Nine
"Wow," Jay whispered when he thought he was talking to himself.
"I heard that Halstead," The older gentleman spoke as he appeared behind the younger detective.
"Heard what I didn't say anything," He tried to ignore what words had come out of his mouth about his last serious lover.
"How about the way you just said ''wow'?" Hank questioned the true intentions of Jay's words about Erin and the way that she looked.
"Well she looks good" He professed.
"Even if you don't admit what you mean, You still love her, I know it and so do you," Hank stated.
"No, we both just decided that we're just friends," Jay admitted.
"Okay, I'll see you later I have to go give some goddamn small talk to some other retired detectives, and I'll come to see Erin later." Hank declared.
Erin walked down the white carpet in a pair of glittery silver high heels that made her just about as tall as Jay and Adam, which meant that she didn't feel so small when they tried to tower over her with their height. She walked over to Jay, he had joined her at a standing bar table, they had paired to be each other's plus one, even though they had both been invited from the 21st, it seemed better to turn up with someone rather than alone. The team had decided to go with each other, Erin had decided to pair with Jay because he was the last person to be chosen, Antonio had been the only one to actually bring a plus one, Adam came with Kim, and Hailey had gone with Kevin.
"Hey…" Jay said as he looked at how stunning Erin looked.
"Hi... this isn't awkward is it, I can always just find someone else to pair with?" Erin asked.
"No, no, it's fine, more than fine, you look amazing," Jay commented while admiring her appearance.
Erin walked to the photoshoot area, to have her photo taken for the night, Jay had joined her, linking arms as they stood for their photo to be taken. She wore a thin-strapped deep v neck royal blue dress which was a maxi dress with a big 'A' style slit in her dress up to her right thigh. The dress had a train on the back, just big enough to drag on the carpet on the photo booth, but not too long to trip over. She felt on top of the world for a bit, everything seemed to be perfect for a bit, she had one of her good friends on her arm and had no more secrets to tell, New York had been tough, but she was tougher than what had been thrown at her, she had been in a bombing, she had lost a baby, but she was still here, it hadn't changed who she was and her addiction hadn't returned, she was more than 5 years clean. Erin got some stares from the room of police officials and officers, she had her a small part of her cleavage, but the majority was just her skin from her chest, she was a little self-conscious of herself, but when Hank showed up, she changed, someone for Erin was that Hank could put her at ease at anything, he would almost like her calming tool, she would see him and she would be calm and collected.
The dress she was wearing was gorgeous like a waterfall of royal blue fabric stitched in different places, the A-line slit added a small train onto the dress, her heels cast glitter sparking across the room, her chest area was exposed and a white gold necklace hung on her fair chest. The diamond pendant sat tugged into place with a white gold cage around the sides of the circular cut 4ct diamond, she held it and instinctively touched the necklace as she walked down the stairs. Jay had known that it had been an instinctive touch for her as she always touched a bracelet, ring or necklace when she was nervous. When she was on the job she would always rub her thumb across the length of her torch, she had carved her name into the light so that in the gear room she knew where her torch was after the debacle of '11 when someone had taken her torch from the gear room, they had laughed about that for months in the office upstairs at the 21st precinct, with Hank, Al, Antonio, Jay and Julie.
"Hi kid, you look beautiful," Hank said as he hugged his foster daughter, while he congratulated her on solving her first case as Sargent.
"You don't look too bad yourself," Erin mentioned.
She was nervous that she was in a dress that people didn't like because it was too revealing but she didn't care she just was happy with the dress that she had got, it had been the same colour as the dress she had first worn to the police benefit, and her hair was straightened, showing its impressive length as it was gelled behind her ears and pinned back so that it wouldn't come in front of her face when she was dancing.
Jay had on a black formal tux on with its white shirt on, he was looking rather smart and many of the single ladies in the room were looking his way at one point or another during the night wishing to get a dance in with the handsome detective from intelligence, but Jay had only had company for three women that night, he had promised Hailey and Kim to dance with them all night so that they didn't have to be alone, but he had also thought that paid up with Erin to attend the benefit, but with everything then had talked about in the last couple of days, he felt that he had got his friend back who he could talk to her about anything but he thought dancing with Erin would be awkward but it was more awkward not to dance with her, everyone would have expected anyway, you don't come with someone to a black tie event and not dancing with them, and it wasn't as if he was being romantic when he asked her to dance, he was just being a good friend, being civil and courteous to her.
With the request for songs allowed by the DJ, majority of the crowd from the gala had gone up the DJ stand and had requested a song, including Erin she had requested 'Celebration' and 'Walking on Sunshine, but Jay had gone more conservative with his choices are the Captains, Lieutenants, and Chief of police were all present in the ballroom with no swearing so that he would appear as the decorated detective he was 'We are Family' and then he had chosen to leave the requests alone to everyone else to choose a song. Jay stood with Erin who had just returned to the bar table with her drink, non-alcohol as she had promised herself not to wake up in the morning with a hangover, while Burgess and Ruzek had walked over hand in hadn't to the DJ stand to request a song, 'No Secrets' by The Shires.
"May I have this dance with you?" Jay asked with sincerity as he looked in awe of her.
Yeah, we fight when we're tired
Baby, you and I
We ain't perfect
We work at it, day and night
It can hurt, but it works
Baby, you and I
"Yeah, sure." Erin sort of giggled as she accepted his request to dance with her after he had danced with Kim and Hailey most of the night.
"Well come with me then," Jay spoke as he gently held her hand as they stepped onto the dancefloor.
Who you're with
And where you've been
That's not us
Never has been
We've got no secrets, no
"Thank you for asking me to dance," Erin uttered.
You can tell me anything
No judgement
Just listening
Got no secrets, no
"I saw Hank earlier, he looks good, to say that he is now a retired police officer." He laughed. "He mentioned that you had come to one of these before, it must feel weird being here again after so many years." Jay queried.
You can put your hand on my heart
I swear to you honestly
Nothing but the truth
Is all that you'll get from me
"I remember the first time I came to his gala, oh it was well over 8 or 9 years ago, it could be 10 years by now I can't remember the year I came, but I remember that Hank and Camile came as well, she had bought me a dress so that I could attend, I was so nervous. I was an officer at the time, I wore this gorgeous dress and this bracelet that I got for Christmas from Hank and Camile one year. I still have it too," Erin reminisced.
"That's a sweet story, Erin, I know that Camile meant a lot to you, you always talk about her so fondly." Jay vocalised.
"Yeah I do talk about her fondly, she was the only mother that loved me, Bunny didn't care, I was just her get out of jail free card, this necklace I have on, Camile had left it to me in her will, I hadn't expected to get anything I never called her mum, but she treated me as my mum, she loved me that my own mother and she still loved me after she had gone, when she left this necklace for me, she left me a note too, wishing that the bracelet she had given me that if I had a child I would give it them, so they would know what unconditional was too." Erin grabbed the necklace rubbing the pendant as Jay held her by the hips and she held him from his shoulder she became sentimental about her necklace.
Yeah, we fight when we're tired
Baby, you and I
We ain't perfect
We work at it, day and night
It can hurt, but it works
Baby, you and I
We never lie
"I'm sorry that you lost her, I wish my mum was still here too, whether she was your biological mother or not, she was your mum, and Bunny shouldn't have treated you the way she did, you deserve better," Jay apologised for her past life with her adopted mother and the troubles with her biological mother.
Our only secret
Is we got no secrets
"It's not your fault, and anyway I grieved for her and lost her years ago, anyway how are doing, I spoke with Natalie a while ago she said that your dad had died," Erin questioned as they slow danced across the ballroom as they other people with dance partners moved in a waltzed fashion around the huge room, many of them being officers and detectives and only a handful of captains and lieutenants.
"It's fine me and my dad didn't really get along the best anyway," Jay countered knowing that she was only asking out of concern for a friend.
So tiptoe 'round the conversation
That's not us
We just say it
You make it easy
Easy to say the hardest words
As they danced they began to look around the room, they both looked at the people in their team Hailey danced with Kevin with Champagne from the waiter in their hands, they were joking about something because they were laughing and had huge smiles on their faces. Kim and Adam were looking back at them as they were dancing, and they looked like they had been up to something. Then they had known that it was Kim and Adam that played the song to see if they would get a reaction out of the pair who looked at each other aimlessly.
You can put your hand on my heart
I swear to you honestly
Nothing but the truth
Is all that you're ever gonna get from me
"Maybe the song is playing has a point, Jay, we aren't perfect, we aren't together but as friends, if we don't lie to one another maybe we could be good friends like we were before we even said about a 'one day'" Erin questioned her ex-partner.
"Yeah, we have done it before, and we can do it again, don't know you think that maybe someone out the DJ up to playing this song, like maybe Adam and Kim who look thick as thieves dancing over there," Jay replied questioning his friends possible intent.
Yeah, we fight when we're tired
Baby, you and I
We ain't perfect
We work at it, day and night
It can hurt, but it works
Baby, you and I
We never lie
"They are only trying to get us back together, god knows why, I thought they had their own love life to focus one, and we both know that we're just friends, that's how we work, it's great like this isn't it?" Erin chatted, as her head rested on his shoulder, as the song slowed. They danced like it was the first time, but the first time had been when Jay had moved into the flat, she had some of the records that Justin had given her as a present for her birthday, he had come in with his bags, she was boogieing slowly to 'Ain't no Mountain High Enough', she was washing the dishes, he had pulled her away from the soap suds and pulled her into him with, they danced tiptoeing as they moved around the kitchen.
Our only secret
Is we got no secrets
"Maybe we should listen to what those two are trying to suggest, maybe we need to have no more secrets because secrets got us into what happened before," Erin suggested as she looked at Jay now just inches taller than her because of her block silver crystal shining heels.
'Cause we got no secrets
"No more secrets now, we both know the truth about what happened in the last 4 years of each other's lives, no more telling each other huge secrets that seem to destroy us. Now the air is clear we can just be friends like we were before," Jay replied.
Our only secret
Is we got no secrets
"Deal, no more secrets, just," Erin picked up their order drinks of two oranges juices in their respective champagne flutes from a waiter walking past them, and passed the second one to Jay, "here's to being good friends again." Erin toasted.
"Good Friends," Jay uttered as they toasted together on just being friends.
Good Friends, " Erin muttered as she kissed him on the cheek before she began to flush from the embarrassment of what she thought she was going to cause, however Jay just whisked her around spinning her three hundred snd sixty degrees before they hugged and walked back to the team's bar table.