Andy hurried to catch up to Sam, whose long legs strode down the hallway with ease, forcing her to move double time to keep up. "Why did you ask for Walker?" She asked. "Traci would know what to do with a baby."

Sam didn't turn his head as he came to the door that led from Holding to the main office, holding it open for her. "Nash is out and Walker's got kids." He replied without thinking.

"What?" Andy stood in the open doorway, confused. "Shaylene's got kids?"

Her jaw was all but dropped and it was then that Sam realized his mistake. "No, she- it's just- it's complicated, okay? You can't tell anyone." When she continued to stare at him, not comprehending, he put his hand on her arm. "Okay?"

"Yeah," she said, shaking herself. "Sure." They entered the office, waving to Diaz who sat at the desk and continuing on to Resources where Annabelle, the department techie, would be able to get them all the info they needed about babies born in the area in ten seconds flat.

Chris could here Sam and Andy coming down the hall, their voices muffled by the thick door that protected the front office from any escapees from Holding. As the entered he heard Andy say, "Shaylene's got kids?" Before Sam hushed her and mumbled something else.

Whoa, Chris thought. I didn't notice a ring earlier- maybe she takes it off before parade. Or maybe, as a new idea struck him. She's another Traci.

He continued to work, sorting through the stack of paper Detective Callahan had dumped on the desk in front of him about an hour previous. He wondered who he could ask- Andy, of course, and Swarek, but neither were really inclined to share personal information, especially about someone else. But Andy would tell Traci, without a doubt, who might tell Gail, if Gail asked. After all, girls talked, right?

Before he could consider the consequences he texted Gail with a message that read, "Hey, did you hear that Walker's got kids? Weird, huh?" Then he slid his phone back into his pocket and looked up at the woman who had just walked into the door, looking anxious. As he stood to greet her all thoughts of Shaylene and her kids flew out of his mind.

Andy and Sam were back at the apartment building, talking to anyone and everyone who may know anything about an abandoned baby or pregnant woman. Traci and Noelle had shown up to help keep citizens away from the now closed building and intercept anyone who was trying to get in. As Sam questioned the building superintendent Andy made her way over to Traci.

"Hey," she greeted her friend. "How was your morning?"

Traci shrugged. "The usual. Broke up a couple of fights- you know how kids get this time of year." She waved at a woman who was heading for the parking lot besides the building. "Excuse me, ma'am?" She called. "You'll have to talk to the officer by the front if you'd like to enter or exit the premise." The woman nodded and headed off in Noelle's direction.

"Speaking of kids," Andy began, bringing up the topic that had been on her mind since Sam had let it slip. "Did you know that Shay has some?" She got the expected look of surprise.

"No, I didn't. Jerry never mentioned it. Just a couple siblings and a mess of a mother. No kids." She looked thoughtful. "Well, like mother like daughter, I guess."

Andy nudged her for a bit more information. "So no husband?"

Traci shook her head. "No. And she doesn't seem like the type to get married young, and definitely not divorced young." She looked over to the parking lot again to see a gray blur climbing the fire escape. "Hey!" She called. "Come down!"

The figure looked down and they saw that it was the same woman Traci had just directed to Noelle. Andy started for the stairs and the woman began to run, taking them two at a time. Traci paged Swarek, letting him know that they had probably found their missing mother, before following Andy up the fire escape and into the apartment where the boy had been found.

She couldn't get the baby to stop crying. She had checked his diaper, fed him, even managed to rock him in one of the rocking chairs in the hospital nursery. She wanted to leave, but it was her job to stay with the witness, even though she wanted to pull her hair out at the incessant sound. Crying babies always took her back to the days when Randy would just cry and cry and Marissa, too drunk to realize what the sound was, would ignore him until she slept it off.

"I know," she said to the boy as he wailed. "I know. It's a tough world out here. I know you want to be safe and warm with your mummy, but I can't give you that." The baby screamed, drowning out her voice. She waited until he quieted. "Sometimes mummy can't keep you safe and warm. I know it's hard, little man, but you have to be strong." He was silent, staring up at her again with those big brown eyes.

There was a voice from the doorway. "You're very good at that," Swarek- Sam- commented with his customary grin. "Though not sending the same message people usually give babies."

She looked down at the child in her arms, his eyes now on the man in the police uniform. "I don't believe in lying to kids," she said softly. "Even if it hurts them; better that they learn it now than later." She rocked gently back and forth and the boy's eyes drifted slowly shut. She looked back up at Sam. "What are you doing here anyway?"

"We found the mother," he said. "Trying to sneak back in to get her baby. Apparently it was all a mistake; she thought she could give him up, but couldn't actually do it. Nathan told me he drove you over and so I came to pick the two of you up." He leaned against the doorway, and his eyes found the baby again. "What's it like?" His voice had taken on a quiet, thoughtful quality Shay hadn't heard in him before.

"What's what like?" She asked in a near whisper, hoping that the baby would drift into a deep enough sleep that they could get through the ride to the station with no problem.

"Having, you know, kids."

Instead of getting offended at someone prying into her personal life, Shay took the question and considered it. "Its- challenging." She began. "You're so worried about them, all the time- not just that they'll be okay for the moment, but about their future. Worried if you're making them into human beings who will be able to survive, and be happy when they're on their own." She sighed softly, more at herself than at him, though he was watching her avidly now. "I mean, they're not even really my kids, so I'm also always worried that they see me do something and think, 'oh that's what Mom did', or 'Mom didn't do it that way', that they'll always be comparing me to her, and she'll win out better." Sam caught her gaze and she looked away, embarrassed.

"That's crazy," he told her earnestly. "Your mother obviously had problems- she couldn't even be measured in the same category as you."

Shay looked up at him. Anyone else would probably have had tears in their eyes, or a look of gratitude on their face, but that wasn't the way she worked. Her lips had quirked into a small smile, the first real one he had seen out of her, and maybe her eyes had darkened a shade. "Thanks." She held his eyes. "You don't know how much that means."

Uncomfortable with the intensity, the meaning of it all, she looked away and he said, "Well, we better get going. By the time we get back they'll probably be done with the mother and then we can hand him over and go home for the night." He swung the cruiser keys around his finger.

Shay held the baby in one arm and reached down to grab her jacket off of the floor. "Uh-do you think you could hold him while I put this on?" She asked.

He nodded, looking more than a little out of his comfort zone. "I guess." Shay walked over to him and settled the sleeping child in his arms- or, arm. The kid was small enough to fit right in the crook of his elbow comfortably, though Sam looked anything but.