How It Should Have Been

Chapter 8

Kim came back to work after her 3-week recovery at home. Her doctors had finally approved her for desk duty. Intelligence returned to their usual routine, catching and solving cases in a few days. It has been over a month since Roy became part of their lives. Over a month since Deputy Superintendent's son was killed, and the trafficked girls were found dead. It had been over a month since Kim's abduction and her shooting. And the team had somehow found a way to move past those events. Miller had taken a leave of absence after her son's death. Superintendent Crawford was assigning Intelligence to high-profile cases, keeping them busy. No one mentioned Roy Walton. No one asked how Kim was doing. Everyone simply moved on.

Hailey had gotten back into her usual routine. She would wake up every morning in the warmth of her boyfriend's arms and have a cup of coffee before heading to work. Sometimes, Jay would wake up and go for a run. Other mornings, he would sleep in and stay in bed with Hailey. The couple was in a good place. The team had finally found out about their relationship and congratulated them.

Intelligence had wrapped up a murder case involving two siblings. Kim had decided to head home early as there was nothing she could do at the moment. Jay had to meet a CI and told Hailey he would meet her at home. The only people left were Adam, Kevin, and Hailey. Voight had asked them to stay and finish the surveillance reports from the case. Around 8 pm, the three of them finally finished their reports and headed downstairs. Hailey listened to the guys quarrel about a certain type of shoe and whether they were comfortable.

"Hailey come on, back me up!" Adam asked

"Ahhhhh. I'm gonna have to side with Kev here. I think the shoes you showed us look great, but I doubt they are comfortable."

"Amen!" Kev replied, fist bumping Hailey.

"Wow" Adam grunted. "I don't even know why I asked you in the first place. You're the girl who wears the same pair of sneakers to work every day."

"It's comfortable." Hailey responded, lifting her feet in the air.

"I swear, I feel like you will be that one bride that wears sneakers with her wedding dress. Watch Jay be all dressed up in a tux and you will choose to wear the most causal outfit ever."

"Ok, first of all. Jay knows I prefer casual over dressy. And he loves it. And second, you are absolutely right. I would definitely wear sneakers under my wedding dress. It's my wedding not yours. When you get married to Burgess, you can totally wear whatever bedazzling dress shoes you want."

"I love how when weddings were mentioned you didn't hesitate to answer. Is that a sign. Did Jay ask you a very important question?"

Hailey blushed. "Wow. Adam instead of worrying about my love life. Figure out your own. Just ask Kim out already."

"Trust me, I would. But she won't let me. Every time, I try to bring up a possibility for us to rekindle our relationship, she brings up some excuse, like we work together, or she has to think about Makayla now."

"Well, I think the lovely detectives in our unit have disproven the first excuse. You can definitely be together and work together." Kevin smirked.

Hailey smiled. "And yes, Makayla has taken priority in her life, but that doesn't mean she can't have a relationship with you. I mean you adore that kid, and that kid adores you. It's the perfect situation to be in."

"Trust me. I get all that. But she doesn't seem to want to understand."

As they get to the bottom of the stairs, Trudy interrupts them. "Hailey, need to talk to you."