Erin has tunnel vision. She is focused exclusively on what's in front of her. Any and everything in her peripheral is either blacked out or blurry. All of that running and she had ended up going in a circle, ending up right back at his house. The same happened with the team. The same happened with Ash, although his could have been argued to have been intentional. It was the ambulance sirens that came to treat Rixton that alerted him to a new arrival; he was heading back to the house regardless and finding Erin was the icing on this glorious cake. He couldn't have planned for a better showdown if he tried, although a part of him didn't want the intrusion of Voight's team, his ritual wouldn't have been ruined if Intelligence and Will Halstead weren't here.
"It's over," Erin spat; it was getting hard for her to stay awake, to stay focused and keep her gaze on her family. Each of them was worried, that much was obvious based on the looks plastered on their faces, but Erin didn't have the strength or the clarity of mind to ease their concerns.
They were worried and based on how she's feeling right now, they had every right to be.
Jay had never thought he'd ever see Ash in person, he never thought he'd be so close to him and if he did venture the thought, all he saw was his hands wrapped around his throat, squeezing the life out of him because of everything he'd done to Erin, to him, to everybody. Jay seethes in place, picturing a bullet flying through the air and landing dead center of Ash's forehead. It's the only way he could see this night ending. Prison is too kind for someone like Ash. He'd only bring his murder spree to the correctional facility, knowing how sick in the head Ash is, he'd probably kill other inmates or teach the ones that are just as sick as him how he'd gotten away with this for so long.
Ash had tightened his hold around her and around the knife. He wasn't worried about a gun pointed towards him because he was pretty confident that Erin was covering him just enough. They'd have to shoot her to shoot him and no one was going to take that risk. She was already wounded by a gunshot to the shoulder, another significant injury like that would kill her, regardless of where on her body the injury hits, she'd be done. She doesn't have it in her. Her body barely wants to keep fighting off the wound to her shoulder, the through and through shot that's been continuously losing blood since the bullet ejected through her flesh. If she'd gotten immediate medical attention a second after the shot, it wouldn't be as life threatening, but it's been over an hour and the bleeding hasn't stopped, it hasn't clotted because she hadn't been able to apply long term direct pressure.
"I think you're sadly mistaken Erin," he turned his head slightly to look at the side of her face, "it isn't over until it's over. I am high on adrenaline right now. I can stay out here all night!"
"Your hand needs medical attention."
"…and it'll get medical attention once I'm done here," he didn't sound to be in a hurry, "I'm pretty sure you're losing more blood than I am, at a faster rate it seems," he moves his head from her good shoulder over to her bad one, "now that looks nasty."
"Ash-" he hates that name but he doesn't feel bothered to correct Voight. He has bigger things to focus on right now.
He does ignore him though. He isn't quite finished in his conversation with Erin. He tightens his hold around her midsection, drawing her back further into his chest, leaving no room in between.
"This is in my way," the makeshift tourniquet was already loose and unraveling the longer she stood but Ash sped up the process by tearing it loose and throwing it to the ground, "Ah, that's much better. I have more room now." Will squeezes his eyes shut and sighs when he sees it fall to the ground. He can only hope that it helped the clotting process in the short time it was applied.
"I know you're angry that I ran, but-"
"Shhhhh, none of that Erin, none of that," he shushed her, drawing the knife up to her mouth to ensure she kept it shut, "I'm not as angry as you think I am. It was fun. I'm getting old but I'm still in shape and that chase just made the finale of all of this that much more interesting. I should thank you for that." He moved the knife from her mouth back down to her neck.
Ash enjoyed the chase. His adrenaline was pumping because of it but the sight of everyone coming to his home, visiting him, surrounding him was enough to increase his heartrate. All eyes were on him. All of the attention was on him. He was the centerpiece, the star of the show. He kept Erin in his hold but forced her to move forward along with him, "Hey," Jay has his hand stretched out, reaching out towards him and Erin, fingers wide open before he clenches them shut, "Hey, just slow down," he begs; his eyes remain focused on Erin whose eyes are opening and closing and he notices that each time they shut, it lasts longer than the last, "please just-"
"You have nothing to do with this so why are you in it?!" Ash snaps, cutting Jay off before he has a chance to finish his plea, "this is between me and the Voights and only us so the rest of you might as well leave! This has been a long time coming and I won't let some in-law ruin it."
He averts his eyes from Jay then takes a second to look each person in the eye, starting with Justin then moving to Voight then Jay again and then the new addition, the teammates that he hasn't had the pleasure of meeting yet. Until today, that is…He probably knows them by name thanks to Ivy but the faces are foreign to him. He shifts Erin in his arms yet the knife stays, "If I had known there was going to be a reunion, I would have prepared a speech," the mad grin on his face stretched even wider, forcing his eyes to squinch together, "I would have put on my best outfit, combed my hair a bit and treated this little wound Erin gave me," for a second, he flashes the injury to his hand, "I am completely unprepared for this. I'm a little flustered. I'm a bit embarrassed."
And fucking crazy, Voight thinks, yet he keeps the expression on his face neutral. He holsters his weapon and holds his hands up and out to ensure that Ash doesn't take his movement as a threat.
"We know this is about me. We know you chose Erin because of me but I'm here now, you have me here now, so how about we make a trade? You take me and you let Erin go."
"How come I don't have the option to take both of you? Hmm?"
Voight pinched the bridge of his nose as he struggled to remain patient, "Ash, we both know-"
"How's Camille?" Ash cuts in, intentionally interrupting Voight by dropping the one name he knew would get under his skin, "Oops, let me rephrase that question because I know how she is, she's dead. She's bones. She's a rotting, maggot-infested corpse. It's no coming back from that unfortunately. What I meant to ask was, how are you handling her death? I know it must have been hard but from one single father to another, it's not that hard."
He's taunting him. He's playing on shaky territory right now. Everyone knows the more her name is dropped, the more he references her, then the more it will get to them, the more it'll have them acting out of emotion rather than logic. Erin is used to it. She's used to all of the taunts. She's spent the last four days hearing them. Through her blurry vision, she makes out the silhouette of her father, he's trying to keep his head up and his stance strong but she knows that the second Ash started detailing the night he killed her mom, her dad's posture began to crumble. She doesn't need clear vision to see that. Anyone that knows her dad, knows his primary trigger is her mom.
"She died being angry with you," Ash puts simply, tsking and shaking his head at the thought, "you must have carried around a lot of guilt because of that and if not, then you should. I mean, the whole reason you were arguing with her was because of me! And then here I come, hiding out and the second you leave her vulnerable, the second you leave your family with no means of protecting themselves, I strike. You might as well have been my accomplice that night because we worked so well together. And if you truly think about it Hank, you should be thanking me, you should be on your knees, begging for my forgiveness because that night I could have taken everything from you but I didn't. I left your kids alive. I left your house standing. I could have killed them and burned everything to the ground. I could have taken it all from you but I didn't which means I'm not the monster you paint me out to be, I'm not sick in the head or depraved of a heart, I am a human being that sparred your feelings. You should be kissing my feet," he seethed angrier than Erin has ever seen him in the days she was with him, "you should be groveling, on your hands and knees praising me for not ruining your life, for not killing everybody with the same last name as you. You, Hank Voight, should be worshipping the ground I walk on."
That leaves Voight truly speechless. He's frozen in place as the tormenting words of his adversary takes root in his brain and begin to grow and develop into ruminating thoughts. That's going to play over and over in his mind indefinitely. It's obvious that it gets to him; it's clear as day. He's a human being with emotions, not some sick psychopath that lacks them. Justin takes a step to the side to be closer to his dad, hoping his presence would be enough to offer some type of comfort. It's going to be hard but they need to show Ash that his words mean nothing to them.
"Dad-"
"No Justin," Ash tsks once again, "didn't your parents teach you any manners? The grown-ups are talking so that means the children stay quiet."
Justin doesn't heed his warning, instead he angrily steps forward, "What's your endgame here? It's obvious you're not going to get away so what do you want?"
"I want to finish my ritual. That's all I've ever wanted."
"…and you know we're not going to let that happen."
"It's really funny to me how you think you have a choice." The chuckle that leaves his mouth is forced; it's dry and fake, "You think talking to me is stalling. You think it's an advantage to you when really, it's a disadvantage to poor Erin here," he nudges his shoulder forward to force her body to respond, "I'm practically holding up all of her weight. I remove my arm, she drops. She's practically dead weight right now and the longer you stall, the longer she bleeds out and I'm obviously no doctor here so I turn to the brother-in-law," he looks at Will, "to fill in the blanks."
Will clears his throat. He has no way of knowing how Ash knows about him, how Ash even knows he's a doctor but it's not the time or place to find out. He holds his hands up and takes a sideways step towards his brother, "She's probably a bit dizzy right now," he carefully words his diagnosis, "I can't say for sure because I'm not examining her," Will tilts his head and tries to catch her eyes even in the darkness of the night, "my guess would be hypovolemia; it can um happen as a result of dehydration or in Erin's case bleeding," Ash is still nodding for him to continue in his explanation so he does, "It's a decrease in the volume of blood in her body due to um blood loss and um body fluids. She needs medical attention as soon as possible."
"That's enough," Ash hinted for Will to cease his talking; he looks back at the detectives and allowed a teasing grin to stretch across his face, "Now that we know that, who is stalling truly benefiting here? Think about it. You're stalling so I don't just finish her off but at the same time you're stalling will cause her to bleed out. That sounds a bit inhumane. You'd rather she suffered than to just die and be absolved of all pain and suffering. Who's the real monster here?"
Halstead gripped the hand of his weapon tighter but it remained aimed at the ground. It was too dark. And the risk was too great to try and get a shot off. Erin was too close to Ash and with the darkness looming above them, the chances of a bullet meant for Ash hitting Erin was high. He couldn't just stand here and do nothing though. It was driving him crazy. It was making him antsy. If he didn't have to worry about Erin right now, he'd be pacing. His hands yearned for her touch and he was so close to it but once again it was ripped away from him. There is no way they get this close only to have his chances of reuniting with his wife ending in her bloodshed.
"What do you want?" Jay speaks up; he doesn't care if Ash has more interest in the Voights than him, this is his wife, he's involved regardless of what Ash thinks, "Is it a guaranteed escape? Do you want Ivy to be released? Just tell us and we'll figure out a way to make it happen."
"Do you even have the authority to do that?"
"He doesn't," Voight interjected after taking one step forward, "but I do. Name your price and you got it. You have my word along with the word of all my detectives."
"That's nice and all, but you see, there's just one problem," he allows a dramatic pause to surround them before he fills it with the answer, "I don't trust any of you."
Ash turned back to Voight and continued talking to him about the days that led up to Camille's murder and how he was during the days following. Voight couldn't stop listening if he tried. He had questions about that night for years and though it's raising his blood pressure as anger tunnels through his veins, he needs to know it all. Jay uses that to his advantage. He knew if he disappeared, it would draw suspicion. His wife was in Ash's arms, there is no way or explanation he could provide that would support taking his eyes off of her for one second. Ruzek, who is the detective nearest him, was a different story. Jay took a step to the side, waited a moment to ensure it wasn't noticed and then took another one. He did this until he was directly beside Ruzek, "I have a plan."
"What do you need me to do?" Thankfully Ruzek didn't need much convincing.
"Erin needs an ambulance. We need to have one on standby," Jay whispered; his focus remained on his wife while his words were directed on Ruzek, "I need you to dip into the woods, make the call and when they are about a mile out, have them cut the sirens, I don't want Ash to know. I'm hoping if the sirens are off and they approach, it'll catch him off guard."
"…and give you time to get the drop on Ash."
Jay nods, "Exactly." Halstead moved forward to use his body to cover Ruzek ducking into the woods. He continued to watch the scene ahead of him, how Erin was practically on the tips of her toes and Ash was, in fact, holding up majority of her body weight. He tilts his head and in one of the moments she has her eyes wide open, he catches her gaze. He mouths to her, I love you, and even though she doesn't mouth it back because it takes too much energy that she needs to use to keep her eyes open, she does smile and he's reassured that she understood.
"Hold on Erin," Justin encouraged when he noticed her eyes flicker shut. She's tired.
Ash tightened his grip around her after being alerted to her condition, "Listen to him Erin," he nodded along, "listen to your brother," he didn't want her to give in so easily; there was absolutely no fun in that. And not to mention, the second she dies, he loses leverage and his ability to taunt and get under their skin. He needs her alive for as long as possible.
Ruzek does as he's told and is surprised and relieved to find out an ambulance was already on its way, only about five to ten minutes out. It's the downside of living practically in the middle of nowhere. Ruzek steps back into the frame, the fact that Ash couldn't care any less about anyone outside of the Voight family was used to his advantage. He wasn't noticed. He met Jay's eyes and gave him a slight nod to let him know it was done. He couldn't tell him anymore than that because Ash had turned to face him, "Who are you?"
"I'm Detective Ruzek," he introduces, stepping to the side to bring himself closer to the rest of the unit. His weapon is holstered and his hands are in the air to ensure Ash didn't take him as a threat.
"I mean first name."
"Adam."
And that brings a sudden grin to Ash's face, "Adam, four letters," he licks his bottom lip and then nods eagerly, "I wish I had known that sooner. Anyone else here has a four lettered first name?"
No one raises their hand or makes any move to acknowledge or answer his question. His shoulders slump forward, nudging Erin accidentally and earning a muffled groan of pain from her. It earned his attention and draws his focus from Adam and back to her. Ash smiled madly and pressed his cheek against hers, "Are you getting a little jealous that I'm giving everybody else my attention?"He grazed the sharp knife against her neck gently, it wasn't hard enough to prick the skin, but it was hard enough for her to feel its touch, "I've been so nice. I gave you water. I've let you sleep. I spared your life multiple times in the past. I even gave you a best friend. All I wanted was to finish my ritual and all of you ruined it!" He rips his head from Erin's to face Voight, "I am just being rude. Here I have my guest of honor and I've barely been paying any attention to him."
"Cut the bullshit Ash and quit playing games! My patience is wearing thin."
Voight is tired of the talking. He's tired of beating around the bush. He's tired of the back and forth, of all of the games, he's tired of it all. And Ash was right, stalling is only hurting Erin. He raised his hands into the air, gun now gripped in one of them, pointing upwards into the sky as he took a cautionary step forward, "Ash, just make an exception. I'm Hank, I'm known as Hank by everyone. That's four letters. That fits your fucking criteria so come on, let her go and take me!"
"That's not your birth name though!"
"Just make an exception this one time. What better way to end this than with me? The man that has been hunting you for over a decade. Just make this one little exception."
"You don't get it do you," Ash growls, eyes rolling as Voight takes another cautionary step forward, "it's not that easy! It's not that simple! I'm anal about things like this Voight. If I was going to make an exception, I would have done it years ago. And besides, I need four days."
"…then take me for those four days."
"Your name is not four letters long, why don't you fucking get that?" His boiling rage has him talking with his hand. While one hand remained around Erin's waist, the other hand, the one holding the knife is moving around a lot, it's no longer at her neck, it's at his side and every time he speaks at a higher volume, it starts swinging around. It has no destination in mind and if he doesn't pay attention, he may take his own eye out.
With his hands still in the air, Hank takes another step forward. Ash hasn't called him out on it yet so he deems his movement a success. He ignores the whispers of Justin and Jay trying to call him back. He focuses forward, on his daughter, on the knife no longer at her throat but now suddenly being held out towards him. Ash is now onto his movements, "Any closer and you die."
Hank just needs a distraction. He just needs a break in Ash's focus to take advantage of the knife being pointed in his direction. If he had that break, he can knock it out of his hold or wrestle him for it. He drops one arm, the one not holding the weapon and then slowly starts to lower the other and in the blink of an eye, Ash quickly took a step forward forcibly causing Erin to do the same thing. Now the gun Hank lowered is being pressed against Erin's stomach, "You want to pull the trigger and shoot me, then by all means, do it," he taunts.
"Go ahead dad," she hadn't said anything in a while because her energy was being drained, but she mustered up just enough to give him the permission she thinks he needs, "do it."
"Don't," he can hear Jay behind him. Erin looked over her dad's shoulders, meeting her husband's gaze again, watching the tremble of his jaw as he holds back his tears. He can't watch this. It can't be possible to come so close and to still fail. Now Jay is slowly stepping forward, weapon gripped in his hand and encouraging Justin with a nod to do the same. Erin was already prepared to sacrifice herself if it meant killing or capturing Ash; the best thing they have going for them is their weapons, knowing they outnumber Ash in force and ability and it's time they start acting like it.
If Erin wasn't Erin, if she was anyone else, what would they do? They wouldn't sit around afraid to act out of fear that he'd kill her. They'd do something. And it's time to do that.
"Whoa buddy," Ash chuckled, moving the knife from Voight's direction and over to Jay's when he noticed him stepping just a little too close, "I guess you don't love your wife as much as you say you do. It explains the cheating then, huh?" Now that catches him off guard and causes him to stumble in his step, "Yeah, Erin knows all about it, don't you Erin?" He nudges her back with the front of his shoulder and she says nothing in response. She simply watches her husband's facial expression to see if there was any truth to Ash's accusation.
"I know what you're trying to do," Jay retorts; he doesn't continue to move forward because he doesn't want the knife to be taken from his direction, "you're trying to get inside her head, you're trying to get inside mine and it's not going to work. I've never had an affair. I would never in a million years ever have an affair. Nice try though."
"Why would you admit to an affair though?" Ash continues to taunt, switching his gaze back and forth from Erin to Voight to Jay, "who would admit to that without proof? Now what I want to know the most and what Erin deserves to know the most is who was it with?"
"You just create fictional stories in your mind," Jay is frozen in place, eyes wide because Ash truly believes this lie, "I've never had an affair. I've never do anything that would break her heart."
His words seem to go in one of Ash's ears and out of the other. He simply snickers and then looks at the surrounding detectives, all with their hands hovering above their holstered weapons, "If I had to guess, I'd say it was with her," he nods towards Upton, "What was your name again?" He had first gotten it when Ruzek ducked into the forest, but because he didn't deem her as important, he had forgotten it the second Ruzek told him his name.
"I'm Hailey," she answers to keep the peace. It was no time or place for her to be a smart ass right now especially with Ash's current argument with Jay going on, "and we're only coworkers. That's all we've ever been and that's all we ever will be. I look at him like a brother. They're all family to me."
"Of course, you'd say that because your boss is standing right here," Ash looks back at Voight, "I'm pretty sure he'd ruin your career if he found out the truth."
Despite Ash's best effort to convince Erin otherwise, she didn't believe him. The look in Jay's face at the mere thought of stepping out on her was enough. The look of confusion on Upton's face at being accused of doing something like that was another piece of evidence. They were innocent. Jay didn't cheat on her with Upton. Jay didn't cheat on her with anybody.
"Leave him alone," Justin voices his frustration; he didn't like this topic of conversation and he didn't want it going on for longer than it needed to, "we all know you're saying things to get inside of our head, to lower our guard and I hate to tell you this but it isn't working! Give us Erin and you can get Ivy. She's locked up at the district but we can get her out and the two of you can disappear out of Illinois forever. It's a good deal and you should take it."
"It's a lot you assumed about that deal; one thing included is the amount of love I have for my daughter. She's loyal, really loyal and I love her a lot. I just don't love her more than I love this."
"There has to be something you want more than this though."
Ash simply tsked at Justin's response as he shook his head no, "I hate to tell you this," he reused the words spoken to him seconds ago, "but there isn't. I've wanted this more than anything. So how about a new deal? You can keep Ivy and I can keep Erin."
"You're out of your fucking mind if you think we'd agree to that," Jay chimed in. Hank used Ash's distraction to move closer. To be outnumbered is more than just manpower, it's attention too. It's no way Ash can give every one of them his undivided attention.
"…then I guess we're back to square one, we're back to a standstill," Ash sighed as if disappointed, "we're back to the stalling as we all come together to watch her slowly bleed out."
"Yeah but, it's just," Hank is now speaking up, "you're forgetting about one little thing."
"…and what is that?"
"You brought a knife to a gun fight."
And just as confusion flickers over his face, the sound of the ambulance coming over rough terrain tears Ash's attention away for a split second. That split second was long enough for Voight to act. He hits Ash's forearm, knocking the knife to the ground before pulling him forward. He knows Erin falls to the ground when Ash is yanked towards him but right now, he can't do anything about it. He leaves her for Jay. And with his gun waving around as he and Ash battle for a better grip of the handle, one trying to overpower the other, Jay lowers himself to his knees to duck out of the way of the gun just in case it accidentally goes off. The two fight over one weapon, making everyone standing around duck and cover behind cars and trees to ensure they didn't get hit. It's no telling where a bullet will end up when the gun inevitably goes off. And with the constant movement, the back and forth, the push and pull, the yanks and twists as they fight over Voight's gun, no one else can help because no one has a clear shot.
Halstead remained on his hands and knees but he didn't follow the rest of the team in taking cover. Instead, he gripped the dirt beneath his fingers and pushed forward, crawling as fast as he could to get to her. She's just lying there. She isn't moving and that scares him more than anything. He stops crawling momentarily when his hand is almost stepped on by Voight's boot. He crawls around them and slides the rest of the way, drawing her into his arms, "Hey baby," it's the first time in days he's touching her, he pushes the strands sticking to her forehead because of perspiration off to the side and leans his head down to kiss the space between her eyebrows, "It's not as bad as it looks," he doesn't know if that's true or not but it's all he can think to say. He doesn't bother trying to pay attention to the fighting happening around him, he doesn't care when he hears one shot being fired from the gun, his undivided attention is on Erin as he draws her further into his arms, uncaring that his shirt is now being stained by her blood.
"Okay," he lowers the collar of her shirt, "okay," his hand hovers above the wound; it looks gross but he has to do what he has to do, "I can fix this," he's trying to convince himself more than he's trying to convince her; he doesn't even know if she's fully present, "I can fix this. I can fix this," his hands shake and continue to hover above the gunshot wound, "I can fix this. I got this."
He can't fix this. He doesn't have this. His hands shake and twitch in nervousness above her open wound. He doesn't know what the fuck to do. He doesn't know how to stop this.
"Will," he calls out for his brother and for the first time since Erin was in his arms, he looks away from her and scans the area, "Will," he calls out again, "I need your help!"
The paramedics are behind the ambulance, grabbing materials as they utilize the back of it to hide from the waving gun. The fight is still happening and maybe he can help if he wasn't so busy. This came first. This was more important. He didn't care about no fucking fight with her bleeding out like this. Jay kissed the tip of her nose and shut his eyes to embrace the feeling of having her back.
"Erin, you've made it this far," Jay whispered near her ear; she could feel the tears falling from his eyes and landing on her skin, "you can't give up now."
"I'm trying," she coughs. She raises her hand, dried and covered in the blood from her shoulder and cups his cheek to give him her best toothy grin. She tries to soothe him. It doesn't work. It only makes him feel more guilty because he should be soothing her.
He looked up again in search of his brother, finally noticing him after a few seconds making his best effort to crawl closer, only stopping when the gun goes off again. Will shuts his eyes and counts to three and when he feels nothing, he knows he wasn't hit. Will crawled up next to his brother, being mindful to not disturb the two in their private conversation as he reached for Erin's wrist to check her pulse, "It's weak and thready," which explains why she's battling consciousness and can barely lift herself up, "stay down," Will encouraged, crawling closer to press the back of his hand against her forehead, "her body temperature is pretty low. Where's the paramedics?"
"Is there something you can do for her now?" Jay practically pleads for his brother to figure this out, to make her better, to heal her in some way, but Will sadly had nothing for him.
"I can only keep her comfortable as she waits. We also need to keep her warm. Anything besides that, she needs a hospital, the sooner the better," Will settled his hand against his brother's shoulder, "she needs IV fluids and a blood transfusion."
The two Halstead brothers look towards the ambulance to see the two paramedics on their hands and knees with the gurney in between them. They're taught to stay inside their ambulance during an active shooting but they're risking their lives, breaking the rules and trying to get to Erin to help. Jay turns back to his wife when he feels her hand drop from his chin. He lifts her wrist and releases it and it simply falls to her side, "Will," he nudges his brother.
And suddenly the gunfire stops, they hear no more fighting, no arguing, no stomping around, it's absolute silence. Jay doesn't tear his eyes away from her to see what happened. He can't spare that right now, not with the paramedics closing the distance and assisting him and Will in putting her body on the gurney. Will saves them time in their assessment by detailing her injuries, "Gunshot to the shoulder. She has lost a lot of blood. She'll need a blood transfusion immediately. Scrapes and lacerations to the face and hands. Sprained ankle. She's in hypovolemic shock: pale, cold and clammy skin, shallow breathing, confusion."
"Got it," the paramedic said as they got to work to stabilize her for transport, "and sorry we're so late, we saw a guy on the side of the road, stabbed but alive. We called for a backup ambo so they should be with him now." Erin hears this despite being unconscious and a huge part of her becomes happy knowing that this man may not have lost his life trying to save hers.
"I'm coming with you," Jay says, leaving no room for argument. He hears Al in the background radioing in for another ambulance. Someone else had been shot but Jay doesn't stay behind to find out who; he'd just learn about it later.
He's beside the gurney as its pushed and carried to the ambulance. He steps inside after they load Erin in and he takes a hold of her hand as he watches the rise and fall of her chest. Finding comfort that she's at least still breathing. And even though she's in and out of consciousness, Erin is comforted in knowing that she's finally in his presence again. It's been what she was fighting for these last couple of days. It was a long time coming but the fight was worth it. She is finally reunited with Jay. And at least if she doesn't make it, he was the last face she laid eyes on.
She reaches her bloodied hand up to caress the side of his face and smiles. The last thing she hears before she loses consciousness is the sound of sirens coming from the ambulance transporting her to safety, carrying her to the nearest hospital. She's safe. She's out of harms way. She just has to hope that she makes it through the night.