Maybe it's minutes, maybe it's hours, maybe it's days, but when he finally comes to again all is quiet except the sounds of his monitors beeping. His disorientation is slowly leaving, but he still feels like he's caught between two different realities. His head is pounding, but he wills it away to get a better grasp of what happened and where he is. He slowly opens his eyes to a nurse hovering over him checking his vitals, she looks oddly familiar… he blinks some more and realizes the woman decked out in full nurse attire is Trish. She smiles down at him, trying to keep him calm. He's baffled now considering Trish is an accountant, at least that's what he thought… He barely has time to question it when she starts talking to him.

"There's going to be a lot of people glad to see you're finally awake, Mr. Halstead."

"Trish!?" he questions her in shock.

She looks just as surprised as him now. "How do you know my name?"

It takes Jay a moment, but slowly he starts piecing it together. Memories of chasing a suspect and falling off the building taking precedence, Hailey crying over him less than an hour after they were talking about names for their unborn baby. He thought he had come-to only to found out that world hadn't existed, but it hits him now that maybe he hadn't come-to at all until this very moment… he hopes against all hope that's the case.

"I must have subconsciously heard you say it while I was out…" Jay tries to offer an explanation for somehow knowing the name of the nurse he potentially never met, better than saying she was featured in his half-coma fractured reality.

She nods her head like that makes sense and slowly moves to the side so he could see he hadn't been alone in the room for even a second. He catches the glimpse of blonde hair before he sees the bright smile or hear her joyful, tear-filled words.

"Hey you!... Welcome back, partner…." Hailey says, reaching out her hand to grab his now that Trish had stepped away.

"I'll give you two a minute. I have to go alert the doctor." Trish states, leaving Jay and Hailey alone.

"God, you scared me, Jay! It was touch and go there for a bit, and we were all so frightened. It was impossible years ago, but I really can't imagine my life without you now, I don't want to even think about it… I told Hank about the baby by the way, figured I should given the circumstances."

The hope boils in his chest, still torn between what's real and what's not, so he has to be sure. "Baby? What baby?" he questions gently.

Hailey blanches, in fear that maybe his brain bleed was worse than they thought. "The one you said was your best surprise a few weeks ago."

"Wait, are we married?" he asks, trying to get more confirmation. He glances down to her left hand and finally notices the ring and his heart beats out of his chest. He might finally be right where he belongs.

She looks at him like he's even crazier. "Yes… Jay, are you sure you're feeling okay? We can get the doctor to run some…"

Jay breaks out into the hugest grin and pulls her toward him even more, silencing her with a kiss.

"I'm good now!" he assures her when he pulls away, but she still stares at him uncertain. He knows he's going to have to explain a little bit so she doesn't start freaking out. "How long was I out for?" he asks.

Hailey looks sad for a moment as she takes some time to gather her thoughts. "You were in and out of consciousness all through getting to the hospital. They took you into surgery because you had some internal bleeding, and after the anesthesia wore off, you still had some swelling in the brain holding you back. So you've been out of it for almost two days now. The doctor had been overall optimistic, but the waiting game was still scary as hell!"

"I'm sorry!" he tells her, gently stroking his thumb over her hand when another tear falls down her cheek.

"Don't be. It's not your fault. We caught those guys because of your quick chase. Although now, with us, and the baby, the stakes seem to be even higher in our line of work, unfortunately."

"Yeah… although, accidents could happen no matter what. You just never know…" he contemplates softly.

She gives him a confused look. "That's true, but why do you say that?"

"Don't freak out, okay?.. but while I was out of it, I felt like I was in the weirdest, wrong reality… that eventually turned out kind of right…"

Jay proceeds to tell Hailey about the version of them fighting while she was in New York, postponing them ending up together, even including how his subconscious conjured up his nurse as his makeshift girlfriend. It sounds insane, but he knows from having a doctor as a brother that head trauma can cause some crazy things. And if he's being honest, he's ecstatic that even the most traumatized state of his mind knew that he was meant to be with Hailey, always. She takes it all in, only interrupting slightly along the way to ask a question or two. And when he gets to the part of how they made their way to each other again, she smiles, because she too knows there's no version of reality that could keep them apart for long. He finally gets to the end where he got hit by a car while just running across the street to pick her up and how that was the last he remembered of the dream before waking just before.

After she simmers on it for a while, considering it was a hell of a story, she finally asks the question on the tip of her tongue; holding back her smile as best as she could. "Sooo… which reality did you like better?"

Jay lets out a little chuckle, quickly feeling the slight pain in the back of his head, but it was worth it. "Well, I'm kind of biased to this version where I got to be with you sooner. You putting out earlier is a definite plus." He teases and she playfully swats at him.

"I'm kidding… partly." He winks at her as he grabs her arm, hindering her swats and bringing her even closer. "But seriously, this right here, where I'm married and having a baby with the best partner I ever had and the girl I knew I wanted for years… there's nowhere else I want to be! The dream was pretty good too, but this? Us now? That's my fantasy!"

"That's a pretty good answer…" she whispers against his lips as she leans down to kiss him again.

They get interrupted a moment later when Trish and the doctor walk back in. "Woops, sorry about that! But glad to see you up and alert. I'm Dr. Miller and have been your attending since you were brought in." the middle-aged man says.

Trish gives them a sheepish smile for interrupting too and Jay notices Hailey's grip get tighter on him when she does. He bites back his grin, squeezing his wife's hand back comfortingly, knowing how rare it is for her to get a little jealous streak. He secretly loves it, but he knows she'll kill him if he ever tells her that.

"How are you feeling?" the doctor asks him.

Jay assures the whole room that he's all good, aside from the slight pain still in his head. To which the doctor lets him know will be present for at least another few days. All of Jay's answers are clearly what they like to hear and he should already be on the path to recovery, conveniently keeping his altered visualization between him and Hailey. If there's any doctor he'll air that business to, it would only be Will. Once Dr. Miller is satisfied with the checkup, him and Trish exit again and give Jay and Hailey their privacy back.

"I can't wait to have you home again!" Hailey tells him.

Jay beams, home. It's true, they have their home together and are each other's home. "I can't wait either. If you weren't knocked up already, I'd definitely be putting a baby in you!" he jokes.

"JAY!" she tries to reprimand, but he knows she's cracking up.

"I nearly broke my back, Hailey, take a little pity on a guy and scoot a little closer. I missed my wife!"

She smiles and gets as close as she can without physically getting in the bed with him. "Hmm, y'know, it's not very often you use that word. I kind of like it."

"Me too. Think I'm going to scream it to everyone now, just to always assure myself."

The two of them spend a while just nuzzled together, speaking words of affirmation on occasion, but overall, just enjoying their time after such a scare. As happy as Jay was towards the end of his coma-dream, there is no comparison to how he feels right now… married to his best friend, a little bundle of joy on the way, knowing how delighted the team is going to be for them, there's nothing better. Like he told Hailey, the other reality was pretty good too, but it was just the wrong kind of right. And he's happy to be back right where he belongs, in the arms of the person that he was always meant to be with, no matter the where or when…


[A/N: Well folks, this pretty much completes our journey, I hope it was worth it. Kudos to those of you who had some suspicions, I hope it turned out the way you wanted! I'll have a short epilogue coming soon, so stay tuned for that... and thank you kindly for reading and for all of your sweet comments, I love/d them all!]