I know I told you guys that this was going to be a Linstead college AU and that's still kind of true, but once I started really thinking about it I decided to take it into a different direction. That said, it is still very AU and it is still very different than what I usually write. But nonetheless, I hope you guys enjoy it. Happy reading!

As usual, I apologize for any errors that I may have missed.

June 17, 2011

Erin POV

I'm happy. Happier than I think I've ever been. I did it. I really did it. Today is the first day of the rest of my life and it's perfect. It's warm, but not too hot as a smooth breeze rolls over the crowd, chirping birds filling the brief moments of silence.

I giggle nervously as I clutch the hand of my best friend Kat London as we stand next to the platform, waiting anxiously for them to call our names, navy blue gowns draping to our feet and our caps placed firmly atop our heads. It's a damn good things our last names are so close together, we met that way when our uptight professor sat us in alphabetical order on the first day of Psych. But thank God for him, we've been inseparable ever since.

"Erin Lindsay, graduating from the College of Education with a Bachelor of Science in Education with a minor in Psychology," I hear from the announcer on stage, Kat squeezes my hand before shrieking and clapping like a crazy person, the pride written all over her face as I ascend up the stairs to receive my diploma.

As I approach the podium, I hear the familiar voice screaming my name. It doesn't take very long for me to figure out who it is, the woman who has taken on the role of my mother, Camille Voight.

I glance out into the crowd to see and Hank, both clapping and screaming like crazy people, their son Justin next to them, clapping politely, though a smug look is drawn across his face. I don't care, not even he can ruin this day. On the other side of Camille, cheering just as loud is my boyfriend of almost four years, Jay Halstead. There is a smile as big as the world painted across his face. I told him that he didn't need to come, he had graduated last year and I felt bad about making him make the drive down from Chicago all the way to UIUC. But he said the same thing that Camille and Hank said, that he wouldn't miss it for the world.

And as they put that piece of paper into my hands and I shake Dean Evan's hand, I'm glad they're here. All of them.

"We did it Linds!" Kat shrieks as she throws her arms around me, her gown unzipped, showing the bright red dress beneath. "We are college graduates,"

"That we are," I say, not wanting to bring down Kat's level of excitement, but not quite ready to match it. It's been that way since day one. While neither of us are introverted by any means, but Kat was definitely louder. She was always the one dragging us out to parties and making sure that I didn't bury myself with studying, though I would have if she'd let me.

"Now I'm sad," She says with a joking frown, "we don't get to live together anymore,"

"Oh be quiet," I gently scold her for bringing down the mood, "It's not like we won't see each other, you're only going out to Barrington, it's not that far of a drive from Lake View,"

"I know, but it still means that I have to get in the car and drive before I can come steal your clothes," She says with a bit of a smirk, her green eyes shining.

"Oh that's what this is about," I say, a look of false hurt among my face.

"Oh yeah, did you think I was going to miss you?" She jokes.

"I'll be too busy wrangling six year olds to miss you Kat," I tell her. I'd done my semester of student teaching with a third grade teacher and at that same school, one of their first grade teachers was retiring and I was lucky enough to be offered that job earlier this spring.

"Well, Maggie Daley Elementary's incoming first graders better brace themselves because Ms. Lindsay takes no prisoners." She says with a laugh.

"Oh yeah, such a hard ass," I joke. I don't even see her coming, but our banter is interrupted as Camille throws her arms around me, engulfing me in a very tight bear hug.

"You did it," She whispers in my ear, her graying blonde curls brushing against my face as I breathe in the familiar scent of her perfume. I've always loved how she smelled. I couldn't ever tell you what it was, but she smelled like home.

"I wouldn't have been able to do it without you," I say as she releases me from the hug, taking my face between her hands and peering through me with those bright blue eyes.

"I have a feeling that you would have figured something out," She says with a smile. She and Hank, they've been the only people my entire life to have complete and blind faith in me. It's been that way for the last seven years, since the day they took me in when I was fifteen. She thinks that I could have gotten here on my own, but I know that I'd probably be cold and dead in the ground if it wasn't for them. No not probably, definitely. They saved my life, I have no doubt about it.

"Just, thank you," I tell her honestly.

"No need baby girl," She says before almost passing me off to Hank.

"Congrats kid," He says with a smile, the pride almost radiating off of him. I know that he won't do anything close to what Camille just did, it's not how he does things, but I know he's just as proud of me.

"Thanks Hank," I saw with a grin. All I've ever wanted to do is make him proud and today I think I've done that.

"Okay pictures!" Camille interrupts. "Kat get in there,"

"Alright alright I'm coming," She says throwing her hands up in the air in defense. I smile over at her, looping my arm around her shoulders as she does the same, the smooth material of the gowns hot under the Illinois summer sun.

"Okay say cheese!" She exclaims over at us.

"Cheese!" We both say back to her, flashing huge toothy smiles as the camera flashes before us. My whole family adores Kat. She came from out of state and her parents actually live in Maine, so she couldn't always make it back home for break. But that was to my gain because usually, it meant that I got to bring her home with me. Very quickly, just as they had taken me in all those years ago, Kat was welcomed into the family with open arms. The same thing happened for Jay, although it did take a little bit longer. Hank was more than skeptical about any boy that I brought around. Especially one that was older than me.

"I'm going to go find my parents, you good?" She asks after Camille finishes her bombardment of pictures.

"Yeah, I'll meet you back at the apartment later okay?" I offer.

"Okay, love you," She says puckering her lips and shooting me a comical kiss, something we've been doing for years.

"Love you too," I say with a laugh as she walks off in search of her parents.

"Okay Justin, get in there with Erin," Camille says. I knew she was going to do this, take about a million photos. But I won't fight her on it. Today belongs to them as much as it does me. I notice Jay holding his distance, standing under one of the trees. I want to run over there and jump him, but I know that I have to do the whole thing with my family first. He'll have to wait. I give him a quick nod and I know that he understands. I mouth a quick apology to him, but he waves me off. He knows how important this is to all of them.

"Mom do I have to?" He whines. I know that he had a swim meet this weekend and I really would not have minded that much if he had gone to that, but Hank and Camille insisted. He was not happy about it.

"Yes Justin you do," She insists, her voice becoming increasingly stern as Justin stomps over to me.

"C'mere," I say with a wide grin, pulling him into my side in the hope to get at least one good photo with the boy who I'd taken on a sort of a little brother. He's a bit of a douche, but he's seventeen and I love him, although I can't stand him most days. We smile quickly and Jay comes over just as the flash goes off.

"Hey babe," I say, giving him a quick kiss, enough to satisfy both of us for now, but not enough to set off Hank.

"You did it," He tells me, that same grin from earlier not moving from his face. I open my mouth to respond, only to be interrupted by Hank.

"Halstead get your ass over here and make yourself useful," He barks. "I want at least one good photo of the entire family, you can steal Erin away later,"

"Yes sir," He responds, giving me a playful glance as Camille hands the camera over to him and Hank and Camille fall in line on either side of me, Justin pulled into Hank's side.

"Justin c'mon, give me at least one good smile," Jay asks as he focuses the camera, squinting in the sunlight. Justin scowls but Jay doesn't say anything else, just smiles over at me, so I guess he complied.

"Get in there," Camille says with a smile as she takes the camera back from Jay, "you're stupid if you thought you were getting out of here without a few photos,"

"I would expect nothing less Camille," He says with a smile as he takes their place, wrapping his arms around me and pulling me in close to his side. "You look damn good," he whispers in my ear, sending shock waves through my body as Camille snaps the photos.

"Let's head over to Big Grove," Hank intercepts, referring to my favorite restaurant in town. We'd come across it when Camille and Hank had brought me down here for the first time when we'd toured the campus and it's become an odd tradition. I don't think there's been a single time they came down to see me that was completed without a trip to the tavern.

"Can I ride with Jay?" I ask, for some reason feeling again like I'm sixteen and need to ask permission for everything.

"Go ahead baby," Camille tells me with a smile, "we'll find you when we get there okay?"

"Thanks," I say with a grin. "I'll see you there you okay,"

"Be safe," Hank warns.

"Always," Jay promises. He waits until they're gone before he grabs me and kisses me. For real this time, not a quick peck. A kiss. The kind of kiss that makes you forget that you're standing in a crowd of students and families. The kind of kiss that makes you think that you're the only two people in the world. He's been kissing me like that since the very start.

"You know how proud of you I am?" He asks, taking my hand as we walk back toward his car.

"I mean if it's the same way I felt last year when I watched you walk across that stage, then yeah. I might have a bit of an idea," I say with a smirk.

"Well all I know is that Erin Lindsay, she's got a college degree. And the world better watch out, because my girl is coming in hot,"

Jay POV

I can feel that ring burning a hole in my pants. I've had it there all day, waiting for the right moment to ask her. I'd talked to Camille and Hank about it a couple of weeks ago and they both had given me the go ahead.

I've known that I've wanted to marry Erin for some time now. A long time. I would have asked two years ago if I didn't think she'd freak out and run. But now, she's finally out of college and I feel like we're ready. Well I've been ready, but she is. At least I hope.

As I look over to the woman sitting next to him, singing along to a song on the radio without a care in the world. She's let her hair fall back to it's natural state, soft golden waves falling to just beneath her chin and her big hazel eyes filled with joy. Every time I see her, it reaffirms my belief that I want to spend the rest of my life with her, only her.

The dinner was nice, it was supposed to be about Erin, but the selfless girl that she it, she quickly steered the conversation to literally everyone else. She's never liked to talk about her, it's one of the things that drew me to her originally. A lot of the girls I had met always wanted to talk about themselves, but that was almost never the case with Erin.

"I'm going to run to the bathroom, I'll be back in a sec okay," I say, giving her a quick kiss on the cheek before excusing.

"Alright," She responds, scooting her chair away from me and allowing a route out. Erin's taken me here a few times, so I know where the bathroom is. There's a line starting from just within the door, which is unusual but not unexpected today. It seems like half the university is here with their friends and family.

I grab my phone out of my pocket, taking the time to check my email and make sure I don't have anything from work.

I feel the blood drain my face as I see the sender on the newest one. United States Army. I haven't heard from them since my last tour when I was nineteen years old. I take a deep breath and open it, knowing damn well what will be inside but hoping to dear God that I'm wrong.

I'm not.

I can't do this. Not now. The last time I was deployed, I had near nothing to lose. It was just me. My mom was dead, my dad was gone, and Will was in college. It was just me. But it's not just me this time. It's me and Erin.

I can't do this to her. Last time I became a Ranger and I loved my job. At least I thought I did. But day by day, it got uglier and the things we saw got exponentially worse. When I came back, I was a shell of my former self. It took me a long time to get back to who I was and I know that I won't ever really get back to who I used to be. I can't put her through that. And I know Erin, even if I were to come back and everything was fine, she would have spent every waking moment of those 18 months, worried sick that something had happened to me. She's a worrier and she cares harder than anybody I've ever met.

Worse than that, there is always the chance that I don't come back. I don't even want to think about that. It'll break her. I know it will. She's had a hard life and she's struggled with addiction among so many other things, she didn't hide that from me. I know that all of that was triggered by trauma. Deep and painful trauma. I can't be the one to do that to her again. I don't know what I'm going to do, but I have to do something.

"Hey what took you so long?" Erin asks as I sit back down to the table, making sure to keep my facial expression happy. I don't want to ruin this day for her. It's her day.

"There was a line at the bathroom," I explain, leaving out the entirety of the part about the Army. I smile over at her, placing my hand on the smooth skin of her knee.

"Well Hank paid the bill, so we can head out."

"Camille and I are going to take Justin back to the hotel," Hank tells me, "Would you mind dropping Erin off at the apartment?"

"I wouldn't mind at all," I say as I give her knee a squeeze, both of us knowing that I wouldn't just be dropping her off. Until I figured out what to do, I had to act like everything was completely normal. And for us, that's normal.

"Alright then, let's go," Camille says, grabbing her purse from beside her before the five of us quickly make our way out of the crowded restaurant.

"Hank," I say as we exit, the slight humidity hitting me with a rush. "Can I talk to you for a minute?"

"What's up?" He asks, quick to respond. Erin and Camille look at each other with a concerned look before Erin glances over at me.

"Don't worry, I'll be quick," I assure her as I toss her my keys, "I'll meet you in the car in a minute okay,"

"Okay," She says uneasily.

"You too Cami," Hank says as he does the same, "I'll be there in a minute," She gives him a quick nod before taking the keys and ushers Justin towards Erin.

"Okay what's going on?" Hank asks.

"I got an email from the Army today, during dinner. They're deploying me back to Afghanistan, I ship out in six days,"

"Okay," He says, running his thumb down the side of his jaw. "Have you talked to Erin?"

"No, I just found out maybe ten minutes ago. I wanted to talk to you first," I tell him. I can see the surprise on his face.

"I'm not your girlfriend Halstead," He tells me.

"I know, but you know her and I don't know what to do,"

"What do you mean you don't know what to do? You have to tell her," He demands.

"I don't want to," I say quietly.

"What the hell does that mean? Are you just going to disappear?" He asks. I can see his possible anger at me beginning to form. Erin is one of the most important people to him. He would run to the ends of the earth and throw himself off a cliff if it meant protecting that girl. That's something that we share. But when we butt heads, especially over Erin, it doesn't usually end well.

"I don't know. But the last thing I want to do is have her worrying for the next year and half that something has happened to me. Or for her to have to deal with my demons when I come back,"

"She should be able to make the choice for herself, you don't get to make it for her,"

"What if I don't come back?" I say. "Would if I die over there? We both know how she is, she's strong and stubborn as hell, she wouldn't ask anyone for help and it would break her,"

"So are you going to leave her? Is that what happening? Halstead two weeks ago, you were ready to propose to her," He says. I take a deep breath. I still would. I want to marry her, so badly. But this is a roadblock, one I'm not sure that we can make it past.

"Maybe,"

"Have you thought about that? You might not be dead, but you'd still be pulling the rug out from under her. What if that's the sledgehammer that forces her back to the way she used to be," That's when I had an idea. It was drastic and I knew that Hank wasn't going to like it. He wasn't going to like it at all.

"I'm going to tell her I cheated on her," I say abruptly.

"What?" I can see the fury blazing in his eyes.

"If I tell her that I cheated on her, she won't miss me. She'll hate me."

"Halstead…"

"Just listen to me, please. I would so much rather have her hating me for the rest of our lives, rather than have me be the reason that she shatters into a million pieces."

"I don't like it," He says plainly.

"I know, neither do I. but I don't know what else to do," I confess.

"You could just tell her," He offers.

"No," I tell him, a lump rising in the back of my throat. "When I was living on base, I saw what those wives went through. I don't want her going through that, ever."

"You really are doing this for her, aren't you?" He says, his gravely voice softening.

"Of course," I respond, slightly concerned that he was only now picking up on that. Had I not been clear enough that this was all for her?

"You're a good guy Halstead,"

"Thank you sir,"

"But I have to ask, why? Why are you willing to go through all of this?"

"That's easy, I love her. I love her more than I love life itself and I know that's it's going to hurt at first, it's going to hurt like hell. But in the end, she gets out and she's okay. That's all that matters," I tell him honestly, my heart breaking in my chest as the prospect of having to live without her becomes all the more real.

"That's all I needed to hear. I have your back,"

"Please don't tell Camille about any of this," I ask.

"I don't lie to my wife, but I won't bring it up," He tells me. I should have known that that was what he was going to say. But it's better than nothing.

"That's fair," I say. "But nothing to Erin. Please."

"Okay, I can do that," He concedes.

"Make sure that she's okay, please," I beg him. I may be leaving, but I still want eyes on Erin. I care about her, that won't chance.

"I'll watch out for her, don't worry about that. Just stay alive." He tells me.

"I'll try my best," I say as I shake his hand. "I better get back to Erin," I say. I know that I'll be feeling guilty about this all night, but I have to pretend that everything is normal until I figure out how to do this.

"Alright," He says I take off. "Halstead," He says, stopping me in my tracks.

"Yeah?" I answer, nervous as to what is going to come out of Hank Voight's mouth.

"If you ever need a job, get your ass to the 21st and we'll take care of you okay?" He promises me.

"Thank you sir," I say.

"Don't even mention it,"

I peer over at the beautiful girl lying down next to me, her eyelids covering those gorgeous hazel eyes. It hurts, bad, knowing that last night was the last night that I'd spend sleeping next to Erin Lindsay. She'll hate me by the time the falls asleep tonight.

I've been so worked up about this whole Erin thing that I haven't even had time to worry about the fact that I'm shipping out again. And I notice Erin's eyes opening up, so I won't be worrying about it right now either.

"Hey babe," She says, her already raspy voice thick with sleep. "How'd you sleep?"

"Pretty damn well," I lie, careful to keep her mood up. If we're being honest, I barely slept a wink.

"Good I'm glad," She says. "I mean I think I did a pretty good tiring you out,"

"Well that you did do," I say with a seductive grin. "But you do have brunch with Camille, Hank and Justin in like thirty minutes,"

"Crap really!" She exclaims jumping out of bed, grabbing a flannel from the floor and wrapping it around her naked body.

"Yeah sorry, I guess we overslept. But it's 10:02 and you told them 10:30,"

"Shit, shit, shit shit," She exclaims as she runs through her bedroom,grabbing last night's bra from off the floor. "Where the hell is that dress?"

"The light blue button up one?" I tease, seeing it hanging in the closet, probably right where she left it.

"Yes!" She yells.

"It's right there babe." I tell her with a laugh.

"Don't make fun of me, I'm late!" She exclaims back me, pulling the dress of the hanger and slipping it over her head.

"You'll be fine," I assure her. "Erin you're never late,"

"Well we're getting pretty damn close," She says back to me as she pulls up a pair of underwear and grabs a pair of tan sandals from the floor.

"You'll be fine," I say singsongy in my attempt to change her mind.

"How's my hair?" She asks, completely ignoring my statement.

"It looks fine," I tell her as I pull on a pair of boxers.

"You would say that either way," She claims.

"You're right, but really it looks fine," I assure her with a laugh.

"I don't believe you," She says back to me as she runs a hairbrush through her hair. "Okay I'm going to do my makeup at stoplights and in the parking lot and then I should be okay,"

"You'd look fine without it," I tell her with a grin.

"Shut up," She says teasingly as she grabs a bag from a hook on the wall. "Are you good here? I want to spend some time with them, so I should be back around noon? Maybe 12:30?"

"Yeah it's fine," I tell her as she runs into the bathroom to brush her teeth, though internally knowing that I have have an hour and a half maybe two to figure out what the hell I'm going to do. She doesn't do a very good job, because less than thirty seconds later she's running back into the bedroom to grab her phone.

"Hey," I stop her before she runs out the door. "C'mere,"

"Jay I'm going to be late," She whines, though complaining as she comes over to me. I plant a kiss on those perfect perfect lips as I look into her eyes.

"I love you," I tell her, those words holding more meaning than usual, though she doesn't know that.

"Okay, I love you too," She says, a little weirded out. "I'll see you later okay?"

"Okay," I say softly as I watch her leave. I ponder what I'm going to do for maybe the next half hour. That's when I it comes to me. I'll do it in a letter. I know that it's the most textbook douche bag thing to do, but if I do it in person, she's going to want details. Details that I won't be able to provide as I'm making the whole thing up. I'm making this whole thing up to protect her. That's just what I have to keep telling myself, that's the only way to keep me from backing out.

The whole thing ends up being pretty short, taking up less than a sheet of the stationary that Erin and Kat keep on one of the kitchen counter tops. Erin always thought it was ridiculous, but it made Kat feel like they were put together. I chuckle at the memory, they'd had this great debate when I'd come down to Urbana-Champaign a few months ago and Kat had dragged the two of us on a double date with another one of her conquest. They debated the freaking stationary for over fifteen minutes and the guy, I think his name may have been Chad, well whatever his name was, he was so goddamn confused as to why I thought this was so funny. But it was so perfectly them. Today however, Kat was nowhere to be found. I can only assume that she went home with some guy from a party.

But I can feel tears starting to form in back of my eyes as I seal the envelope and print her name on the front, a slight curl on the tail end of the N. I think about the ring, locked in the glove compartment and hidden behind bunch of papers. She won't ever wear that ring. She'll never even see it. This is it. This is the end of us.

Erin POV

I unlock the front door of the apartment with a smile on my face. I can't wait to tell Jay what went down at brunch. Justin has this girlfriend Penny that he brought home and apparently Camille absolutely hates her, something she was not afraid to hide much to the dismay of Justin and to the amusement of Hank.

"Jay you aren't going to believe what Camille said at lunch," I say with a laugh as I push open the front door. There's no response. That's weird. He didn't mention that he was going anywhere. "Jay!" I call, walking through the various rooms of the apartment, calling out his name. It's not like there's that much room to cover. He's not here. I don't know where he would have gone though.

I retreat to the kitchen, pulling out my cell phone from my bag and going to dial his number when I see the letter sitting in the center of the counter, my name scrawled out on the front. In his handwriting. Confused, I take the envelope and rip open the seal.

Dear Erin,

I am so sorry, I didn't want this to ever happen, but it did and I have to own up to it. I cheated on you. I was drunk, it was a one time thing and I know that's not an excuse, but you have to know that if I was in my right frame of mind I would never have done this to you. I wanted to stay and try to make this work, but you deserve so much more than me. I'm sorry. I love you.

-Jay

Tears flow down my face, but not tears of sadness. These are hot and angry tears. How could he do this to me? I thought he loved me? He did love me, I know he did. My doubt quickly manifests into anger. I did nothing wrong, this is on him. He was the one who ruined things. He was the one who walked out. He was the one who ended it. He ended it the very day that he brought that other girl home, whoever she may be. But all I know is, I want absolutely nothing to do with him ever again.

Six Years Later
April 10, 2017

Erin POV

"Happy Birthday Erin," I hear as I look up from the pile of spelling tests in front of me. I smile as I see two of my best friends Celia May and Emily Landry, a small plate of red velvet cupcakes on a plate in front of them and candle burning in the center one.

"You guys," I say sheepishly, "I told you guys not to do anything for my birthday,"

"Well have we ever really been ones to listen?" Emily says with a huge smile. "Besides did you really think I was going to pass up an opportunity to break out the Ballard family red velvet recipe?"

"You got me there," I say with a chuckle. Em and I have been close since the day I started teaching here six years ago. Originally it was just the two of us, but two years after I started they had to add a third class and then came in Celia. The three of us have had a weird, but special bond ever since then.

"See, so really you are simply doing her a favor!" Celia adds in with a smile.

"Make a wish Er," Emily says with a smile. I close my eyes and blow out the candles and wish for the same thing that I do every year. Celia claps and cheers as the flames flies away.

"Well these are pretty fantastic," I say with after taking a bit of the cupcake.

"Nothing beats southern baking," She adds in, her slight accent seeming all the more pronounced.

"Okay yeah southern baking, but let's get down to it. We've got to talk fast because the bell is going to ring in like nine minutes and we have to go down to get the kids in like four," Celia rambles. "But do you have a hot date tonight?"

I almost laugh at the prospect.

"Uh does Winston count?" I say with a big of a laugh. Since I started fostering him about four weeks ago, he's been my number one friend.

"Erin how many times do I have to tell you that your pit bull does not count as a date!" She exclaims, throwing one hand up in the air, the other one firmly planted around her cupcake.

"Let her be," Emily insists, placing a calming hand on Celia's shoulder. "I'm sure that Erin will have a grand old time with that dog, besides he's pretty dang cute," I raise my eyebrows and smirk at Celia as Emily reiterates my point.

"Well I'm going out to dinner with my dad, but then I'm coming home and watching like four episodes of Parks and Rec while I finish grading these freaking spelling tests,"

"No!" Celia exclaims, "let me take you out," I sigh. I'm only two years older than Celia and I'm only 28 in the first place, but I swear that girl has endless energy.

"C, it's a school night we have to be here early tomorrow, maybe this weekend?"

"Fine," She concedes.

"Maybe you can even drag Emily out with us," I tease, knowing that that will distract her and turn the attention away from me. I can almost feel the daggers shooting out of Emily's eyes.

"That's a great idea!" She almost squeals. "C'mon it'll be so much fun!"

"I'm sorry, Mason has a soccer game on Saturday morning, I have to take Reese to a birthday party later that day and then Callum has a swim meet the next morning,"

"Oh you're no fun," She sulks, "it would be so much easier to make plans with you if you weren't busy being super mom all the time,"

"Yeah but if I didn't produce the really cute kids, who would you spoil?" She says with a grin. We really did spoil her kids rotten. When I'd come around, she only one, Mason was two and she was pregnant with Callum, figuring out how to balance work and being a mom. I've watched both of her boys grow up and I was in the waiting room when her daughter Reese was born and I was one of the first people to hold as Emily and her husband Ben asked me to be her godmother.

All of her kids call me Aunt Lindy. The first time she introduced Mason to me she told him my name was Ms. Lindsay and he mispronounced it as Lindy. Eventually, Ms faded away and Aunt replaced it and a couple years later when Celia came into the picture and we pulled her into our little group, it didn't take long for her to be dubbed Aunt Cece.

"You have a point," She says, a look on her face that tells me she's not very happy that Emily found a loophole in her words. "They are cute aren't they,"

"Yeah," Emily says with a smile as I quickly glance over to the photo on my desk of me with Reese on her first birthday, icing smeared all over her face as I laugh in the background.

"Oh shoot we have to head down to grab those kids," I say as I glance up at the clock, "guess the cupcakes are coming with us,"

The rest of my day was normal, full of strange stories narrated by hyper six and seven year olds and questions that I would never even begin to understand. It's one of the reasons that I love my job so much. Their imaginations are endless, not barred by logic or filter, they just say whatever they want to say and it's kind of wonderful.

But they had departed with the bell almost two hours ago and Emily and Celia were both long gone, but I'd wanted to get ahead on some of my grading before it was due at the end of the quarter. But I'm satisfied with what I've accomplished tonight and I decide to head out a little early for dinner, maybe stop by the district and surprise Hank. It'll be a fun surprise for both of us.

I slide my never ending stack of papers into my bag and flick off the light, my legs rubbing against the inside of my black pencil skirt and my tan heels clicking along the floors of the still lit linoleum hallways. I quickly make my way out to my car before embarking on the familiar drive from Daley over to the 21st. Ever since Camille died and especially since Justin died six months ago, I've been trying to make more an effort to see Hank. Not just on special occasions or planned visits, just surprise visits at the office sometimes.

I park my car in the visitors lot and make my way up to the stoop, pulling open the heavy front door and up the second set of stairs. I'm greeted by the smiling face of none other than Sergeant Trudy Platt.

"And to what to do we owe the honor?" She says with a teasing smile on her face. "How you doing Erin?"

"I'm good," I say with a smile, "just dropping by to pick up Hank, we're going out to dinner,"

"Any special occasion?" She asks.

"28th birthday count?" I say sheepishly.

"Why didn't you say anything! Happy Birthday!" She exclaims, drawing some unwanted attention to me.

"Thanks Sarge, how about buzzing me up for my present?" I say in my attempt to wrap this up.

"You got it," She says as I hear the familiar buzz if the metal gates. I couldn't tell you how many times I've made this trip in the last few years, I've always liked visiting Hank at work. Who knows, maybe if I didn't like teaching so much I would have become a cop. I smile as I scurry up the stairs, hoping that he's not in the middle of a case. As the bullpen enters my sight line, I see Hank and he's not working on anything, but there's almost someone new here. As he turns around I feel my stomach drop to the floor. You have got to be freakin' kidding me.

I'm pretty sure that I'm going to continue on with this story, but let me know if you guys like it because that will motivate me to get a second chapter up much faster. If you guys have any specific ideas on where you want this story to go, please do not hesitate to let me know. Hope you guys enjoyed it!

Please review,

Addie