AN: Short chapter for your lovely Black Friday!
Also, this chapter does have a little bit more swearing that normal. I try to make my stories somewhat as realistic as possible and my cop/military friends definitely do not have saintly mouths in real life and in the work place (nor do I)
Jay and Hailey just looked at each other and then back at Devante. Did they just hear that correctly? Carl Williams' own dad killed him? That was pretty unheard of, even in their line of work. "Wait, his own dad killed him and his best friend? Did I hear that correctly?" Jay asked.
Devante shrugged. "Yep."
The waitress interrupted their conversation. Jay ordered pancakes with strawberries on them, Hailey ordered waffles with strawberries on them and bacon on the side. Jay just rolled his eyes at the added bacon part leave it to her. She ordered bacon on the side with every breakfast meal she had. It was a thing she had. Jay didn't understand it. He would just be concerned the day she didn't order a side of bacon.
The waitress left and Hailey raised an eyebrow towards Devante. "Where'd you hear that from?"
"You know that Williams' cousin, Keisha, and I are tight," Devante said. "She told me. But you didn't hear that from me."
Jay nodded. "Okay. Why? Why would Carl Williams' dad whack his own kid?"
"Something to do with dealers. G-Park Lords are supposed to deal with one dealer only," Devante said.
"Spike," Hailey interrupted.
"Williams' dad and Spike are in super deep on something. Carl's dad found out that Carl started dealing for some guy out of San Diego. And he was super pissed because Carl was dating some chick from Southside," Devante explained.
Jay shook his head. "And Powell was collateral damage. That's fucked."
Devante sighed. "That's why I told ya'll. Anyways, I fucking gotta get outta here before anyone fucking sees me."
Both Jay and Hailey nodded at him. "We'll be in touch," Jay promised.
The waitress came by shortly with their food, which they were forever grateful for so Jay decided to ask the question that had been on the back of his mind for awhile. "When are you going to turn down Chris Lynch?"
Hailey took a bite and then pondered. "I have a week to think about it. I already texted him asking to meet, if that's what you're wondering."
He shrugged. "I was just wondering."
She rolled her eyes. "I made up my mind that night. You know that."
Jay was reading her mind already. "You're going to pitch Allie going."
And then everything went to hell. Bullets started flying from an automatic machine gun and Hailey and Jay took cover in the booth they were in. They noticed it was a drive-by; a dark sedan. The shooting didn't stop until all the glass in the front was destroyed. Hailey looked to the back and saw the waitress crouching behind the kitchen; she was safe there. Thankfully there was no other patrons in the restaurant at the time, it was just the two cops.
As soon they felt it was remotely safe enough, Hailey and Jay ran after the vehicle that was involved in the drive by. Hailey managed to get one shot off, into a black SUV. Normally she would never take a shot in the street like that, but it was 3 am.
"Shots fired at plain clothed officers, corner of 21st, Peters All Night Diner," Jay told Dispatch as they started into the distance. "Fuck," he swore. More about the fact that he couldn't get the shot off cleanly or the fact that two officers basically just got ambushed at an all night diner at 3 am. He really wasn't sure what he was more mad about at this point- probably the latter. He hated getting shot at. Especially without a vest on.
And then he turned around and saw that Hailey had been grazed by a bullet in her shoulder. Great. Even better. "Officer shot. I need an ambo down here for sure," he said to Dispatch.
"Already got one coming."
Hailey didn't look scared, nervous or concerned about the fact that blood was running down the side of her arm. Instead Jay just held it his hand there to stop the bleeding. "My turn to get shot," she said, sarcastically.
He rolled his eyes, as he watched his hand get covered in blood. "Funny one you are. I suppose we should really call Voight now."
She tried to shrug. "I still think we wait until a more appropriate time of the morning."
"You were just shot!"
She glared at him harder. "We compromise and call Antonio."
Jay seemed to consider it. "He would figure things out between us two."
She rolled her eyes. "Bound to happen anyways. How about we flip for it? Heads, Voight. Tails, Antonio."
"Deal," Jay said, as he got a coin out of his pocket. It landed on tails so Antonio it was.
"Yo, Antonio."
"This better be good for 3:45 in the morning," Antonio said when he picked up his phone.
"Is Hailey just got shot and we figured out who killed Carl Williams and Martin Powell considered good?" Jay was just being an ass at this point but considering Hailey didn't seem to be in too much pain, he thought he could have some fun with this.
That woke Antonio up. "Hailey just got shot!? What the fuck!?"
"Relax, bro. I think she's fine. Dispatch said an ambo's coming," Jay laughed. "Just wanted to get you out of bed super fast."
"And you accomplished that. Where are you guys?"
"Peters All Night Diner on 21st."
"See you soon. Don't get shot again."
The ambulance showed up and soon uniforms showed up. Uniforms went to go take the waitress and cooks statements. Someone from Intelligence would take them again but they wanted to get their statements ASAP. Hailey was in the back of the ambulance getting looked at the paramedic when Antonio showed up. He rolled his eyes as he walked forward. "Your turn, eh?"
She tried to shrug. "Guess so."
"So why are you two together at this ungodly time of the morning?"
Jay and Hailey looked at each other. "I wasn't about to go meet my CI alone, 3 am or not."
"So you woke her up," Antonio said, pointing between the two of them.
"Would you I rather have woken you up?" Jay fired back.
The older Detective shook his head. "Fuck no. Why'd Devante call you that early anyways?"
"Knew who killed Williams and Powell and didn't want to be seen with us," Hailey said.
"So who killed them?"
Jay bit his lip. "Here's the kicker. Devante was told it was Williams' own dad."
Antonio whistled. "Alright. Is it a solid theory?"
"Yeah, might be a little hard to prove. Basically he wasn't dealing with Spike, who he should have been dealing with, and went to go deal with a new guy from San Diego. Allie's connection to the case," Hailey explained.
Antonio sighed. "That's gonna be hard to prove."
"It is. Still don't know the how or the why on how Williams got in with some moron drug dealers from San Diego who cut cocaine with battery acid but it's a start."
The paramedic looked at Hailey. "I still think you're gonna need to go to the hospital and get this stitched up."
Jay rolled his eyes. "Fine. Let's go. I think my brother's even working tonight. He'll be thrilled to see you."
She looked at Antonio. "Great. A Halstead reunion at 4 in the morning. How lovely for me."
In the end, they ended up going to the hospital. Thankfully not in an ambulance but Halstead drove them to Med. Hailey was not enthusiastic about the possibility of getting stitched up without freezing, as she was allergic to lidocaine. Leave it to her to have an allergic reaction to medications that people shouldn't have allergic reactions to. She was not impressed about this whole situation.
Will sleepily rubbed his eyes as he came inside the room that Jay and Hailey were waiting in. Hailey was on the bed, hand still pressed against the bleeding gauze and Jay was sitting in a chair. "I was actually asleep," he whined.
"And I just got shot at," Jay said.
"And I was actually shot," Hailey retorted.
Will just rolled his eyes and looked at Hailey. "Good to see you again, Hailey. Natalie's been asking about you. More in terms of, 'what's going on with that pretty partner of Jay's?'"
Hailey shot a look at Jay. "Oh has she been? I guess I'll have to shoot her a text or something."
Will put up his hand. "Hold on. Did something change between you two?"
Jay rolled his eyes at his brother. "Don't worry about it. Just fix her please. Don't use lidocaine on her though."
The doctor took off the bandages the paramedic had applied and whistled and then looked at the blonde Detective. "Are you allergic to lidocaine?"
"Lidocaine and morphine," Hailey said. "Don't ask."
He pointed to Jay. "And he knows this."
"He also knows my blood type. It's his job," Hailey said. "I know his as well."
Will seemed to accept that point. "This is going to leave a nasty scar. Sorry. Dr. Choi is a little better at suturing actually but he's not on shift."
"I'll just get a badass tattoo to cover it anyways," Hailey joked.
Jay laughed. "Just what I wanted in a girlfriend. Blonde hair, blue eyes and lot of tats."
Will just looked at the two of them. "I don't even know about you guys," he said as he began to gather the supplies needed to suture Hailey's wound.
"It's fun," Hailey said.
Will started to get serious. "This is about to hurt. Really hurt, especially without freezing. I can do it with Marcaine or I can do it without, your choice. Do you know if you have allergic reactions to Marcaine?"
She shook her head. "Fuck it, stitch it without freezing,"
The doctor shook his head as well. "Chicago's finest, ladies and gentlemen. Jay, hold her hand. Hailey, squeeze his hand as hard as you possibly can. Don't scream, it will scare other patients. You ready?"
Jay gave Hailey his hand and she nodded. "Go ahead."
Will started suturing the wound. And more stitches got added. Every time he went through a layer of skin, Hailey's grip on Jay's hand tightened but her face to the outside word remained the same. Jay could tell that the pain was excruciating but her face still remained in neutral. In total, she ended up with a lot more stitches than Will or Hailey was expecting. So it was probably a good thing that Jay dragged her to the hospital.
"All done," Will said, finishing the last stitch.
Hailey let out a sigh of relief. "Can we never do that again?"
Jay snickered. "Right. If I remember correctly, you were just the one to say no to the Marcaine."
"Try and not get it wet for a couple days, which is obviously easier said that done," Will said.
"Does this mean I get to give you sponge baths?" Jay asked.
"I'm not going to even dignify that with a response," Hailey fired back.
Will shook his head. "I did not need to hear that, Jay. How did you guys remain partners for so long and now just change your relationship status on Facebook? I really want to know."
Jay shrugged. "Probably the million dollar question. It's not common knowledge though, so keep it on the down low."
Will narrowed his eyes. "Ya'll think you can keep it on the DL with how you were acting in here? Good luck!"
"We are highly trained Detectives who have done multiple undercover assignments," Hailey pointed out.
He shook his head. "You two are insufferable. Seriously. Nat is going to love this."
And then the mood shifted when Sergeant Hank Voight appeared in the doorway. Jay checked the time on his alarm. 4:32 a.m.
"So, you think you can get shot and not fucking tell me?"