A/N: This chapter contains a whole lot of Jay and Erin fluff, with a little drama thrown in towards the end.
"No! Stop!" Jay jolted awake to the sound of Erin's screams. He quickly threw back his covers and made his way to the guest room. The scene that greeted him was nearly identical to the one in his living room just a few days ago. Erin was thrashing around in bed, crying in her sleep.
"Erin," Jay said softly, kneeling next to the bed. He placed a hand on her shoulder and shook it gently.
"Don't touch me!" Erin screamed, wrenching her shoulder away from Jay's hand, surprising him. She began to shake. "Please stop," she begged, still asleep.
"Erin!" Jay said loudly. "Erin, wake up!"
Erin finally opened her eyes, looking at him. "Jay," she whispered, tears still streaming down her face. "You're here."
"I'm here," Jay repeated, reaching out a hand and stroking her hair. "It's okay; you were dreaming again."
"I wanted you there so badly," Erin murmured. "The only people I wanted to see were you and Hank, but neither of you were there."
Jay felt his heart break. Erin had wanted him after the attack, and instead he'd been the one keeping Hank away from her. "I'm sorry I wasn't there," he whispered, continuing to stroke her head. "I wish I could have been there for you."
"Jay?" Erin asked timidly. "Will you…will you stay with me?"
Jay nodded, and Erin scooted over, giving him room to slip into the bed next to her.
"I was so scared." Erin closed her eyes, trying to calm herself and stop her shaking. "It hurt so bad, and I thought I was going to die."
"I know, Er. I'm so sorry," Jay told her, laying on his side so he could face her. "I'm sorry I wasn't there for you."
"I'm glad I had to come to Chicago," Erin murmured sleepily.
"Me, too," Jay replied.
When Jay woke up the next morning, it took him a minute to remember the events of the previous night. He felt something warm against him and smiled when he looked down to see that, at some point during the night, Erin had ended up in his arms. He lay there for a few minutes, debating on whether or not to wake her up before finally decided he didn't have much of a choice. He'd need to start getting ready for work soon, and he'd promised Hank that he'd drop Erin off on his way in. As much as he wanted to let her sleep for as long as she needed, he knew he'd have to wake her up.
He pressed a kiss to the top of her head before moving his hand to her side. "Erin," he said softly. "It's time to get up." Erin groaned, squeezing her eyes shut tighter, making him laugh. She'd never been a morning person, and it was nice to see that some things hadn't changed. "Erin, we need to get up," he tried again.
Erin finally opened her eyes. She lay there for a few moments, trying to wake up, before she realized where she was. She blushed when she realized that she was laying in Jay's arms. "Sorry," she apologized sleepily. She started to roll over, but Jay stopped her.
"Erin," Jay murmured, reaching out and brushing a hand against her cheek. "It's okay."
Erin's breath caught in her throat, and she had to remind herself to breath. She'd dreamt of this so many times after she'd moved to New York. This was what she'd missed the most: waking up in Jay's arms, feeling safe and loved. "Jay," she breathed.
Jay tugged Erin closer to him, and she laid her head on his chest. She spotted the scar on his side from where he'd been shot a couple of years ago and began running her fingers over it. "What happened?" she asked quietly.
"I was chasing the guy responsible for the fire that killed my dad, and he shot me," Jay answered.
"Hank told me about your dad," Erin told him softly. "I'm sorry."
"I struggled at first, but the team helped me through it," Jay replied. He smirked. "Getting shot earned me a lecture from Hank; I'm surprised I'm not getting one from you."
Erin smiled. "No; I figured you'd already gotten one."
Jay's alarm went off in the other room and he groaned. "I hate to say it, but we really need to get up. Hank is expecting me to drop you off on my way to work, and I really don't want another lecture from him."
Erin laughed. "It's okay; Cami's going to be awake and asking for me soon, anyways."
Jay went to his room, quickly getting ready for the day, and when he walked into the kitchen, he found Erin there already, two fruit bars in her hand.
"It's all I could find in your cupboards that we could eat on the way," Erin explained, handing him one.
"Thanks," Jay replied, smiling as he took it.
The two rode in silence most of the way to Hank's house, but just as Jay was pulling up in front of the house, Erin spoke. "Jay, last night…it was fun. But we can't do this. We can't just fall back into our old ways and act like nothing ever happened. I have a daughter now, and our life is in New York."
Jay shifted the truck into park before turning to look at Erin. "I know," he assured her. "But Erin, you can't tell me that you don't still have feelings for me. You told me yourself the other night that you still loved me."
Erin shook her head. "It's not that simple Jay. Maybe if I didn't have Cami…"
"It is that simple, Erin," Jay insisted. "I know you have to be careful because you don't want Cami to get hurt. But I don't plan on hurting either of you."
"What happens when I go back to New York, Jay? What happens when I have to leave you, again?" Erin whispered.
"We'll figure it out," Jay promised her. "But I can't just pretend that I don't still care about you, that I don't want to be with you. I don't know what it will look like, but we'll make it work."
Erin nodded. "Okay," she said simply.
"Okay?" Jay repeated. "Does that mean you're willing to try?"
"Yes," Erin replied, smiling softly. "I want to try. But Jay, if there's any chance of this working, we need to take it slow."
"We'll take it as slow as you want," Jay told her, grinning. He glanced over Erin's shoulder towards Hank's house. "You should probably get in there before he starts wondering what we're doing out here."
Erin laughed. "I swear he thinks I'm still a teenager sometimes." She opened the door and started to get out but turned back to look at Jay. "Maybe we can talk about this some more tonight? You could call me…"
"I have a better idea: why don't you and Cami come over for dinner?" Jay suggested.
"Okay," Erin agreed. "But no spaghetti this time!"
Jay anxiously glanced at the clock for the third time in an hour. It was nearly five o'clock and he kept willing time to go faster. He was anxious to see Erin again and to talk more about how they would make their relationship work.
"Do you have a hot date tonight or something? You keep watching that clock like that will make time go faster," Antonio teased.
Jay felt his face grow red. "I have plans for tonight, that's all," he mumbled.
Antonio raised his eyebrows. "Plans, huh? These plans wouldn't happen to involve a certain brunette, now would they?" It hadn't gone unnoticed by him that Erin and Jay seemed to gravitate towards each other whenever Erin was around.
Before Jay could reply, Platt appeared at the top of the stairs, looking concerned, holding something in her hand. "Is Hank here?" she asked.
"He's in his office," Antonio informed her. "Is something wrong?"
"This letter came today," Platt stated, holding up her hand to reveal an envelope. "It's addressed to Erin, and the return address is New York."
Jay felt a pit form in his stomach. The only people from New York who knew that Erin was in Chicago were Erin's team and Olivia and her team, and none of them would send Erin a letter here. He felt frozen to his chair, unable to move.
Ruzek was already up and at the door to Hank's office. 'Hey, Sarge, you're gonna want to see this," he called.
Hank got up from his desk and made his way out of his office. "What've you got, Trudy?" he asked, making his way over to the desk sergeant.
Trudy held the envelope out to him. "This came in today."
Hank took the envelope from Trudy. His expression grew angry as he looked at it. He quickly turned the envelope over and tore it open, pulling out a piece of paper. It was all he could to keep from crumpling it as he read it. He glanced up at his team. "Jay, Hailey, I need you to go get Erin and Cami."
"Voight, what's going on?" Antonio asked, concerned.
"The return address on this envelope is Erin's first apartment in New York," Hank informed them. "Erin only lived there for a couple of months; she moved after the attack because her rapist had her wallet and knew where she lived. There were only a small handful of people who had that address."
"What does the letter say?" Jay asked, not sure he wanted to know.
"You can run, but you can't hide," Voight read before looking back up at his team. "Jay, Hailey, go now. Take them to Jay's apartment."
Hank turned to Trudy, but before he could say anything, Trudy informed him, "I'll assign patrol cars to sit outside your house and Jay's apartment around the clock."
Hank nodded. "Thanks, Trudy." He turned back to his team. "The postmark on this is from three days ago in New York. We have no way of knowing whether he's still there or not, but we have to assume he's here in Chicago until we know otherwise."
As Hank continued to talk, Hailey and Jay made their way down the stairs and out to their truck. "I'm driving," Hailey told Jay, taking the keys from him.
Jay didn't argue, going around the truck to the passenger seat. He flipped on the lights and sirens as Hailey started the truck. They had no way of knowing where this guy was or what he knew; Jay didn't want to waste any time in getting to Erin. If he knew she was back in Chicago and knew that sending a letter to her old district would get to her, it wasn't a stretch to assume that he knew about her connection to Hank.
As they neared Hank's house, Jay flipped off the siren, not wanting to scare Erin. As soon as Hailey stopped the truck, Jay jumped out, running up the sidewalk and knocking loudly on the door.
As soon as Erin opened the door, she instantly knew something was wrong. "Jay? What's going on?"
"I need you to pack up your and Cami's stuff," Jay told her gently, guiding her back inside the house. "You two are going to be staying at my place for a while."
"Jay, please tell me what's going on!" Erin demanded.
"A letter addressed to you arrived at the district today," Hailey answered, knowing Jay would do everything he could to avoid telling Erin what had happened. "The return address was your first apartment in New York."
"He knows I'm here," Erin whispered.
"We're going to get this guy," Jay told Erin, pulling her against him and wrapping his arms around her. "I promise you, we're gonna find him."