Summary
Ruzek goes poking around in Jay's and Mouse's Military days, making times harder on Jay and Mouse to keep their secret.
Jay and Mouse lie to Sergeant Hank Voight, so they could go to a hospital appointments. Meanwhile Jay and Mouse both give each other dating advise.
"Have you ever been skydiving?"
"Hey Jay." Detective Adam Ruzek spoke as he walked over to him, they were standing next to the coffee maker by the counter top in the break room.
"Uhuh?" Detective Jay Halstead asked, looking over at him.
"Have you ever been skydiving before?" Adam asked him, with a dumb smile on his face.
Jay raised his eye brow. "I've jumped out of a plane before, yes." he was confused by the odd question, but it was Ruzek so he wasn't that surprised.
"Oh sweet, I've always wanted too. Where did you go?" Adam asked, as he poured some coffee in his cup.
"Afghanistan." Jay said bluntly with his perfect grin.
"Oh.."
"Still want to go?" Jay smiled, darkness filled his eyes for a long second.
"Not on the one you went one." Adam smiled awkwardly. "You ever get worried about getting called back?"
Jay was taken off by surprised this time, which made him cough, no one knew about what happened overseas, only Jay and Mouse, Will knew a little about it but not all of what happened down there.
"Why don't you go skydiving with Burgess?" Jay smirked, trying to change the subject from the military. "You both seem to be getting friendly towards each other."
Adam knew Jay was trying to change the subject. "What Kim, pffh nah man.."
"Dude, you always text with her and you just said. "Kim." I would say that's pretty friendly." Jay smiled.
"That's her name." Adam defended himself.
Jay laughed.
"You didn't my question, are you worried about getting called back to the Military?" Adam pushed for more information, not really thinking about what it would bring back up for Jay.
"Look, I don't want to talk about it, but no I can't be called back." Jay mumbled, turning away from Adam and walked away.
Adam felt bad, he didn't really think about everything Jay must of went through overseas. But he couldn't stop thinking, why he couldn't get called back.
"Jay.. I'm sorry." Adam said, walking after him.
"It's fine." Jay said. "I'm just not good with talking about it."
"It's fine, I totally understand..." Adam tried to understand but he couldn't, he had no idea what Jay saw over there.
"No you wouldn't." Jay said, patted Adam's shoulder then walked away.
Adam just stood there, he wanted to know more, he didn't really know why he wanted to know about Jay's military situation.. But he did. He thought maybe Jay told Erin. "I mean their partners, partners tell each other stuff like that.." He thought to himself, he walked over to Erin, she was sitting at her desk.
"Hey Erin, you got a minute?"
"Uh, yea sure." She nodded, looking up at him. "What's up?"
"Do you know why Jay can't be called back to the military?" He asked. "I was just talking to him, but he hadn't said but about it."
"Wait Adam, what are you talking about?" Erin asked, turning to him.
"Jay, I asked if he ever worries about getting called back to the Ranger's, he said he didn't like talking about it but he had said he couldn't get called back. I just wondered if you knew anything about it." Adam said quietly.
"Normally that would mean an injury.." Erin said, standing up from her desk. "He is fine though.."
"Don't say I told you, I thought you'd know.." Adam nodded and walked away from her desk. He remembered Mouse was in the same unit as Jay was in the Rangers. He went down to Mouse's tech station, and lightly knocked on the door. "Hey Mouse."
"Y-Yea?" Mouse spun around in his chair to look at him.
"You and Jay were in the same unit in the Rangers, right?" He asked.
"Y-Yes." Mouse looked at him confused, not sure what Adam was getting at.
"Do you know why Jay can't be called back?" Adam asked awkwardly. "I was just talking to him.."
"Uh.." Mouse awkwardly said. "Have you asked him?"
"He didn't want to talk about it."
"I-I-If he wants to talk about what you are talking about." Mouse spoke.
"You know what happened?" Adam asked.
"I lived it with him." Mouse mumbled.
Adam was so confused at this point. "Wait, you can't get called back either?" Adam asked. Mouse didn't know how to reply to that, sadness and terror filled his eyes. "I keep doing that, sorry.."
"I-I-It's just difficult to talk about.." Mouse spoke roughly. "I-I, don't sweat it man."
"I will just wait, I guess if he wants us all to know, then he would of told us." Adam spoke. "Sorry if I brought up bad times.."
"It's fine."
Adam had just realized his studded may of had something to do with it. He was kind of worried about his friends. "See you later man."
"See ya." Mouse called back, turning back to his computer screens to watch the street lights.
Adam went back to his desk, he was kind of worried about Jay and Mouse, he looked over at Antonio's desk. "Yo Antonio." He called from his desk.
"Yea?" He called back looking up at Adam.
"D-Do you know why Jay and Mouse can't be called back to Rangers?" he asked, he didn't think about how Jay and Mouse would feel about everyone talking about him behind his back, if only he would have thought of that before..
"What are you talking about Ruzek?" Antonio asked, dropping his pen and turned his chair towards Adam.
"We were talking.." Adam explained it all to Antonio, after he went over to his desk.
"Shouldn't you be talking to Jay about this?" Antonio asked."Though I wonder what happened, this is the first time I heard about this."
"Erin said normally that it's because of injury but neither of them are injured." Adam said. "Plus Jay didn't want to talk about it, Nor did Mouse. I just thought because you were the one that brought him into the unit, you might now."
"Nah, he'll talk when he is ready to talk." Antonio said. "Don't say anything to Voight, he may not know of this and that is probably good, what ever it is can't be good."
Adam was kind of surprised he hadn't thought Voight finding out about it. Even if it was just an injury, still not good if Voight didn't think it was okay.. "Yea, yea." he nodded, though he knew Antonio wasn't fully listening, he was thinking about it all.
"I won't, can you tell Erin when you see her not to say anything?" Adam asked. He didn't really want to talk to her about Jay again, it was awkward.
"Yea, no problem." Antonio nodded, he went back to his paper work.
"Thanks bro." Adam said, he walked back to his own desk, and sat down in his chair, picked up a pen and started playing with it in his fingers.
"What's going on with you?" Alvin asked, walking up to his desk.
Adam turned around to face him. "Just something Jay said."
Alvin raised his eye brows and nodded. "And what would that be?"
Adam told him, once again didn't think Alvin would go straight to Voight afterwards.
"Halstead and Mouse?" Voight said, he sat back in his chair..
"What do I do?"
"Don't do anything. There is nothing in their files, so I wouldn't do anything unless they started to show signs of some sort, then talk to them, but until then I wouldn't bring anything up." Alvin said.
"Erin know anything?" Voight asked.
"No, Adam was pretty much talked to everyone."
"So this is something he doesn't even want Erin to know, so it's either bad or worse." Voight said. "We will talk later. I won't do anything yet."
Alvin nodded. "Alright." he stood up and walked out of Voight's office.
"You still get the pain?"
Jay looked at him. "What about, what did you even say?" he had a nervous smile on his face.
"Nothing like what you are thinking." Mouse smiled. "He was asking about our Military experience. He said you told him you couldn't get called back."
Darkness filled in both of their eyes as memory came flooding back.
"You-You didn't say anything, did you?" Jay asked.
"I sort of played dumb, B-But he knows I know and lived what ever it was too.." Mouse said.
"You doing o-okay?" Jay asked, looking over at him after he took a small sip of his beer. "I know we haven't talked about any of it for a while."
"I-I guess I'm doing okay, I s-still wake up in pain screaming whilst choking.. Nothing new." Mouse looked down at his hands. "Nightmares aren't going away anytime soon either."
"I do too.." Jay nodded, looking over at him. He wished Mouse hadn't had to gone through all of that stuff.
"Are you going to tell them all?" Mouse asked, finally looking up after a long moment of silence. "I'm not going to say anything. If you don't want them to know what had happened down there."
"I don't want them all looking and treating me all different. I don't want to even speak about it.."
"I understand." Mouse nodded, taking a drink of his beer. "Have you told anyone though?"
"No, have you?" Jay said.
"U-umm." Mouse looked away from Jay, he felt the stare from him. "I tried once but, I-I panicked and ran out.."
"Who?" Jay asked sadly.
"Doesn't matter.." Mouse mumbled, he wanted to change the subject, he didn't want to think about any of it..
"Mouse.."
"It doesn't." Mouse growled a little. It hurt him to think of the person he tried to tell. " I guess JellyBean is the only one that knows."
Jay smiled. "How she doin?"
"She's doing good, her leg is still bad, bu the vet said she is healthy." Mouse grinned.
"I still can not believe that dog." Jay shook his head.
"I know."
"C-." Jay started to ask but something stopped him, Mouse turned to him.
"Yeah?"
"Could you maybe bring her down to the station sometime, or is that dumb?"
"Sure, not a problem." Mouse smiled at his buddy. "Hey Jay.."
"Yea?"
"D-do..."
"Mouse?" Jay looked up at him, he placed his beer down to pay fully attention to what Mouse was going to say.
"You um, you still have the pain?"
"Yes." Jay said, he nodded. "I know you do too.."
"How?"
"I saw you having an attack the other day in the locker room..." Jay said softly, he knew those attacks were extremely painful, Jay didn't have them very often but every once in a long while he does.
"O-oh." Mouse sighed. "I tried to hide once it started."
"You okay now?" Jay asked.
"Yeah.." Mouse nodded. "How do you hide you stutter so well?"
"A lot of practice." Jay grinned. "I sometimes slip but I've gotten the hang of it."
"Does anyone else know?"
"You are the only one Mouse." Jay chuckled a little.
"I feel so special." Mouse smiled.
"You'd know even if you weren't there next to me. I would've told you."
"Yeah.." Mouse nodded slowly. "Yea, you too."
"I'm glad you are here. It's nice to have someone that fully knows me.. It's just good to have you here man." Jay said, taking a drink of his beer.
"Thank you for hooking me up with this gig.."
"Hey Jay.." Burgess walked in after knocking on the door frame before entering. Jay turned around to face her. "Could you help me out with a thing?" she was playing with her fingers.
"If this is about Adam.." Jay smiled.
"No..My friend is in some deep shit, I would go by myself.."
"Say no more. I'll grab my stuff." Jay said, getting up and walking over to her. "Mind if he comes?"
"Can he handle.."
"He has military training. He can hold his own."
"Yea sure, I don't mind."
"Mouse, come on."
Mouse jumped up and followed Jay out and over to the lockers, Jay thought for a long second before he handed Mouse a gun. "What? Dude, you would get fired if I had to use this." he handed the gun back to Jay. "I don't need a gun."
"Okay." Jay nodded and put it back in the locker then locked it. "Let's go."
They went over to Kim. "My car is just around the corner." Kim spoke softly.
"Okay, let's go." Jay nodded, following her out. They ran outside and jumped in Kim's jar, Kim and Jay were up front and Mouse sat in the middle back seat. "Where is your friend?"
"Down South." Kim mumbled as she drove down the street.
"Why do you think she is in trouble?"
"She's been in a bad relationship. He is always drunk and he talks with his fists, she told me to call 911, I did but they don't have anyone near the area." Kim told them both. "She called me, crying. I heard her scream before the phone hung up."
"Okay. We will get her out." Jay nodded.
"Thanks guys."
Jay looked at Mouse through one of the mirrors, he raised his eyebrows at him. Jay rolled his eyes and shock his head.
"How's Ruzek?" Jay asked with a grin.
"W-Why would you ask me.." Kim mumbled. "What do you mean?"
"Yea, right."
"And how's Lindsay." Kim said back after a minute. Mouse looked at him in the mirror.
"What about E..Lindsay?" Jay tried to play it off the best he could but he seemed to make it worse.
"Wait, your partner?" Mouse was confused. "That's who you were talking about when you said you were for a minute?"
Kim's mouth dropped open. "Wait, Spill."
Jay covered his face with his hand. "Thanks Mousey. Burgess, you can't tell anyone, we broke it off a while ago."
"I can't believe you do undercover work." Kim laughed.
Jay had the sharp pain in his neck, near his shoulder, he grabbed the back of his neck. He was already in a lot of pain.
"Jay?" Mouse said, he saw him.
"You okay?" Kim asked him.
"I'm fine." Jay said, he still was in a lot of pain. Mouse knew why though.
"We are almost there." Kim spoke.
"Jay." Mouse saw that he sat forward, holding onto his neck more. "Just breathe." he knew it would have to pass on it's own, It just needed a little time.
"I'm fine." Jay repeated himself.
"Jay.." Kim said. "What's wrong?" she was trying to keep her eyes on the road but also keep an eye on him as well.
"Don't worry, I'm f-fine."
Kim parked onto a side street in front of the house. "Let's go." Jay said as he jumped out of the car, Mouse followed quickly after him.
Kim got out and ran over to them. "Are you okay?"
Jay moved his neck around and nodded. "I'm fine, let's go."
Kim lead the way up to the house and knocked on the door. A guy opened the door with a vodka bottle in his hand. "What do you want?"
"Is Kelly here?" Kim asked.
"What do you want with Kelly?"
Jay saw blood on the guy's pants, he pointed it out to Mouse quietly with a hand sign. "Hey man, we just want to say hi to our sister."
"Your sister ay?"
"Yeah man." Jay nodded. "She here?"
"Yea sure, come on in."
Jay saw that he whispered something to someone,he quickly told Mouse about it but wasn't able to tell Kim. Jay went inside first, Mouse was able to tell Kim before they entered behind Jay.
Three people grabbed them all when they entered the house...
"Why should I trust you, you could be cops."
Jay and Mouse were on the same page of how to go about this. Jay hoped that Kim would follow their lead.
"Hey man, we just wanted to see Kelly for a second or two. It's no big deal." Jay said to the guy that held him. "I did lie though, I'm Kelly's brother, and they two are brother and sister." Jay said pointing at Mouse and Kim."I thought that might
be too much to explain at the door."
"How do you know where we live?" The guy asked, holding a knife to Jay's throat.
"Dude, you can pretty much find anyone on the internet."
"So let me get this straight, you are Kelly's brother, and you two are brother and sister." The man said pointing at everyone as he went.
"Yes." Jay nodded, awkwardly with the knife to his throat. "Come on man, I haven't gotten to see my sister in forever."
"It's funny, because I don't believe you. Kell's never talked about a brother before."
"Why else would we be here?" Jay asked.
"Why should I trust you, you could be cops."
Jay tried to laugh the best he could. "Come on man, do we look like cops?"
The man didn't reply.
"Do we?"
"Shut up." The man said. "Why hasn't Kelly said anything about you before then?"
"Cause he's a dick." Mouse said, looking at Jay, he also had a knife to his neck.
"Shane, what the hell." Jay understand what he was trying to do, well he thought he did, his friend could just be calling him a dick for fun.
"Ty, You haven't been the nicest brother to her." Mouse said.
"You shut up Shane." Jay shouted.
"You never were nice to ner." Mouse shouted back at him. "You never treated her good."
"What's going on?" Kelly slowly limped out into the room, she was bloody and bruised.
"Sis!" Jay spoke with a smile. He sent Mouse a quick sigh. Him and Mouse both took down the two guys that held them, Mouse quickly went over and helped Kim, but she was doing just fine on her own. Jay went after the main guy, and took him down and handcuffed him. "You are all under arrest."
Kim quickly made her way over to Kelly. Jay called for back o to arrest the gentlemen.
"We still work well together." Mouse said, walking over to him with a grin on his face.
"Y-Yeah we do." Jay said, couldn't help that stutter.
"I miss this." Mouse said, scratched his neck. Jay started to worry that Mouse was starting to get an attack.
"You good?"
"What? Yeah, no I'm good." Mouse removed his hand from his neck.
The cops came got took the four guys to lock up. Meanwhile Jay helped Kelly into the car. "Hey Kim, ride back there with her, she needs you right now, I can drive."
"Thanks Jay, and you too Mouse. I couldn't have done this without you both." Kim said, getting into the back of her car with Kelly. Jay went over and got into the drivers seat, and Mouse jumped into he passenger's seat.
"Let's get her to a hospital." Jay spoke as he drove off away from the house.
"So Lindsay.." Mouse started with a smirk.
"N-nope." Jay stuttered again.
"Oh come one." Mouse chuckled.
"Kim." Jay looked back at the through the mirror. "She okay?"
"Yea, she's just tried." Kim said, she was holding onto Kelly, her head was leaning against Kim's shoulder.
"We are almost there." Jay said.
"You guys work well together. You both were like on the same page the whole time, Mouse how come you didn't join the CPD with Jay?" Kim asked.
"I-I." Mouse couldn't seem to get a word to form.
"Mouse went undercover with me a couple times, he got called for some tech unit." Jay tried to help his buddy out, he knew Mouse had been through a lot, as well as Jay.
"Oh, have you thought about joining now?" Kim asked Mouse.
"I'm happy with the new job I have now." Mouse smiled, it was true but it wasn't the full reason.
Kim nodded, but she didn't say anything. Jay pulled into the hospital's parking lot, him and Mouse got out and helped Kim get Kelly out of the car and walked them in. Kim went up to the front desk to check Kelly in. Mouse and Jay helped Kelly sit down in one of the chairs, her leg was pretty banged up..
"Thank you guy for not letting Kim go alone." Kelly smiled, her voice was soft and shy.
"Kim would've been fine, she would have kicked ass but there's no way I'd let her go alone." Jay said, with his beautiful smile.
"Are you Adam Ruzek? She talks about you alot." Kelly grinned.
"Does she know, but no I'm not Ruzek." Jay smirked, looking back at Burgess. "I'm Jay and this is Mouse."
"Well thank you, I really owe you both one."
"Don't mention it." Jay said, he placed his hand on her shoulder for a second before walking over to Kim with Mouse at his side. "Hey, you okay?" he asked Kim.
"Yea, Yea." Kim had a little tear in the corner of her eyes.
"Kim.."
"Yea, I'm sorry." She wiped the tears away.
"What's wrong?" Kelly asked from her chair, looking at Kim with worry.
"Nothing, I was just super worried about you." Kim said, walking over to her.
"I'm okay now." Kelly smiled. "Thanks to you."
"You guys can take my car back." Kim said.
Jay and Mouse looked at each other for a short second. 'We'll stay."
"Thanks." Kim said.
"You'll have to tell me more about Erin." Mouse said to Jay as they sat down.
"I have to call my Sergeant Platt, tell her where we are." Kim said to Kelly.
"Hey, I can just call Voight." Jay said, trying to avoid what Mouse had said. Plus he had to talk to Voight anyways abut Mouse and him taking a day off.
"If you want too." Kim nodded.
Jay got up and pulled his phone out of his pocket and dialed Voight's office phone number. "Voight."
"Sarge, it's Halstead."
"Halstead, aren't you here?" Voight asked.
"No, Mouse and I went with Burgess to help out her friend that was in trouble and there wasn't anyone else so we just went, we are at the hospital right now."
"Is everyone alright?"
"Yes, Burgess's friend's leg is pretty banged up. She will be okay though."
"Next time talk to me." Voight said with a sigh.
"Yes sir."
"Is that it?" Voight asked.
"Um, no." Jay said. "Would if be possible is Mouse and I took the day off tomorrow?"
"Why?"
Jay couldn't tell him the truth. "Our friend has passed." he panicked, he didn't really want to lie, but he didn't want them all to know the truth.
"I'm sorry to hear, yes you can. just make it up the next day." Voight said.
"Yes of course." Jay said.
"I'll send Al to pick you up." Voight said.
"Okay." Jay said, then hung up the call. "We are good to go." he went over to Mouse.
"For what?" Kim asked, confused.
"Out friend passed going to go see his family tomorrow." Jay said, looking at Mouse as he spoke.
"Oh, I'm, I'm sorry." Kim said.
"Thanks." Jay smiled. "It's okay."
"Alvin is coming to pick us up, we need to get back to work, if that's okay?" Jay said.
"Yeah, that's fine." Kim nodded. "Thanks again you guys."
Jay and Mouse nodded as they walked down the hospital's hall and towards the doors. "We got to get out story straight man." Mouse sad.
"Our friend passed, we are going to say our goodbyes." Jay said.
"What if they find out?" Mouse asked.
"I'll tell them the truth then." Jay said. "Who's the friend?"
"James?" Mouse asked, James was a good army buddy that didn't make it sadly.
"Yea, okay.." Jay nodded slowly.
"Do you think they will fire us if they find out we lied?" Mouse asked.
"I don't that would happen, I think they'd understand." Jay said.
"Understand what?" Alvin asked, walking up towards them..
Mouse and Jay looked at each other with panic...
"Could have one thing for a minute and the next it be gone.."
"Voight didn't tell you?" Jay asked, turning around to look at him. Calmy.
"Tell me what?" Alvin asked, confused.
"One of our army buddies just passed away, we are going to see his family tomorrow." Mouse spoke sadly.
"Oh, damn.." Alvin nodded slowly. "I'm sorry to hear.."
Jay and Mouse looked down at the ground sadly, remembering their old buddy.
"Come on, lets go." Alvin spoke softly.
"Yea.." Jay said, him and Mouse followed Alvin out of the hospital doors.
"Jay." Mouse said, he was trying to work on his stutter.
"Yeah?" Jay asked, looking over at him, he looked like he was in a lot of pain again.
"Are you alright?" Mouse whispered, standing next to him, trying to help him somehow.
Jay fell to the ground, he had his hand around his neck, pain filled his eyes, he gasped for air. Mouse and Al where at his side.
"Jay?" Al asked, confused and worried.
"I'm fine." Jay tried to say.
"J-J-Jay." Mouse didn't know what to do, he knew it would pass, Mouse knew it for himself, it was very painful like on the scale it would be a 7 maybe an 8.
"Jay." Al kept mumbled. "Mouse go get some help."
Mouse shook his head.
Jay gasped out. "I'm fine, don't."
"Mouse go get help." Al repeated.
Mouse shook his head again.
"I'm fine." Jay could talk a little better now, and his breathing was stable. He slowly got up off the ground. "I'm okay."
"Jay, what the hell what that?" Al asked helping him up off the ground, and looked over at Mouse. "And why didn't you get help?"
"Al." Jay started.
"Are you okay?"
"I'm okay, really." Jay nodded and patted Mouse's back.
"Jay, that wasn't just nothing." Alvin said, he had worry stuck on his face.
"My shoulder went out of order for a second." Jay said, looking at him. 'Really, I am fine."
Mouse just stood there looking at Jay and trying to avoid eye contact with Alvin.
Al just stood there, he thought about the conversation he had with Voight, he was beyond worried now.
"He's okay." Mouse said, trying to help.
Al looked at him with a raised eyebrow. "Really? How would you know?" Al asked, trying not to be rude but he was just confused.
"We, We were fighting, see who was the best still, you know?" Mouse said. "I-I won.."
"I told you not to tell anyone Mouse." Jay tried to pretend to look embarrassed.
"Someone that can take down Halstead. So glad to know you." Alvin grinned. "Okay, I believe you, lets go, if you are still "Good." that is." he was able to breathe a little better now, he thought it had been something to do with them not being able to get called back. He was kind of surprised that Mouse took down Jay but kind of glad. "Mouse, drinks are on me tonight."
"W-Why?"
"There's only been a few people to take down Jay."
Jay rolled his eyes. 'Do you have a crush on me now?" he laughed.
"Okay yea, you are okay." Alvin nodded. "Come on."
"Yea, you do.." Jay mumbled. "We don't have to speak of this to anyone, okay?" It was true though, Mouse and him did have a duel but it was a tie, they both won..
"Oh no, we have to tell everyone." Alvin grinned.
Mouse looked a little pink, he felt awful about lying but he was laughing inside.
"Oh you must be enjoying this." Jay turned to Mouse.
"I mean, it's not the worst feeling in the world." Mouse smirked. "Erin is going to love his story, eh?"
Jay shot a look at Mouse and shook his head.
Alvin looked at them both as they walked, didn't say anything. They walked towards Al's car and jumped inside, they drove back to the station, they got out and went back inside.
Jay went to his desk, Mouse went to his work area and Al went to get some coffee.
Jay grew a little worried about Mouse and his doctor appointments, he knew his shoulder problems weren't just from the little fight with Mouse. He's seen Mouse go through it before, with sucks. Jay couldn't lose his job, he was pretty much thing he had, the job and Mouse.. He liked to think Erin but, with how everything was with Voight.. He thought about Ruzek, he was kind of worried he said something about it to Voight. It could be bad if Voight got some rumors.. He grew sick to his stomach.
He got up and went back down to talk with Mouse. "H-hey, back so soon?" Mouse asked, spinning around to look at him.
"What do you think is going to happen tomorrow?" Jay asked his friend.
"D-Dude we will be fine." Mouse said, sighing.
"What if we aren't though?" Jay asked.
"Jay, we will be fine." Mouse repeated.
"I hope you are right.."
"Why are you so worried all of a sudden?" He asked Jay.
"Working with you out in the field like we use to, just.."
"I know, me too." Mouse nodded.
"I just don't want to lose this job, Mouse.. I can't.."
"You won't." Mouse looked over at him. "It's all going to work out."
"I hope so."
"It has always been fine before, why should it change now?" Mouse asked, handing Jay a beer before picking up his own.
"Who knows, could have one thing for a minute and the next it be gone.." Jay mumbled, accepting the beer.
"Is this all about Lindsay?" Mouse asked, after taking a long drink.
"No, yes, I don't know.." Jay mumbled, looking down at the beer bottle.
Mouse chuckled. "Dude, why don't you just tell her?"
"What?"
"That you are in love with her."
"What do you.." Jay started to say but Mouse cut him off.
"Don't stand there and tell me, you aren't in love with her." Mouse spoke sharply.
"I..: Jay didn't know what to say.
"You need to stop worrying about tomorrow and start worrying about how you're going to tell her." Mouse said, with a small smile.
"Mouse." Jay sighed.
"What?"
"She already knows."
"She knows?" Mouse didn't understand.
"Yea, long story." Jay coughed.
"W-what'd she say?" Mouse looked at his best friend.
Jay looked down at his hands again. "She.."
"She?" Mouse repeated, trying to push more.
"She, she felt the same way."
"Wait, wait..." Mouse held his hand up, trying to figure it out.
"She feels the same way." Jay repeated.
"Then why aren't you two together?" Mouse asked, totally lost.
"Voight doesn't like in house relationships." Jay explained.
"That's why, your boss?" Mouse asked, with a small chuckle. "Really?"
"Voight helped raise Erin, he's like a father to her... It's a long story." Jay said. "But that's how it is."
"Why does it have to be how it is?" Mouse asked, he moved and sat down next to him.
"It's not like we can do what we want." Jay said. "We both need this job, and we can't just drop it all."
"You could talk to Voight."
Jay shook his head. "I almost did but Erin and I talked and decided to wait."
"Jay, you went to the army, you were in the Rangers, you fight for what you believe in and want." Mouse said.
"I can't, not this time."
"But you do love her, right?" Mouse asked.
"Yes, she isn't just in my heart.. She is apart of it." Jay smiled a little. "I think I fell in love with her when we first met, she's, she's the best.."
"You should talk to Voight man."
"Mouse, I can't. He'd kill me himself, and that's not some joke. I can't and I don't want to hurt Erin by doing so, so I don't want to disrespect Voight either, he is a good guy, he's just trying to look out for her and the squad.
"But.."
"I know but I can't." Jay nodded.
"I can't believe that out of all people, you would be the one to stand by, but hey if that's what you feel you should be doing then, okay." Mouse said, as he stood up and sat against the desk, he looked saddened.
Jay looked at him, he seemed to be more upset then Jay would have thought, it confused him, made him wonder why. "How about you man?"
Mouse turned away from him when he asked the question, he sighed and took a long drink from his beer. "Um."
"Mouse?" Jay asked, watching him. "Mouse?"
"Email her."
"Mouse.." Jay throw a rolled up piece of paper at him. "Look at me."
"There was a girl for a while.." Mouse mumbled, slowly turning to face him. "She left, got a job in DC, she wanted me to go with her but I'd have nothing there.. So there's that."
"I'm sorry man." Jay realized now why he was so upset about him not going for Erin harder.
"It's fine, the job was more important then I was, I get it." Mouse said, looking down at his beer, his hands were shaking.
"Dude." Jay said.
"She left."
"She asked you to go with her. You could have gone." Jay said, looking at him.
"I'd have no job there, I wouldn't have anything, she would always be at work. I would be alone the whole time." Mouse said, finally looking over at him.
"Did you love her?" Jay asked.
Mouse cleared his throat, and turned away from him again. "I did, very much, but I-I-I don't want to live alone with her. I would miss her too much." Mouse smiled a little just thinking about her smile and her laugh, it hurt but it was still amazing. "I don't even know if that made any sense."
"I understand." Jay nodded. "What was she like?"
Mouse turned to him again, sadness covered his face.
"Mouse, you okay?" Jay asked, noticing he was off, but he wasn't sure if it was about his mystery ex girlfriend, or something else. "You can talk to me."
"I know." Mouse nodded. "I just miss her."
"Have you heard from her?"
"She has sent a few emails." Mouse mumbled.
"You reply?"
"I did not." Mouse spoke quietly.
"Why not?"
"I don't even know what to say to her." Mouse explained.
"Just tell her you still love her, I mean you do, don't you?" Jay asked. "Just tell her what you told me."
"What do you mean?"
"You just told me you didn't want to go cause you'd miss her when she was at work and you love her to much." Jay suggested. "When did she move?"
"A year ago."
"Talk to her."
"I don't know."
"You still love her, don't you?"
"Yes, I don't know, maybe?" Mouse stumbled.
"Email her back." Jay said. "Try and work something out."
"I don't want to hurt her again, I can't hurt her again." Mouse spoke over him.
"What, you don't think she's hurting now, not getting a reply from you?" Jay asked.
"Not as much as last time." Mouse mumbled.
"What do you mean?" Jay asked. "What happened?"
"Like I told you, she moved away."
"No, it was something else. What aren't you telling me?"
"Jay, I don't want to talk about it right now." Mouse said, moving to sit down in his chair away from him. "Or ever."
"Mouse, come on." He said. "It's me."
"Look, there was a big fight, it didn't end on a good note." Mouse said. "There was a lot of hurt that went to both parties, things were spoken, that shouldn't have been. We hurt each other big time, and I don't want something like that to happen to her again."
"You are basing your future relationship on a past argument." Jay said. "Mouse, everyone gets hurt every-once in a while."
"It wasn't an argument, Jay. It was a fight."
"About?"
"That I am not talking about."
"That bad?"
"Yes."
"Then you have to talk to her." Jay said. "Mouse, email her back."
"What if the only reason she's trying to get a hold of me for some stuff she left with me?"
"Mouse, just do it, you'll never know if you don't try."
"You should listen to yourself." Mouse grinned looking at him once again.
"Email her."
"I don't know.."
"Email her Mouse."
"Jay."
"Sorry, just seeing you act like a sad puppy.."
"Jay." Mouse chuckled a little, mainly to himself. "I have to think about it. She doesn't need another big mess because of me."
"Just try and talk with her, try and work something out.." Jay said. "I'm going to try and get some stuff down, wanna come up?"
Mouse nodded and followed Jay up the stairs. Mouse grabbed a file of off Jay's desk, no one else.
"This poor kid.." Mouse said, sighing. "People are sick.."
"I don't think sick is a strong enough word." Jay mumbled, as he filled out some of his paper work.
"Yea."
Jay and Mouse ended up falling asleep at the desks
"Why are you two still here?"
Jay and Mouse were both awaken by Antonio running up the steps. "Hey." he called as he walked over towards them. Mouse and Jay shot up to their feet, shaken a little.
"Why are you two still here?" Antonio asked, grinning a little.
"Jay, it's 7:30, we have to go now." Mouse mumbled, looking down at his phone, their doctors appointment was at 8:15.
"See you later brotha." Jay said to Antonio as he quickly followed Mouse down the stairs.
"Bye." Antonio called.
Jay and Mouse drove with the lights on, so they couldn't be late, they quickly parked and ran inside the hospital, checked in, and were sitting in the waiting area.
"Halstead." A nurse walked through the doors with a clipboard, looking around the waiting room.
Jay stood up and looked over at mouse before following the nurse back.
"Good luck man." Mouse said, before Jay left the room, Mouse got called back as well.
"You too buddy." They both kinda hugged quickly then followed the nurses back to their rooms.
They both went and got their X-rays, and their heads scanned, they both walked back into the waiting room at the same time, neither of them spoke a word, they quickly paid and went back out to the parking lot and jumped into Jay's truck.
They drove to a small dinner and ordered some breakfast.
"So." They both said at the same time.
"I-I'm cleared." Jay said. "They gave me some pain killers for my neck but other then that I'm okay."
"I told you man." Mouse said with a smile.
"You are good too, right?"
"Yes, they were kind of surprised, but I'm clear too." Mouse nodded. "Yea, they ordered me some more of those as well."
"Surprised?" Jay asked, kind of confused.
"They've never seen something like what we've been through and be fine afterwards." Mouse said. "I mean, I am surprised as well."
Jay nodded, as he took a bite of his sandwich.
"Could we maybe go see her?" Jay asked.
"Yea, sure we will go after." Mouse said. "So what do we do, what are you going to do if your neck goes out again."
"We will figure that out when/if it happens." Jay said.
"Do you think Adam went to Voight?" Mouse asked. "I know he went and talked to Antonio."
"No, but when I talked to Voight last, he was acting a little strange."
"But you don't think Adam?"
"He wouldn't go to Voight, but he could have talked to Al." Jay said. 'I only told him I couldn't get called back though."
"Dude, that normally means you got injured, or you know." Mouse said.
"Shit." Jay said. " I will tell them if I have too."
"You don't have to tell them." Mouse mumbled.
"What do I do then?"
"It's your life, you don't have too." Mouse spoke.
"If Voight asks, I have to tell him, he'll most likely drop me if I do or don't say anything.. I'm screwed either way." Jay said.
"That's not true Jay, the Doctor's cleared you, he can't take your job away when you are fit for duty." Mouse said.
"Voight works his own way. You should know that by now." Jay said. "He already hates me for everything with Lindsay."
"I can't get all the files out of your records but I could pretty much everything else." Mouse said, he took a drink of his water.
"Mouse no, you go to to prison for that, don't." Jay said.
"I would get away with it."
"I know you would but, don't." Jay said.
"Okay, I will do it if you change your mind."
"If I have to tell Voight, will you be there?"
"Yes."
Jay nodded with relief.
"Let's go see JellyBean." Mouse said, with a smile.
"Yeah!"
They both threw away their trash and left to go to Mouse's place, JellyBean was in the fenced in year, she was running around happily with a yellow ball in her mouth.
"JellyBean!" Jay called, he sort of ran to her after Mouse opened the gate.
Jay followed Mouse inside the fence, Jellybean jumped on Jay, causing him to fall over, Jay was chuckling a little, JellyBean was licking Jay's face.
"She remembers you." Mouse grinned.
"Thanks JellyBean." Jay whispered. "She looks healthy."
"She's getting pretty old though." Mouse said.
"What's the vet say?" Jay asked as he stood up.
"Her leg is pretty bad, it won't ever get better but she has a long while left." Mouse smiled.
"Crazy dog."
Mouse lead the way inside in place, Jay was right behind him with JellyBean.
"This where you guys lived together?" Jay asked, looking around the home.
"Who?"
"You know, the girl you are going to email."
"April." Mouse finally understood what he was talking about. "Yea.."
"April, sounds pretty." Jay said.
"Stunning." Mouse smiled a little.
"You have a picture?"
"Yea, in my wallet actually.." Mouse grabbed his wallet out of his pocket and took the picture out. April had blue eyes, perfect cheek bones, curly long blonde hair.
"Stunning would be the word, yes." Jay smiled at his best friend, handing him back the picture, watching him place it back in his wallet.
"Yeah.." Mouse scratched his neck awkwardly.
"Dude, you need to call her.."
"Huh?"
"Just how you are acting right now, you're all pink over a picture of her that you still have in your wallet, come on, no one that's over someone keeps their picture in their wallet." Jay said. "Call her."
"Jay.." Mouse said. "Drop it please, it's more complained then that."
"Okay.. When you actually want to talk about it, you know where to find me. Can she come in?" Jay asked, he saw JellyBean outside at the door.
"Yes of course."
Jay opened the door and let jellyBean come inside, she went straight to her water bowl.
"Adam, it's none of our business"
"Hey, Lindsay?" Adam walked over to her.. "It's bugging the hell out of me, have you, have you talked to Jay about what we talked about yesterday?"
"Adam, it's none of our business, if they wanted us to know they would tell us." Erin spoke, turning around to face him, even though it was biting at her as well, but she wanted to respect Jay and Mouse, if they didn't want to talk about, she didn't want to make them.
"I know that, it's just I can't shake the feeling something super bad happened to them." Adam spoke sitting against her desk.
"Adam, you need to drop it." Erin spoke quietly. "If Voight chases wind of this, and they are hiding something, last thing they need is.." Slowly turning back to her paperwork, but still paying full attention to Adam, she was worried about Jay and Mouse as well but not as Adam seemed to be, Erin hadn't seen anything to make her worry, she knew a lot happened to Jay and Mouse overseas but she didn't actually know the details, just things she's put together.
"Yes, but if something did happen, should they even be here?"
"Adam." Erin spoke looking him dead in the eyes.
"You know what I mean, if they aren't okay." Adam spoke.
"If they weren't okay, they wouldn't be here, so drop it now Adam." Erin spoke. "You don't realize everything they have been through, nor do I. It's between them two, not us. Okay?"
"Okay.." Adam nodded as he backed away. "I just don't want anything happening to them two, you know that right?"
"I know you mean well." Erin nodded. "I'm sure there's nothing to even worry about, but if it makes you feel any better, I always have Jay's back."
"I know you do Erin." Adam smiled a little. "Who has Mouses back then?"
"Jay, and the rest of us." Erin spoke softly. "He isn't alone either, we all have each other's backs in this unit, no one is uncovered."
"Yeah, you are right." Adam went over to his desk and sat down, he still didn't feel too much better, he was still worried about his buddies. Even though he hasn't seen anything to make him worry about them, too his knowledge Jay and Mouse were one hundred percent. "But then why am I still worried?" He whispered to himself..
***
"Hey lets go grab a drink." Mouse spoke as he poured some dog food in JellyBeans bowl.
"One second." Jay said before he answered a phone call he was getting. "Halstead."
Mouse looked over at him as he spoke. "Yes Serge."
"I know I said you and Mouse could have the day off but.." Voight paused. "We need you."
"What's going on?" Jay asked, turning to face mouse as he spoke.
"Halstead, we need the both of you." Voight repeated himself, making Jay even more confused.
"Voight, what's going on?" Jay asked once again.
"Mouse is good with bombs, right?"
"We are on our way." Jay spoke, he didn't need anything else, they hung up. "Suit up, we just got a call, bomb involed.."
Jay and Mouse quickly put on their uniforms and headed to the station, they went through the gate and walked up the stairs. Everyone was starring at them.
"Sorry to pull you guys away.." Voight spoke. "We've got a large problem.."
"Fill us in." Jay spoke walking towards the others with Mouse right behind him.
"Looking sharp." Adam nodded a hello at the two of them. "We've got a bomb problem.."
