Charm City Girl Chapter 3

Just as John ended his brief call with Casey, Fin and Olivia came into the coffee shop.

"Hi," Olivia said as she and Fin approached John and Joanie.

"Can we join you?' Fin asked.

"I guess so," John said reluctantly.

"You gonna introduce me to your lovely lady friend or what?" Fin asked.

Munch threw Fin a glare, but decided to let the comment slide. "Joanie, the guy who thinks he's so funny is Odafin Tutuola, my partner, for the time being. Fin, this is Joanie Thomas," Munch hesitated for a moment and looked at Joanie, she nodded slightly and he continued, "my daughter."

"Nice to meet ya, call me Fin" Fin said, not missing a beat, he reached out a hand to shake Joanie's.

Joanie shook his hand and then said, "Fin? That must be as in dorsal,'cause you're way too dark to be from Scandinavia."

"I can see and hear the resemblance between you and John, even if Olivia hadn't told me you were Munch's kid, I'd have figured it out," Fin added. John shot Fin another look.

"Yeah, I guess I do take after my father," Joanie replied looking at John with growing affection.

"You finally got yourself a Munchkin, old man," Fin teased his partner.

"You're on thin ice as it is Odafin, you really want a new partner that bad?"

Olivia decided to cut off the two men's continual bickering and dive right into the reasons she'd come after Joanie. "Joanie, I need you to come back to the stationhouse, I wasn't finished interviewing you about the missing girl when you left."

"Oh, I" – she looked at John and he could see a bit of panic in her eyes.

"It's OK, it's just a routine investigation. Olivia and her partner are trying to piece together what happened to the girl that disappeared, you're just a witness. No need to worry, you aren't in any trouble."

"Can you be with me?" she asked him.

"Sure he can," Olivia said.

"Uh Olivia, I'm not sure about that. I mean her step-dad is her legal guardian, I don't have any legal status, at least not yet," John interjected.

Olivia sighed. "We'll we can at least talk to the captain, see what he says," she suggested.

Munch nodded and Joanie smiled.

"What'd you mean by not yet?" Fin asked.

"I called Casey, told her I needed some legal help. She said she was coming to the squad this afternoon anyway, so she'd talk to me about it then," John answered.

"I was going to ask you before Fin and Olivia joined us, who is Casey, is she your girlfriend?" Joanie asked.

"Yeah, is Casey your girlfriend?" Fin asked, mimicking a teenager eager for juicy gossip.

John glared at him again, and then turned to Joanie, ignoring Fin and answered Joanie's first question. "Casey's an assistant DA who works with us in Special Victims. She'll be able to figure out how you can stay with me, legally."

"You didn't answer her other question, Munch," Olivia pointed out.

"No, I didn't. Come on let's get back to the squad room before Cragen sends Stabler out to find us," John suggested.

The adults all dug a few bills out of their wallets to leave on the table for the bill and tip, and then they scooted out of the booth and headed towards the station.

"Since when does it take three detectives to bring back one recalcitrant witness?" Cragen bellowed.

"Uh captain can I have a word with you," Olivia said, again trying to avoid a big scene. "Privately," she added.

"Alright, you two think you can keep our young witness here, until I finish having a word with Detective Benson?" Cragen asked Munch and Fin, the two men nodded, and Cragen turned and went into his office before they could say a word.

"So, do you have an explanation for me, or is this about something entirely off the subject?" Cragen asked sounding miffed.

"Oh what I have to say is on topic sir, the reason the three of us all went out after Joanie is – Well, actually that's not quite right, Munch left first, then Joanie left and Fin and I went after both of them," she explained, without really explaining, leaving Cragen as confused as he had been angry.

"What? Why'd Munch leave?" Cragen asked hoping he'd grasped onto a key piece of what Olivia had said..

"Because he just learned that Joanie is his daughter, a daughter he never knew he had. He also learned that her stepfather told Joanie that her real father didn't want her and had run out on her mother. So naturally Munch was a little upset with that and being Munch, he didn't handle it too well," Olivia explained somewhat breathlessly.

"Well, I guess I might want to take a little walk after finding out something like that," Cragen stole a look out his office window at John and the young girl, who he could now clearly see was John's daughter.

"She looks like him doesn't she?" he observed.

"Yeah, she's younger than we first thought because like John she's on the tall side."

"And I suppose that leanness isn't just from being on the street, but more likely just genetic," Cragen added.

"Yes, she's got a smart mouth too," Olivia said with a smirk. Don grinned back.

"You know what he's going to do next?"

"Well, he's already called Casey to get legal advice and Joanie wants him with her when Elliot and I interview her about the missing girl," Olivia saw Cragen start to say something but cut him off. "John knows he doesn't have legal status, but I told him I'd ask you if he could be there with her, all the same. Heck, it's more than she had before," she pointed out.

"OK, send John in here for a minute, would you, then you should be able to resume that interview with his daughter," Cragen said, the last words tasting strange in his mouth.

"Sure thing," Olivia said as she left his office.

"Well, John, seems like some of your wild oats took root and flourished," Cragen said, tweaking his oldest detective a bit.

"Seems that way," John admitted, blushing a bit.

"So what are you intending to do about her?" Cragen asked.

"I asked Casey if she'd tell me my legal options. She's going to be here pretty soon and she said she'd help me," John began.

"What about the girl's mother"

"Joanie told me that Felicia, that was her mother's name, that she died when Joanie was in grade school, her stepfather had adopted her a few years before that. I never knew Joanie existed until today. God how I wish Felicia had told me."

John stopped talking for a moment, and Cragen let him have the time he needed to gather himself back together to go on.

"I don't see how the adoption could be legal. I mean, I never gave up my parental rights," John explained. Cragen could hear the hope in John's voice.

"Biological parents usually do get a lot of consideration in custody matters," Cragen assured Munch and then patted him on the shoulder. "Mazel Tov John, it's a girl!"