69. Three Thousand Six Hundred Seconds

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69. Three Thousand Six Hundred Seconds

Jay almost slammed on the breaks when he finally arrived at the ambulance bay of Chicago Med, the way Erin groaned with pain having been increased in the last couple of minutes and he could only imagine how bad it actually was, the thought making his stomach turn, and he was sure whatever it was, it was something very serious, something very far from a simple stomach bug. The door on her side was opened before he was even out of the car and by the time he was at the other side of the car to be with her, they already had her on a gurney and were about to bring her inside the Emergency Department where someone could hopefully finally help her and figure out what was going on.

″Jay, Jay, Jay,″ Will said hurriedly, holding his brother back from following them.

″I need to be with her,″ Jay answered, his eyes wide and he was ready to throw a punch in case his brother didn't let him go otherwise.

″I know,″ Will nodded understandingly. ″But you can't be with her and there's nothing you can do for her right now. Take a deep breath and let them do their jobs, okay?″

″Nothing is okay!″ Jay snapped furiously. ″I...I...I can't...″ he stammered and swallowed hard, the words lose her getting stuck somewhere in his throat.

″Jay,″ Will said, placing his hand on his brother's shoulder in an attempt to calm him down, and for a second the older Halstead already prepared himself for a directed punch in his face. ″She'll be fine. Let's park that car somewhere else and bring Emmy to the doctor's lounge. I think we can make an exception for Crispin as well tonight,″ he told him, squeezing his shoulder. Of course his brother was about to lose it, not knowing what was going on with the woman that was his whole life, the reason he lived for, driving him insane. ″Once we're back they maybe already know more.″

″Okay,″ Jay nodded mechanically, tired of arguing and tired of the drama that constantly seemed to find them again when their happiness was at its peak. Because who needed perfection for more than a second anyway?

Will took the spot behind the steering wheel, Jay riding shotgun, and parked the car at the doctor's parking lot, as close to the hospital entrance as possible. Jay took the car seat with the sleeping baby, a lump building in his throat when he looked at his daughter, Erin's mini-me, who was so blissfully oblivious to her mother's condition and all the drama that once again surrounded her. What if she would never see her again?

″Yo, Jay, where's the leash for Crisp?″ Will interrupted these dark thoughts of Emilia growing up without her mother.

″Uhm, backseat, wait,″ Jay stumbled, looked for it and then handed it to his brother so he could take Crispin on the leash.

They brought the both of them to the doctor's lounge, Will justifying his decision of letting the dog inside the hospital in front of another doctor with the explanation that this was a family emergency. Going against rules was the easiest thing for Will Halstead but especially in situations like this he couldn't care less about hospital policies or any possible consequences his decision may had.

″Any news on Erin?″ the ginger asked Maggie, who was working the graveyard shift as well tonight, as soon as the dog and the baby were settled, Emilia thankfully still sleeping and dreaming the sweetest dreams, probably about unicorns and lakes and woods and dogs and the perfect life they'd lived in Northern Wisconsin until a couple hours ago and now seemed to be so damn far away.

″Not yet but I can check on her,″ she suggested, looking from one Halstead to the other.

″Please,″ Will answered.

″Okay,″ she nodded, gave them that everything-is-going-to-be-fine glance and left the two men alone.

″What could it be?″ Jay asked his brother the one question that's been on his mind ever since they'd arrived, pacing up and down in front of him anxiously.

″I don't know, Jay,″ Will shrugged, gnawing on his lower lip.

″You're a doctor, Will. I'm sure your head's providing plenty of possibilities,″ he noticed, knowing very well that there were a couple of things on Will's mind he denied him and he wondered whether those possibilities were as bad that his brother thought it was better to hold them back instead of being straight with him. "Just tell me."

″Jay, I can't make a diagnosis without knowing the details and seeing the patient because abdominal pain? Could be anything, honestly,″ he sighed. His eyes never left his brother, who was still pacing up and down in front of him, and he then, against better judgement, he decided to provide his desperate brother some answers that were likely to explain Erin's condition and it was one big mistake that followed. ″Appendicitis, a gastric ulcer, an ectopic pregnancy...″ He realized instantly that he'd just made everything a thousand times worse as his younger brother froze in his movements.

″Uhm what?!″ Jay exclaimed and spun around to face him, his eyes wide in shock at his brother's last words. There was no way that Erin was pregnant. They were not losing a child right now. ″Erin's not pregnant, Will.″

″It could be an ectopic pregnancy,″ Will explained meekly and only in this second he remembered how Jay'd told him an hour ago on the phone that Erin has thrown up for the last 24 hours, an important detail he's forgotten about in the heat of the moment as Jay was desperately looking for answers that explained Erin's condition, as he'd made the mistake to come up with possibilities when he actually had no clue, speaking them out loud being the biggest mistake of them all. Now he had a pretty good idea though. ″It's unlikely...my guess would be appen-″

″No it couldn't because she's not pregnant!″ Jay called furiously, completely ignoring the other things his brother had to say.

″Yeah, I get it,″ Will answered, holding his hands up in defence.

″We don't even know whether we want a second child and we've taken the precautions very seriously,″ he said but Will wasn't sure whether he was talking to him or rather to himself in an attempt to convince himself that a pregnancy wasn't a possibility.

″Look Jay, sometimes it happens anyway, right? It happened before. And given the timeframe that she was on meds a couple of weeks back due to her concussion I just thought...″ he said calmly, still holding his hands up. This was not what he wanted to say at all but instead of telling his brother what suddenly he was sure it really was, he tried justify why he'd come up with this at all. Not with the best success, or rather, with no success at all.

″You conclude that history repeated itself?″ Jay finished his brother's sentence, his voice angry and incredulous. Of course Emilia had been anything but planned. Of course he'd knocked Erin up while she'd been on antibiotics. Of course she'd been on the pill back then as well but mixed with the antibiotics only one of them had worked and that was the reason why there was now their little daughter lighting up their lives. But only because it's happened once didn't mean they would let it happen a second time.

″Would it be that out of the world?″ he asked back, not because he still thought that Erin could be pregnant but because his brother was driving him crazy right now and they were just about to clash like in the old days. ″Listen Jay, I think she has an appendi-″ he started again but once again Jay wouldn't even listen.

″Given our history, maybe not,″ Jay snapped furiously. ″But I can tell you for 100% sure that Erin's not pregnant!″ His voice was rising with every word that left his mouth.

″Jay, I'm just trying to help...-″ he said, his voice just as loud and now he was the one who wanted to throw a punch to make his stubborn brother listen to him.

″Do you? Where?! Because other than-″ Jay almost yelled, the fire in his eyes threatening to burn down the entire ED.

″Hey! Guys!″ Maggie called, keeping the two brothers from starting a serious argument. ″What's going on? You're in a hospital, keep those voices down.″

″I'm sorry,″ Jay apologized instantly, this behavior so uncalled for him. ″It's just...too much,″ he said, his voice defeated and he rubbed his tired eyes. He's barely slept in more than 36 hours, he's been worried about Erin for more than 24 hours and he was walking on the edge, close to tumbling down any second if someone didn't already tell him that Erin's condition was nothing serious.

″She's going to be fine,″ Maggie smiled faintly, touching his upper arm supportingly.

″Do they have a diagnosis?″ Will asked instantly.

″Severe appendicitis,″ Maggie said, confirming Will's suspicion. ″They will bring her up to surgery now and it should be all done in an hour or two.″

″Cecal perforation?″ Will asked, Jay still trying to process everything and only listening to the conversation with one ear. Appendicitis. This was for sure one of the more harmless diagnoses out of all the things it could've been, of all the things his mind had already created. No gastric ulcer, no tumor, no ectopic pregnancy.

″No. But another hour...″ Maggie said, not finishing the sentence. Will knew what she meant anyway. ″They think they can do it laparoscopical.″

″That's good. Thanks Maggie,″ Will smiled at the woman who was the heart and soul of the ED.

″Sure,″ she smiled back. ″Whenever you guys need anything, just let me know.″

″Can I see her?″ Jay asked, his mouth finally doing the job again.

″They'll bring her up to surgery in a minute or two. You can attend them bringing her upstairs.″

″Okay, thank you,″ he said and tried to give her a forced smile. It stayed with a try.

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxX

Jay had the feeling minutes were turning into hours, the hands of the clock on the wall turning agonizingly slow as he was waiting in front of the OR in the middle of this night, waiting for someone to step out of these huge double doors, where Erin lay behind on the operating table, to tell him that she was okay, that everything went well and that she was out of the woods and in recovery.

He'd kissed her forehead and squeezed her hand in the elevator earlier but she'd already been on a sedative that let her sleep. He'd whispered into her ear that he loved her and that she wasn't allowed to do anything stupid inside that operating room. Anything stupid like falling into cardiac arrest due to sudden complications or whatever other reasons. He'd told her that he needed her, that Emmy needed her. And that they both needed her to be fine, this whole situation turning out to be nothing but a scare so they could prove the for better or worse part of their vows quite early into their marriage.

He'd informed Hank afterwards, surely bringing him close to having a heart attack as a phone call from his son-in-law at 1am was certainly one of the least things he'd expected. Such calls usually only delivered bad news, this one proving no excepting. Hank had come running into the ED merely twenty minutes later, had then exchanged a couple of words with him and Will and had taken Emilia and Crispin home with him so Jay could stay with Erin because he knew very well that there was no other place the young detective wanted and needed to be tonight.

One more hour. That's what Will had told him when he'd waited with him outside the OR until a couple of minutes ago. Until Jay had asked whether he could go inside and observe the surgery, so he could tell them to not stop fighting for her in case complications occured. Because no matter that it was a fairly easy procedure, something could happen anytime while being put under. And who knew whether it wasn't worse than they thought and they had to perform a laparatomy anway because they'd assessed the situation wrong. Of course Will had agreed instantly, changing into scrubs so he could keep an eye on his sister-in-law, doing whatever would make his brother feel easier about this situation.

One hour. Sixty minutes. Three thousand six hundred seconds. This was all Jay could think about, those numbers swirling through his mind in one never-ending circle. One more hour and Erin's appendicitis would've turned into a cecal perforation that could've ended fatal rather quick. Sixty more minutes and Erin's life would probably hang by a thread now instead of her most probably turning out just fine. Three thousand six hundred seconds between life and death. Between a life with her and without her. Between continuing to walk their path together and him being left behind, their future shattered into a million pieces that could never be glued together again. Three thousand six hundred seconds were everything it took to make the difference.

If that timeframe was different she could be dead by now or they would at least have to perform the big surgery with more possible complications. If this timeframe was three thousand six hundred seconds different, they probably wouldn't have made it to Chicago Med in time and Erin would've died right next to him. In the car. On their way home from their honeymoon. And it would've been his fault because instead of following his gut feeling and simply bringing her to the next hospital, he'd agreed on driving home. Instead of leaving the highway and approaching the next hospital close by, he'd decided to drive the rest of the distance so he could bring her to Chicago Med. Two decisions that could've changed his life forever if the timeframe of these three thousand six hundred seconds had been different.

Those thoughts made his stomach clench, his body shake and his eyes burn, tears threatening to fall and he could hear the pouding of his heart in his ears. Life was unpredictable at all times and they could never take anything for granted. They had to live and love each other like there was no tomorrow while continuing to build their future at the same time because in one moment everything could be perfect and in the next, this perfection could fall apart, all of what's happened in the last couple of hours being the perfect example for it. The last two-and-a-half weeks had been some of the best of his life while the last two-and-a-half hours had been some of the worst of his life.

The doors of the OR swinging open interrupted his thoughts, his doom-mongering and he jumped on his feet in a heartbeat. He looked at his brother expectantly and found the answer to his unspoken question in the smile and wink he gave him before the words that left his mouth confirmed that the woman he loved was out of the woods, that she was going to be fine.

″Everything went as well as could be expected,″ Will said, giving his brother a pat on the back. ″She'll be sore for a couple of days, has to follow a strict diet for the next week and has to take things easy but all she'll keep are three very small scars that you probably won't even see anymore in a year and compared to the pain she went through her healing process should be a walk in the park.″

″Thank you,″ Jay breathed out, for the first time in hours having the feeling that he could actually breathe again as a wave of relief was overcoming him and he pulled his brother into a hug. ″And sorry...for earlier.″

″Forgiven and forgotten,″ Will grinned. ″I'm sorry for...″

″Alleging that we're too dumb to contracept just because it happened once?″ Jay finished, raising an eyebrow at his brother.

″Well...no...yeah...whatever,″ Will chuckled.

"You tried to tell me, didn't you?" Jay asked meekly, giving his brother an apologetic smile. "About the appendicitis."

"More than once but you wouldn't listen to me," Will said. "Which I can understand...it wasn't my place to come up with any diagnosis and I'm sorry for even bringing this up and you know..."

″Doesn't matter now,″ Jay smiled tiredly. ″All that matters is Erin and that she's fine. Can I see her?″

″They're just about to bring her to recovery. We should give them ten minutes and then I'll bring you there. I guess you want to stay the night?″

″Not going to leave her for a minute,″ he confirmed. ″You can make a deal with the nurses for me?″ he asked, a little smirk returning to his face.

Will laughed in response an slightly shook his head. Even without that deal Jay would stay and the nurses wouldn't have a chance to get him out of the room. ″Yeah, we'll work something out.″

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxX

Erin in a hospital bed was a sight that would never not tighten the knots in his stomach. She looked beyond fragile in those white sheets and gown as he watched her sleep, waiting for those hazel orbs to flutter open, but at least the color of her skin seemed to be a bit better already, still pale but not as green-ish, grey-ish as before. He arranged the chair on that side of the bed where she didn't have the IV in the back of her hand so he could hold her hand, bring it up to his lips and kiss it softly.

He was already about to panic inwardly because she didn't wake up as fast as he'd expected her to, as fast as the surgeon had told him she would, when her eyelids finally began to flutter. She needed a couple more minutes to open them completely and to fight against the obvious feeling of tiredness. She looked around disorientated, uneasy, trying to figure out where she was, but as soon as her eyes found him, she seemed to relax.

″Hey babe,″ Jay said softly and squeezed her hand a little tighter.

″Hey.″ Her voice was just above a whisper but still, hearing it without any hints of pain in it sounded like music to his ears.

″How are you feeling?″ he asked, his hand traveling up to her face to cup her cheek and she instantly snuggled into the warmth of his palm.

″Like I'm high on something,″ she murmured, her eyes finding the needle in the back of her hand.

″Yeah, I guess they gave you a pretty nice cocktail,″ he winked.

″For sure not the kind of cocktail I prefer,″ she answered, a faint smile tugging in the corners of her mouth. ″What happened anyway? It's all a blur.″

″You kinda blacked out in the car and they diagnosed you with severe appendicitis. They had to perform some kind of emergency surgery to remove the appendix and the sore histoid around just before it turned into a cecal perforation.″

″Oh jeeez,″ she sighed. The pain had been absolutely unbearable in the end, had brought her closer to unconsciousness than consciousness, but still, she hadn't thought that it had been this kind of a close call that required an emergency surgery. ″Do I have a big ugly scar on my stomach now?″

″Naaah,″ Jay said, smiling at her. ″You've got lucky. They could do it laparoscopical.″

″That's good I guess.″

″It is. You gave me quite a scare,″ he admitted quietly, his crystal blue eyes still full of concern and leaned over her to peck her lips and rest his forehead against hers.

″I'm sorry,″ she apologized, inhaling his unique scent that could always give her comfort and closed her eyes for a moment because they started to get heavy, the meds in her system taking control over her body. But she had to ask him one more thing before she would sleep allow to win the fight against her wanting to stay awake. ″Where's Emmy?″

″Hank picked her up while you were in sugery. I called him while I was waiting for you to wake up and he said she's perfectly fine, she and Crisp sleeping like angels,″ he said, his forehead still resting against hers. ″Told me he'll never let us go on vacations again if that's the way we end them,″ he laughed.

″Yeah, that sounds like Hank,″ she chuckled slightly but with a sharp intake of breath and a quiet wince she stopped instantly by the pain it caused in her abdomen, the fresh scars twinging.

″Maybe you should better not laugh in the next couple of days, babe,″ Jay said, lifting his head and looking at her with this well-known worried look on his face. He would never not be worried about her well-being and in fact, if he got paid for being worried about her, he'd be a millionaire by now.

″Maybe you shouldn't make me laugh, huh?″ she answered, giving him a weak smile with a hint of sass.

″Deal,″ he winked. ″Now sleep, Er. I see you're fighting.″

″You too,″ she said, scanning his tired face sternly, those dark circles under his eyes probably bigger than her own. ″Go home, Jay. Get some rest. You haven't slept in almost 48 hours.″

She was right, he hasn't slept in almost 48 hours and he had no idea how he was still functioning, how he was able to keep his eyes open, but he shook his head no anyway. ″I'll stay. Make sure that you're fine.″

″Babe, please,″ she pleaded, her hand with the IV coming up to his face, her fingers stroking over his stubbles. ″I'm okay. Please go home and sleep. You need a proper bed and not this chair.″

He didn't want to leave her, wanted to stay with her because it made him feel better, easier. But then again, if he didn't catch a couple hours of proper sleep, he'd probably collapse somewhen during the day tomorrow and what was the worth of that? He wouldn't be able to take care of her and Emmy at all then and his two girls and their dog would definitely need him as the househusband in the next week until the doctors would give her the go ahead to do everything without any restrictions.

″Okay,″ he sighed. ″I'll be back in the morning with a bag of clothes.″

″Thank you,″ Erin said and Jay knew she didn't mean the clothes but rather that he'd agreed on going home to sleep in their bed. All alone.

″I love you,″ he murmured and brushed his lips against hers.

″Love you more,″ she whispered back, finally giving up the fight of staying awake and Jay left as soon as she was back sleeping to spend the first night after coming back from their honeymoon completely different than they'd imagined.

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxX

Erin hated nothing more than hospitals, the place that should make sick people feel better but only made her feel worse and sicker than she actually was. The first day after the surgery, she was still pretty groggy, tired, dizzy and tender and was only allowed to leave the bed for the first time in the afternoon where she realized that walking hurt more than she'd thought and was definitely more uncomfortable than lying in that bed. Jay and Emmy stayed with her for most part of the day so some kind of entertainment was guaranteed but she couldn't even cuddle with her daughter as it wouldn't do any good to the stitches on her stomach, which frustrated her immensely.

″There are still so many things to do in the house,″ she said in the evening, staring at the plate with one piece of zwieback in front of her. This was the first food they've given her since the surgery but she wasn't the tiniest bit hungry and the thought of eating rather made her sore stomach turn.

″It's just the wall behind the dining table and moving all our stuff from the apartment to the house. So it's not that much actually,″ Jay assured her, giving her an encouraging smile.

″We wanted to do the wall somewhen this week so we can move there over the weekend. And now...,″ she sighed.

″Now we'll move one or two weeks later. We have to be out of the apartment by 31 August, so we still have a bit of time.″

″I know...,″ she murmured, but the sad expression on her face told Jay that she was absolutely unhappy and almost devastated about the situation.

″Babe, we'll live there soon enough. For the rest of our life. One or two weeks more or less don't matter now, okay?″ he asked, squeezing her hand a little tighter. ″All that matters is that you're going to be fine,″ he added quietly and leaned in to kiss her.

″Getting there,″ she answered, giving him that kind of smile that didn't reach her eyes.

″I know,″ he nodded. ″I think it's time for some kind of no-more-hospitals-for-a-while deal again, what do you think?″ With Erin having been here a couple weeks back after her concussion and her being here now, they were on the best way to become regular guests in Chicago Med again, like they had been last year, and they wanted to avoid that at all costs.

″Definitely,″ she agreed. ″I hate this place. They poke you with needles, the bed is uncomfortable and the food is far from being delicious,″ she said, eyeing the piece of dry zwieback on her plate.

″Not even hungry but complaining about the food,″ Jay chuckled, before adding: ″But hey, maybe they'll discharge you by Friday.″

″Uh-huh,″ she only nodded in response, not being that optimistic. ″Babe, this no-more-hospitals deal goes for both of us, okay?″ Her voice was quiet, pensive, as she's just remembered how it was almost a year ago that she'd been as close to losing him as never before. When he'd been in that building and that bomb went off. When they'd almost lost him on the table. When he'd been in a medical induced coma. When he'd almost died due to lung failure. When she'd been sure she had to raise their child without him. This was something she never wanted to go through ever again; through this feeling of losing him, of being left behind.

″Sure. No more hospitals from the inside for both of us for a while,″ he said emphatically, really hoping that they could keep that deal for more than just a couple of weeks.

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxX

Jay dropped Emmy off at Carol's place on the following morning, after packing and labeling moving boxes for the better part of the night, and visited Erin quickly before making his way to the district, taking Crispin with him. As soon as Erin would be discharged, he had to stay at home anyway as she wouldn't be allowed to carry anything heavy, not even their daughter, for at least a week, so he'd figured he could and should work as long as she was in the hospital. On this occasion, he could also ask all his team members for a very special favor, one that had to do with the house and was supposed to be a surprise for Erin and of course they all agreed to his plan without even thinking about it because this family always had to stick together and when someone needed help, they were all there to provide it.

He left the bullpen somewhen after five in the evening to bring Crispin to the apartment, pick Emmy up from Carol and visit Erin with her. The woman he loved and has been allowed to call wife for almost three weeks now was already doing way better, her facial color almost back to normal, only a dull pain in her stomach left and the scars twining whenever she made a wrong movement that always caused her to wince because everything was still sore.

She complained how she's been bored to death all day long, even with the laptop Jay had brought her in the morning so she could watch all kind of movies that were on the harddrive. Will and Natalie had checked by during their lunch break and Carol had made the trip with Emmy during the afternoon but still, days in the hospital were endlessly long and one minute felt more like one hour. Jay and the rest of the team had wanted to use their lunch break for a quick visit as well but they'd gotten a lead on their current case during the forenoon so they all hadn't even had time for a break today and while Jay was now with Erin, the rest of the unit was still working the case that's turned out to be more complicated than they'd thought.

With Emmy getting grumpier and refusing to sleep in her stroller and therefore giving them a glimpse how tantrums would look like once she was older, Jay had to leave Erin sooner than expected, before their daughter would shout the hospital down. However, while driving to their apartment building, she fell asleep in her car seat, completely tuckered out by her tiredness and all the crying. So instead of tucking her in and spending the evening in front of the TV, he went back to his former plan, loaded the travel bed in the car and let Crispin hop in the trunk as well and drove straight to Beverly so he could start with their last painting project that would for sure require the following night as well.

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxX

After another never-ending day in the hospital, where she walked around more and started to eat her bland diet and drink her tea regularly, and the doctors telling her that they wanted to keep her in for another night, just to be on the safe sight, Erin was discharged on Saturday morning when her inflammation scores were satisfying, and Jay picked her up around 10am. She was still far away from her usual strength, only the walk to the car bringing her to her limits as walking was where the pain was the worst but never in a million years she would revert and go back inside to tell the doctors that they'd probably discharged her too soon. She needed to sleep in her own bed again, next to her husband who had his own way of healing her only by holding her close to his muscular body that always provided a safe place.

″Where do we go?″ Erin frowned after they'd stopped at the pharmacy for a minute to pick up the meds she needed to take for the next week. She just wanted to go home, lie down in their bed and try to snuggle with Jay and Emmy and Crispin but wherever Jay was driving to, it wasn't their apartment.

″We're going home,″ he smirked happily.

″Uhm, you just missed the turn for that, you know?″ she teased him, trying not to chuckle because this still hurt.

″I don't think I did,″ Jay answered casually.

″Huh,″ Erin shrugged. ″You can still take the next one I guess.″

″Something like that, yeah,″ he grinned, enjoying the fact that she had no idea about this surprise, that she didn't know that home wouldn't be the apartment anymore as from tonight.

The scales fell from her eyes only a couple of minutes later, when it became obvious that they weren't driving to their apartment building but rather to Beverly, the neighborhood they would soon live in. Yet, she had no idea how soon.

″You didn't...?″ she asked stunned once she'd realized where they were going. Jay was able to pull off a lot of things, mostly because he had a guy for everything, but organizing their move from the city to the suburbs in just a little over two days? This was nothing but impossible, even for him.

″Wait and see, babe,″ he smiled, giving her one of his famous, adorable winks.

And so she waited until they were at their house a couple minutes later and what she saw let almost pop her eyes out of her head. There was a big moving van parked right in front and Kevin and Adam were carrying Emilia's dresser inside while Antonio and Mouse were in the van and just about to lift the crib so they could carefully carry it inside the house as well. Erin's gaze followed Kevin and Adam up the porch and that was when she spotted the banner that hung over the door. It read: Welcome home!

It was only in this moment that it hit her, that this beautiful house was the place they called home now. As from today home wasn't the 2-bedroom apartment close to the city turmoil anymore. As from today home was this 5-bedroom house with the big backyard in the suburbs.

″Welcome home, babe,″ Jay said quietly, interpreting her speechlessness as being completely overwhelmed.

″How did you do this?″ she asked, her voice hoarse and when she turned her head to him he could see tears glooming in her eyes.

″I guess I just asked them whether they can help me with something,″ he winked.

″I...this is...thank you,″ she rambled and leaned in to kiss him, ignoring the burning pain her movement caused in her stomach because right now nothing could keep her from kissing this incredible man, her man, her Mr. Incredible in fact.

″Everything for my woman,″ he smiled fondly, his blue eyes sparkling with all the love. ″Emmy and Crispin are with Olive and that's where I want you to stay for the rest of the day as well. But first I have to show you something. In case you feel up to it.″

″I want to take a look inside,″ she demanded, nodding eagerly.

″That's what I thought,″ he laughed. He got out of the car, walked around it, opened her door and helped her to get up because this movement was another one that made her scars twinge a little extra. He laced his hand with hers before they slowly made their way through the frontyard and up the few stairs to the porch. Naturally, everything inside the house was a big mess, stacked moving boxes that haven't found their ways into the rooms yet welcoming them in the hallway but Jay was sure he could use the following days, that he had to spend home because Erin needed his help, to unpack everything and make this house their home.

They found Natalie in the open kitchen, where she washed plates, glasses, pots, pans, bowls, Tupperware containers, cuttlery and any other kitchen stuff and devices and put all those things into the kitchen cabinets, telling them that she was putting any breakable things in the upper cabinets so those were safe when Emilia would soon start to explore and empty out every cabinet she could reach like her son Owen had done.

Erin's eyes roamed around in this one giant, light-flooded room that their kitchen with the cooking island, dining room and living room was and next to finding Hank and Justin building up the sand box and the swing in the garden and Will and Alvin builing up their new wall unit across from where their new, big, comfortable, grey corner sofa with all these soft pillows was located, they also found the wall painting they'd decided to create on the wall behind the dining table. Of course Jay had taken care of this very special detail in the room they would probably spend most of their time.

″Wow,″ she whispered. ″This even turned out better than I thought.″

″I think I kinda like it, too,″ Jay grinned proudly.

″This is amazing, seriously,″ she smiled in awe and couldn't take her eyes away from the cursive, that had the same light grey color as the wall behind their wall unit and the couch as everything in their living and dining room was going to be white and grey, just like their kitchen with the white cabinets and granite top, so it could and would get highlighted with photos they'd taken themselves, like the ones from the incredible sunsets and sunrises from their honeymoon and other paradisaic snapshots no professional photographer could take better and they only needed to decide for some now and let them print on canvas.

In these moments, time stood still..., that was what was written there. Two quadratic pictures printed on canvas followed below, one the portrait photo the photographer at the hospital had taken of Emmy as a newborn and the other one Erin and Jay sharing a kiss in front of the lake on the day of their wedding. Under Emmy's picture, the same cursive read:

Emilia Camille

02-01-2017

Below the writing was a white clock with Roman numerals, the clock hands showing the time Emilia had been born: 1.21am.

The very same clock was also under the wedding picture, showing the time they'd gotten married in this case, 5.28pm, and the cursive there read:

Jay & Erin

07-29-2017

And no matter that they didn't know yet whether they wanted to have a second child at some point, there was still more than enough space left to add another picture and clock whenever they maybe needed it and they could still do one for Crispin as well, their four-legged kiddo maybe getting a special spot on their family wall, too.

″You are the best of the best,″ Erin smiled at the man who never failed to amaze her and gave him a soft, thankful kiss full of love and affection. How was it possible that her love for this man was still growing every day although the feelings she had for him were already beyond everything she ever thought love could be? How was it possible to love someone even more although you already loved them to the moon and back? She didn't care about the answers to those questions, she only hoped that those intense feelings would never decrease because being in love like this was the best goddam feeling in the world.

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Erin requested to also take a look at Emilia's new room, just to make sure that all her furniture were at their right places but of course Jay had given Sylvie and Kim, who were furnishing the nursery with all of Emmy's stuff, clear instructions of how they wanted everything to be. The painting in this room had been finished weeks ago as they'd simply painted it exactly like her old room, with exception of the quote Dream Big Little One now also decorating the wall behind the crib, so it was all about filling the dresser, changing table and shelves with clothes, diapers, books, stuffies and toys, arranging rugs and playmats on the floor, adding pillows to the rocking chair and making this room Emilia's cozy place. Making the spare bedroom her playroom was put on hold for now, as they first wanted to finish all the other rooms before dedicating their time to this project, and for the next couple of weeks until everything has settled, her nursery, the living room and the play pen there would be her places for entertainment.

Just as Jay'd ordered, Erin stayed at Olive's and Justin's house for the remainder of the day, trying to relax and catch some sleep on the couch which wasn't that easy with a two-year-old, a 6-month-old and a one-month-old in the house and one could say that Olive had her hands more than full with taking care of those three. Erin tried to help her as much as she could, as feeding Emmy her pulp was something she could do herself and even playing with her was possible but when it came to changing her diaper or tucking her in for a nap, she needed help because she wasn't allowed to carry her daughter due to the risk of rupturing her scars.

Meanwhile Hank, Justin, Natalie, Will, Mouse, Antonio, Alvin, Kevin, Adam, Sylvie and Kim helped Jay to make the house the new Halstead family home and after endless hours of sweating and carrying moving boxes and furniture inside, all the stuff they had, had finally found its way from the apartment to the house. Washer and dryer were installed in the basement, the kitchen and the nursery were the only rooms that were almost completely finished and at least every piece of furniture was built up and in the room where it belonged, only the majority of boxes still needed to be unpacked and all kinds of decor and photos to be added to the shelves, sideboards and walls. But this was something they could do themselves within the next couple of days, making this house their cozy safe haven step by step.

The long day ended on the patio, with beer and pizza Jay'd ordered and after promising that they would throw a housewarming party for Jay's 33rd birthday in four weeks, as soon as they were all settled and all the rooms were finished, they were finally alone to spend the first night in their new home. With Emmy on his hips and Crispin by his feet, Jay waved all of their helpers goodbye as they drove off and then made his way upstairs to their bedroom where Erin's been resting for the last hour after she'd said goodbye to their friends earlier, excusing herself to go upstairs and rest because she'd felt that she should take it easy.

″How are you?″ Jay asked, peeking into the bedroom and seeing Erin was awake, Crispin already making his way inside and lying down on the floor on her side of the bed, knowing very well that he was not allowed to jump on the bed.

″Better now that you guys are here,″ she smiled lazily and adjusted her position. ″You come and join me?″

″That's the plan,″ he winked and crossed the room to make himself comfortable on his side of the bed, resting against some pillows, his knees bent so Emmy could sit on his stomach, one arm wrapped around Erin's shoulder so she could snuggle into her favorite position, as close to him as those damn scars would allow.

″So that's it, huh? The first night in our new home,″ Erin smirked, her hand stroking over Emilia's hair. ″How do you like it, baby girl?″

″Sooooo much, right princess?″ Jay grinned and tickled her stomach with his fingers which resulted in their favorite sound in the world: Emmy's happy squealing and giggling accompanied with her adorable smile.

″So so so much,″ he said laughingly and lifted her up over their heads, her squeeking even increasing as was 'flying' on her father's arms, Erin watching her favorite dork, this amazing father, her husband in awe. If there was something like the father-of-the-year award and the husband-of-the-year award he would sure as hell get them both because there was no doubt that he was the very best and most perfect father and husband around the globe.

″You wanna give mommy a kiss?″ Jay asked his daughter, bringing her down just above Erin's face so his wife could give their daughter a kiss on the cheek.

″Hey monkey,″ Erin smiled and gave her a kiss, Emmy grabbing for her nose with her tiny hands.

″Can daddy have a kiss, too?″ he asked and lifted her up again only to bring her down just above his own face so he could kiss her cheek.

″Thank you, princess. Another one for mommy?″ What could simply be described as a little workout for him seemed to be a very funny game for Emmy and she babbled and giggled joyfully when Jay lifted her up and down again so Erin could give her another kiss.

″There you go,″ Erin grinned and her lips found Emmy's rosy cheek again and before their evening continued with more tickling, giggles and playing peek-a-boo before Emmy eventually fell asleep on Jay's chest, she asked: ″Can my husband give me a kiss as well?″

″I don't think my wife should ever have to ask for that,″ he smirked and turned his head to her so she didn't have to move and their lips could meet in a long kiss.

And as she tasted Jay's lips against her own, as she felt the familiar curve of his lips melting perfectly into hers, her heart was full, regardless all the drama that had happened in between leaving Wisconsin and being here in their new home five days later now. This was the place their daughter would grow up, the place they would raise her, the place they would make so many many more memories in the years to come. They'd made many great memories in the apartment, that had become theirs not even a year ago, the place where they'd rekindled their relationship in her living room, the place where their daughter had been conceived, the place they had brought her home to after her birth. But from now on they would continue to add chapters to their story here in Beverly and there was nothing Erin looked forward to more than their settled family life in the suburbs and the things the future held for them...

Thanks for reading, I hope you enjoyed! :) Please leave a review and let me know what you think and get ready for more adventures of the Halstead-family in their new home :)