Welcome everyone, I hope you're all stay safe and doing well during this crazy time.

Ever since seeing all of those interviews about Upstead taking the next step in season 8, I've had a few ideas floating around in my head how they could finally admit their feelings to each other. So I thought I'd write a one shot on an idea I had, and here is the result.

If this is the first piece of writing of mine that you've seen, I have an Upstead story called 'I think we all know what's going on between them deep down', so feel free to check that out, the most recent chapter was uploaded on Monday.

I hope you enjoy this. Any reviews are greatly appreciated. Stay safe out there everyone. :)

Hailey had been back in Chicago for a week, and to say she missed Jay was a massive understatement. Her feelings towards him had only grew stronger during her time in New York, she loved him, not only as a friend but her love for him extended further and deeper. Her time in New York made her realise that they couldn't go on any longer like this, she needed to admit her feelings, she needed him by her side every second of the day, she needed to wake up next to him and fall asleep in his arms every night.

Hailey's time in New York had helped Jay sort out his head as well, he knew that he loved her, but he had been fearful of admitting that to this point as previous experiences told him that it wasn't a good idea to fall in love with his partner. But now he was finally ready to admit to her that he loved her, her absence really made Jay realise she was the biggest part of his life, it was like he was only half complete without her there.

Jay had waited at the airport for her arrival and she was met by the biggest hug from him, both of them holding on to one another for ages as Jay didn't want to let go of his girl. Her entire first day back was spent with Jay, they had their little pizza date that they had spoken about on the phone, the sexual tension in the air was thick, both of them catching the other staring at each other's lips on numerous occasions.

That evening was spent doing 'their thing'. They spent the night on Hailey's couch sipping on a much needed whiskey. Hailey had snuggled up close to Jay's body on the couch, she could feel his eyes constantly on her as she rested her head against his chest. She caught him on a few occasions and her heart swelled as she took in his adorable look as his cheeks flushed slightly in embarrassment when she caught him staring. They fell asleep that night in each other's arms on Hailey's couch, Hailey getting back that feeling safety and comfort as she fell asleep in Jay's arms.

It was the end of Hailey's first week back at work and Jay was picking her up like he had been doing all week. He was fully aware that Hailey could make her own way into work, but he wanted to be close to her as much as possible, Hailey fully realising that from the change in his mood whenever she was there, he was always happy when she was around.

Jay smiled when he saw Hailey rushing out of her house, looking flustered after waking up late and having to get ready in a rush. "Good morning Hailey. I got you a coffee as I know you didn't have time to make one." Jay greeted her as she jumped into his truck, Jay couldn't contain the growing smile on his face, he really did feel like the happiest man in the world when he was with her.

"You didn't have to do that but thank you, Jay." Hailey smiled back at him as they pulled away from the curb. She hummed in pleasure as she sipped on the hot coffee, relaxing into the heated seats of his truck.

"Oh trust I definitely needed to get you a coffee Hailey. You're an absolute nightmare if you don't have your morning coffee." Jay teased as he laughed slightly, he could immediately feel Hailey's glare burning a hole on the side of his head as she punched his arm in response, she couldn't help but laugh when Jay looked at her with a dorky smile.

The next few minutes of the journey to work were spent in silence, Jay concentrating on driving while Hailey watched the hustle and bustle of Chicago pass by her passenger window. Jay had built up the courage over the last few days to ask Hailey out to dinner, he was just waiting for a good time to ask her, and now felt like a good enough time.

"Hailey, I've got something I want to ask you." Jay broke the silence, inside his body he was a nervous wreck, he felt like he was back at school asking his crush to go on a date with him.

"What is it Jay?" Hailey questioned a little confused, she noticed the slight nervous tone of his voice and the nervous body language that had replaced his happy body language from before.

"Well, I... I was wondering if you would like to go..." Jay was then cut off by their radios popping off with a call of multiple shots fired only two blocks away from them, they shared a look as Jay nodded at Hailey, Hailey quickly radioing in they were on their way. Jay let out a heavy sigh as they turned towards the crime scene, maybe this was a sign that it wasn't meant to be, maybe this was someone trying to tell him that he shouldn't be falling in love with another one of his partners.

As they arrived at the location of the shots fired they couldn't locate the source of the gunshots, everything was eerily quiet, the street was deserted except for the two detectives. The two geared up and set out investigating the street looking for anything that was out of place.

Jay and Hailey continued their way up the street after checking out a couple of houses, they were approaching a grocery shop on the corner and Jay immediately noticed something was off, the door was slightly jarred open even though they were closed. Jay could see tiny shards of broken glass on the floor, the sun catching the edges of them making the glass sparkle and stand out to Jay.

Jay was just about to signal to Hailey that something wasn't right but before he could two armed masked offenders bounded out of the shop and immediately clocked the presence of the detectives. "Hailey, get down." Jay yelled as he tried to reach for her to pull her down into cover with him, Hailey was just out of reach though as he hit the concrete pavement hard, his left shoulder taking the brunt of the impact.

The next few seconds made Jay freeze in place and it felt like his hearted stopped. Two loud pops broke the eerie silence in the street and a loud thud instantly followed the gunshots. Jay turned to his left instantly and it felt like his whole world came crashing to a halt. He set his eyes on Hailey's seemingly lifeless body on the floor beside him, blood pouring from a gash on the backside of her head.

Jay just sat there motionless for a few seconds, his mind taking him back to all of the people he had lost on the battlefield in his life, it felt like he was in a nightmare all over again. His thoughts were broken by the sound of glass smashing and the crackles of bullets flying over his head. He turned into survival mode, his mind taking back to his experiences on the battlefield that were similar to this. Jay felt an immediate adrenaline rush as he relied on all of his skills and tactics the rangers had taught him in these situations, he felt like that ruthless killer again that would do all of his talking with a single pull of the trigger.

Jay pulled Hailey's limp body into a better position of cover, he forgot about his feelings for a moment as he was stuck in tunnel vision, the only thing he was concentrating on was where the end of his barrel was pointing. Jay quickly popped up from behind his position of cover and took down both of the shooters with multiple shots centre mass. Jay quickly moved up to the bodies of the offenders, kicking their guns away after making them safe.

It was in this moment that it all came crashing down on Jay. Hailey, the woman he loved, was in trouble, serious trouble. Jay could feel his whole body crumbling as he started to break down, if it wasn't for the adrenaline rush in this body he probably would've collapsed and broken down in a ball on the floor. Jay managed to find the little bit of strength left in his body as he powered ahead, Hailey needed him more than ever in this moment.

He rushed back to Hailey and kneeled beside her, a small pool of blood had formed on the concrete as the cut on the back of her head continue leaking blood. Jay yanked his vest off and his hoodie quickly followed, Jay moved the hoodie to the back of her head and tied the sleeves around her head, making some sort of makeshift bandage. Jay hands moved to undo her vest, thankfully as he took it off he couldn't see any gunshot wounds on her body, he blew out a tiny sigh of relief realising her vest had caught the bullets.

Jay radioed in what had happened and pleaded to the dispatcher to get him an ambulance here as quickly as possible. Jay could hear the faint sound of sirens as he continued kneeling down next to Hailey, clutching her hand tightly as she continued laying there unconscious after smashing her head on the side of the car from the impact of the bullets hitting her vest.

Jay was looking around the scene when Hailey finally came around. She slowly opened her eyes and set her gaze on Jay, her vision was blurry and she felt heavily disoriented but she knew 100% that it was Jay with her, holding onto her hand with all his strength.

"Jay..." Was all Hailey managed to let out, her voice barely above a whisper as her voice broke. She tried to move her body into an upright position however that wasn't going to be possible as she screamed out in pain, her ribs and head absolutely killing her.

"Hey, don't move Hailey. Help is on its way. Just stay with me, I'm not going anywhere." Jay whispered softly as he moved closer to her. Hailey's whole body was trembling, he tightened his grip on her trembling hand to try and calm her down. Jay's other hand moved to her face and gently cupped her cheek, swiping away the tears that had started falling down her cheeks. The light touch of Jay's hand caused Hailey's body to warm up, she felt safe in his arms, her body stopped trembling slightly as the touch of Jay's hand made her believe that everything was going to be fine.

The ride over to med from the scene was horrible for Jay, he felt powerless as he sat in the back holding onto her hand, he wanted to take her pain away from her but he couldn't, the only thing he could do was try and reassure her that everything was going to be fine. The journey was made worse when Hailey started vomiting, he hated seeing people vomiting anyway, but seeing Hailey throwing up was unbearable, he couldn't watch, the sounds coming from her just broke his heart into a million pieces.

Thankfully there was some hope, Brett and Foster didn't seem overly worried the whole time they were treating Hailey. Obviously they were worried about her head injury but all the early signs pointed towards Hailey making a full recovery.

Hailey was wheeled into med after the short journey from the scene, Jay hot on the heels of the two paramedics as they pushed their way into the ED. "Jay, stop there for a moment." Will demanded as he stepped in front of his brother, stopping Jay from following Hailey into the awaiting trauma bay.

"Will please, let me past. She needs me to be there with her, I need to be there with her. Please Will." Jay was pleading with his brother, he was on the verge of tears as his eyes continued watching Hailey as she was wheeled into the trauma bay and out of his sight.

"Jay look at me." Will demanded, his tone of voice a little harsher than intended. Jay finally set his eyes on his brother, his eyes covered in a glassy sheen as his emotions were starting to take hold of his body. "I know that you want to be with her and I also know that she would want you to be with her. But, you've got to let us do our jobs. She's in very capable hands, Dr Marcel is a great doctor. You just need to trust us." Will tried to calm his brother, his tone of voice softening from his harsher tone moments before.

"I...I...I love her Will. I haven't even told her I love her yet. I need to tell her that I love her." Jay blurted out, the emotions really took hold of his body after admitting to Will that he loved Hailey. He started crying right in the middle of the ED, not caring that he was doing this in front of everyone. His legs started feeling unsteady and he probably would've fallen if Will hadn't wrapped his arms around Jay.

"I know you love her Jay and she loves to back just as much, everyone can see that." Will whispered close to Jay's ear as Jay continued crying against Will's shoulder.

"You can't say that for certain Will. Maybe I'm reading this whole situation wrong. How can she love me after all of the shit I've put her through, I don't deserve someone like her in my life." Jay admitted against Will's shoulder, he wasn't sure if this was just the emotion and stress of today's events talking, but Jay couldn't help but think like that in this situation, even if it did break his heart to say that.

"Don't be stupid Jay, that girl loves you more than anything else on the planet. Everyone can see what you two have, it's something so special. The way she looks at you, how she treats you, the way she talks about you, everything that Hailey does for you just proves how much she loves you Jay. Don't ever think that you don't deserve her Jay, you've been through a lot of shit in your life and Hailey wants to be there with you to help you through that." Will spoke, continuing in a soft quiet tone of voice. Will let out a small smile as he felt his brother's tense body starting to relax in his arms slightly, the sounds of Jay's crying also starting to subside.

The brothers continued holding onto each other for a light while longer, Will just staying silent as he let Jay vent out any emotions left in his body. After 10 minutes Jay finally lifted his head off of Will's shoulder and looked Will in the eyes, his eyes were red, puffy and stinging after crying.

"You good?" Will questioned quietly, Jay just responded by nodding his head slightly. "Good, now go get some fresh air and clear your head. I promise I will tell you any news on Hailey as soon as I get it." Will offered a small smile to his brother, which Jay returned just before heading out of the ED for some fresh air.

An hour had passed since Hailey and Jay arrived at Chicago Med, Jay listened to Will and took some time to clear his head. He had been sitting patiently in the waiting room, it took all of his willpower to stop himself from barging through the ED looking for answers on Hailey. A couple of the team had stopped by to check in on him and Hailey, Vanessa dropping off his truck as everyone knew he was going to be staying here the whole time with Hailey.

Jay had fallen asleep for a short amount of time while he waited in the waiting room. Will walked into the waiting room with two cups of coffee in hand, he approached his sleeping brother and shook his arm carefully, he knew how jumpy Jay could be when he was woken up suddenly. It took a few moments for Jay to wake up and gather his bearings.

"Hey Jay, here I got you a coffee and I've got some news on Hailey." Will spoke quietly as he took his place in the chair next to Jay, Jay just stared back at his brother as he waited for Will to tell him about Hailey. "Hailey is doing well, she's got some badly bruised ribs that are going to hurt like hell for a little while but that should heal up just fine. We took her for a CT scan just as a precaution and nothing came up on that. She's got a concussion after taking a nasty bang to the head but once again that will heal up quickly. So overall, she'll be fine and make a full recovery." Will explained in his usual calming doctor's tone of voice.

As soon as Jay heard that Hailey would be fine he felt the nervous feeling in his body get pushed away and replaced by a feeling of relief. He felt his eyes water again slightly, but instead of tears of fear, he was starting to cry tears of joy and relief that Hailey was fine. Jay took a moment to himself as he furiously blinked away his tears before speaking. "Thank god." Jay spoke before breathing out a massive sigh of relief. "When can she get out of here?" Jay questioned moments later.

"We want to keep her in until at least the evening just to monitor her condition but if everything goes well she might be released this evening. She will need someone to stay with her but I can take a pretty good guess who will be doing that." Will explained as he gave his brother a knowing smile, Jay just looking back with a small smirk.

"Can I see her now?"

"Yeah of course you can. They're just bringing her down from upstairs but she will be back in her room in a few minutes. Are you going to tell her?" Will questioned.

"Tell her what?"

"That you love her, dumbass." Will chuckled at Jay's confused face.

"I will but not right now. It doesn't feel like the right time, she doesn't need something like that dumped on her when she's feeling like shit from her injuries."

"I think it might cheer her up to hear that from you." Will smiled back at Jay just before looking down at his phone at a new message. "Anyway do what you think is right. Hailey is back in her room and has already been asking for you. Go and get your girl Jay." Will spoke, giving Jay's shoulder a squeeze in encouragement before heading back into the ED.

Jay got up and headed for Hailey's room, he felt himself get all nervous again. He didn't know what to say to her when he saw her for the first time, did he tell her that he loved her in this moment or did he wait for another time. Any plan that he might have come up with flew straight out of the window as he laid his eyes on her for the first time. She had her signature smile that he loved, her dimples in full show as her face lit up when she saw him.

"Hey stranger." Jay greeted as he moved to the chair beside the bed, his smile growing wider and wider as he shuffled as close as possible to the side of her bed.

"Hey." Hailey forced out, her voice groggy, sounding like she had been asleep for a year. She nudged her hand towards his, Jay quickly catching on as he took her hand in his, lifting to his mouth as he planted a kiss on the back of her hand.

"How you feeling?" Jay questioned quietly as he took in the visible cut just behind her right ear, her blonde hair stained dark red in the area surrounding it.

"Like I've been hit by a truck." Hailey replied, her voice still harsh and groggy, she forced out a weak smile as she tilted her head slightly towards him more.

"Well that's what happens when you break your fall on a car with your head." Jay teased, trying to make light of the situation. Hailey's weak smile grew a little wider as she forced out a strangled chuckle in response.

"When did the doctors say I can get out of here?" Hailey questioned after a few moments.

"Not until at least this evening. They want to monitor your concussion for a while before allowing you to leave." Jay explained, Hailey huffing and puffing in response.

"Can't you break me out of here or something like that? I don't want to stay in here for that long."

"No Hailey, I'm not going to go all mad max and break you out of here. Remember when I asked you the same question before, you told me no and that I needed to listen to the doctors. Well that applies to you as well Hailey." Jay chuckled at her annoyance.

"Whatever Halstead." Hailey grumbled out, pretending to be annoyed at him which only made him chuckle even more.

Hailey was allowed to leave that evening, which she was relieved about. Will had forced a set of rules on her to make sure she wasn't doing anything she shouldn't be doing in her current state, he wanted to trust his brother to enforce those rules but wasn't banking on it. He bet as soon as Hailey begged Jay to let her do something he would melt and let her do it.

They stopped for some Chinese takeout on the way back to Hailey's apartment as they prepared for a quiet night on the couch doing 'their thing that works', only this time Hailey was without whiskey, the meds she was on certainly do not mix well with whiskey.

They sat together in silence on the couch as they enjoyed their takeout, Hailey caught Jay staring at her a few times as well as feeling his eyes burning a hole in the side of her head when she wasn't looking at him. She knew he was hiding something, that he wanted to say something to her but he was waiting for her to make the first move.

"What is it Jay? I know you want to say something so come on, I'm listening." Hailey finally broke the silence, Jay's head snapped to hers with a look of shock on his face, like she had just spoken a different language. His face soon softened after gathering the courage to say what he had been holding back.

"You scared me today Hails." Jay simply stated as he looked back at her with wide eyes. Hailey felt herself almost melting at the look in his eyes and the use of 'Hails'. Jay was the only person who ever called her that, and the only time that he called her that was when they were having a highly charged emotional moment. She knew that she had scared him today but she was convinced there was something else on his mind.

"I know, but I'm fine Jay. I'm here, with you and I've never felt better. But there's something else going on with you, there's something else you want to get off your chest." Hailey replied as she moved a little closer to him, taking in hand in hers as she looked straight into his eyes, waiting for him to speak again.

Jay looked away for a moment, trying to find the courage to go through with this, this admission could change his life, for good or bad. He was almost ready to throw in the towel and chicken out from telling her his true feelings. But he couldn't do that, he couldn't live another day of his life hiding these feelings, he loved Hailey too damn much to continue living his life like he was now.

"For god knows how long I've had this feeling in my body, a feeling in my body that I only get around you. When you were in New York that feeling was gone, and it killed me that it was gone. The feeling that I get when I'm with you allows me to be me, it allows me to be Jay, not detective Halstead like the others know me as. I feel comfortable to be myself when I'm around you, I allow myself to be vulnerable, happy, sad, when I'm around you because you are my rock, my safe place. When you were in New York it made me realise that I was lying to not only myself but to you as well, we built our partnership based on trust and honestly so I can't keep this hidden any longer. I... I..." Jay stopped for a moment as he hesitated to say those three words out in the open. His mind played games with him, one side saying that 'she doesn't love you and you're making a fool out of yourself' and the other saying 'she loves you more than anything, just admit you big dumbass'.

After taking a moment to compose himself once again, Jay decided to ignore the doubts in his head and admit his feelings. "I love you Hailey." Jay finally admitted, he felt a weight lift off his shoulders that I didn't know existed. Jay looked at Hailey, his eyes begging her for a reaction. Hailey just sat their momentarily stunned at Jay's confession, she didn't really know how to react for a spilt second.

Jay immediately took her spilt second of no reaction as a bad sign, he turned away from her, looking for anything to take his mind off of her, but all he set his eyes on was photos of them together, there was no hiding. Jay buried his head in his hands, mentally beating himself up. How could he be so stupid he said to himself, course she didn't love him, he was a big unlovable burden that only caused problems in her life. Jay just kept his head buried in his hands, unable to look up and see the look of rejection from Hailey. He wanted to do what he would do in the past and run, run away from his problems and shut himself down in the safety on his own apartment. The only reason why he didn't was because Hailey was injured.

Jay could her the faint sound of Hailey repeating his name but he still couldn't lift his head to meet hers, he only did so when she literally yanked his arm away and forced him to lift his head. The look on her face was something that he hadn't expected, she had a massive smile on her face, she her face had completely lit up, Jay had never seen her this happy before.

"Look at me you big dumbass." Hailey chuckled as she took his hand in hers once again. Jay turned his body slightly to face her, her memorising blue eyes were glistening brighter than he had ever seen. "I love you too Jay." Hailey confessed seconds later, unable to hold it in any longer.

"Really?" Jay questioned, a mixture of shock and low confidence on his quiet voice. It hurt Hailey slightly seeing Jay's lack of confidence that she could love him, sometimes it annoyed her seeing Jay doubt himself, he didn't really know how good of a person he was.

"Of course I do Jay, I love you more than anything on this earth. I've loved you for ages and I was going to admit that at the hospital when you were shot, but when that call came in it ruined the moment and I haven't found the courage tell you my true feelings ever since. But being sent to New York really enforced how much I love you, it made me realise that I was lying thinking that we could continue like we were. I want more, I want to wake up next to you and to fall asleep in your arms every night. I want you by my side on every walk in life." Hailey explained, she could see a smile form on his face and grow wider and wider as she spoke. Hailey felt a weight lifted off her shoulders as well, the weight that had been pushing down on her ever since she nearly admitted her feelings to him on that day in the hospital.

"Can I do something that I have wanted to do for a very long time?" Jay asked for her permission. He felt all giddy inside all of a sudden, like this was the first time he had ever spoken to a pretty girl before. Hailey nodded her head as she caught his gaze switching between her eyes and her lips, a small smirk on her face as she knew what was coming.

Jay shuffled closer to her as he brought his hand up to her cheek, cupping her soft cheek that was quickly turning to a shade of red. He gently moved his head down to hers and started kissing her, Hailey quickly reciprocating the gesture as she kissed him back. They started off slowly and gently, both of them falling into a state of total bliss as they explored each other's soft lips, the world around them was forgotten as they lost themselves in one another.

Hailey decided it was time to take control and deepen the kiss. She moved herself so she was sitting across Jay's thighs, her lips not leaving his in the process. Her arms locked around the back of his neck as she deepened the kiss, she sucked on his bottom lip as she tried to part his lips, her attempts successful as his lips parted and their tongues were soon battling for dominance. They continued kissing for what felt like a lifetime, only pulling away when their need oxygen become apparent.

"You have no idea how much I've wanted to do that." Jay murmured in between heavy breathes, Hailey flashed him a cute shy smile before nuzzling her head into his neck. "Look at me Hails, I've got an important question I want to ask you that I tried to ask this morning." Jay whispered against the top of her head.

Hailey lifted her head from his neck and rested her head against his forehead, their noses brushing. "Will you go on a date with me? I want to treat to the best and most special first date ever, because that's what you deserve." Jay asked, a cheeky smile on his face as if he already knew her answer.

"Of course I will go on a date with you Jay Halstead." Hailey replied confidently, she moved back down to his lips as she captured his lips with hers.

"I love you Hailey Upton." Jay whispered against her lips a few moments later, nothing had ever felt more perfect than saying that to the blonde detective he was completely head over heels in love with.

"I love you to Jay Halstead." Hailey quickly replied before planting another kiss on his lips.

The rest of the night felt like a dream for the two detectives, they were stuck in their own little bubble of total bliss. Hailey cuddled up close to Jay, resting her pounding head on his firm but oddly soft chest, her body tucked perfectly into his side as they relaxed into the couch.

This was a day neither one of them would forget in a hurry. They had finally gotten what they both wanted, and that was each other. It felt so damn good that they finally did.

I hope this was enjoyable for you guys. I've never written a one shot before so I'm sorry if it wasn't enjoyable. However if you did enjoy it and want me to do more feel free to let me know.

If you have any ideas of your own that you would like me to have a go at writing also feel free to send them my way.

I will most likely be back with another chapter to my main story on Friday.