Author's Note's.

Tayler (Bubbly88Tay) - Hello everybody, and welcome to my brain child. This is my first time stepping into the whole 'romantic side' of Linstead, and I am more than honored to have my friend Emily stepping out and helping me out and writing this with me. This will be my second collaboration with another author. This one and then there is 'Say Something' with belle.0416 and I.

We are so sorry we haven't been getting chapters out there right now, and we feel horrid and we are working on it now. Here's something to ponder, would you rather quanity or quality? Same with my other stories, like the 'Different Mistakes' and 'When It Goes South.' Sorry guys.

That is all I have to say, and now for Emily who can further introduce herself (you'll be seeing more of her stuff soon if McShipper and I have anything to say about it) and the story.

Emily (emilyjaaayne) - Well hello guys. I'm pretty new to the public part of the fandom with my blog (sasskingjay) as I always watched from a far until I got involved with the most amazing group of girls, and completely new to writing but Tay and Jayne (mcshipper) managed to drag me out of my shell and help Tay on this amazing brainchild. I never thought I'd be so happy with a single chapter and not nervous about publishing but here we are. I'm so grateful to have been able to collab with such an amazing writer for my first piece of work and I'm really happy with where we're heading and hope you guys will be too. Please review and let us know how we're doing, it's my first shot but I know I want to continue and get better so give us all the feedback you can. Enjoy!

Halfway There

Erin listened to the final few notes of the song that blared throughout the sound system in the vehicle and watched as Halstead's fingers brushed over the screen of the music player. The music player was just some old smartphone they had invested in and had boosted the storage capacity. Now, they kept it in the vehicle that carted them all over with over one thousand songs to choose from, which made being the passenger that much more tolerable for Jay, 'the house husband.'

Erin stared ahead of her at the road as tree after tree passed. Now and then, she would see a mailbox, but they were so far from society that the skyline was no longer visible. She was waiting for the next song, one that was almost certainly going to be sung by what Jay liked to call 'the greatest bands in history.'

Erin didn't agree with his opinion, much rather choosing Tupac's music over the rough tones of Queen, but this was Jay's retreat for the most part, so she decided that for once, she would listen to whatever classic rock song he would let loose throughout the vehicle, and she would maybe even enjoy it.

Jay 'aha'd quietly as he tapped on the screen of the music player, and closed his eyes as he leaned back against the seat back and dropped his hands into his lap. Suddenly, the mellow tones of Uncle Kraker's, Drift Away, began to hum throughout the speakers. She smiled as the wind coming from the windows allowed his hair to flop in every direction, and as the sun reflected off his easy going face.

The trip to a lake about an hour outside of Chicago hadn't exactly been spontaneous, however it had been bumped back nearly two months after every weekend they had taken off, had required them coming into the precinct for some emergency or another. Once it was twelve dead bodies found top side in a cemetery, and another time it had been a freak storm that required all officers and detectives on hand to help out around the city. More than a few times it had been the bounty that rested on Jay's head, whether they found a lead, or Jay's life was put into some sort of danger. Now that they were finally on the open road, they had turned off their phones, and were just letting the cool air of an Illinois fall warm their features.

Getting out of the city had been tense, with the traffic and Jay being overly alert but since then, the pair had remained silent. Jay would move his hands between his lap, her hand that rested peacefully on the center council, and on the music player, as DJ had been his designated job after Erin had called driving the pair to and fro.

Jay's hand was suddenly back on hers, as she let the hand that had just pulled her sunglasses down from on top of her head rest once again on the stick shift. The smile seemed to be permanent on her face as she breathed in the fumes and felt overly calm, collected and composed.

Suddenly Jay's voice, as sweet as the wind moving throughout the leaves in the trees, began to dance along with the notes that played throughout the car. Something that only she had known, was that Jay was a tremendous singer, however he kept that gift to his self.

And now Erin was aware of the quirk.

Erin continued to drive in a peaceful, serene way, as her head bobbed to the simple melody. Before she knew it, the song was over, and there was no tapping away at the music player indicating another was soon to come.

Erin glanced over at her partner, both on the job and off, and smiled. His eyes were still closed, and he still rested in between the seat and the door beside him, but now, his chest ebbed up and down in slow, peaceful movements. Thankfully he had fallen asleep.

That had been another reason why they had left as suddenly as they had this weekend. Jay needed the off week. He had been working himself to the core after he had been attacked in the alley outside of Molly's, leaving him in a near death state for over a week. He had quickly recovered after the week had come and gone, but after finding out that Bembenek's bounty was the cause of it, Jay hadn't stopped to eat, sleep, or drink for anything, and that had been a few weeks ago.

Finally Voight had forced him to take a weekend, meaning Lindsay had to get him out of the city.

Lindsay thought back to them actually coming out and telling Voight that she and Halstead were an item. He hadn't been pleased but had finally come to accept it. With accepting that Ruzek and Burgess became bitter. However, soon after that, the newly planned budget allowed another member to join the team and the group quickly made up. Now Burgess had a spot of her own on the team.

A shiver, and a gust of cold wind had brought her back to the present as she once again glanced to the hollow shell of a man. She smiled as she realized that for the first time in weeks, he looked happy.

Erin once again watched the road as she continued on for another few miles before turning down an unmapped dirt road that led to the cabin that they had rented for the weekend. She was halfway down the road, casually glancing over the edge of the railing, and down into the ravine below, when she felt the car shudder.

She slammed her foot on the brakes, but it didn't help as she lost control of the car. The car suddenly began to spin until suddenly it wasn't spinning anymore, but was rather falling. She didn't remember when she closed her eyes, but all she could remember feeling was a sudden, bone crushing stop, a scream that had to have come from her, and then all was still, and all was silent.

Slowly, she began to hear birds chirping and a small creek bubbling along over weathered down rocks somewhere, which she could only assume led to the lake. She slowly, and carefully tried to look around her but whimpered as she turned her neck towards Jay. She stopped moving immediately and instead opened her eyes and just used them to look around her. She was staring ahead of her, at a tree that had stopped their ungraceful slide down the ravine. The tree was positioned up against a vast section of the passenger side of the hood which had been pushed back in the impact, and she couldn't see over the crumpled metal.

Her heart began beating roughly in her chest when she finally realized that she couldn't hear Jay. At all.

Her vision was only giving her sight of the far corner of the spiderwebbed window, and when she failed to be able to look at Jay, she closed her eyes and set her jaw. She slowly, and painfully turned her neck, and when she finally made it to the point where she felt she could open her eyes, she stopped moving and peered over at him.

She let out a breath when she saw his chest rising and falling. His head was laying where the window would have been had it been rolled it up, and his eyes were closed, but he was breathing. The airbag that had deflated was covering the majority of his body, but from what she could see, the tree that stopped them wasn't a complete saviour. She winced as she saw how the impact of it had caused the dashboard on Jay's side to cave completely, his body suddenly looking fragile under the burden of the weight that he was completely oblivious to.

She felt herself feeling the beginning stages of panic as she looked on. She let her hands unbuckle her seatbelt and as soon as the seatbelt was no longer restraining her, she inched towards Jay, firstly grabbing his hand and then feeling along the edges of his legs that still showed. She cringed when she felt small amounts of blood lining them, but not nearly enough to make her panic grow. When she finished her search, she placed her hand at the base of his neck and checked his pulse, and finally she sat back in her seat when she realized that it was a little slow, but it could have been because of him sleeping.

Her heart continued to race in her chest, despite the calming breaths she practiced on herself, so grabbing Jays hand, she opened her mouth, and began to tell the first memory of her and Jay that came to mind.

"Hey do you remember how you can always tell when a big bust affected the unit; how Voight would lock himself in his office with the paperwork, Antonio would do whatever he could to take the kids for the night, Ruzek would take Burgess home for a few hours, Atwater would call Vanessa on his way out, Olinsky would cook for Meredith and you would just shower and shower in the locker room while I prepped for a run?" She spoke out to an unresponsive Jay in the passenger seat, glancing up and down his immobile body, hoping he'd hear her and respond.

"You mean as you hung around for me while I showered? There was no way it would take you that long to prepare for a run. C'mon Linds," she expected to hear him croak out but nothing, just the breeze passing and rustling the airbag that comforted Jay like a blanket.

"Every time you came out of the shower you'd ask me why I was still at the precinct and every time I'd try and conjure up some on-the-spot excuse that kept me around for a while. I guess that must have been offensive to think I'd fool you with my stories, you are one of our best detectives after all. Bar me of course." She was trying and trying to set him up for a cocky, typical Halstead reply and despite all of her failing attempts, she carried on. She was talking to Jay but part of her found her own voice a little more comforting than silence on the dirt road. The last thing she needed was a reminder that they were unlikely to be found anytime soon. She tried to avoid looking below his neck, seeing his well-built body struggle under the crushing weight of the dashboard. The last thing she needed to do was panic and that's exactly what that sight was making her do. Panic out of her mind. She spoke again to distract herself.

"There was one time, after that drugs bust where we found Nadia when it all clicked to me. You must have caught me following that drop of water down your body." She remembered the way she glanced up from tying her lace to talk until she had noticed that Halstead had just stepped fresh out of the shower, wrapped in his signature Bon Jovi towel with his usual brooding look painted on his face. Her eyes fixated on a single drop of water that was making its way down his neck. From his neck it fell down into the curve of his collarbone, joining others on its way down his body. Occasionally it would stagger as it cut over abs and landed on his V-lines to meet his towel.

"The self control it took to look away was unbelievable. I blame that for the reason why the excuse about losing my keys was so weak actually, considering I keep them in my drawer all shift. See, you have that effect on me." And she was right there. Not just trying to get something out of her partner but genuinely admitting that she knew well before they came out to each other that the chemistry they had was crazy. He could be stood brooding in the corner or fresh out of the shower but the feeling that being in his presence gave her was always the same – like the Fourth of July was happening right in her stomach.

From what he had told her a little over a month later, he had felt the same way staring at her in her 'skimpy running apparel.' His words, not hers. His.

Jay could hear Erin's voice rambling in the back of his head; he just wasn't sure where it was coming from. Fear shot through his body as he lost the trail of Erin's tone and silence took over. Everything was dark, everything was hurting and his eyelids were heavy – a feeling he was familiar with yet not a fan of. He tried to open his mouth and call out to her but his throat felt dry and coarse. He swallowed and was about to try again until she interrupted his thoughts.

"I know you said I didn't have to hang around for you but I wasn't kidding when I said you'd miss the extra time you get to see my smiling face," Erin kind of laughed as she said it, she remembered how the grin formed on Jay's face when she tried to catch him out and how her own lips curled at the sides in response to seeing his face light up a little. That's all she wanted from him right now, just something, anything.

"Uugh," he croaked, groaning slightly as his body jerked from the shallow laugh he had tried to muster. He knew exactly what she talking about by a single sentence. "If by face… you mean running gear," he managed to voice as he opened his eyes to see her lock her sights on him, her face lighting up when she realised she wasn't dreaming and he had finally come round.

Closing Author's Note's

Tayler - So what did I tell you? Didn't I tell you this chick (Emily) was amazing. She is an incredible author, and this story wouldn't have grown to more than a thought if it weren't for her. Her enthusiasm and her constant nagging for me to actually do something (In the best way possible. I would have rather sat in a closet at work and tried to catch up on my sleep rather than type anything.) So yes. Emily, this story will be amazing and I am so excited for it to blossom further.

As for the readers, you all are also amazing, and if you know you have talent and even if you don't, come out with it! Write something, and if you don't want to go public with it, send it to me! I would love more than anything for this fandom to grow, because it is an amazing fandom. Thank you all so much for reading, and like Emily said above, please please please leave feedback. I love love love hearing from you all!

Emily - What can I say, I'm surrounded by the best writers in the fandom so I think it's safe to say I've had the best influence. I feel like a little protégée of all of you combined and I would not be writing this if you hadn't convinced me to and supported me through it so thank-you for that. I never knew being part of a fandom would be so rewarding. Tay's talent was one of the things that made me want to start writing so completely this with her is just amazing and I hope you all feel the same. Thank-you for reading and pretty please leave feedback, love you all. We'll update asap!