Infection

"Jay, you good?"

"Yeah, I'm okay."

After reassuring his older brother about his state, he looked down at the dead man. The man who infected half of Chicago, who almost killed him too. Both of his brother and Sergeant exited the room being followed by the young detective while the EMTs inserted it in order to treat the rest of the people inside the conference room.

"You sure you're okay? You look a little pale to me and your hand is still bleeding." Will asked one more time as they walked outside the building while observing Jay.

"Yes Will, it's just a cut… And my skin color is fine, you're overreacting."

"You still need to come to Med to be checked out."

Jay rolled his eyes. "Oh come on, is that necessary?"

"It is. Come with me and we will go for a drink after, I promise."

Despite sounding like a mother, the older Halstead managed to convince his baby brother to follow him down to the ED. They preferred to move with Will's car instead of the police officer's or an ambulance. As they were walking towards it, Will, noticed Jay stumbling a little, ready to fall forward, fortunately, caught him in time. "Whoa, are you with me?" His brother's eyes closed for a moment but were opened again in an instant.

"Fine. It's just the adrenaline wearing off, it's nothing, I swear."

Even though he didn't believe a word he said, he marched forward keeping an eye on Jay.

"Is your arm still bleeding?" He asked as he was driving, not making eye contact, he was not ready to face him, not after his small heart attack earlier when he realized that Jay was in danger.

"No… Hey Will."

"Save it for later. We will have plenty of time to talk."

Parking the car outside of the emergency department, the two brothers walked slowly inside and to the nurses' station were April and Monique were preoccupied signing papers.

"Is there any trauma room open?" He received curious expressions from the two women. "It's for Jay, I need to make sure he isn't infected too. We had a small incident back at the scene."

"Follow me to trauma 4." Another voice was heard in the background, Ethan's voice.

"Do we really have to do this?" Jay protested marching behind the two doctors.

"Your blood was exposed to the virus, you almost collapsed on me, you need to be examined."

Stubborn Will. He thought to himself as he walked inside the room.

The soft mattress of the bed combined to the steady beeping of the heart monitor relaxed him a lot. Despite the fact that he was forced to wear a gown and be connected to an IV line, he didn't complain any longer. He could see the pain in his brother's eyes, the worry, the fear of losing him. It was exactly like the last time when he was shot by their father's murderer. "How's the head?" He tried to distract Will for a moment.

"Good. It hurts a little but I'll live." He cracked a smile. "How do you feel? Any pain, Numbness? Nausea? Dizziness? Rushes?"

"Will, I am totally fine, I don't know why we're still here." Annoyed as he was, he decided to sit up and meet his brother's eyes as he wrapped a small bandage around the cut.

"I was so terrified when I heard your voice through the com. What were you thinking of facing a mad man alone?"

"I survived didn't I?" He chuckled.

"Thanks to your team. You know, I felt the earth beneath my feet by hearing him threatening you. I was afraid he might shoot you. I cannot go through this again."

His eyes shined as tears started forming. He coughed a little and laid back down staring at the ceiling.

"You know you can talk to me." Rubbing his brother's hair, he was settled on a chair next to the bed. "It's clearly discernible that something's bothering you."

"I am just tired of letting everyone down. You got hurt because I wasn't there to protect you, Hailey almost got sick cause I sent her into that house. I don't know what I would do if none of you was safe."

"Stop thinking about it, stop messing your mind. Look at us, we are healthy and back to our jobs. We have discovered the antibiotic that beats the virus, everything is going back to normal."

"It still annoys me though."

"Maybe you should take some days off, to clear your head."

"Nah, I'll probably end up drunk at your house again. I can't get enough of your babysitting."

Will laughed and checked the monitor. He immediately stood up, walking towards the door, looking outside. The hospital felt so empty nothing like the chaos of this morning. He spotted Hailey and Natalie talking to each other outside a room, Dr. Marcel pacing back and forth, however, Ethan was nowhere to be found.

"Hey man, I don't feel so good. There is something in my arm." In a matter of seconds, the doctor ran to the patient's side searching for abnormalities on his body. Jay just burst into laughter. "Just kidding."

"You are such an idiot." He gave him a punch on his shoulder, so strong that the man on the bed flinched.

Their moment was interrupted by a nurse opening the glass door of the room, holding a needle on her left hand. "Dr. Choi insisted that you take this antibiotic."

"What for?"

"He will explain everything to you in a while."

"What about his test results?" Will asked suspiciously, not letting his brother speak.

"I told you, Dr. Choi will be here in a few minutes." She replied while injecting the medicine in Jay's IV line in a steady rhythm. The woman walked outside being followed by the young doctor.

"What's going on?"

"I am not sure."

"What's that supposed to mean?" He leaned on the wall for support and grabbed her arm violently. "Is he sick? Yes, or no?"

Before she had the chance to reply, Will was pulled back by someone. He was dragged away to the nearest trauma room facing the person who attacked him. "Was he infected?" He asked worriedly, his arms shaking.

It took a minute for Ethan to answer. "He is completely healthy and lucky enough because if you burst in one second too late, he might have not been with us, right now."

A deep breath escaped from the young man's mouth, one that he didn't realize he was holding back.

"I will sign his discharge papers and you are good to go."

"Thanks."

Will left the room quickly inserting the trauma four, noticing his brother on the bed, daydreaming. "Jay?" His tone was raised snapping him out of his thoughts.

"Sorry, I was out for a while."

"Come on, we're leaving, April is going to disconnect all your IV lines and then we'll go home."

"I thought we were going for a drink."

"Aren't you tired? You've been through a lot for one day."

"So do you. That's why we need something to relax."

After being medically discharged from Med, Jay put on his clothes and shoes and marched outside to the doctors' breakroom seeing his brother talking to Goodwin.

"Detective, I heard that you saved the world today. Nice job." She congratulated him, creating a smile on his face.

"' I didn't do anything." He cheered.

The two brothers exited the building approaching the elder's car. "You sure you want a drink?" He asked watching Jay yawning before opening the door.

Both of them stopped moving for a minute. The only sound in the atmosphere was the siren of an ambulance in the ED parking, however it didn't break their silence.

"I know I don't express my feelings much but I'm glad that you're okay. If something had happened to you in that conference room, I would have never forgiven myself."

"You know what man? You are a hell of a doctor; you would have saved my life."

"I love you, little brother."

"I love you too."

They laughed inserting the car, leaving the hospital for good, at least for the time being.