Coming Home

Chapter 1:

"Good morning beautiful." Jay said as Erin slowly opened her eyes. He had been staring at his beautiful girlfriend sleeping next to him. They had just moved in together 2 weeks prior. They were always at her apartment anyway, so they decided they should just move in together, in her apartment, and save money. They had been dating for six months, ever since Jay helped her buy a couch after she returned from her sabbatical.

After Nadia's death, Erin finally realized that she needs to stop hiding her feelings and just follow her heart and be happy. And that's just it, Jay Halstead was her happiness. She just never realized it until that point.

"Hi," Erin said sleepily.

Jay grabbed her hand and kissed it. "We still have some time before we head to work, so how about I cook us a good breakfast?"

"You spoil me, Jay Halstead" Erin smiled at her boyfriend as he leaned in to give her a kiss.

"Does that mean you'll let me drive for once?" Jay smirked.

"In your dreams, Halstead." Erin smirked as she got up and headed to the bathroom in one of his shirts and only her underwear. He stared at her body on her way to the bathroom. *Damn my girl is sexy* Jay thought to himself.

"C'mon, don't you think I've been your house husband for too long?" Jay yelled from the bedroom.

Erin stuck her head out from the bathroom to look Jay in the eyes and said, "Nope, you'll always be my house husband. There's no getting out of it."

"You drive me crazy sometimes, Erin Lindsay." Jay groaned.

"You love it." Erin yelled from the bathroom.

"I can beg to differ." Jay smirked.

"Well you better get used to it, it's not going to change." Erin smirked as she came back to the bedroom.

"Is that so?" Jay said raising his eyebrow.

He ran to her and grabbed her and jumped on the bed. He started tickling her. Erin forgot the last time she was this happy. She was started to let her guard down. Jay made her feel better than any other man she's ever been with. Severide was great and all, but it was only physical between the two. With Halstead, it was different. She saw a future with him.

"Alright, stop." Erin said joyfully. "You know how ticklish I am."

"That's every indication to keep going." Jay said continuing to tickle her. Erin crashed her lips against Jay's to stop the tickling.

Jay kissed her back immediately and intimately. Then he pulled away. "Alright, I have to go get breakfast started. As much as I do not want to leave this bed, I do not want to get on the bad side of Hank Voight once again."

"Five more minutes." Erin said crashing her lips against his.

Jay kissed her for two more minutes and pulled back. "C'mon, up." Jay ran to the kitchen to start on breakfast.

"Fine." Erin smirked and yelled after him.

She went to the bathroom and started on her makeup. After getting dressed she joined Halstead in the kitchen. She went and wrapped her arms around his waist. "That smells so good."

"I always told you I'm a good cook, you just never listened." Jay smirked.

"Shut up, Halstead." Erin pulled back. "I'm going to get the mail, I'll be right back."

"I'll be here cooking you a gourmet breakfast." Erin rolled her eyes and walked out their apartment door.

Erin walked down the stairs to the first floor where the mailboxes were located.

She opened the mailbox and grabbed the stack of mail.

"Junk, junk, junk," She said as she went through the mail. "Oh my God."

She stumbled on an envelope that was addressed to Jay Halstead from "The United States Army".

Her heart stopped. Although she didn't open it, she knew what it was. She didn't want to believe it was true. She couldn't lose Jay, they just barely started dating and were happy. This..this letter will ruin all of it.

She took the elevator back up to her apartment and walked slowly into through.

"Food is served." Jay smiled as Erin walked in. She was staring down at the letter with a scared look on her face.

"Erin?" Jay put the pot down from his hand and walked over to her and put his hands on her shoulders. "What is it?"

She slowly handed the letter to him. He grabbed it and walked to the couch and sat down staring at the letter.

"I can't open it." Jay said as he kept staring at the envelop. "I can't go back there. It was worst years of my life. I can't do that again."

Erin knew her boyfriend needed comfort so she went and sat next to him on the couch. She rubbed his shoulder.

"Can you open it?" Jay asked handing the letter to Erin.

Erin couldn't get herself to open it, but she knew Jay couldn't. She grabbed the letter and slowly opened it.

She squeezed his hand before opening it. "This doesn't change anything about us. Got it?"

Jay nodded. He loved how supportive Erin was, he never wanted to leave her. But this letter.. what if he didn't have a choice?

Erin opened the letter and read it out loud.

Dear Jay Halstead:

We really appreciated your service. We would like the pleasure of having you back for six months to lead a tour.

The team will fly out of New York City on August 23, 2015.

Thank you for your service.

Captain Teri Rogers

The letter was much longer, but that is all Erin read out loud. "You're leaving in 3 days."

"We only have 3 days together?" Jay asked defeated. "We just got back together."

"We'll make the best of it." Erin said squeezing his hand once again. "Hey, I'm here for you."

He nodded and she wrapped her arm around him and pulled him closer to her.

"We'll talk weekly and video chat. We can handle six months, Jay. It's going to be hard being away from you, especially if you're at war. But, we'll get through it."

"Promise me something." Jay said lifting his head up.

"What is it?" Erin asked.

"Promise me that if anything does happen to me out there, you won't go down that hole again. Hank can't lose you like that again. The team can't lose you like that."

"Jay, I don't want to think like that. But, you know for damn sure I will be completely broken if anything happened to you. Losing you after Nadia, that would shatter me."Jay saw tears form in her eyes.

She buried her head into his chest. He rubbed her back and said, "Hey, I'll be back. I promise."

"You better." Erin said lifting her head. He wiped a couple tears off her face.

"C'mon, let's eat." Jay said getting off the couch and giving out his hand to Erin to help her up. He knew he had to tell Voight soon, but right now he needed to enjoy the time he had with his girlfriend.