I was surprised at how many of you enjoyed Red. This is part two, as requested by several people and I am planning on a part three as well. Hope you like it. :)

Disclaimer: I do not own or have any affiliation with Chicago PD, its characters, writers, cast or crew.

The slow, steady beep echoing through the silence and the soft warmth of a hand clutching onto his is what woke Jay Halstead from his slumber.

His eyes opened and closed several times, adjusting to the stark white walls that surrounded him. He opened them one final time, blinking away the sleep, and looked to find the warmth that was invading his skin. His eyes moved and landed on a wild mass of dark blonde tresses that lay splayed out over the side of his bed.

Erin Lindsay.

He wanted to smile at the sight of her, but found, when he tried, that it was much too difficult to move. So he stayed as he was and kept his eyes cast down at the woman asleep at his side.

He had a clear view of her face as she slept. The curve in her eyebrows and the crease in her forehead. The wrinkle lines around her mouth from laughing so often. He could make out the slight concave in her skin where her dimples lay in her cheeks, and the freckle-mole that he always thought was the cutest on her.

Jay could also make out the lines at the corners of her closed eyes. The sagging, blotchy skin beneath them. He wondered how long he had been out for and how hard she had been pushing herself to keep up with everything. Her face was cherry. She'd been crying. She'd been crying over him and it destroyed him. He had never wanted to be the guy that made Erin Lindsay cry.

He thought he would save her the tears by doing what he'd done for their sergeant because Hank Voight wasn't just Erin's superior; he was her father as well. Jay couldn't bear the thought of the woman he was in love with losing the only real family she'd known – because let's be real, Bunny was nothing, but trash and only brought turmoil into Erin's life.

That was why he jumped.

He kissed his girl, knowing it could be the last time he would, and played the part of dutiful soldier. He did it because that is just who Jay Halstead was and it is how he was trained, and because he just really loved Erin Lindsay. Jay just didn't believe that he was worth crying over.

He tried to swallow a lump that formed in his throat and realized he couldn't because of the breathing tube in his mouth. They had put him on a respirator. He could see the IV's stuck into his skin and the white bandages that covered parts of his body. He could barely move without some form of pain radiating through him, but his throat was burning and he needed water.

He lifted his free hand – he didn't want to wake his sleeping partner, and tried to reach for the call button. He strained himself, but it was just too far out of his reach to get to it without pulling the IV out of his skin. He tries again, but it's no use.

He notices a flurry of movement then, feels it rather, and looks down. Erin is waking up and he instantly feels bad because it's his fault. Her hand is still in his and her eyes flutter open against the bright light of the room. When her green gaze travels up to his blue one, she is squeezing his hand and lifting her head from his bed.

"Jay, you're awake."

Her voice is ragged and sleep-filled. The rasp of it makes him wonder just how much sleep she had actually gotten recently and it worries him.

He doesn't miss the deep sigh of relief that comes from her. She stands from the chair she's been living in and leans forward to brush her lips over his forehead. She drops a chaste kiss to his cheek then, rubs her nose against his stubble.

"I'm gonna get the doctor."

Her voice is a whisper and he doesn't say anything in return simply because he can't. She drops his hand and is gone, but back in a flash with a doctor and some nurses behind her.

They greet him with friendly smiles and Erin stands back to give the medical experts their space.

"Detective Halstead, welcome back. I'm sure you're quite confused and in some pain right now, and that is normal. You've been unconscious for four days and have a breathing tube in place to help do the work so your body can heal quickly and properly. We're going to do a few breathing exercises before I determine if you're in good enough condition to come off of the respirator. If you understand what I've just said to you and you agree to the exercises then I need you to blink twice for yes. If not, once for no."

Jay blinks twice and almost thirty minutes later he is respirator free and being taken for x-rays and a CT scan.

When they wheel him back into his room Erin is waiting for him. A nurse locks his bed into place and then excuses herself.

Erin sits down once again in the chair at his side and she reaches an arm out to grab his IV-free hand. She laces their fingers together and Jay squeezes.

She keeps her eyes on him. "How are you feeling?"

"Tired, which is weird since I've been sleeping four days. My chest and throat are sore. They said it's to be expected though because of surgery."

Erin nods at him, keeping their fingers locked together. She can feel the tears burning her eyes and has to look away from him so she stares down at their joined hands.

"Erin?"

She keeps her face down and closes her eyes trying to hold back tears. She doesn't want him to see her cry because he's the one in the hospital, not her.

Jay pulls at her hand. "Please look at me."

His voice is quiet, sincere, and when she re-opens her eyes and lifts her head he catches sight of several tears falling down her face.

"Please don't cry, Erin."

She shakes her head and words slip from her lips in a broken stutter. "I thought – you, I saw you – you were so pale…so much blood…thought you were gonna die."

He grips her hand tighter. "I'm okay though. Don't worry about me. How's Voight?"

She looks at him with a glare and he notices the way her nostrils flare. He has pissed her off. "Voight isn't the one laid up in the hospital recovering from surgery with a hole in his neck. And don't tell me not to worry about you, you jackass. Of course I was worried about you!"

Jay sighs, looking up at the ceiling and they both fall silent, but their hands remained clasped together in a tight embrace.

"Why'd you do it anyway? Dawson could have gotten that shot off somehow without you playing the hero."

Jay brings his eyes back to her. He shakes his head slowly. "I didn't wanna take the chance."

"Chance of what?"

"Of you losing the only real parent you've ever known. He's your dad, Erin. He is, and losing him would have destroyed you."

She breathes a heavy exhalation. "Losing you would have destroyed me too, Jay."

Her voice sounds so small as her thumb moves over his in slow, insignificant patterns. She continues speaking when he stays silent.

"I could never choose between which loss would hurt me most because the ways I love the both of you are totally different. And I do, Jay. I love you. I love you so much, and what I felt when I saw you bleeding out on that floor is something I never want to feel again. Promise me; promise me you won't ever do something that reckless again."

He wears a smile on his face at the sound of her words and squeezes her fingers with his own before he opens his mouth to speak.

"I love you, too. I'm sorry I scared you and made you worry, but I'm not sorry for what I did. And as much as I would like to, I can't make you that promise. You know our job isn't always easy, and God forbid it's ever you standing where Voight stood in that warehouse because I'd do it again in a heartbeat. That's how much I love you. That's how much you mean to me."

Erin's crying again, and harder now after hearing such a confession from him. From the only guy she has ever really thought of having a future with. She looks at him with glistening eyes and offers a small dimpled smile.

She drops a kiss to his hand and mumbles against his skin. "You're insane."

He smiles because he knows she is only teasing. They've never been the kind of people to speak so openly about their feelings, but they are learning how to with one another. It's a process for the both of them, but they're doing it together.

"You haven't by any chance heard when I can get out of here, have you? I hate hospitals."

She nods. "I know you do. I asked the nurse at the desk while you were gone. It all depends on your test results and what the doctor says."

He sighs, irritated, but understands. It's not like he is sick with the flu – he was shot in the neck.

"You should get out of here and get some real sleep then. It could be a while. I'm not going anywhere."

Erin scrunches her face at him and then releases a snort of displeasure. "You really are insane if you actually think you're going to convince me to leave this hospital."

She stands and grabs the remote for the television in the room and turns it on to a rerun of FRIENDS. She sits back down and scoots her chair in closer to Jay's bed. She keeps their hands twined together, but lifts her free one to rest over his blanketed knee.

It's quiet then except for the television. Quiet, intimate, comfortable. Just them.