Usually I only upload stories that are complete. In this case I'll do it differently, as I can see the end coming. Once again this is an Upstead-Fanfiction. I hope you enjoy it.

It had been a long day. The Intelligence Unit had been on their feet from early morning on, and they had made an arrest. A drug dealer called Richard Johnson. Johnson wasn't a big fish, but the unit hoped he might lead them to a more important gang. Recently bad dope had once again flooded the city and left too many dead.

It was late; most people had already left the 21st Precinct. The night shift was out in the streets, and only a few people still lingered inside. Jay Halstead and Hailey Upton were the only ones from Intelligence still in the office. Jay was doing some online checking, while Hailey had already started interrogating the offender.

She was tired, and when Jay opened the door to the interrogation room, she stood up immediately.

"Jay, we won't get anything out of him today. Let's go home."

"Sure. We'll give it another shot tomorrow," Jay agreed. He turned towards Johnson. "Get up, we'll put you in a nice and warm cell for the night."

Without a word, Johnson got up, and Hailey took his cuffed arms. She led him outside, Jay following. They went downstairs, to the holding cells. Nobody was around. That was a bit strange, Hailey noticed. Usually a police officer should be here. Probably a bathroom break.

Jay opened the cell, Johnson went inside, stretched out his hands to have the cuffs removed. When Jay closed the cell and Hailey had removed the cuffs, they saw a police officer coming down the hallway.

"Good evening, officer," Jay said, not knowing the man. Must be new to the 21st, he assumed.

"Good evening, Sir," the officer answered while walking into another aisle. "Sorry, I was outside for a quick smoke. Everything ok here?"

"Sure. We brought you an overnight guest for room 11. Nothing special." Hailey said. "Good night."

Jay and Hailey returned back upstairs, grabbed their jackets and left for home.

An ordinary day.

The next morning, Jay and Hailey arrived together. Jay had picked Hailey up; they had breakfast together, as they sometimes did. They were a bit late.

They walked up the stairway chatting and laughing, in a good mood. Yet, when they entered the office, everyone stared at them.

"Halstead, Upton! My office!" Voight barked when he saw them.

Jay looked at Hailey questioningly. She shook her head, shrugged. Neither had any idea what was going on. Adam, Kim and Kevin didn't look at them anymore. They all stared at the floor.

What was going on?

"Shut the door," Voight said, once they were inside his office. "Sit down."

"What is it, Boss?" Hailey asked, irritated.

"I have to ask you that, Upton." Voight answered. "What happened last night?"

"What do you mean?" Jay jumped in. "You know what happened. After you all had left, she finished the interrogation, we brought Johnson downstairs to a holding cell, and we drove home – separately."

"What's going on, Sarge?" Hailey insisted. Something was very wrong. Voight's behavior was... weird.

"Listen, you two. Think very carefully before you answer. IAD will be over here any minute." Voight said.

"Internal Affairs?" Hailey's eyes widened. "Why?"

"Richard Johnson was found outside of the district, by the back entrance, this morning. Beaten to pulp. He's in a coma. And you two are the last ones who saw him." Voight said. "So, tell me again. What happened?"

"Sarge, what do you mean? Do you imply…?" Jay stood up.

"You were the last ones to have contact to Johnson. Johnson's in a coma. Connect the dots."

"But, Sarge!" Hailey yelled incredulously, jumping up from her chair.

"Hailey, it doesn't matter what I think," Voight answered, trying to calm her down. "Fact is, IAD is taking over this case. They see you as a suspect in this case. You interrogated Johnson, and during the interrogation, the surveillance camera was not working for 10 minutes. When it was back on, the room was empty. And nobody saw you or Halstead downstairs."

"Sarge, you can't be serious." Jay was getting angry. "Do you actually think Hailey beat that guy up so badly and then dragged him downstairs? How?"

"Jay, you were there, too."

"So you think I helped Hailey?" Jay shook his head. "No, this is not happening. Come on, Hailey, we'll contact our FOP rep. None of us did anything wrong."

"Jay!" Voight stopped him from storming out of the office. "Internal Affairs will investigate. We'll do all we can."

In that moment, a tall dark-haired woman opened the door and entered Voight's office.

"Sergeant Voight."

"Sergeant Brody," Voight greeted her, then pointed to Jay and Hailey. "These are detectives Upton and Halstead."

"Halstead, Upton, have you been informed?"

"We have been informed that someone beat up Richard Johnson." Jay said coldly. "And that obviously you think we did it."

"Detective Upton actually is a suspect in this case," Brody answered. "She was in the interrogation room with Johnson, switched off the camera, and then probably used a chair to hit him. His wounds match with such a scenario."

"What?" Hailey asked quietly. "Why should I have done that? And what evidence do you have?"

"We will find out the details. Fact is nobody saw Johnson after your interrogation. And this morning he was lying outside of the precinct, beaten into a coma. Detective Upton, until further notice you are suspended. Please hand over your badge and your gun."

Jay stepped closer to Sergeant Brody. "Are you kidding me? This is completely ridiculous. I was there. And I was there when Hailey brought the guy downstairs. We left him in a holding cell. You must be out of your mind."

Now Voight pulled a very angry Jay back. "Jay, calm down."

"No, Sarge, I won't calm down. I don't know what's going on here, but this is…"

"Detective Halstead, keep out of this," Brody said coldly.

"No, I won't keep out of this," Jay yelled, shaking off Voight's hand. "You can't do that to Hailey. I know she did what I just told you, nothing else. I am her partner, and I guarantee she did nothing wrong."

"Well, in that case, you also are a suspect, Detective Halstead. And I have to suspend you too, Detective." Brody decided. "We have enough evidence to place Detective Upton at the scene, and now it seems you are in on this."

Jay angrily removed his badge, pulled his gun out of the holster, slammed both on the table. "This is a joke!" he yelled. "Come on, Hailey, we're leaving."

He took Hailey's hand and pulled her with him.

Voight looked at Brody with an unhappy look on his face. "Was that necessary?"

"Yes, Sergeant, it was." Brody insisted. "We have clear evidence, and we cannot allow Detective Upstead to work on any case before this is clarified. And since Detective Halstead might be in on it, same goes for him. Do you want to object? Please contact my superior officer."

Voight shook his head. "What do you expect me to do, when you suspend two of my best officers? Don't you think we should get a chance to investigate internally?"

"Sergeant Voight, your unit has quite the reputation, and therefore IAD will investigate. You are not allowed to interfere with our investigation. And you are not allowed to contact our suspended detectives. You and your unit will keep out of this. Do I make myself clear?"

"Sergeant Brody, do you think my team would cover something like this up?"

"Do I make myself clear, Sergeant Voight?" Brody repeated. "No investigation by Intelligence, no contact to your suspended detectives."

Jay and Hailey stormed out of Voight's office, saw their colleagues staring at them.

"You really think we did this?" Jay asked them angrily.

"Jay!" Kim said, getting up. "What's going on?"

"Hailey!" Adam approached them. "Are you ok?

Kevin just stood there, shaking his head.

"We're suspended!" Jay spit out. "We have to go."

Hailey looked at Adam sadly, shrugged. "I have no idea what happened."

"Guys, we will find out, don't worry." Kim reassured them.

"No, you won't." Voight said calmly as he came out of his office with Sergeant Brody. "IAD is taking over."

"But…"

Hailey and Jay grabbed their jackets and went downstairs hastily. Jay very angry, Hailey very quiet and completely perplexed. When they came into the lobby, Trudy Platt called them.

Reluctantly they approached her desk.

"You also think Hailey is responsible?" Jay couldn't calm down.

"Listen," Platt said quietly. "Nobody here thinks either of you is responsible. But we need to keep a low profile. IAD is watching all of us, and we don't know if they have a snitch in the 21st. Here, take this," she handed Hailey a business card. "This is the best FOP lawyer you can get."

"Thank you," Hailey said sadly. "I have no idea what happened," she repeated what she had said to Adam.

"We'll figure that out." Platt reassured here. "Now go home and make a plan. And don't do anything stupid, Halstead."

"Thanks, Trudy," Jay said, now a bit more composed. "See you soon."