I blamed it on the pizza.

Emily and I were eating dinner, although as usual it was way past dinner time. I don't know what I was thinking; believing that being a detective would give me better hours. I was actually working more hours, under more stress, and still faced the daily risk of being shot. I'm sure there was an upside –- I did get to wear normal clothes, which was a nice - but really, I had expected more.

So here it was, 9:30 on a Friday night and I had just gotten home. We were chatting about my day, she was trying to convince me that this new guy who'd asked her out for the tomorrow night didn't have a police record, wasn't likely to have one in the near future and was really, really cute and popular and like, should be totally okay. I have to say, this single-parent-with-dating-teen-stuff is hard. Way harder than anything I'd faced in my 13 years as a cop. Give me a good old foot chase or tackling a perp any day.

We were munching away and she had been pretty silent for almost 5 minutes. That should have given me a clue, that something was up, but me and my little housekeeper were enjoying our pizza.

She had apparently decided on a different tactic in getting her way. ""Mom, do you think you'll ever start dating?"

I wasn't surprised by her question –- it had crossed my mind too. But along with the many things I'd learned since my divorce (I liked sprawling across the whole bed to sleep, I hate man stuff cluttering up my space and my daughter has grown into pretty cool young lady), I'd also learned my job is not conducive to dating. For some odd reason, most guys are very threatened by a woman with a gun. And the only guys who typically aren't typically also carry guns, and I really didn't want to date another cop. While my marriage to Fred had never been great, I relished being able to turn off the Job while I was at home. Or at least turn it down a bit –- truthfully, a cop is never off the Job. Which is another big part of why dating is so friggin'' hard. A part of a cops brain never lets it go, never stops being watchful, waiting... not trusting anything you see or what people say. Other cops and particularly your partner become your only support network, the only ones you really trust.

So given the litany of reasons I had as to why dating is damn near impossible, I hadn't really given it tons of thought. And frankly since the divorce, I haven't had time. Between spending the better part of year at my partner's bedside as he recovered from being shot while saving my life, - and then working ever increasingly impossible hours as a detective, it wasn't likely to become a big issue on my personal agenda any time soon. I said so to Emily, that it just wasn't likely to happen in the near future and laid out the list of reasons. I should have suspected something was up when she came back so quickly with her ""suggestion".

"You could date Bosco"

Her words echoed in my brain as I fought for breath, only slightly muffled by the faint moaning coming from my housekeeper as she lay trapped beneath the rubble. My choking fit distracted Emily, keeping her busy for a couple of minutes getting me water, patting my back, being a good little daughter, which should have been sign number two that she was up to something. I recovered fairly quickly but kept up with the coughing a bit longer, hoping that enough time had gone by and that she had forgotten what we were talking about. But Em really is her mother's daughter - tenacity and stubbornness are as natural as breathing.

"So what do you think, Mom?""

""About what?" I feigned innocence, as the housekeeper started flinging rubble clear, digging her way free.

"Moooommm"" Serious eye rolling ""What we were just talking about – - you know, Bosco, your uber-hot EX-partner!"

Lovely. My daughter thinks my partn...excuse me, EX-partner...…is hot. Can this night get any worse?

"Although you know on second thought, dating probably isn't right for you guys" Damn straight, end of topic.

"You've already basically been a couple for 13 years, it would seem sort of anti-climatic"…" Anti-climatic? What's she been reading? Cosmo?

"You should probably, just like, move in together, get married…" Ah. Splendid. It can get worse. My housekeeper who had finally managed to stagger to her feet, swooned like a Southern belle.

I almost joined her.

I'm not sure what happened for the next few seconds. I may have sort of blacked out. Whatever happened, I must have looked bad enough to cause Emily some concern. She had jumped up again, and was shaking my shoulder. "Mom, mom –- are you okay?"

Oh yeah, just great Em, really enjoying this lovely talk were having. You've just completely blown up my world and you've killed my housekeeper. I'm good, thanks.

"I'm, umm, I'm fine, Em. Really, I was thinking of something else and didn't hear what you said..." Whoops - wrong thing to say.

"I said that I think you and Bosco, you know, need to officially get together!" Her concern had given way to disgust as only a teenager can do it. The way she said ""officially"" caught my attention, and I questioned her before I could stop myself.

""What do you mean "officially"?"" God Faith, stop talking! This was quickly going from bad to something akin to a nuclear holocaust.

"Well I mean, come on, Mom. I've seen you guys together all these years. I heard the fights between you and dad. I've seen you look at each other, the way you carry on entire conversations without saying a thing. You guys are seriously deep into each other. It's pretty cool actually. I hope I find a love like that someday, somebody who loves me that way. You guys are like, role models."

My housekeeper had fallen into a pit of quicksand and was going under.

"Em, don't be ridiculous, he's my part-"" "Not any more he's not""

""Yes, I know that"" Thank you for the reminder. ""What I mean is that there has never been anything between us, no love and stuff. You have to be close to your partner, you are putting their life in their hands every-"" As I started my litany by rote, my housekeepers head bobbed to the surface and with an exemplary show of strength, grabbed the branch I was holding with my words and started pulling herself clear. Emily interrupted me.

"Blah, blah, blah,- yes, MOM, I am aware of all that. And I'm pretty sure you've always believed it. You both probably did at one time. But mom, come on. It's just not true. You two literally burn when you are around each other. It's -– well, it's pretty amazing to see."" She smiled a little at me.

Oops, one housekeeper, going under for the last time.

"Emily, I'm not sure what you think you see…..."

"Well, it doesn't matter what I see, or that everyone else does too, for that matter, does it?"" She looked down, a sad little smile playing on her lips. "I'm just worried that you two never will"…"

Hot damn, she was good. Stopped me cold. Everyone else? What? Like who? Huh? Other people thought this too? Whaaa...

I was incoherent. My housekeeper, in a last ditch effort to save herself, had apparently grabbed a hold of my tongue. Emily took my silence as agreement or at least realization and her little smile turned a bit smug.

Of course, exactly at that moment, I heard a key in the lock – oh, God, please be Fred, please be a burglar, please be any one but…... ""Hello ladies"" Bosco bounced into the room.

Ladies and gentlemen, Frisky Puppy is in da house...