"Danny, I don't know what to say. I'm going back inside and let Maria know what has happened. Right now, I would suggest that Linda be taken to St. Victor's and have her checked out. Get a DNA sample and run it against either Jack or Sean. See if her fingerprints are on record anywhere and have them checked. Once her identity has been verified, we'll need to sit down and develop a plan." Frank turned away and slowly walked back into the church. Family members were still waiting inside wondering what was going on. "Jack, Sean, go out front and talk to your dad. The rest of you, follow me. As they walked down the hall Frank spoke. "As impossible as it seems, Linda may not have died in that helicopter crash. I don't have many details, but this wedding may not be legal. Please, go back to the house and I'll be back soon. Now, I have to go tell the newest Reagan that her husband's dead wife has come back to life." He left them totally astonished but moved down the hall as he had requested. Frank continued down the hall walking slowly, trying to decide what words would hurt the least but tell her that the nightmare she never saw coming was, in fact, reality.

He stood in front of the door and paused hoping the nightmare would be over and he would be awake. He prayed for guidance to say the right words to cause the least pain. He dismissed the officers guarding the door but asked them to check that no one was still waiting in the building other than the people in this room. Then, they were to report to his detail for further instructions. Frank paused trying to find the right words knowing that no matter what he said to Maria her world was about to crash and burn and there was nothing he or anyone else could do.

He opened the door and walked over to where Maria was sitting with her family. Ana stood up and motioned for Frank to take her seat. After sitting down, he reached for Maria's hand. "There's no way to make hearing what I have to say any easier but, pending some tests to verify her identity, it seems my daughter-in-law, Linda Reagan, has come back from the dead. We don't know exactly what happened, but the first priority is to verify her identity through DNA and fingerprints. I'm so sorry, Maria, but when her identity is validated, your marriage to Danny will be bigamous. No charges will be filed as there was no way anyone could know about this." Frank looked at Maria and tears were flowing down her cheeks in rivers. She paused for a moment and the tears stopped. She stood up and spoke to her sister in Spanish, "Ana, please help me get out of this dress. I'll put on the clothes I was wearing when we got here earlier. Mami, please take my dress back to your home, I'm not sure what to do with it now." She looked down at her hands admiring the rings Danny had put on her fingers a few minutes ago. She pulled both of them off and handed them to Frank. "Please give these to Danny, perhaps the store will refund his money. Commissioner, I have a few requests, if I may?" she asked.

"Whatever you need, Maria, if it is within my power, you may have it."

"First, I'll need a new phone, where can I pick it up? Next, I took the sergeant's exam and placed in the top ten. I would like to transfer back to patrol as a sergeant in the precinct where my mother lives. Also, please have Lieutenant Gee remove my personal items remaining in my desk back at the 5-4 and mail them to my mother's address, it should be in my file. I would also like to still take the vacation time that I had requested. We won't be having the reception, please ask the site to donate the food to homeless shelters." She turned to face Father Donahue. "Father, what is the process for annulling this marriage and how long will it take?"

"Maria, I've never done one, but I will make that my first priority. How should I get in touch with you?" Maria gave him her mother's address for any documents. Maria looked around the room to see what needed to be removed. She noticed her bouquet and handed it to the priest.

"Father, please give the flowers to someone who will be able to appreciate them and thank you for everything you did for us. My family and I will be out of here just as quickly as I can." She motioned to her mother and sister that it was time to go. She stopped by Frank. "Commissioner, please tell Danny to forget about the past four months as if they had never happened." She walked over to the door and left the room followed by her mother and sister. As Maria walked down the hall, she absentmindedly rubbed her abdomen. Only she and Danny knew the biggest secret of all – she was now at the end of the first trimester of her pregnancy.

"Walter, what do I do now? I have just ended her world. I have found her to be the most honest, devoted person I know," said Frank. "She is incapable of hurting anyone and yet, Danny may not recover from this. Please pray for all of us; we're going to need God's help to get past what has just happened." Frank stood up and looked for his detail to take him back to his home.

By this time Maria had changed out of her bridal gown and her mother and sister headed home. Her cell phone had a text message with instructions for picking up a new phone. She needed to do so as quickly as possible so the old phone could be disconnected. After picking up the new phone and turning in the old one she headed back to her condo. Maria wandered around her home, collecting items that Danny had left behind. She held one that he had given her when they found out they were pregnant. He was so excited when they found out she was pregnant especially since she had been told that due to some abnormalities, she would probably never be able to conceive without some extreme intervention. "Danny, you were so happy about the baby and now the baby won't know anything about her father." Maria checked her fridge only to remember that sometime that week both his fridge in his home and her fridge had been emptied in anticipation of the upcoming honeymoon. She looked around for the information so she could call and cancel their honeymoon reservations. "Danny, where did you put that folder with the cottage information? I need to call them to cancel. Guess you won't be getting any of the deposit back." They had rented a cottage close to the beach in Delaware and had planned to spend ten days just relaxing, making love, and enjoying being with each other. Tears started to well up again, but she forced them back. She had no one to blame but herself. After all the relationships she had had, they never lasted more than one year if that long. "Danny, I should have known this marriage wasn't to be. I just never imagined it would be Linda coming back. I hope she can still make you happy." Marriage just wasn't something she would ever have, and she needed to keep reminding herself about this. Tonight, she would go to her mother's home and tell them about the baby. She was hoping that her mother would be willing to help her with childcare. Raising a child by herself on a single income would not be easy. She would sell her condo and save that money. She had always been frugal and was able to put a substantial down payment on the unit when she bought it. She was also paying more than the monthly payment and she hoped that would allow her to realize even more profit. Before driving to her mother's home, she called the super to see if anything was available in the same building where her mother lived. He had something for her; her mother had also inquired and if she was as good a tenant as her mother and sister had been it would be a pleasure to have her in the building.

Just as she was about to leave, she saw a car pull up in front of her home. It was Danny, the last person on the planet that she wanted to see. She moved away from the windows and verified that the doors were locked. Danny walked to her door as if he were an old man. He knocked on the door, but she didn't answer. Then, he started to pound on the door.

"Maria, please open the door, I need to talk to you. Please, I need to see you and explain what is going on. Please don't leave me standing out here!" He continued to pound on the door.

Maria knew only one person who could help. She picked up her phone and dialed a number. "Commissioner, this is Maria Baez. Your son, Danny, is here banging on my door. I'm afraid to let him in, could you please send Jamie down here in an RMP and make him leave?" Frank had a question and she answered him and by the time she finished, she could hear sirens getting closer. "Thank you, sir, I'll try to never bother you again." She hung up the phone not wanting to hear what he was saying. She could hear Jamie trying to convince Danny to get into the RMP before being arrested for disturbing the peace. Another officer came with Jamie to drive Danny's car back to Frank's home.

Jamie called his father while driving Danny to the family home. "Dad, it's Jamie. I have Danny but you'd better be prepared and remove any breakables. He's drunk, Dad, and I've never seen him like this.

Frank and Henry waited for the RMP to drive up. Danny's car was parked on the street and between the two officers Danny was escorted to the house. "Francis, a drunk Danny is more than enough for us to handle but drunk and pissed off, we might need to call in reinforcements."

"Pops, I think you're right. Let's just see how he is and then I'll make a call to get some help." Frank opened the door and the three men walked inside. Danny was barely able to put one foot in front of the other and was very unhappy to be at the family home.

"Danny, where are Jack and Sean," asked Frank.

"I sent them back to school, I don't have the answers they want, and I figured maybe their friends can help them out. Dad, do you have any idea of the pain I'm in? Do you? I've lost her and not because she died, or we had a fight or some other stupid reason. It's because the woman I loved for almost twenty years, the woman who is the mother of my sons, the woman who before she died told me she didn't want me to be a cop anymore, your beloved daughter-in-law has come back from the dead. I can't even get my head around it. I haven't been able to contact Maria to talk to her to see how she is because this…this mess could kill her."

"What are you talking about, Danny, why did you say that this could kill Maria?"

Tears were running down Danny's face faster than he could wipe them away. "Only the two of us knew and we were going to announce it at the reception. Maria is pregnant with my child. We found out after we decided to get married and that just made things happen faster than they might have. She just started her second trimester. She was so excited to be pregnant because she was told that would never happen. I tried to call her cell phone but it's no longer in service, so I drove over there; I wanted to see how she's doing. You told her about Linda, what did she say? I went back inside the church, but she had already left. Why won't she talk to me? I need to take care of her and our baby." Danny sat down on the small sofa and sobbed.

Just then Frank's phone pinged. He checked the message and motioned for Jamie to move into the dining room. "Maria has called the precinct where she lives, she wants an order of protection from Danny. She's afraid he will hurt her. We both know he would never do that, but I think that after everything that has happened, she wants to get as far away from Reagans as she can. Do you think Eddie might talk to her?"

"I'll call her and ask her to get in touch with Maria, see how she's doing." Jamie picked up the phone to call his wife. "Hey, Eddie, are you still with Erin?" He heard her response, "Would you be able to do something for us? Danny's in a real bad way here at Dad's place. Would you ask Erin to go to St. Victor's and see how Linda is doing? Tell her Danny's not feeling too well right now and we'll see her tomorrow. Then, go over to Maria's place and see if she'll talk to you. Danny got drunk, drove over there, and scared her so badly that she wants an order of protection. The precinct has a car outside to be sure nothing happens, but I doubt Danny could even find his car now. Dad is worried about her. We just found out from Danny that she's pregnant and he's afraid she might lose the baby after what happened today." Jamie listened for Eddie's answer then sent her a text with the address. "Thanks, babe, I love you. Call us from her place if you can. If she isn't there, I'll try to get her mother's address and send it to you." Jamie disconnected the call and asked Frank for Carmen's address.

Eddie drove over to Maria's place and parked her car. She pulled out her shield and held it out as she walked over to the patrol car. An officer exited the car and approached her. "Hey, I'm Eddie Janko Reagan from the 2-9. Maria, who lives here, was supposed to become my sister-in-law, but something happened, and the wedding is off. The commissioner would like me to check on her, see how she's doing and if she needs any help. Is she still here?" The officer replied that upon arrival the officers had spoken with her and told her that they would be outside till end of shift when another team would replace them. If anything happened that scared her, she was to call the precinct's direct line and they would be notified and would help her in whatever she needed. "That sounds great. I'm just gonna knock on the door and see if she'll at least talk to me." Eddie put her badge away and walked up the front walk with the officer behind her. She knocked on the door and called out to Maria asking if she could come in. Maria opened the door as far as the chain allowed and saw Eddie as well as the officer assigned to protect Maria. "Sure, Eddie, let me unchain the door, just a moment." She closed the door and then reopened it to allow Eddie to walk inside. She spoke to the officer, and he returned to the vehicle.

"Maria, I have no idea what you are going through but if you need anything, even just a hug, I'm here for you. And just for you. Danny is safe at the family home but not in good shape from what Jamie told me. Now, what can I do for you?"

Maria motioned to the sofa and joined her at the opposite end. "What do you know, Eddie?"

"Not much. I know that at this point the family is waiting on DNA results and fingerprints to verify that the woman is indeed Danny's wife, sorry. They took a sample from the woman, and it's being compared against the sample Sean submitted when he did that DNA project and we found out that Joe had a son that no one knew about. I guess Danny told you about that. Until her identity is confirmed they won't question her about where she's been the past few years and how she wasn't on the helicopter that crashed and why only now she's come back. I only saw her for a few minutes, but Jack and Sean seemed to be happy. I also know that you and Danny are expecting a baby in about six months. Congratulations. I know that Danny showed up here and that is why the RMP is outside. According to Jamie, he doesn't think Danny will be going anywhere any time soon. He's never seen Danny so bad. What am I missing? What can I do for you? I know the family can be overwhelming at times and if you would like me to be a buffer for you and keep them away, I'm ready."

"Do you really think you can keep them away, even Danny?"

"Well, he would be tough, but Jamie seems to handle him pretty well. Do you know what you're going to do now?" asked Eddie.

Maria told Eddie her plans, sell the condo, move to the building where mom lives, tell my family about the baby and hope that mom will help me with childcare when she returns to work after her maternity leave. She will leave the detective squad and become the shift commander for the second shift patrol at the precinct in the area where she'll be living. She'll work as long as she can to provide for her child and when she maxes her pension, retire and perhaps try to live her dream life of owning a bar in Aruba.

"Eddie, who's side are you on, the Reagan's or mine?"

"I'm not on anyone's side. Are you afraid the family would try to take your baby? Do you really think they would do that?"

"I don't have the resources or the power that family has and if they chose to take me to court and get custody of my child…" Tears started to form, "there's no way I could stop them. They have friends, powerful friends, not only in the department but lawyers and the church and I'm just a lowly Latina trying to raise her child in her culture as best she can. I appreciate that you want to help but I don't think you have enough power in that family to stop them from doing whatever they want. Now, thank you for coming, please tell them that I'm fine and they don't need to check up on me. I have lots of things to do but there is something that I'd like to ask you to do, if you don't mind."

"Maria, I would do anything, and I mean anything to help you, doesn't matter what the family thinks."

"I have two boxes here of things Danny left here. It's clothes, spare holster, and some other things. Would you mind taking them to Danny?"

"You don't want to do it yourself? I know he wants to see you."

"No, I can't face him yet. Not till the…" she placed the two boxes where Eddie could reach them, then excused herself and asked Eddie to close the door behind her. Maria went into the bathroom, closed, and locked the door hoping Eddie would take the hint and leave. Eddie walked over to the door, "Maria, I'll give the boxes to Danny. And don't worry, if I ever hear anything about the family trying to plan something I'll find a way to let you know." She walked away, boxes in hand and headed out. After putting the boxes in her car, she walked over to the RMP. "Guys, I'm leaving now. Thanks for keeping an eye on her, she needs your protection right now."

Maria exited the bathroom and locked the front door again. The night would be long and lonely. She called her mother to let her know where she would be. They made plans to find a realtor to sell the condo. Maria had arranged for storage space near her new apartment but would wait for the appraisal of the realtor as they might suggest leaving a few pieces. After checking the door one more time she lay on her bed hoping that sleep would come soon.