Six Months Later
Spring was probably Hank's favourite time of year. The sound of birds chirping in the trees, the smell of rain in the air, bold colours replacing the dull greys of winter. As he looked out over the increasingly familiar landscape, he closed his eyes, the gentle breeze dancing across his skin.
Here, he felt close to her; close to them both.
Opening his eyes once more, he crouched down level with the marble headstone, placing his palm against the cool surface before running his fingers of the ridges of the engraving.
It had been six months since he'd cradled her in his arms, begging and pleading with her not to leave him as blood spilled onto the floor of a dingy warehouse roof. Hank dropped his eyes to the ground, using his free hand to clear away the fallen leaves and overgrown shrubbery, gently placing the bunch of flowers down just under the stone. Lilies and white roses.
Tracing his fingertips over Camille's name, he let a small smile creep onto his face.
"You made me promise that I'd move on and find someone to love me. I think I exceeded your expectations, sweetheart. She drives me crazy. Stubborn as a mule, downright terrifying when she's angry but, my God, she loves deeper than you'd ever believe was possible."
Leaning forwards, he pressed his lips to the cold stone for a long beat before pulling away. With his face still close to the white marble, he whispered.
"She's the perfect storm."
Pushing to his feet, he reached over to pat the top of Justin's headstone.
"I love you both."
Hank turned on his heel and followed the well-trodden path back to his car. As he rounded the big willow tree, his eyes came to rest on the figure waiting at the car. Coming to a stop in front of her, Hank wrapped his arms around Kate's waist, dipping is head to press a gentle kiss to her lips, taking comfort in her arms as she pulled him close.
"You okay?"
Hank smiled, his forehead resting against hers as his hand slid from her waist to the very prominent swell of her stomach.
"I'm just perfect."
"I'm sorry…I was hoping to update you hours ago but the surgery was more complex than we initially anticipated. We were forced to resect part of her liver to control the bleeding but she had already lost a lot of blood."
Hank could feel his very soul slipping away from him with each passing word.
"She's still in critical condition but, if she makes it through the next few hours, we're hopeful they'll make a full recovery."
If Kevin hadn't have been nearby to reach out and steady him, Hank was sure his knees would have hit the linoleum in gratitude.
"Can I see her?" The doctor nodded, gesturing for Hank to precede him out of the waiting room but, before he could get too far, Matthew piped up from behind him.
"Wait, who's they?" His brow was furrowed in confusion as he looked between Hank and the doctor.
Hank turned to face him and, for the first time in what felt an age, a smile tugged at his lips.
"All things going well, in six months' time you're going to be an uncle."
Matt's eyebrows nearly disappeared into his hairline as everyone else within earshot also processed the new information.
"Sarg, you old dog!" Adam muttered, cutting through the tension in typical Ruzek fashion.
"Congratulations!" Matt slapped him on the shoulder just as Grace threw herself into his chest, her musky, lavender scent filling his nose as patted her back awkwardly. After a few seconds of her tears soaking into his shirt, he sent a pleading look towards Matt who, along with Ted, gently peeled the emotional woman away from him.
"Alright mom, let him go so he can check on Katie."
Once he was free, he followed the doctor down a long corridor of intensive care rooms until they both stopped at the last door on the left.
"I'll warn you, the tubes and machines can be jarring but, all things considered, she's doing well. You've got yourself a pair of fighters, Sergeant."
Hank nodded in thanks and slowly moved into the room, the intermittent beeping a comforting sign that she was still with him despite her stillness. She looked so fragile amongst the tubes and machines that surrounded her, large bandages covering a majority of her chest that wasn't hidden beneath the starchy white sheets.
"Jesus Kate." He breathed, reaching out to grip her hand, careful not to jostle the IV drips in attached to the back.
He hadn't realised how much he needed to feel her warm skin against his. The last time he had touched her, she was turning cold with each passing second. Taking a seat in the plastic chair next to her bed, he interlaced her fingers with his own, bringing their joined hands to his lips to press gentle kisses to her knuckles.
"You have no idea how terrified I've been. The thought of losing you…"
He stopped himself from finishing the sentence. It wouldn't do to think about that now. The worst was over but she still needed to fight.
"I've been a such a fucking idiot. I don't deserve you…either of you." His eyes darted down to her stomach. "…but I hope that, when all of this is over, you let me try and make it up to you."
He placed his free hand on her forehead, his thumb brushing over the soft skin. For the longest time, all he had was the job. Now, all he wanted was her.
"I love you so much, Kate."
Kate had roughly four weeks left before her due date and, despite Hank's regular reassurances that she looked radiant, she felt like a bowling ball on legs. Even the simplest of tasks like putting her shoes on was becoming problematic.
Hank bent at the waist, resting his lips on Kate's clothed stomach as she ran her fingers through his hair gently.
"How could I not be perfect when I've got you two, hmm?"
Kate flinched when the wriggling turned into a hard kick to her bladder, the sound of her father's voice having its usual effect on their daughter.
When Kate was eventually discharged from hospital, Hank would rest his head on Kate's stomach and spend a good thirty minutes talking to her bump. He would talk about anything and everything, something stupid Ruzek did that day, an early memory of him and Alvin on a stakeout, the recent Blackhawks game. The topic was irrelevant but Kate would lie still and listen as he bonded with their unborn child.
As the pregnancy progressed and the baby began to move more regularly, he would get such a kick out of getting her to wriggle around when he spoke to her.
"…weather this weekend will be dropping to thirty five degrees so be safe if you're travelling for the holidays."
Kate turned the TV off with a sigh, tossing the remote onto the nightstand as she shifted under his weight, resting her palm against his naked back.
"You think Erin's flight will be cancelled?"
Hank was stretched out on his stomach along Kate's left side, resting his weight on one elbow with both palms placed flat against her stomach. He had shucked her t-shirt up to just under her breasts so that the taut skin of her swelling belly was on display in between the grey cotton and the burgundy plaid of her pyjama pants.
It has been just over two months since the shooting and Kate's burgeoning baby bump was steadily growing to accommodate their daughter who, according to the baby books Sam had sent her, was now the size of a coconut. She hadn't felt much by way of movement so far and, despite her doctor telling her that his was completely normal, Kate couldn't help but worry that something was wrong given the rocky start to her pregnancy.
"I'm sure it'll be fine." Hank responded, his lips resting just below her naval. This was slowly becoming their evening routine where he would apply the ointment to her still-healing scars before massaging and caressing the flesh of her stomach, hands splayed in the hopes of feeling their baby move.
"They plan for this kinda thing pretty muc-" He stopped dead, eyes darting between Kate's and her stomach. "You feel that!?"
Sure enough, just as he began to talk again, there was the unmistakeable fluttering behind his warm palms. With a wide grin, Kate nodded, reaching down to run her fingers through his hair.
"I think she likes the sound of your voice."
"Hmmm, just like her Momma." He quirked an eyebrow, a sexy grin spreading over his face. Kate rolled her eyes at his gentle teasing but she couldn't prevent the rosy blush from blooming over her chest and cheeks.
Turning his attention back to her stomach, he began speaking in a smooth, deep tone, smiling every time he felt a jerk against his hands.
Straightening his spine, Hank's eyes settled on Kate's face one again, taking in her breathtaking beauty as her hair floated behind her in the breeze. Placing a palm on her cheek, he brushed a thumb across her lower lip, leaning in to capture her mouth with his in a slow, tender kiss.
Pushing him back with a gentle hand on his chest, Hank raised an eyebrow in confusion.
"Baby, I'm eight months pregnant and incredibly needy. I don't think we'll make it to the pearly gates if we desecrate a cemetery."
Hank leaned backwards, a smirk on his face at her frank admission. Due to the injuries she sustained when Guterra shot her, Kate was under close observation for a number of months afterwards which, once again, meant a painfully long sex ban. For the first trimester, it wasn't too much of an issue but, as Kate moved into her second and third trimesters and her libido went through the roof, Hank struggled to keep up with her.
It was gone midnight and Hank was still at the office, knee-deep in paperwork following Adam's recent officer involved shooting. Fischer wanted the report on his desk by eight in the morning so he stayed put, working as fast as he could under the light of his desk lamp so he could get home to his heavily pregnant girlfriend.
He grimaced at the word…girlfriend. Even in his head it seemed so juvenile but, technically, that's what she was. He felt guilty that he hadn't been home much in the past few days, the Unit's most recent case taking up almost all of his time. For the last few nights, she had been asleep when he got home and he'd been gone by the time she got up in the morning. It wasn't unusual but that didn't mean it wasn't taking its toll on them.
She had always been somewhat shy when it came to her pleasure but, in the last few weeks, she had become completely insatiable, more so than he could ever recall Camille being when she was pregnant. As she moved into her third trimester, she would seek him out sometimes multiple times a day and, whilst his desire for her was never lacking, he had teasingly warned her that the long hours on the job combined with her increased sexual demands were wearing him out.
But apparently she'd had enough of being neglected, taking it upon herself to drive down the district out of hours and barricade them in his office without so much as a 'hello', straddling his lap and sealing her mouth over his. Her weight had barely settled on his thighs when she got to work on his shirt, yanking the fabric open so that she could run her palms over his heated skin, her swollen stomach hindering her ability to press as close to him as she'd like.
Kate's impatient hands were tearing at his shirt so frantically that she sent two pearl buttons skittering across the wood floor of his office with a satisfying click, her mouth latching onto the exposed skin of his throat.
"Please Hank."
Given that people were milling around at all hours of the day and the team occasionally returned to the district late in the evening, his office was usually off limits. He could count on one hand the number of occasions where one, or both of them, had been unable to wait until they got home but the last thing either of them wanted was to get caught in flagrante so they chose to limit the risk of exposure where possible.
If her desperate whines and insistent rocking were anything to go by, this was clearly one of those times where he wasn't going to be able to convince her to wait. In between kisses, he tried to reason with her anyway.
"No, I've been waiting for two, whole days."
His shirt was now wide open, her fingernails scratching down the planes of his chest, catching on his nipples and sending a jolt of lust directly to his groin. His palms slid over her denim-clad thighs until he reached the fleshy globes of her ass, pulling her firmly against him as he rolled his hips upwards, the friction drawing a long, loud groan from Kate.
"Shhh, you're gonna have to be quiet."
Hank smirked at her frantic nod and, with Kate in his arms, pushed to his feet, gently placing her on the edge of his desk so he could stand between her parted thighs. Cupping her face in his hands, he drew her lips to his in a slow, sensual kiss that had her toes curling in her sneakers, running his thumbs along the underside of her jaw before tracing the line of her throat.
He brushed his palms over her chest, listening to her suck in a sharp breath as she arched into his hands, the pads of his thumbs grazing her over-sensitised nipples through the fabric of her shirt and bra. He continued his path down, hands cradling her bump as he dipped his head to push a kiss to the prominent swell before dropping a hand between her legs, cupping her through the denim. Kate squirmed against his palm, doing her utmost to try and increase the pressure but the layers of thick fabric weren't working in her favour. Growling in frustration, she reached in between his arms with a laser focus on undoing his belt, the jangle of metal followed by the sound of his zipper echoing around the silent office.
Shoving his jeans and boxers down his hips so they were resting at mid-thigh, she took his length in her hands, pumping him slowly, watching as his eyes fluttered closed at her touch. Obviously she wasn't the only one who had been feeling the strain. With a wry smirk, Kate leaned forwards and sucked the lobe of his ear into her mouth, her tongue flicking over the sensitive flesh.
"C'mon daddy…"
His response was immediate and intense. With a feral growl, he popped the button on her maternity jeans with sure fingers before wrapping them around the navy blue elastic that covered her stomach, wrenching them down to her ankles, taking her underwear with them so that she was perched on his desk, naked from the waist down. Tugging off one white sneaker, he dropped it carelessly on the floor and pulled her jeans free from one leg, leaving them dangling from the other ankle as he stepped back between her parted thighs. Dipping his head down, Hank ran his lips up the length of Kate's throat, using his nose to nudge her head backwards when he reached the underside of her jaw.
"Look what you do to me." He mumbled against her neck, his breath fanning over the damp skin as he braced himself over her, hands planted on either side of her hips. "Taking you on my desk when anybody could walk right in."
Kate dropped a hand between them, guiding him to her slick entrance and he wasted no time inching his way into her body until he was buried to the hilt. Once he was settled deep inside her, he took a moment to gather himself, the clenching and fluttering of her inner walls making it difficult to focus.
"God Kate, you're so tight."
She almost chuckled at his words, half tempted to warn him that it probably won't be the case for much longer but the words died on her tongue when he pulled her thighs high up against his ribs and drew all the way out before sliding smoothly back in.
"More…" she mumbled, arms winding around his neck as she clutched him close.
As always, he gave her exactly what she asked for, hips pumping, hands caressing, mouths searching. When her walls began to clench rhythmically around him, he wiggled a hand between their joined bodies and her bump, fingertips rubbing quick, hard circles around her nub.
"That's it, baby. Let go. Come for me."
Hank had to seal his mouth over hers to muffle her moans of pleasure as she reached her peak, acutely aware that there were still people in the building and the last thing he needed was for someone to come and check on him. He slowed his pace to languorous movements as Kate began to relax around him.
"You okay?" He murmured, lips against her temple as he moved one hand from the desk to stroke along the outside of her thigh.
"Mmmm, but I think I've got one more in me." Kate took his chin between her teeth, nipping gently before pulling away, smouldering gazes locking as she grinned up at him.
"Oh, that so?"
He let out a long groan as she deliberately squeezed her inner muscles around him, his hips jerking forwards involuntarily.
"Good, because I'm far from done with you." Hank growled and, sure enough, Kate was once again balancing on the precipice within minutes of him resuming his steady pace, her nails scoring his chest and her lips sucking a bruise into the flesh of his collarbone. Kate pulled away with a soft pop, satisfied with her handiwork and flashing Hank a grin when he noticed her proud expression.
"You marking your territory, hmm?"
She let out a breathy laugh, torn between amusement and arousal as he adjusted his angle, ensuring that his pelvis was grazing her clit with every downward stroke.
"You're mine Hank Voight."
Reaching under his open shirt, Kate dragged her nails up his spine, enjoying the way he shivered under her touch.
"Come inside me."
Hank groaned at her heated words, closing his eyes as the familiar fire began to blaze low in his stomach but he needed to make sure he took her over the edge with him. He was so close he could taste the sweet euphoria waiting for him so he dropped his lips to her ear and whispered in that deep, gritty tone he knew would do the trick.
"You want me to fill you up?"
He had barely finished his question when she came apart in his arms, mouth agape and eyes squeezed tightly shut as she trembled beneath him. Hank followed her into oblivion after two more jerky thrusts, emptying himself inside her.
The two stood completely still for a few moments, both breathing heavy in between deep, tongue-filled kisses. Eventually Kate's back began to protest at the awkward angle and she gently pushed Hank backwards, whining involuntarily as he slipped from her body.
Once they had cleaned up as best they could and had fixed their clothing (minus Hank's two bottom buttons), Kate leaned into his warm body, wrapping her arms around his neck to pull him down for a soft kiss.
"Take me home, daddy." Her words were whispered against his lips and a sly grin slipped onto her face at his answering groan.
"You're exhausting." He grumbled, helping her into her coat and, with a guiding hand on her lower back, he took her home.
"Hmm. Well given the amount of pre-marital sex we've engaged in I don't think he'll take us when we get there anyway."
Kate chuckled and hiked her shoulders, supposing he was probably right. She was just about to ask him if he was ready to go when he took both her hands in his, taking a half-step away from her. Before a stunned Kate, he dropped down to one knee, his gaze firmly on her face as tears began to fill her eyes.
"I don't think I'll ever understand why you chose me. But I thank God every single day that you did. You make me want to be better. For you, for myself, for her."
He let go of one hand to place his palm back on her stomach.
"I guess a cemetery isn't the most conventional location for a proposal but I wanted to do it in front of them…" he jerked his head backwards towards the graves of his wife and son "…so they could, in some way, be part of this next chapter."
He put his hand in his pocket to retrieve a red velvet box and, with uncharacteristically shaky fingers, he cracked the case open to reveal a stunning oval solitaire diamond on a platinum band.
"We've struggled for find a label for us since the beginning, but I think husband and wife has a pretty nice ring to it."
Catching the fingers of her left hand in his own, he slipped the ring over the knuckle of her forth finger, the beautiful band fitting perfectly.
"Marry me?"
"Oh, Hank." She whispered, tears spilling down her cheeks in rivulets.
Grasping in his face in her hands and sealing their lips in a passionate, if slightly wet kiss. When they eventually parted, Hank brushed a stray piece of hair that had fallen in her face away, fingertips tracing the soft skin at her temple.
"So, is that a yes? 'Cause my knees aren't what they used to be…"
"Yes, of course!" She laughed, tugging him to his feet and wrapping her arms around his neck, both of them wearing matching expressions of content adoration.
Later in the evening, Hank was once again stretched out at her side, propped up on one elbow, eyes trained on their wriggling daughter as one palm stroked the expanse of her thigh absentmindedly.
"You know, I've been thinking about names…" She tapered off, fingernails lightly scratching over his scalp as he pressed light kisses to her swollen stomach, grinning as her skin rippled under his touch. He hummed in response, gaze lifting to meet hers.
"What do you think about Alexis?"
She watched him carefully as he processed her words. Ever the detective, it didn't take him long to figure out her thinking.
"You mean…"
"A combination of Alvin and Lexi."
He paused for a beat before shifting up the bed, his lips capturing hers in a sweet but meaningful kiss.
"I think it's perfect. Any thoughts on a middle name?" He asked when they eventually parted, foreheads resting together.
Kate nodded, her eyes locking on his.
"How about Alexis Erin Voight."
