Chapter 13

The following day, Booth finally agreed to meet with Jay, and things got rolling.

Their first meeting didn't go as planned, though. Booth asked a lot of questions, testing Jay, and when he asked if he had screwed Kelly, Jay almost lost it.

He almost caught Jay off guard. "Excuse me?"

Booth insisted on an answer, and when he didn't get one, he kicked Jay out.

This guy was seriously disturbed, Jay was sure of that. And – he wanted Hailey. Jay had enough, this was getting too weird.

Back in the car with Hailey, he drove to 21st right away.

"What's going on?" Hailey asked. "What happened?"

"We need to stop this. The man is dangerous. There must be another way to get him. I won't let you put your life in danger." Jay spat out.

"Wait, what?"

Jay noticed that Hailey was angry, but he didn't react.

They immediately went into Voight's office, and Voight agreed with Jay. He ordered Hailey to stop the undercover job. Just like Jay he was convinced this was too dangerous.

Hailey didn't have it, though. While Jay was in the undercover apartment, packing Hailey's stuff in boxes, she went back to Booth, trying to get the deal back on track. Jay was waiting for her, called her – without success. So he asked Kim to locate her phone. When Kim told Jay that Hailey was at Booth's place, Jay decided that he couldn't let her do this alone, so he followed her. Hailey wasn't alone anymore, and even though Booth seemed annoyed that Jay showed up without an invitation, Jay could convince Booth to sell.

They agreed on meeting in a parking garage for the exchange.

And there things came to an end, a violent end.

Voight and Intelligence were waiting in the shadows, while Hailey and Jay met with Booth.

Money was handed over, Booth called his nephew, Tylor, to bring the drugs. But first he wanted to personally check Hailey for wires – a sight Jay could hardly endure. Booth smashed Hailey against the car, felt her up, touched the most intimate parts of her body.

But he got what he deserved. When suddenly Tylor got nervous, aimed his gun at Jay, Hailey attacked Booth, hit his gun out of his hand, and Jay shot Tylor, who was about to shoot him.

The rest of the team was at the scene in no time.

Booth tried to escape, and Hailey followed him, not waiting for backup. She opened the door to a stairway, and there Booth was waiting for her.

He attacked her, beat her with fists and gun. They fought brutally, but this time Hailey was stronger. She was so angry, kicked and hit Booth, and in the end was crouching over him, ready to shoot.

"Hailey!"

She didn't notice Jay standing behind her.

"Hailey!"

Still no reaction.

"Hailey!" Jay put a hand on her shoulder. "Hailey, he wins if you do it. This is not how you beat this. Please, Hailey, please! This is not the gotta trust me," Jay pleaded.

Now Hailey listened and let go of Booth.

"Get up!" she ordered, and when Booth stood up, she kicked and hit him one last time, before she left. Jay let her go, cuffed Booth and brought him outside.

It had been a close call. He had never seen Hailey like that.

During the whole case, she had been on edge, he was aware of that. But he had never seen her lose her composure like that, had never seen her this angry, this full of hate.

This case had shown him sides of Hailey he would never have expected.

Jay needed to make sure she was okay.

So when in the evening she didn't show up at Molly's where the unit met, he immediately drove to her apartment. Her actual apartment, large, with nice furniture, clean. The complete opposite of the undercover place.

She opened the door, wearing a t-shirt and sweatpants.

"Hey," she just said. She had a large bruise on her forehead, looked tired.

Jay entered. "Uh.. everybody's asking for you at Molly's."

"Yeah I don't really feel like being social right now."

"Well, Platt offered to buy shots, which is a once-in-a-decade thing, if you want to reconsider," he tried to lighten the mood.

Hailey chuckled. "I'm all right. I just kind of feel like being alone."

"Yeah, that's not gonna happen, sorry," Jay grinned and walked into her kitchen. "Wanna pour me a drink?"

They both sat down.

"How's your head?" Jay asked, barely keeping himself from touching the bruise.

"It's all right. A little sore."

"It's over Hailey, you got him." He looked at her with a very soft smile.

"Yeah, I know, she replied. "It just doesn't feel as good as I thought it would."

They headed to the couch in the living room.

"Stirred up too many ghosts, you know?"

"Garrett?" Jay had to ask.

"Yeah. He was the one that pulled Booth off me that night. He stopped him from... raping me... killing me..."

"I'm sorry you lost him. He sounded like a great guy." Jay said softly.

"Yeah, he was."

"You loved him?" Again, Jay just had to asked, even though he wasn't sure if he wanted to hear the answer.

Hailey looked at him. Then nodded slowly, leaned back. She felt tears welling up in her eyes.

"I'm fine, Jay."

Jay shook his head. No, he didn't want to hear that she loved Garrett, and he didn't believe she was fine. So he put his glass on the table and simply wrapped his arms around her without saying a word.

Hailey was surprised at first, wanted to pull back, but Jay didn't let her. He just held her, and slowly Hailey leaned into his embrace. She buried her face against his shoulder, let the tears fall.

"I don't know, Jay," she said after a while.

"You don't know what?" he asked quietly, placed his finger under her chin, and made her look into his eyes.

"You asked me if I loved Garrett," she whispered. "And to be honest, I don't know."

Jay raised his eyebrows.

"You know, Jay. I had to leave you, went undercover, and Garrett was there," she said. "He was there, and I was under as his girlfriend. For a few months. And even if you don't intend to, you build a connection. You always pretend to be a couple, and in the end you believe it. And then... this New Year's Eve party. He saved my life."

Jay nodded but didn't interrupt.

"So, I don't know if I loved him or if it was all just make-believe. I was lonely, and I still missed you. And he was there, he was a good guy."

She leaned her head against his shoulder. "When he was gone, it was a shock. I felt responsible. Because he saved me. And Booth killed him."

"Hailey, it wasn't your fault."

She just nodded, sat up. "Jay, thanks for staying." She took her glass, drank some whisky.

"Always, Hailey."

They comfortably leaned against each other, and Jay put her arm around Hailey's shoulders.

"What did you do after the undercover assignment was over?" Jay asked after a while. "You never told me. You know basically everything I did during these years, and I know nothing about you."

"Well, I worked under McGrady for a while, you know that. Not exactly easy. It took me quite a while until I managed to get out and transfer to Robbery-Homicide. You know, McGrady wasn't supportive, he undermined me whenever he could, just because he could. There is not much more to tell, I was living for my job, no relationships, no close friends, but no big cases either. It sounds quite sad, actually."

"Strange that we never met."

Hailey looked down, didn't answer right away.

"What? What, Hailey? Did we meet and I didn't recognize you? What did I do?"

"No, Jay," she shook her head.

"OK, then what?"

"One day I drove across town to 21st, because I wanted to see how you were doing," she quietly said, unsure if she wanted to continue. "And... and I saw you with Erin. I turned around and left, and I made sure our paths wouldn't cross. I didn't want to interfere with your life, your new relationship. I wanted you to be happy."

"Oh," Jay swallowed hard. "I'm so sorry, Hailey. You know, I didn't hook up with Erin right after you left... I wouldn't… it..."

"Shhh, Jay," she interrupted him. "I didn't say that. And it wasn't right after I left. But I didn't want to interfere."

"I see," Jay didn't quite know what to say.

"Jay, there's no need to feel bad," Hailey hurried to say. "I don't blame you for moving on, I did too, in a way – with Garrett. It hurt, but that's not your fault. And it's okay."

"But it's over now, you know that."

"Yes, Jay. I know."

"I wish things would have been different back then," Jay said quietly. "I wish you wouldn't have gone undercover and dealt with Booth, Garrett's death and all that."

"I know, Jay."

And without thinking about it, she leaned in closer and kissed him. Surprised, Jay didn't immediately react. But Hailey was unable to pull back. His lips felt so familiar, so comforting, so perfect, she couldn't stop kissing him. Jay didn't resist for long. Her kiss felt too good, and he opened his lips, kissed her back. Only now he realized how much he had missed her.

When they broke the kiss after an eternity, they just stared at each other.

"Sorry," Hailey whispered, and Jay just smiled softly.

They fell asleep on the couch, like so often before, Hailey lying half on Jay's body, her arms wrapped firmly around him, Jay holding her tight. And Hailey felt safe in his arms. That was exactly what she needed after the last few days, she needed to feel safe again.

They woke up early in the morning, surprisingly relaxed and comfortable. Yet they didn't talk about the night before, the kiss. Right now, they were exactly where they wanted to be, everything would fall into place eventually.

Back at work they would be partners again, partners and friends.