Part 12

"Anna, are you on for tonight?" Kevin asked her as they packed up in the bullpen, ready to go out for the night. "Well, if I remember correctly, I did beat Adam so he's buying drinks tonight" Anna said and winked at Adam as she leaned back in her chair.

"Jay, are you coming as well?" Kevin asked and Anna looked over, seeing Jay grabbing his jacket. "Yeah, sure" He said and gave Kevin a small smile.

Anna got up and grabbed her jacket, before going into the locker rooms. There Kim and Hailey were getting changed, Anna joined them and changed into a more party mood outfit.

"Is Kelley coming tonight?" Kim asked Anna and she shrugged. "Not sure, his shift just ended, so the firefighters will probably be there" Anna said and the girls nodded.

"I really need a drink, fuck I need a big ass drink" Anna groaned and sat down on the bench, zipping her high heeled boots.

"Me too, amen to that sister" Hailey said and laughed. The three walked off, driving there in each car. "Where's Adam? I need my drinks" Anna called out when she looked through the crowd.

Kim laughed and pulled her with her to find Kim's boyfriend. "I ordered plenty of drinks, Lorenzi. Knock yourself out" Adam called out. Herrmann nodded her way and she returned it.

"Hi guys" Anna called out and took a shot with Adam and Kim. Gabby came over and talked to Anna and Kim. The three caught up in the last 24 hours.

Anna had become close to them all, Sylvie also joined them, along with Hailey. The women stayed by the bar counter and stayed that way until Kelley swooped in to steal Anna.

"There you are" Kelley said and smiled at her. "Here I am" Anna said and Kelley chuckled when Anna leaned into his side.

The group continued chatting, Anna didn't notice Jay sitting with Kevin, Will and Casey on the other side of the bar.

Jay's eyes traveled across the people in the bar, his eyes landed on Anna again, her tucked into Kelley's side. Him looking at her like he wanted to eat her.

Jay had no right in feeling this way, but the closure he never got was still fresh on his mind, he knew he needed to talk to Anna, sooner rather than later.

Otherwise things and misunderstandings would happen and no one wanted that.

Jay took another swig of his beer as he stared at her laughing with Hailey, Gabby and Kim. Will noticed how Jay looked at his ex and felt sorry for both of them.

Things they weren't in control of had happened, but they hadn't had a real chance to talk it out. To get the closure both needed.

Anna had asked Will about Jay for the months Jay was undercover, she was worried about him and wanted to know how he was doing before he left.

"Talk to her, man" Kevin suddenly blurted out, getting Jay's attention. "What?" Jay asked, pretending to play stupid.

"You're already staring at her like a creep, just go talk to her" Kevin said, the way Kevin said it, made it sound easy.

Jay didn't respond but instead he got up, Will watched as he stumbled a little over his feet and sighed. "This is not a good idea, he's drunk" Will said.

"Well, they need to talk. Drunk words are true words" Kevin said and shrugged a little. "Yeah, but you don't know Jay when he's drunk" Will said with a wince.

"Can we talk?" Jay called out, Anna's smile dropped and Kelley looked at Jay and then Anna. Everyone became quiet and Anna nodded her head. "Sure, let's go outside," Anna said.

Anna and Jay walked out in the cold night and the two stopped on the corner of Molly's. "Why did you leave me?" Jay blurted out, Anna could hear he wasn't interested in keeping his cool.

"I had to" Anna said with a frown. "I had to go back to the–""—No, why did you leave me" Jay said, Anna saw just how vulnerable he was and she was drowning in guilt.

"I'm sorry, Jay. I really am. I had to let you go, the mess I made– the cost of the mission, it was too much" Anna said, her voice breaking and Jay exhaled a shaky breath.

He had tears in his eyes and he looked at her like he wanted her to hug his broken pieces back together. "Why did you let me go? Why couldn't you just have let me be there for you? I needed it, I needed to see you stabilized and healing" Jay said.

Anna had to take a step back, it hit her hard and she was feeling all of the pain again. "Jay, what we had was real, to me it was. It wasn't part of the plan, or the mission. It was real, I lied to you for months, I hurt you, I broke you" Anna said with a trembling lip.

In some ways she was trying to make him understand that she had done something horrible to him and that she was punishing herself for it.

"Why did you leave me? Say it, Anna" Jay wanted her to say something, but Anna didn't know what. She didn't know what he meant.

What did he want her to say?

"Jay, I don't understand–""—If it was real to you, why did you leave me?" Jay pushed on, taking another step closer to her.

"I–It hurt too much. I know what I did to you, Jay. I left you because I knew how much I hurt you with the lies" Anna said, but it still wasn't what Jay wanted to hear.

"Jay, what do you want me to say?" Anna tried, she grabbed his arm when he was about to leave her and he stopped in his tracks and turned back to her.

"Tell me why you really left me" Jay said and pried Anna's hand off of his arm, she clenched her jaw to not break down in the middle of the street. She fought her tears back and said nothing.

Jay backed up and walked away.

Leaving her alone. Like she left him. "I'm sorry" Anna said. Jay had heard her, but he couldn't use her apology for anything.

Anna went to go back inside, but she couldn't bring herself to go back in and pretend everything was fine. So she walked the opposite way of where Jay had left to and then she got into her car and drove home.

She locked herself into her house and started crying. She sat on the floor, she brought her knees up to her chest and tried to keep her sobs down.

She left Jay because she loved him too much to stay.

But she couldn't say it. She would never say it. She wanted to work towards a better team dynamic and she hoped Jay would let it go.

-

The day after, Anna went into work with the others, once again they were all at their desks, doing paperwork.

"Hey, Lorenzi. Take a ride with me" Hailey called out and Anna nodded and got up immediately. She grabbed her jacket and headed out, feeling eyes in her back.

Hailey and Anna got into Haileys car and drove off. "Where are we going?" Anna asked. "I need to check something out" Hailey said and Anna nodded her head.

"Okay, what happened last night?" Hailey asked. "Is that why you pulled me off the bullpen?" Anna asked and Hailey smiled innocently and that was answer enough.

"We talked, it didn't go well, but I suppose it could've been worse" Anna said and shrugged a little. "What does that mean? Can you talk as civilized people or?" Hailey pushed.

"I don't know, Hails. I'll have to wait and see" Anna said, she felt a bit sad about it, she knew her and Jay's business were affecting the others.

Anna and Hailey got something to drink and headed back to the precinct, talking about how Anna could fix things with Jay or at least make it better.

Anna saw her opportunity when Jay was in the locker room alone. Anna glanced around and walked in, surprising him shirtless.

"Jay, can we talk?" Anna asked, getting straight to it. He turned to her, a void look on his face, Anna's words got caught in her throat when she saw his toned abs, the v-line going down....

"Sure" Jay said and Anna cleared her throat and crossed her arms. "I'm not sure how we can move on from this, but I want you to know that I want this to work here in Intelligence, you don't have to doubt me having your back. I want us to be friends, colleagues, do you think that's possible at all?" Anna asked and laid it all out there.

Jay stared at her for a while, he seemed to think things through and after a minute he sighed and stepped forward towards her.

"Yes, I think it's possible. I want to move past this" Jay said and Anna nodded. "I do too, obviously. I think this could be something great, here in Intelligence" Anna said and smiled a little, it was a test to see if he truly meant it.

If he could truly move past their fling.

"No, yeah, I agree" Jay said and nodded, he shot her a quick smile, but Anna saw it die down. She took it as a relief for now, knowing he was actually making an effort.

"By the way, Severide showed up an hour ago, asking for you" Jay called out when Anna turned on her heel.

"Oh, he did?" Anna said, surprised. She had no plans with Kelley today.

"Yeah, he looked conflicted," Jay added and Anna frowned a little. "Okay, thank you" Anna said and Jay nodded.

Jay pulled a shirt over his head and Anna headed back out in the bullpen, where Hailey nodded her way, wanting to know if it went well or not.

Anna smiled and nodded her head in return. Hailey smiled and silently cheered before giving her a thumbs up.

Anna's phone started ringing and shortly after Anna answered. "Hello?"

"Anna, I think we need to talk" Kelley said, panting on the line. He sounded worried and all serious.

"Okay, I'll stop by when shift ends" Anna said and Kelley agreed before hanging up.

What do you think!?

How long do you guys think the truce is gonna last? 👀

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