Hailey woke up early, trying to register where she was. Right. Jay's couch. She walked softly back the hallway, peaking into Jay's room. He was sleeping soundly, his chest rising and falling as he steadily breathed. Hailey noted the time, going back out to the kitchen to get Jay's next round of medication. Returning to his room, she sat on the edge of his bed, gently putting her hand on his shoulder, she said softly, "Jay."
He stirred, not opening his eyes. "Hailey?" He asked.
"Yeah. It's time for your meds."
His eyes cracked open, he was sure this was a dream. Why was Hailey in his room? What was she saying? He pulled her arm saying, "lay down with me."
She lay in the space next to him, their bodies turned to face each other. Jay scooted over and placed his forehead against hers. His hand slid up over her hip to her waist, and he pulled her body closer.
"This is a much better dream than the other night," he said, referring to the last time she'd been there and he'd had a nightmare.
A dream? Hailey thought. Great, he was so doped up on pain meds he didn't even realize reality.
Taking advantage of the situation, Hailey lightly brushed her lips over his, and it was like a switch was thrown. Jay reacted immediately, kissing her back deeply, sliding his hand under her shirt to her bare back. His hand slipped up to her bare shoulders, caressing her back. He rolled over, pulling her on top of him, passionately kissing her as his other hand entwined in her hair.
Hailey's brain was screaming stop, but her body wanted more. Jay's hands were starting to pull her shirt over her head, and she stilled them. Giving him one last kiss, she reluctantly got off of him and helped him take his meds. "Here, Jay." He swallowed them, confused. This was a very odd dream.
She tucked him back in, kissing his forehead. She returned to the kitchen. No way would she fall back asleep, so she cleaned up his apartment to pass the time.
Jay woke up. His side was sore, but otherwise he felt pretty good. He'd dreamt about Hailey again last night, and it had been so realistic. He gathered his clothes and walked out to the living room, where Hailey was ... Dusting? Was she dusting his TV?
"Am I going to get a bill for this?" He questioned.
She spun around, surprised. "Sorry, Just couldn't sleep so..." She motioned around the room. "I tidied up a bit."
Jay held up his clothes. "Can you help me get dressed?" He asked.
"Jay, you got shot yesterday, you aren't going to work."
He sighed. He knew this was going to be an issue. "Hailey, I can't just sit around. You know you would feel the same if it was you."
He was right. "Fine, but I'm having Sarge put you on desk duty." She ordered.
"Im pretty sure I outrank you so..." He said with a laugh.
"Seriously? You're pulling rank?!" She laughed, shaking her head.
He held up his clothes again. "Detective Upton, I'm ordering you to help me get dressed!" He smiled.
She helped him pull his shirt up over his head, his pants he could get off on his own, he just couldn't reach down to the floor to pull them up. He stood in front of her in his boxers as she took the bandage off his side, replacing it with a new dressing. Man, he thought, he wouldve been embarrassed to do this with Kevin, and yet the fact that it was Hailey didn't even bother him. It exhilarated him.
Once the bandage was in place, she helped him pull on his jeans, she fumbled awkwardly with the button, fully aware of where her hands were.
"Um, Hailey?" Jay said, "my fingers still work, but if you want to keep trying..."
"Right!" She said stepping back. She blushed, looking away. Geez, Hailey, she thought, pull it together. This guy was her best friend. Practically like a brother, she told herself, not very convincingly.
He had gotten his jeans buttoned and she helped him put on a button up shirt, he could reach the buttons at the bottom comfortably, but the ones up top we're a little tricky, so she did those. All the time it took to get him dressed and it was already time to go, so they walked down to Hailey's car and headed to work.
When they walked in, Jay took the stairs slowly. Platt raised her eyebrows at him saying, "shouldnt you be on medical leave?"
"Aw, thanks for caring, Sarge. But I'm good."
"Yeah we'll see what Voight says about that."
They headed upstairs, Kim and Adam were there, asking how he was feeling. Voight walked out saying, "Halstead, Upton my office."
He closed the door behind them.
"Halstead, why are you here? You have two weeks of medical leave."
"Sarge, I can't sit around staring at the wall for two weeks." Jay insisted.
"Put him on two weeks of desk duty," Haley suggested. "Save me two weeks of paperwork."
Voight nodded. That would save them a lot of time. "Alright, Upton I'm going to pair you with Burgess."
Hailey and Kim were sitting in the car, waiting to grab a suspect for questioning. "So," Kim began, "you and Jay, huh?"
Hailey sighed. She knew they were going to have to talk about this. "Um, yeah it's nothing. I just reacted to keep him awake -"
Kim interrupted. "Save it, Hail. You're not fooling me. You don't treat him anything like the other guys."
"Well that's because he's my partner but that's it, nothing else," Hailey said weakly.
Kim looked her in the eyes. "Hailey, you would be a fool if you just try to keep your feelings bottled up." Looking away she sighed, "Trust me, I get it. Having feelings for someone else within the unit is complicated, but isn't it also complicated to try and ignore your feelings?"
Did Kim still have a thing for Adam? When her and Adam were together, they had wanted to keep it a secret to spare Kim's feelings and when they had finally told her, Kim seemed really chill about it. But maybe she wasn't...
Kim pointed out there suspect and they got out of the car.
"Excuse me?" Kim said smiling widely at him. "We are just so lost, could you help us with directions?"
Hailey stepped behind him, "Chicago PD, you need to come with us."
Kim smiled smugly at the guy as he grumbled about cops being too pretty these days.
Returning to the station, Hailey let Kim and Voight interrogate the suspect while she went to check on Jay. He was sitting at his desk, a stack of paperwork in front of him. She sat on the corner of his desk.
"How you doing?"
"Stiff. I'm not sure if it's from the bullet hole or still Pilates trauma." He said, smiling.
Leave it to Jay to keep a positive attitude.
"Hey, I was wondering -" she began.
Adam and Kevin walked up the stairs and Hailey shut her mouth. Why was she always getting interupted? Jay gave her a questioning look and she touched his shoulder saying, "we can talk later."
They finished out their day, Hailey never got a free moment with Jay. Walking out, he went over to his truck, still in the parking lot from the day before. "Jay. You can't drive." She reprimanded him.
He handed her his keys. "So you drive."
She looked at him, shocked. "Jay Halstead, you want me to drive your truck?!"
He looked at her seriously. "This is the ultimate level of partner trust."
She got in the driver's seat, heading out of the lot Jay said, "are we going to Molly's?"
"Dude, you're on pain meds."
Jay pouted. "Just because I can't drink doesn't mean we can't go hang out."
Hailey shook her head. "I'm taking you home to rest. You shouldn't have even done what you did today."
Arriving at his apartment, they went inside, him flopping on the couch. The turned on Netflix, watching Stranger Things and discussing their various theories of what was going on. Then Jay said, "Hey, what did you want to talk about earlier?"
She had wanted to talk to him about last night. But now, sitting here alone in his cozy living room, she got nervous.
"Um, I was just wondering if you needed me to stay again tonight?"
Absolutely. Preferably in his bed, he thought. Jay nodded his head, "I'd like that. I enjoy you undressing me," he said boldly, and winked.
He had no idea just how much she enjoyed this, but she knew she was in dangerous territory. She didn't say anything, and he sensed he'd made her uncomfortable.
"Sorry, that was too far. Can you help me get my shirt off so I can shower?" He asked. "I can get the button on my pants myself," he said slyly.
She helped him take off his shirt and put a waterproof bandage over his stitches. He went back to the bathroom, undressing the rest of the way and getting in the shower.
Hailey was waiting out on the couch, thinking. If he couldn't get his pants on by himself, how was he going to get his boxers on?
The she heard him calling her, urgently. "Hailey! I need help!"
She ran back to the bathroom, he was standing outside the shower, soaking wet, doing his best to clutch a towel around him. The bandages on his side were red with blood.
"Call Will." He gasped.