A/N: Well, I'm back at it. I blame it on Tumblr & being reminded of the little tiny, but nonetheless epic "baby Upstead" moments from late in s4. So that's where this fic takes place: set during "Fagin", "Army of One", "Fork in the Road", and the season 5 premiere "Reform." Hope ya'll like this idea!

Hailey loved the snooze button. Seriously, it was her favorite thing about the morning. Well, that and coffee, she thought to herself as reluctantly hauled herself out of bed. She shuffled around her apartment, putting a pot on to brew while she got ready. She quickly showered and dressed in her usual attire: a tee shirt, jeans, and her black leather blazer. She scooped her short, bronde (that's brown and blonde) hair back into a ponytail with one hand as she pushed the 'pour' button on her coffee maker. She finished tying her hair back while the black caffeine made its way into her mug.

She grabbed an apple and some yogurt before sitting down to check her messages. Two missed calls from her boss, and one text from her co-worker. Fun times at Robbery-Homicide today, she thought as she listened to her voicemail from Captain Andrew Gaines.

"Upton, get down to the Chicago Credit Union on Broad Street. There's been another hit. Call me or text Dennison when you're en route."

Hailey sighed. She quickly scarfed down the rest of her food before firing off a reply to Cara Dennison's text, which read: Hailey, CCU got hit. We gotta jump on it before Intelligence does!

She grabbed her keys and headed over to the bank. She had heard about Intelligence. Voight and his team were known as the "renegade cop brigade" - a bunch of rebels, essentially. Hailey had never crossed paths with anyone from that unit before; little did she know all that was about to change.

Jay was always up at 6AM, no question. He had just gotten back from a run when his phone rang. He expected it to be Voight with a new case, but instead it was Erin, asking him to breakfast.

They hadn't talked much since he moved out of her place a month ago, and he didn't mind keeping it that way. But when he felt that dull ache in his heart grow stronger as he looked over the text again, he knew his emotions were going to outweigh his logic.

Sure.

Great, Midtown Diner, 15 mins?

Yep.

He ran inside his apartment to get changed before meeting her. When he arrived at the diner, she was already there, sipping on her drink. She flagged him down and he ordered a coffee from the waitress as she passed by.

When they both had finished eating, he decided to breach their nonexistent conversation rule.

"So, it's my birthday tomorrow..."

She looked at him like he was crazy, but nodded. "Yeah, it came up on my Google calendar."

"Some of the guys were gonna go by Molly's, have a few drinks, you know, that sort of thing," he paused, trying to gauge her reaction over the rim of his own coffee cup.

She nodded again before setting her drink down. "Yeah, I'll try and make it."

He eyed her, deciding to lighten the mood with something he found online yesterday.

"So I was reading about this couple...and the guy and girl were together forever, but lived in separate places. The girl would come over..."

Erin still sipped her drink inconspicuously, her eyes narrowed at him.

"They'd eat. They'd have sex," he watched her eyebrow hike up.

"And it the arrangement worked out great for both of them."

Erin set her drink down so she could respond. "Uh-huh, and you're saying what exactly...?"

Jay was about to answer her suspicion when their radios went off. "Any avaliable units, please respond to a robbery at the Broad Street Chicago Credit Union."

Erin quickly glanced at Jay before keying in her response. "2113, plain clothes officers responding, we're two blocks out."

They left cash at the table for their food before taking off to their car. So much for a relaxing morning, Jay thought to himself as Erin sped up to the bank.

They returned fire on the masked offenders, Jay taking one out inside the bank, Erin taking one out down the street after giving chase.

The other two were in the wind, making off with 200,000 dollars.

When Voight arrived, looking pissed as hell, Jay and Erin braced themselves for the worst. Who knew the fun was just beginning?

When Hailey arrived on scene, she banged her hands against the steering wheel in frustration. Dammit. Someone had already beaten her to the punch. She took in the crime scene tape and patrol cars blocking off the street as she made her way inside the credit union.

She overheard a gruff voice, and matched it to the back of a shorter man with graying hair as she decided to interject with, "I was just about to figure that out."

The man turned to look at her, his expression void of immediate emotion. The two detectives with whom he was speaking turned to look at her too.

"And you are?" Hailey caught a glimpse of the man's name tag. Voight.

"Detective Upton, Robbery-Homicide. There's been a robbery, and a homicide here. So I'd appreciate it if you vacated my crime scene."

Her ponytail swished around her shoulders as she made her way past Voight, and the younger detective on her right. She didn't know if they noticed, but she surely had their expressions imprinted in her brain.

She saw Voight's brows tick up just a hair as he looked from each of his detectives. She saw the brunette woman's mouth drop a bit in a surprised expression; and she noticed that the green-eyed guy bite back a smirk.

Oh nice first impression, Hailey.

She continued to make her way back to the crime scene, attempting to absorb the grisliness in order to ward off the awkwardness that was sure to come after her less-than-smooth introduction.

Jay had never heard someone talk to his sergeant that way, let alone a woman. Sure, he'd heard snippets of Erin and Voight's familial-like conversations, but he knew why those happened. What he couldn't get a read on was the mystery woman's motives. And he wasn't quite sure why it intrigued him so much, but it did.

His focus was pulled back to the present day when Erin pulled him aside to go notify the boy's mother of his death. Jay sighed, but gave her shoulder a light pat in solidarity. He knew she would be torn up over this boy's death; and he wanted to be there for her, but he didn't know if she'd let him. Their relationship hasn't exactly been what you would call cordial.

Once the notification was done, Jay was utterly exhausted from the day already, and it wasn't even halfway over. Another 8 hours, great. He had fully intended to grab a quick power nap in the locker room when he heard shouting in Voight's office.

Erin was preoccupied with something at her desk, but Jay couldn't seem to tear himself away from the noise. His ears perked up slightly when he recognized the voice as one belonging to Hailey – that was her name, right? He made a mental note to remember it – Upton.

"Y'know, people always said you were a son of a bitch. Now I know the rumors are true." She breezed past Jay on her way out, her gaze fixed straight ahead towards the stairs.

"And Detective Upton will be more than happy to hand over her case files," the commander commented as Hailey neared the end of the bullpen. She waved her hand dismissively.

Yikes. She was just going toe-to-toe with everyone today, wasn't she? Jay couldn't help but feel that same smirk from earlier come back to catch his lips; but he bit it back once again when he felt Erin look up at him from her work.

Her expression was one of confusion, as if to say, What was that about? Jay shook his head, shrugging his shoulders nonchalantly. Who knows?

Hailey had never been so frustrated or felt so misunderstood in her life. How dare Voight talk to her as if she was a rookie? She had been knee-deep in these robberies since the get. He didn't know who he was dealing with if he thought she was just gonna stand by and let him take her case. No way, no how.

She let out a groan as she packed up her case notes on the robberies. Cara turned at the sound, shooting Hailey a questioning glance. Don't ask, she mouthed. Cara made the "zipped lips" sign with her finger.

Hailey heaved the box up, running it down to her car before her raw anger mellowed out. She was going to give Voight a piece of her mind.

But what about his team? You've already made your point, haven't you? Don't want to alienate all of them, do you?

She tried to shake off her nagging thoughts as she drove back to the 21st District.

You've isolated yourself long enough, Hailey. Maybe trying to be a team player is exactly what you need right now.

Sometimes she wishes she wasn't so wise.