Notes: Please keep in mind the trigger warnings in the notes of the previous chapter before you continue to read!
enjoy the new chapter 5
Five days later, Hailey was finally being discharged from the hospital. Five days of gruelling tests and examinations and constant monitoring was nit for her, but ultimately Dr Marcel decided that she was fine to go home on day four as long as she stayed the night and most of the next day just so she could have some final monitoring before being discharged the following evening.
Jay had brought clothes for her and helped her get changed into a pair of her comfiest sweatpants and an oversized long-sleeved shirt which belonged to him. He knew she loved wearing his clothes, especially when she felt vulnerable because they smelt like him which made her feel safe.
While he was helping her get dressed, Will was bringing Jay's truck round to the front of the hospital so that it would be easier for Hailey to get to it. And yes, Jay was letting Will drive his precious baby. This was a one-time thing that happened only because Hailey had told Jay she didn't want him to leave her side.
Hailey was sitting on the edge of the bed while Jay was doing her laces up since it hurt her too much to bend down and do them herself. If it was anyone else doing them, she would definitely feel embarrassed, but she had nursed Jay back to health a couple times while they've been partners, and now he was her husband, so she didn't have anything to be embarrassed about.
Just as Jay finished doing her laces, his phone pinged on the bed next to her and she picked it up slowly and read the text.
"Will's out front with the truck," she told Jay, and he stood up.
"Are you ready to go then?"
"Yeah, can you help me get down please?" she asked. Even though she was being discharged, she was still in a lot of pain. Jay held out his hand for her to use as a crutch and she slowly got off of the bed. Him helping her lessened the pain, but it was still there as she got off the bed and on to her feet, groaning at the pain that ran through her body.
"Are you one hundred percent sure you don't want a wheelchair?" Jay asked.
"No, no, I'm fine," she said, looking up at him. "I'm fine Jay, I promise, I'm just a little stiff but a bit of movement will do me some good."
"If you're sure?" Jay said reluctantly, a little unsure of having her walk all the way to the truck.
"I'm sure, I promise I'm sure," she told him, and he nodded.
"You ready then?" he asked, holding out his hand for her and she took it. At least there weren't any bags he had to carry since Will had taken everything with him when he went to get the truck and bring it round for them.
"I'm ready." And with that, the two of them left the room, passing the nurses' station on the way where they both said their thanks and goodbyes to the nurses that had been looking after Hailey.
Once they got outside, they found Will leaning against the truck, waiting for them. When he saw Hailey walking, he started shaking his head.
"And I thought Jay was stubborn," he joked once they were standing in front of him, which made Hailey laugh.
"I'm not being wheeled out of the hospital in a damn wheelchair when I can walk perfectly fine," Hailey told him.
"I told you she wasn't going to use it," Jay told his brother in amusement. Will opened the passenger door for Hailey, and Jay helped her in, fussing with her seat belt before she waved him off.
"Jay, if I can walk all the way here, I'm pretty sure I'm capable of buckling my own seat belt."
"Exactly, Jay, let her buckle her own seatbelt," Will joined in.
"God, you two joining forces is going to be the death of me." Jay shook his head.
"You love us, though." Hailey pointed out with a grin.
"Yes, yes, I do love you," Jay said, pressing a quick kiss to her lips before turning to Will, who had stepped back onto the sidewalk and out of the road. "You, well, not so much" he continued, causing Hailey to laugh and Will to fake pout.
"You good in here by yourself for a minute? I just wanna talk to Will quickly," Jay asked, turning back to Hailey.
"Yeah, I'm good," she said to him, a soft smile on her face.
"Watch your hands," he told her before shutting the door for her and going over to Will, who was watching the interaction between his brother and sister-in-law with a smile on his face.
"Mom would've loved her," Will said wistfully once Jay got to him.
"Yeah, she really would've." Jay gave him a small, sad smile.
"Dad, too. They both would have loved that you found such a caring and kind woman who's also not afraid to put you in your place."
"Mom would've loved that, I can imagine them just sitting there together laughing and joking, you know?" Jay said, tears filling his eyes, more of them from happiness than not.
"Thank you for everything you've done for her, I really don't know what I would've done if I had lost her" Jay said gratefully to his big brother and was promptly pulled into a hug.
"You go take her home now, I'm sure she's dying to sleep in her own bed," Will responded, and Jay gave him a look.
"Wrong choice of words, but you know what I meant," Will said, laughing and Jay shook his head before laughing as well. "Call me if you need anything or if you feel like something's off with her, and I'll be there as fast as I can, okay?"
"Okay," Jay replied, nodding.
Hailey watched the interaction between the brothers and smiled. She knew their relationship hadn't always been straight forward, but she was so glad that they had each other.
She was pulled out of her thoughts as Jay opened the driver's side door and got in the truck.
"You ready?" he asked as he buckled up his seat belt and started the truck.
"As ready as I'll ever be," she told him, and he pulled away from the curb while she waved goodbye to Will through the window.
The drive back to their apartment was maybe about thirty minutes, but Hailey didn't mind how long it was, she was just happy to be somewhere that wasn't the hospital. The two of them didn't talk much on their way home, enjoying each other's company in silence. Hailey had switched the radio on and there was some sort of pop music playing very quietly so it wasn't completely silent.
When Jay turned right instead of left at an intersection, Hailey looked at him confused.
"You went the wrong way," she said, and he only looked at her with a smile. "What?" she said, getting even more confused at his expression.
"It's your first night home so it calls for celebration and you can't drink because of the pain meds so I think Bartoli's take out is better suited to this situation," he said with a smile that grew as he watched her eyes light up.
"Oh my god, I missed Bartoli's so much!" she said, her voice filled with joy. "You're amazing, you know that, right?" she asked, and he put his hand on her thigh and squeezed gently.
"Anything to make you happy" he told her as he pulled up outside of the restaurant.
"I won't be long, okay?" She nodded and he hopped out and went inside.
He was in and out of there within a few minutes, he opened the passenger door and handed her the pizzas and helped her place them gently on her lap before going round and getting into the driver's side.
"How were you so quick?" she asked as he started driving.
"You know when I said I was going to use the bathroom earlier?" he started.
"You called ahead!" she said incredulously with dawning realization, unable to suppress her grin. "You planned this."
"Yes, yes, I did, because you deserve so much Hails, but pizza is the best I've got right now, well until you're fully healed, of course" he said slyly, raising his eyebrows with a small smirk on his face and she gasped and then laughed.
"Jay Halstead, don't be so dirty."
"You laughed!"
"That I did," she conceded, shaking her head at him.
The drive from Bartoli's to their apartment wasn't long. Jay had joked when they were looking at apartments that the only reason Hailey liked it was because of how close it was to the pizza place. Jay pulled into the parking garage of their apartment building and pulled up in their spot. He jumped out and rushed around to Hailey's side, opening the door and taking the pizza out of her hands.
"Do you need any help?"
"I got it," she replied, unbuckling her seatbelt and moving her legs out of the truck so that she was sitting facing Jay.
"You good?" he questioned again as she shuffled forward on the seat a bit.
"Okay, uh, I think I need help," she admitted, grimacing, not really wanting to ask for help. Jay rushed to open the back door, placing the pizza on the back seat and then holding his hands out to help Hailey get down and out of the truck.
Once she was out, he shut the passenger door behind her and grabbed one of the bags that had her medicine in as well as the pizza out of the back seat before bumping the door with his side to close it.
"Keys are in my back pocket, could you lock it for me?" he asked her since he was holding the pizza and couldn't get the key out. He turned around so she could get the key out of his back pocket easier than having to walk around him.
"What about the other bags?" she asked about the bag of clothes she had and bag of little gifts and cards that Makayla had made for her as she pulled the key out of his pocket.
"I'll come back for them later, I can't carry them and the pizza," he told her, and she nodded and pressed the lock button on the keys.
They walked to the elevator as fast as Hailey could, which wasn't that quick, not that Jay minded. Once they were in the elevator, Hailey leant her head against Jay's arm and closed her eyes.
"You okay, Hails?"
"Mhmm."
"You sure?"
"Very, you can't have your arms around me so leaning on you is the next best thing."
Jay smiled at what she said.
"I'll have my arms around you soon, baby, don't worry." The elevator dinged, signalling that they had reached their floor. They stepped out and walked down to their door. Jay once again asked Hailey to get his door keys out of his back pocket which made her giggle.
Once inside, Jay put the pizza down of the coffee table and the small bag down on the floor before turning to Hailey.
"You need help sitting down?"
"Uh, yes please, if that's okay?" she said, feeling slightly like a burden.
"Hailey, of course it's okay," he told her, moving in front of her and helping her lower herself down on the couch. "You good? Do you need a pillow or anything?" he fussed.
"Um, a pillow to put behind me would be nice actually," she admitted, and he nodded, making his way into the bedroom quickly and grabbing one of the soft pillows from their bed to put behind her for her to have some extra support while sitting up.
"Thanks," she said as she got comfortable. Jay proceeded to rush into the kitchen to grab two plates and a glass of water for Hailey so she could take her meds.
He sat on the couch next to her and popped open the pizza box as fast as he could, putting a slice on a plate for her.
"Eat this, and then you can have some of your meds because you can't have them on an empty stomach," he told her, handing her the plate and moving the glass of water to where she could reach it. He then opened the little bag that had her medications, popping open the pill bottles and putting out the number she needed to take on the coffee table next to her glass of water
"Jay, you don't have to-"
He cut her protests off. "Hey, you've nursed me back to health how many times? And besides, as your husband, this is my job. This is what spouses do, they look after their partner, okay?"
"I know, I know. I- I just feel like such a burden and you shouldn't have to deal with all of it."
"Hey, you're not a burden, you're far from it. I'm doing this because I love you, Hailey. Now eat your pizza before it gets cold so that you can take your meds to ease up the pain," he told her firmly and she obeyed.
"You need to eat too, you said it's getting cold so eat." She smirked, knowing she had caught him by throwing his own words back at him.
"Fine, I'll eat a little bit but then let me get all of these sorted for you."
"You can sort them later, just eat a slice first. I don't have to take them straight away; I can wait until after I'm done eating so it's okay."
"I just don't want you to be in any pain, Hails," he admitted before taking a bite of the slice he had on his plate.
"I know, and right now I'm a little sore— nothing excruciating, just sore— but I'm pretty sure I can handle it, okay? I'll let you know if I have any pain that's too much for me to handle, yeah?"
"Yeah, okay," he replied with a smile on his face, and they sat there for most of the night, enjoying each other's company and eating pizza. It was kinda late when they had finally started eating and the meds that Hailey was on made her tired, more than she normally would be, so after they finished their pizza and Hailey took the medications she needed to take, it was time for them to go to bed.
Hailey put the empty glass back on the coffee table and yawned.
"Time for bed?" Jay questioned.
"Yeah, I think so. Help me up?" she asked, and he was immediately up and helping her lift herself slowly off the couch.
"There you go," he said with a small smile on his face once she was fully off the couch. "You've been sitting for a while; do you need help getting to the bedroom?"
"I think I can do it," she replied.
"Okay you make your way there. I'm going to clean up really quick and then I'll be right there."
"Leave it till tomorrow, just come get in bed with me. Please?" she asked, pouting. Well, how could he say no to those eyes?
"Okay, I'll do it tomorrow," he conceded. Jay shot her a smile and followed her into the bedroom, having to catch her once as she wobbled a bit.
Once they were in there, he helped her sit down on the bed and went to her drawers to get her out some pyjamas.
"Long or short?" he asked, looking into her drawer.
"Long, trousers and shirt, please," she told him, usually she would sleep in a t-shirt or vest and just her panties, but right now there were many bruises covering her body and she couldn't stand looking at them. Jay pulled the pyjamas out of the drawer and placed them on the bed next to her as he helped her get undressed and then dressed into the pyjamas.
He then helped her get into bed and then stripped down to his boxers and turned all the lights off other than the lamp on his side of the bed before getting in next to her.
"You good? You comfortable?" he asked, rolling onto his side so he could see her.
"I wanna cuddle, I want your arms around me," she said pleadingly.
"I can do that, one second," he replied, moving to turn off the lamp and then turning back to her and putting his arm around her where she had lifted up slightly, and pulling her closer to him gently. She slowly rolled over onto her side so that she could face him and gave him a small smile.
"This better?" he asked.
"So much better," she whispered softly, leaning in to place a gentle kiss on his lips before burying her head in his chest. He pressed a kiss into her hair and held her close.
"I love you," he whispered.
"I love you, too" she replied, and he could feel her yawn against his chest.
"Good night, Hails."
"Night, baby," she mumbled against his chest, and it wasn't that long before he could hear and feel her snores against his chest. He smiled to himself. She was finally home; she was finally back in their bed. She was alive and she was safe. It wasn't that long until he fell asleep either. He fell asleep with a smile on his face. Having Hailey back and alive and in their bed…it felt surreal to him, but he was so happy that it was real. She was there and she was back and that was the only thing in the world that mattered to him at that moment.
Notes: Thank you for reading, I hope you enjoyed.
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