*2 Weeks Later*
"Jess, hurry up!" Jay banged on the bathroom door, becoming irritated with his younger sibling. "You've been in there for half an hour"
Both Will and Jay had decided that Jess would be better off living with Jay for the time being. Both brothers had strange shift patterns but Jay was less likely to be working through the night, plus he did have a small spare bedroom for Jess to stay in. Will would come over frequently to visit, bringing their sibling bond closer than it had been in a long time.
The lock turned in the bathroom door and the youngest Halstead sibling stepped out, an innocent look etched upon her face. "I'm done now" she stated, walking into the kitchen with Jay in tow.
"You do realise that you have to be at school in like 20 minutes right?" Jess shrugged, her expression changing to a hard one that was trying to show no emotion.
"What if everyone asks me loads of questions?" Jess asked nervously. "What if they ask me why my last name changed or why I haven't been in school for almost 4 months?" the youngest Halstead started pacing. "Seriously Jay, I don't think I can do this, I'm not ready. I-"
She was cut off by firm hands gripping her shoulders. "Listen to me, you'll be fine. It's your decision whether you answer their questions or not." Jess visibly relaxed at Jay's words. "If anyone starts harassing you, just tell them your brother a cop" Jess chuckled.
"Remind me never to bring a boy over. On second thought, why not? It'd be really fumy to see you frisk a guy as he walks into your apartment".
"Laugh all you want," Jay told her "but know that I will do that and I will also background check them"
"Jayyyyyyy"
"Jay Halstead, are you terrorising your little sister?" Both siblings turned to look at the door as they heard the familiar voice of Jay's partner.
Jess went wide eyed and shrank back slightly. "Detective Lindsay, what are you doing here?"
Erin walked over to Jay and placed a cup of coffee in his hand, before kissing him on the cheek. This caused even more confusion for Jess who couldn't work out why Jay and Erin were acting so 'couply'.
Luckily, Jay picked up on this and quickly realised his mistake. "Oh my bad. Jess, meet Erin Lindsay: my partner slash girlfriend"
"You waited till now to tell me you had a girlfriend?!" Jess exclaimed "Nice to meet you Erin"
"Likewise" Erin answered politely, and then she turned to her boyfriend. "You are useless"
"Tell me about it" Jess sassed.
"Hey," Jay feigned hurt, checking his watch as he did so. His eyes widened as he looked at the time. "Oh god, we have to go. Like now!"
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Jay watched nervously as Jess' figure faded from view inside the school. "She'll be fine." Erin assured him, starting up the vehicle again.
"How can you be so sure?"
"She's just like you" Erin explained. "She's strong and determined. It actually scares me how similar your personalities are."
Erin's words comforted Jay quite a bit but he still felt uneasy. This was the first time in the past 2 weeks that he had let Jess out of his sight. A lot could go wrong and he didn't like not being in control of the situation.
As he was mulling these thoughts over in his head, Jay hadn't realised that Erin had already pulled up at the district. "Hey" Erin snapped him out of his trance, "stop worrying and get your cop head on or I swear I will get Voight to put you on desk duty!" Jay visibly gulped. Not wanting to cross Erin and end up on desk duty, he put all thoughts about his sister aside and stepped out of the car.
As he stepped into the district, Jay felt like he was home. He hadn't been here for 2 weeks, having taken time off to take care of Jess and had almost forgotten the familiar smell of crappy coffee and deodorant.
"Good morning Erin!" greeted Sargent Platt cheerily, her smile falling short a she turned to look at Jay "Chuckles." She acknowledged him with the usual level of sarcasm.
"Morning sarge" Jay greeted, as he and Erin buzzed themselves up into Intelligence.
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Overall, it was a pretty slow day for the Intelligence Unit. They had just closed another case 2 days prior to Jay's return and no new ones had cropped up since then. Luckily, Jay had managed to keep himself busy with paperwork from his 2 week departure and hadn't really thought about Jess all day.
She had texted during lunch and had asked if she could invite a friend round for dinner that evening. Jay had been glad of this message as it implied that all was going well and Jess seemed to be falling back into her old school life very naturally. He wondered if it would be the friend he had heard so much about from Jess. She had mentioned a girl called Ebony many times over the past 2 weeks and looked forward to meeting the girl who seemed to be his sister's best friend.
Looking up from his paperwork he noticed other members of Intelligence beginning to grab their coats, ready to go home for the night. Jay locked his paperwork away in his drawer and made his way over to where Erin was waiting by the locker room.
"Hey" he greeted her with a kiss.
They both made their way down the stairs and out towards Erin's car "Listen," Jay said "Jess is bringing over a friend for dinner tonight and I was wondering if you'd like to join us?"
Erin smiled at her partner's request, unlocking the car and nodding heartily "I'd love to!" Both detectives got into the large black vehicle as Erin navigated her way to Jay's apartment block, exchanging friendly banter on the journey.
Once at Jay's apartment, they were both discussing what meal they would prepare for the no doubt hungry teenagers on the other side of the door.
"Jay, just cook pasta or something" Erin tried to convince her boyfriend "you don't need to go all out"
"I guess your right" Jay admitted, opening the door and stepping inside.
"I always am" she laughed and Jay smiled, until he heard a noise which had both him and Erin pulling their guns out and rushing further inside the apartment: two high pitched screams coming from the living room.
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Well, that marks the end of another glorious chapter! Hope you enjoyed! Please review, favourite follow etc.
Until next time…