No good news, no news at all. After twelve hours of working around and in the Morrison's house, taking evidence to the lab and working on some of it, Sofia and Greg called it a day. Their heads hurt, they were tired and weren't able to focus that good anymore. It was better to go home now before they overlooked the tiny piece of evidence, they needed.

"You look tired, Honey." Her father hugged her. "Sit down and have dinner. I made your favorite steak and three different kinds of dips for your French fries."

"Thanks." She smiled. He always knew how to surprise her, always remembered what she loved most.

"Sara is upstairs, I'm sure she comes down when she sees your car."

"Did you buy all oranges in the city?" Her kitchen looked like an orange farm. Everywhere were the fruits, peeled, whole, as juice and the smell from the oven told her, also in the big pot.

"No, Sara did. I make jam for you, orange jam. Some with ginger and some with fig. And a special dozen with whiskey and tequila sunrise jam."

"Tequila sunrise jam? Never heard of it but it sounds great. I love whiskey orange jam. It's jam and not marmalade, isn't it?"

"Yes, I know you like the sweet version."

"Thanks. What did you do before you took over the kitchen?"

"Your mother and I went to Venice for lunch, had a little walk on the beach, took care of the twins and followed the police radio. You have a new case."

"Yes."

"The kidnapper or a copy cat?"

"I found the chloroform tissue, we never released it to the press, this should be not a copy cat case. And the parents stroke me like they really suffer. Both of them."

"How did the kidnapper bypass the security system?"

"The IT expert? Like with the security in the hospitals. One of them knows what he's doing and how we gets the others inside. That's why our guys can't find them on the internet. There is no trace that goes to L.A. from the web page."

"You'll solve the case."

"I'm not sure anymore."

"Of course you will, you're my daughter. You know how to handle complicated things."

"Like your wife?"

"Don't let her hear this." He laughed.

"No, it's our secret."

"What secret?" Sara asked when she came into the kitchen. She had heard Sofia come back home and when her lover didn't come up, she assumed the blonde was in the kitchen, having dinner.

"We can't tell you, it's a secret."

"You don't get a kiss."

"Blackmailing doesn't work." Sofia grabbed Sara, pulled her close and kissed her. "I kiss you if you don't kiss me."

"Not fair."

"That's life."

"Where's Greg?"

"Should be with Jules, he went straight up to see her. Why?"

"Don might have found a house for Greg and Jules."

"Where?"

"That's my secret."

"She's the one who isn't fair, right dad?"

"Maybe you can deal with your secrets. I know both of them, I can stay out of this."

"You could tell me."

"Both?"

"No, hers."

"No, I won't Sofia."

"Bugger. Okay. Our secret is, mom is complicated."

"That's not a secret."

"The secret is, we don't tell her we think this way."

"She knows."

"Will you stop ruin our hopes? Where is the house?"

"Down the road. The Howards move to San Diego and luckily Mister Howard told Don last week. We went there when we came back from our run around the reservoir, their house is up to sale. Greg and Jules can have a look at it."

"I know the house, have been in there once. Kitchen, living room, office, guest room and guest toilet on the first story, three bedrooms and two bathrooms upstairs."

"Was it a crime scene?"

"No, I got a house tour and as a good detective, lieutenant and CSI I remember details. It's part of all my jobs."

"Sounds like a house they're looking for."

"Just the fact it's in the same road we live should make them take it. Close to us, we can have the babies often over. And it's in a good condition, they shouldn't need too much time for the renovation and have it ready to move in soon. Not that I want them out any time soon, they can stay forever if they want."

"You, my dear, need a conversation with your accountant."

"Why?" Sofia looked like she had an appointment with the dentist. "What happened? Did you find anything bad when you looked over our papers?"

"No, Don wants a second room."

"Huh?"

"When we emptied the car we talked about stuff, that we should have a garage sale in April or May, so you can give your accountant some money and he might allow you to build a room on the garage. Don wants it, a second room, a living room. He says he can't impress women with just one room, that makes him look like a college boy."

"Since when does he need a second room to impress women?"

"A similar question did Tanya ask. He needs a bigger TV and a sunset view over the reservoir."

"I understand the view, not the TV."

"Video games. They're both crazy for video games and plan long video games nights with race and sport games."

"A second room…his rent increases then."

"He's aware of that."

"Whatever it takes to keep him here. Where is he?"

"Using the gym."

"I should go there too. My physiotherapist isn't happy when I tell him, I barely have time to do my exercises. Or see him."

"You're next appointment is on Monday. Also with your psychotherapist."

"Wahoo." The blonde stuck out her tongue. No need to remind her of these appointments.

"Hey, I've to see my therapist also on Monday."

"One, not two."

"I buy some muffins for you."

"Better. Buy plenty, we need them for Christmas."

"I can order three dozen, some cake and donuts. All the other Christmas stuff is here. Including a cake."

"How comes you went shopping?"

"The closer we come to Christmas the fuller the shops."

"Do you have all my presents?"

"You get me, if you complain, you're in trouble."

"Sometimes she reminds me of mom." Sofia said to her father.

"The good thing is, you love your mother."

"I do." She placed her dirty plate in the dish washer. "Why don't we have a look if Don is still working out and when he does, I join him. If not, we can talk with him about the room."

"Okay. Or do you need some help here, Mark?"

"No Sara, I'm fine. Thanks."

"No problem." Sara took Sofia's hand and walked with her upstairs. Don wasn't working out anymore so Sofia took the change to change into something more casual and went downstairs with Sara. After they knocked on Don's door they were called in.

"Hey detective, how are you?"

"My ex boss, how are you? Do you need help with your case? I'm available tomorrow."

"I hope we won't get a homicide case anymore. The last time you came over to help our kidnapping case turned into homicide."

"Not my fault." He dropped on his bed. "Are there a bunch of actors in our living room again?"

"Not yet. Do they annoy you?"

"No, it's quite entertaining to watch them and I am barely here."

"But your own living room would be cooler?"

"Sara told you? We were just fooling around."

"You can have the room, Don."

"Your accountant will kill you."

"He'll increase your rent."

"Double it?"

"Almost."

"Sounds good to me. Can you build a room on the garages? "

"Yes. Gives you a five by six sized room, do you want a balcony with it?"

"A balcony?"

"Yeah, we can build a carport in front of the garages, gives us place for two cars to park under. I'm sure Sara's car is happy when it's get a roof and Sara can actually breathe when she enters her car in summer time."

"Nice idea. Will it increase my rent?"

"Yes Honey."

"Okay, it's worth. Woah Don, you'll get a monster of a balcony. With this size you can entertain more than one woman."

"I know, I heard that before." He smirked.

"The balcony, Mister Universe." Sara chuckled. She was sure Don didn't talk about it anymore, little Mister Show-Off.

"Sure. No more need for the garden."

"What? Hey, our garden parties are important! You can't stay on your balcony and don't join us anymore!"

"Or we spill cold water on you from our balcony. When you get a second room, we can have a bit balcony upstairs…or also a room? A sun room?"

"Honey, when we want a sun room we won't have holidays away for a while because I can't have both. It's either the sun room or holidays for the next three years. Pick what you prefer."

"Holidays."

"Thanks. We let Don's second room build in a way that we have the opportunity to add a room on top of it, more is not possible at the moment. We need to go back to Vegas, gamble and win a lot of money. If we win a million I build you a pool in the garden."

"And kick all your housemates out because you don't need the money anymore?" Don asked amused.

"No, I'd never kick you out, Don. In fact, I hope you'll stay forever with us. But I'm afraid when you find your Misses Right you'll move."

"Or she moves in…if you give her a kitchen, not every woman is so easy to please like your girlfriend. Some women want more privacy when they cook."

"To me it's important Sofia that is with me, that there are other people around when we have breakfast doesn't bother me too much. Besides, we have our own kitchen upstairs."

"With a huge living room there's enough space for a kitchen-ette. Plus we have another room for guests in case we'll be busy like we're now."

"And you don't have to give up your bedroom anymore."

"For my step parents I'd do it again."

"Thanks."

"They are pretty good with the twins. I can see them being only grandparents when they're retired. Spoiling grandparents. I bet they give their grandchildren whatever they ask for, let them do what they want."

"Probably…Don, do you want a child?"

"Me? Don't I need a woman for that?" He laughed. "My therapist and me worked out I've to stop looking for…for somebody who isn't like Jess and at the same time is exactly like her. No woman, no baby."

Sofia looked at Sara. She didn't want to wait any longer, she wanted to talk to Don now. Why waste time, think about possibilities when you could have your answer straight away or at least faster?

"I…we want to ask you something, you don't have to answer right away, in fact, we want you to think about it for a while, so you're pretty sure about your answer and no matter how the answer is, it doesn't change a thing between us, okay?"

"Okay."

"As you know we're talking about having a child together and I want to get pregnant. Last night I had a look for a sperm bank and how it works. What we both would prefer is when you, if you can imagine, be the father of our child." Gosh, that worked out a little bit bumpy. Sofia wasn't sure if her sentences made sense at all, if they confused Don or put pressure on him.

"Me? The father of your child?"

"Yes. Think about it, we don't need an answer now. And if you don't like our idea, we won't be mad."

"How much time do I have to think about it?"

"As long as you want. And my parents have no idea we talked about it, so no pressure from mom."

"Okay, I will think about it."

"Thanks." Sofia hugged her friend. She knew they asked a lot, they surprised him and it was only fair to give him all the time he needed to think about their request, get used to the thought. It would change a lot in his life.

"And now I pack a few things and drive over to Kyle. If you need me at your scene, give me a call. When you're free for lunch you can call as well."

"Both sounds good, I give you a call."

"I say good night to your parents, Tanya and the Oscar stars of tomorrow if they're in. See you tomorrow. Sara, if you plan to buy another car load of whatever, let me know, I help you carry it inside. Otherwise I'll be back for dinner."

"Thanks, but I'm done with shopping." Sara laughed. "See you tomorrow night, take Kyle with you if he has not to work."

"You never know what's on discount out of the blue."

"Well, if I find beer on discount I buy a few boxes."

"Good decision."

"She thinks like a cop." Sofia chuckled. "Come on Honey, time to go to bed. We've to work tomorrow and I'm afraid there's a twelve hours day waiting for me."

"Will you have some breaks?"

"Hopefully my lunch date with Don. These people are VIPs, they expect us around all the time, want a lot of answers and the ones we give them, they don't like."

"Tell them they can choose between an honest answer they might not like and a lie. And only because they're VIPs they won't get a special treatment." Sara grumbled. Why did some people think they deserved more than other people? All parents, who had lost their babies, were important. The police wanted each baby back.

"Unfortunately they know some politics and will contact them."

"Snobs."

"Yes…it's good you don't work this case, you might get into their face."

"I'd tell them what I think when they act like their baby is more important than one or all of the others. Politics will never be my strength."

"No. It's something I love about you. Your sense for justice, to see all people equal."

"What else do you love?" Sara grinned.

"Well…I can show you as soon as we're in bed."

"Deal. Hurry up!" Sara pushed Sofia up the last stairs. They had no time to lose.