Here's chapter five! We had it finished yesterday. Thanks again to coffeebeanner, imthequeenoffandoms and the deepest secret!

Enjoy! ;)

The next morning, Jay woke up with a stiff neck from having slept on the couch. Still, after Erin had turned up at his doorstep with teary eyes and a red nose, he was glad she had chosen to stay with him.

As Jay went to use the en suite bathroom, he walked past a sleeping Erin, no longer curled up under the comforter. The shirt he had lent her had ridden up, exposing her stomach as she was sprawled across the bed. He blinked. His mouth suddenly seemed as dry as a desert. Finally tearing his eyes away from her, he swallowed nervously and ran a hand over his face before continuing into the bathroom.

When Jay came out of the bathroom a few minutes later, she was no longer in bed. He wandered out to the kitchen where he found her getting a bowl down from the cabinet. He watched her from the doorway for a moment, unnoticed, trying to find the words to ask her what he had been wondering for the last twenty minutes.

"How long?" He finally voiced, walking into the kitchen. He knew the question was blunt, but he didn't know how to approach the topic other than just to ask her directly. He had noticed earlier that her usually flat stomach was now rounder and it had immediately clicked for him. He had to know.

Erin didn't turn to look at him,"What?"

"How how long have you known that you're pregnant?" Jay pressed, seeing her freeze in place.

"I have no idea what you're talking about," Erin replied nonchalantly before resuming what she was doing.

"Your shirt rode up in your sleep," he proved, unscrewing the cap on a jar of whey protein.

"What, are you watching me sleep?" She scoffed. Changing the topic might work.

"No, I have to go through my room to get to the bathroom." He was losing patience with her continued evasion of his original question.

"Well, I'm not pregnant," Erin insisted. It was a foolish attempt at deflection, her slightly rounded abdomen couldn't mean much else than what he was suggesting, but she was internally panicking now and denial was the only reaction that came naturally.

Taking extra caution to make sure her loosely fitting shirt didn't ride up again, she grabbed the cereal from atop the refrigerator and busied herself with making her breakfast. She hoped he would just drop the conversation.

Of course, he didn't. Instead, he came to stand directly next to her and, before she had a chance to shift out of his reach, lifted her shirt up to reveal her belly.

"Stop it, don't touch me," she seethed, shoving his hands away and adjusting her shirt so it was properly covering her again as she stepped away from him.

"Sorry, I...uh… I shouldn't have done that," he mumbled,holding up his hands as he realized his mistake. Choosing to ignore his apology, she just went back to making her cereal in silence.

Jay ran a hand over his face, "You know, I'm not an idiot, Erin," he finally said with a sigh.

"It's none of your damn business, Halstead!" She was still fuming at his persistence.

"Its my kid, too. I have a right to know."

"Your kid? How do you even know it's your kid?" Erin said in disbelief at his assumption, "I can get laid you know, Halstead."

"Because I realized we had unprotected sex."

"Yeah, because you couldn't be bothered to put on a condom!" She was clearly laying the blame at his feet. "What a fucking teenage boy," she mumbled disgruntled.

"Erin I just realized when I saw your-" Erin talked right over him.

"Exactly, you didn't think, at all! You were too horny to use a condom. And now I have to pay the price!"

They both fell silent as she clamped her hand over her mouth, realizing what she'd just revealed.

"I knew it," Jay said disappointed, looking down, "You weren't going to tell me, were you?" Erin didn't respond. When he looked up, he saw her with one arm across her body and the other over her mouth, tears silently streaming down her face. He suddenly wasn't mad anymore.

"Hey, hey," Jay put down his protein shake and moved so he was standing in front of Erin; he almost felt like he was standing over her, she was so much shorter than him. He cautiously reached out and touched her arm, almost positive that she would move away, but she didn't. Her sobs only increased. He took the opportunity to wrap her in his arms and was surprised when she walked into them.

"I'm not going anywhere," he promised her stroking her hair and felt her nod against his chest. She had finally surrendered to his charms, and felt so lost and alone, she no longer cared.

Later that afternoon Jay offered to take Erin to the mall to find some clothes since hers were charred. Plus, Erin's swollen stomach was protruding slightly in her regular t shirts.

"I don't get this." Jay eyed Erin as she flipped through what would've been her third rack of clothes. She had only placed four tops out of the fifteen she had picked up into the shopping cart that Jay was pushing. She put most of them back because she was indecisive.

"Get what?" Erin held up a red top to her chest, "Bleh." she grumbled as it was too small and hung it back on the rack.

"This…" Jay spanned his arms out wide along the clothing racks, "You keep putting things back." Erin settled on a grey t shirt, placing it in shopping cart. "Isn't there like a rack for pregnant women?" Jay asked curiously.

"You mean maternity?" Erin looked up at Jay before she walked over to shelf of jeans. Erin looked down at her swollen abdomen, her jeans were getting a little snug. "I don't need those yet." she grabbed a pair of jeans and held them to her hips, she nodded to herself and placed them in the cart along with a jacket she found on clearance earlier.

"But will it fit over your stomach the same?" he asked, glancing down, "What does it feel like?" Boy, he was full of questions.

"It just feels like I'm fat," she answered truthfully. She just felt like she'd gained a little weight around the belly, even though her abdomen was firm and taut.

"But it's not fat, it's a baby," he told her as if she didn't know. "You mean you don't feel the baby move or anything?

"I know I'm not fat, Halstead. I'm only 8 weeks along, it moves but you can't really feel it until like 20 weeks," she shared, "it's the size of a kidney bean apparently."

Jay was grateful that she was in a better mood than she was this morning. She was even engaging in conversation with him, a rare moment he didn't take for granted. "So you don't feel pregnant? No morning sickness or anything?"

"Not yet."

"What about this one?" Jay held up a coral pink top before checking the tag, "it's a large."

"Do I look large to you?" she asked sarcastically before going to another rack.

"You said you didn't want to get maternity clothes yet. With a large, you can wear it when you get bigger."

Erin rolled her eyes, "I just want to buy these clothes for right now. I'll cross that bridge when I get to it."

"Isn't there special vitamins you have to take? Have you started those yet?"

"Yeah I started them but they went up in flames. I'll have to get more."

"I think I saw a pharmacy next door when we parked, I can see if they have any vitamins there." Erin just nodded. "Is there anything special I ask for? Do they need to know how far along you are?"

"Halstead!" Erin would have screamed at him had she not been in public.

"What?" he stopped abruptly almost bumping Erin with the shopping cart.

"Stop! Just shut up! I don't know." She didn't know, but she was overwhelmed, he was asking way too many questions. She hadn't come to terms with her pregnancy enough to answer him without losing it.

"Okay, I'm sorry. Do you wanna go?"

"Yeah, just...take me home."

Jay nodded and took the clothes she was holding, before taking them to the cashier and buying them for her.

"You didn't have to do that," Erin told him as they walked to the car.

"I know, just let me help."

Jay unlocked the door to his apartment, letting Erin walk in first before helping her bring her shopping bags into his bedroom. While Erin used the bathroom Jay unpacked the clothes and sat them out on the bed. He went over to his dresser, shoving his second drawer clothes into the third. Then he walked over to the bed and piled the new clothes of Erin's and placed them in the now empty drawer.

Jay bunched up the plastic shopping bags and stuffed them in the cloth bag dispenser before plopping down on the couch. He put one arm over the back of the cushions and rested the other on the armrest before grabbed the remote and flipped through the channels.

Erin walked out of the bedroom a puzzled look on her face, "Did you move my clothes?"

Jay nodded, not looking up from the TV. "I made room in my dresser."

"Oh." Jay couldn't see the small smile that formed on her lips, "Thanks."

Jay finally looked up at Erin and smiled. He finally did something right.

"Wanna watch TV?" Jay asked, scooting over on the couch to make room for her.

Erin hesitantly took a seat, "Sure."

"You can pick," he offered, handing the remote to her but she didn't take it.

"I'm good."

His eyes darted from her face to her stomach before he cleared his throat. "Do you think- um, can I feel...?" he stammered.

Erin looked up at him.

"I'm sorry nevermind."

"No it's fine, you can."

He hesitantly crossed his left hand over his body and gently placed his it on her slightly swollen abdomen. "I can't believe there is a baby in there."

Erin looked at him and laughed a bit. He had a stupid grin on his face. "I looked online and I'm pretty big for eight weeks."

"Maybe it's twins," he teased "How cool would that be?"

Erin laughed, "Not very cool, I'm too little to give birth to one baby let alone two."

"Did I tell you that my brother and I were nine and ten pounds when we were born?" Jay asked with a mischievous grin; he wasn't lying though.

"Oh great," Erin rolled her eyes, "delivering is going to be fun." Jay just winked at her.

Minutes passed with his hand still on her stomach before she spoke up, "You're not going to bail after the baby is born are you? Cause then it'll hit you that it's a real baby and-"

Jay pulled her close to him with his right arm "Erin, I am not leaving you," Jay said, beginning to gently rub circles on her stomach with his thumb, "or this baby."

Erin relaxed more into Jay's touch, "Thanks, Jay." Jay smiled; his name sounded amazing rolling off her lips, he wasn't sure if she'd ever called him by anything but his last name before.

She leaned her back against his chest and she swung her legs up on the couch, getting into a comfortable position; and boy, was he comfortable. "Of course."