A/N: Hey there. Writing has been incredibly hard late, so I wanted to try writing something in hopes I could get that feeling back that I really do miss. Here's a little missing something from the finale. It might be short, but it's something when I didn't think I could write anything any more. I hope you like it.
"Off."
"Sorry, what was that?"
"Off. Take it off," she mumbled. The brace around her neck hurt. It needed to come off. "Off," she repeated and slightly shook her head. She could barely hear the words that felt like cotton on her tongue as she tried blinking against the blurred shapes in her vision.
"We're not taking it off."
She knew that voice. Jay was there. She remembered his hand in hers a little bit ago. Maybe it was longer than a little bit, though. An hour? Two?
She tried blindly reaching for him, but something was holding her hand down.
"Oh," she breathed when she realized it was Jay's hand weighing hers down.
"I'm right here."
No, he wasn't. She couldn't see him. There was no way he was there.
"We're almost there."
That was a girl. It wasn't Trudy. Kim wouldn't be there. Makayla was too little. She didn't know that voice.
"Will's gonna take a look at you, okay? I'm not going anywhere. I'll stay with you the whole time."
Someone was going to look at her. Will. She knew Will.
There was a quick bump that sent pain through her body. She groaned and tried rolling to the side like she did at home when she was uncomfortable in bed.
"Stay still, Hailey. Almost there."
That was the girl again. She was taking her somewhere.
She tried sitting up to see where that would be, but she was quickly pushed back down.
"Hailey, Hailey, lay down, almost there."
Jay didn't understand. She needed to find out where she was going.
"Please," she whispered.
"No, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, Hailey."
Tears pricked at her eyes. She didn't understand what happened. They were at work. Then there was a lot of fire. Then she hit the ground.
It wasn't Jay's fault. He didn't make that truck blow up.
It was a truck. A truck blew up.
"Escano."
"Shh, hey, hey, later. We'll talk about it later."
She groaned and closed her eyes. They needed to be at work. Not here. Not in an-
The car jolted to a stop and her eyes shot open.
"Jay."
"I'm right here."
It was true. He was right there leaning over her. If she squinted, she could make out his face.
He must not have wanted her to see him, though, because he put a hand on her forehead and said, "Hang in there." His thumb stroked down her nose, and she closed her eyes again.
A second later, the pressure of his hand on her head disappeared, and she could feel herself moving. There was a faint scraping noise in the background, but it was getting easier to relax. Maybe they could take the brace off of her once she got wherever they were taking her.
"Hey, what happened?"
"There was a bomb, an explosion, she-she's out of it."
"On three. One, two, three."
She was in the air briefly and then put down again. Everything seemed so white.
There was Jay again. No. It was Will. She wished it was Jay.
"I'm here, I'm over here, Hailey."
Did she say that out loud? She blushed and tried pulling away from Will's hands. The blur off to the right looked like it could be him. She reached out with a soft grunt and breathed, "Jay."
His hand was in hers so she could grip onto his thumb again.
"I want some scans done: x-ray and CT for sure. If I get it set up, can you-"
"Yeah, I'll take all the paperwork."
She groaned and squeezed at Jay's hand. She didn't need all of that.
"Jay. No. 'M fine."
"Hailey."
"Escano."
"No, no, hey, listen."
The blur that was Will was suddenly gone and replaced by a much more familiar one. As Jay's face came into focus, she felt a small smile cross her face.
"Maybe you are fine, but I really need Will to confirm all that with some tests. I need to know that you're okay. I need this, okay? Do it for me."
She blinked and the first thing she saw were his eyes. She hadn't looked at them in a while. They were green. Her free hand shakily came up to rest on the side of his face. He hadn't shaved in a while. She liked it.
Humming, she closed her eyes and nodded.
"Thank you."
His lips came down on her forehead for a long time. It was probably just a few seconds, but she focused on that feeling for the next two hours as she was wheeled around the hospital. Slowly, she became much more aware of her surroundings: Will was occasionally there, the IV stung her hand, and she had to wait too long for the x-ray.
By the time she was rolled back into her triage room, she could see past a foot in front of her face and had been able to form two coherent sentences earning smiles from the nurses she was with.
Jay shot up from the chair he was sitting in the second the door opened. "Hailey," he said.
"Hi, you," she replied with a smile.
He visibly relaxed and hurried to stand by her side once her bed was situated.
"Dr. Halstead will be in here soon," said a nurse before she walked out with her partner.
"You're looking like you again," Jay said softly as he brushed a hand over her hair, "Not so out of it anymore, huh?"
She nodded and leaned into his touch. "They took my clothes," she added.
Jay laughed for the first time since breakfast that morning and slid his hand down to rub his thumb over her shoulder. "I have your clothes," he said, "How're you feeling though?"
"Well," she breathed and held her left hand with the IV up, "Pretty sure there's more than just dye in here, so I'm good."
Jay laughed again and leaned against the bed. "I bet," he said. He stared at her for close to a minute before whispering, "I thought you were dead."
"Hey," she breathed and, like earlier, reached up to place a hand on his cheek, "It's gonna take a lot more than an explosion to take me out."
Jay raised an eyebrow then said, "That's not funny."
"When you've found your husband shot twice, your humor toward work related injuries changes," she replied, a smirk teasing at her lips.
"I was not your husband either of those times," he chuckled and leaned closer to her. Pressing a kiss to her forehead, he whispered, "But now I know how it feels, and I feel worse than ever about what had happened. I'm sorry."
She shook her head, but winced at the movement then settled back into the bed.
"It's fine," she gritted out at the concerned look that crossed Jay's face.
He sighed and brushed his fingers over her hair. "Hailey, I've been thinking that you should take the rest of this case off," he said.
"No," she said quickly and shot back up with another groan, "You can't-"
"I don't want-"
"Then don't-"
"Hailey-"
"Jay!"
"Hey, scans came back fine."
Both their heads snapped to see Will standing in the doorway of the triage room.
He held up a handful of x-rays and other papers. "Nothing's broken, no brain bleeds," he said with quick glance toward Jay who let out a sigh of relief, "Slight concussion, you're gonna be bruised and sore, but you're alive and you're going to be okay."
"Thank you," Hailey replied while pushing herself up further in bed, "Can I go back to work?"
"Oh my god," Jay breathed and turned away with his hands on his head.
"Today? No," Will answered, "Tomorrow once you're feeling better? I'm not going to stand in your way, but I'm not going to encourage it."
Hailey nodded and glanced to Jay. "I can do that," she said softly.
Will set the papers down on the end of the bed then held a flashlight up. "Mind if I take one last look?" he asked.
Hailey nodded and went along with his exam. She sighed and winced throughout it, but she felt like herself and welcomed the bit of pain because it told her everything was working like it was supposed to.
"I'll check you out, then you can head home," Will said while stepping back. He turned to Jay and raised an eyebrow. "Your wife's fine, can I take a look at your side now?" he asked.
Hailey narrowed her eyes and watched Jay turn back toward them. "You didn't get checked out?" she asked quietly.
Jay sighed and shot a glare at Will before saying, "I did. No concussion-"
"He's just in pain and doing a crappy job at hiding it," Will cut in, "I'm worried something's broken."
"I'd be in a lot more pain if anything was broken," Jay sighed again. He glanced between Hailey still glaring at him and Will pulling a new pair of gloves on before giving in and undoing his belt. "I'm fine," he said while taking his shirt off.
Hailey instantly winced again, not from her own pain, but from the dark bruise already forming on Jay's side. Her hand shot to her back where she gingerly poked it and assumed she had a similar mark on her own skin.
"It looks bad," Will said as he stepped over and lightly touched the bruise.
"I'll take a few pills before heading back into work," Jay gritted through his teeth.
Hailey softened and pushed the thin blanket off of her. Had the roles been reversed, she knew she would have pushed her own health to the side until she knew Jay was okay. Hell, just a few months before, she'd ignored her own hypothermia and shock to make sure a potential victim was okay.
Between the two of them, they'd gone through hell and back multiple times. Sometimes it was together, other times it was on their own. She knew what Jay was going through and what he had been going through as he waited for her to be done with all the tests: the anxiety, nerves, and fear were all enough to drive anyone crazy.
Swinging her legs to the left, she shakily stood up and grabbed the IV pole.
"Hailey," Jay began, "What're you doing?"
She ignored him and slowly made her way around the bed.
Will glanced up from looking at a particularly dark part of Jay's bruise and said, "You need to sit down."
Hailey reached with her right hand to grab Jay's left. She rubbed her thumb over his wedding ring and whispered, "We're going to be fine. We always come back from stuff like this."
He let out a breath and said, "It was an explosion."
"And we're okay," Hailey countered, "It was scary and we got hurt, but we're okay."
Jay stared at her for a moment, and Hailey knew she had him. He sighed then nodded.
"This isn't saying you need to ignore whatever Will tells you, though," Hailey said, a smile teasing at her lips, "If I listen to his demand that I can't go to work-"
"Whoa, whoa," Will laughed, "It's not a demand, it's doctor's orders. Everyone knows that."
"It's big headed," Jay snapped, but still smirked and jokingly shoved Will's arm.
Hailey laughed with them both and squeezed Jay's hand. She hesitantly stepped back so she could again sit on the hospital bed. Taking a deep breath, she raised an eyebrow then patted the mattress. Jay chuckled and shook his head, but sat next to her all the same.
"Worst patients I ever have," Will mumbled. He took another minute to look over the bruising on Jay's side then said, "Just don't go running around, slamming into doors, or jumping off buildings, please."
"I'd never," Jay told him as he pulled his shirt back on.
Hailey laughed softly at first and then louder at the look on Will's face. Once Will was gone, she gave another squeeze to Jay's hand and leaned her head on his shoulder. After a moment, she closed her eyes and mumbled, "Can I admit something?"
"Of course," he replied easily.
"I was scared I was dying too," she whispered, "It took so long for me to…feel like myself. Everything was so blurry and I couldn't think straight. It hurt; it really hurt."
Jay squeezed her knee and Hailey could feel him breathe in shakily.
"But as I was laying there during those tests, I just kept thinking of you and all we had left to do," she continued, "I know we're just kinda…letting kids happen, but it's still something to look forward to, right? That first positive test will feel so good."
"The first?" Jay asked and looked down at her.
Hailey shrugged with a smile.
"But you're right," Jay breathed and rubbed his thumb under the small cut a nurse had taped close on Hailey's cheek, "Kids, a house, promotions."
Smirking, Hailey stated, "So we're getting fancy."
"Of course," Jay chuckled, "We are going up from here. Sergeants-"
"For partnering units," Hailey added.
"Well, yeah," Jay said and nodded, "A nice house-"
"Brick and with a backyard."
"For the kids. At least two. A boy and a girl."
"One at a time, though. No twins."
"That's fair."
Hailey laughed and leaned into him again. She happily sighed and said, "I love you. I'm sorry I almost died."
Jay snorted then kissed the top of her head. "I love you too, and I'm also sorry I've almost died in the past."
"When we have kids, we've gotta stop that whole thing," Hailey said.
"Very true."
"It will happen."
"Having kids or almost dying again?"
"Both, unfortunately both."
Jay chuckled and squeezed Hailey to his side. "Yeah. Unfortunately."
Hailey closed her eyes and turned her head into his side. She breathed in the familiar scent of his soap and their laundry detergent, but it was tinged with smoke. It wasn't something sad, though, if anything, it told her they were both alive. They'd survived something that could have ended them both, but instead they came out of it stronger than before. She wasn't stupid, she knew they were both going to return to work the next day, but at least they were going to be on the same side. Always.
A/N: Let me know what you think? I hope to see you tomorrow for Summer Sun :)
