And without further ado, this story has returned. Season 7 coming at ya...


Jay had been driving around for hours after Voight's, "If you don't trust me Jay, the way I do business concerns you? Then get the hell out!" He was shook up for sure, partly because he felt bad that he had lost the trust of his boss, but also because Voight hadn't been this angry with him in years. Jay had wanted to be fully on his side, but there just seemed to be too many coincidences that pointed to his involvement. Hailey had tried to keep him grounded and objective as best as she could, but boy was he still stubborn when he wanted to be. Out of the whole mess the past few days had brought, at least the one silver lining was just how much Hailey had stuck by his side, even if she didn't seem to fully agree at times. Her words in the car outside of Brennan's haunt him now, "Voight told you to stand-down and that he's gonna handle it." Naturally, he didn't listen to her, but of course she followed him into Brennan's anyway. He's still not sure what he's done to deserve her unwavering support, but he is forever grateful for it.

Another few minutes of these thoughts go by when he finds himself unconsciously driving down Hailey's street. It's like she's a beacon to his lost ship in the night trying to find his way home. She had been texting him a bunch the past couple hours asking if he was okay, but he had just wanted to clear his head before responding. Now that he's had his little bit of alone time to sulk, the only other person he wants to be around right now is her. He parks his car outside of her house and hopes he didn't worry or piss her off too much as he makes his trek up her path. Before he even gets a chance to ring the bell, she's pulling back the door, as if she had been waiting for him.

"Jesus Jay, where have you been? I've been trying to get in touch with you for a while. You alright?"

She doesn't dare mention being worried sick about him, but the evidence is written all over her face and her actions. He smiles internally to himself, realizing again how much she cares about him, even if it's not something they're ready to vocalize.

"Yeah, sorry, I was just driving around. Wanted to clear my head, didn't mean to worry you."

He walks inside her place and they instantly walk in-sync into the kitchen, Jay helping himself to a glass on her counter and grabbing them the tequila to share. Hailey doesn't even bat an eye at the comfortableness of it all; they just take a seat on her stools and quietly start to sip their drinks.

"So he came down on you pretty hard, wanna talk about it?" Hailey finally breaks the silence to question the elephant in the room.

"No…" he smiles at her, giving her a response he's used plenty of times before he cracks, and she smiles back. "I just hope this doesn't ruin the relationship I've built with him. It took me a lot of years to gain his respect and trust; I'd rather not go back to the days before it."

"That's not going to happen. Voight knows how good at the job you are, that you always mean well… despite your occasional stupidity." She teases him, trying to lighten his mood.

"I don't know, Hailey, you didn't see him. He was pretty angry. He made a promise to Brennan, one of their old school cop rituals, and I broke it on him. You know how much loyalty means to him."

"I do. And that's why I know he's not gonna give up on you over this." She carefully reaches her hand over to place atop his quickly; a gesture to reassure him, but brief enough before they both stop to think about the potential meaning of a touch.

"Maybe. We'll see how it goes I guess."

He takes another big gulp of his tequila, then looks down into his glass, contemplative. He wants to thank Hailey for sticking by him, but is unsure how deep to address it. The two of them have been walking on egg shells a bit since all the emotions of last week. Luckily the Kelton case had been a great distraction for them, but both realize the heavy implications there were between them when they feared the unit would be split up. Jay almost came close to telling her how much she meant to him then, and Hailey knew it. The time for them to have that talk is definitely approaching, but they're not there yet.

"With all this blowing up, I didn't get a chance to thank you for having my back throughout this. I felt your eyerolls various times throughout the day, but you never faltered to back me. It means a lot."

He smiles at her and she smiles back, sharing one of those countless looks.

"Anytime partner… how'd it go? 'I go where you go,' right!? It works both ways!" she replies with the upmost confidence.

"Well, in that case, I'm about to go use your bathroom, so feel free to join!" he jokes as he stands from the stool, knowing she'd want any tension broken before they get awkward again.

"Oh, God, ok… well, I'm gonna let you handle that one on your own!" she cracks up as he makes his way over to it.

When he's washing his hands he stops to look up in the mirror and stare back at his reflection. He can already see the worry starting to leave his face. No matter what, Hailey can always make him feel better. He smiles to himself as he dries his hands on the towel, exiting to find that Hailey has brought their drinks to the living room and is now sitting on the couch. He follows her over and sits down comfortably next to her as they enjoy the reair of the Hawks game they missed.

After a while, Jay finally speaks again. "You mind if I crash on the couch tonight? I don't feel like going back to my empty apartment."

"Only if you promise not to snore and wake the whole house like last time!" She jokes.

"Pfft, I think you mean your own snoring woke you up. I never knew such a lean girl could sound like a bear…" he chuckles to himself as she lifts her cushion to hit him.

"Whatever, Halstead."

"What? I didn't say it wasn't hot, I kind of like it actually."

"Keep it up and Voight's not the only doghouse you'll be in!" she jokingly warns as they crack up and continue to watch the game.

Yes, out of the Hell this week brought, Jay now recognizes his most prevalent emotion – Gratefulness.


A few weeks had gone by since Jay's fight with Voight, and boy did a lot happen in that time frame. Voight had found some secret way to clear Adam's name completely, he wouldn't even have to face a trial, good news all around there for sure. The team got informed that Antonio had decided to up and leave for Puerto Rico to be with his sister after he finished his undisclosed rehab. Before they had time to even process that, they were thrown a new young officer in the unit, Vanessa Rojas that it was obvious they'd have to groom- that's how green she was. This last part is what affected Hailey and Jay so much. Hailey didn't mind helping out a newbie, but Voight had purposely split her and Jay up in order to do so. Needless to say, she did not react well. She came for her boss within seconds after he announced it.

After having a civil discussion, she understood his reasoning behind it, but that still didn't mean she liked it. Just because she had told Jay they had only been partners a few years and he could probably forget her just fine, didn't mean she actually wanted it to come to fruition. It was completely different circumstances sure, but as she told Voight, Jay and her work. Of course, she also recognized internally that they worked in more ways than one, but she tried not to let her emotions cloud her judgment over this decision. Throughout the couple of days this case continued, she and Jay found a little time to talk in the car while on the job about this. They both agreed they just had to put their heads down and keep playing it out in order to not piss off Voight more than he's already been. They were hoping it was just a temporary split anyway; so at the end of the case when Hailey was giving the opportunity to make or break Vanessa's career in Intelligence, she really thought long and hard. On the one hand, giving Voight a "No-go" on her meant that she and Jay would instantly be partnered back, but on the other hand, Vanessa seemed like a nice kid who had potential to be good police. In the end, Hailey's selflessness won out.

In fact, it won out so much so that she offered Vanessa to stay with her when she found out the girl no longer had a place to live. Talk about going from 0-100. It all happened so fast, she didn't even get a chance to talk it over with Jay… which is a strange thought to have because technically they're just partners and friends, so it shouldn't be his business. Still, she felt like she owed him an explanation. When he had texted her earlier that he was going to come over with a pizza, she quickly replied that she'd meet him at his place later in the night instead. It was now hours later, after she got Vanessa all settled in her guest room and certain the girl knocked out, that she finally headed over to Jay's. She hadn't felt this nervous about seeing him since after his almost-confession in the break room.

He let her in instantly with a big smile on his face. "Man, when you said 'later' you really meant late! I was starving, I had to eat a few slices already, but I'll gladly join you for more. Everything ok?" He asks her as they make their way over to his tiny living room, a plate of warmed pizza and beer already waiting for her on his coffee table.

"Yeah, everything's fine…" she hesitantly says, "I do have something to tell you though."

"Did you give Vanessa the boot? It's okay if you did, we would all understand. She seems like she'll be good one day, but will definitely have a lot to learn. Plus, I'd get my partner back."

"Yeah, about that… I actually approved her to Voight."

"Oh? Well, that's great too." He says kind of surprised on why she's being all hesitant about it.

"So the thing is, apparently the apartment she lived in was her undercover one. Once that Op was complete, they pulled it from her without giving her a chance to find something else…"

"Wow, that really sucks. Gotta love the State's humanity."

"Yeah, I felt really bad when she told me. I mean, we've all been there right? Our whole life is the job, no time for anything else, fresh out of the academy and wondering if you'll sink or swim…"

Jay nods at her wondering where she's going with this, but patiently waiting for her to continue.

"So I told her she could move in with me until she found a place…" she exhales a breath she'd been holding now that she's finally got it out.

Jay's eyes go a little wide, but he does his best not to react too much. "Oh, wow, that's a big move. Very nice of you, I actually expect nothing less." He says while smiling at her.

"Yea? You don't think it's a bad idea?"

"Well, I mean, it's definitely a lot to let someone you hardly know move in with you, but we do it in college and stuff all the time, right?"

"Yeah, right. And it's just until she gets settled, so it shouldn't be too bad."

"Right... I am going to miss my free couch access though." He smirks at her a little sadly as she looks down. "First she takes my partner at work, now she takes my…" he drifts off wondering how to carefully phrase his wording, "…our downtime after work."

"We'll still do our thing, no one will come between that!" And she really means it. Even during her whole ordeal with Adam, she never let it come in between or stop her time with Jay. A therapist would have a field day with that, but that's a different story of fortunately former times. "Maybe I'll learn how to sleep on a couch for once."

Jay cracks up at that and she joins him, just what they needed to cut the tension in the room.

"Nah, us Halstead's are gentlemen, if you're staying here, you're staying in my bed."

Hailey's eyes go wide as she looks at him and he quickly realizes how that sounds.

"…And I'LL take the couch, that's what I meant!" he says actually turning a little red.

Hailey does her best to ignore it, knowing they're treading into dangerous territory. "Wow Jay, I never thought I'd see the day you'd give up that old lump bag!"

Jay's bed was from his days before the army, straight from his parent's house. Hailey liked to tease him about it, but she knew how much the connection to it meant to him. Normally her teasing revolved around calling it as old as him.

"What can I say, I'm full of surprises!" he smiles at her, happy she maneuvered their way out of his slipup.

"Yea, well, apparently I am too. Who would have thought I would have ended this day with a roommate?"

"You have always been a bit of a mystery, Hailey Upton." He says while grinning at her.

She smirks back at him, remembering a similar conversation from years ago. "Good, I still intend to keep it that way…"

"Yea, yea… just eat your pizza before it gets cold again. I'm gonna go even out the lumps in the bed for you."

"I never said I was staying tonight!" she says to his back as he walks away down the hall.

"Sure, whatever you say!" he hollers back.

She rolls her eyes at him without him even being in the room and smiles to herself. She has no idea what these next few weeks will entail, but she's certain that no matter what, they'll face it together. And that's enough for her right now…


[A/N: I'm sorry I've been slightly MIA and just getting to this. I swear I didn't forget about it and had really wanted to update it already, but my work hours have been extra crazy & my off days pretty busy, so I had wanted to make sure to finish the last multi-chapter first. But, I've got the ball rolling again now, so I hope to keep it up like last season. I do also have another story in mind to start, so we'll see if I can juggle both, bear with me. Outside of that, our Upstead has returned to us and it's been glorious... hoping for some epicness in the Crossover this week! Thanks for reading, as always.]