A/N
Well here it is. The last chapter of Jay, a journey we all started together 991-ish days ago. If you are still here, you may now list patience as a virtue. Well done! (and thank you!)
XXXXXXX
Ethan leaned over Jay, hand on his forehead trying to get Jay to look at him and respond to his questions, but he was too out of it, a mixture of pain, fever and concussion.
Will and Erin were kindred spirits in their quest to stay in Jay's ER room, a brief meeting of eyes, conveying silent support as they both internally freaked out and hid in plain sight.
After riding in the ambulance with Jay, Erin now stood in the corner quiet as a mouse in hope they wouldn't notice her and kick her out. Easier said than done, she was a hair away from sobbing but so far so good. She let the tears roll down her cheeks unchecked, afraid any movement would draw attention to her.
She watched everything that was happening but her eyes were drawn to Jay's wrist over and over where the blood was soaking through the bandages. She knew they were probably ignoring it because there were more pressing matters but the amount of blood was scaring her to death.
As much as she wanted to stay quiet so she wouldn't have to leave, she was unable to let it go. About to say something, she was saved by Maggie when the nurse turned her attention to the source of her worry, quickly unwrapping his bloody wrist and rewrapping it in another pressure bandage. But in the brief moment the gashes on her boyfriend's wrist saw the light of day, blood flowed freely from the gruesome cuts causing her to gasp in distress.
Either it wasn't as loud as it felt or they all just chose to ignore it, she didn't know, but was grateful to keep her little spot in the corner where she could quietly freak out by herself.
Will, emotions aswirl, watched what was happening on that gurney from a few feet away. He wanted to jump in and help, make it better, but he couldn't. All he could do was keep his fists imprisoned in his pits to keep himself from reaching out to help, and watch Ethan, Maggie and April take care of his baby brother.
The information they were tossing back and forth to each other penetrated his skull, but didn't seem to register until moments later, 'pupils reactive but uneven' …'temp 104' … 'breath sounds … 'X-ray'… 'pneumonia' … all this registered and worried him but not as much as Jay's erratic heart beat.
He looked at his brother's naked chest, bloody and bruised, sporadically heaving as he struggled for oxygen. Tucked in between the blood and bruises were dark red welts, some sporting blisters. By the number of electrical burns on his body, Jay was shocked multiple times, 10 times at least by his third anxious count. No wonder his heart beat erratic.
Will saw the blur of hands and instruments as his friends took care of Jay; scissors cutting off his jeans, sheet draped over his groin, blood pressure cuffs, oxygen masks…he saw all that, but through the haze of medical intervention he really saw his brother and what was done to him and tears flooded his eyes. He absentmindedly wiped them away before they could spill as he took in the big picture that was his injured baby brother.
On top of the injuries, pneumonia was likely. A fever raged, coating him with a glaze of sweat and the chills that occasionally rippled through Jay would hold his pain at an intolerable level.
A groan barely muffled by the oxygen mask broke him out of his thoughts and he was drawn to Ethan walking his fingers over the joint of Jay's bruised shoulder. When he hit a particularly sore spot, Jay jerked causing himself more pain. He drove his head into the pillow and belted out a hoarse scream into the mask.
"Ahhhhh…"
"Sorry Jay…sorry bud…pain meds are coming…"
That exclamation of pain brought Jay's facial injuries into focus like a neon sign. Smeared blood on his chin from a split lip barely visible through the oxygen mask, blood smeared on his eyelid, temple and cheek from a cut brow, and the blood from a cut above his ear has colored his ear, jaw and neck red.
His bruised left eye, cheek, and jaw are evidence of the number of hits to his face. Ethan had already established Jay had a concussion and if those blows to his face didn't cause it, the bruise on his forehead, left without a doubt by a kick to his head, definitely sealed the deal.
Another tortured groan rang out and Jay's body shuddered as he weakly tried to get away from Ethan as he palpated his chest, ribs and belly.
The exam elicited a breathy 'No' from Jay when Ethan ran his gloved hands over a particularly dark spot on Jay's ribs causing him to bend his leg and push his heel into the mattress.
"Sorry man…sorry…two ribs definitely broken…no rigidity in his belly…lets roll him…"
Putting a hand on Jay's head and leaning closer, Erhan looked into eyes dulled by pain and fever, "Gotta roll ya Jay…"
No matter how gently you roll someone with Jay's injuries, if they are awake, it would be excruciating…Jay's distorted scream into the mask confirmed that.
Erin, who forgot she was trying to stand still and not be noticed, covered her mouth to unsuccessfully hold in a sob at Jay's scream.
Disregarding the protocols that as Jay's brother, he was banished from his side, Will ran to him, brushing his fingers through his hair.
"It's okay bud…just breath…almost over…just hold on…"
"W…wi…llll…"
The raspy groan of his name released his dammed tears without abandon. He caught Ethan's eyes, begging his colleague to make his brother better.
"I got him Will…I promise…"
Acknowledging Ethan's promise with a swallow and jerky nod, he focused on Jay again, combing through his hair, he moved his face closer to him.
He gently wiped Jay's face with a gauze pad, salty tears watering down the blood on his cheek as it flowed along the oxygen mask and under his chin.
Another anguished scream escaped, not muted in the least by the mask as Jay was rolled onto his back again, changing the direction of his tears.
His brother's quest for air caused Will's heart to seize. He kissed his forehead, desperate to comfort him, rested his hand on Jay's head and lied to him, telling him it would be over soon.
Panting breaths turned into sobs as he tried to withstand the pain the exam was heightening. Will petted his brother's hair again, scanned his co-workers and whispered more lies in his brother's ear, hoping the 'I love you' at the end of them would undo the sin of his dishonesty.
"W…ill… …Will…"
An uptick in Jay's already turbulent heart rhythm alerted his co-workers and the universe that the things that were already going down hill, had hit the bottom.
"No, no no no…Ethan!"
The sobbing stopped with a tapered groan as Jay went silent and passed out, head tilting to the side into Will's hand just a moment before he flat lined.
"ETHAN!"
Will's desperate scream at Ethan drowned out Erin's anguished 'Jay!' as she backed further into the corner and sobbed.
The whole of Intelligence's gasps and exclamations from were they stood by the door went unnoticed, just like their arrival moments ago.
Will ignored the rule that he couldn't treat his brother and started compressions while the defibrillator was charged and epi's were demanded.
There was a fleeting moment of panic at what he was doing to his brother and why. He cringed as he realized that he was hurting his brother to save him but that could be dealt with later when Jay's chest hurt because he was alive!
His tears stopped as the brother in him moved to the background and the doctor stepped in to save the patient. They were a well oiled machine, compressions, epi, shock…again!
Watching Jay's body arch off the bed and flop back down unmoving, slammed him back into brother mode as they repeated the process two more times and were finally rewarded with the erratic heartbeat Jay came in with.
He was unsure of what happened but suddenly Jay was taken away from him…he missed something…something important… "ETHAN!"
"Bringing him upstairs…he needs pacing wires…then we'll take it from there…"
Will power walked with the gurney, heartbeat, breathing and footsteps out of rhythm as they rushed Jay to surgery.
He was vaguely aware they cut a path through an anxious Intelligence Unit on their way out the door, that Erin was left sobbing in the corner, but he was in the elevator before the looks on his brother's team truly registered and he realized they had seen everything.
They wheeled Jay out of the elevator and through the doors of the OR, but before he could follow, he was stopped by a gentle hand on his chest.
"We got him Will…Will…I got him…"
Will was at a loss, stunned by the turn of events in the ER and being stopped from going with his brother now. He found himself staring into the face of Ethan Choi, a comforting hand on his shoulder, "It's a quick procedure…go talk to his team…I'll be down soon."
He heard what Ethan said, processed it as his friend walked through the doors, but didn't move except to slide down the wall and sit, pulling his legs up to his chest. The ER was too far away, he couldn't do what Ethan suggested…he couldn't be that far away from Jay, he just couldn't.
XXXXXXX
Ethan started with 'He's okay,' but given the look on his face he was still extremely worried.
"His…" He cleared his throat, "…heart stopped in the ER. The number of shocks he suffered wreaked havoc on his heart, it was unable to keep a steady rhythm."
This wasn't news to any of them. They all saw what happened to Jay in that ER room, heard his screams of pain, saw the tears and saw when his heart stop beating. They had collectively held their breath when Jay's body violently flopped on that bed with every shock, silently begging for him to come back. Yes, this wasn't news to them and the reminder of what they saw wasn't welcomed but they could only pray words of hope would follow Ethan's painful reminder.
"We put pacing wires in his heart to regulate the sinus rhythm. If pacing does the trick they should be able to come out in a couple of days.
"We've started him on antibiotics. His temp is currently hovering around 104 due to the pneumonia and with that on top of the heart issue, he isn't out of the woods yet. He'll be in ICU for a couple of days and we'll take it from there.
"The concussion, we'll monitor, but for now it isn't a concern. We'll know more when he wakes up. That said, a couple cracked ribs and a whole lot of bruised ones. The taser burns will heal with no scarring and there's no significant damage with the shoulder separation. Same with his wrist - the cuts where deep, needed stitches but no other repair."
"That seems like some heavy duty stuff for, 'he's okay.'"
Jay was Ethan's friend and he responded to that statement as such, with brutal hope and gratitude, "He's not dead…".
Adam blanched at his foolish declaration that elicited Ethan's reaction, but Al patted his back in solidarity…they were all thinking the same thing, Adam just voiced it.
Ethan cleared his throat and pulled it together, knowing that Adam didn't mean anything by the statement. They were all equally freaked out.
"I know. It's a lot…24 hours or so we'll now more. He's going to be miserable, but I have no doubt he'll be okay."
Knowing how freaked out they all were, Voight had a thought, "Where's Will? How's he doing?
"He's with Jay…give him some time…I'll check on them in a bit and text you when it's okay to go up.
"Okay, thanks Doc."
Ethan gave them solemn nod and walked back towards the ER. They all took their seats again and even though they knew Will needed time with his brother, they selfishly hoped he cut the alone time to a minimum. They were all itching to see Jay and none of them could count patience as a virtue they possessed, especially with what happened to Jay.
XXXXXXX
Will stood at the door of Jay's ICU room, listening to the steady rhythm of his heartbeat while watching his brother sleep in the dim light. Laying at 45 degree angle, he had an all encompassing view of Jay and another batch of tears pricked his eyes, his little brother looked terrible.
His bruised face was absent of blood, but covered in a sheen of sweat from fever. The bruise on his forehead and his black eye stood out against the stark white bandages covering the cuts over his brow and above his ear. He knew hidden beneath the oxygen mask, a dark bruised graced the left side of his mouth, his split bottom lip the epicenter. The butterfly bandages gluing the cut on his cheek together looked like obscene railroad tracks against the dark bruising on his cheek.
But Jay was alive and that was all that mattered. That thought drew his eyes to the bandage on his brother's neck and the wires and tubing sticking out of it. The wires a tether from his heart to the gray apparatus of the pulse generator. The need for that ugly device gave him chills.
He moved closer to the bed and studied the other monitors that told him his brother was alive. The oxygen saturation worried him, but was holding steady. Watching Jay struggle for every breath, exhales coming out in a huff, had him looking away for a moment…it was too much, too hard to see his strong brother in this weakened, vulnerable state.
It was when he was looking at the wall, trying to pull himself together, that he felt the slightest of tugs on the sleeve of his lab coat. He practically gave himself whiplash when he turned back to Jay.
"Hey bro…"
Jay's tormented eyes were half mast and surrounded by pain lines.
"You're gunna be okay…"
Though covered by the mask, he saw Jay's tongue peek out between his lips.
"Hold on…"
Will grabbed the cup of tepid water, shifted the oxygen mask and put the bendy straw between his brother's chapped and cut up lips, "Small sip, just to wet your mouth…"
Jay followed directions, probably too tired to be his usual defiant self and suck down the whole cup of water.
"Ok, that's enough for now…gotta get this back on."
Will set the cup aside, placed the mask back over Jay's nose and mouth and leaned over his brother.
As soon as he had sucked in enough oxygen to speak, a word that was barely barely a word slid from Jay's bruised lips, "W…'l…"
He's not even sure if he heard Jay say his name or if he just read his brother's lips through the oxygen mask, "Ya bud right here."
Jay huffed in more oxygen and his face scrunched up in frustration when his hand twitched but moved no further.
"What'd ya need…you in pain?"
Pretty much a dumb question because it was obvious Jay was in pain. He pushed the button to call the nurse.
Jay moved his hand again and this time was able to lift it enough to clumsily land on his ribs, but he lacked the strength to keep it there. He grabbed the gown that was only draped over the upper half of his body for traction but his hand slid back to the bed taking the gown with him and leaving the entire left side of his chest and abdomen visible.
He could tell Jay was trying to say something but wasn't quite successful yet.
"Take your time bud…"
He scrunched his eyes shut as he let out a pained sigh, followed by a strained whisper, "Chst…"
Another scrunching of his face followed by a groan and he was able to finish his thought, "…'rts…"
"I know. I know…meds are coming…"
He looked to the door in hope he would see the nurse on the way with them.
"…wwhhhy…?"
"You have pneumonia…"
He arched his back a bit and again brought his hand slowly to his chest and groaned into the mask.
"Mmm…Will…"
Tears leaked from his eyes and his back arched minutely off the bed again. The gown shifted again and Will could see what was causing Jay so much pain. The entire area where he had done compressions to keep his brother alive was bruised, evolving from deep red to various shades of black and blue.
He cringed remembering the crunch as he pushed down on Jay's chest. He pulled the gown up covering his baby brother's chest and leaned in, "You're gunna be pretty sore right there bud. Your heart stopped in the ER, we had to do compressions to get it going again."
Not ready to admit he did that to Jay, he used 'we' instead of 'I.' Ten minutes ago, he would have just focused on Jay being alive and grateful that the extreme measures were able to bring his brother back. Tears stung his eyes, now he just felt guilty for hurting him.
Surprise landed on Jay's face. Well, what a twitch of an eyebrow and sleepy eyes opening a fraction wider, could be read as surprise, but the tears continued to leak from his eyes as his body trembled at the thought of his heart stopping, or from the tremendous pain he was in, probably both.
"Will…" The word escaped his lips followed by a hoarse sob as he shifted on the bed trying to escape the overwhelming pain.
A weak hand grabbed his sleeve in desperation, "W…lll…"
"Goddammit!…"
He rushed out of the room to get the nurse and met her just outside the door.
She saw the look on Will's face and the excruciating pain radiating from her patient and moved quickly, attaching the syringe to the port and pushing the pain relief into the IV.
Laying his hand on Jay's head, Will gently rested his forehead against Jay's and shushed his pain, but it was the drugs hitting his system that finally quieted the sobs and stopped the tears, the last of them forced out by his closing eyes to roll down his temples and disappearing into his hair.
When the last tear rolled down Jay's face and he slipped into oblivion, Will picked up the baton and let his own tears roll.
He ran his fingers through Jay's hair and whispered to his unconscious brother for God knows how long. He was broken out of his bubble by a light knock on the door and a quiet, 'Will…'
Not surprised to see who stood in the doorway, he greeted his brother's team with a weak smile.
He let out a little chuckle as they all sighed at the same time, "He woke up for a minute…"
That was Erin's cue to move into the room and stand on the opposite side of the bed. She stared down at her partner…boyfriend…and put her hand on his arm, just needing to feel the warmth of him…that he was alive.
Tears sprung to her eyes again and she sank down onto the chair in relief but didn't let go of his arm, hanging her head to hide her tears of relief. The rest of the team joined her, scattering throughout the room. Ready to practice patience once again as they settled into their silent vigil and waited for Jay to wake up for them.
XXXXXXX
8 hours Later
Jay woke up with an internal groan, feeling horrible and not knowing why. He didn't think he could do anything about the pain and chills wracking his body, but the hissing air being pushed up his nose could be remedied.
He clumsily walked his fingers to the tubing laying against his cheek and after fumbling twice, was able to hook a trembling finger in it. He pulled it off one ear and started working on the other before he was stopped with a gentle hand covering his.
"Hey kid…leave that be…it's oxygen, you need it."
Acquiescing to the quiet demand, he let his hand drop, too weak to fight it, and laid still while Al, mindful of his bruised face, set the wind to gusting up his nose again.
Breathing through the pain that was growing with each waking moment, he squeezed his eyes shut and pushed his head into the pillow, swallowing any noise that would give away the depth of his pain. But apparently it was obvious to those in the room even without sound.
He heard a mad scramble to fetch the nurse and call Will, while others told him in surround sound from the sides and foot of his bed, that it would be okay and help was coming.
Looking at Al and Erin at his sides and Hank at the foot of his bed with a comforting hand on his shin, he wanted their presence to make him feel better or at the very least distract him from the pain but it wasn't working, if anything their small movements and extra noise awoke his concussion causing him to puke without warning.
The pain of the retching turned up the volume on every injury he suffered and before pain meds could even arrive in his room, his brain took care of business and he passed out.
Jay's head dropping down and to the side when he passed out stabbed all of them in the heart. Even though the heart monitor continued its steady rhythm, they expected it to stop, because right then, it looked like Jay had just died.
From the time Al put the cannula back in place, to the time Jay puked was maybe a minute. Mouse arrived almost immediately with Will, a nurse following while Adam, Kevin and Antonio waited anxiously outside the door.
"Hey can you guys step out a second."
Seeing Jay stir, they all immediately complied, not wanting to be in the way.
Banished from oblivion to the land of the living and overwhelmed by the pain, Jay slowly lifted his head, sucked in a breath through his teeth and released it in a weak sob, pleading eyes finding his brother, begging for relief.
"Hold on Jay…just a sec…you'll feel better in a minute…"
He didn't acknowledge Will's promise, just scrunched his eyes shut and tried not to move, to sob. In doing so, he increased his pain by holding his weak body so stiffly. The tears rolled from his eyes as he waited for his brother's promise to be fulfilled.
A minute later Jay was out, really out and wouldn't be waking up for hours. As much as the members of Intelligence wanted to move back into the room, they gave Will and the nurse room to take care of Jay.
They all tried not to react when the nurse peeled the soiled gown off Jay and exited to get a new one while Will wiped the small amount of puke that missed the gown from Jay's chest.
Jay's injuries weren't a mystery to them. They had seen the havoc wreaked on his body when they got him out of there, but it was alarming to see his bruised ribs and the huge bruise enveloping his shoulder. It was almost as dark as the black strap securing his injured arm against his side and across his belly.
But what kept their anxiety at an eleven was the bruise in the middle of his chest with wires crisscrossing over it. The leads to the heart monitor above and to the left of it had their eyes glued to Jay's chest, a reminder of the life saving compressions Will had to perform on his brother.
Adam can't help himself and asks from the doorway, "What's that? The thing in his neck."
Will looked at the bandage on his little brother's neck and the tubing running from it and taped along his shoulder blade. From there the red wires were on their own and continued on to the gray device at the side of the bed.
"Those are the pacing wires…"
Adam paled…he forgot about that. He gave them all a shaky nod and walked backed to the waiting room…pacing wires…Jay's heart needed help beating.
XXXXXXX
5 Hours Later
He touched his neck were the pacing wires disappear into his body and groaned.
"Hey…don't touch that…don't think you're supposed to touch that bro."
Will entered just in time to hear Kevin's statement and saw the question on his brother's face. "Pacing wires. We'll remove them in a day or two…"
"What?"
Kevin held the straw to give Jay some water, "Wet your whistle bro. You sound like a frog."
Jay's lip twitched, the seed of a smile, but that's as far as he got before Will explained 'pacing wires.'
"The bastards shocked you quite a few times, bud. It wreaked havoc on your body's electrical system so the wires will help your heart get back to a normal rhythm. Do you remember what happened?"
Jay closed his eyes trying to draw any memory of who the 'bastards' were and why they put him in the hospital to the foreground, but nothing budged from the recesses of his mind. He shook his head. He's got nothing.
"No…"
It's barely a whisper but the pain in that one word was a siren.
Both men saw the pain on Jay's face but before Will sent him back to la la land, Kevin wanted to relieve any fear that might reside with in Jay.
"We got'm though man…they can't hurt you anymore."
Jay gave a slight nod and a weak thumbs up to his teammate and then searched unsuccessfully for the button to deliver more morphine. All he knew was; he's in pain, doesn't really care what caused it at this point and just wants it to go away.
Will, grateful they couldn't hurt his brother anymore, untangled the remote for the PCA from the sheets, hit the button administering a dose of morphine, then put it in Jay's hand.
Moaning through tight lips, he scrunched his eyes closed, "Shit…"
"Hold on bud…relief's coming."
He ran his hand through Jay's hair until his body started to relax.
"Go to sleep Jay. You'll feel better when you wake up."
XXXXXXX
2 Days Later
This morning was the first time he woke up and actually stayed awake and with it for any period of time. He was in a regular room, his fever was down, he was off oxygen and the morphine pump was doing a good job of taking care of the pain.
He croaked out a 'Hey' to his team and turned his head looking for water.
"Here."
Erin held the cup for him while he took a few sips, caught his breath, then took a few more.
"Thanks Er."
She smiled and sat down but the room remained quiet, his return to wakefulness had obviously interrupted something. They were all looking at him with weird expressions on their faces.
He scanned the team and asked in a voice hoarse from disuse, "What?"
"You got some mad fighting skills Jay."
He tilted his head and looked at Ruz through one eye, like that would help him understand the question.
"What?"
"They had you on a live feed. We saw you take down those two guys with, basically, one arm tied behind your back."
"Technically chained to a wall."
"Right or chained to a wall, thank you Kev. Where'd you learn all that?"
Mouse sighed and rolled his eyes. Jay didn't answer and that was answer enough, the Rangers. Touchy subject. They let it go.
He didn't remember a fight, had no memory of anything that happened after Benny took his favorite Blackhawks hoodie; and before that his memories are few and far between from when he left the bar. His time with Benny and his goons was pretty much a blank slate…
…except for his hoodie and it pissed him off, "I have…no idea what you're talking about. Did you find my hoodie?"
"Whoa whoa whoa. You don't remember that fight? Shit, I'm even more impressed."
He tried again, not caring about any fight. Given the state of his body, he obviously lost.
"My hoodie?"
"Mouse, you record it?"
"Yup."
Kevin chuckled at how stuck Jay was on his precious hoodie, "Nope, sorry bro…didn't find it."
He huffed in disgust, "Dammit…"
Adam was oblivious to the hoodie drama that was going on in front of him. He was still stuck on Jay being a MMA BAMF. "Okay then, movie night at Jay's when he gets out. We'll watch Jay, then a Jean-Claude Van Damm…or Jay again and then we'll top it off with with 'Karate Choppers."
He's so damn tired and not sure if the cause was the state of his body or Adam, "Karate Choppers? What…the hell is that?"
"Oh my God Jay! Where have you been! Live a little. Karate Choppers is a SpongeBob Squarepants episode, season 1- episode 14, where SpongeBob and Sandy have an epic Ka-ra-tay battle all over Bikini Bottom. It's a classic."
He turned sleepy eyes to his mentor, "Al, can you send him back where you got him?"
"No can do…already checked…he's ours to keep or kill."
"Wait! What!? Al…you love me!"
Jay closed his eyes, yup, it was Adam making him tired, "Oh dear God help me. I think my fever is coming back…"
They thought he was joking. Hell, he might have even thought he was joking, but two hours later, after everyone but Erin had gone home, he was back on oxygen with a 103 degree fever, absolutely miserable and a new antibiotic dripping into his veins to combat a secondary infection.
His eyes were at half mast, but what she could see was glassy with fever.
"Er…"
"Hey, hey, it's okay…shhh."
He gave a barely perceptible nod as she gently wiped his bruised face, her face full of worry. He raised his hand and cupped her cheek. She tipped her head into it, covering his hand with her own before bringing it back down to the bed and holding it between both her hands.
"Go to sleep babe…"
He blinked his eyes once then again before being a good house husband and did what Erin wanted.
XXXXXXX
The Next Day
Voight walked in on Erin holding Jay's hand. She discretely let it go and leaned back.
"How's he doing?"
"Fever's down a bit, but other than that no change…he keeps opening his eyes but then just goes back to sleep."
"Hmph…"
As if to confirm Erin's statement, Jay's eyes fluttered open for a moment, before he sighed and drifted off to sleep again. Voight leaned against the wall, arms crossed, taking in his detective. This setback just brought to the forefront again, that although they got to him in time, it was close, too close.
XXXXXXX
Later
Erin and Voight had been sitting there a few hours, TV going in the background. Jay woke up briefly, long enough to mumble a comment about the Bears, declare he was feeling better, then fall back into an exhausted sleep.
A few hours later they had finished dinner, Jay's sitting untouched on the rolling table, and were watching TV again. Jay's eyes occasionally fluttered open but for the most part he remained asleep. Voight split his attention between the TV, Erin, and the kid.
He smirked and shook his head. Erin wanted to hold her boyfriend's hand but was afraid to do so. It's been entertaining to watch but he's in a good mood and finally decided to put Erin out of her misery.
"Christ Erin, I saw the picture…hold the kid's hand, so he know's you're here."
Her head whipped around to stare at her surrogate father, surprised by his lack of negative reaction or opinion.
He chuckled and gave Jay's shin a squeeze, "I'll be back tomorrow."
XXXXXXX
When Voight walked in the next afternoon, Erin quickly let go of her sleeping boyfriend's hand before remembering Voight had given them the green light.
Hand caught in the cookie jar, he couldn't help chuckling at her reaction, "I've been a detective a long time Erin. I'm not blind, I know exactly when you two got together."
He laughed at her expression and the pink flush that engulfed her face and wished he could get a picture of it.
Pointing his finger at the sleeping figure in the bed, then her, he smirked, "Besides, you two's, 'Lindsey and Halstead aren't dating each other, don't love each other' undercover gig is for shit. I expect better of the detectives in my unit."
He pushed off the wall, "And you can stop pretending you're asleep Halstead, not fair you letting Erin be embarrassed all by herself." He waited another moment as Jay's face pinked up, then laughed and walked out of the room.
XXXXXXX
Okey dokey…that's it. I hope you enjoyed the end and if you liked the rest of the story it did it justice. UGH! Ending stories is soooooooo hard!
A special thank you to ChinVilla once again for all of her help and support!