One more update until the payoff. Enjoy!

xxxx

Erin checked on the pan in the oven again, ignoring Kim's instructions to just let it bake. Burgess had dropped off the King Ranch Chicken figuring it was for her friend and Jay. When Halstead rolled into 21, she gave him a confused look that he met with a "what's up?" expression.

"Uh, hey Halstead," she mumbled, scooting off to find Roman. Best to keep my mouth shut, the officer thought.

Erin had an early morning appointment, no sonogram, nothing special, but Kelly showed up as he always did. Her invitation to come over for lunch after almost knocked the fireman over. Things had warmed considerably since the apartment fire, but it was like a ban had been lifted, not the reunion Kelly hoped for. He would take what he could get.

"Lunch sounds good, but I gotta stop by 51, probably kiss some ass. 12:30 too late?" Severide didn't want to miss this chance to spend time with the gorgeous brunette, but he'd been summoned by Boden.

"That's perfect. It'll give me time to throw something together," Erin replied, thankful Kim had done the actual throwing.

"Hold up, Lindsay. You ain't cookin' are you? I wanna see another shift, and I've tasted your…" Kelly laughed, crossing his arms, a devilish grin spreading across his face.

"That is not fair," Erin protested, crossing her arms. "It's been a while. I've improved."

"You got one thing right. It has been a while," Kelly agreed. He stepped forward a little, brushing the side of her cheek, his fingers lingering over a dimple. "I'll be back."

"You better," she replied softly.

XXXX

Chief was in his office staring at paperwork, his brain not reading a word. All his thoughts were on the meeting he had with Severide.

He knew Kelly was being courted by at least two houses, both wanting to add him as a squad lieutenant. This was Boden's last ditch effort to keep his man where he belonged.

Herrmann popped his head in not bothering to knock.

"I heard from a buddy at 27 that they're makin' a play for Severide. It's a good house, good guys. And they're busy as hell. What are we gonna do?" Christopher asked.

"I don't know what I can do. If Kelly's leaving, he's leaving," Chief answered, getting up to pour two glasses from his not so secret stash. "He's got it in his mind that I didn't fight hard enough for him."

Boden waited for Herrmann to say something, call the accusation bullshit, but he received a heavy silence instead.

"You want to weigh in on this?" Chief asked.

"Nah. I know you did all you could."

Boden could hear Kelly's words, remembering each and every one during their last blow out. The pointed, round about way the fireman brought up Casey. Casey's head injury,

"You didn't know I was fillin' out his reports?!" Kelly fumed. "I ain't buyin' that for a minute."

"You should have come to me if you had concerns about Matt," Boden stuck to his principles, those principles that Severide was saying twisted and bent as chief saw fit.

"You wanna stick your head in the sand? That's fine. I just ain't watchin' it anymore!" he slammed the door on his way out, more determined than ever to leave this house, to find a new home. A place where his talents would be appreciated.

Boden didn't get to bring up overlooking an addiction, a missing painkiller, mysteriously gone from Shay's ambo.

"Say it," Chief boomed now to his oldest friend in the house, pushing thoughts of Kelly's words away with another gulp of amber liquid.

Herrmann shrugged, offering, "You support all the guys, Chief." He sighed, adding, "Maybe some more than others."

Before Boden could respond the topic of all this talk showed up. Kelly knocked at the door, hearing a loud, "Come in."

"Severide," Christopher acknowledged, fake punching the younger man in the gut.

"Ahh," Kelly joked. "Hey, give Kenny a kiss for me. While you're at it, give one to your wife too."

"Watch it now!" Hermann answered, laughing as he headed back to the common room.

"Chief," Kelly said waiting for Boden to tell him to take a seat.

Chief poured a glass for his lieutenant, motioning for Severide to make himself comfortable.

"No thanks," Kelly said, pushing the glass away. "Got an appointment after this, don't wanna show up lit."

"Wouldn't be with 27, would it?" Chief asked, eyes narrowing. "Heard they're after your ass."

"No, somethin' more, uh, personal. Not business," Kelly said honestly, wondering who the gossip mongers were.

"Kelly," Chief let out a sigh. Isn't that how I've started every damn time, Boden thought. Time to change it up. Time for some honesty. Time for some soul searching.

"I asked you to come here today to convince you to stay. To tell you we need you. To tell you we're family. But if you got one foot outta this house already, there isn't a damn thing I can do to make you stay." Chief began, garnering raised eyebrows from the fireman sitting before him.

"Let's toast your years of serving this house, giving everything you've got to this house." Boden pushed the glass back in front of Kelly who took a small sip.

"I think we are so much alike, sometimes I forget you're you and I think I'm lookin' at myself 20 some odd years ago," Chief continued slowly. "Sometimes we treat the people we care about most… the worst."

"Chief, it's okay," Kelly said, uncomfortable with this kinder, gentler Boden.

"No. No it's not okay," he said taking another large gulp before filling his glass again. "I'm tough on you because you can take it. Because I don't want you to make the same mistakes I did. Kelly, I think of you like a …"

"Chief, I ain't goin' anywhere," Kelly interrupted. "You know Erin's pregnant. I don't need any other changes in my life."

Boden choked on his last sip, coughing roughly at the good news. "Well, this calls for something more than this," he said lifting up his glass. Chief opened his bottom drawer pulling out a couple of Cubans. "They legal," he noted with a conspiratorial look, words becoming more slurred.

He led the squad guy out through the back, cutting off the tip of his stogie, lighting it up and watching as his man did the same. Kelly wondered how chief could hear the rumblings of a couple of houses but miss his news. He was trying to keep Erin's pregnancy to himself, maybe everyone was doing the same. But even Mouch?

"So, we good Kelly?" Boden asked, white teeth spreading in a grin.

"Yeah, we're good Chief," Severide answered.

"Good man," Boden added patting him on the back. "You're gonna be a dad?" he questioned, his smile growing wider.

XXXX

"You cooked this?" Kelly asked incredulously, going in for seconds.

"You saw it come out of my oven, didn't you?" Erin answered, acting insulted over the correct accusation that she had no part in making the dish.

"Yeah, I saw it in your oven, but I'm thinkin' Gabby has her hand in this," Kelly searched.

"Gabby did not have her hand in this. Do you think it's possible for an old girl to learn new tricks?" Erin asked coyly, her dimples and eyes showing a joy they hadn't seen in some time.

"Hmmm, maybe Burgess," Kelly was still fishing. "And the only old thing in this house is me," he joked.

"You got me," she finally admitted, "Kim whipped this up for me, for us."

The pair talked about the baby, hopes for their unborn child … the conversation never skipping a beat. It was as if they'd never been apart. It was as if they each hadn't suffered the most heart- ripping loss of their lives. The lightness in Erin's laugh filled all the empty spaces in Kelly's heart. He felt whole for the first time in a long time and the detective was getting there.

He wasn't thinking when he kissed her.

They were doing the dishes when Erin "accidentally" sprayed Kelly with water, setting off a water fight that ended with both being soaked. She dropped to the floor, laughing at the sorry state of her T-shirt, her hair.

Kelly dropped down next to her. "I needed this," she said through laughs.

He took her dripping face in his hands and brushed his lips against hers, softly, the touch sparking her senses alive. She felt a warmth rise up from deep within as she pressed her lips in harder. Kelly's tongue tickled the roof of her mouth, their faces pushing in. The fireman's hands yanked off his wet shirt, helping with hers.

Erin pulled back suddenly, grabbing at her sopping shirt to hold it up in front of her bra like a shield. "Not like this," she whispered wanting nothing more than to let Kelly pick her up and lead her to her bed.

Severide looked like he'd been kicked in the teeth, his mouth slightly open, his brows raised in confusion.

Erin brushed the back of her hand across his stubbled cheek, wiping away the sad look instantly. "I want this," she said, smiling. "But not yet."

She thought of Jay's toothbrush positioned next to hers in her bathroom. Not yet, she thought, a knot arising in her gut, one that said everything just got a whole lot more complicated.

XXXX

Hormonal. I've gotta be hormonal.

Or just crazy. Erin settled on crazy.

The talk with Jay began with the detective not knowing what to say, how to say that she wasn't sure what she wanted. It ended with Halstead saying he loved her, wanted to grow old with her, and couldn't imagine his life without her.

She found herself in his arms, wrapped in a strong warmth that she couldn't let go of. It was a security blanket she wouldn't let go of. She didn't confess anything about Kelly The words she thought she was going to say never materialized.

That toothbrush remained.

XXXX

"I ain't beggin' Erin. I won't," Kelly said trying to keep his tone even, calm. He could hear Shay's voice coaching him.

"I would never want that, Kelly," Erin replied, so unsure of what she was going to say next. How could she do this to him?

"Are you sure this is what you want? He's who you want?" he asked, forcing her to say the words. If she was going to pick Jay, then she sure as hell would have to tell him straight out. He was going to make damn sure of that.

"No," she said, her voice a shadow.

"Then what are we talkin' about here? First, you say you and Halstead have something real. We have something real, Erin. We shared something real. Now you're tellin me we don't?"

"I'm not saying that. I think I'm hormonal. I know I'm confused. It's just that if there weren't any baby… Jay says if there wasn't a baby would I even be…" Erin broke off, heartbroken at breaking Kelly's heart.

"There is a baby. Erin there is a baby. Our baby. Just give us a chance. I'm askin' for a shot, that's it." Kelly thought about Chief's words, "If you've got one foot outta this house already…"

Erin was a jumbled mess, feeling one way one minute and a completely different way the next. She cared about Jay, so much. She cared about the fireman, so much.

Shit. Am I in love with both?

XXXX

Kelly threw himself in his work, pulling every double shift Boden would allow. The captain who never quite fit in was finally shuffled off to another house deemed more in need of assistance. Severide was officially back on as lieutenant of squad. It was an empty victory.

Erin tried to keep her distance from both men in her life, telling them that she needed to focus on the baby, get herself whole again.

With Severide at 51 all the time now, it was easy to avoid him. She couldn't help but notice he was making it easy. His terse texts were all about appointments and baby furniture. You can only push a man so far. Push a man away so many times. Was she even avoiding him or was he avoiding her?

Halstead was a constant work companion, harder to push out. They'd grab a lunch here and there, stop for dinner once in a while. It was usually with her whole team, sometimes just the two of them.

Want to check out the nursery tomorrow?

Erin sent the text after a long day and night of heavy surveillance. She was so sleepy she could barely keep her eyes open. She'd been thinking of the fireman all day, chalking it up to the fact that he was the father of her child. She hadn't seen him in over a week, so of course she was needing to see him, she rationalized.

Can't. Working.

His reply was short and not sweet. A few seconds later came… Day after?

Perfect, she replied.

She smiled as she let her head hit her welcoming pillow, heavy lids succumbing to sleep. Erin's dreams held a fireman in them, a fireman who was holding her face in his strong hands. She could feel those hands as they brushed back her hair with a gentleness hidden beneath the callouses. His muscled arms held her body so close, the feel of his legs intertwined with hers in a tangled mess that was a web of longing. As his head pressed against her, she could feel the scratchiness of the stubble on his face lightly rake her delicate neck. She loved that starting of a beard he wore, loved the way it felt. His mouth kissed the trail his scruff mapped out, going lower, lingering in the hollow of her hip. She woke up at midnight needing a glass of ice water. She gulped down half of it, settling on a cold shower. Sleep be damned.

XXXX

Erin waited nervously for Kelly to show up. He said he'd take a quick shower at 51, pick up take out, and be over by 3:00.

She got a text at 2:00… might be late. heading to a call. sorry

At 3 she tried texting. Then calling. Then worrying.

At 4 she got in her car, 51 her destination.

At 6 she was at Lakeshore.

XXXX

I won't leave you hanging for long. Thank you to those reviewing (you make me smile) and those enjoying the ride.