I promise this is not anywhere near as painful as the last chapter :)

*Side note still applies…. You might will want a box of Kleenex handy before reading. Ok you've been warned so on to the chapter ;) *

Natalie watched Jay fall asleep and she let out a soft sigh. She went to find Will to find out what was going on. Will was waiting with Maggie and he looked furious. "Hey babe. What happened?"

Will sighed as he ran his hand through his hair. "Who's watching them?"

"They're ok. Jay fell asleep."

Will nodded. "I found…. I found Jay in the waiting room with Mouse, curled in on himself just sobbing. Some resident told him that she hadn't made it," Will said quietly.

Natalie was shocked. "We didn't have a resident though."

"I know. Maggie's tracking her down."

"Ok. I'll go update the team for you and then she'll probably be ready to move to a room."

"Thanks baby," he said kissing her forehead as she walked off. Maggie had tracked down the resident and she was on her way down. Natalie let the team know Erin had come through surgery fine. They'd removed the bullets and given her some blood. With a little rest and maybe some physical therapy she would be just fine.

She told them that Jay was with her right now, and that as soon as she was moved to a room, she would come let them know.

She went back to the nurse's station just as the resident walked up. "I was paged," she said coming across as annoyed which did not help Will's mood at all. Natalie put her hand on his arm and gave it a gentle squeeze.

"Yea you were. Which doctor sent you to do a notification earlier?"

"Dr. Lucas. Why? Who are you?"

Natalie could feel Will's temper rising and quite frankly, her's was too. She squeezed his arm again and said, "I'm Dr. Manning and this is Dr. Halstead. We understand that you notified a patient's husband except, you notified the wrong guy."

"What do you mean?" the resident asked still looking annoyed with this conversation.

"The guy you informed was my brother! His partner, a detective and his girlfriend, was brought here today and we were still in surgery! Except, you told him she didn't make it!" Several eyes were watching them, but Will couldn't care at this point. He was so furious at this chick's attitude and what she'd put Jay through.

"Did you even think to ask his name or tell him the patient's name?!" Natalie asked.

The resident shook her head no. "I was told to inform the patient's husband and they said he would be in the waiting room. That guy was by himself so I just assumed it was him," she shrugged.

"Yea well you assumed wrong!" Will yelled. Natalie gave Maggie a look; she knew he'd had enough.

"Come on Will, let's go check on them," Nat said pulling him away before he did something stupid. She left Maggie to deal with the resident and she knew Maggie would.

They walked back to recovery and Erin was starting to wake up. "Hey sweetie. How do you feel?"

"Sore…" she said as Natalie handed her some water for her scratchy throat. "Thanks Nat."

"Of course," Nat smiled rubbing her good arm.

Erin glanced down at Jay's tear stained sleeping face as Will was checking her over. "He'll be ok Er. He just got the wrong info from a resident who's being handled," Natalie said softly.

"Oh no," she whispered as she threaded her fingers through his hair.

"I know," Nat said sadly.

Erin looked at Will; "Can I get out of here?"

Will smiled. "Not yet Er. You just had major surgery and we had to give you some blood. So we're going to keep you to monitor you."

Erin sighed; "Ok Will."

"We're going to move you to a room," he said and she nodded.

"Take him home and make him sleep." Will nodded as Natalie tried waking him.

"I'll try Er, but he'll put up a fight." Erin smiled as she reached and rubbed his cheek. He slowly opened his eyes and saw her awake. A small smile graced his lips.

"Erin… baby… I'm so sorry, so sorry," he said sitting down on the side of the bed cradling her face.

"It wasn't you're fault Jay. It's ok. I'm ok." She reached up with her good hand and rubbed his cheek. Jay laid his hand over hers.

"I should've been with you, had your back."

"It was my decision Jay. It's ok," she whispered lacing her fingers with his and giving them a squeeze. Before Jay could reply, Will spoke up; "We're going to move her to a room little brother."

Jay nodded as he stood up, but he didn't let go of her hand. Will and Nat pushed her bed to a room. "I'm going to go let the team know what room you're in if you're up for visitors." Nat asked Erin.

"Yea that's fine. The sooner they come, the sooner they can come home and rest."

Natalie gave her a smile and a nod and headed out. Jay had sat down on her bed again, just holding her hand. Erin gave it a squeeze. "I'm ok. I promise, Jay."

"You're still feeling the drugs," he grinned letting his humor shine a little making her smile. Before she could respond, there was a knock on the door and the team walked in. "Don't stay too long," Will said with a smile before going out to give them time.

Natalie was waiting right outside her room. "You going to get him to leave?" she asked when he wrapped his arm around her waist.

"I'm gonna try," he sighed. Natalie laid her head against his shoulder.

"Why don't you get Owen and take him and Jay home. I'll stay with her. It might make him leave easier if one of us is here."

"Yea probably, but you don't have to do that Nat."

She smiled up at him; "I know I don't have to, but I want to. Besides, he needs some sleep after this day, and I'm off tomorrow so I'll be fine."

Will nodded. "Ok. I'm going to miss you tonight though."

Natalie leaned up and gave him a kiss; "I know. I'll miss you too, but they need us right now."

Will nodded. "I know. Come on let's go see what happened with the resident."

Inside her room, Jay was still sitting on her bed as conversation swirled around him. The team didn't know what he'd been told, and he wanted to keep it that way. He couldn't quit watching her, making sure she was still breathing and ok.

Slowly everyone left, leaving Jay, Erin and Hank. "Really, Hank, I'm fine. I'm just going to sleep and then get out of here. I'll be good as new," she smiled.

"I'm sure you will kiddo." He gave her leg a gentle squeeze. "Halstead? Can we talk?" Hank asked nodding towards the door.

Before Jay could agree, and she knew he would out of respect for his Sargent, Erin spoke up as Jay tensed. "Not now Hank. Just let it go," she said giving him a pointed look. He'd noticed how quiet the kid had been while they'd all been there, and he honestly just wanted to see how he was doing.

Everyone seemed to think he was going to kill Jay, and honestly, before he'd seen how happy he made Erin, he would've. But he'd seen how happy and carefree Erin had been lately and that's all he wanted for her.

"Ok… ok," he said holding his hands up to show her he meant no harm. "Tomorrow then. I'll be by before shift," he said placing a gentle kiss to Erin's forehead. Erin nodded as Hank left.

She gave Jay's hand another squeeze. "Jay?" she asked tentatively also noticing how quiet he'd been while everyone was there. She was wearing down from the events and the pain medicine Will had given her, but she had to try one more time to get through to him.

"Huh?" he asked being pulled from his thoughts.

"I'm here. I'm fine. I'm going to be ok."

He nodded as he watched her. "Yea… yea… I know… it… it was just too close today," he said giving her a sad smile.

"I know, but I'm ok," she smiled. "Go home and get some sleep, please. I'll be fine."

Jay was shaking his head no the whole time; "I'm not leaving you again," he said barely choking back the tears.

Erin rubbed his cheek. "I'm ok baby. I promise. You need to get some sleep. I'll probably sleep all night anyways."

Will and Nat walked back in as she finished. "She's right little brother. Why don't we go home and get some rest?"

Jay turned and looked at him; "I'm not leaving her!"

Natalie walked up and laid her hand on Jay's shoulder. "I'm gonna stay Jay. The couch is just the right height for me, so you'd be really uncomfortable. Go home with Will and get some sleep. Then come back in the morning."

Jay sighed as Erin sleepily agreed with Natalie and Will. "I'll be back before you wake," he whispered leaning over and giving her a kiss. He didn't plan on being at home for long, but to appease them all, he would go for a bit. He waited until she was asleep before he stood up.

Natalie gave him a hug; she felt for him because he'd been through a lot today. "I won't leave until you're back," she said.

"Thanks Nat," he whispered.

"Take care of him," she whispered to Will as she gave him a hug and kiss goodbye.

"I will. I'll see you in the morning. Call if anything happens."

"I will," she smiled pushing him out the door after Jay. Erin was fast asleep, and Natalie curled up on the couch. It wasn't long and she fell asleep too.

Will caught up with Jay at the car; "I've got to stop and get Owen and then we'll head back to my place."

Jay just shrugged as he climbed in the passenger seat. He stared out the window the whole time and Will kept quiet. He knew he had to get him to talk, but now wasn't the time. He stopped and got Owen, who was excited to see his uncle Jay. Jay smiled at him as they headed back to the apartment.

Will got Owen settled in bed after giving him a bottle and went out to join Jay on the couch. He was just sitting on the couch staring at the blank TV. Will felt awful that some stupid resident had put Jay through all of this, but he knew he had to get him to talk.

"Come on little brother, talk to me."

Jay stayed quiet. Will scooted closer and wrapped his arm around his shoulders giving them a gentle squeeze. "She's ok baby brother; she's ok."

Jay started crying and Will pulled his head over to lay on his shoulder. "She's ok. She's going to be ok," Will said over and over.

"I…. almost… lost… her," he cried.

"I know buddy… I know, but you didn't. She's going to be ok. She's going to be fine Jay, I promise." Jay cried on Will's shoulder thinking about how close he'd come to losing her today. He couldn't live without her. There was still so much he wanted to do with her.

Will rubbed his head as Jay got it all out. "I should've been with her. We'd split at the hallway. She went one way, I went the other. If I'd been with her…."

"Jay stop! You can't play the what if game. What if you'd been with her and you'd both gotten shot or worse?! You can't do this to yourself little brother. You just can't."

Will held him tight. He'd come too close to losing them today and that just couldn't happen. He knew their jobs were dangerous, but today he got to see just how dangerous. Will was keeping it together for Jay, but the thought of losing his little brother or the girl he'd come to see as Jay's other half and little sister, was just too much for him too.

Jay slowly calmed down. He knew deep down that Will was right, but this was his girl and she'd gotten hurt. Will just held him and rubbed his head. Once Jay was calm he got up and got him something to drink.

"Come on little brother, let's get you to bed."

Jay let Will take him to bed; he didn't figure he'd sleep or stay long, but he went to appease Will. What he didn't realize is that Will had slipped a sleeping pill into his drink, knowing Jay wouldn't sleep.

Jay was out as soon as his head hit the pillow. "Sleep tight, little brother," Will whispered quietly closing the door and going to bed.

So there is another chapter. I hope you enjoyed it and it was a little less emotional than the last :) I know I said Hank and Jay would talk this chapter, but I didn't think Jay was emotionally ready for that, and that everyone would be trying to protect him since it'd been a hell of a day. But that talk is coming up next chapter. I hope you'll let me know what you think of this chapter :)