It took Jay a few seconds after waking up to figure out where he was. Then his brain kicking in, and a smile broke out on his face. He was in Erin's bed. After the dinner date, they had gone back to her place and they had been on each other before she even finished opening the door. The sex had been as wild as it had been wonderful, with years of absence and longing driving their passion for each other.

"What a night," Jay muttered to himself as he sat up and stretched. Erin's side of the bed was empty. He could hear her moving around downstairs in the kitchen. No, now she was coming up the stairs.

"Morning. I'm awake," he called out, his voice sounding like it actually wasn't awake yet.

"You sure about that?" she asked as she walked into the room, carrying a cup of coffee.

She was wearing a crumpled t-shirt and the shorts she liked to sleep in, and her hair was a mess, but damn she looked beautiful, he thought.

"Yeah, I think so. Morning, gorgeous."

"Morning. I brought you coffee. Much as I'd like to fool around some more, if you haven't seen the time yet, you'd better move your ass if you want to get home and change before work."

He took the coffee from her then leaned over the side of the bed and picked his phone up of the floor. "Shit," he said when he saw the time.

"Yep. I'm going to hit the shower. See you at work?"

"Yeah. Erin? Where do we go from here?"

"Go? I'm at the place I wanted to get to. I'm with you. Let's not overcomplicate it."

"You're right," he realised. "Well, in that case why don't you come over to my place tomorrow night? I'm out for drinks with Jess tonight. Called her last night before coming to pick you up."

"Oh," Erin said with interest. "How did that go? I mean, obviously not badly since you arranged to meet up."

"It went really well. I apologised for being an asshole, she accepted the apology, and we talked for a few minutes. Turns out she's crime scene cleaner."

"Really? That can't be pleasant work. I bet it pays well though. I'm happy you're going to meet up with her. Got to get in the shower, Jay," she said, giving him a quick kiss.

Before she could leave the room, Jay spoke up. "Erin? Not sure how to explain this. It's just, it doesn't feel like I've got a sister yet. Feels more like I'm meeting up with a friend I recently made or something. It's weird."

She stopped in the doorway and looked at him. "This is a very unusual situation. You'll get there though, Jay. No doubt she'll like you, and I'm confident you'll get along just fine. In time, hopefully the sibling bond will form between you. That'll take effort from both of you, but it'll be worth it. Now, I'm taking a shower once and for all. If we're not careful we're both going to be late and Hank will kick our asses."

Jay took a big sip of his coffee. "Alright, go. I'll see you later. Thanks for having me stay over," he added, wanting to part ways on some humour.

Erin laughed, which pleased him. "You're welcome. I might make a habit of it."

At work later that day, Jay found himself in the bullpen with only Kevin Atwater for company. The rest of the team, Voight included, were out on various assignments. Curiosity had been nagging at Jay all day, and he finally gave in to it. He was going to look up Jess on the various databases he had available to him on his work computer. There wouldn't be anything to prove she was his sister, but he could obtain some information about her and at least verify she was who she said she was, not that he really doubted it.

A few minutes later he had discovered that there was a Jessica Marie Sutton working for the city's crime scene cleaning team, and her file with that department contained a photo that was indeed Jess. A further search told him that she had no criminal record. All he could find on file were two speeding tickets that had been paid and resolved. She appeared to be a normal, hard-working person living a decent and honest life.

He pulled up her file with the crime scene cleaning department again and looked at the picture. His brain still wouldn't properly compute that it was his sister he was looking at. Well, half sister, but he didn't see much of a distinction there. Blood was blood. The only vital question remaining was whether Jess's mom had been correct in identifying her father. Only a DNA test could provide proof of that. It was something he was going to have to ask Jess to do. He figured she wouldn't object if she really did want them to attempt to bond as siblings. After all, how could that process begin if they weren't totally sure they were blood relatives?

"Earth to Jay," Kevin said from over at his desk. "You okay, man? You looked a million miles away."

"Yeah, I'm fine," Jay said, looking at his friend. "Been thinking about Jess. We're meeting up tonight for drinks. Was just thinking I'm going to have to ask her to take a DNA test. We need to know for sure that we're related."

"Of course. Assuming everything's legit, she has to have thought of that herself. Have you found out any more about her?"

Jay recounted his conversation with Jess from the previous night, including the fact that she was a crime scene cleaner and that she ran two YouTube channels.

"Two channels?" Kevin asked. "What does she need two channels for?"

"I don't know. Don't know what content she makes because we didn't talk about it. No doubt I'll find out tonight. Just want it to go well, Kev. I've found myself feeling quite hopeful and positive about having a sister."

"As you should. I hope it goes well, and she turns out to be a nice person. Drop me a message when you get home and let me know how it went."

Jay nodded, appreciating the support. "Will do. Thanks."

O'Brien's Irish Bar was the venue Jess had suggested for the evening drinks. She had said in her text that there was always a nice atmosphere in there, and they didn't play loud music so it was possible to have a conversation without needing to put in a huge amount of effort.

Jay knew of O'Brien's but he didn't recall ever having been in there. Now, when he walked in, he got a positive first impression. The place was busy, but not excessively so. He was able to make a quick scan of the room and see that Jess wasn't there yet. He was ten minutes early though, so he wasn't surprised by that. He decided to get a drink and stand at the bar so that she could locate him easily when she arrived.

Heading over to the bar, he was approached in short order by a jovial-looking man who was way over six feet tall and well built, with a long red beard. A bear of a man, but a teddy bear around his friends and family, Jay reckoned as his first impression.

"How are you? What can I get you?" the bartender asked.

Jay had taken an Uber to the bar so he was free to drink alcohol. He ordered his favourite beer, then moved on to answering the first question. "I'm doing pretty good. Found out yesterday that I have a half sister I never knew about. She's meeting me here any minute now."

"Woah," the bartender said with a good-natured laugh. "That's some pretty major news to get. So, this will be your first time meeting her in person?"

"Properly meeting, yes. She turned up at my job yesterday like, 'Hi, I'm your sister.' And I didn't react too well to the shock."

"Understandable, having something like that thrown at you," the bartender said as he put Jay's drink on the bar and told him the price.

Jay took out his card to pay. "I guess, but I'm not proud of how I spoke to her. Hoping to make amends tonight. I like the idea of having a sister."

"Good for you, man," the bar tender said, taking the contactless payment. "Have a good night, yeah?"

"Will do, thanks," Jay said. Drink in hand, he turned to stand with his back to the bar so that he could keep an eye on the entrance. No sooner had he done that, Jess walked in. She was wearing black pants, a white and grey striped top and a dark grey blazer. She looked smart but not overdressed. It was an outfit that showed effort to make a good first impression, which reminded Jay that he wasn't the only one about to properly meet a sibling for the first time. Jess was too, and he had his own chance to make a first, or maybe second impression after acting like a dick at the 21st the previous day. Thankfully, it seemed like he had gotten away with that. Now was a chance to start over.

He raised his beer in acknowledgement when she spotted him and started to walk over.

"Hey, Jess. How are you?"

"Hi, Jay. I'm alright thanks. You?"

Awkwardness ensued. It was a tough moment for both of them, properly meeting for the first time and not knowing what to do or say.

"I'm good. Buy you a drink?" Jay managed.

"Sure. I'll take one of those," she said, motioning slightly towards his beer.

Jay attracted the attention of a different bartender and ordered. He decided to take the initiative and try to dispel the awkwardness by getting conversation going. Any conversation would do to break the ice. "Thanks for meeting up with me. I've been looking forward to it a lot."

His words made Jess smile. "So have I, although I've been nervous. There's so much stuff I've imagined we might talk about."

"I know what you mean," he said with a smile.

"There's probably too much to get into in one evening."

The way she said that told Jay that she was thinking he might have come for one or two drinks and not want to stay too long.

"I'm in no rush to get anywhere," he assured her in a relaxed tone.

"Me either," she said as her beer arrived and Jay paid for it. To him, she sounded encouraged. "Jay, there's something I want to say. Right now, we only have my mom's word that you're my brother. While I believe her, and I think you believe it too or you wouldn't be here, it makes sense for us to find out for sure. Would you agree to take a DNA test?"

Now Jay was certain there was no ulterior motive in Jess. The fact that she had suggested the same thing he had wanted to suggest, for the same reasons, proved that. There was only one answer to give.

"It's a good idea, and I was going to suggest it tonight myself. I'd be happy to go to a clinic with you and take the test. Results would come back in a few days, then we would know for sure, as you said."

She smiled. "Okay, great. So, shall we go find a table?"

Jay pointed across the room. "Even better, there's a booth free."

"Perfect!"

He starting leading the way across the room, feeling excited to get a substantive conversation started. It was time to really meet his sister.

A/N: Jay and Jess have agreed to get DNA tested to confirm that they are related. Now it's time to start getting to know each other. What do you think he might learn about her?