A/N: Really enjoyed writing the action in this one. Let me know what you think. :)
The next day the team were sitting at their desks when Antonio walked out of Hank's office with Hank on his heels and made an announcement to the rest of the squad. "I've just had a tip from a CI. Voight did some digging, and we are going to go in for a bust." Antonio turned around and stuck pictures of two men onto the whiteboard as Hank took over explaining the case. "This is Nicolas Ofstrovsky and his brother Anatoly Ofstrovsky. They are mid-level dealers in the Russian mob and have been spiking their product with fentanyl. Six people from all different kinds of backgrounds have shown up in Med's ED overdosed on this in the last week alone. Two of them died and the other four are in comas. They're getting in a new shipment in this afternoon and were going to catch them with a lorry-load of heroin."
Later on when the team geared up, Jay put on his bullet proof vest and then helped Erin put on her vest like always. Erin could put on her vest herself, but she thought that the small amount of closeness before a bust centered both her and Jay. It was a quick moment of intimacy with no lingering touches or looks, and to anyone else in the squad it looked like nothing out of the ordinary, but it reassured both of them before they had to enter an intense high-pressure situation and reminded them what they had to fight to return home to. The unit drove to the warehouse out in Washington Heights. Voight, Al, and Ruzek were team one and had positioned themselves around the back, ready to breach when they got the signal from the other team. Team two consisted of Antonio, Kevin, Jay and Erin, and they were parked outside the front of the neighbouring warehouse. The final team were Burgess and Roman, who were parked in an unmarked police car outside the warehouse complex, ready to stop anyone trying to escape. Team two were responsible for the decision to enter as they had the best view of the entrance. Antonio and Erin were in the front of the van talking when out of the corner of his eye Antonio saw two lorries approaching the warehouse and so he alerted everyone by calling into his walkie talkie, "Two vans have just entered. Looks like they're about to open up the main door to let them in. Once the main door shuts, we have thirty seconds before we enter so get ready. I'll call out when the door closes and again when we breach." Everyone got all their gear prepared but no one got out their vehicles until Antonio called out, "Door is down." Within seconds everyone was out and by their respective doors ready to enter. The thirty seconds went quickly and soon Antonio was counting down the last few, "Three, two, one, GO GO GO!" From both front and back the whole intelligence unit was yelling "CPD, get your hands up in the air." The two lorries were half unloaded with the bricks of heroin on tables. There were three perps unloading each lorry so team one apprehended the group unloading the lorry near the back and team two went for the group unloading the lorry near the main entrance. Voight and Al had no trouble cuffing a suspect, but Ruzek had to give chase and ended up dodging bricks of heroin aimed at his head before being able to take down his perp. Team two had a slightly harder time with only Antonio easily seizing someone. Jay ran after a suspect who tried to escape out of the back, but Jay was obviously in much better shape than the perp because he quickly caught up and hand-cuffed him. Over the walkie talkie Voight rasped, "We've got three cuffed here, but we need someone to come over and help transport them, so we can get them back to the precinct." Erin and Kevin were both in pursuit of the final suspect who had made his way around to the other side of the lorry. Kevin was much closer to the other team, so Erin nodded her head towards team one and said to him. "You go Kev, I got this." Kevin went over to help the other team and Erin continued to move towards the final suspect. As she rounded the corner of the lorry Erin came face to face with Nicolas Ofstrovsky. Nicolas quickly made a move for Erin and shoved her into the side of the vehicle. Erin put up a fight but was not as strong as the 6 ft 4, 210-pound man slamming her against the lorry. The other members in her team heard the noise and called out, "Erin, you good?" When no answer came Jay started to get worried, so he told Antonio to keep an eye on their two cuffed suspects while he went to check on his partner. Nicolas heard Jay calling out and knew that he only had a minute to get away. In order to make sure that Erin didn't follow him, Nicolas threw her to the ground and before she had time to get up or even move, he had punched her so hard that she was unconscious. After a few more punches Nicolas was up, and on his feet quickly in order to escape. Jay moved rapidly round the lorry, unsure about what he would find on the other side. His eyes found his girlfriend and he immediately pulled out his walkie talkie and barked, "This is detective Jay Halstead with Intelligence, badge number 51163, we've got on officer down at 1501 East 96th street, we need an ambulance now." As Jay began to check Erin he also radioed to Burgess and Roman letting them know that they may have a suspect coming towards them. The first thing Jay noticed was that Erin's nose was bleeding and her eye was already swollen and beginning to bruise. She was still breathing, and Jay couldn't find any injuries that she was bleeding from, so all he could do was wait. In the periphery Jay heard Voight's voice coming out of the walkie talkie asking who was hit and what was wrong, but Jay didn't have it in him to respond. Soon enough Antonio was telling Voight what he knew. Jay's fists were clenched in anger, but he knew the only place he should be in that moment was by his girlfriend's side. As Jay started to hear the sounds of the approaching ambulance, Erin started to come to.
XXX
For Erin the ambulance ride over was a complete blur. A paramedic conducted all the regular checks, while Jay hovered over her and tried to keep her smiling, but mostly her mind struggled to stay focused on any one thing. Throughout the whole journey Erin maintained that she didn't need to go to the hospital, but the fact that she struggled to stay conscious convinced Jay that they had made the right call. Most of the unit weren't far behind the ambulance and it wasn't long before the emergency department at Chicago Med was filled with booming voices of the intelligence unit. Erin was sat in a bay with a nurse going over the checks that the paramedics did earlier and with Jay pacing the length of the room. As soon as he heard the Voight's gravelly voice, Jay whipped the curtain to Erin's bay open, letting his boss and his colleagues in. Hank gave Erin a sympathetic glance before he turned his attention to Jay and said, "How bad is it?" Jay looked over to his girlfriend laid up in bed, then turned back to his boss and relayed all the information he had picked up, "She took a few nasty punches to the face, so her face has swollen up pretty badly. She's got some bruised ribs, they're not sure if the ribs are broken or just bruised and they think she's got a moderate concussion but they're going to take her up for scans to check on the ribs and facial bones and to make sure that the concussion is nothing more serious." Before Hank could respond, Maggie had walked up to the detectives and told them that when Erin had her own room, they could all go in there, but until then they would all have to go and wait in the waiting room. As intelligence made their way out of the emergency department and moved to the waiting room, an orderly came to take Erin to her scans. Hank went to turn and say something to Erin but in his peripheral vision he saw Jay bent over Erin's bed with his head next to hers, a goofy smile on his face reacting to something she had said, and their hands held together in a tight grip. Once Erin got wheeled to the lift, Jay turned to make his way to the rest of the squad when he saw Hank glaring at him from the entrance to the emergency department. Jay briskly walked up to his sergeant and began to give an explanation for what he clearly just witnessed, "Voight, it not what you think... we just-" Hank cut him off and rasped, "Halstead, don't even think about lying to my face." Hank looked to the floor and then looked back up at his detective and said "I know that I said I'd transfer you if any funny business started up, but I see how you are as partners as detectives and as friends. She's had a really hard year-" When Jay looked like he was about to interrupt, Hank silenced him with a finger before continuing, "and I know that you've been there for her this year in a lot of ways that I couldn't. So I just … I wanted to say thank you, for watching her back. I appreciate it as a sergeant and as a father." After a swift pat on the back, Hank began to make his move towards the waiting room, but once Jay had managed to get over his initial shock at what seemed like Hank's approval, the young detective ran a few steps then called out, "Voight, wait! We weren't trying to hide it… well I mean... we were but not because we weren't serious. It's just that…look, I wanted to tell you right away, but you know how Erin is. She builds up walls and tries to protect herself, and you know, you're her father figure and it was her choice to make. So I respected that. But I really think she was planning on telling you or even showing you this Sunday." By the time Hank and Jay had got to the rest of the squad, the nurse had informed them that Erin had a room and they could all wait there until she came down from her scans. Erin returned to her room to find only Hank and Jay waiting in what looked like stiff and uncomfortable chairs. While the doctors wanted Erin to stay for overnight observation, the only thing Erin wanted was to get out of her itchy hospital gown and out of the hospital that had given her bad vibes ever since Camille died there. Hank was against Erin signing the discharge forms but insisted that if she was going to leave the hospital that she was going to go home with him, so he could look after her in her old room. Erin sneaked a peak at Jay and then set her eyes on Hank, "Look Hank, I wasn't going to tell you for another couple of days but Jay and I are together, not just together like in the same room together but together like in a relationship and the only thing I really want to do tonight besides have a hot bath and a mug of herbal tea is be held by my boyfriend." At that comment Jay's cheeks reddened and Hank scoffed, but Erin ignored them both and continued, " I understand that it's something you'll have to adjust to but it is what it is and if you want me to stay at the house then Jays going to be staying over too and I…" Hank started to respond by saying that it was fine but Erin ploughed on with her rant and said, "It's not just some fling Hank. We're in a proper relationship and after a day like today I really just want to be with him. I love him. And he loves me. And we…" Hank had finally had enough and cut Erin off, "Erin! I said it was fine. I'll go back now and get your old room ready. Once all the forms are signed, you and Halstead make your way over. I'll throw something on the grill. I'll see you two later." Hank made his way over to Erin, bent down and pressed a kiss to her temple, and whispered into her ear, "it looks like you two have some stuff to talk about before you get to the house." Hank stood back up, nodded at Jay and walked out the door. Jay was still stood in shock from Erin's earlier admission when Erin plucked up the courage to speak again, "Jay…that's not what I meant. I mean not that I didn't want to say that, I did, I just… didn't want it to come out like that and it's been something that I've been thinking for a while and I…" While Erin rambled, Jay moved over to her bed, softly touched her unbruised cheek with the back of his hand and leaned in for a gentle kiss. "I love you too," he said, and Erin smiled so widely that her beaten face hurt even more. Jay continued and said "And I've wanted to say it since the day I first walked into the bullpen, and I wanted to say it again at your high school reunion, and again after we first kissed and again and…" then Erin cut him off, " Jay, I get it and I'm just glad that we're both in a place where we can say it and mean it and just continue loving each other and being in a relationship and maybe we're in a place when you could help me get my clothes on because I'm pretty sure I can't lift my arms to reach and undo this gown let alone pull on my work clothes." Jay chuckled at Erin's smooth transition between the subject of their relationship to the humour of her injuries and lack of independence because of those injuries. His only response was, "Of course I'll help you, you dork." And with that Jay helped Erin get dressed and they both started the slow walk out to the car, so they could make their way over to Hanks. Although Erin and Jay stayed at Hank's the first night after her trip to the hospital, the couple returned to Erin's apartment the next day so that Erin could relax in her own environment until she could go back to work. Erin tried her best to rest and stay put, but quickly found herself restless. After spending the first two days reading, cleaning and organising, Erin felt like her apartment had become a prison and had even resorted to calling Will to see if he'd give her the all-clear to go out for walks. The two weeks passed slowly, and despite Erin still not feeling herself, she had finally been cleared to go in for desk duty the following day. She walked out of Chicago Med that morning with a spring in her step, unaware that she would be rushing back there that night under a more severe circumstance.