Hi All - sorry for the massive delay in updating, I was struggling with writer's block for a while, but the good news is I have done a lot more planning for the next few chapters for this story and I'm excited to share more with you! Hope you enjoy this chapter - this was probably one of my favorite chapters that I've written to date. As always, please read and review. :)

Chapter 26

After the two of them exchanged hellos, an awkward silence filled the phone line for a few seconds until Erin said, "Uh…how have you been?"

"I would ask the same about you," Jay said, "And I've been okay, thanks for asking."

"Have you really? Voight told me that you were talking a lot after…after what happened a few weeks ago."

"Yeah," Jay said, trying to see if he could get out of his car and get to the front door without Erin noticing from the front room. He then heard Erin shout through the phone line, "Hello?"

"What? What?" Jay said, caught of guard.

"Did you zone out or something? I asked you what you've been up to like three times."

"Oh, yeah, sorry," Jay said, taking a deep breath, "Honestly I haven't been doing a lot. Just chilling out at home or being at work. Not much."

"I haven't been doing much either," Erin said, "Although, I have been packing up my apartment with Hank and going to a therapist so I guess that's doing a couple of productive things."

"Erin went to a shrink," Jay said with a smirk. He heard her chuckle on the other end of the line before saying, "Shut up. It's actually been helping, so you can't joke about it anymore, ok?"

"Alright, no more shrink jokes," Jay agreed, "What are you doing with all of the stuff from your apartment?"

"Putting it in storage," Erin said, "I'm going to stay with Voight for a while until I feel good about living by myself again. And that way he can keep a constant eye on me, which I know he wants to do." At this point, Erin sat down in one of the chairs facing away from the front room windows, and since Jay wouldn't be in her line of vision if he got out of the car, he seized the opportunity to get out of the car and run up to the front door.

"He cares about you a lot, Erin, he's barely been at work since you got out of the hospital," Jay said.

"I know he does, and I guess I kind of forgot that a while back," Erin confessed, "And I forgot that you care about me, Jay, and I want to say I'm so sorry."

"Sorry for what?" Jay said.

"I'm so sorry for all the lies and pushing you away when all you were trying to do was help me. I was stuck in my bubble of being stubbornly independent and I wasn't thinking straight," Erin blurted out, and Jay could hear that Erin was starting to cry on the other end of the line. He tried to say something, but Erin continued, "I was crazy to shut everyone out, and I'm sorry for letting some of my anger out on you when you didn't deserve it. I was angry with myself for doing what I did."

"Do you feel angry now?" Jay asked.

"No, not anymore," Erin replied, wiping a couple of tears from her face, "Just wishing that I had remembered that I wasn't alone. That I had Voight. That I had the unit. That I had you."

"I forgive you, Erin," Jay blurted out.

"You do?" Erin said, surprised.

"I do, Erin, because I feel the same way about you now as I always have – I love you and I'm never going to stop trying to get you back."

"Oh God, Jay, I love you too, and I'm sorry that I made you feel like I didn't love you back!" Erin said, her voice cracking as she bent over in the chair and let out a few sobs. "That Erin was not the Erin I am now, but I am where I am, and I need to make the most of what I have," Erin continued, "Where are you? I want to see you."

"Well, you're in luck," Jay said, trying to quickly wipe the tears from his face as he replied, "Open your front door."

"What?"

"Open your front door," Jay repeated. After thinking that there was no possible way that Jay could be outside, she opened the front door to find Jay standing on the other side with teary eyes and his phone to his ear. They both hung up as Erin jumped into Jay's arms and they both cried and smiled – two lovers reunited once again.

After a few minutes, Erin brought Jay inside and shut the front door before sitting down next to him on the couch in the front room. "I'm so sorry, Jay."

"I already I forgave you, didn't I?" Jay said.

"I'm saying sorry for what I said in the hospital that day," Erin said, "I was angry at myself and for some reason wanted to say something insulting because I was still in my pushing-people-away phase. All I can be grateful for I guess is that we're here now."

"Exactly," Jay said.

"I want to give us another shot," Erin blurted out. When Jay raised an eyebrow, she continued, "Just hear me out, okay?" When Jay nodded, she said, "I want to start over. Clean slate. I'm still recovering so I still need time to get back to where I was before everything happened. But I don't want to go another day without you. And Voight like ships up now or something, so there's that too."

Jay chuckled, took Erin's hand, and said, "I would be all for a clean slate, but I need you to promise me that there will be no more secrets. No more lies, Erin. I want you to talk to me, and not push me away, just as I want to talk with you."

Erin digested what he said, then said, "I promise. And I mean it."

Jay smiled and said, "Good, because right now I really want to kiss you."

"I can't say no to that, because I really want to kiss you too," Erin said with a giggle as Jay leaned in. Just as their lips were about to touch, "That better be just a kiss under my roof, Halstead." Both Jay and Erin instantly turned around to find Voight standing in the entryway with a stern look on his face. "Hank? You ruined the moment," Erin said with a really? Look on her face.

"What? I don't want to find out a few years from now that one of my grandkids was conceived on that couch," Voight said with a straight face.

"Whoa, that's not where I was going-" Jay tried to say, but Voight cut him off again.

"You're both adults, so feel free to do what you want. Outside of my front room," Voight turned halfway around before making eye contact with Halstead and saying, "Good to see you, Jay. Make sure you're here for Sunday dinner this weekend."

"Yes, sir," Jay stuttered, and after Voight left the room, Erin and Jay looked at each other with looks of disbelief as Erin said, "Did that really just happen? Did he really just reference us having kids?"

"It is a novel idea," Jay said a smirk.

"Shut up, we can cross one bridge a night, thanks," Erin said.

"Can I kiss you now?" Jay asked, already leaning in again.

"Not if I can beat you to it," Erin said quickly, leaning over and making contact with Jay's lips as her hands found his shoulders. The kiss grew more passionate, and both Erin and Jay felt eternally grateful that they were united again.

***Two hours later***

After more talking and more kissing, Jay said goodbye to Erin and waved goodbye to Voight from the doorway before heading out to his car. After he drove away, Erin shut the door and couldn't help the grin on her face as she walked into the kitchen to find Voight.

"Hey," Erin said.

"Hey there," Voight replied.

"Jay and I are going to give it another shot," Erin blurted out before part of her tried to talk herself out of saying it.

"I gathered that," Voight said, looking up and smiling. "Just know that I want what's best for you and I don't want you to get hurt."

"I know, but I really trust Jay," Erin said, "But the kid reference…did you really have to go there?"

"I had no idea what Halstead's plans were, or yours for that matter, so I just wanted to make my house rules clear," Voight replied.

"Okay, point made," Erin said.

"I'm happy for you, I am," Voight said, "But I'll never stop being the slightly annoying father figure you love so much."

"Love you too, Hank," Erin said, giving Hank a hug.

***That same evening, at Molly's***

After Jay had left Voight's house, he'd decided that he wanted to meet up with the unit at Molly's and have a few drinks to celebrate the accomplishments of the evening. And, when he walked in the door, everyone was really excited to see him.

"Jay, you decided to show up," Antonio said, instantly noticing that Jay looked happy for the first time in a long time.

"Yeah, I sure did," Jay said, "Hey Herrmann, beers all around for this table please!" As Hermann gave a thumbs up, Jay said, "On me." When the rest of the unit cheered, Ruzek asked, "What's the occasion, Halstead? It's been a while since you bought a round of drinks."

"Well, I talked to Erin tonight," Jay said, which silenced the entire group very quickly.

"Really? How's she doing?" Burgess asked.

"She's doing really good. Apparently therapy is helping a lot," Jay said, "I actually got to talk to her and, uh…we're gonna give it another shot." This elicited some smiles and gasps from the group as Herrmann arrived with the round of beers Jay had ordered. "Remind me to bring your tab later, Detective," Herrmann said, "Enjoy yourself."

"Thanks man," Jay said to Herrmann as he picked up a beer. "I'd like to raise a toast to Erin, who is starting to get back to her normal self and hopefully will be joining us all very soon."

"And to giving love another chance," Antonio declared.

"Here, here," everyone responded, followed by everyone taking a swig of beer, Antonio telling Jay to pull up a stool, and more conversation filling the table for the rest of the night.