A/N: Well, I did warn you all that updates would probably be sporadic, but I hope that this is worth the wait! Once again, a warning that updates may take time, but this story will be completed.
Sheila forced a smile on her face as she watched Laura and a nurse trying to help Richie into the back of the SUV the police department had sent to take him home that morning.
"I should stay here," Richie insisted, looking back at his mother as he stood up from the wheelchair. "I shouldn't be leaving with Brody still in surgery."
Sheila shook her head. "You're not going to do him any good here," she said. "Go home and get some rest."
"I'm fine, Mom, I…"
"You are not fine," Laura interrupted. "Do I need to remind you that you were shot yesterday?"
Richie sighed and raised his arm to show the sling currently holding it up. "No, this does a pretty good job of reminding me of that," he said. "But it wasn't serious. I need to be here, I…"
"You need to be at home with your wife and your son," Donnie said, stepping forward from the background. "We'll call and keep you updated on Brody."
"What, like you've kept me updated on him and Abby?" Richie asked. "I don't think I trust your updates, I'd rather…"
"Enough!" Sheila exclaimed. "We are not having this argument again, not here. Richie, get in the car and go home. I will call you as soon as we know anything about Brody."
"But…"
"Richard Kowalski, get in that car!" Sheila instructed.
Richie sighed and nodded, letting the nurse help him up into the vehicle. Laura shot Sheila a grateful look as she closed the door and hesitated for a moment.
"If it's bad news, call my cell," she finally said. "Don't call him."
Sheila nodded in understanding. "He'll be fine," she said. "We'll all figure this out."
Laura hesitated again, looking as though she had something else to say, but eventually simply shook her head and made her way around to climb into the other side of the SUV.
"Now, you and I need to talk," Sheila said, turning toward her oldest son.
"About what?" Donnie asked innocently.
Sheila crossed her arms over her chest and shot a sharp glare at him.
"Fine," Donnie sighed. "Can we at least do this over coffee?"
Abby groaned as a sharp pain in her neck jolted her out of her fitful sleep and she shifted to sit upright in her chair. Slowly, she brought her hand up to her neck and rubbed in gently, painfully aware that this was likely only the first of pain aches and pains which were going to crop up as a result of the night spent curled up in the hard waiting room chairs. Leaning her head back against the wall, she sighed and closed her eyes again.
"You know, they probably have cots in this place if you'd just asked."
Abby jumped at the unexpected sound, her eyes flying open as her head turned toward the woman in the doorway.
"Jesus Christ, Lina, are you trying to give me a heart attack?" she asked, relaxing back into the chair.
"You hiding from someone?" Lina asked, walking into the room and handing Abby one of the two coffees she held in her hands.
Abby shrugged and set the coffee cup on side table without tasting it. "My family," she admitted.
"Ah," Lina nodded and took a seat next to Abby. "The news of the secret boyfriend went over that well, huh?"
"You heard?"
Lina laughed. "Abby, half the department's heard by this point," she said. "I had a few theories on who your mystery man was, but none of them involved your brother's partner. I have to hand it to you, though, he's gorgeous."
"What do you mean, my mystery man?" Abby asked. "What made you think I was seeing someone?"
"Because the only miraculous conception I believe in happened over two thousand years ago," Lina said. "So there had to be someone responsible, and if you were sleeping around, I figured you'd be more careful with your birth control."
Abby stared at her partner incredulously.
"Oh, don't give me that look," Lina said. "I'm not blind, Abby. You stopped drinking coffee three weeks ago, you get tired walking down the block, and I've seen you throw up in a trash can four times in the last two weeks. If you're not pregnant, I'm Mother Theresa."
"You never said a word," Abby commented.
"Figured you'd tell me when it was time," Lina said. "So, how far along are you?"
"Eight weeks," Abby admitted. "My family doesn't know yet."
"I assumed as much," Lina said. "How's Brody feel about becoming a daddy?"
Abby bit her lower lip and looked away.
"You haven't told him yet," Lina said knowingly. "What were you waiting for?"
"You'll think it's stupid," Abby said. "Hell, I think it's stupid."
"Try me."
"I'm not the girl who does the big, romantic gestures," Abby said. "That's Brody in this relationship. The day I found out, I was going to just tell him that night. And then I thought, why not make it special? Why not shock him by doing something big?"
"What were you going to do?" Lina asked.
"He owns a house," Abby said. "A couple hours outside the city. We've been remodeling it, and…"
"We?" Lina interrupted. "I have a hard time picturing you hanging drywall."
"I'm very good at painting," Abby said defensively. "Anyway, the place is almost done, but there are a few rooms we couldn't decide what to do with, and I thought…I've been out there every night this week, working on turning the one next to our bedroom into a nursery."
"Seriously?"
"Shut up, I told you you'd think it was stupid," Abby said. "We were supposed to go out there together last night, and I was going to take him into the room and let him figure it out. I had it all planned out and now…now he might not ever know at all. Why didn't I tell him when I had the chance?"
"Hey, don't think like that," Lina said, putting her hand on Abby's forearm. "He's going to be fine."
Abby shook her head. "He's been in surgery for almost twelve hours, Lina."
"That's a good sign, Abby," Lina assured her. "If it wasn't going to work, they would have been done hours ago."
"I hope you're right," Abby said softly. "I really hope you're right."
"Alright," Donnie said, settling into a chair in the small lobby cafe, a cup of coffee in his hand. "Let me have it. I'm a terrible son, a terrible brother, an awful person? All because you object to Abby having a boyfriend?"
"Don't be dramatic, Donald, you know I don't think you're any of those things," Sheila said. "This isn't about me not wanting Abby to have a boyfriend. Lord knows, I think she should be having some fun from time to time, and I've told her as much."
"So what is this?" Donnie asked. "You don't like Brody?"
"I think John is a wonderful young man," Sheila said. "He's a good officer, a good partner to Richie. I have no basis to judge what he'd be like in a relationship, but if your sister's happy, I can't object to that either."
"So…you're not mad?" Donnie asked in confusion.
"Oh, don't get me wrong, I'm livid," Sheila said, pausing to take a sip of her coffee. "But it has nothing to do with Abby dating John Brody. How could you and Steve let her keep that a secret? How could the two of you conspire with your sister to keep something that important from Richie?"
Donnie sighed. "There wasn't any conspiring, Mom, we told you that last night," he said. "She didn't confide in us, we stumbled upon it. Believe me, Steve would probably rather have rammed a fireplace poker in his eye."
"Why?"
Donnie shook his head and laughed. "Because at least they were somewhat clothed when I found out about them," he said. "Steve, on the other hand, was so excited to tell Abby that Gail's expecting again that he didn't wait for her to answer her door, and he walked in on them…well, they were…you know…"
"Oh," Sheila's eyes widened as she covered her mouth with her hand. "Oh dear."
"Yeah."
"I suppose that would be somewhat traumatizing for him," she agreed.
"You're not bothered by that?"
"By what? The fact that my daughter has sex?" Sheila asked innocently. "I was young once too, Donnie, I remember how it goes. I think I'd be concerned if she wasn't."
"Okay, this conversation is definitely not going the way I imagined it would," Donnie said. "I don't want to think about Abby's sex life, so can we drop that part?"
"You boys are such prudes," Sheila teased, shaking her head. "Alright, I'll drop it. If you didn't walk in on them, how did you find out?"
"The newspaper."
"You found out about your sister's relationship from the newspaper?"
Donnie nodded. "They were in the background of a picture, buried way back in the social pages. I only saw it because it was the only thing I had to read while I was waiting around for Amy to drop off some paperwork. They weren't kissing or anything in the picture, but they looked close, and I thought it was kind of odd that she was out with him outside of work."
"And of course, you went off and confronted her about it?"
"Of course…"
Abby shivered slightly as she tip-toed out of the bathroom and slipped back into bed, being careful not to disturb the man sleeping next to her. Yesterday had been a long, trying day, and she knew it had taken most of the night for him to fall asleep.
She felt a little guilty for insisting that they attend, but as she'd pointed out to Brody, when the fire commissioner himself calls to invite you to an event, you don't turn him down. And so he'd put on his dress blues, and she'd put on a black dress, and for the first time in twenty-five years, John Brody walked into his father's old firehouse. The re-dedication in honor of the fallen engine company had been difficult, and she was honestly surprised he'd stayed through the whole thing.
Since they'd left, she'd tried to be supportive, tried to figure out what it was she could do to help, but she knew she was failing. She simply couldn't relate, couldn't even imagine what he was experiencing. The thought of even a day without her father scared her, let alone the twenty-five years that he'd lived thus far.
With a sigh, she pulled the covers up over her shoulders and snuggled up against his chest to wait for him to wake up.
A sudden knock on the door jolted them both wide awake, and Brody shot her a look of confusion.
"What time is it?" he whispered.
"Eight."
"Who the hell's knocking on your door at eight in the morning on a Saturday?" he groaned.
"Be quiet, maybe they'll go away."
"Abby! I know you're in there, so open up!"
"Shit," Abby muttered, recognizing her brother's voice. "Hide."
"Excuse me?" Brody asked. "What happened to waiting him out?"
Abby shook her head as she pulled back the covers and tugged on his arm to get him out of bed. "Not going to happen," she said. "If I don't open up, he'll just let himself in."
"He's got a key?"
"All my brothers do," Abby said.
Brody shook his head as he let her push him into the closet. "We're changing your locks when this is over."
Abby laughed and leaned forward to kiss him quickly before stepping back and closing the door in his face. After taking a brief moment to adjust her t-shirt and smooth down her hair, she opened the front door.
"Donnie, what the hell are you doing here at this hour?" she asked. "Has something happened? Is it Mom or Dad?"
Donnie shook his head and stepped around Abby into the apartment, a newspaper clutched in his hand. "We need to talk, Abby."
"Okay," Abby said hesitantly. "And it couldn't wait until I'd had my coffee?"
"No," Donnie said, handing her the newspaper, which had been folded back to a specific page.
Abby frowned as she looked down at the grainy black and white image printed on the social pages, just underneath the headline, 'Firehouse Renamed to Honor Fallen Heroes'. As she studied the image, Abby paled as she realized what her brother had seen - there at the back of the image, sitting side by side, were her and Brody. The photographer had impeccable timing, she thought, as she looked at the way her hand rested comfortingly on his knee, her head tilted to rest on his shoulder, as his arm wrapped tightly around her waist.
"What, um, what did you want to talk about?" she asked nervously.
"Don't play dumb, Abby, I know you see it," he said. "What were you doing at that ceremony? And with Brody?"
"It's an interdepartmental thing," Abby lied. "You know, the police department supporting the fire department."
"Yeah, I know, that's why the police commissioner's sitting in the front row there," Donnie said. "But I'm not dumb enough to believe that a beat cop and an IA detective are important enough to represent the whole department at something like this, so try again. This was a swanky event, Abby. Hell, even the mayor was there. How'd you even get in the building?"
"What exactly do you want me to say?" Abby asked. "Read the damn article."
"Excuse me?"
Abby shook her head and quickly scanned the article, finding the relevant paragraph and pointing to it as she handed the paper back to Donnie.
"Twenty-five years ago yesterday, the ten members of Engine 12 made the ultimate sacrifice for the safety of Chicago's citizens. Fire Commissioner Nate O'Connell stressed that though many of the firefighters who now work in the building hadn't even taken their first steps when the tragedy occurred, that sacrifice would not be forgotten by anyone who entered the newly renovated and re-dedicated firehouse. In a poignant moment, he then recognized the families of Engine 12 that were present, including…" Donnie's voice trailed off as he read through the list and looked up at Abby in surprise. "Officer John Brody, CPD, son of firefighter Thomas Brody?"
Abby nodded sadly.
"Shit," Donnie muttered. "I had no idea."
"Yeah, well…" Abby shrugged.
"Alright, that explains why Brody was there," Donnie said. "Now care to explain why you were there with him? Or why the two of you look so cozy?"
Abby swallowed hard. "Not particularly, no."
"Well that's just too darn bad," Donnie said. "What the hell do you think you're doing, Abby? Hitting on Richie's partner?"
"Hitting on him?"
"Whatever the hell you want to call it," Donnie said. "Don't tell me you're slept with him. Oh my God, Abby, you slept with him, didn't you?"
Abby opened her mouth to deny it, but found herself unexpectedly defensive. "So what if I have?" she asked. "We're two consenting adults, there's nothing untoward going on."
"He's Richie's partner!" Donnie exclaimed. "How could you do that to Richie?"
"I'm not doing anything to Richie," Abby protested. "He's got nothing to do with my relationship with Brody."
"Oh, so now this is a relationship?" Donnie asked incredulously. "That's just great. Abby, have you even thought about what this will do to Richie? You have to stop this, right now. It's inappropriate, not to mention selfish and…"
"Oh, shut up!" Abby interrupted. "You have no right to barge in here and tell me what to do."
"I'm your brother."
"Oh for God's sake, would you drop it?" Abby almost screamed. "I am so unbelievably sick of you and Steve and Richie thinking that you have any right to dictate what I do or do not do in MY life. You do not get to tell me who I date, and you sure as hell do not get to control who I fall in love with!"
Abby froze as the unexpected words left her mouth, completely ignoring Donnie as she heard the closet door open behind her and she turned to face Brody.
"You mean that?" he asked.
Abby nodded. "Yeah," she said, unsure which of them was more surprised. "I love you."
