Ch 12
Saturday morning, the phone rings. Rita grabs it. "Hello?"
"Hello? Mrs. Lorenzo, this is Abby from the photography studio."
"Oh hi."
"Still on for the shoots today?"
"Of course."
"Great. So I'll meet you at the beach at two. Where do you want to meet?"
"We have our spot. It's off Main. There's some big rocks. You can't miss us. I'm in a cast and boot. We'll be there on the bench."
"Great. I'll make sure we get waist up pictures."
"Perfect. Thank you. See you at two."
Rita grabs her crutches and heads to the kitchen. "Hey Chris…"
"Yeah?"
"Can you come get some things for me?"
"Of course."
"What sounds good for breakfast?"
"Whatever you feel like making is good with me."
"Pancakes?"
"Sure."
"What else do you want?"
"What do we have?"
She goes to the freezer. "Hash browns? Tater tots?"
"Hash browns."
She plops the bag on the counter. "Ok. What else?"
"Coffee?"
"Got it in the filter. Can you add the water?"
"You got it."
He comes up behind her and kisses her cheek. "Good morning."
"Good morning." She kisses him. "Where's Sammy?"
"Crib asleep still." Rita looks at the clock. "Check on her please. It's not like her."
He nods and rushes upstairs. He looks in the crib and finds her looking around.
"Hi Sammy. Did you sleep good?"
He changes her and takes her downstairs.
"She was just laying there looking around."
"Oh good."
Chris sits at the bar and leans Sammy against his chest so she can see.
"Hi baby girl. Did you sleep good?" Rita leans over and kisses her cheek.
He smiles and takes her to the swing. He buckled her in and turns it towards the kitchen.
"Ok. Let's get this done and then we should pick out outfits for her and us."
"I know one I want to wear. It's not one of my favorites because I wore it after… and when I saw it I thought of you but it's comfortable and hopefully this will make better memories."
He nods. "Ok. Is it packed up?"
"I think so. Or it's in the closet."
"Ok."
She fixes the pancakes and fries the hash browns.
He comes back around and wraps his arms around her waist.
"Hmm what's that for?"
"Just wanted to."
She leans back in his arms. "Now this…this is what I missed too."
"Me holding you?"
She nods. "Yeah."
He kisses her cheek. "Good to know."
"Can you get the plates?"
He nods and grabs some plates. He puts napkins on one.
"Thanks."
"You're welcome. Coffee?"
"Please."
He pours them each a cup of coffee.
She takes a sip after he puts it by her.
After breakfast, Chris takes Sam up to her crib and comes back down and scoops Rita up in his arms. "I'm going to miss this."
Rita looks at him. "What?"
"When you get your cast off."
"Oh..well you can still do this. I won't complain."
"Ok."
He sets her on the bed. "Ok..tell me what outfit you want.."
"Ok. The first one is that dark pink top with periwinkle blazer and white pants."
He finds the outfit. "This one?"
"Yes. Next one is that dark red long sleeve."
He holds it up.
"That's it. Oh..one more.."
"Hit me."
"That navy and white long sleeve top. Navy pants."
He holds it up.
"Yes. Now I need to try them on to see how I look."
He smiles. "You'll look how you always do. Gorgeous."
"You have to say that.."
"I'd tell you that anyway. Married or not"
"Really?"
"Yes."
"Ok. Now let me help you."
She hands him the white pants. "Thanks."
"That's what I'm here for."
She puts the top and blazer on. "Help me up?"
He helps her up and wraps his arms around her waist.
"Eh. I'm not sure about this one."
"You look beautiful."
"You gotta say that."
"It's the truth. Next one.."
She undresses and puts the dark red outfit on. "Ok. Looks a little better."
"Red is the color of love.."
She smiles and changes into the last outfit. "Now this one…this one is what I wore to the cemetery the last time before I left."
He kisses her cheek. "I'm right here. And I'm not going to leave you."
She wraps her arms over his arms.
"I love them all on you."
"Thanks. What are you going to wear? That might help me decide."
He goes to the closet and finds a white shirt and pink tie and light blue suit. "Here's one to go with the first option."
He digs some more and finds a dark red suit with black shirt and white tie. "And for the red option." He looks and looks. He finally finds a gray suit. "Navy shirt and tie with the blue one."
"Bring all three. We can decide when we get to the office. What are you going to do for the beach?"
He smiles. "I think you'll like this…". He goes in the closet and finds the dark purple shirt and green pants he was wearing when he asked her to marry him at the beach.
She smiles. "Yes! Get my sweater?"
He shows it to her.
"Now..what about Sammy girl?"
Chris helps her up and carries her to the dresser.
"Let's see here…" Rita flips thru her dresser. "What about this?" She shows him the blue and white check sunflower outfit.
"Definitely."
She hands it to him and goes back to hunting. "I know she's…" She smiles. "There it is." She hands him a green onesie and goes back to digging. "And there they are. Purple tights."
"She's gonna be so cute. Which one first?"
"Uh..let's just take her in her sleeper and we can decide when we get there."
"Ok. Are we getting pictures too? I know we are with Sammy but I mean just us?"
"We can.. pick us out an outfit for those."
He flips thru his clothes. "What about this?" He shows her a plain white tshirt and jeans.
"Yes."
"Tank top or shirt for you?"
"Shirt."
"Ok. What shoes?"
"Barefoot. But for the office my black flats and my white ones."
"Got them."
He gets a bag packed with everything for them. "Sammy's bag downstairs?"
"Yeah. Crap."
"It's ok. I'll just put hers in our bag."
He takes the bag downstairs and brings Sammy's bag back up to reload it.
"Ok. Now that's all set. What do you want to do until we have to leave?"
Sammy starts crying.
"Feed her for starters."
Chris picks her up and kisses her cheek. "You hungry baby? " He gets her changed and takes her to Rita.
"Hi baby." She takes her and kisses her cheek.
Sam starts eating like she hasn't all morning.
"Slow down baby. You're the only one getting this milk. No one is taking it from you."
Sam finally slows down and Rita brings her up against her shoulder. "It's ok. Daddy's right there."
Sam drifts off to sleep and sighs.
"Poor baby. She's got to be growing."
Rita nods. "Probably."
"Want to stay up here or go downstairs?"
"Stay here for a bit. Hopefully she'll wake up."
"I hope so."
Later on once they get to the beach, Sammy wakes up and looks around. Rita smiles. "There's my girl. Did you have a good nap?"
Abby walks up. "Mrs. Lorenzo?"
"Yes.."
"I'm Abby."
"Oh hi. Thanks for meeting us. Sam just woke up."
"She's so cute! So what were you thinking?"
"We want some of the three of us.. some of just her and some of just myself and my husband. He actually proposed to me here."
"How sweet! What do you want to do first?"
"Let's get Sammy while she's awake. Then if you'd be ok with her, Chris and I will change into the clothes we had on when he proposed."
"Oh that is so perfect."
Chris comes up. "What is?"
Rita smiles. "Abby thinks it's perfect with us wearing the clothes when you proposed. And did I ever say yes to you?"
He laughs. "You said you had to get used to the question."
Rita nods. "When we do those pictures ask me again and I will tell you my answer."
He nods. Sam kicks her legs. "Sorry baby girl." He takes her and kisses her cheek. "Hi baby."
Abby smiles. "She is a big daddy's girl huh?"
"Oh yes."
"So let's get some of Sam and Daddy while he's got her, then we'll do Mom..then get your proposal recreation and then just mom and dad."
Rita nods. "Sounds good. We want some of just her too."
"Absolutely."
Chris goes over and changes Sammy into her blue and white check sunflower top with jean shorts.
"Oh that is adorable."
Abby sneaks around the other side of Chris and snaps a picture.
He smiles. "Sammy girl…"
Sam looks up at him and tries to smile. "Oh you trying to smile at daddy? Hm? If you have your Mama's smile I'm screwed."
Rita smiles as her eyes tear up.
"Uhoh."
"What?"
"I see those tears.."
"Just glad you're home."
He goes over and kisses her cheek. "No where else I'd rather be."
Abby snaps another picture. She smiles.
Sammy kicks her legs.
Chris laughs. "I'm sorry baby." He holds Sammy out a bit and smiles at her. "How's my baby girl?"
Sammy smiles at him. "Aww what a smile."
He turns her towards Rita. "Mama…"
Sammy smiles at her. "Aw Sammy girl."
He hands her to Rita. "Can you take her while I get the blanket laid out?"
"Sure."
He lays the blanket down and takes Sammy. "Hi pretty. You love the beach huh?"
He leans back and puts Sammy on his chest. "You like that huh? Daddy does too."
Rita smiles. "Got room for me?"
"Always."
He lays Sammy on the blanket and kisses her cheek. "Don't go anywhere Sammy Rose."
Abby snaps another picture. "I can't wait to see how these turn out."
"Same here. Should we change clothes?"
"Not yet. Need some more of you and Sam and the three of you. Then we can do the proposal recreation or the ones of you two."
"Probably the proposal next. Sammy's going to be hungry soon and then she'll be sleepy again for a while."
"Ok."
Chris scoops Rita up and carries her to the blanket. She picks Sammy up. "Hey pretty girl."
Sammy smiles at her. "Your daddy is in so much trouble. You have my eyes and my smile."
Abby snaps pictures. "Ok you guys are easily one of my favorites."
Sammy starts squirming. "Ok baby. Hang on."
Chris grabs the blanket and hands it to Rita.
"Thanks." She gets Sammy settled to nurse and leans back against Chris.
Abby snaps a few pictures of them. "Don't worry. Faces only."
Rita nods. "Thanks."
Chris smiles and kisses her cheek. "You ok?"
"Yeah."
Sammy falls asleep and Rita carefully pulls her away and fixes her top before moving the blanket.
Chris takes her and goes back over to the bench. "Which outfit?"
"Green onesie, purple tights."
"Got it."
She sits up and tries to get up.
"Wait..I'll help you."
Abby snaps some pictures of Rita.
Chris lays Sammy in the stroller. He picks Rita up and holds her close.
She lays her head on his shoulder.
"We should go get changed. Which outfit next?"
"Proposal since Sammy is already dressed for it."
"Ok."
Abby smiles. "I got her. She'll be fine. I promise."
Rita nods. "Thanks. If she starts fussing just roll the stroller. She'll settle back down."
"Got it."
Chris takes Rita over to the car and helps her get her leggings on.
"Thanks."
She looks over at the beach and smiles when she sees Abby snapping pictures of Sam in her stroller asleep and relaxes a bit.
She changes into her sweater and smiles. He digs in the bag and finds the engagement ring. He slips it in his pocket without her seeing. "Ready?"
"Yeah."
He goes around and scoops her up. "I hope I can remember what I said to you."
"It'll come back to you."
He kisses her and holds her close as he walks back to the beach.
"Thanks for watching her Abby."
"You're very welcome. I got some good pictures of her."
He walks over and sets Rita down. "Was it here?"
She nods. "Yeah."
Abby picked Sammy up and brought her over to Rita.
"Oh thank you."
"You're welcome. She matches you two."
"Yeah. Did that on purpose."
Rita kisses Sammy's cheek and lays her on her lap.
Chris walks out to near where he was. "Rita!"
She's so focused on Sammy she doesn't hear him.
"Rita Lee!"
She still doesn't hear him.
"Sammy!"
She still doesn't hear him.
"Rita Lee Lorenzo!"
She looks up and over at him. "Sorry!"
He smiles. "About here?"
She nods. Abby smiles and starts taking pictures. "Why did he call you Sammy?"
"It's our nickname for each other. Sam or Sammy. That's why Samantha for her."
"Oh..I love it. So when he was gone and you were pregnant.."
"We hadn't gotten around to deciding on names yet. I mean we went from partners at work to lovers to pregnant to engaged to newlyweds to split up at work to me thinking I was a widow and having to raise Sam on my own in a matter of weeks."
"Oh my gosh."
"Yeah. So skip ahead to six weeks ago. I had moved to protect Sammy girl and her Grandpa, our captain who you will meet later, convinced me to come back here so they could be with me when she was born. The night before she was born, Chris came home. I went into labor later that night and she was born the next morning."
"Wow."
"Yeah. It's been crazy but I wouldn't trade it for anything."
Chris smiles and walks over to her. "Hey."
"Hi."
She leans over and kisses him. "So far so good."
He smiles at her. "Rita, I love you. Heart and soul, I love you."
"I love you so much Chris."
She smiles and he knows he got the wording right. "Where are you going with this partner?"
"Rita, will you marry me?"
She leans up carefully and hugs him.
"You aren't answering.."
"Haven't gotten used to the question yet."
Abby snaps pictures the entire time.
"And unlike when you did this almost a year ago, I'm saying yes with every beat of my heart."
He smiles and pulls out the engagement ring.
"Christopher.."
"Sammy and I picked it out for you. We just replaced the stones on the side with our birthstones."
She starts crying. "It's absolutely perfect."
"Good."
He kisses her softly and runs his fingers thru her hair.
"I love you Mrs. Lorenzo."
"I love you too."
Abby keeps snapping pictures and tears flow down her cheek.
He kisses Rita's cheek. "You like it?"
"I love it."
Sammy squirms.
"Oops."
Chris pulls back and kisses Sammy's cheek. "I'm sorry Sammy girl."
He picks her up and holds her as he holds Rita.
Abby snaps a picture and smiles. "Do you want to get the ones of you two here or.."
"Oh. Uh. Let's do them at the station."
She nods. "Ok."
Chris kisses Rita's cheek and goes to put Sammy in the stroller. Abby smiles and goes over to her while Chris helps Rita up.
"Thank you."
"You're welcome. You good while I get the blanket?"
"Yeah. I'm good."
Chris picks the blanket up and shakes it out.
He hands her the crutches.
"Ready to go?"
"Yeah. I'll call Cap and Frannie on the way over to the station."
"Ok."
He goes over to the stroller. "Thanks for staying with her."
"You're very welcome."
"We are a little over protective."
"I get that."
Abby loads her stuff up. "Ok when I get to the station, where do I go?"
Rita smiles. "Just wait for us. We'll go in a different door."
"Ok."
Chris loads Sammy in and helps Rita.
"We'll meet you there."
"See you there."
Chris gets in the car and starts heading towards the station.
Rita grabs her phone and calls Harry.
"Yeah."
"Well hello to you too."
"Hi Rita. You guys ok?"
"Yeah we are good. I'm going to see how my ankle feels when I'm at the range. You up for a challenge?"
"You're on."
"Bring Frannie. We'll go out for a late lunch after."
"Sounds good. See you in a bit."
"See you then."
She hangs up and smiles. "They are on the way."
"Great. They will be surprised."
"Yes they will."
Chris pulls in the parking lot and parks. He grabs the crutches and stroller out of the trunk.
"Here you go."
"Thanks."
He holds his hand out for her and she takes it.
"Got it?"
"All good."
He gets Sammy out and Rita smiles. He puts her in the stroller. He puts the bags on his shoulders.
"After you."
Rita starts walking towards the door. Chris opens it for her and lets her go in. He follows with Sammy.
Abby follows behind.
Chris opens the door for Rita and Abby. "Thanks."
"These were our desks when we were here. Rita's been promoted since so she has her office now."
"That's great. So how do you want to do these shots?"
"We thought she could be at Rita's old desk and we could be like we used to be. Me sitting down and Rita either beside me or on the desk."
Abby nods. "Perfect. I have a seat we can prop her up in."
Holly comes in. "Hey Sammy girl."
Chris shakes his head. "Yeah. We're chopped liver."
Harry and Frannie come in. "What's going on?"
Rita smiles. "Pictures. We wanted to surprise you."
He smiles at Sammy. "Hi pretty girl."
Sam wakes up and looks around. She smiles at Harry. "Aw that's a pretty smile."
Chris subtly nods at Abby. She starts snapping pictures.
Rita smiles. "Hey Chris, can you grab the outfits for me please? I'll go in my office and change."
"Of course."
Holly sees the new ring on Rita's hand. "What is that?"
"Oh, Chris didn't have an engagement ring when he proposed so he and Sammy picked it out for me."
"Aw that's sweet."
"Yeah. Her birthstone and his."
Chris takes the bag to her office. "Which one are you starting with?"
"I think the red one. Then we'll do the coral one in the interrogation room and the last one here."
"Sounds good to me."
"Did we pack outfits for Sammy?"
He looks thru the bag. "Yeah. Red, black tights, coral top and shorts and navy and white top with the black tights from the red top."
"Perfect."
He helps her change and quickly changes. "Time to get Sam changed."
Rita nods. "Ok."
She follows him out. Sam sees her and starts kicking her legs.
"Hi baby girl. Time to get you changed."
Frannie comes in. "Harry..what."
Sam kicks her legs. Frannie smiles. "Hi pretty girl."
Chris picks her up and starts getting her changed. Abby gets the seat to prop Sammy up.
Rita smiles and gets an empty file folder and puts it on Sam's lap and put a capped pen in her hand.
Chris smiles. "She looks official now."
Rita sits in the chair and Chris leans down like they would do once in a while. Abby snaps the picture from different angles.
Harry smiles. "Bring her in my office. We can set her up in the chair like she's giving me a briefing."
"Oh that would be cute!"
Chris kisses Rita's cheek. "Be back."
Frannie smiles. "This is a great idea you guys had."
Rita smiles. "Thanks. I feel bad for tricking Cap though. But we didn't want you to know why we wanted you up here."
"Oh it's fine." She sees Rita's ring. "Is that new?"
Rita nods. "Yeah. Everything happened so quick last year that Chris didn't get to get me an engagement ring. It's his birthstone and her birthstone on the sides."
"Oh how sweet!"
"Before this we were at the beach and we recreated him asking me. Last time I didn't say anything. Just hugged him. But this time, we wore the same clothes. He said the same thing except this time I told him yes."
"Aww that has to be the sweetest thing ever."
"When they are done, we're going to set her up in my office and then we'll take her to interrogation and interrogate her."
"Oh my gosh. Now that is so you guys."
"Thanks. We need to get some pictures with you too."
"Ok. We'll figure that out."
Chris comes back over. "Hey..you two talking about me?"
Rita smiles. "Yeah. About how sweet you are." She kisses his cheek.
He wraps his arms around her. "Oh really? You ready to get changed for the next one while they finish up?"
"Sure. She doing ok?"
Chris nods. "Yeah. She's doing great."
He scoops Rita up and carries her to her office.
"Which one next?"
"Pink. We'll do her set up in here behind my desk next with that same outfit she's got on."
"Ok."
They change and as they walk out Harry brings a fussy Sam out.
"Oh she's probably hungry."
Rita goes back in her office and Chris brings Sammy. "We'll be back in a bit."
"Ok."
He walks out of the office. "Sorry about that Abby. She's going thru a growth spurt or something."
"No problem. I don't have anything after this so it's fine."
After Sammy finishes, Rita covers her ears. "Lorenzo! My office!"
Chris laughs. "She likes doing that."
Abby follows and smiles. "Oh that is adorable." She snaps a few pictures.
Chris takes Sam and changes her. "Which room?"
Rita smiles. "Three."
He nods. "This way Abby."
Rita follows and smiles at Sam. "Oh she's so cute."
"Yes she is. And I'm in trouble."
"For sure. You're sunk if we both flash our smile at you."
Abby gets Sam situated. Rita sits down and Chris leans over the corner.
"So perfect."
Abby snaps different angles.
Rita smiles. "Ok. My office with her behind my desk and some with Harry and Frannie. And we'll be done."
Chris nods. "Sounds good."
