Garret woke with a start in a room he instantly recognized wasn't his own. As he sat up and pushed the cobwebs of sleep from his brain, he realized just whose bed he was in. He turned to where Renee had slept, only to find an empty space beside him.

She had woken up a short while ago and gotten up to check on the baby and start the coffee maker running. When she heard him shifting in the bed she walked back to the bedroom and leaned against the doorframe. "Morning Garret." She smiled softly.

"Morning," he said, pulling himself from the covers and padding across the room. He gave her a quick kiss andturned back into the bedroomto collect his clothes. "I have to go," he announced, "I've gotta change and get to work."

She yawned softly as she watched him. "Alright. I'll see--" She cut herself off as there was a knock on the door. Who the hell comes to someone's door this friggin early? she thought to herself as she headed for the door, looking out the peephole before debating about opening the door, especially in her current attire; boxers and a tank top. She gave in and opened the door. "What?"

"I heard about what happened last night. Wanted to see if you and Amanda were alright."

"We're fine. But you can't be here right now."

Eddie sighed and stepped into the apartment. "And I'm here to tell you that I'm seeking custody."

Garret watched from the bedroom quietly until he realized just who was at the door. He pulled on his pants and slipped into his shirt. He was fastening the last button when he reached Renee and her ex-husband. "What's going on?" he asked.

Before Eddie could open his mouthRenee silenced him with a single look. "Eddie, Garret; Garret, Eddie." She sighed. "What the hell do you mean you're seeking custody? Why?"

"Because I heard about last night. You're job is dangerous Renee. What if something happ--"

Renee rolled her eyes. "Nothing's happened yet. And if I recall you didn't really want all that much to do with your daughter before, so go ahead. Make my day."

Garret stood in bewilderment as he watched the argument before him. He wasn't sure what he should say, or even if he should say anything. He had no idea where idea where he fit into this scenario, but decided he wasn't going to let this man, regardless of his relationship to Amanda, try and take her away from her mother. "You should probably go," he suggested to the other man.

"Hey, Renee, keep your lapdog back, huh?" Eddie smirked slightly, his eyes glittering with the mirth of an old joke.

"Eddie..." She groaned softly. "Just go."

"I'm filing with my lawyer today. I'm only telling you this as a courtesy."

She chuckled mirthlessly. "Get out. Now."

"I'm going. Just came to let you know."

"Fine. Now I know. You aren't going to win with this and you know it."

Garret gave her a blank stare as she slammed the door. He was too shocked by Eddie's announcement to do anything else. "They'll never give him custody, Renee," he said after a time.

She just shrugged slightly. "I know."

Garret wrapped a protective arm around her and pressed a kiss to her temple, "don't worry," he whispered. He gave her a quick squeeze and ushered her to the bedroom. "Get dressed and I'll take you two out for breakfast before I have to go in."

She smiled softly and turned to look at him. "If you have to go...go," she sighed. "I have to go see my lawyer before work anyway."

"Where's your car?" Garret called from the kitchen with a knowing grin.

Her hands paused halfway into doing up her shirt. "Dammit!"

He laughed quietly as the realization of her car's location at the morgue hit her. "Get a move on," he called as he walked through the apartment towards the nursery.

Amanda was laying in her crib on her back, mesmerized by the mobile hanging above her. Garret reached down and gently picked her up. He held her close to his chest and talked to her in hushed tones. He figured it was about time he introduced himself to the girl.

"I'm Garret," he explained, "you're gonna be seeing me around a lot from now on." Not caring that Amanda had no idea what he was saying, he continued to tell her about his own daughter and his job and anything else that popped into his head. "And don't you worry kiddo," he whispered finally, "I won't let anybody take you away from your mum, okay."

Reneeheard the tail end of his little speech and bit her lip as she walked in. "Hey."

"You ready," he asked, passing Amanda to her.

"Yeah, just give me a second to grab her diaper bag." She smiled as her daughter looked up at her. "Hey there cutie."

Garret grabbed the diaper bag before she could reach it and slung it over his shoulder, "let's go ladies," he smiled and ushered them out of the apartment, downstairs, and out to the curb where he'd left his car the night before. He snatched the parking ticket off the windshield and helped Renee fasten Amanda's baby carrier into the backseat.

After he closed the door she looked at him for a second and slid her arms around him. "I love you. Have I told you that this morning?"

Garret glanced skywards and furrowed his brow in mock concentration, "I don't think so," he said and planted soft kiss on her mouth. He smiled and held the passenger side door open for her. When she was inside he pressed it shut and made his way to the driver side. Sitting beside her on the way to his apartment, he reached across the car and held her hand, just wanting to be near her for as long as he could before they were separated for the day.

She smiled and turned her hand over, lightly squeezing his.

After a quick stop at his apartment so Garret could change, they sat down for breakfast at a diner around the corner from the morgue. Garret looked the menu up and down, even though he'd been there enough times that he could recite what was written. He ordered a full fry up that he knew he shouldn't eat, but didn't much care. He hadn't eaten much on the past couple of days and his stomach was starting to protest. As Garret passed his menu to the waitress, a familiar voice called out to him from a few tables over,

"Well hello, hello," Nigel said, picking up his newspaper and coffee and sliding himself into the booth next to Garret. "Isn't this cozy?" Nigel asked, glancing across the table at Renee and Amanda beside her. He smiled at the baby and turned to Garret, "isn't she lovely?" Garret fixed him with a stare that let his employee know he was less than amused with his intrusion.

"Is there something I can do for you Nigel?" he asked flatly.

"Not really, Dr. M, I just came over to see how you are," he said turning to Renee, "I heard about you're little bit of drama last night. You alright love?"

She had to fight the smirk twitching at her lips. "I'm fine."

"Glad to hear it," Nigel said with a wink.

"You're gonna be late," Garret said glancing at his watch. Nigel grinned sheepishly at his boss and gathered his things.

"Right," he said, "see ya later then." He slid out of the booth and headed off to the morgue

She laughed softly as he left, wrapping her hands around her mug as the waitress brought it.

Garret turned to Amanda. Nigel was right, she was a lovely looking baby. "Do you think he's gonna go thought with it?" he asked suddenly, remembering what Eddie had threatened earlier that morning.

"Probably, " she said, rolling her eyes as her phone rang. "I have to get this." She answered it with a clipped tone. "Walcott. Well, I hope you told her to stick them up he--good. I can't. I'm in court. Yeah. Sure. You sound...worried. You don't think he-- Really? I'd like to see him prove it." She snapped the phone shut and laid it on the table.

Garret fixed her with a curious stare as she spoke. "Who was that?" he asked when she had finished.

"My lawyer."

"What's up?"

"Eddie works fast." She sighed. "He's claiming I'm an unfit mother."

"Based on last night?" Garret said, making no attempt to conceal his anger, "Last night had nothing to do with being a mother; unfit or otherwise. You were attacked. How can he hold that against you? It wasn't your fault."

"Based on last night and the fact that I used to spend most of my time at work." She nodded slightly.

"That's bullshit," Garret said under his breath. He had only met Eddie this morning, but had decided long before then that he didn't like him. What he was doing now was just plain cruel. "No judge in their right mind would let him have her," Garret said, trying to reassure her, "you know all the judges around anyways...they know you're a good mom."

Reneelaughed softly. "Garret, relax. I'm not worried."

Garret sighed, thinking to himself that she was probably lying, for his sake as much as her own. Renee was never one to wear her feelings for the world to see. The waitress approached the table a moment later with his breakfast. He picked at his eggs and had a bite of his toast before deciding he wasn't as hungry as he'd thought. "Are you ready to go?" he asked pushing his meal to the center of the table.

"Sure." Her eyes narrowed slightly as she looked into his. "I'm really not worried."

Garret tossed some bills on the table and slid out of the booth. He waited a moment while Renee gathered Amanda and their things and then followed her silently out of the restaurant. This whole situation with Eddie just rubbed him the wrong way. He knew it wasn't his place to get involved but he couldn't stand around while Eddie threw his money at his lawyers until he took his daughter away from her mother.

After settling Amanda back into the car Renee turned and looked at him, barely fighting a smile. "Hey, relax, please? It's not like she's your daughter."

Garret started the car and sighed, "I know," he said quietly, "I know." They made the short trip back to the morgue in relative silence, only an occasional babble from Amanda in the back seat. He pulled his car into the space beside Renee's. He said good-bye to the baby, as Renee moved her from one vehicle to the other. When she had finished he pulled her into his arms and kissed her "I'll see you tonight," he said, half telling, half asking.

She smiled softly. "Yeah." Renee's arms slid around him lightly.

"I love you," he said quietly and kissed her one more time before heading to his office.

She bit her lip as she got into her car, looking back at her daughter with a sigh.

When Garret reached the ninth floor he found most of his staff huddled round each other in the break room, no doubt circulating another days worth of gossip. When he walked the room, it fell silent. It was then that Garret realized that he was the topic of today's discussion. "It's ten after nine, people," he announced, "get to work." He poured himself a coffee he knew would taste just as awful as it always did, and made his way to his office.

Renee reached her office earlier than usual after going by her apartment to leave the baby with the nanny. As soon as she walked in, everyone went silent. Rolling her eyes she walked into her office and shut the door, checking when she was due in court that day.

Before he had even taken his off his coat, Jordan bounced into his office and plopped herself onto his sofa.

"Nigel says you were playing daddy with a certain DA and her baby this morning." she said cutting straight to the point.

Garret sighed, clearly not amused by Jordan's interest in his business, "There really is no such thing as privacy in this office is there?" he asked taking his chair and flicking on his computer.

"Afraid not," Jordan said with a smile, "so what happened?"

Garret stared at her across the room and smiled, "Since when is this any of your business?" he scoffed.

"You're not gonna tell me are you?"

"You catch on quick," Garret laughed. He let his gaze slide to his office door as a subtle hint for his friend make her exit.

"Alright," Jordan said "I'll just have to make stuff up to tell people then," she joked heading for the door.

"Get to work Jordan," he smiled.

After four people walked into her office to see how she was doing after her attack last night, she slammed the door shut behind the last person, and locked it. "God!"

Much to his delight, Garret was out of the office most of the day. Woody had requested him at a homicide scene and although the weather was rainy, cold and altogether unpleasant, he was glad to be out of the eye of the morgue's gossip storm.

By the end of the day she was completely drained, and starting to get worried about Eddie seeking custody. She'd met her lawyer at lunch and nothing she said relieved her of her worries.

For the first night in weeks Garret finished work at a reasonable hour. With a bag of take out Chinese in his hand he rapped lightly on Renee's door, careful not to wake Amanda if she happened to be sleeping on the other side.

She looked up from the file she was working on and uncurled from the couch, walking over to the door. "Hey. Come on in." She smiled as she opened the door.

He pressed a kiss to her cheek and left dinner in her hands so he could take his jacket off. "How are you doing" he asked as he tossed his jacket over the back of a chair.

"I'm okay. You?" She asked as she walked into the kitchen to grab plates.

"Fine," Garret said making his way to his place on the sofa, "Did you talk to your lawyer today?" he called.

She came back out with two plates and put them on the coffee table. "Yeah."

Garret opened the bag of food and laid each carton on the table, "And?" he asked, "What'd she say?"

"Nothing I didn't already know." She said, not wanting to talk about it.

Garret picked at his dinner for a moment and then asked, "What does he want her for anyways? He's got his own family hasn't he? Why the sudden interest in Amanda after months of virtually no contact?"

"Guilty conscience? I don't know." She sighed, putting down her chopsticks.

He nodded in agreement; it seemed as good an explanation as any.

She reached behind her for the phone when it rang, leaning over the arm of the couch, not realizing how far her shirt was sliding up. "Hello?" She smiled softly. "Hey. How did you...He called you? To...geez. Yeah. I'm fine. I swear, nothing happened. Right. Okay, talk to you later. Love you too. Bye." She rolled her eyes as she hung up, still leaning backwards.

Garret raised a quizzical eyebrow as she hung up the phone, "who was that?" he asked.

"My mom." She rolled her eyes again. "Eddie called her to see if I've ever neglected a child I was babysitting."

"You're kidding me?"

"Nope." She laughed softly.

Garret shook his head in disbelief, "that's pretty low," he scoffed. "Does his wife know about Amanda?" he asked curiously.

She sat back up. "I have no idea." She ran her hands through her hair and sighed.

"I'm sure she wouldn't be thrilled if she did," he said, a mischievous grin creeping across his face.

"What are you suggesting?"

"Tell her," Garret said simply, "if she knows, than you're no worse off...but if she doesn't, she might just convince himnot togo through with it."

"No. She'll find out eventually."

"Yeah, when he moves Amanda into their house," he said under his breath.

"Garret..."

Garret, took her hand in his, "I'm sorry," he said quietly, "I shouldn't have said that."

She silently pulled her hand out of his grasp.

Garret, gave her a sad smile, "what?" he asked.

"Apart from the fact that you just insinuated that I'm going to lose my daughter? Nothing."

He reached out for her hand again, "c'mon, I'm sorry," he said quietly, "I just...I just feel like there is more that we should be doing, ya know?"

She just gave him a look as she pulled her hand out of his reach.

"Renee," Garret reasoned, "You're not gonna lose her. Even if he gets the best lawyer his money can buy, he's not gonna be able to beat you, you're the DA for crissakes."

"Garret. I'm. Not. Worried."

"Alright," Garret shrugged, and went back to his dinner, "alright."

"Sorry. I'm just a little...tense lately." She sighed as she picked up her plate again.

He nodded in understanding, "you know, you can talk to me about it,"

"I know."

"Good," Garret said, in a voice just short of a whisper. He bit into a spring roll just as Amanda howled from the nursery

She put her plate back down as she got up. "Be right back," she said as she walked into the nursery.

Garret waited on the sofa for Renee to come back. It took only a few moments for her to get Amanda to stop crying. He figured she probably needed her diaper changed. When almost fifteen minutes had passed he pulled himself from the couch and wandered into the nursery.

She looked up when she heard his footsteps and held a finger to her lips, before looking back down at Amanda, her foot still lightly pushing the glider.

He stayed in the doorway and remained quiet, as he'd been asked. He watched Renee and marveled at how easily she held her daughter. Months ago he couldn't have imagined her with a child, but now, to imagine her any other way didn't make sense. She seemed comfortable as a mother and was as good at it as any woman he'd ever met. As all this ran through his mind he again found his thoughts coming back to Renee's ex-husband. If he could only see what Garret did now, he wouldn't dream of separating them.

Renee stood a few minutes later, when Amanda had calmed down more. She walked past Garret into the living room and set her in the play crib, wanting to keep an eye on her.

"You really are amazing with her," Garret said earnestly, as he found his seat on the couch again.

"Thanks." She smiled softly, as she sat again.

"I mean it," he said, wrapping his arm around her shoulder and pulling her close to him.

She laid her head on his shoulder lightly with a smile.

Garret let Renee relax into him and tried to dispel the feeling that was gnawing at his stomach. Renee usually bottled up most of what she was thinking and feeling, but tonight, Garret couldn't help but feel like there was something bigger under her usual secrecy. "Why would he care about kids you used to baby sit?" he asked finally, "that was ages ago, what does it have to do with now? With Amanda?"

"Something happened when I was sixteen. Something not many people know." She bit her lip, debating about how much she should tell him.

He sat up in his seat, forcing her to do so as well. Sensing that she was about to reveal a long buried secret; he looked her square in the eyes and nodded for her to go on.

"I was babysitting for a family; three kids. One year old, four year old, and an eight year old. I was putting the baby into his crib, and I hear this loud thump downstairs. I didn't think anything of it, at first, until I heard screaming. I left the baby in his crib and ran down the stairs as fast as I could. The eight year old was standing at the top of the stairs to the basement, screaming her head off. Miranda, the four year old, had been running, tripped over a toy, and fell down the stairs." She took a deep breath and let it out slowly.

Garret realized what away what had happened to the girl, but still felt compelled to ask. "She died?" he said slowly.

"Yeah."

Garret nodded as he put the pieces together in his mind, "and Eddie's going to use this against you in court,"

"Looks like." She sighed.

"But it was accident," Garret said, sensing the desperation in his own voice.

"Yeah, I know."

Garret hung his head a little lower and shook it slowly back and forth, "that bastard," he muttered, "I'll kill him"

"Just leave it Garret." She shrugged. "If it comes up, it comes up."

"What do you mean if it comes up? It's up." he said a little more aggressively than he had intended. "If he's going to use this he's going to use anything he can get in order to get to Amanda. And I'm not sure if you've noticed, but being the illustrious attorney that you are, you're name is the paper almost everyday. Don't think for a minute that he won't try and manipulate you in the press too."

"He can try whatever he wants. Doesn't mean he'll win the case." She snapped.

"I know that," Garret reasoned, "but don't you want to stop this before it even makes it to court? Before everything in your past gets made public record?"

"Short of giving him custody there's nothing I can do. He already sees her when he wants to."

Garret leaned back against the sofa and sighed dramatically. He rubbed a tired hand across his face and shook his head. "I just don't want this getting ugly," he explained.

"Too late." She sighed.

He reached for her hand, and gave it a quick squeeze. "Well, no matter, how ugly" he started quietly, "I'll be here."

"Thanks Garret."