Hi, friends!
How about that #trasse selfie to make everyone's Tuesday a little bit better? Can't wait to see them back on our screens!
Took a couple days off, but really wanted to finish the #upsteadappreciationweek prompts, so here is day 5! Thank you so much to everyone who reviews, favorites, saves and follows – truly means so much and is so appreciated!
Happy Reading! xo, S.
Jay was crouched down over his duffle bag in the corner of Hailey's bedroom, ruffling through it to find a specific button-down shirt. He huffed to himself when he found it balled up at the bottom of the bag, "Damn it."
Hailey walked in from the bathroom, in a fresh bra and jeans, the ends of her hair wrapped in a cotton tee shirt to absorb the excess water, "You okay over there?" She chuckled to herself as Jay held up the button-down that was very wrinkled and he eyed the clock, huffing again as he realized he didn't have much time left to iron it before they had to leave.
He glanced over at her, as she was pulling a sweater over her head, "Yeah, I'm fine. I just…I hate wearing wrinkled clothes."
Hailey walked past him back to the bathroom to quickly fix her hair before they had to go, "You can hang stuff up in the closet, I don't have mountains of clothes – I can make space for your stuff, if you want."
They had been dancing around this conversation for a few weeks now, especially now that they've been saying those three little words to each other quite regularly – they would go back to her apartment together each night after their shift ended, only stopping by Jay's apartment if he needed more clothes. He insisted that his apartment was simply a place for him to sleep – Hailey's place was bigger; her bed was comfier and her building was closer to the district.
Hailey first cleaned out one drawer in her dresser for him, and then another, and then Jay told her he didn't want to invade her space, that two drawers were fine for him. But, as more and more of his clothes made their way to her apartment, it was clear that he needed some more space than just two drawers.
Jay popped his head into the bathroom, "Babe, I told you – the two drawers are fine." He reached around her to grab his toothbrush and kissed the side of her head, as she grabbed the diffuser attachment to her blow drier to finish off her hair. It was all very domestic, she thought to herself, and normally, this is when the fear would set in, but everything with Jay was different, in the best way. So, she decided that tonight as they ate dinner, she would bring up the topic of them moving in together.
As luck would have it, their day did not go as she had hoped. They caught wind of a gang selling dope laced with ketamine, that was responsible for ten overdoses in the last few days and the Deputy Sup wanted them on it. After a long day of surveillance, a failed undercover buy, and eventually a foot chase that led to Hailey sliding across a patch of black ice to tackle the offender; she and Jay trudged through her front door at almost eleven pm.
Locking the door behind them, Jay walked in front of her, helping her to slip her jacket off. During her slide on the ice, she put her hand out to catch herself, and the gravel in the road ripped through the skin on her palm.
"We're cleaning that out again. Who knows what was on the ground. You sure you don't want me to call Will? He really wouldn't mind."
Hailey took a seat at her island, pushing the sleeve of her sweater up. "No, Jay, really it's fine. You and I can handle a few scrapes – I don't wanna bother him, it's late." Standing across from her, he took a wet cloth and rubbed it over her hand, then poured some peroxide on the open cuts, blowing at them as he saw her face wince up, "I know, I know, almost baby." As he bandaged them up and put her first aid kit back under the sink, he jutted his head towards the fridge, "Hungry?"
As he mentioned dinner, her mind traveled back to her pre-planned conversation from early that morning. She smiled and nodded, "I could eat." He ruffled through her cabinets and her fridge, pulling out a box of pasta and a jar of sauce, a head of broccoli and a pack of Italian sausage, "I'll make this, you go change and get comfy." She smiled at him, and wiggled her fingers, prompting him to lean over the island to reach her, "Thank you." She grabbed his lips in a quick kiss, hopping down and going to her bedroom.
She flicked on the lamp and her eyes travelled to his duffle on the floor. Peeking out the bedroom door, seeing he was busy chopping the broccoli and bopping his head to whatever song was on the radio, she picked up the clothes that were in the bag and brought them to her bed. Grabbing hangers from her closet, she quickly hung up his clothes on the left side of the closet, pushing her rarely worn dresses to the corner and moved some of her silk tops to the right side to hang with the rest of her more casual pieces.
Satisfied with her work, she zipped up the duffle bag and slid it under her bed with her own travel bags. She changed out of her still damp work clothes and slipped on a tee shirt of Jay's and her favorite sweatpants. She padded out to the kitchen and sat back on the bar stool, his head turning as he saw her, "Go sit, I'm almost done."
She leaned back in her seat, and gave him a small smile, "I actually wanted to talk to you about something." He raised an eyebrow at her, as he covered the pasta to let it simmer in the sauce, "Everything okay?"
She nodded, "It is. So, your duffle bag of clothes made me think of something, well it's been making me think actually." He got nervous and ran his hand over the back of his neck, "I know – it's messy and I need to fold it, I...I'm sorry, I know you hate clutter."
Hailey has told him over the last few weeks that she's such a neat freak because of how her father would leave the kitchen or the living room after a night of him drinking, how she'd help her mom clean up broken beer bottles and random snack bag wrappers and as she grew up and lived alone, everything needed to have a place.
She giggled at him, "It's not that at all, babe. When you go in there, you'll see that I hung up your stuff. I don't want you to live out of a bag. You…we come back here every night, we only stop at your place to pick up clothes, and really, what's the point of paying two rents?"
She got up off her stool to walk around the island, extending her left hand to lace with his right one and squeezed, "Home stopped being a place when you entered my life…like really entered it, in this new way we've been doing things. We can move your stuff here, or my stuff to your apartment, but honestly, home is wherever I am with you…" She trailed off and glanced a peek up at his face, where she saw a grin gracing his features.
He wrapped an arm around her waist and lifted her to sit on the edge of the island, situating her between his knees, "Maybe it's all too fast, but I don't care. We waited a long time to get here, and I know that I love you so much and I want to come home with you, to you…"
Jay cut her off, cupping her cheek and slamming his lips against hers, "Home is you, Hails. Has been for a while. So, nothing sounds better than coming home to you. And I love you too, so much."
She reached up and wrapped her arms around his neck, burying her face in the crook of his shoulder, sighing into him. He kissed her forehead again, smiling against her, "So, how much closet space am I getting?" Pulling her face away from him, she caught sight of the sauce almost bubbling over. She tapped his bicep, "Babe, we can talk about that after you tend to your sauce."
He glanced behind him, "Shit." She pushed him towards the stove and hopped down, pulling out water bottles for them to drink. He caught the pasta sauce just as it was bubbling over, stirring and mixing in the sausage and broccoli. He plated a bowl for each of them and joined her at the island, swiveling her stool so she was facing him as they ate.
"This is so good. And so much better than the toast I would've made for myself if I was alone." Jay chuckled and took a bite, "I can't cook much, but this is one of the things I've mastered." Smiling wide, she knocked her knee against his, "Well, I'm very excited to taste what else you've mastered."
As they got ready for bed, in a routine they've perfected, Jay glanced over at the now empty corner where his bag used to be and smiled at Hailey as she pulled off her sweatpants and ran her fingers through her hair, getting the tangles out.
Feeling his eyes, she turned around and smiled back, "What?" He shook his head at her, patting the side of her bed, prompting her to sit down. She sat on her knees, taking her non-injured hand and weaving their fingers together. He squeezed her hand, pulling her to lay half on top of him, as his arms circled her back, "Nothing. I just…I'm happy, really happy."
She smiled and craned her neck up to look at him, "Me too. This was a little scary to bring up…but really, I was sick of you complaining about your wrinkled shirts, Mr. GQ." She poked his chest in a joking manner and he brought his hand up to his heart, feigning hurt, "Sorry I like to look good for my girlfriend."
She laughed at him and moved her legs so she was sitting in his lap, her knees on either side of his thighs, "Oh, Halstead – you always look good. But…," sliding her left hand up the side of his shirt, pulling it up his abdomen, "It's really more fun to wrinkle them, don't you think?" Catching his lips in hers, taking his bottom lip between her teeth and biting lightly, he shook his head against her, helping her to pull his tee shirt the rest of the way over his head, "So much more fun."
He flipped them over, careful of her bandaged hand, and kissed his way down her throat, reveling in the sound of her giggles mixed with breathy moans, and he smiled against her, thinking that he could happily spend every night with her, like this, in their bed.