Thank you so much to everyone for all your enthusiasm for this FanFic! I love writing all these new chapters knowing that people are so excited to read them! Sadly, I'm going out of town this week, so this will (most likely) be the last chapter until August. :( But please don't forget about Bad Timing - I'll be finishing it up in August once I come back!

Chapter 17

"You're sure you're going to be okay here until your friends get here?"

"Yes, Jay, I'll be fine. It's not like I'm due now, is it?" Erin gave her boyfriend a hug and said, "Have some fun tonight, okay?"

"Oh, I will," Jay said, "It'll be nice to have a drink with the guys for the first time in a while. Have fun with your friends, and don't worry too much about cleaning up – I can do it when I get back if you want."

"That's sweet of you, Jay," Erin said, giving him a kiss, "But I think that we can handle at least some of it between us."

"Okay," Jay said, grabbing his car keys, "See you later. Love you!"

"Love you too!" Erin said, giving Jay one final kiss before he headed out to the bar. He was meeting all the Intelligence guys (minus Voight) and some of the firefighters from 51 at Molly's, a bar that was run by three members of 51. Dawson was one of them, but this weekend was one of her weekends off from serving at the bar. Hence, the girls' night plan.

She and Jay had been back at her apartment the past few days so they could start packing up her stuff in advance of moving to their new place. She was glad that it was clean, she just didn't like all the boxes cluttering stuff up. She looked at her watch, suddenly wanting company, It read 6:02. Any minute now, Lindsay thought to herself, excited for a girls' night. For the first time in a while, she could just have a chill social evening in her house. Although, almost chill. Her bump was getting bigger, and the doctor had said that the baby might start kicking soon. She wanted everything to be fine with the baby, but she didn't want to be kept up all night.

Before she could think anymore, the doorbell rang, and Shay and Dawson entered armed with lots of food and drinks. As she showed them the kitchen, the doorbell rang again and Erin let Burgess in. Kim had brought some chips and salsa to go with the dinner that Shay and Dawson had brought, and Kim said, "So you guys are from 51, right?" as Shay passed out opened bottles of sparkling cider.

"Yep, paramedic buds," Shay said, "At least until this one here gets transferred."

"Why?" Erin asked, curious.

"Well," Dawson said, looking up from the oven. "I passed my firefighters' test, so I'm now officially a candidate, but I have to wait for a place in a firehouse to be assigned to me before I can start. I'm currently in that awkward limbo stage."

"Could you serve on Truck at 51?" Erin asked.

"She could," Shay said, "If the Truck Lieutenant wasn't her boyfriend." Shay smiled and Dawson laughed. "Yeah, that's a minor snag."

"So your boyfriend's Lieutenant Casey? Really nice guy. And hot too," Erin joked. Dawson smiled a little. "Yeah, he's an awesome guy. I love him and care about him so much that I don't know where I would be without him. He said the same thing about me really."

"That's really sweet," Erin said.

"Yeah, I'm really happy for you," Burgess said, biting into a mouthful of chips and salsa. After about 15 minutes of chatting, eating chips and salsa, sipping beer, and taking turns checking on Dawson's food, Burgess' phone buzzed. She pulled it out, but not without Erin catching a glimpse of the sender's name. "Ruzek?" Erin asked suspiciously.

Burgess blushed, and Dawson and Shay both went, "Who's Ruzek?" at the same time, with smirks on their faces. Erin responded, "Burgess' boyfriend who works in Intelligence," and Shay and Dawson both whooped. "So you're both cops dating cops, then," Shay said.

"Yeah," Burgess said, "Although, Voight doesn't approve of in-house romance, so as long as Ruzek is in Intelligence, I'm not getting in."

"Hey," Erin snapped, "You're going to get in soon. I'm sure of it."

"You sure?" Burgess asked.

"Yes," Erin said, "I'll talk to Voight and see what I can do…then again, the last time I talked to him didn't go very well."

"Oh?" Shay asked as Burgess stood up. "Sorry y'all," Burgess said, "I"ve gotta duck out. Ruzek's got a crisis."

"Good luck," Shay said, winking. Everyone said goodbye, and after the door shut again, Shay asked, "What did you say about you and Voight?" Erin saw Dawson cringe.

"Well," Erin said, not wanting to worry Dawson, "He's basically my guardian. He took me in off the streets when I was 16. I was in a really bad place. I was one of his CI's before that.

"Anyway, he helped me get into Intelligence, and then Voight started picking up on vibes between me and Halstead."

"Jay Halstead?" Dawson asked, surprised. When Erin nodded, Dawson said, "He's a good cop. Helped my buddies and I bust a crazy silent partner from our bar business. Took a bullet in the arm for it."

"Sounds like him," Erin said. "Anyway, we started secretly dating and we hadn't gone public when I found out I was pregnant. So, when we dumped both bombshells on Voight at the same time, my relationship with Voight and Voight's attitude towards Jay both went downhill really fast."

"That's rough," Shay said. "Is he on board now?"

"I'm not sure," Erin said, "But he knows that there's nothing he can do about it. He threatened to kick Jay out of Intelligence but I put a stop to that." Erin noticed Dawson had suddenly gone silent, and she asked, "You okay?"

"Yeah, it's just…" Dawson trailed off. She sighed, and said, "Casey and Voight have history. And so do I with Voight, really…I visited him in prison to get help after Antonio was shot last year."

"I'm sorry if I made you uncomfortable," Erin said.

"Oh, no, it's no biggy," Dawson said, "There's no point denying the past, right?"

"Damn right," Erin said. They had a toast over the lasagna and garlic bread that Dawson had prepared, and Shay asked (after a few mouthfuls), "So…how are you feeling? You're almost at 20 weeks, right?"

"I'm feeling alright, I guess," Erin said, "I mean, my bump's getting bigger so it's harder to move around. But yeah, I have my 20-week ultrasound next week."

"Is that when you find out if you're having a boy or a girl?" Dawson asked eagerly.

"Yes," Erin said nervously, "Jay's still nervous though. Like me, he still hasn't fully absorbed the reality that we're going to be parents."

"You guys are going to be great parents," Shay assured, "And hey, Dawson and I are always willing to babysit when we're not on shift. Right Dawson?" Dawson nodded quickly in agreement.

"Thank you Dawson for the food, this so good," Erin exclaimed, smiling. "I think you'll need to cook over here again."

"No problem," Dawson said. "Erin?"

"Yeah?" Erin replied.

"You'll tell us when you know whether it's a boy or a girl, right?"

"Oh, of course!" Erin exclaimed. "I know this is the first time we've really hung out, but, I really like both of you. It's nice to hang out with some other girls for a change."

"We know that feeling," Shay said, and they all laughed. "Oh, and we are going to watch a movie!" Shay said, walking over to her bag. When Erin saw Frozen on the cover, she said, "What? Seriously?"

"Seriously," Dawson said. "It's an awesome movie."

"It's for kids," Erin replied.

"For adults too," Shay said, supporting Dawson. "I can promise you that by the end of the movie, you'll agree that both Elsa and Anna are awesome, Sven is adorable, and Hans is a jerk."

"Who's Hans?" Erin asked, confused.

"You'll see," Dawson said, "You'll see."

Two hours, two bags of popcorn, and one Frozen movie later, Erin laughed as the credits came on the screen. "Oh. My. God." Shay and Dawson just laughed. "Best movie ever, right?"

"Right," Erin said. "And you were right. Sven is the cutest reindeer ever, I love the girl and sister power, and Hans is definitely a jerk."

"Definitely," Dawson said, walking back over to the kitchen to clean up some more of her kitchen utensils. "Shay, would you give me a hand over here?"

"Sure, honey," Shay replied, jumping off the couch and heading for the kitchen. When Dawson saw Erin standing up slowly, she said, "No, Erin. Sit back down and chill."

"But I want to help," Erin said. But she was met with both of her new friends insisting that she rest. She was expecting, after all. Erin finally gave in and sat back down on the couch. After a few minutes, Shay and Dawson walked over with a small but delicious-looking chocolate cake. "OMG, you guys…you didn't have to do this!" Erin exclaimed.

"We did. You're our new friend, and we're having a girls' night! How big a slice do you want?" Dawson asked, putting the first slice in the cake with one of the sharp kitchen knives. After another hour of eating delicious cake, chatting, laughing, and cleaning dishes, a knock sounded on the door. Shay and Dawson's stuff was just about packed up, and Erin found Jay on the other side of the door. "Hey," Erin said, surprised, "You're back."

"Yeah, it's almost eleven," Jay said. After Erin shut the door, he said hi to Shay and Dawson and gave them both a hug. Erin said a huge thank-you to both of her new friends, and after they left, Jay asked, "Did you have a fun time?"

"I had a blast, thank you," Erin said, "How was your drink with the guys?"

"Really fun, actually," Jay said, "Although, I was one of the first to leave the bar."

"Why? You could have stayed, you know."

"Because I started thinking about you and how you and our baby mean so much to me. Once I started thinking about all that's happening I just felt like I wanted to be back here. With you."