Timeline: Season 6

Completed: Dec. 29, 2019

Working on their current case, the intelligence unit gets a lead on where their suspect is keeping the kidnapped girls: an abandoned house that has been foreclosed.

The team suits up before heading to where their vehicles are parked, walking out to of the district into the cold, dry air sends Jay into a coughing fit. Causing Hailey to look over, "You good?"

"Yeah, just caught off guard," Jay explains when he regains control.

"Yeah, sure. I'm driving," Hailey announces while taking his truck keys out of his hand.

"Hailey, I'm-" Jay breaks off coughing again.

"Yeah, you're fine," Hailey sarcastically agrees while getting into the driver's seat of his truck before pulling out of the parking lot.

"Everyone, keep your eyes open," they hear Voight over the comm., "Jamison is armed and dangerous in hand-to-hand."

Everyone gives some type of affirmation that they understand. Arriving at their destination they grab the long guns out of the cars. Hailey and Jay, and Kevin and Vanessa take the back while Kim and Adam take the front with Voight. Entering the building they find it as cold as it is outside in the freezing Chicago winter.

After clearing each room, the team sees that while the building is now empty, there is evidence that the girls were once being held there. "Sarge, check this out. It's still warm," Kevin motions to a nest of blankets on the floor. "They can't have left too long ago."

"Okay, everyone get back to the district and try to pull some leads," Voight orders the team.

Stepping into the cold air triggers another coughing fit for Jay. Seeing that Jay is having trouble catching his breath, Hailey hits his back, not knowing how else she can help. "Are you sure you're okay?" Hailey asks concerned.

"Yeah, fine," Jay tells her, undoing his vest, chest feeling constricted.

"Do you need to go to Med?" Hailey asks, "Need, not want," she emphasizes.

"No, it's just a cough."

"Okay, but tell me if something changes." Jay just nods while getting into the passenger side of the car without being asked, only making Hailey more concerned.

Back at the district, the intelligence unit is diligently going through all the information that they have on Jamison. Hailey keeping an eye on Jay's every move, not believing that he is fine like he said he was.

Noting that it is about the twentieth time that he has cleared his throat, Hailey is about to ask again if he is okay, knowing she is going to get the standard Jay Halstead answer when she is interrupted by Voight, "Jamison was just spotted on Englewood. Halstead and Upton bring him in, Atwater and Ruzek, back them up."

Jay immediately springs up, to bring him in. Hailey follows with a bad gut feeling.

Rolling up to where Jamison was last seen, Hailey parks waiting for him to come out of the store that he went into. When he comes out, Jay steps out of the car yelling, "Chicago PD."

Hearing Jay, Jamison makes a break for it with Jay on his tail. Kevin and Adam take their car to try to cut him off.

While running through the ally, Jay can feel his chest tightening, but he doesn't stop running; wanting to catch their suspect to find out where he is keeping the missing girls.

After chasing him for about five blocks, black spots start to dance in his vision and he can feel himself wheezing. Not able to get enough air into his lungs, Jay collapses to the ground. Being right behind him, Hailey sees her partner fall in what feels like slow-motion. "Adam," she calls into her radio, "Jay collapsed, the suspect is heading to Seventh Street. Cut him off."

"We got it," Kevin answers for them, "Stay with Jay."

Hailey kneels down next to her partner, "Jay, answer me."

Jay makes no indication that he heard her, the only sound coming from his are painful wheezes. Quickly checking him over, she cannot find a physical reason to why he collapsed, "Dispatch, this is 5021 Henry. I need an ambulance to my location now. I have an officer down, unknown cause- possible respiratory distress," she says as she's trying to get Jay to sit up, hoping that it will help him get air in.

"5021 Henry: ambulance is ten minutes out."

"I don't have ten minutes; he's having trouble breathing."

"Copy."

"C'mon Jay. I need you to breathe, help's coming," she begs him.

Six minutes later Ambulance 61 pulls up. Sylvie Brett and Emily Foster step out of the rig going over to the two. "What happened?" Foster asks as Brett gets vitals on him.

"I don't know. He just collapsed."

"O2 is 85%; let's get him on a mask, put him on 100%." Emily tries to place the mask on Jay, but in his oxygen-deprived state, he is pulling at it.

"Jay," Hailey sternly barks, seeing the panic in his eyes. "Leave it alone. It's going to help you."

"O2's not improving. Let's get him in the rig before he goes into shock." The three girls manage to get him onto the stretcher before loading it into the back of the ambulance.

Foster takes the driver's seat to drive to Med, while Brett gets in the back to treat him. Hailey also climbs into the back, not wanting to leave her partner. "C'mon, Jay. Deep breaths," she tells him while rubbing his back feeling helpless.

With his oxygen levels barely improving, Brett knows she needs to try something else fast or she's going to have to intubate him. "Jay, I'm going to switch your mask with a nebulizer one, okay?" Brett tells the detective as she is putting the medicine into the mask. Switching the mask, she tells him, "Just breath in the mist."

Jay is focused on his breathing, which seems to be improving some. "His oxygen is improving," Brett tells Hailey, "Up to 88%."

"What is that?" Hailey asks, indicating to the mask.

"It's a nebulizer treatment. It's used on patients with asthma. Do you know if Jay's asthmatic?"

"I don't know. He's never mentioned anything to me, but you know how he is."

Arriving at Med, Will is waiting when they unload Jay from the ambulance. "Hailey, what happened?" asked the concerned brother.

"I don't know. We were chasing a suspect and he just fell. He was wheezing like he couldn't get in any air."

Will then goes into the treatment room that they took Jay to. "Will, you can't be here," Ethan tells him.

"I'm not treating him," Will answers while going to his brother's head, "I'll stay out of the way," he promises Ethan before turning his attention to his brother.

"Hey, Bud. Are you feeling better?" Jay nods his head. "Was your asthma bothering you at all before this?" Jay shrugs his shoulders.

"He was coughing a lot today," Hailey informs the older brother, "But I thought it was just a cough. He's getting over a cold from last week."

"Did you think you were just coughing because of your cold?" Jay nods his head again.

"Jay," Ethan calls his attention, "How hard is it to breath on a scale of one to ten?" Jay holds up four fingers.

"That's at least a seven, maybe an eight," Will informs his colleague before turning to his brother. "How does your chest feel? Tight?" Jay gives the so-so motion, pointing to the nebulizer mask. "It was tight, but the nebulizer treatment helped?" Will guessed. Jay nods his head. "Is your chest still tight?" Jay motions a little with his hand.

"Jay, because this was a severe attack and your oxygen levels are still a bit too low for me, I'm going to admit you," Ethan tells him.

"No arguments, Jay," Will tells his brother when he sees that he is about to complain. With the nebulizer treatment finished, Will switches the mask to a normal oxygen mask. Jay just closes his eyes, exhausted from the attack.

Hailey places a hand on Jay's forearm, "Jay, I'm going to call Voight and let him know what's going on. I'll be back in a bit okay?" Jay nods, opening his eyes for a second to ask, just by looking at her, you're coming back.

"I'm not leaving," Hailey promises before she walks out of the treatment room. "Will, if they move him before I get back can you text me his room number."

"Yeah, and Hailey?" he stops her before she leaves, "He's had enough excitement for the day. Let's keep the visitors to a minimum today. He can have more tomorrow if he feels up to it."

"Okay, I'll let them know.

"How's Halstead?" Voight answers when he sees it's his detective calling him.

"He's doing better. They're going to admit him."

"Did you find out what happened?"

"He had an asthma attack."

"Is this new or was he hiding it from us?"

"It's not new, but I don't think he was necessarily hiding it from us. Will's making it sound like they thought he outgrew it."

"Is he up for visitors?"

"Actually, Will wants to limit visitors today. He said if Jay is up to it tomorrow, he can have more visitors."

"Okay. Is it safe for me to assume you're staying with him?"

"Yes, as long as you don't need me at the district."

"We can manage."

Walking back into the hospital, Hailey finds that Will had texted her while she was on the phone with Voight, ICU 508.

"Hey," she knocks softly on the door.

"Hey, come in. He just fell asleep," Will tells her as she walks up to the bed.

"He looks better," she comments, taking a good look at her partner. He has regained most of his color, though still a little pale; the oxygen mask covering half of his face, he looks to be sleeping peacefully.

"His numbers are improving, they're in the mid-nineties."

"So, Jay has asthma?"

"Yeah, but he hasn't had an attack in years. I think the last time he had one, he was a freshman."

"If he hasn't had one in so long, what caused him to have one today?"

"There are a lot of triggers, but in his case, I'm going to guess that it was the cold air, the air's also been dry. And you said he's getting over a cold?" Will continues when Hailey nods, "An upper respiratory infection, like the flu, or in Jay's case, a cold can cause asthma to act up."

"But, he's going to be okay?"

"He'll be fine. Once he's out of here, he'll probably be on restricted duty for a couple of days; but he'll be back to chasing bad guys in the street in no time."

"He's going to love restricted duty."

"He'll live with it; I need to get back to the ED. Are you staying?"

"Yeah."

"Okay, have a nurse page me if he needs anything and a nurse should be coming by before they bring him dinner for another treatment."

"He'll be fine. I've got him." Hailey tells him.

Hailey sits in the chair by his bed for about two and a half hours before Jay stirs, "Hailey?" his voice is muffled by the mask.

"Hey, how're you feeling?" she asks.

"Better, tired," Jay tries to take off the mask only to be stopped by Hailey.

"Don't, you need that."

"What happened?"

"You had an asthma attack while chasing the suspect."

"Did we get him? What about the girls?" Leave it to Jay to be more worried about the case that his own health

"We got him and last I heard the girls were going to be okay. How come you never mentioned having asthma?"

"Didn't think it was important. Haven't had an attack in years," Jay coughs harshly. Seeing him struggle to catch his breath, Hailey moves the rail out of the way and helps him into a sitting position, sitting next to him for support.

"That's it. Nice, deep breaths. In through your nose, out through your mouth," Hailey coaches while rubbing his back. Seeing that he's caught his breath, she asks, "How do you feel? Do you need me to get a nurse?"

Jay shakes his head as he rests it on Hailey's shoulder. "Jay, I think I should get a nurse. You feel warm."

"No," is his muffled response through the mask.

"Jay, please. What if you're getting pneumonia?" Jay nods not wanting Hailey to worry. Hailey presses the call button.

"Yes," a voice comes over the speaker.

"I think he's running a fever, can someone come and check?" Hailey request.

"Someone will be right in."

They wait for five minutes before a nurse walks in, Jay still resting his head on Hailey. "Hi, I hear you're not feeling too hot. Is it okay if I take your temperature?" Jay just nods his head. The nurse wipes off the thermometer before placing on Jay's forehead. "Your friend was right, 100.7.," the nurse tells him. "How are you feeling otherwise?"

"Head," Jay whispers.

"Anything else?"

"Throat."

"Does your throat just hurt or does it feel like you can't get any air?"

"Just hurts," Jay answers sounding out of breath.

"Jay, is this new, or were they bothering you before?" Hailey asks.

"New."

Hailey looks over to the nurse worried, "It's normal," she assures her. "It says in his notes that he already had a cold before he had the attack?" She clarifies.

"Yeah."

"His immune system is weaker than normal from the attack," she tells Hailey before turning her attention to Jay, "In the meantime, I'm going to get you some Tylenol and see if we can move up the breathing treatment," she tells him before leaving the room.

"Do you want to lay down?"

Jay moves the mask away from his face a couple of inches so Hailey can understand him, "No, if they do a treatment I have to be sitting up."

"Okay, now put the mask back." Jay does as he's told, still in need of the oxygen that it is providing.

Jay nods off, leaning against Hailey while they wait for the nurse to return. After a few moments the nurse returns, Hailey wakes Jay up so he can take the medicine. "Here," the nurse hands Jay a cup with two pills, "The doctor also approved another breathing treatment," she tells him as she hands him a mouthpiece.

Jay grabs it, "Can I have the mask instead?" He questions.

"No," the nurse tells him. "You should have transitioned to the mouthpiece by the time you were twelve."

"Can you page his brother, Will Halstead?" Hailey asks.

"His brother is not in charge of his case."

"Page his brother, unless you want an angry older brother on your case," Hailey warns the nurse.

"Fine," the nurse answers before leaving the room.

Will enters the room ten minutes after the standoff with the nurse. "What's wrong?" Will worriedly ask as he enters the room.

Seeing that Jay fell back asleep on her, Hailey answers, "The nurse gave him the mouthpiece for the breathing treatment and he asked if he could have the mask instead. She told him no and that he should have transitioned from the mask by the time he was twelve."

"Okay, I'll get to the bottom of it," Will tells her before going to find the nurse who was responsible for his brother's breathing treatment.

Will returns five minutes later turning his attention to his sleeping brother. "Jay, hey, wake up," Will attempts to wake him up without startling him not wanting to trigger an asthma attack.

"Will?"

"Hey, I talked to the nurse. She'll be in soon with the mask, okay?"

Jay nods, "I'm sorry," Jay apologizes.

"For what?"

"For causing trouble."

"You didn't cause trouble. Not everyone can get the hang of the mouthpiece," Will reassures him. "Do you need anything else?"

"No. Thanks, Will."

"No problem, I'll stop by after my shift ends in a couple of hours."

"Okay, Will. We'll be fine until then," Hailey answers seeing her partner is spacing out again.

"Okay, I'll send the nurse in," Will tells them as he leaves.

The nurse arrives a few minutes later with the nebulizer treatment and the mask, "Here," the nurse hands him the mask, "The treatment should last ten to fifteen minutes," she tells him before leaving.

"Her attitude changed," Hailey comments as she helped Jay switch masks.

For the next ten minutes, the two sit in a comfortable silence as Jay breathes in the medication.

"Does that feel better?" Hailey asks Jay when the nebulizer treatment is over.

"Yeah. Did Will say why?" Jay asks through the mask.

"Why what? Why you had an attack?" Hailey guesses. Jay nods, letting her know that is what he is asking. "He said it could have been the cold air and that the air has been dry recently. He also mentioned that your cold probably hasn't helped. Jay, tell me the truth, it's just the two of us: did you feel your asthma bothering you?"

"No. I really thought it was just the cold."

"Okay, you really scared me," she admits.

"Sorry," he yawns.

"Go to sleep. Someone will be here when you wake up," Hailey tells him. Hearing this, Jay lays back in the bed and turns on his side, so he is facing Hailey being careful of the oxygen mask providing the extra oxygen to him. She lays next to him, arm pulling him into her side, Jay resting his head on her shoulder quickly falling to sleep.

"He really trusts you," Will whispers as he walks into his brother's hospital room, finding the two in the same position.

"Or he's just exhausted," Hailey rebuttals.

"He's faced into you like that because he knows you'll protect him while he's sleeping," Will explains. "He used to do that to me when we were growing up and he'd climb into my bed when he got scared," Will elaborates when he sees her confused expression.

"I have his back," Hailey simply states.

"He doesn't trust a lot of people when he's sleeping. He needs to feel safe with them to let his guard down like this."

"He's been out for a couple of hours; I can wake him if you want."

"No. Leave him be, at least until they bring his dinner around." After a moment of awkward silence, Will tells her, "His numbers look good. We can switch him to a nasal cannula when he wakes up."

After another day in the ICU, Jay is moved to a regular room where the rest of intelligence is allowed to visit him. It takes five more days for Jay to be released from the hospital, mostly because they wanted to watch for complications with his asthma because of his cold. By his second day in a regular room, he was driving the nurses up the wall, Will threatening to knock him out if he didn't stop behaving like a child.

When Jay was finally allowed home, he was on medical leave for another week before he was allowed to return to work. Driving everyone crazy when he returned to intelligence since he was still on restricted duty, most of the team was ready to murder him themselves. After being cleared for full duty, the team, especially Hailey, was keeping an eye on him, not wanting Jay to have another attack on their watch.

A/N: Please stay safe everyone!

Conversions:

100.7= 38.2

Questions and Comments:

Rosie4334- Chapter 12- Really can't stand how upton treats Jay like a child. She acts like she is the only one who knows what he needs.

Response: I'm sorry you saw it like that. I was trying to portray her being there for Jay, knowing he would be trying to push people away and her pushing back. That they are at that point in their partnership where she can read him and knows when to push and when not to.