A/N: As requested, here's part 2, or the "morning after" Jay's confession. Takes place leading up to 7x11. Hope ya'll like this, as I wasn't planning on doing a part 2, but since a lot of you wanted it, I hope it works. Thanks for the feedback on the first part too, by the way! -K.

Hailey didn't get much sleep after she heard Jay's 3 little words. Her mind couldn't stop thinking of the various ways in which he could have meant it: was he just saying it casually? As a friend? Or, was he generally reciprocating her true feelings? She didn't know, and that uncertainty kept her up until her phone alarm was supposed to go off at 6AM. Mostly so she could run back to her house and change into different work clothes, but also so she could stay for a little bit in case Jay needed any help.

Speaking of Jay, his sleepy form grumbled next to her, not wanting to wake up. If she were being honest, she didn't mind their current positioning. She had managed to duck out from underneath his head to grab her phone before the alarm went off, but that just meant when she leaned back, his head ended up on her left arm. She looked at him, studying his face carefully as she knew his eyes were very well, in fact, moving underneath his closed eyelids. Up this close, she could almost count the individual freckles that dotted his face though, and as much as she wanted to, she knew they both needed to get up.

"Hey, sleeping beauty," she joked as she put her right hand on his head. "Wake up time, Jay." She tried again, and for a split second, she ran her hand through his hair, just once, but enough to now know that his hair was in fact, shortly curled when he didn't style it for work.

She rolled her eyes as he shook his head, pouting like a little kid that he didn't want to get up. "I'm good here, Hails," he mumbled sleepily, and she grinned at his cute nickname for her. That was a first.

"Yeah, well I hate to break it to you, Jay, but we won't be good if we're super late," she said, shaking his good shoulder a little. "Now come on, get up so you can get dressed and so I can get home and change."

He groaned, but finally did move off of her arm and into an upright sitting position on his sofa. "Fine," he mumbled, wiping the sleep from his eyes. When his green eyes met her blue ones, she wasn't shocked by the "morning after" situation they found themselves in, but rather, she was surprised by the fact that neither one of them made any quick moves away from said situation.

Like they were too comfortable, too used to it. And it had only been one night.

She ran a hand through her own hair, gathering it into a new ponytail before she got up from the couch. "Okay, come on, let's go."

"Do I have to?" Jay asked, a whine escaping his voice before he could stop it.

"Yeah, you have to," Hailey mimicked, earning her first eye roll from him in forever. "Because the sooner you're dressed, the sooner I can get dressed."

And the sooner she could forget about that late-night confessional he said.

"Hailey, I'm not really sure my clothes are your style…" Jay said, a knowing smirk on his face.

She swatted at his chest, her mouth slightly agape at his dumb joke, but also the implication of said joke. Her wearing his clothes would mean….well, everything that two people did before that to end up in the other's clothes. Yeah, not helping her current state of mind right now.

Taking her silence as more awkward than not, Jay backtracked. "Uh, sorry. Bad joke."

She couldn't help but give him a small smile at his own shyness. It was cute. He was cute. If only he knew that she knew what he said last night…

Jay wasn't a nervous person: except for when it came to Hailey. So now, her helping him switch his shirt, as innocent as it was, turned into a whole other thing again, but even more so. Because all he could do was focus on how pretty she looked, even in yesterday's rumpled sweatshirt and messy blonde ponytail.

From the angle she was at when she was reaching to maneuver his injured arm out of his pajama shirt, he could see that she had her own smattering of freckles. They were just on the bridge of her nose, going a bit on either side of her cheek. But, they were there.

He felt like he was holding his breath the whole entire time she finished with his pajama shirt and found him a different shirt to put on for work.

"Which one did you want?" She asked him as she went through his closet where the majority of his thicker knits were.

"Um, the light brown one is fine," he said, and when she flicked her eyes back to him, he held her gaze, following it as it failed to not linger on his muscles.

He smirked in her direction, and saw her cheeks go slightly pink at having been caught. Score 1 for me, Jay thought to himself.

"Uh huh, okay," she answered slowly, pulling it down from the hanger. She walked back over to him, carefully putting the rust knit over his sling.

"Shit," she whispered as she felt it catch on the end of his sling. "Sorry," she told him, attempting to work it down from the top. "Um, could you try to see if you can get it from the bottom?" She nodded towards his good arm, and Jay nodded back at her. He pulled at it from the bottom, she tried to scrunch the shirt around the rest of the sling.

"Got it," they said simultaneously, a victorious glint in both of their eyes as they caught each other's glances.

"Now for your big head," Hailey said jokingly, to which Jay couldn't help but feign shock at her comment. She reached for the rest of the sweater, pulling it over his head until it got down his neck. She snuck around to his back where she tugged it down a little, enough so that he could work his good arm into the other sleeve.

"Thanks, Hailey."

"Don't thank me yet," she warned him. "You still need pants, dummy."

"Wow, so first I'm big-headed, and now I'm a dummy?" He asked.

Hailey just stuck her tongue out at him, making the blah blah blah motion with her hands that reminded him of the emoji of the person talking like .

"Would you just tell me what the heck you're gonna wear? At this rate Halstead, I'm barely gonna make it home to change!" She said, slightly exasperated.

"Well I usually would wear jeans," he started, not able to finish his sentence before she was back in his closet, pulling down a pair of jeans from the shelf. "Yeah, okay, sure. Like those."

Hailey quickly nodded, and stepped back over to him after setting the jeans down. She began to bend, as if she was going to help him like she tried to do last night, until she remembered – duh, he could get out of his pants okay, it was just the getting back into them he needed help with.

"Oh, right. Sorry, um, you got that." She said sheepishly, hoping her cheeks weren't red like last night, because when she swiped her hand across her face, it certainly felt warm.

"Yeah," he replied, chuckling a little as he made his way out of the pajama pants.

Hailey grabbed the jeans from his bed, and settled herself back on the ground much like last night. "Okay Jay, you know the drill," she joked, smiling up at him. She watched him shake his head, but step forward into the legs anyway.

As she was helping him pull up the left leg of the denim, she remembered that she had forgotten to ask him about a belt or anything like that. "Oh!" She said, snapping her fingers.

She didn't realize she had barely grazed the lower part of his thigh until she heard him inhale. Well that's just great. She didn't want to make it a thing, so she continued on with her original planned question. "Did you need a belt or anything like that for these? Sorry, I meant to ask earlier…."

She looked up at him, and she could the ends of his mouth curve down into a frown, but he shook his head slowly from side to side. No, she took from that. Okay then. She'd be lying if she said she didn't mind the effect she had on him though. She shrugged it off, letting him pull up the other leg of his jeans before gently helping him with the button.

If she got another quick peek of his lower abs while she did it, what was the harm in that?

The short drive back over to her house felt like the longest drive of her life, as her mind was still spinning from the short time she spent with Jay this morning. He hadn't mentioned the "love you too" confession, so, maybe he'd forgotten? Or said it out of tiredness and not thinking clearly? Well, no, you're the one who's not thinking clearly, she chided.

She pushed the negativity away as she rounded the corner to her street. She'd get through this. She'd just have to either push it all aside for now, or, god forbid, be brave and confront Jay about it. God help me, I'm gonna need a shot….of espresso or vodka, she wasn't sure. But, regardless, she knew something big was gonna happen today.

And all before work no less. Wow, she was really gonna have one of those days…

She sighed as she unlocked the door to her apartment. She saw a note from Vanessa that said she'd already left because she figured she would've been at Jay's till work anyhow, so she'd see her there.

Hailey smiled at the note with the smiley face from her roommate before grabbing an espresso shot from her fridge. She put the pot of coffee back on before she ran upstairs to get into some new clothes.

When she came back down in a camo sweatshirt and jeans, she heard the tell-tale signal of the coffee being done. She took the pot off, and mixed in the espresso shot she had from the fridge, downing the hot caffeine in a flash. Yep, that perked her right up. She blinked a few times, surprised at the fever with which she consumed her coffee. Maybe this was a double shot kind of day, she thought as she grabbed her bag and keys. She knew she wanted to go pick up Jay so she could talk and get whatever this was….out in the open.

She just only hoped she didn't chicken out on the way over.

When she pulled back up to the curb of Jay's apartment, she texted him that she was here to take him to work.

She smiled at his reply: Did you get coffee already? She knew he wasn't even asking for him, but if she got her own coffee, as it was one of their other "things" they'd come to know about each other now. Each other's coffee orders, not to mention how neither was really fully functioning until they had at least one cup.

Yeah, I did already. She hit SEND on that one before firing up another one that asked him: How about you? She was ready to hit SEND on that too before his reply lit up her screen:

Sorry, habit.

She shook the thought from her head as she found him standing outside her car door. She reached across the way to open the passenger side door for him.

"Thanks," he said as he slid into the passenger seat. She noticed he was holding a cup of coffee in his good hand, and he set it down in one of her cup holders.

"I was just gonna ask you if you got your coffee, but that answers that," she said as she put her car back into drive.

She had pulled out back into the street when she heard his surprising reply. "Oh no, that was for you. Habit, remember?"

Hailey felt her mouth fall open again, stealing a glance at her partner, who, despite his own injury, was still thinking of her and what they'd normally do.

"Jay! You seriously shouldn't have! Where's yours then? You–" She shut up when she realized that one cup meant he used his one hand, so either he had his before he brought hers out, or, the more likely option because he was just as sweet as could be was that he only got hers, and forwent his order altogether.

"Habit," he said, shrugging and hoping it seemed nonchalant. The truth was, yeah, he hadn't had time to make his own coffee, but he had remembered to get Hailey hers. It was the least he could do after she helped take care of him last night and this morning.

She looked back over at him as they came to a stoplight. "I– ugh, Jay Halstead, you're the best, you know that?"

"I like the sound of this. Keep going, keep going, please I insist…" he playfully goaded.

She rolled her eyes as the light turned green, but he knew she smiled nonetheless.

"Anyway," she began to shift the direction of conversation. "About nice things we've said to each other. Um, did you, or do you remember what you said last night?"

She knew her voice had gotten lower and softer with each new word she spoke, as her nerves were getting the better of her. Oh this was by far the dumbest move she'd made.

Jay felt his whole body grow rigid. Hell, even his jaw clenched up. Well, that he certainly wasn't expecting. He really thought she'd been asleep when he'd said those 3 little words. But, would he be brave enough to tell it to her face now that she was wide awake – and so was he?

Well, he'd said it once last night. And he knew he meant every word, so why not say it again? What else did he have to lose? When he thought of it like that, it made all the sense in the world. Because after all, he was the one that said they'd always be good. And they had been.

He squeezed his eyes shut, sharply inhaling and deeply exhaling the same breath. He noticed they had finally made it to the district parking lot, and so he waited until she pulled the car to a full stop. He turned to face her as much as possible.

"Yeah, I do. And I meant every word, Hailey."

He tried to gauge her reaction, watching her face carefully. Her blue eyes were bright and full of hope, and after he said that he meant it, they went from hopeful to shocked. And he wasn't understanding why until he felt his stomach drop. Unless she didn't feel the same. Oh this was by far the dumbest move he'd made.

He opened his mouth to try and fix everything, but was caught off guard by her soft-spoken question. "You–you really mean that?"

Her blue eyes looked a little less shocked, and a little bit more like she was in disbelief. He smiled softly at her, bringing his good hand up to caress her cheek.

"Of course I do. I love you, Hailey."

"I…wow. I um, wow. Gosh, sorry," she said, wiping at her eyes. "I just, I mean, of course I love you too, but I guess I was just worried that you meant it as a just a friend kind of love, or that love ya, love ya too, kind of casual thing, and I didn't know how in the world I was supposed to take it but I guess I–"

"Hailey," he breathed softly, his voice taking on that tone where he meaningfully said her name and she was all but on cloud nine just then. "You just said you loved me too. So, unless you meant it in the casual or just a friend way, then I think we're both on the same page. Because I love you in the more than just a friend, partner, or any other way. I love you, Hailey Upton."

He took her hand and their fingers interlaced much like last night, but it meant so much more now. She beamed back at him, a look of pure happiness on her face.

"And I'm in love with you, Jay Halstead."

She surprised him by taking the lead and kissing him, like it'd been the most natural thing in the world. And when her lips met his, he felt like she was always supposed to be the one he would share a moment like this with. They just worked.

She had made sure of that when she helped him become a better partner a couple years ago. And he continued to make sure of that when he helped her deal with her own demons. They cared for and took care of each other. Now, they could do that outside of work too. It was going to be a new part of the thing that worked between them, because no matter what, they were always going to be good.