Hailey listened intently as Jay told her what was going through his mind last night. As he was speaking, she felt her break for him a little bit. Here was this good guy, and he was just left without a word. How was he supposed to feel? Hailey thought his scattered emotional state was perfectly normal. That's how she felt after Garrett, so she could understand (in a weird way) what Jay was going through.

"…and so I haven't called her since yesterday, but I just don't understand why Voight can't tell me anything else. It's frustrating, you know?"

Hailey snapped her head up a little bit as she realized Jay was still speaking. "Yeah, I can see how the uncertainty can be frustrating. I'm sorry he can't tell you more. What about her mom? What did you say her name was? Bonnie?"

"Bunny," Jay corrected.

"Ah, okay. Sorry, Bunny…have you talked to her? If she really is mixed up in this, she's got to know where Erin drifted off to."

"I tried her already, but she's dodging my calls too. Like mother, like daughter I guess…." He shook his head, looking out the window.

Hailey noticed how sad he seemed. She would be too, if someone she loved had just disappeared from her life. You were distant after Garrett, her mind taunted her. She bit her tongue, debating whether or not she wanted to open up her old wound to help heal Jay's. It's too much, too soon, she reasoned, pushing the memory of Garrett back into the corner of her mind.

"You okay?"

Hailey felt his green eyes staring at her. "Yeah, I'm alright. Sorry, just spaced out for a minute."

"I'm sorry, Hailey. Here I am, just dumping all this on you, and I didn't even ask you if you needed to talk…." He lamented, and Hailey understood the sorry-ness behind his eyes.

"No, I'm okay, really. I think I just need another cup of coffee," she insisted, breathing a sigh of relief as she watched him flag down the waitress. Maybe someday, but today, this is enough.

She had gotten Jay to open up to her, and that was as good a place as any to start.

A couple months had gone by since their first conversation, and while he wasn't 100% back to normal, Jay was at least showing up and doing the work that needed to be done.

"You ready to roll?" He turned his head at the sound of his partners voice. Hailey was tucking her gun into her belt, her blue eyes locked onto his, silently asking him if he was okay.

"Yeah," Jay reassured her, slipping on his vest. "Let's go."

They had gotten intel on a gang war going down in the South Side of Chicago, and were heading out along with the rest of their team to grab up the main participants. Things were going smoothly until a hostile situation turned volatile when a shootout took place. Jay was the main police taking shots at the perps, who ran before Hailey could get a chance to catch up with them. She had her hands full tending to a little girl that had been shot inside the school.

It turned out, that little girl she held in her arms was the very one that her partner had accidentally shot. One of the bullets from his gun went through the door, striking the 7-year-old.

Hailey remembers hearing how shocked Jay was when he found out that it was his gun that had killed a child, even if it was by accident.

You're saying I shot that little girl?

Things seemed to be going better when the little girl stabilized at Chicago Med. That made Jay feel better, which in turn made Hailey feel better too. She remembered going to see him at the hospital, where she saw him hugging his brother goodbye.

"Hey, I just heard…"

"Hey, I'm fine thanks." His hand floated over her shoulder, but he didn't look at her like usual.

She walked a little quicker after him before he turned the corner of the hospital wing. "Jay, look I didn't see you exchange fire, but I've got your back,"

He turned to her, holding out his hand. "Hey, just tell the truth. I've got nothing to hide."

"When are you meeting with the shooting team?" She asked him.

"Twenty minutes," he said, balling up his hands into fists. He gave her a slight sad smile.

She nodded. "Good luck." She mimicked his expression.

"Thanks."

She knew he meant it.

Things weren't easy between them later on either, but like their earlier moments, they eventually worked through it, and worked it out.

When Jay went undercover and got involved with a witness' sister, Hailey tried to reason with him, but he didn't listen at first.

"So, you are sleeping with her?" It wasn't so much a question as it was an accusation. "What are you doing?" Hailey was exasperated, but she needed Jay to know how crazy this was.

"I'm fine, I'm fine, and I can figure this out."

Things weren't fine, but they would be, as Hailey talked to Camila to save Jay's ass.

"No sex, no backroom…" Hailey hated saying these words to her partner's lover, but yet here she was, trying to do the right thing to help him out, no matter what.

"Like I never even knew him?" Camila couldn't believe what she was hearing.

"You didn't."

"No, the Jay Halstead you know, that's the lie! Like hell I didn't know him!"

"You do that, and I'll give you a chance to have a life. You don't? I'll bury you." Hailey stood her ground, praying her expression remained strong instead of shaky like her insides felt. God, she didn't know why she put herself in the middle of all this….only for Jay, she supposed.

When she went off the rails with Booth, Jay did the same for her.

"What the hell happened?"

Hailey looked at the photos in question that he had splayed out on the table. Her battered and bruised face had now been seen by her partner, and she wanted to run away, but her feet stood frozen in place. She knew she had to face it, she just didn't expect it to happen now, with him.

"Nothing."

"Just talk to me. I just wanna help, I promise."

She did end up talking to him, but it wasn't until later that she finally revealed how Garrett was connected to Booth.

"Garrett, uh, he was the one who pulled Booth off me that night," she paused, blinking back some tears. "He stopped him from raping me…killing me," she stopped again, this time meeting Jay's gaze.

"I'm sorry you lost him. He sounded like a great guy,"

"Yeah, he was."

"You loved him?" She saw the hesitation behind his eyes in asking that question, but she didn't know the reason why.

She opened her mouth to answer him, but instead what came out was "Thanks for coming by, but honestly, I'm fine."

Jay eyed her suspiciously, as if to say 'yeah right.' She watched his eyes cloud over too, but his brow ticked up a fraction, as did his solemn expression.

"I said that exact thing to you, remember that? And you called me out on it. Well, I'm staying as long as you'll let me Hailey. Because like it or not, you need someone to be with you right now. And we're partners. I'm always gonna be here for you."

She managed to smile behind her tears, and that's when she knew how much she needed him in her life. No one else could make her feel better like he could. And no one else had made this much of an impact on her in such a short amount of time. Because there was no one quite like Jay Halstead.

Little did they know just how much they'd lean on each other over the next year. From shootings to short-lived relationships, both Jay and Hailey dealt with a lot. But the one thing that never changed between the two was the thing that worked between them.

One of us doesn't want the other one around, the other one stays anyway. We talk, we feel better, and we're able to go to work the next day. It works. She had once told him this, but as she stood in the break room with him after hearing Voight's declaration of Jay someday running the unit, she couldn't help but wonder if they'd be able to stay together if the unit were to fall apart.

We've only been partners a couple years, you'll forget about me just fine.

Hailey…

She knew he was going to say something else, something more than what she was ready to hear at that moment. So she stopped it, even though it broke her heart into a million pieces, she knew it was for the best with everything so up in the air.

We'll be alright.

And as Jay tried to say something else, his eyes spoke for him instead, agreeing with her. No matter what they were, or where they ended up, they would be alright.

A/N: And this story has come to a close. Sorry it's shorter, but ya'll already know the Upstead moments that have happened over the last two seasons, and since I'd already used up some of them in other stories, I just felt like summing it up this way shows their relationship the best. How they went from being strangers to being friends, partners, and obviously – it's more than that, to paraphrase our favorite detective. Here's hoping for some major Upstead moments in s7! Thanks for reading this one!