Keeping Katie Ch 5

A lawyer for one of the suspects in interrogation was demanding to talk to Cragen. He listened to the man rant for a few minutes and decided the man was an idiot. John Munch walked by the door and Don had an inspiration. "Mr. Roberts, if you have a motion, take it up with the court. I have precinct to run. Good day to you, sir. Munch, in here please."

John Munch came into the room, looking at the lawyer in surprise. He expected to be asked to escort the man out. "Yes, Captain?"

"Have a seat and close the door behind Mr. Roberts, please."

Roberts huffed for a minute then took the hint and left. Munch chose not to sit. "Something I can do for you, Captain?" he looked at Cragen over his glasses.

"I hate to ask but I'm in a bit of a bind. Do you have any plans for this evening?"

"It'll cost you dinner first." Munch joked.

"How about a delicious homemade meal?"

"It must really be a big favor."

Don sat down on his chair and filled him in on what was going on. "I'm not sure why, but he's apparently terrified of women and I can't leave Charlene and the kids alone with him, but Karen and I have to make this meeting."

"I can come out. What time do you need me there?"

"3:30 at the latest. I just need someone I can trust to keep them safe and that's you."

"I'll do what I can. Is there a limit to how I protect them?"

"Use any force necessary short of outright killing him. I don't think this will be necessary if you're there but don't take any chances."

"I understand." John nodded.

"I appreciate this."

"Glad to help. Will that be all?"

"Yes, thank you."

Don pulled into his spot at the house at 3:15 with John in his own car right behind him. Karen came out to greet them. "Thank God you're home. I'm at my wits end with him." she greeted him with a big kiss. "Hello, John. Welcome to hell today. Please come in."

"What's going on?" Don asked.

"He came out about half an hour ago when he heard Laslo's voice, and now Laslo can't go anywhere without him and it's making everyone crazy. Laslo is fit to be tied. I finally managed to get him to eat something, and then he wolfed it down. He acts like he's terrified of women."

"You have us all quaking in our shoes." Munch said facetiously.

"Thanks, John." Don told him sarcastically.

"My pleasure."

Karen put an arm through Dons. "I still haven't heard from that woman. I'm angry. I've never been treated like this before and I'm not done with this yet."

They went into the house. This was the first time John had been in Karens house. He looked around curiously. "Our private quarters in there, bathroom in there and the two bedrooms on each side of the bathroom are for the boys and the girls. Living room in there and an office over there." Don said. "This is Charlene she is Karens amazing backup. Charlene, this is John Munch."

"Hello." Charlene smiled at the man.

"A pleasure." John responded pleasantly.

Laslo came out with Joseph following closely behind. The young man gave him a disgusted look. "I'm glad you're here." he said.

Joseph moved more toward Don, but stayed a distance away from Karen and Charlene. John noted this. "Joseph, this is John Munch. He's going to be staying here tonight while Karen and I have to go out."

Joseph showed his worry immediately. "Going out?"

"Yes, but John will still be here and Charlene and the kids. You won't be here alone." Don said firmly.

"Joseph, my name's John." Munch said.

Joseph's eyes went from Don to John and back again. He was obviously uncertain of the status quo. "John is a special friend of the family, Joseph." Karen said firmly. "He stays with Charlene when we can't be here."

Johns eyes shot to Karen at the obvious lie and back to to Joseph. "I'm the unofficial uncle." he told him.

"We need to go soon so we can make the meeting." Don said.

"What about us?" BB demanded.

"You are staying here to help Charlene with Katie. Laslo, please take care of the animals for me? If Barry comes home, he can have the cot in my office for tonight. Let me get my purse and I'm ready when you are." Karen told Don.

He nodded. "Charlene, John, we'll call here after the meeting. If you need us you know the numbers."

They went out of the house and got into Dons car. "Are you okay?" Don took her hand in his.

"I'm by turns angry, frustrated and ready to take someones head off. Tolna said my former contact is gone and she's my new ccontact and she's trying to blame the error on my paperwork that's been in place for years. As soon as I get a chance, I'm going to get my copy and throw it in her face."

"I think you ought to hold off on that for right now." Don advised.

"I will, it just sounded good to say it. But inspite of all of this, I'm so happy to have you in my life. Are you sure it's okay with you? All this stuff that's going on?"

"No, it's not okay, because it makes things harder on you. We'll get through this together."

"I know."

He started the car and they headed for their appointment. The receptionist took their names and they sat down to wait. It didn't take long before they were shown into her office. She rose and greeted them. "Karen, welcome." she said.

"Crystal, this is Don Cragen, my fiance. Don, Crystal Dettrich, the woman I spoke to about Katie."

"Pleased to meet you." Don shook her hand.

The pleasure is mine, Captain Cragen."

"Call me Don."

"Please have a seat. I talked to Casey Novak and she assures me that you are a good man. That's good. Because it will help if this comes to trial."

"Trial? What do you mean trial?"

"She means we may have to go to court and leave it up to the judge who gets custody of Katie. It's not a jury trial or criminal trial."

"Do they have that strong of a case?" Karen demanded.

"Karen, sit back and take a breath. You're getting ahead of yourself. Yes, they have a case because they're related to Katie by blood through her father. On the other hand she doesn't know them, they've never made any attempt to find her or contact anyone regarding her. They do not have the resources to take care of Katie at this time, though that might change with the child care allotment from the state for her. On one hand you're facility is licensed, inspected and prepared for someone with Katies disabilities, they're biggest claim to her is blood. I can argue that blood isn't enough if they made no attempt to contact or connect with her in any way in her entire life."

"What are their chances right now?" Don asked coolly.

"Right now, you have a better chance of keeping Katie than they do, but we've only just started the investigation. I have a list prepared that we need to go over for the documents I need copies of. This is all information that I can use to make you case stronger. Something else that we need to discuss is your personal relationship. I realize it's common for couples to cohabitat but we need to make sure the court knows exactly where it stands. You said fiance?"

"Yes. We're going to be married." Don said.

"Good. Have you told anyone your plans?"

"I told Casey." Don said. "I wanted her to know how important this was to me. And John has figured it out, I'm sure."

"Anyone else?"

"Charlene knows." Karen added.

"And the kids. Elliott and Olivia, they don't know for a fact that we're engaged, but they know how I feel about you and Katie and they know I live out here now." Don said.

"I guess we're not as stealthy as we thought." Karen admitted with a grin.

"Who are these people?" Crystal asked.

"John is Detective John Munch, Elliott Stabler and Olivia Benson are also detectives in my squad.

"And Charlene is the woman who is my assistant at my home. She's like a second Mom to the kids. Now that Don is here she can be more with her fiance and she's planning on getting married too. She's with the kids now and so is John Munch. We have a new person who is out of place yet so we asked John to stay with them until we get back."

"Is it usual for there to be two people with the children?"

"No, there's been a mixup and there's a man at my house who is not supposed to be there. I have to talk to my case manager and get it straightened out. I'm only scheduled for children 13 and under and they've mixed up my paperwork so it says I take people 31 and younger. It has to be a clerical error but I'll get it straightened out."

"Okay. Is there anyone you don't work with that knows? Someone you mentioned it to that could be an unbiased observer?"

"Not that I'm aware of." Don said.

"What about the county? I had to fill out the form that you would be living there too, remember? They asked on there for our relationship and I put engaged. I hope you don't mind." Karen asked.

"It's the truth." Don assured her with a touch of his hand.

"Obviously it would be better if you were married, but it's not insurmountable. What we need to focus on now is the fact that Katie is happy, healthy and well cared for where she is. We also need to establish that you are excellent parents for her. Don, do you have any other children?"

"No."

"No. Did they get killed?"

"My wife died in a plane crash and we never had children."

"I see. Karen, any other children for you?"

"No, just my children from the state."

"Any plans on having any?"

"We hadn't discussed that, but chances are good that we won't be having any. Katie is all we want." Karen said.

"So that's a no?" Crystal said.

"Correct." Don said.

"And the place where you live. Do you own it?"

"Yes. It's all paid off."

"Good. Are you both on the deed?"

"I'm on as sole owner, but that will change when we're married. I'll be changing my name and adding him to all the titles and deeds then."

"No, what you earned is yours." Don objected.

"It would be a good idea for both of you to be on the deed. It will look more stable for the court, but it's up to you. What we need to talk about next is the fact that Katies grand parents are going to ask for visitation with her to get to know her. I'm going to ask for graduated visitations at first, that'll mean the first few to take place at your home then some supervised before they're allowed to take her alone for a few hours. At any point the visitations can be cancelled by the courts or extended for supervised visits or reduced if they become difficult or Katie feels insecure around them. The whole idea is go give her a chance to get comfortable with them."

"And what if they don't get along?"

"That will be up to the court to decide. Katie will be their guide. You'll also have home visits from the court, though from your record those should be minimal, and they'll check into your background a bit. Those are a matter of record as well. Don, they'll investigate you as well so if you have anything in your background, now would be the time to say something."

"I'm an alcoholic." Don said at once.

"Do you attend AA meetings?"

"I haven't had a drink in eight years and I attend one or two a month, but it's still a tough process."

"I understand. Is there anything else?"

"Not that I can think of."

"Don has a high stress job and he sometimes has to work odd hours. I know this and so does he. He keeps an apartment in the city for the days when he can't get home since it is such a drive. I know about it and it has no nefarious purpose. I don't want anyone to think it is a love nest or anything like that. I trust him implicitly. I want that on record." Karen informed her.

"So noted. Well, I think with the information on that list we should have our ducks in a row. Now all we have to do is wait for them to make their move."

"What about checking into their background?"

"I have a private investigator standing by in case they try something. It's costly but I believe it's worth it."

"I think we'd like to do a preemptive strike. Go ahead and get the investigator started now. If we don't need it great, but get them going now." Don said.

"I really don't think..."

"Counselor, I don't believe in taking chances with my family." Don said firmly.

"As you wish." Crystal shrugged. She didn't say anything about the look of love and admiration that Karen gave him.

"Is there anything else we need to know?" Karen asked her.

"Not right now. I'll send the bill to your home address?" she asked Karen.

"Send it to me." Don said.

"It doesn't matter who pays it, but for the purposes of the case, I'll bill it to you, Karen. It's a lawyers trick."

"That's fine." They stood up. "Thank you for seeing us so soon, and for taking this case on." Karen shook her hand and Don did too. He didn't think as much of the woman as Karen did.

They left the office and Karen turned to Don. "She wasn't as vigorous as I'd hoped." Karen told him.

He laughed. "I love you."

"I'm glad. Why? Am I missing something?" she asked confused.

He pulled her to him and kissed her deeply. "No, you aren't. I was thinking that she wasn't quite the kind of lawyer I had in mind to take our case so we can keep Katie and I was afraid you didn't see the flaws in her plan of action. I don't think she's going to be the kind of lawyer we need. I underestimated you. I'm so proud of you I could bust. You never let on for a minute that she wouldn't work out. I'm going to put you on the payroll at work. We need a good actress there."

"Kiss me again and forget the payroll. That's all I need." So he did. When they broke apart she smiled up at him. "Any more of that and we're going to get arrested for indecent exposure." she laughed.

"Why don't we call the house and see how things are going? Then we'll see what we're doing for dinner?" Don suggested.

"Good idea."

Don pulled out his phone and dialled home.

"Wesson Residence." Charlene answered.

"It's Don. How is everything?"

"It's all under control. We had a nice quiet dinner and we're in the living room watching tv and playing Go Fish. If you want to go out to dinner, we're fine."

"If you're sure."

"I'm sure. Take your time."

"Alright, I'll take you up on that. We'll see you soon." He hung up. "Everything's fine. How about we go out to dinner?"

"I'd love to."

"Then let's go." she grinned at him.

TBC