It's like she knows what happened. She probably sensed it was coming. It was bound to happen eventually. This break up was less than mutual, but desperately needed. He didn't question why she was up at this time because when he had left, the baby was asleep in her bassinet and Erin was lying down on the couch. The only reason Erin Lindsay would be up at this hour is because of one person, -Emma October Halstead. That's the only logical reason Jay could tell himself to explain why Erin was awake at almost four in the morning. It's been a few days since he last saw and spoke to Abby, not for her lack of trying, but for his own lack of interest. He worked late, she was up, he could tell without even entering the apartment yet because of the loud music. It would be off if Erin was asleep, but with the raised volume, he knows no one in their right mind would be able to sleep through that. But, at the same time, he couldn't picture seeing anyone falling asleep to noise that loud either, including Emma. How could anyone think with the bass booming? How could anyone hear the muted sounds of an infant crying if the music is drowning out every potential sound that could be heard in the dead of night? He's honestly surprised the police aren't at the door because of noise complaints. The music is extremely loud, probably on its highest setting. He uses his key and steps inside, locking the door, twisting the knob to ensure it's locked and then kicks off his shoes, it's become his daily routine. At least when he returns at a normal hour, not at the dead of night, or morning, whatever one may consider four am to be.
Jay walks further inside, feeling no need to call out his arrival because no one would be able to hear him over the music. He glances around, half expecting Milo to run up to him for his welcome home rubs but when the four legged animal made no appearance, he frowns, because despite the time of day, that was a guarantee. The only time that wouldn't happen is if Erin was taking him on a walk, which, once again, it's four am and she wouldn't drag herself outside with a dog and a baby for a walk. He knows Milo is home, around here somewhere, he just doesn't know where and why he hadn't come out. Jay goes to the bluetooth speaker and turns it off, his ears partially ringing at the drastic change in volume from blaring noise to immediate silence. And that's when he hears him, the sounds of a whine, it isn't human, and he immediately detects it's coming from Milo. Jay follows the sound to the linen closet, he hears Milo's nails scratching at the door, desperately, pleadingly, trying to claw his way out. His medium build kept ramming into the door in the hopes of powering through the barrier. And Jay spares him more attempts by opening the door, "Hey buddy," Milo races past him and goes straight into Erin's bedroom.
And now the fear that Milo felt when pleadingly scratching at the door fills Jay's body as he decides to follow the dog. He creeps down the hall, calling out, "Erin," but when he receives no response he speeds up, stepping into the bedroom to hear Milo's cries even louder, he's tugging on something, trying to pull it but is having no such luck because it obviously weighs more than him, "Hey buddy, where's Erin?" Milo ignores him, and drops whatever he was trying to tug. He steps away and moves to Jay, barking dramatically before racing back over and this time, Jay is on his heel, more curious than anything until he gets to the other side of the bed, his heart stopping and he nearly trips over her foot. He realizes that's what Milo was tugging at, he was pulling her leg, yanking it in hopes of either waking her or dragging her to safety.
"Erin," There was no movement on her end, her eyes were opened, the expression on her face haunting, as if frozen in place from seeing a ghost, "fuck," he stumbles to his knees, crawling up to her, hand going to her neck to check her pulse, "no," he panics when he feels nothing, "no, no, no, you better not fucking do this, no," he checks the pulse on her wrist, still nothing. Her face pale, her body cold, as if she'd been like this for hours. He reaches for her arm to push it out of his way so he can move in closer, finding it completely stiff and he knows rigor mortis has set in. Milo uses his head to nudge Jay, coaxing him to do something, begging him with the aggressive jab of his snout. Jay must not be moving fast enough because Milo gives up, believing instead he'd be of more use to her by her side. His whining never stops, even as he licks his human's cheek, hoping his kisses would be enough. It's not. Milo howls, and stomps his front paws. Jay knows she's gone; based on the rigidity and the temperature of her touch, he knows she's been gone. but he doesn't give up, he checks her breathing, nothing, but that doesn't stop him from attempting CPR. He needs to do something. He needs to try something. But, when his hands lay against her chest in an attempt to push down, he feels a wet substance.
He lifts his hands. Both palms are now coated in blood. Then he sees the knife discarded across the room. He raises Erin's shirt to check the damage, the amount of stab wounds is too many to count, it's sloppy work, made out of a desperate act, made out of emotion and made out of quick action as if the person responsible didn't know how much time they had and needed to get the job done as soon as possible. From what he can see, there are at least five stab wounds and he's definitely underestimating the number. Milo barks, and it refocuses Jay, he doesn't know what to do. He pulls off his shirt, hoping he can stop the blood by applying pressure, but it's as if Milo knows it's too late because now he's growling every time Jay makes a move to touch Erin, he's growling as if Jay is the enemy, as if he's mad that he couldn't save his person, as if it's Jay's fault this happened and as if by Jay touching her, he'd be hurting her even more.
Milo snaps, snipping the side of Jay's hand to get him away from her. Jay tries again, but this time the dog bites him, nipping his finger and causing Jay to yank back. The dog whines, curling into Erin's side, unbothered by her blood staining his coat of fur. Milo lays with her, crying out, howling to the moon, or maybe to their maker begging for him to renew life into her. His pleas go unanswered, and the sight of love and loyalty Milo has for his human breaks his heart. He sets his head down on her shoulder, mindlessly licking the side of her face. Jay can see his eyes water, and he knows that Milo understands, he knows Milo is smart enough to know what's happening and he knows Milo is hurt. The visceral pain the dog feels can only be cured by life being brought back to his human. And Jay knows that's not happening.
But, despite how Milo is feeling, Jay's hurting too, he feels a physical pain, a clench in his chest, feeling like someone's hand is wrapped around his heart and is squeezing so tightly, with every intent of making it burst.. His hand covers his chest, his bloody palm staining his bare chest but he doesn't care, "Erin," Milo barks at him for even speaking her name. The look in Milo's face has Jay questioning if he's the enemy because the way Milo is looking at him makes him feel at fault, "I didn't do this." Milo growls, and Jay knows that if he could speak, he'd disagree. Jay looks down at his hands, and for a split second starts to wonder if Erin's blood staining them is symbolic in a sense. Is her blood not only literally but figuratively on his hands?
Tears fill his eyes, his chest tightens, he starts to shake, damn near approaching a panic attack because not her, it can't be her, he needs her back, he doesn't know what he'll do without her, what will Emma do without her, -and suddenly he sits up. His posture turns rigid, coming real close to challenging the rigor mortis in Erin's muscles and he jumps to his feet, preparing to make a run for the nursery when he slips in the puddle of Erin's blood he'd been standing in and falls face down. Her blood, it's too much of it outside of her body, her blood now covers his chest, parts of his face and the palms of his hands. It hurts, but it doesn't stop him from crawling out of her bedroom and stumbling up to his feet, leaving behind bloody footprints as he races from one room to the next. In half the time he makes his way to the nursery and when he throws the door open, turns on the light and approaches the crib, he sees Emma faced down, which is never how Erin lays her for bed. She can't roll over yet. Her lying face down leaves her prone to suffocation. No, Jay rolls her over to see her face pale and her lips blue and before it can completely register what the fuck he's seeing a gut-wrenching scream pierces the dark walls and Jay wakes up in a panic, the cold sweat leaving him drenched and his sheets damp and he realizes that scream came from him. His heart is racing and he looks around, taking in his surroundings, grounding himself by identifying his location.
He's at Erin's place, and that's when the memory of his nightmare comes to mind and he throws the covers off his legs and stumbles out of bed, falling out of bed and before he can push himself to his feet Erin is running inside with a bat in her hand and Milo at her feet, "What the hell, Jay?"
She sees he's safe, just haunted. And before she can ask any questions, he's wrapping his arms around her, holding her so tight that she has to squirm for him to loosen up so she can breathe. He's crying into her shoulder, and she drops the bat to wrap her own arms around him, "Hey, it's okay, it was just a nightmare," it's what she assumes is the cause for this, "you're okay," she rubs his back, unbeknownst to her that it isn't him he's worried about, it's her and it's Emma.
"Where's Emma?" He pulls away. He doesn't wait for her to answer before he's out of the room and into the nursery, turning on the lights and approaching the crib. She's fast asleep, and he knows he shouldn't, he knows Erin just might kill him, but he wakes her. He rubs her tummy, coaxing her to open her eyes and when she does, the tears come back, he starts crying then Emma starts crying and when Erin enters the nursery to see the baby awake, she practically starts crying as well, "I had just gotten her settled, Jay."
"I'm sorry," he wipes below his eye, "I'm sorry. I'll put her back down. You go to sleep."
"It's eight in the morning."
"It is?" He raises his wrist to check his watch only to see he isn't wearing one, "How long have I been asleep?"
"You fell asleep before both me and Emma. She woke up at six like she normally does, had her bottle, had a little play time with mama and I put her down five minutes before you woke up screaming. Are you okay?" She enters the room, hand gravitating towards his bare back to rub it, hoping her touch offers him a semblance of peace, "the way you screamed, I thought someone broke in. You're sweating, you're red in the face and I don't think you've caught your breath yet. Come on," she encourages him to follow her, "let's see if Emma goes back down on her own and let's go to the living room and talk. I can tell you definitely need it." He says nothing; he just nods his head and follows her, leaving Emma in the crib and Milo laying in front of it.
Erin helps Jay settle on the couch, and instead of taking a seat beside him, she stoops down in front of him, her hands on his knees, rubbing his thighs to settle him down, "Do you need me to call Milah? Or will you be okay?"
"I'll be fine. I just need to catch my breath."
"Do you want to talk about it?"
"There's nothing to talk about…"
"...maybe you can tell me about your nightmare?"
"You and Emma were dead, someone killed you. That's it."
She's speechless. Erin doesn't know what she was expecting, maybe to hear about a monster chasing him, maybe to hear about him falling and before he landed, he woke up or maybe even something weird that has nothing to do with anything, but the reality of it was worse. Erin rose back to her feet and this time, she wrapped her arms around him, squeezing him tightly, near suffocation and he buried his face into her shoulder, inhaling the comforting scent that only she can give off. She brings her hand up, running it through his hair, massaging his scalp until she hears his breathing slow down, until she can feel his heart rate steady out.
She draws away, only to look at him, cupping his face and peering into his eyes, "Come lay down with me," he opens his mouth to protest, but she shakes her head, not willing to accept whatever excuse he makes up, "you're tired and maybe getting some quality rest would be good for you," he wants to disagree, claiming that he fears his nightmare will only resume but the motherly look that crosses her face tells him it's no room for debate.
Erin takes his hand and she leads him to her bedroom. He seems cautious, his body a bit tense, either because of the nightmare or because he's about to be laying down with her. He crawls into bed first, she follows, neither knowing how to lay, how much space to leave, which direction to face or anything that comes with settling down under the covers. She smiles, and chuckles a bit, breaking the tension and lays down, patting the spot next to her for him to lay his own head. He expected her to hesitate, to fumble around or at least create a border of pillows between them but she surprises both herself and him and scoots forward, laying her head on his chest and nodding permission for him to wrap his own arms around her, "That way you can sleep knowing that I'm safe in your arms, no one is going to kill me, not when I'm right here."
"And Emma?"
"Milo is watching her back and if anyone even thinks of going in there, he'll bark."
"He didn't bark in my dream."
"Dream, Jay, remind yourself it was a dream, and we also have the baby monitor, we'll know.."
"I know," he whispers, noticing his blinks getting longer and longer until finally he falls asleep, and surprisingly it's peaceful, and he doesn't wake up until he hears Emma cry through the baby monitor. He stirs, and when his eyes blink open, he realizes that Erin was still asleep, her head resting on his chest, her breathing evening out. He slips from under her, trying to not nudge her awake so she can sleep a bit longer. She deserves it. She's been getting up with Emma in the middle of the night ever since she came home from the hospital.
Jay makes his way to the nursery, peering inside to see a disgruntled Milo huffing and puffing, obviously bothered by the wailing baby. He leaves the nursery and helps himself to continue his slumber on Emma's octopus. And as he looks at it in the dark living room, he gets the creep factor that Erin was talking about, but refusing to hear an I told you so, he ignores it and goes further inside the nursery. He reaches inside and lifts up his now three month old baby, she immediately settles down, acting as if his arms provided immediate relief, "You scared me."
She blinks at him, her wide eyes peering into his own, giving him the sense that she is looking into his soul. He cradles her, pulling her closer to his chest and pressing a kiss to her forehead, "I mean you scared the shit out of me Em," he knows she doesn't know what he's talking about not only because she's a baby but because she wasn't in his nightmare and had no control over it, "I don't know what I'd do if something happened to you," he moves her to his shoulder, burrowing his face into the crook of her neck to inhale the comforting scent of her baby lotion.
"She's not going to disappear," he hears the words of her mother say from the doorway and he pulls back, revealing to both Erin and himself the traces of tears on his cheeks, "that nightmare was really bad," she says more to herself than him, "Jay, we're here, it wasn't real."
"It felt so real."
"I know," she cups his elbow, encouraging him to face her, "I know but you have to remind yourself it's fake. You're safe. You're okay."
"I wasn't the one that got hurt."
Erin realizes that her words aren't what he needs; what he is doing now is what he needs. So, she says nothing else. Instead she moves to the laundry basket filled with Emma's clean clothes and begins folding them. Neither saying a word. The silence and the presence of one another is comforting enough. Once Erin is finished, she starts putting the clothes away, and by the time that's done, Emma is asleep again, back in her crib and the color has finally come back to Jay's face. He's leaning against the dresser, arms crossed over his chest and hands cupping his elbows, and then he breaks the silence, "I had gotten home really late. Milo was in the closet, someone trapped him in there so he couldn't protect you. He was crying to come out and digging but he couldn't get free." Erin moves closer to him, giving him her undivided attention, "It was music playing and it was so loud, I couldn't hear Milo until I cut it off. I didn't think anything was wrong even though he was locked in the closet, I just…I don't know what I thought but it wasn't that there was danger." He pauses, his bottom lip quivering, showing Erin he's on the verge of tears again.
"Jay-" she wants to stop him, to let him know that he doesn't have to finish but he keeps going.
"I let him out and he went straight to your room. It was too late though. You were already gone but I couldn't believe it, I couldn't accept it and I wanted to help but Milo wouldn't let me. He was growling at me like I was the one that hurt you, I couldn't save you and he knew." He pauses when Erin walks closer, moving her hands to unravel his arms so she could hold both of his hands in comfort, "you were covered in blood, someone had stabbed you and I don't know who but I was too late and then I remembered Emma and the panic I felt skyrocketed, I ran to her room, saw her face down and I immediately knew she was gone too and that's when I woke up."
"That had to be terrifying," her thumbs caresse the back of his hands.
"Seeing Emma pale with blue lips, it scared me so bad it literally woke me from my nightmare."
Now Erin feels bad for momentarily getting upset at him for waking the baby up earlier. She would have done the same thing. Jay pulls his hands from her hold in order to move around her and approach the crib, "What would we do if we lose her? What would I do if I lost you both?"
"You don't have to think about that because it's not going to happen."
"We don't know that. You don't know that."
"Jay, if someone wants to hurt that baby, they're going to have to go through me, you and Milo."
"What if we're not enough? Gosh, Erin, she's only been here for three months and I can barely remember my life without her, like before Emma was born, what really mattered back then, and why did it even matter? To lose you in that nightmare was terrifying but then when I realized I lost her too, I-I-," he pauses, a word describing that feeling wouldn't come to mind, almost as if it didn't exist, almost as if he couldn't boil it down to basic terms and standard English.
"I get it, I do, I really do, but if we live in constant fear of losing her, we won't be able to appreciate and live in the constant love of having her."
Jay says nothing, instead he storms out of the nursery and goes into the guest room, searching through his end table before he finds the pamphlets. He yanks them out, not even bothering to close the drawer before he leaves the bedroom. Erin is in the living room now, waiting for him, standing and facing out the window, the nursery door left cracked after her departure.
"I didn't want us to keep talking and potentially waking Emma up," she says by way of explanation; Milo doesn't seem to appreciate his own sleep being interrupted and chose to get up and go back into the nursery where he can hopefully find some peace and quiet.
"Do you remember the therapy session that I had right before Emma's appointment?" He asks, not bothering to comment on her last response, "the one where you met Ruth?" Erin nods and he then extends the pamphlets to her, "Milah told me that in her professional judgment, she thinks I'm being stalked by Abby," his words catch both her and Abby who is watching through the screen of her phone off guard, Abby sits up, posture tightens as she brings the phone closer to her ear, "she showed me all this shit that perfectly describes Abby's behavior and she's right, she's fucking right Erin, and I think I had that nightmare because I didn't tell you."
She takes the papers from him, "Why didn't you tell me?" She asked more so out of curiosity than accusation; she truly wanted to know.
"...because I didn't want to face it, I didn't want to believe it and I didn't want to accept that I could be the victim of something like this. I'm a cop for goodness sake Erin, I'm a part of one of the best units in the state of Illinois, shit like this isn't supposed to happen to someone like me but it did, it is, and no matter how much I try to pretend it's not, it's now affecting my sleep. I think that's why I had that nightmare, those papers have been burning a hole in my head since I received them and I'm scared it won't stop unless I tell you about it. I can't have that nightmare again, Erin. I just can't. I can't. I can't."
Erin quietly nods, not directing her focus to the documents just yet, not until he's okay. She sets the pamphlets down and moves to him, wrapping her arms around him and allowing him to do the same with her. She rests her head against his bare chest, her ear placed just above where his heart rests and she holds him, she squeezes him, reminding him that she's here and they're safe.
Abby is speechless; she doesn't know what to say about the information she just heard. She rose to her feet, and stormed into the bedroom, propping the phone against the lamp to continue listening as she opened her laptop, searching the name of his therapist and opening her website to schedule a consultation, "If she wants to interfere in what I have going on then I'll interfere in what she has going on," she types in a fake name, checks off the terms and conditions that most likely tells her she'll have to provide her insurance or select self-pay if she decides to go forward with therapy then she closes the laptop. Abby looks back at the screen, seeing Erin taking her time and reading the pamphlets as Jay paces back and forth in front of her.
"Okay, you're making me anxious, can you sit down?"
"I'm too worked up to relax."
"Jay," she warns and he heeds it. He takes a seat next to her, only rising up an hour later when the baby's cries startle both of them. Erin had finished reading, but she needed time to process it.
Erin sets the pamphlets down and rises to go to the kitchen. Mindlessly making a bottle for the baby instead of focusing on the information she just discovered. When Jay enters the kitchen after her, hand extended for the bottle, she finds herself now ready to talk, "Now that we know this, what do we do with this information? Can we get the restraining order now?"
He follows her out of the kitchen, "We don't have any evidence but Milah told me to start documenting so if Abby does anything, write it down, take a picture, keep it. We don't need much but we need something then we'll file and we'll get it. I'm sure of it."
Abby's hands clench around the phone and she comes close to breaking it, only stopping herself because she can't afford to not be privy to their discussion. It's the longest she has tuned in on the webcam in one period of time. She propped it up against a pillow and laid down, tears swelling her eyes at the thought of this coming to an end. She had to switch up, she had to play it safe. Abby cries herself to sleep and by the time she's up again, the sun has set. Abby rubs her eyes and immediately sits up, fearing that she missed some good information from them as she slept and she swipes her phone to bring it to her face, to look closer, not seeing anyone on screen.
No one is in the living room but Milo who now found himself enjoying a bone.
Emma, because of her taking a longer nap than usually scheduled, is wide awake. Emma's big, bright and innocent green eyes, identical to those of her father, were fixated upon her mother's face, staring intently at her in the dimly lit nursery, apparently not planning or willing to close any time soon. Taking in every feature on her mother's face, no interest in entertaining the idea of sleep as her balled up fists swirl around in the air and her legs kick outwards. She watched her, almost without blinking, as she gave her mother an open eyed look of amazement and a gummy smile, staring at her as if she were hypnotized. Erin would be able to appreciate the smile more if she wasn't running on coffee as fuel. The amount of exhaustion she felt in her bones pushed her near tears, she's desperate, "Baby, I need you to go to sleep for mama," she begged, "it's almost two in the morning and mommy had a long day already and has to work in six hours."
In response to her mother's plea, Emma's smile only grows wider, flashing her mother that gummy grin along with the dimples she inherited from her. Since hitting that three month period of motherhood, Emma is staying awake for longer periods of time. Erin held onto her daughter's ankles as she lay on her back, balanced by the crease in the center of Erin's pushed together thighs, "Please baby. You don't want mommy to be tired tomorrow, do you?"
"I took the trash out for you," Jay whispered as he appeared in the doorway of Emma's nursery, to which he realized that the baby was still with her mother, "She's still not asleep?" He walked further into the room, "You've been at this for over an hour," he gets a closer look at Em, "She doesn't even look tired; she's wide awake."
Erin sighs, his words not helping her feel better at all. Don't get her wrong, she loves when Emma is awake and she can gaze into those innocent green eyes of hers, where she is up and gets to sing to her, but right now, with all the emotions experienced throughout the day, she's tired. It was Erin's second month at work tomorrow since the baby and she was hoping to at least get eight hours of sleep, but because Emma had napped on and off so much throughout the day, she wasn't ready for sleep by the time the sun had set. Erin scooped her baby up, setting the little girl on her feet as she bounced her up and down in an effort to wear her out, "I don't get it," Erin admits; this new mother thing was difficult, "she has a clean diaper and a full belly. The lights are off. It's the perfect setting to get some shut eye, but she's fighting it, she keeps staring."
"I mean...I can't really blame her. I stare at you too whenever I get the chance," he partially jokes, but not really. Jay moved around the seat and leaned his elbows on the back of the rocking chair, admiring his daughter's eyes, -his eyes, "How about you let mama sleep, Em?"
Emma blinked, head lolling back until Erin readjusted to support her neck. The baby's head now rested in the elbow crook of her arm while her behind sat comfortably on her mother's lap. Jay stooped down to rest on one knee, "You go to bed. I can stay here and put her to sleep." He always felt guilty, always feeling as if he wasn't pulling his fair share of the weight and that's the last thing he wanted to do. Erin isn't the only one responsible for Emma.
"I won't be able to go to sleep until she does," She briefly pulled her eyes away from her daughter and looked over to him, "I don't know why, but I can't no matter how hard I try. I just lay there staring at the baby on the monitor and besides, I brought the little one in the room with me to lay down and she spit up on my bed so it's the couch for me tonight until I do laundry."
"Don't you have spare sheets?"
"Yeah, but do you feel like making up a bed at damn near three in the morning?"
"...point proven and taken."
Erin rose to her feet, carefully cradling the baby in her arms before passing her over to Jay. If he wanted to give it a try, she was happy to comply. She'll just watch to pass the time.
"Hi love bug," he cradled her in his arms and gently kissed her forehead, making sure to inhale that delightful scent of her baby shampoo, "your mama and I have work tomorrow; we're heroes in the city. I catch the bad guys and she helps the brave victims of their crimes."
"I love watching you with her," Erin confessed. She always had to remind herself that while he's been coming over every night, it was to spend time with Emma. He would spend the night on some occasions, but it was only because of Emma. And now that he's staying with them regularly, the option was only on the table because of Emma. He just got out of a committed relationship. And to be honest, Erin didn't think she was ready to start something anyway. Erin covers her mouth to yawn, and then shakes her head in an effort to knock the exhaustion out.
"She's asleep," Jay whispered, peering down at his daughter peacefully slumbering. At some point, he had put a pacifier in her mouth and that seemed to do the trick. She was out.
Erin mouthed, "You're a saint." The last thing she wanted was for her to wake back up.
Gently, he placed her in her crib as her mother cut on the baby mobile dangling above her bed. She led him out of the room, grabbing the baby monitor on her way out. And he followed, shutting the door as carefully as possible before following her into the living room.
"Are you sure you're going to be okay with her?" He has to go to work much sooner than her.
Erin dropped the covers she had picked up from the couch, "Yeah, this isn't my first time staying alone with my baby," she was on the defensive…probably because she's tired.
"I know that, I just," he couldn't seem to say the right things nowadays, "I just know that you deserve some sleep and if she wakes up, it'll-"
"Jay it's fine, it's a part of being a parent. Try to get some more rest before you have to go in."
He listens. He tries. And he does manage to doze but before the next hour, he's up again. He tries to stay sleepy when he goes to the bathroom at four in the morning. His eyes squint and he drags his feet, trying to ensure he doesn't fully wake up so it wouldn't be hard for him to go back down for the next hour. Erin has to be in the office at eight, and because they're working on a priority case, he has to be in at six which means he has to be up no later than five. Jay dries his hands on the hand towel and then shuts off the light, the darkness consuming him and leading him to stumble into the air chair, startling Erin awake, "Who's there?"
"Seriously Erin?" He rolls his eyes.
"What?"
"If I'm an intruder, I'm not going to just shout who I am!"
"You never know." She lays back down and snuggles under the covers.
And then it's his turn to hear a noise and he whips around, "What's that?"
"Oh, so now is the perfect opportunity to ask questions."
"Yes," he chuckles, then disappears into the bedroom and returns with his own set of covers, planting himself down in the airchair to try to get his last hour in.
Erin cracks one eye open to see him situating himself, appearing uncomfortable because while she's spread out on the couch, he's cramped in the armchair. She rolls over to face him, "Why are you out here instead of in that comfortable bed I paid good money for?"
"I figured if you were out here, I should be out here too."
"Both of us shouldn't have to suffer, and besides your job is a lot more physical than mine, you need the rest. Go in the room, and get some sleep."
"I'm fine Erin."
"Suit yourself," she shrugs then rolls over to face the back of the couch. It takes her a bit longer to fall back asleep because of the soundtrack of Jay's snores playing through the living room. She soon gets tired enough that she falls asleep despite it, and by the time she's waking up, Jay is in the shower. Erin goes to the kitchen to make coffee, figuring she can get it started so he can have a mug before he leaves out. Jay steps out of the shower, feeling well rested thanks to the hot stream of water that washed his sore muscles and tired emotions away. He wrapped his towel around his waist and stepped out. It's warm in Erin's apartment, but not as warm as the bathroom so the drop in temperature makes him shiver and brings goosebumps to his flesh.
Jay rushes from the bathroom to his bedroom, hoping that the sooner he gets there, the sooner he can dry off and get dressed so he's not as cold. The aroma of coffee spreads through the apartment, drifts under the crack of the door and enters his nostrils. It smells heavenly. He buckles his jeans, then reaches for his deodorant. Now his new plan of quickly finishing so he can have a cup of coffee replaces his old one of getting dressed to rid himself of the cold. He walks out of his room barefoot, shirt thrown over his head as he multitasks in walking and getting dressed, "Something smells so good, please tell me you made enough for two."
"I swear my parents can be frustrating," Erin slams her cell down onto the counter, "you ask them a yes or no question and you get a lecture in response."
"Huh?" It startles him, "Is everything okay?"
"I asked my mom what time she will be here, and she says she didn't know she was watching the baby today and she and my dad started lecturing me in the family group chat about being mindful of other people's time and not assuming things without telling them."
"I thought your mom agreed to watch Emma while you're at work."
"Yeah, but she says she's not privy to my schedule so I need to remind her."
"...and you texting her just now was the reminder."
"Exactly, you get me, why can't they?" She sighed, turning back to the two mugs she pulled out of the cabinet. She pours him a full glass and does the same for her.
Her phone buzzes again just as she adds cream to her coffee. A part of her doesn't want to turn the phone over to check the message but her mom watching Emma is doing a big favor for her and she shouldn't ignore her message because of that. And just as Jay brings his cup to his mouth to take a sip, he hears his own phone alert him to a text, it's in his bedroom but the volume is up loud enough for him to hear, "What's the chances of both of us getting a text around the same time? I hope it's not your dad taking his frustrations on you out on me."
"...and if it is, you're an adult, you can handle him."
Jay sets his mug down, "I'm sorry but have you met Hank Voight," he starts walking out of the kitchen. Erin checks her message, it's a text from her mom letting her know she'll be there before Erin has to leave for work. Despite rolling her eyes, she sends her mom a thank you text. She gave her a whole early morning lecture just to agree and do as she had asked. Erin double checks her alarm, knowing that once Jay left and she locked up after him, she was going to try to get in another hour of sleep, especially if she's going to have to deal with a second lecture, this time in person, when her mother arrives. Camille Voight does not know how to let things go.
Erin puts the cream back and grabs the sugar. As she works to perfect her coffee, Jay comes walking in, quietly, his face appearing dumbfounded and slightly confused, "I got a text from Abby…" he says without prompting. And normally he doesn't tell her things like this so Erin knows it must be important.
"Saying what?"
Jay rereads the text aloud, "I'm sorry. I realize you're right. I don't recognize myself anymore and I'm becoming someone I don't want to be. I'm going to get the tattoos removed of anything Emma related. I'm going to accept the break up and stay away. I just ask that you let me stay here until the lease is up and then I'll move back to Wisconsin. I'm really sorry."
"When is your lease up?"
"First of November."
"This isn't weird to you? She did a complete 180."
"It is weird, very weird but I don't think we should push it. We're getting what we want."
"Yeah, but…Jay-"
"Isn't this what we wanted though? She's falling back and in a few months, she's leaving."
"I mean…you know her best, just keep me posted if she texts you again."
"Of course," he pockets his phone and finishes off his coffee, "alright I'm out of here. It's already looking to be a good day."
"Be safe."
"You too."