NEW CHAPTER! It's short but oh well. There's a small-ish time jump in this one.

Blaise distanced herself from the rest of the world again for a couple of days following her mother's funeral, but she was beginning to open up a little more.

"I guess I won't be kicking ass for a few months," Blaise sighed as she and Jeremy approached Anders' office door. Blaise would have simply walked in unannounced but Jeremy stopped her and rapped his knuckles on the door.

"Come in," Anders barked from the other side. "Corso, Redbird. About time the two of you came here."

"Fun, fun," Blaise snorted.

"We, uh... we need to tell you something," Jeremy began.

"Don't even start. You two are going at it like rabbits. How many couples are in this damn precinct?" Anders scowled.

"That's not all we have to say." Blaise casually rested her feet on the lieutenant's desk.

"Dear Christ, there's more?"

"Don't get your panties in a wad," Blaise snapped. Jeremy nudged her with his elbow.

"Let me guess. Wedding rings and future kids? A house in the suburbs?" Anders eyed them sharply.

"Well... you got one of them right..." Jeremy confirmed.

"The wedding rings...?"

"Guess again," Blaise said.

"Kids...?" Anders furrowed his eyebrow. "I guess this means I need to put you on desk duty, Corso."

"Don't say it out loud," Blaise complained. "Does it have to be now? Can't it be next month?"

"Nope. It's standard procedure. Your field duty is going to be very limited and in a few weeks you'll be forbidden from it. Don't worry, I'll make sure there are lots of files you can work on."

"What a comfort."

"Alright, you two. I don't know how many officers are fooling around behind my back, but don't let your emotions interfere with your work."

"Yes, sir." Jeremy stood up.

"Whatever," Blaise responded. They left Anders' office and stepped into the precinct.

As if someone had expected her to be placed on desk duty, a green folder sat on her desk. "Already?"

She huffed as she opened the folder, looking at the paper as if it had done something deeply offensive to her.

"Glaring at it won't make it go away, you know." Jeremy handed her a cup of decaffeinated coffee. "It's not that bad."

"If it's not that bad, you could do it for me." Blaise distastefully took a sip of the decaf coffee.

"I would, but I have to go to a warehouse with Mal and Natara."

"I could use some good warehouse action. Better than paperwork. This is like having a full-time office job."

Jeremy's phone let out a beep in his pocket. "Gotta go. Try not to rip any files to pieces."

"No promises."

CoD-CoD-CoD

When Blaise was halfway through her second trimester, she scheduled an appointment to learn the baby's gender.

Of course all of their coworkers were aware of the situation by now, despite the fact that they had only directly told Mal and Natara. She even overheard some of the officers (including ones she barely knew) making bets relating to everything from the sex of the baby to how long she and Jeremy had been together.

Desk work quickly became atrociously tedious and boring. Immediately after she entered her second trimester, she was forbidden from active field duty. Anders had assigned an officer to babysit her, and Blaise had put up a long argument when Jeremy agreed with the lieutenant.

The baby, regardless of his or her gender, was proving to be a future soccer player. Or more possibly, a future cop kicking doors down.

"C'mon, give me a break down there," she moaned. "It's bad enough I had to get these hideous clothes."

"The baby's still kicking?"

"When isn't the baby kicking? He or she's been practicing kicking doors open for the past two weeks!"

"At least that's one thing we won't need to teach."

Dr. Peters prepared the ultrasound wand and turned the monitor so that they could view it. Soon the baby's image became visible on the screen. "It looks like your baby's still healthy and growing normally." The doctor studied the image for a few minutes longer. "Do you want to know the gender?"

"Yep."

"Alright. It looks like you're having a..."

Again, if you haven't voted on my poll, DO IT NOW. It's on my profile. I do believe the result is currently a tie. You guys need to break it!