Over the next three days, Helen started to feel better. The bleeding stopped and Zoe came home. One week after her trip to the hospital, Lindsay drove Helen to the doctors office. The doctor found nothing wrong and moved her from strict bed rest to relaxed, meaning that Helen could move around the apartment a little, but still had to take it easy for another week. Helen was thrilled.

A week later, officially off of bed rest, Helen woke up and took her shower. As she dried off, Helen smiled to feel that her stomach was beginning to bulge a little. When she turned sideways in the mirror, Helen noticed a slight S curve to her body. She doubted that anyone else would notice, but she was excited. Grinning, she hurried into her room to get dressed. She'd been living in boxer shorts and sweat pants for the last two weeks and couldn't wait to put on real clothes. Helen pulled on underwear, thrilled to notice that her bras also seemed to be getting a little small, then grabbed a pair of jeans from the closet. Helen was surprised that she had to jump up and down and pull to get them over her hips. Once on, however, the jeans would zip but stubbornly refused to button. Slightly panicked, since she had chosen her loosed pair of jeans, Helen grabbed the phone and called one person she thought could help.

The phone woke Lindsay out of a very sound sleep. She grabbed it, hit the talk button and mumbled hello.

"Lindsay?" Helen asked. "What are you doing in bed?"

"What are you doing calling me in the middle of the night?" Lindsay retorted.

"Linds, it's 9:30 in the morning."

"No it's not," Lindsay argued. "It's..." Lindsay rolled over and looked at the clock, surprised. It was 9:30. Then she saw the note on Bobby's pillow. He'd gotten up with Robby, then taken their son to church. They wouldn't be back until around 11:00. "It's 9:30."

In spite of her situation, Helen laughed. "I told you. Now you have to help me!"

Wider awake, Lindsay sat up and pushed her hair back from her face. "What's wrong?"

"I don't have anything to wear!" Helen wailed.

Lindsay laughed. "You have an entire closet of clothes."

"Yes, but my jeans don't fit anymore!"

Lindsay laid back against her pillows. "You woke me up because your jeans don't fit anymore?"

"And Mike's coming home tonight! We need to go shopping, it's an emergency. I don't even have anything to wear over there."

Lindsay sighed. A best friend's work was never done. "Give me 45 minutes."

Helen grinned into the phone. "Thank you!"

"You owe me," Lindsay grumbled as she climbed out of bed, thankful that morning sickness had finally passed. She hung up the phone and true to her word, Lindsay was ringing Helen and Ellenor's doorbell 40 minutes later.

Helen ushered her into the house and back to her room. Lindsay, used to this trick, pulled out a rubber band. She hooked one end to the button hole and looped the other around the button so the jeans were at least held up. Lindsay grinned at her friend as she stood up. "Welcome to motherhood."

Helen smiled back, relieved that her problem had at least a temporary solution. "Ready to hit the mall?"

Lindsay nodded and as they left the apartment she looked around. "Where's Ellenor?"

"She and Zoe met Matt for breakfast." Helen wiggled her eyebrows up and down. "And I know for a fact that she didn't get in this morning until 6:30."

"Really?" Lindsay's right brow arched in surprise. "What did she do with Zoe?"

"We've worked out a system where she puts the rugrat to bed, then I listen for her."

"What if you're at Mike's?" Lindsay asked as she slid into the driver's side of her car.

"Then Matt stays over at our place. Or Mike stays here because our place is closer to the station and it's nicer than his."

Lindsay nodded. Once at the mall, Helen turned to look at her friend, suddenly out of her depth shopping wise. "Where do you buy maternity clothes?"

Lindsay sighed. "First, you're only three months, you don't need maternity clothes yet."

"But my other clothes don't fit," Helen whined.

"Then do what I did and buy stuff that's a size or two bigger for the next month or so. Then you can wear them after the baby too."

Helen nodded and walked automatically into Gap. Once there, she let Lindsay take charge and finally went into the dressing room with an arm load of clothes. The first outfit was a pair of white and blue striped capri pants and a matching blue shirt that Lindsay shook her head in response to. It was, she explained, too summer barbequeish. Helen proceeded to try on a denim skirt black t-shirt (not sexy enough), a pair of black bar pants and a children's hot pink tank top (too sexy), and several other outfits which just weren't right. Finally, when both women were exhausted, Helen came out wearing a pair of dark jeans and a dark red halter top which clung in all the right places. Lindsay approved, and they quickly left.

As Lindsay drove back towards Helen's apartment, she glanced at her friend who was again tapping her fingers to some imaginary beat in her head. "Are you going to tell him tonight?" Lindsay asked, grabbing Helen's hand to stop the tapping.

Helen's head bobbed up and down. "He'll be happy." Lindsay nodded in agreement, not sure if Helen was asking for reassurance or trying to convince herself.

"How are you going to break the news?"

Helen smiled secretively. "I'll tell you after I do it."

"That's not fair!" Lindsay exclaimed.

Helen shrugged. "Too bad."

"You wake me up, I save your ass with the rubber band trick, take you shopping, and you won't even tell me the good stuff," Lindsay grumbled.

"I promise, I'll tell you later. Okay?"

Lindsay sighed but nodded. She dropped Helen off at the apartment before heading home to help Bobby make dinner for his father who was coming over for his usual Sunday visit. Helen let herself into the apartment and was surprised that Ellenor and Zoe were back. Lately, Ellenor had spent nearly all of her free time with Matt. Zoe had even started referring to him as "Uncle Matt." But Helen walked in the door and saw Ellenor and Zoe sitting at the kitchen table, coloring.

Zoe jumped up when she saw Helen and raced to her. "Hewen! Are you all better now?"

Helen nodded. "Yep."

"I cowoed a pictcho for you!"

"You colored a picture for me? Thank you!" Helen grinned. Her office was decorated now with pictures that Zoe and Robby had colored. While Zoe chattered about everything they'd done with Matt that day, Helen laid her bag on the counter and walked to the fridge to grab a sandwich and some milk. In her panic that morning, she'd forgotten to eat breakfast.

Ellenor meanwhile had gotten up from the table and was opening the Gap bag on the counter. "What'd you get?"

"Oh, a pair of jeans and a top."

Ellenor pulled the clothing out of the bag and in looking at them caught a glimpse of the tag and therefore the size. "Are these for your sister?"

Helen gave Ellenor a weird look. "No, why?"

"Because a size six would be huge on you."

"Oh." Helen thought quickly of an excuse and cursed the fact that while she could think on her feet in the courtroom, any excuses she came up with in real life sounded contrived. "I got the jeans for Lindsay."

Ellenor looked at Helen and decided that her roommate was likely going senile. "Lindsay's pregnant. She won't be able to wear these until like January."

"I know," Helen spoke slowly. "But...they were the last ones in her size and before she got pregnant, she was looking for them."

Ellenor nodded. Something was definitely up with Helen. For one, five years of living with her had taught Ellenor that Helen was a terrible liar. And something still wasn't adding up with the whole sickness thing. Ellenor decided right then that she would figure out what was wrong with Helen, and soon.

Helen hurried back to her room and quickly put her new clothes away. Leave it to Ellenor to notice something as small as the size of her jeans. The sixes were a little large, but Lindsay had promised that in a month they wouldn't fit. Helen didn't like lying to her friends but she was determined that Mike would be the next person to know about their baby. Ellenor was starting to worry her though. She kept looking at Helen like she knew something. Helen shook her head. Ellenor couldn't know about the baby. But in a few hours it wouldn't matter because Mike would know and they could start planning their future together.

Helen spent the rest of the day pampering herself and getting ready to meet Mike. She was going to take a cab to the airport because Mike's car was in long term parking. Then they were going out for a quiet, intimate dinner before returning to Mike's apartment. After six weeks apart, both craved private time with each other. Helen was going to tell Mike about the baby once they were alone. And she was very proud of herself for figuring out how she was going to do that. Even though she had had little else to think of for two weeks while on bed rest it was a good idea and she hoped Mike would like it.

In preparation, Helen took a long bubble bath with Mike's favorite scent, Warm Vanilla, before washing her shoulder length hair and curling it. She'd learned at Halloween that Mike liked her hair curly when she'd styled it that way for her Nancy Kerrigan costume. Helen's favorite part of the costume were the ice skates she'd borrowed from Lucy. A fellow DA, Brian McIntyre, had drank a bit much and grabbed her butt. Before Mike could use the nungchucks from his ninja costume on the guy, Helen had informed Brian that any more "slips" would mean getting a toe pick to the eye. Brian hadn't looked at her since.

After curling her hair, Helen gave herself a pedicure with dark red polish, then painted her finger nails the same color. Zoe had come in and, since she was running a little ahead of schedule, Helen had painted the little girl's nails also. Zoe had run out of the room yelling to her mommy that "Hewen painted my nails and I'm bootiful!"

By 6:30, an hour and a half before Mike's plane was due to land, Helen was sliding her feet into her favorite black high heeled boots. She grabbed her prop for her big announcement and sailed out the door.

Mike shifted from one foot to the other anxiously as he waited to exit the plane. It was only a two hour flight, but he'd been waiting six long weeks to see Helen again and right then every minute counted. Mike grinned as he felt the pocket of his sport coat and he surprise for Helen inside. He'd wait to give it to her once they reached his apartment. The woman in front of Mike held a six month old baby over her shoulder. Mike smiled at the baby while at the same time trying to use telepathy to make them move faster. They finally broke free of the terminal and Mike's eyes immediately found Helen and he stopped dead. Standing there, under the harsh lights of the airport, she took his breath away. Finally she saw him and even from a distance, he could see her eyes light up like fireflies and the smile she gave him was enough to spur him into movement towards her.

Helen felt her heart start to flutter and her palms begin to sweat as Mike started to come towards her. Without thinking, she ran and jumped into his arms, throwing hers around his neck as she pressed her lips to his. Mike dropped his bags and wrapped his arms around her waist, holding her tightly to him. People brushed past them and sometimes into them, but Helen and Mike stayed locked in each other's arms. They didn't break apart until a security guard tapped them on the shoulders and reminded them to move along, that they were in public.

Mike looked into Helen's bright blue eyes and knew he was home. "I missed you," he whispered as he leaned his forehead against hers.

"I missed you more," Helen argued softly.

Mike kissed the tip of her nose and started to lead her towards the baggage claim. "I'm starving."

Helen grinned teasingly and drawled, "Me too."

Mike laughed. They ate dinner at Olive Garden before hurrying back to Mike's apartment. Helen and Mike barely made it in the door and on to the couch before all but attacking each other. Finally they both came up for air and Helen smiled eagerly at Mike.

"I have a present for you."

"Really? I love it!" Mike growled as he pulled her back to him.

"No Mike," Helen laughed. "A real present." She grabbed her purse from where it had landed on the floor and pulled out a blue envelope.

Mike shot her a puzzled look, but opened the card. A black and white picture fell out. He looked at it, seeing only blobs, then at the card. The front showed a man walking hand in hand with a little boy. Both had baseball bats and gloves over their shoulders. Mike opened the card and read aloud the eight words Helen had written. "Happy belated Father's Day, Michael. Love, Helen & Baby."

Helen sat nervously, her hands clenched in her lap. Maybe this was the wrong way to tell him. Maybe she should have broken it to him gently. She raised her eyes and found Mike staring at her with a look of shock and awe on his face.

"You're...we're..." Mike trailed off, unable to finish. Helen nodded and a smile spread slowly across his face.

Helen breathed a sigh of relief as Mike pulled her into a tight hug, then kissed her hard on the lips. Mike pulled back. A baby! He could hardly believe it. He couldn't stop grinning. Already he was picturing a little girl with Helen's blue eyes and his patience. He kissed Helen again before taking her hands in his. "I feel bad now, I didn't get you anything," he teased gently.

Helen laughed. "Yes you did. A baby."

Mike's grin grew as he realized that he did have something for her. He glanced around for his sport coat and not finding it, he decided to go ahead anyway. With his hands still holding hers, Mike smiled into Helen's eyes. He'd practiced for two months, since before he'd left for Chicago, but now the words didn't seem like enough. He'd had an entire speech planned but all he could say was, "Helen, will you marry me?"