It took about a week for the meds to completely leave Jay's system and for the headaches to subside. But finally, Tuesday morning, he woke up for the first time in a long time with no pain.

"How you doing?" Will asked cheerfully.

"I'm good." Jay replied with a smile.

Will returned the smile. "You look good. You think you're ready to try a day at work?"

This made Jay grin from ear to ear. "Really?"

Will shrugged. "I mean, it's just desk duty, and I'm still off at least today. Might as well try it out and see how it goes. That is... if you think you're ready?"

Jay nodded. "I'm ready."

Will looked his little brother up and down and laughed. "Probably should change out of your pajamas first. I'm fairly sure even on desk duty they require clothes."

"Very funny." Jay smirked as he turned to go back to his room.

"I'll have breakfast ready!" Will called behind him before the door shut.

When they pulled up to the district, Will grabbed Jay's arm. "I put lunch in your backpack. Please remember to eat. And your eye drops are in the side pocket with the Tylenol if you start getting a headache. Remember, I'll be at home anyway so call me if anything feels off at all - headache or PTSD or anything. And..."

"Did you wanna walk me in and talk to my teachers too?" Jay teased, interrupting the worried brother lecture.

"Don't tempt me." Will replied, and it was clear he was only partially joking.

"Please tell me you didn't call Voight." Jay begged.

"I didn't call Voight." Will assured him. "Have a good day. Love you."

Jay laughed and playfully smacked Will's shoulder. "Love you too, man. And don't worry. I'll be fine."

"Welcome back, detective." Trudy Platt greeted as Jay walked up the steps through the double doors.

"Thanks, Sargent." He replied, suddenly painfully aware of the fact that everyone there knew what he'd done - where he'd been. "Am I... uh... working down here... or...?"

Noticing just how uncomfortable the young man was becoming, Platt's heart softened, and she put a hand on his back, leading him to the stairs. Once they were out of earshot she whispered, "you can stay up there as long as you need to, but only if you know that everyone here is only staring at you because they're glad you're back."

Jay smirked and shook his head. "Or because they're afraid I'm about to blow up."

"Are you?" She asked him seriously.

"No." Jay replied confidently, sadness in his words.

The woman nodded. "Then no one has anything to worry about. Get to work."

Jay scanned his hand and the gate opened, letting him through.

When he got to the top of the stairs he was met by his best friends and a desk covered in balloons and snacks. "What the..."

"We thought, if you have to be stuck at your desk, the least we could do was make it a cool place to be stuck." Kim explained, giving him the first hug.

"Plus, you're for sure gonna share some of that with me, right?" Adam asked as he took his turn.

"We'll see about that." Jay joked.

"Don't let him steal yours. He got his own." Kevin assured his friend.

"Welcome back, man." Antonio said, pulling Jay into a protective sort of hug.

"Thanks." Jay said softly in reply.

"Glad you're back, kid." Voight said, slapping his shoulder. "I was worried there for a second that maybe you were done."

Jay shook his head. "Hell no!" He exclaimed. "They're gonna have to wheel me out of this place."

His sergeant smiled and motioned to a stack of papers. "We're working on a child trafficking case right now. Those are the victims and what we know so far. See what you can dig up and let me know what you find."

"Will do." Jay replied. He turned to head to his chair when a hand caught him and pulled him into a corner.

"Hailey!" He said, surprised.

"How are you?" She asked, seriously.

"I'm fine." He said, maybe a little too cheerfully.

She side eyed him, letting him know she didn't believe it.

"Okay, maybe not fine." Jay admitted. "But I'm better. A lot better. And I'm excited to be back here. I missed you guys."

Hailey smiled and nodded her understanding. "Well, full disclosure, Will asked me to keep an eye on you. Obviously, I was planning to do that anyway, but I'm telling you this so you know who you can come to if you start feeling... less better..."

"Ah, I should've guessed it was you he talked to." Jay joked, then grew more serious. "I appreciate you letting me know, Hailey. I promise, if anything changes while I'm here, I'll let you know."

"Right away no matter what." She clarified.

"Right away no matter what." He repeated.

She pulled him close into a tight embrace. "I missed you, partner."

"I missed you too."

Hours passed, and most of the team had been out all-day following leads and searching for witnesses while Jay and Adam stayed back digging in behind the scenes.

"This shit makes me sick." Jay admitted, pushing a file as he rubbed his temples.

"You need a break?" Adam asked. "We can go grab lunch or something. No one will mind."

But Jay shook his head. "No, I wanna keep working." He replied. "I wanna find these kids."

Adam nodded that he understood, and together they got back to work.

A little later Jay's phone rang.

Will.

He contemplated not answering at first but figured that would probably just cause more alarm.

"Hey." He said.

"Hey, how are things going?"

Jay smiled. "Fine, dad."

He heard Will chuckle on the other end. "Dude, when was the last time Dad called to see how you were doing? I'm far better than Dad."

"I guess you got me there." Jay laughed. "Everything is fine. I'm just sitting at my desk working on a case."

"What's the case about?"

"Will, you know I can't talk about that." He reminded his brother, knowing why he was asking though. He was worried it was something that would trigger him. "Don't worry though. Your little spy has been checking in regularly. If she hasn't called you yet, you don't need to be worried."

"She told you?"

"Don't sound so shocked!" Jay answered. "She's MY partner after all. We don't lie to each other."

"Uh huh..."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Oh nothing." Will replied too quickly. "I just wasn't sure if that went both ways or if you just wouldn't let her lie to you."

Jay was ready to throw back when he stopped, realizing how much truth was really in those words. He did lie to Hailey all the time. She'd been asking him how he was doing - mentally - for a long time. She was one of the few people who knew about his PTSD and what he'd done to try and deal with it. He hadn't lied about that, but how many times had he said he was fine when he wasn't? Probably more times than he could count.

"You still there?" Will asked when he got no response.

"What?" Jay was startled from his thoughts. "Sorry, yeah, I'm here. I need to get back to work though. I'll see you in a few hours. Thanks for checking in." And he hung up before Will even had a chance to say goodbye.

"Brother?" Adam asked when Jay set down his phone.

Jay nodded. "He's paranoid."

Adam laughed. "Yeah, but it's understandable. He loves you, man. He's been so worried about you. He just wants to make sure you're all good."

Jay nodded. Adam was right. Expecting anything less from Will would be ridiculous. Sure, he'd been absent for years. But ever since he got back to Chicago, he's always shown up. No matter what.

"Are you?" Adam asked.

"Am I what?" Jay was confused.

"All good."

"Oh. Yeah, man. Everything is fine." Jay assured him.

It wasn't long before the rest of the gang got back, and Hailey was immediately at Jay's desk.

"You okay?" She asked.

"I'm fine." He repeated as if it was rehearsed.

"We found another body." Voight announced, slapping a picture up on the board.

Jay felt his heart drop as he stared at it. It was just a young boy. Couldn't be any older than 8. "Do we know anything about him?" Adam asked.

"Not yet. Parents of missing children meeting his description have been notified but no hits yet." Voight replied.

"I uh... came across a report from 10 years ago." Jay began, digging for it in his pile. "Siblings... brothers. The older ran away with the younger. Both ended up dead and the father was arrested."

"Well... I mean that sucks, but what does it have to do with our case?" Kevin asked gently.

"There's a statement from a friend of the older brother saying it wasn't their dad. It looks like he called and left a message at the police station. But he never showed in the morning to give his statement. He was missing for 8 years before they found his body by a river. It was a fresh kill, and there was evidence of sexual trauma. The entire case looks just like this one."

"Could be the same guy." Antonio agreed.

"Could be. Find the family and see what they know. Good work, Jay." Voight said, patting his shoulder as he passed.

Jay just nodded, staring blankly into space.

"Jay?" Hailey whispered to him for the hundredth time, "Are you okay?"

Jay slowly shook his head 'no.'

"Come with me." Hailey said quickly, taking his hand and pulling him down where they kept the cage. It was the most private place in the district and the only place without cameras. Once they were there, Hailey led Jay to a chair and helped him to sit before squatting in front of him, taking his hands in her own.

"Jay, can you hear me?" She asked.

"Yeah." Jay whispered, not making eye contact.

"What's going on? What do I do?" Hailey was worried. She had never actually witnessed Jay having a panic attack. She didn't know how to help.

"Will." Jay replied.

"Right." Hailey pulled out her phone and quickly found his number. Then she put it on speaker so Jay could hear as well.

"Hey, Hailey. Is everything okay?" Will asked as soon as he answered.

"Uhm... I'm not sure." She admitted. "I think Jay might be having a panic attack... or about to have one... I don't know. He just told me to call you."

"Okay, what's going on?" Will asked. Jay could hear his keys jingling in the background already.

"He's just sorta staring into space. Not really talking much." Hailey admitted. "He looks scared.

"Let me talk to him."

"You're on speaker." Hailey replied.

"Jay? It's Will. Are you okay?" Will asked.

"No." Jay huffed under his breath. Then he turned to Hailey. "Go."

"What?" Hailey was confused and shocked.

"Go." Jay repeated louder this time. "Now!"

Hailey jumped back.

"Hailey, he's afraid to hurt you." Will explained quickly. "Jay, you're not going to hurt her."

"Go!" Jay repeated.

"Does he have any weapons?" Will asked Hailey.

"No." She replied right away.

"Maybe get Antonio?" Will suggested.

"Is that okay?" Hailey asked Jay.

Jay just nodded and Hailey ran back up the stairs returning quickly with Antonio. She would let him take the lead, but there was no way she was leaving her partner when he needed her the most.

"Jay!" Antonio called out as he entered, careful not to startle his friend.

"Anton... man... I dunno... what's happen..." Jay was tugging at his shirt collar, gasping for breath.

"Hey, hey hey..." Antonio took his shoulders firmly and focused his attention. "Look at me. Listen. Are you listening?"

Jay nodded.

"Jay, you're at work right now. I'm here with you. I'm going to make sure you're safe. Hailey is here..."

"No." Jay cried.

"Hey, I'm not gonna let you hurt her either." He promised. "Everyone is safe. We're all okay."

"No." Jay shook his head adamantly. "No, no one is safe."

"What do you mean?" Antonio asked, looking to Hailey for some guidance from either her or Will. Neither had anything.

Jay didn't answer either. "Will?"

"He's on his way." Hailey said, stepping forward with her phone outstretched.

"Will?" Jay repeated.

"I'm almost there, man. I'm pulling around the corner now. Just keep breathing."

Jay looked to Antonio who nodded. "Slow deep breaths." He coached. Having a son and daughter that had both been through their own traumatic events and had their fair share of panic attacks was coming in handy right about now. "Just like that."

Jay continued to take slow breaths, and by the time Will found them his head was in his lap. Antonio had a hand on his head and Hailey was rubbing his back.

"He's a little better." Antonio explained when he saw the red head.

Will nodded and walked to Jay, kneeling in front of him. "You with me?" He asked.

Jay looked up, his face red and tear stained. "Yeah."

"You wanna go home?"

"Yeah." Jay said again.

"You guys can walk around back if you don't want to walk through the sea of people." Antonio offered.

Jay just nodded and allowed Will to help steady him as he stood.

"Take care man. Let me know if you need anything." Antonio said supportively.

"I'll stop by later tonight to check on you." Hailey added, patting his back.

Jay didn't acknowledge either of them. He just walked silently with Will to the car.

The whole way home, no one said anything. Well, Jay didn't say anything. Will had tried.

They arrived back to the apartment and Jay immediately fell into the couch, catching Kohl as he jumped up on top of him and began licking his salty face.

Will filled a glass of water and set it on the coffee table before sitting next to the duo. He turned on a game, not expecting a conversation at this point. So, he was shocked when the next few words left Jay's mouth.

"Hey Will," he began, "did Dad abuse us?"

Author's Note: Hey guys! Life is nuts and unfortunately this story had to take a backseat. I had a direction I wanted this to go, but due to some events I'll share later (as to not totally spoil the story), I'm going to change directions slightly. Nothing major will change. It just might be a bit shorter than I'd originally planned. But honestly, if I can at least get it all posted that would be great at this point haha! Thank you so much for continuing to review and favorite and like and everything while I've been away though. Honestly, it's what kept this story in my mind and helped me remember that I needed to come back to it. I appreciate the encouragement and kind words so so much! You guys are amazing and I will get this done for you!