Summary - It had been years since he’d heard that voice. At least not through a recording of a dated voicemail message that he refused to delete. But that voice sounded like the one who haunted all his nightmares and whispered to him in his dreams.
It sounded like Hailey.
It sounded like Hailey in trouble.
He broke into a run, he was unarmed and knew nothing of what he was running into but if there was even the slightest possibility that Hailey - his Hailey - was in distress, he had to get to her.
Notes - I’m assuming we’ve all watched the crossover promo about 25 times by now but I couldn’t resist writing a little speculation fic so I hope you enjoy! ❤️
Inspired by cold af weather lately. I'm trying to write more because Jay and Hailey will be back for the crossover on March 4 and I'm hoping to get another Seasons of PD installment out by then. Until then, enjoy this shorter imagine!
"Everyone get out of here and stay warm," Voight said after everyone finished up their paperwork for that day.
Everyone voiced their thanks and grabbed their coats. Jay followed Hailey into the locker room where he knew she stored her heavy, parka-like coat. "I'll scrape the frost off your car for you," he said.
Hailey smiled and rolled her eyes. "Such a gentleman. And, how are you going to answer everyone's questions if they see you scraping off my car?"
"That you're my partner." Hailey shook her head and let out a small laugh. "In more ways than one, but they don't need to know that."
"Alright, whatever you say, Halstead."
Jay was about to walk out of the locker room, when he remembered something. "You need anything from the store?"
"No, but why? You offering to buy my groceries?"
At this, it was Jay's turn to laugh. "No, no. Just, now would be a good time to go. It's supposed to get colder tomorrow afternoon and that's when everyone will be scrambling. Especially because it's supposed to start snowing tomorrow night."
"Got everything I needed two days ago. Shocked you didn't do the same, Mr.-Aways-Prepared."
"I forgot Will babysat Y/N last night. I swear to God that man eats half a bag of her chicken nuggets every time he's over there. I'm almost out and if she gets snow days and I can't get to the store, she will not be very happy."
"You're such a good big brother." Hailey walked up to her boyfriend and gave him a quick kiss. "Might wanna go to your truck though. People might start getting suspicious."
He leaned down and gave her another kiss. "Or, I could lock the door and we could have a repeat of what we did in here last weekend." He leaned in once more and gave her another kiss, this time deeper.
She smiled against his lips, then pulled away. "As much as I would love to, it's the middle of the day and officers will need to change out." Jay moved toward the door to lock it. "You're insufferable."
"Oh, I know." He went to kiss her again, but an alarm on his phone went off. He threw his head back and groaned. "Stupid chicken nuggets," he muttered.
Hailey laughed, knowing that he meant that alarm, which was typically used as the one to call the babysitter and tell her how late she needed to stay, today had been edited to say pick "up chicken nuggets after work" because he had told the sitter either he or Will would be over by 5pm today so she could get home in case the roads became bad, despite the snow not supposed to start until tomorrow.
He squeezed Hailey's hand before telling her to come down in about five minutes and her car would be scraped, gave her one more quick kiss, unlocked the locker room door, and headed down to the parking lot to the biting Chicago cold.
***
When Jay walked inside, he was immediately met with you sprinting up to him full force.
"Nuh-uh," he clucked. "What's the rule?"
You stopped in your tracks and sighed. "Give you thirty seconds."
"That's right."
Jay kicked off his boots and then went to his room, opened the safe, placed his—unloaded—gun and badge in it, locked it, and walked back into the living room. Even though he took all of the ammunition out of his gun, he knew there would be a day he didn't and even though it was safe in his holster, he didn't want you getting in the habit of hugging him when he had his gun on him on the off chance something happened. The last thing he needed was an accidental gun injury.
"Has it been thirty seconds?" you asked, practically vibrating with excitement.
"Yes it has!" And then he opened his arms and you threw yourself into them and then quickly pulled away, beginning to tell him everything you and your babysitter did. "Okay, okay. Give me thirty more seconds to talk to her and then let her leave," Jay said, quickly cutting you off as you continued to talk. You huffed but stopped talking.
Once she was out the door (with cash in hand from Jay), you started talking again.
"We flushed ice cubes down the toilet! She telled me that will help me get a snow day tomorrow!"
Jay couldn't help but laugh — it was the same thing he and Will used to do as kids. They also used to throw salt over their shoulder and put spoons in the freezer, but he didn't want the floor being covered in salt and all of the spoons magically going missing, so he kept those snow day superstitions to himself. Jay was so happy you didn't figure out that sometimes they closed school the night before because he knew that he and Will would pester your guys' mom and dad to let them stay up late when they were anticipating a snow day the next day.
"She did, did she?" you nodded excitedly. "Me and Will used to do that."
You gasped. "Did it work? Did you get a snow day?"
"Sometimes."
Your eyes lit up. "Really? What made it work?"
"Not arguing with me about bedtime."
You shook your head. "You tell me that all the time. Even when it's not cold out. Are you sure that's what makes it work?"
Jay smiled. "You got me there. How about we eat dinner and then you can tell me all about school?"
"We having sketti?"
You knew your brother's habits through and through. Mid-week was always spaghetti night, which while it was because it was easy to make, the garlic bread that Jay always served with it, was your favorite.
"We are. And garlic bread."
"Yes!" Then you paused and thought for a second. "If I have snow day, can we build a snowman? And drink hot chocolate?"
"We'll see," Jay answered, which was his typical answer whenever you asked about doing something. Because, even without the weather, there was always the possibility of him and Intelligence getting called out to a case.
"Please?" you begged. "I'll even tell Mr. Hank you're busy."
"You will huh?"
"Uh-huh." Then, a light bulb went off in your head. "Or I tell Trudy! She's Mr. Hank's boss."
Jay almost burst out laughing. "Who told you that?"
"Adam," you answered. "He telled me everybody gotta listen to her, even Mr. Hank. I thought Mr. Hank didn't have to listen to anybody! But he's gotta listen to Trudy!"
Jay laughed and shook his head slightly. Just wait until he told everyone in the bullpen that someone was in charge of Voight. Now that was laughable.
"Well, he's sort of right," Jay tried to explain. "But, why don't you go sit down at the table and I'll start on the spaghetti and garlic bread?"
***
Jay woke up to someone shaking him awake . He cracked his eyes open and saw you standing near the edge of his bed.
"Jay Jay," you whined.
"Hmmm," Jay groaned. "What are you doing up, kiddo?"
"I'm cold."
At this, Jay quickly flicked on his bedroom light. Then, he reached out his hand and felt your forehead.
"You don't feel warm," he started. But then, he felt it, especially on his bare chest. It was cold in here. He patted the spot next to him. "Stay right here."
"Why?" you asked.
He sighed. "Because I said so."
"But I want Teddy."
"You can either go in your room or stay here. Just, pick a room."
Typically, he wasn't this short with you, but he had bigger problems to worry about right now, mainly the heat in the apartment.
"Stay here," you said and then climbed into Jay's bed.
"Okay. Be right back." Then, he grabbed his phone off the charger and walked to the living room.
The blinking light on the thermostat caught his eye right away. He tapped it to stop it from blinking and then saw the temp. Sixty degrees. His apartment had dropped eight degrees in a matter of hours. He knew it was an old building, but damn, that was fast.
The wind whistled outside as he opened his phone just as an email notification from building management popped up. Jay groaned. Will was working nights so even though he knew that he wouldn't be mad at the two of you coming over given the circumstances, Jay knew his brother wouldn't get much sleep if he and you were over there, especially if you had a snow day.
So, he dialed a number that he knew by heart. She picked up on the first ring because her insomnia had kicked in tonight of all nights.
"Hailey," Jay began, "I need a favor. A huge favor."
***
"Hey," Hailey whispered as she answered the door to her apartment. She looked at your head slumped against Jay's shoulder. "Anything you need me to grab from your truck?"
"Don't think there's anything. I can grab everything else in the morning." Then, he paused. "If I crouch down, can you take my service weapon out of my backpack?"
"Is it loaded?" She asked.
Jay shook his head. "Ammo's in a separate pocket, too."
"Jay, I think you'll be fine. Put her to bed and then we can put it in my safe."
"Good idea," he whispered and then made his way to Hailey's guest room, gently set you down, and shook you awake.
Your eyes fluttered open and you rubbed them. "Where are w—?" you asked, the "we" getting cut off by a yawn.
"At Hailey's, remember?"
"Hmm," you mumbled. "Your par-ner."
"Yes, she's my partner. Now, can you take your coat off and I can take your boots off? Then you can go back to sleep?"
"Uh-huh." Sleepily, you pulled down the zipper. But then, your eyes snapped open. "Where's Teddy?"
"Don't worry, I have him," Jay reassured you.
"Where?" you asked as you shook your coat off.
"He's in my bag," Jay answered as he pulled off one of your boots. He quickly took the other one off, took his bag off his back, unzipped it, and handed you Teddy. You hugged him to your chest and yawned again. "Let's get you tucked in so you can go back to sleep."
You nodded sleepily and let Jay pull back the covers and tuck you in. He also flicked on the bedside lamp. "You snuggle with me?" you asked and Jay felt his heart melt.
"I will, but I gotta go talk to Hailey first. I know new places are scary, but I need you to try and go to sleep." You looked at him with tears beginning to well up in your eyes. You were in a new place, it was nighttime, and you were so sleepy! He crouched down to your height. "Hey, hey, it's okay. I won't be long and you can always come get me, okay?"
"Okay," you whispered. "But you gotta pinky promise you come and snuggle." You snuck your pinky out from under the blankets and Jay locked his pinky in your small one.
"I pinky promise. Now you and Teddy get some sleep and I'll come snuggle before you know it. I love you."
"Love you, too, Jay Jay."
You watched Jay leave the room and hugged Teddy tight to your chest. There was a 3 on the digital alarm clock sitting on the dresser and you knew that 4 was bigger than 3, so if it changed to a 4, then you'd go find Jay Jay and make him snuggle with you. But, after the number closest to the door changed five times, your eyelids got so heavy you could barely make out the numbers anymore.
Meanwhile, Hailey stirred some milk and sugar into her tea and handed the plain herbal tea to Jay. "I know you're not much of a tea drinker, but I figured you might want a cup after tonight."
He nodded. "Thanks, Hails."
"She down? Gun locked away?" she asked as the two made their way to the couch.
"Yes to both." Jay had barely sat down before a big lump of orange jumped up onto the couch and rubbed his head against his arm. "Hey, Sunny. I bet you're nice and warm, huh?"
"Between his fur and his fat, he could probably survive outside all winter," Hailey answered. She reached over and pet his head. "You're chunky but we love chunky cats in this house." He sat down next to Jay and placed his paws on his lap and looked up at him, which Jay took as a sign to pet him. "Anything from your building?"
"Said that it would be awhile. Entire city's got outages apparently." Then, his phone rang. Jay looked down and saw it was your school. After answering, an automated message played. "She's got a snow day."
Hailey smiled. "We can build a snowman and then have hot chocolate."
He chuckled. "Y/N said the same thing." But, Jay saw the pain behind her eyes. "You never had a proper snow day did you?"
She shook her head and stayed silent for a few seconds before speaking again. "A snow day meant another day of me and my brothers trying not to piss off our dad when he grumbled about the weather and how hard it was going to be to get to work. Some days we even got stuck shoveling the diner steps once we got older." She shrugged. "Wasn't all bad though. A handful of times I had tests on the days we had snow days, so I had extra time to study."
Jay reached over and squeezed her hand. "I'm sorry."
She shrugged. "Nothing I can do about it now."
"Well, if the news is right, I'll have a few days to give you a proper snow day, starting with snowmen and hot chocolate. Maybe we can go sledding, build a snow fort." He paused. "What else did me and Will do on snow days except annoy our Mom? Bake cookies, play card games, watch movies and eat popcorn. Take your pick, babe."
Hailey looked at her boyfriend, trying her best to hold back tears. "I love you, you know that, right?"
"I know," Jay reached over and put his arm around her and then planted a kiss on her forehead. "And I love you, too."
***
When you woke up, you panicked. You weren't in your room! But, then you remembered, you were at Hailey's house, Jay Jay's partner because it was cold in your room at home. You rolled over, expecting to see Jay because he pinky promised that he'd snuggle, but he wasn't there!
Quickly, you jumped off the bed, taking Teddy with you, and racing out of the bedroom you were in and into the hallway, yelling Jay's name the minute you were out of the room.
Jay slid off the barstool and speed-walked toward the hallway where he was met with you on the brink of tears. "Hey," he crouched down to your height. "I'm right here, it's okay."
He quickly wrapped his arms around you, making your next words muffled. "I- I didn't know where you are!"
"I know and I'm sorry," Jay answered, pulling away. "But, I'm here, me and Hailey are here and guess what?" You looked up at him in expectation. "You have a snow day, so we're gonna go to the park and build a snowman."
You broke out into a wide smile. "Really? Yay!"
"Now, there's someone you should meet," Jay said and stood up.
"Hailey?" you asked. "I already seen her before at your work with Mr. Hank and Adam and Kim and Kevin and 'Tonio."
"No, not Hailey." Just then a fat cat jumped off the couch and started walking towards you and Jay, spoiling the surprise.
Your face lit up. "A kitty!"
Jay stopped you before you made a beeline to Sunny. "Remember, be gentle. You're new to him."
"I know! Just like what 'Tonio tell me when we see the doggies the other people at your work have." You got up close to Sunny and put your hand out, letting him sniff you. He nudged your hand with his head. "He likes me!" Then, you reached a hand out and started to put him and plopped down on the floor to keep petting him. "Hi, Mr. Kitty! I have a snow day today." Then, you had an idea. "He come build a snowman with us?"
Jay smiled, but shook his head. "Sunny's an indoor kitty, so he doesn't go outside, but he'll be here when we get back. Right, Hailey?"
"That's right," she confirmed.
"He named Sunny 'cause he orange like- like the sun?" you asked Hailey excitedly.
"Yup," Hailey answered, not wanting to tell you that at first she thought he was a girl so she named him Sunshine, but when she brought him to the vet a few days later, she learned Sunshine was actually a boy, leading to the name change. "Now, a little birdie told me you like waffles, Y/N. Do you like chocolate chips in them?"
***
"Hold my hand when we walk on the sidewalk, okay?" Jay told you when you walked out of Hailey's building and started down the street. "It's really slippery and I don't want you to fall."
"Because then I gotta go see Will at work and get poked," you said and reached for his hand.
"Yup, you might not need to get poked though, but it wouldn't be a good thing."
You gasped. "But then I see Maggie and she always has a snack for me."
"But if you go to the hospital, you'd have a big owie and it would hurt really bad," he countered.
"Oh. I don't want that."
"Well, that makes two of us. So don't let go of my hand until we get to the park, got it?"
"Got it," you confirmed, and gave Jay's hand a squeeze to further solidify your point.
The three of you made your way to the park all bundled up with Jay carrying a backpack complete with snowmen gear — a few baby carrots and an old scarf that Hailey deemed she didn't want anymore.
"Rules?" Jay asked.
You huffed. "Only throw snowballs at you. No one else."
"Good job. Now, pick a spot for some snowmen and we can get started."
You picked a spot near a pine tree. "Can you start it for me?" you asked. You always struggled to pack the snow tightly at first and Jay and Will did a really good job.
"How about you try this time?"
"Why?" you whined. "I wanna start him now!"
Jay took a deep breath, sensing a tantrum. But then, Hailey stepped in.
"How about I help you," she suggested, slightly crouching down a bit to be closer to your eye level. "Can you show me how you normally do it?"
You grabbed some snow and Hailey took that as a yes. Jay gave his girlfriend a look containing both shock and thanks. He'd only seen her work with kids a handful of times on the job and each time they were brief before she handed them off to uniformed officers. But, judging by how you quickly agreed with her suggestion, she either had the magic touch or you liked Hailey. Probably a little bit of both.
"And then it just gets like this," you said, gesturing to the snow in your hands that was sort of ball-shaped, but not packed tight enough to be the base of a snowman.
"Here, watch me," she instructed and then grabbed a handful of snow. "You need to press it down really hard at the beginning and it's okay if some of the snow falls out of your hands."
"I don't gotta use it all?"
"Nope. You'll add more snow when you roll it. It just needs to fit in your hands. See? Watch."
She continued to pack the snow in her hands, moving from top and bottom and then to the sides to make it a smooth ball shape.
"So it can start off really small and tiny?" you asked.
"Exactly. Do you want to try again?"
"Uh-huh."
You grabbed more snow and began to pack it, moving your hands around it and not worrying if you lost any snow off the sides in the process.
"I did it!" you exclaimed, holding up your small but as-round-as-you-could-get and a-lot-better-than-before snowball.
"Wow, good job!" Jay praised. "Do you want to see if it rolls to start making the snowman?"
You nodded excitedly and gently placed it on the ground and began to roll it. You gasped. "It's good! It works like when you and Will do it! Thank you, Hailey!"
"You're welcome. Do you want me and Jay to work on another part of the snowman while you roll that one?"
"Yes, please!"
To that, Jay picked up someone snow and started forming his own snowball and then began rolling it. Once he was sure you were fully-focused on the task in front of you, he stopped rolling. "How the hell did you do that?"
"Do what?" Hailey asked, slightly furrowing her eyebrows. "Teach her how to pack a snowball tightly?"
"Yeah. Me and Will have probably tried to teach her that a hundred times between the two of us."
"Told her it's okay if she loses some snow and modeled it. Nothing too crazy. Maybe she's got you two wrapped her finger so much that she knows you'll do it for her."
"Hailey Anne. Are you calling me an enabler?"
She smiled mischievously. "Maybe."
He grabbed more snow, quickly packing it into a snowball.
"Jay, what are you—" And then her jaw dropped when a snowball hit her in the leg. "We're doing this, really?"
But Jay had already stooped down to pick up more snow, effectively giving her an answer.
You were so busy rolling your snowball to start your snowman, that you didn't realize Jay and Hailey weren't doing what they were supposed to be doing. That was, until you heard Hailey shrieking happily as Jay continued to pelt her with snowballs.
"Halstead, slow down! I'm making them as fast as I can!"
"Not it my fault you're slow!" Jay shot back and then threw another snowball at Hailey, hitting her in the arm.
"Hailey!" you yelled and started running towards her.
Both Jay and Hailey stopped and turned their attention to you.
"What's wrong?" Hailey asked immediately.
"Nothing's wrong," you laughed as you kept running and then finally stopped once you were a few from her. "I gotta help you get Jay Jay." Then, you bent down and started making snowballs.
"No fair. That's two against one!" Jay protested.
"You said I can only make snowballs hit you, 'member?"
He sighed. "I did say that, didn't I?"
"Yes!" And then you launched a messily made snowball in his direction.
"This means war!" Jay yelled and then ran behind the pine tree to start making his own stockpile of snowballs.
Hailey turned to you. "I'll make 'em and you throw 'em, okay?"
"Yes!"
"You almost ready, Halstead?" Hailey shouted. "Me and Y/N have a plan to kick your butt!"
***
"You think a animal will eat Mr. Snowman's nose?" you asked two hours later after a prolonged snowball fight, snow angels, and making all of the snowman, except for the finishing touches like his nose, eyes, buttons, arms, and scarf.
"Maybe," Jay answered cautiously. "Why?" He knew in all likelihood at least one animal in the park would try and steal it overnight, but knew that this would either be a very good or a very bad answer, so refrained from giving it, instead letting you lead the discussion.
"'Cause I don't want the animals to be hungry. So if they need Mr. Snowman's nose, it's okay."
Jay squatted down to your height. "That's so nice of you to share. And, we have more carrots, so if you want to, you can put more of them down here for the animals."
"For the bunnies?" you asked hopefully. "They love carrots!"
"Maybe a bunny," Jay answered. "Maybe a squirrel or a bird."
"Okay!" You held out your hand. "I have some please?"
He laughed and shook his head. "Let's finish Mr. Snowman and then you can put out some extra carrots. Deal?"
"Deal."
Once you finished putting the arms, buttons, scarf, eyes, and mouth on Mr. Snowman, you placed the carrot as the nose. Then, you took more carrots from the bag Jay had handed you and placed them around the snowman. Finally, you took out the last few and began to munch on them yourself.
"Getting hungry, kiddo?"
"Uh-huh," you answered, mouth still full of half-chewed baby carrots.
"Okay, now's probably a good time to get home and warm up. Your toes cold?"
"No! But you made me wear two pairs of socks!" You held up two fingers to emphasize your point.
"They probably kept your toesies nice and warm," Hailey said. "And, I'm wearing two pairs, too."
"Really?"
"Yes, really. Now what do you say I get a picture of you and Jay by Mr. Snowman and then we go home and have some grilled cheese and hot chocolate?"
"Yes!" you exclaimed, quickly posing next to the snowman because you knew the faster the picture was taken, the faster you could go back to Hailey's house and eat some yummy grilled cheese and drink some yummy hot chocolate.
***
"Can we color?" you asked after you had finished eating your grilled cheese (and stole some of Jay's tomato soup to dip it in) and had a mug of hot chocolate sitting next to you.
Jay sighed. He was going to give Will a call and he hoped you'd be tired from playing outside that you'd fall asleep and he could give him a quick rundown on the heat in the apartment. But, he reminded himself that he could call him after. And, Hailey still didn't have the full snowday experience yet, so he forced a smile on his face.
"I think we can make that happen." Then, he had an idea. One that he, you, and Will did often, but he doubted that Hailey had done. "Do you want to make a fort and color in there?"
"Yes!" You jumped out of your chair in excitement.
"Okay, okay. We'll start by coloring at the table so you can finish your hot chocolate and then build a blanket fort."
You quickly sat back down while Jay went off to the spare bedroom to grab the bag of your toys that he packed.
"You color, too?" you asked Hailey.
"Of course!" she answered. "Do you like to color?"
"Yeah!"
"Do you like colored pencils, crayons, or markers the best?"
"I like crayons but I have all them. Jay Jay likes colored pencils and so does Will. Will puts markers around the outside, too. He does the best."
"Rude, kiddo," Jay answered. "I thought I was the best at coloring."
You quickly shook your head back and forth. "Nuh-uh. Will's the best."
"And us girls are probably better than you, Halstead."
"Yeah, yeah, yeah." He set the bag containing two coloring books, the big box of crayons (with a sharpener in the back), colored pencils, and markers on the table. "How about you two start coloring and I'll start on the fort?"
Jay waited a beat for you to answer, but you were already flipping open your coloring book and looking for a new picure, effectively ignoring him. So, he rolled his eyes and grabbed his now empty mug. When he passed Hailey, he squeezed her hand and whispered, "I got the dishes."
"Love you," she mouthed.
Hailey picked out a picture of some deer in a snowy landscape from your winter-themed coloring book while you were busy coloring in your Disney princess one.
"Hailey?" you asked a few minutes later.
"Hmmm?" she hummed.
"Do boys have cooties?"
She looked up to you still coloring Repunzel from Tangled, you not being aware of the seriousness of the conversation. But, she stopped coloring. "Why do you say that?"
"'Cause whenever I say Flynn Ry-der is pretty, Jay and Will always tell me I can like him cause he not real but I can't like act-shull boys cause they have cooties."
"Well, what do you think cooties are?"
"When a boy kisses a girl and she gets a dis-ease thingy. That's what Will said. The dis-ease word cause he a doctor. But, grown ups don't got cooties. They can kiss each other cause the dis-ease is gone."
"I see. Do you like any boys not in movies?"
You quickly shook your head. "And kissing is gross."
She stifled a laugh. She figured it would be okay to agree with Jay on this one seeing as you didn't have a crush on anyone and you were safe. "Yes, boys have cooties. But, when you turn 20, you don't get the disease anymore, so then you can kiss boys."
"Twen-y? But that's so far away!"
"It will come faster than you think. But for now, what color do you think I should make these ornaments?" she asked and slid her coloring page toward you.
And so, you started handing her a bunch of different crayons from the box, the cootie conversation quickly forgotten.
***
"Think we should move her?" Hailey asked a few hours later when you were 30 minutes into your second Disney movie, all three of you in the blanket fort made out of the couch, some kitchen chairs, a few blankets, and some old hair clips Hailey had in the back of her bathroom cabinet to clip the blankets together.
"She'll be fine," he answered, looking at you sleeping on your stomach with a blanket loosely draped over you, your head resting half on your hands and half off on a pillow with Sunny laying curled up in a ball next to you. "You and me, though..." he trailed off and started making his way towards the entrance of the fort.
"I was thinking the same thing. We are too old to sit like that for hours."
"Even one movie was too long," Jay quipped, holding out a hand to help his girlfriend up off the floor.
"Thanks." She paused. "But, she loved it today. You- uh- you made her so happy today." Tears welled in her eyes for the second time in under 24 hours. "Her and me."
"Oh, Hailey." He quickly pulled her in for a hug and held her tight for a minute, only pulling away to brush a few stray tears off her cheeks.
"She's lucky to have you, Jay. Her and me are."
He kissed the top of her head. "I love you."
"Love you, too. Thanks for giving me the perfect snow day."
"Well, even though she's sleeping, the day's not over yet." Hailey looked up at her boyfriend and furrowed her eyebrows. "I saw some cookie dough in your freezer. Me, Will, and my mom would bake cookies sometimes on snow days so what do you say?"
"I thought you hated sweets."
"I already had hot chocolate today and for you? Well, I'll make an exception."
"What a guy."
"Not just any guy, your guy."
***
Jay's and Hailey's phones rang early that morning. Luckily, Jay had been up in the living room for the call from Voight, while Hailey was still sleeping. While Voight said yesterday he wouldn't have anyone come in until Monday unless it was urgent, it was Friday and Intelligence had caught a drug trafficking case and the stamp on the bricks signaled it was from a known offender which they had been chasing last year until his tracks went cold. So, while Jay didn't set an alarm to be back at the district today, his body clock from his days in the army still had him up before sunrise.
"Snow day, again?" Hailey asked, coming up behind Jay and wrapping her arms around his waist while he poured himself another cup of coffee.
"Well good morning to you, too." He gave her hand a squeeze once the coffee was securely in the mug. "And, yeah. I already texted Will and he said he'd sleep until she got there and then take her sledding to tire her out and take another nap. Luckily, he doesn't have to work this weekend."
"What time did he get off?"
He glanced at the clock. 7:47am. "About 45 minutes ago. Said Crockett better get his ass back because there's a reason he works days. Likes the shift differential but it's not enough for him to stay on nights apparently."
"I get another snow day?" you exclaimed while you ran down the hallway and into the kitchen. Hailey quickly let her arms fall from Jay's waist, but it was too late. "Why you standin' like that, Hailey?"
She blushed and quickly pulled away. "Uh, well..."
"Yes, you have another snow day, kiddo!" Jay exclaimed, changing the subject. "How do you feel about spending it with Will?"
"Me and him do something fun today, too? Like me and you and Hailey did yesterday?"
"Will said he'll take you sledding if you want to go. That sound like fun to you?"
"Yes!"
"I'll get some cartoons set up for you. Scrambled eggs with cheese and toast with jelly sound good for breakfast?"
"Yes, please!" Then you scampered off to Hailey's living room and to the couch to sit right next to Sunny like you had been there all your life.
"How'd you do that?" Hailey hissed once you were out of ear shot.
"Do what?"
"Distract her. From what she walked into. Us," she emphasized, waving a hand between herself and Jay.
"Kids are easily distractable; just change the subject. Now when she'll say what she saw and who she'll tell, well, that's a whole different story."
***
"I'm—ugh—ready," you grunted as you waddled into the kitchen a little while later with your bag of toys on one shoulder, practically dragging on the ground, and struggling to carry Sunny in front of you by picking him up and clasping your hands under his big belly.
"Uh, how about we put Sunny down, kiddo?" Jay suggested.
"Why?"
"Because—"
"Jay, if he wanted to get down he would have done it already." Then, Hailey quickly took a picture of you. "There. You can show it to Will."
"Why are you holding him anyway?" Jay asked, hoping an answer to this question would help him mitigate the current situation.
"He coming to Will's house with me."
"He can't come to Will's house with you," Jay answered quickly, needing to lay down the law before Hailey said something to the effect of Jay getting you a cat.
"Why not?" you asked, your lip starting to tremble. "I- I think Will wants a kitty."
He sighed and knelt down in front of you. "Can I hold him?"
You shook your head. "My Sunny."
"Your Sunny. Ok, this is gonna go over well," Jay muttered to himself. "Y/N, he can't come to Will's house because this is his house. He lives here. With Hailey."
"But- But I wanna see him!" you wailed.
At this, Sunny stirred in your arms and Jay quickly grabbed him before he scratched you with his claws to try and get down.
"You can still see him," Hailey butted in. "He's not going anywhere."
"But how I gonna get here to see Sunny?"
"How about you come over here and see him every Wednesday and me and you can have a girls' night," she suggested.
"A girls' night?" You furrowed your eyebrows. "What's that?"
"That's where we let Jay and Will go somewhere and you and me stay here. We can play games, watch movies, we'll obviously get pizza or McDonald's or Wendy's and maybe even make ice cream sundaes. I can even do your nails if Jay says it's okay."
"Jay Jay, can I have a night with Hailey? She do my nails, too?" you asked seriously.
"She's a handful," Jay warned.
"I don't mind."
"We'll have to move spaghetti and garlic bread night to Thursdays instead of Wednesdays," he told you seriously.
"That's okay! I see Sunny and have fun with Hailey!"
"Okay. Guess that settles it. Now go put your boots on so you can get to Will's and go sledding."
You scampered off out of earshot and Jay turned to his girlfriend. "Why'd you do that?" he asked.
"Do what? The girls' night?"
"Yeah."
"Well, if I'm gonna be in your life for a while, I might as well get on her good side."
And so, the minute Jay dropped you off the Will's, you mentioned the girls' night and the snowball fight to him, meaning the cat was officially out of the bag — and this time, the cat wasn't Sunny.
A/N: I'm back! Hope you enjoyed this even though it was a shorter one and didn't contain my typical angst!
Did you ever wonder how Upstead would be as foster parents for a teenage girl? Like Hank and Erin, Hailey and Jay welcomed Olivia to their home when she was 16. Olivia holds a lot of grudges and is full of mischief, but she is also incredibly sweet and has a tremendous need to feel like she belongs. To her surprise, Hailey and Jay will give her exactly that.
Masterlist
[Chapter II] “You’re on your own, kid, you always have been”
No one expected to hear a stranger's voice through their radio, let alone saying that Jay was bleeding out on the pavement.
“Who the hell are you?” Voight’s surprised voice came through the radio.
“My name is Olivia Rivera, I'm with your officer Halstead and he's been shot! I'm sorry I couldn't call an ambulance but I don't have my phone with me,” Olivia said everything so fast they almost couldn't understand it.
“Shot? What the hell?” said Hailey in exasperation. She was driving with Voight after Jay left by himself.
The whole team was checking the crime scene from their current case when Jay got a call from a CI. Hailey was busy interrogating a witness when he got the call. She told him to wait for her but he was so eager for whatever information his CI had to give that he decided to go by himself. Turns out it was a trap. Hailey did not know the details yet, but she couldn’t help but think that this would have not happened if she had been with him.
“Wh-where are you?” Hailey asked, already feeling her heart start to beat out of her chest.
Olivia told her the address as slowly as possible in her state; after that, Hailey started bombarding her with questions she did not know how to answer.
While they talked, Voight rushed in passing the address to dispatch requesting an ambulance and some patrol cars. The rest of the team followed behind.
“Is he conscious?” Hailey asked.
Silence followed her question, leaving them both tense.
“Olivia! Is he conscious?” Hailey repeated.
“I- He- He was until now when I called you.”
“Does he still have a pulse, Olivia?” Hailey guided her to check.
“Yes, he does!”
“Okay, okay, keep putting pressure on the wound.”
“What's the ambulance ETA?” Voight's rough voice questioned dispatch.
“We're close, hang tight Olivia,” Hailey said, trying to calm the girl and herself down. He would make it, he always made it. This was not his first time being shot, but she surely hoped it was his last. She couldn't do this last time and she especially can't do it now.
“He'll be fine, Hailey,” Voight's voice invaded her thoughts. “Halstead’s strong, he'll get through this.”
Olivia didn't like hospitals. She felt trapped, unsafe, and overwhelmed. Probably because of the amount of people coming and going, the voices overlapping each other. There was too much going on and she shouldn't even be there in the first place.
After Jay's co-workers got to them everything happened in a blur. The ambulance got there seconds later, along with the other members of the team.
When Hailey and Voight arrived, Hailey came running in Jay and Olivia’s direction. She stared at the teenager with a mix of desperation and gratitude. Olivia stepped away as Hailey took her place. As others approached, Olivia stepped more and more away from the scene, ending up a little far away from it all.
She watched the scene unfold before her eyes in a trance. Jay was put into an ambulance and taken to the hospital, with several police cars following behind. Should she leave? She wants to know if he is going to be alright, of course. On the other hand, she feels like she was not supposed to be there.
“Hey! Olivia, isn't it?” a tall man appeared in her field of vision, his eyes were gentle and his voice calm.
“Yes,” Olivia answered.
“Name’s Kevin, Kevin Atwater. This is my friend, Kim Burgess,” he pointed to the woman beside him, and she smiled softly. Both officers looked shaken but they masked well, Olivia thought. Of course, this was not easy for them. Seeing a colleague hurt like that, almost lifeless.
“There's someone we can call for you? Your mom or dad?” Kim asked.
The girl didn’t answer. Kevin and Kim exchanged a look.
“Well, just come to the hospital with us then, okay?”
Voight watched them from afar, getting ready to enter the car and head to Med. Jay was the priority now, but they all were grateful for the girl, she saved Jay’s life after all. He made a mental note to thank her personally later.
Olivia debated for a moment. She decided it was better if she went with them and found a way to leave later without them noticing.
She nodded and followed them to the car.
“You can get cleaned up there,” Kim said after getting in the car.
Kevin started the drive to Med. Olivia didn’t answer the officer, suddenly feeling hyper-aware of all the blood on her. The adrenaline was wearing down.
“Are you okay, Olivia?” Kim asked softly.
“Yeah, sorry… I'm fine.”
“It’s okay, we will get to the hospital soon.”
Sitting in the doctors' room in Chicago Med a couple of hours later, Olivia was clean and waiting for a chance to leave. The really nice nurse called April who helped her clean up and gave her some food came by minutes ago and told her Jay would be alright. She left again when another nurse called for her so now was the perfect time for Olivia to leave.
She did not need to be discharged since she was neither a patient nor a suspect, right? Olivia got up and left the room, bringing some of the snacks the nurse gave her.
“Don’t worry Hails, we’re getting the bastard who shot Jay,” Kevin said firmly, looking at a very distressed-looking Hailey. Olivia got to the hospital’s lounge and saw Jay’s team reunited talking. They had their backs to the door she entered and could not see her.
They started to talk about the man who shot Jay and what they were doing to find him, most of which Olivia did not understand or did not care to try to understand. She stopped paying attention and started to plan how she would get out of there. There was only one way out and she could not leave without them seeing her.
Olivia was scared. She knew she wasn’t in trouble or anything but they were still police so she might as well be in trouble if they got to know more about her. Hell, they might as well already know.
“Stay with your husband Hailey, we’ll get him,” Voight's words drew Olivia's attention. Husband? That explained why Hailey was the most distressed of them all. The look on her face when she saw him lying on the pavement.
“Oh! Olivia, there you are,” said April, the nurse who helped Olivia earlier. Olivia's name caught the group's attention and five heads turned to look in her direction.
“Olivia!” Voight said, approaching the girl. “How are you? I need to properly thank you for helping my detective, I don’t know what could have happened if you weren’t there.”
“I… well, he was…” Olivia did not know what to say, so she came with a simple “You’re welcome” and a shy smile. She didn't expect to talk with anyone, let alone have all the attention on her.
“Well, I’m Sergeant Hank Voight and this is my team,” he went on introducing each of them. “You met Officer Kim Burgess and Officer Kevin Atwater. Detective Hailey Upton was the one you spoke with on the radio. And that is Officer Adam Ruzek.” he pointed to each one and they gave her a nod or a small smile.
After the introduction, he turned to look at her again. He spoke in a more serious tone, “We’re going to need your statement.”
Shit. That is exactly what she was trying to avoid. “I can’t!” was the first thing that came out of her mouth.
“It’s okay Olivia, we checked your file and we’re going to call your foster family on the way to the station,” Hank said.
So they know about her foster family, but they did not know she had run away yet. That was why she was in that alley, in that part of town, by herself.
Olivia thought about running but she could never get far with this many cops around. On their way to the district, she thought about jumping from the moving car but that was too stupid even for her. She laughed at the thought. Sitting in the car with Kim and Kevin again, she accepted her fate.
All her effort running away was for nothing. She was back to square one.
Slow, I know, but this is me trying guys. I love this OC so I hope I can keep writing her story even though I'm slow af. Thank you so much for the likes and reblogs on chapter one! ♡
It's an age-old story. A guy takes a trip to Las Vegas. He meets a beautiful stranger in a bar. And after that, well…what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas. Doesn't it?
Guess who's back with a brand new chapter? This dude! Hope you guys have had a wonderful holiday season, and all the best to an even better New Year.
Enjoy
An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works
Words: 5,801
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Chicago PD (TV)
Rating: T
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Jay Halstead/Hailey Upton, Jay Halstead & Will Halstead, Will Halstead & Hailey Upton
Characters: Jay Halstead, Hailey Upton, Will Halstead
Additional Tags: Angst, Fix-It, Episode: s10e03 A Good Man (Chicago PD), Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Guilt, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Episode Fix-it, Jay Halstead Needs A Hug, Married Jay Halstead/Hailey Upton, Late Night Conversations, Trauma, One Shot, Missing Scene
Summary:
“Come on. If we’re not going to sleep, can we please just talk? Let’s at least try to make it feel like us again.”
Jay and Hailey have the one conversation they really needed to have before he decided to up and leave in 10x03.
(written for the @ficwip All-Ships Ship Week 2024 - Wednesday: "Stay with me")
Summary: She’s chasing ghosts, he’s chasing a case. Hiding behind disguised intentions and false identities, their paths cross, only to realize their objectives might be one and the same. Will they let each other be the way forward, or will their pasts stand in the way?
Summary: Hailey meets a stranger at the bar on Christmas Eve and they decide to be alone together for Christmas Day.
AN: Merry Christmas Eve friends! In honor of the holiday, I’m excited to share a new two-shot filled with young upstead fluff and flirting. Hope you enjoy!!
