Will could feel the bile rise in his throat as soon as he spotted Connor walking to his room. He clutched the sheets that covered his legs just as his heart started to pound. For the past three hours he sat in silence, except to send Natalie away to see Owen. He needed to be alone, worrying about whether Jay was going to die after protecting him. Now, as Connor walked towards him, he felt sick, the look on the surgeon's face didn't give him any comfort. Slowly Connor walked to the room, perhaps to delay the inevitable delivery of bad news but all the same he made it to the doorway. Will looked at him, stared at his facial features, studying his body language to figure out what time of news he was going to receive.

"Will, how are you feeling?" Delaying further, this wasn't good.

"Fine," by now Will felt as if his heart may burst if he was subjected to anymore diversion. "Is he alive?" Fair enough question; he watched as Connor took the chair that Natalie had once occupied and pulled it close to Will's bed.

"He is alive," Connor confirmed. Will let out the air that had been trapped in his lungs; this was only partially a relief because he knew that there was more to come.

"How bad?"

"Your brother is one tough son of a bitch," Connor joked lightly. "When he came in there was no doubt in my mind because of the bruising on his abdomen that he was bleeding internally."

"Obviously you were able to fix it."

"Yes, but he lost almost half his blood volume, if the team had found him any later…" he left the rest of his sentence to the imagination of Will. "Lathum and I did an exploratory Laparotomy, we found that his spleen was heavily damaged so we had it removed, he will have a rough recovery, but he is going to make it." Will could cry, if fact he could feel the burning in his eyes as the tears began to form.

"Thank you," Will couldn't possibly repay the men who saved his brother; policemen of medical professionals.

"He is in recovery but should be moved up here soon," Connor informed him. "His body temp is still slightly low and obviously with the condition he came in here in, we are going to monitor him closely." Will nodded in understanding, he knew they had to make sure he doesn't get an infection not that his spleen was gone he was at higher risk.

"Thank you, Connor, I mean it." Connor grabbed his colleagues' hand and gave it a squeeze, giving him a reassuring smile. "I'm going to check up on him as much as I can, and when you are recovered a little more, I will bring you to see him." Connor stood up and left, closing his curtain and door on his way out. It was just what Will needed, as soon as he heard the sliding door shut, he felt the dam break, sobbing in relief that he hadn't lost his brother, his best friend and last immediate family member he had.

He must have cried himself to sleep, though even laying in bed trying to recover was tiresome. The next thing he knew he felt the soft warm kiss on his forehead; Natalie was back. He didn't immediately wake up, he listened as she threw her coat and purse on the windowsill before sitting in the chair beside him. Though his eyelids felt heavy he managed to open them and croak out her name to gain her attention. Though the now dark room he could see her smile accompanied by her taking his hand into hers.

"Hey," Her voice was soft and sweet, like music to him.

"Hey," he replied slightly turning himself to her.

"So Jay is going to be okay?" She squeezed his hand. He nodded in response, the movement mad his headache appear again.

"Did you see him," Will inquired

"No, but he is a few rooms over." Will shot up, an honest mistake, everything spinning around him and his body ached. "Hey, not so fast." She laid him back down, running her fingers through his hair. "You need to stay bed ridden a little longer."

"I need to see him," Will whined.

"And you will but we can't have you going over when you are still getting well yourself, you know that." He didn't want to let the fact that he was brutally beaten keep him from seeing Jay, but she was right. He could feel his eyelids weight down anyway, he was still exhausted. "Get some rest, we will see him soon, just wait a little bit longer." Will nodded, his eyes fluttered shut and he was asleep again.

While asleep he had the dream that seemed to reoccur ever since he had woken up at Gaffney. He knew that it was just his brain catching up and remembering what happened that night but he was still fuzzy, bits and pieces like clips from a film. It always ended the same, Jay pushing him on telling him to go, this time it ended differently. Jay was there, telling him to get up, to keep going but this time the men caught up and he watched as the executed Jay in front of him before turning the gun to him, a gunshot fired and he snapped upright in his hospital. He could feel his heart hammer in his chest, his head mimicked the beat and his gown was soaked through with sweat.

"Hey…hey…hey," Natalie took his hand. "Shhhh, you're okay, you are safe," she assured him, rubbing circles on his back.

"I need to see him," he pleaded. If it were any other circumstance, she would have told him no, but she could see the panic and fear in his eyes and instead let out a subtle nod. She kissed him gingerly in his cheek before going to tell the nurse. He felt like she had been gone forever but soon she returned with a wheelchair and Rhodes.

"Only for a minute Will, then back to bed," Connor instructed. Eagerly, Will agreed and without hesitation he let Natalie and Connor guide him into the chair. She gave his shoulder a squeeze before following Connor out and over four rooms over. The shades were drawn, and the door was closed but the plaque on the door read "J. Halstead." Connor opened the door and ushered the two of them in. Will peaked around Connor to his brother who laid placed in a heavily medicated sleep. Will reached out as soon as he got to the bedside grabbing his brother's hand just to be sure this was all real. Taking the cue, Natalie and Connor stepped out but not before Connor added, "ten minutes Will." Once they were clear Will let his guard down, tears slipped down his face.

"We're safe Jay, were gonna be okay." He wondered if Jay could hear him, there was so much he wanted to say.

"How could you sacrifice yourself like that, you scared the shit out of me, I thought you were dead." The yelling only angered his head more. "Thank you for saving me, always," he added. He squeezed Jay's hand hoping for something back, but Jay's hand was motionless, some comfort came as Will felt Jay's strong pulse beneath his own pointer finger.

"I need you to wake up soon man, I need to make sure you make it though because I'd never forgive myself." With his free hand he wiped away his tears and his nose.

"Will, we have to go back," Natalie announces gently. Will felt cheated, there was no way that was ten minutes, but a promise was a promise so with one last pat to Jay's hand and a quick "I love you," he allowed Natalie to push him back to his room. As she and a nurse laid him back in bed she leaned over and wrapped her arms around him.

"He will wake up and when it happens, I promise you will see him."