Thank you to justkillingtimewhileiwait for all of her help with this fic and the beta-ing. It would still be in my head if you hadn't motivated me to write it :)

Jay wasn't waiting. He really wasn't. If he couldn't sleep and was instead laying on their bed, playing solitaire on his tablet, it was simply because he wasn't tired. Even if they had started the day at nearly 6 a.m. and it was currently nearing 11 at night. It definitely was not because he was waiting for Erin to get home, worried about how her meeting with her mother had gone. Or was going, if that was the case. With Bunny, Jay could never tell if she truly wanted to see her daughter or the cop she was. And with Erin being the woman she was, she would give Bunny the time of day he would not if she believed her mother might have the tiniest inkling of actually wanting to be her mother.

Not that that would be the case today. Not after Bunny had approached them whilst heading back to the precinct after grabbing some lunch together, asking Erin for some time to talk. Insisting she come over to her place that evening, which Erin had brushed off and said she would meet her at the bar she was working at again, the only decent job the fickle woman could hold down.

And especially not when the two of them knew that Bunny's new 'friend' was clearly a drug dealer, if not her supplier. As much as Jay had wanted to tell Erin exactly what he thought of her mother, something he had done so previously and numerously, he knew she still felt the primal need as her daughter to perhaps try to help her. To save her. Because if she could do it, then why couldn't her mother?

Contemplating opening up Erin's game of Candy Crush, which he knew she would kill him for but sometimes payback was a bitch when she had no need to play on his tablet, Jay froze as he heard the lock turn and the front door creak open.

He'd left the living room light on as was their tradition when one was home before the other, and he waited for her to appear in the bedroom doorway for a few seconds longer than he was happy to.

Hearing her keys being thrown onto the table by the door, her gun a heavy thump next to it, Jay got to his feet and left the tablet behind on the bed as he made his way out.

"Erin-" he began quietly, not wanting to disturb the quietness of the night. The words died on his tongue, no longer wanting to know what had happened when he saw the nasty bruise darkening her jaw, the corner of her bottom lip split.

She had spun towards him at his voice, having not heard him approach. "I'm okay, I'm okay," she assured him, heading to grab some ice from the fridge dispenser with a tea towel in her hand.

"You're not okay, Erin," Jay all but snapped, unable to control the red hot rage that burnt inside of him at the sight of her marred features. He reached her in a few strides, gently skimming his fingertips over the other side of her jawline in a complete contrast to how he felt. Somehow, she managed to bring it out in him, cooling his hotheadedness and calming impulsive actions. The injury was hidden by the makeshift ice pack she was pressing to both her jaw and lip, so he instead tilted her head up to meet her eyes. "Who did this to you?"

"Don't-" she began, but he knew the answer the second the question left his mouth.

"It was him, wasn't it? That dealer Bunny's been hanging out with recently? Is that why she wanted to see you?" he asked in rapid fire, not even giving her the time to reply to one before the next question slipped out.

"Jay, please-" Erin tried again, her voice somehow calm and soothing though he failed to hear it over his own anger. Dropping his hand from her face, he took a step back and held onto the counter behind him in an iron knuckle grip instead.

"I'm going to kill him," he stated venomously, features hardening as he conjured up the man's face in his mind from the brief look that afternoon, and imagining him even daring to lay a hand on his girlfriend, his partner. Jay had no problem with returning the favour ten-fold.

Erin stepped around him to perch on the stool, shaking her head as she did so. "I've already handled it. He got a broken nose for the effort."

"Where he is now?" he prodded, crossing his arms before he ripped their kitchen counter to pieces and earned her wrath in that way.

"Jay, let it go," she begged him softly yet strictly, the tone she used when she didn't want to deal with the subject anymore.

He had no doubt she had fumed over what had happened, giving Bunny a piece of her mind about the company she kept and once again insisting to either let Erin help her out or to get out of her life forever. Telling her how she hated having to be the one to taken the brunt of her mother's bad decisions, and how 20 years later, they were still somehow in the cycle as they had always been.

Or so Jay hoped she had, otherwise he was going to have some choice words with Bunny. Especially when he knew that Erin would never tell her mother how hurt she truly was by always being let down, and how that pain was probably fiercer than the one on her face.

Erin's pain, both physical and emotional, brought up his anger to full throttle. "I'm definitely not letting it go!"

She must have realised his adamant stance on the subject, and taken pity on him by answering his last question. "I don't know where he is. He ran off after I pulled my gun out on him," she told him with a defeated shrug.

Inhaling deeply, Jay allowed himself a moment longer to focus on that scumbag without a name and what he would do to him when he finally got his hands on him, before letting it all out with a slow, controlled exhale. It was a method he had been taught in the army to keep his emotions in check and keep focused on the job at hand. Right then, that was making sure the woman in front of him was truly as fine as she had insisted she was. She was what mattered the most right then, not whoever did this to her. And after a harrowing evening with Bunny, she needed someone to show her she came first to everything else.

Taking the tea towel from her hand, Jay swapped it for a dry one and added more ice to it before carefully resting it against her bruise, his other hand going to cradle her head lovingly. He had to give it to her when she didn't wince nor hiss at the contact, but instead grabbed his forearm and ran her hand up and down it repeatedly.

"You should have shot him," he muttered eventually. Erin glared at him, unimpressed at his opinion, not that it deterred him. "You should have!"

"He didn't have a weapon," she replied, both of them knowing the legal reasoning behind her words. Her eyes fluttered close for a moment as Jay simply stood there, unsure what she was thinking of until she squeezed his arm and gently pulled it away from her. "Let's just go to bed. I really just want to go to bed, curl up with you and forget this ever happened, okay?" she told him, taking the ice out of his hand before prompting him when he failed to reply or react. "Jay?"

Nodding, he watched her dump the ice into the sink and hang the towel on a drawer handle to dry. The light from the living room casted shadows on her features as she moved around the kitchen, making her injury look far worse than it was.

Swallowing the lump of rage building in his throats again, he waiting until she approached him again. "We're telling Voight first thing tomorrow, and I don't care what you think about it, you're not leaving anything out," he stated, leaving no room for argument though they both knew Voight would demand the story out of them when she walked into Intelligence the next morning regardless of what Jay wanted.

"Tomorrow," she agreed vaguely before grabbing his hand and leading him to the bedroom, making sure to turn the lights off as they went.

...

Silence filled Voight's office once Erin finished telling him, and Jay for that matter, everything that had happened the previous night after she had left the district up until she had returned home. Neither one of them had interrupted her, but their facials expressions said everything they weren't and didn't have to. Jay stood leaning against the wall, arms crossed tightly with his muscles jumping every now and again when he was particularly affected by what she said, whilst Voight remained in his chair, one leg crossed atop of the other in a casual stance though by the way his jaw ticked and tightened every now and again, she knew it was simply a facade.

Finally, the sergeant turned his sight towards Jay. "You let her go alone?" he accused harshly.

"He didn't let me do anything! It was my decision," Erin snapped before Jay could even summon an answer.

"He's supposed to be your partner, Erin!" Voight seethed, still eying the man in question even as she tried to reel him back in, knowing Jay wasn't going to defend himself when he probably agreed with their boss.

"This isn't Jay's fault," she stated matter-of-factly, and she could feel the tension dissolve as quickly as Voight's demeanour changed.

"No, it's that son of a bitch's who did that to your face," he growled, planting both feet on the ground and leaning forwards in his seat. "Where is he now?"

Erin rolled her lips between her teeth, ignoring the stinging cut, before shaking her head. "No idea."

Her answer clearly rubbed Voight the wrong way, who directed his anger back towards Jay. "You let him get away with doing this to her?"

"I wouldn't have if it was up to me," he retorted immediately, holding Voight's stare for a moment before their attention jumped towards her when she scoffed.

"Considering the first words out of your mouth were 'I'm going to kill him', excuse me for not wanting you to go after him last night," she shot back, raising a brow to dare him to argue her words. When he didn't, she nodded once and turned back to Voight. "Besides, I handled him."

"Unless he's behind bars or six feet under, I don't class it as being handled," he replied, getting up and grabbing his jacket as he passed them out of his own office. "I bet you your mother knows exactly where to find him."

..

They sat in the car across the street from the address Bunny had given Voight, keeping an eye out for the man they wanted. It was a rundown building in a sparsely populated area; perfect for drug activity.

"You're meant to have her back 24/7, remember? You promised me, Halstead," Voight stated sincerely, breaking the silence they had been sitting in for almost an hour now.

It was just the two of them in Voight's car, Erin having been left behind at the district so they could 'do this by the books'. Which they all knew was a load of bull because Voight had never done anything by the books, and there were no rules against her making an arrest on someone she was going to press charges against.

But when Jay hadn't stepped in, the men both knew she had realised she was fighting a losing battle. If she had been brave and stupid, she would have followed them but instead, she had promised to back down if they promised to bring him in to Narcotics for booking.

"You don't think I know that? But you know how Erin is. She didn't want me there and I couldn't force myself into the situation," Jay replied with a tired sigh, rubbing his forehead and willing the headache he had been giving himself all day by the same thoughts to go away.

"Does what she wanted really matter right now?" Voight asked, glancing over at him with a hardened glare. Jay merely shrugged and shook his head.

"Hindsight is always 20/20," he muttered dryly, about to add that he would never make the same mistake again when the door of the building they were staking out opened and a familiar looking man exited. Only today, Jay realised with some pride, he was sporting a crooked nose with white butterfly bandages stuck across it. "That's him."

Voight was out of the car before Jay could even get into action. "Let's go."

..

True to his word, Voight hadn't worked up the dirtbag too badly, though Jay wished he could've had another hit. But, as promised, they handed him over to Narcotics for processing and to follow the case through, if there were any on top of the assault charges Erin was bringing down on him.

She had gone to give her statement in the late afternoon, brushing off Jay's attempt in coming with her with a bemused smile and telling him that the last thing they needed was for the cop who helped rough him up to make an appearance. It was a lame excuse, similar to the one they had used on her earlier in the day, and he knew she was simply giving back what she had gotten.

After following her to roll up to make sure they were good, Jay had bid her goodbye with the promise of bringing dinner home and headed back upstairs. They had a bit of paperwork left over from the week, but he couldn't get his head on straight enough to focus on it. Now they had dealt with the man who had hit her, all Jay could focus on was the cause behind it all.

Pushing away from his desk, he approached Voight's office and knocked on his open door out of custom. Not expecting a reply anyway, Jay closed the door behind him and sat in the chair opposite his boss.

"How's Erin?" Voight asked gently, his eyes jumping to over Jay's shoulder at the detective's empty desk before returning back to him.

"How she always is. Playing it off like it's nothing, like she should have expected it and doesn't deserve to feel sorry for herself again," Jay replied, pushing back the anger that came with the words as he recalled her simply brushing it all off before she had left with a shrug and a sad smile. "I want Bunny out of her life, Sarge. For good."

Voight let out a strangled chuckle, smiling wryly as if his words were familiar to him. "I've tried, trust me. But she finds a way to crawl back in just when Erin least expects it."

"She's too good to her," Jay all but spat, knowing exactly what it was about Bunny that drew Erin back in again and again.

"She's too good to a lot of people," Voight remarked pointedly, actually making Jay smile softly for a moment before he recalled where he had been going with the conversation.

"When she came home last night…" he began, trailing off at the memory and the white hot rage that flooded him quicker than he thought was possible. "I wanted to kill him, Voight. Actually kill him, with my bare hands if I had to, for what he did to her. I can't even begin to imagine what it was like for her as a kid. Did this kind of thing happen all the time to her? Is this what Bunny let happen to her children then too?"

Voight shook his head at Jay's imploring questions. "That's something you need to talk to her about."

"I know, I know. I just don't want to push her. Her past is her past; it is what it is. And I don't need to know. It would just make things easier if I did," he explained, clasping his hands together in front of him and casting his eyes downwards.

"Why?"

Jay lifted a single shoulder and looked up. "I dunno, it'd help know what I can do to cheer her up or take her mind off things right now. She's more affected about her mother putting her in this position than what happened."

Voight seemed to watch him for a minute, a contemplative look passing over his features. He nodded diminutively as if he had understood exactly what Jay was talking about before picking up a pen and scribbling something down on a piece of scrap paper. He held it out towards the younger man, who stared at it questioningly before shifting to reach for it.

On it was the name of what Jay could only assume was a place to eat, as well as the address. "It's a diner near Lincoln's Square, tiny place but it's open all hours. I use to meet Erin there sometimes when she was still my informant, grab some food."

"Okay…" Jay replied, slightly confused with what he was to do with the information and how it linked back to what he had been talking about.

Voight seemed to have noticed his bewilderment, rolling his eyes as he explained, "Take her there. She loved the cheesecake, would give up an entire meal just to have dessert."

"Sounds like Erin," Jay muttered, staring at the paper once again before folding it up and tucking it into his pocket. "Thanks, Sarge," he added as he got to his feet, only to turn back when he reached the door. "And for what it's worth, I am sorry. For not having her back with Bunny and letting her get hurt. That's on me."

"No, it's not. It was that bastard's and he got what he deserved," Voight informed him strictly, leaving no room for argument, though they both knew he hadn't gotten what the two of them thought he deserved. "You'd cross that line for her?"

Jay didn't need any further details to know what he was referring to. Erin had let slip it that morning and he had casually repeated it not a few minutes earlier about what he would do to that son of a bitch if he hadn't had voices telling him otherwise. Both voices of reason and Erin's. "Yes, sir. Without a second thought."

"Jay." Voight stopped him as he went to open the door once again. "You're good police, remember that. If nothing else, then do it for her."

That was definitely not what he had been expecting to hear, not after everything he had thought about doing for the past day. Letting out a long, harrowing breath, he nodded. "Yeah, I will."

...

"I thought you were grabbing dinner?" Erin's voice called out the second he stepped into their apartment. She was peeking out of the kitchen at him in the hallway, dressed in just one of his hoodies which she had official claimed as hers long ago and nothing underneath. Jay appreciated the look, even if she was frowning at him right then. "What's this?"

Glancing down at the bouquet in his hand, he held them out as he approached her. "Daisies. They're your favourite, right?"

"They are, thank you. But you didn't have to," she told him, taking them out of his hands and lifting it to her nose to breathe in their fresh scent.

"I did," he argued, explaining when she shot him a querying look, "I'm sorry for the way I reacted to everything. I should have been more supportive rather than-"

"Murderous?" she supplied for him. When all he could do was nod in reply, she placed her flowers down carefully onto the counter next to them and stepped right up to him. "I get it, I do. I'd have reacted the same way if it had been you," she said, placing a hand on his chest right above his heart and looking at him dead in the eye where she must have seen the hesitation and uneasiness her words had brought him. "What? You don't think I would have?"

"No, I just wouldn't wanted you to have," he explained, already knowing where this was going and the point she was going to make, especially when her eyebrows rose high and she smirked winningly.

"And now you see how I felt." Jay allowed his eyes to fall close for a second, admitting defeat to her logic. His hands fell to her waist as she wrapped her arms around his neck, hugging him briefly. It was warm and familiar, and Jay wasn't sure if it was more comforting for him or for her. "Thank you for not acting on it."

Once she pulled back, he leaned in to press a chaste kiss to her mouth, smiling into it when he felt her lips curve against his own. He squeezed her hips when they broke apart, hands travelling south and under the hoodie to her bare backside to pull her tighter to him.

"C'mon, throw on some jeans. I want to take you somewhere for some dinner," he told her, much to her surprise. He chuckled at her expression, knowing his actions had purposely drifted her thoughts towards another activity they both enjoyed. However, he had promised dinner and the sooner they left, the sooner they could return and have the night together.

Erin eventually shook her head. "I don't think I'm in any state to be going out for dinner, Jay," she murmured with a small shrug.

Jay took in the bruised jaw, the marbling black, blue and green contrasting dearly against her porcelain skin. Carefully, he laid a hand against her neck, thumb barely skimming over the injury before brushing over the cut on her bottom lip. It was healing, that was for sure, but he ghosted his lips over both sites nonetheless and smiled when he felt her sigh contently at his actions.

"You look beautiful. You always do," he told her honestly, smile deepening when her cheeks tinted pink ever so slightly. "I promise, you'll love it. Besides, I didn't say it was somewhere nice."

Laughing, she gave him a dimpled smile and nodded. "Well, how can I say no after that?"