They knew she had been undercover for a year. They didn't know that she was made after six months and she'd spent the following six months being held hostage in a sex trafficking ring. The outcome of the mission had been kept classified within her unit to prevent other officers' covers from being compromised. She was rescued in the basement, chained to the wall. She had lost 30 pounds over the course of her personal hell. Pumped full of drugs for most of it, she remembered about 30% of the event. The rest was pieced together in the hospital upon examination of her injuries and from her captors' confessions. They bragged to her partner about raping her, torturing her, starving her, and the many other sick fantasies they carried out on her body. The ringleader, Martin Riggs, and his accomplices were charged and sent to a prison in New York. She transferred out of her unit as soon as she was ready to return to work and ended up in robbery and homicide. Eventually, she found herself in the intelligence unit. After two years she'd finally felt like she'd recovered from the incident. She had a great partner in Halstead and even a potential romantic interest in Ruzek. Other than Voight knowing limited details, no one in the unit knew anything had gone array in her UC mission. Life was good. She never dreamed everything would come crashing down when Martin Riggs escaped from prison.
Voight stormed into the squad room on a Tuesday morning even more aggressive than usual. Much to her surprise, Hailey was immediately called into his office.
"What's up sarg?"
He looked at her grimly and told her to sit down. "I got a call on my way in today. Riggs escaped from prison. He'd told his cellmate he was coming straight for you."
Hailey couldn't believe what she was hearing. She tried to act cool, stay strong in front of her boss. This proved difficult as she felt her world crashing around her. She opened her mouth to speak but nothing came out. "Okay" was all she could manage.
Voight continued, "I want you with someone in this squad 24/7. I don't trust a protective detail with this guy."
She couldn't fathom the idea of a squadmate having to babysit her. Even worse, they'd want to know what happened to her in the first place. "Sarg, I don't think that's necessary."
"This is an order, Upton. We'll play him off as someone with a vendetta against you. They don't need to know details."
She hesitantly followed Voight out of his office and sat at her desk. He walked up to the front of the room, gaining everyone's attention as he taped Riggs' picture to the whiteboard. "Martin Riggs. Detective Upton busted him during an undercover operation. He escaped from prison this morning. We're on the lookout of this guy 24/7. He told inmates that he's headed to Chicago looking for her."
Her eyes were glued to her desk as the entire squad looked straight at her. Voight continued, "Upton does not spend one minute without someone watching her six until this guy is behind bars. You understand?"
Everyone nodded and watched as Voight walked back to his office and Hailey made a beeline for the break room. Halstead followed her.
"Hey, what's going on? You okay?" He questioned.
"Yeah, yeah I'm fine. I just hate this. I don't want everyone worried about me you know?" She said as she poured herself a cup of coffee.
Jay nodded. "I get that. BUT, you're with me the whole day. I'll either sleep on your couch tonight or you can crash with me."
"Jay you don't need to do that" She shook her head.
"Yeah, I do. Look, I don't know what your history with this guy is but whatever it is it sounds bad."
"Yeah", she whispered, looking down at her coffee again.
"You wanna talk about it?" He asked.
She shook her head no, stepping around him to return to her desk.
She managed to go the first half of the day without any more questions. However, that changed when she was partnered with Ruzek to go check out a crime scene. She hadn't talked to him since he'd left her apartment this morning. They have been careful to arrive at work at different times. She didn't know exactly what she felt for Ruzek. They'd spent the past week meeting up every night, having some amazing sex. She trusted him completely and felt herself getting more and more attached to him. Somehow in spite of this, he was the last person she wanted knowing about her kidnapping.
"SO, you're staying with me tonight, right?" He asked. She looked at him questioningly. "Well, Voight says you need to have someone with ya 24/7. Might as well have some fun with it right?" He tried to lighten the mood.
"yeah , I guess" She forced a smile.
"Hailey, what's going on? What's your history with this Riggs guy?" He asked, more serious now.
"It's a long story. I busted him in my UC operation, he's not very happy with me I guess."
Ruzek clearly didn't buy it. They all had criminals with vendettas against them. Voight wouldn't put one of his detectives under 24-hour watch for some pissed off UC bust.
"You know the details of whatever this is are going to come out eventually right?" He asked.
Hailey didn't reply. She looked at the road ahead, terrified.
Later the team decided to go out to Molly's before heading home. She was happy for the distraction, and the distractions that would continue at Ruzek's place. Jay had understood when she said she'd be crashing at Adam's. In the back of her mind, she knew he was likely suspicious of their "relationship". However, he seemed satisfied with the excuse that she knew Ruzek had a comfy sectional for her to crash on.
At the bar, she somehow ended up sitting at a two person table with Adam. Everyone else was either standing at the bar or watching a heated game of pool between Jay and Antonio.
Adam ordered them another round. "So, are you going to tell me what all went down with this Riggs guy?"
Hailey shook her head, "Not planning on it." She really hoped he'd drop it.
He sighed, "Come on Hailey, we need to know what we're up against. What is something actually happens? God forbid, this guy finds you? What's he trying to do here?"
She took a big swig of her beer. "Look, it's not something I enjoy talking about. It's more complicated than a bust gone bad, Adam. It's bad."
"I mean is this guy trying to kill you?" Adam started to get upset, he was talking louder.
"ADAM, please quiet down. I honestly don't know." She half whispered half yelled.
"What even is this, a bust gone bad?" He started pressing for more information.
She was starting to panic. She did not want to talk about this with him. Between the fear she'd been experiencing all day and the alcohol she'd just ingested she felt her body start to shake.
"YES, ADAM! Yes, it is a bust gone bad. It was a bust gone horribly, actually. Is that enough for you?" She yelled.
"Okay, Hailey. Calm down." He rested his hand on her forearm. "I'm not trying to make you uncomfortable. I just want to know what we're up against. I'm worried."
"Can we please stop talking about it?" She asked.
He nodded, "Let's go watch the end of the game, it looks like Jay is kicking Tony's ass."
As they stood with the rest of her team she was paying no attention to the game unfolding in front of her. She couldn't stop thinking about what Adam said. No one really knows the details of what happened, not even Voight. What would happen if he did find her? No one on the team knew his MO, his pattern, they wouldn't even know where to start in trying to find her. She glanced over to her purse which was sitting back at the table, making sure it was still there. In it was the file containing all of the gruesome details of her life as a hostage. It held her official statement, photos from her rape kit, proof of life photos Riggs had sent to her team, statements from her team members regarding her rescue (which she had no memory of), and other documents she hadn't even bothered to read.
She'd snatched the file from Voight's desk earlier. She saw it sitting there when he was breaking the news to her this morning. It wasn't that she didn't want him to read it. Which she didn't. Just the idea of a file containing information - pictures - of the worst things that have ever happened to her - things that she still relives in her nightmares - sitting on a desk terrified her.
The ride home with Ruzek was silent. She stared out the passenger window and Ruzek occasionally glanced over to make sure she was okay. When they finally made it to his apartment he opened the door for her and followed her in.
He broke their extended silence while they were removing their shoes. "Look Hailey, I'm sorry for pressing you tonight. Why don't you take the bed and I'll sleep on the couch."
She sighed, "No Adam. You're right. I've known you were right the whole time."
He looked up, shocked, and followed her into his kitchen. She sat her purse down on the table and pulled out a file.
Adam stopped in his tracks when he saw her name written on the front.
She looked up at him with a look he couldn't quite decipher. "Look, you're right. I don't know what's going to happen if Martin finds me."
"Hey hey hey," he hushed her, "He's not gonna find you, we won't let him."
She shook her head, motioning him to sit across from her at the dining table. "I know. But in case, I need someone to know how he rolls. Voight doesn't even know what all went down."
"So you're telling me you want me to read this file?" He couldn't believe it.
"Yeah. I don't want to talk about it. I figured you could just read it." She said quietly.
He nodded, "Hailey, what am I even reading here? You don't have to go into detail but what even happened?"
She took a deep breath and went to the fridge to grab a beer, bringing him one too.
She sat back down and looked him in the eyes. Taking a deep breath, she started to speak, keeping her voice as emotionless as possible. "I was undercover in a sex trafficking ring run by Riggs. That was the year-long UC operation I'd told you about earlier." She paused, waiting for him to recall the conversation in the van.
She continued when he nodded, seeing him become visibly nervous. "Someone in his crew made me after six months, they took me hostage after that."
He looked at her for a long minute, not saying anything. "But… you said you were undercover for a year?" He was dreading the answer.
"I was gone for a year. It took the team six months to find me." She met his eyes again. He was horrified.
"Oh my god, Hailey."
"Look, like I said I don't want to talk about. It was two years ago. I've finally moved on from it. I just need someone to know exactly what happened." She said, trying her best to stay calm.
Adam took a breath and calmed himself. "Okay, I'll read the file. But I gotta ask, why me? Why don't you want Voight to read this, or your partner? They're with you at work more than I am."
She saw this question coming but she did not want to answer it. "There are some pictures in there.."
Adam thought he was going to be sick when she began speaking.
She continued, "I really don't want anyone to see them. But if someone has to.."
"Okay, I get it." He said somberly.
With that, she stood up abruptly. "I'm going to go get ready for bed, is it alright with you if I sleep in your bed? I can sleep on the couch if not."
Adam was thoroughly confused, they'd been sleeping together the whole week. "Of course you can sleep in my bed. Why would I want you on the couch?"
She let out a sarcastic chuckle, worrying him even more. "Let's see what you have to say about that after you're done with the file."
She turned around and walked into his bathroom. Adam sat at the kitchen table, baffled. What the fuck? This must be bad, really bad. Did she think this file was going to change his opinion of her?
He stood up and followed her to the bathroom. "Hey, come here."
His heart broke when she turned around and there were tears running down her cheeks. He wrapped her up in a hug. "I know this is scary for you-"
"No," she interrupted him, "I'm not scared. I just want this to be over."
"I'm not talking about Riggs escaping. I'm talking about the file." He said. He tilted her chin to look up at him. "Whatever the hell is in this file is not going to change my opinion of you at all. I'm honored you trust me to read it. Just don't worry about it and get comfy in bed. I'll come join when I'm done." He said.
"Okay" she nodded, feeling a bit better.
"Are you sure this is okay? You want me to read it?" He asked one more time just to be sure.
"Yes, thank you."
After giving her a kiss on the forehead, Adam walked back to the kitchen table. He grabbed another beer from the fridge knowing he'd likely need it to get through this file.
He had no idea.