Chapter Text
Jay knows exactly what his oldest daughter is going to say even before he finishes securing the hair elastic to the bottom of her braid. He smooths his hand over the finished look and then tells her to go check in the bathroom and make sure it’s okay. She’s only 8, but the way she acts sometimes...he swears she is already a teen.
He waits for her to shout it, ‘mom does it better’ or sometimes she tells him ‘this isn’t how mom does it’ and she will let out a sound of frustration so like Hailey that he can’t help but smile. When he hears nothing, he stands and heads after her. He finds her in her bedroom getting her backpack ready to go.
“What’s going on, Gracie?” She stays quiet and moves to grab a pair of shoes. “Gracie?” He goes to help her with her backpack and she snaps at him.
“I’m NOT a baby!” Gracie pulls her bag up and onto her back and then goes to leave but Jay stops her.
“Sweetheart, I can’t help you feel better if you don’t tell me what’s bothering you. Is it the braid? I can take it out.” He drops to a knee so he’s eye level with her, and then his thumbs brush at the tears that start to fall. With a quick push, he slides her bag back to the floor and then pulls her into a tight hug. One hand holds her head and the other smooths over her back, trying to calm her. He can’t quite make out what she says, but he feels her mumble something against his neck, so he leans back some to hear her better.
“What was that?” He’s busy wiping her tears again in a second.
“It’s Breakfast with Mom day at school today.” She hiccups it out and Jay instantly realized why she is so upset. He remembers a few weeks ago when Gracie had brought the paper home and Hailey had told her she wouldn’t miss it. She had been sent to New York two days later and has been there since.
“You know what? I think…” His hand presses against her forehead. “Yep...you look a little sick...you should probably stay home today.” He gets the little smile he was hoping for and then tells her to change out of her uniform and then come downstairs so they can take the boys to daycare. When he’s almost at the top of the stairs, she calls out to him.
“Daddy? Thank you for my braid. It’s very pretty.” And then she hurries back into her room just as Jay smiles. The braid better have been perfect. After the last time Hailey had been sent to New York and Gracie had thrown a fit every time Jay had to do her hair, he had called Kim. She had a friend who was a hairdresser and he asked her for help learning how to do his daughters' hair.
He had spent two weeks sneaking away to get in some time with her friend so he could practice and learn the easiest way to do hair. Hailey had gotten suspicious and he had had to sit her down on the ottoman in the living room and then he carefully braided her hair while he told her what he had been up to. She had told him he was the best father and that she loved him so much. He had pulled her back against him to whisper in her ear that he loved her too...the forever kind.
“DADDY!” Lucas, Jay and Hailey’s 5 year old son screamed at him from the top of the steps and he snaps back to the present. There is never a dull moment here…
“DADDY! Jason put my car in the toilet!” Jay groans and takes the steps two at a time in case Lucas tries to retaliate. He hopes at least the toilet had been flushed recently. He isn’t prepared for the state that the bathroom is in when he finally enters it though.
“Wolfpack!” Just as expected, two sets of feet come barreling down the hall and stop just inside the bathroom, followed by the softer slower approach of Gracie.
“Explain…” Jay waits patiently while Lucas and Jason both try to say it wasn’t them and Gracie calmly points out that she had been getting changed so it clearly wasn’t her. He dismisses Gracie and then focuses on his boys.
“If no one is going to confess, then we all will lose out on ice cream tonight.” The boys are easy to deal with...threaten to cancel dessert and they crack immediately. Gracie on the other hand, is getting increasingly harder. He’s thankful he was able to figure out what the issue was this morning as quickly as he did.
“No ice cream?” Jason, the youngest at 3 ½, finally speaks. Jay tries to keep a straight face at the way his son says ice cream...it sounds like ‘Ishh keem.
“Not even a taste.” At their horrified looks, he knows they are about to confess so he waits patiently, his hips leaning against the sink, arms folded across his chest.
“Jason started it!” Lucas starts, but at Jay’s unimpressed look he rethinks his answer. “He did start it, but...I didn’t stop him and then it looked kind of fun to throw the toilet paper. I’m sorry.” He starts to clean it up and thanks Jason when he starts to help too.
“Come on guys. I’ll help too. No ice cream nights are the worst!” Jay bends to pick some of the wet paper from the floor and then helps the boys wash their hands once they are done and then hurries them to get coats and shoes so they can leave.
BREAK
Just after Jay and Gracie get back in the car once they drop the boys off, his cell rings. He answers without looking, knowing it’s either work, or Hailey.
“Is she with you?” Hailey doesn’t bother with a greeting, just cuts right to the point. She can’t believe she missed this. She feels terrible.
Jay doesn’t really speak with words, instead humming or giving a little grunt so his daughter doesn’t know Hailey is on the other end of the phone. It’s a quick conversation, barely lasting 3 minutes, but Hailey manages to get from Jay’s short answers that Gracie is upset and he isn’t sure how mad she is. Hailey tells him that she should be home late tonight and they can talk more then.
BREAK
It’s nearly 10:30pm when Hailey finally makes her way up the sidewalk and into the house. The lights were out upstairs and she knows her babies are all asleep, but the kitchen light had been on downstairs so she heads in that direction, ready to see Jay.
His back is to her as he washes up some of the last dishes of the day. She doesn’t make her presence known, just leans against the door frame, her head resting there as she takes him in.
Her love for him still makes her heart feel like it stops beating and like it’s exploding all at the same time. Their friends and coworkers who see them together in a non work setting always pretend to be disgusted with how happy they are. They always joke that no one could possibly be this content but they are. It had taken a couple of months when they first started dating for real, where things were a little rocky and uncertain, but they had figured it out.
Hailey had decided to stay on with the FBI, but happily accepted the transfer offer Erin had given her, and she was back in Chicago after a month. She had kept in touch with Jaime and Erin over the years, and was even a godmother of one of Jaime’s little girls.
She spends at least one night at Erin’s house every time she is sent to New York, and had actually spent a whole week there this time. Erin married someone she thought she couldn’t stand, but somehow, they ended up being perfect for each other. They’ve got a little boy named Tucker and even though Erin hadn’t mentioned anything this visit, Hailey is pretty sure she is pregnant again.
She’s thankful for her friendship with Erin, and she’s happy that things had been worked out between Erin and Jay. Erin hadn’t necessarily been a strain on her and Jay’s relationship, but there was a brief moment where she thought she was going to have to give her friendship with Erin up.
BREAK
9 years ago
“I swear, this guy came in and started handing out orders left and right to my team and I almost lost it. Like...who does he think he is?” The man in question, Cash Hulton, was head of the unit Erin’s team was currently working with. Even over the phone, Hailey could tell that it wasn’t all hate and loathing coming from Erin. She ‘liked’ him...and that probably pissed her off the most.
Hailey hears the front door open and waves to Jay from her spot on the couch. He gives her a quick kiss on top of her head and motions about a shower before he disappears upstairs.
She is still on the phone when he comes down not even 15 minutes later. He drops down on the far end of the couch and lifts her legs so they sit in his lap. She gives a slow nod when he mouths ‘work’ at her. It’s sort of work...in a roundabout way. She doesn’t mean to keep her ongoing friendship a secret, she just isn’t sure how he is going to take it. Most of their conversations happen via email or texts every so often, but occasionally, Erin will call her.
“You’ve gone quiet...He’s home?” Erin tries to be quiet too, not wanting to cause any trouble in their relationship. She’s happy for both of them.
“Yep” Hailey pops the ‘p’ with a smile towards Jay and then says her goodbye after Erin tells her she will talk to her later. When she hangs up the phone, she tosses it onto the coffee table and then slides closer to Jay.
“Was uh...was that Erin?” Jay is pretty sure it was. Even over the phone, her voice is unmistakable. When Hailey’s face shifts into shock, he gets his answer.
“I’m sorry. I wasn’t trying to keep it a secret...or, well maybe I was. But only because I was worried about how you’d react and honestly, I didn’t really expect us to stay friends, but she’s funny and we just sort of clicked. If you don’t want me to be friends with her…”
Jay has to physically stop her from the sudden bout of verbal diarrhea by clamping his hand over her mouth. She had just shot her confession to him at a hundred miles an hour and while he missed some, he definitely heard her say something along the lines of him not wanting her to be friends with Erin.
“Hailey, breathe.” His hands move to tangle in her hair and he makes sure her eyes are on his. “I would never...never, tell you who you can and cannot be friends with. Ever. You got that?” He doesn’t mean to make it such a serious thing, but the thought of her thinking he is somehow controlling her life...he doesn’t want her to think like that. “You’re my wife, and I love you...but you can’t...I don’t want you to feel like you can’t tell me things. Our whole world is about to change, and we don’t have room for secrets, okay?” His hands smooth down her arms and around to her stomach where a barely visible bump is hiding beneath one of his shirts.
“If you want to be friends with Erin, I’m not going to stop you. I think that maybe...maybe she and I should talk though. Just so things aren’t weird if she comes here to see you or something.” He pulls her fully onto his lap, her back to his front and his arms wrap around her to rest on her stomach, rubbing the tiny bump there.
“You’re sure?” Hailey turns her head slightly to look up at him.
“It’s probably past time anyway...It’s not a big deal. I won’t let it be.”
It hadn’t been either. A week later, Hailey had set up a video call and all three of them started out together. It was a little awkward at first, but things started to get a little better towards the end. Hailey had let the two of them talk things out alone for a bit and when she came back in the room, Jay’s eyes were a little red and Erin’s voice was even raspier than normal. Jay had told her that they still had a long way to go before he was ready to see her in person, but he was willing to try.
Erin came when Gracie was born and ever since then, Jay and Erin had continued to work on their friendship. By the time Lucas was born, they were both comfortable with where they had managed to get considering how bad things were when they started.
BREAK
There is nothing Jay wouldn’t do for her, and looking at him now, she knows that everything they have been through, all the struggles and heartache they managed to survive, was all worth it. She takes a deep breath and then speaks once the water is turned off.
“Hey.” Her voice is quiet, but Jay turns with a smile and open arms which she happily lets surround her.
“Missed you.” His lips meet hers in a brief kiss and then he pulls back slightly to look down at her. She looks a little tired, and there’s something else in her eyes that has him a little worried.
“Hails?” His worry increases when her breath hitches and tears instantly fill her eyes.
“I’m okay...it’s not...I put in my notice before I left New York. I don’t want to be away all the time anymore.” She manages to get out the gist of what happened after her phone call to him this morning. She doesn’t travel to New York all the time truly, but every time she does, it’s at least 2 weeks she has to be gone and it gets harder and harder every time she gets on that plane.
“What?” Shock moves through him and it takes him a moment to gather his thoughts. They have talked about her leaving the FBI a couple of times over the years, but they haven’t talked about it recently at all. This is completely out of the blue.
“I called Hank on the way to the airport and he said he would set me up with something as soon as he can.” He hadn’t immediately offered her a spot back on his team which had hurt a little, but she knows it isn’t personal. There isn’t an opening.
“Hey? You know I’ll support you no matter what, but are you sure this is what you want?” He studies her, watching as she struggles with her own internal battle.
“I don’t want her to be disappointed or feel like I let her down, Jay. I grew up with that...I don’t want my kids to feel like they don’t matter or like my job is more important than them.” She wipes angrily at the tears that fall and lays her head on Jay’s shoulder when he pulls her tight against him.
“She knows how important your job is Hailey. She was upset, but she’s fine now.” His hand slides up to cradle her head and then he starts to rock her gently back and forth. It’s something that he started doing after Gracie was born. He had gotten so used to just swaying back and forth while he held her, that anytime he held Hailey, he almost always ended up rocking her. She never stops him, it’s soothing and she likes it.
“I know. I do, I just don’t want to miss things...even if it’s something as small as a crappy breakfast at the school, because to her, it’s a big deal. I just...I think it’s time, and I know that I should have talked about it with you, but I promise you, I’m not making this decision on a whim. I know what I want and I’m doing it.” Her voice is slightly muffled against his neck, but he hears her, because he whispers against the top of her head that he’s with her...no matter what.
“I love you, Jay.” Her lips touch his just as he tells her he loves her too, and then they head upstairs, intent on showing the other just how much they love them.