"Okay, I'll go get groceries then," Jay kissed the top of Hailey's head.
"Don't forget orange juice," Hailey said as he walked down the bleachers.
Jay waved behind him in response and walked out of the pool.
Hailey sighed and leaned back against the wall in an attempt to get comfortable while she watched Drew swim.
She pulled out her phone after a few minutes and checked her work email to see a couple updates from Trudy. She shifted in her seat and replied a 'thank you' to the last one and hoped that was good enough.
"Are you busy?"
Hailey looked up to see a woman standing next to her. "No," she shook her head, "Just looking at email," she smiled a little.
"Always exciting," the woman sat a few feet down from her.
Hailey laughed softly, "That's one word."
"What do you do?" the woman asked.
"I'm a detective with the Chicago Police Department," Hailey said.
The woman nodded, "That actually does sound exciting."
"It is," Hailey nodded, "I'm Hailey," she held her hand out.
"Allison," the woman shook her hand, "I think your son's in my son's class," she pointed toward Drew's group, "I'm Matt's mom."
"Yes," Hailey smiled, "And Drew's mine."
"Matt says that Drew's very nice," Allison said.
Hailey's smile grew, "Thank you so much for saying that. Drew likes Matt as well, he said your son's the only one he plays with."
"Good," Allison sighed in relief, "Matt's pretty shy, so I'm glad he's already made a friend."
"Tell me about, Drew likes to keep to himself," Hailey laughed softly.
"Maybe we could get lunch together today after so they can hang out more?" Allison suggested.
"Oh," Hailey glanced toward the pool, "I'm sorry, we actually have an appointment right after that we need to get to."
Allison nodded, "No problem. I'm sure you're very busy during the week for stuff like that."
"Yeah," Hailey breathed and rubbed her hands over pants.
"If you don't mind me asking," Allison started, "Is it his flu shot? I've been debating getting Matt's. Last year my sister did end up getting the flu and it was awful, I'm just worried Matt will have those small side effects like a fever or something."
Hailey looked back toward Drew, "It-It's not for the flu shot, but," she shook her head, "We'll probably have him get it – the shot I mean. My husband's brother is a doctor at Chicago Med, so he'll probably give it to us like usual."
"Makes sense," Allison nodded, "What's your husband do?"
"Also a detective," Hailey smiled, "We met at work actually."
"Us too," Allison laughed, "Well, sort of. I'm a librarian and my husband's a teacher; he was taking his class on a field trip to the library and we met and now we've been married just under ten years."
"How crazy is that?" Hailey asked with a laugh.
"Gosh," Allison shook her head, "I can't believe it's sometimes. What about you? How long have you been married?"
"Two years," Hailey automatically answered, but instantly realized how strange that must sound based on Allison's slightly shocked face. "Um," she cleared her throat, "We-We've known each other for much longer as partners and friends and then we dated for a year before a quick engagement," she winced.
"Oh," Allison nodded and tried to smile, "Everyone's different."
"No," Hailey put her hand out, "I…I didn't explain that well," she sighed and ran a hand through her hair, "Drew's our foster son."
"Oh!" Allison relaxed, "I see. Not that I was judging-"
"I know," Hailey shook her head, "It sounded crazy saying it, but it's the truth."
"How long has Drew been with you then?" Allison asked.
"Since the beginning of the summer," Hailey smiled, "We're currently in the process of adopting him."
"That's great," Allison lightly touched Hailey's arm, "Congratulations."
"Thank you," Hailey breathed out, "It's been just a tiny crazy."
Allison laughed, "That's what parenthood is. No judgment."
"Oh yes," Hailey laughed as well, "Is Matt your only son?"
"Son? Yes," Allison answered, "We also have twin girls that turned three in June."
Hailey swallowed and tried not to blush as she nodded, "That's amazing."
"Definitely busy," Allison smiled, "This week was my husband's turn to stay home with them and I got to sit on these oh-so-comfortable bleachers for the morning."
"Oh my gosh," Hailey laughed, "I feel the same way though. I said we needed to get groceries before Drew's ther-," she caught herself and tried not to stutter over her words even more, "Appointment and Jay just jumped up and said he had it."
Allison didn't seem to take too much notice as to what she said, however, and just nodded along, "Typical. Is he one to text or call you the entire time because he can't find where something is?"
Hailey relaxed and smiled, "Actually no, he's pretty good at it. We usually have to trade off based on our hours at work anyways." She looked toward the pool and saw the boys talking to their coach, "Do you think they're almost done?"
Allison glanced toward the clock, "Probably."
Hailey noticed Jay walk into the pool and waved at him. He smiled at her and started walking back up the bleachers.
"Is that your husband?" Allison asked.
"Yes," Hailey said as Jay sat on her other side, "Jay, this is Allison, she's Matt's mom. Allison, this is my husband, Jay."
Jay reached in front of Hailey to shake Allison's hand, "Nice to meet you."
"And you," Allison smiled.
Hailey turned toward Jay, "Did you get everything?"
"They were out of bowtie noodles, so I got penne, but that was the only thing," Jay shrugged.
"Bowtie are his favorite," Hailey whispered.
"And they didn't have them," Jay said, "It'll be fine."
Hailey raised her eyebrows, "Really?"
Jay sighed, "What'd you want me to do? Go to another store? I was running low on time. I figured penne would be closer than spaghetti or those weird colored ones – now that would put him in a tailspin."
"He's going to cry," Hailey breathed.
"Maybe Dr. Charles can break it to him," Jay leaned back against the wall, "It'll be fine, Hailey."
She rolled her eyes, "Then you can make a new dinner."
Jay glanced at her out of the corner of his eye, "We're not making a new dinner. We already started the sauce in the crockpot this morning and he was excited."
"For bowtie pasta," Hailey hissed.
"Hey," Jay sat up, "Relax. It's okay. It's nothing we can't handle, okay?" he set his hand on the side of her face and rubbed his thumb over her cheek, "Deep breaths for me."
Hailey blushed, "I'm sorry."
Jay shook his head and put his arm around his shoulder before looking back out at the pool.
Hailey took several deep breaths before reaching up to squeeze Jay's hand.
He smiled at her and kissed her forehead.
"Thank you," she whispered.
"I've got you, baby," Jay breathed against her skin then pulled back.
Hailey swallowed and felt her face get hot. She bit her lip and watched Drew jump off the diving board wishing they weren't in such a public place with another parent sitting right next to them.
Allison noticed Hailey was watching the swim lessons again and said softly, "I always get nervous when Matt jumps."
Hailey nodded, "It took us a while to get used to watching Drew jump too."
The coach gathered the kids off to the side and started passing out papers to them.
"What's that?" Jay took his arm off of Hailey and rested his elbows on his knees.
"Today was their swim test," Allison explained and stood with Matt's towel, "It was nice meeting you both. I'll see you next week," she smiled and walked down the bleachers.
"Test?" Hailey looked at Jay, "What is she talking about?" She racked her brain until she gasped, "Oh, I remember now. There was an email about it."
"I thought that was just for signing up again?" Jay asked.
Hailey rubbed her face, "Yeah, but this will tell us what class to sign him up for."
"Why isn't he moving? Matt's already at his mom," Jay stood.
Hailey grabbed Drew's towel, "I'm nervous."
They watched Drew sit on the deck and put his head in his hands.
"Crap," Jay breathed and ran down the bleachers. Instead of fighting the crowd of parents pushing to get off the stairs to the sides, he jumped over the railing and jogged across the pool deck.
"So dramatic," Hailey whispered, but still slipped through the railing and walked quickly to Drew.
Jay got to him first and knelt down on the wet tile, "Bud, what's going on?"
"I'm so sorry," his coach said, "I-I was just-"
"It's fine," Hailey shook her head, "You did nothing wrong."
"He clearly did," Jay snapped.
"Jay Halstead," Hailey set her hand on his back.
The coach shakily walked away leaving Jay and Hailey with the silent Drew.
"Let's get you up and out of here," Jay gently tugged Drew into a standing position.
Hailey took the paper from her hands and bit her lip at the top corner where 'Recommendation: Repeat class' was circled. She wrapped the towel around Drew's shoulders, nervous that he wasn't crying or talking at all.
"We'll go change and get you warmed up," Jay rubbed Drew's arms over the towel, "How's that sound?"
Drew pulled away and walked toward the locker room.
Hailey sighed and folded the paper to put it in her pocket.
"He's having a great 24 hours," Jay said sarcastically and followed Drew.
Hailey shook her head and walked out into the hallway of the school to wait. She ran her hand through her hair and sat on the edge of a window. She made eye contact with Allison who just mouthed 'Sorry' before walking away with Matt.
Hailey couldn't help but roll her eyes. She knew being friends with other parents was a bad idea right now. They weren't ready for that type of commitment.
She only had to wait a few minutes for Jay to come out of the locker room with Drew's hand in his.
"Still not talking," Jay whispered.
Hailey bit her lip and looked down at Drew, "It's okay, sweetheart. This was your first time really learning."
Drew ignored her and tried pulling his hand out of Jay's.
"No," Jay said sternly, "You're not running."
Drew groaned quietly. He walked with them out of the school before turning to make eye contact with Jay and using his free hand to scratch at his arm.
"Hey, no," Hailey grabbed his hand, "You're just doing that to make Dad mad."
"We know you're disappointed and it's okay to be angry, but we want to help you," Jay said and opened his truck. He lifted Drew in and buckled his seatbelt, "We're on your side."
As he shut the door, Drew let out an ear-piercing scream.
"Gosh," Hailey breathed and opened her door, but the second Drew noticed that both her and Jay were climbing in, he stopped screaming and crossed his arms over his chest.
Jay glanced at Hailey and raised his eyebrows.
She shrugged and looked at Drew, "What was that for?"
Drew looked out the window.
Jay sighed and started the car to drive to Med.
Drew was in Dr. Charles's office for a total of one hundred and four seconds – Jay was counting – when the door opened again and he walked out with Dr. Charles.
"We're going to the sensory room down the hall," Dr. Charles said calmly, Drew's hand held firmly in his own.
Hailey stood, "Should we-"
"No, we're okay," Dr. Charles walked away with Drew.
Jay nervously pulled at the edge of his shirt, "What do you think they're doing?"
"I don't know," Hailey sighed and sat back down next to him.
"I want him happy again," Jay mumbled and looked down the hall where Dr. Charles walked into a room.
"Me too," Hailey reached over and grabbed his hand.
"It's going to get worse when he goes through puberty, you know?" Jay said.
"You don't know that," Hailey shook her head.
Jay shrugged, "Who knows?"
Hailey shook her head and pulled out her phone. After quickly looking on Google, she showed Jay the screen, "Look. No, it won't. So stop reading fake articles. You're going to freak us both out."
Jay took her phone and scanned through it. Hailey watched him read a handful of articles and blog posts before he passed her phone back, "Sorry."
"It's fine," Hailey said quietly.
Jay set his hand on her thigh and squeezed lightly, "How's your head?"
"Fine," Hailey shrugged.
"Hailey," Jay whispered.
She looked at him and smiled slightly, "I'm telling the truth. I promise."
"Okay," Jay nodded and looked in her eyes, "I believe you."
"Thank you," Hailey kissed his cheek, "And thank you for looking out for me."
Jay smiled a little and squeezed her leg again, "Always."
Hailey sighed and slid down in her chair slightly to rest her head on Jay's arm. She closed her eyes and pulled her feet up on her chair.
"Tired?" Jay asked.
"Mhmm," Hailey hummed.
"Here," Jay grabbed his jacket from the chair next to him and laid it over her.
"Thank you," Hailey smiled.
"Yup," Jay ran his fingers through her hair and tilted his head back against the wall.
After a while, Hailey murmured, "Do you think we should still let him go trick-or-treating?"
"He wants to?" Jay asked.
"Yeah, I heard him talking about dressing up with Cara last week," Hailey sat up and put her feet back on the ground.
"I want him to go," Jay slowly nodded, "But what if he gets scared or overwhelmed again?"
"I know," Hailey sighed, "We can't deny him Halloween though. I was getting the feeling they've never gone out before."
Jay raised his eyebrows, "Are you serious?"
"Yes," Hailey nodded.
"Okay, well now we're definitely going," Jay said and pulled his phone out, "What costume should we buy him?"
Hailey laughed, "I think we should let him pick for himself."
"Do you think he'll want us to dress up with him?" Jay showed Hailey pictures of families in matching costumes.
"And if he does?" Hailey smiled.
"I…I don't know," Jay chuckled, "I don't really want to be a clown for Halloween."
Hailey rolled her eyes and smirked, "He's not going to make us be clowns."
"You never know," Jay shook his head and put his phone away, "I've never really been a huge Halloween fan, but Will and I always went trick-or-treating because who doesn't want free candy and chocolate?"
Hailey turned in her chair and crossed her legs underneath her, "What was your best costume?"
"Oh, a Cubs player, hands down," Jay smiled, "That was my go-to for years. You?"
"I was an angel once and I looked stunning," Hailey said.
"Of course," Jay laughed.
"What do you think he'll want to be?" Hailey asked.
"A bird," Jay automatically said.
Hailey laughed and lightly pushed him, "I don't know."
"It's definitely a contender," Jay chuckled.
Hailey glanced behind her shoulder and bit her lip.
"He's okay," Jay said softly and tucked her hair behind her ear.
"I know," Hailey sighed and turned back to face him.
"How was that mom you were talking to?" Jay asked.
Hailey shrugged, "Fine."
Jay raised his eyebrows, "It seemed like you were getting along when I got there."
"And then she had to pity us after," Hailey crossed her arms, "She apologized as they left for her son passing and ours not."
"Who cares?" Jay shook his head.
"I don't want our family being judged by strangers," Hailey mumbled.
"I know, but people judge others all the time," Jay said, "We can't avoid it."
Hailey huffed, "Whatever."
"Learn anything interesting about her?" Jay asked with a smirk.
Hailey bit her lip over a smile, "You love gossip."
"I like knowing who our son hangs out with," Jay laughed.
Hailey rolled her eyes, "Okay, sure. Um," she took a deep breath, "Really nothing interesting though. She's a librarian and her husband's a teacher; they've been married like ten years and have Matt and twin girls that turned three in June. She seemed weirded out when I stupidly told her about our family."
"Like how?" Jay shifted more in his chair to get comfortable.
"Just her face," Hailey frowned, "I don't know. Like we were some teen parents or something."
"Did you clear the air?" Jay asked.
"Yeah," Hailey nodded, "I told her we're fostering him and she was nice about it."
"Good," Jay shrugged, "No issues then."
"Sure," Hailey breathed, "You don't know girls, she's probably going to tell everyone about us."
"And what does it matter?" Jay laughed slightly, "Hailey, this is our life and we're happy, who gives a crap that we've only been married two years or that our son isn't biologically related to us?"
"I know, I know," Hailey rubbed her face, "Sorry, I'm being dumb."
"You are not," Jay ran his hand over her hair, "You're fine."
The door opened down the hall and Jay looked over to sit up, "Hailey."
She turned in time to see Drew walk out of the room behind Dr. Charles. He smiled slightly at them and waved.
"Hi," Hailey stood.
"I got my anger out," Drew said, his voice hoarse. He cleared his throat, "Dr. Charles said I can go home."
Jay slowly nodded, "That's good, bud."
Drew chewed his lip then glanced to Dr. Charles before hugging Hailey tightly and whispering, "Thank you for taking me to the dance."
Hailey smiled and squeezed him, "You are so welcome."
Drew let her go after a minute and turned to do the same to Jay, "Thank you for making me feel safe."
Jay breathed deeply, "Always. I will always try to help you feel safe."
"I need to get my coat," Drew rubbed his eyes and walked into the office.
"He'll be okay," Dr. Charles said simply before Drew could return, "I think the overstimulation of the dance with all the lights and music mixed with failing swim made him a little off-kilter for a bit."
Hailey nodded as Drew walked out of the office zipping up his coat, "We understand."
"But we're not giving up," Dr. Charles said, making eye contact with Drew, "Right?"
"Right?" Drew rubbed his hands once over his arms.
"Come on," Jay said softly and wrapped an arm over Drew's shoulders, "Let's get you home and make some hot chocolate."
Drew finally smiled fully, "Okay."
"Okay," Jay bent down to kiss the top of his head and walked him to the elevator.
Hailey looked at Dr. Charles, "You always help us out when we come in, but today…thank you."
"Anything for my favorite patient," Dr. Charles winked and walked in his office.
Hailey smiled and shook her head before walking to catch the elevator with Jay and Drew.
A/N: I was kind of in a mood myself yesterday afternoon when I started writing this hence the sort of shift toward even darker/sad Drew, but I definitely want to turn it around and have some fluff coming up. I hope you still liked it though!