Title: Love Will Remember
Summary: When Erin Lindsay and Jay Halstead met for the first time at a shooting range neither of them could've anticipated how their supposedly uncomplicated "one time deal" turned into much more than they had bargained for and how it would still affect their lives six years later, when they met for the second time - being assigned as partners in the Intelligence Unit of the Chicago PD. [AU]
Characters: [E. Lindsay, J. Halstead], H. Voight, Original Female Character
Rating: T
Genre: Romance/Drama
A/N: Ok, there are a few things I'd like to say before we delve into the story: It will take place in 2014 (1 month before episode 1x01) and will include flashbacks from their first meeting in 2008 and other significant events that took place during the 6 years they spent apart. Also the timing might be a little off: I'm assuming Erin was born in April 1985 so she's about 22 years old when they meet in February 2008. The Jay in my story is 2 years older than Erin and has blue eyes - yeah that little detail is important. I'm aware that Jesse's actual eye color is more of a blueish-green leaning more towards green than blue, but in some episodes of season one his eyes looked really blue to me and I'm going with that :P On a second note: Chapter titles will be taken from song lyrics, which I'll try to incorporate into the dialogue of the chapters, but I haven't written that far ahead, so I'm not sure whether I'll manage to keep that up for every chapter ;) Sry for the long rant, I hope you'll enjoy the story and sry for any mistakes (spelling or otherwise) in advance ;) Oh yeah I planned on this being a multi chapter story, but I can't guarantee weekly updates due to the fact that I'm writing (or should be writing) my MA thesis at the moment and I don't know how much time I'll have left for working on this story.
Cover art by: mehtiification
Disclaimer: I do not own Chicago PD or its characters nor the song Hello by Adele.
Chapter 1: Hello
January 2014
Detective Erin Lindsay was late and she was usually never late, but although it was only 8:10 in the morning this day already proved to be a catastrophe in the making.
On her way over to the 21st district she'd gotten stuck in traffic and hadn't even had time to grab a coffee from her favorite coffee shop, it surely didn't help matters that she'd been up almost all night and was now not only sleep but coffee-deprived too and highly annoyed that she would have to face the mocking comments of her colleagues and on top of that the disappointed look in her boss Hank Voight's eyes, because he thought she couldn't handle all the responsibilities life had thrown at her.
It would give him a good excuse to bring up that living with him instead of in an apartment halfway across the city would be better for her and everyone involved. She'd had that argument with him repeatedly over the past six years, even when she'd been just fresh out of the police academy and started field training. Sergeant Hank Voight had always been very protective of Erin, that hadn't changed even when she grew up and wanted to live her own life, but Erin couldn't really fault him for that.
He'd always had her best interests at heart and she wanted to prove to him that she could make it on her own and that he could be proud of her, that her past wouldn't define her and that although she'd made her fair share of bad decisions during her teenage and young adult years, she was someone he could count on now, someone who was responsible and did what she was asked to do, even if that meant that she had to abide by her pseudo father's countless rules, one of them being to always be in the bullpen by 8 am at the latest and if that was not possible for some reason, to give him a call so that he would know that she was coming in later and could plan ahead in case they caught a new case and every minute counted.
So while she was making her way up the steps of the 21st district of the Chicago Police Department, she silently cursed under her breath and once inside made a beeline for the stairs leading up to the Intelligence Unit's floor, barely catching Sergeant Trudy Platt waving at her from behind her desk out of the corner of her eye and managing to wave back at her and mumble a quick "Morning" before punching in her code and laying her hand on the scanner that would grant her access to her work space.
When the door opened, she immediately sprinted up the stairs and went straight for the closed door of Voight's office, not bothering to respond to her colleagues' greetings and intent on assuring Voight that everything was under control and that her being late would not happen again.
She barely managed to stop in time before crashing through the office door, held her breath and knocked two times before she opened it.
Would she not have been in such a hurry, she would've probably noticed the voices that were clearly audible coming from inside the office and would have come to the conclusion that Voight was not alone in there and that it would be better to wait outside until they had finished their conversation, but since she hadn't stopped to think once since she'd set foot into the district, she was completely unprepared for the sight that greeted her when she made her way inside, a greeting dying on her tongue when she registered the two men who were standing in front of Voight's desk, facing away from her. She was pretty sure one of them was her colleague Detective Antonio Dawson and the other seemed vaguely familiar too, but she couldn't place him.
Upon her arrival the conversation between the three men had come to an abrupt end and when Voight finally addressed her presence in the room, Antonio and the mystery man turned to face her as well.
The first thing she registered were his eyes, a piercing blue that triggered memories from a day six years prior, eyes she'd tried so hard to forget, but couldn't because she was reminded of them every day. His baby blues and his blinding smile kept haunting her dreams and sometimes even managed to sneak into her thoughts while she was awake.
She wasn't aware of Hank talking to her or Antonio leveling her with a curious stare. Erin was caught in her own world, still processing the fact that he was really standing in front of her and in Hank Voight's office nonetheless.
Her breath hitched when his eyes bore into hers and then swept over her body, giving it a once over from top to toe, recognition flickering through them before the look of surprise on his face was replaced with a knowing smirk. She wished she could wipe it off his face. No, she'd rather have the earth swallow her whole than be in this room right now.
A loud bang, courtesy of Voight slapping his hand against the wooden surface of his desk, finally managed to tear Erin from her depressing thoughts and she managed to school her face into a mask of indifference, that wouldn't reveal her inner turmoil to Voight or the other two men standing in the office, before she turned her attention to her boss who was clearly pissed at her for not focusing on him talking to her earlier.
"Detective Lindsay, it's nice of you to finally join us," he started while looking pointedly at the watch on his wrist, indicating that he'd noticed that she was late. "I'd like for you, to meet your new partner Detective Jay Halstead, who will be joining us here in Intelligence effective immediately."
'Well crap,' Erin thought. She'd completely forgotten that she was supposed to meet her new partner today. She thought it was a stupid decision anyways, she was just fine rolling with Olinsky or Voight himself, but Voight insisted she needed a permanent partner and Antonio had eagerly volunteered a guy he knew that had worked as an undercover cop in the Gang Unit before, though she couldn't recall the name Jay Halstead being mentioned in any of his praises.
Realizing that she'd once again been silent for too long, she opened her mouth and forced herself to say something, anything to make this any less awkward than it already was.
"Um, hello. Erin Lindsay, nice to meet you," she managed to get out and when he offered her his hand in greeting, she took it, having no other choice if she didn't want to come across as rude, and as their skin connected, she swore she felt a bolt of electricity running through her body, which prompted her to drop his hand immediately.
Jay raised an eyebrow in response and his smirk grew even wider than it was before, but sensing that she'd rather have people not knowing that they already knew each other he decided not to comment on her behavior and just finish the introductions.
"Jay Halstead. Nice to meet you too."
