Trigger warning: Description of assault
The next few chapters are a bit darker than I had originally intended them to be. Please take caution when reading.
Erin let out a strangled scream, muffled by the cloth gag between her lips. "Gun!" she screamed, just in time. Jay whirled around as Charlie's body dropped to the ground, the two rounds from Al's gun hitting him directly.
Jay froze for a moment, glancing from Al to the lifeless body on the ground in front of him. On one hand, he wanted time in the cage for what Charlie did to Erin, but on the other, he was so glad he would never hurt her again. He didn't even have time to register the fact that Charlie nearly killed him.
A pained whimper echoed in the silent basement as Jay snapped back to reality and to his mission. "Erin," Jay called out into the darkness, "Erin, it's Jay." He swallowed thickly and took a step toward her. She was so small against the concrete, shivering slightly from the chill of the basement. Jay could see that her wrists and ankles were raw from the tightness of the ties Charlie had fastened, evidence that his girl hadn't given up the struggle. She lifted her eyes to find his just as Ruzek and Atwater barreled down the stairs as back up.
"Oh my god, Erin," Jay gasped, closing the gap between himself and his partner, the commotion in the basement fading into the background as he sank to his knees. "Babe, it's okay, you're going to be okay." He pulled the cloth gag from her lips and winced as she coughed. He cupped her cheeks with his palms, not realizing how badly his hands were shaking. The moment he put his hands on her body, Jay felt like a weight had been lifted. Erin was alive. She was badly hurt, barely conscious and taking pained, shallow breaths, but she was alive.
Her eyes were glassy and unfocused as her hazels found his blues. Erin squinted, almost in disbelief. Her mind had played tricks on her before, and with the fogginess of her head, she couldn't be positive that he was really here. He stroked her cheeks with the pads of his thumbs, wiping away the tears she didn't realize were trickling down her cheeks. "Erin, baby," he whispered, the tone of his voice begging her to say something, anything, as he searched his partner's eyes, "It's me, Jay."
She blinked and after a moment, it clicked. It was Jay, he was real and he was holding her in his arms. He'd found her. "J-Jay," Erin choked out, punctuating his name with a painful cough, "You found me."
"We did," he replied, tears shining in his eyes as he took in his girl. Her face was bruised and scrapes littered her forehead, cheek and side of her head. Even in the darkness of the basement Jay could see her chapped lips and ashy grey complexion. "We're going to get you out of here, right now." Jay reached into his pocket for a knife to cut the ties around Erin's wrists but stopped as she shrank back as the blade glimmered from the upstairs light.
Jay froze, immediately recognizing his partner's discomfort and coming to terms with the realization that the Erin in front of him was vastly different from the Erin who'd left the apartment a few days before. She'd been through so much in those days, and Jay cleared his throat, realizing that he had only seen a few minutes from the video that Charlie had sent. There was so much he didn't know. "Can I untie you?" Jay asked softly, swallowing the lump in his throat at the fear in his partner's eyes, "It's just me. I won't hurt you."
She nodded, and he carefully clipped the ties around her wrists and ankles before taking her bloodied hand in his. Erin let out a low moan as she moved her legs freely for the first time, her stomach aggravated by the motion. Charlie had really done a number on her. "Where does it hurt, babe?" he asked, stroking the hair off her forehead with careful fingers. Her eyes drooped lazily as she relaxed into his touch, the drugs lulling her to sleep again. "Erin," Jay repeated, "Stay with me, okay?"
Erin nodded weakly and coughed again, this time louder and more prolonged. She grimaced and stifled another cough, the dust that was kicked up in the commotion filling her lungs. "Let's get you out of here," Jay determined, not thinking twice before hooking his arms underneath her knees and lifting his partner into his embrace. She didn't protest as he carried her by Al, Kevin, Adam and Charlie's lifeless body, closing her eyes as the harsh sun assaulted her vision. She wasn't sure how long she'd been in the dark, but it felt like ages since she'd seen the sun.
"Erin!" Burgess exclaimed, rushing toward Jay as he emerged from the dark basement and into the yard, "Oh my god." The young officer looked like she was about to lose her lunch at the sight of Erin barely conscious in Jay's arms.
"We need to get her to Med," Jay said, already making his way toward the Sierra, not planning to wait for any type of ambulance. As much as he appreciated Kim's concern, Erin was his priority.
"I'll call Voight," Kim informed him, "Let him know we found her." He managed a nod, having not even thought about calling his boss. At least other people were thinking ahead.
"J-Jay," Erin whispered, tugging gently on her partner's shirt. He stopped in his tracks to look down at Erin, worried he'd hurt her in moving her from the basement.
"I'm here," he reassured her, "I'm here. I'm going to take you to the hospital right now, okay babe? Just hang tight."
"I-I need you to know. He didn't rape me," Erin managed, coughing again and wincing painfully as Jay's eyes darkened, "He touched me and h-hit me, but he didn't rape me."
Jay felt his heart shatter. The fact that one of the first things to cross his partner's mind to tell him was the one thing Charlie hadn't done, the one thing she thought would make him see her differently, broke his heart. "You're going to be okay," he replied quickly, "We're going to get you taken care of, I promise."
A loud siren nearly caused Jay to jump as an ambulance screeched in front of the house. One of the other members of the squad must have called it in, Jay thought gratefully, realizing that shuffling Erin into the back of the Sierra wasn't the best option. One female paramedic jumped out and pulled down a stretcher as soon as she saw Jay with Erin in his arms. "I need you to know that, Jay," Erin fumbled with her grip on his shirt, "He didn't."
"I know, baby." Jay pressed a light kiss to her bruised forehead, "And I'm glad he didn't hurt you like that, but he did hurt you badly. There's an ambulance here, and I'm going to set you on this stretcher now, okay? We're going to take you to Med for some tests."
Erin coughed again and nodded, in no position to protest the prospect of the hospital, or that she'd require a ride in the back of an ambulance. Jay was simultaneously relieved and worried that she'd agreed so readily, clearly knowing she needed the medical attention but too exhausted and injured to fight it. He gently lowered her onto the stretcher and reached for her hand to be sure he could keep contact with his girl. "Hey, Erin," he said, watching as she started to drift off, "Stay with me, babe." He turned to the paramedics, "She's been beaten pretty bad. We need to get her to Med, now."
"You got it, detective," the young man replied, "I'm going to get her set up with some oxygen and take a look."
"Halstead!" Hank exclaimed, jumping out of the Escalade and rushing toward the ambulance, "You got her?"
"We got her," Jay confirmed, running a thumb over Erin's hand as she fought to keep her eyes open, "Bastard slipped her something so she's been in and out."
Hank swallowed at the sight of his detective lying listlessly upon the gurney, "Hey kiddo." He reached for her other hand that wasn't intertwined with Jay's, "Good to see you."
"H-Hank," she rasped, opening her eyes wider for her almost father. Charlie hadn't gotten to him. He was okay. He was here. "You-" She was interrupted by a cough and let out a pained groan in lieu of her thought.
"Don't try to talk, okay?" The normally stoic sergeant's face was twisted in concern. He leaned down to press a kiss on her forehead, "You're going to be alright."
Erin attempted a nod and stifled another cough, willing the words to form in her mouth. "My stomach hurts," she managed, gesturing to her abdomen area that was barely covered by Jay's shirt, the last few buttons hanging on by a thread.
Hank exchanged looks with Jay. Erin wasn't one to admit any type of discomfort. She'd worked the weeks after a concussion, refusing to acknowledge any headaches or sluggishness. Any time the hospital was suggested following a run in with a perp's rogue blade or a twisted extremity, Erin had balked at the idea.
"We're going to get you to Med," Jay repeated, eyes trained on his partner's stomach. He needed to see it for himself, what Charlie had done to her. Carefully, Jay reached a hand out and gently lifted the material before letting out an audible gasp. Voight sucked in a breath.
Erin's stomach was black and blue, peppered with small scrapes from when Charlie had dragged her across the floor. Jay didn't need medical training to know that the darkness of the bruise on indicated severe internal bleeding. "Hey, we need to go, right now," Jay demanded, turning back to his girlfriend whose eyes were closing yet again, "She's got internal bleeding."
The paramedic nodded as he fastened the oxygen over Erin's features, the plastic covering her bruised cheekbone. "I placed a call, we're seven minutes out."
"Ride with her," Hank instructed, "I'll meet you at the hospital."
Erin let out a whine as the ambulance raced toward Chicago Med. Jay was sitting beside her, one arm banded around the top of her head trying to control his shaking fingers, the other on her arm. The shirt she was wearing – his shirt – was torn at her shoulder, and Jay could see hints of bruises where Charlie's hands had been down her arm. The sight turned his stomach as he avoided glancing further down his partner's limp frame to see the black and blue bruise on her abdomen. "It's going to be okay, babe," he murmured, stroking the hair off her forehead as she writhed in displeasure, the motion of the ambulance and pain from her stomach making her feel all types of queasy. That made two of them.
Erin moaned in response, grappling for his hand in a desperate attempt for comfort. Tears that had been behind Jay's eyes were now steadily falling down his cheeks as he held her shaking fingers in his own. There was dried blood on the collar of his shirt, an eerie reminder of the first day she'd been taken. Her cheeks were hollow and haunted from the lack of food, and the dehydration was evident in the dryness of her lips.
She coughed again and let out a squeak of pain, the couch forcing her body to convulse her injured abdomen. Jay's heart pounded in his chest as he sat helplessly beside his partner, unable to help her breathe, take away that pain or erase the memory of the last few days. "We're almost there, baby," Jay whispered, leaning in impossibly closer and pressing his nose to her temple, "They're going to take good care of you, I promise."
"Please," she struggled to speak and stifled a cough, "Don't go."
"I'm not going anywhere," he assured her, watching as the paramedic injected some type of pain relief into the IV, allowing Erin some much needed relief. Her grip slowly went slack as Jay stroked a hand through her hair, silently urging the ambulance to travel faster.
"Jay!" Will exclaimed as he hustled alongside Erin's gurney on the way to the hospital doors. The redheaded doctor had been waiting outside without a real coat, eyes trained on the street for the ambulance carrying his brother. "Talk to me," he demanded to the paramedic as they pushed Erin along.
"Low BP, high heart rate. Severe bruising on the abdomen, likely internal bleeding. We've got her on a morphine drip and she's probably going to need surgery," the female paramedic informed Will. "Probable concussion, labored breathing…" The words faded into the background as Jay gripped Erin's wilted hand in his own, unwilling to break their connection.
"You're going to be okay," Jay repeated, as much for Erin as it was for him, "I promise." Her eyes had gone closed and she appeared to be sleeping, though Jay knew that it was the opposite. He snapped his head up at the sound of his name being shouted.
"Jay, we gotta get her into surgery right away," Rhodes determined, having had briefly examined Erin while Jay was focused on his girl, "Will should be out with an update soon."
While the rest of the unit sat in the waiting room of the hospital, Jay paced. He couldn't sit, not while he was waiting for an update from his brother that should have come a half hour ago. Voight had been almost stone-like, sitting motionless in the waiting room chair beside Olinsky and Ruzek. Kevin was repeatedly rubbing his hands together nervously, eyes trained on the door that Erin had been wheeled through.
"She's going to be alright, Jay," Trudy Platt reassured Jay, extending a cup of coffee to him. He hadn't noticed her arrival.
Jay managed a nod, ceasing his pacing to sink into another chair farther away from the rest of the unit. "I just – I just held her in my arms and she was so light sarge, it was just…" he trailed off, unable to finish his sentence. Recalling his partner's battered body and watching she fight whatever Charlie had dosed her with twisted his stomach in knots.
"I know," Platt put a tentative comforting hand on her detective's shoulder, "I know." She took a seat beside him, "And I know how hard this is, but Jay, she's going to need you. And for you to be there for her, you need to take care of yourself as well."
Jay turned his head to face his sergeant, toying with the lid of the coffee cup. He managed a small nod and was about to reply when the familiar red head of his brother appeared through the double doors. "How is she?" he asked, immediately rising to his feet, "What's going on?"
Will nodded, "She's still in surgery. It might be a while, but she's stable, for now." He looked to Hank, who had also risen to his feet to stand beside Jay.
"What-what's going on? Why is the surgery taking so long?" Jay pressed, his heart pounding in his chest. He glanced to Hank, who had set his jaw in anticipation of Will's response.
"She's got some pretty serious internal bleeding. They're doing an emergency laparotomy, which means they'll make an incision in her abdomen to identify the source of the bleed," Will explained gently, "Once the surgeons are in there, they'll be able to see where the damage is and hopefully repair it."
"God," Jay rubbed his hand over his forehead, "What about her head? There-there was blood on the collar of her shirt. And she was coughing so much."
"We'll know a bit more when she's out of surgery, but there's a high likelihood she's got a concussion, and maybe a lung infection. Again, we'll know more when she's out of surgery. It's going to be a few more hours though." Will paused, "You could go home for a bit, maybe grab-"
"I'll be fine here," Jay cut his brother off and started to pace again. He paused, "Can you um, can you be in there with her? I-I know we can't, but-"
"I'm headed right back there. I just wanted to make sure you had an update." Will gave Jay a reassuring touch on the shoulder. "I'll be back in two hours or so, alright?"
Let me know what you thought of this chapter! I'm working on the next few to hopefully upload early :)