NYPD Blue Fanfiction

Rita's Fanfic

FAMILY

I started this story before the news of the pregnancy and since I’m going through Theo withdrawal I thought I’d finish it up. Hope you all enjoy!

3:00 a.m. in the Sipowicz/McDowell home.

Andy and Connie are sound asleep cuddled in each other’s arms and neither one hears the light knock on their bedroom door. Theo opens the door and quietly walks into the room. He tiptoes over to Connie’s side of the bed and calls out “Mommy.” When he gets no response he pokes her shoulder and calls out louder, “Mommy.” Slowly she begins to stir, “Mommy I had a bad dream.” Connie, more awake now, turns over towards Theo and throws back the covers. “What’s wrong sweetie?” Theo climbs in and tells her again “I had a bad dream.”

She pulls Theo in close to her and gives him a hug, “Want to talk about it?”

“You and Daddy were fighting a lot again and me and him had to go back to our old apartment. I got scared so I came in to check on you guys. You’re not fighting right? When parents fight they don’t stay together, they split up. If you guys split up I won’t see you and Michelle anymore, we won’t be a family.”

Kissing Theo on his forehead she squeezes him tight, “Sweetheart, Daddy and I are getting along fine. I swear. We love each other very much and we’re working hard to make things work out. Even if we disagree sometimes it’s okay, that’s what moms and dads do.”

“But if you guys split up Michelle would go with you because she’s your daughter now and I would stay with Daddy, you wouldn’t have to see me anymore because I’m not really your son.”

Connie takes a deep breath and prays for the right words to come. “Theo I love you very much. I love you so much that sometimes I get afraid you won’t know how important you are to me and I feel that I have to keep doing things so you’ll see. In my heart, you’re my son. I feel like I’m your mom.” Looking into his eyes “do you understand?”

Theo grabs her around the neck hugging her tightly, “I love you too and I think you’re the best mommy. I don’t remember my other mom because I was too little when she went to heaven but I’m so happy me and daddy found you cuz’ you are perfect for us!” He leans back and looks at her with that frown that’s so much like his father’s “you promise we’re always going to be together?”

“I promise” Connie rubs her hand over his forehead, smoothing out his frown, kissing the tip of his nose she hugs him tight again “cross my heart.” As Theo snuggles into her hug she whispers, “do you feel better now?” He nods and Connie can’t help but laugh when she hears him say “ Yeah, but maybe I better sleep here in case that dream comes back.” “Okay,” she tells him and pulls the covers tighter around him tucking him securely in her arms.

Andy, who has been listening quietly for a while, turns and pulls both of them into his arms. He kisses Connie’s head and whispers, “I’m glad we found you too. Thank you.” Andy breathes in the scent of Connie’s hair and plants gentle kisses on her head as he listens to her hum softly to Theo.

A half hour later Connie and Theo are both sound asleep. Andy is restless. He slowly climbs out of bed making sure not to disturb the two and makes his way out to the living room. There are so many things going through his head, so many feelings. He turns on the T.V. with the volume down low and tries to distract himself but after a few minutes, and several channels, he gives up and turns the set off. He heads into the kitchen for a glass of water. As he sits down at the table he casually looks out the kitchen window to the sites on the street below. After a while his thoughts wander back to the conversation between Theo and Connie.

What he’d stopped himself from wanting after Sylvia died was now everything he had. A home, a family, a woman who had slipped into his life and changed everything, especially him for the better. She loved him even with all his imperfections and insecurities. Just thinking about Connie brings a feeling of calm and contentment over him. He smiles to himself as he thinks of some of the other feelings she tends to bring out of him. What a life! He thinks back on all the sadness, all the losses and realizes that Connie was right, all the good and bad brought him exactly to where he was today. With Connie, Theo and Michelle. If anything in his past had been different, who wouldn’t be with him today? Where would he have ended up? It hurt him too much to even think about that. Andy couldn’t help thinking about how hard he had fought his feelings for Connie in the beginning and also thanked God she was so stubborn and didn’t give up on him. She was amazing! “Sipowicz,” he said to himself, “you are one lucky son of a bitch!”

Andy looked up at the wall clock and noticed that it was already 4:45. He got up and put his glass in the sink and headed back to bed. As he enters their bedroom he notices that Connie is sitting up in bed and looking around the room for him. “You okay?” he asks as he reaches the bed. More awake now Connie looks up at him reaching out for his hand, “I didn’t feel you next to me and I wondered where you were. Are you all right? Having problems sleeping?”

Andy climbs into bed and secures the covers around the three of them kissing Connie gently on the lips, “I’m doing great now. I just had some things on my mind so I went out to watch T.V. for a bit. Don’t worry everything’s fine. Let’s try to get some sleep cuz’ you know these two will be up at dawn.”

Later that same morning Andy, Connie and Theo are trying to decide how they are going to spend their Saturday.

“We could go to the park maybe pack a picnic lunch or we could catch a movie,” Andy suggests.

Theo smiles, “could we bring my soccer ball so I can work on my dribbling?”

“Sure, and we can pick up stuff for our lunch at the deli by the park. Does that work for you?” Andy asks Connie.

“I’m all for it. Michelle and I will go get ready while you two clean up here.”

Theo and Andy clean up the kitchen then start getting ready for their day out. Andy comes back into their bedroom after his shower and finds Connie combing her hair. He walks up behind her and kisses her neck as he pulls her into his arms.

“What’s this all about?” Connie asks as she leans her head back on his chest.

“This if for being amazing. I wanted to thank you again for all the things you said to Theo this morning. You really made him feel better, you know more secure.”

“Andy, you don’t have to thank me for telling him the truth. I meant everything I said. I couldn’t love Theo or Michelle any more than I do now. The fact that I didn’t give birth to them doesn’t matter because they are in my heart.”

Andy turns her around to face him and he gently cups her face in both his hands and looks into her eyes, “Connie, I know exactly how much you love Theo and Michelle. I’m thanking you for being you. That’s all. You are the reason this family exists. When things were rough you didn’t give up you kept things together and because of that here we are. A family.” He kisses her lips lightly at first then deepens the kiss as he feels her arms come up around his neck.

“Come on Mom and Dad let’s go!” Theo yells as he runs into their room. “Dad you’re not dressed! Come on me and Michelle are ready. You guys are so slow!” Theo walks over to Michelle, who’s standing up in her crib dancing excitedly, and he starts tickling her.

Andy reluctantly ends the kiss and groans into Connie’s hair as she starts laughing, “I love them but they have lousy timing.”

Connie hugs him tight before pulling away “Come on mister get dressed. Your family awaits.” She winks at him as she picks up Michelle and pushes Theo out towards the living room. “But I do expect you to finish what you started later.”

“Count on it!” He yells to her as they leave him to finish dressing.

It was a beautiful New York day. After stopping by the deli to pick up stuff for their lunch, they walked around the park for a while looking for the right spot. It seemed everyone in the city had the same idea they had and were taking advantage of the good weather and the weekend. They settled on a shady spot near the playground where some boys were playing soccer. Theo went out and introduced himself and joined in on their game. Andy decided to take Michelle over to the playground and Connie watched as the two settled in on the swings and seemed to be enjoying themselves. There were several empty picnic tables around her but Connie decided to spread out the blanket she had brought under a big tree and relax. She sat back and watched Theo play for a bit then she looked over to see Andy and Michelle swinging and laughing.

“Hi Mom!!” Theo yelled to Connie. She waved and smiled, thinking how happy he looked. There was a short stretch when they had all started living together that he was so withdrawn and miserable, thank God those days were over. He really was a very good boy and as difficult as those days were, seeing him so happy and secure now made all those hard times worth while.

As Connie is sitting watching Theo play, Andy and Michelle come back and plop themselves on the blanket next to her. Andy gives Michelle a couple of small toys to play with as he settles her between his outstretched legs.

“Theo looks like he’s having fun doesn’t he?”

“Yeah. You and Michelle looked like you were having a ball too. We’ll let him play a while more then we’ll call him in to eat. OK?”

“Fine with me.” Andy clears his throat and starts rubbing his head, which catches Connie’s attention.

“What’s up?” Connie looks at him, “something wrong?”

“Connie… uh… I… uh… we haven’t really… that is you haven’t mentioned lately… not that we’ve had the time to think about it… but…”

“Andy, spit it out.” Connie starts looking at him, a little worried, she grabs his hand in hers and squeezes, “Just tell me what’s on your mind.”

Taking a deep breath and squeezing her hand back, “I just wondered if we could talk about me adopting Michelle. We’re going to get married soon and I just thought that we could go ahead and start the ball rolling. If that’s alright with you.”

Connie picks up Andy’s hand and places a gentle kiss on it before she pulls it up towards her heart, “Of course we can talk about this Andy. With everything that’s happened in the past few months I kind of forgot about some of the things we had planned. What got you thinking about all this?”

Andy smiles down at Michelle and starts rubbing her back as he tells Connie, “I love her. I mean she’s my daughter in every way that matters to me and I want to take the final step and make it legal. It’s very important that I make sure that if anything happens to me she, Theo and you are taken care of. There’s one more thing I wanted to ask you.”

Connie is speechless. She loves this man so much and he continues to blow her away with his love for her and their children. “Okay. What is it?” she whispers.

Andy looks right at her as he asks, “I haven’t talked with Theo about this because I wanted to run it by you first, but I wondered if you would consider adopting him too. It’s not like it would change his name or anything but I was thinking that he loves you so much and it would mean so much to both of us. I spent a lot of time thinking this through wondering if it was fair to Sylvia and her memory and all, but I realized she’s always going to be a part of him and I’ll make sure he knows how much she loved him. She’s gone, you’re the mom who’s here with him, chasing away his nightmares, kissing the hurts and molding him into the man he’s going to be. I know this comes out of nowhere but I’d like you to think about it. I won’t mention anything to Theo unless you say yes so I don’t get his hopes up or nothing, he really doesn’t understand all the details anyway so…” He realizes that he’s rambling now so he squeezes her hand, “Just think about it. Please.”

Connie sits up and pulls herself closer to him with their clasped hands. “I would love to adopt Theo. There’s nothing for me to think about. Why don’t we talk to Theo about it tonight? I want us to start all the paperwork as soon as possible for both kids.” Connie is so excited she’s hugging and kissing him. “I guess that means that we’re going to have to have this wedding soon Sipowicz. No more dragging your feet.”

Later returning home from a full day at the park and after putting Michelle to bed Connie and Andy sit with Theo in his room as he’s getting ready for bed.

“Can someone read me a story?”

“Sure kiddo but before that Connie and I wanted to talk to you about something.”

Theo looks at both of them and smiles. “Okay” he says.

Connie and Andy look at each other and before Andy can say anything Connie shakes her head slightly “let me.”

“Theo you know how I adopted Michelle and now she’s my daughter. Right?”

“Yeah. You went to court so it would all be official and so no one could take Michelle away from us.”

“That’s right. Theo, your dad and I love each other and we love you and Michelle very much too. Daddy is planning on adopting Michelle and I wanted to ask you if it would be alright for me to adopt you.”

Theo sits up and quietly looks at both their faces for a few moments. Looking directly in Connie’s eyes, “If you adopt me does that mean that you’ll be my mom and no one could take me away from you? I would be your son, official, like Michelle’s your daughter?”

Connie nods trying very hard to control her tears.

With a very serious look on his young face Theo looks at Andy, “Daddy, Michelle would be your official daughter too and no one could break up our family?”

Andy reaches over and squeezes Theo’s shoulder comfortingly, “Mom and I will get married and we’ll adopt the two of you and once everything’s official no one’s going to break up our family. I promise. We know this is a lot to take in buddy so if you want to think it over first we understand.”

Theo reaches over and hugs Connie tightly, “I want to be adopted. I don’t have to think about it.” He leans back to look at Connie and notices she’s crying, “why are you crying mom? Aren’t you happy?”

“I’m very happy sweetheart and sometimes when you’re happy you cry.” Connie hugs Theo and smiles at Andy. “I think that tomorrow we should go out to breakfast and celebrate. How does that sound?”

“Great! Can we go to that restaurant that has the omelets? I love that place.”

“Anyplace you like sweetie, but now I think you should get some sleep.” Connie again hugs Theo tight.

Andy picks out a story and starts reading as Connie kisses Theo goodnight and heads to their bedroom to get ready for bed.

Twenty minutes later Andy enters the room and sees Connie sitting on the edge of their bed looking through a picture album. “What ya got there?”

“Just looking through some pictures of the kids.” She looks up at him, closes the album, and stands up placing her arms around him. “I love you very much Andy Sipowicz. Thank you for coming into my life.” She gently kisses his chest, then his neck and finally his lips.

“I love you too.” Andy runs his hands up and down her back pulling her tightly to him as he starts kissing and sucking lightly on her neck. “You taste so good it drives me crazy. So lady where did we leave off this morning?”

“I’ll show you.” She murmurs into his mouth as she begins kissing him deeply and they fall to the bed.

THE END