As soon as she entered Lyric's diner the waitress behind the counter started making her usual, eggs sunny side up, waffles with strawberry topping and whipped cream, some bacon and a small bowl of olives.

"It'll be ready in a moment Joss," The waitress called out as Carter passed the counter and Carter threw back a nod and a smile. Carter continued on to the booth where she could see her 'date' was already seated. When she finally reached the booth and maneuvered into her seat, the man across from her sat silently with a wide smile across his face.

"Good Morning Detective, you are…"

"Before you finish that statement I should warn you that I'm a little sensitive about my weight right now, oh and I'm also packing." She threw out the false threat.

"I was simply going to say that you are positively glowing and quite beautiful carrying your child." Finch stated and Carter smiled and preened a bit by smoothing down her hair.

"Thank you Mr. Finch." She said. "So, what can I do for you?"

"First I need you to promise me that you will not mention this meeting or anything we discuss here with our Mr. Reese." Finch began and Carter frowned up at the suggestion. It was official she and John were in a relationship, and she believed that that meant they wouldn't keep secrets from each other or lie to one another. At seeing the unsure look on her face Finch continued. "Look Detective I only need some intel on a Mr. Manuel Ruiz, his name has come up in relations to our latest number. I would have asked Det. Fusco but John already has him overloaded with work, because he doesn't wish to get you involved in any of our cases right now." This made Carter frown back up again.

"Wait, so John told you not to ask for my help on any of your cases? Son-of-a…and here I was thinking that things were just quiet for you guys. I guess I'm not surprised after the argument we had this morning, and no I don't want to talk about it." Carter threw out when she saw the inquisitive gleam in Finch's eyes.

"Things are never quiet Detective the machine never sleeps, therefore there are always numbers. But now you see my dilemma and why it is imperative that Mr. Reese doesn't know I have enlisted your help. It's just simple information gathering which is what I told Mr. Reese when I suggested enlisting your help, but he was adamant and quite scary when he told me that I was not to involve you in any way, shape, or form while you were in such a delicate condition." Finch said as he let his eyes fall briefly to Carter's very swollen belly.

"Fine, this will be our dirty little secret." Carter huffed out just as her food arrived. "Thanks Sal." The waitress gave a smile and a nod to Carter and then focused on Finch.

"You sure I can't get you anything?" Sally asked.

"No thank you." Finch replied and Sally walked off to attend to another patron. "Here's all that I could pull up on Mr. Ruiz," Finch slid the folder across to Carter and she grabbed it up and opened it to read through its content.

"All right, I'll see what I can dig up and I'll call you." She said as she picked up a piece of the bacon and bit into it.

"Thank You Det. Carter," Finch replied as he began to slide from the booth.

"You know you don't have to be so formal with me, you can just call me Joss," She offered and Finch paused in his exit as he focused on the pregnant woman before him.

"All right, Joss and you may call me Harold. Thank you again for helping me with this and for keeping it from Mr. Reese." With that said Finch stood and exited the diner and left Carter to finish her meal.

Sometime Later

Finch had been quite surprised to see Reese back at headquarters considering that he was supposed to be out keeping surveillance on their latest number. Finch noticed that Reese was staring intensely at one of the several monitors that aligned his work station.

"Mr. Reese was there something that I could help you with?" Finch asked and in reply Reese scowled and grumbled out a 'no'. Finch knew then that Reese was watching the screen that monitored Carter's desk, and he also knew that Reese was most likely concerned over the fact that Carter's desk was empty. "She might be in the bathroom." Finch tossed out even though he knew exactly where she was.

"She left over an hour ago and she left 'our' cell in her desk, which I know she did on purpose so I couldn't track her on it." Reese tossed out as he leaned back in his chair and traced his thumb across his bottom lip nervously as he glared at the screen. Finch felt a slight pang of guilt because he had told Carter not to bring the cell they had given her for fear of Reese tracking her and finding them together.

"Well maybe her partner might know where she is," Finch added and again he was privy to the fact that Reese had Fusco out running an errand which was the reason he had called Carter when he did.

"No, Fusco is out."

"Oh well I'm sure Det. Carter is fine, she is after all a police officer." Finch stated.

"We had a fight earlier and I'm afraid she'll do something dangerous just to spite me."

"Mr. Reese I don't know Carter as well as you do, but she doesn't strike me as the spiteful type. May I inquire as to what your fight was about?" Finch asked but was sure he already knew the answer.

"I told her that I think her place right now is at home getting ready for the baby and not working."

"Please tell me you didn't use those exact words," The look on Reese's face told Finch that he had. "Mr. Reese the last thing you should ever tell a woman is that she has a certain 'place' that she's supposed to be, especially if that place is at home barefoot and pregnant."

"I'm not trying to obliterate the women's rights movement Finch, I just want to make sure 'my' woman is safe. But Jos took my concern and turned it around to make me seem like I'm some chauvinistic sexist."

"Well she's in a highly emotional state right now, so you should be a bit more sensitive to that."

"How do you suppose I do that Finch?" Reese asked as he looked from the screen to where Finch stood. The look on Reese's face told Finch the Reese was genuinely seeking his advice.

"For starter never use the words 'you' in any sentence where it precedes the words 'can't' or 'don't', and support whatever it is that she wants to do, even if you don't agree with it." Finch replied.

"Ok, I can try to do that for the few weeks until the baby is born." Reese said and Finch gave him a confused looked.

"Mr. Reese that isn't just advice to use on Det. Carter while she's pregnant, that advice you use for all women, all the time." Suddenly Finch's phone rang and ended their man to man. Finch's eyes nearly popped out of his head when he saw the name on his caller ID. "Uhm, excuse me for a moment Mr. Reese this is some personal business I need to attend to." Finch then turned and limped a ways from where Reese was seated, far enough that he was sure he'd be out of ear shot. "Det. Carter," He answered in a hushed tone as he connected the call.

"Joss, remember Harold?" She responded.

"Of course, was there something I can help you with?"

"Why are you whispering?" Carter questioned curiously. "Wait…is John there?" She asked as she began mimicking Finch hushed tone as if she were within ear shot of Reese.

"Yes but he's busy right now," Finch turned a bit to see that Reese was still seated staring at the monitors.

"Oh ok, well I wanted you to know that I called in some favors and got some info on your guy Ruiz. He's a real dirty dude with ties to a couple of gangs here on the east coast and some on the west. He also has been linked to the mob. I was able to find out that he has some vacant properties all over downtown, very expensive properties that he could never afford. So, I figure their fronts for some illegal activities. I'm checking out one of the buildings he owns down by the docks, it's close to a water source and the ideal location for trafficking."

"Wait…did you just say you were down at the docks. Det…Joss you were only supposed to get me some info on Mr. Ruiz nothing more."

"Yeah well when I find suspicion of illegal activity, as an officer of the law I am duty bound to investigate. I'm a cop remember that is why you and John came to me for help in the first place."

"Yes, and under normal circumstances I wouldn't argue that point but right now you're about to give birth to a child, and said child's father is going to kill me if he finds out that you're out chasing some bad guy that I asked you to look into." Finch stated as his whispered tone took on a high pitch that caught Reese attention.

"Well I'm not going to tell him so you'll be fine so long as you keep your mouth shut. Besides this place looks dead right now so I'm heading back to the precinct and I'll have a couple of patrol cars check it out later. If there's any activity happening here it'll probably be at night anyway." Carter said and she moved back to her car.

"I never should have gotten you involved in any of this, so please just get back to the precinct and forget about Mr. Ruiz."

"You're beginning to sound like John, you know that?" Carter announced around a chuckle as she rolled her eyes and got into her car.

"Is something wrong Finch?" Reese called out as he stood up from his seat and threw a curious gaze at the smaller man who stood huddled near the corner bookcases. Finch turned wide eyes to Reese as he still held his cell to his ear.

"Don't you dare tell John anything Harold," Carter spoke out having heard John's question. "I'm leaving the docks now so no harm, no foul. I'll type up what I found on Ruiz when I get back to the Precinct and I'm sure you can just hack my computer to get it. Bye." Carter disconnected the call and then drove off. She never noticed the man who stood hidden in a doorway of one of the buildings watching her. He quickly jotted down her license plate and then made a call.

"No," Finch finally replied to John's question as he pulled the call from his ear and pocketed it, and then moved back to his work station. "As I said just some personal business nothing you need to worry about."

"Fine," John said as he moved past Finch and to the exit. "I'll head back out, our new number will be getting off work in about an hour, gives me time to make a quick stop before I pick up surveillance again."

"I'm sure she and the baby are both fine Mr. Reese," Finch called out to Reese who had already disappeared through the exit. "For my sake they had better be." He added as he began to nervously take up the position of watching Carter's vacant desk on the monitors.