"Hello?" Jay answered his phone, confused as to why Katie was calling him so late at night. "Katie? Are you there?" He asked after his first greeting was met with silence.
"Help… Please… You were right?" Katie said as Jay turned to give Hailey, who was sitting at the bar stool next to him, a concerned look.
"Katie, what's happening? I was right about what?" Jay continued to try to get information out of his partner while Hailey started to get her wallet out so they could pay Hermann for their drinks and then leave the bar to go help Katie.
"About him… You were right… I need help…" Katie answered and Jay immediately knew that Noah had done something to her.
"Katie? Are you still there? Hello Katie?" Jay asked, then turned to Hailey when he was only met with silence, "We need to get to Katie's place. I think Noah did something to her and she stopped responding."
"Oh god, Katie," Hailey mumbled, feeling nothing but worry for her friend, and regret that she didn't get Katie away from Noah sooner. Both Jay and Hailey were running to Jay's truck, terrified of what they were going to find when they got to Katie's apartment.
Katie had just finished telling Jay that he was right, when she slowly started to drift away. She could hear Jay talking to her through the phone, but she could barely breathe, let alone talk. She heard him tell Hailey what had happened, and heard the sound of stools moving across the ground before the line went dead. Katie then started to slowly drift in and out of consciousness. She didn't know how long it had been since she had called Jay, but it felt like it had been forever and she could only hope that Jay and Hailey would get there soon.
What felt like hours later, Katie finally heard the door handle move, and heard her partner and her best friend calling out to her. She tried everything she possibly could to get the energy to tell them where the hidden key was, or make a noise, or do something to tell them that she was in there, but she just couldn't.
"Katie, watch out! I'm going to kick the door down!" She heard Jay's voice yell, and was relieved when she heard the loud noise of the door slamming to the ground, followed by the gasps of her partner and her best friend.
"Katie! Oh my god!" She heard Hailey yell, as she was their feet running towards her. After a few seconds the two had reached her and Jay's face came into view while she could see Hailey sobbing, close to hysterics, behind him. All of a sudden, Katie had a realization.
"T- Ta- Tate," she managed to get out, quietly, when she realized the baby was asleep in her room.
"No, Katie. It's okay, don't try to talk, just breathe, you're going to be fine." Jay comforted not realizing what Katie was trying to say.
"N- No, the- the baby," Katie told Jay, pausing to cough and take a breath before continuing, "Tate- Tatum, she- she's sle- sleeping." She told Jay and he immediately understood what he was saying.
"Hailey," Jay said, not getting a response from the blonde because of her emotions, "Hailey!" Jay yelled again. "I know you're scared right now, and that's okay, I am too, but you need to go get Tatum, check on her, and then put the dogs in their crates so they're not in the way, and then you need to call an ambulance, can you do that?" He told her firmly but calmly, knowing that the blond needed something to distract her from the state her friend was in. Hailey nodded before hurrying away to go find Tatum and the dogs and call 911. Jay's focus was soon pulled back to Katie when he heard her cough.
"Katie! Hey, Katie! I need you to stay awake for me. You're strong, I know you can do that, right?" He said to her, getting a nod in response. "Katie I need you to tell me or show me what hurts," He said to her noticing that her arms were wrapped around her lower stomach and sides.
"Ev- ahh, everything," Katie managed to spit out when there was a lull in the burning sensation coursing through her body. Jay noticed that her shirt had started to come up a little bit and he noticed the bruises covering her body. He decided to roll her shirt up a little bit to see if he could get even the slightest clue of what was wrong in case he could help a little bit. When he rolled her shirt up more to look at her he couldn't help but notice the terrible bruising, when he went to look at her back, he saw that the bruising there was even worse than both her stomach and her sides and he worried she might have a spinal injury.
"Katie, I need you to listen to me, I know they your stomach and sides hurt, and I know that this is the most comfortable position for you right now," he said as he gestured to the way she was laying on her side, curled up in a ball, and holding her stomach, "But there's a very really possibility that you have a spinal injury, and we both know that you laying like this could make it worse. I know you don't want to, Katie, but I have to move you so you're laying on your back." He told her as Hailey came back into the room with Tatum.
"Hailey," Jay said looking at the blonde who seemed to have calmed down a little bit, "I need you to put Tatum in her carrier and come over here. Katie could have a spinal injury and I need you to help me get her onto her back." He explained to the blonde, who was quick to put Tatum down and rush over to kneel down on the other side of Katie so she could help her friend.
"Hailey, I'm going to be honest with you, because of the way she's holding her stomach, I know there's internal damage, and I know that this is the most comfortable position for her," he gently explained to her after telling her what they needed to do, so she would be prepared to see her friend in so much pain, "It's going to hurt her a lot when we move her, and she's probably going to scream when we do, and she's going to want to move right back to this position, but if she does, she could damage her spine and risk her ability to walk. So, when we turn her over in need you to help me hold her down, so she doesn't hurt herself even more, can you do that?"
After he got a nod from her and told her that he was going to count down before they moved her, so they could do as little damage as possible he started counting and got ready to move her.
"3, 2, 1," he said and then they moved her. As they moved her she screamed out in pain and tears started rolling down Hailey's cheeks, seeing her friend in so much pain. Hailey held down Katie's shoulders trying to keep her on her back and keep them as still as possible since Katie was sobbing in pain.
"Hey, Katie! Do you hear that?" Jay asked from where he was holding her head when he heard sirens, "The ambulance is almost her Katie, they'll be here soon and then they can help you, and they'll make you comfortable, and then you're gonna go to the hospital, and Will's gonna treat you, and you're going to be fine." Jay said, comforting his panicking partner right as Hailey led the paramedics through the door and straight to Katie.
After a few minutes, the paramedics had checked out Katie and gotten her on the stretcher ready to go. Once they left, Jay called Voight to tell him what had happened to Katie, and Hailey picked up Tatum so they could get in Jay's truck and go to Med to be with Katie.
After what felt like hours of waiting, Will came out and approached the team. "She's out of surgery now and awake, she was pretty roughed up, and she's gonna be in pain for a while, and she's going to have a really long, and hard recovery, but she'll pull through. She has a few broken ribs, one of them punctured her lung which is why she has so much trouble breathing and talking, and why she was coughing up blood. She doesn't have any severe spinal injuries, but she does have a lot of bruising and swelling around her spine, which means she probably will lose feeling in her legs every once in a while when it acts up, and she's gonna have a pretty hard time walking around for the next month or so, it could even be up to two or three months." Will explained their teammate's injuries to them before continuing, "Hailey, since you're her emergency contact and next of kin, she wants to see you." He told her.
"Yeah of course," she quickly answered, "Where is she? Can you take me to her?" Hailey asked, wanting nothing more than to see her best friend.
"Of course, follow me," Will said, starting to head towards Katie's room so the blonde could see her friend.
After walking for a while, they finally reached Katie's room. Will stopped and told Hailey to take a second to prepare herself for what she was about to see. When Hailey said she was ready, Will took a deep breath and prepared himself for the news that he was about to have to tell Hailey.
"Hailey," he said quietly so he could catch the attention of his brothers friend, "There's something you need to know since you're her next of kin." He finished waiting for her to give him a response.
Yeah! Of course, tell me! What is it?" Hailey responded frantically, thinking she was about to find out that her best friend was never going to be able to do her job again, or that she didn't remember anything.
"Hailey," Will said with a sigh, not wanting to give her the news, "We don't know if Katie knew or not, but, when Katie was in surgery, when they went to control the bleeding in her stomach, they found something…"`
