Bless the Broken Road that Lead Me Straight to You

Chapter 38

Erin walked up the front steps of district 21, two small girls in tow. "Hey, Sergeant," she said with a wave to Platt.

Platt's eyes lit up, her usual stone face softening. "Maddie, Grace! You two haven't visited in way too long." She scrunched up her face, "Has your daddy been hiding you?"

They both giggled in response, loving the special attention Platt was giving them. Erin smiled warmly as she watched. Platt had always had a soft spot for kids, but she seemed to have an extra soft spot or these two.

Platt's eyes lifted to Erin's, "Halstead went to talk to a CI," she said. "Want to wait for him upstairs?"

Erin simply nodded, "Thanks, Sergeant." Then she turned to Maddie and Grace, who seemed to be in the middle of a very important conversation while sitting on the wooden bench near the front door. "Come on girls, let's go upstairs and wait for daddy."

Platt buzzed them through the gate, and they began to ascend the stairs, hand in hand. When they got to the top of the stairs, and the bullpen came into view, Maddie and Grace each dropped Erin's hands and took off running.

"Uncle Adam!" They shouted in unison. They loved their cool Uncle Adam. They loved everyone else too, but at the moment he was the only one in the room.

Ruzek lifted both girls in his arms and then immediately threw them upside down over his shoulder. "Wait," he said, his voice full of fake confusion. "Where did Maddie and Grace go?"

"I don't know!" Erin replied, her voice mimicking his confused tone. "They were just here, I swear!"

The girls laughed mercilessly and wriggled until they were no longer upside down, and were safely in his arms. "Right here, Uncle Adam!" Maddie cried.

"There you are," he said. "Man, that was sneaky," he raised his eyebrows, seemingly impressed. "I think you two could work undercover, what do you think?"

Grace smiled wide, and Maddie began nodding her head furiously.

We need to teach her to nod without her whole body, Erin thought, as she watched Adam tighten his hold before Maddie fell out of his arms.

Her thoughts were interrupted when Voight emerged from his office. "Well, they are my granddaughters," Voight said, standing in the doorway and smiling at the girls. "So I would expect no less."

"Grandpa Hank!" Grace and Maddie wriggled out of Adam's arms, and began running across the bullpen towards Hank. They may had loved their Uncle Adam, but he was no match for their grandpa.

Hank lifted them easily into his arms and placed a kiss on both of their foreheads. "Hi, girls," he said, happily.

"Hey, Hank." Erin said, moving slowly across the bullpen towards where he was standing.

"Hey, kid." He replied, "What are you all doing here?"

She raised her eyebrows at him and tilted her head, "I can't just come in to say hi to my dad?"

His face broke into a smile and an easy laugh rolled out of him throatily. "You can," he drew out the word, as if to add But you didn't. Then he just looked at her expectantly, waiting for her to continue.

She rolled her eyes. "I'm actually here to drop the girls off with Jay," she said, by way of explanation. Then she added, "I didn't realize you had a case, I thought he would be wrapping up by now." She didn't want Jay to get into any trouble. He usually finished work between 5 and 6 pm when he didn't have a case, and she hadn't expected to find the bullpen empty. "I can take them back home." She had plans with Kim, but if they had a case, she would undoubtedly need to reschedule.