Title: Promises to Keep

Pairing: Travis/Wes

Characters: Wes, Travis, Alex, OCs

Summary: It was then, staring at Travis' face, trying to get him to talk to him that he knew. He was in love with Travis, and he was about to lose him. All he could think was that he had to stop Travis, save Travis, and before he knew it his gun was in his hand. "Travis if you move one more inch, I swear to God, I'll shoot." This is a kid!fic.

Chapters: 2/?

Word Count:

Disclaimer: I do not own Common Law, but given the chance I would love to! I do own the OCs, so that's something. The title is from a Robert Frost poem. I know nothing of law or police procedures so forgive my lack of knowledge. I'm happily making things up as I go. This is unbeta'd so I apologize for any and all mistakes.

AN: My timeline goes as this: Wes graduated high school at 16; was in college/law school 6 years; spent 3 years at DA's office; 1 year at Police Academy; 2 years as a police officer ( 1 in Missing Persons); and 2 years as Travis partner making him 30 in the season finale. Travis is 2 years older than Wes and went straight into the Academy after college. The title may change at some point because I'm not sure I like it.

At times it seems we take for granted
How precious life can be
Just hold on and I'm sure you'll understand it
Bringing into this world
A precious boy or a girl...

Heaven by Jamie Foxx

Wes was pissed. He had to be, because he couldn't allow himself to be hurt. Travis, the bastard, had taken off. He left Wes alone to deal with the consequences of pulling his gun. Wes knew that if he told Internal Affairs the real reason why he pulled his gun, they would have to take both his and Travis' badge and suspend them pending an investigation. They would be required to go to the department shrink and it would be noted in their files. So Wes kept his mouth shut and told them that in an argument, Travis went too far and Wes reacted without thinking, which depending on how you spun the story was mostly true. He took the two week unpaid suspension, the mark on his record and even agreed to go to couples therapy with Travis. The higher ups knew they were a good team and didn't want to break them up. Captain Sutton was the only person Wes told everything to and the Captain backed his story with IA and scheduled him an appointment with his therapist, Dr. Emma Ryan.

To be fair, Travis never got the chance to tell Wes he was leaving. The two week suspension was to be spent with absolutely no contact between them, as a sort of cooling down period. But it was the fact that Travis left at all that hurt Wes. Once again, Travis had run from commitment. He had seen things getting hard, and feelings had started to get involved and he had taken the first opportunity that came to get him the hell out of dodge. So when Wes came back to work after two weeks of thinking ready to finally talk to Travis and settle what was between them to see an empty desk, yes he was hurt. And when Captain Sutton called him to his office to tell him that Travis had been offered an undercover assignment Wes was angry. But Wes loved Travis, so when he was told Travis put him in charge of his affairs; he knew immediately what Travis was trying to say. Travis was telling that he needed time, but that he would come back to Wes, and that he trusted Wes to take care of his things. Wes had no idea what this break meant for their future, but he was content to wait for Travis. He could live with that. He figured that for the next few months he would be too busy with his child to miss Travis too much anyway.

Sure enough, by the end of the month, Wes had finally brought home his baby girl, Julia Alexis Mitchell. As he got her settled in the nursery, Wes had to laugh. He was saved from having to explain to Travis why he was going on paternity leave by Travis being undercover, and he was saved from dealing with Travis being undercover by his paternity leave. Getting a handle on being a father was tougher than he'd ever imagined. But Wes threw himself at it the same was he did everything else. He looked up the rules and studied all the books. He took every parenting class he could and by the time the baby had come he knew he was ready.

And he was absolutely wrong. A small part of him was glad Travis wasn't there to see him fall utterly apart. Rules, and books, and classes didn't prepare him for going days with almost no sleep, ringing ears from high pitched squeals, suddenly becoming a walking grocery store whenever he left the house, or clothing constantly stained with more bodily fluids than he truly wanted to think about. For the first time in his life, Wes had to get creative. He had to make up his own rules and find what process worked for him. It was terrifying, but by the time Julia was six months old, he had the hang of fatherhood and was staring to enjoy it. He had finally found a nanny he actually liked and was ready to return to work.

He missed Travis with every nerve in his body, but he was okay. He was surviving, so when the call came from Travis' landlord, he was completely blindsided with yet another complication in his life. It started innocently enough. The landlord said there was a strange woman who had been hanging around Travis' trailer for the past couple days. So Wes went to check it out. He was met with Sarah Moore, who wanted to speak with Travis because she was pregnant. He didn't need two guesses to figure out who the father was.

It was like a scene straight out of a soap opera. It was so unreal, Wes continually looked for cameras and checked the date to be sure it wasn't April first. But there were no cameras and no pranks. The very pregnant woman showed him it was very real. Travis, the womanizing idiot, had finally knocked someone up, and was conveniently unavailable to deal with the consequences. Oh no, that illustrious duty fell to his power of attorney, who was, rather inconveniently Wes.

There seemed to be no end to the surprises. Sarah was seven months pregnant, with twins. Apparently, she worked with Travis on his cover and had a last drunken hoorah with him before he went under. Travis had told her if she needed anything going to his trailer would put her in touch with his POA, who he trusted entirely. All Wes could do was laugh. Things like this just did not happen in real life, except apparently they did. Wes prepared himself to deal with child support settlements and visitation agreements for when Travis returned. Once again, he was completely blindsided, but this time the words were all too familiar. Sarah, like Alex, was not ready for a child and certainly wasn't ready for single parenthood.

This left Wes with the biggest dilemma of his life. He knew Travis. He knew how Travis felt about foster care and the system, and he knew Travis would not want his children raised like he was. But Travis wasn't there, and if Sarah didn't want the babies they would have to go into foster care… or as POA he could keep them. Sort of like an extended baby sitter. But could he deal with caring for three tiny human beings by himself for however long Travis was undercover? He was only one man; one broken, anal, completely fucked up man. Could he handle that much pressure without cracking? He didn't think so, but picturing Travis face upon finding out he has children lost in the same system he escaped from was heartbreaking. Wes didn't know how things were going to work out but he knew he had to try.

Being in love sucked.

AN: Before I get reviews about how realistic this is, this is based off of real life events (which are honestly more unbelievable than this!) They say truth is often stranger than fiction, but when a couple I know went through this drama, I seriously thought it was a prank and I'm not even involved!

I am so sorry it has taken this long to update. I have not been ignoring you. My computer crashed and I just got a new one. I am trying to retype all of my chapters, so bear with me as I get the story re-going.

I am sorry to those of you who don't like the children, but I did say it would be a kid!fic. If that bugs you, please don't read it.