Eight
Almost a week had gone by since the pair discussed in Erin's apartment on that Sunday morning, they hadn't mentioned it to anyone, what they had done or talked about and they were each going to keep it that way. They had been more friendly together and the whole team thought that they had finally buried the hatchet of each other's feelings and action that they had done before Erin had left, they were teaming up more often and sometimes when Hailey was unavailable they both joked around with each other while they were doing recon when Hailey and Adam were undercover between Erin wanted to make sure that if they were in danger that they would have three backup units if then needed it.
"Atwater and Burgess round the front, Antonio, I want you around the backside of the building if they try to make a quick escape, try to keep to the left side and Jay your in the truck with me, on the back right side of the building. " Erin informed the team of their positions as they rang the sting with Hailey and Adam.
"Yes Boss," Atwater said as Burgess nodded her head as she quietly remarked 'Yes Sarg,".
"Yep," Antonio replied.
"Right lets something straight you don't need to call me boss if you want its Sarg, Lindsay or Linds, no saying boss it makes me feel like I'm 60 and heading for retirement," Erin asked of them.
"See you in the truck Linds," Jay spoke.
The last case the team had dealt with was hard for the entire team, recently the child's dead body was sent to his mother for burial or cremation, Erin had been the first one to inform the mother of the child that she sent her condolences and asked her for her permission to be at her son's funeral, and shortly after the mother agreed to her attending and anyone else who wishes to attend her son's send-off, the entire team including Antonio, who had just finished his notice and last case with his own old job, all confirmed they were attending the cremation of the boy's life.
While in the undercover squad car Jay and Erin were radioing the other team to see how their position was when Jay cracked a joke on the radio which made the member of intelligence in three separate cars and the five team members cackled with hysterical laughter.
Erin laughed, "ha ha ha, I forgot you used to think you were funny," She mocked.
"I am funny, and you don't forget a thing, you have this Jedi mind trick that allows you to remember everything, that's someone I will always remember," Jay snarled.
"Well I might have a Jedi mind trick, not that you're ever going to find out, " She joked as she nudged his forearm with her elbow affectionately as she laughed with him as she gazed at his baby blues.
Jay turned his head towards Erin and looked soulfully into her eyes as they shared laughter together in the truck, their eyes connected as if no time was missing, and that longing for Mr and Mrs Right was there again. He had no self-control for her, after the night they had spent together in her apartment he wanted to tell her that he still loved her deep down in his heart it would never go away because he had always thought that if you are going to truly love someone and was going to ask them to marry you that a piece of your heart would always belong to them. Nothing had happened that night over than she had cried into his shoulder and they hugged all night on her couch and the morning after they had both acted like it didn't happen, while each other craved to tell one another that they felt something that was more than friendship, but they had cooked some eggs and toast and drank a cup of coffee before heading their separate ways before their shifts started at the station an hour later. He didn't reply with words he gave her a cheesy loving smile and looked back at the large building seeing if any suspects on drugs bust case would leave the warehouse.
He ignored the look that both of them had shown to one another because he thought in his mind that he had no affection for her anymore, they had shared the night in each other's arms on her couch doing nothing more than consoling her over her loss, he realised in his mind that grieving for a child he didn't know about wasn't as hard as he had thought, he lit a candle at a church and wished that peace would finally become the pair of them but he felt more grief over the guilt that Erin shared on her own because he wasn't there when she needed him. After all, they were both too stubborn to sort thing out together at the time which lead them to spend an entire Sunday just discussing what had happened while time had passed.
"There, Antonio, you have one coming out of the left side." Jay quickly radioed.
"I got him... " Antonio radioed as he ran after the suspect.
"Good, take him straight to the station, I don't want any of the others in there knowing where he might have gone, or get caught being seen in the back of your car." Erin requested.
"Yes Sarg, will do, see you back at the station." Dawson radioed back to his boss.
The rest of them came to a close eye on the building to make sure the undercover assignment that Hailey and Adam were involved in continue to run smoothly and without any trouble, so the two unmarked police cars stayed put to observe the pair to make sure they would be safe. in side the warehouse, where there only medium of communication was one way and through a wire that Hailey had tapped around her concealed inside her belt buckle, Erin had remembered earlier in the day the time that Al had used one which made her smile knowing that he would be happy with her methods to get convictions.
…
Dawson walked into the station with the suspect handcuffed, he stood in front of the front desk of the 21st, Desk Sargent Trudy Platt was one of the ones to congratulate him on his first arrest back in the intelligence unit, while she, not one to gossip when it came to Erin she ha a soft spot for Hank's golden girl, and had adopted her graciously into the 21st's family when she first came to the station as a patrol woman.
"Congrats on the first arrest back in Intelligence Dawson, I'll get him processed," Trudy spoke.
"Thanks, Platt," Dawson thanked.
"So how are things up there from your perspective, Halstead and Erin and the past between the two," Trudy asked.
"I don't think I should be discussing this with you especially since she is my boss, now but between us two, they seem more than fine, they seemed to of us moved on and apart," Dawson confessed.
The rest of the team walked up the station's stairs as Dawson had finished processing the suspect, Carling Diaz. Erin let her arresting officer who had been Hailey, Burgess and Atwater to process the other suspects, Manny Mcdonald, Harvey Lee Chung and Joshua Smith, who had been part of a drug-smuggling ring in Chicago who had been paying college students to take them across state lines and border control from Mexico to Chicago.
Jay followed by Adam walked upstairs and buzzed themselves into the bullpen of the Intelligence unit, Erin walked straight into her office as her phone rang, and shut the door behind her, Jay had wondered whether it was important or was it just a personal call, he had remembered that her old partner had been called Gracie and they kept in touch but after the case, they had just closed, they had then to deal with was the annual police ball gala was coming soon, it was the next day, the pair hadn't spoken much after their discussion in her apartment, but had been regretting whether or not going with Erin would be a mistake or not.
After completing his case notes on the case they were just about to close, Jay thought to himself whether or not to ask Erin Noticing that she had finished her numerous phone calls that she had been making and received in the last hours, now just typing up probably her case notes for the case to give the District Attorney, Jay knocked on her door. "Hey just a quick question, are we still going to this police gala together?" He questioned.
"Yeah, why wouldn't we, we talked and cleared the air between us didn't we?" Erin questioned nad answered together, she became more concerned that she had misread the situation between the two of them the last time they had spoken alone.
"No, no, we're good, I just thought I'd check," Jay told her a tad embarrassed at the situation he had put them in while stood peering around the door.
"Well good, I'll see you there tomorrow then, I'm getting a cab, its booked so ill see you there at 7 then," Erin stated.
"Okay, I'm taking my truck so no drinking, ill see you at 7 then," Jay replied.
...
The stary night had become the annual police benefit gala quickly, a dashing young gentleman walked down an expansive staircase, the bannisters covered in blue and white ribbon with balloons at the top and bottom of the stairs with the police rest printed onto them. The gentleman had an attractive, well-proportioned, and imposing appearance in a tuxedo making him look as sophisticated as the literary character James Bond. In a black pristine cut suit, with sharp edges complemented the white tuxedo shirt which had been ironed perfectly and the bow tie was ever so slightly to the left, which meant to a certain individual in a cab halfway across town know that he was nervous because he would always check to make sure it would be perfectly centre when wearing a bow tie, which he didn't do very often.
"Hello, Detective," The Chief of the special victims unit of New York greeted him.
"Hi Sargent, I didn't know you were invited to this, I thought you would have been in New York on a case." He spoke stunned by the appearance of Olivia Benson who they had worked with on previous cases including when Nadia had been murdered by the serial killer Greg Yates some years ago.
"Well I got an Invite from your Sargent, Erin and I thought that I could come and support the Chicago Police on the benefit to help police officers,"
"Well I was in Chicago visiting some victims and witnesses in a case from a while ago, who we are asking to identify a suspect later on this week, and I had been talking to Lindsay and she told me to come. I thought why not which I why I don't have the best dress on for a black-tie event." Olivia Benson told him as she explained why she a New York police officer was at a Chicago Police benefit.
The youngest Sargent invited to attend the police gala walked graciously into the front of the venue, with a white clutch bag and her black and gold invitation in her hand. She wore rings on her right hand on her finger which was parallel to her finger for a wedding ring, two wishbone silver rings and a singular crystal oval ring placed between the two, which had been given to her by a special woman in her life when she was younger, they had been given as presents each year for her birthday, which had been something that she would have for the rest of her life to remind her that she was always loved.
"Well it has been nice seeing you, but I'm afraid that I'm Erin's partner to this event and she is at the top of the stairs probably waiting for me to tell her that I'm down here," Jay stated.
"Yes, I have been nice seeing you Sargent, hopefully, I'll be seeing you soon tonight with Erin by your side later, Detective," She replied as she walked away to converse with other people at the venue.
Jay stared at Erin walking down the enlarge staircase of glass stairs with her heel clicking against the toughen surface, she was starlit by the cinematic lights around the ballroom as she carefully walked down the glass staircase. He couldn't take his eyes off her, it was the night of her high school reunion of over again for him because she wore this beautiful smile across her face that she didn't realise that she was the most beautiful gorgeous and stunning woman in the entire room. Erin had walked in alone into the huge downstairs ballroom, white and blue led icicle lights hung from the ceiling, as the team had all imagined it looked almost like it was prom with the decorations around the indoor venue. Jay had been inside the venue for a couple of minutes before anyone from the team had arrived, they had decided to come separately because they lived on separate sides of the venue, it was easier, Erin had got a cab especially not wanting to drive in the dress she was in and Jay had brought his truck to the black-tie event knowing that he wouldn't be drinking.
She noticed him across the room, looking at his baby blues across the forty-metre gap between the pair of them she couldn't recognise those eyes anyway where her eyes could take her, his hair gelled and styled and he looked as handsome as he did when she had first met him, she knew the minute that when Hank had allowed his entrance into the team that he would be trouble. He was more trouble to the rest of the team which he had first started with because he and Dawson would have pranks between the pair but they always kept it professional around Voight so they wouldn't get an angry Sargent yelling at them. She knew from that moment was the moment that she fell in love with him and their philosophy of a 'one day' had begun, they would make each other laugh and prank each other when they were partnered up until they became official partner from Voight on all cases they were paired up.
He was still gazing from across the room at her while she was speaking to her senior ranking officers in a group, while she had a glass of red wine in her hand that a 50-year-old higher official had bought her at the bar. He was jealous that he was speaking to her and not him but she couldn't trust himself around her, she was like his kryptonite because he was weak at the knees around her dazzling smile and perfect body.
"Wow,"