2. Love Me Like You Do

Hey guys,

thank you, thank you, thank you for the reviews on my first chapter! I'm happy you liked it! :)

As I promised, this chapter is all about Erin and Jay and I had soooo much fun writing this!

Disclaimer: I still own nothing.

2. Love Me Like You Do

Jay woke up early the next morning when the sun made its way through the curtains and into the living room. He yawned loudly, stretched his body and went over to Erin's bedroom to look after his girl. Just as he had expected she was still asleep. He had heard her coughing hardly several times throughout the night. It didn't sound good and made him even more worried. He decided to give her a little more time to sleep, just put on his jeans and a pullover and left her apartment, heading to the grocery store around the corner.

He came back about half an hour later with a bag full of orange juice, tea, milk, fruits and some flowers in his other hand. It seemed like Erin still wasn't up. God, she must've really needed that.

He decided to make breaktfast before waking her up and started to make pancakes.

It took him longer than expected. He didn't make breakfast often as they mostly took something to-go from the coffe-shop on their way to the district, but when he did he wanted it to be perfect. After finally finishing everything, he put two pancakes on Erin's plate and dropped some pieces of strawberries, blueberries and blackberries over them. He took one of the trays out of the cupboard and placed the plate with the pancakes in the middle of it. He filled a little can with maple syrup and also placed it on the tray as well as a cup of tea he has made for her. Now he just he took three of the red roses he had bought and decorated them around the plate. Last but not least he stored all of the med packages on the tray as well.

″Awesome,″ he laughed to himself, grabbed the tray and walked over to Erin's bedroom. He placed the tray on the sideboard and just watched his peacefully sleeping girl for some seconds. Normally he wouldn't wake her up but he wanted to know how she felt before he left and she had to eat something anyway.

He layed down on his side of the bed, leaned over her and started to place kisses on her hair. He dugged her face out of the blanket and gave her some kisses on the cheeks. He got even more worried when he recognized how warm her cheeks were. She slowly started to wake up, groaned and immediately coughed again. It took her a moment to realize what happened around her. First she recognized the tray on the sideboard. Then she turned her head around and looked directly into the blue eyes of the man she loved. A weak smile rushed over her face.

″What are you doing here?″ she asked. Or at least, she tried to ask because her voice was almost completely gone.

″Well, a thank you would have been enough,″ Jay laughed and kissed her forehead.

″Thank you for breaking into my apartment?″ she joked and cleared her throat.

″For example. But is it actually breaking in when you have a key?″ he winked.

″When did you get here?″

″Somewhen last night.″

″Really? How did I miss this?″

″You were pretty much...out.″

″Guess so,″ she answered thoughtful.

″How are you feeling though?″ he asked. She didn't miss how his eyes scanned her. She looked even worse than the day before. Her eyes were glassy and her cheeks were burning.

″Good,″ she replied.

He raised his eyebrows, was about to say something but he hadn't to.

″Okay, maybe not so good,″ she admitted and coughed again.

″Alright. I brought you some...presents for that.″ He rolled himself to the other side of the bed again and stood up. Meanwhile Erin sat up in the bed and waited for Jay to serve the tray.

″I just wanted to say how amazing this looks, but actually I can't because with all those meds...At least the pancakes and roses look great,″ she winked.

″Just take them Er. They'll help you and you really need them. And I think even you know that.″

″Great to have a brother who's a doctor, huh?″

″In situations like this, when you have a stubborn girlfriend who'd never go to a doctor, it's not that bad, yeah,″ he laughed. ″So just take them please. I hate seeing you like this,″ he whispered and sat down right next to her, taking her hand in his.

″Alright,″ she finally said and stroked his cheek with her other hand.

She drank some tea, ate some small pieces of the pancakes and took the pills in between.

″Good girl,″ he smirked after she had finished.

″I'm not a dog,″ she laughed and boxed her elbow into his ribs.

″Would be easier sometimes,″ he chuckled and had that childish smile on his face.

″I hate you.″

″Come on, you don't,″ Jay winked.

″What makes you think that?″ she smiled. At least she was able to joke with him which was a good sign.

″Not on a day like today.″

″What? Is there something special about today?″ She tried her best to be serious but the look in her eyes and the smile on her lips revealed her. She knew exactly what he was talking about.

″Today makes us six months,″ he whispered, clearly happy.

″Really? Six months? I already put up with you for six months? Cheeeeeeez,″ she laughed.

″Now I hate you,″ he replied, leaned over her and kissed her.

″Great, now we hate each other, isn't it awesome?″ she chuckled.

″So, I hate you is the new I love you, huh?″ he smirked and placed another kiss on the smiling lips of his girlfriend. Their kisses got more intense until Erin pulled him off.

″Maybe we should do that tonight, when all the meds kicked in...you know when I'm really...in form,″ she grinned. ″Plus, it's late already.″

″Well...shit happens,″ he answered when he checked his clock.

″Yeah right, so we should go.″ She was about to get up but he held her back.

″Don't you even think about it! You'll stay exactly where you are: in your bed. Take your meds, drink tons of tea and sleep. No discussion.″

″Yes Sir,″ she surprisingly answered without even trying to discuss.

″I love you. And remember: we have something to celebrate tonight, so you better get healthy fast. Really fast,″ he whispered and kissed her again.

″Love you too,″ she smiled and ran her fingers through his hair, didn't want to let him go.

With a deep sigh he gave her one last kiss and got up. When he was already on the way out, he turned around again and glanced at her.

″I have a present for you,″ he said proudly.

″Me too,″ she smirked. Jay jumped back to her and kissed her again.

″I can't wait,″ he replied with his eyes full of joy before he left.

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxX

As promised, Erin spent most of the day in her bed and slept a lot. From time to time she made herself a cup of tea and took her meds. They helped a lot better than she had expected and by the evening she felt better than the days before.

After she took a long and hot shower she even didn't feel as sick anymore. At least she felt good enough for having a nice evening with Jay. She dried her hair and made some curls into them. She changed her sweat pants and oversized hoodie to some of her nicer clothes and wrapped a thick muffler around her still sore throat. She went back to the bedroom, sat down on the edge of her bed and glanced over to the photos of her and Jay that were placed on the sideboard. They both looked so happy. She looked so happy. Jay, the man with this freaking cute childish smile made her endlessly happy. Each and every day. It was unreal and until a couple of months ago she didn't know that this kind of happiness even existed. She couldn't remember that she ever felt better, happier and more complete than since the night when he didn't want to dance around any longer and kissed her in Mollys and made them an official couple. Even now, when she was just thinking about him, she felt butterflies fluttering in her stomach.

She was still smiling when she heard someone open the door. Just five seconds later she saw Jay's face checking out the bedroom.

″Hey there beautiful. How are you doing?″ he asked and came over to the bed to kiss her.

″Better. A whole lot better,″ she smiled. ″And since you're here now I almost don't feel sick anymore.″ She kissed him softly and ran her fingers through his hair.

He was glad to see that she really looked a lot better than the days before. Her eyes were sparkling again, her lips had that real smile back and her voice was almost back to normal. But obviously she still had fever.

″Have you eaten something today?″

″Naah, I wasn't really hungry.″

″You will be hungry when you see what I cook for dinner,″ he replied, obviously being pretty confident of his skills. Erin couldn't help but starting to laugh.

″You. Are. Going. To. Cook?!″ she asked and raised her eyebrows in disbelief.

″Eyy, I can cook!″

″Yeah, in your dreams, huh?″

″Seriously, I'm not that bad in the kitchen.″

″How comes you never told me that and kept us ordering food from everywhere in Chicago?″

″I just love to surprise you,″ he smirked and leaned in to kiss her.

″Uhm...you waited six months for that?!″ she laughed.

″Guess so, huh?″ he winked. ″You'll stay here and I'll call you when everything is finished,″ he said and got up.

″I could help you,″ Erin suggested.

″No no no,″ he smiled, came back to her and kissed her again. ″This is my turn so just lay down and relax until I pick you up,″ he whispered and left her alone in the bedroom.

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxX

″Are you ready?″ he asked when he came back to the bedroom more than one hour later.

″I'm starving. I have to admit, it smells damn good.″

″Well, it is damn good,″ he grinned and took her hand in his, pulling her up from the bed.

″We'll see,″ she teased and bit her lower lip.

He smiled and slightly shook his head.

″I love you, too,″ he said, while covering her eyes with his hands and guiding her to the living room.

″Can I look now?″ she asked as he ordered her to stop.

″Erin Lindsay, you're the most impatient person I know,″ he laughed and uncovered her eyes.

She blinked some times and was immediately amazed by what she saw. It was simple but really cute nontheless. He had decorated the table with a vase of red roses and the only light in the room came from some candles that were also placed on the dining table. On both of their places were plates with what looked like some kind of pasta and glasses filled with white wine.

″This looks amazing. Thank you,″ she whispered and turned her head around so that she was able to kiss him.

″Take a seat before it gets cold,″ he said afterwards and guided her to the chair. ″Linguine with salmon and cream sauce, before you ask,″ he winked as soon as she sat down.

″This is my favorite,″ she replied and smirked to him.

″I know,″ he simply answered and couldn't hide a proud smile.

″I never told you, did I?″

″You mentioned it once casually.″

There it was again: another reason why she was so in love with him and why the butterflies in her stomach just startet to flutter again. She couldn't even remember when she ever said something about linguine with salmon to him during the past months but he obviously did.

″Must've been really casually,″ she replied with a smitten smile.

″You know, the details matter,″ he said with an even brighter smile surrounding his lips. ″Now enjoy your meal,″ he ordered and started eating.

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxX

″Do you like it?″ he asked her insecure after some minutes as she didn't say anything.

″This is the best linguine with salmon I ever ate.″

″Seriously?″

″Seriously. You're better in the kitchen than I am.″ Jay almost choked on his wine as these words came from her lips. Erin and cooking were two things that shouldn't be combined if possible.

″This ain't difficult,″ he laughed and placed his glass back on the table. ″And in case this was a compliment, it wasn't a convincing one.″

″What? Why?″

″Because you almost burnt down your kitchen by trying to make popcorn. Popcorn, Erin,″ he answered with a deep laughter and thought back to the time when he came to her place for a movie night and it was smelling like she made a campfire in there.

″Oh well that. Making popcorn is a difficult thing.″

″Yeah. If your name is Erin Lindsay it surely is,″ he teased and this playfull smirk surrounded his lips.

″Whatever,″ she said and slightly shook her head with a smile. ″You didn't understate when you said you're quite good in the kitchen.″

″Told you so,″ he grinned.

″I look forward to get something like this now every evening,″ she chuckled.

″You wish. Keep on dreaming,″ Jay laughed, but he was apparently more than proud of himself.

″Well, it was worth a try,″ Erin answered and bit her smiling lower lip before taking a gulp of her wine.

They finished eating their dinner with joking around a bit more and just enjoyed their alone-time. They didn't have much of that during the past weeks as all of their cases required lots of overtime. They mostly didn't even have the weekends free. Even after six months into their relationship they still acted quite professional at work. In the mornings and evenings they sometimes walked in and out the precinct holding hands and from time to time they shared a short kiss in the break room or the locker room. Despite the fact that they didn't have time to share any more tenderness at work they still didn't feel comfortable with acting too amorous at work. And when they came home after a long and exhausting day they mostly were too tired to do anything and went straight to bed. The last time they went out together was on her birthday two weeks ago when he invited her for dinner at the Purple Pig. But they only had two hours together that evening as they later celebrated her birthday and remembered Nadia in Mollys with the rest of the unit. Since then, watching TV together in the evening must've been the most exciting thing they did during the last weeks. It was about time to change something about that and this evening seemed to be perfect for it.

″You ready for dessert?″ he asked her after bringing the dishes to the sink.

″What kind of dessert?″ she asked in response with a naughty smile and wrapped her arms around his waist.

″Well, first vanilla and chocolate ice cream with fresh berries, then I still have that present for you and the last part of the dessert could be playing...scrabble. We didn't do that in a while,″ he murmured and kissed her intensly.

″I think I like that dessert,″ she whispered and replied with placing another kiss on his lips.

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxX

″So about that present...″ she said while she finished eating her ice cream.

″You'll get it, keep calm,″ he laughed as he could see her curious face. ″What about mine though?″

″It's nothing special.″

″I bet it is.″

″Naah honestly, it isn't.″

″Alright, you first and then you'll get mine.″

″What? Why?″

″Because when I don't like yours you don't get mine,″ he joked with sparkling eyes.

″Don't you think this is a bit unfair?″

″No,″ he simply answered and smirked. ″Come on Er, where is it?″

″It's nothing you can unpack. I told you it's nothing special.″

″Erin,″ he said and now he was the one being all curious.

″Alright. You know, the birthday gift I got from you, about doing a holiday trip and I choose the location where we go. I want to go to Wisconsin with you.″

″What? Really?″ he asked in disbelief. ″I mean this is our first holiday together and we could go anywhere. The Caribbean, Florida, California, Mexico, Hawaii.″

″I want to go to Wisconsin to your grandfathers cabin where no other people are around us. Just you and me and eagles and lakes and trees and thousands of mosquitoes,″ she laughed and she could see in his enlightened face how much he loved this thought. She knew how much he wanted to go there and being alone with him in the middle of nowhere in Northern Wisconsin was something she wanted way more than hanging around on a nice beach with hundreds of other people.

″Why did you think this isn't something special?″ he asked her as it was really special for him.

″It's dull, but I thought you might like it.″

″I love it. And it's not dull. It's actually the most awesome gift you could've given me.″ He stood up from his chair, went to her and pulled her up directly into his arms, hugging her tightly and kissing her again.

″Wait wait wait,″ she said when he started to put his hand under her shirt, softly stroking her skin with his fingers. ″You forgot something.″

″Really?″ he mumbled and his voice was clearly disappointed.

″Of course. You got yours and liked it, so now it's your turn,″ she teased.

He sighed, ended his embrace, went to the small closet near the door and came back with a small packet in his hands.

″Satisfied now?″ he asked as he handed it to Erin.

″Depends on its content,″ she grinned as she unwrapped it. It was a little jewelery box and for one second she thought Jay was going to do something immensly stupid.

″Open it,″ he said as he saw her hesitating. She did what he said and a beautiful silver necklace with three small, different sized, sparkling stars appeared as she opened the box.

″I hope you like it,″ he whispered.

″It's beautiful.″ She had to clear her throat as her voice was barely there. And she couldn't blame it on her flu this time. She was simply touched. No one has ever given her something like that.

″Come here,″ he said and took off her muffler before placing the necklace around her neck. ″Look at that, a beautiful necklace for my beautiful girl.″

She went to the mirror to see it herself.

″I love it. And I love you. Thank you,″ she turned around and kissed him.

″I thought a necklace this time and maybe a ring next time,″ he teased her with a smile, knowing exactly what she was thinking some short minutes ago.

″Don't you dare giving me a ring, Jay Halstead.″

″I can't remember telling you what kind of ring,″ he smirked. ″Maybe I meant a boxing ring.″

″Well, I'd be okay with that I guess,″ she laughed as his lips crashed hers in a kiss that was more intense than all the other kisses they had shared this evening. He softly pushed her down to the couch. The one couch where they rekindled their relationship six months ago and where they now did the same thing that they did back then...

Hope you liked it! Tell me what you think and of course you can also tell me if you have any wishes about a specific storyline. I'll try my best to write them in! :)

Not sure when I'll be able to upload the next chapter (it's already finished) as I'll be on skiing holidays in Austria until next weekend. But maybe I have time (and wifi) somewhen in between ;)