18th of December

"I'm sorry for being away another Sunday." Sofia embraced Sara when she came home. Another ten hours of work, no success, no time with her girlfriend, no time with her parents, who barely saw her during their stay here.

"I worked too."

"Yes, seven hours, not ten. You're back since two, spent time with my parents, which should be my job and cleaned our bedroom, kitchenette and bathroom. How can I make this all up to you?"

"Kiss me."

"You deserve more than only a kiss."

"Your kiss is better than anything, plus I never said I want only one kiss, I want at least a dozen." Sara pulled the blonde into her arms and kissed her gently. "Your lips make up for everything. I love you."

"I love you too."

"Why don't you have a shower, eat something and I take our dogs out for a run? Your parents are out, they got tickets for a movie from Tony. A premiere."

"Wow, how did he get them?"

"A friend of a friend plays a small part in the movie and he gave Tony the tickets. He has to work, his real life job demands more time and your parents deserve a night out."

"True. Two more days before they leave, I hope I can manage to have a day off, spend some time with them and you."

"If not we'll drive over the next time we have two or three days off. I'm not afraid of visiting them anymore." Sara grinned.

"That's good." Sofia smiled and kissed her lover. "What would I do without you?"

"Having one of these actress or model bitches around you, adoring you and telling you all the words you want to hear."

"Unlikely. I'd sit here alone and miss the one who is meant to be with me. You."

"We're meant for each other."

"Yes we are."

Placing her head on the blonde's shoulder the brunette closed her eyes. She missed their time on holidays. The whole day just for themselves, no work, nothing that got their attention away from each other.

"One day when they allow us to get married, I'll pop the question. You'll be a Misses Ranger."

"Misses Ranger? Sounds nice. You'll be a Misses CSI."

"Does that mean your accountant is then mine too?"

"Yes." Sofia grinned.

"I might think about the wedding idea, it might be my financial downfall."

"Shouldn't love be more important than finances?"

"Tell your accountant."

"You don't want me to give him my love."

"No, he gets most of your money, that's enough."

"Leaves the love for you."

"Exactly what I want. Go and have a shower, I take the dogs and let them have some fun at the dog park. There're vegetables, potatoes and meat in the fridge, you only have to heat it up."

"Thanks. The next time I'm home first I'll cook something."

"Tell your parents, they cooked. I think your dad cooked a lot of dishes, our freezer is full with little container, labeled and organized from vegetables to meat. When we don't have time to cook or are too lazy we can simply take one of them, heat it up and eat."

"We should invite dad more often."

"And your mom."

"Yeah, she can clean the house."

"You better don't let her hear this." Sara laughed, kissed Sofia again and left the room. Time to get the dogs out for their walk.

After her shower and the food Sofia walked over to the second bedroom and knocked quietly on the door. Instead of calling her inside Jules came out of the room.

"Hey, the twins and Greg are asleep."

"Oh, sorry."

"No need to be sorry, we let them sleep for a while."

"Don't you want to lay down too?"

"I slept this afternoon for three hours when your parents took care of the twins. They're a big help."

"Well, their daughter has no time for them, they're happy they've somebody to take care of." Sofia got two bottles of juice out of the fridge. Having a beer while Jules was forced to drink juice seemed to be unfair and weird and for a coffee was it too late.

"They know their daughter is a hard working woman and chases a baby kidnapper group."

"Yeah. Where's Tanya?"

"She and Don are having a fight, or a few fights, about who is the better Playstation and Wii player. Like teenager. Video games, beer and potato chips."

"Sounds absolutely good to me." Knowing the living room was full with people and the gym wasn't a good place to sit down and relax they went into Sofia's bedroom.

"Did you have any success at work today?"

"No, nothing. We tried to lure them with pregnant looking undercover cops, cops with baby buggies and baby dolls inside, no reaction. They walk around the city since four days, it's like they know it's a trap."

"Damn. How can they know?"

"My guess is they watch them and at one point, when the officer goes home, she takes off her belly and goes shopping, to sport, whatever. They must be pretty good in observing people, I bet they know exactly how a pregnant woman moves."

"Did they answer when you tried to contact them for a baby?"

"No. My colleagues tried it from a computer in an internet shop, nothing."

"It's really strange. They must have their eyes everywhere."

"Maybe that's part of their secret. They find a woman, they're interested in and put up a camera. Makes the observation easier. Then they strike, take the camera and nobody will ever know how they found everything out." It was an idea, a strange one but Sofia would give it some thoughts when she was back at work tomorrow. "How was your day? To come to another topic."

"We put the house up for sale today."

"This fast?"

"Yes. I went there this noon with Tanya, we got two cars full of things out, will go there again tomorrow and get the last things to my parent's place."

"Did you have a look at the Howard's house?"

"Yes. A nice house, the price is a little bit more than we want to spend, maybe we can talk with them about it. If they get down we might take it and live really close to you."

"The house is perfect because it's so close to our place."

"It's bigger than we planed our house."

"You have another baby and it's not too big anymore." Three bedrooms, two bathrooms and a guest room with bathroom downstairs sounded perfect to Sofia and not too big.

"Nice try. What happened to your baby wish?"

"We asked Don if he wants to be the father. It's unofficial at the moment, we haven't told my parents, you're the first one who hears about it."

"Wow. What did he say?"

"Nothing. We told him to think about it for a few days. He has to make the decision he wants, has to think about it. It will change his life, when he's the father we want him involved. If he wants it this way and I'm sure he does."

"What if he decides not to be the father?"

"We'll go to a sperm bank."

"Are you both sure about the baby?"

"Yes. Sara wants it as much as I do. Since she had Eric in her arms she is in love with him and doesn't worry about her being a good mother anymore. Your son does real magic, just like his mother did."

"I'm sure he'll be proud when you tell him this in a few years. What about your body? Are you fit enough to be pregnant?"

"I've your mother looking after me, nothing can happen. There are no reasons why I shouldn't be pregnant, the amputation happened six months ago, when there aren't any little infections I'm healthy and the only thing we've to take care of is that I use my crutches more often later in the pregnancy to support my legs a little bit."

"And you mind?"

"Busy."

"You've an appointment with your therapist tomorrow, don't you?"

"I've no time for this shit, we need to work on our case, I sent him a message I won't make it." She had told Sara she'd go to her therapies but there was no point in wasting time on her psychotherapy. It was enough when she went to her physio-therapist.

"A waste of time? Exactly what Sara said about seeing me."

"She changed her mind about you quickly. It's not the same."

"Why is that?" Jules leant back and sipped on her juice.

"Because she had the best therapist."

"And your therapist is bad?"

"Yes."

"Okay. So he doesn't see you're not all right?"

"I am all right."

"Didn't you just called me the best therapist two sentences ago? Now you doubt me, think I'm stupid and blind."

"You're neither stupid nor blind."

"You're defensive."

"Are you playing shrink? Do you miss your office this much?"

Jules looked at Sofia without answering. The blonde knew herself her reaction was way too harsh.

"Sorry."

"I don't want to shrink you, I don't want to tell you what to do, I worry about you, Sofia. You're my friend and I can see something is wrong. Yes, I am a psychologist and I am trained to see those things, even when I'm not working. Of course I can ignore them, pretend I don't see them, but when you see something is wrong with a friend, you'd try to help too."

"Jules…fuck…"

"You can tell me to leave you alone, Sofia. I am not your therapist, I'm your friend and as your friend I'll respect your wish."

"You never left Sara alone."

"She was my patient and it was my job to make her face her problems. Otherwise I would be a bad therapist."

The blonde dropped backwards on her bed and closed her eyes. Why did the brunette see this? Didn't she hide it? Hide it good. Even managed to keep her problem a secret from her lover, which was wrong, Sofia was aware of that. They weren't supposed to have secrets from each other.

"Something is wrong with me." The blonde started, waited for a question, a protest and when nothing came, she continued. "I don't know what and why. And I'm scared it might…it might make me not suitable being a CSI anymore and…I can't be a cop anymore, can't do what I always wanted to do and when …when I lose the only alternative that makes me almost as happy as being a cop, I don't know…I don't know what to do, how to go on."

Jules took Sofia's hand. "Do you want to tell me what makes you think you can't be a CSI anymore? What I know you're doing an amazing job, Greg loves working with you and says, you haven't forgotten anything."

"I can never be a cop again."

"Your boss told you you're always welcome, can always come back. Due to your leg you can't work the streets anymore and I know, you are not made to work inside but you can work as a cop. If you miss it too much you can go back, can have your old colleagues back. You even can become a captain."

"A desk captain."

"Still a captain."

"Not in my eyes and…I might even not pass the test for a desk cop anymore."

"Not because of your leg."

"No."

"What scares you?"

"It's ridiculous."

"No. If it was ridiculous it wouldn't effect you this much. It's serious."

"I guess you heard a lot of strange stories in all those years as a therapist."

"There aren't strange stories."

"I know one…and could use a beer."

"Alcohol doesn't help." Jules pulled Sofia in her arms. "You're strong enough to talk without having beer loosen your tongue."

"I feel stupid."

"I can assure you, you're not stupid and you can't say anything that will make me change my mind."

Sofia wasn't sure about this. Then again, like she said before, Jules had heard a lot of ridiculous stories in her job and knew how to handle them. And even when she felt stupid, it didn't mean she was stupid.