Disclaimer - Maria Frank and Ben Munch are my own creations. John Munch belongs to Law and Order: SVU. Planning on this being the last chapter. Took me longer since I've been away on a two week vacation and trying to do some writing during any free time or when there's been wifi.
Few months later -
Life in general was finally straightening out for the better. Maria had finally managed to get John to shush up about what they were going to do in case anything happened to one of them. They had sat down and worked over who was going to care for Ben in case anything was to happen to both of them, but other than that, ideas had slowly worked in place without them interfering.
While Ben was at the community center with a few of his friends for a friendly game of basketball, Maria and John sat comfortably on the top bleachers to just observe as Ben made the hoop, fist pumping the air as he jogged backwards as a friend grabbed for the bouncing ball.
"He's getting really good," Maria commented with a smile, proud of Ben's playing skills.
John smiled and took a hold of Maria's hand where it sat on her lap. "Well, he didn't learn these fast moves from me." He glanced over at Maria and squeezed her hand when she looked over. "It's probably all natural skills."
Ben waved over towards them quickly before calling for a friend to toss the ball to him to catch. They both returned the wave and Frank lowered her voice, "Think he can go pro?"
"He can certainly go professional if he wants to. He and I had been talking about what he wants to do as a career and he's not sure if he wants to follow in our steps or go with his sport." Munch replied honestly, knowing Maria secretly wanted him to become a professional basketball player. "I know you don't want him to follow in our steps."
Frank shrugged. "He can, but the last thing I want to see him get involved with is sex crimes. For him to know what we saw and lived with isn't something I want him to have on his mind."
"There are so many options he can pick from for the police life. He knows we were cops, but no way will we tell him about being in sex crimes until he's older." He stated firmly, his dark eyes watching their son make another shot. "Our nightmares have certainly not ended since we retired."
"No they haven't," She agreed, holding his fingers firmly. "But if we didn't have Ben, we probably wouldn't be as happy as we are now."
Grinning, John nodded his head. "I agree with you there, Mar." He gave her a sly smile and added, "I'm glad that condom broke."
Ben looked up from his game in time to see Maria toss back her head to laugh loudly. The ten year old boy smiled and jogged down the court, calling for the ball once more.
The End.