"Finally!" Natalie exclaimed. "Will was that close to eating your Drunken Noodle," she pointed out to Jay.
"Yeah, sorry. Got held back," excused Hailey. Will and Natalie wisely didn't comment further; they noticed Hailey's red-rimmed eyes and they relaxed behaviour. They realised that Jay and Hailey have talked their hearts out and made up.
"Which one, Hailey? Drunken Noodle or Pad Thai?" offered Natalie.
"I'll take Pad Thai, Jay can have the Drunken Noodle," said Hailey, earning a grateful smile from Jay for sparing him his favourite. They ate in silence, occasionally passing spring rolls or chicken cutlets. Neither of them felt like talking about the funeral, nor Will and Jay wanted to talk about cleaning up their father's apartment. They nearly finished eating when Natalie received a call from Owen's babysitter, saying that they were downstairs. Natalie went down to pick Owen up, and once Owen set foot in the apartment, he immediately ran towards Jay.
"Uncle Jay!" he climbed Jay's leg. Jay laughed, picking him up and sat him on his lap.
"Hey, buddy. We haven't finished playing last time, have we?" Jay was glad to see his nephew-to-be. Last time he was there, Owen was very eager to play with him, but he wasn't in the mood since it was shortly after his dad died and he got shot. He was tired, unwell, and an emotional mess; he could barely look at Owen let alone keep up with his energy level. Now, he was happy to keep Owen company.
"Play truck!" Owen tugged at Jay's hand.
"Owen, honey, let Uncle Jay finished eating. He will play with you later. Now go to your room," interrupted Natalie. Hailey used the distraction to steal the last spring roll on Jay's container. Jay glared at her.
"Okay. Uncle Jay, quick!" Owen ran to his room. Will looked at him, amused.
"I don't understand what you did to him. He was never that excited to see me," Will shook his head.
"Nobody's excited to see you, Will," jabbed Jay, eliciting snickers from Natalie and Hailey. In the rare occasions each of them hung out with the brothers, watching them banter was always amusing.
"You are gonna pay for stealing my spring roll, I'm gonna glue your keyboard on Monday," threatened Jay to Hailey who was eating the stolen spring roll.
"Go ahead, for her safety," Will passed the spring roll between him and Natalie to Jay. Jay picked it up and they continued eating.
"See? I'll have you as my partner anytime, Will," joked Hailey.
"Really? He doesn't do running, you're gonna chase bad guys alone while he sit in the car, snacking," mocked Jay. "All at the cost of a spring roll."
"You won't do well either in the ER, man. You'll be yelling at them because you're impatient and, put it simply, a jerk. Ms. Goodwin would have a field day with you," Will retorted. Nat laughed. "What?" Will turned at his fiancée.
"Oh, nothing. Remind me again who yelled at the patient's mom last week?" Nat giggled. Will turned bright red.
"That's her fault!" countered Will. "Changing the subject purposely; how's the bruise, Hailey?"
"It's getting better. Shoulder's healing too. It's just the bruise is so nasty I don't really want to be seen in public," said Hailey. "Yesterday I bought lunch along with Voight. Was sure at least five people looked at him with disgust as if he was my abusive husband—or father," she snickered remembering yesterday's hilariously awkward occasion.
"Really?" Jay burst out laughing. He cannot imagine his boss being in that awkward situation.
"Yeah. He just rolled his eyes and said, 'I took the bullet for Halstead'," Hailey laughed. Will and Natalie laughed, too, the former with relief to see the partnership had resolved tension. As soon as Jay was done, he went to Owen's room. The rest of them continued eating and packed up the containers after they were done. Natalie started the coffee machine. They all frowned and laughed when they heard Jay and Owen both imitated sound of vehicles and shrieked loudly, followed by roaring laughter.
"It looks like they are both 3 years old," commented Hailey.
"Yeah. Wish he was a 3 years old," muttered Will. "Owen reminds me of little Jay a lot. Stubborn, can't sit still, cheeky. I wish Owen won't see the world the way Jay did, though…" He sighed. "By the way, you made up already, haven't you?"
"Yeah, we have," said Hailey embarrassed. "You know?"
Will peeked into the hallway which leads to Owen's room. "He stayed here last night. He was upset, regretting what he said to you," Will lower his voice. Natalie put a coffee cup each in front of Hailey and Will, and took hers to her room, knowing Will would like to talk to Hailey.
"In my defence, I was offended. He thought I sweet-talked him and asked Voight to change partner. I would never do that. I yelled at him, not talked behind his back," Hailey was a bit defensive, though she felt guilty to upset Jay further. She was supposed to have his back, not weigh him down. They heard laughter coming from down the hallway.
"That's good, he hasn't been able to relax since the fire," smiled Will. "He hasn't been able to sleep well, nightmare and everything. I'm concerned," Will frowned. Hailey contemplated how much should she disclose. Eventually, she decided that Will should know everything if their common goal is Jay's wellbeing.
"I know. Two nights ago he crashed at my couch. The previous night I didn't hear from him in the morning, so I went to his place and woke him up from nightmare. I haven't seen a lot of him at work, though, so I don't know how he functioned," sighed Hailey.
"He doesn't trust anyone in. I'm partly to blame for that, I didn't pay attention when he slipped away," said Will. "We were close as kids, he always told me everything. The war changed him, though. I was partially to blame that he thinks so low of himself. He needed help, and I wasn't there. I didn't know about his PTSD, or nightmare, until after Erin left." He lowered his voice and peeked to the hallway. "I knew about it accidentally, of course. He didn't tell me. I'm glad that he trusts you, though. He hasn't let his guard down to anyone. Even with me, after I came back to Chicago, we're still not at 100%," Will shook his head regretfully.
"I'm sorry for telling you this, but he was worried that you would leave him again," Hailey said tentatively, worried that Will would be upset.
"I know. And I'll always regret it, that I wasn't there for him. It was rough, I know, for him, to go through it all alone. He always depended on me as a kid. As an adult, when he needed me, I wasn't there. I tried to be there for him now. However, he might need you more. I was relieved to know that he depends on you. You must be one hell of a partner to stay with him through all the drama, despite him being rude at times," concluded Will. He took a jar of cookies from the kitchen counter and opened it.
"My biggest regret was not being friends with my former partner, and he turned up to be an alcoholic and had suicidal tendency. I knew about it when he collapsed and got his stomach pumped. I wondered how could I spend so much time together and didn't realise something was wrong. Or maybe something was wrong, but I ignored all the signs. Since then I wanted to be there for my partner. That's why I always act first, ask later. With Jay too, I try to help him when he needs me. Whether he explained it is another story," Hailey explained. "He told you he's going to start therapy?"
"Yeah. Hopefully everything turns out well."
"By the way, how are you holding up? With everything?" asked Hailey.
"As well as can be expected. Except when the fool decided to get shot, I'm doing okay," said Will. "Thank you, really, I appreciate that you're always there for him. I cannot imagine him getting through this without your help."
"It's nothing. I'm glad to be of help," Hailey flashed her dimple. They sat in silence, sipping their coffees. The voice from the hallway had died down.
"I plan on taking him to clear our dad's apartment next week. I'll let you know how he holds up then," said Will. Hailey nodded.
"Hey, guys," Natalie emerged from the hallway. "Come here," she whispered giddily. They all followed Natalie to Owen's room.
"Awww," Hailey gushed. Will took out his phone to snap a picture of a sleeping Jay and Owen. Jay was spread on Owen's bed, face up, while Owen napped on top of him, face buried in his chest.
"Should we leave them?" asked Will.
"Owen needs his afternoon snack, I'm gonna pick him up," said Natalie.
"Be careful, Nat. Jay bites," joked Will, half serious referring to Jay's PTSD. Natalie picked Owen up quickly and held him.
"Owen, honey, wake up," whispered Natalie, taking his son outside the room.
"Does Jay need a ride home?" asked Hailey to Will.
"He came here straight from the office yesterday, so I don't think so," said Will.
"I'll get going then," Hailey went to the living room. "Natalie, I'm going home," she announced.
"Alright, thanks Hailey. Owen, say bye-bye to Aunt Hailey?" Natalie ordered, to which Owen obliged and even gave Hailey a hug.
"I'll see you guys around," said Hailey.
"Thank you, I'll let him know you're gone," Will smiled.
"Thanks, see you later Will," Hailey smiled back, then she went home.
Will sat on the side of the bed and patted Jay's shoulder.
"Jay, wake up," he said softly. Jay opened his eyes slowly.
"Hey," croaked Jay. He sat up and looked at his watch. "What time is this?"
"Around 5," answered Will. Jay yawned. "Sorry, I didn't want to wake you up, but it's been hours."
"Where's Owen?" Jay looked around.
"Nat's taking him to her friends' gender reveal party, whatever that is. Between you and him, I don't know who the toddler is," Will smirked.
"Yeah, right. I do wish I was three, though. Having everything done for me would be nice."
"Duh, Jay. You had everything done until your teens! I even did your homework!" They both laughed. Will was the studious one; he wanted to do more homework after he did his. Jay of course was happy to let Will did his. It wasn't that he was a bad student; he could do it by himself. It was just he felt like he did a favour by letting Will did all the science homework and projects.
"Where's Hailey?" asked Jay.
"She went home earlier," answered Will. "I see that you've made up."
"Yeah, it was exactly like her to come anyway despite everything. I asked her to keep me company earlier, was afraid I would be overwhelmed. You know, I attended many funerals of my Army buddies; I was worried I would get flashback. I didn't tell her that though. I was going to go to her place afterward otherwise," Jay sighed. Of course, Hailey made the first move for them to make up. Before, he would feel that he needed to step up and did his part as a partner. However, he remembered what Hailey just said: he deserved loyal people in his life. He sighed.
"As I said, she's one hell of a partner. Alright, what do you want for dinner? Figured while we're both off we could grab a bite," said Will. Jay didn't really feel like hanging out, however with everything that happened, and the fact that he would be seeing the therapist soon on his free time, he could use some bonding time with Will.
"Anything. You pick," Jay shrugged.
"We don't have to go if you don't want to," Will sensed his lack of enthusiasm.
"No, I want to. I mean, I'm gonna start therapy soon on my off time, so better enjoy the free time while we have it," said Jay. "Your pick, cause you're paying."
"Hey, I need to start saving for my wedding," Will rolled his eyes. They both went to the car. Jay thought about how sucks life was for him the last few weeks. Less than a month ago he mourned the loss of Al, which shook him to the core. The team had just finished mandatory therapy sessions for losing a team member, and now here he was. He lost his dad who was, as Will phrased it, living on borrowed time. Still, he wondered for the thousandth time if there was anything he could've done differently. If only his dad's surgery was pushed back a month; if only it was his check-up schedule; if only he took his dad out for something, if only he didn't push his dad to move to that apartment… he shuddered as the demons haunted him.
"You okay?" asked Will, noticing him drifting away.
"I'll be. Yeah. Thanks. Guess I'll be paying," Jay smiled.
"To what do I owe the pleasure?" Will asked, pretending to be cautious.
"I owe you and Hailey at least a nice dinner, a 'Saving Jay' dinner. I couldn't go through this week without both of you."
"Save it for her. I do it because you're my brother, and I love you," said Will. Jay patted him in the shoulder. "Do something for me though. Get a good sleep before you go back to work on Monday. You look horrible."
"As if you ever look good," quipped Jay, laughing.
About Aunt Hailey, it will have to wait, because I think I'll write about a case first, about how they ease back into routine, and maybe we'll get an injury on the team. I cannot wait for the new episode tomorrow.
