Hi all - thank you so much for all of your enthusiastic reading of the chapter I posted a few days ago! Here is the next chapter - it's a little shorter than most of my other chapters, but I have some longer ones in the works! Please read and review! :) PS: I should have Good Timing updated by the end of this weekend...

Chapter 21

Erin wasn't sure how she felt when she woke up – in fact, she wasn't sure if she felt anything at all.

As she drifted towards consciousness she saw flashes of light as she opened her eyes, and proceeded to immediately close her eyes again as her eyes adjusted. She began to hear the faint noise of the air being drawn up into vents, and the very quiet, rhythmic beeping of what she realized to be a heart monitor when she leaned her head a little to the right, after she could actually see. As she tried to move her right hand, she felt a pinch.

"Ow!" she said quietly, suddenly coughing due to her dry throat. Before she could do any more, she heard an unmistakable voice say, "Thank god."

She turned her head to the left and saw Voight sitting in a chair right next to her bed. "How are you feeling?"

"Okay, I guess," Erin said, as her brain started to defog itself, memories of the last few minutes in the bathroom before she passed out moving to the forefront of her mind. She tried to keep her face from showing an expression at this recognition, but Voight knew her too well, and he picked up on the small change in her face.

"You remember, don't you," Voight said quietly.

"No, actually I don't," Erin lied, turning away from Voight to look out the window of her hospital room.

"Erin, I know you do, I can see it in your face," Voight said, "And I don't appreciate lies."

At the sound of the word "lies," Erin turned her head back around as fast as she could in her current state as Voight said, "Jay told me that you were having panic attacks. Which you omitted to tell anyone about."

"Why would he do that? Goddamn it he should have asked me first whether or not I wanted you to know," Erin snapped, suddenly wishing that she had asked for some water to moisten her throat before this conversation had started.

"By the time Jay told me it was too late, Erin. You didn't just lie to him, you lied to me. To all of us. We could have helped you."

"I was doing fine on my own!"

"No you weren't, Erin," Voight said sternly, "If Jay hadn't read your note when he did, you might not be here. He headed straight for your place and basically saved your life."

"And Jay just automatically thought that I wanted to be saved? I couldn't take it anymore, Voight!"

"Sui-" Voight began, cutting himself off because he decided to take a deep breath and approach the subject a little less harshly, "What you did should never have to be the answer." Voight silently heaved a sigh of relief when the door behind him opened and revealed a seemingly more composed Halstead. After a couple of seconds of awkward silence, and Erin throwing glaring looks at Jay, Voight announced that he was going to the bathroom and stepped out, leaving Jay and Erin alone.

Erin turned away from Jay as he stood at the foot of her bed, but started to turn around when he finally spoke, "I just want to say that I'm not going to pressure you to talk about what happened now. This is hardly the time. But why did you lie to me about the panic attacks and the medication?"

"You're a detective," Erin retorted, "Isn't figuring out people's motives what you do for a living?"

"So do you," Jay replied quickly.

"Exactly!" Erin said, sitting up a little and throwing her hands up for exaggeration. "I was going crazing staring at the ceiling for hours on end – I wanted to get back to work so bad."

"Your health is more important than your job," Jay reasoned.

"Whatever! You're not the boss of me and if all you're going to do is ask me questions that I don't feel like answering then maybe you should leave." Her remarks caused Jay to feel a tug in his heartstrings, and he paused before he said, "I came to ask those questions because, believe it or not," he paused again, rubbing his hair as he debated whether or not to continue, "I was prepared to forgive you for all you lied about and ask to start over. I don't want to lose you again, Erin."

"Yeah, well, we were never going to work anyway," Erin snapped, aiming to hurt him when she was actually mad at herself.

Without another word, Jay lowered his head and walked out the door to look for an exit, but he didn't walk away before seeing Voight leaning against the wall next to the doorway; when they made eye contact, Voight could see that Jay had watery eyes, and Jay realized that Voight had heard at least some of the words that he and Erin had just exchanged.