Chapter 15

"What? Like soon?" Hailey asked confused.

Jay shrugged, not really elaborating. "Didn't you see the news while we were waiting at the gate?"

Hailey shook her head, "Wasn't really paying attention. Did something happen? Is he alright?" She asked nervously, feeling her heart rate spike.

"He's okay. We're pulling the troops out, ending things over there", Jay said plainly.

"Oh", Hailey replied. "That's good right?"

"I guess…in some ways", Jay sort of drifted off as he said that, nervously chewing his bottom lip, staring out the window of the plane.

Hailey got the sense that he didn't really want to talk about it, so she didn't press. Just lightly placed her right hand over his left and settled back into her seat.


As soon as they landed at O'Hare, Jay jumped out of his seat, cracked his knuckles and neck a few times after sitting for so long.

He was suspiciously quiet and had been for most of the flight, but Hailey knew he was thinking about a lot of different things, on top of hating flying, so she let him be.

They navigated their way through the airport in silence, grabbing all their bags from baggage claim, before being greeted by a smiling Will Halstead at arrivals.

"Don't get too used to this. This is only because Hailey has way too much stuff", Jay smirked, motioning to Will picking them up in his truck.

"Yeah, yeah. Guess you'll never know if I was off doing donuts in a parking lot in this thing while you were gone", Will chirped back.

That made Jay laugh, "Voight is the one you'll have to answer to for that, not me. Or come to think of it, perhaps Platt." He continued to grin as he watched Will gulp at that one.

"Probably for the best I didn't do that then", Will replied.

"That certainly was most wise", Jay agreed.

Hailey just observed their interaction, greeting Will as he got out of the driver's seat and came around to help them with their bags.

"How was your weekend you two?" Will asked as soon as they were on the road.

"It was really nice", "Ya really good", both of them replied, with a hint of forced enthusiasm. That made Will confused.

"Did you take Jay to that one deli Hailey? Where we used to meet for lunch?" Will asked excitedly.

Hailey smiled, "Sure did. Best sandwiches in the city."

"Totally. Miss that place, still crave it every once in a while", Will replied.

Hailey cleared her throat. "Well, you are in luck William Patrick", and reached into her carry on tote, pulling out a foil wrapped sandwich. "Just because I like you."

"Oh my God are you serious! Hailey Anne!" Will squealed as his eyes went wide in excitement.

That made Jay loosen up a bit and laugh. Leave it to Will to be this excited about a sandwich, always motivated by food.

"Hmm even a giggle out of mister serious over here", Will not oblivious to the fact that Jay had been a little quiet since he picked them up.

Will briefly caught Hailey's eye in the rear view mirror, studying her response to that, or rather lack thereof.

"Alright, what's wrong?" Will asked Jay, while looking straight at Hailey.

She ever so discreetly shook her head at Will, hoping he would understand, but it wasn't in time for Jay's reaction.

"Mouse is coming home soon", Jay stated neutrally once again.

Will had the same response at first as Hailey, "Is he alright?"

Jay nodded, "Yeah. He's fine. Troops are starting to pull out of Afghanistan." He didn't offer much other than that.

"Oh, yeah I heard about that on the news at work briefly. How are you feeling about that?" Will asked again, knowing he was pushing his boundaries on this topic.

Jay shrugged his shoulders and stared out the passenger side window. "Mixed. There are a lot of civilians over there that helped us…. That…that I don't know what's going to happen now…", he trailed off, Hailey hearing the hitch in his voice.

Will nodded in understanding, deciding to steer away of the subject. "It will be nice to have Mouse home again."

"Yeah it will", Hailey answered for them, as she watched Jay struggle with his words, he could only give a nod in response.

Hailey reached through the gap in the headrest to give Jay's shoulder a squeeze. Letting her thumb linger along the back of his shoulder blade, immediately feeling the tension brewing there.

There would be more silence and emotional shutdowns to come.


The next few weeks passed by in the blink of an eye. Hailey had settled into the Airbnb that her law firm had rented her for two months until she could find a place and felt like she was finally getting into the groove of her new job. Jay was really busy with work, spending a lot of late nights and early mornings at the station, on the road and undercover. Which Hailey was learning that she didn't love, it made her feel a bit anxious, that he was out there and she wasn't able to really contact him, or know if he was safe. But Jay constantly reassured her he did this all the time, and she had nothing to worry about.

Which thankfully turned out to be true. Jay was certainly more aware of the fact that he had someone to come home to now, and he felt like his off the book days were behind him. Although Hailey had her own place, she spent a lot of her time and nights at Jay's. She justified it by saying he needed real meals once in a while, not the takeout he constantly ordered. Jay teased her, that he had made it this far on his own, but secretly, maybe not so secretly, he really loved having her around all the time. Coming home to her after work was starting to become his favourite thing, and the best part of his day. It felt incredibly natural. And it wasn't really that big of a transition, even though from the outside this looked like a relationship moving way too fast.

Sure, they were different people now, as adults, than they had been as kids. But the two of them were already used to sharing space, making meals together, doing other mundane household tasks, communicating without holding back from one another. They each had some new habits, but for the most part, their routines and mannerisms were the same as they always had been. Jay was planning on asking her to officially move in soon, her rental lease was going to be up in a few short weeks, and he felt like it was time.

His head had been a little crowded lately with all the news coming out of Afghanistan. He was trying to work through it, and he had been seeing his therapist more than usual. However, as time went on, particularly the past week, he was finding it harder and harder to keep his cool. He felt like he was in fight or flight mode again, and ready to snap at anyone and everyone. He had chewed Adam out earlier in the week for drinking the last bit of coffee and not putting a new pot on and had been quiet and standoffish with Kim. Kevin had invited him to play basketball with some other guys at the district, Jay kept blowing them off. He knew he was being difficult, but he just felt irritated, and angry, and helpless for what was going on there, and who had been left behind. On top of everything, Hailey was away in New York this week for work and Intelligence was up to their eyeballs working on a missing child case. All of Jay's triggers were coming to a head and he felt his body attacking itself. He had no choice but to put on a brave face though, his team needed him, so he pushed those thoughts down to deal with them later.

Then, while they were in the middle of a discussion about the case in the bullpen, the news came on about an attack overseas, where so many lives had been lost. He watched in disbelief, with the rest of the team, quietly digesting the news. He was already feeling a headache starting, his sleep had been little and far between this week, especially with Hailey gone. He stood up abruptly and excused himself, to go to the locker room to take a breather.

He lost track of how long he had been sitting in the locker room, hunched over on a bench, with his head in his hands. He nearly jumped out of his skin when he felt a hand on his back.

"Whoa", Kim stepped back to give him space as she watched him violently flinch.

"Sorry I- sorry Kim", Jay apologized as he realized he scared her, immediately putting his head back in his heads, the lights starting to irritate the inside of his skull.

"It's okay Jay", she quietly sat next to him.

He tried to listen to what she said next, but he just couldn't focus, it sounded like her voice was underwater.

"Earth to Jay?" Kim's voice suddenly became clearer.

"Hmm?" He managed to ask after blinking rapidly a few times. He couldn't see, but Kim was looking at him with concern.

"Why don't you go home? Take the afternoon, clear your head. I can tell Voight you weren't feeling well?" She suggested.

"I'm not feeling well Kim", he snapped back, a little harsher than he had intended to. But Kim being the sweet person that she was, did not get angry with him. She knew there was more to this outburst.

"I know Jay. I know. I'm sorry", she tentatively wiggled a little closer to him on the bench, gently setting her hand back on his back.

They sat there like that in silence for a few minutes. Jay had been noticeably on edge the last few weeks, even more so this week, and Kim suspected Hailey being away for work wasn't helping either. The team had noticed the dark circles under his eyes, his nervous leg bouncing and his shorter than normal temper. But they had all been giving him grace.

By now they had all heard about Mouse coming back, or made the assumption based on what was coming out in the news. It was all… very complicated. And no one really knew what to say to Jay, who had been obviously trying to avoid the subject at all costs.

They had all seen the headlines, and what was going on over there. It was impossible not to, with how much coverage it was getting everywhere. Rightfully so, but it was hard to watch, and even harder to imagine how Jay felt about it. On the inside, he was dying for someone to ask him that, or call him out for how he had been treating them this week, it was obvious they had all been tip toeing around him, using their kid gloves so to speak. But as much as he wished someone would just come out and ask him, he also understood why they were hesitant. If anyone it was going to be Kim. Maybe if he just talked about it, he would feel a little bit better, to share some of the weight, or at the very least just get the thoughts out of his own head that were running 24/7.

So, Jay wasn't surprised that Kim was sitting here with him in silence, trying to support him. He cleared his throat, took a deep breath and was about to dive in. That was until he heard Adam's voice, yelling down to the locker room that they needed to get on the road ASAP, they had a lead as to where their missing kid could be.

"Jay, you know that I'm here for you. We all are. Whatever you need", she ended with.

He forced a smile, which Kim noticed, but didn't say anything. "I know, thanks."

She paused, Jay thought she might say something more, he knew she wanted to. But instead she just finished with, "Come on partner, I have something for your headache in my desk."

He nodded, pulling himself up to a standing position, groaning slightly at being vertical, before shrugging his shoulders and moving his head side to side to stretch it, pulling himself together to work.

Kim hurried ahead of him to grab her jacket and rummage around her drawers to find migraine medicine. If he took it early enough, he might be able to nip it in the bud. That's what Kim hoped anyways. The last thing he needed was to have a full blown episode today.


Easier said than done, Kim shuddered as she heard Jay gagging and heaving the contents of his stomach later that afternoon.

They had arrived at the location Kevin got from his CI to find the missing girl, but unfortunately it was too late. It was an unimaginable, grotesque crime scene, none of them said a word the entire time they were processing it.

If Jay wasn't nauseous before, he certainly was nauseous now. How anyone could do such a cruel thing to a young child, Kim could never understand.

"Take him home", Voight said in his gravelly voice, as he passed by the locker room that Kim was semi standing guard on.

"Copy that Sarge", Kim agreed, Jay really needing to be in bed at this point.

A few more minutes passed by before her partner resurfaced, looking ghastly pale.

Jay looked at her confused, as to why she was standing outside the locker room listening to him vomit.

"Come on, I'll take you home", Kim offered.

"I can stay, I feel better", Jay stated, neither of them believing a word out of his mouth.

"Jay…", Kim reasoned.

"Kim a little girl was just murdered. By her own father. I can, I-, Jay cut himself off abruptly to run back to the locker room.

Kim rolled her eyes and once again waited the few minutes outside of the locker room entrance.

"Ready to admit defeat?" She asked as he strolled out for his second attempt at, I feel fine.

He took a sharp inhale, resting his hands on his hips, trying to take deep breaths. "Maybe."

"Good enough for me, come on let's go", she ushered him out the door, she had already picked up his coat from his desk chair for him.

Jay reluctantly followed her to her vehicle and got in the passenger side, closing his eyes for the short ride home.

Every single radio station Kim switched through had breaking news about Afghanistan, so much so that although Jay's eyes were closed, she could tell her was thinking about it. The way he was clenching his jaw, pinching the bridge of his nose.

"Sorry", she mumbled quietly. Just turning the radio off altogether. Then Jay did something she wasn't expecting. He laughed.

Kim was still quiet, that almost made her more nervous.

"Kim?" Jay asked.

"Mhmm", she responded hesitantly.

"You don't need to shield me; I know what's going on over there. More so than what the media has been reporting on even. I still have friends serving remember", Jay added.

"Oh, um okay. I just thought you maybe wouldn't want to listen…or I don't know how you feel about all of this… I don't want you to feel bad, or to trigger anything…", now it was Kim's turn to nervously ramble.

Jay opened his eyes for this, he was wearing a big pair of Kim's sunglasses she found in her center console. So along with looking fashionable, he was also able to deal with the bright sun.

"I appreciate you Kim, really I do. I know all of you have been tip toeing around me these last few weeks, and trying to take my mind off it, even though I've been acting like a jerk", Jay said. Kim went to interrupt him and defend his actions.

"Save it. Kim, I know I've been a jerk you don't have to sugar coat anything", Jay smiled.

"Okay, maybe you've been a little…short", Kim replied cautiously, a small smile creeping over her face.

"See it's fine to talk about. As for my feelings on it…it's complicated to be honest. And I'm not really ready to go there", Jay confessed.

"Got it", Kim replied. They let a comfortable silence fall between them.

"You feel okay now?" Kim asked him, his chattiness a sign that maybe his headache was passing.

"Not at all. Complete garbage, please drive faster or else I can't guarantee I won't throw up in here" Jay stressed, leaning his head back against the headrest and closing his eyes once again.

She shook her head and chuckled at him but did just that.


By the time they were back at Jay's place, he looked like he was ready to be horizontal. Kim got out with him to make sure he made it inside okay.

Jay grumbled something about him being fine on his own, he can take care of himself, to which Kim reassured him she knew that, and told him that this was just part of her legal and contractual obligation as his work partner.

"Ha, ha, ha", he retorted, immediately taking his coat off and kicking his boots haphazardly down the hall.

Kim brought him up a glass of water and whatever medication she could find in his cupboard. The new touches of femininity in his home not going unnoticed. Jay had been pretty tight-lipped about his relationship with Hailey, but if Kim had to guess, she spent a lot of time here already.

"I have to go back to the district, are you seriously going to be okay here on your own", she asked from the doorway of his bedroom.

"Yes, Kim I'll be fine I promise. Scout's honour. Hailey is coming over later tonight anyways", Jay said casually as he crawled into his bed.

"You mean your roommate will be home later?" Kim giggled, testing him. Jay poked his head out from under his duvet and glared in her direction for that.

"There's house plants in your living room now, and you have a candle sitting on your kitchen counter, it's obvious a woman lives here Jay", she explained candidly, as he looked at her questioningly.

"Hailey doesn't live here", Jay responded.

Kim added a slow, "Yet?"

"Do you think it's too soon? I was going to ask", Jay said quietly.

Kim felt her heart swell, Jay Halstead, her reserved, broody partner, asking her for relationship advice.

"I think with you two, it seems to be not soon enough", she replied, earning a smile from Jay.

"Feel better alright. See you tomorrow", she shut the lights off, closing the door quietly behind her.


Later that night, the gang had made their way to Molly's after work for a few hard-earned beverages. This week had taken a toll on all of them.

Kim was halfway through her third drink when she looked up and was surprised to see Hailey walk into the bar.

"Hey", Adam and Kev waved her over.

"Hey guys", Hailey greeted them, nodding in thanks as Adam poured her a pint from the pitcher on the table.

"How was your work trip?" Kim asked.

"It was good thanks. Super busy though, I'm wiped. Jay not here yet? He told me to meet him here after I landed when we were talking yesterday" Hailey asked between sips of her beer and actually taking a good look around the bar.

"Ahh, no he's not", Kim told her. "I had to take him home earlier, he was throwing up this afternoon…migraine", she explained.

"Oh, shoot really", Hailey winced as she looked down at her phone. "I didn't have a chance to talk to him today, and with travelling, totally slipped my mind", she checked and didn't have any new messages from him.

"Well if I was a betting woman, based on how I left him, I'm sure he's still in bed, down for the count", Kim winced.

"That bad huh", Hailey replied.

"He usually tries to power through, but Voight heard him in the bathroom…", Kim added.

"We all heard him in the bathroom", Kevin stressed.

"He sounded very unwell", Adam echoed.

The whole table cringed at that. "Poor thing. I'll head over there after this drink and check on him", Hailey glanced down at her watch, making a mental note of the time. Adam and Kevin had disappeared to the bar to grab another round.

"At least I convinced him to take some Excedrin I had in my desk before he felt really shitty", Kim told her.

"You get migraines too Kim?" Hailey asked sympathetically.

"Thankfully no. I just keep all sorts of stuff in my desk for us…I would call myself the mom of our group here, being the only female and all", she explained.

Hailey laughed, "I get that."

"Jay is the reason I have grey hairs. He's not exactly the best at self-care as I'm sure you know…", Kim added.

Hailey raised her eyebrows and her drink at that. "I would classify that as a lifelong characteristic of his", she chuckled.

Kim went to add something else but hesitated a little. She wasn't sure if she was overstepping. Hailey paused and studied her curiously, sensing there was more.

"We also had a really tough case this week which didn't help…kid related. I think he's struggling. And this whole thing with Mouse and the news... I tried to talk to him, you know…offer support. Sometimes that works with him sometimes it doesn't, maybe you can get through to him", Kim stated honestly. She didn't exactly want to break Jay's trust; they shared a lot of things in confidence workwise with each other. But she felt like Hailey should know. Probably knew that already, on some level.

Hailey nodded in understanding; the news had been plastered over every TV in the airport this morning. It made her feel sick to her stomach seeing the names and ages of all the soldiers. There was a time when Jay and Mouse were that age over there, doing the exact same thing.

"I've been checking in with him all week, how he's been handling all of this. But as I'm sure you're aware Jay isn't exactly the most forthcoming with his emotions. Even though he was very present in my life at the time he was over there… it's almost like now… I don't know what to say, you know? That hasn't already been said. Or just to feel like it's just opening old wounds again, a lot of old wounds" Hailey opened up to Kim.

Kim half-smiled at her sympathetically. "I can't imagine that. Today I just turned my radio off in my car altogether because every channel had it on. I felt so silly doing it, he's not a fragile little doll, but I panicked. Sometimes I forget that he was over there… obviously a different lifetime ago."

"It certainly feels like that sometimes. But here we are, right back in that place in a way, 20 years later", Hailey smiled weakly.

"Just so you know, I've known Jay for nearly a decade now… and I've never seen him happier than I have in the last few months that you've been back", Kim blurted out, as she felt the gin and tonics starting to take a hold on her, finally having Hailey alone, for some girl talk.

Hailey blushed and bit her lip as she stared down at her beer. "Jay is lucky to have you as a partner, and the rest of the team. You guys are great, and have made me feel really welcome", Hailey replied.

"Alright, alright. Enough of our sappiness. Let's get one more drink before you go home to our partner", Kim grinned mischievously.

"Twist my arm", Hailey said. As much as she wanted to get home to Jay, she was also enjoying her time out with his friends. It was nice to meet and spend time with genuine people, she didn't always have a lot of that, or a lot of time for that, in New York.


Hailey got to Jay's around 8, quietly turning her key in the front door lock. All the lights were on in the main areas, so for a brief second she thought Jay might have told his partner a little white lie about having a headache, and instead just wanted to be alone to deal with some of the emotions of the case and current global events.

That was until she fully walked in his house, total silence and darkness from upstairs and down the hallway to his bedroom. She cracked the door open, instantly waking Jay, who was always on high alert, regardless if he was feeling good or not. He turned away from the light flooding in from the hallway, but his face was exposed just long enough for Hailey to see how pale he looked, and the pain in his furrowed brow. She shut the door, trying to keep his room dark, and crept over to his side of the bed, knelt down so she was eye level with him as he was sleeping on his side.

"Hi babe", she whispered, gently kissing his cheek, stroking the side of his head with her hand.

"Mmm" he groaned back in response to her touch.

"Kim said you went home from work today. You feeling any better?" He nodded no.

"Have you taken anything?" He nodded yes. "But it didn't work?" Hailey clarified. He nodded no.

"Not in time", he replied weakly.

Hailey understood, there was a small window of time Jay had to take the medication in order for it to squash the migraine altogether.

"Sorry Jay. What can I do for you?" Hailey asked.

He just whimpered helplessly, pulling the blanket even further over his face in any attempt to block out the little light that was seeping through his already blacked out curtains and hallway.

"I'll be right back", Hailey whispered, slowly standing up and taking her hand off the back of his neck.

She came upstairs a while later, armed with the usual cures; icepack for his face, heating pack for his neck and shoulders as that was usually where the tension was coming from. Some peppermint oil, water, a small cup of black coffee if his stomach could handle it. This is what usually made him feel better, or some combination of these items, it was sort of a guessing game each time.

He agreed to sit up and have a few sips of coffee and water, eventually easing back into the pillows and heating pack Hailey had adjusted behind him.

"Kim told me you had a rough day", she started with.

Jay nodded, letting out a small sigh. "Rough week", he admitted.

She gently set the ice pack across his forehead, he let out a small shiver in the process, but eventually settled in to how good the contrasting hot and cold made him feel.

"You okay after this week?" Hailey asked Jay quietly as she ran her fingers through his hair.

Jay didn't say anything, knowing what she was getting at, so he just shrugged his shoulders.

"I know you probably don't want to talk right now…", Hailey started until she heard his voice, fully expecting him to agree with that, and shut the conversation down.

"It's like it was all for nothing", he said so quietly she almost missed it.

Hailey sighed, afraid that he was going to feel this way. "It wasn't for nothing Jay", she said.

"All the deaths, people who lost everything, the injuries, the damage we caused and the damage that was put on us…and now…for what?", he said in a small, shaky voice.

Hailey took the icepack off his face so she could see his eyes. "You have every right to feel however you want about what's going on right now. The media, your friends, family, coworkers, me, Will, whoever has an opinion on this… the reality is that we weren't there. You did such a selfless thing by serving your country Jay, I am so proud of you, really, I am. Sure, it's not a perfect system, we're seeing that now. But I don't ever want you to think that your sacrifice, and the sacrifice of your friends was for nothing."

She could see the tears welling up in the corners of his eyes, even in the darkness of his room.

Instead of replying to that, because he didn't trust his voice not to break right now, he just curled a little closer into Hailey.

"Try and get some rest Jay", she whispered, enveloping him in a side hug, kissing him on the forehead and putting the ice back over his eyes.


Hailey spent the next few hours just lying quietly with Jay, he slept for some of it, tossed and turned for the rest.

"My shoulders and neck are aching", Jay groaned as he rolled away from Hailey, trying anything to curl up and find a comfortable position.

"Do you want me to run the shower? Or bath?" Hailey offered.

"Maybe a bath", Jay hummed.

By the time Hailey had got everything ready, she went back into his room to find him sitting up in bed.

"You okay?" She asked.

"I'm alright. Just testing being semi-vertical", he laughed slightly.

"Gotcha. Well there is a nice warm bath calling your name", Hailey told him. She went around to his side of the bed to make sure he made it to a standing position.

"How did you sleep this week?" Hailey asked on the way to the bathroom.

"Not great", he admitted. Hailey gave him a look, to which he replied with an I know, I know face.

"Wow, romantic", Jay mused as he saw a few candles lit in the bathroom instead of overhead lighting.

Hailey rolled her eyes and laughed, "Thought you might appreciate that."

"You know Kim thinks we're living together because she saw candles and plants downstairs when she brought me home this afternoon", Jay broached the shared address subject.

Hailey snorted in laughter, "Something only another woman would pick up on."

"Wish this bathtub was big enough for two of us", he grinned slyly, changing the subject, hints of his personality shining through even though he wasn't feeling the best.

"I'm sure you do", Hailey winked as she helped him get undressed and into the steaming hot water, his comments about living together at the forefront of her mind.

Jay relaxed into it immediately, "This is nice", he yawned. "Can you stay and chat? I want to hear about your week", he was a little less nauseous now so talking was okay.

Hailey sat on the closed toilet seat and gave him a rundown of her work trip, gently massaging his head and pulling at his hair like she always did when he had a headache.

By the time the water was turning lukewarm, Jay had felt his muscles loosen up a bit, some of the tension melting away.

He got dressed again as Hailey went downstairs to make him some toast.

She crawled into bed with him, and Jay took a hard look at her, really seeing how comfortable she was in this house. Comfy clothes she had changed into that she kept here, hair tossed up in a bun, eating leftovers herself while trying to convince him to have a few nibbles of toast.

"Hails?"

"Yeah", she said as she took a break from her stir fry.

"I don't want you to come and go anymore, I want you to be here every night when I come home from work", Jay bravely stated. Hailey froze for a second, which made him unsure if he said the wrong thing.

"I know your rental is up in a few weeks, and you spend most of your time here anyways. It makes sense if you just move in. I want you here", Jay continued.

"This is probably going to sound silly…", Hailey started. Jay gulped, nervous for her reply.

"I've always thought of this place as my home", Hailey laughed sheepishly.

"But?" Jay was expecting a hesitation.

"But…. but nothing. I want this too Jay. So badly", Hailey agreed.

A big grin spread across his face, in realization that she was on the same page. "This house has always felt most like home with you in it", Jay reiterated.

"Good so now that that's settled", Hailey said cheekily. "To answer your question, yes I will move in with you Jay Halstead."

He leaned over to kiss her on the cheek before pulling the blankets back over his head. "Let's talk details later, I need to go to bed if I'm going to sleep this off before work tomorrow."

"It's a date", Hailey patted his leg and turned the lamp off on her side of the bed, before wiggling closer to join Jay in a snuggle.

He smiled with his eyes closed, turned away from her, as he felt Hailey's hand rest on the small of his back. It was here that he realized some of his favourite things about her, about their relationship was this. The mundane, the average. Talking about each other's days after work, sharing meals, laughs, cuddling before bed. It's what he had been craving all along. But to him Hailey was anything but average, she was the center of his universe, the gravitational pull to the rest of his life. He was sure they knew each other in every past life, because nothing made him feel as complete as this, as her.


Every time I tell myself I'm just gonna write a quick fluffy update..ends up being 5000+ words, facepalm haha. In the best way I suppose. Just some Jay/Kim imaginary BFF moments, Hailey and Jay softness. Happy show week! So excited. It's just past midnight where I am, so technically One Chicago is back tomorrow! Was going to save this until the morning, but posting late to test if timing really matters for posting- other writers what are your strategies/thoughts on this in terms of reader traction? Is it like instagram engagement? Do people who follow this story still see it no matter what? Just curious. I've never really thought about it before, but here I am rambling at midnight haha. As always still blown away by the support of this story and all my others! Love hearing what you think. Bit of a filler chapter, as I attempt to get my life together starting a new job this week. 143 friends! -K