Key:

Text

Writing

"Signing Only"

"Signing and Talking"

"Talking Only"

Jay wakes up, startled when he feels his bed shaking him. Taking a second to remember that this is his new alarm, Jay reaches over to turn it off.

Jay takes a moment to ground himself, the silence is still strange to him, but at the same time, he's starting to be independent again. Jay sighs before getting up and hopping in the shower to start his day.

A little more than five minutes Jay is back in his room looking for clothes. He then takes his hearing aids, shutting the battery compartment to turn them on and placing them in his ears like Dr. Carter showed him.

Making his way into the kitchen for something to eat, he takes in the familiar but eerie surroundings. Deciding on a bagel, Jay texts Will knowing he's already going to be bored out of his mind. Hey, can I steal Kohl for the day? Jay asks as he waits for his bagel to pop out of the toaster.

Sure, but either keep him outside or take him back to your place. I don't want you to be at my apartment alone.

Jay rolls his eyes and is about to reply when another text from Will comes through, I trust you, but this is a safety issue.

Okay. Jay answers just as his bagel pops out.

Jay scrolls through his phone looking at his messages while eating his breakfast. Once done, Jay realizes he needs to figure out how to get Kohl to his apartment as he still hasn't been cleared to drive. "I guess I'll figure it out once I get there," Jay mumbles to himself, making sure he has his keys, wallet, and phone before making his way out of his apartment and on his way to the L.

Jay walks into Will's apartment building and goes straight to his brother's unit; opening the door with his key that Will gave him, he is greeted by the excited senior dog.

"Hey Kohl," Jay greets the dog, giving him a good ear rub. Jay makes sure he is quick to grab Kohl's leash so they can get out of the building as fast as they can since Will's apartment isn't equipped for Jay's deafness.

Jay makes sure that he locks the door behind him before leading Kohl out of the building.

Hey, I'm leaving for work soon. Do you need anything? Hailey questions.

How much time do you have?

What's up?

I'm at Will's getting Kohl, but I can't take him on the L to get back to my place and Will doesn't want me at his apartment alone.

Okay, I'll pick you and Kohl up.

Thanks.

Hailey arrives at Will's building fifteen minutes later, "Sorry you had to get us," Jay apologizes, getting into her car after putting Kohl in the back seat.

Don't worry about it, Hailey types out on the notes app on her phone.

"But still."

Hey, you'd do the same for me.

"It's different. Hope the doc clears me to drive soon."

Since Hailey is already driving, she places a gentle hand on his shoulder to let him know she heard him. The ride is silent as Hailey can't answer Jay while driving and she still feels weird about playing music while her best friend can't hear it.

Arriving at his apartment building, Hailey taps his shoulder before he can open his door. I'll check in later, but text me if you need anything, she has written on her notes.

"I know. Thanks," he answers softly.

Hailey gives him a small smile before letting him get Kohl out from the back seat. She watches him get Kohl out from the car and then as he takes the dog into his apartment building before she leaves to go to the 21st District.

"Upton, my office," is the first thing that Hailey hears as she walks into the intelligence bullpen.

"What's going on?" Hailey questions, shutting the door behind her as she enters.

"It's about Halstead," Voight tells her.

"What's going to happen?" Hailey asks immediately, afraid for her partner.

"He's good police and a hard worker, so I was able to pull some strings and get some options. His first choice is to take disability and get three-quarters pay; second is that he gets put at a desk somewhere."

"Desk as in just no fieldwork?" Hailey asks hopefully.

"Desk as in administrative work," Voight answers.

"He's going to hate that."

"The last option is he can teach classes at the academy."

"Can he though? Don't you need a college degree? He told me he enlisted right out of high school."

"That's where I pulled some strings, he can start with physical training and firearms training. If he can show that he's able to run the classes, he can take on more classes at the academy. This would also be a good way to ease him into it."

"If you want to tell him, I could have him come in later," Hailey tells him.

"I think it would be better for him coming from his partner."

"Yeah, do you have a start date for him?"

"If he chooses the academy, he can start shadowing current instructors a week after they are notified and he can start running his own classes when the next academy class starts."

"It's going to be so strange here without him," Hailey comments.

"He's still family."

"There's been so much change recently," Hailey comments thinking about Al and Antonio- and now Jay.

"There has, which brings us to the next thing-"

"Who I'm partnered with," she finishes her sentence.

"If you don't want to ride with Rixton, we can switch things up," Voight offers.

"I don't want to mess up what anyone else has going. It takes trust to make a partnership work."

"If you're sure, but considering the circumstances, I don't think anyone would have a problem switching things up."

Hailey opens her mouth to answer, but is interrupted by the door opening, "Hey, we got a lead," Adam's head pops into the office before leaving the detective and segreant alone again.

"I guess we're rolling," Hailey sighs getting up, Voight not far behind her.

"Hailey, you go with Rixton, everyone else- same partners," Voight orders as they make their way to the roll-up. After putting on their vests and grabbing the long guns, Hailey follows Rixton to his jeep.

"Where're we going?" Hailey looks over to Rixton.

"Grant Park," Rixton answers before continuing, "two more bodies were dropped."

"Gang-related?" Hailey guesses.

"Most likely. It looks like the Insane Kings are involved."

"Great," Hailey mutters.

"Yeah, they were frequent flyers with my cases when I was in the gang unit."

"You're from Gangs?" Hailey questions.

"You don't have to do this," Rixton deflects her question. "The small talk. I'm not here to try to replace Jay."

"No, I know he can't come back. But if it had to be anyone, I'm glad it's someone the unit trust," Hailey answers looking over to him quickly before going back to looking out the windshield.

"I'm sorry that it happened to him. I got to work with him last time I was detailed to intelligence. He's a good cop… and person."

Before either detective can say another word, they arrive to their destination. The two detectives get out of his car and walk to where the yellow tape is. "What do we got?" Hailey asks the closest uniform there.

"Two DOAs. Looks like the start of a gang war," the officer states offhandedly before leaving the detectives with the body.

The two detectives look at each other before taking in their scene as the rest of the team gets there.

"What do you think?" Hailey asks Rixton without looking up from her computer.

"I think that we're still missing something," he sighs going over the files for the third time.

"Alright, everyone," Voight calls their attention, as he walks out of his office. "Call it a night and be back bright and early tomorrow with fresh eyes.

The team shuts down their computers and files out of the bullpen before Voight can change his mind about letting them leave.

"Who's up for Molly's?" Adam asks as they enter the parking lot to get to their cars.

The other five members of intelligence freeze in their path and look at him.

"You're joking right?" Kim asks.

"No," Adam answers confused. "They're opened until 2."

"Adam," Hailey sighs, "it's late and we need to be in early tomorrow."

"It's not even nine."

"I'll see you tomorrow," Hailey answers, rolling her eyes at her ex.

Hailey, Rixton, and Vanessa say good night to Kim, Kevin, and Adam, Kim only going with Kevin and Adam to Molly's to try to prevent them from coming in tomorrow with a hangover.

"Is it okay if I drop you off?" Hailey asks Vanessa.

"Going to check on Jay?" Vanessa questions with a knowing look.

"Yeah, make sure he didn't get into too much trouble on his own," Hailey jokes.

"How did it go today with Rixton?"

"Okay. Seems like a good guy and cop, just-"

"Not Jay?"

"Yeah, it will take some getting used to."

"I can ask Voight about being your partner," Vanessa offers.

"Thanks, but he already offered to switch things up. I don't want to mess up anyone's partnership."

"Hailey, you know anyone on the team would partner with you. I know Jay is the one who got hurt, and his life changed, but the team is feeling the effects too. It's so weird for us not to have him in the bullpen, but he was your partner- it has to be ten times worst for you."

"I can deal with it once Jay adjusts."

"Do you really think he'd be okay with that? Putting him before yourself?"

"Vanessa…" Hailey is at a loss for words.

"Just think about it," Vanessa tells her getting out of the car, so Hailey can go to Jay's. Vanessa shuts the door, leaving Hailey with a lot of things to think over.

"Guys," Kim gets her friends' attention. "What do you think will happen now?"

"What part?" Kevin answers.

"What do you mean what part?" Adam questions.

"What happens at work– without Jay? What happens to Jay now?" Kevin answers.

"All of it," Kim replies.

"He's going to be fine. He has support," Kevin answers.

"Jay's not going to like a desk job."

"This is Voight, he probably has something up his sleeve," Adam thinks out loud.

"Like what?" Kevin questions.

"I don't know. Something."

"Are you guys really in?" Kim asks.

"Really in on what?" Kevin asks confused.

"Learning sign language."

"Yeah," Kevin answers before looking over to Adam. "Ruz?"

"We don't have another option, do we?"

Kim, who is sitting next to him, slaps him in the back of the head. "Adam, seriously?"

"Fine, fine. How hard can it be?" Adam questions.

"So, what's our plan?" Kevin looks to Kim. "Jay's got enough on his plate. We shouldn't add to that by relying on him to learn."

"I can show you guys the alphabet. And we can probably find some books in the library," she answers after a moment.

"What about Vanessa?" Kevin questions, wanting to know about their newest team member.

"Hailey's definitely learning because it's Jay. Hailey and Vanessa are roommates and pretty good friends. She'll probably help her."

"Will Hailey have time?" Adam questions

"If they can spend fifteen minutes a day on it, it shouldn't be a problem," Kim answers

"She's going to be spending a lot of time with Jay. More than she normally does," Adam insists.

"She isn't going to be spending twenty-four hours a day with him."

"They're going to get together any day now," Adam tells Kim and Kevin.

"Okay, brother. I think you're drunk now," Kevin laughs. "We all know they're going to get together at some point, but now just seems like bad timing." Kim nods, in agreement with Kevin.

"Or it's the perfect time for them to get together. Think about it, as much as it sucks, Jay can't come back to intelligence. That meant Hailey and him aren't on the same unit, meaning no in-house romances."

"We all did give Voight a headache over that didn't we," Kim laughs.

"You guys did," Kevin teases his two friends. "I was never a part of that."

"Don't lie. I see those heart-eyes you make at Vanessa," Kim teases back.

"I don't know what you're talking about Burgess," he denies. "Kim maybe you can show us some of the alphabet," Kevin tries to deflect.

"We will come back to this," Kim gives up for now. She then starts showing Adam and Kevin the alphabet and has them copy her. Both she and Kevin laugh at Adam's drunk attempts at forming the shapes with his hand.

Hailey rings the doorbell that they installed at Jay's, not getting an answer. She tries two more times before using the key that she has for emergencies, worried that something happened with his head injury.

She opens his door to find him sleeping on the couch, his left arm hanging off the side, resting on Kohl. Still worried that something happened with his head injury, Hailey places her hand on his shin. Jay's face scrunches up when he feels her touch.

"Hailey?" he questions sitting up, making room for her on the couch. "What time is it?"

"Just after 9," she answers, sitting on the spot that he patted next to her.

"What are you doing here?" he questions, rubbing sleep out of his eyes.

I wanted to check on you.

"I'm okay, just tired. Took Kohl for a walk and then we came back here."

Is your head bothering you?

"Not really. Will said it was normal to be tired. Something about the body's way of recovering."

Hailey nods, You feel up to talking? Voight talked to me today about what's going to happen next. It can wait until tomorrow if you want though.

"No, now's good. What's happening and why isn't Voight telling me?"

He said he thought it'd be better coming from me.

"Oh."

The first option is to take disability and get three-quarters pay.

"What's the others?"

I knew you'd say that. The second is being put at a desk doing administrative work. Jay makes a face. I thought that would be your answer. The last option is to teach classes at the academy.

Jay makes another face, this time confused, "I don't understand. You need a college degree to teach at the academy. I don't have one."

That's where Voight pulled strings, he said you can start with physical training and firearms training. If you show you are able to run the classes, you can take on more classes. This way also allows you to ease into the teaching aspect.

"That sounds good," Jay whispers. "Do you know when I can start?"

Voight said you can start shadowing current instructors a week after they are notified and then start running your own classes when the next academy class starts. I'm assuming that you need to at least wait until you're cleared since you're doing a physical training class.

"I should text Voight in the morning. Thank him."

You're family. Everyone in the unit feels that way.

"How's everyone doing?"

Okay. They miss you, we all do.

"Who's replacing me?"

No one can replace you. But Voight did bring up Kenny Rixton to fill in for me while we were gone. And it looks like he's going to be staying.

"Rixton? Why'd he come back? He left to be second in a narcotics unit."

I don't know.

"I guess I should go in soon to clear out my desk," Jay realizes.

Everything will be okay.

"It's just weird."

"I know," Hailey answers. Kim wanted me to ask you something and I forgot to yesterday.

"Should I be scared?" Jay jokes.

"No," Hailey slaps his shoulder.

"Okay. What did she want to know?" Jay asks.

So, the rest of the team was talking while we were gone- about how to learn to sign. They came up with the idea of having a weekly get-together/game night and wanted to know what you think.

"A game night?"

I didn't ask what kind of games.

"I guess. Can we talk about it with them first?"

"Yeah," Hailey nods.

"Are you okay?"

"Yeah," Hailey nods, smiling, trying to convince him.

"You look stressed," he comments.

I'm just really glad you're okay.

Jay looks at her, to see her bright blue eyes shining, "I'm sorry I worried you." Hailey puts her hand on his forearm. "Thanks."

Hailey tilts her head to the side, raising an eyebrow to question what he is thanking her for.

"For being here, for staying even though we don't work together anymore. Take your pick."

I'm always going to be here.

"I'm going to miss working with you."

You're still my best friend. I'm always going to be here for you when you need me.

"Even when you get a boyfriend and forget about me?"

I'm not forgetting about you. Understand?

"What if your boyfriend doesn't like that you're friends with some deaf guy?"

Well, he won't be able to do anything about it, because you're my best friend and that's not changing. And if you think I'd let him control who I'm friends with, well, then I'm going to be concerned about your head injury.

"You'd kick his ass," Jay smiles knowing his partner.

"I would," Hailey states while nodding, not bothering to write this time, but still making sure that Jay understands her. Besides, I'm not really looking for a boyfriend right now.

"Because of the job?"

"No."

"Is it because you don't have time? Between the job and trying to learn to sign— because of me?" Jay asks, looking at her like a kicked puppy. "You don't need to learn. I'm fine with writing things down. Besides, we don't work together any more- we're going to fall out of each other's orbits and maybe talk twice a year."

"No. I want to learn," she slowly signs. And I'm not going to let that happen.

"Okay," Jay answers, not completely convinced.

Do you know why you're my best friend? Hailey asks.

"No."

Because you're you. You're a good man, a good brother, a great cop. You make me a better person, you make me want to do better.

"Hailey, you're the one who makes me better. I don't know if I'd still be alive if it wasn't for you. I probably would have lost my badge years ago if it wasn't for you."

We make each other better.

"Since I'm your best friend, does that mean I get to vet your boyfriend when you do start dating? Make sure he's good enough for you?" Jay questions, half-jokingly, half-serious.

Hailey is about to answer but hears a scratching at the door. She looks over to see Kohl pawing at the door. Jay follows her gaze before getting up to let him out, "Sorry, I'll be back in, like, five minutes," Jay tells her while attaching the leash.

Hailey follows Jay out of his apartment and outside while he lets Kohl walk around. Seeing that Kohl is happily sniffing the ground, Hailey taps Jay's arm. "When is Will getting Kohl?" she asks signing and pointing to Kohl.

"When is Will getting Kohl?" Jay question, wanting to make sure that he understood her question.

"Yeah," Hailey answers.

"Will actually stopped by earlier and dropped off some stuff for him. He said that Kohl can stay with me for a couple of days. Will said it would save him from being Kohl over in the mornings."

Hailey raises an eyebrow to get a further explanation.

"I can't really do much until I'm cleared, so Will thinks if Kohl's with me it will give Kohl company and keep me from getting into trouble."

Hearing this, Hailey can't help but laugh at her partner. Jay can't hear her laughing, but can still tell that she is, "What?"

Hailey raises an eyebrow.

"I can stay out of trouble," Jay argues.

Hailey pointedly looks at him.

"Fine," Jay sighs as he gives up and turns his attention back to Kohl, who is now ready to go back in.

The pair and Kohl make their way back to Jay's apartment. Once inside of his unit, Jay undoes the leash before leading Hailey back to his living room.

Have you thought about anyone else's name sign? Hailey questions, wanting to change the subject before Jay remembers what they were talking about before Kohl wanted out.

"Um, a little bit," Jay answers. Hailey raises an eyebrow, hinting for Jay to continue. "So, Vanessa always seems to be happy, so I was thinking this," Jay tells Hailey while showing her what he decided: the sign for happy, only the hand shape replaced with a 'V' for 'Vanessa'.

That really suites her, Hailey smiles.

"And I was thinking this for Kim," Jay demonstrates the sign: the 'K' hand shape with his middle finger near in chin bending down twice.

What does it mean?

"Sweet, because of her kind nature."

Another good one.

"I have one more," Jay tells her before moving his hand over his face, bringing it out in front of him into the shape of an 'A'.

"A-D-A-M?" she guesses

"Yeah. The first part is the actual sign for beard, but bringing it into the A-shape is what makes it Adam's.

He'll appreciate it. Who else is left?

"You, Kev, and maybe Trudy," Jay answers.

She'd never admit it, but she'd like one.

"I was thinking about one for Stella too."

Stella? From 51?

"Yeah, when Will and I were leaving Med, we ran into her and the new paramedic. She offered me a job bartending at Molly's. And I think I'm going to take it. It would give me something to do at night, especially if I'm doing the academy."

That sounds good. Do you know how it will work with communication?

"She said we could figure something out. Maybe keep a notepad with me."

It sounds like a good idea. Have any idea what her's will be?

"Maybe something with her hair."

Hailey nods, If you're going to be working at Molly's, you might want a name sign for Herrmann.

"Right, his would be long to spell out," Jay realizes. "This is hard. But, back to where we left off, do I get to vet your boyfriend when you do start dating? Make sure he's good enough for you?"

Hailey sighs, hoping that he forgot about that conversation. That's not happening, Hailey finally answers.

"Why not?"

Hailey sighs, looking at Jay.

"What's going on? Is everything okay?"

Before I start, I want you to know that I didn't want to tell you like this.

"Hailey, you're starting to worry me," Jay tells her, puppy eyes staring into her.

Nothing bad. It's just, I didn't want to tell you by writing.

"What is it?" Jay whispers.

You know I care about you, right?

"I know. I care about you too," Jay replies.

It's been a while since I cared about you as just a friend, Hailey tells him, afraid of her best friend's reaction.

Jay stares at Hailey's words before looking to Hailey. Jay looks between the words and Hailey a couple of times, trying to figure out if he's imagining things.

When Jay is sure that his eyes are not playing tricks on him, he leans in to kiss her. Hailey freezes for a second at the contact before leaning into the kiss too. When Jay feels Hailey reciprocating the kiss, he places his hands on the small of her back, holding her close to him. Once close to him, Hailey places her hands around his neck.

Only stopping for air, Hailey pulls away. "Do you want this?" Hailey questions, caught in the moment, forgetting to sign.

"What?" Jay asks.

Do you want this? I don't want things to be weird

"Hailey. I want this. I just didn't want to mess anything up."

Where do we go from here?

A/N 1: So, sorry I've been kinda MIA, but *sighs* real life; here is April's intended chapter, going to work on getting May and June's chapters out and figuring out a schedule for "Man's Best Friend". But my PMs/DMs are always open. Same name here, Tumblr, and Twitter. My "asks" on Tumblr are always open. If you have a question on

A/N 2: So, Jay spends his first day mostly by himself, he couldn't help but steal Kohl for the day. We get a look at Hailey's day without Jay and what Voight was able to figure out. Sorry, it was short, I'm not great with writing cases, and that's what comes with writing the unit at work. We saw a bit into the rest of the unit, minus Rixton. Hailey visits Jay and brings him into the loop. They have a talk.

I was going to wait on them, but I was getting impatient with it myself, it wasn't how I initially intended for that to happen, so I hope it turned out okay.

There is a thread on my Twitter to give visuals to help with the story. There are videos, pictures, and links to websites. I will leave a link on AO3 since FF doesn't like links. One of the things that I think is important is two different videos where they are stimulating hearing loss. I really recommend that you take a look at them, remember, it's best both headphones and DON'T TURN IT UP TO HEAR BETTER! Someone with hearing loss can't do that. There's also a video of the ABC's and numbers in ASL if you need a visual. I will definitely add anything from this chapter by Sunday. Again, leaving the link on AO3, but as of this posting, it is my pinned Tweet.

I'm going to try to find videos that show the signs that I picked for their name signs, but if I can't find anything, I'll think of some other way to give you all a visual.

In this Chapter:

+ I hope it shows that each character has a different level of acceptance that needs to be made with Jay's deafness.

+ Kim, Vanessa, and Adam got a Name Sign.

Deaf World Info:

+ So the only thing with the Deaf World that I can think of for this chapter is Will's apartment not being equipped for Jay's deafness. The hallways in his building should be equipped, depending on the type of apartment he lives in (An apartment complex vs. a house turned into apartments). It would only be his unit that isn't equipped.

Bonus: if you follow Jessie Graff (jessiegraffpwr) on Instagram, she does a Signing Sunday with her friend Kyle Schulze (thedeafninja). They are ninjas from NBC's American Ninja Warior, and Kyle is deaf and uses ASL. They do an Instagram Live and he teaches Jessie ASL signs.

QUESTION FOR YOU ALL:

1) Hey guys, what's a physical characteristic or a personality trait that Jay has? Like something that someone who spends time with him [in his ASL Class] but isn't close like the intelligence unit would notice? I'm trying to figure out what someone would give to Jay as a Name Sign. Ex: Will's name sign is close to the sign for hair, but a "W" handshape and it represents his red hair.

Questions & Comments:

++ Before I start responding to the individual comments, I just want to say that a lot of them were about how y'all are happy that Jay is getting his independence back. I don't want to sound repetitive by saying the same thing each time, but Yes, Jay getting his independence back is just the start for him. I cant wait to write more when he has it completely back and I hope you stick with me long enough to see it.

Ghostwriter—Chapter 7—Awesome work. I really like how you had the audiologist explain the hearing aids, the batteries, and how everything works. Speaking from my own experience as someone who wears hearing aids, it was spot on and as far as I know, accurate, though someone with more medical knowledge than I may disagree. I don't know if this would be an option for Jay with the type of hearing loss he has or with how much money he has, but there are some types of hearing aids that don't take batteries and instead are plugged in to charge them so I'm wondering if that could've been an option for him as well. Obviously, the drawback is that if they lost power, the batteries wouldn't charge, and I don't know how common these types of aids are, to be honest. Welp, this post got long. Sorry. (Face palms). Again, I love the chapters and this fic in general. I can't WAIT to see what else you come up with.

Thanks, I'm glad you liked it and thought it seemed to be accurate. My research for that part was watching several videos on YouTube of hearing aids being activated. I actually have a friend for college who's an audiologist, but none of my IRL friends know about my little hobby, so I can't ask questions. I actually did see that in my research, if you go back to where they first start talking about batteries, it says "…You either have rechargeable lithium-ion batteries, or you have zinc air replaceable batteries…". Part of my decision of having the replaceable batteries is that, while doing my research, I was unable to tell if they type of hearing aids that Jay has, have the option of the rechargeable batteries. The other part of my decision will come into play at a later time. And never apologize for a long post, I love them. It gives me more to write back with and I feel like I'm having an actual conversation.

Ann (Guest; March 2, 2021)—Chapter 7)- Great info. A lot to take in. Glad they set up the adaptive devices, so that Jay feels like he's gaining his independence back and both Hailey and Will feel better when he's on his own. Great chapter. Loved it.

Yeah, the last chapter was heavy with information, but I don't think there's going to be another heavy one like that for a while. Don't hold me to that though, I make my outlies after I write the chapters.

Elvira25—Chapter 7—Lots of details to absorb, especially the part with Dr. Carter. It was very interesting. So glad for Jay that he got his independence back, at least at home. It's a start. Looking forward where he'll go from here.

Yes! A lot of details to absorb and I also found it interesting when doing my research.

Daisyangel—Chapter 7—Another awesome chapter. Glad they got his adaptive devices set up and he now has his hearing aids. Every bit of independence Jay can get back will be important for Jay. I like how the unit greeted Hailey and they all asked after Jay, but mostly seem to understand the importance of not treating him any different. I can't wait to see what you have in store next.

Yes, I always wanted that to be clear. He is literally the same person he was before; he just can't hear. Will some things need to change to accommodate his deafness? Yes. But he's still the same Jay Halstead (I'm assuming) that we all know and love.

nonna99—Chapter 7—Absolutely amazing. Loved it all. He's up now for a new start. His new normal, glad he will not be alone in it. So looking forward to where you will go with him from here. Update please.

Yup! His new normal, Will's new normal with a deaf brother, the team's new normal without having Jay working by their side, Hailey's new normal without her partner. They're all entering this new world to a different degree.

Lou (Guest; May 28, 2021)- Chapter 7- Love this story. Are you going to continue it? I know it probably takes a lot of research to be as accurate as possible and it works really well for you but I just hope you haven't forgotten about this story. I also really hope Hailey and Jay will get together at some point and I would also like to see Hailey's point of view (I mean she lost Jay as her partner and it must be a lot for her even if she tries to be there for him as best as she can). I hope this made sense. English isn't my native language but I just wanted to say that I love your writing.

Yes! I am continuing it, I just has some "real life stuff" going on. This is a topic that I'm passionate about so I will never forget about it. I think we got to see a little of Hailey's point of view in this chapter. I will try to do more later, but writing cases aren't my strong suit, so I tend to skip over what happens at work at times. And yes, I did make sense. Your English is amazing, there were a couple of mis-spellings, but I actually didn't notice it until the third time I read your comment when I was trying to figure out how to respond.