Accidentally in Love
Chapter 1
Kim asks Jay to be her plus one to Platt & Mouch's wedding. Adam was undercover and Erin was more distant than ever. And no one likes to go to weddings alone. You never know who's weird uncle or cousin is going to take a liking to you. Kim Burgess was not willing to take that chance.
April
"Want to get drinks?" Kim asked quietly, after a long drawn out case. Al, Antonio, and Hank were still doing paperwork and he was just hanging around not wanting to go home, but not wanting to go anywhere that reminded him of Erin. Kevin had left to take care of Jordan and Vanessa. Some nights Kim would go with him to keep him company or to watch them to give him a break, but tonight she was alone.
"Not Molly's." She promised with an easy smile, and he saw in her eyes the same pain that he felt and nodded. Grabbing his coat quickly, he followed Kim out of the bullpen to the parking lot. "I know a great place called Gaffer's just two miles down by the river." Kim declared in the parking lot as she gave him the details.
She waited until he was at least two beers in to broach the subject. She figured he might be more amicable to the idea by then. She just needed the right moment.
"So aren't you a little curious about going to Platt's wedding?" Kim teased as they drank their beer at a bar not named Molly's after work. The two had become closer as their teammates who they considered their "persons" were busy or occupied, and that was putting it politely. Kim was trying to muster up the courage to convince Halstead to go with her to Platt's wedding, she was sure she would need the support.
Not actual support in being the Maid of Honor, she had been Nicole's and it had been fun and fine, but Trudy was, how do you say, a bit more forceful in her opinions and desires? Even pushing a journal filled with pictures and ideas she wanted into Burgess's hands the other day, surprising the young officer, filling her with more stress.
It had stung at first looking at the book, bringing up memories of her engagement to Adam and the plans she had made. She being the key word, not us or them. It should have been her and Adam doing it together which just proved that they hadn't been ready to marry. But then she became overwhelmed by all the ideas that Trudy had, and how most of them were seriously out of date and would clash horribly and Kim wasn't sure that she wasn't being pranked.
"Plus free drinks." he smiled easily, it was hard to resist Burgess's friendly demeanor. And truth be told, Jay thought Kim needed a friend too. Without Adam and Erin, it left Kim, Kevin and Jay as the only younger people in the unit. He didn't figure Al, Antonio, and Hank to have the same interests and free time as he and Kim and Kev.
"I'm the maid of honor." Kim replied calmly before realizing what that meant. "Shit!" she exclaimed, panicked. "Oh god, does that mean I have to throw Platt a bachelorette party?" She blushed a few more shades of red that the alcohol had already put on her cheeks.
Her beer sloshed in her glass as she waved her hands around with exaggeration. Jay grabbed the glass before more liquid could fall out. Jay couldn't help laughing. "I know some strip clubs." he offered not helpfully while still laughing. She grabbed her beer back and finished drinking it.
"Shut up." she muttered as she struggled to regain her composure yet rid herself of those thoughts, but she was still laughing too. She grabbed his pint of beer and started chugging it quickly, nervously.
"Easy there Burgess." It seemed like a long time since he had laughed, Jay thought. "Yes, I'll go with you." he agreed easily, much to Kim's surprise. "I won't make you suffer alone." He figured it would be entertaining at the least.
"Consider it a trial run for when I need a date for a wedding over the summer." He joked, he liked that he could let his funny, easy going side out whenever he was with her and he noted that she was less guarded when it was just the two of them.
She nodded with a roll of her eyes and a smile and they shook on it to make it official. Now he wouldn't have to find some random chick to go with or let his brother set him up again for their cousin's wedding in July. He couldn't imagine Kim not being a good date so he considered that a done deal. He just liked giving her a hard time.
It was a mere few days later that Kim had arranged, and begged some of the girls from Station 51 to fill out Platt's bachelorette party, much to Jay's joking there would be no strip club, but maybe a stripper or two would make an appearance over at Molly's. Gabby had assigned herself that task right away, no hesitation and with a giant grin on her face.
Jay for his part, had been recruited into the boys night for Mouch having been put on the spot by Hermann and not having a built in excuse for not going. So he found himself going to get cigars and whiskey with the guys from 51 which really wasn't the worst way to spend a Friday night. In fact he had been enjoying himself so much he hadn't checked in with Kim at all, hadn't heard any details until they all returned to close up Molly's
When Mouch arrived at Molly's to fetch Trudy, Stella and Hermann were shutting the bar down, and Matt was carrying Kim over his shoulder out to his truck, she was laughing hysterically, before Jay intervened and offered to take her home himself. Matt accepted his offer but placed her gently in the front of Jay's truck and buckled her in with her purse, and laid her coat over her after buckling her in. Matt's truck was already filled with three other intoxicated and hysterical ladies that Jay assumed would be crashing at Matt and Gabby's house.
"Hey, thanks man for looking out for her." Jay said simply as he held out his hand for a handshake. Kim being the only non 51er at the party.
"Not a problem, seemed like they all had a good time. Even Platt." Matt responded truthfully. He had never seen Mouch so happy as he had been since he and Trudy had started dating.
"Wake up, Sleeping Beauty." Jay Halstead sang teasingly, carrying a cup of coffee in one hand and a bottle of Aspirin and water in the other as he entered into his guest room.
"I was trying to keep up with Gabby and Stella." Kim moaned from under the covers of the bed in Jay's guest room as he pulled open the curtains to let some light in. Sleeping the weekend away would, one be a waste of their little free time, and two screw up their sleep cycles.
"They work there, they probably know how not to get drunk." Jay reminded her. "You know you're supposed to switch to water shots after a while and just look like you're drinking." He advised, smiling at the sight of a hungover Burgess.
"Sure, now you tell me." She murmured in complaint, closing her eyes again.
"Well good news, I have a great cure for a massive hangover. Come on, let's get something to eat." Jay ripped off the covers while Kim cursed at him and he pulled on one of her arms until she was free. Until he noticed she was still wearing that damn dress from last night. It was a dark green, off the shoulder and short. Short enough to show off a lot of leg.
And damn it if she didn't have great legs. Which he definitely saw a lot of last night, when he managed to wrangle her out of his truck and into his apartment without people thinking he had kidnapped her.
Actually, a dress was too polite a word for what she was wearing. A towel would provide better coverage as he accidentally got an eyeful of Kim's cleavage, and Jay felt himself blushing. He had been too busy chasing after Erin for so long, and she was the only female he saw most days that he wasn't used to seeing another female, let alone one up close and personal. And he almost never saw Erin in a dress, even undercover.
"Wait here." He told her, gently sitting her on the couch when he realized she didn't have any other clothing and he was not taking her out in that dress where people might get the wrong impression. He pulled out a long sleeve CPD shirt and a pair of BlackHawks sweatpants that he rolled up so they wouldn't fall down. Kim had a pair of flats in her purse and while they didn't look great with the casual apparel, it was better than going barefoot or wearing her heels.
"Ugh, why do my legs hurt so bad if I was drinking so much?" Kim complained after she managed to tie Jay's pants tight enough to stay up and be appropriate.
"Heard it had something to do with the fireman's pole?" Jay suggested knowingly, laughing at her lack of memory.
"Oh my god." Kim mumbled mortified, before sighing. "At least I can check that off the bucket list."
"Maybe wait to cross it off the list until you can remember it?" Jay questioned before Kim lunged at him, laughing while trying to hit him. "Just for that remark, you're buying breakfast." She muttered, grabbing the clothes he offered and shot him a scathing look as she closed the door to the bathroom loudly behind her. "I think I was anyway…" he called to her, he couldn't help himself; laughing, and her cursing him under her breath.
"Just know that I have a big appetite." Kim bragged, determinedly from behind the door. "Ask Kevin, I once ate him underneath the table." She continued with the beginning of a story she would have to finish later.
Kim managed to get herself dressed much to Jay's relief, and after a good, hearty breakfast at the diner and a few cups of coffee and a long conversation, Kim was in much better shape than she had been a few hours ago. She had needed the caffeine to return her abilities to more normal human-like levels.
"Thanks, Jay. I appreciate it. I hope I didn't embarrass myself too much." Her cheeks turned pink even before the heat in his truck got going as he headed to dropping her off at her apartment.
"You have nothing to apologize for, you had a fun girls night out. You deserved to go out and have fun." He admitted, and he had to say he enjoyed their breakfast together and having company other than Will at his place. Whenever Erin came over, she was always gone before breakfast.
"I'll get you your clothes back to you discretely, before the entire department thinks we're engaged." Kim promised, rolling her eyes, knowing the gossipy nature of the Chicago Police Department, having lived through one engagement already.