Fair warning, this is un-beta'd, soooo grammar might be a thing. I wrote it on my phone and then put it in docs so spell check doesn't always get everything.
Sorry, lol.
Hayleys P.O.V.
In his defense, the guy just almost shot Jays head off. So the whole "I'm running on adrenaline and can't feel anything" was actually a decent excuse.
The "Im not going to get it looked ever" is not, however, an okay excuse.
"You realize you could've lost your arm right?"
"Look, I honest to god thought it was just bruised."
I glare, sending a pointed look at his forearm were the only patch of normal colored skin is a small spot on his wrist.
"Try again." I growl, and his eyes widen. Good. Little shit almost died on me *twice* today, he deserves this.
"I'm serious Hayley! It didn't feel like I broke it."
"I'm going to assume," A gleeful voice comes from my left. "That he means that in a 'Ive had broken bones before and actually took the thought to compare that experience to this one' kind of way."
Jay points to Ruzek with his good arm, but doesn't say anything, just tries to suppress that stupid Halstead smirk when he looks at me.
I raise an eyebrow, still seething.
He glances down at his arm, and presses his lips together.
"You might have a point though." He says, and I hang my head.
See, it wasn't that I didn't tell him to go to hospital. I did. Just at the time, it was make sure he wasn't concussed. Not for his shattered forearm.
I've been his partner for a month, and still I feel like I should've known he can't ever just walk away from something. In fact, every time any one else would've been okay, he's usually not. Not that it's entirely his fault, but where Dawson would've gotten up and been a little dazed, Jay goes the extra mile.
And doesn't tell anyone.
So the first shot we were ready for. Sort of. We knew it was coming, I just don't think anyone expected the asshole gun dealer to fires shotgun round about a centimeter from Jays head.
...
Jay shook, eyes wide and dazed.
"Hey, hey let me see let me see!" I pull him forward, wary of the bullets still flying around us. Someone - Voight I think - is yelling in the background, but I'm focused on my partner. My gun on the ground, forgotten to allow me both hands to skim across his neck, his shoulders, run through his hair. Checking for where he's hit, dreading what I might find. Terror thrums sharp and pure under my skin, a racy feeling battling nausea in my stomach.
It wouldn't be the unheard of for someone to be shot in the head and survive, and the loud clang of metal that was followed by him jerking to the ground made the options fairly slim as to what happened.
He got back up, sure, but Jays the kinda guy who's got survival instinct out the ass, and could be half dead and still able to move to cover before realizing it.
Either he's hit, or he's not, and when my hands come up clean, I grab his chin and make him look my in the eye.
"You okay?" He blinks a few time, and I watch the clouds clear from his eyes.
"Yeah!" He says, a little too loudly. I look at the steel column he was using as cover, and don't note anything obviously wrong with it, but if a bullet bounced off, Day right next to his head, well that would definitely throw him off.
The fire fights moved a little, and we're no longer under fire. The teams moved effortlessly, getting in front of us to keep the focus on them while I take care of Jay.
"Hayley!"
"We're good, go! We go your six."
The team moves in, and Jay gets to his feet, while I grab my gun. He keeps pressing a hand to his ear and checking it like he expects there to be blood.
"You sure your okay?" There's a beat of silence and my hand itches to to grab my radio and call for an ambo. Then he looks at me and smiles, looking sort of relieved.
"Ow." He says, too loud but focused enough I'll let him come with me to follow out the team.
"All patrols, suspect fleeing on foot from 1600 East Brookfield, heading south." Dawson's voice echoes through both our radios, and we take off without a second thought.
They must've pushed them further into the building, and one guy managed to get by them, because now that guy is probably sprinting back towards us.
It's a complex, multiple buildings connected to each other with sky bridges, and what probably will be nice apartments or businesses is right now a hollow skeleton of steel columns and concrete floors.
"50-21 responding, be advised plain clothes officers in pursuit- shit!"
The last part, is thankfully said with his hand *off* the radio. Jay bolts for the stairs and I follow, assuming he saw the suspect through one of the huge windows that make up the outside of these buildings. We drop a few floors at a breakneck speed, then he's slamming open on the doors and we're sprinting through a level to get to one of the sky bridges.
"Halstead, Upton, you guys got him?"
I slow, just a second or two, to grab the radio at my shoulder.
"Third building-" I say breathlessly. "Closest to the water." Pushing to catch up, I look at the other building through the glass walls of the sky walk we're currently sprinting down. The buildings are arranged in a triangle but the catwalk thingies that connect them in the air are not all on the same level. We were in the first, but if the team goes straight into the second, then runs to the third by way of that sky walk, then we can push him to them. There's patrol cars arriving at the bottom of the third tower, so he can't exactly go out that way, but he was pretty far away from us, so if he was running to the second tower to get out that way, then he'll hit the rest of intelligence, and get turned back towards us.
Or, judging by the shouting on the radio, that already happened.
"He's heading back down the sky bridge, going to the third building, sixteenth floor." Ruzek's voice confirms, and he sounds about out as breath as I feel, meaning they're all running after this guy, because no ones close enough to shoot.
We reach the third building, and Jays ahead of me - to far ahead of me. Part of its because he had a start and because I slowed to hit my radio, but that's only accountable for a few feet. The rest of the distance (a good ten yards) is because that guys is fucking speedy Gonzales and I'm lucky if I run a ten flat for my mile.
"Jay-" I call, gasping as we go up the stairs. "-wait-"
I don't know if he listens, or I'm just getting some extra adrenaline, but I manage to shorten our distance, so he's only say five yards in front of me when we burst on the empty floor.
"He's still in the bridge!" I can hear Ruzeks voice, echoing awkwardly through the glass tunnel and crackling across the radio. The building are petty far apart, so it's understandable that they're still running down it. The stairs and the entrance to the sky bridge are in adjacent walls, making a 90 degree angle.
Recipe for disaster.
Jay pours on the extra speed, and apparently so does this guy, because they hit like they were going Mach 2.
Someone - everyone? Both of them? - yells when they hit, and they both go flying.
Like. At least five feet in the air, flying.
It's flailing limbs for a split second, then Jay hits the ground, the sound of his gear slapping against the concrete sounding sharp in the gutted room.
It sounds painful, but watching it (and getting a nice view of his head bouncing off the floor) honest to god gives me sympathy pain.
And of course, the other guy is apparently more fine than my partner despite him landing on his face. He lunges at Halstead, who's still on the ground. I don't know why, when logic says to get up and run away from the group of angry cops running towards him.
Regardless, he's trying to get the upper hand and with Jay only managing a weak resistance at best, he's got it.
I rush forward, but Ruzek gets there first, grabbing the back of the assholes jacket and dragging him off Jay before he can throw a punch. Adam tosses the guy to the ground, and then Atwater and Dawson on there's, pinning him to the ground while I crouch beside my partner.
"Easy, go easy. Relax Jay you're alright." He's still on the ground, but he's definitely conscious, staring up at me with a dazed expression.
"I'll call an ambo." Ruzek mutters, having gotten to a knees on the other side of Jay. I nod, pressing two finger to Halstead's wrist, feeling the pulse there.
At least, I tried to. The mention of an ambo seems to get Halstead back with the program. He shakes his head, blinking a few times then jerking his arm away from me to sit up.
"No ambo. I'm fine." My worry falls flat, and I stare at him, wondering how those words just came out of his mouth.
"I don't know buddy that was a pretty hard hit." Adams says, and for a split second I wonder if he'll actually listen to his friend.
"It wasn't that bad." He replies, but it sounds shaky, so there's still a chance.
"It was from where I was standing." Adam says back, and Jay demeanor softens, and I think maybe, maybe he convinced him to get checked out.
Then Voight and Al emerge from the tunnel, and I watch Jay close himself off and know that it's not happened.
"You alright kid?"
"Yeah." He says, and his voice is normal, but it's also forced if you listen for it. I don't know why he believes he can't show weakness around Voight.
Okay maybe I do. It'd be Easy go say that he's like that because of what happened a few weeks ago, and how he's been struggling with his PTSD, and he feels like everything is too different now without Erin and with what's happened, so he's trying to hold onto habits he had from before in order to keep some semblance of what the team used to be like. He wants that normalcy. And that's definitely a big part of it.
Actually that might be all of it. Except Voight has made it pretty clear that he wants him in the unit, and he did that long before I joined. So you'd think this habit of not taking care of yourself so your boss doesn't think you're a burden should've worked its way out of his system.
"Jay-"
"I'm fine Hayley." I exchange a Look with Ruzek, but he just shakes his head, telling me not to push it. Jays tone is rough, bordering on angry, and I know better than to try and bring it up again.
"Sure you are." I growl back, but help him stand up nonetheless.
...
I never noticed the way he didn't use his right arm (I was only privy to his left side). In fact it's only now do I realize that as he was falling his arm hit first, thrown out in the air as an instinctual attempt to save himself some pain.
It'll be a miracle if we both make it to retirement, I swear to god.
Some puts a hand in my shoulder, I look over to see Al. He gives me one his rare smiles, glancing at Jay then back to me.
"Yeah, it's fun being his partner isn't it." He chuckles, then motions to Adam who jumps up from the chair, all of us ignoring Jays "What the hell does that mean Alvin".
"Wait you're leaving me with him?" I yell, and suppress the urge to flip Ruzek off when he yells a way to happy "Yup!"
We are in a hospital after all.
Mind you, I was going to drag him in anyway to get him checked for a concussion, but he wanted to stay in the case blah blah and he somehow managed to convince Voight he was fine, so I was overruled.
Or I was until Voight saw Jays arm, and then it was sweet satisfaction hearing him yell at Jay for being "the smartest idiot he's ever had the hell of working with".
It's an accurate description.
Sighing, I turn back to glare at him. He smiles sheepishly.
"Sorry?"
"Don't do that again."
"Yes mom."
"Halstead I swear to god-"
Cut and wrap, lol. Just a cute little thing that came of the result of me saying "im bored" to my chat and them responding "break someones arm".
WELP XD
Thanks for reading!