Hey guys! First of all, I would like to apologize for the delay on this chapter. When my summer job was done, I went to Normandy to be a volunteer for two weeks at the World Equestrian Games, then got back home only to pack up my stuff, because I moved to Spain yesterday for 6 months. Now, as I'm back in my student life, I'll have a lot more time to devote myself to the continuation and the end of this story. That said, enjoy.

When they woke the next morning, the memories and pain were still there, but they were glad to have each other. That night, Erin had felt Kelly pull away from her, the sheets rustling, the barefoot against the parquet, and the bathroom door opening and closing. And then, it almost sounded as if he was crying. But as soon as she heard it, it was gone, and Kelly came back by her side, as if nothing had happened.

"Shouldn't you take a couple of days?" Kelly asked as he watched Erin pull her jacket on. He poured himself a cup of coffee and watched as she shook her head. She took her credentials from their usual spot on the table near the door.

"For what?" she asked, raising an eyebrow. Then, she looked away. "I'm fine."

He watched as she struggled to fasten her gun holder around her waist, shaky fingers unable to cooperate. He set his cup of coffee on the counter and slowly walked to her until he stood in front of her.

"You're not fine," He said. He took the gun from her hand, as well as the belt and put them aside. "Neither am I," he continued. She was unable to stare at him in the eye, she felt guilty. "You can't go back into work as if nothing happened. You barely slept last night, I haven't either. I'm not going to go into work where people's lives can be in jeopardy when I'm not myself. We need time."

She rubbed her forehead and shook her head once again. "I told you, I'm fine. You stay home if you want to. I'm going to work, there's a case waiting."

Her cold tone was like a slap in his face. She pulled away, picked up her credentials and swallowed down the rest of her coffee. "I'll see you tonight," She said, shyly meeting his eyes before kissing his cheek and walking out the door without a second of hesitation.

He opened his mouth to say something, anything that could convince her to stay home, but the sound of the door closing behind her left him speechless.

When Antonio Dawson walked got into work that day, he certainly did not expect Erin to be sat at her desk, a ton of paperworks displayed in front of her. He usually was the first to be at work, even arriving before Voight most of the time. He stopped whistling and quietly walked into the room, stopping once he stood in front of Erin's desk.

"What are you doing?"

She did not bother to look up from her paperwork. "Working."

"No, I mean what are you doing coming back so soon? You should be resting."

She continued scribbling down notes on a sheet of paper. "I've rested."

Dawson rolled his eyes and took a seat across from her. "Severide told me you've barely slept last night."

She finally looked up. "Severide has said a lot of things, apparently. Are you two creating a club to keep me from work? I've already told him, and I'm telling you now, I'm fine, Antonio."

Antonio shook his head in disbelief. "There's no way you're fine, Lindsay. You just lost your baby yesterday."

"Don't," She snapped, glaring at him. "Don't mention it. Now or ever. Now I have a lot of paperwork to catch up on so I would appreciate it if you left me alone."

Dawson pondered whether or not say something, but decided against it. "Fine."

Nobody expected to see Severide walk through the Firehouse doors that morning. Shay looked up from her magazine and frowned. Severide did not stop by the common room to say hello and went directly to the locker room. His ex roommate stood and quickly followed him.

"Hey," she said quietly, walking into the room. He was putting on his squad t-shirt. He replied curtly, not sparing her a look. "What are you doing here, Kelly?"

He unfastened his watch and lay it in his locker. "Working, obviously."

Shay sat down on the bench in the middle of the row. "I thought the chief had given you the day off. "

"He has," Severide answered, shutting his locker. "But I couldn't stay at home."

"What about Erin?" Shay asked.

"She went to work," he sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose between his forefinger and thumb. He moved so he sat beside his best friend. "She completely shut off. Yesterday when we got home, she seemed okay. At least she talked to me. But this morning she barely said two words, insisted that she had to go to work. I don't know what to do, Shay."

Shay wrapped an arm around his shoulders. "Give her sometime and some space. And be there for her when she comes 'round."

"But will she?" He asked, looking at her. "Will she come around?"

Shay nodded, rubbing her hand between his shoulder blades. "Eventually, she will."

One week later

Erin and Jay had a victim who had been hospitalized that could help them move forward in their current case. The silent ride, as it had always been since Erin had gone back to work, was torture for Jay. He missed his old partner, he missed her jokes and he even missed her making fun of him or criticizing him.

They both go out of the car, walking together toward the hospital entrance.

Their questions were answered quickly and efficiently, and they were soon on their way back to the station.

"Erin!" Lindsay heard from behind her as she was about to walk through the sliding doors of the hospital. She turned around and found Shay at the desk.

"Shay, hi."

The blonde took quick steps toward her until she was standing a feet away from the detective. "How are you?"

"I'm fine." She answered, just the same way as she had done the last hundred times someone had asked her that.

Shay scoffed. "Yeah, you're about as fine as Kelly pretends to be."

"What do you mean?"

Shay slipped her hands inside her pockets. "He's miserable. He's sad, and seeing you going through this the way you're doing it, and by that I mean shutting him out, is torture to him."

"Wow, thanks Shay," Erin muttered. "As if I was not feeling guilty enough."

Shay put a hand on Erin's shoulder. "You don't get to be guilty for anything other than shutting Kelly out."

Jay had taken some distance from the pair, but he was close enough to see Erin reach up to her face to wipe a tear that had escaped.

"I don't know how to be fine. It's not getting any better, we barely talk. Last night we said two words to each other. I feel like I'm losing myself, and him at the same time."

Shay gave Lindsay's shoulder a squeeze. "Maybe you should get out of the city. You know, take a few days to visit someplace else and just breathe."

"Yeah," Erin whispered. "Maybe I should."

When they wrapped up a case, a new one would topple over their desks. That's how it worked at the Intelligence Unit. Get rid of a criminal, another one would come running.

"Listen up," Voight said loudly as he left his office. "We got a body near the lake, don't know if it's crime yet, but let's go take a look."

When they got there, the scene was already prepped for them, the forensic waiting to deliver his statement.

"What do we got?" Voight asked, standing above the victim. The doctor cleared his throat.

"Woman in her twenties, apparently drowned, but several bullet wounds to the chest, from which she could not have survived more than a few minutes. I'll have to confirm this after the autopsy but surely one of those bullets hit the heart."

"Alright," Voight said, then turned to his team. "Look around, don't miss anything, every hint is going to be precious."

It did not take long for them to find something. Or someone. Halstead felt the air getting stuck in his lungs, and he looked up to see where his partner was.

"Sarge, I found another body," he called out, getting everyone's attention. "It's a baby."

Lindsay could feel the color being drained from her face. Her knees began to buckle as she watched Halstead lift the small body into his arms, check his pulse and then shake his head. She could not be here, she needed to get away, away from this scene. She quickly walked to the car, got in, locked herself and brought her knees to her chest. Then, she rocked, praying the emptiness to go away.

She expected it, Voight calling her into his office when they got back to the station. She walked inside and closed the door behind her.

"Look, Hank, I'm sorry, it won't happen again."

"You're damn right it won't," Hank said sternly. "Because you're not coming back here until you're a hundred percent yourself, Lindsay."

"What?"

"Go home. Take a few days, come back when you're feeling better."

Lindsay scoffed. "You can't send me home just like that, Hank."

Hank stood up and walked to her. He placed both hands on her upper arms. "Look, I consider you as my own daughter, Erin. Seeing you like this is killing me. I need you to take a few days, as long as you need, to get better. You're not yourself. I know it, and I know you do, too."

"Hank..."

He bent down and kissed her forehead. "Please, go home."

Erin let out a heavy sigh as she walked into she and Severide's apartment. She knew he would not be here, since he was on shift. She dropped her jacket on one of the stools by the kitchen island and pulled out a beer from the fridge. After staring at the counter top where she had set the bottle down for a few seconds, she marched to the bedroom, pulled out a suitcase and threw some clothes in it. She then walked to the bathroom, gathered some toiletries and zipped it up.

She was about to write a note to Kelly when she realized he deserved better than a few words written on a piece of paper.

The drive to the station was short, as she thought of what she was going to tell him. She parked her car and got out. When she walked inside, she spotted Severide and his men from squad playing cards. She cleared her throat, causing each of them to look up.

"Hey," Severide said, standing up.

"Hi," she replied. "Can I talk to you for a sec?"

He followed her and stopped when she stopped, ten feet away from the station so that nobody could hear them.

"What's going on?" he asked, burying his hands inside his pockets.

Erin fiddled with her keys. "I had a tough case today, Voight sent me home."

"Oh," Severide uttered. "What happened?"

"We found the body of a baby near the lake and I broke down. I can't explain it but..." Her voice had started to waver and she could not finish her sentence.

"Hey, it's okay," Severide whispered, pulling her into his arms. He felt her relax for a moment, before tensing again and pushing herself away from him.

"No, it's not. We've been miserable for the last week, I can't take it anymore."

Kelly felt a lump rise in his throat. "What does that mean?"

"I need to leave, to get away. Shay thought it might be a good idea and I'm gonna take her advice."

"I'll come with you," he said, taking her hand. She shook her head, pulling her hand away.

"No," she said, too quickly for his taste. "I need to do this on my own. I have a friend in Boston, I'll visit her for sometime."

"For how long?" he asked, pinching the bridge of his nose.

"I don't know. For the time it takes me to get better."

"Right," he muttered. "Will you? Get better?"

She didn't say anything, instead reached up and kissed his cheek. "I'll see you in a couple of days."

She walked away then, and he there was nothing he could do.

When Erin finally got in the plane, she allowed herself to close her eyes for a few seconds once she was seated. Taking her phone out of her pocket to turn it off, she saw she had a text from Kelly.

We'll be okay. I love you.

She felt tears prick in her eyes and quickly typed a response.

I know. I love you, too.

Thoughts?