Fighter

Chapter 28

It had been a long week for them all. Cases had piled in through the district, plenty of them to keep Jay away from the hospital, working into the weekend. Even pulling Voight in for a few hours at a time. So, when Sunday finally rolled around he couldn't help feel both relieved and giddy to see her. Grabbing them all an herbal tea, a new thing he had learned from Voight that she had taken a liking to.

She was sitting up in bed when he entered the room, chatting to Mia who had become a close friend whenever she had shifts with Erin on her check in's. "Look what the cat dragged in." Mia said with a smile. Erin's eyes followed toward the doorway where Jay stood holding the tray of hot teas. "Have I ever told you you're amazing? Because if that's my tea, you'll be hearing it a lot." He smirked and made his way over to her, extending the cup. She grabbed it with , what he noticed to be a slight shake to her hand, and Mia grabbed one of the cups as well. "How's the cases going?" She asked uncapping the cup and blowing the steam off the top. "It's good. Getting through quite a bit of them." "That's great. I can't wait to be back out there with you guys." He nodded in agreement. "Well, we're all done here doll. I'll give you two some privacy." Mia said and left the two detectives to their own devices.

There was a moment of silence, as Erin really took in Jay's exhausted face. Feeling very much as he looked. "So are you going to really tell me how you feel, or keep playing 'Eggshells with Erin' like everyone else had been?" "I'm not sure what you mean?" He asked in confusion. "Don't give me that, Jay. I have cancer, I'm not blind." With that he let out a sigh. Clearly, as he knew how stubborn she could be - this wasn't allowed to just be a topic dropped. "Just worried about you." He mumbled finally. "You don't say." She gave him a small smile, and reached for his hand. "Jay, I'm okay. You don't have to lose sleep over this. The doctors are doing a really good job, I'll be back at 21 calling dibs on driving in no time." "You better." He said, tightening his hold on her hand ever so slightly. "I've missed having you as my partner." "I've missed you, too." She whispered, and leaned forward to peck his cheek with a small kiss. "Am I allowed to make this official now?" She rolled her eyes, but nodded. "I guess we can." She smiled, intertwining their fingers together. He brought their hands to his lips and turned them over so he could kiss her hand. "I love you. Never stopped." He said suddenly. "I guess that's another thing we have in common then." She said with a smirk.

Later that evening, as he said goodnight to her, he gave a silent thanks to the universe that brought them back together. It may have been in the most unconventional way, but he would take anything at this point and she would get better, so that they could have their sappy endgame romance he knew that would come from falling in love with his partner.
Now, they just had to tell everyone in the 21, most importantly, Voight.
Internally, he prepped himself. He could do this. But once Voight was in the room again, his palms grew sweaty, and the nervousness he once felt when they had snuck around during their time together had returned.
"Hank, we have to tell you something." Erin said suddenly, earning a raised eyebrow as he sat back in the chair sipping a coffee. "Jay and I are, well, dating." She said finally, in a very 'rip the bandaid right off' fashion. She wasted no time in beating around the bush. Voights eyes met Jay's for confirmation, so he nodded. "Well, if this is what you want don't let me stop you." Now this, neither detective was expecting, but they'd take it without question. "Alright, I better head home. Have a good night. See you, Sarge. And thank you." He said before closing the door behind him, nearly running into Mia. She had a smile bigger than he had ever seen on her face. "So, what's the celeb couple name I should start calling you two?" Jay laughed. "I take it you overheard all of that then?" Mia nodded, and patted his shoulder. "I'm glad you did it. She's been talking non stop about you. It was a good move, detective. I'll see you tomorrow I take it?" "Always, night Mia."