Hailey let her brothers deal with most of everything when it came to their Father's death. They closed his estate, they arranged the funeral, they looked deeper into the fire that caused his death, and she just went along with it all. She didn't really know what to do to help, and she was struggling with her own emotions too. Jay felt guilt and he channeled it into finding answers, Hailey felt guilt and simultaneously withdrew and held on tighter from her brothers, and Will was trying way too hard to make sure he looked after them all, while honoring their Father.
He planned a funeral and there was a pretty good turnout. Friends and neighbours showed up, Will socialized, but Jay wasn't talking to anyone. Will had been so hyper focused on Hailey, and Jay had been so focused on the case, that he hadn't been checking in with his brother as much. Now, as he watched him sitting alone, drinking alone, he was worried.
"You okay?" Will asked as he approached him.
"Fine," Jay said as the singing began. "Hailey's drinking."
"What?" Will frowned and turned around to look for her. "Are you sure?"
"I've been watching her," he said. "And, Kevin hasn't been watching her enough."
"Well, that's not really his job," Will said.
"Right, it was Dad's, and he dropped the ball," Jay shook his head and held up his beer. "And, me? Well, I'd just be a hypocrite telling her she couldn't have a drink at a time like this."
"Yeah, well, I don't have a problem telling our underaged sister she can't drink," Will said as he headed over to Hailey.
She rolled her eyes when he pulled the beer from her hand. "Really?" she asked as he placed it on the table and gently guided her away from the crowd.
"What are you doing?" he asked seriously.
"It's one beer," she deflected.
"It wasn't just one," he said as he studied her face. "But even if it was just one, you don't get the luxury of having just a beer with your substance abuse past."
"Ugh, Will," she threw her head back in frustration. "Alcohol has never been my issue."
"It doesn't matter and you know that, you know how it works," he said.
"I don't need the program talk," she said. "I'm twenty years old. It was a phase, not an addiction."
"That's the alcohol talking, you're going backwards on all the progress you made and that's why you shouldn't drink," he said. "And yes, you are twenty years old, which means you're not even legal to drink in this country."
"God Will, you can't even cut me a break even when our Dad dies, huh?" she shook her head.
"No, and you want to know why?"
"Oh, I'm sure you're going to tell me." She said as she crossed her arms.
He turned his head slightly to catch her gaze. "Because I know right now you are thinking about how easy it would be for you to call an old hook up and it wouldn't be that big of a deal. Am I right?" he raised a brow and she broke eye contact with him. "That's why you shouldn't drink. Give me your phone."
She looked up at him and he stared her down as he held his hand out. She wanted to fight him, tell him off, and storm off, but he was right. She was thinking about it and it scared her. So, she reached into her back pocket and put her phone in his hand.
"Will," she said as a few tears fell.
"I know, it's okay." he said gently. "Where's Kevin?" he asked.
"He went home," she said. "They're still working on the case. He has to go in early tomorrow."
"Come on," he pulled her close to him. "Let's go home."
There were a lot of changes lately, including a move to a new home. After Will moved in with Natalie and Lindsay left, Hailey knew it would only be a matter of time before they moved out of that house they had all moved into. It was too big, and too expensive, and it had too many memories for Jay. They ended up in a two bedroom apartment closer to his work, and it was just one more thing to get used to.
Will stayed the night, but he and Jay both left early in the morning for work. Hailey quickly realized that she had no where to go, and for some reason it really hit her that she wasn't doing anything with her life. She took a break from college, just short of dropping out and she hadn't made any plans. She started researching college programs and different options, but she really wasn't feeling well and she was getting worse throughout the day.
She made a few calls to Will, but he hadn't called her back yet. She knew he was working today, but usually he called back faster. She didn't call Jay, he was pretty wrapped up in the case surrounding the building fire and she didn't really want to pull him away from it. She also didn't want to hear about it. He was consumed by finding answers, but it made her too sad to think about it being anything but an accident. She was lying on the couch trying to find something to binge watch on Netflix when Will called back.
"Hi," Hailey said. "Are you still working?"
"No, I'm off shift, but I had a house call to make," he said. "What's up?"
"I don't feel well," she said. "Can you come over?"
"Sure Hails," he said.
"Can you bring me Gatorade?" she asked.
"Yeah, have you eaten today?" he asked.
"No," she said. "Not really feeling hungry."
"Well, I'll bring something over," he said.
Will walked in the apartment about a half hour later and found Hailey lounging on the couch with blankets and her tablet. Friends was playing on the TV, something she had probably binge watched five times already since Netflix put it on. She watched it when she couldn't find anything else, and when she needed to laugh. He brought the food to the kitchen before he sat down on the coffee table in front of her.
"Okay, c'mere," he said. "What's wrong?"
"I just feel sick," she said as she sat up and he reached out to feel her forehead and her glands. "I have a headache and I'm tired."
He nodded, he knew it was probably grief but he wanted to check her out. "Do you want to eat something?" he asked as he pulled his stethoscope from his bag.
"Not really," she said when he was finished. "Can you just watch a movie with me?"
"Yeah baby," he sighed and joined her on the couch, letting her lean into him and tucking his arm tightly around her. He dropped a kiss to her head as she picked up her tablet to scroll through movie options on Netflix. He frowned when he saw the open tabs and pull the tablet from her hands.
"What is this?" he asked. "Are you thinking about going back to college?"
"Thinking," she said. "I can only take two semesters off before I lose my scholarship, and I kind of need it."
"It's nice to have," Will said. "But, you don't need it. We can help you, Hails. You're not alone anymore."
"I know that but I can't expect you and Jay to pay for everything," she said. "I'm your sister, not your kid."
"You're my kid sister," he said. "It's my job, our job, to look out for you and that includes helping you out."
"You don't help me out, you literally take care of everything," she said. "I don't pay rent, or for food, or even for my cell phone."
"It was cheaper to do a family plan," he shrugged. "
"Okay, yeah, but you even put me on your medical insurance," she said.
"So?" he said. "What's this really about?"
"I don't know," she sighed. "I'm not doing anything with my life. I'm just sitting around with no goals. Sometimes I work with Intelligence answering phones, sometimes I volunteer at the hospital with you, and sometimes I go out with Kevin and that's it. I have no plan."
Will nodded slowly. "Like, how Dad had no plan or goals?" he said. "Come on Hails, you're twenty years old. You're not supposed to have it all figured out."
"You did, Jay did," she said. "He was in the military at my age, and you were in college looking to apply to med school."
"No," he said slowly. "I was partying at college with no plans of med school yet. Look, you don't have to have some life plan, you just need something that gets you up in the morning. If working at the police district and volunteering at the hospital isn't enough anymore, you find something that is enough."
"Any ideas what that should be?" she said. "Because I've got nothing."
He smiled. "You're smart Hails, you'll figure it out. You could probably do anything, you just need to find what your passionate about."
She sighed and leaned into him. "I'll think about it," she said as she started to scroll through the movies again.
They watched a movie and he was able to get her to eat a bit of something for dinner and then she fell asleep next to him and he moved her to her room. He decided to stay the night since Jay wasn't home yet and he didn't want Hailey to wake up and wonder why he left. He was half asleep on the couch when Jay stumbled in. At first he thought his brother was coming home from work drunk, and he was ready to start a fight over it. He couldn't have two siblings with drinking problems and he wasn't going to watch Jay spiral, no matter how much he was grieving. But when he flipped on the lights and saw Jay wince as he clutched his side, and he realized his brother was injured, not drunk.
"What happened?" he asked and quickly walked over to him.
"Nothing," Jay waved him off. "I'm fine."
"No, you're not." Will said.
"Will, I'm fine," Jay sighed. "I was chasing after an offender, and he shot at me."
"What?" Will frowned.
"I'm fine," he repeated with more force behind his voice. "One hit the vest and the other just grazed me."
"What offender?" Will asked slowly. "The guy that was behind the fire in Dad's building?"
"Yeah," Jay said as he grabbed a beer from the fridge. "That guy and he's dead, so there's that."
"You're really just going to brush this off?" he said. "This personal vendetta of yours could have got you killed."
"It wasn't a personal vendetta, it was my job." He said.
"Yeah?" Will raised a brow. "Then where was your back up, huh?"
"They were behind me," Jay said but realized Will wasn't going to buy it. "Look, Voight tried to sideline me, but-"
"But you went after him anyway?" Will put the pieces together. "Are you kidding me?"
"I already got the lecture from Voight, so I don't need it from you too." He snapped. "I had to do something."
Will stared him down for a moment before he grabbed his medical bag and pulled out one of the chairs from the kitchen table. "Sit down," he said and pointed to a chair.
"The paramedics already checked me out," he said.
"I don't care," Will said and Jay was surprised at the firmness in his brother's tone. "I'm going to check you out for myself, and I don't give a damn if you've already been chewed out by Voight. I'm going to talk and you're going to listen because this family doesn't need to lose someone else."
Jay just stared at his brother for a minute before he sighed and slowly took his shirt off to show the bruising. He was bandaged up, and he let Will remove the wrapping before he sat down in the chair. He tried his best not to show how much pain he was in, but Will saw right through it.
"Jesus, Jay," Will shook his head. "Do you know how lucky you are?"
"I know," Jay said in a whisper. "Look, man, I couldn't help myself. I had to go after that guy."
"You could have died, and by the look of this you came damn close." Will said. "Dad is gone, Jay. And, we already lost Mom, we just got Hailey back and we pulled her back from the edge, so you need to think about us the next time you just have to go after someone."
"Yeah, I got it," Jay nodded.
Will examined him and was just finishing up when Hailey came out of her room. They were surprised the commotion earlier didn't wake her up, but she hadn't been sleeping well and really needed to catch up. She left her room to get some water and stopped when she saw her brothers in the kitchen.
"Hey, what are you guys doing?" she asked and then she saw Jay. "Oh my God, what happened?"
"He's alright," Will answered as he and Jay exchanged a glance. "He got hurt at work."
"Did you get shot?" she frowned as she looked at him.
"I had a vest on," Jay said softly. "I'm okay, Hails."
"Did you get him?" Hailey asked, knowing who Jay went after.
"Yeah," Jay nodded. "We got him."
"Is he dead?" she asked and Jay nodded again. "Good."
"Listen to me," Jay said and pulled her to stand in front of him so he could look at her directly. "It's never good when someone dies, no matter who they are or what they did. Being happy he's gone cheapens how serious death is. I shot him because he shot at me first, not because I was getting revenge for Dad and those other people. That would only make me as bad as him."
"I'm just glad you're okay," she said.
Jay ran a hand down the back of her head. "I'm glad you're okay too," he said as he stood and wrapped his arms around her. He dropped a kiss to her head when he went to let go and she held on tighter. He glanced at Will and smiled.
"Did you eat?" Will asked. "I brought home some takeout. I bought way too much and Hails didn't eat much of it."
"Yeah?" Jay raised a brow and looked down at her, trying to catch her gaze as she still clung onto him. "You haven't been eating much lately, Hails."
"I wasn't feeling well," she mumbled. "I feel better now though."
"Midnight snack then?" Jay suggested as they separated and sat down at the table.
"I could eat," Will grinned and pulled the food from the fridge.