To say Will's daughter Mia had been a surprise was an understatement. The product of a one night stand, he hadn't even known Mia's mother had been pregnant until he received a call from the hospital to inform him that she had died shortly after giving birth.
Despite her sudden and unanticipated entrance into his life, Will could say without a shadow of a doubt that he had never been happier. All the sleepless nights were worth it to watch Mia giggle at her toys, say her first word, and take her first steps. The fact that she looked every inch his daughter with her red hair and brown eyes. Another unexpected bonus was how much Mia had helped improve Will's relationship with his brother Jay.
When Will had called Jay to inform him that he was now an uncle, neither of them could have guessed how quickly Mia would have Jay wrapped around her little finger. Jay still had a photo of Mia propped up, watching a Black Hawks game in her Black Hawks onesie he had sent her. A video Will had recorded of how happily she had squealed and lifted her little arms up in a demand to be picked up when they finally met in person.
Moving back to Chicago when Mia was 3 had merely strengthened their bond. 2 years later and Mia was now 5 years old. An energetic and intelligent little girl that had, to Will's consternation, taken after Jay in the sass department. When Will had started dating Natalie and they had introduced their children they could not have predicted how well they got along.
Owen took to Mia like a duck to water and Mia adored him in return. On days where Mia didn't have school and Will had to work, Mia would spend her day with Owen and his nanny Liz. Will had just dropped her off for a day of fun if the kid's giggles were any indication. Putting his things away in his locker he glanced at the photos taped to the inside. One of Mia and himself at the park and one of Mia and Jay making silly faces at each other.
Exiting the staff room Will had no idea how quickly the day was about to go from calm to chaos.
The day had started out well. Mia and Owen had played a few games before Liz announced that they were going to go to the park. Owen had been especially excited because that meant he could bring his scooter. When Mia had to go to the bathroom another nanny, Miss Martha, volunteered to take her so Owen could keep riding his scooter. On their way back Mia heard loud bangs that made her blood run cold. Uncle Jay had made sure she knew basic gun safety rules and that included what a gun being fired sounded like.
Everybody around her began screaming and running, in the chaos she got separated from Miss Martha and was knocked over. The gun firing got louder and people around her were falling. Mia turned to get up and froze as she saw him. The man with the gun standing not 10 feet away from her. Quickly laying back down, hoping he hadn't seen her she stayed as still as possible. Mia heard him moving closer to her and began to tremble slightly. Suddenly a hand grabbed her by her hair and yanked her up, causing her to let out a yelp. Looking up she saw the man with the gun was pointing his gun at her, looking unhinged.
"Ha! Thought I saw you moving." Was all he said before he rammed the butt of the gun as hard as he could into the side of her head.
Mia cried out at the pain and reached up to press a hand to her head, when she pulled her hand away she saw red. Blood. She was bleeding and her vision was a little blurry from how hard she had been hit. Seconds later something hard collided with her side that sent her tumbling to the left. He had kicked her. Looking up at him again she saw he was still pointing the gun at her.
Closing her eyes Mia wished that her Dad and Uncle Jay were there. Uncle Jay would make the bad man go away and her Dad would make her feel better. Another bang sounded, but this time from behind her. Mia's eyes flew open as the bad man dropped his gun. He was running away as someone shouted from behind her to drop his weapon. The police had finally arrived and had made the bad man leave.
Mia finally let her tears fall as the reality sunk in. She had nearly died. As more police arrived they started piling people into their cars, to take them to the hospital she was told. When one picked her up to carry to their car Mia asked to be taken to the hospital her Dad worked at. She would be safe there.
Mia didn't know how long she had been sitting in the waiting room. As soon as she got there she had claimed a corner of the room for herself and had curled up in a ball. She knew she was still trembling but all she did was stare at the floor in front of her shoes. Until she heard a voice she had been wanting to hear all day.
"Chicago Police, sir, I need to talk to you."
Her Uncle Jay was there, talking to a man holding a backpack. Mia knew better than to interrupt him now but she slowly crept closer. Watching and waiting for a chance to go to her uncle.
"I didn't do anything." The man said as he stood up, still clutching the bag to his chest.
"Put the bag down and show me your hands." Uncle Jay instructed.
"I didn't do anything." The man repeated.
"Drop the bag and show me your hands!" Uncle Jay repeated as well, sounding more serious this time.
The man threw the backpack at Uncle Jay before running towards the Emergency Room. Mia saw Dr. Choi shove the man before her Uncle Jay caught up to him, pinned him to a nearby gurney and handcuffed him. Uncle Jay had picked up the backpack and was going through while talking to Ms. Goodwin. Mia thought that maybe now would be okay to go to him. Reaching the sliding glass doors she cleared her throat before calling out.
"Uncle Jay?" Mia's voice rang out. Her uncle whirled around and his eyes landed on her instantly. She could see the shock written on his face before he hurried towards her.
"Mia!?" He swept her up in his arms and she clung to him tightly, still trembling but now in relief.
"Hey, it's OK. I've got you." He reassured her while his hand rubbed up and down her back. It was something he had done since she was a baby to soothe her and it always worked.
Pulling back slightly Jay looked her over to see if she was hurt and found the side of her head caked in blood. It pained him to know that she had been caught up in the shooting but was relieved that there were no other obvious injuries. No obvious bullet wounds.
"Are you hurt anywhere else?" Her uncle asked and in response she placed a hand over her left side and nodded. He gently prodded at her side and was glad that nothing seemed broken. Mia rested her head on his shoulder and gripped his jacket in one hand.
"It was scary Uncle Jay." She whispered just loud enough for him to hear. The words caused his heart to clench in his chest. His niece should never have experienced this kind of horror.
"I know sweetie, but you're safe now. I promise." Jay would keep his promise if it killed him. Nobody was laying a finger on her if he could help it.
"Why don't we ask Maggie if she could help clean you up hmm?" Mia merely nodded in answer.
Maggie was understandably upset at the sight of Mia and was quick to gently clean up what she could while her Uncle Jay held her hand.
"What happened here sweetie?" Maggie asked as she dabbed at the head wound.
"The bad man hit me with his gun." Mia sniffled. Not knowing that her words caused their blood to run cold. They knew she had been at the park but not that the gunman was close enough to touch her.
"And your side?" Jay managed to ask calmly, rubbing the back of Mia's hand with his thumb.
"He kicked me." Mia said as she lifted a hand to rest over her sore ribs. Maggie quickly lifted the girl's shirt to inspect her ribs which caused her to squirm and let out a small whine of discomfort.
"Nothing feels broken but she should get an x-ray and CT to make sure." Maggie informed Jay who merely nodded, having expected that tests would be needed.
"I need to get back to work, you feel better honey." Maggie gave a quick smile before speeding off to help handle patients.
Looking at his niece Jay couldn't help but double down on what he had said earlier. If he finds the son of a bitch who did this he was going after them.
"Are you gonna catch the bad man Uncle Jay?" Mia asked, looking up at her uncle.
"I'm gonna do my best. Promise." Her uncle held out a fist with his little finger raised. Grinning up at him, Mia carefully wrapped her own around it. Uncle Jay never broke a pinky promise.
"C'mere squirt." Uncle Jay said as he scooped her up, allowing her to rest her head on his shoulder and finally felt a sense of calm come over her. Mia still wanted her dad, but she had her Uncle Jay so she would be okay.
For awhile after that Mia dozed against his shoulder. Still awake but clearly not paying their surroundings much attention. Jay was glad for that, kids shouldn't have to see the aftermath of a mass shooting. It was bad enough to be involved in it, the less nightmare fuel for his niece the better.
Jay was brought out of his musings by his phone beeping in his pocket. Bracing Mia on one arm he pulled out his phone to see he had received a text. They finally had new info on the shooter, but more importantly, they had a name. Slipping his phone back in his pocket, Jay returned his attention to Mia.
Bouncing her slightly to get her attention which caused her eyes to flick up to his own.
"Sweetie, I have to go to talk to some people OK? Can you wait right here for me?" He asked, gently setting her on her feet. Mia nodded, rubbing her eye tiredly.
She was ready to go home, Mia thought to herself as she watched her uncle and the other policemen began to talk to each other. Scuffing her shoe against the floor, she perked up as she heard Dr. Charles' voice. He was nice and Mia liked talking to him. Turning towards the sound of his voice she saw him stride past her quickly towards Ms. Goodwin. Looking back to where he had come from she saw a man staring out at the waiting room. Then she saw something that made her blood run cold and began to shake in fear.
The bad man. He was here. Mia whipped around to run to her uncle, to safety, but he wasn't where he had been standing. Frantically she looked back towards Ms. Goodwin and saw that Uncle Jay was talking to her. Heart racing, Mia scrambled towards him.
"We got a name. Trent Harris, 43." Jay informed Goodwin and Dr. Charles. Glad he could finally give them an update and something to work with.
"Well, Dr. Charles was wondering if it could be this guy behind you in the blue shirt but he's been telling us his name is David." Goodwin inquired.
"Well he would definitely give a fake name." Jay answered.
"Yes, but he looks like he's in his twenties not his forties." Goodwin said turning to look at Dr. Charles.
"How'd you make your ID?" asked Dr. Charles.
"Registered AR-15 we recovered at the scene." Jay answered before turning to look at one of his guys.
"You sit tight, just tuck in and watch him." He instructed before turning back to Goodwin. "PD is pulling DMV photos, if we do get a positive ID, be ready to clear as many people out of here as you can."
"I'll find Maggie and spread the word." Goodwin nodded and turned to do just that.
"Thank you Jay." Dr. Charles said quietly before starting to head back to his patient only to see a distressed Mia rushing towards them with tears in her eyes.
"Uncle Jay!" Mia cried before crashing into his leg and latching on tightly.
"Whoa, whats wrong?" Her uncle asked crouching down so he could put his hands on her shoulders.
"The bad man is here." She told him, causing his eyes to widen.
"Are you sure? OK, show me where." Mia hurried back towards the emergency room and pointed at what was now an empty bed. Her eyes widened in shock and she trembled in fear.
"He was right there, I swear! He was talking to Dr. Charles and his neck was bleeding!" She said shakily.
"I believe you, now I need you to stay with Ms. Goodwin while I go look for him OK?" Jay pressed a quick kiss to her forehead as he and the other policemen hurried off to search for the bad man.
Mia pressed herself against Ms. Goodwin's side and felt her gently rest a hand on her head. All she could do now was wait for her uncle to come back. Not long into the wait a gurney was rushed into the room with Natalie and Dr. Choi alongside it. As it passed her, Mia saw that it was the bad man. She squeezed her eyes shut. She really wanted her dad right now. She wanted to go home.
"Detective Halstead said he'll have a photo our suspect, Trent Harris any second now." Ms. Goodwin told Dr. Charles who had joined them.
"He's not the guy." Dr. Charles told Goodwin, pointedly looking towards the man being worked on.
"It's him." Mia mumbled, causing Goodwin to shoot an alarmed look her way. Uncle Jay came back over, pulling out his phone he glanced at it and then the man laying on the gurney. He held up the phone to show Goodwin and Dr. Charles
Dr. Rhodes arrived and said they would operate in the doctor's lounge, causing Jay to step forward to gain his attention to show him the photo on his phone.
"Connor, that's our guy. Don't let him off the hook by dying." Jay told him seriously.
His work now done, he turned and scooped up his drained looking niece to take her to get the needed tests done so she could go home. Mia merely slumped against him, she was tired. The tests cleared Mia to go home so Jay took her back to Will's apartment. Gently encouraging the girl to get cleaned up and put on new clothes, he ran a hand through his hair as he watched his niece shuffle down the hall.
Jay quickly threw on some sweats he kept at the apartment and poked around the kitchen for food. Mia probably hadn't eaten in hours. As he pulled a bottle of apple juice out of the fridge he couldn't help but grin at a memory of a younger Mia. The girl had always loved all things apple, but when she had started school and a teacher had told her the saying 'an apple a day keeps the doctor away', she had sworn off apples if it meant keeping her dad away. It had taken a conversation with Will to reassure her he wasn't going to leave if she ate apples for her to even touch the fruit after that.
Placing the juice on the counter, he turned to inspect the pantry when he heard Mia coming back into the living room. She had put on her pajama pants and was wearing Will's old university hoodie. The hoodie was far to big on her but she loved to wear it when she wasn't feeling well. She curled up in a ball on the sofa and pulled a throw blanket over herself. Jay quietly sat by her feet and placed the juice on the coffee table in front of them, Mia quickly snatched it to take a sip before settling back down.
"You can sleep if you want, I'll wake you up when your dad gets home." Tired brown eyes stared at him for a moment before she hummed and closed her eyes.
Roughly an hour had past before the apartment door opened to reveal an exhausted Will. Jay grinned at his brother before raising his index finger to his lips in a gesture to be quiet, before pointing at the sleeping Mia. Will quietly crossed the room and gazed down at his sleeping daughter. Seeing her after a long or bad day always made him feel better. Having been told by Maggie that she had been at the shooting, the only thing that had allowed him to focus was that he knew she was with Jay and that, all things considered, she was relatively unharmed.
Will gently stroked her hair for a moment to reassure himself that his little girl was alright before going to get cleaned up himself. After the day she had had, Will knew that she would be a little clingy. Something that Will certainly had no issue with. His daughter had witnessed a shooting and had faced down the shooter himself. She could have all the cuddles she wanted. After getting cleaned up, Will entered the living room to see Jay quietly talking on the phone in the kitchen, he waved the menu for a pizza place at him in explanation. Moving to crouch next to Mia on the couch, he gently shook her awake.
Mia sleepily opened her eyes only to see her dad in front of her. She threw her arms around his neck and couldn't stop her tears from falling if she tried.
"Oh sweetie, it's okay, I've got you." Will murmured as he held her against his chest and settled on the couch with her. Rubbing his hand up and down her back in a soothing motion as he waited for her to stop crying.
Jay joined them on the couch and they all quietly basked in the fact that the day was over. Their family was together and safe.
Full disclosure, this will be updated at random. I make no promises for consistency or quality but I do hope you enjoy.
