Chapter 35: Back to Normal

Amanda left Chris in bed the next morning and went home to get ready for work. Simon Wilkes was testifying in court today and Barba was hopeful that the jury would see things his way. Chris stayed home all day lounging on the couch. Jeza stayed in her room and Robbie hadn't come home the night before. Her father came to her around noon and asked her for the car keys. He wanted to go to the cemetery. Even though her mother's grave stone wasn't laid yet, he wanted to go, put her favorite flowers on her grave and sit with her for a while. She asked if he wanted her to go with him but he said no. He wanted to spend some time alone. She gave him the keys and he went on his way. She called Robbie over and over again but he wouldn't answer her phone calls. Franco called her over and over again but she wouldn't answer his phone calls. She didn't know if they'd ever be able to get past everything that happened the day before. If she was being honest with herself, she didn't really care.

Chris called Amanda and asked her how things were going with the trial. Amanda was still giving her a hard time for worrying about what was going on at work with everything she had going on at home. She told her that work was the only part of her life that wasn't complicated. It was the only thing keeping her sane. Jeza bounded down the stairs in jeans and a pullover and came over to stand in front of her while she was on the phone. She waited for a minute while Chris talked but soon lost her patience.

"Chris" she said lightly kicking her foot.

"What Jeza?"

"I need a ride?" she said tapping her foot.

"A ride where?"

"I have a doctor's appointment, remember?"

"You never told me you have a doctor's appointment, Jeza" she said annoyed. "Anyways, I can't take you. Papa took my car and Robbie's MIA". Jeza groaned in frustration. "Can Sophia take you?"

"I'll call and ask her" she said turning and dragging herself back upstairs. Jeza came back down fifteen minutes later and told her Sophia was there with Javi to take her to the doctor. She asked what she wanted for dinner and received a shrug before she walked out the door. Chris talked to Amanda for a few more minutes then she had to get off the phone. She was in the house all alone with absolutely nothing to do. She laid back and covered her eyes with her arm and went to sleep. She woke up when her father came back. He didn't seem to be as down as he had been the last couple days. He told her not to worry about dinner; that he would be cooking tonight. She almost argued but decided against it. She just said okay and turned over to go back to sleep. She woke up again when she smelled dinner. She knew that smell anywhere. It was her father's spicy chicken and chili; the best kind of comfort food. She suddenly couldn't wait for dinner. She texted Robbie and told him that he should stop being an asshole and come home. Dad was cooking dinner and he didn't want to miss that. She called Jeza as well and told her to come home for dinner too. She asked if Javi could stay and Chris said yes. Next she texted Amanda and told her that her father was making his famous chili and she should come over for dinner if she wasn't going to be working late.

Robbie walked in the house just before six and went upstairs. Jeza walked in with Javi not long after and came into the living room where Chris was sitting. She took a picture of her sonogram and gave it to her look her. She was just nine weeks along so the baby was tiny but it was there and it was beautiful. She smiled and looked at her sister, still having a hard time believing that she was going to be a mom. But the sonogram was a reality check they both needed. Now that Robbie knew about her pregnancy there was just one person left to tell. Chris wasn't looking forward to it but they'd kept it from him long enough.

"We need to tell dad" she said quietly. "Robbie knows now and you know him. He won't be quiet about it. He needs to hear it from you".

"Will you come with me?" she asked. Chris nodded. Jeza took a deep breath, took her sonogram back from her sister and got up from the couch. Chris got up and followed her to the kitchen. Their father turned around when he heard them walk up behind him.

"Dinner will be ready in fifteen minutes" he said with a small smile. It was the first smile any of them had seen from him in weeks.

"Dad" Jeza said speaking up, "I want to show you something". She held out the sonogram and he took it from her. He looked at the picture confused for a moment about what he was looking at. Then he realized what it was and looked at his daughter. "I'm pregnant. I'm gonna have a baby" she said quietly. He looked over to Chris seeming to ask for confirmation. She silently nodded her head. He handed the sonogram back to Jeza and turned back to the stove without saying a word. Jeza looked at Chris who gestured for her to go back to the living room. Chris went over and stood next to her father.

"I know this isn't what you want for her" she said softly. "I know this isn't what mom would want for her either" she added. "She would be disappointed and sad that her daughter is a teenager and pregnant and not married. But she wouldn't want her to have an abortion and she wouldn't want her to give the baby up for adoption. As upset and disappointed as she would be and as you are now, mom would support her and love her and she'd be happy to have her first grandchild". She walked away and left him to think about what she'd said. She sat in the living room with Jeza and Javi watching tv waiting for dinner to be ready. Robbie came downstairs and saw them sitting there in the living room. Their father brought the pot of chili to the table followed by the pan of spicy chicken and a plate of wheat tortillas and called them to the table. They all walked over and took their seats. Chris checked her phone for any messages from Amanda. There weren't any. She just assumed that she was still at work. Roberto Sr. said grace before they started filling their plates with food. Robbie was still noticeably upset from everything that'd happened the day before. He held his tongue for as long as he could.

"So are we really not gonna talk about this?" he asked angrily.

"If it's anything else about Jeza having an abortion then there's nothing to talk about" Chris said.

"She's too young to have a baby" he said raising his voice. "What's she gonna do? Drop out of high school to take care of the kid?"

"She can finish high school and have a baby, Robbie. It's not impossible" she said annoyed by his pessimism. It wasn't that she hadn't considered the possibility that Jeza would drop out of school to raise the baby. She'd already decided that wasn't an option. Jeza would finish high school and go to college no matter how hard it was.

"I hope you're not counting on this guy to stick around" he said pointing to Javi.

"Why do you think I'm gonna bail on her?" Javi asked angrily. "You don't even know me, man".

"I don't wanna know you. You're a punk. You got my sister pregnant. I should smash your…."

"That's enough" Robbie Sr. said slamming his fist down on the table. "I don't care how upset you are. You treat your sisters with respect" he said firmly. "Your sister is having a baby and we are all going to support her. Is that clear?"

"Yes sir" he said in defeat. He knew enough not to go against his father.

"Good". He reached to the center of the table and grabbed a tortilla. "Now let's eat" he said picking up his spoon. They ate and Jeza told their father about all the things Sophia had already gotten for the baby. Tears came to his eyes when she told him she wanted to name the baby after their mother if it was a girl. It was the most normal family dinner they'd had since Gloria went into the hospital. Chris hoped that things would continue this way but with her family there were never any guarantees. They finished dinner and cleared the table. For the first time in a long time, Chris didn't clean up alone. When they were finished, Jeza sat outside with Javi while he waited for his mother and Chris, Robbie and their father went up to their rooms. Chris tried calling Amanda but it went straight to voicemail. It wasn't very late but for some reason she was extremely tired. She decided she'd take a bath and go to bed.

The next couple days went by quickly and Chris was finally able to go back to work. Lieutenant Murphy suggested she take some more time. He said there was no reason for her to rush back. Her father and brother were back to work and her sister was back to school. There was nothing for her to do at home but sit alone. She needed to get back to work. Her first day back the jury came back on the Simon Wilkes case with a not guilty verdict. Everyone except Chris seemed to be upset about it. Nick was especially pissed off. When they went to dinner after the verdict, Simon Wilkes walked in with his wife. Amaro had a look on his face that if looks could kill, Simon Wilkes would drop dead right there. They all told him to let it go but Amaro didn't seem like he was going to take their advice. The next day, they found out he hadn't. Amaro was arrested for assaulting Wilkes outside a school. Murphy ordered them to stay out of the investigation and focus on their open cases. They had a case involving a prostitute setting up dates to be raped by her pimp. During the investigation they found out the prostitute, Ellie, was the mother of the baby they'd found during another investigation. She agreed to testify against her pimp in exchange for help getting clean, off the streets, and working towards getting custody of her son back.

Even though Murphy told them to stay out of the investigation into Amaro's actions, Amanda was working to get him cleared. At the very least she wanted them to lower the charges so he didn't spend any time in jail. She went to chat rooms that Wilkes visited and pretended to be another user and chatted with him. She was online for hours chatting with him about his sick fantasies about little boys and planned to offer him child pornography. Chris couldn't sleep so she went over to Amanda's apartment to talk to her. They sat in her living room and talked about the case they were working on. Somehow they started talking about Nick. Chris thought he deserved whatever was coming to him for being so stupid. Amanda, of course, defended him. Chris didn't understand it.

"He almost beat a man to death" she reminded her.

"A child abuser" she said as if that made it okay.

"Simon Wilkes has never hurt a child and a jury acquitted him. And if he had hurt a child, that doesn't excuse what Amaro did".

"He lost his temper…."

"How can you defend him?" she asked her confused. She didn't think there were any excuses for what Nick had done. "He assaulted a man. Period. He should face the same consequences as any other person who assaults someone. No, you know what" she said changing her mind about her statement, "he should be held to a higher standard. Nick is a cop and Simon Wilkes may think about doing unspeakable things to children, but only one of them broke the law". Amanda couldn't argue with her. Nick told her that he was one to throw the first punch. But she'd been chatting with Simon Wilkes and the things he thought about turned her stomach. Not only that but she'd gotten close to Nick over the past couple of months and she didn't think he was a bad guy. She definitely didn't want to see him go to jail. Chris saw how personally Amanda was taking this whole thing with Amaro. She'd been suspicious of the two of them for a while now. "What's going on with you two?"

"What are you talking about?" Amanda asked. She and Nick were working hard to keep their relationship under wraps.

"I mean, what's going on with you and Amaro?" she asked. Amanda didn't say anything. "A few months ago you couldn't stand the guy. I mean, you told me about how pissed off you were when he interfered when you were with Nate and…"

"Yeah, well we've moved past that" she said cutting her off.

"Obviously" she shot back. "So how long have you two been sleeping together?" she asked. Amanda hesitated to answer. "Come on, Amanda, tell me".

"Almost two months" she answered. Chris scoffed.

"Really? So this whole time that we've been talking about working on us and you've been staying the night with me, you've been sleeping with him?"

"Chris…."

"I don't understand, Amanda. I thought you wanted to get back together".

"I do" she said quickly.

"But you're having sex with Nick?" She wasn't used to being jealous or even remotely upset about things like this. But here she was both jealous and upset. "Am I wasting my time? I mean, trying to work things out between us? Because I have no problem moving on".

"You're not wasting your time" Amanda said firmly. "I do want to work things out with us but I told you that I'm trying to focus on working my program".

"So you can't be with me while you're trying to focus on your program but you can be with Nick?" Amanda could hear how bad that sounded.

"It's not like that" she said starting to explain.

"No, it's fine. I got it" Chris said offended. She grabbed her keys and phone from the table, got up from the couch and headed for the door. Amanda got up and followed her.

"Chris wait" she said trying to stop her from leaving.

"He was stalking you" she said turning around to face her. Amanda got a deer in the headlights look on her face. "Oh, what? He didn't tell you?" she asked sarcastically. "He didn't tell you that when you were undercover with Murphy he tracked your phone and followed you to that illegal gambling club? This is what he does Amanda. He's crazy. Going to that AA meeting to check into Nate, following you, assaulting Wilkes. The guy has no sense of boundaries. I heard about what happened with his wife; how she came at him in the squad room. You think he was stalking her too?"

"Christina…."

"No Amanda" she said stopping her from saying anything. "You want to be with an annoying, violent stalker then you go right ahead. I'm done". She turned around and walked out of the apartment, slamming the door behind her. Amanda groaned in frustration. She thought about going after her but she knew it was useless. She went back to the chat room where she corresponded with Wilkes all night. The next day, thanks to Munch, Amaro was released on bail. Olivia and Amanda were there to meet him but Amanda left to see Wilkes' wife. She told her about the chat room and the photos she'd offered Wilkes and threatened to have him arrested for downloading child porn if he didn't change his story about what happened with Nick. She hoped this wouldn't backfire but she had to try. She found out later that it'd worked. Simon Wilkes admitted that he threw the first punch and they would be reducing the charges against Amaro. Amanda acted surprised and everyone except Chris seemed pleased with the news. She couldn't care less whether he ended up in jail or not.

During the drama with Amaro, their case against the pimp, Little Tino, fell apart when their witness was murdered. They knew he wasn't running things but without Ellie, they didn't have much of a case. With things wrapped up with that case and Amaro's, Murphy said his goodbyes. Sergeant Benson was in charge of the unit again. Sergeant Munch said his goodbyes again. Chris was glad to have met him. She only wished that she'd gotten the chance to work with him. He seemed like a great man to work with and learn from. They only thing she didn't understand about him was his affinity for Amaro. Amongst all the bad that happened, something good came out of it. The judge presiding over Baby Noah's case offered to grant custody on a trial basis. She would be his foster parent for year at which time she could petition for adoption. They were all happy for her. It didn't take a genius to see she was crazy about that baby from the moment she laid eyes on him. Chris thought it was great to see something so good come out of the job they did. She was happy to be back at work. Things felt like they were getting back to normal.