Hailey and Will walked off the elevator, and down the hall into the surgery waiting room. It was now after 1 in the morning, so the room was empty. All the scheduled surgeries had been completed for the day hours ago. Family had visited with their family members during visiting hours, and had long since gone home. They chose seats in a far corner, choosing to sit where they had a good view of the doors from the operating rooms, but also close to a window. It was a clear night, all the lights from the taller buildings downtown lighting up the sky. People were either out enjoying their Friday night, or asleep preparing for the weekend. The later being exactly where they envisioned being by now, just hours ago.

Hailey fiddled with her phone in her hand. Debating if she should wait until morning to call the team, or go ahead and call them now. Jay had been in surgery now almost two hours. They had not heard anything yet about how things were going, but that wasn't unexpected. All attention was put into the job at hand, and they knew someone would come find them soon enough. She looked over at Will, who was obviously just as anxious as she felt. He would stand up to look out the window a few minutes, before walking over to the hallway and glancing down the empty hall. He would lean against the wall in front of the door that led back to the operating rooms and take out his phone. She assumed he was hoping someone would text him an update by now. Two hours to them felt like eternity. She was convinced he was at the point of just marching through the doors and getting an update for himself, but was relieved when he came back and sat down next to her.

Hailey scrolled through her contacts and pulled up Hank's number. She stared at it for a few minutes, with her finger hovering over the call button. She knew this call was about to ruin her 4 teammates' weekends. She let out a deep sigh and leaned her head back against the wall and closed her eyes, trying to think of the best way to break the news.

"I can call them for you Hailey." Hailey glanced over at Will who was now looking at her. She shook her head fighting back tears. Will leaned in closer and wrapped an arm around Haileys shoulders pulling her close. Hailey leaned into the embrace not caring if the tears fell.

"What if he doesn't make it Will? There was so much blood. It was on his face…." Hailey couldn't continue with that thought. The images still too fresh. She took a deep breath and turned again to look at him. "Im scared. I can't lose him."

"I know. I am too. But we have to stay strong Hailey. For him. "

"Be honest Will. Is he going to be ok?" Hailey didn't know if she wanted the truth or just the reassurance from Will.

Will leaned away just a tad to look at the door. It was still just as quiet as it had been. He knew Hailey was just wanting some reassurance, some hope, to hold onto while they waited. But if he were being honest, he was just as scared and unsure as she was. The longer they waited for Dr. Marcel to come out, it meant Jay was still fighting.

"I don't know. He's in for a long, difficult surgery. Either injury is a lot on a body. " Will just hung his head and looked at his feet. " We are going to have to stay positive." Will said trying to sound hopeful and reassure them both.

Hailey leaned her head against Wills shoulder. He took a deep breath and laid his against the top of her head. They both sat there in silence, glancing over at the tv. Not really paying attention to what was actually playing. Will reached back into his pocket and pulled out his phone. No new text messages received since the last time he checked. He went into his own contacts and pulled up Hank's number. He showed the screen to Hailey. Who just nodded and continued to look into space.

It only took 2 rings before the deep voice answered. " Will?" Will sometimes wondered if the man ever slept.

"Ya. Hank, I'mi'm sorry to call so late. But something happened to Jay."

…..

Just across the hall, in OR 2, things were going as expected. Or at least as well as Crockett would hope at this point in the surgery. Jay was holding his own, the monitors above the bed indicating things were moving more towards being more stable. Crockett was in the process of securing a graft to the nicked femoral artery in Jay's left thigh.

"I need a little more suction." Crockett was thankful the bullet hadn't completely severed the artery, of course Jay very likely wouldn't have made it to Med if that had happened, but there was still some significant damage and being a major artery there had still been heavy bleeding. Jay had been set up with a blood infusion, trying to replace what had already been lost.

Crockett shook his head in frustration. "I don't like how this graft is sitting. "

April just watched as Crockett worked. He was one of the hospital's top surgeons. He had been asking her to assist on a lot of his cases lately. Especially on these that came through the ED late on a slow night. They had already taken one graft from Jays inner right thigh.

She looked over at Jay's face. The blood transfusions had not yet begun helping the pale look. She always enjoyed the banter between the Halstead brothers when Jay would visit through the ED. Jay would come by and try to do lunch at least once a week with Will, when their work allowed. Some days the ED was too busy or Jay would get stuck on a case. She remembered all the times Jay came into the ED working a case. A lot of times with Hailey. There was no one else she'd want on her case if she needed someone. Jay always gave 100% into everything he worked on. There were times they would butt heads, because Jay would want to question a suspect and that person would be receiving medical treatment. Just like Jay took his work seriously, she took hers just as serious knowing she had to treat them as her patient first. But at the end of the day they were always understanding of each other. Sometimes April would even sit with the brothers on a quick lunch, constantly laughing and shaking her head as they picked on each other and gave each other a hard time. It reminded her a lot of Noah and herself. She was really worried for Jay, and knew Will was even more worried out in the waiting room.

" The graft is secure. Lets remove clamps slowly and see how the blood flows." Crockett said, snapping April out of her moment.

April and Crockett held their breath as they watched the blood start flowing freely again through the patched artery. Crockett glanced up at the monitors and over to April.

"Everything seems to be holding." April couldn't help but smile. "Let's get this leg patched up and get working on the next one. "

April was turning to the OR phone to call and give Will an update when the once stable monitors started blinking.

"His blood pressure is dropping." Marty, their anesthesiologist called from behind the curtain.

" What happened?" April asked as she stepped back over to the bed. The OR quickly went from quiet and hopeful with everything going as planned, to now everything becoming frantic. April looked down to see more heavy bleeding from Jay's thigh.

"The graft must not of held against the pressure. Help suction while I pack. We have got to get this back under control or were going to lose him." Crockett was shaking his head, cursing under his breath. " Damn it. I need to get the artery clamps back on."

April was suctioning while another nurse provided extra gauze to pack around the artery. Marty glanced again at the monitors to provide another update. " BP is 80 over 60. Heart Rate is 65. Still dropping."

"Working on it Marty" Crockett replied. You can be a great surgeon, and still get worried for your patient. Especially when it's someone you respected and considered a friend. Crockett knew even once this was repaired, Jay had a long way to go in this operating room. " Come on Jay. Don't give up now."

…..

It didn't take them but 45 minutes to walk into the OR waiting room after Will hung up with Hank. Hank took no time calling each of them as he flew to Med. Hank arrived first and followed closely by Kevin. Five minutes later Adam and Kim arrived together. They all exchanged hugs with Hailey and Will, and were now all seated around each other by the window. Adam asked if there was any update yet, Will just shook his head. Hank took no time asking what happened, wanting everything in full detail. Hailey did her best to just make it sound like they had met up after work like they always do after a tough case, and Hank didn't give any indication if he didn't believe it. He just wanted to find out what happened so they could catch who was responsible.

Will reached over and grabbed tissue from the table next to him, and handed them to Hailey. Having to relive all those details was not easy on her. Will got up from his seat and went to stand by the OR doors, choosing to not want to listen to the full rundown of his brother's night all over again. It made him angry and scared all over again. His brother was fighting for his life because of some junkie. Will glanced back over to the group as Kim rose from her seat to sit in the seat where he had just got up and put her arms around Hailey.

He turned to look up the hallway and almost got excited, in an odd way, to see Maggie and Sharon coming up the hallway, hoping that maybe they had an update.

"I'm so sorry Will. I got here as quickly as I could." Sharon said as she walked up to Will and gave him a hug. Sharon pulled back and Maggie walked up again to give Will another hug.

"Have you heard anything yet?" Maggie asked, and watched as Will's whole body just deflated. There wouldn't be any updates coming from them.

"No, nothing yet." Will just shook his head. Maggie reached out and squeezed Wills arm, before turning to go sit with the team and Hailey.

Dr. Charles came around the corner next, exchanging looks and a nob with Sharon before turning to Will. "Dr. Halstead I'm sorry to hear about Jay. We're all praying for him." Sharon nodded in agreement.

" Thank you." Will thanked them and did his best to smile. He was really appreciative of his colleagues' offers of support. Sharon advised she had to get back to her office, but not before telling Will if he needed anything to reach out to her. They waved goodbye and watched as she left down the hall.

"I'm going to go up to the viewing room and check on things. " Will said as he turned towards the hallway.

"Will, i don't think that's a good idea. I know i don't have to tell you this, but it's going to be a lot harder to witness with the patient being Jay, instead of any other patient." Dr Charles tried to reason with him.

Will stopped and turned to face Dr. Charles. "I just need to know what's going on. How things are going."

Dr. Charles nodded in understanding. " I can't imagine how hard this must be for you. But Jay is in good hands. The best hands. I know as soon as they get an update, they'll come straight to you. They don't need their patient's brother looking over them. They know you're concerned for your brother, and they are doing everything they can. " Will couldn't argue that. Dr Charles was right.

"Come on." Dr. Charles nodded towards the team. "Lets go sit."

Will followed Dr. Charles back over to the group, having a seat in empty seats nearest them. They were still getting the last bit of details of the incident as they approached. Adam had a notepad in his hand.

"Did you see where the man went after he left?" Adam asked Hailey.

"He just went down and took a right on West Kenzie Street along the riverwalk. Near 320 River Bar restaurant." Adam wrote down more notes in his book.

"Is your vehicle still parked down there?" Kevin asked.

"We took Jay's truck. He picked me up at the apartment. It's still down there."

Kevin nodded and looked at Hank. Hank sat in silence a few moments just processing everything he had been told, before looking between the team.

"Kevin and Adam, you both go down to the truck and look around the scene. See if you can find anything. Check those empty buildings and see if there are any other homeless people possible living in them that might have seen anything. Kim and I will go see if there's any cameras in the area and meet y'all down there."

"We are going to run point on the case right?" Kim asked Hank.

"When someone attacks someone on our team, we run point. We aren't going to stop until we find this guy." Hank rose from his seat and turned to Will and nodded before turning to Hailey. "I'm glad you're okay Hailey. I know you're not going to want to leave from here, so we will send you updates. Call as soon as y'all hear anything." More handshakes and hugs were exchanged before the team slowly filed out of the waiting room. None of them wanted to leave without hearing anything about Jay, but there was a man running loose who had shot their partner, and they wanted to get on it right away before the man disappeared.

Maggie stayed with Will and Hailey until she was paged back to the ED. She gave them both a hug and said she'd be back up as soon as she could. Dr. Charles hung out a little longer until he was called into the psych ward. As morning approached the hospital started to get busy.

"Come on, we can't sit here. Were going to go crazy." Will said as he stood from his seat and offered a hand to Hailey. Looking at the clock on the wall he realized Jay had been in surgery now over 5 hours. It was after 5am.

Hailey reluctantly took his hand and stood, looking at the OR doors. Will watched her gaze and gave her hand a squeeze. " There's a vending machine right down the hall. We're not going far, we can still see the doors from down there."

Hailey followed Will to the vending machines. She had to admit it was nice to move around after sitting for so long. Will punched in the numbers for a coke, a bag of Cheetos and a pack of skittles before turning to Hailey and asking what she wanted. She gladly accepted a coke and a pack of reese cups before turning to walk back to their seats.

They shared the bag of chips, ate their candy and were sipping on their sodas when a very tired Dr Marcel came out of the OR doors. He walked over to them pulling the surgical cap from his head. They stood as he approached, anxious to finally get an update. He exchanged looks with both of them before slumping down into a chair across from where they were sitting. They followed his lead and sat back down in their chairs, waiting for the surgeon to spill the news.

"He's alive." Crockett started, sounding like he was relieved himself to finally be able to say those words. Will let out the breath he didn't know he was holding. " But there were some complications during surgery." Will felt his stomach drop. Hailey looked to Will for his reaction before looking back to Crockett. " He's stable right now, but he lost a lot of blood. We were able to repair his lung. The bullet went through between the last 2 ribs, and went completely through his lung before resting by his back. Luckily the lung was the only organ damaged from it. It had collapsed before getting to the hospital. With the chest tube in the ED and with the repairs we made during surgery the lung is now inflating as it should. The tube is still in for draining, it should come out in the next couple days. " Crockett paused to let them take it all in before continuing. "However the bullet in his thigh did cause a lot of damage to the femoral artery. It was a through and through into his thigh and the bullet nicked the artery. We used a skin graft from his inner right thigh. Unfortunately when the artery clamps were removed, the pressure caused the graft to fail. There was a lot of bleeding before we could get it under control. His bp and heart rate dropped dangerously low. I'm not going to lie to yall we almost lost him. And he's far from out of the woods. We have him on blood transfusions trying to replenish what he lost. He's on a vent and sedated to make him rest as much as possible. There's a brace on his leg to keep any movement to a minimum. We won't know until we get his blood volume back up. We are going to do several scans a day to monitor the artery, as blood volume goes back up, don't be surprised if he needs another surgery. "

Will just stared at the surgeon as he spoke. Everything still felt like a bad dream.

"What are his chances?" Hailey asked.

Crockett let out a deep sign. " He lost a lot of blood. The next 24 hours will tell us everything. We need to get his blood volume back up. Well be monitoring him for blood clots and any issues with the lung and artery. If we can get him through the next 24 hours, he'll have better chances."

"When do you plan to wake him up?" Will asked.

"Ideally i'd like him to rest for at least 24 hours. Then we can keep him from moving too much as that artery heals. Well see how things look after 12 hours."

"Can we see him?" Hailey was anxious to see him.

"Of course. He should be getting settled in the ICU. He's going to be closely monitored for the next several days. It's not quite visiting hours yet, but I'll let the nurses know what's going on. "

Crockett rose from his seat. "Come on. I'll take you guys to him."

They followed him in silence into the ICU wing. It was still early so the floor was quiet. The night shift was getting ready to leave for the day, and the day shift was just coming in. They approached the nurses station and Crockett stopped to speak with a nurse behind the desk who was just coming in. He glanced back and pointed at them as they spoke. The nurse looked to them and gave them a soft smile before nodding at Crockett. Crockett turned and motioned for them to follow him down the hall.

He stopped in front of a room at the far ended closest to the elevators. Before entering he turned to them. " He's going to look a bit pale. He's going to require several transfusions. So he's going to look a bit rough. But just remember it's still him. " They exchanged another look before looking back at him indicating they were ready. Crockett nodded and opened the door for them.

They walked into the room and stopped at the end of the bed. A nurse was standing by the monitors writing something into a clipboard before putting it back on a stand near the monitors. She excused herself and walked past them and out the door. Leaving them alone. Crockett was typing on an ipad as he stood at the door.

Will was the first to step forward, walking around to the right side of the bed and looking over his brother. He was very pale, as they said he would be. His freckles were really standing out across his face. He was on a ventilator. The very uncomfortable looking tube connected to a hose that connected to a machine next to the bed. There were several monitors around the bed and a IV stand holding fluids and a bag of blood that was slowly flowing to IVs in Jay's hand and arm. A hospital gown was draped across his body and down to where it met the blanket that was pulled up to his waist .The surgery site in his lower chest was covered with fresh dressings, covering where the drainage tube came out to a bag connected to the bed. The blanket was covering his waist and legs. His left leg was propped up higher than the right with a pillow underneath, and you could just make out the brace from under the blanket.

Will reached out and grabbed his hand before sitting down in the chair next to the bed. He looked over to Hailey who was leaning down to give Jay a kiss on the forehead and running her hand through his hair. She sat down in her given chair next to the bed and grabbed a hand.

"Why is he so cold?"

"Combination of the surgery and blood loss. It should go up as his blood volume goes up." Will said as he reached over to grab the blanket and pull it further up Jays chest, carefully watching the drainage tube.

Crockett was typing the last of his surgeon requests into the ipad as he spoke. "I'll be back to check on him. I'll have the nurse bring in more blankets. Someone will be in to check on him every 30 to 45 minutes. If you need me you know how to find me." Will turned to thank Crockett as he left the room.

Hailey looked to the IV stands and the red bag, before looking back at Jay's slack face. Really taking in just how bad Jay was. She stood to lean in and give him another kiss, this time on his cheek, before whispering she loved him in his ear. She was wiping at tears as she sat back down.

"Come on Jay you have to get better. We're waiting for you." Will said as he ran his hand up and down Jays arm. He took in a deep breath before covering his face with his hand, and crying. Finally unable to hold in all the emotions from the last several hours. Hailey reached over with her hand that wasn't holding Jays, and placed it on top of Wills that was still holding Jays right hand. They stayed like this for several minutes, as Hailey watched Jay's face, and Will wiped his face on his shirt.

Will got up to dim the lights in the room. The sun was starting to come up outside. He hadn't slept in over 20 hours, and he knew it would be several more before he'd be able to take his eyes off Jay. He sat back down in his chair and grabbed Jays hand. Hailey laid her head on the bed next to their joined hands, eyes alternating between his face and watching his chest rise and fall. Will sat sideways in his chair, laying his head on the back of the chair. It was far from comfortable, but he couldn't let go of Jay's hand.

They both sat in silence just watching their loved one. The only sounds in the room were the beeping from the monitors and the woosh of the ventilator. It didn't take long before the sounds of the room lulled them both into an uneasy sleep.