afterthought

raven haired blade

Two weeks had gone by and the box hadn't moved. It might as well had been nonexistent to Hailey, and she treated it as such.

Beer bottles collected on the coffee table and the memories of that night were left to the wind and only that. They still went to Molly's, still sat in the same booth, often joined by friends from med and from 51, still drank the same cold beer, Jay's leg still had its place next to Haileys. Words of what almost was never left their lips; Hailey couldn't decide if she liked it that way.

She ultimately decided she had to because that was the way it was.

He was still just her partner, her best friend, and nothing more. Maybe he never would be, Hailey told herself she needed to be ok with it.

But two weeks later, and she didn't think she could be.

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She could hear his breathing from just behind her ear, feel the way the ground trembled underneath his boots, see a blur of his figure in the corner of her eye. They ran together, feet melting into concrete and wind whipping through tangled hair and sheet white skin.

Suddenly cars were screeching and boots were thumping louder and their suspect was stopping. He was pulling a pale-colored jacket, and a woman was shrieking from inside his grip.

"Stop!" he yelled. "Come any closer and I'll kill her, I swear I'll kill her," Hailey could just barely see the shine of a knife against the woman's throat.

"Ok ok ok. Look at me." Atwater yelled, "Hey! Look, I'm dropping my weapon, no one needs to get hurt. Just drop your weapon." the distance between them blew away as Atwater tiptoed closer.

"Stay back! Come any closer and I'll kill her." the man was whining now, his feet getting restless and his eyes darting around.

Atwater's hands were being raised and he backed away ever so slightly. "Ok, I'm stopping here. I'm not getting any closer, you hear me? Just drop your weapon and back away with both hands in the air."

The man didn't lower his weapon. He raised it, the adrenaline catching up with him, and pierced it to the woman's throat. Her shrieks drowned out everything around them.

A shot rang out. Suddenly the man was falling, blood splattering on the ground and the car behind him, and the woman was running. She was running so fast Hailey wondered how far adrenaline would take her. She guessed it would take her ten minutes before tears drowned her.

It was moments like these that seemed to slow down. When Hailey knew she was the calm in the storm and regardless of every other little thing she could function flawlessly and with purpose. So she did.

Ten minutes later and bright yellow tape surrounded her. Shrieks had long died out, blood lay in eery perfection, and Hailey's breath caught up with her.

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It was an hour later before Hailey and Jay had the chance to talk. The case had been wrapped up and out of their hands and the bullpen lay empty and in silence.

"Hey." Hailey walked out from the breakroom to find Jay at his desk, filing away mind-numbing paperwork with the same expression of boredom on his freckled face.

"Hey," he looked up.

"Nice shot today, you saved that woman's life."

"Yeah, just another day on the job." he smiled, "That was some chase though."

"Ugh, I know." Hailey dropped dramatically into the chair, "My quads are gonna be on fire tomorrow." she grinned.

They fell into a comfortable silence, the paperwork laying idly on both desks.

"You going to Molly's tonight?" Jay asked. Hailey picked up her head to answer him when Trudy walked in.

"Chuckles, there's a woman here to see you. Says her name is Isabel." The desk sergeant shot a glance between the detectives and pointed behind her to the stairwell.

Jay's face contorted into confusion, "Yeah alright, I'll be down in a second." Trudy nodded and left.

"Who's Isabel?" The blonde asked.

"I have no idea." Jay stacked all the paperwork and pushed it to the side.

"Isabel?" A raven-haired woman turned at the voice. Jay took in her appearance at once, mostly because he couldn't identify just who she was. Her nose was slim and angular giving her a refreshed look and her smile was soft and adorning. She had on a grey plaid pantsuit and dark-heeled boots that added an inch to her 5'7 figure.

"Hi." she reached out a hand and Jay took it. "I'm Isabel Verras. I was at the scene today, you.. saved me." Isabel finished off awkwardly.

"You're.."

"The woman with a knife to her throat?" she chuckled, "Yeah that's me."

Jay's figures melted, "Yeah, how are you doing with all that?"

She tucked a loose strand of hair behind one ear to reveal a set of gold arrow earrings. "I'm ok, considering. I wanted to thank you actually, for saving my life. I heard you were the guy who took the shot."

"Oh yeah, no thanks necessary, just doing my job."

"Somehow I knew you'd say that." she narrowed her eyes at him.

Jay blushed at the inference.

"Anyway, I was wondering if maybe I could take you out for a drink.. You know just to thank you for everything." she smiled. "Unless that's frowned upon or something, I don't want to get you in trouble with your boss." her cheeks were tinted a warm pink.

Jay's mind briefly fluttered to the blonde sitting only one floor above them. Blue eyes, dimpled cheeks, and all warm smiles. His partner, best friend, and something more. But primarily partner, he reminded himself. He wouldn't let his thinking go any farther than that. Partner. So what was the harm in a drink? The harm was quite evident, but somehow Jay's mind seemed to work around it so that it was a space of quietude and he quickly arrived at the conclusion that maybe one drink wouldn't be so bad. It's the least he could do, seeing as he saved this woman's life.

"Uh yeah. No problem. Let me just tell said boss that I'm going."

"Oh, I don't want to bother you if you're working-"

"Don't worry about it. Paperwork can wait a day." Jay smiled warmly.

"Great. There's this new pub on 6th, apparently, if you can eat a full bucket of wings you get a free whiskey shot." Isabel nudged him playfully, "Let's just say I'm not leaving until I'm slightly tipsy."

"Got it." Jay laughed, "Sounds good."