The following morning, Hailey opened her eyes to the sound of her phone. It came from far away, until, she remembered, she had left it in Jay's living room, along with the jacket she had the day before.
She rolled out of bed and staggered to pick up the call a second before Voight hung up on the other side.
"Upton, we got a case. How long will you arrive?"
She absently looked at the watch with her eyes still full of sleep.
"Twenty minutes and I'll be there."
After hanging up, she finally looked around realizing Jay's apartment was empty. There was no trace of him except, she noticed approaching the kitchen, a note on the table.
"Early call. Coffee made. Good day. J."
Why had he been called at dawn? And why not her? She checked her phone thinking she hadn't seen a missed call, but there was no sign of it.
The clock on the wall stared at her, making her notice the passing of the seconds with growing anxiety. If she wanted to get to the district in twenty minutes, she had to run.
She threw herself into the shower and, before she even realized it, she was pouring coffee into a cup tying the shoes.
She didn't think she'd ever been so quick in her life, she realized when was closing the door with the keys Jay had brilliantly left behind the note. She took just a moment to turn his keys over her hand before running to her car.
Running was a funny description, because she really didn't know what running meant anymore.
Yesterday's rain had given away to a windy but warm day. Large black clouds crearla stood out on the horizon and Hailey hoped it would not begin raining again. With the windows down, she inhaled the smell of spring.
Time really seemed to fly, if she thoughts about it, it seemed only yesterday it was snowing and she didn't even know she was pregnant.
And now, in a matter of months, her life was completely reversed. No, not completely, she corrected herself automatically. She had her job, her friends. She had the same certainties she had before she was pregnant, it would have been only more difficult once Bean had arrived.
She went up to Intelligence to find only Kevin slumped on his desk looking out the window. He recognized her arrival with a disconsolate nod of the head.
"Today no rain is expected. Why do I have the impression it'll start to pour?"
Then, as if he had really noticed her arrivale, he turned on the chair to face her as she took off her coat.
"Hey baby girl, you're always more beautiful, you know?"
Kevin was like that, always willing to compliment with a smile on his lips.
Hailey looked at him and the sincerity shone through his expression gave her a warmth in the center of her chest she hadn't felt so many years that now she always ended up being surprised.
"Thanks Kev, luckily you're here to make me feel beautiful. I feel like a whale", she smiled at him before sitting down.
"What a whale, you're incredible! How much are you missing?"
"About a month and a half…", Hailey sighed massaging her belly.
Natalie had conforto her by revealing her belly was actually smaller than average, but on the other hand Hailey herself was small and all the tests done to Bean showed he was absolutely healthy.
"Can I say I absolutely can't wait for Bean to be here?", Kevin stared at her with dreamy eyes and disappeared around the corner.
A few minutes had passed when she heard Vanessa's heavy footsteps and her labored breathing go up the stairs.
The next moment, Voight appeared from his office with an ashy expression.
"We got a case, you already have all the informations on your phones but we're few in unit today, so Upton, I need you to go to the crime scene too."
This caught her attention and her head rose so fast that, for a moment, she thought it would be detached.
"Really? I mean, you serious?"
If she could, she would have jumped on the desk. A crime scene, finally, after weeks and weeks in the district.
"Mortally serious. But, Hailey", he stared at her with such intensity Hailey felt almost handcuffed, "Anything, any doubt, any feeling, you come back here and you don't move. I've been clear?"
"Yeah Sarge, it'll be fine!"
She could barely hold back her excitement, she got up and in less than a minute she already had the gun on her holster, the badge tied to the jeans and put the blazer on.
"But where Halstead and Ruzek are?"
At Kevin's words, she turned to Jay's desk acknowledging it was empty. In the excitement of being able to return to the field, she hadn't asked herself where he was.
"They are on a case with Organized Crime. So, it's only you three. And Hailey", he stopped her as she approached the stairs, "Don't make me regret this choice."
With dazzling smile, she turned her back on him ready to face her first crime scene for nearly two months.
...
They spent hours in a dark and dirty house in the Chicago suburbs. A man, dead for days, was in an advanced state of decomposition and surrounded by what seemed to be a homemade drug production.
The stench had attracted the attention of a neighbor who, intrigued and disgusted, had peeked through a window and immediately called 911. Who, evidently, had been unable to anything but call the police.
Voight had joined them only at lunchtime. Hailey looked away from the findings that the scientific was making on the drug-covered table to notice the Sarge marching into with a water-soaked coat.
"Upton, how much is missing here?"
"Eh, probably a few hours. We've a possible track, I sent Atwater and Rojas to check. It seems like a settling of accounts, a fairly significant amount of drugs is missing…"
He nodded and she slowly walked away looking around.
She had scoured the house for hours and found nothing, she just wished she could go with the others but knew it would be a bad idea and Voight would probably end up handcuffing her seriously at the desk.
The peak of the activity came after two hours, when Voight took her to question the neighbors. Obviously, they didn't know anything, they had only noticed how, a week before, there had been coming and going of cars and people who slipped into the house leaving a few minutes later.
...
When Hailey got up from her desk, it was already dinner time and, not that she would have admitted it, but she was happy the day was over.
She only imagined a hot shower and something to eat. Maybe some ice cream, the one she hadn't eaten the night before.
"Hailey? You listening to me?"
She blinked a few times in front of Vanessa's hand, who waved it in front of her face.
"No, sorry. I was already imagining I was sleeping", she laughed bitterly, "I can't keep up with these rhythms…"
"You coming home tonight?"
She considered for a moment the idea of returning with Vanessa, but going down the stairs the bunch of keys she had in the blazer beat rhythmically on her side and the idea of the ice cream of the night before convinced her in a few seconds.
"No, I don't think…"
"You going to Halstead? So, did you hear anything from him today?"
"No, now that I think about it, I haven't heard him… But the important thing is the ice cream in his freezer…"
Vanessa burst ut laughing so hard some agents turned around in front of Platt's desk, who looked at them twisting her nose for the confusion.
"I never thought you'd have preferred ice cream over Halstead…"
"Eh, I'm sorry, but I do what he wants", she pointed to her belly, "And he wants ice cream tonight, so…"
She wished Vanessa goodnight and slowly returned to Jay's apartment. It had started to rain hours earlier and Hailey had to run as fast as she could to protect from the pouring rain on the way from her car to his front door.
The silence greeted her as soon as she crossed the threshold smelled like home. She hung the water-soaked blazer on the hook behind the door and, only after reaching the lamp in the living room, she realized she could move in that house in the dark just as if it had been her own home.
The decor was basic, but here and there she could clearly recognize Jay's passage. His black hat in the shelf next to the entrance; his favorite cup in the corner of the kitchen cabinet; the shoes he had used the day before; the blanket Will had given him the Christmas before, folded neatly on the sofa; the two photos framed she had forced him to put on the shelf behind the sofa.
She took off her shoes and wandered around the house in dim light to the bathroom. It was strange to be there without him, in the silence of his apartment, and still feel at home.
After taking a shower, her aching muscles had finally relaxed and her back was no longer killing her.
She curled up on the sofa, the long-awaited ice cream in her hands and the TV on.
The rain had no intention of slowing down, she noticed as she heard it beat against the window behind her.
She crawled slowly to bed before falling asleep on the sofa and sank into the same blankets as the night before.
With a certain amount of amazement, she realized she really felt comfortable.
...
"What time is it?", she muttered in a kneaded voice.
She had woken up feeling the mattress sink on the other side of the bed.
"Two in the morning. Keep sleeping."
Jay's exhausted voice gave her a good idea of the day he had had.
"Long day, isn't it?"
An exasperated muttering beside her made her smile.
"I know you went to the field. You happy?"
"Yes…and no. I'm sincerely destroyed."
She continued to turn around on herself for those that looked like hours. Bean was killing her, she just wanted to sleep, but he was kicking and punching her and she really couldn't take it anymore.
She got up slowly so as not to wake Jay, who had fallen asleep half an hour earlier and started walking into the living room.
She rubbed her belly humming an old lullaby in a low voice. The rain continued to beat against the window and the darkness in the living room gave the room a strange relaxing atmosphere.
"Hailey? What are you doing? I woke up and you weren't there."
She jumped at the voice behind her. Jay was standing and rubbing his eyes.
"Sorry, I…I can't take it anymore. He's using me as a punching bag…I can't! And it's your fault!", she looked at him with her eyes turned to two slits.
"My fault?"
"It's your child!", she snapped with a grim look.
"Ah, it's my child when it's unbearable, isn't it?", he laughed, "Come on, go back to bed. Don't be stubborn with me, Hailey, come on!", he added, seeing her waver.
He moved to the side of the door waiting for her to pass him.
Once in the bedroom, Jay sat down leaning against the headboard of the bed with a pillow behind his back, then spread his legs, gesturing for her to come closer.
After a moment of confusion, Hailey, too exhausted to resist further, climbed onto the bed sinking into his chest.
She closed her eyes and leaned her head back against his shoulder when another kick made her snort.
She loved feeling it move, but sometimes it was just too much…
"Okay then, Bean, it looks like you're not sleepy tonight. So let's see what we can tell you…"
Jay's voice brushed her ear and, before she could understand what he was doing, he had his hands sliding over her belly.
"When you'll be born, you'll have this big crazy family waiting for you. You know, there'll be this aunt who's your mom's roommate…yeah, your mom has a roommate, Vanessa. She'll make you completely crazy because she is all happy and ready to party, just what you and I are not, right? She'll be the auntie of parties and I'll need you to take an eye on her; then there'll be another aunt who is more tender and calm, you can always count on her if you need to talk about something you don't want to talk to us about, you know?"
"What are you doing?", Hailey whispered in the dark.
"Sssh, we're chatting, Hails. Don't disturb us", he waved a hand in front of her face casually, before continuing.
"Then, you'll have these two crazy uncles who'll seem all in one piece, all big and serious, but trust me, you will melt their hearts. They can't wait to meet you, you know Bean? They always tell me and I'm so glad you'll have this crazy family ready to welcome you…"
Silence fell in the room and Hailey closed her eyes to the feeling of relaxation that was slipping on her. Bean seemed to gravitate towards Jay's hands and every time he mover them, Bean slipped after them.
"Where I was? Oh yeah, you'll also have the toughs grandparents in the world! God, I'm laughing thinking of Voight as a grandfather….", he shook his head and Hailey was delighted at the sensation of his chest rising under her back with the faint laughter.
"Hank will be the most tender of all. He looks big and grumpy and he is, most the time, but he'll love you so, so much… And then Trudy…ah, hold her tight, Bean, because she's a force of natura, you know?"
"I've never heard you talk so much…", Hailey mumbled amused with her face turned towards his neck.
"Yeah, maybe last time I spoke so much I would have been ten", he teased, "But now please, you're distracting us. We don't want to be distracted, do we Bean? Mom is jealous, that's the problem, but still, I didn't talked about this crazy brother of mine. As soon as you see him, you'll recognize him because he has red hair and always teases me. But he's a really good doctor, you'll always be safe with him."
Hailey bent one leg under the other, feeling the child finally begin to relax. It almost seemed like she was in heaven.
She felt the warmth of Jay's hands on the skin through the t-shirt she was wearing and his breath in her shoulder.
"And then, Bean, the most important person in your life: your mommy. She's the toughest woman I Know and a really badass cop. She's a ball of energy every day and she always wears me out, but saved my life so many times I can't even count them anymore. She has these big blue eyes that always follow me and she's always there for me. You're really lucky because it's impossible to find another mom like her, you know? Oh man, but her smile. It'll make you fall in love immediately. She has these dimples that light up your day when you see them…"
The atmosphere in the room had become so heavy Hailey almost felt suffocated. But perhaps, she recognized in the haze of her clouded mind, it wasn't the atmosphere that suffocated her, it was what she was feeling. Her heart fluttered in her chest so fast she thought it wasn't possibile, his words kept repeating in her mind, leaving her shaken and clouded.
"I don't want to go to work without you, you know? Today was strange…and bad…"
"The same for me, Hails, but now sleep", he breathed into her ear, before resting his lips against her temple.
One hand on her belly while the other was slipping through her hair.
...
She opened her eyes the next morning feeling a heavy and constant breathing on her shoulder.
Slowly she loosened her neck muscles looking around and, in an instant, what had happened the night before came back to her mind.
Jay's words… Panic began to pervade her, remembering exactly what he said. Why had he said those things? Why had he talked about her smile? What did he expect her to do? What was she supposed to say? A weight on her chest gave her the impression of suffocating again, as if the thought of how she should have behaved with him today no longer made her breathe.
She had no time to think about how to sneak away when she felt him move behind her and a hand slipped through her hair.
"Hey, you've been awake long?"
It was a rhetorical question, because she knew well his light sleep and obviously he would wake up a few seconds after her, old perceiving the change in her breathing.
She shook her head trying to keep her breathing regular, but then she crossed his eyes and was still in love.
She didn't know what he expected of her, but she knew she wouldn't be able to go anywhere else.
They fell into a comfortable and not at all embarrassing routine. Alternating in the shower, getting ready and having breakfast in the kitchen was so normal it seemed they had been doing it for years.
If she believed she would feel distressed or embarrassed after the night before, she couldn't have been more wrong.
"Are you still my partner or does Organized Crime want you back?", she asked casually, feigning interest in the slice of bread with jam in front of her.
"They actually offered me a spot, I thought my old Sarge held more grudge…", he stared at her from behind the cup of coffee.
Her head bounced upwards so quickly that her neck creaked, and she looked at him with mouth open, not knowing what to say.
"I told him I'm fine where I am now. You know, it's hard to find a good partner."
An embarrassed smile followed his words and Hailey felt like crap for thinking that he could leave her without saying anything.
"Fine, but I'm going where you go anyway…", Hailey said lowering her eyes and blushing.
"Good to know, good to know", he muttered, hiding a smile behind his coffee.
Hi guys!
We are going to the last chapters!
I've already written the next chapter too and I absolutely loved writing these two! I hope they're not too cheesy, but they slipped out of my mind so simply that I couldn't change anything ...
Great goal: you have exceeded 100 reviews ! You are all so fantastic!
I send you love, H