Can I just take a moment of your time to tell you how utterly and insanely shocked I am right now? Chicago P.D is completely and utterly uncharted territory for me. I know next to nothing about the show and my first attempt at this ended VERY BADLY. But give me a relatable prompt (THANK YOU Mark!) and 20 chapters, 75 reviews 45 favorites 87 followers and 30000 views later, Bound by Blood is still going strong.
Thank you for giving this story a chance! So without further ado, read on!
Erin awoke the next morning, much to her surprise, in an empty bed. It was rather odd, because Erin wasn't used to being alone when she woke up, even though for the past few days that had been the case. But having occupied a shared bed last night, being alone now was rather disorienting, to say the least. Sitting up, she blinked away the remnants of sleep, before stretching, feeling the satisfying pop in her joints.
As she tossed the blankets aside, a warm scent hit her nostrils. Alex must be in the kitchen, contrary to most peoples thoughts, Alex did know how to cook; he often di d back when they were teenagers.
And judging from memory, he was cooking pancakes. Blueberry. Her favorite.
Smiling, Erin stood from the bed and walked into the main room, where sure enough, Alex could be scene in the adjoining kitchen. His back was turned to her, so if he noticed that she was awake, he was doing nothing to show it. Erin walked up next to him, before placing a hand on his shoulder, "Morning" she whispered, in a rather sexy sleeping voice, as it was still laced with drowsiness.
Alex barely turned from the stove to give Erin a smile, "Morning" he said before returning to the task at hand, causing Erin to laugh. She glanced down at the pancakes, which smelled delicious. So much, so, that she could feel her mouth watering. Alas, she would have to wait. She looked at him "is there anything I could do?" she asked tenderly.
Alex chuckled "could you grab the syrup out of the cabinet there? Can't have pancakes without syrup." He joked with a chuckle.
Erin laughed, before going to the specified cabinet and took the syrup out, before she went to sit down by the table, placing he syrup on the table, to wait patiently for her breakfast.
As she did so, she turned her head to watch the world outside of the window, her thoughts turning to Thea. She missed her. Erin tried to fight it, but she could no longer hold herself back. Screw that her foster parents might do, Erin was not going to pass up a chance to make up with her daughter again.
"You've got that look in your eye." Alex's voice snapped her back to reality. Looking back at him, Erin saw Alex place 2 plates full of pancakes on the table, sliding into the seat across from her. However, neither of them began to eat, instead just sitting there. After last night, there really wasn't much to talk about, save for their daughter.
Erin sighed, "you can tell?" Alex smirked for a moment, before nodding "you want to go find her don't you?" he asked, not needing to go into detail.
Erin folded her arms and leaned back in her chair ""she's our daughter." She responded as if that was enough.
Alex sighed placing his hands on the table and clasping them together. "I know." Hew looked at her. "When she was born, did you list me as the father?" he asked.
Erin shook her head "no. I didn't." she slumped her shoulders "I wish I had; we could have used that."
This was going to be harder than they thought. Erin and Alex both knew the law of course. Erin had her parental rights terminated, courtesy of Hank when Thea was put up for adoption and Erin never listed Alex as the father on Thea's birth certificate, so neither of them had any visitation rights, nor fight for her custody in court (easily at least.) but they had to try.
As the two sat there, the breakfast going cold since they were barely touching it, a sudden buzzing noise filled the room. Erin and Alex snapped their heads in the direction of the sound, and Erin suddenly gasped. Scrambling from her chair she ran to the couch, where her phone still sat from the day before. Fishing it from the pocket. It was Jay! She had been ignoring his calls for the past couple of days. She just didn't know what to do with him. Having decided to stay away from each other, their relationship was at a bit of a standstill.
Erin didn't want to drag Jay further into the problem with Thea, but she couldn't continue to ignore him either. She kept pushing him away, but he continued to stand firm. He loved her. He had such loyalty to her and all she had done was throw it back in his face. He deserved better from her. He deserved better than her, after all she had done.
Turning to Alex, who seemed to be doing his best to ignore Erin, if only so to not invade her privacy, Erin mouthed, "excuse me," before answering the call "Jay." Her voice warbled the slightest bit, dreading the conversation she was going to be having.
"Erin!" Jay cried over the other side of the line. "Thank god. When you didn't return my call last night, I got worried."
Erin's face filled up with heat. Last night she was once again sleeping beside an old lover. What a response that would make. "I'm sorry Jay, I had a lot on my mind last night after what happened to my mother."
There was a momentary silence from Jay before he responded, "Erin, I'm sorry about your mother."
That one almost made Erin laugh. Almost. Bunny had it coming long before she was arrested. Years of heartbreak and broken promises desensitized Erin to her mother and any sympathy for her.
"But… uh. Could I see you?" Jay asked. "I-" he stopped for a moment, "I want to talk to you about something." Erin stiffened at that. Not that she didn't want to see him, but… she just didn't want to explain to him where she was and what she was doing. And planned to do.
"Jay…" Erin breathed, before looking back at Alex. He was ignoring her completely. Of course, Erin didn't need his permission, but they still had a lot to talk about. But she also knew that Jay was stubborn and would likely continue to push to see her regardless, so she might as well just get this out of the way. "Sure." She told him.
"Great!" Jay said with enthusiasm, much more than she would have thought that he would have responded with. It seemed even he realize this, because a moment later, she heard him clear his throat. "Can you meet me at Mickey's bar, then, in say, an hour?" he asked.
Erin smiled, despite herself. "All right." she told him, "see you then. I love you" she said before hanging up.
Her hand dropped, before she turned around to see Alex still sitting at the table. Her hands suddenly felt clammy, and she looked at the floor "Alex…."
Alex stood up and went over to Erin, placing a hand on her shoulder, "you love him." it was not a question. He remembered her telling him as much that day.
Erin smiled, before saying "I want you to know that…."
Alex shook his head "Erin. What you do with your life is not my business. I still need to go talk to Dwight anyway. Get him to let us talk to Thea. You do what you have to." He stroked her cheek "I want you to be happy."
Erin sighed, holding Alex's hand closer to her face "do what you can," she whispered, as she kissed his hand. She then stepped back, grabbed her jacket from the couch and slipped it on, before leaving Alex's apartment.
It was good, perhaps, that Erin was wearing jeans and a blouse to the bar, rather than something fancy, because when she arrived, she realized that she hadn't even bothered to ask Jay what they would be doing there. Sure she went back to her place and get ready, but she hadn't made sure to wear something better than what she had on.
Then again, Mickeys bar wasn't exactly a fancy place to begin with, which meant one of two things. Either Jay just wanted to talk to her, which seemed likely, or something important. Probably both. Actually, now that Erin thought about it, the last time that they talked (back when her mother was arrested) Jay seemed to have something on his mind.
Erin hadn't really cared at the time, but maybe Jay wanted to get something off his chest. That didn't explain why he wanted to see her. Maybe he got over his problems with Abby.
Doubtful, it hadn't been that long, and if Jay was looking for a "I'm single" booty call, then he had another thing coming. Granted, she didn't expect that, but the point was, why Jay wanted to see her was baffling considering that they were supposed to be taking time away from each other.
But that didn't stop Erin from wanting to see him.
Erin opened the door to the bar, nostalgia and loss suddenly hitting her. She hadn't been here since before the incident that led to her dismissal from the intelligence unit. She had been actively avoiding it, seeing it as too much of a good thing at a time where everything was going wrong in her life.
Taking a deep breath, Erin glanced around the bar, not noticing Jay until he started waving at her from a booth near the window. Smiling, Erin made her way to the booth, sliding into the seat across from Jay. Giving him her best fake smile (which would hopefully be enough to fool him right now) she opened up with a joke "whats the occasion?"
Ok that was terrible and she knew it, but when the tension was awkward as hell, Erin wasn't sure what to say. she had been avoiding Jay ever since Thea showed up, not to mention everything in between and since he was married the last thing she wanted to do was become a home wrecker even if it was in name only.
Needless to say, Erin wasn't sure where their relationship now stood, but one thing was for sure, Erin did not want to lose the best thing that ever happened in her life.
Jay gave what seemed to be a nervous laugh, before he leaned forward, giving Erin a smile. "Well, I wanted to meet you here." He said with a grin, causing Erin to giggle for a moment. She would have leaned over the table to kiss him, but she could still hear the name Abby and the word marriage echo in the back of her mind. So instead, she nodded "I know. You called me didn't you?" despite her attempt at levity, Erin could shake the bite in her tone, as if she was angry, rather than happy to see Jay after all this time.
Jay blinked, surprised by Erin being so blunt. It wasn't like her to be like that, but then again he supposed after everything she had gone through and was looking at everything that she was going to go through with her family problems, that he couldn't blame her.
"Erin," Jay began, only to be interrupted as a waiter came bye with a couple of drinks, no doubt something that Jay had ordered while waiting for Erin. They clearly weren't alcoholic, since it was way to early for that, so Erin gratefully took the drink and gingerly sipped it. She then placed the drink down and stared at Jay for a moment searching his face. That feeling, the one she had felt about him the last time that they had seen each other, still remained. He seemed hesitant and nervous, so unlike the man she had come to love.
Jay shook his head, trying to rid himself of his nerves, before suddenly taking out his wallet and throwing some money on the table. He stood up and went over to Erin's side of the booth, before holding out his hand a wide grin on his face. "Walk with me." He asked
Erin smiled, taking his hand and allowing him to pull her to her feet, before they left the bar, hand in hand.
Erin found herself walking down the riverside that she had been at the night before, a place where she had spent many dates with Jay or simply walking along side the river to clear her thoughts.
The walk had mostly been silent; Erin hadn't been sure of what they could talk about and Jay seemed so out of character that even he couldn't get past the awkward tension.
So, in order to get past it, Erin blurted out the first thing, actually the only thing, that she could think of, since it was the last conversation that they had. "hows it going with you and Abby?"
That finally seemed to get a reaction out of Jay. He stopped in his tracks, stiff from shock, and he turned his head slowly, his mouth agape as Erin stopped to look at him.
After a few moments, he seemed to recover, glanced away from her, before he began the tale "not much to tell," he stated honestly "I've been looking at a divorce lawyer, but I haven't actually seen much of Abby so that we could talk about it."
"Doesn't want to give you up, does she?" Erin asked, knowing how dreadfully familiar it sounded.
To her surprise, Jay let out a bark of laughter, before he continued to walk, Erin following him. "No, I suppose not."
The two walked for some time, before Jay suddenly stopped, going over to the railing overlooking the river and grabbed the metal bar, sighing heavily. Erin watched him genuinely confused by his attitude.
"That's why I wanted to see you today Erin." Jay began, his tone dropping into one of a more subdue, and hopeful tone. He turned to her, his nervous demeanor breaking for a more confidant stance. "I know that you're going through a lot. But despite everything, I want to be there for you."
Erin felt her mouth go dry. The way he was talking. Jay…. He wasn't… was he?
"You're all I think about. Everything that has happened. You lost your mother and your on the verge of losing your daughter" unbeknownst to him, Erin's blood ran cold at that statement. Jay reached into his pocket, producing a small red box "I want to be by your side to help you through this." He then walked over to Erin, stopping with just enough distance between them, before dropping to one knee. "Erin Lindsay, will you marry me?"
Erin stuttered, her heart racing at the sight of her beloved down on one knee. He was so sure of himself, so confident, that it made her feel strong.
And with that in mind, she gave him her answer.
Do I need to even say anything? Well if I'm going to be honest, I just really felt that this was the best way to start with Jay's divorce with Abby. then again, I won't go into to much detail with that anyway, because this story is about Erin not Jay, but it will be touched upon in time. As always leave your thoughts.