A/N: This chapter includes some Jay and Erin fluff; I hope you enjoy! The answer to whether or not Jay and Hailey are together as a couple will be answered soon, I promise!

Jay unlocked the door to his apartment and held it open for Erin and Cami. "Come on, I'll show you where you can put your stuff," he told Erin.

"Unca Jay?" Cami asked.

Jay smiled, looking down at the little girl. "Yes?"

"I hungwy," Cami complained, rubbing her stomach.

Jay laughed. "I think I can fix that," he told her. "A little birdie told me that you love spaghetti, just like your mommy, and I just happen to have the stuff to make it."

Erin laughed as her daughter's eyes widened in excitement. "Spaghetti is usually a special treat because of how messy she gets," Erin explained to Jay. She turned back to Cami. "But tonight is a special night, isn't it, Peanut?"

Erin hadn't wanted Cami to ask questions about why they weren't sleeping at Hank's house tonight, so she'd told her that they were having a sleepover at Uncle Jay's for a few nights. Cami's first question had been whether Grandpa Hank would be there, and she'd been disappointed at first when Erin had told her that no, Grandpa Hank couldn't come, but had quickly gotten over it when Erin had promised that getting to sleepover at Uncle Jay's was an extra special treat, and that she'd see Grandpa Hank tomorrow.

Jay quickly showed Erin and Cami where their bedroom was, as well as the location of the guest bathroom, before leaving them to get settled in while he got to work on the spaghetti.

"Can I help?" Erin asked, walking into the kitchen.

Jay eyed her skeptically, well aware of her cooking skills, or lack thereof, from their time together, and Erin laughed, holding up her hands. "I promise I've gotten better at cooking," she assured him. "It turns out that kids aren't a big fan of eating takeout all the time, so I learned how to cook a few things."

"Everything's just about done, actually," Jay replied. "But if you really want to help, I guess you could start on the salad."

As Erin got to work chopping the lettuce and vegetables for the salad, Jay worked on the spaghetti sauce, stealing occasional glances at Erin. After three years, it was odd to have her here, in his kitchen.

"Are you afraid I'm going to chop my fingers off or something?" Erin asked finally, having caught Jay watching her for the third time.

Jay laughed. "Well, it's not exactly outside the realm of possibilities," he teased.

"Hey! I'll have you know that my cooking skills aren't the only thing that have improved. My knife skills have gotten better, too!" Erin insisted.

"Sure; whatever you say," Jay replied teasingly.

Erin rolled her eyes, turning her back towards him as she finished chopping the last of the salad ingredients. "There," she said triumphantly, showing Jay the bowl of salad. "See? The salad's ready and I didn't cut myself."

Jay laughed. "Okay, okay; I believe you," he said. "The spaghetti's done, too."

"I'll go get Cami so we can eat," Erin informed him, heading off down the hall to get her daughter, who had been playing quietly in their room with the toys that Kim had thankfully thought to grab. "Hey, Peanut, dinner's ready," she told her.

Cami jumped up excited and ran down the hall towards the kitchen. "Paghetti!" she said excitedly.

Jay smiled as he lifted Cami up into the booster seat that Kim had grabbed from Hank's house. "Here you go, kiddo," he told her, setting a small bowl of spaghetti in front of her.

"She needs it cut into smaller pieces," Erin informed him as she walked into the room.

"Already done," Jay assured her, smiling.

By the time Cami had finished her dinner, she was wearing nearly as much spaghetti sauce as she'd gotten in her mouth. "All done!" she proclaimed.

Jay burst out laughing. "Now I see why spaghetti is a special treat," he remarked.

Erin grimaced. "Yeah; she always ends up needing a bath after eating it," she informed him, walking over to her daughter. She glanced at the mess at Cami's spot at the table before adding, "Sorry about the mess; let me get her in the tub and then I'll clean it up."

Jay shook his head, standing up. "It's okay; don't worry about it. I'll take care of it," he assured her.

An hour later, Erin quietly closed the door to the guest room behind her and made her way to the living room, collapsing on the couch. "I thought she'd never go to sleep," she groaned. "We ended up having to facetime Hank so he could tell her goodnight and read her a bedtime story. She fell asleep halfway through the story."

Jay smiled sympathetically. "You don't have to stay up, you know. You could have gone to bed, too. I'm sure you're tired, considering how the day's been."

"I am tired," Erin admitted. "But I'm not ready to go to bed just yet. I love Cami, and I love being a mom, but it's also nice to have some time to myself after she goes to bed."

"She's a great kid, but I can definitely understand," Jay replied. He repositioned himself on the couch so his body was angled towards Erin's. "Listen, Erin; I overheard your argument with Voight today, about him not being there after your…attack."

Erin blushed. "I guess the whole unit heard everything, didn't they? I'm sorry you guys had to hear that."

"Look, the reason Voight wasn't there…it was my fault, Erin," Jay confessed. "I'm the reason he couldn't leave. I'm sorry. Had I known, I would have insisted he go. Your situation was more important than mine.

"You're the one that shot the little girl?" Erin asked, surprised.

Jay nodded. "We were busting a gun deal, and we didn't know that there was an off-the-books daycare center nearby. One of my bullets went through the suspect and ended up hitting her; she died at the hospital. They wanted to charge me for her murder, but Hank was able to work something out."

"I'm sorry, Jay," Erin said softly. "I know that couldn't have been easy for you."

"It was one of the hardest things I've ever dealt with," Jay admitted. "It really messed with me for a while, and I wasn't so sure that I should have gotten away with it. It took a long time for me to come to terms with it and admit that I hadn't done anything wrong. But I promise, Erin; if I'd know, I would have insisted that Voight go be with you."

Erin smiled sadly. "It's okay, Jay; you couldn't have known. Besides, I had Olivia. Had Hank come to be with me, you wouldn't have had anyone."

Jay shook his head. "Olivia isn't Voight," he insisted. "You said so yourself."

"I shouldn't have said that, Jay," Erin replied. "It just…it was hard, knowing that the people, the person I wanted there the most couldn't come."

"People?" Jay questioned.

"I meant person," Erin lied, chuckling softly. "I guess I'm more tired than I realized; I can't even get my words right." She stood up. "I appreciate you doing this, Jay; letting Cami and me stay with you. It really means a lot."

"Of course," Jay replied. "It seemed like a better option than a hotel."

Jay had only been asleep for a couple of hours when he awoke to the sound of Erin screaming, "No! It hurts! Help! Help me!"

Instantly wide awake, Jay quickly opened his nightstand drawer and grabbed his gun before throwing open the door to his room and rushing to the guest room. He threw the door open, thankful for the glow of the nightlight that he'd plugged in for Cami. Panic washed over him when he didn't see Erin anywhere. The only figure in the bed was Cami's tiny body.

"Help!" Erin screamed again. "No!"

This time Jay realized the sounds were coming from his living room. He quickly closed the door to the guest room before running into the living room. He was greeted by the sight of Erin lying on his couch, thrashing around, her face filled with panic despite the fact that she was still asleep.

Relieved that it was just a nightmare rather than what he'd feared, which was someone in his apartment actively trying to harm Erin, he set his gun down on the mantle before making his way over to the couch. He crouched down beside Erin and gently placed his hand on her shoulder. "Erin," he called gently, "you're okay. It's okay. You're just dreaming."

"No," Erin whimpered, still asleep. "Please don't hurt me."

Jay's heart broke as he realized exactly what she was dreaming about. "Hey, Erin, it's okay," he said soothingly. He gently shook her shoulder. "You're okay, Erin. It's just a dream."

Erin gasped as she woke up, her hand instantly shooting out to the side, searching for her nightstand with her gun, panicking when she felt nothing but air, still not yet fully awake.

"Erin, you're okay," Jay soothed. "You're at my place, remember? You were dreaming." He was thankful that he'd been able to dodge out of the way of Erin's hand fast enough, or he would have been sporting a black eye.

Erin opened her eyes to see Jay crouching next to her, his face filled with concern. "Shit. I'm sorry, Jay," she murmured, taking a deep breath in an effort to slow her heart rate.

"You okay?" Jay asked worriedly.

Erin nodded, sitting up. "I'll be fine," she replied, forcing a small smile. "Sorry I woke you up."

Jay shook his head. "No need to apologize," he insisted. "I'm just glad you're okay. For a minute there, I thought someone had broken in and was trying to hurt you."

Erin grimaced. "Sorry. I guess I should have warned you that Cami isn't the only one that has nightmares."

"Is that why you're sleeping out here?" Jay questioned.

Erin nodded. "The first couple of times I scared her pretty bad. As long as she's in another room, she typically sleeps through anything, so it's better for me to sleep in a different room than her," she admitted.

"You could have told me," Jay stated, getting up and sitting on the couch next to her. "I could have slept out here and let you take my room."

Erin shook her head. "I couldn't ask you to do that, Jay," she protested. "You've already done enough by just letting us stay here. I'm not going to kick you out of your room."

"You're not asking; I'm offering," Jay replied.

Erin leaned her head back against the couch and squeezed her eyes shut in an effort to fight off the tears that were threatening to fall. Being around Jay again was so much harder than she'd expected, especially when he was being so gentle and caring. Between that and her nightmare, all she wanted to do was curl up in a ball and cry.

Jay watched as a tear escaped from the corner of Erin's eye, followed quickly by another one. He gently reached out, resting his hand on the side of Erin's face and wiping the tears away with his thumb. "You wanna talk about it?" he asked softly.

Erin shook her head, quickly pulling away and standing up, walking over to the fireplace. "Jay…" she said, her voice breaking. "Please don't do this."

"Don't do what?" Jay asked, confused.

"Don't care about me," Erin cried. "Just stop, please!"

Jay was even more confused now. He stood up, slowly walking towards Erin. "Why?" he asked gently. "Why don't you want me to care about you?"

Erin turned to face him, tears streaming down her cheeks. "Because it's too hard! Because I don't deserve it! Because it's not fair to you, or to Hailey. Because I still love you, Jay, and you caring about me makes it so much harder!"

Erin quickly turned and ran down the hallway, locking herself in the guest bathroom and collapsing against the door, sinking to the floor and burying her face in her knees. Damn it! How could she have been so stupid as to admit to Jay that she still loved him? She was an idiot. She was stuck staying with him for who knows how long, and on the very first night she'd screwed it all up.

Jay stood out in the living room, frozen in place. Erin had just told him that she still loved him. But more than that, she'd told him that she didn't deserve for him to care about her. Did she really think so little of herself that she thought she wasn't worth caring for? But also, did she really still love him? And what did she mean, it wasn't fair to him or Hailey?

Jay thought back to what Erin had said earlier in the day, about how she knew about him and Hailey, and how she didn't want to get in the way of it. The only explanation for why she would have mentioned that, or even known about it, was Hank. "Damn it," he muttered. He knew that Hank was just trying to look out for Erin, but he really wished that his sergeant would stop trying to interfere in their relationship.

Jay made his way down the hall to the bathroom and knocked on the door. "Erin? Can we talk?" he called through the door. When he didn't get a reply, he tried again. "Erin, please." When he still didn't get a reply, he sat on the floor and leaned back against the door. "Erin…I can't even begin to imagine what you went through, what you're still going through. I'm sorry I wasn't there for you. But I want to be there for you now."

"Go away, Jay," came the muffled reply.

"No; not until we talk," Jay insisted. "Please, Er." He heard movement on the other side of the door and let out a sigh of relief when he heard the lock click. Before he had a chance to react the door opened, causing him to lose his balance and nearly fall backwards into the bathroom.

Erin fought back a laugh at the surprised look on Jay's face as he struggled to keep himself upright. "You really shouldn't lean against closed doors, you know," she said, stepping over him and walking back to the living room.

Jay followed Erin, settling onto the couch beside her. He turned to face her before beginning. "Look, Erin, I don't know what Hank told you about me and Hailey-"

Erin cut him off. "It doesn't matter, Jay. I left; Hailey was here. Hailey is here. I'll be going back to New York eventually, and you'll be staying here. Can we just ignore everything that I said?"

"No," Jay replied emphatically, surprising Erin. "I can't ignore it," he added, his voice softer.

Erin shook her head. "Jay, I can't do this. I'm not going to be the ex that comes back and destroys your current relationship. I've been in that position before; I won't do that to someone else." She stood up. "Look, we're both tired, and you have to work in the morning. Do we have to do this right now?"

Jay sighed, knowing there was no use talking to Erin when she was like this. "Okay," he replied. "But you're taking my room. I'll sleep out here on the couch."

Erin shook her head. "No, Jay; I'm not kicking you out of your own room. I'll be fine out here."

"I insist," Jay replied. He stood up and reached out a hand, brushing her hair out of her face and tucking it behind her ear. "I'm not going to take no for an answer."

"Fine," Erin sighed, rolling her eyes. "But only for tonight."