Author's note: This is just an extension of chapter 2. I couldn't fit everything into one. Next chapter, there will be a bit more Jamko steaminess and Jamie and Eddie will try to find the loophole in the no dating in the department rule. Don't forget to follow me on Instagram: teamjamko.

Chapter Two: The Aftermath, Part 2

Thunder was booming and the storm was roaring outside, but Jamie and Eddie didn't hear anything except for their pulses thundering in their ears and the occasional moan that slipped from either Eddie or Jamie or both.

The kiss wasn't rough or urgent or rushed this time. There weren't fingers grasping at clothes or teeth clashing together. This one was slow and sweet, and so unbelievably gentle. Jamie's hands landed on either side of Eddie's face and her hands were on his sides, subconsciously clutching the soft material of his t-shirt tightly in her fingers.

To both Jamie and Eddie's complete shock, the kiss didn't heat up at all. Even at the very end, it was gentle as could be and so very opposite of the kiss in front of Finnegan's that seemed to have happened only minutes ago. When they pulled away, their lips were swollen and their eyes were sparkling and, dammit, they both felt every single good emotion that existed, and then some.

Jamie and Eddie stared at each other for a good minute or two before either of them spoke, and when they did, it was Eddie who piped up, her voice hoarse and thick with emotion. Suddenly her face was solemn and her mood change was beyond obvious. "I don't know what I would have done if I'd lost you today." Her finger traced over his cheekbone, down his jaw and back up again, over and over, almost like she was calming herself.

"Hey. Come here." Jamie leaned back against the couch and pulled Eddie into his side. His right hand was stroking her hair and his left was holding one of her hands. He flashed back immediately to the night after the courtyard shooting, when he'd held her and tried to soothe her the best he could. "You didn't lose me. I'm right here. And I always will be."

Jamie felt Eddie tense against him and she pulled out of his embrace to look at him. "You can't promise me that, Reagan." Tears were pricking her eyes and she tried in vain to keep them from spilling out. "You can't possibly promise me you'll always be here."

Jamie wiped the two tears that fell from Eddie's cheeks and leaned forward to press his lips to her forehead before looking her dead in her watery eyes. "Maybe I can't promise that, but I can promise that I'll do every single thing in my power to stay safe." He studied Eddie's anxiety-filled face for a moment or two. Jamie could tell that she was biting the inside of her mouth, another nervous tic that he'd picked up on but rarely seen. Before she could draw blood, he put a finger under her chin and turned her face toward him. "And you know damn well that I can promise you I'll always keep you safe."

Eddie's eyes softened and she couldn't help but smile a little, even if the rest of her expression was pure worry and fear. Jamie's expression, however, was nothing but love. "I've never doubted that for a second. You've protected me and had my back one hundred percent from day one. Especially after what happened with…" She trailed off and that sweet little smile was gone, replaced by a grimace.

Jamie knew exactly who Eddie was referring to. Jake Singer. The son of a bitch who had sexually assaulted Eddie when she refused to have sex with him after a date. The vision of her bruised, battered face and her broken, haunted expression when Jamie had gone to her apartment the following day would haunt him forever, he was sure.

Jamie tucked Eddie back under his arm, securing her to his side, and she snuggled into his embrace, saying nothing. "Eddie, I would have killed that man with nothing but my bare hands if it stopped him from ever touching you again." The words came out harsh and rough, but they were true, and they both knew it. Still, that kind of edge was something rarely heard in Jamie's voice.

It didn't seem to bother Eddie, though. She snuggled literally as deep into him as was physically possible, almost as if she was trying to climb inside him and disappear, and slung her arm over his middle.

And then, so quietly Jamie almost didn't hear her, she said those three little words again.

"I love you."

Jamie turned and kissed Eddie's temple, his lips lingering there for a few beats before he whispered against her skin, "I love you, too, Eddie. I love you so much." He pressed his lips flush to the skin there one more time before pulling away.

The words — his words, her words — hung in the air for a few minutes, and the two partners sat in what was, minus the rain and booming thunder, total (yet comfortable) silence. Jamie's hand was running from Eddie's hair, down her back all the way to her tailbone, and back up again.

Eventually, Jamie felt his eyes growing heavy. Maybe it was the sound of the rain or having Eddie under his arm, snuggled into his side, or both. Her steady breathing and the warmth radiating from her was comforting.

No matter how exhausted either of them were, Jamie and Eddie both knew it was time to address the elephant in the room. It was Eddie who spoke first. "So… before we both fall asleep sitting up… can we please talk about what happened today?"

Jamie absentmindedly raked his fingernails against Eddie's arm, up and down, over and over. After a tiny stretch of silence, he looked at Eddie and moved his hand up to stroke her hair. "I don't really know what there is to talk about, Eddie. I love you. I always have. Now that I know you feel the same way… I don't think there's much to talk about on that front."

"Well… what about on the job front?" Eddie asked quietly, chewing the inside of her mouth again.

Jamie sighed deeply and ran his free hand over his face, his fingers lingering on his jaw for a moment. "All I know right now is that I want to be with you, and as much as I don't want to stop riding together, if it means we can be together off the job… I can deal with that."

Eddie was silent for a beat while she processed his words, and then she smiled up at him in a way that made his heart nearly stop. "Then we're in agreement." She stretched up to press her lips to Jamie's cheek, and then whispered against his skin, "So I guess we really don't have anything to talk about."

Smiling, Jamie turned his head to press a single, gentle kiss to her lips. "Either way, we don't have to figure anything out tonight," he reminded her when their lips parted, tucking her back under his arm. "All I know is I want to be with you and you seem to feel the same way, so… that's enough for me."

To Jamie's surprise, Eddie scoffed, and when he looked down at her face, she was grinning. He opened his mouth to ask her what the deal was, but she answered before he could. "I 'seem to' feel the same way?" she repeated with a snicker. "Was what I said after I shot Sorrento not enough to make it clear I feel the same way?"

Jamie let out a low chuckle that Eddie could feel from where she was now absentmindedly tracing her finger up and down Jamie's sternum. "Point taken."

Eddie took the hand that was tracing and smacked his chest with the back of it. "Don't be a moron, Reagan." Jamie didn't have to look down at her to know that she was rolling her eyes at him. Little did she know, he had found the eye rolling hot from the beginning. "You know how much I love you. I've more than proved it."

"You have. And I hope I've proved it to you." He planted a kiss on the top of Eddie's head, and when he angled his head to look at her, he saw that she was fading quick. Her eyelids were drooping.. "Do you want to go back to your place? Or stay here?"

Eddie reached up and rubbed her eyes with the back of her hand. She felt like her eyelids weighed fifty pounds each. "Is it okay if I stay here?" she asked quietly, listening to the rain and hail hit the sidewalk and blow against the windows.

Jamie literally scoffed and stood up, reaching his hand out to pull Eddie up. When she was on her feet — much more steadily than before — Jamie's arms snaked around her. "Of course it's okay, Eddie. Don't be a moron," he quipped, throwing Eddie's earlier words back at her with a sleepy smile, which Eddie returned with a laugh and a shake of her head. He put his hands on Eddie's shoulders and looked into her bloodshot, exhausted eyes. "Ready for bed?"

Eddie nodded and, as if on cue, let out a huge yawn, followed by a raspy chuckle. "Was that answer enough?"

"Point taken. You take my bed," Jamie told her with a chuckle of his own, pressing a kiss to Eddie's forehead.

He hadn't even taken two steps towards the bathroom to get ready for bed before Eddie was protesting.. "Umm, no, Reagan." She grabbed the sleeve of his t-shirt and pulled, forcing him to turn around. "You're definitely a moron if you think I'm letting you sleep on your couch."

Jamie smiled and decided to feign innocence. "Well… What, exactly, did you have in mind for sleeping arrangements? Because I'm too tired for this." The last part definitely wasn't a lie. In fact, it was the understatement of the year.

Eddie was onto him. She could hear the little nervous lilt in his voice. He knew exactly what she was about to say, and his face confirmed this when the words actually left her mouth. "You, next to me. That's what I have in mind. I don't care if we're on the bed or the couch or the damn floor. I just want you."

I need you. Eddie's words from right after the courtyard shooting bounced around in both of their exhausted brains. The similarity wasn't lost on either of them. It was so similar, yet so very different, in ways that neither of them could bear to think about in the moment. So much had changed, in good ways and in bad.

Jamie gave Eddie a semblance of a smile, which she returned with a sigh. "Can we please go to sleep? I can't keep my eyes open," she confessed, reaching a hand up to rub her burning eyes.

Jamie pressed another kiss to her forehead, his hands on either side of her head, fingers tangled in her hair. "Let's go," he said simply, putting his hand between Eddie's shoulder blades, steering her towards the bathroom. "There's a spare toothbrush in the second drawer in the bathroom. Use whatever you need." He pinched the bridge of his nose and ran a hand over his face, muffling his words.

"'Kay," Eddie agreed half-heartedly, the exhaustion clear as day in her voice. Jamie left her to be alone in the bathroom and Eddie closed the door, standing in front of the mirror for a few seconds, eyeing her reflection. She looked absolutely as exhausted as she felt. There were deep purple rings under her eyes and her hair was an absolute wreck, but she couldn't even find the energy to care.

While Jamie pulled back the covers and got ready to settle in, Eddie brushed her teeth and peed for the first time all day (she'd had other things on her mind). When she finally padded into Jamie's bedroom, Eddie couldn't help but think that it was exactly what she'd always imagined Jamie's room to (and she had definitely thought about it, far more than she cared to admit). It was simple but warm, nothing too fancy but not too plain. With the rain pounding against the windows and the occasional clap of thunder, and with Jamie standing next to the bed with only the light of the bedside lamp on, it looked like heaven.

"I swear to god, a bed has never looked so good." When the words left Eddie's mouth, her eyes weren't on the bed she was referring to; they were on Jamie, and Jamie's eyes were definitely on her.

"You're telling me," Jamie agreed, his eyes studying Eddie in a way that made all kinds of heat rush to her face. Luckily, he ended the staring contest before either one of them got too heated up.

He yanked the covers back and climbed in on the right side of the bed, gesturing for Eddie to climb in on the other, and she did so without hesitation.

Both Jamie and Eddie had imagined more than either of them would admit what it would be like to be laying next to each other, and with the added effect of the storm roaring outside, it felt better than they had imagined. As if they had laid together a thousand times, Eddie automatically snuggled into Jamie's chest, and his arms coiled around her, hugging her to him. Somehow, he reached behind him to switch the lamp off, and then it was just the two of them in the darkness, the wind blowing the rain against the windows harshly.

Two minutes of silence passed. Then three. Then five… and then ten. Finally, just as Jamie was about to drift off to sleep, fingers stroking Eddie's hair (something that he'd found comforted him as much as her), he heard her say in a raspy whisper, "Hey, Reagan?"

Jamie looked down at her, pulling back just a bit. Her eyes were closed, but she was obviously awake. "Yeah?"

Eddie nuzzled her face into Jamie's neck, and he could feel her smiling against him.

"You have proved it to me, you know."

"Proved what?" Jamie's eyebrows knitted together in confusion, exhaustion apparently slowing him down a bit.

"You said that you hoped you've proved to me that you love me… and you have. I've known since the whole Jake Singer thing. You prove it to me every day."

Grinning sleepily, Jamie pulled Eddie in even tighter and buried his face in her hair. "Then we really do have nothing to talk about... Not tonight."