Erin Lindsay felt like she had been shot. Anyone who could see her would think the same thing; there was blood on her hands, her clothes, even a smudge on her face that looked disturbingly like a handprint. But it wasn't her that was injured. It was Jay who had taken a bullet when their take down had gone sideways. The memory of it made Erin's stomach roll. In an effort to keep from throwing up, she crouched down and rested her forehead against the cool wall of the hospital hallway. She had immediately jumped in the ambulance with Jay, but she knew everyone else wouldn't be far behind the ambulance.

Her thoughts were broken by a large commotion that could only be the arrival of the rest of the Intelligent unit. Erin stood slowly. Her tired brain barely registered Voight storming towards her at an alarming rate, the rest of the unit struggling to catch up. Dawson and Ruzek looked outright worried. Olinsky's face was neutral, but his eyes gave away the fact he was trying his best to anticipate what would happen next. Atwater brought up the rear of the group, looking confused and concerned at the same time.

"THIS IS EXACTLY WHY I DO NOT ALLOW MEMBERS OF MY UNIT TO DATE EACH OTHER!" Voight bellowed. It seemed as though every person in the hospital had frozen and was now looking at them. "You and Halstead couldn't keep it in your pants and the distraction made this happen!"

Erin's blood boiled. "NO!" she shouted back. This one word was enough to shake Voight out of his rage. Not once had she ever been this forceful in an argument with him. It shook him enough to take in the way she was shaking, how it looked like she hadn't slept in weeks, that she hadn't even taken the time to clean herself up yet, and triggered a small part of his brain to remember the position she had been in when he had stormed the hallway; crouched in a ball, head on the wall, almost as if she were trying to hold her whole world together.

"Don't you dare!" she continued. "We are not together anymore! Because of you and your damn rules! He wanted to come clean, to tell you about us, and instead I made the decision to end things. That's why we've been so distracted! I told the man I love that I couldn't continue to be with him out of respect for YOU!"

Her admission shocked everyone into silence. Atwater, Ruzek, and Dawson hadn't realized there had been a shift in Jay and Erin's relationship. Voight was stunned by the power and emotion behind her words. Until this point, he honestly thought it was a passing fling. A bit of flirtation that was going to go nowhere except to break up a great partnership.

In the silence, Erin had managed to regain some control over her emotions. When she spoke again, her voice was eerily calm. "Right now, regardless of our relationship status, that man in there is my partner and my best friend. I intend to sit right here until I find out he is okay. But I am not talking to you about this right now. In fact, I'm not even sure I want to see you right now. But this is where I need to be." With that, the last bit of energy she was holding on to seemed to drain out of her. It seemed that she was going to sink to the floor right there in the middle of the hallway, but Antonio managed to guide her into a chair.

"We'll wait with you." he said, squeezing her hand gently. Erin's only response was to squeeze his hand back and close her eyes. She heard the quiet noises of the rest of the group settling in around her. Her brain registered Ruzek quietly suggesting she go get cleaned up, but Erin shook her head. She heard Atwater ask a nurse for a wash cloth and some towels instead. She could faintly hear Olinksy asking if there was any update on Jay's condition. This was her family, each helping handle this crisis in their own way. What shocked and comforted her the most was the heavy weight of Voight's hand on her shoulder lending support. She lifted her free hand and placed it on top of his, never opening her eyes. If she opened her eyes, the tears would start to fall, and once they started she wasn't sure she'd ever be able to make them stop. So instead, she would sit and wait; eyes closed, her boys around her, hoping that she would have the chance to tell Jay she loved him to his face.