Jay held open the car door, bowing slightly, "After you, milady", Jay said as he held out his hand.

"Why, thank you, milord!" Erin said as she took his hand and slid into the front seat.

Jay closed the door and hurried around the car to get in.

"I still can't believe you took me to the fanciest restaurant in Chicago" Erin said, as she smoothed out her dress gown, all black, with intertwined lace around the neckline. She looked up at Jay, admiring him in his tuxedo. "My dashing prince", she thought to herself but shook her head for having such a silly and girlish thought.

Jay smiled, "Nothing but the best for my girl."

"Jay, can I ask you, how did you swing it? Alinea, it's the most expensive restaurant, I mean, how can you afford it?"

"A guy owed me a favor"

Her brow furrowed, "A favor?"

Jay sighed, "Long story short, the head chef's little brother was in a gang, he turned C.I, I helped him get out of the gang." Then he added, pointing up to the street sign, "not to mention, my name just happens to be the same name of the street that this restaurant is on. So, I get discounts."

"It is not!" Erin said, slapping him on the knee.

"Truth! Whole heart truth, look!"

She tilted her head and looked through the windshield and sure enough, the street name was indeed "Halsted St."

"I believe, Jay, that there might be a vowel missing from that name."

Jay chuckled as he pulled the car into traffic, "Ah, Halstead, Halsted, tomato, tomahto"

"Tonight was fun", Erin mused, as she watched the street lights of Chicago pass by. "I have to admit, I did not take you for a Star Wars fan. And I'm still slightly annoyed that you made us go to a movie theater in formal clothes. We were the only ones dressed like we just came from a ball! "

"Well, I bet you were expecting shakes and burgers afterwards?" Jay said. "I thought it'd be fun to mix things up. Movie and a dinner. Besides, we were the best dressed couple."

He added, "And I'm not a fan of Star Wars!"

She laughed, "I hate to break it to you but you are!"

He glared at her.

"You shushed me four times!"

"I didn't want to miss the dialogue!" he defensively said.

"Mmmm-hmmm, sure", she smiled, "Quite honestly, I didn't take you as a fan of those kinds of films. What else don't I know about you?

"I'm not a fan, per se. I've just happened to have watched a lot of them."

Erin laughed, "Fanboy", she said under her breath.

He glared at her yet again.

A few moments passed.

"Seriously, I didn't grow up watching Marvel films." Jay's tone of voice changed. Erin sensed that he was sharing a part of his past with her so she focused on him and listened.

"I wasn't the kid who was into superheroes." He chuckled, "It was Mouse who got me into it. When I came back from Afghanistan, I had a hard time adjusting. Was depressed and just didn't want to go out. Mouse, he'd show up at my door with a stack of dvd's and two six-packs. We'd just sit on the couch and watch Iron Man or some stupid movie like that. The movies would play in the background and I really wouldn't pay much attention to it, just having someone with me, it'd…it made me feel…."

His voice faded, leaving his sentence unfinished and he felt like he was rambling. He looked over at Erin and shrugged his shoulders. She smiled and took his hand.

They passed city block, after city block. Despite it being late at night, the streets were full of cars. It was a Chicago Friday night and there were many people out and about. Jay always and almost obsessively checked his rear and side mirrors, eying the cars behind him. It was a habit he had picked up when he was in convoys and it had stuck with him when he did his time as a patrolman.

"Hmmm", Jay quietly said, cocking his head to the side as he looked out his side mirror.

"What is it?" Erin asked.

"That white sedan, two cars behind us. Keeps swerving in and out of his lane."

Erin turned to look through the back window, "I don't see anything."

"He just pulled off and parked." Jay said, stopping at the front of the line for a red light, "I was thinking of calling it in but I think I'll let it go."

Erin smiled, "Ah, it's probably nothing. Well, I'm glad."

"Glad?"

She nodded, "We have a few more things to do before this night is over, she said teasingly, gently sliding her hand over his thigh.

Jay let out a crooked smile, "I think we need to go home"

"Good idea" She laughed.

Suddenly, their car thrust forward, the sound of breaking glass and crunching metal filled the air.

Jay heard Erin scream his name, as he looked at her, all he could see was a bright, white light and then a loud, blaring horn. The white light, turned to pitch blackness. He could feel his skin tearing as the glass from the windshield cut into his arm.

A high-pitched ringing replaced the sound of the blaring horn, a deafening ringing which seemed to last forever.

"Erin!" Jay screamed. He felt that he was screaming her name but he couldn't feel anything. He couldn't hear. He couldn't see. In his mind, he thought to scream her name but he couldn't even feel his lips move nor hear the sound of her name leaving his lips. Every single sense that he had, faded into utter blackness and pain, as he lost consciousness.

"Sir?"

"Sir, can you hear me?"

Jay's ears were full of blood, muffling the voice of the responding police officer.

"Sir, can you tell me your name?"

Jay groaned, painfully mumbling, "Erin?"

The light from the officer's flashlight shined over Jay's closed eyes. Jay opened them slightly, he could see the interior roof of the car, lighting up from the flashing lights of the approaching ambulance. Even though the light was dim, his eyes seared with pain, so he closed them again.

The back doors of the ambulance flew open, Sylvie Brett jumped down, slinging her EMT's bag over her shoulder and running onto the scene.

"One male, in and out of consciousness. Female, in the passenger seat, I couldn't feel a pulse", the officer informed the paramedic, as she approached the wrecked car.

Brett crawled into the driver's side, "Sir? Sir? Can you hear me?" as she checked his vitals.

"I need some light over here!" she yelled out. The officer shone his flashlight overhead.

Brett gasped. "Oh, my God. This is Detective Halstead!"

"Detective Lindsay is over here" Jimmy, Brett's partner called out from the passenger side.

"I didn't have a pulse for that lady, I mean, detective", the officer said. "I didn't know they were police."

Brett grabbed gauze from her bag and attended to Jay's wounds. "Didn't you check for their ID's!? I'm not a cop and yet I know to do that!"

The officer stammered, "I, I was just across the street getting some coffee when I saw the crash. I just got out of the academy and I…

"I don't care!" Brett interrupted. "Help me get him onto the backboard."

"Jimmy! Is she alive?" Brett called out.

"I've got nothing in the radial and carotid but I have a really weak pulse in the auscultation. We need to bring her in now!"

The sound of the rhythmic beeping of the EKG slowly made it's way into Jay's mind. He stirred in his hospital bed, groaning with every twitch.

"Hey."

Jay opened his eyes. He groaned, turning and seeing a familiar face.

"Hey, can you hear me?" Will stood up, taking a flashlight from his pocket and shining it into Jay's eyes.

'Erin…" Jay said, his voice dry and scratchy.

"Can you hear me, Jay?" Will said again, shining the light quickly between both eyes.

"Will you stop!?" Jay said, angrily, pushing Will's hand away from his face. "Lights, lights, lights, everyone keeps shining lights into my face!"

"Where is Erin!?" he angrily yelled, rearing up in his bed.

Will held his shoulders and pushed him back down. "Jay! You have to stay still! You've got a severe concussion. There was a large amount of blood in your ears and you might have lost your hearing for awhile. I have to make sure you're okay!"

Jay laid back, "How is Erin, Will? Please tell me she's okay."

Will looked down, taking Jay's arm and began to check the IV drip needle. "She barely had a pulse when she came in. She had a large gash on her forearm, almost severing an artery, she lost a lot blood. Once we got it sewed up, she looked like she was beginning to stabilize but then she started seizing."

Jay whispered, "Will, please tell me she's not…."

Will held up his hand, stopping Jay before he could finish the sentence, "No, she's not."

"We had to do imaging and scans and it showed that she had a brain bleed. She's in surgery now with Rhodes. She will be fine, I promise", he said assuringly, "Her airbag deployed which no doubt saved her life"

Jay palmed his hands over his face, wincing as soon as they touched.

Will pointed to his brother, wagging his finger, "But you. Your airbag didn't deploy. Thank God you've got such a hard head because you head butted your steering wheel. Your face is all kinds of shades of blue and purple. Doc Choi stitched up what he could but being an emergency room doctor and not in plastics, I think he might have scarred you for life. Looks like I'm going to be the good looking one now", he said, smiling.

Jay's face was blank as he stared down at the bedsheet that covered him. Will knew he was worried about Erin.

"I'll let you know as soon as she's out of surgery and when you can see her, okay?" Will said, resting his hand on Jay's shoulder.

Jay nodded slowly.

"You get some rest now", Will said as he walked out of the room.

A large group of morning shift nurses shuffled down the hall, hurrying to their sections with coffee mugs in hand. Their voices loudly overlapped each other, as they exchanged pleasantries and the cases that awaited them. Just outside of Halstead's room within earshot, two nurses lingered behind, conversing casually.

"Did you hear two detectives came in last night?" one nurse said to the other as she adjusted and tightened the band to her scrubs

The noise of the passing nurses had awakened Jay and he lay there, half asleep.

"No, I didn't hear that" the other nurse responded. "From which district? My cousin works vice" she asked.

The other nurse shrugged her shoulders, "I don't know which district. My boyfriend was just getting off his shift and he said the ER waiting room was full of cops. Detective Lily or Lizzie or something like that"

Jay's ears caught on, "Lindsay?" he said, his voice gruff.

Both nurses hadn't heard him and already turned to leave.

"Nurse!" Jay called out. No one responded.

He glanced up at the wall clock. 4:45 AM. He sighed.

"Nurse!" he called out once more. But no one came. The hall was silent.

He grunted and quietly moaned as he moved his legs from off the bed and sat on the edge. Standing up, he took a step forward but his arm was pulled back by the IV wires. He sat back down, gently tearing the medical tape and wincing as he pulled the needle from his arm.

He stood again, standing, keeping one hand on the bed until he had his balance.

He peered out the doorway, looking both ways down the hallway, but no one was in sight. He turned out into the hallway, keeping his balance along the railing that was along the wall. He passed the other rooms, all were dimly lit, the patients asleep.

Towards the end of the corridor, he looked inside the last room. "Erin." He whispered, almost breathless.

She lay in the hospital bed, her hands at her side. Her forehead and around her head was wrapped in bandage. Her face had minor cuts, her eyes bruised from the impact of the airbag. On a chair beside her bed lay her dress gown.

Jay stepped into the room, focusing only on her. Halfway to her bed, he began to feel dizzy, he almost lost his step but caught himself on the edge of her bed.

He inhaled sharply, worried that he had awaken her. She didn't stir. He listened as she breathed in and breathed out, peacefully. The EKG kept a rhythmic pace and the lights from all the machines flickered. He stepped quietly, reaching the chair where her gown lay, picking it up and laying it over his arm. He looked down at it, running his fingers over the lace, then setting it on the bed.

He quietly pulled the chair over to the bed and sat down, gentling wrapping his hand over hers. "Oh, baby. I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry this happened", he whispered, his eyes beginning to tear.

He felt a soft squeeze around his hand, his eyes widened, "Erin?" he said softly.

Her eyes twitched.

"Can you hear me, baby?"

Her eyes tightened and he felt her hand squeeze his again. The EKG hastened in pace.

"Shhh. Just rest now, okay?"

He stood up and leaned over her, kissing her on the forehead. He ran his fingers down her cheek and brushed her hair over her shoulder and onto the pillow.

"I love you." he said.

Sitting back down, he cupped both his hands over hers, and just watched her sleep.

His body ached and his head was throbbing with the pain of a headache but he paid no mind to it. He was content to just be there with her.

[clearing throat] "Doc Rhodes said she's going to be just fine" a voice said.

It startled Jay. The voice came out of the shadows of the room but to whom the voice belonged was unmistakable.

"Hank?"

Voight rose up from the chair that was hidden in the darkness.

"I didn't know anyone was here", Jay stammered.

"I wasn't going to leave her alone", Voight replied.

Jay tried to play it cool. He had just kissed and shared an intimate moment with the love his life and her strict boss who just happens to also be her father figure was right in the room. Even worse, he had been driving the car that almost killed her. Voight's stance and demeanor was intimidating, he stood by the side of the bed, moving his mouth back and forth, as if he had an invisible toothpick. He stared intently at Jay.

Jay looked at him. "Hank, before you say anything, it's my fault. I was driving and I checked my mirrors. There wasn't a car behind us! We were at a traffic light. She, she…she was laughing."

He stopped a moment, trying not to break.

"The last thing I remember was her calling my name and I felt so frickin' helpless. I couldn't do anything. Her scream, I couldn't stop hearing it. I just…."

His breath caught in his throat and he exhaled.

"I almost killed her."

"I almost killed the woman I love."

He said it again, as if he could erase the events of the night away with his words.

"Look at her, Hank." He choked back tears, biting his lip and shaking his head.

He felt a hand rest on his shoulder. He was so distraught that he hadn't noticed that Hank was now standing beside him.

"Jay. It is not your fault. You can't blame yourself for what happened. It was an accident. A freak accident. You couldn't have done a thing to prevent it." Hank said, gruffly.

"Not a thing."

He looked over at her and clicked his tongue, "She's alive and that's most important. You're both alive."

"You know, Doc Rhodes says she's going to take time to recover from this. She's going to need you by her side."

Hank looked straight at Jay, pointing his finger at him, "I'm going to want you by her side."

Jay nodded, "I'm not going anywhere, Hank."

"You better not." Hank said, a small smile escaping the side of his mouth.

"Uh, are you supposed to be out of bed?"

They both turned to see Ruzek standing in the doorway.

"I think Will is going to kill you if he sees you out of bed, Jay" Ruzek said, chuckling, then added "Everyone is out in the waiting room, Boss, waiting on an update for Erin."

"Yeah, I'll be right out, Ruzek"

"You better get some rest, Jay", Hank told Jay as he patted him on the back and turned to leave.

"I'm all right. I'll just sit here for awhile." He sat back in the chair, leaning back and resting his head, watching her sleep. He smiled at how peaceful and beautiful she looked despite her injuries.

"Milady", he whispered, smiling, as he began to doze off…..