Thank you so much for your lovely reviews on my last chapter! I'm really glad that while I was a little unsure about how it turned out, it seems to have turned out just right :-)
Now I know it's only October, but I hope you're still up for a couple of Christmas chapters ;-) And I also hope you enjoy the girls' night out you've been asking for!
Chapter 9
"Erin? I got a package for you. X-Ray and check for explosives or drugs were negative, so I guess someone just wants to say 'Merry Christmas'." Trudy Platt stood in front of her desk and handed her a parcel, causing her to lift her eyebrows. Who would sent her a Christmas present to the district? "Uhm, thank you." She took the package and started to slowly open it. First, she pulled out a folded sheet of paper, looking at it completely puzzled once she unfolded it and saw what was on it.
He saw the confused look on his girlfriend's face and went over to her desk. "What is it?" His question caused her to look up at him, turning the sheet around revealing a colorful picture that had obviously been drawn by a child. It showed a figure that apparently was supposed to be an angel, though not exactly a traditional one. The woman with light brown hair wore jeans and a coat that didn't seem to match with the big wings sticking out from both sides of her back and the halo hovering above her head. He couldn't help but smile. "Is that you?"
She shrugged her shoulders, not knowing what to think of the drawing that didn't have a name on it. Reaching into the box again, she pulled out a cookie jar filled with angel-shaped Christmas cookies that were covered with different colors of sugar coating, leaving her even more confused. "What's all this about?", she asked, drawing the rest of her teammates' attention to her, causing them to gather around her desk. At the bottom of the box, she found a Christmas card. She pulled it out of the envelope hoping to find out who this sweet but strange package was from.
His eyes were on his partner when she started to read the card, his heart wrenching when he noticed her eyes were filling with tears. He quickly went behind her chair to wrap his arms around her shoulders, whispering: "Baby, are you okay?" He felt her swallow hard when she nodded, holding the card up a little bit for him to be able to read the text as well.
Dear Detective Lindsay,
After the horrible happenings on Veterans Day, Meaghan kept asking for the angel that had been there at her kindergarten. At first, we thought she was fantasizing, maybe caused by the shock. But once we took her to see the psychologist you kindly recommended to us, we figured out that she was talking about you, Detective. She was talking about the angel that saved her.
We will never be able to find words that can appropriately express how deeply thankful we are that because of you and your team, we will be able to celebrate this Christmas and hopefully many more with our daughter.
Meaghan insisted on sending you this picture she drew during therapy and on baking these cookies for you, so we figured that maybe this is a good way to say thank you.
Merry Christmas, Detective Lindsay! We hope you will also be able to spend it with your loved ones.
Heartfelt holiday wishes from Meaghan, Brad and Bethany Hammon
His eyes had filled with tears as well while reading the words the parents of the girl they had saved at the horrible massacre six weeks ago had written to his girlfriend. He saw from the corner of his eye that she handed the card to her colleagues, not able to explain why she was sitting at her desk crying. When he felt her turn around in her chair to stand up and wrap her arms around him, he hugged her tightly and pulled her close.
Thankful for his embrace, she rested her head on his chest to let his steady heartbeat calm her. Breaking down into tears in front of her whole team was definitely way out of character for her, but Meaghan's present and her parents' words had touched her so deeply that she didn't even care the others saw her like this. When she felt like she had regained her composure and slowly pulled away from her boyfriend to look at the rest of her team, she saw tears glistening in Kim's and – to her great surprise – Trudy Platt's eyes as well. Hailey and the guys also seemed really touched.
"This is so sweet, Erin", Kim whispered, biting her lip. She nodded. "You know what Hank told me right after the shooting? To focus on the little girl we saved instead of the ones we couldn't save. He was right… otherwise, we would never be able to deal with everything we witness. I think every single life we're able to save should be a motivation to keep doing this job."
"Erin, are you coming?" She nodded at Hailey who was already at the top of the staircase leading down from the bullpen. "I'll be downstairs in two minutes." It was the day before Christmas Eve, and since they weren't supposed to work the next two days unless they got a new case, they had decided to have a little pre-Christmas girls' night out. She got up and grabbed her coat, seeing that her partner was about to leave as well. "I'll try not to be home too late, but you don't need to stay up if you're tired."
He took her hand as they walked down the stairs and out of the precinct. "Don't worry, I'll be occupied watching some documentaries that would bore you to death." Like always, her giggle sounded like music in his ears. He led her towards Hailey's car where the blonde detective and Kim were already waiting, giving her a gentle kiss. "Have fun, baby!" He waved at the other two female cops before going back to his own car.
"What?", Erin asked, seeing a giant smile on Kim's face. "Oh, nothing… you two are just so incredibly cute together!" She felt her cheeks blush a little as she entered the back of Hailey's car. "You're exaggerating." Her darkhaired colleague shook her head. "No, I'm not. Honestly, Erin… I'm so glad the two of you worked it out. You're simply meant to be." She bit her lower lip, hoping her friend was right. At least it was what her relationship with Jay felt like to her, but she was always just a little scared that all of this was just to good to be true.
"Okay, enough about me and my prince charming now, this is supposed to be a girls' night out. Believe it or not, I'm still able to have some fun without him, and that's what we're gonna do now: have fun!" The other two agreed and Hailey steered the car through the streets of Chicago to the Mexican restaurant they had agreed on.
"So, what are your plans for the next two days?", Kim asked once they had ordered. "I'll probably just sleep all day tomorrow, the last couple of weeks have been exhausting", Hailey admitted. "And I'll be with my brother's family on the 25th. How 'bout you?" Kim took a sip of her drink. "Nicole and Zoe will be coming tomorrow. We'll probably do some last-minute shopping and I had to promise Zoe to go ice skating. It'll be a relaxed Christmas… well, as relaxed as it can be with a girl on the verge of being a teenager." The women laughed. "Erin, what about you?"
"I'm going to visit Bunny tomorrow." Thinking about it made her swallow hard. "It's not like I miss her that much… but… it's Christmas after all." She felt her friends' sympathetic looks on her. "Well, and once I'm back, I guess we'll just stay home and relax." Her darkhaired friend's eyebrows shot up, giving her a cheeky smile. "So that's what you call it nowadays? 'Relax'?", gesturing quotation marks with her fingers. "Kim! Yes, we can actually just relax together." She shook her head in a mix of mock indignation and amusement. "I didn't say you can't, I just believe you'd rather spend your day off with endless sex."
"We don't have sex, we make love." Her answer came out before she even realized she was speaking, leaving her friends looking at her with wide eyes, not at all expecting such a cheesy comment from their usually down to earth colleague. "Uhm, I mean… I… we…", she stammered, feeling the heat growing on her face. She frowned when the other two women at the table started laughing, Kim patting her hand. "You know, I really like this head-over-heels-in-love side of you. It's actually pretty adorable."
"I'm NOT adorable", she pouted, her cheeks and ears bright red and burning. "Okay, can we PLEASE change the topic." The darkhaired woman grinned. "I don't know, it's just about to get really interesting." She rolled her eyes, but thankfully, Hailey saved her from any more embarrassment. "You haven't told us yet what you'll be doing on Christmas Day."
Thinking about her plans brought a big smile to her face. "We'll go to Hank's for an early dinner together. Olive and Daniel will be there, too. I just can't wait to see the them again." Her face lit up as she pictured herself playing with the little boy she considered to be her nephew. "Oh, and Will's going to be there as well, since he's not working and would otherwise spend Christmas all by himself."
"That sounds great. Kind of like a patchwork family Christmas dinner." Kim's comment took her by surprise, realizing it was true. Out of the three of them, she seemed to be closest to spending Christmas as a family, something she wouldn't have considered possible even a year ago. "Yes… I'm really looking forward to it."
Their ordered taco trays arrived and they started eating, talking a little more about their plans for the next days and the presents they already had or were still missing. Once they had finished dinner, they left the restaurant to head to a club for some more drinks and some dancing.
They hadn't been on the dancefloor for long when a guy came over to join them. "Hey ladies… how come three incredibly sexy women like you are single? You really shouldn't be all by yourselves." The guy who seemed to be in his late twenties got a little too close to Hailey. "Who said we're single?", the blonde detective shot back. "Well, if I had a girlfriend as hot as you girls, I wouldn't let her go out by herself." Erin gave him a perfectly innocent smile. "Maybe that's why you're single… most women don't like to be treated as property."
"Who said I'm single?" Erin tilted her head to the side, blinking at him with her big hazel eyes. "If you aren't, you're not only bad at flirting but actually an asshole… so I decided to give you the benefit of the doubt." Hailey and Kim started giggling when they saw a group of men that the guy obviously belonged start laughing at him. He backed off looking half pissed, half defeated.
"Let's get another drink", Kim suggested once the guy had left them alone. They went to the bar and ordered a new round of cocktails, Hailey choosing a non-alcoholic one since she was the one driving. "So, Hailey, are you implying that you're seeing someone?" Erin saw her blonde colleague's cheeks turn slightly red at Kim's question. "Uhm… I just wanted to get rid of him…", she tried to avoid answering. Her darkhaired friend didn't let her off the hook though. "Oh, come on… I know there's something going on between you and Adam." Hailey bit her lower lip. "It's not really… I mean… I wouldn't say we're actually dating, but…"
"… but you do have a thing", Kim completed her sentence. Erin watched her friend closely, trying to figure out if the fact that her ex-fiancé had started something with the newest addition to their team was bothering her. "I'm sorry, I didn't want to hurt your feelings or anything. I know the two of you have a history", Hailey voiced what she had just been thinking about. Kim just smiled at her though. "If anything, I'm worried about you. Adam is a nice guy, but at least back then, he had serious commitment issues." The blonde detective shrugged her shoulders. "I don't really know yet where that's leading anyways."
"Kim, what about you? Are you seeing anyone at the moment?" The darkhaired officer shook her head. "No… after I stopped going out with the guy from court, I decided I needed a break from dating." Erin patted her shoulder. "I'm sorry it didn't work out with him." Her friend waved her off. "That's okay, he was kind of boring anyways." She started grinning. "So, since it seems to me like you're love life is more interesting than ours at the moment… let me get back to that comment of yours about having sex versus making love…" Erin slapped her arm. "Kim! Would you just drop it please?"
"Not before you give us any details." Kim looked at her expectantly, and even Hailey, who wasn't usually into gossiping and girly talk, smirked at her ears turning red again. "Look at our kickass detective blushing at the mention of her sex life." She rolled her eyes, taking a deep breath. "Please remind me why I agreed to an evening out with you. You're worse than a bunch of teenage high school girls talking about who kissed the quarterback from the varsity team."
"You agreed because you love us", Kim replied blinking her eyes at her. "And we love you, so we love to hear that you're happy with Jay inside the bedroom. But we're really curious about what he does that makes you be all sappy romantic." Realizing that her friend wasn't going to drop the topic no matter what, she bit her lower lip, not really comfortable talking about her love life with Jay. "He just makes me feel incredibly loved and like the most special person on earth, no matter what we do. And that's all the details you'll get."
"Awwww… that's so sweet", Kim sighed, raising her glass. "Cheers to love… to those who have found it already and those who are still looking for it." She saw Hailey raise her glass as well and even though her face still felt hot, she couldn't help but smile. "Yeah… cheers to love. And to friendship. To our friendship! Merry Christmas, ladies!"
They decided to call it a night when they had finished their drinks. After having dropped Kim off at her apartment, Hailey drove her home as well. "Well, thanks for the great night and the ride home. And again, merry Christmas to you!", she said as she opened the door to step out of the car. "Uhm… Erin?" She turned back to look at her colleague. "Yeah?" The blonde detective suddenly seemed nervous, avoiding eye contact. "It's… you know… when you first came back from Chicago… I didn't really like you. Or to be honest… I didn't want to like you. The case we had worked on together… and then seeing Jay being a complete mess after you had left… it seemed to me like you were self-centered, hotheaded, lacking self-control and causing nothing but trouble. So, I was less than happy when I heard you were coming back. But once you returned, you totally caught me off guard being all friendly and warmhearted and trying to include me in the team." Hailey finally lifted her head to look at her with a shy smile. "Thank you for being not only a colleague, but a friend, Erin. I haven't had too many of those in the past." Touched by her friend's confession, she leaned over to give her a warm hug. "Neither have I. So, I'm glad to have a friend in you." She felt her blonde colleague return the hug. "Merry Christmas, Erin!" Wishing Hailey a happy holiday again, she stepped out of the car and entered the building Jay and her were living at.
When she quietly opened the door to their apartment, not wanting to wake Jay in case he was already asleep, she was welcomed by a warm, dim light coming from the living room. She froze on the spot, staring at the source of it, so stunned and surprised she didn't even notice him standing at the kitchen counter. Forgetting to take off her shoes and hang up her coat, she moved a little further into the room. The movement to her side when he came closer caused her to jump. She slowly turned her head towards him, whispering: "You got a Christmas tree?"
Wrapping his arms around her, he smiled and placed a soft kiss on her lips. "I wanted to surprise you. To be honest, I didn't expect you to be that surprised." He chuckled. "It's Christmas after all, and right now you look like you've never seen a Christmas tree in your life." He gently put his palm to her cheek as she kept staring at him like he was Santa Clause himself. When he saw her beautiful hazel eyes glisten with tears, he started to get slightly concerned though. "Baby, are you okay? Have I done anything wrong?" This certainly wasn't the kind of reaction he had expected.
She shook her head yes and no at the same time, trying to tell him she was okay and he hadn't done anything wrong. Not being able to talk, she just pulled him in for a deep, loving kiss. Once their lips broke apart, she could feel tears rolling down her cheeks. "It's perfect, Jay." She rested the side of her head on his chest so she could look at the beautifully decorated tree while listening to his heartbeat.
While he was glad that she liked his surprise, her overly emotional reaction still confused him. He knew that at heart, his girlfriend was more of a romantic than people around her would think, but still she wasn't the type of person he'd expect to start crying at the sight of a Christmas tree. After a minute or two that they had stood in the middle of the room in a silent embrace, he placed a kiss on her forehead and opened the zipper of her coat, taking it off her shoulders and placing it on the chair next to him. Next, he knelt down to open her boots for her to take them off before gently leading her towards the couch where he sat down with her, pulling her into his arms.
She immediately snuggled up to him, still looking at the tree and the couple of presents that she now noticed where placed underneath it. "You know, it's kind of like what you said." She rested her head in the crook of his neck. "I mean, of course I've seen a Christmas tree before. But this reminds me of my first Christmas at Hank's. Back then, I really hadn't ever seen a Christmas tree in a private home. I had seen them around town or at school, but as much as I had always begged my mom to get a Christmas tree, we had never had one. So, when I got home from school the day before Christmas Eve that year and saw the big tree with all the ornaments and the sparkling lights in the living room, I just started crying."
He pulled her even closer, his heart breaking for the girl who had to turn 15 to have a Christmas tree at home for the first time in her life. When she turned around in his arms, he could still see her eyes sparkle with tears, but also with so much love and happiness it took his breath away. "This just reminded me of that first time back then. Thank you, Jay. Thank you so much." He kissed her again with all the love and affection he had for her. "You're welcome, baby. And I promise to get you a Christmas tree every year for the rest of our lives."