A/N: Based on one of my favorite Christmas songs :)
Jay slips into the break room where Hailey is sipping coffee and looking over the plate of cookies that had been dropped off for them just that morning.
"Hey," he said softly.
She looked up and smiled, "Hi." She picked up a sugar cookie sloppily decorated, presumably from the boy they had found two days before after he'd been kidnapped, "Want a bite?"
Jay chuckled, "Think Jack made that one?"
"Probably," Hailey laughed softly and bit the top off the Christmas tree, "Oh, but it's so good."
Jay glanced at it, "It has those cinnamon things on it though." He grabbed a peanut butter cookie with a Hershey's kiss on the top.
Hailey rolled her eyes, "Jay, they're not spicy."
"I don't like those," he shrugged while cracking off a piece of cookie then set it in his mouth.
"You're such a child," Hailey said.
Jay smirked and reached over to squeeze her waist, "I want to talk about something."
"Kay," Hailey nodded and sipped her coffee.
"Christmas is in three days," Jay started and tilted his head, "And we haven't really talked about what we're doing."
"Oh, the first Christmas as a couple," Hailey lightly teased and leaned against the table, "Well, what do you usually do?"
Jay shook his head and walked to pour his own coffee, "Nothing really. Usually just meet up with Will and exchange presents, otherwise my plans typically involve stopping at the cemetery and leaving some of those Christmas flowers for my mom before heading home and watching a movie."
Hailey nodded along and when he finished, she took a deep breath, "That's good with me." She grabbed a napkin off the table and wiped her mouth before moving to walk past him.
"Hey," Jay grabbed her elbow, "What's going on? What do you usually do?"
Hailey shook her head, "Nothing, doesn't matter."
"Hailey," Jay lowered his voice, "Come on, talk to me."
She shrugged, "I never did much, it doesn't matter. Sometimes I'd go visit my parents, but I don't want to do that this year, so your plans sound great. I just want to be with you." Jay loosened his grip from her arm, so she pulled away and walked out to her desk.
He sighed and watched her sit down, not at all satisfied with her answer.
Jay knocked on Hailey's front door before looking through her window. He could see her and Vanessa sitting on the couch together watching The Grinch in the soft lights of their Christmas tree. He smiled as she looked over and saw him in the window. She laughed and went to open the door.
"Hi," Hailey said and grabbed his hand, gently pulling him inside, "What're you doing?"
Vanessa turned on the couch and waved, "Hey, Jay."
"Hey," he nodded at her then turned to Hailey, "Let's go on a trip."
Hailey raised an eyebrow, "Excuse me?"
"I talked to Voight, he's cool with taking us off the on-call list for the next few days," Jay said, "Let's go up to the cabin."
Hailey weakly laughed, "Jay…"
"Come here," he said softly and tugged her to the kitchen in a small attempt for privacy away from Vanessa's ears. He lifted her onto the counter so they were eye level and lightly placed his hands on either side of her neck, "I know you and I love you and I can tell that Christmas day isn't a great memory for you."
Hailey blushed, "I like Christmas."
Jay shook his head, "You like decorating your house and making cookies; you like preparing for Christmas. The more I thought about it, though, the more I realized you've never talked much about family traditions on Christmas and so I want us to do something fun this year."
"We-We can't just leave our friends," Hailey glanced to the living room where Vanessa was doing a decent job at pretending not to listen in to their conversation.
"I talked to the others and they'll hangout with Vanessa," Jay whispered, "Come on, please, I want to fix Christmas for you."
Hailey took a deep breath, "And we're going to drive to Wisconsin? That takes a while."
"We'll do it tomorrow," Jay said, "We'll leave tomorrow and come back the 27th. Just a few days. What do you say?"
Hailey lightly played with the buttons on his shirt, "It could be fun."
"Exactly," Jay smiled, "Just me and you and the woods. It'll be quiet…private…romantic…"
Hailey laughed and looked up at him, "Romantic, huh?"
"Mhmm," Jay chuckled, "Remember, there's a fireplace in the living room."
"Oh, so that automatically screams romance," Hailey teased.
"Totally. We didn't get to use it in the summer," Jay said.
Hailey laughed harder, "Because it was close to a hundred degrees."
"So here's our chance," Jay smiled.
Hailey breathed out slowly then smiled back at him, "Okay. Let's do it – Christmas getaway to the cabin."
"Yes," Jay kissed her quickly, "All right, I'll let you pack, I'll see you in the morning."
"Wait, what?" Hailey raised an eyebrow, "Don't you want to stay for the movie?"
"I have to pack," Jay helped her off the counter, "Are you good with seven?"
"Seven what?" Hailey asked.
"I'll pick you up at seven tomorrow morning," Jay explained, "I can bring breakfast."
"That's pretty early," Hailey followed him to the front door.
"We want to get on the road before everyone else," Jay said and kissed her forehead, "See you."
"You're serious about seven?" Hailey asked.
"Yeah," Jay chuckled then looked to Vanessa, "Bye, Rojas, merry Christmas." He squeezed Hailey's hand, "Seven," he smiled and walked out into the cold to his truck.
Hailey watched him drive away then closed her front door to lean against it.
"Wisconsin, huh?" Vanessa smiled, "That's cute."
"I knew you were listening," Hailey laughed and rubbed her face, "But yeah, I think it'll be fun."
"Oh, I know it will be," Vanessa said, "You two need a break. That kidnapping case put you both through the ringer."
Hailey shook her head, "It was horrible."
"Which is exactly why you need a vacation," Vanessa nodded.
"Yeah," Hailey said softly and walked around the couch to sit back down.
"Don't you want to pack?" Vanessa raised an eyebrow.
"I want to finish the movie and then I'll pack," Hailey shrugged and looked back to the TV.
Vanessa tossed the blanket back over their legs, "Whatever, but don't complain in the morning when you're tired because you stayed up too late deciding what to wear on your little weekend getaway to a cabin."
"I would never," Hailey laughed.
"Hails," Jay said and gently nudged her as he drove, "Hey, are you falling asleep?"
Hailey blinked her eyes slowly and lifted her head from the cool window, "No."
Jay chuckled and grabbed the coffee cup from her hand to place it in the cup holder, "I know I was at your house pretty early, but we've definitely had to wake up earlier for work."
Hailey blushed, "I may have been up late packing."
"Ah," Jay nodded, "So this is on you then."
Hailey faked a gasp and laughed, "Jay! Not nice."
"Just saying," Jay chuckled.
"Whatever," Hailey smiled and swirled her finger along the condensation that had formed on the window from the heat of the car the past two hours.
Jay glanced away from the road to look at her, "Did you and your brothers ever play tic-tac-toe on the glass?"
Hailey laughed softly, "No, did you and Will?"
"Yeah," Jay nodded, "Draw one out."
Hailey smiled and drew the boxes, "Okay, you can go first."
"Top left corner," Jay answered without missing a beat.
"That was quick," Hailey laughed and drew an X in the box.
"Hey, I wanted to be Os," Jay said with a soft tease in his voice.
"Too bad, Halstead," Hailey drew an O right in the middle, "All right, your turn."
"Um," Jay glanced over again, "Bottom left."
Hailey nodded and drew the X before drawing her O in the middle left, "I think I'm going to win."
"No way," Jay smirked, "Middle left."
"Just did that," Hailey said.
"Then middle right," Jay replied.
"Darn," Hailey shook her head, "Was hoping you were too distracted to play."
Jay laughed, "Well, I'm not."
Hailey thought for a moment then drew her circle in the top middle, "Okay, you're up."
"Top right," Jay answered.
"And Jay Halstead is a loser," Hailey smiled while drawing the final O in the middle of the bottom row.
Jay laughed, "Am not."
"Nope, look," Hailey circled the entire tic-tac-toe game, "I won."
Jay glanced over, "Fine," he chuckled, "You're a winner."
Hailey stared at the game on the window and then drew a heart on it. She smiled to herself while writing a small J+H in the middle of it. She rested her head back on the chair as she drew smaller hearts around it.
Jay watched her out of the corner of his eye with a small smile. He reached over and patted her thigh.
"Hmm?" Hailey hummed and looked at him.
Jay flipped his hand over, keeping his eyes on the road.
Hailey laughed softly and lightly traced a heart on his palm with her finger before resting her own hand on top.
"Thanks for coming with me," Jay said softly and intertwined his fingers with hers.
Hailey's heart fluttered at his words and her face grew hot, yet she looked at the clock and decided to take the moment in a different direction by saying, "It's been three hours."
Jay laughed and let go of her hand to shove her shoulder, "I was trying to be nice and a good boyfriend and play along with your little hearts, and you ruined the moment."
Hailey smiled wide and grabbed his hand again, lightly kissing the side of thumb, "I really do love you."
"Yeah, sure," Jay smirked.
"I do," Hailey laughed.
"Well, Hailey Anne," Jay turned his head briefly to make eye contact with her, "I'll admit that I may love you too."
Hailey rolled her eyes, but still squeezed his hand and blushed.
Jay laughed softly and rubbed his thumb over the back of her hand, "You know what I really love?"
"Don't, Jay," Hailey said weakly with a small smile.
Jay just continued, "I love when I make you blush. You're so pretty."
Hailey took a deep breath, "Jay…"
"Hey," Jay shook his head, "Let me compliment you. You say nice things to me all the time even when I tell you to stop; now it's my turn."
Hailey smiled and breathed out, "You don't have to."
"I think I do," Jay said, "But because I know you're getting uncomfortable, I'm just going to wrap a bunch into one and say you truly have the best heart of anyone I've ever met."
Hailey swallowed against the sudden lump in her throat and felt her hands grow sweaty which embarrassed her since one of her hands was currently being held in Jay's.
Lucky for her though, he dropped her hand and reached up to set his hand on the back of her head.
Hailey leaned into his hand and closed her eyes.
"I love you," Jay whispered softly.
Hailey smiled and opened an eye to reply, "I love you too."
Jay smiled back at her and rubbed the back of her neck before turning back to the road to continue their drive up north.
Jay eventually parked his truck in the snow in front of the cabin, "Go ahead and run in, I'll grab our suitcases."
"I can help," Hailey said while unbuckling her seatbelt.
"You can go start the fireplace," Jay shook his head and stepped out of the truck.
Hailey smiled after him then hurried through the cold to the living room. She shook the snow from her hair as she knelt next to the fireplace and turned it on. She took a deep breath and closed her eyes to soak in the heat.
"Hails," Jay said while walking in, "I actually couldn't carry it all in-"
"Shocker," Hailey laughed and turned to face him.
Jay rolled his eyes, "Mind going to grab some of the food?"
"Of course," Hailey stood and hurried back out into the snow. She smiled as she grabbed the bag of food Jay had packed, not surprised to see a family sized bag of M&Ms on the top.
"I can get the cooler," Jay said as he jogged back outside.
Hailey turned with a joke on her lips that died when Jay's foot slipped on a patch of ice, sending him backwards into a pile of snow. Her eyes widened, "Jay," she shoved the bag back into the truck and hurried over to him, "Hey," she knelt in the snow next to him, "Are you okay?"
Jay rubbed his face and looked up at her, "Just bruised my ego."
Hailey laughed and shook her head, "Your ego is fine, it's just me."
"Exactly," Jay sighed and sat up, "I'm wet though."
Hailey bit her lip over a smirk and tilted her head to the side.
"What?" Jay chuckled.
"Just thought of a joke," Hailey laughed softly.
Jay groaned and fell back again into the snow, closing his eyes against the snowflakes melting against his skin.
Hailey turned and laid next to him, all thoughts of the food forgotten from her mind.
Jay moved his arms out until his hand bumped hers and he said, "Move over."
"Excuse me?" Hailey turned her head to look at him.
"I'm making a snow angel, duh," Jay laughed.
"Oh, well then of course," Hailey laughed with him and rolled over away from him. She watched as he moved his arms and legs in the snow and felt herself falling even more in love with him.
She'd thought it before, but there was something about dating Jay that brought out a completely new side to him. He'd always been fun to hang out with and would make her laugh and seemed like he was comfortable around her; it was just exemplified now. He was more relaxed and didn't seem to mind her seeing him that way. There were still times where he'd block her out after a bad dream or a long case, but they worked through it and he was okay with her comforting him. She was proud of who he was and right now watching him completely at ease with everything warmed her heart…even though she had snow seeping through her jeans.
"There," Jay said and sat up. He smiled at Hailey, "Yours looks almost as good."
"Jerk," Hailey laughed while sitting up.
"Well," Jay carefully stood, "You're already an angel, so a snow version of you just doesn't compare."
Hailey laughed harder and accepted his help standing up, "You really are something else."
"You love me," Jay kissed her head before stepping around her and grabbing the cooler from the back of his truck.
"Got me there," Hailey wiped the snow from her pants, grabbed the bag of food from the truck, and followed Jay inside to the kitchen.
"We'll deal with that later," Jay said and set the cooler on the ground, "Right now," he took the food from Hailey's arms, "I need to warm up from that little snow adventure with my best girl."
Hailey smiled and unzipped her coat, "How do you plan on doing that?"
Jay hummed softly and slipped his hands under her shirt, "Maybe a shower?"
Hailey gasped at his cold touch, "Jay!"
"What? Do you not want to do that?" Jay asked.
Hailey pushed his hands away with a laugh, "You're freezing."
"Exactly," Jay stepped closer to her, "Hence, the shower."
Hailey set her arms over his shoulders, "Don't say 'hence.'"
Jay smirked and leaned down to kiss her forehead, "Don't tell me what to do."
Hailey laughed against his chest, "Just carry me to the shower, please."
"As you wish," Jay said while grabbing her legs so she could wrap them around his waist before he carried her down the hall to the bathroom.
"Ready for it?" Jay asked from his place next to the old record player in the living room.
Hailey smiled from her spot on the mattress in front of the fireplace, "Yes."
"Okay," Jay said then turned on the record player so Bing Crosby's "Silent Night" played throughout the room. He hurried over to Hailey and dropped himself on the mattress next to her.
She laughed while tossing a blanket over him, "Hurry or you'll freeze to death."
"God, I know," Jay said, "I'm sorry, I didn't think it'd be this cold up here."
Hailey raised an eyebrow, "In northern Wisconsin at the end of December?"
Jay shrugged and tugged her to his side, "Wasn't thinking."
"It's okay," Hailey reached up and kissed his jaw, "I don't mind laying in front of a fire with you."
"Good because I think we'll be doing a lot of this," Jay chuckled and rubbed her arm.
Hailey pressed herself closer to him and slipped her hands into his hoodie pocket, "You're warm."
"Even my toes?" Jay smirked before tangling his feet with hers, brushing them against her skin not covered by her flannel pants and wool socks.
Hailey winced, "I told you to put on socks."
"I hate sleeping with socks," Jay shook his head, "That's gross."
"It is not," Hailey laughed.
"It is too," Jay said, "My feet get all sweaty and then I'll have gross feet, that's how it works."
Hailey rolled her eyes, "You are so dramatic," she pulled her hands from his hoodie and sat up, "I'll be right back."
"Where are you going?" Jay asked as Hailey got off the mattress and walked down the short hall to the bedroom.
"Don't worry about it," Hailey called out.
"I miss you," Jay yelled with a laugh.
"Be patient!"
Jay smiled and laid on his back to stare up at the ceiling.
A minute later, Hailey was back and threw a pair of purple fuzzy socks at him.
Jay sat up with them, "No."
Hailey shrugged, "Put them on or get a new bed." She smirked and crossed her arms.
"Oh, you're evil," Jay said.
"Just until your feet aren't cold," Hailey dropped onto her knees on the mattress next to him, "Please," she pushed her hair to the side and blinked her eyes quickly.
Jay groaned and pushed the blankets off of him, "Evil."
Hailey laughed and watched him slip her socks onto his feet, "They're cute."
"Yeah, sure," Jay pulled her on top of him, "Good thing I love you."
"Yup," Hailey smiled wide.
Jay brushed her hair back and kissed her nose, "Hi."
"Hi," Hailey whispered. She watched his face for a second before lowering herself down to rest her head over his heart. She closed her eyes as his fingers twirled her hair around.
Jay eventually breathed, "In all honesty, do you have anything in particular you wanted to do over the next few days?"
Hailey shook her head and wrapped her arms around him, lost in thoughts of the last six months they'd spent together.
"You okay?" Jay lifted his head up to look at her.
"Of course," Hailey smiled, "Just thinking."
"About?" Jay's fingers slid down to rub the back of her neck.
"You," Hailey admitted, knowing without even looking up at him that he was blushing.
"Oh," Jay breathed.
Hailey laughed softly and scooted up to press her face in his neck, "Nothing bad."
"I hope not," Jay chuckled quietly.
"Hey, just relax," Hailey kissed under his ear then rolled off of him, "I'm thinking about how happy I've been with you. I wouldn't have wanted to spend this year with anyone else."
Jay's eyes flickered over her face before saying, "I feel the same way."
"It just felt right," Hailey picked up his hand and squeezed it gently.
Jay nodded and rubbed his thumb over hers.
Hailey smiled at him, "Roll over."
"Why?" Jay laughed, but still let go of her hand to move onto his stomach.
Hailey pushed the blankets down and sat on the back of his legs, "Guess what word I'm spelling."
"On what?" Jay turned his head to look at her.
"Shh, just wait," Hailey said while slipping his sweatshirt up. She thought for a moment then slowly traced the word 'pizza' on his back.
"Easy," Jay chuckled, "Pizza, your favorite food."
"Nice job," Hailey laughed softly, "Okay, here's another," she rubbed her hand over his back and was about to write another word when Jay laughed.
"What the hell was that?" he asked.
"I erased it, duh," Hailey bent down and kissed the back of his head, "New word."
"Oh, why didn't I think of that?" Jay chuckled and waited for her finger to stop moving against his skin to say, "Angel?"
"Yes?" Hailey joked.
Jay laughed and quickly flipped over, grabbing her waist so she wouldn't fall off the mattress, "You did that on purpose."
"Maybe," Hailey smiled.
"All right, my turn," Jay said and gently pushed Hailey off of him. He carefully got on top of her, "I think my hands are warm enough."
"I won't mind," Hailey closed her eyes and rested her head on her crossed arms.
"Sure," Jay chuckled, "Tell that to the purple socks I'm wearing."
Hailey laughed softly, "You look really hot wearing them."
"I know I do," Jay smirked and pushed her – well, his – sweatshirt up, "Let's see, think you'll be able to read my handwriting?"
Hailey laughed harder, "Yes."
"Good," Jay said then swirled his finger over her soft skin.
"You're not writing," Hailey smiled.
"I know, just enjoying you," Jay squeezed her waist with his knees, "Okay, for real now."
Hailey hummed softly as she thought then said, "Christmas."
"So smart," Jay kissed the back of her neck, "Here's another."
Hailey laughed under her breath, "You're just tickling me."
"Am not," Jay chuckled, "Though I'll do it again just to hear your laugh again. Think about it." He repeated his word before sitting back on her legs.
Hailey said softly, "Snow globe."
"And she got it," Jay smiled.
Hailey laughed and turned her head to look at him, "You did say I'm smart."
"Obviously," Jay slid off of her onto the mattress to lay on his back. He looked over at the window, "It kind of looks like a snow globe outside right now."
Hailey pushed herself up to look at smiled, "It does." She spotted her boots next to the back door and got out of bed.
"Hey, where are you going?" Jay asked, reaching out to grab her leg only for her to easily dodge him.
Hailey walked over to the door and slipped her feet into her boots before opening the door and stepping outside.
"You're going to catch pneumonia," Jay said as he hurried out of bed to follow her.
"It's so quiet," Hailey whispered as Jay stepped onto the back porch next to her. She looked around and took in the snow covered bushes and the frozen lake just visible beyond all the pine trees.
"Yeah," Jay breathed.
They stood in silence just watching the snowflakes fall to the ground around them.
Jay eventually tore his eyes from a squirrel climbing up one of the trees to look at Hailey and didn't know when he'd last seen her this pretty with snow caught in her hair and her nose a light pink from the cold. He smiled and reached out to softly take her hand.
It broke her from her trance and she looked at him with a small smile.
Jay opened his mouth to talk, but words failed him, so he just stepped closer to her and slipped his hand in the back of her hair to tilt her head up and kiss her.
The air got stuck in Hailey's throat and she set her hand on his chest, smiling against him after a second.
"I love you, Hailey Anne," Jay whispered and tilted his forehead against hers.
"I love you too," she whispered back, "Merry Christmas Eve Eve."
Jay chuckled and hugged her tightly, "I'm excited to spend Christmas up here with you."
Hailey nodded and closed her eyes.
Jay was slowly rubbing his hands up and down her back for a minute before he said, "Ready to go back inside?"
"Yeah," Hailey sniffled against the cold and stepped away. She gave one last look to her surroundings before walking inside, Jay's hand held tightly within hers.
As she slipped off her boots, she let his excitement from a moment ago wash over her. She had a feeling this was going to be the best Christmas she'd ever had.
At least it was going to be the first Christmas she'd felt truly loved in a very long time.
Jay was her winter dream come true.
A/N: I know Christmas was two days ago, but this slipped away from me within the holidays and I still wanted to finish it, so I hope you liked it! More importantly, I hope you all had a great holiday no matter what you celebrated and I wish you all a happy and healthy new year! Thank you for all you've done for me this year – I am incredibly grateful for each and every one of you :)