To nobody's great surprise, nothing really came from Fin and Carisi looking for Karissa Lee Redding at her place on Staten Island because she wasn't home. Her neighbors pointed the detectives in the direction of a building where Karissa did janitorial work, as well as a dive bar called The Crow's Nest. She wasn't at any of those places, either. This left the detectives feeling unnerved because she was in the wind now, and had ties to things that were very much on the wrong side of the law.

They had to go back to Manhattan empty-handed.

The next day wasn't much better because it was as if Karissa Lee Redding had vanished into thin air, which was was disconcerting because of the ties she had to various illegal activities. It appeared as though she knew the authorities were looking for her. She could be anywhere, and she was still the only person who knew anything about why Floyd-William was dead. What a case this was turning out to be.

Once upon a time, Sophia had considered a career in law enforcement, but now that nearly everybody in her new family were part of the NYPD or associated with it, she was quite pleased that she had grown up to be a florist, instead. That was quiet, and normal.


Sophia was also happy because it was Friday, which meant that it was finally time for an at-home movie night with Casey, at her place. It was also going to be Melissa-free, and overnight.

When Casey let Sophia into her apartment that night, she was waiting for her with a clean bath towel because it was not only cold, but also raining cats and dogs outside.

"Here." Casey traded Sophia her overnight bag for the towel. "The weather reporter's just said that the rain isn't letting up until seven, tomorrow morning, at the earliest. Good thing you're staying the night."

Sophia nodded and took the towel gratefully, drying herself off, as best she could.

"Some idiot in their car near the curb splashed me, though, and I don't think anything I have on can be saved."

"Are the things in your duffle bag dry?"

"Probably, but I don't have anything but pajamas, and clean clothes for tomorrow."

Casey sized the other woman up, judging her clothing sizes—it was actually easy to gauge, now that Sophia looked like a wet poodle.

"You can borrow something from my closet, and things in there will definitely be dry."

Sophia's heart lurched sideways in surprise, and she looked at Casey, the towel resting around her neck now.

"Really? You're offering something from your closet?"

"Really. I'll change into something new, too."

At the moment, Casey was wearing something casual, but still date material. Sophia knew Casey was changing her own outfit just to make her comfortable, and she appreciated it.

"That sounds like a great plan, babe. Which way to your closet?"

Just as Casey had told Sophia during one of their first conversations, her bedroom looked exactly like they had stepped into Paris. Everything from the bedspread, to the decorations on the walls all bore some kind of nod to the magnificent European city, and Sophia fell in love with it all, immediately.

Casey watched Sophia taking everything in.

"What do you think?"

Sophia smiled at her. "Just that whenever we get around to having our Paris getaway, it should be in the springtime."

"Oh, and why's that?"

"Because it won't be too hot yet, and all of the flowers will be in bloom."

"That is definitely a good idea, because I'm all in favor of not getting a sunburn while on vacation in Paris. No thank you."

Sophia giggled, and then shivered visibly, so she followed Casey across the room to her closet.

"Court clothes are on the left, and everything else is on the right. Wear whatever you want."

Casey's closet was basically another room in and of itself, and shelves of different depths and sizes lined the walls, clothes and other such things filling them. There was also a bench in the middle of the room to sit on, and a good corner of the back wall was dedicated to shoes. Casey had a lot those.

Ten minutes later, Casey and Sophia were dressed so casually, that to anyone else, they looked like a longtime couple getting ready for a night in.

"Oh, I feel better now." Sophia said happily. "So does baby girl."

Indeed, now that Sophia wasn't cold, the baby was wiggling around in a way that her mother knew was contentment. Feeling the baby move always left Sophia feeling warm and fuzzy, but today, she was lingering in the feeling a little bit longer than usual.

Casey called her out on it.

"Care to share, Starshine?"

Sophia smiled at her. "I have an early-morning appointment at Mercy General on Monday morning, and I would quite like it if you came."

"Of course I'll come, although on two conditions."

"Name them, Red."

"One, that come with me to an appointment that I have at Mercy General, also on Monday morning, and two, that you let me take you to breakfast after."

"Oh, I can meet those conditions…"

Her words ended in a hum because Casey had moved her to the bench and sat her down. Sophia was in just her underpants, one of Casey's tank tops, and an open button-down shirt. Casey was dressed similarly, although she had pajama pants on.

A lot of Sophia's olive skin was exposed, and because Casey knew that Sophia liked to be touched, she took a chance and began kissing her.

Sophia was responsive immediately, and laid on the bench. Casey began kissing her even more, even peppering the baby bump with kisses, too. The baby really seemed to be enjoying it because he or she became even wigglier than usual. Sophia was just blissed out, and by the time Casey had finished with her loving ministrations, she was putty in her hands.

They both wanted to make love to each other, but they were also nervous about initiating it, so this was enough for now.

"Come on." Casey stood and pulled Sophia to her feet. "I'll show you where the laundry room is—I have some laundry to do, and we can throw your soaked things in with mine. Don't forget to grab your bag."

"Okay…"

Sophia's mind was still on the possibility about what could have just happened, had neither of them been so shy.

They passed a second bathroom, and office, a main closet before finally arriving to the laundry room. It was very tidy, and it had all of the things you'd expect, right down a pile of dirty clothes on top of the washer.

"Even when you live alone, things pile up." Casey said as she moved her clothes into the machine. "Hand me your things, please, my Starshine."

Sophia did as asked and then laughed. "You think laundry is hard when living alone? Then you've never lived with a baby that you were solely responsible for, or one who turned into a fashion-conscious toddler."

Casey prepped the washer and turned it on, motioning for Sophia to leave the room first so she could close the door behind them. When they were out in the hallway, she posed a new question.

"Does Melissa have dress-up clothes?"

"No, and I see what you're thinking—Melissa takes things like that very seriously, so she should only have dress-up clothes when she has the space."

"As in a play room, or her own bedroom?"

"Bingo."

Casey winked. "Then I'll keep that in mind."

"Oh? Been looking at real estate?"

"I don't really have a choice," she pointed to her middle. "But yes. Now that you, Melissa, and the baby are in my life, I've been looking at family homes, in actual family neighborhoods."

"For all five of us?"

"Uh-huh. Living apart, when we're already a family is turning out to be a bummer."

They both knew the feeling was mutual on this topic, and it was the proverbial elephant in the room that had to be talked about.

"It's absolutely a bummer, but we could use tonight as a trial run." Sophia decided.

"I like the sound of that."

"I also like the sound of looking at real estate because my parents are talking about moving, too. They also want to adopt a toddler girl soon. All of that, plus the baby that Alex is currently carrying means that Melissa, the baby, and I would just be in the way… Staying them was never going to be a longterm solution, as it was."

"Your parents would never think of you and your offspring as 'in the way,' but I think 'crowded' is the word that you're searching for. Does that sound right?"

"Yes." admitted Sophia. "Do you still have anything saved, about places you like?"

"I do, on my laptop downstairs."

After turning on the heat in the apartment, setting Sophia's shoes out to dry, and making hot drinks, the couple sat down together on the couch and looked through several of the local real estate listings for townhouses in Manhattan. They even made an appointment for the next afternoon to visit the townhouse they liked best.

When they were finished, Casey asked, "You hungry?"

Sophia shook her head. "Not at the moment. You?"

"No."

She pointed to the TV, which they'd turned on to drown out the noise of the rain pounding against the windows outside.

"We could just keep watching TV."

"You mean like an actual married couple?" Sophia teased lightly. "I'm down for that. And what's the deal with your feet?"

Casey had been rotating her ankles for the past few minutes.

The redhead sighed. "I think they're a tad swollen."

"Lay down and put your feet in my lap." Sophia pointed to her legs. "Come on."

Casey did as asked, and soon, she was making mewling sounds of relief while Sophia began rubbing her feet gently, working the kinks out.

"Thank you, Sophia." Casey said. "I love you."

Sophia patted Casey's feet. "I love you, too, especially when you take care of me. So, I'm going to take care of you for awhile."

"Well, since you have me in such a vulnerable position, there's a skeleton in my closet that I need to tell you about. It's all water under the bridge now, but since we're looking at places together…"

"You just want to get it off your chest?"

"Mhm. In 2008, the squad got a new detective, by the name of Chester Lake. He and I were never 'officially together,' but we did flirt a lot. One time, I just… followed him too far, and I got in too deep."

"What the hell happened?" Sophia wanted to know. "Just give me the bullet points."

"Chester committed a murder, and I got caught trying to help him cover it up. My punishment was being disbarred for a year. I left and went to England because I just had to get as far away from New York as I could."

"What did your family think?"

"They were disappointed, but nobody disowned me for it because if I hadn't tried to help, even worse people would've gotten away with murder."

"So you did what you did because you believed it was right, even though the fallout would be terrible?"

"You just hit the nail on the head."

Sophia kept rubbing Casey's feet, but she was hanging on to every word because this was an incredible story.

"What did you do in London?"

"I found myself—I got a quiet job so I could make ends meet, and I spent a lot of time in The Bethnal Green Library, just reading about whatever struck my fancy. When it was warm, I explored the countryside."

Sophia grinned. "It sounds like Heaven."

"It was," Casey confirmed. "But I still missed New York, and by the time that yearlong disbarment was up, I was more than ready to come home. I moved into this apartment not long after I was back."

"Wow."

"You know what, though?"

"Tell me." Sophia said.

"I'm glad that we agree to include London in our Europe trip—we can make happy memories there together."

"That's right." Sophia approved. "And thanks for sharing everything with me, about what happened with Chester. It doesn't make me love you any less."

Casey nearly cried in relief and felt a huge weight lift off her shoulders. She sat up and beckoned to Sophia. The moment her girlfriend was close enough, Casey held her and gave her kisses.

"Thank y—what are you doing?"

Sophia had eased Casey on to her back, and she was the one doing the kissing now.

"We don't have to do anything you don't want to tonight, but I just want to give you kisses. Our son, too."

"Sure…"

Sophia had already eased Casey out of her tank top so that she was in just her bra. Very gently, Sophia kissed Casey's cleavage all over, simply reveling in how soft it was, and in a matter of moments, Casey was humming happily like a finely-tuned engine.

By the time Sophia made it to Casey's distended middle, she was a puddle of mush.

Then Sophia started talking.

"Hey in there, baby boy—this is Mommy Sophia, and I just wanted to tell you that mama and I love you and your sisters, more than you could ever possibly know. I also wanted to let you know that no matter what you and your sisters get up to, even when you're grown-ups, mama and I will always love you. Always."

Under Sophia's touch, the baby stretched out a few times, a feeling that made Sophia's heart skip a beat. The baby that Sophia was carrying was just as responsive as their sibling, but something just felt a little different about this baby. She couldn't place her finger on what it was, though.

Sophia kissed her way back up Casey's body and then gave her a resounding kiss on the lips.

"Are you hungry now?" Sophia asked her. "I know I am."

Casey wasn't expecting this, but she nodded. "Yes, actually, but don't I get to talk to baby girl?"

"There will be time for that later."

Sophia stood and stretched.

"What do we have in the fridge?"

"Ingredients for Meatball Sub Soup."

"Huh." Sophia mused. "Never heard of that before. Where's the recipe?"

Casey sat up and put her shirt back on.

"It's on a page in my favorite cookbook. It's open and propped up on a stand."

"Which is where?"

"On the counter beside the stove. What are you doing now?"

Sophia had already turned tail and was padding over to the kitchen. Casey followed and watched Sophia clean her hands and dry them.

"Casey, me taking care of you doesn't stop at me rubbing your feet—I'm going to cook dinner."

"You can cook?"

"After I left behind the part of my life where I had to steal food because I was too poor to pay for any, I enrolled myself in cooking classes and I actually watch cooking shows on the Food Network; that's how I learned how to cook, and pardon me for tooting my own horn, but I'm actually quite good." Sophia tied her hair in a ponytail and put a hand on her hip. "I've also kept Melissa alive, haven't I?"

"Touché." Casey laughed and sat at the table as her girl turned to examine the recipe. "Thank you, Sophia."

"It's my pleasure." Sophia blew her a kiss and moved on to the fridge, opening it and looking through it. "Where are the meatballs? Never mind—found them!"

Casey continued to sit and watch Sophia move around in the kitchen, getting everything she needed to cook with. She also directed traffic when Sophia needed a clue about where to look for something in particular.

This is my future wife, Casey thought. How did I get so lucky? I wonder what her ring size is...