Hailey was starting to feel like shit a little bit.
It was well after midnight and she had failed Vanessa massively.
They had been chasing ghosts after one of Jay CI's had flaunted information about a drug deal that panned out to lead to nothing. But Jay needed a backup and Hailey couldn't find it in her to tell him to grab someone else because she already had a commitment to Vanessa. It was supposed to be a quick detour and now Jay still had to drop her off to her own car so she could drive home.
"It's super late, I can just drop you at your place and you can pick up your car tomorrow morning"
"I wish, but then we have 0 car for tomorrow morning"
"Forget that, I'll pick you guys up before work"
She hated it when he was like that with her. It was too much caring sometimes. It was messing with her head.
"You don't have to do that, you can just drop me to my car and you get extra sleep in the morning".
But she knew he had already won since they were driving in the direction of her house now, which he confirmed in adding simply "No but I owe you that much for tagging along tonight... and if you still feel bad then coffee's on you."
She knew he was right, it was late and she was a bit uneasy with the idea of letting Vanessa alone after the shooting from earlier.
She had seemed very distraught and panicked during the few minutes where she couldn't find the gun, if she was still up she would take the time to see if she was in a talking mood, just to make sure she was ok.

"Madame", Jay jokingly said with a bad french accent when they arrived at her place.
" Thanks! Be safe! And see you tomorrow!"

She quickly jogged the short distance from the driveway to the door, waiting to hear Jay's truck departure, but as she was going to open the door she noticed it was just a little bit ajar. A pang of panic went through her... there was no way 2 female cops living in a mixed-income neighborhood would ever leave a door open. Something was very wrong. She immediately took a step behind and reached to her gun, Jay who hadn't driven off yet, got out of his truck and looked at her with an inquisitive look.
She threw him her keys, and without saying a word, she signed to him to go over the back door and she will go in and up the first floor.
They both move in perfect silence and synchronization, when in the house their eyes briefly meet as she is climbing the stairs to the first floor and Jay is going in from the kitchen backdoor.

But she is hardly upstairs trying to go through their bedrooms to conduct the clear when she hears Jay's voice calling her name :
"Oh my god, Vanessa... Hailey! "
Hailey against all cop training 101, doesn't even finish the whole floor and runs back down the stairs... something in Jay's voice... what if he found Vanessa dead... she can't even form a whole thought in her mind.

Jay was a soldier a lifetime ago, hell he is still a soldier now, because, well, Chicago, so he expects to see everything, all the time, he is always the first through a door, so he is used to seeing stuff first.
Sure seeing dead kids isn't a thing anyone with a soul ever gets used to, but apart from that, nothing shocks him, he never misses a bit, he scans through a room and makes sure his mates are safe.
But what he could never get used to is seeing his teammates being the ones savaged by monsters.
And what he sees now, he can't really process.

Vanessa was crouched by the kitchen counter, her hair partially hiding her face but he could see a purple bruise forming under her left eye and her lips were bloody, she was sitting in a weird position as if trying to hold herself but her left hand is hanging in a weird angle.
He couldn't see if she was wearing anything and he was afraid she might be completely naked...
What the fuck happened here?
He could now hear Hailey breathing just behind him.
Jay stores away his gun and starts walking to Vanessa and very carefully calls out her name " Hey hey hey, Vanessa, Vanessa, it's us, it's Jay and Hailey, are you ok? "
Vanessa, after a few seconds, looks at both Hailey and Jay and tries to crawl back a bit more into one of the counter corners, but slowly as if she was the one trying not to startle them, as if she moved quietly she would disappear into the background, Jay tries again: " Vanessa I'm gonna come closer, yes? Its gonna be alright, don't worry ok", he is now on his knees and focuses on maintaining eye contact with her, from this close she looks even more in a dire state than he could see before, she is indeed half-naked, her shredded top and shorts have a mix of blood and water on them. For a second there he can't move, and she doesn't either, they just stare at each other, but then when he tries to reach to her she shakes so violently it actually makes her let go of a knife she had on her right hand, but since she was a leftie Jay didn't really think she was holding something with her right hand which was partially hidden on her side. Jay grabs it very calmly, and throws it in the distance, and raises his hands to show that he means no harm, but stops approaching her, then turns to Hailey who still hasn't moved from her position, her gun still in halfway pointing to nobody.
"Hailey!" He calls out, she snaps out of her trance, "She needs you, Hails, I don't think I can get any closer."
His voice is cracking, he doesn't think he can deal with this, he feels overwhelmed, he needs Hailey to be here with him.
Vanessa is just a kid to him, she is so small and so young and he can't keep looking at her in this state, he wants to help her, to grab her and hold her in his arms and make it all go away, but he knows she would hate it that he's seen her like this, all of them were like this, would it be Kim or Hailey, they all hated to be in a position of vulnerability in front of their male colleagues.

As he was about to go back and leave more room for Hailey to operate, at the last second he turns back slowly towards Vanessa, very carefully so he doesn't startle her again, he takes off his jacket and hold it out to her as she is continuously shaking, and also because he can't stand anymore the spectacle of bruised skin, and the mix of bile and blood running over her legs, but she wiggles away again, and whispers " Please don't touch me," her voice breaks and she adds another "Please".
With that, he walks back carefully and stands in front of Hailey.
"Hails, Hails look at me, she won't let me get any closer, you need to check on her! She needs you, not me, and I'm calling it in ok ?"
Hailey swallows hard and nods.

She walks towards Vanessa, and as she passes, Jay grabs her gun from her hand, she doesn't even look at him and she just walks to Vanessa.
She kneels at a small distance, not wanting to send the girl into panic and whispers her name gently "Vanessa, it's me, it's Hailey, I'm here, it's gonna be alright, I'm here now", and their eyes meet and Vanessa breaks into massive soul breaking sobs and falls into Hailey's arms.
And she cries, and she screams and her body quivers and breaks as she holds onto the blond cop as onto life itself.