HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE!

Hope you all had a lovely Christmas and a fun filled new year (as best as can be - thanks Boris)
I wanted this out earlier but I actually enjoyed being home and didn't even think about getting my laptop out over the 3 days I was home...

Hope everyone is staying healthy and safe while having fun, the UK's tiers have changed again and I have no idea what's happening with the US but good luck for this new year everyone :')

any and all issues/mistakes are mine, lemme know what you think.
Love ya - enjoy,
Vx

It was about an hour later when Ethan bounded into the room with a wheelchair in tow. Will and Jay had taken to playing a game of sorts, Jay would fiddle with the blanket and then Will's fingers and Will would pull him away from fraying the blanket even further and would in turn play with his hand too. It was a weird but wonderful sight, both brothers seemingly lost in their own worlds, holding each other with small smiles on their faces while playing with each other's hands like two year olds.

Ethan couldn't help the smile that crossed his face as he stood taking a mental picture, then slyly an actual picture for the rest of the group.

"Who's ready to go see Mouse?" he asked in a way of greeting.

Jay snapped his head up at the new voice in the room, heart rate spiking before he turned to see it was Ethan.

"You good to go buddy?" Will asked Jay, hoping to calm him a bit.

"Ye- uh yeah. Now?" Jay replied, head tilted towards Will, still holding onto his hand.

"Yeah, you're all good to go. Mouse is ready to see you. You got to ride in this though, sorry" Ethan said, gesturing to the wheelchair, shrugging.

After a minute or so, Jay found himself situated in the wheelchair, Will pushing him out of the room and down the hall to Mouse.

Will tried not to let his mind wander to what this reunion would look like, not wanting to have any particular idea regarding either of the boy's reactions. It could go one of two ways, this could be a downward spiral for the both of them or they could use this shared experience to hold each other up. He hoped that it would be the latter.

Jay had had to let go of Will's hand so that they could move down the hall and had in turn taken to playing with his own fingers, nails picking at the skin surrounding the nails. He was also in his own head for the duration of the trip down the hall. He knows what he remembered in that basement, he knows they had been in a similar situation before. He knows he killed Sir, and Mouse saw.

He had to help Mouse, he had to get him out. He was good, he didn't deserve to be punished, didn't need the lessons, so he had to get him out.

And he did, they got out.

'God' Jay thought 'I need to see him. Make sure he's ok.'

After another five minutes, the two Halsteads arrived outside of room 158, the numbers on the door seemingly glaring at the two.

"You alright Jay?" Will asked, crouching in front of him.

"'M fine"

"Want to talk before we go in?"

Jay just shook his head.

"Come on bro, talk to me." Will pushed, lowering his voice a little.

"I - it just - what if he hates me." Jay rushed out.

"Oh Jay, no. He doesn't, I promise you. Mouse does not hate you. He has actually been asking to see you and if you're ok." Will had raised his hand to squeeze Jays knee, gripping onto him to punctuate his sentences, to make sure that Jay was hearing him.

"So, are you ready to go in and see him?" he raised a brow, tilting his head towards the door to Mouse's room.

Jay bit his lip, nodding to Will. Before he could stand up to push Jay into the room, however, his hand was taken by Jay, who gripped it before a determined look crossed his face.

"Wanna walk in," he urged.

Will's jaw dropped 'there he is' he thought 'there's my stubborn little brother'.

"Ok, let's walk in."

Getting up on shaky feet, Jay has to take a second to steady himself before he pushes open the door and walks through to Mouse laying on the bed in the middle of the room.

"Hey Mouse. Look who came to say hi." Will started, wanting to break any potential ice between them.

"Jay." Mouse breathed, "you're ok."

"Yeah, buddy. I'm ok." Jay stuttered out.

Will could sense the need to be alone oozing from each of them and so not so subtly tells them "ok, so I'm going to give you guys some time. I'll be back in an hour but if you need me or someone before then, press the button or shout for us. Promise me guys."

He received a head nod from each of them before he turned to walk out the door, pulling the curtain and door shut behind him as he left.

Both men found themselves to be in silence for the first ten minutes or so, neither knowing what to say to the other, just busy trying to look the other over before they could notice.

'Mouse looks like shit' was all Jay could think when looking his best friend over.

His chest may as well have been just one bruise, with little red patches covered in bandages. His ribs were wrapped, Jay knew that meant broken ribs, just like how he knew that the red patches were taser burns.

Jay looked down, edging closer to the bed while still sitting in the chair, he took a breath before slowly moving his hand out to hold onto one of Mouse's. That's when he notices the bandages covering his wrists, also knowing what they were for and quickly pulls his hand away.

Mouse notices this.

"It's ok, Jay, I'm ok." Mouse tried.

Jay just shook his head, brows furrowing.

'This is my fault. All my fault'

'Mouse wouldn't be here if it wasn't for me'

'Stupid. Here again. Stupid'

'Got Mouse hurt. Again.'

'All my fault'

"Jay I can practically hear you thinking. Talk to me. Please." Mouse all but begged. "Jay come on. Look at me? Talk to me, come on man."

A broken sob made its way out of Jay's mouth, "I'm sorry!"

"Why? You didn't do this. This isn't on you Jay. I'm telling you, this isn't your fault."

Mouse reached out, trying to get a hold of Jay's hand, unsuccessfully he might add.

Sighing he watched Jay pull his hand closer to himself, "Please don't pull away from me Jay. I don't think I can handle that again" he found himself saying, through tears of his own.

Jay looked down at his lap, pulling his lower lip in between his teeth, and shook his head.

"What's going on in that head of yours? Huh? Please, please Jay, please talk to me. Please don't pull away from me again. Please don't shut down on me again. I need you, ok. I need you right now, so, please do go." Mouse was starting to get worked up now. Monitors were starting to pick up on his distress and were sending out little warning signals. His breathing was picking up and he was starting to try and get out of bed to be closer to Jay.

Jay saw all this happening, fear on his face.

He heard the monitors, his friends breathing and his cries.

He heard the door open and saw the flash of red hair.

Will was here. 'He can help. Will can fix it' Jay thought.

"Hey guys, what's going on? Mouse I'm gonna need you to lie back and try to calm down for a minute ok?" Will started with, quietly shooing other personnel out of the room.

"Jay? Hey, bro? I need your help here." Will said, turning his attention to his brother. Jay shook his head while shrugging "I-i um how?" he tried.

"It's Mouse. It's Greg, your best friend. Ok? I don't know what you both went through but I know he needs you and I think you're the only one who can help right now. So please come on Jay!" Will urged his brother, trying to sound as gentle as he can while also needing to be forceful with him.

Hearing his brother's tone, Jay snapped back to reality and calmed significantly. Turning to face Mouse he pushed his panic down and stood on shaky legs to get to his bedside.

"Hey Greg? I'm sorry. Ok. It's ok, you're in Chicago. We're in Chicago, alright, we're at med with Will. It's just us. I'm not going anywhere alright?"

Jay was gripping Mouse's hand with one of his own, the other reaching up to hold the side of his head. Their eyes locked.

"Remember. We promised each other. Till the end. I got you brother, and I'm not leaving you. You didn't leave me and I'm not leaving you." he pushed.

Mouse seemed to come back to them, calming his breathing and just staring at Jay. A small smile brushed over his lips, a cheeky laugh surrounded Mouse's words of "There he is."

Jay just raised an eyebrow at this, but decided not to ask, just smiling back at Mouse whispering a quiet "yeah."

Will looked on in awe, he knew they were close but seeing how quickly Jay pulled Mouse out if his panic was telling.

Jay had been through something traumatic, multiple times, to his knowledge. Mouse was there to help him though it every time he knew of.

This time was no different, Jay had been taken, tortured, manipulated and raped. They got him back, they tried to pull him back to them, let him know he was safe. And then he was taken again, and Mouse somehow managed to go with them, and they went through it together. Now it was Jay's turn to help pull Mouse back, to not let him slip. And that might just be the saving grace they needed for him.

Will knew that his brother wore his heart on his sleeve and protected someone to no end. Over the years he had come to learn that Mouse was the same. They would fight each other, they would fight with each other and they would fight for eachother. Often fighting for the other when they couldn't do it themselves. This would be another one of those times.

"You guys ok?" Will asked, hating to break the comfortable silence the boys had fallen into.

"Yeah, we're good," Mouse replied, not looking away from Jay, who just nodded in response.

Will couldn't help smiling at this,

"Want me to give you some space?"

"Stay." Jay whispered.

"Ok buddy, ok."

Will made his way over to the two boys on the hospital bed, Mouse laying back trying to shuffle along for Jay, who moved from sitting facing him to trying to edge onto the bed. Will came and sat in Jay's spot on the side, holding one of Jay's hands, the other holding onto one of Mouse's. He smiled down at the two, seeing them lying side by side, as best as they can with their injuries and the single hospital bed, drifting off to sleep. Will didn't have the heart to try and move them so sent a quick text off to Ethan letting him know where Jay was and that he planned to keep him here, see how well he slept with Mouse grounding him beside him, while also keeping an eye out for Mouse.

He gently removed his hand from Jay's and settled into the chair next to the bed keeping an eye on his boys but feeling the effects of the day pull him into a restful sleep.

He is woken up about two hours later by a cry coming from the bed.

'Jay!' he thinks in a panic, momentarily forgetting where they are.

Quickly jumping up out of the seat and turning toward the bed, Will sees both the boys with their brows scrunched and jaws tight. Both seemingly fighting something only they can see.

Will doesn't know what to do. Waking Jay from a nightmare was tough enough alone, never mind adding having to wake Mouse also, all while trying not to freak the other out.

'Ok. breathe will. You're no help if you start to panic too.'

Taking a deep breath Will steps toward Jay first, he seemed to be having a worse time with it.

"Jay? Hey kiddo, you got to wake up, alright? You're ok. It's just a bad dream." Will tried, rugging a comforting hand up and down his arm, "It's Will, come on Jay. You're ok."

It seemed to be working, the tension seemed to slowly be leaving Jay's face, Mouse also seemed to be calming with him.

Will went to sit back down as Jay looked to be through the worst of it, until Jay let out a broken yell, one hand flinging out to grab Will's, the other to hold onto Mouse.

Mouse flinched in his sleep at the contact, but turned into Jay, resting a hand on his chest and his head on Jay's.

Will watched on in shock as Jay immediately calmed. He didn't ever think it would be that easy to calm him down, especially now.

Mouse cracked open an eye, looking to Jay and himself curled into each other then over to Will. Will noticed the set of eyes now watching him from the bed, and looked over to Mouse from watching Jay's chest rise and fall. They smiled and nodded at each other before each resting back into sleep. A silent agreement and understanding shared between the two.

'No one is leaving anyone'