PS. Sorry for the very long wait on this chapter, I am hoping to get a chapter per month up from now on, so hopefully this will get this story back on track because my new job and education is in the way, this is now on the back burner for a while with a chapter being posted as I said hopefully every month or two weeks.
Twenty-One
Erin had had the day for her cast to removed and she couldn't have waited any longer for the itchy scratchy pot to come off her arm that had irritated her arm any more than it already had when it had been removed the amount of red scratch marked on her forearm had been revealed, marks that had looked like her fingernails that had scratched her arm at the top and the bottom of the cast and the nurse could only assume a ruler for the marks further down her arm that was encased by the black cast on her arm.
They had both been through their own hell in the past 5 years that Erin was gone, from Jay's shooting accident, and Erin having a miscarriage of their child, but the night of the car accident, it was the night that both of them knew that each other was each other's better half, they both didn't know why they hadn't fought harder for one another. She had told herself to return home, to Chicago so many times, but it had only been when her father, figure, her father really had given her the option of returning home, she thought in he reminded that she would never return to Chicago because she had left with such a cloud under her but she had returned and it was the best decision of her life, it had given her closure over the past, hope for the future, and fulfilment in the present.
He had missed her like crazy and the moment he had seen her standing in front of him in the station when she returned the feeling came back like the last day she was there like no time had passed at all, it was like the last 5 years were erased and she had just turned up for work like a normal day, like the history wasn't there, because the connection they had, they have was never gone. And that ring he had gotten on the last day she was in Chicago he still kept it close to his heart in his nightstand, once it was a reminder of what he had lost, but now in the present, it reminds him of the future he could have with her.
She had never of thought that at the beginning of the year, that she would have gone from her working still in New York, to turn to her father figure, the great Hank Voight retiring from the police force in Chicago for a quiet life with Olive and Daniel in the quiet suburbs far from the bustling city he grew up in, and that the Chicago Police would accept her past faults and rehire her. She had been so surprised that not only had the Chicago police force had decided to rehire her but promote her to the Sargent to Intelligence unit that she used to work in. Never mind the love life she had begun, yet again.
It had been a huge year for Erin, she had spoken about the secret she had thought she would have taken to the grave, and she got the man she had ever loved back, but the bad things had happened as well, she had been in a car crash that nearly killed her, she had flatlined but made her luckily with her wilful fight and will power she had made her way back to this mortal coil, and then she reconciled with the love of her life. But she had found out one thing she never knew would have happened, she had regretted her whole 4 years away for the fact that the man she loved was going to propose to her, the very day she had Chicago and him alone in that vast city she had always called home.
The day she nearly died had made her realise more than ever that she had wasted 5 years of her life, that she could have died and that would have been it, she would have died and wasted the time that she could have been happy and loved for, instead, she had grieved only so many things and lost so many more, her eyes had finally opened and she knew the secret to life, to be happy and live it like it was her last because after what she had been through in her life it was like she had lived and died a thousand lifetimes but the only ones she survived were the ones that included him. The love of her life. Jay.
She had finally told Jay and Hank, and the team had heard through rumours about her miscarriage when she had left Chicago unknowingly that she was pregnant. Then finally make it to New Year's Eve with Jay cradling her hips and body with loving warm and masculine hands that hugged and made her feel safe. She had never thought in a million years that any of it would have happened, but she had got her life back, she had the man she loved like no one else on this earth back, and she was just finally truly happy. She heard the countdown began and she just looked dead straight into the eyes of her partner with her entire soul begging for her heart to be loved like this forever and they would never break apart, but she peacefully accepted to just live for this moment.
"I'm happy here, it makes me think why didn't I fight to stay in Chicago, this place is my home, this bar is like this unit's playground and you lot are like family," Erin spoke gently as the member of the team tried to accept her reservations about the past.
"Well, you here now…" Adam whispered in her ear.
"Hey, the countdown is about to begin," Kim spoke, as the member of the intelligence unit moved closer to the people they loved, including Erin and Jay who had stood closer and their hands linked in unison as the countdown on the television began to display the numbered countdown for the fireworks.
"This year has been the greatest and the worst at times, and let's hope that we continue this great streak into this new year. So cheers to the new year." Erin announced before stood closer than ever to Jay, like she hadn't before, she just wanted to be as close as possible to him, she didn't care at all of what other people in the bar thought, all she cared about was what Jay thought.
"COUNTDOWN TIME!" Kim yelled out in the bar.
"10.."
"9…"
"8…"
"7…"
"6…"
"5…"
"4…"
"3…"
"I love you," Erin whispered in her partner's ear.
"2…"
"I love you too," Jay whispered back into her ear, as they observed getting many looks from colleagues and friends, who thought that the pair had finally made up and the past was the past, but they didn't know that feeling they had for one another was like the day they meet, it was love at first sight, second sight, every sight. Every time he looked at her his eyes, his soul longed to be with her, to be hers, as her eyes longed for that loving from him, that he was the one and no one ever could tell her that he wasn't that he was her prince charming that brought her back to life, from weakness to strength.
"1…"
"Happy New Year!"
"It's 2021!" Kim yelled until she saw Jay and Erin snogging their lips off.
"That wasn't just me, that was Jay and Erin kissing?" Kim questioned Adam.
"And… Let them." Adam drunkenly spoke as he swayed a tad from side to side as he watched her run over as quick as she could to talk to the pair.
"You two are back together?!" Kim squealed with excitement.
"We have been sort of back together since the beginning of December," Jay commented as he continued to hug her arms around her hips as Erin stood in front.
"I know a song for you two, Adam come one, you know we were watching that show, it's perfect, come on," Kim commented with a hint of drunkenness in her voice.
I hear a million voices in my head
Telling me the things I should have said
I don't know why I let you go
Oh I learned the hard way
Tell me it's not too late
Erin and Jay stood with each other their heads touching, she faced the crowd of people in Molly's, as Jay still held his arms around her waist, and with her back leaning against the front of his body.
"They seem happier than we do, " Jay commented
Now my arms are open wide
They're hanging forever, there
Waiting forever, for you
I won't give up on you this time
Cause I ain't holding up, for nobody else
"Let them, anyway I think they are getting back together anyway, so now me and you, can't be partners much like Adam and Kim can't be partners long term if they are back together, it all to do with this police reform and no interpersonal relationships in the workplace, so we can only partner up if it is necessary or an emergency, the chief is cracking down on interoffice, inter-department, inter-district relationships, anyway enough about work. I get to go home at the end of the night with you, I don't care, I love you, come on let's dance," Erin mentioned as she leant her cheek against his cheek as they hugged.
It's gotta be you
When you walked away my
Heart tried to replace ya
With someone like you
But I could never find it
I don't want to fight it
It's gotta be you
"I love you, it seems early to say it all the time but we've kinda done this like three-times now, it feels natural, normal to say it, I'd tell the entire world, but I don't think it's necessary, as long as you know how I feel, I don't care who knows and who doesn't," Jay declared his love for her in the most heartwarming way he could with all the love in his heart for the woman he loved most in the world.
I wish I could turn back the time
The power is yours and not mine
Maybe with time, you'll see that
I can give you all the things you missed
Oh no no
"I love you too, we have been dancing around each other for years, so it's not earlier too so it, we have never been ones to go slowly have we, or to have anyone's else's approved, look at Hank, he was dead set against this, us, and look how he turned up at the situation, not the situation, relationship, he kinda likes me…" He laughed. "You know what I mean." He spoke.
Now my arms are open wide
And I ain't holding now, for nobody else
"Yes, yes I do, I understand you, and get it, we have been going a bit fast, but it doesn't want anyone else, I've been gone years, and no one, not a single person made me feel or even make me like them a bit like you, no one has, and I don't anyone ever will, because for me it got to be you, no one is as good as you, and I don't want to think about anyone else ever or anyone thinks that I think about anyone else but you."
It's gotta be you
When you walked away
My heart tried to replace ya
With someone like you
But I could never find it
I don't want to fight it
It's gotta be you
"You're the only woman for me, I love you and I don't ever want this to change, I'm here for now, for then and forever. I never want to live a day without again, those years you were gone, I was gone, I was lost without, I am only me because of you, you are quite literally my other half. It's got to be you. You're my life, my heart and most importantly your the reason my heart is still beating because you're my soul. I'm never giving up on you again, I love you, Erin, I don't want to live my life without you, I want you and me. Us."
You don't have to answer right now
Baby go and take your time
Cause I'll be here
It's gotta be you
It's gotta be you
"Erin, what are you saying?" Jay questioned her with a look of the unknown in his baby blue eyes, like the words that she would utter from those lips would change his life forever.
It's gotta be you
When you walked away my
Heart tried to replace ya
With someone like you
But I can never find it
I don't want to fight it
"That I want you, us, this between to be public, I don't care who knows but I want people to know that I'm yours and your mine." She revealed.
It's gotta be you
It's gotta be you
I don't want nobody else
Nobody else but you
You, oh Woah
It's gotta be you
"Well so do I, the whole world can know and gossip or know about us or talk about us, I'm here for the long haul, and I want you now, forever and always because I don't know what I would have done if you had died, I had only just got you back and then…" He spoke softly in her ears.
The team and they had many rounds of drinks and they spoke and laughed and enjoyed themselves like no time before, the team hadn't been whole since Dawson and Erin had left, it was like they were fractured but now it was like their family was whole again, it was that they were whole again, the team, the family and the department was whole again.