Chapter 25

Jay saw Hailey's car was in its usual spot when he got out of the taxi. That's a good sign. At least she's not working late. A pizza delivery guy pulled up at the same time.

Hmm. What are the odds Hailey ordered a pie from the place down the street on a Friday evening?

He followed the guy to the elevators. "Excuse me. Is that for Upton in 412?" he asked.

The teenager checked the receipt on the box. "Yep."

"That's where I'm headed. I can take it," said Jay. He pulled some money from his pocket and thrust it at the kid.

"The lady already tipped online."

"Take it anyway. I want to surprise her."

Grinning, the kid said, "Hot date?"

"Something like that," said Jay.

"Okay. Thanks, man." He trotted back to his car.

Normally, Jay would take the stairs. But with his duffle bag and a hot pizza, he opted for the elevator.

When he reached their front door, he had to set the duffle bag down to ring the bell. He didn't want to use his key and simply walk in. That might scare Hailey and earn him a gunshot wound.

Hailey was talking to Kim when the doorbell rang. "My pizza's here. I'll see you Monday. Okay, give Mak my love."

As she got to the door, a male voice called out, "Pizza!"

"Just a sec." She fumbled with the locks and finally got the door open. The guy holding her pizza turned around and gave her a cocky grin.

Hailey's jaw dropped and her eyes went wide. For a moment, she had no voice.

"Jay! What are you doing here?"

"I'm hoping I still live here," he said as he pushed past her.

"I mean, you weren't due back until the 30th," stammered Hailey.

Jay put the pizza on the kitchen island and turned around. "I'm sorry. Do you want me to fly back to Bolivia and return in two weeks?"

"Shut up." She jumped into his arms and held on for dear life.

Jay smirked. "Guess that's a 'no.'"

"I can't believe you're finally home. You have no idea how much I've missed you." She inhaled his familiar scent; she would never get tired of it.

"Why don't you show me?" suggested Jay.

She pulled back a little to see his face. "Game on, Halstead."

With a laugh, Jay carried her to their bedroom. Soon, there was a pile of clothes on the floor, and they tumbled into bed.

Some time later, Jay quietly slid out of bed and pulled on some sweatpants. He crept to the kitchen to heat up the pizza. After plating it, he remembered they had one of those breakfast-in-bed contraptions. He located it in a lower cabinet and returned to his sleeping wife.

He positioned it and leaned over to kiss Hailey. "Are you hungry?"

Hailey enjoyed her sleep and did not want to wake up. She was afraid last night might have been a dream. "Okay, it's not Bartoli's. But it's decent," he said as he took a bite.

Hailey slowly turned over and opened one eye. "Pizza in bed. I like the way you think."

"If you don't hurry up, I'm going to eat yours."

She sat up and pulled the sheet over her chest. "I strongly advise against that," she said with narrowed eyes.

"You want another slice?" asked Jay when they'd finished.

"Later. Right now, I only want you."

"Hold up. What is that?" He pointed to her tattoo. She stuck her arm out for him to inspect.

"Wow. When did you get that?"

"Couple of months ago. I wanted a reminder of us that was always with me. I could look at it anytime. What do you think?"

"I like it. And given my previous experiences with needles, better you than me."

Hailey laughed. "That's what I thought"

"Was it really painful?" Jay grimaced just thinking about needles being jabbed repeatedly into skin.

"Not gonna lie. It did hurt. But it was worth it. Don't you want to get a matching one?" Hailey had to bite her lip to keep from laughing.

"Hell no," insisted Jay. "One tatted person in the family is enough."

Now, Hailey threw back her head and really laughed.

"Are you mocking your husband?" He scooted closer to kiss her into silence. In the process, the breakfast table was knocked onto the floor. "Why do we have that thing in the first place?"

"Trudy gave it to me," said Hailey. "She thought you'd be a romantic and serve me pancakes in bed."

The Next Morning

They dragged themselves to the kitchen and finished the pizza, this time with coffee. Afterwards, they flopped on the couch under the big fleece throw. Jay wrapped his arms around Hailey while her head rested on his chest.

After a few minutes of pleasant silence, Hailey said, "How long do we have?"

"For what? Until we can order pizza again?"

"Before you go back to the Army."

Jay had some big news. But he'd been saving it until after he and Hailey had had a proper reunion. The last 12 hours certainly qualified as that. He smiled as he remembered.

"I'm not going to re-up."

Hailey pushed up so she could see his face. "What?"

They shifted around so they could face each other. "I was able to come back early because the big bosses decided we'd done all we could down there. Sure, we had some gains, but ultimately the losses were greater."

"Was it worth it?" asked Hailey.

Jay sighed. "I don't know. It's like here in Chicago. You eliminate one crime boss or drug lord and pretty soon he's replaced by a new one. I want to think we did some good, but . . ."

"What will you do now?"

"Officially, I still have two weeks on my contract. I'll have to debrief and probably help train some new recruits. After that, I'm a free agent."

Hailey began to cry. Jay grabbed her shoulders. "Hey, I thought you'd be happy about this."

"I am. These are tears of relief and joy." She swiped at her eyes. "Because if you said you were going back, I was going to quit Intelligence, join the Army myself and go with you. I couldn't cope with being separated from you again. It almost killed me these last eight months. And we vowed we'd follow each other anywhere."

"I know." He pulled her back down to his chest and held her tightly. "I meant those words, too."

"What about Voight? He thinks you're coming back to Intelligence. At least, he hasn't filled your position."

"No more Intelligence for me. I have a new plan."

"I'm almost afraid to ask," mumbled Hailey.

"Just hear me out. You know how the academy is building a new training facility on the north side?"

"Yeah. We keep hearing about it since apparently recruitment is way up."

"Right. So, I reached out to Lt. Nilssen. Do you remember him?"

"No, doesn't ring a bell," said Hailey.

"Well, he's offered me a position as a instructor. I would start in a couple months. And I'd have to take the Sergeant's exam."

Once again, Hailey sat up and turned so she could see her husband's face. "Instructor? Do you think you'd like that? It would be very different from what we do in Intelligence."

"I know. But I've spent 10 years in Intelligence with Voight. Like any job, there was good and bad." He gave her a warm smile. "Of course, the best thing was that I met you there."

Hailey punched his arm. "You hated me at first."

He frowned. "I didn't hate you; I just wasn't fond of you . . . yet.

Hailey's eyes rolled up. "Whatever."

"And . . ."

"And what?" she asked.

"There could be an instructor position for you, also. If you want to ditch Voight."

"This is a lot to absorb, Jay." She paused. "You know, right after you left, I laid down the law with Voight. I told him if we ever got into a situation like the one that made you leave, I'd walk. I'd walk down those steps and not look back."

"For real?"

"Oh yeah. Since then, we've had an understanding. While I don't totally trust him, I do feel like he's trying to make amends."

Jay shook his head in amazement. "My wife is full of surprises. Confronting Voight, getting a tattoo. I don't know what to expect next."

"Maybe a repeat of last night?"

Jay laughed and scooped her up in his arms and headed for the bedroom.

They spent the majority of the weekend in their bed. Jay had forgotten how much he loved this soft, comfy, king-sized mattress. But having Hailey beside him was the absolute best. A couple of times, he pulled on sweats or jeans to accept food deliveries at the front door.

The second time the same young woman appeared with bags and containers, she remarked, "You've ordered a lot of food this weekend." Of course, she was gawking at a shirtless Jay when she said this.

"Yeah. I've been out of town. I'm really, really hungry," he grinned.

In the background, she saw Hailey pad by wearing a short bathrobe.

The girl blushed. "Oh. Okay. Enjoy."

"We will."

One Year Later

After being a widower for several years, Sergeant Hank Voight found love again with ASA Nina Chapman. No one was more surprised than Voight. He could never have imagined that a smart, attractive, younger woman would be interested in him.

They still had epic heated discussions about cases in her office. But, at the end of the day when they went home, they were just Hank and Nina.

Sergeant Jay Halstead and Detective Hailey Upton were a power couple at the new training facility of the Chicago Police Department. They were able to communicate wordlessly and were almost always in agreement about things. But there was one thing that was giving them trouble.

They were driving to work one day after having confirmed Hailey's pregnancy at the doctor's office. Each one tossed out possible names only to be mocked by the other.

Currently, they were stopped at a red light. "That sounds like something you'd name a cow," snorted Hailey. Then, Jay would respond with an eyeroll and a gagging sound at some of her suggestions.

They were still getting used to the idea of becoming Mom and Dad. When they reached the parking lot, Jay cut the engine. As he'd done for years, he reached over and gently squeezed Hailey's leg.

"Good thing we have several months to iron this out," he said.

Hailey rolled her eyes. "Yeah. Really good thing."

They both burst out laughing.