The wedding has started. Erin is standing to the right of the bride. Clara is standing to the right of Erin. Clark's two groomsmen are standing to his left. As the minister begins the ceremony, Erin surveys the crowd. Her mother and Landon are present in the third row. Clark's parents, cousins, aunts, uncles and extended family members are sprinkled throughout the church. She sees Jay, sitting in the second row on the bride's side. Burgess, Ruzek, Voight, Lexi and Olinsky are in the same row as him. The group watches intently as Annie first stated her vows and Clark followed with his. Annie's son was Clark's best man. He watched his mother proudly and felt joy in his heart knowing that she was truly happy. The wedding goes by in a blur. One second Erin's glancing at Jay and the next she hears clapping, and sees the guests of the wedding rise to their feet. Clark has Annie in his arms and the newly married couple pulls away after their signifying kiss. Her closest childhood friend was now happily married.
The wedding party is cheering happily. Annie and Clark are facing the crowd and she's blushing intensely. Yesterday and this morning was the busiest point in her life. She wanted to make sure everything was perfect. She didn't want anything out of place…and if there was something wrong, Erin fixed it without her knowledge. Annie didn't want a bachelorette party. She just wanted to spend girl time with Erin and Clara.
"We're supposed to head into the banquet room for the reception." She hears Clara whisper into her ear. Erin needed to get a grip. She wasn't focused. Annie deserved her undivided attention.
The groomsmen are introduced followed by the bridesmaids and then ending on the newly married couple. Annie and Clark are sitting in the center with their wedding party sitting around them. The food is served. The music is playing softly in the background. Erin wants to wait to eat. She didn't want to stand in the long line of hungry people.
"You look beautiful. Purple is definitely your color."
"You really think so?" She looks up to be met with Landon's eyes, "…maybe if it was darker, but this shade of purple is so light. That's not me." She shrugs, "I'm only wearing it for Annie."
"You're not hungry?"
She stares forward and sees Burgess nudging Jay in her direction. She didn't want him to come speak to her unless he wanted to. She didn't want for anyone to force someone to do something they didn't want to do.
"Yeah, I was just going to let the line go down some."
"I can make you a plate. I know what you like."
Erin glances up at him, "You would do that?"
"Of course." He squeezes her shoulder gently, "I would do anything for you." Landon gives her a wink of the eye as he makes his way towards the long line.
It's the reception. She doesn't remember the last time she attended a wedding. Was it hers? Was it Burgess and Ruzek's wedding? She didn't know. She felt uncomfortable. She felt her attention being pulled in all different directions. Lindsay sees Clark's family in the line, chuckling and posing for pictures. She watches Annie and Travis join them. For some odd reason, she didn't feel like she belonged. Erin knew Annie longer than anyone in the room, but that wasn't enough. Her closest friend was moving on with her life, but mentally, Erin was stuck. She was stuck trying to scrape together as many memories as she can. Tomorrow Annie and Clark are leaving for their weeklong honeymoon.
Erin sees Jay finally give in to Burgess and begin walking in her direction. Before he could approach her, she rises to her feet and walks off. If he wanted to talk to her, he shouldn't have needed Burgess to give him a push. Lindsay approaches the family of Clark and now Annie, "Hey." Annie's eyes grow wide in excitement.
"Oh good, you came over!" Annie takes a hold of her friend's hand, "I want you in the photos too Erin. Come on," she wraps her arm around Lindsay's waist, "We'll get one of just us, and then one of us with everyone else…oh, and I also want one with you and Travis."
As she smiles for the various flashing cameras, Lindsay notices Jay in her peripheral vision. He's watching her. He feels left out. He glances at Bunny and notices her watching him, completely amused. He hated that woman. Halstead turned and walked back to Burgess and Ruzek.
"I'm sorry Jay," Burgess sighs, as he took a hold of his seat, "just look at the bright side though, today or tomorrow she's moving back in with you."
"You're right," he agrees. He had completely forgotten the promise Erin made to him. Jay could watch her socialize with everyone because at the end of the day, she was coming back to him.
"Hey Erin," he hears Landon shout her name from the opposite side of the banquet room. He's holding two full plates in his hand, "You recognize this song?" He sits the plates down at her table, "We have to dance."
Lindsay's eyes immediately fall onto Jay's. She did recognize the song. It was the first song she and Landon had ever danced to…and Halstead knew that. Before they started dating, Erin shared all types of stories with him, and he did the same with her.
Landon rushes over to her, and grabs her hand. The dance floor was flooded with a few couples, but not many were actually dancing. Most were just moving around and bouncing awkwardly. Burgess looked at her husband, "Are you going to ask me to dance?"
"You want to dance to this mess?"
"Yes," she smacks his arm, "I didn't dress up for nothing Adam. I want to dance!"
Ruzek rises to his feet and offers his hand to his wife, "May I get this dance milady?" She doesn't answer. She simply places her hand in his and allows him to pull her onto the dance floor. Seconds later, Olinsky pulled his daughter onto the floor as his dancing partner. And following that, Voight went to go stand in the shortened line to make his plate.
Halstead had lost his appetite. He wasn't in the mood for dancing. He was ready to leave and take Erin with him. He wanted to get back to reminding his wife why she fell in love with him. He sees Erin dancing with Landon. The thought of him was forgotten. She was enjoying herself…and she deserved to because out of everyone in this room, she's been through the most.
"Here," he sees an alcoholic drink set down in front of him, "You look like you need it."
He pushes it away, "I don't resort to alcohol to solve my problems."
"Look," Bunny pulls out a chair and takes a seat in it, "It's time you let us take it from here. I know you're drowning in debt because you can barely pay for her medical bills. Let us worry about that. Let us try to pay it. Cut your losses. Divorce her."
He looks at her in disbelief, "You're such a hypocrite." He doesn't want to bring drama to Annie's wedding and he therefore had to remind himself to keep his voice low, "You never tried to put things right with Erin in all the time after you hurt her! You want me out of her life because you know if I'm in it, she'll remember me eventually. You're afraid that she'll remember everything, including whatever the hell you and Landon did to her. You're a coward Bunny."
"She loves Landon, Jay."
Jay smirks, "No she doesn't."
"I know my daughter."
"And I know my wife."
Bunny bites down upon her lower lip, "She'll cut her losses with you eventually. It's just a matter of time. I got her a job at the diner so she can work with me."
"I know Erin, and if you did too, you would know, working in a diner is not something she would want to do. It's not her. You think you know your daughter, and maybe you did, but the Erin you knew years ago is different than the Erin now."
"She'll come around to working at the diner eventually."
"You don't care about anyone, but yourself. You say you're doing this for Erin, but it's all lies. You're doing this for you. You're a horrible parent…not my words; those are the words of your daughter when she had every memory. Erin doesn't know what she wants right now, and you're taking advantage of that, but it won't be for long. I'll make sure of it."
Bunny takes the drink she offered him and chugs it back. It burns the back of her throat, but it offers her just enough spice to respond calmly, "You can sit there and insult me all you want, but at the end of the day, I'm in her life and I always will be. When Landon, Teddy and I came back to town years ago, you and Voight tried to keep Erin from seeing us."
"…because you're a bad influence."
"She wanted to cut ties with us because of whatever you and Voight said to her!"
He crosses his arms, "All we did was help her see the real you."
"…but she didn't," Bunny smirks knowingly, "she told us that she told you and Hank that she wouldn't see us anymore. She needed us then…and she needs us now. All Erin did was lie so she could sneak out and hang with us, especially after Nadia died. Now she did all of that with her memories. She lied to you when she had her memories. Maybe the Erin you thought you knew wasn't Erin at all."
Jay won't lie. It hurt to know Lindsay deliberately lied to him and Voight just so she could continue sneaking around and hanging with the two people they warned her away from. It may have hurt, but he refused to allow Bunny to see that. "Eventually she came to her senses because she cut you off."
Bunny shrugs, "Landon screwed up. I played damage control. Maybe Erin was always supposed to lose her memories so we could all get another chance again."
"Listen here Bunny," Jay rose from his seat, and towered over the older woman, "I don't know what you, Landon and Teddy did to her because obviously you all have a little fight club going on, but I'm warning you," he struggles to keep his hands from clenching, "if one of you hurt her, if and when I find out, I'll make you pay. And if you hurt Erin again, I swear, you'll regret ever coming back into her life," Voight arrives to the table just as Halstead departs from it.
Jay storms out of the banquet room. Luckily everyone was too preoccupied with eating, drinking and dancing to even notice him leaving. He walked down the hallway and entered another empty banquet room. He had to get away from her. Bunny knew how to get under his skin, just like she knew how to get under Voight's. Halstead's hand slams upon a table, "Hey," he hears the unwanted voice of Landon enter the empty banquet room, "Bunny said she talked to you." He closed the door behind him, "If you want, I can introduce you around. You sitting at the table in there by yourself made you look a little creepy."
"No," Jay rubs his reddened knuckles, "I'm waiting for Erin."
"Good luck with that," Landon chuckles.
Halstead rose from his seat and approached the slightly younger man, "You're loving this, aren't you?"
"A little," Landon holds his fingers up a pinch.
"Well guess what," Jay smirks, standing eye to eye with Landon, "Erin told me everything about you. Before we started dating, she told me how she would wake up at night asking herself is this all there is? She knew that to escape from that lifestyle, she needed to escape from you. You were a bad influence. Voight may have told her to stay away from you, but she didn't object."
A smug grin spread across Landon's face, "Well, did she also tell you how she threw herself at me the other day?"
"Erin outgrew you before, and she will again."
"Really?"
"Yeah," Jay nods.
"Oh okay, I'll think about that while I'm in bed with your wife." The moment the words left Landon's mouth, Jay's already clenched fist raised into the air and struck his face. The second impact was made was the same second Erin entered the banquet room.
Landon grabs his split lip after he falls to the ground. Lindsay, standing in her high heels, rushed up to her fallen friend, "Hey, are you okay," she stoops low to glance at his mouth before looking up at Jay, "What is wrong with you?!"
"Me…what's wrong with him!"
"…maybe this was a bad idea," Erin argued, rising to her feet, "…maybe me giving you a second chance was wrong…maybe we're no longer supposed to be together."
"Because I punched your little boyfriend, you're second guessing our entire marriage?"
"You had no right to hit him!"
Jay steps back, angrily, "You should have heard what he said about you!"
"That still gave you no right!"
"Are you serious?" Jay is in disbelief. He had thought that he knew Lindsay, and now he's second guessing all of that. Maybe Bunny is right. Maybe she knew her daughter better than he knew his wife. Halstead runs his hand down his face, "Are you saying that because you truly feel that way or are you just trying to protect your boyfriend?"
"Are you jealous?" She squints her eyes.
"You want to be with Landon, Erin." He states precisely. Jay takes her hands in his, "He wants you, but I love you. He deserved that punch."
"Oh really," she pulls her hands out of his.
"Let's be honest with one another for a second. We need to be realistic." He glances at Landon push himself up from the floor, "Your memory isn't coming back…and you're okay with that. You don't want it to come back because of your feelings for Landon. You want to be with him. You were just too afraid to tell me…but I guess that's my problem, huh?" She says nothing. Erin simply listens to his words, "How do I look at the girl I love and tell myself that it's time to walk away?" Jay maneuvered around Erin and Landon and began walking towards the door, "You lied to me when we were dating. You told me and Voight that you wouldn't see Landon or Bunny, but you snuck off and you did. You've always had a soft spot for him…until he screwed up," he looks at her sadly, "but Erin, he's going to screw up again and I don't want you to get hurt because of it."
"I'm a big girl. I can handle it."
"Yeah," he begins opening up the door, "I hope that's true. Goodbye Erin."
As the door slams behind him, she feels an unwanted weight press down upon her shoulders. The choice of choosing between Landon and Jay was no longer there and she felt horrible about it. She looked to Landon nursing his lip, "What did you say to him?"
"I told him to not pressure you into remembering anything. It'll come on it's own. I told him that I love you and he didn't take that well," Landon extends his hand and when she doesn't take it, he drops it, "It's Annie's wedding. Let's not talk about this now. Let's enjoy ourselves."
He was right. The only reason she was willing to put all of this behind her, for now, was because of Annie. Annie deserved happiness.
"You're right." She takes a hold of his hand when he reoffered it again.
Landon led her out of the room, "Are you still moving back in with him?"
"No, I don't think the offer still stands."
Erin opens the door and sees Voight leaning against the wall across from the exit. She sees him waiting for her, and he waves her over the moment she and Landon depart from the banquet room. Her head is hung low as she approaches him, "I screwed up."
Voight wraps his arms around her, "Hey," he leans back and smiles at her, "you got this. Take it one day at a time and always remember that I have your back…always."
"You have my back," she repeats in a whisper.
His words repeat continuously through her head. You have my back. It repeats once, twice, a third time and then a fourth. Those words are familiar to her, and without fighting her mind, she allows her thoughts to link it to when she's heard those words before. She's graduating from the academy. She remembers seeing the smiling faces of Hank, Camille, Justin, Olinsky, Lexi and Meredith. Each person was truly happy for her and the distance she's come in life. Voight said those words to her that day. He was going to be with her every step of the way as an officer. He promised her and he promised Camille that he will always have her back.
"Hey kid," he snaps her out of her memory, "you okay? You kind of zoned off there."
Erin couldn't respond. Her memories were in overload. They seemed to pick up right where the last one left off. She remembers the hiring process, and Voight's exquisite letter of recommendation that got her hired in a different police district. She was a patrol officer for a few years…until she got injured on the job. Erin had received a minor concussion, but that was enough for Voight to do everything in his power to get her transferred to his district. Once she started working out of the same precinct as him, he was able to keep a close watch on her. During the year of her transfer, Justin started getting into trouble, Camille passed away and Olinsky and Meredith's marriage started falling apart. Also, during her year she eventually had enough skill, training and experience for Hank to promote her into Intelligence. A smile stretches across her face as the memories continue. She remembers meeting Sheldon, Jules and Antonio because they had worked there long before she did.
"Erin," Hank has no idea what's going on with her. Her eyes are staring off into the distance as if she's daydreaming. He motions his hand, side to side, in front of her unsteady vision as a small smile creeps upon her face, "You alright?"
Lindsay says nothing as holes in her memory begin to fill in. She remembers the first couple of months working under Voight. She thought it was the best thing to ever happen to her. However, soon enough, a last memory begins to play through her head. Hank was looking to hire better, respectable cops and Dawson had one in mind. Jay Halstead had become her partner and now husband. He was brought in a few months after she started working under Voight.
Hank isn't talking anymore. He's slowly waiting for her to snap out of whatever she's doing. And while Erin wanted the memories to continue, they suddenly stopped. She blinked rapidly. Her last memory ended the day she met Jay.
"What just happened?"
"I remembered something," she's smiling widely, as Landon approaches her, "I remember graduating from the police academy. I remember Dawson and Jules now. I remember working for you. I remember a lot Hank. I even remember Jay a little."
"What's your last memory?" He needed to know just so he could be aware of how much was left for her to remember.
"…the day Jay started working in Intelligence."
Voight thought back. Her memory surpassed her childhood. It went through her teenage years, and now her memories enveloped her young adult years. Voight was happy. She was slowly finding her way back to the Erin he knows and loves.
"…that was about eight years ago. You're making progress," he pulls her into a hug, "You were twenty at the time. You and Jay started dating when you were both around twenty-two. You both got married at twenty-four. You're slowly remembering Erin and that's great."
"What if it's not?"
Hank steps back, confusedly, "What do you mean? I thought you wanted to remember."
"I do," she takes a side look at Landon before continuing, "Jay and I just had a fight and-"
"He won't stay mad at you. He loves you. He's just frustrated because he wants what's best for you." Voight wraps his arm around her shoulders and begins to lead her back towards the reception, "I bet you if you told him you remembered something, he'll be happy for you."
"I don't want to do that here. Today is about Annie…not me. I'm going to finish having fun and then maybe when I get home I'll call Antonio. I remember him now. I want to catch up with him and see how he and his family are doing."
"I'm pretty sure he'll enjoy hearing from you."
"…one can only hope."
The father and daughter stepped back into the banquet room. Annie was dancing with her son after finishing up her dance with her husband. Clark's parents were on the floor dancing. Clara was dancing with her fiancée. Burgess and Ruzek were coupled up on the floor and Jay was nowhere in sight. Voight turned to look at Erin, "Jay's gone, but if you can keep up, your old man would like a dance."
She glumly nodded and took a hold of his hand, "I don't deserve his forgiveness."
"…of course you do," he whispered as the father-daughter duo danced slowly on the floor.
"I remember one little thing involving him and that's it. He's still a stranger to me."
"You're slowly getting there. You have to take it one day at a time. You haven't remembered Burgess, Ruzek, Atwater or Mouse either. "
Her head rests upon his shoulder, "but none of them are my husband."