"What's wrong?" Kelly asked as Erin took out her frustrations on the clean dishes she was putting away.
"Nothing" She lied slamming the cupboard door regardless of the fact that Shay was still sleeping, Kelly had been as well only moments earlier.
"Voight" He guessed.
"I called in sick" She replied slamming the empty dishwasher closed.
"That bad?" He asked suddenly concerned.
"I just don't want to deal with it right now" She explained, she felt tired and confused. Her happiness shouldn't hinge on Voight's approval but he had done so much for her that she felt she owed him.
"What about the case you're working on? Don't those kids deserve to know who killed their parents" Kelly said hoping to motivate her to put the Voight drama aside in favour of the case.
"They can figure it out without me" Erin said after taking a sip of the scalding coffee.
"Okay then" He agreed, stepping past her to start preparing Shay's breakfast, combining the cereal and milk early gave it time to soften. Erin stepped back and watched as Kelly moved through his morning routine. Shay was perplexed to see her mother still there for breakfast but didn't let it distract her from her food. Erin attempted to go back to bed to read but she found herself stuck on the same line of text, reading it over and over again, unable to focus. Catching herself trying to solve the Voight dilemma she decided she needed to do something useful.
"Laundry" She said to herself as she jumped out of bed and headed purposefully through the house. She carried the sheets she had avoided folding over the weekend to the dining room table, laying fitted sheets out flat was the only way she could fold them into a somewhat regular shape. Halfway through folding the sheet she had a better idea. Erin picked them up and carried them to the couch. Kelly and Shay were in the process of destroying the city they had constructed using blocks but both stopped to watch. Erin dragged the coffee table out of the way then pulled the cushions from the couch to make walls. She stopped for a moment to admire her work then dashed to the dining room, returning with two chairs. A moment later she had completed the construction phase by draping sheets over her construction and moved on to furnishing. Pillows and blankets covered the floor inside the compact blanket fort. She crawled in, pulled a blanket over herself and lay down. Shay was quick to join her, almost collapsing the fort in the process. Kelly was hesitant to join in, concern for Erin growing as he watched her revert to such childlike behaviour. Eventually it got to the point he could no longer resist discovering the source of the laughter.
"Room for one more?" He questioned as he pulled the sheet across to make an entrance.
"Of course" Erin replied, shifting a little to make room for him. Kelly crawled into the space and lay down.
"Are you sure you're okay?" He asked reaching across to hold her hand.
"I'm not" She answered honestly for once. "But I don't want to talk about it, or think about it. I just want to spend some time with you and Shay, she's growing so quickly and I don't want to forget this" She continued.
"Alright, lets make some rules for our little sanctuary" He suggested after taking a moment to process what she had said.
"No talking about work" She suggested instantly.
"Or other people, this is a family only space" He informed.
"No nana" Shay voiced ensuring they kept her recent aversion to banana in mind.
"No lying or avoiding a question" Erin put forward after acknowledging Shay's rule.
"Only say positive things" He said triumphantly. The silence stretched as they both tried to think of new rules.
"I can't think of anything else" She said when she realised her mind had started to wander.
"Neither, I think that's enough though" He replied.
"We can always add more later" Erin reminded.
"Exactly. What now?" Kelly asked unable to resign himself to just laying around all day.
"Now we can talk" She stated.
"About?" He said, seeking clarification.
"Anything" She said, nodding resolutely.
"Mama, hug" Shay demanded before throwing herself at her mother.
"What are we doing for Shay's birthday?" Kelly asked simply.
"I really don't know, we have to have some sort of party though" She answered, she really just didn't want it to happen, Shay was the perfect age and size. Marking her birthday would only serve as a reminder that it was one less year she would rely on them.
"We have to have an engagement party too, that's a lot of organising" He complained realising he had spoken too soon.
"You're right, we can hardly combine them" Erin said with a sigh.
"Or could we? Shay's birthday party for lunch or in the afternoon then the engagement party at night. Having them both on the same day makes it worth flying in" He said, thinking particularly of Katie.
"I suppose we could, she's hardly going to remember it" She agreed as soon as she became aware of the viability of the situation. It would be a lot of work to host two parties in one day but it was possible.
"Should we have a theme?" He questioned moving from the technical side to the more fun.
"Or we could do it at the park or something so the house doesn't get completely wrecked" Erin proposed, never keen on making more housework than was already required.
"How about the zoo?" He asked after thinking about Shay for a moment, she liked her lion and making animal noises so it fit well.
"Do they do parties?" She asked.
"I think so but we could just set up on one of the patches of grass" He enthused, making it sound much easier than it would ever be in real life.
"But then there would be random people around" Erin said, highlighting the flaw in the idea.
"True...We'll think of something" He assured as they faded into silence again both trying to work out alternative venues. After a few minutes with no progress Kelly got distracted. "What type of cake?" He asked, eyes widening as he thought of the endless possibilities.
"Really? That's the next most important thing?" She questioned.
"Absolutely" He nodded.
"Shay what type of cake do you want?" She asked figuring that input from the birthday girl couldn't hurt.
"Sketti" Shay answered instantly.
"Spaghetti cake?" Erin asked using her tone to suggest Shay come up with another option.
"Pancake" Shay said.
"Now that's a good idea" Erin praised.
"We could make a giant stack of pancakes, rainbow ones with syrup and whipped cream between the layers" Kelly said, clearly keen on the idea.
"We? Are you volunteering to make it?" She asked.
"Sure, I'll have to practice to get the perfect recipe but I hardly think you'll complain about eating the samples" He agreed with a small laugh.
"I certainly won't" She said excitedly.
"Wait here, I have an idea" He said shuffling out with ease. Erin rolled onto her stomach, enjoying the freedom of the extra space as she wondered about Kelly's idea.
"What's that for?" She asked when he returned with a notebook and some pens.
"Draw it" He instructed as he tore out a page and handed it to her along with a pen.
"I can't draw" Erin protested.
"That doesn't sound very positive to me! Just try it" He enforced. Reluctantly Erin put pen to paper, drawing not only the cake but the layout of the entire table, every important party food plus a few of her own favourites.
"What do you think?" She asked handing him her rough drawing, he took a moment to analyze it before commenting.
"I think this is great, better than my idea" He said quickly moving his own piece of paper out of view.
"Show me" She demanded, he gave in and placed the picture before her. While she had focused entirely on the food his plan stretched to include her. His detailed nothing less than a ball pit and jumping castle.
"Now we have something to work towards" He said with a stiff nod. His biggest concern was figuring out how to get the jumping castle into the zoo. Drawing their answerer resulted in a stack of drawings, of varying artistic talent and skill as the day wore on. After they had exhausted the birthday party topic they stopped for a few moments, taking time out while Shay climbed all over them. Kelly made a trip to the kitchen and returned with ice cream for lunch.
"When did you buy this? I thought we ran out" Erin asked looking at the tub suspiciously.
"Yesterday" He admitted. After passing out the spoons the three of them sat in their sanctuary, each enjoying a different stripe of the Neapolitan container. Shay made a mess with a handful of ice cream, dripping pink ice cream across a white blanket. Without negativity it was easy to laugh off the incident and vow to fix it at a later date. After their unhealthy lunch, Erin made Shay eat a special baby muesli bar, they returned to planning and plotting. Inevitably the topic of the wedding came up so they both drew versions of their dream wedding, making notes and listening intently to the ideas they had in common.
"I think we need to focus on the two parties we've already committed ourselves to before we think about the wedding any more" Erin said as Kelly suggested she draw the wedding dress of her dreams, a task that was considerably harder than he made it sound.
"That's probably a good idea, I'm just excited" Kelly laughed rolling to face Erin.
"I'm excited too" She said pouring every ounce of motivation into making it seem like a genuine statement. Erin had tried to make it very clear that the purpose of the wedding was to fulfill his wishes rather than her own. She wanted Kelly not a big wedding with a dress or cake.
"We'll make it perfect" He guaranteed hoping that she was simply really good at masking her wedding related feelings instead of being disinterested.
"You'll be there, that's all the perfect I need" She said, indulging her desire to remind Kelly how strongly she felt about him more often. They spent the afternoon drawing up guest lists and silly seating plans before giving in to exhaustion for an afternoon nap. They woke feeling refreshed and eager to get back on with life. Erin regretted taking the easy out and found all the motivation she needed to talk to Voight, first thing in the morning. In the mean time she was going to try out a new recipe for dinner then watch some form of televised sporting event while enjoying Kelly's company. He carried her to bed just after the final buzzer rang out, ending the basketball game, and tucked her in. Kelly took a moment to be thankful for Erin, especially when she was at peace, externally anyway.
Alright, I had a massive day and I almost fell asleep writing this...first time I've been that tired when writing. Sorry it isn't up to my usual standard :/
P.S - Still only at 96 reviews...keep them coming :D