Jay and Erin sat in a dreadful silence, thinking about what their next step was going to be for over half an hour. A screaming Ava brought the detectives back to reality, and Jay quickly got up to go see what was wrong. Erin stayed sat on the couch, she really cared about Jay and wanted to help him as much as physically possible. Moments later, Jay came out of the bedroom holding a crying infant which prompted Erin to stand from the couch to go and meet her. Making her way towards Jay, a smile began to grow on Erin's face; he looked good with a baby, she thought to herself. "You wanna hold her?" She heard Jay ask. Ava had calmed down a little bit now that she wasn't alone, but still distressed.
"Yeah, I do." Erin said with a smile before taking the baby from Jay's arms. Ava took an immediate liking to Erin, quieting almost instantly after getting settled. "Hi baby. I'm Erin, your daddy's partner. I bet you're really scared right now, huh? Yeah, life's scary sometimes. But that's okay because I know that your daddy's gonna take real good care of you." Erin walked around the room as she spoke calmly to the young infant she was carrying and Jay couldn't help the wide smile from appearing on his face. Eventually, Erin looked up to Jay, "She's asleep again. I think she just wants to be held for a bit." Jay nodded his head in response and went to sit back down on the couch, with Erin following suit.
"What do we tell Voight?"
"We? That's funny, I don't remember you knocking me up." Jay scoffed at Erin's sarcastic remark, but she only laughed, "In all seriousness though Jay, this is something you're going to need to do alone."
"I know, but maybe you could be there when I tell him- for moral support?" It was funny how threatened Jay was by Voight, because as long as they kept it professional, he had no reason to be; and Erin knew Hank was going to do anything he could to help Jay, as was the rest of Intelligence.
Erin couldn't help but let out a silent laugh, "Sure, whatever you need."
"You hungry? I could make us some breakfast if you want? Or I could go and pick something up- I know you're not too keen on my cooking." He laughed, and Erin chuckled a little bit too.
The sound of Jay's voice tore Erin's attention away from the 8 week old baby in her arms, "No, I think I'll be okay. I left Kelly at my apartment so I should probably get going soon anyway." Jay tensed at the sound of the fireman's name, he never really liked that guy. In Jay's eyes, it seemed Erin was always there for Kelly, but he was never there for her; and he didn't like that. Erin deserved the best, and the best was definitely not Kelly Severide. "Call me when you plan to meet Voight, and I'll meet up with you before, okay?" Standing up from the couch, Erin handed Ava over to Jay, and as soon as she did, the child woke up and was wailing within seconds.
Jay jumped at the opportunity to get Erin to stay longer, "Stay a little longer, for her?" He asked, motioning towards Ava.
Erin huffed, "Fine; but only because this one doesn't want me to go." Without hesitation, Erin reached down and pulled Ava from Jay's arms. She stroked Ava's soft baby cheek and gently rocked her. "Can you go and make me a bottle for her, Jay?" She asked quietly, still tracing her fingers along the child's face.
Moments later, Jay came back from the kitchen, bottle in hand. After handing Erin the bottle he sat back down next to her. "Halstead what the hell is this?"
Jay looked at her, confused, "I thought you asked for a bottle?" He said, brows furrowed.
Erin held up the bottle in front of him, "There's way too much water in here, Jay! And the formula isn't even dissolved all of way. Not to mention it's cold. We can't feed this to her." Erin scoffed, "Follow me; let me show you how to make a bottle."
After Erin had gotten up from the couch, Jay sat there a moment longer, "I guess that explains why she wouldn't drink it earlier." He said to himself, quiet enough for Erin not to hear.
By the time Jay had walked into the kitchen, Erin already had the bottle heated up. "Okay so here's the deal, every 2 ounces of water gets one scoop of formula. Each of these lines is one ounce. You got that?" She looked Jay into his eyes and once he nodded, she continued, "She's still really little, and isn't gonna eat that much, so 2 ounces should be just fine for her. Heat the water up for about 15 seconds and then put the formula in. Shake it up until all of the formula is dissolved, and there you go; all done."
Jay watched intently as Erin made the bottle the right way. "How'd you know all that?" He asked, following Erin, who was now feeding Ava a correctly made bottle, out of the kitchen.
"I read the directions on the can, genius."
The partners spent the rest of the day learning how to care for an 8 week old baby. They'd ordered pizza for lunch, and searched the internet for a cheap crib that would last until Jay could get a nicer one.
It was around 3pm when Erin's phone began to ring. She quickly jumped from the couch to silence it, in fear of waking the sleeping Ava. "Lindsay." She said sharply, "Oh, hey Voight…. No I'm at Halstead's… I'll probably be here awhile. Jay actually has something he needs to tell you, so if you'd swing by whenever you have a chance… Great, bye." After hanging up the phone, Erin retreated to her place on the couch next to her partner. "Voight's on his way, but I think he's thinking you're about to tell him you broke the rules; so watch out." She said casually before taking a swig of her beer.
Hank Voight was already on his way to kill Jay before he'd even gotten off the phone with Erin. "One request, and the kid couldn't even do that. He's a dead man. I don't do in house romances, especially ones involving Erin." Voight shook his head in disbelief and raced over to Jay's apartment; sirens and all.
Shortly after Erin had hung up with Voight, Ava woke up again. Neither Jay nor Erin were able to get her back to sleep, so they decided to get to know her a little better. The three of them sat on the floor and played, awaiting Voight's arrival. It was the first time either of them really looked at her. Her eyes were a sea green, just like her father, and though she didn't have much hair, it was clear that eventually it would turn into a golden brown shade.
Hank angrily stomped up the stairs of Jay's apartment. Once in front of the door he was looking for, he pounded hard. "Halstead open up! I hear you've got something to tell me!" He screamed through the closed door. He could hear feet shuffling inside and noticed the shadow approaching the door. As soon as the door was open he pushed past Jay and marched inside the apartment. "I told you to stay away from her!" Voight shouted, pointing a finger towards Jay. In the midst of his outburst, he failed to notice the crying baby in the background and proceeded to corner Halstead. "I don't approve of in house romances, I thought I made myself clear." He continued, and Jay was not about to be the one to interrupt, seeing the pure anger in his boss's eyes.
It was Erin who had decided it was enough, "Hank!" She yelled, causing Voight to turn around and finally take in the situation- Ava. "We haven't done anything! That's not what he has to tell you." She knew he'd jumped to the conclusion that she and Jay had slept together, but she didn't imagine him to be so livid. She could have sworn she saw smoke coming out of his ears.
Voight looked at Erin with a startled look on his face before transferring his gaze to Jay, who still looked scared out of his mind. "Well, spit it out." His voice was calmer, but Jay was still frozen on the spot. As Erin was standing closest to the letter, she picked it up and handed it to her father figure.
After skimming the letter, Hank looked back at Jay, "What do you need? A few days off?" This was a side of Hank Voight Jay had never seen before. Erin wasn't surprised though, she, on the other hand grew up with this side of Voight.
Jay's voice was small when he spoke, "Yeah, that'd be great, actually. Some time to figure this out would be nice."
Voight nodded his head in approval, "Erin? You too?"
Before Erin made her decision, she looked over to Jay who was giving her a look of plea, "If it's okay- he's my partner. I need to have his back." Jay sighed in relief when the words came out of her mouth, and mouthed a 'thank you' to her.
"Alright then, I expect both of you back at work next Thursday; that gives you a week to get this situation straightened out. Now, let me meet the newest member of Intelligence." Voight finished, extending his arms towards Erin.