"What do you mean 'the rest of the tape'? What 'rest of the tape'? You played that tape the night before you cross examined Vargas," McCoy said as he looked across his desk, alternating his curious gaze between Michael Cutter and Connie Rubirosa. "Did either of you hearing anything thatthe just didn't hearin court this morning?"

"Jack, we heard the same thing the jury did. Nothing else," Cutter said as Rubirosa nodded in confirmation. "I didn't mean to send up a red flag prematurely. The jury seemed to think what Connie and I thought; that Vargas was trying to run another scam. He was implying Carver altered the tape, but the audio guys downtown say nothing was erased."

"He has to be playing us, Jack. What other explanation could there be," Rubrirosa added. "When Carver stonewalled him in court, he looked like he'd just lost his best friend. Vargas obviously wants to take her down with him on the murder counts, maybe as pay back for her involvement in the sting."

McCoy nodded, unconvinced as he thought about his lunch with the Congresswoman.

Can't you make the charges go away?

At the time he'd chalked the naïve request up to lack of experience with the justice system and denial over Vargas's involvement in the murders.Then in her next breath, Carver had suggested a way to get Vargas to confess.Carver had been the one to suggest the sting …to suggest taping her conversation with Valdez in the men's room of the DA's office….

In his office.

Oh God, McCoy thought as he leaned back and wearily rubbed his eyes. Adam was right…and so was Brooke.

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"He hates being called 'John'…well…usually," Brooke confided, while blushing as she recalled the single set of very intimate circumstances her husband didn't cringe when she called him by his given name. "So naming the baby John James is out."

"If you say so, but I still think John is a solid name," Cohen replied as he handed her the file he carried. "Maybe you could call the baby 'Vito',as in Flores here. He'd be a great namesake for your boy to live up to."

Brooke McCoy rolled her eyes as she tossed the file marked 'closed' on top of the small pile on the edge of her desk.

"Yeah. You just say that because Vito Flores just got twenty to life for stabbing his mother with a machete. Nice Cohen. Why don't you just admit it. You want me name the baby after you, don't you?"

"Well, if you were my wife, I would have put my foot down and told you there was no way you were coming into the office after being so sick yesterday," Cohen said with mock indignation. "That alone should put me in the running for at least the middle name with you."

Brooke shook her head and slipped her glasses on before picking up the list in front of her.

"Listen. Now that I know I'm pregnant, nothing spicier than a Saltine is passing through these lips for another eight months. I'll be fine.You just want me out of the way so you can go after my job. Tough Cohen. You can wait it out until I go on maturity leave, like all the other vultures around here."

"Like you won't be back five seconds after you drop the kid, sign the birth certificate, and hand the baby over to Jack," Cohen said with a smirk."You forget, I was here for the first time around, sister. I was the one that made you go see Dr. Connelly when you started throwing up back then. You had no intention of quitting your job then. Why would you quit now, right after you got the EADA spot?"

Good question, Brooke thought as Cohen grinned in triumph, before closing the door behind him.

She had been so relieved by McCoy's positive response to her unexpected news, she had simply fallen asleep in her husband's arms without even thinking about specifics regarding what would happen after the baby was born.The next morning she was ina rush to bathe and dress before the first train left for Long Island. Brooke didn't have the chance to even think about approaching her husband to discuss practical considerations such as who would look after the baby after it was born during the work day.

As she rested her elbows on her desk and pinched the center of her nose, Brooke went though the list of pros and cons that had been etched in her mind since her train ride began that morning.

It didn't take long for her to remind herself that the 'cons' outweighed the 'pro's' by two to one. It took her even less time to calculate how long she had before a first trimester abortion would be out of the question. She had Jack's age by the baby's twentieth birthday flashing like a warning sign for a fatal crash in the back of her mind.

"How the hell did I let this happen," she whispered before reaching into her bottom drawer and pulling out the copy of Parenthood for Idiots she had purchased from the newsstand that morning.

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How the hell did I let this happen McCoy wondered as he heard a tap on his office door. Looking up, he was surprised to see Melanie Carver standing in the doorway.

"Melanie, please come in," he said, automatically on his feet.

"I just stopped by to offer my congratulations on the verdict," she said as she sat down across from him.

As they exchanged polite comments about Victor Vargas's murder conviction, McCoy searched the carefully made up face for a clue to the answer of the question he knew he had to ask.

After a few minutes, Carver stood. As she headed towards the door, McCoy impulsively called her back.

"Yes, Jack?"

"What did Vargas mean when he said 'listen to the rest of it'?"

"Jack, I have no idea," she said as she glanced at the open door before moving back to the front of his desk.

"Did you stop that tape," he asked softly; now sure of the answer.

Carver's smile deepened as she gave McCoy a knowing look and started back towards the door.

"Jack," she said with a soft chuckle."Don't forget to vote in the primary next week."