Second Chances

Chapter 5

Jay's POV

I knocked on Hailey's apartment door around 11. It'd been a long case and there was obviously something else going on, too, so when she had texted that she'd just gotten home, I didn't hesitate to drive over. After a minute, the door opened, and I smiled at the sight of Hailey. Her hair was still wet from a shower, and she was wearing an oversized sweatshirt, leggings, and the fuzzy socks she loved. I quickly stepped past her into the apartment, not wanting to make her uncomfortable by spending too long admiring how beautiful she looked. I heard her lock the door as I headed into the kitchen. I leaned against the counter and followed her with my gaze as she entered the room.

"Kim wanted me to make sure I gave you some of the leftover pizza," she said, opening the refrigerator.

"How's she doing?"

"Oh ya know, she's doing good." My view of her was blocked by the fridge door as she hunted for the pizza or beer or both.

"Did she talk to Adam?"

Hailey's head shot up. "What?"

I scrunched my brow, confused by her reaction. "Yeah, he called her a couple of times when we were at Molly's. I guess he's worried she's mad at him or something, I dunno."

"Oh, we were watching a movie, so that's probably why," Hailey said, turning her attention back to the refrigerator. "She's not mad at him though," she added.

"That's good. I'm glad that they're close again."

Hailey nodded and handed me a beer and some pizza, not making eye contact. She grabbed a beer for herself, and I followed her over to the sofa. Taking a bite out of the pizza, I watched her out of the corner of my eye. She was sitting on the other side of the sofa with her knee pulled to her chest, lost in thought.

"Anything you want to talk about?"

She gave a short laugh. "Yes, but I'm not exactly allowed to."

I took another bite of pizza, not wanting her to feel like she had to talk about it. "Want to watch something then?"

She nodded, and I tossed her the remote from the side table. She flipped through the channels before settling on one of the Star Wars movies, which I knew she loved. As she watched the movie, I kept an eye on her. She was alternating between chewing on her thumbnail and twirling a lock of hair around her finger, both of which I knew she did when she was worried or nervous.

I had some vague idea of what it was that she couldn't talk about. I wasn't 100 percent certain, but based on the limited information I'd gotten and her reaction earlier, I was decently confident that I had put the pieces together. Which made me concerned about what was going through Hailey's head right now.

When Burgess got injured, the whole team hurt for her. Obviously, the pain we all felt was nowhere near the level that she or Adam felt, but it was still very real. Kevin was affected the most since he and Kim was basically family and Adam was his best friend. Voight and I hurt for them, too, of course, but it didn't seem to affect us as much. Hailey, though, I knew it affected her more than she let on. She was the first one on the scene. I know that any of us in her position would've beaten ourselves up wondering what could have happened if we had just gotten there a few minutes sooner. But it wasn't any of us there, it was her. So she had to carry that little extra bit of pain in addition to hurting for Kim and Ruz's loss. I knew she'd never talk about it, but as I watched her worrying, I was willing to bet that that was what she was thinking about.

As I was watching her, a small smile lit up her face in reaction to whatever was happening on screen. All too soon though, her smile slipped away, and the anxious look returned. I reached over and pulled her close. She leaned her head against my shoulder, a small smile returning to her lips.

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As the credits finally rolled, I looked at the clock and let out a quiet groan. 2am. I was not looking forward to having to get up in a few hours, but it was worth it to spend time with Hailey. For most of the movie, she was leaning against me, my arm wrapped around her. At some point her head had drifted to rest on my chest, her hand on my arm. I looked down at her. Sometime toward the end of the movie she had fallen asleep. I smiled at how peaceful she looked. Careful not to wake her, I slowly extricated myself from her grip. I covered her with the softest blanket I could find and lightly kissed her on the head. Then, I quickly scribbled out a note on a pad of paper on her counter, and quietly left her apartment, making sure to lock the door behind me.