This is the last "Uncle Will" chapter. It is from his perspective. But Jay is in it and there is a flashback to an incident in their childhood. Liam is growing up and his mistakes are gaining in gravity. Jay will be back in full-force next chapter when Liam and his reckless act pushes him to his limits. There will be some Hank too. Meanwhile, join Liam at age twelve and his foray into trying to be an almost teenager. And thank you all for the reviews.

One Too Many

Liam's hand was sweaty as it gripped his phone. The fear was swirling around in his brain and he wasn't sure what he should do. He looked at the scene in front of him, wanting to go into action, but his uncertainty stopped him. That, and his friends yelling at him.

"Liam, don't, you can't call your uncle," Ben said, his face flushed, eyes wild.

"I have to, look at him," Liam proclaimed as he looked over at his friend, Jacob, who had just collapsed onto the floor.

"He just passed out. It happens all the time. My dad passes out at least once a week. Jacob just didn't know to sit down when he got dizzy. Besides he'll get in huge trouble, if you recall this was his idea too. I mean look around," Eddie said as he wobbled on his feet, looking around at the detritus. "We don't have time to clean up. Plus, Brice will be in huge trouble, since this is his house."

Liam looked at Brice who seemed undecided as they stared at their friend who was sprawled out in front of them.

"He's fine. He's just sleeping really hard. It'll be okay," Brady assured trying to be calm as he looked on.

"I don't know," Liam wavered as Eddie turned away and vomited by the TV.

"Dude!" Brice yelled, suddenly distracted. "You have to clean that up. We all have to clean up and if Jacob isn't moving by the time we're done then you can call your uncle, Liam."

Liam shook his friends shoulder and got no response. "I don't know guys. I feel like something is wrong with him." He said as he looked down at Jacob, his hand still on the boys shoulder.

"You're such a pussy, Halstead. Isn't your dad a big tough cop? How come none of that was passed onto you," Eddie snapped.

Liam was hurt by the comment, but tried not to show it. He let go of Jacob and scooted away from his friends. He kept looking over at his friend, who did seem to be just sleeping. Maybe he was overreacting. He had seen Will in situations at the hospital with patients and he always seemed to check everything—just to be sure, he would explain to Liam when he asked why all the tests needed to be done. Maybe he was more like his uncle than his father. But just as he decided everything would be fine—it wasn't.

Will

My phone rang showing the picture of my smiling nephew. It was after ten on a Friday night and with Jay out of town, I had Liam duty. I had been sitting on the couch watching TV while Liam was a few doors away at a sleepover. It had been planned for two weeks and I was actually relieved to have the break. I had no idea how Jay did it.

Liam was a good kid, a great kid, but damn if he wasn't exhausting. Twelve years old and never seemed to to stop. It was constant questions, demands and desires. He seemingly wanted to experience everything and he wanted to do it right now. He had come to the hospital after school and wasn't content with waiting for me in the lounge, pouting like a two year old that had been told no.

There had been an incident last year in which he had taken a private tour of the hospital after Jay had dropped him off. He was curious, quick and ninja-like; a bad combination for a preteen boy. He generally was well behaved, but like the old adage one too many, he was also quite capable of pushing his luck a little too far at times. At the hospital, April and Maggie kept him busy and out of the way as they were masters at distractions as well as just about everything else.

We finally got home and he packed his bag and ran out the door before I could even say goodbye. I had the address of the Harper family, where he would be until early tomorrow afternoon. I have no idea why anyone would agree to have six teenage or nearly teenage boys over. I had wanted to walk down with him, but he didn't give me the chance. I would have felt better meeting one of the parents, but Jay had given permission for this outing so I didn't feel as if the pressure was on me.

I figured he had forgotten something and wanted me to bring it over or had some obscure, gross medical question that he wanted me to answer in front of his group of friends. So I was a little surprised to hear panic in his voice as he yelled out my name.

"Uncle Will, I need your help. Can you come fast?"

"Slow down, are you okay?"

"I'm okay," he panted. "It's Jacob, he choking."

"What is he choking on?" I ask as I start shoving my feet into my shoes. I figured the kid had been eating too quickly and I was going to have to explain the Heimlich maneuver.

"I don't know. He kinda passed out and then threw-up a little and I think he's choking on it."

"What?" I ask, my mind switching gears. "Have you been drinking?"

"Yes," Liam cried out. "I think he's dying."

"I want you to turn him on his side and clear his mouth of anything. Then hang up and call 911, I'm coming, have someone ready to meet me and take me to Jacob."

"Yes sir," Liam said and hung up.

I shook my head and couldn't believe what was going on as I ran out the door. But then again, Liam couldn't be the only adventurous and headstrong kid around and once they formed a group, ridiculously stupid things tended to happen. I had been his age once, I knew the routine. The desire of rebellion along with poor judgment, generally didn't end well.

It took me less than a minute to see the kid standing on the sidewalk. looking terrified, three doors down. Two other kids were down the block, one was vomiting and I suspected that they had just departed the little party with the belief that somehow they wouldn't be included in this fiasco if they weren't physically there. I imagined that would not be the case.

I was waved down to a finished basement that was clearly a rec room. Liam had the boy on his side, vomit was on the boys shirt and Liam had the phone in his hand. I told him to put on speaker and hold it by me. I swept the mouth and it was somewhat clear, but there were still chunks of something left behind, meaning Liam either hadn't done what I asked or he just did a poor job of it.

I announced who I was and what was going on for the benefit of the dispatcher who already had an ambulance en route. The boy who had guided me to the scene was long gone, leaving Liam, another boy who was most likely the host and the unconscious Jacob. I looked around and saw bottles and cans littering the floor, it looked like a South Side bar on St. Patrick's Day. "How much did he drink?" I ask as I noticed the kids slow respiration.

Neither boy answered me as if by speaking they would get in additional trouble. "Liam!" I snapped. "How much did he have to drink?"

"Um. A lot. I don't know, he was drinking it fast," he told me, the words tripping over each other in an effort to escape his mouth.

"Probably alcohol poisoning," I said to no one in particular. Suddenly the boy began to have a seizure, his body jerking out of control. I reported that to the dispatcher as I began to hear the siren outside. "Go upstairs and show them where we are," I barked at the host. He charged off leaving just the three of us.

"I'm sorry Uncle Will," Liam said trying to keep it together.

"We'll talk about his later. Help me keep him on his side." I replied sternly.

Liam braced himself on the other side of his friend as he rode out the torment his body was dealing with. The medics bounced down the stairs and intervened as I backed off and put my arm around Liam. Once I told the paramedics all that I knew they whisked him away just as a bewildered couple came downstairs. "What is going on?"

"Unsupervised boys drinking," I said angerly. "They may not be toddlers, but they still need adult supervision. What made you think you could leave several twelve and thirteen year old boys alone and nothing would happen."

"They weren't unsupervised. Our seventeen year old daughter was supposed to be watching them. Brice where is your sister?" The mother asked.

Brice shrugged. "Upstairs, I think."

"Dammit. Jerry Harper, my wife, Brenda," he introduced as he stuck his hand out to me. "Kristin was supposed to be watching them until we got home. We expected to be home earlier, but got delayed. She assured us she was keeping an eye on them."

"Will Halstead, I'm Liam's uncle." I said as I shook his hand.

"He's a doctor," Liam said quietly.

"Well thank God," Brenda said as her husband released my hand and marched up the stairs to locate his daughter.

"There were other kids here, but they left. I have concerns about how much they drank." I said.

"I know who they were, I'll call their parents. Thank you for coming down. Will Jacob be okay?"

"I don't know. He aspirated his vomit which can cause pneumonia. The boys said he drank too much and too fast, there's a possibility that he could have a lot of issues if he wakes up."

"What do you mean if he wakes up?" Brice asked, terror in his voice.

"You have no idea how dangerous this was." I said looking down at the boy. There were beer cans, bottles of vodka and other spirits on the floor along with a bunch of those small minibar bottles slung around. Liam's eyes looked a little dull, but he didn't seem too far gone. I just shook my head and steered him out the door.

I was furious by the time we made back to the apartment.

"I forgot my backpack," Liam said once we got into the living room.

"You can get it later," I stated. I had generally been the fun uncle. The good guy, we had great times together. I rarely had to discipline him, only a warning here and there, except for a meltdown at the Art Institute when he was six and was tired and thirsty. That time I had to intervene a little more than I had liked. But now there was this and I had no idea what to do. Jay handled all the big indiscretions. I wasn't even sure when Jay was returning. He had been involved in a case that took him downstate two days ago, and right now he and Adam Ruzek were camped out in Springfield. Something about a drug running deal that used the state capitol as a pit stop due it is convenient location on Interstate 55 and proximity to both Chicago and St. Louis.

"How much did you have to drink?" I demand to know.

Liam stood there, trying to look contrite, but there wasn't enough contrition in the world to soften my mood.

"Not much."

"You didn't answer my question. Try again." I said, my arms folded, my face like granite.

"Two of those tiny bottles."

"That's a lot of alcohol for someone who weighs less than a hundred pounds."

"Can I go to my room?" he asks.

"No, no you can't. Sit your ass down, we're going to talk. Whose idea was this little booze party?"

He shrugged. "I'm not sure. Not mine though, I swear."

"What made you do this?"

"Eddie found a bottle in his brother's room and said he'd bring it to the sleepover."

"So it was Eddie's idea?"

"I guess so. And Jacob's too."

"Did they bring all that alcohol?" Liam looked down at the floor and stayed quiet. "I asked you a question," I said looking down at him, wearing my stern work face.

"No sir," he replied so quietly I could barely hear him. I knew that when he was in trouble Jay made him use the honorific, much like our father did for us.

"So tell me then, how all that alcohol came to be there," I said as gently as my mood would allow.

He was incredibly uncomfortable so I couldn't even imagine what he was going to say. "Did you steal it?"

"What!? No. Not really."

"Where did it come from?"

"Eddie took it from his brother I think. The others I don't know."

"What about you?"

Again he was quiet. "We all had to bring some or we couldn't come," he practically whispered. "That was the rule—like a ticket for admission. If you didn't show up, well—you were a wuss."

I understood peer pressure. We had all been there. Hell, we still often found ourselves under that burden. I looked over at the small cabinet that housed Jay's liquor. There was no lock on it and he was either very trusting, totally naive or figured his son would be too afraid to take any, but I suspected he had. I went over and opened the door, revealing a few bottles showing different levels.

"I didn't take any from there." Liam declared.

"Then from where?" Again the silence surrounded us. "I'll ask you again. Did you steal it?"

"No! Sorta," he waffled.

"What did you bring?"

"A smaller bottle, like half the size of a big bottle. It was peppermint something. It kinda smelled like candy."

"Where did you get it?"

"I. I. I can't tell you," he stammered, tears forming.

"I don't think I'm making myself clear. You can, and you will tell me," I told him as I closed the gap between us. I sat him down on the couch, and landed next to him, turning my body to face him. "Look at me and tell me where you got it!" I roared.

"They didn't want me to call you. The other guys," he began. "Well, except for Brice, he wanted me to call—I think. They didn't want to get caught, but I knew Jacob needed help, so I called even thought I knew I'd be in trouble."

"And you did the right thing and for that I am very proud of you for making a tough decision quickly. It may have saved your friends life."

"Is he going to die?"

"I don't know."

"It's just booze, how can he die by drinking it?"

"Because he drank too much, too fast and his liver couldn't process it fast enough. Alcohol is a depressant, meaning it depresses your system, makes it slow down. That means it can affect your brain and nervous system to slow your breathing, your heart rate, and other important tasks that your body does. Your liver usually does a good job of keeping alcohol's toxins from getting into your bloodstream. But if you drink a lot in a short time, your liver may not be able to keep up.

"And because it depresses your gag reflex it increases the chance of choking, which Jacob did. He could have stopped breathing, he was barely breathing when I got there. He could have inhaled vomit into his lungs."

"Gross."

"Yes it is. Did you try and get stuff out of his mouth like I asked you to?"

"I tried, but his teeth moved and I was afraid he was going to bite me."

I nodded and sighed. "He had a seizure because his blood sugar dropped. His heartbeat was irregular and none of those are good signs. Being as small as he was, with no tolerance, even a few drinks could cause huge problems. Did he eat anything before you started drinking?"

"Three pieces of pizza."

"That's a good thing. The food will help."

"Will it hurt his brain?"

"It might. He may have brain damage. Don't you see how dangerous this is?"

"I didn't know that you could die from it. I just thought drugs did that."

"Alcohol is a drug, and in large quantities, it's just as dangerous as the rest of them. Now I am going to ask you one last time where you got the liquor that you took to the party. Was it your dad's?" I had assumed it was. Liam would have never made it out of a store with a bottle under his jacket and Jay didn't go into his liquor cabinet all that often, preferring an ice cold beer after work.

"He won't be happy but you'll have to tell him what you took." I said as I looked back at the liquor cabinet.

"It's not my dad's."

"It wasn't huh? Then where did you get it?"

"From you," he finally admitted as he hung his head.

"What?" I asked him. I certainly would have recalled giving my twelve year old nephew a bottle of Peppermint Schnapps.

"I got it from your apartment," he said with a sigh.

I was speechless, and I imagine my face reflected surprise and confusion. "Mine?" I didn't even recall having Peppermint Schnapps.

"When we were at your house a couple of nights ago and you took a shower. It was on the back of your shelf, behind the other stuff. Only a little bit was gone."

Then I remembered that I had bought it over a year ago for some celebration, where we all had to bring some flavor of schnapps. I never drank it much and had forgotten all about it. "Well then." I said feeling sheepish. Clearly I was as naive as I had silently accused my brother as being.

"I'm sorry Uncle Will," he said, tears falling as he reached over and hugged me. I knew at least part of him was sincere and I'm sure he was worried about his friend so I pulled him close and held him.

"Can you call the hospital and check on Jacob?" He asked as he wiped away his tears after pulling away.

"I won't be able to get much information since I'm not a family member. It's a privacy thing."

"Oh. Okay. But do you think he'll be alright?"

"How much did he drink and in what amount of time?"

"Um, we had pizza right after we got there and began playing video games. I think he had one of those small bottles when he was eating. Then he had some of the stuff I brought. The minty stuff. He liked it a lot. Then I think he had a beer and more peppermint stuff. I think he drank for like an hour."

"How big is he?"

"I don't know. Bigger than me," Liam said, which I had already assumed, as we Halstead's tended to be late bloomers, if we bloomed at all.

"Without knowing details I really can't say. I don't know if he took sips or gulps," I said feeling horrible that the kid seemed to favor the offering that was taken from my place, right under my nose.

"I didn't know Uncle Will. I didn't think alcohol could do that. But Jacob, Eddie, Ben and Brady, they're the cool kids and Brice said he could have a sleepover at his place, because he has a bigger house and we thought they'd think we were cool. But then they started talking about drinking and Brice and me, we knew if we said no they'd make our lives miserable and pick on us saying we were pussies."

"Hey, we don't use that word—ever." I warned.

"I know, but they do. They did—when I wanted to call you."

"I'm sorry that childhood is no better for you than it was for the rest of us," I told him as I looked at the stress etched all over his tear-stained face.

"Did this happen to you?"

"Not exactly this. But once when I was around fifteen and your dad was thirteen, he tagged along with me to hang out with some friends. It was summer and we were at a park and some of my so-called friends brought wine called Mad Dog 2020 and some wine coolers."

"What are those and what's the angry dog stuff?"

"It's gross wine, grape was always the favorite flavor. Wine coolers were popular back then. Of course they saw Jay and offered him some and at first he declined, but as they pushed he finally accepted. He wanted to seem cool too." I said as I thought how we always want to be older and impress those around us, even if we know they don't care at all about us.

"And you?" Liam asked looking at me attentively.

"I had some too, and because I did, it me a while to realize that Jay had had way too much."

"Dad got drunk?" Liam asked, reveling in his father's past mistakes and misdeeds.

"He's going to kill me when he finds out I told you this story." I sighed.

"Only after he's done killing me. Do we have to tell him?" Liam asked, looking hopeful.

"Of course he needs to know."

"Can we wait until he gets back?"

"Yes. I don't want him distracted while he's working. But you will tell him everything, including the good parts."

"I have to tell him?"

"You bet you do. You're the one who made the poor choices, so you're the one that has to own up to them."

"I guess. So what happened when you guys got drunk? What happened to Dad?" He asked, back on the topic I should have never started. But clearly, there was no going back now.

"Well, he started throwing-up."

"Like Eddie did," he said making a face.

"Yeah. I helped him, you know just held him, let him know I was there. I told my friends we were leaving and they told me the same things about not being tough. I knew we'd be in huge trouble when we got home, but we couldn't stay there."

"So what happened?"

"We made it home. When we got there, it was just Mom at home. She knew we had been drinking and got Jay into the shower."

"How come?"

"He was a mess and sometimes the water can wake you up a little bit. But you're still just as drunk. Just like coffee, you're more alert, but not any more sober.

"She tried to get us to bed, Jay was about passed out anyway. But before she could Dad came home."

"What happened then," he asked his eyes wide.

"Nothing good. Tell me again how much you had to drink." I said trying to distract him from the details I'd rather not share.

"Just two little ones. Well, one and a half. I accidentally on purpose spilled one under the couch where they wouldn't see. I didn't like how they were acting and I didn't want to be like that."

"Smart."

"Not smart enough. What happened when your dad got home?" He pushed, derailing my earlier attempt of distraction.

"You have to understand that the grandpa you knew, wasn't the father that we knew. Does that make sense?"

"I'm not sure."

"Well, let's say as your grandfather, he cut you a lot of slack. He was patient and fun, but as a father, he wanted to make sure we behaved and when we didn't that we learned a lesson from it."

"Straighten up and fly right."

"Yeah," I said as I looked at him as he mentioned one of my father's favorite sayings. "Did he ever say that to you?"

"No, but my dad has. Just a couple of times though. Did he get in big trouble?"

"Big enough. But I got in more trouble."

"Because you were the big brother?"

"Yes. And what happened should have never happened."

He looked at me as if I was a painting he had to write a report on. "Was that story true? Or is it a lie to help me learn my lesson?"

The Halstead cynicism was alive and well in this kid. The story was true. I had left fragments out, but for the most part it was what had happened that night. I wasn't sure what to say so I just gave him a quizzical expression.

"What was your punishment?" He continued.

"I was grounded for over a month. I was supposed to go to Six Flags with my friends and I lost that privilege, and I was sentenced to hard labor."

"What's that?"

"I had to clean out the basement and attic."

"What do you think my dad will do to me?"

"I don't know champ. I guess you'll just have to wait and find out."

"It'll be so hard to wait."

"I'm not going to feel sorry about that. However, I am going to get you started. Tomorrow we clean the apartment from top to bottom and then we tackle mine."

He looked like he was going to argue but decided not to.

"Did Dad drink as much as Jacob did?"

"He never lost consciousness—so no. But he drank way too much and he drank it too fast. He was luckier than your friend. I should have stopped him, I shouldn't have let him be there to begin with. I failed him." Poor Jay had been so drunk I could barely get him off the L and down the stairs. Then I had to practically drag him home. I'm sure we were quite a sight. At least Liam had the sense not to go overboard. Maybe the next generation is smarter than the previous one.

Two days later when Jay came home, we planned to give him some time to wind down, but he suspected something was wrong immediately. As always, his instincts were spot on.

I had to give Liam credit, he started at the beginning and told the truth in its entirety, emphasizing where he decided to call for help despite the knowledge that he would get into trouble. His friend, Jacob, did wake up, but there were some deficits noted. Hopefully in time he would make a full recovery. He was fortunate that Liam did call as it could have been so much worse.

For his part, Jay stood quietly, his full attention on his son, face stern, arms crossed, much like mine had been days before. As I watched, I realized at that moment he reminded me so much of our father. When Liam finished, ending with an apology, Jay finally sighed.

"Well, I'm not happy, in fact I'm extremely disappointed in your behavior." Jay finally said.

"But I called Uncle Will, even when they didn't want me to." Liam pleaded his case.

"And for that, I am extremely proud. But that doesn't excuse your behavior. You knew what was going to happen. You stole from your uncle. Not only did you take something that wasn't yours, it was illegal for you to have it."

"I told him I was sorry. And I cleaned his apartment." Liam said looking over at me.

"We cleaned the apartment. But you were a big help. Then we stopped by the hardware store and bought this," I said holding up a lock. "For your liquor cabinet, since your son can no longer be trusted." I had wanted Liam to understand his behavior had lasting consequences. Neither Jay or I believed that this would be Liam's last experience with alcohol before his twenty-first birthday but we wanted to be at least be a little proactive.

"Dad, Uncle Will said you got drunk when you were thirteen. Did you?"

Jay looked at me and raised his eyebrows with an aggravated look stretching across his face. "I told him about that time when I was fifteen and you were thirteen and we both had a few too many. I probably shouldn't have, it wasn't my place to tell your childhood stories."

"What's a few too many mean?" Liam asked.

"It means that you had more than you should have. One too many or a few too many. Either way it's not a good thing." I said.

"Oh." Liam said. "I guess Jacob had more than a few too many."

"I think you all had at least one too many, because even one, was too many." I added.

"I guess," Liam said looking back down at the floor before he raised his head again to ask another question. "So did you get drunk Dad—when you were a kid?"

Jay sighed and dropped his arms as he walked over to his son and pointed to the couch. Liam sat down and Jay squatted down in front of him and looked up at his son. "When I was thirteen, I went with Will to hangout with some of his friends. They were all fifteen and sixteen and I wanted to look cool, so I let them give me drinks. Do you know why they did that?"

Liam shrugged. "Because they wanted to make you act stupid?"

"Exactly. So they could laugh at me," he said as his eyes flickered over to me. "I had no idea how much you could drink before it hit you. I wasn't feeling buzzed so I kept going. Once it did hit me, it was awful. I could barely stand up, then I threw-up and that wasn't cool at all. I wasn't at all in control and that is a very helpless feeling."

"Did you get into trouble?"

"Of course I did. So did Will."

"What happened?"

"We missed out on some great things that summer."

"Was grandpa mean?" Liam asked, looking from Jay to me and back to his father.

Jay looked over at me with questioning eyes. Liam had been eight when our father died. He took the loss hard. The only thing that could make that man smile was his grandson. When Pop suffered from a heart ailment that nearly killed him, he needed surgery, but decided on the less invasive and less effective procedure. Dr. Rhodes, his surgeon wanted me to convince him to have the surgery. But the only one that had a chance of changing the old man's mind would have been Liam. But Jay wasn't going to make his son a pawn so it was only after the first procedure failed that Dad gave in and had the surgery. A year or so later he was dead anyway—his heart just couldn't go on any longer—of course the fire that he had to be rescued from in his high rise had pushed him to his limits as well.

I knew Jay struggled more than he let on after we lost Dad. They had a horrible last conversation and I know it ate away at Jay. He risked his own life to get the man that was responsible for the fire and then lied to Liam about the injuries he had incurred during the fatal chase. I still remember the day we went to Dad's apartment to see how much we would have to take care of, I had found Jay sobbing as he looked at newspaper clippings that had been saved of his accomplishments. My relationship with my father had been difficult, but Jay and Pop—well it was beyond complicated and I know Jay wanted to do better by Liam.

"Grandpa wanted to make sure that we grew up knowing right from wrong and learned how to make good decisions. So when we screwed up, we had to pay for it."

"How?"

I knew Jay wouldn't share the details, there was no reason to jade Liam's memories of his beloved grandfather.

"Like I said, loss of privileges. And by doing that he gave me great ideas on how to punish you."

In the end Liam was grounded for six weeks. No sleepovers for six months and a list of extra chores to do. Then I tossed in some homework; a paper on the dangers of alcohol use and abuse. Jay made him watch while he put the new lock on the liquor cabinet and took him to Brice's house so he could apologize to the Harper's for his part in the party.

I made sure to bore him with some videos on the effects of alcohol, complete with the chemistry involved. I even gave him an impromptu pop quiz and made him re-watch the parts he got wrong. But he got me back by peppering me with questions as to why if alcohol is so bad then why is even one okay and how is it adults get to drink more than one and do it every day. I did what any self-respecting uncle would; I told him to ask his father.

I hated what he did, and I was proud of what he did, but I hated that he was already old enough to be involved in the dangers of the world. I was afraid of what the future might just hold for him as he was a Halstead through and through and nothing ever seemed to come easy for us.