Jay woke up at 4, feeling the chill as he remembered the dead children's faces. Upon realising he woke up on the couch, he went to his room, only to see Will asleep on his bed. He didn't feel like sleeping again, when the only thing he saw when he closed his eyes was the dead children's faces and expressions. They died within an hour. How did the second child feel when the first one died? Jay shuddered and poured himself a glass of water before making a split second decision to slip next to Will. He didn't try to sleep, just lying there with his eyes wide awake, being comforted by Will's presence. His brother's presence was calming, and whether he was seven or in his thirties, Will always had that effect on him. His mind floated back to when he came back from the war, he despised sleeping so bad as a result of fear of nightmares. He wondered if he would cope better with the war and PTSD had Will been in Chicago and they had a good relationship.

"What time is it?" murmured Will.

"A bit past four," said Jay.

"Go back to sleep," said Will. Jay sighed, but didn't reply. Will reached in the dark to touch his shoulder and squeezed it. "Don't worry. It'll get better," Will slurred before he fell back asleep.


"Jay," Will shook Jay's shoulder. "Voight called you. He sent a location for you to go," said Will.

"You picked up the call?" asked Jay.

"It didn't stop, and you didn't wake up," said Will. He was already up and cooking breakfast when Jay's phone rang continuously in the living room. Jay scrolled through his phone and saw the address Voight sent him. He went to the bathroom.

"Come on, I'll drop you off at Med," Jay went to the kitchen. Will was already done washing the utensils. He wrapped breakfast burritos in foils and handed two to Jay, keeping the other two for himself.

"Breakfast. For you and the favourite partner," said Will.

"Give it yourself. We'll pick her up on the way," said Jay.

"Coffee," Will passed him a reusable cup of coffee as they were leaving. Jay rolled his eyes at the single cup of coffee.

"Not bringing Hailey coffee is a suicide if I bring one for myself. She's grumpy enough in the morning," Jay poured coffee into another cup before they went out the door.

"Didn't know that code exists," quipped Will as he followed Jay to the car.


They picked up Hailey on the way, and even though she looked very tired and had bags under her eyes, she smiled once she saw them. When Will handed her the breakfast and coffee, her eyes twinkled.

"Can you be my partner instead? I'd like to swap Halstead," joked Hailey.

"I'll get off at the hospital then, you can trust him with your life," quipped Hailey.

"Hey, I'm gonna be a great partner," protested Will.

"Sure you will," said Hailey while started eating. When they dropped Will at the hospital, Jay felt his heart swell. Even though they teased him every time they had a chance, they were his support system, and notably the people who stuck with him through everything. The way Will took care of him assured him that despite everything that happened in the past between them, Will would drop everything and come to his rescue anytime, just like when they were little. And Hailey... she had opportunities to swap partner with someone who aren't a liability, but she chose him. There was nothing better than starting the day with them even though they had a case early in the morning.

Jay was grateful for the short relaxed conversation and breakfast in the car between them because that was the only time he was able to even smile during the day. As soon as they arrived at the scene, Antonio and Adam's expressions told them what they dreaded: another child victim.

"No body. A boy is missing," said Antonio. They went to interview witnesses and took security camera footages. The boy walked out of his parents' house on his own, according to the neighbour. There was no ransom call, no clue which led them to fly blind. They went to the precinct, ran the parents' finances, and contacted their CIs to find him. Finally at 10, Voight got a call.

"Gear up. Body," he said with grim expression.

"A child?" asked Kim, voicing what feared by everyone.

"Yes. Come on," said Voight. They all dragged their feet to the crime scene, a swamp in Chicago's suburb. When they arrived, they quickly learned that the dead body didn't belong to the missing boy but to another one, this one looked no older than ten years old. Everyone was upset; Voight tasked Jay and Adam to process the crime scene and talk to the coroner, the task nobody wanted as they had to take photos of the crime scene and body, which is in the process of decaying. Jay couldn't bring himself to look closely at the body. He was caught off-guard when Hailey squatted next to him and touched his shoulder.

"Here, I'll continue. I've finished the interviews, you can wait by the car," said Hailey.

"No, I'm okay," said Jay. "It was just… it was rough."

"Yeah, you can take a break. I insist," Hailey grabbed the note Jay was writing on. Jay obliged, he was feeling a bit sick anyway by seeing the condition of the body.

"If you're sure," said Jay, passing the camera to her. He stood up and squeezed Hailey's arm. "Thank you." He went to the car and waited. He compiled the things he found as well as Hailey's note on the interviews she conducted. He was just done when Hailey jogged to the car.

"You're okay?" asked Hailey concerned when she entered the car. "Anything you need?"

"For this to stop," said Jay.

Hailey just let out a deep breathe. "You're doing better today?"

"Yeah, sorry I was very down yesterday. And Will happened, I felt better," said Jay. "He cares… hence the breakfast."

"Could've gotten used to a homemade breakfast," smirked Hailey. Jay smiled. His mum didn't really teach him how to cook, but she made sure her eldest son was a capable cook to feed his younger brother when she was working.

"We'll pick up lunch on the way, and when we get the scumbag who did those murders, we'll have those deep dish from Lou's, how about that? Not exactly homemade, but it's good," offered Jay. Hailey nodded, flipping through her notebook and camera.

They tracked down where the dead boy had been since went missing in the mall the night before, but they didn't get any useful footage from security cameras. So far, everything they had was useless, and they had three dead children and one missing, and no connection between them except they were close in age.

"I may have found something," said Hailey as she zoomed into one security camera footage. "See what he brought? It's a yo-yo. Next to the body yesterday was a yo-yo. Maybe that's a coincidence, but we have nothing else at this point."

"You're saying that they got abducted because of a yo-yo?" asked Jay. They were sitting in front of monitors in the precinct, food containers sat untouched in front of them. Both were deeply disturbed by the case, but had yet to talk about it.

"Maybe the abductor lured them out with one?" guessed Hailey. "It's worth looking into… I'll call the mall security."

"I'll try yesterday's crime scene, near the house." They worked without saying anything. A couple minutes later, Jay snapped his fingers.

"Bingo! There's a man walking through this street while playing yo-yo. Quite good from what I saw… maybe the kids were amazed by him and he offered to teach them?" asked Jay.

"A risky guess, but worth looking into. Can we do facial rec?" asked Hailey.

"We can, but we won't get a warrant with this," said Jay. He ran the facial recognition program and found a match: Michael Castillo.

"Let's bring it to Sarge," said Hailey, grabbing her food and led their way upstairs. They found Antonio and Kim who were on their computers. Hailey and Jay shared what they found, and Kim immediately ran Michael's finances.

"Nothing suspicious on his bank account. No credit card purchases, looked like he used cash mainly," said Kim.

"Alright. You two, find him, and follow him. Find something to get a warrant. And be quick, a child is missing here," said Voight. They grabbed their jackets before going to the car, still toting their lunch in hope of eating in the car.

"How are you dealing with this?" asked Hailey as they sat in front of their parked car in front of Michael's house. There's a park nearby, and they considered doing the stakeout from there, but finally decided against it. Jay was caught off guard as he was about to ask the same thing to Hailey. She looked more tired this morning than usual. She let her guard down in the car, but as soon as they stepped into the precinct, she left her emotions in the car. Her expression was stoic and stone cold.

"As good as how you're dealing with this," replied Jay. Hailey who was poking her lunch just let out a small smile.

"Was it triggering? Yesterday, and today…" said Hailey.

"I didn't get nightmare, no… actually, I kinda fell asleep accidentally, so that Will had the freedom to sleep on my bed," snickered Jay. "I saw their faces as soon as I woke up, but again, who wouldn't?"

"I couldn't sleep until 3, and I had nightmare," admitted Hailey. "Justified, I'd say… it was disturbing. This whole case is."

"Yeah…" Jay sighed. He was grateful that Will stayed with him last night. "Let me know if you need anything, okay? Anytime."

"Yeah, you too," said Hailey. She took a bite of her lunch before tapping Jay's arm. "That's him." They looked as Michael Castillo walked into his driveway while playing a yo-yo. "How is the possibility that he keeps Anthony there?" asked Hailey. Anthony was the missing child.

"I don't know. This neighbourhood seems normal, that shouldn't be any kid dying as a result of overdose," said Jay.

"I don't know about overdose, but the most normal looking neighbourhoods are where most un-normal things happen," said Hailey.

"How should we find out?" asked Jay. Hailey pulled out some brochures.

"I'll be an internet provider saleswoman, cover me?" asked Hailey. Jay's heart raced. "I'll be fine, but cover me, yeah?" Before Jay could answer, Hailey took off her badge, put her phone on call to Jay's, jumped out of the car, walked to the house and rang the bell.

"Hi, sir, may I interrupt your day for a bit to explain about the new internet provider service? I just went to your neighbours, and some of them are interested. If four houses subscribed together, we can offer you discount," said Hailey once Michael opened the door, her ears were listening to activities inside the house. The house was eerily quiet, maybe she was wrong and this man was actually innocent? However, she couldn't shake the feeling that something wasn't right about him.

"Actually, I was in the middle of something," said Michael, playing yo-yo.

"I'll be out in a few minutes, sir. This could benefit you and your neighbours, to do the group subscription," said Hailey. "Oh, cool, I play one too when I was in school!" she squealed.

"Come in," said Michael. Hailey stepped into the house. Jay felt uneasy, and this time he was sure it wasn't just his overprotectiveness over his partner or her inclination lately to get hurt. Five minutes later, Hailey stepped out of the house, waving and saying goodbye. She jogged to the car.

"Something's definitely not right. There are two pairs of children shoes. When I asked about his need of internet provider, he said he lives alone and doesn't need an additional child content blocker," said Hailey.

"Any sign of children inside?" asked Jay.

"Aside than the shoes, no," said Hailey. "Hey, he left the house," said Hailey, grabbing Jay's arm. They waited until Michael's car disappeared. "Let's update Voight, and.. should we break in?"

"Go ahead, don't get caught, I'm coming," said Voight when they told him their finding.

"5021 George, is there any patrol cars near 2320 Clark?" Jay spoke into the radio. "I need backup, no siren."

"Coming."

The police car arrived and they made a plan. The patrol officers waited outside and going to alert them if Michael was back while Hailey and Jay went into the house.

"Go, Jay. You're the master of break and entry, aren't you?" asked Hailey. She couldn't help but tease him about him 'breaking' into her house without consent.

"That's a low blow," Jay rolled his eyes.

"Sorry," smirked Hailey.

"If you miss me breaking in you can just say so," teased Jay as Hailey opened the door. "Wow, were you in Robbery Homicide as a cop or suspect?" He referred to Hailey's speed in breaking the lock.

"Shut up, if you admire my speed you can just say so," said Hailey before they cleared the house.

As Jay entered the bedroom, he sensed presence of another person. He cleared the bathroom and then opened the closet. Two boys were lying on the floor.

"Hailey!" yelled Jay into the radio. "This is 5021 George, plain clothes officers requesting ambulances in 2320 Clark. We have two minors, possible victim of drug overdose!" Jay put his fingers to Anthony's neck, searching for pulse. He breathed with relief when he found a faint one, then quickly moved on to the next boy, but didn't find any pulse. His body was still warm, so he started doing CPR. Beside him, Hailey took Anthony away as he started squirming. He was still doing CPR when the paramedics arrived. They took over from him, asked him how long he had been doing CPR, and continued CPR. Jay sat motionless on the floor, watching the paramedics. Hailey squeezed his shoulder.

"Hey, let's get back to the district. We found drugs in the garage," said Hailey. He didn't reply right away.

"Go with Hailey. The paramedics got this," said Voight. He watched the paramedics charged the boy's heart in an attempt to resuscitate him.

"Asystole," said one of them. Hailey pulled him up and guided him outside.

"No, I want to see him," said Jay as they started taking out equipment to restart his heart.

"Come on," said Hailey, guiding him to the car. She took over the driver's seat and drove to the district, neither saying anything on the way. As they climbed up the stairs to Intelligence, Kim looked at them.

"Anthony will survive. They had to pump his stomach, but they are optimist. However, they pronounced the other kid at Med, identity is still unknown. I'm sorry," said Kim. Jay just nodded and went to the pantry. Hailey gave him some space for a few minutes, then followed him and pushed a coffee mug to his hand.

"Talk," said Hailey, pulling a chair so she sat face to face with Jay.

"He was still warm when I got to him," whispered Jay.

"He was already dead when you found him, Jay. But you saved Anthony."

"His face will haunt me," said Jay. "I was very sure he was alive, because he still got that glow on his cheeks. But…"

"I know. Think about the kids you save, prospective victims," Hailey held his arm. She understood Jay's connection with the victim. He found them, he thought he was alive. "Come on, you wanna see the son of a bitch in interrogation?" Jay shook his head no.

The case turned out bigger than they originally thought; and gone down faster than they expected. Michael was part of a drug development gang, and they wanted to test the drug against kids so it would be 'safe' for adult. His task was to source kids to test the drug against, and he flipped on his employer; telling them he had a new kid, but he needed to get rid of the other bodies. They followed the man who met him and raided a warehouse on the south side of Chicago, where the drugs were manufactured. All the employees there pointed out that 'Big Luce' was their boss, but Voight found out that Big Luce was partnered with Linda X, the big boss and funding support. Jay remained stoic through the day, he didn't even flinch when Antonio and he interrogated a member of the gang and he explained what the drug would do to a tiny human being. As he left the interrogation room, Hailey caught up with him. She had been watching him throughout the afternoon, and even though he was impressed by his ability to separate himself from the case, she was concerned for him. She got reminded at the case with his dad, and loathed for it to ever happen again. She swore to herself that if they had to do a raid or chase, she would chain him to her. She would be damned if he got shot again because his emotion got the better of himself.

"How are you feeling?" asked Hailey. Jay shrugged her arm out of Hailey's grab.

"Four kids died, Hailey. It's not time to talk about how I feel," snapped Jay. Hailey was taken aback; that was a tone Jay hadn't use on her for some time now. Ever since they found their newfound friendship, after his dad's death, he became gentler with her. Not that he wasn't before, though, but this tone hadn't been heard since their confrontation after his dad's death. They had this unwritten rule to talk things out; that they would help each other dealing with shit that comes with the job. Jay went past her to the precinct, leaving her in the hallway.

After the case was wrapped, Hailey sat in front of her computer, beginning to write her report. It was 10 pm and the others already went home, wanting to shake the case from their mind before they had to type up the report in the morning. She contemplated to talk to Jay, but figured she would give him space.

"Good job today, Upton. Go home," Voight advised Hailey as he walked past her desk.

"In a bit, Sarge. I wanted to type this up first," said Hailey.

"Don't stay too late," said Voight as he buzzed out of Intelligence. He met Jay in the garage. "She's still upstairs." He didn't need to say who he referred to in order for Jay to understand. Jay nodded and walked up the stairs, wanting to talk to Hailey. He felt guilty after snapping at her, after all she did for him the whole day. She only wanted to be there for him; even taking over his task to process the crime scene when he was overwhelmed. He pulled Adam's chair to sit beside her.

"Lou's?" asked Jay. Hailey glanced at him.

"Really? Now?" asked Hailey.

"You haven't eaten anything since afternoon. Come on, my treat. I need a company," pleaded Jay. Hailey looked at him, knowing that Jay felt guilty for snapping at her. She huffed and shut her computer down.

"We take it to go; I don't want to sit there this late," said Hailey. Jay smirked at her and passed her jacket.

"Sorry I snapped at you. It's just… this case," he let out a deep breathe.

"I know," said Hailey.

"And… thanks for taking over earlier," Jay squeezed her shoulder.

"Anytime. I got your back."

"We're good?" asked Jay.

"We're always gonna be good," said Hailey. Jay pulled her into a hug and felt relief washed over him, immediately comforted by her presence. She could feel the tension in him evaporate as she returned the hug, rubbing his back.


They took the pizza to go and went to Hailey's place. Jay knew immediately that he would crash at her couch, it was late anyway, and they both might need the company. Hailey went to the bathroom and took a shower while Jay took out some beers and plates. He was texting with Will when Hailey went out of the bathroom.

"Will treated Anthony—he said he was improving and out of the woods. He asked if we want to visit him tomorrow," said Jay. Hailey sighed and sat beside him.

"Do you want to?" asked Hailey. She took a bite of the pizza.

"I'm not ready… what if he asked about the other boy?" said Jay glumly. "I really wish, with everything, that I managed to help him."

"You did everything you could," said Hailey.

"I know," sighed Jay. "You practically saved Anthony, though… you recognised the yo-yo."

"Just something I thought was strange. Glad it worked out," said Hailey. They ate in silence. "When's your next therapy session?" asked Hailey.

"Tomorrow. Next week is supposed to be my last week," said Jay.

"How's it going?"

"It helps. I don't get panic attack anymore. Had yesterday happen last month, I might have panic attack. Dead children… I saw a lot in the war. They were not kids, Hailey. Their world is much more complicated than adults'," Jay looked down.

"We're doing what we can in making our own city safer for kids, so they can stay being kids," Hailey smiled sadly.

"Even though sometimes it felt like we're picking trash in the ocean? Once we picked one, five more being dumped," Jay sighed and drank his beer.

"Even that," said Hailey. She finished her beer and turned on the TV. It was a cue for Jay that their heavy conversation was over. They watched The Bachelorette; Hailey threw comments about the guys while Jay couldn't help but being amused by her reaction and felt the steam from his head evaporating. While Hailey nodded off, Jay poked her arm.

"Go to bed, tomorrow's school day," said Jay. He opened the hallway cabinet and pulled out a blanket, a sign that he was staying. He didn't drink too much, but he didn't feel like driving home.

"Alright. Night," said Hailey while she strutted to her room, leaving Jay watching the rose ceremony.


Life got in the way of writing and being inspired... but seeing BTS pictures had helped me in writing. This story had gone far longer than I expected at first, but I'm not ready to end this before the start of Season 7.