@Kkmallow3 requested a protective Jay, not sure this is what you had in mind but here what came out. Hope you enjoy!
He always got nervous when she went undercover. Even before the 'we don't work together anymore' and 'I love yous' were said. She was his partner. It was his job to worry, to be her eyes and ears on the perimeter while she set the bait. She used to tease him about being overprotective and remind him how she could handle herself. He knew she could, that was never a question for him, but it didn't make him any less vigilant in his watch over her.
Tonight he was a little more on edge. Maybe it was because these scum bags were gonna get her and Kim alone, behind locked doors, in a building they knew nothing about, and it would be at least three minutes before he could be at her side and he knew exactly what could happen in the eternity that was three minutes. Maybe it was because of the crime, Erin was always quicker to blow her top with rapists. Maybe it was because it was Kim's sister. This one was personal for them and they were all running a little hotter. He disagreed with Voight's call to let Kim go in, but he knew if it was his family he'd have begged for the shot too. Or maybe it was because of the distance between them lately. The distance he'd put there. The distance that made her smiles less bright, their conversations more stiff and connection strained. He was trying. God knows he was doing everything he knew how to get through this and get to a place where he could go to her and try to put things back together.
Maybe that's why Adam had to tell him more than once to loosen up and look less like a cop while they sat at the bar watching over their girls as they tried to land their prey. But if something happened to her now, while they were on their so called 'break...' Jay shook the thought from his head and glanced over at the poor fool trying to run game on Erin. The girls had shut him down fast but Jay didn't miss the small pain of jealousy in his chest as he watched his girl get hit on, because damn it, no matter what they were going through right now, she was still his girl.
His jealousy vanished when their suspects made contact. He tried to keep the casual posture and cool tone in his voice. But his blood pumped faster as he watched Erin and Kim hook the suspects. He forced himself to take one last casual swig of his fake beer before he and Adam strolled out of the bar far enough behind the girls as not to get made. His breath caught when he lost his visual on her, only exhaling when he heard Voight chirp over the radio that he spotted them climbing in the Audi Q7.
/
His fingers gripped the steering wheel tightly as he pulled the truck to a stop outside the house Erin and Kim had gone inside. He fiddled with the video feed and got ready to pounce from the car the second Voight gave the signal. He watched as Erin flirted with the suspects and danced around taking a sip of the drink.
He could almost read her mind as she weighed the choices they had before them, calculating how long she'd have before the drugs kicked in and she became venerable. He willed her to decide against it. They'd find another way to nail these bastards if they had to. He wasn't sure how he'd handle Erin being hurt given how much he was missing her and how guilty he was feeling for keeping her at arms length while he sorted through his shit show of a past. Or worse, what if the drugs messed with her head and put her in a space he wasn't sure she'd let him help her back from right now. He sat up straight when Kim downed the shot. It was ballsy and he hadn't expected it to be her to take things there. But he was as worried as he was impressed. Erin was now on her own, torn between having to watch over Kim and fend off these douche bags if it came down to it. They only had so long to get Kim, and Erin, out of there now.
/
Kim hadn't even got the whole safe word out of her mouth and Jay was already out of the truck. Atwater and Ruzek beat him up the stairs, he let them go, the cop in him said Kim was the priority and he knew they'd go straight for her.
Erin had her guy face down on the coffee table when he came through the door. His eyes scanned her and the room assessing threat before pulling out his cuffs and helping her secure him. Maybe his eyes kept darting back to her. And maybe he was a little rougher than he should be with the asshole who'd tried to put his hands on her the way he had god knows how many other girls.
"I'm fine," she said, glancing up at him before rushing off to help Kim.
/
She'd called out her good night and headed to the locker room a minute ago. Jay sat debating for a minute before pushing up from his desk and heading that way himself.
He came around the corner of the lockers and leaned up against them, trying to be casual.
"Hey," he said tentatively.
Erin looked at him briefly before returning to packing her things up for the night. "Hey," she replied.
"You really okay?" He asked knowing this had been a rough one, knowing she would have gone too far in interrogation had he not pulled her off the deserving prick. He almost let her. But they couldn't risk not getting a conviction on this one. And he was there to protect her from hurting herself and their case as much as he was there to protect her from getting hurt in the field. Just like she'd done for him dozens of times.
She stopped fiddling in her locker and turned her body slightly towards him, "yeah, just worried about Kim and her sister, you know."
He nodded his head, yeah he knew. Knew and couldn't help but think that two months ago they'd be heading out together to unwind and put this one as far behind them as they could. He shifted his weight and picked at his lip nervously.
"What's up?" She asked. He had to smile then because even with the time apart she still read him like a book.
"I was thinking we could grab a drink?" He kicked himself for sounding like a teenager asking a girl out for the first time.
Erin looked at the contents of her locker, Jay nervous she'd say no and not knowing what that would mean for them, then shrugged her shoulders.
"Sure," she said. "Let's go."
