29. Just As Long As You Stand By Me
Thanks for the reviews everyone. That Linstead though, I wasn't expecting sex, guys. But I'll take it. Derek Haas is looking at getting a big kiss on that bald head of his. Cause that was everything. I just hope Erin doesn't regret it, I know how upset she was with Lange over the CI not getting her money. So, I hope it wasn't just hate sex with Jay. But it was still hot. And I just wanted a kiss...lol.
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Erin's eyes slowly opened as she tried to get them to focus in the dark room. It only took her a few seconds to realize that she was laying in a hospital bed and she instantly brought her hands to her stomach as she started to fill with panic.
"The baby's fine" A raspy voice said from the corner and the small lamp against the wall turned on, revealing Hank Voight's form.
Erin wasn't sure what to say. This wasn't how she wanted Hank to find out. She wanted to sit down and tell him like an adult. She hadn't planned on him hearing it from anyone other than her.
Erin watched as Hank sat in the chair in the corner his elbow resting on the arm rest and he ran a hand over his chin as he looked at her. She couldn't make out his features very well from the soft glow of the lamp, but at this point, she really wasn't sure she wanted to.
Voight tapped his chin as he tried to think of something to say. The fear of seeing Erin fall to the floor and not know what the hell had happened only to learn the truth from Burgess wasn't exactly what Hank Voight had wanted to hear. "When were you going to tell me?"
Erin turned her head and groaned as she felt the ache at the back of her head. She raised a hand to her head and felt the welt on the back of her head.
"Yeah, you took a pretty bad bump on the head when you fainted. I tried to catch you, but you fell so fast I couldn't" Voight stood up from his chair and walked over to Erin's bed and stood. He placed his hands in his the front of his jean pockets and looked down at Erin.
"What time is it?" Erin asked reaching over to adjust her bed up and putting her hands down next to her by her bottom and pushing herself up into a more seated position.
"It's almost midnight" Hank answered pulling his hand out of his pocket and looking down at his watch.
Erin laid her head back against the pillows. She couldn 't believe she'd slept that long. "How's Jay?"
Voight sighed and sat down on the edge of Erin's bed. "Halstead's fine. He's resting. He's still in ICU for the night and last time Ruzek gave me a report, everything was looking good. Now, are you going to answer my question?"
Erin looked down at her stomach, she hadn't realized that she had placed her hand their protectively since she'd woken up. She looked at her stomach and then at Voight.
"I just found out. A few days ago" Erin confessed. "I didn't want you to find out like this, Hank. Honestly I didn't"
Hank was silent for a few moments. He was really trying to take everything in. Voight wasn't big on change or things being out of cycle, but in the last 72 hours that's all things had seemed like they'd been. Halstead getting shot, then them thinking he was ok only to take a turn for the worse, trying to keep his unit strong through the events of that, and seeing the girl who he considered his daughter collapsing to the floor was what he thought the icing on the cake would be, but no, fate had one more surprise in store for him.
"Does Jay know?" Voight asked raising his hand to his tired eyes and rubbing them.
"No. Not yet" Erin looked away from Voight and back down at her stomach. She slowly started running her fingers in small circles over and over. "Nobody told him, right?"
Voight shook his head. "Nobody that I know of"
"Good" Erin exhaled with a sigh of relief. She wanted to be the one to tell Jay this news, when he was able to communicate back wth her and tell her how he felt about the baby. Not hooked up to some vent in a hospital bed.
"You know I have to pull you from patrol and put you on light duty" Voight dropped his hand from his eyes and focused his gaze on Erin.
'No, you don't I'm perfectly fine to be out there. I can handle it. I'm not going to let you or anyone else down" Erin assured.
"Erin...stop" Hank held his hand up as a sign for her to stop talking. "I know that you can handle it. But it's not just about you anymore"
Erin looked down at her stomach. She knew it wasn't about her anymore, she'd known that since she'd looked at baby Halstead on that sonogram machine yesterday at the doctor's office. She knew she protect the precious peanut that was currently nestled in her belly. But, she could still do her job. She was a cop and that's what she'd always be. It was in her blood, it was her life, it was who she was. "I can handle being out there, Hank"
Voight nodded again "I know that, but this..." He paused and reached his hand over to Erin's stomach and placed his hand on it. "This is going to be your focus, I can't worry about you and this baby, too"
"I'm sorry" Erin looked up at Hank and forced a sad smile. "I know that seems like all I say to you anymore, but I am sorry"
Voight shook his head. "You don't need to ever apologize to me, Erin. If anything, I should be telling you I'm sorry"
Erin furrowed her brow as she looked at Voight. "What?"
Hank removed his hand from Erin's stomach and stood up before walking over to the chair he'd been sitting in and he picked up the sonogram picture that Dr. Backus had given him when she'd done been paged to the ER to do another sonogram on the baby while Erin was still out of it earlier this afternoon. He didn't know what to say when she'd handed him the black and white picture and said "Congratulations, Grandpa"
Voight had spent the better part of the rest of the evening staring at the picture in his hands. The fact that Erin had known about this and was afraid to tell him, really hurt him. She out of anyone should know that he'd go above and beyond for her and protect her. So the fact that after everything he'd helped Erin through in her life, the fact that she felt like she couldn't tell him this, broke his heart.
Hank walked back over to Erin and sat on her bed and handed her the sonogram. "I'm sorry that you felt like you couldn't tell me about this"
Erin took the sonogram from Hank and looked down at it as she ran her thumb over the small black and white form of her child. "It's not that I didn't want to tell you Hank. I am just trying to adjust to the news myself. What kind of mother am I going to even be?"
"The best" Voight's raspy voice confessed.
"How could you possibly know that?" Erin asked looking up from the sonogram to meet his gaze.
"Because I know you. I know how kind, and smart and loving that you are. Even after everything that life has thrown at you and everything you've been through, you've come out on the other side. Stronger than ever. I'm so proud of you Erin. In every aspect of that word. I'm proud of who you were, who you are, and who you're going to become once this baby comes into your life" Voight reached down and took the sonogram from Erin and studied it for a moment.
"This baby, is already so lucky. You're going to be ok, kid. You and Halstead both. If you're asking if I'm surprised the answer to that is yes. But watching you fall to that floor this morning...I don't ever want to see something like that again" Voight confessed.
"I didn't mean to scare you. I didn't even know I was going to faint. It happened so fast" Erin explained. The dull ache at the back of her head was starting to worsen and she wished for some pain medicine, but figured that it was probably a lost cause. She didn't want to take anything that would harm the baby. So, she'd put up with a headache. "Do you think I can go home tonight?"
Voight shook his head "You took a pretty nasty fall. So they're going to keep you here tonight to keep an eye on you. You were really dehydrated and your blood pressure was low, so that's what caused you to faint. So, they want to keep you on some fluids to get you rehydrated and make sure that bump on your head is ok"
Erin looked down at her arm and noticed the IV fluids she was hooked up to for the first time. She instantly felt guilty, here Hank Voight sat, telling her that she was going to be a good mother and first thing she does is faint from not hydrating herself enough to take care of her own child.
"You don't have to stay here. I'm ok. You should go home" Erin suggested as the door to her room opened and her nurse walked in.
"I'm not going anywhere" Voight assured as he stepped out of the nurses way.
"You're awake" Erin's nurse cheerfully said flipping on a brighter light over Erin's bed.
The bright light forced Erin to shut her eyes tightly as she tried to adjust to it. That sure as hell didn't help her headache. "Yeah, I'm awake" Erin slowly opened her eyes and she blinked a few times as she adjusted her vision.
"How are you feeling?" The nurse asked as she started taking Erin's vitals.
"I've got a headache" Erin confessed as she looked at the nurse's name tag. "Carley" was the more than chipper nurse that was taking Erin's pulse name.
"Well, you did have a nasty little fall down on the ICU floor. I can bring you something for your head" Nurse Carley gave a wide smile as she made a note on Erin's chart and placed a cuff around her arm as she took Erin's blood pressure.
"I don't want anything that's going to hurt my baby" Erin explained.
"Of course not. I will see what the doctor has as your plan of care and bring you some pain medicine. Is there anything else I can get you?" Nurse Carley asked.
"No" Erin answered.
"Ok, I'll be right back" Nurse Carley gave a nod to Voight and walked out of Erin's room.
"You really can go, Hank. You just had a heart attack a few months ago. You don't need to stress of staying at the hospital"
"I told you. I'm staying. I've got everything I need here. They treat people better on this Labor and Delivery floor than they ever did me when I was on the Cardio health floor" Voight walked over to his chair against the wall and sat down.
"Are you sure?" Erin asked. In all honesty, she really didn't want to be alone. She just didn't want to force Hank to stay with her.
"Are you kidding? I've got a pillow and a blanket. I'm all set" Voight assured as the door opened and Nurse Carley walked in.
"Here you go, Erin" Nurse Carley said handing Erin a small cup that contained two white pills.
"What is this?" Erin asked.
"It's Lortab. It's just a pain pill. It's for you head. It's perfectly fine for the baby. And it will relieve your pain so that you can get some rest" Nurse Carley explained and she opened a small bottle of water and placed a straw in it before handing it to Erin.
Erin looked down at the pills before bringing the small cup to her lips and dipping in back and reaching for taking a drink of water to swallow the medicine.
"Good job" Nurse Carley said taking the bottle of water back from Erin and setting it on the trey next to her bed. "You should get some rest. I'll be back to check on you throughout the night"
Erin nodded and laid her head back against the pillows as Nurse Carley adjusted Erin's bed down and she reached over Erin's head and flipped the light off.
"Thank You" Erin said and she pulled her blanket up over her more.
"You're welcome. Is there anything I can get for either of you?" Nurse Carley asked both Erin and Voight.
"No thank you" Erin answered
"Anything for you sir?" Nurse Carley asked looking over at Hank Voight.
"I'm ok. Thanks" Voight answered.
Nurse Carley nodded and walked to the door and shut it behind her.
"Get some rest, kid" Voight said as he took a seat in the reclining chair and spread the blanket out over him.
Erin nodded and placed her hand back on her stomach and she closed her eyes as she started to fall back asleep.
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Burgess walked up the steps of the precinct and past Platt who was standing at the front desk.
"You forget how to speak when you walk by somebody?" Platt asked as her gaze followed Burgess' walking past her.
"It's not a good time, Sergeant" Burgess kept her face away from Platt and on the opposite wall.
"Well, you need to make time" Platt said "Now, get over here"
Kim rolled her eyes and she walked the short distance from her spot over to the desk where Platt was standing. "You rang?"
Platt picked up a stack of papers and her attention fell to them as she started sorting them. "I just wanted to tell you that I was misinformed about your situation. I can admit when I am wrong"
Kim's eyebrows narrowed as she looked at Platt. She couldn't believe this. "Is that it? You aren't even going to say you're sorry?"
"Sorry?" Platt repeated as she looked up from her papers. "I'm not going to apologize. You should be the one apologizing to me"
"What?!" Burgess raised her hands up and slowly closed them. She was about to lose her temper. "I don't need to tell you sorry for anything"
"You're the one that led me to believe that you were the one who was pregnant. You could've easily told me that it was Erin. You could've saved me some paperwork and yourself some embarrassment" Platt explained.
"I can't believe you. You're wrong and you're going to stand there and act like you're not? I told you not to even say anything. And what I do to help my friends is my business, not yours" Burgess was fuming. Lack of sleep and still being angry over her fight with Ruzek wasn't exactly a good mix for having a conversation with Platt.
"I'm not going to feel guilty. You can't walk on eggshells in this job, I told you I was wrong, if you don't want to accept that, then that's on you. It's off of me now. I'm done talking now, so you can go" Platt stapled some papers and put them in a folder.
Burgess held her tongue and sighed as she grabbed her badge off of the counter and started to walk away.
"I wouldn't worry too much about Ruzek" Platt said calling after Burgess.
Kim stopped in her steps. She didn't turn around but she quietly answered Platt "Why?"
Platt put another stack of papers down and leaned down on her arms "He was scared. That boy loves you and it was a misunderstanding. You should talk to him"
Burgess nodded and looked up the steps to intelligence. She knew she needed to talk to Adam, she just didn't want to talk to him right now. In fact, she wasn't going to be the one to apologize. If Adam Ruzek wanted to talk to her, then he needed to start some serious groveling. She wasn't just going to forget that he had not only accused her of hiding a pregnancy from him, but also that half assed proposal he tried to give her.
That's what hurt her most of all, that Adam didn't take into consideration that she was worth more than some spur of the moment "We should probably get married" proposal. Sure, they weren't romance personified as a couple, but she was worth more than that. And if Ruzek didn't see that, then maybe it was time that they took some time apart to figure out what they both want.
Burgess walked into the break room and she stopped in her steps when she saw Ruzek sitting at the table.
Adam looked at her for a few seconds before speaking "Hey"
Kim avoided Ruzek's gaze and instead looked over at the counter "Hey"
"I got you a blueberry doughnut" Adam said holding up a small Krispy Kreme doughnut bag. "I know how much you like them"
"Thanks" Kim said but she didn't move from her spot.
"A blueberry doughnut for my blueberry doughnut" Ruzek joked as he stood from his chair and took a step towards Kim.
"Don't make a joke, Adam" Kim pleaded as her gaze finally met Adam's.
"Burgess, I'm sorry. I really am" Adam cautiously took a few steps towards Burgess and when he realized she wasn't going to step away from him, he walked the rest of the way towards her and wrapped his arms around her. "I'm sorry"
"You really hurt me" Kim shook her head as she fought back tears.
"I know I did" Adam confessed "And I'm going to make it up to you"
"Oh, you have no idea" Kim half laughed as she exhaled.
"I was scared" Adam pulled Kim even closer to him and pushed a strand of her hair behind her ear.
"Why?" Burgess asked "Would having a baby with me be that bad?"
"No..no. That's not what I meant" Ruzek assured "I was afraid of letting you down. I spent my whole life trying to impress my old man, and I never felt like I did enough, and I still don't and it just scared me that our child would ever have to grow up feeling that way"
"But they wouldn't. Adam. You're nothing like your dad" Kim ran her hands up Adam's arms and around his neck.
"I'm sorry that I reacted that way. And you're right. You deserve so much more than some hospital hallway proposal. I mean I can't promise candles and fireworks on Mackinac Island, but I can promise you that when I do propose to you, and I will. It's going to be everything that you deserve" Ruzek assured.
"I love you" Kim ran her hand around the back of Adam's neck and smiled up at him.
"I love you, back" Ruzek smiled and he ran his hand along Kim's cheek before he leaned down and pressed his lips against Kim's.
After a few moments Kim pulled away and looked up at Adam. "You're still not off the hook though"
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"Just take it easy" Voight insisted as he unlocked the door to his house.
"I'm fine, honestly" Erin assured as she walked into Hank's house.
"That's what you say, but your doctor also said for someone to keep an eye on you for the next 24 to 48 hours" Voight walked in his house behind Erin and shut the door behind him.
"That's just if I'd need help. I'm really ok" Erin watched as Hank walked into his living room and sat her hospital bag and a few Walmart bags down on the couch.
"I'd rather you stay here so that I can keep an eye on you. There's nobody at your apartment if something were to happen" Voight picked up some of the bags and headed to the kitchen.
"I honestly am ok, Hank. I promise" She didn't understand why Hank had been so insistant on her staying with him at his house. She was perfectly capable of taking care of herself she was 28. She would be fine at her apartment. Or even at the hospital with Jay.
"You still like potato soup, right?" Voight asked as he unloaded groceries.
Erin walked into the kitchen and leaned against the door frame. There was no point in arguing with Voight, so she'd just bite the bullet and stay with him. "Yes, I like it"
"Good. I fixed up your old room. We'll take your stuff up there" Voight finished putting the groceries away and walked past Erin and over to the couch to grab her stuff. "I had Burgess go to your place and pack you a bag. If there's a problem with what she picked, you'll have to take it up with her"
"I'm sure it's fine" Erin assured and she walked over to the couch and reached for her bag.
"I've got it" Voight said grabbing it before Erin could.
"Hank, I'm pregnant. I'm not dying" Erin shook her head and followed Hank up the stairs and down the hall.
"I know that. And believe me, Halstead's going to be glad he's in the hospital, cause they're not going to have far to take him after he and I talk" Voight opened the door to Erin's old room and went in.
"Hank, stop" Erin rolled her eyes and walked into the bedroom behind Hank.
"You can't expect me to not say at least something to him" Voight sat Erin's bag down on the bed and turned and looked at her.
"Yes. That's exactly what I'm expecting. Hank, you can't keep sticking your nose in our relationship. If it concerned you then yes, but believe me you weren't there when this happened" Erin said gesturing to her stomach.
"Thank God for that" Voight said as he walked over to Erin.
"I'm going to be ok, Hank. Jay and I can handle this. After I tell him and everything" Erin took a steady breath. She wasn't sure who she was trying to convince more, herself or Hank Voight.
"It's going to be a lot to handle, kid. A wedding, you mentioned wanting to move, work, your therapy, and raising a newborn" Voight leaned against the doorframe and looked at Erin.
"That's why I don't think I'm going to go to therapy anymore" Erin confessed.
"First off, you do that I'll suspend you from the force. You're going to stick with your appointments. I don't think once a week is asking too much" Voight folded his arms over him and locked his eyes on Erin.
"I really don't think I need it anymore" Erin ran a hand through her hair and looked over at Voight.
"Erin, I don't want you to take this the wrong way. But, one of your biggest issues are those scars from your attack and how your mom and dad always said appearance is everything? Well, don't you think when you start showing that you're going to have a hard time getting used to it? Your body is going to be going through a lot of changes..."Voight was interrupted by the sound of Erin's groan.
"Could you not talk about that. Please. I mean you're the last person I want saying that to me. You don't need to talk to me about my body...just...no" Erin shook her head.
Hank chuckled to himself as he looked over at Erin. "You know I was thinking if I move that dresser and the armchair, a crib would fit perfect right there. You know on nights when Halstead is working overnight. You and the baby could stay here"
"Hank, you don't have to go to that kind of trouble" Erin smiled as she thought about the idea of there being a crib in the corner of her old room. Something she made it out of her teens without needing.
"It's no trouble" Voight mumbled. the truth was he'd love that kind of company. Ever since Justin and Olive had moved and Erin started seeing Jay, the visits between Erin and Justin had grown less and less and it made him realize just how empty the house truly was some nights.
"Hank? Are you ok?" Erin asked looking over at him.
"Yeah. I'm going to go start dinner" Voight gave Erin a nod and walked out of her room, leaving Erin to unpack.
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So that Linstead sex last night...just in case you guys forgot...I wanted to remind you.
I promise Jay in the next chapter and he just might find out about baby Halstead.
Also, was this softer side of Hank Voight too much? Do you guys like it? Or would you rather him still be a hard ass?
And do you guys like the Burzek? Should there be more? Less?
I kind of always saw those four being really good friends if the writers on the show would take a chance on it.
Please Review and let me know what you guys think.