AN: Hi everyone! I am new to and this is my first fanfiction ever. I would very much like to know what you think about it, but please don't be mean. Thank you. Also, English is not my first language, it's my third language. I apologise in advance for spelling mistakes or mistakes in general. Okay, I already said too much. Enjoy!

Disclaimer: I own nothing here, except the plot.

CHAPTER 1

Chicago police department, district 210

6:30 pm

Jay Halstead looked through all the paperwork that he was supposed to finish that evening and sighed. He really loved being a cop - helping people, solving crimes and chasing criminals -but the paperwork that his job came with was just too much. Like, seriously too much. He had been going through them since he first came in and so were his coworkers. He smiled fondly at the pouting face Adam made whenever he had trouble remembering what to write on the papers (face he was making right now) or at the way Hailey wrinkled her nose when she came across a question she didn't know how to answer. He thought it was kinda cute.

Sighing, he got back to work desperately trying to concentrate enough to be able to finish all his paperwork before the end of the day. Not even two minutes later his phone started ringing, providing enough ddistraction to cause his concentration to shift to it. He smiled fondly at the caller's ID. Then he rolled his eyes. Only his brother would be concerned on his well-being on a Paperwork Day.

" Hey Will, what's up man?" he asked

"Jay?" a familiar voice spoke through the phone. Jay took another look at the caller's ID surprised, because last time he checked, his brother was not a woman.

"Who is this?" "Hello Jay, this is Maggie. I will need you to come at the ED as fast as you can." her voice shook at the end.

Maggie. The counter nurse, he remembered. Will was very good friends with her and she was always a smiley person. But why would she be calling him with his brother's phone? It made no sense. Unless..

"Has anything happened to Will?" he knew his voice wasn't as stable as he thought it would, and that was enough to draw the attention of the rest of the Intelligence team. He could see his coworkers' concerned glances but his mind barely registered them as he heard the words that Maggie spoke next.

"He... A guy walked in the ED with a gun and started shooting at anything he could before security tackled him down. I...Will was at the wrong place in the wrong time and... Jay, there was so much blood... Please come here quickly." her voice went from shaky to sobbing in a matter of seconds, but Jay couldn't bring himself to care. It was as time itself stopped. In a moment he could feel every heartbeat, every second, his blood rushing in his veins at the horrendous news. His brother had been shot.

His brother had been shot.

It was as if his mind couldn't process the information but at the same time was creating possible scenarios. Will, in his scrubs, laying at the floor in a pool of his own blood, gasping for air. Him standing before his baby brother's grave, all dressed in black.

No, no, no, no, this couldn't be happening. He felt the tears burn at the sides of his eyes and the oxygen get sucked from his lungs. This couldn't be happening to. Not to his baby brother, no.

And then the time got back to normal. He heard himself saying the words "I'm coming" to Maggie and then ending the phone call but it was like it wasn't him doing it. Before he even had the chance to get up properly, his friends were already asking questions and surrounding him, like he was some kind of animal exposed in a zoo for people to look at.

"Hey man, you're turning pale, is everything ok?"

"What happened?"

"What was the call about?"

"Hey are you okay?"

"Is Will okay?"

He noticed Voight was standing at the door of his office, leaning on the wall, listening to everything and monitoring the situation from afar, but not saying anything or showing any kind of emotion. He knew that he had to tell his sergeant what was happening, otherwise he won't let him go. So he decided to do just that.

"Will got shot" he said with a shaky voice, silencing the others. He knew his eyes were fixed on Voight and asking him the question he needed. The man nodded his head slightly. Jay knew what that meant. Go. So he did. He run downstairs, ignored the look Platt gave him and got to his car. He needed to get to Will. Immediately.

Chicago Gaffney Medical Center (Med)

5:55 pm, 15 minutes before the shooting

Ethan had the best jokes in the ED, and Will loved to hear them. He was aware that the hospital today was the quieter it had been in the last year as there were no patients in the waiting room, so he and Connor had decided to 'do paperwork' on the counter while listening to Ethan's jokes.

"Do you know what a policeman says to his belly bottom?" said Ethan, amusingly eying his two friends as they shook their head in unison, already smiling.

" he said YOU'RE UNDER A VEST!" he shouted.

Will thought it was a stupid joke but he couldn't hold back his laughter. He laughed until he could sense his eyes tearing up... and that's when he calmed down. Connor was already back at insulting Ethan and the ED doctor was defending himself by insulting the surgeon's career choice. Will knew that in the moment he felt at peace. After his break up with Natalie, everything and everyone had seemed too happy and too out of reach from him. But his friends knew exactly how to cheer him up and he felt very lucky to have them on his side. Also, he and Connor were back at the flirting game they had before he and Natalie became serious and that was enough to give him a sense of normalcy.

While Will was lost in his thoughts, a young man walked in. He wasn't very tall, had average dark hair, average dark eyes, average clothes, everything about him was average.

"Can anyone help me?" he said. In a second's time, Connor and Ethan seemed to disappear leaving him and Maggie to deal with the issue. Will smiled fondly at their antics, but was also kinda annoyed by his colleagues' childish behaviour.

"Oh, come on guys!" he exclaimed before taking two steps in the young man's direction.

"Of course. How may I help you?"

"I have quite a big problem"

Will raised an eyebrow. " And what seems to be this problem?"

The man raised a gun unexpectedly and pointed it at his chest. Will felt his eyes widening and quickly took a step back but apparently that wasn't fast enough.

"The problem is that everyone in this place is still breathing" the man said and pulled the trigger.

Will felt himself fall. Felt the cold floor under him and felt the other shots. The only other person at the counter was Maggie and he really hoped she's alright. The next thing he knows, there are people shouting really hard around him.

The pain hit him like a train. Straight to his chest. He gasped, and by doing that he coughed and tasted iron in his mouth (he's pretty sure that's blood). He's also having trouble with breathing. He wheezed, trying to get oxygen in his lungs, and brought his hands up to his chest where he felt his blood. He then tried to move his head to help his breathing but he was only making things worse. Before he could get his head on the previous position he noticed his own pool of blood around the floor and he knew he was quickly bleeding out. As a doctor, he knew that this lowered his chances of survival but as a patient he really hoped to get through this. Every second felt like he was burning in hell. The pain was unbearable, and it seemed like forever when he last saw his coworkers.

He began to feel lightheaded. He knew that it's because of the blood loss and the lack of oxygen, and he also knew he must stay awake. But sleep sounds so good. No pain, no problems, no hard-time breathing. Just peace. He wondered if this is what dying felt like.

He thought of Jay. He knew his brother would be devastated at the news of his death but he also felt like an awful brother all the time. Over the years he had just become a weight on Jay's shoulders, especially when he abandoned him and mom during her last days on Earth. What he had always wanted was to make sure that his brother was safe. Just that. Take care of him when he got himself into trouble, but he knew he wasn't a good brother. He was never good enough to deserve to be Jay's brother. He was sure that his big brother would be better off without him once he got over the pain of the loss. And besides, he was so tired of not ever being good enough for anyone, not even for Jay.

He thought of Natalie. Why in the world did he ever think he deserved to be with her? She was so perfect! He was just a mess. Sooner or later it was meant to end. Because she would realise who she fell in love with and deem him not worth. And she had made it quite clear that she didn't want to have anything to do with him anymore. He knew that it was only right, but it didn't stop it from hurting so damn much.

Last he thought of Connor. As the man materialized in front of him, Will spared his last thoughts to his best friend. He was such a good man and deserved the world. Not those wicked love affairs that he had. He wished Connor the best of luck, in love life and working life alike.

He saw Ethan and Maggie kneeling over him and he was so glad to see that Maggie was alive and well. He faintly heard someone call his name and rub his sternum but he isn't able to remain conscious anymore. So, knowing he's in the best of hands, he closes his eyes and lets himself go.

Maggie couldn't believe what just happened. She had noticed the young man's weird behaviour, but she hadn't given him much attention, too intent on closely watching Rhodes and Choi. Those two, as good as they were in their professional field, were like two children if left alone. They had started bickering again while Will watched them fondly with a smile. She rolled her eyes and asked herself how she had gotten in an almost empty ED with those idiots. She noticed the young man when he came in and apparently so did Rhodes and Choi as they got away as fast as they could so they didn't have to deal with the new patient before he could even finish his call for help. There was something about this guy that gave her the chills, but she couldn't quite put her finger in it. She guessed it was his average look. Nobody was ever that average. Nobody.

She heard Will approach him and ask him how he could help him. She shrugged and ignored their conversation, returning her attention to one of the patient's chart. Maybe that uneasy feeling she got was just a bluff. She pressed her hand to her forehead. Maggie was sure it was because of how tired she felt. She really needed some sleep

The shot rang through her ears and she jumped. With horror she saw Will fall back and heard the nurses and the patients' screams of terror. Then the man pointed his gun to her head. Before she knew what she was doing, she ducked her head under the counter. A few bullets flew above her head and she felt the oxygen leave her body. She heard the security tackle the gunman down and cuff him, but she couldn't bring herself to get up. She knew that seeing a man she considered as a brother bleeding out on the ED floor would shake her awake but she didn't feel safe enough to get up. She had almost been murdered! The man who shot bullets in her direction was brought away, but that didn't keep her from seeing her whole life fly before her eyes. Her sad moments, her regrets and happy memories swam around her head and she felt herself get lost in them.

"Maggie! I need help here!" Connor's voice shook her back to reality and she understood all of the sudden what she had to do. She got up and knelt beside Will who in the meantime had bled out pretty quickly. She and the two doctors had to sit in their friend's pool of blood to get to him.

"Will! Will, can you hear me? Oh my God Connor, these are at least 1.5 litres of blood here!" Choi exclaimed, panic evident in his voice.

Rhodes' eyes widened as he and everyone else noticed Will's eyes fluttering closed. He rubbed his sternum. "Will! Don't close your eyes, stay with me! Ethan, he has pleural effusion! (AN: Idk what it's called when you have blood in your lungs so I googled it ahah) We need to get that blood out of his lungs so he can breathe".

Maggie saw Choi nod and heard him call for the nurses to get him a gurney. While the others were busy stopping the bleeding, she got her hand into Will's pocket and took his phone. She needed to call Jay and tell him what happened. She helped get the redhead to the gurney and sadly watched as he was wheeled away. Christmas was rolling around and she still had the little present Will had bought her in her pocket. She took it out and watched the way he had carefully wrapped it up with bright red and green colours combined. The thought that this may be the last thing her little brother had handed to her brought tears in her eyes as she dialed Jay's number and waited for him to pick up.

"Hey Will! What's up, man?" Jay's amused voice spoke through the phone and it pained her to give him this kind of news.

"Jay?" she called, unsure of what to say.

"Who is this?"

Ah. He expected his baby brother to call him, not her. Fair enough. She cleared her throat and answered his question.

"Hello Jay, this is Maggie. I need you to come to the ED as fast as you can." she was aware at how the voice shook at the end. She needed to keep herself together.

Jay paused. "Has anything happened to Will?" she really didn't know how to answer that.

"He... A guy walked in the ED with a gun and started shooting at anything he could before security tackled him down." she couldn't hold the tears back anymore.

"I...Will was at the wrong place in the wrong time and... Jay, there was so much blood... " her sobs were now clear and loud and she felt incredibly sorry that she couldn't hold them back right in that moment but everything that happened, from her getting shot at to seeing the redhead bleeding out came back to her. "Please come here quickly." Jay didn't answer for a long moment, probably just taking in what she just told him.

"I' m coming" he said, hanging up.

She sighed and sat down, letting her emotions take control of her

Chicago Med

7:00 pm

Jay Halstead had never run this fast in his life. Not even when he was in Afghanistan. The doors of the ED never seemed so distant to him that in that moment. Maybe knowing that something so important as his brother's life was at risk changed his perspective. He had lost a lot of brothers overseas but this was different. When they all joined the army they knew what risks they were going to face, also they were prepared for their eventual passing away, but Will wasn't. For God's sake, Will was a doctor, his job was to save lives not risk his! He knew that it was a selfish thought, but he had always thought that his baby brother would bury him, never the other way around. Just thinking about it made him shiver so he shoved this thought at the back of his mind and forced himself to calm down as he walked into the ED.

The place was a mess: the enormous pool of blood on the floor spoke volumes on his brother's conditions and the bullets definitely left their signs on the wall. He stopped and looked around to decide which direction to take. Right at that moment he noticed a big crowd of nurses and doctors standing around a room so he approached them. When they noticed him coming, they opened a way for him to pass. While he walked through them, he recognized a few familiar faces but he didn't stop to greet them. At the beginning of the crowd, Maggie, the nurse who called him in the first place, was waiting for him. She was sobbing and looked at him with pity.

"Oh my God, Jay, I'm so sorry." she said.

Jay looked at her confused until a movement caught his eye inside the room.

His brother was paler than usual, red blood splattered through his chest, contrasting with the pale colour of his skin. A tube was forced through his mouth to help him breathe and other smaller tubes were connected to screens and IVs. But what drew his attention the most were Dr. Rhodes movements.

He was making compressions on his brother's chest. Because Will's heart had stopped.

Jay felt himself freeze. Then, before he could catch himself, fall on his knees. His brother was dying and there was nothing he could do. Nothing.