Hey friends! I've been working on this one-shot for a while and I gotta say, it makes me really excited. I think we could always use some more flirty upstead, don't you?

The title comes from the song "Daphne Blue" by The Band Camino.

Hope you enjoy!

I see shades of you when I don't want to, can't think straight since you've been gone ...Black jeans and daphne blue still make me think of you

He sees her at a club and he swears, he has never seen hair that blonde or eyes that blue. Even with the technicolor lights and the flashes of color that run through the club, she is somehow still the brightest thing.

That blonde hair, it's like gold, and it catches his eye almost immediately.

Her eyes, he does not think he has ever seen that shade of blue before, and he does not even think the ocean could hold a candle to the beauty that lay in this stranger's eyes.

They are blue like her shirt, that silky daphne blue fabric that falls off her shoulders and contrasts her skin just right. If he scans her further, he sees black skinny jeans and black boots to match, but somehow, his eyes keep making their way back up to hers.

Suddenly, he is not even sure he has ever seen color before. Maybe his whole world has always been gray, because this blue, the blue of her eyes, it is unlike anything he has ever seen.

She is so distracting he can't even focus on what he is doing and it is not until the cold liquid he is pouring starts to spill onto his skin that he is torn from his trance. As soon as the alcohol hits his hand, he snaps back into reality and he remembers why he is here.

He is not here to stare at this girl, he is here for work. Plain and simple.

The crackling of his coms in his ear grounds him and he tries to focus on pouring drinks instead of the way the blonde woman dances just a few feet in front of him. He has not seen her here at this club before, but this is only his third night working the bar, so that's not really saying much.

There is an illegal gambling ring going on in the backroom of this club and Jay likes to believe that there is no way that a girl that looks like her could know anything about it. She's probably just one of the hundreds of people in this room who are here looking for a good time. Jay, on the other hand, knows a bit too much about this crime scene and the fact that the gambling ring is being run by ex-military men gives him a good undercover in. The Intelligence Unit has been chasing this gambling ring for weeks and now, this is their shot to bust them.

So, today he is not Jay. Today he is Ryan, the new bartender. And if the bartender happens to get a little bit of information about the gambling operation in the process, that would not be the worst thing.

He has to focus. It's a big case for Intelligence and Jay can't go screwing it up because he caught a glimpse of a pretty girl. He knows this truth well, but when he sees her stop dancing and start to walk over towards the bar, he starts to feel all logic leave his body.

"A round of shots?"

Her voice is soft in the chaos of the club and it makes him involuntarily smile. Now that she is closer, he can see just how blue her eyes are and it is almost shocking because he did not know it was physically possible to have eyes in that shade.

"You got it,"

He says it a little too confidently for someone who is not a real bartender because he stumbles around for a moment trying to find the shot glasses and the alcohol to go with it. During his frenzied attempt to find the glasses, he hears a chuckle escape her lips.

"I'm assuming you're new here?"

He looks up when he finally has found the glasses and she is now leaning against the counter, elbow on the bar, her hand resting on her closed fist. She watches him intently as he moves to grab the bottle of tequila.

"What gave it away?" He asks calmly as he starts to pour the shots.

"I worked behind a counter for years," She hums. "I can tell when someone's new."

"Bartender?" He glances up at her, quickly, keeping his focus on not spilling more of the alcohol on himself.

"Something like that." She says with a breathy laugh.

For a moment, he stops pouring and focuses on her eyes and it is clear that there is a story hidden behind the bright blue, but now is neither the time nor the place to ask about it.

"Just started here," He says as he finishes off the last drink. "Guess I'm still getting used to things."

She hums at his answer but does not respond, instead turning around and waving someone over. A short brunette with a large smile pops over, head turned towards the blonde.

"Hey V," The blonde woman says. "Wanna take these shots back? I'll be there in a second."

V happily nods, sending a knowing glance between Jay and her blonde friend, before quietly taking the tray of shots. As she walks away, Jay swears he hears this V character mutter "have fun" to her friend.

And while he thinks it might do something to the racing of his heart, he knows it makes her pale cheeks burn red.

The blonde turns back to him with a nervous smile. "She's my roommate and it's her birthday. But she's also a few years younger than me and I swear if she makes me do one more shot, I might fall over."

Jay chuckles at her words. "So, you're hiding out at the bar?"

"She thought you were staring at me," The girl shrugs. "Figured I might as well use it to my advantage and sneak away for a few minutes. You can get back to your job though, I won't bother you."

Everything in him tells him to do what she says, get back to pouring drinks and working his way up, and down the bar, but he thinks there is no harm in chatting with this pretty girl who is sitting in front of him. It helps him blend in, helps it seem like he really is a bartender, like he really is Ryan.

"What's your plan when you go back over there, and she asks you about the hot bartender?" He raises his eyebrow, the cheeky tone evident in his voice, and she rolls her eyes.

"One, I never said you were hot. Two, I'll just lie and say you were some creep or something."

He scoffs playfully. "I'll have you know, I am quite the gentleman."

She leans back in her barstool and scans him up and down, weighing the truth of his words. "Oh really?"

There is a clear challenge in her voice and there is something about it, that's mysterious, enticing even, and he doesn't know why, but he wants to know more.

"Yeah," He hums, now leaning against the counter himself.

"I don't think a gentleman would flirt with a stranger without giving her his name first."

"Whoever said I was flirting?"

He raises his eyebrow and shoots her a cheeky smirk in an attempt to come off as teasing, but it is quite clear to both of them that he is in fact flirting.

"My mistake," She says softly enough that if he was not listening, he might not have heard it, but he is hanging onto every word, so he hears it loud and clear.

"Ryan."

He hates everything about the universe right now: the way the false name slips so easily out of his mouth, the way he gets a pit in his stomach knowing he is lying to her, but also knowing that it should not matter because she is a stranger.

What he hates most though, is the racing in his heart because he desperately wants her to be a stranger no more.

"Ryan," She repeats the name. "Wouldn't have pegged you for a Ryan."

He feels his body go cold with her simple comment and he is not sure if she is just messing with him or if she knows something he does not want her to know. He can't imagine her being involved in this gambling ring, but maybe that's his bias talking. Still, he goes with the first option and keeps playing along.

"Yeah, and what did you think my name was going to be?"

She pauses to think about it and he studies the way the sides of her eyes crinkle when she is deep in thought. After a moment, she just shrugs, apparently giving up. "No clue. Just not Ryan."

"Well, I hate to disappoint, but it's Ryan."

"Oh, don't worry," She says with a flirtatious smile. "You're not disappointing."

Yeah, she is definitely messing with him. Everything in him wishes he met this girl on any other night, because everything in him wants to sit here and talk to her for hours, but he knows that will not be the case. He waits with bated breath for his earpiece to crackle again and bring his attention back to the case.

"So, you're saying I'm a good distraction?" He cocks his head at her, confidence in his voice.

"You're not a bad one."

He is so lost in replaying her words over and over again that he almost does not catch the way she looks back at her group of friends. When she looks back at him, he is not sure if he is imagining things, but he thinks he sees a look of disappointment on her face.

"I should probably get back over there. Kinda rude to spend her entire birthday over here chatting up the bartender."

Everything in him wants to tell her to be rude, tell her to stay over here and keep chatting him up, but he can't find the words to say, so he gives her a breathless nod. It is as she is standing up that he realizes there is one piece of information he needs before she leaves.

"You never gave me your name-"

She turns around, a devilish smile on her face. "Guess you'll just have to distract me again later to get it."

And with that, she walks away and he loses her in the crowd.

He doesn't get a chance to distract her again that night. At some point, while she is probably celebrating with her friends, he gets swept up in a conversation with his bosses in the back and before he knows it, the night is over and the blonde girl is gone.

As he goes home that night, tired from another long day of undercover, all he can see when he goes to sleep are two blue eyes that belong to a stranger, yet feel so familiar.

After that first encounter at the club, every time he sees that same combination of blonde and blue, his heart skips a beat, thinking it could be her. He must talk to a half dozen other blonde women in the city and make a complete fool of himself, but he can't help but try to find the mysterious blonde girl he met in the club.

It's strange, how many of his thoughts this girl is now consuming. Because he does not know her name, only her colors. But her colors are beautiful, a bright gold and vibrant blue and he can't quite see color the same after her.

It's so unlike him, to be so hellbent on finding a girl he does not even know, and he is not quite sure what even got into him. Sometimes, he thinks he should just forget, but then he thinks of those blue eyes again and that same fire he had at the club is lit in his belly.

When he finally does find her, he thinks he must be losing his mind, because it is in the last place he ever thought he would see her again.

The annual police gala.

This time, she is not dressed in a flowy blue top with black skinny jeans. No, today she is in a blue polyester shirt and boxy black pants and Jay is not sure how, but she manages to make even this outfit look beyond beautiful. Her long blonde hair is not flowing over her shoulders, rather it is securely in a ponytail. But the one thing that has not changed are those eyes.

Those bright blue eyes that have shown up in his dreams during the past few weeks more times than he would care to admit.

He is in the midst of a conversation with Adam and Kevin about who knows what when he finds himself staring at her in much the same way he was at the club. She is clearly in the middle of a conversation with some cop Jay has never met and it makes him wonder what unit she could be in that he has never crossed paths with her before.

For a moment, he thinks maybe he has and he just does not remember it. But, deep down, he knows that if he has met her before, even briefly, he would remember.

And as his eyes study her, he notices that she glances his way a few too many times for it to be a coincidence and before he knows it, she is wrapping up her conversation with the stranger and making her way over to him.

"Excuse me guys," He whispers to Adam and Kevin, still not the faintest idea what they are talking about, his eyes trained on those of a certain blonde police officer making her way over to him. He nods over to the bar, a few feet away from his friends, and she diverts her path that way.

"This your day job?" She chuckles when he is in earshot, making him roll his eyes.

"As glamorous as the job at the club is, it doesn't pay well," Jay says with a shrug of his shoulders. "Gotta pay rent, you know?

She hums knowingly, glancing at his uniform and the badge on his chest. "So, you close the case?"

"Two days after I met you," He tells her and he might be mistaken, but he thinks he can see the faintest glimpse of a smile.

"Knew you weren't a real bartender," She raises her attention from his badge to his face and he is once again struck with just how blue her eyes are.

"What gave it away?

"You mean besides the fact you were terrible at it?" She teases, a sparkle in her eye. He just laughs at her joke, feeling a mixture of relief from the fact she is not mad that he lied about who he was and excitement because she is really here and he really is getting a second chance with her.

"So," She says, pulling him from his thoughts, "You have a real name? Because now I know it's not Ryan."

Jay chuckles. "Gotta be honest, you kinda freaked me out when you made a comment about my name not being Ryan. Thought I got made."

There is no denying the smile now or the little laugh that escapes her lips along with it. "I must have given you a heart attack, huh?"

She did, for more reason than one.

"It's Jay."

She raises an eyebrow in confusion, although the knowing smirk on her face tells a different story.

"My name is Jay."

She nods and scans his uniform once again, eyes landing on the golden tag on his chest. "Jay Halstead...now that sounds like your real name."

He leans against the bar and sends her a flirty smile. "I remember something about getting your name if I distracted you again."

"Oh, this is you distracting me?"

It's a clear challenge, one he is ready to win.

"I mean if you want to go talk to another boring Sergeant who is going to tell you how they did policing back in their day I can-"

"Kelly," She cuts him off with an amused chuckle. "I'm Kelly."

There is something in the way she says it that is just...off. He glances down at the tag pinned to her chest, the gold rectangle where the name "Upton" is neatly engraved, and looks back up at her, skeptically. "Kelly Upton?"

It's faint, but the corners of her lips curl up in the smallest of smiles and those blue eyes twinkle mischievously. "Yup."

"You don't look like a Kelly," He repeats her phrase from back at the club and it's undeniable the way her face scrunches up in amusement.

"Yeah, well you didn't look like a Ryan, so-"

"So, because I gave you a fake name you're doing the same?"

She shrugs nonchalantly, not even aware of the power she holds over him, and he just shakes his head. "You know, I can look your name up in the CPD database, right?"

"Yeah, but you're not going to," She says simply.

"Oh yeah?" He challenges. "And why's that?"

"It's no fun."

She's a mystery, this Upton girl, with her wit and ocean blue eyes, and Jay has never been more thankful that he is a detective, because he would quite like to figure her out.

"If I guess your name, will you tell me?"

"I'll tell you what," She sits down on one of the stools at the bar and cocks her head at him. "Have a drink with me and maybe I'll tell you."

He grins slightly as he takes the seat next to her. "I'm not off the clock yet-"

"Never said it had to be alcohol."

He shakes his head as he waves down the server behind the bar and asks for two waters. He watches as she drums her fingers lightly against the bar, her gaze on the room around them. There are politicians making small talk with other city officials and many cops who clearly do not want to be there, but have to be, and there is a small, satisfied smile on her face as she watches it all unfold.

"You hate these things, don't you?" Jay chuckles as the server pushes two glasses of water in front of them. She looks at him and reaches for her water, taking a slow sip before answering.

"Least favorite part of being a cop is these things," She says with a small laugh. "Whoever thought it was a good idea to take a bunch of action-obsessed cops and put them all in a room where they have to sit still and be all sophisticated was an idiot."

He chuckles at her long-winded explanation of the event. "At least there's free booze."

"That we can't drink until we are off the clock," She reminds him. "And I don't know about you, but I don't plan on staying here longer than I have to."

"So, you're not going to stay and have a real drink with me?" He leans forward, a flirtatious look on his face.

It's barely noticeable, but she leans forward too, just enough, and says softly, "Guess you'll have to convince me to stay."

Her words are playful and her eyes are dark and he just wishes that they were anywhere else but here, that he could know her real name and he could properly convince her to stay.

"So, Kelly," He emphasizes her name, making her smile that damn smile he does not think he will ever be able to get out of his brain, not that he particularly wants to. "What are the odds you tell me what unit you work for?"

"Pretty slim,"

"So, tell me something else. Something real."

She eyes him suspiciously and he knows that this girl could lie to him right now and he would not know the wiser. But he likes how he feels when he is with her and he likes how her voice sounds in his ears, so he asks her to tell him a story.

"I'm from Greektown," She says softly. "Moved there when I was eleven. Worked at my parents' diner after school."

He does not know how it's possible, but he knows, deep down, that it's not a lie. Maybe it's his detective skills or maybe there is some connection here, but he just knows.

"That the counter you worked?" He asks, referencing their first conversation at the club.

"You remembered?" She seems genuinely surprised, but honestly, how could he forget.

He just shrugs though, keeping things casual, not wanting her to know how many of his thoughts she has inhabited since that first conversation.

He can't tell her how he has seen her smile and how he has heard her laugh. And he most certainly can't tell her that he has memorized the blue of her eyes.

He used to like dark colors: black, brown, gray. But after he met her, he swears, all he can think about is blue.

"Can I ask you something?" He murmurs, grinning a little.

She gives him a silent nod and he bites his lip before continuing. "That night at the club...did your friend say something when you went back?"

She lets out a laugh that is a little too loud for the formality of this setting, but thankfully, no one seems to mind. "When I told her I didn't have your number, she almost went over to the bar and asked you for it herself."

"For her or for you?"

Her eyebrow raises at his question because they both know who the number was for. She laughs a little, the sweet sound making his heart race a bit more, before he says, "I would have given it to her."

"Oh really?"

He is quiet, but he shoots her a glance that reads as "What can I say?" because it's not like he is hiding the fact that he is interested, that he would give her his number in a heartbeat.

Jay has never been one to be a fool for a pretty girl he met in a club. But, then there is her, who has his brain fixated on the color of her eyes and the warmth of her laugh. There is something in her that's magnetic, that Jay can't quite explain.

"You gonna ask for my number tonight?" She teases and he scans her face for any indication that she wants him to ask.

Maybe he is reading into things, but he thinks he sees it.

"You keep distracting me from having to talk to some boring politicians and maybe I will."

"Oh, you're impossible,"

He thought maybe it was her eyes that made her so magnetic, but maybe it's just her. The way she makes him laugh, the confidence she exudes, the way she is so sure of herself.

"How am I doing with earning that name?" He asks, making her laugh.

"You're getting closer," She teases. "Maybe I'll start giving you letters, see if you can spell it out."

"Well, I am a detective-" He informs her, quite cheekily, and she purses her lips together, sending him an impressed look.

"So, it's Detective Halstead? She says with a smile. "Here I thought you were spending your days handing out traffic tickets."

He laughs at her assumption. "Close actually. I'm in Intelligence."

Her eyes widen at his confession, clearly having heard of his well-known unit. It's not a secret that it's one of the most sought-after units in the CPD, the one that sees endless action.

"You trying to impress me with that little detail?"

"Is it working?" He asks with a devilish smirk.

She shrugs. "It's not not working."

He is just about to respond when Adam's voice pulls him out of the bubble he has built with Upton. Jay jumps a little as the other officer calls his name, quickly turning his attention to Adam, who is running up to the bar.

"Hey man, sorry to interrupt, but we gotta fired nearby."

The words are barely out of Adam's mouth by the time he is running off to grab the rest of the unit, leaving Jay alone with Upton, frazzled.

"Go."

"I-" He doesn't know what to say, because he wants nothing more than to sit with her all night, but the universe clearly won't allow that.

"Jay, go." She says again, firmer this time. "I get it. Be safe, okay?"

He gives her an appreciative smile before grabbing his jacket and throwing it around his shoulders quickly. As he is walking off, he hears her call out his name.

"Jay!"

He turns around and is greeted by a soft smile on her face, making him instinctively relax.

"I'll see you."

Yes, she will. And maybe when he sees her again, he'll get a name to go with those blue eyes.

He doesn't look up her name. He knows he could, it would be so simple and it would satisfy the growing curiosity in his mind, but something about it does not feel right. Every time he lingers a little too long on the CPD employee database webpage, he hears her sweet voice telling him to be safe and that he will see her again and he closes the form before he can go any further.

But just because he does not know her name does not mean he does not look for her. It feels like he is losing his mind because he definitely is seeing her everywhere. He sees a blonde girl dressed in blue at the grocery store and he almost yells out "Kelly" before the woman turns and he sees she has the wrong color eyes. He thinks he sees her while he is driving home one night, but it is just his mind playing tricks on him, showing him what he wants to see.

He does see her one day while he is running in the park. It takes him a few seconds to even register that it is her because there have been so many times in the past few weeks that he thought it was her and it was just his imagination.

But this time, he knows it's her. That long blonde hair is up in a high ponytail and she's got a blue tank top on that resembles the color of the top she wore the first night in the club and even though she is far away, he knows those eyes.

Those blue eyes have not left him since he first met her.

But as quickly as he sees her, she is gone. He scans the park, but he can't find her again and it feels like a cruel irony that she keeps popping up just to leave again.

He thinks that maybe that is all she will ever be - a flash of bright blue in the gray of his world and that he won't get to hold onto the blue long enough to appreciate its color.

It's funny how the universe works though because just when he has lost all hope of seeing the girl with the blue eyes ever again, she walks back into his world and he is struck with the bright colors all over again.

He is at a crime scene with Voight and Kim, the trio standing in the middle of a credit union that fell victim to a robbery just an hour before. It is while Voight is running through next steps that Jay hears that familiar voice.

Of course, she's in blue, because the universe is funny like that. She's got a black blazer on with a light blue shirt and her hair is pulled back yet again. She looks professional, powerful and she does not even seem to notice Jay's presence as she commands the scene.

"I need you outside to move the yellow tape back 50 yards and roll in the crime lab," She confidently orders a parole officer.

"All right, but-"

"Now."

She is beautiful, she is confident, and Jay has to bite his lip to keep from smiling because it's her and she is here.

She walks up to the trio from Intelligence and if she is thrown off by seeing Jay, she does a good job at hiding it.

"Detective Upton. Robbery-Homicide."

So, she's a detective. He thought she might be, from her confidence and her quick wit, but he was not sure. But now, so many little details from their previous encounters all start to make a little more sense.

"Hank Voight. Intelligence."

"Well, I appreciate the help, Sergeant, but as of now, this is my scene."

Voight smirks a bit and normally, Jay would be on the side of his boss, but right now, he is mesmerized by the way she dominates the room.

"My team recovered evidence and saved a woman's life. We're running point."

She completely ignores Voight's words, instead turning to another patrol officer and saying, "Make sure those shell casings are photo'd, bagged, and tagged."

When she turns back to Voight, she is calm but firm. "I've been after this crew for the last three weeks."

"Then why did my team respond first?" Hank challenges.

Upton clearly knows about Intelligence, she knows about Hank, but still, she does not back down.

"I'm from Robbery-Homicide. There's been a robbery and a homicide here. So, I'd appreciate it if you vacated my crime scene."

And with that, Upton takes a step past Jay, but not without shooting him a knowing look, to which he can't help but smirk.

Voight shakes his head and mumbles something under his breath before telling Kim and Jay to meet him back at the district. As Voight walks out, Jay leans over to Kim and whispers, "Hey, I'll meet you out at the car. I just need to talk to someone real quick."

Kim does not argue and walks out of the bank. Jay goes to lean against a wall, a few feet from where Upton is standing, watching her talk to a few patrol officers about the state of the bank. It is clear that she sees him, but she is unfazed by his presence, too focused on doing her job.

However, when she finishes her conversation with the patrol officers, she slips away from the crowd and makes her way over to Jay, a smile on her face.

"You stalking me now?"

"I'm sorry, you stole my crime scene." He teases as she comes to stand in front of him.

"Once again, there was a robbery and a homicide."

"So, you're a detective?" He nods to the badge pinned around her waist.

"I am," She confirms. "And so are you. Which begs the question, did you use your detective skills since the last time we saw each other?"

He laughs a little as the corners of his lips curl up in a smile. He looks down, nervously, before glancing back at her. "No, I didn't. Didn't seem right."

She hums warmly before glancing back to scan the scene around her. Jay knows it won't be too much longer until she needs to slip away, so he takes every moment he can get.

"Hailey." She says when she turns back to him.

"What?"

"My name is Hailey."

Hailey.

He has run through dozens of names through the past few weeks, trying to figure out what hers could be, but Hailey? Hailey is it.

Hailey Upton, with the bright blue eyes and the bold personality. It all fits.

"Well, it's nice to officially meet you, Hailey."

She smiles, the grin reaching up to her eyes. "Look, I should get back to work. But it was really-"

"Go out with me." Jay cuts her off.

She exhales slowly, clearly surprised by his words. Her mouth moves in an attempt to respond, but no noise comes out.

"Look, Hailey, I'm going to be straight with you and say I've thought about you a lot since the night in the club," He explains. "I just don't want to keep doing this whole 'waiting until the next time we run into each other' thing. Maybe I'm crazy, but I feel like there's something here. And, I would very much like to get to know you."

There is a pause and he immediately starts over-analyzing all of his words, before she smiles that smile that somehow continues to simultaneously calm him down and excite him. "You realize you're asking me out at a crime scene, correct?"

"I didn't want to risk us walking away and not running into each other again," Jay rambles. "Look, if it's unprofessional or you're not interested, say the word and I-"

"Jay," She interrupts him.

"Yeah?"

"Give me your phone," She instructs him and he quietly does what he is told, unlocking his phone and handing it over to her.

She is quiet for a moment as she taps away at his screen, quickly locking it and handing it back to him. "I can't promise what my hours are going to be like with the case, but give me a call."

And just like the night in the club, she slips away quietly, leaving him breathless.

Only this time, as he walks out to the car to meet Kim and drive back to the district, the blue eyes he can't get out of his mind are attached to a name.

Hailey.

Her name sounds sweet and bright, just the same way her eyes look. And the idea of seeing her again, well, it makes his world a little brighter.

He becomes well acquainted with the blue of her eyes. He gets to see how they sparkle when she laughs, how they dart to the side when she is nervous, how they glisten with tears when she is sad.

He learns about her other colors too. Like, the way her cheeks tint red when he tells her she is beautiful or the way she looks in a black dress when he surprises her with a night out. He gets to see firsthand how beautiful she looks, first thing in the morning, clad in one of his old gray t-shirts and how her golden blonde hair looks sprawled out on his pillows. He spends hours memorizing the porcelain shade of her skin, always wanting to study her colors more.

Blue will probably always be his favorite, though. The way she looks in black jeans and a daphne blue shirt or even the way she seems to make formal police blues look like the most beautiful thing in the world.

But the blue of her eyes? That bright bold blue that caught his attention the first night at the club and never let go? That will always be his favorite color of her.

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