Erin's POV
"Lily! Grayson! Time for breakfast!" I yell as I carry Lincoln into the kitchen where Hank is sliding french toast onto plates.
Lily comes running in with Grayson right behind her. "Yay! Grandpa Hank's french toast!"
Juliana finally comes in, holding Dean's hand. She sits down at the kitchen table when Dean has his food. I join her and notice she looks a little worried./
"Hey, what's wrong, Annie?" I ask just as David walks in. He had been sleeping in the guest room and Juliana joined me, since David refused to leave without me. I knew I needed to tell him to leave, but I still barely had the energy to get out of bed since the rescue mission. That was 2 months ago. The one that didn't bring Jay, Mouse, Captain Rickards, or the unit back.
"I'm worried about him, Mom. I mean, is he even still alive?" She asks with tears coming to her eyes.
"You know I can't give you an answer to that, honey. But we need to believe that he is still out there, and fighting to get back to us," I say and she shoots me a small smile and quickly gets up when David sits down next to me.
"Hey, Erin. Nice to see you out of bed for once," he says. We had been fighting since he got here but still he refused to leave.
"What are you even still doing here, David? I mean, this is Jay's apartment. It is a little weird," I say, hoping he'll get the hint and go home.
"So I'll stay in a hotel. Erin, I'm not leaving you here alone," he starts but I cut him off.
"David, look, I don't think we can do this anymore. Okay, I'm here for a reason, because I made a promise to Jay, to look after his kids. And I'm worried about him. But I just don't think we should see each other anymore," I say, and he looks almost angry, until his face softens and he calmly gets up.
"Alright. If that's how it's gonna be. I'm flying home. Have a nice life, Erin," he snaps before grabbing his few belongings and slamming the front door shut behind him.
I finally sigh in relief before heading back to Jay's bedroom. When I crawl back into his bed, wearing his shirt, I finally let the tears fall. I hadn't let myself cry since Captain Rickards called about the rescue mission. I told myself that I had to be strong, and that Jay would walk in the door any minute. But he never did. It had now been 6 months since Jay had made contact with anybody. The army assumed he was dead, but couldn't declare either him or Mouse KIA without a body. So I kept my hope. And I let the tears fall.
Jay's POV
I could hear Mouse's voice calling to me, telling me to hold on, but I just couldn't anymore. I lost count of how long it had been. I couldn't tell what parts of my body were hurt anymore, cause everything throbbed. My chest, my legs, my arms, my head.
I could faintly feel a knife being slid in between my ribs, and I gasped for air as blood filled my mouth and I could hear Mouse screaming, then what sounded like gunshots, and the last thing I saw before I blacked out was Erin, smiling and happy. And I let the blackness take me.
Mouse's POV
I was trying to get Jay to focus on me, but it was no use. His eyes were glassy and unfocused, and he didn't make a move to indicate he could hear me. Then the man came back in, a knife in hand. I started yelling, telling him to leave Jay alone. Then he thrust the knife right into Jay's chest. Then somebody was screaming. I realized it was me.
The man who stabbed him said he was useless now. Then gunshots rang through the house we were holed up in. The man put the knife to my throat. Then he was down. I saw that Logan was the one who shot him.
I quickly looked over to Jay, and my eyes widened in horror as I realized his chest wasn't moving up and down, he wasn't breathing, and there was so much blood. Too much blood.
They untied me and I rushed over to him just as they untied him. They laid him down and I immediately started compressions. I could see Logan started breaths, and hands were trying to drag me off of him, but I wouldn't budge. Logan was yelling at them to get the first aid kit. Suddenly everyone was moving around, and they were lifting us both onto a gurney, me still doing compressions.
As the helicopter took off, the medic took over, pounding on Jay's chest. They told me that they were flying us straight to Chicago, that it was the best option if he was gonna live. So, over the next 12 hours, me, Logan, and the two medics switched off on compressions until we finally saw the hospital.
As they unloaded us from the helicopter, I continued with compressions, even when I noticed Will was the one trying to pry me off of him. Connor Rhodes finally got me off and took over compressions. When I lost sight of Jay, I finally let myself collapse into Will and just as I passed out I saw Will's terrified face above me. Then everything went black.
Will's POV
I was in shock. The call came in that two soldiers were being flown in, that they were in extremely critical condition. I didn't let myself believe that it was them at first, because if I saw them and it wasn't them, I don't know how well I would've handled it. So when I got up there and I saw Mouse pounding on Jay's chest, I don't think I've ever moved faster in my life.
When I finally got to them, however, I froze. My heart nearly stopped beating. Jay wasn't even breathing. He was covered in blood. And Mouse was not letting go. He was yelling and telling them to just let him save him. I knew it was his PTSD kicking in. I tried to drag him off, but I just caught an elbow to the face.
Then Connor got him off and immediately kept up the CPR. He shot me a worried look before getting him inside. That's when Mouse collapsed onto me. As I lay him down and tried to get him to open his eyes, the army medics rushed over to help and that's when I saw the huge pool of blood coating his fatigues. I quickly put pressure on it just as they lifted him to a gurney and we rushed him inside. By the time we reached the ED, I handed him off to Natalie and Ethan and went straight to the break room.
Before I knew what I was doing, I pulled out my phone and called Hank.
Hank's POV
When I noticed my phone buzzing, I was more than surprised to see Will was the one calling me. He had just left for his shift barely two hours ago after watching the kids for the day.
"Will? What's going on? Did you forget something?" I ask as I answer the phone.
"Uh, hey, Hank. You need to get to Med now. Like right now," Will says as calmly as possible.
"What are you talking about? Will, what's going on?" I ask more urgently.
"Just grab the kids and get over here. Jay and Mouse were just flown in," Will says.
"What? How are they?" I ask in panic while running to Jay's room.
"Mouse lost a lot of blood but he'll most likely be okay. Jay's in much worse shape. I don't know if he's gonna make it. Hank, there was so much blood. Just get here," Will says before hanging up.
I burst into Jay's room to see Erin curled up on the bed in his shirt, crying.
"Erin!" I yell. Her head shoots up to look at me and her eyes are red and puffy.
"What? Hank what's wrong?" She says, noticing that something is wrong.
"It's Jay and Mouse. They were found. And they're at Med. Help me grab the kids and Juliana and let's go. Now!" I yell.
We're all in the car within a minute, and I turn on my sirens as I speed to the hospital. Erin's out of the car before it fully stops and I messily park before getting the kids and running in after her.
I find her standing in front of a trauma bay with tears streaming down her face. She is sobbing and yelling Jay's name. I rush over to her and when I see Jay, I freeze. I feel a few tears stream down my face as well as I see the state he's in. Every doctor and nurse in the emergency room is packed into the room working on Jay, including Will.
Then his heart stops beating and it takes everything I have to hold Erin back. I am suddenly extremely grateful that I called the unit right before we left because soon Antonio, Adam, and Kevin are at my side holding her back. But soon she calms down and they see Jay as well. Adam takes a step back and lets out a sob and puts his hand to his mouth. Antonio turns and punches a wall. Kevin grabs Erin's arm and gently leads her away.
Finally the monitors sound normal again, and the doctors step back. Maggie comes out with Dr. Rhodes and he asks who Jay's emergency contact is. I tell him I am, and that's when I hear Juliana next to me mumble a muffled oh my god.
Rhodes leads us to a private room where Erin and Kevin are he tells me that he should talk to me alone, but I say that he can tell everyone.
He gives me a skeptical look but begins to tell us and immediately I wish he hadn't.
Erin's POV
When Hank told me that Jay had been found, I thought I was dreaming. But when we got to the hospital, and I saw him in that trauma bay, lying there so helpless, covered in blood and bruises, I wanted to vomit. I could feel the tears streaming down my face but I couldn't make myself look away. Eventually his heart stopped and it took the whole team to hold me back. Finally Kevin led me away to a break room.
When Connor finally started approaching with Hank, Will, Adam, Antonio, Juliana, and all the kids behind him, I jumped up and asked him how he is. I really wish I hadn't.
"Well, to start, he has a pretty bad head injury. He was knocked over the head which has caused some swelling on the brain, but luckily it has started to go down with antibiotics. He broke his nose and his jaw on both sides. Unfortunately, we also found a fracture in his left eye socket. We're going to have to wait and see if it will require surgery. There was significant bruising around his throat and he has a crushed larynx so it will hurt to speak and swallow for quite some time," Connor started, shocking all of us.
"Moving down, both his shoulders have been repeatedly dislocated, but his left one was in worse shape. We have it in a sling to try and let it heal the best we can. His left collarbone was also shattered as well as his left elbow, hand, and three fingers. There was what looked like a bullet wound in his right arm but we got that sewed up and bandaged so it shouldn't be a problem," he said after pausing again. At this point, everyone was crying, even Hank, which almost surprised me, until I remembered how close they had gotten.
"Moving to his chest, we did find several stab wounds and gunshot wounds in his chest and abdomen, which were all mostly superficial, meant only to cause a lot of pain, except for one. One of them went right through his sternum, cutting the bone in half, which caused it to rupture a lung. We got that under control, but then his other lung was ruptured by one of his broken ribs. We also got that one under control, but he is on a ventilator to help him breathe. He has 18 broken ribs, and honestly, it's a miracle he didn't puncture a lung earlier. He also had burn marks and whip lashes on his back, but those were taken care of as well. As for his legs, he won't be walking for a while and will most likely need a lot of physical therapy. His right hip was fractured, along with his right ankle. His left knee was completely shattered, and it's possible with all this trauma, he will have a limp for the rest of his life," Connor finally finished, and I let out a sob at the end and buried my head in Hank's shoulder. Then I remembered the kids and was relieved to see that Juliana had taken them out of the room.
"What about Mouse?" I hear Hank ask and look to Connor and Will.
"He lost a lot of blood from a stab wound to the abdomen and he has a few broken ribs as well as a concussion but he'll be okay," Will answered.
"Can we see them?" I ask impatiently.
"Mouse, sure. Jay is a different story. We can't risk any of his wounds getting infected and I would rather you not. However, I know that won't stop you. So one at a time for only 10 minutes tops," Connor says.
"Okay, of course. Can I talk to Mouse first though?" I ask.
"Yeah, follow me," Connor says, and all of us are led to Mouse's room, where he is sitting up with a distant look on his face. Will motions for us to stay back as he slowly approaches the bed.
"Hey, Mouse. How you doing buddy?" Will asks calmly. Mouse turns to look at him but doesn't seem to recognize him.
"It's Will. I just wanted to check in, see how you're feeling," Will says, still slowly approaching.
At first I was confused about what Will was doing until I realized that Mouse was probably still in that desert and Will didn't want to startle him. What Mouse said next, however, chilled me to the bone.
"Please don't hurt him anymore. Please, hurt me instead. Just don't hurt him anymore," Mouse pleaded with Will, and everybody froze. Then Will raised his hand and slapped Mouse across the face. I let out a gasp and almost rushed forward when I noticed Mouse staring at Will in surprise.
"I'm sorry, I'm sorry. Did I hurt anyone?" Mouse asks breathlessly.
"No, it's okay, you didn't," Will began before I interrupted him.
"Mouse, what did you mean by that?" I ask and Will whips his head around and glares at me.
"What—what did I say" He stutters out.
"Um, well, you uh, you said that they shouldn't hurt Jay anymore, and that they should hurt you instead," I say slowly, realizing I shouldn't have brought it up.
"Oh. Yeah. Um, nothing, just forget I said that," he mumbles. "Oh, how's Jay doing, by the way? Nobody would, uh, tell me anything," he asks.
"Not good. But he's recovering. You can visit once you've rested up a bit," Will says, before motioning for me to follow him outside.
"Okay, I know that you weren't here to help Jay deal with his PTSD, but typically, when they say something during one of their 'episodes', you don't bring it up. It could trigger something and they could completely shut down. I made that mistake with Jay plenty of times. But I learned because I was here and you were off in New York with his daughter you neglected to tell him about," Will nearly yells. I let him, because I know I deserve it. But it still hurts.
"Look, Will, when are you going to accept it. Okay, I'm back. I never stopped loving Jay, but I was scared. Hell, I was terrified. I didn't know what to do. So, yeah, I left, and I was a horrible person back then, but I'm here now. And I sure as hell am not going anywhere," I shoot back and he gives a small smile.
"Fine. But if you hurt my brother again, I will make sure you never see him again. Now follow me. You can visit after me," he says with a smile at the end. I laugh back.
When we finally reach Jay's room I take a small peek through the window and I almost start crying again. I finally step back and let Will have the time with his brother alone.
