Jay woke up to the sound of monitors beeping, to the smell of medical grade sanitizer and the weight of blankets holding him down. His conclusion… he was in the hospital, a place he truly hated with all his might. He slowly found the strength to force his eyes open just a crack, finding himself in the dark. It seemed silly, everything around him told him he was safe in the hospital, but the darkness triggered his memories of being downstairs in the damp cold basement. He tried to move but his body ached, especially his stomach; it felt as if he went eight rounds with the heavy weight champ and this was entirely possible, his captor and his minions were very jacked. He allowed his head to lob to the side where he heard a heavy snore, this came as no surprise, but Adam was laying in the recliner chair, arms crossed over his chest and his boots kicked off, sleeping heavily. He knew his team would find their way in, and he wondered how Adam swung this one. He wanted to call out to him, but he found his mouth extremely dry, nothing would come out and when he tried to force it out it was like knives in his airway. He carefully felt around in his blankets, lifting his arms felt like 1000-pound weights but soon he found what his looking for. His eyesight was still blurry, but he found the big red button on the top and pressed it. Within seconds two nurses rushed in, startling Adam awake. To his amusement Adam jumped away, panic on his face before he looked at Jay, then a wide grin filled his face.
"Dammit Jay, thank god you're awake!" He flopped back into his chair let out a relived laugh, Jay gave him a weak, reassuring smile.
"Welcome back Detective Halstead; I'm Amy you had your friends quite worried." She checked his vitals while the had left to get his doctor.
"Worried is an understatement," Adam interrupted, "Scared the hell out of us is more like it!"
"Good you're awake," Connor Rhodes walked in with Molly. "Adam, I see you have decided to disregard Ms. Garrett's rules."
"I fell asleep during visiting hours," Adam shrugged innocently. Connor shook his head and returned his attention back to Jay.
"I'm gonna ask you a few questions, is that okay?" he handed Jay a cup of water and waited for confirmation, "Good, can you tell me where we are."
Jay took a gulp of water, letting it soothe his throat before answering correctly with, "Gaffney." His answer was barely audible, but he was able to push it out.
"Good, and do you know who this guy is?" He pointed to Adam who was intently viewing the exam.
"Ruzek."
"Do you know why you are here?" He didn't verbally answer Connor, instead he nodded. Out of the corner of his eye he could see Adam's demeanor change.
"Will," he was able to rasp out."
"Awake, alert and attempting another break out of his room to see you," Connor smiled.
"Another breaks out," Jay asked confused.
"Let's just say that Adam is not the only person who likes to break rules," Connor explained, "actually, I am pretty sure most of your team has broken the visitor rules."
"Lucky for us Goodwin has a soft spot for us," Adam chimed in.
"Anyway, I think your brother and you have a competition of your injuries." He read through the list of injuries. "Both you and Will have a long road to recovery, especially out escape artist but you'll get back to were you were."
"Thank you," Jay spoke with gratitude even if the rough state of his voice hid it. The gravely tone that he was sporting was similar to Voight's and it only took Adam about four minutes after Connor left to point it out. He listened to Adam update him on everything, the team, the case, the fate of his abductors/ attackers mostly because he didn't want to fall asleep and wake up back in that basement. He knew that it was silly, he had been though training for this in the rangers but being told every hour that Will was dead did get to him. He felt his eyes droop close, quickly shooting them open, but Adam noticed it immediately.
"I'm going to talk to the team, let them know we got to see those pretty green eyes of yours." He wanted to fight it but much to his dismay the pain meds were kicking in, making it almost impossible to keep his eyes open, we wouldn't even see Adam walk out of the room.
"Knock, Knock," Connor announced himself. When he arrived, Will was in a deep conversation with Ethan, April, and Maggie, all of whom had just gotten off shift.
"Come in," Will welcomed him.
"I just came to give you a little good news."
"That Carla has handed me over to either Ken or Ginny," Will teased.
"No," Connor looked over his shoulder to the nurse's station, "I am pretty sure she is going to keep a hawk's eye on you."
"Oh she has, the past two days have been nothing but stare downs." That was true, she had not taken her eye off of him and she must have pulled strings to have Daniel, another strict nurse to take over on overnights.
"Well this news that I have in no way means jump out of bed again," Connor warned sternly.
"Jay," Will shot up a little straighter in his bed.
"Yes, Jay."
"He's awake?"
"Yes, he is awake."
"Is he okay?"
"He answered all my questions and is currently on pain killers, so I am sure he is feeling just fine."
"Thank god," He let his head fall back into the pillow, letting out a breath of relief.
"You both are very lucky, but you have to promise me that you will NOT try another walk, you are still healing Will."
"I just want to see him."
"And you will, we will find out a way, but you need to rest then we can get you two together but only if you promise not to over do it," Reluctantly, Will agreed. "Okay, I will come up with a plan, just give me a little time, in the meantime, listen to Carla."
"Promise," Will answered back eagerly. All he wanted was to see his brother, see for himself that Jay was up and talking.
"Keep an eye in him," Connor instructed Ethan and April.
"Don't worry our Houdini like friend is staying put," April gave Will a stern glare. It wasn't a lie that Doctors made the worst patients.
Will waited, patiently for two days; following all of Carla's rules, staying bed ridden but silently going insane. He felt like a child who was waiting for some big day, anticipation killing him as he waited to see Jay. Two days though before Connor came back with Carla and a wheelchair to get into.
"Jay has been bugging me just as much as you have," Connor informed him as Carla and him helped him settle into the chair.
"Us Halsteads are pretty persistent," Will teased.
"Hmm, persistent or annoying, it's hard to decipher," Connor jabbed back.
"Oh ouch," Will chuckled. He was wheeled out of his room, his excitement surprisingly contained as Connor personally wheeled him into the elevator. Normally, Carla would be his escort but being a colleague and a friend gave him the special treatment.
"I know Nat will be up, so I told Carla to send her to you when she gets in, I have surgery in an hour, I have to prep."
"I appreciate this Connor."
"Hey if it was my sister, I would want to be with her too." The elevator pulled to a halt, opening the doors as it let out its chime.
"Has he really been just as annoying?"
"Pretty similar, asking to see you every 30 minutes, I think that if we kept you two apart any longer the hospital staff would go nuts." Will offered a chuckle but his focus was focused on the room only about ten feet away, growing closed. For some reason he was worried, he knew there was no need to be, this was a reunion, but they had both been through hell and back to get to this point.
"Jay, I have a visitor," he heard Connor announce before pushing him into the room. To his relief Jay was up and very animated about seeing his brother.
"You look like you went three rounds with the heavy weight champ," Will teased.
"If that's what you think you should take a look at yourself." A moment of silence gave Connor the perfect segue to exit.
"I'm going to leave you two, Will remember, when Nat gets here that's when you go down."
"Oh scouts honor," Will crossed his heart. Connor rolled his eyes and left the room, leaving the two Halstead at a loss of conversation. "You know you promised me none of that heroic nonsense."
"Heroic Nonsense," Jay enquired.
"Yeah, putting yourself in danger."
"I don't recall that conversation."
"Yeah sure you don't," Will looked down at his hands, he hadn't really noticed because of his others but he did have a nice cut on the back of his hand. It was one that would only be a background scar compared to the ones on his face. "I thought you were dead, from what I can remember," He shook his head, it was there just a little fuzzy. For now, every memory he had been a mix of the attack and memories of their past.
"Me too…" Jay confessed, "they told me you were dead."
"That I was dead?"
"Yeah, I mean you looked like hell when I left you, it didn't take a ton of convincing, I didn't think you had gotten that far when they caught with me."
"Voight told me I made it like one or two blocks, I don't remember."
"Really," Jay replied in disbelief.
"I may not be the better of the athletes, but I did run track in high school."
"For like three weeks and before you say football, you were benched…a lot."
"Rub that in," Will rolled his eyes. Another awkward silence enveloped the room, as they waited for the other to talk.
"I'm sorry man, this is all my fault."
"How is this your fault," Will's head shot in the direction of his brother.
"Come on Will, they were after me, I should have gotten the team involved." He bunched the blanket in his hands using as his focus point so he didn't have to look Will in the eye. "I made a promise when Dad died, I remember, not playing hero by myself but I didn't want to scare Anita, guess if I had we could have gotten her to safety."
"They told me that her brother was in danger, the minute they moved her, her brother was as good as dead."
"Yeah maybe but instead it was my brother who was almost dead."
"I'm right here Jay, sitting next you banged up for sure but alive thanks to you." Will reached out his hand out to his brother who, with a little hesitation took it. "I am alive because you pulled me, dragged me down the street and forced me you run."
"We got lucky huh," Jay scoffed.
"Hell, yeah we got lucky Jay, we are alive; I didn't bleed out in a snowbank and you didn't freeze to death in that basement."
"Us Halsteads are stubborn sons of bitches," Jay confirmed.
"Yes, but I think I have had enough excitement in my lifetime, lets NEVER do this again."
"I can agree with that." Jay smiled.
"Good," Will nodded setting them into another bout of silence.
"Well, since all that is over… maybe you can tell me about why everyone is calling you an escape artist." Will's face light up and he fell into his story of his late-night shenanigans. They sat talking until Natalie came in three hours later and forced Will back to his room.
Another week in the hospital and an order for outpatient PT and both Halstead brothers were released. It took some time to get back to even ground for them, but they were halfway there. Both of them were still having nightmares and at times Jay still woke up in a heavy sweat as he had to remind himself that he was safe. The memories of that night would still be burned into their brains, they stayed filed under all the war flashbacks that Jay still suffered from. Closure was sending the last of Mirages lackeys away for the rest of their life and then finally the one thing that Will knew Jay needed most. A visit from Anita who insisted to Jay that none of what had happened was his fault. He knew it was going to take time for Jay to believe that, or maybe he would hold that tinge of guilt forever but that visit had caused a little of it to be chipped away.
Will had said it in the hospital, they were lucky; lucky that they were found, lucky that they team searched, that Will's team worked tirelessly to save them. Most of all they were lucky that Halstead men were stubborn as hell, and could never call it quits.