Erin's Big Secret

Chapter 4; Mommy May I?

It was just like any other Monday. You dreaded it's arrival, and you weren't motivated to get productive with you day. Then, there was Aurora, a little girl who was always happy to wake up, Erin on the other hand, not so much. Not on Mondays anyways. After a weekend off, it was always hard to go back to work. It didn't matter, though. Her daughter was always waking her up, wanting breakfast, and help with picking out her clothes out. It was cute, but sometimes Erin just wanted to sleep five more minutes.

Erin was sound asleep, when the pitter patter of little feet came running into her room, then jumped on her bed. "Mommy, wake up!" Aurora said, shaking her mom, who let out a groan. "Five more minutes." Her voice was muffled by her pillow, but her daughter knew all too well what her mother was saying.

"It's time to wake up! I have school, you got to go to work!" Aurora was now jumping on the bed. It was something she always did, yes, it could be frustrating when Erin wanted to sleep a little longer, but it was her daughter, and she adored her little one. If she wanted her awake, then awake she'd be.

The five year old had way too much energy for this early in the morning. The fact she had always been like this, made it surprising that Erin still tried to talk her daughter into sleeping a few minutes longer. She figured that one day she'd win, hopefully.

Erin got out of bed, reluctantly, and followed the little into the kitchen. She stood in front of the island, letting out a yawn, even stretched a bit, as Aurora got seated at the table. "What does my princess want for breakfast today?"

Aurora thought the question over, even made her mom chuckle at her thinking face. "May I have, French toast?" She finally asked her mommy. "Yes you may. Would you like whipped cream and strawberries on top?" She asked her daughter, as she gathered all the ingredients together.

"Yes mommy." Aurora grabbed her coloring book and crayons, then started to color as her mom made breakfast. Erin loved when she got to make breakfast for her daughter. Cooking was something she enjoyed, so, it was always nice when her daughter wanted something made by her, instead of cereal or poptarts.

"Mommy, may I go to work with you?" Aurora's question took Erin by surprise. One, it was so out of blue, and two, why on earth would she want to go to work with her for. "Um.. Where did that come from?" She finally asked her daughter. "I want to see where you and Papaw work." Aurora answered.

As cute as it was, and no one at work knowing about her had nothing to do it, but there was no way Aurora could go to work with her. It just wasn't a safe job. "Maybe one day," Erin answered, not wanting to crush her daughter's dreams completely. "Maybe on a day I have off work, and Papaw's working. What we do isn't a safe job, so, I can't take you around with me," She added, when she saw her little girl's disappointment.

"I promise to behave," Aurora begged. Erin grinned, finding her daughter's persistence adorable, but she wasn't worried about her daughter not behaving, she worried about her safety. "I know you would sweetie, but you can't. Mommy would be too worried about your safety. "

Aurora was disappointed, but her mommy had told her what her job was, and though she was young, she understood that her mommy worked at a job where she put bad guys away, and that sometimes it was a dangerous job, but she couldn't help but to want to see where her mommy went every day. In all honesty, Aurora just wanted to be with her mama. Yes, she was five, but she still had her days of not wanting to leave her mom or want her mom to leave.

The days that she could tell Aurora didn't want to be apart from her, were always the hardest for Erin. It has always just been the two of them, they were all each other had. Yes, there was Hank, but really, it was just the two of them. There were plenty of times Erin found it hard to be away from Aurora. Her daughter was the love of her life, and she wished she could spend every minute with her.

"How about this, I'll ask Papaw if I can get off work early to come pick you up from school, so, we can go get some ice cream, and maybe go see a movie." Erin bargained.

A big smile appeared on her daughter's face. Yes, she didn't get what she wanted, but she was okay with what her mother offered. "You got a deal mama."

Erin smiled as she placed Aurora's plate in front of her, then placed a kiss on her daughter's head, before heading over to the coffee maker to brew some coffee to drink before work. Aurora dug into her French toast. She loved her mama's French toast.

After breakfast, Erin helped Aurora get ready for school, then let her watch cartoons as she took a shower and got ready for work. As she was getting ready, she heard a man's voice, and Aurora's excitement told her it was Hank before even hearing his husky voice.

As she made her way out to join them, she wasn't surprised to see that Hank was holding her daughter in his arms. The little girl always jumped on him every time she saw him. When she entered the room, Aurora announced, "Mama, Papaw came to see me." It cracked Hank and Erin up that Aurora called him that. It didn't bother him one bit. Hank absolutely adored Aurora, and in a way, saw her as a granddaughter.

"Papaw, I tried to get mommy to take me to work with her, but she said no," She went on to tell Hank, which made Erin shake her head. She really hoped that her daughter wasn't about to try and get Hank to let her come to work with them. "Oh yeah? Well, I'm sure mom has a good reason for telling you no." Hank said.

"Yeah, mommy says work is not a safe place for me, so, she said she'd ask you if she could get off work early today to come get me from school. She said we'd get ice cream and see a movie," Aurora went on to confess. Erin wasn't surprised that her daughter was telling Hank everything.

"What about me? Do I get to come too?" Hank asked Aurora, teasingly. She didn't know he was teasing, so, she looked at Erin, even had a bit of a pleading look on her face. "Can Papaw come too mommy?" Erin and Hank laughed, which caused a confused face to appear on Aurora's face.

"We'll see sweetie. It depends on how the day goes at work," Erin finally answered. Aurora sighed with disappointment. "Hey," Hank started, looking at Aurora, "I promise, if I can't make it today, I'll come over Saturday and we can go get ice cream, and then go wherever you want."

Aurora was pleased with his offer of spending Saturday with them if he couldn't make it today. With that, Erin made her finish getting ready for school so they could get going.

Hank told Erin he came to pick her up and to drop Aurora off at school, because they got a case, and he wanted to discuss it with her on the way to the crime scene. She knew Aurora would love riding with Papaw, so, she had no worries. Plus, he said he'd bring her back by later so she could get her car, so, she could keep her promise to Aurora.

It was a day she should stay at work and help with the case, but Hank wanted Aurora to still be Erin's first priority, so, he'd cover for her.

Although, Aurora didn't get her way, she was still pleased that she was going to get to spend time with her mama after school. They didn't always get that much time together during the week, so, this was going to be special for them both. Maybe one day she'd get to see where her mama worked, and maybe even get to meet everyone her mom works with.

Time would tell, but she hoped one day she'd get to know the people that were around her mama was she was at school. She just wanted to make sure that they were good people, that they were good to her mother. With it just being the two of them, and yes, she was five, but they were both very protective of one another.

Aurora wanting to come to work with her made her realize that she really needed to decided if she wanted to tell everyone at Intelligence about Aurora, and how she was going to do it. Her daughter had been a secret all this time, what was an easy way to just tell everyone that she's had Aurora all this time? She needed to figure it out because it was starting to get harder to keep this a secret. The closer she got to everyone, the more harder it got to not mention her daughter. Maybe it was time to get it over with. She just wanted to wait for the moment to arise.

Hank and Erin dropped Aurora off at school, even got one more plea to join them, before Erin gave her a kiss, and told her not today. Her daughter was the cutest thing, but her cute pouty face didn't work. Once the goodbyes where said, Aurora headed into her school, and they headed to the crime scene to start their work day. Erin was always counting down the hours to when she'd be going to pick Aurora up to spend time with her before her daughter would have to go to bed. Neither one could wait until they were together again. That's just how they were. That's how much they loved one another.