"Will you be here later?"

"I gotta sleep at some point, but I'll be working from here for a while today. Not sure what's going on, schedule-wise. Let me know if you need me to get Alex from Angela's later."

"We've got a free night on the campaign tonight, so I may be home at a decent hour. I'll text you."

"Sounds good. Love you guys."

"Love you too," she said on the way out the door with his son in her arms. She'd been such a trouper about stepping up for Alex-and for him-since he'd learned about the son he'd fathered with a woman he'd been with exactly once. Lori Phillips. The name had barely registered with him when he first heard about the baby. Now it gave him nightmares as a custody battle loomed.

He'd kept a lot of the details from Christina, not wanting to worry her in the midst of Nick's reelection campaign when she was so busy and distracted. Thinking now of Lori, he recalled the message he'd received yesterday from his lawyer Andy. He'd put off returning the call because he'd been in such a great mood before the baseball game and hadn't wanted to hear whatever bad news Andy might have for him.

Now, however, he placed the call to Andy, knowing he couldn't put it off forever, as much as he wanted to.

"Hey, Tommy," Andy said when he came on the line a minute later. "So I've heard back from Lori's attorney. Apparently, she's successfully completed rehab, ended her relationship with Rex and moved into a two-bedroom apartment."

Each bit of information hit Gonzo like knives to the heart. He had no illusions about why Lori was working so hard to get her life together.

"Tommy? Are you there?"

"I'm here. Waiting for the really bad news."

"Here it is-she intends to file for full custody."

The breath left his lungs in a whoosh. His legs buckled, and he dropped onto the sofa. "You can't be serious. He's lived with me for more than six months. All that time she's had hardly any interest in him."

"I don't think that's exactly true. She's been in rehab for a lot of those months."

"And in the meantime, we've become a family. My fiancee has become his mother."

"She's not technically his mother, and you both know that."

"Still..."

"I get it. Trust me, I definitely see this from your point of view, but the fact remains that Lori is his biological mother, and she does have rights."

"Rights," Gonzo snorted. "What about my son's rights?"

"He has them too, and the court will take them into consideration."

"So you see this going to court?" Gonzo asked, a sinking feeling invading his abdomen.

"I do, unless you and Lori are able to come to some sort of arrangement on your own."

That was highly unlikely, Gonzo thought, as he hadn't even spoken to the woman in months.

"How do you wish to proceed?" Andy asked. "I could set up a meeting with Lori and her attorney. Give you two a chance to hammer this out amicably."

"Do you recommend that?"

"It's always advised to keep things as friendly as you can for as long as you can. Perhaps you can work out something that works for both of you, short of going to court."

"I don't want anything less than full custody."

"You need to be prepared for the fact that she wants the same thing."

"She can't possibly have as strong a case as I do as the parent who has cared for him all this time."

"Maybe not, but she is the child's mother, Tommy, and the court will be pleased by the changes she's made. It shows that she has good intentions."

"Where were her good intentions when she hadn't even bothered to give my son a name months after he was born?" Gonzo couldn't keep the bitterness from creeping into his tone.

"Should I set up the meeting?"

Gonzo thought about it for a long moment, weighing the pros and cons. "Yeah, go ahead. See if you can make it for after the election. Christina has enough on her plate between now and then."

"I'll see what I can do and be back in touch. Hang in there, okay?"

"I'm trying. Thanks, Andy."

"No problem. Talk soon."

Gonzo put his phone on the coffee table and reached for one of the teddy bears Alex slept with. The scent of baby shampoo and powder clinging to the bear brought tears to his eyes. Thinking of a long, protracted, expensive battle with Lori only added to his weariness. All he wanted was a peaceful life with Christina and Alex and any other children they might be blessed with. Was that too much to ask?

Apparently, he thought bitterly. He could never regret the one-night stand that had brought Alex into his life so unexpectedly last winter. At the time, he'd been stunned to learn he had a son with a woman he barely remembered. Now he couldn't imagine a day, let alone a life, without the boy at the center of it. He'd fight for him with everything he had for as long as it took to ensure their family stayed together.

The thought of telling Christina that they might be in for a fight with the baby's mother filled him with pain. They'd both submitted to the fantasy of letting Alex think of her as his mother. Why wouldn't they when his real mother barely showed an ounce of interest in him?

Christina was amazing with him, as devoted to him as she was to Gonzo. They'd barely begun dating when Lori dropped the bomb on him about Alex, but Christina had rolled with it from the beginning. It was simple, she always said, she loved him, and she loved his son.

Gonzo got up and flipped on the radio, tuning it to WFBR, the station owned by the Feds. Then he went into the kitchen to brew a pot of coffee that would be critical to remaining awake after the night without sleep. He got busy on his laptop digging into Willie Vasquez's life and listened to the hate spewing forth from angry fans on the radio. But all the while, his thoughts were on the little boy he loved and the looming fight to keep him where he belonged.

Chapter Four.

Sam arrived home in time to catch Nick as he was about to leave for the Hill. When she came in the door, his gorgeous face lit up with that sexy grin she loved so much.

"This is a nice surprise," he said, approaching her, his intentions obvious.

She held up her hands to stop him from getting any closer and started stripping out of her foul clothes right inside the front door.

"Scotty and Shelby?"

"Left ten minutes ago."

Removing the holster that held her service weapon, she put it on a table next to her badge and cuffs.

Nick's eyes widened and his mouth fell open as he took in the striptease. "To what do I owe this unexpected show?"

"I've been Dumpster diving."

"Seriously?"

"Yep. That's where someone tossed Willie Vasquez after they stabbed him to death."

All the color drained from her husband's cheeks as he gasped. "No..."

"Afraid so."

"Oh my God. Scotty..."

"I know. That was my first thought too." She picked up her clothes and sneakers. "Sorry, but I've got to take a shower."

"Sure," he said absently, still processing the news. "Go ahead."

"Come up with me."

He checked his watch and then followed her upstairs to their bedroom where she dropped her clothes and sneakers into the washer located in their bathroom, dumped in twice the usual amount of detergent and set the water to the hottest setting.

Then she turned the water to boiling in the shower. "I'll be quick," she said to her husband.

"I'd rather you be thorough."

That drew a laugh from Sam as she stepped under the hot water and got busy scrubbing every square inch of her body. The last time she'd scrubbed her skin so hard was after Clarence Reese blew his brains out while standing right next to her. Thinking about that awful day made her shudder as she turned her thoughts to the latest case.

Where to even begin figuring out who killed Willie when every person in the metropolitan area had motive after his blunder cost the home team an easy victory the night before?

As she worked conditioner through her long hair, she pondered that question and others, including whether she'd even be allowed to work the case. That was a battle she'd willingly fight as the most seasoned homicide detective in the city. Farnsworth would be crazy to trust such a potentially explosive case to anyone but her, and while the chief could be stubborn at times, he was far from crazy.

By the time she emerged from the shower, she was fortified and ready to do battle with her superiors on behalf of Willie Vasquez. Whoever killed the star ballplayer had better be ready to deal with her, because she was coming after them, and she would find them.

Nick was sitting on their bed when she came out of the bathroom wearing a white robe and her hair wrapped up in a towel.

Even though neither of them had time, she plopped down next to him and reached for his hand. "Are you okay?"

"I'm thinking about Scotty."

"I have been too."

"Is there any chance of him hearing about this at school?"

"I don't think so. We're keeping it quiet until we notify Willie's family and figure out how to proceed."

"I'm going to pick up Scotty at dismissal time so he won't hear it from anyone else."

"Do you have time to do that?" His schedule was insane as the campaign wound toward the election.

"No, but I'm going to anyway. I'll let Shelby know." He turned to face her. "There's something else I need to tell you."

"That sounds ominous."

"It's not really, but I have a feeling you're not going to like it."

She braced herself, preparing for whatever he might say. "Hit me."

"I got a call from the White House this morning."

"It still blows my mind to be married to someone who says things like that."

His face lifted into the half grin that often made her want to swoon. Not that she actually swooned. Badass cops did not swoon. She only thought about it. "Focus, babe."

She focused on his smoothly shaven jaw, the dark brown hair that curled at the ends, the sexy hazel eyes and the sinfully beautiful mouth. Taken all together, his features made for one hell of an appealing package. "Okay, sorry."

"Nelson is taking a quick trip at the end of the week. He invited me to go along."

His words permeated her brain. "A quick trip to where?"

"I'm not allowed to say."

"Not even to me?"

"Not to anyone."

"Is he going to Afghanistan?"

"I can't tell you that, Sam. I'm sorry. I want to. I know you tell me stuff I'm not supposed to know all the time, but I can't do it with the president's security on the line. I hope you understand."

Sam didn't need him to confirm where they'd be going. Virginia had suffered significant losses in the war zone in the last year. It stood to reason that President Nelson would ask members of the commonwealth's congressional delegation to go with him.

"How will you get where you're going?"

"On Air Force One." His eyes lit up as he said the words. "How freaking cool is that?"

"Pretty darned cool," she said, even though her insides had gone cold at the thought of her beloved husband flying into a war zone on a gigantic airplane that bore the flag of the United States of America. "Won't it be dangerous?"

He thought about that for a second, probably trying to find a way to answer her question without giving anything away. "Maybe a little, but the trip is top secret. No one will know. Even the reporters that come with us won't know where we're going until we're there." Tipping his head, he eyed her. "What're you thinking?"

"It scares me to think of you flying into somewhere dangerous."

"I'll be on the most secure airplane in the world, babe. Nothing to worry about."

"Sure," she said. "Whatever you say."