Three weeks later:
Erin and Jay were both back at work. Erin had seen Severide on many occasions, but neither of them had talked about what had occurred the day of the accident. That night she was going out on another real date with him; this was their first of multiple. She got to work early to play a little bit of catch up with some cases. Voight refused to let either of them come back before the doctor gave them the full okay.
"Hey, partner." Jay said when he showed up early that morning too.
Erin smiled, "I've missed this."
Jay laughed, "It's only been three weeks."
"Only? Please Jay, don't tell me you weren't tired of sitting around your apartment?"
Jay shook his head, "It was like a vacation."
"I missed you." Erin said quietly.
Jay smirked, "I missed you more, but you seemed pretty busy with that fireman. Didn't even have anytime to come around and see me?"
Erin shook her head, "You know it isn't like that. Voight was checking on me like every hour. It wasn't like I was on a vacation."
"It must be nice for someone to care for you so much."
"What is that supposed to mean?" Erin was offended by what Jay was saying.
"You know what it means, everyone here loves you, and if it came down to it, they would throw themselves in front of a bullet for you more than they would for me."
Erin couldn't believe what she was hearing, "Are you kidding me?!" She was getting seriously angry, "I would die for you. If you died in that car crash because of me I wouldn't want to live. I don't think you get it Jay."
"Tell me what I don't get!" He yelled back at her.
"I don't want to live in a world without you, Jay!" She yelled.
Jay looked shocked, "What?"
Erin shook her head and looked back down at her work, "Nothing. Forget it."
"Why would I forget it?"
"Because I know how you feel."
Jay shook his head, "No I don't think you do."
They were interrupted by footsteps coming up the stairs; they both knew that sound of large work boots- Voight.
Voight smiled when he saw Erin, "Lindsay, I wanted to be here when you showed up, looks like you beat me to it."
Erin smiled, "Yeah, and then Jay showed up. I guess he beat you too."
Voight nodded the classic suspicious nod, "Yeah, I guess he did."
Jay looked unintimidated by Voight and his empty nods. "Wanted to get a head start on some things." Jay tried to explain himself.
"If there is anything going on here, stop it now." Voight warned.
"Voight-" Erin warned, he didn't need to go there, not on their first day back.
"No Erin, nothing will happen between you two, or he is out." Voight pointed at Jay as he turned and walked into his office.
Jay nodded his head "See? Even my own boss wouldn't protect me."
"Jay-" Erin was going to try to reason with him, but Jay walked down the stairs in anger.
Erin charged into Voight's office, "Seriously? Our first day back and you're already back at it? I didn't see him once while we were on leave just like you asked. You can't bring this up everyday."
Voight nodded his head, "I used to be his age once, Erin. I thought like him, he's young and wants to prove himself. He probably does care for you, but he will never get the chance to prove that romantically."
"I never said he could be able to!" Erin wanted to yell, but she refrained.
"He wants to. I see the way he looks at you, it's the same way you look at Kelly Severide."
Erin nodded her head; "You know I like Severide, so why does this whole thing with Jay even make a difference?"
"I am always going to protect you first, Erin. You know that! It's the way it's always been and the way it always will be."
Erin nodded her head, "Ruzek and Olinsky are here, so Antonio will be here soon. I have to go find my partner now."
Erin left Voight in his office alone. He wasn't going to change how he acted. He may have overestimated himself on multiple occasions; he didn't mean to be so redundant. The rest of the team showed up and Erin came back, but she wasn't with Jay.
"Where's Halstead?" Antonio questioned.
"I'm not his babysitter." Replied Erin.
Antonio nodded his head. Voight came into the room and started a brief meeting, "We have a call down on 38th Hudson. Potential drug bust. Suit up and let's head out."
Erin nodded her head, "Antonio, you and me today?"
Antonio nodded his head back at her, "Yeah, partner."
Erin tensed up when he called her that. Jay was her partner, not Antonio. It sounded dumb, but she felt like in some way that she was cheating on Jay.
Erin was getting small flashbacks of the day she and Jay went into "the hood" together.
"Erin, you okay?" Antonio questioned her.
"I'm fine. I just- Halstead was here this morning and Voight said something that made him really mad and I don't know where he is right now."
Antonio smirked, "So Halstead is being a little bitch?"
Erin seemed shocked, "No. He said something to me earlier, and I cant get it out of my head."
"What did he say?"
Erin cleared her throat, "He said 'everyone here loves you, and if it came down to it, they would throw themselves in front of a bullet for you more than they would for me' and my you he meant me."
Antonio took it all in, "You can't stroke his ego all the time, Erin."
"This wasn't stroking his ego. Not this time, he was really upset and I could tell it had been bugging him."
"Why is it your problem though?"
"Because he's my partner and no matter what, I'll always be there for him."