When she opened her eyes the bedroom was dark, except for the dim hint of light that shone through the bedrrom window that came the street light below. The steady sound of McCoy breathing told her that her long absent husband was lying nearby. As she strained to look over his shoulder at the clock, Brooke could see it was just past midnight.

When she had returned to the loft, her mind had been filled with psoosible ways to make having two furry additions feasible. As much as she tried to focus on the pupply problem, she couldn't help but wonder why Sam Prescott had insisted on seeing McCoy face to face before the afernoon was over.

The excuse McCoy had given her was flimsy at best. But given the emotional few days they had just been through, she chose to let the subject drop with a kiss and a quick wave as McCoy left the pet shop for Central Park. As she turned the possible reasons for the meeting over in her mind, only two made any sense to her. Both possibilities appeared equally intrusive as well as reckless in her mind.

"Jack," she whispered, hoping to illicit a response as she ran a careful hand over the arm that was now wrapped around her.

She sighed resignedly after receiving no response. As she turned back on her side, she felt McCoy stir beside her.

"I love you," he said softly as he drew her closer.

"I love you too."

"Enough to forgive me for punching your Ex in the nose?"

Brooke laughed softly.

"I thought you agreed to play nice."

"I did play nice. He's still breathing. That's as nice as I could manage," he replied snidely as he rested his chin against her shoulder. "Besides, he had it coming."

"Jack, I was as much at fault-"

"Hush. Just let me be a macho bully until morning. You can properly chastise me after breakfast. Unless Danielle gets a hold of me first."

"Sorry, Danielle will have to wait until Monday. We have puppies to pick out in the morning," she reminded him solemnly. "Puppies and maybe then we take a run at Stroud's and pick up a copy of Goodnight Moon for the baby?"

Brooke looked up at him as she felt his grip on her tighten. Even with the limited amount of light, she could see his eyes were shiny.

"Let's decide that later," he said hoarsely. "Right now, isn't your curiosity aroused? Don't you want to know why Sam insisted on seeing me?"

"Judging by the look in your eyes, I think I know why," she said sadly as she shifted to fully face him.

Brooke's first fear had been that Prescott had felt the need to stand up for her, to 'protect' her from whatever wrath her current husband might feel after learning of the intimacy that she and the former husband had shared recently. But tears would be the last thing an encounter like that would invoke in Jack McCoy. That led her to conclude Prescott still maintained his habit of going through every piece of paper in connection with a case himself.

In this case, those papers would have to include patient records from the clinic Brooke had gone to for years.

"Doctor's can be wrong Jack. Even good ones. You have every right to be angry-," she began before he pressed a finger to her lips.

"I can't raise this child without its mother, Brooke," he said in a tone that held only sorrow, as she wiped the tears from his cheeks. "We have to make a choice. I know it's not a fair choice. God knows it's not an easy one, but the longer you wait the harder-"

"We've both all ready lost a child, Jack. I won't put either of us through that again," she said as her own eyes began to fill. "We've already been through so much. I know I was apprehensive when I found out I was pregnant, but the more I think about it, the more it seems right to try to take the baby to term. You're a good father Jack. If worse comes to worse-"

"Brooke, I'm not asking you. I'm telling you,"he interjected with finality that made Brooke's eyes widened. "I can't raise a child without you. I know that might sound selfish to you, but it's the way I feel. If I were twenty or fifteen or even ten years younger we might have had something to talk about," he said as he reached for her face and held it in his hands. "But now? It wouldn't be fair to the baby."

"You talk like you're an old man," she shot back defiantly."I've done the math. I know the odds. But Jack, you're health is good. Your mind is sharper than most people's minds are at thirty. I know it's a lot to ask -a lot to have thrown at you all at once- but if we just-"

McCoy silently cursed, as he silenced his wife with a kiss. When he'd spoken with Liz Olivet, she had warned him how deep Brooke's denial was. Together the pair had come up with a single way to change his wife's mind. It was a card McCoy had hoped he wouldn't have to play. A strategy that left a bad taste in his mouth as he turned it over in his mind.

Yet if it was the only way in keep Brooke safe...to keep her from putting herself at what seemed to be certain risk...

"Brooke, you're not only taking a huge gamble with your own life," He began as he brushed the hair from her eyes. "If something happens during delivery and you're not here for the baby...If something happens to me as well...be it a heart attack or some nut decides to put me on another hit list... you're running the risk of leaving our baby alone. Neither of us will be here to love or protect it. I know you don't want to leave the baby alone do you, honey?"

Brooke's eyes were like saucers. McCoy wasn't sure if she was simply processing his words or if Brooke realized the game he was playing. He couldn't tell if she immediately recognized the words he was paraphrasing from when she had spoken of her miscarriage.

"Jack, don't-," she started, as her voice began to waver.

"I know you love our baby too much to let that happen," he said continued; hating his own ruthlessness, yet more than willing to use her most devasting loss to keep him from facing life without her. "Let our baby go be with its sibling. They'll have each other until our time comes. Your first baby will look after this one, I'm sure of it. Both of your babies will together, maybe that's what our child was destined to do, from the start."

Brooke looked up at her husband. She searched his face as she tried to grasp the meaning of his words.

"Destined? I don't understand..."

McCoy gather her in his arms and rocked her back and forth. It minutes seemed like hours, as he tried to find his voice again while he sobbed along with his wife.

"Maybe our baby was meant to give his brother or sister someone to love until you are with him once again."