Chapter 31
"Alright."
"Okay, yep."
Jay nodded while listening intently to the person on the other end, Hailey couldn't get a good read.
"I'm on my way", he said somberly. Hailey's stomach dropped.
"What happened", Hailey asked nervously, Jay looked a little pale.
"Will collapsed at work-", Hailey's eyes went wide.
"His appendix. He's in surgery right now", he quickly reassured her, he could tell her mind wandered off to the worst possible scenario.
Hailey exhaled in relief, but then realized he was still in surgery. "Poor thing. Can't catch a break. Okay so what does this mean?"
"It means I have to go there once he's out of surgery and able to be discharged. Then I guess I'll go stay with him at his apartment until he's on his feet again."
"What about being in close contact with him?" Hailey wondered, Will had been in the thick of things at Med for quite some time now.
"I don't think I have a choice Hailey, I'm his emergency contact. He has no one else, he's gonna need help for a few days at least", Jay reasoned out loud. Not that he was hesitating to be there for his brother, but their current circumstances were not the most ideal, this definitely complicated things.
"Right. Well you could bring him here?" She suggested.
"I don't want to risk that if he's been exposed to covid, which is likely at the hospital right now, the way things are going…", Jay trailed off, exhaling deeply.
"That means we have to be apart for a few weeks?" Hailey questioned sadly.
His eyes met hers, silently feeling conflicted. He didn't want to leave her, nor did he want to risk the exposure for her.
"Jay bring him here honestly. If anything happens and we get it, then we get it. Will is going to need someone to take care of him. It's better if we're both able to."
"Are you sure?" He asked slowly, secretly hoping she wasn't kidding. For as bad as Jay was as a patient, he was an even worse caregiver.
"Yes. He can stay in Vanessa's old room."
"Okay, thanks Hailey. I'm not exactly that great of a nurse…"
"I know that's why we're bringing him here", she smirked.
"He did rave about your soup that one time he was home sick with the flu", Jay admitted, following that with a joking eyeroll. Hailey spoiled Will that week, and Will never let him forget it.
"Mmm that was one of my best batches of chicken noodle. I'll see what I can whip up while you're gone", Hailey smiled, egging Jay on. She knew it secretly made him jealous that she took care of Will while he was sick, her and Will laugh about it all the time.
"Thanks Hails", Jay flashed her his signature grin and followed it with a kiss on the cheek.
"They said he should be out of surgery soon, I'm the only one allowed in sorry", Jay said looking at his watch, needing to stop by his brothers place to pack up some things for him before he went to the hospital.
"That's okay, I'll start getting things ready here", Hailey headed up the stairs to start making Will's bed up.
Jay headed out her door, by default putting their conversation about Vanessa on the back burner…for now.
Jay walked into recovery to find Will looking ghostly pale, sitting half up in bed, throwing up into a basin.
He winced; he wasn't good at this. Hailey was usually the one taking care of people in the group.
"Will?" Jay said cautiously, he probably didn't look like himself under all the PPE, which he agreed to wear in exchange for begging the nurses to let him into the unit, and Will was groggy and confused by the looks of it still.
"Ughhh", Will groaned, and held his face in his hands.
"Want me to get a nurse?" Jay asked. Will nodded yes. "Okay, I'll be right back, hang in there", he gave his brother a gentle pat on the back.
Jay disappeared for a few min until he found a nurse on the floor, explaining the situation.
"Judging by his chart, this isn't the first time Dr. Halstead has had a bad reaction to coming off of anesthesia."
"Um ya I guess not. He got pretty sick after we had our wisdom teeth out", Jay randomly spat out, that was a memory he had forgotten about. They both had all 4 out at the same time, their mom thinking it would be easier to do that and take care of them once. Boy was she wrong, Jay chuckled at the memory.
Will was puking his brains out for the full day after, Jay wasn't too bad just loopy. But one of his stitches got infected and he was sick for a few days after too. Not a great week in the Halstead house. Their mom was so good to both of them though, always making sure they were comfortable and had soft food, and ice packs when they felt sore. Jay's mind went blank for a few minutes after that, reminiscing on happier, or simpler days. Happy wasn't really the right word for it, he was happy now. Happier than he had been in years, thanks to Hailey. He just missed his mom, it never really got easier.
"Detective?" The nurse brought him back to reality.
"Sorry", Jay zoned back in.
"That's alright, I just hit you with a lot of information. In summary, your brother is going to be fine. This is quite common for people waking up after surgery. I'm going to give him some medicine to help with the nausea."
"The puking…isn't that hurting his stomach though…he has stitches there", Jay suddenly clued into why Will was in more pain than usual.
"I'm sure it won't feel good later that's for sure, but right now his body needs to get it out of his system. The pain meds will help mask the worst of it too."
"Alright, as long as he's comfortable", Jay replied, taking a seat next to Will's bed.
Will threw up on and off for the next few hours. Jay cringed each time he watched his brother half attempt to hunch over, cry out in pain from the stitches and lose his metaphorical lunch. He hadn't been able to keep much down, although the puking was fewer and farther in between as the hours went by.
"Here, have a few ice chips Will", Jay stood over his brother, awkwardly trying to force him to chew on the ice. The nurse kept mumbling things about dehydration, which Jay knew enough about that it wasn't good.
Will reluctantly did that, and after another hour went by, he seemed to be turning a corner. A shift change had occurred, and Will was lucky enough to have April as his nurse now.
"Hey buddy", she said as she came into his room, earning a groan from Will.
"Come on you can't be that unhappy to see me, not when I risked my career to sneak some coconut water and rice pudding from the doctors lounge for you", she replied.
Will couldn't resist peeling one of his eyes open and giving her a toothy grin, motioning her to come towards him.
Jay smirked and rolled his eyes, Will had a strange taste for comfort food. But hey, whatever would make him feel better at this point.
"There's my favourite nurse", he said hoarsely, smiling at April.
"Yeah, yeah. That's what I thought", April came around the side of his bed, setting his treats down and checking his vitals.
"How are you feeling now Will?" She asked, his BP and temperature were normal. He was a bit dehydrated, but that made sense given the last few hours.
"Mmmm", Will said indifferently. "Pain is a 7."
Jay didn't exactly know what that meant relative to Will, he knew what his own 7 was, and he figured that meant Will was trying to power through to go home as soon as possible.
April seemed to nod and understand, "Alright. And the nausea?"
"Subsided I think", Will confirmed.
"Good. I'll go talk to the doctor and work on getting your discharge going", April said before giving Jay a look to follow her out.
April left the room and Jay made an excuse a minute after to join her.
"Hey", she whispered down the hall.
"Hey. Everything alright?" Jay questioned.
"Yeah, everything is fine. Just wanted to make sure Will was staying with you tonight, or you were staying there. He shouldn't be alone."
"Oh, yeah he's coming back to Hailey's with me, we're going to take care of him there", Jay's face went bright red as soon as the words left his mouth.
"We. As in you and Detective Upton. Okay Jay", April said slyly, giving him an approving nudge.
"It's not- well it is that. But no one knows- I shouldn't say that, people definitely know...", Jay was rambling.
"Hey- I'm not your boss, I think that's great you and Hailey are you know", April laughed, mimicking Jay's strange explanation of their relationship a minute earlier.
"Thanks April. But yes, to confirm, my brother is coming home with me and will be well taken care of", Jay said, trying to hide the blush in his cheeks.
"Sounds good, I'll come back in a bit to make sure everything is okay before you leave", she smiled and left to go in to see another patient.
It was late afternoon by the time Will was able to rally himself and leave the hospital.
Everything okay? You've been gone a while. Hailey's name lit up Jay's phone as he was sitting in the truck waiting for Will.
Just leaving for home now, Will had a hard time coming off the anesthesia…he was throwing up for hours.
Yikes. Well, I made some soup and washed all the sheets. So, he can get straight to bed when you're home
You're the best, thanks Hails love you. See you soon
Hailey's heart skipped a beat, she still got butterflies seeing those words from Jay. It wasn't that new to them anymore, but it still felt special. She was so lucky she got to do life with Jay Halstead.
Hailey met Jay and Will at his truck as they pulled into her laneway, sensing that Jay might need an extra hand getting Will in the house.
Her assumptions were right as she opened the passenger door to find a very loopy Will grinning goofily back at her.
"Hi Will, how are you feeling?" She asked, Jay giving her a funny look in the background.
"Mmmm, better now with drugs. Not good earlier Hails, not good", he emphasized as he pretended to throw up again.
She scrunched her nose up in a wince, "Heard that. Let me help you in, I made soup."
Will laughed at Jay then turned back to Hailey, "Just for me. Hails, you make me feel special."
It was Jay's turn to laugh at that and roll his eyes, even half out of it Will and Hailey still liked to poke fun at the little green monster moment he had.
Jay reached over and unbuckled his seatbelt as Hailey grabbed his arm to steady him as he hopped out of the truck.
They made it inside with no issues, Jay pausing on the porch to let out a sneeze.
"Ugh allergies are killing me today", he said to Hailey through watery eyes.
"Mmm that time of the year", she said, not thinking anything of it.
Will slurped his soup eagerly on the couch as Jay brought his stuff upstairs. They chatted for a few minutes before they convinced Will he should head to bed.
"And miss the chance to have a romantic late night dinner with you two?" He giggled.
Hailey and Jay laughed at that one too, Will was full of laughs tonight.
"Yes, sorry Will, strict orders for bedrest for the next few days. You can join us for a romantic dinner later this week", Jay added.
Will saluted him and mocked his brother, "Yes sir Dr. Halstead."
Hailey put her hand over her mouth to stifle the laughter, Jay didn't know how to respond to that one. He had to admit Will was being pretty funny.
He checked his watch, "I think it's time for more painkillers too Will."
Will was pumped about that and promptly peeled himself off the couch, gingerly, but he managed on his own.
Jay helped him get changed and did all that stuff, Hailey said she would do it, but Jay insisted.
"I want to be the only Halstead you see naked", he whispered in her ear, feeling satisfied after Hailey blushed a little, bit her lip and gave his body a once over.
"Maybe we could visit that thought later", she whispered back seductively, resting her hand on the top button of his jeans, enjoying watching and feeling him squirm under her touch.
Jay's turn to blush and bite his lip. "May-AHHH-CHOOO-be." Another surprise sneeze.
"You catching a cold?" She asked suspiciously, glaring at him.
He shook his head confidently, "Ragweed. Always gets me this time of the year."
Hailey nodded in agreement; he did always have a few weeks in the summer like this.
After Will was in bed and Hailey and Jay ate dinner, they snuck off to bed early to make good on their earlier promise.
They both sighed loudly, lying back on their pillows at the same time after spending the last hour in total bliss; fiery, rhythmic, passionate bliss.
"I never want to leave this bed with you", Hailey said with a sultry smile, thinking about how many times she exploded with pleasure in the last hour.
Jay turned over and bit his bottom lip, moving his hand under the blanket towards Hailey.
She shuddered at his touch again on her most sensitive spots. A small moan escaped her lips. "Jay", she whispered.
"I love you Hailey. And I want to show you that over, and over, and over again", he repeated as his head dipped below the blankets, the fire rising in her core before she even had a chance to reply.
They forced themselves to get up a few hours later, to check on Will and clean up the kitchen for the night.
Hailey opened the door quietly, poking her head in, surprised to find Will wide awake.
"Will- are you okay?" She asked cautiously.
He blinked out of the trance he was in, "Hmm? Um ya, I'm okay. Sore. Can't really find a comfortable spot."
"I'll go get a heating pack", Jay said as he disappeared from the doorway.
Hailey sat at the edge of the bed, "Anything else we can do Will?"
"You guys have done enough seriously, thanks for letting me crash and taking care of me. People outside of the hospital aren't exactly rushing to see me these days", he mentioned sort of sadly.
Hailey's heart dropped a little. Will and everyone else in healthcare was sacrificing so much right now and have been all throughout the pandemic. "Of course, Will, no brainer decision for us. You're family."
Will's lips curled into a smile. "Thanks Hailey. And I'm sorry about Vanessa, it's not lost on me that this worked out because she isn't here anymore. I know it's been eating Jay up the last week or so, how to talk to you about it."
Hailey's expression changed. Her train of thought stopped dead in its tracks, just as Jay reappeared in the doorway.
"What?" Hailey asked, making sure she understood Will correctly.
Will glanced at Jay, whose face went pale, not realizing the innocent comment he just said was going to turn her world upside down.
"Um, ugh, sorry. I didn't know you didn't…", Will stumbled uncharacteristically.
He saw the switch in Hailey's body language and anger build behind her eyes.
"It's alright Will", she said coolly, shooting daggers with her eyes at Jay.
He sheepishly snuck past her, making sure Will felt comfortable, handed him more medicine and water.
"Thanks guys", Will said, giving them a nod, indicating that they could leave, and talk. Likely yell, but clearly, they had a lot to discuss.
Hailey calmly left the room, gathering her thoughts before she was going to unleash on her partner.
They were barely down the stairs when Jay put his hand on her shoulder, "Hailey wait-"
"YOU KNEW!" She yelled, tears forming in the corners of her eyes.
Jay shook his head and stared at the ground; he couldn't exactly deny it at this point. Not with Will blowing it, he couldn't blame his brother though, he should have told Hailey.
"I'm sorry", he said softly.
"You're what?" She pressed on in anger.
"I'm sorry Hailey. I shouldn't have kept it from you, but Voight and-"
"I don't care about what Voight thinks Jay! You're my partner. You should have told me", she cut him off deliberately without letting him finish.
"It's Vanessa Jay, the one person I feel close to aside from you…", she trailed off, visibly upset.
Jay felt a knot forming in the back of his throat. "She told me not to tell you. I lost sleep over this Hails; please believe me I didn't want you to find out like this. I was trying to work up the courage this morning then Will…"
"Oh, don't blame this on your brother. If he didn't just slip up, would you have ever told me? Huh? Be honest Jay", she said accusingly.
Jay couldn't lie to her again, so he told her the truth, even though it was hard. "I don't know that I would have… Vanessa wanted to make this as painless as possible, clean break."
"Well, that didn't work did it", Hailey said as she stormed off to the hall closet, feeling bitter at all that 2020 had taken from her, she refused to let it ruin things with Jay either.
Jay stood in the middle of her living room, speechless. They had never really had a big fight before, not as more than partners anyways. He knew Hailey, and knew she wanted space. So that's what he was going to give her.
She came back to the living room a minute later with a pillow and blanket, throwing it not so gently in his direction, her eyes gazing towards the couch.
"Good night Jay", she said harshly, with no hug or kiss, barely even a second glance and stormed up the stairs to her room.
He exhaled loudly, knowing he deserved this, his body aching with regret. He dragged the pillow and blanket to the couch, accepting defeat, and crossed his fingers that he would wake up feeling better in the morning.
Hailey woke up still fuming at Jay from the night before. She could not believe he knew about Vanessa's plan to leave and kept it from her.
She stomped loudly down the stairs, she didn't care that it was early, and she would wake Jay, who was no doubt still sleeping on the couch. She turned the corner to grab her running shoes and slammed the door behind her.
The slamming of the door woke Jay up from the short nap he was able to have the night before. He was up all night coughing and sneezing; he felt awful this morning and had accepted it wasn't ragweed. Hailey was going to be even more mad at him if he gave her this cold too.
His eyes were just closing again after laying back down when he heard the front door turn and the faint blare of Hailey's music through her headphones. He didn't have the courage to face her yet, so he pretended to still be sleeping. She didn't seem to want to talk to him either, it made his heart hurt a little.
He heard the shower turn off and Hailey came down the stairs about 15 minutes later to make coffee and breakfast. Even with his eyes closed he knew her routine; she was predictable. His ears ached and his sinuses hurt so bad and he was so congested he could barely sit upright.
Hailey turned the corner to take her coffee upstairs just as Jay was sneezing and wiping his nose for the tenth time since he woke up it seemed. She paused; he saw her out of the corner of his eye give him a glare.
"Not allergies huh?" She stated neutrally, he didn't detect sympathy but not exactly anger either. The red rims of his eyes and under his nose giving away the cold he seemed to have caught.
All Jay could do was shake his head no, he was about to say something when the tickle in his throat got him and he went into a coughing fit, all of his ribs aching as he leaned back into the couch, his legs outstretched on the sectional.
He thought he saw her roll her eyes, and his spirits were dampened as he watched her walk away without saying anything again.
His eyes were starting to close even though his head was throbbing, and he couldn't breathe through his nose. He just wanted to fall asleep.
"I'm still mad at you", she said as his eyes popped open, she was looking directly at him, wanting to make that crystal clear.
He looked up at her with the saddest puppy dog eyes she'd ever seen.
"I dow", he sniffled.
"Here", Hailey said as she set a mug of tea down on the coffee table and had a bottle of cold medicine and spoon in tow.
He sat up as far as he could go, wincing at the pressure forming behind his eyes, his chest felt heavy.
Hailey gave him a few spoonful's of the medicine and handed him the mug of tea as she draped a blanket over him, noticing him shiver.
"Thank you", he said faintly, as his eyes closed again.
She lightly brushed her hand across his cheek, noting the warmth.
"You're warm Jay", she said hesitantly.
He nodded, not surprised by that. He did not feel so hot.
"I'm find", he mouthed.
"Find, huh?" Hailey looked at him with the tiniest grin on her face. He couldn't blame her if she felt a bit satisfied seeing him so miserable today.
"Need sleeb", Jay continued, obviously struggling to speak.
Hailey's eyes trailed to the pile of tissues building up next to him.
"Bight have a cold", Jay grabbed another tissue and blew his nose.
"Uh oh. Admitting it willingly too, you must have it bad", she said.
He nodded, wiping at his nose while Hailey pulled the blanket back to prop some pillows up behind him.
"Lie back Jay", she said sternly, he reluctantly obliged. He couldn't breathe lying down, so he was thankful she made him a pillow mountain instead.
"Haven't had a cold in so long", he coughed, wincing at how his chest ached.
"You caught the cold I had at Christmas", she laughed, remembering how sick they both were for their rare few days off.
"No those were allergies", he said definitively, trying to push back the memories of the two of them not being able to go five minutes without coughing, sneezing or blowing their noses. They watched a whole season of Friends in one sitting, not having the energy to even move off the couch. Rojas basically took care of them 24/7 for a few days until it got her too. Ruzek was patient zero that time, they still blamed him for ruining their holidays. In his defence, it was his nephew that sneezed in his face and caused the whole thing, but that was in the past now.
"Last time I checked hay fever was in August not December", Hailey retorted.
"AAAHH- AAAH", Jay hesitated.
"CHOOO", Hailey passed him a tissue just in time.
"Tanks", he groaned through a congested voice. The skin under his nose was already feeling raw from the constant wiping, his nose was running like a faucet.
"Ya I would say you've definitely caught a bad head cold", Hailey said sympathetically, as she stroked the back of his head.
"Feels like my chest", Jay motioned with his eyes closed, trying to muster the energy to grab another tissue.
Hailey sat down next to him, grabbing the remote and turning on a movie for them. She had a feeling they weren't going to be moving much from this spot all day.
Jay looked at her confused, he knew she was pissed still, rightfully so. Hailey once again seemed to read his mind.
"We are going to talk about what happened last night. But right now, you need to rest."
Jay nodded his head agreeing with her, as he accepted her open arm invitation. Hailey had laid a few pillows out on her lap and was motioning for him to snuggle up. He gratefully did so, feeling a bit better as she tucked the blanket over his shoulder, and rubbed his achy back.
They weren't far into Ferris Bueller's day off when Hailey felt Jay go limp and felt and heard him start snoring. Usually that annoyed her, but she couldn't be that mad at him for that. He couldn't help that he was so stuffed up. Instead she brushed the hair back from his forehead and tried to suppress a giggle as she watched him passed out cold, breathing entirely from his mouth.
Hailey sipped her coffee and watched the rest of the movie, sneaking out from under Jay to go check on Will. He didn't even flinch, she knew the medicine knocked him out.
Will was up in bed reading a book, Hailey grinned when she opened the door. He barely looked like he just had surgery.
"You alright in here Will?" She asked.
"I'm okay, thanks Hailey", he nodded awkwardly, not going to bring up the fact that he heard every word of their argument last night.
"Good. Jay woke up with a bad cold by the way, he's fast asleep on the couch. So you might want to quarantine yourself in here", she said sheepishly.
Normally that wouldn't alarm Will, but the timing didn't sit right with him.
"How's he doing? Fever? Cough?" Will started asking.
"Um, miserable, but just typical symptoms, I suppose. Bit of a fever, and a cough I guess…", Hailey trailed off, the puzzle pieces adding up in her head as her and Will locked eyes.
"Oh no. Do you think…?" She asked.
Will winced as he shifted to grab his phone from the bedside table, forgetting about his stitches.
His face went ghostly pale, realizing he had missed a few important texts and emails from work.
ALERT: You have been exposed to someone who has tested positive for COVID-19. Please monitor for any symptoms, and self-quarantine for the next fourteen days.
April Sexton: Will, I'm so sorry to tell you this over text, my swab came back positive before starting shift this morning. I know you're with Hailey and Jay, please let them know too. I'm doing okay I don't have symptoms, but just keep an eye on them and yourself. Take care, will call you later.
"What is it?" Hailey sighed, deep down already knowing by the look on Will's face.
"April has covid. And I think we might too now."
Feeling like I end every chapter update as of late like this lol…but sorry for the delay! Life has been way too busy; I've been seeing all your comments and messages- thank you! And have been reading other stories on here but haven't had the chance to review, that's coming one of these days. Ironic that I last updated at Canadian Thanksgiving, and it's soon to be American Thanksgiving (I think this weekend?) Hope you enjoy this update, an extra long one to make up for the lack of Missing Moments lately. I have a few more chapters planned to wrap this up. I'm not sure what sort of things I'll write after this, I've only written the two stories so far and always get so attached lol. But I am open to writing other things, any ideas? Would love to hear what you guys want to read! Wishing you all well during this continually crazy, unpredictable time. P.S. Cheering for your Democracy America!
