'Hey big daddy.'

Shane grinned as he saw Ryan and Adam come into his autopsy theatre, his current customer the homicide victim found at the Glecha Cafe in Little Odessa. He set aside the surgical tools he was using to remove Mister Olek Banadinovic's liver from his usual spot, squinting in confusion.

'Where are your work wives?' he asked them; this pair only together worked when one had their other half out sick.

'Javi's gone to Puerto Rico with his parents to help with some stuff for the bakery so he's back on the roll tomorrow and Watkins is...on a personal day,' Adam replied after a moment's hesitation, something neither Ryan nor Shane missed.

'Adam, what's going on? Is the baby okay?'

'I'm not really comfortable to say anything just yet,' he said honestly, with just a tinge of sadness in his voice. 'It's not my place to go around talking about my partner's business when she is uncertain of things for herself.'

'Are things okay with her and Brie?' When Shane received dead silence as a response, he swore lightly as he pulled off his gloves. 'Damn. I knew something was up when she came for cards night.'

'Should we be worried?' Ryan added, thinking of how tense Watkins had seemed; they'd all just brushed it off as new-mommy nerves which had him kicking himself. 'Does she need help?'

'I don't know yet, it's...' Adam trailed off, dragged a hand through his dark hair. 'She said that Brie isn't who she thought she was, which sounds kinda melodramatic and cheesy, but part of me can't shake the feeling that it's her round-about way of saying that Brie was unfaithful.'

'Shit.' Shane closed his eyes, shook his head. 'Another woman?'

'My guess is the sperm donor, Marcus Calley. Watkins said she trusted Brie that nothing ever happened between them. Brie's bisexual, right, but Watkins has only ever dated women-'

'So it's hard to think of the idea that what you have isn't enough,' Shane concluded. 'That you are replaceable by something different, something better.'

'I think everyone feels that at some point though,' Ryan pointed out. 'It happens to friends when one has a new lover and the other fears being forgotten, or when a friend makes a new friend because they switched schools or jobs or something. Dell went through that when Tessi started school.'

'Really?'

'Hell yeah, poor kid's sugar was a mess, he was completely convinced that Tessi would meet a new best boy friend and she'd lose her affection for him. But as Tessi pointed out, he was just from school and they have a special relationship that no one can change. He got it together after that, especially when I also reminded him that Tessi had to face the same thing with him starting school before her.' Ryan shook his head. 'I didn't have the heart to tell either of them that it doesn't go away when you get bigger, it just changes as you grow up.'

'Either way, I think our girls could be a great help for Watkins since she mentioned that her other two people, Sascha and Emily, are still in Denver.'

'Will they be back for the birth?' Adam asked, knowing Lindsay was planning something with Alexis, Meredeth and Lanie for Watkins.

'For sure, Tommy's done filming March first, Sascha and Watkins are both due in May.'

'That must be some kind of hell to go through,' Shane commented, 'to feel like your world is falling apart and the people you need most are off having fun without you.'

'Well look at you and Alexis.'

Ryan's words had Shane pausing as he went to the bench to get a folder each for them. 'How do you mean?'

'I mean when you two first got together, you were there for like what, a month? Then you were five time zones apart for five months or so, you working here and her in England studying for med school. You were just in the new glow phase of your relationship and then mainly communicating by Skype and email and texting.' Ryan gave a shrug. 'Watkins is going through a life event right now and probably could use her girls and they're out in Denver on a movie set. More than likely she is feeling very left out and alone, especially given the nature of her job versus her friends' occupations.'

'Sascha is also pregnant, just a few weeks ahead of Watkins and she has had her own things to deal with. Emily too,' Shane reminded them. 'No-one is perfect, which is something Watkins seems to always expect of herself, so when she sees herself as failing, others see her as putting too much pressure on herself to begin with.'

'I forget is it you or Alexis that went through therapy?' Adam teased him, then stepped away to take a call as his cellphone rang shrilly.

'We've gone to a family group support as well as had our own individual sessions. Alexis is still going, but that's not the point.' Shane handed over the files, headed for his mini-fridge for a cold drink. 'The point is that we have all been through shit that we've all dealt with differently, and Watkins needs to know that we are her friends and here for her, whatever is going on, and we'll help her however we can.'

'You think Watkins would ask for help?' Ryan asked incredulously. 'Do you remember her in uniform? All that quoting the police code and the yes-sir-no-sir shit she pulled during the Pure Spirits case? And then when she was passed out and hospitalized from the injection in the neck she took she told us all to stop babying her?'

'Yep, I do which is why we won't ask if she wants help, we're just going to steam roll her with love.'

'Well, we can start now.' Adam stepped back, face pale. 'That was Cam George. Watkins is in the Er at Washington Memorial.'