(March 26th, 71 days old)
The bullpen was silent when the phone sat on top of Hailey's desk let out a ring. It made everyone in the room jump slightly and look up to where the noise was coming from and Hailey's hand flew on top of it, picking it up to answer it before it could let out another shrill.
She stopped momentarily when she saw the caller ID and she really tried not to let her heart fall. Just because the NICU was calling didn't automatically mean it was bad news, that was something she had had to teach herself over the last two months, but there was some part of her that still let her mind go there each time she got a phone call.
She got up from her chair and accepted the call, taking a slow walk into the break room as she answered the familiar voice on the other side of the phone.
"Is this a bad time?" Isla asks.
Hailey softly shakes her head as she shuts the break room door. "No, it's fine." She replies.
She continues to walk as the nurse speaks to her on the other end until she reaches the sink, as to which she leans up against it and crosses one arm over her chest, keeping the other one holding the phone tight against her ear.
"So as you know, Macie's been maintaining her blood glucose really well over the last week but she's been having problems with her breathing which has meant that she hasn't been able to go home."
Hailey can't help but cut in. "Isla, I'm sorry, but is this a bad news call or a good news call?"
The detective can practically hear the smile grow on the nurse's face. "A very good news call."
Hailey's eyes rip up from the couch in the break room and fly out the window, meeting her fiancé's gaze, who was watching her carefully from his desk. The moment Jay witnesses the change in her face, he jumps up from his seat and makes his way toward the door as she just about manages to hear what Isla says.
"She hasn't had an episode of apnea since Wednesday, her breathing is great, all her stats are great. She's ticked all the boxes she needs to and the doctors are happy to sign her discharge paperwork."
Jay steps into the break room, pulling the door shut again and he goes over to Hailey, stopping off in front of her.
"How does tomorrow sound?" Isla finishes off.
Her chin falls forward whilst she continues to stare up at her fiancé. Jay looks down at her with wide eyes, waiting for her to say something.
"Tomorrow?" She whispers and that's when it seems to click in Jay's mind, his head lowering down slightly.
"If that's good for you both, or if you'd rather wait until Tuesday?"
Hailey quickly shakes her head. "No, no tomorrow's good, really good." She says.
Isla's quiet for a beat, giving Hailey the chance to breathe. There's the faint sound of typing in the background but before Hailey can pull the phone away from her ear to tell Jay, the noise stops and the nurse's voice returns. "Okay, we'll get her discharge papers ready for then. I expect we'll be seeing you in here later today anyway?"
Hailey's head bobs up and down subtly, despite the fact the nurse on the other end of the phone wouldn't be able to see that. "Yeah, we will be."
"Great, we'll be able to run through all the details later," Isla says. "And another quick thing, I suppose you two have a car seat ready?"
"Yeah." She replies, barely able to get her voice above the whisper and Hailey doesn't know how the nurse was able to hear it but based on her response, she did.
"Can you bring it in with you when you come in today? We'll get her last test done and then the doctors can sign it off for discharge."
"Yeah, we will."
"I'll see you both later, and congrats guys."
Hailey thanks her and pulls the phone away from her ear, slowly reaching back and placing it on the counter behind her. Jay doesn't say anything, just looks down at her with concern.
All she can manage at first is a smile, one that pulls up from ear to ear, and the concern in her fiancé's face disappears, a hopeful smirk rising on his own lips.
She then tilts her head to the side slightly. "She's coming home tomorrow." She says quietly - she didn't need to say it loud, he was standing right in front of her. She watches as the smirk gets replaced with a wide grin and he bends down, wrapping his arms around her waist.
He picks her up off the floor as he mumbles. "Oh my god!" He says, tightening his grip around her waist.
Her arms fall around his neck and when he sets her back down on the ground a beat later, she pulls his neck down, planting her lips on top of his.
He pulls away after a second but keeps his head a few inches from hers. His eyes shift subtly as they wander up and down her face. "Is she really?" He asks.
Hailey brings her bottom lip between her teeth and there's a slight bob to her head. "She really is.. our baby is coming home."
This time, Jay is the one to lean down and kiss her once, twice, three times before he moves his way, tightening his arms to pull her in for a hug. He feels her stand on her toes and rest her cheek into the crook of his neck. They stay there for a beat until a knock on the break room door pulls them apart. They both swivel their heads to see who it was and they spot the officers standing outside the door, a desperate look on their faces to come in.
Hailey lets out a breathless chuckle, flicking her hand to tell them to come in as Jay takes a step backwards. The three officers waste no time, Kim pushing the door open with a little force and the three stand by the door waiting for the news. Hailey looks up at Jay as a smile rides up on the corners of his lips.
"Macie's coming home tomorrow."
Kim cheers and wide grins grow on the guys' faces. Kevin is the first one to move, moving closer to the detectives with his arms outstretched. He's quickly followed by Adam and Kim, who join in on the group hug.
xxx
Later that evening whilst waiting for the doctor to come into the room, Jay stepped over to the crib and picked Macie up, being careful not to pull on the wires connected to her chest, and cradled her in his arms. He softly swayed back and forth whilst he and Hailey spoke about the littlest of things in no particular order. It takes fifteen minutes after they arrive at Med for the doctor to step through the door, a tablet in hand, and the first thing he says is congratulating the detectives for making it to the finish line.
He then darts his eyes down to the tablet. "Before we do anything, can I just get you to confirm your daughter's name and date of birth?" He asks.
Hailey's the one to respond, edging her chin forward slightly. "Macie Vanessa Halstead, January 14th 2023."
The doctor smiles and looks back up, crossing his arms over his chest. "So just to give you a little information about what we're about to do, it's called the car seat challenge, it's one of the last tests a baby goes through before discharge if they fit under a specific criteria and Macie is undergoing the test because she was born prior to thirty-six weeks gestation, is that correct?"
Jay and Hailey both nod in response to his query and he carries on.
"The test is to see how well Macie will manage to sit in a semi-reclined seat for long periods of time without having any apnea or bradycardia, and we will keep her hooked up to her machine so we can monitor her heart rate and oxygen saturation. If Macie does fail the test, I can't sign off on her going home just yet and the test will need to be repeated tomorrow to see if the results change. The test will take about ninety minutes. It is my recommendation that at least one of you is in here at all times but at any point you are welcome to go off and come back. Are you happy for me to continue?"
They both agree with him and the doctor instructs them to place Macie into the car seat and because Jay was still holding her, he was the one to clip her in.
Hailey jumped up from the chair and placed the infant seat where she was sat, allowing Jay to place her in without having to bend down as much. He got her strapped in first time, having done many dry runs since they bought the seat nine days prior. He can't help the skip his heart does when he sees Macie in the seat, it was much different from the normal bundle of blankets he stuffed inside just so he had something to actually strap in and it only solidified everything in his head. She really was coming home.
xxx
The next ninety-one and a half minutes (not that either of them were counting it down) are some of the most stressful of their lives. Hailey and Jay both sit watching their daughter carefully, hoping to god that nothing starts to drop, that she remains stable throughout the test so they could get the all clear from the doctor, and their breath would hitch at the back of their throats each time she let out a noise. Macie, on the other hand, didn't care about the test one bit, and slept through the entire thing. That only meant that after the test was over, the doctor turned around with a smile and bobbed his head.
"I'm happy to sign the test off... congratulations. You can take her out of the car seat now."
Hailey quickly steps forward, unclipping Macie from the restraints of the seat. She picks her up, holding her head up in the crook of her neck, holding Mae's squirmed up frame against her chest.
The doctor excused himself with the promise to be back in a minute, and the room fell into a silence once he left.
On the opposite side of the room, Jay stands up from the chair and stares over at his fiancée and daughter, at the way Hailey quietly shushes Mae when she fusses because the movement woke her from her sleep and he feels the corners of his lips pull up into a smile.
He watches her for a beat before he's caught, Hailey meeting his gaze and she returns the smirk still on his face.
Macie was just starting to drift off again, warm and cozy in her mother's arms so as not to risk waking her up again, Jay whispered across the room.
"She's really coming home tomorrow."
Hailey bobs her head up and down gently, trying not to rock the infant too much. "She really is."
xxx
(March 27th, 72 days old)
It was still dark out when Jay rolled over, his hand hitting the cold mattress beside him. He sits up slightly, glancing around the room before his eyes fall on the slither of light creeping in under the door from the living room.
He slides himself out from the warmth of the sheets and his feet hit the floor. The cold tile sent a shiver up his spine as he trekked over to the closed bedroom doors, pulling one open gently and he stopped in the archway, looking over at his fiancée as she scrolled through something on her phone.
He leans his shoulder against the doorframe. "Hailey, you're meant to be asleep." Calling her name made her look up from her phone with a small startle.
She places her phone down on her lap and purses her lips slightly. "I had to pump."
He quirks his eyebrow up. "And that's why the machine is on the coffee table." He says more like a statement rather than a question.
"I already did it and then I couldn't get back to sleep so I just came back out here, figured I'd be back out in a couple hours anyway so what was the point?" She adds.
Jay takes a step out of the bedroom, closing the distance between them and he crosses his arms over his chest. "The point is we're not gonna sleep tomorrow so you need as much as you can now." He smirks, perching himself down on the couch next to her.
Hailey drops her gaze subtly and despite the fact she only looked down for a beat, something in his gut told him something was wrong. He scanned his eyes over her and edged his chin forward.
"Hailey, what is it?"
She instantly looks back up and seems confused as to what he was talking about. "I'm fine."
"Come on," Jay says. "You and I both know I can see through that act.. so tell me, what is it?" He asks again.
She feels her hands join together in her lap to stop herself from picking at her nails or picking at the skin around her ceuticals. She stares at his gaze for a beat before she lets out a sigh. "I can't sleep," she shrugs her shoulders up and down and Jay stays quiet, allowing her to carry on without interruption. "Don't get me wrong, I am so excited about Macie coming home-"
Because her hands are in her lap, she cuts herself off and checks her phone, lighting up the screen and checking the time.
02:15
"-Today... but at the same time I'm terrified," she shakes her head and moves her gaze from him, staring in front of her to try and hide her face. "And it's so stupid because we've known for over a week that she'd be coming home sooner than her due date and we've had all this time to prepare, but for that week we still didn't know exactly when she was coming home and now we do, we're going to hospital after work and we're taking her back home with us. And the feeling from before when we didn't know exactly when she would come home to now has just got me thinking, worrying I guess that I'm not ready for her to come home yet, that I'm not gonna be able to take care of her properly by myself because I still feel like I don't know what I'm doing most of the time and I'm not gonna have a nurse to fall back on if I don't have a clue. And I just want to be able to do everything I can for her the best that I can do, I want to give her everything I didn't have but what if I can't actually do that?"
She takes a beat to catch her breath and that's when he jumps in. He leans forward, reaching his hand out and he places it on her wrist, giving it a soft squeeze to bring her gaze back up to him.
"Hailey, I have spent the last ten weeks watching you do everything in your power to make sure Macie was okay. You sacrificed something you wanted to do from the start of your pregnancy just because it was stressful for Mae. You have had her at the centre of all your decisions since the day she was born. You were admitted to the hospital and one of the first things you said when you woke up was asking if you could go upstairs and see her. You have been at her bedside making sure she was okay every time something happened, when she got sick, with her chest tube. You have shown me over and over again that you are the most amazing mom to her and you will continue to show me that from the moment we bring her through that door. There has never been a single doubt in my mind otherwise, you are the most amazing mom, I know that, Macie knows that and I will spend the rest of my life making sure you know that if I have to. And you're not on your own, you never will be. I'm not going anywhere, ever."
He watches as her shoulders drop and she turns her head to one side. Her hands untangle from themselves and she places one hand on top of his. "I love you." She whispers.
The corners of his lips pull up into a smile. "I love you too."
She leaned forward and rested her other hand under his ear, pulling his head toward her. She locks her lips against his and at first it's just a soft simple kiss, but after a beat, she scoots on the couch and snakes her hand around to the nape of his neck, using that leverage to keep him close to her. He keeps his hands around her waist, occasionally stroking his thumbs up and down in a spot on her back and after a minute Hailey pulls away an inch, keeping herself near enough to hear the subtle change in his breathing.
She looks up through her eyebrows, darting her gaze between his eyes. "Do you want to go back to bed?"
He recognized the slight shift on her face and he dropped his chin down to his chest. "We haven't since Macie was born."
"I know." She says quietly.
There's a dip that appears between his eyebrows. "Are you sure?"
She nods her head. "Yes, if you're sure."
He swallows and bobs his head. "Yeah." He manages to whisper before Hailey leans forward again, pressing her lips against his. It starts out like it had before, a gentle kiss that begins to warm after a moment. Jay's hands start to wander a little further than just her back and it doesn't take that long before Hailey moves away again to stand from the couch, pulling him up too.
xxx
When he woke back up again it took his eyes a minute to adjust to the shadows. There was no more light coming in from the living room and the apartment had fallen into darkness.
He tried not to move that much so as not to risk stirring Hailey, who had dozed off with her head resting in the crook of his neck. He stretched slightly, letting out a soft groan as he made himself comfortable again, rolling his head over to the other side of the pillow, putting a soft kiss to the top of Hailey's head.
His arm wrapped around her back, his hand resting on her stomach and it took him a minute to realize his fingers were occasionally grazing over the horizontal scar on her lower abdomen. He could feel the slight rise in her skin the scar left and he let out a slow breath thinking about the day that got her that scar in the first place, the same day that gave her the scar an inch up from her underarm. The permanent marks in her skin were there as a reminder of the day he almost lost both his fiancée and his daughter, the day were he had to break the news to her less than a minute after she woke up from the surgery that she was no longer pregnant and that they had a girl, the day that broke that vision they had held for months about what it would be like when their baby arrived and kickstarted all the events of the last ten weeks.
Jay shook his head to himself and swallowed thickly, angling his chin down again to kiss the top of her head and he tightened his arm around her softly, pulling her closer into his side and he let his eyelids drop, instead choosing to focus on the sound of her breathing against his neck, at the way he could feel her chest rising and falling against his, and he fell back asleep quickly.
xxx
"What are you doing here? Aren't you supposed to be at Med?" Kevin asked when Jay and Hailey reached the top of the stairs into the bullpen.
Jay extends his hand out to take the bag slung over her shoulder, Hailey handing it over to him as she shrugs slightly. "We're gonna go over later."
Just then, Voight appears in his office doorway, locking eyes with the detectives and he points behind him. "Can I speak to you both for a minute?"
They both nod in return, Hailey making her way straight into the office and Jay disappears off to the locker room for a beat, putting away their bags before he joins his fiancée and boss in the office.
When he enters, Voight instructs him to shut the door behind him and he does. The sergeant stood up from the seat he had taken on the edge of his desk and crossed his arms over his chest.
"I spoke to Miller and pulled some favors, I managed to get you both another two weeks leave, Upton that will add to your six weeks you have left of your maternity leave. It is unpaid but it will give you both that little bit more time with your daughter after you bring her home. And I made sure it starts tomorrow, so you don't have to worry about losing a day whilst waiting to pick her up."
Jay and Hailey both nod. Hailey then sends their sergeant a slight smile. "Thank you, Sarge."
Voight tilts his head at an angle. "What time do you need to leave?" He questions.
Jay shakes his head softly. "Not till this afternoon, four at the latest."
The sergeant bobs his head. "I'll make sure you're outta here by then."
xxx
The morning was pretty bare in regards of things to do and when everyone finished any leftover paperwork they had by eleven they decided to take an early lunch. They remained sat in the bullpen and Hailey and Jay received a mini-interrogation in preparation for that night, the officers asking what their plans were for when they got home - wanting answers in that little bit too much detail. At one point Hailey threatened them, warning the three that they better not be planning anything. Kim had raised her hands up in defense, swearing against it.
Just after twelve, Voight got a phone call about a possible case. He took Jay and the officers with him, giving Hailey a job to do while they were gone.
After deciding they would hop on the case, the five of them stayed at the crime scene for just over an hour talking to witnesses, checking for nearby PODs and getting a preliminary report from the forensics team. When they joined back together just after one, Voight was giving each of them their assignments when he looked at Jay.
"Halstead, head back to the district and collect Upton, then go to Med, start your leave a little early."
Jay seems a little hesitant at first, unsure of if his boss was serious. "I've still got hours yet, Sarge, I'm happy to stay till four, give you all some help."
Voight turns his head to the side and meets Kevin's gaze beside him, and Jay watches as the sergeant's eyebrows dip. "Did you hear that cough?" He asks, looking back at the detective. "You're sick, Halstead, now go home, or wherever you need to go first."
Jay can't help the smirk that pulls up on the corners of his lips and he nods. "Thanks, Sarge."
The knit in the sergeant's eyebrows doesn't disappear. "Why are you still here? You could infect everyone here and I don't want my unit dropping like flies."
With that, Jay starts walking backwards, saying a fast goodbye to the rest of the unit before he spun on his heels to carry on the rest of the way to the car. They had taken Hailey's that morning, knowing they would need the car seat ready with them and it just made more sense than going back home to swap cars on their way to Med.
When he climbed in behind the wheel, he looked up into the mirror as he clipped in the belt, catching sight of the car seat behind the driver's seat. He feels himself smile as he thinks about how in just a few hours, Macie would be sitting in the car too.
He brings his gaze back down from the mirror and grabs his phone from his jacket, sending a quick text to tell Hailey he was on his way back and he placed his phone into the cup holder, starting the engine.
xxx
Twenty-five minutes later, Jay pulled the car into one of the parking bays outside Med, switching off the engine and there's a huff of air that escapes his chest as he sinks into the seat slightly.
Hailey's hand reaches over the console and lands on his thigh. She leans her head back against the headrest. "This is really happening, huh. We're really taking her home."
He bobs his head slightly. "This is really happening," he repeats, feeling the smile pulling up on his lips again. He turns his head to look at Hailey and she does the same, meeting his gaze. Jay jerks his head to the side, signalling for them to leave. "Come on, let's go up there."
They both climb out of the car, Jay grabbing the car seat out from the base, shutting the back door behind him. Hailey meets him around the front of the car and when she doesn't follow him toward the entrance straight away, he comes to a stop and spins on his heels, shooting her a confused look.
"Everything okay?" He asks.
She smiles, stepping toward him and closing the distance. "Yeah, just admiring you with a car seat in hand, you look very good."
"You saw me with it yesterday."
She shrugs her shoulders and catches up with him, Jay using his spare arm to pull her into his side and he presses his lips against her temple. They continue to walk toward the front door, Jay keeping his arm wrapped around her shoulder after he parted the kiss.
The walk upstairs was one they were both used to at this point and they were confident they could do it with their eyes closed. They made their way through the large set of doors and down a corridor toward the elevator. They waited for the car to arrive, the steel doors opening with a quiet ding. The pair stepped inside the car, joining the other few people and a handful of doctors inside.
"Which floor?" A man standing at the very right of the door asks.
"Seven." Jay replies with a small smile, quietly thanking the stranger when he pressed the button on the pad.
The elevator stops a few times on the way up and the car gets a little emptier until it finally dings on the seventh floor, the steel doors opening a moment later. They both step off, Jay thanking the man again for pressing the button before they make their way to another set of large doors, stepping on to the unit.
There's a bubble of excitement that grows in both their stomachs as they do the walk they had done every day, sometimes multiple times a day, in the last two months - they did it last night - because this walk was so much different. This was the last time they would be walking on to this unit, they weren't going to be leaving without their daughter like they had every other time. After ten weeks of doing this walk back and forth between the elevator and the doors, that long corridor and the main entrance out to the parking lot this was finally the last day they would do it.
They're spotted almost instantly by the same nurse who greeted them almost every time they came here. Isla has her signature grin on her face but there's a different glint in her eyes compared to normal. She closes her distance to the detectives, coming to a stop in front of them.
"Today's the day," she grins. "There's just a couple more things that we have got to do, and then she's all yours."
xxx
The few things the nurse was referring to was to get the final measurements for Macie's chart, her final height and weight, and to remove the stickers on her chest that had been there since day one.
Isla disconnected the monitor so it wouldn't let out a squeal when the wires were removed. The nurse unclips the wires, pulling them away and when Isla is wiping the adhesive off the infant's chest with a wet cloth, Hailey can feel Jay's hand land around her back and he gives her shoulder a soft squeeze. She looks up to meet his gaze and sends him a smile, which he returns quickly.
They watch as Isla wraps the wires up and places them underneath the monitor and picks up the cloth into her hand before clicking a few buttons on the side of the crib, taking a slight step back so she isn't touching it. Her eyes are trained on the top of the crib for a beat before she turns her attention to the detectives, a smirk on her face.
"Five pounds, seven ounces," she says before making a note of the result. She pockets the piece of paper and pulls out the tape, measuring from the tip of Macie's head down to her feet, pulling the paper out again to make a note of it. "And height is 47.4 centimeters, making her-" the nurse pauses for a second as she flips the tape measure to the other side. "18.6 inches."
Hailey edges her chin forward slowly. "That's good.. right?"
Isla nods her head. "Very good." She responds.
The room falls into a silence as the nurse finishes up on the last of her measurements she needed to do. Just as she's placing the piece of paper back into her pocket for the last time, there's a gentle tap on the door as it slides open, pulling up the attention of everyone in the room.
The second nurse sends Isla a smile before dropping his gaze on the detectives. "Sorry to interrupt but there's a few people out here to see you."
Isla shakes her head, flicking her wrist to blow it off. "Not interrupting, we're all done in here," she says to the nurse and then turns her head back to the side to look at Hailey and Jay. "I'm gonna chase the discharge coordinator up, make sure he's finished with her paperwork. I'll be back in a minute." She says before leaving, following the other nurse out.
Hailey spins slightly, tapping her fiancé's chest. "I'll go see whoever's outside, you go and grab you-know-what from the car." She tells him, earning a nod from Jay in return as they make their way to the door.
They promise Macie they'll be back in a minute and when they step outside the door, they come to a stop seeing their friends standing by the nurses' station in the middle of the unit. Hailey dips her eyebrows, raising her voice slightly so that it could carry the distance.
"What are you guys doing here?" She questions.
Kim is the one to respond, shrugging her shoulders as if the answer was obvious. "Like hell we were gonna miss this."
Jay cuts in, tapping Hailey's shoulder. "I'll go grab the bits." He says before moving away from the group. He says a quick hello to the officers as he passes them before disappearing behind the large set of doors.
As Jay walks toward the elevator, Hailey moves closer to the group. As she does, Kim sends her a smile.
"Voight is on his way up, he got stuck in some traffic coming in because he did the legal thing and didn't put the lights on." Kim says, moving her gaze up to Adam standing beside her, who just looks around his colleagues, not seeming remorseful of that fact.
"What? We had to get here fast." He answers.
All Hailey can do is shake her head and roll her eyes slightly but despite that she isn't surprised that the officer did that.
Kim continues. "And Platt can't make it, but she told me to tell you she's bringing dinner later after her shift so don't get anything in.. she emphasized that part quite a lot."
Hailey nods, unable to help the short chuckle. "Got it."
Kevin spoke up next, pulling the detective's attention up on him. "We're really happy for you, Hails."
Hailey pulled her lips into a line. "Thanks, Kev."
The officer opened his arms up and Hailey moved forward, wrapping her arms around Kevin's waist. His arms tightened around her and the pair stayed in the hug for a beat before she pulled away and nodded her head in the direction of the room, signalling for the officers to follow and get out of the way of the foot traffic on the unit.
xxx
Voight joined them in the room a minute later and by that time, Kim had already stolen Macie from the crib and was rocking the infant back and forth. The sergeant gave Hailey a hug on his way in before holding out the gift bag he had in hand to the detective, tilting his head to one side.
"A little something from twenty-one to say congratulations."
Hailey shook her head. "You didn't have to."
Voight blew it off, ensuring the detective grabbed the bag. She thanks the sergeant and officers in the room, making a mental note to say thank you to Platt when she sees her later.
Another few minutes pass before Jay comes back into the room, a small backpack in one hand and a basket and a bundle of flowers in the other.
Hailey turned her head over her shoulder to watch him as he came into the room. "That was fast." She says, noting he had only been gone a couple minutes.
Adam pipes up from the other side of the room. "Is that what got us here in the first place?"
Kim, now free from holding the infant after Kevin took his turn, spun and smacked the back of her hand against Adam's upper arm and the officer let out a yelp.
"Ow!"
"You had that one coming." Kim responds before moving her gaze away from him.
The two detectives roll their eyes and carry on, Jay placing the bag down beside the car seat and placing the basket and flowers on the floor next to the chair.
"I ran into Will on my way back up, he's taking his break now so he'll be up soon."
Just then there was a knock on the door and with everyone half expecting it to be Will coming in on cue, they were surprised when they saw Isla step back through the door. The nurse is surprised by the number of people now in the room and she chuckles.
"A full house."
Hailey nudges Jay's arm and he bends back down, picking up the basket and flowers, cutting off the nurse before she can say anything further. "Isla, this is for you.. well the flowers are, the treats are for everyone, everyone here has been amazing, especially you. We don't really know what we would have done without your support the last couple months, so it's just to say a thank you."
Isla tilts her head to one side. "That is really sweet, thank you," she says, taking hold of the basket being handed out to her. "And Macie has been an absolute champ, and while everyone is ecstatic that she's finally able to go home, it's gonna be a little sad without her here. Which is actually why I came in.. all her paperwork is complete, Macie is officially discharged from the NICU."
xxx
Fifteen minutes after Isla told them the good news, Hailey and Jay had changed Macie into a new outfit, one they had been keeping especially for the day they would get to bring her home. They had been gifted the onesie two months ago from the officers standing in the room. At the time, the pale green onesie looked massive compared to how big Macie was at the time, but now it fit her perfectly. It was neither too big nor too small, and the words 'NICU Graduate' written in black font across the front sat on top of her chest and the two facts paired together made Hailey's eyes begin to burn.
Jay's arm instinctively fell around her back. "What is it?" He asks.
She looks up at him, using the pad of her thumb to wipe underneath her eye, catching the tear that had started to roll down her cheek. Her shoulders rise and then slump slightly. "She's actually getting to wear it, and it fits her."
Jay pulls his arm tighter, leaning his chin forward to press a kiss to the side of her head. He stays put for a beat, pulling away from the kiss but he keeps his arm around her waist and keeps her close as she puts a pair of pants on the infant, finishing up the outfit with the hat she had been wearing before.
With that, Hailey picks the infant up and moves away from her fiancé's grasp, carrying her over to her seat and strapping her in, making sure she was secure before placing a half-folded blanket over her lap to cover her from the cold March windchill outside.
Just as she lifts the car seat into her hand, the door slides open and Will appears, looking relieved and very out of breath.
"Thank god you're still here."
Jay furrows his eyebrows in the direction of his older brother. "You good, man?"
Will bobs his head. "Yeah.. I'm all good."
"Did you run up here?" Jay asks, his question coming out as a joke at the way Will was huffing to catch his breath.
However Will nods again. "Yeah."
Jay swiftly shakes his head, his brain taking an extra second to catch up to what he was being told. "You ran up here?"
Will flicks his hand to blow it off. "Elevator was taking too long, I didn't want to miss you."
"Do you need to sit down?" Jay wonders.
This time, the doctor shakes his head side to side. "No I'm good... just a little winded that's all.. I'll be fine."
They decide to stand around for another minute to allow Will time to gather his breath again before Jay picks up the backpack, holding it by the handle. He drops his gaze down to Hailey and quirks his eyebrow.
"You ready to go?"
She can't help the smile that rides up on her face at his question. "Yeah, I am."
With that, all the officers left the room first, followed by Will, allowing the detectives a moment alone in the room they had spent the majority of their time in the last couple months.
The room is silent for a minute as they both just look around before Jay breaks it, his voice is barely above a whisper but it shatters the quiet.
"Remember the first time we were in here?" He wonders.
Hailey nods. It felt like forever ago, with everything that had been thrown at them the last ten weeks, with everything they had been through, but at the same time it felt like yesterday. "They brought me up in the bed because I barely sit up yet. She was so small, she could fit in your forearm when you were allowed to hold her. And she had all those tubes and wires just keeping her alive."
Jay dropped his gaze down to Macie, who was snoozing away in her car seat. "And now here we are."
"Here we are," she repeats softly. "Finally."
They both took one final look before turning around, stepping out of their daughter's room one last time. Jay slid the door closed behind him, the door hitting the frame with a gentle thud. They took a few steps forward to meet up with their friends standing by the nurses' station, when they were approached by Isla one last time.
Without saying anything, Hailey hands the car seat over to Jay, who takes hold of it in his other hand, and Hailey moves closer to the nurse, asking her if she can hug her. The nurse accepts with the same smile she always had on her face and Hailey hugs her tight, thanking her again.
When the two pull away, Voight steps away from the group. "Let's get a picture." He says, pulling his phone out from his pocket.
Jay doesn't move straight away. "Sarge, don't you want to be in it?" He asks.
The sergeant shakes his head. "I don't care much for photos, just get in." He instructs the detective and watches as the group forms a line.
Hailey insists Will and Isla stand in the picture too and it takes a quick negotiation before they join the end of the line. Everyone looks at the sergeant when he speaks. "Say Macie!" And there's a quiet echo from everyone in the frame as Voight snaps the photo, pulling his phone away to inspect it and shooting them all a smirk to say it was good. He then pockets the phone and follows the detectives as they lead toward the elevator, saying another goodbye to the NICU on their way out.
xxx
(Present)
"The end."
Macie looks up at her father as he says that, her face dropping with sadness. "But I don't want it to end."
Jay sighs. "I'm sorry, Mae, but that's it, there's no more to tell you."
The girl's shoulders fall this time and she seems to sink into the couch. She tilts her head to one side. "Does it have to end?" She asks.
Hailey nods her head slowly. "Yeah, it does." She replies before her hands move, landing under the girl's arms to lift her into her mother's lap. Macie slumps into her chest slightly.
Macie mumbles into her mother's neck. "Is there another story you can tell me?"
"Of course there is." Hailey says and can't help the small laugh that escapes her chest when Macie sits back up again, a smile appearing on her face.
"Okay!" Macie says and suddenly she isn't so sad about the fact this one was over.
-
and there you have it, the end of 'macie's story' - this fic definitely had its highs and lows with me but i have loved every single minute being able to write this, a huge thank you to Kaitlynn26 for the original idea. the research i had to do for this fic has been insane but it's been super interesting (and i lowkey made the head midwife at the hospital very impressed when i was able to tell her the number of mls it would be in pph because i had just so happened to be researching it in the days prior for this fic) and genuinely it has been one of my favourite parts of writing this fic. and being able to delve into this arc i came up 2 years ago and fully explore the beginning of macie's story has been so much fun.
this is not the last of the halstead family, if you would like to read more i do have a fic posted on ff and wattpad that goes about their daily family life, which will hopefully start to be updated more often too, but that's enough self promotion.
thank you all so much for all the support on this fic, it has been absolutely insane, on wattpad, ao3 and twitter - you guys are all amazing and i love you all. thank you so much for reading. ❤️