Jay was awoken by the light streaming through a gap in the curtains, he looked at the clock and saw it was 1PM. He looked over at his girl, who had rolled over at some point and found her cuddle pillow. He smiled, she was the most beautiful girl in the world, she was fast asleep so he slowly and quietly got out of bed and pulled on a pair of sweats that he kept at hers (after she had finally cleared a drawer out for him last month). He quietly made his way through to the kitchen and started to make some coffee, his head was pounding, he was officially in hungover mode rather than still drunk mode. As he put the coffee on, he cringed as he saw the state of the living room, What on earth happened last night?! He thought to himself. He poured his coffee and grabbed two paracetamol from the bits and bobs drawer and sat at the table. He decided to make some food, knowing that Erin would be hungry when she'd eventually wake up.
Erin woke up and rolled over in order to snuggle with her personal heater, she was surprised to feel that the sheets next to her were cold. She groaned as she sat up, her head pounding, she glanced at the clock and saw it was twenty past one. She was hungry and extremely hungover and needed coffee ASAP. As she made her way through to the kitchen, she smelt coffee and food. She grinned as she witnessed her boyfriend standing over the cooker, she wrapped her arms around his waist and kissed his shoulder, "Mm, good morning... or should I say afternoon?" She murmured into his back.
He turned around in her arms and smiled at her, "Afternoon to you, too," he replied, leaning down and kissing her softly, "I am cooking us a nice greasy fry up. It's what we needed after last night."
"It really is. I can't believe how much we all drank..." she groaned, placing her head onto his chest.
Jay chuckled and kissed her head, "There is two paracetamol on the table, and a cup of coffee coming right up."
"Coffee and a fry up?" She said as she let go of him and sat down at the kitchen table, "What did I ever do to get so lucky?"
Jay poured her a coffee and handed it to her, "Well, seeing as we were up well after 6 this morning celebrating your birthday, I thought you'd need some good fuel," he replied, smirking.
She rolled her eyes, "Yeah, whatever Halstead."
"It should be ready in about ten minutes. Sausage, egg and bacon sandwich good for you?" He asked.
"Yes please! Sounds wonderful!" She said, "You're such a good househusband. I could definitely get used to this."
"Don't push it, Lindsay," he laughed, as he turned his attention back to the food on the cooker.
Erin smiled, watching her boyfriend, the man she loved, in her kitchen, cooking her breakfast for her birthday. She never thought that she would get this lucky, after her rocky start to life, she never believed she could be with someone this wonderful. Jay was well and truly the love of her life and she had never been happier. Jay looked so natural in the kitchen, cooking was not her strong suit, if she were on her own today, she would probably have microwaved her left over chicken kebab and most likely given herself food poisoning. She was bought out of her day dream by Jay placing a plate in front of her and sitting down himself. They chatted throughout breakfast about last night and this morning. "... I just can't believe Voight came over the one time I decide to answer the door... half naked no less. I'm just so grateful I put my jeans on to come out. Otherwise I have a feeling I'd probably be in the cage right now," Jay grimaced, as he finished his sandwich.
Erin snorted, "He wouldn't have been that bad..." she started, but caught Jay's pointed look, "Okay, yeah it would've been bad. But, it wasn't. I can't believe he knows. He was furious at first, you were probably better off pretending to shower. I don't know what came over me, I just kind of rambled on about how great it's been and in all honesty that I could be in love with you. Like I know I've had boyfriends in the past, but he usually doesn't want to know. So I know as soon as I said that, he knew it was different," she told him reaching over and taking his hand, "I just didn't want to lose this."
Jay grinned, "I wouldn't want to lose this either. Thank you for telling Hank. I get why you didn't want to tell him, but I think we will be much happier now he knows with less sneaking around. It was getting pretty hard to keep this secret. I really do love you, Erin. I wasn't just saying it because you said it either. I was scared of well, scaring you off by going too fast."
Erin smiled, "You're so thoughtful," she said standing up and moving round to sit on his lap, "Thank you for breakfast."
He leaned in and kissed her, "My pleasure," he murmured against her lips, "Happy Birthday."
"Mmm... thank you," she replied, bringing her hand up and cupping his cheek, "So, what do you want to do today?"
"Well, I was going to tidy up this place, seeing as our unit are literal pigs," Jay laughed, nodding over to the living room, "Then Netflix and literal chill and Chinese. You just relax. You shouldn't have to tidy up today."
Erin laughed, she was semi surprised that he had even slept as he likes order and cleanliness and the apartment was anything but that at this moment in time, "I want to help, the quicker we get it done, the quicker we can do nothing and watch Netflix and snuggle." She kissed him again and got up.
They both got to work cleaning up and within an hour and a half they were done. It was spotless. "Is this up to your clean freak standards then, Halstead?" She asked as they finally lay down on the couch.
She felt his chest vibrate as he chuckled, "I guess so," he placed a kiss on her neck and smiled, "Okay, so what are we watching?" He asked reaching over her and grabbing the remote off of the coffee table.
Erin raised an eyebrow and looked over her shoulder, "Wow, you must really be in a good mood. Letting me pick what I want to watch!"
"I meant it when I said before that we could watch whatever you wanted, it's your birthday after all," he said, pecking her on the lips.
"Okay then, Miss Congeniality 1 and 2 it is then," she grinned, grabbing the remote off of him and pressing Netflix to put it on.
"Okay, that's not too bad. You could've definitely picked worse," he laughed, and pulled her close to him as she pressed play.
Jay had fallen asleep around the first half an hour into the first film. She didn't care though, she was just happy to be spending the day with him. Towards the end of the second film she felt him move and stretch, "Those films were great," he mumbled, kissing her shoulder.
Erin laughed, "You fell asleep within the first 30 minutes of the first one, and you've just woken up as the second one was finishing," she stated as she turned to face him.
Jay faked a shocked reaction, "I did not!"
"Babe, don't kid yourself, you were snoring," she replied with a smirk.
"I don't snore!" He said in a stern voice, but looking at her raise her eyebrow, "Okay, I did fall asleep. I'm sorry."
"It's okay," she laughed, "You're hungover, tired and you had to deal with Hank Voight this morning. I don't mind, you kept me nice and warm."
He kissed her, "You're the best, you know that?"
"Yeah, I kinda am, aren't I," she smirked, kissing him back, "I love you."
"I love you too," he replied, "Okay, I need to go and grab my phone from the bedroom so we can order the Chinese. I'm starving. Are you ready for food?"
"Is the Pope Catholic? Do bears shit in the woods?" She laughed, "Of course I'm ready for food!"
Jay chuckled and gave her another quick kiss, he got up from behind her and climbed over the sofa and went into the bedroom to get his phone. Erin shivered at the loss of his body heat, he was always so warm. She pulled the blanket closer to her chin and waited for him to return. A few minutes later she felt him climb over the back of the couch to join her.
"Okay, I'm getting salt and pepper chicken and chips with curry sauce. What are you getting?" He asked as he pulled the takeaway delivery app up on his phone.
"Chicken in black bean and fried rice, please," she replied.
Jay was concentrating on his phone, and set up the delivery, "Alright, should be here in 45 minutes. Not bad for a Sunday night," he told her, "Wow... The group chat officially think we are dead. We haven't been on since last night. I have 45 notifications. Ok so how do you want to play this?"
"Oh shit... neither of us have replied in so long... what have they been saying?" She groaned snuggling into his chest.
"Ruzek thinks we got abducted by aliens," he laughed, "They're asking when I left, I'll just reply I left not long after Kim and Adam, what do you think?"
"Yeah... okay so just say you've just woken up after getting home. And that you're on your way to mine for our Birthday Chinese tradition - which they all know about seeing as we have done it for each other's birthday for the past two years. So no worries about them being suspicious about everything!" She told him.
"Wow Lindsay, you got this all figured out don't you?" He teased, as his lips brushed hers softly, "Okay, here it goes."
To: Where the fuck are Halstead and Lindsay?!
Jay: Hey guys, sorry been sleeping since I got in... literally got home at like 6:30 and passed out until just now. Me and Lindsay finished off the bottle of scotch before I left - big mistake :S. I haven't heard from her but I'm going over to hers later for our usual bday dinner. I'll tell her to update you all to show she hasn't been abducted by aliens ;) remind me never to drink again please!? I'm hungover as shit! See you all tomorrow!
"Okay, does that sound good babe?" Jay asked passing his phone to Erin to get her approval before sending.
"Sounds good," she replied, hitting send, "So, seeing as we have like forty minutes until the Chinese is here..." she started as she begun trailing kisses across his shoulder and up his neck, "How about we take a shower. You know, to make us feel less hungover?" She asked as her lips met his.
He smirked, "Hmm, I like your thinking Lindsay! Come on!" He replied sitting up and pulling her up with him. They dashed through to the bathroom thoroughly enjoying each other's company.
After the Chinese had been delivered, the pair were relaxing on the couch watching re runs of criminal minds. It was the first box set they had watched together and it was definitely their favourites, "Wow I love this episode, its so intense!" Jay exclaimed as he dipped his chips into the curry sauce.
"I know. It's brutal!" She replied, grabbing a chip and dipping it into the curry sauce. Jay smiled at her, he had bought a large portion of salt and pepper chips. Far too large for him to eat but he learnt after the first few Chinese nights they had, that Erin loved salt and pepper chips but would never actually order them herself so he learnt quickly if he wanted a good amount of food, to buy the large portion.
"Okay, I need to text the guys and Kim back, they're going to think I'm dead," Erin reminded herself and grabbed her phone.
To: One found, one still missing! WHERE IS LINDSAY?
Erin: Hey guys, sorry I've not contacted you all. I've slept most of the day and my phone was dead. Halstead is here now and he told me you had no idea where I was haha. I'm alive. Barely. But I am alive. Thanks for a great night guys, I was really glad you could all make it! See you in the morning :)
"Okay, does that sound alright?" She asked, pointing her phone at Jay who was finishing off his chips. He quickly scanned it and nodded, "Okay, sent."
a couple of seconds later, two notifications came through "Group chat name changed by Adam: LINDSAY IS ALIVE!"
ADAM: SHE IS ALIVE! OMG YOU'RE ALIVE! IT'S A MIRACLE! If we hadn't gone back to yours last night I would've assumed that both you and Halstead had pulled in Molly's and gone home with a couple of randoms lol. Have a good Chinese night!
Jay laughed as he read the notifications, "If only he knew!"
"Oh god… They're going to find out at some point. I don't know how to feel about that…" Erin confessed, "I've really enjoyed being us two in our own little bubble. Enjoying being together without the prying eyes of the unit…"
"I know, me too…" He replied, "We don't have to tell them until we are ready."
"We'll figure it out in our own time. At least we don't have to be as cautious now. If they happen to find out, then they do. I'm not hiding it anymore, but we should still be careful. Plus we have to be professional at work. Hank knowing, changes nothing." She stated.
"Nope. It changes nothing," He said, as he grabbed the plates from the table and pecked her forehead, "I'll go quickly wash up and then we can chill."
Erin smiled, "Okay, sounds good. Thank you." she sat back and continued to watch criminal minds.
When Jay was done, he came back into the living room and snuggled down on the couch with Erin, now watching old reruns of FRIENDS. They sat there a while before she spoke, "You know, this has been one of the best birthdays in my life," She said, sincerely as she looked up at Jay and pressed her lips to his shoulder.
He smiled and placed a kiss on the top of her head, "Yeah?"
"Yep. I mean, I had an amazing party last night and bringing the party back to here was the best decision ever. Then we got to have a little 'celebration'," she smirked.
"Yeah and then your dad aka our boss caught me in your apartment half naked... and I lied to him about where I slept! I should've just said the spare room but nooo I had to say the sofa which was full of beer bottles and takeaway cartons," he cringed.
"Well yeah, that did happen, but, it led me to be honest with him and tell him about us, and how much I really like you and he didn't flip out and transfer either one of us out the unit!" She laughed, "It's made me happy. That I can finally be honest with him."
"Yeah, that ending was rather unexpected, but I'm so glad it went this way. I'd hate to have had to break up for both of us to stay in the unit or one of us leave. It would have made it really hard," He said, kissing her forehead.
"I also got to spend the day with the most amazing man ever, who just happens to cook me an amazing hangover breakfast and snuggled on the couch with me. You kept me nice and warm while you snored through two cheesy chick flicks," she teased.
"Hey! I don't snore!" He exclaimed, "Take that back!"
Erin giggled and shook her head. "Right, that's it!" He exclaimed, digging his fingers in her sides.
"Jay! St-op!" Erin squealed breathlessly.
He used his strength against her and moved them so he was pinning her down on the couch, "Not until you take that back!"
"Okay! Okay! I take it back!" She exclaimed, struggling for breath.
He still had her pinned down, but stopped his attack, "Take what back?" He asked.
"You don't snore..." she replied, reaching up to stroke his face, "and even if you did, it wouldn't bother me."
He smiled, and leans down and kissed her softly, "Come on, let's go to bed and get some sleep. I have a feeling that tomorrow is going to be a long day. Plus facing Hank is going to be... fun," he laughed, "I need as much sleep as possible before I have to deal with that! I'm going to have to get up early because I need to go back to mine to grab some clothes."
He stood up and held his hand out to Erin, who got up and followed him into her bedroom, "Sounds good. I'm exhausted."
They both quickly got ready for bed, and Jay got in while Erin finished up in the bathroom. She walked in and saw that he was already asleep. She climbed into bed and snuggled into his side, "Night babe, love you." She whispered, placing a kiss on his chest.
"I love you too," He murmured.
AN: wow sorry this took a while! I've had such a busy few weeks as I went away and then wasn't well. I still haven't faced watching past Erin leaving, but I'm hoping to brave it soon because I love PD. I kind of knows what happens so at least I'm prepared - somewhat lol. I'll probably have one more chapter to write for this - do you think their friends should find out by accident? Or should Lindsay and Halstead just come clean and tell them? Let me know what you think!