Hi friends! This is a request I received over on tumblr asking for the conversation where Hailey & Jay talked about keys and how that went down so this is my take on it. It's a semi-quick one-shot full of sweet, fluffy Upstead that I think we could all use right about now. I really hope you enjoy it and would love to know what you think!

They've been doing their thing for a while now. This still sort of new, but always wonderful thing where they can touch and kiss and love one another without any hesitation or worrying over who might see them out in public.

It's been six months of this newest side of their relationship, filled with romance and affection and intimacy. Their nights ending where their mornings begin, wrapped up together amongst tangled limbs and wrinkled bedsheets cocooned away inside Hailey's apartment where they always end up.

Everything had changed since that night so many months ago where Jay had kissed his partner for the first time. They had been dancing around their feelings, thoughts of should we and could we plaguing them for too long until push came to shove and there was no more room for holding back.

Tonight isn't any different. A long day turned into a long week with a gruesome case and a promise of the next day off to recharge and rest after the hellish hours the team had faced.

Hailey lies on her couch with her head on a pillow against the armrest, her legs curled up beneath her body and a throw blanket over her. The television is on, but she's not paying any attention to the re-run of Friends that drowns out the silence of her apartment. She blinks her eyes slowly, exhaustion settling over her, and then comes a quiet knock on the door and the appearance of a soft, sleepy smile on her face because she knows who is on the other side of it.

She kicks the blanket off of her and pulls herself up off the couch to make her way to the door and when she pulls it open, she instantly smiles a tiny bit wider of a grin when she sees Jay in front of her.

"Hey you," she calls out to him, her voice soft and sleepy and matching her smiling face.

"Hi," Jay says.

A grin that matches her own spreads out over his lips and he steps over the threshold when she pulls the door open further for him. She closes it behind him and locks it up for the night, knowing full well that he's going to sleep over like he's been doing almost every night for the last several months.

"Were you sleeping?" He asks, turning around to face her, his eyes filling with concern as he glances between her and the rumpled throw blanket on the couch. "I can go back to my place and let you sleep."

Hailey shakes her head quickly, stepping toward him and snaking her arms around his waist through the front opening of his jacket. "I was just dozing. I want you here."

"You sure?"

"Positive," she tells him, pushing herself up on her toes and pressing her lips to the corner of his mouth. "You hungry? We have the rest of that deep dish in the fridge that we didn't finish last night."

"Not really. Mostly just beat. This week has been – "

"I know," she nods. She pulls her arms out from around him to reach for one of his hands and squeezes his fingers as she stares up at him. "Why don't you take a shower? Wash the day off. I'll clean up out here and meet you in the bedroom."

"You wanna join me?"

His voice is a combination of whispered, raspy syllables before he leans down to capture her lips with his in a sweet kiss.

She kisses him back quickly, pulling away just enough to meet his eyes as she says, "I took one when I got home."

"So?" He counters, a hint of a smirk peeking out.

She rolls her eyes, a playful smile on her face, and tilts her head to the bathroom. "You head in. I'll be there in a few."

He nods and pecks her lips once more before stepping away from her, pulling his arms out of the sleeves of his jacket as he does so and hanging it over the armchair near the couch. He heads into the bedroom then, disappearing behind the half open door, while Hailey tidies up the living room.

She turns off the TV, straightens up the couch, and turns off all the lights save for the overhead one above her stove and makes the short walk through the living room, shuffling into the bedroom. A soft glow from a single nightstand lamp illuminates the room and she smiles to herself when she spots her partner's boots sitting neatly on the floor next to the dresser.

The sound of the shower running echoes into the bedroom and Hailey starts stripping as she walks through the closet and enters the attached bathroom. Her eyes land on Jay in the shower stall, his back to her as he stands under the shower head rinsing his hair. She slips out of the last of her clothes, tossing them to the floor, and heads toward the stall. She pulls open the door and steps in, closing it behind her, and catches the soft smile that Jay throws to her over his shoulder.

She steps toward him and presses her front against his back, wrapping her arms around him and resting her hands over his chest. She drags her fingers over him, nails raking against his skin and following along the muscled flesh that makes up the front of his torso.

He places a hand over one of hers, wrapping his fingers around her much smaller ones and brings her hand up to his lips to press a kiss into her palm. She smiles against his back, placing her lips between his shoulder blades and kissing softly, and then he lets go of her hand and turns around in her arms.

He grins at her again with tired eyes that still somehow shine bright and green and soft the way they always do when he looks at her.

"You ready for a day off tomorrow?"

"Hell yes," Hailey breathes out. "I swear there's some criminals of Chicago Facebook group where they trade off days or something. These last couple of weeks have been awful."

"It's been hell. We definitely earned a day off, that's for sure. We're sleeping in tomorrow and getting waffles for lunch."

"Mmmhm, I like that plan," she grins.

He nods, tangling a hand through her wet hair, and drops his head to kiss her on the mouth. Their lips move over one another's slowly and lazily and she tightens her arms around his waist.

Jay steps forward, causing Hailey to step back until he has her pressed up against the tiled wall, hand still in her hair and the other clutching her hip. He swipes his tongue over her bottom lip and she opens her mouth to him, her hands gripping tighter around his back and pulling him closer against her.

He drags his lips from hers to the underside of her jaw against the pulse point of her neck in wet open mouthed kisses, a combination of his tongue and the shower head that still rains down over them.

What started as quiet mews of gratification now turns to a slur of panting as Hailey's heartbeat quickens and she turns her head at a perfect angle to fully expose the skin of her neck to him. She removes her arms out from around him, her hands slithering up his chest to hold the back of his head and the side of his neck, keeping him pressed against her as his mouth continues its slow assault over her skin.

She pulls her head back slightly after another moment, her fingers tightening through his hair and tilting his head so she can look up at him. She drags a hand to his jaw, ghosting a finger over his cheek in a path to his chin, and then the side of his mouth. He catches the tip of her finger with his lips, kissing it briefly and she smiles up at him.

"I love you, so much," Hailey breathes out.

His face splits into a wide happy grin, his eyes staring down into hers as he towers over her small frame, his hands tightening at the back of her head and around her waist in an effort to bring her closer though no space is between them.

"I love you. And I love hearing you say that," he whispers before pressing his lips against her in a succession of gentle kisses. On her lips, and then her forehead, over an eyebrow, down to her cheek, then back to the corner of her mouth and it makes her giggle softly against him.

It had been a few weeks since that morning when he'd first said the words and she'd gone running fearfully from them, from him. A few weeks since she'd broken down in front of him in the middle of her apartment and uttered them back to him in a tearful confession.

Now she's almost careless with saying them, eager to always tell him exactly how she feels for him. The fear of saying them and what the words had meant for so long had quickly developed a new meaning for her, one that had her looking forward to the future. A future filled with him and them, and a long life spent together.

Hailey pulls his head back down, fusing their lips together again and pressing her mouth against his a bit harder now and with more fervor. She moans into him when their tongues collide again and Jay holds onto her waist as he moves them to a corner of the stall and out from under the shower head. He bends a knee and presses it between her thighs, making her lift a leg to him instantly, and he holds it up over his hip. He grips the back of her thigh and supports her between his body and the wall as her hands reach down between them and guides him to where she needs him to be.

It's no frenzy and there's no rush, just a continuous movement of slow, deliberate caresses and moans that grow louder from the intimacy they share together.

When they eventually step out of the shower stall Jay reaches for a towel and wraps it around Hailey, and then grabs one for himself to throw around his waist. She grabs another towel, moving to stand in front of the mirror to wring out her hair as Jay steps up behind her. He presses his lips to her exposed shoulder, winking at her through their reflection when he pulls away a moment later and she smiles at him as he steps away to head into the bedroom.

When Hailey enters the room a few minutes later Jay is already in a pair of boxers and climbing into bed. She goes to the dresser, dropping her towel into the hamper as she passes it, and pulls out a t-shirt and a pair of underwear to put on.

She catches him staring when she turns around, a smirk tugging at the corners of his mouth, and she raises an eyebrow at him as she moves toward the bed with a teasing smile of her own on her face.

"What?"

He pushes back the sheets and the duvet for her and she crawls into bed, lying on her side next to him.

"Do you have any idea how beautiful you are?"

"Stop it," Hailey tells him, her face bearing a shy smile now as her cheeks flush a lovely shade of pink.

"It's true," Jay says as he turns to face her.

He reaches out an arm beneath the covers to drape it over her waist and sneaks his hand under her shirt. She shivers beside him as he drags his fingers over her skin and she moves closer to him, lifting an arm between them and holding his cheek in her palm.

"Do you have any idea how sweet you are?" She asks, her shy smile turning to a happy grin.

"Only with you," he says quietly.

She hums out a response and he rolls onto his back. He opens his arm out to her and she leans over, using him as her own personal pillow like she's come to do each night since he started sleeping in her bed, and he tightens his arm around her shoulders.

It's become her favorite way to sleep, her favorite way to wake up. Completely wrapped up in him.

She lays her head in the crook of his shoulder and throws an arm across his stomach, her hand settling over his hip as she breathes out a content sigh. He lifts his hand from her upper arm to rake his fingers through her hair, scratching gently at her scalp in the way he knows she loves so it helps her fall asleep. And it always does.

With his fingers in her hair and the stress of the job, her eyes start to drift closed after just a few minutes and her breathing evens out against his skin. He lifts his other arm to switch off the lamp on the table beside the bed before bringing it back down and laying his hand over her arm.

He leans down to drop a kiss against the top of her head and her fingers twitch against his side in her half-asleep haze. He tightens his arm around her as the exhaustion overtakes him, pulling him to sleep along with her.

When morning comes, Hailey wakes up alone in her bed, quickly noticing the lack of Jay's arms around her or his warm body pressed up against hers. She blinks her eyes at the realization and lifts her head, spotting him at the end of the bed and pulling on his jeans from the night before.

"Where are you going?" Hailey mumbles as she sits up in bed and rubs the remainder of sleep from her eyes.

He turns around at the sound of her voice, smiling softly at her as he zips up his jeans. "I was hoping to sneak out and back before you woke up."

She shrugs, a somewhat sleepy smile on her face. "And where exactly are you sneaking off to?"

"I forgot my bag down in the truck. Need some clean clothes."

"Well, go get it and hurry back. Not sure what you need clothes for right now though since we're supposed to be sleeping in today mister," she tells him with a playful scowl.

"Five minutes tops," he says. He moves to the side of the bed and leans down over her, pressing his lips to the side of her head and throwing her a wink when he pulls away.

He returns as promised not even five minutes later with a duffel in hand that he drops to the floor in her bedroom. He strips back down to just his boxers and climbs into the bed, sliding behind her as she lies on her side. He wraps an arm around her waist, pressing his chest against her back and holding her tightly as he places a kiss to her neck.

"You really hustled, huh?" Hailey boasts.

He snickers against her neck, kissing her skin again softly. "My gorgeous, half-naked girlfriend all alone in bed? It's a pretty good incentive to move my ass."

"Mmmhmm, I guess it is," she agrees as she turns in his arms to face him.

Jay tightens his hold around her, squeezing her against him, and she brings her arm up between them to rest a hand against his chest.

"I was thinking about something while you were gone," she says quietly, nervously.

He kinks an eyebrow, a playful smile on his face. "I wasn't gone that long. What kinda something?"

Hailey rolls her eyes at him, but he can tell it's something serious that's on her mind as her eyes don't quite meet his now.

He lifts a hand to the side of her face and brushes his thumb over her cheek, whispering gently, "Tell me."

She brings her eyes back to his, an anxious smile on her face, and then she takes a deep breath. "I was thinking maybe, if you want to, you could leave some stuff here in the apartment. That way you don't have to constantly live out of a duffle when you come over."

His eyes widen in surprise, but she continues through shaky breaths. "You still have that key I gave you, right? From when I moved in here?"

Jay nods, staring at her curiously.

"You should use it," Hailey tells him.

"Isn't that what an emergency key is for?" He asks, his brows scrunching together.

"Yeah, but you should use it. Ya know? In a non-emergency kind of way."

His face softens when he realizes what she's really saying and a sweet smile breaks out across his lips. "Really?"

"I mean, if you want to," she says again, weakly attempting to backpedal, but then the words tumble out of her. "I just - you're always here anyway and it makes sense. Because sometimes you leave the district before me, ya know? So you could come here instead of going home, and then you wouldn't have to drive again, or we could – "

She only catches a tiny glimpse of the smirk on his face before he cuts off her rambling with a hard kiss against her lips. He tightens his grip around her waist, pulling her flush against his chest while she moves a hand up around the back of his head.

When they break apart moments later, both breathing heavily, he smiles a dopey grin and nods at her. "I want to."

"Yeah?"

Jay nods again, still smiling stupidly at her, and she grins back at him as her hands slide down to the side of his neck.

"You okay?" He asks her a few beats later.

She laughs through another shaky breath as she stares at him. "That was terrifying for me."

"I could tell," he says, his fingers squeezing her side supportively.

"I've never done this before. A key and letting someone in my personal space and all that," she tells him quietly. She swallows nervously before she takes another deep breath. "And I know it probably seems crazy and I know we haven't been doing this, us, for very long in the grand scheme of things, but I want you here. I want you here all the time."

"I get it," he whispers, squeezing her again. "It's not crazy though. I wanna be with you all the time too."

"You do?"

"Mmhmm," he hums, and then he chuckles. "We're basically already living together anyway. The only time I go to my place is when I run out of clothes or forget something in my duffle."

"You saying you wanna move in?" She asks, her voice shaky again.

"I'd move in tomorrow if you asked me to, but I know you bringing up the key thing was a huge deal for you, so one thing at a time. As fast or slow as you want, okay?"

"Okay," Hailey says through another shaky breath and a slow nod, and then he kisses her forehead.

The room becomes nearly silent, save for their steady breaths and the sounds of the city waking up outside her window, and then a low laugh rumbles through him.

"What's so funny?" Hailey asks, lifting her head to meet his eyes.

"I just remembered something," he tells her.

"What's that?"

"Did you know you talk in your sleep?"

"I – what?" She chuckles, shaking her head.

Another laugh rumbles through him and he squeezes her against him before turning and reaching behind him for his phone on the nightstand. "Hang on, I recorded it."

"You did what now?"

"I couldn't tell if you were just mumbling gibberish or saying you gotta pee or who knows honestly," he says as he unlocks his phone, "so I made one of those voice memo things."

"Oh god," she groans against him, dropping her head in near embarrassment for a moment before glancing back at him.

He swipes through his phone as he holds it between them and turns the volume up before pressing play. He keeps his eyes on Hailey, watching as she squints her eyes and leans in closer to try and decipher whatever it is her unconscious self had been spouting out in her sleep the night before.

"Any ideas?" Jay asks her when the playback ends.

"Um yeah, I think I have an idea," she says with a sheepish smile as looks away and he smirks at her.

"Care to share?"

He notices the way she can't quite meet his eyes again, the way her breath seems to catch in her throat and another sheepish smile adorns her face.

"It sounds like I was saying agapi mou," she says quietly.

"Come again?"

"Agapi mou," she says again slowly. "It's Greek."

"It's Greek? What does it mean?"

"Uh, it means my love. As in, like…love of my life," she says with hesitance, her cheeks flushing another shade of pink again as she looks at him.

"Love of your life, huh?"

There's another dopey grin plastered on his face and she lets out an awkward laugh before turning her face to hide against the pillows.

"Shut up," she mumbles against the pillowcase.

"Hey," he whispers to her. He reaches out his hand toward her, tilting her chin up at him, and when she meets his eyes he moves his hand to hold the side of her face. "You're the love of my life too, ya know?"

He says it so sweetly, so easily, that it makes tears pool in the corners of her eyes and her breath hitches in her throat again, making her swallow a large lump of emotion that has formed.

"I don't wanna be without you," she whispers, not caring how the words sound needy or insecure, because they both know that's not what it is. She just wants him, wants him always.

"You're not gonna be," he promises.

She nods, smiling with such affection at him and it makes her chest ache at just how much love she feels for the man beside her.

He squeezes her side again, leaning closer. "You hungry? I do believe I promised you waffles last night."

She shakes her head, inching her face closer to his. "Right now…I just want you."

He smirks again, the familiarity of her words not being lost on him, and then he's leaning in and kissing her.

It's slow and deliberate, much like the way they took their time with one another in the shower just last night, and he swallows the guttural moans she breathes into his mouth as she presses herself against him.

Yeah, the waffles could wait.