This one's sort of a filler, it has been equally worked on by myself, coffeebeanner and the deepest secret. We're currently working on chapter 7! We are getting these out so fast. Things will be changing soon!

Enjoy!

"Let's see if Johnson is back from Plano," Jay Halstead laughed as he and Erin drove up to the 14th district before the start of their shift. His comment pulled Erin from her thoughts. She had been mulling over last night, which to her surprise had gone so much better than she had expected. He had taken the news amazingly well and even managed to ease her worries. For once she didn't mind that he had seen her so vulnerable. Maybe they could do this together.

Remembering that she still hadn't said anything in response, she tried to concentrate on what Jay had said. Something about Johnson's vacation, right?

"Does he have family there? I heard him talking about going there last week, but I thought he was joking," Erin said as they got out of the car and started the walk towards the building. Philip Johnson was a strange one, indeed. Nearly everything he did was out of the ordinary. He wasn't very good police either.

Jay laughed, "No! That's the funny thing! He just went for vacation, who goes on vacation to Plano, Texas? And for a week?" Erin laughed in response to Jay's reaction to their coworker's ridiculously boring sounding vacation.

Jay turned his head to the left and down a little bit to look at Erin. She looked amazing, even in a police uniform. If you didn't know to look, you wouldn't be able to tell, but he could see the very slight swell just above her waistband where his child was growing. He couldn't help but beam at her. "You have a nice laugh," he said truthfully, without even thinking.

"Thanks," Erin blushed, not really knowing what to say. She couldn't fight the smile and rosy cheeks either when Jay held the front door open for her moments later.

The lobby of the Shakespeare district was abuzz with the chatter of officers, either beginning or finishing their shifts. The two partners were about to head to the locker rooms when their desk sergeant, Sergeant Marino shouted out.

"Detective Halstead!"

Jay heard his name, but it wasn't prefaced with the correct title; he was an officer. He looked over at the sergeant with a confused look before heading towards him. Erin followed, even more confused. Marino knew that they were patrolmen.

"Sarge-" Jay began but was interrupted by Marino's hearty laugh.

"Congratulations, Halstead!" he said in a thick Chicago accent, sticking his hand out towards Jay, "you passed the detective exam! Highest score in years!"

The corners of Jay's mouth turned up into a big smile and he shook the Sergeant's hand. "Thank you sir!"

"Unfortunately, there's no spots in any units right now, but Deputy Chief Calloway requested you." Jay knew that name; he was the commanding officer of the academy. "He wants you to teach a firearms and a close combat class." He couldn't believe what he was hearing.

"I'd love to!" Jay responded immediately, still a little shocked at how lucky this week was turning out to be.

"All right, I'll let him know and get you the info," Sergeant Marino said with a smile before turning and helping another patrolman.

"Wow," Jay breathed out as he turned away from the desk so he was facing Erin, giving her an infectious smile.

Erin wasn't quite sure what to say to him. This had to be a joke, right? He was leaving, when just last night he had promised her that he'd be there for her, fully aware that he wouldn't be able to keep this promise for long. Anger started to bubble up inside her; anger at him for betraying her, but also at herself for having been foolish enough to believe his empty words. She'd be on her own as always.

She swallowed hard. Not wanting to give him the satisfaction of letting him see how much his news had rattled her, she took a deep breath and schooled her features.

"Congratulations Halstead!" She held out her hand for him to take and after a very stiff handshake hastily made her way to the locker rooms without ever meeting his eyes.

Jay went to follow her, but Erin had already put her belongings into the locker before he even made it into the room. Everyone had apparently heard about the news and was intend on congratulating him. He was still shaking hands and receiving pats on the shoulder when Erin, with a loud bang of her locker door, shoved past him to get the keys to their squad car for the day.

When he finally made it outside, he found her already waiting in the car, ready to start the car.

"All set?" He asked her lightly to diffuse the thick atmosphere in the car once he was seated. He wasn't sure what he had done, but she wasn't even looking at him.

Two hours and a call to a domestic disturbance (which had turned out to be a fight about the wife's cooking) later, she still hadn't directed a word at him, at least not unless it was work related.

"Did I do something wrong?" Jay finally spoke directing his gaze from the streets to Erin. He noticed Erin gripped the steering wheel tighter as he hit a nerve. "Erin?" he pressed.

"No, everything is fine." Erin tried to keep the anger out of her voice, not wanting to give Jay any indication that she was in fact not fine. She wasn't quite successful.

He turned down the corners of his mouth, "You don't sound fine," Jay countered, which only aggravated her further.

"Well, I am, Halstead," she nearly spat. He was getting under her skin and she did not like it. "Let's just focus on work, okay?"

"Work," he repeated with a nod, "sounds good."

However, a few moments later Jay was still mulling over what was going on with her.

"You can talk to me, you know. I'm your partner." He finally said, unable to let it go.

"Am I your partner though!?" The venom in her voice made him stagger slightly. Suddenly it dawned on him what she was so worked up about.

"You are mad that I won't be your partner anymore?" Try as he might he could not keep the little smirk off his face at the knowledge that she would miss him. "Come on, it won't be so bad. You have to go on desk duty anyway."

This, however turned out to be the wrong thing to say as her head snapped around to stare daggers at him. "You know what?! This is none of your business. I'm a good cop, I don't need you and I sure as hell don't need to go on desk duty anytime soon!" Her voice was slightly louder than she had intended, but it managed to finally silence him.

Jay knew that Erin was a good cop, a great cop at that. One of the best he has been partnered with. Did she think he wasn't going to miss her? Of course, he was, but the new job was a great opportunity for him and he wondered why she would blame him for pursuing it. Surely, she knew that he would always be there for her and the baby. He had no intention of letting her go. For the first time they were actually moving towards something more. He wouldn't give her up now that she was finally within his reach. He would be there for them. That would never change.

Many times throughout their shift Jay wanted to speak up, but every time he was about to open his mouth, Erin's stinging words rang through his mind: "It's none of your business!" and "I don't need you." So he stayed silent until it was the end of their shift and nothing had been said at all since the incident earlier that day.

The ride back to Jay's apartment was equally quiet and tense. Erin bolted from the car as soon as she had put it in park. With a sigh Jay quickly followed behind her, but as he was about to catch up with her, she just picked up her pace, so she disappeared behind his apartment door ahead of him.

Jay let out a sigh as he entered his apartment shortly after her. He toed off his boots and rubbed his temples as a headache hit him like a ton of bricks. Walking through the bedroom to get to the bathroom for some aspirin he noticed the door was shut. Before turning the knob, he pressed his ear to the door, hearing the labored breaths of Erin followed by heaves. Just as he was about to knock he heard the toilet flush and the water run. She almost ran into him when she opened the door minutes later, because he still hadn't moved..

"Hey." Jay was unsure how to react. Had she been feeling sick the whole day? Concern spread through him, replacing some of the confusion from earlier. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine," Erin hummed, shuffling to the couch. Maybe laying down would settle the flip flopping of her stomach. She rubbed small circles to her swollen abdomen trying to relax.

Meanwhile Jay had found the aspirin in his bathroom and went to get a bottle of water. Two steps into the kitchen, however, he backtracked and stuck his head back out. "Erin, do you want some water, too?"

"Yes, please," she called back, before adding "do you mind if I use your laptop for a bit?" She needed to look for a new place to live. Whatever they had going on right now clearly wasn't working out. She wouldn't wait until it blew up in her face even more than it already had.

"Sure." Jay answered from the kitchen. He was completely oblivious to her motive.