Under cloud filled skies

"I see skies of blue...clouds of white
bright blessed days... dark sacred nights
and I think to myself... what a wonderful world."
-What a Wonderful World, Louis Armstrong

There'd been no frantic rushes to the bathroom or bouts of prolonged, agonizing nausea. No hours spent holding a cool, wet face cloth to her forehead of the back of her neck as she hunkered down over the toilet or a bucket. There'd actually been complete and utter silence since two thirty in the morning, after she'd complained she was feeling dizzy and had a head ache and then promptly passed out cold in the backseat of the taxi they took home. So out cold that all the poking, prodding and pleading didn't even cause her to stir and Flack had no other choice but to carry her from curbside to bedside. It had been a bitch trying to hold onto her and dig his keys out and open the door without dropping her on her ass. She was normally as light as a feather, but her drunken unconscious stage had rendered her dead weight and her arms had been so tightly wound around his neck that it took real strength to pry her off in order to dump her in the middle of the bed. She had done little more than mumble incoherently as he stripped her off her shoes and her clothes and tucked the blankets around her securely before lying down fully clothed beside her and watching her sleep.

She looked like an innocent, carefree angel when she was sleeping. Her long dark eyelashes resting on smooth, pale cheeks, a slight smile curving her soft, full lips, chest rising and falling with each steady breath she took. All worries and stress and horrors banished for the time being. He'd smoothed her hair away from her forehead and the sides of her face and pressed feathery kisses to her cheeks and her lips and fought through a wave of panic when the thoughts of her being the mother of his children and his wife flooded through him. A wave that disappeared when she muttered "I love you, Donnie" in her sleep and rolled over and snuggled into him. Then he was filled with an overwhelming sense of love and adoration and pride he'd never felt before. And a slight case of guilt for not telling her about Zack or the phone call from Devon. He was still trying to convince himself that he did the right thing on both counts when he fell into a deep, fitful sleep.

Sam was still out cold when the alarm went off at nine thirty that morning. Bright sunshine filled the room, a breeze rustled the blinds and offered some relief from what would be another stiffling day. Flack had a massive head ache and sore back and was seriously contemplating calling in sick the second he reached for the alarm to turn it off and his spine craked as loud as it did. If it wasn't a mandatory personal meeting for the detectives with Sinclar and Gerrard, and he had a masive load of paper work to finish up, he woud have just curled up and went back to sleep. He grabbed something to eat, had a cup of coffee and a few Tylenol he prayed would at least calm the pounding in his head, and went and got dressed. Listening to the incessant mumbling and incoherent chattering going on behind him. You could almost carry on a full conversation with her while she was asleep. He'd tried it a couple times in fact. Asking her nonsense questions and getting even more nonsense in response.

Now, at a quarter after ten, he stood by the side of the bed, trying to pry the covers off of her and wake her up. She had a planned 'girls day' with Carmen, who was going to be at the apartment in less than an hour. Something about breakfast, lunch and dinner and Coney lsland. He didn't ask details, and after what he saw and heard the night before, decided to keep it that way.

"Sam..." he peeled away the covers she'd buried herself under. "Sam... time to get up..." he shook her gently by the shoulder.

"Leave me alone to die." she moaned, head under a pillow.

"Samantha..." he picked up the pillow and tossed it aside. "Gotta get up, sweetie."

She groaned loudly and rolled over onto her back and slowly opened her eyes. "My head hurts." she complained, talking strange from the swollen state of her tongue.

"I bet. You feel sick or anything?"

"No... just my head. And my mouth."

"Do you remember getting your tongue pierced last night?"

She nodded. "Just hurts. And my head... I want to just curl up and die!"

"There's some Tylenol and a glass of water and some tea on the night table." he told her.

"Thank you." she opened one eye to look at him. Took in his jeans and t-shirt. "Where are you going?"she asked.

"I have to go in for a few hours. For a meeting and to finish some paper work. Remember? You and Carmen are suppose to go to Coney Island today."

"Shit... that's today? I thought that was Saturday."

"It is Saturday." he said. "You gonna be okay? You can get to the bathroom and everything on your own?"

"Think so." she said with a yawn and went to sit up. Only to feel the entire room spin. She groaned and tossed herself back onto the mattress.

"Learn your lesson?" he asked.

She nodded. "I will never, ever drink that much again." she declared. "I promise."

"Good." he helped her into a sitting position and handed her three Tylenol and the glass of water. "Hope these will help. I gotta go.

Carmen will be here in an hour so you better get a move on. Sure you're okay?"

"I am." she said and swallowed the pills and the entire glass of water.

"Call me when you know you're coming back so I have time to get my other girlfriend out of here."

She frowned.

"I'm kidding. Just kidding. Just you. Only you. You know that. You need anything, you call me or better yet, text me so Gerrard doesn't have my ass for letting my phone ring during his meeting. Okay?"

"Okay." she said and sipped the steaming tea.

He leaned over and kissed her long and soft, keeping in mind the pain her mouth was in. "Gotta feeling I'm gonna love that tongue ring." he said with a smile.

She grinned.

"I'll see you later." he kissed her cheek. "Have fun. I love you."

"Love you, too. Be good."

"What kind of fun would that be?" he joked. "I left you sixty bucks on the kitchen counter. Use it for whatever."

"I don't need your money, you know."

"I know. I just like giving it to you. Making you happy." he ran a hand over her hair and along her face before kissing her again and leaving the room.

"Hey!" she called to him.

He paused in the doorway.

"Thank you." she said.

"For what?"

"Taking such good care of me. For lots of things."

He smiled. "You make it easy." he told her. "Call me. So I know you're okay."

"I will."

"And get some breakfast. Put some food in your stomach. Maybe some greasy bacon and eggs. You know how you like them, with the yolk all runny and sticky and..."

"Don!" she exclaimed and clamped a hand over her mouth. "Stop it! You'll make me sick!"

"Or some toast with that nutella crap on it that looks like human shit."

"Stop it!" she pleaded. "Seriously!"

"I don't want to say I told you so..."

"Then don't!" she cried and tossed a pillow at him.

"And remember to take care of your tongue. Wouldn't want it getting infected and having to get it amputated."

"That would be the end of the world for you, wouldn't it?" she teased.

"My world would cease to exist." he agreed. "Gotta go. Make sure you call."

"Yes, mom." she sighed. "Can you bring me home some ice cream and oreos?" she asked hopefully. "Please?"

"You're demanding." he informed her.

She smiled broadly. "I try to be." she said.

"How ya feeling this morning?" Carmen asked, as she sat on the couch in Flack's living room, waiting for Sam to finish dressing in the bedroom.

"Okay." Sam called back. "My head ache is finally starting to go away.'

Carmen frowned. Something just wasn't right with Sam. Her voice sounded... weird. She glanced up from an old National Enquirer -how Sam read the stuff still remained a mystery- as Sam came breezing into the living room, her hair still damp and dressed in a pair of army green shorts and a white eye-lit cap sleeve blouse that showed off her well toned, well tanned arms. Last night the girl had been all sultry sex goddess and now she looked innocent and urethral. It was amazing how someone could change just like that.

"You okay?" Carmen asked, toss the gossip magazine aside and getting up and following her friend to the door.

"Yeah... why?" Sam slipped into the fugly pair of neon green Croc sandals she was so fond of yet everyone else wanted to burn or bury.

"You're talking weird." Carmen said.

Sam stuck out her tongue to show off the piercing.

"What the fuck!?" Carmen exclaimed, stuck somewhere between disgust and fascination. "Jesus! I didn't think you were serious about the whole tongue piercing thing! Did it hurt?"

"A little. Guy puts a pair of clamps on your tongue and shoves a needle up through the bottom and..."

"Enough! I can't believe you would even do that!"

Sam shrugged and slung a Kate Spade bag that Carmen coveted over her shoulder. "We only live once." she said.

Neither of the girls had been to Coney Island for as long as they could remember. Carmen vaguely recollected her last time there was in her early teens, and Sam was pretty sure she was at least ten or twelve since the last time she visited the fun house or played some of the games or took a seat on one of the rides. It was busy. The shops and attractions crowded with locals and tourists alike. People roller blading and bike riding or strolling hand in hand or pushing small children in strollers on the board walk. Whimsical music from the games booths hung on the air, mixed in with the roars of laughter and the sound of good clean fun.

Carmen noticed Sam paying extra attention to any child under walking age. Peering into strollers and asking the parents questions and talking baby talk and tickling chins. Carmen had no idea that Sam was that into kids. She never mentioned wanted any of her own. In fact, she had once mentioned that she liked kids, only when they were someone elses and she could send them home at the end of the day. But with the mother hen personality and the infinite patience and gentleness Carmen now witness, she realized Sam would make a hell of a mother one day.

"You're into the baby thing today." Carmen commented, as they bought two strawberry funnel cakes and browsed for a place to sit.

"I want to get married one day." Sam announced. "Be a mom."

"You planning on doing this sometime soon?" Carmen asked around a mouthful of heavenly strawberry.

"I mean someday it's what I want." Sam clarified. "A husband. Kids."

"I bet you in the next year you'll be married." Carmen said. "In fact, I am so confident I will bet you fifty."

"A year?" Sam looked skeptical. "And to who?"

Carmen rolled her eyes. "You know who. You guys are made for each other. He got you a ring and those shoes. That's gotta be true love right there."

"I shouldn't even be thinking about this stuff so soon." Sam admonished herself. "It would freak him out if he knew I was thinking about this stuff."

"Not true." Carmen said. "He told Danny and Speed he's started thinking about you and him and the future. He already sees you having his kids.'

Sam nodded. "He kinda hinted about that yesterday but I didn't read much into it. God, it is way too soon to be thinking about stuff like that!"

"You're in love." Carmen reasoned. "And this is part of it. It's wonderful and scary all at the same time. You just gotta run with it and see where it takes you."

"You ever see yourself re-married?" Sam asked curiously, as they found a clear patch of grass to sit on.

"Before I met Tim? No. But now I think about it a lot. I'd do it better though this time. Have a big thing."

"Not me." Sam declared. "I want something nice and small."

"Like yourself you mean." Carmen teased.

Sam laughed. "Exactly. Something with as little people there as possible."

"How come? I figured you'd go the whole hog."

"Me in a white dress? In a church? Yeah... right. Besides, same end result whether we spend forty bucks or twenty grand."

"True. But fonder memories. I'd like to make it something to celebrate this time around."

"You deserve that." Sam said.

"Yeah, I do." Carmen agreed. "Tim would freak if he knew I had the whole thing planned all ready.'

Sam laughed. "And I thought I was thinking far ahead. Mind you, this morning when I went to take my pill, I discovered I hadn't taken any at all in the last five days."

"Whoa... do you want to get knocked up?"

"It wasn't intentional." Sam said. "I swear."

Carmen glanced at her friend's stomach. "Aren't you a little worried?"

"I'm more worried about what Don would say if I did happen to get pregnant this soon." she admitted.

"I can't really see it being a big issue." Carmen told her. "From the way he was apparently talking last night, he wants them as soon as possible."

"Well for now, I am keeping it to myself about the pills." Sam said. "And keeping my fingers crosses that it doesn't happen. I'd like the ring on my finger first."

"You can't help it if it went the other way though." Carmen pointed out. "Here's a weird question. Ever think of baby names?"

"I'd like Irish names with nice meanings." Sam said. "I never thought of actual names per say. Why? You pregnant and need some ideas?"

Carmen snorted. "Kids are definitely not for me. I can do without all the screaming and dirty diapers. Hell, I'm not even sure how to hold a baby."

"I love kids." Sam declared.

"And you're great with them and you'll make a great mom." Carmen assured her."

"I made all these little boyfriends yesterday." Sam laughed. "One of them even said I had a nice booty."

"What?!"

"He did. He's like eleven. It's frightening what kids know these days. If I ever have a boy, he is going to boarding school."

"Won't help him when you set him loose in the big bad world." Carmen told her.

"True. Look at Don. He went to a catholic school run by nuns and look how he turned out."

"Perverted and sex crazed." Carmen concluded. "So maybe neither boarding or catholic schools are an option."

"He told me he wants at least one kid to be a cop. Carry on the family name. Which is weird considering what a bastard his father is." Sam finished the funnel cake and set the trash aside before toeing off her shoes and stretching her legs out and leaning back on her elbows. "Have you heard of his father?" she asked Carmen, as the latter stretched out on her stomach. "I'd never heard of him until Don told me about him."

"I've heard a little Danny and from people when I was in the academy." Carmen said. "A guy like Flack Sr, whose deemed a hero, everyone seems to know of him."

"Well he may have been a great cop, but he's a shit ass human being." Sam declared.

"I figured as much. I feel for Flack having to live under a man like that."

"He's worried he's going to turn out just like him." Sam confessed.

"Never happen." Carmen said, shaking her head. "People who suffer things like that go one way of two ways. They either become what they know or they fight their whole lives against it. Flack's a fighter. You can see it. He handles the job differently than his old man did. For Flack, it's all in the heart. He lives and breathes it. His old man was all about the glory."

Sam sighed and nodded and sat up right, crossing her legs Indian style and yanking a dandeloin out of the grass, twirling it by the stem between her palms. Carmen thought she looked so young and so innnocent just then. Pixie like even.

"Don ran into his mom couple days back and he told her about me and now his folks want to meet me." Sam said. "He's a little freaked."

"I don't blame him." Carmen said. "It's a big thing. I'll warn you, it'll probably be an experience. Flack's probably worried what gems his old man will regale you with."

"Probably." Sam agreed and then fell silent for a long time.

"Have you ever heard the name Dean Truby?" she asked suddenly.

"Bits and pieces." Carmen replied. "That place has all kinds of talk floating around. It's hard to believe what's true."

Sam tossed the dandelion aside and tore out a piece of grass instead, twisting it around her finger."Angell filled me in." she told Carmen. "And then I looked it up in the NYPD data base to see if she was bullshitting or not."

"Angell speaks a whole lot of shit all the time." Carmen reminded her friend. "What did she tell you?"

"She told me that this Dean Truby stole cocaine from a raid Don was in charge of and that Truby murdered some innocent kid in the wrong place at the wrong time. And that in the end, Don helped Mac nail Truby."

"Well, despite what Angell thinks, a lot of guys respect Flack for what he did." Carmen said. "It takes a lot of guts to nail a fellow cop."

Sam sighed. "She made it into this mean thing. Then told me it was sweet that I was defending my boyfriend and being so loyal to him. And that he's not what I think he is."

"Angell's just jealous." Carmen told her. "She'd been trying to scope out what kind of relationship you and Flack have and it's petty. The truth is, a lot of cops would have taken the easier and let it slip, but Flack stood up for what he believed."

"Angell is a bitch." Sam declared. "And she hates me."

"She wanted Flack and you got him. End of story for her. "

"I've had a lot of people hate me in my time." Sam sighed. "One more won't hurt."

Carmen laughed. "That's the way to be. If we were good girl, we'd be no fun at all."

Sam nodded in agreement and put the blade of grass between her two thumbs and blew on it until it made a whistling noise. "My brother and I used to get a kick out of that when we were kids." she said with a soft smile of recollection. "Adam used to make me do it over and over again and hold a dandelion under his chin to see if he liked butter. You know, if the underside of your chin turns yellow and all that."

Carmen smiled. She loved hearing happier stories of her and Adam's childhood.

"Those were easier times." Sam sighed and tossed away the blade of grass. "I was thinking. I hope Tim doesn't put that video of us up on You Tube."

"He won't." Carmen assured her. "I managed to get into his phone and erase it while he was sleeping. I didn't want it being passed around the lab. So Mr Speedle is in for a shock when he goes to watch it later and finds it gone." Carmen got up and gathered their garbage and tossed it into a nearby receptacle. She held her hands out to her friend.

Sam grabbed her hands and accepted the help to her feet. "Can you imagine the look on Mac's face if he saw that?" she laughed, as they headed arm in arm back to the boardwalk.

"That would be a whole new form of talk on workplace romances." Carmen chuckled.

Sam tugged her in the direction of a vendor hocking cheap jewellery. There was a display of bracelets at the back of the table and she spied something she liked. Two charm bracelets with deep pink in laid stones and small hearts dangling off of them that read BEST FRIENDS. Sam just couldn't resist and bought both.

"You're tacky." Carmen declared as Sam fastened the bracelet on Carmen's wrist. "First Croc shoes and now this?"

"I am unique." Sam agreed, doing up her own bracelet. "You'd miss me Carmen if I wasn't here anymore."

"That's why I'm glad you are." Carmen told her. "Who else would I be able to talk to without being judged? I'm glad we met, Sam. I've never had a friend I feel so connected to. That I can actually say I love."

"You're the sister I never had." Sam said sincerely. "And the one I always wanted to trade Adam for when we were little. And if anything ever happens to me, you've got that tacky little charm bracelet to remember me by."

Carmen felt a shiver go down her spine at her friend's words. "You know that nothing will ever happen to you. I won't ever let that happen. And despite the fact I said it was tacky, I kinda like it."

They headed back down the boardwalk arm in arm once again.

"I'll even will you my six hundred dollar shoes." Sam commented.

"You're feet are six. I'm a seven and a half. But it's the thought that counts. I'll let you have my Stella McCartney over coat. God I love that thing."

"I have come to the conclusion I spend too much money and I need a second job." Sam sighed.

"Tell me about it. I caught myself eyeing a ball gown the other day of all things."

"You're thinking ahead." Sam said. "Stella was telling me that there's this fancy nine eleven charity gala we have to attend."

"It's for the orphans of nine eleven." Carmen said. "We have to go as representatives of the lab."

"A ball gown?" Sam shuddered at the thought. "Me in a ball gown?"

"Hey, if I have to wear one, so do you." Carmen said.

"Danny was telling me he bets Don's ex will be there. Apparently she attends all the social events worth attending. Have you heard about her?"

"The rich bitch? Flack told me a couple things."

"She phoned the apartment last night." Sam said. "Don doesn't know that I know he was talking to her."

"Keeping secrets all ready?" Carmen frowned.

"I think he's worried I'll beat the shit out of her. Should I be worried? Be threatened by her? I mean, if she's that hot and that rich..."

"For starters," Carmen cut her off. "Rich means jack shit. It doesn't mean you have class or a personality. And trust me, she's not all that in the looks department. And Flack told Danny being with her was like fucking a corpse."

Sam laughed. "We are polar opposites!"

"That's why Flack is in love with you and not her."

"'Cause I'm not like fucking a corpse?"

"Exactly. You're this hot little sex kitten and you have a beautiful soul and that's what he loves most about you."

Sam snorted. "He is so delusional. He loves me. I know he does. I'm just playin'."

"Everyoen knows it." Carmen declared.

"I was thinking the same thing about Tim." Sam said. "That when he looks at you I can tell how he feels about you."

Carmen smiled. "He told me the other night that he loves me. It surprised the hell out of me. Gotta say, thought, I'm glad he said it. I was starting to go crazy for falling so fast and so hard."

"Now you know how I feel." Sam told her.

"I truly think he is the one." Carmen admitted. "It's a hell of a feeling to think that about someone. So I know what you and Flack feel like. Out of the depth doesn't quite come close."

"More like being in The Twilight Zone." Sam said.

"For sure." Carmen agreed.

Sam grew silent, contemplative. "We're lucky, aren't we, Carmen." she stated.

"Luckiest girls in the world, Sam." she said.

They arrived back at Flack's apartment an hour after that talk. Sam had called on the way there and he was in the midst of folding a mountain of laundry and cooking himself and the two girls dinner. Spaghetti that smelled absolutely heavenly as far as Carmen was concerned.

"Check you out. Flack. " she said, joining him at the table where he was folding Sam's clothes. "No wonder she stays here. She doesn't have to do anything. You cook, you clean, you do her laundry, put out whenever she wants. What more does a girl need? You do windows too?"

He grinned. "Don't push your luck, Devine."

Once again thanks to all of you reading and reviewing and to all you peeps not reviewing and adding me to your fav.author and story alert. Much appreciated. Although I love getting e-mail and it would be nice to hear from you guys!!