TITLE: Goodnight Moon

SUMMARY: Bedtime stories with Hank Voight. Set a few years in the future, 100% fluff, Lindseride (if you don't like the pairing, please don't start flaming me about it).

DISCLAIMER: I don't own any of the characters (except the little ones). I don't own Goodnight Moon, either; credit to Margret Wise Brown.

A/N: This is my first Chicago Fire/PD fic (or at least the first one I've actually finished and posted). It's a little random, but was inspired by a tweet from 'rpreece' that asked Sophia Bush if Jason Beghe could read Goodnight Moon on camera. My mind ran away with the idea.


Hank Voight was sitting on the couch, a beer in hand and a Blackhawks game on the TV, when he felt a little hand on his shoulder. Standing next to him was a four-year-old replica of his 'foster daughter'.

"Granpa?" Julia Leslie Severide asked in her little baby voice.

"I thought you were in bed?"

"Will you read story?"

"I already read you a story. You're supposed to be sleeping."

She stuck out her bottom lip and give him the saddest eyes he'd ever seen. "Pwease?"

Voight raised an eyebrow at his misbehaving 'suspect'. "You're kidding me, right? You think I'm going to fall for that look?"

She stuck her lip out further. "Pwease, Granpa?"

Damnit, Erin must have taught her how to that. "What story?" he asked with a sigh as he he put down his drink and turned off the game. Julia produced a well-worn copy of Goodnight Moon. "Okay, this is the last story, then you're going to sleep. Your mom's gonna wring my neck."

"Me, too?" another little voice asked. Voight turned around to see that his other babysitting charge, Darden Henry, was behind them at the bottom of the steps.

"You're BOTH still up? Is this a twin thing?" Even though they were fraternal boy-girl twins, they still had a curious synchronicity sometimes. Both children just shrugged adorably. "Okay, come on. One more story and then it's bedtime - I mean it. Deal?" He got two nods and smiles in return. And he didn't believe them for a second.

The little brown-haired, pajama-clad cherubs climbed onto the couch and curled up on either side of their 'grandfather'. He opened the book and began to read. "In the great green room, there was a telephone and a red balloon and a picture of the cow jumping over the moon..."

As he finished the last verse, "...Goodnight stars, goodnight air, goodnight noises everywhere," Voight looked down to see that the twins both had their eyes closed, breathing slow and gentle. Julia was leaning against his right side with her little thumb dangling from her mouth, while Darden on his left had his face half buried against his chest. Finally, they were truly asleep, and he didn't even mind that they'd ended up using him for a pillow.

Voight closed the book and ever-so-carefully put it down on the end table without jostling the twins. They'd had a very nice evening together, eating spaghetti and meatballs for dinner and then playing an educational video game. It stunned him how good the little ones were with technology - apparently they'd inherited their mother's brains along with her looks. Wrangling criminals was easier than getting them into bed, but it had still been a wonderful night.

As his 'grandson' snuggled even closer, Voight gently rested a hand on his back. He'd been too caught up with his work to have many moments like this with his own son. His 'daughter' had nearly been an adult when she came into his life, so broken but so amazingly resilient. He wished that he'd known Erin earlier; maybe he would have been able to spare her from some pain. But at least now she'd given him something that he hadn't even known he was missing. Tough-as-nails Detective Voight was rather enjoying being 'Granpa.'

Keys jingled outside and the front door opened. Erin smiled as she came in and saw the trio on her couch. "Hey. Did they behave themselves?"

Voight shrugged. "They got their mom's stubborn streak."

She made a face. "Ha ha."

"How was 'date night'?"

"Long overdue," Erin replied with a chuckle. "We had a good time."

"We could make this a regular thing," he suggested. "I wouldn't mind getting more time with them."

She laughed softly. "We might take you up on that. I'll talk to Kelly."

The CFD Lieutenant joined them in the family room. "Did I hear my name?"

"Yep," Erin replied. "I'll fill you in later; we ought to get the munchkins in their beds so Hank can go home. You take Darden and I'll take Julia?"

"I'll take her," Voight volunteered.

"Are you sure?"

He gave a single nod. "I don't have anywhere more important to be."

Darden was like a wet noodle in sleep; one of his arms flailed out and hit his father as Kelly tried to pick him up. "Ow. Thanks, bud," he told the still-sleeping little boy.

Erin kissed her son's forehead."Goodnight, baby," she told him before her husband headed for the staircase.

Voight stood with Julia cuddled against his shoulder. "Mommy?" she sleepily whispered.

"Yep, I'm home, my love." Erin told her as she rubbed her back. "Sweet dreams." Julia didn't respond, already back asleep.

Once alone in the family room, Erin noticed the book on the end table. She smiled to herself at the mental picture of her gruff foster father reading the story with her children. Her life wasn't the only one that had been totally transformed over the past few years. I should have gotten a picture when I came in, she thought as she started cleaning up the room. The guys at the District would love it...


Upstairs, Voight gently laid his 'granddaughter' down on her bed and pulled up her pink sheets and comforter. Julia was a total girly-girl, with dolls and dance class and her father firmly wrapped around her little finger. Voight knew he wasn't much better; just like her mother, Julia had totally captured his heart. God help any boy that came looking for her when she became a teenager.

"Goodnight, princess," he whispered before turning off the light and leaving the room.

In the hall, Kelly was stepping out of Darden's doorway. The typical rough-and-tumble little boy had sports balls, trains, and cars all around his room. His father had gotten him a fireman's costume for his last Halloween, but much to his dismay (and Erin's glee), Darden had decided to dress up as a policeman instead. The twins could be a handful, but everyone at both Firehouse 51 and District 18 loved them dearly.

"Thanks again for babysitting," Kelly told his 'father-in-law' once he'd closed his son's door.

Voight shrugged. "No problem... I guess I oughta thank you for them. And for making Erin happy; after everything she's been through, she deserves it."

Kelly couldn't help but grin. "Erin was right - you really are a big softy."

Voight scoffed. "I'm not too soft to kick your ass."

"Mmm-hmm. Whatever you say, Gramps."


Fin.