Having Will crash with them hadn't been as bad as Erin thought it was going to be. Turns out, he was really good for telling her secrets about Jay - and the stories she had heard this week were priceless. Even more stuff to hold over his head so he would do whatever she wanted (like he wouldn't do what she wanted anyway - he was whipped). She had just walked through the door and as she entered the living room, she saw that Will was sat on the sofa, eating a family bag of Doritos watching the sports highlights, "Hey, you ok?" He asked when Erin came into the room.

"Yeah, busy day," she replied. "Do you want a beer?"

He shook his head, nodding to the one he had in front of him, "So, where's Jay? Usually he's no more than a meter away from you," Will quipped.

Erin rolled her eyes and joined her on the couch, "He has his first group meeting tonight," She explained.

Will instantly felt bad, "Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't know. He did mention something about going back the other day but I've been run ragged with work I never took it in. How is he doing?"

"He thinks he is ready to go back and I do too. I think he's worried though, which is understandable," She told him.

Will sighed, "Yeah, he really did struggle after those meetings. Those nights he was always really jumpy and wouldn't sleep a bit. Any little noise would have him on edge. It was so hard to see him like that, but after seeing the change in him over the past few weeks since he moved back, I know he is going to be able to handle it."

"He's told me about the anxiousness he used to feel after those meetings. We all noticed it at work, too. I remember Adam knocked a bottle off his desk and there was a bang - he jumped so much and went off into the bathroom straight away. After he started to go to Dr Charles, he told me that the day that happened, he nearly passed out in the bathroom. I just hope that he's going to be okay," she said, taking a sip of her beer.

"I'm sure he will be. Having someone as awesome as you there to help may be one of the big factors in him coming to terms with all of this. I wasn't there for him when mom was dying, I'm sure he's told you," He said and she nodded. She noticed that Will bowed his head, seemingly ashamed of how he was around that time. "Yeah, I don't really know what he went through those few days after he came home to mom, but I can imagine it wasn't good. I read her charts a couple of years back because I was curious and I know it was bad, but I just couldn't deal with it back then," He admitted.

"Jay has forgiven you for that a long time ago. You were grieving in your own way."

"I know, but I can't even imagine how it was for him to deal with all of that after coming home. I didn't really keep in touch much after the funeral, but I knew he was spiralling. I came home to visit dad just after he got home from the cabin after the whole Abby thing and he told me about the crazy vegas wedding and how he had a rough few months. But he had joined the academy and was doing well - he seemed like the old Jay again so I just assumed that he was 'fixed' and that he was okay," He sighed, "But he had just pushed it all down so far that he seemed so okay on the outside. I believed that he was fine. I just wish that I had been there and maybe he would've got help when he needed it."

"Will, don't do that to yourself. You're here now, that's all that matters. Jay's going to be fine, we've both got his back, right?"

"Yeah, we do," Will smiled, "You know, I've never seen him as happy with anyone as he is with you," he saw Erin was about to deny it and laughed. She was extremely similar to Jay, even if she didn't realise how so. "No, I'm serious. He loves you and would do anything for you. And I know you would do the same. Seeing you two these past five days has really made me miss Nina. I wish we had what you two have, but we just don't."

"Have you spoken to her at all?" Erin asked, glad Will had stopped complimenting her.

He shook his head, "No, she said she needed space. I went to see her Monday but she told me she needs time. I just don't know what to do. She's convinced I want to be with Natalie, but I honestly don't. She hurt me a lot last year and I just don't want to be with her. She's a friend but that's it. I just don't know what to do."

"I think you need to give her some time, maybe go and speak to her on Monday and tell her everything you just told me. If it doesn't work out, then at least you were honest," Erin advised, knowing that women could be tricky sometimes.

"Are you okay with me staying here that long? I don't want to get in your hair," He asked, as he had been worrying about that all week.

She shook her head, "No, you can stay as long as you want. You're family. Besides, you managed to put up with Jay for nine weeks so a week or two is really no big deal," She joked.

He laughed, "Yeah that's true. Though, we do miss him. The apartment has never been as clean as it was for those nine weeks. It's nice to see his little OCD habits inflict on your life as much as it did mine."

"He's a nightmare. I'm a naturally messy, unorganised person. It's caused a lot of petty arguments over the past year," She laughed, "But we have learnt to live with each others weird habits. I always line my shoes up on the mat now, because one night he came in after I did and went flying down the hallway. It was hilarious - I didn't realise what happened until I saw my shoes tangled up by his feet."

"Oh my god, that is brilliant! His little quirks can be annoying, but sometimes lifesaving by the sounds of it!" Will exclaimed, still laughing at the thought of his brother lying on the floor after tripping over Erin's shoes.

"It was great. Yeah, his little quirks are funny and definitely life saving," She said, turning to pay attention to the highlights.

"What time did Jay say he will be home?" Will asked when the adverts came on.

"Probably about half nine. He probably won't feel like eating much, do you just want to order a pizza for tonight? He can have whatever is leftover if he is hungry."

"Sounds good, I'll get it," He replied and when he saw she was about to say otherwise he said, "Look, you're letting me live here while I sort out my disaster of a relationship. The least I can do is buy you both some beer and pizza."

"Thank you, Will. I'll have a chicken and sweetcorn please. I'll go and get a shower and get ready before it gets here," She said before getting up and going to get ready.

After having a shower, Erin made sure that the bathroom was really tidy and everything was in its proper place, knowing that Jay would most likely not be in the best of places after coming home from his meeting. She knew that tonight was a really big step for him, and she was very proud of everything that he had overcome in the past few weeks. She made sure her clothes were in the laundry basket, her toiletries were back in the shelves and not just left on the side of the bath and that her stuff wasn't thrown about on the sink and was in the draws. She left the bedroom dressed in sweats and one of Jay's t-shirts that was now hers and sat down on the couch where there was a new beer and pizza waiting for her, "Wow. You are trained very well Halstead. I'll be sure to thank Nina when I next see her," She teased and he just rolled his eyes as he took another bite of pizza. The pair of them decided on reruns of friends before Will excused himself to go to bed at about 9 as he had to be up at 4 for work.


It was getting close to 10 and Erin was getting worried, Jay had said he would be home about half nine. She was getting close to calling him when she received a text sorry, I'm on my way home. Stayed to talk to Sam after the meeting and lost track of time. Will be home in about ten minutes. I am okay, I'll see you when I get home. Love you - Jay.

She smiled at the text and was glad that he had actually texted her. She was worried that he had gone to a bar to drink his sorrows away. She decided to warm up the pizza that was left over form her and Will's dinner, even if Jay didn't want any food, she was hungry again so she could happily eat it all. Just as the timer went off, Jay opened the door. She heard him coming in doing his usual stuff, taking his boots off and putting them neatly on the mat, next to her very neatly organised shoes. Next, he put his keys on the table and walked down the hallway and appeared in the living room. He made a beeline to the couch and sat down next to her, "Hey, how did it go?" She asked, passing him a beer.

He took a sip of his beer and smiled, "It actually went okay. I felt much more prepared for the things that I was probably going to here tonight. I think I am finally in a place where I can talk to people who went through the same things I did without it being such a huge trigger. Sure, it wasn't easy for me, but I'm okay."

"I'm so proud of you," She whispered as she leant in to kiss his cheek. "The pizza has just been re-heated if you're hungry."

"You know the way to my heart! I'm starving," He replied, grabbing a piece of pizza and taking a bite. "God this is good. What made you get pizza?"

"I couldn't be bothered cooking and Will offered to pay so you know me, I can't turn down a free meal," She laughed. She handed him the remote and told him to put on what he wanted. He immediately put on a documentary he had been excited to watch on Lemur gangs. The first episode had aired this week and he had been excited to watch it. Erin was happy, she knew that Jay was definitely okay and not lying about being okay as he was sat with her, eating food and watching a cool documentary he had been excited about. She knew if he had not been okay after the meeting, he would've come in, gone straight for a shower and not eaten. He probably wouldn't have spoke to her either - but she was glad that he was here with her. Once it finished, she turned to him, "I'm going to turn in. You coming?"

He shook his head, "I'm just going to get a quick shower and then I'll join you," He replied.

"Good, because you keep me warm," She teased.

"Just using me for my body heat? I thought you kept me around for my rugged good looks and razor sharp mind," He whispered, leaving a kiss below her ear.

"Whatever mr function over form. I'm going to bed," She laughed before getting up and going into their room. She heard him chuckle and he began moving around, quickly washing dishes (she couldn't understand his need to have them all done before bed), and then turning lights out and making his way into their room before going into the bathroom to shower.

When Jay got out the shower, he saw that Erin seemed to be dead to the world. He smiled at her and then walked around the bed to get in on his side. She must've sensed his presence as she momentarily woke up and rolled over so she could snuggle into his side, placing her leg in-between both of his and resting her head on his chest. People would never believe him if he told them that Erin was a snuggler. She had tried to say she was missing her pillows (it had been a week) but within two weeks of putting the pillow barrier between them, she ended up throwing it off the bed. She claimed that with him in the bed and the added pillows she felt suffocated, but he knew that she really just missed her cuddles. She still slept with two pillows on the other side of her for when she did roll away in the night, because she found she couldn't sleep without them. He wasn't too bothered about the pillow wall, it really didn't bother him although he wished he had put a bet on how long it would take to lose it, because he knew she couldn't resist his body (for heat purposes, she claims). He did not mind it one bit, because having her close usually helped him feel grounded.


It was 03:57 and a phone rang, Jay opened his eye and saw that Erin hadn't budged. His phone was on her bedside cabinet as well as hers, so Jay reached over Erin and picked up the ringing phone, "Halstead," He said, sleepily.

"I thought I rang Lindsay?" He heard the voice say. He was about to reply when he spoke again, "It doesn't matter. We got a body. I need you both to meet us down at Lincoln Park. North side, you'll see the squad cars."

"Okay, we will be there ASAP," Jay replied. Once he put the phone down, he turned his bedside lamp on and shook Erin awake. "Babe, we need to get up, we got a case."

Erin groaned, "What time is it?" She mumbled.

"Just gone four in the morning," He replied.

She just groaned again, and sat up, "Why can't these things happen in the day time!"

"I don't know babe. I'll quickly throw some clothes on and then go and make us some coffee. I got the pot ready to go before I came to bed," He told her as he got out of bed and grabbing the first set of clothes that he came across. He threw his clothes on and went to go start making coffee.

As he entered the kitchen, he put the light on and turned on the coffee maker. He grabbed two thermos' and got everything he needed to make their coffees. As he was waiting for the pot to brew, he was checking his phone and saw that the news had already let out that a body had been found 'great. We are going to have to battle through loads of reporters.' he thought.

"Hey little brother, what are you doing up?" Will asked, walking into the kitchen wearing his pjs.

Jay jumped, not expecting him to be up, "Caught a case, why are you?"

"Got a 5am start so need to get ready. What's the case?" He asked, while putting water in the kettle so he could make himself a cup of tea.

"Don't know. All we know is there is a body in Lincoln park. News are already reporting it so no doubt it'll make our job 10x harder," Jay grumbled as he began pouring the coffee into his and Erin's cups.

"Ouch sounds like that's going to be fun," Will replied, setting up his mug ready.

"We have no idea what's happened yet, so I don't even know if it's going to be a long case or a short one. I have no idea when we will be home either. I hope it's going to be a quick solve."

Erin joined them in the kitchen, groaning as she walked. She placed her arms around Jay's waist and rest her head on his back, "I need coffee."

Jay chuckled and turned around in her arms in order to pass her the coffee he had just made.

"Wow you're not a morning person are you?" Will laughed, seeing how Erin was like a zombie.

She sent him a glare and grumbled something that Will assumed to be less than polite. He just laughed and made his tea, "Okay guys. I need to go and get ready. I'll see you when I see you."

"Cya Will," Jay replied, and Erin just mumbled something along those lines causing the brothers to both laugh at her in this state. Once Will had left, Jay kissed Erin's forehead and turned her around, pushing her towards the hallway so they could get ready and go.


They had spent two hours at the crime scene, trying to figure out what had gone down. They had found the guys wallet on the floor half a mile away from the crime scene. Matthew Jones, seemed to have been out for a run and hit over the head with a rock. Matthew was wearing dog tags which immediately informed the team of his the army background. Jay had taken the dog tags off of Matthew and put them in an evidence bag, so they could take it back to the precinct and find out who Matthew was so they could inform his next of kin. Voight sent Halstead and Lindsay to inform his wife.

The drive over to Mathew's house had been mainly silent, Erin knew that the army element of this case was probably putting Jay on edge. Jay always hated notifying the next of kin, regardless of whether there was any army connections - it was one of the most heartbreaking things of the job. But it had to be done and unfortunately, he was experienced in notifying people of their love one's deaths.

"You okay, babe?" Erin asked, softly, reaching her hand over the arm rest to squeeze his arm.

He nodded, "Yeah, I'm fine. I just hope this case is an 'easy' solve. There's nothing worse than not knowing what's happened to a loved one. Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm good. Just tired after our early get up," She replied. "So, I talked to Will last night and I don't think it's going to go well between him and Nina."

Jay could tell she was trying to take his mind off of the notification and appreciated that. "What? Why?"

"It just seems that she's insecure. Your brother loves her, no doubt about that. But I don't think she can get over Natalie and Will being friends."

"But Will does like Natalie, right? I mean he was hung up on her for over a year… there has to be something there?" Jay asked.

"Nope. He told me that she hurt him a lot last year, and that he just doesn't want to be with her. Besides, she's seeing someone. I believe him when he says he's not interested in Natalie like he used to. He's going to talk to Nina again next week and see where they go from there. I said he can stay as long as he wants," She informed him.

"As long as he doesn't end up being our lodger for the next twenty years, we will be fine," He teased.

Erin's heart skipped a beat at him saying 'next twenty years'. Sure, they had talked about the future a bit, and they both knew that they were in this for the long haul. This however, was the first time since he had come home and it made her day. As they pulled up to Matthew's house to inform his wife of his passing, Erin squeezed Jay's arm one last time before they both got out of the car and walked up to Sarah's door. Erin knocked and waited for her to answer. Once the door was opened, Sarah took in the two detectives and immediately knew that something bad had happened. "Mrs. Jones, I'm detective Halstead and this is my partner Detective Lindsay, may we come in for a moment?" Jay introduced themselves, hoping they could take it inside, knowing that they were delivering some bad news.

"He's finally done it, hasn't he?" She cried, "He's finally killed himself!"

Erin and Jay looked at one another, and Jay tipped his head slightly to tell her that he would take this, "Mrs. Jones, I'm sorry but we found your husbands body this morning. Can we come inside so we can talk about this some more?"

She nodded, wiping the tears that were already streaming from her eyes and took them into the living room. "So, what happened?" She asked.

"We have reason to believe that your husband was killed. He didn't take his own life. I'm sorry to have to ask you this, but do you know anyone that may have had it in for him?"

"Wha-? You think he was killed? He didn't do this to himself?" She was definitely surprised at what Jay had just told her.

"No, he didn't. We are sorry to have to be the ones to tell you. What made you think he was suicidal?"

She sighed, "He's been off. His last tour was awful, he was the lone survivor of his unit. He had become extremely unwell and ended up rushed into surgery with a ruptured appendix. The next day, while Matty was in surgery, his team were on a mission and were ambushed. Not one of them made it out alive. Matty blamed himself, he faced all the families of the friends he lost, and attended each funeral. He was broken, constantly thinking he shouldn't be here, he should've been with them. He felt that if he had been there, he may have saved them. Or at least, if he had died, he wouldn't've been the one man left behind. It was extremely tough for him coming home, the PTSD and the nightmares about the things he saw and even the things he didn't see. I thought he was getting better, but the past two weeks he has been withdrawn and jumpy. Just like he used to get when his PTSD was at his worst. He went out for a run last night to clear his mind and when he didn't come back… I was worried. I should've called the police, but it has only been 12 hours and I know they won't do anything until 24."

"I'm sorry that you two have been through so much," Erin said when she saw that Jay was trying his hardest to keep a calm demeanour. Some of the story had obviously resonated with him, but Erin didn't know how much. "Mrs Jones, do you have any idea who could've done this?" She asked.

She shook her head, "No I don't, and please call me Jenny."

"I'm sorry to ask, but do you mind us taking a look through Matthew's things? To see if there is any information or clues as to what was going on?"

"No, of course not. Go ahead, his office is through there," She said, sniffling. Still in shock that her husband had died. Erin decided to stay with Jenny while Jay went and looked for evidence in Matty's office.

"I'm so sorry for your loss, is there anything we can do? Call someone for you?" Erin asked as she went and sat next to Jenny.

"It's okay, I'll call my mom and Matty's parents. Oh god, I need to tell his parents! They're going to be heartbroken, he was their only son," She wiped her eyes. Erin sat with Jenny for a while and she heard some stories about Matty and how much of a lovely man he was. Jay had found nothing relevant in the office, but bagged up Matty's laptop after he asked Jenny's permission. They stayed with her until her mom could get to her house, so she would not be on her own. She was devastated, she said she had almost expected she would get a call that he had killed himself one day. But to find out that he had been murdered? That was the most shocking thing she had ever heard. Once a Jenny's mom had got there, Erin and jay both left, after giving Jenny their details so she could contact them if she had any more information or any questions.

Jay got in the drivers side and waited for Erin to get in. Once she got her seatbelt on he set off. He had been understandably quiet and Erin could see his mind was going round in circles, "Are you okay?" She asked, cautiously, not wanting to be too overbearing but also wanting him to know that he can talk to her.

"Yeah, I'm alright. I just feel for him and whatever he must've been going through. It was bad enough when I lost six members of the unit over the years and afterwards. But to be the lone survivor because of something as stupid as appendicitis? I honestly don't know how that would make me feel. The fact Jenny had been preparing herself for being told he had killed himself was just heartbreaking to hear. I mean, I'm sure a lot of veterans wives and families have the same thoughts sometimes, but hearing it wasn't nice. PTSD is a bitch, it really is. But I'm okay, I promise."

"Just say if you're not. At anytime if you need to take a break, just do it. Look after yourself first. I've always got your back," she replied, reaching over and squeezing his arm. "We will get whoever did this and get justice."

"Thank you. I appreciate it so much," he said as they pulled up into the car park at the precinct.

Once back up to the bullpen, the team all met and discussed what they had found out. Kevin and Adam had gone to Matty's workplace and they had all said that he had been acting odd the past few days. "… They said that this man visited him, which was the catalyst in his behaviour change. After the visit, he changed completely. They don't know who the man was, and there is no CCTV footage of whoever it is. That's all we got," Kevin said to the team.

"His wife said something similar, about how he'd been acting strange for a while. She was convinced we were there to tell her it was a suicide. She has no idea who has done this," Erin shared the intel she and Jay had gathered.

"She- uh, She uhh told us that he was a lone survivor in his unit. He had been taken away for emergency surgery the day before his team got ambushed…" Jay began before Alvin interrupted.

"You think someone from his old unit's family could've done this?" He asked, knowing himself where this line of thinking was possibly taking Jay.

"I mean, it's possible. Over the years, I came face to face with many angry, upset and heartbroken family members of the people in my unit who didn't make it home. It can be hard, for their families to come face to face with people who made it out of there alive when their loved ones didn't make it home," He said, "I mean, I hope I'm wrong but…"

"Alright, Ruzek and Dawson, you two find out who was in Matthew's unit. Burgess and Atwater, you two go back to his house, speak to his wife again now she has had some time to process. See if you can speak to him also. Lindsay, Halstead I want you two to go through his Laptop down in the mouse hole and see if there is anything on there you can get. Olinsky and I will go to the morgue and ask the coroner for any information regarding his death." Voight instructed and everyone got to work straight away.


Down in the Mouse Hole, Jay sat down on Mouse's old computer chair and Erin bought a chair next to him, "So, do you really think it's a family member of one of his unit?"

"I mean, it's possible. Like I said to the guys, I've talked with a few disgruntled family members over the years, and I saw how angry and upset they were. He's been home what? A year? She said he was getting better but something, someone obviously triggered him," He said, as the laptop came to life on the big screens in front of them. "Hey, look here. Emails from an anonymous account - threats, insults and harassment. This one is telling him that he should've died with all the other men in his unit. That he was a coward. Wow, there are hundreds of emails in the past month. I'll try and see if I can get an IP address."

"I'll have a look through his financials, see if there is anything fishy there," She told him and he nodded as he got to work on his task.

"Okay, so it seems they were sent from the 24/7 library which is close to where Matty worked. I'll call Voight, see what he wants us to do," He said once he finally got the location of the computer where the emails were sent from. He picked up his phone and dialled Voight's number and waited for him to answer the phone. "Hey Sarge, I got something. He has been getting threatening emails over the past couple of weeks. We have found where the emails were sent from, downside is, it's the public library near where Matty worked. What do you want us to do?"

"You and Lindsay go down to the library, see if you can ask nicely and get the records of who accessed the computers. Once you get the records, check in with Ruzek and Dawson to see if any of the names match up with any of the members of the unit," Voight instructed.

"Got it. We'll head out now and check back in when we get anything," Jay replied and shut his phone off. He turned to Erin and relayed the instructions he was given and they both quickly went and grabbed their jackets and made their way down to the library.

Thankfully the staff at the library had been more than willing to cooperate which was easier than having to get a warrant, and quicker too. They pulled the records and allowed Jay and Erin to cross-reference the dates and times the emails were sent and the pair quickly found the account of the culprit. Margret Sexton. Once they got the name, they informed the team and made their way back to the precinct.

"Unless a 87 year old dead woman did this, I'm guessing someone is using her library card," Antonio mused.

"No shit Sherlock," Adam shook his head, "Thing is, there's no one with the last name sexton in Matty's team record. It's probably a grandmother or mother. We need to look into the wider families of these men to see if it matches up to anyone.

"All of you take one guy from the unit each," Voight told them all. "Try and find out if this Margret Sexton has any relation whatsoever to any of these men. If she doesn't, then we are back at the beginning. Let me know when you've found anything." He said, turning around and shutting the door to his office.

Kevin had just made coffee, so everyone quickly made themselves a cup before getting back to work on the investigation. It was now 15:40, so they had been working almost 12 hours straight. It had been a long day so far but thankfully, with Jay's insight into possible suspects, the team had a starting point.

"I've got something," Erin notified the team and they all looked up, expectingly. "Okay, so one of Matty's team was called Peter Logan. He was an only child. But he had a cousin, who was a similar age. He's called James Logan. His uncle, was Peter's dad. James' mom, Susan Logan's maiden name was Sexton. I think we have our link. Her mom, Margret, died about two months ago. James works at the diner across the street from the library."

"Good work, Dawson, Ruzek, go pick him up. Let's see if we can get him to talk without the need for a warrant. Hopefully this guy will tell us what we want to know and this case will be over and done with. Pray for him to be stupid," Voight said, and informed the rest of them to look into James Logan's background to get any bit of useful information they can.


James was sitting in the interrogation room, Hank, Jay, Erin and Al were all stood behind the glass, observing him. He didn't seem worried one bit, he had happily said yes to an interview to explain his whereabouts on the night that Matty was murdered. Hank and Al took the interview, James just answered calmly and claimed he had no idea about why he could be here.

"So, you don't know a Matthew Jones?" Al asked, after James had deflected yet another question.

"No, I have no idea who you're talking about," James replied smoothly. Well, he thought he was smooth. But the detectives had noticed a slight shift in his posture.

"He was in your cousin Peter's unit in the Army. He was the lone survivor…" Hank began to tell him before James erupted.

"HE WAS NOT THE LONE SURVIVOR! HE WAS A COWARD! HE SHOULD'VE STAYED WITH THE TEAM AND NOT LEAVE THEM! IF HE HAD BEEN THERE, THEN PETER MAY STILL BE HERE!" He yelled, wanting to get his feelings clearly known.

"I thought you said you didn't know him?" Hank asked, sitting back in his chair and looking the young man dead in the eye.

"I- uh, I don't know him. At least not personally… he was in Peter's unit and everyone acted like he was a hero - he wasn't. He wasn't with them that day. Now, why am I here?"

"Where Were you last night, James?" Al questioned.

"I was at my friend Sarah's house. Why do you want to know? What does this have to do with Matthew?"

"Well, Matthew was found murdered last night," Al informed him.

"I didn't do it, I didn't do it!" James protested.

"We didn't say you did. But we do know that you have been using your grandma Margret's library card to access the computers at the public library. And we do know that you have been sending him threatening emails on your grandma's library account."

"No, that wasn't me," James replied. "You have no proof it was me. That library doesn't have CC…"

"Oh what was that? The library doesn't have what? CCTV? Wow you are clever. Knowing the inner workings of a library that you claim not to use… Now, are you sure you don't want to change your statement?" Al asked, seeing that James was cracking.

"I want my lawyer."

"You're not under arrest, James. You're free to leave whenever you want," Hank said, sitting forward and resting his arms on the desk. "Why would you need a lawyer if you have nothing to hide?"

"I know that you're trying to pin this on me. That's why I wanted my lawyer. But if I'm not under arrest, I'll just get out of your hair," James said, suddenly seeming confident once again. Al stood up and showed him out while Hank went and met Erin and Jay who had been watching.

"He definitely did it," Jay said to Hank as he left the interrogation room. "The way he was talking about Matthew, you can just tell he hates him for 'surviving'."

"Yeah, he did it," Hank replied. "I'm hoping Al is going to get Sarah's name. If not, I'm sure we can find out who she is."

"Sarah Rodgers," Al said to the guys as he walked back in. "I just asked him who she was, just incase we needed to collaborate our stories."

"He's probably going to get her to cover for him, we need to find evidence of Sarah not being with him. We already know that when we go and speak to her, she will most likely back him up. We need to proof she wasn't with him last night. Can you two go and look her up?"

Erin and Jay nodded and went off to the mouse hole to do some research on this Sarah.


"You ok?" Erin asked, as they made them self comfortable at the desk.

"I'm fine. I'd be better if you stopped asking all the time," He replied, a shortly. He just wanted to get James for the crime. He wanted it to be over quicker so they could get justice for Matty. Being in Mouse's room in the district wasn't helping things either. He missed his friend and was always worrying about what he was doing and where he was. Having a case reminding him of what people in the military go through was rough. He knew he was taking his frustrations out on Erin, but he couldn't keep going over how he was feeling, because then he wouldn't be fine.

Erin sighed, she knew that he wasn't fine, but she also knew not to push. She began bringing up Sarah's records and started combing through them. She was the first to break the silence, "Okay, so she works at a posh hotel in the centre, I'll write that down incase we need to talk to her bosses to verify her story."

"Hopefully we can get it figured out. I think we are going to have to get a warrant for his arrest you know? He just seemed extremely cocky once he told us he had an alibi. God the way he talked about Matty was just… awful. Just because he didn't die with his team in that ambush, he still went to war and probably saw a lot of shit. On top of everything he saw, he was probably struggling with survivor's guilt. So James saying all that about him was just wrong. And gives us a strong reason to believe he was the one who has killed him - not just sent the emails."

"We'll get him. Come on, it's getting late. Let's go and see what the others have done," She suggested and he nodded, getting up and making his way up to the bullpen.

After re-grouping in the bullpen, they put together all the evidence that they had gathered on Matty's murder. The coroner had found a partial print on the murder weapon. They needed to get a warrant for James' arrest, and so they could search his home for any more concrete evidence.

"Okay everyone. Go home for tonight, get some sleep and be here at 7 in the morning. We need to go straight to the judge and get him to sign the warrant. See you all in the morning."

Seeing as it was close to ten at night, the team were all exhausted after their early start. This was apparent by the lack of "Molly's" asked by one of them and them all agreeing. Everyone was eager to get home, eat something quickly and get some sleep.


Jay opened the door to the apartment, kicking off his boots and lining them up next to their other shoes. He shook off his jacket and took the pizza that Erin was carrying so she could do the same. They both quickly ate before showering and getting into bed. Erin was expecting Jay not to come to bed, but to her surprise, he got in behind her and pulled her close to him, so his chest was flush with her back. He placed a kiss on her neck and whispered, "I love you. Sorry for being iffy today, I shouldn't've taken it out on you."

She moved her hand to take his and squeezed it, "Love you too. Don't worry about it, I get it. You can talk to me, you know that?"

"I know. Sometimes I just don't know how I feel and I get a bit too in my own head. It's just hearing some of those things today can bring back feelings from before. I'm okay though, I promise. I'm sorry for being an ass."

"You were an ass, but I understand. I know when cases hit too close to home, I can also be an ass, I get it. Just don't bottle it all up and let it fester. I'll be here whenever you need a chat about anything. Look after yourself," She whispered.

"I will, I promise," He replied, placing one last kiss on the back of her head before settling back down on her pillow. "Good night."

"Night," she murmured before succumbing to sleep.


The next morning, they both got up, ate some breakfast and got ready to go to work. Jay had slept relatively well, not needing to retreat to the living room for mindless documentaries to put him to sleep. He knew he needed to keep his head in the game and not let what had happened to Matty get to him. He just hoped they could get him the justice that he deserved. After presenting the evidence to a judge, they got the warrants signed off. Jay and Erin had been given the task to go and talk to Sarah, and ask her whether she was with James the night of Matty's murder. They pulled up to her apartment building and went inside to knock on her door. They waited until she answered, "Hello, can I help you?"

Erin showed Sarah her badge, "Detective Lindsay, and this is my partner, Detective Halstead. Can we come in and ask a couple of questions."

Sarah nodded, "Yes of course. Come in. May I ask what this is about?"

Erin sat down on the sofa next to Jay, as Sarah sat in the arm chair, "James Logan, how well do you know him?"

"He's my best friend, why?"

"We have reason to believe he was involved with a murder, someone that his cousin knew. Can you please tell us where you were Wednesday night?"

"Uhm, I was with James. We stayed here all night and watched TV," She replied, but was clearly uneasy. Jay and Erin could tell she was lying.

"So you were here all night?" Jay asked and Sarah nodded.

"You didn't go anywhere at all?" Erin asked, once again.

She shook her head, "No, we were here all night."

"So, if we, oh, I don't know, called your boss at the hotel… He would say that you weren't working that night?" Erin said, looking at her.

Sarah's eyes widened, she knew she was busted. James had told her just to tell the police that he was with her all night, and they'd leave it at that. She knew she shouldn't have trusted him, but he was her friend. "Okay, okay. He wasn't here all night…"

"You know lying to the police and perverting the course of justice carries prison time, right? Especially if you try and help in covering up a murder," Jay said directly.

"I'm sorry. James came here last night, worrying that because he didn't have an alibi, that you all wouldn't believe him. He told me just to say that he was here. I know it was wrong, but he is my best friend."

"Okay, let's start from the beginning. So you had no contact with him on Wednesday?" Erin asked.

"No, I didn't. We didn't even message, I was doing an afternoon and night shift. I needed the money. I barely had time to sit down and drink, let alone check my phone. We were run busy."

"Have you noticed a change in James lately?" Jay questioned, to see if they could get any more information.

She nodded, "Yeah, he's had a rough year. His cousin, Peter, was killed over in Afghanistan about a year ago. He and Peter were extremely close. Then his grandma died a couple of months ago, and he just seemed to change completely. It has been really hard for him dealing with it all. Which is understandable, as losing two family members who you were pretty close to in the space of a year is really tough."

Jay nodded, understanding that this kind of situation would be tough for anyone, "Did he ever mention a Matthew Jones to you?"

"He's that soldier who was killed the other night wasn't he?" She asked, and Erin and Jay both nodded to confirm. "Yeah, Matthew was in Peter's unit in the army. I don't really know what happened as I didn't want to ask. James mentioned him a couple of times, saying how he was lucky he managed to survive. How he didn't deserve the hero's welcome he was getting because he wasn't even there when the rest of the unit were killed. I tried to tell him that Matthew still went through what Peter went through, and has to come home, knowing what had happened to his unit. I told him that wouldn't be easy for him, but he would'nt have any of it."

Jay's phone broke the conversation, and he quickly answered it after seeing Voight was calling. He took himself into the other room so he could hear what Voight was saying, and relay the information they got from Sarah.

When he walked back into the room Erin and Sarah were waiting on him. "So, they have just bought him in. They found bloody clothes hidden under the floorboards of his bedroom."

"Wow. I didn't actually believe he would do something like this. Like I said, I know he has been struggling lately, but I didn't think that he would murder someone. I'm sorry I lied… Are you going to arrest me too?"

Erin could've laughed at how scared Sarah looked, but she didn't. "No, we aren't. Just take this as a warning not to lie to the police in future. As far as we are concerned, you gave us your full cooperation in the matter. Can I take a number from you just incase we need to contact you again?" Sarah quickly gave Erin and Jay her number before they left and made their way back to the station.


They entered the bullpen and saw that only Antonio and Adam were there, "Kim and Kev have gone to take the evidence to get tested against James' and Matty's DNA. Voight and Al are in the interrogation room with him now. I think they'll get him to confess. He's not as cocky as he was yesterday. Once Voight started talking about DNA analysis, he stopped talking all together. His lawyer is a bit of a twat, but you know Voight. He will get anyone to confess. What did the friend say?"

"She just said that she wasn't with him, once she realised that she could get in serious trouble for lying," Erin replied. "She said that he had been off since his grandma died, I think him losing two people in a similar time frame has just got to him. He lost it and just lashed out. He blames Matty for Peter's death, or he at least wishes that Matty was dead too. Just like his cousin."

"Okay, go and watch the interrogation. I'm sure you can go in and tell Voight about his alibi," Antonio said and Erin nodded and made her way into the observation room.

Jay walked in five minutes later and handed her a mug of coffee, she smiled and thanked him before taking a small sip. They sat watching as Voight was running rings around James, trying to get him to just confess. When James finally mentioned that he had an alibi in Sarah, Erin took that as her queue to walk in. She knocked on the door and peeked in and nodded for Al or Hank to come and speak to her outside. She informed Hank of everything that Sarah had said, and basically provided him with the information that James had no alibi at the time of the murder. Hank returned to the interrogation room and sat across from James. "So James. My detective has just told me that they have been to speak to Sarah. She informed them that she was at work the night in question and that she hasn't seen you since Monday. Care to clear this up?"

James knew he was busted, "Oh yeah. Sorry, I said I was with Sarah but I was with her Monday. I just got my days mixed up."

There was another knock on the door, this time it was Kevin and he nodded to Voight, indicating that the DNA on James' bloody clothes matched Matty's. He handed Voight the report and swiftly left the interrogation room. Voight took his time reading the report, wanting to see James squirm. He passed Al the case file and let him have a read. Once Al was finished, James was a mess. He had a thin layer of sweat covering his forehead and his leg was bouncing (though he was trying to make it less obvious but it wasn't working).

After another hour of discussions, they finally got the confession. James finally admitted to killing Matthew after he just couldn't lie anymore. Voight and Al had worked together and not given James a chance to really think of another story as they just kept asking question after question until he finally cracked. He admitted to following Matty that night, wanting to confront him. Things had got out of hand when Matty denied causing the deaths of the rest of his team (which he had no part in). Matty had argued just because he wasn't there that day, it didn't mean he was not going through the PTSD and trauma that the war had caused. That was when James lost it, and grabbed a rock and cracked him over the head with it. When he realised what he had done, he panicked and ran, leaving him there to die. He was booked and taken to jail where he would remain until his bail hearing. After another long day, the team were all exhausted. They had managed to get a start on their paperwork, but it wasn't getting done. Voight got a phone call from the coroner, saying that Matty's belongings were ready for collection. He sent Jay and Erin to go and collect them, so they could take them to his wife and let her know of today's success in catching her husband's killer. Due to Voight saying they could go home once they had done this, Erin drove her car over to Sarah's home, while Jay was sat in the passenger seat, holding Matty's belongings. Most notably, the dog tags that he had no doubt worn round his neck since he received them. He smiled, remembering where his own dog tags were currently. Round the love of his life's neck - so that he is always with her. He just hoped that having Matty's things could bring some comfort to Jenny. As they parked up in front of Sarah's home, the pair of them walked up to the front door and knocked. Sarah answered the door and stared at the bag that was in Jay's hand. She invited them in and they sat in the living room.

"Hey, Jenny. We have some news. We caught the man who did this to your husband. We have airtight evidence against him, so he will be going to jail for a very long time," Jay explained. "I have Matty's belongings here with me. They belong to you, I knew you would want them here."

She took the bag that Jay handed her, and took out the dog tags. That was when the tears came. Matty was dead and he wasn't coming back. Jay and Erin spent an hour talking with her, and made sure that she was okay before they finally left once her parents had come round to be with her. They reminded her that she could call anytime, and once again that if she had any questions, she could contact them. Sarah couldn't thank them enough for helping catch Matty's killer once more.


After getting home themselves three quarters of an hour later, Jay and Erin were understandably exhausted. They walked in their apartment at around 21:00 and Jay was about to go and start cooking a quick dinner for the pair of them when they saw that Will was on the couch, eating a bowl of mac and cheese with some garlic bread. "Hey, I know you've both had a rough couple of days, so when I got home, I made a huge dish of mac and cheese. Nana Halstead's recipe, too. It's in the oven keeping warm," He said, seeing that they were both beat.

"Thank you, Will. That means a lot," Erin replied, walking into the kitchen. She had told Jay to sit down while she dished it out, knowing that he was completely wiped.

"No problem. You were both out before I even got home this morning, so I guessed it had been a bad one," He said and Jay just nodded.

"So, nana Halstead's recipe. I still can't believe she gave you the recipe. She always did like you better," Jay laughed.

"She did, but you've got to admit, mom and Nana Murphy both loved you more, so I kind of deserved one nana's love," Will teased.

"She only loved you because you were the "smart" one, who wanted to be a doctor. And because you and dad were close," Jay replied.

"Yeah, well, you got Nana Murphy's stew recipes, so I think we are even," Will laughed and so did Jay.

Once Erin joined them both on the couch, the three of them ate while watching the game. Erin really enjoyed watching Will and Jay's banter. It was really nice that the two brothers were close again. From what Erin had gathered they have never been as close as they are now so it was really nice to see. After another twenty minutes, Erin excused herself to go to bed. She kissed Jay before saying good night to the pair of them.

"How are you doing, man?" Will asked once they were alone.

"I'm good, just taking it one day at a time. A military case isn't always easy, hearing some of the stories from the victim's wife bought back a few memories. But, I am okay. I'm in a much better place recently so I think I'm going to be fine," He replied. "So, how are you?"

Will just shrugged, "I honestly don't really know what's going on to be honest. Nina says she loves me one minute, then says she needs time. She saw me and Natalie talking today - but it was only because we were working on two people from the same family with similar problems. We were trying to work out what was going on. They had a dodgey boiler and both suffered from carbon monoxide poisoning. But as they both came in unconscious, we didn't have much to go off. I tried telling Nina this, but she just didn't want to listen. I actually think this is going to be it for us," He sighed, putting his face in his hands.

"I'm sorry man. I know how much you love her. I think you just need to give it some time and talk to her in a couple of days. You can stay here as long as you need, don't stress about getting out of our hair," Jay told him - relaying a conversation that he and Erin had earlier in the week.

"Thanks man, I appreciate it," Will replied. "You're a pretty decent little brother, you know that?"

Jay grinned, "I mean, I have been told similar once or twice."

Will just rolled his eyes and laughed, "Whatever you say. Right, I'm going to go and get some sleep, it's been a tiring couple of days."

"Alright, goodnight," Jay replied as Will went off to his bedroom at the other end of the apartment, leaving him to sit and watch whatever he wanted. He put on an episode of monkey life, to try and unwind after the past couple of days. He felt that he had coped better than he would've a few months ago, which goes to show that his therapy and being more open and honest with those he loved were helping. He still had a lot of stuff in his head he had to get around, but he was slowly getting through it. His group meeting the other night had been a lot easier than he expected it to be, he actually found now that he was in the right headspace, he was able to listen and talk to some of the men about some of the things they had been through. He hadn't shared anything this week, but he found that being able to give some advice to younger men who had been through similar situations made him feel like he was doing something to help them. After two episodes of the monkey documentary, he turned the television and all the lights off before going through to the bedroom. After quickly doing his teeth and undressing, he crawled into bed beside Erin, who immediately rolled over and snuggled into his side while half asleep. He placed a kiss to her head before he let himself fall asleep.


With the case being closed yesterday, today was a day to finish up all the paperwork they had and to make sure the case was airtight against James. After coming in earlier than usual, Jay was sat on Erin's desk and she had her legs up next to him. There was something she had wanted to talk to him about for the last couple of days, especially seeing how this case had effected him.

"So, I was thinking…" She started.

"Uh-oh that doesn't sound good," Jay teased and she just rolled her eyes.

"Do you want to know?" She asked, with a pointed look and he nodded for her to carry on. "So anyway, I was thinking, we should spend the forth of July weekend up at the cabin. I know you're going to struggle this year with the fireworks more so than you have in previous years. The cabin is peaceful and I know we always go at new years and we have wanted to go for the fourth too, but we have always been on call. I checked and Intelligence are not on call this year and we can give the picnic a miss. So, what do you think?"

Jay's face lit up, he too had been a little worried about how he would cope this year, knowing that his PTSD had caused issues for him if he hears anything while sleeping. He hadn't realised that intelligence were not on call, so hadn't mentioned it. God he loved this woman sitting in front of him. She really was the best thing that had ever happened to him. "You know, that sounds absolutely amazing. I love you," he replied, grinning ear to ear. He and Erin had been in their own little world, that they hadn't noticed that the gate at the stairs had opened and that Platt had led a visitor up.

"Hey Halstead. Less of the lovey dovey here please. You have a visitor," Platt barked at his back, causing him to jump off Erin's desk and turn around.

Once he took in his surroundings, he saw someone who he least expected to see stood next to Platt, and they did not look happy, "Ally? What are you doing here?"

AN: Jesus christ this took a long time to write! Bit it's finally doner and I'm finally getting to the storyline I've had planned since like before I wrote most of the previous chapters. I hte writing case stuff, so that took such a long time but I'm just glad it's done now lol. But - why is Ally there? Hmmm *Eastenders Duff Duff ending*. I'm starting on the boy next door chapter tomorrow so hoping to have an update for that in the next week. Let me know what you thought :)

p.s excuse any grammar mistakes. reading 10k words over and over that you've been writing for 3 weeks took its toll on my poor little dyslexic brain lmao.