Once the three of them are ready, they all gather up their things and wander out together, until they get to the parking lot, where they pause.
"We're not really gonna take three different cars to get to the same place, are we?" Mouse says finally, rubbing at the back of his neck.
"I'm driving," Erin declares, swinging her keys around her finger and leading them to her car.
"Nothing new there," Jay chuckles as he and Mouse follow behind her. Mouse slides into the backseat, tossing his bag beside him while Jay and Erin climb into the front.
When they walk into the precinct, it's in the middle of a lively laughing debate about old movies – Jay loves them, Erin is on the fence, and Mouse can't stand the bad film quality and special effects.
"I tried to watch the old Doctor Who," Mouse is saying as they climb the stairs, "but the special effects were just so painful!"
"And I know how you feel about Doctor Who," Jay laughs.
"Okay, what is Doctor Who even about?"
Mouse turns to look at Erin, mouth agape. She raises her eyebrows, waiting. When he doesn't reply, she reaches out and pokes him.
"Jay, I think I broke Mouse." Jay laughs.
"How can you not even know what Doctor Who is?" Mouse exclaims finally "Do you live under a rock?"
"Maybe it's called having a life," Erin retorts, grinning.
"Hey, I have a life."
"No, you don't," Jay interjects, clapping him on the shoulder as they turn to head up the stairs to Intelligence.
"Oh, come on, both of you? That's just mean."
Erin grins wickedly.
"Oh, how the tables have turned."
Mouse shakes his head, grinning. They wait as Erin scans in to open the door, and Mouse glances behind him down the stairs to see the usual smattering of people milling about, and Platt at her desk, staring inscrutably back.
When they get upstairs, Voight is already in his office, Olinsky at his desk, and Atwater just pouring himself a cup of coffee in the break room. The three of them part ways, Mouse dropping into his seat and pulling off his jacket, then clicking on his computer.
It's a slow day, no new cases coming in, and they bum around the office catching up on paperwork. Last night, they had accidentally ended up making a much bigger batch of curry than they intended, but it means that they have a lot of leftovers. Come lunchtime, the three of them heat it up in the microwave and sit at the little round table.
"So it's about alien invasions?" Erin furrows her brows as she scoops up another spoonful.
"No," Mouse exclaims exasperatedly. "Well, I mean, kinda, sometimes… But not really. It's about the Doctor, who's a Time Lord, which is an alien species, and he travels in time and space in his space ship, and he takes along companions, usually humans, and they visit other times and planets."
"Yeah huh. And there's the old series, and then a reboot?"
"No, the 2005 series is a continuation of the old series."
"But wouldn't the actors be old now?" Mouse shakes his head.
"No, that's the magic of Doctor Who, is that regeneration, which is a thing Time Lords do, lets them change actors while maintaining the story. There've been 12 Doctors – well, 13 technically."
"And you want me to watch it."
"Oh, come on," Mouse says, pouting at the skeptical look on her face. "I was right about How to Train Your Dragon."
Erin glances helplessly at Jay, who shakes his head, laughing.
"Sorry, you'll get no help from me. He dragged me into watching it years ago." Erin groans, flopping her head on the table theatrically. Mouse grins while Jay laughs, the three of them ignorant of the strange glances being thrown their way by their colleagues out in the bullpen.
The afternoon drags on slowly, until finally Voight sends them off and the team closes up shop. Mouse shuts down his computer, pulling on his jacket and meeting up with Jay and Erin as they head down the stairs.
"I'm thinking pizza," Jay says as they walk down the stairs. "What do you guys think?"
"Sounds good," Erin agrees, rummaging in her bag for her keys. "Mouse?"
"Pizza works. And you put your keys in the other pocket, Erin."
Erin frowns at her bag and gives an exasperated sigh, opening the other pocket and pulling out her keys.
"Thanks. You still got beer in the fridge, Jay, or should we stop and get some?"
"I think I'm just about out."
"I've got some at my place, if we swing by there we can grab it," Mouse adds, as they push out the doors to outside.
"And you can grab whatever you need if you're gonna stay over. Perfect," Erin says, unlocking the car as they walk up. They slide in, and Erin pulls smoothly out of the parking space to drive off, leaving Ruzek and Atwater exchanging raised eyebrows in the parking lot.
"Grab the beer out of the fridge, I'll just be a minute," Mouse calls out as he leads the way into his apartment. He heads right for his room, pulling some clean clothes out of the closet, rolling them up and putting them in his backpack. He turns at a quiet knock on the doorframe to see Erin poking her head in.
"Hey," she says, hesitantly stepping into the room. "I just wanted to ask if, uh, if Jay knows about…"
"Yeah, I told him about it." He tosses her a smile, which she returns with a huffed laugh.
"Which would be why he didn't question how I knew where your place was." She nods to herself, slipping her hands into her pockets and taking a step back towards the door. He takes a breath, fingers clenching around the balled-up socks in his hand.
"Hey, I've been," he begins, pausing to take another breath as Erin looks up curiously. "I've been wanting to ask… why didn't you call Jay? When – you know."
Erin furrows her brows, blinking in surprise with parted lips.
"Oh, uh." She tucks a strand of hair behind one ear. "It didn't really occur to me, actually. I was kind of just… focused on getting here and making sure you were okay." Erin hesitates, frowning slightly at the floor. "Should I have? Called Jay?" She looks up uncertainly.
"No, no, you did fine," he scrambles to reassure her. "I was just… just wondering." Her shoulders relax in relief and she smiles again.
"Okay. I'm gonna-" She points one thumb over her shoulder, backing out swinging around the corner of the doorframe. Mouse looks down at the socks in his hands, frowning in thought, trying to figure out how he feels about what Erin said. He sighs, shaking his head, and shoves the socks into the bag along with the rest of his things, tugging the zipper closed and swinging it onto one shoulder. Erin and Jay are waiting in the kitchen; Erin leaning on the counter, Jay with one arm braced on it, standing close enough to each other that Erin's bent knee brushes Jay's leg, talking quietly. The way their bodies seems to pull towards each other like magnets sends a melancholy pang through Mouse. Jay notices Mouse over Erin's shoulder and looks up, Erin turning her head to follow his eyes.
"Got your stuff?" Jay asks. Mouse nods with a smile.
"Got the beer?"
Jay turns to lift the six pack off the counter. Erin pushes off to stand straight, and Jay laces his free hand through hers as the three of them leave the apartment. Mouse clicks off the lights and pulls the creaking door shut with a click, locking it behind them.
Walking through the door into Jay's apartment, Mouse is struck by how different it feels from his own. Where Mouse's apartment ranges from just a little too cold to really cold in all but the hottest weather, Jay's is pleasantly warm. But it's not just about the temperature; it's that he is suddenly struck by how much more this place feels like home, as Jay and Erin pull off their jackets, flicking on the lights. The beer bottles clink in their cardboard casing as Jay slides them onto the kitchen table, fishing his phone out of his pocket.
"The usual, Mouse?"
"I don't know why you even bother to ask anymore," Mouse says grinning.
Jay shrugs.
"You never know, right? Erin?"
"Tropical heatwave," she tosses over her shoulder on her way out of the room. "I'll be back in a minute, go ahead and order."
By the time the pizza arrives, they've popped the caps off a couple of beers, sitting around the table, and Mouse is trying to wrangle Erin into agreeing to start watching Doctor Who that night. Finally, Erin turns exasperatedly to Jay, who has been watching in silent amusement.
"I'm never gonna win this, am I?" Jay grins widely, shaking his head.
"You might as well give in gracefully."
Mouse laughs and Erin huffs, shaking her head.
"Man, who knew you were so stubborn?"
Mouse grins, but any reply is interrupted by the buzz of the doorbell, and Jay hops out of his chair.
"That'd be the pizza."
Erin follows Jay into the hall, and Mouse can hear them talking to the delivery guy as he pulls plates out of the cupboard and sets them on the table. Erin walks back in, holding the stack of cardboard boxes, putting them down as Jay sees off the delivery guy and pulls the door closed, locking it with a click. Mouse grabs a couple of napkins while Erin sorts out the pizza.
"Meatlover's, that's Jay's, Tropical Heatwave, mine," she mutters to herself, "and… veggie?" She looks over at Mouse, passing him the pizza box with one raised eyebrow as Jay comes back into the room and slides into his chair. "I would not have figured you for a veggie guy. I mean, you're not vegetarian."
Mouse shrugs, smiling as he tugs two pieces out of the box and onto his plate.
"It was my mom's favorite. She used to say, uh," he chuckles softly, "she used to say that you had to have veggie to balance out the unhealthiness of the pizza. It was the only kind she would eat. I hated it when I was a kid, my dad and I stuck together with our meat, but the first time I ordered pizza when I was living alone, I just ordered veggie, and it stuck." Erin has an odd pensive look on her face, and Mouse shrugs again. He glances over at Jay, who is watching him with a sad knowing smile.
"That's really sweet," Erin says, smiling. "You know, I don't even know anything about your family." Mouse fiddles with the label on his beer. "I mean, you don't have to tell me, but I'm curious." Mouse clears his throat slightly, swallowing past the fluttering of anxiety in his chest.
"Um, well, I'm an only child. Chicago, born and raised. Dad worked for a tech company, my mom was a receptionist at a big name law firm. They met in college, got married a few years after they graduated and had me." Mouse pauses, frowning slightly at the half-eaten slice of pizza on his plate. "I was 14 when my dad was diagnosed with early onset Parkinson's; 15 when he killed himself." He hears Erin's sharp intake of breath but doesn't look at her. He does glance up at Jay, who meets his gaze with a gentle smile and sad eyes. "My mom… she stopped really living after that, and I was just finishing my first year of college when she had an aneurysm, and died. I dropped out of college and enlisted." The label on his beer begins to peel and tear, so he drops his hands flat to the table and looks up.
Erin opens her mouth, then seems to stop herself, brow furrowing, and for a second Mouse's stomach roils with fear that the words about to come out of her mouth are "I'm sorry." Erin huffs a quick breath and leans back slightly in her chair.
"Well. We're a right set of sob stories, aren't we?"
Mouse cracks up, laughter made slightly breathless by relief, and Erin and Jay join in, dispelling the creeping shadows of grief. The shadows stay at bay through the evening as they talk around the table, and then as they move to the living room where Mouse grins in anticipation, watching Erin as the familiar "ooooooweeeeeoooo" fills the room. At first, Erin tosses out jokingly acidic comments and criticisms, but Mouse watches and listens as her questions eventually become genuine and he knows that the show has her attention. Some of her questions he answers, but mostly he stays silent, giving her a knowing "you'll see" grin, which eventually causes her to swat at him with a pillow, Jay laughing between them all the time.
AN: As always REVIEWS make me incredibly happy and I would love to hear from you.