Chapter Four
Jay could feel his heart in his mouth when Connor had started to speak. He had the gut feeling that his world could possibly be starting to crash down around him. And he had started to whole his breath as he heard Connor's words. Had he just lost his brother all over again?
"...Will lost a lot of blood." Connor started and then looked at the room in front of him. Normally reporting news to the hard for him but this was different. This time it was a friend.
"He crashed twice on the table…" At Connor's words, Jay felt his heart race, "...but luckily we were able to bring him back…" He quickly added knowing that the news would come as a huge blow.
Jay's mind was working twice as fast as normal, running though all emotion and knowledge that he could think about his brother's heart stopping twice. But in the end he knew that Connor hadn't told him his brother was dead, so he could only guess that Will was still with them.
Ethan could only look at the floor, the blame he felt was now only increasing as time went on. Maybe if he had gone after Will, he would have found his friend before he had lost too much blood. And maybe that would have allowed him more time to get Will into more of a stable state before he would have to take in theatre.
Maggie didn't know how to feel, she was like an older sister to the young and sometimes cheeky doctor. But know she needed to be strong, not only for herself but for everyone. And more so for Natalie. Natalie was shaking, physically. Maggie wrapped her arm around Natalie, and held April's hand. It was the only comfort she could give. However she knew in her heart that Natalie couldn't lose someone she loved, not after losing Jeff. She just couldn't.
Connor took in another breath and looked down at his chart not breaking eye contact with Jay.
"...The knife entered in the center of Will's the diaphragm causing it to collapse. It then traveled in a upwards fashion hitting the left lung and then in the same motion the tip of the knife the pericardial sac…"
The doctors and the nurses knew the term only to well. However for Jay, he didn't know what Connor was saying.
"English Conner." Jay demanded.
"the tip of the knife hit the sack that surrounded the heart…" Connor spat out quickly, using medical terms was one way that made this news a little easier. However he should have known that he was also explain Will's injuries for Jay.
"...This allowed blood to pool in his chest and his abdomen making it hard to breathe for him." At Connor's words, Jay felt like his legs were going to give way. He knew the technique Connor was talking about. Someone had stabbed his brother and had pushed the blame towards his heart. He had used it himself overseas. In both defence and attack but this time it had been used to nearly kill his only brother.
"Oh my god." Natalie whispered, and suddenly found herself been steered back into a chair by Maggie and April.
Connor waited till Maggie gave him the ok before starting again. "As you can tell, Will's injuries are life threatening. We have made the repairs that we needed to but that is just damage control. He was too unstable to make all the repairs that he needed so we will need to go back in when he is in a more stable. All we can do now is to try to replace the blood he has lost and keep him pain free. But the rest of it is up to him." Connor finally finished not meeting anyones eyes as he ran his hands over his hair.
He wanted to tell them all that Will was going to survive and would be back been a pain in the neck in no time but he couldn't. Will's only hope was if he had the strength to fight on.
Jay nodded at Connor's last statement and allowed himself to be pushed into a chair by Erin. He knew that Connor was right, they had done everything they could to medically help his brother but now it was up to Will. He had to fight to stay alive.
But he also knew his brother, he had seen Will drag himself down so much lately and that scared him. Will took a lot of things to heart, and things seem to get on top of him if he let them. And more so when he thought he had failed someone.
Connor looked at Jay and then waited for the young detective to make eye contact again. "We are moving him to the ICU in a few minutes. He is on a ventilator until his lung heals and we can be sure he can breathe on his own. After that we will move on from there."
Jay nodded, he guessed from the sight he had seen his brother in before that Will wasn't able to breath on his own. But that only meant that his brother had a lot more problems to deal with then he started his recovery.
"However I need to make sure you understand Jay. Will is in a critical condition for the next few hours or many even days. And he could become worse at any moment. We will have to keep a very close eye on him." Connor saw Jay nod, and could only wish that he could have told Jay that Will was going to be ok.
Jay had heard this speech before and knew how seriously injured his brother was. But now all he wanted to do was to see him, to make sure for himself that his brother was indeed still breathing.
Even though him and Will had their differences, and Will sometimes drove him mad, they were brothers. If anyone tried to hurt the other they were quick to defend each other, it didn't matter if that was now or when they were younger. They looked out for each other. But now, with his job Jay had developed one fear. His greatest fear was someone targeting Will because of him.
The drive to see his brother, made him stand and look directly at Connor. "When can I see him?"
Will was the only family he had left, since he didn't talk or want to be in the same headspace as his dad.
He also knew that he was now on protection detail, Voight had been right. The man Walker had used a technique that normally always killed, and for that fact his brother's survival was a miracle in itself. He needed to see his brother now and not later.
"I can take you up to the ICU when he is settled in the room. But only two people can be in the room at once, this is mainly to lower the risk of infection. In Will's condition even a small infection could kill him." Connor answered before turning when one of the nurses opened the door and called him back through.
""I will come and get you when you can come and see him." Connor quickly told Jay and headed with the nurse up the hallway.
Maggie and April were sat with Natalie as the minutes rolled on after Connor had left, all three of them talked in low voices. Maggie and April were trying their best to make sure that Natalie was ok but also to comfort her with the horrible news that they had just heard.
Ethan turned to see that Sarah was stood next to the door of the waiting room. He knew that she was worried and overwhelmed with everything that had happened. She was still a student and she had been thrown in the deep end with what she had seen and now had heard. Heading ready to leave the waiting room, she patted her on her shoulder.
"You did good." He said trying to smile, but couldn't. Not with what he had been told. However he could not ignore the fact that she had rushed to help him when Will had collapsed. But now Ethan needed to be alone. He needed to get back to the ER, and help save other people that he knew Will could of help save. And he knew that Sarah quickly followed him.
Jay then moved to follow Connor but instead he dropped himself into one of the chairs closer to the door. He needed to see his brother. Erin slowly moved to sit next to him and quickly placed her hand over his. It was the only comfort she could give him.
Erin knew that she had no idea what Jay was going through. She may have lost her step mom when she had lived with Voight or when Teddy left but she had never been where Jay was now. But that didn't stop her from worrying. Will was the complete opposite to Jay. Jay was the quiet brother when Will was the more outgoing of the pair. But they were good for each other.
Will had helped Jay to come out of his shell more and when he had found out that Will was going to stay around, it was the first time she had seen him truly happy. Jay also seem to be more relaxed when his brother was around him. It was like she could see his armour relax when Will was close to him.
Jay couldn't lose Will again. She remembered staying up late talking to Jay about his brother after he had been caught up in the bombing at Med. She had never seen him so jumpy in her life. Weeks after the attack, Jay had got into the habit of texting or calling Will whenever he got the chance just to see if he was ok. But now she didn't know what would happen if Will didn't make it. And how Jay would react to that news.
Dr Charles watched the people in the room closely. They were a family and like everyone else he was seriously worried about Will. He had seen the young doctor at work. At times he noted that he did become very stressed about his cases and angry when he failed to save someone. However most of all, he had noticed that the young doctor also seem to bottle a lot of his feelings up and lock them away. Will seem to walked around with a very thick armour of humour or silence.
He never really show his real feelings. And when he did was when they had reached breaking points. However there were three people that knew the real Will.
One was his younger brother Jay. He had seen the pair at Molly's and had noted that the pair seem to relax when in each other's company. He knew from gossip he had heard, that the pair had not always been close but after Will had returned to Chicago their relationship had stronger as strong as it had ever been.
The second person who had seen Will's emotion was Maggie. He had seen that the nurse had become like an older sister to Will over the months he had started at Med. Maggie had even taken him to a family party, and had started to make sure that Will was ok every time he came in but at the same time had the cheeky comments only told between siblings.
The last was Natalie. She, for only one reason he could think of, was the only outside that he trusted immediately with the true him. When she had joined them at Med, he had seen that the two doctors seem to work very well together. Also she was the one that could break him out of his silent moments when it seemed that the young doctor was calling close to the edge.
With one more look at the room in front of him, he turned leaving them to find Sharon. He had a feeling that since Doctor Rhodes had not written up his notes from his operation she would need to be told the length of Will's injuries. But he also knew that he needed to tell her his concerns about the long term effect this was going to have on them all.
To Jay the wait felt like forever. However his forever was only twenty minutes till Connor came back to take him to his brother. At first he didn't hear his name was too far inside his own thought that he couldn't hear anything around him. That was until Erin shook his shoulder. He looked up to see Connor stood in front of him, with a chart in his hand.
"Will is settled in his room, I can take you up now." Jay quickly got to his feet and nodded waiting for Connor to start moving so he could follow. As they set off Erin quickly followed along with April and Natalie. Maggie had to return to the ER as she had gotten word of a car crash and they had casualties on the way.
As the moved towards the ICU, Jay tired to rid his mind of the images that showed his brother laying on a hospital bed bleeding to death. He was also at the same time trying to prepare himself for the sight that he was about to see. And he knew that it wasn't going to be good.
Erin followed her partner closely, she was on the protection detail for Will. And Jay had been added to that list so the hospital couldn't throw them out. And with the risk of Walker coming back, she had made sure that every officer who had been assigned to the detachment knew who Will was. If anyone went after a police officer family, it was the same as if they went after the officer themselves. But personally she thought to herself, 'As if they could get Jay to leave his brother when he knew he was in danger.'
Natalie allowed April to lead her towards the ICU, she knew the way well enough but for some reason she couldn't get her legs to take her there under their own stream. Natalie wanted to see Will. She needed too. When Ethan had described Will's injuries to her and then listening to Connor's notes on the operation she knew that it was bad. But like Jay she needed to see Will alive
With everyone needed back in in the ER, Natalie knew that they would be up to see Will in their own time. However Natalie had a feeling that Ethan would be up whenever he had a free minute along with Maggie. They both needed to see their friend was getting better, even if it meant going in every hour of their shift.
Connor lead them into the ICU but stopped before they got to Will's room. He turned and looked directly at Jay. He knew, from reading Will's medical records that Jay was his next of kin but also his medical proxy. However he also knew that he was addressing them all.
"I am not going to lie to you Jay, he looks a lot worse than he really is. And he is in critical condition. He also lost a lot of blood so he looks pale…" But before Connor could finish, Jay cut him off.
"I know. I just need to see him." Jay said, he knew that his voice was now showing the pain that he was feeling inside and knew that if he spoke any more his voice would crack.
Connor knew that look, there was nothing that would stop Jay from seeing Will. The look of determination, he got it enough from Will when they were trying to do something. With a nod, he opened the door to allow Jay entry to the room as Natalie and April went to the window.
Jay took a step inside before he froze. Everyone did. April grabbed hold of Natalie's hand as they looked in on the scene in front of them.
On a hospital bed, lay a pale shell of their friend. Will lay with tubes and lines running from his body. To Jay, the person in the bed wasn't his brother. It was just a shell.
Jay took one more step into the room but couldn't stop the tears from scaring his face. His older brother, the one that was always lively and making jokes was laying pale in a hospital bed close to death. But the question that was swimming around his mind was a simple one, how long would Will fight for before he gives up?
Sadly, he didn't have the answer. No one did.