Happy Tuesday, Bulletproof readers! Who's ready... for a crossover? :) Can't wait to hear your thoughts on this one. Let me know what you think in the reviews!
CW: Description of injuries.
Glass shattered.
Metal crunched and tore.
The impact had been immediate.
And there was nothing Jay could have done to stop it from happening.
Alarm bells.
ALARM VOICE: Squad 3, Truck 81, Ambulance 61, Engine 51… car accident. Intersection of East Lake Street and Michigan Avenue.
"Hailey… Hailey."
The blonde was crumpled in the seat next to him. Motionless. Her head and body slumped towards the window that no longer existed in one piece.
For half a second, Jay just stared at her as the worst case scenario crossed his mind. He could've swore his own heart stopped in that moment, until the actual sound of it pounding in his ears reminded him to move and his automatic fight instincts kicked in.
"Hailey!" Jay tried again, this time louder, ignoring the pain he felt in his own body as he fumbled to unbuckle his seatbelt, reach over, and place two fingers over the pulse point of his partner's neck. "Oh thank God."
A barely audible mumble left Hailey's lips as she started to regain consciousness. Her left hand, much smaller than his own, lifted shakily to reach for his wrist, her fingers weakly grasping onto it. "Jordan—" She managed, persevering through a throbbing pain in her head in order to try and turn it.
In the backseat, Jordan's side of the car was almost just as smashed in as Hailey's — except she was highly alert, her eyes wide with shock, her breathing rapid. "Mom," she squeaked, as Jay turned his head back to look at her. His own eyes matched hers in size as they landed and froze on the shard of glass that was protruding from her chest.
"Is she—" Hailey started to say, a cry of pain interrupting her words as she tried and failed to sit up and twist around all the same.
"Mommy!" The distress in Jordan's voice was more than enough to make Hailey try again, albeit also unsuccessfully. She yanked the handle of her door repetitively, but it wouldn't budge.
She let out a huff of frustration, but made sure her tone was reassuring as she said, "It's okay, baby, I'm right here." The fact that Jordan could talk — even shout — was a good sign, right? "My arm is stuck," she told Jay then, her voice lower and matter of fact as she spoke to him. "I can't move." Belatedly absorbing the look of alarm on Jay's face, she added, "Jay?"
Jay blinked before turning to look at her, attempting to gauge just how stuck she was, but he couldn't see much from where he was at. Just as candidly, he told her, "There's a piece of glass in her chest."
Hailey closed her eyes and took a breath — a feeble attempt at suppressing inevitable feelings of panic that immediately began to set in. That wasn't good. "Please help her," she whispered. But Jay was already on it.
He could hear the sound of sirens approaching in the distance as he opened his door and got out of the car only to climb back into the backseat of it. Having accidentally spotted through her own shattered widow the car that had bulldozed into them, Jordan was unable to peel her eyes away from the wreckage.
"Hey, Jordan, look at me," Jay encouraged, also absorbing the same sight: the drunk driver who'd been at fault stumbling in the middle of the street, and his passenger who was half inside of the car, half sprawled across the almost completely smashed hood.
Oh how he wanted to storm over there and slap a pair of cuffs on that driver. But his first two priorities were right here in front of him.
Instinctively, Jordan reached for him, whimpering.
"Whoa, whoa." Jay gently eased Jordan back by placing each of his hands on either of her shoulders. "I need you to stay still, until the paramedics arrive, okay?"
Jordan nodded, her eyes momentarily boring into his before flickering down to the glass impaled in her chest.
"Keep looking at me," he reminded her. Once her fearful eyes met his again, he added, "You're being so brave."
Lights and sirens blared behind Jay as Truck 81 rolled up to the intersection, followed by Ambulance 61, Squad 3, and Engine 51. Casey, Kidd, Mouch, and Otis were the first to hop out of their rigs. Casey sized up the scene and approached first as the others grabbed gear.
"The firefighters just got here," Jay started to explain then, "I'm going to go talk to them, okay? So they can help get you and your mom out."
"Okay," Jordan mumbled.
"You're doing so good, J," Hailey piped in then as Jay made his exit. Knowing what she knew now, she wanted to keep her talking. "I'm so proud of you."
"Jay?" Jay Halstead was the last person Matt Casey expected to find on the scene of the accident, let alone emerging from one of the vehicles involved in the crash itself. Quickly recovering from the initial surprise, he asked while glancing into the vehicle, "What happened?"
"We had the green," he started to explain, his words quick as he recounted what had happened. "This guy blew through the red and into us. Hailey's pinned in, Jordan's got glass in her chest." Noting that another officer who'd arrived on the scene was already dealing with and cuffing the guy who'd hit them, he asked, "What can I do to help?"
Casey nodded, noting the growing crowd of looky-loos with cell phones encroaching around them. "Keep them back so we can work." Then, into his radio, "81 to Main, this is Captain Casey, I need two more ambulances here."
MAIN: Copy that, Captain. Ambulance 36 and Ambulance 7 are two and three minutes out.
Sticking his head inside the already opened backseat passenger side door, Casey offered the little girl across the seat from him a comforting smile. "Hey Jordan, my paramedics are going to take a look at you, and then we're gonna get you outta here, okay?"
"I want to get out now," Jordan said.
Casey scooted to the side as Brett approached, climbing into the backseat with her like Jay had been to check her vitals, starting with her lung sounds. "Hi sweetie, remember me? My name's Sylvie."
"I remember," Jordan said, recalling the day she'd met her several months ago when Hailey had taken her over to Firehouse 51 for a tour. The firefighters had let her climb all over the trucks, which she'd absolutely thought were cooler than her mother's various work vehicles. They'd even let her try on their helmets and turnout gear. "I really liked all your trucks."
Brett smiled at her as she continued to rapidly assess her for other injuries, in addition to taking a closer look at the piece of glass embedded in her chest. In an effort to keep her talking, she asked, "What was your favorite thing about all the trucks?"
Jordan took a few quick, labored breaths before answering. "The ladders."
"The ladders are pretty neat," Brett agreed. "I'm going to stabilize this piece of glass so it doesn't move, because we're going to ride to the hospital together in my ambulance. It doesn't have ladders, but it's still very cool."
"Okay," Jordan agreed, managing to crack the tiniest hint of a smile.
At the same time, Casey moved around to the offending vehicle and approached the man on the hood, checking for a pulse. Grabbing his radio again, he corrected his initial statement. "81 to Main, you can cancel that second ambo." He then called out to Foster who was approaching with Squad, "This guy's DOA."
"Let's get this door open!" Severide shouted, approaching Hailey's side of the vehicle. Knowing just by the looks of it that there was no way that door was opening on its own, he added, "Cruz, grab the jaws!"
"Please get her out first," Hailey told him, leaning her head back against the headrest.
Severide glanced into the backseat where Brett was almost already finished stabilizing the glass in Jordan's chest. Casey had made his way back around to the other side of the car where he, Kidd, and Otis were waiting to assist with extrication. Looking back at Hailey, he said, "We've got her."
Foster climbed into the driver's seat then to take a look at Hailey, appraising various cuts that lined the right side of her face, while Severide began working on the door with his halligan.
Just then, smoke began to billow out from the hood.
"Let's get these two out of here!" Casey called out.
Herrmann crossed over from the Engine and assessed the cloud of smoke that was forming. "I don't like the looks of this," he stated. "Ritter, prep a hose line and charge it. Get ready to blast this thing if it lights up."
"Copy you," Ritter said.
"Ready to move her," Brett announced. Kidd slid into the backseat with a backboard, helping her move Jordan onto it.
"I want my mom," Jordan said.
"She'll be comin' right behind us, kiddo," Kidd promised her.
As if right on cue, Cruz arrived with the jaws, wedging them into the twisted metal Severide had already begun to tear apart. Right as the wedged blades started to rip the metal even further apart, red and yellow flames filled the air from the hood. Brett shielded Jordan at the same time as Kidd moved in to cover both of them. In the front seat, Severide leaned in through the window to do the same for Hailey and Foster.
Across the way, Jay's eyes lit up with panic once again. He raced towards his car — towards everything that mattered to him — as he witnessed Hailey and Jordan's lives fall into further jeopardy by the second.
Hose line in hand, Engine immediately doused the flames until they were out.
Jay stopped in his tracks, placing his hands on his thighs and exhaling heavily before making his way around to Hailey's side of the car while still leaving the firefighters enough room to work.
Casey and Otis transfered Jordan on the backboard from the car onto the gurney. Once they were all out, Brett raised her voice enough for Foster to hear her say, "Foster, let's go. 36 is here, they'll take over." Then, loud enough for Hailey and Jay to hear, "We're taking Jordan to Med."
"Go with her," Hailey said, looking to Jay who was sticking his head in through the window as much as he could.
"I'm not leaving you." His words were a firm statement that left no room for argument.
Yet, as Cruz started back up with the jaws, Hailey tried to argue with him anyways, attempting shout over the noise. But she didn't have the energy to get out more than just his name. "Jay!" His sentiment was endearing, but his choice was the wrong one. If Jay ever had to make a choice such as this, where it was between her and Jordan, Hailey always wanted him to choose Jordan. "I'm fine. I don't want her to be alo—"
A silent scream of sorts left Hailey's lips as the side of her body involuntarily lurched forward. The jaws had released the metal enough to free her arm, the jerk reaction from the force also pulling said arm free from the jagged piece of the doorframe that been lodged into it. Bright red blood immediately spurted out of it.
"Stop!" Jay screamed, practically jumping through the window to grab onto Hailey's arm, pressing his hands against it in a desperate attempt to stop the pulsatile bleeding that the pressure from the door had initially prevented.
"Cruz, stop!" Severide echoed, then yelled in the vicinity of where Ambulance 36 had parked their rig. "We need a medic over here!"
Hailey doubled over, fading fast with the amount of blood she was still losing despite Jay's efforts. "Stay with me, Hailey," he pleaded. "Come on."
Somehow, Hailey's eyes found Jay's before they fluttered closed.
He kept the pressure on her arm as the two paramedics from 36 arrived at his side to take over.
"Stay with me…"