Disclaimer—Still don't own it.

2-Double Talk

Lilly drummed her fingers on her chair as she and Scotty waited for Dr. Cunningham to arrive. They were in a small room plastered with posters depicting every aspect of the birth process. Lilly was seated atop the bed in a yellow paper dress as Scotty flipped through a parenting magazine with a bored expression on his face.

"I could do half this stuff with my eyes closed," he muttered tossing the magazine aside.

Lilly snorted. "Should I be impressed or worried?"

Scotty shrugged. "So when are you moving in?"

"I've told you a hundred times I'm not moving into your place. Not when my sister used to stay there."

"I thought we were over the Chris thing—especially since she hung up on you after you told her I knocked you up."

"Do you have to say it like that? Knock up is such a crude term," said Lilly frowning.

"Sorry. Forgive me if I'm still a little shocked from the whole thing."

"It's been a month now, Valens."

"You're going to have to stop calling me that. Is that what you want our kid to hear you call me?"

Lilly's eyes twinkled with suppressed laughter. "What would you like me to call you? Pumpkin pie? Baby cakes? Besides, maybe that'll be the baby's first word. Valens."

"Guess it's better than some of the things you could call me," replied Scotty eyeing Lilly's stomach warily. "When are you going to get fat?"

"Not for a few more months," stated a woman with short brown hair as she entered the room. "Hi, I'm Dr. Marilyn Cunningham. I'll be your doctor throughout the pregnancy. And you must be Lilly Valens."

"Actually it's Lilly Rush. That's Scotty Valens," murmured Lilly pointing over at her partner.

"Forgive me, my secretary must have written it down wrong."

"Or somebody filled out the paperwork wrong." Lilly shot a look over at Scotty who was busy studying a picture of a newborn baby.

"Do all babies look like bloody puppies when they first come out?" asked Scotty pointing to the picture on the wall.

Dr. Cunningham raised an eyebrow and whispered conspiratorially to Lilly. "First time father?"

"You have no idea."

"Aw, I see. I believe, Mr. Valens that you will think differently when your child is born in eight months."

Scotty turned around with a quizzical look. "Eight months? Somehow it seems like it's already been like three months."

"Pregnancies tend to make life more hectic, thus making it seem as though ages have gone by rather than mere days." Dr. Cunningham smiled at Lilly and set about with the check up. Lilly rolled her eyes in amusement as Scotty, ever the gentleman, turned his back.

After a while the doctor finished up. "Well, everything seems to be fine. The baby is AOK."

"Good," said Lilly cheerfully. "Is that it for the day?"

"Yes, I'll be sure and schedule your sonogram for the next visit. So next month you'll get your first picture of the baby. I'll see you two then." Dr. Cunningham smiled graciously at the pair before disappearing out the door. Scotty glanced at Lilly and then turned his back once more as he waited for her to redress.

"Think it's a boy or a girl?" he asked.

Lilly pulled on her jacket while thinking of a reply. "Boy."

"I say girl."

"Well, you're going to be wrong…my instinct tells me it's going to be a boy."

Scotty followed Lilly out of the room and down the hallway. "What and my instincts don't count? I think it's going to be a girl."

"Scotty, you once thought Olivia was a male cat…your instincts suck," remarked Lilly as she waited for the secretary to schedule the next appointment.

"Oh yeah? Let's bet on it."

Lilly smirked and thanked the secretary before leading Scotty outside. "You're on. What are we betting on?"

"If it's a girl we get married after she's born," answered Scotty opening the passenger door for Lilly. The blonde detective stopped short.

"Are you serious?"

"Yeah. If the baby turns out to be a girl then we start planning a wedding. I want our kid to share the same last name as both of us."

"Alright, if it's a girl we get married; but, if it's a boy he takes my last name, and we don't talk about marriage again for another five years."

Scotty thought about the offer for a while and then stuck out his hand. "It's a deal," he said as Lilly shook it.

"But we aren't going to let the doctor tell us the sex of the baby until it's born. I like surprises." Lilly smiled and got in the car. Scotty shut the door and shook his head as he walked around to the other side. The last surprise Lilly had gotten was him in her bed, and she had been very creative in letting him know how she felt about that. Ice cold water. Scotty was beginning to get a bad feeling about this bet.

Homicide Department:

"So what's the story on our vic?" asked Scotty as he and Lilly walked back into the office.

Vera looked up from the folders on his desk. "Just like Mrs. Martin told us, a drug deal gone bad. Says here that little Abby had cocaine in her pockets. The alley she was murdered in is pretty famous for drug dealers."

"Any leads?" Lilly took the folder out of Vera's hands and studied the pictures inside.

"Not many," said Jeffries joining the group. "Drug deals are so hush-hush that not even the victims know who they're dealing with half the time. But, with the evidence at the crime scene, it became an open and shut case. One or two leads were actually followed before the officers decided they had reached dead ends."

"Great," murmured Scotty pulling out a chair and sitting down, "sounds like this one might take a while. Who all knew Abby around the time she died?"

"Her twin Annabelle, for one, her mother, the ever lovely Cordelia Martin, uh, a boyfriend, Jake Wilson, one druggie, some guy by the name of 'Max', and Calvin Schmidt, a childhood friend of Abby and Annabelle," replied Vera consulting a list of names.

"Narrows it down a bit, doesn't it?" joked Lilly handing the file to Stillman as he came over to the desk.

"Any news from the doctor?" asked the older man barely looking at the photos in the file.

"She's getting the sonogram next month," answered Scotty.

"Good. Try and narrow down that due date while you're at it."

"Right. So," Lilly easily drew the topic back to their latest case. "Where are all these people now?"

Jeffries chuckled. "That's the best part. Seems Annabelle might be our only bet for another month. Jake isn't due to return from Europe until then; 'Max' is in a local rehabilitation center—and isn't allowed visitors until he's clean again; and Calvin happens to be on the other side of the country attending his sister's wedding."

Scotty groaned. "So who's visiting Annabelle today?"

Stillman grinned as he spoke, "Lil and Vera. I'm tired of you and Lilly making front page of all the tabloids. They're trying to guess the due date for your kid already."

"Yeah, wanna join the pool? My money's on end of June." Vera looked over at Scotty who simply stared back.

"There's a pool?" asked the Puerto Rican.

"Yeah. There's another one on the sex of the baby and another on names. They're all open until we have a winner, so you're welcome to it."

Lilly rolled her eyes and motioned for Vera to follow her out the door. She patted Scotty on the back before leaving. "I already joined," she whispered.

"Nice! Better be some damn good money in it for you!" shouted Scotty as she and Vera walked away.

Across Town:

"Annabelle Martin? I'm Detective Rush, and this is Detective Vera. Can we have a few words with you?" Lilly smiled appreciatively as Annabelle opened her apartment door wide enough for the two officers to enter. She was a thin girl with auburn hair cropped down to her chin. A splash of freckles across her nose made her blue eyes seem unusually bright.

"How can I help you?" she asked as the three of them took a seat.

Lilly gave a small nod. "Your mother asked us to reopen your sister's case. Abigail was your twin, wasn't she?"

"Yeah, we were identical twins. Abby was my best friend. We told each other everything. High school wasn't any different. We did start hanging out with different crowds, but that's normal."

"What can you tell us about the night she died?" questioned Vera.

Annabelle shrugged. "Abby was out as usual. Being as popular and busy as she was, Abby never got home until like nine o'clock at night. The night she died thought, Abby was supposed to be on a date with her boyfriend. Jake Wilson. He was bad news from the start."

"What makes you say that?" Lilly narrowed her eyes as the younger woman giggled.

"Because. Everyone knew who Jake was."

Vera practically growled. "Get to the point. What was Jake?"

"Abby didn't do drugs, Detective. But she was pretty involved in the lifestyle. Jake was one of the biggest drug dealers at school. I've always thought he was the one who killed my sister that night."

"But you never voiced any of your concerns, why's that?" demanded Lilly.

"Hello, drug dealers know murderers. Like I really wanted to end up with two bullets in my skull? Uh, no thank-you. Besides, Jake comes from money. Serious money. His dad has this incredible business. You can't go around saying Mr. Wilson's son does drugs, that's a one way ticket to the nut house."

"And yet, here you are blabbing on the kid," Vera snorted, "If you ask me that's a really lame excuse."

Annabelle shook her head with a sigh. "I know, but see, Jake and I stayed friends after Abby's death. He was there for me when I needed a friend. Look, I'm coming out because I'm afraid for my life."

"Afraid of what? Jake's family? His wealth? His reputation as a drug dealer?" snapped Lilly.

"All of them. Jake proposed before he went to Europe."

A/N—Alrighty, I'm seriously trying to get back into the swing of things. It's been so long here…it's hard to keep a story all twisted up until the end. I hope you like this chapter. I'll try and get the next one up ASAP. Thanks.