By Sunday afternoon they had reached saturation point. Monday had seen them avoiding each other, something that was considerably difficult in a one bedroom apartment. They had run out of things to do early on, the place was spotless, the crib in place, baby clothes sorted and organized into drawers and meals in the freezer to reduce cooking time. It got to the point that they resorted to communicating entirely in sighs. In a final attempt to spend time together Erin suggested they watch a movie, they argued over what to watch for almost an hour then watched the news instead.
"I love you and all but I'm really looking forward to work tomorrow" Erin said shaking her head.
"Yeah, me too" He agreed rubbing his forehead.
"I'm going to have a shower then go to bed" She informed with a yawn before leaving him alone on the couch. He sat there for a few more minutes then remembered he had to put the dishwasher on before bed. Erin emerged from the bathroom, wrapped in a towel, five minutes later. She stomped out to the kitchen and turned the dishwasher off, when it was on the shower only had two temperatures: freezing cold or insanely hot.
"I'm so sorry" He said watching her trudge back into the bathroom, she slammed the door in response. By the time she got into bed he was fast asleep.
Starting the working week on Tuesday was strange but both Kelly and Erin were eager to get away from each other. They both slipped back into the routine of work, Kelly leading from the sidelines and Erin taking it easy. Time flew and before they knew it they were sitting in the waiting room at the medical clinic waiting to see if the changes they made had brought their baby back into the normal size range.
"Erin Lindsay" The nurse called. By now they were familiar with the layout of the building and didn't need to be escorted to the consultation room. Erin was too nervous to make small talk so instead they got straight to business.
"Still don't want to know the gender?" The sonographer checked.
"Nope, gotta keep the betting fair" Kelly answered knowing they hadn't really discussed the topic.
"Who's betting?" The sonographer asked politely as she went about making her measurements.
"Guys from work, Jay got the rest of your unit in on it too" Kelly revealed, Erin had no idea he'd even spoken with Jay recently.
"Really? What's more popular?" Erin asked feeling slightly left out.
"It's pretty even at the moment, your lot reckon it's a boy" He informed, surprising her.
"Did Hank get involved?" She wondered aloud.
"He was the only one who put money on it being a girl" He answered taking in every detail on the screen. The baby had definitely grown but whether or not it was enough was still in question.
"Baby was small last time?" The sonographer asked looking across from the screen for the first time.
"Yeah, I had blood tests and we've changed things up a little" Erin answered pleased the baby was finally looking fully human.
"We'll you're lucky, it's just within the normal range. Keep doing whatever it is because it's working" The sonographer announced. Erin was ridiculously pleased with herself, and thankful that she hadn't given up on the yoga classes. The yoga itself didn't relieve her stress but whispering and joking with Lara was certainly comic relief.
"Good job" Kelly congratulated, he had noticed her anxiety but didn't want to put any more pressure on her. She did enough of that all by herself.
"So are you starting to get ready for the baby? Any name ideas?" The sonographer asked while she conducted a final check of the baby.
"We haven't even started talking about names yet" Kelly realized suddenly.
"We have some stuff together though, we're trying to be minimalistic" Erin answered, in truth they didn't have space for more than the bare essentials. They already had enough clothing for the first year and they'd already resorted to vacuum storage bags.
"Sounds like you're on the right track, you've still got a while to go" The sonographer said packing away her equipment. Kelly helped Erin up and they were done again for another five weeks.
"Thank you" Erin added as they left the room. The appointment hadn't taken as long as they had expected so they decided to have lunch together before going their separate ways.
"We should talk about names" Kelly suggested when their food arrived.
"Any suggestion?" She asked knowing she had absolutely no idea. It was a big enough responsibility making the baby she didn't want to be in charge of naming it as well.
"Not really, I figured you'd have some" He answered after taking a moment to think.
"Nope, I haven't really considered it yet" She said not even knowing where to start.
"Aren't little girls supposed to spend their time naming their future kids" He said before thinking, then he regretted opening his mouth.
"I had better things to do, and I never saw myself having a child" She answered honestly.
"I'm sorry" Kelly said, they ate in silence for a few moments both thinking about potential names.
"I don't like long names" Erin said.
"Short and simple is good" He responded before pulling out his phone. He read through a list of short baby names from a trendy website most of which Erin immediately rejected. The only names she liked even slightly were Evan and Olivia, she thought they were too boring and normal. They finished lunch and said goodbye then headed to work, Kelly to start a new shift and Erin to check in before going to yoga. Voight was elated to hear that everything was back on track with the baby and convinced her that they were well on the way to making an arrest. She could go to class and not have to worry about work.
Erin was less than pleased to find that even Kelly's shirts were a tight fit. She had succumbed to elasticated jeans but was yet to follow the tunic trend popular in maternity wear. Erin stopped by the firehouse to complain on the way to class but Kelly was more pleased than sympathetic.
"I like the squad shirt" Dawson commented as she walked past. Erin suddenly realized that she was wearing one of his squad shirts, Cerberus emblem emblazoned on the back. She considered going home knowing that Stephanie, the leader of the 'monster mums' would certainly comment. Then again she didn't care and knew it would be worse to be late for class. Lara came to Erin's rescue when Stephanie brought up the shirt by suggesting that Stephanie was just jealous her husband had an office job not something as manly as elite firefighting. Stephanie did not appreciate the criticism and purposely stood on the yoga mat Erin was trying to put away at the end of the session. Discussing the clothing dilemma with Lara turned out be a good idea, instead of going to coffee Lara took her to a tiny boutique that sold the most normal looking maternity wear Erin had seen. Two months further along than Erin, Lara was well known in the store. Pleased with her purchases she headed home to reheat Lasagna for dinner, watch crappy TV and go to bed.
I apologise, this chapter isn't exactly what I had planned but I had an incredibly hectic day (tends to happen when family visit for the holidays). This is the first chapter I am genuinely hesitant to post but I'm too time poor to fix it. I am so thankful for the reviews I got yesterday, I know I'm harsh on myself and without your kind words I tend to procrastinate over the silliest things (English vs American spelling etc.). Knowing that you guys don't care about the minor details and just want to read the story puts the right type of pressure on me to keep updating!