I'm sorry that I made everyone believe that Bad Timing was done…here is a 3-page-long epilogue! Yay!

Please let me know what your thoughts are on a sequel! I will probably start it up within the next couple of months.

I feel so sad as I write the final chapter of Bad Timing, but I want to thank all my readers and reviewers for their ongoing support! Thank you so much for all your kind words!

Epilogue

Six Years Later

"Where's Mommy?" asked a very hyper Peter.

Jay, who was finishing off a peanut butter and jelly sandwich for Peter's lunch, replied slowly, "Mommy's in the shower."

"Is she coming with us to school?"

Jay turned around, put his face very close to his son's, and said, "I don't think your mommy would ever want to miss your first day of Kindergarten."

"Yay!" the little boy squealed with delight. Jay quickly glanced at the clock on the oven and realized that Peter needed to finish getting ready for school. "Peter, you need to go brush your teeth now or we're going to be late."

"We can't leave without mommy!"

"We're not leaving without mommy," Erin replied as she entered the energy-filled kitchen. "Now go brush your teeth please. We don't want stinky breath, do we?"

"Okay, mommy," Peter replied in a more obedient tone, hopping down from his chair and running off to the bathroom. "Good morning," Jay said with a smirk as Erin gave him a hug and a kiss.

"Good morning," Erin replied in a slightly less joyful tone. "Coffee please," she blurted out.

"Hang on, hang on," Jay said, handing Erin her coffee with milk and sugar a few seconds after he stopped talking. After a sip, she said thank you and sat down at the kitchen table. "You've been productive."

"Yeah, that's what happens when he wakes up at 6am," Jay replied.

"Sorry, I was so exhausted from yesterday's work I just crashed out," Erin apologized.

"It's totally fine," Jay assured her, "Peter was about to wake you up but I ushered him out of the room so you could sleep a bit more."

"I really appreciate that," Erin replied, and with that, Peter came running back into the room, yelling, "When are we going, mommy?"

"I don't know…are we ready to go?"

"Yeah!" Peter screamed.

"Well, you're going to need your jacket, your backpack, and your lunch. Once you have all three, we can go."

"Okay, mommy!" Peter happily replied, running off to his room to get his backpack and jacket while Jay put Peter's lunch in his lunchbox. Five minutes later, Erin was sitting in the passenger seat of Jay's car as Jay drove his wife and son towards Cedar Grove Elementary School for Peter's first day of Kindergarten. While staring out the window, Erin couldn't believe it.

Their baby boy was nearly six years old.

Jay and Erin lost a lot of sleep during the first two years, since it took Peter till then to start sleeping through the night. Jay had gone back to work after two weeks because there were still bills to pay, and Erin rejoined the intelligence unit when Peter was six months old, leaving Peter in the care of either Matt and Gabby, Antonio and Laura, or Kelly and Shay.

The first years had been hard trying to manage everything, but things had gotten a little easier once Peter was old enough to go to daycare and preschool. Still, if somebody had told Erin seven years ago that she and Jay would become parents, she would have told them to kiss her ass. But now, she wouldn't change anything for the world. Jay turned out to be the love of her life, and Peter meant everything to her.

Jay and Erin had gotten married five months after Peter was born, so they had enough time to go on their honeymoon before Erin returned to work. That said, it was a honeymoon with a five month old baby. So, it was a honeymoon with very little sleep.

Erin, Gabby, and Leslie were all still best buds, even though Erin had Peter, Gabby now had two daughters, and Shay had adopted a baby boy. They had certainly all baby-sitted each other's kids on multiple occasions, and Erin was so grateful that they had taken care of Peter when he wasn't in daycare or she and/or Jay were at work.

And, by some miracle, Voight had come round since meeting Peter for the first time in the hospital, and allowed Erin and Jay to remain partners in the Intelligence Unit. Olinsky was still around to give Ruzek a hard time, especially since he and Burgess were now married. Antonio and Atwater had hit it off, giving the former guy an official partner for the first time since Jules' death. And, naturally, Voight still chose to fly solo as the Sergeant.

While stopped at a red light, Jay looked over at Erin and saw her staring off into space. He nudged her shoulder and she immediately came back 'down to Earth.' "What?" she asked.

"You okay? You looked like you were stargazing."

"Oh, please," Erin replied, "I was just thinking about all that's happened since Peter was born and how far we've come."

Jay said, "Yeah," as many memories from the past six years came flooding back into his mind. He smiled to himself as he remembered the first time he held Peter in the hospital and how happy he had been in that moment. Antonio had been right: becoming a parent had changed both Erin and Jay.

The three Halsteads exchanged more conversation as Jay parked the car in the school parking lot. They were right on time: the buses were starting to pull in and kids of ages ranging from 5 to 12 were saying goodbye to parents and running off to their friends and their new classrooms. Erin and Jay walked with a very giddy Peter to where the Kindergarten line up area was, and Erin said, "Alright, Peter. You be a good boy on your first day for mommy, okay?"

"Okay, mommy," Peter replied. "I love you."

"I love you too," Erin replied, leaning down to give her son a tight hug. She felt tears coming to her eyes as she released her son, who immediately jumped into the arms of his father, said goodbye, and walked over to the wall outside his classroom. Erin waved goodbye as Jay led her away and back to the car. Once they reached the trunk, Erin wrapped her arms around Jay and let her tears fall on his jacket. "Erin…" he began.

"Sorry," Erin said, quickly pulling herself together, "I just…I can't protect him anymore. And I can't believe our baby boy is starting school today."

"I know, me neither," Jay admitted, trying to comfort his wife. He embraced her in a long, comforting hug, and as he lifted his head up slightly he saw a woman in her thirties saying goodbye to a young girl who looked to be about nine or ten. His gaze was fixed on the woman as Erin pulled away from the hug and said, "Jay? What's wrong?"

"I don't know," was all Jay could say before he started walking closer to the woman. Her daughter had gone off to her new classroom, but her back was still turned to Jay. But when she turned around so he could see her face, he was overcome with an infinite number of emotions that he had stored away nineteen years ago. He never thought he'd seen that woman again.

Erin, who was still very confused, followed Jay to the edge of the small crosswalk across the drop off line. She was about to ask who on earth Jay was looking at when she saw a woman who looked a few years older than her and Jay with colored brown hair and trendy sunglasses. What? Who is that?

"Jay?" was all Erin could get out of her mouth as she stood next to him.

From across the small crosswalk, Jay made eye contact with the woman and couldn't help but ask.

"Elise?"