16. That's What Friends Are For

Thank you all again for the reviews and sorry for letting you wait a little longer than usual. I'm honest with you, I had a million struggles to write this chapter in the beginning and then it turned out to be the longest I've written yet (sorry for that, you might need some time to read it). I decided not to make two chapters out of it because it wouldn't really make sense. You'll have quite some time to read it anyway as I have some important exams coming up and won't be able to post within the next two weeks I think. But I promise, the next chapters will have a 'normal' length again ;)

I still own nada.

16. That's What Friends Are For

The whole unit met in front of the 21st district on early Friday morning. The sky was blue and the sun was shining, it was already really warm for this time of the day and everyone was finally a little more excited about this trip than the days before.

Loading ten bags in two cars was the biggest challenge of the morning and it took quite some time and tetris-skills until they'd finally stored them in the trunks and were still able to close them. They quickly decided that Antonio, Burgess and Roman drove in the Escalade with Hank and Al while Mouse, Adam and Atwater joined Erin and Jay in the 300.

″Why does Jay get the passenger's seat and not me?″ Adam asked as he took the place in the middle and Mouse and Atwater sat down left and right to him.

″Because kids belong in the back,″ Erin answered all dry while she put on her sunglasses and buckled her seatbelt.

″Naah, Linds, that was mean,″ Adam laughed while trying to buckle his seatbelt, too.

″Damn Adam, why are you twiddling my ass?″ Kevin asked and they all chuckled.

″Because I love you so much Kev,″ Adam teased back. ″Where is this damn...ah, got it.″

″Awesome,″ Erin said and turned her head around to look at the three men in shorts, shirts and sunglasses. ″Alright, all kiddos buckled then?″ she asked but already pulled out on the street to follow Hank's Escalade. Now Jay was the one who turned his head around to his three colleagues on the back seats who looked like being caught in a sardine can.

″Is it comfy, yeah?″ he smirked.

″Jay, you better shut up,″ Kevin answered with a laughter.

″I still don't get it why Jay has free ticket for the passenger's seat,″ Adam started to complain again. ″I think we should've played Rock, Paper, Scissors or something.″

″No Adam, we can't do this to him. You know, Jay's THE professional co-driver in the 21st,″ Kevin laughed.

″Ah yeah right, I tend to forget sometimes that your girl doesn't let you drive,″ Adam teased.

″Well bro, at the moment you're not really in the teasing position, don't you think?″ Jay laughed. ″I mean, I could start talking about the benefits of being a professional co-driver, you know? For example the legroom I have here and the space in general. And don't forget the air conditioner. ″

″Okay, let's get back to the point where we told you to shut up,″ Adam said with another deep laughter.

Of course the boys didn't really shut up during the duration of their two-hour-drive. They kept on teasing each other and then started to watch fail videos on their phones. Even Mouse, who was usually the calmest guy ever, started to take part in their conversations and laughing fits and as much as Erin tried to stay concentrated on the street and not to listen to all these silly things, she had to laugh with them sometimes anyway as they simply acted like complete dorks.

Half an hour before they arrived at their destination, it even got worse and they started to check the women on Kevin's dating app.

″Uh Kev, this one's a hot chick. You should definitely write her,″ Adam said and eyed the photo precisely.

″Do you think?″ Kevin asked.

″Oh yeah, I mean look at her...she's quite something. Maybe you shouldn't write her but I.″

″Adam, stop drooling, it's disgusting,″ Erin teased her colleague as she looked at him via the rearview mirror.

″Just shut up and drive Erin, this is men business here,″ he laughed.

″Bite me Adam, one more like that and I'll kick your ass out of this car and you can walk the rest of the distance, I swear.″

″Oh, I doubt you'd be able to kick me outta here,″ he winked.

″You don't really wanna challenge me right now, do you? Because we both know I'm able to kick your ass easily anytime.″

″Sorry bro, but she's right,″ Kevin laughed, giving his friend a pat on the back.

″Yep, she is,″ Mouse agreed with a grin.

″True that,″ Jay smirked.

″Thanks guys, it's a pleasure to have friends like you. I mean, I expected Jay to defend his girl, but you two...that's a real letdown,″ he laughed.

″Adam, the thing is, they didn't defend me, they agreed with me because I had a good point,″ Erin winked and a winning smile rushed over her lips.

″Whatever. Anyway,″ he said and turned his head around to Mouse, showing him the photo on the phone, basically giving this conversation up. ″What do you think about her?″

″Uhm...no...not really my type,″ Mouse said.

″Are you serious? I mean, look at her,″ Adam answered and brought the phone up closer to Mouse's eyes.

″Still not my type though,″ he shrugged.

″How can someone like her not be your type? You're weird. It'll be a challenge to find a girl for you, bro,″ Adam laughed, giving his colleague a compassionate glance.

″Jay, what do you think?″ he then asked, handing him the phone.

Erin turned her head around to her boyfriend for only one second but it was long enough for Jay to see how she raised her eyebrow.

″Well...she's not ugly,″ Jay admitted.

″Ha, see Mouse,″ Adam triumphed.

″Show me,″ Erin immediately said.

″Uah Jay, this is not going to end well for you,″ Kevin laughed.

Jay showed Erin the picture and she eyed it for literally one second but she saw how Jay slightly, almost imperceptible shook his head and grinned at her. Of course he said what his colleagues wanted to hear and didn't say anything corny like admitting that he had only eyes for Erin or something similar. Their team members, didn't need to be witnesses of any kind of love declarations. Although these people were their friends, they were on a business trip what meant they had to keep it professional. At least more or less.

″So Erin, what do you say?″ Adam asked, hoping for an act of jealousy.

″Way too pretty for you, sorry,″ Erin answered with a grin.

″I really don't like your attitude today, Linds.″

″Really?″ Mouse asked. ″I think it's hilarious,″ he chuckled.

″I think it's mean, like really mean. And anyway, your boyfriend just admitted he thinks she's not ugly and you don't freak out?″ Adam then said, still trying to tease and beat her in any way possible.

″We're talking about a photo from a dating app of a woman who lives on the other side of this country and you expected me to get crazily jealous just because he thinks she's not ugly? He's right man, she's not ugly. And you need to grow up. Urgently,″ Erin answered dryly and she slowly started to get kinda bugged by this whole conversation. Luckily their GPS said that their destination was only ten more minutes away, so the end was near.

″Adam bro, I'm sorry to break it to you but you should start considering to capitulate because you're not going to win against her today,″ Kevin suggested with a laugh and gave his friend in the middle a pat on the back.

″When did he ever win against her?″ Jay asked and made them all laugh, even Erin let out a small laughter.

″Guys, I really love you, but today...not so much,″ Adam laughed and shook his head. ″But I forgive you because I just found another girl I want to hear your opinion about,″ he grinned and started to pass the phone around again.

″Oh heavens,″ Erin sighed and hoped that their hotel would appear right in front of them as soon as possible.

XxXxXxXxXxX

″This is quite a fancy place, boss,″ Kevin said when they stood in front of the big hotel building that was located directly by Lake Michigan.

″What did you expect, Atwater? Tents and outhouses?″ Hank asked back before giving a little speech. ″Alright, everybody listen: all of our rooms are on the 3rd floor. Ruzek and Atwater room 304, Jay and Mouse 305, Antonio and Roman 306, Alvin and me are in 307 and you two,″ he said and pointed to Erin and Kim, ″are in room 308. All you need to do is going to the reception and ask for the key cards, the paper work is done already. We'll meet in the conference room on the 3rd floor in about an hour I'd say,″ Hank explained his team as he checked his clock. ″Any questions?″

All of them shook their heads in response but had to grin a little as they felt like students being on field excursion.

″Let's go in then,″ Hank ordered and they all walked into the lobby of the 4-star-hotel. As expected, the check-in went fast and smooth and after some minutes all of them moved into their rooms.

After checking their rooms and unpacking their bags, they all met in the conference room about an hour later and took their seats around the oval table. They chatted with each other for a while until Hank chimed in.

″Alright kiddos, I think you're all still wondering why we're here and some of you might still think this is a waste of time. Well, keep on thinking that but I'll prove you wrong,″ he said and smirked a little.

″This unit is so strong because the people you work with every single day are your family. But lately we had so many cases, heavy cases, that I thought all of us could use a little timeout to focus on us, on our team members, on our family. When we did that kind of team building events in the past we always did lots of trust exercises and that kind of stuff but I really don't think we need this as you all have a strong bond with each other already. So, there's not much of a program because I mainly want us to have fun this weekend and I really hope that this unit will even be stronger after this weekend. You can spend the day on the beach, play soccer, play beach volleyball, go for a swim, do whatever you want. But do it together and have fun. We'll have dinner in the hotel restaurant at 7.30 this evening and afterwards we'll go bowling. Breakfast tomorrow morning is at 8.30 because we'll leave for going go-carting at 10.00. The rest of the things we've planned to do I'll tell you this evening or tomorrow morning. So, gear up,″ Hank said and grinned as he saw the surprised and stunned faces of his detectives and officers. Obviously no one had expected this trip to turn out into a loosey-goosey for-fun weekend.

″I really like that, boss,″ Antonio said, who was the first one to find his voice again.

″Yeah, you did good with making us believe this was going to be some boring team building event,″ Jay agreed and laughed.

″I still wait for the moment he tells us he just joked,″ Adam said.

″This isn't a joke, right Sarge?″ Atwater asked.

″Do I look to you like I'm joking around?″ Hank asked the young officers. ″But I'm sure we'll find some trust exercises or whatever else for the two of you if you want to do them so badly.″

″Oh no, thanks. We're completely satisfied with all the things you just suggested,″ Adam immediately said and all of them started to get up from their chairs to discuss what they wanted to do with their day.

Jay, Erin, Kim and Kevin quickly decided for a little beach volleyball match. While the boys only needed some seconds to change from their shirts and shorts into just their swimming trunks, so they were able to proudly present their sixpacks and muscles, Kim and Erin of course needed a little longer to slip into their bikinis.

Kevin and Jay already waited impatiently at the beach for them to arrive and were kind of disappointed when they finally came, wearing tops and shorts over their bikinis.

″Oh come on girls, what's that? Take us as examples,″ Kevin joked, showing off his muscular body.

″Yeah Kev, you wish,″ Kim laughed and boxed her former partner onto the shoulder.

″Are you going to swim like this, too?″

″Certainly not,″ Kim answered.

″Then why wearing it for playing volleyball?″ Kevin smirked.

″Because swimming and playing volleyball are two complete different things.″

″Kim, don't try it, men don't understand that anyway. All they think about is...well, it doesn't matter,″ Erin said with a chuckle as she saw Jay raising his eyebrows in the corner of her eyes.

″As we cleared that now...″ Jay grinned, ″can we start or..?″

″Hey, we weren't the ones who started with this unnecessary conversation,″ Erin twinkled at her boyfriend.

″Well yeah, guilty as charged,″ Kevin laughed. ″What do we do? Partners versus former partners?″

″Sounds good to me,″ Jay agreed and the four of them took their positions on the opposite sides of the netting to start their match. But instead of really playing beach volleyball all of this turned out to be an occasion of never ending laughing fists as none of them was really talented and Erin as well as Kim both preferred to tell their partners that each and every ball was basically theirs. It was quite a joy for the two of them to watch the men diving for the ball and ruggedly crashing on the ground while trying to save what couldn't be saved anymore. Some moments later they all laid in the sand, snorting with laughter, after Kim had tried to dive for the ball for the first time and Kevin had too, and the both of them literally crashed into each other.

″We're all so talented, it's incredible,″ Jay laughed and held his stomach which already hurt from laughing so hard.

″I'd say we change teams because crashing with Erin isn't surely as bad as crashing with Mount Atwater,″ Kim said as she was finally able to breathe again.

″I'm in,″ Erin said while trying to get the picture of the two of them crashing out of her head because every time she thought about it she had to laugh again. And looking to Jay didn't make it any better because he obviously had the same problem.

″You okay?″ Erin asked Kim as she joined her on her side of the netting but she still couldn't hide a chuckle.

″I'm alive and no broken bones, only my stomach hurts from laughing so hard,″ Kim giggled.

″Tell me about it. I'm not sure whether I'll ever be able to forget this picture,″ she laughed.

″Always glad to entertain you.″

″Alright ladies, are you done small-talking?″ Kevin asked from the other side of the netting.

″We're ready to rumble over here,″ Kim said and they took their positions.

″Let's get the party started then,″ Kevin called and served the ball.

To everyone's surprise they were really able to play some kind of real beach volleyball as Kim and Erin tried their very best to beat the boys and started to fight for the balls instead of telling their partners that every ball was their job. In the beginning, this worked quite well and they scored lots of points as Kevin and Jay were kind of overstraight with the sudden fighting spirit of the girls but after some time they got it handled and didn't leave their opponents the slightest chance.

″Nice effort girls,″ Jay said after the game when they all high-fived each other and then wrapped his arm around Erin's shoulders and placed a short kissed on her sweaty temple.

″Yeah, that was quite good. But the real champions won nonetheless,″ Kevin grinned.

″Don't pique yourself on that Kev, Erin and I will train hard and beat you like this next time,″ Kim said and flipped her fingers.

″Keep on dreaming. Maybe Jay and I will also do some more training huh? But for now this was enough volleyball and I urgently need a cooling-down. Anyone else?″

″Oh yes,″ Kim sighed and before she was able to say anything else or to strip her shirt, Kevin had already picked her up and carried her towards the water.

″Atwater let me down,″ Kim ordered with a laugh but of course her strong colleague didn't even think about letting her down yet.

″Atwater,″ Kim called again as he now walked through the plain water to the place were it was deeper. ″Let me down.″

″Okay,″ Kevin shrugged and let her fall down into the water like some stone.

″I...hate...you,″ Kim gasped afterwards, splashing water towards him.

″What, why? I just did what you wanted me to do,″ Kevin joked and swam away with Kim following him closely and trying to dunk him.

Meanwhile, Jay and Erin still stood at the beach, watching their colleagues chasing each other through the water.

″Don't you even think about it,″ Erin warned her boyfriend as she had the slightest suspicion that he was planning to do the same with her.

″Of course I don't,″ Jay grinned and shook his head while Erin stripped her shorts and shirt.

″Ready?″ he then asked and grabbed her hand as she nodded, running towards the water with her. But it wasn't as warm as expected and while Jay started to swim immediately, Erin was anything but excited about swimming. When Jay saw her hesitating and only going in further step by step, he offered her, to sit on his shoulders. Of course she didn't let him beg twice and let him carry her through the water while she ran her fingers through his hair and gently tickled his head.

″How is it up there?″ Jay asked while walking towards the place where the water was deeper, tightening the grasp around her lower legs.

″Amazing. Really nice view and stuff,″ Erin laughed.

″Yeah? You know, the view down here isn't as bad either,″ he said and although she couldn't see his face, she knew there was a sneaky grin on his lips. In that second she knew what he was planning to do but it was too late already. He let her legs loose and gave her a soft push so she fell from his shoulders into the water in perfect backflip-style.

″You...will...pay for that,″ Erin said some moments later in between gasps for air, coughs and laughters.

″Can't wait,″ Jay chuckled, giving her the cutest grin.

″Revenge is sweet,″ she smirked and then swam away from him but of course Jay didn't wait for one second to follow her. Their little water fight was far from being over yet.

At the same time, Alvin and Hank sat on their sun loungers in the shade, drinking cocktails and smoking cigars and watched the young couple in the water that obviously had too much fun.

″Maybe I should tell them that this is a business trip,″ Hank said raspily.

″Maybe you should just let them be theirselves,″ Alvin said. ″I mean, look at the kid,″ he added and pointed to Erin who seemed to be in deep laughters.

″Hmm,″ Hank only mumbled while he also watched his two detectives playing and joking around in the water.

″Did you ever see Erin as happy as in the past few months? Because I didn't,″ Alvin said, taking a sip from his cocktail. ″All you and Camille ever wanted for her was that she finds the happiness she deserves. You always wished that she'd one day be truly happy. And now she is, so what's the problem?″

″I don't know,″ Hank shrugged. ″It's still an inhouse-romance and although it looks like they are in good place right now they can split up anytime and then we have a problem. Because I need them both in my unit and I'm not sure whether they'd be able to keep it professional then.″

″I think they would. I mean, they are obviously pretty much in love but at work you hardly recognize that they're a couple because they're quite good with keeping the private and the professional apart. And I don't think we have to worry about this at the moment anyway,″ Alvin noticed.

″It's Erin. So everything is always possible,″ Hank sighed. ″But whatever, I think I just will never be a fan of this whole I-date-my-partner inhouse-romance thing.″

″Come on Hank, you must be blindfolded if you didn't see that coming,″ Alvin grinned.

″Saw what coming?″ he asked and furrowed a brow.

″Erin and Jay. I saw it coming from the day you partnered them up with each other. I still know how I thought: Well, let's see how this will play out.″

″Why didn't you say something back then?″ Hank asked gruffly.

″I thought you knew what you were doing. That you were aware of the possibilities. I mean, you partnered two young, single, attractive people up with each other who from then on almost spent 24/7 with each other. What did you expect them to do?″ Alvin asked, taking a pull from his cigar.

″Listen to my rules. For example. Not ignoring my orders. For example.″

″Against love we're all powerless. Even you my old friend,″ Alvin winked, giving Hank a pat on the back.

″Where do these words of wisdom come from?″

″Experience. Love always finds a way.″

″One of your intellectual days today, huh?″ Hank laughed.

″Maybe. But having two teenage daughters helps to learn that it's sometimes easier to accept things we can't change or prohibit anyway and let them figure everything out theirselves than trying to fight against it. And as I said, look at Erin. Was it really so bad that they didn't listen to your rules?″

Hank turned his head to the water again and watched how the two of them still tried to dunk each other and were then joined by the rest of their team members some moments later.

″No, not at all,″ he admitted quietly and looked to his long-time partner again.

″You see,″ Alvin grinned. ″Plus: Halstead's a good guy.″

″Yeah...I know,″ Hank nodded and took a long pull from his cuban cigar and watched how all of his detectives and officers now played with a football in the water and let new battles occur. For now, he was satisfied because everything proceeded in the way he wanted it to be. They all had fun and enjoyed their time together and they all would maybe think back to these days of joy and fun when heavy cases would hit them again soon.

XxXxXxXxXxX

They all spent the rest of the day at the beach, played cards, Jenga or Uno in the shade, went for another swim in the lake or played volleyball or soccer again. By the early evening, they went back to their rooms, took a quick shower and relaxed on their beds for some moments before making themselves ready for dinner.

Jay was the first who was completely ready and him and Erin had decided to meet at the big patio before dinner so that they'd maybe have a little time just for themselves and use this for a little walk along the beach to one of the lighthouses. As Erin wasn't as fast as him, he strolled through the garden a bit and then watched the waves of the lake getting stronger with every minute passing for a while.

″You got a minute?″ the familar raspy voice of his boss appeared from behind. He turned around and saw Hank standing right there, carrying two glasses of scotch.

″Yeah, sure,″ Jay answered.

″Here,″ Hank said and offered him one of the glasses. ″Take it, it's not poisoned.″

″I didn't think...uhm...thank you,″ Jay spluttered and took the glass.

″How's Erin been doing lately?″ Hank asked, keeping his gaze focused on the waves and sipping on his scotch.

Jay felt how any color fell from his face and he felt hot and cold at the same time. Hank couldn't know about their little secret, right? No. There was no way.

″Uhm, she's doing good,″ Jay answered, not sure what his girlfriend's pseudo-father wanted to hear.

″Yaah?″

″Yeah,″ Jay frowned. ″I'm sorry but what is this about, Sarge?″

″You guys nearly broke up some weeks ago, I think I just wanted to make sure that everything is okay. Erin...she can be quite a handful sometimes.″

″We're good. I think we're even closer than we've been before,″ Jay answered, scanning his boss for a second before also focusing on the waves again.

″Mhm,″ Hank mumbled. ″Listen...uhm...I guess I wanted to thank you Jay. For making her happy and for being so patient with her. For accepting her past and her issues and for giving her the time and space she needs. I'm glad she has you,″ Hank explained, trying to find the right words to express that the young detective has really started to grow on him during the past year.

Jay turned his head around again and glared at him in disbelief. He didn't see this one coming. Was Hank Voight really trying to tell him that he accepted him as the man in Erin's life?

″Uhm, always,″ Jay only answered as he honestly didn't know what else to say.

″So, my birthday is coming up in August and I just want to do a small barbeque with my family. Nothing glamorous. Justin, Olive and Daniel will come and Erin of course and as you belong to Erin, you're also a part of this family now...so...I just wanted to invite you in person to celebrate with us,″ Hank said and now turned his head around to the younger man.

Jay needed a moment to realize what was happening there. He really just got Hank Voight's approval. The one man, who has always made him feel like he wasn't good enough for dating Erin, who he has clashed with on so many occasions in the past, had just basically made him a part of his family, had approved him as the man on Erin's side. Any other time Jay would've been unbelievably proud and happy right now but with the little secret they still had, he kept his joy about Hank's unexpected warm words within limits.

″Thank you. I really appreciate it,″ Jay answered and gave his boss a little smile.

″Cheers,″ Hank said and clinked his glass with Jay's.

″Yeah, cheers,″ Jay also said and emptied his glass in one gulp. He'd maybe need another one of this. Or two. Or three. Because he already knew that Hank Voight would regret all of these nice words when they were finally going to tell him about the pregnancy.

″Alright, let's get back to the patio, the others should be there within the next minutes,″ Hank suggested, gave Jay a pat on the back and walked to the patio with him where they were joined by the rest of the team some minutes later.

″I'm sorry for not making it in time,″ Erin apologized as she took the seat right next to Jay.

″No problem, we still have tomorrow evening,″ he said and laid his hand on her knee, stroking it softly with his thumb. ″You're looking beautiful tonight, by the way,″ he twinkled with a smirk surrounding his lips and earned a fond smile from her back in response.

XxXxXxXxXxX

Friday evening and Saturday morning passed and the team had a blast going bowling and go-carting. After having lunch at a nice little restaurant close to the lake, they returned to their hotel in the early afternoon and Hank gave them all two hours off for relaxing, sleeping or whatever else they wanted to do before they were going to do a boat tour later the day.

″I will go for a swim in the pool, you're in Erin?″ Kim asked as they stood in the lobby, waiting for the elevator.

″No way, I ate so much I would sink like the Titantic,″ Erin laughed.

″Too bad. I'll go anyway because I think it'll help me to feel better.″

″Do that,″ Erin said and turned her head to Jay, raised her eyebrows while looking at him and gave him a little grin. He twinkled back in response, confirming her that he'd understood the sign she was giving him.

Back in their room, Kim changed into her bikini and five minutes after she had left, there was the silent knock on the door Erin has been waiting for.

″Hey,″ she grinned and let him sneak into the room and then let him crash her lips with an intense, longing kiss immediately.

″I feel like a teenager on field excursion who has to meet his girlfriend stealthily and who always has to take care not getting caught from the teacher...or classmates,″ he chuckled after the kiss just to kiss her again.

″Yep, that sums up our situation pretty good,″ she laughed, locked the door and laid down on the bed with him, immediately snuggling onto his side. He looked down into her eyes, saw that her smile was real again and that her eyes started to sparkle again. No matter whether it was because they were out of their daily routine or because they simply had so much fun with their friends. This weekend did her good. It distracted her. Kept her from thinking about their future all the time.

″How do you feel today, Er?″ he mumbled into her hair, kissing it softly.

″Pretty good. Didn't have any morning sickness today either, so maybe it's really gone now. And in general...I don't know. It may sound weird but we had so much fun today and yesterday and I felt so good, I kinda forgot that I'm pregnant,″ she answered while her hand softly tickled his abs.

″Yeah, I had that feeling, too,″ Jay chuckled and kissed her again while Erin's hand moved from his abs further down to open the belt and button of his shorts.

″Wait wait wait, what are you up to?″ Jay grinned and held her hand back from going down to that one place where he wouldn't be able to hold it back anymore.

″Jay, Kim went for a swim, we have about half an hour. Maybe less. So what do you think I'm up to?″ Erin answered dryly.

″Let me get this straight: during the last one and a half weeks when we were at home you barely touched me and now we're here and out of a sudden you want to sleep with me again?″

″Looks like, huh?″ she smirked, placing her hand under his shirt and stroking his skin with her fingers.

″I already started to believe this is some kind of punishment...for...knocking you up,″ he laughed and slightly shivered by her soft touches and by the way her fingers caressed his skin.

″Well, I thought about that,″ Erin chuckled in response, lifting her head up towards him and looed at him all innocent. ″But then I was like: Erin, you only punish yourself with it, that's not fair,″ she laughed.

″Not fair?″ he echoed and rolled them over with one gallant move, firming his hands up on the mattress and looking directly into her smiling face, could see the passion in her eyes.

″Yep. Not fair. Plus, it's too late anyway, so why not having a little fun?″ she shrugged.

″Hank's in the room next to us,″ Jay teased her.

″That's the last thing I care about right now,″ Erin whispered and in that moment, Jay finally closed the small gap between their faces to exchange some hot and longing kisses with her. Their touches got more intense and they started to undress each other quickly...until someone knocked on the door.

″Erin?! Why is the door locked?″ Kim called from outside.

″This is not true,″ Jay sighed and stopped kissing and undressing his girlfriend. ″What now?″ he asked while it was clear that he was already ready for more than just this little foreplay.

″Bathroom,″ she whispered, pulled him off and gave him his shirt and shorts.

″Erin?!″ Kim called again.

″Yeah, wait, I'm coming,″ Erin answered, slipped into her top and her shorts and guided Jay to the bathroom.

″Sorry, I fell asleep,″ she said as she opened the door and let Kim into their room, still trying to find a solution how to get Jay out of the room. Or how to explain her friend why he was here.

″Yeah, looks like,″ Kim answered, scanning her friend.

Only now Erin took a look in the mirror next to the door to see that her hair was a complete mess. In addition her cheeks were a little red from the adrenaline that had gone through her body in excitement some minutes ago.

″How was your swim? Didn't expect you to be back so soon,″ Erin said casually.

″I see that,″ she answered, eyeing their bed.

″As I said, I fell asleep,″ Erin tried to explain but it was too late already.

″Aha. And the bathroom door is locked exactly why?″

″Because...″ Erin said and bit her lower lip. There was no chance of getting out of this. ″Jay came for a quick visit and had to use our bathroom.″ Of course this wasn't the truth but it wasn't a lie either. But Kim was clever enough to put one and one together.

″Erin! I can't believe you did it in our bed! On my sheets!″ Kim called with a look of reproach on her face.

″No worries, we didn't get that far,″ Jay said as he suddenly sneaked out of the bathroom. ″Well, uhm, bye then,″ he added and literally ran out of the room, leaving the two women alone.

″Just because you didn't get so far doesn't change anything. You wanted to do it in my bed,″ she spat.

″Kim, honestly, how many people do you think already had sex in this bed, huh?″

″I don't wanna think about that.″

″The answer you're looking for is many,″ Erin said.

″Many,″ Kim echoed. ″But they still didn't do it on my sheets,″ she noticed.

″Who knows,″ Erin shrugged.

″Now it gets even more disgusting,″ Kim said but also had to chuckle and shook her head.

″I'm sorry. For this. It just...kinda happened, you know?″ Erin said and smiled innocently.

″Yeah I get it and I forgive you. But please, find another place next time, okay?″ she grinned.

″We will. So, you didn't tell me yet why you're already here...″

″Well,″ Kim said and sat down on the edge of the bed, ″Adam was there, too,″ she sighed.

Erin grabbed the half empty cookie package from the day before, sensing they were going to need it, and sat down right next to her.

″If you wanna talk about it, I'm here," she said.

″Maybe I made a mistake,″ Kim sighed.

″What do you mean?″

″Sean. Adam. Both of them. When I saw Adam swimming in the pool I just stood there like a stone for some time and watched him and my heart started to flutter. Until someone basically asked me why I was grinning like an idiot. I realized that he still attracts me. Even after everything that happened. I think in this moment I slightly started to fall in love with him again and that's why I ran away and came back. All the memories came back...″

″Did you ever stop loving him, Kim?″

″He was such a jerk after our break-up...″

″This wasn't my question,″ Erin noticed.

″No,″ Kim mumbled, looking to Erin for the first time since they've started this conversation. ″I wanted to marry him, Erin. I wanted to spend the rest of my life with him. Of course I can't turn off all these deep feelings within weeks.″

″So the thing with Roman...″

″I really like him. But I'm just using him, I think. And that's not fair. He's such a nice guy and he doesn't deserve to get used. It's just...he was there, he made me laugh, we had fun, he made me feel special...I was able to forget when I was with him and that felt good. God, I'm a horrible person,″ Kim sighed.

″I think what you did is a normal reaction-″

″That doesn't make it better,″ Kim immediately interrupted her friend.

″You tried to move on, you tried to forget and you didn't want to be alone. The hardest thing after a break-up is that you suddenly have so much time. Time to think about all these nice memories. You feel like the loneliest person in the world and you come home in the evening, stare at the walls and try everything not to think about him. But it doesn't work like this and you start to scroll through old photos instead. Going through a break-up is one of the toughest things, especially when you wanted to marry. You were in a vulnerable space, Kim. And then there was someone who suddenly made you feel good again, made you laugh again. Everyone deserves to be happy, so don't blame yourself that you longed for a little bit of happiness,″ Erin said, giving her friend a little smile.

″The way you say it, it really doesn't sound so bad. But still, I used Sean. I think I somehow wanted to hurt Adam. Wanted him to get jealous. He never liked Sean, so it was kinda perfect. I did it on purpose Erin. At least in the beginning. Because I wanted Adam to react exactly like he did. But now, I don't know how I feel about Sean. He's kind and patient and so different than Adam. And he did so many cute things for me lately. I really like him. And I don't want to break his heart. What am I going to do Erin?″ she asked, grabbing another cookie.

″I think you need time, Kim. I think you should give yourself some time. I honestly think all of this happened too fast. Adam is a nice guy but he needs to grow up and you know that. Think about the reasons why it didn't work, why you broke up and then think about whether giving him a second chance is a possibility or not.″

″Maybe Adam doesn't want me anymore,″ she said quietly.

″You just figured out yourself that he still is crazily jealous. This is enough proof that he still has feelings for you. But as I said, think about what you want, Kim. I think you should also distance yourself from Roman for a while to figure out what you really feel for him, whether you really just used him or whether there are deeper feelings for him. Give yourself some time. In the end it's your choice what to do. Only your's Kim. You gotta do what's the right thing for you to do, not what anyone else, or in this case me, tells you," Erin said.

″I think you're right.″

″I wouldn't exactly say I'm right because I'm usually the last person you should ask for relationship advice.″

″Why? Your relationship works and looks so easy.″

″Maybe it looks easy. But I'm surely not the reason it works. It's Jay. I was on the edge of screwing our relationship up so many times already but thanks to his unbelievable attitude of always understanding and accepting my issues and not pushing me into anything but instead giving me the time I need it works,″ she explained. ″However, I just think you need some time. But that doesn't mean that giving yourself some time to deal with everything is the right way for you, you know what I mean?″ Erin asked, not being sure whether her words made any sense at all.

″Yeah, I guess so,″ Kim answered. ″Thank you Erin. For listening and for being there and for trying to help me. I'm really glad to have a friend like you.″

″No problem, Kim. I'm always there for you. Girls must stick together,″ Erin grinned.

″Definitely,″ Kim laughed. ″I know you're not allowed to drink but is there any chance that there's something alcoholic in this fridge?″ she asked and pointed to the small fridge under the TV.

″I don't know, let's see,″ Erin said, got up from the bed and opened the fridge. ″Something like this maybe?″ she asked and held a can of sparkling wine up.

″Oh damn yes, perfect,″ Kim sighed. ″Would you mind if I...?″

″Take it already,″ Erin answered before Kim was able to finish her question and handed her the can.

″Thanks,″ she said, opened the can and for a moment it looked like she was going to empty it in one never-ending gulp.

″Uhm Kim, I'm afraid this boat trip won't end too well when you take it like this,″ Erin laughed.

″Too late,″ she shrugged, took another gulp and then placed the empty can on the floor. ″Are there more?″

″You don't wanna know.″

″What?″ Kim frowned.

″You told me I shall keep you from doing anything stupid while we're here and that's exactly what I'm doing now,″ Erin explained casually.

″But...-″

″How about we both make us ready and then go for a giant sundae before the boat trip. I heard ice cream has the ability to make people happy,″ she winked. ″Plus, I'm allowed to eat ice cream, you know?″

″Well...that sounds like a good plan,″ Kim grinned, got up from the bed and walked into the bathroom.

XxXxXxXxXxX

After spending the rest of the afternoon and the early evening on the boat, Erin and Jay had finally time for their little stroll. They walked along the beach towards the pier with the lighthouse, holding each other's hands tightly, Erin's hair and her summer dress slightly fluttering in the wind, while the sun started to set on the horizon. Erin told Jay about the newest developments with 'the love-triangle', how they used to call it, and they both came to the conclusion that the outgoing of this was for sure going to be an interesting one in any way.

When they were finally on the farthest point of the pier, Jay wrapped his arms around her from behind and then they watched the sun go down like this while the spray splashed up to them from time to time.

″You know, when I hear stories like the one with Burgess, Roman and Ruzek I'm even happier for what we have,″ he murmured into her ear as the red fireball on the horizon dunked into the lake deeper and deeper.

″Me too. It makes our relationship almost seem easy, doesn't it?″ she chuckled.

″Yeah, but only almost,″ he joked and felt how she softly punched her elbow into his gut.

″I know our relationship is far away from being easy Jay. But I still think we're doing a pretty good job,″ she said with a voice that was all serious again.

″We do, Er,″ he confirmed and placed a soft kiss on her hair. ″And honestly, it would be boring if everything was smooth and easy,″ he laughed.

″Yeah, most likely,″ she also laughed.

″And if everything would go as planned,″ he whispered into her ear and placed his hand on her stomach for the very first time, stroking it softly with his thumb. Until now, he has always had the feeling that she wouldn't appreciate that little gesture. But with the way this weekend has turned out so far, it seemed like she has started to accept her pregnancy a little more and this moment now seemed to be perfect for this next little step.

In the first moment, Erin slightly startled by this unfamilar touch but she had to admit that his large hand covering her stomach protectively was quite a nice feeling. She didn't say anything, just laid her hand on top of his, gently stroking his knuckles with her thumb. They stood there in silence and just listened to the swoosh of the water until the sun was completely set.

″We should go back. The poker and game night starts soon,″ Erin said as she turned around and looked into his face, a soft smile surrounding his lips.

″You know what's weird? This is such a nice place to watch the sunset and we're the only people here. Completely alone,″ he said with a naughty grin appearing on his face before his lips crashed hers.

″Wanna tell me something Jay?″ she chuckled after the kiss.

″No, what should I wanna tell you?″ he twinkled innocently.

″Dunno. For a minute I thought...-″ she started but was immediately interrupted by another longing kiss as he caressed her tongue with his. Erin could feel her pulse and heartbeat quicken and her body heat up, even more than this afternoon. She craved for him, she needed him and the same apparently applied for him. Her fingers trailed down his back and she pulled him even closer. Jay moved his hands from her sides to her thighs and lifted her up. She wrapped her legs around his waist, gently cradled his head and placed hot kisses in his neck, giggling into his ear, her breathing being as heavy as Jay's. He softly pushed her against the cool walls of the red-and-white lighthouse, making quick work of her panties while Erin fumbled on the belt and button of his shorts and helped him to strip his boxers, letting his growing erection go free and then letting their passion explode some moments later...

XxXxXxXxXxX

″We just had sex at a lighthouse. In a public place,″ Erin giggled when they walked back to their hotel.

″Yep, we had. Another one to scratch off the bucket list,″ Jay chuckled in response.

″You're having a bucket list with places you want to have sex at?″ she asked, raising her eyebrows while looking at him.

″Sure. Don't you?″ he asked back and seemed to be all serious about this.

″Uhm, no,″ she answered, shaking her head and glaring at him like he was out of his mind. ″What other places are on that list though?″

″The Sahara, the Moon, the Arctic. But before reaching for the big one's it's something like the bullpen for starters. Or maybe Voight's office,″ he laughed and Erin slowly realized that he was just fooling her. But of course she didn't show him yet.

″Hmm...I think I'd like that. Let's do in on the next occasion,″ she answered casually but had to laugh hard when she saw all the color dropping from his face.

″Damn, Er, for a minute I thought were serious about this,″ he sighed.

″Just as I believed that thing with the bucket list for a second,″ she grinned. ″But talking about Voight: what exactly are we going to tell him why we're more than thirty minutes late?″

″We had sex at the lighthouse?″ he suggested and chuckled again.

″Oh yeah, let's do that and he will drown you in the lake even before we tell him about baby Halstead,″ she laughed but didn't see how a bright smile appeared on Jay's face. This was the first time she has talked about their baby and sounded sort of happy at the same time. And it was also the first time that she has given their baby some kind of a pet name. Baby Halstead. These two words resounded in his head and let him grin like a Chesire Cat.

″Erin to Jay, are you still there or...?″ Erin laughed and flipped her fingers in front of his face.

″Uhm, yeah. Just thinking about the best possible excuse,″ he smirked.

″And, what did you come up with?″

″Let's simply say we got lost.″

″On the way from the hotel to the lighthouse and back? Where you just have to go straight along the beach? Sorry Jay but he'll never believe that.″

″Do you have a better idea?″

″We could simply say we forgot time. How about that?″

″That's just as bad as getting lost. Plus it will only take him two seconds to figure out what we really did when we say that, so we can stay with option number one,″ he chuckled.

″No way.″

″Okay, how about that: you were attacted by a giant lobster and I had to defend you and fight against it?″ he joked.

″It doesn't get any better,″ she chuckled and slightly shook her head by this goofy statement of her boyfriend. ″How about we say nothing at all and sit down like: oh, we thought it starts now?″

″Hmm, well. Maybe,″ Jay shrugged. ″But I still like the lobster-story better,″ he winked, giving her an innocent smile and wrapped his arm around her shoulders, placing a soft kiss on her temple.

XxXxXxXxXxX

When they drove home on Sunday afternoon, they all had to admit that Hank had been right and had really proved them wrong. This weekend has been anything but a waste of time. It was even more the opposite: it has been one of the best weekends in a long time, a lot better than going to a football or basketball game in Chicago together or spending the evenings at Mollys. This weekend had brought them closer together and had their bonds let become even stronger, even Roman and Ruzek had managed to get along with each other. They all had laughed, they had joked, they had shared stories, they had teased each other and simply have had a lot of fun in general. At this point nobody knew that they would need this team spirit and each other even more in the weeks to come...

Thanks to all who read it to the end, lol :D Reviews are appreciated!