Danny was practically bouncing as he walked across the casino floor. Today was one of the most incredible days of his life and it wasn't even noon yet. To make up for the missed appointment the day before, he'd surprised Mary that morning with an appointment at a private clinic that performed 3D and 4D ultrasounds. They'd been able to see the most amazing video of the baby and it had been surreal to finally learn what they were expecting. Neither one of them had any preference as to the baby's gender, but knowing just made the last piece of their family fall into place. Mary was definitely over the moon and Danny couldn't be happier. They'd decided to keep the information to themselves–at least until the weekend–and let all of their friends know at Ed's welcome home barbecue.

"Where the hell do you get off shutting down Mr. Sherborn's table? Mike said you gave him the okay."

"Is that anyway to greet your boss?" Danny couldn't help but smirk at Sam. In the month since Ed had been gone he'd learned how to deal with her demands most of the time, but every once in awhile she could still get one by him.

"You're not my boss, McCoy. Mr. Sherborn has brought in a ton of money for us and shutting down his special table is not the way to keep him happy. I know he's been on a roll, but if you leave him alone he'll gamble all weekend and give it back."

"He's up over a million, Sam. We can't take that chance."

"Ed would have," Sam responded, employing her usual tricks in trying to goad Danny into giving in, but he wasn't taking the bait this time.

"No, Ed would have shut him down an hour ago. I gave you the benefit of the doubt, but it's over."

"How am I supposed to keep him entertained?"

"You'll think of something," Danny's smile never faded as he left the casino host standing on the floor and headed up to the security room.

----

"Did you sweep?" Danny mouthed the words to Mike, gesturing around Ed's office as soon as he opened the door.

"Yep, we're clean. Everything's set up for the call."

Danny nodded his head and they sat down to call Frank. Ed's old friend and confidant had been working things from the East coast, trying to track down Eric Myers and his girlfriend and they'd set up a conference call for today to touch base.

"Whatcha got, Frank?" Danny leaned back in Ed's chair, putting his feet up on the desk.

"Ed know you're making yourself at home, McCoy?" the amused voice boomed through the speaker.

Danny immediately dropped his feet to the floor and sat up straight, glancing around the room as if he was being watched. "It must be a CIA thing," Danny thought to himself as he crossed his arms and leaned on the desk–closer to the phone.

Frank chuckled a bit before continuing. "I finally found your guy. That girl of his likes to write bad checks so she was easy to track down initially, but they've been on the move. They're in a motel outside Trenton."

"Just the two of them? No sign of the Ford brothers?"

"Nope, but I've only been watching them since last night. You want me to keep an eye out for a couple more days? See if anyone shows up?"

"Yeah," Danny agreed while Mike silently nodded his head. "We're going to talk to the FBI."

"You sure that's such a good idea? Thought you said they were wired."

"We'll be discreet. We couldn't trace who was monitoring the calls, but we've still got one way to use it to our advantage. We've got to have back up on this, though," Danny told them both, remembering his promise to Ed, "I'm not having a repeat of what happened last time."

"Sounds good, kid," Frank said, impressed with Danny's control of the situation. "I'll keep someone on them and call you tomorrow."

----
"Hey," the greeting accompanied a soft knock at her office door and Mary looked up to see a very contrite looking Delinda.

"Hey, sweetie."

"Mary, I'm so sorry I kept Danny yesterday," Delinda hadn't really been thinking about anything other than herself during their ordeal yesterday, but Mike had given her quite the guilt trip on the ride back to the Montecito and she'd decided it couldn't hurt to apologize.

"It's okay. Danny and I worked it out. I promise we're fine."

Delinda looked relieved before her gaze fell on the blue Tiffany's box sitting on Mary's desk. Reaching for it, she commented, "Well, at least you got a good make-up gift out of it."

Mary started to protest, but Delinda already had it out of the box. "Oooh, it's a …cup?"

Mary smiled as she took the sterling silver cup from Delinda and turned it to display the beautiful "M" engraved on the front. Danny had given it to her after the ultrasound that morning and she couldn't have asked for a more perfect gift. Her eyes suddenly got misty as she remembered all they had learned that morning and her heart swelled a little at the memory.

"I'm going to have to talk with Danny about his gift choices," Delinda's remark brought Mary out of her thoughts.

"You will do no such thing. That cup is a keepsake for the baby and Danny couldn't have made a better choice."

Delinda looked at her strangely, still not understanding, "You wouldn't have been happier with diamonds or maybe even a really nice sapphire?"

"Nope," she shook her head, hoping it was the end of the conversation. Missing the morning had put her behind and she really needed to get back to work.

"You're so weird."

Mary rolled her eyes and chuckled a little bit as Delinda drifted out of the room, obviously secure that there were no hard feelings about yesterday's misfortunes.

----

"Wow, sexy mama," Danny let out a low whistle as he watched Mary scrutinize herself in the full-length mirror.

"Shut up. I can't believe I let you talk me into wearing this thing."

"Mary, it's a pool party," Danny said as he moved behind her, moving her hair to the side so he could rest his chin on her shoulder, "We're all going to be in the pool. And as much as I would love to get you in that pool in nothing but your birthday suit, I think that might make some of our guests a little uncomfortable." He kissed her bare shoulder before meeting her eyes and giving her a wink in the mirror.

Mary had found a dark brown tankini with a halter top and side ruching that actually fit her quite well, but she still wasn't used to seeing so much more of herself when she looked in the mirror.

"Danny," she half-whined, "Delinda and Sam are going to have on these sexy little bikinis and I'm going to look like…"

Danny arched one eyebrow, daring Mary to put herself down, but she stopped short, settling instead on an exasperated, "…THIS."

"Mary, honey, you're carrying our child," he told her, moving his hands so that they were spread out across the expanse of her stomach, his fingers lightly teasing the skin that peaked out between the two pieces of her suit, "Nothing could be sexier than that."

"Now you're just making stuff up," she pouted.

"I am not. Do you realize what seeing you like this does to me," Danny's mouth moved to her neck and Mary's toes curled as he trailed hot kisses down her shoulder, "…knowing that I did this–that I put this life inside of you? It makes me...it makes me crazy," Mary moaned as she felt Danny's tongue once again touch her heated skin, his teeth nipping gently at the tendon that stretched from her neck to her shoulder. She turned in his arms, wrapping herself around him as he slowly pulled her towards the bed. He was getting really good at this…at knowing exactly what to say-- and Mary decided that a serious reward was in order, but it would have to wait until later.

"Danny, everyone's going to be here any minute."

"They can wait," he insisted, trying in vain to get the spandex off of her body.

"No, they can't," Mary told him, pulling the strap of her swimsuit back into place, "You need to get the grill started and I need to finish getting ready."

"Fine." Now it was his turn to pout as he picked up the stack of towels Mary had left on the bed and headed for the door.

Before he could leave the room, though, Mary grabbed his arm–turning him around to face her and kissing him thoroughly, the towels in a forgotten heap in the floor.

"Mmmm. Later?" he questioned.

"Definitely," she told him with a wink and went back into the bathroom to pull up her hair.

----
"I'm telling you, kid, you splash me one more time and I'm taking you out," Ed said gruffly from his lounge chair by the pool. Danny and Mike had been trying to get him in all afternoon. After Jillian had assured them that his incisions were healed enough for the water they had tried everything from telling him that it would be good for the healing process to attempting to make him feel like a chicken and now they'd just resorted to downright annoyance. Danny had been "accidentally" splashing Ed for the last fifteen minutes and it was definitely having the desired effect.

"You'll have to come in the water to get me, old man," Danny punctuated that last statement with another splash and Ed slowly pulled himself to his feet, walking towards the pool.

Mike gave Danny a behind the back high five–silently cheering that their attempts had been successful. They watched as their boss picked up a "noodle" from the wood chest that held all the floats and pool toys and walked back towards where Danny and Mike stood in the shallow end. Just when the two friends were expecting Ed to enter the water–he hauled back and smacked them both upside the head with the noodle before they had time to react and headed back to his lounge chair.

The girls couldn't contain their laughter as the boys stood there dumbfounded. Jillian decided that it was probably time for the party to wind down. While Ed had been excited and anxious to spend the day with everyone since his official release from the rehab hospital–he did tend to get a bit cranky. She knew he was only messing with the boys, and she couldn't say that they didn't deserve it, but it had been a long day for her husband and it was getting late.

"I think it's time to get this crotchety old man to bed. Mary, Danny, thank you for a lovely time. The house is beautiful."

With only minimal help from Danny, Mary struggled awkwardly to her feet from her place on the edge of the pool so that she could help Jillian gather their things.

"Oh, I almost forgot," the older woman said as she walked back into the house, reappearing with two beautiful gift bags–one stuffed with blue tissue paper and the other with pink. "A little birdie told me that the two of you are keeping a secret."

Everyone else made their way out of the pool, grabbing their various towels and wraps and forming a circle around Mary and Jillian. It had somehow filtered out that Danny and Mary knew the baby's gender, but despite everyone's prodding they'd managed to keep it a secret until today.

"We wanted to tell everyone together," Danny said, hoping that Jillian hadn't been offended.

"Well, here we all are so…which one is it going to be," Jillian held up both gifts, indicating that Mary should choose.

Mary glanced at Danny, a small smile playing at her lips and when he gave her a slight nod she reached out and took the gift from Jillian's right hand and the backyard erupted in squeals and cheers. Mary was engulfed in hugs by her friends while Ed put a hand on Danny's shoulder. "Congratulations, kid. Take it from me--you're in for one hell of a ride."