"Excuse me, are you Peter Caine?"

Looking up distractedly, Peter grunted. "Huh, what?"

"Are you Peter Caine? If you are, I have a registered letter here for you." The mail carrier shifted his weight from one foot to the other impatiently. "Look, buddy, I don't have all day here."

Peter picked up the nameplate from his desk and pointed to it as he grinned sarcastically. "Peter Caine. That's me."

"Sign here, please."

Peter took the proffered clipboard and pen, signing the slip on the letter and taking it before returning the messenger's materials to him. The carrier spun on his heel and walked away, and Peter called after him, "Hey, always a pleasure doing business with the US Government." He turned his attention to the letter in his hand, taking note of the expensive stationary and the return address in the upper left-hand corner. "Jewell, Ott, and Doerr, Attorneys at Law?" He shrugged and ripped open one end of the envelope, blowing into the end to loosen the papers inside.

He started to read the letter and, after scanning only a few paragraphs, uttered an expletive and threw the offending mail on his desktop.

Kermit strolled past, nose buried in a file, then stopped, backed up, and stared at Peter over the top of his green glasses. "What's the matter? Get an unfriendly fan letter?"

Peter sat shaking his head in disbelief. "This woman is unbelievable. Absolutely unbelievable!"

"What woman?"

"Ms. Wright." Peter spoke the words distastefully. "She couldn't get at me professionally anymore, so now she's made it personal!"

"What are you talking about?"

Peter snatched up the letter and shook it at Kermit. "I just got a letter from her attorneys. She's suing me for the wrongful death of her brother, to the tune of two million dollars!"

Kermit pushed his sunglasses up to rest on the top of his head and stared at Peter. "You're kidding."

"I wish I was. She's claiming that if I had followed police procedures, her brother wouldn't be dead. And it says here that Strenlich, Simms, and the city police department are all being named as co-defendants." Peter jumped to his feet and strode to Simms's door, the letter still clutched in his hand. Knocking loudly, he barely waited for the captain to respond before he barged into her office.

She sat waiting quietly at her desk, staring down at a recently opened letter. Before Peter could start in, she nodded at the paper in his hand. "I see that you've received the news."

Pacing restlessly, Peter struggled to keep from shouting. "Just what the hell is this woman trying to prove? Wrongful death? You've gotta be kidding me! The police department had nothing to do with the death of her brother! Someone had already offed him by the time anybody official got there!"

"I've already been on the phone with the commissioner. Ms. Wright is claiming that if proper police procedures had been followed, her brother wouldn't be dead."

"If proper police procedures had been followed, my wife would have been raped and brutalized and she and my baby would be dead!"

Simms speared him with a look. "You don't know that for sure. No one does." She sighed wearily. "The commissioner is not happy about this recent development."

"Do you think I am?"

"And he is seeking to disassociate the department from you in this case."

Peter halted abruptly and stared at her. "Meaning what?"

She massaged her temple with her fingertips. "Meaning he does not want the city in a lawsuit. Meaning he wants you to claim all responsibility for procedures being ignored, and for you, personally, to be the only defendant in this suit."

Peter clamped his lips shut and focused his eyes on the ceiling tile above his head. His voice was calm when he looked at her again. "I am the one who took off without telling anybody where I was going or what I was doing." His hazel eyes darkened somberly. "I take it this means that my legal fees are not going to be paid for by the department."

She nodded. "I'm sorry, Detective."

"Does this mean I'm being fired, too?"

She shook her head vigorously. "No way in hell I'll let that happen." She rose to her feet and circled her desk to stand before him. "But I do have some bad news."

"You mean besides this lawsuit?"

"I'm being forced to suspend you without pay. I don't like it, and I don't want to, but..."

Peter stared at her for a long moment. "I understand. I'll clean out my desk and be gone in fifteen minutes."

Simms blinked in surprise at his calm demeanor.

"What's the matter, Captain?" He grinned crookedly at her as he pulled out his badge and gun and laid them on her desk without so much as a grumble. "Surprised that I didn't go postal on you?"

She cocked her head and eyed him suspiciously. "Actually, Detective, yes."

"Let's just say I've gained some perspective. Am I mad as hell about the lawsuit? Yes. Am I unhappy about being suspended? Yes. But I still have my wife, and we're looking forward to the birth of our first child in less than eight weeks. This other stuff is only so much crap. I'll be back under your feet before you know it, Captain." He gave her a forgiving smile and turned to leave.

"Peter?"

He halted in mid-stride and looked back at her.

"If there's anything that I can do...I mean, I have some money stashed away if...I mean, I know that attorney's fees can really be --"

"That won't be necessary, Captain." Peter saved her further embarrassment by breaking into her speech. "I won't go into detail, but let's just say that while Mike O'Brien had control of Kacie's legal and financial affairs, he did a hell of a job with her assets. We're fine. Actually, we're more than fine." A rueful smile flitted about his lips. "But I could use the name of a good lawyer."

"Now, Honey, don't get all upset." Peter reached for her, but she refused to let him touch her.

"How do I not get upset about someone who is working so hard to ruin your life? To ruin our lives?" she demanded, roughly shoving the dining room chair against the table.

"Sweetheart, listen to me." He held her shoulders firmly yet gently. "I've already talked with Stacy Pardchek, and I'm meeting with her tomorrow. From the way she talked on the phone, this type of case is not all that unusual, and she's handled a lot of them. She's confident that this will never get to court."

"How long before we know? Weeks? Months? Years? I don't want this held over our heads! And two million dollars? I know we can get twice that much for the ranch, but that's all I have left of my family, Peter! What if someday one of our children wanted to live there and take over running it? What if -- "

"Hey." He stemmed the flow of words by cupping his hand over her mouth. "Aren't you the one who told me you didn't want to deal with what ifs? Just right nows?"

She angrily jerked his hand from her mouth. "Right now if that woman was in front of me I'd rearrange her front teeth!"

"Whoa there, Sweetheart. I'm the violent one in the family, remember?"

Kacie clamped her jaw shut so hard her teeth clicked audibly, and she looked away guiltily.

"Uh-oh. I know that look. What's up, Irish?"

She licked her lips nervously. "Umm...I've been waiting for the right time to tell you something, Peter."

His smile faded at her serious look. "What? You're feeling all right, aren't you? Baby is all right?"

"It's nothing like that. I feel fine and Baby's great. It's just that, well, when I was back at the ranch with all that time on my hands, I, uh, did something I hadn't done in a long time."

He laughed and teased, "Like what? Bronc busting? Calf roping? Big game hunting?"

"I..." She fumbled with the necklace around her throat. "I picked up a gun again for the first time since Dad and Kevin were killed."

He stared at her in disbelief. "You did what?"

She hugged herself defensively. "You heard me. Dad taught both of us kids how to shoot when we were little. I was always a better shot than Kevin was -- at least with a pistol. I decided it was time to get familiar with a handgun again. And-and I'm going to apply for a gun permit in this state."

He repeated her words slowly, trying to absorb the meaning. "You...are going to apply for a permit for a concealed weapon." Drawing a deep breath, he exhaled it slowly. "Why?"

"Why? Because I'm tired of feeling like a victim. Because I want to feel like I can protect myself and the people I love."

"I see. You've decided that I'm not man enough to take care of you, so you have to take care of yourself." Peter's eyes darkened with hurt and anger.

"I didn't say that." She reached out her hand and touched his arm, flinching when he jerked away. "I don't want to fight about this, Peter."

He strode halfway across the living room before wheeling around to face her. "We're not going to fight about it, because it isn't going to happen. I won't allow you to carry a gun, and that's final."

She arched an eyebrow at him. "Oh, really? You won't 'allow' me? Since when do you 'allow' me to do things? I wasn't aware I needed your permission."

He scrubbed a hand over his face in agitation. "Kacie, it's too dangerous. I can see it now: you pull your gun on somebody and they overpower you. Next thing you know, you get shot with your own gun. No. Absolutely not."

"You have nothing to say about this, Peter. After what happened to me when I was kidnapped, my mind is made up."

He stared at her, fists unconsciously clenching at his sides. "I have nothing to say about this?" His voice was hoarse with emotion. "You would endanger yourself and our child, and I have nothing to say about it?"

"It's my life, not yours! Get off my back!" she shouted furiously, unthinkingly.

The muscles at the corners of Peter's jaw twitched, and his face jerked as if he'd been slapped.

Kacie's eyes were wide with horror and remorse. "Oh, Peter. I didn't mean..."

"I need some air." He avoided looking at her and strode quickly to the front door. As he reached for the doorknob, a pair of arms slid around his waist, and he felt Kacie rest her head against his back.

"Don't leave," she whispered, arms tightening their grip. "I-I'm just mad at what's happening to you. To us. I'm mad at that insane woman for making your life hell at the precinct. For filing this lawsuit against you. I'm mad at the world. But not at you. Never at you."

He stood stiffly, without speaking, and leaned his forehead against the door.

She tugged at his waist and rubbed her cheek over his shoulder blade. "I'm sorry. I'm sorry for what I said. It was mean and it was thoughtless. I'm sorry for taking my mad out on you."

He loosened her grip around his waist and turned around slowly to face her, hurt reflecting plainly in somber hazel eyes. "I'm mad, too. We ought to be spending our time looking forward to the day our baby is born, and instead we're fighting shadows and lawsuits and each other."

Kacie's chin quivered. "I didn't mean what I said to you. I didn't."

Suddenly they were in each other's arms, locked in an embrace designed to keep out the intrusions of the world. Her voice was muffled against his chest. "I despise that bitch and what she's trying to do to us."

"We'll despise her together, OK?" He rested his chin on top of her head. "Kacie, I don't want you to carry a gun. Is this something you really think you have to do?"

Sighing, she relaxed against him. "I thought I did. But after listening to you, I'm not so sure."

"Honey, Pop and I will teach you more about kung fu and how to defend yourself like that, but I don't want you getting involved with guns. Please. I'm asking you...please?"

She kissed the underside of his jaw. "Compromise? I want to keep shooting, and keep practiced up on handling a gun, but I won't get one of my own. How's that sound?"

Stroking his hands through her hair, he sighed. "I guess I can live with that. On one condition."

"What?"

"That I be the one to teach you."

"Oh, I don't know about that..."

"Why?"

She leaned back in his arms to look up into his face. "Because you might be like those golfing husbands that try to teach their wife how to golf, and all that happens is a fight."

He shook his head firmly. "We wouldn't fight. This is too important to both of us. And I'd feel a lot better actually knowing how good you were handling a gun." He kissed the tip of her nose. "Do we have a deal?"

"Deal." Her face suddenly grew sad. "I didn't mean to hurt you. Forgive me?"

He nodded and kissed her before rubbing his cheek against hers. "I love you."

"I love you more."

"Hah."

She pulled down his head and kissed him tenderly, her lips asking for and receiving his forgiveness.

Their kisses grew more insistent until Peter abruptly pulled away. "Hey, aren't we supposed to go to class tonight?"

She looked startled. "Oh. I forgot all about it." She smiled and patted her protruding abdomen. "How could I forget something the size of a watermelon?"

"Are you sure you're in the mood to go?"

Nodding, she smiled at him. "I know we've still got issues to deal with, Hon, but we can talk some more when we get back home."

He grabbed their coats out of the hall closet and helped Kacie into hers before putting on his own. Grinning at her he asked, "So what's the topic tonight? Breathing?"

"I think we're going to watch the film of an actual childbirth."

Peter's eyes widened and he gulped. "Oh."

To Part 28

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