Author's note: Just like the last prompt, this one kind of got away from me so I've decided to roll with it and split it into two as well. Thought it would be fun to explore Hailey's side of things before we head back to Jay's POV.
I also just wanted to say thanks again for all the reviews. Hope you enjoy this one :)
Prompt: Second Chances (part 1)
"You did good today," Voight said as they headed down the steps of the station and out onto the street.
The words were a small comfort to Hailey as she looked over to him. "Not good enough though."
He half shrugged, a hint of a smile on his face. "It will just take a bit longer. Now go enjoy your evening."
Hailey returned the sentiment before heading towards her car. As soon as she was sat inside, she pulled out her phone and let out a sigh. She knew she was going to be late when Voight asked her to go with him, but she hadn't realised so much time had passed. Her plan for a chilled-out evening with Jay wasn't really viable anymore, but at least they would still get some time together and she could find out what was going on with him.
They hadn't had a chance to talk earlier given everything happening with the case, but clearly something was up. She had seen him hung over enough times to know his earlier behaviour wasn't solely due to drinking, though she was still at a loss as to what had caused it. He had been in good spirits when he'd left yesterday so something must have happened last night or this morning while she was out with Voight. Jay would have told her if it was something serious, so maybe he'd just had an argument with Will. It had happened once before when they had gone out together and one of them had mentioned something about their father which the other had disagreed with.
Whatever it was, she would know soon enough, she just had to get over there. Knowing that Jay was probably wondering where she was, she opened a new message to him and started typing. She had finished writing out that she was on her way and in the process of asking him to order them some food if he hadn't eaten when an unknown number suddenly took over the screen. Hailey considered ignoring it for a moment, but she couldn't risk it. In their line of work it could always be important so she tapped the green button and stuck the phone to her ear.
"Hello."
"Hailey, thank God."
It took Hailey a moment to process the voice, she hadn't expected him to be calling her at this time, especially on an unknown number. "David, what-"
"There's been an accident. The car just…I dunno what happened. I need your help."
"Slow down a second. Where are you?"
"Uh, downtown by-" But he didn't get a chance to finish as she heard some screams in the background. "Shit!"
"David." Hailey could hear her own heartbeat as she called her brother's name again and again without an answer. "Fuck."
She hung up the phone and chucked it onto the passenger's seat before grabbing her radio and turning it on. It was a hunch but given what David had said and the background noise she had heard, Hailey was fairly certain she would be able to get the location this way. She tuned into the main channel as she took a deep breath, forcing herself to think clearly as she waited to hear anything.
There were two other callouts, one about a robbery in progress and one about a potential shooting, before Hailey heard what she was after. Backup was being requested for a collision downtown. That had to be where David was, so she quickly started the car and turned on the lights as the address was read out.
Hailey kept the radio on as she sped towards the scene, hoping to get more details about what had just happened, but there weren't many as other priority calls took over. So instead she let her mind go, wondering what the hell her brother had gotten involved in this time. He had only been out of rehab a month, he'd called her the day he was released to thank her for helping him and telling her he still had a bit more work to do before he came back to see her. She had accepted it, thankful that he had sounded like his old self, but now…now she didn't know what to think.
Ten minutes later, Hailey came across the scene. Blue flashing lights from police cars, ambulances and fire trucks all lighting up the area. She parked as close as she could, knowing that the number of first responders meant it was serious, but doing her best to reserve judgement until she found her brother. Maybe he was an innocent bystander who had decided to help out, though something in her gut told her that wasn't the case.
After grabbing her phone and making sure she had her badge to hand, she locked the car and hurried over to the cordoned off area. Something of a crowd had formed, there to watch as the firefighters battled with one of the ablaze cars or the paramedics as they treated the injured who were scattered around. Hailey did a sweep of those she could see, looking out for her brother but failing to spot him. He hadn't sounded injured on the phone, though he could have been in shock.
With a flash of her badge to the officer manning the cordon, the tape was lifted and Hailey was permitted entry. As soon as she was clear, she headed towards the group of ambulances. She checked the first two, dodging around people as they went about their business, before finally coming across David sat on the back of the third ambulance.
"Ow, Jesus," he called out as a paramedic applied cream to one of his hands.
"You okay?" Hailey asked, doing a quick scan to look for any other injuries, but aside from a slight burn to his hands and a plaster across his forehead, she couldn't see anything.
"Look, I told the other officer you have to let me treat him first before you take him," the paramedic cut in before David had a chance to respond.
"Take you?" Hailey asked, ignoring the paramedic. The feeling in her gut was back and it was stronger than ever.
David opened his mouth again, but someone else spoke before he got a chance. "He done yet?"
Hailey turned to her right to find a patrol officer stood beside her. He had his hands on his hips as he looked at David before turning to the paramedic who shook his head. "One more minute."
The officer nodded and then turned to her, clearly noticing her badge. "Hi, I'm Officer Bailey. Can I help you…"
"Detective Upton, I'm with Intelligence."
"Okay." He seemed impressed, though he also seemed like he was only a few years out of the academy. He tilted his head, indicating for them to move away from the ambulance, so Hailey obliged. "What does Intelligence want with him? Is this part of a bigger case? If you need me to do anything, just say the word."
Hailey offered him a friendly smile; the eagerness reminded her of Rojas. "This one's personal, he's my brother."
"Oh." The excitement vanished in an instant. "Oh, I'm sorry."
The change in his demeanour had Hailey worried, but she needed all the details first before she could work out what to do. "What happened?"
"Uh, that car." He pointed to the one in the middle of the intersection, the one which had collided with three others. "That's your brother's. We're still trying to get hold of video footage, but so far witnesses say your brother and that other car caused the accident."
Hailey studied the scene; it certainly looked like David's car and the one directly in front of it had crashed first given the way the other cars were piled up around them, though that didn't mean it was David's fault. "What's the other driver saying?"
"He's already on his way to Med, it wasn't looking good."
Hailey took a breath, collecting her thoughts. "So you think it's his fault?"
"We're still trying to work it out but uh, he's clearly been drinking."
"Okay, he's all yours," the paramedic called out as Bailey gave Hailey an apologetic look.
Without saying another word, he walked over and handcuffed David as Hailey watched on, all the while trying to process what she had been told. Her brother, the one she had looked up to, the one she had checked into rehab almost four months ago to get sober, was drinking and had just caused an accident. She didn't want to believe it, this wasn't the David she knew, but Bailey had said there was clear evidence, though she wasn't sure what that was.
Hailey was about to question him about the alleged evidence, she even went as far as calling his name, but then he and David were right next to her and suddenly she understood. The smell of vodka came to her thick and fast even though they were outside. So instead she told them that she would follow in her own car and meet them at the station before turning on her heels and walking off.
She tried to remain calm as she pulled out her phone and deleted the original message she had started writing to Jay, before typing out a new one. There was no way this was going to be quick and she didn't want to drag him into her family stuff. So she would just have to see him tomorrow instead. He'd understand when she explained it to him but for now all she could offer him was the text.
Hey, I'm sorry, I'm not gonna be able to make it tonight. Something's come up and I've got to deal with it, not sure how long it will take so I'll just crash at mine. I'll explain tomorrow and I'll get the coffees x
Hailey let out a sigh, bumping her head gently against the glass as she watched Officer Bailey interview her brother. She had tried to talk to David alone beforehand, but the Sargent on duty had forbidden it, so she had settled for watching. She had heard him claim his innocence multiple times, explaining that the other car had run the light and hit him, but that was yet to be confirmed. And then there was the main issue. For all his protests of innocence, David still stank of vodka.
He had stated multiple times that the bottle had smashed in the accident, but Officer Bailey wasn't buying it. Hailey didn't blame the guy, she was David's sister and she was having a hard time believing his version of events. She wanted to, she really did, but he hadn't been out of rehab long and he could have easily relapsed. And if he had…she didn't know what she was going to do.
Part of her wanted to be there for him, to help him out of this mess, but she couldn't go through it again. She had given him a second chance; she wasn't sure she could manage a third.
A knock at the door of the interview room brought Hailey out of her thoughts. She watched as the Sargent entered the room and signalled to Bailey and his partner to join him out in the corridor. As soon as they started moving, so did Hailey. Something had to be up for him to pull them out and she needed to know what it was.
When she made it out to the corridor, there were some hushed voices which stopped as soon as she moved over to them.
"So who's going to tell me what's going on?"
The three exchanged a look before the Sargent opened his mouth. "We got lucky with some dashcam footage. It shows the events exactly as your brother described them."
Hailey nodded. It was good news, but there was still the issue of the DUI which meant there was more to come.
"We'll bail him for now, wait to see what the blood test shows for the DUI," the Sargent said, gaining another nod from Hailey.
It was the most she could offer for now because until they had the results, there was nothing more anyone could do. So she thanked them and told them she would drive him home. She had no idea where David was staying because as far as she knew he was back with his family. Him being in Chicago was worrying for several reasons, but she would get the answers soon enough.
After some paperwork and small talk with the officers, David was finally released. Hailey didn't say anything to him, she just led him over to her car whilst doing her best to ignore the fact that it was way past midnight.
"Thanks for that, those guys were pretty scary when they thought I'd caused the accident," David said as Hailey unlocked the car and climbed in. "I mean I told them everything I knew, but man that was not fun. I guess they were just doing their job and it's kinda understandable given where my car was, but it still took them long enough. You guys always such hard asses to heroic members of the public?"
Hailey shook her head, ignoring the grin on David's face and letting out a long breath as she buckled up her seatbelt.
"What? Come on, you gotta admit they went pretty hard on me."
"Because you reek of booze," she snapped.
There was silence for a few moments after. Hailey didn't dare face her brother, instead she busied herself with looking to the outside world. Any distraction was preferable to what was going on in her head right now. For some reason David didn't seem to grasp how serious the situation was, how if he had started drinking again it would be the end of their relationship.
"Hailey," he spoke softly, but it still took her a while before she managed to face him. "You really think I'm drunk right now?"
She considered his question; the way he walked and talked was not that of a drunk person, and even though she knew some people were good at hiding it, David wasn't that good. Still, that didn't mean he hadn't relapsed. Just because he wasn't drunk, it didn't mean he hadn't started drinking again.
"No."
There was the hint of a smile on his face until he realised what she was thinking. "I swear I haven't had a drink in months, not one drop."
She wanted to believe him, she really did, but there was still the doubt lingering at the back of her mind. Even though she didn't say it, David clearly saw it. It was something they would have to talk about, but two am in the morning wasn't necessarily the best time.
"You can stay at mine, we'll talk about it later."
David looked like he wanted to add something more, but in the end he just thanked her as she started the car.
The next morning Hailey walked towards her desk, two coffees in her hand, whilst doing her best to stifle a yawn. She wasn't sure what time she had actually fallen asleep last night. After getting back to hers and setting David up on the couch, she had retreated to her room before he'd had a chance to talk to her. She didn't want to ignore him, but she hadn't been in the right frame of mind to deal with it then, nor this morning, so she had left him a note on her way out. They would talk tonight once she was done with work and she'd had some time to think things over.
"So your brother's back."
Hailey set Jay's coffee on his empty desk before turning to see her roommate walking towards her.
"Yeah," she said as she perched on the edge of her desk and took a sip of coffee.
"And you don't seem happy about that."
She shook her head slightly. "It's complicated."
"Want to talk about it?"
"No." She took another sip of her coffee, noticing the concern on Vanessa's face. "It will be fine, just going to focus on the case for now."
It seemed like Vanessa was about to say something more, but when the sounds of the rest of the team echoed up from the stairwell, she squeezed Hailey's arm before walking back to her own desk. Hailey appreciated it, Vanessa was as private as she was so she knew it wasn't the right time, but Hailey also knew she would be there if she needed anything. She would thank her later, but for now she just wanted the distraction of work.
After a quick hello to the others, she took a seat at her desk and opened up the file she had been working on yesterday. She got on with it for twenty minutes before catching sight of the coffee cup on the desk opposite her. Jay was normally one of the first in but aside from Voight, he was the only one not in yet.
There was probably a good explanation for it. Maybe he was meeting a CI or he had a court appearance? She couldn't remember him saying anything though, and he normally told her about them, so maybe something had come up?
Doing her best to remember if something was happening today, she pulled out her phone and checked her messages from him. There was nothing. There wasn't even a reply to the message she had sent him yesterday, though given the time and how dead he'd looked, there was a good chance he had passed out early. Still something felt off.
Without another thought, she hit call and pushed the phone to her ear. She waited patiently but in the end it went to his voicemail. She tried again straight away but there was nothing so she left him a message, asking where he was. This wasn't like Jay, something had to be going on, and she wasn't just going to sit around and wait.
Hailey stood up and grabbed her coat, getting ready to leave, but then she spotted Voight walking towards her. He gestured for her to follow him into his office, so she did.
"You good?" he asked once she had shut the door behind her.
"Yeah. Why wouldn't I be?"
He gave her a look, one which said she should have known. "I heard about your brother."
Hailey bit her tongue as she considered her words. She didn't want anyone else to get involved. "I'm handling it. It won't affect my work."
Voight studied her for a moment before giving a nod. "Okay. With Halstead out I'd rather you stick around, but only if you can keep your focus. If you need to deal with something now, deal with it."
"I don't," she said, suddenly feeling very confused. Voight knew Jay was out. Had he spoken to him?
"Get back to it then, but if anything changes, let me know."
"Yeah." She was about to ask him what he knew about Jay, but then she felt the vibrations from her phone. She quickly pulled it out to see a message from Jay.
Sorry – think I've got stomach flu. Talk later.
Hailey paused for a moment as she placed her key in the lock. She wasn't sure she was ready for this, but she knew she couldn't put it off any longer. Vanessa had made herself scarce for the night and Jay had banned her from coming over while he was contagious, so aside from drowning her sorrows at a bar, which seemed hypocritical given the situation, she had no choice.
After blowing out a breath, she turned the key and pushed the door open. She wasn't sure what she had expected to return home to, but she knew it wasn't the smells and sounds that greeted her. David was singing along to 'Enter Sandman' as she closed the door, and he was definitely cooking something that reminded her of home. Curious as to what he was making, she headed towards the kitchen, but stopped suddenly at what she found.
David was jumping around the room using the spatula as a microphone, completely oblivious to her presence. While part of her was still annoyed at him, she couldn't help but smile slightly as he moved into his air guitar solo. She had not seen this side of him in a long time, not since she had become a Detective, and it was bringing back memories of the good times they had shared together.
"Hey, you're back," David said once he finally spotted her in the doorway. "You been there long?"
"Long enough."
He laughed a little, but didn't seem embarrassed, which wasn't really a surprise. David had always been confident with this sort of stuff. When they were kids and she got upset, he always managed to put a smile on her face with some over the top dancing or singing.
"You remember when we saw them?" he asked, bopping his head to the beat as he moved over to stir whatever he was cooking in the saucepan.
"It was my first gig, not something you forget," she said as she moved further into the kitchen to see what he had been up to.
"Oh yeah, I for sure thought you would hate it, but turns out you were always a metal head." He held out a spoon to her. "Taste this. I think it needs more salt, what do you think?"
Hailey did as she was told while trying to wrap her head around the current situation. "Uh, sure."
Had this been a friendly visit or something else, she would have just gone with it, but David was acting like nothing had happened last night.
"So how was work? You catch the bad guys?"
"It was fine," she told him as he focused on the food, apparently deciding to ignore the elephant in the room. Hailey couldn't do it though, she couldn't act like nothing had happened, so she moved over to his phone and paused the music before turning back to him. "Are we going to talk about yesterday?"
"What's to talk about? I'm fine. This." He gestured to the food. "This is to say thank you for picking me up and letting me crash here. Okay, that was a poor choice of word, but you know what I mean."
"Yeah, I was thinking we might need to talk about the whole drunk driving thing."
David sighed as he set the spatula and spoon down on the side. "I already told you, I didn't drink anything."
"So you just had a bottle of vodka with you because you like carrying it around?"
He shook his head before moving over to her. "I swear I never touched a drop. I haven't had anything since the day you took me to rehab. Probably owe you another dinner, or several, for that. And I know it doesn't look good, I get it, but it's the truth. I don't know what you want me to do to prove it to you."
Hailey held his gaze for a few moments. She wanted to believe him, she wanted desperately to believe he was who she thought he was, but there was still the small voice in the back of her head reminding her of her dad. She had lost count of the number of times he had promised her he had stopped drinking.
"The blood test will prove it." And if he was lying to her then she was done. She couldn't go through this again.
"Yeah it will. So you gonna treat me like a criminal until they get the results or can we go back to the good old days?" he asked as he picked up his phone, his thumb hovering over the play button. "Come on, where's the fun Hailey I remember?"
"Shut up," she said as she shoved his shoulder and took the phone out of his hand. As much as she hated to admit it, he had a point, he was innocent until proven guilty. So she scrolled through his playlist, ignoring the uneasy look on his face, before hitting play on a song from the second gig he had taken her too. "Remember this one?"
There was a smile on his face when she looked back over to him. "How can I forget, I got a blackeye rescuing you from that mosh pit."
"I didn't need rescuing," she told him as she moved over to the fridge.
She grabbed a beer on instinct before realising her mistake and putting it back.
"You can have a drink if you want, I can handle it," he told her. "Might help with your drawing skills."
Hailey furrowed her brow as she closed the fridge, deciding that she would grab a glass of water instead, but utterly confused as to why David was talking about her drawing skills.
"Sprinkles," he said as he indicated to the picture stuck on the fridge. "God I remember that phase, your room was covered in pictures. And didn't you try to steal a dog when we were at the park once? What would your boss think of that?"
"Firstly, I was seven. And secondly, I was just making friends with it."
"As you lured it to our car."
"Shut up," she laughed. She hadn't thought about that in a long time. Even her dad had joked about the situation. "And as you can clearly see." She tapped the bottom right of the drawing. "It says to Hailey from Devin."
"Ah, an admirer. Seems a little young for you."
"Funny," she said as she grabbed a glass and moved over to the sink. "He was just a kid I helped out a while ago."
She had found the drawing when she was cleaning up the breakroom the day after the case with them, and even though things hadn't ended as she'd wanted, she'd decided to keep the picture. For some reason the thing made her smile, and it reminded her to find out how they were doing every now and again. So far things seemed to be going well. Platt told her yesterday morning that patrol had spotted the family at the park. She seemed to be almost as invested as Jay was and had taken to giving them a weekly update on the family.
"You were always good at helping people," David said, pulling her attention back to him. His face was a mix of emotions as he moved closer to her. "I really do appreciate what you did for me, you know that right?"
She set her glass down on the counter and pulled him into a hug. "I do."
They held each other for a little longer than their normal hugs, but Hailey had a feeling they both needed it after everything they had gone through recently. No matter how long they stayed apart or what happened, he was still her brother. He had played such a big part in her life and even though she hadn't seen him too much over the past few years, she wasn't sure she could completely cut him out of her life. It had been hard enough doing that with her parents.
So Hailey kept the topics light as they ate dinner together. They reminisced about old times, talked about David's family, and a bit about Hailey's job. It was good to laugh together again, Hailey wasn't sure she had laughed so much in a long time, but David had always been a good storyteller, especially when it came to remembering embarrassing ones about her.
"Oh, do you remember the time you decided to cut your own hair?" David asked as Hailey shook her head, a grin on her face. She never heard the end of it. "Mom actually screamed in shock; you know I think she was genuinely more concerned over that than the time I broke my arm skate boarding."
"Well you were supposed to be watching me, whereas you and the skateboard were an accident waiting to happen because you were nowhere near as good as you thought you were."
David feigned shock, gaining another laugh from Hailey. "You spoken to them recently?"
In an instant, the smile fell from Hailey's face. There had always been an unspoken rule between them; they never talked about their parents unless it was good memories from the past. They didn't discuss the bad times, they didn't talk about how they were doing now, they just left it alone.
"Hailey." She shook her head; an answer to his previous question and his unspoken one. David left it for a moment as Hailey worked out a way to get things back on track, but then he spoke again. "You know that's why I was here? I saw them, that's why I had the vodka in the car. Mom asked me to take it away when I was leaving so dad-"
But he stopped as Hailey got up from her seat. She wasn't doing this. She wasn't getting involved again.
"Hailey," he called out, causing her to pause for a moment. "She misses you, Dad does too, but mom she-"
"Don't. Don't do this."
"Why not? You gave me a second chance so-"
"It's not the same and you know it," she snapped as she turned back around. "They've both had plenty of chances. This wouldn't be the second, it would be the two hundredth and I'm not getting pulled back into it. You want to, great, you do that. But don't drag me back with you."
Without giving him a chance to say anything more, she hurried out of the kitchen and up the stairs to her room. She had thought things had been going too well, that she might actually have a good evening, but that was never possible when the subject of her parents were brought up. With some internal cursing, Hailey slammed the door behind her and flopped down onto the bed. She just wanted to forget about it all.
A while later, after she'd had some time to stew, Hailey heard a knock on her door. She took a second to compose herself before sitting up and telling the person to enter. She hadn't heard Vanessa come home yet so she wasn't surprised to see David walk into her room.
"Peace offering," he said, holding out a plate of cake to her. "It's your favourite. And don't worry I brought this from a reputable establishment. While I can cook, I still really can't bake."
Hailey cracked a small smile before giving a nod. David returned it as he moved over and took a seat next to her on the bed.
"I'm sorry. I shouldn't have brought it up."
"Yeah," she muttered as she took the plate from him and took a bite of the cake. "I just can't do it. I've tried…they won't change"
She got where David was coming from, but she had dealt with their parents more than he knew about after he moved away. She had tried so many times to get her mom to leave, to talk to her dad, but it always resulted in failure. So at one point she had just decided to stop. She couldn't keep up the act she had been raised to put on, she couldn't pretend they were a normal family or ignore the blatant issues, so she had cut ties.
"Maybe one day," David said, quickly continuing before she had a chance. "But not now and no pressure. I promise."
Hailey nodded; it was the most she could offer him as she dug back into the cake. She wasn't really sure what else to say to David, but it seemed he was back to his usual self as she spotted the smug grin on his face.
"So is it tradition to keep a photo of you and your ex-partner next to your bed?"
She glanced at the photo of her and Jay; it was one Vanessa had taken of them at Molly's a few weeks ago. Jay had his arm wrapped around her as they both grinned at the camera.
"No," she said, failing to hide the small smile playing on her lips as she met David's eyes. "We're partners again."
"And?"
"And we're dating."
"Oh, that sounds fun and complicated." David smirked as Hailey took another bite of cake. "Though clearly the guy was into you given how overprotective he was when we met."
Hailey considered telling David that it was the same day they had gotten together and that it had been somewhat caused by his visit, but in the end she decided to save the story for another time. "I think he acted appropriately given how much of an ass you were being."
"Hmm, maybe," he said as Hailey found herself glancing back at the picture of Jay. She guessed she would have to introduce him to David properly at some point. "Is he a good guy?"
"The best."
"Oh."
"What?" she asked as she turned back to him
"Nothing," he said, a smirk on his face.
"David."
"I've just not seen you this…happy and smiley in…well forever," he said as she set the plate down on the bedside table. "Guess that's what love does to you though."
"Shut up," she said, chucking a pillow at his head.
"Oh wow, now that's not nice," he said as he grabbed hold of it. "So when do I get to meet my future brother in law?"
"David," she warned him as she chucked another pillow at him, gaining a laugh in response.
"Wow, are you blushing?"
"No."
"I can hang around a few days, get to know him and-"
"He's ill okay. You can meet him next time you visit. Now go away, I need-"
"To call your boyfriend." She shook her head at him as he returned the pillows. "Miss him huh?"
She didn't say a word, but David got the message and said goodnight before exiting her room. Hailey almost called Jay but decided to send him a text instead in case he was sleeping. The truth was, she did miss him. She just hoped it wouldn't be long until she got to see him again.
It ended up being five days until Hailey finally got to see Jay. She was sitting at her desk, trying to finish up some paperwork before the rest of the team got in, when a coffee cup suddenly appeared in her line of vision. For a second she thought it was Adam making up for spilling her coffee the other day, but then she heard the voice she had been longing to hear.
"Hey."
She dropped her pen immediately as she turned to find Jay standing next to her desk, wearing a small smile on his face. Hailey didn't say a word as she stood up and pulled him into a hug, burying her face into his neck and inhaling the familiar scent of cologne and coffee as he wrapped his arms around her. Normally she was more cautious with their interactions at work, but only Kim and Vanessa were in and she hadn't seen or spoken to Jay properly in what felt like forever.
They had exchanged some texts while he was out but with Jay's sleeping habits and her work hours, they hadn't managed anything more over the past five days. Hailey had threatened to go over a couple of times to take care of him, but he'd told her that he would bolt the door because there was no way he was letting her get sick. She'd hated it but she knew she'd do the same and Voight would be pissed off if she ended up getting sick when it was preventable, so she'd just got on with it. It had been hard, harder than Hailey would ever admit to anyone else, but seeing him now…it was all she needed.
She pulled back slightly, one of her hands moving to cup his cheek. He looked paler than normal and there were dark circles under his eyes, but there was still the smile on his face. Hailey couldn't help but match it as she brushed her thumb across his cheek. He clearly wasn't a hundred percent, but at least now she could be there for him.
"Well look who it is," Adam called out.
Hailey untangled herself from Jay and picked up her coffee as Adam and Kevin made their way over to them, Adam holding out a box of donuts.
"I'll pass," Jay said, bumping into his desk slightly as he moved out of the way.
Hailey guessed he was still getting back into food so she declined too, knowing it was unlikely to help if he had to watch her eat one.
"What's the occasion?" Vanessa asked as Hailey pointed Adam in her direction and out of the way of Jay.
"They're from Platt. She's in a weirdly good mood today."
"Well she did just get back from vacation," Kim explained as Hailey turned back to watch Jay.
He blinked several times, clearly trying to focus on the screen in front of him, before rubbing at his eyes.
"Hey," she said softly as she perched on the edge of his desk. "I mean this in the nicest way possible but are you sure you should be here?"
"Yeah, yeah I'm good."
He wasn't. He was clearly still recovering, but she knew how much Jay hated being stuck at home, so she would let it go for now as long as he didn't try to go into the field. Because as much as he might think he was okay, she knew he wasn't. He seemed exhausted and his movements were slower than normal, but those were typically the side effects you got when you didn't really eat anything for five days while fighting off a virus.
Knowing Jay, he needed this, so she carried on as normal. It seemed that the rest of the team were willing to go along with it too as they all left Jay to attempt to work. That was until Voight got in from his morning meetings. He took one look at Jay before telling him to go home until he was fully recovered. Jay tried to argue that he was fine, but Voight wouldn't have it and said he would get someone to drive him home if he didn't start moving.
Jay didn't seem happy, but he gave in to their boss's orders and grabbed his coat. Hailey quickly followed after him, ignoring the looks from the team and the comment from Platt on the way out of the station.
"This is crap," Jay muttered once they were outside.
"Jay," she said softly, taking hold of his hand. "I know it's not what you want to hear, but he's right. You're still recovering, that's nothing to be ashamed of, but there's no way you can go out in the field in your current state, and I saw you in there. You could barely focus on what you were trying to do."
He held her gaze, but didn't say a word. Hailey waited, letting him work through it for a minute before deciding to break the silence.
"Hey, since you're not contagious anymore, why don't I come over after work and be your own private nurse?" It took a moment but then she saw the hint of a smile on Jay's face as he tugged her closer and wrapped his arms around her. She felt him inhale a deep breath and she couldn't help but say what had been on her mind since he'd walked in. "I really missed you."
He nodded slowly against her before finally speaking. "I missed you too."
His voice was hoarse as he spoke and suddenly Hailey regretted not going over to his. She should have talked to Will, got his advice on how to safely be around Jay, but Jay had been so adamant that she stay away every time she suggested it and she hadn't wanted to force him into it. So she had accepted text updates but now he could be around people again, she was going to make sure she was there for him. No matter what happened, no matter what else life threw at them, she would make sure they were together tonight.
"Okay," she said as she broke out of their hug. "You need to go back to yours and rest up. Once I'm done here, I'll come over. If you-"
But she stopped as she saw the look on his face.
"My place, uh, it's not in the greatest state."
"I'm sure I've seen worse before," she told him, hoping to ease any concerns he had, but he still seemed reluctant so she decided to go with plan B. "Why don't you go back to mine instead?"
She pulled the keys out from her pocket and handed them to him before he had a chance to say anything else.
"You're not contagious anymore so you can just go to mine and relax until I'm done with work. And don't worry if you fall asleep, Vanessa can let me in."
Jay fiddled with the keys in his hands, clearly debating it, before looking up to her. "You sure?"
"Yeah. I just want to spend some time with you, even if you are passed out and drooling all over my pillows," she told him, gaining a small smile in return. "Now go and get some rest. I'll see you later."
"So much for an early night," Vanessa moaned as she stuck her key in the lock and opened the door.
Hailey found herself silently agreeing as they stepped inside. A last minute sighting of the crew they had been following meant they'd all ended up putting in an extra few hours, though at least they had a good lead for tomorrow.
"Something you meant to tell me?"
Hailey followed her roommates' gaze to the boots on the floor. She had meant to tell her earlier but it slipped her mind when Voight had updated them on the case.
"Oh, yeah," she said, carefully shutting the door and keeping her voice low in case Jay was asleep. "I told him to come back here. He didn't want me to go to his until he'd had a chance to clean it."
"I don't even want to imagine that situation," Vanessa said as she started climbing the stairs. "But he best not be contagious because I really don't-"
"He's not. He said he'd spoken to Will and it was safe for him to be around people. And remember he wouldn't even let me go anywhere near his flat when he thought he could pass it on."
"Don't I know it," Vanessa said, glancing back at Hailey who couldn't hide the shock on her face.
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"Nothing, just glad you won't be as grumpy anymore," she said innocently as she backed away to her room.
"Va-"
"Don't know about you but I'm beat, see you tomorrow," she said, quickly closing her door as Hailey shook her head.
She may not have been the most cheerful person over the past few days but that wasn't because of Jay. There had been everything with David and the case which had taken up her patience, or at least that's what she had thought. As she replayed Vanessa's words and some of her actions over the past few days, she realised that her roommate might have been on to something. Not being able to help Jay or see him had certainly made her a little harsher than normal. She hadn't realised it until now, but she would keep an eye on it going forwards.
With the thought in mind, she crept into her room to find Jay in her bed. She whispered his name, unsure if he was asleep or just had his eyes closed, but she got no response. Happy that he was finally getting some rest, she got ready for bed as quietly as she could. Part of her was worried he would wake up because he really was the lightest sleeper she had ever met, but by the time she was climbing into bed, he was still fast asleep.
She kept her eyes on him for a minute as they adjusted to the dark of the room. As much as she wanted to cuddle up to him for a bit, she didn't want to risk waking him. So after allowing herself another minute of watching him, she placed a gentle kiss to his cheek before rolling over and drifting off to sleep; at least they would have the morning together.
Yet when Hailey awoke the next day, Jay was nowhere to be found. At first she thought he might be in the bathroom but then she spotted the note on the bedside table and felt the pang of disappointment.
Gone back to mine to change, didn't want to wake you. See you at work.