Chicago Med:
Jay is uncomfortable, trying to rest but his fever and congestion is making it difficult. His eyes are closed trying to reserve energy to fight the infection. Hailey, using a damp cloth, tries to soothe his fever by patting his forehead and face as much as she can around the oxygen nasal cannula and swollen left cheek. Everytime she does Jay opens his eyes ever so slightly to look at her.
"I know." She whispers "You feel awful. Are you in pain?"
A slight shake of his head *No* comforts her. At least the pain meds are still keeping his injuries in check as long as he stays calm. She responds with a reassuring smile hoping to portray some confidence that everything is under control. The truth is she doesn't know. Will and Crockett were discussing his treatment but so far, she hasn't heard anything. He closes his eyes too tired to keep them open. She threads her fingers through his hair, adding comfort and encouraging him to fall asleep, all she can do is wait for the doctors to be in soon.
District 21:
Voight storms into Superintendent Miller's office; he is pissed, she has enough time to look up at him barging into her office, slamming the door behind him and starts in:
"He's done this BEFORE!" He points at Miller. "You KNEW THIS!" He walks closer to her desk, now right infront of her. "You APPOINTED him to the UC BUST!"
Miller stands up, "CALM DOWN Sargeant. I'll explain."
Voight stands in front of her stone faced and angry. "This better be good."
"Officer Bailey has had many incident reports against him but the department has been unable to find undisputed evidence against him."
"I found that out." Voight interrupts, "I went looking for his body cam."
"Yes, that's the problem. He has been able to tamper with it so his actions haven't been recorded. All we get is an injured offender and people unwilling to speak up."- Miller
"I went looking for his previous partner, he was unwilling to answer any of my questions without his FOP lawyer." -Voight
"Yes, that's the issue we've had, until your unit's case."
"Why my unit?"
"I needed a unit I could trust and shoot me straight." She looks at Voight . "I knew if you saw something, you would correct it and either yourself or report it. I knew you would get the facts."
"Well we didn't get any. We got nothing on Bailey except he injured my Detective and I got another Officer on desk duty. So we're not doing too good." Voight rebuts
"On the contrary Sargeant, you got everything I need." Miller says confidently.
Chicago Med:
Dr. Marcel walks quietly into Jay's room. Hailey is sitting next to his bed, her right hand absentmindedly stroking Jay's left forearm while she types one-handed into her tablet. She looks up as Dr. Marcel approaches, "Thought I'd catch up on my reports." She says softly trying not to rouse a sleeping Jay.
Dr. Marcel smiles an acknowledgement and looks at Jay's monitors.
Hailey whispers, "How's he doing?" A concerned voice.
Marcel shows her the *Just one minute* gesture with his right hand. He dons his stethoscope, leans over Jay, and listens to him breathing. First on the left side, he listens to three slow relaxed breaths from a sleeping Jay. Then he moves to the right side, one breath and then a groan, a short breath and another louder groan. "I know, I know, easy." Marcel tries to comfort and removes his stethoscope before listening to a third breath. "Still tender, I know."
Jay opens his eyes ever so slightly as Marcel says those last words but makes no attempt to move. Hailey squeezes his left arm to let him know she's there and Jay slowly closes his eyes. Hailey looks to Marcel concerned.
"He may not agree," He answers her in a quiet tone, "but he's actually doing well considering. The stronger antibiotics need some more time to get in his system. The fever, congestion and his injuries are really taxing his body. The best we can do is offer supporting care and let the antibiotics continue to work."
Hailey listens, looks at Jay and sighs.
"Has he complained of pain?" Marcel asks
Hailey continues to look at Jay, "I asked him earlier. He shook his head no."
"That's good. We need to keep the pain from his injuries under control, unfortunately with his fever the ice therapy will make him feel worse. He's already cold, no need to add to that."
Hailey nods in agreement, still looking at Jay slowly caressing his forearm, but doesn't look at Marcel, afraid the tears in her eyes will fall.
Marcel sees this and understands, he walks toward the door to leave. "Please page Will or myself if you need anything…I mean anything, Hailey."
She looks in his direction still keeping her tears in check and nods her appreciation.
At District 21:
Hank has been quiet since his meeting with Deputy Miller. The team is catching up on paperwork and expense reports with no new cases at the moment. Kim's phone buzzes on her desk, she reads the message and sighs. Adam and Kevin look at her.
"That was Hailey." Kim pauses, "Jay is…." She stops and looks up to see Voight listening leaning on the door frame to his office. "Jay isn't doing too well. Hailey said the chest infection is bad and he's on a stronger antibiotic but combined with his chest injury…."
Everyone is concerned and waiting for her to continue.
"He's having a rough time of it."
"How's Hailey doing? Adam asks quietly
Kim shakes her head. "She's with him but….it's hard."
They all take a moment to understand what their friend is going through.
"And that man, Red," Kevin says, "might get away with it." His voice gets louder as he speaks. "This is unbelievable."
"We don't know that." Kim says and then asks Voight. "Do we?"
"I don't know. Miller is playing this close to the vest. She's not letting me in on anything." Voight answers. He looks around the room at his team and sighs. "You know, nothings going on. Go home. If I need you, I'll call." He turns and enters his office, closing the door.
Later that night a Chicago Med:
Will walks into Jay's room. It took some time but he convinced Hailey to go home and get some rest. A night's sleep in her own bed is much better than sleeping in the chair. Although she argued that she would take an uncomfortable chair with Jay over an empty comfortable bed. He told her if anything changes he would call her.
Will walks closer to the monitor's over Jay's head and looks them over, comprehending the information and mentally taking a comparison to earlier vitals. He whispers, "Temp is up….101.2. O2 down a tick." He places his stethoscope to Jay's chest starting on his right side, he listens with his eyes closed and moves the diaphragm around to hear more clearly. Jay is breathing slower and shorter than before and Will can hear the rattle of congestion in his brothers' lungs. He was focused on listening that it took Jay's splinted right hand making contact with his arm to break his trance.
Will's eyes flew open and he removed the stethoscope, "Jay?"
"Hurts." A rough hoarse voice said.
Will frowns with concern and then questions, placing his hand over Jay's chest where his stethoscope was on his right side. "Here?" Not applying much pressure searching with his fingers. No reaction until slightly higher above the cartilage separation.
"AH!" A short pained cry.
Will quickly stops and places his whole palm across the area and applies even pressure.
Jay holds a grimace for a few moments then is able to relax. He opens his eyes, still his left doesn't fully cooperate due to his broken cheekbone, to see Will still holding his side. Will is concerned.
"You Ok? Pain subside?" Will asks
Jay blinks an affirmative and Will releases his hand. Will sighs, "That explains it."
Jay is confused, tired, feverish, in pain and not in the mood for a guessing game. Will picks up on this quickly.
"I'll need an x-ray for confirmation but it seems likely you've broken a rib, possibly from that forceful coughing spell earlier. It's possible you could have some compromised ribs from the impact you took too. We'll get another look at you to see what's going on. That and the congestion would explain why your O2 is down, you're not wanting to breathe normally because you're in pain."
"I don't feel like I'm in pain." Jay protests. "Only when touched."
"Your body has adapted to breathing shorter to avoid the pain, hence why you don't feel like you're in pain."
Jay looks at Will defeated. "Now what?"
"CT scan, it'll show if there are subtle fractures that the x-ray won't. It'll give us a good look at that chest infection of yours too."
Jay's eyes begin to droop and he blinks slowly at Will.
"Too much for you?"
A short grunt of Jay lets Will know he heard him but is moments from a deep sleep.
Observing Jay a few moments confirmed that he has fallen back to sleep. Will takes the opportunity to check his wrist and shoulder, satisfied that there aren't any circulation issues, he places Jay's right hand under the blanket.