Erin Lindsay was happy. Even after the last few days, with the terror of trying to find her CI before it was too late and the realization that joining the task force was the worst decision she has made in her career, she was still unbelievably happy. Mostly due to her partner, currently sound asleep next to her in his bed. The word partner seemed wrong somehow. He had always been so much more than a partner to her, especially now. His bare chest rose and fell evenly, the only sound in the room was his soft breathing. And it was perfect. Erin only hoped it would stay that way.

She had come straight to Jay's place after talking to Voight. She needed to see him right away after the hellish day she'd had. If she was being honest with herself, she had wanted Jay with her the whole time, but meeting with Voight and getting her spot in Intelligence back was the first step to putting her life in order.

Erin was so lost in her thoughts, it took a moment for her to realize that Jay's hand was now gently gliding up and down her bare back, indicating that he was awake, although another quick glance at his face confirmed his eyes were still shut.

"Hey" she whispered quietly. She did not want to break the spell of this moment, but she also knew the longer they lay there, the less likely this conversation would be to happen.

Jay lazily opened one eye to look at her while a content grin spread across his face, "Hey yourself."

"As much as I enjoyed it, I didn't come over here just to hop into bed with you." Erin tried to joke. She knew Jay heard the seriousness in her voice, however, because his body tensed slightly and his eyes were now open, looking at her intensely. Erin held his gaze, for a moment, silently willing him to be okay with what she was about to tell him.

Taking a deep breath, Erin knew it was now or never. "I was just laying here thinking about how happy I am. And I am! With you… but lately the rest of my life has been a mess. I miss Intelligence, you guys are my family, and the Task Force is awful. All of it is politics, red tape, and coming out on top. None of them care about the victims or their CIs or even their fellow agents! Our mission to Bolivia got pushed off and when I tried to back out to have more time here they told me I couldn't because my skills were needed. Jay, they wanted me to babysit our CI's wife. My "skills were the fact that I'm a girl and they wanted me to take her for manicures and shopp…"

Erin's rant was cut off by Jay's lips settling gently over hers. The effect he had on her body was almost immediate, and she melted into him. Just something as simple as this kiss from him washed away the stress and anger of the day.

Erin pulled away before the kiss could intensify. As much as she wished she could get lost in Jay for just a little while longer, she needed to share the rest of her news.

"That's not all of it," she added. Looking up into his eyes, she took a deep breath and let out the sentence that she knew would change their relationship "I quit the task force today. Before I came here, I went to see Voight to get my spot in Intelligence back. I start tomorrow."

Erin recognized the second this information registered with Jay. His body stiffened. The hands on her body fell to the sheets. But worst of all, she saw the exact moment the walls went up behind his eyes and his mask of extreme self control locked into place. Almost immediately after, Jay climbed out of bed, threw on the sweatpants that had been tossed to the floor just a few hours earlier and stalked out of his bedroom. Erin was only a few steps behind him, pausing only to throw his shirt over her head. She found him in the kitchen, beer open, staring out his kitchen window.

"Jay…?" she questioned lightly.

The bitter laugh that escaped his mouth caught her off guard. His eyes never left the point he was staring at out the window. "I was ready to wait for you, you know. With Bolivia. Hell, I've been able to wait for you being your partner every day. Not having to see you, hear your voice and your laugh everyday knowing I couldn't have you yet, it was going to be easier. And I was ready for the next few months to fly by, so we could finally take our shot at us. Don't get me wrong, Erin, I'm glad you're not leaving… I just didn't think our 'one day' was going to actually only amount to one freaking day. Twenty four hours…." He trailed off, taking another long pull from his beer.

Suddenly, it all made sense to Erin, and she couldn't stop the huge grin from forming on her face. Jay still hadn't seen it since his back was still to her. Erin walked towards him, ducked under his outstretched arm that was gripping the counter, and inserted herself into the tiny space between Jay's body and the counter. This broke his concentration on that unknown point out the window. He looked down at her and the confusion on his face was clear.

"That's where you're wrong." She told him. "I want to much more than one day, and I am not giving up on you, on us, just because I'm coming back into Intelligence."

"But, Erin, you know we can't. I can't sneak around behind Voight's back. I want so much more than that with you."

"I know, that's why we're going to tell him." Jay visibly flinched at that. Erin swatted his chest and couldn't help the light giggle that bubbled out of her at his reaction. "We have to tell him," she continued. "I want to be with you, and I want to do this right. And Voight always seems to find out things anyway. He may not like it at first, but telling him upfront is way better than him finding out. We may not get to partner as much, at least at the beginning, but there's no way in hell I'm going to let him run either one of us out of Intelligence. But I understand if you want to keep this quiet from the rest of the guys for a while…"

Jay cut her off again, using his lips to silence her. Erin didn't know a kiss could be filled with this much promise and hope for the future. Jay broke away. "Hell no!" he told her. "If we are telling Voight, we are telling the whole damn world!"

"Then I suggest you take me back to bed Mr. Halstead, we only have a few more hours before we tell the world."