Less of a turkey day and more of a lazy day. Though we're planning on attending a dinner with my family in an hour or so. Part of me wants to just go back to bed but my family will never forgive me.

We've found a few apartments to look at, which we're gonna go and see sometime next week after all this Thanksgiving holiday madness is over. I'm still not sure, but we'll see.

First I have got to survive this dinner.

Having spent a lot of time not sleeping, I've been watching too many movies, and the one I watched with Isabel (Wall-E) is stuck in my head. How can a film with a little amount of dialogue get stuck in your head? Oh, that would be Ellie, having seen it with me (...yeah, again) and deciding she likes to say 'eeeva' over and over, and over.

Still, there are worse things that could be stuck in my head, I suppose.

Waiting for the trial to start... and quickly finish. Just going through the whole song and dance of trial prep made me nauseated. I know it's necessary, simply because Mulrooney wants to take it that far, which unnerves me. He must have a reason to think a trial would work out for him, unless he really has lost the plot...

( Private )

[Private]

Over the past few days, David, Connie, and Goren have been trying to convince me that all the crazy that keeps happening revolves around Mulrooney. I don't know that I want to believe he's a killer... yeah, he's annoying, and, God, does he get on my last nerve, but I just never thought of him as capable of murder. I know Goren intends to take the lead on the investigation now -- and I'll bet Ross would approve, from a professional perspective -- but I'm not taking a back seat either. If it really is me that he has been obsessing over all these years, then I can't be expected to just sit back and not do anything about it.

And I can't get over the fact that our address was listed for Gabrielle Roth -- who seems to be a non-person at this point -- because it's too close to home. I know David is concerned, but probably not to the same extent. It took me a long time to feel comfortable at home after the whole... Gage *incident*, and now I feel on edge again. If it really is Mulrooney, and he really is obsessed with me... then... yeah, maybe I shouldn't go there. But I'm not likely to listen to my own advice, am I?

I've moved from finding him irritating to almost hating him. That was a twist that I didn't expect. I know he hates me- if the jabs about it being my fault, or the way he purposely remarks about Joe aren't a clue then I'm obviously not that good of a detective (it's painfully obvious, that's probably why I'm surprised Goren didn't see it before now). Not to mention that the ridiculous way he wanted to spend time with me just made no sense, if he honestly did, he would have turned up long before now, but he didn't show up until Boz Burnham turned up dead - minus his man parts. Interesting how one of his first cases back links right back to the one that finished his career as a prosecutor in the first place... and that's when he pops up? I still don't believe in coincidences. And funny how I've just talked myself into thinking that maybe he is a killer after all... Damn.

(OOC: This contains dialogue from the episode, Lady's Man, although the way it plays out at SIU is slightly different to the way it plays out in the episode. And if you click on the tag for Mulrooney, you'll see logs that connect to it, if you're interested in reading those EDIT: Or you can go here. Also, I've had writing issues, but I've been looking forward to doing this, so I'm doing it anyway!)

( Here )

The incompetent fools at the dry cleaners lost my favourite blouse. Then I got the pleasure of meeting up with Mulrooney at a crime scene (...that was sarcasm, in case you didn't know).

I'll be glad when this day is over. Scratch that, I'll be glad when this case is over.

[Private]

The past is not something I want to think about right now. But something tells me I'm going to have a hard time avoiding it. Greeeat.

31st October, mid-afternoon

This year felt different than any other Halloween that Alex Eames had ever experienced. She found herself suddenly spending a lot more time thinking about the effects it would have on Ellie, and how much fun she would have or whether it was worth bothering with at all. Usually Halloween consisted of dressing up in ridiculous clothing and attending an NYPD/DA's office party and getting herself incredibly drunk. Last year, she just danced with a baby in her arms. This year, she was going to end up attending several different gatherings, quick visits, and social calls, just to show off Ellie to those who wanted to see her. Since she didn't really drink that much anymore, it was safe to say she wouldn't be drunk or that there would be a problem, but that wasn't what she was thinking about.

She just didn't want to go, and part of her would have prefered if they just buried their heads in the sand and called in an early night, they definitely deserved one. But David was excited, much more than most children she knew, and he was becoming almost hyper as he tried to encourage her to put on that costume (minus the hat) she had, unfortunately, let him talk her into buying. That was a huge mistake right there- she was pretty sure that dressing up like that would draw far too much attention to herself, and that was the one thing she didn't like.

Alex forgot about that for a moment, and watched as David played with Ellie in the living room. He had already taken Sam out trick-or-treating (or rather, Sam had taken him), which had sparked an interesting conversation about the pros and cons of taking part in that particular activity. Even though they disagreed on a certain level, Alex knew he wouldn't ignore her concerns, but that didn't help her feel any better. She was certain he would try to convince her that she was wrong, but deep down she knew she wasn't, and she didn't want to be twisted into thinking otherwise. As far as Alex was concerned, there was a damn good reason why she wasn't keen on letting Ellie take part in it. She would never agree that teaching your child to go up to strangers and beg for the very thing you tell children not to accept off strangers was a wise idea. As a cop, she had seen some pretty horrific things that happen around this time of year, and it wasn't smart to encourage it. She didn't want Ellie going round, knocking on doors, begging for candy or whatever else. She didn't want Ellie to find herself knocking on the door of a dangerous person, the kind she finds herself locking away for murder or God knows what else. Alex knew what really went bump in the night, and it wasn't the ridiculous monsters that people dressed up as on Halloween, these dangers were real.

So, she and David had agreed that they would just do the parties and the crazy costumes, and just keep to asking for candy off people they knew. At least until the next time this subject was brought up.

Before her mind could continue racing on, Alex suddenly found herself being dragged out of her thoughts by the strange sound of a squeak that seemed to come from David, but she couldn't be sure. She focused on them both before she realised why David was looking surprised. It was Ellie, she was toddling towards her toy box, without holding on. This was something she had yet to manage- always keeping her little fingers attached to any piece of furniture within arms reach.

Until now.

David looked up at Alex, already in his costume, "You see that, right? Am I going blind?"

"I think I see it," Alex replied, unable to keep the smile from her face. Elie was dressed in her spider costume, covered from head to toe in black and purple, with a grey tummy, and the extra black arms were sewn into the side. They watched her for a moment before Alex spoke up again, "How long do you think she's been doing that?" There was something about the way that Ellie seemed more confident with what she was doing, that made Alex wonder if they had missed it.

"Probably weeks," David smirked. "Trust me, she's too good at it. We're in trouble."

Somehow seeing Ellie walk without holding on to anything was enough to motivate Alex into putting her Halloween face on, all other thoughts had been forgotten for the time being. It put her in a brighter mood, and suddenly she was into the idea of going out. Without alerting David, she quietly left to put that unfortunate costume on.

I got a call earlier today from my dad, he was panicking, to put it mildly. His voice alone scared me, and with good reason. Seems my mom decided she had had enough of her wheelchair and opted for walking. Her physio and rehab had been going really well over the past couple of weeks, it's a shame she knocked it back so much. Thankfully, she's gonna be okay, just bruising, but she scared the hell out of my father.

I've already been drafted for errands for the weekend. I guess I shouldn't complain. It could be worse.

For the past couple of days, the only song I've heard is "You Are My Sunshine" from Ellie's new toy -- this flower pot that sings and dances. I suppose it's a step up from "Elmo's Ducks." This child is going to drive me insane. But she gets points for managing to walk in a straight line, we're proud of her, and she deserves the toy really. Just be honest with me, do the song choices improve with age or am I doomed?

[Private Thoughts]

After Connie left her own bachorlorette party, I went home and spent the whole night just drinking coffee and talking to David instead. What we talked about was strange in itself -- we talked about marriage and all kinds of crazy relationship stuff. I guess it was inevitable since I'm the one who dragged him to them, but I didn't realise that he'd been thinking about it seriously. We've not set anything, we've not agreed to anything, but I think we just opened the door to something in the future.

It was good if not a little unexpected.

According to David, this week we did some kind of exchange. I get to go to Connie's bacherlorette party, while he gets to play hockey with his "friends". Which I've teased him about, but if anybody else wants to take a shot, be my guest.

He's been gloating about his victory all morning.

Don't know about the rest of you, but I'm still stunned it's October -- it's depressing. So, here, have a joke.

( A sense of humor is required... )

OOC: Ever since I started in this game (I think it was like the second post), I've had her post jokes -- few and far between but they are there nonetheless. Only because I wanted it to be journal-like. I'd have her post pictures, but unless the internet will allow me to post what I could conjure up in my head, I don't think I'll be able to do that anytime soon!