my cousin's keeper

chapter 9: a little bit of hope

author's note: hi everyone! i hope y'all had a happy holidays and new year! i haven't written a lot of case heavy chapters but wanted to try. thanks for the votes and support, i'm hoping to get to suggestions soon so feel free to comment any characters/ideas you want to see in future chapters! 

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hailey upton entered the 21st district and made her way to the front desk. there was a donation bucket sitting atop the desk with a note that read all donations will go to support the halstead family. it was tradition for platt to collect donations whenever one of her officers or their families needed support, and she strongly encouraged everyone to donate. 

"hey sarge," hailey said softly, "you said there's been an update with the case?" she asked. trudy platt looked up from her computer, "hey upton," platt responded, her tone carrying an unusual gentleness to it "yes, the unit's waiting for you upstairs." hailey nodded, thanking the sergeant before making her way upstairs. 

in the bullpen sat kim burgess, adam ruzek, kevin atwater, and dante torres. hank voight was in his office, working on some type of paper work that hailey assumed to be a warrant. dante torres was there because voight had asked adam to find another officer to help with the case since jay wouldn't be working it, and torres had worked well in the unit when helping with other cases. they all stopped talking when hailey walked in, turning their attention to her. they all looked as equally exhausted as she did, and the smell of freshly brewed coffee drifted in to the bullpen from the break room. hailey made her way to her desk, setting down her jacket and the coffee she had brought with her from home.

kim was the first to break the silence, making her way over to hailey's desk. "hey, how's everyone doing? how are you doing?" she asked softly. "we're doing okay, it was a big relief to be able to have mariana be discharged and come home" hailey answered. "platt said there were updates?" she questioned, looking up at the case board. there was another picture added, labeled suspect number 3. she noticed the man had a tattoo on his neck, matching the description mariana had given. that was the man who had shot her. before hailey had left to go to meet jay, will, and mariana at med the unit had apprehended their first suspect, hunter owens. from there it was a waiting game for the kid to flip on his father or for the father to misstep and give away his own location. 

"we've identified the third suspect as derek carter, we believe he's the one who pulled the trigger. hunter owens, the son of adrianna who was the patient cate halstead and her team cared for and ultimately lost at rush, just gave us the location of where his father shawn and derek are hiding out" burgess explained, "voight is getting the warrant for the address right now"

hailey nodded,  "alright, let's get ready to move then" she said. the unit agreed, and they got up to make their way downstairs. torres quickly drank the rest of his coffee before he stood up, trying to get all the energy he could.

"is this the longest case you've worked?" hailey asked, walking down the stairs next to dante "it's the longest straight i've ever worked on a case," he admitted "i don't even like coffee that much." hailey couldn't help but laugh a little "yea, to be honest i'm not a big coffee fan either but you get used to the taste eventually. thanks for being here, torres." dante nodded, opening the door to the basement

the team got ready quietly, all of them mentally preparing for what they were about to do. hailey pulled on her bulletproof vest and secured it carefully. the fear of getting hurt on the job was always somewhere in the back of her mind but she could usually ignore it. but she couldn't help but think about how these suspects gunned down a family, jay's family. she had seen the repercussions of their violent actions herself, as had everyone else in the unit. 

her thoughts were interrupted when voight came downstairs holding a warrant. he set it down on the table, "warrant is good to go. a patrol unit confirmed the house is occupied and derek carter's car is out front with plates removed. torres, go with atwater and upton come with me. ruzek and burgess you two go together as usual" voight ordered. the unit moved to go to their respective cars, but voight cleared his throat "whatever you have to do to make these arrests, do it." he added. the unit nodded in understanding, and voight quickly pulled on his own vest. 

hailey made her way to voight's car and got into the passenger seat. it felt weird not to be sitting in the passenger seat of jay's truck, but she tried not to think about it. the two shared a quick conversation as voight checked in on her and the halsteads but besides that the ride was quiet. 

when the unit arrived on scene they got out of their cars quietly. atwater and torres moved to cover the back, while upton, burgess, ruzek, and voight moved carefully up the front steps. there were lights on, and burgess confirmed movement inside. "this is 5021 adam, requesting backup at 3105 point street. responding units do not use sirens or lights." voight whispered into his radio before turning back to the team. "alright, everyone ready?" he whispered. the other three nodded and voight moved in front of the door. "chicago pd!" he yelled, kicking in the door. 

upton moved in first, followed closely by burgess. they entered the living room and found shawn owens and derek carter. owens was running for the backdoor, while carter was in the kitchen. "gun!" burgess yelled, spotting a weapon sitting on the counter top not far from where carter was standing. voight and ruzek entered in the living room, all four pointing their weapons at carter. "derek carter put your hands up now!" hailey yelled. the man hesitated, looking from the weapon up at the officers "now!" she yelled again, and the man finally obeyed. voight moved forward into the kitchen and cuffed him. 

burgess keyed her radio "atwater, torres do you have the second suspect? do you have owens?" she asked "yes, owens has been apprehended." atwater responded. he and torres had grabbed owens as soon as he got outside, stopping him before he had a chance to run. "alright, clear the rest of the house" voight instructed before he dragged carter outside. he handed him off to the patrol officers that had responded to his call for backup, telling them to take him back to the 21st. atwater came around the side of the house with owens and did the same.

the three cleared the house and then headed outside, meeting the rest of the unit on the lawn. "good work" voight said, "hopefully this will bring some comfort to the halstead family" he continued. hailey could feel everyone's eyes shift to her for just a second as voight spoke. "take the weekend off and rest. we'll pick up a new case monday morning." 

voight went to talk to some of the responding officers and let them know they were all good to go. hailey went to follow him, but atwater stopped her. "hey hails, do you wanna ride back with dante and i?" atwater asked. hailey nodded, "yeah, that would be great. is it cool if i call jay quick and just let him know?" she asked. "of course, torres and i will be waiting in the car." he answered gently.

hailey pulled out her phone and dialed jay's number. 

jay was in the kitchen washing dishes when his phone rang. will and mariana had both fallen asleep on the couch, but jay couldn't fall asleep. he picked up his phone quickly, "hey hailey." he said gently "hey jay," she responded warmly "i just wanted to let you know we got them, it's over." she said.

jay closed his eyes for a moment, letting out a relieved sigh "that is amazing news," he said quietly "really amazing news." he felt overwhelmed by the emotions he had been suppressing in an attempt to keep himself composed for mariana. the anger, the sadness, the helplessness. it all came rushing back. but within all those emotion, he also felt a new one; a little bit of hope. hope that things could really be okay someday.  

"i'm going to go back to the district quick to get my stuff and then i'll be home." she said "okay, if you can try to be quiet coming in because will and mariana are both knocked out on the couch." he said with a small chuckle, glancing over at the two of them. "got you." hailey said with a small laugh of her own. she started walking over to the car, pausing just before she opened the door "i love you, jay" she said softly. "i love you too, hailey" he responded

"see you soon" hailey said before ending the call. she tucked her phone back into her pocket and opened the passenger door to kevin's car. dante had sat in the back so hailey could ride up front. "you ready?" kevin asked, and hailey nodded, "ready" she responded.