Chapter 29: Month Four

A/N (1): I only realised after I published the last chapter that I made an error. I had already married Don and Zoey but at the end I referred to Zoey being Don's fiancée, I apologise for that, it should have been wife. They are 100% married now. I have been so busy recently that I am writing something, the leaving it, then going back to it and not remembering or checking what I had wrote. Sorry for the inconvenience.

A/N (2): As always please read and review, let me know what you guys think, all the reviews really encourage me to write more!

"ERGH!" I screamed into the mirror as I was trying to fasten the button on my jeans. I could hear Don running the stairs.

"What's wrong?" He asked, flushed from running so fast.

"My jeans no longer fit me! I have nothing that fits me any more. This baby is slowly ruining my fashion sense!" I said in a harsher tone than what I meant it. The baby had already stopped me from wearing my usual heels, as I was now finding that they hurt much quicker than what they had previously.

"You need maternity clothes now, that's why." He replied, sighing as he did.

"No way! I'm not making myself look fatter than what I already do." I was having a slight freak-out.

"Your not fat, Zo! And anyway even if you are, you've got quite the excuse of why you are." I looked up at him in horror. "Babe, your not fat, your just pregnant." I left the conversation at that and had to settle for going to work in a pair of leggings and a long top. The top was a tight one so you could defiantly make out a growing bump in it.

I was now 17 weeks pregnant and even though it was all exciting, it was difficult dealing with all the changes happening to my body. With me now being officially into my second trimester, the morning sickness and general vomiting had stopped, I still felt nauseous, but I had figured out what to avoid in order to not feel it.

Once at work, I dumped my bag and coat in my office and went on the hunt for my best friend. She had been through all this before so she would know a solution to what was happening.

"You looked pissed." She remarked, as I strode into the lab in which she was working in.

"That's because I am. Have you seen this?" I pointed to my growing stomach.

"Clothes not fitting, huh?" I nodded. "Got to warn you, it gets bigger, you know."

"I know, I just didn't think that it would be so soon."

"Tell you what, we'll call it a day at lunch, the lab can handle everything, and I'll take you maternity shopping." She knew I loved to shop, so this perked me up immediately, however the word maternity didn't!

I wasn't too busy at work so I went down to find my husband. I checked Don's office and he wasn't there, I did however, get directed to one of the interview rooms, where Danny and he were interviewing a perp. I stood behind the glass in the viewing room watching as Danny asked question after question and the got 'no comment' back each time. It wasn't long before Danny decided to call it on the interview for now. They headed out the room and straight for the viewing room. They were chatting as they came in.
"... not going to be an easy one to break." Danny finished off his sentence and Don mumbled an 'mmm-hmm' as they walked in.

"Hi." Danny and Don said. Don walked over to me and gave me a peck on the lips.

"Need a hand interviewing?" I asked.

"Yeah, you can if you want. But I want to be in there." I nodded understanding that it was because of Don's over-protectiveness of me that he insisted to being in the interview with me.

I took the case file out of Don's hand and quickly glanced at it. First-degree murder suspect, of fourteen counts, brunette victims between the ages of 14-19. I read the required information, just the basics and then walked into the interview room, Don followed me and Danny stayed behind the glass.

"Mr. James, I'm Detective Flack, it's nice to meet you." I started the interview off polite, the best way to start when the perp is being cagey.

"Ain't you Flack too?" He asked looking at Don, who nodded once. "So what are you guys, like, brother and sister? Nah. That ain't it, not the way he's looking at you as if he's going to jump in front of a bullet to save your life. Married? Yeah. That's the one. A married Detective couple. Ain't fucking a fellow officer against the rule book?" He was observant. I would give him that one.

"Mr. James, we are not here today to discuss my personal life. We are here today to find out why you brutally murdered 14 young girls. Do you want to tell me why you did that?" I was trying to regain the upper hand.

"How 'bout you tell me why he's looking at you as if your breakable? And I'll tell you what you want to hear?" He was also trying to regain the upper hand.

"No I would rather not discuss this." I said, staying calm. I could feel Don's eyes on my face.

"Well that's unfortunate..." It was then that he slammed his head off of the metal table in front of him. I jumped up and Don stood in front of me. "You see Detective's, I did kill those women and I enjoyed every second of the killings very much. They gave me a sensation that was better than sex. And the fact that they were little girls made it even better. But that isn't going to matter when your bosses find out that this male Detective here didn't like the way that I was looking at his wife, so he grabbed the back of my neck and smashed my face into this table here." He had a large laceration on his forehead and most likely a broken nose, and maybe a dislocated eye socket.

I started laughing, "See that would have worked... Maybe... You see, when a person grabs someone's neck in order to slam someone's head into a table it would leave a lot of internal bruising on the muscles in the neck. You won't have this, as he didn't do that. All you have now is a few injuries and probably a headache. What we have is a witness, a confession and a stupid man on our hands who does not know nothing! Thanks for the confession, I wouldn't bank on getting a doctor to see you any time soon because all of my officers are too busy to stop their work to get you some help, so I'm afraid you are just going to have to suffer. Please, try and keep your blood on you, I don't want anybody to slip in it." I laughed again and walked out of the room with Don. Danny met us outside of the door.

"That has got to be the best interview I have ever seen you do." He high fived me once the door was shut.

"Are you okay?" Don asked. Touching my arm.

"Yeah I'm fine, you do realise that the baby is now going crazy, right?" I looked down at my stomach.

"Cause of him, in there?" He looked pissed.

"No cause you touched my arm." I laughed. I knew why it happened, I had hypersensitivity to his touch, it was as if an electrical current was all over my body, my heart rate increased and the baby obviously picked up on this. He smiled and hugged me close to his body, but still allowing room for my bump to be between us.

"Did you come down for any particular reason or was it just to see your husband in action?" Danny asked interrupting our moment.

I lifted my head off Don's chest, and stepped away from him, so that I was now facing both him and Danny. "Yeah, Lindsay is going to drag me shopping for maternity clothes, so I'm taking our car, we'll pick Lucy up and then we'll just go back to ours, we can all do something tonight together. I'm thinking about inviting Reed over too." We had now started coming to work in the same car, it was easier than bringing two to the same place. It posed a slight problem if Don was out on call and I needed to get somewhere, but I had colleagues who could drop me off and pick me up, so it was working out quite well.

"Sounds good. What time are you two leaving?" Don asked.

"At the start of our lunch break, I think we're just going grab something to eat while we are out. Can I have the car keys?" I smiled at Don.

"I can't believe that your leaving me car-less, what happens if I get called out?" I could tell that he was joking because of the smile playing on his lips.

"You've got access to squad cars, don't you?" I replied, cockily.

He handed me the keys to his car. "I better go do this paperwork. I'll call you later on. Danny you coming?" He kissed me and we all left the room. Danny and Don went into his office and I went into the elevator up to the crime lab.

"Hey." My dad said as I left the elevator. He must have been leaving his office as I was in the lift. "Heard your leaving early..."

"Yeah me and Linds are going to do some shopping." I replied. "Do you want to come to ours tonight, so far it's me, Don, Danny and Linds, but I'm thinking about making it a night in where we watch movies or something."

"Yeah sounds good. I'll see you all later. Got to run, Zo, but I'll let you know what time Stella and I can come over." I agreed and let my dad go. I walked into my office and sat at my desk. I grabbed my cell off my desk and scrolled through my list of contacts until I came to Reed's name. I pressed the number and waited on him answering. After a few rings, I heard his familiar voice.

"Reed Garrett."

"Hey it's Zo." I said into the iPhone.

"Hi, what's up?" He asked, a hint of worry in his voice.

"What, is your little sister not allowed to phone her big brother just for a chat now?" I said laughing.

"You never phone just for a chat."

"Okay, its not for a chat. Fancy coming for a get-together tonight at my house?" I asked knowing that I couldn't keep up the charade with Reed. He knew me too well.

"Depends on if Pizza is included in it?" I had to laugh at how serious he was being.

"Yes Pizza is included. Be there for 7 no later okay?" I loved giving the sister routine.

"Okayyyy." He dragged out the word. "I'm gonna be late for class, I'll see you at 7. Love you."

"Love you too, bye." I said before I hung up.

It wasn't long before I was joined in my office by Lindsay. "You ready to go?"

"Yeah." We walked to the elevator and got into it, pressed the ground floor button and went down. We walked out into the precinct. As we walked past Don's office I peaked my head around the open door. "We're leaving now." Both Danny and Don stood up and walked over to where me and Lindsay were standing. Danny planted a kiss on Lindsay's lips and Don planted a deeper kiss onto my lips.

"Are you guys ever going to get past the honeymoon stage?" Danny asked, looking at us.

Both Don and I looked at each other and said, "Nah." at the same time. Laughing he hugged me and put a protective hand on my stomach in a way of saying goodbye to our unborn baby. "See you later." He said as me and Lindsay walked towards the car park out the back. There was a chill in the air the moment we walked out of the doors and into the parking lot, I grabbed my coat tighter around myself and pressed the button on the keys which unlocked the car. Lindsay got into the passenger side as I got into the drivers side. I slid the key into the ignition and turned the car on. I immediately pressed the heaters and waited a few moments before I reversed out of Don's car parking space. I drove to our first destination, the Olive Garden in Times Square. This was a favourite eat in restaurant for me and the rest of the team as it was close to work and close to the stores me and Lindsay wanted to visit. I parked the car up and Lindsay and I went into the restaurant.

"Table for two?" The waiter greeted us and asked.

"Yes please." I replied. He lead us to our table and then seated us. He handed a menu to us both and left us for a few moments to decide.

"May I take your drinks orders?" He asked when he returned.

"Yes can I have a large strawberry smoothie please." I replied.

"I'll have the same, thanks." Lindsay said. He went away to get our drinks. "What you thinking about having?"

"Just a normal starter and then a grilled chicken Linguine alla Marinara. You?"

Lindsay set her menu down, "I'll just have the same as you."

The waiter returned and set out drinks down and asked for our food orders. "Can I have two grilled chicken flatbreads and two grilled chicken Linguine alla Marinara, please." He wrote down our orders and said that he wouldn't be long in returning with our food.

We made small talk about cases and family life, it wasn't long before we got our appetisers and we ate those talking again about stuff that best friends do. We then got our main course and did the same as we ate those. The food was excellent quality from here and was at a reasonable price too. Lindsay and I decided to indulge and order two chocolate mousse cakes which were delicious! After that we asked for the bill. We decided to split the bill as it wasn't too much. We each paid $41.65. We left the restaurant and went straight to 5th Avenue, and started looking in the stores. By the end of our shopping trip, I had spent an obscene amount of money and had multiple bags from Abercrombie & Fitch, H&M, Hollister Co, Saks and Victoria's Secret. By the time we finished shopping it was 6pm and we had to collect Lucy from the nannies. Once we picked Lucy up, we headed back to my house.

We walked in the door, being worn down by bags and were greeted by Don and Danny spread out on the sofas watching a game of basketball.

"Have fun?" Don asked.

"Yep, but you know that when I go shopping I always have fun." I curled up next to him on the sofa and tried to make sense of the game that I had missed about three quarters of.

"What time are people coming round?" Danny asked as he silenced Lucy with a cuddle.

"I told everyone about 7pm." We all went back to watching the game. I was just starting to nod off when Don cheered really loudly as the New York Knicks scored the final points.

It was around about 6:45 when the doorbell rang and Reed was standing there.

"Whoa, how big are you?"

"Your not supposed to say that to your little sister." I laughed as I gave him a hug. It wasn't long before the living room was full of people. There was Don, me, my dad, Stella, Reed, Samantha, Lindsay, Danny and Lucy. We were having a group discussion.

"You do realise that when the baby comes that little miss or mister will absolutely turn your lives upside down, right?" Danny said.

"Yeah but I think me and Zo are more than ready for this..." Replied Don.

"Zoey has always been a mom. Even though I'm older, when our mom died she basically brought me up." My heart melted as Reed said his bit. "She's has never just been my little sister but she has always been my best friend and yes, I'll be the first to admit I never made life easy for mom or dad but she was always there to pick up my shit and be the one to sit and tell me where I went wrong."

"Reed, I..." I was speechless, which didn't happen very often.

We decided to change the subject and got on about the Knicks game, after that we ordered pizza. At around 11pm, Don and I decided to call it a night, well mainly I decided to call it a night and Don agreed with me.

The next morning, I decided to take a holiday. I text my dad early in the morning.

TO MAC TAYLOR: Hey, you know how I have about 40 holiday days built up? X

FROM MAC TAYLOR: Yeah, what's up? X

TO MAC TAYLOR: I was wondering if I could take the day just to get some stuff sorted for the baby? X

FROM MAC TAYLOR: Of course you can, take a couple of days x

TO MAC TAYLOR: Thanks, love you, see you soon xx

FROM MAC TAYLOR: Love you too xx

Don was getting ready for work. "I'm going to go nursery shopping today. I've already cleared it with my dad to take the day."

"Well I'll let you know when I can knock off and I'll come and meet you later on." Don said.

"Okay." I said goodbye and kissed him as he left. I dressed casual – a pair of maternity skinny jeans, a loose blouse and ugg boots. I put a light cover of make-up on and pulled my hair into a dangling pony tail. I put a light jacket over the top and got into my car. I drove to 5th Avenue and got out at the bank. I sent Don a text.

TO DON FLACK: I'm at the bank now, I'll let you know which store I go to first xx

FROM DON FLACK: Where about's are you? Xx

TO DON FLACK: 5th Ave xx

I was standing in the queue in the bank when three males walked in, wearing all black and with balaclavas over their faces, they each pulled out a gun, each was of various sizes and I guessed that they had more on them. 'This isn't good.' One shot rang out.

"EVERYBODY ON THE GROUND. ANYONE TRIES ANYTHING AND I WILL SHOOT YOU." I got down on the ground along with the other customers. I knew that I had my badge and gun in my purse but I decided against trying anything. Just as they finished speaking the alarm in the bank started to ring. One of the perps looked over at the counter and noticed that one of the bank clerks had his hand under the counter and not up in the air, another shot rang out and he fell to the ground, I could see the blood start to pool around his lifeless body through the small gap between the counter and the floor. I knew being a cop that police were notified straight away after an alarm started to blare, it wouldn't be long before the bank was surrounded by NYPD and this turned into a hostage situation.

"I WANT $10,000,000 IN SMALL BILLS IN THIS BAG." The leader of the three said to another of the bank clerks. I looked over to the other hostages and they all had terrified looks on their faces. My phone buzzed in my jeans pocket, I had received a text. I looked around at the guys with the guns and noticed that none of them were looking in my direction, one was at the desk, another was at the door and the third was behind the counter covering another door. I pulled my cell out and read the text.

FROM DON FLACK: Please tell me that your not still in the bank..

I decided to try and reply. I hid it under my chest as I typed.

TO DON FLACK: I am. 3 perps mult guns 1 vic

My phone wasn't on silent and I prayed that the perps didn't hear the woosh sound that it made when the text was sent. I heard the sirens at this point too. I don't know if they did or not but the leader turned and looked at all of us.

"ALL OF YOU EMPTY YOUR PURSES AND POCKETS AND GET AGAINST THE WALL ONE AT A TIME!" Everybody got up one at a time as he pointed at us. The females emptied their purses in the middle and the males emptied their pockets. It was my turn and I knew that they would see my gun and badge immediately. I emptied it my purse and put my cell down and I started to walk towards the wall. "Hold it." I turned. "What the hell is this?" He picked up my badge and gun. "Your a cop?"

"I'm a crime scene investigator." I replied trying to act cool.

"Give me one good reason why I shouldn't shoot you right now?"

"Because there are a hell of a lot of NYPD cops out there and the minute they hear a shot they will be in here. My guess is that they have already tapped into the surveillance tapes and know there are only three of you. Plus, I'm your best hope of getting out of here alive. You need someone to talk to them out there." I knew what I was saying to him, I had been trained multiple times in hostage negotiations, although I never imagined myself to be in the middle of one. The leader picked up my cuffs and pointed to a pole near a phone.

"Over there." I moved slowly and once I got there he cuffed one of my hands to the pole. "When the phone rings, you answer."

The phone didn't ring for about 20 minutes. I had one of the perps guarding me, he had been given my gun. I decided to try and make small talk, "What's your name?"

"Call me Sam. And shut the fuck up..." He replied and I took that as I should give up.

The phone began to ring and I looked at Sam, "Put it on speaker and say anything out of the ordinary and I will put a bullet in your brain." I clicked the speaker phone button.

"Hello?" I answered.

"Zoey?" Don's voice returned.

"Yeah it's me..." I replied, glad to hear his voice.

"Okay I want you to answer a few questions, just answer yes or no. Are you okay?"
"Yes."

"Is anyone injured?"
"Yes."
"Do you recognise any of the perps?"

"No."
"Have they threatened you or anyone else?"

I looked up at Sam and he shook his head. I was supposed to say no but could I really lie to my husband? "Yes."

Sam took charge of the conversation after this. "Your about to lose a detective, cop."

"No, don't! I'm Detective Don Flack and that Detective that you have held at gun point is my wife. I'll do you a deal. Let her out and you can have me in there instead."

"Come on in Detective, no gun and no vest..." I heard the line click off and a few moments later there was a knock on the bank door. One of the hostages was sent to open the door and Don walked in.
"Let my wife go!" Don shouted, as the door closed and another perp grabbed hold of him and held a gun to his head.
"I'm sorry Detective but that's not going to happen." The leader said. "You see, now that I have two cops as hostages, I can get whatever I want. Put him next to her." The perp who had the gun to Don's head brought him over to where I was sat and attached him to the same cuffs that I was tied up with.

Don looked at me, "You okay? They hurt you or anything?"

"No, I'm fine. What about you?"

Don gave me a slight smile, "I'm even better for seeing you. How many situations like this are we going to end up in?"

I smiled at him, "I know. Just a normal day at the office." He grabbed hold of my hand and gave it a squeeze. We sat in silence until the phone rang. Once again, I put it on speaker phone.

"Hello?" I asked.

"Detective Flack?" I heard my dads voice.

"Yes." I pretended to not have a personal connection to him. It's rule one of hostage situations, although Don didn't do this.

"Can I talk to one of the hostage takers?" The leader stood beside the phone.

"Your talking to him."

"My name is Mac Taylor, what's yours?"
"Not going to work, cop..." He replied.

"How are you planning on getting out of here?" My dad asked.

"I want a car outside and I want a helicopter in central park and to make sure that you don't follow us to the 'copter I will take the cops in here with me. You try anything and I'll kill them both on the spot."

"Okay I can arrange that but give me an hour..."

He laughed, "You've got 30 minutes." He hung up the phone.

It was about 25 minutes when the phone rang again. The leader took the phone call in private. From what I could make out of the conversation, the NYPD had sorted out all the arrangements. We got detached from the pole but the cuffs were still attached to one of our hands each. With the hands that was attached together, Don grabbed mine as we were walked out with guns to our heads and ordered to slide into the back of the car. I could see that there was sniper's but they had obviously been ordered to stand down. The leader turned the engine over and drove to Central Park. It was quiet and right where the perp had said there was a helicopter waiting, empty. All three got out and left the car key and cuff key beside us. "What until we have taken off then remove those." He said pointing at the cuffs. We did as we were told. Moments after the helicopter took off, there was squad cars surrounding the car. The door opened and it was one of Don's co-workers on the other side.
"You two okay?" He asked.
"Yeah." We both replied, still in shock that we were alive and safe.

"I want you both to go to the hospital and get checked out." We couldn't argue, more for the sake of our unborn baby than for us. We were ushered to a ambulance that was standing by. I hadn't noticed any of my colleagues around and I guessed they were all at the bank doing their jobs. Once we were at the hospital we were checked over and sent home with a full bill of health apart from a bruise on my wrist where the cuffs had started to bite into my skin. As we were walking out of the cubicles, I recognised a couple from the bank, the female of the two smiled in my direction, which I returned. Don and I had walked into the waiting room when Reed came over to us. I looked at him in a questioning way.

"Dad called. Told me to come and pick you guys up. He filled me in too. Bet you sick of saying I'm fine now, huh?" He answered.

"Yeah. Let's go home."

The next few days passed in a blur as Don and I were given a few days leave on compassionate reasons. We talked about what happened in the bank and we gave out statements the day after. We had a personal body guard, in the form of a friend or family member, until they were all satisfied that neither of us were suffering from P.T.S.D.

The third day of our leave was another appointment for a scan. We found out that day what we were having. We went to Charlie's after the appointment and told everyone.

"Well it's official, Zoey and I are having a baby girl." We were congratulated left, right and centre. Everyone decided to have a drink to celebrate the impending new arrival, everyone minus me, Lindsay and Stella, who were supporting me in the fact that I couldn't drink.

The day after we found out what we were having, Don and I went out and bought cream and pink paint. We had already decided that we were going to transform the guest room next door to ours into the nursery. When we got home, we got cracking on painting the room.

We had only started painting one wall when Don walked into me with a paintbrush full of cream paint. I glared at him.

"Sorry, total accident." He laughed at my facial expression. I grabbed my paintbrush and put cream down his face and on the left side of his t-shirt.

"Sorry, total accident." I repeated back at him as I laughed. By the end of the day we ended up with more paint on each other than on the walls. It was a messy day full of laughter.

The next few weeks went by as we returned to our normal days at work and finished decorating and furnishing the nursery. We bought a crib, drawers, a wardrobe, a changing table and a rocking chair. We had decided to leave the other things, such as towels, bouncers and a pram for a couple more months as we still had plenty of time left to get all of those.