'Lou's...holy Jesus this is Audrey? Lou's Audrey he was dating when he-'

'Yeah,' Spike sighed, dragging a hand over his face. 'Yeah, it's her. I know you guys only met her for a little bit, but all the details match with what I remember happening after Lou was...'

For a moment there was only a crackling, electric hum from Team One's headsets as Spike fought to keep his composure as he went on, 'Lou and Audrey, they'd been seeing each other for about eight months or so and Lou had just introduced her to the rest of the team abut two months before.'

'Six months seems a little long to keep the girl away from the team, doesn't it?' Moise asked, unsure how to tread here. 'Wouldn't she get suspicious?'

'You never met Lou, you needed pliers to get him to spill about anything in his life,' Spike explained. 'I'd know him since we were kids in university together, and he only let me meet her after four months. I knew he had a girl but Lou was a frickin' vault, he could keep secrets from God.'

'So did he know about the baby when he died?' Leah asked, sharing the uncertainty with Moise; it was stronger for her because she knew she had come to Team One to fill the staffing gap left in the wake of Lou's line-of-duty sacrifice.

'Yeah, they found out before we went to Jamaica, and he ...he was taking some time to decide if he wanted to propose right away or wait because he didn't want Audrey feeling like he was marrying her out of obligation.'

'As the child of such a marriage, I can certainly testitfy how stressful that type of homelife can be,' Winnie chimed in, 'and the marriage ended in divorce, easy to see why Lou wanted to take his time to make that decision.'

'Did you keep in touch with her, Michelangelo?' Ed used his real name, hoping to keep his friend and colleague in the present - anyone who knew what had happened to Spike that day knew this conversation had to be tearing him to pieces inside. 'Winnie mentioned she's moved away.'

'She had to get away after Lou was gone, said things here were too painful. I send the usual holiday and birthday cards for her and her boy. I didn't know she'd moved back here.'

'According to her work records, she transferred just after Christmas back to the office, and her son is in the daycare at Jack Layton, starting junior kindergarten full time in the fall,' Winnie added, her insides churning sickly. Don't go there now, she ordered herself, focus on the job, then you can kick his ass.

'Ed, we're almost at the school, we're going to go find the boy and Issy,' Moise informed him. 'Win who are we going to talk to when we are there?'

'Calling the principal now, will patch you in,' Winnie replied in a tight voice as she heard Spike tell Ed that he would take point with Audrey. 'Constable Scarlatti, is there anything else we know about the subject at this point?'

Only a fool would have missed the snotty undertone in Winnie's voice, and Spike was no fool. 'Not at present, Constable Camden, but I would be very open to hearing any of your suggestions on where they could be headed.'

'GPS on Audrey's brother's phone seems to be there target, they're going north towards...oh man, they're heading towards the school.'

'Probably to try and grab the kid along with the mom, motivation for Audrey which becomes motivation for Jeremiah to cough up the cash he owes,' Leah concluded.

'Moise, double time to the school,' Ed ordered him, then muted the comm-system before glancing at Spike. 'I take it Winnie didn't know about this?'

Spike shook his head. 'I...I felt like telling anyone would make Lou look like a jackass.'

'Nope, just you for lying to your fiancee since the start of your relationship,' Leah pointed out, making the slimy feeling on the back of Spike's neck spread like spilled honey.

'Not lying, keeping a secret to protect a friend.'

'Not how it works in a marriage Spike,' Ed told him. 'Soph and me, we've got no secrets like that, because we trust each other and know we can confide in each other to not be a blabbermouth.'

'You think...' Now Spike swallowed tightly. 'You think she won't trust me now? Enough to call off the wedding?'

'I think you've got solid enough knees that you won't be too bruised up once you're done grovelling.'


Winnie tried not to pace in front of the printer as she tried to compose what she would say to her lying asshat of a fiance. Okay, not lying per se but certainly withholding important information she should have been privy to from square one. Seizing the papers of the transcripts for the debrief, she turned - and nearly ran into Spike himself; one look at his face had the edges softening a fraction.

'Winona, I'm so sorry my love,' he told her, desperation coating every letter he spoke. 'I should have told you I knew about Audrey and Lou's son.'

'Yes, you should have.'

'I wasn't doing it to keep you in the dark.'

'Yes I know.'

'You know I've always told you the truth.' When she didn't reply to that one right away, Spike felt his heart hiccup. 'Please, Winnie, you know I've always been honest with you.'

'Like telling me what you and Natalie did together? I know you kept things from Sam so he wouldn't feel weird about you fucking his sister. Did you do the same to me?'

'No!" It hit Spike like a punch in the stomach, seeing that quiet coil of temper in her eyes. 'No, I would never do that to you, Win. I told you the truth about her because I love you and I would never, ever hurt you by lying to you about my past. I didn't tell Sam what went on with Natalie, just like I don't need to tell Aaron about what I do with you because the last thing any man wants to think about is his sister getting naked with some dude the way he likes to get naked with his own lady.'

He took a breath. 'Winona, you know I've told you everything about my past, all my lovers and other girls I've fooled around with. But this...I knew how it would look if word got out that Lou had gotten a girl pregnant and was wavering on whether to marry her.'

'But he wasn't wavering.'

'Doesn't matter.' Spike let out a dry, sharp laugh. 'All that people would have noticed or cared about was that he wasn't marrying her straight away like he would have been expected to do.'

'I think you're doing Lou a real disservice believing that. He may have been a private guy but I'm sure once he told everyone about the baby, they would have respected his decision. Just like people respecting our decision to move the wedding up.'

'Oh so that's still on? I haven't fucked up enough today that you've reconsi-'

Winnie cut him off with a kiss that held enough reassurance to soothe and enough zing to punish him. 'Of course you idiot,' she murmured, 'I'd go crazy without you.'

'Me too.'

Wrapping his arms around her, Spike breathed deeply to draw in that scent so wonderfully hers, arousal and comfort all in one. 'No more secrets. Unless they're related to gift-giving, then it's okay.'

'Agreed.'

'Audrey and her son are here, I told them I was going to find you so you could meet them.' Spike smiled. 'She told me once that her biggest complaint about Lou was he was always talking her ear off about my sorry slow ass never making a move on you.'

'If she could make Lou babble, then that's definitely something.' Winnie smiled, saw the worry still sitting heavy in her man's eyes. 'I'm sorry for that Natalie comment, that was a low blow.'

'Yes I know.' He waited a beat. 'How's it feel being on the receiving end of that one?'

'No fun at all.'

Now it was Spike who kissed Winnie. 'Come on, I know she wants to head home soon so she can help settle her son after having things upset today. I'll take those pages to the briefing.'


The first thing that struck Winnie when she saw the woman sitting in the chairs with her son in her lap, sucking his thumb while she kissed his head, was how petite the woman was. Even before she stood up, Winnie could see how her feet only hit the floor because of the three inch heels she wore with her skirt and blouse. Her skin was a deep rich cocoa, nearly the same shade as Raf's, and her hair was a chin-length swarm of chestnut curls Winnie knew many women would kill for. Winnie had remembered Lou as being a tall, lanky fellow - if they were both standing in their bare feet, he would have towered over her easily by easily eight inches.

'Miss Taylor?'

The woman's head turned and she got to her feet, still holding Taylor's hand as she held out her hand. 'Please, call me Audrey.'

'Audrey. I...I wish Spike had told me about you and your son sooner, I...I would have sent you something from our trip to Italy.'

'That's very sweet.' Audrey flashed a nervous grin, revealing a toothpaste commercial quality smile; dipping her head, she spoke to her child. 'Taylor, remember me telling you about Daddy's best friend?'

'Misser 'Pike, he send us funny cards fo' Cuh-ris-miss,' he replied promptly. 'He haffin a weddin'.'

'He is, and this nice lady is his bride, Winnie.'

'Like the bear?'

'No, it's short for Winona.'

'Ni-nona. Thassa nice name,' Taylor decided. 'Mama say, um, Misser Pike a goo' guy. He try n' help my daddy but it no' work and now he a an-shell.'

'That's right.' Winnie suddenly found her throat thick with tears, then blurted out, 'Would you like to come? To the wedding?'

'Oh, I...I don't know,' Audrey laughed, her nerves mirroring the waver in Winnie's voice. 'Italy's a long ways away and-'

'Please, it would mean so much to me, to have you there for Spike. If Lou were here, you'd both be coming anyways, so it makes sense for you to be there.'

Audrey smiled, seeing a glimmer of what her Lou had told her about Winnie. 'I'll think about it.'

'Then come to Spike's birthday party this weekend.' Winnie gave her the address. 'You'll see lots of the people who will be at or in the wedding, you can make up your mind then. And Taylor too, Issy and Sadie will have lotsa fun with a friend to consider them.'

'As a single mom, a night out where bringing my boy is a-okay, that sounds great.'