It was a beautiful and sunny summer morning, precisely on June 25th. It was a very special day for Will, it was his sweet Natalie's birthday.
Every year he looked forward to that day to surprise his beloved with party and special gifts.
But this year would have been a little different. Natalie's parents, Carol and Luis Conte had insisted on organizing the party for her, but asking Will, who had always taken care of everything, if he had special requests.
The doctor left them free to choose whatever they liked. The only thing he asked was that there were no peanuts that he was allergic to. At least he asked them for food without a trace of such dried fruit so that he could eat it.
Not having to think about the party, then Will set about finding the perfect gift.
It had to be a jewel, of that he was sure.
A couple of days earlier he started touring various jewelers. It was difficult to choose among the thousands of beautiful things in each of the shops he visited.
In the end, Will decided what he would get from her: a pair of earrings with diamonds and aquamarine. They would have looked great in the doctor's ears. He already imagined it ...
The day before the party, early in the morning, around 8:30 am, before starting his shift at the hospital, he went to the jewelry store to collect the gift and finish paying for it.
Everything was ready, he couldn't wait to see Natalie's face when she saw and put them on.
The party was organized for the next day at 8:30 pm in a small Chicago place.
In one of the breaks Will also ordered a huge bouquet of flowers for his girl which was to be delivered to her at the end of her shift at 6pm.
By doing so, Halstead could have seen the astonished reaction of his beautiful doctor. He was no longer in the skin.
Will's greatest desire was to make her and Owen happy. They were, along with Jay, the most important people in his life.
Finally, after a long wait, the day of the party arrived. All of Natalie's colleagues had been invited to it.
It had been Will's job to give out the invitations. Meggie Lockwood, April Saxton, Ethan Choi, Connor Rhodes, Sharon Goodwin, Daniel Charles, and others such as Monique would have been present. Everyone could have gone to the party alone or with husbands, wives, boyfriends or with simple companions.
Jay had also been invited, who had been pestering Will with calls in the previous days to get some advice on what he should buy as a gift for his sister-in-law.
At work, that day had been pretty quiet for Will and Nathalie with lots of breaks.
At 6:00 pm, punctual as clockwork, the delivery boy arrived and delivered the flowers to Dr. Manning. It was a beautiful bouquet with many roses. When she saw him she gasped.
Obviously all the nurses, especially Meggie, were curious to know who she was who sent their. Fortunately Natalie had removed the note by hiding it in her gown away from the eyes of the curious, pretending that the flowers were anonymous, without dedication.
Placing the bouquet in a temporary vase in the doctors room, in a moment when she was alone, the doctor took the note from her pocket, opened it and read its contents.
On it was written one of the sweetest dedications ever made to her:
"A bouquet of flowers for a fabulous princess. I love you, light of my eyes. Happy birthday Will."
And who could have sent her flowers if not him? It was a gift from her sweet love.
The doctor waited for Halstead to finish the visit she was having, dragged him into an empty room and gave him a very strong kiss thanking him for the flowers. After doing that she greeted him. She was going to get ready for the party, then they would meet again there.
Will continued to visit patients for another hour and then once his shift was over he too ran home to get ready. It must have been gorgeous for his beautiful girls
At 8:20 pm punctually Will was at Natalie's house, he had picked up her and Owen to go to the party.
As soon as the little boy saw the doctor's car from the window he opened the door and jumped into Will's arms. Together they then, that evening, waited for the doctor to arrive.
She was beautiful, Halstead gasped as he saw her walk through the door. She wore a sheath dress with a tight-fitting bodice on the chest that then came down a little bit wider at the hips in turquoise.
The doctor, recovering from her shock, took her under her arm and made her get into the car by opening the door for her. Then after fixing Owen he got on the driver's side and left to reach the party venue.
The place where Natalie's parents had organized the party wasn't far away.
The three arrived quickly and were greeted as soon as they entered the room by the first guests who had already arrived.
Will went, with Owen who followed him everywhere when he saw him, to greet Natalie's parents.
Carol after asking him what he thought of how she had organized the party she showed him the foods that he could have eaten, those without the presence of peanuts.
The woman had paid great attention and had many things prepared especially for him.
She liked Will a lot and she didn't want him to feel sick.
In the restaurant there were several tables with lots of good things, sweet and salty in quantity.
On a table at the back of the room in a central position there was also a large and beautiful cake.
The evening passed and it was relatively quiet. Everyone ate, drank and had a lot of fun.
The doctor blew out the candles, she took the usual photos and in the end there was the cutting of the cake.
Will was happy, seeing Natalie happy made him feel over the moon.
The doctor had also delighted the guests by singing and playing for his girls that evening, he had brought the guitar with him. He knew his girlfriend would love to hear him play and sing for her.
Before taking a piece of cake, however, Carol approached him asking him to taste one of the pastries she had made for him.
- I made them with my hands excluding peanuts just to avoid you having problems. I want you to taste them. - the woman told him.
- Thank you,- she said, immediately taking one. She couldn't refuse after such a request.
- It's a family recipe, we've been passing it down for generations.- She said.
- Really good, - the doctor confirmed.
What Will sadly couldn't know was that Owen had taken a spoonful of peanut butter from the jar that was on the table and a few drops had fallen right on the pastry he was eating.
Will had been really lucky he had managed to take the only cookie, among those that Carol had made especially for him, on which had fallen a bit of peanut butter which the child had then immediately cleaned up with his finger.
Immediately the doctor began to feel strange, but he didn't give the situation any weight.
He continued to enjoy chatting with colleagues and playing with Owen who was always around him.
After about half an hour he began to pinch his throat, in fact from time to time he coughed and his nose ran.
Even then, however, Will didn't care about those symptoms, he just thought he had caught cold.
Despite everything, he gladly accepted when Sharon Goodwin asked him to sing another song.
Halstead sat down and started playing the guitar. This time, however, there was something different, something was wrong.
The doctor tried to intone a few notes, but unfortunately the more he did it, the more he felt the need to cough. He then decided to just play and let others sing.
He didn't want anyone to understand that he was sick. Especially he didn't want to let Natalie guess. He didn't want to ruin his party. Knowing that he wasn't feeling well she would be worried and she wouldn't enjoy the rest of the evening.
From time to time he went out feeling the need to take a breath of oxygen. All of a sudden there seemed to be so many people in the room that they even ran out of air.
He couldn't understand what was happening to him.
His throat was getting more and more sore and he felt more and more the need to cough.
Back in the room he went to the table where the drinks were and took some water.
Of course everyone started making fun of him because he didn't drink alcohol.
Only Jay didn't, on the contrary, noticing what he was doing, his brother came up and asked him if he was feeling well.
- I'm fine, quiet. Is it possible that a man who drinks water must cause so much laughter and concern? replied the doctor, coughing from time to time.
The detective thought that all in all his brother was right, but there was something about him that didn't make him feel comfortable.
He decided, therefore, to keep an eye on him.
Jay Halstead's hunch was well founded. Will's health was deteriorating rapidly.
While he was arguing with Meggie and April the doctor sensed something wrong with his stomach that was twitching making him feel upset. A strong sense of nausea took hold of him enough to force him to apologize and to move away from the two nurses to go to the bathroom.
As soon as there he felt the need to empty the contents of his stomach and began to vomit.
As soon as he finished he walked over to the sink and stood with his hands resting on it for a while.
He was dizzy and even breathing was difficult. He was fatigued, he was panting and with each breath it was possible to hear a hiss.
In addition there was that annoying cough resulting from that equally annoying burning in the throat he had been having for a while. Moreover, everything around him seemed to be in constant motion, as if the bathroom was rotating. The doctor was confused, he saw everything out of focus.
Meanwhile Jay was looking around for his brother.
He was distracted for a second and lost sight of him. He took a quick look inside the room but was unable to find him.
So he went to look for him outside the club. Will, however, wasn't even there.
The only place he hadn't gone was the bathroom. As soon as he entered it he saw it. His brother was there, leaning over the sink, panting, pale, sweaty.
He was greeted, as soon as he was inside the room, with the acrid, pungent smell you get when someone just threw up.
When he noticed his brother enter, whom he recognized despite seeing blurred, Will tried to move towards him.
The slightest shift the doctor made caused a new wave of nausea making him feel the need to throw up once more.
Unfortunately, unable to move, he began to do it where he was, in the sink, unable to move to reach the toilet again.
Jay understood that his suspicions were well founded, his brother was really sick.
Immediately, without hesitation, the detective stepped forward and stood by the doctor's side to support him and help him in all respects.
Will went on for a while longer trying to throw up even more than was actually contained in his stomach.
It was then, however, that things got even worse.
Dr. Halstead had a feeling that his throat was closing. He could hardly even breathe anymore. His legs had gone limp and he fell to the ground in a quadruped position, trying to get as much air as possible.
With what little breath he managed to catch he turned to Jay:
- Ask ... help ... .. Please ...-
The detective could not understand what was happening, he was terrified, but he did not remain idle and immediately did as he was told.
He came out of the bathroom and dragged with him back a few moments later the first person who came in front of him and who according to him could have helped his brother.
The place was full of doctors, so he was spoiled for choice.
The first person he ran into was dr Rhodes, who couldn't figure out what was going on. He was quietly sipping his drink sitting at one of the tables near the bathrooms. The doctor was dragged off by the arm by a person who stood behind him.
Once he entered in the bathroom, however, everything became much clearer.
In front of him was his friend and colleague who seemed to be very ill and near the bathroom door was his brother Jay. It was the latter who had picked it up and brought it there to the doctor.
- Will, what have you got? What happens? -he asked him kneeling at his side.
It didn't take long for Connor to realize that his colleague was having an allergic reaction and it was clear that he needed to be rushed to the hospital.
- Where's your epipen? Rhodes asked
"Au..to," Will replied.
Jay wasted no time. He took his brother's car keys from his jacket that was in the coat rack and went out of the room.
The detective then started running in search of Will's car. There was no time to waste. After searching everywhere he found it in a corner of the trunk and so he ran back into the room, in the bathroom, handing the box to Rhodes.
The doctor therefore wasted no time, helped his friend lie down and injected it directly into his thigh.
- Jay calls an ambulance right away. Connor ordered shortly after.
-No ...- Will answered - car ...-
The red-haired doctor wanted at all costs to avoid ruining his Natalie's evening. He also didn't want everyone to know that he was sick.
So the detective and Connor shared Will's weight and walked out the side door to prevent the other guests from seeing them.
After walking a few meters, the three approached the nearest car and made Will get into it.
The car was that of Connor, who after having placed his friend on the seat, got into the driver's seat and left for the hospital driving as quickly as possible.
Upon arriving at the ER, Dr. Halstead was immediately taken to a vacant room and connected to the respirator and various machinery according to Rhodes's orders. A central line was also inserted into his arm to give him the necessary antihistamine medications.
Fortunately, Will slowly recovered and as usual he had begun to ask to be let go home. Connor, on the other hand, wanted to hold him back by making him spend the night in the hospital.
Meanwhile at the party Owen had told Natalie and her grandmother that he had dropped peanut butter on one of the cookies. Carol added that Will had eaten one of them and that she had taken it from the very side where the jar of butter was.
The two women began to look for Halstead far and wide, also calling him on the phone which unfortunately had remained there at the club on one of the tables.
So Natalie, more and more worried, decided to call Jay, who explained where they were. Before long she had achieved her love for her at Med.
- Why didn't you tell me anything? the doctor asked Will
- I didn't want to ruin your party. - He replied before falling asleep under the influence of the drugs.
