Chapter 1

Hailey had been home for less than an hour when the doorbell rang. She had been waiting for this to happen even though part of her had hoped she would be able to put this off for one more day. Despite the fact that she desperately wanted to see her partner, she was also worried about how he would react to the surprise she had brought home from New York.

She heard Vanessa open the door and greet Jay, his voice echoing up to her bedroom where she was busy unpacking her suitcase. She took a deep breath to steady herself before heading out of the bedroom towards the stairs. She glanced behind her to the slightly open spare bedroom door, a soft light glowing from within, before continuing down the stairs.

Jay and Vanessa were standing in the kitchen when she came down, making small talk about a case they had just wrapped at work. Jay turned when he heard the creak of the stairs signifying her approach.

"Thanks for telling me you were coming back today," Jay remarked sarcastically as she reached the bottom step.

"Sorry, it's been a crazy few days," Hailey said, quite truthfully. Her return to Chicago had come about very quickly and with everything going on she hadn't known how to tell Jay, so she had just opted not to tell him anything. She knew he would find out when she got home, either from Voight or Vanessa or some other detective skills, but she hadn't expected it to be the very same day she arrived.

Not wanting to push it, Jay walked over to her and pulled her into a quick hug. "Glad you're home," he whispered into her hair before releasing her more quickly than he would have liked.

Hailey gave him a nervous smile and then walked past him over to the kitchen counter. She glanced at Vanessa who gave her an encouraging nod.

"Well, I'm beat guys, so I'm just gonna grab a shower and head to bed," Vanessa announced as Jay moved to join Hailey sitting at the island. "See you at work, Jay."

Jay nodded in response and watched as Vanessa headed upstairs, leaving the partners alone. He turned to look at Hailey once they were completely alone.

"What's going on?" Jay asked immediately.

"What do you mean?" Hailey asked, feigning innocence.

Jay turned his head, a skeptic look in his eyes. "Hailey," he pushed. "You weren't supposed to be back for another two weeks. I'm certainly not complaining, but I would've thought you'd let me know if you were coming back early. Plus, you've been gone for almost a month and we talked pretty much every day up until last week when you went radio silent on me. I know something's up."

Hailey took a steadying breath, trying to figure out where to begin. She lost her chance though when suddenly a door banged open upstairs and the pattering of hurried footsteps came down the hall to the stairs. Jay turned expecting to see Vanessa coming down the stairs and instead finding a small child with blonde hair and blue eyes.

"Can I have some water?" the girl said before she spotted Jay sitting at the counter. She paused her descent on the last step, holding the rail as she looked around Jay to Hailey.

"Sure, but I want you to come meet my friend first," Hailey said, standing up from her seat and walking over towards the stairs. She had envisioned this moment a hundred different ways in the last few days and wondered now how it would go.

With Hailey's coaxing, the girl came down the last step and walked over to join her. Hailey turned her to face Jay, her hand resting gently on the child's shoulder.

"This is my friend Jay, who I told you about," Hailey began. "He's my partner at work." Hailey looked up from the girl to make eye contact with Jay for the first time since the girl's approach. Confusion was evident in his eyes as he looked between Hailey and the little girl who looked like mini-me. "Jay, this is Eliana. Ellie. My daughter."

Jay had been expecting this since the girl had appeared, but it still shocked him. However, being a detective who worked undercover and had to think on his feet, he recovered quickly. He bent over from his stool and reached his hand out to the little girl.

"Nice to meet you, Ellie" Jay said as she took his hand and they shook. He smiled at her, detecting that she was nervous, and was happy when she gave him a small smile of her own.

"I've seen a picture of you," Ellie said quietly, still shy.

"Oh yeah?" Jay asked, assuming she was referring to one of the pictures around the apartment.

"Mommy had a picture of you and her in her hotel," Ellie continued. "She told me about you and Vanessa and Kim and Kevin and Adam. She said you and her keep each other safe." It was strange to hear Hailey called 'Mommy' but he tried not to react to it.

"Yeah, that's the goal," Jay replied. He glanced up at Hailey. He was still reeling and he was losing the ability to come up with things to talk about with the little girl.

Thankfully, Hailey seemed to understand this and stepped in. "You said you want some water?" Hailey asked her, going back to her original reason for coming downstairs. Ellie nodded and Hailey led her over to the fridge, pulling down a plastic cup and filling it from the fridge before handing it to the little girl.

"Can I take this to my room?" Ellie asked, taking a sip.

"Sure, but start getting ready for bed," Hailey said. "Brush your teeth and put on your pajamas and I'll be up in a few minutes to tuck you in."

Ellie turned back towards the stairs, moving slowly so as not to spill the water. "Good night, Jay," Ellie said as she began to climb the stairs.

"Good night, Ellie," Jay called after her. He watched her climb the whole way up and disappear down the hall. He stayed staring at the spot she had disappeared from for a minute before slowly spinning back on the stool to face Hailey again.

Hailey was still standing by the fridge. She was nervously biting her lip, waiting for one of the thousands of questions she was sure Jay had running through his head.

"She's beautiful," was what Jay opened with, surprising Hailey. "Looks just like you." It was not lost on her that Jay had just called Hailey beautiful in a roundabout way. "How old is she?"

"Five," Hailey answered and knew that Jay was trying to do the math. "I had her about a year before I joined Intelligence."

Jay nodded, slowly processing everything. "Garrett?"

Hailey nodded. "I didn't find out I was pregnant until after Booth was in jail. Booth had already killed him."

Jay nodded again. "Does Ellie know?"

"She knows his name and that he died," Hailey replied. "I didn't have the heart to tell her the circumstances."

"No, of course," Jay agreed. He was about to ask more questions but Ellie's voice echoed down to them again.

"I'm all ready for bed," she called down the stairs.

"I'll be right up," Hailey called back. Her eyes met Jay's again. "I gotta go."

Jay nodded, standing up. "We'll talk tomorrow?" he asked. He was very grateful they had just finished up their case as tomorrow was Saturday which meant they would have the day off unless a new case came in for them.

"Yeah," Hailey replied. She knew she owed Jay a lot of answers.

Jay nodded, satisfied that he would no more tomorrow. He began heading for the door before pausing to look back at her. "Who else knows?" he asked.

"Just you and Vanessa," Hailey replied.

"Voight doesn't know?" Jay asked, surprised.

"Not yet," Hailey replied. She had followed him around the counter over to the door.

Jay nodded in response. He was about to reach for the door handle but turned back again, making two quick strides over to Hailey and pulling her into another hug. Hailey wrapped her arms around his shoulders as his squeezed her around the waist. Unlike their first hug when Vanessa had been watching, neither of them pulled away quickly this time.

"I really missed you," Jay said softly against her hair.

"Yeah, I missed you too," Hailey smiled against his chest. She really had missed Jay. They had been closer than ever before she had been sent to New York. Her biggest worry about returning with Ellie now was that things would change between her and Jay. She had thought they had been getting close to a point where their relationship might become more than just work and friendship, but now she feared that possibility would be long gone. The fact that he was hugging her so tightly right now though made her think maybe it wasn't entirely out of the realm however.

Jay finally let her go. "You should get Ellie to bed," he said with a smile. "I'll see you tomorrow."

"See you tomorrow," Hailey replied as he opened the door and headed out into the night.