Prompt #1: Coffee - He memorized her order the first day they met.

Word count: 1098

Molly's is crowded with regulars, as Jay makes his way across the bar. He greets Gabby, who's polishing glasses, and finds a seat behind the bar. Herrmann quickly sets a beer in front of him.

"On the house," he murmurs and quickly disappears. Jay knows he's still feeling guilty for treating him like a criminal, even though it was completely understandable. He did think Jay was working for Arthur. But he accepts the free beer with a smile, and settles in the comfortable silence.

"Hey, man!" Antonio slides into the seat next to him. In the short time that Jay has known Antonio Dawson, he has come to like and respect him. Not only, because he happened to have dated his sister, but because he was a good cop, and a stand-up man.

"How's it going? Big day tomorrow huh?"

Jay chuckles and nods. "Yeah, you could say that."

"Feels a little like first day of school. You'll be fine. Have you talked to Voight yet?"

"Yeah, I just got back from that." Jay shudders a bit, pausing for a second.

What he knows from meeting Sergeant Hank Voight is: he's intimidating; he's little scary (okay, he's very scary); and he's strict. Luckily, Jay doesn't scare easily, and he can see himself as a part of his unit. He is lucky enough to get the chance. Despite being intimidating, Voight is also the type of man to command respect in a person. Jay likes that.

"He said he couldn't come into this bar. What's up with that?"

"That's a long story. It ends with me working for a guy I put behind bars."

"You put Voight in jail? Do you have a death wish or something?"

"Yeah, or something," Antonio says with a chuckle, and takes a large sip of his beer.

"He didn't say much to me. Only that if I screw up, it'll be your fault," he jokes, "And that detective Lindsay is my new partner."

Antonio grins at the mention and Jay raises his eyebrows in question. "What? Is she a bad cop?"

"Hey, Erin."

"Hey," she replied with a grin, and motions Herrmann, who puts a bottle of her favourite beer on the bar. "Thanks, Herrmann."

"Anytime, kiddo. Thanks for taking that man off the streets," he comments on the arrest of a child molester that they made earlier. "My pleasure." Her expression darkens for a second, before she shakes it off and lights up again.

"Yeah, and no thanks for me," Antonio teases, making Erin laugh. Jay automatically goes back to surveying her. Her laughter is sultry−the kind that sends blood straight to his groin. She's hot, he thinks. The brown hair curls around her face, and her eyes have a sparkle that draws his attention. But it's not the physical appearance he finds so attractive about her. It's how she carries herself; with poise and elegance, but resilience and toughness on the other hand. He gets a feeling that her life hasn't always treated her right, but she made it anyway. Their eyes meet for a second, and for a second Jay thinks she knows what he's thinking about just from looking him in the eyes. Antonio finally decides to make the introductions.

"Erin, this is Jay Halstead, he's joining the Intelligence."

Her face shows understanding as she nods in his direction. "Erin Lindsay, nice to meet you, partner."

"You too," he replies. He raises his beer to her, and she picks her own up. "Here's to having each other's backs."

"I'll drink to that," she smiles and the clink the bottles. "Oh, and I'm driving."

With that, she takes the last sip of her beer and hops onto her feet. She's gone, before he can even begin to comprehend what happened.

"What does she mean, she's driving? Not all the time, right?"

Antonio's laughing echoes in his mind as he goes back to his beer. So, this is his new partner. In that moment, he's only sure about one thing. His life is not going to be boring.

"Morning," he greets her and she just frowns at him from her desk. "One cream, two sugars?" He sets a cup on her desk with a knowing glance, and her lips spread into a smile. He must have bullied her coffee preference out of Antonio last night after she left.

"Coffee will get you everywhere, Halstead."

She takes the cup and looks up. Their eyes meet for a split second, and it's more than enough for her to know that this is a beginning of something interesting.

"But you're still not driving."

"How bad was it?" Antonio asks after Jay comes out of Voight's office. He looks as though he's next on the death row.

"Well, he didn't fire me. So, there's that."

"Hey, this is nothing. We've all had the Voight special in the past."

Because he would very much prefer not to talk about it, he just nods and sits down behind his desk. Getting back to work is the idea, while he still has the work, but the concentrating on the job is hard when the sound of Voight's yelling is still echoing in his mind.

A cup of coffee comes into view, and he sees Erin sliding it on his desk with a wink.

"Don't let it get to you too much," she murmurs. He doesn't know what the deal is between Voight and Lindsay, and he doesn't know he well enough to ask yet, but he does realize that nobody in this unit knows Voight better than her.

"Thanks," he replies, smiling at her. She rolls her eyes. "Yeah, whatever. Let's not braid each other's hair."

He grins. If she memorized his coffee preference, then he's sure he can get her to let him drive. Even if it's just one time, he assures himself as she scoffs again.

After that, the partners fall into a playful comradeship. The banter between them is savage and never-ending. They make each other laugh, and annoy each other to death. They get each other coffee, and he occasionally throws in a muffin, because he learns she loves food more than anything. She buys him beer in return. She teases him about being a better shot than him, and he keeps questioning her about the nature of her relationship with Voight. She never lets him drive, and he complains about it all the time.

But at the end of the day, they both know with an absolute certainty, that when a push comes to shove, they can count on each other.