Another Life

32

I made my way up the stairs to the bullpen after what feels like forever. It had only been three weeks, but for someone who spent most of their 20's working and who came back for desk duty just a month after Macie was born, three weeks not being here was forever.

Kim's the first one to notice me, looking up from her monitor at the sound of footsteps and she grins. "What are you doing here?" She asks.

I shrug. "I was bored."

In the corner of my eye I see Adam throw something in Jay's direction to get his attention. He looked pretty focused on what he was doing and he hadn't noticed me coming up, or really what was going on in the bullpen, and clearly the object Adam tossed caught him by surprise. Jay glares at Ruzek and then holds then pen up, a very unamused look on his face. Adam just turns away from him, pointing in my direction. Jay follows the officer's finger and then realizes why he had been pulled up from his screen, Jay's lips upturning to a grin and he briefly leans back in his chair before standing from it. "Hey, there's two of my favorite people, what are you doing here?"

"She was bored." Kim responds before I had the chance to, me telling her the same thing just seconds before when she had asked.

"Nice wrap." Jay comments on the sling I was sporting, rather than having Alfie in his car seat again, as he walks over. He then leans down, putting a gentle kiss to the top of Alfie's head before putting one on top of mine. "You want a drink?"

I quickly nod, following him through into the break room. On our way into the room I notice Voight in his office, talking with the Deputy Superintendent. I furrow my eyebrows but wait until we got into the room to ask Jay about it. He lets me in first and as I pass him I subtly look to him over my shoulder. "What's Miller doing here?"

Jay's eyes widen and he briefly looks around the surroundings to see if anyone was there. Before he spoke he shut the break room door, implying whatever he was about to say was not good. His movement only knits my eyebrows closer together. We walk over to the sink and Jay leans back against it, crossing his arms over his chest. "There's been a new development in IAD's case against Voight, it's not looking good for him, they're coming down hard."

I suck in a sharp breath, having not expected to hear that today. After a beat I send him another look. "Do you know what they've found?"

He slowly shakes his head. "No. Voight won't say anything about the investigation and Miller just came charging up here with Platt, didn't stop to speak to any of us and Trudy didn't say anything about why Miller's here either." He responds, reaching his arm up to scratch at the back of his neck.

I follow after his previous lead and find myself leaning up against the counter too. "I thought by now he would've wiggled himself out of it, that it would have run its course, but this really might be it, huh?"

Jay's eyes find the door and they don't move away from it. "Yeah," he whispers and keeps his gaze locked on that one place for a moment before they pull away, briefly glancing at me, and then he turns around, facing in toward the sink and grabbing a mug from one of the cabinets. "Coffee?" He asks, grabbing hold of the jug from the holder.

It takes me a second to realize he was asking me the question and I nod. "Uh, yeah." I mumble. I blank out and the next thing I register is Jay handing out the mug to me.

I take the mug from his hand and bring it up to my lips but don't take a sip from it, instead leaving it there for a second before bringing it back down and putting it on top of the counter again. Jay catches on to that and leans away from the side, taking a small nudge forward.

"Hailey, it's all gonna be fine." He reassures and I'm not sure why but I was glad to hear him say that.

"Yeah," I repeat again, nodding quickly. "And either way, even if that does happen, Intelligence is in good hands, with you taking over and all."