Utterly Unexpected

Chapter 3: Consequences


Hello friends, I am back with the new chapter. The story is moving along and things are unfolding gradually. I hope you enjoy. :)


The following day the sun rose, maintaining its record for not having missed a single day. Jay's eyes opened with his alarm and the rays that pierced through his room. He stretched lazily but got up the next instant. He was a man of action. He realised soon enough he might not be in action from this day onwards, considering the previous night's events. Hailey Upton had been beyond angry with him. He had no idea how the day would unfold but he was ready to face whatever came his way.

He left for the district well ahead of time, not wanting to give her any opportunity to taunt him or point out a mistake. His companions joined him in the briefing room, sensing something was up but not asking directly. They figured he would talk when he needed to. Gradually, more people entered the room, taking their seats casually, waiting for the day to commence. Hailey entered the room a few minutes before roll call, drawing Jay's attention like a magnet. He looked at her attempting to catch any expression or emotion, but all in vain. She had mastered the art of maintaining a neutral expression in any and every situation. Her eyes fell on him for a brief second then looked away. He sensed she was still upset or at least remembered what had transpired and was going to make him pay for it. He felt this would be his last day.

Roll call was over and he went immediately to get their equipment and gear, not wanting to delay or give her a reason to tell him on it. When he went to their car, she was already standing there, most likely ready to butcher him. He placed the bags in the trunk and came up front, saying shakily, "Good morning Ma'am."

"You're going to complete tasks for the upcoming week," she said, not thinking it necessary to greet him.

"Tasks?" he asked, puzzled.

"Yes, tasks," she said looking at him.

"What kind of tasks?" he dared to ask.

"Tasks that will determine whether you'll be continuing this training or not," Hailey answered flatly.

He looked at her for a moment then decided to speak directly, "If this is about yesterday, I'm really sor"—

"Don't you bring it up again," she warned him, a spark of her fury returning.

"I'm sorry. I am sorry for what happened," he said honestly.

"Get in," she ordered, not wanting to discuss this anymore.

The moment they were on the streets she started, "Your first task is in the shooting range. Out of seven tasks you have to succeed at five, otherwise you're out."

He looked at her, wondering what this was all really about. He asked, himself slightly annoyed now, "Is this a punishment?"

"Call it what you want, but it is what it is," she offered.

He decided to speak up today, because anyway he would be thrown out if he failed, "Why are you doing this?"

"Doing what?" she asked.

"Putting me through all this?" he said openly.

"I am training you to become a cop," she answered.

"If you say so," he said, shaking his head, disappointed.

"What does that mean?" she asked, sensing his tone.

"It means that both of us know what's going on but you don't want to accept it," he said, prepared to be bashed.

"Fine," she admitted, "It is because of your comment yesterday."

"And I am sorry. I didn't mean to intrude or imply anything," he added quickly, wondering why it was such a big deal.

"You need to understand that you cannot impose yourself on other people and their lives," she went on.

"I am not," he justified.

"Whatever it is, you're going through these tasks," she concluded.

He shook his head, not surprised but upset. He spoke, more to himself, "You're not this."

Hailey heard him and enquired, "Excuse me?"

He looked at her and decided to go with it, "You're not what you appear to be."

"Are you calling me fake?" Hailey shot back.

"No," he answered immediately, not having thought that there could be several interpretations.

"Then what the hell are you saying?" she continued coldly.

"You have a heart," he said softly.

She let a moment pass, registering his information or a new fury rising within her he couldn't say. For the first time he saw her smile faintly. She spoke in an even tone, "You're wrong. I don't have one."

He wondered if he had hurt her in some way by saying this but he would never know. She was never going to express her feelings, that had become clear in these few days. She continued in her even tone, "It's good you've already understood what kind of a person I am."

He didn't know whether he should agree with this, he didn't want to that much he knew. He tried, "I didn't mean it like that."

"It doesn't matter in which way you meant it Halstead, the result is the same," she finished.

"I… I…"

"Drop it Halstead. It's over. You need to focus on your upcoming task, because that is happening," she was back to her usual tone.

He nodded, not wanting to avoid them anymore. There was something underlying about her that he couldn't quite grasp but only feel. It was so prominent sometimes but he could never pinpoint it. He looked at her, trying to gain some insight into her mind, but in vain. She was a closed book. If one tried to open it one only failed. An aggressive attempt only led to the tearing of the book, still providing no deep information. He realised very bitterly that she was ready to accept anything but never reveal what was within her. His comment a few minutes back had been perhaps uncalled for but she had played along not wanting to get involved in it. Hailey Upton was a real mystery and he couldn't understand her one bit.


The rest of the day went by normally, they attended a few calls and did the needful. Their conversation from the morning didn't present itself during their shift. As they were returning to the district, Hailey informed, "We're going to the shooting range right after shift."

Jay was not surprised, but a part of him had hoped that she would cut him some slack. He was wrong. He answered quietly, "Copy that."

In half an hour Jay found himself in the shooting range, suddenly nervous because he didn't want to fail in the first task itself. Hailey walked in a few minutes later, changed out of her uniform. She was wearing jeans and a hoodie, covering herself well. He himself was in jeans now, a short sleeved T-shirt covering his torso. He got up the moment he saw her. As she was walking towards him he couldn't help but notice how blue her eyes were. He was looking at those eyes, rather trying to avoid them all day long, yet they seemed to shine brighter out of work. She had her gun in her hand and she settled at one of the ranges, ready to fire. She looked at him the said, "You're going to imitate me."

He nodded and waited for her to demonstrate. She fired at least ten rounds. The result was two straight lines on the torso of the dummy. One was horizontal and the other vertical, both meeting at the centre of the body. Jay was in awe and only wondered how he was going to match that. What impressed him even more was the accuracy with which she had fired all those bullets, it was almost perfect. She never failed to surprise him. As much as he wanted to be neutral towards her, her actions and precision in doing things made him admire her. But only this side. If she had other sides, he was completely unaware of them and a part of him knew it was for the best. Perhaps knowing her fully would only burden him. Suddenly her voice rang in his ears, "We don't have all night."

He looked at her and nodded, getting in position. His hands were trembling. She noticed that and added, "There is no room for fear in this job."

He looked at her and wondered what she was trying to do. If this was a punishment why was she helping him? Didn't she want him to fail? Again, he had no idea what was going on. But he knew he had to ace this shooting to survive the next day. He fired, trying his best to match her. He didn't succeed. None of them was surprised. She voiced, "Try again."

He positioned himself and heard her voice beside him, "I want you to really concentrate. Block out everything except your target and shoot."

He heard her and aimed, this time a more fruitful result. She observed his attempt and spoke, "Not yet what I want."

He knew that as well and looked down. She spoke more softly this time, "Perfection doesn't exist, that's why you have to do anything to acquire it."

He looked at her, aware that she was speaking on more general terms but her advice was fit in this situation as well. He took position again and fired. The result was much better than the previous two attempts. Hailey looked at the shots and announced, "My job is done. I'm leaving."

"What?" he asked her confused.

"You thought I was going to spend my night here with you?" she asked, surprised that he had such a question.

"Uh, no Ma'am," he answered quickly.

"Then what are you bickering about?" she asked, already ready to leave.

"Can you at least tell me if I have passed the test or not," he asked quietly.

"No," her answer was direct.

"Oh," he couldn't help himself.

"You'll find out tomorrow," she added.

He nodded, clearly not understanding her logic. She turned and walked away. Jay spoke in spite of himself, "I am sorry."

She turned. He continued, hating himself, "I am sorry about all that I said today."

She looked at him for a long moment then left, not responding nor reacting. He looked after her, wondering why he always felt the need to provide her an explanation. She had made it clear on the very first day that she didn't care about friendship or partnership. But here he was, in spite of knowing that very well, attracted towards her in a way that he couldn't understand. She was intimidating yet she carried something about her that drew instant attention. He looked after her until she was out of sight, wondering what had gotten into him. He needed to get it together and focus on his training and not think about his TO who was clearly from another planet. This small task had ignited in him a passion to succeed to matter what. He was going to get the shooting exactly how she wanted it. Whether it was to prove her wrong or genuinely improve he didn't want to think about or preferred to dismiss. The only goal he had in mind was to succeed in this task and remain in the training programme. He spent over an hour at the shooting range, tired out of his mind but wanting to get the job done. He wanted to find the perfection that didn't exist.


The following day she didn't mention the tasks at all. They were heading out in the car for the day. He asked, eager to hear how he had done in the first task, "What about yesterday's test?"

"Now that I think about it, I would rather give you the result after a week," she answered normally.

He looked at her in shock and wondered if his ears had betrayed him. He spoke, the shock reflecting in his voice as well, "What?"

"It's for the best," she said, not intending to give more of an explanation.

"Come on," Jay couldn't help himself.

She turned towards him, "Do you have a problem?"

He looked at her, replying immediately, "No Ma'am."

"Good. I don't want to hear about this until you're done" she made herself clear.

He nodded, but completely against it from within. She went on, "Aren't you excited to find out today's task?"

He couldn't help but deduce it was all a game for her. How could she be so ruthless and laugh about it? He didn't know and honestly he had no will to find out anymore. She asked again, "Don't you want to know what you have to do today?"

He looked at her then said quietly, "I am," in spite of all that he felt.

"Good. You're going to run 10k today. After your shift," she said as though it was the simplest of things to do."

The moment he heard that the first instinct he felt within him was to quit. To simply quit this training and not go through all this. But the very next instant he remembered what she had told him on the first day. She wanted to break his spirit no matter what. That memory reignited in him an urge to prove himself and this time prove her wrong. He was going to do it, do all that she asked him to. He answered, "Fine."

"Wow, you're compliant," she added.

"I am here to become a cop. I will do whatever it takes," he said confidently.

"That's great Halstead," she said, enjoying this even more.


The day went by quickly. Shift came to an end and Hailey entered the locker rooms looking for her rookie. She didn't have time to waste. She wanted to get things started and head home. The locker room was rather quiet, suggesting everyone had probably already left, clearly tired from the day's activities. She heard some sounds coming from one of the sides and walked in that direction. To her surprise she found a bare body Jay, in the process of wearing a T-shirt for his run. She looked down immediately. He saw her and said, "Give me a minute."

Even though she had only seen him for a split second she hadn't missed his toned body and bulging biceps. He definitely appeared to be strong and fit. He joined her in a minute and they were off to the ground. The police department had its own grounds for events and trainings. It was already dark, the sky almost black. However, the gigantic lights helped with the darkness. They had reached the track now. He looked at her and asked, "Will you stay here the whole time?"

"No," she answered, looking at him as well.

"Okay," she replied, unsure of why he had asked that question.

She added, "But I will run a little with you."

He was surprised. But that was her specialty, to either surprise people or scare the hell out of them. She asked, "Shall we begin?"

He nodded, again wondering what was going on. What was she really trying to do? But time for thinking had ended. It was time to run and they began. Everything she did was almost perfect. She was good at everything and he couldn't help but admire her various abilities and skills. She spoke, aware that he was looking at her more than required, "I would suggest you concentrate on your run rather than staring at me."

He looked ahead immediately, realising he was looking at her blatantly. They jogged on in silence for a while. Jay spoke a little later, "So, why did you become a cop?"

She shook her head, "No, we are not doing this. This is not about me, it's your training."

"It isn't a personal question," he tried explaining.

"I am not your friend Halstead," she reminded him.

Why did she keep saying that the moment he tried to talk to her like a normal person? It was strange, but again, everything about her was strange. They ran on in silence once again. After 3k Hailey decided to stop. She told him, still running alongside him, "You're on your own now."

He nodded, uncertain of how to react. She continued, "You're going to finish the run."

He nodded again. She added, "And if you don't, I will know. There's no way to escape."

"No doubt about that," he said, smiling faintly.

"It's good you're enjoying this," she said.

"I just want to complete the tack and go home," he said frankly.

"Always remember the why of anything, you won't feel bound," she stated and stopped, letting him continue.

He looked back towards her, wanting to decipher the meaning of those words but his mind unable to do so at the moment. She left, he went on.


Hailey reached her apartment fifteen minutes later. She was exhausted but there was something on her mind. She was experiencing something she had never felt before. She genuinely wanted her rookie to succeed. In all her years as a TO her sole purpose had been to make sure her rookie failed, and not only failed, but failed miserably. There had been an exception but that had been a grave mistake. She couldn't repeat that. It would be catastrophic in every sense of the word. Yet, she couldn't bring herself to feel that way about training Jay Halstead. As tough, as cold and as direct as she was, a part of her revolted against this behaviour of hers. It had been a natural way of doing things but suddenly something was shifting within her and she didn't like it one bit. She shut her mind and headed for the shower.

Jay Halstead was opening the book no one dared to touch.


And I conclude the chapter here friends. Do let me know what you think. :)