Hailey was not surprised that the bed was empty, when she got up. It was Jays first day back at work and she new he was eager. Jay was beyond bored the previous week. He took Dr. Morelock's instructions seriously. Unable to go running or to the gym he wasn't sure what to do with himself. While certainly not one hundred percent Jay felt so much better. He had barely had to take the pain or nausea meds during his week off and while he was being very cautious with what he was eating, his appetite was noticeably improving.

Hailey found Jay outside on the couch, munching on a bowl of plain corn flakes, already showered and dressed for work. She smiled at him, "feels like the first day of school, huh."

Jay blushed, "maybe."

Arriving at the district Jay couldn't hide his happiness. Limited duty or not this was his home.

Walking in Platt spotted the two detectives. "Chuckles," she yelled. "How ya feeling?"

"Good," he responded. She eyed him suspiciously. "Better, honestly."

Jay was relived that they were the first ones in the bullpen, he was nervous about the awkwardness of his return. He hated the attention. Voight was in his office with the door shut, so he decided to make coffee in order to avoid everyone else's arrival. His plan worked, He walked out of the break room just as everyone was arriving.

"Hey man, look who's here," Adam said boisterously.

"Good to see you back Jay," Kim added.

Just as Kevin was arriving, Voight came out of his office. "We got a case, multiple bodies in Englewood, probably gang related." Jay hung back as everyone filed out, Hailey gave him a soft smile before following.

"We'll let you know when we have anything, good to have you back Jay," Voight said before leaving. While they were gone Jay tried to stay busy, he finished a few reports that he was unable to complete before he was in the hospital and found other random tasks.

The scene was chaotic and the team had lots of witnesses to interview so they didn't make it back until lunchtime. Hailey returned with a sandwich for Jay. "Thanks," he mouthed. Sitting down he started eating picking off the lettuce and tomatoe, dry swallowing his meds.

The rest of the day was busy, the case getting complicated quickly. Jay was happy to be back but unsurprisingly felt useless on desk duty. He tried to remain patient knowing he had another few weeks of this.

The case continued to consume intelligence for the next several weeks. Adam and Kevin went undercover, with Jay taking on most of the tech and behind the scenes work. Voight new Jay had to leave early today for his follow up today. He also new Hailey really wanted to go with him, but unfortunately he needed her out canvassing. So Jay headed out alone.

Jay was secretly or maybe not so secretly a little nervous. He was starting to feel really restless at work this past week, ready to be back to full duty. However he knew he still wasn't back to "normal." He was still not eating the greatest and having intermittent stomach cramps. Thankfully he hadn't really experienced much nausea and true abdominal pain seemed to be a thing of the past. He thought maybe he had gained a few pounds back but was not confident of that fact. Was this an acceptable "new normal," he hoped so.

Dr. Morelock walked into the exam room, smiling at Jay. "Hey man, how we feeling these days."

"Pretty good," Jay replied.

"I'll do a quick exam and then we can get started." Dr Morelock listened to his stomach and slow sky palpated all four quadrants, noting no signs of discomfort. "Alright so your lab work looks better, your CRP is still higher than I'd hoped but is much improved. Electrolytes and CBC look normal. How are your symptoms?"

Jay was honest, "I'm still having some stomach cramps and mild diarrhea, maybe 3-4 times a day. No nausea or full on abdominal pain though."

"How often are you having the stomach cramps?"

"Daily or almost daily, but they're bearable, nothing I can't work through."

"How about appetite? You're up a few pounds," he commented.

Jay motioned so-so with his right hand, "eh it's okay. Not what it used to be."

"So here's the deal, I know you're eager to get back to work fully. I will release you, however," he stressed. "I think we need to keep a close eye on things. I normally prefer to stick to eight to twelve weeks between Remicade infusions. Really ten to twelve but I think it's best if we do our next one at six weeks. I will keep you on the treatment dose of mesalamine for now and then I want to see you back here four weeks after this next infusion."

Jay nodded, he was happy, but a bit leery.

"I would definitely put you in the more severe category of ulcerative colitis, so I think it's going to take some real effort to fully get you in remission if we're able to at all."

"I need you to be really diligent with your diet and stress management. You can return to your regular exercise routine, but if you need rest take it."

Jay nodded his head in understanding. "Alright Jay, we'll see you back here in a few weeks. They'll get you scheduled for the infusion and follow up out front. You've been quiet, any questions?"

"No that's it thanks."

Throughout the winter and spring Jay's condition was stable. Dr. Morelock continued to adjust his meds but they were unable to get Jay into remission fully. They had switched to different infusions, tried different oral meds without huge improvements. Symptom wise Jay was at a point where he felt comfortable. Yes he did in fact have to adjust to his "new normal," but he had adjusted well. He was managing his stress appropriately, taking rest when he needed to, and had managed to avoid getting an infections during flu season. While Dr. Morelock would have liked to get him into full remission he was happy with his progress for now and at his last appointment decided to keep things the same.

Hailey and Will were both surprised and impressed with Jay. They were both expecting a bit of push back from Jay, but were grateful for his acceptance and commitment to managing the condition. The infusions always made him really fatigued so he started scheduling them on Fridays so he could take the weekend to relax. He was strict with his diet and quick to call Dr. Morelock's office with any concerns.

He had a mild flare at the end of the summer. After taking a few days off work and a course of steroids he was back to "normal."

However in November, the more severe symptoms started slowly reappearing. At first he noticed more stomach cramps. They weren't more painful but were definitely happening more frequently. They were super busy at work so he ignored it. He had started having more diarrhea but they were so busy he didn't even notice until Hailey had commented on it one day. "Hey, you feeling okay," she asked as he walked back from the bathroom. "Seems like you've been in the bathroom a bit more lately."

"Huh," he said cocking his head to the side. "I don't think so, well maybe. It's been so nonstop recently."

"I'll keep an eye on it." He meant to he really did, but a few days later he ended up undercover. His undercover stint lasted a few weeks, a bit longer than they initially planned. Hailey was able to see him here and there, but not consistently. So when his assignment ended and he was home for the first night, she was surprised to find him in the bathroom several times overnight.

The next morning when Jay woke up, it was the first day he truly felt ill. His appetite was gone, the intermittent stomach pain had become constant, and his body felt weighed down by fatigue. He decided to push through one more day and dragged himself into work.

Hailey watched him closely that next day at work. She noted that he just picked at lunch after eating a small breakfast, how he was in the bathroom probably four or five times that day. She swear she saw at wince or two as he rubbed his stomach behind his desk mindlessly through the day. She worried that Jay was reverting to old behaviours, trying to brush things off.

When they got home she made some dinner, purposefully picking something really light and plain. It didn't matter he pushed it around his plate anyway. "Jay, what's going on," she said, eyeing him suspiciously.

"I know," he sighed, "I let it go a bit too far. I didn't mean to, I just got really wrapped up in the case. I just wanted to see how today went before I called Dr. Morelock."

"I trust you, it happens."

"I'll call the office tomorrow. Hopefully he can give me some steroids and we can get it taken care of before it gets worse."

"Why don't you say anything when you got home, Jay?"

"I don't know, maybe I was embarrassed. I thought I was past all this. I've been working so hard to take care of myself."

"Hey, it's okay. We'll figure it out."

That night was one of the worst Jay had had since he was diagnosed. He was in the bathroom multiple times , the abdominal pain was unrelenting, even the nausea was starting to creep in. He was miserable. He tried not to bother Hailey but around two am he gave in. "Hailey, Hailey," he whispered as he gently shook her arm.

"Yeah," she said groggily as she sat up halfway. "Can you get the heating pad for me and umm," he hesitated "maybe some pain meds."

"That bad," she asked as she quickly got out of bed. "You want Tylenol"

"Can I get the prescription one actually." That caught her off guard. She decided to turn the light on so she could get a good look at him. She knew he wouldn't ask for narcotics unless he was really hurting, but she was surprised by how quickly things seem to escalate. When she looked at him in the light he was clearly in a world of hurt. She plugged in the electric heating pad first, placing it on his stomach before going to find his meds. It had been so long since he had needed them, searching for them she finally found them at the back. She brought him back one pill and a small glass of water. She found him curled up holding the heating pad tightly to his belly. "Babe," she said softly, not wanting to startle him. "Here you go." He barely moved, only sitting up slightly so he could take it, before quickly folding in on himself again. Hailey returned to her side of the bed, running her fingers through his hair until he fell into a restless sleep.

The next morning Hailey woke Jay up as she was leaving. "Jay, I'm leaving. It's almost eight, Dr. Morelock's office should be open soon."

"What, why didn't you wake me," he exclaimed, trying to hide the irritation in his voice.

"Jay be realistic, you know you shouldn't be at work right now. Voight would take one look at you and send you home. Plus you took narcotics last nights. God forbid something were to happen and they had to drug test you."

"It's prescribed Hailey."

"I know, but you know it's not allowed."

"You're right," he looked at her sulking. She looked back at him flatly. "About both things. Let me at least text Voight ,okay?"

She nodded in agreement, "You need anything before I go?"

"No I can manage."

He texted Voight, "Hey, I won't be in today. I didn't realize how crappy I was feeling at the end of the undercover. Definitely having a flare up. Need a few days, should be back Monday."

He called Dr. Morelock's office to talk to the triage nurse. It was Friday so he needed to be sure he could reach someone before the weekend. He waited for several minutes on hold and then was able to talk with a nurse. She asked him questions about his symptoms and said she would get ahold of Dr. Morelock.

He was surprised when Dr. Morelock himself called him back twenty minutes later. "Good morning Jay."

"Is it a good morning," he joked back.

"Doesn't sound like it for you. What happened? You don't normally let things get this bad?

"I've been undercover for the last two weeks. I felt it coming but didn't realize how bad I was until we closed the case Wednesday. I felt pretty shitty yesterday and probably had the worst night in a long time last night."

"How much have you been in the bathroom?"

"Probably eight times yesterday total."

"Any nausea, vomiting?"

"Some nausea but no vomiting. My appetite's trash."

"How's the pain?"

"Rough, I had to take a norco last night. I haven't taken one of those since my first week home from the hospital when I was diagnosed," Jay complained.

"Sounds like you got a pretty bad flare brewing. Alright let's start with a five day course of steroids and then we'll taper. You're scheduled for your Entyvio infusion in two weeks so we can move that up to Monday. When you come in we can get some blood work. I want to see where your inflammatory markers are at. Eat what you can and sit your ass on the couch this weekend Halstead."

"Yes sir," Jay replied.

"Do you need another script for pain or nausea meds?"

"No I should be able to get by until the steroids kick in."

"Okay, well call the after hours this weekend if you need anything. I mean it, I don't want this getting out of control, your UC has been hard to manage to begin with."

"Yup, I appreciate it, see ya next week. Thanks."

"Feel better," Dr. Morelock said as he hung up the phone.

Soon after Hailey arrived at the district she got a text message from Jay. "Hey, talked to Dr. Morelock already. Prescribed a course of steroids. Wants me to come in on Monday to do my infusion early."

She responded, "do you need me to bring it to you? Want me to let Voight know?"

He texted back, "Will is off today. I'll see if he can pick it up for me. I'd rather text Voight, thanks."

"You got it, love you. Feel better."

Jay texted Voight right after, "Talked to my doc, he wants to move up my infusion to Monday morning, so I won't be in until the afternoon."

"Don't those usually knock you on your ass," Voight responded a few minutes later.

"Well yeah…"

"Take the day then Halstead. Feel better."

Voight came out to Hailey's desk, "he really that bad?"

"Yeah, I think he got so wrapped up in the undercover he didn't realize how bad it was getting. Last night was a rough one, the roughest he's had in a while."

"Keep me updated, he can take as much time as he needs. I know he knows that."

Everybody asked about Jay, but Hailey gave the same response. "He pushed a little too hard on the undercover op. His stomach is flaring up, got some steroids from his doctor, should be back next week."

Jay hadn't moved from the bed since he woke up. He felt a bit better than last night but wasn't willing to push his luck. He called Will, "hey can you do me a favour?"

"Sure, what up?"

"I'm home sick, like UC sick. Dr. Morelock sent a script for steroids over to the pharmacy for me. Can you pick them up, I don't want Hailey to have to leave work."

"Yeah, let me just get ready, your usual pharmacy," Will asked.

"Mhmmm."

"Alright leaving in ten, you need anything else?"

"No," he responded softly. "Thanks."

"See ya soon," Will said before hanging up the phone.