Copnapped

26

Jay felt great, he had a great day at work. The paperwork was minimal and they'd closed a very stressful case that he was glad to finally be rid of, and best of all he was going home to his girlfriend who he had to try extremely hard not think about all day. When he walked into the door she was waiting for him.

"My day couldn't have gone any better." He told her enthusiastically as he threw his jacket over the back of the sofa. Erin nodded, handing him over a stack of unopened letters.

"What's this?" He asked before realising what they were.

She shrugged, "You tell me, who is this girl?"

Jay wiped the sweat beads that formed on his forehead. He sighed deeply and sat down on the sofa beside her. "Stacy was an old girlfriend of mine, I don't know why those keep being sent here, but I've never opened them and I don't want to know what's inside them."

"Why do you still have them?" She wanted to know.

Jay looked at her expression trying to figure out if she was mad at him, but she wouldn't meet his eye.

"I don't know."

"Don't." She moved away when he tried to take for her hand.

"I'm sorry, I haven't received one in a long time. I didn't think it would come up or matter to you."

"It matters to me because this girl is dead Jay! Why are you getting letters addressed to a dead girl?" She snapped, rising to her feet.

Jay's face dropped like he had just run over his own cat. He felt like someone had slapped him across the face or punched him in the gut. "She died because of me."

Erin sat back down beside him, feeling bad for him all of a sudden. "Jay I'm sorry."

He shrugged, "Don't be."

"Do you want to talk about it?" She asked, linking their fingers together. He looked down at their hands and smiled sadly.

"I hadn't thought about her in a long time, not until I was laying in a hospital bed knowing that you were still in some basement. I didn't know if you were alive or if they were still hurting you."

"Hey," She snapped her fingers in front of his face, begging him to look at her. "Whatever happened to this girl, it didn't happen to me. I'm right here." She reminded him, pulling him into a loving embrace.

"Do you mind if I throw those in the trash?" He asked, meaning the letters of course. Erin shook her head.

"You can do whatever you want with them."

"I didn't tell anyone because they stopped coming six months ago. I thought whoever had been sending them must have given up."

"I'm sorry for being the suspicious, paranoid girlfriend." She laughed, kissing his cheek, he smiled before offering to order take out for dinner, she let him go but the sinking feeling in her stomach remained, why was the information Nadia had turned over different from Jay's story?

She hadn't had a nightmare in weeks, but this night was different, Jay had never switched the bedside lamp on faster in his life. Erin had awoken screaming in the middle of the night, and Jay had tried his best to calm her down, she clung to him and sobbed into his chest until the tears ran out, he pulled her in as close as he could but even then he could still feel her shaking body. He cradled her in his arms for the rest of the night and wouldn't allow himself to sleep until she was completely out of it, which didn't happen until almost four am. When the sun finally started peeking through his blinds he dialled Voight's number. "I can't come in today." He told his boss, shielding himself so Erin couldn't hear.

"You're not skipping out on work so you can romance Erin, she may not be in this unit anymore but that doesn't mean you're going to let her affect your job."

"That's not it, she woke up screaming again. The therapy was helping but now she's quit and I don't think she should be alone today."

"Tell her I need her in the office, she can help Nadia. You're not skipping work."

"Yes boss."

Erin knew that nobody needed her at work, she was one of the greatest detectives after all. She went willingly however, since there was no use in getting into an argument with Jay. He was only looking out for her. Nadia was already working the phones when she arrived, Erin wandered over and made herself comfortable.

"So, I guess we're going to be hanging out today." She interrupted as Nadia finished her phone call.

"We haven't done that in a while." Nadia reminded her, scribbling down a phone message for Voight.

Erin glanced back over at Jay who was engaged in conversation with some of the guys. She sighed and leaned in closer to Nadia. "I asked him about her last night, something doesn't add up." She whispered, and Nadia frowned before sneaking a look at Jay herself.

"What do you think he's hiding?"

Erin shrugged, "I don't know but I am going to find out."

The two girls didn't talk until they were alone, Voight had barked his commands for the day and the detectives all went rushing off one by one. Erin watched as Burgess and Jay were partnered up. The look on Jay's face brought a smirk to her own, he had been complaining about Ruzek and Burgess being allowed to work in the same unit and she couldn't help but be amused by him now having to work with Kim. He gave her a look when he walked past and she rolled her eyes. It didn't take long for the room to be completely empty, the silence was almost deafening.

"What did he say about her?" Nadia asked straightforwardly. Erin sunk into her chair thinking back to the exact conversation.

"He said she was an old girlfriend and that she'd died because of him, but why would someone be sending him letters addressed to a dead girl?" She pondered, still not understanding the mystery.

"Why would he lie about it?"

Erin shrugged, he had no reason to lie to her did he? Unless he was into something bad and too deep to get out. It just made no sense to her. Jay hadn't kept things from her in a very long time, why start now?