Y'all can we take a moment to appreciate the beautiful blessing that was 8x11. I am still overwhelmed by how good that episode was. I won't spoil anything for our friends that have not seen it yet, but it certainly one of my new favorite episodes.

Speaking of favorites, I think this is one of my favorite chapters. When I initially turned this fic into a multi-chapter story versus the oneshot it was supposed to be (lol just thinking about that now makes me laugh) the ending scene of this chapter was one of the first ones I envisioned. So, I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

As always, thank you for your continued support. It means the world. I hope you enjoy Chapter 8.

As the time passes, they start to develop a routine. He can't quite put his finger on it, but somehow, they slip into a new rhythm. She spends her days at doctors' appointments and physical therapy and he spends his days at work. She starts spending more time with people who are not him and he is thankful that her little world is growing. Despite the connection they still have, he knows it is not good if he is the only person she has to lean on. If she is going to get through this, she needs people besides him. Stella takes her to doctors' appointments during her days off and the girls often get lunch and sometimes even meet up with Sylvie and Gianna. Hailey starts to get closer with Kim, Kevin, and Adam, and the team starts trying to get all together once a week, depending on their case schedule and Kim's ability to find a babysitter for Makayla.

Vanessa somehow even manages to get one twenty-minute Facetime call to Hailey a little over two and a half weeks into her healing. Jay just happens to be at Hailey's apartment when she gets the call. He is dropping Hailey off after yet another doctor's appointment and she invites him in for dinner and while they were in the middle of their meal, she gets the call.

Watching her slow interaction with Vanessa is almost an out-of-body experience. He assumes that is what their first interaction after her memory loss looked like. Slightly awkward, unsure, but still, there was some connection.

Within a few minutes, Vanessa has her laughing in a way Jay has not heard in a while. Jay chats with Vanessa for a minute or two at the beginning of the call, but for the most part, he hangs back, cleaning up the kitchen while Hailey talks in the living room. He tries not to eavesdrop, but the apartment is small and he hears Vanessa tell her some stories from their roommate days. Vanessa even sneaks in a teasing joke or two about how of course Jay is currently at her apartment and he can't see Hailey's face, but he likes to believe she might be blushing. Overall, he is very thankful that the young officer inevitably talked her UC hander's ear off until he gave her access to a secure phone to call Hailey.

Every now and then, at the end of the day, he comes over for dinner and spends an hour or two with her before going back to his apartment. It starts as once or twice a week, but at one point, she starts to ask him over more, and now, he swears he is having dinner at her apartment at least half of the nights of the week. She starts to appear even more comfortable with him, joking and teasing and laughing just like old times. They stop focusing so much on the memories and they focus a little more on themselves and somehow, that helps.

The dinners are friendly. They talk about their days and what they did. He tells her about work and all the antics the gang is getting into without her. Hailey laughs when he tells her stories about how much Adam hated being on desk duty for the few days after the bombing and how the whole team teases Jay because he misses his normal partner.

She tells him how much she despises physical therapy and the countless tests the doctors have to run every time she walks into the hospital. Doctor Charles is still meeting with her almost every day to work on different cognitive tasks and process the difficulty of not being able to remember anything.

"He's super nice, don't get me wrong," Hailey tells him on Friday night in between bites of her pasta. "But I don't really know what he wants me to tell him. It's not like I remember anything."

Jay lets out an amused huff. "I think that's the point. He probably wants to help with all the frustration that comes with not remembering anything."

Hailey gives a small nod in agreement as she takes her last bite. "I guess. And I appreciate it. It just gets to be a lot sometimes."

"How long do you have to do the daily sessions?" Jay asks, standing up and grabbing their plates. He walks into her small kitchen and puts them in the dishwasher like he has countless nights before. It feels so routine to him, but he does not miss the appreciative look on Hailey's face as he does so.

"Don't know. PT is a couple of times a week for at least two more weeks and then I'll drop down to once or twice a week." She explains as she hops out of her chair and comes to lean against the other side of the kitchen island. "Doc Charles said he wants to meet pretty frequently until the memories come back."

Jay raises an eyebrow at her in question as he pops a detergent packet into the dishwasher and presses start. "He say anything about when he thinks they'll come back?"

Hailey shrugs. "He said I'm doing better than most would be doing at this point, but it's still kinda hard to pinpoint. He is hopeful that they'll be back in the next few weeks. Some spontaneous plasticity thing-"

"Spontaneous recovery," He corrects her as he moves to lean against the fridge. "It has to do with brain plasticity. The neural networks in the brain-

"I'm sorry, which Halstead am I talking to?" She cuts him off with a giggle. "The cop or the doctor?"

"Will told me this!" He defends himself with a laugh, crossing his arms. "Plus I may have Googled some things."

"Oh great, so now my medical advice is coming from the internet." She rolls her eyes.

"Excuse me for trying to be supportive. Next time you have an injury, I'll just sit around and be clueless."

She shakes her head playfully at him. "What did you learn?"

"Every case of amnesia is different." He tells her simply, remembering the several medical journals and websites he scoured through in the past few days. "Sometimes the memories come back spontaneously, sometimes they are progressive. Like the person just randomly starts remembering little things. It all just depends. Some people's memory comes back after a few weeks, some people it takes a few months, some people-"

"Some people's memories don't come back." She finishes his sentence.

Her words linger in the air. It's the unspoken truth that no one wants to face. Sometimes the memories just don't come back.

"That's not gonna happen, Hailey." He assures her softly, taking a step away from the fridge, but still keeping a fair amount of room between them.

"You got a lot of faith, you know that?" She chuckles sardonically, shaking her head.

"I've got a lot of faith in you, yeah."

If it were anyone else, he doesn't think he would have so much faith. But it's Hailey and she is a fighter. If anyone can make it through all of this, it's her.

"Thanks, Jay."

There is something in the way she says his name tonight, it sounds familiar. It sounds like how she used to say it when she knew she loved him.

They have a little more small talk, confirming their plans for the next day. Hailey has yet another day of doctors' appointments and it is Jay's day to drive her. No one argued when Jay volunteered to take her to her appointments on weekends, his days off. Jay hates that he can't always take her to appointments throughout the week, so he is more than willing to take what he can get.

He leaves her apartment a little bit before 8:00 pm. It is still hard leaving her every night, but he keeps telling himself that each time he leaves, it is one night closer to her remembering. And when that happens, he won't have to leave anymore.

His leg is bouncing so much he swears he has to hold it down to make it stop. Hailey's physical therapy appointment was supposed to end ten minutes ago and he can't help but feel nervous that she is not out yet. He is waiting for her in the waiting area of the physical therapy wing of the hospital. She told him he did not have to wait in the hospital for the entirety of her appointments, but he told her there was nowhere else he would rather be. He grabbed a bite to eat with Will during his lunch break while Hailey met with Dr. Charles and now he is waiting for her to finish her physical therapy session.

While he loves all of their friends that work at the hospital, he is thankful that none of them have a reason to come to the physical therapy wing. He does not know if he could have gotten through the last two hours if he constantly had to give updates on Hailey and try to convince everyone that he is fine.

It has been a little over three weeks since the initial injury and Jay is just starting to actually get to the point where he is fine. He is not great and he wishes more than anything that her memories would come back right this instant, but he has accepted that this is how things are going to be for a little while. He is incredibly lucky that this version of Hailey is willing to spend so much time with him and get to know him, so he is going to make the most of it.

He is pulled out of his thoughts when he sees a blonde ball of energy making her way down the hall, a large smile on her face. She is dressed in black leggings and a gray athletic quarter-zip, her long blonde hair pulled high in a ponytail. Her doctor is just a few inches away from her, talking to Hailey as they walk towards the waiting area.

"Hey," Jay says to her as he stands, giving a polite nod to the doctor.

"She's doing great." The doctor says with a proud grin. "Quite the firecracker this one."

Doesn't he know it?

"You the partner?" The doctor asks. It's an innocent question, but it makes Jay raise his eyebrow suspiciously at Hailey for a moment.

"Yeah, Detective Halstead."

The middle-aged doctor smiles at him warmly. "Well, I'm sure Hailey keeps you on your toes at work." She turns to Hailey, resting a hand on her shoulder. "You did good today. Remember to ice tonight and stretch tomorrow. And I will see you Monday."

Hailey nods at the doctor's instruction. As the woman leaves them alone and they start slowly strolling out of the hospital, Jay bumps Hailey's good side lightly. "So, you've told your doctor about me, huh?"

Hailey rolls her eyes as they get on the elevator. "In my defense, I knew the names of a solid three people when I started working with her."

"And here I thought I was special."

"Oh, you're something."

The bantering feels so familiar. It feels like they are getting on the elevator at Med after interviewing a witness and she is teasing him about something because that is just part of their thing. She always has that same, cheesy smile when she teases him. It's the smile that he always just wants to kiss off her face. And in the past few months, if they were alone, that has been exactly what he has done.

Except for today, he can't do that. So he just gives off a hearty laugh as they step off the elevator and make their way to his truck and settle in for the drive.

"Where are you going?" She asks as he turns right out of the parking lot. He glances at her quickly, a questioning look on his face as he tries to mask his growing grin, before quickly returning his eyes to the road.

"I know that I'm struggling with the whole memory thing, but I'm pretty sure this is not the way to go back to my apartment."

He lets out a breathy laugh. "Anyone ever told you that you should have been a detective?"

Out of the corner of his eye, he can see her make a less than amused look at his joke. "I'm serious."

"I'm taking you somewhere."

He can feel the way she stares at him, waiting for him to elaborate before she lets out an exasperated sigh. "You aren't kidnapping me, are you?"

"No, don't think so." They come to a stop at a red light and he takes a long moment to look at her, that familiar slightly skeptical face she gets every time he tries to surprise her on full display. "You trust me?"

"Yeah."

Her answer is quick and she sounds certain. It makes Jay's heart flutter, just how ready she is to trust him.

"Good."

"The riverwalk?" Hailey says questioningly as they arrive at their destination.

It was a short drive over to the riverwalk from Med and the entire time, Hailey kept asking questions about where they were going. She unsuccessfully tried several times to guess, but every time Jay kept his mouth shut and just shook his head. A few times, he told her to just be patient, earning him an annoyed eye roll or groan.

But as they leave the truck and make their way to the walking path next to the river, all of those eye rolls seem so worth it.

"It's one of your favorite places." He explains as they walk. "You always tell me how you like all of the lights and the water."

She hums softly, taking in the views of the city. He wonders if she is thinking of the last time she remembers coming here, over seven years ago, and if it all looks the same to her. She told him once, on their real date to be exact, how much she liked the riverwalk. After knowing each other for four years, there were only so many typical first-date questions that they could run through. So, he asked her what her favorite spot in the city was and she said here. She went there as a child and then as a teen and she still went now, as an adult. She found the water soothing and she liked how the wind felt on her face.

There are many people buzzing around on this warm Chicago day and to most, it might be overwhelming, but Hailey just stares at the calmness of the water as they walk.

"It's pretty," She whispers. She gazes at the water for a little while longer before looking up at him. "We come here a lot?"

"Yeah. We take a lot of walks here at night."

She nods and they keep walking, letting the sounds and sights of the city envelope them. It feels like so many nights before. Walks they have taken after a date, when they were not quite ready to go back home for the night, and strolls they have taken when they just wanted to talk. These nights normally consisted of light conversation and teasing, of Hailey holding his hand tight and him watching her as she took in the city lights.

It was always one of her favorite places, but it slowly became one of his favorites as well.

They come to a stop as she leans against the railing, looking down at the blue water below. "Why did you bring me here?"

"It's one of your favorite-"

"I got that part," She cuts him off gently, bringing her eyes up from the water to look at him. "But why did you bring me here today?

He sighs and rests his back against the railing, his body just a few inches from hers. "You used to always say you found the water calming. I just figured between all the hospital visits and the stress with the memories you could use a little calm."

She hums and turns back to look at the city around them. "You know me pretty well, huh?"

"Hailey, if I overstepped-"

"Tell me something else about me."

He looks at her, confused, and she lets out a sigh as she turns her head to look at him again. "You told me about everyone else. You told me about us. But I don't really know much about me besides all the work stuff and the stuff with my family."

"What do you want to know?"

Hailey starts slowly walking again, motioning for him to walk alongside her. "What's my favorite color?"

It's a weird first question to go to, but he humors her, immediately knowing the answer. "Yellow."

She gives an amused chuckle. "I would have thought green."

He grins because he knows she is referring to the color of his eyes, but he doesn't say a word.

"You like coffee." He continues. "Actually, like might be a bit of an understatement. You live off of coffee."

"Yeah?"

"Oh yeah," Jay tells her with a laugh. "You also have the most ridiculous sweet tooth."

"Something tells me you are a bit of a health nut?" She asks in a teasing tone, causing him to shake his head. It is something she has joked about since before they started dating, his so-called health obsession. He would normally tell her that just because he did not eat processed garbage like she did that did not make him a health nut, but she never budged.

"You seemed to think so. But you and I used to eat a lot of takeout so I'm not sure how healthy I really was."

She lets out a breathy laugh at his words, keeping her eyes on the walking path.

"You like hiking and being outdoors. And dogs. You really like dogs." He starts to list random things about her, noticing a smile growing on her face as he continues to add to the list. "You like Netflix and music and going to the bar with our friends."

"I liked dogs as a kid," She murmurs happily. "I always said when I was older, I was gonna get a dog. I have no clue why I never did."

"Probably the crazy hours we work in Intelligence," Jay suggests.

Hailey gives a small nod, her eyes still ahead on the path. "Tell me something else. Not work-related."

He scours his brain for random tidbits of Hailey Upton trivia, trying to think of things that have happened in the past few years that might interest her.

"You liked dirt biking as a kid."

Hailey looks at him with an amused face. "I still have memories from my childhood, remember?"

"I know," Jay chuckles. "You still like dirt biking though. About a year ago, we somehow convinced Adam, Kev, and Kim that a good weekend activity would be dirt biking about an hour north of here."

"No!"

"Yes!" He laughs as he starts recounting the memory to her. None of them dared to tell Voight about their weekend plans, because they knew he probably would not be on board with every member of his team doing an activity that could result in potential injury. But, the conversation of dirt biking came up one day while Hailey and Jay were doing surveillance and after that, they thought it would be a nice team bonding day, despite the risk of injury.

Adam was all for it, while Kevin and Kim were a little more hesitant. They spent hours dirt biking through the Northern Illinois woods, with minimal injuries thankfully. He tells her about how Adam kept randomly screaming from excitement and how Kim was terrified at first, but when she finally got the hang of it, they were all so proud of her. When he gets to the part of the story where Hailey challenged him to a race and beat him by a landslide, a huge grin is on her face.

"I grew up with two brothers," Hailey tells him as they find their way to a bench and sit down. They still have a clear view of the river and the walking path, and they can see many fellow Chicagoans walking by, enjoying their day. "No offense, Halstead, you're nothing compared to them."

"Pretty sure that's what you said when you beat me."

She lets out a loud belly laugh. "Sounds like me."

He tells her another story about Kevin's birthday about two years back, where they all got a little too drunk and Adam accidentally called Trudy in a drunken haze. She is in a fit of giggles as he explains that even while they were severely inebriated, Hailey and Kim acted as the voice of reason and were convinced they were going to lose their jobs.

They stay on the bench at the riverwalk for a while as he tells her a few more stories. As time passes on, he eventually asks her to tell him a story of her own. She raises an eyebrow at him skeptically and kindly reminds him that her memories are gone.

"Just your memories from the past few years." He corrects her. "Tell me something else. Anything you remember, I want to hear."

She tells him one or two stories from her patrol days that she remembers enough of the details about for the story to make sense. He does not tell her that he has already heard these stories, instead, he just listens intently as if he was hearing the stories for the first time.

As they exchange stories, it does not feel like he is talking to his girlfriend who has lost all of her memories. It feels like he is talking to an old friend and they are just sharing stories about their lives.

It feels normal.

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See you for Chapter 9! Thanks again for reading :)