Keeping It in the Family (Linstead)

Chapter 124

"I spoke to Erin, and I'm free to come over tonight," Halstead said to Gonzalez. They had been trying to make plans outside of work for some time, hoping to work on the personal side of the personal and professional relationship that they were building. The offer for Halstead and Lindsay to visit Gonzalez and Vega's place had been extended several times, but for one reason or another it had never worked out. The house move and Lindsay's pregnancy were the main culprits. And the pregnancy was why it was only Halstead who was available now.

"Great," Gonzalez smiled from the driver's seat of her Mustang. They were on the way over to the 19th District, having been summoned for the reveal of Intelligence's new office suite. It was no secret that she wanted to make friends, as her life undercover had left her without any. Her fiancée was the only person she got to spend her free time with, and that wasn't a particularly healthy situation for any person to be in.

"Sorry it has taken so long, but once the baby comes we should be able to do stuff more often. Erin's really struggling now."

"She's massive, Jay," Gonzalez said. "I told Z I think you're going to have twins."

He laughed. "No, it's not twins. We know from the scans that it's one baby, we just asked not to be told the gender. But I think it's a boy. If it's a girl, she's going to be as tall as you. Either way, only a couple of weeks to go now until the due date."

Now it was Gonzalez's turn to laugh. "As tall as me. Exciting though, isn't it? And maybe it will be a girl, but she won't be as badass as me. Chingona is the word in Spanish."

"Don't be so sure about that," Halstead said, chuckling. "Anyway, as I said, I can come over tonight. Thanks for the invite. I'm looking forward to it."

"Me too. I'll let Z know you're in. She wants to serve Puerto Rican food. In fact she started the prep last night. She's making pernil."

"Pernil? What's that?"

"Roasted pork, served with rice and salad. It's one of her favourite Puerto Rican dishes. You'll love it."

Halstead smiled. "I'm sure I will. And what's your contribution?"

Gonzalez laughed. Humour had clicked between them a while back, letting them establish the kinds of jokes that worked between them. "My fantastic hosting, of course."

"Ah, of course. I can see you as a waitress to be fair. When you eventually get fired..."

"Shut up," she said, giggling. "Right, here we are. This is the 19th."

As they pulled into the parking lot, Halstead was able to spot cars that accounted for the rest of the team. He and Gonzalez were the last to arrive, not that he was surprised because they had been right over on the other side of the city when Lindsay had called, announcing that Deputy Superintendent Miller had given the go-ahead for the team to go and view their new HQ.

When they entered the building, Halstead saw that the rest of the team had waited for them in the lobby. Someone had found a chair for Erin, who wasn't physically capable of standing up for extended periods of time.

"Hey, Er. Are you okay?" he asked, heading straight over to her and not caring in the least that his colleagues were there.

"I'm okay," she replied, accepting his helping hand to get to her feet. "At least they have an elevator here."

"After you, Sergeant," Purrazzo said, moving out of the way so that Lindsay could walk over to the elevator near the front desk.

Halstead smiled to his former partner. He was proud of the work she had been doing lately, particularly on the Martinez assignment. Through his relationship with Lindsay, he got to hear about it, even though it didn't directly concern him professionally. The story was that Purrazzo had been firm but fair with Martinez, and seemed to have her pretty much under control. A contributing factor to the lack of Martinez-related problems was that the FBI had almost inexplicably responded favourably to her proposal to run for governor, and the campaign was now underway. The first task was for her to secure the Republican nomination via the primaries, which in itself wasn't likely in Halstead's view. But then Martinez seemed to often achieve things that were not likely. He wasn't quite sure how she did it. Cunning, money, and backroom dealings were the most likely reasons.