Title: So It Goes
Author: ZombieJazz
Fandom: Chicago PD
Disclaimer: I don't own them. Chicago PD and its characters belong to Dick Wolf. The character of Ethan has been created and developed for the sake of this AU series.
Summary: Hank Voight and his family try to cope with their struggles at home and work — and the dynamics those conflicting circumstances creat for their blended family in a time of transition. The series focuses on Voight, his sick and disabled son — and what's left of his family and their strained relationships, particularly that with Erin Lindsay and Jay Halstead as they work at establishing their own lives as a young couple.
This is a collection of one-shots/scenes using the characters as represented in the AU established in Interesting Dynamics. The chapters currently represent scenes happening in approximately S04 of the series or early 2017.
As I continue to update, they'll just provide one-shot snap shots into the characters' lives and likely some recasts of scenes from the show.
This is not a linear narrative with a beginning-middle-end. It's just scenes. It is generally set so it begins around the mid-point of Season 4 (or about January/February 2017) and may occasionally draw reference to (and have SPOILERS) from the series.
A notification is provided at the beginning of each chapter about where it happens in relation to the other chapters, if they are out of sequence. Chapters will be re-ordered semi-regularly (i.e. if you're reading this weeks or months after the chapter was originally posted, it's likely now in the right place, so just ignore the notification).
SPOILER ALERT: There are MAJOR spoilers in this collection from Interesting Dynamics, So This is Christmas, Scenes and Aftermath. This series also contains SPOILERS related to the finale of Season 3 of Chicago PD and will have occasionally spoilers from Season 4 of the show.
Jay nodded and reached to pull a box he'd slipped into the back of his pants and under his tshirt, in case they had been in the room and Ethan awake.
He held it out to her and she made a quite amused sound and gave her head a little shake. "This looks like some sort of Star Wars branded condom box," she commented, as she took the box, staring at the Galactic Night label.
Jay just raised his eyebrow teasingly at that. "You saying my skills are out of this world?"
She gave him a look. "Funny," she said. "But confused."
Jay shook his head at that. "I'm pretty sure I've seen evidence to the contrary."
"Hmm …," she allowed, internally rolling her eyes. "You might be seeing less of that," she said, as she slipped the sleeve off the box and again cocked her eyebrow at him as Mickey mouse all dressed up in his Rebel pilot outfit sat at the helm of an X-Wing fighter.
"If you have a problem with their branding choice, I have the much more mature and sophisticated ones in my bag. With Trojan warriors on the label."
"That might give me slightly more confidence in the brand's quality than Mickey Mouse," she conceded. "But that character choice – a Trojan - might be over-compensating for something."
"Now are you saying that I'm all Mickey Mouse in bed?" he raised his eyebrow.
She allowed him a wry grin at that. "Some nights," she told him.
He made a faux hurt face. "Well, I'll have you know that X-Wing fighter pilot Mickey always hits his target."
"Right …," she acknowledged. "The sexual innuendo of Star Wars. Because its fanatics only get to talk about it – not do it."
"Do or do not," Jay quipped. "There is no try."
"I hope you aren't trying to get laid, because now you are definitely not," she stressed at him.
"Even with a massive box of Star Wars Galactic Nights condoms?" Jay contended.
"I think most people buying Star Wars condoms likely could've managed with one – and would've been lucky—"
"You mean gotten lucky," Jay corrected.
"Very lucky," she allowed. "A box this size," she said twisting it in her wrist up at him. "It'd last them more than a lifetime for a Star War fanatic."
Jay nodded. "You're right. Because they're all waiting for their Princess Leia."
"They're dreaming in Technicolor," Erin said flatly.
"George Lucas' company is actually called Industrial Light and Magic," Jay said, sitting down next to her on the couch. His hands reached under the throw she'd wrapped around her bare legs and rubbed up her soft, smooth skin. She really cocked her eyebrow at him at that – both his Star Wars knowledge and the touch. "And maybe not dreaming," he added. "I found my Princess Leia," he allowed in his dry teasing sap.
"Aww …," she sassed back with just as much sarcasm, pulling her legs away from him slightly. "So sweet."
"And I'm still not getting laid, am I?" he put flatly, finding her legs again and rubbing his rough, strong hands up them.
She grinned at the move but shrugged. He still had a chance. Maybe. Maybe because she knew his moves when he decided he was going to sit down with her on the couch like that and pay some attention to her legs and feet. And it usually resulted in eventually his hands moving up much farther than that at a point she was usually unlikely to deny him access to where his fingers were headed – and what she also knew he could manage when they reached their destination.
Or maybe it was just because maybe he sort of looked like Han Solo. And he'd probably sort of like to be told that in seductive sarcasm. That it might make his handy work move a little faster.
And maybe it was all sort of just as pathetic that she was able to put words like Han Solo, X-Wing Fighter, Rebel Pilot, lightsaber and Mickey Mouse in sentences that almost made sense. And have sexual undertones.
And it just completely proved that either she was absolutely destined to some day be a Boy Mom. And that that boy would likely turn into as much of a Star Wars nut as her little brother. And apparently her fiancée, who'd presumably be fathering the next generation of fanatics. Because she definitely didn't entirely believe that Jay was just putting up a front to like the movies as a way to bond with Ethan. At all.
"Your lightsaber has definitely been boxed," she allowed coyly, wagging the thing at him again. "But you're still likely in the running for Almost-Brother-in-Law of the Year."
"I suppose that's an OK consolation prize," he shrugged. "But if we're talking the Quasi-Sibling Awards category, I have some stiff competition," he grinned at her, but she just shook her head, "coming in from someone who's taking him to the Wizarding World of Harry Potter."
Erin allowed a thin smile for his effort. "I'm pretty sure Star Wars wins out over Harry Potter," she said, finally snapping open the magnetic lid on the box to see what was actually inside. Hopefully not a lightsaber – or condoms for Jay's.
Star Wars winning out over Harry Potter actually made her a little sad, though. But she planned on reminding Eth they were there was for Harry Potter – not Jurassic Park, not Star Wars. Even though those were nice bonuses for her geeky little brother.
But they'd picked – she'd picked for him - Harry Potter because of his mom. Because it was something Camille had shared with Justin while he was growing up. Because it was something Camille had tried to share with her too as a point for them to bond on – to find some sort of connection and to have something to talk about and something special to do together at each book and movie release date. A late night out without Justin and without Hank. Just them. And she'd started trying to share that with Ethan. She'd started reading the books to him and sharing the magic. He was just too little and too brain damaged to remember. But Erin was doing her best to pass that one to him anyway. Because it was something that Camille would've wanted. Because it was something Ethan needed now. With his mom gone and with his brother gone and with all his uncertainty for the future and his family. He needed a way to feel connected and bonded with all for them – from the past and going into their future.
But maybe she might not have to remind him of any of that. It wasn't like he was unexcited about Harry Potter. She just had seen how he lit up about Jurassic Park that day. And she knew how he'd light up about Star Wars Galatic Nights when they told him that he was going to get that interactive experience while in Orlando too. And she wasn't sure he'd quite light up in quite the same way for Harry Potter.
It'd been a bit of a battle with him reading the books. He was trying – because he so wanted this trip and he so liked being able to pull the sleepover card when he finished one. To have a confirmed night away from Dad – with a dinner of his choice (which was nearly always chicken strips and potato wedges with some of the homemade sauces and dips they'd learned how to make for him that he could have – including ketchup) and a movie night with them in front of Jay's flatscreen that was so much bigger and crisper and more sophisticated than anything that Hank would ever invest in for a "stupid box" in his home.
But the reading – independently, without her help or his dad's help (though she thought he likely was getting some help from Hank and from his EA during independent reading time at school) – was hard for him and it could be frustrating. The books were just so different from the kinds of things he read with Hank or what they made him read at school. The developing plot was complex. He had to concentrate it and follow it carefully to understand what was going on and to pick up on all the little intricacies. Some of the British slanted words and dialogue confused him. But Eth did better than he thought. They talked about the books as he worked through them. And she asked questions of him to make sure he was actually reading – and understanding. He did. Some things he missed or struggled with but he was pushing through. Just like he did most things.
Because that was Ethan. For all his struggles, he was one stubborn little boy. He'd be a stubborn man. But it'd ultimately be what would let him preserver through life. It was how he needed to be. Besides, slow and steady supposedly won the race. SO he'd get there eventually. Though, she doubted he'd be done the books by June. Still, she'd hold him to his promise he was going to finish them since he got this trip. She'd be a hard-ass about it. Because that was their deal. Voights were good to their debts. They paid things back. Eventually.
She might have to get him onto Game of Thrones a few years down the road and introduce him to the Lannisters. She imagined he could find something relatable in Tyrion or Jon Snow too.
Though, she'd picked the Harry Potter books mostly because of the number of them and because of his mother – she'd also thought that he might be able to relate to Harry. He hadn't really. And she supposed as she worked through the books with him, even though they were both boys who lives, she could see why Eth might not see himself in Harry. It'd actually ultimately been Newt Scamander he'd seemed to have become enamored with when they took him to see Fantastic Beasts in the theater.
He'd fallen in love with that story, and with Newt, and with all the beasts. He'd started showing a lot more interest in working through the Harry Potter books to try to glean all the backstory there. So, they'd gotten slightly off track with the Harry Potter books when he'd gotten the hardcover screenplay of Fantastic Beasts at Christmas. They'd gone and read that together instead and it was the fastest Erin had witnessed Ethan ever go through a book. So hopefully their day in the Wizarding World might be just as magical for him as his Galactic Night at Disney.
"I think Jurassic Park likely puts us in even running," Jay assured. "And it's not really a competition."
His hands were still moving. But he was going slow. That was Jay, though. He was a flirt but he was usually a little slow in the initiation. He'd give her look. He'd make slight moves like this. She could usually tell when he was interested and what he was going for. But there was always this mild hesitation and this quiet look that had this request for permission behind it. Which, in a lot of ways she kind of appreciated. But it was definitely a different approach than her. When she wanted to initiate – she initiated. And they moved from ready, to set, to go pretty damn quick. Jay always took his time shuffling into the starting chute before he really made his move. If he even did. Sometimes he didn't. But that was Jay too.
And, honestly, even though what he was doing felt good and it definitely had her thinking about the options and feasibility of making it do more than just feel kind of nice, she got the sense that he was more interested in just spending some quiet time with her that afternoon. That he was being realistic about the precariousness of their momentary privacy and wasn't trying to reach any sort of goal. He was likely as acutely aware as her that Ethan had been sleeping for a while and their window of privacy was limited at that point.
Even if Jay had been there when Eth had fully passed out, the suite didn't exactly scream privacy for anything much more than the calf and foot rub she was getting. So she'd just do her best to enjoy what she was getting. It still felt kind of nice after being on her feet for about six hours that morning – in heat and lines.
"I know," she allowed, staring at what was actually inside the box. "Why'd you get these?" she asked of the bracelets – each one decorated with a different Star Wars character. Jay was being a real softie with Ethan that day. Spoiling him. He better not give her any flak when she did a bit of spoiling of her baby brother later in the week – and not on the first fucking day.
"Those are the tickets," Jay said flatly.
Her eyes shot to him and then back to the alleged tickets. "These are the tickets?"
They were a hell of a lot more sophisticated than the little flimsy pieces of cardboard they'd been given at Universal and told not to lose or get them wet – hence, handed lanyards to have them hanging around their necks all week like they were at some sort of business convention.
Jay gave a little nod, his hands ran down to grip at her one foot, starting a massage on it. Both the movement and the heat of his hands felt nice. Because her feet were both tired and freezing.
She gave him a thin smile – at the massage and the apparent tickets. "He's going to lose his mind when he sees these," she allowed.
But the comment made Jay frown. "You sure you're OK with this?" he asked and she just shrugged, as she reached to slide out the little information packet and guidebook map for Hollywood Studios and the Galactic Night event out of the sleeve on the box's top flap. "I'm serious," he pressed. "It's not supposed to be a competition."
Erin nodded, though. "Yea," she allowed. "He'd be disappointed if we didn't get over to the Star Wars stuff."
And that was the truth. Ethan had been talking about getting his day at the Star Wars park just as much as he had anything else on the trip. It was near the top of his never-ending list of must-dos. They couldn't really not go. When she'd actually floated that she wasn't sure they'd have time to get to Disney – at all, because she really didn't want to deal with that insanity of Theme Park World – Eth had offered to pay for the day himself. And they might've lead him to believe that he actually would be paying for it himself if it was such a priority when they were working on such little time. But that had been before Jay had spotted this Galactic Night event and got more little boy enthusiasm in his examination of the activities and offerings than Ethan had talking about the opportunity to go to the Star Wars park. So it'd pretty much been a given at that point that they'd be going – and it'd be her and Jay paying for it. Though, it seemed like Jay had taken the hit of the cost.
Not that it really mattered. Even though they hadn't exactly merged their bank accounts and debts yet, they were pretty aware of what their household budget was and what they'd bought into in terms of debts and spending habits with their relationship. Basically – Jay had very little in terms of assets, at least ones he hadn't inherited jointly with his brother. But he was a hell of a lot better at saving and being a fucking tight-ass about the way he spent his money than Erin. She had the condo – and technically some inheritance from Camille that Hank still kept trying to ask if she was ready to take, and the answer was, now, no, she wasn't and she wasn't sure if and when she ever would be. Though, she also knew that wasn't an answer that Hank would ever fully accept. She knew that he'd make sure she got that money somehow – whether she wanted it or not. So, it'd likely be better and easier for all of them if she worked out in her mind when and how and why that might be.
Yet even though Jay had backwardly presented the argument that if she was going to take it – she might as well take it now so they could put it toward the townhouse, especially since she was holding onto the condo and her mortgage there for the moment. And that was kind of a fucking extra expense when they were already stretching themselves with the townhouse mortgage and the cost of utilities and living that was coming up there. Just even getting settled in. All that furniture that seemed to fill both of their apartments really hadn't put too much of a dent into a house. Though, Olive was starting to give her monthly rent now. It wasn't exactly close to what the condo was actually worth but it was what she could afford for the moment. And Erin was letting that slide for a few more months, even though it likely would've been smart to have it go on the market in the spring. But Olive looked like she was comfortable there. She didn't want to rock the boat when they all seemed to be kind of settling.
Jay wasn't super thrilled about that, given all stretched they felt. They had pretty much kind of settled into living month-to-month. And she knew he understood the situation, even if he didn't love it. They'd both love the other option less, though. If she started putting the bolts to Olive too much about it, it'd likely be Hank who would be doing the top-up in the interim. And they'd be right back to taking money handed to them from Hank, which wasn't what they wanted. Erin was just going to hope that when Olive's course ended for the term, she'd be able to pick up enough shifted over the summer that she'd be able to stock up and contribute more. Or that all the paperwork and bureaucracy related to Justin's death and insurance benefits entitled to Olive and Henry would start coming in. Though, Hank had already admitted that had taken a while with Camille. It'd likely be even slower with Justin.
And the new reality was, Jay could only complain so much about how their money got spent and how they dealt with savings and bills and spending priorities – when he'd just gone and dropped hundreds of dollars on Star Wars night. Though, he didn't do much for himself in terms of spending. He talked about things he wanted. A lot. Cars and motorcycles and SUVs and sound systems and travel destinations (of which Orlando definitely hadn't been on the list) and sports match ups he'd like to see and once-in-a-lifetime concerts and events he'd like to go to and adrenaline activities and electronics. But he rarely went and bought it. Any of it.
Actually, beyond the TV and a new pair of runners. She wasn't sure he actually needed but he seemed to have different types of sneakers designated for different things. Running shoes and gym shoes and sneaker that he put on if they were going out and he wasn't wearing his boots (which she was pretty sure had only happened about twice in the time she'd known him). Still, it wasn't exactly like he spent money frivolously. Or he ever would after his experience with his dad and brother. Jay's definition of frivolous was buying more than three drinks in a night or eating out more than once a week when there were groceries in the fridge. Even picking up a coffee on the way into work was something he seemed to feel was unnecessary when they had a coffeemaker at home and a coffeemaker in the break room.
So – even though he was masking this Star Wars thing as for Ethan, she knew it was for him too. And, she hadn't commented on the cost of it. She just put it into the fucking trip budget spreadsheet Jay had created and knew that … eventually they'd pay it off. Likely by the time they'd intended to go.
They were making headway with their squirreling of money away for it. They'd just gone sooner than they'd been planning so they'd have to do a bit of catch-up with dealing with it when they got home. But it wouldn't be the first or last time either of them lived in debt. Though, she got the sense that Jay wouldn't be big on letting that go on for long. If they didn't pay their credit cards down in a couple months, she was pretty sure he'd be looking at diverting other spending or savings to get it cleared up. But that was Jay. And she was learning to live with it.
It was probably a good thing that one of them was good with money. Not that she was awful. Living with Bunny had definitely taught her how to handle and manage money quickly. And living with the Voights had taught her more about the value of money and savings and budgeting – and managing that while trying to live on a cop's salary while raising a family and leading a middle-class life in Chicago. Though, Chicago was a lot more expensive than the '90s to be living a middle-class life and raising a family. So she was definitely aware of that too. She was adjusting her habits. It was just … she had her moments. Banana peels. But hopefully those were in the past. She couldn't really have as many slips anymore. Not with two mortgages and being accountable to someone else and helping with Ethan and talking about the if and when and logistics of starting a family of their own.
But apparently they could afford to have a Galactic Night. And she supposed if they could afford a day in the Wizading World of Harry Potter and a day at Jurassic Park. And that trip as a whole – they could manage to afford this. Now. Because who knows if and when they would ever be able to afford it or do it ever again.
Jay's thumb worked at pressing into her foot. "I just don't want it to take away from Harry Potter," he said with that quiet sincerity of his.
But she just shrugged again. "It won't," she tried to assure him as much as herself. "Maybe we'll get to Harry Potter tomorrow anyway."
"You thinking he's going to be up for that?" he asked with the faintest touch of surprise. As surprised as Jay let himself sound about much of anything.
She let out a little sigh and shook her head. She really didn't know. They'd kind of have to see how the rest of that day went. And he clearly knew that too.
"You think he's going to be up to heading back over to the park tonight?" he asked instead.
She let out another sigh and shrugged, but reached for her phone to check the time.
It was nearly five. It'd been about 2:30 when they'd gotten back to their room. Their original plan for the day had been to leave the park around noon. It just hadn't worked out that way. And she suspected that a lot of days at the parks weren't going to work out that way. Though, she also knew as the trip wore on Eth was going to get more and more tired. He wouldn't likely admit that. So they were going to have to keep being the adults and being the ones who were making the decisions on cutting things out of the day and the holiday as a whole. They already were and it was only the first day. And Eth just wouldn't be able to do it himself. He struggled with even simple decisions. This would be too much for him. There were just too many things he wanted to see and do. And even if they had two weeks – or even three – she wasn't sure they'd be able to tick off every item on his list. Not as they got to the places and saw just how much they had to offer. Not as they saw the lines and did the reality checks on just how much time things took to do. And, as it was, with their 10 days – two of which would be spent getting to and from airports and in the air – even scratching the surface of Ethan's list of hopeful, wide-eyed wants weren't going to happen.
And they were just going to have to be the ones who decided what would. Structure the schedule in a way that made sense within his limitations – and the limitations of reality – just like they had to do at home.
And, right now, one of the realities was they were getting close to Eth's time for some of his afternoon medications. So, even though Erin would kind of like to just let him sleep – and kind of like to see exactly what Jay might be getting at with his foot rub - if Ethan didn't wake on his own soon, they might have to disturb him themselves.
Getting off Eth's pill schedule was just asking for trouble. And it was already proving a little troublesome even with just the one-hour time difference. Beyond that, though, if they weren't going to be back into the park by about seven, she wasn't sure it was worth it. And she really didn't want to have him over there until ten or eleven at night with him begging to stay for the firework show.
She wasn't willing to throw off his sleep-rest schedule that much. It was going to be really thrown off on their Galactic Night as it was. They'd pretty much pre-determined for Eth that was going to be his late night on the trip. The other nights, they were going to aim to have him back to the hotel by about nine and hopefully to sleep by about ten. Which would mirror his sleep routine pretty closely – especially with the time difference. And it'd also give her and Jay some alone time and quiet time to rest and recuperate too. And maybe get to enjoy some of the vacation on their own terms.
It seemed like Eth's body was trying to tell him it wanted to keep to its schedule too anyways. Because it wasn't uncommon for Eth to need to go to the nurse's station at Iggy's in the afternoon for a rest. Or for when he got home from school to lay on the couch or up in his room for an hour before he was functional enough to consider putting homework or chores in front of him. So they were technically right in the period where he'd be resting anyway. Maybe they'd survive the week without sending his routines completely off schedule.
"We'll have to see how he's doing when he wakes up," she allowed. "When he wakes up."
Jay made a little sound and nodded, moving hi hand to her other foot. "You thinking we should let him sleep through?"
She shook her head. "We'll need to get his pills into him. Maybe give him an hour more."
Jay made a sound of acknowledgement. "I think we should try to go back. We don't get him on the Indominus ride, we'll end up spending another whole day over in that area."
Erin gave her head a little shake but shrugged, as she read through the guidebook for Star Wars and started to try to wrap her head around what that day of their trip might look like. Busy too. Long likely. And a late one. But at least it looked like a lot of that park was shows – and sitting. Ethan was likely going to need a day like that.
"I know," she allowed.
"You been watching the standby line times?" Jay asked.
She cast him a little look. A serious one. "Still 120 minutes the last time I checked."
He made a noise and adjusted himself on the couch to lull his head against the back of it a bit, pulling her feet more into his lap. "Hopefully the place will clear out a bit after six."
She made a sound of acknowledgement. But she wasn't so sure about these crowd projection things that Jay had invested so much time into researching in his planning. His own little theme park surveillance assignment.
His head rotated to gaze at her – but she was still reading the Star Wars guide. "OK," he allowed, clearly reading into her lack of trust into his Googling. "Then, the River Adventure, its standby line was 40 minutes? And the express line, we were waiting, what? Like five, ten?"
"About," Erin acknowledged again.
"So if it's still at one-twenty tonight, we might be looking at like … half-hour wait? That's not too bad," he said.
She raised her eyebrow at him. "What happened to no ride being worth spending more than fifteen minutes in line for?"
He made a noise and cocked his head. "I think we're all having to adjust our expectations a bit, aren't we?"
She managed a little smile at that, but then sighed. "Maybe he'll agree to use the disability pass again. Go do something else and go back at our window."
"But if we aren't over there until like seven, our window might be nine or later. I don't think we should push too far passed nine tonight," Jay said. "He seems pretty beat."
"Yea," Erin acknowledged. "He is."
His hand traced up to her knee. And he did that little swipe and tickle thing behind it. She raised her eyebrow at him. "Still trying to get to show off your lightsaber?"
He gave her an amused look. "Maybe if you show off what you've got hidden under this blanket," he put to her.
She made her own little noise, as he gave the throw a small tug – but she held it in glance. The A/C in the room was ridiculous. She didn't need to go showing off her bikini bottoms. "You've seen me in this – and less – before," she said.
"I'm not very good at using my imagination," Jay said. "Need visuals."
"Maybe you'll get visuals if you can figure out how to get the room to warm up," she said and nodded over at the thermostat by the door.
He made an amused noise but moved her legs from his lap and got up, going over and looking at the little box. He pressed at the button a few times – but she'd already done that multiple times and it hadn't worked for her. The cold air still kept blasting out. They might have to call the front desk and complain. Have someone come up to check it out. They might be from the Windy City – but their fucking hotel room didn't need to feel like they were still spending their Easter there. Not in shorts, tshirts and bathing suits.
"Take it you guys didn't make it down to the pool?" Jay put to her, as he wandered back to the couch and again arranged himself there, returning her legs to his.
"Nope."
"Guess that means he didn't notice I was gone," he nodded.
"Nope," she agreed again. "It took you a long time?"
He made a sound and adjusted a little again, lounging more against the back of the small couch. His arm going across the back of it and his back leaning into the corner, as he pulled one leg under him and plopped the other leg on the stacking tables in front of them. She adjusted herself too, lounging against the arm on her side so she could look at him and fully settled her calves and feet into his open lap, adjusting the blanket around them both slightly.
"It was a pain in the ass," he allowed. She raised an eyebrow. "OK. So first I go to Shades of Green to get the vouchers."
"How far did it end up being?" she asked. Because she already knew that part of the plan. As far as she knew that was the extent of the plan – which was why she was wondering how he'd managed to be gone for hours. She was starting to think that he'd decided a vacation with Ethan wasn't much of a vacation and had bailed out. Or she would've thought that if she hadn't been getting Jay's belligerent texts that didn't make much sense but he was clearly annoyed and pissed. About what she wasn't exactly clear. And all she'd gotten when she asked was that he'd be back soon and tell her then.
"It clocked at about sixteen miles but it seriously took me almost 30 minutes to get there."
She made a sound at that. Orlando and driving among tourists was proving a little difficult to road warrior in. It seemed like no one knew where they were going – even though she suspected everyone was going to the same two places – and/or no one knew how to drive. There'd been cursing on the way to the resort from the airport the day before.
"How'd that resort seem?" she asked. Because they'd had the option of staying there with Jay's military background. The rates were amazing. But with Ethan's needs and situation, it just hadn't been the best option.
Jay shrugged. "Wouldn't have been this kind of experience," was all he said.
Erin wasn't entirely sure what that meant. But she just eyed him. She wasn't sure he wanted them staying there – among military families and veterans and people still in the service either between tours or on some R&R or leave. It might not have been comfortable for him. He might've had to make chit-chat or niceties that he didn't want to make. On topics he didn't want to talk about. And it might've triggered feelings in him that would've made the trip more difficult than it already was.
"Anyway. I can only get the vouchers there. Not the actual tickets," he said and gestured at the box. "So they give me the list of where to pick up the tickets and say the Ticket Center is the closest. Fine. But turns out that basically all roads lead to this place and it's like the transportation hub to Mickey's Kingdom. So it's a fucking gong show to even get there and then they want to charge me twenty bucks to park."
"To pick up the tickets?" Erin gaped at him with disgust equal to that in his voice.
"Yea, exactly," he agreed. "So fuck that. Decide to go direct to Hollywood Studios. Figure that will be easiest and they must expect people to be showing up at the Will-Call to pick up tickets for this thing, right? Wrong. And wrong after driving another fucking seven miles to get to that fucking park"
"Really?" she raised her eyebrow. "It's that big?"
"The place is massive. Glad we decided to stay over here," he muttered with a headshake.
Because they had briefly debated about staying at Disney. They'd been offered up a forty percent hotel discount if they stayed at their resort properties through Jay's available discounts. But they'd ultimately decided that again. Some of the resorts looked nice enough. But some of them just looked too nice or too little kiddie for what they needed and wanted with Ethan – and for their own sanity. And ultimately, it'd just made more sense to stay over at Universal since they thought when it came to park-time that would be where they'd be spending most of it. And she didn't really want to be spending thirty-minutes each park-day going back and forth between Disney and Universal – especially if they were taking breaks in the afternoon and going back in the evening.
"And when I get to their park gates, it's the same fucking thing. Want to charge me to get into the lot. So, I express my distaste about that."
"Oh, sounds like some parking attendant got lucky" she said with a thin smile.
Because she knew how Jay was. Don't piss him off and don't annoy him. He wasn't the most tolerant or patient person in the world. But neither was she. Only with certain people and it in certain situations. And both lists were pretty short. She'd already seen him give some tone and attitude to park attendants that day. Not exactly outright rude but Jay. Cop-like. Though, she was sure some people they encountered during the day thought he was being a bit of an asshole. But that was pretty much par for daily life too.
He just made a sound at her sarcasm. "Guy tells me that I can either pick up the tickets the day of this thing – but there will be lines and we can't do … booking the rides—"
"Booking the rides?" she squinted at him and glanced back at the guidebook and map – because suddenly this was starting to sound more complicated.
"I'll get to it in a sec …," he muttered. "So basically he's recommending that I pay the twenty, get into the lot and collect the fucking things ahead of time. So I again tell this jagoff that I'd be happy to pick up the fucking things if they'd let me run in and out without charging me twenty-bucks for the privilege of handing them fucking bags of money as it is."
She shook her head. "That's ridiculous that they charge you to go to the will-call," she muttered. And if they were going to charge that for a quick in-and-out, she didn't want to speculate what they were going to have to pay to park at the place on Sunday when they were actually going to spend the evening there.
"Right. So then – and only then - he decides to tell me that I can park for free and pick up the tickets at 'Disney Springs.'"
"Mmm …," Erin acknowledged.
Because she had heard about this Disney Springs place from Ethan. A lot. Shopping and dining Mecca full of kitsch that her brother was just itching to check out. He'd already tried to convince them that they should spend time there by toting that "it's free". Nothing was "free" – especially in the theme park capital of the world.
"Another fucking seven miles to that place," Jay nodded at her seriously. "Massive parking garage and then walk a mile to get to the entrance – and it's a fucking maze."
"Of course," she allowed. It was the way they'd try to lure you into the stores and restaurants – to spend more money. Make you spend as much time there as possible.
"Finally get to the place to get the tickets. Wait in a giant line."
"What's a theme park without a line?" she teased.
"It's a fucking glorified strip mall," he argued. He was clearly getting a little worked up about this experience. She was going to have to work at spooling him down. "And then it's a whole process to get the fucking things issued."
She gazed at him. "Why?"
He gestured dismissively. "First, needed to pick out which characters on the things. I didn't fucking know."
She allowed a small amused sound at that and looked at them again. "I'm sure he'll lay claim to them all."
"Yea …," Jay rolled his eyes. "Technically BB-8 is his."
Erin shrugged. "I really don't care which one I get," she said, giving him a glance. Because she supposed it was entirely possible that Jay had an extreme attachment to Boba Fett (because she was actually pretty sure he did) or Kylo Ren (and why the fuck did she know these characters by name?).
"No," Jay said. "He can have them all. After. But he's actually got to wear BB-8 on Sunday."
She raised her eyebrow. "Why?" she pressed – because that might cause a fight she didn't want to fight.
"Because they creepily attach all our information to these things. All his emergency information – already on there. His disability pass. Even his dietary restrictions. They're going to know it all when we scan into the park. And then we have to scan them again at every ride and restaurant. The line-attendants – it's all going ot pop right up on their terminals. Our names, our ages, fingerprint us when we go in. Everything."
"That's terrifying," she agreed, staring at the now not-so-innocent looking Star Wars souvenirs.
"What's terrifying is that Disney potentially collects better intelligence than the CPD. And who knows what other government organizations," Jay grumbled.
She rubbed at her eyebrow as she tried to process that and tried to process how she felt about that. If it made their lives a bit easier in the park or if it was a complete fucking invasion of their privacy. Because she didn't doubt these things were likely tracking their movements through the park too and probably how they spent their money. She wouldn't be surprised if they were affecting how wait times got posted or what kind of events or services were happening in the area and how they moved and managed staff. Not to mention, she wouldn't be surprised if it resulted in some sort of targeted marketing, that Disney was likely going to label as an interactive or immersive experience.
She sighed, though, and shook her head. It was one day. Hopefully it wouldn't mean that Disney would own their souls forever. Though, there'd likely be some file filed away about them on some computer for all eternity now.
"OK … so how does this all work?" she asked, tossing the park and event booklet into Jay's lap.
He picked it up and flipped through it a bit himself. She suspected that the person at the ticket counter had already gone through a bunch of it with him.
"So we can go in at four," he provided.
"So four until midnight?" she clarified.
He grunted. "But I guess … like pre-show happens at 3:30. So if you're there for that it wraps up in about fifteen minutes and you can get in a bit early."
She made a noise. "I don't know. Four to midnight. That's already eight hours," she stressed. "Six today and …" she shrugged at him. Six might've been more than enough – and that was day one. Star Wars wasn't going to be until day three. And even if Ethan was feeling super excited and energetic that day – midnight was way passed his bedtime. Eth might struggle to even stay up that late no matter what was going on around him. He usually did at sleepovers. He was that did who fell asleep first.
Jay nodded mild acknowledgement but paged through the booklet himself. "All the shows have their last showing at six, though," he said. "So if we want to catch the March of the First Order—"
"Do we?" she asked, raising her eyebrow. He just cast her a look. Actually it was bordering on an astonished glare that she'd even suggest missing it. "OK …," she acknowledged. "We apparently need to see the 'March of the First Order'. What is the March of the First Order?"
"Captain Plasma," he stressed at her. "Like fifty Stormtroppers."
"Oh …," she nodded, giving him a clear look. One that clearly expressed, he was losing it. Or at least sounding a whole lot like Ethan had all day with his dinosaurs.
"It's from Force Awakens," Jay said with mildly defensively. "He'll like it. There's some big stage show at the end of it."
"Mmm …," Erin allowed and shifted to lean against him and look into the guide he was staring at intently and flipping through now too.
"He might want to see the Indy show and the car stunt show too," he said.
"You want," she put flatly. He cast her a look. But they knew that was true – and it was allowed. He should get to see and do some of the things he wanted to see and do on the trip too. Even if he sounded slightly like a crazy person when he talked about them. But Jay's crazy person talk was slightly endearing – because he didn't do much about it. When he got animated about something, it was kind of cute. She could see the little boy. And he wasn't quite as damaged as Jay might've thought.
He just shrugged. "There weren't that many dinner reservation options left. At the Rebel Hanger experience thing."
"Hmm …," she allowed. Because that had been what Jay had gotten most hyped up about when he realized this event was happening down there. Apparently whatever it was was very exciting. To her it pretty much sounded like themed food while sitting amongst some props and being forced to watch Star Wars clips on repeat. Though, Jay had repeatedly stressed to her that it was going to look like the Cantina. Apparently that was also very exciting. For him. Hopefully for Ethan. For her? Likely not so much. But she'd find ways to make them both be held accountable for that in Harry Potter land. And probably by finding a steam-pot restaurant or steakhouse before the end of the trip too. "So when do we eat?" was all she asked.
"We don't get to go into the building until 8:30," Jay said flatly.
Erin made a small noise at that. It didn't work great with Eth's medication and injection time. But, they'd just have to find a bathroom and give him something small to hold his stomach and nausea over until then.
"Apparently if we go through the whole experience, and not just right to the food—"
"He's going to want to do the whole thing," Erin provided. Which they both knew was true. Jurassic Park had proven that. With Star Wars, it wasn't just going to be true of Ethan, though. They'd be going at Jay's pace. It'd be interesting to see who's pace was slower.
"Well, that guy said we should expect to be in there for about two and a half hours."
Erin made a sound of acknowledgement. With Ethan – she was going to guess that was probably going to be more like three or four. Which meant they'd pretty much be finishing dinner, going to the fireworks and heading back to the resort. A long, late night.
"We get to book three rides ahead of time," Jay said. "If there's time slots available we want. The guy set me up on the app," he said, moving under her a bit to pull his phone out of his pocket and gaze it, thumbing around. "But beyond the Star Wars ride, I don't know what Eth's going to want to do."
"Don't you want to do the Tower of Terror and Guardians of the Galaxy?" she asked, watching him manipulate the app. He was flipping through the different panels she could hardly see what he was doing, but she knew from previous conversations that Tower of Terror and Guardians of the Galaxy were on his list of must-do attractions. Or at least as close to anything Jay would ever label as must-do.
He glanced at her. "And you said you wanted to do the Aerosmith coaster."
She made a sound. "We aren't going to get Ethan on that."
But the reality was she was just kind of going along for the ride on Star Wars night. She didn't have her heart set on much of anything on at that park. Though, she thought she might get some decent nostalgia out of the Twilight Zone ride and the Indiana Jones attractions too. She'd grown up with them and grown up with them again through Justin and Ethan. But she also knew letting Ethan and Jay have their Star Wars moments would take priority. And she'd let it. Because hopefully, they'd paid her the same consideration on Harry Potter day.
Jay just made a sound. "Well, we either tell him about this ahead of time-"
She shook her head. "No. It's his Easter surprise."
Jay nodded and gazed at the app. "So then we just do a crap shoot and pick three rides that have time slots available. He doesn't need to know we pre-booked."
"They don't have an express pass?" she asked.
"This is how their express pass works," he put flatly and gazed at her with his clear displeasure about their system too after how the express pass at Universal had worked out for them so far. Not that they had a ton of reference beyond repeated ridings on River Adventure.
"What about the disability pass?" she asked.
He shook his head. "Different too. I didn't really get it. I think we're pretty much put in an air conditioned area with seats but still wait the same amount of time as the standby line."
She made a sound. "So … we get to go on three rides and that's it?"
"No, we get an assigned time-window for three. The rest we just go stand in line with everyone else. And, really, I don't know," he said, swiping his finger around, "not sure we're even going to be able to book any time windows that make sense for us. A lot of slots are booked up already. Dinner sitting smack in the middle of the night kind of fucks us over."
"Yea …," Erin allowed but shrugged. "But, Jay, if he likes the Star Wars ride, he's likely just going to want to keep going on it over and over. Same as today. And, same thing at dinner – if it's anything like the Discovery Center, we'll be there for hours. And he'll come away happy."
He made a small sound of acknowledgement but there was a touch of disappointment to it. She rubbed her hand across his chest a bit, trying to calm him, because she could tell he was still a little worked up but his experience picking up the tickets and now trying to get this experience to work out the way he might've hoped. He looked down at her hand and then found her eyes.
"Just book the Star Wars ride," she said. "And, then the other ones – pick ones you want to do so we make the time. We'll just tell him."
Jay made a sound and kept scrolling around on his phone. She suspected that Jay might have some difficulty picking just two. Partly because she knew there were more than two things he hoped to do. But also because he'd be trying to appease her and Ethan too. But it wasn't going to be a day where they were all going to have their way. She was looking at it as his day. Today was Ethan's. And Harry Potter would be hers. Jay could dictate how Star Wars was going to play. It was allowed. And Ethan would love it no matter what else they got on.
"There's more slots earlier in the day. But to get a full day ticket was going to be about seventy bucks more," he said and then caught her eyes, adding, "Each."
Erin shook her head. They'd already talked about that. They hadn't talked about the price. But they'd talked about whether doing a nighttime event was smart with Eth. They'd talked about if they just wanted to go over during the day during the week. And they'd settled on this event – because Jay seemed so psyched about it. Though, he'd get beyond embarrassed if she verbally expressed it that way. But, they were doing a Galactic Night. They weren't doing a whole day.
"They'd be too much," she reminded – and not the price, though she wasn't keen on that either.
Trying to do daytime and night time would be a disaster. They wouldn't get out of there when they said – that was already clear from today. They'd have to drive back to the resort. They'd likely end up hardly settling down into their room for a rest before they had to load back into the car and go back to Disney to be there in time for all the special evening activities, which they then likely wouldn't get back to their hotel room until one or two in the morning. And it would completely destroy Ethan for the rest of the trip. They might be testing those boundaries anyways. It was probably a good thing they'd be checking in for dinner at 8:30 and likely there for several hours – because that might be the saving grace in what made the evening survivable for Eth.
"Yea …," Jay acknowledged and shoved his phone back into his pocket. There was still some mild disappointment in his voice. But he clearly was going to reflect on how he wanted to approach the day more later.
She gave him a thin smile – a little frown. "You already doing the mental calculations?"
He made another noise and he shifted slightly, accepting some more of her weight, letting her lean against his chest and wrapping his arm around her. He was surprisingly warm. But she'd learned Jay made a decent heating pad. Sometimes he was too hot-blooded.
"Just …," he started and let out a slow breath, shaking his head. "We aren't going to get anywhere close to fitting in everything he wants to do."
She shrugged against his shoulder. "I know," she allowed. "We knew that before we got here."
He reached with his opposite hand and ran his hand through his short hair a couple times. "Right now, though – after this morning - I'm not even sure how we're going to see all he wants of Universal."
She shrugged again. "So we'll see what we can see," she said.
And if he started talking about wanting to spend another day over in Jurassic Park, they'd just have to give him a firm reality check about what that meant he wasn't going to get to see. And remind him that it wasn't just his vacation. It was all of theirs. And they were trying to give him the best time possible – while creating some memories of their own too. Make it special and memorable for everyone. As much as they could.
AUTHOR NOTE:
OK. So it got long again. So there will be a Part 3 of Erin's POV. It's more dialogue. It's likely about 1/2 to 2/3rd written but still need to wrap it. You'll likely get it sometime between now and Monday night.