Jay was sitting in the truck with Hailey, staked out, deep in thought over the text message he received this morning. It was from someone he hadn't heard from in forever, someone he honestly wasn't expecting to hear from again, given the way things ended. It was Erin, and apparently the only reason she contacted him was because she didn't want him to hear secondhand from Voight or someone else. She was engaged… some hot shot FBI agent she met out in New York. All this information is something that would have destroyed him not a mere two years ago, MAYBE even a year or so ago… Now, he can honestly say that he's happy for her and he feels no loss from it at all. Obviously, they just weren't right for each other, even if it took him forever to see that.
It's not going unnoticed by him however, that he doesn't know if he would have ever come to this conclusion without meeting the person sitting next to him currently. Clearly, at first meeting Hailey he didn't feel this way… his life was consumed with losing Erin… but at the present, he can't picture his life without Hailey, not the former. Maybe it was just a part of moving on… or maybe his feelings for Hailey mean more now that he's older and more mature and knows what he needs out of life. He's not sure if he would have hit it off with Erin had he met her at this age or stage in his life… or maybe Hailey just guided him to get to that point… either way, it's both equal relief knowing for sure now that he's moved on from Erin; and distress at knowing how much he's fallen for Hailey. He's been weighing all these thoughts in his head silently, hoping Hailey won't notice, but of course that's a lost cause. She notices everything about him… well, almost everything. As far as he knows, she's none the wiser that his feelings for her have turned more romantic than friendly.
"Hey, you okay? You've been awfully quiet this morning." Like clockwork, Hailey breaks him free of his internal speech.
"Yea, just thinking about some things, that's all."
"Anything you care to enlighten me with?" she smirks at him.
"I got a text from Erin this morning…"
"OH?..." she looks at him with a mix of shock, sympathy… and what seems like concealed curiosity.
"She's apparently engaged. Wanted me to hear it from her instead of Voight."
"Wow, ok, that's certainly out of nowhere… you alright?"
She tilts her head at him and he smiles at her, secretly thrilled she's always so genuinely concerned about him.
"Yea, I'll be ok."
"Jay…"
"Yea, yeah actually, honestly, I'm fine… didn't think I would be had this been last year… but I'm in a good place and happy for her."
"You sure? Because if you need to talk about it, y'know I'm here. Don't want you bottling everything up again." She says as she gently touches his arm.
"Hailey, I promise, I'm fine! I can't even remember the last time I thought about Erin!" he says so assuredly.
Hailey looks at him strange for a second, but quickly neutralizes her face again before he can question it.
"Ok, well if you wanna grab some beers tonight, just to process, y'know I'm free!" she jokes.
"I'm actually supposed to have dinner with Will tonight."
"Aww, brotherly bonding, you Halsteads are so cute!"
He grins and rolls his eyes at her. "You should come!"
"What? No… I don't want to intrude. We can catch up tomorrow. It's not like we don't see each other all the time anyway!"
"Please, I want you to! Besides, Will could benefit by being around some females. I feel like I'm his only social experience since Natalie… and between you and me, it's getting kinda weird!" they both crack up.
"Alright, if you insist. I can probably meet you guys around 8:30. I told Kim I'd hit the gym with her before her date."
"Who goes to the gym before a date!?" he asks.
She laughs and shrugs, but says, "We can't all be as chiseled as you, Jay. Girls gotta work for it!"
"Yea, I'm sure you girls have such trouble!" he raises his brow at her flirtatiously, and they share a look… he quickly breaks out of it by continuing on. "But great, we're meeting at 8, so we'll scoop up a table and be ready for when you get there."
She nods her head in agreement as their radios go off. Perfect timing.
Jay and Will are sitting at a high-top waiting for Hailey to arrive. Jay can't wait for her to get there because he's growing tired of Will's constant prodding. And naturally, he just wants to see her.
He really has to figure out how to get better control over these thoughts. Even though her and Adam aren't together anymore, she's still his partner. And it still is not a line she'd probably ever try to cross, nor given any clear indication that she'd even want to, outside of what he feels is just wishful thinking on his part.
"So you're really fine with this Erin thing?" Will asks.
"Yea bro, for the hundredth time… I'm happy for her!"
"Hmm, I wonder why that is?"
"What do you mean?"
"I just find it kind of curious that your ex you sulked over is engaged and you're completely unphased… all the while you're spending an extreme amount of time with Hailey."
Jay rolls his eyes at his brother.
"Not this again, I've told you, Hailey and I are just friends!"
"Yea, just friends who are always together, just friends whose favorite drink you know & order for before she arrives. You never order my drinks!" Will points at the random craft beer sitting next to Jay's.
"We're partners. It's my job to know these things."
"Really? I didn't know Detective Protocol 101 was knowing your partner's food preferences." Will jokes.
"Shutup Will. Look, Hailey and I are partners ok… can we just leave it at that for now please. I don't want to get into this… besides, she'll be here soon!"
Will nods his head up and points his gaze behind Jay. "Right again, I guess just friends sense each other's timing as well…"
Jay shoots him a murderous look imploring him to drop it as Hailey walks over to them right at 8:30 on the dot.
"Hey guys!" she says cheerfully as she sits down next to Jay. She notices her favorite beer and exclaims, "Oh, thanks Jay, I could use this after the workout Kim made me do." She smiles and takes a long gulp, missing the pleading look Jay throws at Will.
"And thanks for letting me crash, Will. I hate to interrupt bro-time!"
"Oh anytime Hailey! I see this jackass enough!"
"Thanks bro, I love you too!" Jay responds and they all share a laugh.
"So Hailey, what have you been up to? Besides keeping my brother out of trouble."
"It's a hard job, but someone has to do it!" she smirks.
"Cheers to that!" Will says as he clinks his beer with Hailey's.
"Y'know, I am sitting right here!" Jay shakes his head grinning.
"Oh, we know!" they say in unison and crack up.
The waiter comes over to take their orders and offer another round, which they gladly take him up on. The three of them just joking and catching up. Jay can't help but smile at how well Hailey gets along with Will and most people in his life. They take to her so naturally and she always seems genuinely interested to learn more about them and know how they're doing. He knows it's part of her personality, but he also can't help but wonder if a small part of it has to do with him. There goes his wishful thinking again.
"So Hailey, as someone who is going through a particularly rough breakup, any advice you can spare me on how to move on?" Will randomly asks.
"Oh, I doubt I'm the person for that advice department…"
"I just figured since you and Adam broke up relatively recently, not to bring that up, I'm sorry."
"No, it's ok. I mean, my relationship with Adam wasn't anything close to yours & Natalie's, so I think I'm in a different place."
"Interesting…" Will says as he shoots Jay a look.
"You mind if I ask why you two broke up?" he continues.
Jay senses Hailey quickly tense up next to him.
"WILL! Seriously, man?" Jay says.
"No it's ok… typical question…" Hailey says and pauses for a while, contemplating her words.
As mad as Jay is that Will asked, he's quite curious to see what she has to say.
"We were having fun, and it just made sense to end it before things got too serious. The inter-office stuff probably wasn't the best idea…" she finally responds.
Jay feels his heart deflate right then and there. And this is exactly why he can't risk having her find out about his true feelings for her. It's just too complicated.
"Makes sense. Well, I'm sorry it didn't work out. I like Adam, I do… but you can do wayyy better than him in my doctoral opinion!" Will says jokingly.
"Adam's a good guy. He's just not for me." Hailey shrugs nonchalantly.
"Yea, he's certainly no Jay!" Will responds.
Hailey quickly blushes and tries to hide it. Jay's eyes almost bug out of his head.
"WILL!" Jay reprimands.
"What? You're my brother, of course you're awesome, you're related to me! And this is my fourth drink… and I hardly get out anymore… What!?"
Jay shakes his head rolling his eyes as Hailey looks completely amused.
"Man, I have to come out with you Halstead's more often, this is better than a show!" Hailey grins.
"Yea, that's not gonna happen. I think this was enough to last me a year!" Jay exclaims.
"Will's not wrong Jay, you are pretty great! …but I've also had a few drinks and will blame it on the alcohol if you ever gloat & bring it back up!" she looks at him with her eyes twinkling, only to quickly turn away and take another long gulp.
Jay and Will exchange intrigued looks and Jay knows he's gonna hear about this now for a million years. He can't help the boyish giddiness that arises in him though. She thinks I'm great. Wishful thinking restored…
[A/N: Just another quick update... The hiatus inspired me, been way too long without Hailey & Jay time. Hopefully the return of the show this week will provide even more content on where else to take this story; *crosses fingers* for some Upstead goodness. Thank you kindly for all the wonderful comments and for following along!]