A/N: First CPD Fanfiction so be nice. We don't know anything about Jay's background or Mouse so I've added my own in this story. It will be darker as this is one of my stories and they tend to be dark with a nice ending. This will be set in season 3 in the current time frame, but the only difference is the first episode didn't happen. Erin still left but Jay was able to convince her to come back so he wasn't tortured then. Everything else in the past seasons still happened.
Summary: Jay has been missing for fifteen days after an undercover operation went wrong. They finally found him and now Jay has to heal from his present injuries and the past demons that still haunt him at night. When Jay starts to spiral down Mouse and Will have to put their differences aside to help their brother get back on his feet and finally healed after all of these years.
Warnings: Small torture scene, mentions of torture, mentions of violence, mentions of past child abuse and swearing
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Chapter 1
It had been fifteen days since Jay had been kidnapped on an undercover operation gone wrong. The team had been working on trying to shut down this gang that was heavily connected to a cartel that was making its way up through the city. It resulted in a higher death toll from the gang killing off competition and users overdosing from the product being too pure. They had a way in with one of the gang members that they were able to arrest. They didn't know who they were going to send in at first. It was between Jay and Antonio as they had the most experience on the team with undercover work. Al had been doing it a long time, but he was getting too up there in age for the gang to pick him up and make it believable. They had finally agreed on sending Jay in as he fit the look better for the gang. He was just going to be meeting with the gang and start getting them a way into the factory where the drugs were being made. They just needed him to see the drugs and then they could move in. Everything was going fine until all of a sudden Jay was being tasered and knocked out. They weren't too far away, but by the time they got to where Jay was with the gang they were long gone. They had out the alert right away and every officer in the city were out looking for him. They knew they couldn't afford to have this stay in house only. Jay didn't have the time for them to keep it quiet.
Now it had been fifteen days and they haven't heard anything from Jay or his kidnappers. They didn't even know if he was still in the city or even alive. The unit had refused to give up though or work any other case until Jay was brought back home. They had taken turns with going home to sleep for a few hours before they could continue on. Mouse and Erin had taken it the hardest and they had been the ones to go without sleep the most. Mouse had sat down on the computer and refused to leave for four days straight. He just sat there trying to find anything he could that would give them a location for Jay. He sat there drinking coffee and energy drinks all day and night straight. It got so bad that Antonio had to physically drag him away from the computer and make him lay down and catch some sleep before his heart exploded from the caffeine.
Voight had been the one to break the news to Will when he came looking to pick up Jay that night. They were going out to dinner and Will was going to drive as Jay's car was in the shop getting his annual inspection done. Will had taken it hard and he couldn't help the feeling of being useless as he wasn't a cop so he couldn't be out there searching for his brother. He was stuck having to wait around for word each and every day. When he wasn't on shift Will was sitting in the breakroom at the station waiting for something to come through. Sometimes he would be with Mouse down in his office and keeping an eye on Mouse. He had barely been sleeping and he was drinking a lot of caffeine that his shaking hands were getting even worse. Mouse refused to quit though until he found Jay. He wasn't just going to leave his best friend out there all alone. It didn't matter if he was alive or dead, Mouse was going to bring him back home where he belonged.
Mouse had been sitting on the computer at Nadia's old desk that had become his. It was easier for him to be up here where he could look up information on suspects and try to find connections and something they could use to lead them to their suspect. This way he wasn't down in the basement where they would have to go down to him just to get information from him. They all had been here all night as last night they had finally found one of the gang members that had taken Jay. They didn't know if he had been passed off to the cartel or not, but it was the first member anyone was able to finally get their hands on. He had been in the cage for the night with Voight and Antonio taking turns on trying to get him to talk. He was smug with them and it was clear he knew exactly where Jay was, but he wasn't talking, no matter how many times they hit him. Voight and Antonio both came up and it was clear that they were pissed off and frustrated. They just couldn't get him to talk no matter what.
"Anything?" Erin asked sadly.
"No. He's not talkin'." Voight said with annoyance and frustration in his voice.
Voight wasn't that close to Jay, but Jay was apart of his team, apart of his family now and he wasn't going to sit back and let him be held captive. He was a good man and a good police detective. He didn't deserve to be going through this. They had disagreements a few times because of ethics and theirs being slightly different, but Voight respected that Jay stood up for what he believed and wouldn't compromise his morals for anyone. Jay had been there for Erin when she was going through her struggles when he could have left her to deal with it on her own. He clearly cared for her and she clearly cared for him. Voight knew that at some point he would have to accept that Erin and Jay would be together one day no matter what he said or felt about it. As a boss he didn't like his team to be dating anyone else on the team, but he could make an acceptation. As a father Jay was a good man and he would take care of Erin and protect her with his life. He would treat her right and do right by her. That was all a father could really ask from a man that was with his daughter. He just didn't want them to be together and then breakup and one of them got hurt. That was what had Voight worried about and he was worried it would be Jay that would end up broken hearted and hurt more than Erin.
It was on day fifteen just after ten in the morning when they had received a letter at the front desk with it only being address to the district regarding Jay Halstead. Platt had personally brought it up the stairs to the Unit and saw that everyone was there including Will. They were all working and Mouse was sitting at Nadia's old desk trying to find something on the gang that they could use to locate Jay. Will was pacing around trying to stay calm and not think about the fact that his brother was out there for the past fifteen days on his own and could very well be long dead by now. Will knew that Jay had been to war twice, but he didn't really seem to register that he was gone away to war. That at any given time he could be killed. Now that he was older and him and Jay were getting closer once again it was all starting to hit him just how dangerous Jay's job truly was. He had gotten a good idea when he had helped Jay patch up that teenager with the two gunshot wounds. He had gotten his first look at what Jay could be going through in the day with being in fights and getting shot at. Now he had been captured in Chicago where he should have been safe from being captured. It had been fifteen days and they had nothing. It wasn't for lack of trying. The whole unit was working themselves into the ground just to try and find something on Jay or any of these gang bangers to talk and finally tell them where Jay was being held captive.
Platt held the envelope in her hand as she spoke and handed it to Voight.
"This was just delivered with the mail. It has no forwarding address, but has regarding Jay Halstead on the front of it." Platt said with anger and worry in her voice.
Voight took the envelope and opened it carefully. Inside was just a DVD. He went and handed it over to Mouse and Mouse put it into his computer and loaded it up. Everyone including Platt went over to Mouse and looked at the screen waiting to see what would be on it. They weren't prepared for what they saw.
There was a beaten and bloody Jay on the screen. He was shirtless on his knees with his hands cuffed above him and attached to a chain hanging from the ceiling. He was covered in welts, burns and bruising. His face was bloody and his right eye was swollen shut and his left eye was almost swollen shut. They could see him shivering and his breath in the room. Wherever he was it was cold from the winter months.
"Oh my god." Erin said with hurt and a deep sadness to her voice.
They watched as a man behind Jay put a thick chain around his neck and pulled it tight, pulling Jay's head back and chocking him. All of the men had masks covering their faces and one of the men came into the camera next to Jay.
"You have one tough detective. He won't talk no matter what we have done to him. I want this to be a lesson to all of you pigs trying to infiltrate my organization. Don't worry you will get him back soon in many pieces. I'll make sure I leave him on the steps of your precinct. I thought you might be missing him so I decided to allow you to see him for a minute or two, allow him to say his goodbyes before his slow death." The man said and they could hear the smirk in his voice.
The camera moved closer to Jay and they could see his teeth chattering from the cold and his lips were slightly blue.
"You get to say goodbye to one person. Choose wisely." The leader said with a snicker.
The man holding the chain loosened his grip slightly, but not enough to allow Jay to put his head back into a more comfortable position. Jay knew he was only going to get one chance at this. He knew that if he said goodbye to anyone that this man would just kill him. He was alive because he fought back and wouldn't give in to the call of darkness that threatened him frequently.
"Is that Morse Code?" Ruzek asked as he saw Jay's one finger tapping against the chains above his head.
"Maybe." Antonio said as he looked closer to see if he was trying to tell them something.
"It's not." Mouse said sadly, but with a deep anger underneath. "It's his PTSD. He counts the seconds so he can count the minutes and count the hours in hopes that the next day would be better. He used to do it at night when he was too afraid to close his eyes. It helps to calm his heart and breathing down from the anxiety." Mouse explained.
"I thought he was over that." Will said with anger at someone doing this to his brother.
"Some days are harder than others." Mouse said back.
Jay coughed and they saw blood coming up as he spat it out on the ground.
"Who's it gonna be? Who is that one person you just can't die without saying goodbye to?" The leader teased.
"Mouse." Jay said weakly and they could hear the pain in his voice.
Mouse sat up straighter. He wasn't expecting Jay to say his name at all. He was expecting for him to say Will or Erin, but not him.
"I'm right here Jay." Mouse said softly as he looked at the computer screen. He felt a hand go on his right shoulder and he didn't have to look to know that it was Antonio.
"Mouse? What the fuck is that? You got a pet you want to say goodbye to?" The leader said with a laugh.
"Laugh all you want. He'll find me. He always does." Jay said weakly, but stubbornly.
"He'll never find you. No one will talk against me. He'll find you when I leave your body on the steps to that precinct pig." The leader sneered out.
"He'll find me. My brother has never let me down. He's the only one that never has. He'll find me." Jay said with a heavy breath and they could hear the wheeze in it.
"No he won't. That was your one goodbye. If you beg I'll make it a quick death." The leader said as he got closer to Jay's face.
Jay used all of his strength and spat blood right in the man's face before he spoke.
"Go fuck yourself. You'll never get me to beg you piece of shit."
The man wiped the blood off from his cheek and even though they couldn't see his face they knew he was pissed by the tightness in his body.
"You are going to pay for that. When I am done with you, you will be begging me to end your pathetic life pig." The man said before he punched Jay hard across the jaw snapping his head to the side.
The man moved back and the man behind Jay pulled the chain tight again as the leader spoke.
"Get the drill."
They heard shuffling off to the side of the camera before another man came into view with a power drill. He turned it on and went over to Jay. He grabbed Jay's right arm and started to place the drill against his forearm and the drill began to go into his arm. Jay screamed at the pain of the drill going through his skin and into his bone slowly. Erin put her hand over her mouth at the sound of Jay's screams. She felt Voight pull her into his arms, a rare moment of him showing how much he loved her when they were at work. Al went over to Platt and placed a supportive hand on her back as she refused to look away. Mouse felt Antonio's hand on his shoulder tighten and Ruzek and Atwater both put a supportive hand on Will's shoulders as he watched his older brother being tortured. They could hear the men laughing in the background at Jay's pain before the screen went black.
Mouse sat there shaking slightly from a combination of things. His PTSD wasn't doing too well with seeing Jay getting tortured and knowing that he wasn't there for him. He had always been there for him during the tours. He always went where Jay went and always had his back. He always kept him safe and Jay always kept him safe. He was also exhausted and hyped up on caffeine which didn't help. But mostly he was furious. Jay was his brother, blood or not it didn't matter. They were brothers. He knew everything about Jay, things that even Will didn't know about him. They had confided in each other many times at night while out on tour and afterwards. He had helped Jay when he had gotten back from that second tour and Jay had continued to help him when he couldn't hold on any longer. Jay had never given up on him even when Mouse had given up on himself. Jay was counting on him to find him and Mouse was done playing by the rules. They had done this once before and Mouse was not going to let anything get in his way of finding Jay.
Mouse pushed up from his chair and went over to the desk where the keys to the cage were.
"Mouse?" Will asked with a shaky voice.
"Extenuating circumstances." Was all Mouse said as he headed down the stairs to where the cage was.
They all looked at each other and Voight was the first one to get his voice back.
"Antonio, everyone else stay here and keep looking." Voight ordered to his unit.
"I'll help." Platt said to Voight who just nodded.
Him and Antonio went down the stairs after Mouse to see that he had opened the cage and was walking in. They didn't know what he was going to do as this was way out of character for Mouse, at least the Mouse they knew. Yes he had kept his cool when he had the gun to his head and was able to get it away from the man without anyone getting hurt, but this was still different. This was a side of Mouse they had a feeling only a handful of people have ever seen and not in years.
"What they sent in a geek next?" The gang member said with a chuckle.
"Hm." Mouse said before he punched him hard across the jaw.
The gang member's head snapped to the side and Mouse used the distraction to grab him and turned him so he was on his knees with his back to Mouse. The arm that was cuffed to the pole was turned at the right angle that his arm was bending backwards and would be painful. Mouse then grabbed the gang member's right wrist and placed his left knee on the gang bangers back pushing down to make his cuffed arm pull back even more. The gang member let out a yell at the pain.
"You're gonna dislocate my arm."
"Naw, naw, naw, see a dislocation means that your arm pops out of it's socket. It's a quick movement. This here, this here is slowly tearing your arm from your shoulder blade. It's ripping each tendon and muscle from your shoulder. All of your nerves are being ripped right in half. You can't just pop that back in you'll need surgery and physical therapy just to make it so you can lift your arm again. But see that's assuming you live. See this spot right here on your wrist that I'm pushing. It's your ulnar artery. It's a funny little artery really. See I can just push a little harder and I can make an air bubble pop up in your artery. That little air bubble travels all up your arm and into your heart. Once it hits your heart you'll be dead. With one little push I can kill you within a minute and no one will ever be able to find it." Mouse said with a deadly anger in his voice.
"You won't kill me. You're a cop. Now let me go you bitch."
"Naw see you got it all wrong. I'm no cop. I'm just a tech guy. But I spent years in the army. They called me Mouse. Not just cause I'm the techwiz, but cause I'm silent as hell. I've stood behind someone for hours just listening to them and they never knew. I've killed twenty people without them even knowing I was right behind them. I did two tour over in Afghanistan and let me tell you I learnt a lot of ways you can torture someone and make them wish for death. Ways that you would kill yourself just to escape the pain. And you took my brother. I got no problem killing you."
"They won't let you." The man growled out, but Mouse could tell he was getting worried.
Mouse pushed even harder against the gang member's back making him scream as his arm ripped even more.
"You see them stopping me? You took their friend. We just watched as he was tortured. No one is gonna save your life. Only you can do that. Now tell me where he is or I'll kill you."
"You kill me and you'll never find him." The gang member tried to reason.
"You aren't talking alive so what the fuck does it matter if you're dead? Last chance, five seconds or you die within the next minute. 5, 4, 3,"
"Alright, alright. He's in an old meat packaging plant. 1847 Jackson Ave." The gang member said with fear in his voice.
"How many are inside?" Mouse demanded.
"Ten. The boss was told to make sure no more cops tried to shut us down. The cartel is pissed that we almost took em out. They wanted to send a message. I swear that's all I know."
Mouse let go of the guy's wrist and pushed off of his back. The gang member let out another yell and slowly moved back so his arm wasn't in that position anymore. Mouse headed right over to where his other computers were downstairs. Voight and Antonio followed behind him and Mouse began to type in the address to pull up the blue prints. Once he had them he hit print and went over to the printer as he spoke.
"It's an old factory that was used to package meat it's been shut down for a decade now due to improper safety codes." Mouse said as he grabbed the blue prints that came out of the printer.
He handed them to Voight as Voight spoke.
"Good work. Let's go get him." Voight took the blue prints and they all made their way back up the stairs to the room.
"We got a location. There are ten guys inside with Halstead. Everyone vest up we move out in ten." Voight ordered.
Everyone sprang into action and Mouse went over to Voight as he went into his office to get his vest on. Mouse closed the door behind him as he spoke.
"Sargent Voight I'd like to go in with you."
Voight turned to face Mouse. He could see the seriousness on Mouses' face. He knew that him and Jay were best friends and had been through some hard times together. The problem was Mouse wasn't a cop and he didn't have a badge. He couldn't just send him in there with them in case something happened.
"Mouse, I know Halstead is your friend, but I can't let you go in there. You don't have a badge and I haven't seen you handle a gun outside of getting it away from a perp one time."
"With all your respect Sargent I'm not really asking for permission. I have a gun, Jay keeps an extra backup in his locker. I'm going in to get my brother out of there, my Lieutenant. He would do the same for me Sir." Mouse said stubbornly and Voight knew there was nothing he could do to get Mouse to stay behind. Even if they left without him he would just get into a car and drive there himself. At least if they went in together Mouse would be safer. Voight wasn't a fool he knew that Mouse had PTSD and even though he was able to handle himself when he had a gun pointed at his head, that didn't mean he would be able to handle himself in a fire fight.
"Fine, but you go in with a vest and a radio. You listen to what any of us tell you, I don't care who the hell it is. If you are told to do something you do it. Do you understand?" Voight said in a serious voice.
"Yes Sargent."
"Go get ready." Voight ordered.
Mouse gave a nod before he opened the door and headed out of the office. He went into the locker room and got changed out of his clothes. He was in dress pants and a dress shirt, but he wanted something easier to move around in. He put on a pair of black jeans with a black t-shirt. He then put on his sneakers before he went over to Jay's locker and opened it and grabbed Jay's backup gun and holster and attached it to his right hip. He then grabbed the knife and placed it next to his gun on his right hip as well in it's own small holster. Some habits were hard to kill and Jay much like himself still had a military issued knife just in case he would need it. Once he was ready he headed back out and headed down to the basement to head out with the squad and get his vest.
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Voight came out of his office and saw that everyone was looking at him to see what was going on.
"Mouse is coming in with us."
"Is that really a good idea? He's not a cop and he hasn't been in the field like this before." Ruzek said with concern.
"He's not really giving us any choice. He either comes with us or he goes in alone. I for one prefer to have eyes on him." Voight said.
"I'm going too." Will said.
"No way. I already got one that shouldn't be in there I'm not gonna have two." Voight said back.
"I won't go in, but I'm going. He needs a doctor. I'll stay in the car until you clear it and I can keep him alive until we get to the hospital." Will responded back.
"Fine, but you stay in the car until we give the all clear. I am not going to risk any more lives today then I have to." Voight said back.
"It's fine I'll grab my kit from the car. I'll need a blanket to wrap him in." Will said.
"I got one." Erin said.
Will nodded and headed down the stairs to get out front to where his car was so he could grab his medical kit. He had it in his car this whole time since he had found out that Jay was kidnapped. He had it filled with everything he could need to keep Jay alive until they got him to the hospital. He had been waiting for this moment for fifteen days and now he was finally able to go and get his brother back. Will wasn't even going to think about what he had just saw and heard from Jay. Jay needed him to focus and get him back to being healthy again. Will headed back inside and made his way to the backdoor where he knew everyone would be there finishing getting ready. He walked in and saw that Mouse was getting on his vest and the others were almost ready to go. He went over to Erin and took the blanket and put it into the bag as Voight spoke.
"Mouse, put this on just in case. If any cop comes up to you after this you don't talk." Voight said as he gave Mouse Jay's badge that he had left behind from when he went undercover.
Mouse took it and placed it on his belt as he spoke. "Yes Sargent."
"We go in and we go in hot. I want these guys taken down. There are ten men inside that we know of but there could be more. Our first priority is to get Halstead out of there alive. It's a large factory so keep your eyes sharp and make sure your ass is covered. I don't want anyone else getting hurt today." Voight said as he looked around at his unit and Will.
Once he saw that they all understood he spoke once again. "Let's get our man back."
They all headed out and made their way to the SUVs. Mouse, Will, Erin and Voight went into one of the SUVs while the other four went into the second SUV. They all headed down for the location that was given to them. Both of the SUVs were dead silent as they were all just anxious to get to Jay and get him to the hospital where he could be looked at and hopefully recover from his injuries. They didn't know when that DVD was made so it could have been a few days since he was that injured and he could be worse. There was no telling what shape he would be in or if he would even be alive. Mouse was sitting there in the back with his leg bouncing up and down. He was anxious with energy and the adrenaline in his system was still pumping and pushing back his PTSD. It was something he was used to from being overseas. His adrenaline would pump his body up and it would put his PTSD on the back burner. The problem was once the adrenaline wore off his PTSD went into overdrive and he would have a hard time getting it back under control. He knew he couldn't break down like he had done before. Jay was counting on him to be there for him and he didn't need to worry about if Mouse was going to downward spiral. He was in a better place now from working with the Unit and being with Jay working out again. Jay had always been there for him no matter what. Jay was the one to bail him out when he got arrested. Jay was the one that got him into rehab and worked as a sponsor for him. Mouse had been there for Jay to get him over his trauma and Jay had stood strong beside him through Mouse's trauma. They had been able to come out the other side still whole and still strong together. Now Jay was counting on Mouse to be there for him and Mouse was not about to let him down or go through this alone.
They pulled up to the factory and they all got out of the car except for Will. He would wait for when he got the all clear before he ran in there. They all made their way to the front door in formation. Mouse didn't even think he just operated like he used to and focused his mind on the mission at hand.
"Antonio, Al, Ruzek out back." Voight ordered.
The three of them ran around the back and the four remaining team members stood in the front. After waiting for ten seconds Voight gave the nod and Atwater grabbed the door and opened it. They all made their way into the factory and they broke off to clear the rooms. Mouse was looking for anything that looked like the room they saw Jay in. Mouse moved through the factory without ever making a single sound. He was able to finally hear something in the background and Mouse made his way towards the sounds. He got to a doorway and he snuck in and off to the side. He looked in and saw that there were three men close enough to him that had their backs to him. He could easily get to them. He saw two more that were next to Jay. Jay was still on his knees and his chest and stomach were covered in blood from cuts along his torso. The one man was holding a cloth over Jay's face with his head pulled back while the other man was pouring water over the cloth, drowning Jay in the process. Mouse knew he had to move quickly. He pulled out his knife and snuck up behind the first man. He put his hand over his mouth and quickly sliced the man's neck. He held onto him as he hit the floor before he moved to the next man. Mouse did this for the second and third man making sure he kept his eyes on the two men next to Jay.
The next part would be trickier. He would have to shoot them, but do it quickly so when the first went down then the second one wouldn't kill Jay or pulled out his gun to kill Mouse. Mouse put the knife away and pulled out his gun. He aimed for the one pouring the water over Jay's face first and after a second he pulled back on the trigger. The first man went down quick with a dead shot the center of his forehead and before the second man even had the chance to turn around Mouse fired a shot into the back of his head. Mouse was already running over to Jay as the second man fell to the ground. Mouse grabbed the dirty and wet towel and threw it off from Jay's face and onto the ground. Mouse quickly checked for a pulse and let out a breath as he found it. It wasn't too strong, but it was freezing in the room so it could account for the slower heartbeat as the cold made your blood flow slower. What scared him was the fact that Jay wasn't breathing from the water being in his lungs. Mouse went and grabbed Jay's arms and got him off from the hook that was holding him up with his cuffs on him. Mouse got Jay down on the ground and pulled out his phone to buzz everyone.
"Got Jay, South West end of the building. Five assailants down. He's not breathing." Mouse said in a hurry before he went and started to do chest compressions to try and get the water up out of Jay's lungs to help him breathe.
Mouse continued to pump against Jay's chest trying to get him to cough up the water. His hands were getting covered in Jay's blood. He had multiple cuts all over his torso as well as drill holes in his arms, stomach and sides. His face was also worse, both of his eyes were swollen shut, there was blood pouring down the left side of his face now that the water was not going on him. His jaw was also swollen on the left side. Mouse looked up when he heard the footsteps. He was still fully prepared to have to shoot if it was another assailant. He saw the rest of the team come running in, minus Atwater who Mouse assumed was sent to get Will.
"Jay!" Erin yelled as she ran over to them. "Oh my God." Erin said as she looked down at Jay and all of the injuries on him.
The others all gathered around looking at Jay and waiting for when Will would be here. Antonio pulled out his cuff keys and removed the cuffs on Jay as Mouse continued to push against Jay's chest as he spoke more to himself than to the others.
"Come on don't do this. Not after everything. Come on Lieutenant fight dammit fight."
After a few more compressions Jay began to cough up the water and Mouse gently turned Jay on his right side so the water would come out. Mouse was now able to see his back and he saw that he had long lashes that were bleeding fairly heavily all down his back. Mouse gently placed Jay back down on the ground gently as he saw Will and Atwater running into the room. Will had his black medical kit with him and when he got there he bent down right away as Mouse spoke.
"They were drowning him. I just got him to get the water up. He has lashes on his back that are bleeding and his breathing still doesn't sound good."
"Medics are on the way. I called them on the way in." Atwater told the others.
Will spoke as he opened his bag and took out his stethoscope. "Mouse, get him fifteen milligrams of morphine and an I.V going."
Mouse wiped his hands against his jeans as he reached over to Will's medical bag to take out what he needed. Will began to listen to Jay's breathing. Mouse got the morphine in the needle and with his own practice he got it into Jay's vein as Will spoke.
"He's got more water in there or pneumonia I can't tell which without an X-Ray. His lungs can't handle the stress I need to intubate him." Will said as he put his stethoscope around his neck and reached into his bag.
Mouse got the I.V in and held it up and saw Ruzek standing there. "Hold this and squeeze gently we need as much fluids into him to help with the blood loss."
Ruzek took the I.V bag and watched as Mouse reached into the bag to get gauze out and start to press it against one of the many cuts that was deeper and bleeding more.
"Antonio press this here." Mouse said and Antonio bent down to apply pressure to the wound while Mouse moved over to another spot.
Will opened Jay's mouth so he could incubate him.
"Son of a bitch." Will said as he saw the damage done to the inside of Jay's mouth.
"What?" Erin asked with fear in her voice.
"They drilled into his teeth and jaw. He's going to need an oral surgeon." Will said with anger that he forced himself to push away so he could focus on keeping his brother alive.
Will got the tube into Jay and hooked up the bag as he spoke. "I need someone to pump this bag to give Jay enough air."
"I got you. Tell me how." Atwater said as he bent down.
"Every five seconds squeeze gently and slowly release your hand." Will explained.
"Got it."
"Where the hell is that ambulance?" Will asked with annoyance as he did his best to try and keep Jay alive.
Al pulled out his phone to make the call and see where the ambulance was.
"Will man he's loosing too much blood here." Mouse said as the gauze was just getting soaked through onto his hands.
"Let me see." Will said and Mouse moved the gauze back so Will could take a look.
"He needs stitches or he's just gonna bleed out. I need a set of hands here." Will said.
"What do you need?" Voight asked.
"I need some lidocaine and my suture kit, it's the small black one." Will said as Mouse put even more gauze on the wound to try and stop the bleeding.
Voight bent down and grabbed the items out of the kit.
"Just ten milligrams and make sure there is no air bubbles in the needle." Will said.
Voight did as instructed before he handed it over to Will. Will took it and inserted it into the wound.
"Ok sutures." Will said as he put the needle down on the ground.
Voight handed Will the sutures and Will began to slowly stitch up Jay's wound that was bleeding the most. Mouse made sure he put pressure on the wound and slowly moved it back as Will got closer to it. They all heard someone coming behind them and they looked over and saw that it was the medics. They saw Brett and Chilli running towards them with their bags and a stretcher.
"What do we got?" Brett asked as they got close enough.
"Multiple injuries. I am just stitching up this one bleeder right now then you should be good to transport him." Will said.
"Here I got it." Chilli said to Atwater as she took over the bag.
"Ok done. We need to get him out of here and warmed up." Will said as he finished the last stitch.
"Ok let's get him on the backboard and onto the stretcher." Brett said as she grabbed the backboard.
Will helped with Mouse to gently turn Jay so Brett could get the backboard underneath him.
"Alright lift on three." Brett said.
Voight went over to Jay's feet while Brett went over to Jay's head.
"One, two, three, lift." Brett said.
They both picked up Jay and Antonio kept his hands on Jay's one cut that was still bleeding a fair amount. They got him down on the stretcher and Will spoke.
"Ok Antonio I'll take over."
Antonio moved back while Will put his own hands on the same spot. Brett pushed the stretcher while the others all walked with her and out of the factory. They got to the ambulance and Chilli went in with Will while Brett would drive. Voight put Will's medical bag down next to him on the seat just in case he would need it.
"We'll escort you in." Voight said once Jay was fully in the ambulance and Brett was stepping back to close the doors.
Brett closed the doors before she turned to look at Voight and softly whispered.
"Drive fast."
Brett turned and headed to the driver's seat while the others all ran and took off for the two SUVs. Mouse ran to the passenger seat of the ambulance and got in. He wasn't going to be leaving Jay and this way he could help if they needed someone. They drove as fast as they could through the streets to reach the hospital. It was a long ten minutes but they finally arrived at the ambulance bay. The doors opened and Will saw Dr. Rhodes standing there waiting for the incoming call. They got Jay out of the ambulance and into a room. Will spoke as they did.
"He's my brother. He's been tortured for fifteen days. He was drowned and there is possibly water still in his lungs. I had to stitch up one of the wounds. He was loosing too much blood, fifteen milligrams of morphine was injected in the field. There are lashes on his back and drill holes on his arms, torso and in his mouth. He's gonna need an oral surgeon and full body X-rays and CT-Scan." Will said as they got Jay into the room.
"Let's get him on the bed. On three. One, two, three." They moved Jay onto the hospital bed and off from the backboard before Dr. Rhodes spoke again. "Ok Will we got it from here."
"I'm not going anywhere that's my brother." Will said stubbornly.
"I know that's why you have to leave. You know you can't be treating him. You got him this far and we will get him the rest of the way. I promise you we will do everything we can for him, but you need to leave and let us work." Dr. Rhodes said trying to reason with Will.
"Will, come on we gotta let em work." Mouse said as he placed a hand on Will's arm to bring him back so the nurses and doctors could work on Jay.
Will moved back out of the way and Dr. Rhodes spoke. "Ok we need to call down and get him into X-Ray and CT. I need to know just what damage we are dealing with. Have an OR on standby in case we need to go in. Have the oral surgeon on call today ready and waiting to go in."
"Will, I need you and everyone to go and wait in the waiting room please. We'll come down with updates often I promise you." Maggie said to everyone as they were all standing there in front of the door.
"I'm not leaving him." Will said.
"I know, but you know you need to let them work. He's going to be going for tests and it's probably going to be a long wait. You need to be in the waiting room and the second any of us have any information we will come and tell you. Come on you're just in the way here." Maggie said as she started to herd the others over in the direction of the waiting room.
They all headed to the waiting room just as Jay was wheeled out of the room and disappeared down the hallway. They all stood around and looked at the empty room before they slowly started to make their way to sit down in the seats. Mouse sat off to the side and he put his forearms on his legs as he looked at his hands. They were covered in Jay's blood once again. All he could see was the red blood that would be staining his hands most likely. He didn't even notice that Dr. Charles had come into the room to check in on everyone. All he could see was the red blood on his hands. All he could think about is the last time that he had Jay's blood on his hands. His mind was starting to work once again as he could feel the desire to talk like he normally did when his anxiety started to kick in. His breathing started to pick up as he got lost in his mind. He heard someone call his name and he snapped his head up, but he didn't know who had called him.
"Mouse, you doing okay?" Dr. Charles asked once again with a calmness and a gentle tone.
"Uh?" Mouse said as he looked to the doctor that he didn't really know.
"Are you okay there?" Dr. Charles asked and the others all looked at Mouse and could see his hands were shaking and he was starting to come down from the adrenaline.
"Ah…ya… ya I was just thinking about something." Mouse said as he tried to get his brain to work.
"What about, if you don't mind me asking." Dr. Charles said with a warm smile.
"The ah… the last time I had his blood on my hands." Mouse said as he looked back down at his hands. "Ha. He's a Lieutenant ya know? Always has been a leader, a protector. It didn't take him long to get promoted, to get medals. He didn't even think about what could happen to him. If he could protect one of his men he always did it. He always blamed himself if someone on his watch died. It had been coming for a while. You could see it taking it's toll on him. The way he would count the seconds out. The number of times he wouldn't sleep at night. Instead he would stay up on guard watching over all of us. That day was the last straw for him. For the both of us." Mouse said the last part slightly softer and it was clear that his mind was slipping back into a memory.
None of them had ever heard Jay talking about what had happened with his time in the military. He always would avoid the questions or change the subject and it was clear it was a hard conversation for him to have. Even Will didn't know much, just what was told to him by his Dad.
"Hey Mouse, stay with me here. What day was that?" Dr. Charles asked gently trying to get Mouse to stay with them and not lost in the memories.
"We don't talk about it." Mouse said automatically.
"Only with each other right? You didn't know each other before you both went into the military. You bonded over your time together. Jay is the type that people could see being in the military, but you weren't. You were probably picked on at first am I right?" Dr. Charles asked.
"The scrawny genius in a world of jocks. I just wanted to do something good for the world. Could do anything really, but I wanted to help people. Keep people safe." Mouse said.
"And Jay protected you. It's in his nature he can't help it. You became friends then best friends and then brothers. You've always been there for each other. Told each other secrets about yourselves. Maybe things you've never told anyone. You went through something traumatic together and it made you stronger. Maybe you feel like by you talking about it with someone else you are betraying Jay, but you're not Mouse. It's okay to talk about it with someone that isn't Jay. He would understand just like you would if he told someone else. What happened that day Mouse?" Dr. Charles asked with patience in his voice.
Mouse has a distant look in his eyes before he shook his head slightly and spoke.
"You always hear the stories about what could happen during war. You always think it won't happen to you though. You trick your brain into believing it. We made it through almost two tours without getting hurt. A few bruises from fights but nothing major. We were in a convoy. Jay and me were in the led Humvee. It was just us, the driver, navigator and gunner. Everything was fine then we heard a click. Jay registered it first because he was out of his seat and threw himself on top of me. The whole thing blew up and we flipped and rolled. I don't really know exactly what happen I was knocked out. When I ah… I came to Jay… he ah he was still on top of me, protecting me. The whole thing was filling up with smoke and fire. I could feel Jay's blood soaking through his uniform. I didn't even check to see if he was alive. I just had to get him out. We didn't have much time. I had to get him out it. It didn't matter if he was dead or not. I couldn't leave him behind. I drag him out a broken window and over to this shallow ditch. He had blood all over his face, broken ribs, shrapnel in his arms and legs. His left leg was broken in two places. He had bones sticking right out of him."
Mouse paused to take a shaky breath. The others couldn't believe how badly injured Jay had been. They knew he survived, but still it was hard to hear just how injured he was. Will couldn't believe any of this. He knew Jay had gotten injured and was discharged from the military, but he had no idea he was that injured. He hadn't been in Chicago during this time. He had left to focus on his own life and just ignored Jay and what he had been through. Will was really starting to hate himself for that.
"I ah checked for his pulse… he ah… he didn't have one. I started to give him CPR but it wasn't working. I ran back to the Humvee and I grabbed the booster cables. Our Humvee was still running by some miracle, but it was destroyed. I hooked up the cables and dragged Jay back over. I shocked his heart with the cables and got it started again. I dragged him back over to the ditch just as our Humvee exploded from the fire. I covered his body to protect it from the debris and heat. One piece of pipe pierced my left side of my stomach right through my kidney. I knew I had to leave it in, but we were good as dead if we stayed there. The other two Humvees behind us were completely gone. Everyone was dead but us. I made sure Jay was still breathing before I got up and stumbled over to the Humvees. I searched them for anything that would work to put a radio together. I went back over to Jay and worked on the radio. I finally got it up and running and called in for help. Afterwards I pulled my gun and pulled Jay over so his back was against my chest. I put my hands on his stomach to try and slow some of the bleeding. We were there for twelve hours until helped arrived. He never woke up. I forced myself to stay awake and aware just in case. Twelve hours we spent slowly bleeding out and just waiting to be recused or die. They airlifted us to the closest military hospital over in Germany. When I finally woke up three days had gone by. Jay spent two weeks in the hospital, I spent one. They gave me a medical discharge. They knew there was no coming back from that. They gave Jay an honourable discharge. He could have been cleared medically, but he had done so much for the military. I'm talking missions that everyone said was suicide but Jay always got it done. He saved soldiers that were captured. He brought them home alive. They couldn't ask him to go back out there after that. He didn't even fight it. The only thing he would even say once he woke up was when he could leave. He just wanted to go home."
The others couldn't believe what they had just heard. They had no idea that Jay and Mouse had ever gone through anything like that. It explained why they were so close and why Jay was so protective of Mouse. They had been through hell together and were able to come out the other side.
"He had some problems afterwards though." Dr. Charles said gently.
"We both did, but that's not my story to tell." Mouse said with a distant voice as he looked at his hands once again.
Dr. Charles simply nodded at that and then looked over to Voight and he could see the concern within his eyes. It was clear that Voight had learnt something today that he didn't know. Something that brought respect to Voight for Jay and Mouse. Something that he didn't fully have for the two. It was respect on a different level. Right now they couldn't do anything for Jay. The doctors would have to take care of Jay until they were able to do it. Mouse though, they could take care of him. Voight turned and looked at Antonio. He saw that he had a small amount of blood on his hands. Antonio looked over at Voight as he felt eyes on him. Voight nodded his head towards Mouse and Antonio understood what he was saying. Antonio went over to Mouse and gently placed a hand on his shoulder as he spoke.
"Hey come on let's go wash this stuff off."
Antonio gently got Mouse up and out of the chair. They headed down the hallway to get to the bathroom. Will got up and pulled out his cell phone as he spoke.
"I need to call our dad. He doesn't know about any of this." Will moved off to the side so he could inform his dad what had been happening to Jay.
"Um Sarge, I know this isn't really the time for this but what are we going to do about the men in that room?" Ruzek asked as he looked over briefly to Dr. Charles as he didn't know if Voight wanted anyone to know that Mouse was the one to kill five people.
"Keep your mouth shut. I'll deal with it." Voight simply said.
"And the prisoner?" Atwater asked as they had all seen that he was in pain and something was going on with his left arm.
"He's been in there a long time. His shoulder must be hurting from pulling on those cuffs." Voight said as he looked at the others and the message was clear.
That was the story they were going with. Voight wasn't about to send Mouse up shit's creek for what he did. He did what he had to to find Jay's location. Voight wasn't going to hold any of this against him. As for the five men that Mouse killed he would have to come up with something to protect Mouse for that. It wasn't something they could hide, but Voight wasn't going to let Mouse get into trouble for it. He had to do what he had to do and Voight respected him a lot more for what he did today. Even though he had been through hell overseas and wasn't in the best mindset with his PTSD he still got done what had to be done. He still held it together these past fifteen days to find Jay. Now Voight just had to keep an eye on him that he didn't go down hill and spiral out of control. Voight wasn't stupid he had seen the signs in Mouse. He was a recovering addict. What his drug of choice was he didn't know, but he had struggled with it. Voight had seen it plenty of times before with war veterans. They go to war and come back just broken and destroyed. Most turned to drugs or alcohol. He had expected it with Mouse once he saw how thin and worn down he was. The signs were clear that he had PTSD and just one look at him and Voight had decided he would give the kid a chance. Jay had also spoken very highly about him and that was rare for Jay. He never spoke highly of anyone so Voight knew that Mouse meant a lot to Jay and he was curious as to why. After seeing what he had witnessed in the past fifteen days Voight could see exactly what Jay had seen in Mouse very clearly. Jay had become part of the family and now Mouse was a member of that family and Voight never turned his back on family and he never would.
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Antonio got Mouse into one of the bathrooms and they went over to the sink. They both started to wash the blood off from their hands. Antonio didn't have much on him, but Mouse had quite a bit from him giving Jay CPR and trying to stop the bleeding. Antonio had his clean fairly easily. He dried them once the blood was gone. He looked over at Mouse and he could see that he was just staring at the sink. His hands were wet and gripping the side of the sink. His eyes were blank and he was shaking slightly. Antonio didn't have much experience with PTSD as he had never been through it himself. He had been shot twice now and he didn't have any problems going back into the field and ready for action. What Mouse and Jay had been through was much worse and clearly effected them a great deal. Antonio could see that Mouse wasn't breathing right and he knew that he was having an anxiety attack now that the adrenaline was completely gone from his system.
"Hey Mouse. Come man let the air out. You're okay." Antonio said calmly as he placed his hands on Mouse's biceps and slowly turned him so he was facing him.
Antonio could see the fear and panic in Mouse's eyes and Antonio knew that he was fighting back the memories that were threatening to overtake.
"Mouse it's okay. You're okay. You are safe in the hospital right now. You are not there, you're safe Mouse. Just let the air out you can do it come on man."
Mouse's eyes moved around the room and he tried to get his brain to calm down and register where he was. The blood just kept bringing back memories that he had wanted to forget. That he had tried long and hard to forget. Mouse slowly let his breath out and he was able to breathe again. It was shaky and uneven, but it was better than nothing.
"I'm sorry. It's just the blood. My hands were stained red for a week last time. He's the only family that I got." Mouse said with a shaky voice.
"Naw man he's not all you got, not anymore. We're all a family and no matter what we will be there for you man."
Mouse gave a shaky nod and Antonio rubbed his hands on Mouse's biceps.
"It's gonna be okay. We got him out and we got him here. He's tough he'll make it. You gotta have faith."
"Ah…ya." Mouse said with a shaky voice.
"There's no hurry. We can stay in here as long as you want." Antonio said with patience.
"Naw I'm good. We should get back out there."
"Alright man." Antonio put his hands back down and gave a small smile to Mouse.
"Hey ah… thanks." Mouse said awkwardly.
"Anytime." Antonio said with a smile.
He put his hand on Mouse's back as they walked out of the bathroom and back down the hallway to the waiting room. Once they arrived at the waiting room Mouse went and sat back down where he originally was and Antonio sat down beside him just in case. It wasn't that Mouse was weak, he was very strong, but he was the most troubled right now. He was the closest to Jay out of everyone and Mouse was the one that was taking this the hardest. It was ten minutes later when Will came back and Erin looked up at him.
"Did you get a hold of your father?"
"Ya he's on his way in." Will said back.
"You called your father?" Mouse asked looking over to Will.
"Of course I did. Jay's in surgery we don't know what could happen. He should be here." Will said.
"Jay wouldn't want him here." Mouse said.
"He's our father. Whatever happened between him and Jay doesn't change that Jay's his son and deserves to be here."
"The only thing that bastard deserves is a bullet in the brain. Jay'll be pissed that he is here. He might be your father, but he is nowhere near Jay's." Mouse said with disgust.
"Not that it's any of your business Mouse, but whatever little falling out they had doesn't change that they love each other." Will said back with anger growing in his voice.
"No they don't. Jay hates his guts and is just waiting for the day he can spit on his grave. You're a great doctor Will, but a shitty brother."
"You want to do this now Mouse? Fine what exactly is your problem with me?" Will said angered and annoyed.
"My problem? Ya alright. My problem would be the fact that not once, but twice, twice. Jay came back from war and where the hell were you? You were off partying. Your mother was dying and Jay is the one that had to deal with it all on his own. He dealt with your mother dying plus coming back from his first tour. And you were out partying. He needed you and you were nowhere to be found. You didn't even call him to see if he was okay after he came back. He almost died that second tour, you were in med school you could have come over and checked him out. It should have been you who went looking for him at night when he would disappear for days just getting drunk. It should have been you sitting in the hospital while he got his stomach pumped time and time again for alcohol poisoning. It should have been you there at night when he woke up screaming. It should have been you. But you didn't care enough about him. After everything he protected you from. After everything he went through to keep you safe. The one time he desperately needed his brother you didn't even care enough to pick up a phone and make sure he was still alive." Mouse said with strength, but a shaky voice as his hands still shook.
"I'm not saying I've been perfect, but he hasn't either. I've made mistakes with Jay and I should have been around more for him afterwards. I know that and I've apologised for that. We've moved on from it. We've become closer again and we're in a good place. If Jay doesn't want Dad here then he can tell me himself. Until then I'm not going to keep Dad away when he has every right as a father to be here."
"He doesn't want him here."
"I'll wait until I hear it from Jay."
"I know everyone's emotions are running high and hot right now. I think it's important to point out that we don't need to be fighting with each other as well. The both of you care very much for Jay. He cares about you both just as much. He wouldn't want you arguing right now. He's going to need you both to get passed all of this trauma. As hard as it might be you need to put any issues or hard feelings that you have between each other away. Jay needs you to do that." Dr. Charles said trying to get them to calm down.
Will rubbed his hands over his face before he sat down in a chair next to Erin. There wasn't anything he could do right now, but wait for when Rhodes would be done with his brother.
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It wasn't for another twelve hours before Rhodes finally came into the waiting room. Will and Jay's father, Frank, had arrived ten hours ago and had simply sat down and didn't say anything. The others could see he was strict and stiff. He didn't even ask anything about what happened or what was wrong with Jay. When Rhodes did finally come into the room everyone, but Frank, stood up and went over closer to Rhodes to see what he had to say.
Rhodes held his hands up as he spoke. "He's alive and he's going to make a full recovery."
Rhodes could see the tension in everyone melt away with that simple news that weighed so heavy on all of their hearts.
"Injuries?" Will asked knowing that twelve hours was too long to be in surgery without something seriously wrong.
"He was seriously injured and had a lot of them. There were three of us operating on him at the same time. He's a strong fighter his body held up during surgery and his heart didn't stop once. Starting from the top, he has bruising on his brain, but he doesn't have any bleeding or swelling to his brain. The bruising will heal with time. He also has a six inch skull fracture."
"That's a big skull fracture." Will said with concern.
"It is. It's on the right side of his head. Both the skull fracture and the bruising will give him some side-effects. We won't know more until he is awake and aware enough to talk for a neuro examine. But he could throw up, be dizzy, confused, forgetful, have balance issues, lapse in memories, shaky hands. There's no telling what side-effects he could have until he is awake."
"How long will it take to heal?" Al asked.
"Three months give or take a week. It's not something that is going to be quick to heal from. In three months we'll run a test and we can see how he has healed. He won't be able to return to work until the head injuries are healed."
"He can have all the time he needs." Voight said.
"Moving down. We had to operate on his mouth. The drill destroyed most of his molars and it even went down to his jaw bone in a couple of spots on the left side. It cracked his jaw on the bottom and the top. Our oral surgeon was able to put crowns in and repaired his damaged gums. The cracks will take time to heal and his jaw will hurt from it. It's slightly swollen right now on the left side. It'll be about eight weeks until his jaw bones heal fully. Until then it will hurt to move his jaw so simple easy foods for the next two months will help with the pain from chewing. Ice against his jaw will also help to numb the pain as well. His neck has deep bruising from a chain choking him. There is bruising to his wind pipe and vocal cords. His voice will be raspy for a little while until the bruising starts to fade. His torso is covered in bruising and cuts. The drill did some damage internally. Most were superficial, but a few went right through. One was to the left side of his lung. Another went to his liver and right kidney as well as his right forearm which we have placed a cast on. We've repaired the damage done to his organs and are monitoring him closely. His back held deep lacerations from what I am going to assume was a chain as well. His back took over five hundred stitches to it. They are infected and we need to keep a very close eye on them. He has a fever of a hundred and one, we are trying to lower it. He's on a broad spectrum of anti-biotics as well. The problem we are facing is the cold in the room gave him hypothermia. Even though he has a fever his body is reacting as if he was still cold and his core body temp is not up to normal levels. His body is both hot and cold and because of the fever we can't use normal measures to raise his body temperature. We turned the heat up in the room so it'll help get him warm without physical contact on his body to raise the fever temperature. It will take longer though and it may still cause the fever to climb until we are able to get it under control. He also has pneumonia from the multiple drownings. His chest showed bruising from multiple CPR attempts and his heart monitor results are showing that his heart had been under stress indicating that his heart did stop and they brought him back multiple times to continue the torture. We pumped the water out of his lungs, but due to the stress on his body from the torture and surgery we have him sedated and intubated. We are leaving him sedated for the next twelve hours to give his body and lungs the break it needs. His eyes are both swollen shut and once the sedative wears off and he wakes up he will panic with the tube in his throat and not being able to see. It's vital that he calms down as his body will naturally fight the tubing. Talk to him and get him to calm down. He won't understand what is happening and he could think he is being tortured. Talk to him and let him know he is safe. Hit the nurse call button and I will come and see if we can remove the tube. If his oxygen levels are high enough that he can use just an oxygen mask then I can remove it. If not then I'll have to sedate him again for a few more hours to try and get his oxygen levels up high enough."
"What is it at now?" Will asked.
"Forty percent. I'm confident that within the next twelve hours his levels will be up high enough that we can remove the tube. Both of his wrists were cut up pretty good from him fighting the restraints. We had to use surgical glue to close the cuts the wounds, but they won't scar. He has three broken fingers, two on his right hand and one to his left. He has both electrical burns from a cattle prod and fire burns on his torso. The burns are second degree and will be painful for the next twelve hours, but he will be sedated so his body won't feel it. Afterwards they will just be tender until they have fully healed. He's got a long recovery, but he will make a full one. I'm going to be here for the next twelve hours checking in on Jay and just in case something happens. April, is going to be staying as well and doing check-ups every hour on Jay as well. As hard as it is, all we can do is wait now."
"Thanks Doc." Voight said.
"I'm gonna be in there with him. I'm not going anywhere." Will said.
"I figured. He's in a private room and we put a cot in the room for anyone who wanted to stay and needed to catch up on some sleep." Rhodes said with a small smile.
"Thanks for everything. I owe you." Will said.
"You would have done the same for me. You guys can see him. Talk to him if you want he's sedated but he might be able to hear you. Will, you know when he starts to come out of sedation what to do. Page me and I'll come down to hopefully take the tube out. I know you all have been worried about him. He's safe and for the next twelve hours he won't be waking up. I would suggest that some of you go home and get some sleep and eat something. You all are looking rundown we don't need anyone else getting sick. He's in good hands now and out of the woods." Rhodes said calmly.
"We'll head out soon after we see him." Antonio said.
"He's in room 510. Sargent Voight I just need you for a moment to fill out some paperwork." Rhodes said with an easy smile.
"Sure. You guys go on up and I'll meet you there."
"Thank-you." Erin said with a smile to Rhodes and Rhodes just gave a nod.
They all headed over to the elevator and Frank got up and went over as well at a calm pace. Voight looked to Rhodes as he spoke.
"You need me to sign for medical leave?"
"No, well yes, but no. Would you mind coming with me please to an office so we can talk privately?"
"Lead the way." Voight said calmly, but he was worried about what Rhodes needed to speak to him about that he couldn't say in front of anyone.
Voight followed Rhodes into an office down the hallway. The office was empty and Rhodes went over to the desk and opened the drawer and pulled out a file. Rhodes then turned his attention to Voight.
"I shouldn't technically be doing this. Jay could argue that it is a breach of privacy. But you are his Sargent and you have the right to request access to his medical files for safety reasons. Even a verbal request and I would have to explain any questions you have within the file."
Voight nodded his head clearly getting what Rhodes was trying to say.
"Well given Halstead's current state I'd be neglectful not to see his medical file." Voight said smoothly.
"I have no right to deny you that request." Rhodes opened the file and handed it to Voight to the page that he wanted Voight to see. "We did multiple full body scans to ensure we didn't miss any injuries. As you can see there is extensive pass injuries that go back to the age of three. Multiple broken bones, factures, black eyes, cuts, stitches and dislocated shoulders. These injuries did not come from falls or fights as he gave as excuses to the doctors in a free clinic. They came from someone more close to home. Someone that was in that waiting room."
Voight gave a nod as he looked over the long list of injuries that Jay had endured between the ages of three and sixteen. It was clear they had come from an abusive parent. Voight was shocked though. He didn't even think that Jay would have come from an abusive household. He didn't have any of the characteristics of someone being abused. He could see Mouse being in that category, but not Jay.
"That would explain why Mouse fought to not have his father here." Voight said.
"There might be another reason for that. Will told me that Mouse and Jay are very close and they tell each other everything. I'm sure Jay told Mouse about the abuse, but he probably told him everything."
"Everything?"
Rhodes pulled out a scan from one they did today. He handed it to Voight as he spoke.
"This is a scan of his hips. As you can see on the inside of his hip bones there are these lines. That's from older fractures. The older the fractures the lighter they are. The first one are from him being three and the most recent are from him being sixteen."
"Kinda an odd place to have multiple fractures." Voight said not really seeing what Rhodes was telling him.
"It is and only that many can come from one thing. Someone coming up behind him and grabbing him hard for long periods of time, multiple times causing the bones to fracture. It's easier at the younger ages as bones get harder the older you get."
"So he was grabbed from behind by his father. How does that make it worse than everything else?" Still not understanding.
"He also had tears in the muscles in his jaw. That only happens when you have to hold your mouth open too long and your muscles tear from the strain on them. It's more common in children as they aren't used to holding their mouths open and they have smaller mouths. Opening it too wide tears the muscles apart. Both of these repeated injuries are clear signs of long years of rape and molestation." Rhodes said sadly and clinically.
Rage began to fill Voight. He had his own son and he could never imagine ever raising his fist to him let alone doing anything this disgusting and evil to him. To know that Jay and just three years old had to endure being not only physically abused, but sexually brought a great pain inside of Voight. Voight was a father and it got to him when children were involved and even though Jay wasn't a child he was a part of the family. Voight didn't want any pain to come to Jay and after everything he had been through growing up he didn't need this trauma to go with it.
"That son of a bitch is up there with him right now."
"I know, but legally unless Jay says he doesn't want him here there isn't anything we can do. We can't prove that it was his father that did this. We all know it, but we can't prove it. Jay is sedated, but I would strongly recommend that once he is awake you keep that piece of garbage away from him. Seeing him could cause Jay to go backwards and his health is more important than anything right now. I don't care if he only winks at you, but you need to get him to tell you to keep his father away and we can make sure he doesn't come in the hospital."
"Will doesn't know." Voight stated.
"If he did he wouldn't be allowing his father here. I can't tell Will and you can't either right now. Jay kept this quiet except for Mouse for a reason. It could be to protect Will or maybe he thinks Will won't believe him. It didn't happen to Will based on how he acts around his father and thinks of him for what that might be worth."
"Halstead probably protected him from it growing up. Might be why it went until he was sixteen."
"It's possible. When he was sixteen his father either stopped or Jay fought back and his father knew he couldn't keep him in line anymore."
"I'll get that son of a bitch out of here and keep him away from Halstead. I appreciate you telling me this."
"It's too risky to keep quiet. If Jay sees his father he could tail spin and his body can't handle that right now."
"I'll make sure he doesn't go near him. Thanks Doc."
"I wish I could say it was my pleasure. He's strong and tough though, he'll make it through this. He's not doing it alone anymore and that will help a great deal."
"He's got a family now we'll get him back on his feet." Voight said as he handed the file back over to Rhodes.
"I'll come up and check in on him in a couple of hours. Try and see if you can get Will or Mouse to sleep. I know neither one of them will be leaving his side for the next twelve hours."
"I'll get one of them too. Appreciate it."
"We all work together right."
They headed out of the office and Voight headed to the elevator and up to Jay's room. He couldn't believe that Jay had been abused so horribly when he was younger. He never expected it, but at the same time he could see the small signs. The way he acted with EJ and the swim coach. The extreme protectiveness he has towards children and even Mouse. Voight thought it was because of the two tours, but it was also more than that as he thought about it. He protected him from danger of any kind. He was always there to make sure Mouse was okay after a hard day. Voight found them together down in the old tech room after shift drinking a few beers many times and even had a beer with them a couple of times. It was a brotherly relationship and Jay wanted to protect Mouse from anything painful in the world. Voight was going to keep an eye on Jay and Mouse until Jay was better again.
Voight headed into the room to see everything was still there. He saw how horrible Jay looked and he still couldn't believe that he had endured fifteen days of torture. Mouse, Will and Erin were the closest to the bed and Frank was off in the background not really caring or even bothering to try to look like he cared. Voight went over to the foot of the bed next to Al and Antonio.
"Everything okay?" Al asked.
"Ya just paperwork to clear the medical leave on our end. Look, I know you all want to be here for him but Rhodes is right. We can't do anything for him and we all need sleep. Five minutes and we can head out and get some sleep." Voight said to everyone.
"I'm not leaving him." Erin said.
"You need sleep and food Erin." Voight said calmly.
"I can do that here." Erin said back.
"Will and Mouse will be here. I can't make them leave, but I can make you leave. You need rest and you might as well do that while he is resting. Sleep for a few hours then come back, but you're leaving Erin. You can sleep at the house if you want." Voight said.
"Really Erin he's just going to be doing this. He won't wake up for at least twelve hours it could be longer. He wouldn't want you to be rundown and sitting here all day." Will said trying to get Erin to see reason.
"Ya fine, but only for a few hours and then I'm coming back." Erin said.
"We'll be here." Mouse said.
"Mouse why don't you sleep first? You've been awake longer than me and then I'll sleep." Will said.
Mouse ran his hands over his face and gave a nod.
"Come on guys let's get some sleep. I'll text you when I'm on my way back I can bring you some food." Antonio said to Will and Mouse.
"Thanks." Will said.
"Mr. Halstead, do you need a lift?" Voight asked.
"I drove." Frank simply said.
"Dad, you're not staying?" Will asked slightly surprised.
"No point with him being out for twelve hours. Call me when he wakes up." Frank said before he made his way out of the room.
The others looked at each other clearly surprised that Jay's father just up and left. Mouse took the gun, knife and badge off from his belt and held it out to Voight Ashe poke.
"What happens now Sargent?"
"Nothing you need to worry about as you were in the car with Will." Voight said as he took the items.
"Sargent?" Mouse asked confused.
"What you did was illegal no matter how good the reason was. Keep your mouth shut and I'll take care of it. We'll talk more about it tomorrow."
"Yes Sir." Mouse said slightly surprised that Voight was going to lie to protect him. Mouse never expected that.
"Let's head out." Voight said as he took one last look at Jay's still form.
They all made their way out of the room and left only Mouse and Will to be with Jay for a few hours. They headed to the front entrance where the cars were so they could drive back to the district and get their own cars again. On the way outside Voight walked with Antonio and placed a hand on his arm so he would slow down some. Antonio looked at Voight and slowed his pace so he wasn't as close to the others.
"His father shows up and I'm not there keep him away from Halstead as long as you can once he wakes up." Voight whispered with hatred in his voice.
"So that wasn't about paperwork."
"Let's just say Mouse has a reason to hate the son of a bitch."
Understanding hit Antonio's eyes and quickly followed by shock. "Halstead? Really?"
"I saw the file myself and it went on every level. Every one of them." Voight said with rage.
"Fuck off." Antonio said with his own anger.
Voight just gave a nod and Antonio let out a breath.
"That son a bitch shouldn't be anywhere near him."
"Rhodes said that until Halstead is awake to tell us to keep him away we can't. Once he's awake we need to keep him away from Halstead until we can get Halstead to acknowledge it. I don't care once Halstead's awake we keep him out and away no matter what."
"Got it. That's fucking wild. I wouldn't expect it."
"No one would."
They got to the cars and they headed into them and headed back to the district so they could head home for a few hours of sleep. Tomorrow they were hoping Jay would be awake and finally on the road to being healed. It was going to be a long road, but they were all going to be there for him.