It had been four months since Jamie and Eddie had gotten married and settled into life as a family. Eddie had officially adopted Chelsea and was no longer just her mother in name only. Like she had done with Barry, Eddie signed her police officer's death benefits to Jamie should she be killed in the line of duty and, likewise, Jamie signed his death benefits to her should he be killed in the line of duty.
When Eddie signed the paper as the Beneficiary of Jamie's death benefits, she paused.
"You okay?" Jamie asked.
"Now I know how Barry felt when he signed this," she said.
Jamie squeezed her hand.
"It's just a – "
"Precaution, I know," Eddie said with a smile. "That's also what I told Barry."
"But now with Chelsea, this will serve as an extra layer of protection," he said, "for both you and her."
Eddie nodded, sighed, and signed above the dotted line.
Aside from such a somewhat somber moment, though, the four months were a happy time for the relatively young family of three. In the evening hours when they weren't on the job and Chelsea was sound asleep, they'd try to make it a family of four.
One night, Eddie checked on Chelsea in her room, tip-toeing to see her daughter sound asleep. She grinned and quickly tip-toed out of the room and saw Jamie waiting in the hallway as she gently closed her daughter's bedroom door.
"Well?" Jamie whispered.
Eddie answered by tenderly kissing his neck.
"She's sound asleep," she mumbled in between her kisses.
"Mmmm, nice!" Jamie said.
"Chelsea sleeping…" Eddie said as she continued to kiss his neck, "or what I'm doing to you right now?"
"Both!" he said emphatically.
"Good answer," Eddie said.
She wrapped her legs around his waist as they continued to kiss and make their way to the bedroom…
They laid there in the aftermath, holding each other. Eddie laid her head on Jamie's chest, stroking him with her free hand.
A moment of inspiration struck.
"Let's make a pact right here and now," she said, lifting her head to look at her husband.
"O… kay?" Jamie said, not quite sure where this was going.
Eddie snickered and lightly kissed his chest.
"I promise it's good," she said.
"You keep kissing me like that," he said, "and I might agree to damn near anything."
Eddie's smile disappeared as she looked at Jamie in the eye with utmost sincerity.
"I want to have a baby," she said, "but I don't want sex to become a chore. I hear too many stories about what was supposed to be a beautiful act of creating life becoming monotonous and tedious and the husband resents the wife, and the wife resents the husband."
Jamie nodded.
"I don't want that, either," he confessed. "So, let's focus on the love making and let the pregnancy happen when it happens."
Eddie giggled.
"Awwww," she gushed. "Is that what we're doing?"
"What?" Jamie asked.
"Making luuvvvvvvv," Eddie teased.
"C'mon," Jamie protested, trying to hide a smile.
"No, it just warms my heart that we're making luuuuu-uuuuuvvvvvv," she said in a sing-song manner.
Jamie smiled and quickly leaned in to kiss his bride.
Eddie's eyes went wide, but then closed as she surrendered to the bliss, her lips dancing with Jamie's.
She opened her eyes and looked into her husband's eyes of blue, lost in them like she had been years ago when they first met.
"Jamie…" she said quietly, all traces of slapstick gone. "Make love to me."
Jamie obliged as his body leaned in closer to hers and her legs became intertwined with his.
"Daddy?"
Jamie and Eddie pulled away.
"Mommy?"
A silhouette of their daughter stood in the doorway.
Eddie quickly pulled up the covers.
"Chelsea, baby, are… are you okay?" Eddie asked.
"I had bad dream," Chelsea whimpered, sniffling.
Jamie sighed.
"I'll take care of it," he said.
"Honey, go back to your room," Eddie instructed, "and Daddy will be there in a minute."
Chelsea sniffled.
"O… kay," she whimpered, turning to walk to her room.
Jamie and Eddie turned to look at each other.
They both covered their mouths, stifling their laughter.
"Wow!" Eddie whisper-yelled.
"Holy crap!" Jamie whisper-yelled in agreement.
"That was too close!" Eddie said in a more normal tone.
Jamie shook his head in wonderment as he put on a pair of night shorts and a T-shirt and headed to Chelsea's room.
"What happened, honey?" he asked Chelsea.
Eddie listened over the monitor.
"Monsters chasing me, try to come in to 'partment," Chelsea said.
"Well, you know mommy and daddy won't let that happen," Jamie assured her.
"Sleep with you?" she asked.
"No, sweetheart," he said, "but I'll stay here until you fall asleep, okay?"
"Pwomise?"
"Promise," Jamie said.
A half hour later, Jamie walked in to see Eddie in her robe.
"Come here," she said, arms open for a hug.
Jamie and Eddie embraced.
"Good job, Daddy," she said, kissing him on the cheek.
She yawned.
"Bedtime?" he said.
"Yep."
"Sooo… Raincheck on the… You know."
Eddie looked at her husband apologetically.
"I'm sorry, but I have to if I want energy for tour tomorrow," she said.
Jamie nodded.
"No worries," he said.
As they got into bed, they kissed each other good night.
"Love you," Jamie said.
"Love you," Eddie said.
As she drifted off to sleep, Eddie thought about what can happen in a person's life when they least expect it. Here she once thought it would never happen with her and Jamie, so she chose Barry. And it was a choice she never regretted as theirs was an amazing love story, one she'd always hold in her heart. It was the type of love where you think this is your once-in-a-lifetime love and you will grow old together. And most people get to live that out all over the world and good for them, seriously.
But sometimes, tragedy happens. And the person you thought you'd grow old with is taken from you in an act of violence… Or dies while giving birth to a baby.
It's the closest thing to Hell on Earth.
And you have to work through it in your own way. You'll never do it perfectly, but you do have to do the work nevertheless.
Then one day, you look up and the person you thought it could never happen with is there. And it's awkward and it's messy and boundaries need to be set for your emotional safety and his, but that thing is there and it is real.
This is what can happen when you take back your life.
This is what can happen when you open up your heart again.
This is what can happen when love comes twice.
THE END
A/N: Thank you so much for going on this journey with me. I appreciate the support and I also appreciate those that did not support me as it motivated me to keep going and write my story. I am contemplating a sequel, but nothing concrete just yet. Until then, I might post a couple of one-shot fanfics that are Blue Bloods related. Or maybe not. We'll see.
Again, thank you.