Hailey was startled awake by movement in the room. A nurse was standing on the other side of the bed, recording vitals in Jay's chart. Will was sitting back in his chair with his phone, apparently responding to a text. Hailey glanced up to the clock in the room, realizing she had been asleep for two hours, silently upset with herself that she had missed the last few checkins. She leaned forward in her chair to run her hand through Jay's hair, before running her thumb across his cheek. He looked so peaceful, just like he was sleeping. If it weren't for the tubes, IVS and sounds of the room she'd believe he was doing just that. She was thankful everything appeared the same in the room, and nothing seemed to have changed for the worse while she was out. She knew Will would have woken her up. Jay was still pale, but she could see some pink returning to his lips and cheeks.

Will let out a deep sigh from his seat as he put his phone back in his pocket, and leaned forward to pat Jay's leg.

"What did i miss?"

Will glanced over from his side of Jay's bed. "Sorry I didn't want to wake you. Nothing has changed. Nurses have been in a few times just monitoring vitals. His blood pressure is still low, but he has a few transfusions to go."

Hailey attempted a smile before looking down at her hand wrapped around Jays. She ran her thumb across his knuckles then gave his hand a squeeze before looking back to his face. She didn't know what she expected. She knew with it being so soon after surgery she wasn't going to get any reaction from him. Dr. Marcel had said Jay would be heavily sedated at least the first twelve hours to give his body time to rest. But she really missed him.

"We were supposed to be hanging out at home this weekend." Hailey started as she looked over at Will. " I had suggested staying in last night, but he insisted on taking me out. Maybe if i had insisted he would have listened….."

"No. Don't do that Hailey. None of this is your fault. It's no one's fault other than whoever that man was," Will tried to reason with her. Hailey slowly looked away and down to her and Jays joined hands.

"I think i hurt his feelings. He thinks we should tell Voight. About us. I told him it was a bad idea. But he was so ready to have that talk with him."

Will sat up a little in his chair. "He loves you Hailey. I doubt you hurt his feelings too much. He'd do anything for you. I've never seen him this happy. He will still be ready when you are."

Hailey glanced up to make eye contact with Will, both exchanging a smile. She was fighting back tears again. Of course Jay would be talking to Will about her. She reached into her pocket to pull out her phone. She had totally forgotten to update the team.

"I need to call Voight. Give him a quick update." She looked Jay over, really not wanting to leave the room.

"I sent him a text before you woke up. They are going to come by later," Will replied.

"Im sorry. Im such a mess." Hailey was wiping her face trying to hide the fact she was crying again.

"Hey don't worry about it. You've been through alot. Seen a lot. "

Hailey just shook her head. "Ya but he's your brother. I should be more supportive too."

"You are Hailey. You've been right here too. We're going to get through this. All of us. Together. "

Before Hailey could respond Crockett walked in. "How's our friend doing?" Giving them both a nob as he walked over to Jays right side, and looked at the monitors. Will stood from his seat to give him room. He glanced quickly between each one before checking the drainage bag on the side of the bed.

"That's looking good. We should be well on track to removing the chest tube in a couple days." Crockett continued to look Jay over, now reaching for his stethoscope and placing it to Jay's chest. He stood silent a few minutes listening, while Will and Hailey exchanged a worried look. Crockett pulled the stethoscope from his ear as he walked around to the other end of the bed, pulling back the blanket to feel around Jay's left thigh and leg.

"We're going to do an ultrasound next round, to just check blood flow through the artery. Everything seems to be holding so far. His right lung sounded a little congested, but nothing concerning so soon after surgery. We'll continue to watch him every hour. So far things are headed in the right direction." Crockett spoke to both of them, as he jotted down notes in Jay's chart.

"Thanks Crockett. For everything." Will said extending a hand.

Crockett gladly shook Wills hand. "Of course man. He's family." Crockett closed the chart and put it back by Jay's bed. "I'll see you guys in about an hour for the ultrasound. I have to go down to the ED to check on a patient." Crockett turned and left the room.

Will returned to his seat, and back to watching over his brother.

Jay continued to remain stable over the next several hours. Crockett returned to do the ultrasound on the repaired artery. The watch party was excited to hear the graft was holding and everything was flowing as it should. He was still hearing some minor congestion when listening to lung sounds, but wasn't concerned enough to run any additional testing. With Jay being now 6 hours out of surgery, he chalked it up to the lung still healing and the tube still being in place. With his condition not getting any worse, Crockett left giving them high hopes when he said they'd attempt taking Jay off sedation when he hit twelve hours post op. As long as everything continued to progress in the right direction. Nurses continued to come in every hour recording vitals in his chart.

The team stopped by for a visit. Will took that time to go speak with the nurses about cots for the evening. Neither of them had gotten much sleep, other than a quick nap, both too worried they'd miss something important. The team gathered in the room, each approaching the bed and giving Jay their comforting words. Kim took Will's vacant side of the bed, choosing to hold Jay's hand and sit on the bed next to him the whole visit while she fought back tears. She had brought some clothes for Hailey, knowing she wouldn't be leaving the hospital any time soon. Adam and Kevin stood at the end of the bed while Hank sat in Wills chair, quiet the entire visit.

Hailey was anxious to hear about any leads on the case. Unfortunately there hadn't been many leads. With the businesses being closed on that street they parked on, there weren't any cameras. The restaurant was only open in the evenings this time of year, and no one was there when they went by. They were planning to hang out at the hospital until they opened, and then go question the owner and whoever was working that night before. The direction the man ran would have put him running past the restaurant. It was the only hope they had in catching the guy. Hailey tried to think of any details about him, anything at all that could help, but nothing new came to mind.

Hailey looked over at Hank, who was still unusually quiet. Occasionally he'd look up, or grunt in agreement when someone said something to him. He had requested the team be taken off any new incoming cases, until they found who was responsible. She remembered the talk with Jay on their walk, and how let down he had looked when she said she wasn't ready to tell Hank about their relationship. She knew Jay would respect her wishes. He'd do anything for her as long as she was happy. But looking at the situation now it seemed so small compared to this. It was crazy to her that it took something like this to happen, to make her realize just how easy Jay couple be taken from her. He had proven he wasn't afraid of danger, that's what made him a great detective, and a great partner. This was far from the first time he had her sitting in a hospital worried over him. She had always worried it would be something work related, not something like this, and she had never been more scared than she was this time. He had to get better, so they could talk to Hank together. If it meant working in different departments, it would just have to be that way. She loved him and wasn't going to continue hiding that from anyone. She knew Hank would probably have suspicions, if he didn't already, that man was smart, when he saw the video from the restaurant. Lucky for them the case would be more important, and he wouldn't question it until later when Jay was better. She just smiled to herself, kind of relieved at the thought of finally getting it out there, but that smile faded quickly when she looked up at Jay. He was still breathing with help from a machine, and still receiving blood transfusions. She felt bad worrying over a talk with their boss, when he still had a long fight ahead of him.

Trudy stopped by for a visit, entering the room the same time Will came back. After receiving a quick update from Will, she came around to Haileys side of the bed and looked over her detective. She had seen a lot of her people injured in her many years on the job, but everyone knew Jay was special. She leaned in and whispered something in his ear as she pat his shoulder, before telling him " you better get better Chuckles before the city falls apart without you." The team couldn't help but laugh before the room fell silent.

Hank stood from his seat as Trudy walked over to him. "Any leads Hank?"

"Not yet. We are going to the restaurant here shortly, see if they have any footage out front."

"If i can help in any way, please let me know."

"Thanks Trudy." She just nodded in response before looking back at the rest of the team. They just exchanged worried glances between each other. This didn't sound like some personal case, or someone wanting revenge due to an old case, this was random. And these kinds of cases weren't always easy to solve. They were really banking on the restaurant footage giving them something useful.

…...

It was getting dark outside. The team and Trudy had left several hours ago, Trudy going back to the district and the team to the restaurant. Hailey was constantly checking her phone, hoping for updates from the footage. The nurses had brought in cots for tonight. Will was busying himself with getting them set up. He had been able to venture down to the doctors lounge and shower while the team was visiting and changed into some clean clothes from his locker.

Maggie had come up to visit and brought a couple sandwiches, chips and drinks for them to eat. Neither of them had thought about eating and didn't realize just how hungry they were until they sat down to eat. Maggie didn't stay long, apparently the ED was pretty busy. Crockett had sent a quick text to Will. He was tied up in the ED, but was kept updated with all the check-ins with the nurses who continued to come in and check on Jay every hour. He had made it past that 12 hour mark, and Crockett explained a few extra hours certainly wouldn't hurt anything. Jay needed the rest.

Will and Hailey had just finished their meals in silence when Crockett finally came in followed by a nurse. Excitement was definitely growing in the room, both of them rising from their seats. Crockett was watching the monitors again before moving to listen to Jays breathing.

"I think we're ready to lift the sedation. He's still holding, and hasn't gotten any worse. Lets see if we can get him up and see how he's doing." Crockett said as he turned back to the ventilator settings. "Just going to lower the assistance from the ventilator first and make sure his O2 stats stay up." After hitting a few buttons on the machine, he turned to watch the monitors. Hailey had no idea what she was looking at, so she just watched between their reactions as she gripped Jay's hand.

Crockett started nodding, apparently liking what he was seeing. " We'll leave him on the vent until he starts to fight it and is fully conscious. " He turned to the nurse who had come in with him, giving her the go ahead to stop the sedation medication through Jays IV.

Will and Hailey exchanged an excited smile before Will asked "How long do you think before he wakes up?"

"It can be anywhere from a few minutes to a couple hours. It's really up to him. His bodys been through alot, he lost a lot of blood, and is going to be very uncomfortable and in alot of pain. Time will tell. We're going to do one more transfusion hopefully before he wakes."

They both thanked Crockett as he turned to leave the room. "I'll be back. Let me know when he starts to come around."

Hailey went back to running her fingers through his hair and watching his face. Will leaned back in his chair and ran his hand over his face.

"It could be several hours Hailey. You should get some rest. I'll wake you if anything changes. Promise."

She just grinned over at Will, locking her fingers around Jays hand. " You've been up longer than me."

All Will could do was laugh. It was obvious they weren't going to sleep any time soon. Instead they both grabbed a hand and just waited. Hailey pulled out her phone to send a quick text to the team, letting them know everything was still going well with Jay and hoping to get an update on their case.

….

After waiting several hours, and constantly watching for any sign of movement from the bed, sleep finally won over in the room. Hailey leaned over the bed to rest her head on Jay's left arm, and after several long blinks, she dozed off. Will had ended up laying his head down on the bed next to Jay's right hip, with no intentions of going to sleep. He watched his brother's chest rise and fall for several minutes before dozing off himself. Nurses continued to come in and record vitals, stepping carefully around them as they slept. It was getting closer to the twenty four hour mark, post surgery. Jay was taking full advantage of resting and any sedative left in his system, and had yet to show any signs of waking up.

Will awoke about an hour later to a light tap on the door. He looked over to Jay who was still sound asleep, before turning to see Hank at the door. Will reached over to wake Hailey, nuding her shoulder a couple times before she finally woke up. She sat up quickly in her chair and looked to Jay, thinking maybe she was missing the big moment. She let out a sigh before looking to Will who was pointing at the door. Hank was motioning for them to come to the door. They reluctantly rose from their seats and went into the hallway, assuming Hank must have found something important.

"How's he doing?" Hank asked, motioning towards the room.

Will looked towards the bed and back to Hank, shrugging his shoulders. "So far so good. They lifted the sedation…" he paused glancing down at his watch, " 4 hours ago. He could wake up at any time."

Hank just grunted and looked down to his phone. "We spoke with the restaurant manager, and they have some footage from the street in front of the front door. It was dark, but it did catch someone running down the road a while after closing. Nobody working tonight saw the man."

"That makes sense. They had already been closed when we got back to the truck." Hailey responded. Hank just looked at her. "We had gone for a walk on the riverwalk before coming back up to leave." Hailey was now looking down at her feet, not wanting to make eye contact. If the camera showed the front of the building, he most likely saw when they entered and left the restaurant. The dress she decided on wasn't exactly one you'd wear to just go meet up with a work partner. When she looked back up at him he was scrolling through his phone.

"The image wasn't too clear with it being dark and him wearing a hat. But Adam was able to run what we got through facial, to see if it matched any prior offenders. Does he look familiar?" Hank turned his phone to Hailey, showing a photo of a dark haired man. The man had to have been in his early 40s. He was clean shaved with a short haircut. Hailey barely recognized him, but it was him. "That's him. Who is he?"

Hank returned his phone to his pocket."Wyatt Johnson. He was in the Army until he was discharged two years ago after being injured overseas. Apparently got hooked on pain medications, mainly Oxy. He was picked up last year on the other side of town for possession. But it wasn't enough to hold him. Apparently he's been laying low ever since." Will couldn't believe what he was hearing. He turned and watched Jay. He knew his brother would take pity on this man. As Hank continued to fill Hailey in on their next steps, he saw Crockett standing at the nurses station. He was feeling a little uneasy that his brother hadn't woken up yet. Even though the doctor in him knew it could be normal after a big surgery, but he wanted to run a few things by his brother's doctor.

…...

They say timing is everything. Sometimes it works in your favor, sometimes not so much. Especially for Hailey and Will, who were standing outside the room. The room was quiet, aside from the beeping and the sounds of the ventilator. The first thing that came back to Jay was the sound. The heart monitor picked up pace as Jay slowly began to wake up. His hands closed into weak fists. He tried moving his feet but they felt extremely heavy. He felt like he had been asleep for a long time, and couldn't remember what happened the last time he was awake. He tried again to move his feet, resulting in his left leg moving just slightly, and sending a shooting pain up his leg. His eyebrows furrowed and he let out a loud grunt in dislike. Why was he in pain? He tried to adjust his head, but stopped instantly when he realized how painful his throat became with the movement. His throat felt dry, like he hadn't drank anything in days. He tried to swallow, but felt his throat tighten around something. He tried to reach up towards his face with his right arm, but was too weak to get it very far, before it dropped down to his stomach. There was another pain radiating from his lower abdomen. Everything just hurt and he was starting to wish he could just go back to his painless sleep.

He laid still for a few minutes, scared to move, and listened to the sounds of the room. He could still hear beeping, and a whooshing sound. Now he could make out voices, but they sounded far away. He attempted to open his eyes to see where he was. After several attempts he was met by the bright lights of the hospital room. He was still really out of it, as he tried to look around. He looked at the monitors next to the bed and realized finally he was in the hospital. He tried to look down at his body to find the source of pain, but that's when he found the cause behind the burning in his throat. The tube was very intrusive and hurt. He tried to reach up again, this time with the other hand. He made it as far as to wrap a finger around the plastic strap on his cheek, that was holding the plastic device that was holding the tube in place, before he got extremely tired. Every movement was taking all of his energy, plus the more aware he became, the more his body ached. He paused right where he was, almost drifting back to sleep.

The voices from outside the room got louder all of a sudden, then he left someone grab his hand from his face and wrap it in there's. He left another source of warmth grap his other hand, and someone was running a hand through his hair. He blinked a few times, until the faces above him became clear.

"Hey brother. Can you hear me?" It was Will. And he had a very excited smile on his face. Jay just blinked and looked at him. Still very much confused.

"Jay if you can hear me, squeeze my hand." Will tried again. Anxiously waiting. It took a few seconds and a couple long blinks, but Jay finally gave Wills hand a weak squeeze. Will was thrilled.

"That great Jay. Try not to move too much. You're in the hospital. I know that tube is uncomfortable but you can't touch it okay?" Jay gave another weak squeeze.

Crockett had run into the room with them when Hailey called for them. Hank had just left down the hall to go help hunt down Wyatt Johnson. She had almost squealed when she glanced back into the room and saw Jays hand moving towards his face. Crockett was now watching the monitors by the bed. Jay looked from Will to the other side of the bed at Hailey. Hailey was in tears and excited to see him awake. She was running her hand through his hair smiling at him. His eyebrows furrowed again as he watched the tears fall from her face. How long had he been out? Everything just felt so off. He tried to speak before he remembered he couldn't, and choked on the tube.

"Don't try to talk, Jay. The tube is helping you breathe. Just relax" Will said as he looked up to Crockett.

Crockett leaned over the bed with his penlight and shined it into Jay's eyes. Jay grunted and squeezed his eyes shut, trying to look away from him. Apparently not a fan at all of that test. The movement only caused the tube to shift more, causing him to gag again.

"Hey buddy I know that's uncomfortable but we have to leave it for now. Just try to let it do the work for you. " Crockett was still leaning over the bed talking to him. "I'm going to ask you a couple questions. I want you to blink twice for yes, and once for no. Can you do that for me?"

Jay's eyes started to flutter. The little bit of activity already wearing him out. Crockett softy rubbed Jay's sternum. "You with me Jay?" Jay jerked awake, moving his legs in the process, causing that familiar shooting pain. He grunted again, and squeezed Wills hand the hardest yet. The pain throbbed in his leg. Even with the brace, it still allowed for small movements. And those small movements were unbearable.

"I just want to ask you some quick questions Jay and then you can get some rest. Can you blink twice for yes, and once for no?" Crockett watched as Jay made eye contact with him and blinked twice.

"Good. Do you know where you are?" Jay gave two more slow blinks.

"That's great. Are you in any pain?" Jay raised one eyebrow before attempting to nod. Regretting not using the blinks, as he gagged on the tube. Tears began to leak from his eyes. Hailey quickly reached up and wiped them away. Watching him was only making her cry more.

"We're going to get you something for the pain Jay. Take slow breaths for me." Crockett tried calming him down, but he was starting to panic. He was in pain, and the tube was pushing air that felt like sand. Crockett spoke to a nurse who had came in with them, and she was quickly filling a vial with pain medication before passing it off to Crockett.

Will was now leaning over his brother trying to calm him down while they inserted the medication through his IV. Jay was starting to squirm from discomfort, only making him hurt more. He made eye contact with his brother, pleading with him for help through his pain filled eyes. Will watched as his brother adjusted his lower jaw and tried to bite down on the breathing tube.

"Hey don't do that. Watch me. Follow my breathing. I know you're not feeling well Jay but the medicine will kick in soon. Just breathe in." he watched as his brother took a breath in." Great. Now breathe out." It took a lot of coaxing but Jay was finally starting to calm down.

Will looked to Crockett who was looking over the monitors. He went on the ventilator and dropped it down to an even lower setting. Jay was breathing on his own with very little assistance. "Ok. Lets just take it out and see how he does." He leaned over Jay again, and Jay moved from watching Will to make eye contact with him. "Ready to take that out?" Jay nodded. Causing another grunt.

"Ok ya let's get this out before he gets himself worked up again." Crockett grabbed for supplies, and laid them out across Jay's chest. He reached over and unplugged the hose from the tube and screwed the syringe into the end.

" Ok on the count of three i need you to cough as hard as you can. If you see any blood don't panic. It's just from you coughing up so much before you came in.`` Jay responded this time with two blinks. Crockett couldn't help but chuckle. Jay was finally catching on with the blinks.

"Ok ready?" Will and Hailey both held tighter to a hand. " 1, 2, and 3." It was quick. After a lot of coughing and wincing, the tube was out and quickly wrapped up and thrown away. A cannula was placed under his nose. "Great job Jay" Crockett responded while patting his shoulder. Will and Hailey couldn't be more proud. There he was tube free. Breathing on his own. And finally awake.

"I'm going to let y'all rest. I'll be back in after a bit to do another ultrasound. The pain meds should be kicking in soon. Get some rest man."

Hailey rose from her seat to give Jay a kiss on his forehead. Jay just looked at her and smiled. "Do you remember what happened?" she asked. Jay thought for a moment and nodded. "A man." Hailey shook her head yes. "Yea Jay. He shot you. Twice." She watched as Jay's eyebrows shot up. Things were slowly coming back. He was looking down to his leg and back up to his abdomen. He went to say something to her but instead let out a couple deep coughs.

Will sprung to his feet and went to get Jay a cup of water.

Hailey reached up to run her hand across his cheek. "" You really scared me this time Jay."

"Sorry." His voice was real raspy. She just smiled at him.

Will returned with a cup of ice water with a straw. He placed the straw in Jay's mouth so he could drink. After a couple long drinks he signaled he was done.

The pain meds were starting to work, and Jay was slowly drifting back to sleep. Hailey brought his hand to her mouth, planting a couple kisses along his fingers. "We'll talk more when you wake up Jay. Get some rest." Jay squeezed her hand and turned to look to Will. He pulled his hand from Wills and slowly moved to pull the cannula from his face.

"Hey now. That has to stay. You were just extubated Jay." Will said as he quickly replaced it and grabbed Jays hand. Knowing to not fall for that trick again and hold his hand til he fell asleep.

"Hurts."

"The canula hurts?" Will asked Jay.

Jay just smiled, looking at his brother with long, tired blinks. "Yeah."

"Nice try. That has to stay on for a couple days. Get some sleep." Will and Hailey watched as Jay drifted off to sleep.