Recognition for this prompt goes to Mackenzie: "Love your stories! Maybe one where after a long day at work Jay goes to Erins for a drink and it starts to storm really bad (since that happens often here in Chicago) and her buildings power goes out and you can decide where it goes :)"

**Just Fine**

Erin's feet rested on Jay's lap, and he massaged her tired soles gently. His empty glass of wine rested on a coaster at the edge of her coffee table. Erin held her full glass of wine in one hand, and an almost empty bottle of wine in the other. She ignored the full glass of wine, and happily downed the bottle, "Easy there tiger," Jay laughed, snatching the bottle from her.
"Today was such a long day," she exclaimed, almost downing her full glass of wine, "but I'm just fine! I have my wine," she smiled and made eye contact with her partner, "and I have you! I have what every girl could possibly dream of! Life is great."
"Aww Er, well-" He cut himself off as the lights in her living room flickered, "is it supposed to storm tonight?" His question was answered at the sound of blaring thunder. Through her closed curtains, they could both see the flash of lightning light up the night sky.

Jay lifted up his partner's legs, rose from the seat, and carefully set them back down. He drew the curtains open, and sighed at the sight of pouring rain, "It looks horrible outside."

Lindsey leaned towards the coffee table and set her glass down. She wanted to see the damage herself. As she approached the window, her eyes grew wide. The rain was pouring hard, and at every few seconds lightning would strike and thunder would roar. Out of panic, she quickly turned to face her partner, "You're staying here tonight."
"What?" His eyes grew playful, and a devilish smirk pulled at his lips, "What if I don't want to?"
"You're not driving in this." Erin's eyes remained focus at the view from outside of her window. She could hear police, ambulance and fire sirens blaring out. This storm would definitely cause a lot of accidents.
Jay crossed his arms, "What if I wanted to go home?"
"Well you're not," she crosses her arms in reply, "I'm only looking out for you babe."
"And that's what I love about you."

Her eyes pull away from the window, and take a focused glance at her partner. The entire time his eyes were fixated on her, and when her orbs met his, a part of him just wanted to stay like this for eternity. She wasn't in disagreement, and as a result, she remained. Jay's hand extended towards hers, and she looped her fingers through his, "If you think about it, this is kind of romantic." A roar of thunder echoed through her apartment going against her point.
"Anything is romantic when I'm in your presence,"
Her hand playfully slaps against his chest as she laughs, "You're so corny!"
"Way to kill the mood Erin…"
"You killed it with that line," She turned to close the curtains. After closing the curtains fully, Lindsey turned to face her partner, and spotted him back on the couch. He poured the remainder of wine into his glass, "You hardly left any."
"Sorry for the fact that I had an extremely stressful day," Erin retorted, picking up her wine glass, "Voight and Olinsky were on my ass."
"I've been meaning to ask you, why were they extra protective today?"

Her brows rose as she took a seat next to him. He opened his arms, and allowed for her to lean into his embrace, "I don't know if you've realized this, but around this time every year, they're both more protective than usual. It's approaching the anniversary of when Voight took me in. And trust me when I say Hank and Camille didn't bring me in on the best of terms," her eyes dazed forward, as a glaze fell over her pupils, "I was cut up, bruised, cold, sore, hurt and just…unrecognizable." Her head –that lay against his chest- adjusted to where she could look at him. Erin's chin now rested on his chest, as she stared up and met his eyes, "I think Voight has flashbacks or something. This happens every year, and with Olinsky's help, they both make this day even more stressful and demanding than it already is."

Halstead set down his empty glass, and used his now free arms to securely and protectively wrap around her. He leaned down, and pecked her nose, "They just love you, that's all that is."
"And I appreciate it," she gives him a small smile, "I really do, but that was years ago. I was fifteen when he took me in. I'm 27. I'm not an abandoned, little girl who needs protecting anymore."
Jay shrugged his shoulders, "Voight's like your dad. Olinsky's like…an uncle?" Erin thought for a second and nodded, before he continued, "I'm not a parent, but from the parents I know and have spoken to, I believe that there isn't an age where your parents will stop worrying, caring and protecting you. I think it's kind of sweet."
"Yeah, let's see you walk in my shoes."
"That'll be weird," Halstead shivered at the thought, "I can't picture having a relationship with Voight like yours with him. That's just…awkward." Before Erin could respond, her living room lights flickered again.

Halstead took in the silence as he leaned his head back. Lindsey looked up, and silently pressed a gentle kiss against his neck, "You made a good point." He glanced down at her, "About him being a protective parent. I didn't think about it like that."
"That's what I'm here for," the lights flickered again, "We may lose electricity. Do you have any flashlights or candles?"
"You're going to make me get up?"
She could feel him laughing, "You know I would love to stay like this with you, but what happens if we lose light and can't see each other? I live to see your beautiful face."
"Flattery will get you everywhere Mr. Halstead," she rose to her feet and extended her hand.

Out of exhaustion, his hand was placed floppily into hers. She gave him a wide smile and used her strength to pull him to his feet, "In the hallway closet, there's an emergency basket for situations like this. When I moved out of the Voights house, Camille bought it for me. I've only used it twice. There's emergency candles, flashlights, flare guns-"
"Flare guns," Jay interrupted.
"She said you never know if you'll need them," Erin laughed in reply, "I'm going to grab the lighter."

The two separated in their quest to prepare her apartment for the possible outcome of the bad storm outside. As Jay spread the candles out around her apartment, he set the flashlights on the counter in her kitchen. Lindsey exited her bedroom, empty handed, "We'll have to do without candles."
"You have emergency candles, but no lighter."
"We have flash lights. This is the 21st century Jay." She grabbed a flashlight, "Not only do we have this baby right here, but we have our cell phone and laptop lights."

After one last flicker, the electricity in her apartment went completely out. Halstead chuckled to himself as he struggled to turn on the flashlight, "Are there no batteries in this?"
"It's not?" She tried to turn her own flashlight on, "Damn." Erin set the flashlight back down onto the counter with a loud bang.
"What are we going to do to pass the time?" Jay proclaimed, pulling his cell phone out, "We have no wifi right now and my phone's dying."

Erin took a hold of his hand and pulled him towards her bedroom, "How about we do what people did before electricity?"
"Have sex."
She slapped his chest and shook her head, "TALK!"
"Oh!" He rubbed the stinging area, "I knew you were referring to that."

A/N: (Please Read) I'm going to take a vote. I've been receiving a lot of messages wanting me to create a story involving the family life (Ben, Julian & Baby #3) of our favorite on-screen couple. I can, but if I do, I'll be stopping Off the Clock. If I do stop Off the Clock, I will first finish all of the suggestions I receive before ending it. With my work and school life, I unfortunately can only do one. I'll let my lovely readers choose. Put a deadline on the suggestions and wrap up the ones I have now to bring Off the Clock to a close or don't start a new story and continue the suggestions and this current collection of one-shot stories.