Chapter 16

The Halstead-Upton partnership continued in Intelligence and on the home front. The detectives gave Voight no reason to be worried. Not once did he consider breaking up his dynamic duo. In fact, he began to think about possible retirement in a few years. He felt he could safely hand Intelligence over to Jay, with Hailey backing him up.

Each day, Hailey and Jay faced each other across their desks in the bullpen and across the kitchen island at home. They alternated between their two apartments. However, most of the time they crashed at Hailey's place.

The tough cases and long hours did not abate. But at the end of each hectic, exhausting day they had each other to turn to for comfort. They promised never to go to bed mad.

Life was good . . . until some cracks began to appear. About two months in, they were getting ready for work one morning at Hailey's apartment. She bent to put their coffee cups in the dishwasher. She promptly stood back up and sighed. "Jay, you didn't unload the dishwasher," she yelled down the hall.

He stuck his head out the bedroom door. "What? Oh. Sorry." He wore an equally perturbed expression. "I forgot to pick up clean socks last night."

"You can wear a pair of mine. I have a whole drawer-full."

Jay frowned. "I've noticed. Purple-striped or lime green or those with little butterflies? No, thanks."

Hailey shrugged. "Suit yourself. Guess you'll have to settle for wearing yesterday's pair."

"That would remind me of Afghanistan."

That gave Hailey pause. She thought it was a little ridiculous. On the other hand, she didn't want anything that might trigger his PTSD. Surely, she had at least one pair of plain, old boring white or black socks in there somewhere. However, the clock was ticking and they didn't have time to unearth them.

"Fine. We'll swing by your apartment. So, put on your shirt and let's go."

Another time, they were at Jay's place. As Hailey was pulling out an outfit for the next day she discovered, much to her dismay, that she'd neglected to replenish her underwear supply in her go-bag. They had worked late every night that week and clean undies was the last thing on her mind.

Jay tried hard not to smile. "That's a problem . . . why?"

Hailey stood with hands on hips and glared at him. "Because tomorrow's a workday. I wasn't planning on going commando to the District."

Jay rested his hands on his partner's shoulders. "Hails, we had a crappy day. Hell, a crappy week. You're wiped out and you're stressed. Go to bed. We'll sort it out in the morning."

She frowned and huffed as if she wanted to argue. Finally, she said, "You're right."

Jay urged her toward the bed and made her lie down. He pulled the covers over her and lightly kissed her cheek. "Give me five minutes for a shower."

Her eyelids were already closing. "Sure," she mumbled.

When he finished his shower, Hailey was sound asleep. He grabbed his phone and pulled up the internet. After a few swipes, he found what he was looking for.

That should do it. Someone will be surprised tomorrow.

As usual, Jay was up before Hailey the next morning. He handed her a cup of coffee when she entered the kitchen.

"Thanks." The wonderful aroma filled her nostrils as she took her first swallow. Then she noticed a box on the other end of the island. "What's that?"

"Package for you," said Jay with a little smile.

"Why would I get a package here?"

Jay regarded her over the rim of his coffee cup and shrugged. "Your name's on it."

Hailey stared at him. "Hmm. Let's see. A strange, unexpected package appears at the home of a cop, addressed to a fellow cop. I almost feel like we should call the bomb squad."

Jay picked it up and shook it. "It's not ticking. Why don't you open it? You know you want to."

With narrowed eyes, Hailey accepted the box. The return address was a local post office box. Nothing helpful there.

"Go ahead. I'll protect you," said Jay.

"That's reassuring."

Jay opened a drawer and brought out a box cutter. "Here."

Hailey took it and slowly opened the box. She peeled back pink tissue paper to reveal a dozen pairs of underwear in a rainbow of colors.

"Oh, my goodness!" she gasped.

Jay grinned. "Now your cute little tush won't be naked. Although I admit, the thought of you not wearing underwear at work was kinda hot."

"Men," said Hailey with an eye roll.

"Am I a good boyfriend or what?"

Hailey smiled. She was genuinely touched by his sweet gesture. "You are the best boyfriend. Thank you." She leaned over the island to kiss him.

"So . . . what color will you wear today?" asked Jay with raised eyebrows.

Hailey picked through the various pairs. "Why don't I surprise you?"

Jay nodded thoughtfully. "Can't wait."

At the District

Hailey and Jay were temporarily alone in the locker room. Hailey closed her locker and found Jay staring at her. "Red?"

Hailey was thinking about the counterfeiting case they were working. "Red?"

He pointed to her hips. "You know. Red?"

"Oh. Sorry, Halstead. You'll have to wait until tonight to find out."

Jay looked crestfallen. "Seriously? Okay, guess I'll just have to use my vivid imagination then."

"You have a vivid imagination?" wondered Hailey.

"Of course. But I don't have to imagine this," he said as he moved her against the closed locker and kissed her thoroughly.

"Whoa, guys. Come on, I know you find each other irresistible, but get a room or an apartment or something," boomed Adam. It was barely 8 a.m., but he was already wound up.

Kim was right behind him. "Sorry. You know there's no reining him in. He's a loose cannon," she said.

Adam pulled Kim back against his chest and wrapped his arms around her waist. "Yeah, but I'm your loose cannon, right?"

Kim smiled. "Yes, you are."

They trudged to their desks to begin the day. Trudy was there talking to Voight. "Okay, some tips came in overnight concerning our case," said Voight as he stuck pieces of paper to the whiteboard. "Go ahead, Trudy."

Platt explained about the names and information that were left on the tip line. "I sent everything to your phones."

Voight nodded. "Thanks, Trudy. Let's split up and go talk to these folks. Maybe something will shake out."

Ruzek rubbed his hands together in anticipation. "I like the sound of kicking in doors in the morning!"

Hailey shook her head in amusement. "How much caffeine has he had?"

"No sure," said Kim as she slipped back into her jacket. "He was like that when he picked me up."

When Jay and Hailey got into the truck, Jay said, "You know, Ruze had a good idea back there."

Hailey looked over at him. "Kicking in doors?" It seemed a little early for such violence.

"Well, maybe we'll get to that at some point today. But no, what he said about an apartment. It got me thinking." He cranked the engine and they pulled out into traffic. "Here's our problem: We have two apartments with one person living in each. What we really need is one apartment with two people living in it."

Hailey looked up from checking GPS on her phone for the first location to visit. "Wait, is this your roundabout way of saying we should move in together?"

A big smile lit Jay's face. "I guess it is. But, to be perfectly clear, Hailey, let's get a place together."

Hailey slowly nodded. She felt a smile growing on her face. "Yeah, sure. My lease is up in two months."

Jay turned a corner and was looking for the correct house number. "I still have six months on mine, but I don't mind breaking it. And we wouldn't have clothing drama when we're trying to get ready for work."

Hailey chuckled. "True, because we have more than enough drama protecting Chicago." She paused and studied her partner. "Okay, we can discuss this more tonight. Why don't we go wake up Mr. Conrad Pham? He owns the Little Vietnam grocery store across from where the counterfeiters were last seen."

"Sounds like a plan," said Jay.