Chapter Six
Jay had lost all track of the time. The light from the windows had slowly turned dark and the room seem to be now lite with the ceiling lights. The city had also brightened with the lights from the buildings. So he knew that it was late evening or even early morning.
But that didn't matter, he knew where he needed to be. Natalie and Connor had left him alone with his brother, Connor had left after updating the charts. But Natalie left after only a few minutes of holding his brother's hand.
He had heard Connor tell him that he would be back to check on Will but as he was on call he needed to get back to the ER. But he didn't hear much else than that. Nurses had been in and out of the room to check on Will but after checking that they weren't a threat, he didn't pay them much attention.
They had spoken to him a few times however after not saying a word they quickly left. He couldn't speak. All the normal sounds that he would normally pick up now seem to be drowned out, like he was under water. All he could hear was the sound of the hospital machines keeping his older brother alive.
It was so odd for him to be in this position. In his line of work he had always thought that it would be him in the hospital bed and Will sat next to him. Waiting for news on if he would live.
It just that he had survived so much violence that it was cruel twist of faith that it would be his brother that was the one fighting for his life. He had been shot at, survived war zones and the streets of Chicago as a police officer and yet it was his brother who was here.
He now was sat in an uncomfortable hospital chair waiting for his older brother, who kept himself out of trouble and was never involved in fight, to wake up.
And he was there because some bastard had blamed him for not saving a life which he couldn't save. He knew his brother and knew that Will would have been blaming himself enough without anyone else adding to that guilt. And then for the husband had threatened his brother; only made it worse.
That was one of the main differences between him and his older brother. Will might not slow his true emotion that well but he wore his heart on the sleeve. He was kind and cared for everyone, even when they didn't deserve it.
That was also one of the reasons why Will and their father had such an odd relationship and never seem to get on. And one that Jay could never forgive his father for. He liked that his brother cared about others, he did too but he had been hardened by what he had seen.
Will was so much like their mother, and losing her hit them all hard. Their father had taken the death to their mother hard. Will might have not been there when it happened but it affected him greatly.
However the relationship between Will and their father took the greatest hit. Will had tried to keep them all close, knowing that it would be what their mother would have wanted. Jay couldn't easily forgive their father after what had happened the day of their mother's funeral. Nor could he understand how Will could.
The news of their mother's death wasn't unexpected. But still it hurt like all losses. Will returned home a few days after getting the news from one of his adventures. He had been taking a lot of trips overseas after finishing med school.
He had left the day after they had gotten the news that their mother's cancer would in the end claim her life. Jay couldn't understand why Will had left, or how he could go off party after they had gotten that type of news.
The day Will had returned, every bone in his body wanted to scream. Scream at his older brother for leaving when they needed him the most. But he didn't have the heart, when Will had gotten off the flight he saw the pain written across his face.
However they weren't the emotional family and knew that his brother like him was grieving their mother's death silently. He didn't have the heart to bring it up what he wanted to say after seeing him like that.
Three days before the funeral, Will had stop him in the kitchen and told Jay the reason for him leaving. Jay learnt that it had been their mother who had told Will to go. And that she was proud of him for making a difference. For following his heart.
Jay understood and was pleased that one of their parents had told Will that they were proud of him but at the same time he couldn't understand why Will agreed to go. Will was so much like their mother that sometimes it was painful to be around him. He had her kind nature and the need to help others. But that was the reason he couldn't forgive his father about what had happened the day they had buried their mother.
Their father after returning from the cemetery had started drinking. And by the end of the night he had drowned himself in three large bottles of whisky. Most of their other family had left at the end of the second bottle. Leaving Will and Jay to deal with their drunk father.
Jay had chose to ignore his father all together but when their father had drunk half of the fourth bottle, Will had gone to take the bottle off him when it all happened.
Jay had heard the shouting from the kitchen; but didn't move until the voices started to get more violent. By the time he had gotten into the room; he watched in horror as their father had took a swing at Will's unguarded face.
Their father like him had been in the Rangers and his hits were as dangerous as being hit with a baseball bat. And it wasn't the only one he delivered on Will. Screaming at him as he punched Will several times before Jay could get between the two of them.
It was that moment everything had changed for Jay. The words that their father had spat at Will when he was on the floor had destroyed his relationship with the man that he had once called dad. His brother had become his only family.
Their father had drunkenly walked out of the house leaving Jay to patch up his bloody brother. Even as Jay nursed his brother's bruised and bloody face Will had tried to get Jay to forget it ever happened and that it hadn't been their father's fault. That it was the drink. But it didn't matter. The hate that he felt for his own father filled him to the core.
He never spoke to the man if he could help it and only if Will asked him. Jay knew that their father had never approved of his brother's choices in life which only fed fuel to the fire.
All the males in their family had served in the military and like his father he had joined the Rangers to make a difference. But Will wasn't like them. He cared and wanted to help people and didn't have it in him to become a soldier and be ready to kill.
In his mother's eyes, Will was too smart to throw it all away to become a soldier. Ever since their mother had been diagnosed, Will had his dreams set on being a doctor. And she pushed him to go for his dreams. But that hadn't calmed their father when he found out. And the fights that happened between their parents were often about Will.
When Jay returned from Afghanistan he had been glad that his brother had kept away from the military. It didn't matter that he was the younger brother, and that his older brother should be the one to protect him from the world. He was glad that his brother was protected from the things he had seen. But he knew that he couldn't protect him from everything.
Will always saw the best in people and Jay hate to think what a few years in the military would have done to him. But now seeing his brother looking so ill, he wished he could have done more.
In front of him, he saw his failure. His failure to protect his own brother in the city that they should both feel safe. It was his job to protect the city and the people in it and he couldn't even protect his own blood. His brother nearly died in the city he should have felt safe.
He watched Will for any sign of him moving either closer to the land of the living or the halls of the dead. However as time went on, he noticed something odd. Will's eyes kept moving in a strange pattern, a if his brother was dreaming.
He couldn't even imagine what the dream could be about, but he had a horrible feeling as he had seen it before. A dream when a person is debating whether to live or to die. His brother was now at the mercy of his own mind, and he could only hope that Will could find more reasons to come back to him.
He needed him. More than ever.