Happy CPD day! I a appreciate immensely all you kind words. Best fandom ever!

Here's the next chapter.

I own nothing.

Jay's clinical state deteriorates in the next few of days and Erin seems to slip backwards too. However, her decline has nothing to do with her wounds. They further isolate Jay and limit visitation. So Erin has to sneak out of her room to see him. The nurses learn to turn a blind eye when they see her shuffling down the hospital corridors. If they try to stop her, she'll just keep on trying.

She walks past the ICU front desk, nursing her sore ribs, and tiptoes into Jay's room. He is still immobile on the bed. She can tell the nurses have changed the bandage around his arm and on his wrists. The scruff on his face is evident now and his strong body has grown leaner. Despite his bleak prognosis, Erin thinks Jay is healing. Just last week his face had been pale, almost pasty, but his cheeks seems to be tinged with a healthy pink color now. Others wouldn't have noticed this small change. But even in this dimly lit hospital room she can still see these minuscule improvements.

She lives for them.

She pulls up a chair and for a few minutes she listens to the pelting rain drum against the window.

"They are talking about discharging me soon," she says. "But I'm not ready to go home yet." Mostly because she'll see all the empty spaces Jay has left behind.

"Hank offered for me to stay at his place," she pauses then adds. "I haven't given his an answer yet."

She takes his hand and brings it up to her lips. "They want to begin weaning you off the medication, letting you wake up. But they don't know if you will be able to handle it. Will thinks it's best to keep you asleep for now." She presses her lips to his palm and adds, "I just want you to open your eyes."

She continues to sit by his bedside, as she has so many times now, fixated on every beep and swoosh of the ventilator breathing for him. Looking at him she can feel the pain beneath the covers as though it is affecting her own body. She feels somewhat deserving of it. Soon her eyelids close in unrelenting sleep as it claims her until a nurse offers to take her back to her room.

It takes two weeks, following a second lung collapse, two additional spinal surgeries, and a systemic infection, for Jay finally to wake up. It takes him a couple of minutes to clear the fog in his head, but he gradually slips into full consciousness. He starts, not recognizing his surroundings, and despite his injuries, he thrashes clumsy on the bed.

"Jay, hey," Will snaps his fingers until his brother's eyes focus on him. "Don't try to move. You're in the hospital."

Jay looks up, but it is as if there is a grey film smeared across his eyes. He rubs them and immediately feels dizzy with pain. He releases a low, guttural groan through his clenched teeth.

"Your jaw is wired shut, buddy, so don't try to talk either."

Jay closes his eyes and waits until his mind stop swirling. He feels his brother's hand on his shoulders and after a short time (or was it a long time?) he hears noises, then people talking. Will is asking him a question. Are you in pain? His body aches all over, but he can't open his mouth to tell him this.

"Jay," Will tries again. "Are you feeling any pain?"

Jay nods slowly.

"Okay. Do you remember what happened?"

And just like that his mind races to seek the answer to his question. He is perplexed at first and then remotely recalls what happened until it hits him hard. Jay nods exasperatedly. His head is still foggy and it feels like someone's siting on his chest, but the events come pouring back into his brain. He begin grunting until his brother hands him a notepad and places a sharpie between his fingers. He begins to wobbly write the letters, E. R. I...

"Erin?" Will asks. "She's okay," he says.

But Jay is not convinced, and points to Erin's name on the notepad.

"I promise she's okay. Way better than you. She's come a long way and has a few broken ribs and a fractured shoulder, but she's good."

Jay's body relaxes, but Will can still feel the tension underneath his fingertips. Jay's face grimaces as his sore muscles flare up in pain.

"I will get you something for the pain," Will says and sits down on the bed. "But first we need to get a full workup done on you."

Will pages the medical team that has been working with Jay and they perform a full battery of tests. His overall cognitive health is good, his upper body strength and coordination are also deemed good. However, his overall lower body strength and motor movement are critically poor and spasmodic. But after hours of incessant testing, the horde of doctors finally leave his room. Jay impatiently motions to the notepad once again, pointing at his earlier scribble.

Will chuckles at Jay's insistence. "I will go get her. Scouts honor, but first," Will pauses. "We need to talk about you."

Jay frowns.

"Your jaw was severely shattered, and so was you left eye socket, but both are healing nicely. Your ribs are also on the mends, but you might still feel pain when you take deep breaths."

Jay nods. He's had a few broken ribs before.

"Your left lung was punctured and when they went in to fix it they saw that your spleen had ruptured. We kept your lung, but we had to remove your spleen."

Jay gives Will a faint smile.

"Your wrists, ankles, and kneecaps were also badly injured, but are also on the mends."

Jay jerks his writs and feels just the slightest pain there.

"You had some critical head trauma when they first brought you in, so we put you in a coma for a bit. But miraculously all your screws are intact."

Both brothers smile. After a silent moment, Will's face clouds over. Jay is quick to notice it.

"Jay," Will begins somberly. "You also suffered a spinal injury between your third and fourth lumbar vertebra. We operated on your back twice and relived some of the built up pressure. You haven't lost any motor movement, but we think you might have isolated nerve damage. We don't know to what extent."

Jay looks puzzled as he tries to digest what Will is telling him. He shakes his head. Will can't mean that… No, he can't.

Will sees the questioning frown on Jay's face and adds, "You might experience some difficulty walking."

Jay looks solemnly at his blanketed-covered legs and moves them underneath the sheets – the slight disconnect between his brain and muscles becomes suddenly obvious. Panic rips through him like an electric shock. His eyes become fiery with anger and his breaths become labored.

"This diagnosis is speculation on our part," Will quickly adds. "This is not your verdict."

Jay shakes his head and averts his eyes to the blank, white wall in front of him.

"Jay, physical therapy—"

Jay slowly turns towards Will and shakes his head. His anger turned into tears.

Offering a kind smile, Will tilts his head, gazing into his brother's glassy blue eyes, trying his hardest to hide his own tears. Maybe this is not the time to delve into this. "Why don't I go get Erin," Will says. He pats his brother on the shoulder and adds, "I'm really glad you're back."

With a heavy heart, Will leaves and walks down the hallway, past the doors of the ICU. He reaches Erin's room and slowly pushes the door open. "Erin?" He drums his fingers lightly on the door.

Erin's head snaps away from the television screen. "Hey, Will."

"How are you feeling?"

"Good. Being discharged within the next few days," Erin says, but melancholy laces her voice. "Updates on Jay?"

Without any preamble, Will says, "He's awake and asking for you."

"What? When?" Erin asks, kicking the sheets off her legs. Will is quick to help her off the bed. "He woke up? Like really awake? Cause he's been fading in and out for the last couple of days since they took him off his meds."

"He is fully awake now."

"Oh my God! H-How is he?"

"He's been asking for you."

"I have to go see him." Erin smiles – a big, blissful smile. She feels weightless for the first time since she woke up. "Does he know about—"

"I told him," Will says. "He's not paralyzed, but only time will tell if she will be back on his feet."

Erin nods sadly. She aches for him. But he is alive. "I have go see him," she repeats.

Will assists Erin walk down the hallway. She treads slowly and uses Will as her support. Her injuries are slowly healing and most of the swelling has gone down. But the guilt she feels for having Jay nearly sacrifice his life for her is still eating her inside.

They reach Jay's room and Erin can barely contain her excitement. How long has it been since she last felt his touch or seen those beautiful blue eyes looking into hers? Her heart feels like it is going to explode.

Will pushes the door open and Jay and Erin immediately locks eyes.

"Jay..." Erin says almost breathlessly.

Jay opens and closes his eyes as relief washes over him when seeing that Erin is okay. He gingerly extends his arms towards her. Erin, in turn, abandons Will's support and wobbles on unsteady feet towards the bed and crashes clumsily with Jay. She feels the sobs wrack her body. The physical pain she feels from the effort does not compare to the relief of finally having Jay reciprocate her hug.

"Hey," she says, looking at his smiling, glassy eyes. "I missed you."

Jay grunts and moves a hand to her cheek and squeezes her chin lightly. He shifts and winces underneath her weight and she slowly eases off of him.

"Sorry," she says. "I'm just really happy." She pulls his face in and plants a small kiss on his bruised lips. "Feeling okay?"

Jay nods.

Will approaches the bed and says, "Have the nurse page me if you guys need anything." He grabs the notepad from earlier and places near Erin. "I will check to see how soon we can remove those wires from your jaw and maybe find you an ipad."

Jay gives Will a thankful nod. As soon as his brother is out the door, Erin gently nestles herself against Jay on the bed. How much she's missed him. Missed their talks, even their disagreements. Jay in turn places his lips against her hair. He then reaches for the notepad and begins scribbling things down. Erin watches his hand clumsily move across the pad.

U ok? She reads.

"Yes, I'm fine. I have a fractured shoulder and a few broken ribs."

Erin sees a flicker of worry cross Jay's face. He releases a frustrated sigh and goes for the notepad again.

Did he do anything else? Jay writes, underlining the word else.

Erin quickly understands where he is getting at. "No, he didn't do anything else to me."

Jay looks skeptical.

"They didn't." She shakes her head for emphasis. "After he was done with you he left. The next thing I remember is Hank hoisting me up."

Jay breathes a sigh of relief. He takes her hand and bring it to his lips.

"You saved me," she says and wipes a pesky tear from the corner of her eye. "Don't ever do that again."

Jay offers her an easy smile. He reaches for the notepad and scribbles, always.

"You could've died and you almost did. Whatever he was going to do to me wouldn't have hurt me as much as he hurt you."

Jay picks up the pen and writes, it would've killed me.

Erin sighs. She takes his bruised hand and brings it to her lips. No more words passes between them – none is necessary. In fact, words tended to muddle things. Without words, what exists between them is simple and sweet. Jay and Erin stay snuggled together in the small hospital bed. Time is nonexistent. But soon enough word gets out that Jay's is awake and the team, including a revolving door of 21st district officers, come visit.

The sun is low in the horizon when Erin and Jay finally part ways. But as the metaphor goes, they are still climbing the mountain and probably will for a while, but the terrain seems to have leveled out a bit. The trees are beginning to clean and we can almost see the first of what is sure to be many summits on the path ahead.

Thank you for reading. Now, let me run a work on the next chapter. Cheers!