With the end of the heatwave life returned to normal, work consuming most of their time. Any and all free time was spent with Shay, she was getting closer to walking every day. Kelly and Erin were concerned they were going to miss this major milestone. It got to the point that Cindy was dropping Shay off at District 21 each afternoon as part of the school run. Typically by this point in the day the intelligence unit would be finishing of their case and starting paperwork. Unfortunately Shay wasn't as easy to manage as she had been as a smaller baby, she could be incredibly loud and required constant entertainment. Shay's favourite game was hiding under desks without their occupant realising. Initially Erin had been worried to give Shay freedom to roam the office space but everyone seemed to keep an eye on her so the risk was acceptably low. Even the unit's newest member Hayden Powell, a computer technician, enjoyed Shay's presence. As a new father himself he had gone to the effort of fitting a pull down blind to their case board. Despite everyone's best efforts Erin still jumped to her feet every time Shay started to cry. Erin was sitting at her desk typing up a recount of their day when Shay screamed. Erin moved so quickly that her computer mouse was left dangling over the edge of her desk.
"I don't know what happened" Atwater said quickly as Antonio, who had been walking past at the time, picked up Shay and handed her to Erin. Shay continued to scream as Erin assessed the cut above her eye, speaking to her soothingly the entire time.
"She was trying to use the drawer to stand up" Antonio explained as he handed Erin some tissues.
"What's going on?" Voight questioned as he exited his office to investigate the cause of the commotion.
"Shay's hurt herself" Erin explained dabbing at the cut while rocking Shay.
"Is she okay?" Voight asked rushing over to see how badly hurt Shay was.
"She'll be fine" She replied, the cut was quite small, running vertically through Shay's eyebrow and only bleeding a little.
"You should still go get her checked out" Voight encouraged, his judgement of the severity of injuries especially clouded when it came to Shay.
"It's nothing, I'll just keep an eye on her" Erin said after assessing her options. A doctor's appointment was out of the question, Shay's paediatrician was the best in the city with a tightly packed schedule. Going to the hospital would be a complete overreaction.
"Really? You set a land speed record getting to her but you aren't going to get her checked out by a doctor?" Halstead interrupted.
"She's fine, kids fall over and hurt themselves all the time" Erin justified, it helped that Shay had stopped crying.
"I can call Gabby" Antonio offered trying to diffuse the tension.
"I'll stop by the firehouse on the way home. If I was worried I wouldn't still be standing here" Erin lied, she had started to question her reaction to the situation. Shay was calm and quiet, the cut had stopped bleeding, and there was really no need for medical intervention. At the same time Erin knew she would feel dreadful if something did come of the accident.
"Okay, get back to work then" Voight said as he watched the battle of looks.
"I'm really sorry Erin" Atwater said trapped at his desk where everyone had crowded around.
"It's not your fault at all" Erin replied patting Atwater's shoulder before heading back over to her desk. Shay was happily snuggled to her mother's chest, sucking on her fist. Erin got on with her report trying to ignore the way Halstead was constantly giving her a disapproving look. She tried to see his reaction as a positive, it meant he cared about Shay, but it was still frustrating seeing as he wasn't a parent. Of course she felt bad, guilty even, Shay wouldn't even be there if she wasn't close to walking. That meant she was going to pull herself up using anything she could reach, Erin should have chosen a safer environment. As she handed in her report and left for the night she was hit by a wave of anxiety. What was Kelly going to say? If not for the tiny part of her that needed to be sure Shay was alright, Erin probably wouldn't have stopped by the firehouse. "I'm sorry baby" Erin told Shay as she smoothed her eyebrow a little to minimise the appearance of the cut. Taking a deep breath she walked into the firehouse, she wanted to talk to Kelly before finding Gabby so she headed straight for the squad table.
"Heads up! Ladies incoming" Cruz called as soon as Erin entered the building, she thought it was highly suspicious but knew it wasn't her priority. As she neared the table the cards were scooped off into a fire helmet and hidden under a chair.
"What's up?" Kelly asked jumping out of his seat to welcome his family.
"I'm here to see Gabby but figured I'd fill you in first. Shay had a little bit of an accident and cut her eyebrow" Erin said knowing that if she didn't get it out straight away she wouldn't avoid bringing it up at all.
"Oh baby" Kelly said, leaning down to kiss Shay. "She looks fine, and it's not your fault" He assured before kissing Erin's forehead as well.
"You weren't even there! But thank you" She replied with a nod.
"Dawson was in the kitchen last I saw, when you're done with her we need to talk" Kelly said
"Okay" Erin said hesitantly, 'we need to talk' was rarely followed by a positive.
"It's nothing bad" He laughed watching her carefully.
"Okay" She said with a shrug as she walked off. Gabby was lounging on the couch with Mouch and Pouch watching the news intently. As soon as she saw Erin and Shay she got up.
"God I need baby cuddles" Gabby groaned, she hadn't had a very good day.
"She's not really feeling up to it at the moment, she had a bit of an accident" Erin explained quickly before adjusting the way she was holding Shay so that the cut was visible.
"Poor thing" Gabby said having a closer look. "It really isn't anything to be worried about, it's closed up nicely and as long as she's behaving normally you don't need to be concerned."
"She's a little clingy" Erin added making sure Gabby had all the information she needed for a proper assessment.
"Probably scared herself" Gabby reasoned giving Shay's hand a gentle squeeze.
"Thank you" Erin said, normally she would stay and chat but Kelly's request was on her mind.
"No problem" Gabby said before making her way back to the couch. Erin headed straight back to the squad table, this time they weren't quick enough to clear away their cards.
"Nice" Erin commented noticing the scarcely clothed model on the back of the cards.
"They were a gift" Kelly defended quickly.
"I honestly don't care" She laughed.
"Right, let's go" He said throwing in his cards then leading her outside. They stood in the cool breeze for a few moments, Erin waiting expectantly while Kelly tried to organise his thoughts and phrase things properly. "So you've seen the news yeah?" He questioned.
"I have but you might need to be more specific" Erin answered wondering if she'd missed something.
"The bushfires in Colorado are really bad, they're losing entire towns. The fire department are asking for volunteer teams. I talked to my guys and we voted that we'd put our names down. Nothing has happened yet but I just wanted you to know. I would have discussed it with you first but it was an all or none situation with my squad" Kelly explained with a frown, it had sounded better in his head.
"That's fine, it's your job. I'd feel bad knowing you turned down the opportunity to help people just to hang around with Shay and I. We'd manage without you. Of course I'd rather not have to but… basically what I'm saying is that it's fine!"
"Nothing's official but we'll know more pretty soon" He said reaching across to rub Shay's back, she was slowly drifting to sleep.
"How long would you have to go for?" She asked starting to wonder what she'd agreed to. Having seen the news footage showing the destruction, the scale of the situation was unfathomable. It wouldn't be an easy fire to extinguish.
"I don't know at this point, no less than a week" Kelly answered tentatively.
"No point stressing until we know more. I'm going to head home and get Shay to bed" Erin resolved.
"Okay, I'll see you in the morning" Kelly agreed pulling them both into a quick hug.
"I'll text when she's asleep" Erin assured as she turned to walk away. Kelly watched them drive away then headed back inside.
Hello! I'm not really sure what the procedure is for bushfires in America but here in Australia we send teams interstate all the time for big fires (which are unfortunately very common – we've had two major bushfires burning most of this week). I picked Colorado because when I googled 'American bushfires' it was the first state to come up, highly creative of me). I look forward to seeing you all again tomorrow :D