Disclaimer: I do not own any characters from the OneChicago world

Hi all,

So this was written for the Upstead Appreciation Week … I know I am very delayed in posting it but that's only because I spent a good week agonizing over the details and maybe doubting whether I should or shouldn't post this. It's a little intimidating coming into this fandom, knowing what amazing writers it does have (I mean have you read imjustwritingg's Maybe it was fate? Because that fic is my whole life right now?). I only hope to do the onechicago fandom and all the Upstead shippers justice with this and I really hope I've done that.

The theme for Upstead Appreciation week was fluff and while it started out that way, somewhere along the lines it became fluff with slight feelings.

Day 1 prompt: "Is that my shirt?" "You mean our shirt?"


It's ours now.

"Is that my shirt?" "You mean our shirt?"

"Hailey?" Jay called softly walking into the locker room. He heard her quiet sniffles as he rounded the corner.

"Uhm, hey," she said trying to sound as casual as she could. Hastily she wiped away the tears born from frustration as she looked up at her partner. "Does Voight need something?"

"Nah, we're good for now." Jay took a seat on the bench beside her. "You good?"

It felt like a stupid question to ask but Jay also felt like it needed to be asked. "I uhm …" she shook her head, eyes falling shut for a moment.

"It wasn't your fault," Jay said quietly.

"Doesn't feel like that," she murmured.

"Yeah, I know. But you can't beat yourself up about this," he told her. Jay placed a hand on her back, and Hailey finally found the strength to look up at him.

Things had gone so wrong out in the field today and an innocent had been caught in the crossfire. Jay knew Hailey blamed herself, for not seeing it. But truthfully, they were all to blame. The offender had played them all and Jay wasn't about to let Hailey sit the guilt for this alone.

He wanted Hailey to know that. Despite all the ways today had gone wrong, he needed her to know she was not alone. It seemed she understood, that unspoken aspect of their partnership kicking in. Hailey subconsciously leaned in a little towards Jay, because while she couldn't vocalize it right then, she didn't want to be alone.

Jay looked at her, offering one of those rare sincere smiles and she felt oddly calmed by that. There was so much they could say to each other at that moment. But perhaps shouldn't, given that they were just partners. Hailey sucked in a breath, looking back at her slightly shaky hands again. Jay slowly pulled back and immediately Hailey missed the warmth and weight of his comfort.

"You should get changed," Jay offered when the silence became too much. "I doubt you still wanna be wearing that," he gestured to the ruined shirt she still wore.

Hailey had taken a tussle in the dirt and apart from scratches here and there, her shirt was also ruined. She nodded and opened her locker only to groan minutes later. Jay looked at her expectantly. "It would appear I'm all out of clean clothes." She huffed, further frustrated with herself for not remembering to bring extra clothes. Laundry day would have to move up the week it seemed.

Jay didn't say a word. Instead, he stood, turning towards his locker, fiddling around in it for a few seconds before he turned and held a red plaid button-down shirt. "Here, you can have this," he said handing it over to her. "What?" he asked when he saw the slightly amused look in her eyes and the twitch of her lip.

"Well," she laughed thinking it should be the last thought in her mind before she continued, "weren't you giving Ruz a hard time about looking like Paul Bunyan and here you are with nearly the same shirt!"

He mockingly glared at her. "Okay, firstly, he did look like Paul Bunyan and secondly, I look nothing like a lumberjack in that shirt!"

"Is that so?" she teased and for a moment it felt closer to flirting than their usual banter.

"Of course, I look pretty good in plaid if you must know," Jay continued teasingly.

"Oh I know," she said without thinking. Jay looked at her for a moment and then smirked.

"Oh noticed, have you?" he asked grinning at her.

"No, I didn't actually," she recovered quickly, and his cocky smile fell a little as he eyed her carefully, "But Trudy did mention how well the plaid brought out your eyes the other day."

Jay choked out a laugh as Hailey bite her lip. Because truthfully, it had been Hailey who noticed that. Of course, it was not the same one he was currently offering her now. If memory served correct, that shirt had been a much lighter yellow that worked oh so well with the green in his eyes.

"Oh you don't play fair Upton," he chuckled.

And the sight of him laughing eased her own heavy conscious for a moment, reminding her in more ways, that she was not alone. She had not been for some time now.

"Thanks," she said quickly taking the shirt from him. Though it was more than the shirt she was thanking him for and he knew it.

Jay nodded and turned to leave the locker room. Before he reached the door, he turned back to her and said, "You did good today, Hailey. Just … remember that." He seemed hesitant for a moment before fixing her with one of those charming smiles. "I think it will look better on you than it ever did on me," he said looking between her face and the shirt in her hand.

The door shut quietly behind him and Hailey was left holding his shirt closer to her than she ever dared before.


They had been late. Undeniably late and it was all Jay's fault. It had been Jay who snoozed both their alarms twice that morning, once before pulling her closer, their feet tangling further in their sheets and the second because he was absolutely not done having his way with Hailey. In all the sweet glory and whispered delights of the morning, Hailey had barely realized just how late they were until they were leaving to the district. Thankfully, they had no case open that morning and it could be spent catching up with paperwork. In quite a haste, they threw clothes on grabbing their badges, guns and keys as they rushed from her apartment.

They arrived separately to work, Hailey, stalling in her car for a few minutes before deciding it was safe to enter. The morning was spent doing mundane paperwork, watching Ruzek procrastinate in his duties by fiddling around Kim's desk and of course as subtly as possible, watching Jay. It was when Hailey had stepped out to get everyone lunch that someone finally noticed. She had come back to the district, arms full of food when a familiar voice called out to her.

"Goldilocks!"

Hailey smiled as she walked towards her desk sergeant. Her smile only momentarily faltered when she saw Jay standing there with an odd flush on his cheeks.

"I was just telling Chuckles here – "

"Detective Chuckles," Jay corrected and Hailey had to bite down on her smile.

"I was telling him how good that particular shirt looked on you. I especially liked it when he wore it a few days ago," Trudy said eyeing the two detectives.

Hailey looked over at Jay, eyes wide before she looked down at herself only realizing what she had done that morning. It was the same red plaid shirt from a few days ago just as Trudy had said. But it had also been the first thing Hailey had grabbed in her mad rush to get out of her apartment in time that morning. Somehow in the change of their relationship over the months, the plaid shirt had drifted continuously between them. Hailey wasn't even sure how she hand ended up with it again.

Hailey turned back to her desk sergeant, only to see that Trudy had fixed her with a knowing look. She found she had no response for Trudy. They weren't planning on being found out so soon. It was still new and she wanted it to be just them for a little while longer.

Trudy leaned over the counter, getting closer to them. "You're both so lucky people here are more interested in doing actual police work than watching you two do the walk of shame."

"There's no shame," Jay corrected so quickly, Trudy actually leaned back. "There's nothing I'm ashamed of Sarge," he said sincerely.

Hailey felt her heart leap a little at that because it was one thing to know how Jay felt. It was something else entirely for him to say so to their desk sergeant of all people.

He didn't wait for Trudy's response. Instead, he turned to her, grabbing some of the bags from her hand. As they turned to leave, Trudy finally managed to get her thoughts together.

"I'm glad to see you two have figured it out," she said quietly. The district was busy with people moving all over the place.

"Not completely," Hailey said with a small smile, "But we'll get there."

Jay smiled and led her back up to Intelligence. The rest of the team were all busy with this or that, so they walked straight into the break room, placing the food on the table. As Hailey was about to move away, Jay caught her by the waist pulling her closer.

"Is that my shirt?" he whispered, his fingers ducking under the hem to gently caress her skin.

"Our shirt," Hailey answered. "And it looks far better on me."

"I meant what I said to Platt," Jay said. He leaned in a little closer, keeping their conversation as quiet and private as possible in the break room with the door open. "I'm not ashamed. And I know you want to take things slow and I respect that." He took a deep breath and continued, "But I know you're also right. We haven't figured everything out, but we will get there."

Hailey had worried for a moment that someone could walk in and see them. But the sincerity and assuredness she felt in Jay's words had her thinking she didn't care if anyone saw them.

She didn't know how she had ever come to deserve someone like Jay Halstead in her life, but she was always going to be eternally grateful. She glanced over her shoulder back to the bullpen and then throwing caution to the wind, she turned back to him, pushed herself up a little on her toes, and kissed him. Jay was momentarily shocked before he responded. One hand burying itself in her golden hair, pulling her up to him and the hand on her waist tugged her flush against him. His fingers flexed and dug into the warm supple flesh under her shirt as she moaned quietly against his lips.

"Yoh man! I'm hungry. Is the food here?" They heard Kevin ask as he entered the bullpen.

Jay and Hailey separated, no actual hurry in the movements as Jay placed one last lingering kiss to her lips and moved away. As much as Hailey would love for everyone to find out, deep down she knew she wasn't ready. But Jay, being Jay, already knew that. So when Kevin entered and Hailey turned away for one more moment to compose herself, it was Jay who distracted him, helping hand out the food.

The others joined them and when she glanced at Jay again, eating and joking happily with their friends. She fiddled with a button on the shirt and Jay caught the action, smirking slightly at her. When the others had all but cleared out, she moved to throw away the empty food carton, Jay leaned in and whispered, "My shirt has never looked so good than when you wear it."

Hailey ducked her head so he wouldn't see the faintest blush on her cheeks. She did not blush in a hurry but Jay always seemed to know how to bring that out in her.

She leaned in, kissing his chastely on the lips before pulling away and whispering, "Our shirt."


She had never felt so uncomfortable in all her life. One moment she was raging hot the next she was cold. Everything felt too tight and restricting and lately, she discovered the smell of everyday things made her nauseous. Yesterday, it was the smell of yoghurt, today it was their fabric softener. As a result, Hailey was moody, uncomfortable and feeling all kinds of queasy. The only thing that helped had been the indulgent chocolate ice cream left for her in the freezer and his shirt. Which she was now all wrapped up in. She had managed to find the last pair of comfy leggings that didn't feel like it was cutting off her circulation and she had hastily pulled the shirt over that. It was still as soft as the first day he'd lent it to her. Most importantly though, it smelt like him, his cologne and something uniquely Jay lingering in the plaid material.

She sighed in near relief feeling some sense of peace for the first time that day. She curled up with her ice cream on the couch. She had spent the remainder of the day shuffling between the couch and the bed that felt entirely too empty without her husband in it. But the couch had given her awful cramps and so she resigned herself to the empty bed. Pillows stacked against the headboard, as she mindlessly flipped through the channels on tv. At some point, she must have dozed off but it was a sleep overshadowed by how uncomfortable she felt.

That was how Jay found her when he walked in that evening. His keys tingled in the lock and Hailey was already relieved. She heard his kicking off his boots in the hallway and a moment later he appeared at the entrance of their bedroom.

"Hey you," he greeted, as he walked in. He pulled his gun and badge, placing it in the drawer before coming to her.

"Hi," she sighed with a bit of a pout. He chuckled, kissing her anyway because she did look quite adorable.

"Dare I ask how today went?" he said as he sat down on their bed, lifting her feet into his lap as he massaged them. He knew how much she hated the whole 'bed rest' thing. Hailey groaned in delight, feeling a little more relieved with each act her husband took. But still, Jay knew her better than anybody else. "You don't look … rested."

"Because I'm too uncomfortable to feel anything else but how uncomfortable I am!" Hailey cried. "Your daughter's been kicking up a storm all day and not to mention the fact that I've had to pee like every five minutes! I got absolutely nothing done! My feet are absolutely killing me which makes no sense because I did nothing today!"

Jay was quite alarmed as she sounded a little hysterical towards the end. He placed her feet back down on the comforter, and instead slid into the bed beside her. Hailey shifted as Jay wrapped an arm around her, bringing her closer. She hid her face in the crook of his neck, breathing in the only scent that seemed to calm her – Jay.

"We're almost at the end, Hails," he said calmly.

"Yeah, but we're hardly ready!" Hailey objected. "I wasn't lying when I said I got nothing done today!"

"That's okay babe," Jay soothed. "Look, we're so close to wrapping this case up. And once we do, I'll have a few days off. We'll sort it all out then."

Hailey looked like she might cry and Jay knew it was largely part due to the pregnancy hormones but he also knew Hailey, much like himself was feeling slightly overwhelmed.

"Adam's even offered to come by and help with the crib," he added, making a note to text Adam later.

"He did?" she sniffled. Jay nodded. "That was nice of him."

"It was," Jay merely said and then shifted them so he could pull Hailey to rest a little easier on him. "And tomorrow, you can make a list of all the things you want help with. We'll do it, together and one at a time."

"But you want to do that on your day off?" Hailey nearly whined and Jay almost laughed. He always found pregnant, emotional Hailey a little too adorable.

"Of course," he assured her knowing she needed to hear it more than anything right now. "I can't think of a better way to spend the day. I swear."

She didn't say anything, merely nodded as her head fell to his chest, over his heart. Jay ran his fingers through her hair, knowing how it calmed her.

"You're wearing my shirt again," he teased, his voice barely a whisper.

"Our shirt," Hailey said stubbornly. "And as it turns out, it was the only thing that smelt like you and that seemed to calm her a little," Hailey told him, running a hand over the swell of her belly.

Jay grinned at that, moving so he could place a kiss atop her head. "Is that so?" he asked genuinely curious. One hand was still playing with her hair, but the other, slipped under her – well theirs really – shirt and traced gently patterns on her taut skin.

"Hhm," Hailey murmured and she was certain she would slip off into her first restful sleep of the day. "She doesn't seem to like the smell of our fabric softener, but she loves well … you." Jay paused, moving a little so he could look at her. "The only time I felt any relief today was when I put this on," she told him pinching the red plaid fabric, "We both felt a little calmer and safer. I think, she recognizes your scent because it's the only thing that hasn't driven me mad today," Hailey explained. "Oh, and she liked the ice cream too. We're gonna need more of that," she added sighing sleepily.

"You feel safe?" he found himself asking because it hadn't crossed his mind that something so simple could make Hailey feel such intense emotions.

"I always feel safe with you around, Jay," Hailey mumbled, turning and burying her face into his chest. She sighed sounding content.

"But I haven't been around," he said feeling guilty.

"I know, but our shirt was and while it is a poor substitute for you, it does help a little."

Jay smiled, turning so he could press another kiss to her head. It astounded him that something so simple of his could give her such relief. But mostly, it filled him with an indescribable warmth knowing he could make Hailey and their baby feel even a little safer despite not actually being there.

"H-how was your day?" she asked a moment later, yawning slightly.

"Much better now," he answered. "Sleep Hailey." He urged a moment later when she yawned again.

She certainly had enough mind and energy to scoff. "I feel like that's all I've been doing."

"Yes, but have you been sleeping well?" he asked pointedly.

She didn't want to answer. Truthfully, she hadn't. But Jay gently squeezed her fingers in his and she sighed, fiddling with his shirt as she answered. "You're not here," she mumbled quietly and Jay felt his guilt double. "I can't sleep without you, Jay."

It had been hard before the pregnancy to sleep without Jay by her side. Without him there, she'd wake cold and sometimes feeling a little lost. Now, pregnant it was nearly impossible without him. The last few days, Intelligence had been working a case that saw them keeping extremely irregular hours. And as much as she tried to nap during the day, it just wasn't the same.

"I'm sorry, Hailey," Jay replied.

"It's okay Jay," she said slowly and then shushed him when he sounded like he was going to argue. "You were working Jay. And that's important. I'm not upset or angry. It's just … hard."

"It doesn't matter how important the job might have been Hailey. I should have been here," he insisted.

"And if you were here all the time then you'd be no close to catching that little boy's killer," she reminded him. "My few nights of sleeplessness are nothing compared to what his mother is going through. But if in some way, seeing that justice is done for her son helps ease her pain, then I would never ask you to do it differently."

Jay sighed, pressing his lips against her forehead. She might not ask it of him, but he would see that things in their orbit moved a little differently. They had a different set of priorities now.

"Think you wanna try to get some sleep, for real this time?" Jay offered.

Hailey hummed a response, delighted by the soothing patterns Jay had been tracing along her skin. "Don't you have to be back at the district soon?"

He did but there wasn't a chance in hell he was leaving now. "No, Kev's gonna cover for me," he simply said.

"Liar," Hailey mumbled sleepily into his shirt.

He smirked but was glad she didn't resist much further. She was clearly more tired than they realized.

"Sleep Hailey, I'm not going anywhere," he promised her.

She sighed, trusting his word and shuffled to get a little more comfortable. Jay reached for his phone, shooting a text to Kevin, asking to cover for him and one to Adam to ask about coming over to help with the crib. Moments later, his phone lit up with responses from them both, Kevin to say he'd gladly cover for Jay and to pass his regards to Hailey. Adam made a joke that Jay snorted at but said that he would be there, with Kim and Makayla in tow.

He set his phone to silent tossing it aside as he pulled Hailey a little closer. His hand automatically slipping to her pregnant belly.

"Hails?" he dared to whisper because as much as he wanted her to sleep, he had to let her know.

"Hmm?"

"Have I told you how good you look in my shirt?"

Her fingers twisted into the fabric above his chest, and even though he couldn't see it, he knew she was smiling. Her hand slipped to cover his over her belly.

"You mean our shirt."

Jay smiled as he realized, Hailey was likely meaning herself and the baby. Still, he liked the sound of that more than he did it being just his. It would always be theirs.

All of him and everything he had to give would belong to his girls. Always.


Please leave a little love and review! I hope to upload the other prompts for Upstead Appreciation Week later this week.