She's Gone

Disclaimer: Not mine, but Dick's.

A/N – To quote Elton John, the bitch is back…at least until Sunday at four! So…this chapter may suck, I'm a little tired (understatement) and I just got done doing two hours of ironing (not an understatement). Read and review and hopefully y'all will like it. Thanks!

Two Months Later…

Carolyn walked onto the eleventh floor of One Police Plaza and took her seat across from Mike who was sporting a large smile on his face. "Are you seriously this happy to be here?" Carolyn looked at her partner strangely. He continued to smile at her and wiggled his eyebrows. "Okay, that's just weird. What's going on?" Carolyn reached for a pen and started on her paperwork, waiting for an answer.

"I know TWO things that you don't know." Mike leaned back in his chair, turning his head to look at who was coming off the elevator. Bobby just walked in carrying two cups of coffee. He sat down in his chair and handed a cup to Lynn. Mike turned back to Carolyn who was now glaring at him.

"Logan – what is the frigging deal?" She rapped her pen on his hand.

"Ow, why'd you do that?" He rubbed his hand dramatically, still grinning. "I told you –"

"I know! You know TWO things I don't know." Carolyn rolled her eyes in annoyance. "Now, care to educate me on the great Mike Logan secret knowledge or do I have to do some off the books detective work?" Carolyn sat back in her chair and hummed the "Jeopardy" theme song.

Mike exhaled loudly in mock exasperation. "I can only divulge one thing at a time. Now, I'm going to get some coffee. Why don't you go ask Bobby what he's doing tonight?" He grinned again and walked towards the break room. Carolyn stared after him and then turned to look at Bobby. He was standing behind Lynn, pointing out something to her on her paperwork. Carolyn stood and walked over to them.

"Hey, Goren, can I talk to you for a minute?" Carolyn motioned for him to follow her and they walked back over to her desk. No sense in beating around the bush. "So…what are you doing tonight?" Bobby looked at her, startled.

"I – uh…I have a, um, I have a date." He looked down at her desk, studying it intently.

Carolyn smiled at him and punched his arm. "You have a date with the Salma Hayek chick?" Bobby nodded, still not looking at her. "That's great, Bobby. She's the one with the kid?" Again he nodded. "Well, good luck tonight then." He looked up at her.

"Are you sure? I mean, it's not too soon?" Carolyn could see the indecision in his eyes.

"It'll be fine. It's been eight months. No one's saying it has to work out, but it's good for you to get out there. Did you call her?"

"Yeah, the day after I met her in the park. We've both been busy though so we both just decided to take the kids with us so we could go tonight." Bobby rubbed the back of his neck, thinking. "How did you know?"

Carolyn looked at him questioningly. "What do you mean?"

Bobby sighed. "Mike told you?"

Carolyn looked up at the ceiling. "Well…not in so many words, but yes."

"Well," Bobby had a mischievous look in his eye, "did he tell you anything else?"

"So is it just keep Carolyn out of the loop day or what? He said he knows TWO things I don't and now it's down to one thing. What's the second one?"

"Oh no, that's for him to tell you – not me. Forget I said anything!" Bobby started back to his desk. Carolyn shook her head and sat back down. Well, today was certainly going to be an interesting day.

Bobby's Apartment, That Night…

"Good job, Nan!" Bobby caught his daughter as she jumped into his arms. Nan's new favorite thing was to get herself dressed. Well, as best she could anyway. She could pull up her pants and get her shirt on, but Daddy would have to do the rest. "Want to get Daddy your sneakers?" Nan wriggled out of his arms and ran towards the front door of the apartment. Bobby's cell phone rang. "Goren? Hey, how are you?" It was Nia. "Yeah, I'll buzz you up." He hung his phone up and walked towards the front door. Nan barreled into him with enough force to knock her down. There was that heavy pause and then the wail. "Oh shit, Nan! Baby, come here." Bobby knelt down and picked up Nan who was screaming bloody murder in his ear. He rubbed her back as he walked to the door to let Nia and Emer in.

"Oh what's wrong?" Nia adjusted her daughter on her hip and stood behind Bobby to get a good look at Nan. "What's going on, baby girl?" Nia reached for Nan's hand and stroked it with her thumb. "It's okay, Daddy's got you." Nia shushed at Nan until she calmed down and peered at Nia through her eyelashes, spiky from the tears.

Bobby angled his head to look at Nan's face. "That's the quickest she's ever calmed down." He sat Nan on the kitchen table so he could put her sneakers on her. Nia put Emer down. Emer clung to Nia's leg.

"Works like a charm on this one. Sometimes I think she's doing it just to get me to baby her." She looked down at her daughter. Emer looked back at her, her big brown eyes wide. Emer pointed at Nan.

"Baby cry, mama?"

Nia snorted. "Yes, the baby cried. It's okay." Bobby put Nan on the floor and Emer promptly toddled over to her. They stood next to each other, almost at attention and regarded their respective parents. Again, Nia snorted. Bobby looked at her and grinned.

"Little soldiers. So, where would you like to go that's child tolerable?" Bobby put his jacket on and knelt down to zipper Nan and Emer's as well. Nia smiled as she watched him.

"M-C-D-O-N-A-L-D-S…but after BP." Nia adjusted her purse and grabbed Emer as she ran towards her.

"BP? Oh…I've got it. Well, let's go then." Bounce Place…the equivalent of a tavern for children. Bobby took Nan's hand and they exited his apartment into the evening.

Carolyn's Apartment…

"All right! Now, Mike Logan – what is going on? You have been driving me nuts all frigging day!" Carolyn sat at her kitchen table with Mike and Lynn.

Lynn looked at Mike and grinned. Her whole body started shaking with laughter as she and Mike just stared at each other.

"Oh my God. You two are retarded for each other. I give up. I'm going to go watch "Ghost Hunters" and when you feel like you two can act like adults – let me know." Carolyn stood, grabbing her mug of coffee and walked towards the living room.

Lynn stood and ran over to her. "Want to be a godmother?"