"Yeah we should talk" Hailey said while closing the door after Liam and going in the living room. "Listen, I don't do slamming, slapping or yelling. Don't ever do that again or I will leave." Hailey let out. She had to get this out before he could say anything and she didn't get a chance anymore. "I know, I shouldn't have taken my frustration out on you this morning. It was my own fault I misplaced my phone." Liam genuinely said. He really liked Hailey and even though his behavior showed otherwise, he didn't want to lose her right now.
Hailey had met Liam about three months ago in a bar. They connected right away, hung out a few times at the bar after that before they started going on more serious dates. After the first few weeks Hailey had noticed something was up with Liam, not necessarily bad at that moment. Still she even wanted to end all of it at after the first month, she stayed. Now she isn't sure anymore if that was the right decision. She knows where this is going, it might be a one time thing, but she is almost certain it is not. All she has to do is to figure out a way to end this safely.
Hailey thought back, she could have suspected him hitting her was coming at some point. The last few days she felt like walking on egg shells around him. He was on edge, and she didn't want to piss him off. They had gotten into a few discussions before and he had said some nasty things to her. Hailey being herself she didn't let anyone belittle her, and just this morning she went too far.
Thursday morning, Hailey woke op before sunrise feeling relieved her headache was gone. Beside her Liam was still sleeping, she decided to let him and got ready for work. Just as she was about to leave ,Liam came up behind her and caught her in a hug. "no goodbye kiss?" He asked. "You were still sleeping, didn't want to wake you up." She responded, she had hoped to get out before he left but that plan went out of the window, she gave him a kiss and returned towards the door, ready to leave. "Babe, come on.. can't you call in sick today? We can stay home, I also want to introduce you to some of my friends." Liam asked while pulling her close. "I... uhh... why not." Hailey gave in. Even though she really wanted the case they were working on to be over and she knew it was all hands on deck. This might be a one time opportunity since he was still holding back a lot on his personal life. So was she, she had only introduced him to Voight, when they ran into him at the supermarket, told him he was a distant friend. Liam still doesn't know she a detective for the Chicago Police Department. He thinks she works as a personal assistant for a tech company downtown. She texted Voight "Something personal came up, will try to get in as soon as possible" before she put her phone away.
Meanwhile at the office, the team was scrambling to put the pieces of the case together. With the expected evidence and the full autopsy from Jane Doe they got a pretty clear image from what was going on at the lower levels of the organization. Hoping that when they found Leah Jones, they would get more insight into the rest of the organization. It had been past 9 and Hailey still hadn't come in, that is when Jay decided to ask Voight if he had any information on her. "Sarge, have you heard from Upton? She usually comes in before me, but I haven't seen or heard from her today." Jay asked when he walked into Voights office. "She has taken some personal time today, that is all I know. She said she might come in later" Voight let the younger detective know. "She didn't say anything else? She hasn't been this closed off since we first met. I am starting to get worried." Jay replied seeing their sarges face he knew he wouldn't get any more answers then he got, so he went for the door. "Me too, Jay. But I know Hailey, she will come around eventually." Jay nodded before catching up with the team.
"We got a lead on Leah Jones, her phone just pinged of a tower near her apartment. We are going to try again, are you coming?" Adam asked. Before they knew it the team was on its way to Leah's apartment. It was close to Hailey's place Jay thought, maybe he could go by on the way back to the district. He was pulled from his thoughts by Kim who asked him if they were ready to go. Everyone geared up to go in heavy, when Atwater noticed blood on the apartment door, he pointed it out to the team. "Chicago PD, Open up." Rojas called, no answer. Upon opening the door all hopes of getting more answers vanished. They found Leah Jones, except she wouldn't be able to tell them anything anymore. "5021 Eddie, roll the crime lab to our location" Kim called in.
Liam had taken Hailey out for breakfast at his favorite place, she had never heard of it before they had good food. After breakfast it was time for Hailey to meet Liam's friends. The ride there wasn't too long, it was near Logan square. From the outside the building looked abandoned, but the inside was nothing you would expect, the place was completely furnished and functioned as an office. "Welcome to my office" he said. "I thought, I was meeting your friends?" "Oh you will, they work with me as well, they will be in later. But first.." he came up to Hailey, pulled her closer and started kissing her. Hailey went with it and before she knew it both of their shirts were off, just as he began on her pants, there was a knock on the door. Saved by the bell Hailey thought, they hadn't really gone that far in their relationship, and after what happened she didn't feel comfortable doing it either. They quickly got fixed their clothes and went for the door.
"Hey man" a young male, in his mid twenties said while walking inside. "Is this?" He asked curiously, pointing at Hailey. "Yeah, she is!" Liam answered with a big smile on his face. "Nice to finally meet you, I am Landen and this is Lucas" Landen said pointing to the other guy who just came in. "Hi, nice to meet you too" Hailey said smiling at the guys. "Liam, we need to talk, there is a problem." Lucas ended the introduction and went straight to business. "Sure, babe do you mind waiting a bit while we talk?" Liam asked. Hailey nodded and was left alone in the office. The men headed up the stairs into another room. Hailey wondered what was up there. Now that she was alone in his office she found herself wandering around. Looking at some pictures on the wall. Most people on there she didn't recognize, that was until she did. On one of the photo's was a women who looked exactly like her Jane Doe in the morgue, she quickly snapped a picture of the photo and made a mental note to ask Liam about her.
Hailey thought the men would have a quick chat, but 45 minutes later she was still alone in the front room of the building. Having seen anything there was in that room, Hailey decided to take a look around in the building. Underneath the stairs was another door, to her surprise it was open. The door lead to a hallway which opened up in the end into a warehouse. It was huge, there were cars, other motor vehicles. Pallets with packaging, when Hailey looked closer she saw that the packages contained drugs. Could it be? She thought while walking across the warehouse to another rack filled with goods. But before she could investigate any further she heard someone yell, slipping tires and felt someone yank her to the side. She and the other person crashed hard into one of the cars. Hailey felt the impact on her torso and immediately fell over hugging her abdomen, cursing to herself in pain. "I am sorry, are you okay? I just tried to safe you from... what where you down doing her anyway?" The other person asked, it was Lucas, one of Liam's friends. "I..I was looking for a toilet." Hailey answered confused. "Oh they are on the other side of the building, can you walk? I will get you there. I am so sorry... I din't mean to hurt you." "It's okay, and yeah I think I can." Hailey knew it wasn't his fault she got hurt, she was just glad he didn't get mad at her for being here. He pulled her away from a motorcycle that what's speeding her way through the warehouse. While she and Lucas made their way towards the toilet she heard Liam yell at the person driving the motorcycle.
"Are you okay babe?" Liam asked as Hailey returned to his office. "Yeah, I am fine. I just regret looking for the toilet on my own." She said with a shy smile. Liam nodded. She had expected him to get mad at her as well for wandering around, but surprisingly he didn't. Liam was so calm it almost scared Hailey. "Babe, I want to talk to you about something. I have been thinking and I want you to work for me." He said. "I am sorry?" Hailey asked. "Yeah, it's similar to what you do at your current job, and I like to have you with me all day." Hailey was taken back by this offer, not sure what to do. "I don't know what to say.." she said. "Think about it, the offer stands. Let us go home, you look like crap." He ended the conversation. Hailey nodded and got to her feet, still supporting her ribs and abdomen.
Upon leaving the office she saw the photo of Jane Doe again. "She looks familiar to me, who is she? Any chance I know her?" Hailey asked Liam. "Nobody" Hailey frowned. "You put pictures of nobodies on your wall?" Liam started laughing at her, caught in the act. "Well not nobody, she is my ex-girlfriend Norah, we dated a few years back." "Oh okay, I must have mistaken her for someone else then." Hailey said walking towards the car. Just as she wanted to get in Landen hurried towards Liam. They started talking in low voices, but Hailey was still able to catch pieces of the conversation, "Cops" "Leah's body" "Evidence" then the pieces of the puzzle started to come together and Hailey knew she was in big trouble. "I am sorry babe, we have to cut our day short, I need to take care of something, Lucas will drop you off at home." Liam said, placing a kiss on Haileys head and leaving her with Lucas.
Not long after Hailey was back at her apartment, alone. Her head was spinning due to the events of that day. Usually there was only one thing that would help her clear her head and continue to go on. She grabbed her phone and wrote a text to her partner. "Hey, are you free tonight? I am in need of our thing."
Jay was still at the office when he got her text. Surprised but happy to hear from her he answered. "Sure, the usual?" As if she was waiting for his response, he saw she was writing a message as soon as he send his. "Sounds good, be there in 15" He texted her back that he would meet her there.
Fifteen minutes later Hailey found herself at their usual coffee shop, Jay was already there. Of course he was, it was around the corner from the district. "Hey, I already got your order" "Thanks" Hailey said while carefully settling down in one of the chairs. "Hails, are you okay?" Jay asked while inspecting his partner, her lip was almost back to normal, but she looked insanely pale. Hailey shook her head, hugging her abdomen again, hoping it would ease the painful feeling she experienced. "I feel like I am stuck in a really bad place right now" she told him. Jays look went from worried to questioning. "You know I am here to listen right? Jay asked to be sure. "I do, and I really appreciate it, it is just I have a lot on my mind right now and I don't really know what to say about it, I will try but it might take some time to let it all out." Jay nodded in response. That is when Hailey started telling him that she has been seeing someone for the past few months and that she started doubting every decision she had made in that relationship. Leaving out the abuse and her discoveries from that afternoon, she still wasn't sure how to handle that. Jay just listened to his partner talk. He was lost for words, he had noticed the changes in his partners behavior, but he knew better than to call her out on that. After Hailey was done talking, Jay decided to update her on the case, the discovery of Leah's body only confirmed what she had heard earlier that afternoon.
When Hailey came home, she was exhausted. She went straight for the bathroom, a shower was all she really wanted right now. That also was when she first saw how badly her torso looked. Her entire left side was completely blue and extremely sore. Hailey felt the tears starting to burn in her eyes looking at it, she quickly turned around and got in the shower. Like most people, she liked to think in the shower. Going over all of the events of today, the new discovery and how it all came back to the case they were working on right now. Then it clicked, the tears didn't only burn anymore, they started to flow. "I am in a really bad and dangerous place right now. I need to get out fast." Hailey realized.
Thank you for reading!
What do you think will happen next?