The Meaning of Family

New Experiences

The Monday after Ava was officially declared potty trained, Hailey and Jay decided, along with Ava's therapist, to introduce her to another new situation: meeting the team at the district.

They were a little nervous about how this would go with their girl that was still fairly afraid of new people, especially men, but they wanted to do it before she started school. Although it was set that for the first week Hailey would do half days, then the next week Jay would do half days, they knew there was a possibility of having to bring Ava to the district for an afternoon.

Ava was napping, so Hailey got ready while the little girl wasn't with her. When Ava woke up, she got her to use the bathroom and eat a snack before fixing her messy pigtails and adding bows to match her purple dress.

"Whewe goin?" Ava asked, shoving a few raspberries into her mouth.

"We're going to go see mine and Jay's friends and see where Jay and I work, and then we'll go to the park and come home," Hailey explained, hoping Ava would react well.

"Meet new peopwe?" She asked nervously. She didn't like meeting new people, it made her nervous. "I met them though," she huffed, bringing her thumb up to her mouth.

"That's right, baby, you did meet most of them. There are four more people for you to meet and they're all really nice, I promise. You'll be with me and Jay the entire time," Hailey tried to reassure her baby sister.

Ava shrugged but seemed to he agreeing to it, not that she had much of a choice with this. It was one of the things that had to happen sooner rather than later.

"I know you're nervous, baby. We'll be with you the entire time," she lifted Ava up and hugged her close. Ava hugged back before wiggling out of Hailey's arms to go get her bunny before they left.

Soon, too soon for Ava's liking, they got to the district. "Gonna be safe?" Ava asked as Hailey unbuckled her car seat and set her on the pavement.

"Gonna be safe, I promise. And the first person I want you to meet is the first person who ever made me feel safe," Hailey said, leading Ava inside through the front doors.

Ava followed her up the stairs and tightened her grip on her had. There were a lot of people, mostly men, and she didn't like that very much. She tugged on Hailey's hand and waited for her to look at her before holding her arms up, wanting to be held. Hailey smiled and lifted her up then went straight to Trudy's desk.

"Hey," she said, waiting for Platt to turn around.

"Hey what? Can't you-" Trudy cut herself off when she saw Hailey standing there, holding a smaller version of herself. "Oh my goodness, she looks so much like you! I didn't know you were coming today!" The woman smiled and went to go around the desk and hug Hailey.

"We didn't tell anyone in case something changed. Trudy, this is Ava, Ava, this is Trudy, she's the first person that made me feel safe, and she's the reason I became a police officer," Hailey explained and Ava smiled a little and waved but didn't say anything.

"Hi, Ava, it is very nice to meet you!" Trudy beamed at the little girl but didn't make a move to touch her, she knew that probably wouldn't end well.

"Hi," Ava murmured around her thumb, looking at the woman. She seemed safe; she was wary of her, but she seemed safe.

Hailey talked to Trudy as they went upstairs to the bullpen, Ava now hiding behind her bunny. She was very nervous about this.

"Hey, look what I found!" Trudy announced and Jay darted to his wife to take Ava so Hailey could greet their friends.

"Wait, so the kid that is scared of everything is comfortable with Halstead? Be a that makes sense," Antonio said and Ava hid against Jay.

"Well, she kinda lives in the same house as him so..." Hailey waited for that to sink in for Antonio and Al, but Al just smiled, not seeming shocked by what Hailey said.

"Wait. You, an-and Halstead?! You've been in the unit for like a year?!" He exclaimed, effectively frightening Ava.

"Actually, Jay and I have been married for a couple of years, we just never had a reason to say anything," she shrugged, going over to hug the rest of the team.

Antonio sputtered in shock for several minutes while Jay looked to Al. "You don't seem shocked."

"Nope," the man grinned. He had suspected it for a while, there was something different about Jay and Hailey.

"So everyone knows now, glad we don't have to hide it as much. Let's move on, team, this is Ava. She's a bit shy. Ava, this is our team, they're like our family, and none of them will hurt you," Jay explained, rubbing Ava's back.

It took a few minutes, but the scared, shy little blonde eventually looked up and looked at everyone. She waved shyly when they waved at her, but made absolutely no attempt at speaking or moving from Jay's arms.

The only person she hadn't met was Voight, so Hailey went to get him. She knocked on his door before going in.

"Upton, how are you doing?" He asked, standing to hug her.

"I'm good, sarge. I wanted to thank you for keeping my spot in intelligence open while I'm gone. It means a lot," Hailey gave him a genuine smile, she was so thankful for what he was doing for her.

"Of course. Family is important. How is the kid?"

"She's adjusting. She didn't cry when we got here, so that's a plus, and she's growing a lot more comfortable with us. She's made a lot of progress."

"I'm glad to hear it. Do you want me to come meet her?"

"Yes, please," they went out into the bullpen and Hailey took Ava from Jay.

"Ave, this is the last person for you to meet, baby. This is Hank, and he may look all tough, but he's actually super sweet," Hailey told her shaking sister. Ava looked at Hank, who said hi to her and had a grin on his face, and she actually said hi back before hiding against her sister. It was more than Hailey expected.

After talking with the team a little longer, Hailey left with Ava and the two of them went to the park before going home and doing bath time before Jay got home and made dinner.