One-shot based off last night's episode. I hope you all enjoy it :)

All characters belong to NBC

Today had been a long one for all of the members of the Intelligence Unit. Usually when they have cases like the one they had today where they are running around trying to find out who actually did it, all of the team is exhausted by the end. They all have their own ways to unwind, some go to Molly's for drinks or they go home for the evening.

Jay Halstead wished that was the case for him. He would give anything to go home and sit on the couch with a beer in one hand and his girl curled into his side. However, he had taken this stupid part time job so that he could get some more money for a new condo. As much as he loved living with his brother, one of them had to move out and it sure didn't look the person moving out was going to be Will.

So Jay sucked it up and decided that he had lived in that place for long enough, that maybe it was time to move on. Plus if he got a big enough place, when the time was right, maybe his girl, Erin Lindsay, would move in.

He was about halfway through his shift at this part-time job when his desire to hear his girlfriend's voice became unbearable. With all that had happened in recent weeks, Jay just wanted to be around her. He wanted to hold her, ask her how her day was, and make her dinner. Most of the time he was able to be professional at work, keeping a little distance but since she was partnered with Burgess today he hardly got to see her.

For the two of them, the car rides to witnesses houses were really the only time they got to be alone during work. It was a time where the radio would be playing and they would be talking about cases or what they were going to do later that night. Stuff that they really couldn't do when everyone was around.

XXXXX

When he finally got his break, he tried calling her. He knew she was out with the girls so he understood that she might not pick up, but she did.

"Hey baby. You get the munchies yet?" he heard her raspy voice ask him. He internally groaned at the word "baby" because that was his word. Before Erin, he had girls call him baby before but it didn't have that much of an effect on him as it did when Erin said it. It was literally his favorite word and she knew that. It was one of the many words that Erin said that drove him crazy.

She used it to her advantage often, even in the short weeks since the first time she said it. They both knew he couldn't deny her anything, but when he did try all she had to do was play the "baby" card and he was putty in her hands.

XXXXX

The first time she called him baby was right after the Yates case. She had once again gone in without backup and once again that had infuriated her boyfriend. After the Yates case they were given the weekend off, and during that weekend Erin stayed with Jay. But despite staying together, they didn't talk both knowing that if they did talk it would probably result in a huge fight.

During the day, Erin spent time with Voight and Alvin while Jay hung out with Atwater and Ruzek. At night, the two laid in each other's arms, holding onto the other one tightly. The first night Erin wasn't sure that Jay was going to come in. She had told him that was probably going to head to bed and he just nodded, glancing at her briefly. Her nightly routine didn't take that long and less than thirty minutes later she was curled up in his bed.

She could see that light from the t.v. indicating that it was still on. She had to fight the tears in her eyes. She knew she had messed up but she had been hoping that he would hold her, giving her some sense of security during the night. Maybe then she could sleep and not see Yate's face. She didn't even realize that the t.v. had turned off and that the left side of the bed was dipping.

It wasn't until she heard him sigh that she realized he was in the bed with her. But he was keeping his distance, lying on his back towards the edge of the bed. She didn't care that he might be mad at her, she just wanted to be with him. She rolled over and tucked herself at his side, not missing the fact that he adjusted his arm so that his hand was now gripping her hip.

That had been late Friday night and the fact that they were still on the outs was so frustrating to her. She missed catching him staring at her, the little smirks he sent her way or even how sometimes when she left the room he left her little sticky notes telling her that she looked beautiful.

That day had been a slow one for intelligence. Everyone was out and about, leaving just the two of them alone in the bullpen trying to catch up on paperwork. She saw Jay stand up and walk to the locker room, obviously mad about something. She quickly stood up and followed him.

"Jay, what's wrong?" she asked quietly after walking into the locker room and seeing him, hands on the sink counter and bent slightly over.

"Nothing is wrong." he sighed .

"I know when you're lying and right now you're lying."

"You want to know why I'm upset? Maybe it has to do with the fact that I'm having to do paperwork asking me why my partner went after a known serial killer by herself and why I wasn't with her." He angrily said. "Or why they're bringing up the case where you went in without backup and nearly got your neck slit." At this point he was nearly shouting and realized it enough to lower his voice and try to calm down, "do you know how much it sucks to have your abilities questioned by making you relive some of the worst memories. I don't want to have to think about what would have happened if I had been a minute slower. I can't think about it."

"Jay." she said as she felt her heart break into a million pieces at how defeated her partner/boyfriend looked. She placed her hand on his back, "baby look at me."

He turned slowly to face her, "Jay what I did was stupid and reckless. Nothing you could have done would have stopped me either time. But you did get there in time, you were the one who put it together that I was with Tawney. You did everything right and I am so sorry that I put you in that position."

She had barely finished when she felt his arms wrap around her, pulling her in tightly for a hug.

"Please just don't ever do that again. Next time just let me come with you." He pleaded brokenly.

She nodded into his shirt knowing that this time, she intended to keep that promise. They went over to her house later that night, with Thai food in Erin's hands and beer in Jay's. The ate in a comfortable silence as they caught the last minutes of the blackhawks game.

With everything that had happened over the last few weeks, the two hadn't been intimate with each other in a while. It was something they both craved and had been missing deeply.

It started normally with gentle kisses and soft touches, Jay was always good at making sure that she got exactly what she needed. When things began to pick up, Erin could tell that Jay wanted her to do something, he just wasn't telling her what it was.

So she stopped her motions and he looked up at her confused. "What's wrong, why did you stop?" he asked her worriedly.

"Nothing's wrong with me. Why do you have that look?"

"What look?"

"The look that you get when you want me to do something."

He looked to the side sheepishly, "it's nothing."

"Jay if you don't tell me, how can I do it?" She teased.

He looked at her to see if she was being completely honest before managing to stutter out, "do you think that… maybe you could call me baby again. It was super hot when you said it in the locker room."

She let out a small laugh, noticing him going red before leaning in and whispering, "of course baby."

He groaned at that and flipped them over, resuming their previous activities while whispering how hot she was in her ear while she chanted the word baby softly in his.

And that was the beginning of the word. It had become an everyday occurrence between them. Erin loved saying baby in the break room when they were by themselves and watching Jay have to take a minute to calm himself down. The fact that she had that kind of effect on him just by saying a word really made her feel good about them in their relationship.

Not because she held something over him but because after everything that she had done in her past, he didn't hold any of it against her.

XXXXX

"Hey baby. You get the munchies yet?"

"You're funny."

"Babe, what's wrong I thought you wanted this job." she asked as she quietly excused herself from the girls she was hanging out with.

"It sounded like a good idea at first, but I don't know know." He replied glancing towards the clock.

"Why doesn't it sound like it's a good idea anymore"

He sighed, "well for one I'm only doing it so I can get a bigger apartment. Two I think that my boss is hitting on me and the guys who work here too. It's like she has this thing for ex-military guys."

He was greeted with silence, "babe, talk to me."

"What is it with you and fricken lawyers?" She groaned into the phone.

"They don't have anything on you." He said laughing.

"Good to know. You should hurry up so I can show you what you'll be missing if.." She didn't get to finish her sentence before he cut her off, "baby, nothing will ever happen. Trust me. I'm more into police officers anyway."

"Oh are you now? It's a good thing Platt and I are such good friends maybe I can convince her to let me borrow of street uniform."

"Damnit Lindsay, you are going to be the death of me." He checked his watch. "hey I'll be done soon, do you want to do something tonight?"

"If by something, you mean watch netflix and eat Chinese food on my coach, then yes I want to do something."

"Okay, I guess I'll see you tomorrow then."

"I mean I could see you tomorrow, or I could do that something with my boyfriend."

She could almost feel the relief radiating from him. "I'll see you in an hour, okay?"

"See you in an hour baby."

XXXXX

He was at her door exactly an hour later, pushing her up against the wall, "you shouldn't tease me like that."

"Like what baby?" she questioned mischievously

He groaned, placing a sweet kiss on her lip pulling her towards the coach takeout still in hand. Instead of eating in silence like they normally did with the t.v. tonight they just talked. Talked about how each other's day had been. What it had been like to be partnered with someone else. They agreed that maybe partnering up with other people may be good occasionally but they did work better together.

After dinner, Jay pulled her off the coach and led them to her bedroom. She could already tell that it was going to be a slow night, not that she was complaining. The intimacy they shared during these nights kept her going. No man had touched her quite like Jay touched her. Kissed her like Jay did. Love her the way Jay did.

And as they lay there snuggled together, a blanket covering their naked bodies, he told her that the reason he took the job was so that he could buy a condo. A condo with enough room for her if she wanted to move in.

If that wasn't the sweetest thing she had ever heard she didn't know was. Nobody had ever thought about being that long term with her that they were willing to take an extra to make sure that she was comfortable. And it was in that moment that she realized that this was it for her. Jay was it and she would be damned if he didn't know that.

She rolled over, facing him before whispering the word that before seemed impossible, "I love you."

She saw his shocked expression before the childish grin appeared on his face, "I love you too. I love you so much."

She smiled softly, "I know baby," she said as she snuggled closer to his arm wrap around her, she knew that she had nothing to worry about. She had Jay and Jay had her and neither needed any more reassurance than that.