The ride across town to Jay's place in the West Loop was relatively uneventful, except for the odd snore coming from her passenger. Hailey looked over occasionally to make sure he was still breathing, she wasn't used to seeing him in this deep of a sleep. "He must have really needed this", she thought. Jay had fallen asleep almost instantly.
She considered stopping for some soup supplies but figured she would test her luck in Jay's kitchen, the thought of that making her laugh nervously. The odds of Jay having a fully stocked pantry were slim to none, but she decided to give him the benefit of the doubt anyways. She just needed to get him home to his bed.
After driving around the block a few times, she finally found a spot outside of his apartment. She shut the car off and decided to give him a few extra minutes of shut eye. After sending off a few emails she reached over and gently rubbed his arm.
"Jay, we're home now, wake up."
She was hesitant to wake him, she knew how jumpy he got when he was being woken up unexpectedly. The last thing she needed was for him to have a panic attack in her car.
A few seconds later Jay started to come to. He opened one eye slowly and realized where he was.
"Ughhhh," was all he could manage.
"I know, I know. Almost there. She came over to his side of the car, opened the door and pulled him out. He didn't even try to resist her help, just stood there in a daze as she grabbed their bags.
Thankfully his building had an elevator, the stairs would have been impossible today. Hailey reached into Jay's coat pocket, pulled out his keys and opened the front door.
She walked in and helped Jay over to the couch for now. "Impressive", she thought as she looked around, his place was surprisingly clean. She couldn't even remember the last time she was over here, they usually met at her place or a bar somewhere.
"Jay do you have any Tylenol?"
"Bathroom, above the sink." Jay sat on the couch hunched over with his head in his hands, just wanting the throbbing to stop.
Hailey came back with a few pills and a glass of water. "Here, take these" as she put her hand on his back.
Her cold hands startled him and he winced as he swallowed the medicine.
"Come on I'll help you to your room."
Jay was beginning to feel dizzy on top of everything else, seeing stars as he stood up too quickly.
They walked slowly to his room and he sat down on the end of his bed, silently hoping Hailey would leave him alone long enough so he could change into more comfortable clothes.
She sensed that he wanted some privacy ,so she left the room and went to go put on a pot of tea. By the time she went back to check on him she had to laugh out loud.
He had managed to change his bottom half, but sat there on the edge of his bed with no shirt on, looking defeated.
"Having some trouble", she said cheekily.
"Wow way to kick a guy when he's down Hails" forcing a smirk. "The room is spinning."
She chuckled, but went over to him and helped him pull his t-shirt over his head, noticing a small scar lining his collarbone that she had never seen before.
"What's this from?" She ran a finger over it gently.
"Shrapnel caught me under my vest over in Afghanistan. When we drove over an IED. Hurt like a son of a bitch."
She looked down, avoiding eye contact, knowing how painful it was for him to relive his time in the Army. "Oh. Sorry, I didn't mean to bring that up."
"It's okay, it was a long time ago. I forget that it's there sometimes", absentmindedly running his own hand over the scar. He surprised himself by how easy it was to blurt that out to her. He usually didn't talk about his tours with anyone, but with her it always felt different, therapeutic even.
She broke their silence by saying, "I made tea, do you want some?"
"Yes please, my throat is killing me", he pulled the covers over his aching body as he started to shiver.
Hailey propped a few pillows up behind him so he could sit up comfortably, and handed him his mug. She sat down next to him on the edge of the bed and felt his forehead again.
"You still feel warm, hopefully the Tylenol kicks in soon."
"Hope so. This sucks."
They finished off their tea and Hailey grabbed his empty mug. "I'm going to go put some soup on okay, you should try and get some sleep." She pulled the covers up over his shoulders and shut off the lamp on his bedside table.
He didn't like people fussing over him, but Hailey being here- it felt natural, comforting. He felt his eyelids getting heavy, the drugs and tea kicking in.
As he dozed off, he also thought he felt Hailey's hand rubbing the top of his before she left the dark room.
Hailey rummaged through Jay's cupboards and fridge to gather some soup ingredients, hoping it would be edible. As luck had it, there was a leftover rotisserie chicken in the fridge. "Perfect, this will make a good broth."
She was putting the final touches on the soup and turning it down to simmer as she heard her phone go off. She quickly picked it up and turned the ringer off, hoping she didn't wake Jay. It was a text from Adam.
"Hey, you took off early…everything okay?"
She had totally lost track of time, it was almost 6 o'clock now.
She started and restarted a reply a few times, unsure why she felt weird about telling him the truth.
"Hey sorry, the afternoon got away from me. Had to take Jay home, he's pretty sick."
"Ahh that sucks, okay. You still there?"
"Ya, I am. I'm waiting on Will to get home, didn't want to leave him by himself."
Wasn't completely the truth, she didn't really intend on leaving anytime soon. But this seemed like the most appropriate way to break it to Adam she wasn't meeting up with him tonight.
"That's okay, I was going to tell you to stay put anyways, reschedule our night. The weather is nasty out there! It took me 40 minutes to get home."
She was so focused on cooking that she didn't even notice what was going on outside the window. She turned the TV on and saw the news headlines. Chicago bracing itself for record setting Polar Vortex- heavy wind and ice storm expected Monday night and into Tuesday morning. Avoid unnecessary travel if you can.
"Yikes, you're right Adam. We'll be fine here! I'll call you later."
"Sounds good darlin, hope Jay feels better."
Adam was surprisingly okay with her current situation with Jay, she at least expected some jealousy or questions. But then again, Adam and Jay are good friends, so his response reflected that. Maybe it was her that was over-thinking this. After all, he knows her and Jay are close. This is nothing more than her looking out for her partner. Keep telling yourself that Hailey, said the voice in the back of her mind.
She heard Jay's phone going off in the living room. She picked it up and saw a few missed calls from Will. She decided to call him back and let him know what was going on.
"Hey Will, its Hailey."
"Oh hey", he said sounding surprised to hear her voice on the other end of Jay's phone.
"Noticed you called Jay a few times, he's sleeping right now. I had to take him home early today, he's pretty sick."
Will paused, "Oh that's too bad. I was actually calling to let him know I won't be home tonight after all. This storm has made the ED crazy today, looks like I'm going to have to stay and help out."
Hailey's stomach fluttered realizing she really was going to be stuck here all night. Stuck maybe wasn't the right word. She was happy to stay and take care of Jay.
"No problem Will, I can stay here with him. Trying to drive home in this probably isn't the smartest anyways."
"Good call, thanks for looking after him. You're welcome to crash in my room- the sheets are clean I promise" he laughed.
Hailey made a joke about Will's love life, or lack thereof, and hung up the phone, promising she would call him if Jay got worse.
She had just sat down to watch some TV when she heard whimpering coming from Jay's room.
She rushed in to check on him and realized he was having a nightmare, his limbs were thrashing all over the bed and he had sweat through his shirt. She quickly turned the lights on and put her hand on his shoulder to calm him down.
"Jay, you're okay. Wake up, wake up."
His eyes opened suddenly, sat up in bed, and felt his breathing starting to slow down. He looked and saw that he was gripping Hailey's arm and instantly felt embarrassed.
She could tell he felt awkward that she had witnessed such a vulnerable side of him. It felt like he had just shared a very personal moment with her, and she wanted to let him know that it was okay. "You're alright. Just breathe, you had a nightmare" she said, rubbing his back gently.
He didn't say anything for what felt like an eternity, still holding onto Hailey's hand.
He took a deep breath in and felt his body relax. "Sorry Hailey. They don't happen as much anymore. It's just the fever" he said sheepishly.
She flashed him a half smile, the light picking up her dimples. "It's okay Jay. I'm right here, I'm not going anywhere."