Hello fabulous readers! I'm really sorry that I haven't updated in nine-ten days...as I'm sure some of you can relate, life has been hectic since I last updated. That being said, with the holidays almost here, lots of writing time is approaching! Yay!

I hope you enjoy this chapter - this is probably one of my favorites that I've written so far. Please leave a review! :D

Chapter 11

***One week later***

Jay unlocked the front door of his apartment with his right hand, his left hand full with groceries and dinner for tonight. He wasn't in the best mood because Voight had been on everybody's ass about the current case they were working on and nothing had turned up in the last day. Voight had told Jay three times to call his CIs when Jay already had. He just hadn't heard from any of them yet.

"Jay!" Erin yelled from the living room. She walked over from the couch and gave her a hug, and it was all Jay could do not to chuckle at what Erin was watching. "Top Model? Really?"

"Shut up, I've been bored all day, like I've been for the past week. Not being able to work is driving me crazy when my ribs aren't."

"You know there's nothing I can do about that, right?"

"Yeah, but I'm just so happy to see you," Erin said, planting a kiss on Jay's lips, causing Jay to smile and kiss her for a few seconds more. Erin then pulled away and said, "What's in that bag that smells so good? I'm starving."

"Since the last week has been a little rough for both of us," Jay began, setting the bags on the floor in the kitchen and pulling out some white takeout boxes, "I got some of your favorite Chinese food."

Erin gasped with delight and gave Jay a hug. "Thank you!" she squealed into his shirt. She immediately grabbed two plates and enough silverware for them to serve up and eat the food. As they were sitting on the couch finishing up their food, Erin put her plate on the table and said, "I went to the doctor today."

"Did everything go okay?" Jay asked, concerned.

"Yeah, he said everything is looking good. I just have to pass a psychiatric evaluation next week and then I'll be cleared to go back to work."

"That's great. I'm sure you'll pass with flying colors."

"I hope so," Erin replied, "I'm getting bored out of my mind not being able to work."

"Think of it as a staycation," Jay offered, putting his hands in her hair.

"It isn't a staycation when I'm not choosing to be here," Erin snapped.

"Okay," Jay said, "How about we play a game? Risk, maybe?"

"Not Scrabble?" Erin said, raising an eyebrow.

Jay paused, wondering what Erin was getting at. He did have both games in his cupboard. "Okay…we'll play Scrabble."

"Yes!" Erin said, bouncing up and down on the sofa with delight. She got up to get her wallet and as she sat back down, Jay asked what she was doing with her wallet.

"How much you wanna bet that you're gonna win?" she asked playfully.

"How much have you got?" Jay asked from the other side of the table.

"Exactly…forty-two dollars."

Jay pulled out his own wallet and pulled out forty-two, slapping it on the side of the table. "Winner takes all?"

Erin slapped down her half of the bet and said, "You're on."

***Two hours later***

Needless to say, Jay and Erin's Scrabble game got very heated since eighty-four dollars was on the line and they both wanted to play until all the tiles in the box had been drawn and each player had used as many as they could.

Erin had been trailing Jay the entire game, and she was losing by 6 points with only two tiles left. Jay had a smirk on his face. He had three tiles left, but his letters looked like crap. Erin's two tiles weren't good either, and she wished that there was some rule that allowed players to trade when they were both stuck. But there was no such rule, so after three minutes of intense thinking, Jay managed to get rid of his three tiles to spell the word WASP. Erin groaned as he tallied up his score with a smug grin on his face.

24 points for Jay.

That left Erin trailing by 30 points with two tiles to work with. As she began to examine the board once again, she had no idea what she could with a Z and an A on a board that was already crammed with various different words. There were barely any free spaces off a letter that didn't have a requirement of connecting to another word. Erin sighed a few times, and Jay asked, "You wanna concede right now?"

"No way," Erin said, not lifting her eyes from the board. After a few more minutes of silence, she gasped as she realized that she could win.

"What?" Jay asked, hoping that she hadn't figured out a way to beat him. His heart rate increased as Erin got rid of her last two letters to form ZAP off of the P that Jay had put down on his last turn.

And Erin's Z was on the triple letter score box.

Erin counted up her score and happily scribbled a 34 onto her side of the score sheet and proceeded to total up their scores. Erin beat Jay by 4 points, and as soon as she yelled, "Yes!" and grabbed the cash, Jay put his head in his hands and groaned. Erin giggled and as he looked up, she said, "What? You can't handle losing at Scrabble to a girl?"

"I lost forty-two dollars!"

"Sucks for you!" Erin screamed. At that moment, Jay moved around to Erin's side of the table and kissed her passionately, leaning over her as he slowly lowered her so her back was on the rug. She put her hands on the back of his neck and in his hair as he held her shoulder with one hand and supported himself with the other.

After a few heated minutes, Erin pulled away to catch her breath. As she lay with Jay over her, panting into his face, he saw a light in her eyes that he'd never seen before. "I want to, Jay, I just don't feel strong enough, okay? These stupid ribs of mine-"

Jay cut her off by putting his pointer finger on her lips. "You don't have to explain. I get it. Just let me know when you're ready."

"Okay," Erin replied, smiling as she kissed him again, keeping them on the floor for a little while longer.