Hailey slowly opened her eyes, attempting to take in her surroundings. She was about to move to get up when a nurse stopped her.
"Oh no sweetie, don't move now. You've got to rest still."
She sighed, laying back against her pillow. When she squinted, her left eye hurt, as did her head on that side. She winced, and the nurse must have noticed her change in expression.
"Now you just relax, okay? Your friends have been eagerly waiting to see you."
Hailey's brows furrowed. Friends? She didn't have friends. She had coworkers. The nurse must have meant the team. At least that's who she hoped she meant, because that meant they could fill in the huge gaps left in her memory. The last thing she remembered was the knife to her throat. She shook her head, not wanting to think about her near brush with death again.
A figure behind the door caught her attention. Her sergeant walked in. "Hey. Just wanted to see how you were doing." He moved over to the side to let Antonio, Adam, Kim, and Kevin through.
"Hey Hails."
"Thank god you're alright."
"We were all so worried!"
"Any word from the doctor?"
She took in Adam, Kevin, Kim, and Antonio's words one by one, soaking in the comfort from her team. She hadn't seen her life go by like that since her cabin kidnapping with Kim a while ago. This was way more intense, but that was partly because of the one person that wasn't there.
She craned her head, looking around her team. "Where's Jay?"
She watched the 5 of them look around at each other. Hank spoke first.
"He's outside. He didn't know if you would be up for seeing him."
Hailey's expression softened. "Yes of course I want to see him. He's my partner. I need to talk to him."
Hank nodded, and motioned for Jay to come in.
Hailey felt a wave of relief wash over her when she saw her partner's face. She honestly didn't know if she'd see him again. She couldn't remember anything after that moment when Andre had that knife to her throat.
"Could you guys give us a minute?" Hailey asked. Jay shuffled around, still not looking at her. The rest of the team nodded and vacated the room, leaving just her and Jay.
"Jay?" She tried, softly. "Jay, please. Please look at me."
When he finally did look up her, she noticed the redness around his eyes. Had he been crying? She didn't want to ask, but before she could even utter another word, he spoke.
"Hailey, how can I? How can I look at you and talk to you like everything's okay? Do you even remember the last time I looked at you was?"
Hailey could feel her eyes get teary. "Jay, I...I don't remember anything after Andre held me hostage. That's part of the reason I wanted to talk to you. You...you were the one that was closest to this. What else happened last night? Please, help me to remember."
Jay's eyes were locked on hers now, as if he was memorizing her. When he finally broke the stare to grab a chair, she felt the heat go with it. Like there was a new intensity between them. She knew that already though. She had just forgotten what that looked like from his eyes.
He put the chair up next to her bed and sat down. He ran a hand over the back of his neck and over his face. "You sure about this?"
Hailey instinctively reached for his hand, grabbing half of it from her bed. "Yes." She watched as he took the rest of her hand in his own and gave it a reassuring squeeze.
"Alright, here it goes."