Jay closed the door of his apartment and pulled a beer from the fridge. He needed it, desperately, after the 2-hour therapy session.

They talked about the events this past week. At the beginning, he was a bit hesitant to salt the wound again; he had cried and been hurt enough as the result of his dad's death, and he did not wish to relieve that again. However, he remembered how Will and Hailey rooted for him to go the therapy, so he braced it and told all his stories. He surprised himself with how open he was about his story. He desperately wanted to get better. He didn't want to be tucked to bed every night in order to sleep soundly.

He was drained once he got home. Kicking off his shoes, he grabbed a beer from the fridge and gulped them. As tired as he was, he was not ready to even try to sleep; his demons haunted him dangerously. He wanted nothing more than go to either Will or Hailey's, and crash on their couches, where he knew he would sleep well. However, he knew better. He didn't want to sabotage Will's family time with Natalie and Owen any more than he already did the past week. Will was newly engaged, and he had better things to do than taking care of his adult brother. Hailey was recovering from an injury, she needed to rest. Not to mention there's a boundary between them that he had crossed several times lately, and he intended to keep that boundary in place.

Jay was watching a random NBA game when his phone rang and Will's name flashed on screen.

"Yeah?" Jay answered.

"Hey, just wanted to check on you after therapy. How was it?" asked Will.

"Tiring," Jay huffed. "You miss me or you're worried about me?" he asked. Will laughed.

"A little bit of both. Actually I'm on break, and could use a little distraction from a patient. You haven't slept?" asked Will.

"About to. Tell me about the patient?" inquired Jay. He laid on the couch, listening to Will's ramble about the patient. Sometimes he mumbled or asked questions to signal that he was still awake. Slowly, he drifted to sleep. He had a peaceful sleep that night.


Hailey was bored to death at home. She did her report, she even attempted to cook with one hand, since she found frozen chopped up veggies and leftover rotisserie chicken in her fridge. Not bad, she thought. She watched 5 episodes of Game of Throne, and was looking at ideas of activity she could do with Angie on Saturday. She already cancelled her other brother's daughters, figured she wouldn't be able to herd three children, aged 3-6, with one hand. But she promised Angie, so she thought she could take her to a park or a mall. She was in the middle of having dinner when she heard the doorbell rang.

"Coming," she walked to the door, knowing it was Jay. He did text her earlier that he would leave the district at 6. After peeking to confirm that it was him, Hailey opened the door.

"Hey," she greeted him. He went inside. "Thank God, I am really bored. Entertain me. Is there a new case?"

"Wow, your enthusiasm is… fascinating," Jay raised his eyebrow. "No new case, we were bored either… doing paperwork and updating CI data."

"Right. Still, better than trapped here. I even cooked because I was bored," complained Hailey.

"You cooked? You shouldn't use your hand, I'm telling Will," Jay went to the stove.

"I cooked with one hand, I didn't even use knife. Tattletale," Hailey glared, but smiled as Jay grabbed a bowl and helped himself to the soup. "Yeah, help yourself."

They sat around the kitchen counter; neither said anything as they finished their dinner. Hailey chuckled when she remembered how detached they were last year, still fresh from Lindsay's departure. Now Jay somehow had made himself comfortable in her place—crashed in her couch, ate her cooking—especially the last week.

"What?"

"No, nothing," Hailey answered quickly. "Just relieved that tomorrow I got to go in, even if I do desk."

"Yeah, and tomorrow you're gonna sulk because we all go to the field," mocked Jay, laughing.

"It's tomorrow's problem. I'm happy just to get out of here," said Hailey, putting her bowl in the sink. Jay put his, and washed both bowls since he figured Hailey couldn't do it with one hand.

"I wanted to call you after therapy session last night, but finished very late and was afraid you were already asleep," said Jay with his back towards Hailey.

"Why did you want to call me? Anything interesting… or to talk about?" asked Hailey.

"Not that interesting. Just… I prefer my last conversation of the day to be about something other than war," Jay admitted. "I ended up talking to Will on the phone, and fell asleep in the middle of conversation."

"Did it help avoiding the nightmare?" asked Hailey.

"Yeah, it helped," Jay admitted.

"Well, if he was on shift, I'm all ears," offered Hailey. "Shall we?" she put on slip-on shoes since she couldn't put on her usual shoes with one hand. Jay helped Hailey put on her jacket. Hailey didn't bother to shrug her injured hand into the jacket, she just slung it on her shoulder. Jay locked the door and gave the key to Hailey. When they arrived to Med, Will whistled.

"Well, if it isn't our platinum members!" he exclaimed. Both Jay and Hailey glared at him. "You wore that all the time, Hailey?" asked Will.

"Yeap. Didn't even use my hand except to hold my phone," said Hailey proudly.

"Okay. Let's see, I'll check your head as well, you should be cleared for desk duty if it came back fully healed," said Will. She picked up the tablet from Maggie and led Hailey to a treatment room. Jay followed behind. After checking Hailey, Will ordered some tests. Jay and him got out of the room.

"You slept well last night?" asked Will concerned.

"Yeah, I even slept in this morning," chuckled Jay.

"Hey, this probably isn't the right time, but… how about we cleared Dad's apartment this weekend? I am off this week," said Will.

"Yeah… yeah. Okay," Jay put on a face.

"We can put it off if you're not ready," said Will.

"We'll never be ready, Will. Okay, I'll see you on Saturday," Jay rubbed his face, and went inside when the nurse who ran the tests exited the room.

"Anything wrong?" asked Hailey, sensing that he was distraught.

"No, just… Will just told me we're cleaning my dad's apartment on Saturday," said Jay.

"Are you ready?" asked Hailey.

"I'll never be ready, do I?" Jay rubbed his face.

"You wanna babysit Angie? I'll take cleaning over babysitting with one hand," Hailey tried to lighten the mood.

"I got an idea. What if I asked Natalie do the cleaning, I can babysit Owen," Jay chuckled. "And then I'll leave Owen at your place, and I can go play basketball."

"Yeah, right. I just cancelled Amber and Jamie, figured I need more than one hand to herd three girls in the park," Hailey rolled her eyes. "Ask Will to postpone if you're not ready. I'm sure he'll understand."

"I'll never be ready, so better do it as soon as possible," shrugged Jay.

"If you need a distraction afterwards, you can babysit Angie while I watch Game of Thrones," joked Hailey.

"I'll probably come," Jay smirked. Will strolled into the room.

"Congratulations, you're cleared for duty. Desk duty," added Will quickly. "I'll redo your shoulder, and you should be good as new. Your shoulder is getting better, but no activity except typing—both on keyboards and phones—is allowed."

"She's babysitting a three year old on Saturday," Jay grinned.

"No lifting at all. Use your other hand. Or you can play robots and trucks all day, like I do with Owen," said Will.

"Lazy ass," mocked Jay.

"Yeah, I'm sure Angie loves those things," said Hailey. Will fixed the taping on her shoulder, and they headed out after thanking Will.


The rest of the week went by fast for both of them. Hailey was stuck to her desk—true to what Jay said, she sulked every time the others went to chase a clue, or grabbed suspects, even did interrogation. Even though, she was glad she could do something behind the screen. She sent clues and coordinates to the team from the district, and they managed to solve a drug case by weekend. The only thing that irked her was that she relied on others to drive her to and from the district. Most of the time it's Jay, but sometimes Adam or Antonio drives her when Jay had therapy. None of them knew about Jay's therapy sessions since it wasn't mandatory; though Jay was sure that nothing went past Voight and Platt's nose.

Jay went to therapy on Thursday and Friday. On Friday, he was forced to recount an ambush in Afghanistan when children hostages were killed; and two of his Army buddies too. It was the scene that appeared in his nightmares, but when he verbalised each scenes, he couldn't hold himself together and went full on crying in the therapist' couch. That ambush was his turning point; it was then that he decided that it wasn't worth the sacrifice anymore. It was when Mouse and he decided to leave the Army. That was what Mouse had decided to run back towards. Jay shuddered every time he thought of Mouse, and thanked all the lucky stars that he hadn't get the dreaded phone call, since he was Mouse's next of kin in Army papers.

Jay called Will the moment he entered his car. Will didn't pick up. Of course, Will had a night shift. Jay went to the hospital. He needed to talk to Will, as averse as he was of asking for help lately.

"Detective Halstead. On duty tonight? We're slammed," said Maggie.

"No, I'm looking for Will," Jay said, avoiding a stretcher being rolled through the ER. Maggie barked orders, before turning her attention back to him.

"He's in Baghdad, car crash victims. Not a good time, he lost two patients on morning shift. Check on him after shift, will you? He could use it," Maggie pointed Jay to the room. Jay peeked from the outside. Will was trying to stabilise a patient, he was in the middle of CPR. Jay could see fatigue and stress in his brother's face; and he found himself sighing in relief when the patient started breathing on his own. Will was still busy assessing injuries, though, so Jay slipped outside. He didn't need to burden Will further.

Jay went on autopilot to Hailey's place. They hadn't talked a lot lately, since she was mostly chained to the district, and Jay sometimes got paired up with either Voight or Adam. Hailey did offer to help him release the after-therapy stress if Will wasn't available, though, so Jay intended to make use of the offer.

When Jay arrived at Hailey's place, it was a little bit over 10. She answered the door after he's been knocking for several minutes. She looked apologetic.

"Hey, Jay. You alright?" asked Hailey concerned, quickly sensing that Jay was distraught.

"No, not really. I was hoping for some distraction… you know, tough session," said Jay.

"Come in. Give me a minute or two," she quickly disappeared inside her room, leaving Jay to sit on the couch. When she came out of the room, she closed the door softly.

"Sorry, just put Angie to bed," Hailey smiled sheepishly.

"Oh, she's here? I thought you will babysit tomorrow?" asked Jay.

"Nope. She got dropped here by my parents earlier. Angie's parents—my brother and his wife—went to North Carolina for a wedding. And my parents—quote on quote, had opera tickets for tonight—so they dropped her off en route to the theatre. Tell me, why did I become a cop and don't have time for opera?" Hailey sat beside Jay.

"You like opera?" Jay frowned.

"No, hypothetically, Jay. I could be a kindergarten teacher and had fun in my job instead of seeing dead bodies and prick on drugs everyday," Hailey rolled her eyes.

"Yeah, right," Jay mocked playfully. He didn't doubt it, though; she is patient and has a caring nature.

"What? Help yourself to the beer."

"No, I'm good," said Jay. "I had therapy earlier. Need to get settled a bit after the emotional turmoil. Went to Med earlier, but Will was slammed." Hailey nodded in understanding. He looked better since the last time he took her to Med. She made a point to check on him every day, promising herself that whenever she thought he lacked of sleep to the point of not being able to work, she would confront him. As far as she observed, he was getting better.

"You guys have a plan tomorrow though?" asked Hailey.

"Yeah, clearing my dad's apartment. We'll do it tomorrow evening," said Jay. "He had to stay with Owen, Natalie had a day shift."

"Make sense. Will want to babysit an extra toddler tomorrow?" joked Hailey.

"I'll ask him. What plan do you have with Angie tomorrow, though?" asked Jay.

"I'm gonna take her to the park. Not Millenium Park, though, it's too large and dangerous since I only have one hand," said Hailey. "She wanted to make pancake in the morning, and we'll go right after that."

"She sounds like a sweet girl," commented Jay.

"You have no idea. She's the best. That's why I am confident to babysit with one hand. Look what she gave me—she drew this in my parents' house," Hailey beamed and passed a picture to Jay. Hand-drawn by Angie, it showed a big blonde girl and a small blonde haired girl by each other.

"Sweet," smiled Jay. "Your life seemed normal if you're being an aunt."

"What's that supposed to mean?" asked Hailey. "I get it, though… with the intensity of our jobs, it seemed like we don't have time for anything else outside work. However, my nieces are part of what kept me grounded. At the end of a lousy day, when I needed a quick pick-me-up, I would go to their houses and play for 10 minutes with them, and suddenly everything is well."

"I did that with Owen sometimes. Hey, let me drive you to the park tomorrow," offered Jay. "You still can't drive, and it's the least I can do after you helped me with everything."

"Alright, Angie could use some company. She was a bit disappointed when I told her I can't lift her or play run with her," said Hailey. She briefly wondered about letting Jay meet Angie. Usually she likes to keep her personal life private. However, he is good with kids, take Owen for example. He could provide an extra hand tomorrow, one she didn't have at the moment.

"How's your shoulder?" asked Jay.

"Will get it checked on Monday," said Hailey. "I'm bored in the office, though."

"The last two times you went to the field, you got hurt. I'm gonna chain you to the car next time," said Jay. Hailey's bruises were mostly gone, except the one on her cheek where she got punched. The one Jay couldn't bear to look at was the one on her neck, though. The offender's hand print was very clear, he felt very uncomfortable to look at it.

"I'm fine, Jay," Hailey convinced him. "It's part of the job. I went through worse earlier, hell, once I had to pretend I was dead, with fake blood capsule in my mouth and such."

"Really?" asked Jay.

"Yeah, it wasn't fun. Especially that I took a real bullet to the vest," Hailey smiled.

"Yeah, it hurts like hell," Jay subconsciously grabbed his chest, where he took a bullet last week. Hailey cringed. Suddenly she got the flashback of him on the ground, looking dead. She shrugged the thought and went to her alcohol cabinet, pulling out a bottle of tequila and poured herself a shot. Jay looked at her questioningly.

"No, it's nothing," Hailey went back to the couch. Suddenly the door of her bedroom opened, and a little girl with blonde curls and blue eyes peeked outside.

"Aunt Hailey," called Angie. She went to Hailey and buried her face in Hailey's lap.

"Yes, Angie?" asked Hailey.

"I want to sleep with you," whined Angie. Hailey smiled. She tried to pick Angie up with one hand, to no success. Jay understood, and picked her up, placing her on Hailey's lap. Angie immediately cuddled to Hailey.

"Okay, let's sleep," Hailey embraced her with her good hand. Angie fell asleep on her lap. Jay smiled seeing Hailey played with Angie's curls. He could imagine Hailey as a little girl, with blonde hair and blue eyes.

"She's cute," commented Jay.

"Oh, she's even more adorable awake," Hailey beamed and kissed Angie's hair.

"I could mistake her for your kid, though. She looked just like you."

"If that's your way of saying I'm cute, thanks. But, yeah, my sister-in-law and I looked more like siblings than my brother and I," said Hailey. "I really need to put her to bed, though." She suddenly realised she couldn't really stand up with one hand carrying a little girl and another hand incapacitated. She turned to Jay asking for help. "It's okay, deep sleep runs in our gene," Hailey whispered when Jay hesitated to pick Angie up. Jay couldn't help but to roll his eyes as he gently picked Angie up from Hailey's lap.

"Where should I put her?" asked Jay as Angie latched on to him easily.

"Could you carry her to my room? I can't put her to bed with one hand if she's asleep," said Hailey. Jay followed her to her bedroom and settled Angie on the bed. Hailey kissed Angie's head and tucked her in.

"I'll walk myself out. Thank you for the drink…and your time. I'll see you tomorrow," said Jay.

"Anytime. Tell me if you need anything," said Hailey. She could see hesitation in Jay's eyes, so she initiated the hug. She could feel Jay relaxed as he let out a deep breath in her embrace. "Take everything one day at a time, Jay. Everything will be okay at the end," she whispered.

"Thanks. Yeah… I know," Jay nodded against her shoulder, then exited the bedroom and left, locking the door behind him.


I just watched 6x20 and 6x21 as I was out of town previously. Cannot wait for season finale as well as new fanfics about them!