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Chapter 21
The next morning Jamie left early for his day tour. He left a bowl of fruit on the nightstand for Eddie with a note. 'Have fun with the girls, try not to overdo it. Love you' Eddie had set her alarm for about 8 so she could get herself ready before the girls showed up around 9. She smiled seeing Jamie's note but had to laugh because he was now being overprotective in his notes. Eddie texted Kara asking her to stop at the craft store for some baby stencils and some light green and light yellow paint before she came over. Shortly after getting up her phone went off, it was Jamie.
J- Good Morning, Beautiful
E - Good Morning
J - I forgot to let you know I gave Hailey a key last night so you don't have to worry about answering the door.
E - You're so thoughtful but I can answer the door. LOL
J - The dr said you're not to do the steps more than twice a day, I didn't want you to worry about it. Besides you need to take it easy or you could end up on bedrest for another 5-8 weeks.
E - UGH - good point. I miss you already.
J - I've only been gone a few hours. I'll be home around 6, I'm going to stop at the grocery store on the way home so we have some food in the house.
E - Ok, Love you !
J - Love you too.
Shortly after 9, Hailey came in.
"Eddie?" Hailey called out.
"In the bedroom." Eddie called down to her. "Come on up." Hailey came up and sat on the bed.
"How are you this morning?" Hailey asked.
"I'm feeling good." Eddie smiled. "I'm excited to have some girl time, before I become a mom of twins."
"I know, that's so exciting!" Hailey expressed. "I really expected you to be downstairs going through all the clothes."
"Believe me, I really want to but I'm not supposed to do the steps often. The dr. really only wants me to go up and down just once a day." Eddie informed her. "I want to spend most of the day in the nursery so I figured I should stay up here.
"Good idea ! Where is Kara?
"I asked Kara to pick up a few things at the craft store before she comes over. I'm also waiting to hear if Katie got either her Mom or Mother-in-law to babysit her boys." Eddie explained.
"So, what are we doing? Hailey asked.
"First thing I want to do is go through all the clothes." Eddie stated. "Grab the empty basket and you can put everything in it." Ten minutes later Hailey came up with all the clothes in the basket.
"Some of these little onesies have the most adorable sayings on them." Hailey laughed. "Where did you get them from?"
"They came from Nikki and Erin, Nikki's friend works at a store that makes them. All the ones with the NYPD references are a second set. They gave us one set at Christmas when we didn't know we were having twins yet."
"I love this one - 'Our Mom and Dad were NYPD partners'" Hailey said.
"I know, it's so cute. I love how it's blue like our uniform." Eddie told her. "We had already decided to have newborn pictures taken in the mini NYPD uniform and now we have two. It will be the cutest picture ever !"
"I like the ones that say 'I was planned' and 'I was a surprise'. That really fits your situation." Hailey laughed.
"Don't I know it."
While Eddie and Hailey were going through the clothes, Kara came in.
"Hey, where is everyone?" Kara called out.
"Upstairs." They called out.
"So tell me what kind of fun we're going to have with this stuff." Kara inquired holding the bag of craft items she had picked up.
"I want to put some stencils on the dressers so I can color code them for each child." Eddie explained. "But first we need to get these clothes washed."
Hailey grabbed the baby detergent Eddie had gotten at the shower and headed down to the basement to do the first of several loads of laundry. As Eddie and Kara headed to the nursery she got a text from Katie saying she would be there about 11. Her mom had a doctor's appointment and would be able to watch the boys after. Eddie explained that she wanted to put yellow stencils on one dresser and green stencils on the other. After deciding which ones to use, Kara worked on one while Eddie worked on the other. Hailey came back upstairs and started to take the bedding out of the bags to get them ready to be washed too.
"These are the cutest bed sets." Hailey commented. "I love that they look like they match without being the same."
"I like that too, even if we have two boys or two girls, I don't want them to be dressed alike. I'd like to have similar but different colors."
"Does Jamie agree?" Kara laughed.
"Yeah, we have surprisingly been pretty much on the same page for everything at this point." Eddie observed.
"Why are you surprised? You two are more in sync than any couple I've ever met, including my parents, who've been married 40 years." Hailey emphasized.
"That's what made you such great partners on the job." Kara added.
"We can read each other very well, we know when something is bothering each other just by the way we say things." Eddie admitted. "There is no way we can keep secrets from each other."
They were enjoying themselves so much that time just flew by, they had finished the dressers and before they knew it Katie was knocking on the door. After ordering lunch, Eddie came downstairs to eat.
"So what's next on the agenda?" Kara asked.
"I need to get the rest of the gifts away, rearrange the kitchen cabinets a little so I have a shelf for all their bottles."
Katie interrupted, "Honestly, they'll probably never get into the cabinets. You'll use so many of them during the day, they'll either be in the fridge, if you pump, dirty in the dishwasher, or drying on the rack."
"So I should just have a place for them on the counter?" Eddie asked.
"Basically, yes." Katie laughed. "The two biggest surprises I got were the amount of bottles they used and the number of diapers they went through."
"Diapers . . . I'm going to need to invest in them." Eddie chuckled. "Oh, we'll need to put the larger sizes in the closet, and put the newborn ones on the changing table."
"Just don't take them out of the bag until you actually come home with them. Don't bother washing the bottles now either, you want to wait until you need them." Katie informed her. "When you have them, have Jamie throw like ten of them in the dishwasher before you come home. You can wash the rest when you get home."
"OK, I think I've got it all." Eddie laughed shaking her head.
Hailey heard the dryer beep with the first load. She brought up the clothes and all the girls got to folding them.
"I can't get over how tiny they'll be." Eddie beamed taking two sleepers and laying them over her belly.
"I'm taking a picture of this and sending it to Jamie." Kara said enthusiastically. "He'll love it!" Kara got an immediate text back from Jamie "My new favorite picture."
Eddie got a text from Jamie as well, he forwarded the picture,
J - This is now my new favorite picture of our Rookies and their Mom. I'm getting this framed so we can hang it in the house.
E – Awww, I love you !
J - Love you too, see you in a couple hours.
The rest of the day flew by. Kara and Katie had to leave by 3 to be home for their children and Hailey had dinner plans with some friends. They left Eddie upstairs in the nursery putting the baby clothes away in the dressers. By the time Jamie came home around 6, he found her in the nursery holding two NYPD stuffed teddy bears fast asleep in the rocker. He had the picture Kara sent blown up to an 8x10 and placed it on top of one of the dressers.
"Eddie" Jamie said softly while gently shaking her arm.
"Eddie" he repeated.
"Hmmm, hey." She smiled seeing his face.
"How long have you been asleep?" He asked.
"I'm not sure." Eddie says looking around the room. "Looks like I only got one basket of clothes put away."
"You guys did a great job on the room." Jamie complimented. "I think you did too much today though, you look exhausted."
"I am tired but really hungry too." Eddie replied.
"How about you get into bed and I'll make you a sandwich." Jamie suggested.
Jamie came back upstairs with a ham and cheese sandwich only to find Eddie fast asleep in bed. He wrapped up her sandwich and placed it on her nightstand in case she woke up hungry later.
Jamie was filling in for another sergeant working swing shift for the next three days so he had a chance to help the tech guys hook up the equipment for Eddie to use to hopefully finish up her case.
On Thursday morning, Det. Shawn Tanketti, affectionately known as Tank in the precinct, called with some exciting news.
"Tech looked into the IP addresses of the guys who the victims had spoken with on the dating sites and found out that they were all the same." He told her excitedly.
"Wait, so we found the connection !" Eddie screamed.
"Yes, and they've identified who the IP address belongs to. His name is Jonathan Scott Nickels, his current address is in Washington Heights. I'm taking Donovan and we're going out there this afternoon to try and talk to him and bring him in for questioning." Tank relayed.
"I can't believe it, all the cases are actually connected." Eddie squealed, this time bringing Jamie into the room.
"What is going on?" Jamie questioned. Eddie held up her hand to have Jamie wait.
"This was all you." Tank complimented. "Lt. Carver said you were the one who suspected they were connected. We have a major serial killer here and you figured it out."
"This is so exciting. I can't believe it." Eddie was in dismay. "Did you call Gina?"
"I'm going to do that now. I wanted you to hear it from me since this is your case." Tank told her. "I will keep you updated."
"Thank you ! !"
"So are you going to tell me what all the screaming is all about?" Jamie asked.
"Tank got news from tech and they discovered that all the victims communicated with one guy - Jonathan Scott Nickels - he used aliases but the IP address was the same for the person each victim had arranged to meet for a date with." Eddie explained excitedly.
"That's amazing, you did it." Jamie exclaimed. "You did it, you found the connection."
"I can't believe it, Tank and Donovan are hoping to go out this afternoon to try and bring him in for questioning." Eddie told Jamie. "I really wish I could be there for it." Jamie went over and gave Eddie a big hug and a kiss.
"You did it ! !I'm so proud of you." Jamie congratulated still keeping the embrace. "Not only did you close a cold case but you solved 15 homicides. I bet Carver will put you in for a commendation. You might even be up for a promotion."
"Do you even think I would get a promotion, I mean with being the PC's daughter-in-law now." Eddie questioned?
"This will end up being a high profile case, and I think you'll be doing interviews so that will put your name out there. Someone is going to want to have you in their precinct." Jamie explained.
"That would be awesome but right now I just want to focus on having these babies." Eddie started, "After that, bring on the promotion !
Monday came quickly, they were both up early for Eddie's dr appointments. Her first appointment was with Dr. Miller to see if she was getting off bed rest for the remainder of the pregnancy.
"Eddie" Jamie called, "Are you ready to go?"
"Yeah, I'm coming . . . slowly." Eddie replied back.
"Take your time. We're early."
"I've been thinking, you may want to get the car seats and put them in the car so we're ready whenever the time comes." Eddie suggested on the way to the doctor.
"Why don't we see if you've progressed any today and then make a decision." Jamie stated.
"Ok, we can do that." Eddie commented.
Once at the doctor, Eddie didn't have to wait long and was taken back within five minutes of arriving.
The tech took her weight and blood work before taking her into a room.
"Remove everything from the waist down and sit up on the table." the tech instructed handing her the paper blanket to cover herself.
A few minutes later Dr. Miller entered the room, "How are you feeling today?"
"Huge !" Eddie chuckled.
"Well that is to be expected at this stage of the game. Glad you haven't lost your sense of humor" Dr. Miller smiled.
"We're getting very excited." Jamie replied. "We just want to meet them." Eddie added
"I understand your excitement." She sympathized. "These last few weeks will seem twice as long."
"So, have you had any more cramps or pain?" Dr. Miller continued.
"No," Eddie stated firmly, "just the Braxton Hicks contractions I've been having for weeks.
"That's good to hear. Now let's have you lay back so we can take a look."
"Your measurements are good, and you are still only about a half centimeter dilated. This is very good news, the accident hasn't had any effect on your pregnancy at this point in time. I'm going to take you off full-time bedrest but I you still need to take it easy and don't do too much. Limit your stair use and relax. Enjoy the end of your pregnancy. We need you to keep those little ones in for at least 4 more weeks." Dr. Miller informed Jamie and Eddie.
"Thanks, doc., we appreciate everything you've been doing for us." Jamie complimented.
"You are very welcome, I will see you guys next week."
Once they were back in the car after Eddie had the stitches removed from her arm and head she checked her phone and discovered Tank had left her a message. "Tank called, I really hope they got him today." Eddie declared. Jamie watched as she listened to the message, Eddie's smile got bigger and bigger. By the time she hung up she was wearing a full grin and had tears in her eyes.
"They got him, Jamie, they got him ! ! !" Eddie exclaimed. "They're going to be interrogating him in about an hour. Let's get to the precinct, I want to see what this guy looks like ! !"
"You've seen his picture." Jamie reminded.
"That's just a picture, I need to see him in person !"
"Are you sure you should be doing this? You're supposed to be getting your rest."
"Reagan, this is a big deal for me, take me to the precinct !" Eddie demanded. "Please." She added with a smile.
Twenty-five minutes later Jamie was pulling into the 2-9 precinct, Eddie was so excited he barely had the car in park before she was jumping out.
"Hey, hey, you need to slow down." Jamie called to her.
"I don't want to miss the interrogation." She yelled back at him. Finally catching up to her he moved in front of her to stop her.
"Look, I know you're excited but you've only been off bedrest for an hour, you need to take it easy." Jamie demanded. "I don't want these two born in the precinct because you're getting yourself all worked up." He looked lovingly at her while placing his hands on her stomach.
Eddie looked back at him taking a deep breath. "I know, I know, but this is really important to me. This is a huge case and I helped find this guy." Eddie pleaded.
"I understand that, I'm really proud of you for what you did, but you need to think of yourself and the babies." Jamie reasoned. "Oh, and you did a lot more than just help.
Jamie wrapped his arms around Eddie and gave her a kiss. "Now can we go in without running?" Jamie teased.
Shaking her head at Jamie she replied, "You know, you're going to be good at this Dad thing." Jamie smiled.
They walked up to the detective unit looking for Tank, they found Det. Pete Donovan rushing to finish up some paperwork."
"Hey Pete, where's Tank?" Eddie asked.
"Hey Eddie, what are you doing here?"
"I heard about Nickels, I wanted to watch the interrogation." Eddie explained. "Did I miss it?"
"No, not yet, we're waiting for his public defender to show up. They should be here any time now." Donovan replied. "Tank is waiting for the DNA warrant.
"How long do you think it should be?" Jamie inquired.
"No more than 10 minutes for the warrant, as for the interrogation, it will all depend on how long it takes for his lawyer to get here." Pete stated.
"Why don't you sit and relax, I'm going back downstairs for a few minutes." Jamie told her.
"Ok, I'll text you when his lawyer gets here."
About 10 minutes later a man walked up to Detective Pete Donovan.
"Hi, I'm Jack Boyle." He introduced himself. "I'm here to see my client, Jonathan Nickels."
Thank you to windowsandsunshine for recommending my story. If you haven't already, please don't forget to check out her stories "Life Can Change" and "Two Different Kinds of Chemistry."