Jay Halstead rounded the corner of Main Street in downtown Chicago, Illinois with his partner, Erin Lindsay on his arm. The young detectives were dressed in their best evening wear as if they were headed to an award show. Instead, the two were headed to Erin's high school reunion that was being hosted at the Hilton Hotel. Erin had her reservations at first about going, considering her troubled past as a teenager and the reputation that she had made for herself with the girls in high school. In the end, Erin decided that she'd go and show the girls that had made her teenage life hell who she had become, and how she ended up on top with a handsome young man as arm candy. Jay felt Erin suddenly stop in her tracks, jerking him backwards. He turned his head to look at her, stuffing his hands into the pockets of his black slacks.
"What am I doing here?" Erin asked herself and to Jay at the same time.
"I thought we were going to your high school reunion." Jay questioned.
"No, I mean, why did I come? I don't owe anyone explanation and I don't know why I felt the need to come up with some elaborate ruse to fit in with these people. I'm happy with where I'm at. I've got family, I've got friends, I've got a job that I love, I don't need these people."
"Then let's go, let's get out of here. I'll buy you dinner, and maybe dessert." Jay teased his partner. She gave him a lop-sided grin as the two turned around and headed back for the car that was around the corner.
XOXOXO
Jay and Erin found themselves having an in-depth conversation of Erin's past and her troubles in high school over Italian food at a restaurant that was eighteen stories high up in the sky overlooking the city of Chicago. Jay and Erin had been working together all of a six months and while he knew her day-to-day habits like how she took her coffee and how she was never a minute late for work, until that night he didn't know what made Erin Lindsay the phenomenal young woman that she was. She had been explaining to him that after her father went to prison, and her mother was always too high and drunk to care about her, she became a street kid. After a few years on the street, she had met their current sergeant and boss in the Intelligence Unit of the Chicago Police Department, Hank Voight. He and his wife had taken her in, saved her life, and she created a whole new identity for herself much like she had done tonight when she had tried to create this elaborate story of the places she had gone, the person she had become, and the man she was going to marry just to impress them.
"You figure out who your real friends are pretty quick when the word's out that your mom's a junkie and your dad's in jail."
"Whose ass did you kick first?" Jay quipped with his award-winning grin on his face.
Erin let out a small chuckle because it sounded like something she would do. However, Hank Voight had put a lot on the line and put aside his ego to get her into the school that she had been in. There was no way that Erin would have gotten away with kicking their asses for turning their backs on her after finding out who she really was and she definitely didn't want to disappoint or let down Hank Voight after everything that the man had done and sacrificed for a street kid that he had only known for a few years.
Jay could see the pain in her eyes as she explained how she ate the torment instead of standing up to the petty high school girls and how she couldn't understand why it still bothered her so much to the point where she had to create a fictional world with Jay to impress them. It impressed him that she thought that he could pass for someone who was devilishly attractive and filthy rich enough to be the man on her arm that night. To say that Jay had a thing for his partner was an understatement but there was no way that the two of them could ever act on it. There was a clear rule that detectives, especially in Hank Voight's Intelligence Unit, couldn't date in-house or in-unit. If things went awry, it often disrupted the family structure and would cause people to become distracted from their jobs. Distractions often costed people their life. Jay reached over and he took her hand in his, running the pad of his thumb over her fingers to comfort her.
They locked eyes for a solid moment before she spoke, "We can't."
"Come on, let's get you home." Jay stood up, not wanting to make the moment anymore awkward for the either of them. The two of them locked eyes one more time before she stood up, inches apart from him.
"Maybe one day." She uttered.
"Oh definitely." He flashed his famous grin at her before wrapping his arm around her shoulders and leading her out of the restaurant.
XOXOXO
"Well, this is me." Erin said as they stood at her door to her apartment, with their eyes locked, her sweater folded over her arm.
"Erin, I don't want you to think that this you is not good enough because this you is more than enough for me." He spoke in a soft voice.
Jay played with the fabric inside of his pockets where his hands were stuck inside as their eyes never left each other. He knew that he had to break eye contact with her before he did something stupid like lean into kiss her and get shot down because he knew that it was something they couldn't do. They couldn't get involved. Hank Voight had already given him a clear warning, twice, since joining the unit that romantically Erin was off limits to him. While Jay knew Voight had his rules, and he was never one to question authority, he couldn't help but think that part of his reasoning behind said rules because Voight thought of Erin as a daughter. He also knew that Jay was definitely Erin's type and wanted to keep them both attentive and focused on the job ahead of them and not on each other. When partners because involved and infatuated with each other, it was often hard where to draw the line between a work relationship and a personal relationship.
"Sergeant Jay Halstead?" Jay broke eye contact with Erin to shift them towards the uniformed man that was standing a few feet away from them.
"Yes sir, I'm Jay Halstead." Jay responded pulling his hands from his pockets and saluting the man of higher rank.
"At ease, soldier. The United States Army is pulling you and your unit from reserve and sending you back into theater. You leave tomorrow morning at 0800." The man explained to him.
"Yes sir." He responded taking the papers from the man's hands that he was offering to him and watched as the older man of higher rank disappeared down the hall and out of the building.
After high school, Jay Halstead had chosen to join the United States Army seeing as college was out of the question and out of the Halstead's family affordability as his brother had been draining their parents' savings to go to medical school to become a trauma specialist. Off the bat, he had chosen to join the security forces. He had gone from checking IDs and doing searches of vehicles entering and leaving the base, to a year as a military police officer, before going to Ranger School to become an Army Ranger. Off the bat, the United States Army had recognized his skill of being a sniper and Ranger School had only helped him improve on those skills.
Jay had seen his fair share of horrible things while he had been over sees, and he had lived by the 'shoot first, ask questions later' motto for most of his career, but then his mother had gotten sick and he knew that he had to return home. His extended furlough had turned into him joining the reserves so that he could still be covered underneath his military benefits, while being able to stay home and take care of his mother. He also used this time to pursue other interests, and with his experience of being in the security forces and as a military police officer, he decided that he could definitely pursue a career in law enforcement.
While going through the police academy, Jay's mother succumbed to cancer, but not before having him promise her that he was going to go on to be the best police officer that the Chicago Police Department had ever seen. He did just that. After graduating the Academy, he worked the beat for a year, and joined the Gang Unit which was something that he had truly enjoyed before he had been caught in the middle of a shootout between dirty cops, and had been shot in the shoulder. Rule of thumb was that if an officer was shot in the line of duty and survived, that they had their choice of their next assignment. Jay requested to become part of the Intelligence Unit and with his experience in the military, Voight was happy to take him.
XOXOXO
Jay dressed in his camouflage beige and green uniform stood at the terminal gate surrounded by the entire Intelligence Unit, his second family, as they asked questions to which he had no answers for. Jay looked down at his beige boots that were perfectly tied together before looking up at the people in front of him, locking eyes with the one and only Erin Lindsay. He pulled his eyes away from hers when he heard the announcement that his flight was going to begin boarding.
"Well, that's me." Jay remarked and he gave one last look to the men (and the woman) that huddled around him.
"You come back to us, safe and sound, you hear?" Antonio Dawson held out his hand. Jay shook his hand, giving him a hug.
"You got it."
"As much as I pick on you, you fit well into this unit, and you'll have your job waiting for you when you return. So you better get your ass back here, Halstead. That's an order." Voight gave him a serious look and shake of the hand.
"Come on guys, let's give them a moment." Antonio said. Jay hugged and shook the hands with the rest of the members, except Erin, before they walked away to give him and his partner a few seconds to say their own goodbye.
"I'm not going to say goodbye to you, because you're going to come back. You have to come back. So don't go over there and be a smartass and get yourself killed." Erin warned him and he nodded his head, a grin appearing on his face.
"A kiss for good luck?" Jay asked, raising an eyebrow in her direction.
"You wish, Halstead." Erin wrapped her arms around his neck, reaching up to give him his hug, before placing a kiss on the back of his neck. "Maybe one day." She mumbled softly before pulling away and out of his arms.
"Oh definitely." He repeated back to her, as if it was their own little saying.
"See you later." Erin replied, walking away to join the rest of the unit who was standing a few feet away to see him off. Jay grabbed his bag that matched his uniform that was sitting next to him on the ground, and he slung it over his shoulder as he headed for the gate. He looked over his shoulder once more before boarding the plane.
XOXOXO
Let me know what you guys thought! This isn't my first story that I've written for this site, but my first in quite a few years. Discovering these shows and this fandom has seriously made my life complete. This was just kind of an introduction chapter to give you guys a little background on the characters, their storylines, and what not. Obviously, this is going to be Linstead centric but you'll get moments with other couples and obviously a few bromances.
I also wanted to let you know that I'll post my stories here and on WattPad (underneath the same username) so whatever platform or site you use to read my stories, feedback is appreciated.
Be on the lookout for Chapter 1 which picks up a year or so after Jay's deployment and him adjusting back to civilian life and all the changes the Intelligence Unit detectives have gone through.
Signed,
"Chase"