Will came home after a shift to find Hailey and Jay making dinner in the kitchen. They were talking and laughing, and if Will wasn't so annoyed with the news he just received it would have been the perfect family moment to join. They had all been going through a lot lately, and they were all busy making it rare that their schedules lined up in a way where all three of them were able to sit down for a meal. He listened to them as he took his jacket and shoes off, trying to figure out if Hailey had told Jay anything or if she was going to tell either of them.
"So, you asked her to marry you and she left?" Hailey asked gently. "Are you ok?"
"Don't really have a choice," Jay shrugged as he pulled dinner out of the oven to check on it. "This still needs a few minutes."
"Can I do anything?" she frowned, not looking up from making a salad.
"Not really, just have to go through it," he said as he put the chicken back in the oven. "Actually, Hails, I could use a hug."
She smiled, she could do that. She fell into his embrace easily, but her frown deepened as she wrestled with her own emotions. It was hard to tell who was comforting who in that morning. She felt sad for him and he was always there for her, so she wanted to be there for him but she was going through her own stuff too and he could feel it. He could sense something was off with her, but she didn't want to need him more than he needed her.
"Hey," he frowned as he pulled her back with his hands on her shoulders. "What's going on?"
"It's nothing," she said.
He raised a brow. "Come on, now. You can always talk to me, Hails."
"Really," she faked a smile. "I'm good, I just miss her too."
Jay was still having a hard time moving on from Erin's sudden leaving. Will had seemed to move on from his break up, mostly because he always wanted to be with Natalie and now it looked to be headed that way. And, Hailey was adjusting to a more stable life with better relationships. She seemed to cut off Scott and all her old friends who got her caught up with drugs, and she was making progress in a healthy relationship with Kevin. It almost made Will second guess that ambush he was about to make, but he knew he'd never be able to sit on this through a meal like nothing was wrong.
"Hey man," Jay said as Will came into the kitchen and Hailey went to set the table. "Dinner's almost ready."
"Hey, smells great," Will said.
"And, how does the salad look?" Hailey grinned as she sat down at the table.
"It looks great," Will smiled and dropped a kiss to her head out of habit. He was quickly losing his nerve to have this conversation. "Hey Hails?"
"Yeah?" she turned in her chair as she dropped an opened envelope on the table in front of her.
"Were you going to tell us you dropped out of college?" he asked with a raised brow.
"What?" Jay frowned heavily as he grabbed the envelope off the table and pulled out the letter.
"You opened my mail?" she said.
"Your privacy comes secondary to this conversation," Will said.
"It's a crime!" she yelled at him, matching his rising voice.
"I pay your tuition, Hailey." He said. "I got the refund because you dropped all your classes before the withdrawal deadline."
"Oh, right." She said, the heat vanishing from her voice. "Fine, but it's still my decision."
Jay held a hand up and raised a brow at Will when he was about to start arguing with her again. "Hailey," Jay said as he turned to her. "Did you drop out?"
She shrugged. "Well, yeah kind of."
"Okay," he raised a brow. "Why?"
"I'm just taking a break," she said. "It's too much and I hate it."
"What do you mean you hate it?" Jay asked.
"I hate all my classes. I'm bored and overwhelmed and I don't see the point," she said. "I want to love it, and I never have. I only went to college because it was the only way to get out the house and away from Dad."
Jay nodded. "And, now that he's apologized things are different."
"Well, yeah," she said. "You both love your jobs. Don't I deserve to love what I do too? I just need some time to figure out what that is."
"Hailey, you're already half way through your program," Will said. "This is not a smart decision."
"So, you want me to waste another two years and God knows how much money, just so I can say I finished?" she said. "Even if I'm miserable?"
"College is important," Will said. "And, you are too smart to waste your potential."
"Who said I'm going to waste it?" she said. "I just want a break."
"People take breaks and then they never go back," Will said.
"Ok, both of you take a breath," Jay said.
"Do you agree with this?" Will said, turning his anger on his brother.
"Will, she's only twenty years old," Jay said. "She has time to take a break and she deserves to find what she loves."
"Thank you," Hailey said as she crossed her arms.
"And you," Jay turned to his sister. "Where have you been going the last few weeks?"
Hailey shrugged. "Just around."
Will nodded. "So, you've been lying about where you were, and when we ask about your day you lied to our faces, and what? You were just going to continue lying to us and hoping you didn't get caught?"
"Get caught?" she said. "In case you forgot, I'm an adult and I don't have to tell you every detail of my life."
"Hey," Jay frowned at her. "Part of being an adult is being honest about your choices."
"And, since you live with us and we pay for everything, we kind of deserve to know what you're doing," Will said. "God, Hailey, I didn't think you were this stupid."
Hailey nodded slowly as she looked at her brothers. "Noted," she said as she left the room.
"Where are you going?" Jay asked as they followed her out into the living room and watched her grab her bag and a jacket.
"I'm leaving," she said. "And if you want to know more, go ahead and track my phone."
"Hailey," Will moved toward her but Jay stopped him.
"Let her go," Jay said. "She'll come back."
OOOOO
Hailey didn't come back that night and Jay did track her phone to keep an eye on her. She was at a sorority house for part of the night, she had a few friends there, and then she went to Kevin's, so Jay wasn't overly worried. He figured she'd go to work at with Kevin in the morning since she was schedule to work, and he knew Kevin would calm her down. He hoped he could talk to her once he got to work and smooth things over with her. He just wanted to get her home, even if he had to play mediator between Will and Hailey once he did. Will was upset, he held onto anger but he was also worried and Jay knew that. Will felt bad for calling her stupid and they had decided if she didn't come home that night they would go get her.
"Hailey not here yet?" Jay asked as he looked around once he got to work.
"She didn't come with you?" Atwater asked.
"Me, thought she was staying with you?" Jay frowned.
"She told me she was at home with you and Will," he said. "Family time."
Jay nodded. "I wasn't at home last night," he said as he covered for her. "Maybe she was with Will."
"I tried calling her," he said. "Went right to voicemail."
"I'll look into it," Jay said. "She'll turn up."
Now Jay was worried too. He put the pieces together and knew Hailey jumped her phone near Kevin's to throw Jay off her trail and now she could be anywhere. He didn't want to tip Kevin off because he had a feeling Hailey might have done something she would regret last night. Kevin was good for her and he wasn't about to get in the middle and ruin it for her, even if she already ruined it on her own.
He slipped into his truck with a coffee, he had a few leads to check in on but he could also look for her at the same time. Jay looked down at his ringing phone as he sat in his truck and drank coffee. The number wasn't one he recognized, but he had a pretty good feeling who it was.
"Halstead," he said.
"Jay," Hailey's voice was small, and tired.
"Hailey," he sighed in relief but she could hear the anger in his voice. "You okay?"
"Yeah," she forced it out and he noticed. "Can you come pick me up?"
"Where are you?" he asked.
"Look, I'm fine," she said.
"Hails, just tell me where you are," he said.
She hesitated. "I'm at Med," she said.
"What?" his frown deepened. "Why, what happened?"
"I'm not here for me," she said. "It's Scott."
"Damnit Hailey," he said. "Why go back to him? You got a good thing going with Kevin, and Scott, he's nothing but trouble and he pulls you in every time."
"He's dead, Jay," she said and her voice broke. "Scott's dead."
Jay shut his eyes and leaned his head back against the headrest. "I'm on my way," he said.
He wasn't far away, so it didn't take him long to get to the hospital. He was ushered into a private room by Maggie when he walked through the doors of the Emergency Room. Will was in the room and Hailey was on the phone. She was crying talking to someone about what happened and Will stood with his arms crossed and a heavy frown painted on his face. She hung up and that's when it hit her.
Hailey felt like she couldn't breathe, like someone sucked all the air out of her lungs. She was gasping for air, her heart felt like it was pounding out of her chest, she could feel it in her ears, and she was crying even though she didn't want to. She couldn't stop and when Will got to her she grabbed onto him as tightly as she could.
"Hailey," he said as he put his arms on her shoulders. "Hails, breathe. In and out, baby."
"Will," Jay said as he took the scene in. "Is she ok?"
"She's having a panic attack," he said as he kept his eyes on her. "Hold her."
Jay took Will's place as he left the room and came back in with a needle. "What is that?"
"Just something to relax her," Will said as he inserted the needle into her arm and then felt her neck for her pulse. He ran his thumb under her eye to wipe away the tears. "Better?"
She nodded. "Better," she said.
"Hailey, what happened?" Jay asked, he was still kneeled in front of her and holding her arms. "Where'd you go last night?"
"I called a friend, my roommate from first year. She's friends with Scott and the guys he lives with too," she explained. "Her and another girl live in the same apartment building, and we were all hanging out last night. Scott, he came back from this party and he was high, but he was fine when he left."
"His heart stopped in his sleep. He had a valve disorder, it was never found, and with the damage from the years of drug abuse," Will shook his head. "It was just too much for his heart to handle."
"He was fine," Hailey repeated with fresh tears in her eyes.
"Hails, I'm sorry," Jay pulled her into a hug and glanced up at Will with a worried frown. They had never seen Hailey this upset, and they didn't know how to fix it. "I'm so sorry, baby."
"I want to go home," she mumbled. "Please, just take me home?"
"Yeah," Jay nodded as he stood up with her. He kept his arm tightly around her.
"Are you coming?" Hailey asked Will as she looked up at him.
"Whatever you need, Hails." Will nodded.
OOOOO
Hailey tried to navigate through the halls of the hospital without being seen or stopped by someone that recognized her. She avoided the Emergency Room easily by entering through the main entrance, but too many people knew who she was and they could be in any part of the hospital. She left her hood up, she used the stairs instead of the elevator and she walked quickly past groups of people.
"Dr. Rhodes," Hailey caught up with him on one of the upper floors of the hospital.
She had to wait until both Jay and Will were busy so they wouldn't insist on coming with her. It was harder than it sounded. She had to wait until Will had a night shift so he'd come home and go straight to bed, but that shift also had to align with a late night or early morning for Jay that would ensure he didn't insist on driving her.
"Hailey," he said as he turned around. "You can call me Connor."
"Dr. Connor?" she grinned. "I need a favor, are you busy?"
"Uh," he glanced at his watch. "I have a few minutes, what's up?"
"Will wants me to get a work up on my heart," she said. "I want to do it without him knowing in case- well, you know."
"In case it's bad news?" he nodded. "I'll fit you in, come on."
It wasn't lost on him that it was odd a twenty year old would need to have her heart checked. He had seen her chart, he heard some rumours, and he had performed surgery on their Dad. He knew there was a family history of heart problems, but nothing that would affect her so young. He also knew Will, and how much he worried about his family, especially his sister, and he liked Will and Hailey. So, he did the basic things first, blood work, vitals, and now he had her linked up to an EKG. There were a lot of wires, and he could tell she was nervous as she watched the machine and the screen.
"This won't tell the whole picture, but it will give us an idea if someone is going on right now," he said. "So far, I haven't seen or heard anything that would suggest something was wrong."
"What other tests do you do?" she asked.
"Depends, cardiac work ups are different for everyone," he said. "Is this because of your Dad? It wasn't a hereditary condition, it was more lifestyle related."
"Yeah," she said slowly. "I haven't made the best lifestyle choices."
"The more I know, the more I know what to look for," he said.
"Damage from cocaine and MDMA," she said. "That's what you're looking for."
"Alright," he nodded like he heard this every day. "How much, how often, and have you noticed any problems?"
"Couple times a week for about a year," she said. "Maybe a year and a half, and no, I haven't noticed anything really."
"Why did Will want you to get checked out?" he asked.
"I have anxiety, sometimes I have panic attacks and I was getting these nose bleeds," she said. "I think after our Dad, he just wanted to be sure."
"Makes sense," he nodded. "Will and Jay should get checked out too."
Hailey was quiet for a few moments. "I also had a friend pass away recently. He had this valve disorder and they never knew about it," she explained as he listened to her. She was pretty sure he knew about Scott's case. He had been working that day.
"Well, this looks okay, but we should do an ultrasound to be sure nothing is going on. It will give you and your family some peace of mind too," he said. "I can book you an appointment."
"Can I have it done today?" she asked and he glanced up at her from her chart. "Will's off today."
"I'll get someone to do it now," he said. "But, you should really tell him."
"Can you do it?" she asked. "And, can you keep it between us?"
He studied her for a moment before he nodded. He knew what it was like to constantly be judged by family. "Sure," he said. "But, I really think you need to tell your brothers."
"I will," she nodded.