Jay rushed into apartment building in search of anyone that could help him out. They had moved their Dad into that building after his heart surgery and it seemed like the perfect solution, until now that the high rise was on fire and his apartment was one of the top floors. The worst part, Hailey had gone to visit him that day. They were trying to work on their relationship, it consisted of a once a week morning coffee for a half hour or so. It seemed to be going alright, and Jay knew he had Kevin to thank for that because he was having a real positive effect on Hailey lately.
But, now she wasn't answering her phone, and their Dad wasn't answering his phone, and Jay and Will were beyond worried. Will could keep busy at the hospital until he got word, he was needed there anyway, but Jay was a break down doors guy, not a wait around kind of guy.
"Chief," he called as he came into the lobby. "My Dad lives here, and my sister was visiting, and I can't get a hold of either of them."
"What apartment?" Boden asked.
"23 C" he barely got the answer out before he heard her calling out for him.
"Jay!" Hailey yelled and he turned around to see her coming across the lobby from a group being lead out from the stairwell.
"Thank God," Jay mumbled as he grabbed her. "Where's Dad?"
"I don't know," she shook her head. "We got into the stairwell when the alarms started going off. He told me to go ahead down without him, that he'd meet me out here. He said he had to help someone, make sure they got out too, and he went up the stairs. I didn't know what to do, there was so much smoke already and people were everywhere and pushing. I turned around and he was gone."
"It's okay, it's okay," he held her tightly against him, he could feel her heart pounding and she could feel him relax just a bit. He looked back at Boden. "Chief, my dad's got a heart condition."
"They're doing a primary search," he said. "23 is next."
"Do your thing," Jay reluctantly backed off. "How can I help?"
"Can you get that door cleared?" he asked, nodding to the front entrance.
"Absolutely," he said and looked down at Hailey, who was still clinging to him. "They're going to find him. Come on, let's get you out of here."
They separated and he reached down to grab her hand as he pulled her through the crowded lobby. She held onto him hand like a little kid as she followed closely behind him. It was chaos outside and the CPD was struggling to maintain a perimeter, mostly because of the amount of residents pouring out of the building and family members rushing toward them.
"I'm not leaving," she said as he came to a stop outside and he looked down at her. "I know you're about to drive me home, or get someone to do it. And, I know, you have to work, but I won't get in the way. I promise. I just want to know if he's okay, and I don't want to be alone."
He looped an arm around her and kissed her head, but he still had a heavy frown painted on his face. "Alright, let me update Will," he said as he pulled his phone out.
"Any news?" Will answered almost immediately.
"I've got Hailey," he said. "But, no sign of Dad. CFD is checking his apartment."
Will sighed. "Okay, keep me posted?"
"Sure," Jay nodded. "You coming down or staying at work?"
"They need me here," he said. "What about Hailey?"
Jay glanced down at her. "I'm keeping her with me," he said.
"Good, I won't worry then," he said.
Jay hung up and nodded at Hailey. "Stay close," he said. "I can't do my job if I'm worried about you."
"If I'm not with you, I'll be with Kevin," she said. "I got it."
He paused and frowned slightly. "You guys telling people yet?" he asked.
"Not really," she said. "I mean, who do I have to tell besides you and Will? My friends are either dead or high, and his friends are cops. Maybe he doesn't want the unit to know, maybe he's ashamed he's dating a twenty-year old train wreck, who knows?"
Jay frowned. "Did he say something like that?"
"No," she smiled with a small laugh. "I was kidding. I don't know why he hasn't told anyone at work, but it doesn't really bother me."
"Well, if he hurts you, I'll kill him," Jay nodded behind her as Kevin approached them. "Speak of the devil."
"Hey Jay," Kevin said.
"Hey man," he said. "Bring her back to me when you're done talking.
Kevin nodded and turned to Hailey. "What's up, you doing okay?"
"Yeah, I'm fine," she smiled.
"Your Dad?" he asked as he looked around.
"Still inside somewhere," she sighed. "He told me to get out, but he needed to help someone. I came out and Jay was here. I think he's panicking a little bit."
"And, are you?" he asked.
"A little," she shrugged and he reached out for her. "Wait, people will see."
"Let them look," he said as he pulled her into him. "I'm done hiding it."
She smiled and wrapped her arms around him as she looked up at him and they kissed. "All I've wanted to do since we started dating was be able to do that whenever I wanted," she said.
He laughed as they separated and he reached out to hold her hand. "This is what I've wanted to do," he said. "Come on, I'm on crowd control."
Hailey stayed by Kevin near the police tape and it was nice to not have to hide how she felt when she was around him. She used to worry about lingering too much, or staring too long, or having to worry about how they spoke to one another and remembering not to touch each other. It was different in the best way, but she was still a little worried about what the unit would think and she didn't want to cause too many problems for him, so she made sure not to hang off him too much, even if she wanted to.
And then, she saw them bring out her Dad, and Jay was yelling for her.
He didn't look good, but he was awake and he was coughing and he was insisting he was fine in his typical gruff manner. It made her feel a little bit better to see him acting like himself, but she could tell Jay was worried and that made her anxious. They drove to the hospital and met him in the ED. Hailey sat cross legged on the end of the bed as her Dad coughed and argued that he was fine as Will tried to check him out.
"Pop tried to play hero," Jay said. "Forgot he was in his 60s with a bum ticker."
"Yeah, well, it's your fault to begin with," Pat said.
"Me?" Jay raised a brow.
"You stuck me in that fire trap," he said.
"Pop stop talking," Will said as he listened to his heart.
"You said you liked the place," Jay frowned.
"What's the point on this?" Pat said angrily and shoved the nurse's hands away.
"Easy," Will said and now it was his turn to frown. "You're having chest pain, did you forget you had a quadruple bypass last month? Come on, stay still."
Connor came in the room then and the family fighting took a break. "How are you doing Mr. Halstead?"
"Fine," he said gruffly. "It's nothing."
"You might be right," Connor said as he looked things over. "But, we're not done, we've got to do a few things before you can go."
"I don't need all this," Pat said once Connor and the nurse left and it was just him and his three kids.
"Calm down," Jay said. "You're getting yourself all worked up."
"What do you know?" Pat said. "You're no doctor."
"Pop," Will said and Hailey sighed, trying to stay out of it. She often remained quiet during these fights and Will tried to play the middle. It never ended well, in fact, it pretty much always ended the same way.
"You had no right to sell my house," he said to Jay.
"You want to talk about this again?" he said. "It was a wreck, you couldn't take care of the place."
"You just wanted my money," he argued.
"Hey," Will tried to intervene again.
"You don't have any money you thankless old prick," Jay shot back as he walked out of the room.
Will looked torn and he glanced at Hailey. "I'll go with him," she said. "You stay here."
"Hang on," Will said. "I want you checked out too."
"I'm fine," she sighed, he could tell she was exhausted from the fighting and he felt bad. "They checked me out at scene."
"You listen to her when she says she's fine, but not me?" Pat said.
"She doesn't have a heart condition," Will shot back. "Hails, come on, I'll be quick and Jay needs some time alone."
"Okay," she mumbled and sat back down at the end of the bed.
"I got her to the stairs when the alarms first went off," Pat coughed out. "It wasn't that bad yet."
"Good Pop," Will said as he listened to her lungs. "Hails, take some deep breaths."
Pat frowned when he saw Will frown as he listened. "What?" he said. "She's fine, right?"
"I'm okay, Dad," Hailey said with a small smile.
"Will?" Pat pressed.
"She's okay, Pop," Will concluded. "Hailey, you inhaled a fair amount of smoke, stick around until Jay or I can take you home, alright?"
She nodded. "Can I go get a coffee at least?" she said. "I'll come back here."
"Sure," he nodded.
"Pop, want anything?" Hailey asked, but he shook his head and she slipped out of the room.
Hailey called Jay before she headed back to the room, but he said he was fine and he'd be back in a bit. She almost didn't want to stay, but they were working on their relationship and she didn't want him to be alone. He wouldn't admit he cared, but he seemed somewhat happy to see that she actually did come back. Will continued to check on other patients and Hailey almost drifted off to sleep when alarms started going off in the room. People started rushing in and Hailey moved out of the way just as Will ran in and started CPR and running a code. It all happened so fast she didn't know what to do, or to think, but then she saw Jay.
"What's going on?" he said when he came back into the room and saw Will doing CPR.
"Will," Hailey said as she moved to stand slightly behind Jay.
"Will," Jay said after a few moments. His voice was quiet and soft, different than it usually was, and Hailey watched them exchange a glance.
It had been almost five minutes before Will was able to restore a heart rhythm, but no one felt any relief. Neuro came down and did an assessment, but there was no EEG waves and the surgeon declared their Dad brain dead. Hailey was speechless, Will understood but he was upset, and Jay was angry. He stormed out and Will stayed, again, and Hailey was just caught in the middle.
This time she did follow Jay out. They sat on a bench in a quieter area and neither of them said much. They were both in shock, and it wasn't until Will joined them a little while later that Jay started to find his voice.
"I want a second opinion," Jay said. "I don't like that guy."
"He's our top neurosurgeon." Will said.
"All your degrees, all that money, all those years in school, this is the best you can do?" Jay shook his head.
"Dad almost died two years ago, he's been living on borrowed time."
"You want to give up?"
"I'm trying to be realistic, I've seen a lot of patients -"
Jay scoffed. "There goes that doctor voice."
"I'm sorry, but I am a doctor." Will said firmly.
"Don't worry, we got that message. Dad knew you thought you were better than us. We always came in second. You weren't there and now you want to decide what happens?"
"That is not true, Jay." Will defended.
"Stop!" Hailey yelled, and they both looked at her in surprise of her outburst. She had been so quiet all day. She had tears in her eyes and she was mentally and emotionally done. "You both left and so did I, but this isn't our fault and you two turning on each other isn't helping. I have stood in the shadows all day, like I have done my whole life with you two. The doctor and the military hero turned police officer, do you know what that's like to live up to? He's judged both of you for picking your careers, and me for not being as good as you, and he was wrong. Just like you two are wrong right now fighting about it because you both have regrets. So, just stop."
Hailey stormed off and she saw some hospital lady from the board approach her brothers, but she kept walking. She headed back into the room to sit with her Dad. She had regrets too, but there wasn't anything to do now. She knew he was gone.
Jay joined her in the room a little later. He sat down beside their Dad and held his hand. Neither one of them said anything until Will came into the room.
"Hails is right," Jay said. "I do have regrets, but we can't give up on him."
"Jay-" Will shook his head.
"I can't let that be the last conversation I have with him," Jay almost pleaded.
"Jay, the hospital is trying to keep him alive to buff some numbers," Will said. "Dad wouldn't want that."
They started arguing again and Hailey checked out, but the next thing she knew, they were physically fighting. She stepped between them and it broke up quickly, when Jay saw that Will was bleeding and he wasn't going to strike back. Jay shook his head and headed back into the room as Will reached out to stop Hailey from following him.
"No," she said, knowing that he was going to try and plead his case to her next. "I'm sick of you two fighting today. You're just as wrong as he is. You want to take him off the vent to stick it the hospital and he wants to keep him on the vent to clear his conscience."
"Hailey," Will said softly. "He's not waking up."
"I know that," she said with tears in her eyes. "We take him off because of that, because he's not coming back, not for revenge. You need to get there, and Jay needs some time to see it like we do, and we need to let him have it. We have to do this together."
"You're right," Will said as he ran a hand down the back of her head before he pulled her close and dropped a kiss to the top of her head. "I love you."
"I love you too," she said through the tears.
Hailey headed back into the room to sit with Jay and Will took a break. She wasn't sure if she was in that room for her or Jay, but she did know that there was only a handful of times that she had ever seen her brother cry. He sat by the bed and continued to hold their Dad's hand and she sat beside him and held his. She didn't say anything, she didn't have to.
Will slipped back into the room a little while later, calmed down and a lot more understanding.
"I'm sorry, Jay, for everything," he said. "I'm sorry for not being there, for you two and Dad, and I'm sorry for not giving you space to let you grieve. We'll keep him on the vent as long as you want."
Jay shook his head. "Who am I kidding?" he said. "I know he's not coming back. Let him go."
Will sat down next to Hailey and he looped an arm across her and put his hand on Jay's shoulder. He nodded and they all had tears falling as they said their last goodbyes.