Erin's alarm went off waking them both. Kelly's arm tightened around her waist and she dozed momentarily. Knowing that time was ticking on made it impossible to sleep so Erin seized the moment and got up. He followed her to the kitchen and they ate in silence, she had toast and a banana, eating while she could. She took one of the pregnancy multivitamins then proceeded to get ready for the day. She said a quick goodbye to Kelly who was getting ready for work as well.

Erin's phone rang on the way into work and she spoke hands-free while Hank redirected her to an office building in the CBD. They were tasked with interviewing the colleagues of a lawyer who was presently being held hostage by one of his clients. Erin was the second to arrive after Dawson who was speaking animatedly with a rude young lawyer. Voight was asking the senior partner of the firm about the history between the hostage and his client. As a divorce lawyer he was responsible for mitigation and asset division. Erin started with the hostage's personal assistant who probably knew him and his clients better than any of the other lawyers. The rest of the team arrived and got to work but few of the firm's other lawyers had much to do with divorce lawyer William Herston, and none of them had met his client and current hostage taker David Wate. They made little progress until they were sent to speak with David's soon to be ex-wife. Even then the whole team was overkill so Lindsay, Halstead and Dawson went to speak with David's wife. Voight stayed on scene and the rest of the team headed back to the district.

"Mrs. Wate?" Lindsay asked the middle aged woman who answered the door.

"Yes, what's going on?" She asked looking concerned.

"We need to talk with you about your husband" Lindsay said eyeing the two children watching from the bottom of the staircase.

"Come in" she said letting the three detectives into the sitting room. "Go play upstairs" she yelled to the kids.

"Ma'am your husband is currently holding his lawyer, William Herston, hostage. Can you tell us about your divorce so far?" Antonio asked.

"Well he isn't happy with the shared custody, he wants Bella and Layla every other week but I've only agreed to weekends. He works in construction so he doesn't get home til late sometimes and the girls have music and sports after school. Andrew probably just told him to give up and agree to the current terms. David has been getting so angry, over the smallest things lately. He started talking with an old school friend who likes to go shooting, I hate guns and wouldn't let him keep them in the house. Sorry for rambling, I just don't know what you need." She finished looking up anxiously.

"That's fine ma'am" Antonio said.

"Would you be able to get someone to watch the kids? So you can come talk to David" Halstead asked hopefully.

"Of course, I can get my sister to come over, she lives just around the corner. I can call her now." Mrs Wate said standing up to get her phone from the kitchen bench.

"Thank you" Antonio said.

"We'll head back and see how negotiations are progressing if you're happy to bring her in" Lindsay suggested.

"Fine by me" Antonio agreed in his usual no fuss manner.

"See you there" Lindsay added leaving the room just as Mrs Wate finished her phone call. Lindsay and Halstead drove back into the city but struggled to find a car park, after five minutes of looking she pulled up in a loading zone. Halstead did something he'd done a million times but as soon as he did Lindsay knew she'd have to explain. Checking the time using Lindsay's phone revealed a background picture he hadn't been expecting, Erin sleeping on the shoulder of an attractive blonde. On further inspection he recognised the blonde suddenly jumping to conclusions about their relationship.

"What?!" Halstead asked still unable to tear his eyes away from the photograph.

"Oh ignore that" She responded knowing full well she wouldn't get away with it so easily.

"Is there something you've been meaning to tell me?" He asked.

"It's definitely not what you're thinking" Lindsay replied realising that they were wasting time. She refused to answer any further questions using the case at hand as an excuse. They checked in with Voight before letting the head negotiator know that Mrs Wate was on her way in. The rest of the team had tracked down Nathan Mullins, the high school associate with the shooting hobby. Mullins was frustratingly obtuse more interested in working out what type of gun David was holding to his lawyers head than diffusing the situation. Less than ten minutes later they were joined by Dawson and Mrs Wate who was trying her best not to let the situation get to her.

"I'll take her over to Sergeant Greg" Lindsay volunteered wanting a quick word with her.

"Thank" Antonio said heading towards Voight.

"The Sergeant will tell you what you need to say to David, do as he says. If he makes you lie try to sound as genuine as possible. Remind him that he's doing this for the kids and that if he pulls the trigger he won't be seeing them for years" Lindsay advised, the reality hit Mrs Wate when Erin used the word trigger. This was no silly stand-off, her husband was threatening to kill their lawyer.

"Thank you" the frazzled woman said when Lindsay had introduced her to Sergeant Greg. Erin returned to the rest of the team and watched in awe as the tactical response team moved in. There wasn't much more they could do but wait and hope that Mrs Wate would be useful to the negotiation process. They made her call her husband and sure enough minutes later he surrendered himself. He was arrested and taken away for a psychological evaluation. The intelligence unit made their way back to the district where they started work on yet another case. Erin was relieved when it came time to head home but was stopped in her tracks by a very confused Halstead. She took him to a local burger joint and explained that Shay had simply taken advantage of the fact she had fallen asleep. Of course then she had to explain why she had been spending time with Shay, she tried to give him as little information as possible but he was persistent.

"I went to Shay and Severide's place to watch some movies that's all. I messed around with his background so the same happened to me" Erin clarified.

"So are you dating him then?" Jay asked with a combination of jealousy and protectiveness.

"I'm not sure I'd call it dating." She answered unsure how to describe their relationship.

"But you want to be?" Jay pressed.

"Eventually, maybe. I haven't left you out of the loop, I don't even know what we're doing half the time." She justified eating the last chip on his plate.

"It's fine, there's a line between personal and professional but I've always seen you as a friend, not just a colleague." He said watching her intently, he could tell that there was something about the relationship she wasn't telling him but he knew he'd pried enough for one night. "I'll see you in the morning then" He said, ending the awkward silence.

"Okay" Erin replied standing to follow him out. They went their separate ways and Erin was left to mull over the fact that she might have just changed the dynamic of their partnership irreversibly.

I know this chapter was fairly boring but things are going to get very exciting very soon! Seriously tomorrow's chapter is looking pretty great (even if I do say so myself)… And it's twice the length of todays! If I wasn't working all week I would totally post it today but I need to stay one ahead just in case :D