5 Months Later
For the first time in a while, Molly's was closed to the public. The bar wasn't empty though. Instead it was filled with Chicago's finest and bravest.
"Wow, this place looks great!" Sylvie said, admiring the yellow and green balloons and streamers as well as all the baby zoo animal decorations.
Foster took a sip of her wine. She added, "Yeah, Molly's actually looks inhabitable to the general public now. I might actually bring my friends in."
Herman rolled his eyes. "This place looks just fine any other day of the week too! You guys just don't know what a real dive bar is supposed to look like because all you guys go to are the fancy-shmancy nightclubs."
Kelly sat down at the bar. "Hey, I could've gotten us a good deal on my buddy's place."
"Yeah, it was fantastic for my bachelor party!" Joe said, pulling up a stool next to Kelly.
"ABSOLUTELY NOT!" Trudy could be heard from all the way on the other side of the room. She finished putting up a few more balloons and made her way over to the group. "A nightclub is no place for a baby shower! And besides…Molly's is where this little one's family is."
Mouch walked up and wrapped his arm around Trudy. "My lady is right. Molly's is home."
"Speaking of the little one…" Rojas interjected, setting some of the appetizers on the bar. "Where are they?"
Before anyone could answer, the door swung open. Everyone cheered when they saw who it was.
"Burgess, Ruzek, nice of you to finally join us." Trudy gave each of them a huge hug.
Adam laughed. "We would've been here sooner but this one couldn't decide what to wear."
"Hey, it's not my fault that everything I own suddenly doesn't fit or makes me looked like a beached whale!" Kim rolled her eyes at Adam.
"Aww, honey, you look great." Stella wrapped her arms around Kim.
"You really do." Natalie added. "Well, at least better than I did. I lived in leggings and old crappy t-shirts."
Herman's wife jumped into the conversation. "I remember when I was pregnant with the boys. I wore Herman's shirts half the time because they were the only things that fit. Maternity wear wasn't really a thing the way it is for you ladies today.
"Ok, you guys are making me not want to have a baby now." April half joked.
The girls sympathized with April. She had no idea what she was about to get herself into.
"I've tried to tell her she looks fine no matter what she wears, but she never seems to listen." Adam said, taking a swig of his beer.
Kim rolled her eyes and then went to mingle with the rest of her guests. She knew Adam was right, but she still couldn't get it out of her head how polished and put together Claire looked. Even at almost nine months pregnant (which is the last time Kim saw Claire when they were finally able to get her artwork back to her), Claire looked like a bombshell.
She continued to enjoy her party with all her friends and family, stuffing her face with all of the delicious food everyone has made. She was so preoccupied with the food that she hadn't noticed a new guest walked in. When she turned around to see who it was, she was shocked. The young women looked familiar, but definitely a lot less put together than when she saw her last.
"There's my fellow museum heist mama!" Claire went up to hug Kim. Before Kim could return the hug, she had to put down the large plate of food she was eating from.
Claire laughed. "Don't stop eating on my account. Gotta get that little one big and strong somehow!"
Kim laughed, finally hugging Claire. She was surprised to see Claire not dressed up, but rather in capri leggings and a tunic length t-shirt. Her usually perfect ponytail was now a messy bun, and the biggest difference of all…she wasn't pregnant anymore.
"So, this is the badass woman who got you to go undercover." Claire's husband extended his free hand to Kim, using his other arm to cradle his and Claire's baby boy.
"That's me! Detective Burgess…Kim." Kim shook his hand. "And honestly sir, your wife was going to do it anyway no matter what anyone said."
Claire's husband smiled and looked over at everyone else. "I know. I don't call her my badass baby mama for nothing. But I'm glad you were all there to keep her safe. Thank you. And also thank you for the donations you sent to me and my guys while we were down south. The communities we were helping were greatly appreciative."
Casey came up and shook the man's hand. "Hey, Chicago shows up for their own."
Voight handed the man a beer. "And the thanks are all ours. We couldn't have cracked that case without her."
Claire smiled. "Happy to be of assistance. And I'm just glad I finally got my stuff back. What took you guys so long anyway?"
Hailey sat down next to Claire and explained. "Once we had the scene secured, every piece of anything in that building became evidence. We had to keep it as evidence until we knew we didn't need it anymore, so basically when we closed the case."
Rojas added. "Which didn't happen for a while because the case turned out to be a lot bigger than any of us anticipated. Plus even once the case was closed it took a while to figure out where all of that stuff belonged because the stuff that was stolen was mixed in with stuff that was legally purchased."
"Yeah. And some of it came from out of state, like that cameo ring." Kevin jumped in. "How did you know about that anyway?"
Now everyone from the party had gathered around. They wanted to hear this interesting story.
"What, do you think other curators don't talk?" Claire asked rhetorically. "The curator of MFA Boston, who is a buddy of mine, mentioned a few months back that he had some of their works stolen, maybe three months before the theft at my museum...including the cameo ring. I honestly didn't think it would've ended up that far away from Boston, but when I saw the other jewelry cases filled with rings I had to take a shot. Turns out my guess was right!"
Everyone around was kind of impressed. Apparently just like hospitals, firehouses, and police stations, museums were more interconnected than they realized.
"Well hey, we're just glad we got all that stuff back where it belonged." Rojas said before taking a sip of her drink.
"Cheers to that!" Claire held up her soda. She looked over to Kim. "And now onto more important things...like is my little guy going to be in a romance or a bromance? Or both, I don't judge."
"Oh my little princess isn't getting into any romances until she's at least thirty!" Adam got overprotective.
Claire yelled happily and hugged Kim. "AAWW! A baby girl! Congrats! Does the little princess have a name?"
Once again, the crowd listened intently. Everyone knew Adam and Kim had been going back and forth on names but hadn't given anything solid.
"Actually...she does." Kim smiled. She was happy to finally tell everyone all at once. That's how they were supposed to handle the gender reveal, but both she and Adam got overly excited and started sharing it with everyone they could.
Adam walked over to Kim and wrapped his arm around her. He put his hand on her baby bump. "Everyone, I'd like to formally introduce you to our daughter...Alaina Rose Burgess-Ruzek."
Everyone gushed over the name, especially the twenty-first. They knew how close both Adam and Kim had been to Al Olinsky, so honoring him with their daughter's name just seemed right. Voight walked up to the two parents-to-be and hugged them tight.
"It's perfect. Al would love it."
"So that explains the first name, what about the middle? What made you pick Rose?" Will asked.
"Family name?" April asked.
Kim looked over at Claire and smirked. "Something like that."