I got the idea for this one-shot from the "Erin Gets Wasted" joke between Marina and Sophia during the Live Tweet from Chicago PD. Hope that you guys like it.
I don't own any rights or anything having to do with Chicago PD or Chicago Fire.
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He opened the door to Molly's and slowly started to make his way through the crowd of people. The bar was especially busy for a Friday night and he silently cursed the Bulls being in the playoffs for the extra people in the bar.
"Hey Jay" Herrmann greeted as he saw Jay walk up to the bar.
"Hey Herrmann, is she still here?" Jay asked as he looked around the room.
"She's still here. She's in the back with Gaby. Platt's bachelorette party got a little out of hand" Herrmann said with a shake of his head before he leaned over the bar. "I saw Trudy Platt do some things that I'm pretty sure, I'll never be able to unsee"
Jay frowned as he looked towards the back of the bar and shook his head. "Yikes"
Herrmann nodded "Let's just say that your brother, Will, got an eyeful of Platt on her way to Chicago Med"
"That wild?" Jay asked "Can I go on back?"
Herrmann nodded and shook his head with a smile "Go get your girl"
Jay walked through the crowd of people and through the double doors to the back of Molly's and made his way to the office. He smiled when he saw Gaby sitting on one of the chairs in the back and his smile got wider when he saw his girlfriend laying across the couch.
"Hey Jay" Gaby said as she stood up from the chair.
"Sorry about this" Jay said as he looked at her.
"Hey, it's OK. I figure it's better that I call you than to call Hank Voight" Gaby said.
"Yeah, thanks for that. I hope she wasn't too much trouble" Jay walked over to the couch and knelt down by Erin.
"Er?" Jay said brushing her hair over her forehead.
"Hi!" Erin greeted happily as she threw her arms around her boyfriend. "I missed you"
Jay laughed and stood up and pulled Erin with him "I'm sure you did"
"Oh Jay! You...believe... what... not... happened" Erin frowned as she slurred her words.
"Oh?' Jay said wrinkling his nose at the smell of alcohol on his girlfriend's breath.
"Yes" Erin said closing her eyes as the room started to spin. "Platt, she fell off the stool. Just fell...over"
Jay nodded as he looked at Erin. "She did"
"I think she broke her wrist..." Erin's voice trailed off. "...It was great"
Gaby and Jay looked at each other and shared a laugh. Gaby looked down at her watch and raised her brow. "I gotta head out. Do you need help with her?"
Jay looked down at Erin who had leaned against him and swayed in his arms. "Nah, I got it. Thanks for calling me. I appreciate it"
"No problem. You have a good night. Goodnight, Erin. You take it easy, OK?"
Erin opened her eyes and turned her head that was resting against Jay's chest to look at Gaby. "Bye. Thank you for being my friend. Really, thank you. We should hang out more. Let's...do...that" Erin said closing her eyes again.
"We will" Gaby said patting Erin's shoulder. "She's something else, Halstead. I hope you can handle her"
Jay looked down at Erin and shook his head. "Sometimes I wonder. But, I wouldn't have it any other way"
Gaby smiled as she looked at Jay as he placed a kiss on top of Erin's head. She grabbed her jacket and headed towards the door to head home to Casey and she stopped and looked at Jay.
"I knew when I first saw you with her that she was it for you, Jay" Gaby said simply.
"What?" Jay asked turning his head to look at his ex girlfriend.
"When I first saw you two together, it was right after you joined IU and you guys had come in and were having a drink and Burgess was talking about how she used to be a flight attendant and I was standing at the bar and I just saw you two exchange a look and I knew. You look at her the was I look at Matt and she looks at you the same way. I'm not trying to tell you what to do, but don't let her get away" Gaby gave Jay and Erin one last look and walked out of the office door.
Jay looked from the door and back down at Erin. "You ready to go home?"
Erin raised her head back up and looked at Jay. "We should be naked. Let's get naked"
Erin started pulling at the buttons on Jay's shirt and he laughed and swatted her hands away. "No...no no no"
"Why not?" Erin said. "It'll be fun"
Erin was quiet for a moment and a smile came to her face and her eyes lit up as if she'd come up with the most brilliant idea "Let's go to Hank's and have sex. In my old bed. The window rattles at night...but so does the mattress"
Erin laughed at her own joke as she swayed in Jay's arms and he reached out to steady her.
"Woah. How about we just get you home. Being castrated isn't on my list of life goals" Jay explained as he wrapped his arm around Erin and they slowly made their way out of the back.
Herrmann watched as Jay and Erin made their way out of the back and through the bar towards the door. "Hey, you guys be careful"
Jay waved his hand and told Herrmann goodbye as he helped his tipsy girlfriend to the car.
"In we go" Jay said as he got Erin settled into the passenger seat of his car and got her buckled in.
Erin slowly started to sober up as she realized she was in the passenger side of the car. "Wait...No...I'll drive"
"No way" Jay said as he tightened Erin's seat belt. "That would be the second dumbest thing you've done tonight"
"Please?" Erin pouted.
"Just lay back and relax" Jay said as he shut the passenger door and walked around to the driver's side.
Jay got in and looked over at Erin who was already leaned against the window half asleep. He laughed to himself and started his car and pulled out of the parking space and onto the street.
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Jay pulled in front of Erin's apartment building and got out of the car. He walked around and opened the passenger door and undid Erin's seatbelt as she frowned and looked at him.
"I don't feel so good" Erin whined.
"Good" Jay said as he pulled her feet out of the car and twisted her body to help her out and onto her feet. "And you're going to feel a hell of a lot worse tomorrow"
Jay helped Erin stand to her feet and she closed her eyes as she felt the ground start spinning again. "Jay, I can't walk"
"Well, babe you're going to have to" Jay said as he shut the car door and pressed the button to lock his doors.
"Ugh, that's loud" Erin said shaking her head.
"I'm sorry" Jay wrapped his arms around Erin as he steadied her. "Let's get you upstairs"
Jay and Erin slowly walked into her apartment complex and he sighed when he saw the maintenance sign on the elevator. "Well, we're going to have to use the stairs"
Erin shook her head "I can't walk...Carry me"
Jay sighed as Erin turned in his arms to face him. "No ma'am. You got yourself this far. You can get yourself the rest of the way"
"Please..." Erin pulled back and looked at Jay pouting and giving him a sad look.
Jay shook his head "The puppy dog eyes aren't going to work on me..."
"Please?" Erin whispered as she stood on her tip toes and kissed Jay on the mouth.
"Nope" Jay mumbled against Erin's mouth. "I'm not going to carry you up three flights of stairs"
"Please" Erin said again as she started to kiss along Jay's jaw and up to his ear.
Jay rolled his eyes and groaned "Damn it"
He reached down long enough to brace his arm behind Erin's knees and back and picked her up Bridal style and made his way to the stairs.
Jay made the trip up to Erin's third floor apartment with little effort and he quickly used his key to get inside. Knowing his way to her bedroom by heart, he bypassed turning on any lights and instead used to light of the moon to make his way into her room.
He gently laid her down on her bed and brushed her hair over her forehead before knealing down by the bed and untying her boots and pulling them off of her feet.
He quickly grabbed a quilt off of the chair in the corner and draped it over her before making his way into the kitchen and grabbing a bottle of water and a few Asprin.
He walked back into Erin's bedroom and laid them next to the bed as he turned on the bedside light. He laughed to himself as he looked at his girlfriend's disheveled appearance.
Erin's hair and all but fallen from the pony tail she'd put in in at the start of the night and her red lipstick was smeared across her lips and he was sure the remaining lipstick adorned his neck and jaw as he raised his hand and felt the waxy substance on his skin. Jay shook his head as he heard Erin snore softly and he gently brushed the hair that had fallen across her face over her cheek and behind her ear.
He stayed seated on the bed as he thought about what Gaby had told him earlier in the night and in spite of it all his heart physically ached with the love he felt for the girl laying on the bed.
Sure, he didn't want to leave Atwater's place during the Bulls game to come across town and pick his drunken girlfriend up from a bachelorette party, but in reality he'd do it a hundred times. She was without a doubt the best thing that had ever happened to him and he knew in his heart that there was not and would never be another woman for him.
He gently stood from the bed and leaned over Erin and placed a soft kiss on her forehead.
"I love you" He whispered against her forehead for the very first time.
The words he'd held in for so long had the most random time of confessing, but he just couldn't deny it. He was in love with Erin Lindsay. Every single version of her.
Drunk.
Sober.
Angry.
Happy.
Sad.
And every emotion in between.
She was the first thing he thought of every morning and the last thing he thought about at night. His beginning and his end. And with Hank's blessing he'd make this woman his wife and one day, the mother of his children.
Jay cut the bedside light off and stood up to make his way to the couch so he wouldn't disturb her while she slept. He slipped his shoes off and turned the TV on low as he laid down on the couch and pulled the blanket off of the back and over him.
Somewhere between texts from Ruzek telling him how he was up with a VERY hungover and VERY sick Burgess and late night TV Jay fell asleep with thoughts of the woman in the next room on his mind.
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The first thing she felt before she even opened her eyes was her pounding head and the horrible taste in her mouth. Erin slowly opened her eyes and she groaned and quickly closed them at the morning light that shown through her curtains.
She steadied herself as she breathed deep through a wave of nausea and after a few minutes she finally pushed herself up to a sitting position. She looked over at the bedside table and quickly took the Asprin and water that Jay had left out for her the night before.
Knowing she wasn't going to make it without a cup of coffee Erin braced herself to get out of bed. Standing up made the pounding in her head increase and she groaned as she covered her eyes.
"I'm never drinking again" Erin groaned to herself as she made her way out of the bedroom.
She stopped in her step when she saw him on the couch and she couldn't help the small smile that formed on her face.
Jay was still asleep his head turned towards the side and his mouth slightly open as he slept. Erin quietly made her way over to Jay and she looked down at him as he slept. Her hand gently traced from his ear down the scruff of his jaw and she smiled when she saw the faint outline of her lipstick on his face.
How this man put up with her and cared enough to rescue her when everyone had turned their back on her was beyond anything she ever imagined. No man had ever done anything like that for her.
Outside of Hank Voight, Jay was truly the man that Erin trusted with her life. The man she'd lay down her own life for and not even flinch. She wasn't good at the emotional stuff, she never had been but for Jay? She knew she was finally ready for him to see the parts of herself that she didn't even like. Because with his support, she knew that she'd be able to make it through anything.
Erin slowly leaned down and brushed her lips across his forehead. "I love you, too"
Erin stood up and made her way to the kitchen. Fully meaning the words she had heard Jay whisper last night and as she made her way to the coffee pot, she didn't see the small smile spread across her boyfriend's face as he was awoken by her beautiful confession.
It may have taken a lot of love, loss and heartache to get to this point. But one thing was for sure. Jay Halstead was in love with Erin Lindsay and she was in love with him.
And neither one of them needed any more security than that.
*~The End~*