Prompt #7: "I would have had breakfast ready, but you were sleeping on my arm and I didn't want to wake you."
Hailey was finally on her flight back home to Chicago after a rewarding, but long and crazy three weeks in New York. She was so excited that it was Jay who was coming to pick her up, and super glad to be arriving home before what has potential for full chaos to ensue. From what she's heard from the team things haven't gotten as crazy in Chicago yet as they have in NYC with this new virus that just started going around. At least that was what it sounded like last week; she's only really been in touch with Voight and Jay since then. The latter assuring her everyone is ecstatic to be getting her back soon. She's found it a little strange that Vanessa hasn't responded back to her texts or reached out to her yet, but she's assuming it's just because they're probably swamped with all the restrictions starting to arise. Jay's still been talking to her everyday and as much as she hates to admit it he's really the only one she can't go a day without being homesick for. Thankfully, in only another hour she won't have to worry about that anymore.
Once her flight touches down at O'Hare she can't wait to make a beeline for baggage claim and then run to meet Jay. The airports had been extra crowded with fear starting to slowly set in, but Hailey uses her years of police skills to maneuver swiftly and precisely. She's outside by personnel pickup sooner than she thought and sees Jay's truck idling in special parking reserved for law enforcement and such. The second he sees her wheeling her luggage and making her way over he hops out with a huge grin on his face. She can't stop herself from beaming too, she's so incredibly happy to see him in person again. He quickly meets her halfway and surprisingly wraps his arms around her, pulling her in close; his strong arms encircling her like he'll never let go. Eventually they realize where they're at and reluctantly pull away from each other, but still smiling like teenagers. Jay breaks the silence first.
"So tell me, you missed me a little bit more than the wind, right?" he teases.
"I don't know," she looks around as her hair whips in her face a little, "there's something to be said for this Chicago air. My hair just didn't get as windblown in New York." She jokes back.
"Well, I missed you, but I'll deny it if the team asks… they basically called me grumpy for a month."
"Yeah? You? NO!" she says faking shock as they both laugh. But then she gently says while trying to hold in a blush, "You know I missed you, Jay. Too much…"
They stare at each other in quiet understanding, the moment not lost on either of them. But this isn't the time or place and there's a lot of other things to discuss.
"Come on, let's get you home!" he says while grabbing her suitcase to roll with one hand and wrapping his other arm around her.
They both realize how natural it feels and the progression doesn't seem weird at all. They catch up some more on the ride back on what they couldn't over the phone, filling the other in on things they may have missed. Hailey feels like Jay is holding something back in regards to the unit, seeming to want to change conversation once certain things are brought up, especially Vanessa, but she thinks she's just over-analyzing. Could that much have happened in only a few short weeks? She even tries to get more about Kevin's situation out of Jay because she really knows just the bare minimum, but he just tells her she'll be back to work soon enough. Then he suggests picking up Bartoli's so she can have it in the comfort of her own home and finally decompress, instead of hanging in a busy restaurant. She gladly agrees to that.
When they finally get back to her place and she's back home, her sense of warmth is short-lived, it feels oddly quiet and empty inside. Hailey can't pinpoint what exactly, as everything looks in place, but something is off. She scrunches her noise as Jay quietly studies her, his expression blank to just about anyone else, but she detects a hint of nervousness behind his eyes. She looks around and then suddenly she's suspicious on why Vanessa hasn't come out to greet them yet. Surely Jay had let Vanessa know what time he was picking her up, even if her text to her roommate had gone unanswered.
"Did Vanessa say she was going out tonight?" she looks back to Jay and she notices his quick flinch.
"Hailey…" he whispers softly. "There's something I have to tell you…"
She feels her heart drop. Why is he looking at her so sympathetically? If he wasn't in front of her right now she'd be in fear that something was wrong with him. He's giving her that same look that the team did when he got kidnapped. She sucks in a breath and slowly nods, signaling for him to continue.
"Vanessa's not here…"
"Yeah, I can see she's not here, Jay. But where is she? In fact, I haven't even heard from her in a few days."
"I know. Hailey, Vanessa's gone…" he steps closer to her and rests his hand on her shoulder.
"What? What do you mean?" she asks scared and confused.
"Voight sent her undercover and she's not coming back…"
"WHAT?" she feels her blood boil. She thought her and Sarge were back on good terms, he even said he was proud of her work at the FBI. Why would he still be such a tyrant to the unit?
"Listen, okay, before you get angry, she had to go Hailey."
"What do you mean?"
Jay sighs, clearly struggling with whatever he has to tell her next. What the hell is going on? The only change she was anticipating coming back to was hopefully her and Jay taking the next step in their relationship. She didn't expect that in three short weeks the world would get pulled out from under her… the virus, the stuff with Kevin, now Vanessa… It's not even halfway through the year!
"Yes, she's dark undercover, but it's also for her protection… It turns out Gael knew it was a cop who planted the drugs in his car, and being that Vanessa and Luis were so close, naturally he assumed it was her who did it, not you. And no amount of convincing was she going to rat you out, she made sure to get the confirmation out that it was in fact her who got him sent away. Gael's people are going to kill her if they find her, so Voight had to get her out of here and quick. There was no time, nor was it wise for her to say goodbye to you. I'm sorry!.." he puts both hands on her shoulders now and tries to pull her closer.
She's so numb she can't even cry. This is all her fault. Her stupid anger and mercenary punishment has now put one of her best friends in danger, the same friend she wanted to help.
"I wanted to tell you, but I couldn't do it over the phone. I knew you needed to hear this in person. I'm so sorry." He continues on when he realizes she's stayed silent.
"Oh my God, this is all my fault. How could I have been so stupid? I should have been here. It should be me Gael wants dead, not her. I did this! I deserve to suffer for it!"
The tears start to fall as she caves in his arms. He wraps her into his chest and whispers in her ear. "Hailey, no, you don't. This is not what Vanessa wanted, for you to blame yourself. She saw this as her way to repay you and all that you did for her and Luis. She knew what she was getting into. We'll take care of Gael and get his guys and maybe eventually she can come back. It's not like she's not used to that life, remember it's what we pulled her from."
"But this was her home, Jay. She finally had a home. We were her home. And now because of me and my anger, she's lost it all. Plus, how can we keep her safe if we can't even be in contact with her?"
"She'll be okay. Please don't blame yourself. She would hate it. We just got you back. I just got you back; don't let this break you more." He says while stroking her back, but she gently pushes him away. She just can't right now.
He reaches into his pocket and pulls out a folded piece of paper. "She left you a note. Gave me strict instructions to give it to you before you started drinking." He gives her a half smile as he hands it to her and leans back patiently on the kitchen counter while she tries to process it all.
She swallows sadly and feels her tears falls more as she slowly opens it to find Vanessa's handwriting. She tries to gather herself as she reads her roommate's last words to her.
Hailey, I know you're going to be upset and angry over this. You're going to blame yourself. Please don't. Despite what you think this was my choice. I knew what I was getting into by trying to cover for Luis in the first place. I should have told him I became a cop years ago, maybe I could have righted things. This is not on you. You were just trying to protect him and me, and for that I'll be forever grateful. I'm so thankful for you. You took me in without even knowing me, no questions asked. You backed me to Voight even if I was fresh. You taught me what it was like to be on a team, to feel like someone always has your back. You showed me what it was like to have a home and have people who generally cared about you. I'll never forget our time together, you're the best roomie I could have ever imagined. Thank you for everything. I'm sorry I'm not there to give you a hug goodbye, but know that I want to and I will never, ever blame you. And you shouldn't either! I'll miss you. Take care of yourself!
Always, V
PS. Please take the stick out of your ass and tell Jay how you feel. I swear if you're not together by the time I come back I'll be SO mad! ;)
Hailey feels a small smile form through the tears while reading the end. Jay watches her hesitantly and then starts to grab plates for their pizza and everything. She rubs her forehead and takes a deep breath, making her way over to her whiskey and making herself a healthy pour. She gently folds the note back up and tucks it into her jeans pocket. She's going to find a special place for it when she's in a better state of mind. She grabs her glass and makes her way over to Vanessa's room, standing in the doorway. She can sense Jay's eyes silently follow her. She stares in the dark room, now completely bare except for a naked bed and a couple pieces of furniture. Hailey had given them to Vanessa since they had just been for guests anyway, there was no point on her spending money. Now apparently they were Hailey's again and another wave of sadness hits her. She feels Jay behind her before he rests his hand on her shoulder.
"Come on, you should eat something. It's been a long day." He points to the living room where he set their plates on the coffee table.
"I'm not hungry anymore." She states simply.
"Then at least come sit and relax." He coaxes her gently as she compliantly nods and they go sit on her couch together.
The irony was this was exactly how she imagined her return anyway, ending the night with Jay on her couch. She just didn't know the circumstances would be so somber. Jay starts to eat his pizza as she continues to sip her drink. He doesn't push her to talk, he knows she will when she's ready, nor does he feed her any bullshit just to make this easier. He just lets them sit there in amicable silence as he puts her favorite movie on. She's eternally grateful to have him as her best friend and know her so well. She could hear the snarky remark Vanessa would make at her thoughts. Halfway through the movie she finds herself leaning her head on his shoulder and he wraps his arm around her waist. Before she knows it the events of the day and past few weeks catch up to her and she's fast asleep.
Hours later she wakes up to the bright light filtering in through her living room windows and Jay smiling down softly at her. Apparently they spent the night on the couch together. She slowly sits up and pulls away from him taking in the surroundings and remembering everything with Vanessa all over again.
"I would have had breakfast ready, but you were sleeping on my arm and I didn't want to wake you." Jay grins at her hoping to get her to smile. She surprisingly does, he always can anchor her somehow.
"You know, if V was here and walked out to find us like this we so would be getting an, 'I knew it' right about now." Hailey smiles even more thinking about it, happy to find her mood isn't all doom and gloom like it had been mere hours ago.
Jay laughs. "Yeah, it doesn't surprise me. She wasn't very discreet in her goodbye to me in regards to you…"
"Oh God, I can only imagine. She was convinced we'd get together once I returned home."
"Well, we definitely wouldn't want to disappoint her…" he replied sincerely as he leaned in to kiss her forehead. They shared one of their charged looks and smiled softly at each other.
Hailey wrapped her arms around his torso and leaned back into him again as they enjoyed the moment. "No, no we don't." she whispered as she felt him pull her closer.
Despite the circumstances, she felt a contentment she never had before. And she knows exactly why as she hears the words repeat over and over in her head. Words she'll be forever grateful to her old roommate for – "…because you love him!"
[A/N: Here's our newest prompt. So I had wanted to do a story on Vanessa once I heard about Lisseth's exit, and I figured I may as well incorporate it to one of the prompts. I have no idea how they'll write her off or if they'll kill her (my heart), but I hope it's something like this. Something that doesn't destroy Hailey completely, but also helps Upstead along. I guess we'll find out soon enough. Hope I did this justice and thank you for reading. Stay safe!
* Lists of prompts to request are at the end of the 1st chapter.]