Thank you all so much for your kind reviews, it really keeps me going

Chapter 3

In the morning Hailey excused herself from her patrol duty, telling her sergeant she had a special assignment, without going into detail, and drove to Jay's apartment.

When she stood at Jay's door, she had two coffees in her hands. It was past 9, and Jay was ready to go. Dressed in blue denims and a grey shirt that prominently displayed his biceps and broad shoulders.

What a handsome guy, Hailey noticed. The slightly disheveled short hair, the freckles, the green eyes, the muscular body. No, she reprimanded herself, don't go there. He's just a guy you met, and you want to help him. Nothing more. You have no time for relationships, right now your career is all that matters.

Jay yawned when he opened the door, but once he saw Hailey, he smiled.

"Now that's a sight I wouldn't mind every morning," he said. And she was. The big, warm smile on her face, the long blond hair, the blue eyes, the petite body in the big warm coat.

Both stared at each other for a second.

"Yeah, coffee," Hailey quickly said to break the silence. "I figured you might like that."

Thankful that she ended this moment of silence, Jay went back into the apartment, and Hailey followed.

"So, how are we going to play this?" she asked after a sip of coffee.

"Confront Phil Rodiger," Jay answered.

"And have him call the police?"

"I have to," Jay shrugged. "I'll knock on his door and ask. How else should I play this?"

"You could let me knock on his door," Hailey suggested. "Perhaps I can achieve more. He doesn't know me."

"But I won't let you enter his house on your own," Jay insisted. "You can knock and ask him, but do not go inside."

Hailey gave him a doubtful look. "Seriously?"

"Yes, seriously," Jay confirmed. "Too dangerous."

"OK," she shrugged. "You may have a point. If he invites me in, I will decline. Promise."

They briefly agreed on the questions Hailey should ask him, then were on their way to the Rodiger house.

As agreed, Hailey approached the door, with Jay staying in the car closely watching her. If anything looked dangerous or even slightly suspicious, Jay would be at the door in a second. But until then, Rodiger shouldn't see him.

However, Hailey's knocks weren't answered. Nobody was home. Hailey shrugged, looked through the door and the front windows, and then returned to the car.

"Should I ask around in the neighborhood?" Hailey suggested. "Someone might know where Rodiger is."

Jay shook his head. "I might have an idea," he said and started the car. He drove to a bar a few blocks away.

"I've been watching him and his son for too long," Jay explained. "Phil might be right here."

"You want to go inside alone?" Hailey asked doubtfully.

"I won't get anything out of him with you in uniform," Jay said. "And I doubt anything would happen to me in there."

"Are you sure?"

"I will have to try. At his door – that would have been different, but out in public, I will try, and I will behave."

"Call me and leave the line open so that I can listen to what's happening," Hailey said.

Jay nodded. That was a good idea; she could be a witness just in case Phil said something now that he would deny later.

Phil Rodiger was in the bar, and he wasn't pleased to see Jay.

Jay confronted him with the facts, and Rodiger's resistance crumbled.

Only a few minutes later Hailey saw Jay leaving the bar with Rodiger beside him. He opened the back door of his car, Rodiger sat down. Jay sat down in the driver's seat and started the car, briefly nodding towards Hailey.

They drove to 21st in silence, and Jay brought Rodiger upstairs to one of the interrogation rooms of the Intelligence department.

Hailey waited downstairs until Jay came back. Hailey sat down on the bench in the entrance hall trying to look as if she knew what she was doing. It took almost an hour before Jay came back down the stairs.

"What did he say?" Hailey asked, when Jay returned.

"He killed his son," Jay answered. "My colleagues interrogate him right now."

"So you were right," Hailey said with a smile. "And you will be back in Intelligence."

"Yeah," Jay nodded, and added a bit coyly. "Sorry that I won't be sent to patrol?"

She laughed briefly and a bit nervously. "I would like to work with you," she admitted.

"Me too," Jay said quietly. "Hey, I want to go and see the Corsons and tell them about it. How about a drink and some food tonight? As a thank you."

Hailey looked at him. "I would love that."

She wasn't sure if that was a date or just a thank you, or anything in between. But at least it meant that this wasn't over – whatever *this* was.

Phil Rodiger confessed that he had killed his son, after finding out that Lonnie was actually a pedophile, something Phil had not wanted to believe for so long.

That case was closed. Jay got his badge back, and suddenly all his colleagues were friendly again, happy that he was back, which left a slightly bitter taste with Jay. Was there anyone in the unit he could trust? Perhaps Al, but apart from that?

He declined meeting with the others at Molly's in the evening. It didn't feel quite right.

Before he left the office, Erin held him back. "Glad everything turned out ok for you," she said.

Jay just nodded.

"Hey, who was the blonde in uniform?" Erin asked.

Jay shrugged, pretending it was nothing. "Just a cop I know."

Erin raised her eyebrows, not quite buying it. But before she could say anything else, Jay left the office.

First he drove to the Corsons' house, told them what he had found out.

They invited him over for dinner, told him that their daughter Allie, Jay's high school sweetheart, was back from Phoenix for a few days, and would like to meet Jay. Jay declined this invitation for that day too. He would have liked to see Allie again, but right now his head was full of other things, so he left.

Before going home, however, he drove to the cemetery, to visit Ben Corson's grave. He felt that he needed to go there, have a drink, "tell" Ben that his killer had been punished – finally. That was the closure he – Jay – needed.

It was difficult to leave Ben's grave, but Jay hadn't forgotten that he wanted to meet with Hailey. To properly thank her, he told himself.

But in fact, he was looking forward to seeing her, more than he wanted to admit.

At home he took a quick shower, got dressed – with more care than in the morning – they were going to a proper restaurant, after all. Dark denims, a light green button-down shirt, his black leather jacket against the cold. And suddenly he was nervous. Until now he and Hailey had only met over the case, so there had always been some business to talk about. What would it be like tonight? She seemed nice and sweet, but would they have anything in common except for his case? And would she expect more than just a friendly thank-you dinner? The actual question, however, was: what did he expect, what did he want? He was definitely attracted to Hailey, but did he want to jump into a relationship so quickly? And what about Erin, his partner? There had been some attraction between the two of them, but Voight had stopped that right in the beginning, since he didn't allow relationships within his team. So Jay had already moved on. And Erin hadn't been exactly supportive during the Rodiger case; also she seemed to be into this firefighter, Severide. Fine with him, Jay thought. Right now, there was someone else on his mind, someone he couldn't stop thinking about, and who had been supportive more than anyone else.

Jay decided to try and be relaxed about the evening. He tried not to expect anything but a fun evening. But his mind always wandered to Hailey. And when he finally arrived at her doorstep to pick her up, he was quite nervous.

He rang the doorbell, his fingers tapping nervously on the door frame. After what seemed an eternity, the door was opened, and Hailey stood there. Jay swallowed hard. Her blond hair, which he had so far seen only in a ponytail, was hanging loosely over her shoulders, and the light from behind let it shine brightly. She wasn't dressed up too much, just dark blue denims and a tight grey top, and to Jay she looked amazing. His smile met hers, and both looked at each other for an endless few seconds. Man, she's cute, he thought.

"Ready?" Jay finally asked.

"Oh yes," Hailey smiled at him.

Automatically Jay helped her into her coat, then opened the door to his car for her.

"Wow," she grinned. "The perfect gentleman."

Jay blushed, hoping she wouldn't notice, and quickly went over to the driver's side, hopped into the car.

He's blushing, she noticed. That's sweet.

He had booked a table in a nice, not too fancy but very good Italian restaurant, which was far away from the places he and Intelligence usually frequented – he wanted to be alone with Hailey, without having to explain anything to anybody.

Hailey was flattered by how Jay treated her that evening. First helping her into the coat, opening the passenger door to his car for her, the restaurant. She had been nervous before he arrived, but right now she was only happy to be in his company. A very handsome, charming and nice guy. She had missed that for too long. The restaurant he had chosen was exactly what she liked: not too fancy, yet cozy, full of normal people, and the food was amazing. After the awkward few seconds when Jay picked her up, they quickly relaxed in each other's company and had a pleasant evening. They didn't talk all that much, but the moments of silence felt good, not weird. And they smiled a lot. Yes, there were a lot of smiles, Hailey thought.