Thanks to everyone who read and favourited/reviewed and/or followed my first chapter! I really appreciate the response.
Recognition for this chapter's prompt goes to jaelyn2001, thanks for sending it in! I kind of went to town on this one, but hey, it's been a long hiatus.
"I chose you, I need you."
Erin and Jay spent their Friday night like they did most evenings; balled up on Jay's couch watching football with a beer in the hand of each detective and a bowl of chips between them. The game was all tied up, and with Lindsay's favourite player on the run with only seconds from the end, she was pretty pumped.
"Yes, yes, yes, go on, oh my god," She chanted, leaning forward on the couch with her eyes wide. Beside her, Jay was grimacing at the screen, already sighing before the game had officially ended. "TOUCHDOWN!" She squealed, matching the excitement from the stadium shown on Jay's television.
"You owe me twenty bucks." She said, a satisfied smile spreading across her lips. While the screams form the television set died down, Erin sunk back into the couch and took a long sip from her beer, the smile on her face never fading.
With a sigh, Jay grabbed a twenty from his back pocket and handed his partner the note, making a mental note to be more careful when betting against Erin Lindsay in the future.
"Like taking candy from a baby," Erin chuckled, pocketing the money.
Jay picked up his beer from the table and leaned back too, his shoulder knocking against Erin's. After picking up the remote from the arm of the couch, he began flicking through the channels, trying to settle on something to watch.
As Erin gulped, she found a channel she liked. She nudged Jay, urging him drop the remote. "I love this movie, leave it on."
His face creased up as he turned to her. "No way," He snorted, flicking past generic action movie Erin wanted. "You picked the movie last night. My TV. My turn."
Erin groaned. "If you're picking, it's gonna be The Notebook, or Love Actually. You're such a girl."
"Please, if we had it your way we'd be watching The Godfather on repeat constantly." Jay said, feeling Erin chuckling slightly beside him.
"The Godfather is a classic!" She was laughing hard now, thinking of all the times she sat watching Jay's reaction to one of her favourite movies. She thought of his look of boredom as she re-watched and re-watched, loving the movie just as much as the first time she watched it.
"Let me ask you something," Jay said, humour in his voice as he turned to face her directly. "When you were staying with Voight, did you two watch that every night? Was it like a ritual or something?"
The image was vivid in Jay's mind; a seventeen year old Erin and younger Voight, gathered round a television set watching The Godfather. He smiled at the thought. Erin smiled at his smile.
"Jealous?" She laughed, taking another sip of her beer as he cocked an eyebrow.
"Of sitting with Voight for two hours in silence every night? You bet."
She bit her lip to control her laughter, and he couldn't help but drop his gaze to it. Her dimples popped in front of him. When he finally looked back up to her eyes she looked serious. Her eyes were soft though, and he thought she might be seconds from saying something important.
Anything pulsing in her mind was instantly scared away however at the sound of her phone ringing. She tensed up slightly as she reached out on the table to retrieve it.
A sigh slipped from Jay's lips unconsciously. He didn't have to look at Erin's phone to see Kelly's caller ID to see who it was. It happened nearly every night she was at his apartment; she'd get a call from him when he finished work, then she'd meet him at her place. Only the call she got that night was earlier than usual. He thought he had more time.
His head was somewhere else when she stood up and grabbed her deep purple leather jacket from the side of the couch, shrugging it onto her shoulders and over the top of a plain white v-neck shirt. He heard keys rattling as she held them in her hand, but he forced himself not to look at her.
Next he heard Erin sigh. "Could you just, for once, not make that face when I leave?"
"Could you, for once, not leave." The bluntness of his words caught her off guard. It caught him off guard too.
She was stood up looking down at him, while Jay looked up at her. His eyes were hard and steady, begging for her to say something. For a slight second, he even though she might take off her jacket and sink back down next to him, stealing a pull of his beer and beginning to eat most of the chips. Then reality kicked in.
"He's my boyfriend, Jay."
"And what am I?" He knew he was taking them onto dangerous territory but he couldn't stop the words from flowing. "Just some time to kill?"
She sighed and ran a hand through her hair, exhausted. "What do you want me to do here?"
"I want you to stay."
It was getting intense, both of them knew it. She wasn't out the door, which was something, but she still didn't seem any closer to resuming their night of movies and alcohol.
"What are you really asking me here?" Erin asked. "Just say it."
Jay stood up and took a step closer to her. "I'm asking you to make a choice." He saw her eyes flicker at his words. He wondered where all this courage had came from. His voice suddenly grew softer as he continued. "I'm asking you to end the night with the same guy you started it with."
He saw the same look in her eye as the night of her reunion, when they spent the hours talking through her past and toasting to the future. It was a look he rarely saw, but when he did he cherished every millisecond of it.
That look was swept away in an instant. Her face instantly grew hard as she dropped her gaze to the floor.
"I can't do this right now." So she did what she always did; dismissed any acknowledgement of their chemistry and connection and walked away before he could convince her otherwise.
As the door to his apartment slammed, Jay wondered if maybe that was the last time he and Erin would hang out for a long while.
He didn't watch The Notebook and he didn't watch Love Actually. He cleared away the beers and poured himself a double scotch before residing to the couch. He wanted to watch a movie and he had only one in mind.
He sat through The Godfather and tried to watch it, but he couldn't. All he could think about was what an idiot he was; how he'd ruined anything between himself and his closest friend.
He tried not to think of Erin Lindsay but failed miserably. Every time he glanced at the clock, the mental image of her and Severide became vivid and sickly in his brain.
The movie eventually drew to a close, as did any dwindling hope that maybe when he went into work on Monday everything would be normal.
With a heavy sigh and heavier heart, Jay turned off the TV and took a final burning sip of his scotch before setting it on the table and heading slowly towards his room. He wanted to sleep it off; all of it.
He barely reached his bedroom door frame however before a soft rapping on the front door caught his attention. He almost thought of ignoring it, but then a second round of knocking hit the door seconds later. He lazily dragged his body to the noise, not even bothering to look through the peep hole before swinging the door open.
There she stood; red eyed and tired, but just the same as earlier that night. His face froze, stunned at her showing up on his doorstep at 1am.
She didn't say anything and neither did he. So they stood through the late night darkness with too much to say but not enough courage to say it.
"You..." Her voice trailed off, but Jay noted how soft she sounded. Not like her usual tough self. She sounded vulnerable. "You told me to make a choice. So I did. I chose you. I'll always choose you. Every day, every minute... Every second. I'll always choose you, Jay. I chose you. I need you."
Her eyes were watery and glacy by the time she'd finished, and she barely had any breath left. It was fine though, because Jay Halstead gave her all the breath she needed.
In one fluid movement, he stepped forward and brought both his hands to either side of her face, drawing her in for a hard kiss. She went limp in his arms; the heat from his lips seemed to melt her down.
Her fingertips gripped loosely at the material of his shirt at the waist, trying to desperately to hold onto something she'd been pushing away for so long. He tilted her head upwards to deepen the kiss. She tasted him and craved it in excess. A moan escaped her throat and he caught it in his, the pressure of his lips slowly decreasing to a stop. He peeled his lips from hers slowly, their foreheads still touching.
He finally looked down on her, and she gave him that look he rarely saw. A smile escaped his lips as he leaned down to kiss her again, but not before whispering an important "I'll always choose you too."
Like I said, I kind of got carried away, haha! Please leave a review and tell me what you thought, and don't forget to send in your dialogue prompts!