A/N: Hey! Wow, it's been forever! I'm back with another one shot and this one is set during 6.14 where Hailey and Kim are kidnapped. Always thought they missed some great Upstead scenes so I tried to write them... hope you guys like it!

"Boss, we found them. We need an EMT right now."

Adam's words through the radio seemed to reverberate through Jay's head. His steps, which only a moment ago had been determined and fast, faltered as the words registered with Jay. He felt an endless relief, like a weight had been lifted off his body, at the fact that they had found Kim and Hailey. But that Adam had called for an EMT put a damper on it. One of them, or both, were hurt. All day, ever since they had disappeared in that car, Jay had told himself that they were okay, that they could take care of themselves until they found them. He hadn't allowed himself to consider that they could be injured; he'd simply focused solely on finding them alive. And they were alive, he reminded himself. Whatever else had happened... they could overcome it.

"Thank god," Voight radioed back where he walked next to Jay. "Copy that." The sargeant started to radio for an ambulance when Jay's coms came alive with Adam's voice again.

"Jay, we need the bolt cutters down here."

A few minutes later, Jay and Voight were approaching the cabin that Adam and Antonio had described for them. A small shed on the grounds was still smoking from the fire that had drawn Adam and Antonio to Kim and Hailey's location.

At that moment, the door to the cabin opened and Kim stepped out. Her hair was ruffled, and there were angry red marks on her wrists and on her neck which made Jay's blood feel like it was boiling with anger. But she looked otherwise unharmed, which gave Jay an unsettling feeling about what he was about to walk in to see. Two people followed Kim outside; Antonio, with a firm grip around a handcuffed man, whom Jay recognized as their offender. Voight stayed to help Antonio with the arrest, while Jay proceeded into the cabin, clutching the bolt cutters as though his life depended on them.

"Adam?" he called out as he moved through the rooms.

"Down here," came Adam's reply.

Jay followed his voice to a room with a few steps leading down to it. He could only see Adam's back, where he sat on the floor next to one of two metal poles, but as he moved closer and rounded Adam he saw the blond head that was resting against Adam's chest. The sight of her face felt like a punch to Jay's stomach. It was covered in blood, so much so that he couldn't even tell where it was coming from. His eyes fell upon her hands, which were shackled to the pole by a metal chain locked around her wrists. Something shattered within him at seeing Hailey like that; bloody and bruised, a vacant expression in her eyes as though something within her had surrendered.

Jay dropped to his knees in front of the two of them. "Hailey?" he said in a whisper, his eyes flickering between her and the chain that he started working on. He wasn't sure if he even expected a reply from her, but a part of him was desperate for some confirmation that despite everything, she was okay.

"It's okay," she said weakly. "Just get me out of these chains, please." Jay flinched involuntarily at the sound of her voice; it sounded stiff and muffled, as though she had difficulty moving her face enough to articulate properly. He didn't want to think about how much pain she must be in. Having located the bearing link in the chain, Jay cut it clean in half with the bolt cutters, and the chain came undone around her hands. No longer bound by the ties, Hailey seemed to fall back against Adam even more. Jay refused to feel anything as he noticed Adam's hands slide down her arms in a reassuring manner — nothing that he could be feeling mattered right now. All that mattered was making sure that Hailey was alright.

"Can you walk?" Adam asked her concernedly.

She nodded a little. "Yeah."

Adam scooted backward on the floor to give her some room, and Jay reached out, his hands wrapping around her wrists — mindful of the scratches from the chain — as he helped her get to her feet. She seemed only a little unsteady, and was clearly favoring putting her weight on the right side of her body. As Adam approached, Jay started to let go of her arms, but Hailey squeezing his arm where she held onto him prevented him from doing so. He wasn't even sure that she put any thought into it; into who or what she was holding onto. He could imagine that all she was thinking about in that moment was getting out of the basement in which she had been hurt. And so the three of them moved out of the cabin together, Jay walking on her right side as she held onto his arm, and Adam following closely behind them, his hand on her lower back. As they exited the building, they found Kim pacing back and forth across the lawn. She looked up as she heard them come out, her expression twisting in sympathy as her eyes fell on Hailey.

"Oh, Hails," Kim sighed as she walked up to them.

Hailey let go of Jay's arm, then, and the two women of Intelligence embraced each other. Jay and Adam both stepped back to give them their moment; they were both painfully aware that they had no idea what had gone down behind those doors.

"You did it, Kim," Jay heard Hailey's muffled voice say. "You did really good." Kim just gave a shaky laugh; one that echoed of both relief and fear.

"Thank you for not leaving me back there."

Those words coming out of Hailey's mouth broke Jay's heart. Kim must've had the chance to get out, but had stayed with Hailey. He wasn't surprised that Kim had refused to leave her, but the fact that it had been an option to Hailey made his heart ache.

Kim pulled back then, and Jay could see tears building in her eyes. "I told you we'd get out, Hails," she said firmly. "You're gonna be okay now."

Hailey nodded. Then, suddenly, she was sinking to the ground. Kim caught her by the arms before Jay could get there. "Hails?" she said worriedly, lowering her friend to the ground.

"I'm— I'm okay," Hailey mumbled. "Just tired."

Adam touched his radio, his hand on Hailey's shoulder. "Hey, Sarge, how far out is the ambo?"

It was silent for a moment, and then came Voight's voice over the coms; "About two minutes out. It shouldn't be taking this long; they may need help finding their way through these woods."

"Copy that," Adam replied, and then he looked at Jay. "Alright, I'm gonna go meet the ambo."

"I'll come with," Kim offered hastily.

Adam looked concerned. "You sure?"

"Oh, I'm fine." She waved away his concern. "Just some scratches. Besides, I don't want to see this cabin for any longer than I have to."

Adam nodded, unable to argue with that. "Alright, then." And so the two of them headed off among the trees.

Jay diverted his attention back to Hailey, then, and sat down next to her on the ground. "Can I see?" he asked carefully.

Hailey turned her face toward him, then, and there was a twinkle of something like curiosity in her eyes as she watched him study her face.

He could tell that her lip was cut, and there was another small cut on her left cheek. But, touching his finger to her chin to turn her face further to the left, he could tell that the right side of her face seemed to be worst off. It was entirely covered in blood.

Jay swore quietly as he reached up to push her hair away from the right side of her face. "How bad does it hurt?" he asked her in a low voice.

"It's... kind of numb now," she admitted. "Just feels stiff." She turned her face away from him then.

"I'm sorry, Hailey." Now was not the time for Jay to ease his guilt, but he had to say something. Adam's words to him earlier that day were still playing through his mind.

There's no reason they should be in this situation. You should've been all over them.

"This should've never happened to you," Jay said darkly. "We should've been there."

Hailey gave a slight shake of her head and tilted her face towards him. "These things happen, Jay. It wasn't your fault. It's... nobody's fault but the offenders'." She was quiet for a moment. "So... what happened to the other guy?" she asked, then. "The one who went to do the buy."

Jay pressed his lips together. "He tried to run from us and... got hit by a car. He's dead."

Hailey didn't seem fazed by these news. "Good," she whispered.

Jay hesitated. "Was he the one... did he...?" He couldn't bring himself to finish the sentence, but Hailey seemed to understand, for she nodded.

"Yeah. The one with the tattoo took Kim to make a call, and I saw an opportunity." She shook her head frustratedly. "I almost had him, too."

Jay bit his lip, uncertain if he even wanted the answer to the next question that he was about to ask. "What happened?"

Hailey glanced up at him. "Uh, he... he grabbed a plank with a nail sticking out of it." Upon seeing the look on his face, she quickly added; "Don't worry, the vest protected me. I don't think it pierced my skin, but... well, that was my window of opportunity gone." She shut her eyes briefly, as though she was trying to shut something out of her mind.

"I'm sorry, Hailey, we don't have to talk about this right now..."

She placed her hand on his knee, and his words faded out. "It's okay. I'll always talk to you, Jay," she said quietly. "But right now, I'm just... so tired." She let her head down to rest on his shoulder, and Jay didn't say anything else until the ambulance arrived.

xXxXx

When Hailey got home later than evening she'd been both to the hospital and then back to the district, to pick up a few things and so that Voight could give the team some closure. He'd told them that what had happened that day could never happen again; that no criminal or case was worth it. And Hailey agreed. It had been her fault, really. Burgess hadn't been on the job as long as she had, so Hailey should've made the call. She shouldn't have let her and Kim follow the bad guys as far as they did. Hailey should've called it off, but she hadn't. She had no one else to blame for what had happened to them.

Adam had dropped her off at her house, but she'd asked him not to come inside. She needed to be alone with her thoughts and her guilt for a while. And after Kim finding out about them, she felt that they should cool it for a while. Hailey did not want to step on anyone's toes; especially Kim's, after what they had been through together that day. Hailey dropped her keys on the kitchen counter and put the pain medications that her doctor had prescribed her away in her bathroom cabinets. The x-rays had confirmed she didn't have any fractures in her face, but when the vest had prevented the nail from piercing her skin, the impact had instead bruised her ribs. Overall, her face felt stiff and sore, but it wasn't anything she hadn't been through before. She knew from experience that the worst of it would be healed in a couple of days.

Suddenly, there was a knock on her door. Frowning, she approached it, weary of opening the door to any of her neighbors with her face looking like it did. On the other hand, it was probably Adam, insisting that he had to check up on her again before he felt like he could leave.

A look through the peephole in her door, however, revealed that it was not Adam but her partner standing outside. She shouldn't have been surprised; it was part of their thing, after all, but considering that Jay had barely looked at her when they were back at the district earlier, she hadn't expected him at her door anytime soon.

She opened the door for him. "Jay?"

Jay seemed to be looking behind her, into her apartment. "Is, uh, is Adam here?"

Hailey shook her head. "No, I... I told him I wanted to be alone for a bit."

"Oh." Jay bit his lip and studied her face for a moment. "Well... I'm not going to let you be alone after all this. You know that."

Hailey sighed, but she couldn't help but smile. His concern for her made her feel warm inside. And besides, she did know that. She knew them. And if there was one thing that they were good at, it was being there for each other when the other one needed it — even if they didn't know it themselves. So Hailey simply stepped aside and invited Jay into her house.

"How are you?" he asked as he shrugged of his jacket. "What did the doctor say?"

"I'm good," Hailey insisted, for what must've been the umpteenth time that day. "No fractures."

Jay nodded sympathetically. "Want me to pour us some drinks?"

"Nah, I think I'm good, actually," Hailey said. "I had whiskey with Kim earlier."

On any other day he might've raised his eyebrows at her and Kim having drinks together, but things had changed now. The look on his face at her words showed only understanding, as though he knew that after going through what they had together that day, there was a newfound bond between them.

With a sigh, Hailey sank down on her couch. "She found out about me and Adam."

"Oh," Jay said as he sat down next to her. "How was that conversation?"

Hailey lifted a shoulder in a shrug. "She was very understanding," she told him. "Probably more than I deserve."

Jay frowned disapprovingly at that.

"I hated hiding it from everyone," Hailey explained in a quiet voice. "Especially you." She shot him an apologetic look, which he brushed off with a stern look in return that reminded her that they'd already had this conversation. Hailey sighed and continued, "I just couldn't bring myself to tell everyone. The thought of everyone knowing... well, I've been in a situation like that before and being open about it didn't seem to help me at all. In fact it did the opposite."

Jay nodded slowly. "I know you told me once that you don't date people you work with. I assumed that rule must've been there for a reason, but... I just never asked."

Hailey took a deep breath. "I dated a Sergeant in my unit a few years back. While we were together, I was meritoriously promoted for an undercover case I was working, but like I've told you before, the case was never closed and I've been under a gag order ever since." She shook her head slightly. "Since I couldn't talk about it, everyone pretty much assumed that I screwed my way to that promotion." The memory still made her blood boil in her veins; she'd never felt so belittled, so degraded and so humiliated as she had then, with everyone she worked with insinuating that she was nothing more than a sexual being. As though there was no way she, a female and a cop, had actually worked hard enough to earn that promotion.

Jay grimaced, a look of disgust on his face. "I'm sorry, Hailey. That's awful."

She shrugged a little. "I should be used to it. Being a woman in this line of work, misogyny isn't exactly new to me. But I just... I earned that promotion. It was one of the hardest cases I've ever worked and I can't even tell anyone about it." Hailey pulled a hand through her hair in heldback frustration. "Anyway, that's why I wanted me and Adam to remain a secret. I've learned the hard way that I should keep my personal things private, and... I think Kim understood that."

Jay was silent for a moment, his eyes thoughtful. "Do you think Kim still has feelings for him?"

Hailey hesitated; not because she was unsure of the answer, but because admitting it would make her feel like even worse of a friend. "Probably," she said finally.

He was watching her intently. "And Adam?"

Hailey looked down at her hands. She wasn't lying to herself, or telling herself something that wasn't true just so that she could be with Adam. She knew where he stood on Kim, and for some reason, it didn't bother her. What that said about her relationship with Adam, she didn't quite know.

"I think he would," she said slowly, "if he thought that she wanted to be with him."

Jay nodded, but didn't say anything else on the subject.

"So, how long are you gonna be away from work?" he asked her.

"Mandatory two weeks," she said sourly. "I think I might go crazy with boredom in that time."

Jay gave a laugh. "I think it's for the best."

Hailey rolled her eyes. "I'm fine. I could go back as soon as these bruises heal."

He was shaking his head slightly. "Hailey... I know what you're going through." There was something dark in his eyes now, a serious expression replacing the humorous one; an expression which Hailey recognized as the one he always got when he was referring to his time overseas. "You think you're fine, even after everything that's happened. But then it just... it just hits you. When you least expect it. And if you don't talk about it, it will hit you even harder." Jay swallowed, and seemed to snap out of whatever memory he had been stuck in, because he looked into her eyes then. "I just want you to know that I'm here for you, Hailey. If you want to talk or, just... I'm here."

Hesitantly, she reached out and took one of his hands, giving him a warm smile. "Thanks, Jay. I know." She smiled. "But you don't have to worry about me; I'm going to see a therapist before I go back to work. Just to be safe."

Jay nodded and smiled back at her. "Good. That's good."

He still seemed a bit lost in thought, so Hailey squeezed the hand that she was holding. "And the same goes for you, you know." At his raised eyebrows, she added, "I'm here for you too, if you ever need to talk. About anything."

He was quiet as he looked down at their hands for a moment, letting his thumb brush across the back of her hand. "This won't happen again, Hailey," he whispered. "I should've had your back and I won't make the same mistake ever again. I won't let anyone hurt you again."

"It's not your fault, Jay," she said softly. "It's just... part of the job. It happens. But I appreciate you saying that nonetheless. And I do trust you completely, with my life, with everything I have."

His eyes flickered between hers as he seemed to take in what she'd said. "I trust you too, Hailey. Always." The moment between them seemed to deepen as they kept gazing into each other's eyes, neither wanting to break the eye contact as words passed silently between them. Jay finally cleared his throat, then. "I should let you get some rest." He touched the bruised corner of her eye ever so gently and grimaced in sympathy. "Call me if you need anything," he said as he rose from the couch slowly. "I'll see you tomorrow."

Hailey smiled. "Thanks. See you tomorrow, Jay."