It's the end of a long day and everyone's ready for bed.

(I'm not going to apologise for the unashamed fluff in this chapter - I enjoyed writing it, I hope you enjoy reading it too. Thank you to everyone for continuing to follow this story and for your kind reviews!)

CHAPTER 7.

"Come to bed, Cabe."

"My four favourite words," replied Cabe with a wink. He walked across the bedroom, stripping off his white t-shirt and discarding it on the floor as he did so.

Allie watched his every move and couldn't help smiling to herself as he exposed his well-toned, tattooed chest. He had a great body for a sixty year old, she acknowledged. Heck, he had a great body for a man of any age.

Cabe caught her staring and he frowned slightly. "What's wrong?" he asked. "Do I need to I comb my hair."

Allie giggled and shook her head. "Your hair is perfect, as always," she replied. "I didn't mean to stare. I think I was…" she paused and blushed slightly. "I think I was objectifying you. I'm sorry."

Cabe chuckled and climbed into bed beside her. "I think you're allowed to when you're my girl," he replied. He leaned over and kissed her and she lifted her head from the pillow to greet his lips. He ran his fingers through her hair as the kiss intensified and Allie grasped his strong bicep to steady herself. She moaned softly and her whole body began to tingle with anticipation.

Allie slipped her arm around his waist and pulled herself closer to him. For a brief moment, Cabe responded, moving his free hand to her thigh and she moaned again, but then he broke away and pushed himself up into a sitting position. "OK, so what's gotten into you?" he asked.

Allie whimpered, but could offer no reply.

"Don't get me wrong," continued Cabe, stroking the side of her face tenderly as he spoke. "I sure ain't complaining, but this ain't like you."

"I... I just..." Allie began. "I've been lying here waiting... waiting for you and... and..." She trailed off, knowing she didn't sound particularly convincing.

"But you like it when we take things slow," noted Cabe with another wink. "Have you been reading one of those trashy novels again?"

"I don't read trashy novels!" Allie objected, finally finding her voice. She sighed with a combination of disappointment and frustration.

"I'm kidding," insisted Cabe. "Hey, listen, I'm all for getting down to some sweet lovin' tonight, but..." he hesitated and smiled warmly at her. He was now certain that something was bothering Allie, but part of him was nervous about what it might be. Remembering his chat with Toby he took a quick breath and decided to push through his discomfort. "Is there... is there something on your mind? Something you wanna, y'know, talk about?"

Allie's eyes widened in surprise at his perceptiveness. "Um, um, I guess there is," she replied.

"Well I'm all ears."

Allie smiled and slipped her hand into his. She gripped tightly and pulled herself further up onto the pillows. "I know you've been thinking about Amanda a lot lately," she began. "I know you miss her."

Cabe's expression changed. His eyes filled with sadness as he recalled the pain of losing his daughter. "Every day," he admitted.

"She was lucky to have you as a father," smiled Allie. "I see the way you are with Walter and with Ralph and the others and I'm so proud of you. They listen to you, they respect you."

Cabe shrugged, a little embarrassed at her words. "Where are you headed with this exactly?" he asked.

Allie looked away from him, deciding it might be easier to say what she wanted to say without looking him in the eye, just in case his response wasn't what she was hoping for. However, she still clutched his hand tightly.

"You and I... this is the first relationship I've ever had where I've wondered what it might be like," she began. "To have kids, I mean. Now before you panic, I don't want a baby. I know it's not impossible at my age, but that's not what I want, never has been, it's just that I think about us now, where we are in our lives and what we could offer to a kid who needs a family."

She turned her head back towards Cabe before continuing.

"A few years ago I looked into fostering," she explained. "I had all the papers, went to the interviews, I was all set to go, but... I don't know... I guess I realised it wasn't something I wanted to do on my own. But now... now here we are... you and me and..."

"And now you figure we could take in a foster kid or two for a while and maybe do something make their lives better," Cabe finished her sentence for her. He certainly hadn't expected this. Of all the things he'd been worrying that it could be, this hadn't been on his radar. Not even close. He wasn't really sure how to answer her for now. He drew a long, slow breath.

Allie took a moment to breathe too. "I love you," she said, eventually. "And I love the life we have and our family, but..."

"Hey," said Cabe. "This is a big deal, I'm not gonna lie. It's not something I've ever considered and… and that doesn't mean I don't think it's a good idea, I just… I'm not sure what to say right now."

Allie reached out and cupped the side of his face in her hand. "I understand," she said. "I'm not expecting an answer right now. We need to talk about it."

"Why don't we talk about it in the morning?" suggested Cabe with a smile. He leaned in and captured her lips in a tender kiss. "If I remember right we were kinda headed somewhere a moment ago," he reminded her in a low, gravelly voice.

"Mmmm," she agreed, responding to his kiss. "I love you, Cabe Gallo."

"Oh, Alllie," Cabe answered in a low, gravelly voice. "I love you too."

xXxXxXxXx

"Come to bed, Walter."

"I'm sorry, my love," replied Walter from his desk. "It took longer than I thought to hack into that doctor's military files. Toby seems convinced this guy's the one who faked the autopsy report and I think he could be right."

"There must be something in those files that someone doesn't want anyone to find out," noted Paige.

"Agreed," nodded Walter. "The redacted parts contain details of a mission to Afghanistan fourteen years ago, but it means nothing to me. I'll get Cabe to take a look, he might know something. I'll be with you in five minutes."

"OK, but hurry up," said Paige, impatiently.

"Four minutes and thirty one seconds," replied Walter without looking up from his computer.

They'd set up their house-hunting spreadsheet after dinner and although she felt more relaxed now they'd finally talked openly about what they wanted from their new home, she had hoped their evening would have ended in bed, but instead Walter had decided to work on the casefiles Sylvester had sent him.

"I don't know if I can wait that long," said Paige. "I need you, Walter. I want you."

As much as Walter's EQ skills had improved in the last year, Paige realised that it was still unfair of her to expect him to understand her thoughts and feelings and desires unless she communicated them to him.

Walter immediately recognised that tone of voice and he slowly turned around. He swallowed hard when he realised she was wearing a silk negligee – he hadn't even noticed her getting changed and he could have kicked himself for not paying attention. "Oh… oh my…" His face flushed red and he quickly crossed the loft to join her. "You look… amazing."

Paige rolled onto her back and smiled at him. Her tousled hair splayed out across the pillow and the bed sheet slipped down to reveal the outfit in all its lace glory. "Thank you, Walter," she replied, coyly. "But it's kinda lonely in here."

Walter hurriedly undressed and joined her in the bed. "I can't wait until we can do this every night," he said and he carefully rolled her on top of him and tugged at the hem of her negligee.

"Me neither," replied Paige and their lips met in a passionate kiss. "Walter, I love you so much," she breathed.

"Reciprocated," he panted.

It used to bother Paige that Walter rarely said 'I love you', but she had come to learn that Walter's sparing use of the L-word only made the times he did use it even more special. She knew he loved her, he demonstrated it every day and she didn't need to hear him say it. Suddenly her eyes filled with tears.

Walter immediately broke away and looked at her with horror. "Paige!" he exclaimed. "W…why are you crying? W…what have I done?" He gently rolled her back over and sat up, slipping his hand into hers and squeezing tightly.

Paige smiled through her tears. "You haven't done anything wrong," she insisted. "These are happy tears. Oh, Walter. A year ago I never thought we could have this again. We came so close to losing it all."

"I know, I know," replied Walter, wiping the tears from her cheek with his thumb. "But… but that's all behind us now… isn't it?"

"Yes," replied Paige, nodding emphatically. "Now we have the rest of our lives to look forward to. Together. I don't think I've ever been this happy, I hope you understand that because I can't really put it into words."

"You've never been...?" Walter repeated with just a hint of doubt in his voice. He was getting more and more used to her displays of emotion and he was much better at interpreting them now than he used to be, but seeing her cry always perturbed him.

"Yes!" exclaimed Paige. "God, yes! You don't believe me?"

"I… I…"

"I'll show you," replied Paige. She drew her lower lip in between her teeth seductively and pushed Walter back down onto the pillows. Her hair fell over her shoulders as she leaned in to kiss him again. "I'll show you just how happy I am right now. Buckle up, nerd."

XxXxXxXxXx

"Come to bed, sugarplum!"

Silence.

Toby frowned. His wife had been a long time in the bathroom and it wasn't like her. "Hap? You OK in there?" he called out.

"Yeah… yeah… um…"

Toby flew out of bed. He could tell immediately from the sound of her voice that something was wrong. "Happy!" he exclaimed as he burst through the bathroom door.

Happy was leaning over the basin with her head resting on her folded arms. "I'm OK," she insisted. "Just a little…. um, lightheaded, I guess."

"Lightheaded!" Toby exclaimed. He grasped her shoulders and slowly turned her around to face him. "You could be anaemic, or your blood pressure could be low. Let's get you into bed." Before she could protest he scooped her up into his arms and carried her back into the bedroom.

"Put me down, you bozo!" Happy snapped at him.

"There, you're down," Toby replied as he gently lowered her onto the pillows. Then his face became serious. "Why didn't you tell me about this?" he asked, checking the pulse in her wrist as he spoke. "Don't move, darlin', I'm getting my med bag."

"I'll be fine in a minute," Happy called after him. "I… I feel better already!"

"Oh, lying to your world class behaviourist husband, huh?" Toby called back. "That'll work."

Happy sighed. She knew Toby must already have picked up how anxious she was. She usually hated being fussed over, but this time she was more than willing to let Toby do whatever he needed to do to put her mind at rest that there was nothing wrong with the baby.

Toby quickly returned with his medical bag. He sat on the edge of the bed and set about checking Happy's blood pressure. "Any other symptoms you're not telling me about?" he asked as he waited for the machine to register.

Happy shook her head. "It only started this evening," she said. "I figured it would pass."

"You're pregnant," Toby said, as if she needed reminding. "Don't try to hide things from me." He checked the readout. "There, what did I tell you? You BP is low."

"What… what does that mean? Is the baby OK?" she asked with a worried expression.

Toby ran his hands over her swollen abdomen and just as he did so the baby kicked. He grinned broadly and Happy smiled. Neither of them would ever get over how wonderful it felt to know their baby was growing inside her, making his or her presence known and getting ready to be welcomed into the world.

"I'd say Baby Quintis is fine," he tried to reassure her. "But this is a sign that you're doing too much. You've gotta take care of yourself, lovebug."

"But I didn't do anything strenuous today," whined Happy. "I was sitting at my desk doing research on our suspects for most of the day. Then Kimberley stopped by and we talked for a while, that's all."

Toby tenderly brushed a stray hair from her face. "No one said being pregnant was easy," he pointed out. "Your body is making a person, that's the most incredible thing you can do, but it's tough. It won't be long before our baby is actually here, but right now you need to rest, get that blood pressure back to normal. I don't want you getting out of bed for twenty four hours."

"Twenty four hours!" exclaimed Happy.

"Doctor's orders."

"The doctor is a jerk."

"Hey! Is that any way to treat the man who put this bun in your oven against all the odds?" asked Toby, feigning offence.

"You don't need to remind me how this is all your fault," retorted Happy, supressing a smile. "OK, OK, I'll rest," she reluctantly agreed.

Being pregnant was much harder than she ever imagined it would be. She was always tired, occasionally still a little nauseous and she had to pee all the time. None of her clothes fitted her anymore and she was always the one to stay behind when the rest of the team raced off on their next dangerous case. The frustration was starting to drive her crazy and now she was being forced to stay in bed, but Happy only had to think about why she was putting herself through all of this and the frustration melted away.

"Good," replied Toby. "I'll check your blood pressure again in an hour. Should be back to normal by then."

Happy nodded. She pulled Toby's hand into her own and squeezed. "I'm sorry I didn't tell you, Doc," she said. "I still can't get used to feeling so… so…"

"Vulnerable?" Toby offered.

"Yeah," agreed Happy with a nod. "When I was a kid, I never dreamed about having kids of my own. I didn't play with dolls, I didn't play any of those dumb games, I didn't think about it at all… until I met you."

Toby leaned over and kissed her gently on the forehead. "And soon we're going to have three little ankle-biters running around Quintis Towers," he said, smiling as he thought about how much their lives were going to change once the twins were finally theirs and their new baby was born. "So you should make the most of this downtime because when you're a mom of three you'll probably never get a good night's sleep again."

Happy nodded slowly. Part of her still couldn't quite believe she was pregnant. Her dream of becoming a mother, of having someone to wait outside the school gates for, was just a few short months away from coming true and sometimes the anticipation was almost too much to bear.

"Now, close those beautiful eyes," ordered Toby. He leaned forward and kissed her forehead again. "Sweet dreams."

He tried to release his hand from her grasp, but she wouldn't let him go. "Tell me about the baby," she said, her eyelids drifting shut.

Toby smiled, he knew exactly what she wanted to hear. "You're twenty weeks now, so Baby Quintis is kinda the size of a pomegranate and this week he or she's been busy growing hair!"

"I hope Baby Quintis doesn't get your dumbass curly hair," Happy mumbled, opening one eye. Truth was Toby's hair was one of her favourite things about him. As much as she loved it when he wore his hat, she loved it even more when he took it off to reveal his thick curls. Of course she would never admit that to him. "And if this kid comes out wearing a stupid fedora I'm sending it back," she added.

Toby pulled a sulky face. "I know you love the hat really," he said.

"Hmmm," retorted Happy, but then her expression softened and her eyes closed again. "Tell me something else," she said with a smile.

"OK, well, right now Baby Quintis can probably hear us because the brain is developing sensory awareness," continued Toby. "Which means I need to sing more!"

Happy opened her eyes again and looked at him with disdain, but she was smiling inside. "Maybe I'll just turn the radio on when I'm working instead?" she suggested.

Toby smiled warmly at her. He could see how tired she was and he delicately caressed the side of her face. "We'll talk more in the morning. Now sleep," he said softly and he planted another lingering kiss on her forehead. Then he climbed into bed beside her, setting his alarm for regular intervals so he could check on her through the night.

"I love you, you stupid moron," she whispered sleepily.

Toby couldn't help but smile at the uniquely Happy-style term of endearment. "Love you too, sugarpuff," he replied. He switched off the light and rolled onto his side to watch her sleep, but it wasn't long before his own eyes became heavy.

It couldn't have been more than half an hour before they were both awoken by frantic knocking at their door. "What the hell?" said Happy, sitting bolt upright in bed.

"Stay there!" Toby ordered as he quickly pulled on the Harvard t-shirt he'd thrown over a chair earlier. He ran to the door and opened it to find Ray standing there with a middle aged woman he didn't recognise. Toby looked at Ray for an explanation.

"Relax, Terry," urged Ray, pushing past Toby and guiding the woman towards the couch. "I found this lady outside the garage."

"And why were you hanging around the garage in the dark, Ray?" Toby asked suspiciously.

"Where else am I gonna go?" shrugged Ray. "Anyway, the light was on in the loft but no-one came to the door so I figured Wally and Pam were probably getting hot 'n' steamy up there again. Decided to bring my new lady friend here instead."

"I've just met you," retorted the woman. "I wouldn't exactly say we're friends."

Ray grinned at her. "Ray is everyone's friend!" he replied, throwing his arms wide in a gesture of geniality.

"I'm sorry, but who are you exactly," Toby asked the woman with a puzzled frown on his face.

Before she had a chance to respond, Ray jumped in. "She's got a kooky tale to tell, so I figured you could do some of your voodoo on her."

"Voodoo?" Toby repeated incredulously.

"Y'know, figure out if she's lying or not," Ray explained.

"I'm not lying!" exclaimed the woman.

"Tell him what you told me," prompted Ray.

"I'm Kaye Snyder," she explained. "I understand your team is helping with the investigation into my ex-husband's murder. Well, I think I can save you a lot of time and trouble. I know exactly who killed him."

To be continued...