"Ow, damn it." Jay cursed under his breath, threw the covers back, and hurried to the bathroom.
The commotion woke Erin, so she rolled onto her side to face the bathroom. Jay had left the bathroom door open and the light seeping into the bedroom stung Erin's eyes. Squinting she tried to figure out what he was doing.
"What are you doing, babe?" She rasped her voice more horse then usual because she was so tired.
He turned and faced the doorway with a towel pressed to his face. "My nose is bleeding." He replied sounding irritated.
"Hey that's a good towel." Erin scolded him.
"I don't give a damn." He barked back, and Erin could tell he is obviously upset. "Our daughter sleeps like a maniac and just kicked me in the face. " Erin tried her best not to chuckle over how he got the bloody nose but Jay noticed.
"It's not funny Erin. She needs to start sleeping in her own room."
"Jay it's not a big deal. She's only four. Of course she wants to sleep in here with us."
"The bed's not big enough for the three of us. I barely get any sleep, and when I do fall asleep she goes full karate kid on me and I wind up with a bloody nose. Beside that we never get in any after hours activities anymore if you know what I mean, because she's always in here. I love her Erin. You know that, but she needs to sleep in her own bed." He pulled back the towel and noticed his nose was no longer bleeding. Then he headed out of the bathroom and towards the bedroom door.
"Where are you going?"
"Someone might as well sleep in her room." He huffed.
Erin sighed while turning back to face Macy. She ran her fingers through her daughter's baby curls. Jay was right. Macy did need to go back to sleeping in her own room, it was just harder for Erin to let go then she thought it would be.
"I'm taking Micah to school, and dropping Macy off at daycare, so you go sleep in our bed." Erin stood in the doorway of Macy's room where Jay was currently sleeping, or more so attempting to sleep. His feet hung off of the end of Macy's bed because it was to short. They didn't have to be into work until later that morning because the case they solved the night before had them out late, so Voight gave them the morning off.
A half hour later Erin walked into her room and hopped on the bed tackling Jay. He groaned and laughed a little turning onto his back to look up at her. Erin smiled before leaning down to kiss him.
"How's your nose? It looks alright. Does it hurt?"
"No it's fine. We do really need to talk about it though, Erin."
"I know." She rolled off of the bed and stood up unbuttoning her jeans and dropped them to the ground before crawling back into bed under the covers.
"Are you trying to manipulate me by stripping?" Jay teased.
Erin laughed. "No. It's just uncomfortable to lie in bed with jeans on."
She snuggled into him resting her head on his chest. "I know you're right. She needs to start sleeping in her own room. It's just hard to enforce it."
"I know, Er, but it's gotta happen. You know I love her that's not the issue. I don't mind if she comes in here on occasion after a bad dream or something. That's not a big deal. The problem is her being in here every night. This used to be our time you know? We could talk, and just be together. It's not even about sex Erin. It's just about having alone time with my wife."
She nodded against his chest. "I know. You're right, and we'll start implementing it tonight. I just need you to understand it's difficult for me. She's my baby, Jay. She's the last baby that I ever get to have, and she's already four now. Pretty soon she'll be calling me mom instead of mommy like Micah does, and wont let me hold her hand in public, and she'll get mad when I call her baby in front of her friends. I'm not ready for that. I'm not ready for her to grow up. I need them to both stop growing."
Jay smirked while rubbing her back. "I know. I'll let you call me baby in front of my friends whenever you want though." He teased.
"Whenever I want, forever and ever?" She played along jokingly.
"That ring on your finger says you can call me baby forever and ever, but seriously Er, having her sleep in here is not going to stop her from growing up. Trust me if that was the case I would happily allow her to sleep in here forever. Yesterday she told me that a kid at her daycare called himself her boyfriend, and I almost fell over dead."
Erin chuckled. "Oh god are you going to be the dad that cleans his gun in the living room when you know she's bringing a boy over? Voight totally did that to me once."
"Hell yeah I am." He laughed. "And that will be when she's thirty because that's when she's allowed to date."
"You are aware of the fact that I wasn't even thirty yet when we got married right?"
"Exactly."
"Well now I can't tell if you are trying to insult me or not."
Jay smiled. "No, I'm just saying I was jackass to you until we got married, and I don't know how I was lucky enough to get you to agree to marry me."
"Actually you're lucky it was my best option to keep Micah, because I was completely in love with you, and you were a jackass."
"Yeah I know." He laughed. "I don't want her having to deal with men who act like I did."
"I think she could do a whole lot worse off then finding a man like you, baby. You turned out to be decent."
"Decent? Ouch."
She exhaled a quiet laugh, and kissed his jawbone near where her head rested. "You ended up being pretty perfect actually."
"Yeah I get that a lot."
She swatted his chest playfully. "Shut up."
That night they both stood in Macy's bedroom. They had just finished reading her a bedtime story and now Erin was tucking her in. Macy looked up at her mom with big sad eyes. "Mommy, I don't wanna sleep by myself. It's scary."
Erin's heart broke a little, but Jay sat his hand on her back reminding her to stick to the plan. "There is nothing to be afraid of Macy girl. Mommy and daddy will be right across the hall. Remember our deal- you sleep in your bed like a big girl for ten days in a row and you get a prize."
"What is gonna be the prize?"
"Well what do you want it to be?" Jay asked.
"Fifty dollars."
Jay choked out a laugh. "Nice try you little hustler. How about you get your ten days, and we'll go to the toy store and you can pick your prize. Is that a deal?"
She nodded. "Deal, daddy."
"Seal it with a kiss?" He asked leaning down and she pressed her lips to his cheek. It was the way they always confirmed a deal.
"Alright good night baby." Erin leaned down and kissed her daughter. "Sleep tight." She turned on the night light before exiting the room following Jay.
Next they went into Micah's room to say good night. "Lights out Little man." Jay spoke as Micah sat in his bed reading a Magic Tree House book like he did every night before bed.
"Okay. Perfect timing because I just finished chapter nine." He smiled proudly setting his book onto his nightstand.
"Good job. We're going to have to get you a new book soon I take it." Erin replied.
"Mhmm. If Macy gets a prize so do I."
"Oh is that so? What are you doing to earn a prize?" Jay asked curiously.
"Being the best son ever?"
Erin and Jay both laughed. "Although you are the best son ever that doesn't necessarily qualify you to earn a prize. So we'll get you a new book for being super smart, and awesome, and finishing the last one. And because it's good for you to read." Erin voiced.
"Okay it's a deal, but I'm not sealing it with a kiss dad." He teased Jay.
Jay chuckled but Erin had other plans in mind. "Oh yeah?" She asked bending down and scattering kisses all over his face.
Micah squealed and giggled, while wiggling around. "Stop mom! Eww stop." He pleaded.
She pulled away smiling. "You're never to old for kisses from mom and dad. Remember that."
"Alright, Alright." Micah surrendered.
"Good. Now good night Mic."
"Night, buddy." Jay ruffled his son's hair before following Erin out of the room.
When they crawled into bed about an hour later Jay rolled over to face Erin. "Look at all this space. Tell me it doesn't feel good to be able to move?"
"You win. It's nice."
"See it wasn't as hard as you thought it would be was it?"
"No, it wasn't to bad." She wiggled her way closer to him.
"And see now I can hold you without anyone getting in the way."
"Mmm and what else can you do?" She asked him suggestively.
"Oh I can do all sorts of things, baby." He flipped her off of her side onto her back and crawled over top of her, before leaning down to meet her lips.