Erin chuckled at Jay's comment just as she brought her hand up to Kim's door to knock again, harder this time, only stopping when the door swings open, "You're going to wake her!"

"Adam," the confusion on Erin's face is obvious, "what are you doing here?"

Kim walks into the entryway, Emma laying against her shoulder having her back pat.

"The two of you over here playing house with my baby?" Jay jokes. Erin discreetly pinches her lips to suppress the laugh she desperately wants to let out. Both of them look exhausted.

"Ha-ha," Kim says dryly, "very funny coming from the two of you. Your baby wouldn't let us sleep. If you're here to pick her up, her bags are packed and ready to go."

"You kicking us out?" Erin takes the baby from Kim as Jay goes to get the diaper bag. Emma had woken in the shuffle, but the comfort of being in her mom's arms kept her quiet. She continuously gazed at the outline of her mother's jawline, watching it move as she spoke.

"If it means we can sleep for longer than two hours at a time then yes."

"...maybe it's because this isn't her home or because me and Jay weren't here, but she's gotten so much better with sleeping at night so I don't know what got into her if she kept waking up?"

"I'm too tired to try to figure it out but I think the two of you are just used to it."

"I tried to warn you."

"Yeah, well I thought I knew you better. I thought there was no way in hell you'd let her stay the night and I figured by midnight you'd be knocking at my door to pick her up."

"Yeah, well," she looks over to meet Jay's eyes, "we got a little distracted. And besides," she looks back at her best friend, "I figured you'd enjoy spending some quality time with your niece. It's not everyday Emma gets to hang out with her favorite aunt."

"There is no love lost between me and Little E, I just realize that our next sleepover will have to wait until she's at least one. By then we'll have all the fun in the world."

"Well thanks for watching her," Erin presses a kiss to her baby's head, "we'll get out of here so the two of you can get some sleep, but Kimberly, please know, we'll be talking about this," she points between her friend and Jay's coworker, "later. Sleep tight."

Ruzek walks them to the door as Kim walks to her bedroom. Her hair was disheveled, her pajamas wrinkled, and she couldn't stop yawning. The cost of giving Erin and Jay a night with no baby was the price of giving her and Adam a night of sleep deprivation. The two of them step into the hall, Erin finagling the sweater around her baby's arms to keep her warm in the early daytime temperature. Jay readjusted his grip around the carseat, and readjusted the strap of the diaper bag over his shoulder. Emma looked tired, and from the content sigh she released as she was being carried from the apartment to the car, it tells them, she'll be fast asleep by the time she gets home.

"I sometimes forget they're a couple," Jay admits.

"I can't. Kim texts me about him every time he so much as looks in her direction. I'd pay for the luxury of forgetting," Erin remarks. She buried her nose into the top of her baby's head as they waited for an elevator.

"Well now that we're dating, you can return the favor." He smirks, hinting that he's joking but just in case he isn't, Erin comments.

"I've never really been that type of girl."

"…probably why we work so well together." Jay throws his arm around her shoulders and the two of them walk inside the elevator, "Breakfast?"

"You know the way to my heart."

Just as expected, Emma fell back asleep in the car. She remained asleep in her car seat all throughout breakfast and by the time they got back, she was awake, alert and in a good mood now that she's home. Erin had just fed her, and now she was left to be entertained by her dad while her mom gave Milo some love and attention. It was enough love to spread around and she didn't want her first baby to ever be neglected.

Belly rubs earning the shake of Milo's leg to show just how much he's enjoying it, and Erin gives him a treat afterwards to top off the moment. She remains sitting on the floor and when all is said and done, Milo doesn't get up and walk away to lay in his bed but instead rolls over to lay his head on his human's lap, allowing her to mindlessly rub the space between his ears all while Emma erupts into an infectious coo and giggle.

Those baby giggles, the sound of joy and innocence erupted from her pure form in such a bright light that only made Jay continue to play with her. With his hands around her tiny waist, he raises her up into the air only to lower her seconds later to press kisses against her lips. She laughed, a mixture of a snort and a gasp for air as her melodic laughter filled the room. It's the first time the two of them hear it, and it's music to their ears.

Erin whips out her phone, refusing to miss this camera perfect moment and she films. She remember googling when to expect her baby to giggle and most articles she read averaged it out to four months with some babies being fancy enough to do it earlier than that and Erin couldn't help but to give herself a little pat on the back for birthing such an advanced baby. All parents think that but as she listens to the sounds of her daughter's giggle, she knows no one can make her feel differently.

Jay continues, raising her up and lowering her down to meet his lips for more of daddy's kisses. He can't wait until the age where he can throw her into the air and catch her but that'll be a while, she's too young now and only started gaining head and neck control. Though he lifts her with his arms and lowers her back down for nose rubs and kisses, she enjoys every second of it. She lives for it. And she giggles, hands out and touching his face, mapping his features out with the tiny tips of her fingers. The joy in her gummy smile pushes him to continue, up and down and up and down, until there was a crack in her smile and spit up fell from her pouting lips and onto his face. Absolutely disgusting.

And he couldn't find it in himself to be mad. He was more shocked than anything especially after seeing the flash of a cell phone camera, "I told you I just fed her," Erin laughed after lowering her phone, "You can't bounce her around like that." The spit up slowly dripped down his face, landing on portions of his neck and the collar of his shirt. He has to change asap.

"You could have warned me like ten minutes ago."

"She was giggling, I'd be an evil mama to stop that."

"The traitor," he jokingly glares at his daughter, groaning at the feeling of the spit up hardening against his neck. He walks her to her mom, handing the baby to Erin as he goes to grab a few of his daughter's baby wipes, "We made a truce; only spit up on mommy."

"That's what you get for making a truce against me."

His phone buzzed, forcing his attention away from the most important people in his life. He checks the message, it's from his boss, and he knows it's a case. It's the only reason Hank Voight would text him, any interest in his personal life would be in regards to Emma and he'd text his daughter about that. Sometimes Jay wondered if Voight wiped the memory out of his head of his detective being the father of his granddaughter. He doesn't bring her up to Jay. He doesn't ask Jay about her. He makes no mention or shows no hint of blurring lines considering they're kind of, sort of family in a weird, distant, non-familial way.

Jay knows he gets updates, he gets pictures and videos because he'd sometimes catch him looking at one when they're in the midst of a rough day. It's weird to think they share a common love for a little girl who's growing up way too fast for any of their liking.

New case. Sending address in five. Be there in 30.

Just as he suspected. It's about a case. A day off turned into a day back in the office, a new crime to solve because Chicago doesn't know how to relax. He uses the time waiting for the address to finish wiping the spit up off and change his shirt, the last thing he wants to do is go to a crime scene looking like a parent of an infant. By the time he changes, he has the address and the familiarity of it sends him rushing out of the door. He hopes it's a coincidence, there are a lot of people that go past and are near that address. It can't be her. Seriously, what are the chances?

Apparently, they are high.

Jay is the one to identify the body. He knows her. And no one else knew that until now. No one else knew he was seeing a therapist until now and this is the way they found out, "that's Milah," he confirms just as the sheet recovers her body, "when was she found?"

"This morning," Ruzek answers, throwing a hand to Jay's shoulder to offer a semblance of comfort.

"If this is too much for you-"

"No sarge," he turns around to face his boss, "I'm fine, just shocked, I-I'm just caught off guard." A bit ironic because right now, the shock of it all makes him want to reach out to his therapist to schedule an appointment but here she is, dead in front of him, official cause of death looks to be stabbing but the coroner will verify it later. It's an obvious homicide but her wallet, her phone, her keys and purse are still near the body so that rules out robbery. Jay glances up to the corners of the buildings on the busy street, "Do those cameras work?"

"No, shopowner says they've been down since that bad storm we had like a month ago. Lightening fried the wires," Ruzek fills in. Shit. That's just their luck.

"Dawson, go contact and question next of kin, take Olinsky with you for the death notification. Ruzek continue to question the business owners, I'm hoping someone did see something, there are some ring doorbells let's hope they're charged up."

"…but they're not on the buildings directly in front of or adjacent to where Milah was killed."

"No shit Sherlock," Voight clapsback in a noticeably bad mood, "once we get a time of death, we can see what or who came down the road last night at that time. Maybe if we're lucky we'll see a witness or better yet, the perpetrator on camera. You take the east, Atwater the west. Report back if you find anything."

"And what do you need from me sarge?" Despite the risk of being yelled at, Jay asks.

"Halstead since you are familiar with this location and the victim, I want you to talk to her receptionist, she's the one that called it in. You probably know her since you had appointments here. See if you can get her active client files. This being personal is our primary assumption we're working with considering we've ruled out robbery."

Jay nods and then jogs across the street to the practice. Despite the sign saying closed, the door is unlocked. It has police officers walking through the building turning what once was a peaceful atmosphere into something tense. He spots the receptionist, Victoria, she's relatively new, started working here three weeks ago, replacing the last one after she retired. She sits in the waiting room, her eyes cast down to her blood covered hands, he heard she tried to stop the bleeding though Milah had already been dead, she'd been dead for hours. Victoria doesn't notice him as he approaches, her eyes remain glued to her hands, tears welling her orbs and her jaw trembling under the threat of sobbing.

" Victoria," he calls but she doesn't move. He tries again, this time gently tapping her shoulder, "Victoria."

She blinks, clearing her gaze and leading some of the tears to fall, "huh? Hi. Sorry Mr. Halstead." She remembers him, good, that'll help with questioning.

"You can call me Jay. I'm sorry for your loss."

A knot tightens in her throat at the reminder of not only Milah's death but finding her body. She bites her lip and swallows to loosen the knot, "my mom and her are friends, that's how I got hired here. I graduated from college a few months ago and I'm looking for something permanent and she let me work here until I found what I wanted to do." Victoria clenches her hands together, balls them into fists so tightly that her nails dig into her palms, "why would someone do this?"

"Is there anyone that comes to mind that would? Has there been any rowdy clients? Any dissatisfied clients?"

"No, none that I've noticed. None that she's mentioned but honestly I don't know. I just check clients in and take their co-pays if they have one." Jay knows that from his time coming here.

"Can you take me through the events of you finding her?"

This was going to be hard but Victoria knows it's a necessary evil that'll hopefully find whoever did this, "I got here at my usual time, -seven. I saw Milah's car outside and thought nothing of it. Sometimes she beats me to the office to catch up on notes or, I don't know but sometimes she does. I got to the door and let myself in, it was locked but that's not weird either. If she comes early, she locks it behind her until we're officially open. I came inside and I went to my desk and started getting the office ready for the first clients of the day. She had a session at eight, it was her first one of the day and the client called to cancel due to a medical emergency," now the easy flow of Victoria's story starts to become choppy as she approaches what she knows the detective wants to hear, "I got up to let Milah know but I couldn't find her. I thought maybe she stepped out the back way, through the door that leads to the alley because if she left out the front I would have seen her. I couldn't find her anywhere so I started to think maybe the car outside wasn't hers, maybe it was similar to hers, it's not like she's the only person that drives that make, color and model," she starts talking with her hands, they move frantically forcing Jay to lean back to ensure he didn't get hit, "I went outside and I called her and I heard her ringtone. It was coming from the car. I uh, I crossed the street, I was thinking maybe she was sitting inside the car, or laying because if she was sitting I'd see her through the window. I thought she was lying but when I crossed the street and walked around to the other side, that's when I saw her-" Victoria starts choking up, the sight of what she'd seen moments ago as clear as ever, "she was covered in blood. I watch a lot of medical shows and they always talk about stopping the bleeding so I called 911, put my phone on speaker and started applying pressure to the wounds but I didn't know she was already gone. When the paramedics got here, they said she was dead, they didn't even take her to the hospital, they just left her there. She's still there."

And according to policy and procedure, she will remain there until the coroner signs off on her body to be transported. Paramedics are not allowed to load a corpse into the back of the ambulance. That mode of transportation is for individuals with a pulse, no matter how weak it is. Victoria hiccuped, pulling Jay out of his thoughts, his face frowning at the sight of a tearful woman, grown in age, but childish in experiences and he thinks of his kid, picturing her at Victoria's current age and thinks on what he would want someone to say or do for his baby, "Is there anyone I can call? I don't think it's a good idea for you to be alone right now."

"My parents."

Jay waves over a uniformed officer, giving him much needed instructions on calling Victoria's parents. At least he knows when he's done here, her parents will be able to take over. Once the officer walks away, Jay is forced to get back to his line of questioning, "when you found Milah, did anything stand out to you?"

"No, nothing at all."

"Is it normal for her to leave work so late alone?"

"Yes, my mom always said she was a workaholic, she'd send us home and she'd stay later. I don't know what time she left."

"…and the traffic in this neighborhood?"

"It's a bunch of nine to five businesses, most of these roads are cleared by six but we stay open later because she has evening clients, some people have sessions after work and she keeps her schedule flexible."

"Speaking of clients, we're going to need a copy of her active clients. We need to rule them out as suspects."

"I want to help Mr. Halstead" she forgets that she got permission to call him Jay, "but with confidentiality and patient's rights to privacy, I don't know if I'm allowed to hand them over. I think I should wait for one of the other therapists to get here to ask."

"When will the next one be in?"

"…um ten?"

"Are you asking me?"

Victoria thinks to herself, picturing the color-coordinated calendar she had of the schedule, "no, I'm pretty positive Dennis has a session at ten so he'll be in before then."

"Milah owns the practice, correct?" Jay believes so but he wants to verify and confirmation comes in the form of Victoria sniffling and nodding, "how many employees does she have? And can I have a copy of their employee files, that's not protected by HIPAA."

Victoria rubs her palms up and down her thighs before pushing herself to her feet, "I can give you that," she goes behind her desk and Jay follows, "including me, she employs five of us, one receptionist that's me, Michelle the cleaning lady and three therapists, -Dennis, Malik and Nina."

"I'll need a copy of each one," Jay waits patiently before providing her with his work email, and upon hearing his phone alert him, he pulls it out and checks the email, "I only see four attachments," he looks up to see the confusion on Victoria's face.

"Oh, I didn't send mine. I didn't think you'd need it."

"We need all of them. We have to rule each one of you out."

"I-I'm a suspect?" She's at a loss of breath.

"It's procedural, nothing more nothing less." He hears the ping of his phone and checks to see a follow-up email from Victoria, with this one including the attachment of her file. He looks up at her, watching as she flops into her desk chair, "thank you," he sees in his peripheral the entrance door swing open and who he assumes to be her parents rush in, faces pale and eyes desperately searching for her, "here's my card," he pulls it out of his back pocket, "if you think of anything, no matter how big or small, please give me a call. I'll be in touch if I have further questions."

Victoria takes his card moments before being swallowed up in her parents embrace. Jay steps away, knowing he should be going back outside to follow-up with his team, but he needed a moment. He walks down the hall, remembering the many times he's done so in the past to report for session, only this time feels like his last time. He slips into Milah's office, teeth biting down on his lip as he stares at the armchair, the one she sat in every time she hosted sessions. She's changed his life, he knows she changed many lives and for that, someone killed her. Jay clenches his fists together and sits down on the couch, feeling anger bubble up inside of him because to him she was a therapist, to many she was that, but she was a human, she had a life and a family outside of these walls and someone took her away from them. Jay shuts his eyes and leans back on the couch, trying to recall moments over a collective amount of sessions, seeking words from her that will help him get through this, but nothing comes to mind, all he can recall are things she said that helped him cut the ties with Abby, -if her absence brings you peace then you didn't lose her, and Abby's absence did just that, and no other person was able to help him see that until her.

"Halstead," the confusing tone of Voight's voice has his eyes springing open, "what are you doing? Get up. Hop up. Rise up right now. All of this is a potential crime scene, you know this."

"I-uh," Jay squabbles to his feet, clumsy and stumbling over his legs as he tries to be as quick as possible, "I-I'm uh sorry sir, forensics had already sweeped and cleared her office. I just needed a moment. I didn't touch anything. I just sat down."

On any other day, Voight would give him hell just for the heck of it. He's an ass, never claimed not to be and will not defend himself if called it, but Voight does pick and choose his battles and this one he didn't feel like fighting. He takes a step towards his detective and clasps his hand over his shoulder, "I'm not kicking you off the case, but I am sending you home."

"Sir-"

"I'm not kicking you off the case, but let us finish up here. Report back to the district bright and early tomorrow but today, we're working from here, and you being here is a distraction."

"I'm good to-"

"It wasn't a suggestion, Halstead. I'm sending you home. If we have any breaks in the case, we'll contact you, but there is nothing left here for you to do. We'll regroup with you tomorrow and we'll all share our findings. If at home, you think of anything that flagged you while you were a client here, bring it to us but other than that, go home, love on that grandbaby of mine," it's the first time that Jay can recall the baby ever being mentioned to him by his sergeant since she's been here, the first time she was referenced as a shared family member of the both of them.

"Yes sir," and he walks out, in a hypnotized-type trance, so unfocused that he doesn't recall leaving, getting home and being walked and settled on the couch.

Erin watched as the tap water slowly filled the glass, the ice cubes in the cup clinking around as the water caused it to swirl. She cut the water off when it was filled halfway before returning to the couch, setting the glass down on the coffee table before crouching down in front of him, hand settling on his knee as a silent way to extend comfort. He still seemed out of it, physically he's here but it's obvious that mentally he's somewhere else. He wasn't looking at her, he wouldn't look at her. Instead, he watches the ice slowly move around the glass.

"Jay, what's wrong?" Her voice was soft, almost like a mother talking to her child. Her hands rub up and down his thighs, soothing him with a comforting touch.

Jay's irises were glazed over by a coat of tears, breaking contact with the ice and averting them to hers, searching her eyes, scanning her face, for what Erin didn't know but she was patient and she waited, hoping that he would find what he was looking for so he could open up. He blinked, two tears simultaneously falling down his cheeks before another two fell, taking the same route as the first two. Though she desperately wanted to wipe them away, she knew he needed this.

She moved closer, her worried eyes assessing his body, scanning it for cuts, bruises, scratches or scrapes, but nothing was present, at least nothing visible to her eyesight.

"Are you hurt?"

He shakes his head to assure her of the concern evident across her face before he clears his throat and speaks, "Where's the baby?"

"She's sleeping; she just went down for a nap a few minutes before you got here." She rises up, the slight ache in her knees reminding her that she isn't getting any younger so she settles next to him, leg folded beneath herself as she sits facing him, "What happened?" Her hand goes to the back of his head, massaging the hairs at the nape of his neck, "I want to help but you have to talk to me."

Jay swallows, pushing down a knot that seemingly just formed, "Milah…the case."

"Is everything okay?" She knows it isn't but she needs more information than he's giving.

He's quiet. He doesn't have to say a word because his silence is now speaking volumes and Erin immediately understands. She gasps, covering her mouth in surprise while her other hand pauses at the back of his neck, the circular motion of massaging his scalp long forgotten. Seeing the reaction on her face, the shock, the sadness for him, gives him a boost of energy he needs to speak, "She was um…she uh," he tries, and he struggles, "she was killed. Her receptionist found her body this morning," and before she could ask any follow-up questions, he answered, "no suspects right now. We're taking the case, Voight just sent me home because I was familiar with the crime scene and he could tell it was getting to me. I will go back tomorrow."

Erin frowns, reading his expression, picking up on what's not being said, "...but you want to go back right now," it's not a question, but a simple observation, "Hank will just send you home again, just stay here, and then go in with fresh eyes tomorrow."

Just as he was about to agree, his phone vibrated and he checked the message, "Uh, change of plans, I'm going to head into the district. The team is heading there now and they think they have something," he holds up his phone to show her, "Ruzek just text me." He gets up.

"You should reach out to my dad."

"Why?" It comes out a bit snappy but she doesn't take it personal, "I'm going regardless."

"Okay," she rises to her feet, "let me grab my keys."

"Why?"

"You're in no state to drive right now."

"Erin, I'm not going to have you disturb Emma just to drive me to work when I'm perfectly capable of taking myself."

"I don't care. Emma will be fine. She'll sleep the whole time."

"Erin-"

"I'll drive you, please –please don't go like this." She begs.

And the look on her face, the plea in her eyes, rips the opposition from his lungs. He bows his head, and nods, giving in.