WE CAN'T DO THIS - Upstead

She's back!

It is a nice day. The sun is shining but it isn't hot outside. A little breeze is there. Jay finishes his last paper work for the day. He looks in front of him. That empty place his partner Hailey is supposed to sit. But it actually makes him smile because he knows she will be back tomorrow. They talked on the phone almost every day since she was sent to New York. And after two months she is actually coming back. Jay turns his computer off and grabs his jacket to head home. He goes down stairs and says goodbye to Trudy but before he can leave the unit someone calls his name. "Jay! Jay wait up!". Jay turns around. It's Rojas. "What's wrong?", Jay asks confused. "So, I have a bit of a problem", Rojas says. Jay just looks at her even more confused. "Okay, so I promised Hailey to pick her up from the airport but I just got a call from a really close friend and it looks like he needs my help. Could you please do me the favor and pick Hailey up and bring her home? That would be really nice of you", Rojas begs with big puppy dog eyes. "Yeah, sure. I didn't have any plans anyway", Jay says. "When is she arriving?", he adds. "In like an hour. You better be on time or she'll just leave by herself", Rojas says with a smile on her face. "Yeah, she's never been a good of a waiter", Jay says also having a little smile on his face. "Mhm... You must know it", Vanessa says giving Jay a certain look. "What do you mean? Of course, I know her well. She's my partner", Jay says nervously. "Yeah, I didn't say anything else", Vanessa says laughing. "Ehm, I better get going then", Jay says quick and opens the door to leave. When the door closes again Vanessa and Trudy just look at each other and begin to laugh.

Jay gets in his car and decides to buy some flowers for Hailey. Just as a welcome gift of course. He decides to get something not too obvious romantic. He goes with a collection of white flowers. "Nice choice", the florist says smiling. "Are you having a sweet date tonight?". "Oh no, they are just for a friend. She's coming back from a trip today so", Jay says trying to sound not too nervous about that question. The florist just gives him a smile. "Well, I'm sure she'll love it", he says giving Jay the flowers. Jay just nods and leaves the store.

He's on time. Actually he's 15 minutes early. He takes a seat and takes his phone out of his jacket. He's just about to write Hailey that it's him picking her up so she doesn't look out for Vanessa. But he deletes the Message. She probably won't look at her phone anyway and maybe it's a nice surprise. He looks up. The first people are entering the arrivals hall. Jay stands up to look out for Hailey. He would never admit it but he's very excited to see her again. He has been missing her a lot. As a partner, as a friend and as a... Whatever. Not much time goes by until he finally sees the blonde messy hair, which is so beautiful. Hailey looks around searching Vanessa but she ends up seeing someone else. Jay. What's that supposed to mean? His eyes meet hers and she feels all warm and good right away. She walks up to him with a questioning look. "What are you doing here?". She asks confused. "Wow, that's a great way to greet someone you haven't seen for two months", Jay teases her. "I'm sorry. Hey, good to see you", Hailey says pulling Jay into a hug. Both of them enjoy it. They really missed each other a lot. After they break the hug Jay gives the flowers to Hailey. "Here, I thought you needed a little welcome gift". "Wow, thank you! They are really beautiful", Hailey says smiling at Jay and they kind of sink into a looking into each other's eyes really deeply thing. "So, what about Rojas?", Hailey breaks the tension. "Well, one of her friends needed her help and so she asked me to pick you up and here I am". "Well that's really nice of you", Hailey says tapping Jay's shoulder. "Anyway, let's get going. I'm sure you wanna head home", Jay says grabbing Hailey's luggage. "Yes please", Hailey says longing.

After a ride of much conversation and joking around they arrive at Hailey's and Vanessa's house. Jay helps Hailey with her luggage and is about to leave because he figures that Hailey probably wants to get some sleep. "Hey, why don't you stay a bit", Hailey proposes. "Really? I thought you may be tired and want to sleep", Jay says. "Jay, it's 8 pm. It was a 3-hour flight. I'm not all exhausted. Are you down for a drink?", Hailey asks smiling. "For sure!", Jay says laughing and sits down on the table. Hailey gets a bottle of whiskey and two glasses out of the kitchen and pores Jay and herself a drink. With that she takes a seat next to him. "So, how is it to be back?", Jay asks after a moment of silence. "It's great. I mean New York is cool and stuff but I really missed Chicago, you know", Hailey says. "Oh yeah I know. You missed the wind. And me. I totally get that. I don't know how I would have handled that", Jay says smiling. "Oh, shut up", Hailey says poking Jay. They sit there a little longer talking about what they had missed in each other's lifes.
"You know Hailey, I'm really glad you're back. I missed my partner a lot", Jay suddenly says. "Yeah, I missed my partner too. I realized that it's not happening often that you have a partnership like ours. It's special". "Yeah it is. But I mean we are not just partners, right?", Jay says quiet. "What do you mean?", Hailey asks nervously and looks into Jay's eyes. After a few seconds he breaks the eye contact. "I mean we are very close friends too, right?". A shimmer of disappointment is seen on Hailey's face. "Yeah, sure", she says. "Ehm, I should probably get going. Gotta be up early tomorrow", Jay says after another moment of silence and eye contact. "Sure. I better get some sleep too", Hailey agrees. Hailey brings Jay to the door but before he exits he turns around again and starts talking: "Hailey there is something I need to tell you". "What is it?", Hailey asks curious. "Actually, I tried to tell you this a lot of times. So, I think I, no, I know that I... I...".

*Yeah, that's the first chapter! I hope you enjoyed it. After we didn't get the last episodes of P.D. I thought I write down how I want the story (with that I mean Upstead) to go on. I will upload the story every day for now. Enjoy!*