Linstead- Love Me Until The End

Chapter 2

Story's background: The Voight's are the only family Erin's knows, her mother abandoned her very young and hasn't gotten back in contact. Jay and Erin were high school sweet hearts and then Jay joined the Army, then Erin started working for Voight after graduating the academy. Justin is still alive but Nadia did die, who was Erin's best friend from high school. This story does not take place during a particular season/scene, just a story 😊

Erin's POV

Erin: " Jay....."

My head was spinning. I never thought I would see him again after his second tour in Afghanistan. I called, wrote, and skyped but nothing. Army officials told me that all information was classified, so for all I knew he was dead, and my heart was broken. My heart was pounding out of my chest as I started running towards the man that meant the most to me, the one who always had my back. I wrapped my arms around his shoulders and buried my face into the crook of his neck, as I cried and cried and cried. I suddenly realized I had an audience and pulled away, only to see tears also streaming down Jay's face. I introduced Jay to the team, and they showed him around. "Lindsay, why don't you two go and catch up?" Voight says as he sees Jay walk back into the bullpen with the guys. "Sure, can you do pick up?" He nods and we walked out the back staircase.

I have so many questions that need answers but judging by the knot in my stomach, I also had a fair amount of baggage to get off my chest. "My car or yours?" I ask. "We can take yours; you're going to drive anyways." Jay says. We laugh and drove to the park, our favorite place.

We found a bench off the walking path and fell into an awkward silence. I couldn't take it anymore, "Where have you been? How long have you been home? Why didn't you call me?" I could feel myself spiraling and my anxiety building wondering if I even wanted to know the answers to these questions anymore. "Er." Jay put his hand on my thigh, he always knows exactly how to calm me. "I got back to Chicago last week and didn't know where to start. I went to the apartment but it looks like you moved out. I headed over to my parents to find out if they had a forwarding address for you and that's when, well I just can't go back there." He said quickly, with tears forming in his eyes. I took a deep breath and searched my soul for any extra strength hanging around. "I tried to tell you, you know." Jay whipped his head up, his eyes connecting with mine. "I called and skyped you, but you weren't available. The letters were retuned. The army wouldn't give me any information, I thought you were dead. When your mom got sick, your dad wasn't any help so I took care of her. Will worked most days and didn't come around much, he had a really hard time with it so he picked up more shifts. I gave up the lease on the apartment and moved out, it was easier to stay between your parents and mine. I helped them, and Hank helped me. She was such a fighter." Jay was struggling to hold back tears, holding his head in his hands. I grabbed his hand and pulled him off the bench to talk a walk. I wrapped my arm around his waist and laid my head on his shoulder as we walked, I missed this.

"Jay, what happened? Why couldn't I reach you all that time?" No answer, silence. Jay had zoned off in the opposite direction. Unfortunately, I recognized this and didn't want to trigger his PTSD but I feel like I'm owed somewhat of an explanation. "Is it too hard to talk about? Because I get that too, but I want to be there for you, and I can't do that unless you tell me what's going through your head." He apparently heard that and stopped walking to face me. "I want to talk about it, but I can't. Maybe with time, or maybe I can go back to Dr. Charles and you can come with me but I'm not ready to do that yet. I know I need to explain everything else as long as you know I can't tell you about the bombing yet." Jay looked at me waiting for confirmation, so I nodded and let out a breath I did not know I was holding. "I got hurt on a mission a month into the tour and when they realized my injuries were severe, they airlifted me to a hospital in Germany. Long story short, I had 4 surgeries and my left leg got crushed so they had to do reconstructive surgery. The physical therapy was long, I basically had to re-learn how to walk. I spent 10 months there, got an honorable discharge from the Army, and now I'm home. Erin I am so sorry, I can't tell you how sorry I truly am. I was so messed up at the hospital, they called it shell shock which is just extreme PTSD from the field. They had me on so many meds that I didn't even know my own name until the last couple months." Jay paused, waiting for a reaction but I was speechless. I wrapped my arms around his neck and held him and tight as I could, I never wanted to let go. "I'm really sad because you went through all that pain alone, but I'm happy because you never have to go though that again even if you paid a heavy price for it, and I'm also angry that you missed out on a lot of important things here." Jay looked at me with a heavy heart, "None of this is your fault, Jay. But look, we do need to talk and figure stuff out with us. Things are different now..."

Sorry for the delay in updates! Life got in the way. I will try to get on a schedule. What do you think will happen in the next chapter?? What changes will they run into?