Prompt:
35. Come with me. - from Nonna99
94. You're a pain in the ass, you know? - from Martha Namuddo.
Hi guys! Here I am back with a new one shot! I hope you missed me a little!
But unfortunately it's not that easy to find convincing ideas and not always they come out exactly how my head wants, so the work is pretty hard...
Anyway, this one shot is set somewhere between season two and season three, where something has already happened between Erin and Jay somehow but at that precise moment not anymore.
As always I want to know what you think!
And any request or idea you have, do not wait to write me !
PS: I would like to specify that I took the idea from Chilly83's wonderful story 'Small gestures'. Hey Chilly, I really hope you don't get mad at me, but I couldn't resist! And all of you, if you haven't read his story yet, run. Trust me!
"Oh my God…"
Jay sighed, dropping his forehead against the desk. There were papers scattered everywhere and, for about four hours, he had been trying to make sense of what he was reading. But the more he leafed through, the more he found details that gave him a headache.
They had taken a case from Robbery-Homicide and he was given a job he thought he would love. He had always enjoyed studying the reports of the team that had handled the case. He liked having time to think and reflect on what he was reading and putting together the thinking made by other cops had always intrigued him. Understanding how they thought, because they had come to one conclusion rather than another. He had always liked it.
But this time...
Detective Upton was precise, almost manic. Her reports were millimeter, she perfectly described every action she had taken and Jay was almost moved by the ease with which she could summarize events.
But her personal notes were another thing. Always neat and tidy, and he honestly would never complain about that. But they was so many, so damn many. Sheets on handwritten note sheets.
What really surprised him was the precision. This Robbery-Homicide Detective, after having reported the words of a witness, not limited herself to writing down only the words of the witness, but, in her fluid and elegant handwriting, she wrote everything that went through her head. These were all things related to the case, but at the same time, if Jay hadn't focused hard enough, he would have thought they were unrelated words.
It was a behavior that he had never seen in anyone, it was something he would have considered an added value, a virtue. But right now, he just wanted to pull his hair out of despair.
He knew the Detective was a woman, but even if he hadn't known that, the humanity and care that exuded from each note would have been enough to make him understand.
And, he was pretty sure, she was left-handed. And, he was pretty sure, she was left-handed. Will was left-handed and, noticing the ink smudge on each page of her notes, he almost thought he could heard his mother explain to Will how not to stain the paper by writing. If he closed his eyes, he could even hear her voice amused by Will's angry muttering.
The more he scrolled through her notes, the more he imagined this woman. Precise, tidy. In his mind, she had her hair tied in a neat ponytail that left not a single strand free. He imagined her sitting rigid at her desk, rearranging her thoughts and putting them on paper.
If he hadn't been so devastated by the amount of paper to read, he would have taken the time to be intrigued by her.
The minutiae she put into every reasoning, the delicacy in reporting the words of the witnesses and the precision with which she wrote each word were truly intriguing.
He had met a few precise people like her, and if he had asked Adam he would probably have told him that he was certainly the most orderly person in the world and no one could beat him. But here he is, studying hundreds of pages written almost obsessively. And for the first time in a long time, he wanted to meet this woman.
The thought made his breath catch in his throat. He looked up, secretly studying his partner sitting behind her desk. She was twisting a lock of brown hair around her finger studying something on her computer and, not for the first time, Jay felt a sharp pain radiating from the center of his chest.
If only things had been less complicated, if Voight were less complicated, if Voight hardly represented a father to Erin…if only… Maybe they could be together now. But you can't be together with the Sergeant's daughter, and both Voight and Erin made it clear.
Jay shook his head lost in thought, he hadn't noticed Sergeant Platt making her way towards him. It was only when she slammed a box of papers on his desk that Jay jumped out of his thoughts and focused on the woman in front of him.
"Chuckles, more Robbery-Homicide material. Good luck."
Jay blanched slightly under the amused looks of the rest of his team, "Wait, what? No! Are you joking?"
It was more of a grumble but it didn't go unheard by Platt who glared at him.
"Yeah, I'm famous for being a circus actress. Now stop bothering me."
She threw one last glare in his direction before going down the stairs mumbling her discontent.
But Jay didn't notice anything, he was too focused on looking at the stack of notes now towering over his desk. Stack that was added to all those already scattered everywhere.
"It must be a joke…it can't be true…"
He sighed so hard that he shifted some papers with his breath and Adam's laugh made him sink his shoulders even further.
"This detective…this detective wants me dead…"
"Upton?", Kevin's hand dropped to his shoulder and he peered at the open documents on his desk from behind him, "I met her. She's a good one."
"Yeah, whatever…but too much, too precise…"
"Coming from you it looks like a joke!", Erin snorted amused, earning a resentful glance from the man in front of her.
Part of his brain wanted to ask Kevin something more about the woman who intrigued him so much and when he realized that thought, he petrified.
What was he doing? What the hell was he thinking? He did not have time for that and above all he would not have played with her like a rebound girl. Maybe once he would have done it, maybe…
Jay shook his head and turned his attention back to the material in front of him, just to surrender to his fate. He just hoped that all that information wouldn't end up swallowing him.
If he ever met that detective - goddamnit - he would have her swallow her damn neat notes.
...
It had been a month since that day and Detective Upton had ended up in a remote part of Jay's brain. By arresting the guilty of the triple homicide they had investigated for nearly a week and returning all the documents to Robbery-Homicide, he had ended up forgetting the perfect writing he had worked on all nights.
He had spent nights hunched over his desk jotting down here and there what he thought was more useful than all the notes Upton had written and, after nights all over, he almost had the strange feeling of knowing her. As if having read so much the things written by her could almost make it appear in front of him. Sitting in the chair in front of his desk, her stiff pose and perfectly tidy hair in a ponytail as she listed the reasons why she supported one idea rather than another.
But, luckily, the case had been closed and his life had moved on.
And Detective Upton was just a distant and forgotten idea in his head.
Jay stretched on the stool, stretching his arms over his head. The yawn that followed his movements made Adam snort and he was sure he would say something inappropriate, but was interrupted by the appearance of Will who, dragging a stool to their table, crashed into it with a sigh.
"Remind me why we're not at Molly."
"We needed a change of scenery, I've had enough of seeing the same faces!", Kim raised her beer with a scream before slamming it on the table.
Will looked at Jay with an eyebrow raised and he decided to just shrug. He was too tired to do anything else, even to feel any emotion watching Erin flirt with another man.
He hadn't slept in maybe a week, but he wasn't really sure, he had lost count now. All he wanted was to erase those last few months and forget the dull pain in the center of his chest at the memory of Erin saying 'no, this thing between us…no, it can't work'.
He just wanted to sleep for a whole month, then wake up and wow! - no more dead bodies, no more problems, no more dodging bullets, no more memories of Afghanistan.
Jay shook his head in a defeated gesture. He wanted so many different things, but what was left was the exact same life. No changes, no news.
"Halstead? Are you with us?", Adam waved a hand in front of his face tearing him from his thoughts.
"Uh, yeah. Will, I'm going to get you a drink. Beer?"
"Yeah, but…"
"I have just to stretch myself", he didn't have time to speak that he almost ran away.
Stretching his legs was the first excuse that came to mind, really he just wanted to get up to be able to get his head away from that labyrinth of thoughts.
He leaned against the counter and, without really thinking, ordered the beer from the first bartender who approached him.
He heard a hum coming from the person next to him but didn't really pay attention to that.
He just reached out to grab the beer that the bartender had slipped towards him when another hand came out of nowhere and tightened around the glass stealing it from him.
"Hey man…", he began to protest, frowning and shifting his attention to what he assumed was the owner of the voice that had muttered beside him.
"No way you'll get this beer. It was my turn and you passed me, so you pay for this! You're really kind!"
The girl next to him teased him so simply that it took Jay a few minutes to register her words in his head.
He found himself having to pass some people without losing sight of the blonde head that was moving quickly in the room, "Are you kidding me?"
"No joke. Next time follow the line", she broke off briefly studying him, "But if that bothers you so much…"
"No, it's okay", he waved a hand in her direction, "I just didn't expect it. I was thinking of something else and I'm sorry if…"
"Doesn't matter. Mine was just an excuse to be able to talk to you."
Jay was silent for a moment, the girl's smile was gentle and her slightly flushed cheeks were really tender. But what the most impressed him, beyond her words, were the bright blue eyes that were staring at him with amusement.
"Oh…"
He cursed himself for his disappointing ability to have a conversation with her. He had never had a problem talking to beautiful girls, but there was something about her that ... He didn't know if it was because of her initiative or, perhaps, it was the fault of those incredibly blue eyes.
The only thing he knew was that he certainly did not expect the night to take that turn.
Something in his prolonged silence made her back away imperceptibly and, before Jay could say more, she smiled faintly as she stepped back.
"Well, it doesn't matter. Thanks for the beer, good night."
"No, wait!"
He didn't know why he was holding her back, but before he realized what he was really doing he put his hand on her shoulder trying to get her to stay. There was just something about her that...
"My beer ended up in your hands, and I really have to get one, so I don't know… Come with me and…"
He was delirious and felt he was even slightly embarrassed. But when he saw her smile again, his nerves calmed down.
They sat down at the bar and drifted into a light conversation. Both beers forgotten on the counter and part of his head realized that Will was probably wondering where the hell he was with his beer, but Will could wait, couldn't he?
"Halstead, where the hell…", Kevin's voice made him look away from the girl in front of him, "Detective Upton! I thought I saw you! You met then!"
"Hey, Kevin. It's a pleasure to see you again. Call me Hailey", Jay saw the woman reach out to him but all he could focus on was realizing who she was.
Detective Upton, it was her!
In a second, the idea he had made of the precise and orderly cop he had fantasized about for days flashed into his mind. And nothing he had imagined could have been further from reality.
The neat ponytail he had imagined was, in reality, a cascade of blond hair and nothing, in the attitude of the woman in front of him, could ever have been further from the cold pose he had imagined.
Jay tried to speak but his voice got stuck in his throat a few times. He couldn't really believe he had met the same person who had almost driven him crazy and who, at the same time, had found himself admiring so much.
"Detective Upton? Are you a cop?"
"Yeah, so it seems", she shrugged indifferently.
"Even him! You got him so damned last month!", Kevin laughed out loud, not realizing the chill that fell between them.
"Are you a cop?", Jay immediately noticed how her expression dropped. But she was good, he had to make her aware of it, because she hid what he read as disappointment, behind an indifferent look.
"Yeah, Detective Halstead. Jay."
They looked at each other for a moment in silence.
"Intelligence as Kevin?"
"Yeah, I… Hell, I had to study your notes for a whole week! I can finally give a face to the person who made me damn so much!"
Jay tried to raise the situation because something in the loss of brightness in her blue eyes hurt his chest.
Hailey laughed lightly, brushing his words with a nervous wave of her hand, "Sorry, old habit of really writing everything down. Sometimes it helps, however."
"It helped a lot but - god - you're a pain in the ass, you know?"
This made her laugh and, unwittingly, Jay smiled too.
"You're not the first to tell me. I'm sorry anyway, but this is the price to pay for taking a case away from me."
And with that, she ended their conversation, slid off her stool and smiled at both of them before turning and walking away.
"Hey, Hailey!"
And as he had done just before, he placed a hand on her shoulder, stopping her, "I was wondering if…"
"I'm sorry, Detective, but I don't go out drinking with colleagues. Nothing personal."
She shook gently from his touch and, after one last smile, disappeared into the crowd.
Jay stood still for a few seconds wondering what the hell had happened but then, as if driven by the knowledge that nothing would change being there, he went back to the counter, took Will's beer and went back to the table with the others.
Kevin was already seated and Jay quietly took part in the conversation they were having, even though he didn't really know what they were talking about.
"Hey, who was the blondie?", Will tapped his shoulder with a confused expression.
"I…", he turned around looking at where he saw Hailey disappear, "I really don't know…"
He still didn't know that he would remember her face for a few years, until the day when, like a fury with sparkling blue eyes, Detective Upton would chase them from her crime scene.
How strange life is…