A/N: Damn guys, just like, damn. I have some of the greatest people as a backing to my writing. Because of them, and because of all of those who reviewed, favorited, and liked, I am posting chapter three. This is the chapter I assumed that you guys wouldn't kill me as much over, so enjoy guys!
ONE YEAR LATER
"Lindsay, can you do us all a favor and not try to be a hero next time? You're not as good at it as you once were." Antonio yelled at Lindsay from his seat behind his desk, smirking as she stormed into the bull pen, her partner Stephen Jackson running behind her, smiling along with the rest of the team.
"It would help if you could shoot a little straighter as well." Stephen bellowed.
Stephen had joined the team about a month after Jay died, and while he had had huge shoes to fill, but over the course of the year, the man quickly became a part of the team. "Yeah, that would be great, I'm sick and tired of checking to make sure you are actually wearing a vest." Stephen grumbled as he stormed to his desk. It was the desk that he often times caught Erin staring at longfully, and then he would remember the photo on her desk of her and the man he had replaced. It was a great photo, filled with snow and Jay and Erin sitting outside a crime scene just talking. He didn't know the story behind it, and everytime he had asked, Erin would bite his head off and storm away, delving into her work somewhere else.
He grabbed a file off his desk and flipped it open, examining the insides as intelligence settled into the routine that had always happened after a bust, paperwork and silence. For whatever reason though, this time, Stephen couldn't concentrate. So instead of rereading the same paragraph he had been stuck on for the last ten minutes, he settled for examining the room.
He started with Ruzek, the man who had never liked him no matter how hard he tried to be nice to him. Adam was always scowling at him, and ever since his girlfriend, the patrol officer downstairs had conceived a child, his irritability had grown exponentially. Voight had called the man out on it a few times, but Stephen understood, he was replacing Adam's best friend, and he didn't think Stephen fit the bill. His eyes moved over to Atwater. He was pretty straightfoward with Stephen the day he had been brought up.
"Don't mention Jay Halstead, and don't ever, ever try to sleep with Erin Lindsay."
So far, he had failed with both, and the entire team knew about it. He swept a glance at Erin next who was doing something similar to him, except all she was studying was the photo on her desk as she tapped the pen against her desk repeatedly, in a soothing rhythm.
He glanced back at Atwater and smirked as he checked his phone as it vibrated, probably his girlfriend. He glanced to Nadia, the amazing receptionist that was quickly working her way through the academy. In less than six months, the young girl would be a Chicago police officer, and everybody was so incredibly proud of her for it.
Antonio's family had officially split apart, and in that time, he had made up for spare time by solving cold cases. So far, he had solved over fifty cold cases and had received multiple medals for it. He was finally happy.
Erin had pretty much gone over the edge. She never came to work drunk, however she was often times hung over. She slept with everybody she could get into bed with, and her work ethics had been shot to hell. Voight was constantly riding her ass about her willingness to die, but Stephen had considered himself a good partner, and so far he had been successful in not getting her shot.
He stared at the door to Voigt's office, it was black inside. He had been called away earlier in the morning on urgent business and had yet to make his way back yet, which suited Stephen just fine. There was a sort of animosity between him and the sergeant, it might have been because he had slept with Erin, or it might have been his lack of respect for Hank, but they shied away from each other.
Finally his eyes settled on the file cabinet that hid Alvin's desk. He just seemed distraught most of the time. Stephen had heard he was one of the officers who had performed CPR on Jay that night, and considering he had failed, Stephen kind of understood, but it had been a year. If nothing else, Alvin showed him around when he had first arrived, and had treated him kindly. There was nothing wrong between the two men.
Finally he decided to stand up, stretching his aching muscles as he swept around the room once more. He heard the door to the bull pen opening, and then he heard the unmistakable tone of Voight's voice speaking to someone. Voight finally made his way up the stairs, making a motion behind him for whoever was there to stay there.
"I have an announcement to make." Voight announced. Everyone's head cocked at the strange greeting as everyone put down what they were working on and looked to the man. Once everyone's attention was on him, Voight turned around and motioned for whomever was at the bottom of the stairs to come up.
They could hear boots hitting the steps as a head of black messy hair slowly emerged followed by a pair of eyes and then a head. Soon an entire body dressed in a pair of black sweat pants and a leather jacket that was wrapped tightly around the man, stood next to Voight. A chair immediately hit the ground as if someone had stood suddenly, but besides that it was silent in the room. The man was pale, and there was a large bandage covering a large portion of the left side of his forehead. His right arm was in a sling, there was a lump that could be from a bandage wrapped around his right knee and there were bruises littering the majority of the skin he could see. "That's not much of an announcement?" Stephen questioned, as he looked at the man. HE had a feeling he recognized him, and then it hit him.
"Oh my fuckin god." He whispered, standing with the rest of the Intelligence team as they all stood staring at the man.
Right in front of him, in the flesh, was a living breathing Jay Halstead.
"Oh my god." Ruzek shouted, jumping over his desk and sliding across the room, wrapping his arms around Jay and breathing heavily. "What the hell man, I thought you were dead?" Ruzek asked, pulling his head away from the hug to look at Jay's face.
"I almost was, twice." Jay croaked out, his voice raw from what sounded like disuse, although the bruises on his neck said otherwise. Antonio quickly pulled Adam away and moved in for his own hug. He stayed silent as he seemingly was just trying to process Jay being there and being alive.
"I missed you too Dawson." Jay croaked as he carefully wrapped his good arm around Antonio. All Antonio could do was shake his head in disbelief as Alvin scooted up and patted Jay on the shoulder.
"I assume it didn't go as to plan as everyone thought it would." Alvin joked, looking pointedly at the bandage above his eye.
Jay just shook his head as Antonio pulled away. Before he could open his mouth, Stephen stopped all conversation in the room. "Erin? You OK?"
All heads turned to Erin as she gripped the desk tightly, her face becoming flushed as she stared at Hank. "Maybe we should get out of here Erin, get a coffee."
"Did you know he was alive?" Erin seethed as she stepped slowly out from around her desk and began to walk purposefully towards Voight.
Voight nodded his head carefully as Jay limped away carefully with the guidance of Antonio and Alvin. "Erin, now is not the time to do this." Voight warned as Jay watched her, pain flashing in his eyes.
"Did you know?" Erin asked again, finally standing a foot in front of Hank, her fists clenched at her sides.
Hank took in a soft breath and looked down at Erin. "You and Stephen need to go get some coffee or something."
"Sorry Sarge, no can do. I got a shit ton of paperwork-"
"Stephen, shut the fuck up. Voight! Answer my question!" Erin shouted. Jay looked bewildered as he continued to watch Erin and then Stephen.
"Yes. I knew, and I'm-"
Erin's palm connected with Voight's cheek with a resonating sharp sting which spun Voight's head. By the time he was staring straight ahead again, Erin was rushing down the stairs and leaving almost as quickly as it had happened.
"What the fuck was that man?" Jay croaked as he stared over at Stephen.
"Name's Stephen, I was your replacement."
"Not that, do you normally treat your superior's with that level of respect?" Jay asked as he limped over to the man.
"Jay, just leave it, his transfers set to go as soon as you come back." Voight cut in as he steered Jay towards his office, followed by the rest of Intelligence.
Stephen jumped in front of the group and put crossed his arms. "What do you mean? I didn't ask for a transfer."
"You knew coming into this that this was a temporary assignment. You will be leaving the day he is fit for active duty. You are lucky you aren't being suspended. Lack of respect for your supervisors can do that for you. Do you understand?" Voight questioned. Jay smirked while the rest continued to stare at Jay, like they had seen a ghost.
Once the group was all behind the closed door of the office, the truth came out.
Jay had been selected to go deep undercover by the FBI in order to get into a homegrown terrorist organization. Jay had initially denied it, but after learning of the opportunity of getting him so deep that his entire previous life thought he was dead was too good to be true. After three months in the hospital recovering from the stab wound in a undisclosed location, Jay was sent in.
It was going great, and the case was about to get cracked way wide open when Jay's cover was blown when a year anniversary piece about Jay's death popped up on the news. HE had been taken hostage and the result had been torture and then soon after, the entire organization dead.
"I just spent the night in the hospital because of dehydration and such, everything else is superficial. My shoulders dislocated, my knee is sprained, and my head was banged wide open." Jay finished explaining with a sad grin on his face.
"If I didn't think it would save more people than my life was worth, I wouldn't have done it." Jay exclaimed at the looks of disbelief surrounding him. The only people who seemed in on it were Alvin and Hank who both sat on the edge of Hanks desk while Jay sat carefully in the chair.
"Jay, you do realize that you are never leaving my sight again?" Antonio asked, clapping his hands on the younger mans shoulders carefully.
"Here here." Ruzek chuckled as he stared awestruck. "Man, I am just so happy you're alive."
Jay smiled a sad smile as he looked at Erin's photo on Hanks desk, the one that sat right next to Jay's. "Well, you few seem to be the only ones."
"Give her time." Hank suggested as he grabbed his keys from his belt and shrugged his head towards the door. "Jay has to get some rest because he checked out a lot earlier than doctor's would have liked."
Jay shrugged as he stared out the doors at Stephen, his feet propped on Jays desk as he flicked through his phone. "Who the hell is this guy?" Jay questioned, the man's antics pissing him off slowly.
"Leave it Jay. Let's get you to your apartment." Jays head shot up.
"Home." He sighed, a happier smile on his face.
The group slowly filed out of the office, heading back to their desks, happier than they had been in a long time. It was just like right after Jay had 'died.' It didn't feel real yet.
As Jay limped out of the office as stopped at his desk. "Stephen. A, get your feet off of my desk. B, knock the shit off before I knock the shit out of you." He then flashed a shit eating grin, and limped away, Voight following closely behind him.
As the sounds of their conversation drifted, Stephen's feet fell to the floor and he stood up slowly. "Well, he sounds pleasant."
"Stephen, don't go there. Just don't." Atwater warned as he stood up to file his paperwork and leave.
A/N 2: SO I haven't even typed up chapter three yet, however, I know exactly where this is going guys That being said, please don't kill me. I love this story SO much, and so yes. I know this doesn't make sense, but my hormones and emotions are so over the place, and I am just so tired!
So enjoy guys!
~Tayler~
