Carver finished with his witnesses and rested his case by the end of the session. The ball would be in Shaeffer's court starting at 9 the next morning. Maggie's testimony had been devastating, and all that was left to the defense was to mitigate the damage. How well he'd be able to do that remained to be seen.

On their way out of the courtroom, Goren leaned toward Eames. "Hey, I'll meet you at the car."

"Where are you going?"

"I just need to talk to Mike for a minute. I'll be right there."

She studied him for a moment. He kissed her and handed Maggie over to her. "Go with Mommy, mouse. Help her find Grandpa and Tommy. I'll be right there."

"Okay, Daddy."

Eames studied him a moment longer, but he gave her that innocent, little boy look he knew she couldn't resist. She shook her head, but smiled at him and headed toward the elevators with Maggie and Barek, who had arrived shortly after Maggie had begun her testimony.

Goren headed back toward the courtroom, where Logan waited for him. They stood across the corridor, talking quietly, until Shaeffer came out of the courtroom. "Mr. Shaeffer," Logan called. "Remember me?"

Shaeffer looked nervous, but he waited while the two detectives approached him. After all, what could they possibly do to him in a crowded courthouse? He raised a hand as they got closer and backed up a few steps. "Isn't it enough that your daughter sabotaged my case?"

Goren tipped his head to the left and looked Shaeffer square in the eye. He said, "How do you figure that? All she did was tell what happened to her. Not a word of her testimony was untrue."

"Do you have any idea how difficult it's going to be for me to try to mitigate that damage?"

Logan leaned closer. "My heart bleeds for you...just like my friend did when your client almost killed him. Or maybe you'd prefer if I cried for you, like his daughter did when she thought she was gonna lose him. If you're looking for sympathy, pal, you're barking up the wrong tree."

"You're not even in the right forest," Goren added.

"So, what? Are you tough guys going to beat me up?"

Goren laughed. "No. You're not worth the effort."

"Effort?" Logan said with a smirk as he stepped toward the lawyer. "No effort at all."

Goren grabbed his arm and pulled him back, not missing the fact that the lawyer was white as a sheet. "I want you to remember something, Mr. Shaeffer. You made it through law school, and you passed the bar. But in that courtroom, a four-year-old ran circles around you. You put Nicole on that stand tomorrow. There is nothing she can say that will undo my daughter's testimony. It was bad enough to hear what she did to my wife and me, and to listen, second-hand, to what she did to the children. But hearing it from Maggie..." He shook his head. "Carver is a smart man, and putting Maggie on the stand won him this case. Have a good night, Mr. Shaeffer."

He smacked Logan's arm and motioned for him to come along. Logan shook his head. "Out-witted by a four-year-old...Nice, Einstein."

He turned and followed Goren, leaving Shaeffer standing there, turning several shades of angry red. Logan stepped up beside his friend. "Why didn't you let me deck him?"

"You? I really don't want to see your ass back on Staten Island."

"But it would have so been worth it."

Goren looked at him, then shook his head. "No, it wouldn't. Believe me, he's going to remember what I said long after the pain from any punch would have been relegated to long-term memory...or suppressed entirely. He'll never forget that he was humiliated by a pre-schooler."

"Yeah, maybe. But I'd have felt better."

"Maybe."

They pulled on their coats and headed down the courthouse steps into the storm. Six inches of snow covered the ground and the wind was blowing wickedly around them. "Great," Logan muttered. "I'm calling in the morning before setting out down here. They're liable to call a snow day. Let Wallace stew all weekend long. 'Course, that'll give Clarence Darrow extra time to prepare."

Goren pulled his collar up as they headed down the street toward the cars. "He could have a year to prepare and he still wouldn't be able to pull his case out of the fire. She's cooked, Mike."

"Seems to me I've heard those words before."

"She won't get out of this."

"Maggie did a great job...and so did you, man. How'd you stay so calm up there?"

"Carver kept threatening me."

"Ah, was that it? I knew it had to be something."

"He didn't want me to undo what Maggie did."

"I see his point. Good thing you were the one up there. Barek had me in a headlock."

Goren raised his eyebrows. "Really?"

"Damn near. And your wife had my arm twisted behind my back."

Goren chuckled softly. "That I can see. Thanks, Mike."

"Forget it." The engine started a few cars ahead of them. "Looks like someone's anxious to get home before it gets any worse...and she's driving. I'll call you later."

"Ok." He leaned over when Logan opened the passenger door. "Drive carefully, Carolyn."

"Don't worry. Good night, Bobby."

Eames watched him approach; the car was already running and so was the heater. He slid into the car and smiled at her. "Your dad head out?"

"Yes. He wanted to get home before it gets too late."

"He could have come over and stayed with us."

"I told him that. But he's supposed to watch Jake tomorrow, too, since the kids are going to have a snow day."

"We might, too."

"I won't complain about being able to stay in bed for a few extra hours."

He smiled. "You never do."

She reached over and poked him, then shifted into drive as he turned in his seat to talk to the children. She pulled out of the space, smiling as she heard the kids laugh. Just when she thought she couldn't love him more, he did something endearing to prove her wrong. She turned at the corner, heading away from the courthouse and toward home.

Maggie and Tom were sleeping. After laying the baby in his crib, she covered him with his blanket and headed back to the living room. Dropping onto the couch beside Goren, she took the remote from his lap and switched off the television. He looked at her as she tossed it onto the table. "Let me guess. You want to talk."

"You know the drill."

He leaned back, raised his arms over his head and stretched. He had changed from his suit into jeans and a t-shirt when they got home. She had changed into a t-shirt and shorts and started dinner. She knew that he was still troubled by the events of the day when he didn't come into the kitchen to harass her. He hated being bothered when he was cooking, which was fairly often, and she loved to harass him, so he usually repaid her when she was in the kitchen. But not tonight. Instead, he stayed on the floor with the kids, playing with them and letting them climb all over him. She had watched as he let Tommy tackle him, and then Maggie had jumped in and piled on. She knew how he got when he was disturbed. He always sought out direct contact with the object of his worry, when that was possible. And it was more than possible now to have as much direct contact with the kids as he could handle. She had never known him to get his fill of them.

Before he brought his arms down, she slid up against him and rested her head against his chest. She loved to listen to his heart beat. She had no doubt that it beat for her and the children, no doubt at all. His arm came down around her and he kissed her head. "So what's troubling you?" she asked.

"How do you think Maggie did?"

"I think you both did a fantastic job. Her testimony was beautiful and you didn't punch out Wallace or that idiot who's representing her."

"Uh, can I ask you something?"

She slid her hand under his shirt and began to lightly caress the skin above his belt. He closed his eyes and softly groaned. She smiled. "Go ahead."

"Huh? What?"

She laughed softly. She loved derailing his mind like that. "You have a question?"

"A que...oh, yeah..." Another soft groan that he tried to suppress but couldn't manage to. "I, uh...yeah..." He took a deep breath, trying to remember what he wanted to ask...but his mind would only focus on what she was doing. Finally, he grabbed her hand, holding it against his stomach. He mentally kickstarted his brain again and sighed softly, wrapping his fingers around her hand to keep it still. "Um, Maggie said you told her it was a good thing...to be like me."

"She told me you told her to ask me, so she did. Does that surprise you?"

He shook his head. "Uh, n-no. I did tell her that. I, uh, I'm not qualified to answer that question...because I'll always answer no, and that's not the answer she needed to hear."

"You think I lied?"

"Of course not. I just know what you think and that you honestly believe it. So I sent her to you for the answer she needed. If she needed a different answer, I'd have sent her to Logan."

"How do you know she didn't ask him?"

"I guess I don't. But she seems content to be like me."

"Maybe, if she went to him, he gave her a different answer than the one you'd expect him to give."

He shifted his eyes toward her. "You think so?"

"Bobby, Maggie adores you and he knows it. He would never do anything to challenge that. Besides, he always says he would hate to be you. He loves Maggie just the way she is, and if that means she's like you, then it's a good thing because he doesn't want her any other way."

"You've already discussed this with him?"

"Yes, because Maggie did ask him and he wanted to know why."

He leaned his head back and gave it some thought. "I suppose it's not all bad."

"Why would it be bad at all? I know sometimes I wish she wasn't quite so energetic, but that's only because I don't have your energy. It's so easy to see that she is your daughter."

"Then how did you miss it for three years?"

"I didn't. But how could I possibly have told you I gave birth to your child, even if it was just an unconfirmed suspicion? I'm surprised you and Mike never saw it."

"I don't know about Mike, but I guess I just never looked. I assumed she was Ricky's and since I never..."

"Never that you remember..."

"Right. It never occurred to me."

"And now?"

"Now I see it. The older she gets, the more obvious it is."

She nodded. "And it is a good thing, Bobby."

"I'll take your word for it."

"Can I ask you something now?"

"Be my guest."

"Why have you never asked about that night?"

He sighed and stared at the ceiling. Finally he shrugged. "I don't know. I guess...I'm embarrassed that I let myself get that carried away...that I...broke a vow I made to myself. I, uh, I thought I was better than that, but...I found out I was wrong. You know I don't like to be wrong."

"Do you regret it?"

"Uh...I don't remember it...but...do you? Regret it, I mean?" He spoke hesitantly, as if he were afraid of her answer, which he was.

"No. Not at all."

He sighed. "I wish I did remember."

He let her slide her hand free of his and resume her gentle caressing. His arm tightened around her. "No," he whispered. "I don't regret it...because I love you, and I always have. I'm not ashamed that I loved you. I'm just...ashamed of myself...because you were married. I knew better...and drunk or not, I never should have violated that."

"What about me, Bobby? I encouraged you. I wouldn't let you say no...and you really weren't in any condition to resist. I wanted you...and you couldn't say no."

That was very true. He had a hard time saying no to her. It had been torture for him, the rare times during her marriage when she had come to him and he'd said no...but so were the even rarer times, when he did give in...he was harder on himself than he ever needed to be, and he never blamed her. He always blamed himself...and rightly so, in his mind. She had been miserable, and he'd hated that. But he never let her step into a full-fledged affair with him. He could never have lived with himself if he'd allowed that. There had only been a couple of slip-ups-he could count them on one hand, including the one he couldn't remember. He could eventually forgive himself for those...and he did...because it was her.

She kissed his neck, and he leaned into her. She pulled her legs beneath her, hoisting herself up to his height so she could kiss his temple, then his ear, working her way down his jawline until he turned into her and sought out her mouth. Slow, deep kisses escalated slowly as passion met desire.

She pulled away, hesitating when his hands tightened on her hips. She teased his lips and whispered, "Come with me, and I'll show you what you don't remember."

She slid from his arms and ran down the hall. He was right behind her.