So this story was completed a long, long time ago. Over a year actually. (I think?) And I ended it where I did because I had no idea where to go with it and it was originally a one shot anyway.

However.

Due to the mass number of reviews I got solely asking for another chapter I have decided to give you one. And only one.

You hear me? This. Is. The. Last. One. No more will follow. Ever.

Also this is more of an epilogue, because once again I have no interest in making this a full blown story, as I really kind of hate it. So. I'd say a 'thank you' to Mikky96 because that's the person whose review was the tipping point in my decision.

That all said: Enjoy this.

Antonio's P.O.V.

Some say change is constant, a slow steady rate that continues on its own path despite what you do to stop it. Others say change comes in small explosive bursts and they completely change the course of reality around you. Either way, both can agree that change, large or small, starts from somewhere. Most commonly, we can't even see where it begins until long after the change has occurred. And if you really try hard enough, you can trace that start all the way down to one.

Tiny.

Spark.

Some members of intelligence might say it was when Jules died or when Erin left for the FBI or maybe even the moment Jay was shot. But I think it was the first time halstead walked into intelligence. No one really knew him, no one really cared to know him. Intelligence was still trying to figure out how the unit was going to work. I don't think anyone was hostile to him, but none of us were exactly welcoming either.

When pltt brought him up, he wore his signature black jacket over his black hoodie. He had his hands shoved in his pockets and had eyes wider than dinner plates as they gazed around the room taking in every detail with one glance. In other words he looked extremely shy and scared as fuck. Well, as scared as Jay could look. Which was more like mildly concerned on anyone else.

However that wasn't what really clued me in. It was the feeling, I guess if you could call it that. There was just something there. Something about him, that made everybody lift their heads a little higher and watch him with a little more interest than normal. He gave a small smile, said hi, then followed Voight into his office to get the rundown on the unit.

No on ducked back into their paperwork, but no one talked either. And when he walked back out and Erin took him on a ride along to meet a C.I. and to 'get to know each other' everyone watched for some reason. We could tell. His literal presence threw us off. I could barely concentrate afterwards.

Of course that changed, as with time it normally does, but I'd like to say most of us remembered that feeling. I know Jules did. We had a pretty interesting conversation a couple of weeks after Jay saved her ass in a raid. We sat in our car and just breathed for a moment before she talked.

"I don't trust him."

"What?" I had asked.

"I don't. I know he's a good cop, he's proved that much. But there's just something about him...he's hidden. I can't read him."

"Okaaaaaaay...you said that about me when we first met."

"Yeah, but this kid's different. He has secrets. A past. He's dangerous, Tony. He is."

I didn't know how to respond to that. So I didn't, instead I opted to start the car and we headed back to the district. It wasn't the last time we talked about him, but it was the first and it stuck in my head for a long time. It was one of the many things reviewed in my head while I sat in that waiting room, the day the rate of change, well, changed.

It speed up by a considerably high rate.

Jay stayed on a ventilator for almost three days after his surgery, although he almost didn't make it through his first night. I happened to be in the room way past visiting hours. The nurses at Med liked us. Said we could stay so long as we stayed quiet and out of the way. It was just about midnight, but I certainly wasn't sleeping when his heart decided to stop beating. In fact I was the one screaming for help and the one calling the team back to the hospital as Halstead went in for his second life saving surgery. The one desperately thinking about how I couldn't go through this again, I can't mourn a friend died just like Jules. Bleeding out. Underneath my hands.

He didn't die though. The bastard just decided to take five years off my life.

Halstead regained consciousness, precisely four days after being shot. He woke to a sleep deprived Erin who, after seeing his eyes for the first time in way too long, promptly leaned forward and kissed him. Right in front of Voight. Which was huge change number one. Voight saying absolutely nothing was huge change number two. He didn't even look surprised.

Two and a half months later they were still going strong and they both seemed happier. Albeit Jay was peeved when he came back and suddenly I was his partner, Erin pared with a newly initiated Burgess. He got over it pretty quickly though. I let him drive.

It's been over a year since we raided the bitterman warehouses. over two since Jay walked up those steps to intelligence and made that spark that set off an inferno of life-altering change.

It's also been about four months since Erin Lindsay agreed to marry Jay Halstead in front of the entire Molly's crowd, including Firehouse Fifty One and the people from Chicago Med, all of whom are scattered across the packed theater of which the two partners stand at the head of. The ceremony is short and simple, making the crowd wait no longer than ten minutes before Erin officially becomes Erin Lindsay Halstead and Jay becomes a married man. Lindsay turns and chucks the bouquet into a small group of bridesmaids and my sister surprises everyone with a flying leap to catch it right before it was to land in Platt's hands.

The look on Casey's face was priceless.

The reception was huge, lasting far into the night, all the alcohol provided by Molly's. Erin made sure Jay stayed coherent, although after hosting his bachelor party, it became abundantly clear that it takes a lot of alcohol to get Halstead was a DJ playing all types of music and as it turns out, Olinski and Jay are really, really good dancers.

Ruzek and I? Not so much.

Voight gave a short, but surprisingly deep speech to the newlywed couple, before it seemed just about everyone else did too. Al, Ruzek, Will, Platt, hell even Chief Boden said a few words.

Ironically enough, when they both promised Voight (and each other) that their relationship wouldn't get in the way of work, apparently that included their honeymoon. The commander had to basically force them to take a couple days off, so they agreed...and set the date for a friday, so they would be back by Wednesday of the next week. That way they would take "less than half a week off."

I know, I know. They had the absolute worst luck in the months leading up the wedding, god forbid they actually take a normal honeymoon. Pretty sure all of us lost the bet against Hank, who said they would take the shortest vacation possible because they hate relaxing. Although I wouldn't really call it relaxing. Tomorrow Jay will take his ski's and Erin her board and they're catching a flight to Colorado to carve up the steepest mountain in the state.

I was happy for them. For us. I really was. It was something good in a long streak of bad, but by the middle of the night it was like I had taken it all in and finally grasped the situation. I stepped back and looked at the repercussions for this and suddenly, it didn't feel like a good thing anymore. I don't know what scared me more. The fact that I might be right, or the fact that we, as a team have had so much pain and tragedy that to see something as happy as this marriage was a terrifying notion, because it meant the calm before a very big storm. But it was Halstead's and Lindsay's day and I didn't want to ruin it by saying anything, so I didn't. I just smiled when need be and tried to melt into the background as best as possible.

It doesn't work.

He catches me toward the the second half of the party, if one could discern two parts. I was standing on the balcony outside the reception house, hoping the cool air would clear my head.

"They're beautiful right?" His voice startles me, almost making me drop my drink.

"Huh?" He nods to the dark sky.

"The stars."

"Oh. Yeah." Halstead walks forward slowly, stopping to stand beside me.

"Shouldn't you be dancing or something?" I ask gesturing toward the pulsing music behind me. He shrugs.

"I already did. I just thought it interesting that my best man had absolutely nothing to say to his newly married best friends."

"I did-" Jay cuts me off with a glare.

"You didn't give a speech. You hardly talked through dinner and the second you could escape to the bar you did, never to return anywhere near me or Erin. " He stares at me seriously.

"You wanna tell me what's going on? Or do I have to get you drunk first?" I don't answer right away and unfortunately (but understandably), he assumes the worst.

"Did you not want this to happen? Did you not want us to get married?"

"No! God no! Man, of course I wanted this to happen. You two deserve it."

"Then what's wrong?!" I swallow a gulp of beer, forcing it past the lump in my throat as I steel myself to talk.

"Four hundred fourty six."

"What?"

"One year, two months, three weeks, four days."

"Uh-"

"That's the exact amount of time that has passed since you decided to die on a hospital bed infront of me."

"Tony-" He sighs, but I'm not finished.

"No. No you were dead after being shot in the heart on a raid where I was supposed to have your back and I didn't. I saw what that did to Erin and that was before you were even dating!"

Calming slightly, I put my empty bottle on a table.

"I'm just...I don't know. Shaken, I guess. When you guys sealed the deal up on that altar, I realized how much more risky things got for you. And if you guys decide to have kids-"

"Woah, woah. Dawson, slow down. You did this too, you know. Not to bring up bad blood but you were married, had two kids and still did your job just fine."

"Yeah and I put laura and diego through hell because of it. It isn't just you doing your job, it's what the job can do to you. What happens if you or Erin get hurt badly because of us? What would happen to your kid-"

"Antonio." He puts a hand on my shoulder, halting my rant.

"That's not going to happen. We trust you guys just as we know you trust us. I know you'll always have my back, Erin's too. When I got shot...there was nothing you could have done to stop that, unless you have some really cool super powers I don't know about."

"No."

"Didn't think so." A spurt of loud laughter filters towards us from the dining/dance room. I nod to him.

"You should get back in there.

"We." I flash a grin, semi-consoled by his words, but trying to make an effort to believe them.

"We." I repeat. Jay isn't done however even as we walk back into the brightly lit, stuffy dance floor.

"You're still gonna dance with Ruzek." I laugh as the absurd comment, remembering Adam's promise during his speech. We fully re-enter the party and I let myself, for the first time that night, soak in the pure euphoria and joy that is coveted by every person there. I spot Ruzek in the middle of the dance floor just as the music changes to some Black Eyed Peas song. I grab the scotch from Jay's hand and down the rest of it, thinking about how I'm gonna need it to forget how I'm about to horribly embarrass myself. I slap the glass back into his hand.

"Deal."

So this was unbeta'd. Sorry that it sucks but I had to write it before I lost all motivation. Any reviews would be greatly appreciated.