Hailey, Jay, and Will continue to work on the two tasks with Casper, waiting for him to master the first one before starting the third task. Three months pass since the fireworks episode, it is now September and has been a year since Jay got Casper.
"So, I think Casper is starting to get the hang of the first task," Hailey comments as the two walk Casper through the park. "He does well during the training sessions, how does he do at night?"
"He does okay. I haven't had as many nightmares since I got him, but when I do, he licks my face until I wake up," Jay tells her.
"That's good," Hailey comments on the decrease in his nightmares.
"You know I've had him for a year now?" Jay asks.
"I know," Hailey smiles. "You were so… upset and angry when I took you to get Casper and we met Will there. But I would do it again if I had to," Hailey remembers.
"I'm sorry I was mad at you," Jay apologizes.
"It's in the past, besides, it was worth it," Hailey tells him. "I have seen such a change in you since you got him. Even Kim and Vanessa have noticed, they both said something along the lines of you looking less stressed since you got him. And Will says he can see the you there was before going to war."
"You know, I never thought I would have a dog. I mean I always wanted one but with our hours, it just didn't seem like it would be fair to the dog, but with Casper, I make it work. And he doesn't seem bothered with our hours."
"Jay, if you told Voight why you have Casper, you could bring him to work with you," Hailey carefully tells him.
"I'm not ready for that. I don't want to say anything to jeopardize my job. Would you trust a cop with PTSD? A cop who has a service dog?"
"I trust you. Your PTSD doesn't define your ability to be a cop, neither does you having Casper."
Before Jay can say anything Casper starts pulling on his leash. "What is it boy?" Jay asks since Casper never pulls on his walks.
Casper keeps pulling until the two detectives follow him. The dog leads them to a wooded area of the park, where a young boy is hiding. The boy can't be more than four years old, he has blood on his shirt; he cowards when he sees the dog and two detectives.
Hailey crouches down to his level, "Hi, Hailey and this is my friend Jay. We're the police," she tells him while pulling out her shield that's in her wallet. "Can you tell me your name?"
"Riley," the boy whispers.
"Riley, do you know your last name?" Hailey asks. Riley shakes his head. "What happened? How did you get blood on you?"
"I don't know."
"I'm going to call it in," Jay tells her.
"Okay, wait. He's not hurt- the blood isn't his," Hailey tells Jay.
Jay nods letting Hailey know he heard. "This is 5021 George, I'm off duty at Lincoln Park. There is a tender-aged boy lost with blood on him. No physical injuries noted."
"Copy, 5021 George. I'm sending a unit to your location. They should be there in five minutes."
Turing to Hailey, Jay relays the information before praising Casper for finding the boy.
Shortly after the patrol unit arrives to their location, Voight is close behind. "What do you got?" he asks the two, not at all fazed that his two detectives are together at the park with Jay's dog.
"Casper found him," Jay tells their boss. "The only thing that we got out of him is his name is Riley. He doesn't know his last name or his parents' names."
Voight turns to the officer in charge of the scene, "Intelligence is taking this case."
"Sarge are you-"
"Take the boy back to the district and see if you can get anything else out of him. I'll notify the rest of the unit," Voight interrupts her. "You can bring your dog too, he might open up with him there," Voight adds looking at Jay.
The two detectives look at each other before going to Jay's truck. Jay holding Casper's leash and Hailey carrying the boy.
As Jay drives to the district the ride is silent, Jay being extra careful since the boy should be in a car seat. The two trying to comprehend the turn of events of their day.
When they arrive at the district, Jay gets Casper out of the truck while Hailey once again gets the boy.
"Halstead," Sergeant Platt yells when she sees the four of them walk in. "What is that dog doing in my district?"
"Voight said it was fine. Casper found the boy," Jay tells her as they make their way up to the intelligence bullpen.
Once upstairs, the detectives take Riley into the break room. Getting Riley settled on the couch, Jay crouches down in front of him like Hailey did at the park.
Riley is calm with Casper, but still unable to give the two any useful information. They stay in the breakroom with Riley until they hear the rest of the team make their appearance known in the bullpen.
Jay and Hailey leave the boy in the breakroom to catch the other up to what they know.
"Why is your dog here?" Adam asks.
"He found the boy while we were at the park and Voight told me to bring him here. Thought we could use him to get Riley to open up."
The team spends most of the day trying to figure out what happened to the boy. They finally are able to gather enough information as to where Riley lives to head over there to check it out.
Arriving at the house, the team is able to figure out that Riley must have woken up from a nap to find his parents dead on the floor of the kitchen. Coming to the conclusion that he must of tried to wake his parents before running out of the house and hiding in the park where Casper found him.
Hailey and Jay are the last to leave the district, wanting to make sure everything with DCFS went okay. Once they know he is safely with them the two leave for Hailey's apartment, knowing that the others went out to Molly's. leaving them alone for a while.
"He's going to be okay," Jay reminds Hailey as they walk into her house. "He's only with a foster family for a day or two until his aunt can get here."
"I know, but still, losing your parents and then the only place that you know as home. He's going to be traumatized," Hailey replies as she hands Jay the bowls that she got for when he brought Casper to her house along with some dog food that he gave her for occasions like this.
"His aunt sounded worried about him. That's a good thing. It means he'll be well looked after."
"Yeah, but it doesn't make it any easier," Hailey answers as she grabs them two glasses and a bottle of whiskey, pouring them each a glass.
A/N: Sorry, I wanted to have this chapter out on Wednesday, but with the end of the semester coming up and the change to distance-learning, classes and life got in the way. For those of you who also read "A to Z," the next chapter is going up as scheduled. I'm currently writing chapter three of the Deaf Jay Fic. I want to have at least seven or eight chapters pre-written before I start posting that one, so I will probably start posting that one in mid-May or early June. Regarding "Rock Bottom," after watching the most recent episode of CBS's S.W.A.T., titled "Stigma," I was motivated to continue that story, but it probably won't be updated until I finish either this or "A to Z." As of right now, I have no plan on ending "Man's Best Friend" anytime soon. I will write this one as long as people are interested and I can keep it fresh for you all; if all goes as planned, "A to Z" will end mid-July. I want each story that I work on to have the attention and dedication from me that it deserves, so I will never have more than three active stories at a time. Stay safe and hopefully, the next chapter will be up next Wednesday.