The next day

Danny had not been in touch with anyone in almost twenty-four hours. So many people had called his cell phone that the mailbox was full. Sid had requested TARU to identify whatever towers his cell phone had pinged in the last day, but the result was disappointing. His phone hadn't moved in the last twelve hours. Frank had his detail drive to Danny's home, but his car was not there. He tried knocking on the door but there was no answer. He pulled out the key he was given to be used in case of an emergency and unlocked the door. Jim, his detail detective, told Frank he would enter first, pulled out his service weapon and entered the building. Jim looked around but there didn't seem to be anything obviously out of place. He stepped further inside and then noticed the empty whiskey bottles on the floor near the sofa. He motioned Frank to enter and pointed out the bottles.

"Damn," said Frank. "I was hoping this wouldn't happen. Jim, I'm going upstairs. Stay here." Frank started up the stairs but didn't notice anything out of place. He checked the first bedroom, but it was empty as was the second one. The main bathroom was also empty, so he moved on to the master bedroom. Danny was sprawled across the bed and was snoring. There were clothes all over the bed, but they appeared to be women's clothing. He'd never known Danny to be a cross dresser but, with everything that had happened recently he would not have been surprised. He tried to rouse Danny but was unable to get any kind of reaction. He pulled out his phone and called the official police psychiatrist.

"Alex, this is Frank Reagan. Have you spoken to my son Danny recently? And before you say 'confidentiality' I'm in his home and he's unconscious most likely due to too much alcohol." Frank listened for a few minutes and a plan of action was defined and put into place. A family member would remain in the home and as soon as Danny was conscious, he would be taken to a facility for involuntary admission with a diagnosis of acute alcohol intoxication. Alex would be the admitting physician. Frank removed his coat and found a chair to use while he waited. He sent his detail back to 1PP to await a call to come back and pick up Frank and Danny.

Maria called the number for the police psychiatrist and made an appointment in an hour. She had a possible life altering decision to make and needed help. She had driven to the office, registered, and waited to be called inside. A door opened and a man stepped out and called her name.

"Maria, please come inside. Take a seat wherever you like and tell me about this decision you have to make."

"I'm pregnant with my first child and I'm considered a geriatric pregnancy due to my age. My doctor has recommended that I get an amniocentesis and has given me information about what could go wrong and even though the numbers say this should be safe. This will probably be my only chance to have a child and I don't want to jeopardize the life of this child."

"Since you said you have no one you might turn to, may I ask about the father?" asked Alex.

"He's no longer in the picture, not because he doesn't want to be. He was thrilled when I told him I was pregnant but recent events have made him unavailable for the foreseeable future to be part of my life or the child's life."

"Do you have family?"

"I was one of three children born to my parents. My brother became a drug addict, and my parents spent every cent they had to put him in rehab multiple times. Finally, my father left, and my parents were divorced. My brother continued using drugs and we only saw him when he wanted money for more drugs. When I was about to graduate high school, I was offered a scholarship to college, but my mother wouldn't permit me to accept it. She felt that I should get a job at the bodega across from where we lived and then find some Latino to marry and give me babies while he went out and had fun and I had to depend on welfare to care for these children. I told my mother that my dream had been to become a police officer and she told me I had two choices: I could either do what she said or move out and do whatever I was stupid enough to do. We've rarely spoken since. "

"Maria, I must ask, is Danny Reagan the father of your child?"

"Yes, how would you know?" asked Maria.

"I'm sorry but I cannot help you as Danny is currently my patient." He walked over to his desk and wrote down some information and came back to her. "These are all qualified psychiatrists who may be able to help you. I recommend any one of them without reservation." He handed her the piece of paper."

"Is Danny okay? I didn't know he…"

"I'm sorry but I can't tell you anything as his doctor. As his friend, he's not doing well. I would suggest you try to talk to him as soon as you can."

"I can't, there is currently an order of protection, and he has to stay five hundred feet away from me. We can't have any contact."

"Did you request the order?"

"Yes…"

"If you truly value his life, you might want to reconsider." Maria stood up and reviewed the list. One name and address was near her home and she would call them later.

As she approached the door to leave, he heard her mutter, "Damn Reagans," and she continued out the door. As she sat in her car, she placed a call to one of the names on the list. She was able to get an emergency appointment and drove to the office. She noticed a car following her but when it didn't turn into the parking lot for the office building she was going to, she breathed a sigh of relief. She entered the building and found where she needed to go. She checked in and didn't have long to wait.

"Maria Baez" called the woman standing in the doorway. Maria stood and followed her into an office.

"My name is Colleen Noerr. Please have a seat and tell me how I can help you today, Ms. Baez."

"I'm pregnant with my first child and probably last child due to my age. My doctor has strongly suggested a diagnostic amniocentesis, but the risks really scare me. I don't want to do anything that might harm the baby but I'm getting all stressed out about this. I'm at fourteen weeks and she would like to do the procedure in two weeks. I'm a police officer and I had an appointment with Doctor Alex Dawson but due to a conflict he was unable to help me."

"I'm just ahead of you at seventeen weeks. I'm not young either and had my amnio last week. Was it pain free? No. Was it comfortable? No. Am I relieved now that I have the results. Yes. I do have a few questions but if it gets too personal just let me know, okay?"

Maria nodded and Colleen continued. "I see that you are single, is this a planned pregnancy?"

"No, we've known each other for more than ten years and worked together for almost eight years. And we worked well together. His wife passed away several years ago, but he wasn't coping well. Recently, we went out for dinner, and something happened, and we started seeing each other. I had been told years ago that I had some abnormality and pregnancy would never be in my future. We planned to get married and a few weeks after that we found out I was pregnant. We were both so happy; we planned our wedding, and the future was looking so good for us. Then, out of nowhere his presumed dead wife turned up at our wedding and I haven't seen him since. And I can deal with being a single mother. My life has never been easy so this will be just another challenge for me. I've moved into the same building where my mother lives and she has agreed to take care of the baby when I finish my maternity leave."

"Well, you seem to have just about everything figured out. But I do have a question: If you have the procedure done and the results indicate an abnormality, what would you do? Some things that might be detected include Down's Syndrome, Neural Tube defects, Congenital anomalies, and the list could go on. At this stage in your pregnancy, you'll have a few weeks to decide if you want to continue the pregnancy or not. Have you thought about this?"

"It wouldn't matter to me if my baby had no legs and three arms, this is my child whom I already love and can't wait to meet in person. I talk to him or her all the time, I play music and dance around and I'm starting to look at what I really need in place when I bring this child home. No one gets a guarantee of a perfectly healthy baby. But this test could prepare me if I know that there's a problem and I can investigate and be ready for whatever might happen. What I don't think I could handle is if I were to lose the baby."

"Are you a religious person?"

"I had been going to church but until recently it was not on a regular basis.

"But you believe in being prepared?"

"Yes, as prepared as possible."

"So, your decision is?"

"Have the amnio. Thank you."

"You're welcome. Is there anything else you'd like to talk about?"

"We could talk for days but right now, this was my number one. Now, what do I owe you?"

"Nothing, we were just two pregnant women talking about our pregnancies. And, if there's something that you need to discuss, please call me. As you said, stress isn't good for the baby. And what is rumbling around in your mind about the baby's father and your situation will only cause you more stress." Colleen stood up and stepped over to Maria. "I hope you find the answers you need. Feel free to call me anytime. This is my card; my cell number is on the back."

Maria looked at the card, pulled her wallet out and put the card inside. "I will, thank you. As soon as I can get my head around what's happened and what my choices might be I'll call you. Thanks again.

Colleen walked Maria to the door, and they shook hands. She watched Maria walk all the way to her car before turning back to her office. "Sure hope I hear from her soon; she needs to settle things with the baby's father and quickly."

Maria noticed the car that had been following her earlier was in the parking lot. She checked the license plate and placed a call to find out who owned the vehicle. Almost immediately her call was returned, and she isn't surprised to find that the car is owned by someone she knew. She started her car and prepared to leave the lot but abruptly changed direction and pulled up behind the suspicious car blocking it in the parking space. Upon exiting the car, she pulled out her badge, placed it on the drivers' window and knocked on the glass. The driver looked at her and lowered the window. He was surprised to see that she is now a sergeant. Maria asked the driver to exit the vehicle, walk around to the back of the vehicle and put his hands on the trunk. He assumed the position but didn't speak. Maria waited then asked why he's following her.

"Maria, Danny needs help. He needs you. Please, won't you go see him?"

"Danny made his choice; he needs to learn to live with it. He stood there, in front of all of you, and promised to love and honor me. He sealed that promise with a ring. And yet, the moment he heard that Linda was alive, he ran out the door leaving me alone."

"But you don't know what he did five minutes later. He left Sean and Jack with Linda and ran back inside looking for you. I know my father told you what happened, but Danny wanted to talk to you. He came back outside and said you had disappeared."

"Did he think I was going to wait around for him to come back and tell me his wife was alive and he was going off with her? Do you have any idea how much fun a honeymoon for one is?"

"So, you haven't heard. Linda went over to the house to see it and started rearranging things and removing what I guess was your clothes and she was about to throw them out when Danny showed up. He told her to leave things right where they were, and he'd clean up after he took Linda and Pops back to the house. After he dropped them off, he went to a liquor store and bought two bottles of Finnerty's and went back to his house. After putting the kitchen back to the way it was, he hung up some of your clothes and then drank himself into a stupor. Dad came over and sat with him until he woke up and then had him sent to a psych hospital. Doctor Dawson has him on a seventy-two-hour hold. So far, he hasn't eaten anything or had anything to drink. Maria, I lost my brother Joe when he was shot by a corrupt cop. I can't lose Danny, too. But it looks like I'm gonna because you can't get past your anger. What do I say to Jack and Sean – that you don't love them, that you treated them as if you loved them to make Danny happy?"

"They have their mother back; they don't need or want me anymore. You remember, Danny came to my home, and you had to get him. I've had to get a protection order for my safety. I'm carrying his child and I was afraid for my life. I've never had to do that before, never. Now, please leave me alone or I will get an order of protection for every Reagan from Henry down to Jack and Sean."

"Did you know that Linda is staying at Dad's place and Danny was staying at his place? He won't go near her. Do you remember a Texas Ranger that you and Danny worked with? His name was Gates?"

"Yes, I do. His partner was killed by one of the drug cartels," said Maria.

"He's the one who found Linda down in a small town in Texas. Danny happened to call him while he was talking to Linda and that brought memories back. This could be the lead we need to get whoever did this to our family."

"Well, that has nothing to do with me."

"It's obvious I'm not making any headway here. I'll tell Dad that I failed and that we should start planning Danny's funeral. Can I leave now?" asked Jamie.

Maria stood back and watched Jamie get into his car then got into her car and drove home. He didn't follow her; perhaps all of them would leave her alone now."