Welcome back to another chapter everyone. I thought I would upload two chapters this week to give you some extra Upstead content during this tough time. If you haven't read the last chapter, give that a read before this one as there is a couple of references in this one to what happened last chapter.
I hope you enjoy this chapter. Stay save out there everyone. :)
10 days had passed since their return to work. The loss of the young mother had continued to affect Hailey for a couple of days after, not only was Hailey devastated that she couldn't save the mother and her baby, the incident had scared Hailey. She was scared that her life could be turned upside down in an instant, whether that was something happening to her or Jay, she was terrified that their happy bubble they were in right now could be shattered in a matter of seconds.
Those thoughts were quickly taken over by happy thoughts as they continued speaking about their wedding. Over the last 10 days they had spent many hours cuddled up on the couch looking through wedding ideas. Every single time that Hailey added something to her of ideas she liked, whether that was a dress, venue or whatever, she felt a little more excitement roam through her body as she pictured her perfect wedding day in her head.
Jay woke up excited for the week ahead, they had nothing special planned, just work and quiet nights cuddled up on the couch lay ahead for them. But, Hailey was now 10 weeks pregnant, this small milestone was a special one for the couple. Not only has their baby developed from an embryo to a fetus, but this week marked the time that Hailey's baby bump would most likely start to form, putting any doubts that this was all dream to bed. Jay was also relieved that Hailey would be going on desk duty soon, he didn't like the fact that he would be losing his partner or that Hailey was having to put her career on hold to have their baby. But he was relieved that the possibility of her and their baby getting injured was now significantly decreased.
Jay let out a big smile as he opened his eyes for the first time this morning. Hailey was still cuddled up close to this body, her back pressing against his chest, Jay's head was nestled in her long flowing blonde hair while his hand sat protectively over the soft skin of her flat stomach. Jay had missed waking up to the feeling of her warm petite frame pressing against him, this had become a rare occurrence recently as he would often wake up to the sounds of her struggling with morning sickness.
Jay's smile grew wider as he felt her shuffle in position slightly. Jay gently moved her hair out of the way, exposing her neck as he lightly kissed just below her right ear. Jay smiled against her skin as he heard Hailey quietly humming in pleasure as he continued lightly kissing her neck.
"Mhmm, that's definitely a nice feeling to wake up to." Hailey spoke, her voice a little raspy after just waking up. Hailey loved it when Jay kissed her neck, whether it was during sex or times like this, it would always brighten her mood.
"Good morning beautiful, how are you feeling this morning?" Jay whispered in her ear as he stopped kissing her neck for a moment.
"I was feeling pretty good but now I'm feeling even better after waking up to my fiancé kissing my neck." Hailey replied, now sounding a little more awake than a moment ago. A small quiet moan escaped her lips as she felt Jay's lips back on her neck, her pregnancy hormones working against her in this situation as she felt herself getting turned on the longer Jay's lips were on her neck. "Don't get too carried away there mister. As much as I would like to stay here all day and have some fun, we've got to leave for work in 35 minutes." Hailey groaned out in frustration, she help but smile when she heard Jay grumbling to himself as he pulled away for her neck.
Hailey turned around in Jay's arms and pulled his face down to hers, quickly kissing him before pulling away and settling her head on her own pillow, Jay angling his body so that he was facing her.
"It's a big week this week Hails, your baby bump should start to show soon." Jay looked back at Hailey with a big beaming smile, his hand gently running across the smooth skin of her stomach.
"I'm so excited for when that happens. It still might be a couple of weeks until that happens though, I read that baby bumps during first time pregnancies can take a little longer to show. Even if that is the case I think I'm going to tell Voight at the end of this week and go on desk duty." Hailey explained as she smiled back at Jay.
"If you want to stay working until your bump does show then I'm fine with that, as long as you take it easy of course."
"I would love to keep on working fully duty but I don't want to take any risks after this week has finished. I am quite happy to work behind a desk for the rest of my pregnancy if it means we have a perfectly healthy little baby." Hailey replied, she moved her hand down to Jay's that was still sitting protectively over her stomach.
"That's fine by me Hails, you know I'll always support whatever you decide to do. What about the rest of the unit, how do you want to tell them?" Jay questioned.
"I was thinking that we could invite everyone around here, put on some food and tell them then. I think it would be nice to tell them in a chilled out environment rather than at work. Maybe afterwards we could all stop by at Molly's and tell everyone from 51 and med the good news if you want to."
"That sounds great Hails. I want all of our friends to know that we're having a baby. You and our baby are the best things that have ever happened to me so of course I want everyone to know." Jay smiled back at her as he pulled her into a quick kiss.
"Come on Hails, let's get showered and ready for work. Let's enjoy this last week of working together as partners and then we can celebrate with all of our friends." Jay quickly followed up before jumping out of bed and heading for the shower.
It was later on in the day, the intelligence unit were set up on an undercover buy with a drug dealer that they had been chasing for a couple of days. The unit had taken over the case from narcotics under Crawford's orders after 7 college students overdosed on a tainted batch of cocaine that had hit the streets recently. Atwater had a CI close to the drug suppliers that were selling the bad batch of coke and helped engineer a way in for Atwater. After a few days of back and forth Atwater finally persuaded the supplier, Tyreese, to meet with Jay who was going undercover as a dealer from the Gold Coast.
The others were set up close to the car park where they were meeting, but out of sight along with a couple of unmarked units in case things got a little out of hand. Hailey and Rojas were set up in the surveillance van around 100 yards away from Kevin and Jay.
As always the drug suppliers were late to the meet. Hailey was sitting anxiously in the van, she was fidgeting nervously with anything that she could, trying her best to take her mind off of any thoughts in her head about Jay getting hurt. But nothing was working, the longer that Jay was out there, the more she was getting nervous. She kept replaying his promise that he could come back to her and their baby in once piece that he made just before leaving the station earlier in her head, this helping to calm her nerves slightly.
Rojas could feel the nervous energy radiating off of Hailey body as they sat silently in the van. Rojas felt so sorry for Hailey right now, she had only seen Hailey more nervous than this on one occasion, and that was when they were waiting for an update on Jay's condition when he was shot months earlier.
"Hailey, he's going to be fine. Just take a moment and calm down." Rojas broke the silence in a calming soft voice. Hailey gasped as she felt Rojas's hand squeeze her hand, she had been so fixated on watching Jay on the surveillance cameras her body tensed up when Rojas's hand touched hers.
Hailey's tense facial expression softened slightly as she turned to face Rojas, Hailey took a moment to manage her emotions and contemplate her next words. "I know he's going to be fine, it's just... it's..." Hailey struggled to find the words to describe what was going on with her emotions right now. Hailey turned looked back at Rojas, her eyes covered in a glassy sheen as her eyes started to water slightly.
Rojas moved slightly closer to Hailey as she squeezed her hand a little tighter. "It's different now because he's your fiancé and the father of your baby isn't it." Rojas spoke softly as she sent Hailey a small warming smile while continuing to hold onto her best friend's hand.
"Yeah it's different now. It's hard to watch him out there knowing that something could happen to him. I just... I... don't think I would be able to cope if he got hurt and didn't come back to me and our baby." Hailey admitted, her voice breaking as she struggled to get her words out, a couple of tears rolled down her cheeks as placed her free hand over her stomach.
"You've got to stay positive Hailey, even though that may be hard sometimes, you and I both know that Jay is going to be fine and come back to you and your baby. He's the best cop I've ever worked with, nothing is ever too much for him to handle. You know that he's going to be a little more cautious now though, he's going to take a step back in some situations to make sure he comes back to you and your baby." Rojas tried to reassure Hailey, it seemed to work a little as Rojas noticed Hailey's body language soften slightly, a small smile formed in the corners of Hailey's lips.
"Yeah you're right, I guess I'm also a little nervous about what happens when I go on desk duty at the end of this week. It's not that I don't trust you and the others, it's just, I'm not going to be there to try and help him if he ever gets into a sticky situation. It's going to be hard to sit back and watch him go out without me." That had been playing on Hailey's mind recently. She was nervous who he was going to be partnered with, whether Voight would bring in someone new as her temporary replacement that she didn't know or trust to look after Jay when he needed it.
"I understand you Hailey, you've been partners for so long now that it's only natural to be nervous. But I can assure you that we all will be looking out for him and protecting him whenever he needs our support." Rojas replied in a confident tone, another reassuring smile being displayed across her face.
"I bet it can't be easy for you watching Kevin out there either. I've seen the way that you keeping looking at him girl, it's about time you bite the bullet and make a move on him." Hailey claimed as she changed the subject away from Jay for a moment.
"It's not easy to watch him no, but it's nothing like you and Jay. I do really like him and I've been contemplating asking him out but I'm just not sure. I don't even know if he likes me in that way, I don't want to misread the situation and make things awkward between us. Kev and you are my closest friends and I don't want to lose him as a friend."
"Vanessa, Kev definitely likes you. I've witnessed him practically drooling over you in Molly's on some nights. Kev gets shy and nervous around you when you're both outside of work, from what I've heard about him that only happens when he really likes someone. Don't make the same mistake me and Jay did, we danced around our feelings for ages, both of us were scared that the other felt a different way. If you like him go for it, Kev doesn't do quick flings, he likes meaningful relationships. You two could and will have something special when you finally decide to make a move." Hailey spoke positively as she tried to install a little confidence into Rojas.
"I don't know what to do though, I don't know whether to make the first move or wait for him to." Rojas replied, a little hint of dejection on her voice and on her face.
"Just try and hint that you're interested in him, make it obvious that you like him but don't go too over the top. If he doesn't catch on after a little while then make the first move. Whenever Kev as organised a diner for the unit in the past he's always chosen a steakhouse to dine at, so you can't go wrong with that."
"Yeah I'll do that then, thanks Hailey, I'm so lucky to have you as a friend." Rojas smiled back at the blonde detective, Hailey pulled Rojas in for a quick hug.
"I'm lucky to have you as well Vanessa." Hailey quickly followed up with as they pulled back for their embrace.
"Hold up, we've got movement." Rojas spoke out as she caught a glimpse of a blue muscle car entered the car park where Jay and Kevin were waiting.
"Jay you've got a blue muscle car approaching for the west entrance. Couldn't see who was driving it so I've got no ID on Tyreese." Hailey spoke into the radio that was linked to Jay and Kevin's earpieces. Hailey could see Jay acknowledging her as he nodded in the direction of the surveillance camera.
"Alright guys, we don't make a move on this guy until Jay or Kevin confirm the drugs are there and the handover his made. No one enters unless that happens or the safe words are said, am I clear?" Voight's deep tone filled the van, everyone in the close radius of the car park agreeing with the sergeant.
The blue muscle car pulled up next to Jay and Kevin. As the car doors opened it became immediately obvious that Tyreese was here, instead was in second in command Jamal and someone that Kevin and the unit had never seen before.
"Hey what up Kev." Jamal greeted Kev as the two shared a handshake. Jamal quickly turned to Jay with a snarky look on his face as he looked Jay up and down. "So you're the rich white boy from the Gold Coast that wants our drugs." Jamal bluntly commented. Jay was wearing a suit while leaning on a black out Mercedes coupe that had been seized from previous drug busts.
"Jamal, you can trust Jake. I've known him for ages, he's like a brother to me, saved my sorry ass on many occasions in the past." Kevin tried to reason, from what he had seen about Jamal over the last couple of days undercover, he didn't like outsiders and he didn't hide that.
"So tell me then Jake, why is some rich white man looking to buy drugs off someone like me?" Jamal questioned sharply, his tone of voice still very blunt.
"My usual supplier completely fucked me over and disappeared off the grid out of nowhere. I reached out to Kev and he gave me some of your product to sell and the rich business people up on the Gold Coast loved whatever you're doing to this coke. So I asked Kev to set up a deal with you and well, here we are." Jay explained confidently, not showing off any signs of nerves or anything that might blow the deal.
"Alright then, how much you looking for?" Jamal quickly followed up with.
"3 bricks to start off with then we can come to some sort of an agreement going forward." Jay replied, Jamal started laughing slightly at Jay.
"You better have the cash then white boy. This shit is the purest on the streets, isn't none of that shit you seen those Latinos selling. 60g's a brick, no room for negotiation."
"Don't worry about me, I'll have the cash. Give me a place and time and I'll be there with the cash."
"Here take that." Jamal handed Jay a burner phone inside of an envelope. "I will run this by Tyreese first and if he's happy, we will text you a time and place on that phone." Jamal and the other then left the parking lot in a hurry. Overall, the deal had taken a different path than they were expected but the team was still confident on snatching up Tyreese and Jamal.
A day had passed and everyone was waiting around for the word that the deal was on from Tyreese. Hailey and Jay were out of the bullpen on surveillance, watching known spots where Tyreese was seen, they hoped they could get the jump on Tyreese if the deal went sideways.
"Hey guys, have you noticed some different about Hailey and Jay since they got back?" Adam questioned from his desk as he broke the silence in the bullpen.
"What do you mean Adam?" Burgess chirped up from her desk.
"Oh come on, how have you not noticed anything. He seems a lot more protective of Hailey now than he was before." Adam replied as he looked back at Burgess, a confused look written across her face.
"Jay's always been protective over Hailey. But it wouldn't surprise if he was being a little more protective over her considering she was in a car crash 3 weeks ago and she is now his fiancée." Burgess quickly fired back.
"Whenever we've got hurt in the past he's never been like that with us." Adam spoke out, the others chuckled at Adam's dumb comment. Adam looked around the room at them with a confused annoyed look on his face as they continued chuckling slightly at him.
"Of course he's never going to be the same with us dumbass. He loves us as friends but he loves Hailey. I don't know what you were expecting from him, he loves Hailey more than anything on this earth so it's only natural for him more protective than he was before after her crash." Burgess replied, Adam realising that his comment before sounded stupid.
"I'm still convinced something else is going on. Surely you've noticed that Hailey has been taking a step back whenever Jay was asked her to since they've got back. You know what Hailey is like, she likes to get stuck in and whenever she is told to step back you're most likely going to get your head bitten off by her." Adam let the others contemplate his comment for a moment. Burgess and Atwater looked deep in thought as he looked around the room, Adam noticed Rojas was being suspiciously quietly and not getting involved with the conservation.
"Rojas do you know anything?" Adam questioned across the room to the young cop.
"No I don't sorry Adam. Even if I did I wouldn't say, if something is going on between them they must be keeping it secret for a reason. They will tell us when they're ready." Rojas tried to keep a straight face as she lied about not knowing what's going on. She managed it pretty comfortably.
Adam turned to Mouse that was acting quite similar to how Rojas was but he gave the same answer as Rojas did when asked, lying about not knowing about Hailey's pregnancy.
"Do you think she might be pregnant?" Adam claimed, he was meant by a look of shock from the others as they waited for him to explain.
"It would make sense with how they have been acting recently. Even before they got back to work, Hailey wasn't drinking at Molly's and they didn't stay for long when they were there. Hailey willingly taking a step back at work when Jay asked her to, that lines up with her possibly being pregnant." Adam explained his reason behind thinking Hailey could be pregnant.
"I can't see that being the case bro. Even though Hailey and Jay are both very private people I can't see them being able to hide news that big. Hailey was probably still on meds after her accident when they visited Molly's and she did suffer a concussion, so that could explain them not sticking around for long." Atwater replied.
"Ok that's fair enough but since they've got back it's completely different. Hailey being very cautious out on duty is not something that would happen for no reason. Also you saw her reaction after the news about that young mother, yes it probably would affect any of us but she was so upset. I've never seen Hailey like that after losing someone and that young mother was pregnant. Can't you guys see the parallels here?" Adam explained, is tone of voice started to sound like he was a little annoyed that the others weren't seeing what he was seeing.
"Ok maybe that does make sense but I'm still not sure. Even if she is pregnant it's their business and not ours until they want to involve us, whenever that may be. So let's not pry and ask any questions about it ok." Burgess spoke sternly, most of that little warning aimed at Adam.
"Hey I don't mean anything bad by my questions. If she is pregnant I'll be absolutely over the moon for her and Jay. If anything I want it to be true so me and Kev can be the cool uncles to their baby." Adam laughed at the end of his words slightly, Kev joining in at Adam dorky comment.
"I think we all will be thrilled if she is pregnant. But as I said before, let's not overwhelm them with anything, if she is pregnant there is a reason why they aren't telling us and we need to respect that until they tell us." Burgess put an end to the conservation with all the others nodding in agreement.
The frustration had been growing all week in the unit, they were close to nailing Tyreese down on drug charges however they needed the deal to go ahead for the arrest to happen. As it got later into the week and still no word from Tyreese, the unit started looking at other ways to get him on drug charges. Adam, Burgess, Rojas and Atwater carried out overnight surveillance on a well-known location for Tyreese's drugs to be passed through but that didn't flourish to anything that was good enough to arrest him for.
When Tyreese finally reached out on Thursday night confirming the deal was on for Friday the team breathed out a massive sigh of relief. This was the opportunity that they had been waiting for all week. They spent all of Thursday night and Friday morning going over the finer details of the bust, making sure everything was in place and ready to go.
Hailey and Rojas were once again in the surveillance van watching over Jay and Kevin. Hailey was once again sitting in the van anxiously, nervously fidgeting with the items around her. "This is my last day of full duty, after this me and Jay are going to tell Voight about my pregnancy." Hailey broke the silence in the van.
"I thought you were waiting until your bump started to show, oh wait... have you already started to show?" Rojas questioned excitedly, Hailey smiled at Rojas's excitement.
"No I haven't yet but I don't see the point of taking the risk anymore. Even though I'll miss working out in the field with everyone, I would give up my job in a heartbeat if that meant my baby would be safe."
"That's the right thing to do Hailey. It's not like your leaving us though, you'll still be helping us with cases, you just won't be doing all the physical aspects of the job."
"Yeah I know. I'm actually quite looking forward to working with Mouse a bit more, some of the things that he can do with technology is scary. Plus it will be nice to work with Platt as well, she's the person that inspired me to become a cop so I'd never turn down an opportunity to work alongside her for a while."
Rojas and Upton continued chatting about different things for a little while as they waited for Tyreese to show up. When he finally turned up an hour later than the original meeting time the team were ready to pounce as soon as they saw the exchange happen.
Around 10 minutes later the deal started to take a turn for the worse, the opening exchanges had been pretty similar to the deal with Jamal earlier in the week. Tyreese was a little cagey around Jay and Kevin, his answers her sharp and blunt to the two cops. But after a few words were exchanged between Tyreese and Kevin, the tenseness of the meeting died down a little.
"So tell me again where you're dealing Jake." As soon as Rojas and Hailey heard that over Jay's mic they shared a look of worry. Something wasn't right, this comment came out of nowhere, this instantly raised suspicion between Hailey and Vanessa but they decided to let it run.
"Up on the Gold Coast, gotta lot of rich business men and women up there looking to party." Jay responded calmly, not being intimidated by Tyreese.
"That's funny you see. I reached out to someone up there that I've seen selling to for a long time and they said they have never heard of you." Tyreese claimed.
"Shit, they've been made." Hailey mumbled under her breath as she listened to the mic. Hailey turned to Rojas who was already in the process of vesting up and grabbed one of the rifles from inside the van. "What the hell are you doing Vanessa?" Hailey questioned sharply.
"This deal is going sideways, we can see that and the others can as well. Shit is about to hit the fan, so I'm moving closer to them to give them support. Before you say anything you're not coming with me, I'm not running the risk of anything happening to your baby. Stay here and cover us." Rojas fired back forcefully, giving Hailey no room to reason with her. Hailey just sat there speechless at the young cop, Rojas had never spoken to Hailey like this before.
Just as Rojas left the van she heard Jay shout 'Gun.' Hailey's heart sank as she quickly turned her attention back to the screen, her eyes instantly locked onto Jay who made dived behind a car just when the shooting started. She breathed out a slight sigh of relief as she watched Jay return fire.
Just as she started to settle a little she heard the deafening cracking of automatic gunfire popping off close to her position in the van. The gunshots quickly subsided and there was a 30 second silence on the scene, no shouting, no shooting, no nothing, just an eerie silence.
Hailey took this is an opportunity to reach for her vest which was hanging up behind her. She had just about managed to unhook it when the surveillance van was shredded to pieces by automatic gunfire, the high calibre rounds piercing the metal sides of the van like it was a piece of paper.
Hailey dived off her seat and onto the floor of the van. She curled up into the ball, making herself as small as possible as she placed the vest in front of her stomach, holding onto the vest with every bit of strength in her body. Hailey had never been more fearful that she might die than she was in this moment. She prayed for a break in the shooting but the pops of the gunshots and the crackles of the metal shattered continued piercing her ears.
Jay looked on in horror as he saw the surveillance being torn to shreds, he couldn't find the strength to return fire to Tyreese who had Jay in his sights. Jay felt like his world was coming to an end, he couldn't lose another person that he loved on the battlefield. He had already lost so many people on the battlefield, both in Afghanistan and in Chicago, Jay didn't have the strength anymore to push past these loses by himself. Hailey had given him that strength but if he lost her too then he was left with nothing.
Out of nowhere Jay found the strength to pick himself back up and fight, he couldn't lose another person to the art of war, especially not Hailey. Jay only had one person in his sights and that was Tyreese. Jay was stuck in tunnel vision, if the team were talking to him he was oblivious to it. He felt like he was in a nightmare, however instead of crumbling and breaking down, he was growing stronger and stronger as he pushed his way forward.
Jay moved to a better position of cover in one smooth transition and took down Tyreese with one clean shot to the forehead, Jay instantly heard the loud thud of Tyreese's limp body crashing against the door of the van. Jay continued moving from different positions of cover until he found the source of the other gunshots. He spotted Jamal and the unknown person from before close to the surveillance van.
"Kev, two shooters at our 5 o'clock, approximately 50 yards. I've got left, you've got right." Jay called out to Atwater who was behind the car next to Jay.
"Got it... 3...2...1, now." Kev shouted out and with that both Jay and Kevin took down Jamal and his boy with numerous shots centre mass.
With the shooting now stopped that was the moment that it hit Jay like a tidal wave. His legs gave way as he crumbled to the floor, he feared the worse for Hailey, he had heard the numerous sounds of gunshots shredding the van. He felt physically sick as he thought back to what happened a year ago. They were in a similar situation when chasing down a lead that could bury Kelton. However when they were shot at last time Jay was there with Hailey, he was there to protect her, he was there to cover her with a bulletproof vest as he risked his own life to protect her. This time she was all alone, no one there to protect her and their baby, no one to give her a glimmer of hope that they were going to survive.
"Hailey..." Jay was cut off as his voice broke, he was unable to battle through the tears that had taken hold of his body.
He was meant with an eerie silence over the radio.
"Hailey, please respond to me baby. You can't leave me like this." Jay was now in full blown tears as he cried out for Hailey to respond to him.
Radio silence...
I know, I know that you all probably hate me right now. I'm not going to give you a hint like last time but make sure you check out next chapter to see if Hailey and the baby survive.
I hope you enjoyed the Upjas scene, I really enjoy their friendship on the show so I wanted to continue that into my story.
Next chapter will most likely be up on Friday so make sure you're here for that. :)