21. Chapter 21

A/N: So, I will not reveal too much about this chapter but, I hope you guys enjoy it! Please Review ;)

"Come on, Erin. One date", Jay practically begged his girlfriend as they stood in their bathroom getting dressed for work.

It felt petty and ridiculous to be fighting over something like this when they were already dating and lived together. Jay just wanted to make his proposal perfect. Yes, this was the night that Jay had planned on asking Erin to marry him. He already had restaurant reservations, gotten his grandmother's ring polished, and talked to Voight about taking care of Maggie. Now, all he had to do was convince Erin to go out with him.

Erin finished brushing her teeth as she turned to Jay who awaited her answer, "You know that I really just like nights in with you and Maggie", she explained before wiping her face.

"I know you do, but just think about it", Jay began, walking over to her and takes her hands in his own.

"We drop Maggie off at Voight's house. She spends the night and then we can go to dinner and come back to the apartment", he said to her.

"I can't even remember the last time we had the apartment alone", Erin replied getting Jay to smile.

"And if we go out tonight then we will get the apartment all to ourselves. We can do whatever we want. Wherever we want", Jay said as he bent down to capture her lips in a kiss.

Erin quickly reciprocated the kiss as she thought about their night out together. Jay was right they never got time alone. She would miss Maggie, but a night with Jay sounded so good.

As Jay pulled away from the kiss, he immediately knew he had done a good job convincing her by the smile on her face. "So, tonight at seven then", he confirmed.

Erin nodded, "I guess I can break away from being a homebody for one night", she teased.

"Sounds good to me", Jay said before giving her another quick kiss.

"Mommy, I need help packing my lunch", Maggie suddenly called out from the kitchen.

"Duty calls", Erin stated as she walked toward the kitchen.

"Do your mommy duties now, but tonight you are all mine", Jay said before she left.

"Yes, sir", Erin mock soluted him causing Jay to laugh before she left the room.

Jay couldn't wipe the smile of his face knowing that in a matter of hours she would be his fiance and soon his wife.

xxx

The day at the district was slow. After closing the Jackson case and their new case with Maggie and Kaitlyn, the team had a lot of paperwork to catch up on. Erin caught Jay glancing towards her way more often than he usually did. It would have been wrong to say that Jay's request to go out tonight wasn't strange, but she decided not to think about it too much.

All of a sudden her phone went off later in the afternoon, disturbing Erin from her never ending thoughts about tonight.

"I know you still have some paperwork to do..I will go get Maggie have her pack her things and bring her to Voights", Jay's text message read.

"Nosey much, but yeah that sounds like a great plan. I will see you back at the apartment", Erin quickly replied.

Just as Jay got the text he stood and closed up the last of his things. "Well that's it for me, I will see you guys tomorrow", Jay said as he grabbed his coat.

Everyone said their goodbyes before Jay left the district. As soon as the gate closed, Erin heard footsteps approaching her desk. She looked up just in time to see Nadia approaching her desk.

"So, where is Jay taking you tonight", she immediately asked.

"How did you know", Erin said putting down her pen and looking towards Nadia.

"I caught you looking at date night outfits when you should have been doing paperwork", Nadia teased.

Erin rolled her eyes because she knew she probably didn't cover it up that well. "He wouldn't tell me where, but I mean it's date night, and Maggie will be with Voight so", Erin explained.

"Don't think about it too much. He already loves you, so what could you do wrong", Nadia stated.

Erin glared at her, telling her this little pep talk was not helping, "Okay, well why don't I help you file your paperwork and then you can get out of here soon", Nadia offered.

"Thanks Nadia", Erin said giving her a smile as she handed over some of her files.

Erin and Nadia got the through the paperwork together quickly and in less than an hour, Erin found herself talking on Voight's door to say goodnight.

"Hey kid", Voight greeted her with a warm smile.

"Hey", Erin replied as she leaned up against his doorframe and watched as him pack up his things to go home.

"So, Maggie's bedtime is 7:30, but she's going to beg to stay awake because it's Friday. So the latest she should go to bed is 8 o'clock", Erin explained. "Are you sure you are up for this", she began to ask.

"Erin, I have raised children before, including you. I think I can handle one night with your daughter", Voight cut her off.

Erin smiled as he heard Voight call Maggie 'her daughter'. It took her awhile to convince herself that since Maggie called her 'mommy', she really was her mother.

"Now, stop procrastinating. I have to meet Jay at my house and you have to go get ready", he demanded beginning to lock everything up in his office.

"Thank you Hank", Erin said giving him a smile and a quick hug.

"Anything for you kid, you know that", Voight replied before she left the office.

xxx

Upon her arrival home, Erin immediately went to her closet to pick something to wear for dinner. She immediately noticed that Jay's suit jacket and his black dress shirt was missing from his side. Jay knew it was her favorite, he had worn it the night of her high school reunion. The night they had taken a step towards the idea of a future relationship.

Erin smiled at the memory as she turned to her side of the closet. After seeing what Jay had taken it, Erin quickly made her decision as to what to wear. She picked out her favorite pair of black jeans, a loose white top, and the black pumps she owned only for special occasions.

After getting dressed, she went towards her sink to put some makeup on. "Hair up or hair down", she asked herself.

Erin shook her head, trying to mainly get rid of her nervous thoughts. She was being ridiculous. It was dinner with Jay. She had been only living with the man for maybe three months now and dating him over half a year. She had no reason to be nervous.

Hair down she finally decided.

"Er", Jay's voice suddenly echoed as he entered the apartment.

"I'm almost ready", she called out from the bathroom as she heard him shuffle around the kitchen.

Applying a small amount of makeup and clasping her necklace around her neck, Erin shut the lights off in the bathroom and exited their bedroom. Erin quickly found Jay leaning against the counter in the kitchen with a beer in his hand.

"You're going to spoil your dinner", she teased.

Jay's lips quickly turned upward in a smile as he set his beer down and walked towards her, capturing her lips in a kiss. Erin smiled into the kiss, but knew she had to pull away if they were ever going to make their reservation.

"If you keep kissing me, we may never make it out of the apartment", she teased.

Jay laughed as he turned around to drink the rest of his beer and then quickly grab his car keys.

"By the way, you look amazing", he added walking towards her.

"You clean up well yourself", she replied.

"Come on, let's go. I have a night planned for you", Jay requested as he lead the way towards the car.

Erin smiled as she followed him out the door, having absolutely no idea what the night would lead to.

xxx

Jay had made them reservations at Erin's favorite restaurant, the Purple Pig. "Bringing back our old bet", she teased as he pulled up in front of the restaurant.

Erin had given Jay the opportunity to drive tonight and she said it was only because she was wearing heels and the fact it was date night. Jay simply gave her a smile as he stepped out of the car quickly to open up her door.

"If we were bringing back our old bet, you would be paying tonight if I remember correctly", Jay stated as he reached his hand out for her to grab.

Erin laughed at the memory. He was right after all, she had lost the bet and was supposed to buy them dinner that night. Except she didn't. She made the lame excuse to keep it professional. Now, Erin couldn't even believe she said that. She honestly couldn't even imagine her life without Jay.

"Halstead. Two", Jay confidently said as he approached the hostess. The women gave them a smile as she lead them to the small table set for two. Jay pulled out her chair, causing Erin to smile before sitting down.

Erin looked around and noticed all of the happy couples sitting at their own tables having their own conversation. She honestly couldn't believe that she was one of these people. She had a boyfriend, who took her out to dinner, and was probably the best thing that had ever happened to her. Don't get her wrong, Erin was the happiest she had ever been.

Looking back towards Jay, she saw him looking at the menu, even though he would probably order the same thing. Jay glanced up and caught Erin's eye, "What", he asked laughing slightly.

"Nothing", Erin shook her head. "It's just...this is really nice", she said giving him a smile.

Jay smiled, "Anything for you, Er. You know that".

xxx

"Give me one good reason you didn't want to go home with me that night", Jay teased watching Erin nearly choke on her wine. He was talking about the night of her reunion.

She laughed, swiping a piece of hair from her face, "Hmm", she meditated over the question just to tease him.

"Maybe it's because you seemed way too confident about getting me into your bed", Erin stated.

"To shay", he said laughing at her. "But, in my defense we would have gone back to your place and it would have been a great", he explained.

Erin laughed before drinking the rest of her wine. Just as she finished it, their waitress came up to drop off their check.

"Have a good rest of your evening Mr. and Mrs. Halstead", the waitress said giving them a friendly smile.

Erin raised her eyebrows towards Jay who laughed. "I know you just love being called that", he teased.

"Come on, let's get home", Jay said as he stood from the table.

"Do you think we should call Maggie. You know just to check in", Erin requested as they left the restaurant.

"Erin, if I don't remember correctly, Voight told you not to worry about her", Jay explained wrapping an arm around her as they walked to the car.

"I know, it's just one night without her makes me worried about like her and Voight staying up late and..I don't know eat ice cream and get like an insane sugar rush", Erin quickly came up with a theory.

"Erin, she's probably having fun", Jay stated. "Now, relax your maternal instincts and let's go home and enjoy the house to ourselves", he explained giving her a quick kiss on the cheek as they stood in front of the car.

"Alright", Erin agreed giving him a smile.

xxx

"I do have to admit, you do put together a great date night", Erin said as they entered the apartment already taking off her high heels.

"Yeah, well I try my best", Jay simply said. He was becoming more nervous by the minute. This was the last part of his 'perfectly planned out date night'.

Immediately, Erin went into the kitchen and turned to get a bottle of water, perfectly following Jay's plan.

"So, we never finished our original conversation. You know about our reunion", Jay asked leaning against the island in the kitchen.

"I already told you. And I also didn't wanna lose my job. So, instead I just told you 'Maybe one day'", Erin explained turning around with her bottle of water.

As she turned around, Erin saw the hand drawn picture and immediately noticed Maggie's handwriting. It was one of her famous drawings, with their little family as the characters. Scribbled on the top, was the phrase "Will you marry us".

Erin gasped in disbelief as she looked up at Jay, who couldn't wipe the smile off his face. "There's one more thing", he stated pointing to the crayon box.

Erin laughed through the tears she could feel brimming in her eyes. She grabbed the box and gently opened it. There sat the ring, hanging onto one of Maggie's crayons. Also, written on the inside of the box was 'Please'.

"Jay", she said coming out in almost a whisper.

"When you told me a year ago 'maybe one day', I knew that I would definitely act on it. So, now I just want to tell you that you coming into this family, the little world I had outside of work, is the best decision I have ever made", he explained.

"You are the best mother for Maggie and you've helped me through so many things. And I love you", Jay finished his small speech. He was now standing in front of Erin as he reached over and took the ring from the box of crayons.

"So, this is our one day", he said before carefully getting down on one knee.

"Will you marry me Erin Lindsay", Jay asked as he looked up towards her.

"Yes", Erin answered as quickly as possible. "Yes, of course I will marry you", she said again almost to make sure this was all real.

Jay smiled as he placed the circular diamond ring on her ring finger, "It's so beautiful", she whispered as Jay stood up.

"God, I'm so happy you said yes", Jay joked.

Erin laughed as she felt him swipe away her tears with his thumb. "I love you so much", she said standing on her tip toes to give him a kiss.

"I love you too, soon to be Mrs. Halstead", Jay responded hearing her giggle before he captured her lips in a kiss.