*two months later*
"Mouse! Jesus. It wasn't like that" Ella laughed as mouse over exaggerated a memory from their time in the rangers.
"It so was" mouse wiggled his eyebrows.
"Jay, tell them it wasn't like that" she looked over at her partner.
"You see, I would... But it kinda was" jay shrugged.
"You two are so dramatic" Ella stood up and laughed, maybe she's in denial, but it definitely didn't happen like that.
"Mmhmm" jay nodded with an amused head nod.
"What've we got today?" Kevin sat up as hank wandered into the bullpen empty handed.
"So far, paperwork I'm afraid" the Sargent sighed.
They all shared audible groans before wheeling themselves over to their desks, so not fun for a Friday morning...
-
"Jay? You good?!" Ella yelled over the continuous rounds of bullets firing around the room.
"I'm good!" He called out from behind the couch.
Suddenly, the unit burst through the door, saving the pair before anymore tragedy could strike.
Jay rolled out from the couch and stood up as Ella slowly stumbled to her feet, brushing the debris off of her vest.
The pair shot each other small nods to confirm that that were indeed alive and well, before joining the unit.
Jay had a look of sorrow on his face as he stepped out of the way to let the dead body of a young boy passed.
"You couldn't have saved him, jay..." Ella placed a hand on his shoulder.
"No, I definitely could've..." he shook his head and left the house in a hurry.
Ella watched sadly as her partner wandered off to be alone, probably beating himself up over something he couldn't have prevented.
-
"Have you guys seen jay anywhere?" Mouse wandered into the bullpen in confusion. Both jay and Ella were missing from their desks.
"El went to go check on him" Kevin nodded.
"What happened?" Mouse folded his arms.
"A kid got shot up and jay was stood next to him before it happened. They were talking it out, but the gang got into the house before we did. The boy didn't make it, I think jays blaming himself for it" Kim explained.
"Right, got it. Thanks" mouse nodded before swivelling on his feet and heading back down the stairs, he knows exactly where to look.
As mouse stumbled outside onto the parking lot behind the district, he immediately heard the familiar voices to his right.
"Thought you guys had gotten lost" he took a seat on the opposite wall.
Ella smiled weakly as jay nodded and continued picking at the moss on the bricks.
"You remember raferty don't you?" She changed the topic.
Both boys looked up at her blankly and nodded, oh the terrible memories.
"His ass got suspended for misconduct" Ella smiled smugly.
Both men laughed and shook their heads, it's what he deserved for treating people unfairly...
"It's about time someone corrected him" jay huffed. Mouse nodded, all three of them got in trouble with that man, it's no shock that he got suspended.
"We better get back to the case" jay huffed and stood up, feeling a little better thanks to Ella.
-
"Hey, uh... where's jay?" Mouse threw his jacket on as Ella wandered into the locker room.
"Voight sent him home an hour ago, I think the kids death affected him more he'll admit" Ella sighed.
Mouse frowned, cases including kids affect jay a lot, everyone knows that.
"Was he alright when he left?" He opened up his locker. Ella shook her head and began changing her shirt, mouse has seen her in little to nothing a million times before, usually covered in blood, so he wasn't phased one bit.
"Not really, he blanked me on the way out" she smiled sadly.
Mouse rubbed the back of his neck, oh boy.
"Well I'm heading outta town in like 4 hours, my dads retirement do's tomorrow night so I gotta fly out to Nebraska. I'll try stop by his place before I head to the airport, but if he's ignoring you then he'll definitely ignore me" he threw his bag over his shoulder. Ella smiled softly and nodded.
"Probably... I have the 79th battalions dinner tonight like I said earlier, but I only plan on showing my face then leaving, so I'll head to his place afterwards" she rubbed the back of her neck.
"Yeah that's a good idea, well have fun sitting around those snobs" mouse nudged her arm as she pulled her shirt over her head.
"I'm sure I won't, and tell your parents I said hey. Oh, and let me know when you get to Nebraska so I know you're not dead" she poked her head out from around the locker, mouse smiled.
"I will, I'll see you later" he laughed and waved. She smiled and shook her head in amusement.
She sighed heavily and packed her backs up before heading out of the district and driving home, to get ready for this stupid dinner.
-
At around 7:05pm, Ella found herself stood at the bar in a fancy conference room which was full of round tables decorated with American flags and crystal ornaments.
Just being in this room full of the people she once knew, and shared so many memories with, brings back many unwanted feelings. She's only glad her dad isn't here right now.
~
"You're not in the 75th anymore ella, now get your shit together" Michael threw his boots across the room as his daughter followed him through the barracks.
"Yeah, I kinda figured that out already. But I'm getting sick of you ignoring me in briefing just because we share the same last name. I earned my place on this squad, even if I didn't choose to be here..." Ella began to protest.
"Then act like it!" Michael yelled which cut her off.
Ella stood up straighter, not liking this version of her dad, and dropped all expression from her face.
The pair stared a moment of silence before Michael huffed.
"Look, I just want what's best for you Ella" he sighed.
"If you really want what's best for me you would've let me go home when my contract was up" she shook her head.
"I kept you on because I know you you're capable of doing so much more than firing guns, you're an intelligent girl, don't waste it on some hopeless plans" he shrugged.
Ella nodded in disbelief before scoffing and leaving the headquarters, she really doesn't want to be in this battlefield anymore, only 8 more months to go...
~
"Long time no see, Crawford" a blonde haired man wandered up to Ella with his smug little face grinning sheepishly.
"Yeah, it's been a while max" Ella took a sip of her champagne.
She looked down at what he was wearing, a ridiculous plaid suit and a green tie which quite frankly didn't match whatsoever.
"So, what're you doing now?" Max nodded.
"I'm a detective, intelligence unit" she smiled weakly.
Max nodded, "that's not something I imagined you going into, but congrats" he smiled weakly.
Ella ignored his comment, "you?" She retaliated.
"I got my own security company" he puffed his chest out nicely.
"Oh really, I thought you would've gone for something a little more extravagant, but congrats" she nodded, matching his judgemental energy. Max nodded and grabbed his glass.
"Yeah I suppose, well I'll see you later" he nodded before wandering off. Ella rolled her eyes as he left the area, god that man boils her blood.
-
After about 20 minutes of unwilling socialisation, Ella didn't want to be there anymore. She had talked to all of her former commanders, all of her old partners, and the family of people that lost their lives in the rangers, she had taken enough of the reminiscing.
So she grabbed her purse and quickly left the dinner before the meal preparation could begin, phew...
She quickly jogged over to her truck, which was a little smaller than jays and in grey, and hopped inside. She kicked her black heels off and reached into the back for her boots, so she could drive to jays apartment complex safely.
Once she was comfortable, she began driving with the quiet hum of the engine drowning out any thoughts.
-
As Ella pulled up outside of jays apartment, she checked her phone to see if anything had come through from mouse, or even jay.
Mouse: "jay didn't answer the door, but his trucks there"
She sighed and sent him a quick reply before hopping out of the truck, grabbing her keys and phone again as she closed the door behind her.
She plodded up the stairs after realising that the elevator was going too slow, and within two minutes she was finally on jays floor.
She strolled down the hall and stopped in front of his door, knocking lightly as she extended her arm out.
No response.
She sighed and threw her head back before knocking again, she will get into his apartment at some point this evening, even if she has to break in.
No response.
Ugh... She huffed and knocked for a third time in hopes that he would get tired of the noise and open up.
No response.
With a small groan, she turned around and slid her back down the door so she was sitting on the floor with her legs extended in front of her. She closed her eyes and tilted her head up, god this man is so stubborn.
"Jay, I know you're in there..." she called out, softly, after a few minutes of waiting.
"You can't ignore me forever..." she sung in a bored tone.
She listened closely to the shuffling on the other side of the door, and before she knew it, the door finally unlocked.
She quickly stood up and turned around to see jay stood in between the small crack in the door. She raised her eyebrows and stepped forward, he slowly opened the door to let her in after realising that she wasn't going to leave him alone.
"Why're you dressed like that?" He signalled to her rather fancy black dress, that he must admit, did look very nice on her...
"Stupid reunion dinner thing" she shrugged, putting her keys in the bowl near the door.
"And the boots...?" He furrowed his brows.
"Well I can't drive in heels" she sighed.
"Enough about me, what's going on? You've ignored me and mouse all day" she leant on the counter as jay stood there in his PJs looking rather dull.
Jay shook his head.
"Nothing" he shrugged, backing away into the main area of the apartment.
"Nothing my ass, I know the case isn't sitting right with you, and I get it. But you can't shut us out, you gotta talk to us. So talk to me, jay" she followed him and sat down on the couch as jay flopped down onto the couch himself.
"He was 14 el, only 14..." he shook his head. Ella frowned.
"Jay, there was nothing you could've done to save him. And I mean that, no one knew that rip crew was gonna be there, it wasn't anyone fault" she rested her hand against his shoulder.
"I get that, to a point. But I had him, he confessed..." jay huffed. Ella smiled sadly.
"He did, and you got that from him. But at the end of the day, whatever happened, happened. There's nothing we can change about that, and there's nothing we can do. This isn't on you" she shook her head.
He looked her in the eyes for a few seconds, god those sparkly blue pearls, they're so soft...
"I know" he sighed. He just needs time to accept that.
"Have you had dinner?" Ella smiled weakly.
Jay slowly shook his head.
"Well I'm not leaving, sooooo, I'm gonna shower and change then I'll start cooking" she tapped his shoulder.
"El..." jay went to protest.
"Shush" she disappeared into the bathroom.
Jay let out a small chuckle and sighed, god she lights up his life...