Chapter 16

Disclaimer: I'm broke, Dick! Don't sue!

A/N: I had wanted to keep the sex of the baby quiet until she actually had it but it just happened to work out this way. Again, thanks for the reviews! Enjoy.

Alex woke up to the phone ringing. Now eight months along, it was a struggle to get out of bed, let alone get out of bed quick enough to get the phone. She got to it just as the answering machine kicked on. "Hello?"

It was Carolyn. "Listen kid, Mike and I are stopping over. Is Bobby with you?"

"No, he's at home."

Carolyn paused before responding. "Uh, no he's not."

"What? He went home last night." Alex started to get worried when she heard a sneeze behind her. She turned around, startled. It was Bobby. "You know what? He's right here, sneezing on me." She looked at Bobby strangely, mouthing why are you here at him. He smiled at her, like the cat that got the canary.

"Okay, well Mike and are walking up to your door and here we are. Open up." Carolyn hung up her phone. Alex walked to her door and opened it. There stood Carolyn and Mike, along with the Deakins' and her parents.

"What are you guys doing here?" Alex was dumbfounded. Then she realized she was standing in her doorway, wearing a pair of sweat pants, and a tank top that just barely covered her ever-growing belly.

"Well, silly, we're throwing you a baby shower. Get yourself presentable and the we'll do the rest." Mike barreled past her, balloons and a very expensive looking cake in hand.

"Bobby, did you know about this?" Alex turned to her partner, who was now grinning widely at her.

"Ah, I have to admit I did. I was supposed to get the phone though, not you. Get dressed, there are more people coming in an hour." Alex turned and ran back to her bedroom. Carolyn followed. "Why didn't you guys tell me?" She grabbed some clothes to bring into the bathroom with her.

"Well, Alex we wanted it to be a surprise. And you guys haven't done anything to the spare bedroom have you?"

"No. We cleaned it but at the time I didn't know that this baby was a girl and Bobby hadn't let that little secret out yet so we couldn't paint it. Let me take my shower." Alex walked towards the bathroom. Carolyn sat down on her friend's bed and thought for a minute. She had really wanted to talk to her friend about her current situation. Just as she was about to leave the room, Bobby walked in.

"Why so down?" He sat down on the bed with her.

"Look, I really wanted to talk to Alex about this, but since you're Lewis' friend – here goes." She stopped and took a deep breath. "It's been two months. I need to know what's going on. It was really intense in the beginning, but he seems to have lost interest. Is he always like this?" Carolyn saw the amused look on Bobby's face and punched him in the arm.

"No need for violence, Barek. All things will work themselves out. He likes you. Don't worry." Bobby fake punched her back. "Have you talked to Mike?"

"Yeah. Big mistake. He's almost as protective over me as you are with Alex. Men."

"We're not all bad. Let's go get things ready." They both got up and walked back to the kitchen.

For the next two hours, people did nothing but congratulate Alex. Even Ron Carver was there for a little bit. He gave Alex a gorgeous quilt made up in pink and yellow, which his wife had handmade. Alex was touched. All sorts of gifts poured in. clothes, books, boxes of diapers; Carolyn was right – this was everyone's baby.

Later…

It was after sunset by the time everyone had gone. The only ones left were Mike, Carolyn and Lewis. They had all piled into what was now the nursery. Bobby and Lewis had already put together the crib, Carolyn was working on a chest of drawers with Alex, which left Mike with starting the paint job. "We're all going to die in here because of the fumes – you realize that right?" Mike wiped his brow, leaving a smudge of lemon chiffon paint across his face. Carolyn looked up and burst into a fit of giggles.

"Did you get your colors done or something? Someone lied to you about that shade." Alex looked up and cracked up as well.

"Seriously, Mike, go look in a mirror." Mike walked out to the bathroom. Everyone heard his exasperated sigh and laughed.

"Glad you think this is so funny." Mike couldn't hide the small smile on his face though.

Around eleven, miraculously, the nursery was complete. Everyone sat in the middle of the floor, careful not to mess up Mike's paint job.

"Well, man, I'm going to get going." Lewis stood up and helped Carolyn to her feet. Carolyn had to hide the relieved look on her face. Bobby caught it and winked at her. Mike stood up as well. Alex motioned for him to help her off the floor.

"Thanks. Once I go down it takes a village to get me up again." She brushed herself off.

"Look, Alex, I gained a few pounds; I don't think I constitute a village though." Mike hugged Alex, patted Bobby on the back and walked out with Lewis and Carolyn. Alex and Bobby stood in the kitchen, doing dishes. He washed, she dried, and in silence. Bobby's thoughts were all over today. They had finally gotten the nursery done. It kept getting put off because of the cases he was working on in between helping Mike and Carolyn. Then Lewis started acting funny, but Bobby was reassured he was all right. Now Carolyn was worried about Lewis. He had tried to comfort her, but inside he had no idea what was going on there. He knew his best friend, but he didn't want to know more than he needed to about what was going on between Lewis and Carolyn. He was pulled out of his thoughts by a loud pop. He looked over at his partner, who was doubled over in pain, a shattered wine glass at her feet.

"Alex, are you all right?" He pulled her over to him to get her away from the glass shards.

"Bobby, it hurts…it's too early." Alex gasped from the pain enveloping her abdomen.

"I'll call the doctor." Bobby settled Alex into a chair and grabbed her phone. She wasn't ready; they had a month to go. Alex groaned from where she sat. She felt something warm and wet splash her legs.

"Shit. Bobby, my water broke."

A/N Part 2 - This seems a little slap dash to me. Keep the reviews coming, though. Thanks!