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It had been an hour since Hailey and Jay had been in the damp, empty basement and as far as kidnapping experiences went, this one so far hadn’t been bad. They were both fairly unhurt, the basement floor looked to be somewhat clean and they had been left alone which was nice and frankly, they were getting kind of bored.
Or at least tired of waiting for something to happen.
It was the most uneventful experience Jay had ever had in being a captive and while he wasn’t knocking that, he had been kicking himself for even getting into this situation in the first place.
He and Hailey had been undercover with this new up and coming gang. All its members were fairly young and clearly inexperienced but Intelligence had it on good authority that there was a silent leader who was pulling the strings and putting dangerous ideas in their heads so they were trying to figure out who it was.
Everything had been going smoothly and he and Hailey had managed to work themselves into the gang’s group of friends but for reasons unknown to them, things between the boys seemed to grow tense and then apparently one of the boys thought that Hailey was smuggling information to a rival gang.
And to be fair she had been smuggling information just not to a rival gang.
One thing led to another and as soon as Jay thought it was getting a little out of hand, he’d jumped in which made the boys even more antsy and then the next thing they knew, they were being forced into a van and then kicked into this windowless basement which was dead bolted from the outside.
Now Jay was fairly confident he could have taken all of their captors, they were really just kids after all, but they’d had guns and they were visibly scared and nervous and Jay hadn’t wanted to risk it with Hailey there. He knew she could hold her own but one of the boys had a gun to her head so Jay wasn’t going to take any chances. He knew they could bide their time and find a better opening to escape or wait for the team to come rescue them.
And so far that was their plan. The gang of boys still had no idea that they were cops which worked to their advantage because they were left untied and unharmed which meant the boys were either stupid or didn’t think they posed a threat or both.
And now they were just waiting.
They sat next to each other on the hard floor, their backs resting against the wall and their shoulders brushing, both of them staring aimlessly at the locked steel door a few feet in front of them.
Hailey let out a sigh, letting her head fall back to rest against the wall, “I can’t believe we got kidnapped by a bunch of teenage boys.”
“Teenage boys with guns,” Jay glanced at her. If it weren’t for the guns they would have never been taken in first place; he and Hailey could have definitely been able to take them if it weren’t for the jumpy boys with guns.
They sat in silence a few more minuets before Jay lazily motioned to the door, “I mean I guess we could try the door again.”
Hailey drew her legs up to cross in front of her, resting her elbow on one of her knees, “I don’t think it’ll work just like it didn’t work the past ten times we tried it.”
“Yeah but it’s better than just sitting here,” Jay lamented grouchily and Hailey had to refrain at rolling her eyes at his impatience.
“No Jay. We’re gonna sit here and wait for our team.” She played with her shoelaces, propping her head against her hand, “I’m sure they’re close at locating us. The boys couldn’t have been that good at evading them. They don’t even know we’re cops.”
“I hate just sitting and waiting,” He grumbled, looking around, “I mean there’s gotta be something we can do to get us out of here.”
She glanced back at him, sitting up a bit straighter, “Like what? We’ve already swept the basement for bugs and cameras and we’ve checked the door multiple times. There’s else to do.”
Hailey leaned back against the wall, turning her head to look at him, “Look Jay, I wanna get out of here too but you gotta admit, this isn’t half bad for being held against our will. I mean, we’re together, we’re in a somewhat clean basement and I think we’re fairly safe for the time being so I think we should just try and relax and hope our team gets here soon.”
Jay scrunched up his face in displeasure before letting out a big sigh and banging his head lightly against the wall a few times in frustration.
They fell into another bout of silence and Hailey could see Jay rapping his fingers impatiently against his leg from the corner of her eye.
As long as he didn’t start pacing again then she didn’t care.
She knew it bothered him not knowing what was happening outside that door and it bothered her too but she knew how much he really did hate sitting and waiting. He didn’t like feeling powerless and she knew not having a gun with him was making him even more anxious.
She grimaced at the memory of the boys forcing them to give up any weapons they had.
She knew none of that would have happened if they hadn’t had a gun to her head and she knew that’s why Jay had been complicit and truthful to their demands.
She would have done the same in his place.
But here they were. Waiting and Hailey was so grateful they didn’t seem to be in serious danger. She knew those boys wouldn’t kill them, they barely had the guts to hurt them. The only real danger here was either their silent boss showing up or one of them getting scared and accidentally pulling the trigger. She just hoped they would be left alone and their team would deal with them.
It was silent for at least half an hour before Hailey piped up again.
“What if we had a baby at home?”
Jay turned his head sharply at her very unexpected question, his eyes going wide. He let out a garbled, “What?”
She wasn’t looking at him, just staring off into space with a troubled look on her face. She picked at some imaginary dirt on the floor, “What if there was a baby waiting for us at home?”
Jay’s heart was beating so hard he thought it might beat right out of his chest and he felt like he could hardly breath as his eyes drifted towards Hailey’s midsection, “Um, Hailey…?”
She seemed to pick up on his distress and she glanced at him, doing a double take at his very pale and stricken face, his eyes trained on her stomach.
Hailey rolled her eyes as she lightly hit him on the arm, pulling a face, “Don’t look at me like that.” When he raised his eyes to meet hers, she gave him another look, “I’m not pregnant if that’s what you’re thinking.”
Jay was still staring at her not sure what to make of this conversation. Of course they had talked about having children in the past but not recently and he wasn’t sure what brought this on. Especially since they were sitting on the floor in a locked up basement.
“But I’m serious,” Her brows were furrowed as she bit her lip, “What if something happened to us? Who would take care of the kids?”
Jay swallowed, trying to formulate a response, “Hailey, honey. We don’t have a baby let alone kids, plural. What brought all of this on?”
“I don’t know,” She shrugged against the wall, “I guess I was just thinking that if we were in this situation and we had a baby waiting for us to come get them but something happened to us, what would happen to the baby?”
He scratched the back of his neck, his head reeling slightly at the emotions he was being bombarded with all of the sudden. Shocked that the question was provoking all these feelings he’d never quite experienced before.
He definitely hadn’t anticipated this conversation when they were forced into this basement.
“Well,” He cleared his throat, “I guess we would have godparents picked out and that’s where uh, he or she would go. My brother or maybe someone on the team.”
Hailey gnawed on her bottom lip, “I guess you’re right.”
Jay turned his head to look at her again, “I mean, we would figure all of this out if you got pregnant.”
She looked deep in thought and Jay paused, trying to figure out how to phrase the question he wanted to ask.
“Do you,” He hesitated, “Do you want to get pregnant?”
Hailey slowly turned her own head to meet his gaze. Her eyes were blazing and he could tell she had been thinking about this. He had no idea that she had been thinking about having kids.
They had talked about it briefly before they got married and some since but it had always been in hypotheticals and vague some days. But this, this felt more concrete. Like Hailey was thinking those ‘vague some days’ were upon him and while Jay had always envisioned having kids, the thought of it actually happening for real made his brain short-circuit and his chest get tight.
“I don’t know Jay,” She seemed to be struggling with her thoughts, “I mean, we both agreed we wanted kids and I just feel like we need to have them sooner rather than later but then things like this happen,” She motioned around the empty basement, “And I wonder if maybe it shouldn’t be in the cards for us because I can’t see either one of us quitting. I don’t want to quit but is it fair to a possible future child for us to go to work knowing that we might not come back?”
Jay, again, wasn’t sure what to say to all of this. He hesitantly put a hand on her thigh, catching her gaze, “We’re going to get out of here, you know that, right?”
She rolled her eyes at that, “Of course I know we’re going to get out of here. The team will be here any minute,” Hailey huffed, “But what if we were in a more dangerous situation. What if one of us, or both of us, had to go undercover with really really bad people or what if you got shot again or something happened to me?”
“Well,” Jay interjected seriously, “First of all, I’m not going to let anything happen to you if I can help it. Second, me getting shot is something that might not be avoidable and thirdly, we would do everything in our power to get back to any children we might have in one piece. But Hailey, we take risks for a living. You know that better than anyone and you know that sometimes we can’t avoid the situations we get into. And sometimes, that means we don’t come home. That one day, one of us might not come home.”
Hailey glanced at him, unsure at where he was headed with this. Maybe a little afraid to know where he was headed with this, “So, what does that mean exactly?”
Jay took a breath. His mind was racing and he’d be lying if he said he’d never thought about the things Hailey was voicing. He’d just never thought that they would actually have this conversation that they kept telling themselves they would have someday.
But here they were. Locked in a basement talking seriously about a decision that should not be made lightly. Or one that should be made individually; this was something they needed to decide on together but he’d heard the quiet hope in Hailey’s voice even amidst the fears and he knew that deep down, both their hearts were in the same place.
He just needed to give her, and himself, the courage to take the step they had been so hesitant to talk about. Something they had been hesitant to address aloud but something that had been brewing in the back of both of their minds since they got married.
Hailey was still looking at him for an answer so he turned to her with earnest eyes, his hand grabbing hers in reassurance. He swallowed, trying to organize his thoughts into what he wanted to say, “I think it means that we shouldn’t be afraid.”
Tears sprung into Hailey’s eyes and Jay gave her a soft smile, pushing a strand of her blonde hair behind her ear, “Yeah, our jobs have a higher risk factor than most and yeah, one of us could die but should we let that stop us from looking down into the face of a baby that has your eyes and my hair? Should that stop us from missing out on first steps and first words and a life full of joy and wonder that only a child can bring?”
Hailey watched as Jay shook his head, looking somewhat perplexed, almost like he was torn but there was a crooked little smile on his face despite that, “Maybe it’s selfish to bring a child into a world that we know to be so cruel. Especially into our life because it holds so much unpredictability but I think it would be worth it. God, Hailey,” He chuckled, tears in his own eyes, “Think about it. A little girl or a little boy who looked like a perfect mixture of both of us. Something that’s an actual living, breathing, walking, playing, crying, laughing manifestation of our love.”
“And if I died because I did something dumb or some evil dude shot me or hell, because I was in a car accident. Even if I had just known our baby for a day, it would be worth it to see your face in a child we created together.”
Hailey was desperately blinking back tears at his words. The fears were still there and she knew they always would be but hearing Jay talk about a little boy with his eyes and her smile or a little girl with his smile and her eyes. It just solidified the yearning that she had been feeling in her heart for the past few months.
Every time someone would ask her when they were having kids or how many she wanted or when she deposited a little girl or boy back to their crying mother after a burglary or a shooting. It was scary and heart-warming all at the same time and something she found herself wanting even though she knew the dangers.
But Jay was right. Why worry about the things that may never happen and give up a life filled with children? And she knew that if, God forbid, something happened to both of them, there were plenty of people in their lives that would step up to the plate and care for her children as if they were their own.
Hailey met Jay’s eyes, smiling as she squeezed his hand, “You’re right. We shouldn’t sacrifice something that we both want because of things that may or may not come to fruition.”
Before she could say anything else, Jay captured her lips in a sweet but passionate kiss. Long, languid kisses that made her forget everything except how much she loved her husband. They somehow ended up laying on the hard basement floor, one of Jay’s arms cushioning her head as he leaned over her to continue giving her long kisses.
“So that’s it then?” He murmured against her lips, “We’re having a baby?”
Hailey smiled impishly under his kisses, “It would seem so but it could take a while yet so we should probably get started.”
“Right now? On a strange basement’s hard cement floor?” He sounded somewhat incredulous but he moved his lips to her neck.
Hailey rolled her eyes, giving him a slight shove, “No. I meant tonight. After we’re rescued.”
Jay popped his head up from where he was nipping at her collar bone, “Well, then, they’d better hurry.”
“I’m sure they’ll be here any minute,” She smirked down at him.
Almost as soon as she said it, there was a crash and the door to the basement went flying open.
They both tensed up, adrenaline starting to rush into their veins, preparing for a fight but upon seeing Vanessa and Kevin’s forms rushing into the basement, they relaxed back into their somewhat compromising situation.
Vanessa’s eyes widened and a sly smile crept across her face and Hailey and Jay realized they had been so caught up in relief at seeing their friends that they had forgotten the position they were currently in.
“Um, wow. Maybe we should have waited,” Vanessa was full on grinning now, a mischievous sparkle in her eye.
Jay stood up so fast that he was almost dizzy at the blood rushing to his head as he grabbed for Hailey’s hand to help her up.
“We’re here to save you,” Kevin was right on Vanessa’s heels, an amused look on his face. He coughed, gesturing between the floor and where Hailey and Jay were now standing, not touching each other, “I hope y’all weren’t too uncomfortable.”
Even though everyone obviously knew Jay and Hailey were married, the couple tended to refrain from much PDA so it was a little amusing to walk in on them kissing. Especially since they were expecting them to be chained up and maybe in need of an ambulance.
Kim appeared in the doorway, her worried eyes immediately assessing Jay and Hailey, “Are you two okay?”
Jay was about to answer when Vanessa winked at them, turning to Kim, “Oh, I think they’re more than okay.”
Hailey just rolled her eyes while Jay looked a little put out that they had been interrupted. She crossed her arms, giving Vanessa a glare, “Yes, we’re fine no thanks to you. What took you so long?”
She heard Kev mumble something along the lines of “It looked like you were doing just fine without us” to which she did not respond. She also ignored Vanessa’s poorly concealed snickers.
Kim looked a little confused but the relief was clear on her face as she reached for her radio to tell Voight that everything seemed fine.
“Well, thanks for the assist,” Jay nodded to Kev as he slapped him on the upper arm in thanks. He grabbed Hailey’s hand and started tugging her towards the torn open steel door, giving a smile to Kim as he passed her on the steps, “Now if there’s nothing else, we’re really kind of worn out from this whole experience and it’s almost,” He glanced at his watch, “seven o’clock anyway so I think we’re just gonna head home.”
Just then Adam joined them and he opened his mouth to say something to them but Jay slapped him on the back with a smile as he beat him to the punch, “Hey man, thanks for finding us. We’re okay but I think we’re gonna head home.”
Adam stared after them as they disappeared into the house that was attached to the basement.
“Um,” He pointed after the couple as he looked at the rest of his team in confusion, “Did I miss something, here or…?”
Kim shrugged; Vanessa and Kevin laughed.
Approximately nine months later, Ellie Halstead was born and Jay and Hailey were never so grateful for being locked in a basement.