CHAPTER 16

The dog days of the Chicago summer seemed to come out of nowhere after a long and rainy spring. Just as soon as the last little pile of black snow at the end of our driveway disappeared, the clouds cleared and the sun came out in all its glory. We hadn't seen a day below 90 degrees for well over a week and it was only the end of June. Being close to seven months pregnant, I was already dreading the temperatures that the rest of the summer had in store.

The air conditioning system at Lakeshore was a joke and my office felt like Calcutta in July. Matt purchased two large box fans for me to use at work and they were the only reason I didn't keel over from heat exhaustion. The constant circulation of air kept me cool enough to get my work done in relative comfort.

"OK, I think I've got the hang of this intake thing now," said Em, bursting through my office door. For the last several weeks, I had been trying to prepare her to fill in for me while I was out on maternity leave.

"By all means, come in, Em," I said.

"Funny. Jesus! I can't hear myself think in this goddamn wind tunnel." She crossed over from my door to the fan that was closest to her and began fiddling with the knob.

"For God's sake don't turn that off!" I yelled.

"Not even for a minute so I can talk to you?"

"Not if you want me to remain upright for the entire time." She shrugged her shoulders and plopped in one of the chairs that were in front of my desk.

"Mads, I don't know if I'm cut out to do your job while you're gone."

"Oh don't give me that, Emily Morrison. This job should have been yours in the first place and you know it."

"But there's a very good reason that I didn't get my Masters, Mads."

"And what's that?"

"I'm lazy and I didn't want to."

"That's two reasons."

"Yep…and both are very good."

"Should I find someone else to take over while I'm gone? There's still plenty of time to advertise."

"No, Mads. You know how I hate anyone telling me what to do."

"Yeah, I'm familiar with your modus operandi."

"I tend to cooperate with you because you're my friend and I love you."

"You mean all this time, you've been cooperating with me and I didn't know it?" A little smirk crossed my face as the words left my lips. She said nothing, except blew me her famous raspberries.

"Nice," I said.

"I miss this, Madster. You and me...bantering back and forth while drinking wine and eating chocolate cake."

"Aren't we doing that right now? Sans the wine and cake, but still…"

"That's not what...I just mean…"

"Go on, Em...tell me what you mean."

"Everything's changed since you got pregnant. You and Casey never go out with me and Severide anymore. You're too busy stenciling the nursery or making some major decision for the baby. Our biggest decisions are based on where in the apartment we're gonna fuck next." I could hear the tinge of sadness in her voice as she spoke. She was right about things changing, but it couldn't be helped. Matt and I were preparing to be parents. Our lives were not just about us anymore.

"Come on, Em…" She put her hand up in front of her, like a traffic cop signaling cars to stop.

"I know what you're gonna say, Mads...and I get it. I do. It doesn't mean that I have to like it."

"You'll adjust, Em. Matt and I did," I said. I didn't know what else to say to her.

"That's easy for you to say." She got up out of the chair and headed back towards the door.

"You need any help?" I asked.

"No, I got it." She quietly shut the door behind her.

I had been aware that there had been a shift in our relationship ever since Matt and I got married, but when I found out that I was pregnant, the shift had turned into a noticeable gap. I understood her feelings even though I thought she was being a little bit selfish. My first instinct was to pick up the phone and call Kelly to tell him to get on the stick and propose to her already, but that wouldn't help things. Besides, Kelly Severide seemed like the type of guy who would probably never get married and I wasn't entirely sure that that's what Em would want anyway. My empathy for Em was suddenly interrupted by my desk phone ringing.

"How's my beautiful wife?" The sound of Matt's voice always brought a smile to my face.

"She's feeling like a beached whale at the moment," I said.

"A beautiful beached whale though, right?"

"Yeah, sure. Whatever you say," In truth, felt anything but beautiful. I waddled like a duck, my back hurt, my skin was blotchy and my ankles had the tendency to swell three times their normal size by the end of the day. Not exactly Cover Girl material.

"Maddy…." Here it comes. The mild reprimand that Matt was famous for.

"You're my husband, Matthew. You love me and I'm carrying our child. You cannot possibly be objective here. You're blind to the fact that I look like a hot air balloon with fat feet." He responded with a deep laugh. God, how I loved the sound of his laughter.

"Are your fans working out?"

"Yep, both are running full speed."

"Good. By the way, I have another surprise for you...well, two actually...no, make that three."

"Is one of them that we won the Powerball? I could use a cool $300 million."

"No...but one of them is that the central air conditioning in the house in up and running. Does that make you happy?"

"Ecstatically. Not as much as $300 million, but still. What are the other two?"

"I'm cooking dinner for you tonight, so you can put those fat feet up for the entire evening."

"You think my feet are fat?"

"I'm just repeating what you already said, Maddy!"

"OK, I'll let that one slide. What's the last surprise?" It's a good thing we weren't on FaceTime. There would be no way I could hide the huge smirk on my face.

"Well, the last one depends on whether or not you can skip out a couple of hours early today."

"I'll ask my the department head, but she's almost seven months pregnant and kind of a grump these days. I'll see what I can do."

"OK, baby. You work your magic and I'll pick you up in an hour. I love you."

"Love you back, Lieutenant."