Erin opened the door to the apartment, she put her keys down on the front table and slowly walked into the living room. to her surprise the room was empty and the house was silent.
Erin: Jay, Babe I"m home.
Erin was surprised when Jay didn't answer her. she was even more surprised when after searching the whole apartment Jay wasn't home.
They had been dating for 2 years now ad Erin thought they knew each other inside out.. But this was so unlike Jay. Jay had moved in with her about a year ago and things had been great between them, at least she thought they were. Erin was confused though, Jay always stuck to his schedule down to the last second, and he was supposed to be home now.
Today was one of his workout days. Three days a week Jay would wake up at 4:30 and head to the gym at 5 before meeting Erin at the precinct. Usually when they went separately in the mornings she would follow him home in the evenings. Today however she had work to finish and had decided to stay an hour late. Jay had still gone home at their regular time. She was expecting him to be here when she got home.
Erin picked up her phone and called Jay. Jay sent the call directly to voicemail and Erin began to panic. It didn't last all that long for a minute later Erin's phone rang signaling a text message, Erin looked at her phone and saw it was from Jay.
Text: Babe, I'm sorry for not being there when you came home I had to run an errand and it is taking longer than expected.
Erin sent a text back to Jay.
Text: When will you be home?
Jay responded
Text: I'm not sure, i thought this would take five minutes but it seems to be taking much longer. I hope to be out of here soon.
Erin: Are we still on for tonight?
Jay: Of course babe, I wouldn't miss it for the world. If I am not home by 6:45 than go yourself and I'll meet you there
Erin: Okay.
Erin smiled to herself, so nothing happened to him he was just busy, at least he still remembered Tuesday was their weekly date night.
There was no way in hell that Jay would ever miss date night. Long ago when they had just started dating they had made up that no matter what happened at work every Tuesday night was set aside for the two of them. And today was no different.
Jay finished talking to the sales lady, thanked her for her help and walked out of the store. Not wanting anyone to know where he was going Jay had parked 5 blocks away from the store. The walk to his car felt forever as he knew he was late for their dinner date. Jay quickly put his keys in the ignition and saw that the clock on the dashboard said it was 8:30. Jay had no idea how so much time had passed but he knew that he was screwed.
Having not wanted anyone to be able to ping his phone past his car Jay had placed his phone in the glove compartment and knew he was in deep trouble when he saw 12 missed calls, 8 new voicemails and 12 missed texts from Erin. Jay hesitated and then started to read the texts and listen to the messages.
Missed phone call from Erin at 6:43
Text #1: 6:45 - leaving now see you there.
Text #2: 6:57 - Here
Text #3: 7:00 - Inside
Text #4: 7:02 - I'm sitting down at the table in the back corner.
Missed phone call from Erin at 7:09
Text #5: 7:10 - You coming?
Missed phone call from Erin at 7:15
Voicemail #1: Hey it's me where are you?
Text #6: 7:15 - I'm starting to worry call me.
Missed phone call from Erin at 7:25
Voicemail #2: Jay I'm really starting to get nervous call me please?
Text #7: 7:37 - I'm starving where are you?
Text #8: 7:40 - I am starting to order, I will get you your usual
Missed phone call from Erin at 7:50
Voicemail #3: The food is here i'm starting to eat.
Text #9: 7:53 - If you didn't want to come then why did you tell me to meet you here?
Missed phone call from Erin at 8:00
Voicemail #4: Jay, i've been sitting here alone for an hour now where the hell are you?
Missed phone call from Erin at 8:05
Text #10: 8:05 - Mouse just pinged your phone Dawson and Ruzek are coming to find you.
Missed phone call from Erin at 8:07
Text #11: 8:07 - Where are you?
Text #12: If I don't here from you by 8:30 I am leaving here alone
Missed phone call from Erin at 8:16
Voicemail #5: Jay, Serena, just asked where you are because the boy you hired for the proposal has to leave at 8:30.
Missed phone call from Erin at 8:18
Voicemail #6: Damn it Jay where are you?
Missed phone call from Erin at 8:20
Voicemail #7: I just finished eating, I am just waiting for the check and then I am coming home.
Erin had Jay's dinner wrapped up to go, and she had just finished paying the bill when her phone rang. She quickly looked at her phone and was a little disappointed when she saw it was Dawson calling her.
Antonio: Erin, his phone is here in his car but he is no where to be found
Erin: Where is his car parked?
Antonio: It is in some Jewel parking lot.
Erin: Do you know why his car is there?
Antonio: No, we checked the whole car there doesn't seam to be any sign of a struggle either. Ruzek went inside Jewel but couldn't find him. I'm sorry Erin.
Missed phone call from Erin at 8:28
Voicemail #8: Jay Dawson just called he said your phone was in your glove compartment but he couldn't find you. I am leaving the restaurant now. I will not be coming straight home I need some air, I need to think. Please don't come looking for me and don't wait up.
Jay was devastated, he knew that he and Erin were good but knowing Erin he didn't know if they were good enough for her to look past being stood up. He really had planned on going. Everything that day had gone according to plan. He had hinted about wanting to relax before dinner hoping Erin would take the bait in staying at work longer and she did. Jay had then gone to talk to Voight.
Jay: Sarge, you mind if i come in?
Hank: Sure son, whats up?
Jay: I'm not really sure how to do this as i've never done this before. I know you aren't her biological father but to Erin you are her dad so that's why I am coming to you. Sargent Voight I want to you ask you permission to ask Erin to marry me.
Hank had a huge smile on his face.
Hank: Of course Jay! In all honesty when you two started dating I was really nervous, but now I could not have asked for a better man for my daughter.
Jay: Thank you Sarge. I will take good care of her.
Hank: Oh I know you will cuz if you don't you will have me and the rest of unit to deal with.
Jay: I know.
Hank: Congratulations Jay I am really proud of the two of you.
Jay walked out of Voight's office with a huge smile on his face, he was glad everyone else had already left and Lindsey was in the break room, so no one was able to see how happy he was. Jay had then gone straight to the jewelers to pick up the ring he had ordered for Erin, and that's when things started to go south. When he got to the store there were 7 people in front of him and by the time he got to the front of the line 3 hours later there was a mix up with his ring they had accidentally given him the wrong size so he waited even longer for them to get it right. Since he didn't have his phone on him he wasn't able to keep track of the time.
In the back of his mind he was glad he hadn't had his phone on him but now he was stuck. Jay had called Serena and asked her to help him plan the proposal for Erin. He had a whole thing planned and now it was all down the drain. He had no idea where he stood now with Erin and it was killing him. In the back of his mind he knew he shouldn't have waited until today to pick up the ring but he didn't want to get it earlier because he didn't want Erin to find it and he also knew that he didn't know if he would be able to keep it a secret if he had it with him when he was with her.
It was a long and brutal night for Jay as he lay awake in bed. Hours earlier he had been the happiest guy on the planet. He was about to propose to his girlfriend, the love of his life, the woman he wanted to spend the rest of his life with. Instead he was home alone in bed by himself with no idea where Lindsay was.
After leaving the Bistro Erin went to Molly's to find Gabby.
Gabby: Hey girl whats up?
Erin: Nothing.
Gabby: Really, nothing you look like shit and you tell me nothing is going on? Isn't tonight your date night with Halstead
Erin: Usually yeah
Gabby: So what's going on, why are you here?
Erin: He stood me up
Gabby: What do you mean he stood you up?
Erin: It means exactly that, I waited for an hour and a half at table by myself and he still never showed up
Gabby: Ouch, that sucks, I'm so sorry girl
Erin: And that's not even the worst of it?
Gabby: What's worse than that?
Erin: You know Serena, the girl at the counter, well at one point she came over to me and wanted to know where my boyfriend was because the guy helping him propose can't find him.
Gabby: Hold on a sec, you mean he was going to propose tonight?
Erin: How would I know, but that's what Serena made it sound like.
Gabby: Ouch, yeah I see why that's worse, Not only did he not show up, but not coming on the night he was planning on proposing makes it seam like
Erin: He got cold feet.
Just then Erin felt a tap on her shoulder she turned around to find Hank standing there with a huge smile on his face.
Hank: So is it official yet?
Erin: Wait you knew?
Hank: Yeah, he asked for my blessing
Erin: He did?
Gabby: Aww that's really sweet
Hank: Where is he?
Erin: Who knows? He never showed up at the restaurant tonight and no he never asked I only found out because he had people in the restaurant help him and they accidentally let his plans slip, otherwise I would have never know.
Hank: That son of a bitch!
It was almost 3 AM, Erin still had not come home and Jay was really beginning to worry, he knew it was his fault but still he couldn't help but fear the worst. He hadn't called her as she had asked to be left alone but every two minutes he kept checking his phone to see if she had texted. At 3 Jay looked at his phone once more and was relieved to see a text from Erin.
Text: I hope you are sleeping, just wanted to let you know I am staying the night at Voights.
Uh oh Jay knew he would be in trouble with Voight in the morning, right now he decided to try and get some sleep before waking up in an hour to go work out when he heard banging on his door.
Hank: Jay, its sergeant Voight open up right now.