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I am your Father

Halstead POV:

It was a lot to take in. I was upset with Erin, but I was excited at the prospect of being a father. We looked at pictures of the twins on Erin's phone for at least 45 minutes before Voight came into the locker room.

"She told you?" Voight gave Erin a pointed look.

I nodded "Yeah, she did."

"The plan was for the kids to stay with me until Erin gets out of rehab, but if you want to spend time getting to know them then we can rethink that," Voight explained.

"No, I'm not quite prepared to be a father yet," I admitted "It's not that I don't want to," I said quickly "but I don't have a room for them."

Voight nodded and told me that I could come and see my kids at his house whenever.

"We're going to go pick up the Nadia and Henry so if you wanted to come then," Erin trailed off.

I nodded "I'll follow you."

I climbed into my car and followed Voight's car out of the lot.

Erin POV:

I gave Hank the directions for Annie's house. It was just after four and I was greatly surprised that Voight was able to leave the precinct so early, but apparently intelligence had managed to wrap up the case pretty quickly. We drove in silence and I stared out the window. When we arrived at Annie's house we decided that I would go in by myself and then Jay, Hank, the kids, and I would all meet up at a diner for an early dinner. I knocked on Annie's door and she opened it. 

She smiled when she saw me and we exchanged pleasantries.

"Sorry I haven't been around to see the kids in a few days I've been busy," I apologized. 

I hadn't exactly told Annie what I was into only that it wasn't good and that I needed help with Nadia and Henry.

"Don't worry about it, they've grown rather attached to Travis," she smiled.

I looked past Annie and saw Travis sitting at the table seemingly writing an essay.

"College applications?" I asked Travis.

He nodded "Hey Erin."

Travis stood up and hugged me.

"I'll go wake the kids up, they're napping," Annie turned to go.

"Actually today's the day that I'm going to take them home," I explained.

"Really?"

"Yeah, I think I finally got my stuff together," I half lied.

"That's great," Annie grinned "Just remember if you ever need anything I'm here for you."

Annie woke up Nadia and Henry and they both came running at me like a stampede. They ran into my arms. 

I thanked Annie, grabbed the bags of our stuff that I'd brought to Chicago,  and led the kids outside.

"Are we going home?" Henry asked mispronouncing the word are.

"Not exactly, I have some people that I want you to meet," Nadia and Henry looked at me with curious gazes.

"Do you remember me telling you about grandpa Hank?"

They nodded. 

"Well, he's here. Are you guys ready to meet him?"

Both kids looked excited as they nodded. 

I got the car seats out of Annie's car and took them to Hank's car. I buckled them into their seats and got back into the passenger seat. Hank turned around to face the kids.

"You're my grandpa?" Nadia asked.

I saw Hank's face light up and he smiled. He nodded.

Both Nadia and Henry smiled back. 

"I've never had a grandpa," Nadia explained.

Hank continued to talk to the kids while he drove. I'd tuned out their conversation. Instead, I was thinking about how to tell the kids about Jay. A few weeks ago Nadia had asked about her dad. It was late and I'd gone to tuck the kids into bed. Henry had already fallen asleep when Nadia asked the question. I told her that her father didn't know that she or Henry had been born. That I had made a mistake and that I had to get a new job in New York and her dad lived here, in Chicago. I didn't tell her anything else though.

Both kids had seen pictures of Jay and me together and Nadia had even asked if he was her dad and I'd avoided the question, so they would more than likely recognize Jay. We arrived at the diner and I went to the back seat to get the kids out of the car. The four of us walked into the restaurant and Hank got us a booth with two booster seats for Nadia and Henry. 

Jay showed up a few minutes later and slid into the booth next to Hank. Both Nadia and Henry looked at me and then Henry looked back at Jay with recognition.

"Picture guy," Henry exclaimed pointing at Jay.

"Picture guy?" Jay raised his eyebrows at me.

"I have pictures of us together," I mumbled. 

He nodded and I turned back to the kids.

"Guys, this is Jay. Jay, this is Henry and this is Nadia." I introduced Jay to the kids.

"Hi, guys," Jay said softly.

"Hi," Nadia whispered shyly. 

Henry, who was more outgoing, started telling Jay all about himself in a nearly incomprehensible fashion.  Jay nodded and smiled at all the right moments as if he could understand what Henry was saying.

"So, you know my mommy?" Nadia questioned.

Jay nodded, "Yes, we used to be very good friends before she went to New York."

Halstead's POV:

I knew that the kids would be too young to actually remember this later, but I didn't necessarily just want to drop the whole I am your father bomb on these kids. That was until Henry blurted out the "are you, my daddy" question. 

"Why would you ask that?" Erin looked at her child astonished.

Henry got a confused expression and looked like he was going to cry.

"It's just that in the pictures of you and him you look happy. You said daddy lived here," Henry cried and buried his face in Erin's chest.

"Hey what's wrong?" Erin rubbed Henry's back.

"You looked mad."

"No, honey, I was just surprised. I'm not mad," Erin soothed.

Nadia looked at me  with a serious expression I didn't think a not even two-year-old was capable of "Are you, my dad?" 

I looked at Erin for help. I was surprised that the 18 months olds had managed to figure it out on their own.

Erin took a deep breath "See the thing is..."

A/N

Thank ya'll so much for 250+ views, it means a lot!!! Also, I know this chapter doesn't have a lot of substance, but I'm struggling to figure out how Erin is going to explain Jay to Nadia and Henry. Hopefully, I figure it out soon and the next chapters will be more fulfilling. I know that I said I would update Sundays and Wednesdays, but I realized I can't really stick to a schedule so I'm updating on Friday.