so…we made it?! the second to last chapter, technically the last one before the extended epilogue? now's not the time to get emotional (i'm saving that for the end notes of chapter 12) but i hope y'all enjoy this one. it's got cute, it's got sweet & it's got a tiny bit of angst (but mostly protective!parent Upstead)
"I still can't believe I'm an uncle," Will said, staring down at the baby in his arms, belief and awe spreading across his face. He looked up at his brother, who was smiling stupidly at him. "And you, Mr. "I don't do workplace romances" married and had a kid with your partner in crime."
"Funny," Jay replied sarcastically. He rolled his eyes but couldn't help squeezing Hailey's hand. "I did not say that by the way. Will's making things up."
"Am not," Will shot back. Hailey just raised an eyebrow from her place on the couch and let out a laugh. The Halstead brothers bickered endlessly, something Hailey was just used to at this point. Since both she and her daughter were technically now Halstead's, maybe it meant that their involvement in the arguments was inevitable.
"I think you both claim too many things that have no proof to back them up," was Hailey's final say on the matter. She glanced at her daughter a bit worriedly, having not been separated from her this long at all. "Can I have my daughter back please, while you two finish disagreeing?"
Will nodded. He wasn't about to come in between his sister-in-law and his niece, or more like a mother and her child. A scary battle that he was surely to lose. As he passed the sleeping baby back, Jay leaned over and whispered to Hailey, "You know she has a name, right?"
"I know, but my daughter still has a nice ring to it," replied Hailey with a smile.
Will sat down on the other end of the couch from Hailey. He smirked at Jay, who was sitting on the armrest next to his wife and baby. "So what's her name?" He asked point-blank. "I've been dying to know since I got the text about her arrival early yesterday morning." Hailey and Jay had made the executive decision about their daughter's name about twenty minutes before they got discharged from the hospital. Despite all the silly names they had come up with prior to her arrival, Baby Girl Halstead's name was actually sweet and had very dear meaning to her parents.
Hailey looked at Jay. They weren't trying to keep anyone in the dark, but they liked being the only ones knowing their daughter's name for the twelve hours they did. It took way longer than planned to pick it out, but what they had chosen was perfect and Hailey felt was fitting. "Well her last name is Halstead," Hailey began to say, teasing Will.
"Thank you so much for that," Will rolled his eyes.
"And her first name is Willow!" Jay announced. In Hailey's arms, the baby girl in question yawned really big, then settled back down. Jay smiled because his daughter knew her name already.
It took Will a second, because he was a bit surprised at the similarity to his own name. "Willow is really cute," he began.
"It's half after you," Hailey supplied, trying to help the struggling uncle out. "We didn't purposefully choose Willow because of your name, but when we were debating between that and another one and realized the coincidence, we couldn't help ourselves."
Blinking fast, Will was trying to hold back his tears. "Guys, that's really sweet of you," he said, voice choking up slightly.
"If she turns out anything like you, though, we're going to have problems," Jay said, pointing his finger threateningly at his brother.
"Oh please, we all know she's going to be just like Hailey."
"Actually, she might have my eyes but I think she's going to be a Jay Halstead-mini," Hailey chimed in.
Everyone glanced quickly at Willow, who hadn't moved at all since her yawn. It was funny to talk about the personality of someone who was very much real and alive and would soon make her own traits known. It was all good fun for now though. Jay and Hailey were especially proud of their baby girl, and couldn't wait to introduce her to squad twenty-one, who were basically like family at this point. And for one member of the team, a big surprise was coming that baby Willow couldn't wait to share…
For the first time ever, Hank Voight stepped foot into the Halstead apartment. There had never been a reason for him to go before now, but baby Willow was the best reason. Despite the slightly rocky relationship he had with his squad team members, they all still liked Voight in the end, and respected most of his choices. Besides, Willow couldn't have an Intelligence Squad Initiation without both sergeants present.
Trudy came bearing gifts. A cute onesie for Willow plus coffee for the new parents. "You're going to need it," she said with a half smile. Hailey graciously thanked her, and Jay took her coat. Willow was asleep in Hailey's arms, all wrapped up in her blanket cocoon.
The door opened again, revealing Kevin Atwater, the last member of their team who hadn't seen the baby yet. Kim, Adam and their girls had come by a few days ago to exclaim over the new arrival and fawn over her wisps of brown hair and blue eyes. Makayla thought she looked a little bit like Isla had, and was excited to have another kid to play with. Sylvie came with Stella, Severide and Shayden, with promises to send Matt pics. It was hard to believe that he would be back for good in a couple weeks, after Ben's eighteenth birthday. The boys were both doing so much better and Sylvie was over the moon excited for her fiancé to return.
All their friends had instantly fallen in love with Willow, and congratulated Hailey and Jay to no end. Trudy, Voight and Kevin were no different. "She's pretty cute, man," Kevin said, clapping Jay on the back.
"You guys did good," was Voight's response.
Trudy, who got to hold Willow first, whispered sweet things to the baby directly. She had never had kids herself, but that didn't mean she couldn't love all the kids that came into her life over the years. Kids who hung out at her desk, ones that her team had themselves, or even fire station children that she met because her husband Mouch worked there.
Everyone made small talk, until suddenly Hailey remembered they hadn't told the squad Willow's middle name yet. Jay smiled encouragingly at his wife, because it had been all her idea. "We wanted to pick something that had meaning, well meaning to at least one of us. Luckily we went for a name that also belongs to someone near and dear to our hearts," Hailey began. She glanced around the room to see if anyone had had a realization yet. However everyone was just watching her expectantly, ready for the big reveal. "Her full name is Willow Trudy Halstead," Hailey said.
Trudy Platt, the woman in question, didn't know what to say at first. "You named your only daughter's middle name after me?" she asked, slightly dumbfounded.
"You've done so much for us over the years," Jay started to say.
"Including me when I was a teenager," added Hailey.
Jay finished off with, "It made perfect sense. When Hailey suggested it I knew that it was a done deal."
"Thank you guys so much, I'm incredibly touched," Trudy said. She passed Willow off to Kevin so that she could wipe her eyes and give Hailey and Jay a hug.
Kevin looked from Willow to Jay. "Hey, if your next kid is a boy, are you going to make their middle name Kevin?"
Jay rolled his eyes. "Nice try," he replied, but laughed along with the other cop.
Hank hadn't said much throughout the visit so far. However he was good at sitting back and watching his team just live life. At work, they didn't get to do a lot of that and he liked to see that his partnerships from the older days hadn't failed him yet. He prided himself on being a matchmaker of sorts.
Some part of him wondered sometimes that if things hadn't ended so abruptly with Rojas leaving, he could've gone three-for-three in partners-becoming-more. Burgess and Ruzek being his original idea, then Upton and Halstead. People didn't ever peg Hank Voight as cupid, but the thoughts distracted his mind in a good way from time to time.
The rest of the visit was short but sweet. After everyone left, it was past regular dinner hours and everyone was a bit hangry. Hailey fed Willow, while Jay heated up some leftovers of the lasagna Sylvie brought over. Once the baby was down, Jay and Hailey got a few moments of quiet together while they ate. Their gazes never left the sleeping baby in the living room, still in awe that this was their life now. They had a beautiful daughter together, and were eating dinner as a married couple. Time flies; the moment Jay and Hailey were in was a clear example of it. But life was so damn good right now and neither of them could truly believe it was theirs to live in.
Once dinner was cleared away, the young couple decided to try to get some shut eye in, at least as much as they could before Willow's next feed. Jay pulled Hailey close to him and held her in his arms while they slept. However, it wasn't long before a loud blare from a cell phone broke the quiet. Jay opened one eye and saw that it was Hailey's on the nightstand. "Hailey, there's a phone call for you," he told her gently. As he sat up, he noticed that Hailey was out beside him. Wanting to stop the noise so that she could sleep, Jay picked up Hailey's phone for her and hit 'accept call'. "Hello?" He asked, his voice heavy with sleep.
"Hailey?" The person on the other end sounded like an older woman. Jay was confused at first, then he checked the caller ID.
"Ms. Upton, it's Jay," Jay said with a sigh. He didn't even try to hide his slight disappointment having heard Hailey's mother on the other end of the line.
There was a pause, then Ms. Upton replied, "Oh hello Jay. I hope I haven't caught you at a bad time."
Jay gritted his teeth and made himself take a breath before responding. Calling in the early evening was a perfectly acceptable time normally, however Jay and Hailey had barely slept the night before. But she didn't know that, so Jay tried to be patient. "It's fine, we should probably be getting up soon so we don't ruin tonight's rest. Why are you calling?" He ran a hand threw his hair and carefully slid from the bed to pad into the kitchen.
"I just wanted to see how my daughter and her family were doing. I heard from Hailey's brothers that the baby had come. Don't worry, they didn't tell me anything Hailey didn't want me to know. She gave them permission to pass along the info," Ms. Upton quickly added. Jay shut his mouth because he had planned to make a comment about that. Clearly Ms. Upton knew what her son-in-law thought about her and wanted to smooth things over to begin with.
"We're doing fine. Hailey's recovering well, and our daughter is developing as she should. Born with all ten of her fingers and toes." Jay didn't really know what else to respond with. He had met Ms. Upton all of one time, and Hailey had been very uncomfortable, which put Jay on edge the entire time. He hated when his wife felt nervous in situations out of her control, especially ones that involved Hailey's parents.
There was some muffling on the other end of the line, then Ms. Upton's voice returned. I'm glad to hear it. Look, I know we haven't really gotten off on the right foot, but I am interested in knowing you, Jay. You've done wonders for my Hailey, including giving her a child."
"She gave me a child," corrected Jay. "And I mean this without disrespect, ma'am, but Hailey is my wife and I will always be on her side. I'm sure you're a decent woman but Hailey's experience with her family hasn't been sunshine and rainbows and I hope you can't blame me for wanting to keep her safe from it. Her and our daughter."
"I know. And I want to tell Hailey that I'm working on it. Her father, well he's being a better man these days. He wants to know his granddaughter, as Hailey's brother's are in no place to settle down right now."
"I understand that your husband feels entitled to knowing his granddaughter. You might as well. But she is our child to protect, Ms. Upton. We love her and would do anything for her, from the moment we knew she was meant to be. Unless Hailey agrees to it, I can't do anything about communication with our daughter." Jay held firm, unphased by Ms. Upton's words. He had long-prepared what he wanted to tell his mother-in-law, although he hadn't gotten the chance last time. Now that his daughter's life was also something to think about, Papa Bear Jay was ready to flourish, loud and angry if anything threatened her in the slightest.
Suddenly, Jay looked up and saw Hailey padding towards him. Her hair was messy and she rubbed her eyes with a confused look on her face. "Jay, who are you talking to?"
He quickly put Ms. Upton on hold, then explained. "Your mom called, apparently your brothers mentioned that the baby was here."
Hailey nodded. "I told them they could tell Mom and Dad if they wanted. What else did she want?"
"Your father's "working" on himself. She said he wants to smarten up so that he can meet Willow. I said it was up to you." Jay reached out an arm to wrap around Hailey, pulling her close to his body. "I don't know what to do."
"I got this." Hailey gently removed the phone from Jay's grasp. "Mom, are you there?"
"Hailey? Oh dear, it's so good to hear from you." Because he was standing so close to Hailey, Jay could hear every word Ms. Upton said through the phone.
"I wish I could say the same. Look Mom, Jay said that Dad wants to meet my daughter. Our daughter, I mean. I don't think that's a good idea right now. Maybe even ever. She's three days old," said Hailey.
Ms. Upton sighed. "We're the only grandparents your daughter has, Hailey. I know Jay's parents are both deceased. "
"So? She had plenty of aunt and uncles and some of them are old enough to be grandparent-figures. From where I'm standing, I still see Dad as the man who came home and hurt us as kids and teenagers. And you as the woman who didn't stop him. I don't know if I can subject myself to being consistently in contact with you, let alone my own child."
"I know. We can't change the past, but your father, he's working really hard to change the future." A long pause. Jay tilted his head up slightly so he could rest his chin on the top of Hailey's head. At any moment's notice, he would be ready to rip the phone out of Hailey's hand and go down defending his wife and Willow. However until Hailey gave him the signal, he would rein in his emotions and be there for Hailey as moral support.
Hailey sighed too. "I've grown up Mom. Without you or Dad, I've grown up. I have a beautiful daughter now, and a wonderful husband, both whom I love more than anything else in the world. I don't want my child to resent me for not letting her have a relationship with her grandparents, just of the childhood I went through. So if you can somehow prove to me and Jay that you both are changing, we can discuss meeting your granddaughter. Not at least for a few more months, but maybe one day."
"Hailey, you have no idea how ecstatic your father and I are. We want to make things better, we are going to try. Thank you for letting us be a part of her life," said Ms. Upton. Hailey nodded even though her mom couldn't see her. Jay felt her chin move up and down on his chest. He was a bit shocked at Hailey's response, but supported her all the way. One arm still around her, Jay took his spare hand and squeezed her hand twice.
"It's been a long day for Jay and I, so we're going to get some sleep. Thanks for calling," Hailey said.
Ms. Upton replied, "We will check in more often. Enjoy the newborn stage while it lasts. Kids grow up way too fast; I know my three did." The call ended, then Hailey moved her head so she was staring straight up at her husband.
"Did I do the right thing?" She asked, almost nervously.
"You did what you thought was best. And I will always support you, no matter what." Jay pressed a light kiss to Hailey's lips. "Rain or shine, clear skies or cloudy, you will never have to do something alone," he whispered to her. Hailey smiled and wrapped her arms around him.
"God, I love you," she told Jay.
Jay held her tight. "I love you too."
And in the next room over, the other person they loved was fast asleep. Their daughter, Willow Trudy Halstead, would never know anything except love; something both parents were sure about. Because their lives had been best with it, and worse without it. Yet somehow amidst the heartbreak and loss, Jay and Hailey managed to find each other and weather the storm, ready to face whatever challenge life threw at them. It wouldn't be easy, but parenthood never was. Jay was just lucky to be doing it with his best friend at his side.
i love her name btw & if you don't, please kindly keep your comments to yourself. i did not name Upstead's daughter with anyone's opinions in mind but my own (rightfully so, cause this is my story lol).
keep an eye on my tumblr (thedefinitionofendgame) for hints about the big finale chapter next week, and yes it will be up before 2022. thank you so much for sticking with me this far, we've only got 1 more left to go…