15. Chapter 15

For the next week, Erin, along with Maggie, helped Jay recover from the shooting. Maggie had immediately taken on the role as her Daddy's nurse and was making sure she was helpful with giving him the right medicines he needed at the correct times of the day. Erin made sure to reapply his bandages every so often and take care of Maggie. Erin had moved in a couple of days after Jay had gotten home from the hospital. With majority of her stuff, already at his place it wasn't that hard of a move.

Finally, Jay's doctor was able to clear him to go back to work and Erin went back to work as well. Even though Voight and everyone else found out about their relationship, nothing had changed about work, other than Ruzek constantly teasing. Voight had let them remain partners as long as their romance didn't interfere with their work.

After closing the Richardson and Jackson case, Intelligence didn't have many major cases which meant Jay could focus on the custody case with the lawyer Voight helped him get and plan what Maggie considered a national holiday. Her birthday.

xxx

Jay and Erin were still in bed when the sound of Maggie singing and dancing around the living room woke them. Erin was the first to actually move to listen closer to what, the now five year old, was saying.

"Birthday. It's my birthday", she sang over and over in the living room.

Erin let a smile grace her lips as she heard the happiness in Maggie's voice as she did god knows what in the living room. Giving her attention to the 'sleeping' form next to her, Erin gently laid back down in bed, beginning to pepper small kisses against Jay's neck and eventually up to his jaw line. She watched as he began to stir and was quickly greeted by his blue-green eyes.

"Good morning", Erin rasped as she gave him a little smile.

"Good morning", he responded before leaning forward and capturing her lips in a kiss.

Erin smiled as he pulled away and began to gently run his fingers through her hair. "It's your daughter's birthday", she stated making him slightly laugh.

"Does she always sing when it's her birthday", Erin joked.

"Ever since she could talk. I think she likes any type of celebration. Don't worry you'll get the full show today", Jay responded.

"I can't believe she invited the whole unit over. Even Voight", Erin said. "Why didn't she invite her little friends over or something", she asked curiously.

"She told me that everyone in the unit are her friends", Jay answered simply. "She's a pretty simple child", he explained just as he heard footsteps outside the door.

"Who I think knows we are awake", he said causing Erin to laugh as she cuddled closer into his chest watching as the door knob to their bedroom slowly turned and then suddenly revealed Maggie standing there still dressed in her pajamas.

"Mommy! Daddy", she shrieked as soon as she noticed they were awake. She quickly jumped on their bed and found a place to lay right in between them.

"Happy birthday sweetie", Erin said looking down towards Maggie who had a huge smile plastered on her face.

"I'm five now Mommy! Which means I can go to big girl school with all of the other big kids", Maggie explained.

While Maggie was talking, Jay quickly reached down and grabbed the gift he and Erin had gotten Maggie for her birthday.

"And this is just for you, my little five year old", Jay said as he handed his daughter the gift.

Maggie immediately sat up as she took the gift from her dad's hands and began to tear the wrapping paper off of the gift. She got through the paper faster than both Erin and Jay had ever seen as she pulled out an American Girl doll.

"It looks just like me", Maggie exclaimed as she looked down at the doll and then back up to her parents with a huge smile on her face.

"Happy birthday baby", Jay said as Maggie climbed back over to her parents and laid right in between them.

"Thank you", Maggie answered giving them both a smile.

"Now, are you ready for your little celebration", Erin asked automatically getting Maggie excited.

"Yep, I already have my favorite dress picked out", she said proudly.

"Then why don't you go get ready for a bath and I will be right there okay", Erin requested as Maggie climbed down from the bed and ran into her room with her doll still in the packaging.

"You're a really good mom, you know that right", Jay commented as Erin turned her head giving him a light-hearted laugh.

"I never thought anyone would ever say that", she said in almost a whisper.

"Well, I think you're the best", Jay said before giving her a quick kiss. "And I wanna give you even more opportunities to be the best mom", he added knowing she already knew what he was talking about.

"I guess we will have to wait and see, Halstead", Erin replied.

"Mommy, I'm ready", Maggie suddenly yelled from the bathroom where her bath was already running.

Erin began to sit up, but was quickly pulled back down by Jay giving her a passionate kiss. As soon as he released her lips, he looked down at her smiling hazel eyes. "You are the best mom", he reminded her.

"And you're the best dad", she said in return.

"Mommy", Maggie yelled again.

"And now I have to go get her ready and you have to get ready too", she said pecking his lips before retreating to go help Maggie with her bath.

Jay smiled as he heard them both laughing in the bathroom, not to far away from his room.

xxx

Everyone from the unit began to arrive to the apartment around two o'clock. Each person had their arms full of presents for the mini Halstead and each time Maggie laid her eyes on them she got more excited. Jay had bought a cake for Maggie and Erin had made some of Maggie's favorite food. Jay made sure to invite his parents so they could actually get to know everyone. The only person missing was Voight.

Erin knew when she invited him the chances of him coming were very slim. But, she did have hope that he would come just for Maggie and to see her and Jay were perfectly capable of all this.

Just when she had given up hope on any appearance by her father-figure, there was a knock on the apartment door.

"I got it", Maggie exclaimed popping right from her spot between Nadia and Kim, who were helping her play with her doll.

She quickly ran to the door and pulled it open to see Voight standing there. "Sergeant Voight", she practically yelled wrapping her tiny arms around Hank Voight's legs in a hug.

At the sound of his name being said by Maggie, Erin and Jay immediately exchanged a look and rushed over to the door. When they got there, they saw Maggie hanging onto Voight as he stood there with a gift in hand smiling down at the little girl.

"Hey kid", Voight said as Maggie looked up at him with a huge smile on her face. "I got you a gift, but I wanna be here when you open it", he explained handing her the bag.

"Okay", Maggie agreed reaching to take it from his hands.

As Maggie got the gift and ran back over to her spot with Kim and Nadia, Hank Voight looked up at Erin and Jay who were both standing there smiling like idiots.

"What? You act as if I don't have a heart", he protested mainly towards Erin.

"Hey, I never said that! I know some of the sweet things you did for me, Justin, and Camille", she said going over to give him hug.

When Erin released him from the hug and went back to the kitchen where everyone else, Jay politely reached his hand out for Voight to shake. "I'm really glad you could make it", he said as Voight shook his hand.

"For Erin and that little girl of yours. Anything you need, Halstead"

xxx

The rest of Maggie's little celebration went smoothly. The food was good and Maggie was happy to see everyone she considered her friends come. Everyone began to leave after cake, including Jay's parents, and eventually it was just Voight, Erin, Jay, and Maggie of course. Both Erin and Jay were surprised when Maggie had practically begged for Voight to stay and watch her open up her gifts, reminding him of their promise from earlier that day.

"Look, Mommy. Kim got me more doll clothes", Maggie exclaimed adding them to her growing pile of clothes for her doll.

"Goodness, Mags. Your doll is going to have a larger wardrobe than me by the time you finish all those gifts", Erin commented as she came over with beers in hand for Voight and Jay who were sitting on the couch watching a football game.

Taking a seat on the carpet close to the TV with Maggie, Erin smiled as she looked towards Jay and Voight who had surprisingly got along throughout the evening. Of course, Voight did not hate Jay, it was just nice to see him get used to this new relationship between the detectives.

"Sergeant Voight? Can I please open your gift now", Maggie asked super sweetly sneaking up onto the couch between the two men in order to get their attention.

Voight laughed as Maggie whipped out the puppy dog eyes and pouty lip in order to perfect her act. "Sure Maggie, you can open it now", he agreed.

Jay and Erin watched as Maggie ran off and grabbed the gift from the table where Erin had organized the rest. Just as she made it back to the carpet and sat right on Erin's lap, there was a knock on the door.

"I got it", Jay said setting his beer down to get up and answer the door.

"Can I still open my gift, Daddy", Maggie asked before Jay got to the door.

"Of course, it won't take me but a couple of seconds", Jay answered giving Maggie a smile and then looking towards Erin, as they both knew who it probably was.

Opening up the door, Jay, of course, came face to face with the person who just seemed to always end up at his doorstep now. Kaitlyn stood there with a colorful bag in one hand and an envelope in the other. In a way, without any words being said, her visit was contradictory. One thing she held was good and the other was life changing.

"Hi Jay", she said giving him a smile.

"What's going on, Kaitlyn", he asked quickly as he slightly closed the door so she could not see inside his apartment.

"I just wanted to drop off a gift. As it is our daughter's birthday", she stated.

"My daughter", Jay quickly corrected. "I'll give it to her", he requested reaching for the bag, just for it to be held farther away from Jay.

"Come on Jay, I just want to see her face when she opens it. I know she's going to love it", Kaitlyn began to ramble on.

"You don't know the first thing about her! You're the one who dropped her off at my doorstep telling me you didn't want anything to do with her", Jay stated cutting her off.

"Daddy! Daddy! Look what Sergeant Voight gave me", Maggie's voice suddenly called out as she came running up to the door.

Maggie quickly scooted through the open space between the door and where Jay was standing to show off her new shirt. Voight had gotten her a dark blue long sleeve shirt with the words "I'm with Intelligence" written on the front.

Just as Maggie was about to ask her dad if he liked the shirt, she noticed the woman standing at the door way.

"Happy Birthday Maggie", Kaitlyn said giving her a smile as she stuck out the gift for Maggie to take.

Maggie hesitantly looked towards Jay who simply nodded for her to take it. "Say thank you, Mags", Jay requested.

"Thank you", Maggie said quietly as she took the gift and ran back inside, practically jumping on top of Erin, dropping the gift on the floor.

"What's wrong, baby", Erin asked as Maggie cuddled into her chest. Maggie simply pointed towards the bag she had left on the carpet. Erin and Voight looked over at the gift and then towards the door where Jay was still talking to Kaitlyn. Hank looked towards Maggie, all curled up in Erin's lap looking like she was about to cry, and watched as Erin gently ran her fingers through the small girls hair in attempt to soothe her. Standing from the couch, Hank walked over and picked up the gift Maggie had tossed.

"No! Sergeant Voight, be careful", Maggie suddenly called out startling both adults.

"What's wrong with the gift, Maggie", Voight asked setting it down on the coffee table.

Maggie shyly looked up at Erin, who wanted to know the same thing Voight did, and then back over at Hank who still sat on the couch. Standing from Erin's lap, Maggie walked over to the couch and sat by Hank. Erin watched as Maggie sat down next to Hank, letting her feet swing over the couch.

"It's from the lady that Daddy's always talking to", Maggie explained pointing towards the door. "She wants to take me away", she stated.

"So, why don't you want to open the gift", Voight asked.

"Because she's was not very nice to Mommy when Daddy was in the hospital and I think it's a bad gift", Maggie honestly answered.

Hank looked towards Erin, who was simply sitting there watching Maggie talk to Voight so vulnerably. He knew that in a sense it reminded her of when she would talk to him about her life on the streets.

"Well, why don't we open the gift together and if it's a good one, you can decide what you want to do with it. If it's bad one I can take it away. Deal", Voight asked.

"Deal", Maggie said giving him a smile.

Hank reached over and grabbed the bag. Each of them took a piece of tissue paper out to reveal a little stuffed dog sitting at the bottom.

"Is it a good gift or a bad gift", Hank asked watching Maggie speculate over it.

Maggie looked up at him, "Daddy gave me one last year. I like his better", she explained.

"Than you know what we'll do with this", Hank began to explain, "We'll put it on Adam's desk when you come to the district and really scare him", he said getting a giggle out of Maggie.

Erin let out a laugh at the plan the two had to mess with Ruzek. Just as the laughter subsided, Jay had finished his conversation with Kaitlyn and was now re-entering the apartment with the envelope she had given him.

"What's going on in here", Jay asked as he took a seat next to Erin on the carpet, allowing her to gently rest her head against his shoulder.

"Grandpa Voight and I are going to mess with Adam when I go to the district", Maggie announced catching all three adults off guard.

Erin and Jay quickly shared a look and then simultaneously looked up at Voight, who had Maggie tucked into his side. Erin smiled at the look of complete surprise on Voight's face. She had to admit, Maggie knew the right times to drop titles of endearment.

"Why does everyone look so surprised", Maggie asked almost laughing at the adults. "Grandpa Voight is Mommy's Dad, right", she asked again.

Before Erin got to say anything in return, Hank spoke up. "Yeah pretty much, Maggie", he answered getting a smile from the little girl.

"I knew you two had a smart one on your hands", he continued looking towards Erin and Jay.

"Maggie, why don't you say goodnight and go get ready for bed, okay", Jay suggested.

"Okay, goodnight Grandpa Voight. Thanks for my new shirt", Maggie said giving him a hug and then running off to her room.

As soon as Maggie entered her room, Erin turned to Voight. "You're okay with all that", she asked quickly.

"Of course. What's in the envelope, Halstead", Hank said changing the subject to Jay.

"Um, my court date we start the first week of January", Jay said handing the letter over to Erin to read.

"You have a good case. I don't have any doubts that her mother will win. And on top of that you're a good dad with alot of good people backing you up. And I'm glad I could be apart of that", Voight reassured looking towards Erin who had a smile on her face. Everything he had just said was the truth.

"Thanks, Sarge" , Jay answered giving him a smile.

A/N: Okay, so I know it's been a while, but I really hope you guys enjoyed this chapter. Sorry about the super long update, I have been going absolutely crazy with all my classes. Hopefully (with the support and reviews of you guys) I can update more often. As you could probably tell this was kinda a filler chapter to highlight the next couple chapters which will include the custody battle between Jay and Kaitlyn. So stay tuned and don't forget to review :)