10. Home Is Where Your Heart Is

Hey,

thank you all so so so much for the nice words in your reviews, this really means a lot to me and I'm beyond happy that you like this story! :)

So here comes a little more fluff, other stuff and Wisconsin part one. Enjoy!

I still own nothing.

10. Home Is Where Your Heart Is

The sweet smell of pancakes was in the air when Erin came into Hank's kitchen on Sunday morning. She had to grin when she recognized that even after all these years it still felt like coming home when she walked into his house.

Hank had invited her for breakfast before she and Jay would go to Wisconsin the following day and of course she has accepted his offer. There was nothing better in this world than Hank Voight's pancakes. She didn't even know why she loved them so much. Of course they tasted delicious and different than all the other's she's eaten yet but most likely it was because they reminded her to the time when she felt like being part of a real family and had a real home for the first time in her life. Reminded her to the lazy Sunday mornings with Hank, Camille and Justin, when they all had sat on the table in their pajamas and had joked and laughed in between eating his pancakes. Simply reminded her to the time when she had called this place her home and the people in it her family. When people had cared about her for the first time ever. When Hank had asked her whether she wanted her pancakes with fruits or bacon and she didn't know what to say because she never had some before. Because she was happy when they've had toast as she was used to not having anything to eat for breakfast at all.

She loved his pancakes so much, that some years ago she had even asked him for the recipe of them but he had kept his secret and had told her that if she wants to have his pancakes she has to come to his place and he would make them for her.

″You need a hand?″ Erin asked her pseudo-father and made him cringe with it.

″Can you at least try not to give me a heart attack?″ he asked her as he turned around.

″Sorry, I thought you heard me coming in.″

″Naah, not really. You can set the table on the patio if you want,″ he suggested.

″Sure,″ Erin answered and took two plates out of the cupboard and placed them outside on the table along with the fruits, the sour cream and the maple sirup. When she came back into the kitchen she filled a cup with freshly brewed coffee, sat down on the kitchen table and watched Hank making the last pancakes.

″Do you want bacon with your pancakes?″ he asked her.

″No, I'm fine with just pancakes and fruits, thanks.″

″Okay. Why didn't you bring Halstead?″

″I didn't ask him,″ Erin answered and sipped on her coffee just to burn her tongue by doing so.

″Didn't you?″ Hank asked and his voice sounded quite surprised.

″Believe it or not, there are some things I can and want to do on my own, without him,″ she said. ″Plus, I don't wanna share these pancakes,″ she added with a laugh.

″So that's the main reason, huh?″

″Nooo,″ she grinned. ″I will have Jay around me 24 hours a day as from tomorrow for eight days, so I really wanted to have this breakfast just with you.″

″Accepted,″ Hank smirked.

″So, how much longer will this take? Because I'm starving,″ Erin complained and tried to take a sip from her coffee for the second time. Hank turned around and shook his head but smiled at the same time.

″Some things never change,″ he said and Erin knew exactly what he was talking about. Back in the days she used to sit in the kitchen every Sunday, constantly asking him how much longer she had to wait. Sometimes it was even worse and both, her and Justin, had sat in the kitchen and had driven him nuts by asking every five minutes.

″Nope, they don't,″ she grinned at him.

″But today is your lucky day because this is the last one,″ he said and placed the pancake on top of the others.

″Perfect,″ Erin smiled. Hank took the plate and they both walked out to the patio and sat down in the comfy chairs.

″As good as always,″ Erin winked after she took the first two bites.

″Glad I didn't forget how to make them. It's been a while,″ Hank said pensively. Erin knew what he meant and felt bad. Ever since she and Jay were a couple she's been at Hank's place for pancakes twice. Something that once was a routine got lost as she and Jay loved to start their sundays in the laziest way possible, by staying in bed like forever and of course because Sunday was the only day were they had really time for themselves and their relationship.

″Yeah, we haven't done this for months. We should do this more regularly again, like once in a month, what do you think?″

″I'd really appreciate it,″ Hank smiled.

″Good, we'll get something organized then. Have you heard from Justin, Olive and Daniel lately?″ she changed the topic.

″I phoned with Justin last week and he sent me some pictures. Daniel is walking already,″ he sighed.

″I'd love to see them again.″

″Justin told me they'll try to come during his summer vacation in August,″ he said and smiled a little. ″Here,″ he added and gave her his phone with the newest photos of his grandson.

″Aaaww, look at him, such a sweetheart,″ Erin smiled when she scrolled through the photos of the one-year-old, blue-eyed, brown-haired toddler. ″He's going to be a heartbreaker one day, that's for sure,″ she laughed and handed the phone back to Hank.

″He looks a lot like Justin, don't you think?″

″Yeah, he does. I also see Camille in him,″ she quietly said and waited for Hank's reaction. He only nodded in response.

″Sometimes I wonder whether we'd still be a family if she was still here.″

″Hank, we are a family,″ Erin said.

″Are we, kiddo? You have Halstead, Justin has Olive and Daniel and they don't even live close to Chicago. I just mean...all the trouble and problems Justin had...that never would've happened if she was still here. There would have been no need to send him to the Army. He and Olive would live around here and I could see my grandson every day,″ he explained and Erin felt how her heart got heavy from his words.

″Hank,″ she said again, laid her fork and knife aside and looked at him. ″When you talk about all these would-be's you have to consider the fact that you most likely wouldn't have a grandson if things were different. Because who knows whether Justin's and Olive's paths would have crossed again when he would've been the good kid.″

″You can't know what would have been,″ he disagreed.

″Exactly,″ she said. ″But neither can you.″

″I miss her,″ Hank quietly admitted and took another bite of his pancake so he didn't have to look Erin in the eyes.

″I know. Me too,″ Erin said. They finished eating their breakfast in silence. Originally it had been Erin's plan to ask Hank about the mysterious date night with Liv in New York but with the way things have turned out now this wasn't the right time and she realized that Hank maybe wasn't as ready for something new yet as she has thought he would be.

″What are your plans for the rest of the day?″ Hank broke the silence after he had finished eating his last pancake.

″I still have to pack my bag. But before I can do this I have to do my laundry first. And before doing my laundry I might have to tidy up my apartment and pick up all the clothes that lay on the floor in the bathroom and the bedroom,″ she sighed.

″Prepared as always,″ he smirked.

″Sure,″ she grinned. ″You remember when we went on our first holiday together? I think it were the Easter holidays, five months after you've taken me in. We wanted to go to Canada. Camille had told me to bring her my dirty laundry until two days before leaving. But instead I brought it to her on the evening before we left. And it was much. And it was late already. Oh she wanted to kill me,″ Erin laughed.

″I vaguely remember. She didn't wash it, did she?″

″Of course not. She said it is my problem and I shall solve it myself. Then I was the one who wanted to kill her. We picked up a real fight.″

″Ah, yeah, now I remember better. She then considered to cancel our whole vacation because you drove her nuts,″ Hank grinned.

″Mhm. Then you talked to me and I did my laundry myself and later I went to her and apologized for my behaviour. I told her that it was still hard for me to follow rules and orders. And you know what she did? She hugged me and told me she was sorry for yelling at me. I mean, she had every right to yell at me but she apologized nevertheless. This was new for me. I was used to people yelling at me. It was normal. It was a part of my life. And no one has ever apologized for it before as no one was ever sorry for it. And no one has ever hugged me the way she did that evening. The vacation then turned out better than expected.″

″Yeah, it was chaotic but also lots of fun,″ Hank confirmed and a smile surrounded his lips because of how Erin talked about Camille and because his memories went back to their first vacation as a family of four.

″This was my first holiday and I will never forget anything of it,″ Erin smiled and looked at Hank with thankful eyes.

They talked for a little while longer, did the dishes together and then it was time for Erin to leave. All the things she still had to do would most likely not even fit into the remaining hours of the day.

″Enjoy your vacation,″ Hank said and hugged Erin.

″I will,″ she mumbled onto his shoulder.

″I mean like really enjoy it Erin. You deserve it. Try to relax. And try not to think about work, we will catch the bad guys without you, no worries,″ he laughed after he'd ended his embrace.

″I'm sure you will,″ she also laughed and walked away.

″Tell Halstead to drive safely,″ he called when she almost reached the car. She turned around again and shook her head.

″Do you really think I let him drive?″ she laughed, waved one last time and got in the car.

″Not really,″ Hank said to himself, went back into the house and closed the door behind him.

XxXxXxXxXxXxX

Back home in her apartment, Erin started to tidy up her mess, being more or less motivated to do so. She also did her laundry and started to order the clothes, she wanted to pack in her bag, on her bed. She was looking for her bikini in the depths of her closet when she heard someone unlocking the door.

″Hey babe,″ she heard Jay's voice calling some seconds later.

″I'm here,″ she called back and a moment later he joined her in the bedroom.

″Holy...,″ Jay laughed when he saw the mess of clothes on her bed. She stopped her desperate search for her bikini, walked to her boyfriend, wrapped her arms around him and kissed him.

″What is that?″ he asked her, raised his eyebrows and pointed to the mountain of clothes on the bed.

″Burgers with fries. What do you think?″ she chuckled.

″Looks more like you emptied your whole closet and put all of your clothes on our bed,″ he noticed.

″Actually I tried to pack.″

″You're going to need three bags if you want to take all of this with you.″

″So what?″ she laughed.

″Our vacation is eight days. Not eight months. Unfortunately.″

″Jay relax, I looked for something and didn't find it so all my other clothes had to leave my closet for now.″

″Did you find it at least?″ he asked her although he was pretty sure to already know the answer.

″No,″ she sighed.

″That's a surprise,″ he laughed and earned a punch onto his shoulder from her.

″Do you know where my bikini is?″ she asked him while she went back to the closet and started looking for it again.

″Uhm, how should I know that?″ he replied and laughed when he saw all kinds of clothes flying through the air.

″It's not here.″

Jay took three short steps and wrapped her arms around her waist from behind.

″You don't need a bikini anyway,″ he whispered into her ear. She turned around and raised her eyebrows with a little smirk surrounding her lips.

″What?″ he grinned. ″We're in the middle of nowhere, completely alone. We can swim naked.″

″Yeah Jay Halstead, you wish,″ she laughed.

″I do, actually,″ he winked and crashed her lips with an intense kiss.

″We'll see,″ she grinned afterwards and turned around again to start another round of searching for these damn two pieces.

″Have fun with your searching, I'll go to the living room and have dinner instead,″ he shrugged and left her.

″Wait. You brought food? Why didn't you say that earlier?″

″You didn't ask,″ he noticed with a grin. ″It's chinese food. I'll put it on the plates and then you can join me. Or you keep on searching forever. But the result won't change, I'm afraid,″ he twinkled.

″I love you, too,″ she laughed as she watched him going to the living room.

Jay set the table and just when he wanted to call her that everything was finished, she entered the room, having a proud and winning smile on her face and holding her bikini in her hand.

″I found it.″

″Too bad,″ Jay chuckled as he sat down on the table. ″So, where was it?″ he asked her as she sat down adverse him.

″Uhm...in between my winter clothes,″ she admitted.

″Awesome, right where it belongs,″ he laughed in response and shook his head.

″Exactly,″ Erin answered and started to eat her dinner.

″Did you even already start to pack your bag?″ she asked him after some minutes.

″Er, I finished packing five hours ago and my bag is down in the car already.″

″Nerd,″ she grinned.

″Chaos-queen,″ he replied, picking up a little verbal fight for fun.

″I hate you.″

″I love you.″

″I love you, too.″

″And I hate you, too,″ he twinkled. His eyes sparkled and his heart fluttered when he realized once again how genuinely happy this girl made him. And thinking about the fact that they would be together for eight days, 24 hours a day and would have time just for themselves made him even happier than he already was.

XxXxXxXxXxXxX

They had to get up early on Monday morning as they had at least a six-hour drive ahead. Before finally leaving Chicago they went to a grocery store to buy some things they would need for the first days and then also stopped at their favorite coffee shop to have a short breakfast there and to stock up on some sandwiches for their drive.

″I'm going to drive,″ Jay said when they walked out of the coffe shop and towards their car.

″Keep on dreaming. I have the keys anyway,″ Erin laughed and walked straight to the driver's seat.

″Well, you can give them to me.″

″No I can't,″ she laughed.

″Oh come on Er, it's vacation time, so just take the passenger's seat for once and relax, okay?″

″Who says I can relax when you're driving?″ she teased him with a laugh and already sat down.

″Really?″ he sighed while still standing outside of the car, not finding this situation funny at all.

″You want to come in somewhen or...?″

″Yeah...sure,″ he said and sat down on his well-known passenger's seat.

″Are you really offended now?″ she asked him with raised eyebrows as she started the engine and pulled out on the street.

″No, not at all,″ he answered and stared out of the window.

″Yeah, sure,″ Erin mumbled.

The atmosphere was quite tense and icy in the car for the first two hours of their drive and neither of them said a word. Erin concentrated on the street and Jay prefered to stare out of the window, so the music on the radio was the only thing that broke the silence. After there was barely no traffic on the highway for the first half of their drive, they got into a traffic jam with complete standstill.

″Great,″ Erin sighed and turned the engine off, impatiently tipping her fingers on the wheel. Jay didn't say anything, just looked out of the open window and tried to figure out how long the jam was.

″You see anything?″ she asked him.

″Yeah, cars. And more cars,″ he answered.

″Awesome. Just because some damn idiots don't know how to drive,″ she complained and her voice was more than bugged.

″Erin seriously, calm down. We are on our vacation and we have all the time in the world.″

″No we don't. We have eight days. And we spend the first day of these eight days in the car.″

″We knew that before,″ he shrugged. This was senseless as she obviously was in the same bad mood now as he was since they got in the car and they'd only pick up a fight if they continued this conversation. So it was better to say nothing at all.

″I'm sorry,″ Erin quietly said after ten more minutes of unbearable silence. ″For everything.″

″You know, I really don't understand why you always have to get your way. What's the deal with just letting me drive on our private trip? Do you really not feel safe when I drive or what's your problem?″

″God damn Jay, it was a joke. A friggin' joke.″

″Yeah, funny,″ he answered and shook his head.

″You know what I don't understand Jay: I just apologized and you sort of ignored it and you're now doing this. So the question is: what's your problem?″ she asked him and her voice was rising.

″I think I just told you what my problem is.″

″And I just told you I'm sorry for everything. That included the joke. Damn, what is this even all about?″ she sighed and rolled her eyes.

″I don't know,″ he answered and rubbed his eyes. She was right. They were fighting about nothing and none of them knew why they were even doing this.

″If the next eight days will be like this we can drive back to Chicago immediately, because no thanks.″

″Hey, they won't,″ he assured her. He took her hand from the gear stick and interlaced his fingers with hers. She looked at him but didn't seem to be really convinced. ″Listen Er, I don't really know why you are moody neither do I really know why I am. I think we just had a bad start this morning. So can we just agree that our bad moods will stay in the car later and that we won't take them into the cabin with us? That we will leave this behind us before we pass the threshold of the cabin? Because actually I'm happy to be on vacation with the girl I love. And I want this week to be the best week of the year,″ he said and a little smile came back to his face.

″Sounds good,″ she admitted and smiled back to him. ″You know, this is the first time that I'm on vacation with the man I love and believe me, I want it to be perfect, too. So I say it again, I'm sorry for whatever-it-was-about,″ she said and a little laughter escaped from her lips as well.

″I'm also sorry for we-don't-know-what-it-was-about,″ he laughed. He leaned over to her side and placed a soft kiss on her lips. ″Are you hungry?″ he asked her then.

″Yeah, a bit.″

″Alright, you wanna ham with cheese or salami with cheese?″

″Ham with cheese please. But actually I'd like to eat it on the passenger's seat. So if you still like to drive, now would be a good time to do so because not being allowed to accelerate will drive me nuts soon,″ she sighed and tried not to think about how much longer they would might stand there.

″So you basically just let me sit on the driver's seat as long as we stand here and as soon as we can keep on driving you want to change again?″

″Jay. I know I can be mean. But I'm not that mean,″ she laughed. ″So?″

″Get outta there already,″ he grinned, unbuckled his seat belt and got out of the car. He walked around the car, stretched his aching muscles and sat down in his new position.

They ate their sandwiches and muffins and after one more endless hour of standstill the vehicles in front of them finally started to roll. While Jay was now the one who was concentrated on the street, Erin settled in her seat, took her shoes off and even laid her feet up to the car dashboard.

″Comfy?″ Jay chuckled as he couldn't imagine that her current position was anything but uncomfortable.

″Not too bad. And sitting on this side of the car isn't too bad either,″ she winked.

″Yeah, you know, sometimes trying new things turn out to be better than expected,″ he twinkled back and Erin saw that his bright blue eyes sparkled again like they always did when they were together and like they always did when he told her with his eyes that he loved her.

XxXxXxXxXxXxX

They arrived at the cabin in the late hours of the afternoon. Erin has dozed off an hour earlier and now it was on Jay to wake up his girlfriend and tell her that they'd finally reached their destination.

″Erin, wake up,″ he whispered into her ear and kissed her cheeks.

″Huh?″ she mumbled and her eyes fluttered open.

″We're here,″ he smiled. Erin rubbed her eyes and then looked out of the window. She couldn't believe what she saw and thought she was still dreaming.

″Uhm...you slightly understated when you said it is just a cabin,″ she remarked and got out of the car to assure herself what she saw was real. She had expected his cabin would be a small wodden cabin equipped with just the necessary things. But this was a wodden house with big windows. Two-storied. With a balcony on the second floor and a patio with a view onto the lake. ″Or is this how you define cabins here in Wisconsin?″ she asked him and still had a perplex look on her face.

″I never said it was small,″ he chuckled, wrapped his arms around her waist from behind and kissed her hair.

″You said it is a cabin. Cabins are small,″ she said and gazed around a bit more. Green meadows and big trees surrounded them and flowers were blossoming everywhere. The birds chirped and crickets chirred around them. She couldn't deny that she was in love with this peaceful place after only two minutes.

″Cabins can have all different kinds of sizes,″ he whispered into her ear. ″Come on, let's go inside,″ he grinned, grabbed her hand and pulled her with him to the front entry. Of course the inside of the cabin turned out to be completely different than she had imagined as well. The living room, the dining room and the kitchen were one open, big, light-flooded room and there was a beautiful chimney on one of the walls. The wodden floor and wodden walls, the big couch with its comfy pillows, some rugs on the floor and photos on the walls made this room look unbelievably comfortable. The furniture, the kitchen, everything was quite rural but yet modern nonetheless.

″Wow,″ Erin sighed and looked around in full fascination. ″But this isn't the cabin your grandfather bought, is it?″ she asked him and walked around.

″This is exactly the cabin my grandfather bought. I just renovated it some years ago,″ he smirked and enjoyed seeing her being so surprised and fascinated.

″So you basically live in the uggliest apartment ever in Chicago and own one of the most beautiful cabins ever in Wisconsin. A cabin you maybe use once or twice a year compared to the apartment you live in every single day,″ she noticed and now looked out through the big windows in the living-room-part of the room. The patio was directly in front of the windows and only some hundred yards away she saw the water of the lake sparkling in the sun. ″Talk about prioritizing,″ she added with a laughter.

″You haven't seen the best part yet,″ he chuckled into her ear, took her hand in his again and pulled her up the stairs.

″Voila,″ he said and opened one of the three doors on the second floor. A picture perfect, big bathroom including a big bathtub appeared.

″Jay I don't know what to say,″ she whispered as she more and more felt like being in a fairytale.

″That's okay,″ he smiled and kissed her cheeks. ″Come on, there's one room left,″ he winked and left the bathroom with her. He opened the second out of three doors and Erin saw the cutest and most comfortable bedroom ever. Although it was under the roof slope, the room was quite big as well, also light-flooded, with a soft carpeted floor and in the middle was a big bed with dozen of comfy pillows on it. She just wanted to jump on the bed immediately. In the corner behind the door was a closet and one of the big windows was acutally a french window that led out to the balcony.

″Be honest, you expected us to sleep on the floor on old matresses in sleeping bags, right?″ he asked her as he once again saw the stunned gaze on her face and as she didn't say anything at all.

″Not quite,″ she admitted and turned around to him. ″But this...I imagined it to be completely different.″

″But you still like it, don't you?″

She interlocked her hands behind his neck and placed a gentle kiss on his lips. ″I love it,″ she whispered and then jumped onto the bed in one move, giggling like a little kid.

″God this is great,″ she chuckled and curled deeper into the pillows. ″Not sure whether I'm able to share this bed with you though,″ she laughed.

″Well thank you,″ he laughed back in response, took the two steps to the bed and then leaned over her to kiss her smiling lips.

″What's in the other room?″

″It's just some kind of a storage room. It was Will's and my room once and now there's a desk in there and some shelves and all kind of stuff. Downstairs is another smaller room that was used as bedroom, too,″ he explained. ″I'll go and unload the car now. You wanna stay here meanwhile?″

″Alone? No. But you could stay with me instead,″ she mumbled and tried to smile all innocent.

″So now you wanna share the bed, huh?″ he grinned and kissed her again.

″Yep, changed my mind.″

″Amazing, I don't have to sleep on the floor,″ he laughed and got up from the bed.

″I can change my mind anytime again,″ she smirked up to him.

″Don't you dare,″ Jay laughed and reached for her hand to pull her up. ″Come on babe, more surprises are waiting for you,″ he winked as she didn't look too satisfied to leave the comfy bed.

″More surprises?″ she asked and raised her eyebrows.

″Yeah, I have quite some in store this week,″ he smiled at her as she finally got up, too. She just shook her head in response but a smitten smile surrounded her lips. How could she ever have thought that this man would not do his very best to make this vacation even more special than it already was?

XxXxXxXxXxXxX

″Why don't you unpack our bags and put our clothes in the closet and I go down and prepare another little...surprise?″ Jay smirked after they'd unloaded the car and had brought their food stock to the kitchen and their luggage to the bedroom.

″Do you really think it's a good idea when I do that?″ Erin joked.

″No,″ he simply answered and laughed. ″But I believe in you,″ he added and gave her a short kiss.

″So noble,″ she laughed and went up the stairs.

She unpacked their bags and ordered their clothes in the closet and the dresser. As she was quite curious what Jay's next surprise was, she stepped out on the balcony after she had finished and saw him installing a hammock between two trees in the garden. She watched him for a little while and then got back into the house and went down to the living room to take a closer look to all of the photos on the walls.

There were lots of photos with Jay and Will in all stages of their childhood stages. On most of them there was an elderly man with them what Erin assumed must be their grandfather. Some photos also pictured them together with a beautiful younger woman and when Erin saw a portait of her and saw her eyes she knew immediately who she was: Jay's mother. Erin smiled as she realized that her boyfriend definitely got his looks from his mother. The same eyes, the same smile, the same chin. Right next to the photo with Jay, Will, their grandfather and their mother was a family picture with another man and woman and three more kids. They appeared on some more photos but as much photos as there were, one person was missing on all of them: Jay's father. Erin knew that something had happened in the Halstead family that has teared them all apart but that was already everything she knew. Maybe he would tell her one day. Tell her about his family that apparently was just as broken as her own. Tell her about his past that surely wasn't less hard than her own. Tell her about all the things he always kept inside and never showed her. Let her being there for him while it normally was him being there for her. Of course she was always there for him too, especially after his friend Terry died some months ago. It had broken her heart seeing him feeling guilty and seeing him suffer back then, but he hadn't really talked about his feelings. She had accepted it because out of all people in the world she of course knew how hard it was to talk about feelings and that it was allegedly easier to bury them deep inside and not incriminate someone else with them. Nevertheless she wished that he would some day open up to her, too. Some day, when he was ready to share his darkest times with her just as she has shared her darkest times and feelings with him. At least some of them.

Erin's gaze caught another photo on the sideboard with just a teenage Jay and his grandfather. She took the photo in her hands to look at it a little closer. The young Jay looked so happy and had the brightest of smiles on his face. She wasn't sure whether she has ever seen him smile like this yet. She swiped her thumb over his face, then put the picture back to the sideboard and walked out to the garden to join Jay.

″Hey there,″ she whispered into his ear and wrapped her arms around him from behind.

″Perfect timing,″ he said, turned around and smiled at her. ″Just finished installing our new hammock.″

″You're the best,″ she winked.

″I know,″ he laughed. ″Come on, try it.″

″Are you sure you did it right? Or do I need to be scared to crash on the floor?″ Erin joked.

″Why do you think I let you try first?″ Jay teased her.

″Charming as always,″ she chuckled and laid down in the hammock. She closed her eyes and let Jay softly push it forth an back for a moment.

″So? How is it?″

″Amazing. I'm really impressed with my house husband,″ she smirked but still had her eyes closed to enjoy the moment.

″Well, I'm not your husband,″ he replied casually but more to tease her.

″Not yet,″ she simply answered without thinking twice about the words that just escaped from her mouth. Jay's eyes widened in surprise and for a second he wasn't sure whether he has heard right. Erin Lindsay, the girl with the biggest commitment issues ever, just had basically admitted that he would one day be her husband. He knew this wasn't just one of her jokes. She had said it spontaneously and in all honesty, had let her heart speak.

″Uhm...I...mean,″ she spluttered as the realization about the impact of her words hit her. Has she really said that?

″It's okay, I know what you mean,″ Jay smirked but he couldn't deny how much he loved the thought about marrying her one day. ″I'll go in and make us something for dinner. Are you okay with pasta?″ he then changed the topic.

″Pasta is always good. I'll give you a hand,″ she suggested and tried to get out of the hammock.

″Nonono, let me do this. You stay here,″ he said, softly pushed her back and leaned down to kiss her.

″Jay you're also on vacation. You don't have to do everything,″ she objected.

″I know babe. But I don't want this place to get burnt down. You know, it takes a while until the firefighters would be out here.″

″Jerk. I hate you.″

″I know,″ he grinned at her. ″Just enjoy the evening sun and relax and I'll call you when dinner is ready, okay? And admit it, laying in this hammock is way better than cooking.″

″Maybe,″ she smirked, closed her eyes again and listened to the birds and the crickets for the next hour.

XxXxXxXxXxXxX

They had dinner on the patio and later sat down on a blanket by the lake to watch the sunset.

″Welcome to Lake Lindsay,″ Jay whispered into her ear as the red fireball slowly went down in the distance.

″What?″ Erin asked and turned her head around to him, only to see his eyes sparkling and this friggin cute smile surrounding his perfect lips.

″Welcome to Lake Lindsay,″ he smirked.

″Lake Lindsay?″ she echoed.

″Yep,″ he said and still wasn't able to hide his proud smile.

″Has this always been its name?″

″No, not until some weeks ago. It was my grandfather's lake but he never really named it officially. It was always just the lake. But now it's my lake and I filled out the papers some weeks ago, after finally finding the right and perfect name.″

″You named your lake after me?″ Erin almost whispered in disbelief and had to swallow down the lump that had suddenly built up in her throat as she was touched beyond limits.

″Guess I did,″ he winked, brushed a strand out of her face and kissed her stunned and speechless lips.

″Jay...this is...you didn't have to do this. This is crazy...but at the same time it's so cute, I don't even find the right words for it,″ she spluttered with the sweetest little smile on her face.

″It's always my greatest joy to make you speechless,″ Jay grinned and kissed her again.

″Yeah, I figured that,″ Erin laughed. ″Lake Lindsay,″ she said again and slightly shook her head, still not able to believe that Jay has named his lake after her. AFTER HER. Erin Lindsay.

″I think it has a nice sound.″

″It has indeed. Thanks for making me feel so special, Jay," she answered with a smitten smile while her heart still wanted to jump out of her chest.

″Most special person in my life, you remember?″

″I do,″ she nodded. ″I love you,″ she then said and this time it was on her to kiss him.

″Love you too,″ Jay said afterwards and pulled her even closer to his side. They watched the sun go down in silence while both of them were all smiles. Erin because she still couldn't believe that this was real and Jay because his little surprise had exactly the effect he had wanted it to have.

″Let's go for a swim,″ he suggested when the dawn set in some minutes later.

″It's almost dark and I'm sure the water is icy,″ she answered and looked at him as if he was out of his mind. She was obviously anthing but excited about his idea.

″Come on Erin Lindsay, don't be such a princess,″ he laughed and stripped his shirt off.

″Did you just call me a princess?″

″Looks like, huh?″ he chuckled and also got rid off his jeans. ″I swear, the water is not as cold as you imagine and swimming under the stars is something everyone should do one day. So please, swim with me tonight,″ he whispered puppy-eyed.

″Never call me princess again.″

″Deal,″ he smirked and Erin started to take off her clothes, too.

″Look, I told you you wouldn't need a bikini,″ he then laughed, grabbed her hand and ran towards the water with her. It was really warmer than Erin has expected it to be. They splashed the water in each others faces for a while and played tag. They chased each other through the cool water and their laughters filled the silent darkness that slowly closed in around them and let the stars appear on the firmament. Somewhen Erin was to tired to keep on swimming away from him, so he caught her and a wild hugging and kissing with longing kisses and intensive touches developed...

XxXxXxXxXxXxX

When they later laid in their big, comfortable bed, Erin wasn't able to sleep immediately. Jay meanwhile, who had his arm wrapped around her waist, was already snoring quietly. She was still a bit amazed and surprised about herself. Usually it wasn't easy for her to be at a new place, a place out of her comfort-zone, out of her home. But being here with Jay was completely different. She loved this place and she felt home from the second she has left the car this afternoon. Maybe it was because everything around here was just simply beautiful but once again she could exactly name the reason for her current feelings: Jay. The man who has named his lake after her. She still couldn't believe it. And as she now laid in the darkness, a soft smile surrounding her lips, and listened to Jay's steady breathing she realized that she always felt home when he was with her. Because he was not only her rock, her savior, her best friend and her soulmate. Jay Halstead was the one person she needed around to feel completely safe. Because he was her home...

As I said, fluff and stuff. Hope you liked it! Let me know what you think :)