Inside, Jay felt like a man possessed, yet outwardly he had to act like there was nothing more remarkable about the day than a return to working regular shifts, starting out of the bullpen.
Lindsay had started the shift by thanking the whole team for their perseverance during the protection assignment, which no one had enjoyed. The next item on the agenda was Burgess's date to visit the White House, which was a couple of months away. Burgess didn't look impressed with the news. Lindsay then moved on to a briefing, before dismissing them to go about their work.
"How's Z?" Lindsay asked Gonzalez once the briefing was done.
"She's improving, slowly. She's in less pain while she's resting, but moving around still hurts her a lot. It's going to be some time until she can think about coming back to work."
"She needs to worry about her recovery, that's what matters," Lindsay said kindly. The popular team member's brush with death had affected them all, and her absence continued to do so. But they all knew Vega would fully recover. The phrase what doesn't kill you makes you stronger definitely applied to people with her kind of determination in their character.
"Thanks, boss. I'll tell her you said that," Gonzalez promised.
Halstead got up from his desk. "Need to go see a CI. He messaged me twice wanting a meet while we were on the Martinez thing," he lied. "Purrazzo will come with me."
His partner got up without question and took her coat off the back of her chair.
"Okay, let me know if you get anything worth using," Lindsay said.
Halstead nodded. "Will do." He felt bad about lying to her, but on this occasion it was worth it.
Shortly, he and Purrazzo were outside, approaching his car. She made a show of grimacing while she put on her leather gloves. "We really couldn't stay inside in the warm?"
"The car will be warm soon. Whining about the weather doesn't seem like a very Marine thing to do."
She ignored that one as they got into the car. "Who are we going to see?"
"We're not. I need your help with something. Or, I should say, your advice."
"My advice? What could you need my advice about?" she asked, looking at him in some surprise.
"Engagement rings," he said as he pulled the car out of the lot, with the air con on and set to blow hot.
"Engagement rings? Oh, shoot! You're going to propose to Sergeant Lindsay! I'm hyped!"
Halstead chuckled. "I'm hyped too. And I've picked out a ring. But I want to know what you think of it before I buy it."
"Oh. I wish you'd have said something sooner. Sylvie would have been much better for this than me. I'd have asked her to meet us."
"It's fine, I'm sure you have more of an idea on women's jewellery than I do. I just want you to look at it and tell me if you think Erin will like it, and if it will look good on her."
"Fair enough, I can do that," Purrazzo said. After a moment of silence, she changed the subject. "Kim didn't look very happy about going to the White House. She should be honoured that her bravery is being recognised at such a high level. The highest level."
"Kim doesn't want recognition. She's not that kind of person. And besides, that night was horrific for her. She had to go to therapy because of it. The last thing she needs to be doing is reliving it. But of course the department don't see that. They see some good publicity, so they want to make sure they get it."
"Well, when you put it like that I can understand where she's coming from. Either way, I'm proud of her. The girl is a legit badass."
"That she is," Halstead said with a nod.
It took nearly fifteen minutes through busy morning traffic for them to reach the mall where the jewellery store was, and another five to get to the store itself. The only positive was that there were no other customers inside when they entered.
"Good morning. How can I help?" asked a male sales assistant who looked to be in his early forties. He was wearing a smart black suit and had his black hair slicked back. Halstead noticed an expensive watch on his wrist, probably purchased with staff discount.
"Morning. Yes, I came in a few days ago and saw an engagement ring I liked. I've come to have another look at it and possibly buy it. My friend is here to give me a female perspective too."
"Ah, okay. I thought this was your fiancée," the assistant said with humour, and Halstead smiled.
"God no. He's not my type," Purrazzo said, drawing laughter from both of them.
"Do you know which ring it was?" the assistant asked.
Halstead had moved further into the store, and was looking in a case near to where the assistant was standing. "Yeah, it was in here somewhere. There it is." He pointed to the one he liked.
"A nice choice," the assistant said, reaching in to get it.
"An expensive one too," Purrazzo commented.
The assistant put the ring on the counter. Halstead picked it up and studied it. It was a silver one with little white diamonds encrusted around it. They gleamed in the store's bright lights. "What do you think?" he asked Purrazzo.
She took it and studied it more closely. "It seems like an easy thing to say, but it's beautiful. Beautiful without being over the top. I think Sergeant... I mean Erin would love it."
"You think so?"
"Yeah. My big concern was that you might have picked out something with a big stone on top of it. I don't see her wearing something like that. This though? I see her wearing this. I say buy it, if this is the one you want to get."
"Thanks. I think I will get it. How do I know what size her finger is?"
"You probably don't," Purrazzo said. She took off her left glove. "How do you think mine compare to hers?"
Halstead took her hand and looked at it. "Can't say I've studied her fingers too much. But yours are maybe a little bigger."
"Why don't you try the ring on, carefully," the assistant said. "If it's a bit tight to go on properly, it might be about right for your fiancée. We can make a minor adjustment, if needed, after the proposal."
Halstead nodded. "That sounds like a good plan. Let's see how it fits." He started slowly sliding the ring onto Purrazzo's finger.
She giggled. "Let's hope no one is taking photos from somewhere."
He smiled. "Yes, let's hope."
The ring went just past her knuckle before it met resistance. Halstead didn't push any harder, not wanting to get it stuck.
"Yeah, should be about right if your fiancée's finger is a little slimmer," the assistant said.
Halstead removed the ring from Purrazzo's finger and handed it to the assistant. His decision was made. "I'll take it."
"Great. I'll go put it in a box for you. One moment."
"Thanks for that," Halstead said to Purrazzo as she put her glove back on. "Now I've got the even more nerve-wracking part to do – the actual proposal."
"When are you going to do it? Do you have a plan?"
"Tonight. And I'm going to get Clem to help me."
"Good job Sylvie didn't come. She'd be jumping up and down and making noises about now," Purrazzo said with humour and fondness. "But seriously, that's awesome. Come here." She offered a hug, which Halstead accepted. He felt pretty confident that it was the first one they had shared. It didn't seem like her thing, even while she was doing it.
"I just hope she says yes," he said while embracing her.
"Of course she'll say yes. She'd have to be stupid not to, and Sergeant Lindsay isn't stupid."
"Thank you. I hope you're right."
The assistant returned with the ring, now in a small black box. Halstead used his credit card to pay, and was soon leaving the store with the box zipped safely inside his coat pocket. The first job of the day's three was now done. Next up was briefing Clementine on the plan when he got home. He hoped he might get lucky and Lindsay would need to do a bit of overtime, allowing him to get home earlier than her and have the talk before she showed up.
"Clem might get excited. You'll have to make sure she keeps a good poker face," Purrazzo said.
"I'll do my best. Something tells me she's going to make a good assistant."
A/N: Job number one is done. Jay has a ring that he thinks Erin will like. Do you agree?
Will Clementine make a good assistant for the proposal?
We'll find out next time, in the 100th chapter. When I first started out with this story, unsure if anyone in this fandom would enjoy my style of writing, I couldn't have imagined it would go this far, or receive anything like the level of support it has. As it nears its end, I want to thank you all so much. It means the world to me.