Jay walked up the stairs to his apartment with a smile on his face. Intelligence had successfully pulled off a bust on a major dealer on the west side of Chicago. All the team had gone to Molly's afterwards to celebrate the bust and Jay couldn't remember the last time he'd had such a good day. However, after being on his feet for over 12 hours, he couldn't wait to just relax on the couch and have a couple of beers. As he was unlocking the door to his apartment, he heard multiple bangs, followed by a scream. He knew the bangs weren't gunshots but his instincts told him something was wrong so with one hand resting on the gun in its holster, Jay headed upstairs to investigate.

With one hand on his gun, Jay carefully made his way towards the noise. A few more bangs sounded and Jay wondered why the hell he was the only one who was curious as to what was going on. Rounding a corner, Jay caught sight of an apartment a few meters away with the door partially open. He knocked twice, waiting for an answer. "Hello?" he said.

He heard a clatter that sounded like metal falling and, taking his gun out of its holster, went inside. Jay rushed in, scanning the room with his gun held out in front of him. He noticed a few boxes lying on top of a ladder that had fallen and was balanced at an awkward angle.

"Hello?" he repeated, looking around.

Jay heard a faint rustling sound and a quiet mumble. He made his way over to the fallen ladder and sighted a foot sticking out from underneath one of the boxes. Lifting a few out of the way, he uncovered more body parts until he could see the face of a girl probably a similar age to him.

She looked up, squinting slightly at Jay. "Oh thank god, I thought I was gonna be tuck like this." She said, "Please can you help me?"

Jay got to work, lifting all the fallen objects off the brown haired girl. After she was free, he helped her to her feet and sat her down on a chair that was nearby. "Are you okay?" he asked, checking her over. She nodded at him, "can you tell me your name?" he asked, remembering what Will would do if someone had taken a fall.

"Anna," the girl answered "Anna Carter. Are you a doctor?" she asked, still seeming slightly confused. Jay chuckled and shook his head, continuing to examine Anna in silence.

Content she had no injuries other than a couple of bruises; Jay stood up and started to leave. "Wait!" called Anna, causing Jay to stop in his tracks. "At least let me offer you a beer for saving me."

Jay turned to her and nodded, "sure" he agrees. As he turned, he got his first proper look at Anna. She was quite small; possibly no more than 5'2" and she had dark hair that curled just past her shoulders. Her eyes could only be described as mesmerising, one was green and one was brown. Jay found himself unintentionally staring at her, finding it hard to look away.

"Oh my gosh, he talks!" exclaimed Anna, feigning shock and making Jay smile. She handed him a cold beer which he gladly took. "Well you already know my name. Do you have a name a well or do I just call you hero guy?"

Jay took a sip of his beer before replying, "I'm Jay but hero guy works too." Both adults smiled. "Anyway, you wanna tell me how you ended up with a ladder on top of you?" asked Jay.

Anna blushed, "I wanted to put something on a high shelf and due to my lacking in height, I needed a ladder. After getting said ladder, I climbed up and fell." She sheepishly looked down at her feet, "man, I really with that story was cooler."

"And the boxes…?"

"I'm moving in, just got here today actually."

Lifting up his beer, Jay said "well cheers to your first day then!" Their bottles chimed together and they carried on drinking in comfortable silence.

After a while, Jay placed this now empty beer bottle down on Anna's kitchen counter and stood up. "So?" he said, "Any other things that need to be put on high shelves?"

An hour or so later, there were only a couple of boxes remaining on the floor of Anna's apartment, most having been put away by Jay. The detective went to move the final two boxes but was stopped by Anna. "No," she said "you've done too much already; I can move the last ones." She brought out a few photo frames from one box which she placed carefully in various places around the room. She then proceeded to walk into what Jay assumed to be her bedroom to put away the remaining contents.

Jay bent down and took a look at one of the photos. It looked to be fairly recent; surely no more than two or three years old. Anna was easily seen, being the middle person of three in the photograph. There was a boy and a girl on either side of her which Jay assumed to be Anna's siblings or cousins. However, one thing about the photo bothered Jay immensely; the Anna in this photo and the one he had spent the evening with seemed completely different. Sure they looked the same but the Anna in the picture had brighter eyes and seemed happier than the real thing.

Anna re-entered the room to see Jay looking thoughtfully at her picture. She didn't mind all that much… until she caught sight of the metal weapon covered partially by Jay's coat. Acting fast, she opened her safe and pulled out her own gun. "Why do you have a gun?" she asked frantically, pointing her silver piece at Jay.

Sensing the dangerous turn in Anna's mood and sighting the weapon in her grip, Jay held his hands up and stated calmly "Anna, just calm down, I'm a cop. Okay?"

"Prove it." Keeping one hand where the young woman could see it, he carefully pulled his coat back, put his gun on the counter and showed her his badge. "Detective Halstead, Intelligence Unit." He told her. "See, I'm legit."

Anna held out her hand for the badge and which Jay hesitantly put into her hand. The brown haired girl inspected it for a couple of minutes before nodding and handing Jay back his badge, aiming her gun away from him in the process. "Sorry about that, I don't like people with guns." She explained.

"Yet you have one of your own…" He countered, grabbing his own gun and returning it to the holster on his right side.

Anna turned away to lock her gun back in her safe and said to Jay "it's for protection.

Jay nodded, still not understanding but deciding not to push the matter any further. "Well, you've got a cop living below you. I'm pretty sure that counts as double protection." Jay said in an attempt to lighten the mood. It seemed to have worked as Anna smiled and replied "suppose so."

Sensing the slightly awkward atmosphere, Jay started to make his way to the door which was still slightly ajar from when he had entered earlier. "Goodnight Anna thanks for the beer." He said, turning to walk out.

"Night Jay," she called as he left "don't be a stranger." Jay chuckled and disappeared from Anna's view down the stairs. Although his night hadn't gone as planned, Jay was happy with how the night turned out. He was in the best mood he'd been in for a while and slept with a smile on his face.