Ok, so thanks again for the continued lovely reviews and readers following! They do help me type faster! This one is a bit of a long one because I couldn't find the right place to pause. Enjoy!
Chapter Six
Crockett slowly pushed open the door to the ICU waiting room. He found Will and Hailey asleep, laying across the seats. Voight was sat upright staring at his phone, wide awake- his eyes met the doctors instantly. In those first few seconds, Voight tried desperately to read Dr Marcel's body language. Crockett realised this, a threw a positive smile onto his exhausted face. He gently placed a hand on Will's shoulder to wake him, as Voight did the same to Hailey. Will took a moment to come to, forgetting momentarily where he was. He screwed his face up as seeing Crockett caused the memories to all come flooding back. Hailey however, was up in a second ready to grill him for all his information.
"Take it easy..." Voight whispered to Hailey, trying to get eye contact with her. She was focused intently on Dr Marcel.
"Ok guys. He's done really well in surgery..." He jumped straight in. Sighs of relief were heard. "He looks a little different to last time you saw him!"
"That's great news." Hailey said, smiling.
"Any problems?" Will asked, concerned that Crockett was hiding something.
"No, we had a few tight moments where Jay decided to keep us on our toes, but nothing we couldn't handle. I popped some fiberglass casts on his wrists for the fractures."
"He's gonna love that." Will interrupted, allowing himself to relax a little with a half-smile.
"Yeah, well... There's a lot about this he's not gonna love but he'll just need to get on with it unfortunately. We've kept him deeply sedated for now, but if things start improving in a few days, we'll reduce that down. His fever has responded to the medication and is now gone, which is great news. Is there anything you would like to ask me?" Crockett said kindly.
"Can we see him?" Hailey asked desperately.
"Of course, so normally we wouldn't allow all three of you in there, but under the circumstances, I'm sure it'll be fine." He stated. "But guys, you need to keep the noise to a minimum."
"No problem." Hailey said standing, she was more than ready to see Jay.
Crockett led them down the corridor towards Jay's room. There was a uniformed officer sat on a chair outside his door, keeping guard.
"I'll leave you guys to it." Crockett said, staying near the door.
"Thank you for everything." Will said.
"No problem. I'll come back up tonight to see how he's doing." He turned and left, leaving them to open the door and step inside.
The lights were dimmed and the sounds of the ventilator working filled the air. A nurse was at the end of his bed documenting observations on a tablet, she smiled at their arrival, and mouthed a silent 'hello' so as not to disturb Jay. Jay however was deeply asleep, oblivious to anything around him. He was covered from the foot of the bed to his waist with a blue, standard issue hospital blanket. His gown had been pulled down loosely to allow for monitoring wires. The first thing that struck Hailey was Jay's clean-shaven face, and the dirt and smell had gone. The thick layer of grease and grime had also gone from his hair, and the smell of strong antiseptic soap filled her nostrils. A world away from the normal aftershave he normally wore. Removing the dirt had revealed far more bruising than she had originally seen before, and she stood there taking it all in. Hailey acknowledged how much weight he had lost whilst he had been gone. His muscles were still there, but his whole body appeared smaller and more vulnerable. She couldn't believe the number of tubes and wires they had coming from him, either going to bags of medicine, collection bags or machines for monitoring. She covered her mouth with her hand at the shock of everything. Will noticed her distress and touched her shoulder to gain her attention.
"I know it's scary, but remember all this stuff is helping him, right?" Will whispered to her. She nodded in understanding, but still struggling to believe that it was her Jay lying underneath it all.
"Can I touch him..." She said softly. The nurse stepped forward to answer.
"Yeah, it's fine. You can hold his hand, touch him gently. Some people say they can hear you, so it would be ok to talk to him, but just not for too long. He needs to rest." The nurse answered quietly, smiling at Hailey trying to ease her obvious discomfort.
Will went around to the other side of the bed, sat down and gently held Jay's sore hand.
"Jay, it's Will. You're doing great bro, just keep resting. You're safe now." Will said.
Hailey approached Jay slowly, reaching in she gently kissed his forehead. Running her hand through his hair, she stopped when she felt small lumps of swelling. She pulled her hand away and sat down next to him. Her eyes wandered to his broken wrist in front of her, the white fiberglass dressing stopped just short of his elbow, his still red and swollen fingers poking out the other end.
"That's the side his broken collar bone is, so try not to move that arm, ok?" The nurse said to Hailey. She pulled her hands away instantly, not wanting to cause him any more pain than he'd already experienced. Her eyes moved towards his shoulder, and she could see deep purple bruising over the break. She suddenly realised she was crying again.
"It's ok, he's comfortable at the moment." The nurse said, stepping forward with a fresh tissue for Hailey, she took it gratefully. "It all looks intense here, but he's been stable since he arrived. We're keeping a close eye."
Voight stood back at the door watching. Seeing Jay again sent a rush of guilt and anger through his already troubled mind. He wanted to drag all the members of the gang that did this to Jay to the silos and ensure they were never seen again. Prison would be too good for these men. But first, he had to solve the million-dollar question of how to find them. The Gangs Unit had initially held the case for over five months, but all their leads ran dry, giving them zero progress. Women were still going missing, and it was likely they were being trafficked or killed. After a high profile attempted kidnap of a woman on the streets of Chicago in broad day light- Deputy Superintendent Miller turned the case over to Voight and his team. Jay going in undercover had been an extreme last resort, one that Voight didn't totally agree with, but they were out of options. He had been undercover for over six weeks before he'd even managed to get close to the gang. He had just started trying to work with them when it all went so very wrong.
"Hailey, I'm gonna head back to the district." Voight said gruffly. "Keep me updated." With that, he left.
"Is he ok?" Will asked.
Hailey shrugged her shoulders. "Who knows. I think he feels this is all on him."
"Don't think Jay would agree with that." Will replied.
"Yeah, I know, but Voight doesn't see it that way."
A silence fell between the two of them. They watched as the nurse performed check after check, constantly making sure Jay remained stable. Shortly after, a new nurse appeared and all care was handed to her, the day shift had officially begun. Will offered to go and get breakfast and Hailey readily accepted.
Will hadn't been gone long when Trudy walked into the room.
"Hey you..." She said, Hailey stood up smiling. Trudy reached towards her for a rare hug, and they held each other tightly. "How are you holding up?" Trudy asked her.
"Yeah, I'm good. Exhausted. But just so pleased Jay is doing ok." She said pulling away and turning towards the patient in the room.
Trudy reached out and rubbed Jay's leg. "Hey Halstead, Upton tells me you've not been misbehaving yet. Keep it that way, ok?" She smiled, and whilst removing her jacket, she went and sat in Will's chair. "You know the real fun will start when he wakes up and decides it's time to go home." She stated, rolling her eyes.
"Yeah, for someone who hates hospitals so much, he sure does like to end up inside them way too often." Hailey replied, shaking her head picturing the frustrated Jay that they all knew was coming.
"Where's Voight?" Trudy asked.
"He left earlier, didn't seem himself. Said he was heading back to the district." Hailey answered, not taking her eyes away from Jay. She found herself staring at the rising and falling of his chest.
"Ok." Trudy replied. Hailey knew she would go check on him, it didn't need to be suggested.
There was a moment of silence between the two women as they both stared at Jay. It was Trudy that broke the silence.
"I can't believe the state of the place they kept him in for so long." She said glancing at Hailey.
Hailey nodded. "He was a mess when we found him." She whispered, her thoughts taking her back to when she found him swinging from his wrists in the dark, despite being in and out of consciousness, Hailey had been certain he was dead. "To be honest, once they knew he was a cop I'm surprised they didn't just kill him outright. I don't get why that wasn't their plan."
The nurse looked up from her paperwork, shocked at what she was overhearing. She didn't know much about the situation surrounding her patient's injuries, only that he had been a kidnap victim that had been badly beaten.
"What happened to Jay?" She asked.
Hailey looked at the nurse debating how much to say, then slowly turned back, and played gently with his fingers in her hand. She explained how he had ended up in his current situation, leaving all complex details about the case out. The nurse appeared horrified.
"I can't believe that could happen here in Chicago." She said surprised. Hailey and Trudy glanced at each other, they were all too aware of what really went down in the city, but perhaps other people were not. "I mean, we get the stabbings and the shootings. But this! This is like the stuff of warzones, it's insane." The nurse added, still shocked at the level of violence the city's gangs had now reached.
"Yeah. The city is like a warzone at times. Cops like Jay need to be more careful." Trudy said, reaching out and rubbing his arm.
"I did notice his medical history includes quite a few trips here." The nurse said pointing to his large blue file of main hospital records.
"Yeah, always in the centre of the action he is." Trudy replied.
Hailey found herself staring at Jay's face again, silently wishing he would wake up despite knowing that was impossible as the infusions of drugs kept him so deeply under. She looked at the thick clear tube coming out of his mouth from his throat, delivering much needed air. There was a cream-coloured tube delivering food up his nose and directly down to his stomach. He also had a clip fixed to his ear with a red light, monitoring his oxygen levels. She knew that when he did wake up, he would find all these things really irritating and it would be a battle to keep things in place. She guessed the first one he'd attempt to pull out would be the large tube down his throat.
Will walked back in carrying a brown paper packet of food and two coffees. He smiled at Trudy sat in his chair.
"If it isn't the other, more sensible Halstead!" Trudy said standing up. "How are you holding up?" She asked more seriously.
"Yeah, all good. Just so glad to have my brother back. I was so sure he was..." Will stopped himself, unable to finish the sentence. He put the drinks down on the table and dug inside the bag to find Hailey's food. "I didn't realise you were here; I would have got you something." He said changing the subject.
"You're good Halstead. I'm leaving now, just popped in to check Jay was behaving and to get an update." She said, putting her coat back on. "Keep me posted please Upton." She said with a nod, leaving the room.
Hailey and Will tucked into their breakfast and tried to get used to the new situation around them.
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Voight sat at his desk awaiting his team to arrive for the day. He had sent them message updates about Jay late into the night but told them all to get sleep as they had a long day ahead of them. He yawned and stretched out, sliding his feet up onto his desk. He glanced at his watch; it was just after 8am. He contemplated how long it had been since he'd actually last slept in a bed. It had to be over a week. He had been catching the odd nap here and there in his office whilst he worked tirelessly on every possible lead to find Jay. He was absolutely shattered, but nothing was going to stop him finding this gang.
He only realised he had dozed off when a noise suddenly jolted him awake, he opened his eyes to see Trudy putting a coffee down in front of him.
"Figured you'd need this."
He sighed in response, stretching. "You figured correctly."
"Do you need to go home and get some rest before starting this?" She asked, gesturing out towards the bull pen with her arm.
Voight laughed. "With one of my team in the ICU? No. We start right now. We're gonna go over everything again, from the beginning. We have to find these bastards." He said, standing up. Taking his coffee with him, he moved past Trudy out into the open office space. He put his drink down on a desk and starting staring at the board, begging the answers to come pouring out.
At that moment Adam, Kim and Kevin walked up the stairs and into the bullpen.
"Where we at Sarge?" Kevin asked, standing in front of the board.
"We're not anywhere!" Voight answered frustrated. "Today we're gonna start from scratch. Go over everything we have again."
Kim and Adam glanced at each other, picking up on Voight's exhaustion and stress. He was wound so tightly, it appeared he would snap at any moment.
"Boss, it's a bonus that we do have Jay back though, right?" Adam suggested.
"It doesn't matter!" He shouted, picking up a set of files and banging them hard down upon the desk, making Kim jump. Adam looked puzzled at his response and Voight continued. "I'm glad he's back, but this doesn't stop Adam! Women are still being taken, dying! What about Jay? What if we found him accidently? What if they are now hunting the city down looking for him again? You wanna see Jay back there? With these animals?" Voight shouted, poking a finger into Adam's chest with each question.
Trudy had seen enough and stepped in.
"Woah, ok. That's enough. You guys, make a start. Hank, your office." She said with authority. He sighed and walked back inside his office, Trudy followed and softly closed the door behind her.
"What was that all about man?" Adam asked quietly.
"He's real pissed." Kevin observed.
"He's worried about Jay and he's absolutely exhausted, has anyone actually seen him go home lately?" Kim asked staringly blankly towards his office. She was also exhausted; having had hardly any sleep at all waiting for news.
"Nah, I think he's moved into there now." Adam said raising his eyebrows towards Voight's office. "Platt will sort him." He said, finalising the conversation.
He got up and walked towards the board- pointing his finger towards one of the gang members they had managed to successfully identify, but never catch with solid evidence. "I have a CI that has connections with this guy, I've spoken to him before, and it led to nowhere but let's take another shot at him." He said looking around to Kim.
At that Voight came rushing out of his office with a new enthusiasm. He grabbed another white board and dragged it beside the existing one covered in case information. He pulled a marker pen out and started scribbling. It appeared whatever Trudy had said had got him back on track, all four of them waited for Voight to start talking.
"Right, we need to focus on that phone call we received last night. Why did they call us? Who made the call? Who's idea was it? Why would they just hand him back to us? None of it makes any sense." He stated. "There must be a bigger plan to this, we need to work it out."
"Boss, I was just gonna go speak to a CI of mine about Jason, that one..." Adam said, pointing at the gang member's photo again.
"Ok. Take Kim. Kevin, you're gonna speak to Sergeant Platt here and get everything down about that call she received, leave nothing out. I'm gonna go out and speak to a CI of mine." He gave the orders, grabbed his jacket from his office and left the bullpen saying nothing else. He climbed into his truck and sent a quick message to Hailey before driving off at speed.
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Back at Chicago Med, Hailey was walking back into Jay's room having briefly stepped out to freshen up. She looked at Jay and nothing had changed. The noises from the machine remained at the same pace, a sign she felt was reassuring. Will had reclined his chair a little and was laying back with his eyes closed. She quietly sat down trying not to disturb him.
"Your cell phone buzzed." He said, not opening his eyes, and obviously not asleep.
"Ok. Sorry if it woke you." She reached into her bag to see an update request from Voight on her cell. She sent back a quick 'no change' message and dropped her phone onto silent.
"It's ok, I'm just resting my eyes- not sleeping." He said wearily. "He's just had some blood drawn and I'm waiting on the results."
Will sat up fully when the nurse walked back into the room. She had a slip of paper in her hand and headed towards the table at the end with all his notes and paperwork.
"Well?" Will asked with a hint of rudeness, troubled that she hadn't shared the findings instantly on returning.
"They're all good Dr Halstead." She said not reacting to his annoyance. Two more nurses appeared at the doorway.
"You ready?" One of them asked.
"Yes." She replied, turning towards Will and Hailey. "We're going to do Jay's personal care now and roll him. How would you two feel about stepping out to grab a coffee?" She suggested expectantly.
Hailey frowned at being asked to leave, but then considered it was probably for the best. She was certain Jay would be unimpressed if he found out they had been watching him throughout his care.
"Sure, no problem. How long should we be?" Hailey asked.
"Twenty, thirty minutes should be fine." The nurse said, pulling equipment and creams out of the storage baskets to help Jay.
They left to go get takeout coffee and then took a walk down towards the river to drink them. The sun was already quite hot, peaking through the tall buildings and Hailey realised it felt good to feel the warmth on her. They found a bench but didn't talk much, neither of them had the energy.
"What are they doing to Jay?" Hailey asked after a short time, staring down towards the people walking along the riverside.
"They said they are rolling him, so it's likely he'll be in a prone position when we get back, as in face down." He explained.
"Can he be face down on a ventilator?" Hailey asked surprised.
"Yeah, he's got a lot of pressure sores already from sleeping on the concrete I assume, so they'll have to keep rolling him as much as he can tolerate to avoid getting more."
"Tolerate? Will it cause him distress?" She asked concerned.
"Well, probably not at present, but as they ween him away from the sedation- it's likely rolling him will be uncomfortable. He's not gonna appreciate it."
"They'll give him pain relief though, right?" She quizzed Will.
Will let out a small laugh. "Yeah, they'll try. Jay doesn't often accept pain relief." Will said shaking his head.
"Well, we'll make him." Hailey said confidently. "I can't just sit back and watch him suffer again after everything he's been through."
"We can only try." Will said. "Shall we head back?"
Hailey stood slowly, chucking her cup into a trash can next to her. She stretched out her sleepiness and then they both headed back along the riverside to Med.