Hello all my Crumbsians! So glad to see the love is still going strong after all these stories! This one is a little different, as it's still about our favourite cops at the 12th, but it's told from Andrea Hennessey and Daniel Brick's POV. Refresher: they're two of the nurses who've helped deliver nearly all the Crumbsian babies. Read, review and share the joy!

When Andrea and Daniel returned to their apartment, everything felt just a little different. The physical things themselves hadn't changed in a day and a half, but the atmosphere was more than a little changed.

They were getting married. And, they'd discovered at one of the most inopportune times they were going to be parents.

'Andrea, you want some tea, honey?' Daniel asked her, pleased when she nodded.

'Yeah. Decaf, since I've got an extra passenger.'

Daniel blew out a breath as he turned on the electric kettle, sat down beside her at the kitchen table. 'Did not see that one coming. We're always safe.'

'But it's okay, right?' Andrea looked at him with hope in her eyes while her gut churned acid. 'I mean...I know we've both said we want kids but that was some day, after we were married and had a chance to settle into our new relationship.'

'I know that's what we said, but it looks like the universe has other plans for us.' He reached across the table, took her hand in his. He loved to hold her hands in his, so slim and lovely yet full of purpose and comfort for their patients. 'I love you, so much Andrea. It's all that love that made this little one.'

'What happens if I lose it? It's still early, it's not even a month old, Daniel. That's a real possibility. What if that affects having babies in the future? And what about the wedding? I know you wouldn't marry me out of obligation, but-' She was cut off when her fiance pressed his lips to hers in reassurance.

'Like I said,' Daniel told her, 'I love you. We will keep planning our wedding and getting ready for a baby. We will figure it out.'

'Oh, Daniel.' Andrea slipped her hand from his , and made no attempt to hide the fact she was bawling her eyes out. Her hands

fisted in his shirt as she wept, letting everything out. 'I should have known they'd try and do something like this, I knew they weren't going to just let me be happy-'
'Andrea Darcy, you need to stop this.' Now Daniel's voice was firm as he got up to make the tea. He dumped the herbal bags in the pot, adding boiling water to let it steep. When he turned back to her, his expression was sternly set. 'This was not your fault or mine. This was, at it's always been, their problem.'

'I'm the one they always make an example of, you're just collateral to them.'

'In case you forgot this was about me too, you know. They wanted me to leave you, they still think I'm going to leave you. But I haven't, have I? I'm the one who's been there for you, whose let you cry and scream and do whatever you need to do without recrimination or insult.' Daniel paused only a moment, but he really needed to drive this point home. 'I'm the one who called our friends the cops when you didn't come home last night.'

'You're right.' Why hadn't she thought of that? 'God, I am such a suck.'

'What you are is overwhelmed and in need of sleep.'

'Right. Sleep.'

Andrea sighed, stood up; unsurprisingly, Daniel stood up with her and they headed into their bedroom. 'Daniel, I'm sorry. I've been very unfair to you, and so selfish.'

'It's been us both. I haven't been terribly great either, trying to keep you at home until this was done. I just want you safe.'

'I know, sweetie. And I am.' She giggled a little. 'I really did kick his ass, didn't I?'

'You were an Amazon. Beckett said you punched her by accident when you were winding up to slug Dominick again, even though Dominick was already unconscious. Remind me never to piss you off again,' he said with a little smile, kissing her.

'My father insisted I learn how to box in case I needed to punch a shark while we were diving.'

'A girl who looks like you and kicks ass is a tough combo to beat.'

Andrea's insides fluttered at the look he gave her; a sudden rush in her veins had her scooting close to him and kissing him, hooking her long leg over his hip. 'Daniel,' she murmured as he kissed her back, 'I need to be with you right now.'

'Of course, Andrea, what ever you need, my love.'

Andrea felt the rasp of his tongue on hers like fine sand buffing away the jagged edges of old hurts. She moaned into his kiss as it crested and dove under the wave of desire it provoked. Wrapping his arms around her, Daniel rolled to press her against the bed; when he felt her thighs shift open, her knees bracing his hips Daniel knew that this voyage wasn't even about the end achievement of release, it was about reconnecting. Her moans were a siren call that he had no desire to ignore, her body a lush fantasy he couldn't wait to lose himself in. Sounding low in his throat Daniel slid his hands under her blouse and over her ribs like the first soft caress of an incoming tide. A whimper fluttered up from Andrea as Daniel's wide hands moved higher, easily engulfing the full globes of her cotton-covered breasts. Andrea marveled at how he made the places that usually swamped her with shame drown in pleasure, like now, when he tugged the fabric of her bra down and grazed her already-stiffened nipples. The strokes of his thumbs over those secretive coral tips were as gentle as his presence in the nursery and yet caused a swell in her woman's core as strong as the full moon on the tide.

"Daniel!" Andrea cried out as he stroked her again and again, elongating the syllables of his name to show him how much she wanted, needed his touch on her body.

Daniel never paused as he used his usually-restrained strength to pull open her blouse apart, sending buttons cartwheeling across the room. Lifting slightly he watched her hips undulate in reaction before dipping his head to kiss her again. He swallowed deeply knowing he would find the sweetness of her mouth's taste mirrored between her thighs. Andrea might be terribly self-conscious over the expanse of her lower body but for Daniel her woman's body was the perfect berth for him. He finished stripping the ruined shirt from her body, peeled his own over his head, keeping his eyes hers as his fingers slipped beneath the waist band of her leggings, beneath her soft panties, where he pressed his palm to the heat that welcomed him home.

Andrea's breath caught in her throat as her eyes slammed shut in reflex. When she opened them, her eyes tracked over the hard packed muscle of his arms and chest; its rise and fall as he touched her, making her pleasure build had her biting her lower lip in greedy anticipation. Her new ring winked as her hands delicatley stroked through the smattering of blond hair over his nipples and down the treasure trail to the top of his jeans. She brushed her fingers against him, eyes going round at what she felt there - the proof that he was porportional all over peeked over the waistband with a rosy blush and Andrea was overcome with the sense of her own power as she watched his hips surge forward seeking relief. When he slipped his hands back out of her panties, she sat up, pressing a wicked kiss against his throat where his pulsed beat a jungle-drum tempo. Her light and nimble fingers tugged down Daniel's zipper; she smiled in feminine satisfaction as he groaned in response. Here she felt empowered, that she could reduce a man like her boyfriend - no, her fiance she thought with great glee - to pleasured groans and whimpers.

Moving down his body, Andrea's tongue swiped out quickly to tease her not so shy admirer before Daniel pushed back her rich auburn hair to catch to the look on her face. He inhaled on a hiss as she made quick work of his pants, pushing them down, grasping his buttocks and pulling him in for a more proper greeting. Daniel leaned back, arching his hips up so he could kick his legs free of his pants and boxers; they landed somewhere by the door of the bedroom. The gathering storm at the base of his spine had Daniel gently pushing Andrea onto her back, hands roaming over her body - he unsnapped her bra and tossed it wildly out of the way before grasping her leggings and pull them off her long legs. Attempting to gain some control he lay down on his back once more, pulled her up and over his body.

'Daniel-'

'Not yet,' he sighed. Cupping her generous curvy hips in his hands, he urged her forward so she hovered above his face, his hands moving so they full of the warm flesh of her back side. Pulling her to his mouth he feasted as he used the elegant curve of her lower back as a rudder for her movements. Andrea was wrecked, totally tossed on the sensations of his mouth seeking her trove of secrets. Her cries of his name spilled into a single incoherent scream as the shockwaves took her over the edge. Daniel caught her easing her to one side as he licked his lips and rose over her. She could see his control straining against its moorings and widened her legs to release him as his hands gently nudged her back so she was once again beneath him, wide open in welcome and he promptly slid into her.

'I love you, Daniel,' she sighed, her eyes never leaving his face.

"I love you Andrea.", Daniel gritted out as the the whirlpool of her clenching drew him inexorably closer to his own end.. His hand slipped between them to glide over her trigger like smooth glass and they both came undone in the turbulence of their climax.

Adrift in the afterglow of their lovemaking, Daniel remained nestled in the cradle of her thighs whispering soft words and gentle praise. Andrea felt a gentle stirring within and was struck with wonder as ugly voices tried to penetrate and floated away. Joyful tears welled in her smokey gray eyes, shimmering a new moon path. He smiled at the change and kissed her forehead.

'Don't cry, sweetie,' he murmured, brushing his thumbs over her cheeks when a few graceful tears slipped out.

'I'm just so happy all of a sudden,' she replied, with a giggle, then wrapped her arms around his shoulders. 'We're getting married, Daniel! And we're having a baby!'

Daniel flashed her a grin. 'Damn straight, my texty little fox.'

Andrea watched his face as he laughed with her, and felt a sudden calmness underlining her utter joy. The clouds had lifted and they headed on a new course. Be there sharks in the water or sunken treasures, it didn't matter because they would have each other as their guiding star. 'I could go for that sleep now. We can have tea later.'

When they stretched out on the bed, she let a few little tears trickle out as Daniel laid his hand over her belly, rubbed below her navel. 'Hey in there,' he murmured. 'Your mama's pretty inside out right now, and I know you're probably feeling it because she's feeling it, but there's nothing to worry about. She's the best in the world and I'll do my best to make sure both of you stay safe. Daddy's got you now.'

R&R&Enjoy