex a coffee along with a supportive smack to her behind, "let's get moving, kids."
Taken aback by the smack to her butt, Alex slowly turned towards the bedroom and confusedly went to wake up her fiancée.
A half hour and two rushed showers later, all three women were sitting at Alex's island counter looking over paperwork.
"I called Vasquez this morning when I got up." Lucy started, "and she got the preliminary stuff moving. One thing you need to think about though is a bigger place. Neither of you have big enough places for a kid, so, I pulled some real estate listings together both in the city and in the surrounding suburbs. There's some nice condos near NCPD, but there's also some nice three to four bedroom places on the other side of town." She placed the folder in front of the women and pulled another from her briefcase, "I also looked into it, and Alex, you could definitely get a department issued SUV from the DEO. I see in your file, you've declined in the past because you like your bike, but babe, it's time to leave the bike behind." She placed the folder in front of Alex with a plop.
Maggie noticed Lucy was talking rather fast and commented, "how many coffees have you had today?"
"Three" Lucy said innocently
"Okay, should I actually ask how many shots of espresso you've had?"
Lucy looked at the detective seriously, "Maggie, you called me at three am, told me you were adopting a kid and how was I supposed to go to sleep after that?"
Alex looked at her fiancée, "you called Lucy at three? Where was I?"
The detective sheepishly smiled at Alex, "So maybe I was having a little bit of a panic attack."
Alex sighed, "I knew this was too fast for you. We can wait…"
Before Alex could go any farther, Maggie kissed her woman softly and smiled, "It's not. Maybe a little faster than most relationships, but I know that this baby will be worth it; Abigail needs a family and she's got us. End of story."
Joy and love filled the DEO agent's heart. "I love you."
"I love you." Maggie reciprocated with everything in her
"Blahg." Lucy made a barfing noise as she sipped her latte.
Maggie cupped her friend's cheek affectionally and gave her a wet kiss to her forehead, "And I love Lucy."
The lawyer rolled her eyes but couldn't hide the smirk.
"Seriously, Luce. I can't thank you enough for all of this."
Lucy shrugged her shoulders, "Just promise me one thing." she prefaced
"Anything." Maggie responded
Alex cut in, "…within reason." The agent knew how Lucy operated, at least when it came to being an Army lawyer.
"There'll be booze at the baby shower."
