happy monday, upstead friends! chapter two is here! this is the shortest of the bunch, but i'm still so happy with it. hope y'all enjoy :)

Chapter Summary: Hailey loved winter, she really did. But after she and Jay get back to the district from chasing down a lead, she remembers one thing she hates about winter. When she can't seem to get warm, Jay helps her out.

[Takes place between 8x03 and 8x15.]

.: Bullpen Pullover :.

"And darling, when your feet are cold, wait up, I'm coming home. And all of you, I will hold. My love will clothe your bones." — Josh Record, Bones

Hailey climbed the stairs to the bullpen slowly, holding the handrail like it was the only thing stopping her from curling into a ball. She could feel Jay one step behind her, and as she blew warm air onto her still-gloved hands, she had to resist the urge to sink back into him and steal his warmth.

But technically, she was allowed to do that now, so she paused just out of sight of the bullpen and pulled his arms around her. She felt the deep rumble of his laugh against her back as he wrapped his arms totally around her and rubbed some warmth into her biceps.

"Cold?" he chuckled. He pressed his wind-blown cheek against her temple.

"Just a little," she hedged, suppressing a shiver. She allowed herself ten more seconds of his comfort before she tilted her head up, kissed his stubbly chin, and continued up the stairs, regretfully tugging off her gloves as she did so.

Winter was Hailey's favorite season, and there was nothing quite like winter in Chicago. She loved the snow and the Christmas lights and the special hot-chocolate the mom-and-pop coffee shop near her apartment served during the holidays. She'd most recently discovered how much she loved snuggling up under a blanket with Jay—how much she loved tucking her cold feet under his legs and hearing him grumble about it but pull her closer anyway.

But even though she loved winter, she hated the cold. She spent way too much time outside in the Chicago windchill, chasing criminals and knocking on doors and working crime scenes, to have any love left for the freezing weather. Which was why it made no sense that she'd left her apartment without a sweatshirt of some kind.

Hailey draped her bulky winter jacket over her desk chair and eyed Jay who was doing the same. She blamed him, she decided, as she sat down with a shiver. She blamed him for distracting her with coffee-flavored kisses and warm, wandering hands. He made her forgetful, and they'd rushed from her apartment ten minutes late this morning.

Hailey opened the manila folder with the information she and Jay had just gathered and began verifying it on her computer. She tugged her red beanie lower over her ears and realized the ends of her blonde hair were still damp from the fresh falling snow.

With a shiver, she pulled the sleeves of her thin shirt over her hands and started typing, fingers like icicles. The district was generally a warm building, especially in the summer when she'd kill for a cool breeze, but it felt horribly drafty at the moment. Felt impossible for her to get warm.

Mind over matter, she thought with another shiver, goosebumps erupting across her neck. She clicked through the tabs on her computer with slightly shaky hands and resolved that if she didn't think about those goosebumps, they'd simply go away and she'd magically be warm.

"Got something," Adam said, interrupting her mini internal pep-talk. She heard him roll his chair across the linoleum towards the printer and back to his desk. She angled away from her own desk and cursed her snowy boots for nixing her plan to pull her legs to her chest.

Hailey crossed her arms instead, tucking her cold fingers under her armpits as she watched Adam walk to the whiteboard, photo in his hand. She tried to play her next shiver off like she was just rolling her shoulders, removing some tension, but a quick look at Jay across their desks told her she was wildly unsuccessful.

Adam started to voice his lead—something about DCFS and a local shop owner with a mile-long rap sheet—but Hailey only heard half of it. She tried to be attentive, but the goosebumps on her legs were making her itch, making her jeans feel too tight.

She was quietly miserable, but she'd been miserable before and she was still here, still kicking.

"What about youth centers?" Jay asked. He stood and rounded his desk, gesturing at the two photos Adam had just taped to the whiteboard. "All these kids were considered 'at-risk,' but we don't have any proof they ran with gangs."

Jay pulled his sweatshirt over his head while Kevin piped in, and Hailey's eyes bugged. Was Jay nuts? She was quite literally shaking in her boots, a veritable ice cube at her desk, and he was shedding clothes. She knew he ran hot—she'd sought his warmth in the middle of the night more times than she could count by now—but he'd have to be freaking hellboy to be too warm in a sweatshirt right now.

But then he leaned against her desk and held out the garment to her. As Kim added her two cents to their developing theory—a theory Jay would definitely have to fill Hailey in on the next time they rolled out—Jay popped his brows, green eyes glittering in warm challenge.

They'd been dating a few months now and had been partners for years. This wouldn't be the first time she'd worn his clothes—it wouldn't even be the first time she'd worn his clothes in front of the others—but she was surprised at him handing over a sweatshirt in the middle of the bullpen, surrounded by the team, and in the midst of a debrief. It was about as public as the two of them got with their relationship.

Even so, Hailey only hesitated for a few seconds before she grabbed the sweatshirt and pulled it on. It dwarfed her, of course, but that wasn't anything new about wearing his clothes—Hailey actually liked it, and she liked the way his eyes simmered when he looked her over even more.

"Thanks," she whispered. Jay nodded in response, a hint of a smile tilting his lips as he sat on her desk and crossed his arms.

Hailey fisted the excess fabric of the sleeves and shoved her hands in the front pouch-pocket. She slouched a bit in her seat, and though she didn't quite bury her nose in the cotton, Jay's sandalwood smell washed over her anyway, warming her even more than the sweatshirt was.

Kim caught her eyes, and the other woman was already grinning. Hailey's own lips quirked in response, but she was too focused on the way the tension immediately dissipated from her shoulders to worry too much about the teasing her friend was going to subject her to later.

Too focused on wondering why Jay's sweatshirts always seemed magically warmer than hers.

thank you for reading!