Hello everyone! A couple months back I was inspired by penwielder62's cpd meta, "erin & jay: scarring, marring." This little one shot is brilliant and I wanted to expand on the idea: What would happen if a Linstead undercover op went sideways. Who would protect who?

I own nothing.

Chicago PD!

Erin hears distant voices yelling. Their voices reverberate against the cold warehouse walls as footsteps hit the pavement.

Here! They are here.

Call an ambo…

Oh God…Get the medics in here NOW!

Erin feels her body being jerked forward. Images of the horror they were just put through flashes in her mind - she jolts in response.

"Where's Jay? I-I n-nee-d to see'em," she chokes out. "W-Where is he?"

"Let's get you checked out first," a voice says, pulling her back.

She sees the paramedics agglomerated in a corner and listens as they call out.

Start compressions!

Clear!

Nothing.

Clear! Again.

Clear! He lost a lot of blood! Get a line in.

Erin struggles against the tight hold on her. "Noooo! He c-can't... Nooo! Jaaay!" The physical and mental pain blinds her as her shattered body falls unconscious.

Clear!

Nothing.

********* 5 hours earlier*********

Erin slowly opens her eyes.

Her vision is blurry and all the near noises are muffled by a constant ringing in her ears. Gradually the shadows before her begin to take shape and her eyes widen as she takes in her surrounding – a warehouse, bare, except for an old pickup truck. She tries to move, but finds her arms and legs bound to the chair. Panic rips through her body like an electric shock. She tries to tug at her bindings but a slow, crippling ache ascends her spine. She panics. She tries to flex her arms and wrists, stretching and pulling, but her efforts are futile.

"Hey, stay still."

She hears a whisper miles away.

"Jaaay?" she mumbles, but her words are muffled by a gag in her mouth. She finds it hard to breathe, the pain continues to throbs more intensely and she groans audibly.

"Erin, stay still," Jay insists, trying to pull her from her frenzied state. He knows what they will do to her once they know she's up.

Erin finally focuses her eyes on Jay, kneeling on the floor a few feet from her - hands and feet tied behind him, shirt tattered, red bruises and dried blood caked on his face.

"Stay as still as you can," he says calmly.

She focus on his low, calm voice and tries to keep her breathing under control. "Wh-What happened?" She chokes out, wracking her brain for answers. What's this place? Why are we here?

Before Jay can answer, the sound of a door screeching open interrupts her thoughts.

"Oh look who's up!"

Erin looks to Jay and sees his face become ghostly pale. She keeps her eyes glued to his until she feels someone grabs a handful of her hair and jerk her head back. She jolts against the pull as a hand runs over her cheek. "So pretty. I would hate for it to get messed up."

"Leave her," Jay says boldly. "You got me. You don't need her."

Erin eyes the man, but his face is hidden behind a black ski mask.

"Oh, I need her," he says trailing a finger from her cheek, then down her neck. The feel of the man's breath against her neck makes Erin gag.

The masked man points a finger at Jay and says, "Since you're not telling me what I want, maybe she will."

The man lets go of her hair and Erin's head bobs forcefully forwards. He walks around her and picks up a steel pipe from the ground. He point the pipe at her – eyes menacing. "So, I know you're cops. What I don't know is what made you want to poke around my business?" He yanks the gag from Erin's mouth and asks, "Who snitched?"

Erin is silent. Fear knotting her stomach.

The man sweeps the cold pipe under her chin. "C'mon, not you too."

To her surprise (and terror) the masked man swings the steel pipe and strikes Jay's torso. Jay grunts through clenched teeth and bends over in pain.

Erin swallows her shrieks.

"Get up!" He yells, violently placing the pipe underneath Jay's chin. Jay slowly moves back to his knees. The menacing man turns back to Erin and asks again, "Who was your informant?"

Erin's eyes lock with Jay's and he silently shakes his head, don't say it.

Erin bites her lips, forcing herself to swallow her words. As a result, another blow, this time to his back. The sound of impact makes her stomach lurch. Jay falls lifelessly to the ground. The man pokes him with the pipe and Jay groans in response. He forcefully pulls Jay's head back and the blood from a wound on his temple drips down his cheek.

"I need a name," the man asks impatiently. "Your time is running out."

Jay sees Erin's resolve start to crumble. "D-Don't," he mumbles. "It's o-ok-ay."

Unable to watch, she lets her gaze falls to the ground. She doesn't see the masked man's fist until it is too late and connecting with her jaw. Pain explodes and she can immediately taste blood. He punches her again, this time harder. Blood oozes down the side of her mouth.

"Stop!" Jay screams. "She doesn't know anything."

Erin finally looks up and the man's eyes is positively sinister. She spits out blood.

"Look," Jay says, blood spewing from his mouth. "She was just a decoy. She doesn't know anything."

"A decoy, huh?" He picks up the steel pipe once again and strikes the wooden legs of the chair Erin is bound to. She topples to the ground, shoulder first. The man climbs awkwardly on top of her, applying all his weight on her side. He delivers several more blows to her stomach, leaving her desperately gasping for air.

"It's me you want!" Jay shouts frantically, watching Erin struggle to breathe. "Why don't you untie these ropes," he hisses. "Maybe then it will be a fair fight, you fucker."

Jay's words fall on deaf ears because the man continues to punch, splitting her lip, until Erin's no longer screaming. He reaches for the metal pipe, but stops abruptly when he sees movement out of the cover of his eye.

"Boss, we need you in here," rings voice from the far corner of the warehouse.

The masked man lets the steel pipe fall to the floor with a loud clanking noise, startling Erin. He takes decisive steps towards the corner of the warehouse and the only thing that's heard is the loud thud of the door shutting behind him.

"Erin," Jay calls.

Blood is dripping from her temples and her eyes are slowly closing shut as it begins to swell. "Erin, stay with me," he urges, even though his own head is spinning.

"Hm-hmmm," Erin groans.

"The arm of the chair splintered when it hit the ground. Do you think you can break it?"

Erin tries to move, but pain radiates through her body, as if it is on fire.

"Give it a few pulls," Jay encourages.

Erin ignores the pain and tries to jerk her arms while swaying the chair so that she can have more leverage, but the arm rest doesn't budge. She continues to yank and strike the arm rest on the cold ground, but nothing. She does this until she's exhausted from the effort.

"It's not budging." She puffs out defeated.

"It's okay," Jay says.

They lock eyes. Jay opens and closes his mouth, but the words are lost on his tongue as their ominous fate looms over his head. Trying to remain positive - for Erin's sake - he attempts to formulate a sentence, but he is cut short by the door creaking open again.

"Stay down," Jay whispers. "Don't move."

This time, two masked men walk towards them. They whisper amongst each other while stealing looks at the two detectives beaten on the ground. Jay strains to hear what they are saying, but the entire left side of his head throbs in pain, making it difficult to concentrate on anything.

"Let's not make this harder than it has to be," the original masked man states. He struts towards Erin and bends down, brushing the hair off her face. It is then that somethings clicks inside her. She can either give in or go down swinging. She slowly opens her eyes and stares pointedly at him. The man's hand ventures out, brushing against her neck, trailing down to her chest. But Erin squirms under his touch and spits in his face.

"Feisty," he says wiping his face. "I like it." He then slaps her hard and her head hits the pavement.

"I told you," Jay begins. "She doesn't know anything. She was bait."

The man's attention shifts to Jay. He walks the few steps to him and socks him in the stomach, then knees him a few more times. Blood spews freely from Jay's mouth. The man then grabs Jay by his shirt and delivers a punch straight to his jaw. The cracking noise doesn't go unnoticed by either.

"Who's the CI that had you meddling in my business?" He asks angrily.

Jay doesn't answer. He spits out more blood, instead.

Frustrated, the man gets up and nods to the second man, who then reaches behind him and pulls a gun and points at Erin.

Jay's eyes widen. "She had nothing to do with this," Jay insists. "If you're going to point a gun at someone, point it at me."

"Okay," he says and without a wasted second, he cocks the gun and pulls the trigger. The loud bang reverberates against the walls of the warehouse.

"NO!" Erin cries out as the blow knocks Jay to the ground. "Get up!" Erin demands. "Get up!"

Jay moans and shifts and Erin breathes a small sigh of relief when she sees the bullet only grazed his bicep. Blood oozes down his arm.

"Again, who's the CI? I won't miss this time," the man threatens, pointing the gun at Jay.

Jay slowly collects himself and wobbles to a kneeling position. His whole world rocks up and down, swopping form side to side as searing pain pulsates down his arm. "If you let her go," he says breathlessly. "I-I will tell everything you w-want to know."

The man lowers his gun, interested.

"No!" Erin shakes her head. "You don't have to do this," she says, staring pointedly at Jay. Tears mixed with blood run down her cheeks.

"If you let her go, I will tell you everything you want to know," Jay repeats.

"I won't let you—" Erin began,

"She's nobody," Jay cut her off, keeping his eyes transfixed on the original masked man. Not daring to look at Erin, guarding his resolve.

"You wanna play games, now," The man sneers, pacing. "Why should I trust you?"

"If you don't, you will have nothing," Jay retorts.

The man laughs cynically and exchange looks with his partner. He approaches Jay and delivers an uppercut to his face, which slams his head against the wall behind him. Jay falls limply to the ground. His vision becomes blurry and the only thing that registers is Erin's strangled screams.

"Tell me everything, detective."

Jay's lips move, but no words are heard through the gurgle of blood that pours from his mouth. He tries again and barely mutters, "Let her go first."

The masked man nods and gestures to his partner. Jay turns and with great difficulty he sees the man cutting Erin free from the chair – her body falls limply to the ground.

"She's free," he says scornfully – a sinister smile never leaving his mask covered face.

From the corner of his eyes he watches Erin press her hand against the cold floor, her back heaving as her lungs fights vainly to fill with air. Jay can see she is trying to say something but struggling and no words come out. He looks at her and her eyes are desperate, wide, and shining. Then, it's almost like he can read her mind.

Before Jay can say anything, Erin charges after the masked man.

Whew! That was intense. Let me know what you guys think. Part II will be up soon. Cheers!