A/N: I don't own any characters, places, schools, etc.! Please review & let me know what you think! Sorry this is a little short, it's a bit of a filler chapter:)

Labor Day Monday was as perfect as it got for a summer day in Chicago. Erin went to the gym, showered, and was ready for the day and Riley still hadn't emerged from her room. Around noon, Erin finally decided to wake her up since they were going to Antonio's later that afternoon.

"Knock knock sleeping beauty, " Erin opened Riley's door. The younger girl stirred and looked over at her, "What?" she said crankily.

"Wow, someone's not a morning person. Or should I say afternoon? "Erin smiled at her. Riley rolled over and put the pillow back over her head.

"Just an FYI, we're leaving in 3 hours. I know how long it takes you to make yourself glamorous so this is your warning." Erin left the door open and went back to the living room.

By the time 3PM rolled around, Erin and a not so happy Riley were in the car on the way to Antonio's.

"Why do I have to go to this?" Riley asked stubbornly, all the while not looking up from her phone.

"Because, " Erin began, "this is basically my family, thus making them your family. So you should really get to know them." Riley didn't say anything in return, but Erin could feel the eye roll next to her.


They arrived at the Dawson's and went around back. Halstead saw Erin first and came over. "Hey, how ya doin?" He gave her a half hug. Erin smiled back, "good, loving this weather. Oh this is Riley. Riley, this is my partner, Jay Halstead."

Erin couldn't help but notice Riley's brief staring at Halstead. She smirked to herself, knowing she wasn't the only one who thought he was easy on the eyes.

Erin dragged Riley around and introduced her to everyone. In a matter of 20 minutes, Riley had met the majority of the intelligence unit, and Firehouse 51.

"Where's Voight?" Erin asked, realizing she hadn't seen him yet. "Workin' something in Back of the Yards, he'll stop by at some point," Antonio answered her.

Olinsky noticed Riley just standing next to Erin, looking bored and playing with her phone. "Hey Riley, my daughter Lexi is over on the patio and is probably just as miserable as you look. Why don't you go hang out with her." Olinsky pointed over to a bored looking Lexi, sitting in an Adirondack chair looking much like Riley did much of the time, face buried in her phone. Riley looked at Erin and then back over to where Alvin was pointing, sighed and slunked over to where Lexi was sitting.

"You should've told me kids this age were such a treat, " Erin said to Olinsky while grabbing a beer. Al smiled back at her "Eh, Lexi's a pretty good kid. Sort of outta her mind sometimes, but a good kid for the most part. " He looked over toward Riley, who was now sitting opposite of Lexi and making small talk. "She's been threw a lot, yano? Ya gotta just take it slow, " he pat gave her a reassuring pat on the arm before walking away.

Erin turned around and was face to face with Kelly Severide, just walking in the back gate with a six-pack in one hand. He smiled at her "Hey Lindsay, how's it going?" Erin gave him a hug. Severide was like a brother to her. "It's going." She nodded over towards Riley. "Oh cool, you brought the kiddo!"

"Yeah, against her will," Erin smiled. Severide just laughed, "is she still mad at you for making her come home at the unrighteous hour of 1am, preventing her from painting the town with all the other rugrats?"

"Oh god, don't even get me started, "Erin sighed, and briefly filled him on how the rest of her Saturday night, leaving out the details for Riley's privacy.

"Geez," Severide furrowed his brow. "That Matt kid sounds like a punk, you better keep him away from her. "

Erin smiled at him, "You're calling a 16 year old boy a punk because he made her cry?" Severide's protectiveness was one thing she loved about him.

"I don't know Erin, it just sounds like a bad situation if she's that hung up on him. Remember, girls are crazy" he winked at her. She hit his arm and walked with him over to the rest of the crew.

Erin spent the rest of the evening laughing with her friends, and Riley spent it with Lexi Olinsky, texting and occasionally talking to each other.

"So where do you go to school?" Riley asked Lexi. She seemed nice enough, and Riley had to admit she was glad to have a getaway from Erin and all her CPD & CFD friends; the last thing Riley needed was a bunch of adults giving her sympathy.

"St. X, what about you?"

"Park Prep"

They both just nodded at each other's answers, and made small talk about their sports teams that played each other. Lexi knew the general gist of Riley's story, but didn't say anything about it, figuring she wouldn't want to talk about it. Lexi gave her the general run down of the who's who of the Intelligence Unit and CFD crew.

"Wait, " Riley smiled coyly, "so you're saying that there's a thing between Erin and that Halstead guy?" Lexi giggled back at her. "Definitely, sometimes when I'm grounded my dad makes me go sit at the station afterschool, and it is so obvious. They've totally hooked up and if not, they need to. The girls both giggled.

Erin looked over at the younger girls just in time to see Riley looking back at her, and then back at Lexi and giggling. She didn't even want to know what they were talking about. The group was starting to dispand.

"Molly's?!" Shay asked. Everyone was agreeing, but Erin had to bail out. "Not me, I've got to get that one home-. "

"Oh you can bring her, " Dawson cut her off. "It's Monday and its only 7, I promise we won't card" she winked.

Erin smiled back at her, "Nah, thanks though. She has school tomorrow and I'm going to do everything in my power to attempt to keep her out of a bar for at least a couple more years. Could be rough." She said her goodbyes, and started walking over to grab Riley, when Halstead saddled up next to her.

"Hey" he smiled. She smiled back. She couldn't help herself, Jay Halstead made her melt. "So, I just want you to know….if you ever need back up or help with Riley, I'm here, yano? Like don't worry about work or…"

"Jay, I know" Erin gave him a soft look. "I really appreciate it. I'll see ya tomorrow." A lingering stare held on between the two until Erin finally turned away. "Riley, C'mon" she called.

Riley stood up and looked at Lexi, "It was nice meeting you, I'm sure I'll see you around soon" Lexi smiled back at her and Riley ran off behind Erin.

The two got in the car and didn't say anything. "So, Lexi is a sweetie. Did you guys have fun?" Erin asked her to break the silence.

"It was fine, " Riley replied. "Do you like your partner Jay?"

Erin was shocked to hear those words come out of Riley's mouth. "What? No. We're partners. I spend 12 hours+ a day with the guy. Why would you think that?" she stumbled to defend herself.

Riley smirked back at her, "I was just wondering."


The next morning Riley was up by 5:30 to get ready for school. Erin was surprised to see her up. "You do know you don't leave for school for another 2 hours, right?" Riley just gave her a death stare and went back to doing her hair. Erin laughed to herself.

An hour later, Erin grabbed her bag and keys. "Are you sure you don't want me to drive you?" she persisted to Riley.

"Oh my god, I told you. Why would you fight LSD morning rush hour traffic? I've taken the L to school since I was in 7th grade, just like everyone else. It's just a different stop, I'll be fine." Riley said back to her, obviously annoyed.

"Just making sure! Okay, so after school you have practice until 5 right? I'll try to be home around 6, but you never know. I'll text you and let you know what's going on" Erin said hurriedly.

"Don't worry about it, I'm hanging out with Matt after his football practice so I'll be home later" Riley said while carefully affixing yet another layer of mascara to her eyelashes. She could see Erin giving her a sideways look behind her in the mirror.

She turned around, "I won't have homework, so what's the big deal?" she said haughtily.

"Hey, don't get an attitude, " Erin warned her. "Just be careful, got it? Keep me posted on what you're doing and when you're coming home." Erin decided that insisting on open lines of communication was a better alternative than imposing a curfew.

"Finneeeeee, I'll see you later" Riley went back to fixing her makeup.

Erin kissed the top of her head, "Have a great first day sweets!" And with that walked out the door.

The Lindsay girls were ready for the first day of their new normal.