Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

It’s been the best summer of her life.

She has a car so that she and Kim can go basically wherever they want (mostly to Canaryville).

She has a whole group of really great friends which means four more reasons to get out of the house.

Between working more hours at the diner like she often does in the summer and hanging out with Kim and the guys, she’s spending very little time at home.

And she has a really hot boyfriend.

She’d never really let herself imagine what it would be like to have a boyfriend.

To go on dates and kiss him over the center console in her car.

But even if she had imagined it, it wouldn’t come anywhere close to this.

Being with Jay is everything she could never have imagined and she thinks a lot of girls probably say this but he’s everything to her.

She loves him and she can’t fathom the idea of ever not loving him.

And some sixteen year olds might say that lightly but not Hailey.

‘I love you’ has always been a complicated phrase in her family.

The idea of saying it out loud is impossible. Even just admitting it to herself was hard enough.

But she does.

Her life isn’t perfect by any means.

Her dad still gets drunk, especially when he’s watching sports.

Still grabs her, slamming her against the wall and looming over her as the smell of the alcohol on his breath washes over her.

Still throws things.

Still hits her with whatever he can get his hands on when she isn’t quite able to appease the shaky logic of his drunk mind.

But Jay is great at knowing the right thing to say when she IMs him afterward, either sneaking down to use the computer after her parents are asleep or from Kim’s.

He’s better at first aid too. Hockey (and possibly Carl Redmond) has made him good with injuries.

He’s talked Kim through patching some of them up over the phone and once she’d even gotten her friend to drive her over to his house in the middle of the night.

Has re-wrapped a couple of sprains the day after with such gentle efficiency that she thinks maybe he should be the doctor instead of Will.

(Will is going to be an amazing doctor but she thinks Jay would make a kick ass physical therapist someday if hockey doesn’t work out.)

Of course he’s her new best kept secret.

A lot more people know that they’re together than know about her dad. She did kiss him in front of the entire stadium at the State Championship after all.

And after he’d just won the game and everyone was already kind of staring at him too.

But somehow making sure her dad never finds out she has a boyfriend seems more essential than keeping people from finding out about her dad ever has.

Cause she doesn’t think he’ll take it well.

And it sucks because Jay is th kind of guy that most parents would love to have their daughter bring home.

He’s kind, smart and respectful.

He’s well-groomed; showers regularly, brushes his teeth and doesn’t reek of alcohol or tobacco.

He gets good grades, mostly A’s with the occasional B.

He’s a talented student athlete who’s already caught the attention of a handful of college scouts and will almost certainly be offered plenty of scholarships, some of them full-ride, to go to college.

He’s been working part time almost as long as she has and already has savings.

Despite the fatct that they use her car when they go out, he’s just as careful about making sure they finish in time for her to get home before curfew.

And while they’ve had a few make-out sessions, he’s respectful about his hands and hasn’t tried to take things further.

Mrs. Burgess certainly gushes about him almost as much as she does about Adam.

Not to mention Adam’s dad is obviously fond of him as are Mouse’s parents.

And his own parents couldn’t hide how proud they are of their son if they tried (which his mom definitely does not).

So she knows that normal parents would be thrilled to have their kid hanging out with him.

That if Kim and Adam weren’t so perfect for each other, Mrs. Burgess would happily welcome Jay dating her daughter.

But Hailey’s parents aren’t most parents.

Hailey’s dad has always been a little over protective about boys. A lot of dads are and Hailey isn’t just his little girl, she’s his youngest child.

When Billy Cohen had kissed her when they were seven (on the cheek) he’d told her to be careful about boys, about their intentions.

Had gone over to speak to Billy’s parents.

So she’d always been a little worried about how he would react if she mentioned a boy.

How that reaction would come back the next time that he was drunk.

And she doesn’t know how Jay will react to meeting him anyway so she figures its best to keep them separated anyway.

Two more years.

And then everything will be fine.

Chapter Text

Bridget Halstead likes to throw a party.

They’re almost always potluck type affairs, the family can’t exactly afford to straight out feed everyone that the woman tends to invite to them.

Today its an annual back to school barbecue.

Pat is every cliche right now, perched over the grill with tools in hand or close by, a stack of raw meat on one side, cooked meat on the other and a beer in his hand.

The first time she’d been around the man when alcohol was involved she’d been terrified.

Convinced that this was the moment that he’d turn out to be just like her dad.

But Pat never has more than two and quite often seems to prefer to nurse one the entire night and she’d slowly relaxed.

He’s a little looser, more readily affectionate with his boys when he’s drinking but he never has enough to become a different person entirely.

She and Jay hover around his mother for a little bit whilst his dad is cooking, listening to her tell anyone who will listen stories about her boys, mostly Will tonight.

Will who is starting college next week.

Hailey had attended his graduation in May, standing next to Jay and competing to see who could cheer louder as his brother had walked across the stage.

She’d introduced him to her brothers a few weeks ago, telling them that if they behaved themselves she might introduce them to Jay next.

It had been a mistake, of course, to put the two sets of teasing older brothers together but Will does seem comforted to know that he’ll know someone on campus so she can’t regret it too much.

Logan and Alan are supposed to be here tonight though they won’t arrive for another hour or so due to their work schedules.

Just as Hailey reaches the point where she’s laughing so hard she can’t breathe, Pat calls Jay over and he kisses her before jogging over to join his dad by the grill.

“What’s this?” Will protests. “Dad never lets us near the grill.”

“Your brother asked for his help with something.” Bridget says, waving off his protests. “Now tell me more about this Natalie. Are you sure she can’t make it this evening?”

“She’s working.” Will says. “I’ll introduce you soon.”

Hailey drifts away, heading toward the grill to see what Jay and Pat are doing but being intercepted by Kim and Adam.

They’re planning some coordinated couples outfit for the first day of school despite attending different schools.

It’s exactly the kind of over the top romantic that somehow works for them and she listens with a grin as they explain it, trying not to laugh.

And then suddenly Jay is there with that hesitant, unsure look on his face and a plate in his hands.

“I uh, don’t know if it’s any good.” He says, fingers twitching and she can tell that he would be rubbing the back of his neck if his hands were free. “But I know you like it so I asked dad if we could try..”

He trails off, looking nearly terrified but she feels like her heart might burst.

He’s made her souvlaki.

It’s probably good. The seasoning balance can be a little tricky sometimes but it’s generally a pretty easy dish to make.

Though to be honest, she doesn’t much care what it tastes like.

Jay cares enough about her to attempt a traditional Greek dish at the family barbecue despite knowing that she would have been happy enough with the usual hot dogs and hamburgers.

Pat was willing to forgo his usual rules, between Will’s words and a few encounters she’s witnessed tonight she can tell that the man considers his grill to be sacred, that he doesn’t let just anyone touch it, to help his son try to impress his girlfriend.

The whole thing is a little overwhelming.

She should probably say something soon though, before Jay gives himself a panic attack thinking that he’s messed this up.

Which is the furthest possible thing from the truth.

“You made me souvlaki?” She asks softly, stepping closer.

“Yeah.” He says. “Is that okay?”

“How are you so sweet?” She asks, stepping into his space to kiss him quickly.

“Good upbringing?” He offers. “My mom would have drowned me in the tub if I wasn’t.”

Hailey is pretty sure that Bridget Halstead would do nothing of the sort.

The woman may have raised two boys with impeccable manners who are incredibly thoughtful but Hailey would bet her car that if they’d gone the route of serial killer she would adore them every bit as much as she does now.

Which makes Hailey think of her own mom who barely acknowledges she has children most days.

Who hadn’t proudly told the neighbors; and the cashier at the market, and the ticket attendant at a movie theater, when her sons had been accepted at the University of Chicago.

Who hadn’t done more than politely clap when her sons had graduated from High School.

She brushes off the melancholy thoughts to laugh at Jay’s joke.

“Remind me to thank her.” She says, winking at him and reaching for the plate.

It’s good.

She shouldn’t be surprised. She’s had Bridget’s cooking on several occasions now and sampled a little bit of Pat’s grilling at the Nomo Sate party.

Both of Jay’s parents are great cooks and she has no doubt they were both involved to some degree.

Over the next hour, Adam and Bridget take turns regaling her with stories of how this dish had come to be.

Of trips to the library and then a bookstore in search of the right recipe, of trial batches to pick one.

Apparently the Halsteads have had souvlaki for dinner eight times in the last month, not accounting for the two times a recipe had turned out so badly they’d had to order pizza.

Eventually, she takes pity on Jay, taking his hand and sneaking away from the storytellers; around the side of the house where she can thank him properly.

Which is, of course, when her brothers arrive.

Chapter Text

He’s been anxious about meeting Hailey’s brothers.

Not in the same vein as the possibility of ever meeting her dad.

He knows that won’t go well, that it will probably upset Hailey but he doesn’t think it will change their relationship.

But Hailey really cares what her brothers think and he worries that if they don’t like him, it won’t go well for him.

And he’d so hoped to make a better first impression than them walking up the driveway to find him making out with their little sister.

Thankfully, they’d seemed more amused than angry but he wonders if the appraising look in Logan’s eye would be quite so piercing otherwise.

Desperate to cover, he steps forward, extending his hand.

“You must be Logan.” He greets. “I’m Jay. It’s good to meet you.”

A similar greeting to Alan and then he’s leading the Upton siblings into the backyard and introducing them to his parents.

Alan seems to mellow quickly enough and it isn’t long before he doesn’t seem to care much about his sister’s boyfriend one way or another; preferring to dish up some food and then disappear to talk to Will about classes.

Logan isn’t so easy.

His face is unreadable as he studies the souvlaki that Hailey offers to share with him, telling him that Jay had made it for her.

Then the grilling begins.

He starts generic enough. What classes is Jay taking, does he have a job, and so on.

It isn’t long before he reaches the real question, however.

Does Jay make a habit of shoving his tongue down Logan’s sister’s throat?

The answer is yes.

Hailey is hot and he really likes kissing her.

Is pretty sure that she likes kissing him too.

But what is the correct response when it’s her oldest brother asking the question?

Lying won’t get him anywhere but being too flippant about it will make Logan angry.

“When she wants me too, yeah.” He says finally.

That earns a slight softening of tense eyebrows and he presses the advantage.

“I’m pretty crazy about your sister, Logan.” He says quietly. “But I do my best to be respectful and I hope she’ll let me know if she ever feels like I’m crossing a line.”

He glances at Hailey at that, hoping that his expression properly conveys that he would rather have her tell him to slow down or back off than to put up with something that makes her uncomfortable to avoid upsetting him.

She just smiles, squeezing his hand and he turns his attention back to her brother.

Logan is still staring at him with that same appraising look.

Then he smiles.

“This is pretty good souvlaki.” he says, raising the kebab he’s holding. “Not bad for your first try.”

Hailey bursts out laughing and Jay feels the tops of his ears heating up.

Logan frowns, glancing at his sister in confusion.

“You should ask his mom about that.” she manages. “Or I bet Will would love to tell you.”

“See if I ever learn how to cook something for you again.” he mutters.

She kisses his cheek.

“You’re adorable.” she tells him.

She’s too focused on teasing him to notice the downright predatory look that crosses her brother’s face but Jay sees it.

Would be worried if it wasn’t an expression he’s seen on Will’s face a time or two.

“So Dimples.” Logan says playfully. “When were you going to tell us that your boyfriend can cook?”

“Dimples?” Jay questions, eyes lighting up.

Hailey rolls her eyes but he can see a hint of pink in her cheeks.

“Oh yeah.” Logan says with a wide grin, stepping forward to sling an arm around Jay’s shoulders. “The stories that I could tell you about Dimples here.”

For a moment Jay considers turning him down but then he remembers how gleefully Hailey clings to any embarrassing stories that his mom, Will or Mouse offer to tell her.

“Stories?” he asks with a grin. “Well I sure would love to hear some.”

“I’m going to go find Kim.” Hailey grumbles but she doesn’t let go of his hand.

Logan is somewhat considerate with the stories that he chooses.

They’re embarrassing sure, it doesn’t take long before Jay is doubled over laughing. The same way, Hailey ruefully considers, that she usually is when she manages to convince Will or Mouse to share a story or two about him.

But Logan hasn’t told a single story that features either of their parents as more than a footnote.

She’s already told him that Jay knows everything and they’re far enough away from the rest of the party that she’s not really worried about someone overhearing if he did mention them but he seems to realize that it would bring down the mood.

Keeping the stories focused on Hailey and her siblings means that Jay can happily enjoy the chance to get back at Hailey a little for the gleeful way that she seeks out embarrassing stories about him.

Not that it’s hard to coax them out of his family and friends.

Hailey’s been safe up until this point because Kim is more loyal than that.

Logan is not.

And it’s only a matter of time before Alan gets in on it.

But somehow, Hailey finds that she doesn’t really mind.

Chapter Text

Being a Junior is hard.

Hailey’s taking as many advanced placement courses as she can and doing her best to keep her hours up at the diner.

She needs to save as much money as she can if she’s going to move out after graduation.

Kim’s looking for a job now too, the two of them excitedly talking about being roommates.

The hardest part is finding time to spend with Jay. He’s also taking a heavy course load and picking up extra work hours.

The skating rink won’t be open for another few months but since he’s actually employed by the city’s parks and recreation department, he’s able to pick up shifts at other properties.

Mostly he’s cleaning up litter at local parks and she’s heard plenty when they steal a few hours before bed to chat about how disgusting people can be.

And sadly, those late night chats are sometimes the only time she gets to spend with him during the week.

He and Adam usually end up at Kim’s at some point on Saturday or Sunday but that time is spent with the four of them trying to get on top of their homework.

She misses him.

And it’s only going to get worse when hockey starts.

And then she breaks her arm.

Well, she didn’t break it but she sure as hell gets to be the one to deal with it being broken for the next six to eight weeks.

It happens the last week of August, just when the chaos at school has really set in.

Thankfully, it’s her right arm so she can still write but even with that, everything seems to be taking twice as long because her casted arm isn’t as good at holding the paper steady.

She doesn’t always have time to chat with Jay before bed and even when she does, it’s a shorter conversation because she’s having to hunt and peck rather than typing properly.

And Jay is upset.

Not with her, she doesn’t think, but his previous acceptance of her choice not to go to the police seems to have taken a hit.

She’s pretty sure that he’s trying not to question her but it slips out three time in the first two weeks that she’s in the cast and she’s tired.

Yes it hurt, yes she knows this is serious but she’s made her mind up.

That weekend they cut study time a little short so the two of them can go off alone for a minute.

It’s just a quick run to the burger place around the block but it’s the most time they’ve had in weeks.

He hasn’t even mentioned her dad all day, instead sticking with asking about her arm.

How is it feeling? Three more weeks? Is she still icing it? What is she taking for pain? How is she doing with school?

And she knows he’s just worried but she learned a long time ago not to talk about these things.

Stick to the story. No unnecessary details. Don’t complain.

And talking about her feelings?

Uptons don’t do that.

So before she knows it, she’s snapping at him.

Again.

"So then why don't you ask the real question?" She growls. "What's wrong with me, exactly how screwed up am I, and at what point do you cut your losses and run? Cause that’s what you really wanna know, Jay. I can’t answer that.”

“What?” He asks, blinking in shock and confusion. “No, I -”

“I can’t deal with this right now.” She snaps, getting up and walking out the door.

She’s been sitting in her driveway crying for nearly a half hour by the time she processes the fact that she’s left him stranded.

“Shit.” She mutters, throwing the car into gear.

She comes around the corner just in time to see Will’s car pull up in front of the restaurant and swerves into the auto repair shop’s parking lot.

Where she sits for almost five minutes, creepily watching as Jay climbs into his brother’s car and then they proceed to sit there.

Presumably talking about how much of a bitch she is.

She drags a hand through her hair, slamming a fist on the steering wheel.

What is she doing?

Has she just lost him for good? Despite everything that he’s put up with from her so far.

Was she stupid to ever think that she could make this work?

Will is pissed.

Not at him, except maybe for insisting that they not tell their parents about this.

But he keeps muttering something about having an understanding and how dare she and Jay’s pretty sure that Hailey is at the top of his brother’s shit list right now.

No matter how many times Jay insists that it wasn’t her fault.

Because he’d promised Hailey that he would never try to tell her what to do about her dad and he’d broken that promise.

It had just been so hard seeing her hurting like that, to see her efforts at school hindered by her father’s drunken temper.

And not being able to talk every night like they usually do just makes it harder.

He has a hard time sleeping without that nightly confirmation that she’s okay.

Especially with the nightmare fuel that the idea of her dad knocking her down a flight of stairs had planted in his mind.

He probably should have just said that instead of breaking his promise.

Instead of nagging when Hailey clearly wasn’t up for it.

Why does he keep getting this so wrong?

Chapter Text

Will’s life was so much simpler before his brother met Hailey Upton.

He wants to like her, really he does.

She’s a sweet girl in a shitty situation and he can tell that his brother means the world to her.

Maybe even so far as to say that she loves him though he suspects Jay will be waiting a while to hear that one.

But it’s so damn hard when she keeps breaking his little brother’s heart like this.

And even harder listening to Jay explain why it’s not Hailey’s fault but his. Listening to him talk about a promise that he’d made and how he’d screwed up and broken it.

And whatever his brother did, whatever mine he’d triggered in this minefield that he’s waded into for this girl who has his heart in a vice grip, Will is pretty sure it didn’t warrant being yelled at.

This time or the last time it had happened.

And maybe that’s a biased big brother talking but he’s pretty sure an impartial observer would agree that Jay didn’t deserve to be abandoned a twenty minute drive from home.

Left with the choice of calling his brother for a ride or navigating the nightmare of transfers that a bus ride from Greek Town to Canaryville entails.

And he has some evidence there because even Hailey’s brothers had been horrified by what she’d done.

He’d been over at their apartment, studying with Alan for a class that they are both taking this semester (and borrowing his notes for another class that Will is taking that Alan had taken last year) when Jay had called.

Logan had offered to go pick him up himself, and possibly to have a conversation with his little sister, but Will had turned him down.

He’s pretty sure Jay isn’t up for talking to his girlfriend (ex girlfriend?)’s brother right now.

And he doesn’t think that hearing Logan tell him that Hailey had been out of line would make Jay feel any better.

So he’d picked him up, arguing in the parking lot of the burger joint for almost five minutes about whether or not Will was going to say something to their parents about this before Will had given in.

Jay had gone for a run as soon as they’d gotten home. He’d been gone for hours; well past dark and late enough to have their mom in a frenzy and their dad reaching for his coat and the car keys to go look for him by the time Jay had gotten home.

He’d been drenched in sweat and shivering despite the warm September night by that point and Will is pretty sure that’s the only thing that had spared him a lecture for being out so late.

Will watches as he’s herded up the stairs by their mom, rambling about warm baths and blankets and maybe even hot cocoa.

And he makes a decision.

He has to message Kim to find out when Hailey is working and skips class to go out to the diner.

It’s the first time in his life that he’s skipped class but it’s a class he’s doing well in so he’ll be okay.

And Jay is worth it.

All color drains from Hailey’s face when she sees him walk through the door and he can’t help but take grim satisfaction from that.

She’d made his little brother cry.

Jay will never admit it but Will knows that hadn’t all been sweat running down his face.

She doesn’t take long before asking the other teen working to cover the counter while she takes a break and Will has to give her that.

“I was so stupid.” She mutters, looking at her feet as they step out the back door. “I didn’t even consider that I was his ride home until… well I went racing back only to get there right as you pulled up and by then… it was too late and I… I’m sorry.”

“Why do you keep doing this?” He asks quietly.

“I don’t even know.” She says. “I just.. I panicked and I… I keep panicking and I keep hurting him and I… I don’t know.”

She’s picking at the cast on her right wrist as she talks, clearly some kind of anxious tick.

Will deflates.

Jay hasn’t told any of them what Hailey’s secret is. Even when he’d been hunched over in Will’s passenger seat trying to explain how he messed up, he hadn’t betrayed her trust that way.

But Will’s not stupid. There’d been a kid in his class in the third grade who’d been taken from his parents by DCFS because his dad was beating him and his siblings.

Hailey covers a lot better than Kenny ever had, probably from years of experience, but Will’s sees a lot of the same signs.

And he can’t imagine the emotional roller coaster that living through that has put her on.

But what he can imagine is the roller coaster that loving her has put Jay on.

“He probably hates me.” She chokes out.

“No.” Will says, shaking his head. “He doesn’t. I don’t know if he could hate you. You don’t even need to apologize for him to forgive you without hesitation. And he’ll do it again and again. But Hailey, you can’t keep doing this to him. You have to find a way to stop the panicking and lashing out. Please.”

He turns to walk away.

He’s said what he needed to say but he can’t be the one to help her find the stability to let Jay ground her instead of pushing him away.

“Maybe I should just let him go.” She says quietly. “So that I stop hurting him.”

Will sighs.

Does a part of him want that? Sure. But it won’t work.

“Hailey.” He says, turning back. “I genuinely don’t believe there is anything in this world that you could do that would hurt him more than if you did that.”

Her face falls slightly, tears rolling down her cheeks and he sighs.

“I know it’s scary.” He says, letting out a breath. “But it’s okay to let yourself be happy. To let Jay make you happy. And that means letting him worry about you sometimes.”

She sniffles.

“Thanks, Will.”

“Don’t thank me.” He says, shaking his head. “Just… just take care of him, okay?”

“I will.” She promises.

And he really hopes she can keep it.

Chapter Text

She almost climbs through his window again but she’d promised Bridget that she wouldn’t so instead she messages him before she leaves.

He’s waiting out front when she arrives, crossing the lawn to lean against the hood next to her.

“You came.” she says, having half expected him to hide inside to avoid her; send someone else out to send her away; despite what Will had said.

“You asked me to.”

She stares at him for a minute, taking in the quiet support in his eyes.

He’s letting her take the lead here, to say what she needs to say.

“I don’t think I ever really learned how to do it properly.” she says quietly. “Relationships, intimacy. Telling people how I feel.”

His eyes just soften even further and she sighs.

“You can’t do that in my house.” she admits. “Talking about injuries, how you’re feeling; that’s just… asking for someone to see the holes in your story and realize how it really happened. I know you were just worried, that you know exactly what the real story is but I just…”

She trails off and sighs.

He doesn’t need to hear this. He understands that she’d felt cornered and panicked.

“Look.” she says. “I don’t know how to do this, but I want to. I want to so badly.”

She takes a deep breath, choking back a sob and he reaches across the take her hand.

“I wanna be with you.” she continues. “I wanna learn to do this, I want to be better.”

“Then we’ll figure it out.” he cuts in, squeezing her hand. “Cause I wanna be with you too.”

He turns to face her, pushing off the hood and she follows his lead, eyes closing as the fingers of his right hand bury themselves in the hair at the nape of her neck.

“And I’m not going anywhere, Hailey.” he promises. “Really, I’m not.”

He pulls her into a hug and she rests her head against his chest, allowing a few tears to leak from her eyes.

Sighs as she feels the tension leaving her body.

They sit on the hood of her car, clasped hands resting over her right knee as they talk.

She knows they have an audience. Wonders what his mom must be thinking right now.

She knows how Will feels. Could read it in his eyes at her work the other day.

The warring instincts of wanting to like her and wanting to despise her with everything he has for the way she’s treated his brother.

She isn’t sure how much Bridget knows of either of her explosions, how much Jay or Will would have told her.

“Don’t worry about them.” Jay says, squeezing her hand as he notices her distraction. “There’s some mixed feelings right now but they like you.”

“Maybe they shouldn’t.” she says quietly.

“But I like you.” he says, meeting her eyes.

There’s something more in his eyes but he doesn’t say it and she’s grateful for that. Isn’t ready for that.

“I’m really sorry, Jay.”

“I know.” he says. “I am too. I should have just talked to you about what was bothering me, instead of breaking my promise.”

She turns toward him, tucking one leg underneath her.

“I have nightmares sometimes.” he says quietly. “About you getting hurt. Like… something serious not just painful and inconvenient. It’s better when we talk before you go to bed because then I kind of know you’re safe for the night. And then he pushed you down the stairs and I…”

“It was only the one step.” Hailey says when he trails off, trying to comfort him. “I just landed wrong at the bottom.”

“I know that.” he says. “Just… really easy for my brain to substitute the full flight that I went down and, ya know, the injuries that I ended up with in place of your broken arm and it, it was hard. But I shouldn’t have… I told you I would never try to tell you what to do and then I did anyway. I’m sorry.”

“I’m sorry too.” she says. “I don’t think I realized how hard it is, for you or for Kim, to see me hurt, to know how it happened and have to pretend to be okay with it. At least to hide how angry it makes you.”

“New deal?” he suggests. “I’ll tell you that I think he’s been an asshole but not what you should do about it.”

She giggles.

“I think I can work with that.”

“Am I allowed to worry about your injuries?” he asks. “Ask you how you’re feeling?”

“A little bit.” she agrees. “Just… not too much.”

“You’ll tell me when you’re tired of talking about it?” he requests. “Instead of letting me drive you crazy until you want to scream?”

“I promise.” she says, leaning forward to kiss him.

The kiss gets heated, the heightened emotions of the conversation and the last couple of days driving things even faster than usual.

Both of them are conscious of the fact that at least one member of his family are no doubt watching from the house but that doesn’t stop Jay’s left hand from snaking its way up her shirt.

She’d actually grabbed his wrist, guiding his hand under the hemline of her shirt, the first time this had happened.

His eyes had gone wide and she’d hesitated.

“I don’t mind.” she’d said after a moment. “If you want.”

He’s still super hesitant when it comes to pushing existing boundaries, to trying things that she hasn’t already proved that she’s okay with him doing.

And she appreciates the knowledge that he’ll never knowingly push her into something that she doesn’t want to do; that if she ever says she isn’t comfortable with something, he’ll stop immediately.

But sometimes she just wants him to touch her.

She’s abruptly reminded that now is not the time as the front door opens with a loud creak and Jay jumps back.

“Do you kids want to come inside?” Bridget calls. “Getting a little chilly out here, don’t you think?”

The giggle that escapes her at that is slightly hysterical and the look of horror on Jay’s face is somewhat comical.

Apparently she wasn’t the only one who had somewhat forgotten that his mom was probably watching.

She appreciates Bridget interrupting them now.

And knows that she could have been a LOT more embarrassing about it.

So she reaches for Jay’s hand.

“Shall we?”

Chapter Text

Today’s the day.

The first practice of a new hockey season.

He’s excited for today, though less so than usual, knowing that it will mean less time with Hailey.

And is he becoming that guy? The one who doesn’t want to be at practice because it takes away from time with his girlfriend?

She has his game schedule, has promised to make it to as many games as she can around her work schedule.

Has made him promise that when he’s on the ice, his attention will be on the ice because she doesn’t want him to be hurt because he’s distracted.

And he’s looking forward to getting back on the ice.

He skates onto the ice, sighing as he feels it gliding beneath his skates.

Olinski is already out there, setting up a trio of cones in the neutral zone.

He tosses a stack across to Jay, asking him to set up the other side.

It’s a familiar drill and Jay easily gets the cones lined up in mirror image to the ones that already set.

“Good to see you here early today kid.” Olinski says. “Gotta admit, I was a little worried.”

Jay grins.

“Lucky for you my girlfriend has a solid ‘skates on the ice, head on the ice’ policy.” he retorts. “And my mom always taught me that if something’s worth doing, it’s worth doing right.”

“Good to hear it.” Olinski returns with a chuckle.

Jay starts skating laps around the ice, taking advantage of the placement of the cones to work in some agility work.

As other players arrive for practice, they’re quick to follow his lead and by the time Olinski blows the whistle, the entire team is flying around the ice.

“Bring it in, bring it in.” Olinski calls and the team skates to center ice, surrounding their coach.

“Welcome to another year of Canaryville hockey.” Olinski says. “If you’ve been around, you know how we do things here, if not, you’ll learn.”

Jay grins.

Olinski isn’t a man for words but he’s still learned a lot from the man.

“We’ll start off with a continuous skills drill to warm up. Albert, Kyle, show us how it’s done. Hubert, I want you in the goal at the far end – Johnson will send you pucks and you do what you do. Everyone else, two lines at this end.”

Then he’s skating off and the rest of them follow.

Jay falls into a line, carefully watching the demo drill. He’s skated it before; hundreds of times at this point, but Albert Rosen is a master at it and he learns something evertime he watches the now Senior skate it.

As he’s gotten used to with Olinski, they skate sixty minutes of increasingly complex skills drills followed by thirty minutes of scrimmage play.

He’s exhausted by the time Olinski blows the final whistle, summoning them back to center ice.

“Good effort today.” he says, glancing around at them. “Get some rest and some decent food. We’ve got conditioning Wednesday and then one more practice Thursday before the season opener against Truman High on Friday night.”

Jay grins tiredly at that.

They’d opened against Truman last year too. Not only had it been an easy game but it’s also where Adam had met Kim and Hailey.

“Get out of here.” Olinski says. “Not you, Jay. Need to talk to you a min.”

It wouldn’t be a crowd of high school guys without the slightly jeering response to that, despite the fact that nobody actually thinks this will be a bad conversation.

Jay takes a couple slaps on the back as the others skate toward the locker room and lets himself glide slowly closer to the center of the rink.

“I’ll keep this short.” Olinski says. “I’m sure you have plans tonight.”

Jay feels the tips of his ears heating up.

Like you don’t.” he retorts.

“Even more reason to keep this short.” Olinski says without batting an eyelash. “You my friend, are already very popular.”

Jay frowns.

“What do you mean?”

College scouts wouldn’t have their eyes on him yet, not where he’s still a Junior, would they?

“You’ll be eligible for the draft your senior year.” Olinski says. “Which means agents will be looking to sign you this year so they can start arranging training camps and other opportunities to get eyes on you before then. I’ve already had four of them drop their cards off.”

He hands over business cards and Jay shuffles through them.

“NHL agents?” he gasps. “They’re interested in me?”

Olinski just chuckles.

“Yeah, kid.” he says. “They’re interested in you. These won’t be the cream of the crop, they’ll wait to see how you perform this year, to see if there’s consistency. The newer guys, the ones who don’t necessarily have the connections yet to compete with the big names, tend to shoot their shot early. Which isn’t to say they wouldn’t be good choices for you, just keep that in mind, alright?”

Jay nods, still staring at the cards in his hand.

“Got it, coach.” he mumbles. “Thanks.”

“You’re a good kid, Jay.” Olinski says with a hand on his shoulder. “Be careful with those guys. For every good agent out there, there’s five or six snakes. Keep your guard up.”

That tempers the excitement flooding through him a little bit and he nods more solemnly.

“I will.” he promises.

“Good.” Olinski says with a nod. “Good luck, Jay.”

“Thanks.” he says, taking the dismissal and skating toward the locker room.

NHL.

Wow.

Today really was the day.

Chapter Text

“Hey Sport.”

She looks up as her dad comes around the corner from the kitchen.

“Hey dad.”

“I know you’re busy with school but could you cover the Friday night shift?”

She frowns.

Friday night is the first hockey game of the season.

“Oh uh, actually Kim’s boyfriend has a hockey game that night.” She explains. “They’re playing Truman and we were all planning to be there to support him and Jay.”

“Another hockey game?” He says, looking surprised. “You’ve been going to a lot of those lately, Sport. Why the sudden interest?”

Because Union High has a really hot star forward but she has no intention of telling her dad that.

“Kim and I went to a game last year, just to say we’d done it.” She explains. “Only then Kim met Adam and they hit it off. And Adam introduced us to a bunch of his friends which is who we’ve been hanging out with lately. And a lot of them play hockey so we try to support them when we can.”

“Speaking of these friends.” Her dad says. “When am I going to meet them? You’re spending an awful lot of time with them.”

Uh… never?

But that probably won’t go well and part of her really wants to introduce her dad to Jay even if its never going to be as her boyfriend.

Because she kind of thinks if he meets him as just a friend of his daughter’s and not her boyfriend that he’ll really like him.

And she wants him to like him.

“Uh, I don’t know how many of them will make it all the way out to Truman this weekend but their home opener is next weekend. Maybe you could come?” She finds herself offering.

“You wanna be seen with your dad at a high school hockey game?” He asks, looking surprised.

“Sure.” She says, her tone a lot lighter than it feels. “Provided you promise to be cool. No dad jokes.”

And no alcohol, she adds silently.

“Be cool.” He repeats, scoffing. “I’m always cool.”

“Sure daddy.” She says, laughing.

“Wow.” he says, shaking his head. “I see how it is. Well you get me the time and date for this next game and I’ll figure it out.”

“Thanks dad.” She says, smiling as he disappears back into the kitchen and then frowning.

Is he going to have a problem with it if all of she and Kim’s new friends are guys?

Shit.

She brings it up when she IMs Jay that night, trying not to sound too much like she’s completely panicking and probably failing.

Jay is as calm as ever, letting her bumble out her concerns and then carefully asking if he can offer a possible solution.

What if he gets Will to bring Natalie and some of her friends?

She’s met Will’s girlfriend exactly twice and isn’t sure the college girl will want to come to a high school gameto pretend to be her friend but she’s trying to let Jay be there for her so she agrees to let him ask.

The next weekend, she and Kim walk into the arena with her dad, heading toward their usual seats.

Sitting with Will and Mouse she finds not only Natalie but six other girls.

They quickly jump in to introduce themselves to her dad (because she couldn’t if they’d given her the chance) chattering about how excited they are to meet Hailey’s dad.

They seem to know just enough about she and Kim to make sense with having met them a year ago and she realizes that Jay (and Will) must have taken the time to prep them.

She gets a moment with Natalie after the first period while her dad is busy talking hockey with Will and thanks her for coming.

“Don’t worry about it.” The older girl says quietly. “My dad would be weird about it too. And my friends were happy for an excuse not to study for once.”

Hailey smiles and turns back to the ice as the teams skate back out of the locker rooms.

She’s pretty sure that her dad had noticed Jay during the first period but it’s the second before he says something about it.

“This Halstead, that’s Adams’s friend, right?” He asks.

“Yeah.” She confirms, noticing the way Will has stiffened slightly. “Jay.”

“He’s good.” Her dad says. “Really good.”

“Yeah, he is.” She agrees. “He’s actually got NHL agents reaching out.”

His eyes widen slightly but he just nods.

“Impressive.” He says. “He deserves it though. You can tell he’s put a lot of work in. Maybe he’ll play for the Wings someday, huh?”

“Yeah, maybe.” She agrees with a smile despite knowing that Jay would never go for that.

The face that Will makes is confirmation enough, even if she hadn’t heard it directly from Jay, but he doesn’t say anything, not wanting to start a fight over sports teams.

She’s happy enough hearing her dad recognize how hard Jay works to be at the level that he is.

Will seems to agree.

“The agents who’ve reached out so far have been duds.” He says. “But that doesn’t stop mom from telling the neighbors, and the check out lady at the grocery store, and the librarian, and-”

He cuts off when Hailey punches him in the arm.

“Parent’s right.” Her dad says. “To be proud of our kids. And that’s an impressive achievement.”

Jay isn’t feeling it right now.

He’d reached out to the four agents who’d left cards with his coach but the meetings had been… less than inspiring.

All four had showed up with high priced escorts.

When Jay had insisted that he wasn’t interested in that, he’d been told that of course he was, that he was a star athlete in his prime, that it was okay to want that.

He’d gotten angry and told them that he had a girlfriend and that it was insulting to both of them to imply that he needed that to be satisfied.

Hailey had had to fight back a grin when he’d told her about that.

She knows that he’s disappointed and frustrated with how things had gone but it’s hard not to feel a little warm inside.

Not that she can tell her dad that without admitting that Jay is more than just a friend.

Still, she knows a lot of the early excitement that he’d felt when they’d first reached out has dimmed and wishes she knew what to say.

She knows his coach has talked to him, reassured him that they aren’t all like that and that it’s worth waiting for the decent ones.

She, Will and his mom have also done their best to encourage him.

Pat has been somewhat harsh, almost discouraging, in the name of realism and she knows it’s getting him down.

Then she shakes her head.

They’ll get there. She’ll find a way to help him achieve the dream that he’s had since he was a little boy.

But she has to survive tonight first, hopefully without her dad realizing what Jay really is to her.

Chapter Text

They meet Jay and Adam by the locker rooms after the game.

Her dad has insisted on buying hot chocolate for all of her friends and it’s almost enough to make her feel bad for bringing seven girls, most of whom she hadn’t met before tonight, as a smokescreen for the fact that all of she and Kim’s friends are guys.

But to be honest, Natalie’s friends are really nice and she knows that Kim has exchanged numbers with several of them without her dad noticing so she suspects they’ll be hanging out more in the future.

And a cynical part of her suggests that the extra couple dollars for seven probably unnecessary hot cholocates is the least her dad owes her.

Jay plays his role well, never once giving away that Hailey is more to him than his friend’s girlfriend’s friend, but she finds herself wishing more than ever that they didn’t have to play this game.

That she could hold his hand and tell her dad that this was her boyfriend.

That she’s crazy about him and even thinks he might be the one.

Especially as the two quickly fall into an easy conversation.

Her dad has never played hockey as far as she knows but he does love it.

So the two end up pulling away from the group to talk NHL. Jay is careful to steer the conversation away from teams, he can’t pretend he’s not a Blackhawk boy at heart so he doesn’t mention it, but they seem to share a lot of common ground as far as players.

And in an ironic twist, her dad is being a hell of a lot more supportive of his NHL dreams than his is right now.

Reiterating what she knows Olinski has told him a couple of times that the better agents are just waiting to see if he was a ‘one hit wonder’ his Sophomore year or if he’ll continue playing at the same level before they start to make their offers.

Telling him what an incredible player he is the same way that she and his mom do but with the added seasoning of throwing in comparisons to players that they both love to reinforce it.

She sees a confused, pensive look on Will’s face a couple times and wonders, not for the first time, how much he knows.

She knows Jay hasn’t told him. He’d promised that he wouldn’t and she believes him.

But she thinks he’s probably guessed a lot more than she would like.

Or, than she would have liked six months ago.

She’s discovered that she’s strangely okay with it now. With the idea that not only Will, but Bridget, Pat, Adam, and Mouse all probably know to some extent.

Even so, she’s not sure exactly how much he knows but she knows it’s probably weird for him to interact with her dad.

To face the same conundrum that she has been for years.

That her dad isn’t some monster with green skin, fangs and horns.

That he’s a normal guy who’s actually pretty decent most of the time.

Who gets drunk and does horrible things.

But when he isn’t drunk, he’s the kind of guy that will sit and talk about hockey with a friend of his daughter’s.

Reassure a teenage boy that he absolutely has what it takes to make it in the NHL.

That he just needs to be patient and wait for the right agent.

And Jay is soaking it up.

Which makes her wonder what Pat would think if he knew that his attempts to ‘be realistic’ about his son’s chances have driven him to so readily accept encouragement from a man that Jay was primed to hate.

Because she knows damn well what Jay thinks of her dad.

That for Jay to call Steven Upton an asshole would be an understatement of his feelings on the matter.

And yet here he is, hanging on the man’s every word.

She’s pretty sure Will is thinking the same thing.

People start to drift off for the night, all of the girls hugging Hailey goodbye as they go.

Jay and Will had been planning to be among the first to leave but Jay has gotten sucked into the conversation and finally Will has to pull him away, reminding him that they have a family thing in the morning.

Hailey forces herself to only wave goodbye without even getting up from where she’s seated talking to Kim and Adam.

Finally, they get up and leave themselves.

Her dad had driven his own truck, having some things he’d needed to do at the diner before the game so she is in her car with Kim and Adam who they will drop off before heading for Greek Town.

“Well that went… well.” Adam says slowly as they pull away. “Your dad is … nicer than I expected.”

She glances in the rear view mirror at him and he blanches.

“I know you don’t want people to know but my dad is a cop and I… I’m not always the most observant but it wasn’t THAT hard to put two and two together and I-”

“It’s okay Adam.” She cuts him off. “This is why I didn’t have a lot of friends before Kim met you. Because it’s not really hard to figure it out. But it’s … it’s okay that you did. Just… please don’t tell your dad.”

“He could help you.” Adam says. “But I… I get why you don’t necessarily want that.”

She sighs.

“Yeah.” She says. “It’s uh, it’s a mess.”

“Well it’s a mess that you don’t have to deal with alone anymore.” He tells her. “We’re here for you.”

“Thanks Adam.” She says with a smile.

“And hey,” he adds. “He seemed to like Jay.”

“As my friend, sure.” She agrees. “I’m just not sure how far that would extend if I introduced him as my boyfriend.”

“Oh yeah.” He says. “Yeah, my dad never likes my sister’s boyfriends much either. Though, to be fair, she dates some real losers, not studs like my man, Jay.”

Hailey laughs.

He’s not wrong.

Jay is a stud.

Chapter Text

Hailey must be pissed.

He’s pretty sure the plan was for him to interact with her dad the exact minimum to avoid the man getting suspicious about their relationship.

Instead he’d spent over an hour huddled in the corner with the man.

He does understand her hesitance to call the police a lot more now.

Steven Upton is a nice guy for being such an asshole.

It was nice to hear him say that he thought Jay had a good chance of making it into the NHL.

Especially after his dad had given him another lecture at breakfast about ‘not getting his hopes up’.

The wait by the computer for Hailey to drop Adam and then Kim off and get home is excruciating.

Jay: I’m sorry. I wasn’t supposed to like him, but we started talking and I- I’m sorry.”

Hailey: It’s okay, Jay. I like sober Steven too.

He breathes a sigh of relief. The computer dings again.

Hailey: Is your dad still giving you shit?

He sighs, his gaze traveling to the pair of work boots by the front door before typing back.

Jay: He’s just trying to help. Doesn’t want me to be disappointed.

Jay: but yeah

Jay: still hurts

Jay: I started playing hockey because of him.

Hailey: sorry

Jay: Did you have a good night? What does your dad think of the riffraff you hang out with?

Tonight was about her, not him. And however tense things have gotten with his dad, it’s nothing on what she deals with.

Hailey: Shut up, he loves you guys.

Hailey: Thinks you’re the next Jaromir Jagr.

Hailey: Adam is hilarious

Hailey: Will is studious and respectable

Hailey: The girls were all sweet and he’s glad I have more than just Kim to talk clothes and makeup with now.

Hailey: It was good.

Hailey: Thank you for getting Will to ask Nat and the others.

Hailey: And for pretending that we’re just friends.

Hailey: It’s not that I’m ashamed of you.

He can hear her anxiety, even over chat and jumps to reassure her.

Jay: It’s okay

Jay: All dads are weird about their daughter’s first boyfriend

Jay: Should have been there the first time (Adam’s sister) brought a boy home.

Jay: And when Kim introduced Adam to her dad

Jay: actually, you were there for that so you know how hilariously badly it went.

Jay: The moral of the story is that I understand how awkward it can be under normal circumstances

Jay: And that your circumstances aren’t exactly normal.

Jay: So don’t worry about it. I’m not offended.

Hailey: Just between you and me – it’s been a long time… since I saw you as just my friend.

Warmth floods his cheeks as he types back.

Jay: Just between you and me – I really wanted to kiss you tonight.

Hailey: I wanted to kiss you back.

Hailey: Hey about those stupid agents and their escorts.

His stomach drops.

Hailey: Do you want to have sex?

Hailey: Not with them

Hailey: But like… with me

He can feel his eyes turning into dinner plates and can’t help but look around, making sure that his mom, or worse his brother, aren’t lurking.

Hailey: It’s okay if you don’t

Hailey: Just I… I wouldn’t be opposed if you did.

Hailey: Maybe we should talk about this in person.

She’s starting to ramble and it makes him realize that he still hasn’t answered her.

Jay: We probably should talk about it in person.

Jay: But Hailey, you are the only person I would want to do that with.

Jay: And I do.

Jay: Want to have sex with you.

Jay: I’m also going to clear the chat history now before my nosy brother wanders over.

Hailey: Oh gosh.

Hailey: Yeah, I’m going to do the same.

Hailey: And then I should go to bed.

Hailey: Talk about it tomorrow?

Jay: Definitely.

Jay: Goodnight Hailey.

Jay: I love you

He erases the message instead of sending it.

It’s absolutely what he feels but he also gets the feeling its not something that Hailey is ready to hear just yet.

Hailey: Goodnight Jay.

Making sure he clears the chat history from tonight, he signs off the computer and heads upstairs.

Chapter Text

She’s never been as bothered by watching Jay get slammed against the boards as she probably should be.

Kim gasps and winces every time it’s Adam who gets caught between a fast moving offender and the unbending boards surrounding the ice.

Everytime the sound of the crash echoes through the stadium.

When Jay gets hit, and it happens kind of a lot, Hailey barely reacts.

And maybe she’s been desensitized from the number of times that her dad has slammed her up against the wall.

Or maybe she’d just watched him take the hit and skate it off enough times before she’d let herself care about him for it not to bother her. He gets fouled a lot more than his teammates but it’s never been anything serious.

Maybe it’s a little bit of both.

Regardless of the reason, she doesn’t react as number 42, the other team’s brutal enforcer, slams him into the boards.

But then he doesn’t get back up.

That has her on her feet, hands coming up to cover her mouth as the team medic skates toward him.

Adam is knelt next to him, scooting off to the side to let the medic in.

Jay starts to sit up and Hailey gasps as she sees the blood streaked down the right side of his face.

His helmet should have protected him.

Adam helps him, getting close to his back to support Jay in an upright position as the medic starts to check him over, shining a light into his eyes.

Hailey winces in sympathy.

She’s had a concussion or two in her day. Much as she knows its important to check pupil response it’s also about the worst part of the exam.

Sure enough, Jay pulls away from the man, closing his eyes.

After a moment, he reluctantly opens his eyes, allowing the man to perform his checks though his face is twisted into a grimace.

Another few moments and then Adam and the medic are helping him to his feet and supporting him from either side as he slowly skates off the ice.

Hailey watches with her heart in her throat as they step through the players bench and into the locker rooms.

Then she’s running.

It’s a long way from the front row seats she and Kim always claim up to the portal and she hears footsteps following her.

Knows that Kim is trailing after her.

She runs into Will and Jay’s parents as she comes through the doors, turning toward the locker rooms.

“Easy.” Will says, reaching for her arm and pulling back as she flinches.

She stops outside the locker room doors, realizing that she may not be allowed inside.

She turns back to Will.

“He’s gonna be alright.” he tells her. “I’ll go in, see how he’s doing. See if you can come in.”

She nods, stepping back and he pushes through the door.

Bridget pulls her into a hug.

“He’ll be okay.” she promises. “I know it’s hard to see him take a hit like that but he’s tough.”

“But concussions are serious.” Hailey says as Bridget releases her. “Especially if it happens more than once. Isn’t his helmet supposed to stop that?”

“It protects him from a lot.” Pat says. “But the strap must have broken tonight. Because it came off.”

“They do that?” she squeaks.

“Not often.” Bridget says. “But it does happen.”

“Doesn’t help when the other player hits him like that. Should have been ejected for Boarding like that.” Pat grumbles.

Hailey shakes her head, eyes wide.

“Sweetheart-” Bridget tries again.

“I can’t… He… I…”

“Multiple concussions can be dangerous.” Pat says gently. “But in ten years of playing hockey he’s only had two. And at that point, it isn’t usually a big thing. He’ll be uncomfortable for a week or so. Might even be back on the ice when they play River Heights in three weeks.”

Her brain randomly reminds her that River Heights are Union High’s biggest rival.

Jay will be relieved to be back on the ice for that.

The door opens behind her and she turns to see Will.

“He’s definitely concussed.” He says looking worried. “The paramedics just want to talk to a parent before they transport.”

Then he turns to Hailey.

“Normally they don’t like girls in the boy’s locker room.” he says with a grin. “But somebody really wants to see one girl in particular so they’re willing to make an exception.”

Hailey has to smile.

Her smiles dims slightly as she sees him. There’s a bandage taped over his forehead and while they’ve cleaned most of the blood from his face, there’s still traces of it visible.

His eyes are clear but he looks tired and she can see the pain in them.

But he lights up when he sees her, the same way he always does, and she steps forward.

“This is a role-reversal.” she says quietly as she takes his hand.

“My turn.” he says softly she reaches out to stroke the left side of his face.

“You said before the game that Derkin is a jerk.” she says. “I guess you meant it, huh?”

“He’s been wanting to do this for years.” Jay says. “We used to play little league ‘gainst each other.”

“Yeah.” she says, shaking her head. “How’s your head?”

“There’s only one of you.” he says with a shrug. “Was three of Adam for a second there. Never again.”

She laughs as his friend protests.

“Alright.” the medic says. “Time to go. Who’s riding with him?”

Will glances over at her.

“Kim or I can drive your car over if you’d like to.” He offers.

Hailey looks to Bridget who smiles and nods.

“We don’t mind.” She promises and Pat actually cracks a rare smile.

“Go.” He urges. “He’d rather have you than any of us anyway.”

Hailey returns the smile, fishing in her pocket for her keys to give to Will.

“Adam.” Jay croaks. “Kick Derkins’ ass for me.”

“You got it.” Adam promises. “Let me know when you get home, alright?”

The boys fist bump and then the paramedics are lifting the stretcher into the back of the ambulance.

Jay closes his eyes and groans at the movement and Hailey squeezes his hand sympathetically.

“Easy, babe.” She whispers. “Breathe through it.”

He’s positively green at this point and the paramedic hands her a puke bag as soon as they get him settled.

The ambulance shifting into drive and pulling away from the school is enough to make him use it, leaning miserably over the edge of the stretcher with the hand not holding Hailey’s clenched in a tight fist.

She can see skin and tendons flexing around the IV inserted in his arm and bites her lip.

“It’s okay to squeeze my hand, babe.” She soothes.

“Don’ – wan’ – ‘ur – you.” He gasps between heaving breaths after his stomach finishes emptying itself.

“I’ll be okay.” She promises. “Try to relax the other hand or you’ll mess up your IV.”

Pain-filled eyes meet hers and she can see the depth of confusion in them.

He knows she’s right but he really doesn’t want to squeeze her hand.

“Here.” The paramedic offers, pressing a stress ball into his hand in place of Hailey’s. “You can grab his arm to provide comfort.”

She lets her hand slide up to his wrist as he squeezes the stress ball.

The fingers of her other hand find their way into his hair, carefully avoiding the nasty goose egg that’s started to ford.

“It’s okay.” She soothes. “You won’t hurt me, babe.”

“Babe?” He questions and she can feel her cheeks heating up.

“If you don’t like it-”

“S’okay.” He cuts her off. “S’nice.”

That’s apparently all his stomach is willing to have said as he lunges over the side again, vomiting into the bag that Hailey is struggling to keep in place.

During a brief lull, the paramedic takes it from her, sealing it off and handing her a fresh one just in time for another round of vomit.

“He’s really not like the speed changes.” She says sympathetically and Hailey frowns.

Can’t her partner drive more carefully?

She bites it back, knowing that she’s not being fair. It’s been perfectly smooth acceleration and deceleration that have set Jay’s stomach off.

Nothing the driver could do, short of staying at the high school, would prevent this.

She sees the paramedic set her radio aside and reach for a bag.

“The doctor has given permission to administer phenergen for the nausea.” She explains as she draws up medication and injects it into Jay’s IV. “Hopefully that will settle your stomach a little, sweetheart.”

Jay slowly relaxes against the stretcher and Hailey can see his breathing evening out as well which she hopes means that the meds are working.

“Hang on, babe.” She soothes, rubbing her thumb over his wrist. “You’ll be alright.”

Chapter Text

She has to leave before Jay gets taken down to CT.

Apparently his vomiting in the ambulance doesn’t concern the doctors as much as it had concerned her because he still ends up pretty low on the triage order.

She knows from experience that getting to the Emergency Room and being told you can wait is a good sign but she doesn’t like going home without answers.

It’s times like this that she thinks she should just get one of those tracphones that are advertised everywhere these days.

She wouldn’t be able to afford texting Jay like she wants to, which is the biggest reason she hasn’t done it yet, but at least Will would be able to call her when they get some answers.

Kim has gotten permission from her mom to stay, claiming that Adam is upset and needs moral support, and has promised to get a ride home and IM her as soon as they know more.

So she drives home, only to go up to her room and sit on her bed staring into space.

Is this what it’s like for Jay all the time?

Seeing her hurt and knowing that she’ll go right back to the source.

And she knows that hockey hurts him.

It’s not usually stuff like this but he isn’t exactly a pro at wrapping sprains, soothing bruises and easing pulled muscles because of Will’s marching band career.

She knows he loves hockey, that he won’t even think twice about getting back on the ice as soon as he can.

That the risk of concussions, broken bones, lacerations from mishaps with skate blades, and more isn’t enough to dampen his love for the sport.

But a part of her wants to beg him to hang up his skates.

So that she won’t have to see him hurt like this again.

Won’t have to live that terrifying moment where he crashes to the ice and then doesn’t get back up again.

Can’t even imagine sleeping right now because she knows she’ll be reliving it in her dreams.

Talking to him has helped.

Hearing that the CT came back without any complications will help even more.

But neither will stop the dreams completely.

She creeps downstairs at half past two, logging into the chat.

There’s a message from Kim, only ten minute old and she reminds herself to thank her best friend’s mom someday for staying up so late for her.

Kim: No issues on the CT. They’ll keep him overnight for observation and send him home in the morning.

But she can thank her best friend now.

Hailey: Thank you! You’re the best, Kim. I seriously owe you so much.

She’s about to sign off when another message comes through.

Kim: You doing okay? I know tonight scared the shit out of you.

Hailey: Let’s say I have a new apppreciation for what you and Jay go through.

Kim: Sorry.

Hailey: No, I’m sorry. I wish I could stop doing that to you guys.

Kim: He’s your dad

Kim: You love him

Kim: Almost as much as Jay loves hockey.

Hailey chuckles tearfully.

Kim: And not as much as I love you. It’ll be okay.

Hailey: I love you too, Kim. More than you know.

Kim: I know.

Kim: Now we both need to get some sleep.

Kim: Come over if the nightmares get too bad.

Hailey: K.

Hailey: Night Kim

Hailey: Thanks again.

They study at Jay’s the next afternoon though it’s hard to say if any studying actually gets done.

Jay is under strict instructions from his doctor to rest. No reading, no writing, and definitely no arithmetic.

He’ll have quite a bit of makeup work to do next weekend but for today he’s just lying on his bed, staring at the ceiling.

Hailey’s pretty sure that for most of the day at least, lights are on but nobody is home.

Bridget doesn’t ply them with quite so many snacks as she usually does when they’re over here out of deference to the nausea that still comes and goes but none of them mind.

Eventually Hailey sets aside most of her books, keeping only the copy of Of Mice And Men that she’s reading for English in her hands as she coaxes him to rest his head in her lap and cards her fingers gently through his hair.

The tension slowly leeches out of him as he falls completely asleep but she doesn’t stop, simply opening her book and continuing the motion as she reads.

Kim catches her eye with a grin and Hailey just grins back.

He’d freaked her out pretty badly the day before and she knows that she’s scared him just as badly in the past, especially with her broken arm.

But it’s all worth it for the quiet moments like this when they can just be together, surrounded by their friends.

I love you. She thinks to herself, wishing that she could say it out loud without getting lost in the connotations that the words had always carried in her house growing up.

So instead, she presses a kiss to his hair, smiling at the way he turns toward her, even in his sleep.

Yeah.

She loves him.

Chapter Text

It’s not the first time this guy has come into the diner.

At first he’d just been another customer.

A little extra friendly perhaps but nothing that had stood out.

But something about him has started to make the hair on the back of her neck stand on end.

And he keeps coming in.

Always when her dad isn’t working like he’s learned his schedule.

Seems to often show up just after she takes her break, getting his food and then sitting at the table next to her.

Kim has a job of her own now so she’s not even usually there to help buffer the creepy.

She’d tried to tell her dad about him but he always seems to be distracted these days, on the phone with a supplier or interviewing to try to fill a short term vacancy for an employee on maternity leave.

His names Greg, he wears scrubs when he comes in and she thinks he’s told her that he’s a nurse.

She can’t imagine how his patients must feel if that’s the truth.

Her dad is out meeting with a supplier today and she’s kind of putting off taking her break until he gets back.

But she really needs to go to the restroom and if she does that, she’ll have to take her full ten minute break.

Finally, she can’t wait anymore and, making sure Cynthia has the counter, she hurries down the side hall.

Locking the door behind her, she quickly takes care of business and then slowly meanders through washing her hands.

Maybe she’ll just waste her ten minutes in here.

Customers might get a little upset if someone needs to use the restroom but otherwise it sounds like a great plan.

Someone knocks on the door.

So much for that idea.

Taking a deep breath, she slowly opens to door.

Only to get shoved back into the restroom, the slam of the door closing echoing through the small room.

It’s creepy Greg and she screams for help, the sound cut off abruptly as his hand slams over her mouth.

He drags her to the floor, his weight pressing heavily down on her.

She feels fingers groping for the button of her jeans and kicks out, trying to throw him off.

The button pops off and she hears it rolling across the smooth floor.

He shifts to start pulling at her pants and she takes the chance to kick him in the face, sending him crashing back onto his ass.

She screams as loud as she can, trying to get up and reaching for the door but he’s on her again, slamming her back to the floor.

His hand clamps over her mouth again and she sinks her teeth in hard, continuing to lash out with her feet and fists.

But her 5’2” frame isn’t exactly proving an effective weapon against a man who is easily twice her size.

She can feel his mouth against the side of her neck, warm and wet and she wants to throw up.

The door shatters inward with a decent amount of force and then the man is being drug off her.

There’s shouting and the crash of fists on flesh and she drags herself away, huddling against the cold wall and covering her face.

The shouting moves further away, the door clanging closed again but she just tucks tighter into a ball.

Then the door swings open again and footsteps come toward her.

“I agapipete mou.” [sweetheart]

She peeks through one eye to see her dad crouching in front of her and throws herself at him.

“Daddy.” She whimpers.

“Hey.” He soothes. “Hey, it’s okay.”

“Daddy.” She repeats weakly.

“Cal has that jackass.” He tells her, stroking his hand over her hair. “And the police are coming.”

She doesn’t want to talk to the police.

She wants to go home.

Wants to take a shower and change into her comfiest clothes.

Wants her mama to hold her and promise her that she’s safe.

That creepy Greg will never come anywhere near her again.

She wants Jay.

But she lets her dad help her to her feet, pulling her jeans fully back into place and adjusting her shirt to hide the missing button.

Let’s him lead her out the side door to avoid customers and sit her in the passenger seat of his truck, wrapped in a blanket from the back seat.

Police and the paramedics arrive; the officer standing back while she’s examined.

There are bruises on her face and stomach, a split in the skin at the back of her head where it had smacked against the floor.

They want her to go the hospital, to get a CT scan for her head.

To let a SANE nurse do a rape kit.

She tells them that she wasn’t raped, that her dad got there in time.

They tell her that means they’ll get to skip a lot of the steps but the kit is still the most thorough way of documenting a sexual assault.

She looks at her dad who nods and reluctantly agrees.

Her mom never shows up.

She keeps hoping that she will but in the end, she sits there in that exam room with her dad coming and going and only a sympathetic nurse to comfort her for nearly four hours.

They’re happy enough with the CT scan to send her home afterward and her dad asks if she wants to go straight home or pick up her car.

She needs her car.

“You need to be more careful, Hailey.” He says uneasily as they pull away from the hospital.

She gapes at him.

She what?

She went to the public restroom at her place of work. What was she supposed to have done.

“I’m not talking about today.” He says, shaking his head. “Just… men see things a different way sometimes. You have to think about the message that you’re sending them a little more carefully sometimes.”

She’s more shocked now.

Not less.

“He was a customer, dad.” She insists. “I’ve taken his order, been polite. Nothing more.”

“All men want is sex.” He says, shrugging. “It makes them read things differently. I’m not saying it’s your fault or that you did anything wrong just… that you need to be more careful.”

“So you’re saying that I should be a bitch to male customers?” She demands. “Or refuse to serve them at all? Because I don’t understand what exactly it is that you’re expecting me to do otherwise.”

He pulls in next to her car and turns to stare at her.

“Hailey. I’m just saying-”

“You are saying that this was my fault. Whether you think you are or not.” She snaps, cutting him off. “That if I hadn’t smiled at him or remembered his order or something like that – which I do for all of our customers – that this wouldn’t have happened.”

“Well-” he starts again but she jumps out of the truck.

“I’m going out with Kim and Natalie.” She tells him. “And I’m staying at Nat’s tonight.”

She’s lying.

She’ll probably call Kim tonight, possibly even speak to Natalie.

But she’s going to Jay’s.

Jay who, in spite of being a guy who clearly only wants sex, has never taken her smiling at him, laughing at his jokes or even making out with him in a parked car as permission to pin her down on a bathroom floor and rape her.

Because fucking creepy Greg is the problem here.

And a little bit her dad right now.

Not her.

Chapter Text

Bridget Halstead loves to cook.

Admittedly she prefers baking but sometimes, getting lost in the preparation of the ingredients, the smell of the food, is the most relaxing part of her day.

There’s a knock on the door and she frowns.

Who could that be?

Lowering the heat on the stove, she makes her way over to open it, expecting some kind of salesman.

It’s Hailey.

Her youngest son’s girlfriend is standing there in scrub pants with her backpack held in one hand and tears streaming down her face.

“Hailey?” She asks. “What’s the matter, darling?”

“Is Jay here?” She asks, scrubbing at her face.

“He won’t be home from work for another hour or two.” Bridget says, watching her face fall. “But you come on inside, love. You must be freezing in those pants.”

She works as a medical assistant.

Scrubs are many things but warm is not one of them.

Hailey lets herself be pulled inside and all but collapses on the couch.

Bridget hurries to turn the stove off, gathering a blanket and a glass of water before returning to the young girl.

She tucks the blanket around her shoulders, hands her the water and then sits next to her.

“I’m here.” She says softly. “If you need to talk.”

Hailey sniffles, sipping at the water.

“A guy tried to rape me.” She says quietly, rushing on when Bridget gasps. “He didn’t. I was in the restroom at the diner and my dad, my dad kicked the door down and pulled him off of me.”

She sniffles again.

“I’m fine.” She promises. “It’s fine. The paramedics and the nurses and the doctor all said that I was fine but then my dad… my dad said I needed to be more careful and my mom… she never even showed up. How do you… how do you not show up when your daughter almost gets raped? I just wanted my mom.”

She crumples forward and Bridget takes the glass from her before pulling her into a hug.

“I may not be your mom but I’m a mom and I’m here.” She promises. “I’ve got you, darling.”

Hailey is sobbing now and Bridget just sits there, holding her and rubbing her back.

Hailey starts to quieten after a long while and Bridget starts talking again.

“You did nothing wrong.” She insists fiercely. “There is nothing you could have done that would have invited this. And you don’t need to be more careful. The responsibility for avoiding this wasn’t on you, it was on that asshole. Now, you sound exhausted.”

Hailey just nods silently.

“Jay can bunk with Will and you can take his bed for the night.” Bridget says. “Let me just change the sheets and grab you something more comfortable and you can take a nap before dinner. Or would you prefer a shower?”

“A shower would be amazing.” Hailey whispers.

“Alright then.” Bridget tells her. “Let’s grab you some clothes and a towel and then I’ll change the sheets while you shower.

Hailey hears doors closing downstairs and decides it’s probably time to get out of the shower.

She’s scrubbed her entire body twice, leaving her skin pink and irritated but she still doesn’t feel clean.

Can still feel Creepy Greg’s hands on her.

His mouth on her neck.

But she turns off the water and steps out of the spray.

Towels off and wraps her hair up to dry.

The pajama pants that Bridget had grabbed for her are covered in hockey pucks and she immediately knows who’s they are.

She has to roll the waistband several times to find her feet at the ends of the pant legs but its worth it for the way they – and the t-shirt – smell like Jay.

It’s not quite as good as a hug from him but in the absence of that, it’s still pretty nice.

She opens the door, stepping into the hallway with her hair still wrapped in the towel.

There’s a thudding of footsteps and, for a moment, her heart starts racing.

Then she sees Jay and doesn’t hesitate to collapse into his arms.

“My mom told me what happened.” He rushes out. “Are you okay?”

“I am now.” She whispers, burying her face in his chest.

“I’m so sorry I couldn’t be there for you sooner.” He says, holding her close.

“You were at work.” She says. “And my dad was there.”

“Still.” He whispers. “Damn. I… the police arrested that bastard, right.”

“Sexual assault on a minor.” She tells him. “They seemed pretty confident he’d take a plea deal under the circumstances.”

“That’s something.” He says, pulling back slightly. “Are you hungry? My mom said food is almost ready. Or… if you’re tired or you’d rather be alone, I can bring up a plate.”

“I’ll come down.” She says. “I don’t know if I do want to be alone right now.”

“God.” He breathes. “C’mere.”

She goes willingly back into the hug.

He chuckles.

“What?” She asks, frowning.

“Sorry.” He mutters. “Just… you smell like me. It’s weird.”

She giggles.

She is wearing his pajamas and there’s a good chance that the shampoo and conditioner she’d used are the same ones that he uses.

“Couples that smell together, stay together?” She jokes.

“Sure.” He chuckles. “We’ll go with that. C’mon, let’s get some food in you.”

Will and Pat are already sitting at the table when they enter the dining room.

Will asks if she’s alright but otherwise neither of them brings up what happened.

Dinner, meatloaf and mashed potatoes, is delicious and she only hopes that she can cook like this someday.

But more than the food, it’s the atmosphere and she’s glad that she chose to come here instead of going home, even if her dad hadn’t been a jerk.

Because that would have been an awkward night of silence around the dinner table before heading upstairs to curl up in bed.

This feels like home.

Chapter Text

Jay is so freaking angry.

Angry at that creep, Greg.

Angry at Hailey’s dad who, as if it isn’t bad enough that he gets drunk and hits his daughter, had tried to tell her that she should be the one changing her behavior.

Angry at Hailey’s mother who had ignored her daughter in a moment of incredible trauma when she’d desperately needed her mom.

Angry at a society with such messed up views on women and consent that anyone would believe that by doing her job and having the nerve to be polite and cheerful about it, Hailey had invited this.

At himself for not being there for her.

For the fact that the morning after he’d had to watch while she drove away, back to spend her Sunday with the parents who have failed her over and over.

They’ve IM’d most of the day, Hailey telling her parents she needed the computer for her school work and then sneaking responses in between research when they weren’t around.

She seems to be doing okay but it’s hard to tell and he wishes that she was still here, that he could hold her in his arms and make her feel safe the way she’d told him he had last night.

“Jay, sweetheart.” his mom says, poking her head around the corner. “Telephone for you.”

“Who is it?” he asks, standing up.

“Denny Woods?” she says. “He says he’s an agent.”

Oh.

He’s also angry at asshole NHL agents who keep bringing him escorts like because he’s a guy he needs sex to be happy and successful.

“Give him a chance, love.” his mom says softly. “The right one is out there and you won’t find them by refusing to talk to any more.”

He sighs but nods and follows her into the other room, picking up the handset.

“Hello?”

“Is this Jay Halstead?” the man asks.

“Yes.”

“My name is Denny Woods. I work for a firm based in Chicago representing professional hockey players. I’d like to see if the two of us might be able to work together. Would you be interested?”

“I’d like to see the terms your offering first, sir.”

“I’ve watched you play so I can already tell you that I’m interested but how about I buy you and your legal guardian dinner? We can talk over the contract I’m prepared to offer and see how you feel about it.”

“I can do that.” Jay agrees.

“Good.” Woods says. “How does tomorrow evening sound? The Capital Grille?”

Jay glances over at his mom who nods.

“Tomorrow sounds great.” he agrees. “Six?”

“Six it is.” Woods agrees. “I’ll see you then. Enjoy your evening.”

They hang up and Jay leans against the wall.

“What am I doing, mom?” he asks.

“You’re pursuing your dream, baby.” she tells him. “I know this has been hard work and a lot of it has been disappointing but you’ve worked so hard on everything else too. Pushed through every setback along the way and you’ll push through this too. Just keep fighting.”

He nods.

“You wanna go tell Hailey?” she asks softly.

“After what she went through?” he asks. “Where her head is probably at today? Does she really need to hear me babble about another agent that might not go anywhere?”

“She might appreciate a distraction.” she points out.

He sighs.

Dinner is a nice affair.

Mr. Woods doesn’t show up with a pair of escorts which is already a good start.

The restaurant is nice but not the uncomfortable level of fancy and expensive that he feels wrong just walking through the door.

They eat first, making small talk about Chicago and hockey before starting to creep into things like teams that he likes and where he might want to play one day.

Only after the plates have been cleared and they’re waiting on dessert does Mr. Woods bring out his proposed contract.

He assures Jay that they can negotiate some adjustments, this is just a starting point.

He doesn’t really know what he’s looking at.

They’d never made it this far with any of the other agents so he has no context for whether or not the proposed percentages are good or way too high.

Doesn’t really understand all of the legal language.

It looks good.

But he just doesn’t know.

And Mr. Woods has been friendly, engaging and respectful but something just feels off, something that Jay can’t quite put his finger on.

“I don’t need an answer tonight.” he says. “You can think it over, get advice from a lawyer, I’m sure your father will want a chance to weigh in. This is a big decision for you.”

Jay nods numbly, staring at the papers in front of him.

“It’s a good offer though.” Woods says. “Especially for a player coming out of Olinski’s program.”

What?

Alvin Olinski is a great hockey coach.

His team had won the state championships last year for the second year in a row and then eight time in the twenty years that he’s been coaching.

Dessert is brought over before he can ask what the man means and the conversation is tabled.

His dad is just getting home from work when they get home and he looks over the papers with critical eyes.

“I… I don’t know enough about this stuff to tell you if this is any good.” he says finally.

Jay nods.

“I’d think twice about agreeing to anything without a lawyer to look over it.” he says. “But I just… I don’t know how we’d be able to afford the consulting fees.”

“I have some money saved up.” Jay points out.

“That money is for college.” his dad scolds. “For getting your own place someday and important expenses. And what if you pay a lawyer and they tell you this isn’t good? How many contracts will you pay to have them look at? I don’t want you blowing through all of your money chasing a pipe dream, Jay.”

He wilts.

A pipe dream.

Everyone else in his life thinks that he can do this.

That he has what it takes.

Everyone but his own father.

Chapter Text

He goes to practice early the next day, hoping to talk to his coach.

Al is over by the bench, looking something over on his clipboard and Jay skates over.

“Jay.” he says, looking up. “Gates of Buffalo or Chicago Five?”

“Can never go wrong with Chicago.” Jay says, grinning for a split second before it falters. “Can I talk to you?”

“Sure kid.” Olinski says, setting the clipboard aside. “What’s up?”

“I met with another agent last night.” he says. “And he made an offhand comment about you and I was wondering if you knew him, if you could tell me if he’s worth my time.”

“Who?”

“Denny Woods.”

Something crosses his coach’s face and then he sighs.

“What’s your take?” he asks instead.

“Everything went fine.” he says, shrugging. “No real red flags but something just… didn’t feel quite right.”

“Trust that instinct.” Al says. “Part of what makes you such a damn good player is your ability to read people. Just like this. Woods is a putz.”

Jay doesn’t know if he should laugh or cry.

Because most days, Al’s deadpan delivery of that statement would be hilarious.

But part of him had wanted to be told that he was wrong.

That Denny Woods was someone he could trust.

That this exhausting quest for a decent agent could fianlly be over.

“What did he do?” he asks.

“Seven years ago, I started to notice that serious injuries in the district were on a rise. Once I started tracking, it didn’t take long to realize that all the players making the hits had played on a rec team coached by Woods.” Al explains. “I tried talking to some of the players but they all clammed up, wouldn’t tell me anything.”

Jay tilts his head.

“And then I started hearing from the school board.” Al continues. “Turns out, they were now investigating my coaching practices.”

Jay’s eyes widen.

“Fortunately, that was his downfall.” Al says. “Pointing the finger at me turned a spotlight on him that he wasn’t ready for. They found out that he was doing drills with his guys on how to make dangerous, should be illegal, hits without drawing penalties. He ended up banned from coaching. Not sure how far it goes but he will never coach any sport in the state of Illinois again.”

“And now he’s an agent.” Jay scoffs.

“Not a lot of regulatory bodies there.” Al says. “As you may have noticed.”

Jay sighs.

“Am I crazy?” he asks.

“No.” Al tells him. “You’re a kid with a dream. A dream that you absolutely can achieve. Being patient is the hard part. Being patient and waiting for the right agent to come along.”

“What if there is no ‘right’ agent?” Jay asks. “What if I’m being too picky and I just need to accept ‘good enough’?”

“You aren’t and you don’t.” Al says. “Look Jay, I’m a lot of things but I’m not a coach who blows smoke up kids’ asses. If the best you could hope for was a college scholarship, I would tell you. If you were destined for a mediocre agent who vaguely matches up with you and a lackluster career, I’d say that. You are an incredible talent, the kind that doesn’t come along very often, and the fact that you work your ass off only makes you better. There is an incredible agent out there who is perfect for you and will get you everything you could ever dream of. You just have to keep from settling for an idiot like Woods who will only hold you back until you find them.”

Jay is an athlete who plays a pretty rough and tumble sport.

He doesn’t cry because his coach says something nice to him.

He might tear up though.

“Hang in there, Jay.” Al says. “If it feels like you’re going backward, remember that arrows get drug back in order to launch. You’ll fly when the time is right. Until then, just keep aiming.”

Jay nods.

“At least that’s what my cereal box said this morning.” his coach adds, pulling a laugh from him.

He calls Denny Woods the next afternoon.

Hailey had helped him work out a firm but respectful rejection and he’s got it written out in front of him so all he has to do is read it out.

“So?” he asks. “What do you think?”

“I appreciate the offer very much sir.” he says, voice shaking slightly. “But after a great deal of consideration, I’m afraid I’m going to have to decline.”

Woods is silent for a moment.

“Do you have any idea what you’re turning down, son?” the man demands. “You won’t get a better offer than this. You’re a big fish in a little pond with a coach who doesn’t know how to develop a great player. Without a good agent, you’ll be lucky to get an ECHL offer.”

“Be that as it may.” Jay says stiffly. “I believe that I can find an agent who is a better fit for me.”

He takes a deep breath.

“And my principles.”

Wood scoffs.

“Olinski tell you his little story, huh?” he mocks. “I was a rec coach and he was employed by the district. I voiced concerns about him and he retaliated by making up claims about me. And they chose to believe him. You’re no brighter.”

“I’ve been working with Alvin Olinski for over two years.” Jay says darkly. “He’s made me a better player and a better person.”

“I don’t need you, anyway.” Woods says. “There are other players out there. Better, more versatile players. Good luck exploring a career in college. I hope you have backup options in mind.”

He hangs up and Jay slides down the wall, dropping the handset to sit on the floor with his face in his hands.

Mr. Woods’ reaction proves that he was right.

That Al was right.

The guy is a putz.

But what if Woods was right too?

What if everything that’s he’s invested, every hour he’s spent out on the pond, begging for five more minutes as the sun drooped lower in the sky, was for nothing?

The phone is tugged gently from his hand and then someone is sitting next to him with a soft thump.

“Bud.” his dad says softly. “Look at me.”

He slowly looks up, horrified when he feels moisture building behind his eyes.

“Will and I had a chat last night.” his dad says. “One might call it an argument. He said that you spent over an hour talking to Hailey’s dad a few weeks ago. Talking to a man that we all know you despise with everything you have because he was willing to give you what you’ve been desperately looking for from me. What I was too blind and shortsighted to give you.”

Jay doesn’t say anything.

“I’ve been a hockey fan a long time, Jay.” his dad says. “I knew a lot of guys back when I played that I thought for sure were going all the way and things just didn’t work out. A lot of them had put all their eggs in that basket and didn’t know what to do with themselves when they realized it wasn’t going to happen. I saw what that did to them and I don’t want that for you.”

Jay nods.

“But that doesn’t mean that I want you to give up or that I don’t believe that you can do this.” his dad says. “I never meant for you to feel that way either.”

Jay’s eyes widen.

“You have an incredible natural talent.” his dad tells him. “Something that I choose to believe you get from me.”

Jay snorts.

“But that’s not what will get you to the NHL.” his dad says. “What will make that happen is that you work harder than anyone I have ever met and you’re going to keep doing that, okay? You’ll keep meeting with stuck up agents until one of them is the one that you’re looking for. The one that you need.”

Jay nods.

“Just promise me that in the meantime you’ll keep your grades up, you’ll think about other careers?” his dad asks. “Cause most hockey players retire by forty and Halstead men aren’t speaking tours and ceral sponsors. It’s not a backup plan its an in between rounds of golf afterward plan.”

Jay leans into his dad’s side as an arm comes around his shoulders.

“Okay dad.”

It’s nothing that his mom, Hailey, Will, coach Olinski and others haven’t been saying.

It just hits differently, coming from his hero.

From a man he’s looked up to his entire life.

“I love you, kiddo.” his dad says softly. “You know that, right?”

“Yeah.” he whispers. “I love you too, dad.”

Chapter Text

It’s been two weeks since she was asaulted by creepy Greg.

She’s managing.

She’s barely spoken to either of her parents since she’d stormed away from her dad in the parking lot of the diner.

She’d gone back to work a week after, other staff stepping in to help cover her shifts that long.

It’s been hard.

Every male customer that she helps, and some of the women too if she’s being honest, she finds herself wondering what they’re thinking.

Is she being too nice to them too? Are they getting the idea that she’s interested in them in a way that she absolutely isn’t?

Would they try to force themselves on her if they caught her alone in the parking lot or god forbid the bathroom.

Which she can’t even bring herself to use.

To be honest, she’s struggling with public bathrooms in general.

Kim has to stand guard for her to use the bathrooms at school and she’s taking longer breaks at work because she jogs out to her car and drives home to go to the bathroom there.

Kim is strongly suggesting that she talks to a therapist and she isn’t the only one.

Her mom, Adam, Mouse, Will, Jay, and even Jay’s mom have added their encouragement.

The police had even given her the number of a victims’ advocate group that will get her a couple of free sessions.

Her dad doesn’t think it’s necessary.

Her mom isn’t exactly disagreeing with him.

Which leaves her out of luck because she’s only sixteen years old and without parental consent she can’t talk to a professional.

She talked to the school counselor this morning.

She was kind and supportive, willing to offer whatever help she can but had strongly recommended that Hailey talk to someone who specializes in sexual assault victims.

Had offered to speak with Hailey’s parents and try to convince them to approve it.

But Hailey’s pretty sure that her father won’t be swayed and as long as he refuses to agree, her mother won’t go against him.

So she declines the offer and apologizes for putting pressure on her by asking for more than she’s trained for.

She’d been told not to worry about that and scheduled for weekly appointments every Monday before school.

And she’d reiterated what people keep telling her.

That this wasn’t her fault.

That she hadn’t done something inadvertantly to invite this.

That she doesn’t need to be more careful in the future.

That Greg Yates is a disgusting and troubled individual.

And more importantly, that Greg Yates is the only one at fault for what he’d done.

The only one who’s been more helpful is Jay.

Okay, the counselor with her training has probably been more helpful than Jay but Hailey might be a little biased.

They’d both finally broken down, getting cheap tracphones and adding periodic text messages throughout the day on top of stolen chunks of instant messaging when they can both get to a computer.

He’s also gone out of his way to make more time for the two of them to meet up.

The only thing he won’t do is touch her.

Well, he still hugs her plenty, sits close to her side with an arm around her shoulders but he’ll barely even kiss her.

She’s know why but she just… doesn’t want that either.

They’re working on homework at his house today, just the two of them because she’s hoping they can have this conversation uninterrupted.

And alone.

She swallows hard and sets her book off to the side.

“Jay?” she asks quietly.

“Yeah?” he says, looking up from his book. “You okay?”

“There was a conversation that we were supposed to continue in person.” she points out. “And we uh, haven’t exactly gotten around to it.”

He frowns.

“You… you want to continue that now?” he asks, eyebrows furrowed and eyes worried. “You sure?”

“I’m sure.” she promises, reaching for his hand. “I still want this, Jay.”

“Even after…” he trails off, clearly not sure if he should say the words.

“After what he did to me.” she says, not really ready to say them either. “All I know is that I am more determined than ever that my first time is going to happen on my terms. That it happens when I want, where I want and, most importantly, with the person that I want it to be with.”

She risks a glance up at him, floored by the gentleness in his eyes.

“I want this with you, Jay.” she repeats. “What happened doesn’t change that, doesn’t mean that I don’t want you to touch me.”

“I just don’t want to pressure you.” he says. “Don’t want to make you feel uncomfortable.”

“I know that.” she tells him. “I appreciate that but you don’t have to… hold back entirely. Just… slow down. Be ready to pull back if I say something. Which won’t be an issue Jay. You’ve always been good at that. If anything, you’ve been better at it than I wanted you to be sometimes.”

He snorts.

“Got it.” he says. “I’m here. I’m listening. Tell me what you need.”

“Kiss me?” she asks.

He grins, leaning forward.

“I can do that.” he whispers, capturing her lips with his own.

Chapter Text

Jay makes it easier to trust people.

She’s struggled with it her entire life but it was never quite so difficult until Greg Yates made her suspicious of everyone.

If one person could be so cruel, so selfish, as to just take what he wanted than surely more people were that way.

But Jay reminds her that just as there are others like Greg out there, there are also plenty of people who are kind.

Who are sweet, tender and patient.

He’d bought her flowers and a really nice, extra soft blanket.

Burned a mixtape with soft, soothing music and somehow managed to make their first time incredibly romantic despite the fact that it had been in the backseat of her car, tucked away behind an abandoned building.

He’d followed her lead every step of the way, never pushing her to anything that she wasn’t ready for.

It wasn’t easy or very coordinated.

It was awkward fumbling and embarrassed laughter and way too much lube that got everywhere.

But it was still special, a memory that she’ll treasure for the rest of her life.

One that she’s trying really hard to hold onto right now in the hopes that it will keep her from murdering her father.

A boy from school had asked her to the winter formal.

She was going to tell him no anyway because she’s with Jay and even if she was interested in going to a dance with another guy – and she’s not – Truman High’s dance is the same night as Union High’s.

And she and Jay are going.

Her dress is hanging in Kim’s closet right now.

They’re getting ready at Natalie’s dorm to avoid the chance of her parents seeing her in a formal gown and asking questions.

She’s told her parents she’s sleeping over at Nat’s that night.

So yeah, even though Dylan seems like a nice enough guy, she was never going to say yes.

But her dad had jumped in.

Told him off for having the nerve to ask her without talking to him first and then asked Lexi to cover the counter while he ‘talked to his daughter’.

That was fifteen minutes ago and the lecture on why she’s too young to have a boyfriend hasn’t even stopped to breathe.

This wasn’t a boyfriend.

It was one dance.

She and Dylan are lab partners in Chemistry and that’s the only time they even talk.

And did she mention that she was about to turn him down?

But also… she’s almost seventeen.

And she has a boyfriend.

Amuses herself for a second imaging telling her dad that she’d given her virginity to a high school sports superstar.

In the backseat of her car.

Internally shakes her head.

That won’t go over well.

And the risk of him going off on Jay – a million times worse than poor Dylan just got – is too high.

The point is, she’s not a little girl anymore.

She makes her own choices.

And she doesn’t need her dad – who all too recently told her that just doing her job was an invitation to be assaulted – trying to make them for her.

Fourteen months.

In fourteen months she turns eighteen.

In seventeen months she graduates from high school and she and Kim get their own apartment and she doesn’t have to deal with her parents ever again.

Can get away from the nightmare that living with her dad has always been without being the reason that the man she still loves in spite of everything goes to prison.

Without risking sending herself into foster care where she might be unable to stay in contact with her friends.

With Jay.

“I don’t want to hear about any other boys asking you out.” Her dad scolds and she shakes herself out of the daydream to nod.

She can’t help them asking her out.

It’s not like she’s been flirting with Dylan, though in her dad’s twisted logic she’s probably invited his interest by not pouring acid over his head.

She hates that her dad is acting this way, that his opinion still makes her doubt herself.

Still makes her wonder if she should have done something differently.

The school counselor has helped with a lot.

Has talked her through a lot of things and helped reassure her that what happened wasn’t her fault.

Had pointed out that Hailey had always had a bad feeling about Greg.

That she doesn’t necessarily need to be afraid of what every guy she meets is capable of.

She just needs to trust her instincts.

Had told her that it isn’t her responsibility to be prepared to fight off unwanted advances from creeps like him.

That not being able to do so still doesn’t make what had happened her fault.

Had gently suggested that being more prepared to fight back might help her feel safer.

Had helped her find a self defense class that she’s now trying to go to at least once a week.

Had suggested pepper spray which Hailey now carries with her everywhere she goes.

She still wishes she could have at least a few appointments with a therapist who’s trained to work with sexual assault victims but she’s doing okay.

But her dad’s words still manage to twist her thoughts in knots some days.

She wishes that she felt like she could tell him that.

That she could tell him how much his words had hurt her without worrying that he would just double down.

Give her another lecture on how guys only want one thing and that it’s up to her to be careful, to be cautious of how they might be interpreting her actions.

Which would only make her angry.

Because she had been aware.

She’d tried to tell her dad, more than once, that something was off with this guy in the hopes that he would do something.

That he would tell Greg off, tell him that he wasn’t welcome in the diner any more.

Something that she isn’t allowed to do without manager approval.

But he hadn’t listened.

It’s not her fault.

It’s his.

Chapter Text

Hailey’s dad is an ass.

He’s allowed to say that.

They have an agreement.

But he’s not thinking about it tonight.

Because tonight is the winter formal.

He’s sweet talked Will into letting him use the car so that he and Adam can pick the girls up at Hailey’s dorm.

Because they can’t risk Hailey’s dad having any idea that she’s going to a dance of any kind.

Because she’s apparently too young for dances and boys.

He shakes his head.

He’s not thinking about Hailey’s dad tonight.

“I know he’s an ass but let it go man.” Adam says from the passenger seat. “We’re taking two gorgeous gals to the dance tonight.”

He glances over at his friend.

He knows that.

He’s looking forward to that.

Doesn’t stop him from being annoyed that his girlfriend’s dad is an unsupportive twat who apparently doesn’t have the brains to realize that his daughter is a smart, intelligent young woman.

That she doesn’t need an abusive, chauvinistic jerk to make her choices for her.

He lets out another breath.

He’s just talking himself in circles.

They pull into the lot of the dorms and get out of the car.

Adam hands him Hailey’s corsage, a bright blue to match the dress he’s only been told the color of, and they walk toward the front door.

It’s still early and the RA knows their coming so they’re let in and allowed to take the stairs to the third floor without issue.

He double checks the room number and knocks on the door.

Nat opens it, smiling when she sees them.

“The girls are almost ready.” She says brightly, glancing back. “You’ll have to wait in the hall for a minute.”

And then she closes the door without waiting for an answer.

Jay glances at Adam who shrugs and they step back.

The door opens again almost ten minutes later and this time Nat ushers them into the room.

He forgets all about Hailey’s dad the second he sees her.

Her dress comes down to just above her knees and is tied off over one shoulder leaving the other one bare.

The electric blue color matches her eyes perfectly.

She’s wearing a little more makeup than usual including a bright pink lipstick and her hair is loose around her shoulders in soft curls.

He wants to tangle his hands in it and kiss the lipstick right off her lips.

Instead he lifts the corsage in his hands and smiles at her.

“You look incredible.” He tells her. “I guess there’s a reason you asked for a wrist corsage, huh?”

She giggles.

“Yeah, a pin on style doesn’t really work with this dress very well.” She says, stepping forward. “You look nice too.”

He opens the box, pulling out the corsage and sliding it onto her wrist.

Nat insists on taking pictures of all of them but it’s hard to take his eyes off Hailey to look at the camera.

Maybe he’ll ask Adam to drive them to the dance.

They walk into the gymnasium -Adam made him drive afterall – and look around at the decorations.

The theme is A Night in Paris so the room is now adorned in archways, plant trellises and laterns.

There’s a mock-up of the Eiffel Tower at the far end for couples to have their photo taken with.

He looks to Hailey.

He doesn’t much care what it looks like as long as she likes it.

She’s looking around with bright eyes.

“It’s all so pretty.” She breathes.

“Do you want some punch?” He asks, offering her his arm.

She smiles, taking hold of it and nodding.

“Punch sounds great.” She agrees.

They also sample some pate, mini quiches and cheese puffs.

Then she’s dragging him onto the dance floor.

For the most part, it’s just a fun night out with their friends.

They set up in their own corner of the dance floor with Kim and Adam. Mouse joins them before long with Macy, a girl from his computer science class that he’s been on a few dates with, and guys from the hockey team come and go all night long.

Eventually a slow song comes on and they drift away from the others.

Her arms curl around the back of his neck and his hands settle around her waist.

“This is nice.” She says softly, letting her head rest against his chest.

“Sorry if I change that by stepping on your toes.” He tells her.

“You won’t.” She says.

“I’ve never danced with anyone before.” He says softly.

“Me neither.” She retorts and he can hear the smile in her voice. “But I’ve seen the footwork drills you do. You should be more worried about me stepping on your toes.”

“Your midget feet?” He teases. “I wouldn’t even feel it.”

She lifts one hand briefly to swat at his shoulder.

“I like dancing with you.” He says after a moment. “We should do this more often.”

She hums in agreement.

“I like you holding me.” She tells him. “I feel safe.”

Something tightens in his chest.

She should feel safe all the time.

Instead her whole life has been feeling unsafe in her own home.

And now everywhere else too.

“Good.” He says, kissing the top of her head. “I’ll always do everything I can to protect you.”

“I know.” She whispers.

He can’t fix everything for her but if he can make her feel safe, even for a little bit, maybe that’s enough for now.

Chapter Text

It’s the first day of Christmas break.

And instead of making cookies with his mom and brother, skating on the pond, or spending time with his family and his girlfriend, he and his mom are having lunch at a swanky country club.

With another agent.

Brian Kelton is a big name in pro hockey.

He’s the agent for a lot of players who’ve gone on to play for major teams.

He’s charming and charismatic and definitely has their waitress and other staff members at the country club hooked.

Jay doesn’t like him.

Can tell that his mom isn’t impressed either.

“You and me working together,” the man says. “Could be very profitable for us both.”

He slides a stack of papers across the table.

Jay glances down.

The contract looks very similar to the one that Woods had offered him.

He can’t help but notice that the number listed for agent fees as a percent of total earnings is higher.

And from what he’s learned about Woods, he has to suspect that number was already higher than it should have been.

“You’re a solid talent, kid.” Kelton says. “With the right agent, you’ll go places. But in Canaryville, you’ll have a hard time attracting agents with the connections you need.”

Jay frowns.

Canaryville is small and not as wealthy as some of the other neighborhoods in Chicago.

But Union High has a solid record of performing very well every year.

They almost always make it to at least the semi-finals if not the state championship game.

Which means they usually have a pretty steady stream of college recruiters at their games throughout the season.

And though he hasn’t been impressed by any of them, Kelton is the eighth or ninth agent to approach him.

“Your team is solid.” Kelton says. “I know the school gets a decent amount of attention from recruiters but that’s your problem. In a program like that, its not always easy to stand out.”

His team is… too good?

“The kids with the best odds come from mediocre programs with enough wins to bring the recruiters in but average enough players that they can actually be noticed.” Kelton explains.

Jay nods slowly.

“But that’s fine.” Kelton says. “Because you’ve got my attention anyway. I’m interested. I want to represent you and I really think we can help each other. After all, an agent is only as good as the talent he represents, right?”

“I need to think about it.” Jay says slowly.

He’s pretty sure the answer is no but he wants to talk to his dad.

Annoyance flashes across Kelton’s face but it’s gone so quickly Jay wonders if he’d imagined it.

“Of course.” He says with a smile. “You’ve got my number. You’ve got until New Years.”

He stands up, passing over a fold of cash to the waitress with a smile.

“Stay as long as you like.” He says. “Order desert. The tarts are to die for.”

And then he’s gone.

Hailey will have to spend Christmas Day with her parents but they have some party on Christmas Eve so she comes over for dinner.

His mom loves Christmas and always goes all out on Christmas Eve dinner.

Will has Nat over as well and the six of them crowd around the table, piling their plates with turkey, mashed potatoes, dressing, asparagus, beans, yams and more.

Hailey’s eyes are wide as she takes in the spread and he tries not to dwell on thoughts of what previous holidays have been like for her.

As his mom pulls the ice cream out to thaw, his dad finishes cutting the rest of the turkey from the bones and then asks him to run the trash out.

He pulls the bag free, tying it off and then stepping out the side door.

He hears the footsteps in the drive and turns to see three black teens walking toward him.

Even with their bulky coats, it’s easy to see the red bandanas hanging from their pockets.

Black diamonds on various pieces of jewelry and even one of their hats mark them as Southside Hustlers.

He steps back, glancing toward the door.

“Nah man.” One of them says, closing the gap between them in three rapid strides and grabbing the collar of his shirt. “You ain’t goin’ anywhere.”

He’s slammed against the side fence.

The one with the hat – the tallest of the three – steps forward, his dreadlocks swinging around as he leans into Jay’s face.

“It’s a good deal boy.” He says. “Suggest you take it. Else the boys an’ I will be back. Ya hear?”

Jay nods quickly.

He knew Kelton wasn’t a good guy but this is crazy.

He drives a fist into Jay’s stomach, forcing the air out of his lungs and then lets go of shirt, allowing him to collapse to his knees.

“Come on, Griff.” One of the other guys says. “Let’s get out of here.”

The three of them run off, leaving Jay struggling to catch his breath.

What’s he going to do?

Chapter Text

Jay doesn’t get in a lot of fights on the ice.

He’s not an enforcer, not the first guy to throw down over any offense.

To be honest, he’s usually the guy struggling back to his feet after being cheapshotted while someone else dives in to avenge him.

A lot of people mistake that for him either not being willing to fight or not being able to.

But he’s more than capable.

As Brian Kelton is about to learn.

His first call after he gets his mom and Hailey to stop fussing is to Adam.

Or more specifically, to Adam’s dad.

Bob Ruzek is able to subtly put him in touch with a detective from Guns and Gangs.

Who reaches out to the FBI.

Apparently they’re aware of Brian Kelton and his tactics.

Jay isn’t the first player that he’s paid gang members to help him strong arm into signing an unfavorable contract.

They’ve just never been able to prove it.

None of the other players have been willing to even speak with them about what he’d done.

Jay doesn’t hesitate to agree to help.

He doesn’t like being treated this way.

And he won’t stand by and let Kelton do this to someone else.

The attack on him isn’t enough.

He’s been able to identify the three members of the Southside Hustler gang who’d showed up in his driveway.

The timing of the attack and the parting words of Andre Griffin are strong circumstantial evidence but it won’t hold up in court, especially with the kind of lawyers that Kelton will have.

They can try to bring the gangsters in.

If they can convince them to testify against Kelton, it might be enough.

But that’s a lot of ifs and none of them want to take the risk.

They need more.

The evidence they have is enough to get a wiretap warrant for Kelton’s phones.

Jay makes a phone call.

Uses a script similar to what he and Hailey had written for Denny Woods to tell Kelton that he appreciates the offer but that he’s decided to decline.

That he’s gotten a better offer.

The expectation is that his call will enrage Kelton.

That he will call Griffin and order him to pay Jay another visit.

They’ll have a recording of the conversation which will prove conclusively that Kelton had ordered the first assault.

There’s a detective in an unmarked car down the street, watching the house to intercept Griffin and his boys when they come to carry out Kelton’s second ordered attack.

Two days pass.

Kelton hasn’t made any calls to Griffin yet and Jay is on edge.

What is he waiting for?

Needing to do something other than sit around the house waiting for something to happen, he runs to the store to pick up a few things for his mother.

The detective follows; sitting at the back of the parking lot and waiting for any sign of the Southside Hustlers.

Jay walks along the aisles of the store, scanning the list his mom had given him and putting things in the cart.

He’s so focused on looking for the brand of butter that his mom prefers that he doesn’t even hear the footsteps coming up behind him until something is rammed into his side.

“Stay nice and quiet.” Someone hisses in his ear.

He nods, holding his breath.

“We goin’ for a little walk.” the person says and he reluctantly lets them guide him toward the back of the store.

They exit through a back door and Jay’s eyes widen when he sees the car parked by the delivery door.

Griffin is leaning against the car and pushes off as they approach.

“Hands.” he orders.

Jay shakily raises his hands in front of him and Griffin wraps a zip tie around his wrists, pulling it down tight.

Hands move over him, ripping his shirt out of the way and patting down the length of his legs.

“I.. I don’t have any weapons.” Jay stammers.

“Not looking for weapons.” Griffin says, pulling Jay’s phone out of his pocket and powering it down.

Then he opens the trunk of the car and shoves Jay into it.

Slams the lid, closing Jay in the dark.

After a long ride, sliding around in the trunk and knocking against the side walls, the trunk finally opens.

Griffin pulls him back out and he stumbles, kept on his feet only by the tight hold the man has on his arm.

“I prefer it when we don’t have to meet like this.”

He turns to see Brian Kelton climbing out of the back seat of a sleek black town car.

“Wh- what do you want?” he stammers.

“You checked him?” Kelton asks.

“No wires.” Griffin confirms. “I got his phone. Powered off.”

“Lost the detective too.” one of the others says. “Fool’s still sitting in the parking lot waiting for him to come back out.”

“Alright then.” Kelton says. “Let’s talk business then.”

“I… I haven’t signed anything else.” Jay says, hoping that if Kelton knows a deal is still possible it might buy some time.

Time for the detective to realize that something had gone wrong.

For the police to find them.

“I know you haven’t.” Kelton says, that wide smile that had unnerved Jay during their first meeting on his face. “There is no other deal.”

Jay frowns.

“You think I don’t know that you’re working with the police?” the man scoffs. “Jay. The FBI has been trying to build a case against me for years. I know all their tricks. And this one? Not even a creative one.”

Jay feels the color drain from his face.

What is the man going to do to him?

Chapter Text

Griffin shoves Jay down to his knees while Kelton stands back, one hand in his pocket and his posture like he’s posing for a photo op.

“We can fix this though.” he says.

Jay frowns.

“The police have jack shit on me.” Kelton says. “Yeah, they tapped my phones but I’m not stupid enough to conduct the less… socially acceptable parts of my business on phones that are registered to me. They won’t get any evidence that way and you’re not going to tell anyone about today. Are you?”

Jay stares back at him, eyes wide.

Would it do him any good if he did?

It would be his word against Kelton’s.

A poor, middle class kid from Canaryville against a successful, well known NHL agent.

The District Attorney’s office versus Kelton’s teams of high powered lawyers.

“See?” Kelton says, smirking. “I can see that you realize that it would be pointless. So, here’s what’s going to happen. My boys will drop you back at the store. You’ll tell the police that you’re not willing to work with them anymore, that you made the whole thing up. You’ll tell your parents that you’ve changed your mind and that you want to sign a contract with me. And you’ll be agreeing to an extra five percent added to my fee as an apology for so much trouble.”

Jay gapes at him.

The FBI agent that he’d talked to, a man who’d been investigating Kelton for a while had told him that Kelton’s percentages were already ten to fifteen percent higher than other agents with comparable connections.

It had been one of the things that had drawn the financial crimes division’s attention to the man in the first place.

Kelton laughs.

“You’re gutsy.” he says, looking thrilled by Jay’s resistance. “You’re still thinking about how you might be able to make this work, how you can get the police what they need to stop me.”

Jay doesn’t say anything.

The asshole had stooped to kidnapping him.

How could he even consider letting him get away with this?

Agree to give the man an enormous portion of his earnings for the next ten years.

Tie himself and his career to the man for the next ten years ensuring that he will have no choice but to stay in contact and continue seeing him on a somewhat regular basis.

Become another player who’s successes Kelton will use to lure other players into his web.

Finds himself considering tanking his own chances so that Kelton can’t benefit from him.

If he can’t provide evidence against him, stop him from manipulating harming other young athletes, he can at least make sure Kelton doesn’t make any money off him, right?

Make himself a disappointment that harms Kelton’s reputation.

“Listen here, you little shit.” Kelton says, stepping forward and pulling a firearm from his waistband. “Whatever conniving little ideas are going through that head of yours right now? I’d strongly suggest that you drop them and move on.”

He pushes the barrel of the gun into Jay’s mouth, tilting his head back.

Jay stares up at him in horror.

“Griffin.” the man says. “Give the shit his phone back.”

“Sir?” Griffin asks.

“He’s going to call his mom. Now.” Kelton says. “He’s going to tell her what we’ve discussed. That he’s changed his mind and wants to sign with me. And until he does that, he’s not going anywhere.”

Jay hears his phone powering up a moment later.

Knows he has only a few minutes to make a decision.

Does he tell his mom exactly what he’s been told to say or does he try his luck?

If he can clue his mom into what’s going on here before they can stop him, maybe her testimony combined with his dead body will be enough to sink Kelton.

Maybe Kelton will be worried enough that it might be that he’ll let him go and Jay will have some time to figure something else out.

Kelton pulls the gun back and lets Jay drop his chin.

Griffin presses the phone into his still bound hands and Jay shakily pulls up his home number.

Suddenly the air is filled with the sound of police sirens.

He drops his phone and drops to the ground, rolling underneath the car behind him as gunshots ring out.

He lifts his hands to cover his head, the zip ties digging into his wrists as he does so.

He can hear Kelton shouting but he doesn’t dare move.

Silence finally settles but still he doesn’t move.

“Jay?”

He shakily turns his head, seeing Adam’s dad peering under the car.

“Mr. Ruzek?”

“It’s okay, kid.” the man says, reaching a hand toward him. “Kelton and the others are all in custody.”

He stares at the hand but still doesn’t move.

“Jay.” Mr. Ruzek repeats. “Come on, bud. Let’s get you out from under there, okay?”

It takes him a minute but he reluctantly reaches out, takes the hand and lets the man help him slide out from under the car.

Twenty minutes later, he’s sitting on the bumper of an ambulance with a blanket wrapped around his shoulders while a detective from Guns and Gangs takes his statement.

Mr. Ruzek has explained that he’d seen Jay and Will’s car in the lot of the store.

That he’d seen Andre Griffin driving just a block away and been disturbed by the coincidence.

He’d decided to follow the man and had watched from a distance, just waiting for backup to arrive, while Jay had been threatened.

He’d apologized several times for not being able to intervene earlier but had felt that with Kelton, Griffin and three other Southside Hustlers present that going in alone would only present more risk to Jay.

And then he’d been pulled away so that someone could take his statement while paramedics examined Jay.

He’s just telling the detective taking his statement about hearing the sirens and rolling under the car when he hears someone scream his name.

Looks up to see his mom running toward him with a patrol officer trailing after her.

The detective steps back as she reaches him.

“Oh sweetheart.” she cries. “Are you alright?”

“Mom.” he whimpers, diving into her arms as she wraps her arms around him.

“I’m here darling.” she says, holding him close. “You’re okay.”

“Mom.” he repeats.

“I know.” she says, pressing a kiss into his hair. “It’s going to be okay, sweetheart.”

He just wants to go home.

Chapter Text

Just a few months ago, it had been Jay that was struggling with these feelings of anger.

He’d been angry that she’d been hurt. Angry at Greg Yates for what he’d done to hurt, what he’d wanted to do to her. Angry at her father for not being more supportive afterwards.

Now it’s her turn to be angry.

Angry that he’d been hurt. Angry at Brian Kelton for being so selfish. So greedy. Angry that the police hadn’t protected him better knowing how dangerous the man he was helping them collect evidence against was.

But her anger is drowned out by worry.

Because he’s not okay.

He’s quiet.

Distracted.

He’s still going about his day. Going to school, work, and hockey practice.

But he’s just going through the motions.

Especially when it comes to hockey.

He goes to practice, plays in every game.

Still shows the same skill that had drawn her eye during that first game.

But it’s different. Everything is clean and technically precise but there’s no spark, no flair.

No joy.

It’s like he’s no longer playing out of love of the game but rather to honor a commitment that he’d made to his team.

It breaks her heart.

Jay loves hockey, loves to skate.

He comes to life when he laces up his skates, his eyes lighting up as he steps out on to the ice.

But that’s all gone.

Hockey just reminds him of a lifelong dream that he has to let go of.

Because without an agent, he’ll never make it to the NHL.

And he can’t bring himself to talk to any more agents.

She just wishes she knew what to do to help him.

Unlike her parents, his have taken the police up on the offer of assistance with therapy.

“Hey.” she says softly one day while they’re working on homework, Kim and Adam having made a run to the gas station for some snacks. “How’s therapy?”

He shrugs, not looking at her.

“Not really my thing.” he mutters.

She frowns.

“Jay.”

He looks up but still doesn’t meet her eyes.

“I know you wish you could talk to someone about what happened to you.” he says. “Just… I’m okay. Giving up is disappointing but I’m coming to terms with it. And I don’t have to deal with my dad being unsupportive and accusing the way yours is so I just… I don’t know what the therapist is supposed to tell me.”

“He could help you realize that you don’t have to give up.” she says, reaching for his face.

“How am I supposed to meet with any more agents after what happened?” he says, looking down. “He stuck a gun in my mouth, Hailey. I… I can still feel the metal…”

He trails off, trembling.

Hailey starts.

She hadn’t known that Kelton had done that. Being kidnapped, thrown in the trunk of a car and then threatened was bad enough but… no wonder he’s struggling.

“Hey.” she says, pulling him into her arms. “I didn’t know that he did that. I’m so sorry, babe.”

“I can’t get it out of my head.” he whispers.

She hugs him tightly for another few minutes before pulling back.

“Look at me.” she says quietly.

He finally meets her eyes and she strokes the side of his face.

“I know you’re scared.” she says. “I was terrified after what Greg did to me. I’m still working on it. But talking to male customers, using the work restroom? I wasn’t sure I could ever do that again at first either. You helped me, the school counselor helped me, Kim helped me and I figured out precautions to take, ways that I could feel safer.”

He sets his jaw.

“And Jay.” she says, tilting her head. “My payoff for that is seven bucks an hour. I could find a job that isn’t in customer service and it wouldn’t break my heart. But you… you can’t give up on your dream, babe. It’s killing you.”

He blinks, a single tear running down his cheek and she hugs him again.

“We’ll figure it out together.” she tells him. “Will and your parents will help put together a game plan to maybe vette these agents before you talk to them.”

He nods into her shoulder.

“And Jay.” she says quietly a moment later. “if you’re not going to take it seriously or even attempt to take it seriously, let me know.”

He pulls back and studies her in confusion – and no small amount of fear.

“For real.” she says. “Cause I’m going to need to get a vibrator.”

He stiffens and she strokes her fingers through his hair, kind of regretting the joke now.

“Hey.” she tells him. “I’m here. I’ve got you and I’m not going anywhere. But you’re not getting any until you actually talk to your therapist and let him try to help you.”

She smiles at him, trying to convey that she’s (mostly) kidding and he smiles back weakly.

“You’re important to me.” she tells him. “I need you to be okay, Jay. And you’re not right now.”

He sighs, looking down and nodding.

“Okay.” he agrees softly.

Chapter Text

Threatening her boyfriend was a game changer.

She ins’t planning on doing it much, or ever again even, but it had worked.

He’d started actually talking to his therapist and admittedly bashfully a few weeks later that he ‘actually kind of likes it’.

Bridget hugs her tightly and thanks her for talking to him.

She wasn’t the only one who was worried.

And she makes a decision.

“I want to talk to a therapist.” She tells her dad one night while they’re cleaning up after dinner. “I’m still struggling with what happened and I need… I need to talk to someone with the training to help me deal with it.”

He frowns but doesn’t say anything.

“I’m still having nightmares multiple times a week daddy.” She continues. “Still feel freaked out when a customer’s hand touches mine when I hand them their change.”

“You’re more aware now.” He dismisses. “That’s not a bad thing.”

“I can’t use the restroom at the diner.” She argues. “Because I’m so afraid that someone is going to attack me.”

“Healthy fear can be a good thing.” He says. “Your instincts are telling you that something is dangerous. That you need to be more careful.”

“This fear isn’t healthy.” She protests. “It’s just going to make me miss actual indications that I might be in danger because I’m so used to being afraid all the time.”

Why is he being such a jerk about this?

“Maybe if you actually learn to listen to them, they’ll settle down.” He suggests.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” She challenges.

She’s being careful.

She can’t not think about how customers might be interpreting her actions.

Has stopped remembering usuals for anyone but her most loyal regulars.

Doesn’t laugh at their jokes.

No longer sincerely asks about people’s days.

Doesn’t do anything that might risk the nature of their association being interpreted as anything more than a customer and the girl selling them a gyro.

It’s taken all of the enjoyment out of her job.

She misses chatting with customers, getting to know them.

Interacting as a human being rather than some kind of robot.

“You’re being more careful at work but you still don’t seem to care what message you’re sending outside of it.” He scolds. “That boy from school who asked you to the dance. And those guys that you’ve been hanging out with lately.”

What?

“Guys only want one thing.” He reminds her. “And high school athletes are the worst. They’re used to girls throwing themselves at them so they assume every girl they talk to would give them whatever they wanted.”

She stares at him.

“They’ll take what they want while you scream for them to stop and still think that you were happy to do it because they’re popular and important.” He tells her.

Hailey can’t but think about the way that Jay always needs her to spell things out, to make it clear to him that she’s okay with something before he does it.

The way that even then, he checks in frequently, making sure that she’s still good with what they’re doing.

Her dad doesn’t know a damn thing about Jay and Hailey is really tired of being treated like a child.

“How Kim’s parents think it’s a good idea to let their daughter date on, I. Don’t know.” He mutters. “But that’s up to them, I suppose.”

Then he turns to look at her.

“But this is up to me.” He says firmly. “I don’t want you hanging out with those boys anymore. You show up to their games and cheer for them, tell them afterwards how good they played and then you wonder why you still don’t feel safe. You don’t need therapy, you need to grow up.”

Hailey throws the rag she’s using to wipe the table down and storms to her room.

Fishes her phone out of her backpack.

She hasn’t told her parents that she has it, is careful not to use it at home.

Pulls up Adam’s contact card.

Stares at it for a long time.

Can she really do this?

He’s been awful lately, his response to her assault entirely unsupportive and his general attitude toward her getting more and more controlling, especially when it comes to boys.

But if she talks to Adam’s dad there’s no going back.

And he’s done so much for her.

She knows that he loves he, even if he does have some unhelpful opinions.

It had come up in English last year; one of her classmates doing her research paper on how rape culture has made parents treat their daughters differently than sons.

How boys get a lot more freedom than their female siblings because their parents see certain scenarios as more dangerous to their daughters and restrict them in the name of protecting them.

So his words, while not helpful, are at least more ‘normal’ as far as parenting goes than the other problems that she’s had with him.

But that doesn’t make it okay.

What happened to the daddy who helped her with her homework, baked Greek desserts with her, danced in the kitchen and more?

She’s put up with the crap for so many years because she didn’t want to lose that.

And it feels like she’s lost it anyway.

She selects the home number and reaches for the call button.

There’s a tap on her door.

Shoving the phone under her pillow and scrubbing at the tears in her eyes, she gets up and walks over to open it.

And there, standing on the other side, is her daddy.

Studying her with sad eyes.

“I’m sorry.” He says gently. “I’m just… I’m trying to protect you, princess. Trying to keep this from happening again because I never… never want you to be hurt like that but I… I lost sight of the fact that something has already happened. That protecting you from other jerks doesn’t change what’s already happened.”

She frowns.

Hadn’t he just been saying that what was upsetting her after what happened was good? That it would keep her safe?

“I’m having a hard time accepting that you’re struggling because it makes me feel like I failed you.” He says, looking at his feet. “Because I should have been there. Should have realized that he was trouble or seen him walking toward the bathroom and told him to back off or gotten to you sooner. If you need help, if you’re hurting then that’s on me because I’m your dad and I should have stopped it.”

She sniffles, scrubbing at her eyes again.

It’s not a good reason, but she does understand his resistance to therapy a little.

She hates seeing the pain in his eyes; the guilty heartbreak. Even if she does happen to agree that he should have done something sooner.

Because she’d tried to tell him something was off about the guy.

“We’ll make you an appointment in the morning, okay?” He says, reaching out to brush her hair back from her face and wipe away a tear from her cheek.

“Okay.” She whispers.

“I love you.” He says, voice tight and she steps into the hug he offers. “If I hadn’t needed to get to you, to check you, I would have killed that bastard with my bare hands for touching you.”

“I love you too.” She tells him.

After a long minute he pulls back.

“Get some sleep, sweetheart.” He tells her gently.

He steps back, turning for the stairs.

“But I meant what I said about those hockey players.” He adds over his shoulder. “I don’t want you hanging out with them anywhere.”

She closes the door and sinks down on her bed, pulling her phone back out of it’s hiding place and staring at the screen.

Adam’s contact is still open, now mocking her.

What is she supposed to do?

Chapter Text

Jay thinks he’s going to be sick.

Hailey had arranged to meet up and he’d gotten Will to let him use the car, driving out to meet her at a burger joint between their homes.

And then she’d told him that her dad had forbidden her to continue spending any time with him and Adam.

He’d felt his stomach drop to the floor.

Is she breaking up with him?

“Hey.” she says softly, reaching out and taking his hand. “To hell with what my dad says. This is not me breaking up with you, okay? This is me telling you we’re going to have to be even more careful.”

He frowns.

Sneaking around behind her dad’s back and just, not telling him she has a boyfriend is one thing.

Continuing to date him even after her dad had explicitely ordered her not to see him anymore is another.

“Are you sure?” he asks, frowning.

“I’m sure.” she says, offering him a smile. “Because I wanna be with you,
Jay. I want us. I want to know that I can have normalcy and stability in my life. That no matter how bad things feel, at the end of the day, I know they’ll be okay because I’ll have you.”

His heart is beating out of his chest.

She still hasn’t said it.

He’s pretty sure that the words ‘I love you’ have got some pretty strong negative associations for her, even if they’ve never actually talked about it.

But more and more lately she’s been saying things that kind of mean the same thing.

I’m here.

I’m not going anywhere.

You’re important to me.

I wanna be with you.

I want us.

She means everything to him and he wishes he could hold her in his arms and tell her that he loves her.

That he’s in love with her.

“Okay.” he says. “Then we’ll play it safe. Be extra careful with our stories and making sure that he doesn’t see me and Adam.”

It will make things harder.

They already don’t get enough time together as it is because of how much they have to sneak around.

But they’ll be okay.

They don’t need all the time in the world right now because they’ve got forever.

“He’s letting me do therapy.” she offers. “So that’s good.”

That’s fantastic.

He’d been beyond skeptical about it at first but once he’d started talking to his therapist, he’d found it to actually be really helpful.

He’s glad that Hailey’s getting the chance.

Because she needs it.

“That’s great.” he says, squeezing her hand. “I knew you’d talk him into it eventually.”

She smiles at him.

“So then, what are plans for your birthday?” he asks.

Her dad is an ass.

He’d somehow gotten ahold of Jay and Adam’s hockey schedule.

Her money is on Mrs. Burgess, not that she blames Kim’s mom at all given that the woman wouldn’t have any reason to know that she shouldn’t give it to him.

Had started asking her to cover at the diner on those nights the week after her birthday.

Since she doesn’t have a good reason why she can’t work that night other than supporting Jay and Adam, she’s had no choice but to pick up the shifts.

Missing Jay’s games as a result.

Which makes her angry.

Kim goes.

Gives her a play-by-play afterward.

It’s not the same.

She’d fallen in love watching Jay play hockey.

Been immediately attracted to the competency that he shows so readily on the ice.

To the generous, considerate way that he plays even such a violent sport.

As they’d gotten to know each other, she’d been drawn to the way that his face lights up when he plays.

The way that he comes alive.

She hates that she’s not seeing that right now.

Hates the smug look her dad gets when he asks like he’s proud of how smart he is to have outsmarted her.

Like he’s a good dad for keeping her away from good friends who make her happy.

Even better for making her go along with it without yelling.

The joke is on him though.

Her strategy for getting back at him is having sex with the boyfriend that he so deeply approves of.

And for all that ‘guys only want sec’ and ‘high school athletes are the worst’ it’s almost always her driving things.

Not that Jay is an unwilling participant by any means but she’s usually the instigator.

Though the more confident that he gets in both his knowledge of what she likes and that he can trust her to tell him to back off or slow down the more assertive he gets.

And it’s definitely hot when he takes a little more control.

She’d love to rub that in her dad’s face.

She’s also gotten out to Jay’s practices more and more to make up for missing his games.

Getting to watch him running drills with the team is a lot of fun too.

To see the way he takes the lead in drills from time to time, the way that even older players watch him for advice on honing their skills.

His coach and his teammates all look to him to lead both on and off the ice and she’s so incredibly proud of him.

Doesn’t care how many roadblocks her dad throws in her way.

He’s worth it.

She loves him.

Chapter Text

Therapy helps.

Both she and Jay are doing better since they started going regularly but its no magic fix.

She’s still having a hard time with customers periodically and he’s still struggled meeting up with the last couple of agents who’ve reached out.

Even with Adam’s dad gladly running background checks first.

All three of them have been flops which makes it even harder.

Hard to accept the risk for such little reward.

She wishes she could fix this for him.

That she could find him the agent that he’s looking for so that he can stop having to go to these meetings.

She shakes herself, focusing on watching him glide across the ice.

Hears footsteps on the bleachers and turns back to see a woman with greying hair walking down the steps.

She’s wearing dress pants and a blue wool cardigan; carrying a black folder.

Hailey offers her a smile, turning back to the ice.

Jay skates through an array of cones in an agility drill and her smile widens.

Every time she watches him change direction on a dime like that, she can’t help but think of their first real conversation.

When she’d suggested that Mouse start calling him Pinball instead of Ricky and his eyes had widened in shocked amusement.

“He’s fast.” the woman comments and Hailey can’t help but jump, realizing that she’s sat down on the front row a few spaces down from her.

“Yeah.” she agrees slowly. “He is.”

“Didn’t mean to startle you.” the woman says. “Trudy Platt.”

“A college scout?” Hailey asks.

It’s early March so a lot of the offers for the year have already gone out but it’s not impossible some of the scouts are still looking.

“I’m an agent.” Trudy says. “Been watching one of the players on this team for a couple of months.”

“Jay?” she asks, eyes widening.

“Jay Halstead, yeah.” Trudy confirms. “He who you’re here watching too?”

Hailey blushes and Trudy sizes her up.

“You’re his girlfriend.” she surmises.

“I am.” Hailey says.

“He’s still pretty focused even for having you here.” Trudy muses.

“I always tell him that if he gets hurt because he’s distracted thinking about me I’ll kick his ass.” Hailey says with a shrug.

Trudy cracks a smile.

“Good policy.” she muses, making a few notes in her portfolio.

“It also helps that he really loves hockey.” Hailey adds. “He zones in pretty quickly once he gets on the ice.”

She likes Trudy, has a good feeling about her after only a few minutes.

Wants her to have a good impression of Jay.

Really hopes that the fact that Jay will need a background check before actually meeting with her won’t ruin his chances.

“I can see that.” Trudy says softly. “It’s in his face, in the way that he moves. Been a while since I scouted a player with that much love for the sport.”

Hailey smiles.

Yeah.

She likes Trudy.

He’s tired.

He hasn’t even met with that many agents. He’s still in the single digits.

But when you have such outliers as Brian Kelton, it feels like a lot.

But Hailey has a good feeling about Trudy Platt and something about the fact that when she takes them out for dinner, she brings her husband with her, doesn soothe his nerves a little.

Randall McHolland is a firefighter who tells Jay that everything he’s learned about being the department union representative has come from his wife.

Trudy clearly adores the man and the feeling is mutual.

Trudy is blunt and honest about what she’s seen from him, what she thinks she can do for him and what she’s looking for in return.

Unlike the other meetings, no contract has been introduced by the end of the night.

Instead they talk about the kind of commitments that Jay will want to make.

She tells him that she has some contacts and can get him a spot at the Boys National 17 festival this summer which, in addition to offering valuable experience and visibility, might earn him a spot at the Phoenix Cup camp and potentially on the US -Under 18 team that will compete for the Phoenix cup in August.

It’s a more concrete offer as to how she’ll start making sure he catches the eyes of scouting teams with the potential of getting onto draft lists his senior year than Kelton or Woods have ever offered.

“I’m going to lay my cards on the table here, Jay.” she says. “I’ve already made calls about the player development camp this summer. You’re a strong, versatile player and even if you don’t sign with me, recommending you makes me look good; increases the chances that I can get other players a spot in the future. It’s yours, no strings attached, even if you tell me thanks but no thanks as we go forward.”

His eyes widen.

“I… wow.” he stammers. “I don’t… thank you.”

“I can get you a standard, boiler plate contract that’s where I start with all of my players when we walk out to the parking lot.” she continues. “Take a look at it, talk it over with your parents, I can even pay for a lawyer of your choosing to evaluate it for you and make recommendations.”

He frowns.

“Why would you do that?” he asks.

“Becasue renegotiating terms later because we missed something that neither of us considered is a pain.” she says truthfully. “And because players who are stuck in contracts they don’t like with agents they feel took advantage of them don’t play as well. They don’t sign to as lucrative of deals and they make me less money. So investing a little bit more up front to make sure that you’re happy with the contract you get actually makes me more money in the long term.”

He nods.

“Besides.” she adds. “Your girlfriend was kind, polite and obviously crazy about you. That tells me a lot about whether or not you’re worth my time.”

That earns a grin.

His girlfriend is absolutely the best.

Chapter Text

She’s missed just about every single game since her dad made his demand that she stop hanging out with Jay and Adam.

He’d dropped back on his surveillance after a few weeks but he’d still been making sure she was scheduled at the diner for all of Union High’s games.

She’s been able to make a few excuses about things with the girls on those nights but for the most part she’s had no choice but the swallow back her frustration and miss the game.

But tonight that isn’t an option.

Jay’s playing for the state championship again and she refuses to miss that.

So she comes up with a story about a project that she and Kim are working on, gets the night off complete with permission to stay the night at the Burgess’s and then asks Jay if he can pick them up.

That way, if her dad drives past then he’ll see her car parked in the driveway and have no reason to believe anything other than that the girls are in Kim’s room working on some project.

It means that they get to the game insanely early but she doesn’t mind.

It gives her the chance to get good seats even with the heightened crowds and means that she gets to watch warmups.

And she’d never pass up a chance to watch Jay skate.

She and Kim sit with the Halstead family, sharing popcorn with Mouse and Will.

She waves Jay over just as warmups are winding down.

He skates over, his eyes already bright with excitement.

“Hey.” he breathes. “What’s up?”

“I wanted to wish you good luck.” she says, offering him a smile.

He grins at her.

“Thanks.”

“I haven’t done it yet.” she says, shaking her head and grabbing the front of his jersey to pull him closer.

Kisses him, working hard to keep herself from getting too deep into while so many people are watching.

Pulls back, resting her forehead against his for a moment.

“Good luck.”

“Think I just won the game already.” he tells her.

“Shut up.” she giggles. “Go win me a trophy.”

Someone calls his name and he throws her a quick salute and then skates toward the bench.

It’s a good game.

They’re playing Maple Ridge High School, one of the better teams in the state.

Every stat is closely aligned; points, hits, shots on goal, and there’s even a pretty even split on face-offs won.

It comes down to the last thirty seconds of the game.

Jay’s biggest rival, Matthew Garrett, gets a hold of the puck with 32.2 on the clock.

Gets to the goal on a breakaway, even has an odd man rush advantage on his approach.

Takes a shot that Union High’s goalie manages to block by the skin of his teeth.

Bryce decides to hold onto it, forcing a face off that has Jay squaring up across the circle from Garrett.

A face off that Jay wins easily.

Passing the puck back to Adam and then dropping Garrett with a hit that probably owes more of its viciousness to the two players’ heated rivalry than neccessity, he races off down the ice.

Adam passes it back, falling back in the wake of a a hard check as Carson Wyatt, the third man on their line, keeps pace with Jay.

At 12.4 seconds they cross the opposing blue line on an odd man rush of their own.

Jay squares up to the opposing goalie, lines up his shot and then passes it over to Carson.

The goalie is focused on Jay, watching for a shot from his right side and expecting Jay to shoot not pass.

Carson is able to shoot virtually unopposed.

The puck flies cleanly under the goalie’s arm.

The stands errupt with cheers, jumping to their feet.

A single goal lead even with only ten seconds left on the clock still isn’t a done deal.

But it sure does feel good.

And in the end, it is enough.

Jay and his team are able to run out the clock without Maple Ridge even getting another shot on goal.

The Union High team floods the ice in celebration and the Maple Ridge players slink off to the locker room.

Hailey is on her feet, screaming excitedly in a near repeat of her celebration the previous year.

Only this time, when she rewards Jay with a kiss it won’t catch him off guard.

He breaks away from the cluster at center ice and skates over to her, out of breath but still glowing with excitement.

“Hey.” he says. “I got you another trophy.”

“You tell Olinski that he has to let me have it?” she teases.

“I’ll sneak it away when he isn’t looking.” he jokes back.

Glances over at Trudy who’s sitting down the row from them.

“Eh.” she shrugs. “Players who are loyal to their girls are a big draw. Fans eat it up. Gets you a better deal with general managers if you make your girl a duplicate trophy instead of stealing the real one though.”

Jay chuckles.

“You’ll have to wait for your duplicate then, babe.” he tells her. “Any chance I can get my prize now?”

She grins, leaning forward and pressing her lips to his.

Chapter Text

Jay pulls up to the curb in front of Kim’s house, killing the engine and turning to face his girlfriend.

“I’ll text you later?” he asks.

“Yeah.” she agrees with a smile.

He nods and she opens her door.

“Shit.”

He glances around, seeing the truck that has just pulled in behind him.

Her dad’s truck.

Shit.

He opens his door, rounding the car quickly to stand next to Hailey as her dad walks up to them.

“Hey Sport.” the man says, his face unreadable, at least to Jay. “Jay.”

“Dad.” Hailey says and he can feel the tension radiating through her even as they deliberately avoid touching.

“Mr. Upton.” he says, offering his hand.

The man ignores it.

“And where exactly have you been with this boy that I expressly told you that you weren’t to see, young lady?”

“Kim and I needed something else for the project.” she tells him. “Jay’s just giving me a ride home.”

Following a lengthy make-out session in a parking lot but somehow he doesn’t think mentioning that will reduce the tension in the air any.

“I thought that’s why you had a car. Why I bought you a car.” her father says and Jay is definitely seeing the anger beginning to surface.

“He- he was dropping something off for Adam and-“

He sees the shift in the man’s stance and steps in front of Hailey just in time to catch the fist heading for Hailey’s face in the jaw.

He stumbles back, redirecting to avoid knocking Hailey over and sees the man moving in for another attack.

He corrects out of his stumble, diving forward to ram into the man, driving him back.

Another fist catches him in the stomach and he grunts, hitting back.

This isn’t his first fight. He’s not an enforcer, his role on the ice doesn’t exactly lead him to a lot of fights, but he’s been in his fair share.

It’s his first without pads though.

And Steven Upton has three inches and over fifty pounds on him.

He’s rammed back against the Burgess’ mailbox and trips, crashing to the ground on his back.

He rolls, pushing up on his hands and knees.

A foot catches him in the ribs, sending him right back onto his back.

Another foot hits him in the stomach before he can even start to try to get up again and he curls on himself, bringing his knees up and his arms over his head to try to protect himself from the blows as they just keep coming.

Hailey is screaming but he can’t make out what she’s saying over the pounding of his pulse in his ears.

She doesn’t know why she’d expected this to be any different.

Screaming at her dad to stop has never worked before.

Maybe it’s because he’s sober this time.

Maybe it’s because it’s Jay that he’s kicking repeatedly as her boyfriend curls up in a futile attempt to protect himself.

Because it’s Jay who’s being brutally attacked because he’d defended her.

She picks up the shovel lying in Kim’s mom’s flower bed and swings.

Her dad drops and for a split second, a part of her wants to keep swinging.

But she tosses the shovel aside, dropping to her knees next to her boyfriend.

“Jay?” she says, hands fluttering uselessly as she goes to touch him and then realizes that she doesn’t dare for fear of hurting him further.

Sound is coming back slowly and she can hear the sirens filling the street, can hear Kim calling her name as she rushes across the lawn toward her.

She stares at her.

“Kim?” she asks, looking around. “Kim, he…”

“I know.” her friend says, dropping to her knees next to her and hugging her tightly. “I know.”

Jay groans and she pulls away, focusing on him.

“Jay?” she repeats, hand finally coming to rest on his shoulder. “Don’t try to move.”

“Hail?” he gasps. “You k?”

“I’m fine.” she says. “A little worried about you.”

“Miss?” an unfamiliar voice cuts in. “Can you tell me what happened?”

Kim squeezes her arm and then pulls away, standing up.

“I called.” she explains. “I can tell you what happened. I think she’s still in shock. And he needs paramedics.”

“They’ve been dispatched.” the police officer tells them. “They’ll have to treat the other man first, especially if he’s still unconscious, because of protocols with head injuries.”

A flash of anger moves through Hailey.

Jay is in pain. Why the hell should her father be treated first when he started this whole thing?

“He hurt him!” she snaps. “And he wasn’t going to stop. Who cares about him?”

“‘mokay.” Jay says, his hand reaching for her. “Can wait.”

“Jay.” she says, taking his hand and feeling tears welling in her eyes. “I’m so sorry. I should have been more careful.”

“‘Sgonna h’pn ‘vent’ly.” he slurs. “d’it ‘gn.”

She sniffles, scrubbing the tears away with her free hand.

“I’ll get a rush on a second ambulance.” the cop promises her and she just nods.

She doesn’t really pay much attention to what’s going on around them after that, her focus locked on Jay’s face as he fights for hitching breaths.

She’s dealt with cracked ribs before, wonders if his might actually be broken, but she knows the pain of breathing through them.

Looks for a spot on his face that isn’t covered in blood. She thinks its just the one gash on his forehead from where he’d clipped the mailbox on his way down but it doesn’t stop it from looking horrifying.

She’s pushed back as the paramedics arrive, needing the space as they get him strapped to a backboard with a cervical collar and she has to take a deep breath to push down the panic as she realizes they’re worried about spinal damage.

She looks around, startled by the number of police cars parked on the street, embarrassed by the number of neighbors that have come out of their houses to see what’s going on.

Hurt that she doesn’t see her mother who she’s pretty sure should be home, who definitely would have noticed the chaos if she was.

Crap. She needs to call Jay’s mom, needs to figure out how to tell her that her son is hurt.

“Hey.” Kim says, rejoining her. “I’ve got you.”

“I need… I should call his mom.”

“I called her.” Kim says. “It’s covered, okay?”

She nods, tears breaking free to roll down her cheeks.

“What… why… how could he do this, Kim?” she asks tearfully. “He… he was sober.”

“I know.” Kim says, wrapping her arms around her.

Chapter Text

Hailey manages to talk her way into the ambulance, holding Jay’s hand during the too long ride to the nearest hospital.

He’s not nauseous this time but listening to him breathe makes her almost wish that he was.

She talks to him the entire way, telling him about the project that she and Kim are doing for their science class (it’s very real even if not the reason she’d begged for the night off).

She’s pulled back, despite her begging and pleading, as they walk into the Emergency Room and watches as he’s wheeled into a treatment bay.

Kim’s mom had followed them to the hospital and her best friend walks in as she begs the nurse to let her go in with, winding an arm around her shoulders.

“Come on.” she says softly. “Let’s sit down, okay? They’ll tell us when they’ve sorted a few things out. Or… they’ll tell his parents at least.”

That reminder just makes her anxious but she willingly lets Kim guide her to a row of chairs and sits down, twisting her hands anxiously while they wait.

Jay’s family arrives fifteen minutes after them, still wearing their Union High hockey hoodies and Hailey’s eyes fill with tears.

“I’m sorry.” she whimpers. “I’m so sorry.”

“Sweetheart.” Bridget says, pulling her into a hug. “This is not your fault. Nobody is to blame for this but that father of yours.”

“I should have called the police sooner.” she sobs. “Told them who he was and what he does. Jay never should have had to protect me like that.”

“Hey. Shhh.” Bridget soothes, cradling the back of her head.

“I never thought he’d hurt anyone else. And he… he was sober and he’s not supposed to be like that when he’s sober.” she cries.

“Love.” Bridget says. “It was never okay. Not when he was hurting you and your siblings. Not now. But he’s your dad and baby, I understand the kind of loyalty that means.”

“You’re supposed to be mad at me.” Hailey whispers. “He hurt your son.”

“And I am furious with him for that.” Bridget says. “With him. Not you.”

She chokes out a sob.

“Hailey.” Pat says quietly, putting a hand on Bridget’s arm and gently moving between them. “Can you look at me?”

She looks up, barely able to see his face through the tears in her own eyes.

She’d stopped being afraid of Pat a long time ago but she’d be lying if she tried to pretend that after her dad losing his temper while apparently sober isn’t making her just a little anxious around the man right now.

Especially since his kid is currently in the Emergency Room because of her.

“My dad was an alcoholic too.” he says quietly and her jaw drops. “Wasn’t altogether nice most of the time when he was sober either but that never stopped him from being my dad.”

She sniffles.

“Anytime I thought about doing something about the way he treated me and my mom, I’d get lost in my own head thinking about the time he took me to a hockey game or fishing.” he tells her. “And I’d freeze up.”

She nods.

“My mom left him when I was in high school.” he tells her. “And for the span of my senior year, he actually managed to stay sober. Right up until a few weeks after graduation when I got this garbage, ass bag apartment and told him I was moving out.”

Hailey grimaces.

She can imagine that may not have gone well.

“I came home from work one night – a few days before I was set to move in – to find him drunk off his ass. Yelled and screamed about what an ungrateful welp I was. That he’d gotten sober for me and I had the nerve to just walk away.” he explains. “Threw me against a wall so hard I cracked a couple of ribs and then punched me in the face.”

“What did you do?” she asks.

“Not what you and I both know I probably should have done.” he scoffs with a humorless laugh. “I went to a clinic, made up some horseshit story about a bar scuffle and then snuck back in while he was out cold the next day to get my stuff. Slept in my car until I was able to get the keys to the apartment.”

She bites her lip.

“The only reason I tell you this.” he says. “Is because I want you to know that I understand. That I’m not upset with you for never reporting him, even if it could have prevented this. He hurt Jay, not you, and at the end of the day. That’s all that matters.”

And then he sends her a rare smile.

“And Hailey?”

“Yeah?” she whispers.

“The joy that you’ve brought my boy this last year is more than enough to balance out whatever injuries your dad caused tonight.”

She manages a small smile at that.

“I’m going to go see if I can hassle the doctor.” Bridget says, squeezing her shoulder.

“Hey.” Will says as his mom walks away. “Did you call Logan and Alan yet?”

Her stomach drops.

She’d kind of forgotten that part.

Chapter Text

Some combination of the fact that she’s Jay’s legal guardian and the fact that she knows some of these nurses through her work as a medical assistant seems to work and Bridget gets shown back to the treatment room.

Hailey would never begrudge Jay his mom, especially right now, but she can’t help but be a little jealous.

Jealous because her mom still hasn’t shown up, probably won’t show up if she’s honest.

Jealous because she wants to see Jay, to know for herself that he’s going to be okay.

Especially when its almost an hour before Bridget comes out to give the rest of them an update.

“He’s heading up to CT in a second.” she explains. “But he’s going to be okay. Cracked a few ribs, and got some stitches in his head from where he clipped the mailbox but they don’t think it’s a concussion. They’ll double check on that and get a look at his abdomen. Possibly some internal bleeding but they’re thinking they’ll be able to treat with medication, especially if the head CT comes back clean.”

“Can we see him?” Will asks.

“If he’s clear on the concussion, they’ll probably be booting him out in the next hour or two.” Bridget says. “Doctor Weston is a little old fashioned and I haven’t been able to talk him around to visitors.”

Hailey sighs.

It’s been a long hour.

She’d called her brothers, telling them what had happened and assuring them they don’t need to come to the hospital.

Jay doesn’t need any more crowding when he finally gets visitors and she’s got tons of people here tonight looking after her.

Promises she’ll drive out to see them tomorrow.

The police and DCFS have come around while they were waiting; taking her statement and talking about histories.

She hadn’t covered up anything.

Her dad is already being charged with assault for what he’d done to Jay and she’s not inclined to see him get any slack by covering up what’s happened in the past.

Then DCFS had confirmed one of her worst fears.

Her mom is being interviewed and evaluated, the agency needing some time to determine if she’s to be allowed to retain custody of her seventeen year old daughter.

Logan and Alan had been posed as possible candidates for temporary guardianship and rejected for much the same reason Hailey has never just moved in with them.

They don’t have the ability to get her back to Truman High every day.

Even with her car, she can’t afford that kind of gas.

Previously, the issue had always been that she can’t submit to change her address or attend a school outside of her zoned area without parental approval.

Currently, it’s a matter of doing so this close to the end of the school year being very difficult.

Kim’s mom had jumped in; offering to let Hailey stay with them for however long was needed.

Something she’d always avoided because Mrs. Burgess would never have approved it without wanting to know why.

Well.

She knows why now.

She’s currently talking to the case worker, reviewing arrangements and making sure they meet all the minimum standards for a temporary foster home.

But Hailey just wants to see Jay.

With Will’s help, Jay slowly makes his way up the stairs.

Hailey follows, a bag of her things over her shoulder.

To her surprise, Mrs. Burgess had seemed to immediately recognize that she wasn’t ready to be parted from him after the events of the evening and had agreed to let her stay at the Halstead’s tonight.

Once Will has helped his brother sit on the edge of the bed, Bridget steps forward.

“Okay.” she says. “This is a tonight only deal, will not become the new norm so do not get used to it but I think it’s what you both need after the day that you’ve had and besides, the broken ribs should ensure that there are no shenanigans so, Hailey I’m allowing you to sleep in here with Jay tonight. Just tonight.”

Hailey’s eyes widen slightly and she glances over to her boyfriend who looks equally shocked.

“Shenanigans?” Jay squeaks.

“Yes, shenanigans.” she says. “You know what I mean and you should know that I know that there have been shenanigans in the past and will no doubt be again in the future once you’ve had a chance to heal. I have no delusion that I can stop you, I only hope that you both have the sense to take appropriate precautions. And I don’t want to know about it, don’t want to hear about it, and most certainly do not want to see or hear it. Am I clear?”

“Yes ma’am.” Hailey says.

“Crystal.” Jay adds.

“Oh, get out you.” Bridget chides Will and Hailey glances over to see his face turning red with the effort not to laugh at their discomfort.

He hurries from the room, the sound of his laughter filtering through the door before it closes.

“Alright, why don’t you help him get comfortable?” Bridget says. “I’ll find you some pajamas. I think we’re close enough to the same size.”

And then she leaves the room, leaving them alone.

Jay’s face is comically red and she knows that her own probably isn’t much better.

“So.” he breathes out, extending the word. “That just happened.”

“Uh-huh.” she agrees, before a giggle suddenly rips free. “I kind of love your mom.”

He smiles softly at her.

“I think she kind of loves you too.” he tells her.

“Really?” she asks.

“Do you think she would let you sleep in the same bed as me tonight, despite knowing that we… engage in shenanigans … if she didn’t?” he asks.

She smiles.

“Thank you.” she whispers. “For sharing your family, your mom, with me. Especially after today.”

At his frown she adds.

“I mean you could totally be milking the injured card big time but you’re letting her fuss over me almost more than you.”

He offers her a grin.

“I’m playing the long game.” he says. “For the shenanigans.”

She giggles again.