Isobel Castille stood on the roof of her building, looking not at the city she loved so much below her, but needing the comfort of her surroundings. Her head was spinning and she felt like a fool. She wasn't a kid anymore, but over forty with a time and a half job, a dangerous one at that. Only a few months ago, she'd almost been blown up in the lobby of her building. To be a single mother with all that she had going on was ludicrous. She always played by the rules and to not know for sure who the father was felt even worse to her. How could she do this to herself or to a child, bring it into the chaos and mess she was currently involved in?

"Jubal suggested I try up here," Jess' LeCroix's accented voice came from behind her, the roof stairway door opening. "If you don't feel up to this…" He knew she hadn't been the same lately, that a lot of stressors had been hitting her pretty hard.

"No, no, I'm fine." Isobel wiped her eyes and turned to look at her friend. "You needed my signature?"

"Actually, I left them on your desk." He studied her, trying to discern what was wrong. She was obviously upset about something and that was his main goal at the moment, not signatures on files. "What gives?"

"Is it hard? Raising Tali alone." She smiled as she said the little girl's name. For anyone who knew her, it was impossible not to.

"I'm not raising her alone. I have my family." He studied her. "So would you. If it were to come to that."

She laughed. "Oh, if I felt better, I'd deny it, but why waste time? We'd be right back here anyway." Since she wouldn't deny it, she moved on. "You know I don't have family."

He looked at her. "Not biologically, no, but has it never occurred to you that as much as you love Tali, Tyler, Abigail, and all the others, that your family, here, would love yours? I'm not about to tell you what to do, but I will say there's not a day in my life when seeing that girl doesn't make everything all right somehow. Or at least make the world better."

"I'm old, Jess. Too old for this anyway. I'm already tired. What would I do when the kid gets here?" It was obvious that she was really weighing her options. While she never had an abortion, she knew women who had and knew it was an option for her if she wanted.

"You're tired because you haven't been taking care of yourself." It was obvious that she was more than the standard two months in; her stomach had already started to swell, something that she hid well, but not from an expert investigator. "Especially not if you're pregnant as well. Now that you know what's going on, you'll be able to take care of yourself, let your friends help with that. You'll be all right. As far as when the kid gets here, you'll hire a nanny. If Tali didn't love Marilu so much, I would have done that. There's a lot of older women on fixed incomes that their kids are grown or kids paying their way through college that have younger brothers and sisters. Someone experienced that would love to have the position, someone that you could trust, that would love the baby as much as you do."

She smiled tiredly as she studied him. "Why do you always have all the answers?"

"I don't. But you know as well as I do that an objective look at things is usually for the best." He paused. "Something tells me though that what to do with the kid once it gets here is not your main concern." He chose his next words carefully. "Have you told the father yet?"

She winced at him hitting the nail right on the head. "The father…I screwed up. Badly." She explained to him about the case and what had happened with Ethan. She left out the cheating, at least at first.

He winced, his reaction a lot like Jubal's, wanting to set the record extremely straight on how to treat a lady other than gaslighting and verbal abuse. "Sounds like you're not the one that screwed up, Is. Are you going to tell him?"

Isobel shook her head. "There's actually…A chance that this baby is someone else's. Oh, my God. I feel like the biggest…I am not this type of woman. To have to say that sentence?" She shook her head. "But nothing has gone the way I planned this year."

"After Vargas?" He asked, straight faced, listening intently. He knew who 'someone else' was but he wanted Isobel to admit it, sensed she needed to admit it to someone who would not judge her.

She nodded. "There was a banquet, the one where FBI agents were given the awards? Maggie was up for one." She paused. "And then again the night after the bombing. I didn't tell him about Ethan. To be honest, I know this sounds…" Her Catholic senses were tingling over these admissions. "I didn't think about Ethan either time. It didn't feel wrong at all. That right there should have told me something wasn't right between Ethan and I but I kept…You know me. Advance, advance, never retreat." In fact, it was after those two times that she'd invited Ethan to move in at all.

He smiled slightly at that, although it did sound perfectly like her. She was one of the bravest people he knew. It's why he knew she could do this, alone if she had to, but if his guess was right, he couldn't see her having to. "Maybe it was because the other felt more right than Ethan did wrong?" He referenced her not thinking about Ethan.

"Doesn't matter. Not right now. Maybe…maybe not ever." She paused. "His girlfriend, you know, the one during the divorce?" Jess nodded. He'd met Rina Trenholm, but never saw what his coworker did in her aside from the fact that he had been so far gone on a destructive path at that point, it hadn't mattered. "She's back. She's trying to get the promotion. She'll probably get it. After all, I'm the one that turned loose a dangerous criminal on the streets of New York."

"You did what you had to in order to protect your people. Elise is alive to go home to her little girl because you turned loose a dangerous criminal on the streets of New York. You'll find Vargas again, Is. He's not the issue." Jess studied her. "Is he self-destructing again?" He asked, referring to Rina.

She shook her head. "No, no I don't think so. Actually, he seems to be doing better with his life than I am with mine." She paused. "Everything was perfect on paper. Special Agent in charge of the FBI New York Field Office and chief of staff to a New York senator. I waited for ten months before I let him move in. Then in less than ten days I blew it all to hell."

"We don't live our lives on paper, Isobel. Tell him. Don't tell him. It's up to you. But don't wait around for something that's perfect because nothing ever is. Even Ang and I weren't. If we were…maybe she'd still be here." He paused. "You need to tell Jubal. I wouldn't tell him even the possibility of what you think until you know for sure. But he does need to know you're pregnant in case something was to happen. And so someone can help watch out for you because you're more stubborn than I am," he teased.

"Jess?" She bit her bottom lip and he gave her his full attention. "Would you like to be an uncle?"

"Thought you'd never ask." He gave her a smile in return and, for some reason, his smile calmed her nerves, her fears. "Want me to tell him to come up?" She nodded. "I'll get those papers tomorrow. Take your time."

Jubal looked up as Jess came back downstairs, without Isobel. "What's wrong? Is she okay?"

Jess nodded, trying to hide his amusement. Rina might be back but the only woman Jubal was concerned for at the moment was Isobel. Part of him hoped that slim chance held true. Part of him knew it wouldn't matter. His friend loved kids, was crazy about them, and if Isobel needed help, there wasn't a chance that she wouldn't get it. Isobel had family here, whether she was ready to admit it or not. He realized Jubal had asked him a question, his big eyes were even wider in worry. "Yeah, yeah, she's fine. She just needed a breather."

Jubal was torn between going upstairs to check on her, even if she said she was fine, and giving her space. He wasn't a fool and didn't need Maggie to point out the fact that Isobel and Elise weren't the same after what they'd been through. None of them were. "She…she say anything?"

"Yes. She wants to talk to you." Jubal nodded, heading upstairs.

"Hey," He said as he watched her, looking out over the city again. He tried to hide his worry but things had been off for awhile.

"Hey." She turned and slowly faced him. Jess was right. She would tell him just the facts and answer any questions he had. The fact that it could possibly be his child didn't have to even come up.

"Jess said you wanted to see me?"

She could see the concern in his eyes and was touched. "I'm pregnant."

He knew the fact that she was telling him this at all meant that she was keeping it and, for that, he was happy for her. "You're going to be a great mom, Is." He felt a twang of pain and wasn't sure why. "What are you going to do about Ethan?"

"I'm not sure yet. I haven't…I haven't gotten a lot figured out. Still kinda new. Jess…Jess just thought that you should know. I am what is considered a geriatric pregnancy." She made a face at the last. "So if something happens, since you're here with me every day…"

"Yeah, whatever you need, Is. I'll be there for you. You know that. We all will." He resisted the urge to stroke her tired cheek. "I've got things here. Maybe you should go home and rest?" He knew she hadn't been sleeping well with Vargas and the breakup.

Normally she would argue with him, but she was drained, emotionally and physically. "I'll get some things to work on at home and take you up on that. If you'll call if anything goes wrong?"

"If anything comes up here that your trained and dedicated agents can't handle themselves, you will, as always, be my first call," he tried to tease, a hint of a smile. "I'll walk you out." He felt protective of her, more so than usual. She didn't even argue, glad of the company.