Helen woke up the next morning to the sun shining in her window. She rolled over groggily and glanced at the clock. 9:48. Nearly four hours later than she usually slept. The memory of the night before had Helen sliding carefully over the side of the bed and walking to the bathroom. She was relieved that the bleeding hadn't gotten any worse and if anything it seemed to have lessened a little. She drew a warm bath and slid in, trying to relax as much as possible.

When the water had chilled, Helen stood up and climbed carefully out of the tub. She rubbed the towel over her body then let it fall to the ground. Helen stood in front of the mirror and surveyed her body. She turned to the side then and ran a hand over her stomach. She knew that it was unlikely for her to start showing at only 10 weeks. But she also knew that the thinner a pregnant woman was, the sooner she would show. If she concentrated very hard, Helen thought that she could almost feel her stomach starting to expand. Thinking of the day that her pregnancy would become obvious made a smile spread over her face. And after she started showing, she'd be able to feel the baby move. Her dreaming was interrupted by a knock on the door.

"Helen?" Ellenor called worriedly, "Are you okay?"

Helen jumped and wrapped the discarded towel around her body. "Yeah. I...uh...forgot my robe."

"I'll get it for you and leave it outside the bathroom door. Do you want anything for breakfast?"

Helen was about to decline, but remembered that the baby needed food. She asked for peanut butter toast and when Ellenor left her robe, Helen bundled into it. Ellenor returned ten minutes later carrying a tray with the toast and glasses of orange juice and milk to find Helen encased in her blankets wearing one of Mike's old dress shirts and a pair of women's boxer shorts.

"How are you feeling?" Ellenor asked, concerned.

Helen smiled weakly. "A little tired."

Ellenor nodded in sympathy. "I told Bobby that I was taking the morning off. He said that someone from the office could come by after lunch if you want."

Helen shook her head. "I'll be okay. I'll probably sleep this afternoon." She took a bite of toast and a drink of milk. "Ellenor?"

"Hm?"

"Thank you for staying with me today."

Ellenor smiled. "No problem. It's the least I could do. You stayed with me when I was having problems carrying Zoe."

Helen laughed. "That reminds me, we should avoid Scrabble."

"I agree. Stick with cards?"

Helen nodded and attacked her breakfast.

While Helen rested and concentrated on getting better, Lindsay stood in the courtroom listening to Alan Lowe give his closing arguments.

"This is a no brainer ladies and gentlemen," Lowe addressed the jurors. "That girl sitting over there killed Jeff Gladstone. She claims that it was in self defense, that he raped her. But we have a problem there. She waited fifteen minutes after the alleged rape to commit this crime. That means that it was premeditated. She thought to find a knife in a strange house, to take it into the living room, where Mr. Gladstone was sleeping, and stabbed him four times in the heart with it. Her finger prints were found on the knife, her hair on the victim. She killed a man in cold blood. And for that, Amanda Byrd had to pay."

Lowe sat down and the attorney for the grandparents stood up. He tried to sway the jurors' emotions, pleading that his clients had lost a son and that they shouldn't lose a grandchild also. He sat back down and Lindsay stood up, buttoning her suit coat as she walked slowly to the front of the room.

"Yes, there was a crime committed here. And it was a heinous one. But the victim is not Jeff Gladstone. The victim is Amanda Byrd, a 14-year-old girl who was babysitting when the father, Jeff Gladstone came home unexpectedly from a business trip. Mr. Gladstone then raped Amanda. Amanda, who doctors explained suffered from post-traumatic-stress disorder as a result of the rape, was scared. She knew that Mr. Gladstone would over power her so she waited until he was asleep. She stabbed him to protect herself from being raped again. Amanda shouldn't be prosecuted, she should be helped.

"As a result of that rape, Amanda became pregnant. All she wants to do is to try to start healing and to try to put this behind her. But Mr. Gladstone's parents are trying to take away her right, under Roe versus Wade, to have an abortion. They are claiming that as grandparents, they have rights. But those rights, which are yet to be fully recognized by the courts, do not go into effect until the fetus is born.

"Amanda Byrd has rights too. She had the right not to be raped. And that right was taken away from her. She had the right to defend herself, which she used when she protected herself against Mr. Gladstone. And she has the right to have an abortion.

"Mr. Lowe was right about one thing. This is a no brainer. Amanda Byrd is a bright, talented girl who under usual circumstances would not have hurt anybody. But these aren't usual circumstances, are they? The real victim here isn't Mr. Gladstone, ladies and gentlemen. The real victim is Amanda Byrd."

Lindsay walked back to her table and watched the jury file out. Judge Hiller adjourned until the jury had a verdict and Bobby joined Lindsay and Rebecca in ushering Amanda back to the waiting room. Amanda looked at her lawyers through wide frightened eyes. "What do you think?"

Lindsay sat down next to her. "They should have a verdict fairly quickly, I'd say under four hours."

"But what will they say?"

"Don't worry about the abortion, you'll be able to get it."

Amanda nodded. "What about the other one?"

Lindsay shook her head. "I don't know. They saw you, they heard what happened. I can't imagine them convicting."

Rebecca and Bobby nodded their agreement. While Rebecca tried to keep Amanda fairly calm, Bobby gently pulled Lindsay into a corner of the room.

"You did really well," Bobby whispered as he squeezed Lindsay's hand.

Lindsay smiled softly. "Thank you. What do you think?"

"If they convict, you'll have no problem with the appeal. But they shouldn't."

"I'm worried," Lindsay whispered. "She's so young."

"I'm more worried about you," Bobby whispered back. "Amanda will get help, she'll get through this. I promise."

Lindsay nodded and resigned herself to the task of waiting. At noon, an hour later, Lucy came by with sandwiches and chips for the lawyers and Amanda. After another hour of waiting, Ellenor stopped by to make sure that Zoe had been okay that morning and to tell Lindsay that Helen had been sleeping when she left. Lindsay nodded and promised to call after the verdict. After three hours of waiting, Amanda left for home with her parents and Lindsay, Bobby, and Rebecca went back to the office to wait.

The tension in the office was palpable. Lindsay was too nervous to sit still. Instead, she paced from Bobby's office to the conference room to the library to her desk and back to Bobby's office. Rebecca was sitting at her desk, staring straight ahead, unable to focus on her next case. Lucy finally couldn't take the silence anymore.

"Did anyone see that cute guy on Crossing Jordan last night?"

"Lucy," Lindsay snapped from the library.

"Not now," Rebecca added.

"Jeez, I was just trying to lighten the mood." Lucy held up her hands in surrender. She was saved from further attack when the phone rang. "Donnell, Dole, etc. Okay, thank you."

Lucy looked from Rebecca to Lindsay. "Verdict."

Rebecca jumped up from her desk while Lindsay stuck her head into Bobby's office.

"Call Amanda," Rebecca snapped at Lucy who nodded, already on the phone.

Twenty minutes later, Lindsay and Rebecca were pacing outside the courtroom while Bobby leaned against the wall, watching for Amanda and her parents. They hurried up and Mrs. Byrd looked at Lindsay.

"Ms. Dole, you've been up front and honest with us since the beginning." Lindsay nodded and Amanda's mother continued. "What are our chances? It's only been three and a half hours."

"It's a good thing," Lindsay reassured the worried woman. "I hope," she added silently. She smiled reassuringly at Amanda and they all entered the courtroom.

Judge Hiller entered and after everyone sat back down she read the jury's verdict. Lindsay searched the judge's face for any sign of the outcome, but as usual Hiller's face belied nothing.

Judge Hiller glanced over at the defense and asked them to rise. When they had, Amanda clinging tightly to both Lindsay and Rebecca's hands, Judge Hiller turned back to the jury. "Has the jury reached a verdict?"

"We have your honor," the foreman responded. "In the matter of the Commonwealth versus Amanda Byrd on the charge of murder in the first degree, we the jury find the defendant..."

Amanda closed her eyes tightly as she prayed desperately.

"Not guilty."

Amanda let out the breath she'd been holding in one very audible whoosh.

"On the charge of murder in the second degree, we find the defendant not guilty."

Amanda smiled in relief. She was acquitted of both murder charges.

"In the matter of Gladstone versus Byrd, we the jury find in favor of the defendant, Amanda Byrd."

Tears rolled down the faces of Amanda, her parents, and her lawyers. Amanda hugged Lindsay tightly, then turned and hugged Rebecca before hugging both of her parents. As Bobby joined the group in the front of the courtroom, Amanda turned to them and smiled. "I don't know how to thank you."

Lindsay smiled and squeezed the young girl's hand. "Be happy."

Amanda nodded. "I will. I promise."

Amanda left with her parents and Bobby hugged his wife tightly as Judge Hiller smiled down at them from her seat on the bench.

Bobby smiled down at Lindsay. "Your closing was what did it, Linds."

Lindsay smiled modestly and Rebecca nodded. "Do you think she'll be okay?"

"In time," Bobby answered. "Let's get back to the office."

Rebecca began to gather their briefcases while Lindsay dragged Bobby a few feet away. "If you don't mind, I'd like to go check on Helen."

Bobby nodded, knowing that Lindsay was tired but was too proud to admit it. "It's been a long few weeks for you, a break would be good."

Lindsay smiled. "I'll catch a cab over there then."

"Your purse is at the office," Bobby pointed out.

"Then I'll stop by there first."

"Okay," Bobby agreed and he took Lindsay's briefcase from Rebecca with one hand and slipped the other arm around his wife's waist, leading her toward the door while Rebecca followed.

Once back at the office, Lindsay was packing up for the day and everyone else was working on cases except for Bobby who had left on a mysterious errand. The door to the office opened and Robby and Zoe ran in.

Zoe ran straight to Ellenor's desk with an excited, "Mommy!"

Robby launched himself into Lindsay's arms. "Mama! We comed to visit you!"

"I see that," Lindsay laughed. She looked towards the doorway and saw her husband standing there, smiling.

"I thought that Ellenor would like to see Zoe today," Bobby explained. "And I couldn't bring her and not Robby."

Lindsay stood, shifted Robby to her hip, and walked over to Bobby. She raised up on her toes and gently kissed his lips. "Thank you."

Zoe let out a shriek of, "Wucy!" She climbed out of Ellenor's lap and ran over to Lucy who was her hero.

Lucy laughed and picked the little girl up. "Hey sweetie. How are you?"

"Good. I stay wif Bobby and Windsay and Wobby."

Robby squirmed out of Lindsay's arms and ran over to tug on Lucy's leg. "Zoe having sleep over!"

Lucy picked Robby up in her other arm and grinned. She loved the kids. "Really? How come?"

"Hewen's sick," Zoe explained.

"Oh, that's too bad," Lucy sympathized.

Lindsay glanced at the time and grabbed her purse. "I'm going to run. I'll see you tonight, okay Robby?"

Robby ran back to his mother and help his arms up to be held. Knowing that she wasn't supposed to carry him, Lindsay squatted down to his height. Robby wrapped his arms around Lindsay's neck. "You going?"

"Yeah, Robby. Mommy's going to go check on Aunt Helen. Remember she's sick?"

Robby nodded. "You be at dinner?"

Lindsay pulled back to look her son in the eye. "I don't think so, baby. Mommy's going to eat with Aunt Helen and you and Daddy and Zoe and Aunt Ellenor are going to McDonald's. Okay?"

Robby nodded. "I have a Happy Meal!"

"Yep. Daddy will get you a Happy Meal and if you're good, maybe you can play in the Play Place."

Robby grinned and ran off to find the toys that were kept in the office for when the kids visited. Lindsay kissed Bobby good bye and headed for Helen's.

When she arrived, Lindsay knocked on the door, but no one answered. Concerned, she let herself in with the key that she'd kept in case of emergencies and laid her purse on the couch. She headed to Helen's bedroom and opened the door. Helen was sound asleep on the bed, curled around Mike's pillow. Lindsay sat gently on the edge of the bed and shook Helen's shoulder.

The room rolled dangerously as Helen felt herself be shaken out of her sleep. She opened her eyes warily and smiled when she saw her friend. "Hey," Helen murmured as she sat up.

"Hey yourself," Lindsay answered. "How are you feeling?"

"Better. It's about time for morning sickness."

Lindsay made a face and moved so she was sitting next to her friend, leaning against the headboard. "The bleeding?"

"It's less," Helen reassured her friend. "Did you finish today with the Byrd case?"

Lindsay grinned. "Not guilty on both counts."

"And the abortion?"

"They found for Amanda. I knew they would. There was no real way to stop her."

Helen nodded. They sat in silence for awhile before Lindsay found a pack of cards and they began to play Uno. They'd spent many hours in college and law school playing the card game when studying had made them a little nuts. Ellenor arrived back at the apartment around eight, after Lindsay had made a dinner for them of chicken noodle soup, grilled turkey and cheese sandwiches, apple slices, and milk. When Lindsay was certain that Ellenor was keeping an eye on Helen, she left and went back to her own home where she found Bobby reading a bedtime story to Zoe and Robby. She helped Bobby put them to bed before she sat on the couch, happy for a chance to relax.

Across town, Helen had fallen asleep again when Ellenor knocked on the door, waking her. "Mike's on the phone, Helen. Do you want to take it?"

Helen nodded and grabbed her extension. "Hello?"

"Hi sweetheart," Mike smiled just hearing her voice. He missed her so much while he was here but they both knew that he had to be with his grandfather. And he had a surprise in store for her when he got home. But right now, he was wondering why the woman he loved was asleep at 9 o'clock. When he asked though, Helen told him that she'd taken a sick day, that she had the flu. Mike decided not to ask how she'd gotten the flu in May. Instead he told her that he missed her and he loved her and that he'd be home in two weeks.

Helen smiled as his voice washed over her, soothing her. Mike had always been protective of her and she'd liked him for years before he'd asked her out. Just hearing him talk made her feel safe, like nothing could ever go wrong. Suddenly, Helen couldn't wait to tell Mike about their child. But she only had two weeks to wait until he would know too.

"I love you," Helen said softly.

"I love you too," Mike answered before hanging up to go to bed.

Helen fell back asleep and dreamt of she and Mike together in bed with a tiny baby between them.