6 Months Later

"Erin, I'm home!" A shout sounded throughout the small apartment as the front door was swung open and quickly shut again. Erin looked up from her book that laid across her lap, her feet laid across the couch. She swung her head to meet him, and was surprised with a kiss as the sweaty man approached her. "Hey babe." Jay panted as he swung himself over the couch and landed on the other side of her legs.

"Ugh, come on, get your stinky, nasty, disgusting shoes off the sofa. Now." Erin smirked as she nudged his feet off the side of the couch. She smirked as they slid off and raised an eyebrow up at her shirtless boyfriend. "How was the run? Weather's heating up."

"You can say that again." Jay scoffed as he grabbed another drink from his bottle of water that he had left on the coffee table from the night before. He sucked the rest of the liquid from the bottle and squeezed all of the air out of it. "But I missed my last summer, so I am not complaining."

Erin continued to smile as she soaked in his presence. The last six months had quite possibly been harder than the year she had thought he was dead. Jay wasn't the same Jay, that much was quite clear, whatever had happened in that year had changed him, and not for the better.

At first it was nice. He would smile when prompted, eat when told to, kiss when he thought she needed to be kissed, but slowly, the changes became more and more noticeable. When no one was watching, he wasn't eating. When nobody cared, he wasn't smiling. Most of the time, he would kiss hoping to get away from his brain through meaningless sex.

Erin thought it was a passing thing, but after a while, she decided that it wasn't and she confronted him about it. That argument hadn't been pretty in the slightest. The result worked though, he started to attend therapy, and soon they had a name.

Erin had assumed that he had always had some sort of PTSD from his tours overseas, but apparently it had worsened after the terrorists.

It took weeks for him to actually come and talk to her about it, it took a few weeks for him to even talk to her after the argument, but when he did, she was there for him.

After that, a relationship was inevitable, and it bloomed. The team was more than supportive and when Jay came back to something more than desk duty, he was actually allowed to stay on the team. Voight's orders.

Now, here they were, a domestic couple. Jay still couldn't sleep most nights, but Erin could tell that the therapist and that the running was helping. Plus, the sex really was great and helped both of them sleep.

Erin didn't even go to her own apartment anymore, she pretty much used it as storage and a place to get away. Jay had even given her half of the dresser and closet, and there were two toothbrushes in the bathroom instead of just Jays. Some could say it was getting serious.

Now they sat staring at each other. Jay was finally starting to soak in some of the vitamin D, however, his skin was still pale. His muscles had slowly come back from the malnourishment, and now, they were more defined than ever. Sometimes, Erin would wake him up by brushing her shirt up and down his abdomen, joking about it being a washboard.

That typically led to sex.

His knee still gave out on him every so often, but only once had he lost a suspect because of it. All of the other times it had happened, he continued running and would only collapse after cuffs were on the guy or girl. Sometimes the team would catch up to him sitting on the suspect while rubbing his knee. Most of those days had ended with the couple cuddling with an ice pack and a good movie on the couch.

"Can you please go shower. Kim and Adam are giving us a ride to save gas, and I don't need you stinking up their van." Erin scolded lightly as she threw her book on the table and hopped to her quickly followed and smirked at her knowingly.

"You and I both know that the only reason you decided to ride in the van full of the fumes of dirty diapers and baby food, is because you like Little Jay better than Big Jay." Jay was talking about Jayson Patrick Ruzek. The name was one the parents of the jolly 3 month old boy decided on long before they found out Jay was in fact still alive. The baby was born a short three months ago and Erin and Jay practically hadn't left his side.

It was decided shortly after birth that they were to be the godparents, and they accepted the role gratefully.

"So what if I do, I can love two Jays." Erin smiled grabbing his hands and allowing him to pull her closely to his chest. She looked up at him with a smile and he stared down at her wistfully.

"Well, I only have enough room to love one Erin, because she has all my love." Jay murmured as he placed a kiss on her forehead.

Erin sighed contently as she stared up at the clock on the wall above the TV. "Damn it, Jay, go take a shower. We have to leave soon."

"Did you finish the potato salad?" Jay asked, a mischievous grin playing on his lips.

"Yes, considering I had to bake another after you devoured the first batch…"

"Hey now, you shouldn't have made them so good, but that's besides the point. Wanna take shower with me?" Jay wiggled his eyebrows down at her, and Erin pulled away.

"I could use another shower." She answered playfully. Before she could object, Jay scooped her up in his arms and carried her off to the bathroom.

"I'm not entirely sure which is worse, never being able to drive or being relegated to the back seat all the time." Jay grumbled from his spot next to Jayson. He stared over at the chubby ball of fur and produced a goofy smile on his face as the little man gurgled on some spit. "Heyo Ruzek, have any wet wipes back there?" Jay called over his shoulder as he grinned at the lone man who sat in the 'way way back.'

Adam produced a pack of wet wipes from the diaper bag beside him and threw them roughly at Jay's head. "Asshole." Adam murmured as he stared grumpily out the window.

"Adam, watch your mouth." Kim shouted from the drivers seat, and Erin turned around, flashing a shit eating grin up at Big Jay.

"He's three months old, I doubt he's going to remember anything I am saying here." Adam contested. He stopped when he caught a glimpse of the scowl that his wife was shooting him through the rear view mirror.

The couple had settled for a small wedding down at the park surrounded by the team, a few of her friends, and a few of his. It was a small gathering, and Jay being the best man, got to hold Jayson throughout the ceremonies. Jayson was relatively quiet, however JAy had gotten a crash course in all things babies and when he would even start to whimper, Jay was hushing the child down in seconds.

The scene left Erin and everyone else on the team awestruck. When the time came for Kim and Adam to go on their honeymoon to a hotel across town, Jay accepted the babysitting duties for the night. Erin still likes to look back at the photos she has from the night. The photos ranged from Jay giving the little boy a bath, to the two of them falling asleep on the couch.

It was a good night.

"Right, I forgot, our child has an eidetic memory." Adam muttered sarcastically.

Jay smiled from his spot as he leaned over the child. "Did you know you're daddy is pushing his luck? Yes he is. Oh yes he is." Jay blew a raspberry into the air, causing an innocent laugh to spurt from the child's mouth.

"Hey Ruzek, knock it off." Erin supplied as she turned back to the road and stared at the upcoming lake. It was beautiful and a dark shade of blue. The team didn't plan to swim, however a picnic and just getting caught up in each others lives was always fun.

Voight was going to be there with his grandson, Cole, who was quickly approaching two. Atwater was going to be there with his fiancee and little sister. Olinsky, his wife and daughter were expected to be there. Antonio along with Eva and Diego had apparently already arrived. Nadia was going to try to show up, assuming her commander allowed her to leave early. Then there was the van full of people including Kim, Erin, Jayson, Jay, and Adam.

Less than ten minutes later, Erin was toting her potato salad down to the lake side where a large group of people had already merged. Jay was at her side and the small family that they had ridden with was already meeting up with the group.

Jay stopped her, his arm around her waist pulling her closer to him. "Look at them." He smiled, a thoughtful look on his face.

"I'm looking." Erin replied playfully.

"I'm serious Erin. Look at it. It's my family. Your family-"

"Our family." Erin finished for him. She turned so that she was facing him as he watched the kids all running or waddling around after each other as the adults all smiled on as they watched the next generation of Chicago be free and happy.

"Erin," He stopped staring at the crowd as he looked down at her. "Do you know what today is?"

Erin stared on skeptically. "Uh, no."

"It's the day that I am going to ask you to marry me." Jay quipped as he pulled the bowl of potato salad from her hands and placed it on the ground as he got down to one knee. Erin brought her hands to her face as she felt tears spring to her eyes.

Jay seemed to choke up himself at the reaction as he brought a ring, out of his pocket. Erin's tears fell as she recognized the ring. It was Camille's, Voight's wife. "Oh, Jay." She whispered.

"I know, cliche huh? But when I asked Voight for your hand, he pretty much shoved this at me and said that you would appreciate it more than any ring I could find in any store in the world. But um, I know that we haven't been dating for long, but in that time, I couldn't have been more happy with where we are now. I'm not saying it was easy, but it was worth it. To be here, happy, with the woman of my dreams." His words began to mesh together as he sped up. Erin could tell he was anxious about this, but she let him continue as she watched him wipe his face. "I can only hope that I am the man of your dreams, or else this would be so incredibly awkward, but what if it was the fireman,"

"Yes." Erin whispered happily.

"-and I know that it's been rough, but I know for a fact that the last year and half has taught all of us that our time isn't unlimited and that none of us are invincible-"

"Jay, yes." Jay's ramblings stopped as he stared up at her, a tear slipping from his eye.

"What?"

"Jay, I will marry you, now can you just ask me to?" Erin chided softly as she got down to his level and stood on her knees as well.

Jay nodded and smiled the sweetest smile Erin had ever seen cross his face. "It's not going to be easy Erin Lindsay, but will you marry me?"

Erin crushed herself against his body as they both tumbled backwards into the grass. "Yes."

Jay flipped her over and straddled her body carefully. "You mean it?"

"Hell yes." She responded softly as she sat up. She brought her left hand forward as Jay grabbed it carefully, his own hands trembling with emotion. After a few tries, the ring was nestled on Erin's finger, and suddenly, she was Jay's fiancee.

She grabbed his face and brought it close to hers as she crashed her lips against his passionately. This kiss seemed to end almost as soon as it began as clapping surrounded them. Erin pulled away as she looked around her at her family. Her eyes stopped on Voight as he looked at her and Jay, the proud look of a father on his face.

She shot him a teary thank you with her eyes, and his smile deepened as he stared at the ring on her finger. "No need to thank me. He would have done it anyways." Voight smiled.

"Anything for the woman I love." Jay smiled, as he fell back into the grass, a happy smile plastered on his face.

Author's Note - I didn't have one of these in the beginning, so I am expecting this note to be a little longer than normal.

First off, I want to thank everybody who has helped me with this story, and then everyone who has helped me in real life. I have been dealing with some pretty shitty people and some pretty shitty problems, and all of those around me, Jay, my #chifam, lanteaddicted... all of these guys have been my family while my real family has not. So thank you all for being there for me. You guys are seriously the best.

Second, This story has been the death of me. The roller coaster of feels has been tremendous and it has taken a little less than a year to finish it. However, it is finished and I am so happy with this. Thank you to everyone for reviewing, favoriting, following, the sorts.

I love you guys

Tayler Out