Case 10 - The foiled mall robbery

<Events during The Rookie S1E11, but before SWAT S1E7, Modern Family S9E13>

Ben was on his way to St Ambrose hospital after giving a full statement to the police, washing off the blood, and handing over the two robbers. The cashier from the toy store as well as the jewelry store next door were both on their way to the hospital, same as the robber with the gunshot wound and the clearly broken arm from Ben's shoulder throw.

He had shared his contact information with the two sisters, and his phone was buzzing already - but it would have to wait until he reached the hospital.

The traffic on this day was awful. If it wasn't terrible because of the barricades the LAPD put up to cordon off entire routes for the vice president, the traffic was congested because of everyone trying to avoid driving anywhere close to that exact route.

At the hospital, Ben got ready to meet Emilia and Anna once more with a wildly beating heart. Originally, he would have had the time to go back home and possibly shower and change again, but because of the robbers at the mall, he was already running half an hour late.

After asking where Emilia was and learning she was inside with a doctor already, Ben entered after knocking.

"Hi. Ben Weiss, sorry for being late."

"Please, take a seat, Mister Weiss. I already discussed how we will proceed with Miss Caster here. Correct me if I'm wrong, but you agreed to pay for the full hospial bill and want to be checked if you're a donor?"

"That's correct," Ben confirmed with a nod as he looked at the intimidated looking girl with a smile. Then, Ben looked to the doctor and Emilia and gingerly pointed in Anna's direction, "May I?"

Both adults nodded, and so Ben kneeled in front of the girl as he spoke in a soothing voice, "Hey Anna, I'm Ben. We've met yesterday. I know hospitals can be really scary places. But you have your mommy here with you to protect you from harm, and if you would allow me, I'll be here to protect you, too. I searched everywhere to find you this little protection ducky. I heard it's the most bravest duck in the world. And it's yours now."

The little girl cautiously took the yellow plushy from Ben's hand after seeing her mother nod and looked to the floor while clutching the duck to her chest.

"Doctor Sam Bennett informed me that I don't need to be tested," Ben explained to the doctor present as he regarded his potential daughter with a sincere smile. "I donated bone marrow when I was still in university, and my results should still be in the system of this hospital."

-----

After Ben signed several documents for the billing and the release to allow for his data to be used, he found himself watching the little girl getting a complete check-up at the hospital.

At one of their first stops, a CT scan, Emilia and Ben watched Anna bravely staying quietly in the machine.

"Thank you, Ben," Emilia whispered to the detective.

"No worries," Ben whispered back.

"You asked them to run a paternity test, too. Right?" Emilia eventually continued with a wry smile.

"Yeah..."

"Don't worry. I'd do the same thing if I were you..." his british lover clarified with a forced chuckle. "Sooo... you went to university?"

"Hmm? Oh, right. You know Ben Muller, the no-good racist with some computer knowledge and that dangerous bad boy vibe," Ben quipped.

"Ugh. You hid that white pride nonsense from me rather well. The one time we did it, you didn't take your turtleneck shirt off if you remember. And now I finally know why..."

"Oh yeah. That was horrid..."

"Sex with me was horrid?" Emilia asked with a lifted brow in mock anger.

"Don't get me wrong, you were absolutely lovely. It came at a time when I truly needed the positive human contact... but at the same time... that turtleneck was terribly itchy and way too hot for what we were doing," Ben noted with a cocky smile and got Emilia to smile as well.

"But yeah. I'm a UCLA graduate in computer sciences. Went straight to the police academy afterward, and if it wasn't for the undercover op, I'd likely be working in the cyber crime unit here in the LAPD or maybe for another agency or something."

Ben didn't see, but Emilia bit her lip with a complicated expression for a moment before changing to what she looked like before.

"How was life undercover? You lived for them for five years..."

Ben thought about her question for a moment before answering, "A lot of what I uncovered is still not prosecuted to the end, so I'm not yet sure if what I did was truly worth it. Those people were animals."

Silence hung over the two until Ben added with a sigh, "Ugh, who am I kidding? The immediate effect of my actions was us getting some very serious weaponry off the streets of LA.... it might not have been worth five years of my life. But it got very close, at the very least."

Emilia put her hand on Ben's arm in support, briefly leant down to the microphone to encourage and reassure her daughter with her presence over the microphone leading to speakers in the CT scanner's room.

"So? You're not a secret MI6 counter terrorist agent, but actually the thing you told me you are? A bookkeeper at a shipping company?"

Emilia waited for a brief moment before adding with a smirk, "You forgot that mountain of debt, I'm saddled with thanks to my dad."

"I suppose I did. To be fair, I didn't really listen to you when you hit on me. First time that ever happened to me. Real confidence boost."

"You looked like a childhood crush of mine," Emilia conceded with a shrug.

"Really? Ugh, don't tell me this is a build-up to a Draco Malfoy joke."

"You're no fun," Emilia complained with a small pout.

A small silence enveloped the two before Emilia spoke up once more.

"I'm really sorry for ambushing you with this..."

Ben looked to her for a moment before giving a helpless shrug, "Not like you planned to get pregnant. It was my condom that apparently broke. Maybe it was fate. In any case - if someone needs to apologize, I probably should..."

-----

Ben, Emilia, and Anna were standing in front of Ben's house. Both adults were now much more comfortable around each other.

"Are you sure this is okay?" Emilia asked as she watched Ben carry her suitcase to the door as he arrived on his motorcycle and had accompanied both Emilia and Anna to pack at their current motel.

Everything took a little longer than it should because it was still the day the vice president was visiting LA, and traffic was still horrendous. Still, Ben inwardly groaned back at the hospital when he realized he should have taken his car instead to give both of them a lift if needed.

"I already told you, I insist. You would be welcome here even without Anna. Bringing the little princess only made me more sure," Ben asserted with a smile.

Anna herself was a very quiet girl and barely talked, even with Emilia. The mother had assured him that her vocabulary was already very advanced for her age. It was just that socializing wasn't her strong suite on account of having little energy and close to no stamina. As such, little Anna was also a little shorter than she should be. Something the doctors had addressed earlier at the hospital.

A few phone calls and a food order later, Ben welcomed Zofia home to explain the situation to her.

She had recently started helping out in the households on this street as a nanny and housekeeper to pay for her own clothes and necessities despite Ben telling her it wasn't needed.

Additionally, Zofia was taking online classes to get a high school diploma, likely around summer next year, as well as spending a lot of time to improve her favorite hobby; cooking.

"You should not order food. I had it all prepared," Zofia accused with a pout when she entered the house and heard Ben finish the order on the phone.

"You're not entirely wrong, but we have unexpected guests..."

[Phil Dunphy commentary scene swap]

"I can accept people I only ever met once avoiding my friendship," Phil declared with a quivering expression that slowly turned into a blinding smile. "But when you save my daughters' lives? I'm sorry, pal. We're now en route to be bestest friends forever."

His smile slowly turned more confident as he nodded with his thumb turned up.

"Ben. You can't hide from me! I sold you your house! I know where you live!"

[Commentary ends]

A doorbell rang at Ben's home as he was still talking with Zofia.

"So quick? Or are there more guests?" Zofia asked curiously.

Ben didn't know either, so he walked to the door.

"You're not the delivery driver from the thai place," Ben joked when he saw who it was.

"I am here to ask you to be my best man. Luke already got the position of my best friend and Jay, my father-in-law, is a close runner up for second place and I can't really change it without messing up my whole family dynamic," Phil Dunphy explained with a bright smile while standing on his front porch dressed in a tuxedo.

Ben looked around curiously but saw nobody else.

"I'm so sorry. Did you break up with your wife or something?"

Phil looked down at his own clothes, thought about his wording, and started laughing.

"No, no, you misunderstand. I came here to thank you for protecting my daughters from those robbers!" Phil exclaimed with an eager smile.

"In a tux?"

"How else would my amazing joke about being my 'best man' land?" Phil asked with a confused look.

"Uh, Phil... could you explain the joke to me?" Ben countered but ushered Phil inside the house anyway with a final suspicious look to each side down the street to see if he was being pranked.

"Ah, Phil, this is Zofia. Zofia, this is Phil, the man who sold me this house," Ben introduced.

"Wooooow, I LOVE what you did with the place!" Phil praised after introducing himself to Zofia, who looked completely overwhelmed with Phil's boundless positivity.

"Yeah, I know it was mostly furnished, but your tip with that second-hand furniture store was amazing! And just like you suggested, I splurged and got a Pritchett closet up in the master bedroom," Ben pointed out as he led Phil outside.

"This deck looks amazing now! What did you do?" The father of three applauded, literally.

"Yeah, got the help of a good friend of mine on that one," Ben admitted easily. "I won't take him for granted, but all I really need to pay John is a good story and some food. He's really handy around the house. Nice to have around and befriend."

[Phil Dunphy commentary scene swap]

Phil, still in the tuxedo, had a bright smile on.

"Help? Good friend? Taken for granted? Good story? Food? Handy? I loved every single sentiment in that sentence. And I'm all of those things!"

Phil's smile froze for a moment before he explained, "Let me say that again. I like some of those things, and I am some of those things. Maybe skip that 'taken for granted'? I could try aga-"

[Commentary ends]

"How many more women are going to come out of nowhere?" Phil asked with the same childlike innocence he held for his entire visit when Emilia came downstairs to ask what was for dinner.

"Uh, one more sleeping upstairs, but she's only a little over 2 years old," Ben explained as he scratched his ear with a wry smile.

Just then, the doorbell rang again, and Ben went to answer it.

"Chris? You're not the thai guy, too," Ben expressed with a playful frown.

"You sure about that, buddy?" Chris quipped and held up two bags with the food.

"Wow, what are you? A magician?" Ben asked in jest.

[Phil Dunphy commentary scene swap]

Phil just grinned into the camera and squealed like a little girl.

"He likes magicians!? Can this day get any better!?"

[Commentary ends]

"Can't believe you stopped a robbery while on sick leave. Again," Chris commented as she sat with the rest at Ben's dinner table the two had set up with Zofia's help.

"Yeah. Why didn't you say anything when you met us at the hospital? I actually kind of thought you were a bit of a jerk for being late earlier," Emilia added with a small frown. "You know. Before our talk..."

"Oh no, hospital? Is everything okay with you?" Phil asked after having completely and seemingly integrated into the group despite having a tuxedo on.

"Me? No, I'm almost fine again. The limp is kinda my new normal this year and from something else, but I'll be back in the gym in no time. Little Anna, Emilia's child, she's the one who needs some medical help," Ben offered as an explanation.

"Oh, I'm so sorry to hear that. I'm sure everything will be fine," Phil expressed with furrowed brows but without prying further.

"And you're getting involved, why?" Chris asked in a whisper as she leaned closer to Ben.

"You'll see when Anna wakes up," Ben whispered back with a wry smile.

"So Phil. What am I doing as your best man again?" Ben asked as he perked up to get an answer for why Phil was in a tuxedo. The earlier conversation left him with more questions than answers.

"I mean, your leg is a little banged up right now, so our trip to Trampalooza is going to have to wait a little. Do you have any experience in cheerleading? I got a flyer for Turning Man in the mail earlier this week and still have room to RSVP a +1. No, wait. What does Haley always tell Luke? If you're too clingy too early, the girl will freak out and tell all her girlfriends you're a pervert," Phil monologued but slowly started to lose his cool at the end.

He shook his head a little, made a weird pose while sitting a little 'cooler', and suddenly said in 'whatever girl' voice, "We could just start by hanging out? I dunno, maybe do some kickflips down by the beach?"

Ben, completely taken with Phil's infectious charm, just smiled at the man and answered, "It's been a while since I've been on a trampoline or skateboard and sadly I was never much of a cheerleader. But we could just start with a BBQ this weekend? You could bring your family?"

[Phil Dunphy commentary scene swap]

"Claire will be so excited! Ben is a great catch for Haley, and she'll definitely try to fix those two up together. I know I'll try if she doesn't. Maybe even Alex if things don't work out with Haley. Her and Ben didn't have the best chemistry when I showed Ben the house. Though Alex might be a little young for him," Phil pondered out loud with a bright smile.

He stopped to think for a moment and shrugged.

"Didn't stop Alex before. All her boyfriends so far have been weirdos. Not the good kind of weird either. And it's not like Ben in his late fifties or something," the father of two daughters described, his smile turning a little somber before he regained his smile in full.

"Also, Claire doesn't have to cook or clean because we're eating out. We could combine it with our Christmas shopping to get that out of the way and then just relax at Ben's home. She gets to meet new people, maybe fuss over little Anna a little, though I haven't seen the bugger myself. She can..." Phil excitedly listed before he looked left and right, then leaned forward and whispered, "... maybe try to get out of that speeding ticket she got when her hair was all greasy and she wore that sweater with the mustard stains and her flirting with the officer didn't work. I know it eats her up inside."

Claire leaned in from the background with an angry huff and complained in an annoyed voice, "That wasn't my fault! It was my father's! I told you a million times! Dad called me into work for an emergency on a Sunday but he just wanted me to cook some sausages for him from his 'Sausage of the Month' subscription when he didn't want to share with Manny, Joe or anyone in this house! I drove off all angry after my attempt to spray him with the mustard bottle backfired!"

Phil just smiled at the camera and eventually added in a whisper, "Eats her up inside."

"I bet that cop was just gay or happily married! I'll ask Mitchell to run by the police station and work his gaydar to see if I'm right or not," Claire huffed and walked off while pressing the phone in her hand to her ear. When she was out of the frame, she shouted, "I haven't gotten a ticket in years! It always worked before!"

"Eats. Her. Up," Phil emphasized with a small grin.

[Commentary ends]

-----

Phil had just left Ben's home when they finished fleshing out the plan they had for the impromptu BBQ now happening Saturday, Dec 1st. As Ben turned around, he got a jumpscare when Chris appeared right behind him.

"So? What's this thing with Emilia and Anna?" She whispered with furrowed brows.

"I met Emilia three years ago in England while undercover," Ben asserted in a small voice after seeing nobody was lurking to eavesdrop. To get his point across, Ben pumped his brows in a suggestive fashion until the meaning of it all connected in Chris' mind.

"No way!" Chris whisper shouted. "Have you had it tested?"

"Yeah, I'll get the result before the day is over. Don't worry, I'm a little suspicious of it, too. Not really about whether or not she is my daughter - I'll show you the picture later to explain why. No, it's Emilia herself... something about the situation and everything around it is a little off. Something doesn't add up..."

Just then, Emilia came back downstairs with a drowsy Anna in her arms to give her a small snack and her medicine. Chris saw the little girl for the first time, and her eyes widened a little.

"No need for the picture. That girl is either yours or you have a British raised twin brother," Chris confidently stated as her eyes followed the mother-daughter pair. "So the test is more for your own protection in case you need to fight for custody when this is over? Tip from Deacon?"

"No, I put that together myself... but he and Nolan are the reason I'll fight to keep her in my life if possible," Ben remarked as he walked over to the TV in the living room where Zofia was now studying. "Well... they made sure I didn't choose poorly."

"How did that happen anyway?" Chris curiously inquired.

"Well, for starters, she was not aware of my fake... inclination. I wooed her as a proper human being... with my false name," Ben began to explain and clued in Zofia as well for everything he missed before when the Polish girl came home.

Zofia, to her credit, was ecstatic at the prospect of helping him out with raising a kid as a way to pay him back.

-----

The child was his and Emilia's. His bone marrow was a match, the treatment for the little girl would start the following week with a prolonged hospital stay where her old bone marrow would be destroyed through radiation, which would force her to stay in isolation without a proper immune system for a while.

Ben had immediately donated the needed bone marrow the next day after confirming it all since he was already in recovery and not working anyway, and he had not been ill for a long time. The bone marrow was cryothermically preserved in liquid nitrogen for whenever Anna was ready to receive it.

Everything was paid for or set to be paid for through Ben's finances and health insurance - the girl was listed as his daughter there already with the help of the DNA test. That wasn't legally binding, however, and Ben didn't know how to bring it up with Emilia either.

Every time he didn't, Ben inwardly excused that he still had plenty of time since, together with a full recovery and all, Anna would have to stay for a few months longer.

The most important thing, his bond with Anna, was growing day by day as well. The little girl was completely smitten with the plushy he had bought just before the robbery, and she would shyly smile at Ben whenever he entered the room.

He didn't even mind that Zofia had him beat because she had gained an instant connection with the fragile kid. The more comfortable both of them felt in his house, the better.