A/N: GhostWhispererFangirl is here and ready to please you with my writing :D Enjoy! xx Mariah
Water glided softly down Mackenzie's shoulders, through flaxen hair, and continuing over her large stomach.
It expanded out to prove that another being resided within her. Two heartbeats within one body. Her back ached as her entire weight relied upon it. She looked down at the stretched skin, spreading her hands over it, flattening them. She could feel her child moving inside her, just barely. And then there was pressure; a kick. She felt her eyes fill with tears, to feel this close to another human being, to feel this much love.
Her daughter was proving to be the most active while she was in the bath.
Daughter.
That was what she'd held off on knowing up until the doctor's visit three weeks ago.
"Your daughter is perfectly healthy Mackenzie." She remembered the doctor telling her and smiled.
Kids were never something she'd really thought about.
Eventually, of course.
But she'd never been baby crazy, not like Katie, or like Lana was proving to be.
She was a mother. That in itself was bizarre enough, but she was clinging fiercely to this new identity she'd never foreseen having this early in life.
Babies were planned to come with marriage, and marriage was planned to not on her mind until she was at least twenty five and working steadily.
"Mackenzie?" Melinda called, knocking on the bathroom door as she entered with her older sister trailing behind.
"What?" Mackenzie asked softly, feeling another kick as she laid in the warm water.
"I have to take Emma to see your dad because she's running a really high fever and is throwing up so much that I'm scared she's gonna throw up blood, so Katie is gonna take you to the station since she's going there anyway."
"I'm naked," she muttered looking at both women. "Couldn't you have said this from outside the door?"
"Like we haven't seen you naked before," Katie laughed and grabbed a towel. "Come on, get dressed."
"I'm enjoying my soak." Mackenzie muttered.
"And I enjoy lunch with my husband," Katie answered, giving her the towel. "I'll be downstairs with Ash and checking on Ems."
"Come on honey," Melinda took the towel and held it up. "I'll help you. I know how hard it can be with a belly in the way." She stood up slowly and Melinda helped her out of the tub and wrapped the towel around her. "How my grand baby doing?" Melinda asked, touching her stomach which poked up from the yellow towel.
"She's kicking up a storm." She laughed. "I think she likes baths."
"Just like her mother, I bet she'll be a little fish too." Melinda smiled. "What do you want to wear?"
"Comfy, my back is killing me." She sighed. "And it's humid, so maybe a shirt that doesn't make me look like a whale."
"You always look good in red," Melinda pulled out a pair of red shorts. "And how about your Mickey tank top?"
"That works," she dried herself off. "Ugh can you hand me my bra?"
"The white one?" Melinda held it up.
"Yes," she pulled on panties and then the shorts. "I'm surprised these still button with my belly." She pulled on the bra and her mom clipped it in the back before helping her white shirt. "How do I look?"
"Oh you look super cute," Melinda smiled and touched her stomach slightly, feeling a kick. "Hi baby. It's your grandma." Melinda stood up. "This is so weird because I thought the next baby would be-"
"Me too," she sighed and then pinned her hair up in a bun. "I better get going before Katie gets too horny down there."
"I can hear you!" Katie called and both women laughed before embracing.
"Be strong and answer all the questions honestly." Melinda explained. "Don't let his lawyer bring you down. Nothing that happened was your fault."
Mackenzie felt her heart twinge and smiled, letting her mother know she'd be just fine.
"Go get Emma to dad before anything bad happens." She said softly as she slipped on sandals.
Melinda rubbed her lower back and they walked out toward the stairs and went down together.
Scott drove toward the expensive side of town, quickly parking outside the large white home with a picket fence.
"You grab the clipboard. I'll go check on the people inside and see if anything has happened," Ned said jumping from the squad car quickly as Scott shut off the vehicle, grabbing his clipboard and keys before phoning to LeTrai by his CB. "We've arrive at the home. Both Banks and myself are going in the household. Banks has entered already, been let in by a woman."
"Alright. Move with caution," LeTrai said softly. "The 911 call said that something was broken and glass breaking could be heard in the background."
"Will do Capt'n." He answered and hopped out as he climbed the steps and entered the house cautiously.
Everything was marble, no cost spared to make this house perfect. A chandelier hung above the main stairs and his shoes squeaked as he stepped toward the kitchen, stepping over a broken lamp that looked worth more than his entire apartment.
He could hear a man and woman yelling, a voice he clearly recognized.
Preston Jennings.
"Both of you please calm down. I need to speak with the one who called 911," Ned said calmly as he walked over to Lorelai.
"Isn't there a rule against this sort of thing?" Preston asked.
"I will not hold my judgement to you on another case with this one." Ned answered as he looked at Lorelai. "What was the reason you called 911 Lorelai?"
"Oh great her new boy toy is also here," Preston scoffed. "This system is rigged."
"Shut up!" Lorelai yelled. "I called 911 because my parents were fighting, as usual these days and I heard something break and then there was this really loud smack and I was scared for my mom. I know my dad wouldn't hurt her, but still I was scared so I called the police."
"You did the right thing," he said as he wrote this down. "What was broken? Was it the lamp?"
"Ten year anniversary gift, I've always hated that thing." Preston's wife muttered.
"And your name?" He asked.
"Alyssa Jennings," she replied as she hugged Lorelai. "And I'm fine. We all are."
"Was anyone hurt?" Ned asked, looking at everyone.
"No," Preston answered.
"I wasn't asking you," Ned replied as looked at Alyssa.
"It was barely even a slap," Alyssa answered. "I don't want that on the report. He has enough going on, we all do because of that girl."
"That girl happens to be my sister, and we all know what happened since that footage came about." Ned coughed and walked over to Preston. "I'm gonna have to bring you in. Let's make this easy."
"Do what you have to do," Preston muttered as Ned cuffed him and brought him outside. "Alyssa, come get me in like ten minutes. Josh will let me out on bail."
He followed Ned out after making sure that both girls were okay.
"So you got anything to say to me while I can do anything?" Preston chuckled at him. "You wanna defend your little whore?"
"You're not worth my time," he answered and walked past him as Ned pushed in the backseat.
"Officer O'Neill?" Lorelai's voice was timid, quiet, as she ran down the steps after him. He looked at her as she stood before him, dressed comfortably with a pencil in her fidgety hands, barely even five feet tall and her blonde hair shimmering in the summer sun. "Can you answer a question for me?"
"Depends on the question," he smiled at her. "I don't see why I couldn't."
"I know you're closer with Mackenzie," Lorelai muttered. "How is she doing?"
"She's really great. I saw her yesterday and she's getting bigger and the baby is very active." He explained. "She would really enjoy seeing you."
"I can't," Lorelai answered. "Not yet... umm... please don't tell her I asked about her."
He just nodded and turned on his heel and got in the driver's seat before buckling up and driving back to the station.
"Can you bring him to booking? I have lunch plans," Ned answered as he pulled Preston from the backseat.
"Sure," he answered. "I'll write out the paperwork."
"Thank you," Ned clapped his back as he walked in with Preston in tow. "I owe you."
He took Preston by his shirt and brought him over to booking quickly, noticing the golden bun glimmer out of the corner of his eye.
Mackenzie was here to prep with her lawyer, which meant Katie was somewhere and Ned was with her.
"See you in an hour O'Neill." Ned called as Katie stood up from his desk and took his hand. "Do you want anything?"
"Are you actually going for lunch Banks?" He laughed as the couple walked out, everyone knowing they wouldn't be eating anything but each other's lust for the other.
He knew he should get to the report, but Mackenzie was just too distracting and he wanted to make sure she was okay.
He stepped into the room and pressed the button, listening to what was going on inside the interrogation room.
"Okay we are going to heavily press that you were a good student, an athlete and active at your church teaching bible study to middle school kids." Her lawyer explained. "You even went on a mission trip to Mexico your senior year of high school. We just need to focus on what person you are and that you aren't a liar or adulteress which what Preston's team is going to try and make everyone believe. They are going to try and make people think that you were this party girl who cleaned up on Sunday's and wanted to be with Preston."
"I know," she sighed and touched her stomach. "I wasn't a big party person."
"Are you sure because I've seen the evidence Preston's defense has against you." Her lawyer asked as he pulled out his tablet.
"Like what?" She asked.
"A few things of you at some college parties with friends and your ex-boyfriend." Her lawyer flipped through the pictures that she'd carelessly posted on Facebook. "I mean you look pretty relaxed and careless here."
"I went to a few parties, so what? I didn't drink." She answered. "I had a social life and I went out a few times. I maybe had one drink out of all those parties, I don't trust college party alcohol." She saw a blurry picture of her and Chase together just holding each other and looking happy. "Chase and I were so good back then."
"Do you think Chase would take the stand?" Her lawyer asked.
"We're on good terms. I don't see why he wouldn't." She answered.
"I'll contact him," her lawyer said and wrote a note to himself. "And there's one more thing we need to go over. I need to make sure that you don't react to the video footage that was found."
"What video footage?" She asked.
"Officer O'Neill found a security camera with viable footage of Preston assaulting you." Her lawyer cleared his throat.
"He did?" She looked past her lawyer at the glass and saw the silhouette of someone, and she just knew it was him.
She looked at him for a moment before reaching for the tablet.
Scott watched her carefully as she looked at him and saw a light in her eyes that he wished he saw more often.
She held the tablet in her hands, shaking slightly as she pressed play and he closed his eyes.
He remembered watching that video the first time and shivered. He'd never realized how traumatic that experience could be by just working as a police officer. Grandview was a quiet town, only big cases would happen once in a blue moon so this case shook the town at it's foundation.
A respected anatomy professor had raped one of his student who just so happened to be a Clancy.
The Clancy's were a family that everyone heard about, knew about and knew how influential they were.
Mackenzie watched intently and set down the tablet, wiping away a stray tear and standing up.
"I'm done for today," she muttered. "This stress isn't good for me or the baby."
"Alright. I'll be in contact," her lawyer said softly. "Take care."
She pushed the door open and walked into Scott's chest, looking up at him with tear stained cheeks.
"Mackenzie," he said softly as he hugged her tightly.
"I can't do this," she whispered. "I can't be torn apart on the stand. This isn't my fault, why am I being treated like I'm the one who's on trial?"
"Because our system sucks," he answered. "They blame the victim out of stupidity and I wish I could do more, especially for you."
"Deep down I want to tell you to just run away with me and make things better, but in the end I know we can be anything because a guy like you deserves a lot more than a girl like me." She whispered. "And it breaks my heart because I want to be the person for you, but with this baby... with my daughter... I can't."
"Daughter?" He smiled.
"Yeah I'm having a girl." She smiled. "You're the first person I've told, and I kind of wanted it to be that way. The minute I found out I wanted to race over here and just tell you."
"Have you thought about names?" He asked, touching her stomach softly, just grazing his fingertips over the smooth shirt as he looked at her.
"I thought maybe Danielle, but I want her name to mean something." She muttered softly.
"Freya," he suggested. "It was my mother's name."
"It was?" She asked.
"Yeah, she died when I was four in a car accident," he explained. "And I remember my grandma saying her name. I've always liked it."
"It's beautiful, I really like it." She smiled at him. "Freya..." They both felt a kick to Scott's hand and laughed. "She likes it too."
"Want me to walk you over to the store?" He asked, feeling another soft kick.
"It's closed today. My mom is with Emma at the hospital." She explained.
"Well then I'll walk you there since we both know Katie and Ned won't be back for a while." He smiled.
She smiled and nodded, locking her arm around his and they walked out together.
Preston was being released as they walked out, looking smug as he was with his wife. Mackenzie held onto Scott's arm tighter as they walked out, ignoring his grin and laughter.
"You're gonna be okay," he answered and pressed a kiss to her forehead. "Just ignore him."
It was a beautiful summer day and the light summer breeze blew through Mackenzie's hair as she let it down.
"Your hair looks better down," he said softly as they crossed the square.
"Thank you," she smiled at him as they crossed to the hospital, entering and seeing Melinda in the waiting room. "Mom? Where's Emma?"
"She's getting some tests run on her." Melinda explained. "How did prep go?"
"It was alright, a bit stressful." She answered. "But Scott helped me."
"Scott, thank you again for being there in her time of need." Melinda smiled at the young man brightly.
"You always seem to be there for her, and I'm grateful someone is when her father and I aren't able to be."
"I'd stay, but I have some paperwork to write up." He explained. "I'll see you around Mackenzie."
"Yes, please stop by and see me soon?" She reached out for his hand and smiled.
"I will," he pressed a kiss to her cheek and walked away.
Scott took his time leaving the hospital and felt her eyes on him, enjoying the warmth it gave him as he looked back to see her admiring him.
"Scott," a voice called out and he faced the body carrying it.
There stood Jim Clancy tall and mighty in his navy blue scrubs.
"Scott, I need your help." Jim said softly. "With a patient of mine."
"Anything," he said softly. "What seems to be the problem?"
"I believe she is being abused by her fiance by the amount of bruises she has hidden. I thought some friendly advice might help." Jim explained. "Could you help me?"
"Of course," he answered. "I've helped a few women out of abusive homes since I started working here. It takes patience and you have to be careful with the way you word things."
"Which is why I thought you would be helpful." Jim said softly, guiding him down the hallway.
"Of course," he answered. "I'll do everything I can."
"I know you will. Mackenzie speaks very well of you in that area," Jim answered.
"She does?" His face reddened and he smiled widely.
"She's always speaking about you whenever she can," Jim replied with a smile. "I believe you would be very good for her."
"I need the courage to ask her out again," he sighed. "I don't have it yet."
"Time is key." Jim added. "Just know if you need any help to come to me or my wife because you would be an excellent addition to not only Mackenzie's life, but our family."
"Well I better go talk to this girl," he replied. "I'll see you."
Jim nodded and smiled before leaving him there.
Everyone around them could see how he felt for Mackenzie, why couldn't she?