She sighs as she pulls her phone away from her ear after getting his voicemail again. This time when she gets to the automated message though, she decides to let him know she's here if he needs anything before hanging up. She pockets her phone just as the elevator stops but it's not the floor she pressed – at least not intentionally. The button to get the doors to slide shut is pushed as she gives his unit's floor a quick glance. She's just about to step off the lift into the lobby when her phone dings with a notification and stops her. The new message is immediately opened and she's taken aback as she pictures his empty desk from just seconds ago. It has her going back up and actually exiting the elevator.

Her finger trances his desk as she moves around it. She smiles sadly seeing the new frame holding a picture of their babies with icing from their birthday cakes on their faces.

She turns to her other side, rubbing her eyes before opening them to see what time it is. The sound of little feet hitting the floor grows louder as she sits up in bed. Alex peeks his head in first and then Ava before they push the door open more and rush towards her bed.

"Momma, guess what today is!" Ava giggles as she climbs up and sits in her mom's lap.

"Hmm? I don't know Baby Bean what's today?"

"Mommy, you're not funny." Alex narrows his eyes at her in the most adorable way, looking even more like his father than usual as he tries to join his sister on Erin's lap but just ends up sitting next to them.

"It's mine and Bubba's birthday Momma." Ava reveals and Erin still pretends she doesn't know – gasping for effect and covering her mouth with her hands.

"Are you sure?" She questions and the twins smile at each other and then look back to her.

"Yes." The twins giggle in unison and she can't help but smile at her favorite sound.

"Alright and you're two, right?"

"Mommy." Alex sighs exasperated, putting his hand on his forehead and closing his eyes for a second.

"We five, Momma." Ava shows her one hand with her fingers spread out and counts them with her other hand.

"Five? That can't be, what happened to my babies?" She pokes out her bottom lip and looks towards the door when she hears Zeke barking downstairs – letting her know that Jay just got here and sure enough he's standing in the doorway of her room not even a minute later with a big bouquet of daisies in hand.

"We big kids now." Alex shouts excitedly before Ava notices their dad and moves towards the foot of the bed.

"Big kids?" Jay questions and the twins both nod as he sets down the flowers on the chest at the foot of the bed and picks up the kids to plant a kiss to their faces.

"Well how about we get these big kids some breakfast?" Jay suggests.

"Yay!" Ava says looking at her brother when he doesn't seem as excited.

"Do we get our birfday cakes?" Alex pouts causing both of his parents to chuckle.

"I made some confetti pancakes for breakfast Bub." Jay tells them and Alex pouts.

"You'll have cupcakes with your friends at school and maybe we can talk your mommy into having cake after dinner tonight." Jay explains and they seem to accept it – squirming out of their dad's arms to get down and run out of the room. Jay looks at her and picks the bouquet back up as he moves to the side of the bed.

"Thank you, but what are these for?" She brings the flowers up to her nose – breathing in their sweet scent.

"I wanted to thank you for bringing them into the world and being a great mom. I figured this is your day too." He replies – his words bringing tears to her eyes.

"You ok?" His eyebrows furrow with those two words as he takes a seat next to her.

"We have big kids now." She chuckles and he smiles sadly at the pout on her face now.

"They'll always be our babies." He assures her after placing a kiss to her temple and she smiles back at him with that. Then they go downstairs and she immediately puts the flowers in a vase of cold water before joining Jay and the twins at the bigger of two table. Her heart swells as she looks around at the three of them – her family, as they laugh and smile while eating their breakfast.

The picture was taken later that day when they sang happy birthday and brought out the cakes. She had Alex's and Jay had Ava's, both had a candle in the shape of a 5 in the middle. She remembers the look on each of the twins faces as they closed their eyes and the candles were blown out with their silent wishes. Both she and Jay scooped a dollop of frosting from the side of the cakes and smeared it on their kids noses.

She'll never forget the sound of their laughter and the picture that Jay managed to get that quickly became a new favorite, for her and Jay apparently. The frame is set down and she realizes that she was out of it for longer than it seemed as a deep voice says her name.

"Agent Lindsay?" He repeats and she shakes her thoughts.

"Sorry." She says as she tucks some of her hair behind her ear.

"Can I help you with something?"

"I was looking for Agent Halstead, he said he was just finishing up some paperwork." Her heart pounds with the words from the text, it starts to sink as she waits for the supervisory agent's seemingly delayed reply. She thinks she knows what he's going to say but she hopes she's wrong – that she and Jay actually just missed each other.

"Agent Halstead took a personal day today, haven't seen him since Friday." He tells her and she just nods in defeat and mumbles a quick thanks before she walks away.

It's rather familiar, the way he's distanced himself over the last few days. She's seen the behavior, both in herself and him from the time that lead to them breaking up six years ago. And though it's been mere days in this instance, it scares her to think of where this could go. Especially since this time it's not just her he's pulling away from – there's two little humans that have grown to love him so much in the last few months. And that thought hurts the most – that if he was triggered by something, or someone – he could potentially break the twin's hearts too. But thinking of them also has her giving him the benefit of the doubt – knowing that he loves the twins as much as she does. And she focuses on that the whole drive home, but when she passes his street and sees his truck parked in his driveway she decides to check in with him and make sure he's really ok.

She fiddles with the keys in her hands as she thinks about whether or not she should go to his door. The thought of how she might come across or worse that it may just push him further away, crosses her mind. But in the end she tells herself that she's just here as a concerned friend and co-parent. Even if she knows that there's something more there, she's not willing to delve into that here and now. Instead she exits her car and walks up to his front door.

"I'll be right there." He says immediately after she knocks and she nods as she nervously waits. She thinks about just leaving before he opens the door – the sound of his voice almost enough to let her know he's physically ok but she can't seem to move. The sound of the lock clicking tells her it's too late and she's instantly relieved when their eyes meet. She does a visual assessment, checking him over once and then twice before releasing the breath she didn't know she was holding.

"Erin, hey." He greets but the smile he gives her doesn't reach his eyes. The expression on his face is one of worry more than anything and it only causes her concern to grow.

"Jay?...Have you seen my-?" Her voice is familiar and Erin instantly knows who it belongs to but a part of her chooses not to believe it.

"Oh, hi Erin." Hailey says as finishes walking down the stairs, only wearing a shirt that clearly belongs to Jay.

"Hi." Erin's eyes are wide in shock but she attempts to give them a smile – trying her hardest not to let her mixed emotions show. She looks down when she feels the tears welling in her eyes – knowing how selfish it'd look if either the husband or wife standing before her noticed. Her phone rings and she answers the call upon seeing the caller ID.

"Hello?" She answers as Jay steps closer to her.

"Ok, I'm on my way now. Is he still throwing up?" Her eyebrows furrowing and then she nods as she looks up at Jay. Then the call ends and she moves to walk away.

"Is he ok?" He inquires and Erin nods with an exasperated sigh.

"I just wanted to make sure you were ok. Now that I know, I'm gonna go pick them up. Sorry for interrupting." She gets out fast as she turns on her heels.

Jay just stands there, unable to move as the mother of his children – the woman he loves most, makes her way to her car. He's still frozen in place as she shifts the vehicle into drive and speeds off.

"Jay!" Hailey yells to get his attention. He looks over at her and she gestures to the open door in front of him.

She quirks one of her eyebrows as she smirks at him. "Aren't you going to go after her?"

He nods and gets his shoes on before grabbing his keys in a hurry. "What about you?"

"I'll be fine. I should probably get back to Chicago anyway and help with the funeral." She shrugs as she too, begins to collect her things and pull on her own clothes once she's in a spot that she knows no one walking or driving past would be able to see her.

He nods as he turns away from her, not sure what to say before they part ways, this time, for good.

"Jay." She whispers just loud enough to get his attention once she's changed back into the outfit she came here in.

"I just wanted to say that I'm sorry." She rushes out as soon as he looks back at her and he picks up on the way her voice cracks.

"I'm sorry too." He admits because he knows that they both did things wrong and made mistakes in various ways at different times in their relationship leading up to the very end.

"This isn't how I pictured it, I never saw this for us." She murmurs.

"I don't think anyone ever does, Hailey, but maybe this was how it was supposed to be. Because if we were still together – if I had stayed in Chicago and it had turned out differently, I wouldn't have my kids and you wouldn't have your baby."

"I know." She's crying now, and a part of him wishes he could comfort her the way he used to.

"I know now that it's for the best. And I'm glad that I have the baby and you have the twins and Erin to focus on." She adds and he nods again.

"I'm happy to have had you in my life, even if it wasn't as long as we thought….I'll always love you." She finishes as she walks closer to him.

"You too Hailey." He knows that there will always be a small part of him that loves her, it's just not in the same way as he once did. There's no denying it, no matter what happened between them or what the piece of paper, that they each received a few days ago says. He wraps his arms around her and they both whisper a goodbye before pulling away. Then they leave and walk to their separate vehicles.

XXXXXX

He waits in his truck until he sees Erin's SUV pull into the driveway next to him. Ava jumps out of the Jeep almost as soon as it's parked and runs for him, trying but failing to open the door.

"Hi, Daddy." She greets excitedly as he picks her up and hugs her as soon as his feet hit the pavement.

"I've missed you, Peanut." He admits and she wraps her little arms around his neck and squeezes as tight as she can.

"I thought that you were lost again." She whines and he shakes his head.

"I told you that I'm not going anywhere." He grins while looking from his daughter to her mom carrying Alex to the porch and unlocking the door. He follows after her while still carrying Ava. He sets his little girl down once inside and she greets the dog who's sitting patiently on his bed.

He can hear Alex say something to Erin, causing her to nod. She kisses his cheek as she puts him down on the chair and then ventures to the kitchen – not once acknowledging Jay's presence in any way. His eyes stay on her as she pulls a small bottle of blue Pedialyte from the fridge along with what he assumes is supposed to be a snack for Ava and places it on the counter before she's making her way to the stairs and going to her room.

Alex climbs off the chair and goes over to his dad without a word just as Jay was about to go after Erin. The little boy reaches up and Jay takes him into his arms.

"Hi, Bub." Jay smiles sadly as he concentrates on his kids, having not seen them for the last four days.

Alex greets him back and lays his head on his dad's shoulder. Jay cranes his neck and presses a kiss to Alex's forehead, noting how warm his skin is. Then he retches and Jay tries to get him to the garbage can but it's not quick enough as Alex pukes down the front of his and Jay's shirt.

Alex mumbles an apology but Jay shakes his head letting his son know that he doesn't need to apologize for being sick – something he can't control.

Jay moves upstairs to the full bath connected to Erin's room.

"Hey." He greets when he steps into the bathroom where Erin's opening a new bottle of children's aspirin.

"I can give him a bath, if you want to head home and get cleaned up." She offers as she measures out the red liquid and moves the dropper over to Alex's mouth, his little lips puckering as soon as the medicine hits his tongue. Then Jay sets him down and begins removing his soiled clothes while Erin replaces the medicine in the cabinet and out of reach of their children and then goes to draw a bath.

"Are you sure?" He asks as he hears the TV get turned on by Ava before she's crawling onto Erin's bed.

"What do you mean? Of course I'm sure." Erin rebuttals as she tosses the dirty clothes on the floor near the door so she remembers to throw them in the wash once she gets Alex settled.

"If it's all the same to you, I'd like to be here and talk things through." Jay becomes agitated with her attempt at getting him to leave but he knows he doesn't want to make a scene in front of Alex, so he stops himself from blurting out the truth.

She just sighs as she picks Alex up and goes over to the bath tub.

Jay runs his hand up and down his face before closing the door so his daughter doesn't see as he strips his own clothes and gets into the stand alone shower. He doesn't realize how long he was washing off until he steps out and sees that he's alone in the bathroom. The tub is already drained and Alex's green towel has already been hung to dry. He sighs – knowing he made an ass out of himself again as pulls his boxer briefs and sweatpants back on.

In the room, he finds the twins on the bed. Ava's sitting up against the headboard, having changed into some pajamas while Alex looks to be asleep with his head on one of the pillows and a heating pad situated on his belly. He moves closer to them and sees Ava holding her brother's hand again, he smiles and leans down to press a kiss to both their foreheads before going to find their mom.

"Ava, come eat please." He hears Erin shout from downstairs and soon after Ava goes running past him.

"Your plate is at the table, Bean." She says next and then she's moving towards the stairs. She's just about walk right past him, the bottle of Pedialyte and a straw in hand. But he gently grabs her bicep to stop her.

"Erin, I-"

"I should really get back to him" She interrupts as she pulls her arm away from him.

"Erin!" He quietly calls after her but she just continues towards her room.

"You can say sorry later Daddy." Ava murmurs in between bites of her grilled cheese, getting him to smile sadly hoping it's that easy.

He goes after her – stopping at the door when he sees her on the edge of the bed with their son cuddled into her side. Her lips are pressed to his head as she gently rocks him. Jay can tell she whispers something to Alex but he can't make out her words.

"Daddy." Alex says as he pulls away from Erin to reach for him. He walks over to them and sits right by Alex's feet. Alex hugs Erin before crawling to Jay and sitting on his lap, lying his head on his dad's shoulder. Erin leans forward and places another kiss to their son's head before she stands up.

"I'm going to go talk to mommy quick, ok Bud." Jay whispers and Alex nods before moving off his lap.

Jay knocks on the bathroom door first and turns the knob only to find it locked. "Erin can you open the door, please?"

It feel like hours pass, but in all actuality it's mere seconds as he waits for some kind of response. He thinks she's just going to ignore him until he retreats but to his relief the lock clicks and the door is opened a crack. He gently pushes the white wood open the rest of the way and enters the spacious bathroom – making sure to close the door behind him.

"I'm sorry." She says first after a beat and it leaves him confused as to what she's apologizing for.

"I knew something was going on with you, since you haven't been around or answering my calls the last few days. I guess I just wasn't expecting that – that you had gotten back together with your wife." She attempts to smile again, like she did when she showed up at his house a couple hours ago. "Truthfully, I'm grateful that you're still here – that you didn't just leave the twins. But I still reacted selfishly because I was diluting myself into thinking of us and the twins as a family – despite the voices of everyone we know telling me not to and that I'm inferior to you and the other women you've been with. I should have listened to them – to your brother and the unit. And I'm sor-"

He doesn't let her continue to ramble and interrupts her sentence by gently grabbing her face and smashing his lips to hers. She tenses at first but he quickly feels her reciprocating the kiss. Her eyes remain closed as he breaks the kiss – looking as if she were to open her eyes that she'd wake up from a dream and that kiss wouldn't be real. He can't resist leaning in again and giving her lips a quick peck.

"Open your eyes." He whispers to her and she does slowly, her hazel orbs gazing into his light green.

"I told you before that I don't care what they're saying. There's inferior about you. You're the best thing that has ever happened to me – you and the twins." He wipes at the tears that have begun to roll down her cheeks.

"But what about-?"

"Hailey?" He asks and she nods.

"The day we got the annulment letters, she found out that one of her brothers passed away unexpectedly. She said that she got in her car with no real destination in mind and then she was here. She felt alone and just needed a friend, a shoulder to cry on and that's what I was for her. I comforted her as a friend and nothing more."

"When I saw her in your shirt, I-"

"Thought that we had forgotten everything that transpired, reconciled and slept together?"

She chuckles lightly at how he put that.

"Even if that was what she had driven all the way here for, it's not what I would have wanted." Jay denies and it intrigues her – her heart pounding in her throat.

"Not when you're the one I've wanted to get back together with for months." He admits and that gets her dimples to pop as she smiles up at him just before they lean in for another kiss.

This time the need for air along with the sounds of someone knocking at the front door and the dog barking, get them to pull away from each other.

"I'll get it." He volunteers as he pecks her lips on his way out of the bathroom. Alex reaches for him again as soon as he steps into the room.

"I'll be right back Bub." He tells him but Alex whines and shakes his head, so Jay goes to pick him up.

"Alright, lets go see who's at the door then." He walks out of the room and down the hall.

"Zeke place." Ava points to the bed with the most serious expression on her little face.

"Rookie! Adding babysitting to your resume?" Lance announces as soon as Jay opens the door – making the latter debate immediately shutting the door in the other man's face.

"He's not a babysitter." Ava corrects as she comes to stand next to Jay.

"He's our dad, who are you?" She adds and that pulls a proud smile from Jay as he looks up from his daughter to see the stunned expression on Lance's face.

"I forgot she had two of them." Lance practically grimaces,ignoring Ava's question as he looks around to try and see Erin – at least that's what Jay assumes he's doing.

"Cool dog, mind if I say hi?"

Jay's about to reply when they hear Erin answer from where she's descending the stairs. "Yes, I do mind."

She looks at her dog sitting obediently on his bed as she takes the final steps to the door.

"Daddy, can we go back to watch the movie in Mommy's room, please?" Ava asks and Jay looks hesitant to leave Erin to deal with her tool of a partner, but she gives him a quick nod to let him know she's ok. He answers their daughter as he looks down at Alex who is falling asleep in his arms as they return upstairs.

XXXXXX

Something doesn't feel right almost as soon as she steps outside. The hungry gaze set on her doesn't help and it has her regretting not keeping Jay with her.

"Did I tell you earlier how good you look in that outfit?" He divulges and it's those words that keep her from stepping off the porch.

"What are you doing here Lance?" Erin snaps, not really having the patience for his antics right now.

"I was hoping I could get you to change your mind and meet with my CI. Then I was I thinking afterwards we could have a few drinks before I bring you home." Lance admits while grabbing her arm roughly and pulling her back roughly as she attempts to move back inside her house.

Erin yanks her arm from his grip, swings at him, her hand coming in contact with his jaw. "I told Barrett I couldn't go and she didn't know why you needed me to go in the first place."

"I already told you that she'd be more comfortable with a woman there and I didn't want this opportunity to go to waste." He says as he pulls her arm back again this time even harder than before and he manages to move onto the front lawn, towards his car with her.

Erin can hear her dog barking from inside the house, but she's too far from the door to let him out herself and she hopes that he can somehow get to her. Just then the front door opens and Zeke runs through Jay's legs. The large dog gets to her in seconds, putting himself between his owner and her colleague. Erin holds him back by the handle on his collar – even though she knows that he's been trained to simply bark and snarl – to intimidate until given the cue to actually bite and in this moment she doesn't find that necessary.

"Zeke hush." Those words from her get the dog to stop.

"Zeke house." She tells him once calms and to her surprise Lance grabs her arm once more as the dog runs back inside and sits just inside the doorway. Lance charges Jay and takes a swing at him as soon as he's close enough. Jay dodges his fist, catches his arm and twists it up and behind the smaller man's head.

"The dog will be the least of your concerns if you ever go near her or come at me like that again, is that understood?" Jay snarls through clenched teeth. Lance only nods and it's enough to get Jay to shove him away causing him to stumble to the ground.

He doesn't say anything as he gets in his car and drives away so fast the tires squeal.

"You ok?" Jay asks as she walks over to him and she nods while rubbing her thumb over her bicep. He places a hand on the small of her back and guides back to the house where they're both greeted by Zeke.

"Oh, now you like me, huh? That made you realize that I'm going to protect them too?" Jay questions as the dog comes to him for praise and Jay extends his hand before reaching to scratch behind the dog's ear.

"I didn't know he was trained for protection." He states as he looks from the dog up to Erin.

Erin just shrugs and chuckles softly as he goes back to petting the dog and then she moves upstairs.

Alex stayed asleep in his parent's absence but Ava is sitting up still working in her workbook. Erin looks them over before going into the bathroom to change.

"Daddy look, I'm almost done." She lifts her book to show him and Jay goes to take his previous spot on the bed – wanting to be close to the three of them tonight and hoping that Erin's ok with that. Alex instantly curls up to his side and Ava moves closer while being mindful of her brother next to her.

"See and you didn't need any help Peanut." He exclaims with a smile on his face as he hands Ava the book back and watches as she writes out the last few words. By the time they get the book back into her school bag, Erin walks out, now dressed in a oversized shirt to sleep.

"My homework's done Momma."

"Good job Bean."

"Is it time to brush my teeth?"

"Just about." Erin nods and Ava slinks out of the bed to go brush her teeth. Knowing that the task usually takes their daughter several minutes to complete, they figure they can talk freely until she gets back.

"How's he doing?" Erin starts as she runs her hand through their son's short brown locks.

"His fever's the same, but he drank the rest of that Pedialyte and hasn't thrown up any more." Jay answers to which Erin hums contently, the worried look still on her face.

"How are you doing?" Jay counters and Erin shrugs.

"It's not the first and it won't be the last time."

"I'm damn sure going to be make sure it's the last time Erin, you shouldn't have to put up with that – no woman should. And the video recording from your doorbell will make sure he's not allowed to do that to anyone else – at least not at the bureau." He pledges and Erin just looks down - hoping he doesn't see her blush from embarrassment. Because she doesn't know how she let herself fall for Lance's game and she can't find it in her to look up into Jay's eyes. Ava skipping out of the bathroom pulls both adults attention away from each other.

"Can I sleep in your bed tonight too Momma?" She asks sweetly and Erin can't resist the puppy dog eyes her girl has perfected.

"Of course Baby." Erin reaches down and lifts her up and over her so she's once again situated next to her brother. Their little girl immediately gets comfortable and watches the kids show that currently has some of the characters singing a lullaby and within a couple minutes she's out. And that's when the two adults maneuver off the bed and once again head back downstairs.

"I think I'm going to make myself a grilled cheese, do you want one?" She asks while taking the cheese and butter back out of the fridge.

He nods as she hands him two bottles of beer. "Sure, thanks."

They just stand against the counter as eat their sandwiches as soon as they're cooled down enough to eat. It's no surprise that she finishes eating first and then goes to wash the dishes, consisting of Ava's plate and cup as well as the pan and utensils used. He chugs the rest of his beer and places the empty bottle, along with hers in the recycling bin. And by the time he gets back to her side, she's setting the last of the dishes on the drying rack.

He doesn't even give her a chance to dry off her hands before he's spinning her around. She giggles as she leans in for a kiss and his hands soon find home on her hips. Then he's lifting her onto the counter while her hands trail up and down his bare chest, working their way further down with every pass. They break the kiss for a moment and he takes the opportunity to kiss along the column of her neck. While his fingers tease the smooth skin of her thighs; the calloused appendages dancing their way up and under the oversized shirt she's wearing. He's just hooking his index fingers into the hemline of her lacey panties when a little voice sounds from upstairs.

"Mommy and Daddy, Bubba frew up again." Ava tells them and Jay's head drops to rest on Erin's shoulder – both of them panting after getting worked up.

"Ok Bean, I'll be up there in just a minute." Erin manages and then they can hear their daughter's retreating footsteps as she runs back to her brother.

"I'm going to need a couple extra minutes." Jay admits and Erin gives him a sympathetic look as she observes what he means. The ridge of his arousal, looking uncomfortable even in the soft confines of his sweatpants.

"Don't worry, we'll make up for lost time as soon as they're back to sleeping in their own rooms." She murmurs against the shell of his ear, the feeling of her breath against his skin gives him goosebumps and he braces himself against the counter out of fear that his knees will give out.

"I'll bring up clean bedding in a little bit." He offers as she hops off the counter.

"Ok." She agrees, then she is out of sight as she disappears up the stairs – which allows him to calm down rather quickly. He grabs the bedding like he said and goes to rejoin them in the room. Erin takes care of Alex and Jay changes out the dirty bedding, and throws it in the washing machine right away. By the time he gets back, both of the twins and Erin are back in bed. He walks over to the side of the bed and leans in to kiss his sleeping son and daughter's head. And after he lays down, he moves in for a goodnight kiss from Erin – both of them being careful not to squish either of the little ones between them.