Keeping It in the Family (Linstead)

Chapter 7

Unlike the night before, Jay and Erin found themselves in a busy bar. So busy, in fact, that it was standing room only. After they had found themselves a spot over on the left side of the room, Erin had fought her way through to the bar to get their first round in.

Standing there watching her, Jay found himself wondering if she was the same Erin as before. The answer, he had to admit, seemed like it was no. The five years had changed her. New York had changed her. The FBI had changed her. But then five more years working for Hank Voight had probably changed him too, he imagined.

Erin spoke differently now, especially at work. She was firmer, more authoritative, and there seemed to little humour in her. It was a shame. Her dry humour was something he had always liked. Maybe it was still there, but the stress of her return and her new job was hiding it? He wanted to find out. He wanted to find out a lot of things. In truth, he didn't how much of the Erin he knew and loved still remained. Her looks sure did. Holy shit she was beautiful. In a way, it had faded a little from his memory just how it made him feel when he looked into her eyes. He couldn't even have described it himself if he had been asked to. All he knew was that he wanted to do it more and more. He wanted to kiss her, to taste her lips against his...

A guy who was standing neat to Jay stepped backwards and bumped into him, snapping him out of the moment. Or the day dream. Or the fantasy. Whatever it had been, it was gone now.

"Sorry, man," the clumsy idiot said to him.

Jay nodded to him, deciding not show his annoyance.

A few minutes later, Erin returned with two bottles of beer. "Don't you hate it when a bartender has no manners?" she said, handing one to him.

"Yes. I make sure to be rude back to them if they're like that," Jay said. It made Erin laugh. It was the first time he had seen her do that since her return from New York. Her entire face lit up when she laughed. It was a truly gorgeous sight.

An awkward silence settled on them as they both realised that after so long they didn't really know how to start a conversation with each other about something other than work or Erin's leaving for New York.

"So, what do you do with yourself now when you're not working?" she ventured.

"Not much if I'm honest, which sounds pretty embarrassing. I threw myself into the job a lot these past few years. Apart from that the only social things I do are going out for drinks with the rest of the team, and sometime I'll watch a game with Kev and/or Ruze and Kim."

Jay knew she would know he was talking about baseball. It was the only sport he followed, and she liked it too.

"The Cubs killed it last season," Erin smiled. "I've kept up with their results as much as possible. Much like you, I've been largely job focused."

And there they were, gravitating back to talking about work again. At least they were talking, and the conversation was a happy one. Jay decided to roll with it. The personal connection would re-establish itself with time. "You liked the job then?" he asked. "I think I'd hate a job I was forced to take and stick with. Knowing you, I'd certainly expect you to hate it."

Erin took a hit from her beer. "Oh, trust me I hated it to begin with. I'd say for about a year I resented every day I had to work with that unit. It didn't help that the agent in charge was a real asshole. He treated the team, especially me, like dirt. Luckily he was reassigned maybe ten months after I got there, and he was replaced by a female agent called Tessa Blanchard. That was when it turned around for me. We worked well together, got along okay, and most importantly she liked to teach people. There's no way I'd be a Sergeant right now if it wasn't for her. Voight taught me a lot about detective work, but he never taught me leadership."