Hello, world! I'm so excited to be presenting my first ever stories for the Chicago franchise! Until opens the Chicago Med fandom, these will be posted in both Chicago Fire and Chicago P.D., limiting to the characters I can post, but there will be lots of characters crossing over in both stories! Sorry to be inaccurate to the fandom, but in both stories Will will be the older brother. They kind of screwed up the casting on that one, considering that Nick looks older than Jesse, but they're still too cute! These stories will be my take on him, but he comes around as the chapters go on. Also, since I'm new to this fandom, go easy on me if anybody appears to be out of character. I'm still getting into the groove of writing these characters. I hope you enjoy and spread the word! :) My dad is a race car driver, so are my uncle and cousin, I got the idea for this story while watching Jeff Gordon's last race a while back.
Chapter One: Comedy and Tragedy
Rays of sunshine beamed into the white room, contrasting perfectly with the blue skies and marshmallow clouds.
Erin Lindsay-Halstead opened her eyes, smiling in a still half asleep state, feeling his arms wrapped around her. She looked over her shoulder to see that Jay was still asleep, a look of peace on his handsome face, the sunlight bringing out the few freckles he had. Even in his sleep, her husband looked so delicious, she simply had to lean in and give his lips the featheriest of pecks. When Erin pulled away, Jay was smiling.
"Good morning, beautiful."
"Hey yourself, sexy."
She got up to go to the powder room, but Jay pulled her back into bed, wrapping his arms and leg around her as she chuckled.
"Jay, I really have to go to the bathroom."
He laughed, his eyes still closed. "Just stay with me a few minutes longer." He nuzzled Erin's neck, his hands ran up and down the satin of her nightgown, arriving at her stomach. "This little one is kicking up quite a storm."
Erin rested her hand on top of Jay's. "She sure is."
"Third time's a charm, we're finally getting our girl."
"Tell me about it. Another boy and it would be Animal House."
Ryder Kirkland and Tripp Hankson, their two dashing young sons, were quite the handful regardless of being on opposite ends of the spectrum.
Ryder was pretty much his father's immaculate conception, clear piercing blue eyes and dark brown hair with a hint of red in it, he was already learning the ropes of the track by taking go-kart lessons and competing in races. When he wasn't practicing, he usually had his nose in a book, already reading at a middle school level, which was incredibly precocious for eight years old.
Tripp also looked like Jay but had his mother's honey colored eyes and a bit of a rounder face, brown hair kissed by the sun with blonde. He was always running around and climbing on whatever he could, wanting to reach the sky, exhibiting the innocence of his four years. Although he was interested in model cars and planes, he still had fun whenever he was at the track with his dad and brother.
"Time flies by so fast. She'll be born in five months, then she'll be in preschool. Can you imagine what it'll be like when she starts dating?"
Jay groaned, burying his head into the pillow. "Don't even get me started. I've already picked out a Louisville Slugger to chase away the first punk that breaks her heart."
"Like two older brothers won't be enough already."
Jay ran his hand through Erin's hair, smiling. "What I do know is that she'll be beautiful, just like you." He pulled her in for a kiss, loving every second of it.
They had met sixteen years ago under unlikely events. Erin had had a hard life growing up. Both of her parents were drug addicts, her father in prison and her mother Bunny throwing away parental responsibilities just to get a fix from whatever guy would give it to her. Her brother Teddy had run away from home and was never heard from again.
At a young age, Erin learned to fend for and take care of herself, practically living on the streets and already had five arrests on her record by fourteen years old. The only solace she had was sneaking into the Chicago Motor Speedway, watching the races from the top of the bleachers and staying until the lights went out, getting lost in the speed and action of it all. This was how she met Voight.
Hank Voight was co-owner of Halstead-Voight Racing, one of the top racing teams in NASCAR. Both he and his partner/best friend, Kirkland Halstead, had been highly renowned in the sport, but opted out early after a horrific seven car pile up nearly cost them their lives. They were training their sons, Kirkland's seventeen year old Will and fifteen year old Jay and Hank's fourteen year old Justin to become the next NASCAR champs almost since they were walking.
Voight had come across Erin one night when a security guard was attempting to rough her up. After coming to her rescue and hearing Erin's tragic story over hot chocolate at the diner down the street, he knew he had to take action. He arranged it so he would be her legal guardian, enrolled her in St. Ignatius College Prep, moved her in and raised her like the daughter he never had. Erin became a pit crew girl for the team, checking the inventory, stocking up on merchandise, filling orders and calculating race times, which was how she met Jay.
They had been friends for about a year when Jay finally asked her out- when the time was allowed between school and racing- and they had been together ever since. Jay asked Erin to marry him after winning the Sprint Cup at twenty years old. While she was ecstatic to marry her first and only love, she knew that the awaiting future couldn't begin without settling her past.
After seeing their picture on ESPN in some seedy dive bar, Bunny had tried to "make amends", saying she had changed, but Erin saw right through her wanting to be along for the ride. She finally found Teddy following a desperate six month search, who was living on the streets as a male prostitute with his best friend Nadia, a seventeen year old heroin addict and prostitute. Erin got them both into rehab and became better acquainted with Nadia, who was a very sweet and pretty young girl.
Erin had not enrolled into college following high school graduation, but she wanted to have some kind of career for herself besides being Jay's wife and mother of his children. Jay had suggested that since they had unlimited funds, she should start a company. Two years after their first son Ryder was born, Erin opened up a rehabilitation center for troubled youths with Teddy and Nadia helping her run it. The center provided psychological counseling, in patient residency, pet therapy, yoga, Akido, anger management classes, A.A. and N.A. meetings, all at affordable prices.
At almost thirty, Erin's life really was perfect. A wonderful husband, two handsome sons with a precious baby girl on the way, a successful business, a homey mansion with the cutest getaway cabin in Wisconsin. There was nothing she wanted for.
Lola Halstead's mind was awake, but her eyes were still closed, feeling the sun's warmth against her eyelids. Why was there any reason to wake at all? She had been having such a peaceful sleep.
Lola rolled over, feeling the space next to her on the bed, only to be met with the feel of satin sheets under her fingers. It had once again been a lonely night, her husband's side empty instead of surprising her when she woke up.
God forbid he'd ever come home early.
A part of her was too comfortable in the oversized California King bed to get up. It would be really nice to sleep in for the rest of the day, have Inez bring up brunch, even watch TV, but she knew she couldn't. There was simply too much to do today. Will and Jay's father Kirkland was turning sixty years old in a few days, wanting an intimate dinner with his two sons and their families on his birthday night, with a lavish banquet being thrown in his honor that weekend. Lola still had to finalize last minute details, as well as getting Paisley to her art lessons and dance classes in between going to day camp with her cousins.
Reluctantly, she rose from the bed's seclusion and put on her silk robe, padding into her massive bathroom. Nothing was going to be getting itself done anytime soon.
Looking in the mirror, Lola couldn't get herself to smile. In her mind, she didn't even look like the same girl anymore. In Will's eyes, she had been beautiful but deeply flawed, which is why she had to be fixed. He didn't like that she made her hair blonde three months after they started dating because it reminded him too much of his first ex-wife, so it was colored back to her natural deep brown with light brown and dark red lowlights. Her nose and teeth, the latter having shifted from wisdom teeth coming in, were fixed and straightened. Her still youthful body had been completely reconstructed from head to toe, which included a tummy tuck, breast enhancement, and laser treatments for stretch marks and cellulite after giving birth to their daughter. At this point, she might as well have Fisher Price stamped on her ass. There were some days she barely recognized the reflection staring back at her, no matter how great and natural it looked.
In hindsight, she didn't think that this was how things would come about. They had met six years ago at a Chicago Bulls game when she was one of the cheerleaders, a freshman while putting herself through college and living in the city. Will had just gotten divorced from Wife #2, an ER doctor, after four years. In an attempt to cheer him up, his brother Jay surprised him with tickets to the first game of the season, with their fellow NASCAR drivers Adam Ruzek, Justin Voight, Matt Casey and Kelly Severide in attendance. It had been a huge deal that Chicago's finest on the track would be at United Center. Lola's best friend and roommate Sylvie Brett, head of public relations for the team, had been a nervous wreck all week. She upgraded their tickets from middle tenth row to court side floor seats, right up in all the action, and made sure there was always somebody on top of getting them refills of beer and nachos, not to mention dozens of freebies.
Naturally, being the first game of the season, the stakes were raised. Everything went off smoothly, the Bulls were ahead fifteen points and as a surprise Chicago's own Fall Out Boy was performing a special but rare halftime show, the cheerleaders alongside with them. Since it was a mashup mix of six of their songs, the girls were constantly switched during the routine, having Lola in the front more times than not.
Even with a packed stadium of screaming fans, flashing lights and pyrotechnics set to Fall Out Boy's electronic hypnosis of rock, she could feel Will Halstead's eyes on her that night, although she never admitted it. Lola had smiled and winked a couple times when they made eye contact, just like she knew to do to demonstrate the sparkle, like all the cheerleaders did. Her heart rate picked up a bit when she saw him motioning for Sylvie and pointing at her, but brushed it off as nothing.
When the six of them appeared outside the locker room after the game, Lola assumed that they were there to meet the players or to try to pick up on Chili or April, her feisty co-cheerleaders, all the guys liked them. Chili was one of the boys yet could still be girly and sexy at the same time, April was a Nubian goddess who was even smoother and sassier than she was on the court.
To Lola's surprise, Will was there for her, the rest of the guys were just waiting for him. Sylvie saw this as a perfect photo op and had her pose with the drivers. In between checking out her body in the red and black mini skirt and balero top she was still wearing from the performance, Will had tried all his charm in asking her on a date, but Lola shot him down immediately. She refused to be another cheerleader rebound, having known about his previous engagement to a Blackhawks cheerleader before Wife #2. Besides, she knew the kind of guy he was and he hadn't been the first one to drool over her, they were all the same. He'd bed and drop her once the next hot little foxtail came along, it was safer to avoid the whole thing altogether.
To prove he was serious, Will took off his father's Paul Newman Ferrari Red Rolex Daytona watch and put it on her wrist, leaving everybody around them speechless. He told Lola to let him know when to come back, giving her a wink and a smile before walking off. With Sylvie's persistence, she had convinced Lola to go after him, catching them just in time before leaving.
Overnight, Lola's blossoming relationship with Will had turned her world upside down. Boxes of jewelry and expensive chocolates were sent to her every day, front row seats to all his races, being swept away to the tropics out of the blue, the press describing their courtship a "whirlwind romance".
While she was gracious for everything, none of it mattered. She had been so wrong about her first impression of Will, coming to know him as a sensitive and caring person instead of the playboy she presumed him to be, he even agreed to wait three months before sleeping together. Yes, he had a tendency to be a bit controlling, but she wrote it off as him wanting her to be the best she could be. Lola's past relationships hadn't been anything too serious, nothing like this at least, she was really falling in love with him. Oh, how naive and love struck she had been.
After six months of dating, they were married on Talladega Speedway, where he had won his first big race, and honeymooned in Australia. The first year of their marriage was a dream, and things were even more incredible for the couple when Lola became pregnant with their first child, ironically the same time as her sister-in-law, Erin. Kirkland had been thrilled that there would now be two more boys to further the Halstead family team of race car drivers, making them unstoppable in the sport. The only problem was that when Erin gave birth to her second son in April of 2012, Lola gave birth to a baby girl ten days later.
While Will loved Paisley dearly, Lola knew there was still disappointment because she had not been born a boy. She would be incapable of following in her father's footsteps and fulfilling his legacy, even though Chicago born driver Kim Burgess was a rising star in the racing world. They had tried getting pregnant again, but Will's schedule kept getting busier and busier over the past few years. The Halstead brothers were the highest NASCAR drivers in demand, when they weren't at races or practicing they were off shooting an endorsement ad for their sponsors, at meetings to expand their empire or popping up on late night talk shows.
At times like this, Lola became incredibly paranoid that Will was cheating, convincing herself of his resentment towards her. While he might not have looked like Chris Hemsworth, he was definitely the Chris Hemsworth of the racing world. Will possessed such a charm and allure that whomever he met became immediately entranced. Will Halstead really had it all, a wife to keep the house in perfect maintenance and take care of his child, and god knows how many whores on the side that he could fuck and have his way with whenever he so felt like it. Nobody turned him down. Whatever he wanted, he got, his heart's desires having no limits.
There were days when Lola wondered if Will even loved her anymore. He said he did, he acted like he did in the ways he touched her when they'd make love (and not just rough fucks), but she could still feel him pulling away from her, all because she hadn't given him a son. Lola wanted to make Will happy, except for he needed to put more focus on her and their family, which he was practically unwilling to do.
She didn't really have any friends anymore, raising Paisley as pretty much a single parent took up a lot of her time. Sure, she still talked to Sylvie and Chili and April, but they were busy with their own lives and careers. She also had her sister-in-law Erin, with the two of them being the heads of the Chicago NASCAR WAGs. While they were pretty close, as close as their husbands were, Lola kept to herself. She didn't want to burden Erin or Sylvie or anybody, the last thing she needed was pity or to be the possible topic of gossip from the WAGs. Her parents wouldn't understand, they were still too enamored that their youngest daughter married a NASCAR driver and all the perks it afforded them. Samantha and Tamara, her two older sisters, were too preoccupied with their own lives, Jessica was married to a doctor and had four children while Tamara was married to a police detective and had three kids.
What nobody knew was that she had been seeing a psychiatrist, sometimes thrice a week. She had given Lola an official diagnosis of depression and put her on psychotropics and antipsychotics. They seemed to be working, she was able to function and further the facade she was forced to wear of happy housewife and mother. The last thing she wanted was for Paisley to catch on with the troubles of their marriage, which is why Lola kept her incredibly busy. She loved her daughter more than anything in the world and would do anything for her, but she also knew the girl had a huge complex from not spending enough time with her father.
At almost twenty five, Lola's life was the farthest thing from flawless. A possibly cheating superstar husband that was gone more times than he was home, a daughter that longed for him, being trapped in a luxurious mansion prison, trying everything just to make it through the day.