Since the capture of Gregory Bishop, time seemed to have flown by quickly. It's the thirtieth week of Erin's pregnancy –she's seven and a half months pregnant and is currently on forced maternity leave. Since Gregory's capture, her eyes had gotten better, her marriage has improved and the in-home office has started its transformation into a nursery. The walls have been painted weeks ago. A few days ago Ruzek and Halstead redid the carpet and put up the curtains. And today, Ruzek, Atwater and Mouse are supposed to come over and help Halstead set up the crib in the center of the room, the rocking chair, a changing table and the dresser. Everything else that's left to do afterwards, Erin has dedicated her maternity leave to finishing it.
As she stands in front of the full-length mirror in nothing but her underclothes, her fingers lightly trace the stretchmarks that suddenly formed overnight. She turns left and gets the side profile and then turns right to get the other side. She's almost eight months and she still has two months to go and she feels like she's already as big as a house. Erin grabs a pair of sweatpants and a large shirt to loosely hang over her large stomach. She had two months left to go and she's already ready for this baby to come out. She wants her body back. She wants her life back. As she stares down at the recently made bedspread, her eyes drift to the mobile white bassinet set up next to it. It's positioned on her side of the bed to make nighttime feedings more of a convenience for her. Erin walks barefoot out of the master bedroom and towards the nursery; she doesn't move as fast as she once could with the now protruded baby bump in the way. Lindsay's baby shower was two days ago and every gift they've received is all packed in boxes and stacked inside the nursery. It's waiting to be unpacked. Erin grabs the medium-sized box from on top of the stack of boxes and struggles to place it down in the center of the room. She brushes her hands over her sweatpants before gently and carefully lowering herself down to sit.
Her legs crisscross. She opens the brown box and pulls out each gift bag placed inside. Erin uses the time, the peace and the quiet to either grab a hanger from inside the box to hang an outfit or fold it, depending on what it is. It's mid-October and the Fall time was her absolute favorite season, but now with the large bump preventing her from doing certain tasks, she hardly ever felt like going outside to actually enjoy it. She had spent the next hour folding clothes ranging from dresses, to pants, shirts and onesies. Each piece of clothing was so small and adorable and as Erin placed a yellow dress onto a hanger, her heart fluttered. Her baby will one day wear this. She's so distracted by the bright yellow dress, with a bow around the waist that she doesn't hear Jay come in, "Hey babe," she looks up. He's shoeless; he's dressed in pajama pants and a t-shirt. She had been so distracted she didn't hear him come in or get comfortable.
"Hey," she lays the dress down on top of the other clothes with hangers, "You worked through the night again," when he takes a seat next to her, she glances at his watch, "It's nine am."
"We're behind on a lot of paperwork," he replies, grabbing her ankles to tug them toward his lap, "We have so many cases that require paperwork. You're lucky you're pregnant."
She tosses her head back as he begins massaging the soles of her feet, "I don't feel lucky."
Erin had managed to get through most of the first box, but they still had another box left of clothes to unpack. And not to mention, there are three other boxes of other baby necessities. It felt like this nursery was never going to be done. Neither parent realized how much stuff they would need to have in order to care for a baby. Lindsay leans back on her hands and closes her eyes as Jay's strong fingers press against her feet; the massage felt so good, "I'm surprised you aren't asleep," she peels her eyes open at her husband's statement, "You were texting me at all hours of the night. You didn't get much sleep last night."
"Yeah, well your daughter has a way of kicking me like crazy once I settle down and get comfortable."
"She just gets excited."
"Aren't there other ways to show it?" Erin chuckles.
"So," Jay looks around the room; boxes were still left shut and taped, folded clothes were stacked beside her, and the clothes she placed on hangers were situated between the two, "Do anything productive today?"
"I'm as productive as it gets; I'm making a baby."
Jay laughs and agrees. He couldn't argue with that. It was only the morning time and she did what she could with her lack of energy and sleep. Erin sighs at the feeling of her personal foot massage; it was heaven, and when she starts to settle into the silence of the room, Halstead speaks, "It's still hard to believe there is actually another human being growing inside of you."
"It's only going to be a little while now," When talking about her baby, Erin finds herself setting her hand onto her stomach, especially when the baby sharply kicks against her side, "I can't wait until I can actually hold her. I'm going to be someone's mommy."
"Someone's mommy," Jay repeats.
She sighs, "We need a name."
"Everyone at work was offering suggestions."
"Oh really," Erin asks, smirking, "like what?" She pulls her feet off her husband's lap and crisscrosses her legs.
"Some of them thought Nadia," Jay mentioned and the smile on her face immediately drops; she thought the names offered would be jokes or obvious names that they wouldn't choose, "maybe Olivia, Camille or-" he immediately stops talking when he sees her head shaking.
"I want my baby to have her own name. I'm not against them for middle names, but for her first name, I just…" she starts to grow emotional, "I just want her to have her own name Jay," her voice is breaking and he instantly regrets bringing it up, "It's my baby and she's going to have her own identity. She should have her own name. I want her to have her own name!"
"Okay…" Jay nods, "We'll give her an original name; a name that no one we know has."
"There are so many names out there. How will we know when we choose the right one?"
He wipes the one tear that drops from her eye, "It'll come to you."
"It's not just my decision though."
"It'll come to us," he corrects his earlier statement.
"I want it to be special to us and have meaning."
"And it will," he extends his hand and rubs it over top of her baby bump.
Lindsay leans her head back after silently accepting Jay's response. Since starting their therapy sessions, they've become so much better and stronger. Next week will be their official last session because the two felt that after weeks and weeks of couples counseling, it was time to end it. They needed to get in the hang of things –without therapy- so they can prepare for the baby. After another minute of silence passed between them, Erin reopened her eyes again, "What are your thoughts on a child birthing class?"
"Are you taking Burgess?"
"I assumed I was going to take my husband."
Jay laughs and nods, "Oh yeah, yes, of course. I'll go if you want me to go. I assumed it was something for the expectant mother and her best friend."
"It's a child-birthing class Jay. Mommy, that's me, will birth baby. Daddy, that's you, will help to deliver baby. I don't see how you assumed Burgess was in the mix."
Halstead suppresses a yawn, "Let's do something. I can see you're tired. Want to get some sleep? Or we can get food? Maybe lay on the couch and watch a movie?"
"The truth is I no longer have control of the simple things in life Jay. This baby," her eyes glance down to see his hand rested comfortably on the top of her stomach, "–this little munchkin- decides when I eat, what I eat, when I need to use the restroom and when I need to sleep."
"We can go somewhere."
"I hate going out now. It seems the more pregnant I get, the more strangers smile at me."
"They're probably just happy for you."
"It's still weird."
Without looking at her husband, she feels him get up and depart from the nursery. She had no idea where he disappeared to, but his lack of presence meant he could no longer serve as a distraction. Erin sat up straight and stretched her legs out to resume folding the remainder of clothes. The best method of getting through this forced maternity leave was to keep busy. Voight had started her maternity leave even though she wasn't ready for it. It was an order though, the case is closed and they made a deal. Once the culprit was caught and arrested, her maternity leave should immediately start. She shouldn't complain though. Against his wishes, Voight allowed her to stay on the case until they closed it, until it was saw through because the team started investigating the case together and they wanted to end it together.
The last article of clothing in the first box was folded and set on top of the pile of folded clothes. Jay reenters, just as she tosses the empty box towards the side. He walks in to see Erin using the seal of the window to pull herself to her feet. It's a struggle, and he uses his empty hand to grab her arm and pull her the rest of the way, "Thanks." He lets her arm go to finish eating his potato chips, "What are you doing?"
He follows her line of sight towards his bag of chips, "Eating…"
"Not in the baby's room," she points towards the door and begins motioning for him to leave.
"I'm going, I'm going," Jay laughs with a mouthful of potato chips, "You coming?"
"I'm right behind you."
Halstead finished the remainder of his chips as he led him and his wife down the stairs. He remained close just in case she took a tumble, but it seems he was more worried about that than she was. Her hand was always wrapped around the railing and with each careful step until the bottom, she walked with confidence. Jay tosses his now empty bag of chips into the trash as Erin goes to check the refrigerator, "I need to go to the grocery store. Maybe I'll go tomorrow," Lindsay scanned the inside contents of the refrigerator, "Any word on Gregory Bishop?" She didn't ease into the change of conversation. She abruptly changed it to spark some type of interesting conversation between the two.
"It's out of our hands."
Erin grabs an apple from the fruit bowl, "Do you really think he's responsible?"
"I don't know."
"Well, I don't."
"Babe, it's out of our hands," he approached her from behind as she rinsed off her apple. His arms circled her waist and his chin rested on her shoulder, "We no longer have the case files and we no longer have any control of the case. It's out of our hands. It's up to the state now to see whether or not we have enough sufficient evidence for a conviction."
"But," she turns around in his arms and sighs, "it just doesn't add up," her large belly prevents his arms from fully wrapping itself around her waist, "Jay, spending maternity leave in this house gives me a lot of free time to think. Now hear me out."
"I'm listening…"
"Gregory Bishop is a mechanic," Erin starts, resting her flat palms against his chest, "how can he watch this case? Stay close to this case? He's a mechanic Jay."
"Erin, if that's your biggest piece of evidence then no one will believe you."
"The guy who is responsible for killing those women wouldn't have gotten caught so easily, especially after attacking a detective. He would have either went on the run,"
"Or blended back in with society," Jay responded, nodding along, "He would do whichever he thought would guarantee his freedom the most."
Lindsay added, "He's smart. To message Burgess and inquire about her tattoo the night before attacking her in broad daylight, that's a dumb move. To leave evidence in plain sight at his own house is the work of an amateur. Gregory Bishop is being set up."
"Is this what you do all day while I'm at work?" Jay tilts his head down to smirk at her.
"It's between thinking about this and the nursery," Erin retorts, turning back around in his arms to face the counter, "I can't do much with the nursery until you and the guys put the furniture together. I'm going to hang the clothes that I put on hangers up in the closet, but that's about all I can do," she grabs her apple from the countertop and slides from her husband's embrace.
"Just drop it Erin," Jay calls to her retreating form, "We agreed not to bring work home with us, especially cases that are closed."
She turns around and continues to back away, "It's not closed until there's a conviction."
"The suspect's court date is approaching…"
Erin takes a bite of her apple, "Just, look into it for me babe! Please."
Without further argument, Erin turns back around with her apple in hand and resumes her quest up the staircase, leaving Jay standing in the kitchen. He didn't argue or rebut, but he did kind of silently agree. That case, he desperately wanted to close the door and not look back on it. Tyler left the unit once Gregory Bishop was arrested and transported down to the county jail until his hearing. The prosecution requested for Burgess to testify –in which she immediately agreed- against him. The Intelligence unit had been handed even more cases to take up for all of the missed time while solving their recently closed one. If Jay were to look into this case, he would have to do it in his spare time. His work hours were jam-packed with paperwork, interrogations and seeking out suspects for their three current cases and now his wife wanted him to look back into their recently closed one.
Jay walks up the stairs and reenters the nursery. She's hanging up the last article of clothing. Her finished apple is in the empty box that is now serving its purpose as a trashcan. The folded pile of clothes remained on the pearly white carpeted floor, waiting to be set inside the dresser once he and his friends put it together. Lindsay takes a step back from the closet and her line of vision glances between each yellow, white, pink, purple, red and orange outfit. Every single article of clothing she had for their unborn baby fell into one of those color schemes. Lindsay grumpily turns to face her husband, "Before the baby comes, I may take Burgess to the store with me."
"What's the problem?"
"She needs other colors," Erin annoyingly responds, pushing through each outfit that hangs in her daughter's closet, "It's okay for girls to wear black, brown, gray, blue and green. I mean, my daughter will not be a gender stereotype. We'll by her baby dolls and Barbies, but if she says she wants Legos and race cars, we're getting that too."
"…of course."
"I just don't want her to think that she can't like other stuff because it doesn't fall within her gender. I mean, I'm not like all girls," Erin speaks with strong emotion in her voice and Jay knows that if she keeps talking, she's going to make herself sad, "I like baseball. Voight used to take me and Justin to the park and pitch to us. I like watching football and hockey. I like cracking open a cold beer, unbuttoning my pants and being lazy on the couch. I like doing stereotypical guy things, but that doesn't make me any less of a woman."
"Trust me," Jay gives her a flirtatious wink, "I know you're all woman."
She hits his arm and laughs, "Don't be gross. We're talking about that in reference to our child."
"Don't freak out over this," Halstead gently turns her around to face him; his hands wrapped securely around her upper arms, "We'll get more clothes. We'll get as many black and gray colored clothes as you want. We can get some race cars, action figures and the manliest dirt bike you can think of," this pulls a smile on her face, "just say the word and I'll go find one."
"I don't want any of that," her comment draws confusion onto his face as she wipes her eyes; "I want the clothes, but the toys and stuff, that can wait. I only want that for her if she wants it."
"I got it," Jay nods, finally understanding the point she's trying to make.
"But she's never getting a dirt bike."
"Thank goodness," he released a loud breath, "Whew, I did not want to have to buy a dirt bike."
"Looks like we agreed on our first parenting decision," Erin replies, wrapping her arms around her husband's lower waist. His hands remained wrapped around her upper arms. She laid her head against his hard chest, and quietly listened in on his breathing, "Go get some sleep."
The two draw away from each other as he responds, "I'm fine Erin," he suppresses a yawn.
"You're tired; go to sleep Jay. The guys will be over later and you need your energy."
When Erin witnesses his next yawn, she immediately points in the direction of the door. He smiles while stepping away. Obviously losing the battle, he doesn't put up further argument and he simply leaves the nursery to take a nap in their bedroom. Erin waits to hear the door to the master bedroom shut and grabs the now empty box –beside the finished apple stem inside it- and drags it out of the nursery. She takes it downstairs and leaves it beside the trashcan. Lindsay doesn't waste much time; between now and when Jay wakes up, she has a window of opportunity to look further into this case. One by one, Erin climbs each stair and walks into the direction of the guestroom. She gently shuts the door as quietly as possible before tiptoeing over towards the dresser. Since being placed on mandatory maternity leave, she'd been sitting at home, twiddling her thumbs. The last case she worked on bothered her immensely. She couldn't just drop it. It closed too easily. It didn't sit right with her. The guys were drowning in other cases stacked upon them by the state; they didn't have the time or energy to focus on the inconsistencies in this case. Erin did though. She stayed home, doing nothing, giving her plenty of time and opportunity to sit and think. And this case always trickled into her thoughts.
Lindsay rushes over to the empty dresser in the guestroom and pulled open the bottom drawer. She grabs a thick file consisting of copies made of the original files before they were taken. Erin was still investigating the case. She had kind of convinced Jay to look back into it, and if she found any solid evidence, she'll take it to her unit. She didn't want to bring them in unless she had definite proof and hard evidence that would free Gregory Bishop and pinpoint them to the real perpetrator. Erin spreads the file out on the bed and takes a seat against the edge. There's a character profile of Gregory Bishop. He's not a psychopath –Dr. Charles and one other psychologist had sat down and talked with him. He has diagnosed bipolar disorder, but he held no psychopathic tendencies. However, the evidence stacked against him was too strong to let a diagnosis be the only clue as to why he possibly could be innocent.
Gregory Bishop isn't put together. The person they're looking for should be. No evidence was left at the scene; Mr. Bishop was unshaven and unkempt. Based on his character profile, there's no way Gregory Bishop would be able to evade the law for this long, kill seven people as far as they know and leave no evidence –not even a strand of hair from his face- at any of the many crime scenes. Gregory had been in and out of prison, and the person responsible for this may have gotten into trouble with the law, but the unknown perpetrator is most likely steering clear of committing petty offenses and has probably never gone to prison. He won't have a record as an adult, but Mr. Bishop's record was almost a mile long. As Erin continues to read Bishop's character profile that she spent time creating during her maternity leave, her eyes briefly stop on the information about his criminal record. Gregory Bishop had just gotten off parole a week before the last murder occurred. He's been on parole for the last two years, and unless he broke the rules of his parole, he couldn't have possibly left the state to start the spree in Indiana. However, that may be as clear as day to Erin, it won't be for the prosecution. It's not strong enough evidence to clear him. They'll just pose the theory that he remained living in Chicago, traveled to Indiana to kill and then drove back, hoping since the murders happened in another state that it wouldn't be traced back to him. No one's that crazy though. No one would take that big of a risk. If his parole officer found out, he could be sent right back to prison. To the courts, that one piece of evidence will not be big enough to completely free and clear his name, but to Erin it made her even surer of his innocence.
An innocent man was locked up for crimes he did not commit. He could possibly spend the rest of his life –or be sentenced to death- for murders not done by his own hands. Gregory Bishop's first trial was in a week, and Erin needed to find as much evidence proving someone else is responsible. The only way to completely exonerate him is to find the real culprit. She needed to speak to Mr. Bishop; she needed to find out why he was framed, who would want to frame him of all people and when someone had the opportunity to plant evidence in his home. When he was brought in for questioning, she never got the chance to watch the interrogation. Because he was already under arrest, Voight sent her home to start her maternity leave and she couldn't argue. It was their agreement. Gregory was locked up for the murders and the case soon closed afterwards. She had no reason to stay and watch the aftermath. If she doesn't clear his name, it'll be her biggest regret. Gregory Bishop may not have been a saint, but he didn't do this; he's no monster. Her team was too busy being hounded by superiors to have a chance to think about the inconsistencies in this case; once she left, she had ample time to think about it, they didn't. They were immediately given three or four open and active cases to investigate.
Erin is forced to immediately shut the case file and the character profile when she hears the doorbell ring. As fast as her overly pregnant body would allow, she jumps to her feet and shoves the files back into the dresser drawer. The doorbell rings again and again as an impatient person consistently and repeatedly presses against the button. She's forced to quicken her walk; she doesn't want the loud and annoying sound of the doorbell to wake Jay from his much needed and well-deserved nap. Erin grunts as her sore feet wobble down the hallway along the wood floor. As the doorbell rings again, she decides to not even bother to check to see who the nuisance at the other side of the door is; instead she infuriatingly swings it open, "Have you lost your mind? What the hell is your problem?"
Burgess walks into her best friend's home, "What took you so long to answer the door? I almost had to use my spare key."
"That's for emergencies only," Erin reminds, shutting and locking the door, "Now, please tell me what the hell caused for you to ring my doorbell like someone was chasing you?"
"I'm hungry."
If looks could kill, Burgess would be long gone. The expression on Erin's face forces Kim to smile and step away from her overly emotional and furious friend, "You're hungry?"
"You've been home all day. I was hoping you had food."
"You've got to be kidding me Burgess. You're hungry? You're hungry!" Erin shouts, but the immediate reminder of her husband upstairs sleeping silences her soon after. She takes a deep breath and lowers her tone to an appropriate inside voice, "Jay is upstairs sleeping. And you're not a child. You're an adult. You can feed yourself."
"Sorry," Kim quickly responds, throwing her hands into the air, "I thought you were picking up dinner for everyone?" She hated being on Erin's bad side.
"The guys are supposed to come over later to help Halstead set up the rest of the nursery. I was going to pick up pizza as a thank you to them for using their time to set up my baby's bedroom."
Kim rushed to her friend's side with a smile stretched from ear to ear, "I'm willing to help if it means free pizza."
"The more the merrier I guess," Erin shrugs, waving her best friend to follow her up the stairs, "There's a lot to be done before baby Halstead comes. And not to mention, I wouldn't mind a woman looking over and managing the process. They need to take their time and not rush anything. We don't want sloppy and unsafe work."
Burgess follows Lindsay closely up the stairs. She notices how the more her best friend's stomach grows; the more frequent and longer Erin rests her hand upon it. Burgess has never been pregnant, but a part of her wonders does Erin actually know she's doing it –is it all in her subconscious? Erin leads Kim into the nursery and the cluster of unpacked boxes from the baby shower has her immediately overwhelmed. There's a lot to be done. Erin points towards the crib box, "That huge box is the crib; it's the most important because the baby will be in there, sometimes unsupervised. I don't need the crib collapsing and I don't need my however many months she'll be baby to roll out of it. If that happens, I'm coming after all of you personally, starting with you Kim," Burgess swallows hard as Erin points towards the next box, "That's the glider rocking chair; the picture on the box makes it look really comfortable, but that's also very important. My husband and I will be in that chair, sometimes with baby and sometimes without. Same rules for the crib applies to this chair," Erin walks over to the corner of the room, "the last two items I need to be put together are the changing table and the dresser. I don't want anything to fall apart. She'll never be near her dresser so there's no safety concern for that, but the changing table is a different story."
"Erin, I got it. Moral of everything you're telling me is you want a happy and safe baby and happy and safe parents."
Lindsay proudly points at her, "Bingo."
"Come on Mrs. Halstead," Kim retorts, slinging her arm around Lindsay's shoulders, "Let's go raid your fridge. I know you're hungry. And I'm starving. The guys aren't here yet so pizza probably won't be coming for another few hours."
As they walk down the hallway, they're quiet and careful not to wake Halstead. He had been sleep for almost three hours and Erin wanted him to get as much sleep in before the team arrives. Kim removes her arm from around Erin's shoulders as they descend down the staircase; the added weight of her arm draped around her shoulders could potentially do more harm than good for a pregnant woman who suddenly became clumsy when the seven month mark hit. Lindsay takes a seat at the dining room table as Burgess raids the refrigerator for a quick snack to eat; Erin watches her with a smile clear on her face, "How's work?"
Kim looks over her shoulder; her mouth stuffed with grapes, "Work is work. It feels weird not being confined to the bullpen, you know?"
"You've been cleared for physical activity since last week."
Burgess finishes the grapes in her mouth before responding, "I know and it still takes some getting used to. For weeks, I've been confined to the bullpen because the doctor ordered me away from all physical activities. That became my new routine and now I'm back. Watch. After you have that baby and come off of maternity leave, it's going to feel weird jumping back into things, especially work."
"Are you going to eat all my grapes or give me some?"
Burgess laughs, bringing the bag of grapes from the fridge and setting it down onto the middle of the table, "My apologies," Kim pulls out a seat and the two begin eating grapes, "So, question," Kim posed, continuing the second Erin's brow rises in curiosity, "Have you and Jay picked a name yet? I want to know what to call her. I'm tired of saying baby Halstead. And if you ask me, my vote is for Kimberly; it's strong and-"
"I think I can only handle one Kim at a time," Erin remarked, laughing as she pops a grape into her mouth, "And we've only talked about it briefly. No name has been chosen yet."
"Ugh fine…"
"Enough about me," Erin pops two grapes into her mouth, "How's your dating life?"
"Ruzek wants to start over and do this dating thing right."
Erin squints as she studies Kim's face, "From the expression on your face, you don't look too happy. I thought this was what you wanted. I thought you wanted him to take your relationship serious, grow up and do things right."
"I do," Kim admits, face falling into her hands, "I just…I don't want to waste any more time."
Lindsay stands, and grabs the bag of grapes to close it, "I don't know what you're in a rush to get pregnant for," she places the bag of grapes back into the fridge, "being pregnant has me exhausted after doing the simplest of tasks like getting up to pee…or in this case, getting up to put the grapes in the refrigerator."
Burgess leans back in her seat, "Work is lonely without you, you know?"
"Aw, does Kimmy miss little ol'me?"
"Don't call me that," Burgess remarked, rising from her seat, "And yeah, it gets a little boring when my best friend isn't there," she walks over to the cabinet and grabs a wine glass, "and you know what would make our job ten times better," she waits for Erin to walk over, "if we had a wine bar. Just imagine that Lindsay…a fully stocked wine bar."
"Sounds amazing."
Kim leads her friend towards the wine cabinet in the living room, "You think if I ran the idea pass Voight he would agree?"
"No," Erin laughs.
"You're right…maybe you should run the idea pass him."
As they reach the wine cabinet, Kim suddenly notices the baby swing; it's adorable. It's against the wall and is completely brand new. It remains sitting there until it's in need of use. She can only envision the day they're all in the living room, drinking, laughing and having a good time with baby Halstead swinging quite peacefully in her swing. Burgess patiently waits for Erin to choose which wine she didn't mind opening up for her friend to drink. She carefully picked through each bottle and grabbed one she didn't mind wasting. The baby swing in the living room is the only clear sign downstairs that an infant will soon be living here. Erin extends the unopened bottle to Kim, and the latter of the two quickly pops the seal, "Also, I am not going to Voight with your crazy idea."
"If you ask him, he may seriously consider it," Burgess laughs and before Lindsay has the opportunity to respond, the doorbell rings again. She's quick on her feet to get it; it's going on another hour and the more sleep her husband gets, the more well rested he'll be. With a glass full of wine, Kim follows behind her closely, "Is it the guys?"
"They're not supposed to be here for another hour," Erin waddles to the door and takes a peek out of the side window, "Maura," she says in confusion after swinging the front door open.
"Hi Kim. Hi Erin. I'm sorry to drop by unannounced," Amanda's mother apologized, holding a small box and stepping inside the second Lindsay waves for her to come in, "I usually call first, but I didn't know how to reach you. The card you gave me, I lost. I went by the station and the sergeant at the front desk said you were off on maternity leave. She gave me your address after I begged and begged and begged; I hope that's okay. I hope you're not mad."
Erin shakes her head, "No, no of course not. I'm glad you stopped by."
Since stepping inside, Maura finally takes in the full sight of the detective. She's overwhelmed with emotion. This was the detective who took time out of her day to console her, to talk to her and assure her. She felt like she owed everything to Erin; she caught the guy responsible. They're all silent in the hallway. Erin waits for Maura to speak; she watches the older woman press her watery eyes close before reopening them, "You're obviously showing now."
"Yeah," Erin's hand falls to her stomach.
Maura extends the box towards the detective, "I baked you a thank you pie."
Erin takes a hold of the box, "Thank you, that's really sweet of you." She hands it to Kim.
"It's the least I can do."
"Do you want to sit down? I can make some tea."
"Oh no," Maura replied, waving off the offer, "I can't stay long. I just came by to say thank you. I can finally get closure. My baby can finally rest in peace." Her arms swallow Erin into a hug; she manages to wrap the detective securely in her embrace. Her hands were unable to wrap themselves all the way around, but Erin felt the pressure of her hold tighten, "Congratulations on your baby Erin. My husband and I wish you the absolute best of luck. Babies are a handful."
"Thank you," Erin whispers into her ear.
The two slowly pull back. Maura's hands find themselves wrapped around Lindsay's upper arms and she finds it nearly impossible to let go, "Love that baby endlessly."
"I will. I always will. I haven't even met her yet and my heart has already expanded three times bigger for her. I always picture what she's going to look like, what she's going to be like…I don't know. I'm due late December, early January and I'm really excited to meet her."
"You're having a girl," Maura notes the female references in Erin's last statement.
"I am."
"Congratulations again," Maura repeated, unraveling her hands from around Lindsay's upper arms. Burgess remained silent, sipping her wine and observing the scene. She had never heard Erin's defenses come down in reference to her baby. To hear her best friend open her heart up to a woman she hardly knows about her daughter was sweet. It melts her heart. Kim watches the two hug again before Maura leaves the house.
When Erin shuts the door and locks it, she presses her back against it and lets out an exasperated sigh. Her eyes are closed and she's sharply inhaling and exhaling. Kim adjusts her grip around her glass of wine and the box of pie as she walks over, "That's the first time I really heard you express yourself about baby Halstead."
Erin reopens her eyes, "What are you talking about?"
"I mean," She follows Lindsay as she begins walking back into the kitchen, "anything you say about the baby, at least to me, is always about how uncomfortable your pregnancy is, how badly she's treating you and what needs to be done to the nursery."
"Just because I don't talk about it doesn't mean I don't feel it."
Kim sets the pie down onto the counter, "I know, it's just nice to hear this side of you for a chance. Your domestic and maternal side is coming out and I very clearly remember how concerned you were months ago that you didn't have a maternal side."
"Just because I don't talk about it with you doesn't mean I don't talk about it," Erin remarks, irritatingly pulling out a chair to sit, "I talk about it with my husband; her father."
"Hey, I didn't mean to press any buttons. I'm sorry," Kim rushes to her side. She sets a comforting hand onto her friend's shoulder and gives it a gentle squeeze.
"It's not you," she brushes Kim's hand away.
"Pregnancy hormones?"
"It's not that either," Erin retorts, rising to her feet, "It's Maura."
"What about her? She hugged and thanked you. She made you an apple pie that looks extremely delicious by the way. What can possibly be the problem?"
"She thanked me for catching her daughter's killer."
"Yeah…and?"
"I honestly don't think we did."
It's Kim's turn to step away. Her eyes squint and she bites against her bottom lip. Erin purposely doesn't look at her as she walks over to the counter; her hands rest against the edge as she leans forward against it. Her eyes glance out of the window above the sink as she continues, "I don't think Gregory Bishop is guilty. And I didn't say anything about it to Maura because she's happy and I didn't want to take that away from her. She lost her daughter. And now an innocent man is probably going to go away for it."
"I thought you were going to look into it."
"I am, but I haven't found anything concrete enough to prove my theory."
"What about-"
"Does Kim live here now?" Jay's comment cuts Burgess off as he walks into the kitchen, "Every time I come home or wake up, Kim is here." He's obviously joking.
Burgess chuckles, "You better get used to it, especially after the baby comes."
Jay crosses through the kitchen, presses a kiss against the back of his wife's head before opening the fridge and grabbing himself a beer. He doesn't realize that he interrupted a conversation. Burgess manages to play it off, but Erin's eyes are still glossed over and focused on staring at a random tree in the backyard. Before he questions her silence, the doorbell rings. He takes a swig of his beer and with his eyes he requests for Kim to get it. She nods and disappears down the hallway seconds later. Halstead sets his beer down and approaches his wife from behind, "Hey," he wraps his arms around her hips as his chin rests against her shoulder, "What are you thinking about?" He pecks the side of her face.
"…two things"
"I'm listening."
"We should get a swing set and maybe a sandbox for the backyard."
Jay's head nods against her shoulder, "Maybe when she's a little older the guys and I can build her a treehouse in that tree over there?" He nods in the direction of the tree.
"I like that."
"Okay, you said two things. That was one…"
She shifts in his hold and turns around in his arms, "Have you given our earlier conversation any further thought?"
"About names?"
"Not about the baby at all," she's looking him in the eye, desperately pleading with him, "About Gregory Bishop…are you going to look into it for me."
"I'll see."
Before Lindsay could rebut his last statement or further argue her point, Burgess reappears in the kitchen with the guys following behind. Each team member gives her a hug and are each in a really good mood. The last time they all saw each other was a few days ago, and with Ruzek's hand pressed against her round belly she knows he's about to make a comment, "I saw you just a few days ago," he removes his hand and takes a step back to observe her fully, "You have gotten huge Erin since then." She smacks his arm, hard, "Ouch."
Jay rolls his eyes, "Shut up man."
"Alright," Lindsay clasps her hands together, "I'm going to go upstairs, grab my keys and get out of here to get you guys some food. Good luck all of you, especially with Jay in charge," She soon disappears up the stairs to get dressed.
Jay doesn't respond; he's taking his leadership role very seriously. He gathers himself, and waves for his friends to follow. They take each step one by one and once they're outside of the nursery, the orders are soon shouted, "Okay, Ruzek and I are going to work on the crib," he leads the team inside the disorganized nursery, "Atwater and Mouse are going to put together the dresser," he points towards the large box in the corner, "Burgess, you can work on unpacking the other boxes. I have no idea where any of that stuff goes." No further orders are said as they divide the tasks and begin working on their assigned duty. Casual conversation is heard down the hallway as Erin walks along the hallway and takes a peek into the nursery.
Lindsay is quiet; she's leaning against the threshold of the door watching her husband, best friend and close friends work on the nursery. Jay is being extra careful putting together the crib; she sees he's reading directions, which is something he never does. She pulls out her cell phone and when she dials their favorite pizza place –that does not deliver- they all notice her presence. She orders in their usual and nods when she gets an estimated time ready for pickup. Lindsay pockets her cell phone and meets Jay's eyes, he's watching her, "Want me to go get it?"
"I really need to get out of the house. I'm getting cabin fever."
Jay looks towards Burgess hanging up the baby's clothes, "How about Kim goes with you?"
"No," Erin simply answers, leaving no room for further argument, "I don't need a babysitter." He knows she's never going to give in and agree. He turns back to the crib and resumes his struggle at putting it together; Erin remains standing under the doorway, "Don't forget the changing table and the glider rocking chair."
"We got this," Jay laughs, waving his wife away.
"Alright, fine," she smiles, and backs away, "I'm out of here."
Jay hollers from the nursery, "Drive safe," and no response follows; he waits and once he hears the front door close, he looks to his friends, "Alright, we need to do this right; everything needs to be perfect for Erin and my baby. Let's finish this before she gets home that way she can relax the rest of her maternity leave. When she gets back, I want all of the boxes unpacked and gone. She's going to love this little surprise."
It had all basically been timed perfectly. Seconds after Erin pulls out of the driveway, Voight, Olinsky and Dawson pull in. After finishing last minute paperwork, they decided to come over to assist in finishing the nursery. Voight used his spare key to let himself and the guys inside; he followed the sounds of the loud voices upstairs, and as expected everyone –minus Erin- was in the nursery accomplishing some sort of task. Halstead brightens up at the sight of them, "Perfect timing. Voight and Al, you two can work on putting together the glider rocking chair, over there to peer out of the window," he directed, pointing Olinsky and his boss towards the large box, "and Dawson, you and Burgess can work on putting together the changing table."
"I was unpacking the boxes," Kim reminds, holding up a nightlight.
"We can come back to that," Jay remarks, watching as she sets the nightlight back into the box, "We need to put together the big stuff first."
The team continued tirelessly working to put together the nursery while Erin goes to grab lunch. Lindsay has always been a careful driver, but now that she's pregnant, she makes a much bigger effort to abide by the rules of the road. When the traffic light turns yellow, she's close enough to make it, but she votes against going through the yellow light and presses down upon the brakes. She uses the opportunity to reach over and dig into her purse; she doesn't need to look, because once her hand fumbles within it, she feels it –her badge. She sighs in relief at remembering to bring it. The light turns green and before the car behind her has the chance to blow its horn, she drives through the intersection. The normal twenty minute drive away from her house to the county jail turned into a thirty-five minute drive through the Chicago lunch-hour traffic. She still had to pick up lunch on her way back for her and the team. Hopefully the traffic dies down by the time she leaves the jail. Before stepping out of the car, Lindsay checks the time; she's been gone for almost an hour; she needs to be back in the car at least in the next twenty minutes.
As Erin walks through the main door of the jail, she greets some of the familiar officers. Other officers she walks pass without a second to speak; she didn't have time to make conversation or have idle chitchat. She needed to be in and out. Erin approaches the front desk, shows her badge and allows for the guard behind the desk to jot down her badge number before she dates, times and signs her name into the visitors' log. Lindsay signs her married name onto the document, before handing back over the pen, "Who are you here to see?" The guard asks, taking the pen from her.
"Gregory Bishop."
The guard begins typing into the computer, "Are you sure he's allowed to have visitors?"
"I was one of the detectives who worked his case. I'm here professionally."
He hands her a visitor's pass, "Word of warning, just know he lawyered up."
"Thanks," Lindsay replies, clipping the visitor's pass onto her shirt. She sees a guard standing to the side of her, waiting to escort her towards Gregory Bishop's cell.
The guard scans his badge and opens the access door to lead her towards the waiting cells. Gregory Bishop's grand jury trial is in a week; at this hearing, they'll rule whether or not they have sufficient evidence to charge him in the murders of seven people. He's been ruled a flight risk and denied bail. Since his arrest, he had been in the jail cell, patiently awaiting trial. The guard scans his badge and leads her through the access door and down the large corridor before turning into the one-cell hallway. The guard scans his badge once again and opens the door leading to the one solo cell, revealing Gregory Bishop lying on his back on the old worn and torn mattress. His feet are kicked up and crossed as his hands rest behind his head. He hears the door open and shut and two sets of feet walk into the concrete room, but he doesn't look to see who they belong to; he doesn't care. Erin approaches the bars and wraps her hands around them, "Mr. Bishop, I'm Detective Lindsay."
Gregory remains staring up at the ceiling, "You can't talk to me without my lawyer present."
"Are you sure about that?"
He shifts in the bed and turns to face her, "Yeah, I'm sure because you'll twist my words to make me look guilty."
"What if I told you that I believe you?" Erin responds, watching as he slowly sits up, "What if I told you that I don't think you did this?" He rises to his feet and begins to walk over; the guard standing in the room starts to walk over as well until Lindsay raises her hand to stop him, "I would like to speak to him alone."
The guard shakes his head, "I don't think that's a good idea." She notices as his eyes drift down towards her noticeable pregnant stomach. Ignoring the badge strapped to her hip, he can't help but not be comfortable with leaving a pregnant woman in the same room as a murder suspect.
"I'm a detective," Erin reminds him, opening her jacket slightly to give him a better view of her badge strapped to the side of her hip, "I know I'm pregnant, but he's unable to get to me. He's in the cell and the cell is locked."
The guard remains hesitant until Gregory looks up at him; his eyes pleading with the correctional officer, "I won't hurt her man. You have my word. I never lay my hands on women and children; they're off limits."
The guard's eyes drift towards Erin, "Please," she whispers, sighing in relief the second his head nodded to give in to her demand.
"I'll be right outside the door and you have five minutes."
She smiles, "Perfect."
Erin watches as the officer steps out of the room, and the second the deadbolt door slammed shut and automatically locked, she turns to face Gregory. Her hands wrap themselves around the bars and her face is as close to it as possible as she mutters, "We have to talk quick. I think you're being setup."
"I do too."
They're standing face to face; the bars of the cell the only barrier between the two, "I've been talking to some of my team to get them to look back into your case. You can't talk to anyone about this though Gregory."
"What about my lawyer?"
"Definitely not your lawyer," Erin avowed, while keeping her voice low and steady; there were cameras in the room, she didn't want anyone watching to pick up on what they're discussing, "Someone is setting you up and until we know who, this conversation stays between us, just know, I'm going to get you out of here." She draws away from the bars.
"Thank you."
Lindsay stops and brushes a strand of hair behind her ear, "I didn't get you out of here yet."
"No," Gregory sighs with a small smile on his face, "thank you for believing me. I was loud and erratic when they first brought me in and arrested me, but that's because I didn't do anything," his eyes are wide and desperate and his grip on the cell bars tighten, "I was on good behavior during my parole; I didn't do this. I couldn't do this. Those women in Indiana, I couldn't do that. I've never left Illinois a day in my life!" He's absolutely pleading for her to believe him, even though she already, and absolutely does, "To most people my criminal record automatically makes me guilty. My two assault charges, the ones I served time for, those were bar fights. I wouldn't hurt no woman detective, I wouldn't kill anyone. I swear. I'm definitely a screw up, but I didn't do what they said I did."
Erin rushes back towards the cell bars, "You don't have to convince me of anything Gregory. I believe you. I can look at you right now and tell you didn't do this."
"Why?"
"…because it doesn't all add up."
Gregory's eyes pleaded with hers, "If you can see that, why didn't your team?"
"They're swamped in other cases. They don't have the free time to think about it," Erin answers, eyes drifting downward towards her obvious baby bump, "I'm supposed to be on maternity leave…that gave me ample amount of time to reflect on your case." She looks back up.
His eyes meet hers, "What are we going to do?"
"I need you to think. Who would want to set you up? Who would have the opportunity to plant evidence at your place?"
He thinks briefly, "No one stands out."
"It's possible you don't even know the person."
"So why me?"
Erin sighs loudly and steps away from the bars, "Maybe because you were an easy target," she crossed her arms over her chest and stomach to the best of her ability, "You messaged a detective on a dating website about her tattoo and the next day she was attacked and he tried to carve her tattoo off. Either you have really unfortunate timing or,"
"I like chicks with tattoos." Gregory interrupted to explain the coincidence, "It was a question on the dating profile. I have twelve tattoos myself. I'm a mechanic, but I'm a part time tattoo artist. I didn't think asking what kind of tattoo she has would be a problem."
"It's not. It's just bad timing."
His brows furrowed and panic lines creased into his forehead, "I didn't do this."
"I believe you, but I have one more question."
"I'll answer it."
"How did you know where her tattoo was?"
Gregory and Erin suddenly hear the guard's access badge being scanned before the door is opened and abruptly closed after he enters. He walks over, "Time is up."
"I didn't ask about the location of her tattoo," he loudly exclaims before she has the chance to leave; he continues talking the moment he sees her stop walking, "I just wanted to know what it was of; she said a butterfly and I told her it represented strength, change and life. After that we talked about my tattoos. I still don't know where her tattoo is; I didn't hurt her."
"I believe you," she asserts, standing at the door, "I have to go, but I'm going to clear your name. I promise. And I never fail on my promises."
The second the door opens, granting her access to leave the room, he calls after her, "Detective Lindsay," his hands are still wrapped around the bars.
"Yes," she turns to face him briefly.
"Thank you."
She nods, "It's my job."
"Not now it isn't. So thank you," Gregory pulls away from the cell bars. He doesn't look over his shoulder as he silently walks back over to the bed. Erin waits until he lays back into the bed before leaving out of the access door. She leads herself back out into the main area and nods for the officer behind the main desk to sign her out.
Erin pushes through the door and the chilly noon air breezes through her opened jacket. Lindsay walks carefully down the stairs as she zips up the forest green coat. The season is autumn and winter was quickly approaching, even with the sun out, the temperature remained low. Erin rushes to her parallel parked car, and quickly unlocks the door. She ordered in the pizza over an hour ago; it should definitely be ready by now and the guys were starving for sure. As Erin sits behind the wheel, she buckles her seat belt and starts the car. She's too distracted to start driving. Her eyes are glazed over as she stares forward. She made him a promise. She shouldn't make promises in this line of work. Lindsay has taken on more than she can physically and emotionally handle. She can't do this alone. Her current pregnant state made it nearly impossible to go back out into the field and investigate. She had promised Gregory that she would clear his name. How could she make that promise when her team isn't even looking into the case? How could she say that to Gregory without even running it pass Voight? Lindsay's palm stressfully hits against her forehead as she releases a loud grunt of frustration. Her thoughts and internal criticism are soon interrupted by the sound of her phone ringing through the car's speakers, "Hi."
"Where are you?" She hears Jay's voice come through the car's speakers; she turns down the volume of his voice, "You've been gone for at least an hour."
Erin stares down at Jay's photo on her cell phone screen, "Can we talk about it later?"
"Is everything okay?" He sounds worried.
"It's going to be."
"What does that mean?"
Erin sets her phone down into the cup holder, "Am I on speaker?"
"No," he replies and she hears a door close behind him.
Lindsay pulls out of the parallel parking spot, "I went to visit Gregory Bishop."
"What?" Jay paces in the master bedroom, using the privacy to speak to his wife freely, "You should have told me. He could be dangerous. Erin, we were going to talk about this later."
"I had to see him. I had to find out what he knew and who would want to frame him."
Jay squeezes the bridge of his nose, "You didn't have to go by yourself."
"I know, but he spoke to me and I promised I was going to clear his name."
"You really think he's innocent."
"I do."
A brief silence falls between the couple until he releases a strangled sigh, "Okay, then we'll talk to the team after we finish the nursery."
"Thank you."
"How long do you think you'll be?"
"…thirty minutes, give or take a few," she answers.
The conversation and the phone call ends. Erin merges into the Chicago traffic in her quest to drive to their favorite pizza restaurant. Halstead is the one to end the call. He suppresses his worries and walks back towards the nursery, a normal expression on his face as he prepares to dive back into putting the last part on the crib. When he enters the room, he sees the white; four-drawer dresser is put together and slid against the wall, positioned in its correct placement. The dresser is the first piece of furniture completed. And now Atwater is assisting Burgess and Dawson on putting together the changing table while Mouse is helping Voight and Olinsky with the remaining pieces of the glider rocking chair. Halstead lifts the last part of the crib and holds it in placement against the crib while Ruzek screws it in, "She'll be here in half an hour."
"We better hurry up then," Burgess responds, handing Dawson the screwdriver he requested.
The last screw is twisted into the crib, "Done." Ruzek drops the tool back into the toolbox.
"Great, you can help us finish up the rocking chair," Olinsky asserts, waving him over.
While Ruzek now spends his time helping with the glider rocking chair, Halstead is getting the crib together. It's pretty simple; he's wrapping the snug fitting infant sheets around the waterproof mattress protector that is now wrapped around the mattress pad. It's a bit confusing, but after trying it out multiple ways, he eventually gets it all in order. And once the last add-on to the crib is added, he sets the white teddy bear down inside it and grabs the empty crib box. Halstead drags the crib box, the empty dresser box and the box that once held the crib bedding and teddy bear out of the room and down the stairs. He wanted to clear up space in the nursery so they have more room to move around. And now with both the crib and the dresser fully complete, his goal to surprise Erin becomes even more real. The room will definitely be done before she gets home. By the time Jay makes it back upstairs, the rocking chair is finished. It's set near the bay window with a clear view of the backyard. Ruzek is taking the empty rocking chair box downstairs to set with the other boxes. When Adam arrives back to the room, Burgess is no longer helping with the changing table; she's currently placing the folded baby clothes into the white dresser. Each drawer as he notices is organized specifically by Kim; the top drawer is for socks, booties, bibs, hats and scratch mittens, the second and third drawers are reserved for the endless amount of onesies and rompers he sees her place inside and the bottom drawer is for the baby's pants and leggings. Her clothing is so small and tiny and the infant is expected to fit in each outfit. If she's that small, then she'll sure be just as fragile. The thought scares Adam; maybe he won't hold her until she's like five.
Ruzek goes over to assist the guys in constructing the confusing changing table. When Burgess finishes putting away every article of clothing –dress, pants, onesies, rompers, shirts- she opens up another box. At the top is a moon-shaped nightlight that she doesn't hesitate to plug into the wall; she turns it off once it illuminates and plays an instrumental melody. It was one of the many items Kim got for her unborn niece and to see it plugged into the outlet, waiting for use made the inevitability of her arrival even more real. As she stands near the wall, she turns around to get a full view of the nursery. Halstead was hanging a mirror up above the dresser while everyone else scrambled to finish the last few parts of the changing table. She sees the white crib, fully finished, with nothing left to do but place an actual baby inside of it. She looks above, no mobile in sight, and she walks over to search through the three remaining boxes. Burgess doesn't see one, "Hey Jay," she sees him set the hammer down after inserting the nail into the wall, "I don't see a mobile. Are you guys getting one?"
"No," Halstead answers, carefully aligning the mirror against the wall, "Call me paranoid," he shrugs and cautiously pulls his hands away from the frame, "but if the baby sleeps in here and it falls on her, we won't know."
"You're definitely paranoid," Burgess laughs, digging into the nearest box and pulling out the next item –it's the baby monitors, "when my niece was born, her parents were the exact same way. You'll definitely be more relaxed by baby number two."
Jay turns to face Kim; he sees her setting the baby monitors and the nanny camera up on the dresser, "I don't think we're having a second. Let's not get ahead of ourselves here."
The baby monitors and the nanny camera are set up, hooked in and working; Burgess leans the empty diaper bag against the side of the dresser –Kim has no idea what Lindsay wants inside of it, so that portion can be done during her free time, "This baby is going to be an only child with two detectives as parents, a sergeant as a grandfather and a whole unit protecting her…oh gosh, and she's a girl. She has no chance."
"What's that supposed to mean?" Jay smirked.
"You're already this paranoid and protective and she's not even here yet, poor her, it's going to get worse. She'll have to call her aunt Kim to come rescue her."
Dawson exclaims, "Done!" He drops the tools back into the toolbox and immediately steps away from the changing table. It was definitely more complex and different than the ones he had for his kids over twelve years ago –he hadn't done this in years.
"The box needs to be taken down," Halstead responds.
"I'll do it," Antonio quickly offered; he needed a break from this room.
With everything built the team once again divides the new tasks. Atwater and Olinsky are unpacking what seems to be an endless amount of diapers and containers of baby wipes into the left under cabinet of the changing table. Whatever doesn't fit, they'll put on the shelf in the closet. While they tend to that, Ruzek and Mouse are placing the extra swaddling blankets, changing pads, hooded bath towels and burp clothes into the right under cabinet. Burgess is still working on her original box; she sets the hand sanitizer on top of the dresser while Dawson reappears, takes the bottles from the box and goes to take them to the kitchen. Halstead works on the same box as Burgess and he removes the breast pump to take and set it into their master bedroom. There's no specific place to set it so he chooses to just place it onto the nightstand on Erin's side of the bed, near the bassinet. Half an hour definitely passed so that meant Erin could be walking in at any moment. They're all moving quickly; when Jay reappears dragging a box, he hands it over to Atwater and Mouse to put together. There are three white shelves needing to be hung above the changing table. They're all scrambling and desperate for more time. Burgess takes the infant bathtub, the baby soap and shampoo to the bathroom down the hall. She neatly puts the items away in the bathroom, before walking back into the nursery to see Ruzek opening the white hamper and setting it in the corner of the baby's closet.
The minutes pass by and the possibility of Erin walking in increases. The shelves are soon placed and hung against the walls; a rattle, three baby books and a few toys are situated on top of them. One clear plastic drawer bin is set on the closet shelf between the boxes of diapers and wipes; inside the bin is baby nail clippers, pacifiers, Q-tips, the rectal thermometer, baby brush, baby powder, lotion and every other additional baby necessity needed. They're almost done. And when Jay receives a text from Erin that she's almost home and to unlock the front door, their movements quicken. Antonio takes the stroller box downstairs to place it inside the hallway closet with the car seat, the infant carrier and the baby bouncer. The baby play mat is folded and placed against the wall in the closet. The baby sling is the last, and it's laid upon the top of the dresser. They're done. Atwater and Mouse collect each and every box from the nursery and takes them downstairs to collect the empty boxes from the hallway to store them inside Mouse's car. He's moving out of his roommate's apartment and he needed boxes; they may not be the normal packing boxes, but each one counts and will suffice.
Everyone else remains in the nursery until Mouse and Atwater comes back. They're all taking in the scene. It's absolutely beautiful; the room is fit for a little girl. They don't want to mess it up, at least not until the baby arrives. Halstead waves for everyone to leave the room; he hits the lights and shuts the door behind him. Now all they have to do is wait… They wait seconds until Mouse and Atwater return from the car and a few minutes afterwards Erin is walking in, balancing four boxes of Chicago's deep dish pizza. She walks down the hallway, and the aroma of the freshly made pizza fills the house. Ruzek takes the boxes from her hands, "Thanks," she brushes her palms together and spots Voight, Olinsky and Dawson leaning against the kitchen counters, "What are you doing here?" She sounds happy to see them.
"We came to help," Dawson answered, taking one of the boxes of pizza from Adam.
"I'm sure Jay appreciated it," Erin replies. She watches the guys and Burgess sit down and open the pizza boxes. Lindsay isn't hungry right now as they place two to three slices on their plates. She sees Jay extend a plate towards her, "No thanks. I'm really not that hungry. I think I'm going to go up to work on more of the nursery."
"Wait," Halstead calls out for her the second he sees her walking towards the staircase, "We actually have a surprise for you."
She quickly turns around, "You do?" She squints her eyes and looks at each of them suspiciously, "I'm not a fan of surprises," the smirk on her face says otherwise, "What is it?"
Jay doesn't respond to her question, he simply walks over, his plate of pizza forgotten, and he takes her hand. The team follows the couple up the stairs, bubbling in anticipation for Erin's reaction to their surprise. Halstead leads his wife up to the closed nursery door; she had no idea what she was about to walk into. His hands covered her eyes while Burgess reached out for the doorknob. With a quick turn and small push, the door opened and they led her inside. They don't walk in much –they want for Erin to see the room in its entirety. Her hands are wrapped around his wrists while his remain over her eyes, "When can I look?"
"…on the count of three," Jay answers, watching as the team fans out around the room, "One…two…"
"Three," she finishes and almost immediately swats his hands away.
The large smile on her face drops at the sight of the finished nursery. Everything is put together. All of the boxes are unpacked. All of the furniture is set up and in its rightful place. Lindsay walks –waddles- further into the room; she looks into each of the dresser draws to find everything neatly folded and placed. Lindsay walks over to the closet –the eyes of her team following every movement. They're scanning her unreadable face for some form of emotion. The entire room –closet included- is immaculately clean. The nursery is ready for the baby. There's absolutely nothing left to do because it has all been done. They hear a sniff come from her direction. Burgess walks over, "Erin," her hand lightly touches her friend's shoulder.
Lindsay turns around and everyone freezes at the sight of tears streaming down her face. She was crying. She wasn't supposed to be crying. Majority of them are guys, and they didn't do crying. They did this out of the kindness of their hearts. It's a possibility that Erin wanted to finish the nursery. They should have asked for her permission; they assumed they were helping her. And the tears started to fall even harder. Before Kim could offer her friend an apology for maybe overstepping any boundaries, Erin throws her arms around her, "Thank you." It's surprising. They all thought they had upset her. Her silence made them nervous, but as she pulls away from Kim and began hugging each team member one by one, she whispered her thanks. Saving the best hug for last, she wraps her arms as tightly around her husband as possible. Her stomach prevented them from getting too close, but it didn't stop her from trying, "Thank you," she steps away and approaches the crib, "You guys are the best team and family a girl could ever have," she reaches into the crib and pulls out the baby's white teddy bear, "I love all of you. This is absolutely the best gift I have ever received."
"Anything for you girl," Mouse winks at her, soon departing from the room to finish eating.
Kim slowly backs away, "Yeah, Mouse is right. We got you. Anything, anything at all."
The team –minus Lindsay, Halstead, Voight and Olinsky- disappears from the nursery to finish making their plates and eating the best pizza Chicago has to offer. Holding the white stuffed animal, Erin goes to sit in the glider rocking chair. With her feet on the detached ottoman part, she holds the bear tightly and carefully rocks back and forth in the chair, "I'll always remember this," her eyes stare down into the bear's eyes, "I always had to find the energy to work on the nursery. I honestly never felt like doing anything. Thank you guys…so much."
Jay pecks her forehead, "Don't mention it. It's for you and the baby." His hand rubs against her round stomach.
Voight hasn't said much since Erin saw the room. He gave her a hug when she proposed one and he smiled any time her eyes met his, other than that, he's been quiet. After the team departed from the room, he closed the door behind them; no one in the nursery seemed to notice. Erin was too distracted by the sight of her dream nursery and Olinsky and Halstead were too preoccupied with taking in Lindsay's reaction. Hank waits until he knows the team is downstairs for sure; laughter from the kitchen fills the halls and makes its way up the stairs, towards the nursery. Voight walks over towards her, "Hey Erin," her wide and bright eyes look up to meet his, "I don't want to ruin the mood."
The brightness in her eyes dull, "What is this about?"
"You went to visit Gregory Bishop," he states, taking a seat against the edge of the window seat.
Her head immediately turns in Jay's direction, "You told him?"
"No."
"You think if one of my detectives –you more specifically- walks in to see a high profile criminal that I wouldn't hear about it. One of the guards called me."
Lindsay hands the bear to her husband, "He's innocent Hank."
"Erin,"
She interrupts, "I've had free time and I've been thinking. None of this adds up and if we-"
"Erin-"
"I promised him I would find the real culprit. He didn't do it. He's innocent."
Voight takes a hold of her hand; he gives it an assuring squeeze, "How about you let us focus on that? Let the team worry about that."
"What?" She turns in the glider to face him, "You mean…you've been looking into the case." She turns from Voight to Halstead, "And you didn't tell me."
"If I told you," it's Hank who responds, not her husband, "you would want to come back to the job. You're on maternity leave. You should be relaxing."
"I won't come back until my leave is over, I promise, I just need to know, how close are you to solving this?" She turns back to face Voight.
And he stands up, "Since it's technically off the record, it's a little harder. The case is closed and they took all of our files."
"I made copies," Erin exclaims, extending her hand so Jay can help her up, "I've also done a character profile of Gregory Bishop, but it's not enough to clear him."
"We'll need all of it." Olinsky replied.
Jay helps Erin up, and she turns to face her boss, "Someone framed him."
"And that's what our focus is on right now," Voight asserted, setting both of his hands onto her shoulders, "He has evidence proving his guilt; we need to find even bigger evidence to prove his innocence."