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“I’m just saying, there’s no shame in being nervous,” Caleb told his partner.

“And I’m just saying I’m not nervous,” she replied, peering through the camera lens.

“First stakeout and all, it’s only natural.” He went on as if he hadn’t heard her. Although they were arguing, their tone was friendly. It was just a way to pass the time.

“Maybe you’re projecting your nerves on to me.”

He shook his head. “Nope. I feel fine.”

“It takes more than a stakeout to make me nervous.”

He looked at her, curiously. “Well, what would make you nervous?”

She seemed about to reply when she suddenly stopped and looked over the camera. “They could at least try to be subtle.”

He followed her gaze and saw a black Cadillac pulling up to the building.

He chuckled. “Guess they really haven’t made us, yet. That’s good. You can stop being nervous.”

The Cadillac drove off, but they decided to stay put for the day, hoping they would get some evidence from the building that night.

Camille stood over the bathroom sink, clutching the porcelain, tightly, and willing things to be different when she opened her eyes. Her mouth tasted of bile and she was sweating, despite wearing only a tank top and jogging shorts which she used as pajamas. Her heart pounded as she opened her eyes and had to accept the truth. She held up the pregnancy test and tears welling up as someone knocked on the door.

“Camille?” Julia called from the hallway. “Are you okay? You’ve been in there a while.”

The teenager took a shuddering breath. She knew she couldn’t hide this from her foster mother. Even if she could, Camille didn’t want to go through this without her. Tears filling her eyes and with the pregnancy test in one hand, she opened the door to accept her fate.

As she looked at Julia, her voice came out as one belonging to a child that got in trouble at school. “I’m sorry.”

Julia took in the trembling girl, the item in her hand and the significance of it. “Oh, Camille…”

She wrapped her in a hug, knowing that there was no point in being angry. Anger was needed when the child had to understand she had done something wrong. This child already understood.

Camille collapsed into tears, dropping the accusing test and holding onto Julia as tightly as she could, wishing she could make it all go away.

“Come on.” Julia slipped an arm around her and led Camille to her room. “Bethany, watch Kevin for a minute.” She called over her shoulder before closing the door. She had Camille sit on the bed and she sat beside her, once again, wrapping an arm around her shoulders.

Camille laid her head on her foster mother’s shoulder, feeling for all the world like a child and wishing she was one. “I’m sorry.”

“I know.” Julia spoke softly. “But that’s not enough. You need to make some decisions, now.”

Camille fell silent. She’d already made her decision. She hadn’t realized it then, but she’d made the decision as soon as she missed her period. “I want to keep it.” Her voice was soft and weak, fearing she may have said the wrong thing.

“Okay,” Julia replied, neither encouraging nor discouraging the decision. “What about college?”

Camille had to think for a moment before answering. “I’ll defer it for a year, then go to community college.”

“Alright.” Julia didn’t argue or make suggestions. It wasn’t her decision to make. “And Tyler?”

That question drew another sob from Camille. “What if he doesn’t want it?”

“That will be his loss.”

Camille’s body shook, but she nodded.

Julia pulled back and looked at the girl, wiping away her tears. “Wash up and I’ll make you some hot cocoa. That should settle you down a bit, so you can get some sleep. Things will look better when the sun is up.”

Camille smiled a little at Julia’s words. She had always thought her foster mother’s bits of advice were cheesy, but now, she hoped they were right.

When Emma and Caleb returned to the station, it was buzzing with life. People were answering phone calls and filing paperwork as quickly as possible.

“What’s going on?” Caleb asked as he spotted Donovan rushing by with a pile of papers.

“Big drug bust,” the Sargent told them. “Traffic cop pulled over a black Cadillac for speeding and smelled marijuana. Turns out the car was full of drugs. The driver took a shot at the cop when he tried to arrest him, but he missed and the officer had already called it in, so back up got there before he could fire again. The guy got booked and flipped almost immediately. Narcotics is bringing in his supplier, but they have everyone working on getting the client list.”

Greene and Roxbury had stayed silent for the whole explanation, but they were both frowning. Somebody called out to Donovan and he hurried away.

“Sounds like our guy,” Emma said, once he was gone.

Caleb nodded. “Guess they found probable cause.”

“I guess so.” She looked at the room for a minute and shrugged. “Well, let’s see if we can’t help with the client list.” She headed back to her desk.

Surprised, he followed her. “You’re not disappointed?”

“About what?” She looked back at him, her face showing honest confusion.

“Because we didn’t get to make the bust…” He spoke slowly. “I mean, we’ll get credit for our work and we may be able to help them with the client list, but most of the credit will go to the ones that brought the driver down.”

“Well, that’s fine, isn’t it?” she replied. “The criminals are going to prison. Does it matter who is responsible for that?”

He looked at her for a moment, then smiled. “It really doesn’t bother you, does it?”

“Nope,” she told him, honestly, returning the smile. “Now, are you going to help me with the addresses we got or what?” She headed back to her desk.

He shook his head, once again surprised by her. “I figured you cared about credit. After all, that’s how you got your promotion and got to move here, isn’t it? You busted a big case and got most of the credit, even though others had been working on it longer.”

Emma shook her head, taking a seat and pulling out the list of addresses she’d made. “That was luck. To be honest, I didn’t do much besides nearly get killed.” She looked at him. “As a rookie, I shouldn’t have been undercover that quickly, but I was the dealer’s type and they knew he would let his guard down. However, they didn’t account for him pulling out a gun and deciding my payment for the drugs without my consent.” Caleb started to ask something, but she shook her head. “Nothing happened, but it would look bad on the boss if anyone found out, so he gave me a promotion and my pick of departments.” She smiled. “So here I am.”

“Huh.” He looked her over. “Well, I promise never to stick you in a situation you’re not ready for. We’re partners, after all. We have each other’s backs.”

She gave a short chuckle. “Get that from a movie?”

“Shut up and work on your addresses,” he replied, heading back to his own desk.

Emma looked up after he left and watched him working for a second. Despite her derisive comment, she actually liked the idea of having a partner, but she still wasn’t ready to let her guard down.

Tyler leaned against the wall of the locker room, his head swimming. The other students had gone home for the day, but Camille had stopped him, explaining that they needed to talk, and led him there. He had been afraid she was going to dump him. Now, he wished it were that simple. He was afraid to speak, knowing his voice would shake.

“Are you okay?” Camille asked, her own voice barely remaining steady.

She was panicking as much as he was. She had run the conversation through her head all day and had spent most of that time steeling herself for him to dump her and the baby she carried.

He took a breath and closed his eyes. “I don’t know.”

It was as honest as he could get. He wasn’t ready to be a dad. He had a football scholarship. He was going to college or he had been before Camille brought him to the locker room and ruined his life. He swallowed, knowing he couldn’t blame her, no matter how easy it might seem. He did this. He had to deal with it.

She nodded her understanding. “Well, I am planning to keep it, but I understand if you don’t want to be involved. I just thought you should know.” She figured if she gave him an out, that would make it easier on her than if he just got angry and refused to help.

He opened his eyes and looked at the girl. “You think I don’t want to be involved?”

She stared at him, blankly, feeling a little hopeful, but not daring to let it show. “Do you?” She hadn’t let herself think about how much she wanted him to go through it with her. She knew it would make things harder if he didn’t.

“What kind of person do you think I am?” he demanded, letting anger overpower his fear. “You think I would just get a girl pregnant, then abandon the kid? How much of a jerk do you take me for?”

Camille withdrew, tears forming in her eyes. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean it like that.” She blinked, trying to avoid crying. She had been crying so much, she wondered if it were possible to run out of tears. Either way, crying made her feel pathetic. She just wanted to stop.

He looked at her for a moment, then rubbed his eyes with one hand, holding the other up to her in a peaceful gesture. “No, don’t…I’m sorry. This is just a lot to take in. It’s unfair for me to get mad at you.” He dropped his hands to the side and looked at the ground. “This is really happening, huh?”

“I’m sorry,” Camille said again, realizing she’d been apologizing almost as much as she had been crying.

He looked up at her and shook his head. “Don’t be.” He laid his hands on her shoulders and kissed her head before hugging her. “This is my responsibility, too. We’re in this together and we'll manage it, somehow.”

She leaned into him, feeling like she might cry again from relief, but she figured those tears might be alright. “Okay. We can handle this together. I love you.”

“I love you, too, Camille.” He pulled back to look at her. “And we will love our baby.” He didn’t know what else to say and he hoped that was enough.

Camille smiled for the first time since she’d realized she was pregnant, letting out a breath she hadn’t realized she was holding.

Within a few hours of bringing in the people whose addresses the car had visited, the precinct was filled with lawyers of the highest caliber. Caleb had barely said two words to the suspects before counsel showed up to silence them.

Emma sighed. “How are we supposed to get them, now?”

Caleb looked at the mob and shrugged. While some of them were obviously addicts, there was no way to prove it. “I don’t think we will. We don’t have much evidence against them and what little we do have, those lawyers can fight.”

She turned on him. “So we just let them go and find a new dealer?”

“Looks like it.” His voice was cool and he headed back to his desk without another glance at them.

Emma followed him, annoyed. “But we know they bought the drugs. There must be something we can do.”

He patiently folded his hands on his desk and looked at her. “What do you suggest?”

She paused, uncertainly. “We could gather more evidence.”

“From where? The drug ring has been shut down and they probably don’t know most of their clients. Even if they did, their testimony wouldn’t do us much good against these guys.” He looked down at his paperwork. “We just have to hope they get scared into going clean, I guess.”

She stared at him for a moment and sighed. “So we just give up?”

He looked up at her and smiled. “Don’t look so down. We helped take down a major drug operation. This is a win. Go home and get some rest. We’ll start a new case tomorrow.”

Emma nodded and grabbed her coat before heading out, exhausted by the mere presence of the lawyers.

Caleb watched her go and sighed. Sometimes, she seemed too naïve for the job.

Camille walked across the stage as her name was called and she smiled, moving the tassel to the other side of her cap. Julia, Bethany and Kevin cheered from the audience. As she walked off the stage, she held up her diploma. Afterwards, Tyler’s parents came over for dinner.

When they had been told about the baby, his father yelled and his mother cried. It took them a week to cope with it. They still weren’t happy, but they were doing their best to deal with the unavoidable situation. After all, they weren’t going to miss out on their grandchild just because the circumstances were less than ideal.

“So, have you thought about names?” his mother asked.

Camille laughed. “It’s a little early for that.” She smiled at Tyler. “We have plenty of time for those things.”

“We need to at least wait until after next week’s ultrasound before we start making plans.” Julia smiled at the group and looked at Tyler. “By the way, I never asked if you were coming with us.”

“Tyler has a job interview, don’t you Tyler?” his father replied.

The boy nodded. “It’s just waiting tables, but it’s something. I want to be able to help with the bills.”

“You’re so responsible.” Camille kissed his cheek. “I’ve put in a few applications, but I haven’t heard anything, yet.”

“I’m sure you will,” Julia told her. “But our main focus is making sure everything goes well with your pregnancy.”

Camille nodded her agreement. It had been a few weeks since she found out and already things seemed better. Julia was helping her pick out vitamins and watch what she ate. Tyler was being supportive and doing his best to be there for her. Overall, the people in her life were making her feel like she was going to be okay and that was what she really needed.

“How do you feel about a whorehouse?” Caleb asked Emma at her desk.

She had just lifted her cup of coffee to her lips and she paused to look at him over it. “Are you thinking of going to one? Because, as an officer of the law and a feminist, I would have to advise against that.”

He chuckled and shook his head. “A hooker got picked up who says her customers have been going to one and she’s losing money. It may just be a plea to get out of jail time, but…”

Emma nodded. “Show me what we have.”

“I was hoping you’d say that.” He showed her the beginnings of a file. “We don’t have much, yet. The girl doesn’t know where it is or who’s running it.”

“So we know nothing.” She gave him a look and, for a second, Caleb thought she was going to say there was no case, but instead she looked at the file. There was a picture of the prostitute they caught in it. She had on excessively thick make-up and a blonde wig. Emma wondered if men liked their prostitutes to look so fake, but she knew it was usually the girls who wanted to hide behind the disguise. It made them feel disconnected from their work. “We should probably start by talking to some other working girls. If one has heard about it, maybe others have heard more.”

He nodded. “You took the words right out of my mouth.”

She looked at him. “You think any of them will talk to cops?”

“Once they realize we’re not going to arrest them, they might.” He shrugged. “Only one way to find out.”

Emma picked up her coat and pulled it on. “Let’s head out.”

“So is it a boy or a girl?” Camille eagerly asked the OBGYN.

The doctor laughed. “It’s too early to say.” She pointed at a spot on the ultrasound. “You see that blob there? That’s your baby.”

Camille stared at it, willing herself not to cry. She refused to be such a cliché. Instead, she held Julia’s hand and smiled. “My baby.”

Julia smiled and looked at the doctor. “We’re going to need printouts to show the father.”

The other woman smiled. “I’ll have them in just a minute.”

On the way home, Camille flipped through vague images of her insides. “Our first baby pictures.” She giggled as she looked at them. “That’s my baby.” She touched her stomach.

Julia smiled. “I’m sure Tyler will be excited to see them.” She kept her eyes on the road. Rain was falling hard and she debated pulling over, but she figured the house wasn’t too far and they could make it.

“You think so?” Camille looked at her foster mother, her eyes bright. It had upset her when she first thought of having a baby. She had been terrified. She still was, but, now, she was hopeful. As she laid her hand on her stomach, she imagined the life growing inside her. “I still can’t believe I’m going to be a mother.”

“Well, believe it.” Julia began looking for a place to pull over, having given up on going straight through the storm. “Just make sure you take your responsibility seriously and we won’t have a problem.”

Camille nodded.  “I promise. I know how important it is to take care of a child. I’ve seen what can happen when parents don’t, remember? I will-”

But Julia never heard what she was going to do. Another driver had skidded on the slick road and their cars were smashed together, sliding off the street. There was pain and blood and lights. Camille saw Julia, pinned to her seat, but reaching out for her. She heard sirens as she passed out, the ultrasound pictures clutched tightly in one hand.

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