A/N: It was an honor to have you guys on board. Thank you so much for your reviews and support. They mean the world to me. I will write more for this pair, don't you worry. But this felt like the right end for this story. :)

It's not Adam, Jay…it's never been Adam.

Jay blinked once or twice in confusion, taking a mental and physical step back, the echo of those words and the tortured voice that said them still swirling in his brain. On impulse and maybe driven by a touch of sheer panic, Hailey grabbed his elbow almost aggressively, holding him in place. For once, she didn't have the strength or the willpower to fight against the inevitable. She was all out of energy. Instead, a different kind of energy woke in her - to hold on, in all understandings of the phrase. She didn't have it in her to let go.

More specifically - let him go. From now on, she would never.

"Please don't go." – she whimpered, her voice trembling with every word. She didn't notice how glassy her eyes were becoming or how much she was shaking…but Jay did.

Which was why he didn't move a single inch. Instead, he flashed a comforting, reassuring smile, letting his gestures speak his truth, no words needed - he wasn't going anywhere. There was nowhere else he needed to be more than right here, right now, by her side. He wordlessly took hold of her hand, tracing lazy circles on it, soothing her without a single spoken syllable in his characteristic manner, silently encouraging her, even urging her to continue.

He would listen. He listened even when she had no words to give.

"I'm sorry…I'm not…I'm not good with words. I've never been." – she sighed, heavily, letting out a choked, stifled noise between a laugh and a sob.

"Words are overrated." – he countered, calmly, a quirky smile just below the surface, completed by that familiar, teasing glint in his eye.

Her heart did somersaults right there. She felt faint, almost numb, as a different kind of fire spread through her every tissue. It was stronger than any fear. For once, it was stronger and louder than anything, any clashing thoughts still raging chaos in every inch of her brain.

"Maybe they are…and maybe we don't need them but…" – she faltered, gulping nervously, clutching Jay's jacket still draped over her shoulders closer to her chest, unconsciously. "You still deserve them, Jay. You always have. You deserve all the words I never gave you, you deserve better words than I could ever give you -"

You deserve better than me.

"Hailey…."

"But I…I'd still like to try." – she whispered, deadest in her resolve, despite the breathy, shaky sound of her voice. She lifted herself off that swing set in one swift motion, before inching closer to Jay, her breathing turning even more ragged now. She looked up and, for a single moment, that calming mass of blue staring right back at her reminding her of peaceful ocean waves temporarily balanced the furious tide in her.

It's what he always did. The sight made her nearly backpedal, creating a small dent in her resolve. Not because he wasn't soothing her, as always, but because she wasn't used to that something else that she found there now.

That look…on her. She recognized it, maybe she's seen it before but never like this, not on this level. There was nothing but sheer love and adoration there, flickering more and more as his eyes darkened. She had no idea her blue orbs matched every emotion in his to a T.

By this point, Jay was starting to suspect she knew, too. He was only halfway correct. Because, despite all the evidence to the contrary, Hailey still found it so hard to believe she was worthy...of anything more than partnership from him.

Which was why she hesitated again, cursing herself as her eyes shifted away, until she felt Jay's soft touch on her cheek, catching a single tear with the back of his thumb that she didn't even realize had begun to fall.

She didn't feel it. She only felt him.

"You don't have to say anything to me, Hailey…"

Maybe she didn't. But more than any other time, she wanted to, needed to. More than any other day, she was glued to that breathtaking sight before her, anchoring her. And no matter how much a small part of her still wanted to run for the hills, no muscle in her body would carry her away from here.

She'd die before she took a single step from him ever again. Because if the vows made her realize another thing, it was that this, right here, right now was where she belonged.

When she never belonged anywhere.

"No, I…I want to." - she smiled weakly, feeling her knees buckle under the weight of that hooded, warm gaze filled with everything she's ever wanted from someone – love, lust, comfort, unspoken promises, support and…forever.

He always made her weak. But right now, it was a welcome weakness – because he was the one person she didn't need to constantly be strong around, the one person in the world who wasn't demanding anything, the one person who knew of her walls and didn't mind seeing them fall down. He would welcome every version of her with open arms. For that reason alone, he deserved everything. And she wanted to be the one to give it to him.

"I love you, Jay."

As the words finally poured out of her, it felt like this giant load that's been pushing down her chest had fallen all at once, leaving nothing but ashes of her former self behind, setting her free. Like a bird that's been locked up in a cage for years, she was finally free...and ready to fly. And even if she wasn't sure how to, she wasn't afraid to try. Because if she stumbled, she knew she had someone to catch her, if she fell down, she knew she had someone to pick her up, patch her together, fix her.

He was the only person in the world who knew how to.

"More than I ever loved anyone…I always have." – she added, ducking her head, catching sight of that much too bright tie Jay was wearing…for her. She was too busy feeling her chest lighter than it's been in years to even process when and how her trembling fingers reached out to touch it in quiet, unspoken wonder, fumbling with the material. "Even when you're wearing this…"

The hearty, genuine laughter that followed traveling from Jay's broad chest, reverberating against her hand made her smile goofily all the same. Jay's head dropping, nuzzling against her shoulder just a little could have made her knees give out right there, if it wasn't for a strong hand resting on her waist, running circles in up and down motions, still hesitantly asking for approval.

And when his gaze shot back up, looking at her in all the ways she's ever wanted someone to…again, she almost lost her voice. But she had to woman the hell up – she still had so much left to say.

"And I've been so scared to say anything…not because I don't trust you, you're my partner and I trust you with my life, you have to know that. I just…I don't trust myself." – she added, taking a single step back from Jay, trying to ignore that familiar flash of hurt in his eyes.

And failing. She never once intended to cause it but she's seen it before. She was seeing it even clearer now…she's seen it all night.

She ached to replace it with something else, to be the one person who could make his hurt go away, all the same. She meant it - she'd love him with her last breath, if he let her, in her clumsy, unpracticed, flawed way.

"Because this right here…" – she motioned between them with her right hand, then cleared her throat, urging that noose around her neck to loosen its grip just a little so she could finally speak…but Jay's previous wounded look made it hard to even breathe now. "You…it's…it's the best thing that ever happened to me."

I don't deserve you.

"And I ruin everything good that ever happens to me. I care about you too much to ever jeopardize that. So I…I just wanted to be honest with you. But you don't have to say anything to that, Jay, you don't owe me anything, you never have-"

"Course I do." – Jay whispered, pulling her out of her trance with a gentle touch on her cheek. She hadn't realized how hard she's been staring at her black heels like they were the most fascinating sight in the world, or Jay following her every move, waiting for the right moment to say his piece, too, until he titled her chin gently towards him.

"You still don't see it, do you?" – he probed, cautiously. The last thing he wanted was to scare Hailey off – not when he got her this far. "Everything you've done for me. Everything you do for everyone."

The fact that she still looked down, bashfully and dismissively, hearing the words but not quite believing any of them only made his resolve stronger. He'd make her listen, if he had no other choice. She had to listen. She had to know there was one person who saw the world in her, even when all she saw when she looked in the mirror was "not good enough", "not worthy", "unfixable", "unlovable."

It was so far away from what he was seeing now.

"Because that's who you are, Hailey. You give everything to everyone and there's never anything left for you…is there?"

"We have a job, Jay, it's to be expected—"

"I know..I know…but you're also more than your job title, Hailey, you're so much more than you know, you're…." – he exhaled, heavily. "You're…everything. And maybe you don't believe me, but it doesn't make it any less true."

"Jay-"

"You're everything…." – he added, his voice a quiet, soft murmur against her lips now. "To me."

"Jay….you don't have to…humor me or anything—"

"Who's laughing?" – he asked, brushing his fingers across her cheek again before lovingly tucking a strand of her hair behind her ear.

Her breath hitched in her throat right there, but she had no time to learn how to breathe normally again.

Jay's lips were already on hers.

It started slow, just a tentative, exploring brush of lips before she crashed and burned, allowing the fire he set in her years ago to set her ablaze now - mind, body and soul. She let go…in more ways than one. With a passion and drive she never knew she had, she wrapped her arms around his neck the same moment he gripped her waist, melting into him, holding him in place almost aggressively. When he matched her harsh, almost desperate movements with slower ones of his own, she settled – it was his way of letting her know he wasn't going anywhere. She got the message, this time smiling against his lips as she tilted her head to the side, welcoming him even more.

He was smiling too. And when her fingers brushed across that ridiculously bright tie yet again, like a soft caress if nothing else, as she sighed against his lips, he realized another thing – it was his favorite piece of clothing now.

When they broke apart, still smiling like a pair of love-struck teenagers, as their foreheads rested together, linked just like they were now, and their syncronized breathing slowly came to normal, they were snapped out of their daze by a loud, approving whistle.

"About time, you two. Stealing my thunder, ah, Halstead?"

"Well someone has to."

The groom gave them a happy thumbs up sign from the house and an all-knowing smirk, before he retreated, clearly satisfied with himself.

Hailey was too spellbound to even process the teasing exchange between her two... boys? Men? It was hard to tell sometimes. And when Jay planted another loving, slow kiss on her lips, her heart skipped a beat.

"I love you, too."

His words took every breath from her, causing her already erratic heartbeats to increase in tempo even more.

"Y-yeah?"

"Seriously, Hailey, I could not have made it more obvious—"

That earned Jay a much-deserved punch in the shoulder, as his blonde partner smiled with the intensity of a thousand suns. He matched her light tenfold.

"So….can I have another dance now?" – he asked, bowing slightly and extending his hand, like the gentleman he was.

"You can have any dance you want…if you pay for the hospital visits afterwards. Because, just to be clear, Jay, you will step on my toes, I just know it—"

"Don't I always?" – he smirked, receiving a playful kick to his side, this time. "Okay, okay, that was the last one, I swear."

When Hailey looked at him again like he was a real-life angel sent to her and her only, she realized another thing – she wanted to bicker with this silly man child for the rest of her life, too.

And maybe, just now, they said their vows. Because this, right here, was the start of a new life together, away from the hurt and pain or even the rest of the world. No one could grasp or understand what they had, what had always been there, burried underneath the surface. As long as they had their world, what anyone else thought wasn't anywhere near important.

Nothing else mattered but this moment. And the dozen more that were to follow in the future - another walk down the aisle, a new life brought into the world, a graduation...

"So….where do we go from here..?"

Jay grabbed her hand, laying a single, lingering kiss there, silencing the uncertainty he still felt and saw in her.

"Anywhere you want. Wherever you go, I follow. As long as you'll have me."

"How does forever sound?"

Under normal circumstances, that word alone would have been enough to make Hailey bolt to the other side of the planet. But something about the way Jay was peering into her soul now, something about the way he was cradling her face, still wiping her tears changed every meaning she ever attributed to that word.

Forever was no longer something she rejected, didn't believe in or dismissed. It was possibility now, certainty even, it was exciting, filled with promises of more, better – what they both deserved all along.

"You sure you wanna be stuck with me that long?"

And maybe it was still monumental, but it didn't feel scary anymore. It didn't feel laden with doubt or insecurity. Because nothing else lingered in the air at this precise moment but sheer love, matching, maybe even surpassing the atmosphere inside now…

Only difference? This was theirs.

"Course I do."

Forever was now.

And forever never sounded better.

FIN.