Jay stirred from his sleep, smiling down at the sleeping beauty next to him. Hailey looked so tiny, all tucked into him like that. She had turned on her right side, which Jay assumed was the uninjured one, had one hand underneath his back, and the other against his arm. She was sound asleep, and must have been out cold since she didn't move when he brushed the hair from her face. He studied her, taking inventory of what she had gone through. He flashed back to the sucker-punched feeling he had when she was literally ripped away from him. He figured that's how she must have felt when he was shot: like he was lost forever. And he couldn't imagine Hailey being gone from his life. So of course, he impulsively tried to protect her, but didn't count on how harshly De'Von and his guys would retaliate. He was taking note of her bandages when he felt her shift beside him.

She yawned, lazily looking at him. "Hi," she said, her voice dulled by sleep.
"Hey," he replied, helping them both to sit up in a more comfortable position.

Even still, Hailey laid her head on his shoulder. "How're you doing?" She whispered, slipping her hand from behind him and instead putting it with his hand.

Jay's thumb ran circles over the top of her hand as he was contemplating his answer. "I'm always better when you're here." He kissed her forehead, and Hailey nuzzled herself into his neck. It was only when he felt a few tears on his skin that he realized she was crying.

"Hey, hey," he tried, pulling away to make her look at him. "Hailey, it's okay. We're okay."

She slowly looked up at him, her usually vibrant blue eyes held a sad paleness, and were greying by the tears that blurred them. "Jay, we're so not okay. This is all my fault! If I hadn't of gone rogue then I wouldn't have fought with De'Von and his crew. And if I didn't fight them, then you wouldn't have been tortured, and we wouldn't be in this fucking hospital feeling like broken down china dolls!" She paused, sniffling a little. "I just, God Jay, I'm so sorry. I–" Her voice cracked under the weight of her sorrow. "I thought you were going to die...I thought I was going to die in there, too. But I couldn't handle the thought of you losing your life because of me. I'd give up everything if it meant you'd be okay. I just want to make sure you know that."

Jay gently reached up and wiped a few tears from her cheeks. "Hailey..." he said, just as intensely as he always had when they had serious conversations. "This isn't on you. None of this is your fault. I'm the one that went so far down the rabbit hole that I bought off a drug lord. I just...I needed that escape. That fix...at least what I thought was going to fix everything. I was stupid, and selfish. If anyone's to blame, it's me. I feel so guilty that you got dragged into all of it. I mean, Jesus, De'Von's lucky he's still breathing right now, because if I wasn't banged up, you'd better believe he'd be at the bottom of the river. When he grabbed you away from me, I had never felt so destroyed in my life. I also had never wanted anyone dead as much as I wanted him to be for putting his hands on you. I'm sorry I couldn't protect you, Hailey."

He too began to tear up, and Hailey hugged him closer to her, the both of them gripping onto each other like their lives depended on it. Honestly, it did. As distant as they had been lately, this experience strangely brought them closer together. Jay tried to pinpoint that phrase everyone always said. What was it? You don't know what you had until it's gone? He always knew Hailey was an important part of his life. But it took almost losing her to realize how she was not only an important piece of his life, but the best part of his life, of himself.

Hailey hadn't said anything, as her mind was still reeling from Jay's heartfelt confession. She never wanted him to feel this bad. She never wanted any negativity for him...she had seen him down before. It was like he was lost, and she wanted desperately to be the one to help him find himself again. She knew he was such an integral piece of her life. Hell, she knew that the first time she met him. There was just something about him. She knew when she was permanently placed in Intelligence that she could trust him...even if they didn't always see eye to eye. She just didn't realize the magnitude of her feelings for him until this whole thing went down. She sighed, looking at the man she nearly came close to losing just a day before. Luck or fate or whatever higher power must have been on their side for it to work out how it did. She couldn't be more thankful for that.

She leaned up and kissed him, harder than their first, and with more passion than she'd ever felt. She just wanted to pour all of her emotions into that kiss, to remember every little piece of the moment. From the way his mouth melded to hers, to how perfectly their arms intertwined. She arched her eyebrows in surprise when she felt him brush his tongue against her bottom lip, asking for entrance. She granted it, allowing her feelings to take the reins now, as she wrapped her hands around his neck and felt his come up to cup her face.

He was the one to break the spell, pulling back ever so slightly. His eyes held a new intensity Hailey wasn't used to. He cocked a brow in her direction. "What was that for?" He smirked, acting like he knew her answer.

Hailey rolled her eyes, but couldn't keep the smile from breaking across her face. "Because I wanted to. Really and truly just wanted to be able to do that again. To make sure it's real."

He guided her hand from his neck to his chest, placing it over his heart. Hailey could feel it beating rapidly, realizing it probably matched her owns pace. "This? This right here that I'm feeling because of you? That's all the proof I need Hailey."

She took it on good faith to grab his hand and do the same, and watched his eyes light up with joy, pure happiness replacing the fire from earlier. She felt her eyes tear up again, but this time when she let the tears fall, she knew they were from happiness. They were together. They needed and wanted to be together. They weren't supposed to be anywhere else.

"You wanna say that again? I must not have heard you correctly." Voight asked the new DA that stood before him. The Ivory Tower hired a new district attorney to represent in police procedure cases, including kidnapping, assault, hits, etc. on detectives or patrol. He glowered at the young attorney – Trevor Knolls – who wasn't backing down.

"I stand by my decision. I cannot prosecute him for the assault. The only testimony I would have is from Hailey Upton, who, as you relayed to me, was doped up out of her mind while the incident occurred. I can only hold him for the kidnapping of Detective Jay Halstead." Trevor stood up from his desk, and began to pack up his briefcase.

"Wait a minute," Voight growled, pushing him back down into his chair. "We're not done here. You will not disregard the rest of their ordeal. What they–" he tried to remain stoic, but his voice broke slightly for his detectives, who were practically his second family. "...What they went through is insurmountable, unbelievable, and frankly, horrifying. None of us can imagine. None of us want to. Can you please, just make something stick?"

Trevor sighed, his demeanor softening at the sergeant's obvious care for his squad. "I will look into it, see what I can do. In the meantime, go visit your detectives. They need you; they need their whole team right now."

Voight nodded, thanking the attorney before heading out to Med.

When he arrived at the hospital, he was greeted by a slightly surprising sight. Adam and Kim had brought food into the waiting room, where Antonio, Kevin, and Platt sat in a circle. Platt looked up from her Chinese takeout container, acknowledging Voight's arrival. "Hank," she stated, getting up from her chair to shake his hand. "They've been asking for you." She said, looking at him carefully. "They want an update on De'Von and Samuel." She gave him a good luck pat on the back. Voight sighed, but nodded in agreement.

He wandered into Jay's room first, smiling at Hailey sitting in a chair next to his bed, her IV hookup beside her. They were bent over Hailey's phone, scrolling through photos of her brother's new baby girl. Jay looked up first, noticing their boss in the doorway. "Hey Sarge," he said, coughing to distract as Hailey inched herself back into her chair.

"Hey you two. How're you holding up?" He grabbed the other chair across the way, taking a seat at the other side of Jay's bed so he could see the both of them.

Hailey and Jay shared a look, before answering "Fine" together. The 3 of them chuckled at the sentiment.

"So Sarge," Jay hesitantly began "What's the news on De'Von and his crew?"

"Yeah, what're the charges being brought?" Hailey questioned, leaning in to hear.

Voight stared back at his two detectives with a heavy heart. "It's not exactly what we wanted – yet" he quickly added, noticing their change in expressions. "We've got him on the abduction, but not the assault."

"I'm sorry, what?" Jay asked in disbelief. Hailey buried her head in her hands. No, no, no. This cannot be happening.

"Why?" Jay's voice broke through the brief moment of silence.

Voight shook his head, sucking in a deep breath before giving them the unfortunate news. "They don't have enough evidence to hold them on it. It's–" He watched with sadness as Hailey peeked up from her hands.

"It's because of me, isn't it?" Her voice was paper thin, whisper soft.

Jay's head whipped around to her. "What? Hailey, god no. Just wait a second..." he tried to make sense of it, but Hailey spoke again, interrupting his thought processing.

"Jay," she tried, a warning tone in her voice. "Stop," she murmured. She let her head drop back into her hands in defeat. She didn't even try to stop the tears as they fell. Jay swung his legs around so he could slide to hug Hailey.

She tried to shake him off, but he just held her tighter. Voight felt like his presence was more detrimental to them than it was supposed to be, so he quietly slipped out, leaving them to deal with the bombshell that was dropped.

Hailey was done crying. She shrugged Jay off her shoulders, and he gave up, taking his original position back on his bed. "Hailey, I was just–" he began, but she cut him off.

"No, Jay, how can you do this?" She felt her lip quiver. "How can you not" The other four words weren't audible in Jay's ears.

"What?" he asked, genuinely missing what she just said.

She squinted, attempting to stifle the remaining tears. "Hate me for this...?"

"Hailey, please, please don't do this." He pleaded with her, his green eyes threatening to fill up with tears.

"No, no, no!" She cried. "This just proves it...god, I was right all along! This is on me. I could've gotten you killed, Jay. Don't you get that?! If they didn't find us, our families would be attending our funerals right now! Oh my God, I can't believe this!" She felt her voice shatter along with her heart again with each word she spoke. "I shouldn't've...I messed everything up. I can't...I can't be here right now."

Jay grabbed at her arm, silently begging her to stay, but Hailey whisked it away. Her head hung low in embarrassment and disappointment. "Hailey," it was his voice that snapped in half now.

"I'm sorry." She mouthed, as she turned away and closed the door, not wanting him to see her collapse on the floor.