Welcome back to another chapter everyone! I just want to thank everyone who read and left feedback on my last chapter, I really do appreciate each and everyone one of you that has supported me throughout this story.
This chapter is centred Jay and a case a little more, but don't worry there I still an Upstead scene. :)
If any of you are looking for some more Upstead content to read, I uploaded a one shot earlier in the week called 'Just the two of us', so feel free to give that a read if you enjoy my writing.
I'm not sure what my plans are next week yet, so I'm not going to promise you that I will be uploading twice next week. But there will definitely be at least one update to this story next week.
Nearly three weeks had passed since the weekend when Jay and Hailey found out they were having a little girl. It had been a quiet three weeks for everyone in the intelligence unit, no big cases were thrown their way and the cases they did get were pretty simple and easy to solve. They all took advantage of the extra free time they had, Trudy and Mouch had organised a barbecue for everyone at the district and the firehouse, Severide and Casey in charge of the grill while everyone else enjoyed the hot summer afternoon. Burgess had also hosted the unit for a games night, which turned out to be a great laugh as Atwater and Ruzek both accused each other of cheating and ended up having funny arguments with each other.
Away from work and their friends, Jay and Hailey had spent the majority of their time cuddled up on the couch or in bed, loving every second that they got to spend with each other and their little girl. Hailey was slowly getting fatigued early in the day the further through her pregnancy she was, she had started going to bed a little earlier and leaving work a little earlier as well.
It was a beautiful Wednesday morning, the hot July sun glaring down on the city of Chicago, Jay and Rojas had just left the station on the morning coffee run for the unit. Jay and Rojas had been partnered up since Hailey had gone onto desk duty, Rojas had been surprised about how much she was learning from Jay, without him actually teaching her. Rojas had watched Jay's movements closely, how he would question suspects and witnesses, in the time that they had been partnered up Vanessa felt like she was twice the top than before she was partnered with Jay.
"All units on the city wide, we have reports of shots fired on W 18th street close to the wintrust bank." Their radios crackled away breaking the silence inside of Jay's truck.
"Dispatch, this is 5021 George, show us responding to the shots fired. Advise responding officers that pain clothes officers will be on scene." Jay quickly radioed in, turning on his lights and sirens as he speeded off from the intersection.
It only took Jay and Vanessa five minutes to get on scene after hearing the flash message from dispatch. "Keep your head on a swivel Vanessa, we have no idea how many offenders there are or what corner or building they could be hiding in." Jay spoke as they hopped out of Jay's truck and vested up.
The scene was chaotic, but not something that Jay hadn't dealt with before. There were people running in many different directions, all with different levels of panic and fear. Jay and Vanessa slowly made their way towards the bank, attempting to clear the street of all the civilians who were caught in the middle of this situation.
They were just approaching the door to the bank when Jay caught a glimpse of the armed offender in the corner of his eye, just as he was exited the front door of the bank with his rifle held up in the direction of Jay and Vanessa. "Vanessa get down!" Jay yelled as his hands found Vanessa shoulders and he dived behind a car just to the left of him, Jay taking the brunt of the impact from the fall as his body cushioned the young officer's fall. The sound of more civilians screamed was masked by the deafening pops and crackles of the high calibre rounds whizzing over Jay and Vanessa' heads.
The shooting quickly subsided and was replaced by the sound of tire screeching as the armed offender took off, Jay's head quickly popped up from behind his position of cover as he luckily caught a glimpse of the back end of the fleeing car. "This is 5021 George, shots fired at the police, suspect is fleeing south down Pulaski in a dark coloured SUV." Jay radioed in as he watched the suv turn the corner and speed off into the distance.
"Vanessa, you good?" Jay questioned as he turned his attention to the young officer that was lying beside him.
"Yeah I'm good." Vanessa quickly replied as she stood up and brushed herself off.
"Good, let's clear the bank and shut down the scene." Jay quickly followed up as he picked himself up off of the ground.
The two of them moved towards the bank, guns at the ready as they had no idea if there were more offenders waiting for them inside. As they entered the bank they were immediately met with a security guard with a gunshot wound to his left thigh and left forearm, thankfully the security guard was awake and talking and didn't seem like he was too bad shape considering he had just been shot.
Vanessa continued clearing her way through the rest of the bank, as she reached the back of the bank she found a woman lying on the ground clutching onto her side, a sizeable red stain had formed on her white shirt from the bullet wound she was attempting to put pressure onto. Vanessa quickly took over from the woman, applying pressure to the wound as she yelled out to Jay that they had another person down.
"Dispatch, roll multiple ambulances to our location, we have a male down with gunshots to the left thigh and left arm and a woman down with a gunshot to the side."
Within minutes the scene was crawling with patrol cars and ambulances, numerous amounts of patrol officers interviewing witnesses. Crawford arrived at the scene just as Voight did, Crawford informing Voight that intelligence was taking the case.
"Right, let's run through everything that we've got so far." Voight announced as he came out of his office, Jay and Vanessa were setting up the case board.
"One armed offender entered the bank at just past 8:19, the offender fired two shots into the ceiling before pulling out a sawed off shotgun to take one of the cameras by the door. The offender continued his way through the bank, threatening the teller to let him into the back room or he would kill her. As the offender waited for the teller to open the door the security guard attempted to disarm the offender which resulted in a short tussle and the security guard getting shot. The offender finally gets into the back room and forces the manager to empty the safe into a bag. The offender then shots the teller in the side before taking the manager hostage and fleeing in the dark suv." Jay explained, Vanessa writing the details down on the case board as Jay explained what had happened.
"Do we have a description from any eye witnesses of what this offender looked like or sounded like?" Voight questioned.
"The only thing that we've got to go on is that the offender is a white male, one eye witness saw a small section of skin on his neck exposed during the tussle with the security guard. But, it's clear to me that this guy is ex-military, the way he moves and transitions is exactly the same way I was taught, his head was always on a swivel looking for any signs of danger. This guy was highly trained and knew exactly what he was doing and what he was looking for." Jay continued, earning a slight worried look from a couple of the unit as he explained that the offender was likely ex-military.
"Mouse, you got anything on the car?" Voight questioned.
"Nothing that is going to be helpful at the moment. I followed the car down Pulaski until its turns into an industrial area, but it disappears out of sight after that. The suv is Honda CR-V, probably from around 2010 but the number plates had been removed so I haven't got a lot to go on."
"Alright, here's what I want to do then. Ruzek, Burgess and Atwater, head back to the scene, interview local business owners and residents. Going off what Jay was saying, this person must've cased the place out before. Vanessa and Halstead, head to the hospital and see if the teller and security guard can run you through the events, maybe they saw something that we are missing. Mouse and Upton, keep looking through cameras, look through footage from weeks gone by. If any of you find anything report it to me straight away, there's going to be lots of eyes on this, so let's get out there and find this person." Voight barked out his orders before quickly retreating to his office, the unit quickly followed their orders as they got to work.
A few hours had passed by, everyone was getting a little frustrated that they had been able to make any progress into the case. The rest of the unit had returned to the station to help Mouse and Hailey work through the hours and hours of surveillance footage after interviewing the victims and witnesses. The interviews hadn't given them anything that they didn't already know.
"I've got something." Mouse announced, breaking the quietness in the bullpen. Everyone's heads shot up to look towards Mouse, all of them feeling a little relieved that they might be making progress finally.
"Go ahead Mouse." Voight's harsh voice sounded as he entered the bullpen. Mouse nodding as he approached the case board with a couple of pictures in hand.
"So I've been looking through camera footage from the bakery on the corner. 16 days ago there's a sighting of the same black suv that was used in the robbery this morning in an alleyway up from the bank. I wasn't able to get a good look at the person inside of the vehicle but I did manage to get a partial plate." Mouse explained, placing the photo of the black suv onto the board.
"Please tell me you got something to work with." Voight replied, he was almost pleading with Mouse to give them the breakthrough that they all were craving.
"Yes sir I do. I ran the partial plate and it came back to three of the same colour Honda suv's, two of them come back to males on the Gold Coast, both of them have a clean record and have no links to the military or police force. The third comes back to an old woman on the south side, but it was reported stolen three weeks ago from a parking garage while she was out shopping." Mouse explained.
"Have you managed to get a sighting of the offender from any cameras surrounding the parking garage? If there were any." Ruzek questioned from his position on the edge of Burgess's desk, his place where he always sits when they are working with the case board.
"I've got something better than a sighting, I've got an ID on the suspect. His name is Mark Rhodes, 37 years of age and a former navy seal. His height and weight come back as an exact match to the suspect from the bank robbery this morning."
"That's really good work Mouse! Has Mark got an address or a job or something where we might be able to find him?" Voight questioned.
"His address listed is from four years ago and now the property is in foreclosure and he hasn't had a job since he left the military, this guy is basically a ghost. His dad, Steven Rhodes, has an address listed not too far away from here but I have no evidence to suggest that Mark is living there." Mouse explained as he continued to put the relevant information up on the case board.
"Halstead and Rojas, head to the father's address, see if there is anything we can get out of him. The rest of you dive deep into Mark Rhodes, even though he may seem like a ghost, there is going to be something to link him to an address." Voight ordered.
Jay and Vanessa had just pulled up to Steven Rhodes's address, it was a nice quiet street, the street full of well-maintained houses, it didn't seem like a place where a bank robber and hostage taker would live. Jay knocked on the front door of the address and after a few moments Steven Rhodes appeared in the door way, a tall bald man in his late sixties. "I'm detective Halstead and this is officer Rojas, do you mind if we ask you a few questions Mr Rhodes?" Jay questioned the old man who seemed a little shocked at the presence of Jay and Vanessa at his front door.
"Can I ask what this is concerning detective?" Steven quickly replied, his voice a little blunt.
"It's about your son, Mark. He is the main suspect in a crime that took place this morning." Jay replied, a look of shock instantly washing over Steven's face as he took in Jay's words.
"Oh my god, Mark was the person who committed that bank robbery this morning wasn't he?" Steven replied in pure shock, he looked like he was about to burst into tears.
"Unfortunately sir, we do believe Mark is the person who committed the robbery and he is holding someone hostage. Can we ask you some questions that might aide us in trying to find your son?" Jay questioned again after giving Mr Rhodes a moment.
"Err, yes come in detectives." Steven replied as he opened the door for Vanessa and Jay to step into his house, moving through to the living room as Jay and Vanessa took their place on the opposite couch to Steven, who looked absolutely distraught that he was having to have conversation with Jay and Vanessa.
"When was the last time you spoke to your son Mr Rhodes?" Jay started off.
"I haven't spoken or seen Mark for a while now, I probably spoke to him about a month ago. I don't really see him very often now, he keeps to himself mostly nowadays." Steven answered, having to stop a couple of times to wipe away a few tears that had slowly started to trickle down his face.
"So you had no idea that Mark was ever planning to do something like this?" Jay questioned further, treading lightly so he didn't offend Mr Rhodes in anyway.
"Of course I didn't, I don't think any father would ever think their son would do something like this. I know that Mark has the capability to be able to do something serious like this but I never saw Mark as someone who would use his training in a criminal way." Steven replied, once again having to stop to compose himself as the thought of his son robbing a bank was too much to handle.
"Can you tell us a little bit about Mark? Something that might aids us to why he would've do something like this." Vanessa questioned Steven this time.
"Mark had always wanted to go into the military, myself, my dad and my grandfather all were in the military. Mark did five tours in total, four in Afghanistan and one in Iraq, after each tour Mark found it increasingly difficult to adjust from not being in a war zone. Mark would spend the majority of his time shooting at targets on our family's ranch, just south of the city. After his final tour of Afghanistan Mark was diagnosed with PTSD and was medically discharged, two weeks later his mom passed away after battling with lung cancer. These two incidents completely destroyed Mark and he spiralled, he broke up with his girlfriend and he completely shut himself off to the people around him. This was just over four years ago now and he has never recovered from it, he's got better but he's a completely different person now." Mr Rhodes explained, cutting himself off as it got too much for him handle.
"I'm sorry we are having to ask you these questions Mr Rhodes, I know how hard it must be for you. I served myself in Afghanistan and suffered with PTSD so I know how hard it is to readjust to civilian life after leaving army or in Mark's case the navy." Jay tried to sympathise with Mr Rhodes.
"Thank you detective, I know you're only doing your job by asking me these questions." Mr Rhodes replied, forcing out a small weak smile in the direction of Jay.
"Do you have any idea where your son is staying Mr Rhodes?" Vanessa questioned.
"When we spoke last he said he was staying with a friend, who that friend is or where he lives I don't know. Mark has a key to my workshop that I own on a small industrial area, there's a back room in there that I set up in case if ever worked late, so that's a possibility where he could be staying." Steven explained.
"Thank you for your cooperation Mr Rhodes, we'll leave you now but if there's anything else you think of or if you hear from your son please contact us." Jay replied as he and Rojas made a move to leave the house, Jay handing Mr Rhodes his contact number.
Jay and Rojas were about to exit the house when Steven stopped them as he called out to Jay. "Detective Halstead, I know it isn't entirely your decision, its Mark's. But please try and bring him in alive, I know this isn't the Mark that I know. Just please try and do anything you can to bring him in peacefully."
"I promise you Mr Rhodes I'll try and do everything I can to bring Mark in peacefully." Jay replied, sending a small smile towards Mr Rhodes.
Jay and Vanessa were on the way back to the station after interviewing Steven Rhodes, Vanessa had been a little shocked to hear that Jay had experienced something similar to what Mark had, she only knew the bare minimum from what Hailey had told her about Jay's time in the rangers.
"Is it true what you said about sharing the same experiences as what Mark did?" Vanessa questioned, she know it wasn't any of her business to be asking Jay, but she couldn't help to be a little intrigued into finding out about Jay's time in the rangers.
Jay took a moment to contemplate what to say to Rojas, if this was a year ago, Jay would've complete shut down the question and not said a word about his time in the rangers to anyone but Hailey or Will. But slowly over the last year and especially the months that he and Hailey had been together, Jay was slowly starting to become more willing to share his story, he had finally realised how much it had hurt him in the past to keep everything bottled up.
"Yes it is. I felt at home on the battlefield, even though I could die at any point, it was the place where I wanted to be. When I got back from my first tour, after a few days I wanted to go back, I missed the high pressure of being on the battlefield, I missed the rush of adrenaline you get when you hear a bullet or rocket fly over your head. It was only when things got out of control on the battlefield that I felt scared, but otherwise I felt like I was in my element. Unlike Mark I was lucky when I was medically discharged, I found a career in the police that fulfilled what I wanted to do." Jay explained his experiences. Vanessa sat there quietly listening to Jay, she was a little shocked hearing that Jay felt at home on the battlefield, it shocked her that the most dangerous places in the world were where soldiers felt comfortable.
"What about your PTSD? How did you deal with that?" Rojas questioned again, she was hoping that she wasn't making Jay feel uncomfortable.
"I never really did, I would always just try and run away from it, I felt like that eventually it would just go and I would never have a flashback again. It wasn't until I met Hailey that I actively tried to work on dealing with my PTSD, Hailey pushed me to seek help and that was the best thing she could've ever done for me. If you asked me this a year ago, I wouldn't have answered you but slowly I'm becoming more open to talk about it, Hailey was helped me massively of course but meeting her brother Tim and seeing how open he was to share his stories really helped me to feel more confident to open up. There is still things that I will only ever share with Hailey and obviously Mouse but overall I'm becoming more open to sharing." Jay explained, turning to face Rojas for a second as he smiled back at her.
The unit spent the rest of the day and the evening trying to locate where Mark Rhodes was staying. The team ended the evening frustrated that they hadn't been able to apprehend Mark and rescue the bank manager that he had taken hostage. Even though they had made a lot of progress in the day it still was disappointing that they would be going to bed at night while someone was out there, fearful for their life.
The next morning was filled with the same frustration of the previous day, still no new leads on where Mark and the hostage were currently hiding. It wasn't until later in the afternoon that a major development in the case emerged, the surveillance team that had been set up at Mark's dad's workshop that caught Mark and the hostage enter the property through a back entrance.
The team quickly deployed to the location and had the place surrounded within seconds of arriving at the small industrial unit. Voight had managed to establish a line of communication to Mark, they were all a little surprised when Mark demands came through, which were absolutely nothing, he didn't demand anything for himself, he didn't demand for the cops to back off, all he said was that he didn't want any more people to get hurt.
"Sarge, let me talk to Mark and try and get him to trust me. I can relate to him, I know what it feels like to lose the job where you feel at home." Jay suggested as he approached Voight.
"Something feels off about this Jay." Voight replied.
"I know but give me the opportunity to reason with him, I'm the only option we've got." Jay continued to try and reason with Voight who seemed a little hesitant to use Jay for some reason.
"Fine, give it a go." Voight replied as he handed over the phone to Jay.
Jay dialled the number, it took a few moments but Mark finally picked up the phone. "Mark, this is Jay Halstead, a detective from the Chicago police department. Can we come to some sort of agreement on how this is going to end?" Jay started off, his voice a little firm.
"I told sergeant Voight that I don't want to hurt anymore people." Mark replied, his voice sounded like he was in a frenzy, like he was fearful to be talking to Jay.
"I know you don't Mark, I don't want either you or the hostage to get hurt so let's come to an agreement on how to end this peacefully."
"How do I know that I can trust you detective?" Mark fired back, his voice still sounding a little frenetic.
"I know you don't trust me Mark but we need to be able to trust each other to get out of this peacefully. I know that you didn't want to do this, you didn't want to hurt anybody, and I know this isn't who you are as a person Mark." Jay spoke, his voice softening to try and calm down Mark on the other end of the line.
"You don't know me, you don't know the things that I've seen and had to deal with in my life." Mark shouted back down the phone, Jay could hear the quiet sounds of his sobs as it was obvious that the situation was getting out of hand for Mark.
"I don't know you personally Mark, but I know some of the things you would've witnessed Mark, because I've experienced them myself. I did two tours of Afghanistan, I know what being in a war zone feels like. You feel at home, you get that sense of belonging and you almost feel at peace while fighting in a war zone. I know how it's feels to come home after being in a war zone for so long, you feel out of place and you feel like you want to go back as soon as possible as you miss the adrenaline rushes of being involved in battles." Jay explained in a soothing calm voice, he could hear Mark's crying getting louder and louder as he broke down. In this moment Jay felt so sorry for Mark, he didn't see him as a criminal in this moment, he was a victim, and he was a victim of a war that had claimed on many lives.
"I lost two of my best friends within two days, one of them died in my arms after being shot in the neck. How am I supposed to go to a civilian life after experiencing that sort of trauma? How am I supposed to pretend like that didn't happen and move forward with my life? I've seen innocent civilians die, woman and small children clinging onto life but we can't do anything about it. How am I supposed to live my life knowing that I couldn't save those innocent people?" Mark admitted, his words being broken up by his continuous crying.
"I can't give you those answers Mark because I don't know them myself. Only soldiers like me and you will experience the shocking things that we've seen. Even if we don't die on the battlefield we make the ultimate sacrifice, we lose ourselves because of the trauma that we experience, it turns us into somebody else that is completely different to who we really are. That's what's happened to you Mark, we both know this isn't who you really are, this is a version of you that's been caused by all of the pain you've had to experience." Jay spoke, his voice still soft as he actively tried to calm Mark down. Jay could feel himself tearing up slightly as well, he really did feel sorry for Mark, and he could relate to everything that Mark had been through. Losing teammates, best friends on the battlefield, losing his mom, these were all things that Jay had dealt with himself.
"I've been dealing with this for four years, four years of nothing but pain. I didn't want to do this detective, I never wanted to hurt any of those people in that bank. I wanted to feel that adrenaline rush all over again, that rush that you only feel in high pressure situations. When I felt that security guard grab me, it was a natural instinct to pull the trigger. When I saw the teller move to grab something, I had an image in my head that she was reaching for a gun, but it wasn't, it was a key. I never wanted to hurt innocent people, I just wanted to feel that rush that I had been craving since leaving the battlefield." Mark explained, his tone of voice had completely changed, he sounded unusually calm considering everything that had just been said between himself and Jay. Jay didn't take that as a good sign.
"I know you didn't want to hurt innocent people Mark. Now let's end this peacefully Mark, I don't want either you or the hostage in there to get hurt." Jay replied, he was starting to get a little nervous what Mark's next move was going to be.
There was a minute of silence between Jay and Mark, Jay could hear something moving inside of the workshop, each second that passed by Jay was getting more and more nervous that Mark was planning some sort of final showdown. "Mark, you still with me?" Jay finally broke the minute of silence.
"I'm coming out Jay, unarmed with my hands up." Mark announced before putting down the phone.
Another minute passed and there was no sign of Mark or the hostage, Jay's nerves were still going up and up as he awaited some sort of indication to what was going to happen next. Finally after what felt like an hour, when it was only two minutes, the front door of the workshop opened and out stepped Mark with his hands in the air. Jay blew out a massive sigh of relief before turning his attention back to be a cop.
"Mark puts your hands on your head and face away from me. Get down on your knees and don't not move." Jay demanded in a firm loud voice as he slowly closed the gap between himself and Mark, his gun at the ready. Thankfully, Mark did what Jay demanded and within seconds Mark was in handcuffs. The rest of the team quickly moved up to clear the building and take the hostage to safety.
"Thank you detective." Mark spoke, his voice barely above a whisper, as Jay placed him into the back of the awaiting patrol car. Jay was a little shocked to hear this from Mark, he wasn't sure what Mark was thanking him for but something he said must've helped Mark in some way.
Jay had just unlocked the front door to his and Hailey's home, it was just after seven in the evening. After getting back from the scene at the workshop, Jay had to complete all of the usual paperwork after closing a case. Hailey had gone home early so Jay hadn't seen her all day, he had missed her a lot today, it had been a challenging case and the one thing that he needed right down was Hailey and his baby daughter.
Jay dropped his bag by the door, kicking his shoes off in the process and made his way to the fridge. He pulled out a beer, twisting the lid off and took a long sip, humming slightly in pleasure at the cool feeling of the beer making its way through his body. Jay continued humming in pleasure as he felt Hailey's warm body press against his back and her arms reach around his waist as she snuggled against his body. "Hey baby, how are you feeling?" Hailey questioned, her voice soft and barely above a whisper.
"I'm good Hails, even better now that I'm with you and our little girl." Jay replied as he turned around to face Hailey. He moved his hand up to her cheek, gently cupped her cheek as he lowered his lips to meet hers, their kiss was slow and gentle, neither one of them finding a reason to change lace as their lips melted into one another.
"Remember what we promised each other all those months ago Jay, we promised that we would always tell each other whenever we had a hard day, we promised we would always lean on each other and never work through something by ourselves. So talk to me babe, I know this case was difficult for you." Hailey pushed after pulling away from Jay's lips. Jay couldn't help but smile at Hailey's words, she truly was the only person who would ever fully understand him, Hailey is the only person that can tell exactly how he is feeling in any given moment.
They moved to the couch, Hailey finding her usual spot, tucked into Jay's side with her head resting against his chest. "I didn't see mark as a criminal in this, I know what he did was bad but I saw Mark as a victim. He was a victim of something that is uncontrollable, the amount of suffering and pain that he has been through is something that no one could describe. He lost his job and his mom within the space of two weeks, he lost two of his best friends within two days. It's just heart-breaking to see someone that has experienced so much pain and suffering." Jay explained as he continued slowly sipping on his beer.
"I'll never fully understand what soldiers like you and him will ever experience, but maybe now he will get the help that he needs, he has been running away from it for so long maybe he was crying out for something like this to happen. You were in a similar situation of your own Jay, you were running away from your past and it wasn't until you got help that you managed to be able to move forward." Hailey replied, tilting her head slightly to be able to look Jay in the eyes.
"There is one reason why I am the person who I am today and that reason is you Hails. You threatening to find a new partner was the only reason why I wanted to go to therapy, even at that early stage in our partnership the thought of losing you was something I didn't want to happen. I knew you were special from the first day I met you, when you walked into that scene trying to hijack our case. 'I'm from robbery-homicide, there's been a robbery and a homicide here, so I'd appreciate if you'd vacate my crime scene'". Jay replied, moving the conservation on to a lighter note as he mocked Hailey.
"Whatever Halstead." Hailey chuckled which only made Jay laugh.
"Remember your first time ever in our bullpen Hails? I seem to remember you called Voight a son of a bitch and you bumped into Platt with made her spill her coffee over herself. That was one hell of a first impression detective." Jay teased, Hailey just shaking her head against his chest.
"Can't say that it was my proudest moment, getting angry at my future boss and spilling coffee over the woman that inspired me to become a cop. You must've liked me a lot then considering my first impressions were disastrous." Hailey chuckled, thinking back to all those years ago seemed like such a long time ago. Hailey would've never have thought that moving to the intelligence unit would've given her not only a great group of friends, but a fiancé and a little daughter.
"Well, you did bring us those Greek doughnuts so I'm think that's what warmed us up to you." Jay teased Hailey once again.
"And is that the only reason why you liked me? You sure there wasn't any other reasons?" Hailey teased, looking up to him through her eye lashes, something that she knew would send Jay crazy for her.
"Ok there maybe was some other reasons why I liked you. You are incredibly beautiful and you do have the most amazing eyes I have ever seen. Plus, I found it very hot when you were being sassy." Jay replied, his smile growing wider and wider as he watched Hailey nuzzling her head into his chest to hide her blushing cheeks.
"I love you so much Hails." Jay spoke as he kissed the top of her head that was still nuzzled into his chest.
"I love you too babe." Hailey replied as she lifted her head and captured his lips with hers.
The three of them spent the rest of the evening cuddled up on the couch, Hailey falling asleep on Jay's chest as tiredness got the better of her. Jay couldn't wipe the smile off of his face as he took in the image of Hailey fast asleep on his chest, he really felt like the luckiest man in the world to have Hailey in his life
I know that in the show we will probably never see Jay talk about his army days to anyone else but Hailey, but in this story I've tried to show that Jay is slowing becoming more open about his past with the people around him, especially with Rojas who is Jay's partner in this while Hailey is on desk duty.
This chapter is centred a lot around soldiers and their emotional state. I don't claim to know the truth about what soldiers go through, this was just my interpretation of what they go through after seeing TV shows, interviews and articles about what soldiers go through. So if this did cause any of you some harm reading this I'm sorry.
I really hope that you enjoyed this chapter, any feedback will be greatly appreciated. Stay healthy and safe out there each and every single one of you. I'll see you next week. :)