A/N: This chapter contains a lot of stuff over a long period of time, but I hope you like it. More BA fluff!

Oh, and I'm posting this now because I happen to be very happy that my mother's dream of being a foster mother (now that all her own children are grown) is being realized with the help of a 10 week premature baby boy named (none other than) Robert. Unfortunately, we can't call him Bobby (she prefers Robby or Berber - don't ask) but he's one of the cutiest newborns I've ever seen (born at less than five pounds, he's about a month old now).

The next few weeks passed in a haze for Jeremy as they moved all of his things into his mother and stepfather's house; funeral arrangements were made for Steven and Brittany; and after two weeks of sulking around his new house, facing his friends and teachers again at school. That had been one thing that wasn't touched in his life: which school he went to. Sure, it wouldn't be the easiest thing in the world for Wilma to catch the ferry with Jeremy every morning so he could go to school on Staten Island … but it would be worth it to keep that aspect of Jeremy's life the same.

Wilma and Rick were transferred to Major Case, by order of the Chief of Detectives, because of their participation in catching the serial killer. No matter what they said in protest, by the time Wilma went back to work after taking a week off to stay home with Jeremy, she was going to work at One Police Plaza instead of the 2-7 Homicide Unit. Bobby and Alex, on the other hand, were relieved that they'd be able to keep a better eye on Wilma, and that their caseloads would get smaller with the extra help.

"Bobby?" Alex asked one night as they snuggled on her sofa two weeks after Steven and Brittany had died. "I need to tell you something."

"What?" He asked, pulling her closer as he shifted his weight to look at her clearly.

She looked back at him with a little trepidation, unsure if her words would be met with anger, fear or joy. "You remember what happened after we got the confession out of Manotti last month? When we got home?"

Bobby smirked at her as he remembered what exactly they had done that night, "Sure I remember. I couldn't walk straight for two days."

Alex smiled back at him before the smile slipped from her face and she said, "I think I'm pregnant, Bobby."

He went still for a moment before asking, "Are you sure?"

She nodded, looking down at their connected hands, "I went to my OBGYN today during lunch while you and Wilma tried out that new deli on the corner."

"How far along?"

"Five weeks," she whispered, her eyes coming up to meet his. Instead of the terrified expression she was expecting, Alex found Bobby looking at her as he grinned like a maniac at the thought of being a father.

"We're having a baby?" he asked, his eyebrows rising to emphasize his point in a manner similar to the one he used when talking to suspects.

She nodded, a smile playing on her lips. "Yeah, we are," she whispered. Before she knew what was happening, Bobby had flipped their bodies so that she was lying down flat on the sofa and he was on top of her, balancing his weight on his knees and arms while very careful not to put too much on her.

He leaned down and their lips met in a kiss fueled by passion and love. When he finally pulled apart he whispered, "That's nice."

---

"So you're telling me that for the past year you two have been in a romantic relationship?" Deakins asked, trying to clarify what two of his best detectives were telling him. Alex and Bobby were sitting in the two chairs in front of his desk.

"That's correct, sir," Alex responded.

"And you're telling me now because?"

"I'm pregnant, sir," Alex explained, her eyes full of confidence and truth, no fear evident in their brown midst.

Shock consumed Deakins as he sat down in his chair again with a thump. His eyes traveled from Bobby to Alex before he gave in and let the grin he had been suppressing fill his face from ear to ear.

He began chuckling; his mirth only added to by the silent look Bobby and Alex shared as they tried to process what was going on. When he had finally gotten the laughter under control he asked Bobby, "You think you can work with your sister's partner?"

"Rick?" Bobby shrugged, "Probably. Why?"

"I want to pair Wilma and Alex together for the duration of her pregnancy," Deakins said. At the protest he felt building, he raised his hand to halt it, "Don't get your panties in a bunch – if it doesn't work out, we'll take the situation to the Chief of D's and see what he has to say. All right?"

Alex and Bobby shared another silent look as her eyes told him that she'd try if he would. As much as he didn't want to lose Alex as a partner, part of Bobby knew that it would be the best of both worlds if he could work with Rick Nolan and go home every day to Alex in his bed.

"Okay," he finally said, "We can try it."

"Good," Deakins said as he picked up his phone to page Wilma and Rick into his office.

"You rang, O Persistent One?" Wilma asked with her eyebrows raised, using the name she had started calling Deakins after the fifth time he had requested her transfer to Major Case from Homicide.

Deakins' smile returned as he motioned for the two other detectives to enter his office. "It seems that something's been going on for the past year that has … produced some fruits that complicate things. Nolan, you're going to partner with Goren for the next few months while Eames and Tutuola take the Rumson case. After Eames gets back from maternity leave we'll reevaluate the situation and go from there."

---

"You've gotta be kidding me," Alex muttered as she and Wilma walked into their newest crime scene. Her stomach was rounded out in her fifth month as they walked away from the SUV and toward the robbery-turned-homicide that had called their attention.

"What is it?" Wilma asked as she turned to see if something was wrong with her partner.

Alex glanced at her before turning to the house and pointed out a tattoo on the forearm of the victim, "That."

"What's wrong with it?" Wilma asked as she inspected the body. The tattoo was of a lotus, the shadow of an elephant inside.

"It's the same as one of our witnesses from three years ago."

"What case?"

"A triple homicide attributed to the Masucci's."

"Oy veh."

"You can say that again."

---

"What did Angie say after she found out Tony and you were sleeping together?" Rick asked the suspect he and Bobby were interrogating a few weeks later.

The woman shook her head, refusing to answer. Bobby leaned across the table, placing his hand millimeters from her own. "Stacy," he said softly, "If you want to feel better about this, you need to come clean with what happened."

Stacy's eyes, full of tears, met Bobby's, "She said she didn't blame me. She said that she was gonna … gonna make Tony know what it feels like … feels like to be used like that. I – I couldn't let her do that to him."

"So you got the gun from Tony's house and you shot her," Bobby said, his head nodding to show he understood as his eyes bored into hers.

Stacy nodded, "Yeah. She was sitting on the couch … her hair mussed up and her shirt was buttoned wrong. A guy – I think he was an escort – came out of the bedroom. He left …and I shot her in the head before I could talk myself out of it. I just … I had to protect Tony."

"Okay," Rick said, rising from his seat, "Now you're under arrest for murder."

As Nolan cuffed her and two officers came in to escort her to her cell, Bobby's phone rang. "Goren."

"Bobby, it's me," Wilma answered. "Alex went into labor."

"But she's only seven and a half months along!" Bobby said as he ran out of the interrogation room to grab his things.

"Bobby, it's entirely natural for the first pregnancy to be premature – Jeremy was born at eight months," Wilma tried to calm her older brother. "Now, we're at St. Mary's. And don't forget to tell Deakins!"

Bobby ran into his captain seconds after hanging up. "Eames went into labor," he explained to the captain. "She's over at St. Mary's with Wilma. One of us will call when the baby's born."

With that he was gone, down the elevator. Nolan walked out of the booking room moments after the elevator doors closed. "Where'd Goren go?" he asked the captain as he walked over.

"Alex's in labor over at St. Mary's," Deakins explained, "They'll call with an update."

Rick sighed, "I guess that means I get stuck with the paperwork again."

"Ain't life grand?"

A/N: Pretty much the last two scenes were to illustrate how the change was working for both pairs of partners, and that they're still working at top notch capabilities. Please review. Only one or two more chapters next.