A Blessing in Disguise 5 | COMPLETED

Anything

The blonde and brunette were chuckling as they walked up the stairs into the district. "Oh my gosh!" Their heads snapped towards their desk sergeant. She had a delighted expression on her face as she made her way towards them. Her arms wrapped around Hailey. "I'm so glad you're ok." There were tears forming in her eyes, but she quickly sucked it up and broke off the hug. "Don't do that to me again, Hailey Anne Upton." Trudy had a stern look on her face that said not to challenge her with what she said. However, if one would look closer, she was actually just masking her worry with it and the two detectives in front of her knew that.  "I'm alright, Trudy," Hailey smiled, hoping that would calm her sergeant's worries, but it didn't. She still had the same look on her face. "Why aren't you at home resting?" Trudy asked with concern imbued in her tone. "Eh—" Trudy's head snapped at Jay which silenced Hailey. Jay immediately raised both his hands up in surrender, knowing full well what the expression on Trudy's face meant. "I would've tried to tell her that, but I already knew that she wouldn't listen to me, so I'm following her where she goes," Jay defended.

Trudy knew she couldn't argue with that, so a small smile crept onto her face as she looked back at Hailey. "Well, it seems like you and Vanessa have the same idea today." Hailey shrugged, "What can I say we're all tough women here and that includes you." "Ain't that right," Trudy concurred. The older woman gave the blonde a hug again. "Oh, one more thing," Trudy broke the hug off and looked Hailey in her azure eyes. "Why are you guys late?" Hailey quickly furrowed her eyebrows at her and acted all confused. "What do you mean?" Trudy did the same with her eyebrows and further clarified what she meant, "You guys are like five minutes late, and you're never late." Hailey just gave her a smile as a reply and bid the sergeant farewell as she started making her way to the stairs with Jay following close behind her. Before going past the metal cage-like door, Hailey looked back at Trudy. Her confused expression was now replaced with an expression that she already knew what happened and she just asked her for fun. Hailey chuckled under her breath as she buzzed herself and Jay up to the bullpen.

The sound of shuffling footsteps and fingers hitting the keys on the keyboard greeted the pair as they arrived at the bullpen. Voices of their fellow colleagues echoed through the room as each of them updated the other on their current findings or shortcomings. "Hey, Chicago," OA was approaching the two with a huge smile on his face. "Hey!" A smile also appeared on Hailey's face as she greeted her friend from New York. "Glad you're ok." There was a guilty look on the man's face that confused Hailey. "Hey, you ok?" She immediately asked like how she did when she was his partner back in the Big Apple. "Yeah, I just feel like..." OA's words trailed off as he couldn't find the right ones to say. "Like it's your fault because you gave me Vanessa's file?" Hailey continued. OA shamefully nodded his head, then he felt Hailey's hand on his arm. "It's not your fault." A feeling of relief washed over his being after hearing those words from Hailey. He didn't know how much his guilt was pulling him down. "Thank you," he perceived that she wouldn't get why he was thanking her, but he needed to say it. An understanding smile appeared on Hailey's face that told him she did know why he said it. OA's body swiveled around as he felt a hand on his back. "Maggie, hey, this is Hailey," he introduced and turned back to Hailey, "Hailey, Maggie." He gestured toward the other. "Hey!" Maggie reached her hand out and Hailey took it. "So you're the partner?" "Yeah, but I feel like I'm the little sister, though," Maggie replied. "Really? I feel like I'm the mom," Hailey joined her in joking about their respective partners. The women chatted on their way to Hailey's desk, leaving the men standing dumbfoundedly by the staircase.

Everyone was now in the bullpen busily searching for any information as to what Barnes is planning to do next. A few minutes passed and Sgt. Voight came out of his office. "Anything?" He asked the group. Everyone's sorrowful expression was already a response to his question. He was about to make his way back to answering unwanted calls from different concerned government agencies. "I got something," Isobel's voice stopped him from doing so. Everyone's heads snapped towards her as she stood by their sergeant. "Agents from the FBI field office in New York found some information online. They found a website where Barnes has been posting cryptic sayings about his plans. The agents were able to decipher his latest post and it showed that he's planning to detonate a bomb at a gathering or somewhere with a lot of people." Everyone had a quizzical expression on their faces. They didn't know why Barnes was targeting a place with a large number of people nor did they think of it since his whole agenda from the start was very random. They looked at each other with the question 'A gathering?' sprawled across their faces to ask the other if they had any idea where it might be. On the other side of the bullpen, Kevin was the only one who was looking through his computer. "Like a parade?" His head popped up from behind his screen. Everyone in the room switched their focus towards him. The man stood up from his desk as he pointed at his computer screen. "It's happening downtown."