A few minutes later, Joe and Josie came back into the squad room.

"Joe!" Toni exclaimed. "You're wearing your Captain's badge again!"

Joe answered, "You can thank Josie for that. She talked me into resuming command of the 2-3."

"Because she felt that you could deal with our new mayor (Adams made a face) better than she could?"

"Partly," Josie admitted. "After all the trouble he caused, after everything he did"

"Including raping me," Toni broke in bitterly, "and then that business in Florida."

Toni sighed. She still didn't like to think about that time in Florida.

"And how he got Joe charged with dereliction of duty," Tibbs said.

"I was afraid," Josie finished, "of what I might do to him."

The other officers nodded in agreement; they, too, wanted to do something to their new mayor... and
to the recently-resigned one as well!

####

Josie's shift ended, and she went home for the evening. She wished Gary would wrap up the case he was working on, so she
could tell him about their baby.

Their baby. It seemed a miracle that she was once again carrying a baby, after the doctor had told Gary that he could
not father any more children.

She thought about her first pregnancy, which had ended in a miscarriage. That was something else she could blame on
Chip Rayburn; another reason to hate him. She remembered Gary, Jr., who had lived for such a brief time.

"Please, God," she prayed, "let this baby live."

She did not know that at that same moment, Joe, who hadn't forgotten Josie's two lost babies, was praying as well.

The front door opened, and Gary walked in, calling, "Honey, I'm home!"

Josie smiled at the cliché.

####

Josie waited until she and Gary were in bed to tell him her news.

"It's so good to have my husband home again, especially now," she murmured contentedly.

"Why especially now?"

"Well," Josie said, "I have some wonderful news for you." She whispered in Gary's ear, "I'm pregnant."

"You're what?"

"Pregnant. You know, with child, carrying a baby. Pregnant."

"Oh, yeah?" Gary's voice was suddenly harsh. "Whose baby is it, Josie? Who's the father?"