For those of you who read last week's chapter and thought, "Whoa there Mike Cutter!" - I agree with you 100%! Let's see what Connie has to say about all of this, shall we? :)

Chapter 10 - Crashers

Connie Rubirosa took a bite out of the Salted Caramel Chocolate Pretzel ice cream cone in her hand and glanced over at the man by her side. Mike stuck the spoon into his cup of maple walnut ice cream, and seemingly without thinking, reached out to take her hand as they crossed Central Park West. It was the first early spring day that actually felt like spring. The sun was shining in a brilliant blue sky, which just made the greens of Central Park seem to beckon to Connie that much more. She definitely had a touch of spring fever, which is why she had convinced Mike that a walk through the park was just what they needed on this late Sunday afternoon. She argued that knowing the way New York weather could be, she would most likely be back in her wool coat and knit hat by this time next week, so they should take advantage of the opportunity to be out in the sunshine in nothing heavier than jeans and sweatshirts while they could.

It was Mike who suggested a stop at Emack and Bolio's for ice cream before they headed on into the park. Connie agreed immediately. She was still dealing with a bit of mild nausea, but her "morning sickness" seemed to be truly limited to the morning at this point in her pregnancy. She had yet to experience any real cravings, but Connie was never one to turn down ice cream.

"Want a bite?" she asked Mike, holding out her cone as they entered the park.

Mike wrinkled his nose a little. "Too much going on there, thanks anyway," he said, shaking his head.

Connie shrugged. "Your loss," she smiled as they continued to walk until they found a bench along the path and took a seat. The Arthur Ross Pinetum was probably Connie's most favorite place in the entire park. With seventeen different species of pine trees it was one of the most picturesque and peaceful areas in all of Central Park. When she would jog through the park, Connie always made sure to finish near this area to take advantage of the cool shade created by the trees for her recovery time.

Connie watched as Mike finished his ice cream, leaving their bench to deposit the cup in a nearby trash can. She thought back to his impromptu marriage proposal - if you can call grabbing her arm in the middle of a busy sidewalk and blurting out, "I think we should get married!" a proposal. Connie had just looked at him, wanting to laugh, because surely he had to be kidding. But in the split second that she took to really look in his eyes, she saw a mix of emotions that stopped her cold. He looked anxious, almost panicked. Connie simply stared at him for a second, her mouth hanging open slightly, before she turned and continued on her way to the subway. She would rather say nothing for the moment than say the wrong thing. Mike followed quickly, but they soon just became part of the crowd. The train was too noisy and too crowded for them to talk, and Connie was glad. She was able to find a seat, but Mike had to settle for standing next to her, hanging on to the bar to keep his balance with the starting and stopping of the train.

Connie had tried to organize the myriad of thoughts and feelings coursing through her - surprise, fear, anger, excitement. Where is this coming from? she thought. Though they had not talked specifics about the future, she thought they were on the same page about it. They were together. They would raise this child together. So why, now, did Mike come out with what seemed like an almost desperate plea for her to marry him?

The subway train finally came to their stop, and they made the short walk to Connie's building side by side, but in silence. When they were finally alone in her apartment, the door locked safely behind them, Connie turned to Mike with an arched eyebrow. "Explain please."

Mike's shoulders slumped. As soon as the words were out of his mouth, he knew it was a mistake. What had he been thinking, just saying it in the middle of the street like that? The plight of little Nicole Shoemaker had made him even more aware of how important it is for a kid to have two parents who love her. But marriage between those parents couldn't always be a guarantee that a family would stay together. He knew that only too well. It hadn't kept Mike's family together growing up. Or Connie's family for that matter.

Mike looked at her, trying to come up with the words to explain what he was feeling. Truth be told, he knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that he wanted to spend the rest of his life with Connie. But he also knew, that when he had blurted those words out earlier, that's not the place they were coming from. Mike remembered that Connie had once said that she knew their relationship wouldn't always be easy, but they had to trust each other. So he sat down with her, trusting that in sharing his convoluted thoughts with her, he could make her understand what he was feeling. He told her about his fears of becoming a no-account dad like his own father, how he wanted to make absolutely sure that their child knew it was loved by two parents who also loved each other. And that he wanted to take care of her and do right by her and their child. He was worried about what her family would think when they found out he'd gotten her pregnant. Connie reminded him of his own words, "I'm fairly certain this took both of us." She argued that while she wasn't opposed to the idea of marrying him, so much in their lives had changed so quickly, that they needed to take a moment to just breathe and get their bearings. She told him it was his timing here that she didn't like, that she was afraid that his proposal had more to do with his own fears than with his love for her. He countered by expressing that love in the strongest, most convincing language he could. She assured him that she loved him just as much, that she wasn't going anywhere, and that this baby would know without question how much it was loved.

And she told him, that when they decided to get married, it should be just about them and no one else, not even their child.

As Mike made his way back to where Connie was finishing her own ice cream, his eyes wandered to the nearby playground. This particular play area was one of the smallest in the park, and as such wasn't very busy. Mike's eyes were drawn to a man pushing a little girl in the swings, listening as the little beauty with freckles and bright red hair in pigtails shrieked with laughter as her young father pushed her gently. As he sat back down next to Connie, Mike noticed a young couple running together, the mother pushing a jogging stroller with a baby sound asleep inside. Mike felt a frown cross his face.

Connie noticed. "Penny for your thoughts?" she asked, popping the last bit of her sugar cone into her mouth.

"Do you realize," Mike began, "when this kid is old enough to vote I'll be in my sixties?"

Connie practically choked on the ice cream cone. "Where did that come from?" she coughed.

Mike waved his hand. "This case," he said. "Senator Peterson and his wife and her boy toy." It was an unusual case to be sure. Camille Peterson had taken Dustin Henry as her lover. The 20 year old was more than forty years her junior. She tried to show him she would go to any lengths to keep him. She had fronted the money and inventory for Dustin to open his own wine shop. She had plans for some very selective reconstructive surgery, which had led to an absurdly awkward moment at the plastic surgeon's office as Connie was trying to surreptitiously find out what procedures their suspect had scheduled. Ultimately, she had killed Dustin's sister when the younger woman threatened to tell the senator about the affair. Camille protested that she had no choice, that she couldn't lose Dustin because he made her feel beautiful again.

Connie was still confused. "What does that have to do with your age when the baby is old enough to vote?" she asked.

"You heard what she said," Mike answered. "About Peterson's hair transplants and Viagra, and 'old man smell'."

"And?" Connie prompted, still unsure where he was going with this.

"And, you're a beautiful woman Connie," Mike told her, "and you are still going to be a beautiful, young woman when our kid is grown up, but you'll be stuck with me, an old man. Our kid will be stuck with an old dad." He absently kicked at a pebble on the ground in front of him. "It's no wonder you won't marry me," he mumbled.

For the second time in recent memory, she really wanted to laugh out loud at him, but Connie again knew that such a response wouldn't really help the current situation. Truth be told, the twelve year difference in their ages had never really been an issue. Oh, sure, Connie may have teased him once about being in preschool when he started working at the DA's office, but that really had more to do with the attention Mike was getting from a certain law clerk than anything else. Though he was older than her, she certainly didn't think of him as "old." Mike was a good looking man. He was healthy and took care of himself - exercised and tried to eat well despite a penchant for take-out Chinese. But Connie could tell, this was really bothering him.

"Mike," she said, sliding closer to him and gently pushing his hair back off his forehead. "You have obviously never heard any of the female clerks and interns discussing all your best attributes, of which there are many. Trust me," she leaned over and kissed his lips quickly, " 'Old man' is not how they describe you." She saw a small smile begin to play across his face. "And think of all the fun we have ahead of us just getting this kid, and any others who come along, to the point where they are old enough to vote?" Mike quirked his eyebrows at her comment about more children. She flashed him a sassy smile. "If they are as stubborn and as driven as we both are, we're going to stay young just trying to keep up with them." She leaned closer, dropping her voice to just above a whisper as she added one more point to her argument. "And don't think for a minute that my sexual appetite for you is going to diminish as I get older." She leaned forward to kiss the stunned but pleased expression on his face. "I'll keep you young," she whispered as their lips parted.

Mike regarded her for a moment, deciding that maybe he was overreacting to a bizarre case. He had wasted a lot of time and energy lately thinking about the past and worrying about the future, and it had caused him to do some things that were, quite frankly, dumb. He smiled at Connie, silently promising himself that he would do a better job of focusing on everything that was good and right with the "here and now," because his here and now was pretty damn amazing. Mike stood up, offering Connie his hand. He pulled her to her feet and straight into a kiss. He thought he could taste the salted pretzel caramel whatever it was ice cream she'd had and decided maybe it wasn't so bad after all. They began to make their way hand in hand through the Pinetum toward the Great Lawn. They watched the many families along the way, both thinking about a time in the not too distant future when their own little family could join the others in Central Park. Connie took Mike's arm, hugging it to her.

"Oh, and about that little 'No wonder you won't marry me' remark?" Connie started, seeing Mike grimace. "Just remember, I didn't say no, I said not yet." Mike nodded as Connie continued. "And not for nothing, but blurting it out in the middle of the sidewalk? Not really a girl's dream proposal."

Mike looked over at her, the wheels in his head already turning. "I'll keep that in mind," he said as they continued to enjoy the sunshine on their way through the park.

They are in this for the long haul, folks, but they're going to get there in their own time and at their own pace….despite Mike's best efforts to rush them along. ;)