It was something wrong with the office coffee. It was cold, it was bitter, it was thick and it tasted stale. Erin has never had stale coffee before until today. She refuses to violate her body by swallowing this concoction so she spits it out in the nearest trashcan. If she had known the office coffee today would be such a huge disappointment then she would have stopped on her way to work, if she was late well then that'd be a consequence she'd be willing to endure. She dumps the rest of the pungent brew into the sink in their lounge area before dragging her feet away, "Erin!"

She groans; palm smacking against her forehead, "…yes?"

"I heard you were going over to Lincoln Park," it's Kenny and he's standing directly behind her and she has yet to turn around, "I have to do a home visit there too. I thought we could ride together. You know, save on gas and all that. I heard it's good for the environment."

Erin ran her hand through her hair and then turned to face him, "I'm uh," she plasters a fake smile onto her face, "I'm actually scheduled to go to Lincoln Park tomorrow. It's Sylvie that's supposed to be going there today…I think she has a group home to pop in on."

"Oh," his shoulders deflated; he appeared to be upset, "What's on your schedule for today?"

"Nothing extravagant…I'll just be maintaining case history records and preparing a few reports before I head on over to Hyde Park."

Kenny wants to say more but he's interrupted by Kim shouting her name. It's like she can sense when she desperately needs a getaway. Uh, she absolutely adores Kimberly Burgess. She nods to Rixton before rushing out of the lunch room, practically bumping into another coworker in her haste to get out. With her desk in view, she starts walking over to it only to have her arm practically yanked back, "Whoa Er, where's the fire?"

She's joking, Erin knows that, but she rolls her eyes anyway, "Thanks for getting me out of that awkward situation. Kenny's a sweetheart and I really hate that I'm not interested."

"…you can't force chemistry," Kim agrees, and she finally releases her hold around Erin's wrist, "but I didn't call you just to help you escape, although that was one of my motives, but I called because I just happened to walk by your desk and I saw your computer screen."

"…okay, you were being nosey, so what?"

"Wow, you got laid a week ago and the blissful effects have already worn off, I see."

"Kim, what can I do for you? What can I help you with?"

"Are you feeling alright?" She steps forward to run the back of her hand against Erin's forehead, checking for a temperature, "you're not warm. You don't look sick."

"I'm not sick. I'm just exhausted, absolutely fucking exhausted." Erin resumes her trek back towards her desk and she assumes that if Kim still wants to talk then she'll follow. She does.

Erin circled her desk and flopped back down into the seat. She pulled her keyboard out and resumed her search while patiently waiting to hear what Kim has to say, "I was serious Erin when I said that there's no rush for you to move out." And that's what Kim wanted to bring up because Erin had been looking for apartments to rent and left her web browser open.

"I know Kim, but I know it's a lot having another person and a dog under your wing."

"No," Burgess immediately replies, shaking her head desperately, "I actually enjoy it. The place doesn't feel as lonely as it once did. I like you two being there with me."

"I like it too but…"

"…but, what?"

"But I can't stay there forever and the longer I'm there, the harder it will be for me to leave."

Kim sits at the edge of her best friend's desk, "I mean…who says you have to leave?" Slowly, Erin stood up and rounded the desk to wrap her arms around her, "I have to leave. I didn't come all this way to leech off of you. It's for the best and I won't be far and who knows, maybe we can still have our sleepovers."

"I love this sentimental side of you," Kim wraps her arms around Erin, meeting her halfway for the hug, "Uh, I need this more often," she inhales before slowly exhaling, "and you smell really good. I know you'll eventually leave Erin but for right now, let me just tell myself that you aren't going anywhere because the last time you left, you ended up in New York."

"I needed a fresh start and now I'm back."

"…now you're back," Kim repeated, barely above a whisper.

Kim tightened her arms around Erin's body, squeezing her so tight that she actually feared that she'll either break a bone or cut off her air supply. Erin didn't complain though. But, that could have been because she could barely talk when she's being squeezed so tightly. However, when Burgess dropped her arms and allowed for Erin to take a step back, her best friend still didn't complain, "What has gotten into you?"

Erin smirks and shakes her head as she takes a hold of her seat, moving closer to resume her search, "I might not be in the best mood but I'm not going to take it out on you." She has two browsers open and she's currently filtering her search, -one bedroom apartment, pets allowed, within her price range, a decent distance from her job so the commute to work won't be bad, central air conditioning and heating and a parking garage. She knows exactly what she wants; she just needs to find it.

"I don't know," Kim shrugs, "…maybe it's just the effects of your late night romp in the sack with your mystery man that has you," she reaches out her hand and flicks it up and down, "I don't know, sentimental and in a semi-good mood."

Erin pauses her search in order to face her friend, "First of all, I got laid a week ago; that's like a lifetime ago. I'm pretty sure any and all effects and remnants of that have worn off. And secondly, I'm not overly sentimental, I'm about the typical amount that I always am. And what do you mean by semi-good mood. Earlier you said the effects of my one night stand must have worn off and now you're saying that some remnants of it were left behind."

"You're a little snippy today."

"…only when people irritate me," Erin shrugs. She turns back to resume her search. She really needs to do some actual work soon though.

"Are you on your period?" Kim asks because she cannot seem to find any reason for Erin's sudden change in mood; she woke up pretty happy and now she's a little bitchy.

And that question only made her angrier, "Just because I'm not overly happy and excited doesn't mean I'm pmsing or am on my period. You should know that. I have a headache and I'm just a little moody from my caffeine withdrawal."

"…maybe it's an effect of your birth control."

"It's not," Erin shouts, fist slamming down onto her desk; she only lowers her voice because her coworkers start to stare, "it's not my birth control because I'm not sexually active so I haven't taken the pills in months."

"…but, you used a condom right," Kim whispers, seeming to move closer to ensure no one overheard their conversation.

That slipped from her mind. She was too caught up in the moment, in the passion to remind him to use a condom. She didn't even have any. She thought it was pointless to buy some when she's been celibate for months. That thought, that responsible thought had slipped from her mind and when she remembered the morning after their night together that they didn't use protection, she wanted to panic, she wanted to freak out, she wanted to go back to his place and practically demand his medical history, but she knew she couldn't. She couldn't remember where he lives; she knew that any damage that may have been done had already been done. And she tossed the thought to the back of her mind, choosing to focus on it at a later date because if something was transmitted to her, it would be too early to tell. And after a strenuous google search, she found out that most things are detected until at least a week after intercourse.

"I'm screwed Kim," her forehead plants itself against the corner of her desk, "I stupidly forgot and then I remembered the next morning and it seems I forgot again."

Kim doesn't seem to freak out; she keeps a leveled head because she knows that her panicking will not get them anywhere, "Scoot over," she pushes Erin's seat to the side and opens up a new tab to start typing, "Okay, look at this," she points at the screen and Erin pries her head up from the desk, "for reliable results, wait a week to 3 months for a syphilis test, 6 weeks to 3 months for hepatitis and HIV testing and two weeks for gonorrhea, chlamydia and," the last one seems to have been the forgotten one of the bunch; it was the only consequence that has never crossed her mind, "a pregnancy test too."

"I feel like if he has some type of disease, he would have told me."

"You don't know that," Kim retorts, continually her googling search for more details, "I know you want to give the benefit of the doubt but you don't know this man from the next stranger."

"I know more about him than the next stranger considering I've seen him naked."

"…but you don't know his moral standings," Kim argues and she knows that for Erin's mental sake, she's trying to convince herself that he wouldn't do something like that, but people are evil sometimes and you never know, "and you don't know how often he takes women home from the bar to have unprotected sex."

"What are you googling now? Oh gosh, I bet my search history looks crazy right now."

Kim looks back at her friend, shooting her a look that says hush before turning back to the screen, "I'm googling about pregnancy. Neither one of us have been pregnant before so I need to know things like when is the earliest you can experience symptoms."

"I'm not pregnant," she shoos her friend away. Burgess doesn't move.

"You don't know that."

"…even if I was, it's too soon to detect."

"It's too late for you to take a plan B pill," Kim reads and this sparks Erin's interest as she uses her feet to wheel her chair closer, "you had a time span of three days. It's been a week now. It says here," Kim points to the specific line on the screen, "that the longer you wait to take it, the more the effectiveness decreases. Within 24 hours, it's 95 percent effective, after 48 hours, it's 85 percent effective, after 72 hours, it drops down to 58 percent effective and after 5 days, it's about 25 percent effective."

"…but there's still a chance."

"25 percent effective is five days, Er, you're a week into this. It's probably a 0 percent chance now. And that's only if you're pregnant."

"You're right," Erin nods pretty aggressively; "I might be worrying for nothing."

"So there's no reason to panic…" Kim straightens up; her back was starting to ache from the leant position.

"…there's every reason to panic. An unplanned pregnancy is the least of my worries right now and that's on a pretty long list. If I get out of this consequence-free then I would never do something so stupid and reckless again."

Kim flops down onto Erin's lap, earning an oof when the impact was strong, "Ah, the story of my life. You don't know how many open air promises I've made over the years."

"…but the difference is I'm serious about mine."

"You should really relax though," Kim leans back and throws her arm around her best friend's shoulders, "all this stress cannot be good for the baby."

"That's not funny at all."

"It's just a little," Kim turns her head to hide her chuckle, "I know you're panicking but I'm trying to lighten up the mood."

"I have to work and pretend that my life isn't falling apart."

"You know I'm behind you 100 percent. So tell me, what do you want to do?"

"Pray, hope and wish that I'm not pregnant," she pushes Kim off her lap after her thighs start to grow numb, "and that I didn't catch anything."

Burgess exits out the tabs that relate to pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases. She knows that if she wants her friend not to freak out and panic, she needs to get rid of the reminders.

"When was your last period, Erin?"

"I don't know," she shrugs her shoulders and stressfully runs her hand through her hair, "it's on my app and I don't feel like looking at it. I can't look at it because then I'm going to freak out even more. And besides, it doesn't matter; not right now anyway, I'm technically not late yet and it's too early to detect. I have to wait another week."

"So you have to live with wondering if you're pregnant."

"It's just for another week…or maybe two, or three. I don't know if I even want to know."

"Well whether you want to know or not, you're going to find out eventually!"

Erin knows she's right but it doesn't stop her from shooting her best friend a reprimanding look, "I…I don't want to talk about it. I need to get back to work."

"You're not even working."

"…then I need to get back to looking at apartments," Erin bites back.

Kim leans closer to ensure no one overhears, "…then you probably need to get a two bedroom, you know, one for you and one for the bun in the oven."

"That's not fucking funny," Erin pushes her away. And maybe she was upset earlier, and going through a few mood changes due to the lack of caffeine pumping through her, but Kim can sense that her bitter mood right now is far different than the bitter mood she was in earlier. She knows when and when not to push and tease Erin Lindsay.

"I'm sorry," Kim throws up her hands to signify defeat, "Bad joke. You know I make bad jokes and talk out of my ass when I'm nervous."

A silence falls over them. Erin doesn't respond to Kim's apology, instead, she silently opens another tab, leaving one to look at one bedroom and the other to look at two bedroom apartments. And the dramatic price difference is so extreme that Erin opens up a third tab to search for all options out there for expectant mothers, -parenting, abortion and adoption. And she doesn't even know why she's jumping the gun on this. She might not even be pregnant. So after reminding herself of that realization, she exits out two of the three tabs, leaving up the one for one bedroom apartments that allow pets, "here's a one bedroom that allows animals, but it's in Englewood," and based on the look on Kim's face, Erin knows that the place shouldn't be an option, "it's rent is low but I know that's only because of the crime rate."

"And it's going to take you forever to get to work in rush hour."

Erin twisted the screen on her computer so that Burgess could see the screen better, "It's rent is enough for me to have a lot left over to save and," she pauses because she knows that she wanted to end the last topic of conversation but it's hard not to bring it back up, "and if I am forced to look at two bedrooms, this apartment building offers them at a reasonable price."

"Oh no," Kim takes charge and immediately exits out of that tab, "you will not be living there and you damn sure will not be living there with my future niece or nephew."

"I'm just saying…it's good for both scenarios and I'll have Milo."

"Yeah well, your dog, no matter how much I love him, is not invincible." After she's satisfied with the browser being closed, she puts her hands on her hips and looks down to meet the eyes of her best friend, "Stay with me for a little while longer and save your money. If you're having a baby or not, I want you to be safe especially after you told me about what happened in New York. I don't want you worrying about where to live; just focus on your job."

And despite her unclear mind, the exhaustion coursing through her body and the lack of caffeine in her blood stream, Erin knows that Kim is right. She has time. A lot of it. And she shouldn't be worried about next week when there are kids depending on her to look out for them and their best interests. She loads up the government database that grants her access to all of the children in the foster care and adoption system, "You're right."

"I love it when you tell me that."

"Shouldn't you be doing work?"

"Ugh," Kim groans, reaching into her pocket to withdraw her keys, "thanks for the reminder. I have to head on over to Wicker Park to investigate a claim. A neighbor reported that they believe a kid is being abused by their father and I've already started the investigation process and it doesn't look like it's true but even if it's a false claim, it still needs to be explored as if it's real, you know, just in case."

"…yeah, just in case." Erin repeats. She's familiar with the system. She grew up in it before Voight and Camille adopted her. She's been with her mother, Bunny, and her mother has been on the opposite side of those claims and most of the time CPS investigated, they found no substance to them despite the accuracy of it. At such a young age, Bunny bribed Erin to lie and it worked and CPS couldn't find any witnesses to the claims the school had made; it was only because Bunny was smart, Bunny knew not to hurt her in public.

This led to Erin's career path. She knew the system was underfunded and understaffed and that meant that kids sometimes suffered because of it.

Investigations into true or false claims weren't always thoroughly explored. Bunny had a drug problem but CPS couldn't force her to take a drug test without her consent. And Bunny would never consent to that. Ever.

Being legally obligated to investigate reports but then having exceptions to those rules and laws meaning that some reports went uninvestigated seemed to contradict. She knows that CPS can meet with a kid without the parent or guardian's permission, but the same parent or guardian can refuse access for the social worker to even enter the home, unless they're a foster parent. CPS can ask intrusive questions as a part of the investigation and despite what many people think, they don't seek out to remove children from decent family homes. No one wants to rip a child from their parents' arms and the best thing to remember is they're here to help, not to hurt.

Unless the investigation fails and the child is forced to stay in a bad home. That was Erin's life until she was ten. But most of the damage had been done. It's why she's currently a CPS social worker. She wants to help kids like herself. But, working for Child Protective Services allows Erin to know all the intricate details and red tape. Some claims go uninvestigated if there is no foundation to believe the claim then there is no point in bringing stress down upon the family.

"I'll text you when I get there and when I leave," it's the rule they set for each other to make sure that they are safe. You'd be surprised how people may react when investigating a claim of child abuse and even more so when you come to remove the child from the home.

"Okay, drive safe." Erin waves without even looking.

"I'll bring you back a decent cup of coffee on my way home. Text me your order."

Erin pulls out her case files, needing to organize the last batch even though she started a little over a week ago, "Okay, thanks."

"Wait, can pregnant people drink coffee?"

"Kimberly."

"I'm not trying to be funny but just in case you are pregnant, you should stay away from the alcohol. And maybe coffee? I don't know. Is that a myth or something?"

To appease her friend, she loads up the internet browser and types it into the search engine, "It says right here on trusty google; is it safe to drink coffee during pregnancy? Yes, but hold the refills. I can have a cup so stop being annoying and bring me one." Kim salutes and then she leaves Erin at her desk to complete her work.

And before she can fully immerse herself into her work, she opens the camera app on her phone to check her reflection. Her eyes were sunken and dark shadows appeared beneath her lids. She was exhausted; it was all in her eyes. She tossed and turned all night, unable to find a comfortable enough position to get more than an hour of uninterrupted sleep in. Her eyes were red, dry and she kept blinking in an effort to wake herself up. She doesn't know if she can wait for Kim to come back with her coffee order. And speaking of that, she taps out of her camera app and goes to her text messages to quickly type up and send her coffee order. Now all she has to do is finish up her paperwork and then wait…

Hopefully Kim comes back before she's scheduled to go to Hyde Park.

Erin grabs the top folder and opens it to reveal the two names of a married couple interested in becoming foster parents. She had to visit them today. She needed to conduct an interview. She spent her time reading their report and formulating clarifying questions she would need to ask in order to put it on the record. But, it was difficult to concentrate without her coffee. She was almost willing to suck it up, plug her nose and chug down the coffee in the employment lounge but it's like Kim sensed her distress because before she could get up, a large coffee was placed down in front of her, "I…I don't understand."

"That's your coffee."

"I know that," she lifts it up and takes a sip; the hot beverage burning her throat on the way down, "but I thought you were stopping on your way back."

Kim shrugs, "I was but I know you. I know you couldn't wait that long. I'm actually heading out to Wicker Park now." She doesn't have the time to sit around and chat. She leaves almost as fast as she arrived. But Erin knows they can just talk later. She's content. And she's able to focus on work now that she has herself a decent cup of coffee to wake her up and give her the energy that a few hours of sleep did not provide.