JAY
"Hello this is Jay Halstead," I say into my phone. I'm still catching my breath from this morning. Erin's away working a case in San Francisco and I can always manage all three kids in the morning, but it's always just that much harder. And Ava was a little fussy last night, which meant that neither of us slept too well.
"Mr Halstead?" A voice responds, "This is Evelyn Hollins from Bright Horizons, I'm calling about your daughter Ava,"
"Is everything okay?" I say, quickly ducking into the break room.
"I don't think you should be too alarmed," She responds, "but she's running a little bit of a fever and she's complaining about her head and her stomach,"
"What's her temp?" I ask.
"It's barely a fever, 100.1℉,"
"But it's still a fever," I say, "And she's complaining, she never complains,"
"I know," She responds, "That's what worried me,"
"Can I talk to her?" I ask.
"Of course," She responds. "Ava sweetie, your dad is on the phone," I hear her call.
"Daddy?" She whines on the other end of the line.
"Hey Birdie, I heard you're not feeling too hot,"
"My belly hurts," She tells me, the strain in her voice obvious. That's what worries me, my girl never complains. She was always fussy when she was a baby, but since then, she's been a dream child.
"I know baby, I'll going to come get you soon, just sit tight okay?"
"Okay,"
"Can you give the phone back to Ms. Evelyn?" I ask her.
"Okay," She responds. It's not long before I hear the woman softly clear her throat on the other end of the line.
"I'll be there in twenty minutes," I tell her.
"Would you like to pick up Liam as well?" She asks.
"No," I say, "I'll pick him up at the regular time,"
"Alright," She responds, "I'll have her ready for you."
"Thank you Evelyn,"
"We'll see you soon," She tells me before hanging up the phone. I groan and run my hands through my hair as she hangs up. It just had to be this week. Sick kids are always hard, but sick kids with a parent out of town? That's insane.
"Can I talk to you for a minute?" I say as I stand in Hank's doorway.
"C'mon in, what's up Halstead?" He asks.
"I just got a call from Ava's school, she got a fever and she's complaining about her stomach, I told them I'd be down to pick up in twenty minutes,"
"That's fine," He responds. "Do you want me to pick up Lu and Liam later?"
"I was just going to call Emily, see if she can do it, but I'll keep that in mind, thanks," I say.
"Alright," He responds, "Give me an update later on how she's feeling. Did you call Lindsay yet?"
"No, I just got off the phone with the school, I was going to give her a call in the car on the way over,"
"Good plan, go ahead and clock out,"
"Thanks Sarge," I say, again grateful to have a boss like Hank. It may very possibly have everything to do with the fact that he considered my three his grandkids, but he's always been very flexible with us.
"Where you going Halstead?" Adam calls over at me as I grab my jacket off the back of my chair.
"Clocking out," I tell him, "Ave's preschool just called, she's got a fever,"
"She must have caught the bug that's going around," Kim comments, "Hannah had it last week, it's a bear," She says, referring to her and Adam's almost two year old daughter.
"Thanks for the warning," I say before grabbing my phone.
"Hope she feels better!" Kim calls after me as I descend down the stairs.
"Leaving us so soon?" Platt asks as I pass her desk.
"Sick kid," I respond without even glancing her way, used to the years of half hearted banter between the two of us.
I dial Erin's number as I walk down the front steps of the District, waiting impatiently for her to pick up the phone.
"Hey babe what's up?" She says, answering on the fourth ring.
"I just got a call from the school, Ava's sick," I tell her reluctantly. I know she's going to freak out. Luckily, our kids don't get sick too often, Lucy especially, but when they do, I swear it's almost harder on her than it is on them.
"Oh God what's wrong?" She asks.
"She said that she had a fever and she was complaining about a stomachache." I tell her as I hop into the front seat of the Pilot, quickly starting the car as I put the phone on speaker and toss it in the center console.
"Oh my poor girl," She responds somberly, "Maybe I should just come home,"
"No, no, no, don't that. I got it handled," I assure her. "You know that this case is important, you wouldn't be out there if it wasn't."
"I know," She says softly, "But she's my baby and she's sick and I'm not there. Kids want their moms when they're sick,"
"Are you doubting my cuddling and throw up clean up skills?" I joke.
"She threw up!" Erin exclaims.
"No, sorry that was a bad joke." I say, "But I got this okay?"
"If you need me, call me and I will be on the next plane out," She assures me. I can almost hear the guilt in her voice.
"We're not going to need you," I say, "I got it handled,"
"I know you do, I just worry," She says. I can almost see her drumming her fingers along whatever's in reach, her nervous tic of choice.
"Worry about the case, I'll have her call you when we get home okay?" I tell her.
"Alright," She says reluctantly, "Call me if anything changes,"
"I will, go kick some ass," I tell her with a smile.
"I love you Jay," She says, finishing up the call.
"I love you too baby," I say before allowing her to hang up the phone. I continue the fairly short drive to Ava's preschool, peaking through the window on Liam's classroom door, happy to see a big smile on his face before continuing on to Ava's classroom. I knock on the door, searching the room for my baby girl, but I can't seem to find her,
"Mr. Halstead," Evelyn says as she opens the door, the same smiling face I'm greeted with every morning standing in front of me.
"Thank you for calling, how is she?"
"She fell asleep about ten minutes ago and I figured it best to just let her sleep," She tells me as she leads me to the back corner of the classroom, the rest of the kids sitting on the carpet reading a story with the other teacher. "She's right over here,"
I look down at my girl, asleep on one of the cots, curled up in the blanket we leave at the school for naptime.
"Am I good to take her?"
"Yeah," She says. "I hope she feels better soon,"
"You and me both,"
"C'mon baby girl," I say as she sits in front of me, screaming in her high chair as I try to give her a dose of acetaminophen as instructed by Will. We've been home for maybe three hours and all she's done is scream. She woke up in the car ride home from school and I haven't been able to get her to stop since. She threw up on me a couple of times which was not fun and only strengthened my worry. I've tried everything that's worked every other time the kids have been sick, but nothing is helping. She just seems to be getting worse and worse.
"I hurt," She wails back at me.
"I know Birdie, I know," I say, running my hand over her head again. She's getting warmer I think. I grab the thermometer and place it in her arm, struggling to get an accurate reading as she squirms. I hear it beep and I look down at the screen. 103.6. That's way higher than I'm comfortable with. I grab the phone and dial one of the only numbers I know by heart, my brother. Luckily, he quickly picks up.
"Hey brother, how's she doing?" He asks.
"His temp is up, 103.6 and she threw up, she's complaining about her stomach. I gave her a dose of acetaminophen, but I don't think it's going to help,"
"You know what?" He says, "Just bring her in, her fever is really high and the vomiting worries me,"
"Alright I'll come right in," He says, "I'm out with Owen, but I'll try to get ahold of Nat,"
"Thanks Will," I say before quickly hanging up the phone.
"Okay Ave, we're going to go on a little adventure," I tell her as I pull her out of the high chair, wrapping her in a blanket, jamming my feet into a pair of shoes, and grabbing my keys and wallet off the counter, high tailing it out of there.
"Hi I'm trying to check my daughter into the ER," I say as I walk up to the front desk of Chicago Med, Ava wrapped in a blanket, sound asleep in my arms, her cheeks flushed a bright red.
"Go ahead and fill out this paperwork," She says, handing me a clipboard with a thick stack of papers attached. "You can go wait in the waiting area and we'll get to you as soon as we can,"
"What is the wait time?" I ask her.
"It can be anywhere from 30-60 minutes sir," She informs me, not looking up from her tablet in front of her as she sorts through patient files. She's new. We're in here more than I'd like and I don't recognize her face. Besides, if she'd been here for a while, she'd have already paged Natalie or Will.
"Is there anyway we can speed that up a little?" I ask politely, "This feels urgent,"
"All the cases we treat are urgent," She tells me, seeming more standoffish, "That's why they call it the emergency department,"
"I know, but my daughter, she's two years old, lethargic, she's got a fever of 103 and she won't stop shivering,"
"Sir I'm not going to tell you again, fill out the paperwork and sit in the waiting room, we will get to your daughter as soon as we can," She says. I can't do it with this woman.
"Jay?" I hear from across the ED. I look up to match my sister-in-law's face with the voice.
"Natalie!" I exclaim, quickly walking past the nurse.
"What's going on?" She asks, her eyes quickly flitting down to Ava. "What happened?"
"She's got a high fever, she threw up a couple times, and she's complaining about a stomache. My girl doesn't complain, you know that,"
"I know," She says, "What's her temp?"
"103.6,"
"How long?" She asks as she takes my child in my arms, her usual squeals of glee at her favorite and only aunt absent.
"I don't know, I picked her up four hours ago, but she's been this way since then. Her fever was 102.1 when I first took it at home, I brought her in after the last time I checked her,"
"Okay I'm going to admit her," She says, "Kate," She calls out.
"Dr. Manning I told him our protocol," She insists as she looks over at me.
"Kate this patient is my niece, please prep a room," Natalie tells her forcefully.
"Will do Doctor," She says, her head bowed as she scurries away from the alcove.
"Is Erin coming in?" She asks as she leads me to a room.
"No, she's working a case in San Francisco," I tell her, "I didn't want to call her unless I needed too, I knew that she was going to jump right onto a plane,"
"Call her,"
"Hey," Erin says as she slides open the door, Ava asleep in the hospital crib thing, an IV with antibiotics hooked up to her arm. After hours of sitting in the ED, we finally got a diagnosis. Our little Ava Piper, had a kidney infection. Luckily, it was an easy fix, just a course of IV antibiotics and two weeks of oral antibiotics after her release. Not that that's really an easy fix and it still means an overnight in the hospital,, but it's better than all the worst case scenarios I dreamt up while we were waiting for her test results. "I'm sorry it's so late, it was the earliest flight I could get,"
"It's okay, we're all okay now," I tell her as she curls up next to me on the very uncomfortable couch.
"Where are the rest of the kids?" She asks, laying her head down on my chest.
"Hank has them," I tell her, "I called Emily on the way over here and she took them for the afternoon and dropped them off at his place a few hours ago,"
"Good I'm glad they're okay," She says. "I'm sorry that I wasn't here,"
"No, don't do that to yourself," I tell her. I knew that she was going to blame herself. Not that there was anything she could have done, but she's still going to believe it's her fault. She wasn't here and something bad happened. "You could not have done anything to prevent this,"
"But I still wasn't here," She tells me, her voice quiet and small, "My daughter was sick and I wasn't here,"
"Yeah, you were off saving the world," I tell her as I place a kiss on the top of her head.
"Mama?" I hear from inside the crib, Ava sitting up.
"Hi sweet girl," She says as she scrambles off my lap. "Mama missed you,"
"I missed you Mama," She tells her as reaches her arms up towards her.
"I'm sorry you felt yucky when I was away," She says, carefully lifting her up as to not disturb her IV.
"But you're here now," I say, wrapping my arm around her waist.
"I'm here now,"