Author's Note : This is my second time writing Voight/Jay story. It's my fav pair after the Halstead brothers in the series. At the beginning, I was intended to get this proofread first but since I wrote this for someone and that someone wants this on this exact date (girl, you're lucky I have a solid idea for this story or else this will never finished), so here it is. Please be aware that English is not my first language so all mistakes are mine.

Disclaimer : CPD and their characters belong to NBC and the production team. The title Permenant was taken from David Cook's song. It's originally the title for another Halstead brothers' story but I don't have the idea for the title anymore so I kinda steal it from my own story lol.

Permanent

by SingleMinded

The forest was too dark.

They couldn't see anything on the ground except for their own silhouettes. They had to drag their own feet towards every single obstacle on the ground as long as they could keep moving forward, far from the crazy place behind.

But as they kept moving, Voight noticed that they kept drifting apart. The kid was moving too slow for his liking. If it was a normal day, he deserved a punishment for lacking too much behind.

But tonight, every single thing wasn't normal. Because it wasn't like they took a run in the middle of the night just for fun but they were running for their lives.

He stopped running, inhaling the cold night breathe before turning around. The night was too dark - he couldn't really see - but he knew Halstead was no longer following him. It took him ten steps behind before he could see the slumping body against a tree. He approached the kid with a sigh.

"Hey kid, we need to move," he said softly. But he got no respond, only a rapid breathing. He could see the water vapor from each exhale visible in the air – from both of them.

So he kneeled down. Gently, he touched the forehead, brushing some hair away.

It was clammy and too warm for his liking. He knew that the young man's body started to fight the infections – which he noticed a few hours before. And if they didn't get the help fast, he didn't know what would happened next.

Pulling Jay's right arm around his shoulder, he wrapped his own left hand to support the toned body up. He cringed when he could feel the wet shirt under his hand and he didn't have to look to know that it was blood - a moan from the sick guy confirmed his assumption anyway.

With a small grunt – ignoring his own injuries – he started to move, practically dragged the heavy build with him.

"Jay, come on. You need to help me to help you, kid." He whispered, feeling exhausted himself. After a couple of groans, he could feel that Jay was trying hard to move his feet along with him.

He was not young anymore - and with cuts and wounds everywhere that didn't help the situation at all. And Jay was not a small guy too. Dragging his heavy weight was like a hard drill he did in academy 30 years ago so he shouldn't have the energy to keep going but adrenaline for sure came in handy – as because they were still moving forward.

They carried on like that for ten more minutes and Voight didn't know how far they were from the warehouse but he could see from far away, multiple flash of lights were chasing them.

"We need to go faster, kiddo." He knew he sounded panic. But he couldn't help it. They need to escape. He didn't care about his own life, the most important thing was Jay's life right now.

Seven days of nightmare - they had successfully found his weakness.

The early morning call was for him but since he thought that it was a new case, he brought Jay along who unfortunately showed up first at the precinct that Monday morning.

And how much he regretted that.

They spent almost three days torturing him - asking him questions - but they still got nothing. He didn't budge. Until the fourth day after keeping the younger detective captive in the back room without any information of what happened - they used Jay as a bait.

A leverage.

He was trying to hold on, until the end. He tried. He really did but he couldn't see them torturing Jay anymore – while ignoring him completely – and that was when they started to win. He felt like the biggest loser, giving up so easy after days of fighting.

And that was also when he determined to escape.

Not because of the information that he leaked out but because of Jay.

Jay's wet cough pulled him back to the darkness of the forest. The noises behind were creepily approaching. But their run was getting slower and slower as Jay's lack of energy started to weight them down.

Voight gripped the shuddering frame harder, trying to shift the weight to him but suddenly they stopped at a dead halt. He tried to observe the problem when he noticed that Jay's hand were clutching one of the tall crawling root firmly.

Do they have to stop?

No, they need to move on. The kid can rest after they are safe.

But the grip were too strong - like Jay was putting his all to the sole action.

So he stopped.

"Okay, just a minute, Jay. We need to move again." Voight said, carefully easing the young man down against the tree.

"No..." Jay shook his head, grimacing as he let out another coughing fit.

"Go..."

Ignoring the plea, Voight kept looking back at the lights and the noises that was coming on.

"Come on, time's up. Let's go."

Voight tried to help Jay up to his feet but Jay pulled his hand back - stubbornly wanted to keep sitting down.

Voight tried again - not giving up that easy. He knew by heart, what was the young man tried to do.

"Go... just go..." Under the moonlight, he could see the watery eyes, looking up at him weakly - sadly.

"Leave me..." That whimper would be his nightmare if he really did leaving the kid behind.

Voight squatted down, looking directly into Jay's eyes. "Kid, believe me, we can make it."

"Just go..." Jay swallowed and inhaled hardly for more air. "I'm just... a burden..." The emotion was too much he started to breathe rather heavier than before - and the blood loss was making it worse. The coughing fit started again, but this time with a spits of blood.

Jay seemed to be unaware of his new condition but Voight could see that the sick man's eyelids started to get heavy as he blinked.

Voight inhaled deeply, taking a couple more look at the approaching group and back to the dying friend in front of him. The noises was drawing closer and now he could count the lights - eight, if not less than that.

If they survived, this would be one hell of an experience. But he also never knew that they would come to this point – feeling attached to each other so much. Justin's death must influenced some soft spot he had for the young man.

Gripping Jay's head in his hands gently, making sure that the young man was looking at him as he firmly said, "I want you to hear and remember this. I'm not going anywhere, kid."

Jay looked at him in confusion, trying to grip the situation.

No, Voight shouldn't stay just because of him. He can survive if he run again. He can survive if he leave him behind.

"No, leave me. Please…." It was a plea. It was also a cry as Jay's hand was pushing the older man away – proving his unwavering wish.

But the coughing came again, severely. More blood was coming out. It was continued until Jay's body couldn't cope with the fit anymore as it was slumped back against the tree – unmoving.

"Jay…. hey kiddo. Jay!" Voight's attempt to rouse him back was failed.

"There... over there..." The noise was much clear now.

"Damn it!" he looked behind his back once more before looking back at the unconscious guy in front of him.

He made up his mind. He would fight.

He stood up, ignoring his own aching body and the headache that started to crawl in - ready to take whatever was coming.

But as the bright light was shoved to his face, he grimaced.

"Hank?"

...

When he stepped into the room this evening, the sound from the vent was too loud. But the rhythmic noise was keeping him calm and soon it was disregarded before he realized it.

The chair was comfort enough for him to slump back and rest. His three days stay at the hospital was a little restless. He slept a lot but his mind was awake all the time. He kept waking up in the middle of the night, thinking that he was still in the forest.

And to ease his mind, he always came here – watching all the machines worked to keep the sick boy alive. He just wanted to be sure that everything was fine. The anxiety he had watching Justin died as the machine stopped supplying its aid was still there, inside him. And each time, he would just be a bystander from the door – as the chair was occupied with Jay's brother, Will.

He moved his shoulder a little, making sure the casted left arm was sat comfortably. Doctor said that there was some fractures on his left arm – must be from all the tight rope they used to tie him. But the pain was unnoticeable because it was too mild compared to others.

That night, it turned out that the team discovered the place and it was raided by Intelligence and SWAT team as soon as they escaped. So they were saved at the right time. Since that, his whole vision was only people in scrubs and smelling the drugs. Today, despite everyone's protest, he decided to sign out from the hospital. Resting at home was much better.

He still had one more hour before Erin fetched him up. So here he was, paying maybe his last visit in a few days.

He studied the form before him. Jay looked so much better, compared to his too pale skin when they first brought him here. Cuts and scrapes was still visible on his face and arms but at least the ugly bruises were all covered by the white hospital gown.

Wires could be seen poking out from the same gown and the most obvious to the eyes was the white big tube connecting the ventilator to the mouth. Will said, besides the injuries and infections, Jay was developing pneumonia because as they spare his old body tied on a chair, Jay was left to rest on the cold floor every night. So, the vent was a must since his lungs was severely ill.

Half an hour was gone as he started to fidget in his seat. It was working day so he wasn't sure if Erin would even be on time. As he studied every single machines in the room, he looked up to Jay's face and to his surprise, their eyes locked up. The kid was too calm he didn't even notice when did he woke up.

"Hey there, kid. It's about time." He huffed, couldn't hide his small smile as he leaned forward.

He patted Jay's blanketed knee – suddenly feeling so much relieved. It was like a big stone was lifted from his shoulders and he didn't even realized that he felt that much burdened over what happened in these past days.

He couldn't help but noticed the weak twitch of Jay's fingers, like he wanted to say something. He looked up just to see the gleaming – but relieved – eyes looking at him. And without a word, he just knew it.

So he chuckled – reaching Jay's hand to give a firm grip – and nodded.

"Yes kiddo. We did it."

The End

I kinda not sure about the ending because when I wrote Voight, I tend to write him a lil out of character. I'd really appreciate it if you guys can review. Maybe some ideas to improve my writing in the future. Also, you can give me prompt. Because sometimes I'm short of ideas. This is not a promise but maybe you're lucky like my dear friend here. Thank you for reading :)