Part 26

"Lorenzi! They heard us! They're coming" Carter Michaels screamed with joy, howling at the sky when he saw helicopters. Anna smiled at the sky and screamed in relief.

Though when she got up from her position on the ground, she had given her enemy sight of her, two bullets disappeared into her chest, the shock on her face was evident when her battalion saw her go down.

-

Zach's hands traveled over her naked chest, her collarbone and breast, his thumb slid over the bullet scar there, Anna moved her hips against his as he kissed her skin.

Her moans became quieter as Anna felt how he touched her scars. Flashes of unwanted memories played behind her eyes as she faked her orgasm, making Zach come as well.

He captured her lips with his own, not noticing how distracted and not into it, she had become. Anna felt guilty and got off of him, laying on his chest, waiting for the time to come where they both had to go to work.

-

"I did something horrible" Anna admitted to Hailey with a frown. "Oh? What happened?" Hailey asked. "I faked an orgasm with Zach because he triggered some unwanted memories" Anna responded in a rushed way.

"Oh, don't beat up yourself Anna. It happens, I'm sure you and Zach will have plenty of makeup sex" Hailey retorted. The small comment made Anna smile a little in relief.

"Yeah? So it's not like a big deal?" Anna asked in relief. "Well just don't tell him" Hailey advised. Anna nodded seeing sense of her words and exhaled in relief.

"Thanks Hails, is everything ready for tonight?" Anna asked. Hailey nodded and smiled. "Oh yes, all of your ideas played out beautifully, Molly's will be perfect" Hailey gushed in excitement.

"That's great, god I can't wait to see his face" Anna laughed. The two exited the locker room and walked into the bullpen.

-

"Anna, can you distract Jay? Will is held up at the hospital and he might just only make it in time for the party, so he can't take Jay out" Hailey called Anna panicking.

Just an hour before the surprise party. Everyone pretended to have forgotten about Jay's birthday to make it funnier. It was safe to say that Jay was annoyed by it, but didn't say a thing.

"Of course, I'll go to his place now" Anna said and the two bid goodbye. Anna changed her direction and raced towards Jay's apartment instead.

Jay looked surprised at her when she knocked on his door and he opened. "Anna? Everything okay?" Jay asked and stepped aside, letting her in.

"Yeah, are you? You seemed a little moody today" Anna said in a teasing tone as she stepped into his apartment.

"I'm fine, I was just wrapped up in my mind" Jay said with a small laugh. Anna saw the frozen lasagna on his kitchen counter and found herself feeling sorry for Jay.

He really thought they had forgotten about his birthday, and he was gonna have a cheap shitty frozen lasagna? Not on Anna's watch.

"Hey, why don't we get some real dinner? Instead of–....that" Anna said and grimaced as she poked at the lasagna with a fork. "Okay, okay, stop it. It's edible. Stop judging me, I was lazy" Jay defended and Anna laughed.

"Well, get dressed. I'm hungry and there's no way I'm letting you eat that goo" Anna retorted. Jay found it weird that she cared so much, but nevertheless the pain in his chest disappeared for a while when he got dressed to go out with her.

While Jay got dressed, Anna texted Hailey that she would take him out for dinner while everyone arrived at Molly's and got everything ready.

"Alright, I'm ready" Jay called out. "Let's go, I'm driving" Anna called out and exited his apartment. Jay locked his apartment and followed her down the stairs and into her car.

"So, how's everything with Zach?" Jay asked. "It's uh, good" Anna answered, she cursed at herself for not hiding her troubles better in front of Jay.

"Oh yeah, that was convincing" Jay retorted and laughed when Anna rolled her eyes playfully. "It's just, you know the unwanted flashbacks, you know what I'm talking about" Anna said and nudged his arm.

Jay nodded his head and understood immediately. "Yeah, it's the one thing I can't control" Jay said and Anna nodded, feeling the same way.

"Zach has no idea that I'm struggling a bit, and I have no idea how to tell him. It's not exactly a small thing" Anna said, Jay nodded knowing the feeling of the burden.

The weight of it.

"Just tell him, Anna. If he truly likes you and cares for you, he'll do anything to help you through it" Jay said and Anna looked at him, feeling the depth of his words.

"We're here" Anna then said as she looked back at the road. There was a restaurant she had been dying to try out and Jay seemed to be pleased with the place.

"This place looks great" Jay said and Anna smiled as the two walked in. They ordered their dinner and spent an hour and a half there, gaining Hailey some extra time. Which was perfect.

"Where are we going now?" Jay asked confused when he sensed that they weren't going back to his apartment. "I forgot my bag earlier and Hailey got it for me, she's a Molly's so we're just gonna stop by shortly and then I'll take you back" Anna said and Jay nodded.

Jay watched as Anna walked into Molly's which looked awfully quiet. She shot him a smile before letting the door close after. Too long passed and she still hadn't come out, so Jay exited the car and went in.

The lights were off and Jay became extremely suspicious but before he could do anything the lights switched on and everyone shouted "Surprise!"

Jay jumped in shock and saw Anna with Will, Hailey and Adam. All of them were laughing and smiling. "You thought that we forgot!" Hailey gasped and laughed before hugging Jay.

"Oh yeah, happy 30th birthday, old man" Anna retorted with a grin when Jay came to hug her. Jay rolled his eyes and Anna laughed harder at him. "Real funny"

Anna stepped back after that, letting Jay greet his friends. She hoped that she and Hailey had hit home with this. They hoped he was happy.

Zach came in shortly after the party began and Anna felt her mood die down for some reason. Jay and Hailey looked her way and then at Zach who came up to her and kissed her.

Hailey saw how Jay's mood also died and she frowned a little, Hailey thought that Jay was over her, but it seemed that he wasn't.

He had been good at not talking about it.

Anna and Zach walked outside shortly after and Jay sighed even more knowing they were probably leaving together. His chest started to ache with pain again and he groaned discreetly, he rubbed his chest and grimaced a little.

"You good?" Hailey asked, confused. "Yeah, yeah. I'm fine" Jay said, but the pain in his chest didn't ease up. "Will" Hailey called out. His brother came over and saw Jay trying to sit up straight, to make it seem like nothing was wrong.

"What's up?" He asked. "Birthday boy has chest pains" Hailey said. "What? How long have you had chest pains?" Will asked.

Jay glared at his brother and pulled him into the kitchen of Molly's to get some privacy. It was just the two of them.

"What's going on Jay?"

"I've been having some chest pains for the last two months, but it's not a big deal" Jay insisted. "Two months?! Are you insane?" Will snapped.

He made Jay pull his shirt up and then he tried to locate the pain, but it wasn't in his bones or his skin. "When did it start?" Will asked.

"I first noticed them after an intense case, it was around two months ago. So" Jay said. Things seemed to make sense for Will and he narrowed his eyes.

"So, you've been having chest pains for as long as Anna has been together with Hazmat Zach?" Will retorted. "What? No.." Jay said defensively.

Then Jay thought about it and it dawned on him that Will was right. It was right after Anna got together with Zach. "Oh for fucks sake" Jay cursed out.

"What you have, my brother, is a broken heart" Will said and slapped Jay on the back. "Fuck off, I told you I was fine" Jay retorted.

"Except that you're not. You need to talk to her again, tell her, otherwise it will affect your health" Will said all serious.

"I won't talk to her about it, Will. I know what she's gonna say" Jay snapped, he was getting angry and defensive. It was sensitive, very sensitive and Jay hated that.

"And what is she gonna say? Now that you know it all" Will retorted and crossed his arms. "That we're not good together, that she doesn't feel anything, that she's not gonna put our jobs in jeopardy. She never loved me, Will. Do you get that? Whatever we had back then, it was fake" Jay spat.

The two had raised their voices at each other and Hailey heard multiple people could hear them shout at each other but not what it was about.

"That's bullshit Jay, even you should be able to see that's not true. Even you can't be that blind! Even your body knows it, it's just your head that is in the way" Will snapped.

"I'm not, because there's nothing between us. We're colleagues, we're becoming friends. That's all" Jay finalized the argument and Will scoffed and gave up.

"Happy birthday brother, you blind idiot" Will retorted before walking out of the back entrance. Jay scratched the back of his neck before sighing deeply.

"Fuck" Jay cursed.

Happy birthday Jay baby ❤️