She's showing. At sixteen weeks –four months pregnant- she's noticeably showing. It's amazing to her that three weeks ago, her pregnancy wasn't as obvious –now, it's visibly apparent. Erin is too much in a good mood to allow the intentional silence in the car to affect her; they just left her doctor's appointment, the baby is healthy, her energy is coming back and her morning sickness is gone. Even though the whole unit knows about her pregnancy, she and Jay are still barely speaking to each other. The only conversations that transpired between them either involved work or the baby; they had just seen the ultrasound of their baby together –they should be talking about this, instead their bubbling with happiness separately. Jay's smile is beaming from ear to ear; his argument with Erin taking a back seat to the image he had seen on the screen. It made it so much more real. And as they sit at the red light, Jay's eyes avert from the road and over towards his wife –trailing from her face and settling on her baby bump. The fact that there's a baby –his baby- growing in there has him overfilled with joy. He wants to reach out and touch it –rub it; however he and Erin haven't expressed any words to each other since leaving the doctor's office. He doesn't want to ruin the good mood in the car, so he battles against every thought and impulse and instead of turning completely around to extend his hand; he focuses back on the road.

"We're actually going to be parents," it's her who speaks up and Jay's stubbornness prevents him from responding, it prevents him from even looking in her direction, "We're going to be responsible for a baby and despite what you think and how you feel, this baby is yours."

No further words are spoken in their short stop at the red light. Halstead even finds himself acting as if he never even heard her. His fingers drumming against the steering wheel and he's humming some made up tune. She feels indifferent towards his attitude; she slightly feels like she deserves it. Erin is so mad at him and she's even angrier at the fact that she's actually, really, furious at him. She can't control how she feels towards a situation, and she can't control the fact that since that day, three weeks ago, all she can think of is him implying that she's having a sloppy affair to which she ended up pregnant. It's hurtful. And while many people can say that he's justified in his question or you can't blame him for asking it, it doesn't make the pain in what he said actually go away. It doesn't just rationalize itself out in her head to which she can quickly turn off her emotions and accept his words and all that it implies.

You can call her dumb, insensitive, selfish or just plain foolish for the course of action she has taken these last three months, but she's human –she makes choices that aren't always the right ones. Ever since getting married, she's no longer the carefree and fun Erin that she has always been; she became the suburban housewife. She became someone she isn't and now that's she having a baby, that person, that image she so desperately tries to avoid is all coming back. So yeah, waiting until her second trimester to tell the father of her child about her pregnancy was wrong, but she's human, and she knew that by telling him, everything about it would become real –it'll be a reality she's forced to live in. And thinking about it, forced is a strong word. It's not that she doesn't want this baby; she's just completely terrified at the prospect of being someone's mother, someone's caretaker, and someone's protector. This wasn't how she pictured it –her life; she never pictured it like this. She never thought she would get married and now that she is, everything that came along with it came all at once –she has to constantly open up, share her feelings, tell someone where she's going, why she's doing something and everything else in between that came along with having a spouse. She signed up to love Jay forever –and she does- but there can be no denying or avoiding the fact that they're going through something –their marriage is on the rocks and their baby can't be the sole reason to stay together.

"I'm really sorry for not telling you about the baby sooner," she whispers, but he hears her loud and clear. She's still angry, but she knows she owed him that apology. It was up to him to accept whenever he was ready. And even though she was truly sorry for withholding really important news from him, for almost four months, it didn't take away from the other emotions she felt in regards to what he said about her baby –their baby.

She didn't care about Jay not trusting Tyler –she cared about him not trusting her. He didn't marry Tyler. He didn't make vows to him, live with him and he didn't even truly know him, but Jay knows her. He knows that never in a million years would she have an affair. He knows she wouldn't initiate a kiss and she especially wouldn't accept one from him. He knows she can be a little rough around the edges, closed off; protective and sympathetic towards those who've came from a similar background as herself. Tyler is an escape; he's a person with a similar background to her who came above the obstacles set upon him in order to become a detective and help people. He became a detective to help people, and that's what she sees in him, the same thing she sees in all of her friends. That's all she has the capacity to give him –friendship, nothing more. So maybe it's a good thing that Voight released Detective West from his official duty on this case –her team is knowledgeable and efficient enough to solve it without him. It's a good thing since she hasn't had to worry about anymore arguments sparked at work. It's a good thing because she can only offer Tyler friendship while he expects more. It's a good thing because she hasn't seen him since he left Intelligence; she hasn't communicated with him and hasn't argued with her husband about him. However, just because Tyler left didn't mean their marital problems magically resolved themselves.

Jay wasn't speaking to her. She was hardly speaking to him. He's mad at her. She's angry with him. He wants space. She wants space. It seems that with Tyler gone, none of their problems left with him –they're here, following them around wherever they go. Even at work, the one place they're supposed to leave their personal life behind, they both seem to have it phase into their professional roles. It's affecting their job. It's affecting their case. It's affecting everything. And they both know it. Erin knows it as she stares down at her wedding ring; it's sparkling, it's beautiful and it represents their promises to one another, a promise that they both seem to have forgotten. She places her left hand –the hand which held the finger that possesses her wedding band- over her stomach, there's a flutter inside –not kicking- just movement, beneath her belly button. And for the first time, all of her worries and all of her regrets are gone, she's focused on the baby, and she's happy –so happy, she wants to tell Jay, she wants him to know too. They were in agreement, anything involving the baby or work is acceptable to talk about, anything else, they simply chose against sharing.

"Jay," for the first time since their last argument, she's smiling, dimples piercing through and everything, "Jay!"

"We agreed to a silent car ride."

And he was right. When they left the doctor's office, they did agree to ride silently. They already talked and expressed themselves happily after the appointment, and then after her follow up eye appointment at the ophthalmologist office. She couldn't be mad because she agreed. So with that, Erin silently embraces and adores the slight flutters in her tummy; the smile on her face is evidence of her enjoyment and when Jay notices, he immediately regrets his words, however, the stubbornness in him prevents him from reneging on them. This wasn't how their marriage was supposed to go; their love was too strong to allow some jerk to get in between. As Halstead parks in front of the precinct, he builds up every ounce of fiber to turn and face her, but by the time he gathers the courage and pushes aside the obstinate attitude to speak to her, she's already out of the car. Jay soon follows after her, wanting just as bad as she is to get into the building and out of the unpleasant weather –it's drizzling with thunder clapping every few seconds afterwards. It just started. It came from nowhere. One second the sky is bright and sunny and the next, it's cloudy, drizzling rain and thundering.

As the drops fall lightly onto their clothes, an obvious pep in Erin's step becomes apparent as she ascends up the outside stairs –Jay protectively following closely behind her. She pretends not to notice, and while normally it would irritate her, all she's focused on now is showing off her ultrasound pictures. Her argument with Jay is filed straight in the back of her mind. They're both flip-flopping right now; they both need their space, but when one misses the other, they try to reach out; get blatantly rejected an end up doing the same to the other when they're finally ready to talk. It's all a mess, a mess that time will hopefully lighten up and heal.

Normally when Erin and Jay enter into the precinct, Platt greets them and buzzes them up. She's off today and the sergeant filling in for her silently buzzes them up without greeting or even glance in their direction. Erin's grip holds tightly onto the ultrasound print outs and she can't help herself but to look at them as she climbs the stairs to Intelligence –Halstead still behind, holding his hands out just in case she tripped and fell. By the time she reached the top step, she released a long breath of air. She's carrying extra weight that she's not used to; it's the weight of her growing baby in combination with her added body weight gain. As Erin got her breathing together, she scans the room –the first person she noticed was Detective West, sitting at her desk, annoyingly tapping his fingers against the table. Jay notices him too. And the couple briefly shares a look, written confusion evident on both of their faces as they each wonder why he's even here. Erin didn't know and neither did he, and before either could question it, their team notices their presence, immediately lighten up at the sight of them and starts walking over.

"How was the appointment?" Olinsky asks, hanging up his desk phone. There's a wide smile on his face, and after weeks of bad news and topics, it felt good to focus the conversation on something positive and refreshing.

"Everything is going great with the baby." Halstead answers, walking over to his desk and draping his leather jacket around the back of his desk chair.

Lindsay raises the ultrasound photos into the air, "I have print outs."

"Let me see! Let me see!" Burgess is practically beaming and her excitement becomes contagious –it pulls a bright smile onto Erin's face and it gives Halstead a hardy chuckle. She notices Kim has dark shades on –covering her eyes- but she doesn't mention it. They're both too excited and ready to look at the ultrasound photos of her baby. Burgess snatches the photos from her friend, "Oh my gosh!" Kim exclaims, flipping through each one as West walks over to peer at the pictures from over Kim's shoulder, "Look at the baby!"

Burgess feels West's arm drape around her shoulders as the two detectives happily flip through each photo. Erin is watching the two –they're seemingly close. Burgess doesn't look irritated with Tyler's presence, which is rare, and Tyler seems to be warming up to her and actually giving her physical contact. The two are whispering over the photos, pointing out different bulges and blurbs that the semi-clear picture shows.

"That's the head," Kim whispers, pointing towards the largest spot in the picture, "um, I'm not exactly sure what this is, but it's cute anyway."

"Why are you wearing sunglasses indoors?" Erin changes the subject, sliding up to her best friend's side to look over her other shoulder as she switches to the third -and last- copy of the ultrasound picture, "Are you okay?"

Kim smiles and shakes her head, "I don't want to talk about it. Aw, this is going to be one adorable baby. Look," she points it out to Tyler, "it says Baby Halstead in the corner."

"Are you sure? We can go into the breakroom if you want to make sure no one hears."

"I'm hungover," Burgess says nonchalantly.

"You went out last night?" Erin asks, noticing how Kim is purposely looking longer at the last photo, "I was wondering why you didn't answer my calls. I wanted to come over."

"I needed to be alone."

Erin firmly tugs onto her best friend's arm, "You never drink alone. What's wrong?"

"Enough about me," Kim smiles, extending the photos back to Erin, "tell me everything."

Lindsay walks over to her desk and sets one copy of the ultrasound down, "The baby is a little bit bigger than the size of a bell pepper," she walks over to Halstead to hand him the second copy, "which is weird thinking about because the lunch we grabbed before the appointment had peppers in it. I know it's easy to compare the baby's size to food, but the last appointment we had, the baby was the size of an apple and you know my whole pregnancy, I've been craving them and I find that a little weird. I told my doctor to just stick to actual measurements."

Lindsay holds the last photo securely between her fingers. Her thumb brushes across the black and white image as she focuses in on the baby blurb imprinted onto the print out paper. She smiles and steps to Voight's door –absolutely ready to give him this photo. Dawson gets up from his desk and walks over to a grinning Halstead, "And how are you feeling?" Antonio leans against the edge of Jay's desk and watches the father-to-be avert his eyes from the ultrasound photo and up to his friend to acknowledge his question.

"…I'm on cloud nine," Jay admits in a whisper; it's a low tone that sighs its way out. The photo is between two of his fingers and he's twirling it around happily.

"I remember the feeling; it's amazing," Dawson gives the younger detective a squeeze of the shoulder before rising to his feet. He leaves Jay to bask in the glee of impending fatherhood. All of them had an important case to focus on.

Erin twists the unlocked knob of his office door and cracks it open; she pokes her head inside to find him working diligently. There's a hard expression on his face as he flips through pages, page after page, he's taking in each underlined, bolded and/or highlighted sentence or word. He's the sergeant of Intelligence and it reflects badly on him when his unit is unable to find the person they've been searching to find for four months. His team is supposed to be one of the best squads out there, yet they're stuck, just like the Indianapolis police unit.

"Knock, knock."

Without lifting his head and looking her way, he responds, "Come in. How was the doctor's appointment?" His eyes are still focused on the documents spread out in front of him.

"I have something for you."

Her words cause for him to look up. He breaks focus and sees her standing in front of him, holding out a small black and white photo with an ultrasound picture etched into it. It's a welcomed distraction, and the smile pulled at his lips as he takes a hold of the photo proves just how welcomed and wanted it truly was, "Did you find out the gender?" He rises from his seat.

"No," Erin's hand settles onto her stomach, "this little button here wasn't in a good position for the doctor to see. We're going to try again at our next appointment."

He sighs, "Looking at this photo just makes it all more real." The aged, or in other words, the wisdom lines on his face crease in as he focuses on the image of baby Halstead.

"Yeah, well, carrying all this extra weight has made it pretty real for me."

Hank chuckles, "So, your appointment?"

"The baby is-"

"Not that one, your other one. The one you had after your OB appointment."

"My eye appointment…"

"Yes"

Erin brushes it off with the wave of her hand, "It's nothing to worry about, it's just my contact lenses got dry and started irritating my eyes. If I had went to get them looked at sooner, I would have stopped using the contact lenses, but I just thought it was allergies, so now I'm stuck with squirting this," she reaches into her purse and pulls out a bottle of eye drops, "into my eyes two to three times a day. These eye drops will moisten my eyes enough to prevent the burning and irritation they've been feeling on and off for the last couple of weeks."

Without setting the ultrasound photo down, he walks around his desk. His eyes peer downwards as they focus in on hers, "Your eyes are looking better."

She flutters them and smiles, "Yeah, well I'm not wearing any contacts. I'll have my new batch by the end of the week. I'll be carpooling with Jay until then."

"Speaking of Jay," Hank clears his throat, and leans back to take a seat at the edge of his desk, "How are you two?" He positions the ultrasound photo against the side of his grandson's framed first grade school picture.

Her eyes focus in on the picture of her nephew, reminding her that she needed to give him a call to see how his first week of school has been. She stares at his smile, her own smile appearing at his two missing front teeth, and she feels Hank's eyes upon her, bringing her back to their current conversation, "I don't want to talk about it," she bites the inside of her cheek, "What I do want to talk about is why West is here? We haven't seen or heard from him in weeks."

"West is here?"

Before Lindsay can answer the question, Voight is already out of his office and into the bullpen. He spots Detective West chatting it up with Burgess and the team watches him as he storms towards the new detective, "What are you doing here?"

"I just came to stop by and see how the case was doing."

"We're not giving you any news or updates," Hank asserts, releasing his grip around Tyler's arm. He glances down at his detective, he notices the dark shades she's wearing, but chooses to overlook it in order to focus back on Tyler, "You can see yourself out."

Tyler turns to leave, "Fine, you don't tell me your updates and I won't tell you mine."

"Withholding information about a crime is-"

"Yeah, yeah," Detective West stops walking and turns back to face the sergeant, "but it can be said vice versa. You're withholding information from me."

Voight thinks back; he thinks back to the last few weeks, the strain and pressure from those higher above him demanding answers from his team. He thinks about the victims, the family members of those victims and the possibility that he's out there currently searching for his next victim. He may not like Tyler, but it's possible Tyler has information that they need.

"Fine," he gives in, taking an angered step back, "You can come back, but the second this case is over, I want you out of here."

He gives Voight a hard pat on the back, "Good to be back."

"Don't screw this up. You won't get another chance," Voight growls, shoving Detective West's hand away from him, "And don't ever touch me."

Hank hated being figuratively stuck between a rock and a hard place. He hated giving in in order to receive information, but this isn't about him, this is about the lives of those victims that ended so soon. He couldn't play selfish and overlook all of that. It wasn't fair to them. Voight averts his eyes over to Burgess; she's sporting the obvious signs of a hangover, "You good?"

Burgess quickly nods, "I'm good. I'm fine," she clenches her forehead, "My head is apparently having a party that I wasn't invited to -so rude."

"Go home," he orders. He isn't angry or disappointed; he's simply sending her home to rest up so she can be of some help tomorrow. She would rest up and start fresh the next day.

"I'll walk you out," Erin offers. She doesn't give Kim much of a choice and once Burgess takes a hold of her keys and jacket, Lindsay's arm is looped through hers and she's tugging her best friend towards the stairs, "Okay, spill. What's been up with you?"

"Ruzek and I broke up," Kim admits, unraveling her arm from Erin's. She didn't want to see the look of pity on her best friend's face, she just wanted to get home, take some pain meds and go back to sleep. It's all she's asking and it isn't much. As they descended down upon the stairs –a fallen and glum mood shared between them, Burgess breaks it, "Don't get mad, but I almost hooked up with West last night too."

Erin abruptly stops walking, "Why would I get mad?" She blinks in shock, "And what," she notices that Burgess is still walking down the stairs, "Wait. Stop walking," she hurries down the stairs as fast as her baby bump would allow; she's holding on to the railing as she rushes towards her friend, "You can't just say something like that and walk away. Now, you and West…"

"Yeah, it wasn't my finest hour," Burgess interrupts, "We were both at Mollys last night and we started talking and then one thing led to another…"

"Wow."

"I'm not a slut."

Erin follows Kim outside of the gate, "I would never call you one. I don't call women sluts for having sex, I'm pretty sure my mother didn't draw me here," she quips while struggling to keep up with Kim's pace, "I'm just surprised, I honestly didn't see that one coming."

"You've always known I thought he was cute, remember at the club?"

Burgess holds the door open for her as Lindsay walks through and responds, "That was months ago and then you started complaining in my ear about how much of an ass he is."

"Yeah, that was before I really got to know him."

"And you know him now?"

"I know enough," Kim bashfully smiles.

Erin takes a hold of her hand, and pulls her to a stop, "I don't want you getting hurt."

"We both needed a rebound; there were no emotions involved."

"I thought Tyler was dating someone?"

"Not technically," Burgess bites her lip and gives Erin a look –a look of serious certainty, "he was pining for a girl who was already taken."

Lindsay immediately picks up on that look, "Me?"

"Yeah you."

"Oh no," Erin shakes her head in obvious disbelief and denial, "He flirts, but he couldn't have actually thought it was going to work, did he?"

"Yeah."

"I thought he found someone new."

"Nope." Kim resumes walking towards her car.

She leaves her friend standing in the middle of the sidewalk –still in shock and still confused. Erin glances down at the noticeable curve of her pregnant belly and finally notices the raindrops fall onto her. Burgess has her jacket over her head as she jogs towards her parked car. Erin picks up her step and tries to catch up to her, "You said you almost hooked up with Tyler," she recalls Burgess earlier words.

"Yeah," Kim sighs, throwing open the car door, "leave it to Ruzek to ruin it."

"What?"

"He walked in…"

"No," Erin gasps.

"Yep."

The drizzling rain starts to pick up, and it's being intentionally overlooked by Erin as she works to get answers and an understanding on exactly how and why Kim and Tyler attempted to hook up. It's weird to her. Just the thought of Burgess and West together didn't seem right. They were nice separately, but she couldn't picture them actually being an item or pursing a serious relationship with one another. Erin snaps back into reality when Burgess rolls down her window, "The rain is picking up. Get back in the building before you get sick. Call me later."

Erin chimes back into reality –she feels the sky open up more and release its downpour. Without saying goodbye or waving, she scurries off back into the building. She couldn't afford getting sick; she had a baby and a case to think about. The team is sitting behind their desks with the exception of Voight and Detective West –they're both leant against Kim's empty desk. They're talking with him, filling him in on their current findings in the case. Voight is the first to speak –his words giving a silent okay for the rest of the team to chime in, "A few weeks ago Erin was sent a locket of hair, we sent it to forensics and found out it was hair from extensions, but traces of Claire's real hair and blood are in it."

Tyler's brows furrow, "I thought the autopsy report said all of her hair pulled from her scalp was real." He turns to face the sergeant.

"It was," Hank nodded, "Hair extensions don't grow from the scalp." Voight sees the confusion remain on Tyler's face –he's not understanding, "In the autopsy report, the hair that was scalped out was all hers; it didn't take into account that she could have added hair to it."

Olinsky reiterated, "Claire had extensions in her hair and they, along with her real hair, were scalped off."

"So most of the women had some type of plastic surgery," Tyler stated, biting down upon his lower lip, "and if it wasn't surgery it was some type of thing added to enhance beauty."

"Claire had hair extensions, Michelle had botox, Lucy had teeth implants, and Amanda had breast implants," Dawson listed the known facts of each of their victims.

Voight stands up straight from his leant position against Burgess' desk; arms are crossed over his chest as he looks to Detective West with a tilted head, "All we're left trying to connect is Trent, Shelby and Linda."

"And that's why I'm back," Tyler confidently asserts, earning the attention of each remaining team member.

It was the truth. That's exactly why he's back. He's back to fill them in on what he knows and help them the remainder of the way. They've come a long way in four months, but they're not at the place Voight really wants to be. He has people over him demanding answers and for him to wrap this case up. He needed it to be solved before it went cold and he was forced to close. If adding Tyler back to the team would do that, then he had to suck it up and allow it.

"What do you have to add?" the sergeant asks, his arms remained crossed over his chest.

"It's about Shelby; she had surgery, and guess what it was on?"

"Her nose?"

"Bingo," Tyler points towards Dawson to signify his correct answer, "She got a nose job done."

"How do you know this?"

He turns to Halstead in order to answer his question, "I spoke with her mother. I outright asked her did Shelby have any plastic surgery done around the time of her death. The Indianapolis police didn't know about that connection so they had no reason to ask it, and Shelby's mom didn't think it was worth mentioning," he starts pacing the floor –it's his normal routine, "I learned that at her job a suspect had broken her nose sometime before she met the perpetrator and got surgery on it the day after she met him. Shelby got nose surgery."

"That's five of the seven victims; that's more than half, this definitely has to be our connection." Atwater commented, sounding hopeful.

Voight nods at Atwater's statement, and the positivity within it, but he hated the fact that he had to be the one to give the reminder of bad news, be the one to tell them the downsides to what they don't know. Hank drops his arms and eyes Atwater, "We're still clueless about Trent and Linda's death, and we don't have a guaranteed answer as to why Michelle's tongue was taken as well." He turns back to face the rest of his team, "We speculate it's because of alcohol, but could there have been something else, maybe a piercing?"

Ruzek answers, "We asked her mother that –no piercing."

"Damn it!"

The team jumps and Tyler is the only one courageous enough to approach him, "Sergeant, we're going to catch this guy."

"When?" Hank's head whips into the direction of the new detective, "It's been a little over four months and we don't even have a suspect yet."

"We can't give up. Otherwise, he'll win and that's the last thing we want, right?" Tyler asserted, quickening his pace up and down the aisle, "He's waiting to be caught; sometimes killers kill in hopes of being captured."

"What kind of killer is that?"

His head whips to look in Ruzek's direction, "One who is tired of doing it. One who wants to stop. One who can't stop."

"You seem to know a lot about this," Voight squints.

"That's my years of experience on the job. In my district, we run across a lot of wackos and we run across a lot of smart guys, sometime the two are the same."

Voight tucks his hands into his pockets; his teeth are biting down against his bottom lip. His eyes are scanning the room before settling upon the whiteboard –the pictures of the victims are hard reminders of their jobs and the lack of progress they've made in solving the case. He grunts and shakes his head seconds afterwards, "I'm going to reach out to Trent's ex-wife and see if she knows of him getting any work done to his body," Hank informs, "Mouse and Atwater are going to continue combing through the footage. We got pass the first and second victims and neither really gave us anything. I need for Olinsky to reach out to Linda's husband, see if her fingers have any significance, there's a reason he took them."

"What about the rest of us?"

He turns around to answer Ruzek's question, "We have a motive, and now find us a suspect." Voight disappears back into his office; the slamming of his door shows the obvious frustration and anger he feels towards this case. The door is shut tight just as Erin reaches the top stair. She exhaustively drags her feet towards her desk chair and flops down, releasing a yawn and a loud sigh of fatigue and absolute confusion –due to the new revelation of Kim and Tyler. She's a little out of breath from the outside and inside stair climbing, but after she gets off her feet for a little bit, that feeling of exhaustion would soon pass like every other mood and symptom.

Erin rests her arms upon the armrest, leans her head back and closes her eyes. She hears the movement of her team around her as they scamper about to investigate. Once she gets herself together, she has every intention of diving back into this case, especially since Burgess is gone for the day. She was needed. She can rest when she's back home. And with that thought in mind, Lindsay reopens her eyes to see Jay watching her, "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine." Erin ran a hand through her hair, droplets of rain water fall, "If there was something wrong with the baby, I'll let you know." She shivers.

He obviously notices, "Erin, you're shivering."

"So, what did I miss while I was gone?" She attempts to steer the conversation back onto work, back onto the important matter at hand. She's cold temporarily, but once her damp hair and shirt dries, then she'll be fine.

"You didn't have to walk Burgess to her car," Jay doesn't drop it though; instead, he gets up and walks over, "It's raining out there."

"I was only out there for a few minutes," she annoyingly remarked.

Jay lowers his voice, speaking sternly and quietly so only she can hear, "Why are you upset? You don't get to be upset."

"I don't have a right to be upset?"

"I apologized."

"So did I."

The team is too absorbed in their work-related duties that they honestly didn't hear or weren't paying attention to two of the unit's detectives brewing argument. And honestly, if they were being truthful, it was nothing new or worthy to be eavesdropped over. It was getting old. They argued like an old married couple, and to be honest, they all saw why Voight didn't want any in house romances. It was too late to do anything about Halstead and Lindsay, but for the rest of the team, more specifically Ruzek and Burgess, they were warned to keep their boyfriend-girlfriend problems outside of work.

Jay stoops low in front of his wife, his hands wrapped around the armrests of her desk chair. He pulls it closer to him, his back still hunched over as he speaks, "I said something that I instantly regretted. You consistently did stuff that you now, all of a sudden, regret. It's easy to forget what someone said, but it's more complicated to forget what they did."

She averts her eyes to his, staring into his orbs with just as much as passion as her words are filled with, "That may be true; I may eventually forget what you said, but I'll always remember how you made me feel."

"Erin-"

"Jay, I need an update on the case."

"The case can wait," he sighs, releasing the arms of her chair and standing upright, "I'm going to make you some tea to warm you up."

Before she can protest or call him back to finish their dispute, Jay already disappeared into the breakroom. Her eyes remain focused on the breakroom; the door is cracked and even though she is unable to see her husband, she knows he's in there, quickly and quietly making her a cup of tea. She's so distracted and the thought of Jay making her a cup of tea pulls a smile onto her face. He was her baby's dad. She couldn't have had a better man be the father of her baby. His actions may be more out of concern for the baby instead of her, but it shows he cares about their child. It shows that he's adapting well to her unexpected pregnancy news. Her stubbornness –and his as well- may prevent them from currently having a civil conversation, but it's nice to know that it doesn't stop him from worrying about his kid or putting the health of her pregnancy above his pride. Erin leans back in her seat, sets her hands comfortably against her tummy and smiles. They'll get through this; they'll get through this like they got through everything else.

"Somebody rang for a brief update," Tyler announced, sliding up to her dance, "who better to give the update than the person who brought the update?" Erin doesn't look interested; however, her disinterest doesn't prevent her from listening. In order to do her job, she has to listen and be aware of all the new information, and once Tyler wrapped up the last bit of his brief update, she smiled and nodded for him to walk away. She remained staring off into the direction Jay disappeared into; her attention unfocused on everything else as she waited.

Tyler doesn't listen. His feet stay planted on the ground as he waves his hand in front of her face, "Earth to Erin…" he snaps his fingers in front of her face; she immediately blinks out of her reverie, "Penny for your thoughts…"

She acknowledges his hand waving in her face and smacks it away, "Sometimes I wish I can just disappear and go to a place where nothing can go wrong in life." Erin's eyes avert to meet his.

"There is a place for that," Tyler sits against the edge of her desk.

"Yeah," Erin rolls her eyes, choosing to engage in this pointless chat, "What's it called?"

"…Heaven."

Before she could respond Jay approaches her desk, "Sorry to interrupt, here you go."

He sets her tea down and the aroma of the herbal tea fills her nose, "Thank you," she thankfully sighs, clasping her hands around the mug, "it smells divine." Jay doesn't respond; he gives her the same silent treatment he gave her in the car ride over. She doesn't miss the look he cast in Tyler's direction before walking back to his desk. She catches it all –she sees the way he avoids looking her way with Tyler sitting against her desk, she sees the way Tyler smugly glances back and forth between her and Jay. He's supposed to be wooing Burgess, not her. He's supposed to be back at his district, not hers. She's supposed to be mending her breaking marriage and reconciling with her husband. And because she saw all of that, she immediately gets up from her seat –her hot tea sitting in the center of her desk, forgotten.

Lindsay beats a short knock against Hank's office door. She doesn't stand by and wait to be invited in and instead chooses to open the door and walk inside. She leans her back against the door once she pushes it shut; her arms resting behind her leant position, and once her mouth opens to prepare to speak, Voight holds up a finger, signaling for her to hold on, "Yes, thank you," Hank nods, smiling glumly as he speaks to Trent's ex-wife, "And once again, I am sorry for your loss. I'll call you if I have any more questions." He hangs up, "Trent had no plastic surgery done. He had no alterations done to his body, at least not around the time of his death."

Erin shakes her head –overlooking his comment and getting straight to the point, "I don't want Tyler back on the case with us." Her eyes brim with redness; they're dry and soon enough, they'll eventually start to burn if her prescription eye drops aren't added.

"What?" Voight's curiosity is immediately piqued as he points towards the empty chair, hinting for her to take a seat, "Weeks ago you were his number one campaigner to get him back."

She rushes to the chair to sit down, "I know that, and even though Jay and I aren't exactly on good speaking terms, it's a new start. It's something we're going to work though and I don't want Tyler to ruin that." Her hands fumble with one another against her lap.

"What about the women who were killed?" Voight responds, using her previous argument against her, "They don't deserve to take a backseat to your marriage."

Lindsay runs her hands over her face, rubbing against the now forming stress lines creased into her forehead, "I'm confused. I don't understand. I thought you would be quick to agree." She pulls her hands away and looks at him with absolute bafflement.

"And normally," Voight pushes his hands against his desk to stand, "I would, but Tyler is finally finding out answers, he's finally doing what he's supposed to be doing; we need him right now."

"At the expense of my marriage?" She rubs her eyes to rid herself of the irritation.

"I'm going to be straight with you kid," Hank starts off, walking around his desk in order to lean against it in front of her, "you and Jay had problems long before Tyler came into the picture, if you didn't, then Tyler wouldn't be a problem right now. He wouldn't be a threat."

"He's not a threat to-"

"Let me finish," Hank interrupted, before proceeding to conclude his earlier statement, "getting rid of Tyler won't magically fix your marriage. And keeping Tyler here will test it, but it'll test it to the point where you and Jay can no longer pretend there isn't a problem. You both need to figure this out; work it all out. You deserve it. Jay deserves it. And that baby," he points towards her stomach, "definitely deserves it. Tyler will only be a problem if you continue to let him be. I'll give him a warning. I'll tell him to steer clear of you while working this case, but Erin, if anything else happens between you two, it's because you let it. It's not because he's working this case. It's not because you're seeing him every day. It's because you gave up on your marriage and gave in to the walking, talking form of temptation." He leans forward to pat his hand gently against her cheek, "Now I'm going to give you an important task…"

"Anything, as long as it's far from Tyler."

"I want you and Halstead to take the rest of the day off."

She jumps to her feet, "Are you seriously benching us?"

"No."

"Well it sounds like you are," she angrily crosses her arms over her chest, "you need all hands on deck. You already sent Burgess home for the day. The higher ups are hounding for you to close this case, benching us now isn't a good idea Hank!"

"You're not benched," Voight argued, standing upright from his leant position, "I'm sending you both home –just for the rest of the day might I add- to talk all this mess out. You both need to figure this out, at least enough so it's not coming into work with you two. I had a strict rule against in-house romances for a reason. You and Jay's arguing is affecting both of your work and is distracting my other detectives, and like you said, the higher ups are hounding me and I need answers…like yesterday," his arm is thrown over her shoulders as he walks her to his office door, "Go home kid. Talk to your husband. I want you to rest up and come back bright and early tomorrow morning."

And with his point made, she clears her throat and walks out of his office. No further argument was made because after all is said and done, she answers to him. He was her boss. She had to follow his orders. And this was his order. As she summarizes to Jay the order given out, he doesn't argue. He simply lifts his jacket and waits near Erin's desk as she slowly grabs her things. Her jacket is on, her purse is in hand, and before departing, she reaches into her pocket and pulls out her eye drops. No one bats an eye. No one looks twice in her direction –but Tyler- as she squirts two drops into each eye. She rapidly blinks. She smiles once the irritation starts to die down. Tyler is caught staring, his mouth agape in shock, "It's temporary," he hears her words, but he's still dazed out in bewilderment; it caught him completely off guard. Erin's brows crease as she pockets her eye drops, "You ready Jay?" Without a word he follows her out of the bullpen, leaving Tyler standing in front of her desk, mouth still wide open and eyes still enlarged. Her full cup of tea is left and before he is able to grab it, he hears the sergeant shout out his name. He didn't sound happy. Tyler swallows his pride, pushes his arrogance to the side and trudges along into Voight's office.

The rain has stopped by the time they left. It's foggy now and a little humid. She gets into the car, knowing that one of them will have to be the first to speak. It's her fault they're here; it's her fault they're in this situation. Erin knows it's her who will have to speak first, she just only hoped that he wouldn't ignore her, he'll actually listen and respond. She buckles the seatbelt over her stomach and lap, "Voight sent us home because of how we're acting."

"How we're acting?"

She sighs in relief when he does respond, "We're either arguing or giving each other the silent treatment. He says it's affecting our work," she feels Jay's eyes on her, "He wants us to talk it out." He turns away, focusing on the road as he pulls out of their parking spot.

"I already apologized. You didn't accept it." He shrugs it off nonchalantly.

"Saying you're sorry doesn't magically erase what you said. It doesn't take away the damage that was already done."

"Damage already done?" Are you seriously about to lecture me on damages already done?" Jay shouts, struggling to maintain the speed limit as his anger desperately urges for his foot to press down onto the gas, "How about the damage you did by kissing Tyler?"

"I didn't kiss him! He kissed me!"

"Same thing!"

"What do you want from me? No matter how much I desperately want to, I can't go back. I can't take it all back," her voice breaks; it pleads with him for an answer. Whatever he wants from her, she'll do it; she'll do it if it means they can put this all behind them. As much give as the seatbelt gave, she pulls it to loosen it up from across her chest so she's able to turn to face him, "Yes, I wish I told you about the flowers. Yes, I should have told you about the dinner he bought and the ride home he gave me. Yes I should have done more to stop him from flirting! Yes, he should have never felt comfortable enough to kiss me –a married woman! No, I shouldn't have stayed the night in his place. And no, I shouldn't have told him about the pregnancy before you."

"Wait." He abruptly presses down onto the brake in hopes of not running the stop sign, "You told him you were pregnant before you told me."

She nods, staring down at her lap and purposely avoiding eye contact, "I did…and I'm telling you because I want to lay it all out in the open Jay! I don't want to fight anymore! I'm tired of arguing!" She looks up at him; her eyes meet his and they're pleading with him.

"You told him about my baby before you told me." Jay says it again. He says it to let it settle. He says it to understand and to try and attempt to see her reasoning for it, however, he couldn't. He didn't see why she told him about his kid before he even had the luxury of knowing.

"It wasn't planned or anything," Erin defended, reaching over the armrest to grab his hand; he pulls it away, "He offered to buy me a drink and that's why I turned it down."

"Well you shouldn't have been in the bar in the first place."

"I was giving you the space you asked for. Burgess didn't answer her phone. I had nowhere to go but Molly's."

"You could have gone to Voight's or you could have come home."

"You wanted space!"

"That didn't mean stay out of the house we BOTH pay the bills on! That simply meant I'll be in one room and you be in another! It didn't mean shack up with your boyfriend!"

"You're right and I'M SORRY! I'M SORRY!"

Jay notices how Erin's hands cradle her stomach to find comfort. It has become a habit now that everyone knows she's pregnant and won't question her on it. It has become her security. No matter how alone she feels sometimes, she knows that with this baby inside of her, she's never truly alone. Her cradling her stomach makes him realize that he's never had the chance. He's never rubbed it, cradled it or even touched it. Since he found out, they haven't been on speaking terms and he honestly didn't think it would be appropriate for him to act upon his dire need to reach out and touch it. She may be pregnant with his baby but it's still her body. Her arms wrapped around her protruding belly, her eyes are closed and because of what he's seeing, his shoulders loosen up, they relax and he nods to accept her apology, "You're sorry," he repeats it, and she looks up, knowing that he has finally accepted it, "Did he touch it?"

"Touch what?" She follows his eyes and gets an answer before he even responds.

"Your stomach Erin…Did he touch your stomach?"

She shakes her head, "No, of course not"

"Good."

"What?"

"I said good; I don't want him anywhere near my baby."

"He won't be," Erin assures; at this point she'll agree to anything if it means they can stop arguing, it's taxing on her body and her main focus shouldn't be where she and her husband stand, it should this baby and this case.

"And I'm sorry for not trusting you."

The mood is definitely lighter; they're no longer arguing to over shout the other, they're talking like adults and they're truly hearing each other, "I didn't really give you a reason to trust me."

"I still shouldn't have questioned whether this baby is mine, especially with the sole intent of hurting you. I know you. I know you would never break our vows. I know you would never hurt me like that."

"I'm sorry for giving you reasons not to believe that."

"Why didn't you tell me though?"

His question breaks her heart. It pleads with her for the truth. He wants to know what's really been bothering her. Jay doesn't want her to close herself off and hide herself behind the impenetrable armor like she usually does. He wants her to follow through on her earlier words to be open and honest with him. And when she swallows her nerves, she turns to look at him; he could automatically see the hesitance in her eyes and the apprehension in her facial expression, "I don't know." Jay immediately feels defeated when he assumes she's taking the easy way out, but when he sees the calculation in her eyes, the thought into trying to form her words, he knows she isn't done talking. Erin licks her lips to loosen the hardened frown that seemed to have implanted itself, "Maybe…maybe," she stumbles over her words. This isn't like her. She's normally confident and self-aware, but Jay was always able to break the shell that she seemed so comfortable with hiding behind. Erin brushes a strand of hair behind her ear, "maybe it was because I'm scared," she finds the words, "I feel like everything in my life is moving so fast. We moved in together pretty quickly, we got married in a rush and now we're having a baby without even discussing whether or not we want kids and when the right time to have them would be," she sniffs, and wipes beneath her eye, "I'm torn Jay. Seeing that ultrasound picture pulled at my heart strings, but I also feel like having a kid will tie me down," she feels her shoulders start to relax; the more she shares with him, the better she finds herself feeling, "And we've only known Tyler for about four months and sometimes I feel like he's the only person who doesn't get mad at me or judge me. Sometimes it's easier talking to a stranger than it is a friend or a loved one."

"You could've just talked to me."

"You were busy. I didn't want to bother you."

He looks at her, "What?"

"We were having problems before Tyler came into the picture. I think the Tyler issues just helped to reveal those problems more."

"I thought we were fine."

The truth is coming out. Her truth in all of this –her feelings, her thoughts, and her actions- is all coming out. She unbuckles her seatbelt when Halstead parks the car in front of their home, "Your brother had been going through a rough patch with Natalie."

"What does that have to do with us?"

"You were helping him. You were there for him. And then after you got him back on his feet, you and your dad attempted to reconnect, but that obviously didn't work out and then Ruzek got you roped into his drama. And I really love that about you. I love that you want to help and be there for everyone."

"…but I wasn't there for you."

It clicks. Jay had been so focused on his relationships with everyone else that he stopped paying attention to his relationship with his wife. From work to Will to their dad to Ruzek, he had been stretched thin and didn't have the time for her. She would make dinner and by the time he got home, he had already eaten or was too tired to sit, catch up and eat. She would schedule a date night and he would cancel because other plans came up. It was always something. After six years of marital bliss, they were no longer in the honeymoon phase. Their union required work. Marriage wasn't just living and loving your spouse every day. It required much more than that and he wasn't doing his fair share of it. Erin recognizes the look on Jay's face, she has carried that look for the last few weeks; it's blame.

"Jay, you were…let's just not talk about this. It's nothing. It's not important anymore." She gave him the truth, it was how she felt and no one could tell her otherwise, but she didn't tell him so his feelings would get hurt or for him to take responsibility for their current marital issues, she told him so they can start working past it.

"I guess these last few months, and the months before Tyler came into the picture, I got a little distracted."

"It's not your fault; don't blame yourself," she asserts, taking another shot at grabbing his hand –this time he accepts it, "You were just being a good brother, son and friend."

"…yeah, but at the expense of being a lousy husband," he pulls his hand out of hers and steps out of the car. He slams the door behind him and begins walking up the remainder of the driveway.

"No, you're far from lousy!" As fast as her growing belly would allow, she steps out of the vehicle, shuts the door behind her and begins to scamper up the driveway, "Jay!"

He stops walking, "I spent the night over Will's apartment most days out of the week," he turns to face her as she approaches him, "You were feeling lonely. You were starting to resent me."

"I didn't resent you."

"When it didn't work out with my dad I turned to Will, I stayed there for a bit and I didn't even think about how that would make you feel."

"I get it Jay. Now, I get it. You both grew up with that man. He'll understand it more than I will. He's your brother."

"And you're my wife. I shouldn't have shut you out," he walked closer up to her and grabbed her hand, "And then Ruzek, his constant break up and make up with Burgess was just…stressing. I got so distracted by their mess, I just…" his free hand cups her face, "Er, I'm sorry."

"I'm sorry too," she emotionally admits, her face sighing and finding comfort in his opened palm, "I should have said something. I just thought if I pretended that it didn't bother me then it wouldn't. You were preoccupied and I kept telling myself that I shouldn't be upset about it. I kept telling myself I was being selfish. I didn't think I had a right to feel that way. I think I got mad and instead of turning to you for attention, I started to enjoy getting it from Tyler. I felt like I was second to everyone in your life and a part of me feels like I tried to make you feel the same way when it came to Tyler...the difference is, Tyler isn't family or a friend. He's a coworker with a crush."

"I closed myself off from you and started drawing back," it's like they're competing; they're trying to convince the other that they're more responsible. Jay's other hand cups the other side of her face, "I saw how Will and Natalie, my dad and my mom before she died and then Ruzek and Burgess' relationships were doing and I got scared that we were going to end up like that. We both started pulling away. I guess my fear pushed you away."

"It takes work to be in a marriage."

"I never knew that bothered you though."

She pulls her face out of his hold, "You know I'm not the one to admit stuff like that."

"We shouldn't keep anything to ourselves Erin," Halstead declared, holding eye contact to ensure how serious he is about the statement he made, "From this point on, we're telling each other everything no matter how we think it's going to make the other feel."

"I like that idea."

"So it's a deal," he extends his hand.

She shakes it, "It's a deal."

With their hands intertwined, they walk hand in hand up the remainder of the driveway. He feels much better. She feels slightly better. Before he can insert the key into the lock, she tugs upon his hand, "Jay," he turns to meet her eyes, "I want us to go to counseling."

Halstead resumes unlocking the door, "Is that really necessary?"

"I feel like it's worth a shot. We owe it to us, our marriage and this baby." She follows him into the house. The door is shut and locked behind her.

"Okay, tell me when and where and I'll be there."

"Thank you."

Erin hears Jay set the keys onto the side table and she quietly walks down the hallway. Her eyes scan the pictures hanging on the walls and she realizes that pretty soon she'll be adding new photos –photos of the baby. Lindsay stops in front of their wedding photo; they're smiling, they're so happy and in love. She lifts the photo off the wall, "What has happened to us?" She feels him look at the photo from over her shoulder, "We were the perfect couple."

"There's no such thing as perfection," he responds, taking a hold of the framed picture to get a better look at it.

Erin smiles, "Now you're sounding like me."

"But I know what you mean…" He hangs the photo back onto the hook, "Every couple reaches a rough patch in their marriage."

She turns to face him, discovering that he's standing closer than he's been in months, "We've only been married six years."

"This wasn't our first fight."

"It was our first big fight."

"And it probably won't be our last," he remarks, wrapping his hands gently around her upper arms, "Mr. Foster told me to not let the petty arguments get in between our marriage."

"This argument wasn't petty. You had every right to be upset."

"We should have went about it a different way."

He was right and instead of using her own hand to wipe her fallen tears away, she feels him do it; she feels him wipe each tear off her face, "I am so sorry Jay." She leans her forehead against the center of his muscular chest.

"I'm sorry too Erin."

Lindsay hesitated but then desperately wrapped her arms around him, "I need a hug," she buries her face into his shirt, "I need one of those hold and squeeze me tight, don't let go and make me smile kind of hug." He kissed the top of her head and gave in to her request.

Jay hugged her; he hugged her hard, protectively and as tight as he could without hurting her. He missed hugging her. He missed kissing her. He missed all of this. Halstead closes his eyes and pulls her in even more, he could smell the scent of her hair; he missed that too. Jay pressed another kiss against the side of her head, his nose touched her temple and he stayed like that, "I love you," his lips mumbled against the side of her face.

"I love you too."

"Us not speaking to each other," he only pulls his lips away to quickly say his next point, "that killed me. Let's not do that again…ever."

"Agreed," her voice is muffled due to her face buried into the fabric of his shirt. She's clenching onto it for dear life. A part of her feels that if she lets go, she'll wake up and find that this was all just a dream.

"I missed sleeping beside you," at his words, she snuggled further into his chest. Since they've been arguing or giving each other the silent treatment, they found it easier and more comfortable sleeping in different rooms. She feels his shirt absorb her tears and she adjusts her head so her voice isn't as muffled. She's smiling, genuinely beaming from ear to ear. His thumb rises to brush a fallen tear from her cheek, "Can we start over?"

Her head moves against his chest as she nods, "I would really like that."

"Good," he tightens his arms around her, "we've officially started over."

"Jay, there's something I should tell you…" he's nervous at her words, but the smile on her face eases his concern, "I'm pregnant."

He waits a second, and then responds, "And I'm happy."

Halstead takes his hands and gently grasps the sides of her face; he pulls her back and leans forward to press his lips against hers. They're both smiling into the kiss, occasional tears fall and mix together. His hands slide down her face and soon enough find comfort cradling and resting upon her baby bump. His face draws back, ending the kiss, but his hands remain. He's beaming; a grin stretched a mile wide as he stares at his own large hands settled upon her stomach. Erin sees the sparkle in his eye and she watches the smile on his face continue to stretch. He stoops down onto his knees and embraces in the moment he's been waiting for; his hands are on her stomach and without pulling them away, he wraps them fully around her waist and hugs her tight –his head rested against the hard frame of her protruding stomach, and they stay like that. They're content.