FF: Second Chances

Ok, here is my other fic, it was previosly untitled. Hope you enjoy it.

Lt. Rick Hunter was asleep in his bed when the ringing of the phone brought him out of his peaceful slumber.

“Hello.” He answered groggily, hoping that there wasn’t some murder he had to get out of bed for.

“Rick Hunter?” The voice on the other end said.

“Yeah, that’s me, who’s this?”

“My name is Jennifer Lewis; I’m a nurse at Wilshire Memorial. Do you know a Dee Dee McCall?”

At the mention of Dee Dee’s name Rick was wide awake. “Yeah, I do. Is she okay? What happened to her?”

“She was in a car wreck and all I know is that she is in surgery but the reason I’m calling is because you are listed as the emergency contact if anything ever happened to her or her daughter. Her daughter is fine but we need someone to come down and pick her up and take care of her until her mother is recovered.”

“Her daughter? What.. oh never mind, I’ll be right there.”

With that Rick was out of bed, he threw a pair of jeans and a shirt and ran out to his car. On the way over to the hospital he thought about his former partner, he hadn’t talked to her in at least four years, shortly after she married Alex and moved to London. What was she doing back in L.A. and why hadn’t she called him? Where was Alex and what about her daughter, Rick didn’t even know Dee Dee had had a child and this certainly was a hard way to find out about. Rick figured that Dee Dee had divorced Alex or she would have had him listed as her next of kin. He wondered what her daughter looked like and how old she was. He prayed that Dee Dee would be all right.

Once he got to the hospital, he went right to the front desk and looked for someone who might help him.

“Can I help you, sir?”

“Yes, a nurse Lewis just called me; she said something about Dee Dee McCall’s daughter being here.”

“Oh, yes the cute little girl. She’s sitting over there with Nurse Lewis.”

“Can you tell me what happened to her mother?”

“Let me see, she’s in surgery right now, repairing a punctured lung. Other than that she had a couple of broken ribs and a nasty bump on the head.”
“And what about her daughter, what’s her name and how old is she?”

“Her name is Amy and she is three years old. I take it you haven’t spoken to Miss McCall for a while now, huh?”

“Yeah, it’s been quite a while, I was really surprised when I got the call. Where is she again?”

“She’s right over there.” The nurse said pointing to some chairs where a nurse was sitting with a small girl who had brown eyes and dark hair, exactly like her mother.

“Thank you.” With that Rick walked over to the little girl and turned to speak to her caretaker.

“Hi, I’m Rick Hunter, I believe we spoke on the phone.”

“Yes we did, I’m Jennifer and this little one is Amy. Amy this is a friend of your mother’s, Rick Hunter.”

Rick bent down to talk to the little girl and said, “Hi, Amy, I’m Rick.”

“Hi.” The shy little girl said, “Do you know where my mommy is?”

Rick looked to the nurse who said, “She’s in surgery on the fifth floor, you can go up to the waiting room to wait for her to get out. I have to get back to work now. It was nice meeting you Mr. Hunter.”

“Nice meeting you too. Well Amy, what do you say we go upstairs to wait for your mom huh?”

“Okay.” With that the little held her arms up to be picked up and Rick quickly obliged. When they got to the fifth floor, Rick went to the desk to ask how Dee Dee was doing and the nurse told him that she was still in surgery and the doctor would come get him as soon as they were done. Rick walked over to the small waiting room and sat down.

“You and my mommy used to work together, right?”

“That’s right, we were police officers. We had to arrest all the bad guys in Los Angeles. How did you know that?”

“My mommy told me a lot about you. She liked you a lot, daddy even got mad when she mentioned your name. That’s why my mommy moved out when I was a baby, my daddy got mad a lot and he was mean to my mommy.”

“How long have you been here, in Los Angeles?”

“Only a couple of days, mommy told me that she was going to call you tomorrow and tell you that she was back. Is my mommy going to be okay, Mr. Hunter?”

“I don’t know, Amy. I hope so, we will just have to wait and see. You must be tired, why don’t you try to take a little nap and I will wake you up when your mommy is better.”

The minutes seemed to drone on and Rick had almost fallen asleep himself when he felt a hand on his shoulder. He looked up to see the stone face of a doctor.

“How is she, doctor?”

“I’m afraid your wife has slipped into a coma, we’ve done everything we can now its up to her.”

“She’s not my wife, but that’s okay. What are her chances, doctor?”

“I honestly don’t know, it’s a waiting game now. Hopefully she will realize that she has a family to come to and will pull out of it, but it’s all up to her. You can see her now if you like. She’s in room 515.”

“Thank you, doctor.” With that Rick carefully got up so as to not disturb the sleeping bundle on his lap and made his way down the hall and into Dee Dee’s room. When he walked in he gasped at what he saw. She looked so beautiful, yet so fragile. Her hair was shorter than when he last saw her but other that she was the same beautiful woman she fell in love with so long ago. He carefully set Amy down on the empty bed and then went to sit beside her and take her hand.

“I’m here Dee Dee. I was so surprised when I got the call and when I heard that you were hurt, I just got so scared that you had died. Your daughters beautiful Dee Dee, she looks just like you. You have to get better, Dee Dee, you just have to. I can't raise a child on my own and don’t get me wrong I would love to be involved your lives but I wouldn’t want to do it without you. And I'm sure there’s a little girl here who feels the exact same way. I have to go now Dee Dee, I wish I didn’t have to but I'm sure this little girl could use some sleep and frankly so could I, but I'll be back here first thing in the morning and I won’t stop coming until you’re better. I love you Dee Dee, I always have and I'm not about to let you go now, not when you’ve just come back into my life.”

After Rick had spoken his mind, he carefully picked the small girl up started to walk out. Before he got to the elevator, he stopped at the desk to tell the night nurse that he was going home and to call him if there were any changes. He then proceeded to his car and strapped the girl into the backseat, making a mental note that he would have to get a car seat tomorrow. He headed home then, his thoughts on his beloved friend and the love of his life.

After he left the hospital, Rick went to his house where he put the sleeping girl in the spare bedroom before he crawled into bed. But sleep did not come; he was up thinking about his ex-partner. He didn’t know what he would do if she didn’t make it, he liked Amy but he didn’t think he could raise her on his own and there was no way he could continue be a cop with a child to care for. He hoped it wouldn’t come to that, not when Dee Dee had just come back into his life. As he lay there in his bed he let his mind drift back to their time as partners. Dee Dee had been the best partner he had ever had and ever will have. They had had many memorable cases, many of them had been dangerous and there were even times when they had been hurt pretty bad. He had been so sad to see her go, he knew all along that she would leave, it was just different when it actually happened. He wondered what had happened to Alex, from what Amy had said it seemed like he had become abusive. His blood boiled at the thought of someone hurting Dee Dee. If he had known he would have gone to London himself and killed Alex for what he did. Finally he drifted off into a restless sleep, dreaming of Dee Dee and their days as partners.

He woke up when he heard Amy crying in for her mother. He quickly ran into the bedroom to try to console her.

“Shh, Amy, it’s alright. Do you remember me, I met you last night at the hospital. You’re at my house, you fell asleep last night at the hospital and I took you home with me until your mommy gets better. How about I fix you breakfast and then we will go to the store to get you some clothes and a car seat, then we’ll go see your mommy, okay?”

“Alright, am I going to stay here with you?”

“Yes, that’s what your mommy wanted. You see she had a note that said if anything happens to her she wanted me to take care of you. She knew that I would do everything I could for you and you would always be taken care of. I'm sure she loved you very much and she would only want the best for you,” Rick finished as he started to get choked up.

“Do you love my mommy?”

“Yes, I love her very much and I really want her to get better so that I can tell her. Now, how about that breakfast?”

While the breakfast was cooking Rick called Captain Devane, “Captain, its Hunter. I need to take a few days off.”

“Sure Hunter, you have a few weeks of vacation saved up. May ask what for?”

“Well, it’s kind of a long story, but I got a call from a nurse at the hospital last night and it seems that McCall is back in town. She was in a wreck last night and she listed me as her next of kin.”

“Oh, Hunter, that’s awful. Is she gonna be okay?”

“I don’t know, she’s in a coma, but the reason I need time off is because she has a daughter and she wanted me to be the one to take care of her should anything ever happen to her.”

“McCall has a daughter, what about Alex?”

“I’m pretty sure that she and Alex are divorced, from what Amy tells me she left him when she was a baby because he was abusive. I won’t know much else until she wakes up and until then I have to take care of Amy.”

“Go ahead and take off all the time you need and we’ll all be praying for McCall.”

“Thanks Captain, I’ll call you if anything changes, bye.”

“Bye, Hunter.”

After breakfast they got dressed and got in the car to go the store. Rick had decided that he would go to a superstore so that they could get everything they needed. Rick enjoyed picking outfits out for her and went a little overboard on the clothes but he thought it was worth it to see her smile. After they had settled on several outfits, they went over to pick out a car seat. As they were walking towards the checkout, Rick noticed that she stopped at the toy department and was looking longingly at a doll. He thought it would be okay to get her a couple of toys since she didn’t have anything to amuse her and they would probably be sitting in the hospital room for a while.

“Do you like that doll, Amy?”

“Yes, but its too much, mommy said she wouldn’t have any money until she got a job here and then I could have some new toys.”

“Well, its all right, I'm going be buying them and you might want some toys to play with while we’re sitting in the hospital room with your mommy. So go ahead and pick out some toys to play with, it doesn’t matter how much it costs.”

“Really,” she said with a huge smile.

“Yes, really, now go on and pick out any toy that catches your eye.”

Amy looked like she had never been in a toy store as she went through the aisles looking for the perfect toy. After about fifteen minutes, she had settled on two different dolls and a nice big teddy bear. As they were getting ready to go to the checkout, Rick thought it might be a good idea to get here some books and coloring books, so he told her to pick out a couple of each and then picked up some crayons. Then they finally were able to go to the front and pay for the stuff they had picked out.

“Looks like somebody is daddy’s little girl,” the clerk said as she smiled at Amy.

“He’s not my daddy; he’s just taking care of me until my mommy gets better.”

“Oh, I see and what happened to your mommy?”

“She was in a car wreck and she’s in the hospital.”

“Oh, I'm so sorry. How does he know your mommy?”

“He’s my mommy’s best friend and he loves her very much. He told me he would tell her that when she wakes up.”

“Okay, Amy, I think we’re ready to go now, say bye to the nice lady,” Rick said with red cheeks and then picked up the little girl before she could say anything else incriminating.

“Bye, Amy, I hope your mommy gets better soon.”

The clerk just smiled at them as they gathered their purchases and walked out of the store. When they got to the hospital, Rick helped Amy carry her new purchases into the hospital along with one of the new outfits so that she could change in the room.

Before they got to her room Rick stopped Amy and said, “Amy, when we go in there, your mommy is going to look very different. She’s sleeping right now and the doctors can't wake her up but don’t be scared by how she looks, it’s just because of how she was hurt, okay?”

Amy nodded and they proceeded into the hospital room, where she went directly to her bed. She started to say something to her, but then turned to Rick and said, “Will she hear me if I talk to her?”

Rick’s heart almost broke when he heard her say that but he answered with a yes. He sat there listening as she told her mother about him and how she was staying with him. She rambled on for about fifteen minutes telling her about how Rick had taken her to his house and how they had gone to the store this morning. She told her that she liked Rick and that he was a very nice man. “He likes you too, mommy and that’s why he’s taking care of me. Don’t worry mommy, he taking real good care of me and he said he would take care of me until you get better. Rick really wants you to get better, he told me he would tell you something when you wake up and its really important so you have to wake up so he can tell you and so you can be friends again,” she turned to Rick and said, “I’m done for now can I go and play with my toys now?”

“Yes, you can,” Rick said and watched her take her toys to the corner and start to play with them, and then he took her place beside Dee Dee’s bed.

“She’s a beautiful girl, Dee Dee, she looks just like you and I'm sure she acts just like you. I hope you can wake up so that we can start to get to know each other again. We have a lot to catch up on but that can wait until you get better. I went to the store this morning and got Amy clothes and some toys. Since I don’t know where you were staying I needed to get her something to wear. From what she tells me, it seems like you don’t have much money. Why didn’t you call me as soon as you left Alex, you know I would’ve helped you out. But I know that you wouldn’t have wanted to take money from me anyway so it might have been useless. But I would’ve at least wanted to know that you had left Alex, oh well it doesn’t matter now. All that matters is that you wake up so that you can take care of a little girl that adores you. I care a lot about you too, even though I haven’t seen you in over four years.”

Rick talked to her about all sorts of things that had been happening in his life. He told her all about things that he had done at work and what he had been doing outside of work although it wasn’t much. After he had sat there for about two hours Amy came over to him and said, “Rick, I’m hungry, can we go get something to eat?”

“Sure we can, honey. We’ll come back tomorrow and see your mommy, okay?”

“Okay.”

Rick turned back to the bed and said, “Don’t worry about Amy, Dee Dee, I’m taking good care of her. We’ll be back tomorrow to see you, I love you, Dee Dee,” with that he bent down and kissed her on the forehead and then took Amy’s hand and led her out of the room. They went to a fast food restaurant where Rick ordered food for both of them and then they went to a movie store before going to his house.

The next morning they repeated the same routine as the day before without the store. They went to the hospital where they sat for about five hours before they went to get something to eat and then to the movie theater where they saw a Disney movie. This was mostly the routine for the next week, there was no change in Dee Dee’s condition.

One day about a week later, Rick was sitting in her room when he thought he saw her hand move and when he looked again he was sure that it had moved. After a few minutes her eyes fluttered open.

Dee Dee’s vision took a minute to clear up and when it finally did she was surprised to see the man who was sitting next to her holding her hand.

“Rick,” she said in a hoarse voice.

“Yeah, its me Dee Dee.”

“What are you doing here? What happened?”

“You listed me as your next of kin; I’ve been coming to see you everyday.”

“Oh my G-d, Amy. Is Amy okay?”

“Calm down, Dee Dee. Amy’s fine, she’s right over there sleeping. Don’t worry I’ve been taking care of her. You’ve been in a coma for a week, you were in a car accident. Hold on a minute, I have to get the doctor.”

When the doctor came he checked her over and then told them that everything looked fine and if everything continued to go as well she could go home in a few days.

“So, you’ve met my daughter, huh? I wanted to call you and tell you about her but when I even mentioned your name, Alex would get so jealous and he would start drinking and get abusive.”

“Dee Dee, why didn’t you call me the moment you knew that he wasn’t the man you thought you married? You know I would have done anything I could to help you.”

“I don’t know, it just seemed like the right thing at the time. I had a good job and I had made some good friends, I just thought it was the right thing to do. But I knew that if anything ever happened to me I wanted you to take care of Amy and I'm sorry I didn’t tell you that, I just put it in my information after I divorced Alex and kind of forgot about it.”

“So what happened between you and Alex,” Rick already suspected about what had happened but he wanted to hear it from her.

“He was anything but the perfect husband Rick and the only reason I didn’t tell you is because I didn’t want you to fly to London and kill him for what he did,” Dee Dee sighed as she prepared to tell him what Alex had done. “A few months after we got married he started drinking and sometimes when he had had too much to drink he would start getting angry when I did the smallest things. I know I should have left right when he started getting abusive and tried a couple of times but that would just make him angrier. The last straw came when Amy was six months old, he came home one night when he had way to much to drink. He started hitting me and then when he thought I was unconscious, he tried to get to Amy but I knocked him out with hit from behind. Then I got Amy and her diaper bag and went to a friend’s house. I filed for divorce the next day and got an apartment close to my work. I wanted to call you Rick, I really did but I didn’t want you to get all protective and everything. A couple of weeks ago I lost my job and there was nothing in London to hold me there so I decided I would come back to L.A. and see if I could start my life over. I was going to call you as soon as I got settled; I just didn’t want to call you when I didn’t even have a place to live. I bet you were really surprised to get that phone call, huh?”

By this time Dee Dee had started crying profusely from all of the bad memories so Rick just took her into his embrace and held her until she had calmed down a little bit.

“Shh, it’s all right Dee Dee, its all in the past now. Let’s focus on the present now. When I got that call I was so scared that something had happened to you, I don’t know what I would do if I lost you. I promised Amy I would tell you something when you woke up so I'm going to tell you now. Dee Dee, I love you, I think I’ve always loved you, I just didn’t want to tell you because I thought you wouldn’t return it and I didn’t want to lose my partner. But when you showed up here that night I knew I couldn’t go on without telling you and when I learned that you had left Alex, I just wanted to tell you before anything else happened. You don’t have to say anything right now, just let it sink in for now.”

“Oh Rick, you don’t know how long I’ve wanted to hear you say that. I love you, too. I think I’ve loved you for as long as we were partners, I just thought that you didn’t feel the same, that’s why I decided to marry Alex, because I thought that I would never have a chance with you.”

When Rick heard that he jumped up and kissed Dee Dee right on the lips. They were both so engrossed in the kiss that neither of them noticed a small girl watching them with a smile. After a few more minutes Dee Dee opened her eyes to see Amy looking at them with both curiosity and amusement.

“Uh, Rick,” Dee Dee said as she directed his gaze towards the little girl.

When Rick looked at Amy, he smiled and then said, “Hey Amy, you’re awake. I’m sorry I didn’t wake you when your mommy woke up, I thought you could use the sleep.”

“That’s okay, Rick. Mommy, are you going to be alright now?”

“Yes, the doctor says I'm going to be fine. Rick tells me that you have been a very good girl for him while I was sleeping.”

“Yes, I was mommy. Rick took me to the store and bought me some clothes and some toys.”

“Oh Rick, you didn’t have to do that.”

“It was no trouble Dee Dee, besides she needed some clothes because I had no idea where you were staying and she couldn’t very well go around in the same outfit she was wearing that night. And I thought the toys would be nice to amuse her while we sat in here with you, besides she looked like she really wanted that doll and how could I refuse that cute puppy dog face she inherited from her mother.” Rick finished with a smile.

“Oh, you always knew how to win me over but I still feel bad about you spending all that money on her, I can't pay you back you know.”

“I don’t want you to pay me back, this is my treat. It’s the least I could do for her and I thought it wouldn’t hurt to but her some things.”

“Fine,” Dee Dee then turned to Amy and said, “Come here and talk to me honey. What have you done while I was sleeping?”

“Rick took me to the movies and to the playground and lots of other fun places.”

“Rick, you’ve spoiled her rotten. How are we going to back to a normal routine after everything you’ve done for her?”

“I didn’t spoil her rotten, I just took to places I thought she would enjoy and come on Dee Dee you can't tell me that you wouldn’t want to go to all those places if you were a little girl.” Rick pleaded with a huge puppy dog eyes.

“Oh, Rick you always knew how to change my mind. But no more going to fast food places everyday, she needs to have a healthy meal once in a while. At least she’s clean and her clothes match.”

“Hey, are you trying to tell me that I have no sense of fashion. Okay if you must know, I had a sales lady help me pick out her outfits. But I do have to say that I think she looks pretty cute, don’t you think?”

“Yeah, I guess I would have to say she does.”

By this time Amy had gotten bored with all the talk between the two adults so she decided to take matters into her own hands.

“Mommy, are you going to marry Rick now?”

Dee Dee almost choked on the water she was drinking and then looked to Rick for help.

“Uh, Amy come here.” Amy walked over to him where Rick picked her up and put her on his lap.

“Now Amy, I love your mommy very much and would love nothing else to marry her but we just told each other how we feel and we don’t want to rush into things. Eventually I would like to marry your mommy but right now I just want to date her, okay?”

“Okay, Rick,” the answer seemed to satisfy the little girl so she went back over to her toys and left the adults to talk.

“So, Rick, I’ve told you all about my life in the past four years, how about you tell me what you have been doing since we last talked.”

“Well, there’s not much to tell. I made lieutenant at work and the captains thinking about retiring soon and he said that when he does he’s going to recommend me to take over. Other than that my life hasn’t really been that exciting since you left.”

“Rick, that’s great. You would be a great captain, if you learn how to follow the rules once in a while.”

“Hey, I remember you picking your share of locks you know. I wasn’t always the one breaking the rules; you did your share to. We had a great time when we were partners, didn’t we?”

“Yeah we sure did. We had a lot of close calls and we had a lot of good times too. Do you remember the time we got stranded in that little town in Texas?”

“Yeah, I do. Boy was that a horrible time, I thought we weren’t going to get out of that town alive. We had a lot of memorable and difficult cases. There were some that we didn’t we’d actually solve.”

“Yeah, and we were credited with solving a lot of cases that no one else could solve. Do you remember the Black Dahlia case we solved that case after no else could solve it.”

“If I remember correctly, you were the one who actually solved it.”

After a few more hours of catching up, Rick and Dee Dee decided that it was time that Rick took Amy home because she was tired and hungry. So after Rick got Amy’s stuff together he told Amy to tell her mom goodbye.

“Bye, mommy. I love you.”

“Bye, sweetheart. I love you, too.”

“Dee Dee, we’ll see you tomorrow. You take care of yourself. I love you.” Rick bent down and gave her a peck on the lips.

“Bye, Rick. I love you, too. You take care of my baby.”

“I will, I’ll see you tomorrow.”

“Bye mommy, I promise I’ll be good for Rick.”

“Good girl, Amy. Bye-bye.”

After Rick had given her another kiss and Amy had had her kiss goodbye they left the hospital and because of Dee Dee’s chastising Rick decided that he would go by the store to get stuff for a healthy meal. When they got home Rick put the pasta on to boil, and then he called Charlie to let him know that Dee Dee was going to be okay.

“Captain, its Hunter.”

“Hunter, how’s McCall?”

“She’s gonna be just fine, that’s what I was calling about. She woke up this morning and the doctor says if everything continues to run smoothly she’ll be able to leave in a few days.”

“That’s great news, Hunter. Do you know more about what happened between McCall and Alex?”

“Yeah, I do and if I had known then I would have gone to London and killed Alex for it. It seems like he started drinking and when he had had too much to drink he would get angry at McCall and start hitting her. When Amy was six months old, he tried to go after her but McCall knocked him out and got out of there as soon as possible. She lost her job a couple of weeks ago and used the rest of her money to fly here. She said she was going to call me the day after the accident but of course that didn’t happen.”

“And what about her daughter? You told me she listed you as her next of kin, did you even know that?”

“No, I didn’t. Amy’s a great kid; she’s just like her mother. I kind of like having her around and I intend to keep it that way. When Dee Dee gets out of the hospital, I'm going to have them stay here with me. I finally told Dee Dee how I felt when she woke up and she feels the same way, so I’m kind of hoping that they’ll just move in here with me indefinitely.”

“That’s great, Hunter. I'm really happy for you guys and its about time you two told each other how you felt. I'm going to go now, but I would like to come by tomorrow and see McCall. What time will you guys be there?”

“Probably around nine o’clock, she’s in room 515. She’ll be really happy to see you, Charlie. I’ll talk to you then, bye.”

“Bye, Hunter and take care of that little girl, I'm looking forward to meeting her.”

“I will bye.”

When Rick hung up the phone he noticed that the pasta was ready so he took it off the stove and put in the drainer. While he was checking on the vegetables Amy surprised him by coming up behind him and saying, “Did you really mean what you said Rick, are my mommy and I going to stay here with you?”

Rick turned around and said, “Well I haven’t talked to your mommy yet, but yes I would like it very much if you would stay with me at least until you got your own place, and I would like it even more if you would stay here forever.”

“You mean you want me and my mommy to stay here.”

“Of course I do, I wouldn’t want your mommy to stay here without you. I like you just as much as I like your mommy. How could I not like somebody who is a miniature version of the woman I love?” Rick finished with a smile.

Rick gathered her into a big bear hug and then said, “Now come on, the foods ready and after we eat we can watch one of those movies we rented the other night, okay?”

“Okay. Rick, I can help you convince mommy to stay at your house if you want. She can't resist me and you asking her.”

“You are like your mother, aren’t you? Okay you can help me convince your mommy. Now let’s eat.”

After they had a healthy dinner of pasta and vegetables, they sat down to watch The Lady and the Tramp. Halfway through the movie, Amy fell asleep so Rick picked her up and carried her to the spare bedroom where he carefully changed her into a nightgown and then tucked her in; before he left he kissed her on the forehead.

The next morning after their normal routine, Rick and Amy went to the hospital where they were joined by Charlie. Dee Dee had been moved out of the ICU because she was awake so they walked to the new room while Charlie got to know Amy.

“Hi Amy, I'm Charlie, I used to be your mommy’s boss.”

“Hi Charlie. Do you know Rick, too?”

Charlie chuckled and said, “Yeah, I do, I'm his boss, too.” Then turning to Rick he said, “Man, she’s just like her mother isn’t she?”

“Yeah, tell me about, it like looking at a tiny little McCall.”

By this time they had reached McCall’s room and Rick went in first to say good morning to her privately.

“Hey honey, how are you holding up,” Rick said before giving her a kiss good morning.

“Rick, you have to get me some real food. This stuff is gonna kill me if the boredom doesn’t.”

“Cheer up; you’ll be out of here soon. In the meantime I’ll try to sneak some food in here for you but for now a visit from your favorite ex-boss will have to do.”

“Charlie’s here to see me, how did he know about the accident?”

“I told him when I called in for time off to take care of Amy, he told me he wanted to come see you as soon as your were awake.”

“Well what are you waiting for, send him in, I can't wait to see him.”

Rick opened the door to usher Charlie and Amy in. Charlie went straight over to Dee Dee and gave her hug.

“It’s great to see you again, Dee Dee. How are you?”

“Well, besides the obvious, I'm just fine. How have you been? I see you’ve already met my daughter.”

“I’ve been fine. Yes, and as I was telling Rick, she’s just like you. You look great Dee Dee, I hope you’re here to stay. It would be great if you would stay, maybe I could you your old job back that is if you want it.”

“Well, I am definitely here to stay,” Dee Dee said with a smile directed at Rick, “And as for job, I don’t know yet. It would be great to be back on the force, but I wouldn’t want something happen to me on the job that would leave Amy practically an orphan. Do you think I could get a job in juvenile?’

“Well I’d have to pull some strings but I think I could do it. That way you wouldn’t be out on the streets but you would still be on the force. Have you got a place to stay yet?”

“Uh, Captain, I was going to propose an idea today about the housing problem. Amy, do you want to ask her now?”

“Yeah, lets do it right now, Rick.” Amy said while barely managing her excitement.

“What are you two up to, should I be worried?”

“Well, Dee Dee, last night I had this idea about where you could stay until you a place of you own and Amy has already approved of it so now all we have to do is convince you. Amy how about you ask her and then I’ll try to convince her, okay?”

“Kay, mommy Rick wants me and you to stay with him at least until you find a place for us to stay and he was kind of hoping that you wouldn’t even want to look for a place and that you and me would stay with him, what was that word Rick, oh yeah, indefinitely,” Amy finished with pride as she said the big word.

“Rick, it was great of you to offer but really I couldn’t impose.”

“Okay, here comes my part. Dee Dee, how would having the woman I love stay with me be imposing? And before you even mention something about Amy, I like her a lot and I would love to have her around. So now that you’ve heard both of our reasons how could you possibly say no,” Rick said with his big puppy dog eyes that Dee Dee could never refuse.

“Rick, you are so hard to refuse and when you pair up with Amy how can I refuse. Alright I’ll stay with you and maybe even stay for while. I think it’ll be fun, as long as you don’t misbehave. And as for Amy, I already knew she had you wrapped around her little finger, why else would you have bought hundreds of dollars of stuff for her. So it’s settled I will stay with you indefinitely.”

Charlie had to chuckle at the former partners, they were acting just like they did when they worked together the only difference was that they actually knew how they felt now.

“So, McCall, Rick filled me in on what you’ve been doing the past four years, anything else interesting happen?”

“No, I'm afraid not Charlie, I’ve had quite a boring life since I left L.A. I guess you can blame it on not running around shooting people and getting shot at. I’ve just been a regular working class mom, if you can call that exciting. But considering what I went through before I left Alex, I’d say that is enough excitement for me. What about you?”

“Nothing much, just regular police work. I suppose Rick has told you about my retirement. Other than that there hasn’t been much to write home about.”

“Well I always found police work exciting, especially when I was always the one getting kidnapped and shot at. But I guess if you mainly have a desk job it wouldn’t be that exciting.”

They spent a couple of hours catching up and then Rick suggested that Charlie, Amy and he go get lunch and Rick also promised that he would sneak in some good greasy food for Dee Dee. After Charlie said goodbye to Dee Dee and promised to see about the job, they headed to one of Charlie’s favorite restaurants that was just around the corner. Over lunch Rick and Charlie discussed various work related issues among other things. Amy seemed contented with her children’s menu so they didn’t talk to her very much.

An hour and a half later, Rick and Amy returned with nice greasy hamburger and a side order of fries. They watched T.V. for a couple of hours and then Dee Dee told Rick to take Amy so that she could get a decent meal and spend a few hours outside of the hospital. After their goodbyes and kisses, they did what Dee Dee said they should do. The doctor had said that everything was going great and she could be released the next afternoon so Rick had asked Amy if she would help him clean up the house. After a couple of hours of cleaning, they took a break to cook dinner and relax. By the time it was time for bed the house was cleaner than it had been for a long time, probably cleaner than Dee Dee had ever seen it. Rick was proud of his work, he wanted everything to be perfect for Dee Dee’s homecoming. By ten o’clock they were both exhausted and decided to turn in for the night. Rick tucked Amy in as had become the custom since she came to live with him and then told her nightly bedtime story, which was usually a toned down version of one of the cases he and her mother had worked on.

The next morning they slept in since they had been so tired from all the cleaning. When they finally woke up they took their time getting ready. Rick cooked a good breakfast and then they put the finishing touches on the house. After that Rick dressed Amy and then himself. They got to the hospital around noon after stopping at the florist to get some flowers for Dee Dee. When they got there, Dee Dee was had already yelled at the nurses for not letting her get out of bed.

“Woh, Dee Dee, calm down. You have to preserve your energy if you are going to get better. How about you relax until the doctor tells you that you can leave, okay?”

“Rick if I spend one more minute in this place I’ll go mad. Please get me out of here, at least at your place I can go to the bathroom without supervision.”

“Okay, I’ll see what I can do, but promise me that you’ll stay in bed until I get the doctors okay to get up.”

“Alright, I’ll promise but I won’t like it,” McCall groaned.

Rick thought about saying something else but decided he didn’t want to risk getting killed for it so he kept his mouth shut and went to find the doctor. After fifteen minutes he was back with the doctor, who wanted to at least check her out before he let her go. When he had examined her and deemed her healthy, he gave her the okay to go home. Rick helped her out to the car and then drove straight to his beach house.

“Now, I want you to go in the house and lay down. I don’t want you to get tired out and have to go back to the hospital.”

“Rick, I’m fine. I don’t have-“

“Dee Dee, there’ll be no argueing. Now if you get your rest right now, I promise I’ll let you stay up after we put Amy to bed and watch a movie with me. Now go upstairs and lay down and I wont take no for an answer.”

“Fine,” Dee Dee said defeated, “But only because I love you.” Before she went upstairs she gave Hunter a kiss on the cheek and proceeded up the stairs to Rick’s bedroom.

As promised after they had put Amy to bed and Rick had told her now customary story, they settled down to watch “Pretty Woman” one of Dee Dee’s favorite movies. As they were watching the movie they were both thinking about how happy they finally were and all the good things that were still to come.

Dee Dee had been living with Rick for a week and they were the happiest they had ever been. Amy adored Rick and they got along great. Dee Dee had decided the first day that she didn’t want to leave Rick’s house. The day after Dee Dee got home, Rick had to go back to work but Amy and Dee Dee met him almost everyday for lunch. Rick enjoyed his instant family and he had decided that he wanted to add on to that family as soon as possible. That Saturday night he had a plan all worked out. He had made reservations at her favorite restaurant and he had secured a babysitter for Amy. He told Dee Dee to get dressed up nice and be ready at seven o’clock. When Dee Dee came down the stairs at exactly five ‘til seven, she gasped at the site of Rick. He was dressed in a tuxedo and holding a huge bouquet of tulips.

“Rick, you never cease to amaze me. No wonder I fell in love with you.”

After they had both kissed Amy goodbye and Dee Dee had gathered her purse, Rick opened the door and led Dee Dee out to the waiting limo.

“Rick, I think you’ve outdone yourself. Where are we going?”

“Someplace very special, Dee Dee. Champagne?”

“Yes, I believe I will have some.”

When they pulled up to the restaurant, Dee Dee said, “Rick, this is my favorite restaurant, what are you planning?”

“You’ll see soon enough, lets eat.”

They were led to a nice secluded table, where there was already some more champagne waiting. Rick ordered their favorite appetizers and entrees and while they waited for their food they talked about Rick’s work and what Dee Dee had done that week.

About five minutes after they ordered the lead singer in the live band said, “This next song is dedicated to a very special lady in our audience, to Dee Dee from Rick, I love you, honey and you are my whole world.” After he had said that he started to strum on his guitar before he started playing. Dee Dee cast a questioning glance at Rick but he wasn’t giving anything away.

She
May be the face I can't forget
A trace of pleasure or regret
May be my treasure or the price I have to pay
She may be the song that summer sings
May be the chill that autumn brings
May be a hundred different things
Within the measure of a day.

She
May be the beauty or the beast
May be the famine or the feast
May turn each day into a heaven or a hell
She may be the mirror of my dreams
A smile reflected in a stream
She may not be what she may seem
Inside her shell

She who always seems so happy in a crowd
Whose eyes can be so private and so proud
No one's allowed to see them when they cry
She may be the love that cannot hope to last
May come to me from shadows of the past
That I'll remember till the day I die

She
May be the reason I survive
The why and wherefore I'm alive
The one I'll care for through the rough and ready years
Me I'll take her laughter and her tears
And make them all my souvenirs
For where she goes I've got to be
The meaning of my life is

She, she, she
Rick had chosen this song because it seemed that it was describing Dee Dee and the way he felt about her. Dee Dee listened to the song intently thinking about how Rick was so perfect for her and why she hadn’t realized it years before. When the song was over Dee Dee was so lost in her thoughts that she didn’t notice Rick move until he was on his knees in front of her and the she let out a small gasp as she realized his plan.

“Dee Dee, you are the reason I live every day. Since you have come back into my life I haven’t felt more alive. I love you with all my heart and soul. Would you do me the honor of marrying me and becoming Mrs. Rick Hunter?”

“Yes, yes Rick. I’ll marry you,” Dee Dee said with tears streaming down her face. When Rick heard her answer he smiled his trademark grin and the reached up to capture her lips in a passionate kiss. When they finally broke apart, they were congratulated by the whole restaurant with cheers and claps.

Their food arrived soon after and while they ate they talked about the wedding.

“Rick, how soon do you want the wedding?”

“Dee Dee, I’ve waited so long for you the sooner the better. Is that all right with you?”

“Yes, that’s perfect. I can't wait to marry you. How does three weeks sound?”

“That sounds great. What kind of wedding do you want?”

“Well, I know it sounds silly, since this will be my third marriage but I want a big church wedding.”

“I kinda like the idea of a church wedding. You would look beautiful in a white dress and Amy would be adorable all dressed up.”

“Rick, about Amy, you’re okay with her right? I mean the few men I’ve dated since I divorced Alex haven’t really liked the idea of a child who isn’t theirs to take care of.”

“Dee Dee, I adore Amy, I think of her as my own daughter. I was going to ask you something about her anyway. I thought that it would be nice if after we were married I could adopt her so that she would truly be my daughter, what do you think?”

“Oh Rick, I would love that and I'm sure she would too. How about we get the paperwork started now so that we can surprise her after the wedding? But what about Alex, he is still alive, do you think that he would protest and stand a chance?”

“I think that he doesn’t really stand much of chance considering what he did to you and that he hasn’t even made any effort in trying to see Amy since the divorce. If he does protest I would find it hard to believe that any judge will find him a suitable parent. Of course he might just want to protest because I am the one filing for adoption, you did say so yourself that he was jealous. But let’s not think about that right now, lets get the papers filed first and then we can worry about Alex when the time comes, okay?”

“Okay. Now about the wedding, I think we should have a small church wedding but with all the trimmings.”

For the rest of the night they talked of wedding plans and decided what they wanted to do. Towards the end of the night, after they had finished their meal, they got up and decided to dance. When they finally got home, it was way after midnight so they decided to tell Amy the next day. They went to bed and reaffirmed their love for each other over and over.

When they woke up in the morning, they made breakfast before they woke up Amy. When Amy came into the kitchen they sat the food down and started to eat.

“Amy, we have something we need to tell you,” Dee Dee said.

“What?”

“Well when I took you mommy to dinner last night I asked her if she would marry me and she said yes.”

“Really,” Amy said with a huge smile.

“Yes, really, I told Rick I would marry him because I love him and he loves me.”

“Would that make Rick my new daddy?”

“Yes it would,” Rick said concealing the fact that he wanted to adopt her so that it could be a surprise.

“When are you going to get married? Can I be the flower girl? Are we going to keep living here?”

“Whoa, honey, slow down one question at a time. We are going to get married on June 20. Yes, you can be the flower girl and yes we are going to keep living here. So you are okay with this?”

“Yeah, this is what I wanted when I first met Rick. I may just be a little girl, but I saw the way he looked when you were sleeping mommy, and I knew that he loved you.”

Rick and Dee Dee both laughed at how the little girl could see something in a matter of minutes that had taken two adults years to figure out. They spent the rest of the day discussing wedding plans and what they wanted to do after the wedding.

The next three weeks were a whirlwind of activity as Rick and Dee Dee tried to get everything together in time. Rick had asked Charlie to be his best man and Dee Dee had asked Kitty since she was the closest friend she had in the United States. After two weeks they had mostly everything figured out. Dee Dee had decided on a beautiful wedding dress and the tuxedos for the men. The flowers had been picked out and ordered, the church was booked, and the tickets for the honeymoon had been bought. Before they knew it, it was June 20 and they were all ready for the wedding.

Dee Dee was in the small room at the back of the church where Kitty was putting the finishing touches on her dress and veil. Dee Dee had picked out a full white dress with beautiful embroidery on the bust and a wonderful train, her veil was studded with pearls and was held in place with a small tiara. Kitty’s dress was purple with an A-line cut and a princess waist. Amy’s was the most adorable: it was purple like Kitty’s but it was full and it had small purple flowers embroidered on the skirt, it was all topped off with an adorable tiara. Dee Dee had never been so happy in all her life, she was marrying the man of her dreams and he even wanted to adopt her daughter whom he loved like his own. She couldn’t wait for the ceremony to be over so that she would finally be Mrs. Rick Hunter. She didn’t even notice when Amy slipped out of the room without a sound.

Rick was nervously pacing the floor of the small room; he couldn’t wait for the ceremony to be over. It wasn’t that he didn’t want to marry Dee Dee, he did, and he just wanted her to finally be his wife. He was startled when he felt a tugging on his pant leg and looked down to see Amy standing there as beautiful as her mother must look.

“Amy, your mother will kill me if you are not there when it time for the ceremony to start.”

“Rick, I wanted to ask you a question.”

“Okay, go ahead,” Rick said as he sat down and patted his lap for Amy to sit in.

Amy immediately crawled into his lap and then said, “You said that when you marry my mommy, then you would be my new daddy, right?”

“Yeah, that’s right,” Rick said not sure where she was going with this.

“Do you think it would be all right if I called you daddy?”

“Amy, that would be the best wedding present I could ask for. I would love nothing more for you to call me daddy,” Rick had to struggle not to let his tears fall as he said this. Just hearing that word made him feel like he was the king of the world.

“Really,” Amy said unsure of the answer.

“Yes, really. Now if you don’t get back to your mothers dressing room, you might get the chance to call me daddy because I won’t be married to your mother. Now scoot,” Rick said as he sat the little girl on her feet and watched her scamper off. Right after she left, Charlie came in to tell him that it was time and they both walked out to the sanctuary where Rick waited patiently for the love of his life.

When the music started, Rick looked down the aisle and waited for the love of his life to appear. Amy came first; she was so cute with a basket full of rose petals that she threw over the aisle. Next was Kitty, she was so beautiful in her gown. Once Kitty got down the aisle, the wedding march started and everyone looked down the aisle expectantly. When Dee Dee appeared, Rick thought she was the beautiful sight he had ever seen. When she finally got to the alter, Rick took her hand and stepped up to the priest.

“Dearly beloved we are gathered here to witness the union of Rick and Dee Dee. Marriage is a holy union which should not be taken lightly. Together with Amy, Rick and Dee Dee will make a family which no one can tear apart. Rick, do you take Dee Dee to be your lawfully wedded wife, to have and to hold, in sickness and in health, for better or for worse, ‘til death do you part?”

“I do,” Rick said looking straight into Dee Dee’s eyes.

“Please repeat after me, I, Rick, take you Dee Dee to be my lawfully wedded wife, to have and to hold, in sickness and in health, for better or for worse, ‘til death do us part.”

“I, Rick, take you Dee Dee to be my lawfully wedded wife, to have and to hold in sickness and in health, for better or for worse, ‘til death do us part.”

“Dee Dee, do you take Rick as your lawfully wedded husband to have and to hold, in sickness and in health, for better or for worse, ‘til death do you part?”

“I do,” Dee Dee said looking straight into Rick’s eyes.

“Please repeat after me, I, Dee Dee, take you Rick to be my lawfully wedded husband to have and to hold in sickness and in health, for better or for worse, ‘til death do us part.”

“I, Dee Dee, take you Rick to be my lawfully wedded husband to have and to hold in sickness and in health, for better or for worse, ‘til death do us part.”

“Do you have the rings?” Both Charlie and Kitty produced a white gold ring, the same as Dee Dee’s engagement ring, which was a white gold ring with a princess cut diamond in the center surrounded by small sapphires.

“The ring is symbol of the love that Rick and Dee Dee share, it is never-ending as they have pledged their love for eternity and it is gold which makes it strong, this marriage is strong like gold and will be able to stay together through the tough times. We will now exchange the rings.”

Rick went first, placing the ring on Dee Dee finger and then saying, “With this ring I thee wed.”

Dee Dee placed his ring on his finger and then said, “With this ring I thee wed.”

“As much as Rick and Dee Dee have said their vows and by the giving and exchanging of the rings I now pronounce you husband and wife by the authority by God Almighty and by the state of California. What God has joined together may no man put asunder. You may now kiss your bride.”

Rick was hardly able to wait for the minister to finish his sentence before he planted a full and passionate kiss on Dee Dee’s full lips. Their kiss was cut short however by Amy tugging on Rick’s pant leg. They both laughed when they saw her and Rick picked her up and they proceeded down the aisle as a family.

When Rick and Dee Dee appeared at the reception with Amy in tow, the DJ said, “May I present for the first time in public, Mr. and Mrs. Rick Hunter.” There was round of applause as Rick, Dee Dee and Amy made their way over to the table that was appointed for the wedding party. They sat down and started to mingle before the food came. Once the champagne had been served it was time for the toasts. The first one to go was Charlie, being the best man.

“I’ve known Rick and Dee Dee for a long time and I always marveled at the way they worked together and the way they cared for each other. I knew from the day I met them that there was something there, but of course it took Dee Dee getting married to someone else and then suddenly appearing back in L.A. in a car accident for Rick to tell her how he felt.” There was laughter from all of their old friends on the force as they recalled how the former partners cared for each other. “I know that this marriage will last forever because their love is unique and nothing can tear that apart. May you guys be blessed with many happy years and more beautiful children.”

“Here-here,” was heard all around as everybody present took a sip of their champagne.

Next Kitty stood up to make a toast, “I met Dee Dee when she was searching for her missing partner. At first I thought it was just pure concern that had her worried about Rick’s condition, but then after I saw them together and conscious I knew that they cared more about each other then either of them would admit. They have been through a lot together and because of the way I saw them handle possibly horrifying events I know that they will have many more years of happiness to come. May God bless you with a wonderful marriage and lots of little ones.”

Once again there were here-here’s heard throughout the room. Their food arrived shortly after and everyone became in their food and Rick and Dee Dee were too engrossed in each other to notice the world around them. Once the food was finished the DJ announced that it was time for the newlywed’s first dance. Rick led Dee Dee out to the dance floor where they danced in each others arms looking right in the other’s eyes. They were too in love to notice the people around them smiling at them. When the song ended they continued to dance until they noticed Amy walk out to the dance floor and tug on Rick’s pant leg.

“Can I dance, too, daddy?”

“Sure, pumpkin. Come here and we’ll take a whirl around the dance floor. Mom would you like to go find someone to dance with while your handsome husband spends some time with his daughter?”

“Sure, but only because I love you guys,” Dee Dee smiled.

Rick scooped Amy up into his arms and off they went, Amy enjoying every second while Dee Dee went to sit down because she was feeling a little bit tired. All too soon the cake cutting and bouquet and garter throwing was over and it was time for their getaway. They had arranged for weekend getaway in Carmel and Amy was going to stay with Kitty and Brad who were now married. They ran out to their car while being pelted with birdseed. After Rick and Dee Dee said goodbye to Amy they got into the back of the limo and rode to the airport.

They had a wonderful weekend on the beach, but most of it was spent in their hotel room. They did however go for romantic walks on the beach and even went to a restaurant a couple of times. All to soon it was time for them to go home, although they both missed Amy dearly they liked the time away they got alone.

They returned to L.A. and Rick returned to work in homicide while Dee Dee started her job in juvenile. They had found a nice daycare to leave Amy at while they were at work and they had everything worked out. Dee Dee only worked three days a week so Amy wouldn’t be at the daycare all week. Most of the days that Dee Dee worked, Rick met her for lunch. Rick had already applied for the legal adoption of Amy and they expected the final papers to come through any day. They seemed like the perfect family and it was just about to get better.

One Saturday, about three weeks after the wedding, Rick had made breakfast for his wife and daughter. Dee Dee woke up to the smell of eggs and smiled at what her husband had done for her.

“Rick, that smells so good. What’s the occasion?”

“Does there have to be an occasion for me make my beautiful wife and daughter breakfast.”

“No, I guess not,” Dee Dee smiled as she sat down, but as soon as Rick placed a plate in front of her, her stomach lurched and she had to make quick run to the bathroom. Rick was left standing next to the table with a worried look on his face. He quickly ran to the bathroom to see if she was alright.

“Dee Dee, honey, are you alright?”

“Um, yeah, I think.”

“What do you mean you think? You just threw up, how can you be fine?”

“Because I’ve felt like this before and I think I know what it is. I just wanted to be sure before I went to the doctor.”

“What do you mean you’ve felt like this before? When did you feel like this before?”

“When I was pregnant with Amy.” Dee Dee said with a smile.

Rick finally catching on took a minute to think about what she just said and when it sunk in he took her in his arms and began rattling off questions.

“Do you really think so? How long have you been feeling like this? Have you made a doctors appointment?”

“Rick, calm down. I take you are excited about this news. I have been feeling like this for about two weeks and yes I have made a doctors appointment. Are really as happy as I am about this?”

“Dee Dee, I can't think of anything I would like better to be a father, again.”

“That’s great, Rick. Do you think Amy will be excited?”

“What will I be excited about, mommy.” Amy said from the door of the bathroom where she had just walked in.

“Amy, come here honey,” Rick said patting his knee.

“What daddy?”

“Have you noticed that your mommy hasn’t been feeling very good lately?”

“Yeah, is she gonna be okay daddy?”

“Yeah we think she’s going to be fine. You see, the reason we think she hasn’t been feeling well is because she might be pregnant. Would you like to be a big sister, Amy?”

“Yeah, that would be really fun. So this means mommy is going to have a baby?”

“That’s right Amy and you can help us take care of it.”

“Really, I could help you with the baby?”

“Yep, now we are going to relax and let mommy rest because the baby makes her feel sick, okay?”

“Okay.”

“Dee Dee, when did you make the doctors appointment for?”

“Tuesday at ten-thirty.”

“I don’t think I can get away from work, but you’ll let me know what he told you as soon as you leave?”

“Yes of course I will Rick. After I get done we can go get lunch and I will tell you everything the doctor said, okay?”

The rest of the day was relatively quiet. Dee Dee went back to bed and slept until early afternoon and Rick and Amy went out to the beach and went swimming. Before they knew it was time for dinner and Rick cooked an excellent meal for them which Dee Dee was actually able to keep down. The rest of the weekend passed relatively quietly and pretty soon it was Tuesday morning and Rick couldn’t concentrate on work one bit. When Dee Dee finally walked in at eleven-thirty he was talking on the phone and wrapped the conversation up as soon as could.

“So,” Rick said as soon as he got off the phone, “what did he say?”

“He said I am definitely pregnant, about seven-“

The rest of the sentence was lost as Rick jumped up from his seat and quickly engulfed Dee Dee in a huge hug and then spinning her around.

“Rick,” Dee Dee laughed, “put me down before I get sick again.”

Rick did as requested but did not let go of her, instead he engaged her lips in an earth shattering kiss.

After they realized that air was necessary for living Rick said, “G-d, Dee Dee, I love you so much.”

“I love you too Rick.” Dee Dee said her knees still shaking from the kiss.

“Lets celebrate, come on I’ll take you to your favorite restaurant. How does that sound?”

“It sounds great, but first I think you’ll have to explain to Charlie why you had such a public display of affection in the office.” Dee Dee said referring to the people who had gathered outside of the open door because of Rick’s excited squeal, hug and kiss, including Charlie who looked like he was going to fire Rick.

“Sorry Charlie for disturbing work, but my wife just gave me some exciting news and I couldn’t contain myself.”

“Well, Hunter don’t leave us in the dark, care to share what exactly this exciting news was?” Charlie said with a smile, although he had an idea of what it was.

“Sure Charlie, Dee Dee just informed me that I am going to be a father in about seven months, again.”

“Congratulations, Rick and about the hug and everything don’t worry about it, you’re married to a beautiful woman, who wouldn’t want to hug her?” Charlie said with a huge smile.

“Thanks Charlie, could you come in here a moment, Dee Dee and I want to talk to you.”

“Sure,” Charlie said while following him into his office and closing the door.

“Charlie, I haven’t actually talked to Dee Dee about this but there is something I want to ask you, okay?”

“Okay.”

Dee Dee meanwhile had an idea about what he was going to say, that was what came of knowing him so well, they had always been able to convey things without ever actually speaking them and she liked it that way. She gave a nod to Rick to tell him she knew what he was thinking and that it was alright.

“Charlie, Dee Dee and I would like to for you to be out baby’s godfather and if anything ever happens to me or Dee Dee, knock on wood, we would like you to be the one to take Amy and the baby and make sure they were raised properly. Would you do that, Charlie?”

“I would be honored to be a godfather and that you guys trust me enough to raise your children should God forbid anything ever happen to you and we all hope nothing does. Yes, I’ll do it.”

“Thank you Charlie, you don’t know how much that means to us knowing that if anything happened to us, our children would be well taken care of and most importantly well loved.” Dee Dee said with tears in her eyes, a definite sign of her pregnancy.

After talking a few more minutes with Charlie, Rick and Dee Dee set out to have celebration lunch and over lunch they discussed plans for the future. They had a wonderful time and when it was done they took the rest of the day off to pick up Amy and spend the day with her. They had decided to tell her over dinner that they were positive about the pregnancy. After dinner they went home and watched a movie. When both Amy and Dee Dee fell asleep two-thirds of the way through the movie, Rick carried Amy up first and then Dee Dee. After he had locked up and gotten ready for bed, he climbed in beside Dee Dee and took her into his arms and fell asleep with dreams of his new child.

About a week later Rick was outside playing with Amy and Dee Dee inside taking a nap when a woman came around the back looking for someone.

“Can I help you, ma’am?” Rick asked.

“Maybe, I'm looking for a Mr. or Mrs. Rick Hunter.”

“I’m Rick Hunter. What can I do you for?”

“Then these are for you, please sign here,” the woman said holding out a envelope and clipboard.

“What is this?” Rick said as he signed the paper.

“I’m sorry, I’m just the messenger. Thank you, have a nice day.”

“Yeah, you too,” Rick said while trying to open the envelope. What he saw almost made his knees fall out from under him. It was papers notifying them that Alex Turnan was protesting the adoption of Amy Turnan, and he was filing for full custody of her.

“Daddy, what’s that?” Amy’s voice finally woke him from his trance.

“Nothing honey, let’s go in now and see if your mom is awake.”

Dee Dee was walking out from the bedroom as they walked in from the outside. Rick told Amy to go her room so him and Dee Dee could talk.

“What’s wrong, Rick,” Dee Dee said once Amy was safely in her room with door closed.

“Sit down, Dee Dee.” Rick said not wanting her to get herself or the baby hurt once he told her the news.”

“No tell me what’s wrong first.”

“Fine, a messenger just brought these to me,” Rick handed the envelope to Dee Dee and continued talking, “they’re papers that say that Alex is protesting the adoption and applying for full custody. I’m sorry Dee Dee, but I promise you that I will do everything to keep her. I love her like my own and I will never let anyone take us away from us.”

“Oh my G-d, Rick, what are we going to do? He can't take my baby away, I won’t let him, I won’t.”

Dee Dee didn’t finish what she was going to say because the shock was too much for her and she fainted, luckily Rick was standing right next to her and was able to catch her and carry her over to the couch.

“Come on, Dee Dee.” Rick said while lightly slapping her face to wake her up. After a few minutes she woke up and for the first few minutes she couldn’t remember what had happened and then it hit her.

“Rick, what are we going to do?” Dee Dee said and started to get up.

“Whoa, Dee Dee, you are going to lie down. This not good for you or the baby, I am going to call Mike Snow. I know he is a criminal lawyer, but maybe he can refer me to someone who would be good at this. Don’t you get up now, you hear.”

“Fine,” Dee Dee whined.

Rick, meanwhile went over to the phone and called Mike Snow.

“Mike, its Hunter.”

“Hunter, what are you doing calling me on a Saturday? You didn’t go and get arrested again, did you?”

“No, I haven’t gotten arrested, actually I called for a referral.”

“A referral? what kind of a referral?”

“Family law.”

“What would you need with family law?”

“It has to do with my wife. She has a daughter from a previous marriage and I had filed for adoption of her. Well it seems that her ex-husband doesn’t like the fact that his daughter will be adopted by someone so he had filed for full custody of her.”

“Wait, hold up, you got married?”

“Yep, I sure did, about a month ago. Do you know of anyone who would be able to help us. Her husband wasn’t that great of a man and I think we have a pretty good case.”

“I tell you what Hunter, I actually started out in family law so I will help you out. I’d like to meet the woman who finally was able to tame you and with a daughter to boot. Would like me to come over in about thirty minutes?”

“That sounds great Mike, we’ll see you then. I’m still living at the beach house you know where that is right?”

“I sure do, I’ll see you in a little bit, bye.”

“Bye.”

“How come you didn’t tell him who your wife was?” Dee Dee asked from the couch where Rick had forced her to lie down.

“I thought about it but then I decided that I would love to see his face when he finds out who she is.” Rick grinned a lecherous grin.

“You sly fox, you.”

“I know but that’s the reason why you love me.”

“I do, and I haven’t quite figured that out yet.”

Thirty minutes later Mike Snow pulled up to the beach house, his thoughts turned to the cop inside and wondering who it was that he married. He knocked on the door and a couple of minutes later Rick let him in.

“So Rick, when do I get to meet this wife of yours?”

“She’s right through here, she resting because she is seven weeks pregnant and this thing has gotten her all worried.”

They came around the corner and Mike saw a woman with dark hair sitting with her back to him. As she stood up and started to turn around Mike thought there was something oddly familiar about her.

“Mike, I’d like you meet my wife, Dee Dee Hunter.”

“What, you mean you married McCall?” Mike said as Dee Dee turned around and he recognized who she was.

“Yes, I did. She came back into my life about two months ago and I didn’t want to waste any time with her so I asked her to marry me.”

“I see and what about this daughter you mentioned?”

“I’ll go get her so you can meet her.” Rick said as he started towards the stairs and then went up to get her. Minutes later he emerged with Amy in his arms.

“Mike, I want you to meet my daughter Amy. Amy this is a friend of your mom’s and mine, Mike Snow.”

“Hi, Mr. Snow, I'm three.”

“Well hello there, Amy. You’re three, huh? Well that is very good age and may I say that you are as beautiful as your mother.”

“Thank you. Daddy can I go play now?”

“Sure, honey, go on.” Rick sat her down and she ran upstairs to her room.

“She’s wonderful little girl, Rick. I can see what made you fall in love with her.”

“Yeah, I know, she’s exactly like her mom and I can't help loving her because anything that is part of her mom I can't help but love.”

“I know what you mean, I feel the same way about my kids.” (A/N: I have no idea if he has any kids but I thought this was a good way to end the moment.)

“Okay, how about we get started on this and later maybe we can order a pizza.”

“Great, Dee Dee how about you start by telling me about your ex-husband?”

“Alright, well a few months after we got married he started to get drunk and when he came home he would start hitting me, I should have got out as soon as I realized he wasn’t the man I thought he was but then I got pregnant and I thought the baby would change everything. After Amy was born it just got worse, he would stay out later and get drunker and then come home and beat me until I couldn’t fight him anymore.” Dee Dee paused a moment as tears threatened to overtake her and Rick comforted her with a pat on the knee. When she had regained her composure she continued, “One night when Amy was a few months old, he came home and started beating on me but he got bored with me and went after Amy. Before he could get her though, I came at him from behind and knocked him out. After that I grabbed Amy and a few things and ran. The next day I filed for divorce.”

“Alright just a few more questions and we can stop. Has your ex-husband ever seen your daughter or tried to contact you after the divorce?”

“He only saw her once and even then it wasn’t even planned, it was at the movies and he only said hi, not even asking how she was. As far as contacting me he never did, even though I made sure he had my number so there would be problem if he ever tried to take her away from me and the only reason he didn’t know I was here is because two days after I got here I got in a car wreck and was in a coma for week and then I was planning for a wedding and I just kind of forgot.”

“Well I think I have everything I need. I’m pretty sure he doesn’t have a chance what with abusing you and going after Amy and never trying to see her or contact her. When is the trial?”

“A month from now.” Rick answered.

“Good. We’ll be in touch and I promise you that I will not let that man take your daughter away.”

“Alright Mike, we’ll talk to you later and thank you for coming out to help us,” Rick said as he showed him to door.

The next month passed rather quickly as Rick and Dee Dee got ready for the hearing. Rick continued to bond with Amy and he loved her more with each passing day. Rick and Dee Dee couldn’t wait for their child to be born and they often referred to it as their second child. Work was going great at work for both of them; Rick was in the office more because he was starting to get prepared for his promotion to captain and Dee Dee loved her work in juvenile. Before they knew it was the day of the hearing and they went to listen to what Mike and Alex’s attorney.

The hearing started with Alex’s attorney stated why they were filing for full custody.

“Your Honor, Mr. Turnan is filing for full custody of his daughter, Amy Turnan and we will state why we are doing that. Mr. feels that his ex-wife and her new husband are unfit parents and he feels that it would be wise for the court to remove her from the house. Also both Mr. and Mrs. Hunter have dangerous jobs and they have a government salary, Mr. Turnan makes a considerable amount more than them and would be able to put the child in the best schools and give her the care. We feel that those are adequate reasons to grant custody to Mr. Turnan.”

Mike stood up to make his point, “Your Honor, Mr. Turnan is worst possible choice for a parent. I have a sworn statement that Mr. Turnan regularly beat Mrs. Hunter while they were married and once he even went after the child when she was just a few months old. My client assured me that after her divorce she made sure that Mr. Turnan knew where he could find her, he never once contacted her and he only saw her once at the movies, it was a complete accident. Also Mr. Hunter is a wonderful man and he would be a wonderful father to Amy. He has made more of a father to her in the past two and half months then her biological father has in her whole life. I am asking you to relinquish parental rights of Mr. Turnan and to grant the adoption of Amy Turnan and change her name to Amy Hunter.”

The judge announced that he would take a short recess to think about her decision and she would be back in an hour. Rick and Dee Dee spent that hour with Amy at the courthouse cafeteria. Alex didn’t even come over to talk to them when he saw them there. Before they knew it an hour had passed and they headed back to the courtroom.

“This was a very complicated case, not because it was difficult, but because I don’t see how anyone could treat a woman like that and then think that they needed to take away a child that they hadn’t spoken to each other since she was a baby. I just have a few questions. Mr. Hunter how long have you known Mrs. Hunter?”

“Almost ten years, your honor. We were partners in homicide before she married and moved to London.”

“I see, so you must know her very well and care about her a lot then.”

“Yes, I do Your Honor. I love her and Amy with all my heart and soul.”

“Good for you and Mr. Turnan is it true that you only saw your daughter once after the divorce and even that was not planned.”

“Yes, but I was busy. I didn’t have time to bother with a child but now I am more established and I can provide her with a nanny and good schooling. Mr. and Mrs. Hunter cannot do that with their salaries.”

“I see, and did you know that I have children to care for?”

“No, ma’am, I did not.”

“Uh-huh and who do suppose pays MY salary.”

“The government but Your Honor I didn’t mean-“

“I know what you didn’t mean Mr. Turnan. I only have one more question, Mr. and Mrs. Hunter is your daughter here?”

“Yes ma’am, she’s right outside with my friend Kitty.” Dee Dee answered.

“Good, could you bring her in please?”

“Of course.” Dee Dee went out to hall and returned moments later with Amy in her arms.

“Please set her down,” Dee Dee did as she asked, “Now, Amy can you tell me if your father is in this room?”

“Yes ma’am, my daddy is over there,” Amy said while she pointed to Rick.

“Alright, I’ve made my decision. Alex Turnan is hereby relinquished of all his parental rights to one Amy Turnan and I am granting the petition for adoption by Mr. Rick Hunter and changing her name to Amy Marie Hunter. This case is adjourned,” as soon as she finished she banged her gavel on her desk and stood up.

Dee Dee and Rick stood up and hugged each other and then they picked up Amy and hugged her. Rick held Amy as they started to walk out, but all at once Alex came rushing at Dee Dee knocking her down and starting to hit her. Rick quickly put Amy in the hands of Kitty and started to pull Alex off of her.

When he was restrained Rick checked on Dee Dee who was not hurt very bad and then turned around and spoke to Alex in the hands of the guards, “If you ever touch my wife or my daughter again, I will personally make sure you rot in jail. Get him out of here.”

As the guards dragged him away Alex shouted, “I will not let you take my family away, you will not take my place in that family. I will hunt you down and I will make sure you suffer for taking her love away.”

Rick ignored the threats as he helped Dee Dee up and ushered her out the door. Little did he know that he would make good on those threats.


Two weeks had gone by and Rick thought that Alex had only be threatening them and that he was not stupid enough to go through with it but he was proven wrong one fateful day in early September. Dee Dee was at home one afternoon with Amy, Rick was due home in an hour and Dee Dee was preparing dinner and Amy was in her room napping. Just then there was a knock at the door and Dee Dee went to get it not knowing who it could be since she was not expecting anybody. When she saw who it was she gasped in horror and tried to shut the door but he was too strong for her.

“What are you doing here, Alex? You know that you are supposed to stay at least one hundred feet away from us,” Dee Dee said referring to the restraining order that Rick had insisted on getting.

“I came to take my daughter and have her live with her real father.”

“You don’t have a daughter any more. As far as you’re concerned, Amy’s father is Rick and I won’t let you take her away.” Dee Dee said as she tried to shut the door.

But he was too strong for her as he knocked her down with the door and then proceeded to knock her out by hitting her numerous times. Once she was out he kicked her once more in the ribs for good measure and then raced to bedroom where he picked up the sleeping girl and then walked out the front door leaving it open.

Thirty minutes later Rick pulled up to the house and headed to the door but when he saw that the door was halfway open he immediately had a bad feeling and pulled out his gun. He slowly inched his way to the door and nudged it open with his foot. When he saw Dee Dee’s still form lying in the entryway he immediately rushed to her and felt for a pulse while silently praying that there would be one. To his relief he felt one; after he was sure she was alive he started looking at her other injuries. She had a black eye, several bruises on her face, a cut above her eye and a nasty bump on her head which probably was the one that knocked her out. He picked her up and carried her to couch, all the while praying that the baby was okay too. He quickly ran upstairs looking for Amy, although he had feeling that he wouldn’t find her there. Her room was only a little bit messed up; Rick assumed that she had been sleeping when she was taken because only the covers on her bed were out of place. He rushed back downstairs and after a quick call to Charlie he went to see if Dee Dee was awake yet. Just as he sat down she started to come to.

“Dee Dee, can you tell me if there is anything else that hurts?”

“Hunter, what happened? Why am I at your house?”

“I don’t know I was hoping you would be able to tell me what happened and as for why you’re at my house, this is our house. You don’t have a house.”

“What do you mean? Of course I have house. I don’t live here with you Hunter. I live at my house alone and you live here alone.”

“Dee Dee,” Rick said becoming more worried, “What year is it?”

“1990.”

“Uh-huh, and where do you work and what is your name?”

“Don’t be stupid, Rick, I’m a cop with the LAPD, Homicide and you’re my partner and my name is Dee Dee McCall.”

“Oh no, Dee Dee look at your left hand.”

Dee Dee looked and saw an engagement ring and wedding ring that were not the ones her late husband Steve had given her and she got very confused.

“Rick, what’s going on? Why am I wearing a wedding ring? Did we go on an undercover job and I don’t remember?”

“No, we didn’t go on an undercover job, Dee Dee,” Rick said as he held up his left hand for her to see his ring. “The year is 1994 and we are married. Your name is Dee Dee Hunter and you don’t work in homicide anymore and you live here at our house with Amy, our daughter. What is the last thing you remember?”

“Um, we were working on case where women were being killed because of their jobs and you thought that the suspect was going to come after me. The very last thing I remember is you coming into my house and shooting the man who was trying to kill me.”

Rick was about to respond when there was a knock at the door signifying the arrival of Charlie and the lab boys. Rick let them and told Charlie what he found when he got home.

“Charlie can you call an ambulance, Dee Dee needs to go to the hospital and get checked out.”

“Sure, Rick” Charlie said.

“Rick I don’t need to go the hospital, I’m fine.” Dee Dee said at the exact same time.

“Dee Dee,” Rick said as he knelt down in front of her. “I know you don’t think you need to go to the hospital but you need to because of the baby.”

“The baby, you mean I’m pregnant?”

“Yeah, you are three and half months pregnant. I know this is all a shock to you and I’m sorry but I love you and I don’t want to lose our baby so we are going to the hospital.”

“Fine,” Dee Dee mumbled knowing she had been defeated.

Meanwhile Charlie was wondering why Rick had to tell Dee Dee that she was pregnant and so he asked him, “Rick, what’s going on here?”

“I’m not exactly sure Charlie. All I know is she can't remember anything past that case we did in 1990 where women were being killed because they had masculine jobs.”

“Oh my gosh. So she doesn’t even remember who Alex is or that you are married or anything?”

“That’s right,” Rick said as he watched Dee Dee being put on the stretcher by an EMT.

“Sir, is there anything we should know about your wife?”

“Yeah, she’s three and half months pregnant.” Rick said with a large sigh.

The EMT’s wrote down the new information and then started to load Dee Dee into the ambulance. Rick insisted on going with her and in a few minutes they were at the hospital and Dee Dee was whisked away to be examined while Rick was left to fill out paperwork. A grueling fifteen minutes later a doctor came back in looking for Rick.

“Is there a Mr. Rick Hunter here?”

“Yeah that’s me, how is she doctor?” Rick said standing up and facing the older man dressed in hospital scrubs.

“She’s going to be just fine. We had to stitch up the cut above her eye and the she had a bruised rib but everything will heal just fine.”

“What about the baby, doctor?”

“As far as I can tell the baby will be just fine. There is no bleeding and there is no separation of the placenta. I’m wouldn’t be surprised if she carried the pregnancy to full term.”

“What about her apparent amnesia?”

“She should regain her memory in time, just take her home and continue to do your normal routine. You said she could remember some things about her life but not the recent things.”

“That’s right, she can't remember anything past the year 1990. That is the year she met her ex-husband who I am pretty sure is the one who did this and took my daughter.”

“Well then it seems she may be having selective amnesia. Instead of putting her through the trauma of remembering all the hurt her ex-husband her subconscious has decided it would be easier if it just blocked out all memory of him.”

“Well, I can't say as I blame her, he is a horrible person and he’s lucky I haven’t killed him for what he did to her. Can I see her?”

“Of course in fact she had been asking for you. I’ll show you to her room right now. She should be able to be released tonight if there are no more complications.” The doctor said as he led Rick to the room where Dee Dee was.

Dee Dee immediately looked up when they walked in and said, “Rick can you please get me out of here? I’m going crazy here.”

“I’m sorry Mrs. Hunter but I would like to keep you overnight so that I can be sure there is no damage to the baby.” The doctor answered for him. “I’ll leave now so you can talk.”

After the door was closed Rick went over to the bed and took Dee Dee’s hand in his. Neither spoke for a minute as both were still trying to comprehend what had happened. It was Dee Dee who finally spoke.

“Rick,” she said in a tentative voice.

“Yeah, Dee Dee.”

“Tell me about us, about our life together and our daughter. How long have we been married? How old is our daughter? Where do I work now?”

“Well, we’ve been married for two and half months. Our daughter is three and half and you work in juvenile.”

“Wait Amy is three and a half and we’ve only been married for two and half months. How did that happen, did we not get married right away?”

“Well, no actually, Amy is not my biological daughter. See soon after that case you married someone called Alex Turnan and he is the biological father of Amy. You moved to London after you got married and you stayed there until about four months ago. But you had divorced Alex when Amy was a baby because he was abusive. You lost your job in London a while ago and decided to come back here. Two days after you got back however you were in a car wreck and the nurse called me to come get Amy. You were in a coma for a week and during that week I took care of Amy. After you woke up you and Amy came to stay with me and four weeks later we were married.”

Dee Dee took a moment to digest all he said and then she said, “Do you have a picture of our daughter?”

“Of course,” Rick said with the pride of a father as he got out his wallet and handed her one two pictures he carried in it. It was a picture of her that they had taken at the wedding; she was wearing her flower girl dress and had the cutest smile on her face. Dee Dee stared at the photo for a just a moment before responding.

“She looks just like me. She is so pretty.” Dee Dee observed as tears came to her eyes.

“I know which is the reason why I couldn’t help but fall in love with her from the moment I saw her and once I spoke to her I knew that she had your personality too.”

“You said that you think that you know who took her, who?”

“I’m pretty sure that it was Alex. See, when we got married I filed for the adoption of Amy and Alex decided to protest it and demand full custody of her. The trial just ended a few weeks ago and the judge ruled in our favor, stripping Alex of his parental rights and granting full custody to me and you. When we were walking out however, Alex came rushing at you and knocked you down. Before he was able to seriously hurt you I dragged him off you and handed him to the guards telling to never come near my family again. When they were dragging him off he yelled after me that he wouldn’t let me take over his family. I got a restraining order against him thinking that he wouldn’t actually try anything and the restraining order was only a precaution.” Anything else Rick was going to say was cut off by Charlie walking in with two police officers.

“Hey Rick, Dee Dee, how are you?”

“The doctor says that the baby is fine and she should be able to leave in the morning.” Rick answered for her.

“I’m glad to hear that. Rick said that you can't remember anything about what happened right Dee Dee?”

“That’s right, according to Rick the last thing I can remember is a case we worked on five years ago. I don’t even remember my daughter or my wedding.”

“Alright well I guess there isn’t much we can get from you then. I promise we will find her Rick and Dee Dee.”

“I know you will Charlie and as soon as I make sure Dee Dee is alright I will be out there helping you find her and that bastard who took her.”

“Rick just worry about your wife we will take care of your daughter, believe me if he even lays a hand on her he will have to deal with me. I don’t take kindly to people beating up on little kids. We’re going to go now so you can get some rest and we will let you know as soon as we find her. We have already put an APB out on him and her, they are not going to get far. You have my word on that.”

“Thanks Charlie, you don’t know how much that means to us.” Dee Dee said with sincerity although she had know idea who her was, but she knew that she would do anything for her.

“Well I won’t settle for my godchild missing and I will search for her until she is found. Well like I said we will go now so that you can get some rest, you still have another godchild to take care of. Bye now.”

“Bye Charlie.” Rick and Dee Dee said in unison.

After Charlie and the officers had left Rick turned to Dee Dee and said, “Now I want to take Charlie’s advice and get some rest, I want our child to be healthy and the only way that is going to happen is if you lay down and rest. I will be right here when you wake up and then we are going to find our daughter.”

“Alright I will listen to you only because I love you. Even though I’ve only known that we’ve been married for a few hours I do know that I love you, even when we were partners I knew that I loved you and I can not believe that I married another man before I realized that I loved you.”

“I love you too, Dee Dee. I think I have loved you since the moment we met, I just let you get married because I thought that was what you wanted and I didn’t want to impede on your happiness. When I got that call from the nurse that night I thought you were going to die without me being able to tell you how I really felt. Now enough with the memories, I want you to go to sleep now and give that baby some rest.” With that Rick kissed Dee Dee on the forehead and went out of the room to get something to drink and also something to read.

Rick stayed the night with Dee Dee, although he did not sleep one minute, and in the morning the doctor let her go home as long as she promised to take it easy. As of that morning there was no word on Alex and Amy, but they were still searching. Rick took Dee Dee home and then went to the office where Charlie had set up the command center.

“Hey Charlie any news on my daughter yet?” Rick asked as he walked out of the elevator and towards him.

“Hey Rick. No, there’s no news so far, but you will be the first to know, I promise.”

Just then the phone rang and Charlie jumped at it, “Charlie Devane. Yes, okay… Thank you very much… Bye.”

“I just got a tip that a man and a child has been seen matching the description of Alex and Amy, let’s go.” Charlie said after he had hung up and started heading to the elevator with Rick hot on his heals. Rick got in Charlie’s car with him and asked about the details on the way.

“Where are we going Charlie?”

“To a sleazy hotel out on Washburn, the clerk said that a man checked in there late last night with a small girl. The girl looked very frightened and she kept on telling the man that she was hungry but he just told her to shut up. The clerk said that the girl was wearing a pink dress and she had dark hair, which fits the description of what Amy was last wearing and what she looks like.”

As he was talking they had reached the hotel and a team was already in place. Charlie and Rick took their positions at the front door and told the occupants to open up. When there was no response they kicked the door open and went in. They found Alex passed out on the bed and Amy was crouched in corner shaking. Rick immediately went to Amy, leaving Alex for the other officers.

“Amy are you alright, baby?” Rick said as he picked her up and started checking her for injuries.

“Daddy?” Amy said in disbelief not really trusting that her dad had come to save her.

“Yeah, it’s me baby and you are safe now. Did he hurt you baby?” Rick questioned seeing the bruises on her arms and a cut on face.

“Only a little bit, but I’m hungry daddy. Can I have some food?”

“Of course you can honey, you can have anything you want. I am just so glad that I have you back and that you are safe. Lets go home and see mommy, okay?”

“Okay, daddy.” With that Amy let her father pick her up and carry her out of the dingy hotel room. They were approached by Charlie once they had stepped outside.

“Hey Rick, is she okay?”

“I think she is, I am going to take her to the hospital though just to make sure she okay. Do you have him?” Rick asked but really he already knew the answer to that question.

“Yeah, we got him. Don’t worry I will make sure he goes away for a long time and he will never hurt Amy or Dee Dee again, I promise. Now, I want you to take that little girl to the hospital and make sure she is okay. Bye.”

“Alright, bye.” Rick said as he headed to a squad car because he had ridden with Charlie and asked the officer to take him to the hospital. When they got to the hospital the doctor examined Amy and told Rick that there was nothing to worry about her. Besides the bruises on her arms she also had a bruise on her stomach, but there was nothing that needed medical attention. The doctor sent them home with instructions for her to take it easy and to have a healthy meal. Rick reeled with anger as he thought about someone hurting his little girl and he thought about how lucky Alex had been that Rick had been more concerned with seeing how Amy was then making him pay for what he did to her. After the doctor had given Rick some mild pain relievers for Amy’s bruises, they headed home where Dee Dee was anxiously waiting to meet her daughter.

“Mommy, mommy, we’re home.” Amy called as she and Rick came into the house.

“Oh, baby, you’re finally here. I was so worried about you, I’m so glad you are home safe.” Dee Dee said as she came around the corner from the kitchen and took Amy into her arms. Even though she could not remember that she had ever had a daughter she felt that she loved her with all her heart the moment she saw her. And she was so relieved that she was okay. After she had satisfied herself that Amy was in fact okay and that she was actually here Dee Dee released her and then proceeded to check her over for injuries.

“Oh baby, he hurt you.” Dee Dee said once she saw the bruises on her arms.

“She’s fine, honey. I took her to the hospital and the doctor said she should be fine, which is more than I could say for Alex if I ever run across him in a dark alley. They took him to jail and Charlie will personally make sure that he never sees the light of day again.”

“Rick how could he do that? That is exactly why I left him and why I never want to see his ugly face again. I am just so glad that my baby girl is okay, and that my husband didn’t get himself killed going after a crazed woman beater.”

“Wait Dee Dee, what did you just say?” Rick asked surprised because he hadn’t exactly told her how and why she left Alex.

“I said I left Alex because he went after Amy that one night and I would not let him hurt her.” Dee Dee said without hesitation then when she realized what she had said she said, “Oh my G-d, Rick, I remember. I was just standing here talking to Amy and it all came back. I got married to you on June 20 of this year, Amy’s birthday is March 14, 1991 and my due date is February 8.” Dee Dee finished her speech with a smile and then Rick came over to her and gave her a big hug.

“Now we can go on with living our lives. I can't wait to see my new son or daughter.”

“Oh Rick, I forgot to tell you that when you were left the hospital room to go check on the search the doctor came in with an ultrasound machine to see if the baby was alright and…”

“Well is it okay?”

“Well yes and no. See, the babies are okay.”

“Whoa, wait a minute did you say babies?”

“Yes that’s right, I’m going to have twins.”

And now on to part 6…..

“We’re going to have twins.” Rick repeated still in shock.

“Yes, that’s what I have been telling you. Are you okay with this Rick?”

“Yeah, I’m ecstatic. It was just a huge shock, I wasn’t expecting to have two children at once. I thought we might do it one at a time.”

“So, you’re okay with it right?”

“I am so okay with it. I can't wait to meet my children.” Rick said as he bent down to capture her lips in a passionate kiss then whispered in her ear, “You think after we put her to bed we can start practicing for the next one.”

“I think we could arrange that but we have to get her settled down before we start.” Dee Dee whispered back in a seductive voice.

“Okay Amy, time for bed.” Rick said excitedly.

The next few months went smoothly and before they knew it Dee Dee was six months pregnant and as big as a house. Rick couldn’t keep his hands off of her protruding stomach and they were the perfect picture of a family. Amy loved her new life, although she had occasional nightmares about her kidnapping she was a thriving young girl and was excited about going to pre-school next year. Charlie had retired and Rick took over as captain, which kept him out of the streets and that made Dee Dee very happy. Rick and Dee Dee were as much in love as the day they married and it was said that nothing could drive them apart.

“Dee Dee, I’m home.” Rick called as he entered the house they had bought for their growing family. He found her sitting on the couch reading a book.

“Hey beautiful.” He said as he bent over the back of the couch to give her a hello kiss.

“Don’t call me that. I am so ugly and fat.” She said as she gestured her protruding stomach.

“I don’t think so. I think that when you are carrying my child you are beautiful. Besides you will never be ugly in my eyes, even when we are old and gray. What do you want for dinner and where’s Amy?”

“I don’t care whatever you want to fix. Amy’s at Bridgett’s house, she’s spending the night there.”

“Okay, how about we just get a pizza and rent some movies.”

“That sounds great. How about you go get the movies and I will stay here and wait for the pizza.”

“Alright, if that’s okay with you.”

“It’s fine.”

“Alright I’ll be back in a few minutes.” Rick said before he bent down to kiss her goodbye.

When he returned with the movies, the pizza had arrived and Dee Dee had already gotten some plates and drinks ready.

While the previews were playing Dee Dee turned to Rick and said, “Rick did you remember we have a doctors appointment tomorrow?”

“Of course I made sure my morning was completely free so that I could take you to the appointment and then take you and Amy out to lunch after. I wouldn’t miss it for the world.”

“Alright, so it looks like we get to sleep in tomorrow.”

“Mmm, I could think of some other things we could do with our free time.”

“You keep that up, big guy and we wont be able to finish the movie.” Dee Dee said as she settled into the comfortable space between Rick’s arm and chest.

By the end of the movie it was clear that Dee Dee was not going to be doing any extracurricular activity seeing as how she had fallen asleep in Rick’s arms. Rick smiled as he got up and then stooped down to pick up his sleeping wife. As he carried her to the master bedroom he silently thanked God that it was on the main floor and he wouldn’t have to carry her up any stairs. When he reached the bedroom he laid her gently down on the bed and then tucked her in. After he had accomplished that, he proceeded to prepare himself for bed before crawling in beside her sleeping form. Before he turned off the bedside lamp, he leaned over and kissed her on the forehead and then said, “I love you, Dee Dee.”

The next morning went as planned; Dee Dee and Rick got up around eight and the babysitter arrived by nine so they could be at their appointment by nine-thirty. They waited for about ten minutes in the waiting room of the doctor and then they were called back by a nurse. Dee Dee went behind the screen and put on the gown and then she settled herself on the examining table. After about five minutes the doctor came in.

“Hello, Mrs. Hunter and how are we feeling today?”

“Pretty good, except for not being able to see my toes and having an extra twenty-five pounds added to weight, I’m great.”

“Well, that’s good to hear.” The doctor responded with a smile. “How we lay back and take a look, hmm.”

After a few minutes the beating of two fetal hearts could be heard. Both parents were in shock for a minute, before reality set in and they realized that that was the sound of their children’s heartbeats.

“Are those the heartbeats?” Rick asked in disbelief, because he had never had the pleasure of going through a pregnancy.

“Yes, those whirring sounds are the heartbeats of your children. Would you like to know the sexes?”

Rick looked at Dee Dee, signifying that it was her choice. Dee Dee thought for a moment and then said, “No, we want to be surprised.”

“Alright than everything looks good, you can go ahead and get dressed. I want you to come back and see me in another month. In the meantime, you need to take care of yourself. Make sure you get plenty of rest and definitely no lifting.”

“Thank you, doctor.” Rick said after Dee Dee had gotten up and gone behind the curtain to change back into her clothes.

“You take care of her, Rick, she is going to need you. She going to need to have you reassure her that she is still the same woman she was when she wasn’t pregnant and ‘fat’.”

“Believe me I will.” Rick said while he was thinking of the conversation they had had last night about her weight.

The next couple of months went by smoothly with no complications. Dee Dee continued to grow large and as her stomach got bigger she started not going out as much. Rick hired a nanny to help out with Amy, seeing as how Dee Dee could not do it all by herself. One day when Dee Dee was feeling energized she decided to go down to Parker Center and meet Rick for lunch. When she went to his office he was on the phone so she sat down on the couch to wait for him.

“Dee Dee, what are you doing here?” Rick asked once he had hung up the phone.

“I was bored at home so I left Amy with Mrs. Kravitz and decided to come meet you for lunch.”

“Alright I will have lunch with you, as long as you promise to go home right after and get some rest, deal?”

“Deal, although I really don’t like it. You should be very happy that I love you or else I wouldn’t have agreed to that deal.”

“Well, I am happy that you love me and as for the deal, I think I could have gotten you to agree to it even if you didn’t love me.” Rick said with a grin.

“Whatever, are you going to take a hungry pregnant woman to lunch or not?” Dee Dee said changing the subject before he could drive his point in further.

“I guess so, I mean my hot wife couldn’t join me today so I think I could settle for a beautiful pregnant woman.” Rick said as he bent down to give her a passionate kiss.

“Mmm, you better be careful, who knows when your hot wife will walk in.” Dee Dee said when they finally came up for air.

“That’s okay, I think she is in Alaska or something like that.” Rick said with a mischievous smile.

“As much as I would like to continue this, you have a hungry pregnant woman to feed, so let’s go.” Dee Dee said as she took his hand and led him to the elevator.

They got in the elevator when the doors opened and much to their delight it was empty. Rick resumed the kissing they had started earlier but halfway through the kiss the elevator jolted to a stop throwing them both off balance. Rick was thrown against the wall and Dee Dee was thrown into his arms. For a moment they were in total darkness until the emergency lighting came on. After the shock of the jolt had worn off, they both looked around to see what to do.

“Rick, what are we going to do?” Dee Dee said getting more worried by the second.

“Calm down, honey. Someone will come and help us, it is going to be okay. Let’s just sit down on the floor and get comfortable.” Rick said as he helped Dee Dee get settled on the floor of the elevator. After he was sure she was comfortable he went over to try the emergency phone. After a couple of seconds he slammed it down in frustration.

“Damn, the phones are out of order. The power outage must affect them too. We will just have to wait until the power comes back on.” Rick said as he sat down beside his wife and took her into his arms.

But after a few minutes it was quite clear that they couldn’t wait for the power to come back on.

“Rick.” Dee Dee said with evident panic in her voice.

“What’s wrong, honey?” Rick asked afraid that he already knew the answer.

“My water just broke.” She said matter of factly.

“Are you having contractions?”

“No, except my back has been hurting all day. I just thought it was normal pregnancy pain. So I guess you could say I have been having contractions all day.”

“Great, just great, you should have been in a hospital. Why didn’t you tell me that before, we wouldn’t be in this mess now.” Rick said then realizing how mean he sounded he said, “I’m sorry Dee Dee, I didn’t mean it like that. It’s just that it would be better if you had these babies in the hospital.”

“Well Rick, I don’t think that is an option right now. It looks like you get to deliver two more babies but we are not going to name them Hunter.” Dee Dee said trying to make the situation lighter.

“Fine by me, here how about you lay down and get comfortable and I will go ahead and see how far along you are.” Rick said as he helped her lie down and get in a comfortable position.

“Well?” Dee Dee said after Rick had looked.

“It looks like these babies are going to be born right here in this elevator, you are almost fully dialated. How fast was you labor with Amy?”

“Pretty fast, I think she was born only an hour or so after my water broke.”

“Uh-huh, well it looks like her siblings don’t want to be considered slow because I think they are out to beat Amy’s record.”

“What do you mean? Rick, we don’t have any of the right equipment to deliver these babies? We were supposed to have these babies in a hospital where they would be nice and safe.” Dee Dee said getting scared not only for the lives of her children but also for her own life.

“I’m sorry about that Dee Dee but they’re coming and we are going to have to make do with the resources we have.” Rick started to take his shoelaces off and then he reached inside the pocket of his suit coat and got out his pocket knife.

After about ten more minutes Rick looked again and then said, “Okay, Dee Dee when the next contraction comes I want you push as hard as you can. One, two, three, push! Great job, honey, I can see the head.”

After a few more minutes, the first head was out. “Okay, honey, one more push and we will be halfway done. Ready, set, push! Good job, honey, it’s a boy.”

After he had gotten the little baby’s umbilical cord cut and wrapped him in his suit jacket he handed him to Dee Dee. After a couple of seconds later the contractions began again and five minutes later the sound of second cry could be heard in the elevator.

“It’s a girl, Dee Dee.” Rick said while he cleaned up his new daughter.

“Thank you, Dee Dee. I love you.” Rick said before he leaned down to give her a kiss.

“They’re beautiful, Rick. I love you , too.” Just then the elevator started moving.

“Nothing like being right on time, huh Dee Dee.” Rick said with a smile. When the elevator reached the ground floor, Rick went out and asked the closest person to call an ambulance.

When Dee Dee was settled in her room, Rick came in to see how she was. She was lying peacefully in the bed giving their daughter her first feeding while their son was sleeping peacefully in his nearby bassinet. Rick stopped for a minute taking in the site and as he was watching he thought to himself that life couldn’t get any better than this.

“Hey, sweetheart, how are you feeling?” Rick said after he sat down the bouquet of flowers he was carrying and giving her a kiss on the cheek.

“Tired, but happy.” Dee Dee said with a smile.

“So, have you thought of any names for them?” Rick said after he had sat down.

“Well I have a couple of ideas, but I also want to hear what you have thought of.”

“Well, for our daughter I like the name Kathryn Anne. What do you think?”

“Kathryn Anne Hunter, I like it.”

“Kathryn Anne it is, then but I think that we will call her Katie for short. Now, what about our son?”

“Hmm, how about Richard David Hunter Jr.?”

“That sounds great, is that okay with you?”

“Yeah and just think if he chooses to become a cop like his old man there will be another Rick Hunter to terrorize the department.” Dee Dee said with a snide smile.

“Hey, I am not that bad am I? Besides I always get the bad guys.” Rick retorted.

“Yes, you do and I thank you for that. If you hadn’t have gotten some of those bad guys either me or even Amy would be dead.”

“You don’t have to thank me for that Dee Dee I was just protecting my partner and the love of my life and my daughter.” Rick said trying not to show his emotion but his voice cracked on the last few words.

“Well how about we focus on the future now instead of dreading on the past.”

“Right and speaking of future, I need to go pick up Amy before Mrs. Kravitz never wants to work for us again.” Rick said before he bent down to give his wife a kiss goodbye then he went to the two bassinets and gave each tiny bundle a kiss.

“Goodbye, Dee Dee. I love you.”

“I love you too, Rick. Bring Amy back so I can see her please.”

“I will but I want you to get some rest first. I will see you in a couple of hours.”

“Okay, bye.” After he walked out Dee Dee settled into the pillows and immediately fell into a peaceful sleep dreaming of her new children.

As promised Rick showed up a few hours later with Amy. He found Dee Dee sitting up in bed holding Ricky. When she saw Rick and Amy her face lit up in a bright smile.

“Hey you guys.” Dee Dee said before Rick came over and gave her chaste kiss. Then she turned to Amy and gave her a hug. “Hey baby, how are you?”

“I’m fine, mommy. Daddy said that I am a big sister now, is that right?”

“It sure is, baby. I’d like you to meet your little brother and sister, Richard David Hunter Jr. and Kathryn Anne Hunter only we will call them Ricky and Katie. What do you think?” Dee Dee said as she showed Amy the two small children.

“I think they are neat, mommy. When can I play with them?” Amy asked with an air of innocence only a child could possess.

Both adults chuckled a little before Rick said, “Amy sweetie, Ricky and Katie are still too little for you to play with, they have to be a little bit bigger to be able to play.”

“Oh, well I guess I can wait until then.” Amy said a little bit disappointed.

The next day Dee Dee got many visitors, including Charlie, Kitty and Brad and Rick’s mother who was ecstatic at having grandchildren. Rick and Dee Dee were proud new parents who enjoyed showing off their new babies.

“So Rick, I think you are beginning to make a habit of delivering babies.” Charlie joked.

“Yes, but this time it was my own children and I was scared to death. When the power went all I could think was ‘oh great I am going to be stuck in an elevator for long time’ and then Dee Dee told me her water broke and I thought ‘my children are going to be born in an elevator.’ Well at least they made it alright.” Rick finished with a smile.

“Well Rick, I gotta say they are beautiful children. God help us if they grow up to be just like their parents. Geez you two combined, these kids are gonna grow up breaking all the rules.” Charlie said with a huge grin.

“Hey, I always followed the rules until I got partnered with Rick. He was the one who corrupted me.” Dee Dee tried to defend herself.

“Oh really, as I recall you were the one who knew how to pick locks I didn’t teach you that.” Rick retorted.

“Well the only reason I knew how to do is because when I was a kid I was always locking myself out of my house and I always forgot my key so I had to figure out a way to get in.”

“Uh-huh, sure, if that’s the story you want to tell but I love you anyways.” Rick finished with a smile.

“I love you, too.” After she finished, Rick planted a quick kiss on her lips to drive the point home.

“Well, I think we’ll go now to give the new parents a chance to get to know their new children.”

”Alright, Charlie, thanks for coming by and thanks for the gifts.” Dee Dee said before Charlie came over to give her a kiss goodbye. He went over to Rick and shook his hand and then he and the others walked out.

Two days after Dee Dee gave birth she was released, despite the way they were brought into the world the twins were also released. They were very healthy and they already had the attention of half of the homicide and juvenile department in the LAPD, with Amy of course being close behind.

Amy grew up to be a rape counselor, she wanted to help women like her mother. Dee Dee had told her about her rape one night when they were staying in a hotel room Dee Dee had had one of her occasional nightmares. Ricky and Katie both grew up to follow in their parents footsteps, going to the academy and then going into the police force. Any teachers who were there when the first Rick Hunter went through joked that they were going to retire when they heard about another Rick Hunter coming through the academy. Matthew James Hunter, born two years after the twins, grew up to become a criminal lawyer much to his parents’ dismay. Although Rick and Dee Dee had to admit that he was a damn good lawyer. The baby of the family, Evelyn Marie Hunter called Evie for short born two years after Matt, grew up to become a doctor in the ER. She often treated the men and women in her big brother and sister’s fellow officers and even treated them a few times, although like their parents they weren’t hurt often. Rick and Dee Dee were very proud of all their children and when Rick was still the captain at the precinct you could often hear him bragging about one of his children.

Ricky grew up to be the spitting image of his father, while Katie grew up to be a mix of her mother and father. Katie had her mother’s dark hair and the clear blue eyes of her father. Both children inherited the height of their father, Ricky measured in at the exact height of his father and Katie measured in at 5’ 10”. Matt looked exactly like his mother but with his fathers height. Evie was the exact image of mother and Dee Dee joked that she had Rick wrapped around her finger, because of the way she looked and acted.

By the time they were old and gray Dee Dee and Rick had done things that most people dreamed about. After Katie and Ricky had been born, Rick took the whole family to Hawaii and for their ten year anniversary Rick took Dee Dee on a tour of Europe. Of course they were always doing things with their work that would be considered very exciting. All in all they were the picture of a perfect family and they loved each other more than anything else in the world. All six children grew up to get married and have children. Rick and Dee Dee enjoyed being grandparents as much as they enjoyed being parents. Needless to say they all lived happily ever after, with a few bumps in the road of course.