Chapter 26
Hailey's alarm went off all too early the next morning. She reached blindly for the nightstand, desperate to hit the snooze button to quiet the incessant chiming. She was saved the trouble as she felt Jay move from behind her, sitting himself up slightly to reach across and shut it off. She hummed in appreciation at the renewed silence, snuggling back down under the covers, hugging Jay's arm to her chest.
"Hailey, we have to get up," Jay said. She pulled him tighter around her in response, scoffing at the notion of getting up. He laughed at her juvenile behavior. She never liked mornings, whereas Jay had always been a morning person. He had never felt the need to hit the snooze button in his life.
Figuring Hailey needed something more enticing, Jay let his lips fall to her ear, nibbling on her earlobe before working his way down her neck. He could feel Hailey's moan with his lips pressed against her throat.
"This is a pretty mean way to wake me up when you know we can't finish this," Hailey said, sounding more awake as she rolled onto her back. She pulled his face up to hers and connected their lips, her tongue flicking against his. He rolled so he was hovering over her, his growing erection pressing against her in just the right spot. She bucked her hips off the bed against him, eliciting a groan from him at the sensation. His movements became more hurried as he was determined to prove Hailey wrong. He quickly removed her t-shirt, tossing it over the side of the bed and giving her breasts some attention, first with his hands, then his mouth. He didn't waste much time though, sitting back off of her for just long enough to pull both hers and his underwear off before pressing himself flush against her again, this time with nothing to block their direct skin contact.
He entered her quickly and fully, his hands working along with his thrusts to build her towards her climax. He was determined not to reach his before her. He sucked at a tender spot on her neck, knowing it was one of her weak spots, her moans telling him his efforts were not in vain. In a matter of moments, they both came together, satisfied smile on Jay's face at his accomplishment.
"And you said we wouldn't be able to finish," Jay teased once they had caught their breath.
Hailey laughed. "I stand corrected," she said. "Best way to wake me up." He smiled down at her in satisfaction, planting another long, sweet kiss on her lips before rolling off of her.
"Now, we really do have to get up, though," he said, standing up from the bed and walking towards the bathroom.
"Ugh, you had to ruin it," Hailey called after him, though Jay could hear that she was smiling as she said the words. She soon followed him out of bed, heading into the bathroom as he was stepping into the shower. She debated for a moment before opening the shower door and following him in. He turned in surprise, massaging shampoo into his hair.
"Relax, I've had my fill for now, we'll just save time if we do this at the same time," Hailey said, sliding past him to get under the water. He moved over for her with a smirk, finishing working the shampoo into his hair while she wet her own hair. They traded places for him to wash out his shampoo while she loaded some into her own hair, continuing the same dance for their conditioner and body wash. Jay stepped out of the shower while Hailey was rinsing off her body wash, wrapping a towel around his waist and grabbing another one for Hailey, handing it to her as she emerged. They dried off, Jay quicker than Hailey, and he tossed his towel into the hamper before heading back into the bedroom, giving Hailey an unimpeded view of his entire backside.
Hailey stayed in the bathroom, getting as much moisture out of her hair with the towel as she could before dumping it with Jay's and heading into the bedroom. He was already dressed and out of the room while she pulled clothes from her drawers and closet and pulled them on. She could hear the Keurig warming up as Jay made their morning coffee. She headed back into the bathroom to run a brush through her wet hair, knowing she didn't have time to dry it and hoping it wasn't too cold outside so her hair wouldn't freeze. She pulled it up into her signature ponytail as she emerged from the bathroom, joining Jay in the kitchen.
"How we doing on time?" Hailey asked as she accepted the steaming cup of coffee he handed her.
"We've gotta leave in five," Jay replied, sipping his own coffee. She nodded, setting the mug down on the counter as she pulled on her boots and clipped on her gun and badge. Jay came over to the door to do the same as Hailey poured their barely drank coffee into travel mugs to take with them. They pulled on their coats, grabbed their phones and keys, and headed out the door at exactly the five minute mark, celebrating their efficiency.
They parked in their usual spot at the district, heading around to go in through the front door. Platt greeted them from her post, handing out keys and radios to her patrol officers as they walked up. She beckoned them so they approached the desk, waiting for the last two officers to get their day's assignments and roll out before she turned to them.
"Morning, Sarge," Hailey greeted.
"What's up?" Jay added.
"Voight called, he'll be late today so you're in charge this morning," Trudy said to Jay. "Think you can handle that, Chuckles?"
Jay rolled his eyes. They didn't have any cases currently so it would most likely be a quiet morning spent getting ready for upcoming court cases and updating CI files. "Where is he? He didn't mention anything yesterday about being late."
"Why? Scared already? Thinking you might need to call him?" Platt asked. Jay smiled, appreciating the sergeant's antics. He stepped away from the desk, Hailey turning to follow him before being called back by the desk sergeant.
"Hey, Upton, you might want to pull your hair down. Judging by the fact that your hair is still wet, I'm guessing that's not a curling iron burn on your neck," Platt said seriously, though those that really knew her could tell there was a hint of humor in her tone.
Hailey slapped her hand down to her neck over the spot that Jay had been so focused on during this morning's activities and glanced over at Jay, an accusatory look on her face. Jay was trying to keep himself from laughing as Hailey caught up with him, smacking him on the arm before pulling her hair out of the ponytail. As he buzzed open the gate, he tried to subtly look at her neck. He wasn't sure how he had missed it this morning as it was pretty noticeable. He assumed he just must have been distracted while hurrying to get ready this morning before they had left the apartment. And it was on her right side so it had been blocked from his view in the car.
"It's that bad?!" she exclaimed, reading the expression on his face as they continued up the stairs. "How did you not see it?"
"I really don't know," Jay said, not bothering to hide his smile now. "I'm sorry." He was sorry that she would now be self-conscious about it the whole day, but for the most part he just found the whole thing amusing. He hadn't given a girl a hickey since high school, usually much more in control of his actions in the bedroom. This morning, however, he had been rushing and a little more careless than normal, only focusing on bringing her pleasure and not any repercussions such as this.
They continued their banter all the way to their desks as they were the first to arrive, hanging their coats on the backs of their chairs and firing up their computers. They hadn't even logged into the system yet when Jay's desk phone rang. He picked it up quickly and heard Platt's voice on the other end.
"Showtime, Chuckles, we've got a case for you," Platt said. "The Deputy Superintendent is specifically requesting that Intelligence handle this. There's a body out in Little Village, I'll text you the address. Looks like a drug deal gone wrong but it's the third one in that area since Friday so they're kicking it up to you guys."
"Thanks, Sarge," Jay said, hanging up. "There's a body in Little Village for us, Platt's texting the address," Jay told Hailey after he'd hung up the phone.
Hailey nodded. "I'll loop in the team, tell them to meet us there." They were back to all business; two partners immediately back in the workflow, leaving their private lives at home as they headed out to the scene.
The morning passed quickly, working the scene and then heading back to the district to start looking at pod footage in the area while patrol did knock and talks. Narcotics and homicide had sent over their case files so they were also looking through those to get caught up to speed on the other two murders.
Voight strolled into the bullpen around 2pm and Jay quickly caught him up to speed. Voight agreed with the plan of action so far and didn't give any further instruction, heading into his office and leaving the team to continue gathering information.
The rest of the day went along much the same, chasing down a few leads and developing their bulletin board. They called it a night around 7:30 after having reached out to a few CIs and being ensured that they would have more information by morning.
Jay and Hailey piled into the truck to head back to Hailey's apartment, stopping to pick up a pizza on the way.
"You know, we really need to start actually cooking every once and a while," Hailey said as they climbed out of the truck in her parking lot, pizza in her hands.
"We've cooked a few times," Jay said, walking next to her up to the building.
"A few times in over three months," Hailey said. "That's not a very good track record."
"Well, we'll get better," Jay said, taking the pizza box from her so she could fish her keys out of her pocket as they came off the elevator. Hailey walked around the corner towards her unit, stopping suddenly in her tracks. Jay nearly ran into her with the pizza box. He followed her gaze to her apartment door. There was a woman standing in front of it, blonde, middle-aged, slim build.
"Mom?" Hailey finally said, staring at the woman. The woman looked up at the sound of her voice.
The first thing Jay noticed was the striking similarity between the two women standing in the hall. If he could imagine what Hailey would look like in thirty years it would be something very similar to the woman standing across from them.
The second thing he noticed was the black eye. It looked fresh, still green-tinged before the blackness really set in. Hailey seemed to spot it at the same time as him because he heard a sigh and then she hurried down the hall towards her mother, Jay following behind slowly, unsure what she wanted him to do.
"I wasn't sure you'd recognize me," her mother said as Hailey came near her. "Haven't seen you in a while."
Hailey stood in front of her, sighed again. "Mom, I thought you said Dad stopped drinking?" Hailey asked, sadness evident in her voice.
"Yes, he had," Mrs. Upton replied. She gave her daughter a sad smile and a shrug.
Hailey stared at her mother for a moment before moving past her to open the apartment door. She held it open and gestured for her mother to come in, which she did. Jay locked eyes with Hailey, asking in their unspoken language what she wanted him to do. She hesitated for a second and then tipped her head towards the apartment, gesturing him in.
When they were all in the apartment Jay stood awkwardly inside the door as Hailey and her mom took off their coats and tossed them on the back of a living room chair.
"So, Hailey, who's your friend?" Mrs. Upton finally asked, Hailey clearly lost in her own little world.
"Sorry, Mom this is Jay Halstead, my partner... and my boyfriend." The word sounded strange coming off her tongue. She had never said it before, certainly not to her mother, but there wasn't really another word to describe what he was. She couldn't leave it at partner or friend, that would be a disservice to Jay.
"Jay, this is my mom, Anne," Hailey introduced him. Jay crossed the room to shake hands with her, holding the pizza with his left hand.
"It's nice to meet you," Jay said.
"Yes, you too," Anne Upton replied. "Good thing I surprised you here tonight or I'm sure we never would have met. My daughter has never introduced me to any of her boyfriends before."
Jay didn't really know what to say to that so he nodded and then stepped past her to place the pizza on the counter.
"Have you eaten, Mom?" Hailey asked, trying to change the subject. "We've got plenty of pizza."
"I don't have much of an appetite at the moment," her mother said, but she followed Hailey over to the counter anyway, taking a seat and allowing Jay to pass her a plate. Hailey sat down next to her as Jay poured them each a glass of water before joining them at the counter on Hailey's other side.
They ate mostly in silence, keeping the minimal conversation on light topics, avoiding the obvious elephant in the room. Once they had finished eating, Hailey and her mother moved over to the couch while Jay busied himself with packing up the leftovers and tidying up the kitchen, trying to give them as much privacy as possible in the small apartment.
"Mom, when did he start drinking again?" Jay heard Hailey ask.
"A few days ago," Mrs. Upton replied sadly. "He was doing good after his surgery, doing his physical therapy and following the diet."
"So what changed?" Hailey asked.
"Your father and Michael got into an argument about the restaurant," Anne explained. "Michael thinks it's time to sell. Your father can't take care of it and Michael doesn't want it anymore. George of course disagreed and said he would never sell his restaurant. Michael left and I thought your father had gone to bed, but the next morning I found the empty bottles in the trash. I thought I had gotten rid of all the alcohol in the house months ago."
She paused to take a breath as Hailey waited patiently for her mother to continue.
"I found more bottles every night for the past few days and then today I confronted him about it," Mrs. Upton confessed.
"Aw, Mom, you know that never works," Hailey said.
"I thought maybe it could," Anne said. "He'd only been back drinking for a few days so it wasn't nearly as much as he used to drink. He doesn't have the same tolerance."
"He'd been drinking today, before you confronted him?" Hailey asked.
Anne nodded. "He tried to deny it at first, but I showed him the bottles, and then he got mad. Said I had no right to by spying on him, that he could handle it. That it was just a few beers here and there."
"And then he hit you," Hailey stated, no question in her voice. She knew how her father got.
"Yes," Mrs. Upton admitted, her voice thick with emotion. "He apologized right away, said he didn't mean to hurt me. He only hit me the once, then went upstairs. So I left."
"Mom, do you want to press charges against him?" Hailey asked after a moment's silence.
Mrs. Upton scoffed at the idea. "I came here hoping I could spend the night at my daughter's, not to talk to a police officer," defensive edge evident in her voice.
Hailey backed off visibly, sensing the shutdown that she had seen so many times in her mother at the thought of getting her father into trouble.
"Ok, it's just, you came to me, not Michael or Danny," Hailey said. "I mean, you've never even been to my apartment before. Normally you always go to one of them."
"They have the kids, I didn't want them to see this," Anne gestured to her face.
"So what's your plan, Mom?" Hailey asked. "You're gonna stay here for a day or two and then, what, go back to Dad? I thought you didn't want to deal with this anymore?"
"I don't know," her mother said honestly. "He needs me. He still can't drive and he needs to get to his therapy and doctors appointments."
"Mom, every time you go back to him, it sends the message that you will always forgive him for doing this to you," Hailey tried to explain. "There are never any repercussions for him. Is it any wonder that he went back to this?"
"So it's my fault?" Anne asked indignantly, standing from the couch.
"No, Mom, of course not," Hailey said, keeping her seat. "I'm just saying that Dad clearly isn't changing, but you can."
Mrs. Upton sat back down with a sigh. "He's been my life for forty years," she said after a few moments.
"I know," Hailey said, for the first time reaching out tentatively to lay her hand over her mother's on the couch. Mrs. Upton flinched at the contact but didn't pull her hand away.
As Jay watched, he felt like he gained a new insight into Hailey and found himself feeling so proud of her. There had probably been a time in Hailey's life when she flinched if someone touched her too.
"I think I just need to sleep on things," Anne said after a while, squeezing Hailey's hand back for the first time. "I wouldn't mind taking a shower either."
"Sure, I'll get you something to sleep in," Hailey said, and the two women stood up. Hailey stayed holding her mother's hand for a moment before releasing it as she headed for her bedroom. She made it halfway there when suddenly there was a pounding at the door.
Hailey glanced back at her mother and then behind her to Jay, still standing in the kitchen even though he had long ago finished cleaning up their meal. He was looking at Hailey, and she knew they both had a pretty good idea who would be on the other side of that door. To confirm their suspicions, the pounding came again, this time with an accompanying voice.
"Anne, I know you're in there," George Upton's voice came through the door. "I'm sorry, I just want to talk."
Jay saw both women visibly stiffen at the sound of his voice. For Hailey especially, he knew it had been a long time since she had heard her father's voice and he could only imagine what it might now be triggering in her. He was surprised to see her moving towards the door, thinking she would just ignore it.
"Hailey," he called in warning as she reached for the door handle. She ignored him, pulling the door open to come face to face with her father.
"Dad, you shouldn't be here," Hailey said, mustering up the courage to talk to him for the first time in years for the sake of her mother.
"The hell I shouldn't," George Upton responded. "That's my wife in there! She doesn't need you filling her head with all your resentments towards me! You turned your back on this family a long time ago. That was your choice! I won't let your mother do the same!"
"Whose fault is that, Dad?!" Hailey responded, flush rising to her cheeks. "You keep going the way you're going, you're not going to have any family left! God knows you don't deserve them!"
George stepped angrily towards her into the apartment and Jay quickly moved around the counter and up next to Hailey. Mr. Upton was thrown off by this sudden strange man's presence. He stopped in his tracks, looking over at Jay.
"Who the hell are you?!" George Upton asked angrily.
"I'm Jay," Jay said calmly, trying to bring the tone of the conversation down. "Why don't we all just take it down a notch," he suggested.
"Why don't you mind your own business?" Mr. Upton suggested right back, taking a step towards Jay, his original hesitation gone.
"Sure, as soon as you calm down and take a step back," Jay instructed, focusing on keeping his voice calm. Hailey had a tough face on, but Jay could practically feel her trembling beside him. She was always so strong at work, Jay was alarmed by how quickly her father could make her feel like a scared little kid again.
George had refocused his attention on his daughter, seeming to also sense her vulnerability. He also eyed his wife behind her, standing there looking embarrassed at her husband's behavior around a stranger. They way the two Upton girls looked at him only seemed to fuel his building anger.
"Anne, let's go!" George ordered his wife.
Jay thought she was going to comply, but she surprised him by saying, "No," quietly, almost under her breath. George seemed taken aback, never having heard her refuse him before.
"Anne, now!" He tried again.
"You should go, George," Anne said, a little louder this time.
George took an angry step towards her, not willing to accept no, but Jay stepped in front of him, some of his calm demeanor gone now.
"She asked you to go," Jay said, almost nose to nose with Mr. Upton so he could smell the liquor on his breath.
"Get out of my way," George said warningly, glaring down at Jay who was a couple inches shorter than him. Hailey had moved back a step, standing halfway between her parents, seemingly torn between comforting her mother and standing up to her father.
"I'm not gonna tell you again, go," Jay ordered again, standing his ground.
The fist came suddenly and if Jay didn't have as much training as he did, it probably would have knocked him out. Thankfully, his quick reflexes kicked in and he was able to dodge the worst of the punch, receiving only a glancing blow across his eyebrow. He felt the skin split open, but he knew if he hadn't shifted his weight in time it probably would have broken his cheek or nose.
Jay got his hands up quickly while George was off balance after throwing the punch. Jay was shorter and lighter than George, but that also meant he was faster. He used George's momentum from his punch to help him as he shoved the older man up against the wall of Hailey's apartment, pinning him face first against the wall. George tried to push back against him but Jay was well-practiced in this with arresting offenders.
George struggled again, unsuccessfully. "Enough, you're done, stop fighting," Jay instructed. George stopped fighting but Jay still held him there for a moment. "You calm? You good?"
"Yeah," George said, sounding defeated. Jay slowly released him and George shook out the arm Jay had pinned at an awkward angle.
"Come on, time to go," Jay said, keeping his body between George and Hailey and her mom as he gestured towards the still open door.
George didn't argue this time, hurrying to the door and heading out to the hall. He turned back a few steps out of the apartment. Jay had followed him, standing in the doorway. George finally looked apologetic for the first time during his visit, but he didn't say anything, a pleading look in his eye. Jay slowly closed the door as Mr. Upton continued down the hall to the elevator.
It had all happened so quickly that Hailey was still in shock. The fact that her father had just thrown a punch had made her freeze, bringing all those memories that she had spent years suppressing back to the surface. It took her until Jay had closed the door for her to snap out of it, moving quickly across the room to him as he turned towards her.
Hailey reached up to touch his face, eyes unable to move from the bleeding cut above his eye, put there by her father. She had thought that part of her life was over yet here he was, causing more pain to someone she loved. She couldn't help the tears springing to her eyes, the emotion of the last hour finally overwhelming her.
"Hailey, it's alright," Jay said, his arms naturally wrapping around her despite the fact that her mother was standing in the room with them. Mrs. Upton seemed to understand that they needed a minute as she hurried towards the bathroom, closing the door behind her.
Hailey tried to blink the stinging tears out of her eyes. This was not the first time that she had felt embarrassed of her family, but the change was that she felt embarrassed herself as well, for not doing anything as her father attacked Jay.
She pulled away from him, heading over to the kitchen to grab him some ice. She heard him follow her and sit down at the counter. She brought over the ice pack, first blotting the blood away before gently holding the ice to his face.
"I'm really okay, Hailey," Jay insisted again, taking her hand and pulling it away from his face. He pulled the ice pack out of her hand, tossing it on the counter but still holding her hand in his. "You know I've had far worse." He tried for a joke but it didn't land, not that he really expected it to.
"Not from my dad," Hailey said, voice thick with emotion. "I'm sorry you got dragged into all this. I should have had you go home as soon as my mom showed up. I should've known something like this would happen."
Jay reached his free hand up to the side of her face, stroking her cheek with his thumb, catching a single tear that had fallen from her eye. "There is nowhere else I'd rather be, Hailey," he said sincerely.
Jay pulled her in towards him so she was standing between his legs as he sat on the counter stool, pulling her face down to him so their foreheads were touching. Hailey took a steadying breath against him, her free hand settling on his chest, feeling his heartbeat through his shirt, strong and steady.
Every day he seemed to give her a new reason to feel lucky she had him, and today was no different.
A/N: I think this was the longest chapter yet. Hope you guys liked it. I really enjoy exploring Hailey's past and the dynamics there. I feel like there's a lot of material to work with there.