A few days after the party at Kevin's house, Jay had been over to Adam and Kim's place for dinner. Since his return to Chicago and Intelligence, he felt closer to everyone on the team, even Voight to an extent. He had missed them while he had been away, and they had missed him. That was why they were now spending a little more time with each other outside of work.
There was a second reason that Adam had made the invite though. He had overheard Erin talking about going to a mall with Jess, where they planned to have coffee and go over some interior design ideas for her apartment then go and do some browsing around the stores afterwards.
The fact that Erin and Jess had followed up on their plan to get together and talk about the apartment made Jay happy. Assuming they both enjoyed the evening, it would be the start of them bonding as friends. A good friendship, if it could be built, would be important for both women.
It hadn't escaped him that since Jess had tracked him down and they had connected, she had started having a much more active social life. Working all the time might be good for the bank balance, but it wasn't for mental healthy, especially for someone who was still grieving the loss of her mother.
Jay was sitting on the couch at Erin's place, relaxing with the hefty meal and a few beers in his system. It was a pleasant feeling. How long would this be considered Erin's place, he wondered. He was basically living there already. The arrangement had just happened rather than being discussed and agreed upon, so it somehow didn't feel formal as yet.
The sound of the front door opening. Erin was home. He got up and went to greet her.
"Hey. How long have you been home?" she asked when she saw him.
"About fifteen minutes. How was your evening?"
They greeted each other with a long, full kiss that made Jay feel more than ready for some more 'baby trying'. There was a reason for it of course, but he had never had as much sex in his life as over the past few weeks, the rationale being that the more bullets fired at the target, the greater the chance of hitting it. They only needed to get lucky once, and Erin would fall pregnant.
"It was nice. Jess wasn't lying when she said she knows her stuff about interior design. Couple that with her knowledge of cleaning, I think she was raised to be very house proud, and she adapted the cleaning knowledge to a career where she can make a lot of money. You've got to respect that."
"Definitely," he said. "So you've got a bunch of ideas to consider for this place?"
"I do. Let's go sit down."
"Of course. Shall I make us a drink first?"
"Thank you, but I'm okay."
Jay decided he was okay too in that case, so they went through to the living room and settled down together on the couch.
"There's something I've been thinking about, Jay," Erin said, looking him in the eyes. "I'd like you to look at the interior design stuff with me because I'd like you to have a say in it. What I mean is I want you to move in with me, properly. I know you're stuck with your apartment and that sucks..."
"Forget my apartment," he cut in. "I barely use it now anyway. Yeah, wasting money on it sucks but it is what it is. I'd love to move in here with you. As for the interior designing, you and Jess can handle that. I'm a man after all."
"Yeah, you are. A very manly man, and that fires me up like crazy. Do you want to go to bed?" It was blatantly obvious that she didn't mean to sleep.
"You already know I do," he said, getting up straight away.
A couple of days later, Jay and Erin were getting ready to go out. The occasion was dinner at Jess's place. Neither of them had been there yet, other than the time Jay had made it as far as the front door when picking her up to go van hunting.
"How do I look, Jay?" Erin said. They were both in their bedroom, getting dressed ahead of the night out. She had put on a gorgeous dark blue sleeveless dress that he liked a lot, although it was maybe a bit much for an evening at his sister's house. It was more of a visiting an expensive restaurant kind of number. He wasn't going to say that to her though.
"You look beautiful, honey."
"Really? Because Jess makes me feel a bit insecure about myself."
That surprised Jay greatly. He couldn't recall her ever admitting to being insecure about anything.
"Why?" he asked.
"Because I think she's absolutely stunning and it puts me to shame. It hit me when she showed up in that outfit to Kevin's party. Also because she's already seen my... sorry, I mean our apartment. I expect her house to be a lot nicer. Well decorated, immaculately clean..."
"Stop," he said, stepping up behind her at the mirror and putting his arms around her waist. He used the mirror to look her in the eyes. "I'm not going to comment on my sister's looks. That would be weird. But you thinking you might be put to shame is absolutely crazy. When I say you're beautiful, I mean it. Your beauty strikes me every time I see you. Whether it's walking into the bullpen and seeing you at your desk, or standing here looking at you in that dress, you blow me away every single time. No one in the world puts you to shame."
"You're a wonderful talker, Jay," she said, nestling against him. "I could listen to you talk to me like that for hours."
"Sadly that's all I've got for now," he said, and they both laughed. "Seriously though, you've got no reason to feel any kind of insecurity around Jess. I've been hoping you guys will become friends."
"Ah, now I've given you the wrong impression," she said, annoyed with herself. "I like Jess. In fact I admire her too, starting a business and all. She's been nothing but nice to me and we get on well, so don't take my insecurity as dislike. I just needed a bit of confidence is all."
Jay gently turned her around so that they could look eye to eye for real. "That's the most open and raw you've ever been with me I think. Never thought I'd hear you say you were feeling insecure. I'm glad you did tell me though."
"I'm glad I did too. Thank you for talking me around." She reached up and kissed him. "Come on, let's get going."
She clearly wanted to say no more about it, so Jay agreed. "Okay. Are you driving?"
"I might as well since I'm not drinking. That way you'll be able to if you want."
"I'm not going to either. Since you said about wanting to reduce alcohol consumption, I've been trying to do the same. Kevin's party didn't help," he added with a laugh.
Erin gave him another kiss. "Okay, you drive."
When they arrived at Jess's house they received a warm welcome. She greeted them each with a big smile and a hug before inviting them in, adding a polite request for shoes to be removed. The first sign of her house-proud nature and attention to cleanliness.
Jay felt happy to see his sister again. He wished it could happen more but considering their busy work schedules they were already getting together as often as realistically possible.
"Come in," Jess said. "Let me show you around before we sit down to eat. You said you'd be okay with handmade pizzas so that's what I went for. I made the doughs myself too. They're in the oven now. Erin, that dress is gorgeous," she added.
"Ah, thank you. Homemade pizza sounds amazing to me. I'm starving," Erin said as they were led into a living room.
As expected, the house was impeccably clean, decorated and furnished in a modern style. The most notable thing in the living was a white piano.
"You play piano?" Erin asked, impressed already.
"I play piano and sing, although I'm not great at either. Don't get time to practice much."
Jay thought back to when he had played guitar in his younger years – a hobby long since forgotten for the same reason Jess struggled with hers. Lack of time.
"I used to play guitar, a long time ago," he offered.
"Really? I didn't know that," Erin said.
"That's how long ago it was. Haven't even picked one up in years."
"Maybe you could get back into it," Jess suggested.
Jay nodded, although he couldn't see it happening.
One wall of the living room had been knocked through at some point during renovation work, connecting it to an already open plan kitchen and dining area. Jess led them through there.
"Living room, dining area and kitchen," she reported. Please feel free to make yourselves at home when we're done looking around. You're family, not just guests."
The way she said that touched Jay. Maybe it was his detective skills or maybe it was just obvious, but he picked up on the meaning behind it. Having him and Erin in her life meant the world to her, and she didn't want to lose that. Not that she would do, of course.
"We are family," Jay said, putting a hand on her shoulder as they stood for a moment in the kitchen.
"That's right," Erin added. "And I want to say that you can come over to our place any time, you don't need an invite. Just text one of us to make sure we're home. You know what our hours can be like with Intelligence."
"Thank you," Jess said. Jay noticed she had looked away from them. He recognised when someone was trying not to cry.
"Hey, what's up?" he asked, putting his arm around her.
"Just a bad day for missing my mom. Then talking about family..." she choked out, on the point of bursting into tears.
"Come here," Jay said, giving her a hug. "I can't do anything to take the pain away, but I'm here for you. Like you said, we are family. You're not going through it alone."
Jess hugged him for a few seconds then seemed to find her composure, taking a deep breath. "Thank you for that," she said as they parted. She looked at Erin. "Sorry, I'm spoiling the evening as soon as you got here."
"You're not spoiling anything," Erin said kindly. "You're dealing with grief, and we're both here for you. If you ever want to talk and for whatever reason I'm the one you want to talk to, call me. My phone is always on."
"You're both such kind people. Thanks so much. Knowing there are people who have my back helps. It really does."
"Always," Jay promised her.
It struck him in that moment that he was stepping up as a big brother. At the same time, he was stepping up as a partner to Erin, and soon, hopefully, he would be stepping up as a father. It was a rare feeling for him, but he felt genuinely proud of himself. He wanted to be a rock that people could rely on.
A/N: The talk about family made Jess crack. Are Jay and Erin more important to her than they realised?