Second Chances

Chapter 3

Hailey's POV

Once I was convinced that Kim was back to as close to normal as could be expected, I stood up to go back to the bullpen. I hesitated when I reached the door, looking back at her. She was looking slightly less pale now, but she still looked mostly out of it. I knew what it was like when the ghosts from your past came back when you least expected it, and I couldn't even begin to imagine how much worse those ghosts were after everything she had went through. But I did know that it only made it worse to be alone.

"Do you want me to go with you to get the test?"

Kim looked up, surprised to see I was still in the room.

"I don't mind," I continued. "Or if you don't want me to that's totally fine, too."

"Okay," she said after a minute, letting out a small sigh of relief. "Yeah, I think that would be good."

"Cool, I'll go ask Voight if we can leave early," I replied because I figured the longer she had to wait the more stressed she would be. She nodded, and I headed out of the locker room.

—————

"Hey, Sarge?" I said, knocking on Voight's door. I had taken the long way to his office to avoid any questions, but judging by the ruckus coming from behind me, the guys wouldn't have noticed.

"What's up?"

"Is it cool if Burgess and I head out early? We need to run an errand."

"Everything alright?"

"Yep, everything's fine," I replied, but he held my gaze for a few seconds longer than necessary. I didn't yield, and after a moment he, thankfully, decided not to ask any questions.

"That's fine. Just try and get the rest of the unit to actually get some work done before you go."

"Thanks, Sarge."

I headed back to the locker room and told Kim that we were good to go. We walked into the bullpen, trying to act like nothing was out of the ordinary. I grabbed my keys and jacket from my desk, and the boys finally noticed that we were back.

"Hey, how come you guys get to leave early?" Adam asked.

"It's called actually doing your work- you should try it sometime," I shot back with a smirk. Kev and Jay laughed.

"You two going to meet us at Molly's later?" Kev asked.

I glanced at Burgess who, although she looked significantly better, was still not in a particularly talkative state, before replying. "Can't. Girls' night," I said, like that explained everything, even though it was honestly a pretty illogical explanation given that it was 4:30 on a Tuesday.

"Really?" Jay asked, probably thinking about how I hadn't mentioned it before.

"Yep," I said cheerily, shooting Jay a look that rough translated to I promise I'll explain this when you come over later, but please just back me up on it right now. Thankfully, Jay got the message, like he always did.

Ruz looked like he was going to say something, but by the time I had turned around, Kim was already halfway down the stairs, so I took that opportunity to follow.

—————

I was sitting in Kim's apartment waiting for her to come out of the bathroom with the results of the test. I felt my phone buzz in my pocket.

J: You guys good?

I smiled and typed out my reply.

H: We're good

J: Want me to drop off anything for you guys to eat?

H: Pizza and milkshakes?

I was hoping that Kim would be able to keep some food down, especially since she'd barely eaten anything all day. I figured some comfort food would be good, but after a second I decided just to be safe we should get something a bit easier to stomach, too.

H: And some saltines

J: Coming right up! Be there in 25

I put my phone back in my pocket, not bothering to text him where we were. After you've both been kidnapped a few times, you realize it's probably a good idea to share your location with your partner.

I heard the bathroom door open and looked up expectantly. I couldn't read the look on Kim's face. After a second she just nodded, and I broke into a smile. I rushed over to hug her. "Congratulations!"

She smiled nervously, the first time I'd seen her smile all day.