When Jay woke up at 6, he sensed someone nearby. Upon feeling Hailey's touch on his shoulder, he stirred. Hailey was asleep sitting beside him; her head was propped by the armrest. He pulled her to lie on the couch; covering her with blanket. He sat on the kitchen counter, pondering about the situation. He had a couple of therapy sessions left, and nightmare still bugged him. It got better, sure, but only briefly. He got nightmare when there's a trigger, not the war but his closest people dying on him. He sighed and started the coffee.

"Morning," Jay was pouring coffee when Hailey woke up. She glared at Jay, but received the coffee mug he offered. "I know I know," Jay raised his hands in surrender.

"It's called emergency key for an emergency," scolded Hailey.

"I don't want to wake you up at 1," said Jay.

"You came at 1?" asked Hailey.

"I had a nightmare about you dying, and went here. I had to see that you're okay," said Jay.

"You watched me asleep at 1?" Hailey's eyes widened.

"Not really, well, you locked your room. I didn't want to break the lock; I was afraid you'd shoot me," said Jay.

"I understand, but you could've called me. Or ring the bell. I meant it when I said I'll help you with anything. But we do it properly. You call or ring the bell, not letting yourself in. It's not I don't trust you, but some boundaries have to be put in place. That's the only way our partnership is gonna work," Hailey frowned. "Or you can give me back my key, I'll give it to Antonio instead."

"Sorry," said Jay, managed to look sheepish. "I'll be out in 5 minutes. Are you coming to work?"

"Yeah, I am," Hailey sat on the couch and lay down.

"See you at work," said Jay. Upon hearing no response, he walked to the living room. "Hey, Hailey, I'm sorry. I know I shouldn't come uninvited, it's just… I don't feel right waking you up."

"It's okay," said Hailey. "Please lock as you leave, I'm catching up on sleep, still very tired."

"You're really okay?" Jay frowned, his hand made its way to her forehead.

"Yeah, I think," said Hailey.

"Hey, thanks for keeping me company. I didn't realise you went to sit by me. Did I wake you up?" asked Jay, feeling guilty since it looked like she didn't sleep well on the couch, which probably was a trade-off with him feeling very well rested and woke up fresh.

"No, you didn't. I went to grab a drink, and saw you there, clearly having nightmare. You didn't scream, you… you cried, silently."

"I remember it very vaguely, but I woke up rested, thanks to you," Jay touched Hailey's shoulder. "Sorry you didn't sleep well sitting up."

"No, obviously I did. I didn't even realise when you woke up. I just need to catch on an hour of sleep, and I'll be good," said Hailey. Jay pulled the blanket over her and tucked her in.

"Alright, see you later," said Jay. He went home, showered, and picked up coffee and muffins on the way. Hailey could use some sugar kick today, especially as they would be doing paperwork.


The day dragged by very slow; they updated CI files and sifted through cold cases. The muffin and coffee Jay brought Hailey was finished in an instant because she was bored doing paperwork. They almost cheered when Voight received a call about multiple carjacking, only to realise how insensitive it would be.

Once it was known that the carjacker targeted females, they gathered in the bullpen to strategize. Antonio looked to Kim and Hailey as he suggested one of them went undercover.

"I'll do it," shrugged Hailey. Jay snapped his head up. "I'll be carjacked, and one of you can wait in the car to apprehend him. It should be over in no time, only one offender."

"Okay, you're wearing wire and camera for evidence," said Voight.

"Don't I have a voice in this?" interrupted Jay.

"You're outnumbered. Besides, it's not like we have any other options," said Antonio. Jay quickly counted and cursed inside. Out of three detectives and a sergeant, only he disagreed.

"Alright," Jay nodded. "But I get to be her cover."

"No," Voight countered. "You'll be in the van, ready to chase the car if something goes wrong. Adam, you cover her. Kim and Kevin, you'll be in the corner, ready to chase on foot."

"Got it," said Adam. Jay was livid, but Hailey quickly dragged him to the back room to help her set up the wire and camera.

"Okay, out with it," said Hailey once she came out of the changing room and sat beside Jay.

"I should be your cover, you know that," said Jay. He stood and paced back and forth.

"No, I need you outside the car. If something goes wrong and I am hurt, I want you there," Hailey grabbed his arm. It was only a partial truth, but she had been worried about Jay because of what happened in his therapy sessions, and didn't want her judgement to be clouded by having him covering her.

"Yeah, yeah. I get it. No need to bubble wrap you," repeated Jay, his hands shook as he helped her putting on wire.

"Exactly. I'll be careful," said Hailey. She patted Jay's arm.

"You better be," Jay hugged her.


Jay tried to hide his anxiety. He was hiding in a van with Antonio and Voight, ready to jump out or chase by car if something went wrong. As much as he knew that Hailey was capable—he witnessed her fight multiple times—he couldn't help but felt worry seeped in the back of her mind. He just talked to the therapist yesterday about the fear of losing two most important people to him—Hailey and Will—and Hailey did an operation in which he wasn't the backup. Adam is a competent cop, but Jay still felt it should be him.

"Jay, head on the game," Antonio patted his shoulder, sensing his colleague shifted uncomfortably in his seat. His body language screamed anxiety—his legs trembled and he tapped the table with his nail. "You're okay?" he asked. He had been disturbed by the departure of his sister—leaving his husband and the city that she loved all of a sudden—that he just realised that something was wrong with Jay. He made a mental note to check with Hailey about that; she seems to know something about what bugged Jay. From what he knew, Jay wasn't close with his father—so something else must have been bugging him.

"Yeah, sorry," Jay gathered himself and looked at the surveillance monitor. Hailey walked out a store with paper bags on her hand, pretended that she just finished shopping. As she opened the door of the car, two men ran up to her. She didn't prepare for two offenders; previously there was only one offender. She tackled one of the guys down, but the second guy shoved her against the car. She got caught by surprise when he opened the boot of the car and shoved her in.

Jay and Antonio were out the door as soon as Hailey was shoved inside the boot. Jay, Kim, and Kevin ran to the car while Antonio and Voight apprehended the guy who was on the ground after being kicked in the gut by Hailey. When they surrounded the car, they saw Adam pointing his weapon to the back of the guy's head. He couldn't start the car as Hailey had shut the electricity down.

"Okay, okay!" the guy yelled. Jay opened the boot.

"Adam got him?" asked Hailey as soon as she saw Jay. Jay nodded.

"Yeah," he pulled Hailey out. "You alright?"

"I think so," said Hailey. She rubbed Jay's arm.

"You good?" Kevin exchanged fist bump with Hailey. Hailey nodded.

Hailey locked eyes with Jay who nodded while giving her a strained smile. Soon they jumped to their separate cars and went back to the district. Jay gripped the steering while until his knuckles went white. His jaw was hardened. She knew that he was disturbed that the plan didn't work as it should be, even though they got the bad guys in the end.

"You okay?" asked Hailey. Jay nodded, keeping his view to the road. Hailey touched his shoulder. "You want me to drive?"

"No, I'm good," said Jay.

"Talk," ordered Hailey. Jay smirked at her tone. She always knows how to break his barrier. Jay grabbed her hand and squeezed it.

"You got slammed against the car pretty bad, you sure you're good?" asked Jay concerned.

"I think so. It was the side which got injured last time, but so far I didn't feel anything," said Hailey, relieved that Jay had started to loosen up.

"Tell me if you need to go get checked up," said Jay. Hailey nodded.


Jay had another therapy session the following day. He was relieved that he didn't have nightmare following the therapy; neither did there was any trigger for him. Hailey kept a close eye on him on work, and asked about his therapy as often as she could without making him feel smothered. They had cases like usual, because, someone had to do something in Chicago, right?

The following week, as they waited for their lunch—it was Adam's turn to pick up food—Voight received a call. Nobody really paid attention, because that was how most cases usually started.

"Crime scene, let's go. Tell Adam to meet us there," announced Voight.

Once they arrived, they gathered around the body which was covered by a large plastic sheet. Antonio squatted to lift the sheet, and they all gasped.

"What the hell?" Kevin voiced what was in their minds. Everybody was secretly relieved they hadn't had lunch. Two boys, no older than eight years old, were found overdosed in a dumpster. Beside her, Kim gasped, her body trembled. Hailey put a hand on her back, and was not surprised when she leaned to Kevin and cried. Kevin shielded her from direct view of the bodies. Hailey looked anywhere but the bodies—across her, Jay stood with his jaw hardened. They exchanged look, disgust was clear on both their faces.

"No ID, yet," a patrol officer went to Voight. She was equally disturbed, Hailey could see from her red rimmed eyes. "Homeless people found them," she pointed at two homeless guys who stood in the distance.

"Alright. Adam, Kevin, talk to them. Jay, Hailey, find out who they are. Kim, Antonio, look for security cam, then talk to your CIs," said Voight. Hailey caught the officer's arm.

"You okay?" she asked gently. Looking at her wedding ring and her age, she probably had kids their age.

"Yeah, it's just… it's never easy when it involved children. I have two around their age… reminded me of the hell I'm raising my kids in," she wiped her eyes.

"Hug them a little tighter tonight," Hailey forced a smile before letting her go. She took photos of the bodies and checked them quickly, feeling nausea creep in. Jay squeezed her shoulder, sensing her discomfort. Hailey patted his hand to show her appreciation.

"You done, detective?" asked the coroner. Hailey nodded. "I'll have to check more thoroughly, but judging from initial examination, this one died first, around 2 am. This one probably around 3… and they had been moved, and dumped here," said the coroner.

"Thanks," said Hailey, and hauled herself up. She felt Jay walked next to her to the car.

"That was thoughtful, what you said to the officer," Jay touched her elbow.

"Yeah, I figured they probably remind her of her own kids," said Hailey.

"You okay?" asked Jay. Hailey shook her head.

"How can anyone be okay," Hailey broke down as soon as she closed the car door. She sniffled. Jay squeezed her shoulder.

"I know, it was disturbing," Jay mumbled. He kept his hand on Hailey's shoulder as he drove.

Turned out that it was only the beginning of their dreadful day. Hailey and Jay found their identities—one of the boys was reported missing, and they sorted through kids in the same neighbourhood and school, and asked around. Antonio and Voight called the parents to the precinct, each telling a pair of parents. The parents screamed and cried and were inconsolable, and Antonio nearly lost it. He asked Trudy to keep them company, and fled the room. Hailey who was walking by the meeting room caught him and pulled him to the stairs, holding him as he cried, muttering Diego and Eva's names. She looked up and saw Jay who was looking for her to go follow up a lead, and mouthed 'Kim'. Jay disappeared and Kim popped up from on top of the stairs, gently peeling him off Hailey and taking him into her arms. Hailey went to the garage, shooting Kim a sad smile. She knew that if she preferred Jay to be there when she broke down, Antonio might feel the same about Kim.

"You wanna call Diego and Eva?" asked Kim. Antonio nodded. After he calmed down, Kim guided him to sit on the stairs. She sat a step above him so he could lean to her. She stayed with him and held him as he called Diego and Eva.

By evening, they found the stash house in which they probably died, but the house was empty, save for some bags of cocaine. They went back to the district deflated, they had no real progress. Since they determined that there were no more missing children, Voight sent them home before retreating in his office to drink some liquor. Naturally, Hailey and Jay weren't ready to call it a night. So they sat in a booth in Molly's, a beer sat untouched in front of each of them.

"You okay?" asked Hailey. Jay shook his head. "Yeah, me too. It's gonna be a while until I can forget that," she closed her eyes, letting a tear escaped her eye. Jay reached across the table to rub her arm. The act was comforting for both of them.

"I still don't get how people can do that to kids," said Hailey. "Overdosing yourself was one thing, overdosing others was another, but kids? They're sick," she shook her head.

"Yeah," Jay didn't trust himself to speak without breaking down. On top of everything, if he was being selfish, he was afraid of getting a nightmare that night. Dead children used to be one of his trigger as a result of his tour in Afghanistan. He felt someone pulled a stool next to him and hopped on. He sighed; he wasn't in the mood to talk.

"Hey, Will," whispered Hailey. Will sensed the sour mood.

"Sorry, is this not the right time?" asked Will.

"No, it's okay. Stay," Hailey asked. "We had a bad day, sorry."

"Sorry to hear that," Will squeezed Jay's neck. "You guys wanna talk about it?"

"Overdosed kid victims," Hailey said briefly. Will looked disgusted. "Not teenagers, like, seven years olds."

"God grief," Will sighed.

"What's the point of the job if we can't bring back those kids?" Jay looked down at his beer. It was the first sentence he said since they left the district.

"I think Hailey told me that before," Will looked at Hailey, his hand was still on Jay's back. "What was it… the good outweighs the bad?"

"Yeah, although it's hard to say so in this kind of time," said Hailey.

"What good things come from dead kids?" Jay looked at Hailey, his eyes showed grief.

"Good thing like making sure they're the last victim, and whoever responsible would be unable to do so to another child," Hailey shrugged.

"For every criminal we put behind bars, looks like three popped up," Jay complained.

"It's still better than nothing," said Will. Hailey gulped down her beer, feeling relieved as the alcohol burned her throat.

"You get a fresh start tomorrow," Will tried to lift their mood up.

"The case isn't done, tomorrow who knows what we would've find… more dead children?" sighed Jay.

"Hey, don't say that. Come on, let's do what Will said. We go home, come back with fresh eyes tomorrow to wrap up the case and save a few other kids from getting killed," said Hailey. She stood up, went to Jay's side of the table, and hugged him. Jay returned the hug, rubbing her back as he felt her choked up a sob.

"I'll walk you out," Jay looked to Will, silently telling him to wait. Will nodded, reaching over to squeeze Hailey's shoulder. Hailey nodded thank you to Will and walked outside with Jay.

"You're gonna be okay?" asked Jay as he walked her to her car.

"Yeah… an episode of cheesy comedy and wine should do me good," said Hailey. "If you need anything, you know…"

"I know. Call, knock, don't break and enter," joked Jay. He pulled Hailey into a hug. "It goes both ways. Let me know if you need anything," said Jay as he closed Hailey's car door. He waited for her to leave before going back inside to meet Will.

"What are you thinking about?" asked Will. He grabbed Jay's drink and took a sip.

"I'm scared of sleeping, I'll most probably get nightmare," said Jay.

"You had dinner already?" asked Will.

"It's 9 pm," Jay looked at him weirdly.

"Hey, you work for Voight," Will pointed out, to which Jay let out a laugh.

"Even Voight knew how disturbing that was… Hell, he has a grandson. He even bought us dinner, which is a once in a lifetime thing," said Jay.

"Come on, I'll go with you," said Will. He walked up to Natalie and told her that he would stay at Jay's. He went back to Jay's table and wordlessly guided him leaving Molly's.

"What are you two doing at 9 in Molly's?" asked Jay once they entered his car. He was touched that Will very easily dropped everything, including a night out with his fiancée, for him.

"Helen had Owen, we were about to pick him up once he's asleep. We just finished shift, Natalie's got extended—she had a difficult case, and like you, we need to unwind," said Will. They went to Jay's car. "I carpooled with Nat, my car is at the hospital,"

"You don't have to stay with me tonight, I'm not really a nice company," said Jay.

"You were never a good company," jabbed Will. Jay let out a laugh. He drove home, throwing his keys to the table as soon as he walked in his place. He went to the bathroom to freshen up. When he got out of the bathroom, Will is watching TV.

"No game?" asked Jay.

"No, nobody's playing. Even no rerun," said Will. Jay brewed some tea and offered it to Will. "Since when did you drink tea?"

"It's relaxing," shrugged Jay.

"You're aging hard," laughed Will, but accepted the tea. They sat in silence, both pondering about the day they had.

"How are you dealing with things?" asked Will.

"What things?" asked Jay.

"Everything. Dad's death, your nightmares, the case, tell me. I wanna know," said Will.

"In short, how's my therapy going," smirked Jay at Will's attempt to rephrase his actual question. "Therapy went well. Had a setback last week, but all in all, it went as expected. I don't know whether I will get nightmare tonight, with the case… Case was horrible, Will. All cases were, but, this one…"

"Trust me, I know," said Will.

"It hit everyone hard, even Antonio cried like a baby. He's the one with kids, though. I could never… how could people do that?"

"That's why we do what we're doing," shrugged Will.

"I know, but still… it's hard to see the rainbow sometimes," said Jay. He went to his room, pulling out some clothes, and threw it to Will. "Get into the shower, you smelled like hospital."

"You smell like dumpster," jabbed Will.

"The bodies were dumped in a dumpster, but I don't think the smell stuck," said Jay. Will went to the bathroom. When he was done, he saw Jay asleep on the couch. He shook Jay's shoulder cautiously, ready to bolt if Jay went on defensive mode. Jay only stirred and snuggled deeper into the couch.

"Really? Nice of you to give up your bed," snickered Will. After several attempts, he gave up and spread the blanket on top of Jay, then went to sleep in Jay's room.