You look as good as the day I met you
I forget just why I left you, I was insane
Stay and play that Blink-182 song
That we beat to death in Tucson, okay

I know it breaks your heart
Moved to the city in a broke-down car
And four years, no call
Now I'm looking pretty in a hotel bar
And I can't stop

—Closer (Chainsmokers ft. Halsey)

"Okay, now tell me about Nick."

Nick Hughes had come up occasionally during Erin and Kim's frequent phone conversations, but they had never discussed him in much detail. Erin usually changed the subject pretty quickly whenever his name was mentioned; she had never really felt all that comfortable talking about her personal life. All Kim knew was his name and that he and Erin had been seeing each other for the last several months.

So Erin told Kim everything.

She told her that her partner had set them up on a blind date. She told her that they had gone out every single night for a week after that first date. She told her that they had fallen so easily in sync with each other, it felt as though they could read each other's minds and finish each other's sentences, as cliché as it sounded. Erin told her how wonderful Nick was—he worked as a dentist, coached a local Little League team and did volunteer work. He was kind and caring and compassionate. Nick really was wonderful; everyone kept telling Erin how lucky she was to have found him—the perfect man. And it was true, she was lucky, especially when she considered the string of not-so-great relationships she'd been in over the last couple years.

Erin also told Kim that she had ended it.

But Erin didn't tell her why. Nick had uttered those three little words that most women were dying to hear—I love you. But Erin Lindsay wasn't most women. Those three little words only served to throw her off balance, plaguing her with questions and doubt and uncertainty. Because she had only ever heard those words from one other man. And she definitely couldn't imagine herself saying them back. Not that day, not ever.

It turned out that Hank had been right about Erin all along—she always left a string of broken hearts in her wake. And evidently that included her own. She had cried and cried when she finally broke things off with Nick, the guilt overwhelming her. Erin wanted to love him, she really did. But she just couldn't do it. It wouldn't be fair to him, when someone else still held a piece of her heart; maybe even the whole damn thing.

After Erin's confession, Kim had pulled her into a comforting hug, holding the embrace for several minutes until Erin started to pull away. Kim understood that that meant she was done with the subject, so they moved on to other topics of conversation. Well, to the only other topic Kim had on her mind: her upcoming wedding.

Kim Burgess and Adam Ruzek were engaged. They were getting married in a week.

The days that followed were a whirlwind; once Kim's sister arrived in Chicago, the three women were constantly on the move. Erin spent most of her waking hours running all over the city helping with last-minute wedding preparations. Since Intelligence's caseload was too heavy for Kim and Adam to both be off work, Erin and Nicole stepped up as much as possible. There were seating charts to organize, appointments with the caterer, final dress fittings, and too many other tedious tasks to count.

Erin was happy to help her friend, and she was certainly looking forward to the wedding, but she couldn't help but feel guilty about how little time she had spent with Hank. She was finally back in Chicago, and though they had certainly tried to see each other as much as possible, wedding preparations and Hank's gruelling hours at the district meant that they were merely two ships passing in the night.

A few nights before the wedding, Kim invited her to dinner with Adam, and Erin was unbelievably nervous to see him again. It reminded her of how she felt as she typed that first text to Kim from New York, longing for that connection to her old life, but fearful of the reaction her presence would illicit. She felt pangs of guilt when she remembered that she had just left without so much as a goodbye to anyone.

But Ruzek was his usual cheery self; the moment he saw Erin he swept her up into his arms in a bear hug. "Lindsay! We've missed you girl! If I'd known all it would take to get you back to Chicago was for me and Burgess to get hitched, well, I would have proposed ages ago!"

Erin shook her head in amusement, chuckling at his words as she pulled out of his embrace. "I missed you too!"

As the three of them settled into their seats and opened their menus, Erin was amazed at how normal it felt. It was surprisingly easy to slide back into the friendly conversation and the witty banter and the stories about crazy cases. For a little while it actually felt like she had never left.

But then his name came up. Jay.

After a few drinks, Ruzek was talking even more candidly than usual. He yammered on and on about his bachelor party, mentioning how much fun he had going out to celebrate with Kevin and Jay and the other guys. Jay.

Erin was startled by it; just hearing his name had such a profound effect on her. She hated how those three letters could be strung together into the one word that made her feel like her heart was stopping and beating out of control at the same time. Jay.

She ran her fingers through her hair, taking a sip of her drink to try to hide her reaction to the information. Erin didn't know why she was surprised. Of course he would be there; he was one of Ruzek's best friends.

When she glanced across the table, her eyes met Kim's. For a moment Erin thought her friend had noticed her reaction, and she worried that Kim was going to say something about it. But fortunately, the waitress came by with their entrees, immediately shifting the focus; Erin had never been happier to have a plate of food placed in front of her in her entire life.

Jay and Allie had barely seen each other since Lucas' birthday party. Her firm was litigating a major corporate case, so she was often at the office until the wee hours of the morning. It had been a tough week for Intelligence too; the team had been working almost round the clock to bring down a drug smuggling ring. These particular suspects were smarter than usual, and had continuously managed to evade capture. Intelligence finally made a break in the case, though the cause was less than fortunate; they were doing surveillance on one of the deals and it went south, way south. The suspect tried to flee the scene and ended up killing several innocent bystanders when he drove his truck through a crowded sidewalk.

When they finally wrapped up at the district that evening, Jay wanted nothing more than to crawl into his bed and sleep for days—but he had promised the guys he would go out for drinks. Jay wasn't sure why he'd agreed; he was pretty sure they had all had enough alcohol to last a couple lifetimes at Ruzek's bachelor party the weekend before.

But Jay still wound up at Molly's. He had only planned to have a few drinks, but Ruzek persuaded him to indulge, ordering round after round. "Come on Halstead, live a little!"

"Guys, it's a Thursday." Jay chuckled, shaking his head at their antics.

"Yeah man, but just we closed a huge case!" Atwater chimed in, handing Jay another drink. "We can go in late tomorrow!"

So Jay let himself be persuaded again, and it wasn't long before all three men were completely drunk, laughing wildly at a table tucked away at the back of the pub.

"Halstead, you're embarrassing us!" Atwater reached across the table and playfully shoved Jay's shoulder. "You're giggling like a damn schoolgirl!"

"But Kev, I'm having fuuuuun!" Jay defended in an almost sing-song voice. Most of the time Jay was pretty responsible with his alcohol consumption. He recognized that he had overindulged in the past—leading to some questionable decisions—so for the most part he kept his drinking to a minimum. But on the rare occasion when he threw caution to the wind? Jay was like a different person. He was a surprisingly goofy drunk; his voice would grow louder and louder as he spoke without a filter, laughing uncontrollably at anything and everything.

Ruzek had been sitting quietly for a minute or two when he interrupted Jay and Atwater's conversation. "Hey, that girl actually looks a bit like Lindsay, don't you think?" Ruzek observed, nodding his head toward a group of women near the bar as he tipped back the last of what was probably his eight or ninth beer.

Jay nearly choked on his own drink at Ruzek's question. He quickly collected himself and chuckled, keeping his voice even and casual. "What? What would she be doing here?"

"Dude she's in town for the wedding!" Ruzek laughed. "She's one of Kim's bridesmaids. You're okay with that, right man?"

"What? Oh totally, I'm good. I'm over her! Besides I'm with Allie and we're going to get married!" Jay's inebriated state had him talking so loud he was practically shouting.

The volume of Jay's voice drew Herrmann's attention from the bar, and the firefighter wove his way through the crowd to their table. "Hey fellas, I'm going to call you a couple of cabs, okay? I think you've all had more than enough for one night!" He chuckled as he clapped his palm against Jay's shoulder.

By the time the detectives had paid their tabs and thrown on their jackets, three taxis were waiting out front. They said their goodbyes and went their separate ways.

Kim and Adam's wedding was being held in a ballroom at the Waldorf Astoria hotel in downtown Chicago, and they had gathered their wedding party there for a rehearsal the evening before the ceremony. Their wedding planner, Cindy Kincaid, was a fascinating woman; even wearing stilettos, she was barely five feet tall, and yet her presence was commanding—the woman could probably intimidate even the likes of Hank Voight. Cindy had corralled Kim, Nicole and Erin in the bridal suite adjacent to the hall while she got the men situated.

Jay was running late; his night of drinking had left him with a nasty headache, so he'd been unusually slow to finish his paperwork that day. He arrived to see Ruzek and Atwater already standing uncomfortably near the arch at the front of the ballroom.

"You! You're late." Cindy scolded; she sounded like a schoolteacher reprimanding a misbehaving student.

Jay was surprised by the strict tone of her voice as he struggled to put together a response: "I'm sorry, um, ma'am? I… I uh—"

"No time for chit-chat, hurry up," she snapped, motioning for Jay to come closer. When he arrived by her side, Cindy practically shoved him into position beside Atwater. She forcefully adjusted his posture until it suited her liking before stepping back to look at them collectively and uttering an almost menacing warning: "None of you move!" With that, she dashed away to direct the bridal party.

The three women were trying to relax in the bridal suite when Cindy burst into the room. Their conversation ended abruptly as she beckoned for them to follow her. "Alright ladies, this way." She barked orders like a drill sergeant—Hold your hands like this! Don't walk too fast! Stand up straight!—before throwing open the ballroom's double doors. Cindy switched on the music and urged Erin forward down the aisle. "Come on, come on, let's get the show on the road."

The guys had been joking around with each other while they waited, but the sound of the processional music echoing through the hall quickly captured their attention. They shuffled back into their proper positions and watched for the bridal party to approach them.

And that's when it happened.

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