The surgeons had kept their word, 30 minutes after they had come to update Hailey's friends and colleagues, Dr. Rhodes had returned, this time with a smile tugging at his lips.
"She's waking up, and she's asking for you, Detective Halstead." Dr. Rhodes informed the group, paying specific attention to Jay.
Jay jumped onto his feet, "Me? Okay… yeah," he stuttered, obviously shocked that Hailey had asked for him specifically.
Before he let himself rush into the hall, he turned to face his boss, seemingly in search of permission to go.
"Go on, kid." Voight told him, giving him a nod in the direction of the door.
That was all Jay needed to hear. He was out of the waiting room and into the corridor leading to the ICU where Hailey had been placed after surgery.
Jay's heart moved into his throat as he walked through the never-ending stark white hall, the smell of disinfectant clinging to his nose. He didn't know how his brother could work here day in, day out. Jay would go insane if he had to spend an extended period of time in this place. He hated hospitals. They had been linked to pain for as long as he could remember. The first time he had spent any significant time in one was years ago, when mother was dying, and since then, he had avoided them at any cost.
Finally, after what seemed like an eternity of walking, the doctor stopped outside a private room, "she's just in here," Dr. Rhodes informed him, his voice pulling Jay out of the hole he had started digging.
Jay stopped; his feet planted to the linoleum. "Um, yeah, thank you," Jay replied, tripping over his words.
Dr. Rhodes placed a comforting hand on his shoulder, "Dr. Bekker is in with her, she's just finishing up a basic post-surgery assessment, but she'll be out of your way in no time." Connor told him.
Jay nodded, trying to pull himself together before Hailey could see what a mess he had become, "Thank you, Doctor Rhodes." Jay said, his voice sincere. If it wasn't for the two doctors, Hailey wouldn't be here. And for that, he could never thank them enough.
Connor nodded in response, giving Jay's shoulder an encouraging squeeze before turning and walking away.
The young detective inhaled, filling his lungs up with the sterilized hospital air before turned to face the door. He let his arm extend in front of him, the cold metal of the doorknob biting into his palm as he turned it.
He let the door swing open, "Hailey," he whispered, letting out a breath he didn't know he had been holding.
The blonde lay in a hospital bed, wires connecting her to machines that filled the small room, beeping at a steady pace. "Hey," she greeted him, her voice groggy with sleep. She looked so small, so helpless lying there.
He could tell she was trying to hide the pain and exhaustion, but he could see it in her eyes. Their usual vibrant blue had faded into a sunken grey.
"How are you feeling?" he asked, mentally scolding himself for such a dumb question.
"Eh, kinda like I got shot," she chuckled, motioning to the bandages visible under her generic hospital gown.
Feeling as though she was interrupting a moment, Ava finished up her last reports and slipped out of room, telling herself she'd come back later to do a more thorough examination, however, from what she could tell, everything had looked good.
"Good to see you're sense of humour's back," He said, laughing softly at her response.
"You know, you can come closer. I'm not going to break," she told him, pointing out the fact that he was still standing at the opposite side of the room.
He let out a laugh, "Typical. You get shot and the first thing you do when you get out of surgery is give me shit," he joked, trying to hide his relief.
As he started walking closer to the hospital bed in the middle of the room, she gave him a confused look. "What's wrong, Jay?" she asked him, worry evident in her voice.
He obviously hadn't hidden his emotions well enough, he thought as he took a seat next to her feet at the edge of the bed. "I thought… Hailey I thought you were dead." He told her, his voice shaking as his spoke. "When you hit the concrete, I had no idea if you were ever going to get back up again…" Jay continued, his voice cracking as he tried to fight the emotions that threatened to boil over.
"Jay. Jay look at me," her voice was gentle as she spoke. "I'm okay. I'm alive. Here," she continued, motioning for him to come closer before holding her hand out towards him for him to take. "See, I'm real. This is real. I'm not going anywhere." She comforted him, squeezing his hand to show him that she was, in fact, here, and that this was real.
He gripped her hand and leant towards her, bringing his head towards her stomach, careful not to hurt her injured shoulder. He sat there, holding her like he was never going to let go. Not again. Not after he had come so close to losing it once. "If the bullet had been three inches to the left… I… I don't know what I would do without you…" he stammered, lifting his head to look at her before moving up the bed to embrace her, still careful of her incision.
"It wasn't," Hailey could feel the tears behind her eyes, threatening to fall as she spoke. She knew how deeply Jay felt for the people he loved. He had lost so many of his friends already, either while fighting in Afghanistan or in the warzone that Chicago was turning into. She had seen him break; hell, she was the one that had been there, ready to put him back together again. "So, you don't have to think about that, Jay. I'm here," she comforted him, knowing that she would be doing the same thing as he was if the roles were reversed, and he was the one lying in the bed.
"Look at me, Jay," she instructed him, lifting his chin to face her. "I'm okay. I'm not going anywhere."
He searched her eyes as she spoke, getting lost in the faded blue abyss. He should be the one comforting her, not the other way around. She got shot.
"I'm sorry, I…" He stammered, sitting up more.
"Stop. Don't apologise." She interrupted, wincing as she pushed herself up by her elbows before his hand on her arm stopped her.
He kept his hand gently on her bicep, just in case she needed him, "I need to apologise. It's my job to have your back and look what happened. I'm supposed to keep you safe, if I can't even do that then…" he was tripping over his words like a teenager trying to tell a girl he likes her.
The injured detective pushed herself to sit upright, gently cupping her partners face, "Jay, no one could have seen this coming, not even Voight and I'm pretty sure he's some sort of psychic," She joked, trying to lighten the mood, "We were off shift, our guards were down. That's no one's fault except the bastard who did this," she indicated to the newly-stitched wound. "But we're going to find him, and we're going to deal with him. Voight will make sure of that."
Jay could see the determination peaking out behind the fear and pain in her eyes, "You're family, Hailey, we take care of family."
