Timeline: Season 7
Completed: Jan. 25, 2020
Jay walks into the bullpen on Tuesday morning to find that he is the last one in, he also sees that Voight's door is closed, something that Jay wouldn't have found unusual a few years ago but now it is odd.
Seeing that her partner had finally arrived, Hailey gets up and pulls him into the breakroom before anyone else can say something to him and closes the door, "Hey."
"Hey. What's going on?" Jay asks, hoping his partner will tell him the truth.
"How are you feeling? Any better, honestly?" Hailey asks referring to the cold he has been fighting most of the past week.
"I'm not feeling worse."
"Well, I have some news that probably isn't going to help you," she told him softly.
"What is it? What's going on?" Jay asks getting both impatient and worried.
"Our case. We've been ordered to work with a division from New York. They've already sent over two agents."
"Okay, so are we working with special victims again?" he asks not understanding why she pulled him into the break room to tell him this.
"No. We have to work with an FBI special task force. It's Lindsay's unit and they sent her since she used to work here."
"Oh," Jay breathes.
"Are you going to be okay with that?" she asks concerned, knowing what happened last time.
"I'm going to have to be, aren't I?"
"No one would judge you if you went home, I mean the rest of the unit knows you've been sick?"
"No. I can't run from it forever."
"Okay, but if you need to talk… I'm here. Doesn't matter what time," she offers.
"I know," he turns to go back to the bullpen, "Uh, thanks Hailey, for everything."
Hailey follows Jay back into the bullpen, where Voight is now standing by the whiteboard and Lindsay and the other agent are standing around the desks. Hailey sits next to Jay at his desk and a precaution to keep Lindsay from getting too close to him. Jay gives her a grateful smile.
"Alright, now that everybody is here," Voight announced, "The higher-ups are making us work with a New York division of the FBI special task force. They sent over Lindsay since she has worked here in the past and Agent Krystal Lane. Lindsay," he addresses, "Do you care to share what you have from New York?"
"This is James Ramirez," she informs the intelligence unit as she puts his picture up on the whiteboard, "He's has a record with both human and drug trafficking, but every time we get close to nailing him, he goes in the wind. That is until we got word that he showed up in Chicago. Now, looking at his background he has a couple of properties here as well as a handful of known associates."
"So, you guys are going to break up into pairs to check out the properties and associates," Voight instructs them.
"Atishoo! Aitshoo!" Jay sneezed, dropping his head into his hands. Hailey noticed and started to rub his arm in a comforting manner.
"Jay," Lindsay calls, "How about we check out his second-in-command? Just like old times?"
"No," Voight interjects, "Erin take Ruzek and check out the first property on the list; Halstead and Upton the second-in-command," Hailey is somewhat surprised, but happy at this pairing since she has been partnered with Rojas since Voight brought her up. Voight pairs the rest of the team and Agent Lane: Agent Lane and Atwater, Rojas and Burgess.
The pairs head out on their assignments, each going to their cars. In the parking lot, Hailey asks, "Do you want to drive?"
"Doh, you mind driving?"
"No. Are you sure you're okay with everything?"
"Not really, but I can't let her keep me from doing my job," he answers.
"If you need to do our thing, just let me know, although, I don't know if alcohol is the best thing for you right now."
"Thanks."
Arriving at the location of the second-in-command, Hailey and Jay get out of the car, putting the conversation on pause. Getting in position, Hailey yells, "Chicago PD! Open up!" When nothing happens, Jay kicks the door in.
Clearing the first two rooms, they move to the third, where they find their target with a bullet hole in his head, shot execution-style. They clear the rest of the house before going back to the body and calling it in.
Handing the scene over to uniformed officers, Hailey asks Jay, "Voight just texted me. How do you feel about checking out the third property?"
"I'm good. Where is it?"
"Across town. Why?"
"Just wondering."
The two drive in silence to the third property. Arriving at their destination, the two notice that it looks abandoned. Glancing at each other, they get into position to breach.
The two, again, find nothing.
"That was a waste of time," Jay complains as he fights a yawn.
"You sure you're good?" Hailey asks him.
"Yeah," he answers before clearing his throat. "Can we stop for coffee on the way back?" he asks hopefully.
"You're still sick, should you be drinking coffee?"
"Please Hailey. I don't think one cup will hurt with the day I've had."
Hailey sighs, "Fine, but no coffee when we get back to the district and you have to stay at the district for the rest of the day."
"Seriously, you're benching be."
Hailey gives him a look, letting him know she can hear the congestion in his voice, "You shouldn't be out in this weather. It's freezing out."
"Fine," he reluctantly gives in, "Thanks, Hailey. You're the best."
After making their coffee stop, Hailey and Jay return to the district to find that they are the last two back. When they step into the bullpen, Hailey sees that Lindsay is sitting at Jay's desk. Feeling him tense up next to her, she sits him down at her desk before sitting on her desk to be between the two.
"Well, what did you find?" Voight asks, referring to their second stoop, once they take their seats.
"It was a bust," Jay answers exhaustedly.
"Okay, I want you all to reach out to yo-"
"Achoo! Achoo!"
Voight glares at Jay, "Reach out to your CIs. See if any of them know anything," Voight orders before walking back into his office, closing the door.
Once his door is shut, Lindsay looks over to Jay, "Jay, can we talk?" she asks while tipping her head in the direction of the breakroom.
"I don't think that's a good idea," Jay tries to tell her.
"It will only take a couple of minutes."
"I…" Jay sees Hailey giving him an encouraging look, "Okay. I guess."
The pair walk into the breakroom. When Lindsay goes to close the door, Jay stops her, "Don't."
"Fine."
"So, what did you want to tell me?" Jay asks, crossing his arms across his chest. Jay hopes he is giving her the idea that he doesn't care, but at the same time he is also trying to stay warm.
"I wanted to see how you were doing," she replies, "It's been what? Two? Three years."
"I had so much to say to you when you first left. I called and called, I left text messages and voicemails, ready to beg you to stay or to let me go with you, but I never heard back. I would ask myself, did I do something wrong, did I imagine our whole relationship, was there even a relationship, was I not enough? I loved you and trusted you. You broke down my walls, I let you in. And you left without so much as a good-bye. Did you ever even love me or was I just something you could toss to the side when you got bored?"
"I did love you. I still do, but when I left my life was complicated," she tries to defend herself. "Maybe we can go out to dinner and talk before I have to go back to New York?"
"I'm not really feeling up to going out right now," Jay tries to tell her, hoping she'd take the hint.
"I could come over to your place and take care of you," she offers placing her hand on his arm before he shakes her off.
"That's not a good idea," he tells her, "When you first left I was a mess, my PTSD was spiraling, I didn't know what to do with myself. It took Hailey giving me an ultimatum to get myself straightened out. I'm finally in a healthy place, I've moved on," he tells her, voice almost gone by the end of his small speech, before leaving her standing in the breakroom, unable to listen to any more of her excuses as they are giving him a headache.
Leaving her in the breakroom, he goes straight to Hailey. "Hey, how did it go?" she asks him.
"I got what I needed to say off of my chest," he croaked, "Do you have any painkillers?" he asks embarrassed.
"I have Tylenol," she answers while reaching into her desk drawer, "What's wrong?" she asks him, noting that he has close to no voice and he looks a bit flushed.
"Headache."
"Okay, you look a bit flushed. How do you feel besides the headache? Anything else different than before?" she questions as she hands over the pills and reaches for his forehead, "You feel a little warm."
"I think it's because she got me worked up."
"Okay, but if you feel worse, let me know and I can give you a ride home."
"Thanks," he tells her while nodding.
After a few more hours of nothing, Voight lets them leave for the night.
"Lindsay," Ruzek calls, "What do you say about hitting Molly's and seeing everyone. Introduce Agent Lane to the rest of the first responders of Chicago?"
"Sounds good to me, Krystal?" she asks.
"Sure, why not?"
"What about you two?" he questions the two detectives of the unit, as they are usually the wild cards of the bunch.
Hailey answers first, already having an idea of Jay's answer, "It's been a long day. I just want to go home and relax."
"I'm going to second what she said," Jay answers, feeling mentally and physically exhausted.
"Suit yourselves," Adam tells them as he and everyone who is going to Molly's head down the stairs.
"Do you want to come over and talk?" Hailey asks, knowing that a lot is probably going through Jay's head after seeing Lindsay for the first time in three years.
"I don't know."
"Come on Jay, I don't want you sitting by yourself. And I want to make sure you actually eat something for dinner."
"I'm not that hungry."
"I need to be able to trust that you're taking care of yourself."
"Fine, I can try."
"That's all I ask."
The two make it to Hailey's place; Jay riding with Hailey because she didn't know if she could trust him to drive and she would just give him a ride to work tomorrow. Opening the door to her house, Hailey ushers Jay inside to get him out of the cold air.
Hanging up her jacket, Hailey goes to take Jay's when he stops her, "I'm actually kind of cold."
"Give me your jacket and I'll get you a blanket." Jay reluctantly gives her his jacket, shivering as he loses the warmth. Hailey guides him to the couch, "I'll be right back," she tells him.
Hailey goes into her bathroom to grab the thermometer and then stops at the hall closet where she keeps the extra blankets. Making her way back to Jay, she wraps the blanket around his shoulders before holding the thermometer in front of him, indicating she wants to take his temperature.
Jay takes the device from her sticking it under his tongue. A minute later it beeps, letting them know the reading is done. Hailey takes it from her before he can react, not wanting him to lie about the reading, "What is it?" he asks when she has a chance to look at it.
"Low-grade fever, 100.7," she tells him. "I'm going to get you something to drink," she states as she makes her way to the kitchen.
A few moments later she returns with a steaming mug, "Here drink this," she orders as she hands him the mug.
"What is it?"
"Hot toddy."
Jay raises his eyebrows at this, "How do you know what it is? You're Greek," he questions.
"My roommate in my first year at college was from Irish decent," she tells him, giving no further explanation. "You drink that while I make us some soup for dinner."
"You're not having soup for dinner because of me?" Jay asks, not wanting to be a bother to his partner.
"Nope," she answers, "Not only is soup good for you when you're sick, but it is good on nights when it is freezing out, like tonight."
Jay drinks his hot toddy while Hailey is making them dinner.
Meanwhile in Molly's the folks from Firehouse 51 who remember Lindsay are excited to see her back.
"Lindsay, what are you doing in Chicago?" Herrmann asks.
"A case brought me here," she answers.
"How long are you here for?" Severide asks her as he gives Lindsay a side-hug.
"Until the case is solved."
After catching up with 51, Lindsay goes over to a table in the corner with the rest of the intelligence unit.
"Hey Kim," Lindsay calls.
"Yeah?"
"What's up with Jay and Upton? Are they together, is Voight okay with that?"
"They're not together, but they're pretty close."
"How close?"
"I don't know, but they've crashed on each other's couches before. They confide in each other."
"Are you sure about that? I mean, Jay won't sleep anywhere unless he feels safe."
"Erin," Kim sighs, "You're like a big sister to me, but you really hurt Jay when you left. I think it's the elephant in the room that he has abandonment issues, and you leaving without telling him in person, that did a lot of damage. He was a mess and then he accidentally killed a little girl and that opened pandora's box. I don't know what happened, but Hailey was the only one who was able to get through to him," she paused to let this sink in. "I understand that you had to leave and I understand you not saying bye to us, but to do that to Jay," she trails off.
"I know. Do you think he will ever forgive me?"
"I don't know. He has a big heart and that's his flaw."
When Hailey finishes the soup, she looks over to Jay to see that he has fallen asleep on the couch. Debating whether she should let him sleep or wake him to make him eat, knowing that both would be good for him, she decides he should eat, especially considering she knows he skipped lunch.
Walking over to the couch with a bowl for each of them, she places them into the coffee table before waking Jay. "Jay," she whispers while rubbing his arm, "Jay, wake up."
"What's the matter?" Jay asks, voice groggy.
"Soup is done. Come on, you need to eat," Hailey reminds him as she helps him into a sitting position.
"Thanks, Hailey," he says as she hands him the bowl. "What is it?" he asks as he takes a bite.
"Traditional Greek soup, it's like the equivalent to chicken noodle."
The two eat in silence, knowing what conversation lays ahead of them.
When the two finish, Hailey takes their bowls and puts them in the sink before returning to the couch. "Do you want to talk about Lindsay coming back?"
"I don't know what there is to talk about."
"Did she want something from you?"
"She wanted to go out to dinner and talk about why she left. I told her that I didn't feel up to going out, then she offered to come to my place to take care of me," Jay paused not knowing what to say next. "So I told her that I'm finally in a healthy place. That I spiraled and it took time to be okay."
"I'm proud of you," Hailey whispers as she pulls him to lean against her.
Tiredly he asks, "What did I do wrong?"
"What do you mean? You didn't do anything wrong."
"Then why didn't she tell me she was leaving? I went to our apartment to find she packed up all her things."
"I know. And none of that is on you."
"Why does everybody leave me?"
"What do you mean everybody? Who are you talking about?"
"Mom, Dad, Will, Erin, Antonio, Al, Mouse." Hailey's heart breaks when she hears him list all the people who he thinks willingly left.
"Jay, your parents and Al, they didn't leave on purpose. They died, they didn't have a choice. As for Will, he came back, and I know he won't leave you again. Antonio needed a change in scenery. I know he wouldn't have left if he felt he didn't have to, and he did say bye to everyone. And we all still have some contact with him, so it's not like he forgot about us. And Erin, when she left, she didn't realize what she left. She couldn't see how great of a person she left. And I don't know who Mouse is."
"How come you haven't left yet?"
Hearing her partner ask that is like a punch to the gut, "Jay, I can't promise that I will never leave with our line of work, but I will promise that I will never intentionally leave you."
"What if another unit takes you or if you want to transfer?" doubt in his voice.
"I don't see myself transferring anytime soon; but if I was forced to transfer, I would tell you in person. And we could still do our thing, it might just be a bit different." Jay is quiet, "How you feeling Jay?"
"Tired."
"Okay, I think I have some NyQuil if you want. You can sleep here or I can drive you home."
"You sure it's okay if I crash here?" Jay asks not wanting to make Hailey drive him home this late.
"Yeah, it's no problem," Hailey reassures. "I'm going to look for the medicine."
Hailey goes to check her medicine cabinet for the cold medicine, finding it after moving some things around, she checks the date to make sure it's still good before going back out to Jay.
"Bad news, it's the liquid version and not pills," she informs his as she hands over the bottle."
"Thanks," he says as he gags the liquid down.
Hailey makes sure that Jay doesn't need anything else before going to bed herself.
As everyone is leaving Molly's Vanessa and Erin are the last to make it to their cars.
"Shit, I can't find my hotel key," Erin curses.
"If you follow me you can crash on the couch," Vanessa offers, "I'm rooming with Hailey right now, but the couch is free."
"Okay, thanks," Erin agrees after realizing she doesn't have any other options as Kim has already left with Ruzek and she's probably going to get shot if she goes to Voight's at this hour.
Erin follows Vanessa to Hailey's house. Walking in Vanessa turns on the light not expecting the couch to be occupied.
"Okay, I wasn't expecting this," she tells the former intelligence member when she sees Jay sleeping on the couch.
"It's okay, I can sleep in the recliner," Erin tells the rookie.
"Okay, blankets are in the hall closet," Vanessa tells her before going to the spare room that she has been staying in.
Once Erin is sure that Vanessa went to bed, she squeezes herself onto the couch with Jay before falling asleep.
Jay wakes up a while later, sure that the cold medicine was giving him odd dreams, that was until he felt a body on the couch with him. Focusing his eyes he realizes it is Erin Lindsay.
Getting up without disturbing her, Jay goes to one of the two people in the world he knows he's safe with. Outside of her bedroom door, Jay doesn't want to disturb Hailey and at the same time he doesn't want to get shot, so he lays down on the floor outside of her door, falling back to sleep easily since the night-time medicine is still in his system.
Hailey wakes up to the sound of her alarm going off earlier than normal. Not being a morning person, Hailey wonders for a moment why she set it so early, before remembering that it was so she could check on Jay and drive to his place so he could get clean clothes before heading in to work.
Half-awake Hailey almost trips over her partner when she opens her door. Confused to why her partner is sleeping on the floor, shivering without a blanket, outside of her bedroom when she knows he was asleep on the couch when she left him, she wakes him up. "Jay. Wake up, Jay."
After a couple of minutes she is able to get him to stir. "Wha'?" he asks.
"Why are you on the floor? Did you have a nightmare?"
"Doh, I woke up in da middle of da night amd Erin was om da couch with be," he tells her.
"Jay, you sound terrible."
"I feel worse," he admits. Hailey places a hand on his forehead at this.
"Sleeping on the floor probably didn't help you. Come on," Hailey helps him up guides him to her bed where she tucks him in hoping to stop the shivering. "I'm going to grab the thermometer but I think your fever went up." Jay just nods his head, feeling too miserable to do anything else.
Hailey goes downstairs where she left the thermometer, to see Erin Lindsay asleep on the couch, covered in the blanket she left on Jay. She ignores the urge to yell at her in favor of helping her partner first.
Grabbing the device, she goes back to her room where Jay is barely awake, but seems to have stopped shivering, "Open," she orders. Jay does as he is told. When the device beeps, Jay does not move. Hailey takes it from his mouth sighing, "101.8. Okay, I'm going to take a quick shower and then I'm going to get us something to eat before I take you home. While I'm doing that try to get some more rest."
"Not hungry."
"I need you to eat a little bit so you can take something."
"'Kay."
After taking a quick shower, Hailey makes scrambles eggs, hoping that she can get Jay to eat enough that he can take more medicine. Leaving them on the stovetop, Hailey goes to wake Jay. "Jay, I made eggs. Eat a little so you can take something, then I'll drive you home."
After much coaxing, she is able to get him out of bed and into the kitchen. Jay is only able to eat about half of what Hailey gave him, but she figures that it is enough to let him take more medicine.
On the ride to his apartment, Jay doesn't complain about missing work. After making sure he was settled with the promise to check in at lunch, Hailey makes her way into work.
"Where's Jay?" Vanessa asks when she sees Hailey enter the bullpen by herself.
"At home, he's not feeling well. Can I talk to you in private?"
"What's up?" she asks when they walk into the breakroom.
"How did Lindsay end up on the couch?"
"What are you talking about? She said she would take the recliner."
"She was on the couch this morning," Hailey informs her.
"With Jay?"
"No. At some point during the night, he got up and ended up on the floor outside of my door."
"She lost her hotel key. I said she could sleep on the couch and when we got home, Jay was already there, so she said she would take the recliner."
"Okay, thanks for telling me. I need to let Voight know Jay won't be here today," Hailey states as she walks out of the breakroom.
Knocking on Voight's office door, Hailey asks, "Do you have a minute?"
"Sure, what's up?"
"I just wanted to let you know that Jay's taking a sick day," she informs him as she shuts the office door behind her.
"Why isn't he telling me this himself?"
"He was over last night and he was doing okay. He was going to spend the night on the couch and then this morning I almost trip over him because he's sleeping on the floor outside of my room. Vanessa told Lindsay she could spend the night after some hotel key problem. I guess at some point through the night he woke up to find her on the couch with him and he freaked out. Slept most of the night on the floor without a blanket or anything to keep him warm. He sounded terrible this morning, I dropped him off at his place before coming in today."
"Okay," he replies in a tone that says the conversation is over while following her out to the bullpen.
"Lindsay and Lane, pack your things and leave my district," he orders them.
"This is our case," Lane argues.
"We can send over the reports for you to type up when we solve it, but you two are no longer welcomed in my district."
"What is this about, Hank?" Lindsay demands.
"Simple. Lines were crossed. Now go back to New York."
"What did you tell him?" she demands of Hailey.
"She was watching out for her partner," Voight informs her before Hailey has a chance to say anything. "Now leave. The two of you have overstayed your welcome."
Lindsay and Lane leave furious. Lindsay at Hailey, and Lane at Voight and also wondering what happened.
"What was that about? And where is Jay?" Ruzek asks the question that no one is brave enough to ask.
"Need to know and taking a sick day," Voight answers effectively shutting everyone up to do their work.
A/N: Chapter 11, K, was also posted within minutes of this chapter, so make sure you didn't miss it.
Conversions:
100.7= 38.2
101.8= 38.8