JD Dunne stared at the puddle of blood staining the cement, his stomach churning no matter how many times he tried to force himself to look away. It was not his first dead body, though it was the very first man he had seen murdered for nothing more than having made a simple mistake. He knew his reaction might betray him. It might undo the rapport that he and Chris were struggling to build with the enigmatic Marco, in order to keep themselves firmly ensconced in his current operation. But no matter how fervently he tried to keep himself in check, JD could not stop staring at the pooling blood. At the man whose eyes now stared, sightless, at the sky above.

Perhaps that was why he very nearly jumped out of his skin as soon as he realized that someone had moved to stand at his side, one hand coming to rest upon his shoulder with a firm sort of determination that had him only just tamping down on a startled yelp in response.

"You good?"

"Jesus, C-Vic," JD stammered, wincing at the near-slip in forgetting to use Chris' cover name, though he noted the older man did not seem to react to the realization at all, "Way to sneak up on a guy when he ain't expectin' it."

"Should always expect it," Chris replied, dropping his hand back to his side, and glancing down at the body at their feet for only a moment before going on, "Live longer that way."

"That why you're still around, then?"

JD did not even have to look at Chris to gather that his shaky attempt at humor had not gone as planned, the weight of the other man's eyes practically drilling a hole in the side of his head telling him everything that he needed to know without ever having to ask. Somehow, he knew he ought to have predicted Chris would notice his apparent fixation on everything that had just transpired, no matter how much he may have wished for that not to be the case. And half in an attempt at preserving whatever pride remained to him, limited though it may be, JD cleared his throat and forced himself to look Chris in the eye, somehow managing not to flinch as he noted the intensity of the returned gaze first-hand.

"I'm fine."

"You sure?"

"Positive," JD confirmed, unable to completely hold Chris' gaze, and sighing as he dropped his eyes to the body resting before them once again, "What are-what are we gonna do about him?"

"Let me handle that. Get back inside."

"But I can-"

"Back inside," Chris repeated, his expression unreadable as JD watched his eyes shift from their investigation of his own features, and towards the man who had just appeared on his opposite side, instead, "Marco."

"Vic."

"Got a plan for dealin' with this?"

"As a matter of fact, friend, I think I do," Marco assured, only sparing a glance towards JD's now retreating form, before turning back to the taller man stood before him with something approximating a satisfied grin toying about his lips.

"How handy are you with a shovel?"

…

Back at home, and curled up in bed despite not truly being that tired to start with, Emma rolled onto her back with one hand splayed across her stomach, while the other rested against the pillow beside her head. A sigh escaped her lips as she shifted slightly beneath the duvet, one leg dangling over the edge of the bed, toes freed to feel the cool air that wafted through the apartment. And although she could see the small box she had secured from the store earlier that day still resting stubbornly on the surface of her bedside table, Emma persisted in avoiding a more complete glance its way,

Denial, it seemed, was something she was utterly unwilling to relinquish no matter how foolish she knew such a desire to be.

It seemed her mood at the store had been far more practical than it was currently, however, her nose scrunching in distaste over the prospect of even beginning to contemplate what she highly suspected to be true. After all, before he died it was not as though she and Paul had been particularly careful, both of them wanting to start a family no matter the consequences it might hold for each of their careers. But now? Now the prospect of a child was entirely too daunting, the twist of dread in Emma's gut only growing as she reminded herself that if her suspicions were true, she would now be raising that child on her own.

"Not alone, maybe," She whispered to herself, a slight smile tugging at her lips, though she was not blind to the implications of talking to herself with no one else around, "Not like JD wouldn't help."

JD. Against her better wishes, Emma found herself remarkably curious as to what it was her older brother was doing at this very moment.

Frowning at the thought that it couldn't possibly be anything safe, Emma rolled towards her nightstand, and narrowed her gaze at the offensive pastel purple packaging instead, a low groan escaping before she was reaching out to snag the object, while simultaneously pushing herself to a seated position in order to swing her legs over the edge of the bed and down onto the floor. Her grip had tightened on the box, until a slight crinkle had formed at its formerly pristine edges. And although she could feel the beginnings of nausea stirring once again at the prospect of what it was that she was preparing to do, Emma forced herself to her feet, and padded towards the bathroom door, her teeth gritted against whatever she might find in just a few moment's time.

She did not know if she would be disappointed, or relieved, if her suspicions were proved wrong, and that idea troubled her far more than she cared to admit.

…

"It's messed up," Elijah sighed, hanging his head in his hands while JD sat beside him, his fingers fiddling with a stray thread on the sofa for want of anything better to do with his hands, "What Marco and Billy did to Jimbo. It's-it's messed up."

"You said he did it to remind everyone he's in charge."

"Doesn't mean I like it."

"Never said I did, either," JD confessed, noting how Elijah seemed to peer out from between his fingers, his shoulders shaking around a choked laugh, "What? I don't-what the hell is so funny about this?"

"You."

"Me?"

"Yeah. You," Elijah confirmed, dragging his hands through already tousled hair, and groaning softly before going on, "You're mister cool temper, and you only just got here. Me? I've been doin' this for years and it sure as shit hasn't gotten any easier."

"Easier? You think-you think this is easy?" JD scoffed, aware that allowing himself to become embroiled in an argument was hardly a wise decision, and yet finding that in light of what he had just witnessed, remaining silent had become all but impossible, "It ain't easy, Elijah, and you're a fool if you think it is."

"A fool."

"S'what I said, isn't it?"

Startled as he realized Elijah had suddenly decided to yank him up from the sofa, one hand fisted in his shirt while the other drew back to aim a blow at his face, JD only just had time enough to duck, wrenching himself away from his would-be opponent as the former emitted a strangled yell of protest. Of course, he truly should have expected it, given the tension he had read in the other man's frame, and how he had responded to it in kind. And, whether he truly wished to engage in this fight or not, the choice seemed to be all but removed from his hands, another yell reaching his ears as Elijah dove towards him once again, forcing JD to grab a hold of the man's shoulders to shove him to the side before he could enact another blow.

"Elijah, what the hell are ya doin'?"

"What does it look like?" His adversary retorted, drawing himself up to his full height, and stepping closer, until he was a mere hairsbreadth from JD's chest, "I'm tryin' to figure out what the hell got you into this to begin with."

"You-you know what got me into this," JD assured, a spasm of trepidation clawing at his gut as he noted the smallest hints of doubt that had made their way into Elijah's expression, "You know what I'm here for."

"Maybe I did. Now I'm not so sure."

"Because I didn't lose my cool after what happened to your man out there?"

"That. And the fact that Marco's got Vic out there diggin' a grave when usually, that job always fell to me."

"Don't tell me you're actually jealous," JD began, astonishment coloring his tone as he thought of what Chris was likely going through just outside the doors, and what that might cost him, whether he allowed any of the rest of their team to see such a thing or not, "Come on, Elijah, you're more sensible than that. I know you are."

"Want to hear what I know?" Elijah quipped, whatever former friendliness his tone had always held as far as JD had been concerned long gone as he eyed his companion with something not all that far from open scorn, instead, "I know that before you and your friend got here, everything was running fine. Hadn't had to kill one of our own in months."

"You ever stop to think maybe that's a problem because of your boss, and not me an' Vic?"

As soon as the words had left his mouth, JD regretted them, not only because of the fire that blazed in Elijah's eyes in response, but because he had just become aware that they were not alone, the softer sound of Billy's approach diverting his attention as he forced his expression into something he hoped would seem less suspicious than he somehow knew it already did.

"What the hell is going on here, you two?"

No matter how hard he may try to deny it, JD had the sinking feeling he had just been caught.

…

"You can do this. You can," Emma muttered, pacing back and forth before the bathroom door, her teeth occasionally chewing at her thumbnail as she tried to work up the courage to venture inside. It was past the allotted time required for the test to have given whatever its result may be, and she knew prolonging the inevitable would not be likely to do her any good. And although she had, on occasion, managed to put one foot forward as though she had finally summoned the resolve to simply get it all over with, Emma failed to follow through each and every time, her feet resuming the act of pacing while her eyes traced into the shadows of the bathroom with all the trepidation that would suggest she actually feared something to leap out at her and bite her for her trouble.

"You. Are. Ridiculous."

Regardless of the venom she forced into the words, however, Emma remained momentarily incapable of biting the metaphorical bullet, her teeth once again taking up the act of gnawing at her nail while she folded her other arm around her middle, and continued to pace. She had thought to encounter this moment, if it ever came at all, in an entirely different way, with Paul at her side, and excitement coursing through her veins instead of a cold sort of fear.

She did not want to admit it, but she was terrified of the prospect of raising a child without him.

His child. And a child she would eventually have to hurt, when she told them they would never have a chance to know their father at all.

Dropping the hand that had been at her mouth to her side, while the other drove through her tousled auburn hair, Emma paced back to the edge of her bed, her body slumping on the edge of the mattress so that she could rest her forehead in the cradle of both of her hands. Unbidden, a soft groan rose to her lips, as she struggled against her frustration at herself, and her persistent inability to behave like a functioning adult.

She was a doctor for Pete's sake, not some nervous little schoolgirl, worried about being cast out on her own once her parents' learned of her secret.

It was time she started acting like it.

Exhaling through her nose, Emma dropped her hands to her knees and forced herself to stand once again, her shoulders flexing as she straightened, and took measured steps towards the bathroom door, her fingernails biting into her palms as she moved. Though she did not truly believe the words, she kept repeating that she could do this in her mind, until she had once again come to rest inside the doorway, her eyes gazing at the pale white object resting on the bathroom countertop without truly seeing it for just a moment, before she swallowed, and took first one step forward and then another, and another…

She could do this.

It was nothing to be childish about.

She would do this…

…

Grinding his teeth as a result of the feel of Marco's hand coming to rest upon his shoulder, Chris resisted the urge to throw the man away from him, his grip on the shovel tightening as he turned to regard the man with a blank expression, despite the growing distaste he was beginning to feel for Marco, and all that he stood for. Truthfully, it would have been a lie to pretend he was not more than a little tempted to simply swing the blade of the shovel up, using it to connect with Marco's temple, and have that be the end of it. But of course all that would do would be to rid him of one nuisance, leaving the rest of the men who worked for him to scurry off to whatever hiding place they chose, and ruining all the inroads that JD had inadvertently made thus far.

No matter how fiercely anger came to twist at his gut in response to Marco's ensuing words, Chris forced himself to simply continue to meet the man's steely gaze with his own, a muscle near his jaw twitching minutely as he realized the other man was actually laughing at what had just transpired.

"Not too bad with that thing, eh?" Marco teased, flinty eyes trailing down towards the shovel still clutched in Chris' hands, before returning to the man's unreadable features, instead, "I had a feeling you knew your way around a shovel."

When no reply to the remark seemed forthcoming, Marco dropped his hand back to his side, eyes trailing over the taller man's features with some degree of unease. He had seen his fair share of those who preferred silence to idle chatter, so the bare fact of the man's reticence was not exactly the matter that was solely responsible for his apprehension. No, what unnerved him about the man who called himself Vic Donovan was the utter lack of emotion in any facet of his appearance.

It was as though he were entirely unfamiliar with the idea of anger, humor, sadness, or joy, and although Marco had to admire that, he also had to admit that he would be glad when his little gang was well rid of the enigmatic man, and his over-eager sidekick that always seemed one second away from making a fatal mistake.

"Well I'm going back inside," Marco informed, once again clapping his companion on the shoulder, and offering him another smile despite knowing that it would likely not be returned, "I don't know about you, but I could use another whiskey."

Not saying a word, but managing a nod so the man would not become too suspicious, Chris prepared to follow after Marco as he headed back towards the abandoned warehouse, only to freeze in place as the unmistakable sound of a gunshot pierced the air. Hissing an oath beneath his breath, it was not long before Chris was jogging after Marco's retreating frame to discern what had caused the noise to begin with. He would have been a fool to ignore the sinking sensation in the pit of his gut, though of course, such a thing never once appeared in his expression for anyone else to notice whether they looked for it or not.

Of course, had he known that he was about to walk into the warehouse to see JD holding Elijah in a chokehold while he had the other man-Billy, Chris recalled-held in place beneath the barrel of his gun, even he might have struggled to remain entirely impassive, at least until he was able to withdraw his own weapon and place it at the back of Marco's skull.

"I'd put that piece back in your belt," He ordered, his eyes meeting JD's for long enough to note that he was already starting to succumb to his uncertainty over the tenuous nature of the situation they faced, "You shoot my guy, I reckon I'll have to do the same to you."

Perhaps he would have been better off giving in to the desire to take care of Marco with the shovel, after all.

…

Across town, Emma sagged onto the seat cover of the toilet in her bathroom, the white stick clutched in trembling hands as she read the results for a second time, and then a third, as though she truly believed they would change if she gave it enough time.

Pregnant.

…

Hello, darling readers! And welcome to another new chapter in Emma's tale! I have to say, I really hadn't intended to make this one as potentially choppy as it may seem, so I hope that it isn't too disconcerting (and if it is, I will be happy to take it down and try again as soon as I am able). But I couldn't help but think it might sort of assist in showing the parallels between Emma's day, versus Chris and JD's. And I confess, I am also a bit more than excited to have worked us around to the eventual meet-up between Emma and Chris, so that may have contributed to the events in this chapter as well. Oops?

As always, my heartfelt thanks go out to each and every one of you that has taken the time to read, follow, favorite and review this story thus far (and special thanks of course ChiTown4ever for always leaving such lovely feedback, and accommodating my plot rambles as well)! I truly appreciate the support, and of course I cannot wait to see what everyone thinks this time around!

Until next time, my loves...

MOMM