The Soldier and The Spy: Jay Halstead- Episode 6

Chapter 8

If everyone didn't stop looking at him he was going to lose his shit.

Again.

He hadn't even really lost it the first time and given what Vanessa had done that was impressive because if anything was grounds to go off the fucking deep end this was it. She was the only one who wasn't looking at him, just a few furtive glances when he'd first come back to the bullpen but they'd all been aimed at his desk and the one time she had accidentally made eye contact he'd given her such a black stare she hadn't made the same mistake again. He'd given it to Hailey too when she'd tried to silently stand up for her partner, not quite as enraged but a lot more hurt, then stunned when she'd had the audacity to tilt her head towards the hall.

She'd spent the last two months outright ignoring him and now she expected him to just put aside his anger because she suddenly felt like talking?

Not a fucking chance.

Jay didn't know what face he'd made to convey that but she'd shut down pretty quick, and pretty hard so clearly it had done the job, to the point where the air in the bullpen had gone from taut to fully charged. Like one spark would blow them all out of the metaphorical water.

Fuck.

He was thinking like Tess.

It had only been a little under an hour since she'd texted but he hadn't heard anything else and he didn't know if that was good or bad. They hadn't worked together enough for him to and it'd been so long since he'd seen her with her own team that he didn't even know how much she kept them in the loop when she was working on her own. But he got the feeling it wasn't a lot. Every so often he found himself starting to wonder what she was thinking of all this but every time the question passed through his mind another wave of anger came and pushed it out. Because he already knew. She didn't blame them. Not him, not Voight, sure as fuck not Hailey or Vanessa.

She thought it was fair.

Jay swore if he heard that word one more fucking time-

"Where are we at?"

He turned his head just enough to see Voight without having to look directly at him, an act the older man definitely noted but chose not to comment on- this was one of the rare times the man hadn't actually done anything wrong but unfortunately Jay was finding it hard to care about that right now. And why should he?

They hadn't cared about Tess.

Not enough.

Not the way he should have.

"We're still digging into the list Liam gave us- no one's popped yet but we've ruled about half of them out." Kevin said lowly, and slowly, and after a few seconds of silence, everyone clearly worried about setting their Sergeant off but as he let go a heavy sigh and gave an aggressive shake of his head it was clear he'd already done that himself.

"So you're telling me we got nothing?

For a second he was tempted to remind them it was Tess they'd gotten those leads from but when no one else spoke he realized he didn't have to. They knew. And they felt bad about it.

And he felt good about that.

Good, but still angry, and he wasn't the only one.

Voight either couldn't or didn't bother to stop his next aggravated breath. "Alright, I want something concrete, you hear me? And soon. When Tess gets back-"

"I'm right here."

The whole room startled as she stepped into the bullpen and not just because they hadn't been expecting her so soon but because she hadn't come from where they'd expected her to. Aside from the few occasions he'd brought her here every other time she'd come she'd used the main staircase, as was technically required for visitors. But not this time. This time she popped up almost right between he and Voight which meant she must have come in one of the rear or side entrances. And when she sauntered up to his desk and stood beside him the statement she was making became crystal clear- she was willing to play nice for his sake but she was done pretending to be someone she wasn't.