Hello friends and welcome back to another one-shot. This was written for day one of Upsteadofficial's Upstead Valentine's Love Songs Challenge on Tumblr. I will be posting all of my challenge submissions on FF and AO3 so my nontumblr friends can enjoy the upstead fluff!
Today's prompt: "Thinking Out Loud" by Ed Sheeran
Hope you enjoy!
The first time Jay thinks that he loves Hailey they are not even in a relationship. They are in a bar and his heart is beating out of his chest as she tells him about the job offer she got from the FBI. Everything in him is screaming for him to just open his mouth and tell her how he feels, but the self-preservation part of him kicks in and keeps him silent.
And then she is standing in front of him telling him that it has been a long time since she has seen him as just her partner and he just can't help himself. He is a man of action after all and before he can talk himself out of it, his lips are on hers. The nervousness melts from his body as he feels her lean into his kiss, wrapping her arms tightly around his neck. Her hand falls down his chest and he tightens his grip against her waist, his mind lost in the small moans and hints of tongue and the feeling that is kissing her.
He does not know how long they kiss, but it is most likely far too long for their fellow bar patrons. When they pull apart, they are met with a few coughs and judgemental glances, but he can't find it in himself to care.
"Let's get out of here." He whispers softly as he grabs her hand and leads her out of the bar.
When they step through the door of the bar and the cold Chicago air hits their bodies, he can see a sweet, yet nervous look on Hailey's face as she turns to him, her hand still intertwined in his.
"If I knew that was going to be your response, I would have told you I rejected the job offer a while ago."
He hums happily, leading her to his truck. "I think I was more excited about that other thing you said."
"I said something else?" She teases as she leans against the passenger side of his truck. They drove to the bar together and while he does want to assume that anything is going to happen, this is the part of the night where he hopes he can take her home.
"Something about not seeing me as just your partner." He reminds her as if those words she spoke just a few moments ago had not been on repeat in both of their brains.
Hailey gives a small nod, pretending to comb her brain for the memory in question and he just laughs, before taking a step closer to her and whispering, "Just for the record, it's been a long time for me too."
She wastes no time in raising herself on her toes and pressing a kiss to his lips. When he feels her mouth against his, he thinks he could get used to this feeling.
The second time he thinks that he loves her is not even 12 hours later. Jay is a naturally early riser and his past in the military only solidified this habit. Over the past few years, he has been able to train his body to sleep in just a little bit later, but when he sleeps in a foreign place, all bets are off.
But today, when he wakes up, he feels calm. As his eyes slowly open, he sees that he is not in his bedroom and the memories of the previous night fill his head. Memories of kissing his partner and following her home and showing her without words how much he truly felt for her.
That very partner was now curled up against his side, sleeping soundly. Mindful of her body pressed against his, he gently reaches out for his phone on the bedside table to check the time. 6:09 am.
The alarm she set the night before won't go off for a little while, so he sets his phone back down. He has no plans of going back to sleep, more than content to just watch his sleeping partner.
The Hailey he knows is so different than the one laying on his chest. When he thinks of Hailey, he thinks of a kickass cop who is stronger than anyone he has ever met. But here she is, quiet and calm, without a care in the world. He would like to get to know this Hailey better.
"I can feel you staring." He hears her mutter into his chest, her eyelids fluttering as she slowly starts to wake up.
"Did I wake you?" He ignores the staring comment because there is really no use arguing with her.
"No." She hums. Her eyes are open now and she tilts her head up to look at him better. "Good morning."
"Good morning." He leans down to kiss her and it's so different from any of the kisses they exchanged last night. It's slow and lazy and it makes him want more mornings like this.
"What time is it?" She asks quietly when they finally separate.
"Little after 6."
"Hmm…" She looks up at him, a smile on her face. "So, we've got some time before work?"
He pulls her closer until she is basically on top of him. "Yeah, I think we've got some time."
Mornings with Hailey will certainly become his new favorite thing.
The third time he thinks that he loves her, they have been dating for a little over a week. It has been chaos at work, but that is no surprise. But things outside of work? They have been beyond wonderful. They naturally slip into their new relationship dynamic and Jay could not be happier.
It's late on Saturday morning when he gets out of the shower and makes his way out to the kitchen. It's one of the rare nights that they have spent at his place since they got together and he has to admit, he likes seeing Hailey so comfortable in his space. He smiles when he sees her sitting at his kitchen table, sipping her coffee.
His smile only grows when he sees what she is wearing. Black leggings and a sweatshirt. His sweatshirt to be exact. It's an old one, from his academy days. The bottom of the sleeves are starting to fray, but it's warm and comfortable. And the sight of her in it-
It leaves him speechless.
"Hey" She smiles up at him sweetly when she sees him. He comes over to her, giving her a quick kiss, tasting the black coffee on her lips.
"Morning beautiful." He whispers before padding into the kitchen to pour his own coffee. As he grabs a mug, he turns his head to look back at her and he finds himself staring yet again.
"What?"
"Nothing." He hums. "Just pretty sure that's mine."
She rolls her eyes and runs her hands through her still messy hair. "If you're territorial about your clothes, I can go change."
It's a weightless threat and he knows it, but it still makes him laugh.
"No, no." He tells her and he picks up his own mug of liquid energy and makes his way to join her at the table. "I was just thinking I kinda like how you look in my clothes."
"Just kinda?"
"A lot more than kinda."
Her face scrunches happily as she takes another sip of her coffee. In the short time they have been together, they have not had any slow, lazy mornings together. Due to the nature of their job, they are normally racing out of the door (part of that might also be the fact that they often partake in some morning make out sessions before they convince themselves to get out of bed, but they are very much worth it.)
But he likes mornings like this. Her in his sweatshirt, sipping coffee out of his mug, teasing him in a sleepy voice. It makes him look forward to the inevitable lazy day that they will share together, lying on the couch, wrapped up in each other. A day filled with stealing kisses and soft laughter that is just theirs.
"You gonna stare all day?" She says after a few moments.
"One hundred percent."
Hailey shakes her head, getting up to get another cup of coffee, but not before pressing a quick kiss to his lips. "You're lucky I like you."
Yeah, he is pretty lucky.
The fourth time he thinks he loves her, they are at work. After a murder in Canaryville, Jay and Adam infiltrated a local crime ring with the hopes of making an arrest. Before they knew it though, they were quite over their head. What they thought was just a murder case turned into an illegal gun trading ring and countless other homicides.
After several days, the Intelligence Unit felt like they had enough evidence to take down the crime ring leader, Joseph Valazquez. Jay and Adam had told the team when the next shipment of guns would be and when they saw the product being exchanged, the team would make a bust. Plain. Easy. Simple.
Until just mere minutes before the bust, Valazquez got jumpy and started accusing Adam of being a cop. When Jay tried to talk him down, the older man pulled a gun on him, screaming and waving the weapon around haphazardly. Neither Jay nor Adam was armed and they silently prayed the rest of their team would apprehend Valezquez before anything happened.
What happened next was a blur. Mere moments after Valazquez raised his gun at Jay, the man went down, a bullet ripping through a nearby window. Immediately after, Voight and the team came rushing in, yelling for the rest of Valazquez's men to get on the ground. Kim and Kevin apprehended the other men as Voight checked Velazquez for a pulse.
"Sarge?" Adam asks.
"Hailey had the shot. I told her to take it." Voight states simply before grabbing Valezquez's weapon and calling in for backup and the crime lab.
Jay's mind finally registered what happened. Hailey took the shot that killed Velazquez. Hailey was outside with his sniper.
Hailey saved him.
It's a few minutes later after they have put all the members of Valezquez's crew into the back of cars and the crime lab has been rolled to the scene that Jay finally sees Hailey. She is standing by his truck, carefully putting away the rifle. With a smile, he makes his way over to her.
"You know, you just saved my ass."
Hailey laughs, putting the gun in the back seat and slamming the door. "Isn't that my job?"
"Didn't realize you being my girlfriend meant you were gonna sniper guys who had a gun in my face?" He teases softly, aware that they are surrounded by others.
She pushes him playfully. "I meant my job as your partner."
He hums knowingly and she tries to walk past him to where the rest of the team is, but he grabs her wrist, holding her back.
"Before we go get debriefed, there is something I want to tell you." He pauses for a moment and takes in the sight of her in front of him. Her hair is in a high ponytail and her bulletproof vest is tight against her chest. There is a small bead of sweat running down the side of her head and he can still see an energized look in her eyes. In the past two weeks, he has gotten to know so many sides of Hailey, but this one still holds a special spot in his heart. The first thing he knew about her was that she was a damn good cop and seeing her here today only reaffirms that.
"You look really hot with a rifle." He whispers to her before walking away to join the team. When he dares look back at her, a few steps behind him, she shoots him a devious smile and he knows that this girl has him ruined.
The fifth time he thinks that he thinks he loves her, she is pressed up against his side on his couch while he Facetimes Will. He has not seen his brother since before the pandemic began and while he misses being able to grab a beer or watch a game together, he is thankful that they have managed to carve out a bit of time every week to talk.
When his phone rang and he saw it was Will, Hailey had offered to go into the other room so he could have some privacy, but he just shook his head. Will had asked about Hailey during their last call and he thought it might do his brother some good to see someone who did not work at Med and was not Jay.
However, now, as Will told his new girlfriend stories from their childhood, he began to think that this was not a good idea.
"I'm telling you, Hailey. He had the biggest crush on our babysitter when he was seven. I think he even wrote her some Valentine's card or something." Will tells her over the small screen of Jay's phone.
Hailey lets out a loud laugh as Jay makes a face at his brother.
"So, he has always been a flirt?" Hailey teases, flashing a sweet smile to let Jay know she was joking (a little.)
"Oh, Hailey, he was the worst. And I mean the worst. His game was awful."
"My game wasn't that bad." Jay tries to reason, but Will just cuts him off.
"The pick-up lines this guy was using…"
"Pick up lines?" Hailey says with a questioning look thrown towards her boyfriend, who just shakes his head.
"Don't you have some doctor stuff to tell us?" He tries to change the subject, knowing that if he lets these two continue, he will most likely regret it.
"I think I'd rather just embarrass you in front of your girl."
Jay shakes his head before Hailey saves him. "As much fun as that sounds, I think we might need to save some of those stories for another night or Jay might explode. I'm gonna let you two catch up, but it was good seeing you Will."
"You too, Hailey. Thanks for keeping my brother in line."
She smiles at the screen before kissing Jay's cheek and disappearing into her bedroom. His eyes stay on her until she is out of the room and when he looks back at the screen, there is a smug look on Will's face.
"What?"
"You look happy," Will tells him and while there is still a teasing tone in his voice, he can tell his older brother is being sincere.
Will did not have a good relationship with any of Jay's previous girlfriends. He knew Ally, but not well, and for the next few girls that Jay dated, Will lived in New York. Will knew Erin and liked her even, but the two never seemed to become close.
But then there was Hailey and already she seemed to be best friends with his brother. It was not something he knew he wanted, a girl who could be so close to his brother, but now that he has it, he would not change it.
He thinks it's one of the things that he likes (loves?) most about her.
"I am happy." Jay finally says.
Will seems shocked that his younger brother did not have some sarcastic remark in response to his probing about his personal life. The redhead smiles and says, "She's good for you. Keep this one."
Jay smiles because he has every plan to. He nods to his brother, before asking him about his clinical trial, thoughts of Hailey still in the back of his mind.
When Jay finally tells Hailey that he loves her, they have only been dating for a month. In many of his past relationships, he would take much longer to tell a girl that he loved her if he even ever got there. But with Hailey, it was so different. He loved her long before he even kissed her and it was just a matter of time before those three little words spilled out of his mouth.
It's a Tuesday night and they are at her apartment. He is washing the dishes from their dinner while she moves around the kitchen, wiping down counters and putting food away. She is telling him a random story about her patrol days and he can't help but just stare at her.
This woman in front of him. She is everything to him. She is kind and strong and loving. She has saved him more times than he can even count and every day she pushes him to be a better cop, a better man. He thought he loved her a long time ago, but then he kissed her and he only fell for her harder.
And somehow, he kept falling deeper and deeper in love with Hailey Upton. With every kiss and every morning they wake up together and every lazy Saturday and every chaotic workday. Every day he fell deeper in love with her. And here she is, moving around the kitchen, cleaning up from a meal they shared, and it feels so domestic.
It feels like love.
Before he can fully process his thoughts, the words are rolling out of his mouth. "I love you."
She turns around, setting down the mug she was about to put away. When she doesn't say anything, he dries his hands and moves away from the sink. Gently, he presses her against the counter, his hands gripping her waist.
"Yeah?" She whispers.
"Yeah. I love you so much. I've been in love with you for so long and I have no idea how, but I keep falling more in love with you every single day."
She smiles ear to ear and her blue eyes light up. "That's good. Because I love you too."
There were so many times that he thought he loved Hailey Upton, but when she tells him that she loves him too, that's when he knows how deeply, completely, and stupidly in love with her he truly is.
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