Always Here: A Jay Halstead fanfic

Chapter Sixteen

"Sky, my office. Now!" Voight said as Harper finished up some paperwork the next Wednesday since they were working a time-sensitive high profile case on Monday and Tuesday. What had she done this time? She swiftly opened the door to his office and stepped inside, sitting in a chair. "It was your birthday last weekend," he said. "Yeah" Harper said, nodding nervously. "How did you handle it?" he asked. Was he serious? "I stayed at home the whole day, I didn't do drugs, I didn't even drink" she spat at him angrily.

Hank nodded calmly making her even more pissed off. "Did Savannah show up? I know she loves making special appearances on your birthday" Hank asked. "She showed up with her junkie friends, high as a kite, but Jay told them to leave" Harper explained as Hank raised his eyebrow. Harper blushed, "Jay and I are not like that, we just moved in together a couple of weeks ago" she explained.

Hank nodded "Okay, I'll take care of Savannah, I'm proud of you for handling your birthday so well, Harper" Hank said. Harper was floored, Hank had never told her he was proud of her, it was always Erin. "Thanks, Sarge," Harper said before getting up and leaving.

"What was that all about? He seemed pretty pissed" Adam asked. "Sarge is always like that" Harper joked before walking over to her desk that was across from Jay's. Jay looked up at her as she tied her hair up in a ponytail. He scanned his partner for any signs of anger or sadness but she actually seemed happy which surprised him because Voight's tone was so harsh when he called her. It was probably something personal Jay thought to himself.

An hour later, Harper saw Savannah being brought up by Trudy. What the hell? Harper quickly walked over to Voight's office and swung open the door, "Why the hell is she here?" she spat at Voight. "I need to have a talk with her," he explained calmly. "Go to the tech room," Voight ordered her. But when he saw the concern on Harper's face his expression softened, "Jay will be waiting outside the interrogation room" he explained as Harper nodded. She knew not to disobey an order from Voight so she quickly made her way to the tech room.

Hey Harper, what's up?" Mouse asked as he turned around in his chair. "Voight sent me here, because he needs to talk to my step-mother," she said, putting air quotes around the word 'talk'. "Okay..." Mouse said, wondering if she was going to elaborate any further.

When she didn't he broke the awkward silence that had come between them and asked "Do you want to see something cool?" referring to a new piece of technology. "Sure," Harper said, leaning forward. Mouse rambled in tech jargon that Harper didn't understand as he showed her the new piece of technology, but she was glad to see Mouse excited and confident in himself. Once he was finished, Harper leaned against the wall and asked Mouse a question.

"Do you ever wish you could go down the stairs with us and be part of all the action?" Harper asked Mouse. He glanced at her before replying "I like my job here and I am very grateful for Jay but sometimes I do miss all the action. I do miss the adrenaline high from recon missions but I would never want to go back and fight the war again. What Jay and I saw, what we had to do, how we had to face the wives and children of all the men we lost, I couldn't..." 

Harper could tell Mouse was starting to shut down and becoming more anxious so she tried to change the subject. She knew what Mouse was referring to as she thought about what Jay had told her Friday.

"It's okay Mouse, you don't have to tell me" she assured him. "You and Jay have a lot in common, you've both been through so much" Mouse explained. "What do you mean?" Harper asked, her brows furrowing. Nothing she went through could even compare to what Jay and Mouse had been through. "Jay told me you had it hard growing up" he explained. "He said that not even the toughest people could get through what you went through without looking back," Mouse elaborated.