Hello! Many apologies for being away for so long - I've been a bit ill and low on energy to write, read or post. I had this written before I actually fell ill, so I'm so glad I can post it now. I hope you all enjoy it. It's by far the longest piece I've written so far. Please let me know what you think :)

This was requested by quesera1. I've kinda set it based on the comment in the season 5 premiere about Jay hitting a fellow cop for harassing Erin (because c'mon; how hot is that?!).

Thank you to my wonderful beta justkillingtimewhileiwait !

As always - if you have any prompts off the list on my tumblr you'd like me to write, just message me! (That list is also a master post for all the prompts I've so far :))

It started innocently, or at least, that was what Erin made herself believe. She had no idea who he was when she met him at the crime scene Hank had called her out to in the middle of the night, dragging her away from her warm bed and even warmer boyfriend. Though all things considered, she couldn't complain when she wasn't the poor woman lying dead in her kitchen surrounded by three friends.

"Gruesome, huh?" Officer Malley, according to the name tag on his vest, commented as he led her through the house. He had looked familiar enough; tall, muscular, blonde, green eyes, but she hadn't been able to place him, and if she really thought about it, she knew she wouldn't. There were too many officers in the Chicago Police Department, and she barely knew the ones who worked out of the 21st let alone the rest of the districts.

"Not the worst I've seen," Erin sighed, taking in the modestly sized room and the multiple pools of blood on the tiled floor.

"Really?" the officer asked in surprise, and she shifted slightly to look at him questioningly when intrigue took over his features. "What's the wors-?"

Erin knew what the question was going to be when Hank cut him off by calling for her, but she merely offered a small, apologetic smile before following her boss' voice. By the time they had returned to the kitchen, Malley was gone, and she hadn't spared him another thought.

…

The case had dragged for over three days until Intelligence had caught the break they needed, apprehending the perpetrator not five miles from the crime scene itself. They had slept the bare minimum, just enough to function, as frustration ate at them all for not closing the case.

It was because of the lack of sleep, Erin reasoned to both herself and Jay when she had asked if he had wanted something from the vending machine downstairs, why she was turning to sugar in the form of Skittles in addition to her usual coffee. Since Jay had moved in, her dependency on candy for a sugar high had pretty much disappeared mostly due to the fact he did the grocery shopping more often than not and candy was never on his list. Even if she had snuck it on at the beginning, and received dried fruit packets instead.

"It's nature's candy," he had told her with a brilliant smile that had her wondering whether asking him to move in really was a great idea. Eight months later and she couldn't deny she was just as addicted to the healthy snack as she once was to her candy.

Though she had to admit, she never felt the same joy as she did when standing in front of a vending machine, deciding which variety of Skittles to get.

"Detective Lindsay," a voice called out from down the hallway just as Erin had selected the sour mix, knowing none of the boys but Antonio would touch it. She could share with Antonio.

Feeding the required dollar into the vending machine, she pursed her lips as her colleague approached. He was familiar and she knew she had met him before, but she simply couldn't place him. "Officer," she drawled slowly, hoping he didn't realise that she had forgotten his name as she roamed his uniform for a hint. Unfortunately, his jacket covered his up his vest and therefore his nametag.

"I heard you caught the person who murdered that poor woman and her friends," he commented with a hint of excitement and a whole lot of familiarity she could not reciprocate.

Malley, she remembered suddenly, mentally returning to the scene where he had met her at the door and guided her through to the kitchen. Though she hadn't recognised him on the night, Erin put it down to the fact that he was probably new to the precinct.

Realising the patrolman was waiting for her response, she put on a small smile and nodded. "Yeah, yeah we did. It was a spiteful old friend."

"I hope she goes away for a while," Malley stated, his words catching her off guard. Never once had she stated the shooter had been female, and Erin knew the news couldn't have spread that quickly. But before she could open her mouth, he was already carrying on with a smile. "You know we never finished that conversation from the crime scene."

"Conversation?" Erin asked, brow furrowing as she failed to recall any meaningful conversation they had shared. She couldn't help the way her muscles tensed in his presence; the way she stood rigid, ready to escape if needed to. There was something about his own overly confident attitude that had her on edge.

"About the worst crime scene you've seen," he reminded her with a shake of the head that she would have called affectionate if they had known each other for longer than approximately five minutes in total.

Erin frowned at his words, taking a carefully administered step back after noticing their close proximity that had only drifted smaller throughout the short exchange and reached for the candy she had yet to retrieve from the machine. "Oh, right! That's not a great conversation, actually," she told him offhandedly, snack now in hand and with every intention of returning back to her desk.

"Maybe a few drinks would make it more interesting? You go to Molly's, right? It's a pub nearby. Most of the first responders around here do," Malley informed her, his smile still in place with hopefulness shining brightly on his features.

"Yeah, no, It's pretty popular. We go there often," she told him with a light laugh, deducing for once and for all that he really was new to the 21st district if he hadn't noticed her at Molly's before, especially if he was asking her out for a drink. Deciding to let him down gently, yet put an obvious end to his attempted flirting, she softened her posture and offered him a quirk of her lips. "Listen, thank you for the offer but I'm in a relationship so I don't think that's really a good idea."

His features fell at her revelation, but before she could try and smooth things over, Malley smiled once again and shrugged nonchalantly. "Alright, well I'll be seeing you around then."

"Sure," she replied flippantly, gripping her candy in her hand and heading back towards the stairs to take her to Intelligence.

The feeling of someone watching her burnt hot against the back of her head as she willed herself to not turn around, and only waiting until she knew she was well out of sight before stopping. Though Erin hadn't immediately recognised him, she knew for certain Malley hadn't been one of the officers working on the case apart from the night of murder itself. They had kept any and all information about the suspect within the small group out so not to scare her off, which was why she found it suspicious that Malley knew it was a woman. Especially when statistics and experience showed that most of the murderers they caught were men.

Shaking her head, Erin pushed her thoughts aside and warned herself about overthinking things when running on fumes, coffee and sugar. If he really was a new cop, then of course he would follow up on one of his first crime scenes. There were plenty of ways of getting the information, even if Intelligence had run it in the dark for as long as they could. The idea he was following her was far too narcissistic.

…

Three weeks later, Erin wasn't sure it had been a narcissistic thought after all. Perhaps she had been jumping the gun back then, but not anymore. Not when she could see the other officer by the perimeter of the building Intelligence had just raided, and found nothing, helping others to seal it off. It was pretty late, the sun having set hours earlier, giving the secluded area they were in a much more eerie feeling even though it was lit up bright with lampposts and police squad cars.

It was because of the light she could see Malley as he occasionally, almost casually, kept looking back over at her. She tried to ignore it, squinting to force her eyes away from any direct light in his direction, but she couldn't help it. Ever since their initial meeting, she had spotted him at almost every single crime scene she had gone to yet never at the 21st again. If he had been, Erin knew Platt would have caught on quicker than the detective. But Malley's Sargent clearly didn't care about his whereabouts, or who he was riding with.

She could see the exact moment he decided to head her way. It was the same moment she turned her back to him and took steady, careful steps back to the Sierra where her partner was currently depositing his gun. Malley had tried talking to her a couple of times whilst at a scene, mostly about what was going on, but she made sure to shut it down once he turned it personal so not to give him any false ideas. Their relationship was professional, if even that.

Joining Jay at the back of their work car, she let out a small sigh when she noticed Malley turn back to securing the scene, yellow tape in hand. She had yet to tell anyone about the officer and his tendencies; at first not wanting to make it into a bigger deal than it was, and now not wanting to have the stigma of her calling out a male officer on harassment without any solid proof. Though she knew her team would believe her without a second thought, she worked for the city and the Chicago Police Department as a whole. Her career meant a lot to her, and being a detective in one of the most elite units in the city was not where she planned on stopping. If she could make it go away without any official paperwork to follow her, then she would do her best to make it happen.

However, at the same time, she knew ignoring him couldn't go on forever. Giving herself a six-week deadline, she had resolved with herself that if he hadn't gotten bored with her lack of interaction or response by then, she would tell Jay. It made her feel better about not opening up to him about it yet, even if she justified it by reminding herself that he would not take it lightly at all and probably mar his own professional career. It was for all their benefits, and her peace of mind, knowing she had Jay in her corner if she needed him no matter what.

As if realising her train of thoughts were currently about him, though it could have been her sigh that drew his attention too, Jay turned to face her after safely replacing his long gun in the back where hers had remained. He rested a hand on the top of the trunk door, keeping them slightly off to the side and away from most of the prying eyes as she stepped up to him and into his personal space.

Lifting her hand, she gently skimmed the pads of her fingers over his name on his vest, feeling each and every stitch of fabric which had meticulously formed Halstead, sitting perfectly over his right pectoral. She couldn't look away, not even as she felt Jay's free hand lay softly on her other arm, caressing her bicep with his thumb and the same tenderness she was giving his name tag.

"You alright?" he questioned, and she knew by his anxious tone if they hadn't just walked out of an empty building where not a single bullet had been fired, he'd have been checking her over for wounds already.

"Yeah," she murmured, dragging her eyes away from his name tag and seeing concern reflect in his own. "I'm fine, don't worry."

"I'm always going to worry, Er," he told her, a frown fixing itself onto his mouth as she tried to offer him a smile.

"I know," she breathed, glancing off to the side quickly to see Malley was still in the nearby vicinity and the reason why she could feel her head start to ache. Turning back to her partner, she pushed herself onto her toes and lightly brushed her lips against his. It was quick and daring, but she needed it to ground herself.

"Erin," Jay began when she fell back onto her feet and took a step back. His brow was furrowed and confusion was etched so clearly onto his features at her out-of-character show of affection whilst at work, there was no need for words to ask what had happened. At her shake of the head, he swallowed and pursed his lips momentarily. "You know you can tell me anything, right?"

"I know," she repeated, assuring him with a smile that stretched much more naturally across her lips and pressing her hand flat against his chest in a thankful gesture.

"Whenever you're ready, I'm here," he promised her, and Erin could only offer him a nod in response lest she spilt her secret there and then at his loving words.

Dropping her hand from his body, she peered away from the gathering crowds and back towards the building they had come to raid. Their night was far from over, but the sooner they got back to the district, the sooner they could all go home. "We should get going. I don't think there's anything left to do here."

Jay nodded and closed the trunk door, peering over the roof of their car towards where their Sargent was standing, beckoning over whoever he can see of his team. "Let's go see what Voight wants first, though."

"Relax," Erin laughed when they started to make their way over, Jay making it more than obvious he was keeping a fair bit of distance between them. She had no doubt it was because of the kiss and her partner's fear of their boss seeing whilst on the clock, but she had to admit that it did push away all of her anxiety and worries at the sight of it. "He didn't see."

"Yeah, well, if he did," he began, pausing as they passed under the tape to approach their team. "I'll be the one to hear about it later, I'm sure."

"Aw, poor baby," she teased, bumping her shoulder into his as she purposely kept close to him. "I'll make it up to you."

Her remark earned her a smirk and a raised brow. "Don't you always?" Jay retorted with no need of a suggestive tone for them both to know what he meant.

Allowing a smile to play on Erin's lips, she took a small step away from him as they approached the rest of the team gathered around their boss and his car. She hadn't meant to but somehow, even with her consciously willing herself not to, she looked over casually towards where Malley had last been standing.

Something that felt like relief washed over her immediately when she failed to find it, but it was short-lived. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw him closer than he had gotten since their conversation at the precinct, talking to another detective helping them on the case. He managed to keep looking at her, brow creased with his mouth pulled downwards into a frown. There was no doubt he had seen her kiss Jay, or them joking around a moment earlier. She had hoped it would send a message about how serious she was about being with someone, but something told her it wasn't going to be enough to deter him.

Trying her best to push those thoughts away before someone caught on to her turmoil, Erin willed herself to pay attention to Hank and his instructions, though it was rather hard to do when she could feel eyes continuously bore into the side of her head.

...

They closed the case two days later following another raid, this time successful. Unfortunately, it had resulted in the deaths of several members of the gang they were after, with both Jay and Antonio firing the fatal shots. Which meant the two of them were stuck with the paperwork that the Ivory Tower demanded to secure an ironclad case, leaving the rest of the team to not-so-guiltily retreat for a drink.

In Erin's defence, she had given Jay a half-hearted offer of a helping hand. He had thankfully seen through it and sent her to Molly's with the rest of the team, commenting it would only take him another hour or so and would grab a ride with Antonio to the pub. She hadn't offered twice, instead squeezing his shoulder and telling him she would see him soon before following Ruzak, Atwater and Burgess down the stairs.

Of course, she had beaten them all their destination. Deciding against waiting for them, she made her way towards the familiar pub, knowing there would be at least one person inside she knew to keep her company for the time being.

She had barely made it to the street corner when she regretted her decision. "Hello, Detective," the bane of her existence greeted her as he stepped in front of her and effectively blocking her way to the entrance of Molly's.

"Officer Malley," Erin replied dryly, tucking her hands into her jacket pockets though the late summer evening was still warm. "Can I get inside, please?"

"Let me buy you that drink we talked about," he insisted with a winning smile that probably would have worked plenty of other women but did nothing to convince her.

"I'm good, thanks," she replied, staring him down to watch as his smile faltered and his brow pinched together.

"Erin-," he began, but she shook her head and cut him off before she heard his attempt at striking up a conversation once again.

"Don't," Erin simply said, making sure her tone was authoritative and keeping her words simple so they couldn't be misconstrued. "Don't talk to me, don't pretend you know me. I'm here with my friends, so let's leave it at that and go our separate ways."

"I only want to talk. You never talk to me," Malley stated softly in a way that almost sounded like a whine when she was taken aback with hurt lacing his words.

Shaking her head, she refused to feel sympathy for the man who had been practically stalking her for the past three-odd weeks and stood her ground instead. "I don't know you, and I don't want to either. I don't want to be friends, we don't work together and I already have a boyfriend."

"Wait-," he tried again as she started to walk past him after she had said her part, grabbing her by the arm as she did so and turning her back to face him.

"Don't touch me," Erin warned him, dropping her arms by her sides after forcefully shaking off his hold. It had taken her a second to get over the shock of his sudden movement, having initially assumed he wasn't a physical threat to her. Now, she was no longer sure and was more than keen to head inside away from him.

Malley reached out once again, gripping onto her wrist with a tighter hold than earlier. "Let's just talk, okay?"

"No. Now let go of my wrist and walk away," she gritted out between her teeth, in both anger and frustration at his perseverance. "I said, let go!"

"You alright, Linds?" Malley finally retracted his hand and took a small step back a second before Erin had heard Ruzak's voice, knowing the other cop had seen him approach. Erin twisted slightly to look at her friend, watching as he took in the patrolman with discriminating eyes. "Who the hell are you?"

When Malley refused to answer, she sighed and shook her head. "He's no-one. Let's go inside," she told Ruzak, happy for the company that now allowed her to walk peacefully into Molly's.

She refused to look back at Malley or to see whether he followed, heading straight to the bar instead knowing her colleague was not a step behind her with a thousand questions. Though she wasn't sure exactly what Ruzak had seen, it was clear he had caught the tail end of the confrontation.

"What was that about?" he eventually asked when they approached the bar, leaning against it to face her.

Erin peered up at him, taking in his worried eyes and the frown playing on his features. Sighing, she shrugged as lightly as she could. "Nothing. How far are Atwater and Burgess?"

"Kev said they're around the corner," Ruzak replied before bringing the subject back to what they had been talking about. "Who was that guy?"

"No-one, Adam. Should we get some food?" she deflected, turning towards where she could see Otis at the other end of the bar serving some people from Med. When she failed to gain the firefighter's attention, or garner a response from her friend, Erin let out a deep breath and shifted so she was able to talk to Ruzak without facing him head-on. Lowering her voice, she pursed her lips every so slightly, "Just drop it, alright?"

"No, not alright. That guy was harassing you, and I'm pretty sure I've seen him around before," he rebuked, his voice matching her own with a sharp edge to his words. Erin noticed him peer over his shoulder towards the main door, scanning the distance in between too, for the other cop. Fortunately for her, he was nowhere to be seen.

"He's a cop. You've probably seen him at work," she offered just as she spotted Atwater and Burgess walk in. Laying a hand on Ruzak's arm, she offered him a small smile before telling him tersely, "Everything's fine, so you can leave it alone. Let's just enjoy our very rare evening off."

Ruzak nodded absentmindedly at her suggestion, and if she had bought him a couple of extra drinks to thank him for being a good friend without saying the words, no one commented on it. Especially not when he ended up being the first one drunk, before even Jay and Antonio had joined them, and giving them all something to laugh about after a hard few days.

…

Jay couldn't help but keep glancing over at his partner every few minutes as they worked the crime scene of the new case Intelligence had just caught. A triple murder in a shady underground nightclub which doubled as a gambling ring, and who knew what else. There weren't many witnesses, and the few that were still there being interviewed by Antonio, Burgess and a couple patrolmen were mostly useless due to their inebriated state.

Even as Erin carefully took in the scene, pointing out certain facts whilst asking questions or answering others', he couldn't help but notice her tense body. The way she meticulously carried out her job whilst shooting him a curious glance when he noticed her doing everything she could to avoid looking in the direction towards the bar where two patrolmen from another district stood waiting for further orders from Voight. Especially when he saw her falter slightly when canvassing the room, going out of her way to avoid the corridor that led to the backroom area where the officers stood.

If there was one thing Jay knew about his partner, it was that it took a lot to make her falter. Mix that with her recent constant exhaustion, which he had accepted her excuse of being overworked, and what Ruzek had recently told him about the confrontation he had seen at Molly's two nights previously, Jay could feel the familiar red-hot anger boil inside him as he put it all together.

Casually peeling off his black latex gloves, he approached Ruzak and made sure to angle his body away from the rest of the team. "Is that him?" he asked in a low tone, nodding towards the lone patrolman who was watching the rest of the scene with more intent than his partner.

"Yeah," Ruzek replied, though Jay had barely waited for his confirmation to unholster his gun and press it into his teammate's unexpecting hands, making sure he was unarmed as he approached the officer who had apparently been harassing his partner, his girlfriend. "No, wait. J-!" he could hear Ruzak call from behind him, as well as feel the rest of the team watch as he finally called out to their female teammate. "Erin!"

Any other day in any other situation, he knew he would probably have stopped when Erin asked him to. It was why Ruzak had directed her attention towards him. "Jay, don't," she pleaded, but her voice was far back behind him though he could still hear the tiredness in her voice that almost made the words sound half-hearted. It only drew to encourage him further.

Grabbing the officer by his shoulder to turn him away from where he was still staring out towards Erin, Jay made sure his entire attention was on him, the dark green eyes that stared back into his at equal height could see him fully, before giving him a rough shove that made him waver back a step. There was no way he was going to do this without the other man knowing exactly who he was dealing with. Without everyone knowing exactly who they would have to deal with for messing with Erin.

"You stay away from my partner, you hear me?" Jay warned the officer fiercely, finally getting out all of the rage, concern and need to simply act he had built up since finding out about someone harassing Erin. When the other cop had the nerve to simply raise an eyebrow at his words, Jay considered it to be justifiable provocation as he swung at him without a second though. The punch landed perfectly on the side of his face, causing him to stumble back in shock. Two strong hands gripped Jay's upper arms, holding him back from attacking again. "Otherwise, I swear, next time-"

"Alright, back up, bro," Antonio cut him off with a sharp tug back and turning him away from the patrolman now sporting a reddening shiner. Jay would have smirked at his good throw if he hadn't had his friend reminding him in his ear, "Don't go making threats in public; you know how that'll end."

Managing to shake off Antonio's hold just as Voight joined them, Jay inadvertently caught Erin's eyes from the middle of the crime scene and couldn't help but feel the slightest bit guilty for airing her obvious secret. But when her pursed lips melted into the smallest, resigned quirk, he knew that wasn't the first thought on her mind. Especially as she simultaneously sighed in what seemed like relief, the tension in her posture leaving her body with one single breath to seem more relaxed than he had seen her for a while.

"What's going on here?" Voight's gruff voice brought Jay back to the small gathering of three men now around him. Voight looked towards him when he failed to answer. "Halstead?"

"Nothing, Sarge," Jay answered, words sharp but delivered with a fake sense of calm. He knew Voight didn't believe him, nor did he care as he turned to the other cop involved.

"Nothing, sir," the patrolman agreed, not speaking up even as he began to bruise up before their very eyes. No-one wanted to be on the other end of Voight's infamous glare, especially not when they were trying to create trouble with his detectives. As much as Jay hated it at times, the fact they were protected to a certain extent by Voight's reputation definitely paid off.

There were a few seconds where Voight stood in silence and even Jay worried his boss might decide to take action on the words he had threatened the other man with before hitting him. Erin was, for all intent and purpose, his daughter. Eventually, however, he nodded and dismissed them all, though not without a pat on Jay's shoulder which felt obscenely a lot like pride.

…

Erin found him in the locker room straddling a wooden bench with a first aid kit in front of him. They had returned to the district separately after Voight had insisted Jay chased up a lead with the head of security for the club whilst she remained at the scene until forensics were done with it. They hadn't exchanged another word nor look after he had disappeared into the back of the club with Antonio so she hadn't seen what his hand looked like after punching Officer Malley. If she were to guess based on the reddening of the patrolman's face and the power Jay possessed, it was most likely bruised.

"You shouldn't have done that," she commented, eying the way Jay tried to bandage up his hand as she leant against a locker.

He glanced up at her briefly and shook his head. "You're my partner. I have your back, no matter what," he stated rather too matter-of-factly for her liking.

Sighing, Erin approached the bench to sit opposite him, taking the bandage he was struggling with out of his hands and grasping his injured hand in her own to give it the once over. "Who told you?" she asked quietly, allowing his hand more attention than was needed as she avoided his gaze.

"Ruzak. Said some guy was harassing you at Molly's the other night," Jay informed her with a nonchalant shrug she knew he would be faking, and she wasn't sure right then if she was madder at his calmness or at Ruzek selling her out.

"Why didn't you say anything?" Erin asked, catching his eyes for the first time since she had entered.

"Why didn't you say anything?" he retorted, arching a brow. His eyes told her that he wasn't upset or hurt, but rather confused and she hated seeing the doubts that mixed with it. Not wanting to see it any longer, she focused once again on his hand instead, retrieving the ice pack from the first aid kit and putting all of her efforts into activating it. "You should have told me."

Erin crushed the ice pack between her hands numerous times until she felt it was cold enough to help numb his knuckles. Picking up his right hand, she held it flat before pressing the pack to the minor injury.

"I didn't know how to. Not without making it into a big deal and I really didn't want to make it into a big deal," she finally answered truthfully, offering him a rueful smile when she peered back up at him in hopes of placating him with a simple explanation of what her reasonings really had been.

She knew it hadn't worked the moment he frowned; lips turning down at the corners as his brow creased when he drew them together as he riled himself up once again. "It is a big deal, Erin! He was harassing you," Jay reiterated, and she could feel him tense up just by his hand in her own. If they were still at the scene, there was no doubt he would be splitting open a knuckle with another punch as his own words worked him up.

"I could handle it," she tried to assure him but he shook his head before she could even get the words out.

"You shouldn't have to. He was out of line and you shouldn't have had to deal with it, not alone at least," he said, tone softening out towards the end as his free hand came to rest upon her thigh and squeezed almost apologetically.

Erin blew out a breath and nodded in concession to show she understood what he was saying. Sitting in silence for a moment, she mulled over her thoughts before realising that it was Jay sat in front of her. She had never needed to plan what she was going to say to him before, and that was something that she hoped would never change. Instead of trying to think through with how to tell him everything that had gone through her mind ever since she had met Officer Malley, she decided to simply talk. He had never had an issue with keeping up with her before; it was what made them such great partners after all.

"I know I didn't have to but I wanted to. I needed to. I needed to show him that I was stronger than what he was doing. I didn't want to be another one of those female cops who loses their jobs or career prospects because of some bastard who can't handle being rejected. You know how it goes, Jay, regardless of who is in the wrong. So I hoped it would just kind of disappear. I thought if I didn't show any reaction, he'd get bored and leave me alone," she explained, hoping she was articulating her entire thought process from over the past month in a way so he could see it from her point of view. Watching as he swallowed thickly, she tightened her hold on his hand and shuffled a bit closer so she could pull their grasped hands in towards her stomach where the sharp cold of the ice pack contrasted dramatically with the heat of her body. Her knees pressed against his legs and she could feel every breath he took, hoping he could feel the meaning of her words too. "And I didn't want you jeopardizing your job over it, either. I knew how you'd react."

"I don't care about my job, Erin. I care about you. You come first, always. It's my job to protect you, both on and off the clock, and yes," Jay told her, cutting her off with a sharp word and a teasing smile when she tried to interrupt, proving once again how well he knew her when he continued, "I know you can look after yourself. But that doesn't mean I'm gonna stop. Ever."

"I know, and I love you so much for it," she replied, matching his smile with an adoring one. Leaning in, she met his lips with her own. She kept it sweet and simple, applying the minimal pressure to turn it into something more than a fleeting kiss but nothing more that could be confused for being completely inappropriate for work.

Jay pressed one final kiss to her lips before sitting back with a small sigh. Temporarily removing his grip off her leg, he rubbed his temple with the pads of his fingers in an action Erin knew was his tell for when he was trying to keep his emotions in check. "Okay, I understand where you're coming from. I'm so sorry that you went through this alone for over a month and I didn't even notice."

Erin shrugged again; accepting and dismissing his apology instantly. "I kept it quiet. Everything is so good with us right now so I focused on that. It made it easier to forget," she explained honestly, knowing that without the man in front of her, she would have gone a bit stir crazy and probably even acted out herself due to Malley's actions.

He squeezed her leg to capture her full attention, making sure he held her eyes so she could see the earnest in them. "You can tell me anything, sweetheart. No matter what you think I'll do, it's important that you know you don't have to go through life alone. I'm sorry I made you feel like you couldn't come to me,"

"It's not on you, Jay. I was- I guess I was scared. Telling you would have made it so much more real," Erin admitted, shaking her head. Moving his injured hand away from her, she took off the ice pack to inspect the cold-reddened knuckles, happy to find there was no swelling. "Maybe if I had said something earlier, we could have avoided all this."

"I doubt it. Beating up guys who harass you is kinda my thing. I plan on doing it for a very long time," he lightly teased, eliciting a smile out of her even as became serious. "For the rest of our lives actually, if you'd let me."

Erin frowned in confusion at his elusive words, growing into fully blown uncertainty when he jumped up and headed towards his locker. Though she knew his right hand must have been aching, he didn't show it as he dug straight into the go bag she knew he kept in there and rifled through for a few seconds.

"Jay, what are you doing?" she eventually asked, scoffing in exasperation when he held up a finger to give him a minute. He returned back to the bench not a few seconds later with a small black box in hand, and she couldn't hold back the quiet gasp when she realised it was perfect to contain a ring.

"I've been wanting to do this for a while now, Erin. I love you and I always want to be the one you can turn to, who can protect you and beat up people for you. I'm a very possessive person, in case you haven't noticed," Jay said wryly as she nodded in agreement, her eyes torn between his own and the beautiful ring he revealed by opening the box. "Mostly, I just want to be with you, and I want to be able to call you my wife. Will you marry me?"

"You chose here, now?" Erin whispered with a watery laugh, causing him to shoot her his typical boyish grin.

"It felt right," he stated nonchalantly.

Shaking her head, she reached out to skim over the soft top of the ring box before gently laying it on his hand. "You have a bruised hand. I thought you'd be mad at me for not telling you. Not-" she faltered momentarily as she took in the ring and the man in front of her, still trying to wrap her head around the reality of the moment. "Not asking me to marry you."

"And I thought you'd mad at me for making a scene," Jay countered coolly.

Shrugging, she blew out a breath and smiled softly at him. "I can't be mad when you're proposing."

"Can you give me an answer then?"

"Yes, Jay. I want to be with you, too," Erin answered without another second's hesitation, and by the grin that curved on his lips at her words, she knew she would never have doubts about it either. "And have you call me your wife the next time you beat someone up for me."