Chapter 5
Hank was cleaning the kitchen when he heard his phone buzz. He put the dish towel down and checked the caller ID. Feeling dread when he saw it came up as Med, he answered curtly. "Voight."
"Sergeant Voight it's Sharon Goodwin from Med. There's been an accident and we have a Katherin Bend and Antonio here."
"I'm on my way." He didn't wait for a response , he pressed end and was out the door in a few seconds.
Chicago Med
Almost all the members of firehouse 51, most of the Intelligence team, and Will and Nat all sat in the waiting room waiting on word on Antonio and Kat. They took over most of the floor, standing in hallways and pacing back and forth. Hank slipped in and cornered his team.
"What the hell happened ?" He was livid, but didn't yell.
"We don't know. Antonio and Kat were outside when we heard gunfire. We ran out and found them both down. " Jay filled him in with as much as they knew, when Doctor Rhodes came out.
"Well I'm guessing you all are here for Detective Dawson, but who is here for Katherin?" he scanned the room and was taken back when everyone raised their hands.
Hank stepped forward "I am. What do you know Doc."
"She has a through and through, left shoulder. She lost a decent amount of blood, so she could use a transfusion. Do you know her blood type?" Hank nodded. "We stitched her up and she's asleep right now."
"And Antonio?" he asked
"Antonio didn't get hit. It appears he got knocked out when he was trying to protect her. He hit his head and has a slight concussion so he will have a bit of a headache for awhile, but other than that he should be good." The doctor started to second guess that fact when he saw Hanks face. "Go easy on him. He looks like he's been through the ringer. I'll take you back whenever you're ready . " He walked towards the desk and waited.
Hank turned and faced the room full of people. "Thank you all for being here, I know Katie would appreciate it. My team – stay. Everyone else should go home. "
"No way Voight. No offense , but we all care about Kat. We will be here until she's awake." Kelly spoke up, and was joined in agreement by everyone else.
He nodded in appreciation and retreated with Dr. Rhodes to the treatment rooms.
Antonio was sitting next to Kat, holding her hand, his head hung in shame. He had gotten distracted, and she paid the price. He jumped when he felt a hand grip his shoulder.
"Antonio."
He looked up into the intense eyes of his boss. "Hank, I'm so sorry. We were outside talking and a car drove up… I tried to protect her, I did… I wasn't fast enough. "
Hank had every intention of laying into the younger man, until he saw how upset he was at himself. He decided to give him a break for the time being. "It's okay Antonio. I know you did everything you could. She's going to be fine. Why don't you head to the waiting room, you need to give the rest of the team an update."
Antonio nodded, hesitant to let go of her hand. "Hank." He started but didn't know how to finish the thought.
Hank just clapped him on the back in a silent "Thank you. " Antonio took it as that and walked out of the room to find his team.
The older man sat down in the spot Antonio vacated and grabbed Kats hand. "Baby girl, I'm so sorry. I should have never let you go out tonight." His eyes closed, silently praying .
"You couldn't have stopped me." He heard a timid voice come from the bed. He opened his eyes and saw Kats looking at him. "Hank, I had more fun tonight than I have in years. That is until I got shot. That sucked." She tried to laugh but groaned in pain. "Don't be mad at Antonio, please. We just got… distracted. " she didn't feel like getting into the details with him at the moment. "He saved me Hank. It could have been a lot worse. "
"She's right Sergeant she got really lucky. " Doctor Rhodes spoke up from the doorway. "I came to check on our sleeping beauty. How is the pain Katherin?"
"Call me Kat, everyone does. And it's about a 15 on the 1 to 10 scale. But I'll be okay." She grimaced when a wave of that pain shot through her.
"I can order pain meds, you don't have to be heroic." He checked her chart. "How about Dilaudid."
Kat shook her head. "No pain meds. I'll just live with it." She gave Hank a forced smile . "I'll be okay dad." She realized her slip when the doctor made a surprised noise.
"Doc, Katie lived with me and my family when she was younger. She might as well be my kid, so she needs anything, don't hesitate to ask. I'm gonna go check in on the team, you get some rest. " He leaned down and kissed her forehead. "Love you baby girl."
"I love you too." She watched as he left the room, then turned to Doctor Rhodes. "I don't want pain medicine because I used to be addicted. Please, do not tell Hank. He doesn't know, and I definitely don't want him finding out this way."
The doctor nodded. "Of course. I can get you ibuprofen or something like that if it'll help."
"Yes, thank you. How's Antonio? I thought he might be here…" she sounded like a love sick teenager, she could tell. She also didn't care.
"I actually thought he was here too. He had been sitting by your side waiting for you to wake up since we brought you back down from surgery. He's probably in the waiting room along with the rest of your fan club." Connor laughed. "You know you have quite a few friends?"
Kat blushed. "Everyone has been so sweet to me since the fire. I'm starting to feel like a mascot or something." She laughed and immediately regretted it. Doctor Rhodes patted her hand and went off to find something she could take.
Kat leaned back and closed her eyes. The images of what happened earlier haunted her. Her back had been turned towards the car, but she saw Antonio's eyes change when he saw what was coming. The rest was like slow motion. She remembered feeling the shooting pain in her shoulder, then they both fell to the ground and complete blackness over took her. She felt something wet on her cheek. She opened her eyes and reached up with her good hand, to find she had been crying . She heard a noise in the doorway and glanced that direction, to find Will standing there.
"Hey Will." She smiled and gestured at him to come in.
"I didn't want to bother you. Hank has basically banned everyone else from the room, but I snuck past him. How are you feeling?" he sat down in the same chair Antonio and Hank had resided in earlier.
Kat shrugged with her good shoulder . "I've been better, but I'll live."
"Well medically you should be able to go home within the next few days. Although I am going to assume Hank will have you on house arrest for the time being." He joked trying to make her feel better.
She smiled at him. "Yeah I kinda think I got myself grounded for the foreseeable future ." They both laughed.
Waiting room
The room was full when Antonio made his way out there to find the Intelligence members. The crowd nodded at Antonio as he walked past and headed towards his team members. Jay saw him first.
"Tonio! You okay man? How's the head?" He grabbed Antonio and gave him a gentle pat on the back.
"It's fine." He felt dizzy but wasn't about to let anyone know. "Did we get anything from the cameras outside Molly's?"
"Atwater and Ruzek are following up with the neighbors. We already gave our statements to Hank. What kind of vehicle did you see? "
"Dark, black I think. SUV, looked like an Escalade? Tinted windows. I remember seeing the plate…" he trailed off when he saw Hank coming through the doors into the waiting area.
The questions began immediately from everyone, including Antonio. "Is she awake?" was the common one.
Hank nodded "She is. Jay I think your brother is with her. You wanna go collect him? She needs to rest." Jay nodded and took off down the hall. "As for the rest of you, I want to thank you for being here for her. I know she appreciates it too. But there's nothing more to do tonight, I suggest you all go home." With that he came to stand with his team.
Kelly and Matt walked towards him. "You need anything Sergeant you let us know." Matt stuck out his hand towards Hank. "I know we haven't gotten along in the past, but Kat shouldn't be affected by that."
Hank shook both mens hands. "Thanks Lieutenants, I appreciate that greatly. I know she would like to see both of you. Come by tomorrow morning, she should be allowed visitors. " The men nodded and left with the rest of their group.
Jay walked up to Kats room and saw Will holding her hand. He cleared his throat and they both glanced towards the door.
"Jay. Hey, she's awake. I was just checking in on her." Will patted her hand and got up to leave. "I'll stop by tomorrow and see how you're feeling okay?"
"That would be great, thanks Will. Please tell Nat as soon as I'm up and moving we are having that coffee date."
"Done. Rest up , don't forget you promised to be this guys date at our wedding in a few weeks!" he winked at her and exited the room. Jay took his place in the chair next to the bed.
"How are you really doing?" he asked her with a serious look . "What did Doctor Rhodes say?"
"I was shot. What else is there to say?" she looked away, not meeting his eyes. "How's Antonio?"
"Kat, we can't help you if you aren't honest . What don't you want Voight to know?" he sat back in the chair arms crossed , ignoring her question.
When she turned her head to finally look at him, she had tears running down her cheeks. "Jay, I'm scared. This could have been way worse. If Antonio hadn't been there…"she sniffled "Please tell me he's okay. "
"He is. Slight concussion, but he's got a hard head. He'll be fine. He's sick over you getting shot though. What were you two doing out there ?" he had his answer when her face turned red. "Ah, so he made a move. I got it."
"Please tell me dad isn't treating him badly because of this." A wave of pain rolled through her and she squinched her eyes shut, trying to keep the nausea away.
"Hank is Hank. You aren't going to change him. Antonio had a job, he didn't do it. It will be fine. But I should let you sleep, or he will have my head too. " He got up and started to move towards the door when he felt her hand grab his. He looked down at it then at her.
"Jay. Call Erin. Please. I.. I could really use my best friend. " She gave him a pleading look. "You can use my phone , in my bag."
He nodded and made the call, leaving a voice mail. "I'll try again tomorrow if you don't hear anything back okay?" he handed her the phone and gave her a kiss on the forehead. "Get some sleep, you're going to have a revolving door of visitors tomorrow. " With that he walked out, leaving her alone with her thoughts.
Kats mind drifted back to the first incident. She came out of the bakery and found her tires were flat. Upon further inspection she realized they had been slashed. She left the car at the bakery, called a tow truck and a cab and made her way home. Second incident happened a few days later, when she found the window to her store broken. She called the cops immediately and found nothing has been taken. The vandals just tore the store up a bit. A few days later the windows in her car were broken out. Looking back she realized she waited too long to call Voight, but she didn't really want the first conversation they had in 20 years to be her asking for a favor. Everything was quiet for about 2 weeks, until she was home one night, asleep, and smelled smoke. That was the night she met the members of firehouse 51, and Will Halstead. Her head hurt, but the waves of pain stopped long enough for her to close her eyes and drift off for a while, allowing her some much needed rest.