"I'm not doin' that," Atwater crossed his arms. Jay couldn't help but allow the laughter to escape. "You think I'm gonna let you do that?"
"Come on, man. I could get in trouble if this doesn't work," Adam gave his friend the best puppy eyes he could, knowing good and well it wouldn't work.
"Why don't we do it to you?" Jay stepped in.
"I don't think that's a good idea," Adam shifted his stance.
"Why not?" Kevin turned to face Jay and smiled, then returned to his previous position, facing Adam. "Why do you have to do it to us? Why not you?"
"Because it's mine and I don't wanna," Adam watched the two exchange amused looks. "Please? Ten bucks."
"Ha!" Jay laughed. "Ten bucks?! No way that's enough."
"Yeah," Atwater added. "Fifty."
"No way!" Adam stepped backwards.
"Thirty? Remember, you could get in trouble." Jay gently backhanded Kevin on the shoulder, a motion to signal that they had the money in the bag.
Adam grumbled, "Fine."
Kevin leaned in Jay's direction. "We split it half and half."
Jay stepped back, confusion playing across his features. "Uh… no." He pointed at Adam. "Unless he's getting both of us."
Kevin looked at Adam then back at Jay, back to Adam and back to Jay. "Okay, just you but I get a quarter of it."
Jay contemplated, looking at the lethal item in Ruzek's hand. He really didn't want to experience the pain that came with it, but he really couldn't turn down the money. Plus, they'd already worked so hard to get it. To convince their friend. "Dammit, fine. Let's do it."
"Great." Adam stepped forward while Kevin stepped back, allowing the blue-green eyed detective the space he needed. "Tell me how it feels." He pressed and held the weapon onto Jay's abdomen, sending 50,000 volts surging through his body. The youngest Halstead seized, falling to the ground with a cry of pain. Adam and Atwater laughed as their friend groaned. He slowly stood with a grunt, leaning on the desk beside him. Adam smiled, "It works."
"Congratulations. Give me my money," Jay extended his hand, palm open and face up.
"Alright, gimme a sec." Ruzek reached into his wallet, only finding a 20 inside. "Oh."
"What?" Jay's tone was mildly harsh. His heart raced, on account of the taser but also the idea he wasn't getting his dough.
"I only have a 20."
"You get nothing, Kevin." Jay snatched the green currency out of his friend and colleague's hand before walking off towards the breakroom, a desperate desire to be one with the couch. He took his sweatshirt off, balling it up to ready it to make it a pillow. Adam and Ruzek laughed at the detective, knowing he deserved a good nap.
"Arright, time to get back to the case, I guess," Atwater walked around his desk to find the file he needed. "Glad you checked before we left. Y'know, just in case."
"It's new." Adam admitted, trying to whisper.
"What?!" Jay, still awake in the breakroom.
"Go, go, go!" Atwater followed Adam down the stairs, laughing, on their way to their car. Passing the desk without Platt calling you out was no minor feat. It's also one they didn't accomplish.
"Dumbass 1 and dumbass 2, get over here." She sounded harsh but they knew she meant nothing by it and she loved them. Right? "I need you two to follow up on an old case for me."
"But we're-" Adam tried. Atwater sighed at Ruzek's attempt.
"On your way to do this favor for me? Thanks, boys!" She handed Kevin the file the two would need, knowing Ruzek was questionable at best when it came to things like that, especially when he didn't want to do them.
"We'll get right on it, serge." Kevin lead his friend and partner for the day out of the double doors onto the Chicago streets.
:::::::
"This is the address." Adam looked through the file.
"It's an old case back from my uniform days. Me and Burgess had it."
"File says you guys handled it pretty well."
"Nah, it's just the job, y'know."
"I hear that," Adam opened the door, stepping out onto the brown, crunchy and cold grass below. The November Chicago air nipped at his skin, threatening to freeze the two of them from the inside out.
"We're supposed to check on this couple then leave," Atwater lead the way up the rickety staircase. The wood creaked under the pressure of their weight. Little pieces of the brick crumbled to the ground. He knocked, keeping to the side of the door just in case. "Chicago PD. Sergeant Trudy Platt sent us for check in."
"Who the Hell are you?!" A deep male voice from inside.
"I'm Detective Kevin Atwater and this is Detective Adam Ruzek with Chicago PD Intelligence Unit. We're just here for a check-in."
"Leave me alone!"
"Ricky and Talia Hardey?" Adam called out.
"No! They ain't live here! Go away!" The sound of a gun cocking could be heard.
The two detectives silently acknowledged the sound with knowing looks. They moved in a little closer to the door. Adam spoke first. "Sir, could you open the door so we could talk?"
"The Hell I will!" The man open-fired at the door, bullets flying through the old wood, pieces of the materia became debris, flying through the air. The detectives ducked while the shrapnel and bullets flew above their heads.
"Detective Atwater with Intelligence! Shots fired at 689 corner of Broad and Hinx! Requesting backup. Suspect is armed and dangerous!"
Adam took lead, kicking the ventilated door down, making entry into the small house. "Put the gun down!" He had caught sight of the man.
"Woah," Kevin noticed the firearm. "Ay Ruzek, check it."
Adam saw the weapon. "How did he… Sir, put the weapon down."
"Get out m' house!"
"We can't do that, sir, you open fired on two police officers." Adam stepped forward, slightly, spooking the man who then fired off a shot. Ruzek stumbled backwards. His back hit the wall before he slowly slid down the surface. Kevin fired off a shot, killing the gunman in the process. He ran over to his partner-for-the-day's side, holding pressure on the bleeding stomach wound.
"Ay, man, you're gonna be fine. I don't think it hit anything important." He pressed harder on the wound, eliciting a cry of pain from the detective. He got on his phone, dialing up everyone he could. "This is Detective Atwater with Intelligence. Send an ambulance to my location, now!" He pressed a few more buttons on the screen, keeping a close eye on his friend. "You're gonna be okay, man. Sergeant! Ruzek's been hit. We- yes sir. Chicago Med. Yes sir. Okay." He looked back to Adam who seemed to be coping with the pain a little better. "Voight says he'll meet us at Med. Says he's got Halstead's brother on speed dial for this kinda thing. Don't know why, cus Jay's never hurt but y'know."
"S-sounds… agh… good." He groaned against the pain. The bullet was still in there and they both knew it.
"You gotta stay still, man, cus it could do more damage."
"Could it?"
"Sarcasm still in tact. Good. Means you're not dying, yet."
"Yet?"
"Yeah. We all do someday, don't we?"
Adam laughed before gasping and bringing his hand to his wound. "Dick."
:::::::
The wait for the ambulance couldn't have been longer. Kevin nearly passed out in relief when it pulled up. He pulled Adam up as best he could off of the couch he'd moved him to. It wasn't a silent endeavor. The injured detective stood, crying out at the bullet's movement in his body. The two stumbled through the room to the front door, both knowing it was not a good idea, yet desperate to get to that glorious gurney.
"Alright, set him down," The paramedic rolled the gurney up to the two, readying it to recieve its charge. Kevin knew this one. They'd crossed paths enough times.
"Frey."
"Atwater! It's been a minute," She strapped Adam down to the gurney.
"Yeah, it has. Hate that it's cus of this, though."
"Right?" She laughed as she pushed a groaning Ruzek towards the ambulance. The gurney bounced up and down over the pebbles on the unstable walkway. The movement jostled the wound, eliciting sounds from the detective. "Okay, give the poor guy some drugs." She spoke to her partner in the back of the vehicle. He nodded, accepting the victim into the back. She turned back to Kevin. "You want to come with us to Med? We got room."
"Uh… yeah. I guess someone should stay with him. The unit's gonna meet us there."
"Step on into my office," she motioned to the vehicle, stepping inside, herself. Kevin followed closely behind. He sat on the seat next to Frey, watching as she worked on a now sleeping Adam. The doors shut and the ambulance got moving, swaying with every bump in the road. For most people, it would have been difficult to work. Not for the paramedics, it wasn't.
"He gonna be okay?"
"Yeah, just a flesh wound."
"Hope so."
:::::::
"And why the hell do you keep letting him work with DNRs?!" Sharon faced Maggie, frustrated with, yet another, DNR case.
"We didn't have anyone else, at the time." Maggie did her best to keep calm.
Sharon sighed. "You can-"
Choi ran into the room, startling the medical personnel. "A member of Intelligence was just admitted into the ED. He's in Baghdad, now. They're requesting Dr. Halstead."
"What?" Will ran out of the office, ignoring Sharon's demands to get back. He didn't stop. Couldn't stop. His legs were on fire as he sprinted down the halls for the stairs. The elevator would take too long. "Please don't be Jay. Please don't be Jay."
He burst through the stairwell door, pushing people out of the way as he ran for Baghdad. He turned the corners like a cartoon, hopping on one leg at the turn. When he got to the room, he got straight to work.
:::::::
Adam was in far too much pain. His drugs from the ambulance were wearing off and he struggled under the hold of the nurses. Connor was trying to dig the bullet out but Ruzek was too delirius to understand what was going on. He fought weakly, legs kicking and arms pushing out against the medical personnel. Everyone struggled with his movements as they looked up at each other. One nurse let go of the injured detective, walking over to grab the restraints.
"I'm sorry," She strapped them up, locking him down. Watching him fight against the restraints was painful. He cried out with every movement, screaming to be let go.
Kevin could hear the pained screams as he walked towards the ED from the waiting room. Sitting there with Intelligence, doing nothing... it ate at him. He broke into a sprint, looking through the doors, only getting a glimpse of his friend when the curtains swayed open.
He stared at the horrible sight. His friend was suffering and he couldn't do anything about it.
Maggie managed to get him back to the waiting room, sitting him down next to his partners. "Stay here. We'll take care of him, you know that."
"He's gonna be okay?"
"If he lets us take the bullet out, he will."
"When can we see him?" Jay stepped in.
"Tomorrow morning. After everything, tonight he's going to need some rest. We'll call you as soon as we can in the morning."
"Thanks, Maggie." Voight's gravely, hoarse voice over the unit's sighs.
:::::::
The light flooded into the room, brightening the mood aside from the dark feeling that loomed throughout. Adam fought his way to consciousness, the pain was, oddly, a big help. He held onto it, pulling like a rope to open his eyes. When he did, he caught sight of his unit all sleeping around the room. Jay was curled up in the recliner, Hailey and Burgess were leaned on each other on the couch, Kevin took post on the seat across the room from the couch while Alvin and Antonio shared the coffee table, both resting their elbows on their knees and their heads in their hands and… Voight? The sergeant walked in with coffee in hand, a slight smirk on his face when he saw Adam awake.
"Hey, kid. Feelin' ready to get back to work?"
Adam laughed before grabbing at his wound. "Absolutely, serge."
The unit, one by one, woke up, smiling when they saw their conscious friend.
"Hey," Adam huffed through his nose when the cannula registered in his mind. "When'd you guys get here?"
"Doesn't matter. How you feelin', man?" Jay uncurled in the recliner, bringing his butt to the edge of his seat.
"Like crap." Adam's voice a chuckle.
"Maybe next time you'll shoot faster," Kevin laughed.
"Maybe I will," Adam smiled. He knew the whole ordeal was difficult for his friend. "Thanks, man. For having my back."
"Ay, what're friends for?"
"Getting pizza for friends in the hospital?"
"If Halstead says it's okay."
"Sounds good to me!" Jay shot up, running out of the door. "Pizza sounds great!" He said the words over his shoulder as he ran out.
"Not that Halstead." Kevin laughed. "I'll ask but even if he says no, I'm gettin' you a slice."
Adam smiled from ear to ear. "In the hospital?"
"Have a slice!" Adam and Kevin at the same time. The two laughed, leaving the unit in confusion. Their inside jokes never seemed to be easy to get used to. But it brought the two closer together so… what's the harm? Right?
