Title: Interesting Dynamics

Author: ZombieJazz

Fandom: Chicago PD

Disclaimer: I don't own them. Chicago PD and its characters belong to Dick Wolf. The character of Ethan has been created and developed for the sake of this AU series.

Summary: Hank and Erin are forced to re-explore their complicated 'family' dynamic when an unexpected 'family emergency' causes Voight to have to deal with demons related to his wife's death, his failings in parenting, and the challenges his work has created for his family and for his ability to be the father he wants to see himself as.

Jay slapped Mouse on the back as he entered the room. "So this guy talking to you?" he asked.

"Nope, mmm, hmmm," Mouse provided.

"Well, are you talking to him?" Jay asked.

Mouse gave him a look. "Uh, no. That's Voight's kid."

"No shit," Jay said and looked at his friend. "And he's twelve and can form sentences. You can speak to him."

Mouse examined him cautiously. He was clearly hesitant at the concept of speaking to the kid. Jay didn't exactly blame him. Mouse was loving having a steady gig. Having structure. Having a job and a purpose and stability. He was still unsure around Voight. But who wasn't? But thing was with Mouse he was so twitchy – and he knew it – he was bound-and-determined to not do anything screw it up. Which was technically a good thing for Jay because if Mouse did screw it up it'd be his ass on the line too. He's the one who'd put the guy up for the position. Still, though, he could acknowledge the kid was in the room.

Jay just patted him more on the shoulder though and gave him a small smile – trying to reassure him that he could calm the hell down. No one was out to get him that day. He didn't need to walk on eggshells just because Ethan was in the room.

"Hey, you bring the thing I texted you about?" Jay asked.

"Ah, yeah, yeah," Mouse said and rolled his chair in a little scurrying movement over to the opposite side of the room – hefting a gym bag out from under the table and holding it at him.

"Thanks," Jay nodded and took it from him, rounding the counter while Mouse watched him suspiciously.

He shot Ethan a grin. "Hey, Kid," he provided.

Ethan gazed at him. So Jay just moved himself and slouched into the chair next to him.

"Erin told me you're stuck down here," he said. "That you're summer ain't really shaping up the way you wanted."

"I guess," Ethan allowed quietly.

Jay just nodded and slouched down more. "Yea," he allowed. "She said you're missing some like field trip with your camp because of a doctor's appointment? Snakes?"

Ethan gave him a little glance. "Reptiles," he said.

"Mmm," Jay allowed. "You know, before I was in this unit, I ended up on this case where we busted this guy who was moving all these exotic animals. He had snakes, turtles, lizards. Crazy stuff. Deadly poisonous stuff. But we ended up having call in all these specialized people to move these things. So, anyway, long story short, I know this guy who has this whole store of all those things. Snakes, lizards, turtles. Has an anaconda. Was telling Erin about it. She says we should totally make the hike one weekend. Check it out."

Ethan gazed at him for a long moment but then just shrugged.

Jay shrugged back. "Yea, OK," he allowed. "You think about it. Let me know."

"Yea, sure," Ethan put flatly.

Jay hit him on the shoulder like something else had just dawned on him. "Oh, hey, did you ever figure out how much money you've got in the vault?"

Ethan shook his head. "No," he allowed. "But dad says I'm getting my bike at auction. Not new."

Jay shrugged. "OK," he said. "But I got something else you might want to front the money for."

He leaned and pulled the gym bag into his lap and unzipped it, holding it open for Ethan to see. Ethan's eyes examined it – getting big.

"Erin said you want a PlayStation but you know …" Jay provided, and shoved his hand into the bag pushing some of the Xbox components around. "It's not being used. Not the latest one but you can still get games for it." He held up a case. "Put some games in there for you. Now this one," he said tapping the Call of Duty case with his knuckle. "Your dad might not like the rating but I think if you can get him to sit down and play with ya, he's going to kick ass at it."

Ethan sat back in his seat and shook his head. "I don't have enough money for it," he said.

Jay shrugged. "I'm giving it to you. Loaning it to you. I'm not using it. Wasn't even over at my place anymore right now."

Ethan let out a slow breath and shook his head again.

"C'mon," Jay tried again. "You're going to be sat-up for part of the summer. At least give you something to do. Use some of those dollars to get a couple new games? Jurassic Park? MLB? I put Madden in there. But you aren't into football, are you?"

Ethan just looked at him a little disappointed. "Dad says no videogames."

Jay leaned a little closer. "See, Erin is going to cover your ass on that. Help you get it set up when he's out. Take the brunt when the hammer comes down. She knows I'm lending it to ya. She's in. She's got you covered."

Ethan let out a little sigh and looked longingly at the bag. "I don't know …" he said.

Jay shrugged and set the bag back on the ground. "Sure, OK," he allowed. "You think about that too. Mouse here has got it if you change your mind."

Ethan gave a little nod. But Jay heard Mouse shift uncomfortable in his chair. Now that he knew why he'd been asked to drag the gaming system in for his old roommate, he was likely shitting himself. Especially since he'd just overheard the plans to go over Voight's head with it. He wouldn't want any part of it. But screw it. Voight would never know. Erin would come up with a thousand different places where the thing had come from. She worked with all guys. She had a cashflow. Getting a fucking dated Xbox wasn't exactly conspiracy worthy. Though, they might be conspiring against Voight's wishes. Or his rules. But he had so many fucking rules as far as Jay could tell. Too many to be worth listening to or following them all.

"Are you Erin's boyfriend?" Ethan asked suddenly, casting him a look.

Mouse's chair really clattered at that and Jay looked while the guy got up and quickly left the room. He snorted his amusement at that and shifted his eyes back to Ethan.

"Why you asking that?" he put to him flatly.

"Because you're being nice to me for no reason," Ethan said.

Jay scoffed. "Or maybe the reason is that I'm a nice guy," he countered.

Ethan examined him for a second. "OK. Well, you bought dinner, and you came over for dinner, and Dad doesn't like you."

Jay made a mock shocked face. "Your dad doesn't like me?" he put back to him in a horrified voice. Ethan just shrugged at him. So Jay just gave him a smile and slouched back into his chair, staring at the wall on the opposite side of the room. "Nah, I'm not Erin's boyfriend," he said.

He censored the interior monologue that went through his head about that. That he really fucking wanted to be her boyfriend. That he wanted to give the relationship a go. To see if they could work it out. Because he thought they might be able to. It felt like there was something there. Something real there. And, he thought it was worth exploring. How often do you really get to explore something like that? How many people does it feel that way with in your lifetime? Likely not fucking many. He hated letting the opportunity slip by because things were "complicated". All relationships were complicated. He could deal with Voight. He dealt with Voight on a daily basis anyways. He could figure out how to deal with him in this new context. It wasn't like he hadn't dealt with live grenades before.

But since Erin wasn't giving him the path of least resistance he'd take this route. The slow trudge. Maybe by the time he got to the other end one of them would be leaving Intelligence and she'd be more open to them making things real. He didn't fucking like living a fantasy. Relationships weren't supposed to be some undercover, confidential thing. You were doing it wrong if they needed to be.

It sort of hoped maybe they were making progress. That she was starting to see it his way. Or at least she was hearing him when he said he cared and that he was there for the right reasons. Give it time. He was willing to give it some. To work at it. But he knew that likely just proved how much he wanted it. And, he wasn't sure how long it made sense to wait. He couldn't brow beat her about it too much right now, though. She had too much on her plate. It'd just make her pull away more. Best bet was to be supportive. Get an ear for her to pull and a shoulder for her to lean on. And, maybe when she saw he could provide those things and that he didn't go running for the hills in the process – that he still liked her, still respected her, still saw her for the whole person she was – she'd come around.

He could hope. That's all he had for now.

"Then how come she's telling you about this stuff," Ethan asked bluntly.

Jay shrugged. "We're partners. And our lives aren't that interesting. Talking about reptiles and Xbox and paintball plans is way more interesting than anything we've got on the go when we're stuck sitting in a car with each other for hours."

Ethan looked at him like he wasn't buying it. Jay didn't blame him. He hadn't given an overly convincing delivery.

But all Ethan eventually said after a long stare was, "I'm probably not going to be allowed to play paintball now either."

Jay gave a little nod. "Yea," he acknowledged. "Well, actually, you know that one of the doctors you saw on the weekend in the emergency room? He was my brother."

Ethan squinted at him as he processed that.

"Anyway," Jay said and looked away from him. "My brother knows a bit about medical stuff. So, if after your appointment stuff this week, if your dad is still feeling nervous about, you know, you going to day camp or on some of those field trips or baseball practice – my brother is going to have a bit of a man-to-man with him about what you can realistically be doing these days."

"Dad won't like that," Ethan said flatly.

Jay let out a quiet laugh at that and allowed a smile to spread across his face. He shrugged. "Ah, well … that's not our problem. Let Will … Dr. Halstead … deal with that."

Ethan say back in his chair for a moment and then looked at him. "So you think I'll be able to play baseball?"

Jay shrugged. "Don't know, but I do know that your summer isn't going to be as boring and ruined as you think," he said. "And, even though your dad and sister are acting like it's some kind of end of days right now – don't pay attention to it. Life goes on and people find a way to live and cope." He sat up a bit in his chair, straining his neck up over the counter. "Ain't that right, Mouse?" he called into the back room.

"I'm not getting involved in any of this," Mouse called back.

Jay smiled and shook his head and looked at the kid again. "Erin and your dad are just worried right now. Give them the week to run around with their heads cut off," Jay said. "They'll get their heads back on straight after Wednesday's thing. You be cool and they'll be cool too."

Jay actually really did think that a big factor in all of this was going to be how Ethan dealt with it. And, Ethan seemed like a pretty cool level-headed kid. So hopefully he could bring that to the adults in the room too.

"I'm not that cool," Ethan said.

Jay scoffed. "Hell, yeah, you are," he said. He was pretty sure he believed that too. "I only hang out with the cool kids."