Eames was resting on her parents' couch, her three week old daughter sleeping on her chest. Her father came hurrying into the room, grabbing the phone and dialing. He looked at his daughter. "I think your mom is having another stroke."

While he called for an ambulance, she laid the baby gently in her cradle and ran to her mother's side in the bedroom. Within twenty minutes, the ambulance had come and gone. She put the baby in the car and drove her father to the hospital. While he went into the building, she pulled out her phone and called her partner. "Goren."

"What are you doing right now, Bobby?"

"What's wrong?"

"Please answer me."

"Nothing, just paperwork."

"Can you come down to Bellevue and get the baby for me?"

"Sure. What's wrong?"

"We think Mom had another stroke."

"I'll be right there."

"Bobby?"

"What?"

"Drive carefully."

"I will."

The last thing she needed was for him to get into an accident on the way to the hospital. She waited outside the ER for him, relieved that it didn't take him long to get there. She kissed the baby and placed her in his arms, thanking him for coming. "I didn't want to take her into the hospital. I don't want her getting sick."

He nodded. "That was smart thinking." He leaned over so he could see her face. "Are you okay?"

"I don't know. I…I'll call you when I know anything, okay?"

He nodded. "If you need me, let me know. I can get Carolyn or Mike to watch Maggie."

He'd started calling her Maggie when she was just a few days old, and it suited her. "Thank you, Bobby." She kissed his cheek and hurried in to the hospital.

He turned and walked back to the car, gently placing the baby in her car seat. He sat there for a minute, worried about his partner. Well, she'd call him. He started the engine and headed for home.

Deep in the night, the phone rang. He leaned over and grabbed it, answering on the third ring. "Goren."

"Where the fuck is my wife, Goren?"

He sat up, settling the sleeping baby into the crook of his arm and trying to chase the sleep from his brain. "What? Ricky?"

"How many other wives are you sleeping with?"

"I'm not sleeping with anybody. Your wife is at the hospital because her mother had a stroke this afternoon."

There was silence on the other end for a minute before Ricky asked, "Why didn't she call me?"

"You'll have to ask her that."

"She's not there?"

"No, and she hasn't been." He hesitated for a moment before he added, "I am not sleeping with your wife."

Silence again, then, "Whatever."

The line went dead. He'd tried. He wished there was a way he could make things easier for Eames. He closed the phone, more than just a little irritated that he hadn't even asked about the baby. He lay back down on the couch, readjusting the baby on his chest. He gently stroked her soft hair, kissing her forehead. She sighed and, searching in her sleep for something to suck on, found her fist and settled back down. He wished sleep came that easy for him.

He didn't hear the door open, but the gentle hand that touched his arm woke him. He looked up into his partner's face. The first thing he noticed was that she had been crying. She gently rubbed the baby's back, smiling sadly when she sighed in her sleep. "Eames…"

She laid her fingers on his lips, silencing him. Softly, she said, "She died about an hour ago."

He sat up, shifting the baby into his right arm and pulling his partner into his embrace with the other. She settled against his chest and cried.

Eames looked about her at the people gathered around her mother's casket. Her siblings and their families stood nearby their father, just to her left. To her right, stood Ricky in his uniform, shifting impatiently. She ignored him, looking across to the other side of the funeral canopy. Her partner was there, right where she could see him, in a dark suit and sunglasses. When he saw her look his way, he slid off the glasses and slipped them into his pocket. Now she could meet his eyes, and she needed that support. Flanking him to the left and right were Logan and Barek, also dressed in dark colors, looking solemn. Deakins and his wife were behind them. There was a large grouping of police officers, both retired and active, scattered about the mourners. She held Maggie a little closer, taking comfort in the fresh baby scent of her, and sought out her partner's eyes once more. Then she shifted her gaze back to the casket.

When the graveside service was over, the mourners began to disperse, heading off to the gathering at her parents' house. Deakins and his wife came over to talk to her while Ricky hovered behind her, watching Goren warily. Finally no one was left except her and the baby, Ricky, Goren, Logan and Barek. She looked at her husband. "Go on back to work, Ricky."

"I can take you home first."

"I'm going to my dad's. I'll get a ride, don't worry."

It was clear that the three detectives were waiting for her and he glared at them some more. "Don't start anything," she warned. "Not here."

He looked at her. "Are you coming home tonight?"

"I don't know. I may stay with my dad."

"Can't your sister do that?"

She almost snapped that her sister liked being with her husband but she bit her tongue. "I don't know. But I want to stay with him."

He looked at the three detectives one more time before he finally headed for his patrol car. As he drove off, she walked over to her friends. Logan frowned as he watched the patrol car disappear from sight. "It's about damn time he left."

Eames was uptight and the baby could sense it. She started fussing, so her mother handed her off to Goren. She always settled down in his arms, and this time was no exception. As the four of them headed for the two parked cars, she held out her hand toward her partner. He fished in his pocket and dropped his keys into her hand. Logan and Barek smiled at one another. Things were getting back to normal again.

There were lots of people making lots of noise at the Eames residence. When the detectives arrived, Eames took the baby to a back bedroom, fed her and placed her in the crib her father had set up for his newest grandchild. She was sound asleep.

While she tended to the baby, Goren stood on the deck with Logan and Barek. John Eames joined them, holding out three beers. They thanked him, and the retired cop looked across the backyard, where children ran and played. "I want to thank all three of you for coming. I'm sure you all know that my daughter hasn't been happy lately, but when she talks about things she's done with you, I can see happiness in her again. Thank you for that."

He clapped the back of Goren's shoulder and returned to the house and his other guests. Goren leaned over and rested his arms on the deck railing. Logan mimicked his position next to him. "Promise me something, Goren."

"What?"

"When you come to your senses and decide to kick Waters' ass, call me so I can get a piece of him."

Goren smiled, watching the children in the yard run and play on the swingset. "Okay, Mike. I'll call you."