A/N: Ah, time to get back to my usual lighthearted updates. This one is like a breath of fresh air compared to the heaviness of my Sink or Swim updates! LOL.
Chapter 14: The Right Thing To Do
Jamie and Eddie are in their kitchen doing dishes - Eddie washing and Jamie drying - when suddenly Eddie – as she hands a dish to her husband – decides "We should do something nice for Erin and Jack."
"Why?" Jamie simply queries as he takes the dish and starts to wipe.
"Because…" Eddie explains as she washed another dish "…they delayed telling everyone they got remarried so as to not to step on our moment when we announced we are were having a baby."
"So?" Jamie challenges as the takes the next dish Eddie offers him.
"So?" Eddie repeats as she stops washing to look at her husband "It's the right thing to do."
Jamie scrunches his face up in disagreement "Again why?" he presses "They announced it the next week." He reasons "Everything is fine." He dismisses.
But Eddie shakes her head in rejection of that notion "No. Sean giving your Dad that picture just reminded me that Nicky wasn't there. Nicky should have been there for that announcement." She insists as she goes back to washing the next dish "So as a way to apologize and thank them…" She decides "…we should take them out to dinner."
Jamie heavily sighs at his wife just not letting this go "Do we have too?" he whines "I love my sister but a night out with her and Jack…"
"Will be fun!" Eddie enthusiastically finishes as she flips the next dish out to him.
"Fun?" Jamie challenges in exasperation as he swipes it out of her hand "Ah, no." He flat out rejects as he begins wiping the dish with a little more vigor then needed due to his growing level of anxiety.
"Yes!" Eddie insists.
"No!" Jamie feverishly returns.
Huffing in displeasure at his stubbornness, a silence befalls the couple as Eddie turns her attention back to the sink where she herself now washes the next dish with more force than necessary as she thinks.
Watching his wife, Jamie waits and waits and waits for her to hand him the next dish but it never seems to be coming so he frowns in annoyance "I think it's clean." He finally deadpans.
Heavily sighing, Eddie stops washing, places her hands on the edge of the sink and turns to look at her husband "Why not?" she insistently whines.
Jamie groans at his wife's stubbornness before he silently just holds his hand out requesting the next dish.
Now frowning herself, Eddie reached back into the sink to grab the dish and hand it over but when she does she refuses to let go when Jamie grabs his side leaving them in what looks like a bit of stalemate – each holding the plate but then Eddie dawns her best puppy dog face "Please?" She sweetly pleads "For me?"
Jamie sucks in a deep, deep breath of air at her pulling out 'that' card "Oh my god fine." He finally relents in defeated exasperation.
Now a big bright, happy smile appears on Eddie's face as she released her hold on the plate "Thank you!"
"Yeah, yeah." Jamie grumbles in defeat as he pulls the plate towards him to wipe "But I swear, you are going to owe me one."
Eddie scoffs as she again turns her attention back to the sink and the next dish "Oh you mean like carrying your child around inside me for 9 months?"
Jamie narrows his eyes at his wife "It is absolutely no fair that you can use that as an excuse time and time again."
Eddie dismissively shrugs "I say different."
"Clearly." Jamie mutters disgruntled as he turns slightly to place the dry dish down on the counter behind him.
Having heard him. Eddie prompts "What was that?" in a challenge so Jamie plasters his best smile on his face as he turns back around to face his wife "Nothing." He over sweetly promises through gritted teeth.
Eddie eyes him a second "Yeah." She then notes as she turns her attention back to the sink "That's what I thought."
Jamie just glares at the back of his wife's head.
Without even looking Eddie adds "I saw that."
"Let's just finish the dishes k?" Jamie huffs out.
Eddie laughs and glances down at her stomach "Mommy won that one." She informs their baby.
"Mommy did so NOT win that one." Jamie corrects to their child "Daddy just knew when to quit while he was ahead because he likes maintaining peace in the household."
Immediately Eddie lets out a scoff in rejection to that statement but the next second she freezes when she feels the baby move with a bit more force than she's been used to so she forgets about their meaningless 'spat' and quickly reaches a soap covered wet hand out to again grab Jamie's hand and place it on her stomach "There." She instructs "You have to be able to feel that one!"
Jamie waits a second then his eyes go a bit wide "Wait, I think I do." He admits in awe "Wow." He then adds when he feels it again and suddenly it's all a bit overwhelming to him that he and Eddie are really having a baby "I love you." He out of nowhere just sincerely tells his wife as he too forgets about the 'disagreement' they were having.
Eddie looks up at her husband and smiles serenely at his declaration "I love you too." She returns before the couple come together to seal the moment with a sweet kiss.
….
Erin is walking down the hall of the DA's office on her way to her own office when Danny suddenly steps up to her side to walk with her "Hi." He greets "I need a favor."
Erin rolls her eyes "Shocking. Only not. Alright Danny, what is it this time? A warrant? A plea deal? Someone to wash your car?" She sarcastically adds.
"Oh actually my car could use a…"
"Think carefully before you finish that sentence." Erin warns as they enter her office.
"Yeah actually my car is fine." Danny corrects as he walks up to her desk and watches his sister head around it to stand across from him "Seriously though, I got a guy that committed a murder but there are extenuating circumstances."
Again Erin rolls her eyes "Oh here we go." She mutters before sitting down.
"How about you just hear me out?" Danny requests.
Erin heavily sighs "Can't I just wash your car instead?"
"No." Danny rejects as he moves to sit down across from her "See this is what happened…"
….
Eddie is in the locker room of the 2-9 getting ready for her shift when she reaches into her locker to pull out her duty belt. She goes to put it around her waist only to discover it no longer fits due to her growing belly "And today is the day." She sighs as she simply takes the belt off again, places it back in her locker, shuts the door and heads out of the locker room.
On her way to her desk she stops by McNichols office and knocks on her open door "Hey Captain?"
"What is it Janko?" McNichols asks – her attention still focused on the file she is reading in her hands.
"Um just wanted to let you know that as of today my duty belt no longer fits."
Immediately McNichols lifts her head to look at Eddie "Noted." She accepts.
Eddie nods in acceptance of McNichols acknowledgement then turns to continue on to her own desk.
McNichols continues to stare at her doorway now tapping her pen on the desk in thought.
…..
Frank is at his desk going through files when something in one of them catches his eye. He stops and studies it a moment then picks up his phone to make a call "Baker please get in here." he requests before simply hanging up.
Two seconds later the office door opens and Abby appears "Yes Sir?"
Frank holds up the file "What is this?" he demands.
"Um…" Abby hesitates.
"Don't act like you don't know what I'm talking about." Frank warns causing Abby to heavily sigh "Not my idea Sir."
"Let me guess, Garrett?" Frank unhappily prompts.
Abby doesn't reply in words but the look on her face says yes.
"Get him in here." Frank demands.
Suddenly the door opens and Garrett enters
"What were you listening outside the door?" Frank challenges.
Garrett shrugs "Timing is everything."
"Garrett." Frank warns "I don't do favors."
"It's not a favor." He rejects "Think of it more as a win, win. A win for this officer and a win for the department."
"Stop trying to finesse this!" Frank demands.
"I can't." Garrett flat out rejects "That is what you pay me for. It is LITERALLY my job."
Frank heavily sighs "But reinstating Simms?"
"Hear me out?" Garrett hopefully prompts when suddenly the door opens again and Sid enters "Am I late?"
Garrett looks at Sid "A little."
"Sorry." Sid apologizes before look at Frank "I've got to actually agree with Garrett on this one boss."
For a moment Frank heavily groans at the guys ganging up on him so a second later he looks at Abby "Your opinion?"
"I believe…" Abby slowly begins as she carefully crafts her next words in her head "I am obligated to take your side per your request that we don't all gang up on you."
Frank frowns at her "Yet somehow I feel like you still got your point across that you agree with them."
"Yeah that was good." Garrett commends.
"Crafty." Sid impressively notes.
A small smile appears on Abby's face at their compliments "Thanks!"
"Well I didn't say that was a good thing." Frank warns.
The smile drops from Abby face "Right." She mutters out.
"You all realize I already did this once with officer Rachel Witten right?" Frank reminds them "And look where that ended up."
"But that's like comparing apples and oranges." Garrett rejects.
"Yes." Abby adds in complete agreement with Garrett "Circumstances are different."
"Not really." Sid mutters.
Garrett and Abby both turn to shoot their colleague the same unhappy look.
"What?" Sid defends as he looks directly at Abby "Like you said, I was third to reply so I had no choice but to take his side!" he defends as he gestures at Frank.
Frank deeply sighs at their heavy handed tactics "Everyone sit." He unhappily sneers as he a bit gruffly reopens the file in his hands and begins taking a second look at it.
….
Eddie is sitting in a chair in front of a tall 4 drawer filing cabinet at the 2-9 precinct filing files into the second from the bottom drawer when she sits up a bit straighter, places her hand on her lower back and tries to stretch out her sore muscles when suddenly she sees a flash of black fur appear at her side and lay down at her feet.
"JAMKO!" Eddie happily greets as she moves to hug and pet the dog "It's so good to see you buddy!" She gushes "What are you doing here?"
"Hudson needed a favor." McNichols voice sounds.
Looking up Eddie sees her boss standing there "Oh?"
McNichols nods "He's got court today for the bust those two ended up making of that drug house…" She explains of Jamko's new 'partner' "…so I thought Jamko could hang out with you today – you know – keep you in line and working so I don't have to constantly watch you."
Eddie tries to squash the smile that wants to appear on her face at McNichol's being nice while still attempting to appear to be a hard ass "Oh." She now just repeats.
"Don't make me regret it." McNichols warns before suddenly looking a bit awkward "And um now that you're showing a bit more and things are starting to not fit… you might want to just take your B shirt down to the tailors and get them to add material to it instead of buying a whole new bigger one – it's cheaper. Same goes for the pants – just use a belly band instead of buying a new pair."
For a moment Eddie just looks at McNichols in a bit of awe "Um thank you." She sincerely accepts at the practical advice "I might just do that."
Having done her duty as both the captain and a fellow woman who herself had once been pregnant, McNichols just gives one silent nod of acknowledgement, then turns and walks away.
Watching McNichols leave, Eddie can't help but smile but she turns her attention back to the dog when he places a paw on her knee "Do you want treats?" She giddily asks the dog "Let's see if we can find you some treats."
But suddenly Jamko's head perks up, he turns then takes off running.
"Or you could go find them yourself." Eddie mutters as she gets up to follow calling "JAMKO WAIT!"
….
Escorting a prisoner in cuffs down the hall, Jamie hears his wife's voice yell "JAMKO WAIT!" so for the briefest of moments he hangs his head a bit and groans "That name." he mutters but he looks up when he sees Jamko come racing around the corner towards him and he honestly can't stop the smile that appears on his face "Hey Buddy!" he goes to greet but the dog doesn't stop and instead runs right past him.
Now with a slightly apprehensive look on his face, Jamie turns his upper body to watch him go then flags down an officer walking by "Here." He just quickly instructs the officer as Eddie comes around the corner too "Put him in holding for me. I'll be right back." He adds before taking off after the dog with Eddie trying to quickly follow.
"JAMKO!" Jamie calls out ahead to the dog then looks back at his wife "Where is he going?"
"I don't know!" Eddie tosses back.
"Where's Hudson?" Jamie questions.
"In court!" Eddie replies "I'm babysitting! Jesus…" She then mutters to herself a little confused while huffing and puffing a little "It's like I'm still wearing the belt."
Jamie gets to the entrance of the 2-9 to see Jamko barking at and essentially pinning an apparent civilian up against the wall.
"Get this crazy dog away from me!" The man demands.
"Jamko!" Jamie commands as he rushes over "Sit!"
Immediately Jamko sits.
"Alright, turn around." Jamie commands the guy "Hands on the wall."
"For what?" the civilian protests as Eddie rounds the corner "I just came in to report my car stolen! I did nothing wrong!"
"This dog is trained to sniff out illegal contraband." Eddie explains.
"So come on…" Jamie prompts "…hands on the wall or I'll add resisting arrest to your charges."
"Ah man." The guy whines but does as instructed and turns to face the wall.
Jamie performs a search and indeed does comes up with an illegal substance.
"Good job Jamko!" Eddie praises when Jamie holds it up to show her.
The dog barks.
"Seriously that name." Jamie mutters as he goes to pull his cuffs out but then realizes his are on the guy he just brought in so he glances back at his wife "Gimme your cuffs."
"Um, can't." Eddie realizes "I don't have them on me."
A look of confusion appears on Jamie's face "What? Why?"
"Well as of today, my duty belt no longer fits." Eddie explains.
Immediately it clicks for Jamie what that means as he looks down at her waist "Oh." He simply notes trying to see a difference as Eddie turns to walk away "But I'll get you some – be right back!"
"K." Jamie accepts as he just waits "Move..." He warns the guy "And the dog will be more than happy to corner you again."
With the side of his face plastered against the wall the guy nervously glances backwards at the dog.
"Nice Jamko." He tries to appease.
Jamie can't help but shake his head at even the perps calling the dog his and Eddie's apparent moniker.
"Here you go!" Eddie announces as she come running back up and offers another set of cuffs out to her husband but instead of taking them Jamie just looks at her "You want to do the honors?" He offers I mean he was there making sure everything was safe for her right? So why not offer her an olive branch…
Not having to be asked twice, Eddie immediately steps forward and the second she clicks the first cuff in place around the guy's wrist a wide, satisfied smile appears on her face "Oh how I've missed this. You have the right to remain…"
But suddenly Eddie stops talking. Her face winces and she shifts her body again trying to stretch out her back.
"You okay?" Jamie asks.
"Back pain." Eddie mumbles "Just take over." She requests as she side steps out of the way to again place her hand on her lower back trying to walk off the twinge she feels.
Immediately taking over, Jamie glances at his wife in concern before forcing himself to focus on the perp as he starts again "You have the right to remain silent…"
….