How It Should Have Been

Chapter 1

"I'm serious. Let's get married." Hailey says with tears in her eyes. Her lip was quivering, and he looked like she was on the verge of breaking down. Jay looks at her intently, noticing the fear in her eyes, but that's all he knows. He smiles and squeezes her shoulder, trying to ground her.

Their moment was interrupted when both their phones went off. Hailey flinched and quickly recovered, but Jay noticed. Hailey reached for her phone in her pocket and read the message.

"We gotta go. It's Trudy. They got news on Kim." Hailey says as she heads to her room to change quickly.

Jay nods and watches her walk away, still stunned by what she just asked a few minutes ago.

Hailey grabs some clothes and heads to the bathroom to splash some water on her face. What did she just say to Jay, 'We should get married'? What was she thinking? He looked shocked and scared. Maybe he didn't want to get married; perhaps he didn't want to marry her. If he did, he would have said something.

She looks at her reflection in the mirror, and tears form in the corners of her eyes. Hailey washes her face and quickly changes into a new set of clothes. She lets her hair down on her shoulders and walks out of the room to meet Jay sitting on the couch, resting his head on the back of the couch. His eyes were closed, and he looked like he was sleeping.

"Jay...Jay!" she whispered, trying to wake him up. He rolled his head to the other side of the couch and went back to snoozing. Hailey smiled and tried shaking him awake. "Jay... you got to wake up, we got to head to the hospital."

Jay's eyes slowly opened, and he yawned. "Sorry, I'm just so tired."

Hailey understood. "I know, but we gotta go. How bout I drive, and you can take a nap in the car." Jay looked at her and studied her. The tears in her eyes had dried up, and she looked like nothing had happened. He nodded and got off the couch with the help of Hailey. They both headed to the door to leave. Before she could get to the door, Jay grabbed her hand and stopped her.

"Hey, when we get back, we will talk about the question you asked earlier, okay?" He said in a very calm and reassuring voice. She nodded, smiled, squeezed his hand, and walked out of her apartment with Jay following behind.

When they got to the hospital, the entire district was there. Trudy and Kevin were huddled together, whispering something, but they immediately walked toward them when they saw the two detectives.

"Hey, any word on Kim?" Jay asks.

"Yeah, she is still in surgery. The doctors say maybe a few more hours." Kevin filled them in.

"Has anyone told Adam yet?"

"Yeah, I just did. He's with Makayla right now."

"That's good."

"Hey, have you heard from Voight? I've been trying to get a hold of him to update him on Burgess's status, but nothing." Trudy asked.

Jay shook his head and glanced at Hailey. "No, he could be looking for a lead."

"Maybe," Trudy replied. "Hey, I'm gonna go get us some good coffee for all of us. I am done drinking this hospital crap," she said, lightening the mood.

Hailey, Jay, and Kevin sat down in the waiting room, waiting for information on their friend. They were all tired and exhausted, and all they wanted to do was sleep, but their friend's condition was still unknown, and they wouldn't be able to sleep well without knowing that she was okay.

Jay was on his phone when he felt a weight on his shoulder. He slowly turned his head and smiled. His girlfriend had fallen asleep on his shoulder, quietly snoozing. She looked tired, but she was still beautiful, her blonde waves falling on her shoulders. Lips pressed together. She was so beautiful, but the look on her face back at the apartment showed fear. Fear of losing Kim? Fear of getting hurt? Fear of something, but he didn't know what. She had asked a very important question. A question that he always wanted to ask her, someday. He knew that he wanted a future with Hailey, and if she had asked in any other circumstances, any other day, he would immediately say yes. They have known each other for years. Although they have only been dating for a few months, he has had strong feelings for years. He was just too afraid to act on them, afraid that it might ruin their partnership, their friendship.