Hey guys! Hope everyone is having an awesome weekend! This fic here is based off of the promo, Tumblr ideas, and Twitter hints. Hope you Enjoy and drop a review! Thank You! :)
Three weeks ago Erin Lindsay up and quit her job and left the life she loves behind, drowning the sorrows of her protégé Nadia DeCotis's death in alcohol and drugs. She was leaving her apartment headed towards the bar, when the last person she ever wanted to see was perched up against the railing, outside the front door.
"What do you want?" she asked as she pushed her sunglasses further up her nose, and adjusted the bag on her shoulder.
"I wanna hear you say it." he said concerned.
"Say what?" she asked like she knew nothing.
"That you're no longer my partner."
"Jay…"
"Remove the glasses Erin."
"What? Why?"
"I want you to look me in the eye and tell me to my face that we are no longer partners." He told her as he gently pulled the glasses from her face.
"We're no longer partners." She told him flatly, still unable to look him in the eye all but for a brief second and for that second, she felt as though she was breaking inside.
"You can't say that, you can't quit."
"You're a day late and a dollar short Halstead." She said grabbing her sunglasses out of his hand as she left him standing in the street.
"You know what, fine, do what you want, you always do but I just want the old Lindsay back, I want my partner back. So whenever you are ready, you know where to find me." He told her before walking away in the opposite direction.
"News flash Jay, the old Erin is gone, don't know if she will ever be back." She said, running up to him.
"Well, I hope for your sake she does Erin! Because I know that the woman I fell in love with is in there somewhere. And I would rather not find you floating in the drink or in some alley, dead." He yelled before he finally walked away, leaving her standing on the sidewalk.
Four Days Later…
She had only stopped by the twenty first district to continue her argument with her former partner, but deep down she knew something was wrong, the relentless phone calls and text messages that she would get every day from him abruptly stopped three days ago. She walked through the front door and up the few steps, to the main floor of the district, Platt staring her down all the way, to which she ignored. She quickly made her way to the Iron Gate, punching in the code and scanning her hand just for kicks to see if she was still in the system, and much to her amazement she was. She figured the moment she quit, Voight would have told Mouse to change the system but she knew that he was old fashion and things never changed. She made her way up the wooden stairs, avoiding the fourth and seventh ones up as the shrill in the warped wood would give her away.
"How the hell are we supposed to get to Halstead now?" Antonio frustratingly voiced, running a hand through his hair.
"He asked for a female officer so we're going to give him one. Ruzek, call Burgess and tell her to get up here." Voight said, trying to defuse the situation.
"Boss, I don't think that Ki- Burgess is the right choice, she's never done a rescue op other than at the academy. Isn't there someone else? What about Stephanie from Gangs?"
"I'll do it." Erin said as she made her presence known, causing all the men in the room to turn around at the sound of her voice.
"Erin. What are you doing here." Voight was the first to speak up. The others were in shock of her appearance, her bloodshot eyes, her un-kept appearance, this was a side of Erin Lindsay they had never seen before.
"Halstead has been a thorn in my side for the past three weeks with the never ending phone calls and texts which suddenly stopped three days ago, figured you would know something about it." She told him crossing her arms across her chest.
"Well, you were mistaken, he took a few personal days, will be back next week." Voight lied.
"Him? Take personal days? Cut the B.S. Hank! I don't care if you are keeping this in house or not, but, where the hell is my partner?"
Voight let out a frustrated sigh, she deserved the right to know.
"Four days ago we sent Halstead in on a simple undercover op, he was just supposed to pose as a buyer and make simple contact, but somehow he got made and taken hostage. We were sent a video yesterday with cash demands and a plane out of the country to be brought to them by a female officer by no later than four today. Now you know as much as we do." He said, leaving out the small details.
"Send me in. He's my partner, I know him better than anyone. I can get him out." Erin said, not taking another second to think. 'I'm his partner, I'm his back-up.' She thought to herself.
"You are no longer a part of this unit, let alone a detective, I won't allow it." Voight told her standing his ground.
"Hank, you have no other choice. I'm assuming they are planning on killing him soon if they don't get there way? How much time is left? Eight Hours?" Erin argued.
"Four."
"Send me in." She sternly said.
Voight let out a sigh, prepared to argue once more.
"Boss, she's right, she knows Halstead better than anyone. Send her in." Antonio spoke up defending Erin.
Voight let out another defeated sigh "Fine, but only under a few conditions…"
"Search her." The boss of the cartel asked over the phone as Erin walked up to the waiting car at the parking garage.
The guy quickly patted her down before running a metal detector over her body, as another one held a gun to the back of her head.
"She's Clean."
"What, did you really think I would bring something? I'm not that stupid." Erin said as she was pushed towards a waiting car. She gave a slight head nod towards the taller building across from the garage, where Dawson was in a window with a long gun, prepared to take them all out should this start to go sideways.
Before placing her in the waiting SUV they bounded her wrists together with a zip tie and placed a black cloth over her head. They pushed her into the car, and made their way out of the parking garage, Erin counting the distance and the turns in her head as best as she could through the fog, her body desperately craving for a high.
After what she estimated to be thirty minutes, they arrived at the location, quickly urging her out of the car and through a door, taking a right, going up the stairs, take another right, and then down a hallway and up another flight of stairs that led you to a door of a large room before removing the cloth from the top of her head. As they removed the cloth and removed the tie from her wrists, her eyes quickly scanned the room in search of her partner, she quickly found him, his back to her.
"Well, now that the rest of our agreement is finally here, we can get started." Said the man sitting in a chair behind a desk that was covered in files.
"You will have your cash in three and the plane in six hours." Said Erin as she still stood in the doorway.
"And they say that policemen do not negotiate…" the man said with an evil grin. "You may join your friend on the couch now."
Erin walked over, not prepared for the sight that she was about to be met with.
"Are you ok?" she asked as she felt her heartbeat drop then pick up along with her pace as she walked over towards her former partner. She knelt down on the couch beside him, quickly checking his sides for any broken bones, his hands were bound behind his back, and his mouth taped shut, a large gash above his right eyebrow, his left eye almost swollen completely shut, his shirt was ripped open and covered in dried blood, his abdomen looking like a war zone with the variety of cuts and deep dark blue and purple bruises. "Hey! Jay, wake up." She said as she removed the tape before gently shaking him awake.
"He said you may join him, he did not say you could touch him." Another man yelled, pushing Erin backward, away from Jay.
"Hey! He is seriously hurt, I was just checking on him."
"That's not necessary. He should suffer. Let him lie there in pain, in misery." The man laughed.
"He needs a hospital." Erin said glancing towards Jay, who was fully awake now.
Jay thought he was dreaming as he laid on the couch, his back towards the door. He was partially awake, when he heard her voice. 'Erin?' he thought to himself 'No, it can't be. You are imagining things Halstead." But, no more than a few seconds later, he felt the couch sink beside him. He thought he heard her calling his name, but just attributed it to his injuries. But no sooner than the thought had crossed his mind, he felt a smooth hand touch the stubble of his cheek, eliciting a spark as it gently removed the tape keeping his mouth closed. There was only one person that could have that effect on him, he abruptly attempted to sit up, his body arguing all the way, which increased his level of consciousness.
"He needs nothing."
"Let him go. He has done nothing, if anyone should suffer, if anyone should die, it's me, not him."
"Oh, what do we have here? A modern day Romeo and Juliet perhaps?"
"Let. Him. Go." Erin gritted through her teeth.
"Hmmmmm, let me think about it…. Nope not feeling it."
Erin quickly stood up, going back to Jay, checking to make sure nothing was broken. "Sit. Down." The man demanded.
"No."
"Tomas. Tie her to that chair,' the leader of the cartel demanded, pointing to the chair on the opposite side of the room. 'Kill him first and make her watch, then kill her." He laughed before stepping out of the room, through the door she came through just minutes before.
That was the last straw she thought to herself as the man came up behind Erin, grabbing her by her arm before forcing a gun into her back and leading her towards the chair.
This was her chance she thought, it was now or never, she quickly spun around to her left, and struggled with the man who was two times her size, before she brought them both falling down into a glass coffee table, the man falling on top of her. The crash had caused her to be dazed for a second, giving her a splitting headache while the glass gave her a large gash on her upper arm and hand. But it did not stop her as she quickly kneed him in the shin as he brought the barrel of the gun in his hand towards her temple, her attempt to injure him never fazing him.
"Do it! I dare you!" her raspy voice yelled.
But little did the man know that Halstead was behind him, and he had a broken post from the table in his hand. Earlier, when Erin was checking for broken bones, she was able to free his hands of the tie wrap with a small knife she had hidden in her belt. Jay quickly hit the man on the back of the head, causing the man to turn around. Jay hit him once again, this time harder, the man was fazed but still not unconscious. Jay kept hitting the man on the head until he finally hit the ground, and was out like a light. He then took the post and began hitting the unconscious man in the abdomen with it, repeatedly.
"JAY!" Erin yelled pulling him out of his trance.
"Yeah?" he answered in pain and out of breath as he fell to his knees.
"Let's go." Erin said as she grabbed the captors' gun from his hand with her tremoring hand.
"Erin stop." Jay asked as he slowly got up.
"What? We need to get out of here Halstead."
"Are you ok?" he asked as he lightly grabbed her arm.
"I'm fine."
"No you're not! You're bleeding and you can barely stand on your own two feet!" he said as they stood in the middle of the room, which to her was spinning out of control.
"Jay, don't worry about me, I'm not the one who could be bleeding internally and have multiple broken bones."
"Nothing I've not experienced before." He grimaced.
"Listen, I would love to stand here and chit-chat but Mr. Head Honcho will be returning anytime now, so let's go." She said as she slowly moved towards the door, placing the gun in the waistband of her jeans around her back.
"Hey Erin.." Jay said causing her to stop in her tracks.
"What now?" she sighed.
"Thank you." He said as he brushed a piece of hair out of her face before placing an arm around her shoulder, needing help getting out of the hell hole.
"That's why you have back-up."
They made their way out the door, Erin guessing on which way was to the front door by memory, she recalled taking a right, going up the stairs, taking another right, and then going down a hallway and up another flight of stairs led you to the room they were just in. Erin believed that they were almost there if she was doing the complete opposite, but with a splitting head ache, some blood loss and a few extra pounds on her side, she could not remember so she started to guess.
"Do you know where you are going?" asked Jay as they turned around for the third time.
"Yes… Ok maybe not so much, but we'll figure it out."
Erin believed she finally had them on the right path, but as soon as they came to the hallway that led to the stairs, they encountered another problem.
"And just where do you think you are going?" asked the leader of the cartel.
"We're leaving. You know, since you tried to have us killed and all…" Erin smarted off.
"Not so fast, we are just getting started…" the man said as they heard the hammer of a gun clicking behind them. "Now see, you don't think I am stupid enough to leave you alone with only one person now are you?"
"Honestly, it's not that surprising. After the past few months nothing is surprising to me anymore." Erin commented as the man behind them, slowly made his way in front of them, standing next to his boss.
"Well, this shouldn't come as a shocker than, since Tomas couldn't finish the job, Michael why don't you take the honors and shoot both of them, except I want you to kill her first." The man said with an unsettling grin, before walking away.
"Gladly. Hands on your head, get on your knees. NOW." The man demanded, shoving the barrel of the gun in both their faces, still in the hallway of the building.
"Hey Erin? If this is goodbye, just know that those two months were the best days of my life." He confessed as while he turned his head slightly and looked at her, all the while struggling to get down onto his knees.
"Jay, I'm sorry, for everything.' She said stressing the last word. 'You are probably the best thing that has ever happened to me." She told him as she looked to his beaten and tattered face.
"No talking!" the man shouted as he paced, trying to prepare himself for what he was about to do.
"Maybe one day?" Jay could not help but grin before he realized what was going on.
Erin had grabbed the gun from around her back, quickly pulling the hammer back and releasing the trigger three times. Three bullets quickly went buzzing through the air and into the chest of the man, causing him to fall quickly. No more than fifteen seconds later, the boss came waltzing down the stairs.
"Glad to see that you do have the guts Michael." He said before he looked up.
"Sorry, but it seems plan number two didn't work out either." Jay inputted.
The man quickly realized he had been defeated and made a run for the stairs, but not before Erin had the chance to put a bullet in his knee.
"Think they will let me turn in this guy's knee in for re-qualification? You know, just give them the x-ray to file and Bam. Done. Re-qualified." Erin grinned from ear to ear as she moved towards Jay, knowing what she was saying was once something that he said.
"Not too shabby, but I'm still the better shot." Jay laughed as she helped him up.
"Says you…"
"Says the Chicago Police Department… And me… Now, can we get out of here?" he asked, knowing that nobody would be going anywhere, the boss of the cartel being unconscious due to the amount of pain from his injury.
"Just one more thing." Erin said as she moved closer to Jay.
"And what's that?"
"This." She said as she slowly made a move towards his swollen and bruised lips, quickly feeling Jays lips begin moving with hers. The kiss was short but it's what they both needed at that moment, the comfort and familiarity of the other.
"What was that for?" Jay asked as her pulled back, his body killing him, but he was not about to say anything.
"You missing, made me realize some stuff…" Erin admitted as she opened the door.
"Like?"
"Being a cop, and being a badass, and having you…" she trailed off into a whisper.
"Erin Lindsay, I could kiss you again right now…" he smiled from ear to ear.
"Yeah? And what's stopping you?" she asked as she turned towards him, stopping on the landing of the front steps.
But no sooner had she asked, she got her answer. Jay had seen the vehicles of their unit pulling in on two wheels.
"Halstead! Man, you look like hell!" Ruzek said as he ran up to him, giving him a bear hug, as Roman and Burgess running into the building.
"Yeah, well I feel the way I look…" he grimaced.
"Damn you Halstead, you had us worried there for a second." Antonio said, noting the injuries "Ambo is on the way."
"Yeah, well I am just glad to be alive." He said as flashes of the past few days began to swirl in his mind. "Boss…" he said acknowledging his superior.
"Jay, great job, glad you're alright. Erin, can I speak to you for a moment?"
"Yeah Hank?" she asked as they moved away from the unit.
"I just want to tell you I am proud of how you have handled the situation."
"Thank you."
"This doesn't mean you can have your job back immediately but, should you be interested in coming back, you can."
"You're serious?"
"There are some stipulations… You start attending AA meetings several times a week and you will be having a drug test done weekly for the next few months, as well as getting your gun re-qualification, and you will be on desk duty until my say so."
"Whatever it takes to gain your trust back." Erin said as the ambulance finally arrived. "I should probably get checked out, I was thrown through a table…" she said walking away.
They arrived at the hospital, where they were both quickly admitted. Erin for a mild concussion and a deep laceration. Jay for multiple deep gashes and cuts, four broken ribs, and bruised internal organs with a slight bleed on his spleen.
"So, you get to stay here for the next few days…" Erin said as she leaned against the door frame.
"Yeah, something about wanting to make sure I don't bleed to death. You?"
"Mild concussion and a few stitches, nothing serious, I got released a few minutes ago. So, about our conversation from a few days ago…" she was not about to tell him that she got released by his brother, that he told her to stay at the hospital in Jay's room, but she was not allowed to go to sleep because of the concussion.
"No, I was out of line and I am sorry. I'm just worried about you Erin. But, you're right, we are no longer partners so go and do as you please, I promise to leave you alone, no matter how bad it kills me.." he trailed off, unable to look her in the eye.
"You are worried about me? You are the one that is laying in a hospital bed covered from head to toe in bruises and cuts, being held together by glue and staples!"
"Erin, I am not the one that is out drinking and partying every damn night, I'm not the one that is buying drugs off the street corner, I'm not the one that quit her job. Nadia died Erin, there is no going in the past and trying to fix it, so why are you doing this to yourself?"
"Because, I… I saved her. I got her clean. I got her away from the life. I promised her a bright future, and looked what happened, she got kidnapped, raped, and murder all within a few days, just weeks from her becoming a cop!"
"What was that last part?"
"Her becoming a cop?"
"Exactly. Before you got to her Erin, she was in a bad place, like you were before and are now, and you saved her from that, you got her clean. Yes, it took some work and time but she had a good job and was fixing to be a cop, because of you."
"Because of me." She repeated, affirming herself.
"Because of you."
"I'm Sorry." Erin said as she ran to Jay.
"You have nothing to be sorry about."
"Yes I do, when we cooled it, I thought that it was the best thing at the time, for the both of us, Voight was on to us and I guess I wasn't thinking clearly. I thought that we could just end things and go our separate ways, but I was wrong Jay."
"What are you saying?"
"I am saying that I want to give us another try."
"Are you serious?"
"Dead." She said, as she was quickly cut off with a kiss to the lips. "Damn. When did I become so emotional?"
"What about Voight?" he laughed at her question, placing a kiss on her forehead, he could never get enough of her.
"Hank has offered me my job back, pending somethings, which I have agreed to, but I would still like to keep everyone in the dark about us for the time being, let them find out when the time is right, if that is ok with you."
"Babe, anything is fine with me." He smiled as he pulled her down onto the bed, placing a light kiss in her hair as he drifted off to sleep.
"You will tell me now, where's the shipment?" asked a man with a thick accent, most of his head covered, holding a gun in his right hand.
"Go to Hell." Jay spat at the man. He was drained physically, emotionally, mentally. He had been hanging off a pipe in the musty room for what he assumed to be a few days. He heard a sharp crack in the air as he felt a whip that seemingly came from nowhere make contact with his skin, quickly drawing blood, as he bit back a squeal.
Jay immediately rose out of bed, his body tense and covered in a thick layer of sweat.
"Hey, are you ok?" he heard Erin ask from a chair by his bedside.
"Yeah, fine." He lied as he laid back down, shaking slightly, as he had not had one of those dreams in a while.
"Why don't you try going back to sleep, ok?" Erin asked as she took his hand, knowing from the way he was tossing and turning before he woke, and the way his body was covered in a layer of sweat, that he was most certainly not fine.
Jay laid there, Erin thumbing circles over his hand, as he slowly dozed back off.
"Grenade!" Jay heard someone shout over the ear piece, but it was too late, as Jay ran and jumped for cover, pulling someone down with him as the small device exploded just yards behind him.
A loud mosquito pitch was ringing in his ears, the moans and wails of his fellow comrades was fuzzy as he came to, pulling himself up.
"Sargent Halstead, are you ok?" he heard a voice ask.
"Huh? Yeah, I'm fine." Jay told the man as he helped him up, his hearing slowly coming back.
"Thank you, you saved my life."
"No problem..?" Jay said looking towards the mans name badge.
"Mouse." He man said, as he knew nobody ever pronounced his last name right.
"Mouse, why don't you help me out and go and put a hand on that guy's stomach over there?" he asked as he pointed a few feet away.
"Sure thing."
Jay was making his way towards someone else, when he heard a flurry of bullets zip past his head. He quickly ducked and took cover behind some metal, before firing bullets from his own weapon towards where the direction of where the shot came from.
"Halstead, hey! Wake-up." He heard a voice talking him as he was gently shaken awake.
He opened his eyes quickly, and seen Erin standing beside him, his hand holding a death grip on her wrist. He rapidly let go, and began looking around the room, unable to look Erin in the eye.
"Jay… What's going on? And don't you say that you are fine…" Erin said trying to read him as she sat on the bed.
"It's nothing." He told her, not wanting her to worry.
"Don't lie to me. Just don't, this is the second time in the past hour that you have woken up like a bat outta hell. I'm your partner, you can tell me what's going on."
"Oh like that really worked for you?" he said rolling his eyes.
"It did… with time."
"Maybe that's what I need is time, Erin. And when the time is right, I will tell you, but until then… I can't…"
"Ok…' she said taking a deep breath in as she laid down beside him 'and I promise to be here with you, every damn step of the way until then." She told him as she took his hand into hers, before cuddling into his side as she slowly drifted off. He laid there beside her, wide awake, not because he was unable to fall asleep more so it was because he was afraid to, terrified of the monster that was reawakening inside him, that took him so many years to bury. Jay knew that once his past came to light, there was no going back.
"The true soldier fights not because he hates what is in front of him, but because he loves what is behind him." –G.K Chesterson.
