CHAPTER 1

"Is that a tuna sandwich?" She asked pointing to the half-eaten lump of food on a plate on my desk.

It was a hot afternoon and I was sitting at my desk drawing up some docs and reviewing my strategy in a vehicular homicide case, Gearshift Turnabout, when Maya had come to hover near my desk. Phoenix had taken Trucy out to play miniature golf as a special father/daughter outing so it was just the two of us alone in the office.

"Yeah, you want one? There's another can in the cupboard. I could make you one if you'd like."

I'm used to Maya asking about food. I've never met someone so food obsessed. But, Maya didn't look like she wanted my sandwich. No, she looked like she wanted to stamp it out of existence. The look of distaste on her face only grew stronger until she made a mad dash to the bathroom. Her ralphing sounded horrible.

Oops! I didn't know she was sick.

She hadn't said anything. If I'd known I wouldn't have eaten around her. I guess I should have realized she didn't feel well… she had been sleeping a lot…

Hey!

Maya came out of the bathroom a few minutes later looking pale and sweaty. She gave me a quick glance and then sat on the couch.

"Should I be telling you congratulations?" I teased as I walked over to her.

Her eyes met mine as if challenging me to continue. "On what? Making it to the toilet in time?" But I knew she knew exactly what I was talking about.

She crossed her arms and said, "I have the stomach flu." And I felt the all too familiar tightening of my bracelet.

Liar, liar pants on fire.

"You should leave or you'll get it, too." She threatened, which is not, I might add something Maya can actually pull off which made this far too good an opportunity for teasing for me to pass up. I grinned at her.

"Oh, I don't think there is any chance of me catching what you've got."

I waggled my eyebrows at her.

So, soon we're going to have a little Nick or Maya running around. Way to go, Mr. Wright!

"Maya, you don't need to be embarrassed. It's cool." I smiled at her encouragingly. I imagine being pregnant is kind-of embarrassing at first. I think if I were pregnant I might be tempted to claim it was an immaculate conception.

Her eyes again met mine but this time they were no longer sending daggers my way. She was caving. After all, they're no point lying to me. She knows that.

"Oh, God." She said grabbing my arm. "Please don't tell Nick!"

This caught me by total surprise and my eyebrows met one another as I scrunched my face in confusion. "He doesn't know?"

She shook her head.

"Well, he knows it could happen, right?"

Ok, I know that question sounds stupid. I knew perfectly well that Phoenix knew how this stuff worked. I wasn't suggesting Maya needed to send him back to junior high health class or something, but I wasn't sure why Maya would be hiding this from him. I figured he'd be ecstatic. I mean, I thought they were trying to get pregnant at the wedding everybody had been talking about it and I know people make asses of themselves at weddings always trying to insinuate that as soon as you're married it's all about screwing and baby making, but I really thought Phoenix was on board with this…

Obviously the kid's his…so what is the deal?

Maya looked down at her hands that were folded in her lap. "I just didn't expect it to happen so soon. They tell you this stuff could take years." Her eyebrows rose a little. "I guess we don't have any fertility problems."

Oh, God. Please don't get into graphic details about sperm count or something. Then I may have to throw up. I love you guys and you're super cute together and I'm so happy for you, but there is a limit to how much I want to know about Mr. Wright.

"Anyways, Polly, you've got to promise not to tell him."

"No problem. There's no way I'm spilling the beans about this. Un-uh no way. This is between the two of you."

"Good." She said smiling with relief. "Because I'm not telling him until after he takes the bar exam." She bobbed her head with conviction.

I stared at her. The bar exam was in a little over 2 weeks. 2 weeks doesn't sound like a long time in regular time, but I was pretty sure in prego time it was a lot. Especially if she was going to be throwing up the whole time or not wanting to eat or whatever other weird things the I'm-knocked-up hormones do to women in the first few months.

When Maya doesn't eat everybody notices. There is no way she can play it off like everything's normal.

"Maya, I think he's going to know something is up."

Maya nodded but she was determined. "You're right. He probably will, but if I tell Nick he is going to freak out and spend all his time worrying about me and he won't pass the exam. I know this. So, I'll just have to make stuff up until then. And you're going to help me." She said clasping her hand on mine.

The strength with which she was clutching my hand told me that I wasn't going to escape this duty even if it meant I was stuck in the middle of something beyond my control.

I shook my head. "Maya, I love you. And I love Phoenix. I want what's best for both of you, but being an accomplice to hiding a pregnancy isn't on my agenda for the day."

"Please, Polly. Please do this for Nick. You know how important it is for him to get his badge back."

I knew a few things for sure. Lying to Phoenix made me uncomfortable and I also knew that like me he had certain methods for detecting lying so I wasn't even sure this was feasible, but at the same time Maya was right. The thought of Maya pregnant would surely throw him off kilter. After all, he was protective of her almost to the point of obsession, but I figure you couldn't really blame him since she'd been kidnapped, framed for murder, and been the victim of various other nefarious schemes multiple times. Not to mention the fact he spent many years barely getting to see her.

I knew how that felt…I was missing Vera like crazy.

"Fine. I'll do it." I said. "But I won't lie to him. If he guesses and asks, you can lie to him if you want, but I won't."

"Deal." She said throwing her arms around me. "I love you, Polly!"

I grinned. When I first met Mr. Wright he had been a disgraced attorney jailed for a murder he didn't commit barely making ends meet for him and his daughter and he appeared to have the social skills of a turnip. And while he was still broke he had been cleared of all wrong doing in the Graymarye trial and was happily married to a beautiful woman and going to have his first biological kid. I admit it. I like happy endings.

"Is it ok if I tell Vera?"

~xxxx~

Normally I didn't have much to talk to Vera about when we were on the phone together so getting to tell her that Maya and Nick were having a baby was a thrill. When my phone rang with my nightly call from her I felt like I was bursting at the seams to share the news.

"Hey. How's it goin'?" She asked. She was sounding pretty upbeat herself. She must have been making progress.

"Good."

Vera's life in Europe had improved a lot since she had gotten to leave Frank behind in Brussels. Her new partner, Olivier, sounded less intrusive.

"I have news!"

"Oh, let me guess!"

"OK"

"You bought a car."

"No." That would be nice…

"You won the case."

"You already knew that. That's old news now." We spoke to each other daily. I wasn't sure which one of us was having a harder time pretending we weren't still in love with one another.

"Trucy has a boyfriend?"

"No, not that I know of. Do you know something?"

Mental note: interrogate Trucy about potential beaus.

"Ahh…forget I said that. Ok, tell me. What is your spectacular news?"

"Well, it's not really my news, but I thought you'd like to know. Maya's pregnant!"

I didn't pull the phone away from my ear fast enough and I almost fell over in pain from Vera's squeal.

"I'm so happy for them. Mr. Phoenix must be so excited!"

"Well, that's the thing. Don't tell anybody, because he doesn't even know yet. Maya's been acting funny and I figured it out when Maya barfed this afternoon."

"You really don't think Phoenix will figure it out? I mean no offense, but you figured it out and he's her husband."

"I know I would think he could guess it too, but Maya doesn't want to let him know before the exam. You know how he is."

"Yes, he's like you are about me." I wondered if I should say something. Should I let this obvious allusion to my feelings for her get by? Or should I acknowledge that yes I care about her tremendously and therefore find myself fretting about her safety. Ever since we had "broken up" I wasn't sure how I was supposed to feel or act because I was still in love with her. My feelings for her hadn't changed I'd merely been stupid enough to lose my title as her boyfriend and without that status I didn't have a clear idea about what was and wasn't appropriate. I was like a mountain climber scaling a rock wall…during an earthquake.

"Veeeerrrrrrra, I…"

"It's ok, Polly. I don't mean anything bad by it."

Then we were quiet as though giving a moment of silence for our deceased relationship and then Vera squealed and started gushing about babies.

We speculated about what name they'd pick out and how excited Trucy would be to have a sibling. We talked about how little we knew about pregnancy and how cute babies were when they looked like little old men

Honestly, I couldn't believe I was so excited. I like kids well enough. I even volunteered at the foster kids' transitional housing, A Safe Place, on a regular basis but I never would have guessed that having one my friends be pregnant would make me so happy. It made me feel kind-of girly. Like I needed to go "man-up" or something but I realized then that I didn't really know any manly guys.

"They're going to be great parents." Vera said.

Yeah, they will be. If we can just keep Nick from having a heart attack between now and the kid's first birthday.