Notes: This fic is a part of my upstead pre-dating text message au that I have been posting on instagram and twitter, both are knownforyears, however, you don't need to have read them to read this fic but it might give a little context to this fic!

To say she was tired was an understatement, Hailey had stayed up late last night on FaceTime to Jay and on top of that the nerves and excitement also stopped her from sleeping and there was also the fact that she had to get up early to catch her flight back to Chicago oh and don't forget the insomnia. Her flight wasn't that long, a little under three hours, she napped a bit but a baby a few rows behind her wouldn't stop fussing, she didn't care that much though, she was going to see Jay.

She was going to see Jay for the first time in four weeks, for the first time in a month. To both of them it had felt like she had been gone for years (honestly it probably felt like longer for the rest of the intelligence unit, having to deal with Jay acting all sad and moody without his Hailey).

As soon as the flight landed and they were allowed to stand up Hailey was on her feet (thank god for aisle seats huh). She was one of the first people off the flight and she walked as fast as her feet could take her through security and then baggage claim. It seemed as if her suitcase was purposely put to be the last one to appear but as soon as it appeared she hauled it off the conveyor belt and made her way to the exit where Jay said he would pick her up.

Stepping through the exit doors she felt the Chicago wind that she had missed tangle itself into her hair. She scanned the parking lot for the familiar truck she had missed riding these past weeks. She soon spotted it, and its owner leaning up against the side of it, he hadn't noticed her yet he was too busy typing something on his phone. Hailey started to walk over to him as she felt her phone vibrate in her back pocket, she stood still and took her phone out guessing the text was from Jay before she had even looked at her screen, safe to say she was right.

'where are you?' the text read, she laughed and replied.

'look up dummy'

She stood staring in his direction waiting for him to look up, and he did, their eyes meeting a smile forming on his face and hers growing into an even bigger one. As she made her way over to him, pulling her suitcase behind her, she felt a flutter in her stomach, was she nervous, why was she nervous, it was just Jay, her Jay. They were now standing inches apart, it seemed surreal to both of them, she was back, they were seeing each other, face to face, not over FaceTime, face to face.

"Hi" she whispered softly not knowing what else to say.

"Hi" he replied back before wrapping his arms around her shoulders and pulling her into the tightest hug of her life. She was shocked at first knowing Jay wasn't one for physical affection but she happily obliged wrapping her arms around his torso hugging him back equally as tightly.

"I missed you'' he mumbled into her hair.

"I missed you too" she told him.

They stood there hugging, in their own little world, for what seems like forever but somehow not long enough, until a car from somewhere in the parking lot used its horn bringing them back to reality. Begrudgingly, Jay let go of the small blonde and grabbed her suitcase and put it in the back of the truck before turning to her.

"Bertollis?" she nodded eagerly.

"Real pizza, yes please" she said before getting in the truck using the bar to help her up the high step. It always amused Jay that Hailey had to use the bar to help get into the truck, he would always tease her about it and she would always pretend to be annoyed at him before laughing with him about it.

While Jay drove them to pick up pizza Hailey messed with his stereo trying to find the right channel, the one that played all the old songs that she liked that she knew annoyed Jay slightly. Truth be told Jay had grown a liking to the music because of Hailey, he only really started to dislike old songs after his mum died as they would remind him of her, but now Hailey had made them special again, even more special.

They didn't really talk much on the drive to Bertolli's, neither of them not really knowing what to say but also just enjoying the fact that they were together again. They enjoyed the comfortable silence that they had, they didn't have to talk, they had their 'mind reading communication' according to Vanessa. Well she wasn't exactly wrong, it was like they knew what each other was thinking at all times and they could communicate through looks and facial expressions.

Hailey hummed along to one of the songs that was playing through the speakers when she realised that Jay had yet to complain about her choice of music like he usually would.

"Not complaining today?" she questioned.

"Not today" he told her as he stopped at a red light "I'll let you have it this one time just because you just got back" she nodded and tried to push her luck slightly.

"How about allllll the time" she looked at him trying to hide her smirk.

"No, nope definitely not"

"Pleaseeeeee Jayyyyyy" she tried as he started to drive again.

"I'll gladly pull over and let you walk home" he teased.

"Just this one time it is" she giggled knowing he was teasing.

It wasn't too long after that they pulled up outside Bertolli's, Jay telling her to wait in the truck as he went inside to grab the pizza. He was in and out within minutes. when he came out, he gestured to Hailey to open her door, which was curb side so he could hand her the two pizza boxes "mmmm these smell delicious."

"You better not eat them before I've even got back into the truck" he joked.

"You better get your ass back in the truck quickly then" she replied back and smiled softly at how easy it was for them to fall back into their usual banter.

The drive back to Hailey's place was quick, Jay pulled in to the underground car parking of Hailey's apartments and parked in the spot that he always did, right next to her car, before jumping out and running round to open Hailey's door and take the pizzas off her so she could get out.

"Such a gentleman" she remarked as she jumped (and when I say jumped I mean she quite literally jumped) out of the truck. Jay handed her back the pizza boxes after he shut her door, making sure she was careful not to slam it otherwise she knew she'd get an ear full about it later from Jay because how dare she slam the door and hurt his baby.

After handing the pizzas back to Hailey he pulled her suitcase out of the back of his truck and pulled it behind him as they walked to the elevator, luckily it was already on the level of the garage.

"Did you pack your whole apartment in here Hails jeez?" Jay said as he pulled the heavy suitcase into the elevator. Hailey rolled her eyes at him and laughed.

"Okay Mr I need to pack TWO duffel bags for a two-night stay" Hailey shot back remembering the time they had, had a rough week with a really rough case and Hailey had invited him over for a 'sleepover', as she had called it, over the weekend. Jay laughed remembering all the fun they had and how she had helped him not wallow in case.

The bell on the elevator dinged signalling that they had reached the door of Hailey's apartment, pulling them both out of their memories. Jay stepped out before Hailey, walking a few doors down to her door pulling out his keys for her apartment. He let them both in, leaving her suitcase by the door and rushed to the couch with Hailey ready to devour the pizza. Hailey placed the pizzas on the coffee table and quickly ran to her room to change out of her sweaty plane clothes. While she was changing Jay switched the TV on and grabbed the remote and tried to find what episode of the show that they were watching would be the one they would watch next.

When she got back Jay was still trying to find the episode so while he was doing that Hailey took the boxes she had placed down on to the little table and opened them up the smell taking over the room, her mouth watered as she snapped a quick picture of the setup, as Jay finally found the right episode and pressed play, they both ate in silence for the most part, both of them being comfortable with each other and also starving, well it was silent until-

"Jay stopppppp" Hailey's laugh echoed through the whole are apartment as she was trying to cover the camera of his phone when she had noticed him snapping a few pictures of her.

"what's it's you say Hailey, ah that's right, it's for memories" he laughed at her attempts to reach his phone but his arms were longer than hers so no matter how hard she tried she wouldn't be able to reach it.

"not when I'm eating Jay, ewww, stopppp" she made a couple more attempts to reach for his phone before sighting and giving up. He took a couple more pictures of her as she held up a pizza slice to cover her face.

Soon the pair had finished their pizzas and they sat comfortably on the couch letting their food go down while watching the rest of the episode. It wasn't too long till the credits for the end of the episode started rolling and Hailey got up and started to clear the mess the had left from her pizza.

Jay stayed on the couch watching her before she slapped his leg "you better clear your damn mess Halstead" she told him sternly but with an amused tone as she had caught him staring at her.

He cleared his mess and followed her into the kitchen area of her apartment and dumped his mess in the trash after her. He watched her and saw she was staring at something; he followed her eye line to the three bags on the countertop.

"You weren't kidding when you said you bought snacks huh?" she laughed.

"Yeah well welcome home" she smiled and leaned in to his side for another hug, he wrapped his arms around her shoulders and lent his head on top of hers.

"We should do this more often, hugging I mean, not you leaving for ages'' he thought out loud and she hummed in agreement.

"Yeah, we should" she noted "I like it, it's nice" she continued.

"I really missed you Hails, like a lot" he whispered.

"Yeah, you might have mentioned it once or twice or a million times" she giggled, he stepped back from the hug, gasping as he pretended to be hurt by her teasing. she giggled at his antics, and she gasped.

"What? what's wrong?" he questioned slightly concerned.

"We forgot the beer when we were eating" she pouted, and he laughed shaking his head as he was worried for a second.

"You scared me" he mumbled as he walked past and opened her fridge pulling out one of four six packs and removing two from the packaging before placing the remaining four back in the fridge.

"You really, really went all out, didn't you?" she said as he rummaged through one of the drawers for her bottle opener, it took him a second to find it, but he pulled it out and opened on of the bottles and handed it to her before opening the other for himself.

"Thanks'' she said as she placed the beer down on the island counter before pulling herself up on it to sit on it. Jay leaned on the fridge opposite her and held out his bottle and she clinked hers with his.

"Welcome home Hails."

"It's good to be back" she smiled.

They stayed in the kitchen for a bit, Jay filling in Hailey on everything she missed while she was gone and how much of a pain it was to help Vanessa move all her stuff out of Hailey's apartment into her own new one. Hailey was so happy that for the younger girl and that she finally had her own proper home, she was also kinda sad though she was really going to miss having Vanessa around all the time and it sure as hell was going to be a lot quieter without the other girl there but Hailey was pleased for her and proud of her, Vanessa had saved up relentlessly to figure out a way to place a deposit on the apartment she wanted and with a little help from Hailey and Jay she was able to do it.

"I'm going to miss having her around" Hailey told Jay.

"I know, but she's a big girl now, our little V all grown up" he wiped invisible tears away as he said that, and Hailey laughed taking the last sip of her beer.

"I'll take you tomorrow if you want."

Hailey shook her head no "as much as I love her, tomorrow I'm gonna sleep all day" he nodded, and she jumped down off the counter.

"Are you staying tonight?" she asked.

"Only if you want me to."

"Well, I already saw the not so greatly hidden duffel of yours by the door, so I guess you've got to stay" she shrugged and smiled at him.

"Want to watch another episode and eat a shit ton of candy?" she asked.

"Is that even a question" he laughed as she took the bags of candy and chocolate from the counter and he grabbed the open six, now four pack from the fridge. And that was how they spent the rest of the night, in each other's company, watching tv, laughing at each other stupid jokes, throwing popcorn at each other every now and then and eventually three grocery bags of candy and four beers each later they fell asleep on the couch, Hailey curled into Jay's side, his arm around her, hand slightly tangled into her blonde locks.

Jay woke to the flashing of the tv, he groaned slightly, trying to move, but he couldn't there was a weight on his chest, a sleeping Hailey sized weight. He smiled at how cute and peaceful she looked curled up on top of him. He gently rolled out from underneath her and stood from the couch grabbing his phone from the coffee table checking the time, 3:47am.

He picked up the remote and switched off the tv before scoping up Hailey bridal style and carried her to her bedroom as carefully as he could in an attempt not to wake her. He moved the covers out of the way and placed the small blonde down before pulling them back so they went over her and he went to leave when she grabbed his arm.

"Stay?" she asked sleepily and he nodded, not being able to say no to her puppy eyes.

"Let me go turn off the lights out there, I'll be back in a minute okay" and she nodded. He quickly rushed to the living room and kitchen areas switching off all the lights as if he were the flash before making his way back to Hailey's room and sliding into bed next to a very very sleepy Hailey.

She was snuggled into his chest before he had even had a chance to pull the covers over himself but he didn't mind. "You're hot" she mumbled.

"What?" he asked kind of shocked at her statement.

"You're like a hot water bottle" she continued "keeping me warm, my human hot water bottle" he sighed she wasn't talking about looks, she was talking about how warm he always was.

He wrapped his arms around her pulling her close, "this good? you warm enough?" he asked and all he got in reply was a soft snore, she had already fallen back to sleep, he held back his laugh, she had always denied that she snores every time he told her, but he thought it was super cute. He pressed a soft kiss on the top of the messy blonde hair that had settled beneath him and whispered, "goodnight, Hails."

Hailey stirred as the light from outside made its way through a gap in the curtains. She yawned and she rolled over, noticing that the other side of her bed where Jay had been, was empty. She pouted to herself over the fact that he had gotten up and left her. She took her phone off the bed side table and checked the time 11:07am.

She laid back down and sighed, remembering the previous night and how much fun she had had with Jay. A soft blush crept up her cheeks as she remembered how OA would tease her about how much she would text him, then seeing her blush he would tease her about how much of a crush she had on him. She wasn't really sure what she felt for Jay, yeah there was the undeniable fact that he was hot, like really hot but that was just an observation right? That didn't mean she had feelings for him.

But then there was also the fact that he would literally do anything for her, but he was just being kind, wasn't he? I mean he was her partner after all. And he was so gentle with her, her train of thoughts continued, but that's just because she had confided in him about her father or there was their 'mind reading' but that's just partner stuff or the fact that he would always check on her, or the fact that she realised her smile was always ten times bigger when she was in his company, or the fact that she was pretty much in love with him.

She was in love with him.

Hailey Anne Upton was in love with Jay Alexander Halstead. She slapped her hand over her mouth at the sudden realisation that she was in love with her partner. She sighed to herself, thinking there was no way that he could feel the same way, a tear slipped down her cheek all of these sudden emotions overwhelming her slightly.

There was a short knock on her bedroom door and she ran her hands over her face destroying all the evidence that she had been crying, just in time before the door opened to reveal a shirtless jay standing there with a tray of food and coffee.

She sat up with the biggest smile on her face as Jay placed the tray of breakfast on her lap "you're living here forever, I'm never letting you leave" she joked and her smile grew even wider at the sound of his belly laugh.

"I mean I wouldn't mind staying here forever" he said as he sat down on his (?) side of the bed and she dug into the scrambled eggs that he had made her.

"How long have you been up?" she questioned.

"Since like half seven" he told her.

"Half seven? Jay it's Saturday, you should've slept in, you could have woken me up even."

"Yeah, well my internal clock wouldn't let sleep and I wasn't going to wake you up Hails, like you said it's Saturday."

"Hey, don't use my words against me" she laughed and went to eat another forkful of eggs, but it disappeared from her hand "HEY" she lightly slapped Jays' arm as he took the fork out of his mouth and laughed.

"Mmm, I do make good eggs."

"Yes, you do, but you made them for me" she said taking the fork back from him.

"Have you eaten?"

"Yeah, a little after I got up" she nodded and held out a forkful of eggs towards him he smiled at her and ate the eggs off of her fork.

"If you want some you know all you gotta do is ask'' she said before taking a sip of coffee.

"I think I'll just stick to taking the fork out of your hand, it's funnier that way" she stuck her tongue out as he said that and ate the last few bites left on the plate before placing the fork on top of it.

Jay moved and took the tray from her lap and stood to take it to the kitchen. "I could've done that you know" she told him as she padded after him, coffee mug in hand.

"I know but I wanted to do it" he told her as he loaded the dishwasher with the dirty plate and cutlery. While she watched Jay load up all the stuff he had used during the morning, Hailey let her mind wonder what it would be like if Jay was actually her boyfriend and not just a boy who was her friend, her best friend. She could get used to sleeping in a bed next to Jay, him keeping her warm, to walking up to breakfast in bed, sharing breakfast with each other.

While she stood there watching him wipe down the countertops she realised how domestic this whole situation actually was, maybe he did feel the same way, but there was no way she was going to bring it up, she didn't think she could survive getting her heart crushed again, especially not by Jay, she couldn't risk it, she couldn't lose him, not him, he was one of the best things to happen to her in a long time.

"Hailey, hey, Hails, you okay?" Jays hand waved in front of her face and she blinked a couple times before looking up at him.

"Um what? yeah I'm good, I guess I just spaced for a minute there" she felt a blush creeping up her face and he laughed.

"Well, what I was asking was, are you finished with your coffee?'' She looked down at her practically empty mug and nodded.

"Yeah, I am" before handing him to load it into the dishwasher and watched him struggle with how to turn it on as she had just recently got it and he was used to her old one.

"You want me to do it?" she laughed at his struggle.

"Can you show me? So, I know for next time" she moved to stand next to him and gently bumped him with her shoulder.

"Next time huh?" she said with a smile which turned into a smirk as she saw how red his face went.

She turned back to the dishwasher "right you press this one, then this one, then close it and it'll beep when it's done" she showed him by pointing at the different buttons that turned it all on. as he reached over to press the right buttons his hand accidentally brushed up against hers causing her to blush and his previous blush to deepen, they locked eyes for a second before Hailey cleared her throat and stepped back a little.

"Umm you've got it right?"

"Uh y-yeah I got it" they both stumbled over their words, the accidental touch almost sending them both into a tailspin.

Jay pressed what he needed to press then shut it and turned around to Hailey "I remember you said you had plans to sleep all day?"

"Yes, yes I do, care to join me?" she said, feeling slightly bold, holding out her hand to him, he linked their hands.

"hmm I don't mind if I do" he said and let her lead him back to her bedroom. They both got back into the position they were in last night, facing each other, Jay arms around Hailey's shoulders, keeping her warm (and close to him).

"Goodnight Jay" she mumbled before resting her head on his chest.

"Goodnight, Hails" he uttered the familiar words that he had gotten so used to texting to her every night, but this time she was here, cuddled up into his chest and she wasn't leaving again, he had his best friend back.

Hailey was back to sleep within minutes, Jay laid awake, the thoughts in his head too loud. He realised this morning when he woke up with Hailey in his arms that he was in fact in love with her, which had caused him to have a mini spiral and having to get up and leave the bedroom, at five am, he told her he'd got up at half seven, at least that way he could blame it on the habit he'd kept from his ranger years, I mean it's not like he could tell her that he figured out he's in love with her at five in the morning.

He wondered what life would be like if she was his girlfriend (little did he know that was what Hailey had been thinking about when she spaced out earlier). He couldn't tell her; he was never going to put their partnership in jeopardy on a whim that she may feel the same way (she definitely does but he's just too blind to see it).

It was funny really how they both figured out that they were in love with each other within hours of each other. Maybe they did have some sort of mind communication like Vanessa always teased them about, because they were having the exact same thoughts, just at slightly different times. Jay looked down and the sleeping blonde in his arms and smiled to himself, his partner, his best friend, the person he cared about the most, the woman he loved. He rested his head on hers and let sleep take over him and he dreamt of what a life with Hailey would look like, little did he know Hailey was dreaming about the exact same thing.

Notes: Thank you for reading, I hope you enjoyed.

Comments and Kudos are always appreciated!

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