Dreaming Out Loud // Jonathan Toews, Chris Kreider, Nathan MacKinnon

New York, New York

New York, New York, October 18, 2019

"I don't see why I would need you for any part of the operation," Jack murmurs bitterly as she takes a seat in front of the chief of New York's 25th precinct.

The detective seated beside her smirks at her pronounced independence and turns to look at his chief for his response. No one at his precinct has ever used that tone with the chief and he is curious to see how the chief will deal with the detective from Chicago. Surprisingly, the chief is relatively calm.

"Even if the case started in Chicago, everything beyond here is part of our jurisdiction so it is necessary that we collaborate in order to solve this case," the chief explains casually.

Jack refrains from rolling her eyes in annoyance. She hates working with people she does not trust. In her line of work, it is difficult to work with strangers because they can easily betray her like her old partner did. Jack understands that she has no choice. Her own chief demanded that she fly to New York to chase down the lead. As part of their Chicago investigations, Hanson found a train ticket in Katherine's coat pocket from Greenwich, Connecticut to New York.

The team decided to overturn the entire household for any hints of Katherine's whereabouts, and New York seemed to be a good place to start. While Hale is in New York, Hanson was ordered to take his investigations to Greenwich. They have yet to connect Katherine from Chicago to Greenwich, but it is something that Hanson is going to work on. Jack trusts that Hanson will find something.

"You report to me whenever you find a lead, understood Detective Hale?"

Grudgingly, Jacqueline nods. She is not in charge so her reluctance cannot make her decisions for her. If she refuses to cooperate, she might as well kiss her job goodbye.

"And you will work closely with Detective Tate, is that clear?"

The blonde turns to the detective beside her and tries her best to smile at the man. Detective Tate seems to be chipper, evidently getting a kick out of her frustrations. Jack hates working with overly enthusiastic people—working with Hanson had taken a lot of tolerance. Now it seems to her like this Tate guy is even worse.

He seems like a smug little shit, maybe a bit too arrogant for her to tolerate, but instead of saying anything, she bites her tongue and gives her new partner a curt nod. Jacqueline has to get used to reporting to some other guy and sharing her information with someone who is not Hanson. In order for this to work, she is going to have to trust Tate to have her back.

"Sir," the three looked behind to see a cop walk in with two men trailing behind him.

The three men approach the chief without sparing Hale or Tate a single glance. Jack purses her lips as she identifies the two civilians as Mika Zibanejad and Chris Kreider. They were both reportedly caught hanging out at a sake bar with her older sister in Boston. Jack knows that Eva is in a relationship with Mika. She does not know much else. She observes the interaction with an eyebrow raised.

"Mr. Zibanejad and Mr. Kreider is here to report a stalker-razzi incident," the cop says to the chief before excusing himself.

Jack understands that this issue has to go straight to the chief since this is a high profile case. Two Rangers players are involved in this, which means the chief has to assign this case himself.

The chief turns to Jack and Tate, gesturing for them to give up their seats. Rolling her eyes, Jack gets up from her seat and intentionally slams her shoulder into Zibanejad as she passes by him. She earns a glare from both the man she bumped into and the chief. Jack ignores the glares.

The two hockey players sit down while Jack and Tate remain standing. The chief has not dismissed them yet. They are still in the middle of being briefed about their task but now it is going to have to take the backseat because of the hockey players.

"Do you have a clue as to what they want?" the chief asks the men.

The two hockey players look at each other.

"I believe our recent outing with Eva Hale has gotten us into a bit of a mess. We tried to hang out at a lowkey spot but unfortunately someone recognized her and snuck a shot. That photograph is all over the internet. After that happened, Mika has had his privacy invaded in unimaginable ways. There is one in particular that we found concerning – this person has been camping out Mika's home and trailing him in a vehicle wherever he goes," Kreider explains.

"That's it?" Jacqueline scoffs.

"Excuse me?" Kreider shoots back before the chief waves at Jack to stop.

Jack rolls her eyes. This just seems like Mika is not able to handle being in a high profile relationship and wants police escorts. His first world problem is nothing compared to the urgency of the Katherine Pearson case. The chief still needs to give further instructions on the next step of this investigation.

"Coincidentally, Detective Jacqueline Hale here is the sister of Eva Hale," the chief points out.

The players turn their head to examine the detective. Jack tilts her head back and sighs loudly at the unneeded attention on her. This is so unnecessary.

"You're Jack?" Mika asks.

Jack nods.

"Pleased to meet you," Mika says politely.

Jack manages a nod and a smile at the Swede in response.

"Thank you for coming in, Mr. Zibanejad," the chief adds, "I was in the middle of briefing my detectives on a case before you walked in. Let Randall here take you to the break room to wait for me. I will be right with you. We will ensure that we have the best personnel assigned to you."

The hockey players thank the chief as the police officer, Randall, escorts them to the break room. Their departure leaves herself and Tate with the chief.

"Since I take orders from you, chief," Jack says, "do we have permission to start our investigation at Grand Central?"

The chief nods.

"Detective Hale, I am not trying to hinder on your investigation. I simply want to ensure that you are working with my detectives and reporting to me. Please keep everything on the books and absolutely do not go rogue on me, is that understood?"

Jack nods stiffly and the chief dismisses the detectives.

Jack walks out of the precinct with Tate in tow. Tate turns to her.

"I already have men at Grand Central and will head over there myself first thing in the morning. You must be tired from your travels. Why don't we meet there in the morning and start our investigation from there?"

Jack looks at the time on her phone. 7:07 p.m.

She flew in from Chicago and came straight to the precinct to report to the chief. While she is eager to get this investigation started in the city, she agrees that she needs some rest and come back in the morning fresh. Besides, she also has a personal mission to attend to while she is here.

Jack says her goodbye to Tate and gets herself to the first Subway entrance she can find. She walks down the stairs to the entrance, and realizes she does not have a metro card with her. It has been a long time since she has been in the city. She has forgotten that she needs a metro card to get anywhere.

Jack dreaded coming here when her chief assigned her to New York's 25th. She did not miss anything about this place and the memories of her childhood here. As soon as she graduated high school and had an opportunity to leave, she took it. She received a hefty scholarship to attend the University of Chicago and that was the last time she has seen her father.

After purchasing a metro card, Jack gets on a 1 train and finds an empty seat to situate herself in. She takes this time to think about her father and her time growing up in the city.

Jack does not have the best relationship with her father. Ever since the death of her mother, her relationship with Dominic Hale has been extremely rocky. Jack was rebellious and defied his authority at every turn. She spent her teenage years studying hard just so she can get away from her father. She also spent every waking moment of every day creating trouble for him.

Her high school graduation was a turning point for their relationship. At her graduation party, Jack got into a huge fight with Dom. This fight was the last time Jack saw her father. She packed her bags and left for Chicago the next day. Jack did not have a plan. She saved up money from her part time job but it still was not enough for her to afford housing. She lived in her car for the first couple of weeks while she worked multiple odd jobs to be able to afford renting a small apartment with a roommate she found on the University of Chicago FaceBook page.

When Jack started her freshmen year of college, she lived on campus, which was funded from her student loans. She fought tooth and nail to get herself through school without the help of her father.

Jack managed to make it this far on her own, especially without the help of her father. This was a victory for her. Her success would mean nothing if Dom Hale had any hand in it. Nevertheless, she is now on her way to visit her father for the first time in ten years. This visit is not voluntary by any means. Jonathan had nudged her to pay her father a visit while in New York since they are about to get married. He knew her relationship with her father was rough but he saw their engagement as an opportunity for the two to try to repair their relationship.

Jack had not been happy when Jonathan made that suggestion but she eventually caved when he asked her who she intends to walk her down the aisle. Jack had not developed a strong relationship with a father figure since she left so she had no response for him. She never promised Jonathan that she would actually go through with it so she technically is not obligated to. However, she really should if she wants to appease her fiancé and tell him that she tried.

She feels her heart beating a little faster when the train stopped on 72nd street. Ignoring the panging of her stomach, she gets off the train and walks to her father's apartment. The walk is familiar to her. Before she saved up to purchase a car, she walked everywhere to get around the city. Even though she denounced New York City as her home a decade ago, she will always know her way around here.

When Jack arrives to the Roosevelt complex, she presses the buzzer for her father's apartment. She waits a few seconds before the door is automatically thrown open for her.

Her father is waiting expectantly by the doorway when she gets off the elevator to his floor. Dom Hale gives his daughter a small smile as he extends his arms out to hug her. Instead of giving into his gesture, she walks past him and through the open door behind him. She glances around the large apartment to see that nothing much has changed in here. Cat's things are still here and Jack recalls that Eva left some of her things behind in her old bedroom before she left as well.

Jack did not leave anything here. She brought everything with her because she never intended to come back. When she moved to Chicago for college, she knew she was going to stay there—or to be anywhere but here.

"I've been expecting you to come," Mr. Hale says from behind her, "Cat told me."

Jack makes a sound of affirmative and sits down on the sofa in the living room. Her dad takes a seat in front of her. She tries not to look at her father but it is difficult when he is sitting right in front of her. Further, the only way to get this conversation over with is to be able to look him in the eye.

"Can you imagine how a father must feel after finding out that his daughter is getting married on national television? Did I mention that I have no knowledge of this until Eva unveiled it to the whole world? You didn't even tell Cat," Dom says sadly.

"Sorry I didn't tell your little informant about my engagement before Eva unveiled it on national television," Jack responds sarcastically.

Dom scowls.

"Don't be so hard on Cat, she just wants to make sure I know what is going on in your life."

Cat has always been the favorite growing up. She was smart, athletic, and an absolute joy to be around. Dom favored her and it was obvious to his other daughters. Jack held resentment towards Cat for a very long time, until she decided not to care anymore. At some point during her childhood, she stopped craving for love and affection from Dom.

"It's my life, you know? I don't owe you anything," she says casually.

"Jack..."

"Dad, I did not come here to catch up with you or talk about how you found out about my engagement. I just dropped by to ask you if you want to walk me down the aisle," Jack interrupts rudely.

Mr. Hale nods quickly, a small smile forming on his face. Jacqueline will never understand or appreciate how much it means to him to be a part of her wedding, let alone walking her down the aisle. It has always been this way between him and Jack. Dealing with Jack had always been the most difficult. Despite their differences, Dom always wanted what was best for his middle daughter and did everything he could to try to understand her. Unfortunately, she is not easy to maintain a relationship with, like Cat.

"Jonathan came by three days ago to invite me to the wedding," he shares.

Jack's gaze on her father narrows.

"Jon came by?"

"Yeah, I think Chicago played the Isles that night?" Mr. Hale confirms.

Jack is at a loss for words as she tries to collect her feelings. Her fiancé made a major decision like this behind her back. For one, if Jon would have told her he did the job, she would not have to come all the way here to tell her father something her fiancé already told him. She did take it a step further and ask him to walk her down the aisle but she is still angry that Jon did this without consulting with her first. He may have good intentions, but he cannot begin to understand the complexity of her relationship with Dom.

"Great, then I'll see myself out," Jack gets up from the sofa and proceeds to leave.

"Jackie..."

She stops just in front of the door.

"What?"

"Congratulations on your engagement. I know Jonathan is the one for you and I'm glad you found him," he sounds sincere enough to her but Jack just cannot bring herself to care.

She nods, back still facing him. Jack turns to look at her old bedroom and instantly fights back the emotions threatening to return to her. The memories of being in the room she grew up in is way too much for her to handle right now. The bedroom is empty, just the way she left it.

"You still blame me for her death, don't you?"

Jacqueline did not say anything.

"I'm sorry she died, Jack, I really am. And every single day, I still think of her. I miss her just as much as you do," Mr. Hale tries.

It has always been a challenge to get emotions out of her. Following his wife's death, it seemed like Jack never allowed herself to get sentimental or feel human emotions again. Dom has no one else to blame but himself. He should have tried harder to be there for Jack. No matter how difficult she made it for him, he should have tried harder.

He wants more than anything to repair his relationship with Jack, but he does not even know where to start. Maybe her wedding will be the perfect opportunity for him to spend quality time with her and begin to know her again.

Jack did not even acknowledge her father and his hard fought attempt to rebuild their relationship. She is not ready to forgive him yet. She cannot pinpoint on the exact reason why but she knows that she still blames him for her mother's death and it will take more than apologies or walking her down the aisle. So instead of letting herself forgive her father, she walks out of the apartment without another word and closes the door behind her.