Hey Guys I am back with a new story! This was a prompt request I got from linsteadlove a few weeks back. She and I have been talking about it, and putting our Linstead loving brains together to come up with the plot of it for weeks now. I finally have the first chapter written, and I am so excited to share it with you all. Please read, review, follow, or favorite, but most of all enjoy!
Jay was tossing and turning in bed. It was 5am and he had yet to fall asleep. He hadn't gotten much rest at all in the last week really. He just wasn't used to sleeping alone anymore, and worries plagued his mind 24/7.
He pulled himself out of bed and padded his way across the hall. Sliding his hand across the oak of the thin railing, he stared down into the crib where his baby girl laid fast asleep.
He could hear her quiet breathing and every so often her eyelashes would flutter, but never fully open. Selfishly he wanted to wake her. He wanted to see those big emerald eyes staring back at him. The eyes she'd gotten from her mother, and the only eyes that could make him forget, even if only for a moment.
He talked himself out of waking her though, especially since she hadn't been sleeping well either the last week, and instead made his way to the kitchen to put on a pot of coffee.
He collapsed onto the tan suede sofa with the mug of fresh java in his hands. He stared aimlessly across the room before his eyes finally met the frames of photographs on the mantel. He hadn't allowed himself to look at those photographs since she'd gotten hurt. It was too terrifying.
What if she never smiled like that again? What if she never got to hold their baby girl, like she was in the photo of them at the hospital the day she was born? What if she never got to kiss him again, like the photo from their wedding day? What if she never laughed like she was in the photo with the unit at Molly's? And god forbid, what would he do if she never woke up?
On the other side of town Hank Voight also laid awake restless in bed. He was planning out his day in his mind when he cell phone began to ring.
"Voight." His gruff voice answered the call.
"Hello, I am one of Erin Lindsay's nurses." Voight sat up in bed when she introduced herself. "Erin has just woken up and gave me this number, requesting that I call you."
"She what?" He yelled into the phone. He meant it to come out as shocked, but instead he sounded angry.
"Yes, Do I have the right number? This is Hank Voight correct?"
"Yes. Yes. Tell her I'm on my way." Voight hung up and quickly jumped out of bed to get dressed. He was honestly shocked that she hadn't wanted to call Halstead first. Rushing out of his house he dialed Jay's number.
The vibration of his phone on the nightstand pulled Jay from his thoughts. A noise usually so unnoticeable was one hundred times intensified by the eerie silence of the apartment. He hurried down the hall to go answer before it woke the baby.
"Hello?" He'd gotten to the phone too late, because the baby was screaming at the top of her lungs from her crib.
"Halstead, I'm on my way to the hospital. She's awake."
Jay had been in rout to go sooth the crying infant when Voight's news stopped him dead in his tracks.
"Halstead are you there? I said she's awake. Get your ass here!"
"I'm on my way. I'll drop Liv off at daycare then I'll be there! Tell her I'm coming!"
Voight entered Erin's hospital within ten minutes of receiving the call. That was something considering his house was at least a twenty-minute drive when traveling the speed limit.
"It took you long enough." Erin teased with a dimpled smile the second Hank walked, or more so ran, into her room.
He smiled shanking his head and went over to hug her. Neither was usually very affectionate, but Voight would make an exception. "You scared the hell out of me, kid! Do you know how long you've been out of it?"
"The doctor hasn't been by yet, but my nurse said six days?"
Hank nodded. "Yeah it would have been six days tomorrow."
"I don't even remember what happened to me. Was it Catalano?"
Hank was hit with a wall of confusion. "You mean Joe Catalano?"
"Yeah that's the case we were working on."
Hanks face rarely showed emotion but he couldn't help but show how shocked he was. "Erin, Joe Catalano has been in prison for five years."
"What? No that's not possible. We were working on the case." She lowered her voice "Justin was driving the car."
Hank fell back into the seat next to the bed. "Erin that was five years ago. Justin lives on base in Virginia now with his wife Olive, and their son. Do you not remember any of this?"
Erin contorted her face in confusion. "What are you talking about?" She shook her head frantically. "You said I was out for only six days. That couldn't have been five years ago."
He reached out to grab her hand but she pulled it away. Was this a sick joke? No Voight isn't the joking type, especially not in a situation like this. She felt like she could throw up. How do you just forget the last five years of you life?
"Erin we'll talk to the doctor maybe this will only be temporary. I'm sure your memory will come back."
"I don't understand. How can I just forget five whole years? Justin is married? He has a son? What else did I miss?"
Suddenly Jay popped into Hanks mind, and he instantly felt terrible. Erin didn't remember the fact that she got married three years ago. She couldn't remember that she had an eight-month-old daughter. He decided to tell her she was married but he'd save the baby part for Halstead.
"Erin, you got married three years ago."
Her jaw hung open. "I what?"
"You're married. I called him when the nurse called me. He's on his way now."
"I didn't get married. I would remember that. If I'm married why aren't I wearing a ring, and why does my chart still have my last name as Lindsay?
"He took the ring because he was afraid someone would steal it off you, and you hyphenated your last name for work. You still go by Lindsay."
"I…I…I" No words came to mind to describe what she was feeling. She had a million questions yet no words would come out.
"He's on his way. I let him explain. He'll do a better job than I can."
"Wait. Who is he?" She finally asked.
Voight gave her a sad grin. "I think you should wait and see for yourself. I'm going to use the bathroom I'll be right back."
He wasn't really going to the bathroom he was going to wait for Jay, so he could inform him that Erin had no memory.
Jay came sprinting down the hall full speed ahead, but was brought to abrupt stop when Voight stepped out in front of him.
"Halstead wait."
"Can't this wait until after I see her Voight?" He asked pushing past. Hank grabbed his arm halting him.
"She doesn't remember, Jay."
Jay scrunched his eyebrows in feeling lost. "What doesn't she remember?"
"She doesn't remember the last five years of her life. She thinks she got hurt working on the Joe Catalano case."
Jay's hand went to his face dragging it across his mouth as he sunk down towards the floor. He stood squatted down his elbows rested on his knees. Catalano. "Keep it professional." That's what Erin remembered about them. Not falling in love. Not their engagement. Not their marriage. Not their daughter. Not the incredible life they had created together. She had forgot it all.