Saturday Morning – 7:30

"Are we there yet?"

Jay cut his eyes to Hailey. She was in her usual spot in his truck. He always liked to see her smiling or even sleepy face there. In fact, she was his most frequent passenger. Occasionally, it might be Will or Kevin or Adam occupying that seat if they were going to a game. He tried not to smile. "Are we there yet?" he mocked. "You sound like a five-year-old. We've only been on the road for 10 minutes."

"Any other day we would have almost been to the District," said Hailey. Then she yawned and rubbed her eyes. "It's way too early to be going somewhere unnecessary."

"I don't think you'll find it unnecessary when we get there,' said Jay. He smoothly changed lanes since they were going out of the city.

"Wherever there is," said Hailey with an eyeroll. "Are you going to share that destination with me?"

"Negative." They rolled up to a red light. He turned his head to his partner. Her long hair was down and somewhat tangled as if she'd only run a cursory comb through it this morning. He liked that look better than her usual ponytail. Ponytail meant we're going out to catch perps. Other times it meant I'm going to own the gym and sweat out those pesky calories.

"Hailey, just chillax. Enjoy the ride. You can take a nap, if you like. I won't be offended."

She shrugged. "Why would I care if you're offended?" She was joking, of course. She cared very much what Jay was thinking and feeling. It was a sacred part of their thing. They looked out for each other. Not just because it was vital to their survival every day on the job, but because they were friends.

"Nah, I better stay awake. You might circle back to the airport and dump me on a flight to, I don't know, Bora Bora or Antarctica."

"Antarctica? Never." He laughed at that ridiculous notion. "Now if it was Bora Bora, I wouldn't just dump you, I'd be going with you." A vivid image of the two of them leapt to mind. A tropical island thousands of miles from the dirt and grime and snow of Chicago. Hailey in a little bikini and him rubbing sunscreen on her back. He could spin various scenarios about that all day.

She reached for the tall cup of coffee her thoughtful partner had picked up before arriving at her apartment. "Yeah?"

"Oh, yeah."

Hailey cocked her head at him like she knew exactly what he was thinking. Bora Bora did sound spectacular. Warm breezes, white sand, fruity drinks to sip while reclining on chaise lounges. "Ah," Hailey sighed.

"Was that a good sigh or a bad sigh?" asked Jay with an uplifted eyebrow. He sensed they were thinking similar thoughts. At least, he hoped they were.

"Oh, a good one." She turned in her seat as much as the seat belt would allow and pulled a leg up. "Think how many frequent flier miles we'd rack up!"

"Right. Then we could use those to go to Antarctica. Check out penguins and whatever else lives down there. Little microbe things and such." He smirked and looked entirely too pleased with himself.

Hailey swatted his arm. "Stop it! I'm not wasting valuable miles to go, literally, to the end of the earth to freeze my butt off. I can do that quite well in Chicago, thank you very much." She gave him a squinty eyed look that dared him to argue. "And if it's penguins you want to see, there's always the Lincoln Park Zoo."

"Lincoln Park Zoo. Great idea! We should go sometime. I haven't been since I was a kid."

Hailey took another sip of coffee. She was consumed with one question. One she'd wanted to ask ever since he started talking about the weekend on Wednesday. Why can't I just ask him? But in her heart she knew exactly what was holding her back – fear. Not fear of Jay the man, but fear of upsetting the delicate balance of their partnership.

She returned the coffee to the holder between their seats and took a deep breath. It was now or never.

"Are we on a date?" She felt her cheeks growing warm.

There it is. Jay wondered how long it would take his brilliant partner to question his motives. To realize he'd tricked her into going out with him.

"A date?" he scoffed. "When do Intelligence members have time, or energy, to date? This is a day trip."

His bumbling explanation confirmed Hailey's suspicions. "Jay, a day trip is when we go out of Chicago to interview witnesses or track down suspects," she said. "If you wanted to ask me out, why didn't you, well, just ask me?"

Jay was silent for a few moments. Okay, this is it. I have to lay it on the line. "Because I was scared. Scared you'd say we can't do this because we work together. That we'd ruin our partnership, all that stuff."

Hailey nodded. "I know. But it could be really good, if we're careful and work at it. So, I'm going to ask again, are we on a date?" She gave what she hoped was an encouraging smile and gently laid a hand on his thigh.

Jay felt such a lightness of spirit at that moment and he smiled. "I knew you'd see through my plan, Detective. So, yes, we are on a date. Our first date."

"I hope it's not our only date," said Hailey