On Monday, they left the district close to 9pm. Kevin had ordered a pizza just after seven, so they weren't even hungry; plus, Hailey couldn't stop yawning much to Jay's enjoyment.

"It's really not that late," he laughed as he shrugged his jacket on against the slight breeze in the air.

"It's late enough," Hailey said back.

"Were you up late last night?" Jay asked.

"Not really," Hailey shrugged, "Tarik came over for lunch, but he was gone by the time it was dark. He didn't want to stay the night for some reason."

Jay paused in the parking lot to ask, "Yeah?"

Hailey nodded, "Yeah."

"Is that…normal?" Jay put a hand on the hood of Hailey's car and watched her toss her gym bag in the back seat.

She shrugged, "I don't know. We spend enough time together – I don't need to sleep with him every night, and I mean that in every sense of the word. I'm okay being alone every once in a while – I totally get that he'd feel the same. Don't you like alone time?"

"Course I do, but…"

But I want to spend all my time with you.

But if I were dating you, I'd never want to be alone.

But he really walked out on you?

But he didn't want to spend more time with you?

Jay didn't know exactly how to finish the sentence, and yet the but seemed to be enough for Hailey to understand.

"Guess normal can be pretty boring sometimes," she whispered.

"Normal's overrated, right? That's why we thrive here…in this job," Jay said back. His voice barely floated through the air toward her, but as it did, her face seemed to fall. She took in his words and slowly nodded in reply. "It's not normal," he continued, "We're cops, but…" he trailed off in a soft laugh and turned to lean against her car, "When Will first came here, I told him we were a specialized unit. Sure, it's true, but it's also kind of an asshole thing, right? I was definitely trying to look cool. We'd also just almost died, though, so it was an actual explanation. He was worried about me too. I'd almost died overseas and then I almost died while he was hiding out in a closet with some people he didn't even know."

Hailey smiled slightly and leaned against her now closed door.

"What I'm trying to say though," Jay said as his head rolled to look at her, "Is that I get what you like about him and about your life outside of here. When we're here, life's not normal, so go out and find it. We should all do that. I don't blame you."

She nodded again and took a deep breath.

"So," Jay said, straightening up and pointing to the moon, "It's getting late, you're still yawning," he laughed as she again hid a yawn behind her hand, "And I'm not hungry. So let's try for tomorrow."

"Tomorrow," Hailey repeated with a nod. She opened her front door and added, "Fingers crossed we get out even two hours earlier."

Jay glanced at his watch then nodded, "I can do seven." He winked and waved before walking away.

Driving away, he knew he meant the words he'd whispered to her. She deserved normal. He wasn't sure if she'd ever truly had it, so now was her chance.

Even if he couldn't wrap his mind around her boyfriend not wanting to spend time with her, he could appreciate her crave for normalcy.

He could even admit that it sounded nice from time to time.

Maybe he'd even try it at some point.


Tuesday came and what started as a solid day with good plans to go out to dinner ended in Jay tripping over a curb and twisting his ankle while running after a suspect.

He swore under his breath as he pushed himself up onto the grass.

"He's going south…dammit," he huffed into his radio.

Within a minute, Hailey was kneeling next to him asking, "What happened?"

"Just…" he trailed off and shook his head, "A mistake."

Hailey looked around and spotted the cracked cement that had to have caused him to trip. Frowning, she scooted closer to the ankle he was lightly rubbing and pushed his pant leg up.

"Hailey," he said quietly.

"It looks swollen already," she murmured and gently touched over his sock.

He raised an eyebrow because there was no way she should be able to tell if his ankle was swollen within his boot and sock.

"I'm guessing you don't want to go to Med," Hailey said with a slight smirk.

Jay rolled his eyes and slowly stood only to wince and shift his weight over to his right leg.

"We'll head home then," Hailey said. She put a hand on his back and followed him over to Voight and Kim.

"Took a pretty hard fall," Kim said and scrunched her nose.

Jay shook his head, "Yeah, but I'm fine."

"Head to Med," Voight said.

Hailey laughed and rolled her eyes to say, "You really think he's going to Med? He wouldn't even want to go if I was hurt."

"I would take you to Med," Jay smirked, "But I don't need to go now. It's just a sprain. I'll be fine in a day."

"Then take the afternoon," Voight said, "Hailey, you can drive him home before meeting us at the district."

"Will do," Hailey nodded. Before Jay could argue, she grabbed his arm and led him over to his truck. He reluctantly handed over his keys much to her delight. He was easily able to slide in which just spurred on his mumbling about being able to work, but Hailey continued to ignore him and just drove to his apartment building. Once she parked, she jumped out with Jay and followed him to the door.

"What're you doing?" he asked.

"Making sure you get inside and put ice on that ankle."

Jay hummed and limped his way up to his apartment with Hailey by his side. Part of him felt like she was lying (just like she'd been when she claimed his ankle was swollen through his sock), but he didn't say anything and just accepted it because spending extra time with her in his apartment was never a bad thing.

Pushing the door open, he stepped aside for her to walk in ahead of him.

"Always a gentleman," she laughed and went straight to his bathroom.

"What're you doing?" he repeated while walking over to the couch. He sank into it and stared at his boots hating the fact that he knew it was going to be painful to pull off.

Hailey stepped out of the bathroom holding his rubber icepack. "Making sure you actually do as you're told." She filled the icepack in his kitchen then grabbed a bottle of water to bring him as well. Sitting next to him, she raised an eyebrow at his foot and said, "I'm not doing that for you."

He rolled his eyes, but still laughed and bent down to untie his boot. He sucked in a breath then shoved it off while holding back a low groan that he knew would cause Hailey to overly worry.

She still heard, though, and simply shook her head. "I'm going to call Will."

"No, you're not." Jay pulled his other boot off then moved backwards against the arm of the couch to prop his ankle up on the cushions.

"Says who?"

Jay watched her fit a pillow under his foot before saying, "You won't do it. I know you. Maybe if I was shot you'd call him."

"No, I would call him if you were shot," Hailey said, "Thank god Adam called him last year."

Jay winced at the memory and nodded. "Not always a good call to make or get."

"Exactly," Hailey breathed. She held the icepack to his ankle even though it wasn't going to go anywhere. It seemed to keep her occupied for the time being as they both remembered everything that had happened close to a year before.

He couldn't forget her face hovering over his as he caught his breath both from the adrenaline and the bullet connecting with his vest. Her hand had been shaking under his head where she cradled it off the cement, but it was much wanted as it lessoned even some of the pain he was feeling. If he thought hard enough, he could hear that phone call she'd been talking about as well and Adam's voice hurriedly telling Will he'd been shot just as the ambulance sirens rounded the corner to greet them. Perhaps one of the scarier moments of his life, but Hailey being there for him really did help.

It didn't help that he'd been such an ass to her that entire day, but thinking about that too much hurt his heart, so he pushed it to the side and tuned in to her fingers dancing along his icepack currently.

She then sighed and straightened up to say, "I guess I should go back to work."

"Thanks for bringing me home," he said softly.

"Course," she smiled and stood. She pushed the water closer to him and said, "Drink that, it'll help with the swelling."

"Is that true?"

"Doesn't water fix everything?"

Jay laughed and reached over to grab the bottle, "Maybe."

Hailey smiled, "Maybe's better than no."

"Exactly," Jay chuckled.

Hailey turned to walk away, but then stopped and faced him again. "We had a date planned."

Blushing, Jay sputtered, "What?"

"I'll bring the pizza here," Hailey then said.

"Whoa, hey," Jay said and sat up further, "You don't have to bring anything here. Really. I'm fine. It's just a twisted ankle."

"Well, maybe I want to spend more time with you."

Jay breathed in at her words, but said nothing. It confirmed his theory that if she really was lying, then she did want to spend time with him. He'd be stupid to deny her.

"Okay."

Hailey's eyes lit up. "Great! I'll bring it by after shift. Did you forget anything at the district that I should grab you?"

"Uh," Jay glanced around his apartment then shrugged, "No. I think I'm fine. I'll eventually need a ride there to grab the truck, but that can wait."

"Okay," Hailey nodded, "We'll do that." She started walking backwards and said, "Anything certain on the pizza?"

"No anchovies?"

"Obviously. Is onion okay?"

"As long as you pair it with sausage."

"I can do that," Hailey once again smiled. She was almost at the door when she added, "Salad?"

"Really not in the mood," Jay chuckled, "Just pizza and beer."

"And cannolis."

Jay raised an eyebrow and smirked, "Yeah?"

"Yeah," Hailey laughed softly, "Pizza, beer, and cannolis, doesn't that sound good?"

"Fine," Jay laughed with her, "Cannolis works. I haven't had one in forever."

"And that's a sin," Hailey teased.

Jay shrugged, "God will forgive me. I've done worse."

Hailey laughed harder and opened the door, "I'll see you later."

"You're the best," Jay called out as she walked away.

When the door closed, he smiled to himself and sank into the cushions very much looking forward to his not-a-date date, plus the pizza – he was very much looking forward to the pizza.

He spent the afternoon watching TV on the couch and even called Will. Against his better judgment, he did mention his ankle to him which then resulted in Will walking him through wrapping it up. While he knew exactly how to wrap sprains, he still let Will do as he pleased. They hadn't talked for a while, which meant if he needed to let his brother 'baby' him so be it.

By the time Hailey was back and knocking on his door, he'd gotten pretty into a new show on Netflix and spent a while icing his ankle to no avail. He hobbled over to let her in briefly wondering if he actually cracked the bone because it hurt so badly.

"Hey!" Hailey smiled as she stepped inside with a box of pizza in hand.

"Did I miss anything at work?"

"Big bomb threat, shut down city hall," Hailey said and walked over to his kitchen.

"What?"

She laughed softly and glanced at him over her shoulder, "Kidding. Don't you think that would have been on the news?"

"I was on Netflix all day," he sheepishly explained.

Hailey's eyes widened, and she shifted her weight back on her foot to ask, "Are you serious?"

"Yeah," Jay nodded and limped back to the couch.

Hailey immediately relaxed as she said, "I didn't think you'd actually take it seriously." Grabbing a now frozen ice pack from the freezer to bring him, she asked, "Then why do you look worse than before?"

Jay shook his head and pulled the coffee table closer to him to prop his ankle on it with a pillow before explaining, "Just a little stiff from the fall. I'm fine."

Hailey sighed and set the ice against his ankle. "Are you?"

He looked up at her and tilted his head to the side before nodding.

She let out a breath then returned to the kitchen. Placing two pieces of pizza on each plate and grabbing napkins for them, she said, "In all honesty, you didn't miss much. Kim got pretty intense in the box, but I loved watching it. Something just clicked for her."

"She's damn smart," Jay replied and accepted his pizza, "Thank you. How much do I owe you?"

"Nothing, shut up," Hailey said and settled into the couch by his side.

Jay glanced up from his bite of pizza and raised an eyebrow.

She waved him off and started eating.

Shaking his head, he took another bite before turning off his new show and putting The Office on. Hailey smiled and pulled her feet up under her on the cushions as they settled into watching TV.

Her phone buzzed about ten minutes later causing them both to lose focus. She wiped off her hands to glance at the screen then mumbled, "Sorry," before walking away.

"Hey," she said softly into the phone, "What's up?"

Jay looked back at her and held up the remote, but she just shook her head and waved her hand around so he wouldn't pause it.

"Actually, I can't, I'm sorry," she said as she returned to her call.

Jay bit his lip and turned back to the TV.

"I'm actually with Jay."

He winced when he realized that she was most likely talking to Tarik right now.

"He, uh, took a tumble today, so- Yeah! Yeah, he's okay. Thanks."

Jay breathed in slowly and glanced at his ankle.

"I can text you when I leave, okay? Yup, bye."

Hailey returned to the couch and said quietly, "Tarik hopes you're feeling better soon."

"Thanks," Jay whispered. He debated his words for a moment before adding, "You can go if you'd like."

"What?"

Jay looked up to see her once again staring at him with wide eyes. He nodded and said, "I'm okay, really. Thank you for dinner."

Hailey shook her head and sighed, "I'm not leaving. He doesn't own me, and he's even fine with me being here. He knows we're friends."

"Are you sure?"

"Trust me, okay? Everything is fine. I think I'd rather even be here tonight," Hailey admitted softly.

Jay tried to hold it back, but couldn't and let out a short laugh.

Hailey smiled and tilted her head to the side as she explained, "He wanted to bake cookies."

Jay blinked then laughed again, "Is there something wrong with that?"

Hailey's smile widened and she nodded, "Actually, yeah. He's a horrible baker. He claims it's his oven, but…I don't believe it."

Jay laughed harder, "So they always burn?"

"Always," Hailey said, "Which sucks because he makes chocolate chip ones a lot and I love those…when they're not burnt."

"Well," Jay took a deep breath and slowly set his ankle on the ground, "I happen to have chocolate chips."

"You are definitely lying," Hailey said.

"Not at all," Jay chuckled. He carefully stood and grabbed his plate of pizza to carry back into his kitchen. Opening his cabinet, he explained, "My mom has a really good chocolate chip recipe, so sometimes I make them when I need something sweet. It's not often, but…I need chocolate chips on hand at all times."

The words had practically tumbled out of his mouth as he gave no thought to them while taking out ingredients, so when he looked up to see Hailey staring at him in partial disbelief, he was a little confused.

"You good?" he asked and pulled out a thin binder from another cabinet.

"Um…yeah," Hailey breathed, "Yeah, I'm good."

Jay nodded and hobbled over to grab a few bowls.

"Here." Hailey took one more bite of pizza then hurried over to him. "I can help. Sit down."

"No, it's fine, really, I need to stretch it out," Jay said and grabbed the milk and eggs from his fridge.

"If you're sure," Hailey trailed off.

"Course," Jay smiled, "You want cookies that aren't burnt, so sit back and watch me work my magic."

Hailey laughed, but still sat at a barstool, "Shut up."

He shrugged and said, "I'm a good cook, I swear to you."

"Then maybe you should cook more," Hailey joked and put her chin in her palm.

"I would gladly cook you dinner," Jay smiled.

Hailey smiled back then returned to finishing her pizza as he mixed all of his ingredients together. She waited until he was forming the dough into balls to reach over and grab the binder he'd been looking at. It was filled with close to thirty recipes each in its own page protector. There was a range of recipes from appetizers to desserts and even a punch. Flipping through, she realized that while the recipes were all copies, perhaps so Will could have his own too, each one had a little note on it written in pen.

Your favorite when you were little!

This one's from my dad – he'd be so proud of you!

You don't like cauliflower, but I'd be a bad mom if I didn't make you eat vegetables every once in a while. Once a month, Jay, make this once a month. You can't survive on carrots forever.

"This is…wow," she whispered.

Jay looked up and smiled. "It's…that'd be what I'd grab if this place ever burnt down. She made Will and I each one when she was dying. They have a lot of the same recipes, but…" He couldn't bring himself to specifically mention the notes. He knew she'd looked at them and probably even read a few, but it was still pretty personal and putting it out into the world verbally was something he didn't know if he would ever be strong enough to say.

"Of course," Hailey nodded.

Jay took a deep breath then asked, "How long do they go in for? I can never remember, but I know it's not long."

"Um…" Hailey flipped through the pages until she'd found the recipe again and said, "Twelve minutes, but-"

I know you like yours a little gooey, so 10 minutes should be fine. Maybe 9, but no less than 8. You can't serve raw cookie dough.

"She says ten works," she finished quietly.

Jay chuckled because he knew what she meant. "What do you want? Gooey or cooked?" he asked.

Hailey blinked her eyes quickly and looked up at him before saying, "Uh, gooey. However you like them is fine."

Jay smiled and nodded, "Cool. These are the best. I know you'll like them." He set the tray in the oven then began washing the bowl he'd used.

"Hey, let me," Hailey said and hurried around the counter to grab the sponge and bowl from him, "Now I'm telling you that you have to sit down and ice your ankle. No buts."

Jay put his hands up and said, "All right, ma'am."

Her jaw dropped slightly, and, before he could even step out of the kitchen, she threw a handful of flour at him.

"What are you doing?" he laughed.

"You called me ma'am," she mumbled and grabbed the measuring cups he'd used, "I'm not old."

"Never said you were old," he chuckled and reached over for the bag of flour, "But for assuming that…" He tossed a handful of flour at her face then rinsed his hands off.

"Jay!" Hailey laughed, "Why?"

"Revenge," he laughed with her.

She wiped her face off then pointed to the couch, "You suck."

"I know you don't believe that," he smiled, but still limped over to pick up the forgotten icepack and place it to his ankle.

Hailey hummed and shook her head, yet she was still smiling as she continued washing the dishes.

Jay watched her as she worked and wished more than anything they could have more days like this. He liked randomly making cookies with her even if he did all of the baking. Usually, his apartment was rather dull; it was basically just a place for him to eat, sleep, and occasionally watch TV. Hailey brought light wherever she went, so right now with The Office still playing and the sink running as the smell of cookies filled the small space…this was the life he had always secretly craved in this dark space.

Eventually, the timer went off and Hailey was grabbing out the cookies before he could clamber off the couch. Shaking her head, she laughed and set the tray on a hot pad.

"What?" he asked.

"These do not look cooked," she explained, "They're still very wet looking."

"No, no, that's good," Jay sat up, "They'll be delicious now, but I'll freeze them and then they're even better. I'll bring you some at work tomorrow. Voight might not let me run, but I'll be there."

Hailey looked skeptical at everything he said, but went with it and grabbed some paper towel to place two cookies on. She brought them over to him and crossed her legs underneath her as she sat down.

Jay grabbed a cookie and said, "Thanks," before biting into it.

Hailey smiled and watched him eat.

Swiping his tongue along his bottom lip, he said, "Come on, take a bite. I swear it's good."

She shook her head then laughed softly and bit into the cookie. Humming softly, she nodded and, through the warm dough in her mouth, said, "It's really good."

Jay's face lit up, "See?"

"Mhmm," Hailey laughed and took another bite.

Jay rested his elbow on the back of the couch to watch her. He'd never made anything for her before, so the fact that the first thing she had from him was his mom's chocolate chip cookies stirred something within him that he needed to work to push down.

However, when Hailey sat back, she had a small drip of chocolate on the side of her mouth, so he tried not to just reach over and wipe it off for her and instead said, "You've got a little something."

She blushed and wiped the wrong side of her mouth with the back of her hand. "Did I get it?"

Jay shook his head then couldn't resist and reached over to swipe his thumb along the side of her mouth. They both seemed to hesitate at the touch, but neither moved. Jay let his fingers spread slightly to brush along her cheek as Hailey leaned into his touch. Her mouth barely gaped, but his thumb remained on her bottom lip. He couldn't look away from her eyes for what felt like a solid minute. He was no longer thinking of Tarik or his mom or even his ankle throbbing in front of him – all that crossed his mind was Hailey and how soft her skin felt in his hand.

Just as the thought to kiss her crossed his mind, she blinked and pulled away with a shaky breath.

"Sorry," he whispered.

"No," she shook her head, "Don't be. Thank you. I…thank you for getting that."

"Yeah," he breathed.

"Um," she blinked her eyes quickly and looked anywhere but at him, "I should go. I…I told Tarik I'd call him-text him-I told him I'd text him. I should go." She quickly stood up and hurried to throw the paper towel away

"Hailey," he said as he stood up.

"I'll see you tomorrow," she said while rushing to the front door without meeting his eyes.

"Hailey," he repeated.

She closed her eyes then turned to face him.

"Thanks for spending time with me," he whispered.

She relaxed ever-so-slightly and nodded, "Thank you for the cookie."

"Any time."

Hailey smiled at him then walked out of his apartment leaving the pizza and the scent of her vanilla perfume lingering around him.

Jay found himself thinking of her the rest of the night even as he stared at the TV still playing The Office. He didn't know what exactly had happened in her mind, but he knew that had she not blinked and gotten out of whatever trance they had fallen in, he would have kissed her. He'd never wanted to as much as he had in that moment. It would have been a horrible idea and opened up an entire can of worms, but he thought he would have enjoyed it at the time.


He was still thinking about her lips and the little bit of chocolate that had graced them when he made his way up to the bullpen the next day. She was already sitting at her desk working by the time he'd gotten to her.

"Hey," he said quietly and held out a bag of still-cold cookies, "I put some in the freezer for you last night."

"Oh, thanks," Hailey smiled up at him and grabbed the bag.

His eyes narrowed at what looked like black rope around her right wrist. He didn't remember seeing her wear a bracelet the night before at his apartment.

She followed his gaze then said softly, "Tarik gave it to me last night. He came over once I got home." She flipped her arm over to show him the silver T resting just above her pulse point.

A bracelet with his initial on it: Jay honestly thought it was pretty cheesy; he'd never thought to get a girl a piece of jewelry with his initial on it. He didn't tell her that, though, and just nodded to say, "That's nice."

"Yeah," Hailey took a deep breath. She looked down at it then shrugged and set her cookies on her desk. "He insisted on giving it to me last night, I don't know why or what prompted it, but whatever."

Jay nodded and sat at his desk. He tried keeping his eyes off of her, but he failed miserably. She was much more interesting to look at than his computer. Perhaps it wasn't necessarily a negative thing, but today, all he could think of was almost kissing her the night before and if she was still thinking of it too.

And then she pulled her hair up into a ponytail and he could see an angry looking hickey on her neck that she'd attempted to cover with makeup. Something about it didn't sit right with him especially when he considered the bracelet as well.

He considered asking her about it, but remembered how annoyed she'd been when he kept asking about the bruises on her hips, so he let the thought fade away.

He needed to trust her and, in hand, Tarik.

It didn't mean anything.

Just one night.

She was fine. He needed to accept it and move on with his life.

She had.

He needed to accept that.


A/N: Hi everyone! I've been excited to share this one with you all for a while, so I really hope you liked it! Let me know what you think?