So I'll put a warning here for Linstead bedroom fluff ahead, nothing too descriptive I think but consider yourselves warned.
Erin was drowning, the water had closed in around her. She could see the surface above her, the light reaching down to her, but no matter how much she swam she didn't get closer to it. She was stuck, she realised, peering at the world from inside a car, above her was the car roof yet somehow she could also see the surface. She needed to breathe but she couldn't get free of the car. The water was so cold. She opened her mouth to scream and the water came in filling her lungs...
She woke up.
The room was dark and peaceful except for the sounds of her panicked breathing. She hadn't woken Jay up despite using his shoulder as a pillow and she carefully moved away from him, rolling over and sitting on the side of the bed. She was cold, the heating had been on when they had gone to bed but now the apartment had cooled down and they had long ago kicked the covers down.
She got up, padding barefoot to the kitchen to pour herself a glass of water. She was thirsty but once she had the full glass in her hand she couldn't bring herself to drink it the memory of the dream coming back to her. She still didn't remember being in the water but every night she dreamt about it and every night the nightmare woke her up. It was starting to get to her.
She abandoned the water going into the living room, the only light came from the window and she went and looked out of it. Jay's building didn't have the views of hers', all there was to see was the street outside and nothing was out there but it didn't matter as her mind was elsewhere.
When she thought back to that day the events of the car chase were blurry but she was pretty sure most of them were there. When she tried to remember going into the water nothing came to her. There had been a crash, she remembered being thrown forward and hitting her head again. Based on what people told her that point was likely the moment they had gone off the dock and hit the water. She tried to run it through her head, there had been coldness, water in her lungs, she couldn't breathe... but she wondered how much of that was just dreams or her imagination after being told what had happened.
She had died that day. She had been dead. The concept was so far removed and yet so real. If it hadn't been for her team she wouldn't have survived, she'd have drowned. Her breath caught in her throat and the view of the street got blurry.
"Erin?" Jay called out from the bedroom and she heard him get up.
She cleared her throat. "In here," she said wiping the tears from her cheeks.
"Hey," he said as he came up behind her. He had woken to find her gone and for a very brief moment feared she had left.
"Hey," she replied softly, turning slightly as he stood beside her. He saw the tears on her cheeks easily in the orange light from the street.
"Hey, what's the matter?" he reached over to wipe some of the tears away with his thumb.
She reached up to hold his hand, pulling it against her chest as she turned to face him more fully.
"Thank you," she said honestly.
"For what?" he asked obviously worried.
She gulped down the lump in her throat and gave a weak smile. "For jumping in the lake to rescue me," she said looking him in the eyes to demonstrate how serious she was.
"It's why you have back up," he said after a moment, smiling at her.
She tilted her head, he was giving her that smile, that one he saved for her, but for once she wasn't sure she appreciated their go-to response.
"I'm serious," she told him.
"I know you are," he replied the smile disappearing. His other hand, the once she wasn't clutching, brushed her hair back from her face. "So am I. I will always be there to back you up, always."
She nodded, a few tears escaping and racing down her face to land on their joined hands.
"Come here," he said and she stepped forward into his arms, tucking her head under his chin and letting a few more tears run down his bare chest. He was nice and warm and so solid when she needed someone to lean on. If she had died that day she would have missed this and the thought terrified her, he was the best thing to happen to her in a long time.
"God, you're cold. You want to go back to the bed?" he asked and she could feel the vibrations of his voice through his chest.
"I'm thirsty," she remembered the reason she had gone into the kitchen in the first place.
"Want some water?" he asked pulling back slightly to look down at her.
"Have you got any tea?" she asked not moving from the circle of his arms.
"Tea?" he raised an eyebrow giving her that smile again obviously trying to cheer her up.
"Yeah."
"I don't think I've ever seen you drink tea," he commented.
"It's warm and I don't want coffee," she explained.
"Okay," he walked off but he took hold of her hand so she trailed behind him. He turned the light on in the kitchen and went to fill up the kettle pausing as he saw her full glass of water sitting beside the sink.
At his questioning look she shrugged. "Thought I wanted some water, I was wrong," she told him hoping he wouldn't guess why she hadn't felt like having water yet feeling it might be weirder if he didn't.
He didn't say anything just went about making two cups of tea and Erin just watched him. Once he was done he handed her one and she sipped it, it burnt her tongue but at least it wasn't cold.
"You want to go and sit?" he asked her and she nodded following him to the couch, Jay turning on a lamp. He watched her sipping her tea while his was too hot to drink. "Do you remember it?" he asked her quietly after a few minutes.
His question was vague but she knew what he was referring to and she shook her head in the negative. "I don't think so," she replied.
"What does that mean?"
She shrugged. "If I try and run through my memories of that day I only remember bits of the car chase and nothing of being in the water," she explained.
He nodded. "I'm glad you don't remember it, I wouldn't want you too," he told her honestly. He wished he could forget it, seeing her limp form in the back of that car.
She looked at him thoughtfully. "I dream about it," she admitted after a moment. She bit her lip looking away. "Every night."
"What do you dream?" he asked slowly.
"I'm in the car, in the water. I can see the surface but I can't reach it, I don't know if I'm even trying," she described looking into her tea cup. "It's cold, I drown and then I wake up."
He didn't say anything and she looked at him only to find he was looking elsewhere. She suddenly felt silly for telling him, it's not as though he could do anything about it.
"I don't know if it's even really what happened, it's probably just my imagination. It doesn't matter." she said as she got up, she put her cup down on the side table and headed back to the bedroom wanting to forget she brought it up.
"No, Erin," he calls, abandoning his tea and following her. He reaches her beside the bed and pulls her round to face him. "I..." but he can't find the words.
"What Jay?" she asks, sounding more irritated than she would like.
He sat on the bed, pulling her to stand between his legs, sighing before looking up at her. "Here is what I remember," he offered, hoping it would help. "When I jumped in the lake the car was on the bottom and I swam down to it, I went straight down to the side we had seen you in and you were there, unconscious. I pulled you out and swam for the surface. I wish I could forget it, I wish it hadn't happened and I was so glad in the hospital when I found out you didn't remember it. I hoped you wouldn't be haunted by it."
She put her arms around his neck and gave a sad smile, happy at how much he cared about her. "It's just a dream," she offered lightly.
Jay cocked an eyebrow at her. "Sounds like a memory," he disagreed.
"Maybe," she admitted reluctantly. "But I only really remember it when I dream, the rest of the time it's not there."
"Perhaps if you could remember it you wouldn't dream about it every night," he commented thoughtfully.
She frowned at him not liking that idea at all. She let go of him, pushing passed and half climbing over him to lay on the bed. He let her pass before crawling up and holding himself half above her, their legs entangled.
"You don't like that idea?" he asked now he had her trapped below him. It was hard to be annoyed at him when he was so very close but difficult to be distracted by him when they still discussing this.
"Of course I don't, I don't want to remember it anymore than you want me to," she replied.
"I'm sorry."
"I just wanted to talk to you about it," she ran her hands up his chest, she had been cold earlier, she certainly wasn't now. "Maybe that will be enough."
"I'm glad you did," he smiled down at her though she was too busy to notice, he trembled, she was occasionally hitting a ticklish spot. "If anything ever bothers you I want to hear about it."
She smiled up at him, not missing the effect she was having on him as her hands went lower. "It bothers me when Ruzek takes the sweets out of my top desk draw."
"Umm?" he closed his eyes, dropping his forehead onto hers.
"Or when Atwater moves everything on my desk trying to find a file, he still hasn't learnt my system," she told him.
"I'll shoot them for you," he said distractedly. "Stop it."
She kissed him. "Stop what?" she asked when taking a breath.
"Erin," he said, muffled as she kissed him again. He groaned rolling off of her and landing with a resigned thump beside her. She chuckled, rolling onto her side and resting her head on her hand to look down at him instead.
"Problem?"
"There would have been if you'd continued," he said with sigh.
"There still might be," she commented with amusement, enjoying the effect she'd had on him. It would take more than just rolling of her, he wasn't even looking at her.
"We can't," he told her as she ran her hand up his chest, barely touching him, it tickled.
"I think you mean we shouldn't," she corrected.
"You want to?"
"It has been over a week," she replied. She had missed it, they hadn't been at it every night since the first time but certainly at least the equivalent of every other night. There had been a few times when they hadn't been around each other's places for days because they had been caught up in a case but it had never been as long as a week.
"What about your ribs?"
"They only hurt when I breathe," she told him honestly. She'd like to say they had got less painful as they healed but they were much more irritating than at the hospital as she was trying to avoid constantly taking pain killers.
He raised his eyebrows, it probably wasn't the best way to convince him.
"Besides sex releases endorphins and endorphins are supposed to be pain relieving," she pointed out. She moved forward, climbing half on top of him to catch his lips again.
"Well," he said after a few minutes of kissing. "We don't need to do too much to get you to release endorphins," he smiled teasingly at her. He kissed her, one arm came around her holding her close but she gasped as she felt his other arm go lower, a hand slipping into her panties. His legs entangled with hers' pulling her to lay completely on top of him, still kissing her, and his hand working it's magic. It didn't take long, she was ready and he was very good at what he was doing.
She found herself laying limp on top of him, her head laying on his shoulder. He was running a hand through her hair and she cold almost purr in contentment.
"How are those endorphins?" he said smugly.
"Good, very good," she said breathlessly.
"How about those ribs?"
"What ribs?"
He chuckled.
"What about you?" she asked, she could feel him against her, what he had just done had done nothing to dampen his arousal.
"I'm fine," he replied.
"No, you're not," she said finally looking at him.
He kissed her, "I don't want to hurt you."
"I'll let you do the work," she argued smiling at him. "Come on, you know you want to."
He shook his head, "I can just.."
She laughed, reaching down to tug at his boxers. "I have never had to work this hard to get a guy to have sex with me."
"I must be special then," he commented, obviously trying to ignore what she was doing.
"Very special."
"Erin," he all but growled as she continued. He took hold of her upper arms, spinning them until he was on top. "Are you sure about this?"
"Yes," she said kissing him again. She was definitely up for it. She tried bucking beneath him but ended up trying not to gasp at the pain from her ribs.
"Hey, careful," Jay said softly. "Let me do the work."
Letting him do the work only went so far. She let him take off their clothes, at least his boxers and her panties but when he went to take her top off (which was actually his) she stopped him. He hadn't seen the bruising on her chest and she would rather he didn't. Thankfully he was too distracted to question why and she was glad it didn't stop him. Once he entered her she all but forgot about her ribs and moved with him, he waited until she was ready before taking her over the edge with him.
They lay side by side after and Erin found herself drifting off. She was only aware Jay had left the bed for some reason when he returned.
"Hey," she said sleepily as he returned to his place beside her. He didn't say anything and she opened her eyes when she felt like he was looking at her. It woke her up more fully when he pulled up her top. "Hey!"
"I wondered why you stopped me taking it off," he said quietly as he took in the bruises running his warm hands over them gently, they ran all the way from where she had been kicked below her ribs to just above her breasts where they had been pounding on her chest during CPR "You didn't want me to see it?"
She sighed pushing the top back down. "I thought it might ruin the moment," she replied.
For a moment he didn't answer. He couldn't argue with that, if he had seen the bruising it certainly would have shocked him, such an obvious reminder of the injures. He leaned forward until their noses were almost touching. "You know you're still beautiful."
She smiled, "is that so?"
"Hmm," he said kissing her.
"You're not so bad yourself," she retorted.
He sat up, fetching the covers from the bottom of the bed and pulling them over the two of them. Once he lay back she tried her preferred position of laying on her side beside him, his shoulder as her pillow. Her ribs still didn't appreciate it and she soon resorted to lying on her back, as irritating as the injuries were she hadn't felt this safe and contented in a while and she closed her eyes in bliss.
"Ribs bothering you?" Jay asked obviously not quite as asleep as she was.
"Mmm, not too bad," she mumbled in reply and she fell asleep to his hand stroking her hair.
She woke the next morning to find him smiling at her, head resting on his hand as he watched her.
"Morning," he greeted.
"Morning," she replied smiling back. She looked to the window, it was obviously just getting light outside. "What time is it?"
"Almost seven," he leant over to kiss her. "We should probably get up."
"I'd rather just stay here," she didn't feel like getting up and facing the world she just wanted to stay in the safety of his arms in a nice warm bed. She was pretty sure she had earned the right to do that the week she'd had.
"Do we need to go by yours?" he asked, they usually did but she had brought fresh clothes in her bag.
"No," she pulled the covers all the way up to her chin.
"You don't want to get up?" He knew she wasn't being serious, she wanted to get Saber, they wouldn't be doing that laying in bed all day.
"Voight won't mind if I don't show up, in fact he'd be happy I was resting," she pointed out.
"Hmm, I think he'd be worried because you'd never do that." He was right, not showing up would freak Voight out.
"I would if you were here beside me."
"That wouldn't make Voight happy," he smiled widely.
"Who cares?"
He chuckled, "come on let's get up." He tugged the covers down.
"No," she disagreed letting go of the covers, rolling over and hiding her face in his chest.
"How about we get up, share a shower, get dressed and I will take you out for breakfast," he said quietly, his mouth close to her ear.
"Breakfast out?" she said not yet uncurling from her hiding place.
"Yep, wherever you want to go," he offered.
"That nice little place down the street?" she asked finally looking at him.
"If that's what you want," he was still smiling.
"Umm, you might be the best partner ever," she said kissing him.
"Possibly, or possibly I don't want you commenting on the state of my fridge."
He rolled out of bed then and she was forced to follow unless she wanted him to take a shower alone.
Despite the possibilities of getting distracted when showering together they didn't take long to get ready and were soon heading out of the door.
"Can I drive?" he asked with a smile her as they were heading down stairs. She gave him a look. "Come on, it can't be comfortable for you."
"Fine," she dragged the word out. He held open the front door for her and she handed him the car keys. "But don't think this sets a precedent."
"I wouldn't dream of it," he replied laughing.
Jay drove them the down the road to the cafe and they were soon in a little booth tucking into breakfast.
Erin was playing with her food, her mind elsewhere. She really had messed up with this Saber thing. She had no idea how she was going to tell Voight in a way that didn't result in him getting very angry. Yet when she looked back on what had happened she didn't see how anything could have happened differently. If she had told anyone of the first threatening call she'd received it would not have stopped Olinsky and Ruzek being in a car accident. The call she received after the car accident... She should have told the others about that but it had been through her own stubbornness and self doubt that had her keeping that to herself. That and her own stupidity, she cursed herself and dropped her fork onto her plate. Voight was going to be mad.
"I was going to say penny for your thoughts," Jay commented, eyebrows raised at her attitude. He'd been watching the expressions on her face fondly as she sat thinking and had a pretty good idea what was on her mind. "But I think I might be opening a can of worms."
Erin looked at him with a sigh. "Voight is going to be pissed I didn't mention the phone calls yesterday," she said before adding; "And that I went to yours' instead of his."
"Hmm," Jay replied non committally, it was pretty much what he imagined she'd been thinking about. He reached over with his fork and took some food off her plate, if she wasn't going to eat it he might as well, after all he was paying.
Erin gave him a look, he wasn't being helpful. "How do I tell him?"
"About me and you?" Jay smiled teasingly.
"No!" her eyes widened at the thought. "About Saber."
Jay sighed, dropping his own fork onto his empty plate. "Maybe you need to work out why you didn't tell anyone," he said pointedly.
She shrugged, thinking about it. "You guys were busy with a case, I thought I could handle it," she said after a moment. She waved her hands around as though that would help with her scattered thoughts. "When it got too much I came to you, Voight isn't going to like that."
Jay agreed with that but he was glad she'd come to him. In fact he was a little smug she'd chosen him over Voight. He wasn't surprised though, they were good partners; he expected it. As for the rest of what she'd said. "You thought you could handle it?" he asked trying not to sound angry.
"Yeah, what was I handling?" she replied defensively. "He calls me with and just threatens to stick his lawyers on us, what do we do with that? And then yesterday it just got out of hand, I though if I found out more, interview the guy in the hospital... And then he showed up at my place..." she trailed off, anger dissipating. "I let it get out of control. I shouldn't have got angry with Al, I should have stayed and talked to Voight."
"Just tell him the facts Erin, tell him you screwed up, he'll forgive you," Jay told her, he couldn't imagine Voight being mad at her for long. And to be honest he did think an angry Voight had ever rattled Erin.
Erin bit her tongue, sitting back and resting her head against the tall seat back. "Al was right, I've had a tough week, I just don't think it's going to get any better."
For a moment Jay didn't reply, his mind flashing back to a lifeless Erin on that dockside even as he kept his eyes on the living, breathing Erin across from him. He dropped his eyes to his plate, gathering his thoughts. "Look, Voight won't be mad for long," he offered wincing, it wasn't exactly a pep talk. He looked up to find Erin's eyes on him though her head hadn't moved.
"But he will be mad," she replied tiredly.
"Hasn't he been mad at you before?" he asked pointedly.
"Yeah," she sighed. "I just..." she trailed off. She didn't want to have to deal with it, that was the problem. She'd woken up this morning happy and contented and she didn't want to have to face the mess that was Saber. Was that so bad? To want to run and hide from the world rather than face it? It wasn't her, she knew that, it had been a very long time since she had ran from anything, today was not the day to start.
"What?" Jay asked.
She took a deep breath, it was time to plunge herself back into the real world, beyond her and Jay at his apartment. "Nothing," she dismissed, sitting forward and pushing her plate away before drinking the last of her coffee.
"Erin," Jay chided, hoping to get her to spill.
"It's nothing," she reiterated, she looked at him and paused at his expression. He deserved some explanation of where her head was at, she was obviously confusing him. "I just don't want to have to deal with it, that's all," she admitted, giving a sheepish smile to let him know it was fine really.
He smiled back, he knew she was serious despite her tone. "Well, I'm looking forward to it," he commented, going for light hearted. "It's going to be entertaining to seeing you explain all of this."
"Thanks for the back up," she retorted.
"Hey, I'll be there," he defended. "All else fails, you just point out how hard your week has been."
Erin bit back the reply that came to mind as the waitress arrived to offer them more coffee. They declined, Jay asking for the bill. Within a few minutes they were leaving.
Jay held the door of the cafe open for Erin. "Seriously Erin," he said as they walked to the car. "It will be fine, just tell them the information and then we can get on with chasing Saber."
Erin was not so convinced. Sure she'd tell them and everyone would get back to Saber but it didn't mean they wouldn't be irritated at her. God knows what Voight would do.
They got in the car and headed to the station. Jay parked out front and they headed in.
Jay opened the door for her and let her proceed him into the station. She gave a wave in reply to Platt's greeting, failing to notice the woman all but ignored Halstead, and went to open the gate to Intelligence. They were not late but Voight was obviously already in his office and Olinsky was at his desk. He'd evidently been waiting for her as when she arrived he stood, coming over to her desk as she took off her coat dropping it onto her chair.
"Erin," he said, about to apologise.
"Al, it's fine don't worry about it," she told him, she forced a smile moving some files on her desk.
"I shouldn't have said it," he told her, tilting his head until he caught her gaze, she paused in her fidgeting. "I didn't mean it."
She looked at him. She felt guilty, he was apologetic now but as soon as she told the guys what had actually been going on he'd have no reason to be. "You weren't wrong, it's fine, I shouldn't have gotten angry."
"I was out of line, you were entitled to," he shook his head.
"No, I wasn't," she said regretfully. He frowned at her tone, not understanding what was up.
"We're okay then?" he asked her.
She sighed, looking away. "You might want to wait before you ask me that," she indicated Voight's office. "I need to speak to Voight."
She stepped away from him, going over to Voight's door. She could pretty much guess the looks that Al was exchanging with Jay behind her.
"How's the arm?" Jay was saying.
She knocked on Voight's door, a noise across the bullpen alerting her to Antonio's and Ruzek's arrival from the direction of the locker room. Voight was on the phone but beckoned her in, she stood in front of his desk, too wound up to sit and wait. He quickly finished the call.
"Hey," he greeted. "How you doing?"
She hesitated. "Good," she replied unconvincingly.
"What's up?" he asked, seeing straight through it.
"I need to talk to you about Saber," she got to the point, better to get this over with.
Voight nodded slowly, he stood, coming round the desk. "We're back on the case today, we'll get this guy."
"Yeah, about that," she took a breath, what she'd give to be back in bed pretending the world didn't exist, instead of in front of her boss telling him this. "I have information about the case."
"You've been looking into it," he guessed. He wasn't stupid enough to think she'd just stop because he had told her to.
"Kind of," she winced at how that sounded. "I could just brief everyone at once."
She indicated the bull pen, she'd rather tell the story only once anyway.
Voight scrutinised her for a moment, he wasn't used to this version of Erin, he hadn't seen it since she was a teenager. The sheepish, 'I've done something wrong' Erin. Once she'd got older and her self confidence had grown he hadn't seen it again and he didn't like it now. He wondered if it was a result of the accident last week. "Is something the matter?" he asked.
"You could say that," she was doing a good job of avoiding his gaze.
He was getting worried. "Erin."
"Look, it's Saber," she stepped towards the door. "Why don't we..."
"Alright," he agreed stepping up beside her and opening the door.
He was looking at her intently and she met his gaze as he waited for her to exit before him. She did so, everyone had arrived and were sitting at their desks, bar Ruzek who was stood in front of Antonio's desk with a cup of coffee.
"Hey, we back on the Saber case boss?" Adam asked at Voight followed her into the bullpen.
"Yeah," Voight said gruffly. "Apparently Lindsay has new information about the case."
He stepped past her, going over to perch on the edge of her desk leaving all eyes on her as she stood at head of the room. Beside her someone had set out the board again with all the information they had on the Saber case, it was rather sparse. She looked away from it catching Jay's amused gaze, he hid his smile behind his coffee cup. Her nervousness was amusing him.
"Saber called me," she stated, continuing before they got over their shocked expressions and spoke. "Emilio Fernadez, that is, called me two days ago. Somehow he knew I'd been investigating him after we caught another case and he warned me to stop."
"Warned you how?" Voight asked, his voice tight.
She waved a hand. "Said his lawyers would find something, claimed they were the ones that knew I was pulling records, or trying to," she gave Hank a pointed look, after all he was the one who'd asked her to stop.
"Wait, what about the accident yesterday?" Ruzek interrupted them, easily putting two and two together. "You didn't think it was an accident."
"I had no idea he would do that," she defended quickly, inferring an accusation and hurt that he would think that.
"But you think it was him?" Olinsky asked, standing up from his corner and stepping forward.
"It was him, but you've got to believe I didn't know..."
"Erin, of course we believe you," Al said calmly, putting a hand up to stall her. He didn't doubt she'd never have intentionally let them get hurt. "But how do you know for sure that it was him?"
"He called me again," she admitted, her gaze drifted to Hank and she could tell he was getting angrier. "At the accident and pretty much admitted he had organised it. He commented on where I was standing, that none of you were close, so I'm pretty sure he was at the scene watching."
"But it wasn't him in the car," Antonio commented. "How'd he get the guy to do it?"
"Al said you spoke to him at the hospital?" Ruzek inquired.
"Yeah, Mr Mott was the driver, he has debts he owes a gang but from what he told me Saber was threatening has wife," she told them.
"So he called you to tell you he'd organised the accident?" Olinsky asked.
"Yes," she hesitated, that wasn't entirely accurate. "He didn't outright admit it, just suggested he had. He also gave me the impression that he intends to keep attacking or threatening us until we drop the case."
"Well that's not going to happen," Ruzek commented angrily.
"Why didn't you mention the calls yesterday? After you'd received it? Or even after you got confirmation from the driver?" Voight asked her, she could hear the anger in his voice. "You didn't tell me."
"I was going to last night and then..." she paused, her excuse was weak.
"You didn't think to warn us? He could have been after any of us last night," Antonio agreed with Voight, but, unlike Voight, he managed to keep anger and accusation out of his voice.
"No, I knew he wasn't," she defended quickly and then froze, that was going to invite more questions.
"How?" Voight asked quietly, she knew he was holding himself back from yelling at her.
"He was outside my apartment last night, we talked," she said simply, as though she hadn't had a dangerous run in with a gang leader.
"He followed you?" Olinsky asked his question first. She could see Hank wasn't the only one getting bristly and protective.
"No," she answered, gaze flicking from one to the other, she sighed. "At least not last night, he and his companions were already there when I arrived."
"And you didn't keep driving? Call for back up?" Al continued questioning when Hank didn't jump in.
She met Jay's gaze, he had been keeping quiet so far, looking at her with an 'I told you so' face as she got the same questions he had already asked her.
"I had my gun, besides if he wanted me dead I don't think he'd be waiting politely outside my apartment," that's what she'd told herself last night and, as it had turned out to be true, she was sticking with it.
"Erin Lindsay never backs down eh?" Voight said mockingly. There was pride in there but mostly irritation.
"If you've forgotten he already had a pretty good go at killing you," Alvin said with annoyance.
"He didn't intend for his guys to drive that car off the docks," she pointed out and then wondered why she had, she wasn't defending Saber.
"No, I'm sure after roughing you up and putting you in the back of a car Saber had the best of intentions," Voight replied sarcastically.
"What do you want me to say Hank? The calls were just calls, and yes! I was investigating it while you were tracking down those boys. You already told me to stop! Now we're back on the case and I know he is legit we're talking!" Erin couldn't help but raise her voice. She was getting irritated herself now.
"He was outside your apartment!" Voight took a step closer to her, trying to get his words through her hard head.
"Which isn't illegal! You already brought him in and let him go, besides it wasn't some dark corridor of a warehouse but a street, in daylight with traffic and pedestrians, he wanted to talk!" She said, waving a hand to emphasize her anger before schooling herself and putting both hands on her hips.
"This is the guy that had his men snatch you from a warehouse during a police raid and take us on a chase through the city almost getting you killed in the process!" Hank was pretty much yelling now but Erin was angry at him too and she barely flinched. He'd yelled at her plenty of times over the years, she didn't fear him, she never had. "You really believe he would think twice about taking you off some busy street?"
"Well he didn't," she retorted, slightly quieter. "He just wanted to talk, to lead me on his merry game. Can't do that if I'm dead," she said bitterly, crossing her arms.
Hank froze, his eye's not leaving her. The rest of the bull pen had gone quiet, watching the explosion before them. For a few long moments they held each other's gaze, Hank's jaw ticking and Erin's eyes narrowing, she was waiting to hear what more he had to say but her last comment seemed to have knocked the wind out of his sails. Eventually he broke away, his gaze shifting.
"Why aren't you surprised about this?" Voight asked Jay gruffly, changing tact completely.
Were she not so angry Erin could have laughed at Jay's surprised reaction. Coffee cup was immediately put on the desk as he sat up straight and his face dropped. He cleared his throat. "Erin already told me," he admitted.
"This morning?" Voight asked pointedly and Erin knew he'd already worked it out. A glance around the room and she was pretty sure they all had, she'd wouldn't have stayed at her apartment after seeing Saber there. And she obviously didn't stay with Voight.
"Er, last night," Jay's eyes flickered to hers'.
"Hmm," Voight said, head nodding thoughtfully. He looked at her and she could read his expression, thinking over the implications of her going to Jay's instead of his'. After a moment he looked away, taking in all the detectives in the room. All of them waiting for his next move, continuing to berate the detective that also happened to be his daughter was not going to help.
"Alright run us through it," he told her, all evidence of anger gone. "Everything he said, everything he did, when he called, all of it. Let's see if there is anything we can use to nail this guy."
He indicated for her to get to it: to use the board for notes and to carry on. Erin paused, a flutter of nerves returning, Voight wasn't done, not by a long shot but she supposed she should make the most of the reprieve. A glance at Jay and she saw his earlier amusement was gone, a fact that made her strangely happy, if she was nervous he ought to be too. She turned her attention back to the case, there was little use in worry about Voight now, they had a bad guy to catch.
I like angry Voight, he's fun to write! Many thanks to all my reviewers, they'll be back to catching Saber next chapter.