A/N: Hi hi! I've been posting on FF for the past three years today. I started writing when the world was shut down and we were all stuck home. Before that, I hadn't written anything in maybe 7 years. I'm so so glad I started writing again and found this little corner of the internet.

To celebrate three years of writing, I figured I'd go back to my first oneshot and put a new spin on it. That first one's still here on FF, but I think I have grown a lot since then. I'm proud of how far I've come since 2020 - as a writer and as a person. :) So here's an updated (much better imo) version of "You're My Partner" that (I hope!) still has the same heart as the first one.

"Hailey coming?"

"Did you hear from Upton yet?"

"Fine, I will buy one round, but I want to know if Upton's coming first."

"I'm gonna take off and see if I can get her to come up here."

"Text us," Kim said as she accepted the beer Adam passed her.

Jay nodded and set a twenty on the table before slipping his jacket on and leaving Molly's.

When he'd dropped Hailey off at her apartment a couple hours before, he'd made it rather clear that everyone was going out that night. He wanted her to have a chance to blow off some steam.

He'd been the one who accompanied her to the hospital after her run-in with Booth in the stairwell, and he'd waited outside her room until the nurse gave him the all clear that his partner was going to be okay. To his satisfaction, Hailey was sitting up on the exam table with an ice-pack to her forehead. She'd sighed upon seeing him, but shrugged and quietly repeated what the nurse had said. They'd then sat in silence until the doctor came back to release her with the advice to take it easy for a few days.

Despite the stillness within the small room, it had not been awkward. He could tell Hailey was still stewing over what had happened with Booth and knew there was something eating at her. In the past ten months or so since knowing her, he prided himself in being able to pick up so easily on her expressions. He wasn't surprised: she'd seem to catch on to his own emotions and thoughts rather easily as well. There was something about her that was comforting and reassuring to have in a partner. He truly felt like he could be a good cop with her at his side. She'd proven she believed that he could; it'd just taken a bit of nudging and support.

Now was his chance to offer that same support right back to her.

Upon getting in his truck, he partially debated texting Hailey to let her know he was coming, but he could anticipate her reply before he even hit send: Thanks, but I'm ok. Have fun.

It was better not to send a warning.

He hadn't felt good about dropping her off alone at her apartment. From experience, he knew that sitting alone and going over every detail of a case, wondering if something else should have been done or if a mistake was made along the way, never resulted in anything positive. Usually, it ended in a splitting headache in the morning that called for too many pain pills. Maybe if he hadn't been alone and there had been someone there drinking with him, the pain wouldn't have been so bad upon waking up.

Alcohol aside, Jay was worried about Hailey. It was simple. She was his partner, yes, but she was also his friend. He cared for her. He knew she'd taken a hit to the gut with this case, and he didn't want her to deal with it alone.

She was much more important than a free shot at Molly's.

That didn't mean he didn't want alcohol, he just wanted it on her couch with her. There, he could keep an eye on her while still partially celebrating the win.

However, Hailey was in no mood for a celebration no matter how hard he tried to lighten the mood, and no amount of free whiskey could prevent Jay's heart from breaking upon her face crumpling when he brought up her loving Garrett. He even felt grief over the man's death, and he'd never even met him. This man, though, was quite possibly the reason the woman in front of him, his partner, was even sitting there. His stomach churned at the thought of Booth pinning her down and doing the unimaginable to her.

He was grateful for Garrett's actions.

What he wasn't grateful for was Hailey tearfully asking him to leave seconds later. Her red eyes and shaky voice did little to hide the fact that she absolutely should not have been left alone. It all provided evidence that his gut had been right in driving him here and stepping within her apartment.

"Thought I just said - like two minutes ago - that I'm not letting you be alone tonight," he said quietly.

Hailey sniffled a weak laugh and began to reply: "Jay-"

"We don't have to talk," he interrupted, "All I'm asking for is an hour or two of your time. I want to sit here with you."

Her eyes were rather blue. He didn't know if he'd really noticed it before, but now, with her sitting so close to him with tears fighting against her eyelids every time she blinked, he could tell. They were blue. It was an incredibly sad color too, kind of like the tears that doll had in his favorite Christmas movie. He wished he could replace that sadness with something more joyful: maybe the sky on a summer day or even the dress his girlfriend had worn to prom.

Despite the sadness in her eyes, he held her gaze and waited for her to argue back at him. He figured he had a solid ten minutes worth of his own arguments before he was going to have to give in and leave.

Hailey, however, either seemed to anticipate that and didn't want to hear it or just didn't have the strength to push any further. She just nodded in response to his statement and closed her eyes against more tears while taking another sip of whiskey.

Jay watched as the sadness spread to her hand and caused the glass to shake within her grip. He knew that if she were to spill, he would have been on his knees in a second cleaning it up for her. He was here to support her in whatever way she needed - including, but not limited to, cleaning up spilt whiskey.

Taking another sip of his own glass, he leaned back in the cushions and looked around her living room. He'd been to her place just twice before and only once inside. The first was to pick her up when her car was in the shop, and the second was when she let slip her sink was leaking. It'd been right after Christmas and he had no plans for his day off, so he'd been happy to come over to help. She'd paid him in pizza and beer, which was perfectly fine to him.

Now, he could get a proper look around. There were a few dark purple throw pillows and a blanket, giving the place more life than his own apartment had. Pictures lined the walls and bookshelves, but he couldn't quite make them all out, though he was rather sure Hailey's blonde hair was in every single one. The amount of books surprised him. He hadn't imagined she read a lot – at least, he didn't know how she found the time.

She was one of the most dedicated people he knew. There wasn't anyone else in the unit that he thought did as much overtime as her – paid or not. She was consistently early to work and stayed late if she wasn't quite done with paperwork or if she had a lead she wanted to follow. He respected it.

It was why he felt like she had to have been crashing right now.

Booth was in jail, but there was some paperwork to file and boxes to fill. Hailey wanted to be back at the district doing it herself. It'd been one of the few things she'd said to him in the ambulance: she'd been worried that going to the hospital was going to derail everything she had worked so hard for. He promised her that nothing was going to mess up all that she'd done. There was no world where he could see Booth walking free again.

At least not for a while.

He vowed to do all he could to make sure that man could never put another hand on his partner again.

Hailey finished her glass of whiskey then set it on the coffee table. Breathing in shakily, she glanced at him again and blinked quickly against more tears in her eyes.

"It's okay," he whispered gently, "It's okay."

She let out a quiet noise and nodded despite her trembling bottom lip.

Jay let out a soft breath then hesitantly scooted closer to her. Catching the glimpse of her books again, he knew what he needed to do. He'd said they didn't have to talk, but that didn't exactly feel like the right thing right now. Not when he knew Booth was all Hailey was thinking about. She needed a distraction, and he was more than willing to give it to her.

"You read a lot?"

Hailey's eyes widened slightly, and she breathed, "What?"

He nodded toward the books and set his nearly empty glass down next to hers. "Do you read a lot?" he repeated, "You've got a lot of books over there."

"Oh, um, yeah, I…I try." Hailey wiped at her eyes and looked over her shoulder at her bookshelves. "They're most of the books I've bought since college, so there's a few textbooks, but it's mostly fun stuff."

Jay hummed and tilted his head to the side. "Did you say college?"

"Yeah," she replied with a small smile, "I went to University of Chicago. I have a psych degree."

"Very cool," Jay said, smiling himself, "What made you do that?"

Hailey let out a short, almost bitter laugh. "Needed to get out of the house," she said, "Couldn't stand being with my parents anymore. Not that I could stand it before, but I had a chance to go to school since I couldn't go to the academy right away, and I figured why not? It was my chance to be free."

Jay nodded, staring at her almost in awe. He had no idea that was her story and almost began to feel like a bad partner for not having asked before. He'd just never felt like he needed to ask her.

That needed to change.

"You wanna talk about that?" he asked softly, raising an eyebrow.

He wanted to leave it open: they could talk about her parents or they could talk about college. The choice was hers.

"I lived in the dorms. That was kind of fun."

Jay nodded at her soft voice and choice in the conversation before he asked, "Community bathrooms or did you have one in your room?"

Hailey laughed and wiped at the final tears on her face. "Community for my first two years, and private for my last one."

Jay opened his mouth to reply then laughed and said, "Do you realize that you're just making me have even more questions?"

Luckily, she just laughed again and said, "Oh, really?"

"Yes!" he laughed, "Did you really finish college in three years?"

"I did," Hailey answered with a smile, "It was hard as hell, but I knew I wanted to get to the police academy as early as possible, so I took summer classes and pushed myself, and I got there."

"Wow," Jay breathed, "That is…wow, Hailey."

He turned further on the couch and set his elbow on the back cushions, completely stunned at her response. He'd known she was an incredible detective. That had been abundantly clear. He just figured it'd been because of the rumors that circulated the police department that she'd been such a hard worker. He didn't know it'd been something she'd had for years prior – maybe even her whole life.

She blushed at his lack of response and said, "Thank you."

He smiled slightly and nodded. Staring at her, all he knew was that he wanted to know more about her. They had built a solid foundation at work. He knew he could trust her and truly believed that she felt like she could trust him as well. He'd become a better man because of her in this short time since knowing her. He didn't think he'd ever want another partner, and, because of that, he knew he needed to keep going forward with this conversation. He needed to keep knocking down the walls she'd put up because she was worth it. Their partnership was worth it.

Before he could ask anything else, though, she asked, "Do you read?"

He couldn't help but laugh. "I…no. It's not really my thing, sorry."

"Don't be," she replied easily, shaking her head, "But what is your thing? Like you've got downtime, you don't have to be at work, what're you doing?"

"Uh, I…"

Trailing off, he looked down at his hands and shook his head. His mind went blank. He knew he did stuff on his downtime, but nothing suddenly seemed important enough to share with her. In a way, this was quite possibly their most intimate conversation yet, and she'd been the one who pushed him to join therapy. She'd been the one who believed he wasn't broken, and yet he couldn't tell her what he did on a day off.

"Oh, come on," Hailey whispered, reaching out to lightly nudge his arm, "What does Jay Halstead do when he's not bugging me at work?"

He laughed and looked up at her. "I bug you?" he repeated, "Now, that's a lie."

She laughed with him and shook her head. "Not at all. You finished off all the chips in the break room the other day and didn't even bother to buy more. What the hell?"

"So this is about chips?" Jay said, "You're being rude because of some chips?" He couldn't help but smirk as she laughed harder, the sadness that was just covering her face now replaced by the first sign of happiness he'd seen in days.

"They were my favorite!" she laughed, "Can you at least replace them?"

"Yes," he chuckled, "Sorry. I will replace your chips."

"Same brand, same flavor," Hailey said.

"Mhmm," Jay hummed.

Hailey let out another soft laugh that quickly turned into a sigh. "Now, come on," she said, "Tell me something you do in your off time. I read, and you…"

He sighed himself then said, "I workout."

Hailey rolled her eyes. "Are you serious?"

"Yes," he replied, "I go to the gym and workout. I've actually been trying to increase my deadlifts. The other day I was able to get to 350, that was pretty cool."

"You can deadlift 350 pounds?" Hailey asked.

"I did it last Monday, yeah," he said.

Hailey whistled under her breath and said, "That's impressive."

"Nothing compared to you and college," he replied quietly, "It's lifting something up. You finished a whole-ass degree a year earlier than the normal person."

Hailey shook her head and pulled her feet up underneath her. "Don't sell yourself short," she said softly, "Lifting and working out is much more than just lifting something off the ground. I bet you worked a while to get to that, didn't you?"

"Well, yeah, but-"

"It takes determination and focus. Plus, it's pretty cool."

Jay glanced up at her and raised an eyebrow. "It's cool?"

"Of course," Hailey replied with a smile, "So when you're at the gym, what do you listen to? Please tell me you're not some weirdo who just listens to the gym radio."

Laughing, Jay shook his head and said, "I'm not a weirdo. At least, not completely. Most days, I'll have a podcast or music on, but if I'm with Will or one of the guys, like when I'm doing the deadlifts, then I guess I'm listening to the radio. That allowed?"

Hailey's smile widened, and she said, "Only if you tell me what podcasts and music you're listening to."

Jay chuckled and said, "Nothing crazy. Music wise, I kind of stick to the classics that my dad would play while growing up – Van Halen, Bon Jovi, Metallica – but I have a newer heavy metal playlist too. And as much as I'd love to say I listen to, like, deep, interesting, political podcasts, sometimes I just can't turn off that part of me that wants to solve problems, and I listen to unsolved mysteries."

Hailey's smile froze for a second before she scrambled off the couch. "How did I not know that?" she asked while heading into the kitchen.

"I…I don't know?" Jay said, leaning over to see what she was doing.

She returned a moment later with her phone, jumping back on the couch next to him. "Which have you finished?" she asked.

His mouth gaped for a moment as he looked at her phone now resting on his knee. She had a long list in her Notes app of different unsolved murder, mystery, and conspiracy podcasts, some of which were crossed off or had question marks next to them.

"We can talk music later, I want to know if we've listened to any of the same podcasts," Hailey explained.

She patiently sat next to him as he worked to gather himself. They'd just spent the last few days essentially working on an unsolved murder, and here they were about to talk about even more. It was the first time he felt like his guilty pleasure was a little messed up. Yet, Hailey was looking at him like she couldn't wait for him to open his mouth.

She had calmed down since he first arrived. He'd gotten her to relax a little and put the past few days, the past few years of her life, aside for just a moment, and he couldn't just ignore that. He needed to lean into it, so he did.

He pushed his own worries to the side about bringing up work and began going through her list, pointing out which podcasts he'd listened to and what his opinions were on each of them.

Hailey gave him a solid two minutes of talking before she interrupted him and added her own comments, and that's when Jay really realized that this wasn't like work at all: this was two people having fun and talking about a common interest. There was nothing wrong with it in the least.

After a while, Hailey asked him if he wanted more whiskey and quickly refilled both their glasses. As they worked on them, they talked about one of the podcasts about a missing girl that had been found because of the work the hosts had done. Jay felt the alcohol buzzing through his system. He laughed with her and thoroughly enjoyed watching her smile and laugh as well.

She had been his partner for months, but this seemed to be one of the first times he could see the real her. Their conversation eventually shifted from podcasts to his music, which was surprisingly very similar to her tastes as well. It gave him an insight into who she was outside of work despite all the times they had gone out for beers with their friends. He hung on to every word she shared about her family and growing up and how it was reflected in some of their favorite songs. While they'd had rather different childhoods, they could find a lot of common ground through music that actually lightened the mood even with the heavy nature of what they were talking about.

The abuse Hailey had endured was simply evidence as to how strong he knew her to be. In hand, her empathy was highlighted when he told her about the songs that reminded him of his mom both before and after her death.

It was when he was talking about her that Jay pushed off the couch and asked Hailey if she had any chocolate.

"What?" she laughed. She took another sip of her now fourth glass of whiskey and added, "I didn't think you liked chocolate."

"I like plain chocolate," Jay said with a shrug, "Do you-"

"Freezer door," Hailey interrupted.

Jay smiled and made his way back into her kitchen. He easily found a package of Hersheys in the freezer, which he brought back to the couch while opening it up.

"Tell you a secret?" he said quietly.

Hailey raised an eyebrow, but nodded and accepted the row of chocolate he passed her.

"Whenever Will or I would have a bad day, my mom would bring out the chocolate," he explained. Setting the rest of the chocolate next to their empty whiskey glasses, he continued to say, "And she always kept it frozen." He stopped to shoot Hailey a smile, "Like you."

"It's just better that way," she said with a shrug.

He chuckled and slipped a piece in his mouth. "It's simple, you know? It's just chocolate, it's not even the fancy stuff, but it always helped. Talking and chocolate always helped."

He could feel Hailey watching him out of the corner of his eye, so he took a deep breath and glanced up at her. A small smile had graced her face at his tiny memory that he was positive he'd only shared with Mouse and, of course, Will. Sharing it with her, though, had felt necessary. He'd been there where just the talking wasn't much help. Their smallest of conversations about Booth close to an hour ago wasn't going to heal her, but the chocolate could at least get her closer.

"Thank you," she breathed, "For…for sharing that and for the chocolate."

His lips tipped up, and he nodded. "Not a problem."

"You're a good friend," Hailey continued softly, "You didn't have to come tonight, especially after I went off book yesterday and almost ruined this case – I know you weren't too happy about that. But you did come. You didn't just leave work at work or treat me like just a partner. I haven't really had that before, at least not in a very long time, so thank you. It means more to me than you know."

Jay slowly nodded and debated his words for a moment before landing on saying, "You didn't give up on me a couple months ago. You knew I needed help and pushed me to get it. After watching you with Booth and dealing with your past this last week, there wasn't anything else I would plan to do tonight. You deserve support, Hailey – if I did months ago when I royally screwed up, you one hundred percent do right now."

Hailey's cheeks turned pink as an almost embarrassed smile crossed her face. "Thank you," she repeated softly.

He hummed in reply and reached out to lightly squeeze her shoulder. "Any time."

Hailey glanced back at the whiskey bottle on the coffee table and their empty glasses. "You okay to drive?"

Jay laughed slightly and said, "Might need a water. That okay with you?"

"Of course," Hailey said quickly. She stood up and swayed slightly in the spot, laughing herself. "Might need some too."

"Went a little hard tonight," Jay laughed, "It was well-deserved."

Hailey smiled at him over her shoulder before going into the kitchen.

Jay took the moment, now much less tense than when he arrived, to get off the couch and walk over to her bookshelves. Instead of focusing on all the books there that had first caught his attention, he got a better look at the pictures and small trinkets she had accumulated. He smiled at the pictures of her with friends. She looked genuinely happy, and he wondered if she'd met all of them during her impressive three years at college. A jar of seashells made him stop in his tracks, and he hesitantly reached out to pick it up.

"I got those in Greece."

He turned to face Hailey as she approached him with two glasses of water.

"I spent all three years of college saving up for the trip. I went right after I graduated. It was beautiful." She passed him his water then pointed toward a few framed beach and sunset pictures on the top shelf. "Those are from there too."

"Very cool," he said softly. He took a sip of water and slowly spun the jar around to look at the different shells before placing it back on the shelf. "I've never been out of the country for vacation, and I honestly have never considered Greece, but maybe that needs to change."

"Definitely needs to change," Hailey replied, "It's so pretty there, and there's so much history. I went by myself and just explored for two weeks. It was incredible."

"You did a vacation in a different country by yourself?" Jay asked.

Hailey nodded and smiled up at him. "It was amazing, I highly recommend it. Taught me a lot about myself too. It was kind of like going undercover. I had to take care of myself and rely on my gut. I met a handful of people too that I stayed in touch with for a while. I think I'm still friends with some of them on Facebook."

"You impress me," Jay said. He made his way back to the couch and asked, "Have you done any other solo-trips?"

"No, I don't really have the time anymore," Hailey sighed. She sat next to him again and said, "I'd love to, though."

"Where to?" he asked, "Say you have two weeks vacation, you have to go somewhere not in Chicago, not even the Midwest, where are you going?"

Hailey let out a breath and stared off at her bookshelf for a moment. "Can I go back to Greece?" she asked softly.

"Sure."

"Then Greece," she said, "But since I've already been there, I'm also willing to go to Italy. I need to try the pizza there."

Jay laughed and shook his head. "I don't know if it's exactly the deep dish you love here."

"But it can't be terrible, right?" Hailey asked, "It's pizza."

"I don't know, I think it's pretty thin," Jay chuckled.

Hailey rolled her eyes. "Whatever. What about you? Where are you going?"

"Uh, I don't know," he answered, "I don't know if I've really thought about it that much."

"Well, think about it," Hailey said, "Go on your dream vacation. Actually relax for once."

Jay smirked at her words and shook his head. He let out a breath and picked back up the chocolate from earlier.

He thought over all the countries that first came to mind and began thinking maybe a little too seriously about all of them. It'd been an innocent question when he'd asked Hailey, but now it felt serious as if he was actually going to have to take this trip.

"Canada," he settled on. Hailey stared at him like he was crazy, but he simply nodded and repeated: "Canada, I'll go to Canada. Maybe tack on Alaska too."

"You…can I…why?" Hailey asked.

Jay took a deep breath and said, "Well, I don't want to go somewhere too hot again, and I'm not a huge fan of having to fly overseas. I figure I could go somewhere in Canada first, maybe see some mountains, then I can go to Alaska and see glaciers and moose and-and whatever else is there."

"Canada and Alaska," Hailey breathed.

Jay nodded again and suddenly felt like he should have lied and said something like Ireland or Spain as a cop-out.

But then Hailey smiled and nodded. "Makes sense," she said softly, "I've actually never been to Canada either. Could be fun to explore North America."

Jay relaxed and smiled back at her. "Yeah," he replied. Taking a sip of water, he sat further back in the cushions and said, "Maybe someday we can get a long break."

Hailey laughed and repeated, "Someday. We'll get there."

Jay hummed and slowly finished his water. The silence that fell over them as he attempted to sober up was welcoming. A lot different than the silence that had occurred when he first arrived. This was calm and comforting in a way - a little like the silence in the hospital room earlier today, but also much better.

When he finished his glass of water, he brought it to the kitchen and set it in the sink. He half-debated sticking around for longer, but he heard Hailey yawn behind him and knew she deserved to sleep.

"You gonna be okay tonight?" he asked as she came over to set her empty glass next to his.

"Yeah, don't worry about me," she said quietly, "I'm good."

He shot her one quick look of skepticism, and she laughed softly while looking away.

"Worth a shot," she murmured.

"Mhmm," he hummed knowingly. Before he even moved to put his jacket on, he asked, "Do you need anything at all? Ice packs or medicine? I can run out to the store."

"No, no, I'm okay, I have some," she said as she followed him back to the island.

He nodded and slipped his jacket on. "Call me if something comes up, though, okay? You're not alone."

Smiling, Hailey nodded and breathed, "Thank you."

"Always."

He was almost at the door when Hailey said, "Mind if I give you a hug?"

He stopped, turning to face her. "A hug?" he asked.

"Yeah," Hailey breathed, "You did more than you needed, and-"

Jay cut her off with the requested hug. He didn't consider why she needed it or the fact that they've really never been this close to each other before. She wanted a hug, and he'd said he'd give her anything.

It was okay to hug her. She was his friend.

She smelt a bit like the hospital still, but also laundry detergent. Her head barely reached his chin, and she felt rather small against his chest. Her arms were cold and a little shaky as she wrapped them around him to squeeze him back.

He cared about her and hated that he'd almost lost her today. Even if she wouldn't have gotten shot, she had been staring down a path of no return. He was glad to know his voice could pull her away from the darkness that had once consumed him as well.

As he rubbed his hands once, twice over her back, he knew she was much more than just his partner. He didn't just want her safe and happy, he needed her to be. They'd grown to rely on each other, and there was nothing wrong with that.

He stepped back and sent her a small smile. "Goodnight, Hailey."

"Night, Jay," she replied softly.

Before he could step outside, he took one last look at her eyes. They were still incredibly blue, but they were no longer Christmas movie sad. They were blue like the water in Lake Michigan the weekend he spent there just staring at it after his mom passed away. It was calming and a little bit happy, kind of relieving. He felt that same way now. Things were not okay, and they might not be okay for a while, but there was hope.

He held onto that hope all the way home and through the night when he found himself tossing and turning, thinking about how Hailey was doing in her own bed. He wished she was okay and debated texting her, but he knew she could use the space she actually had wanted earlier.

In the morning, though, he made no promises and sent her a text that he would bring her lunch on his break since she was getting the day off. Not to his surprise, she quickly replied that she would be at work, causing him to laugh and shake his head, but then she offered to bring him coffee, and he accepted it. There was no keeping a determined Hailey from the bullpen.

But there was also no keeping him from wanting a smile on her face, so he grabbed his package of chocolate from the freezer and set off to work.

By the time she arrived, he had a note on her desk to check the freezer in the break room and a smirk he couldn't quite wipe off.

She laughed in reply, passed him his coffee, and brushed her hand over his shoulder on her way toward the chocolate.

He was determined to make today better for his partner than the last, and he figured he was off to a pretty good start.

A/N: I hope you liked it - let me know what you think! If you've been here since the beginning, thank you for sticking around. And if you've joined along the way, thank you also for hanging out with me. Upstead, the world, PD, me, it's all different now, but I know I'm grateful for it all. See you next week back in IWM! Thanks again!