Archive of Our Own

Hailey was the only one in the bullpen when Makayla skipped up the stairs dressed warmly in a pink puffer coat and bright yellow snow boots and holding onto a glittering art case with her name emblazoned on the side. Kim followed her up with her daughter’s pink and purple backpack, two lunchboxes, and her own less flashy black case that she usually took to court with her. Instead of her usual sweater, coat, and jeans, she was wearing her court suit and wool coat. 

“I need a favor,” Kim said as soon as she was able to drop everything in her arms onto the desk and turn to Hailey. “School is out because of a flooding issue and they started winter break early. Our main sitter and the backup are both down with the flu. Adam is set to be in court all day and I’ve been called back in for a case I wasn’t expecting and Trudy is dealing with an issue for patrol and I have twenty minutes to get to the courthouse.” 

“Want me to watch Mak?” Hailey asked before Kim could suggest it. 

“Would you?” She asked, her shoulders already sagging in relief. 

Hailey waved her off. “Not a problem. I have paperwork to finish off, but nothing important.” 

“She brought her markers to have something to do and her tablet for music and games. She shouldn’t interrupt you unless she needs something,” Kim hurriedly told her as she pulled headphones and a tablet out of Makayla’s backpack and handed them to her. “I have her lunch packed. I’ll put it in the fridge before I go.” 

Sitting in her office chair so that she was the same height as Makayla, she said, “You’re okay with staying with Aunt Hailey for the morning?” 

“Yes,” Mak said excitedly. “I want to show her my glitter pens.” 

“Did you bring them?” Kim asked. 

“Yep. They’re in here.” She held up her bedazzled art kit and shook it. 

“Good. Okay. I’m leaving. Be good. Listen to Aunt Hailey,” she told her, giving her a quick hug and kiss to the forehead. “Love you.” 

“Love you, too, Mom,” she said, hugging her back. 

“Thanks again, Hail. I owe you,” she said as she grabbed her bag and raced down the stairs. 

Mak stepped exactly in the middle of each tile between Kim’s desk and Hailey’s until she was shoulder to shoulder with her. “Hey!” 

“Hey, yourself,” Hailey said with a grin as she bumped Mak’s shoulder with her own and closed the case files she was working on. “Let’s see those glitter pens.” 

“Oh, I want to draw something with them first, then you can see. I’m working on something top secret and Mom can’t find out. Neither can my dad. It’s very important,” she told Hailey seriously, holding on to her art kit like it was the nuclear football to be protected at all costs. “I need a place to draw.” 

Hailey held back a grin. “Top secret, huh? Must be big.” 

“It is,” Mak assured her earnestly. “I will probably need help, but I need to make my plan first.” 

She nodded to the empty desk in front of her. “Use Jay’s desk.” 

Mak inspected the slightly dusty surface critically. “Is he really in Bol…Bolivia? Did I say it right?” 

“Yeah, you did,” she told her, her smile turning sad. “And yes, that’s where he is.” 

“When is he coming back?” She asked, using her sleeve to dust the desk off and putting her art kit on it. 

Hailey shrugged. “Maybe in May or June. We’re not too sure. We only get to talk when he has a clear connection on a satellite phone and they work a little differently than our phones do.” 

Their ability to communicate depended almost entirely on the safety of the region he was in and a rotating schedule the men used to contact loved ones for a few minutes each when they had a chance. Her days in between calls yo-yo’ed between hating him, missing him, and fiercely wishing she could follow him into the fray just to be by his side. 

“What is he doing there?” She asked, pulling out her markers and drawing paper and arranging them neatly before climbing into the rolling chair to sit. 

“Uh, you know, I think it’s probably top secret, but he’s catching bad guys. Kind of like he did here,” she explained, trying to keep the pain she felt from showing on her face. 

“He’s going to be super jealous that he didn’t get to be part of my top secret plan,” she informed Hailey. She pulled a sheet of paper in front of her and a pink marker and set to work without another word. 

Hailey watched her for a while before shaking her head with a smile and going back to her paperwork. By the time she was nearly finished, she heard footsteps on the stairs and looked over her shoulder to see Torres. 

“I thought you were at the Academy all day today?” She asked him.

“Got done early,” he said, shucking his heavy coat and revealing a plain, white long-sleeve shirt. 

Mak popped up from Jay’s chair to look over the computers blocking her from Torres’ sight. “Hi, Dante!” 

“Yo, Mak-attack! What are you doing here?” He asked, crossing the room with a wide smile. He held out his hand and Hailey watched as they slapped hands twice before doubling up a fist bump, crossing pinkie fingers, making a twist and stacking their hands one atop the other starting with their rights, then adding their lefts, throwing them up to break up the stack, then slapping both hands together three times while their arms were crossed, then kicking their feet together left, right, left, and finally ending with a stomp and a crossbody high five. 

By the end, Hailey found herself smiling again. “I am extremely impressed.” 

“Aunt Hailey is watching me today,” Mak told him. “I’m working on a top secret plan, but I have to finish the drawings first before you can see it.” 

Torres shared an amused look with Hailey, then said, “I can’t wait.” 

By the time Kevin rolled in through the garage side entrance a while later, Makayla had a small and still growing stack of drawings she was laying face down with only colorful streaks of bleed-throughs of her designs showing. 

“My girl!” Kevin exclaimed when he saw her, picking her up and twirling her around in a hug when she ran to him. “Don’t your mom and dad have court today?” 

Makayla nodded. “Yep! Both Taylor and Ona are both sick and I’m here with Aunt Hailey. She’s letting me use Uncle Jay’s desk to draw my top secret plan, but you can’t see it yet. I’m not finished.” 

Kevin peaked around her to the desk exaggeratedly and she giggled and covered his eyes. “I said not yet, Uncle Kev!” 

“Okay, okay, okay!” He said with a laugh, setting her back down. “But you better involve me in this big plan.” 

“I will!” She told him, bouncing back over to Jay’s desk and picking her abandoned marker back up. 

“She’s been working on it all morning,” Hailey told him when he looked at her for answers.

“Must be important then,” Kevin concluded, taking a seat at his own desk and pulling out a file from the top drawer.

Quietly, all four of them worked on various things until lunch when Torres and Kevin decided to go pick up lunch from a deli nearby. 

“Mom packed me lunch,” Makayla told them when they asked if she wanted anything. 

“And I have leftovers from last night’s take-out,” Hailey said. 

“Cool,” Kevin said. “So, we’re grabbing you something.” 

Hailey started to speak, but Kevin cut her off.

“Don’t even argue Upton. I’ve seen the sad leftovers before,” Kevin told her as he got a text. “We’re getting Platt food, too. We will be back before long. I’ve been told to make it snappy.” 

“We’ll wait on you before we eat then,” Hailey told him as they put on their coats to leave. “And my leftovers aren’t sad.” 

“Uh-huh,” Kevin nodded placatingly, hitting her with an all-knowing look as he dug the hood out of the back of his coat. “And how many times have you eaten the same meal this week?” 

Hailey frowned at him, but didn’t answer. 

“That’s what I thought. We aren’t going to let you try to survive on pasta until May. You’re getting a sandwich and chips,” he told her, not allowing her to argue back before nodding to Torres and heading for the parking lot. 

“They aren’t sad,” Hailey grumbled as she got back to work. She caught Mak giving her a look that mirrored Kevin’s and sighed. 

She could admit to herself that dry, reheated pasta was not the best meal, but she wasn’t going to say it out loud. 

The pair hadn’t been gone long when her cell phone rang and she fished it out from under a stack of papers. The number wasn’t one she had saved, but she instantly recognized it. 

“Hey,” she answered, her chest constricting in anticipation before she even heard the caller speak. “I didn’t think I would get to hear from you this week.” 

“Yeah, we got in this morning and they handed us a new target. They gave us a few hours to sleep and use the sat phone before we have to catch a transport. You have me for fifteen whole minutes,” Jay told her, his voice tinny and hushed. She thought he sounded tired. “Sorry, I know you’re probably at work right now.” 

Hailey wouldn’t have cared if she was in the middle of cuffing a murder suspect or testifying on the stand. She would have found a way to answer. 

“Yeah, I am, but it’s just me and Mak here right now. Kim and Adam are in court, Torres and Atwater went to pick up lunch. Haven’t seen Voight today,” she told him. They hadn’t gotten a chance to talk much about anything that had happened recently, but, as much as she wanted to hash out the Sean case, she wasn’t about to do that with Makayla there. She also wasn’t complaining about her boss not being around. He’d been colder to her since they left Med than he had been after Anna and it ground at her already frayed nerves. 

“Ah, how’s my favorite kid?” He asked. 

“Why don’t you ask her yourself. Let me put you on speaker.” She sat the phone on the edge of her desk and tapped the speaker. “Say ‘Hi!’“

“Hey, Maks-a-million!” Jay called out to her and Hailey felt a bit wistful. They had never gotten around to talking about family, but, when he got back, she wanted to brooch the subject. 

“Uncle Jay!” Makayla exclaimed, taking possession of the phone. “I’m working on a top secret plan, but I’m not finished so I can’t tell anybody yet. It’s very important.” 

“Top secret, huh? You know, when we have really important plans in the military, we give them a special name. Like Operation: Christmas Drop where they drop a bunch of supplies to islands in the Pacific Ocean from the back of a big airplane during Christmastime,” Jay told her. “You should do that.” 

“I like that. It’s like a code name,” she said, setting her makers down and getting a new piece of paper. 

“That’s exactly what it is, kid,” Jay said and Hailey could hear the smile in his voice. “What are you going to name your secret plan?” 

“Ummm.” She tapped a marker to her chin as she stared at the paper, then grinned. “Operation: Heart-Eyes Emoji.”

Jay laughed. “Why that name?” 

“Because that’s the face my mom and dad both make when they look at each other,” she told him with an eye roll. “They think I don’t see it, but they look so silly.” 

“Oh, I’ve seen that look. It’s definitely silly. So, it’s a plan about them?” He asked, voice sly. 

Makayla frowned at the phone. “You tricked me.” 

“Maybe a little,” he agreed with a chuckle. 

“Okay, I will tell you, but only since you aren’t here,” she told him with a long suffering sigh. Picking up the phone, she scurried off to the break room and closed the door. 

“Okay, okay, listen. I have the best plan,” Hailey could hear Mak say through the door. “I’m going to send Kim and Adam on a date and they are going to realize they looovveee each other and then they are going to get married and be happy forever, just like you and Aunt Hailey.” 

Bitterness stung Hailey and she wished so very, very hard for even one ounce of the naivety of a child. 

“If anyone can pull it off, I bet it’s you, kid,” Jay said sincerely. “Can you hand the phone back to Hailey for me?” 

“Sure,” she said, walking toward the door to the break room, but stopping before she opened it. “Hey, Uncle Jay?” 

“What’s up?” He asked. 

“You wish could come back home faster than May. Aunt Hailey is sad and Uncle Kev makes fun of her leftovers because she eats the same thing everyday, ” Makayla told him solemnly.

Hailey closed her eyes with a wince. That she could have done without Jay knowing. 

“I-“ Jay cut himself off and the pause was so long that Hailey worried his connection had been cut off and she wouldn’t get a chance to speak with him. Finally, he said, “I wish that too, kid. Um, I only have a few more minutes, but I can’t wait to hear how Operation Heart-Eyes Emoji turns out.” 

“It’s gonna work,” she told him vehemently, opening the door and walking the phone back to Hailey. “Bye, Uncle Jay.” 

“Bye, Mak,” he replied as she gave Hailey her phone. 

“I’ll be right in there, Mak,” Hailey told her, nodding to the break room she just left. 

“Okay!” The girl said, climbing back into Jay’s chair and writing out “OPERATION 😍” in bright colors as she sounded out the word. 

“Hey, you,” Hailey said quietly after closing the door and turning the phone off the speaker setting. She crossed the room until she was at the far end by the coffee pot, still in view of Mak through the window, but out of hearing range.

“Sounds like you guys are about to have some fun,” Jay said, his voice thick, but trying to sound amused.

“I think we are, yeah,” she agreed, watching Mak flip through her stack of drawings, writing labels on each one. “You’re headed out again soon?” 

“Um, yeah, yeah. In just a few hours actually. I don’t know when we will get back from this one. We’re briefing on the jet, so I don’t even have a clue yet what we’re going after,” he told her. “How are things going there?” 

Hailey wrapped her arms around herself. “Closed the Sean O’Neal case. It didn’t-I-“ 

“What happened?” He asked, picking up on her anxiety about how the case ended from all the way in the Southern Hemisphere with just a few stuttered words. 

She swallowed and wished he were there so that he could just hold her and tell her she wasn’t a horrible person or tell her to get her head on straight or just be there while she continued to spin out over those seconds where she was going to let Sean die. 

“I can’t talk about it like this,” she finally rasped out. 

Jay was silent again and she breathed steadily out through her nose and back in through her mouth. She hadn’t talked about it to anyone, not even when Voight yelled at her in his office or when Platt drove her home that night and she spent the car ride looking out the window. 

“Hailey,” he choked out. “Hailey, I’m sorry. I shouldn’t-“ 

“Don’t say it,” she whispered, closing her eyes to hold back tears that stung in them suddenly. “Because if you say you shouldn’t have gone, then it wasn’t worth it. And everything that’s happening right now will feel so much worse. Please, don’t say it.” 

Jay sniffed wetly and she could hear a strangled noise come from his end. “Okay.” 

Gathering herself together, she wiped her nose on her sleeve and dabbed at her eyes.

“Hey,” he said after a moment. “Look, I don’t know if I’m an ass for saying it or if I’m an ass if I don’t, but happy anniversary.” 

The knot being woven by the tears in her eyes settled in her throat. 

“It was a few days ago,” she said quietly. “I wasn’t sure you remembered with how busy they have you.” 

She had certainly remembered. Still reeling from the case with Sean, she had gone home, broken half their dishes, spent the night crying in the shower with a bottle of whiskey and called out of work the next day. She still hadn’t cleaned the kitchen up. 

“I wouldn’t forget,” he told her. “I- fuck… I was a mess that day. One of the guys nearly sat me out of our op because he was afraid I couldn’t handle it. He probably should have.” 

“That’s comforting,” she said drily, harshly wiping at the tears in the corners of her eyes. She saw Kevin and Torres come back up the steps with Trudy and told Jay, “Hey, Kevin, Torres, and Platt just walked upstairs. Did you want to talk to them?” 

“No, I actually need to go. My fifteen minutes are up,” he said with regret. Quietly, he told her, “I love you, Hailey.” 

“I love you, too, Jay,” she responded, her voice nearly giving out. “Bye.” 

She hung up and held the phone for a moment, not sure if she wanted to throw it or sink to the floor and sob. With effort, she did neither and pulled herself together and went back to the bullpen, grabbing Mak’s lunchbox from the fridge along the way. 

“I think my plan is ready,” Mak told her when she made it back to her desk. Torres was pulling a white board over and Kevin was busy putting double-sided tape on the backs of all of the drawings at Kim’s desk. Trudy was unbagging the sandwiches and inspecting the scribbled labels. 

“Okay, lunch first,” Hailey told her, opening her lunch box for her and sliding it across the connected desks. 

While Mak set about unpacking her lunch, Kevin caught her attention and nodded for her to follow him toward interrogation. They stopped just on the other side of the gun lockers and Kevin crossed his arms as he looked at her. 

“Makayla said Jay called?” He asked with concern. 

Hailey nodded. “Yep.” 

“And you’re good?” He gave her a critical once over. 

She rolled her eyes. “I’m fine, Kev. I can talk to my husband without losing it.” 

Barely. 

Kevin gave her a look that said he wasn’t buying it. 

“I’m really fine,” she assured him. “Nothing about this was my choice and I’m dealing with it the best I can and I’m fine.” 

“That sounded like the opposite of fine, Upton, but I’m going to let it slide because if I waited you out, Platt would have time to steal my lunch,” he told her, bobbing his head toward the sergeant. She was holding two sandwiches and looked like she was about to make off with both. “If you need someone, you know I’m your guy. You feel me?”  

Hailey smiled at the sentiment. “I know. Thanks, Kev.” 

“Mak tell you what’s happening yet?” He asked. 

“Oh, I overheard her tell Jay,” she said, laughing. “Just wait. It’s worth the surprise.” 

“Girl wouldn’t even let me turn the papers over to see what I was taping,” he grumbled as they rejoined the others. 

Lunch was quick and as soon as all of the crumbs from the sandwiches had been swept off their desks Mak jumped up excitedly and pulled a chair over to the white board. 

“Alright. I have a top secret plan that my mom and dad cannot know about. At all. It’s a big, big secret. Do you understand?” She asked all of them from the chair she was standing in in front of the white board. “Uncle Kev, first paper.” 

She held out her hand and Kevin dutifully handed her the first paper in the line on Kim’s desk. 

With a rainbow assortment of letters, the first one titled the plan “OPERATION: 😍.” 

Torres and Trudy looked bemused and Kevin stood thoughtful running a hand over his beard. 

“So it’s a plan to get Kim and Adam together,” Kevin concluded. 

“Exactly!” Mak exclaimed happily. “And then they are going to live happily ever after.” 

“I’m in,” Kevin told her. “I don’t care what it is. I’ll help.” 

Mak beamed. “Next paper.” 

The next drawing she taped up was of Kim with her pink beanie and badge at her hip, a plus sign, a giant heart that took up the entire center of the page, another plus sign, then Adam in a red plaid shirt. 

“This is my mom and this is my dad. And this heart is their big love that they act like doesn’t exist, but then they make heart-eyes at each other all the time ,” she said with an exaggerated gag. “Next paper.” 

She put up another drawing beside the first of Adam and Kim sitting at a table with hearts floating around them. 

“We are going to make them go on a date. That’s what this table is. They are having dinner,” she described, pointing out the round table between the two figures. “I don’t know what restaurant yet, but they both like Chinese food and pizza.” 

“Aren’t those your favorites?” Hailey asked with suspicion. 

Mak shrugged. “It’s where we go the most even when I don’t ask for it.” 

“What about that place a few blocks from here? The one Voight doesn’t like,” Torres suggested. 

“Nope. We arrested the owner once,” Kevin told him. 

“Okay,” he frowned. “What about the new pizza place over by the Academy.” 

“No, we cornered a suspect in there last year.” Hailey shook her head. 

“The one in the warehouse near Med?” Torres asked, already waiting to be shot down. 

“I wouldn’t. Mouch got food poisoning from there,” Trudy said. “Not pretty.” 

“There’s a good Italian place near our apartment that Jay and I like,” Hailey told them. 

“The place providing you with the dry pasta leftovers?” Kevin asked with an eyebrow raise.

Hailey made a face, giving him the win. 

“My mom could cook?” Torres shrugged, having given up a place that didn’t have a story behind it. 

“Okay, but only if it’s really good,” Mak agreed, holding out a hand for the next paper. 

She plastered a treasure map on the board and held her hand out again. The map was joined by a fire truck, a boat, a Jumbotron with their faces on it, and, lastly, a helicopter. 

The four adults in the room blanched at the prospect of telling her ‘No.’ to any of them. 

“Here’s my plan,” Mak began. 

______

Operation Heart-Eyes Emoji was a go the following Tuesday when Platt arranged for all of Intelligence to take time off between cases and Torres’ mom said she could cook a meal. 

Hailey and Mak were surveying the proceedings from a safe distance while Kevin was in charge of Kim, Trudy was in charge of Adam, and Torres was making sure everything fell together logistically. 

At the park near their house, a scavenger hunt started the day after Kevin had calmly coaxed Kim to the park and Trudy had unceremoniously driven Adam there and ordered him to get out. Torres delivered the map and told them Mak wanted them to have a fun day.

Hailey and Mak were watching them piece clues on the map together from behind a large tree. Mak had brought her binoculars and was attempting to figure out what was happening. 

“Aunt Hailey, I don’t think they get the clue. What if they don’t get it? The whole day will be over!” Mak panicked, adjusting the binoculars when they went fuzzy. “They’re going the wrong way!” 

Hailey lowered the binoculars from in front of Mak’s face. “They are very good at tracking things down. It’s their job.” 

“I know and Kim said it’s her favorite part,” Mak said, still worried. “But they aren’t even detectives, Aunt Hailey. What if they don’t-oh, good. They turned around. Oh, no!” 

She quickly ducked behind the tree and tugged on Hailey’s coat. “They almost saw me.” 

After a moment, Mak peaked again and sighed dramatically. “They figured out the first clue.” 

It took a while, but eventually Kim and Adam meandered through the park following clues on the map until they came upon Truck 81 waiting near a sidewalk. 

Mak pulled Kim’s radio that Voight was letting her use out of her pocket and keyed it on. “Lovebirds are at the fire truck!”

“Hear you loud and clear, Mak. Starting Phase Two,” Torres responded. 

Hailey and Mak watched as Mouch spoke into his own radio from his seat behind the wheel, then jumped down from the rig and gestured to the top. 

“Adam said he was super jealous that Santa always gets to ride on a fire truck and he’s never got to. Kim said she did once during a parade when she was little and she threw candy,” she told Hailey while Kim and Adam exchanged looks, but shrugged and hopped onto the truck and climbed up to the top. “They are going to have so much fun.” 

“Come on, let’s get back to my car so we can follow them,” Hailey said, taking Mak’s hand and skipping with her back to her SUV. By the time Mak was buckled into the back seat, the horn on 81 was honking and sirens were starting up. “Oh, look at that. Chief Boden is letting them use sirens.” 

The truck flew through the streets of the city, mostly deserted because of the time of day and Hailey could see Kim and Adam both laughing as she followed the truck to the marina. 

“I can’t see them. Do they look like they are saying they love each other?” Mak asked from the back seat. 

Hailey laughed. “Probably not yet.” 

When the fire truck swung wide to park next the dock, Hailey stopped further up the parking lot and mostly out of sight behind other cars. She and Mak got out and watched Chief Boden hand over the keys to his boat and relay the instructions Torres had given to him from Mak. 

Kim and Adam were left standing by Boden’s boat as he hopped into his buggy and followed 81 out of the lot. Together, they turned toward the boat and Adam helped Kim climb aboard with steady hands holding her up. 

Makayla squealed. “Oh, that’s so cute.” 

Hailey’s phone pinged and she discreetly checked it out of Mak's sight. 

Adam: what is this? 

Hailey: your daughter’s idea. Have fun 

Hailey: and keep it PG. tiny eyes are watching 

Adam: 😉

They saw Adam say something to Kim and both shake their heads. Torres had packed away the food his mom cooked into a basket. It was waiting for them on top of the cooler in the boat, ready for them to eat. 

“Uncle Kev said Adam could drive a boat,” Mak said, her foot starting to tap with nerves. “I hope they don’t sink.” 

“I’m sure Adam knows how,” Hailey assured her. “If he doesn’t, they can just stay docked.” 

Quickly, Adam got the boat up and running and they saw Kim find the picnic basket. Adam backed the boat away from the dock and turned it out onto the water where they skirted off onto the horizon and disappeared from sight. 

“Now we won’t know what’s happening,” Mak pouted. 

“You know, I think this might be one of those things where your mom and dad need to be alone anyway,” Hailey told her. 

“Yeah, you’re probably right,” Mak grumbled. She huffed and went back to Hailey’s car. “I’m going to tell Dante to watch for them to come back while we go get ice cream.” 

“Mak, it’s freezing out here,” Hailey said, laughing and climbing back in her vehicle.

“But it’s not freezing inside the ice cream parlor,” Mak pointed as she dug around for the radio. “Dante. Hailey is taking me for ice cream. Watch out for them to come back and if they do, let us know right away. ” 

Torres chuckled over the radio and said, “Will do, but I better get some ice cream, too.” 

Over ice cream, Hailey asked, “Where did you get the idea for a boat?” 

“Javi,” she replied, mixing the topping on her ice cream until they were well blended. “He told me Stella and Severide got married on a boat and his mom told his dad that it was sooooo romantic.” 

“It was a good idea,” Hailey said as she picked the candy bar toppings off her ice cream one by one. “So was this.” 

“Uncle Jay told me once you have ‘sweet tooth’ and he always buys you candy bars when you are feeling sad like how my dad buys me a new stuffed animal,” Mak told her, looking up and shrugging. “You’ve been really sad lately.” 

“You are a good kid, Mak,” Hailey said, touched by the sweet gesture. 

Mak smiled and dug into her ice cream. 

Torres let them know when he spotted Kim and Adam heading back to the marina and they raced to get back. 

“What if we miss them?” Mak chewed on a nail. 

“We won’t,” Hailey promised, keeping the speed limit and safely navigating the turns. 

They arrived at the United Center well ahead of schedule. 

“Are you Makayla?” A woman with a clipboard stepped out alongside Severide and Stella to meet them as they walked up from the parking lot. 

“Yes!” She replied, jumping in excitement. “My mom and dad are on the way.” 

Hailey was just glad Severide was able to use some of his connections from fire inspections to get them a pass into the arena. They had already gotten the go-ahead on the fire truck and boat by the time they started hashing out the Jumbotron and realized they couldn’t guarantee Kim and Adam would get on the Kiss Cam at the Blackhawks game. A few phone calls later and Severide swung a tour of the arena with the building manager and rink-side seats for that night’s game for Kim and Adam. 

And she gave them a one-hundred percent guarantee that the Kiss Cam would choose them first. The rest of them bought cheap seats that still had a view of the seat Kim and Adam would be occupying so that they could watch the Blackhawks and the couple on their date at the same time. 

When Voight pulled up with Kim and Adam in his back seat, the two got out and linked their hands together casually. Mak excitedly slapped at Hailey’s arm when she saw. 

“Aunt Hailey. They are holding hands,” she squealed. 

“I see that,” Hailey said with amusement. If she was honest, she was a little surprised. Kim and Adam had been dancing around each other as long as she had known them. Even during the time she was dating Adam, she was pretty sure looking back that they both held a torch for each other then. 

“Alright, that’s them,” Mak told the building manager.  

“Perfect,” she replied, waving over a young man in a suit with a badge for the building. “I’m going to take them on a tour, but I thought you might like to see the place for yourself. Nate is going to take you guys around.” 

Makayla cheered. “Awesome! Are Kelly and Stella coming too?” 

“Sure are, kiddo.” Stella grinned. 

Two hours and one sleepy kid later, they made it to their seats after seeing what Hailey suspected was only a fraction of the building, but the coolest parts for Mak’s benefit. She wasn’t sure Mak could have held out for a whole tour. They bought dinner at the concession stands and Mak was tiredly lifting cheese-soaked chips one at a time to slowly munch on while they watched the players make practice runs on the ice. 

“You going to make it through this game?” Hailey asked her, waving Torres, Kevin, Trudy and Mouch, and the Bodens over. Terrance quickly took a seat next to Mak.

“I’m going to stay awake,” Mak said firmly. “I want to see my plan all the way through.” 

“What plan?” Terrance asked, taking one of Mak’s nachos. 

Mak went into a full discussion about the plan down to every minor detail and what had happened so far that day. Terrance listened to her skeptically, but nodded along when she got to the part about the helicopter they planned to be part of the finale of the night. 

The game got underway and they all got lost in the excitement of cheering on their team. Everyone had nearly forgotten about the reason they were there until Kim and Adam’s faces were smiling out of the Jumbotron screen. 

Adam pointed it out first and Kim’s gaze snapped up. She covered her face and the blush that was spreading on her cheeks with her hands. Adam laughed and dropped an adoring kiss on her cheek, then smirked at the screen. The crowd cheered for more, but Adam waved them away. 

Mak stomped her foot and crossed her arms. “They didn’t kiss right.” 

“Maybe they don’t want to kiss,” Terrance suggested, sharing his popcorn with Mak. “Plus, if they start kissing they do it all the time. It’s so gross.” 

Hailey caught the Chief and Donna laughing at their son and Boden leaned over to give his wife a big kiss on the cheek when the camera found them, too. 

“Aunt Hailey,” Mak said, voice wobbling. “It’s ruined.” 

“Do you think Kim and Adam have had fun together today?” Hailey asked her, looping her arm over Mak’s shoulder to give her a hug. 

Mak sniffled. “Yeah.” 

“The absolute best days are just spending them with people we care about,” she told her. “So, even if your mom and dad don’t start dating because of this, you made sure they had a really nice day with each other and I bet they appreciate that so much.” 

“But they won’t live happily ever after,” she said, head bowed. 

“Do they still love each other even if they are only best friends?” 

Mak nodded. 

“Do they love you?” 

“Of course, they tell me all the time,” she said, looking up at Hailey, eyes a little watery. 

“Then that sounds like happily ever after to me,” Hailey told her, squeezing her shoulders. 

Mak wiped her nose on her cheese-covered napkin in her hand and Hailey deftly switched it out for a clean one. 

“Yeah, it does, doesn’t it?” Mak agreed with a nod. 

The game ended in a win and Torres ran to catch Kim and Adam and whisk them away to the next event Mak had planned to finish off the night. 

By the time Hailey and Mak made it to the parking lot by the concrete landing pad, Mak was asleep and the area was deserted. Hailey kept an eye out on their surroundings and was a little relieved when she saw two sets of headlights turn into the lot. Mouch parked his car next to hers and Trudy pulled in with Adam’s Jeep right beside him. When Hailey checked the back of her car, Mak was fast asleep. She cranked the heater up a little more to ward off the chill of outside. Trudy and Mouch both got out of their vehicles, so Hailey joined them. 

“Thanks again, Mouch,” Hailey told him as she walked up, shoving her hands in her pockets to keep them from cramping up without her gloves. “We couldn’t have pulled this off without you.” 

“Oh, you know, it was about time I really buried the hatchet with Rutledge anyway. It will be worth it if those crazy kids finally make it work,” he said humbly. “You still coming around for dinner on Thursday? Sylvie and Violet said they can make it.” 

“Wouldn’t miss it,” Hailey told him. Brett had started calling the weekly dinners Mouch and Trudy bullied them into “Lonely Hearts Night” and it usually ended with the three of them at one another’s apartments watching a movie with wine and too many carbs. 

“Well, I think it’s about time we turned in,” Trudy said, checking her watch. “The lovebirds are set to land in about five minutes. You good?” 

Hailey nodded. “And Mak’s down for the count.” 

“She had a lot of work to do today. She’s probably exhausted.” Trudy chuckled, passing her Adam’s keys. “Goodnight, Upton.” 

“Night,” she said, waving as they both climbed into Mouch’s car and drove off. 

Looking up at the night sky, she sighed. As cliche as it sounded, it was nice to know she and Jay were looking at the same moon and stars. A few minutes later, a brighter light closer to the ground caught her eye and she leaned against the hood of her SUV waiting for the helicopter carrying Adam and Kim to land. 

The helicopter came into the landing pad with a rush of wind coming off the spinning blade. Adam jumped out and turned to help Kim with two hands around her waist. Hailey smiled when they started to walk toward her and one of Adam’s arms was still firmly around Kim. 

“Have a nice night?” She asked when they got within hearing distance over the helicopter as it took off again. 

“It was great,” Adam told her, his smile wide. “Mak really planned all of this?” 

Hailey nodded. “I kept the drawings. You’ll have to see them when you’re back to work on Thursday. Platt swung two days off in a row for you guys.” 

Adam and Kim both blinked at her in surprise. 

“No wonder Makayla’s been walking around like she was guarding state secrets. How did you pull all of this off?” Kim asked her. 

“With a lot of help. I think we’ve called in every favor we had and then some. We wanted to make it happen for Mak.” Hailey nodded down toward the arm Adam had around Kim. “And for you guys.” 

Kim and Adam both looked at each other with slightly alarmed expressions, like they couldn’t quite believe how many people were invested in them. 

“Mak’s already asleep in my car. If you want, I can take her for the night and you two can have a little more time alone,” Hailey told them. Both Kim and Adam glanced at each other again, their looks a bit shy now. “Just an offer.” 

“I-“ Kim hesitated, then nodded. “I think that would be good. We have a lot to talk about.” 

“Glad to see you two are finally doing it.” Hailey smirked and Adam groaned. 

“You and Jay are never going to let that go,” he said with a sigh. 

“Not a chance,” she told him, tossing him his keys. 

“I’m going to check on Makayla before we go, I haven’t seen her all day,” Kim told him. “Start the heater for me?” 

“Will do,” he said with a grin, dropping a kiss in her forehead. “Give Mak that kiss for me.” 

Hailey opened the backdoor by Makayla quietly and Kim leaned in and pressed a kiss to her daughter’s forehead, causing her to stir. 

“Mom?” She mumbled as she began to wake. 

“Hey, sweetie. Want to stay at Aunt Hailey’s tonight for a sleepover?” Kim asked her, smoothing back her hair softly. 

“Mmm, sure,” she said through a yawn. “Did you and dad have fun on the helicopter?” 

“We had the best time,” Kim told her. “Go back to sleep, okay? Love you bunches.” 

Mak nodded back off before she even got the door shut. Kim looked at the closed door a moment, then turned to Hailey, who was leaning against the hood on the passenger side. 

“Is it bad that I’m terrified of all of this?” Kim asked her. 

Hailey shook her head. “It’s a big thing. A big change.” 

“But is it?” Kim rubbed at her forehead. “This is Adam. I trust Adam. I love Adam. We already live together. We have Makayla.” 

“It’s still going to be different and that’s scary. Any change is.” Hailey shrugged. 

“Yeah.” Kim acquiesced. “There’s just-…Adam and I have so much history and I don’t know if we have it in us to drop that baggage. Then I look at what you are going through and what I’ve been through in the last year and…and I’m terrified.” 

“Maybe this isn’t about what you guys were eight years ago. Or even three years ago. Maybe it’s about what you can be now,” Hailey told her, reaching out to lay a supportive hand on her shoulder. “And don’t let what is going on with me and Jay scare you off of a good relationship. We’re…we’re somewhere right now that neither of us expected to be, but I wouldn’t go back and erase a single second I’ve had with him, even the ones that have been really hard to deal with.” 

Kim nodded and blinked rapidly, her eyes shining. “I think you might be right. I just don’t know. I don’t know how this will end. I feel like I’m fighting it harder because I know it’s not a guarantee and I know it might not be us that decides when it ends.” 

Kim’s hand drifted down to her abdomen and pressed it in a way Hailey had seen her do often since coming back to work from recovering after Roy.  

She knew that she needed to sit Kim down some day soon and confess what had happened that night. Kim deserved to know and Hailey knew it might damage their friendship and drag both her and Jay’s demons out in the open in the process, but nothing good was coming of keeping it locked behind a door only she and Voight knew existed. 

She remembered standing over Sean and telling Voight not to call it in. How, after a moment, she snapped to and felt what Jay must have that night he left. She hated that inhuman coldness as it crept in and hated being consumed by the lies she would have to keep telling even more. 

They were killing her. 

And if she didn’t stop it some time soon, they would kill everything she and Jay had together. 

But, it wasn’t a night for her confessions. 

It was a night where Kim and Adam could finally piece together the puzzle they had been working on for nearly a decade. 

“Don’t be afraid of having something for just a moment, Kim,” Hailey told her. “Even if it ends, it will have been really special.” 

“It always has been,” Kim said quietly, looking over the hood of the car to Adam, watching them from the driver’s seat of the Jeep. “Thank you for doing this. Thank all of you guys.” 

She wrapped her up in a quick hug, then hurried through the cold night to the warm Jeep. Hailey rounded the car and settled behind the wheel. Her headlights caught the front of the Jeep as she turned to leave and she saw Kim cross the center console to give Adam a passionate kiss. 

She smiled as she pulled out onto the street, looking up at the moon and the barely visible stars as she drove home, Mak still fast asleep.