Got your back

Chapter 18

A few weeks later, Jay was leaning against the counter in the kitchen of Hailey's apartment. At this point it was basically his apartment too since he spent more nights there then he did at his own place. His presence helped to keep Hailey's nightmares at bay, and when that failed, he was there to comfort her and reassure her that she was safe. Shortly after the hearings, he had started finding excuses to spend the night, sometimes as many as five or six days a week. As much as Hailey wanted to, she couldn't bring herself to ask him to stay that often, not wanting to burden him with her own problems. But he knew her well enough to know that, so instead he'd make sure they stayed up late talking or watching TV and then claim he was too tired to drive home, and he'd ask if he could spend the night. And each time she'd gratefully agree.

He would have loved to have just officially moved in with her. But he would never take advantage of how vulnerable she was to get to that point. He knew that them having separate places was somewhat of a safety net for her. It didn't bother him. He understood that it wasn't because she didn't trust him; she just didn't trust relationships in general. Until now, she never had any reason to. But he knew she was trying, really trying, and he was okay with waiting. If having two places made her feel safer, then they'd have two places as long as she wanted.

The past couple weeks, the nightmares had gotten less severe and more distant. There hadn't been much, or rather any, progress on the investigation into Caden. But while that should've meant that she could have started to put it behind her, or at least push it to the back of her mind, of course it couldn't be that easy. Instead, she had to deal with the fallout every time she left the bullpen. She had broken the first and most important rule of being a cop: don't break the blue wall. Didn't matter that she was a cop, too, or that she was a cop longer. No, what mattered was that she was the cop who snitched on another cop. Everyone was quick to defend him, even though no one had done the same for her. So whenever she left the bullpen, she had to endure the dirty looks from patrol, and she had to ignore the way they fell silent as she passed by before continuing whispering behind her back. She pretended it didn't bother her, but it was hard to miss back in Intelligence. They were all so used to her being a bright spot in their day with her signature smile and sassy comments lightening the bullpen that their sudden disappearance left everyone on the team feeling the darkness.

So as Jay watched her now, he couldn't even begin to put into words how happy it made him to see her like this. He watched with a amused smile as Hailey danced around the kitchen as she cooked, quietly singing along to the Christmas music that was playing on the radio. She noticed him watching and blushed slightly. "What?"

"Nothing," he said, shaking his head as he tried- and failed- to hide his smile. Instead, he took the opportunity to swipe some frosting from a bowl she had set out for decorating cookies a little later.

"Jay Halstead!" She chastised, threateningly waving the wooden spoon she was holding in his direction. He responded with an unapologetic grin as he stole more. "There's not gonna be any left by the time they get here if you keep that up!"

The rest of the unit would be by shortly to celebrate an early Christmas. Everyone was bringing food and their secret Santa gifts, and the guys were going to watch the Bulls game as Hailey and Kim decorated cookies for Kim and Adam to take with them when they visited Kim's sister on Christmas Eve and Adam's on Christmas Day.

Giving up on trying to convince him not to eat the food, Hailey turned back to the stove, saying teasingly, "You know you could actually help make the food instead of just eating it. That is an option."

Jay knew she had a point, but he wasn't going to let her win that easily. With her back still turned to him, he saw the perfect opportunity. Walking over to her, he grabbed a sprig of parsley that was leftover from the spanakopita she had been making. By the time he was standing next to her, she had noticed his presence and gave him a confused look, mainly because he was holding the greens above their heads.

"What are you doing?" She asked with a confused but amused laugh.

"It's mistletoe," he deadpanned.

She laughed again, shaking her head. "Sorry, Halstead, but that's obviously parsley."

"Oh yeah, that's really how you want to play this?" He teased her.

She made a show of acting like she was really thinking it through before she responded with a smile, "Fine." As he leaned in to kiss her, she stopped him, putting a hand on his chest. "But only because you still have some frosting on you," she added with a smirk. He laughed, and she could feel him smile against her own.

When she pulled away a moment later, he made a show of pouting at her. She laughed and rolled her eyes. "Oh quit complaining. You keep distracting me, and all of the food is gonna end up burnt." She turned back to focus on the stove. "Is that really what you want?"

"That's not what I want," he replied. She could hear the teasing in his voice, and when she glanced over, he had a mischievous smirk on his face.

She laughed, ignoring the slight blush she could feel on her cheeks. "Shut up," she retorted. She chucked a kitchen towel at him, catching him by surprise, which made her laugh even more. "Go be productive."

As he walked away, she could hear him laughing softly, and her smile widened.