18. The Perfect Storm

Thanks for all the reviews and the PM's you guys. I hope that you guys had a great weekend and if you celebrated Thanksgiving, I hope that you had a great holiday. I have worked so many hours in the last 5 days, that I don't know up from down, tired is an understatement right now. I hope that you guys like this chapter. It's been written in a state of deep exhaustion. lol

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Jay's eyes fluttered open, he raised his hand up to rub his eyes. The early morning rays of the sun rising shown through the curtains and filled the darkness of Erin's bedroom. Jay felt Erin stir against him and he turned his head to look down at her.

Erin's arm was draped across Jay's chest. Her head nuzzled under his chin as she slept. Jay kissed the top of her head and ran his arm up and down her bare back.

Erin shifted in her sleep and her eyes slowly opened. She tilted her head back and her gaze met Jay's. "Hey"

Jay smiled and looked down at her "Good morning"

"Good morning" Erin replied. Sleepiness still coating her voice.

Jay smiled and ran his hand over her cheek before lifting his head to kiss her. After a few seconds he pulled away and kissed her forehead and laid his head back down on the pillow.

"What time is it?" Erin asked holding her comforter against her as she sat up and ran a hand through her hair.

Jay sighed as Erin sat up. The lack of her body heat made the chill of the room spread across his bare chest. "It's 5:45. I have to get up and start getting ready for work. Voight wants us to at the precinct at 7:30 for a meeting"

Erin looked back over her shoulder at Jay who was still laying back against the pillows. "What's the meeting about?"

Jay ran his hand over the stubble on his face and yawned. "I don't know all the details yet, but there's a suspected sex offender who's been messaging girls from a few of the high schools in town. So Voight wants us to meet and go over the case"

Erin nodded and turned her head back to the front. She wanted to go back to work. She hated sitting around her apartment not doing anything. It made her feel worthless. She should be out there helping her team catch people like this "alleged sex offender" not sitting in a room talking about her feelings or sitting in her apartment watching TV.

Jay's hand running down her bare back drew her out of her thoughts. "Hey, you ok?"

Erin turned her head back and looked at Jay and forced a smile. "Yeah...yeah...I'm fine"

"Come here" Jay said running his hand up her back and to her arm.

Erin turned her head to look at him. Jay grasped Erin's arm and gently pulled her back to him. Erin held her blankets against her chest and twisted so she was laying against him.

Jay wrapped his arm around Erin's bare back and brought his other hand up and brushed her hair across her forehead. "Tell me what's wrong"

Erin shook her head "Nothing"

Jay shook his head "Babe, you'll be back to work soon enough. Just take the time to work on yourself"

Erin sighed and ran her hand down his chest and back up to his shoulder. "I just feel useless"

Jay sighed and raised an eyebrow "I think you're plenty useful in a lot of other departments"

Erin shook her head and laughed "I'm glad that you find some use for me now that I can't drive your ass around everywhere"

Jay frowned and tilted Erin's chin up to him "I'm pretty sure I've told you once or twice about that smart mouth and all the other things you could be doing with it instead of trying to bust my balls"

Erin raised her eyebrow "There's a joke there. But I'm too much of a lady to tell it"

Jay smiled and shook his head "I've seen you down a glass of Scotch without stopping...but if "Lady" is the word you want to go with..."

Erin ran her hand up across Jay's stubbled cheek. "You're just jealous because I can drink you and the rest of the unit under the table"

Jay rubbed his nose against Erin's "That's my girl"

Erin smiled and leaned down and pressed her lips to Jay's. Jay ran his hand across Erin's cheek and rolled them both over deepening the kiss.

Erin laughed against Jay's mouth as they kissed and she ran her hands down his bare back.

Jay moved his lips from Erin's and down her jaw to her neck. He groaned when Erin turned her head to give him better access to her neck. Erin raised her head off the pillows to place a kiss on Jay's shoulder.

The sound of the alarm clock going off caused Jay to curse against Erin's neck. Erin turned her head as Jay raised his head from her neck.

"Have I mentioned I have a few sick days that I haven't used?" Jay asked nuzzling his nose against Erin's.

Erin raised an eyebrow and ran her hand down Jay's back. "If you miss that meeting then Voight is going to bust my door down looking for you"

"So I guess that's how our relationship is now? You using me for my body"

Erin shrugged her shoulders "Pretty much"

"I guess we should probably break up then" Jay braced himself above Erin.

Erin looked up at Jay and sighed. "We probably should"

Jay sighed and looked over at the bedside clock "Well, we had a good run"

Erin ran her hands up Jay's chest and tilted her hips up into his. She smiled when Jay dropped his head down and groaned. "Something wrong?"

Jay raised his head and his gaze met Erin's. "Erin, you're about to activate the launch sequence and there's no coming back from that"

Erin laughed and kept her eyes on Jay "You're an idiot"

"Way to kick a man when he's down" Jay rolled his eyes and looked down at Erin.

Erin bit her lip and ran her hand up Jay's back. "Down? I thought we were just having a conversation about things coming "Up""

"Not fair" Jay said narrowing his eyes at the girl beneath him.

"Don't feel bad, I've heard it happens to a lot of guys" Erin bit back a smile as she kept her eyes on a less then amused Jay.

Jay frowned and kept his gaze on Erin. "There's that Erin Lindsay wit that always astounds me"

"I thought I had a lot of things that astound you..." Erin's gaze broke from Jay's and she pouted.

Jay looked down at Erin and lowered his head "Baby, you do"

Erin turned her head back to look at Jay "Well, I guess I could lean up and kiss you now"

Jay raised an eyebrow and kept his gaze on Erin's "That's an idea"

Erin smiled and ran her hand down from Jay's shoulder to his arm. "I thought you'd like that idea"

"I do" Jay said as he started to relax his arms. "But I could also come down there and..."

The sound of Erin's laughter filled the bedroom as Jay's hands found their way to her ribs and started to tickle her.

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Hank Voight stood in his office and popped another antacid into his mouth. The heartburn he'd had all day wasn't getting better. He'd already been through a half a bottle of Tums and the burning that radiated from his chest to his stomach wasn't letting up. He blamed it on the stress of work, cases like this always gave him heartburn.

A knock on the door tore Hank's focus from the file he was going over and up to the door to this office. "Yeah?"

The door opened and Alvin stepped in and closed the door behind him. "Here's the updated paperwork on Nick Cook that you asked for. It's the notes that Halstead and Atwater have sent so far"

"Thanks" Voight said taking the file from Olinsky.

"It looks like he's been living under different alias' in order to avoid registering on the sex offender list" Olinsky said taking a seat in the empty chair across from Voight's desk.

"We'll get him" Voight said looking over the file "Are Halstead and Atwater still on the stakeout?"

Olinsky nodded "Yeah. They just briefed with Antonio. Looks like Cook isn't going to make a move tonight"

Voight nodded and grabbed another Tums out of the container and popped it in his mouth.

"You ok?" Olinsky asked.

"Yeah. I'm fine. Get Halstead and Atwater back here. We've got enough for tonight" Voight said.

Olinsky stood up and walked out of the office to call Jay and Kevin back to the precinct.

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"Do you mind if we talk about you mother?" Dr. Sullivan asked Erin as he took a seat at his desk.

"My mom? Um, I don't...I don't know...What would you want me to say?" Erin asked as she twisted a charm on her bracelet.

"Anything you'd want to tell me. Good or bad" Dr. Sullivan said as he looked in his desk for a pen.

Erin pulled her feet up on the chair and thought for a few moments. "I don't have very many good memories of her from growing up. If you're trying to hear about some good ones, I'm sorry. They just don't exist. At least none that I can really remember. I mean if you count her patting me on the back saying she'd never shoot up again after I'd spend time cleaning up her vomit off the floor. Then I guess there's that"

Dr. Sullivan nodded "And your mom today?"

Erin sighed "She's still around. But I don't want to open that chapter in my life again. I can love her, but I would rather love her from afar"

"Would you ever be willing to invite her to one of our sessions?" Dr. Sullivan asked.

"No...Never" Erin shook her head quickly. A lock of her hair falling from the loose bun she'd worn and she quickly brushed it behind her ear.

Dr. Sullivan sighed and sat his pen down. "A lot of your anxiety comes from your mother. If you wouldn't feel comfortable doing a joint session with her then how about we do a separate session and I talk to you and her and then relay your sessions back to each other"

Erin shook her head "No. I don't want her to have any part in this"

"What about Hank Voight?" Would you be willing to do a joint session with him?" Dr. Sullivan asked.

"I don't know" Erin sighed

Joint sessions? Is this really what all these meetings are leading to? Erin didn't want to be here on her by herself, let alone bring from her daily life to see how screwed up she is.

Dr. Sullivan nodded. "Well, how about you think about it and let me know on the next session"

Erin nodded as she turned her head and looked out at the sun setting on the Chicago skyline. "I'll think about it"

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Jay and Kevin walked into the precinct and took their seats. Voight came out of his office a few moments later looking over his notes. "Good work tonight boys. We've got a lot of new leads on Cook and once we get some more paperwork sent up from Atlanta then we should have enough to issue a warrent"

"Search or Arrest?" Jay asked sitting back in his chair at his desk.

"Search for now" Voight answered.

"What about his phone records? DId the wireless carrier get the subpeona we sent for the phone and data records?" Atwater asked.

"We're still working on getting everything set up with the Wireless company. They're gathering up some ip addresses and are going to send his data and phone records in the morning" Voight looked back over the file. "That's all for tonight. I'd like to have a morning briefing at 8. The rest of the team will be here to get caught up on the details"

Jay and Kevin nodded and they both got up from their desks as Voight went back into his office.

"You wanna go to Molly's and grab a drink and catch up on game highlights?" Atwater asked as he slipped his coat on.

"Nah, not tonight man. I've got to get home to my girl. See how her therapy session went today" Jay said laying his wallet and keys down on his desk while he slipped his police vest off. "Maybe tomorrow night though"

Atwater nodded "Of course man, No worries. How's everything going with Lindsay...If you don't mind me asking"

Jay was quiet for a moment as he thought. "It's...a process. She is slowly getting back to herself. I think it's doing her some good to talk to someone who isn't one of us"

Atwater stretched and walked over to Jay's desk. "Do you have any idea when she'll be coming back to work?"

Jay shook his head "I don't know yet man. It's up to Voight. She'd come back tomorrow if he'd let her"

Atwater nodded in agreement "I don't doubt it. But you know Erin needs to lean to lean on all of us. Not just you. I know that you're her partner and you two are together. But,it doesn't mean you guys can't come to the rest of us with this kind of stuff. Believe me if I can listen to Ruzek and his problems with Burgess, then I can listen to you"

Jay laughed to himself and looked at Atwater "Trouble with Burgess and Ruzek?"

Atwater shook his head "Not that I really know of. I just don't like to hear things about my former partner that I never wanted to know. Things that I should never know. I have days when I can't even look Kim in the face"

Jay laughed as he and Atwater started walking to the steps to leave for the night.

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Erin sat on the couch in her apartment. She picked at the Lo Mein in her Chinese take out box and looked up at the clock on the wall. She thought for sure that Jay would have came back to her apartment. He'd told her he was coming when she'd talked to him after her therapy session this evening. She'd even driven across town to his favorite Chinese restaurant to pick them up some dinner.

"Maybe he's just running late" Erin said to herself as she twirled a fork full of Lo Mein onto her fork and plopped it into her mouth just as her cellphone rang.

Erin smiled as she heard "Cop Car" By Keith Urban fill the living room. That meant that Jay was FINALLY returning her call.

Erin grabbed her phone and slid her thumb across to answer it.

"Hey, where are you?" Erin asked.

Jay sighed and looked at his surroundings before he answered "I'm at the hospital"