Chapter 17

A rumble of thunder shook the house, pulling Justine up as the nightmare made her heart race wildly. She hadn't had one in months, but she was certain why it'd come back to her now. The one-year anniversary of everything had just passed and it was trying to pull her down. Something she desperately didn't want. Especially not now.

"What's wrong, babydoll?" Tyler asked, pulling her back into his arms after a soft glow of the lamp clicked on. His fingers traced her face as his free hand slid down, resting on her swelling belly. "My girls okay?"

"We're good," she said, smiling at the love in his eyes for her their baby they'd learnt was a girl two days ago at their ultrasound. She was nineteen weeks, and she'd loved every minute of the pregnancy so far. She'd only had a hint of morning sickness and they'd gotten to see their baby a bit more than other couples might have. Since she only had one kidney she was sent to a high risk obstetrician—not that anyone in the family other than the twins knew that was the reason why she went with her doctor. They thought they just wanted the best around and that was Dr. Shane.

"Bad dream on top of the weather just woke me with a start," she admitted when he kept watching her.

"Bad dreams aren't allowed, Just. Only happy ones, because that's what you've given me with coming home to me. Almost a year ago you came home to me and brought me back to life. There might have been some rough moments, but I wouldn't change them for anything, especially not if it meant losing you or my sister," he added, his nose brushing against hers, making her smile and she gladly welcomed him as he slipped her shorts aside, reveling in the way he made her feel until it sent her back to sleep. The storm and her dreams not bothering her in the least.

"Time to wake up, babydoll," Tyler whispered against her lips making her moan until the smell of coffee made her nose twitch and a new smile slip onto her lips.

She was limited to one cup a day, so Tyler made sure to make it just the way she liked it, which just made her love him more. As did the way he looked at her every time he saw her growing belly.

Their moms were over the moon when they told them for Christmas they were actually just shy of ten weeks along. Their sisters were just as excited while her brothers had returned to glaring at Tyler for weeks afterwards, but thankfully it was in a good natured way and not in disapproval. The only ones that looked at them that way was their fathers and some of the extended family, which had them avoiding them as much as possible. So much so that they'd had their own Christmas celebration with just their moms, sisters, her brothers, Grace and her family, and Jeremy. Although Tyler only grudgingly welcomed him when he gave her a flirty smile.

He'd heard from his father when it got out that they were pregnant, but it wasn't to congratulate them. It was to ask him what the hell he was thinking having a baby with a Crawford. Her dad at least was mildly excited about having another grandchild even if he couldn't stand the thought of her being married to Tyler.

The twins decided to go to school in Seattle so they could easily come back down to see them and the baby when they went to college next year. She knew it made Tyler happy that they'd still be close, and it warmed her heart entirely to see them together, knowing that he'd treat their little girl just as good.

She slipped into their pew grinning when the twins immediately came over to join them. Her sister slipped in on the other side of them, her eyes boring into her waiting.

"We told you, we're not telling what we're having until he or she is born," she warned knowing what they all wanted. They were being cautious, especially with the rest of the family still furious about them being together. She didn't want their little girl to have nasty things said about her before she was even born.

"How are we supposed to plan an epic baby shower if we don't know then?" Hailey questioned.

"You throw a gender neutral one. Yellows, greens, light blues and purples are fine for a boy too," Tyler added, and she nodded with a grin at his shirt which was a blue and purple plaid she'd bought him for Christmas.

"Fine but no beige, it's so boring. I don't get why parents buy beige baby toys for," Hailey said with a sigh.

"Because babies have awful eyesight when they're born and can't detect differences in colors," Olivia said leaning over the back of the pew with a grin at them, but Madison shook her head no pulling a chuckle from her. "So you're intent on keeping it to yourselves until the baby's here?"

"We are," she said seeing their moms headed their way, their expressions hopeful. "We are not telling anyone what baby is until it's born, period."

"We'll weasel it out of you somehow," Isabelle said making Tyler laugh a bit louder than intended. "What?"

"Just trying to see anyone get a secret out of my girl, that's all," he stated, and the twins shared a huge grin nodding at one another.

"True, you're easier to break," Hailey said, and Justine giggled at the look on his face.

"Not when it comes to keeping someone I love safe," he stated, and as the weeks passed, they had to admit that was true.

Justine loved the changes that came with the baby getting bigger, as did Tyler as he loved her body completely. She'd settled into her job easily, ferreting out information on not only predators but also some normal scammers in recent months in addition to gathering information for the deputies and police officers that either didn't have the time to dig into things, or that simply didn't know how to go about it.

With her pregnant, the only time she was called out of the office was to go down to the high school to figure out who was harassing other students. It hadn't taken her more than an hour and she'd only been a few weeks along, so no one was the wiser back then. Once she'd told the sheriff their news, he'd made sure everyone else knew she wasn't to be called out, which of course had the entire town aware of the news within minutes.

She didn't mind though. She loved that there were so many people excited for her and Tyler to have a baby. That so many people accepted them when their families couldn't.

She was scrolling through social media pages, looking for anyone trying to encroach on the area with new lures, using a fake profile when she got a DM that made her heart race reading it. Thank god she'd used an AI photo. It was generated off her own looks but even Tyler said he'd never think it was her, not even the fourteen-year-old her he'd fallen head over heels in love with fifteen years ago.

Her heart was in her throat as she skimmed through the person's page, a cold flowing through her that wasn't close to normal. She didn't hesitate to pick up the phone, dialing Melissa directly.

"Justine, how's our mama-to-be?" she asked, answering on the third ring.

"Really hoping I'm wrong," Justine told her before sending her the page she'd been using. "They're back."

"Shit," Melissa said a few minutes later and she heard her moving quickly before her voice a bit muffled telling the others to get to the conference room immediately. "We'll conference you in."

The request popped up a couple minutes later and she saw the entire group, including her replacement appear on her screen, calming her worry.

"There's no way they know it's you, Justine," Luke said, and she nodded, rationally knowing that but the worry wouldn't fade entirely. "Your looks were their favorite type, that's it. That's why they reached out to you via social media. Your pictures, your tags, everything was precisely what's drawn them to their victims."

"I know, I just didn't expect it, especially not right now. Our anniversary is in a couple weeks, this baby will be here six or seven weeks after that…this is the last thing I want to think about currently. We're keeping an eye on Isabelle since it was a year ago this week that everything happened to her…"

"We'll find them. There's no way this isn't them," Moe agreed.

"They probably think it's safe to start again. Probably why they chose someone like your profile as well," Dean said, and the others agreed. "If they haven't been nearly as active, Dynamite definitely will be craving someone new. He wouldn't be able to resist everything you have on there."

"We'll backtrack this account, make sure it's really coming from LA as they claim they're from. You don't have your location specified other than the west coast so don't think they're anywhere near you," Moe added.

"We'll nail them this time, thanks to your work and this account, we'll get them. We need your help to do that though. Do you think you're up for it?" Melissa asked and she drug in a deep, calming breath before nodding.

"Yeah, but I'm on strict orders to stay close to home. So far everything's been good with the pregnancy but I either need to stay here in town so I'm close to my doctor, or I need to be in Seattle near one she recommended so they can make sure nothing happens to me or the baby these last few weeks."

"You won't have to go anywhere, just stay near a computer and keep posting on that account. Don't tell them where you're from yet, if we trace them to LA we'll head out there and see if we can't lure them somewhere to ‘meet up' with you where we can take them down, or follow them back to Dynamite," Melissa assured her and that calmed her enough to finish up and head home.

She kept it from Tyler, knowing he'd be more worried than she was about it, especially with their baby girl growing inside her. Her husband was made to be a girl dad, and she loved that she was giving this gift to him.

Their anniversary was perfect. She took the day off beyond a scheduled post on her fake account the team was following, hoping to get closer to the sender still. They were in LA, were searching for Dynamite on the cameras in the city, and in fact caught sight of him a few times, but never live, so they hadn't been able to track him down just yet.

Tyler spoiled her completely, making her favorite foods and topping it off with a foot rub and a soak in a warm bath before loving her so thoroughly she crashed until late the next morning. It left her wrapped in a warm cocoon of love for the next two weeks that she hated having to leave for anything, but especially dealing with Dynamite. He was being elusive. Having his girls continuing to reach out to her rather than doing it himself.

Three weeks later, he finally took the bait as she kept ignoring or telling the girls to fuck off, that she didn't swing that way when they asked for more elicit photos than what she'd posted to her page. The message she received sent revulsion completely through her, but there was no denying it was him. Every syllable dripped with his nastiness.

It sickened her to respond flirtatiously to the supposed seventeen-year-old boy, but she did it, telling him she was from a little town north of LA she desperately wanted out of, then turned down his offer for him to send one of his ‘sisters' to come get her, bring her to LA. She laughingly told him she knew better than to meet up with a total stranger, especially when they wouldn't come meet her in person.

It took a week, but he finally agreed to come get her himself, and she stayed online, messaging with him while the team tracked him through the small town to the café where her friend—and replacement on the team—Shayla was waiting in her place. He turned to run the moment he saw her, but he was surrounded in seconds, and Justine breathed easily finally seeing him in cuffs.

"You and your entire group is going down," Melissa told him as Luke held him tightly in place as he tried to jerk away from them. "You'll pay for every life you stole."

"Ah, she was your friend wasn't she? Elena was it? She burnt up good, didn't she?" he crowed telling them all that they didn't have a clue she was still alive, which further relieved her, letting her relax back into her chair with a smile on her lips as they hauled him away.

"Feeling smug yet are you?" Moe joked from his office in D.C.

"A little," she admitted glancing up as a shadow fell over the window of her office and her smile brightened further seeing Tyler there. "My husband's here so I'm going to let you all go. Make sure he's locked up tight for me would you?"

"We will, you take care and send us pictures when that little…boy? Girl?" Melissa said making her laugh as she shook her head at them. "Send us pictures of that baby when it's here. I'm sure we'll try to get out to see you all before she…he?" she tried again, and Justine just shook her head once more as Tyler slid into her office. "We'll come see you when we can. Thank you for everything with this one Justine. We never would have managed it without you."

"You would have, just maybe not this quickly," she said as Tyler's brow rose as he recognized the voice.

"You knew what would draw Dynamite out better than any of us. We wouldn't have known he was back and running his scams in LA now if your profile hadn't been seen, so no, this win is all yours. Accept it and enjoy it entirely until that baby gets here."

"I will, I'll talk to you all later," she said before ending the session, getting up as Tyler gave her a little scowl.

"Dynamite?That's the bastard that…"

"Tried to kill me? Yes," she said soothing her hands down his chest, telling him the basics of what happened, along with the news that he was crowing about killing her.

"Why didn't you tell me this is what was bothering you, babydoll? I thought we'd agree no more secrets between us," he said, and she sighed, giving him a soft smile at the worry in his gaze.

"I didn't want you worried, that's it, honey-bae. You've worried over us enough you didn't need this there too. I was never in danger, irritated and disgusted, yes, but not in danger. I won't always be able to tell you about what I'm working on, you know that," she added, and his little glare just made her grin further as his hand settled onto her belly, feeling their baby girl kicking up a storm.

"I know, but this wasn't a normal case, Just. This was the people that tried to kill you, to take you from me before I ever got you back. Tried to take this from us," he added, as his hand caressed her belly. "You and our baby wouldn't exist if they'd hurt you."

"But they didn't and now, he's on his way to jail and they'll get the rest of his team, all of them believe I'm dead. I'm safe. We're safe," she promised and the next afternoon they got to see their baby girl on the ultrasound again, making her love them both even more.

"Everything looks great. Your labs are good, your blood pressure is amazing considering your job," Dr. Shane said with a hint of a laugh. "You're about ninety percent effaced, and two centimeters dilated. This little one is likely to come any time now. Could be tomorrow, could be next week. I don't want you going over forty plus two weeks, just to make sure there's no strain placed on your kidney or chance of anything coming on suddenly, so if we don't see little one by your due date, we'll go back to the induction discussion, yes?"

"Yes," she agreed easily, and Tyler nodded, his lips pressing a kiss to her temple.

Saturday she spent just waddling around the house, rearranging things in the nursery a bit anxious for their little girl to be here, using the space, even if only for diaper changes and feedings for the most part until she was older. The bassinet was already set up in their room, ready for her, and she loved how much everyone had given them at the baby shower the girls threw them. They'd kept things to the yellow and greens as they'd suggested, a bit amazed that Tyler had managed to keep things secret still, but she knew he wouldn't spill this until they were ready.

Sunday morning she woke feeling crummy but Tyler's kisses and sweet assurances that she was gorgeous got her moving and they settled in for the service in the new spot. None of the family had said anything negative about it, but they still got dark looks every week, nevertheless.

They were nearly to the sermon when she felt a small gush against her leg, and she knew it wasn't pee. She turned her face to Tyler, giving him an apologetic look that had his brows lifting a hint her way. "I think my water just broke," she told him quietly, nodding as his eyes widened in shock. "Dr. Shane wanted us at the hospital as soon as it happened, or I started having regular contractions just in case. They haven't been overly regular, but we should probably go check."

"Come on babydoll, let's go meet our girl," he whispered against her ear before helping her up, quieting the pastor as he started to tell everyone the chapter and verse they were reading. "Sorry for the interruption but pretty sure we're having a baby so…"

" EEK ," the twins squealed, hurrying up after them and Justine laughed when both of their moms got up, giving their husbands a questioning look before huffing at them and following them out as well when they refused to budge. Madison hurried out with them, giving her mom a ride while Barb and Caroline headed into the hospital parking lot in Caroline's car behind them.

"Someone has an entourage it seems," the nurse said as they went up to the labor and delivery floor to check and ensure her water truly did break per Dr. Shane's orders.

"First grandbaby on daddy's side and first daughter to have a baby on mom's side, plus it's her baby that's having the baby so…" Madison said, and the nurse stopped the others in the waiting room, assuring them they'd come to let them know more as soon as they could, while ushering her and Tyler to a room.