Grabbing my jacket, I raced out of there so quickly after Platt had given me the information for my flight to New York. Her usual words of wisdom were not comforting, despite seeing the concern in her expression. I had been chewed out enough by Voight that I had blocked out all of her words, even those that had been detailed in the manilla folder that was in my hand.

Hailey, I'm starting to wonder if you can do it.

If only he knew how much those words stung, or how many times those words repeated in my head loudly, over and over again. I couldn't help feeling like he doubted my ability to do my job. My father had done the same thing growing up many times. The only difference was Voight hadn't hit me physically with anything but words.

Still, when he had gotten in my face, a part of me couldn't help that I was staring into the cold eyes of my father all over again. The one I had put a brave face for when he lashed out at me for doing the wrong thing. Sure, he hadn't been all terrible, but maybe things would be different. My mom wouldn't still be enduring his abuse. I would have my own escape to call home when I needed my mom the most. I wouldn't feel so alone in all of this.

Slamming my door closed, I ran my hand through my hair with a frustrated sigh and started up the engine. The person I had managed to escape from all those years ago was now a crushing weight pressing down on my chest. The anger I had been holding onto was boiling over and there was literally nothing I could do to stop it from surfacing. My vision blurred with tears, forcing me to park the car; my hand colliding with the passenger seat over and over again until I was heaving air into my lungs.

I honestly had no idea if there would be a place in Intelligence for me when I came back. I wanted to believe there was, but right now that didn't seem like a possibility. Not even the repercussion of what I had done seemed like enough, though I felt like it was already falling on me like a ton of bricks.

My tired mind weighed the situation at hand, my hands absently fumbling for my phone sitting in my jacket pocket. I knew he would pick up if I called, but I had no idea what he would say to this. How I would even begin to explain everything I had done.

"Hailey?" I heard his voice on the other end as my phone sat in my lap and I nearly choked on the sob escaping my lips. Through all my jerky movements, my fingers must have pressed just enough on the screen to dial his number. "Hailey, what's wrong? Talk to me." I still couldn't get the words out, something I usually didn't have a problem doing with him. "I'm coming over."

Hanging up, the numbness began to settle in about him finding out everything I had done. I took off towards home, reading the street signs as I passed. I figured I was about five minutes away, while he was about ten if he hightailed it.

My engine gave a slight groan from sitting in the cold as I turned the key in the ignition and took off towards home. When I pulled into the driveway several minutes later, only Vanessa's car was sitting in the driveway which I was more than relieved to see. I had barely had a minute to think, let alone breathe. The thing I wanted to do the most right now was to get in a quick shower, change into some comfy clothes and pull the sheets over my head and hope I could sleep tonight.

"Hailey?" Vanessa called from the kitchen as soon as I had let myself in. She was nursing a cup of tea in her hand as her lips parted in worry as she took in my disheveled appearance. Honestly, my eyes stung from all the crying, the words still weren't forming like I wanted them to, and even though I wasn't physically angry at her, I couldn't discuss the repercussions of our actions. "Hey, come here. I am so sorry." She put her cup down on the stand as she enveloped me into a big hug and I couldn't help letting out a huge sob while she held onto me tightly.

"Me too." Giving the door a side-glance knowing he was going to come knocking any minute, I blurted out mostly in warning because we were standing in front of it. "I accidentally called Jay."

"Somehow that's not surprising, considering what the two of you have been through lately." She mustered a smile, breaking the hug and curling her hand back over her cup of tea. I gave a small laugh as she led me into the kitchen to where she had another cup waiting on the counter. "Thought you could use this."

"Thanks," My voice seemed to give out on me as I carefully pulled the cup towards my body. The gentle hum of the fridge broke the silence between us. It allowed me to momentarily let my thoughts drift to what I was going to say to Jay when he got here.

"Hailey, what you did for me, I know it will never be enough to just say thank you for what you did for me, and what you did for Luis. You could have told Voight everything, but you didn't. Why?" Grabbing the spoon, I began to press the teabag in the water. "Hang tight." She volunteered to grab the door without even asking, even waiting for my response.

"Hey. Where is she?" Jay's voice echoed as she let him into the house. My stomach seemed to flip at his presence, knowing I had worried him.

"In the kitchen." Vanessa stepped in to grab her cup as she pressed a gentle hand to my shoulder for what little comfort she could offer before retreating through the dining room this time and back upstairs. My bottom lip quivered as I smelled the gentle musty cologne before sensing his presence in the room.

"Hailey." His voice was soft, begging me to look at him and tell him everything. I stopped stirring my tea, my red-rimmed eyes falling upon his. I looked away in pure guilt, my head shaking back and forth to reciprocate I couldn't right now. Even though everything felt wrong, him wrapping his arms around me in comfort was just the thing I needed to release the secondary dam of tears I had really been holding inside as I covered my face with my hands. I felt broken, more than I thought I would ever be. Was it because he was here now? That he made me feel so safe when everything else was crashing down around me?

I wiped away my tears, realizing I still had the manila folder in my hand. I guess it was finally time to see what my fate was from all of this. A plane ticket issued in my name, and instructions to what I needed to bring along on the trip and who to contact, all laid out on the table.

"You're leaving?" His response sounded flat as he glanced at the ticket again. "Hailey, I need to know what happened."

"Not willingly. Voight benched me for covering for Vanessa after she erased some of the feed her ex-boyfriend was on. My flight to New York leaves at eight tomorrow."

"For how long?" He asked, even though I was pretty sure he knew the answer to that. He had been staring at that plane ticket on and off since I had laid it down on the table.

"Two weeks." That much information I knew about all this from when Voight had been yelling at me to be myself and to not be like him. "You know, I haven't been yelled at like that since I was a little girl. When Voight was standing in front of me, all I could see was my dad screaming in my face while hitting me with anything he could get his hands on." Jay frowned deeply, wearing the same worried expression when I had let it slip at the bar that my mom was still with my dad even though he was still abusive towards her. "I could never save her. Not even now. And yet, somehow I thought everything was going to be different when I left. That none of that would ever affect the way I did my job."

"When your dad hit you, did you ever tell anyone?"

"No," I said quietly, which was the absolute truth. "You know, I saw a lot of him in Voight but I chose to ignore that fact up until today. Everything in my gut was trying to warn me when I chose to focus on the fact that Intelligence had a team who cared about each other."

"He still cares about you, Hailey." I took in a shuddered breath, trying to find the truth in his words. Jay had never steered me wrong, not once. Yet, I still had a hard time believing I had gotten myself out of one situation and into another, even though it was under different circumstances. "Voight lost his son, Justin about five years ago. He was almost screwed over when he was investigated for the murder of the guy who killed his son. I'm not saying what he did was right, but you have to understand that Voight knows what It's like to be on the other side of that questioning."

"I'm not sure it would make a difference now if I told Voight my story," I said softly, putting my tea back into the microwave to warm it up. I read between the lines, understanding exactly what he was telling me under the surface. "He's made his choice, and now I either have to follow it or risk losing my job because I crossed a line he wasn't okay with."