Hello everyone, I've been struck by inspiration finally but it's not for my usual show (although it's still a hospital drama.)
This takes place during 2.18 Monday Mourning (I think it's called) which we haven't seen yet here in the UK (so possible spoilers but I haven't named the victim) but I've seen spoiler pictures and read the synopsis. It will more than likely have nothing to do with what happens but I can't get this out of my head.
As you know, I enjoy brotherly angst/support/bonding stories and this is what this is (I hope). It features Will and Jay Halstead, as I know that Jay is in this episode. Would love to see more of them together.
I hope I get their characters kind of right as I don't actually know Jay's character at all and also I don't know much about their background so I'm using some dramatic licence there.
Anyway hope it is ok.
I don't own anyone that you recognise, they belong to the Chicago franchise.
You Saved My Life
"Thank you Miss Goodwin, and once again I'm very sorry for your loss," Detective Jay Halstead offered the obviously shaken woman in front of him.
"Thank you detective. If you need anything else, please don't hesitate to call," she told him sincerely, as her gaze moved to a different place, her expression one of deep sadness.
Jay turned slightly to see what had caught her eye, his stomach flipping when he saw a small line of no more than 10 doctors and nurses waiting their turn to place flowers on the ground.
His mind turned back to a couple of hours ago when he had received a call that a doctor had committed suicide at Chicago Med by jumping from the roof. His heart had skipped a beat when he heard the news, his thoughts straight away turning to his brother, just as they were now as he watched the staff place flowers at the spot where the young doctor had fallen. Some were weeping, others just clung to each other, but Jay only had eyes for Will. As Will and Nina stepped forward, he could see that the older man was leaning, ever so slightly, on the shorter woman as she gently patted his arm. As Will bent down to place some flowers, Nina caught Jay's eye, both of them conveying their thoughts in their expressions. Jay asking if his brother was alright and Nina answering with a gentle shake of the head. As Will got back to his feet, he also caught his brother watching him. He gave him a half hearted smile as he turned and made his way back into the hospital.
Jay felt at a bit of a loss. He needed to go back to the station and process all the details that he had collected, but at the same time, he had a compulsion to stay. He felt a hand on his arm as Sharon Goodwin once more came into his line of vision, "He feels responsible," was all she said to him as she too made her way back indoors.
Jay sighed. Typical Will, blaming himself, but the statement had helped to make up his mind for him - he dialled the station, "Hey Erin, yeah look I've got the statements, it looks like a suicide. I'm going to process everything tomorrow, I think my brother may need a pep talk. Ok, see you tomorrow," he finished the call, putting his phone back in his pocket. He tossed the folder into the back of his car then strode purposefully back into the hospital.
As he walked into the busy reception area, he felt a distinct tension in the air - the he heard raised voices. As he got nearer to the cubicles, he could see staff just stood, watching stricken as the heated argument got louder, "Do you know what Ethan," Jay immediately recognised his brother's voice, "Do what you want! You will anyway!"
With that, the fiery red head stormed out of the cubicle, leaving onlookers shocked, "I've never seen him like this before," Maggie said as she appeared at Jay's side, her own face a mask of sadness. Jay sighed deeply, "I have... once before - when our mum died..."
Once again, he was pulled into the memory of how Will would argue about anything and everything, to the point where Jay had stopped talking to him, "You ok Jay?" he heard Maggie enquire.
He shook off the memory, "Yeah, sorry just thinking...I'll go and talk to him," he offered.
Maggie smiled sadly, "Try and make him go home if you can, he's been here for almost fifteen hours now."
Jay nodded, "I'll do my best," he smiled.
Jay slipped into the break room unoticed by his brother, who was currently pacing up and down, carding his hand through the mop of red hair, mumbling under his breath.
After spending a good five minutes watching his brother, Jay finally spoke, "You'll wear a hole in the floor..."
Will stopped his pacing, his eyes wide with surprise, "How long have you been there?"
"Long enough," was all he said.
Will looked at him, "I guess you heard..."
"Will, the whole hospital heard! What was going on? I always thought you and Ethan were tight?"
"Oh the usual, he's right and I'm wrong blah blah blah. You'd think that after today..." his words caught in his throat.
Jay watched him closely as he tried to reign in the emotions that were obviously bubbling up to the surface, "Miss Goodwin told me that you blame yourself..."
Will couldn't look him in the eye as he nodded, "Why would you?" Jay pressed.
"Because I should've recognised the signs..."
"Come on Will, how could you? It's very rare that you can tell that someone is contemplating suicide," Jay tried to console his brother.
"But I know," Will insisted, even though he wouldn't look his brother in the eye.
Stomach knotting, Jay sat up a bit straighter, "What do you mean?"
Will suddenly found the floor interesting, "Will..." Jay prodded gently as he got to his feet and moved a bit closer to his older brother.
"I should have recognised the signs because I know what they are," he all but whispered.
Jay sucked in a deep breath, "What are you saying?"
A tear leaked out of the older man's eyes, "Nothing...it's nothing."
"The hell it's nothing!" Jay insisted. He wanted Will to carry on talking but yet he knew that he wouldn't like what he heard, "Are you telling me that you have..."
He stopped when he saw tears form in the older man's eyes as he nodded miserably.
"When? Why?" Jay asked, his own eyes filling at the sight of his normally happy go lucky older brother breaking in front of him.
Will cleared his throat, "After mum died - Dad was...well he was dad - you were gone, off fighting in god knows where, and we didn't exactly part on good terms - then I kept messing up - everything seemed to be going wrong. After one particularly bad screw up, I just thought, that's it, I'm done, no-one will care if I'm gone so I went up to the roof..." he shivered as he remembered that lonely time.
Jay just stood, unmoving, not knowing what to say. He had never known his older brother to be anything other than just that, his cocky, confident older brother, "Oh Will, why didn't you say anything?" Jay asked as he tried to get his head around what his brother had just confessed.
Will chuckled, "There wasn't anyone to talk to! Like I said, you were gone and dad...well he was just dad."
Now it was Jay's turn to find the floor interesting, "So what made you change your mind?" the detective asked his brother.
"You did," Will told him without hesitation.
Jay was confused. He was away fighting.
"You called me, out of the blue. I was stood on the roof when you called. You told me that you'd got your paperwork for leaving the army and that you would be home in a couple of days...you called me first before anyone else, even though we had not been on speaking terms for a while, you still called me first and that's when I realised just what I was about to do...you saved my life bro," Will choked out the last part of his statement. Jay, for his part, couldn't stop the tears from falling down his face. He stepped forward and brought his brother into an embrace, "God Will, I never knew...please...don't let anything get to you like that again," he all but whispered as he held his brother just a little tighter.
As he let go, Jay was hit with a sudden realisation, "You may not believe this but there was something telling me to call you. I got the news that we were going home and my first thought was to call you, even though we hadn't parted on great terms, all I could think about was calling you and making sure we put things right. I didn't know then and I still don't know now what it was - just something..."
"Good job you did then," Will chuckled.
"Yeah," Jay breathed, "Are you ok now?"
Will nodded, "Yeah. I do still have my moments, but I'm really lucky that I have Dr Charles that I can talk to if I need to."
Jay took hold of his brother's shoulders, "You've got me too. No matter what happens, you're my brother, I love you and I don't want you to ever think that I wouldn't be there to support you!"
Now it was Will's turn to embrace his brother, "Thanks bro. I do know that now, but that works both ways remember?"
Jay nodded into his brother's shoulder, then slowly pulled away, "Mollys?"
Will finally smiled, "Yeah, good plan. Just got something to do first. You good here for a few minutes?"
"No problem," Jay told him, smiling to himself as he watched his brother talking to Ethan, ending the conversation with the shaking of hands and a one armed hug.
Will came back into the room, grabbed his jacket and patted Jay on the arm, "First ones on you!"
"Always is," the younger man chuckled as he followed his big brother through the door.
Hope it was ok Chicago Med fans. Apologies if I got anything wrong.