Chapter 70: Ripple Effect

Jamie is sitting on the couch watching sports when Eddie walks over with her computer tablet and lowers herself to the couch to sit next to him. Once she is settled, she simply holds the tablet out in front of him.

"And this is?" Jamie prompts.

Eddie heavily sighs and shrugs but just gestures for him to take it.

He does and looks at the screen. There he sees a vehicle ad for a Porsche SUV.

Jamie raises an eyebrow.

"If I'm trading my baby in…" Eddie explains in defeat "…I still want a Porsche."

"Sure." Jamie accepts "Just one question – how will we be paying for that?"

Eddie sighs "Weirdly Porsche SUV's are a fraction of the cost of what cars like my baby was worth. I say WAS because it sucks that baby is now only worth like 10% of what she was new."

"I don't think we should trade her in." Jamie states.

"What?" Eddie states in surprise.

"There is really no financial gain to doing that." Jamie points out "She's worth more to us then a couple of grand so I say keep her."

Eddie narrows her eyes at her husband "So we're just going to have an extra car?"

"She's not an extra car." Jamie immediately defends "She's a Porsche – vintage now no less."

Eddie chuckles at her husband's protectiveness over her car "But we still get an SUV?"

Jamie nods yes "We can make it work, I've been crunching some numbers."

A happy smile creeps up onto Eddie's face "I knew I married you for a reason!"

"Oh so it wasn't for love or anything." Jamie challenges.

Eddie nonchalantly shrugs "Yeah that too." She flippantly states before flashing her husband her best grin.

"Hmmm." Jamie mutters with a chuckle and shake of his head.

Suddenly Jamie's cell phone starts to ring. He pulls it out to see Rosa's name so he turns the phone towards Eddie "Rosa or Mia?" he asks.

"Hmmm." Eddie ponders "Tough call…"

Shrugging Jamie answers his phone "Hello."

"Hi Uncle Jamie!" Mia brightly greets.

Jamie looks at his wife "Hi Mia." He returns.

"I knew it." Eddie rushes out in a hush to herself "I should have just called it."

"What's up?" Jamie continues.

"You busy?" Mia sweetly questions.

"Why?" Jamie suspiciously counters.

"Well if you're not busy…" Mia begins "…I was wondering if it would be possible to maybe, possibly, you know… head to Donovan's..."

"Oh, you want to go to Donovan's." Jamie repeats for Eddie's benefit.

Eddie makes an impressed expression.

"Well I'll need to check with your Aunt." Jamie begins causing Eddie's expression to change to one of confusion as she silently asks him 'why?'

"She usually likes to plan things for me without telling me." Jamie explains into the phone causing Eddie's expression to once again change to one of disbelief as she swats at her husband's arm in protest causing Jamie to silently laugh and move out of her reach.

"HE'S FREE!" Eddie loudly calls out towards Jamie's phone before pondering something "In fact… I think I'll come too." She decides causing Jamie to turn his head to curiously look at her.

"What?" Eddie challenges "You don't want me coming?"

Slowly a smile creeps up onto Jamie's face "No, not at all, fine by me."

"Okay…" Mia interrupts "I can't hear what Aunt Eddie is saying. What's she saying?"

"She says she wants to come too." Jamie replies.

"COOL!" Mia replies before Jamie hears a very loud "MOM! UNCLE JAMIE AND AUNT EDDIE ARE GOING TO TAKE ME BOXING! IS THAT OKAY?"

"WHEN?" Jamie hears Rosa's voice reply in the distance over the phone.

"NOW!" Mia's loud voice sounds again.

"NOW?" Rosa tries to confirm in surprise.

"YES NOW!" MIA confirms.

"Well give us like 30 minutes to get there." Jamie corrects as he looks at Eddie to confirm that works.

Eddie nods then gets up and disappears through the archway into the bedrooms.

"Yeah 30 minutes." Jamie confirms.

"OKAY IN 30 MINUTES!" Mia calls out to her Mom.

"OKAY!" Rosa's voice returns.

"Okay see you in 30 minutes." Mia states to Jamie "Oh and can you bring my gloves? Donovan's is cool but the gloves I borrowed last time were stinky."

"Sure." Jamie replies with a laugh.

"Thanks!" Mia quips "See you soon!" She adds before simply hanging up.

Lowering his abruptly disconnected cellphone, Jamie shakes his head in amusement as he reaches over, picks up the remote, turns the TV off then gets up and heads to the cupboard in the living room "Okay guess we're going boxing." he adds as he opens the door and pulls out Mia's gloves.

"Ready!" Eddie's voice suddenly sounds.

Turning, Jamie's sees his wife heading for the apartment door already dressed in work out gear with a gym bag slung over her shoulder.

"How in the hell did you do that?" he seriously wonders knowing how long it usually takes her to change.

"I changed my clothes." Eddie counters like it's nothing as she drops the bag to the floor so she can use both hands to begin pulling her hair back into a ponytail "What's the big deal?"

But Jamie doesn't answer, instead a slow smile creeps up onto his face as he watches his wife.

"What?" Eddie presses at seeing his look.

"Was just remembering the first time you came to Donovan's with me."

For a moment Eddie stills her hand movements mid loop of the pony tail as a slow smile creeps up on her face as well. The next second she continues on to finish the loop "First time I came with you or first time you invited me and I came after the bust?" she tries to clarify.

Jamie's smile grows "The bust."

"Ah." Eddie notes as her nose scrunches up "Probably shouldn't talk or even think about that in front of Mia."

"Definitely not." Jamie easily agrees as he moves towards the door "Not exactly PG rated."

"But you can meet me at Donovan's in an hour." Eddie recites back to her husband as she watches him walk right up to and stand before her "You can hit me there."

Jamie grins at his wife.

FLASHBACK - 2019

Jamie stands in front of a boxing bag at Donovan's getting a good work out when Eddie walks up behind him

"I hope that offer still stands."

Jamie immediately stops punching and moves to still the bag as he turns his head backwards. A grin creeps up on his face when his sees his fiancée before him dressed for a workout with her hands hidden behind her back "Of course..."

"Good." Eddie accepts as she moves her right hand out from behind her back to reveal she is already wearing boxing gloves and she launches a right hook at Jamie's arm.

"Hey!" he protests as she makes contact.

Eddie flashes him an arrogant smile "One point me." She announces before turns to walk towards an empty boxing ring.

Huffing out a breath of air at her posturing, Jamie moves to follow "So not how it works."

"Really oh great guru of boxing." Eddie counters as she briefly glances backwards "How does it work then?"

"Well first you have to be in a ring." Jamie explains.

"Hmmm." Eddie muses as she stops walking and turns to face her fiancé "I thought I was in a ring."

Jamie comes to a stop before his fiancée and a smirk plays on his face as he picks up on her double meaning "Oh you definitely are but I'm talking that ring." He clarifies as he gestures towards the boxing ring "Not the one on your finger – wait are you still wearing that inside your glove?"

Eddie shrugs "Maybe. Maybe not."

"What kind of answer is that?" Jamie challenges.

"One that keep you on your toes." Eddie tosses back.

"You have no problem doing that." Jamie admits.

"I know." Eddie smugly concurs.

Beat as Jamie and Eddie stare at one another and the heat between them crackles.

"There's a reason we've never done this before." Eddie finally offers stating the obvious.

"Yup." Jamie easily agrees before leaning down towards her ear "Cuz pretty sure if we had we would have landed between the sheets a heck of a lot earlier then we did."

A pout appears on Eddie's face "Oh boo." she realizes now in regret causing Jamie to heartily laugh "Come on." he prompts as he takes the final steps to get to a ring and he holds two of the ropes open inviting Eddie to step through but as she passes she pauses to look up at him "You're going down."

Jamie gets a mock shocked expression on his face as he follows her into the ring "Why Miss Janko! I am well aware of how much you like that but we are in public!"

Eddie's mouth drops open as she turns to face Jamie and a look of pure determination appears on her face at her future husband's twisting of her words before smiling innocently at her.

"And here I thought you were such a nice guy." Eddie tosses out.

"Oh please." Jamie scoffs "You like bad me – no no wait…" he corrects "…like isn't the right word – its another word that starts with L though…"

"Laugh at." Eddie flatly deadpans.

"No that isn't it either." Jamie dismisses "Oh right, pretty sure it's love."

"Just pretty sure huh?" Eddie challenges "That leaves room for error." She warns.

"No error here." Jamie sincerely promises "100% all in."

Eddie purses her lips together and her heart can't help but skip a beat at the way Jamie can turn their banter into a full out declaration of love in the blink of an eye "You really are good at persuasion, aren't you?"

Jamie gives a slight shrug of his shoulders in deflection "Okay now the rules…"

"No face shots." Eddie immediately and seriously decides "We have a wedding coming up."

"Agreed." Jamie accepts.

"And no shoulder shots – or arm shots for me either." Eddie quickly tacks on "My dress is off the shoulders and sleeveless."

"Again your telling me what it looks like." Jamie points out.

"Well its not like I told you the color."

Jamie looks at his fiancée confused "Um white?"

"Is it?" Eddie challenges.

Jamie gives Eddie a questioning look.

"See got you questioning what it looks like now don't I? Maybe its blue for the NYPD!" She adds with dancing eyes.

Jamie roll his eyes at his soon to be wife "Unbelievable." he mutters not believing a word she's saying "Just remember this is boxing not kick boxing okay."

"Oh don't worry." Eddie promises "Your jewels are now my jewels and I'm definitely looking to use them later."

A cocky arrogant grin creeps up on Jamie's face "Alrighty then." He quips as the sparks fly between the couple and he smacks his gloved hands together "Let's do this."

"I thought we already were." Eddie smugly points out.

Jamie looks at his fiancée and licks his lips "Definitely a reason we didn't do this earlier." He agrees as he and Eddie both take their stances.

They begin to box.

"So did a little recon when I arrived..." Eddie nonchalantly states as they flip back and forth between jabbing and blocking at one another "Notice anything?"

"No what?" Jamie replies as they keep the match civil.

"I'm currently the only female here." Eddie explains as she punches and Jamie blocks.

"So?" Jamie counters as he punches and Eddie blocks.

"That means I get a locker room all to my little lonesome." Eddie seductively points out causing Jamie's mind to lose focus on the match and immediately read between the lines allowing Eddie to pull her arm back and sends a glove into his stomach.

"Umph." Jamie breathes out caught off guard.

"Another point me." Eddie simply states "You seem a bit off your game there Jamie…" she then sweetly adds as she takes a step towards him "Everything okay?" but in an instant Jamie reaches out and somehow has Eddie turned around and her back pinned to his chest.

"Well this isn't boxing!" Eddie begins to laugh but then she pauses "Wait…" She lowly questions when she feels something press into her so she turns her head slightly to the side towards Jamie's ear "Are you wearing a cup?"

"No." Jamie whispers back "So you tell me if everything is okay."

A satisfied grin creeps up on Eddie face "Definitely okay." Eddie states as she pushes herself off of Jamie and Jamie let's her go so she can take a few steps, turn and face him "Shall we continue?" She questions as she raises her arms and takes her stance again "Play your cards right and I might need a shower too."

Jamie sucks in a breath of air as he moves into start position as well "Yup, always knew this would be very, very dangerous."

….

"That…" Eddie states as she walks up to the door to the women's change room and turns around to face Jamie behind her "…was a lot of…fun." She adds - her last work dripping with innuendo.

"Hmmm." Jamie muses in agreement with a nod of his head but then Eddie leans slightly towards him

"We could have even more fun if you come inside." She prompts before leaning her back against the door and looking at her fiancé in hopeful anticipation.

Jamie groans in desire at her words and drops his forearm on the door beside Eddie's head in defeat "God Eddie." he mutters "You are not making this easy. Just hurry up and change and we'll go home."

"Such a boy scout." Eddie seductively taunts in a whisper causing Jamie to huff out a sexually frustrated laugh.

"You like that I'm a boy scout." He heatedly counters right back.

"Hmmm." Eddie now muses in return "Sometimes." She cordially agrees "But other times…" She adds with a lick of her lips as the couple continue to heatedly stare at one another "Last chance." Eddie offers.

For a moment Eddie can see a hint of waiver on Jamie's face but then he just gives his head a shake no.

"I want too Eddie." Jamie promises "Believe me I want too but…"

"I know." Eddie sighs "It's just not you."

Jamie offers his fiancée an apologetic look "Can you live with that?"

"Hmmmm." Eddie muses "Didn't you ask me that last week? And what did I tell you then?"

Jamie heavily sighs "If I have too." He replies.

"Same answer still applies." Eddie reassures him "So seeing as that's the case, I'm just going to go head inside here now to change."

"Okay." Jamie accepts but he makes no move to back himself off and away from the door so Eddie simply reaches behind her for the door knob. She slowly opens it forcing Jamie to have to remove his arm and stand back up supporting his own body weight.

Eddie takes a couple steps back into the room while holding the door open "You're probably going to want to head to the guy's locker room now." She prompts.

"Yup." Jamie easily agrees but again he makes no move to leave.

Eddie eyes her soon to be husband and she can see the want in his eyes but she also sees that very familiar Reagan restraint she's become so well acquainted with so rolling her eyes, she reaches out and grabs a fistful of Jamie's shirt knowing once again, she'll have to take the lead on this one "Get in here already." She demands as she pulls him into the room with her and into a heated kiss that Jamie does not resist.

"We really shouldn't do this here." Jamie states between kisses as between the two of them they shut and lock the door.

"Of course not." Eddie agrees "But we're going to anyway."

"Okay." Jamie simply relents before pushing his fiancée's back into the door and continuing to kiss her…

END OF FLASHBACK

Jamie and Eddie silently stand extremely close together facing one another both deep in thought of the same memory.

"Locker room at Donovan's." Jamie finally murmurs into his wife's ear.

"Hmmm." Eddie absently agrees as her hand plays with the material on her husband's shirt.

"Weirdest place I've ever had sex…" Jamie begins to explain finally answering the question she asked him in the pool on vacation "Is in the locker room at Donovan's with you."

Eddie groans in desire at the admission as she drops her head to his chest "We have to be at Rosa's in 30 minutes."

"Yup." Jamie agrees with a defeated pop of the 'P' "Mia is expecting us."

So sighing Eddie pulls away from her husband "You really had to go bringing that memory up didn't you?"

"It's a great memory." Jamie defends as he reaches down to pick up Eddie's bag and then grab his own.

"Not when we are going back to the scene of the crime with our god daughter in tow!" Eddie counters in frustration as Jamie hands her her bag.

"You're pregnant." Jamie points out and the couple starts for the door "Wasn't gonna happen anyway."

Eddie sighs in defeat "I know."

…..

Rosa sits inside her apartment at her table with papers, bills and receipts everywhere. She looks up when she hears a key in the lock and sees the door open.

"We're back!" Mia greets her Mother as she enters with Jamie and Eddie following suit.

"How was boxing?" Rosa inquires.

"Got a one, two…" Mia demonstrates "Knock out!"

Rosa raises her eyebrows.

"On the bag." Mia quickly promises "I got a knock out on the bag. What are you doing?"

Rosa plasters a smile on her face "Nothing important. You hungry?"

"She shouldn't be." Eddie laughs as Jamie eyes Rosa "We fed her."

Rosa nods.

"REAGAN!" Mia calls "I'm home!"

"Last I saw he was napping in your room." Rosa offers.

"K." Mia accepts as she heads that way.

"Rosa?" Jamie cautiously begins "Everything okay?"

"Yeah, yeah, it's fine." Rosa dismisses as she again plasters a smile on her face.

Now Eddie eyes Rosa "You realize your talking to a Sergeant and a Lieutenant right? We're kind of trained to know when people are lying."

The smile drops from Rosa's face and she heavily sighs "Just going over bills and trying to figure out how to pay for it all."

"Oh." Eddie breathes out.

"Look it's nothing you guys have to worry about okay, I'll figure it out." Rosa promises as she flashes another smile "Always have."

Jamie however continues to eye her "How bad?" he presses.

Rosa again sighs as she looks down at the table "Bad." She admits "I was already riding the line as I tried to get my daycare service off the ground but then me being in the hospital for a month – those bills came." She add as she holds up some papers "And well that just kind of sunk me under. I lost a few kids that I had to other daycare services when that happened and now I just can't seem get back across that line. Due. Past Due. Overdue." she lists as she lifts bill after bill after bill "Final notice. You name it, I got it."

"Rosa…" Eddie breathes out in despair "Why didn't you say anything?"

"Because it's my problem." Rosa replies.

Eddie stares at Rosa a moment then turns to look at Jamie in disbelief "I'm sorry, did she just say it was her problem?"

Jamie nods then looks at Rosa "Now you've done it."

Rosa looks at Jamie confused "Done what?"

"You've offended her." Jamie explains "Do you have ANY idea how much it takes to actually offend her? It's a lot."

"Rosa we are Mia's godparents." Eddie points out "So that makes us all family."

"And the number one rule is you never mix money and family." Rosa defends.

"Okay I found him." Mia interrupts as she walks back out into the room with Reagan in her arms "He was sleeping under the bed."

Jamie, Eddie and Rosa all plaster smiles on their faces.

Reagan squirms to get out of Mia's arms and walks over to Jamie and Eddie.

"Hi Buddy!" Eddie greets.

"Meow!" Reagan replies as he rubs up against their legs.

"He is such a charmer." Eddie notes.

Mia grins "I know! He's the best!"

Jamie notices Rosa offer a sad half smile as she looks at her daughter and her cat and he realizes with her already strapped for cash having a pet to feed as well must add to the hardship.

"Oh Aunt Eddie come on!" Mia suddenly prompts "I want to show you what I did with my hat!"

"Okay coming." Eddie accepts as the duo disappear into Mia's room with Reagan trailing along.

Jamie turns to Rosa "Must be even harder having a cat to feed."

Rosa sighs "Mia loves that cat – I do too. Even I have to skip a meal or two – he stays."

"Rosa…" Jamie sighs "If you need…"

"No." Rosa rejects cutting him off "I'll figure it out. Always have, always will." She repeats.

Jamie again sighs.

…..

"I wish we could help them." Eddie sighs as she and Jamie walk back to the car.

"When you and Mia went in her room, I tried." Jamie states "She was having none of it."

Eddie sighs again in defeat.

...