"So what do you need?" Emily asked opening the door to my office and walked in.
"Can you read this, see if there is a case, I need some backing up before I present it to the team," I answered holding out a letter that had been in the case file. I pulled at my sleeve to make sure it was covering the needle mark, I didn't need her asking any questions.
"Okay," she said taking it. She started to pace in front of my desk as she read the paper.
"You done?" I asked after a little while.
"Almost," she answered holding one finger out.
"It's pretty powerful, right?"
"Ouph," she breathed out. "I can see why you'd meet with her," she said and it was good to get some reassurance. At least when I presented it to the team she would have my back. Derek and I would always disagree on cases when victims or crimes weren't obvious.
"Your 10:30's here," Anderson announced as he knocked on the door.
"Okay, just give me one minute," I said tidying up my desk a little, not that it would do much.
"Hi, I'm Keri Derzmond," she introduced as she barged in , so much for my minute.
...
"Okay," Derek agreed and I silently thanked him for going with it. I needed to take this case, not just for Keri, but for me. It was a little different having a victim pleading for our help standing right in front of me, and maybe that effected my decision, but it was also because I couldn't stand by and let this case go without do everything I could to help this women. The case was in my hands and I couldn't live with myself if I knew I didn't do everything in my power to help her.
Heading out the conference room, I went straight to my office and called the detective on the case to let him know we were going to come to Silver Springs.
Grabbing my bag, I locked up my office and headed down to the bullpen.
...
Emily and I had been with Keri since we had gotten to Silver Springs. And the more time we spent with her the more unfair the whole situation felt. She had such a normal life. Her relationship reminded me of Will and myself, or us in the future. She didn't deserve to be tormented like this, no one did.
"I dont know, but I'm scared about what happens when she doesn't give it to him," Emily said as we walked out of Keri's house and to the SUV. "Hey, we barely got to talk about your weekend this morning," she said as we took our seats in the car.
"I pretty much told you everything," I answered clipping my seat belt.
"That couldn't have been everything, you were there for, what? Three days?" She asked as we pulled out the drive.
"Yeah, but aside from the funeral and the wake, we didn't do much. We rarely left his place, we watched a movie on the sofa, or we stayed in bed," I said recalling what Will and I had done.
"That sounds nice."
"It was. Though he was concerned that I was still feeling sick, but I told him I was fine and not to worry."
"Oh yeah, did you ever figure out what that was?"
"Ah, just a touch of the flu," I lied convincingly.
"You better not get me sick. Last thing I want, is to feel how you were looking last week," she joked, I knew she didn't mean it insultingly so I let it slip by.
"You have nothing to worry about, I'm not contagious," I laughed.
...
We stayed at the station for a couple of hours before driving back home. It was good that the case was only a short drive from Quantico, it meant staying in our own beds, which was always a grade above a cheap motel room.
I pulled the material the doctor had given me this morning out of my bag. I sat in bed reading it over waiting for Will to call.
I knew there was a lot to know, but the more I found out the more it felt like the more I needed to find out. It was overwhelming, and everytime I read the word 'baby' I subconsciously rubbed my hand on my stomach. I couldn't believe I was pregnant, that I was growing a human inside me, that I was growing Will's and my child right now.
The lit up screen caught my attention before the vibrating did. "Hey," I said answering the expected call. "You just get home?"
"I did," Will said. "Picked up some food on the way," he added and I could hear the rustling of a plastic bag in the background. "What bout you, been home long?"
"About an hour," I answered checking the clock behind me.
"Hold up, I thought you had a case?"
"We do, its in Maryland," I answered as I moved the pamphlets off my lap and stretched my legs out.
"You must be happy then," Will said.
"Why?"
"You get to sleep in your own bed," he said, and I laughed, he knew me well.
"Do you know what would make me happier?"
"What?" He asked.
"If you were sleeping here with me," I answered honestly. Right now, having him lying beside me, pulling me in tight felt like something I needed.
"Oh me too Cher, how bout this weekend?"
"Yeah, that would be amazing. I know I only saw you yesterday but it feels like forever ago," I said, so much had happened since I got home that it didn't feel like just one day.
"I know what you mean, even at work I felt like we hadn't spoken in days, and but we spoke this morning."
"How did you last the past couple months, when we were barely talking?"
"Threw myself into my work, and pretended I didn't notice anything was different," he laughed.
"Sorry."
"Stop apologising. It brought us closer together. It showed me that I didn't want to live without you," he said, and his words made me feel warm. They were so reassuring and made me feel like I could really tell him about the pregnancy.
"I have something to tell you," I started.
"What is it?" He asked, and I took a deep breath ready to tell him, but the words didn't want to come out, they caught in the back of my throat, and no matter how much I wanted to say them, I just couldn't.
"I feel the same way," I ended up saying.
