97. Written In The Stars

I know, I know, it's been forever and I'm sorry for the long wait. As you might know, I got distracted with what was supposed to be a one-shot but turned into a 2-chapter thing that might get a third part in the near future, so I neglected this story for a minute. But here's finally a new chapter for you! :-)

97. Written In The Stars

″So guys, about this soccer tournament...″ Erin caught Jay saying when she stepped from the break room into the bullpen, carrying two mugs with freshly brewed and deliciously smelling coffee in her hands as she made her way to her husband's desk. It was Wednesday morning, the third day of October, and over the last couple of days, fall has started to invade the city and bless them with its appearance. The fact that there was another long and cold winter just around the corner wasn't exactly what they all looked forward to as it somehow seemed like the previous winter had literally just ended a second ago. But here they were again, another year rapidly coming to an end and the next summer a lifetime away because compared to summers, winters were seriously that long.

″What soccer tournament?″ Erin picked up on the conversation with a frown and placed one of the mugs on her husband's desk before she occupied the edge of said desk.

″Well Linds, that's what happens when you leave earlier than us all the time,″ Kevin teased her, chuckling softly.

″Jealous much, huh?″ Erin smirked, raising her eyebrow at her younger colleague and taking a sip from the beloved black liquid that swirled in her mug.

″Never,″ he laughed. ″No one would want to leave this madhouse early, right?″

″Yeah right,″ she chuckled, shaking her head slightly. Easy mornings without a case or any paperwork they still had to fight with, when they could just goof around were simply the best. ″So what did I miss regarding a soccer tournament?″ she asked again, directing her question at her husband this time.

The curiosity in her eyes was all kinds of adorable and let a huge smile spread across his face. ″51 had the idea of organizing a soccer tournament in around three weeks. Two other fire stations participate as well and they asked us yesterday afternoon whether we would want to take part, too,″ Jay explained.

″But with Mouse, Jay, Adam, Kevin and me, our 21st district team is at least two members short,″ Antonio said. ″So we might not be able to compete.″

″What about you, Al?″ Erin asked her colleague, who was hiding behind his desk and eating a banana or any other fruit, just like he somehow always did.

″I'll be the coach. The one for the tactics,″ he mumbled.

″Well, you could be the coach in one second and go undercover as player in the next,″ Erin laughed. Alvin Olinsky was without a doubt the best undercover cop she's met in her career and they all learned from him on a daily basis, so he could definitely even switch his roles during a soccer tournament without that anyone would notice.

″True, O, you could do that,″ Adam agreed.

″Over my dead body,″ he grumbled and made them all laugh even more.

″Okay, I guess that's that,″ Erin chuckled. ″What about Hank?″ she asked Jay since Hank wasn't around so she could ask him herself.

″He volunteered to be the referee...″ Jay said, his eyes giving away that he didn't actually think this was the greatest of ideas but probably still a better one than Hank being an active player. ″Together with Mouch.″

″Mouch and Hank as referees?″ Erin frowned and couldn't hold back a little laughter as her head pictured these two in referee dresses. ″Do they even know the rules?″

″I doubt it,″ Jay laughed. ″But that's the fun, right?″

″Well, I bet that will be interesting,″ Erin laughed as well.

″Not exactly sure whether any of them can be neutral,″ Jay chuckled.

″Never,″ Adam murmured.

″Most likely not,″ Erin agreed, taking another sip from her coffee. ″So who plays for 51 then?″

″Casey, Severide, Cruz, Capp, Otis, Hermann and Boden. So they're seven and we need at least seven to be allowed to compete,″ Jay answered as a sudden idea hit him like a lightning hit a tree during a thunderstorm. ″Hey! We could probably ask my brother and Rhodes or Choi whether they want to play for our team.″

″That's a brilliant idea, buddy!″ Adam cheered, giving Jay an appreciative pat on the back.

″Our team would also be notably younger than team 51...″ Mouse concluded with a smug smirk on his face.

″They wouldn't have a chance against us,″ Kevin agreed and it was obvious how all of them suddenly dreamed about lifting that trophy in the end without that any of them has ever really played soccer.

″Uhm hellooooo?″ Erin waved, interrupting all the guys's daydreams about earning all the glory and bringing them back to reality. ″You want to have a 21st district team and ask two doctors from Med?! Is this a macho thing and you forgot to ask me and Kim on purpose?″

″Not exactly...we thought you could be our water carriers,″ Adam smirked mischievously. ″Because you two wouldn't want to play soccer with and against a horde of wild, sweaty men.″

″Okay, so this is a macho thing actually,″ Erin concluded casually. ″Or maybe you're just scared that two women would weaken your team...″

″No. No, that's totally not it,″ Jay said instantly though not exactly in a convincing manner. ″We didn't think you two want to play because...men can be pretty brutal when they want to win a trophy.″

″Aww, this is so noble,″ she said in the sweetest possible tone, knowing very well that the real reason was the one she'd just put into words. ″But you know what, babe? Women can be, too. And while a couple of minutes ago I would've said: every team needs their queens, I now say: there's nothing better than a team full of queens.″

″What does that mean?″ Adam frowned, as always being a little slow on the uptake while Jay already knew what his wife was currently thinking about.

″The competition is on,″ Erin smirked innocently yet again as she walked to her desk and plopped into her chair. ″That's what this means.″

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxX

With Emilia on her hip and Crispin by her feet, Erin was waiting in front of Luke's kindergarten on the following day, a fresh breeze indicating that fall has definitely taken over and that summer would not come back anytime soon. She gazed around, noticing that some leaves were already beginning to change into the fiery reds and oranges of the season. Fall definitely was a beautiful time. If only it wouldn't be the first clear indicator that winter was not that far away anymore.

″Hey Em, look,″ Erin said as her eyes spotted a squirrel scurrying about gathering nuts to prepare for the cold winter days that loomed ahead. ″Can you see the squirrel over there?″ she asked and pointed to the little animal that was running over the grass.

″Yaah,″ Emilia answered and got adorably excited about the squirrel, making it clear that she didn't want to be carried any longer as she squirmed in Erin's arm.

″You wanna take a look and see how close you can get?″ Erin asked and let her down on the ground and of course the 20 month-old immediately took off to run after the squirrel.

It didn't even take a minute and the little thing was climbing up the tree in literal lightspeed to get to a safe place, leaving a pretty stunned Emilia in front of the tree, her eyes trying to follow the fast movement of the squirrel as it disappeared on the other side of the trunk.

″Well Emmy,″ Erin laughed and knelt down behind her daughter. ″I guess it was a little scared because you're so much bigger,″ she said. ″Do you still see it? It's up there on the branch now.″

″Me up,″ Emilia said and pointed to the branch were the squirrel was resting now.

″Naah sweetheart, you can't get up there,″ Erin chuckled, sensing that one day Emilia would be exactly this kind of tree-climbing girl that followed squirrels into the trees. ″Look, it's moving again,″ she said as the squirrel jumped to the branch of the next tree.

″Ooooh,″ Emilia said all fascinated.

″That was cool, wasn't it?″ Erin grinned and pressed a kiss on Emmy's cheek.

″Yaah,″ Emmy nodded eagerly but within a second her attention changed from the squirrel up in the tree to the leaves that have already fallen onto the ground and all the little rocks that were spread around in the grass and she started to pick them up, analyze them and throw them away again in case she didn't like them while keeping the ones she considered nice.

″Erin!″ Luke's excited voice appeared in the distance while she helped Emmy to find the most beautiful leaves – though the toddler didn't really care whether they were beautiful – she definitely chose her's by different criteria.

″Hey Luke!″ Erin waved back and the almost 6-year-old took off to run into her direction, Erin catching him and swirling him through the air shortly.

″How was kindergarten?″ she asked once he was back down on the ground.

″Great! We started to make kites and mine is soooooooo big,″ he beamed, showing her the size with the help of his arms.

″That sounds amazing, bud,″ Erin smiled, running her hand through his messy blonde hair. ″We all have to go to the park together once it's finished.″

″Yaaah!″ he nodded eagerly. ″Where's mommy?″

″She has to work late tonight so you're going to stay with us.″

″That's coooooool,″ Luke smiled brightly. ″My fort is still there, right?″

″Of course it is,″ Erin laughed. ″We wouldn't dare to ruin this masterpiece.″

″Lu Lu,″ Emilia exclaimed, getting all excited when she finally spotted her foster-brother standing there with her mom, and she left all the leaves and the rocks behind in a heartbeat to say hi to him.

″Hey Emmy,″ Luke said as Emmy handed him one of the red leaves she was still carrying. ″Thank you, Emmy. You wanna look for some more leaves?″

″Me do,″ Emilia nodded eagerly and so Luke discarded his backpack and took Emmy by her hand as they walked back to the big tree that was surrounded by lots of colorful foliage.

Watching these two from behind, hand-in-hand, was a picture that melted Erin's heart because this incredible bond they shared was one of the most beautiful things she's ever seen. They were like siblings. Have been for a year now. Big brother and little sister. Maybe not by blood. But blood didn't determine family and these two were the best proof for that. Just like Erin and Hank were as well. And she was beyond thankful that regardless Luke living with Rylie now, he was still a part of their life, which gave Emmy the chance to grow up with the boy she would one day definitely consider her brother.

They actually ended up spending almost another hour in front of Luke's school building, collecting stones and leaves and playing with Crispin, for whom they always had a ball in the car. Erin was glad that she'd been able to go grocery shopping and do at least all the housework that urgently needed to be done in the morning already as it allowed her to just let the kids do what they wanted to do and didn't have to put them into the car to drive to the next supermarket so they wouldn't end up having to order take-out because their fridge at home was empty.

By the time they returned home they still had enough time left for some more fun before dinner – thanks to Erin precooking earlier – and so she put both kids in their oldest clothes that were either already too small anyway or already had stains for eternity and together with lots of paper and a huge variety of finger paints, they settled in the grass in the backyard where it didn't matter if the paint got spread around everywhere because the next rain would wash it all off.

Not even ten minutes into this adventure, she was glad that she'd opted for the garden instead of their living room since both kids were covered in paint – yellow, blue, red, green, pink, purple and orange paint all over their hands, arms, faces, hair and clothes – and even Crispin didn't get away scot-free. Handprints in all colors were joined by footprints while other creative, indefinable masterpieces consisted of smearing all the colors into each other. Erin would probably have to throw the clothes into the garbage right away later and buy new finger paints for next time because with their generous use they used them all up, and in addition each kid and the dog would need a one-hour-bath to get clean again but nothing of this bothered her. Luke and Emilia, and Erin herself, all had a blast. And this was all that mattered.

″You know Emmy, there's still one spot in your face that could need a little bit of paint,″ Erin grinned and pressed her finger with green paint against the tip of Emmy's nose, which made her giggle heartily.

″Mama, too,″ Emilia said and reached for Erin's face to smear her colorful hand all over it.

″Yes Erin, you, too,″ Luke cheered and within the next second, he was tackling her to make sure that her clothes didn't make it back into the wardrobe as well.

This was how Jay found them a couple of seconds later. Erin lying in the grass, tackled by two kids who were lying on her and leaving the paint on their hands all over her, all three of them laughing joyfully and in a way that soon their stomachs would probably hurt from laughing as much. It was pure music to Jay's ears and watching the scenery in their backyard for a couple of seconds almost brought tears to his eyes because for so long he's feared to never see Erin like this again, truly blithe and undeniably happy and just enjoying life. And while he knew that what they'd gone through always had the potential to come up again – and definitely would, especially since 22 November was coming closer – he's never been more sure that everything was going to be fine. And after making it through this, they could make it through anything. No doubts given.

″You maybe need help with these two monsters?″ Jay called.

″Pleeeeeeease,″ Erin laughed, trying to catch her breath. ″Save me.″

″Okay,″ he smirked. ″Just give me a second.″ He pulled his phone out of the back pocket of his jeans to capture this moment on camera so they could put it into Emmy's photo album.

″You're not actually taking a photo?″ she chuckled, both, Emmy and Luke still having their hands in her face.

″Of course I am,″ Jay winked, taking a snapshot and putting his phone back into his pocket. ″Well kiddos, what's going on here?″ he asked and sat down next to them.

″Jay!″ Luke exclaimed, only now realizing that he was home, and within the next second, he was jumping onto him in an attempt to tackle him as well, Jay letting himself fall back into the grass theatrically.

″Daddy!″ Emilia smiled brightly and also let go of Erin to welcome her father home. Now both of the kids, that were covered in paint from head to toes, were lying on him.

And it was needless to say that neither Erin's nor Jay's clothes would ever see the bullpen again.

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxX

Erin generously left the task of bathing two kids and a dog to Jay, who didn't complain at all since bathing time was one of his favorite things although Luke and Emmy in one tub together always meant a flooded bathroom as a charming result, and after cleaning her face and with still having paint-splatters in her hair, she went to the zumba class that's become her favorite kind of workout. Though going for a run along the lakefront with Jay and Emmy in the stroller on a Saturday or Sunday wasn't too bad either.

So while Jay bathed two kids, read them a story, tucked them in, which was quite a handful today, bathed Crispin – who absolutely hated to get bathed – and then showered himself to wash all the paint off, Erin enjoyed an evening without any parental duties at Antonio's gym, blowing off some steam after a full day of just being a housewife. And although today the kids had been fairly easy and none of them had brought her close to losing it – which honestly happened sometimes because parenting wasn't always easy and sometimes brought her patience to its limits especially since Emmy always seemed to be an angel when Jay was around and only threw her tantrums when Erin was the one taking care of her – she couldn't deny how much she enjoyed these two hours a week that she could spend with doing something for herself.

″Sylvie, Gabby, did the guys ask you whether you want to take part in the soccer tournament?″ Erin asked when they were done with the class and only doing some stretching against sore muscles and to get their breathing back under control, all their cheeks flushed, their hair messy and sweat covering their foreheads.

″Nope, not really,″ Sylvie shrugged. ″They have enough players and kind of made this a guys-only thing.″

″Doesn't that botter you?″

″Of course it does but it's not like I tell them I want to play only to embarrass myself then,″ she laughed slightly.

″See, our guys didn't even consider asking Kim and me because they're afraid we'll weaken the team. They rather asked Will and Rhodes and Choi instead,″ Erin explained, inwardly still slightly fuming about this circumstance. ″So I was thinking we could make a women only team and show them that we're way better than they think,″ she added meaningfully, looking expectantly at all the women in their little group, which happened to be Sylvie, Gabby, Trudy, Rylie, Kim, Maggie and Sarah.

″Erin, let's be honest here. No matter that we're maybe bugged because they didn't ask us and that for the fun we would've wanted to play with them, none of us has ever played soccer, so this will never work,″ Gabby mentioned.

″It doesn't matter whether it will work or not,″ Erin retorted. ″Because the point is that they didn't ask us on purpose and I don't think we should just simply accept that without a fight. That's not who we are. We don't usually accept stuff like that.″

″We can't possibly play soccer against teams of strong, trained men. They're pretty good,″ Kim said.

″Oh Kim, since when are you someone who gives up without a fight?″ Trudy asked, raising her eyebrows at her patrol officer. ″You girls can be pretty good, too. You just need the right coach.″

″Yeah, and who should that be?″ Kim asked, raising her eyebrows as well.

″How about a multiple highschool and college women soccer champion?″ Trudy asked back casually.

″So you know someone who could make us ready to compete?″ Rylie frowned.

″I am that someone, kiddo,″ she answered, rolling her eyes dramatically.

″You are a multiple soccer champion?″ Erin asked in disbelief. ″Damn, and I thought I had you figured all out. But you're full of surprises,″ she added with a sweet wink.

″That's the secret, Erin,″ Trudy said deadpan. ″Never give away everything about you.″

″Will keep that in my mind,″ she smirked back. ″So now as we apparently have a coach, what do you think?″ she asked all the other women. ″And remember, most of all it's just for the fun.″

″I'm in,″ Rylie and Kim answered simultaneously and within the next couple of seconds, Maggie, Sylvie, Gabby and Sarah were sold on the idea as well and agreed.

″Well perfect,″ Trudy nodded appreciatively, a smug smirk forming in the corners of her mouth. ″First training will be Sunday morning at 8.″

″Uhm excuse me, did you just say Sunday morning at 8?!″ Kim exclaimed, her eyes widening in shock.

″Girls, as your coach, my reputation is on the line and I will sure as hell not embarrass myself. And since I know you all have the stamina of 70-year-olds there's a lot of work to do. So yeah, Sunday morning at 8 and not a minute later. And you better have nothing else planned that morning because we won't be done after an hour already.″

″We should probably do this without a coach,″ Sylvie muttered under her breath but still loud enough for Trudy to catch it.

″Yeah, great, go and try that,″ Trudy said in typical Platt-manner. ″Just watching without being involved gives me a reason to laugh. While watching you as a trainer probably gives me all the reasons to cry.″

″Well Trudy, we really appreciate you coaching us and we're sure you'll make us ready to compete in the short time we have,″ Erin said, adding with a laughter: ″But someone else should probably do the motivation speech before the game.″

Even Trudy Platt had to agree that this probably wasn't the worst idea.

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxX

″What the hell?″ Jay murmured with a voice thick of sleep when Erin's alarm ended his night unexpectedly at 7am on Sunday morning. He was used to his phone interrupting his sleep on a Saturday or Sunday morning, or to Emmy deciding to end her night extremely early, but an alarm clock on a Sunday was definitely something new. And not exactly something he was pleased about since he really cherished these few days a year when no kid or no case foiled their plans of sleeping in. Today could've been one of these days. Could have being the crucial words here.

Rolling over and forcing his tired eyes to open, he only caught a glimpse of his wife from behind as she was disappearing into the bathroom and since his curiosity about her reasons of getting up unusually early was bigger than his wish to just turn around again and keep on sleeping, he swung his legs over the edge of the bed after untangling them from the sheets and trudged to the ensuite bathroom, stepping in without knocking and finding Erin covering her breasts with one of her colorful sports bras that even matched her panties.

″What's going on?″ he yawned, leaning in the doorway and running his hand through his tousled hair.

″Nothing,″ she shrugged with a smirk.

″Nothing?″ Jay echoed. ″And for nothing you get up at 7am on a Sunday?″

″Seems like, huh?″ she chuckled innocently and pulled a shirt over her head.

″You're the worst,″ he laughed, shaking his head slightly. ″Will you be back for a late breakfast? I could make apple crisp pancakes.″

″I'll be lucky if I'm back for lunch,″ she laughed as well. ″But pancakes are always appreciated.″

″Well,″ he smirked and closed the gap between them, wrapping her arms around her from behind as soon as he was close enough. ″You'll get some. But only in exchange for revealing your plans,″ he snickered into her neck as he left a kiss there, his hot breath letting the best possible chills running down her spine.

″You're blackmailing me? Seriously?″ she raised her eyebrows.

″I know you'd do anything for my pancakes,″ Jay twinkled at her reflection in the mirror.

″No,″ she simply answered.

″Of course you would,″ he chuckled. ″Just imagine those golden, fluffy pancakes and the smell of cinnamon and apples-″

″Stop it,″ Erin said deadpan and turned around to cover his mouth with her hand.

It didn't take much effort to push her hand away though. ″And just imagine them with maple syrup and fresh fruits and how this smell and a fully set table could welcome you home.″

″Soccer training,″ she said somewhat teeth-gnashingly, her stomach deciding to answer his question. ″That's were I'm going. Now there better be a stack of pancakes waiting later.″

″Soccer training?″ Jay frowned. ″You're really pulling through with that?″

″Did you expect anything else?″ she asked sweetly, narrowing her eyes at him in mocked-offense.

″Nope, can't say I did,″ Jay grinned and pressed his lips against hers.

″Good,″ she murmured into his mouth before her tongue delved in to explore this familiar area.

Within the next second, Jay already had her lifted up by her thighs only to place her on the vanity and stand between her legs as they continued to make out like they hadn't just done that last night. The few pieces of fabric that covered their bodies were quickly discarded to the tiled bathroom floor and it didn't exactly come as a surprise that Erin didn't make it to soccer practise in time. But thanks to having a toddler, she could always make up some white lie no matter that Emmy had been the most innocent of all three of them this morning.

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxX

By the time she returned home, Erin felt like the walking dead and before this soccer training she hadn't known that the human body consisted of as many muscles and that all of them could hurt at the same time. Her appearance, how she almost fell into the kitchen, made Jay unvoluntarily laugh out loud and while serving her fresh pancakes that should help her to regain her strength, she told him how Platt had the next training session already scheduled for Tuesday evening and how she was right now not even sure that she would be able to walk then. Or move any other of her limbs within the next decade for that matter.

Once at least her stomach was full and satisfied, she went upstairs to take a long bath, those stairs that led to the upper level never having been a bigger obstacle, and after lying in the hot, healing water that smelled of herbals for what felt like hours, they all left the house together to attend some street festival that was going on in the neighborhood. With Emmy riding on his shoulders, one hand holding her leg and his other hand holding Erin's hand, they walked through the busy streets, a carousel, a bouncer castle and all kinds of activity stations with games making sure that the little ones and their parents were entertained for the whole afternoon.

Naturally, their wild child had a blast in the huge bouncer castle but she had just as much fun trying to fish plastic animals out of a kiddie pool with the help of some special fishing rod and her father or with trying to throw balls into a small basketball hoop with Erin's help. They shared cotton candy and fries, turned the wheel of fortune and won a set of cranyons and returned home with Emmy having her face painted like a cute kitten as the day, and the weekend with it, slowly came to an end.

Robert came over to their house only a couple of minutes after they'd returned from the street festival since Erin and Jay wanted to use the evening for some kind of date night so Jay would finally get his birthday gift. She'd told him that they would go out on a date and out of all the things Chicago offered, he could choose what he wanted to do. She had to admit that it was not exactly the most creative gift she's ever come up with but what else could you give someone who already had everything other than some precious time as a couple? Jay's definitely been excited about the idea and while Erin'd been sure he would want to go to a Hawks or Bulls or Bears game or probably even watching a Chicago Fire soccer game, and have dinner at the Purple Pig afterwards, he'd surprised her immensely when he'd suggested to go to the Planetarium to do some kind of nerdy stargazing, followed by walking along the lake before eventually heading to the West Loop for dinner in one of those amazing restaurants where they haven't been in ages.

″Is it okay that I'm afraid I will fall asleep in there?″ Erin chuckled as they waited in front of the Planetarium for the evening show to start.

″Oh, come on,″ Jay sighed dramatically.

″What?″ she smirked innocently. ″It's warm in there. And dark. Then there's this voice telling me something about the nightsky. And the fact that I'm hella tired from this soccer training thing makes this the worst out of all combinations.″

″Just do me a favor and don't snore, alright?″ he teased her. ″And do not drool on my shoulder.″

″Hey,″ Erin exclaimed and punched his upper arm with her fist. ″I don't snore and I don't drool.″

″How do you know?″ he winked cockily, a dorky grin on his lips.

″I just do,″ she shrugged, giving him the sweetest smile back.

″If only you knew...″ Jay chuckled, which earned him yet another directed punch. But for their banter being on point like this, he would take any punch.

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxX

Surprisingly, Erin didn't fall asleep while the monotone voice of the speaker told the visitors about the magic of their universe, constellations, special stars and how lunar eclipses happened. They even learned more about what happened when the aurora borealis appeared in northern countries and this part also had Erin interested because thinking back to witnessing this spectacle a couple of weeks ago still gave her the chills and she would for sure never forget the beauty of seeing the northern lights dance on the dark sky since it was a memory for eternity.

After one hour of gazing up to a faked sky and listening to all the things they were told, they found themselves walking under the real nightsky as they strolled along the lakefront, their hands intertwined, until they found some bench where they settled for a couple of minutes, Jay still being as excited as a kid on Christmas morning and talking about nothing but all the fascinating this he'd learned at the planetarium today.

″Isn't it amazing to think about how huge our universe is and how it all just somehow works?″ he asked, gazing up to the stars, the waves of Lake Michigan crashing against the seawall.

″Yeah, it is,″ Erin agreed and snuggled her head against his shoulder so she could gaze up to the stars more comfortably. ″Do you think it's all written in the stars? Your life, my life, our together life, our fates? The good and the bad things?″

″I don't know,″ Jay answered honestly after a moment of consideration. ″Maybe, yeah. Maybe everything is exactly meant to be that way because it's all written in the stars.″

″So after everything that happened you still think everything happens for a reason?″ she asked quietly, her gaze still focused on the stars but Jay didn't need to see her face to know what she was talking about: the one thing they would never be able to leave completely behind.

″I think I do, yeah,″ he admitted. ″Because after everything bad that's happened in my life so far, eventually something good came out of it. Sometimes even something life-changing. Like without my dad being this kind of asshole when I was young, which pushed me to join the Army because I wanted to prove something, I would most likely never have ended up at the CPD. Which means I would never have met you.″

″You would've met someone else,″ Erin shrugged in response. ″And anyway, what about all the people being taken away from us? Like Myles or your mom or Camille or Nadia or...our baby? You wanna tell me that there's a reason for that?″

″I struggle to find those reasons,″ he answered quietly and squeezed her hand. ″I try to tell myself that some things aren't meant to be. Not everyone is meant to live a long life. And not every baby is meant to make it earthside. Things happen that aren't in our control, good and bad. But as long as the good things outweigh, it's a deal I can live with. And as long as I have you, as long as you're there, the good things will always prevail.″

At this, she turned her head to him, unshed tears sparkling in her eyes. ″You know that I love you more than I will ever be able to put into words, right?″

″Yeah,″ he nodded. ″And I love you, too.″

He leaned in to kiss her lips softly, his thumb brushing over her cheek, before they fell back into silence as they kept on stargazing, their minds occupied with the words that they'd just shared and it was over five minutes later when Erin's voice returned.

″It starts to hurt less,″ she whispered. ″Thinking about the baby and about what happened. It's getting easier. But I still feel like my heart is incomplete, like there's something missing.″

″Mine, too,″ Jay said, his voice low and raw as well. ″There's a piece of us missing and our hearts will forever ache for this missing piece. And that's okay because if they didn't I would be afraid to forget...and this wouldn't be fair because this baby is a part of our family and holds a special place in our hearts. And this place is the piece that is missing.″

A faint but sad smile appeared on her lips. ″I like that thought,″ she said, adding with a sigh. ″I'm sorry for ruining this moment...our date night...″

″Hey,″ Jay said instantly, grabbing her chin to make her look at him. ″Don't ever apologize for sharing your feelings and emotions with me. Because it's not a bad thing.″

″Okay,″ she nodded, her smile growing a little when she heard his stomach rumbling. ″We should probably go back to the car and drive to the West Loop.″

″You sure you feel up for that?″ Jay asked with such a genuine concern on his face that showed all his love for her.

″I am,″ she answered, laughing a little when she casually added: ″I'm always up for food.″

″Are you?″ Jay grinned. ″Well what a coincidence, I am, too.″

″Really?″ she played along with him. ″I guess we are a match made in heaven then.″

″Yup,″ he nodded as he got up from the bench and pulled her up only to wrap his arms around her as soon as she was standing. ″A match that has sure as hell been written in the stars,″ he grinned and kissed her perfect lips once again.

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxX

One week later

It was a quite windy Saturday when the Halstead family made a trip to one of Chicago's beaches to enjoy some family time after a week full of soccer training, busts, tough and dangerous cases and Jay working overtime almost every single night. The chilly breeze was ideal to let their new kite fly next to Lake Michigan but the dark clouds on the sky let them know that they would probably have to end their little adventure abruptly because the heavy rainfall showing up and turning the world around them wet was just a matter of time.

Emilia, dressed in jeans, little Nike shoes, a hoodie and a thick vest with fake fur on the hood, her light brown hair, that was up in a high ponytail, swaying in the wind with some strands falling into her face, had the best time holding the kite together with her dad or riding on Jay's shoulders while he was in charge of the kite, Erin being the one to take some adorable and perfect new photos for their family album. A couple of times, Jay ran along the beach while Emilia stayed back with Erin, who knelt down behind the little girl as they watched the kite swirl through the air, Crispin chasing after it in a rigid way to catch the thing that was high up in the air.

″We haven't really decided on Australia yet,″ Jay mentioned when they later sat on one of the steps that led from the lakefront trail to the beach, Emmy and Crispin playing in the sand right in front of them. ″And it's not even two more weeks until we are supposed to be on a plane.″

″I know,″ Erin sighed. ″They were at our wedding and came all the way from Australia, so we have to go to theirs. And I really want to go because I'm so looking forward to see them again. But I hate the idea of leaving Emmy here again.″

″We could take her with us,″ Jay suggested, watching Emilia filling sand into different buckets with a shovel all concentrated.

″I'm really not sold on the idea of being stuck on a plane with her for over 20 hours,″ she said. ″We know her. She can be an absolute angel when she can explore everything and walk around but when she can't she can be a total nightmare. She isn't one for sitting still. So we would have to walk through the plane with her all the time because otherwise she would scream bloody murder and I seriously don't want to put us through this. Or anyone else on that plane for that matter.″

″Nick and Lydia take Mylo and Hannah there as well. They have two, so we should be able to handle one,″ he mentioned.

″Yeah, they take them there because they're going to stay for three weeks. Our trip will be five days long all in all and that's already crazy enough.″ Since they had only recently been in Iceland they couldn't take two weeks off again to make this some kind of family vacation like they'd planned all those months back when they'd first learned about Paul's and Izzie's wedding. So they would leave Chicago on Thursday morning, fly for twenty damn hours, which meant they would only be in Sydney on Saturday morning due to the huge time difference, then had Saturday to relax and Sunday the wedding would take place on some beach outside of Sydney. Since their flight home would only leave Monday night, they had time to explore Sydney during the day, the time difference this time working in their favor as they would be home when it was Monday evening in Chicago. Most likely the craziest trip they would ever be on and absolutely not worth it to put Emilia through so much stress just to attend some wedding that was nothing but boring for the girl that would turn two in three months.

″So that's the decision right there,″ Jay winked. ″Just the two of us. And we might have Will third-wheeling,″ he added with a laugh. Since Natalie was almost six months pregnant, she didn't want to fly for 20 hours, so Will had to go there without his significant other.

″Awesome,″ Erin chuckled slightly but Jay could see that something was still bothering her.

″What's wrong?″ he asked, taking her hand in his.

″It's like someone else is taking care of her all the time because we're too busy for our own child. And it makes me feel like I'm the worst mother.″

″Er, you don't have to come with me if you don't want to,″ Jay said softly. ″Will and I can go alone, messing things up a little as the two crazy cousins,″ he smirked.

″No, I want to go. Izzy and I have been texting quite a bit about everything wedding related and I now can't bring myself to tell her that I won't come. She's so excited that we're coming all the way from Chicago and Susan even included me in planning some games. It's her wedding day, it's supposed to be the best and most memorable day of her life and it will only be when we're all a part of that,″ Erin explained, adding with a sigh. ″Damn, why do they have to live on the other side of the world? Couldn't she fall in love with someone from Canada? I swear to God, Emmy, if you ever decide to date someone who's from a different continent, you're going to be in huge trouble,″ she laughed.

″Me?″ Emmy looked up with her innocent blue eyes by Erin mentioning her name.

″Don't listen to your mommy, Em,″ Jay said. ″Because you'll already be in trouble if you ever decide to date someone at all.″

″Jay,″ Erin laughed, giving him a shove in the side with her elbow.

″What?″ he smirked innocently. ″Just teaching her the rules early on so she knows the drill and will never get any bad ideas.″

″Yeah, I'm pretty sure that will work perfectly,″ she chuckled, deciding to tease him a little further because she knew how much he hated the idea of sometime not being Emmy's hero anymore. ″You know, maybe her future is written in the stars already,″ she winked innocently, referring to their conversation the other day just with the difference that the mood was lighter today. ″So there's nothing you can do about that...″

″You really enjoy that, don't you?″ he grimaced.

She pressed her lips against his to give him a lingering kiss and whispered: ″A lot.″

″Mama come,″ Emilia interrupted their little moment and when they ended their kiss and opened their eyes, they found Emmy standing right in front of them as she watched her parents with curious eyes.

″Where do you wanna go, bug?″ Erin asked.

″Wata,″ Emmy answered. ″Mama pwease.″

″There you go,″ Erin smiled proudly and took Emilia her hand to walk towards the water with her and this time it was Jay who stayed back to take photos and just watch them having fun, Crispin staying by his feet to get some pets.

He could hear their laughters from his spot and even see the smiles on their faces as they played with the soft waves, always running away from them hand-in-hand when they came too close to their feet and threatened to soak through the fabric of their shoes. Jay and Crispin joined them a couple of minutes later, their loyal dog of course not holding back from jumping through the water. And just when they'd thought they survived this little adventure without anyone getting all wet or Emilia falling into the shallow water of the lake, heaven opened up its gates to ensure that none of them stayed dry. But instead of complaining about it, they laughed about it on the whole way back to the car because this was just so them and who knew, maybe this and all the things that were about to happen, have been written in the stars as well...

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