First of all, I'm very sorry for the wait, the last two weeks have been craaaazy, and I kinda struggled with this chapter. Enjoy !

A month had passed by, and the couple had settled in an easy routine, although the last few weeks had been kind of hectic since their heavy schedule did not match. Erin would come home late at night and Kelly had to leave very early in the morning to start his two-day shift.

Nadia was still living with them, waiting to save enough money to get settled into her own apartment. Severide had found her a job in Cindy Herrmann's sister's bookshop downtown, and she was slowly starting to have both feet firmly on the ground.

After one particularly long shift, Severide could not wait to get home, take a long shower and relax in the couch. He knew Erin wouldn't be home until late, as she and Intelligence had been trying to nail a big branch of the drug cartel over the past two weeks. Rounding the corner to the hall of their apartment, Severide was surprised to see the door open and voices shouting inside. Eyebrows knitted, he quickened his pace and pushed the door so it opened wider.

Nadia stood in front of a girl about her age, who seemed in distress, just like Nadia the day she came looking for Erin a month ago.

"What's going on?" he asked in confusion as he walked over to them. Both girls turned around and the stranger startled, looking at him with wide eyes.

"You should go," Nadia told her and Severide crossed his arms over his chest, leaning against the wall of the hall. "I'll call you."

"Find me something, alright?" The blonde girl whispered, squeezing Nadia's hand before letting go. She walked past Severide with her head bowed, leaving the apartment without uttering another word.

"What's her deal?" Kelly asked as he swung his bag over his shoulder. His eyes searched for Nadia's, looking for some answers.

Nadia purposefully avoided his gaze. "She's just a friend."

Severide narrowed his eyes. "She's in withdrawal, isn't she? You can't help her, Nadia."

Nadia clenched her teeth, squaring her shoulders as she finally met his eyes. "She's a friend."

"And you're barely clean. You got out of the clinic a month and a half ago. Don't give her anything, alright? Don't even look for anything."

The young woman shook her head. "You can't tell me what I can or can't do."

Severide cocked an eyebrow. "You've got some nerve, Nadia. Is that the first friend you've brought back here? Or is our home gonna become a 'drug providing business'?"

"I'm not doing anything!" The tone of her voice rose significantly, and she folded her arms over her chest defensively. "I'm not doing drugs."

"Then why is she coming to you? Why is she asking you to give her something? What's the next step, are you going to have cocaine parties around here, or are you gonna bring your pimp here as well?"

He regretted his words as soon as they left his mouth, but he couldn't help it. He was not feeling the situation Nadia was in, and she was living with them. He felt as if they were responsible for her, of her well being, and she was screwing up. To add to it, his shift had been horrible, and he was exhausted.

"Nadia..."

The brunette shook her head and took a few steps back, grabbing her jacket from the back of the couch. She walked past him and out of the apartment. He figured he would let her be alone for a while, because patience was the least of his capacities right now.

But a few hours later, when Nadia had still not come home, he started to have a bad feeling in the tip of his stomach. He was about to call her for the fifth time when a key was inserted in the lock and the door opened. He was hoping to see Nadia, but it was actually Erin coming home from her day. She smiled when she saw him, a smile that quickly faltered as soon as she took in his features.

"What's wrong?" She asked softly, closing the distance between them.

"I screwed up with Nadia,"

A frown itched its way onto her forehead. "What do you mean?"

"She had a 'friend' over, who asked her to find her something, and she was obviously in withdrawal, I asked Nadia what was the deal with her and things escalated from there."

Worry settled in Erin's eyes. "Where is she now?"

"She left, I don't know where she went, I tried her cell but she wouldn't answer."

"Damn it," Erin cursed under breath. She pulled her phone out of her pocket and dialed Nadia's number. After a few rings and a short vocal message, she sighed. "This is perfect, just perfect. You couldn't go after her?"

Kelly's eyes widened. "Are you blaming this on me?"

Erin took a deep breath and scratched her forehead. "I'm trying to understand, Kelly. What made her leave?"

He winced, because he knew it wasn't going to be pretty. "We got into a fight, and I said somethings I shouldn't have, and she left."

Erin pinched the bridge of her nose between her thumb and forefinger, closing her eyes briefly. "I need to find her," she said, grabbing her keys from where she had dropped them on the entrance table.

"I'm sure she'll be back," Kelly tried, coaxing her toward his arms.

Erin flinched away and glared at him. "You don't know what it's like in the streets when you're struggling Kelly. You should have made her stay."

"Are you seriously mad at me?" he asked, lifting both hands. "She doesn't trust me, what difference would it have made had I gone after her?!"

"I don't know but you should have!" Erin shouted out of the blue, and the entire room got silent after that, except for Erin's ragged breathing. "She's too young to be out on the streets alone and she's barely clean, you know that!"

"I'm not a babysitter, Erin! I have a job, I'm exhausted from my shift, and I snapped okay? I'm sure she'll be back soon."

Erin's head shook from side to side. "You don't know that," she turned toward the door, and Kelly followed after her.

"Where are you going?"

"I'mma find her," she said icily.

He grabbed her arm and pulled her back. "I'm going with you."

"No, stay here in case she comes back, you never know."

He sighed and watched her walk out, not knowing what to do with himself. He paced and tried calling Nadia for the next two hours, until Erin finally walked back through the door. He had been sitting on the couch, his cellphone in his hand in case he had a call.

"Anything?" he asked hopefully, standing up to meet her at the end of the hallway. Erin barely looked at him as she got rid of her jacket. Eventually, her icy gaze met his.

"If I had anything Nadia would be here right now," she moved past him and padded to the fridge, grabbing a beer, leaving a perplexed Kelly behind her.

"Are you seriously mad at me for this?" he asked her, turning around to face her. She uncapsed the bottle and took a long swig. "Oh great, the silence treatment."

"You had no right to yell at her!" Erin snapped, placing the bottle a bit harshly down onto the counter. "She's eighteen, she's completely lost and she needs her friends."

"That friend, was gonna pull her right back down to where she was when you started taking care of her. I was protecting her."

Erin shook her head. "Protecting her?! Well nice way of showing it, Kelly. She ain't here now, is she? She could be anywhere, taking drugs or doing god knows what, because you wouldn't keep your temper in check."

Kelly's jaw dropped open, before a scoff passed through his lips. He raised both hands. "I'm not doing this right now."

Erin didn't say anything, she simply stared at him before he grabbed his keys and slammed the front door behind him. He decided that he would have a drink at Molly's to cool off. Just one beer, or so he thought.

"Hey Shay, get me another one please," he asked his ex roommate, placing his now empty bottle on the counter. Shay cocked an eyebrow.

"You sure about that?"

He glared at her, "Now is definitely not the time to give me any morals."

Shay scoffed. "You know what I think, Severide? You messed up, Erin's mad at you, and she'll be over it in the morning, that is if you don't spend your night out at a bar while I'm sure she's worried sick about Nadia. She needs your support, dumbass."

Severide sat struck by his best friend's words. She was right, of course she was right. But he was not feeling like facing Erin right now. So he chose the coward card instead.

"Do I have to go to another bar to be served or are you gonna give me that beer?"

Shay rolled her eyes and grabbed a beer from the fridge, handing him to him. "Don't come crying to me when Erin doesn't want to talk to you."

He gave her a sarcastic smile. "Sure thing."

He saw someone sit beside him in the corner of his eyes and turned his head.

"Hey handsome,"

Both his eyebrows raised in surprise. "Zoya, hi. What are you doing here?"

The young blond woman shrugged her shoulders. "I said I would come visit, didn't I? Well I thought now was a great time to do so."

"Right," Kelly replied with a small smile, before looking down at his beer.

"Are you okay, Kelly?"

He took a long swig from his drink and set it down on the counter before muttering out, "I'm fine."

"You look sad," she said, placing a hand on his arm. He looked at that hand, then into Zoya's eyes, then at Shay who was standing behind Zoya on the other side of the counter, shaking her head.

"I've been better," he admitted with a shrug.

"You wanna go out? Come on, let's go out to a club or something, take your mind off things. I could definitely use a night out."

"I..." he hesitated then, Erin's hurting gaze flashing back before his eyes. "I should go home, actually. I'm not in the mood." He told Shay to get Zoya a drink, put enough bills down on the counter to cover both his and her drink. He then stood, squeezing Zoya's shoulder. "See you around."

Kelly took his time to go back home. As he parked his car in front of he and Erin's building, he noticed a small figure walking toward the entrance. Sighing in relief when he recognized the woman, he rushed out of his car.

"Nadia!" he shouted, crossing the street to catch up with her. "Are you okay?"

The young woman nodded, "I'm fine." She said shily. "Sorry I yelled at you and walked out."

"I'm sorry too," he placed a hand on her shoulder as they walked together inside the building. "Let's just forget it, alright? I'm glad you came back, Erin was worried sick."

They slowly walked up the stairs to the third floor. "Is she mad at me?"

Kelly shook his head. "No, I'm the one she's mad at. But now that you're back, hopefully she won't be so mad. I just wanted to protect you."

"I understand. But I can't turn the page with my friend as well."

Kelly gave a small smile and squeezed her shoulder as they rounded the corner. "It's okay, just as long as they don't pull you back down."

He fished inside his pocket to get his key and opened the door, letting Nadia enter first. As they walked down the hall, they spotted Erin asleep on the couch. Severide sat in font of her on the coffee table and gently shook her shoulder.

"Erin, Nadia's back," he whispered, Tucking a stray of hair that had fallen in front of her eyes behind her ear.

"Mmm, what?" She mumbled, before her eyes popped open and she sat up abruptly. She turned her head toward the door where Nadia stood, and rushed over to pull her into her arms. "Don't ever scare me like that again, Nadia."

Nadia wrapped her arms around Erin's back, "I won't. I'm sorry."

After one more apology, the younger woman retreated to her bedroom, leaving the two adults alone. Erin pursed her lips, searching Kelly's eyes. "I'm sorry I snapped at you, you didn't deserve it."

He closed the gap between them and set his hands onto her hips. "It's fine. I'm sorry I walked out on you."

"Kelly," Erin whispered, her eyes meeting his. They seemed unsure all of the sudden, which was surprising for her, who always seemed confident. "I'm pregnant."

"What?"

Tadum.