A/N: I wrote the following in one sitting, and there was so much inspiration, I had to break it up into smaller pieces so you could absorb and enjoy. So consider this chapter and the two coming soon as an impromptu "finding true love and happiness" trilogy. Without further ado, Part One ...

"What time do I need to be there?" Erin asked her boss, her cell to one ear as she set her plate in the sink.

"They need us at 8 pm," he replied.

"And dress code?" she continued as she ran water, peering at Jay who was sitting on the couch.

"Something that's warm but gives you mobility," Sean Roman said. "The corporation requested two guards to monitor the arrival and departure of this VIP. We will mostly be freezing our asses off."

Erin sighed. She knew Jay had hoped for a quiet night in, and now she had to work.

"I will pick you up in half an hour," Sean added.

"Yeah. See you shortly," she replied, hanging up and plastering a smile on her face as she entered the living room.

"You're missing the best part," Jay commented, patting the spot next to him as he hit rewind on the DVR. He looked up at her when she didn't sit down.

"That was work," she softly said.

Jay's face fell but he nodded.

"Sorry," she whispered.

"Who is this VIP anyway?" Erin asked as she climbed into Roman's SUV. He snorted as he pulled away from the curb.

"All I know is he trades stocks for some overseas pharma. They just need us to make sure he gets from point A to point B in one piece," Sean told her as they headed uptown.

Roman pressed his back into Erin's as they synced in a circle in the dim warehouse, their guns drawn and pointed.

"I thought this was supposed to be an easy in and out," Erin commented through gritted teeth.

"It was," Sean said through equally gritted teeth.

A half dozen masked men with rifles aimed at them didn't budge until a scruffy looking character in a red hoodie toting an even bigger rifle waved them to stand down.

"Erin Lindsay, as I live and breathe, is that you?" he brightly said.

"What the hell, Johnny?" Erin bit out between clenched teeth, blood trickling down the side of her cheek as she struggled with the bonds locking her hands behind her on the back of the rickety chair. She winced at the sight of Sean lying on the floor nearby, unconscious, his left arm unnaturally bent.

"It's nothing personal, sweetheart," Johnny Peretti said as he shoved the packages into his duffle. "I didn't know you were moonlighting as a security guard these days. I heard you were in New York or something."

He actually grinned at her when he looked up, ignoring the darts shooting from her eyes. He temporarily stopped his stuffing to really glance at her form.

"You've not changed a bit," Johnny said. He walked over to her and towered over her.

"You ever wonder what would have happened if we had stayed together?" he huskily asked, touching the unscarred side of her face. "A couple of kids, you working at your mom's bar, helping me run these deals?"

As much as she wanted to, Erin held back from spitting in his face or kneeing him in the balls, knowing it would solve nothing.

So instead she played along, despite her stomach churning. She silently asked Jay to forgive her as she gave Johnny a saccharine smile.

"Yeah, all the time actually, baby," Erin sappily crooned. "We'd have given my mom at least two grandkids and we'd be rolling in the dough. Instead I'm stuck in a job going nowhere, making nothing, and I have no one." She gave him her best puppy eyed look.

"I miss you, Johnny," she whined. "Take me back?"

Enthralled with her now, Johnny completely forgot about the task at hand, paying no mind to Sean, who was coming to.

"You're messing with me," her old boyfriend said, running his fingers down her neck and collarbone. She fought the urge to cringe and leaned into his hand, giving him another pleading face.

"No one can make me happy like you do, baby," Erin softly said. Johnny stared at her another moment before moving behind her chair and undoing her bonds.

She gingerly rubbed her wrists once her arms were released as he stood over her again.

"Prove how much you miss me," he darkly ordered, his pelvis practically in her face.

Erin meekly nodded, catching a glimpse of Roman out of the corner of her eye.

Despite the fact his left arm was broken and his head hurt like a sonofabitch, he had survived worse. He sprung to his feet and plowed into Johnny, giving Erin a chance to draw the weapon she had hidden, tucked in the ankle of her boot.

Johnny wrestled with Sean, deliberately pressing into his broken arm, causing him to yowl. But before Johnny could fully overpower him, Erin pressed the gun into Johnny's temple.

"Nothing personal," she hissed in his ear.

Alarmed by the call he had received from his brother, Jay rushed to the hospital with lights and sirens.

He stormed into the ED, wild eyed, when Maggie grabbed him and ushered him to the bay where Roman's arm was being set. Jay scanned the small room; Erin was nowhere to be found.

"Where is she?" Jay demanded, whirling to face Maggie.

"She's getting a CT," Maggie calmly replied as Burgess arrived on the scene. Maggie tipped her head toward the bay as Kim ran past Jay to her husband.

"What happened?" she frantically asked, hovering over his bedside. Jay entered the room so he could hear the answer as well.

Sean winced when the nurse finished wrapping his arm. Kim looked like she was going to cry.

"We were ambushed. I don't remember much. Erin can tell you more," he said. He gazed at his wife and sighed.

"We're both going to be OK. It takes more than a knock on the head to stop us," he tried to sooth her. With his uninjured hand, he grasped hers. "Kim, I'll be fine. Really."

Jay eyed them both, his heart in his throat.

Will wandered in to check on Roman when Jay grabbed his arm. Will steadily stared his brother down.

"She has a mild concussion, but she will be fine," Will reiterated, mirroring what Sean had just stated.

A few minutes later, another nurse wheeled Erin into the bay next Roman's. The nurse helped her from the wheelchair onto the bed. Jay hung back until the nurse finished checking Erin's vitals and walked out.

Erin gave him a weak smile.

"You scared the shit out of me," he muttered as he entered.

"We were ambushed, Jay. They knocked out Sean and roughed me up a bit. But I saw my chance and we won," she explained.

"If I had lost you …" Jay lamented.

"But you didn't," Erin quietly replied.

He stood there, his hands shoved in his pockets, trying to gain the nerve to say what he really wanted to say earlier that night before she was called into work.

She cocked her head, trying to read him, wondering why her lover was quiet all the sudden when he should have been chewing her out or giving her a piece of his mind.

"I'm fine, Jay. Really," she soothed, reaching out to touch him.

He eyed her, not shying from her touch but seemingly antsy, still attempting to get his mouth to work with his brain.

"Marry me," he blurted out.

Erin looked at him like deer in the headlights.

"What?" she asked when she finally found her voice.

Jay inwardly cringed at himself for not waiting to execute his proposal at home like originally planned. He fished out the little red box with his mother's ring that was buried in his jean pocket and awkwardly dropped to one knee beside the bed rail.

Maggie halted in her tracks outside the doorway and frantically waved for Will to come to her. He rushed over but she blocked him from running in.

"Erin Lindsay, will you do me the honor of becoming my wife?" Jay asked, his voice choking up.

Tears filled her eyes and Erin nodded.

Will beamed at his big brother, proud that he finally popped the question after holding onto the ring for the past two years.