She was supposed to be there by now, but she wasn't. Jay wasn't even listening to any of Adam and Kevin conversation, just nodding from time to time to seem like he was there, but he wasn't. His eyes were on the door since they got there. He'd been waiting for her, for like one hour.
He got distracted by Dawson, because she approached them with the shots that Ruzeck order.
"Here you go guys! Looks like you deserve these today!" Dawson said distributing the drinks. "Cops robbing people is not nice."
"Thank you Gabby." Kevin nodded with a smile.
"Don't thank me, thank Ruzek he's the one who's paying." Dawson left with a smile and winked at Ruzeck.
They kept talking about their day and how a recognized officer could do something like what he did and how easy it was to go down that hole. But Jay's mind is still elsewhere.
Erin seemed strange when they left the precinct. First she slapped him, then when he approached her after the bust she barely talked to him, she returned his jacket without a word, just a nodded. During the day she seemed good, amused even. She laughed in his face when he gave her a lecture about microbes when she ate that gross french fry but then when they left the precinct she just said she would be at Molly's without even looking at him. As always his insecurities about her were getting to him. He wasn't used to feeling like this, she was the only one that could make him feel like a school boy and that pissed him off.
What a hell did I do this time? He mumbled to himself.
"Sorry Halstead?" Kevin asked.
"What?" Jay said taking his eyes from the door and looking at both his colleagues with a poker face.
"You mumbled something."
"Oh… sorry… I guess I was talking to myself."
"Are you waiting for some one? Maybe a small brunette?" Ruzek asked, teasing him.
"No, no… I'm just tired I guess, tonight was… well maybe I should go home, get some rest." Jay was not giving them reasons to provoke him more, he was already nervous about her absence.
"Yes, yes I know were you want to go…"
"Hey Ruzek… Careful… You're treading on thin ice there…" Jay said, not very happy about all that conversation.
"Ok, ok I'll shut up, but we are here man; we are your friends, what is bothering you?"
"Yes I will tell you all my problems for you to have material to get up my ass for a week… You wish." Jay said, sarcastically.
Kevin laughed and Ruzek looked all offended. These two were always goofing around.
Jay laughed with them and said, "I guess I'm leaving."
Kevin looked at the door. "Maybe you shouldn't, the one you're looking for just entered the room."
Jay turned his head and saw Erin smiling to Herman as she came closer to the bar.
The guys started mocking Jay's face, he smiled broadly at them. "Look… shut up ok… you two don't have something more interesting to do than get up my ass all night?"
"Are you saying that you want us to leave for you to be alone with the girl? If Voight hears about this."
Jay cut him off wagging his head. "Come on you guys… you are on the edge today."
"Hey Erin!" Ruzek shouted, "We are here, come join us."
Erin looked at them, three fools, but she kind of liked them, she smiled, order a beer and approached their table.
"Hi!" Erin said, smiling. "So what's up?"
"Oh you know just making Halstead's life miserable." Ruzek said seriously. Jay gave Erin a small smile and a "I'm going to kill you" look to Ruzek.
"Why are you two harassing him?" Erin was still smiling as she sat next to Jay.
"Just for fun you know… it's easy to get on him…" Ruzek shouted.
Erin put her hand on Jay's knee and squeezed a little. Suddenly, Jay felt more confident, feeling her touch always calmed him. "What took you so long?" He asked.
"So after all you were waiting for her." Ruzek said teasingly and Jay looked at him unimpressed.
"Shut up Ruzek."
"Do you really want to know?" Erin said with a smirk. Jay nodded, waiting for the answer. "I fell asleep. I felt so tired. I just wanted to lay on the couch for a minute and woke up like two minutes ago. I could have stayed home but… anyway I'm here now."
Jay smiled at her and under the table she took his hand and intertwined her fingers with his. He kept drawing circles on her hand with his thumb. From time to time they exchanged a cute smile.
The conversation flew back to the case and they kept joking between them. Time got away from them until they suddenly realized they had to go, because in the morning Voight would not tolerate delays.
"Ok guys I'm going back to my sleep." Erin said laughing.
"Yeah I'm going to… I mean not to your sleep, I believe Halstead… never mind." Kevin said when he saw the killer look that Halstead was giving him. "But I'm going home."
"Adam are you staying here for the night?"
"What?" Adam was completely numb. "No I'm going home too." He said getting up from the chair with some trouble standing. "You two behave." He said point to both Erin and Jay.
"Hey I was the first saying I was leaving so…" Erin said as she got up to leave. She looked at Jay, "Are you coming or is it you who will stay here for the night?" Her face was not friendly. Sometimes understanding Erin wasn't easy, Jay thought to himself. She spent almost all night with her hand intertwined with his hand, she was all smiles to him and now she was almost barking at him.
"Yeah I'm leaving too, I really need some sleep." Jay said grabbing his jacket.
They get outside and head to their cars. Erin stayed behind and Jay noticed. "So I guess I'll see you tomorrow?" Jay asked, shyly.
"What's with you today Jay?" Erin asked in a raspy tone.
"What's up with me? What's up with you? You slap me today, practically run from me after work then went all smiles with me here and at the end of the night almost beat me because I wasn't getting up. I figured you were upset and don't want my company so I was going home." Jay said, in an irritated tone that turn into a sad voice.
She just hugged him and kissed him softly on his lips, just a small and quick kiss that made his heart melt. He smiled at her still hugging her. "And with that you think you can solve all your problems…"
"It's working?" She asked in a lower tone and with her head crushed in his chest.
"A little." Jay said, still smiling. "What's the problem Erin?"
"I don't know, today I felt weird, sorry… I think it's not you… or maybe it is… lets just go home ok?"
"Yours or mine?" Jay asked already knowing the answer. She preferred to be at her place, it's where all her things were, and in the end he preferred that too as she always made a mess in his bathroom. She just smiled at him and he knew the answer.
They got in their cars and drove to Erin's apartment, they entered the building and her apartment together, falling on the couch at the same time.
Jay looked at her. "So are we good?"
"Yeah, why?" Erin was smiling and snuggling up to him.
"You slapped me, you know?" Jay said seriously.
"I was in character, I needed to be convincing," She said smiling at him.
"You didn't need to slap me to be convincing. My face still hurts." He said with his best puppy face, rubbing the spot were she hit him.
"Please don't tell me that you can't handle a slap?" Erin was mocking him. "Come on you are one of the toughest guys I know."
"Funny… I can handle the slap but you hurt my ego." Jay said, raising his eyebrows.
Erin loved that about him. "You called me a drunk, so what did you expect?"
"Hey I was in character too! You... maybe I shouldn't have said that... sorry… too soon?"
"It's ok… I guess it bothers me a little…"
Jay cut her off. "Look Erin you know that's not that what I think of you… I swear." Jay's voice was full of remorse.
"Yeah I know!" She had a little smile on her face. She kept staring at him. "But the slap was very convincing so we were good, don't you think?"
"Thank God none of them saw that." Jay replied, amused.
"Imagine how this night would have been if Adam or Kevin had seen that." Erin said giggling. "They would make your life miserable, for two weeks minimum."
Jay just chuckled and pulled her closer to him. He hugged her, enjoying the feeling of her weight on him, and massaged her scalp with his fingers like she enjoyed so much.
"I'm glad that we talked." He said in a soft tone and kissed her head.
"Yeah, I am too. We are getting good at this… I mean the talking part." She said cheerful. "Look I know that I'm evasive some times but… I know everybody knows about us... but... I feel strange showing affection when someone is present."
"I noticed and you know I'm ok with that but sometimes if I look from the outside it seems that you are closer to Antonio than me and that's strange."
She smiled to him, a cute smile. He loved that smile, she looked like a little girl. "I'm sorry I'm a weirdo." She laid her head on his chest again. They rearrange their position to get more comfortable.
"We should go to bed." Erin said, almost in a gasp.
"Hum, hum" Jay mumbled nodding his head. He grabbed her chin and gave her a light kiss, a lovely kiss and laid back, she rested her head on his chest and intertwined her hand with his.
No more than two minutes later both fell asleep.