The next morning, Lindsay had arrived at a decision. The Intelligence team were convened in the bullpen for her to address them.
"Morning," she began. "As you all know, there is an open spot on the team. Yesterday, two people were interviewed in regard to the vacancy. I've now arrived at a decision as to who will be joining us. It's going to be Amanda Rose. Raquel, after this briefing you can get on the phone to Trudy Platt and set up giving Rose the good news. Tell her she's to finish her shift as normal today. She starts here tomorrow. Right, that's all from me, unless anyone has any questions?"
No one did, so Lindsay went into her office, leaving Gonzalez to deliver the rest of the briefing in her current role in charge of the unit. When that was done, Gonzalez did as had been suggested, calling Platt and setting up another meeting at the 18th with Rose. Only Halstead remained in the bullpen when she ended the call, as the rest of the team had been sent out to work Intelligence's current case.
"Let's go, Jay," she said, heading for the elevator, putting her coat on as she walked.
"I'm glad Rose got it. Although I didn't doubt she would," he ventured.
"Agreed. I'm sure Kylie Estevez is a good person, but inexperience isn't what we need in Intelligence right now. Hey, do you guys want to come over for dinner one night this week?"
"Sounds good to me," he replied without needing to think about it. He liked spending time with Raquel and Zelina outside of work, and so did Erin. "It'll depend what Er has going on with work, but if she's free I'm sure we can work something out. Actually, we've got Clem's wrestling lessons starting this week," he suddenly recalled. "That's tomorrow night and Friday night, so we might be up against it."
"Oh yeah, you told me about the lessons," Gonzalez said with a smile as they stepped into the elevator. She pressed the button for the ground floor. "I bet she's really looking forward to it, huh?"
"Like you wouldn't believe. She gets so excited about the things she's interested in. I wish I had passion for things to the extent that she does. We picked up her wrestling attire yesterday. I've never seen her happier than when she tried it on."
They walked out of the elevator and through the 19th's lobby.
"Aww. Did you get a picture of her in it?" she asked.
"Er did, but I have them on my phone. Let me pull them up for you."
He took his phone out of his pocket and navigated to the gallery as they walked to Gonzalez's Mustang. "Here you go," he said, offering her the phone. "Swipe right for the other one."
Gonzalez took the phone and looked at the picture. It showed Clementine standing in the living room at home, wearing red lycra wrestling pants and a matching sports bra. She had white boots on, and as ever her hair was in two small pig tails. Standing with her hands on her hips, she had a big smile on her face.
"That's such a lovely picture, Jay. She looks so happy. You should get that framed."
"I said that to Er last night. Look how happy Clem is. I so hope she does well in the lessons. It's going to upset her so much if she's no good at wrestling."
"You might need to get her working out, Jay. She's skinny. She has no muscle on her arms. It might not matter too much for wrestling at her age, I don't know, but as she gets older it will."
Halstead had considered that himself, but it seemed more of a concern now that someone else had said it. Clementine was quite fit, but she wasn't strong. "You think we should look at a gym membership for her?"
"Not necessarily. You don't need a gym membership to put some muscle on. Buy some weights, show her how to use them properly, and make sure she works out every day."
"Good idea. Er would probably get into it with her. We'll see what the coach says after her first lesson tomorrow night anyway."
Gonzalez had scrolled to the second picture. The only difference from the first one was that Clementine was standing with her back to the camera, still posing with her hands on her hips.
"She's a real sweetheart," Jay said proudly as he took his phone back.
"Yeah, she is. So is Henry though. I'm not sure I've ever seen a happier baby."
"I can't believe he's started crawling already," he said with a big smile on his face. "Won't be long be long before he's talking too."
"Must be amazing," Gonzalez said. Her voice was a bit more distant than usual.
"You thinking about having kids? I think you'd be a good mom."
She winked at him. "I'd be the daddy. Come on, we've got a job to do."
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A short time later, they found themselves sitting in the exact same places as the previous morning, in the lobby at the 18th. The only difference was that Trudy Platt was in a less frosty mood, and had brought them a coffee each while they waited for Amanda Rose to come in from her patrol.
More than fifteen minutes went by before Rose walked in. Halstead had half expected Gonzalez to get impatient, but she showed no sign of it. She acted the way he had seen her on stakeouts. There was a kind of waiting mode that she entered where she could sit and neither say nor do anything, without getting bored. It struck him as a trait possessed by dangerous people, or people with extensive military training. In her case, it wasn't the latter. It served as a reminder that she had at one time been very effective on the wrong side of the law. And with that in mind, he was proud of how far his friend had come.
This time when Rose walked in she looked straight to where Halstead and Gonzalez were sitting. It hadn't taken the detective of the century to figure out that they were the reason for her second recall to base in two days.
"Morning," she said as she approached them. She looked hopeful of getting good news.
"Morning," Halstead said as the both got up.
Gonzalez was more business-like. "Officer Rose. Sergeant Lindsay and I have had discussions regarding the vacancy in Intelligence Unit. I'm here to offer you the position."
"Oh, awesome!" Rose said, beaming in delight. She quickly corrected her attitude, becoming more professional. "I mean, thank you, ma'am. I'd be delighted to join the unit."
"Congratulations," Gonzalez said, shaking hands with her.
"Welcome to Intelligence," Halstead said, also shaking hands with the team's newest member.
"You'll finish your shift today as usual, then you'll report to the 19th tomorrow morning," Gonzalez said.
"Yes, ma'am," Rose said. "I'll look forward to it."
BREAK
That night, after both of the kids had been put to bed and Kayla had gone out, Jay and Erin were sitting together on the couch. He had a bottle of beer, and she had a glass of red wine. It was nice to properly relax after what had been a busy day.
"So, Jay, I've been thinking," she said when the TV show they were watching went to a commercial break.
"Uh oh," he quipped.
"Idiot," Erin giggled. "But seriously, I've been thinking. Now that I've got the unit the way I want it, and my promotion process is beginning, I think it's time to move onto the next thing. Shall we start planning our wedding?"
"Hell yeah," Jay said enthusiastically. "Let's talk about what we'd like. I'm thinking a summer wedding. Picturing it on a gorgeous, warm summer day."
"Sounds ideal. You know what I really loved? Ruze and Kim's wedding. In a way I was annoyed that they got in on the whole beach wedding thing because that's what I wanted."
"It was a real nice wedding," Jay said, remembering the day fondly. "It doesn't really matter what other people have done, even if they're our friends. Our day is for us and our family."
"I guess you're right," Erin said. She put her hand in his lap and he held it. "Maybe a beach wedding then? At least, that's what I'd like. How about you?"
"My only ask was that we didn't go too formal. A church wedding would have felt stuffy and false to me. Besides, we don't go to church. I'd like a fairly small number of attendees, and I want everyone who's there to have a great time. Then I want a couple of weeks in the sun, with good beer and food, plenty of fun for the kids, and no work stress. And I want to say 'I do' to you."
She kissed him on the lips. "That's so sweet, Jay. And what you described sounds perfect to me as well. Aren't we supposed to have a bunch of disagreements over how we want the wedding to be?"
He laughed. "I mean, we can if you want? Or we can just start making a shortlist of venues?"
"That does sound like a better way to spend the evening. I'll get my laptop and we can search together."
For the next several hours, during which five beers and most of a bottle of wine were consumed, they sat together browsing a multitude of possible wedding locations in various exotic locations.
"We'd better get to bed, Jay," Erin said tiredly, shocked when she happened to notice the time in the corner of the laptop's screen.
He immediately yawned. "Good idea. So we have a shortlist of how many places? Five?"
"Yes, five. I've bookmarked them all. We can have a look again tomorrow night with fresh eyes if you like?"
"Sounds like a plan. Love you, future Mrs Halstead."
"I can't say future Mr Halstead because that's already what you are," she replied with a tipsy giggle that he found adorable. "But I do love you though. Kiss me."
Jay leaned in and kissed her, pushing her down onto her back on the couch. As much giggling as pleasure ensued, with them kissing and fumbling with each other. It was by no means the most romantic moment ever, but they very much enjoyed it.
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A/N: Amanda Rose has officially joined Intelligence. Do you think she will do a good job on the team?
The wedding planning has begun! Who do you think Erin should choose as her maid of honour?
Next time, Clementine will be attending her first wrestling lesson. How do you think it will go?