"Daddy!" Micah screeched letting go of Erin's hand, and taking off down the aisle towards him.

"Hey kiddo! Where's you mom?" Jay replied picking him up and looking around for Erin.

Micah pointed his tiny finger over Jays shoulder, and Jay followed it sighting Erin pushing the grocery cart, and making her way towards the pair.

"Hey." She greeted upon reaching them. She felt slightly uncomfortable. She and Jay had barely spoken since he took care of her when she was sick, and that was over two weeks ago. Even at work Jay had found a way to completely avoid her. She wasn't really going out of her way to talk to him either though.

"Hi." He smiled awkwardly sensing the tension.

Thankfully for them both Micah interrupted. "Mommy took me to the park today. She pushed me very very very high on the swing."

"How high?" Jay teased.

"Very, very, very high!" Micah cheered.

"This high?" he asked throwing Micah up in the air and catching him.

Micah giggled hysterically. "Do it again!"

"No, not right now. I think your mommy wants to get her grocery shopping done."

"Okay." Micah moped as Jay sat him down.

"I'll see you tomorrow morning." He reassured the little boy looking up to confirm with Erin. She nodded and watched him walk away.

Later that night after tucking Micah into his new bed Erin began to clean the toys he had in the living room. Then went to finish up the dishes from dinner. When she was done she was sure Micah was already asleep so she quietly pushed open his bedroom door to check on him.

Seeing Micah asleep happily made it feel like he was really hers. It made assured her that she could do this. She didn't need Jay or anyone else's help for that matter. She would call the social worker tomorrow, and tell her she was ready to take the measures needed to make this situation permanent. The social worker had given Erin the paper work weeks ago, and Erin had filled it all out. She had just been too afraid to file them. There was always the possibility that she would be denied custody and that terrified her. She had also been waiting in hopes that Jay might change his mind. She wished Jay wanted to be apart of it all, but she was beginning to realize she could do it on her own.

As though Halstead has sensed she was thinking about him her phone began to buzz in her back pocket. She pulled it out and exhaled deeply upon sighting his name.

"Yeah?" Sharply she answered.

"Hey." He responded coyly.

"Do you need something?"

"I just… I shouldn't have called. Sorry."

"Okay?" She drug the word out confused. "Well bye then. See you tomorrow."

"Erin, no wait."

She didn't hang up she waited for him to say what he wanted to.

"Are you still there?" He asked unsure because of the silence.

"Yeah I'm here."

"Can I come over? Please?"

She sighed his name. "Jay."

"I got something for Micah. I know he's asleep but I'll just put it in his room. Only for a minute."

"I don't know if that's a good idea."

"Erin." He begged. "Please?"

Another sigh was let out. "I guess."

"Good I already left my apartment. I'm almost there."

She rolled her eyes even though he couldn't see. This was typical Jay.

"Don't knock. Just let yourself in. I know you still have a key. I don't want you to wake him."

"Okay I will."

He let himself inside like he was told. Erin was sitting at a barstool in the kitchen when she heard him enter.

"Hey again." He greeted her with a small grin before heading straight for Micah's room. She followed and stood in the doorway to watch.

Jay sat down on the edge of Micah's bed being cautious not to wake him. He had brought him a pillow with the batman symbol on it, and he carefully placed it beside Micah on the bed, before leaning foreword and placing a light kiss on the little boys forehead.

As Erin watched she couldn't comprehend how he could have been so insensitive the night of Micah's birthday, but then turn around and make her heart melt the way it was right now.

Jay got up and exited the bedroom. Erin slid to the side, out of the way of the door. She turned around so her back was against the hallway wall. After gently closing Micah's door all but a crack Jay stood across from her.

"It was a batman pillow." He told her referring to his gift.

"I know. I saw. He'll love it."

He grinned licking his bottom lip the way he always did. Erin inwardly groaned. She used to love it when he would do that. It was so sexy and instantly turned her on every time, but now she hated it for that exact reason.

He noticed her expression change, and he couldn't quite read it. "What?" He asked her with a curious grin.

She shook her head slightly. "Nothing."

"No." He laughed. "You can't say 'nothing.' Now I want to know what that look was all about."

She grinned embarrassed. "Fine. You gotta stop doing that lip thing."

"What lip thing?" He honestly had no idea what she was talking about.

"You know what I'm talking about. That thing you do with your bottom lip where you kind pull it in, and then drag it beneath you tongue."

"You spend a lot of time staring at my lips Lindsay?"

"No. You just do it a lot."

"Well if I can't do my lip thing you can't smirk like that."

She crinkled her eyebrows in. "What? Why?"

"You just can't." He was trying to sound serious but couldn't help but smile. "You can't because your dimples are too distracting when you do that."

"That's not fair. I can't help my dimples, but you can help your lip thing."

"How can I help something that I don't even realize I'm doing?" He laughed.

"Well If you're not gonna stop then I'm gonna smirk like this all the time just to bother you."

He stepped closer to her. "Well than I'll just have to talk to you like this." He put his hands out and cupped her face covering her cheeks. "See? Perfect. No dimples."

Erin felt the hairs on the back of her neck stand up just from his touch. "What about your lip?" Her voice was even softer than it had been for most of the conversation.

"What about my lips?" He whispered.

Her stomach knotted as her eyes flickered down to the lips in question. She felt the side of Jay's nose slide against the side of hers as he leaned down towards her. Slowly his lips enclosed hers.

From there it was a whirlwind. All she knew was that an hour later she found herself in her bed naked with her head resting on his bare chest. She listened to the constant drumming of his heart beat realizing that she had forgotten how perfect it was to just lay there with him. Unfortunately she knew she needed to ruin the moment.

"Jay, " she paused already regretting what she was about to say. "You should probably leave."

"I should?" He intended for it to be a statement agreeing with her, but it somehow escaped as a question.

"You can't be here when Micah wakes up. It's not fair to him." She explained turning her body so it was even more so on his chest in order to look up at him.

"You're right. A few more minutes though. I missed you." He traced over her spine with his fingertips.

She placed her head back down on his chest and stared out her bedroom window at the full moon. "You missed me? I couldn't tell with the way you've been avoiding me ever since I was sick."

"It was that obvious? I only avoided you because the more I was around you at work, the more I missed you after work."

She never considered that. She had just assumed he was moving on.

"Erin, I hope you know that I care about you and Micah more than anything in the world. The entire world and Pluto." He made Erin smile by quoting what Micah had told him to put in the letter to her the first day they had met him. He continued, "I just don't know if I'm ready to give you the kind of commitment you deserver. The kind you both deserve. And I wish I could ask you to wait for me, but I can't. That's not fair to you. Especially when you don't have time to wait when it comes to Micah."

This was the first time she had really gotten an honest answered from Jay about where his head and heart were at, and she had needed it more than she even realized. Maybe it wasn't everything she had wanted to hear but it was enough.

She rolled off of his chest and rested her head on the pillow right beside his. "This all has to stop then huh; the ignoring each other; the arguments; the spontaneous sex?"

"Yeah. We probably should." He replied disappointed but also knowing she was right.

"Jay?"

"Yeah?"

"Can you just kiss me then. One last time?"

He didn't need to reply with words. He rolled over so his chest was over top of her. He used one hand to prop himself up, and the other to hold the side of her face. Then he met her lips for a slow passionate kiss.

Erin memorized the way they moved together, the shape of his lips, along with the way he tasted. Jay also savored every second not knowing when, or even if he'd ever get to kiss her again.

After they pulled away Erin exhaled before opening her eyes. "Okay. You should go now."