Chicago Love ✔️

Chapter 66: Telling Hank

He looks between the pair as they sit there before him that afternoon.

Hank knew this conversation would eventually happen. He thought about the possibilities when she first started travelling to his events, some nights putting it off as a "fling" or a "rebound" and not to worry about it. Other nights, he would allow himself to believe it was true, and wonder what he thought about that happening. Would he be okay with her leaving town?

The reality of the conversation coming true grew with watching her time spent away become more often, and the smile on her face when she returned. Of course, the confirmation that the conversation was right upon them was seeing Alex standing in his district earlier that week.

Now end of the week, and here was the conversation that he still didn't know what he wanted to think in his detective's decision.

"Are you sure you are absolutely ready for this?" Hank asked after a couple moments of silence after learning Hailey would be leaving Chicago to travel down and live with Alex in North Carolina. "Have you pressured her in anyway?"

"I would never do that to her, sir," Alex answers sternly with a bit of shock laced in his voice. He thought he had gotten off on the right foot with Hank. "I told her to take her full time and only make that decision when she was ready. I also told her that it didn't matter how long, or whatever, we would make it work together." 

"So, are you absolutely ready, Hailey?" Alex felt as thought he was ignored or not even heard in his comments with the question being repeated again. Was this one of their interrogation tactics? He thought Hank would be happy for her. He had told her that he wanted what was best for her moving forward, and for her to be happy. Why wasn't he smiling right now? 

"I would not be standing here before you if I wasn't," Hailey states, before taking a deep breath in feeling all of the weight on her shoulders in the next words that slipped from her lips. "I have thought about this for the past month, a little longer maybe. I thought about both sides of the coin. I know I will miss my family. I know I will miss working with you and this unit everyday. But I am ready for this. I am ready to open that next new chapter of my life and see what is out there with Alex. I am ready to take that next step in our relationship together. I am ready to try my hand at a different job, and opportunity. I feel this is the right time.... No, I know this is the right time because of everything that I have with Alex, and more." 

"We both know that you love spending time together as that's obvious," Hank summerises, to which both nod their head in agreement. The want to do whatever it took to be together, and the smiles on their faces when together told that story. "Are you just doing this so you can be with him 100% all the time, and that being your sole focus? Are you truly, really considering everything else that you are leaving behind?" 

"That's why I told her to take as much time as she needed," Alex comments in hopes of pushing Hank over the edge if he truly began to understand how much he cared about her. If he was worried about her not being safe with him, that was not an issue at all. "That's also why I emphasised that she can travel as much as she wants to see you guys, or vise versa. I'll make sure it's arranged and paid for. I want to do whatever it takes to make her happy. I can't describe how much I love her. I have never felt this with anyone else in the world. I hope you are willing to give it a chance." 

"Alex and I shared plenty of conversations in talking about that," Hailey explains as she glances towards Alex with a small smile. Maybe it was very beneficial he suggested being there when Hailey shared the news. "We talked about my family here, in you and everything, and working here. I am damn well going to miss this, but I have considered it and am ready to take this chance with that in mind."

"I want to trust you and believe that you are doing the right thing, but it's so hard to let you go,"  Hank almost whispers, keeping an eye on Alex the whole time he says these words. They were more meant for his ears, rather than Hailey's. He was also debating another way of sharing the message. "I was there when you were at your lowest. I saw the emotions eat at you. I watched the panic attacks. I sat through the tears. I have watched you fight through everything. I don't want to see you get hurt again. I don't want to see you take a chance that bites you in the end, and your world comes crashing down a second time. I don't want to see you go through that..." 

"I know..." Hailey takes a deep breath as his words repeat over and over in her head, the flashback to everything she felt with Jay from the highs to the lows. It was always Hank that was there as someone to lean on through it all. "You can trust me on this one, Hank. I am going to be okay. This isn't going to be something that you and I regret later, a mistake, or something that causes me pain. It's rather the opposite as I am optimistic, happy, excited, and ready." 

"I believe you - but you know that you always have a home here, and the door is always open whenever." Hailey nods her head, knowing she wasn't the first detective to be told these words. 

Those that were closest to Hank always learned them and grew to trust them. 

Erin had remembered and used those words. 

Jay had remembered and used those words. 

She hoped to remember them, but not need them necessarily.