District 21 was buzzing the next morning as Halstead and Lindsay walked in. They hadn't spoken about the night before yet, and Halstead seemed to be a mild form of denial that he had sunk into om, so she was playing along. Erin hadn't wanted to make a big deal out of it or make it awkward, so she'd maintained the status quo. She'd pushed it aside and focused on what was important that day – namely the interview with Daniels and tracking down the Dismemberer.

"Good morning, Lindsay!" Platt happily greeted Erin. Platt liked Erin, but this morning's greeting was sunny even for her. She froze for a second and turned around to see the Sergeant, maybe someone from the city was here to make sure she was being polite again. Looking around, there seemed to be no outsiders present, so the desk sergeant must just be in a good mood. Unsettling for all.

Jay had bypassed the desk, having long gotten over that Platt loved his mate and merely tolerated other mere mortals, and was using the hand scanner to get upstairs.

"Detective Halstud?" Platt calls out to Jay, who decides not to take offense at the nickname. Certainly wasn't the first time he had heard it.

"Yes, Sergeant?" He keeps his tone curt.

"These arrived for you this morning. I'm not a receptionist, get them delivered to your own house, not mine." Halstead and Lindsay freeze when they see the big arrangement of red roses that Platt's pointing at.

Lindsay is closer to the office area, so she gets to the flowers seconds before Halstead. She pulls on a plastic glove from her pocket and plucks the small card from the arrangement with her latex covered fingers.

"Wow. That's a bit of an over-reaction to your partner getting flowers, Detective Lindsay." Platt looks from one Detective to the other, before moving so she can read what it says on the card. "Dearest Shotgun Boy. Miss you, and see you soon."

Erin looks at Jay. "Well that's inappropriate."

Jay raises an eyebrow. "That would be Lewis Daniels trying to get in your head."

Platt stands there for a couple of seconds before looking at the two detectives with fresh eyes. "I knew there was all that delicious unresolved sexual tension between you two, but I never realised you got around to resolving it."

"You're the last to put it together, Trudy." Platt's eyes go wide for a second, thinking through the possibilities for developing blackmail material. "And before you start, Hank already knows."

Trudy just nods and points to the flowers. "And what do you want me to do with these?"

Halstead speaks up. "Get rid of them, if you don't mind. Throw 'em in the bin. But take photos and keep the card. We'll keep them in case he escalates." He didn't think that he would, these flowers were sent to throw Erin off balance before her interview with Daniels, and as such, it would be a one time delivery. It was still important to keep track of all his behaviours though. Halstead knew that these sorts of actions implied stalking, but he didn't get that vibe yet.

Lindsay wrapped her hand around his wrist for a second, her fingers warm against her mark. She felt grounded by touching it, and Jay smiled at her, glad that she was benefiting from their connection too.

Letting go, they jogged up the stairs into Intelligence. Both Jay and Erin feeling like things were about to kick off, but there was nothing they could do besides prep for the interview.

Hank called Lindsay into his office within minutes of her arriving. He was concerned about her doing this interview, it reminded of how Yates had demanded to speak to particular detectives while he had been in prison. He hoped it wasn't bringing back unpleasant memories for her, but he knew better than that.

"How are you?" He didn't want to pry too much, but Lindsay hadn't shared too many details of how things were going with her and Jay, or how the current case was going, and he wanted to make sure that she was coping.

Erin was having none of it, raising an eyebrow as she answers, "Fine."

"I'll come with you to the prison today. You're going to interview this scumbag, then we catch the killer. Don't let him mess with you, alright?"

"Yes, Hank." She stopped for a second and debated whether she should tell him about the flowers now or later. "He sent Halstead some creepy roses. Tryin' to throw me off, you know."

"Was there a note?"

"That he missed Jay and would see him soon. Called him shotgun boy again." She shivered. "Fuck, how does he know that Jay and I are together, Hank? Platt hadn't even put it together."

"He probably read the subtext and made a lucky guess. Don't mean we back down. Means we come at him harder."

Lindsay nods. "I've got this." She sucks in a deep breath. "I'd just feel better if Halstead was with us, y'know?" She wants to add that she didn't want to let her mate from her sight, or that she felt he was being targeted by a psychopath, but she knew to try and keep it professional. Jay could provide her backup if he was with them, and he knew more about Daniels from interviewing him than Erin did.

Voight looks at her seriously for a second. "No. I know you're feeling protective, but we're not bringing the object of Daniels' obsession to him. Halstead can stay here, in the office, and do paperwork."

Erin exhales and tries to keep her temper in check. She knew that he was being logical, but that didn't make it any easier. "Sure. It's best for him to stay here."

Erin couldn't believe how awkward the drive to the prison was. She and Hank had travelled longer distances before, but there seemed to be a divide between them that wasn't easily bridged. She could tell that he was upset that she had rushed mating with Jay, and that he didn't really approve of their relationship, because he was a traditionalist who would have liked for her and Jay to have a civil wedding ceremony followed by bonding on their marriage night, like good dynamic people did.

Erin also missed having Camille around, because she had so many questions that she would have wanted to have asked the older woman, that were awkward to address to her boss. If she brought up her sex life with Jay, both she and Voight wouldn't survive the mortification that would result.

Voight was content to sit in silence, but he could tell Erin wanted to talk. He'd effectively been her family for over fifteen years, he knew when she needed to vent or discuss something. It didn't take a genius to work out that she was most likely worried about that she had mated with a co-worker without proper planning. "So, how're you and Halstead?"

Erin lets a silence stretch out after his question. In one way, she felt like this was the perfect opportunity to unload some of her questions and hopefully get some decent answers from someone she trusts, but she also knew that he didn't really want to discuss her relationship. Thinking through her list of people she could talk to about her relationship, Voight was the only Alpha on the list. He was the only one with experience that could give her advice on what she was going through.

"We're okay. Still working out how everything works."

Voight raises his eyebrows. "It's simple, Erin. It's the same as every other relationship. You discuss your needs, compare them, compromise and then live your lives."

Erin looks at Voight from the corner of her eye. "Well, I've never been with an omega before, so some things are different."

"Mostly during his heat."

"Yeah well…" Erin replies hesitantly, wishing that the door of the car would open and she would tumble out onto the blacktop. That would be easier than this conversation, more comfortable at least.

"Yeah well, what?" Voight can tell that there is more to this, and that she wants to talk about it. "Spit it out, kid."

"I'll assume you've experienced an omega dropping?" She drinks a mouthful of bitter coffee. It had gone cold, but she needed the distraction from what she was saying. Never in her life had she imagined she would be having this conversation with Voight.

"Yeah. Camille and I were mated for a long time. Eventually she went under." He could still remember how it had felt, when he'd noticed the glassy look in her eyes, like she was experiencing a euphoria he would never get to touch. When she'd come back, they'd laid in bed for hours, just touching one another and talking in quiet voices. It was one of the best days of his life, when she'd dropped that first time.

"Jay dropped just under last night." Erin fiddles with the lid of the coffee cup. "Not like, all the way down. He was just under, I think."

"Some go down easier than others. I've heard of plenty of omegas going under even to unmated Alphas – it can cause some problems if they're coerced into doing something they don't want to. You know that." They had dealt with a couple of rape cases over the years where an omega had been in om while they had been assaulted. The cases were almost impossible to prosecute, as the omegas normally had only vague recollections of what had happened and couldn't provide descriptions of their attackers.

"Yeah. It's just… I wasn't expecting it from him. It takes a lot of trust, right?"

"Erin, he already trusts you with his life on the job. He trusted you with his heart when you mated with him. Of course he trusts you enough to drop."

"It's just…" Erin pauses, trying to word this in a delicate way. "He can't really say no, can he?"

Voight looks at Erin sharply. "It's not rape. It's part of your relationship, and you're going to have to get comfortable with the idea, he's going to keep doing it, and if you give him all the power so he doesn't, you both will be miserable.

"What happens if I do something he doesn't like? Or I hurt him?" The takeaway cup was now empty, but she kept twisting the lid in her fingers.

"You might do something he doesn't like. You will probably hurt him. But you sit down like damn adults and you talk about what's okay and what's not okay. You come up with limits." He looks at her disapprovingly once he puts together that communication is the gap in their relationship. "That's beginner stuff, Lindsay. You should have done that already."

"Yeah. We don't talk about it. We're always… caught up in the moment."

"Part of being an Alpha is being in control of your own emotions and keeping you both in check." He adds after a pause, "Maybe you need to focus on controlling and restricting your emotions in regards to him."

"Hank…"

"Just think about it."

Erin puts the cup back in the cup holder and watches the urban landscape fly past the SVU. She wonders what Jay is up to right now, and represses a smile at the thought of him unloading his Glock 17 into his computer.

Will sees the older man standing by the emergency room doors and groans. He was last thing he needed to deal with tonight after struggling through a double shift in which he and Nat had argued constantly. He wasn't sure why they were arguing, but sure enough, they were.

His hair was even greyer than last time he'd seen him, the red almost drowned out by the white. He wanted to say that it made the old man look more distinguished, but that was a hard call, Stephen Halstead had most likely emerged from the womb wearing a three piece and tie. Even when he came home from work, he would shed his work suit (always with tie, jacket and vest) and done his causal wear – a suit. The only concession he made to relaxing would be omitting the vest. Will can vividly remember his father wearing a jacket in the height of summer while the rest of the family were sweating through singlets.

"William!" His father's voice is loud in the busy room, and he knows there is no avoiding him now. He'd been hoping to slip back out into the bowels of the hospital, but now he's been spotted.

"Hi Dad." He looked down at his watch, trying to make it seem like he was on a tight schedule. He'd been about to finish his shift and only had one more patient to check up on, but he didn't want his dad suggesting they go out for dinner. It was late, and he didn't want to spend the night trying to dodge the mines that a conversation always entailed.

"Let's go outside and talk, son." Mr. Halstead runs a hand through his hair, and Will notices that he's let it grow out. He usually sported a short back and sides that was cut by a very expensive and exclusive barber, but it looked like he'd missed an appointment or two. It was one of the only habits that Jay had inherited from their father – the ability to maintain perfect hair, no matter what was happening around them. For Stephen Halstead it was about image, that he always portrayed an appropriate and tidy image. Jay seemed to take the hair issue as a point of discipline – that the time taken to maintain standards was essential. The difference was slight, but important.

It worried Will that his father was not his usual over starched self. His shirt was wrinkled. He had bags under his eyes. He'd been about to tell his father where to go, but decided to take pity. If only for his health.

"Sure." He walks past the older man, travelling a fair distance from the front of the hospital. He didn't want anyone overhearing this conversation. He was used to being the centre of the gossip mill, but he didn't want to add Halstead family drama to that.

"What's up?" Halstead senior's forehead crinkles at his son's colloquial use of the English language.

"I've been trying to get in touch with both you and Jay." Will had noticed a missed call from his number earlier in the week, and assumed Jay had received even more calls.

"We're both busy. With work." And girlfriends, friends and lives that he hadn't been a part of for a long time.

"I understand. I was just wondering if you were planning on coming to your mother's memorial?"

Will took a deep breath. None of the Halstead men had taken the matriarch of the family's death easily. He'd partied his way through the grief, throwing himself at any woman who would have him. Their father had thrown himself into work, pretending that his wife hadn't existed to begin with. Jay had thrown himself into the Army and Afghanistan, which had ended in disaster.

"Dad." Will reminds himself to temper his tone. The last thing he wants to do is get his father pissed off. "I've got to work. I farewelled her years ago." He wants to add that they don't all drag on their mourning now because they like the way the mourning widow portrays to the upper echelons of society.

"What about Jay? I know it hit him harder, he was younger than you when she died, and he was closer to your mother than you ever were. I just wanted him to know he's invited."

Will shakes his head. "Dad, you know as well as I do that Jay won't come to a memorial that you've organised. Just like he didn't come to the art exhibition or the dedication ceremony you held in her honour." If anything, his younger brother had been horrified at the way their father was using her name to gain celebrity and social standing.

"I just thought that it could help us, you know, patch things up." Yet another thing Halstead senior wished for, but Will knew that each time the other two men were in a room together, things disintegrated further between them. They would argue, or Jay would do the stoic standing at attention in the corner of a room while his father talked disapprovingly about his youngest son to the guests that he was supposed to be impressing with his children. Last time they'd been together, Jay had lasted ten minutes in the same room before having to make a hasty exit and go home.

"You know how that always goes, Dad. He's not going to want to see you, and if I was you, I'd give him a wide berth at the moment."

"He's my son, I have a right to see him." Will can see the older man's shoulders tense up and can tell he's getting angry. He needs to warn him off Jay.

"Now's not the best time. He's just mated. You don't want to upset him or his Alpha."

Stephen Halstead's face blanches. As always, he'd pushed his son's dynamic to the back of his mind, ever the embarrassment. "He's what!?"

"He's mated, dad. I don't need to explain it to you. You go over there and upset him, you will be staring down the barrel of two guns, and Lindsay's not likely to take it easy on you."

"Lindsay. That sounds like a girl's name. At least he's not taking it up the ass like some queer."

Will closes his eyes in disgust. He'd forgotten how his father's prejudice ran deep and wide. "Don't say that. Even if he had ended up with a man, that's fine."

"But he's mated to a woman? He's not her bitch, I hope. I hate when you see those omegas snivelling and submitting. Especially boys."

"Yes, we all know what you hate, you've made it clear many times before. I have to go back to work now." He stands up and looks his father in the eye. "Leave Jay alone. Don't call him, don't go to his work. Just give him space. I'll talk to him about maybe getting in touch, okay?"

Stephen Halstead nods his head. "Fine. I couldn't work out what precinct he works at, either. He's not listed anywhere, and he doesn't get much media attention. He's hard to track down."

"Good. Let him come to you." Will had always had a better relationship with Stephen than Jay. He'd shared their father's dynamic and interests. He'd followed the same career path. As soon as Stephen had realised Jay was an omega, he hadn't stood a chance.

Lewis Daniels couldn't believe his luck - sitting across from him was the delectable Detective Lindsay. He'd half expected the sour faced Voight to turn up to take his statement, but the fact they had sent the female detective meant they were taking him seriously. Plus, he had picked up on the vibes between her and shotgun boy.

Daniels was trying to drag the process out, he'd tried to engage in a couple rounds of small talk, but the pretty detective had not taken the bait. She'd raised an eyebrow, stared him down and demanded he give up the goods.

She tapped her fingers against the steel tabletop. Her fingers were painted a dark blue colour, and he imagined those fingers running down his body, unbuttoning his prison issue jumpsuit and reaching in to…

"Daniels. You tell me the dismemberer's name right now, or else you don't get your deal." Her eyes narrow. "In fact, if you don't tell us his name and how you know him right now, I will add accessory charges to your sheet, and you can do time for the Dismemberer's murders too."

Lewis paused for a second, considering her threat. He could tell by the look in her eyes that she meant every word. "His name is Jason Duns."

"How did you know Duns?"

"I supplied him with products..." He smiled at her, letting the euphemism hang in the air.

"Omegas?"

"Yes."

"How many omegas did you supply to him?"

Lewis shook his head. "Let's just say some products. More than one, less than one hundred. I don't plan on incriminating myself any further."

Erin stood up, glad that she now got to leave the room. She couldn't wait to get distance between them. "The lawyers will take it from here."

Lewis raised an eyebrow at her, "I'm glad. Thankyou for your time, Detective. Say hi to Jay for me." He lets out a chuckle. "How is he in bed?"

Erin doesn't bother to respond, just spins on her heel and starts to walk out.

"I can get him for you. He's really secretive, but I've been writing to him. He asked me for a referral to someone else who could supply him with product."

The way he kept referring to omegas as product was sickening Erin, it was as if they regarded omegas to be some sort of addictive drug. "And what? You're going to tell him you can get him an omega from prison?"

Daniels laughs at her. "Of course not, he'd never believe that. But I could tell him I know of a cop who occasionally stumbles into omegas who would be perfect for him."

"Do it. Give him my name and we will supply a phone number." As Erin is agreeing to go with Daniels plan, the door opens and Voight walks in.

"Oh, Sergeant Voight, I was wondering if you would make an appearance."

Voight shoots a glare at the convict. "Give Duns my name. I already have a rep for bending the rules."

Daniels nodded his head, "I've heard all about you from behind these walls, Voight. I'll set up a meeting. Duns has a type, and he's only ever offered me money when I've actually produced an omega who is in heat, or just about to go into heat. He likes them attractive, any age. Male or female." He focuses on Erin. "Loves eyes. I think it has something to do with the mementos he keeps."

Voight speaks up, taking Daniels' attention away from Lindsay again. "Give him my name and number, and tell him to get in touch. I'll then call him when I find someone." Voight doesn't voice it, but he knows that he has two options of omegas to use as bait. Lindsay would veto one choice, Ruzek the other. Both Halstead and Burgess would be more than willing to go undercover.

Erin came into her apartment to find Jay sitting on the couch, drinking a beer. She'd been a little surprised when she'd gotten back to the office and he hadn't been there. The rest of the unit, bar Al, had gone home, and Al offered her a smile and said he'd told Halstead to go home, because he'd started getting restless to the point of annoying. He'd been unable to sit in his chair for any period of time, and had constantly been getting up to go to the breakroom, bathroom, downstairs, locker room. She could appreciate that the rest of the team might have been able to get more work done with him absent.

It surprised her as she had seen Halstead remain still for hours at a time, but it had to be a situation in which he had to stay still for a mission. Surveillance type jobs or lying in ambush. He'd made it clear to the rest of the unit early that he'd prefer to be chasing after a perp than lying on a roof doing surveillance.

He looks at her when she walks in, and lifts himself up off the couch, placing the beer on the table as he does so. He already has that glint in his eye, and he walks over to her before pulling her into his arms. She can feel his strength and frustration, his anger at effectively being leashed and muzzled. It upset her too, because right now he was just as capable at his job as he had ever been.

Their lips meet in a searing hot kiss, but she pushes him away before it can get too erotic. She thinks back to her conversation with Hank in the car that morning. Communication was not their strong point. Plus, she was hungry and she knew he wouldn't have eaten yet.

Keeping one hand on his chest to keep the distance between them, Erin raises an eyebrow. "How about we have some dinner first. And chat a little." She notices the slight frown on his face. "And then you can ravish me, okay?"

He seems to think it through for a couple of seconds, as if his brain was switching from one objective to another. "Yeah. What should we have?" He walks into her kitchen and opens up her fridge. She'd noticed he was a proficient cook, as she was, so between them they should manage to feed themselves with the contents of her cupboards.

"Unless you are content to have eggs again, I think we're going to have to order out."

Erin grabs the bag of bread and notices green mould growing on the surface. "I think it's going to be take out."

He pulls his phone from his pocket. "Chinese or pizza?"

"Chinese."

She leaves him to place their usual order, and goes to change in the bedroom. How the hell does she bring this up with him? All she wanted to do was curl up on the couch, watch some mindless TV, and maybe slip her hand down his pants and initiate something else that would send them mindless.

She walks back out and notices Jay has made himself comfortable, back on the couch, but had grabbed her a beer from the fridge too. She picks it up and has a mouthful. "Thanks."

"Bit rude of me to drink your beers and not at least grab you one too."

She smiles and sits down next to him on the couch. Memories of bringing the big piece of furniture up into her apartment flood her, sitting on Jay's lap as they kiss, feeling him beneath her. How he had pushed her back onto the cushions and kissed her passionately, his hands tangling into her hair. She has to temper down the lust and heat that flow through her body, she pushes away the urge to grab him and do unspeakable things to him. Jay turns around to her, one of his eyebrows rising up.

She notices his reaction, and asks "Can you… feel… that?" The way he'd turned to her when her lust had peaked made her think that they were connecting on a deeper level. Or jay could smell the rush of her hormones. Either way, she was going to have to try and control that.

"Yeah." He turns his body so he is facing her completely, then leans forward and kisses her. She runs her tongue over his lips, and his tongue meets hers, licking into her mouth. He groans and wraps a hand around her neck, and starts pushing her backwards. She knows exactly where this is going.

She pushes him away with a laugh. "Jay. Wait."

He groans. "No. Why?"

"We need to talk."

At that, he sits back and looks alarmed. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine Jay. But we still need a talk."

He looks at her for a couple of seconds, mistrustingly. "About?" He keeps his sentence clipped, short. Obviously not wanting to talk at this moment, his hand reaching down to rearrange himself only proving it.

"We need to talk about you last night." He moans at that, and turns his face to watch the TV once again.

Erin grips his jaw and turns his face so that his focus is back on her. "No. You are mine." She can't help the possessiveness in her tone, and is happy when she notices his eyes are focused on hers again. "You are mine. And we need to talk about things. About our relationship."

Her fingers loosen on his jaw a little, and she feels him nod slightly.

"Good." She strokes her fingers over his cheek, wanting to be supportive, after her show of force. She goes with her Alpha instincts. "Good boy."

His pupils' contract, and she knows she has his attention. She needs to be careful not to drop him into om, so she drops her hand down from his face. "Jay?"

"Yeah?" He is running his fingers down her thigh, not quite sexual, more that he just wants to be close to her, touching her.

"Are you already cutting down on the suppressants?"

His fingers stop, the look in his eye sharpens, and she knows that whatever mindframe he had been down in a couple of seconds ago was now gone. He was thinking analytically once more. "No."

She'd suspected as much. Although he was on desk duty at work already, she'd thought actually stopping the suppressants would be a big deal for him. "Tomorrow, you start taking the smaller doses." She doesn't let it be anything but an order, not willing to play around with his health.

"Sure. Fine." She feels like he would have followed his response with a 'whatever' if he'd been a teenager.

"No point being at a desk longer than you have to."

"True."

Erin moves closer to him, until she's sitting on top of him. Reaching up she knits her fingers into his hair, enjoying the feeling of messing up his usually neat style. "See. I know what I'm talking about. Soon you will know I'm always right."

This time he doesn't hold back with the teenage sass. "Whatever." He leans forward and kisses her, but this time it's different from the passion filled kiss he'd delivered when she'd first come home, this time he kisses her slowly, delicately. She sighs into his lips and pulls back once again. "We're not done talking yet."

"Okay." He lifts his eyebrow, and leans forward for one quick kiss before she can stop him, insinuating that he'd prefer to be making out over talking and is willing to do anything to get back to more fun things.

"I want to talk about last night." She runs her hand through his hair and grips the back of his neck. He takes a gulp of air as if he is starting to drown. She knew that for most omegas, grabbing the neck was one of the sure fire ways to get them to drop, and sure enough, she can feel him relax below her.

She removes her hand, and sits back so she can look him in the eyes. "Last night, you dropped. You know that right?" She'd spent some of the trip to the prison earlier that day, googling om, subspace and what was happening to both her and Jay right now. She'd been surprised to read that some omegas would drop, and when they came up, they wouldn't remember anything from when they were down. She'd been concerned that had happened with Jay, considering there had been no cheeky comment when they had woken up, no banter. She'd thought that he was nervous about other things, but after googling om, she had wondered if maybe he hadn't remembered the amazing sex from the night before.

"Yeah. I figured as much."

"Has that happened to you before? You went down easy." It wasn't surprising for him to go down with her, however, but his profession and his military service, the speed to which he had gone under had worried her.

"Not for a long time." He looks away from her. "Once I trust someone, I can go under easily enough."

She smiles reassuringly at him. "Hey, that's okay. As long as it's not just anyone." A shiver of jealousy rips through her at the idea of anyone else having that sort of control over him.

"Generally only people I consider pack. So you." He pauses for a second, looking away. "I've gone under for Will once or twice. He did it when we were kids and I was hurt. Things hurt less when you're under. He tried after Keyes, but it didn't work anymore. Maybe I just wasn't feeling very trusting."

She knew that pain was just as present in om, but the ability to deal with pain was greatly increased. During om, an omega would just accept that the pain was part of their lives at that point and there was nothing to do about it. "That's alright, Jay. It's normal to go under for family when you're kids." She'd heard of some Alpha parents who would keep their omega children right on the cusp of om most of the time. It meant that they would be obedient and easily managed.

"Yeah."

"But I need to know how to look after you when you're under, Jay. I need to know if there are things you don't want me to do. You know, limits and stuff. And what I should expect."

Jay looks at her and then chuckles. "Are we really having a safe sex conversation right now?"

She smacks him on the chest. "Yes Jay. We're having a safe sex conversation. Do you wanna be involved?"

"Sure. I don't want you to make all the decisions."

"Good. Now…" She pauses for a second, thinking back to the night before. "Are you usually silent when you're down?"

Jay shifts uncomfortably for a second, obviously still not comfortable with their conversation. "Yeah, I think so." He starts fiddling with one of the buttons on her shirt. "I think I normally will answer direct questions, but sometimes I don't even do that. Depends on how deep I am."

"If something happens, and I need you back up quickly, what can I do to bring you up?" She didn't want to turn her relationship into one of those horror stories of an omega being in om while the house was burning down. A male Alpha, and most Alphas tended to be men, could at least fireman carry their omega to safety. She didn't even want to consider having to do that with Jay – she'd guess he would almost weigh double what she does, and he was tall.

He thinks for a couple of seconds. "I don't know? I've only ever come up slowly."

"So you don't even something that could bring you up?"

"Maybe threaten me with a gun?"

"Not funny. Are you ticklish? That can bring some people out?"

He shakes his head. "Not ticklish."

"Maybe I can pinch you or something?"

"Sure, you can try that."

"So you don't know if it will work or not?"

"Nope."

"Great. How about things that you don't like, so I can not do them when you're you know, unable to object violently?"

"Isn't this when you are meant to bring out a long list of things and we independently tick off what we like and we don't like?" She'd seen plenty of lists like that over the years, and it always had made her wonder who the hell would need such a device just to work out what their partner liked and didn't like.

"I thought we could just be adults and talk to each other."

"Okay, that's fine."

"So, what's a no go?"

Jay looks uncomfortable for a second, and she wonders if he's uncomfortable being asked what he doesn't like or if he's thinking about something that he doesn't like. "Blindfolds. I need to be able to see. Actually, all sensory deprivation is out, I don't like being deafened either. But especially blindfolds."

She hadn't been expecting that, but she supposed it made sense. "Anything else?"

"Well, I don't know how freaky you plan on getting? So I don't know how much stuff I need to cover? Like, I'm not keen on being killed, so I'd say that's a limit."

"Very funny. I'm not going to kill you." She laughs at him. "Well, that depends on how much you piss me off, really. But I'll try not to kill you."

"And don't piss on me, no matter how possessive you are feeling. You can scent mark me, but you squat, and I'm out."

Lindsay laughs at him. "Sure babe, I won't pee on you. That's not really my style."

Jay looks at her seriously. "What about you? Anything that freaks you out?"

She thinks for a couple of seconds, wanting to take this seriously after requiring him to do so. "Yeah, actually." Erin strokes his cheek. "You've seen my CI file. No calling me a whore, or a slut, or anything like that. Don't say that you will pay for something if it means you get sex."

"Sure. I wouldn't anyway."

"I mean, if we go out for dinner, and you buy, and then we come home, don't think of hinting that I then 'owe' you sex."

"Sure. Noted. Anything else?"

"Nothing I can think of." She leans forward to give him a quick peck on the lips. "Do you know the traffic light safeword thing?"

Jay rolls his eyes. "Of course." It was the most used safeword system by dynamics, and nearly all Alphas and omegas were familiar with it.

"We'll use that. If you are able to talk when you're under, or if you're up, you can just say red and I'll stop everything. Okay?"

"I'm starting to get the feeling you're planning a lot of dirty things."

"You've no idea how perverted my mind is."

"I can't wait to find out." Jay scoops a hand under each of her thighs and picks her up, placing her back first onto the couch before lowering his whole body down on top of her.