Chapter 1

"It's been a long time... since I saw you as just my partner."

When they broke the kiss, they still held onto each other for another moment, savoring the closeness. While they always talked and spent most of their time together, both at work and in their free time, they had always kept a certain professional distance between them. Jay realized that he had never even hugged Hailey before, except for that time when they had been taking heavy fire in the back of a surveillance van. But now that he had her in his arms and realized how perfectly she fit in them, he didn't want to let her go.

Being rather shy about PDA though, and knowing that Hailey was as well, he eventually loosened his hold on her, stepping back a step but still keeping his hands on her waist. He smiled, his cheeks pinking slightly with embarrassment. She looked up into his eyes, her own still wet with tears from the boldness of her statement. Her hands had slid down from his neck and were resting gently on his biceps.

"Wow," Hailey finally said, still looking up at him and smiling. "Now what?"

Jay chuckled. "Well, now I think we should get out of this bar."

Jay finally removed his hands from her waist and turned towards the door. He didn't like the sudden loss of contact so he reached his hand back, taking hers in his own, and then continued towards the door, Hailey walking along beside him, their fingers intertwined. They were silent on the walk back to Jay's truck, but it didn't feel awkward at all despite the change in their usual dynamic. He walked her to the passenger side and reluctantly released her hand so she could climb into the truck, quickly making his own way around to the driver's side.

Hailey's house was only five minutes from the bar, and they could have easily spent the time quietly enjoying the other's company and reflecting on the night's events, but Jay had been dying to know something since the words had come out of her mouth, so he dared ask her as they pulled off down the street.

"How long is a long time?" he asked.

Hailey looked over to him, confused. "What?"

"You said it's been a long time since you saw me as just your partner," Jay said, stealing a quick glance and noticing a slight flush to her cheeks at her words being repeated back to her. "How long?"

She was quiet for a minute, pondering. "I don't think I could pinpoint an exact moment." Looking at him again, she knew this answer was not going to suffice so she continued. "I think maybe when you got shot," she finally said. "Not this last time. The first time. On Lower Wacker."

Jay was surprised. That was nearly two years ago. She really had meant a long time.

"But, then you and Ruz?" Jay questioned. He wasn't sure when exactly they had started dating, but he knew they were together after that certainly.

Hailey looked down at her lap. "Yeah. I think that only happened because I was trying to distract myself from what I was realizing about you. You know I dated my partner before, and I know your history with Lindsay. It scared me to think about going down that path again, and I didn't think you were too eager to do that either. So Adam was there and it just seemed... easier. A distraction."

Jay hadn't expected such an honest, not to mention thorough answer. He was kind of annoyed with himself for bringing up Adam. Who brings up an ex after a first kiss? But then again, they knew pretty much everything about each other, so really what else was there to talk about. Romantic relationships had always sort of been a taboo topic of conversation for them so this was really the only territory they still needed to cover.

"I don't think I even admitted it to myself though," Hailey continued. "I didn't realize he was just a distraction until towards the end of our relationship. It was during everything with Kelton I think, that I finally realized and actually admitted to myself that how I looked at you was changing."

They both were quiet for a minute. Hailey was waiting for his reaction while Jay was processing what she said. While their partnership was very strong, they were generally both people of few words, so this discussion was new territory for them as well. Jay was so grateful that she had opened up so much tonight and felt like he owed it to her to do the same.

"You caught me off guard from the very beginning," Jay admitted. "I knew from that very first case together that you were a great cop. When you moved over to Intelligence, it felt like you had always been up there with us. I knew from day one that you had my back and everyone else in the unit's. Then how you handled my whole unraveling with Camilla and everything else..." Jay sort of trailed off. They hadn't talked about any of this in a long time. How Hailey had helped him get out of a lot of trouble by intervening with Camilla, then had really pushed him to take his therapy seriously, forcing him to actually deal with things from the war for the first time. "The path I was on... Hailey, I'm not sure I'd still be alive right now if you weren't my partner."

Jay was being completely honest with her. His PTSD had been worse than ever when Hailey first joined the unit. Then everything with Camilla and her brother had made him completely spiral. Hailey had put him back together, and he became almost like the person he had been before Afghanistan.

Hailey was melting at his words. She knew that the start of their partnership had been a dark time for him, but she hadn't realized how dark, and she certainly didn't know that he attributed so much of his healing to her. Surprising herself, Hailey reached out and took the hand he had resting on the middle console. They were quiet for the last few minutes of the drive. Jay pulled up in front of the house, putting the car in park but not turning off the engine. Hailey made no move to get out of the car, nor even to release his hand.

"Do you want to come in?" she finally worked up the courage to ask, hopeful but also nervous for his response.

"You sure?" Jay asked her for the second time that night, hoping her answer would be the same as the first. He knew if he went inside that things would be forever altered between the two of them. There would be no going back. But he knew in a way that even from this point there would be no going back. Their feelings were out there and he didn't think he could ever go back to a time where he wouldn't be able to kiss or hold the woman sitting next to him.

Hailey seemed to feel the same as she suddenly leaned across the middle console and pressed her lips to his. It was unrushed, but the way her tongue teased his lips made her answer clear without her having to say anything. She broke the kiss after a moment, slightly breathless, and reached across to the ignition, turning it off and pulling out the key. Then she turned away from him and climbed out of the truck, heading to her front door and leaving Jay with no choice but to follow her, as he always had, and always would.