Hailey shifted uncomfortably in her seat. She remembered why she hated flying: too many people cramped into one small space. She looked over at Jay, who was sleeping peacefully in the seat next to hers. Typical. He could make the best of any situation. Hailey could sometimes be a bit of a pessimist; she once told the team at Molly's it was because she was Greek, so they see tragedy in everything. She sighed, wishing she could be as cool, calm, and collected as her partner. Course, he had his moments too. But lately, they had gotten back to their normal, working relationship, but certain times, things felt, charged. Like there was an intense energy in the room, and their eyes were only for each other. Like with the Aiden case, or when they had one of their famous beer-laiden talks after Hailey ended things with Adam after arguing yet again over a case. In those moments, Hailey wasn't sure what the hell was going on. And now we're on a plane to Nevada together. Hailey smirked to herself. Go figure.
It wasn't like she planned this, it actually wasn't even her idea. It was Jay who had volunteered, and so Voight assumed the duo would go together. All they knew was that there needed to be two officers going under, and that they were going to have to go to Nevada to follow their target, Trevor Mills. Trevor and his girlfriend, Stacey were targeting other young couples in what appeared at first to be simple con artist schemes. That was until one couple ended up dead in Atlanta after a gambling night gone wrong. Trevor and Stacey were running, and what better place for con artists to run than to Vegas? Adam and Kevin were tracking their financials, and Trevor and Stacy bought two plane tickets one way to Las Vegas, Nevada yesterday morning. Their flight was scheduled to depart the next day, so Jay and Hailey were out on a flight too, so they could stakeout the airport to confirm their arrival.
Her thoughts were interrupted by the intercom. "Attention passengers, we are about 10 minutes out from the Vegas Nevada Airport. Please buckle up so we can begin our descend. And welcome to Nevada, we hope you enjoy your time here."
Hailey nudged Jay's shoulder, startling him slightly. "Hm, what?" His eyes were wide, and he looked around the plane quickly.
Hailey laughed. "Hey, just me. We gotta buckle up, we'll be there in 10." She watched as Jay ran a hand over his face, trying to wake himself up. "Sleep well?" She asked him, leaning in.
Jay's eyes flickered to hers. "Eh, sort of. Did you get any? 3 hours flew by...no pun intended."
Hailey shook her head. "Nah, I didn't. But I got some good reading in." She smirked, handing him his own UC file. Jay's brows rose in surprise, then a groan of frustration was heard from his mouth. "Ugh, no...not now. Hailey, can't you just, I don't know, fill me in later?"
Hailey looked at him like he had two heads. "Oh please, Halstead. Just give it a quick once over, will ya? We can go over it when we're at our hotel, okay?"
Jay grinned at her. He knew she only used his last name when she was trying to be mad at him, but it always came across as sassy attitude. And he never minded it, not one bit. He shook his head, but reluctantly took the file from her.
Before they knew it, they had landed at the Nevada airport. When they got off the plane, they quickly went to grab their suitcases. Once they had their luggage, they went over to the common waiting area by their gate. Jay made the call to Voight.
"Hey, we're here. Do you have their arrival info?"
"Yeah. Gate 1A, should be 5 mins."
"Got it, thanks." He hung up and turned to his partner. "Across the way" he said, craning his head towards the first gate. Hailey followed his eyeline, nodding when she understood.
They sat tight for a few minutes until they saw the first few passengers getting off. Hailey pulled up the mugshots from her phone and showed them to Jay. "Got it?" She asked. He nodded. "Got it."
They stood up, and shuffled towards the first gate. When they were a couple feet away from the arrival gate, they spotted their targets. Jay radioed it back to the team. "They're here. Both Trevor and Stacey." Trevor had on dark shades and a baseball cap, and Stacey was wearing a few thin layers of clothing with her hair in her face. So much for looking inconspicuous. They seemed to be in a hurry, pushing past people in the baggage claim, and practically running out the door to the taxi service. Jay and Hailey quickly grabbed their rental car and moved out, tailing them until a truck cut them off and they lost them on the highway.
"Dammit!" Jay yelled, banging his hands against the wheel in frustration.
Hailey fixed her eyes on him, before calmly stating, "Hey, we have their phones tracked, remember? We'll get a location once they stop."
Jay sighed, still seething. "I know, I know, this is just not how I wanted our first day out here to go."
Hailey touched his shoulder. "I know." She quickly turned around and reached down into the side pocket of her seat. She grinned as she pulled out the files for Jay to look at.
He rolled his eyes. "Oh come on, Hailey. Really? Now?"
She chuckled. "Yeah, now. We're pulled off here, and we still have to get back to the hotel. Besides, if I take the wheel, then you have no excuse. Because unlike you, I actually read my file."
He rolled his eyes, but begrudgingly agreed. They switched seats, Hailey driving the rest of the way back to their hotel, and Jay ever so often reviewing the information in their files.
"So.." he said, looking over at her. "Where'd we meet?"
"Ummm..." Hailey said, turning a corner onto the main road. "We met at a bar, and you asked me out on a dare, but then we hit it off."
Jay nodded, flipping the page. "And what are we doing now?"
"Happily married for 2 years. No kids now, still settling into our careers, right? You're a...oh God, what the hell job did they give you again? I know I'm a middle school teacher in Chitown Heights, but what in the world is..." She peeked over at his file at the stoplight. "Jake Harris doing?"
Jay grinned. "Oh come on, Heather, you should know this!" Hailey swatted his arm from her side. That only made him laugh more. She groaned. "Okay, fine, just tell me."
"I'm a branch manager at Linden Credit, for the Chicago division."
"Oh okay, like you're real special..." she said, jokingly. "I bet you're real proud of yourself, aren't you?" She said, quickly glancing at him before switching lanes to get off at their exit. "The hotel's just down here."
Jay fired off a couple more questions at her while she finished the drive over. He popped the question after 2 years together. So 4 years of bliss, or whatever married people are supposed to say. They have a dog named Sonic, and they just bought their first home together. They're in Vegas for a credit convention, plus they needed to 'let loose' since they've both been working so hard lately.
"Okay, okay, y'know, you were right. Let's just put these files away for now, yeah?" Hailey said, not even trying to hide the desperation in her voice. She was so over talking about their fake married life. Each time another factoid was told, her heart ached a little bit. It was too tricky, dealing with a fake relationship when her real one had just ended. It'd only been a month since her and Adam were over, but it didn't make sorting out these new, weird feelings swirling around for her partner any easier. She had finally admitted it to herself after Jay had left her place the night after she had ended it with Adam. He had talked her down, she was all over the place. She was just so frustrated by his (Adam's) lack of trust in her...he kept circling around to 'her questioning his loyalties' when really she just wanted him to remember he had to worry about himself too. She couldn't be a part of his life if all he cared about was the team or the job. Because then that meant that he no longer cared about her. And she needed someone that cared just as much as she did, about everything. And so when Jay managed to say exactly what she was thinking that night, it clicked. He was that person for her. And she was pretty sure he'd always been; she had just been too blind to see it.
"Yoohoo, Hailey? You wanna head inside now?" Jay asked, waving a hand in front of her face. She snapped out of it. "Hm? Oh yes, sorry. Let's go."
They grabbed their minimal luggage and made their way inside. They were staying at the Bellagio on the famous Vegas strip. "Damn, they really went all out this time." Jay said, taking in their new digs for the next few days.
Hailey's wide-eyed expression mirrored his statement. He checked them in and they made their way upstairs to their suite. She was in a daze the whole way up; even the windowed elevator was amazing. They could see out to the private casino, the restaurant, the whole strip was their backdrop. It was insane. When they opened the door up to their room, her jaw dropped. "Oh my God, the freaking lounge space is bigger than like, my entire apartment!"
Jay laughed, grabbing their bags and setting them inside by the door. "Yeah, it really is awesome. I'm gonna check out the balcony, you wanna come too or...?" When he turned around to look for Hailey, she had disappeared from sight. His brow furrowed in confusion, until he heard another exclamation.
"Would you LOOK at this?!" Hailey said, arms opened up in their master bathroom. We each have a shower, and our own sinks! And oh my God, that tub has jets. Jay...jets."
"Okay, I'm gonna give you a moment." Jay said, starting to walk away, but Hailey pulled him back in after she heard him laugh.
"Psh, whatever man. My shower's hot water only works like half the time, so this is insane to me."
Jay nodded, trying very hard not to picture his partner in that very scenario right now. He knew things had been different between them lately. He saw it with the case with Aiden, and he finally knew it after their talk at Hailey's place after she had ended things with Adam. When Jay was telling her how good of a cop she was and how Adam not trusting her anymore was the craziest thing he'd ever heard, she took his hand and hugged him, tearing up a little during her "Thank You" to him. And he knew right then that he never wanted that moment to end. He always wanted to be the person that would cheer her up, and cheer her on; not drag her down or hurt her in any way. He just couldn't completely tell if she was feeling the same way he was. So when he volunteered for the undercover assignment, he had crossed his fingers that Hailey would be his other half in the operation. Thank god luck was on his side that day, because now here they were.
"Jay...yo, Halstead! Come here, you haven't even seen the master bedroom yet!" Hailey yelled from the hall. Jay bounded across the bathroom and made his way down the tiny corridor into their luxe bedroom. Four poster bed, chaise lounger, double nightstands, two chairs, a full length mirror, and a freaking chandelier hanging from the ceiling.
"Holy shit." He said, in awe of the space. The red walls were dark, yet inviting, the velvet curtains and plush carpet made it that much more five-star. Everything was draped in gold, or at the very least, accented with it, in true Vegas fashion, Jay assumed.
"See, told ya." Hailey said, coming up to stand beside him. "So, what's on our agenda first?" She asked, turning to grab her suitcase from the living area. Jay followed her out, filling her in on the night's plan. They were to get changed, and go scope out the private casino first. Intelligence had chosen this specific hotel because they knew the casino was a popular spot for young couples to go and gamble. They also knew that Trevor and Stacey had hit it up every time they had been by.
"So, do you have our gear?" She asked him, pulling out a change of clothes for the stakeout.
Jay gave her a thumbs up, grabbing their survelliance equipment from his suitcase. They both got changed and headed downstairs to the casino for night one of their operation.