Chapter 7 - Recovery
"Lauren! No!" Jay screamed putting more pressure on her wound.
"Chief... the ambulance is on it way," one of the officers said.
"No. We're taking her now. I'm not waiting," he said keeping his hand on her wound as he scooped her up. "Dalton you're driving," he said heading back out to his jeep.
Dalton opened the back door for him and Jay jumped in holding Lauren close. "Just hang on babe, please hang on," he pleaded.
He dialed Will as Dalton drove. "Jay?" Will answered.
"I... I... I need you to meet us at the hospital. We're ten minutes out. Please Will," Jay begged.
"Ok. Ok. Tell me what we're working with," he said relaying with his eyes to Nat he had to go. She and Shay promised to keep the kids and Kelly went with Will.
"A... uh... through and through gun shot wound. I've... I've got pressure on the wound. She... passed out. Her pulse is steady though."
"We'll be ready," Will promised as they hung up.
Jay checked to make sure she wasn't losing too much blood, before putting his hand back on it hard. "Come on baby. Open your eyes please," he begged. Lauren never even flinched.
They arrived at the hospital and Will had a gurney waiting outside for them. Kelly jerked the back door open and helped Jay get her out. "Let's move," Will ordered taking over applying pressure as they wheeled her in.
Jay was at a lost. There went his whole world and he couldn't go with her.
"Jay... man. Come on. Let's get you cleaned up," Kelly said quietly. He knew Jay needed to get all the blood off.
"I... I... I... shot her Kelly... I did this. She's... this... it's my fault," he cried punching the nearest thing which happened to be the hospital wall.
"Stop. Jay, damn it stop!" Kelly yelled wrapping his arms around a fighting Jay to get him to stop.
"You did what you had to. You essentially saved her. There's no telling what he would've done to her you hear me? It's ok. She'll be ok," Kelly said.
"I shot her," he cried completely losing it.
"I know... I know." Kelly saw Will coming out and sighed.
"Well?" He asked Will which caught Jay's attention.
"They've taken her into surgery to clean it out and stitch it up. She should be ok."
"Good. Good," Kelly said lost in his own thoughts. He couldn't imagine what Jay was feeling right now.
"Come on let's clean you up and bandage those knuckles," Will said looking pointedly at Jay's hands as he took his arm.
"I... I... shot her Will," he cried trying to push away from him.
"I know," Will said grabbing his brother to keep him from going off and doing something stupid. "She's gonna be ok Jay. She will be ok," Will said. "But we need to get you cleaned up to see her once she's out. Come on, I even have a spare shirt here."
"Why... why aren't you in there with her?! She's all alone, you left her," he accused realizing Lauren was alone and needing an outlet for his emotions.
"Jay... you wanna hit me to feel better, hit me. Let me have it! Whatever you need," Will said standing there arms wide open knowing until Jay let it all out he would be hard to console.
Jay pushed him away. "Get in there Will. She's all alone," he cried.
Will reached out and grabbed Jay hugging him tight. "I can't Jay. She's my family and you can't work on family. She's getting the best care I promise. You just have to trust me."
Jay broke down in his arms crying his heart out for having to shoot his beautiful wonderful girl. "I know... it's ok. I got you," Will whispered holding his little brother tight.
He knew from the minute Jay called and said he had to do it, that this wasn't going to be easy on him at all. "I got you," he whispered again.
He managed to get Jay inside and into the employees' locker room. He settled him on the bench once he'd calmed down and begin cleaning the blood off him. Jay had managed to spread it all over his hands, arms, and even a little on his face. Will took his time getting it all off so Lauren wouldn't see it when she woke up.
Once he had Jay cleaned up, he took his shirt and tossed it in the garbage before handing Jay one of his. "Come on, we'll go check on her," Will said leading Jay out with him.
He'd gotten really quiet and Will was worried about him. Getting him back with Lauren would be good for him. Will checked and they were just finishing up her surgery. "She'll be out soon."
Jay just nodded staring at his hands. "She's not gonna blame you one bit Jay."
"I know," he whispered. "I just... I still can't believe... I actually... I had to shoot her," he whispered.
"Jay... what other option did you have? Was he listening to reason? No. Was he letting her go? No. You had to end it. You did what you had to do to save your wife."
"I still shot her. The kids... oh god what do we tell the kids?"
"Don't worry. Nat and Shay have them. We'll just tell them mommy got hurt and you saved her ok? They'll be fine."
They wheeled Lauren passed them to get her settled in a room. Jay watched as she went by. She was pale but looked peaceful.
"Jay she's ok," Will said watching him. She'll be awake soon.
Jay just nodded as they watched them getting her situated with ivs and oxygen. "She's gonna be fine. Her vitals are stable. She didn't lose too much blood. She'll be sore and in pain. They're putting her on a morphine pump so she won't be able to nurse for a day or two. But she's gonna be ok."
"I know. Thank you Will," Jay said knowing without his brother he wouldn't have made it this far.
"Any time. Come here," Will said pulling Jay in for a tight hug.
"Now get in there. I'm gonna call Nat and I'll be around," Will said.
Jay nodded going into Laurens room and sitting by her bed. Her left shoulder was all bandaged up and her arm was in a sling. He grabbed her right hand where the iv was and softly kissed beside it.
"I'm here love. Just wake up for me," he whispered holding her hand. He sat there for a while watching her sleep and listening to her heart monitor. He'd zoned out watching her, replaying the scene over and over in his head. He hoped he never saw her being shot ever again.
"Jay," she whispered scratchily opening her eyes to the bright light.
"Hey. I'm here. It's ok," he whispered instantly alert squeezing her hand softly.
"You're here," she smiled sleepily as he gave her a sip of water. He paged for Will too so they'd know she was awake.
"I'm here. I'm so so so very sorry baby," he whispered brushing her hair off her face.
She reached up with her right hand and rubbed his cheek. "You did what you had to Jay. It's ok," she whispered.
Will and her doctor entered the room before Jay could respond. "Mrs. Halstead so nice to see you awake. How are you feeling?"
Will dimmed the lights and she seemed to relax even more. "I'm ok. Groggy," she said holding on to Jay's hand.
"That's understandable. You are currently on morphine to help with the pain. The bullet went all the way through missing anything vital. It did tear through some muscle so you're going to be in some pain, but you should be perfectly fine with rest."
"Thank you doc," Jay said seeing her dozing off again.
"No problem Chief. If either of you need anything please let us know."
Jay nodded and the doctor left leaving Will with them. "Kelly's gone to get y'all close and her pump. She's gonna have to pump and dump it because of the morphine. If she doesn't have many bottles at home, we can put Jayde on some formula similar to Jayson until the morphine is out of her system."
"Yea... yea ok." Jay sat watching her holding her hand.
"Do you wanna go see the kids?"
"Uh... maybe later. Or they can come by before bed so Lauren can see them too. I don't wanna leave."
"I got it man. I'll tell Kelly to bring them back when they come."
"Yea thanks Will."
Will went out to call Kelly leaving Jay with her. He just sat there watching her sleep. He'd do whatever was necessary to help her heal. He knew what gun shots felt like and to know he was the one that caused her pain was almost too much.
Several hours later, Lauren was awake trying to ignore the pain as the kids visited with her. They told her about the rest of the time in town and the fireworks. She was listening intently but she was really hurting.
"Ok kiddos tell mama good night. She needs to sleep and so do you," Jay said.
The kids groaned and Jayson even teared up some. "It's ok baby. You're gonna have a lot of fun with Aunt Nat and Uncle Will and mama will be home soon ok?" She said giving him a hug.
He nodded and hugged her tight being careful of her bandages. She hugged and kissed the twins next. Jayde was already asleep. Will took Jayson, Kelly carried Jayde's carrier and Natalie and Shay took the twins with their own kids.
"Time for meds," Jay said pushing the pump to give her more morphine.
"Jay," she whispered tearfully.
"What is it baby?" He asked instantly at her side.
"Lay with me? It... hurts," she whispered. She'd done her best not to complain, but since she'd held off on the meds to see the kids she was in severe pain.
"Of course love," he whispered carefully getting in the bed with her. Hospital beds were not the biggest and it was a tight fit, so Jay carefully picked her up being carefully of all the wires and laid her between his legs with her back against his chest. He put a pillow under her sling to rest her arm on and just held her.
He softly hummed to her as he gently played with her hair relaxing her. He knew helping her stay relaxed would help the medicine work faster. In just a few minutes he realized she was asleep.
Kelly and Shay came back in after making sure Will and Nat didn't need any help with the kids. "Hey," Kelly said quietly so as not to wake her.
"Hey," Jay said.
"Are you sure y'all don't need anything?"
"Yea I'm sure. I...," Jay started but stopped.
"What is it?" Shay asked fixing the blanket so they were covered more.
"How are you being so nice to me Kel? I shot your sister!"
Kelly walked closer to the bed so he could look Jay in the eyes. Will had said Jay was still struggling with it even though they'd all told him it wasn't really his fault. "Jay, I want you to listen to me and actually listen ok?"
Jay nodded as he kept softly playing with Lauren's hair. "You did what you had to do to save my sister. Yes it required you to shoot her unfortunately but you saved her from something worse. This she can recover from and she still has you. Any other possibility might not have worked out so great and we might not even have her. So no we don't blame you. No one blames you, but you. Lauren loves you and knows you did what had to be done to ultimately keep her safe."
"Thank you Kelly," Jay said quietly as Kelly gave his shoulder a squeeze.
"Of course man. We're gonna head out but call if you need anything ok?"
"Yea, yea we will. Bye Brax," Jay smiled at the sleepy little boy.
"Bye bye unca 'ay"
Jay smiled as they left. Kelly was right. Something worse, far worse, could've happened and he could've been totally without her. Instead she was safe right here in his arms. He didn't care what he had to do to get her well again, he would do it because he loved her and would do anything for her.
"I love you Lauren. You're my whole bright wonderful world, you and our kids," he whispered drifting himself. In just a few minutes, he was out as well and they slept peacefully all night.
