"I want the people that did this Jake," Brooke whispered as the attendant covered the chard body that lay on the metal table." has anyone called Michael yet?"

Cohen gave the attendant a nod as he followed his supervisor into the hallway.

"I've left messages with the service, but he hasn't called back yet. When I heard Janine Connelly had been the doctor working late last night, I knew you'd want a call as well," he said as they stepped into the elevator. "Maybe when we track him down, you should be the one to tell Jackowicz."

Brooke nodded as the elevator door opened. It was common knowledge around both the legal and medical circles in the community that the DA and the local doctor had become very close since the death of Jackowicz's wife a few years earlier.

"I'll go over to his place before I head home. I know it's early, but what do the cops have so far," she asked, determined to fight the wave on nausea that had washed over her upon seeing the lifeless body of the woman who had been her OB/GYN since before her first marriage. As Cohen relied the facts of the case, Brooke could feel her rage building.

"Evidence or not, you and I both know where the police are going to end up tracing this thing back to," Brooke said as Cohen opened the door for her. "Damn these radical fringe groups."

"You're probably right. Shouldn't take the detectives too long to finish canvassing the neighborhood. If they get lucky and find someone who saw something, I'll give you another call."

"Thanks Jake," she replied as they walked towards her car. "But I already gave the lead detective my cell number. You can enjoy what's left of your weekend. I'm sitting first chair on this case."

"Brooke, you know you can't take the lead on this one," Cohen said with a start. "You were to close to Connelly to begin with and besides, you're pregnant."

"Come off it Jake," she said incredulously as she swung around to face him. "The fact that I was close to the victim is exactly why I have to take the lead. I have the originals of every threat that's been sent to Janine since the clinic opened. That should give the detectives a leg up on finding the bastards that did this. As for being pregnant; so what?"

"So what," he asked, with equal annoyance. "So you know as well as I do, that if the cops find the purp and we go to trial, things could – and more likely will- get ugly. This wouldn't be the first case that the lunatics behind something decide to lash out at the prosecutor going after their 'noble martyr'. It wouldn't be the first time some nut decides to send a prosecutor a letter bomb or worse."

"Oh God! Like they wouldn't do the same thing once word gets out an openly gay man is prosecuting? Come one Jake, give me a break!"

"If they come after me, it's just me," he persisted, unconsciously looking towards her belly. "If they come after you it's… Listen, I'm the one that was with you when you lost your first child. I remember what that did to you, even if you have decided to conveniently block it out. I don't think you could bounce back it you lost another child, so for once in your life, listen to reason and at least let me take the lead here."

"Jake," she said with a sigh, as her tone. softened "It's not like I'm looking to lose this baby or get myself killed. You know as well as I do, Jackowicz will have the bomb squad checking the mail the second we announce the police have a suspect in custody. Nothing's going to get by those guys. Besides, I'm an EADA. This stuff comes with the title and you know it."

"What do you think Jack's going to say," he said not ready to concede defeat.

"What do you mean what's Jack going to say," she mimicked, with renewed sarcasm. "If you think either of us is in the habit of getting the other's okay as to which cases we're going to prosecute, you must be sniffing glue again."

"If you think Jack's going to sit back and watch you jeopardize not only your life but that baby's," Cohen countered with a sneer,"well I hate to think about what you've been sniffing, girlfriend."

"Oh don't be so dramatic," she snapped as she pulled the driver's door open. "You and Jack have done enough do gooding in the last twenty four hours to last a lifetime and if you had any idea what a can of worms that opened…"

Brooke's tirade abruptly came to a halt as she realized, almost too late, the position she'd be putting Cohen in by telling him about her meeting with Sam Prescott the night before. Not only had Cohen become quite close to her new husband once again; he and Prescott had rebonded enough since his return for Prescott to have chosen Cohen to be his best man when he married Danielle Melnick. To give Cohen such a loaded piece of information was to put him smack in the middle of something that had the potential to damage if not destroy two marriages.

It would be more than unfair to expect Cohen to remain not only quiet, but neutral, by confiding in him.

"To be honest, I wasn't thrilled about bringing you and Sam together over something so emotional," Cohen admitted as he leaned against her door. "I have a pretty good idea what Jack's motives were -what he hoped to accomplish. The man is your husband and he's just trying to protect you the best way he can. Which is why I doubt he's going to be less than thrilled that his pregnant wife is going to take on Operation Rescue and company."

"Damn it Jake, I'm pregnant not helpless," she said as her patience gave out. "I've prosecuted drug lords and serial killers and lived to tell. You want to know what my husband's going to say? He's going to say 'use it'."

"Use it," Cohen repeated blankly.

"Yes. The pregnancy," she said intently as she leaned closer. "Think about it. Who better to prosecute a clinic bomber than a pregnant woman? If they come after me, it will just show what hypocrite's these people really are and help us to gain the juries sympathy. My husband would be the first one to see that. Jack McCoy didn't get to where he is now by being shy about playing to win - to take whatever advantage he has in a case a play it to the hilt. Why do you think they call Jack 'Hang 'Em High' in the first place?"

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"Use it," McCoy said without missing a beat, as he reached for his satchel and jacket.

"But Jack I'm still not sure I shouldn't go to the judge," Connie Rubirosa stammered as she turned her annoyed glare from Mike Cutter and onto the DA. "It was an ex parti communication between a juror and a prosecutor. Shouldn't I at least tell the judge-"

"Did you initiate the contact," McCoy probed, as he reached for the door handle.

"No. He approached me on the street and I told him it would be inappropriate for us to continue the conversation," Rubirosa replied uncomfortably.

"Then there's nothing to tell -at least nothing worth jeopardizing this case going to verdict, "McCoy said firmly as he moved towards the elevator.

"But Jack-"

"Come on Connie, Jack's right," Cutter interjected. "What are you going to say to the judge? That a man finds you attractive? That's hardly news or grounds to risk the defense demanding a mistrial."

Rubirosa shot her supervisor a dagger look as she bit her lip and abruptly turned towards her cubicle.

"Any word on the Waxman case," McCoy asked as the elevator doors opened.

Cutter turned his attention from the door that closed just a little too hard and back to the DA's inquiring gaze.

"The police think they might have a motive for the wife. Seems they found a series of audio tapes with the name 'Meredith' on them."

"Meredith? "

"Green and Lipo are thinking revenge killing for an affair the doctor was having. The wife finds the tapes,sees the name, puts two and two together and snaps."

"Have they found the mistress yet?"

"Not yet. Green thinks they should be through the patient files sometime tonight," Cutter said holding the elevator door. "With any luck they'll find Meredith there."

"Keep me posted," McCoy remarked as the pressed the lobby button. "I'll have my phone on until I get back from dinner."

"It could be late Jack," Cutter said as he stepped back.

"Brooke and I are having dinner with Ben Stone and Shambala Green. Dinner will run late, so don't hesitate to call when you hear from Green."

"Will do," Cutter said as the doors began to close.

As he walked towards his office, Cutter found himself hesitating in front of Rubirosa's door. Torn between apologizing for letting the decision as to whether she should go to the judge be taken out of her hands and his own relief that McCoy had stepped in when he did.

As much as her words rang uncomfortably true, Cutter still felt justified in, as Rubirosa described with unusual crudity, 'pimping' his ADA out to the jury. There was no question in his mind that the defendant was guilty. He probably would have obtained a guilty verdict without juror number eight remaining on the jury anyway, but why risk it? Besides, he told himself as he slowly moved passed her door down the hall to his own office, I'll make it up to her after the trial…I still have to make good on that dinner at Twenty One I promised Connie after we went to the mall… maybe when the verdict comes in we can make it a celebration and fresh start kind of thing… maybe by then she'll be in more of a mood to forgive and forget…