A/N: Hi guys, I'm back. Sorry for the slight delay...life got in the way, ha! But I'm trying to update regularly, so hopefully this longer chapter will tide you over. Oh, and I often listen to music (coincidentally songs that I've found from "Upstead" videos on YouTube, and while I was writing this chapter, there were 3 that I listened to. "And the Snakes Start to Sing" by Bring Me to the Horizon (for the first part); and "Follow You Down" by Matthew Mayfield for the hospital stuff. "Sky's Still Blue" by Andrew Belle would work for that hospital part too. Okay, without further ado, here's the (shockingly) highly anticipated update. Hope it doesn't disappoint! And seriously, thank you guys so much for all the nice feedback! :)
"On my count," Voight started "Breach!"
Ruzek kicked in the door, and Kevin followed in behind him to clear the first floor. They were at the warehouse down the block from De'Von's mother's house, which they had struck out at earlier. This warehouse had been abandoned for a long while now, and what better hideout for a drug lord and his gangster crew? Let's just say, Voight got a couple young hustlers to talk and give up De'Von's location. He used that warehouse as a stash house; and apparently, as a police hostage house too.
Voight motioned for Kim to follow him down the hall where a door stood, looking almost like a vault entrance. They tried to pry it open, but it took all 4 of them to get it going. They twisted the latch and open it went. Voight held up his hand in a "shushing" motion, and his detectives followed him silently down the staircase. When they reached the end, they fanned out, guns drawn and flashlights in hand.
They could make out a table and a couple chairs, along with a mountain of uncut cocaine and whatever other slew of dope De'Von was known for slinging. They cleared the perimeter, no sign of De'Von, Samuel, or Jay and Hailey.
They were just about to move out when Kim's foot hit something. She clenched her teeth so she wouldn't yelp at the stabbing pain in her toes. When she turned her flashlight on it, she saw it was another door. This one looked to be wooden, boarded up like a bunker.
"Kev, you still got that nail bit?" Adam asked, teething his flashlight again as he knelt down by the new door.
"I gotcha," Kevin replied, reaching into his pocket to pull out the tool. Adam took it from him, and went to work, digging the nail head into the wood, twisting it until the makeshift lock came loose. He and Kevin were then able to lift up the heavy doorframe, allowing Kim and Voight to enter first.
There weren't really concrete stairs, but more a steep slope as you went down into the entryway. The walls were stone, the floor concrete. They were met with a slight fork in the road, deciding to split up. Kevin and Hank took the right, Kim and Adam the left.
"Clear!" Voight yelled down the hall. When he didn't hear a response from either of his other two detectives, he and Kevin called out to them.
"Adam? Kim?"
"You guys good?"
They took off running when they heard Kim scream.
"Kim?"
"What's-"
Voight didn't finish his sentence, because out of the corner of his eye, he was met with every cop's worst nightmare.
There in that chilling dungeon, lie Jay and Hailey.
Adam had his hands full consoling Kim, but when Voight asked if they had checked their vitals, the pair looked at him with hopeless eyes.
"No no no," he said, each syllable punctuating with grief and disbelief. They would not go out like this.
Hank went to Jay first, seeing as he was the most bloodied. He found a heavy weighted pulse, beats coming slower and more sporadically than normal, but nevertheless it was there. Jay was alive, holding on by a thread.
"He's alive! Get a bus!" Voight yelled, his voice bouncing off the walls, making the order seem that much more urgent.
Adam and Kim looked at him, then back at each other with relief. Oh god, but what about Hailey?
Kim rushed over to her colleagues aide, not getting anything from her wrist. She went to check Hailey's neck, and that's when she saw it. The needle mark. Kim immediately went back to Hailey's arm, looking for track marks. Son of bitches shot her up with their own drugs.
"Oh god, tell the ambo we've got an overdose!" Kim said, panic settling into her voice. "Oh no, Hailey!"
Adam bent down and helped Kim to get Hailey up, while Kevin helped Voight clean up Jay's face, which look like it went two rounds with a baseball bat.
It was only when they heard sirens that they all let out a collective sigh. They just may have a chance after all.
Brett and Foster were the arriving EMTs. Adam was going to go brief them with Kim, when Voight pulled him to the side.
"You seeing that?" Voight made a motion to another exit door. It was cracked open, and shadows were playing off the walls and door itself. Someone's here.
Adam nodded, understanding what had to happen next. While Kim and Kevin rode along to Med with Jay and Hailey, Adam and Voight stormed through that door, ready for war with whoever was on the other side.
"CHICAGO PD! Let me see your hands!"
Adam's voice was the harshest it had been in a long time. Who could blame him? Two of his friends were clinging to life because of these purely evil individuals.
He watched as his sergeant paraded forward, no gun, just anger seeping through his very being.
He went right up to De'Von, grabbing his shirt collar and throwing him against the wall.
"You know who I am?" Voight asked rhetorically.
"Aw shit, man. So, she really did call the cops on us? That bitch," De'Von spat out. Voight slammed him back into the wall, the only sound was an audible crack of skull to cement.
"You know what, say that again!" Adam yelled, rushing at De'Von, fisticuffs up. Voight held up his hand, and Adam slowed.
"Get them." He ordered, nodding at the other two men who actually listened and had their hands raised. Adam swiftly cuffed the two offenders, hauling them out to the awaiting patrol car.
Hank turned his attention back to De'Von, who was smirking in his grasp. "I don't have time for this. You know what you did to my two detectives, and you'll be lucky if I don't carry you out in sandwich bags or rinse you off the walls."
"It's Voight, right? Right. Look, it's not my fault your boy wanted to jam me up."
Voight smacked him upside his head. "He's not a Narc, so you wanna try that again?"
De'Von continued to smirk, which made Voight punch him square in the face. He then smiled at Hank, showing off a blood stained set of teeth. "Alright, fine. I'm sorry we couldn't make the deal work. But hey, Blondie was the one who went all GI Jane on my men. I don't take that disrespect."
Now it was De'Von who was brought to his knees by a kick in the legs. Voight grabbed him by the hair, and De'Von was straining to look up. The enraged sergeant spoke again. "You wanna know what I don't take?" He pulled at De'Von's head again for emphasis. When he didn't respond, Voight continued: "I don't take well to people hurting cops, let alone the ones in my unit. You get me?"
De'Von let out a sinister laugh. "They only got what they deserved. You get me?"
A knee in the jaw and a boot on his neck was what he deserved, and that's exactly what he got from Voight before Adam came back.
"Boss?" He tried.
"Not now, Adam!" Voight said.
"Boss!" Adam tried again, more force behind his tone.
Voight finally looked up at his detective, who was bereft of anything but urgency. "What?"
"They made it to Med, but they're both critical. We should go."
He nodded, not absorbing the information, but rather letting it drift in and out of his mind. "Yeah, okay. Get him out of my sight." He shoved De'Von over to Ruzek.
"Hold up," Adam said, tugging De'Von to face him. One kick to the face first. "That was for Jay," Adam snapped before delivering another kick to De'Von's groin. "And that, that was for Hailey. You better hope they pull through, you son of a bitch."
Hailey never thought she'd see any light of day ever again, let alone the glaring white hospital ones. But that's what she was greeted with when she woke up.
Her eyelids felt heavy as she attempted to take in her surroundings. She went to sit up, feeling the telltale tug of an IV in her arm. She turned to see that she in fact being given fluids through the tiny tube. She tried again, gripping the handrails on her bed. She managed to sit up, but felt a sharp pain ripping through her side near her rib cage. Suddenly, everything came flooding back to her: the fight, the gun, the confession she made to Jay. Oh god, Jay. Hailey let out a hollowed sob , as her voice felt like it was made of sandpaper. Regardless, she pushed her call button immediately, drawing Dr. Rhodes in right away.
"Oh good, you're awake-"
Hailey cut him off. "Jay," she rasped. "Where's Jay?"
Connor came over to her bedside. "He's alright, he's hurting, much like you are, but he'll live. Will's just finishing setting his nose. Jay took one hell of a knock to his face."
Hailey felt her throat close up, and she choked on another sob. All she could see was red. Jay being kicked, beaten, bruised. Her screaming pleas for them to stop hurting him. She looked back up at Connor with wide eyes, opening her mouth to say something, but no words came out. She watched him look at her, then back down at his charts, then back at her.
"Here, come on, lay back again, okay? I'll get a nurse in here to check your vitals, and I'll personally page Will on Jay's condition, alright?" He turned his head downward, putting the pager to his mouth. "Dr. Halstead to Baghdad, Trauma 2, Dr. Halstead to Baghdad, Trauma 2."
Hailey felt the knot in her stomach untwist itself a little bit at the sight of Jay's older brother, Will. She unsurprisingly spotted his red hair first before seeing his face. He came in, stehescope around his neck, latex gloves still on. "Hailey." He simply said, a big smile crossing his face. "Thank god you're awake. How're you feeling?"
Hailey caught Connor furiously shaking his head at Will, as if to say, No you idiot. She wants to know about Jay. He rolled his eyes when Will didn't notice at first, which made Hailey's lip tick upward. Boys, she thought. She wondered if Will and Jay were like this too, telling jokes and making each other grin like dummies. Hailey had seen Will in passing, both in the hospital and at Molly's, but they never really got to know each other too well. Maybe this could be all of their second chances. She allowed herself to fully smile at the promise.
She was brought out of her internal dialogue when Connor vocalized his frustrations. "Will! Man, Hailey just wants to know how Jay is! That's why I called you…you…chatterbox." He sighed, deciding to leave the room and let the two talk.
Will laughed at his colleague before taking a few more steps towards Hailey. "Can I sit?" he asked, tentatively hovering over the edge of her bed. She nodded, and he took his place.
"Jay?" She asked, picking at the tie of her hospital gown.
Will touched her shoulder in reassurance. "He's alright. I mean, he took one hell of a beating, those guys did a number on him. But despite all the blood, his injuries weren't as serious as I would have thought. Laceration on his cheek, stitches at the side of his head, and a couple broken ribs. Not to mention one hell of a concussion. And, as Connor told you, I did have to reset his nose, it did get broken, but it's all good now. Now you," he paused, turning her to face him "had quite the journey too. We had to pump your stomach to get all the coke out of your system, give you stitches on your side where the bullet grazed you, and you too, have a concussion. Not to mention a sprained wrist and a nasty gash on your ankle from that chain. When De'Von grabbed you up, that's when the chain broke through the skin and cut into you."
She nodded, taking into account the bandages on her wrist and ankle, as well as committing to memory that the stitches were what was bugging her earlier. Yeah, that makes sense. "Can I see him?" Hailey asked, her eyes already feeling watery. She knew she could trust Will's word, but until she saw her partner, she wouldn't truly believe he was okay.
Will nodded, helping her up and dragging her IV hookup behind her. "He's just down the hall from you, actually. Since you both are all stitched up, you got to move out of Trauma 3 and into 2. Just for a couple days. You both took hits to the head, so a 48-hour observation is required. Sorry." He said, shrugging.
Hailey looked back at him, saying it was alright. They arrived at Jay's room, and Hailey was suddenly very nervous. Don't be, he's still the same Jay you know…and love, she reminded herself. She composed herself, and Will pulled back the curtain. "Jay, look! You've got your first visitor that isn't me!" He teased his little brother, who automatically rolled his eyes at the joke.
Hailey almost melted into a puddle on the hospital floor when she saw Jay light back up. He gave her his signature soft smile, and she could still see the emerald in his eyes, despite the injuries around his face. "Do I look as bad as I feel?" He asked her, before crafting a smirk.
"Eh, you're alright." She said, her own smirk coming out to play. She carefully made her way to his hospital bed, and he automatically shifted over to make space for her. She rolled her eyes, but was secretly glad he wanted her to stay for a while. She just didn't want herself being here to make his PTSD worse. Though the hellish 36 hours we've had already did that. She knew that they'd probably both have to deal with flashbacks, but she could never imagine how it must be for Jay. She pushed the worries to the side right now, allowing all the space in her brain to be filled up by him: his ridiculously sexy smile, his bright green eyes, how he always seemed to smell like peppermint, which reminded Hailey of her favorite holiday (Christmas), and the way he naturally was when they hugged – warm, and comforting.
She folded herself against him, getting into a comfortable enough position in spite of the IV bag and awkward hospital gown. She noticed he was wearing one of the standard issue patient paper bags (because that's how big they were, she had once told him as they left Med – as to what they should really call hospital gowns). She settled her head against his chest, being careful not to wrap her arm around his waist, as to not hit his ribs. She decided to hold his hand instead, with her good hand, of course. His head was propped up against hers, his arm slung around her shoulder.
"Hailey?" He whispered, and she noticed his voice was just as hoarse as her own. All that screaming.
"Yeah?" She looked up at him, finding his eyes doing that thing again. Searching hers, as if she had some magic answer he desperately needed in his life. She knew he was her answer; but what if now that they were out of this whole mess, things changed between them?
As if reading her mind, he answered with: "I just want you to know, what I said before–" he paused, gauging her reaction. She nodded for him to continue. "…I meant every word. Genuinely, honestly, and whole-heartedly." He sighed, the hand that was by her shoulder now coming around to cup her cheek. "God I love you." He said it so matter-of-factly, Hailey was sure she was still in a daze. But when she saw his face, again, she knew. She knew him. And she knew how serious he was. And damn if she didn't love that she was the thing he was serious about.
"I love you too." She said, squeezing his hand. She definitely felt the tears from earlier coming back, threatening to fall at any moment. She just couldn't believe they made it, and that they were here. Together. So, when he tipped her chin up and his lips finally (painstakingly slow, mind you) met hers, she knew that this was one reality she'd always remember.
