Chapter 12

Tom's new apartment,
Friday, May 28, 1999
9:00 am

"Are you ready yet Cass?" Tom paced the living as he waited for Cassy to finally emerge from his bedroom.

"Just a second," Cassy yelled back.

"Come on, come on," he mumbled under his breath. They were going to the doctor's office for her check up on their baby! The anticipation was driving him insane. What he really wanted to do was barge into that bedroom and lift her up and lay her down on the bed and reveal her bare stomach. Then he wanted to run his fingers and lips over it for the rest of the day. She carried his child inside her. So many years he had pretended he didn't want that anymore. He didn't even care about the circumstances surrounding the conception. In his distraction he didn't hear her finally emerge from the bedroom.

"Well?" She stood in the doorway, her arms crossed and her blue eyes looking at him in amusement.

God, she looked so beautiful, he sighed and bit his lip as he looked at her. How had he missed that glow?

Unable to stop himself he moved forward until he was standing in front of her. His hands didn't meet any resistance as they reached out and spanned her waist. His thumbs settled on her stomach and gently stroked her through her white button-down cotton shirt.

"You are so beautiful," he told her huskily. He remembered something about pregnant women feeling unattractive. He would never let her be so deluded.

Gently, he pressed his lips against her forehead. He felt her shiver. "We're going to be late," he reminded her, regretfully. He was gratified to hear her sigh as he led the way. "Do you need a sweater or anything?"

"It's May in Palm Beach!" Cassy shook her head and walked out the apartment door he was holding open.

Once outside the apartment door other realities began to seep in. Waiting, alert and well armed, were two uniformed officers. Their escorts.It took a bit of the sparkle out of the morning.

"Back to reality," Tom wryly told Cassy as he helped her into the back seat behind the driver of the department car.

"At least we have a chauffer now," Cassy joked as one of the officers, Joe McCallister sat down next to her. She didn't do a good job of hiding a wistful look as Tom moved back to close the door so that he could go around and sit in the passenger seat.

"Let's roll," Tom enjoyed telling their "driver."

Despite Tom's obvious enjoyment, Cassy felt resentful. Becoming pregnant had not been even pencilled into her date book, but now that she was she wanted to be able to share the joy she felt with Tom. At the same time she feared that their previous differences would never be resolved and now they were tied to each other in a way they couldn't walk away from. And in the midst of all this, she glanced at their guards, people were being killed just for knowing her. Tom and Harry might say it was too early to rush to judgment, but what other connection was there between Patrick and Brad and those flowers. She shivered despite the heat.

"Cass," Tom's voice cut into her spiral into guilt and remorse.

She looked up to find him looking back at her from the front seat. Forcibly dragging her thoughts from the path they were going down she offered him a weak smile.

Suddenly a curse from Joe's partner, Andy Preston interrupted their exchange.

Before anyone could ask what was wrong there was an impact on the side of the car. The swerved and then there came another grinding impact on the driver's side of the car. The car swerved towards the other side of the road, but Andy managed to keep them on the road. Just barely. But their pursuers weren't ready to give up and Cassy felt the door next to her begin to collapse with another impact from their pursuers. Even as she tries to undo her seatbelt and move out of the way her cop instincts kick in and she looks over at the other car to make an identification.

As the car comes careening at them again she saw that the car was beige and had only a driver. A man with dark hair.

Then the door crumpled and the car beganto slide sideways. Cassy felt her entire side burst into a the flames of pain as the car seemed to be caught in a dimension of its own. Sliding. Spinning. Falling. In front of her she saw Tom. Then it was all black.

>>>>>>

"What the hell do you mean they were driven off the road!" Harry stood in his office screaming into the phone. "Get that car, I don't care how many officers we have to send out there. There were four cops in that vehicle!"

Harry slammed down the phone without wasting time with usual obligatory goodbye. One arm already in his suit jacket he stormed out into the bullpen. His eyes were immediately drawn to the two empty desks in front of him. He had already lost two special officers that had once sat there. He couldn't bear to lose two more.

'And there's a baby involved this time too,' Harry remembered Frannie's revelation with a sinking stomach.

"Callahan, Turvin, Lister and Dolan, we got four cops on the way to Memorial and a suspect under pursuit. Get out there and finish this up." Harry pulled himself together and began barking out orders. "Let's get moving!"

Harry continued through the bullpen. He wanted to be there when the son of a bitch was captured.

>>>>>>

Tom groaned and his eyes fluttered open. Light. Fighting through the haze surrounding him he tried to remember where he was and why his head hurt so much. He looked to his left and he was hit with sudden clarity. They were run off the road and were now upside down.

"Cassy!" he struggled to turn his head. His heart froze in his chest. There was blood running down the side of her face and she was unconscious. She had somehow managed to unfasten the belt and was sprawled out awkwardly

"I called for ambulances," Joe informed him from the back seat.

Oblivious to his own aches and pains Tom unfastened his seat restraint. Using his hands he caught himself as he fell to the now bottom of the car. He looked towards their driver, Andy, who nodded that he was fine and motioned him towards Cassy.

Climbing halfway through to the backseat Tom helped Joe lay her down on the roof of the car. In the distance they could hear the sirens of the ambulances coming towards them.

His fingers pressed against the pulse in her neck. She was alive.

Tom didn't know if he could say the same for their child.

End Chapter 12