This is a story I had started a long time ago. It takes place after Hailey would have returned from New York when Voight sent her. This is NOT an OA/HAILEY story...don't worry...It is an UPSTEAD fic...just takes a bit to get there. Let me know what you think, and if you have any ideas you might like to see. I only set up the first chapter, and have a vague idea for the second so I may need some help somewhere with this one...~Nan

Hailey takes a sip from her coffee and walks into the Field office and straight into complete chaos. Her current partner came rushing to her the second the elevator closed behind her.

"Should have stayed home Chicago..." OA hands her a file to get her up to speed, and walks with her to the screens. "Possible car bombing near Central Park. We roll out in 10." He grabs his jacket and checks to see if she needs anything from her desk, and then they are heading out.

They don't talk on the drive over which is pretty typical for them. She mostly just watches the city in the early stages of fall pass by. OA isn't really the easy banter kind of guy. He's more the dark and brooding type, and if it's possible, he's more mysterious than she could ever be. He is very reserved and shares things about his personal life very, very sparingly, but they still talk about basic things. She basically knows nothing about him. If she was the type of person to believe in fantasy, she would swear he was some type of vampire...but she isn't. She doesn't take it personally that he doesn't let her in though, she has learned over the years to do the same thing.

The exception had been Jay, of course. The easy silence and quick conversations were something she liked most about working with him. They had started off rocky, but then both had put in a lot of work and their partnership was stronger because of it.

That's all gone now though. She messed everything up. When Voight had first sent her to New York as a loan out, she had been so angry at everything and everyone. She had been short and defensive with OA the first time around, but he never said anything to his Director. He'd pull her aside and tell her to cool off, and she would realize what she was doing. It took almost a month to settle into the routine of the FBI, but when she finally did, she found she liked working with OA.

She'd ended up having to stay in New York with the FBI for almost 3 months. It was only supposed to be a month tops, but they caught a case and Hailey had refused to leave without seeing it through.

Coming back to Chicago after that had been good. Her and Jay had talked at least twice a week on the phone and video chatted while she had been away, and she had been a little surprised at how much she had missed him. They seemed to be much closer after she got back and for a while, it had felt like they were moving into new territory in both their professional and personal lives. She isn't even sure she will have a partner when she gets back this time...if she even goes back.

"Let's go." OA's voice breaks her from her thoughts, and she hurries out of the truck after him. He's over a foot taller than her, and she had always thought she was quick walker, but she finds she has to practically jog to keep up with his long powerful stride.

"Jesus...this was one car?" Hailey takes in the destruction around the shell of the car. The debris are spread out nearly 100 yards around the car. The blast was too big to be a mechanical problem. She's never seen a car bombing before and the only thing she can think is 'thank God the bomb had gone off when it did, and that the park wasn't crowded yet.' Only one jogger had been close enough to the blast to need medical attention. He had been struck with a piece of debris and needed a couple stitches. They had gotten really lucky.

"We got one other witness aside from the jogger. They said the car exploded at 5:23am."

"That's a very specific time to give..." Hailey interjects, wondering if this witness is a possible suspect.

"I thought so too, but it turns out the guy is a Vlogger from Brooklyn and was in the middle of a video when the explosion happened."

They start walking again and move to a communication van. When they walk up the steps and into the van, Hailey sees the back wall is lined with screens all showing a variety of grainy images that must have been pulled from nearby security cameras.

"What have we got?" OA leans over one of the agents to get a closer look at the screen. "Where's the footage from the Vlogger?" His eyes scan the other screens.

"Got it." Hailey indicates the screen she is front of, and they spend the next hour combing through the videos.

"Agent Zidan, Detective Upton, we got a VIN number from one of the wheel wells. It came back as a rental registered to a Duncan Lester, out of a place a couple blocks from here." The agent hands the information over and once again, Hailey and OA are on the move.

Less than 10 minutes later they are pulling up to the rental car company and quickly make their way inside.

OA clears his throat and flashes his badge to the owner behind the counter. "We need to ask a few questions about a rental you signed out a couple days ago."

"We are in a little bit of a hurry. Your help would be greatly appreciated." Hailey adds it as an afterthought almost. Not because OA had been rude, but because kindness tends to get you more, faster. She flashes a smile at the owner when he hurries to get them what they need, and then turns to OA, still smiling.

"Look at you...I didn't even have to tell you to be nice." He smirks back at her and she rolls her eyes before accepting the folder the owner hands her and offers her thanks.

"Do you have any security cameras?" Handing the folder over to her partner, she scans the room.

"I've got one...but it's out back leading upstairs to my place. I had a break in a couple months ago and had it installed. I'm not sure there will be anything useful on it." He crooks a smile at her, like he is sorry to not be able to help more.

"We'll take a look at it just the same. Thanks." They follow him into a little back to copy the footage that had been stored since the break in. Once they get them transferred to a flash drive, they make their way back to Headquarters.

They don't find anything useful on the security camera, and the guy, Duncan Lester paid in cash, but the address he used is real. They head out to the car and Hailey plugs the address into the GPS while OA heads out of the city. It's about a two hour drive, so Hailey settles in and gets comfortable.

"Tell me something...You seem different from the first time you were out here." He looks over at her, waiting for her to respond.

"Is there a question in there?" She doesn't look at him, just stares straight ahead as she was.

OA studies her profile every so often. He lets the silence stretch. The first time he had worked with her, she had been angry and out to prove herself. This time around though, she seems almost defeated. He can count on one hand the number of times she has smiled in the last two weeks, and that includes today at the rental company. It's been two months since she came back, and each week, she seems to detach a little more. He isn't sure what happened between her leaving New York and coming back.

"You don't have to talk about it. I know we don't do that, but I just want you to know...if you need someone to listen, I'm here." He actually likes her and doesn't want her to feel like she can't talk to him. He nudges her bicep with his elbow and gives her his charming smile.

"Does it seem like I need someone to listen?" She turns to look at him, not angry at all, just curious as to why he would say that to her.

"I...uh...no...well, yes. I mean..." He looks at her sheepishly, afraid to say something that will upset the delicate balance they have. "You just seem sad...Like you've just resigned yourself to being here, but you would rather be anywhere else."

Her slow inhale can be heard, and then she shifts fully in her seat to study his profile this time. "I didn't really have a choice the first time I came here." She scoffs out a breath at his feigned shock. "Don't look at me like that. I know you know why I was sent here last winter. You can stop pretending." A part of her hates that he knows she had gone so far, but he hasn't treated her any differently and she appreciates that.

"I chose to come back this time. It just...feels wrong I guess." She looks away, slightly embarrassed to be thinking about talking to him about personal things...but he is her partner right now, and he said she could. "My partner...well...I'm not actually sure what we are anymore, but things fell apart between us shortly after I got back and I just couldn't stay. But the longer I stay away, the worse I feel about all of it." She turns her body back so she can look out her window, and quietly tells him she isn't actually ready to talk about what happened that made her leave a second time.

"You could always call him...tell him what you're feeling..." If looks could kill, OA would be a dead man. He reads loud and clear that she is done talking about it, so he switches on the radio and hopes the next hour or so hurries up.

When they pull into the driveway, they see that it's a little farm house, complete with two barns and a small shed. They park the car and climb out, both noticing immediately how still and quiet it is. They study the front of the house and something odd catches Hailey's eye.

"Are those...is the window moving?" She squints to get a better look in the afternoon light, and sure enough, both front windows have an odd sort of vibrating quality about them. She turns quickly to OA who had let out a curse.

"I'm calling it in." He steps away, pulling out his phone, completely ignoring Hailey's confused expression. He turns his back to her while he speaks and misses her walking to the front door.

Hailey had never seen anything like this in her life. She takes another look around quickly and decides this place has been vacant for at least the whole summer. The front yard is completely over grown, and the fields look like they haven't seen a plow in years.

She opens the screen door and then carefully tries the handle of the main door. It turns easily in her hand and she gently pushes it open, drawing her service weapon.

"Hailey NO!" OA shouts at her from the SUV. She had taken two steps inside, and then turns to see OA running towards her, and suddenly she is surrounded buy thousands of flies and the most horrific smell permeates her nostrils. She'd scream or retch right here if she wasn't so afraid of the flies getting in her mouth. She closes her eyes and mouth tight and clamps her hands over her ears to try and keep the flies out, and then blindly makes her way back out onto the porch. She stumbles and would have face planted right off the steps if OA hadn't of caught her. He lifts her easily and moves them quickly to the rear of the SUV.

She brushes frantically at her hair and face, and scrubs at her arms, trying to rid herself of any lingering

"Stop. Hailey stop." OA grabs at her wrists and can tell by her harsh breathing that she is trying not to cry. "It's okay. There aren't any on you. Just breath okay?" His thumbs rub gently at the insides of her wrists and he watches as her face turns an odd shade of green.

Hailey swears she can still feel the flies on her. She isn't that much of a bug person to begin with and that was just way too much. When her partner grabs her wrists to stop her frantic movements, she suddenly remembers the smell and she knows she is going to be sick.

"I'm sorry..." She mumbles out the apology and then manages to round the side of the SUV before she loses her lunch. She wipes at her mouth with the back of her hand and then takes the water bottle from OA that he offers.

"I should have told you to stay back. I thought you knew, I'm sorry." He looks apologetically at her. "There's at the very least, one dead body in there. I saw it a couple of times before. Mostly overseas while I was serving, but as soon as you said the windows were moving, I knew." He really does feel bad. Opening the door like that had to have been a really disturbing experience. You'd want to try and open a door further away from the bodies, and then wait a bit for the flies to disperse before opening that main door.

"Jesus...That smell." She gags it out and nearly throws back up the water she had just drank.

"Hang on, I'll be right back." He rummages through the center console in the SUV looking for something. He had a cold a couple of weeks ago and he knows he tossed a vapor rub in here. "Gotcha." He grabs the little pot of cream and hurries back to Hailey, who is still trying not to throw up again.

"Here, this should help." Before she can say anything, he'd opened the pot and dipped his finger in. "It'll mask the smell until you can shower." And then he swipes the finger right under her nose and the sudden strong mentholated scent assaults her nose.

Her nose immediately starts to run, and her eyes tear up from the smell, but it's 100 times more welcome than the smell of what she now knows is a decomposing body.

"Thanks. I'm sorry for opening the door...I should have waited." The adrenaline is starting to wear off, and she can feel her hands start to shake, and she isn't sure anymore if the tears in her eyes are just from the vapor rub.

"It's not a big deal. I just would have told you not to open that door...or to run really fast when you did." He tries for a laugh and is thankful when she gives him a smile, albeit a small one, in return.

"So now we just wait for the crime tech guys?" She really, really doesn't want to go back into that house...ever.

"We can take a look in the barns. The slats aren't tight enough to hold flies if there is another body." His long legs take him quickly to the first of the barns, and she hopes he was just joking about the flies and dead body. One of those experiences is more than enough to last a lifetime.

They find nothing in the barns or shed and end up having to find a hotel to stay at overnight. The crime tech guys got called to another case that trumped this one and wouldn't be able to head out until morning at the earliest.

"Here, this is from my go bag. Not that you'll need the pants...the shirt will probably be down past your knees anyway." OA tosses her a black shirt and a pair of jogger pants. The closest place to stay without driving completely back into the city was about 20 minutes away. Half the motel was under construction and they only had one room available. Thankfully it had two beds, so neither of them really cared.

Hailey was just excited there was on site laundry. She had asked OA to stop at a small gas station that had a convenience store also. She picked up soap, shampoo, and conditioner, and a couple of toothbrushes and toothpaste. She threw in a brush last minute to help deal with her hair after her shower and now here they are.

"If you set your clothes outside the bathroom, I can get them started for you." She gives him an odd look, and he finds himself backtracking. "I mean, if you want...I just thought they'd get done faster. Don't worry, I won't look at your underclothes."

"Underclothes..." She sort of snorts the word out. "What are you, from the 1800's? You're such a dork." And she thanks him for the offer. "I'll leave them out if you're sure you don't mind." She doesn't really care one way or the other. It's just a bra and underwear. Not even a fancy set...just a plain white cotton bra with dark green underwear.

She takes her time in the shower, and revels in the wonderfully hot water. She scrubs until her skin is bright pink and then finally steps out of the shower. OA was right about his shirt, it drops well below her knees, and she can't even tie the pants tight enough. She puts them on anyway, rolling them up at the waist to try and keep them up. It feels too weird to be out there without a bra and underwear...so she holds the pants up with one hand and exits the bathroom with a cloud of billowing steam.

"Better?" OA sets the pizza he had asked the front desk about down on the TV stand. He laughs at how ridiculous she looks in his clothes and she threatens to throw a shoe at him if he doesn't stop.

"Okay, okay. I'll make a peace offering." He motions her closer to the pizza box and when she sarcastically mentions New York pizza for dinner, he opens the box with a flourish. "Sicilian pizza. Extra sauce, pickled peppers and sausage." He remembers the first time she had come and she told him she disliked the pizza here. There's not even a lot of good deep dishes in the city, let alone in the middle of nowhere, so the thick crusty Sicilian would hopefully do.

"Look at all that crust...isn't it beautiful." She jokingly pretends to cry and then hungrily grabs for a slice and sets it on the plate he offers her. They eat in silence for a while and watch a movie they found on the little TV. After about an hour of the movie, they call it a night and Hailey is extremely grateful that OA doesn't snore.

The shrill sound of a phone ringing jolts Hailey from her sleep at just past midnight. She can hear OA telling her to turn it off before she locates her phone and answers it.

"Go for Upton." She's met with silence on the other end of the line. She pulls the phone away to see who is calling and her stomach drops when she sees the name. "Kim? What's going on?" She can hear someone try to control their breathing like they might be crying or something. "Kim please...say something."

"You need to come back. It's bad Hailey...really bad." Kim gets the words out, but they are so laced with emotion it terrifies Hailey. She switches on the light and tries to get more out of her friend.

"What happened? Is it Jay? Just tell me what's going on, okay?" Her heart is beating so loud she is sure OA can hear it.

"It's Jay and Vanessa. She was't breathing when they loaded her into the ambulance, and I...I don't even know if Jay is alive.,,there was so much blood" She sobs it out now, and Hailey loses the grip on her phone as the words register.

She hadn't even heard him get up, but OA grabs for the phone before it hits the ground and then he is talking to Kim, trying to find out what the hell is going on.

BREAK

It feels like it takes days to get back to the city. Once OA had managed to get Hailey's friend Kim to give someone else the phone, he was able to get the information he needed. Her team had been on a raid, and it had gone bad. Jay was struck multiple times with a 2x4, and had massive head trauma, along with a broken arm, ribs and ankle. Vanessa had been grabbed from behind just as Jay was struck and her attacker shoved her into a water run off barrel. She had essentially drowned. They got her back in the ambulance, but she had yet to regain consciousness.

He had watched as Hailey had completely shut down while he explained this to her. She gathered her things and got dressed like in a trance, and then they were heading back to the city. Agent Castille said they would send out agents with the crime tech team in the morning. She hadn't even hesitated when OA asked to send Hailey back to Chicago tonight. She had agreed and told him to go with her.

"Make sure she makes it alright, and stay with her until you know one way or the other what's happening with the two of them. I just got off the phone with her sergeant right before you called and if he says it's bad...it's bad."

"Yes ma'am. And thank you." He hangs up and then hurries to follow Hailey up to her room so she can pack a few things. It takes her less than ten minutes and then they stop and do the same at his place before heading to the airport. Agent Castille had said their tickets would be waiting for them when they got there.

Hailey keeps her head turned to the window. It's pitch black out and she can't see anything except a couple of faint lights below, but at least with her face turned, OA can't see her tears.

She just keeps thinking about the way she left things with Jay. This can't be how things end for them...it just can't be.