"Hey, a little overboard. He leg wasn't cold. Vascular ultrasound maybe, but an angiogram is a bit much to start…"
"He's a decade long vascularpath. His blood vessels are shot,"
"He's not indicating. I hardly think he needs another uncomfortable procedure,"
"There's no telling what he needs. Look, I am not dismissing you Nat, but I did the intake. It's my call,"
Juliette and Maggie exchanged looks as Will and Natalie argued. Juliette knew he was under a lot of pressure, something he had never handled well, but this was taking it to a whole new level. Natalie was his friend, his equal, and he was behaving like an ass.
As Will walked away, more like stormed away, Juliette gave Maggie a look that told her she was going after him. She got 'good luck' mouthed at her in return.
Running slightly to catch up with him, Juliette took a deep breath as she reached out her arm and grabbed a hold of his.
"What?" Will snapped as he turned around to face her.
"You need to apologise to Nat," Juliette let go of him, she hadn't seen Will like this in such a long time.
"I don't need you to tell me what I need to do," his tone was still snippy.
"She's your friend," Juliette was trying hard to be sympathetic towards Will, but he was making it difficult for her.
"Juliette…." The use of her name as a warning was the final act that made her say the one thing she never thought she would.
"You know who you're acting like right now?" she took a step closer to Will, "You're acting like your father,"
Juliette thought she saw a flash of hurt cross Will's face.
"Are you being serious right now?" Will's anger masking whatever hurt he may have been feeling.
"Are you?" Juliette was not backing down.
"This is ridiculous…" Will huffed as he continued storming away.
"This isn't over Halstead!" Juliette shouted down the hallway after him, earning her a few odd looks from people around her.
Natalie smiled sadly at her from across the nurse's station and gestured towards the staff room.
Smiling back, Juliette nodded and made her way over to join her.
"I'm sorry," Juliette sighed as she sat down.
"What for?" Natalie asked, placing a cup of coffee in front of her before taking a seat opposite her.
"Will," she answered, taking a sip.
"You're not responsible for him," Natalie taking a sip of her own.
"Feels like I am," Juliette pinched the bridge of her nose, "He's such an ass,"
Natalie laughed briefly, "He has his moments,"
"Had more of them lately," Juliette mumbled.
Natalie didn't say anything, there was nothing to say.
A knock at the door interrupted them, a pathologist with the test results.
"Excuse me," Natalie said as she headed out.
Juliette remained sitting there, collecting herself before heading back out onto the floor and getting on with her job.
Hours and a now deceased patient later, Juliette was finishing up some paperwork when she felt someone staring at her. Looking up, she surprised to see it was Will. She had given no indication that she had wanted to talk to him, and he hadn't shown any either.
"Can I talk to you for a minute?" Will asked before she had a chance to say anything.
When Juliette nodded, he continued, "Why did you let Dr. Manning administer Vitamin K to my patient without consulting me?"
Juliette shook her head at him, as if to say not here, and lead him into the staff room. Once they were hidden away from everyone, she turned to face him, "I think you mean mutual patient,"
All Will did was stare at her in disbelief, so she continued talking, "His clotting was slow. It is standard protocol, Will. And I didn't let Natalie do anything, she's a doctor. I did my job and did what she asked," she wasn't going to buckle, she had done nothing wrong.
"That protocol might have caused a pulmonary embolism," Will was fuming.
"You have no grounds to say that," Juliette hissed, "Any number of things could have happened. He has been battling his vasculopathy for years…"
"Oh! So now he was a ticking timebomb," Will cut her off, earning him a glare that he ignored.
"That's not what I said. And if you had listened, you'd know that!" Juliette couldn't believe the way he was talking to her right now.
"I heard you loud and clear. You thought nothing was wrong. And where is Tim now? He was stable when I left him" Will had been pacing, but stopped as he began to place the blame on her.
"You better think about what you're saying right now," Juliette said as she moved closer to Will, her finger poking him in the chest as she punctuated every word.
"Juliette, that Vitamin K made him throw a clot," Will kept throwing the blame on her.
"You don't know that," Juliette repeated.
"If you hadn't interfered, he'd still be here," Will saw Juliette recoil a little at his choice of words. If he wasn't so angry, he probably would have apologised on the spot, but being as stubborn as he was, he didn't.
"No!" Juliette grabbed his arm forcefully, stopping him from leaving, "This is not about me. This is about you, and the mess you made when you resuscitated Jennifer Baker against her DNR. Blaming me for this, is not gonna make that right Will!" she dropped her grip in frustration.
Will stared at her, waiting for further shouting. Deep down, he knew he had crossed a line, but in his current state of mind, he just didn't care.
"Don't bother coming to me anymore Will," she said sternly as she opened the door, "You're on your own,"
He watched her walk out, slamming the door behind her. He had not been prepared for that reaction. Juliette had always been the one person who never walked away from him, even when he was being a complete ass, she had always still been in his corner.
Still with the train of thought that told him he was right, he went down to the morgue intending to get the confirmation that he was right.
Juliette found herself upstairs, on the fifth floor balcony, in the cold. She could feel wet hot tears starting to sting her eyes, and threatening to fall. She had told Will they were done, not in those words exactly, but the sentiment was the same nonetheless.
She pulled out her phone and dialled the number of the one person she knew would understand her frustration with Will.
"Hey," came Jay's voice.
Juliette didn't know what to say.
"Juliette?" came Jay's voice again when she failed to speak. The hint of concern in his voice was what it took for the tears to finally fall.
"Etta? What's wrong? Where are you?" Jay was now becoming frantic. All he could hear was Juliette sobbing.
"Will," Juliette managed to choke out the name of the man that had put her in this state, as she tried to calm herself down.
"What did he do?" she could hear the exasperation in his voice.
"He's an ass," she sobbed, earning a snort from Jay.
"That is not new information," Juliette could picture the smirk across his face, "What did he do this time?"
"A patient died," Juliette sniffed as she wiped her eyes, "A patient both he and Nat were treating, argued about treating. She got the test results back while he was nowhere to be found, she reacted to them, as a doctor would,"
"He's blaming you?" Jay asked but he had a feeling he already knew the answer.
"I did my job Jay," Juliette's voice still had a slight tremble to it.
"I know," Jay sighed.
"I know he's under a lot of pressure. I know he doesn't handle pressure well. But that does not give him the right to accuse me of letting a patient die!" she was waving her free hand around in frustration as she spoke, "He is pushing away everyone he knows in this pursuit of always needing to be right, of always assuming to be right!"
"Juliette…." Jay spoke softly, he could tell that Juliette was going to work herself into a state if she didn't calm down.
Noticing Jay's tone, she calmed herself a little. She gave herself a few moments of silence and was grateful that Jay stayed on the phone with her.
"I told him he was acting like your dad," she mumbled.
"What?" Jay heard her voice but not her words.
Sighing, Juliette took a deep breath and repeated herself clearer, "I told him he was acting like your dad,"
"Oh," was all she got, followed by silence.
"Jay?" she said his name tentatively, "Did I cross a line?"
"Not this time," Jay finally answered.
"Then why do I feel so horrible?" Juliette sighed.
"Cause Will's an ass," Jay's answer caused Juliette to smile a little, "There's something else isn't there?"
Juliette sighed again, "I maybe told him we were done,"
"You did what?" Jay couldn't believe what he was hearing, "This is Will we're talking about Juliette,"
"I know," she began pacing, "I was just so mad! I mean he basically accused us of killing a patient for fucks sake!"
Jay remained silent, allowing Juliette to get it out of her system.
"I didn't mean it Jay," Juliette's voice was now soft, "And I don't know if I can take it back,"
"He loves you," Jay was quick to answer, "He will always take you back,"
When Juliette didn't say anything, Jay spoke again, "Get back inside Juliette, and get on with your shift. Ignore Will while he's being an ass,"
"How did you know I was outside?" she grinned a little as she headed inside.
"You've spent majority of your life around us. Where else would you be when in crisis?" Jay jested, both of the knowing the answer.
"Thanks Jay," Juliette knew calling him would make her feel better.
"Anytime," he said as he ended the call.
The words ruptured aortic aneurysm kept repeating over and over in his mind.
He was wrong. He had yelled at and blamed Juliette, and he was wrong.
The self-loathing had just begun to set it when he felt his phone vibrating in his pocket.
"Hello?" he hadn't even checked to see who was calling him.
"Are you insane?!" Jay didn't bother with pleasantries, just launching straight into reprimanding him.
"I was wrong Jay," Will's voice was so soft that Jay only just heard him.
Those four words stopped Jay mid-lecture. They were not words he would ever thought he would hear come out of Will's mouth.
"You hurt her," Jay's voice matching the softness of Will's but still packed a punch.
"I know," Will sighed.
"I don't think you do," Jay knew what he was going to say next would only add to Will's pain, "She was sobbing Will,"
Will stayed silent, but Jay knew he was listening, "Do you know when the last time I heard her sobbing was? Mom's funeral Will. She hasn't sobbed that hard since someone died!"
"I broke her?" Will asked timidly.
"Yes," Jay said the word Will had been dreading, "Now fix it,"
"She was so mad at me Jay," Will leant against the wall, arms crossed.
"Can you blame her?" it was a rhetorical question.
"I don't think I can fix this," Will closed his eyes, "I don't think I should,"
"You would be lost without her," the softness returning to Jay's voice, "I know you're in love with her Will,"
"How did you…." Will was cut off by Jay chuckling.
"Even Mom knew," Jay said, "It's always been her,"
Will didn't know how to respond to that.
Sensing Will wasn't going to say anything, Jay spoke "Fix it Will," and the call was over.
Will was still reeling from all the information he had just learned, and he was so in his own head that he didn't notice Zoe walk up to him.
"Will?" her hand on his arm snapped him out of it.
"Hey," he smiled at her.
"Are you okay?" she asked, concern on her face.
And with that he told her everything that happened with the patient.
"I was so certain I was right. I did everything I could, covered every single base," he was shaking his head at himself.
"I sure you did," Zoe's hand once again on his arm, squeezing it in comfort.
"The worst part, I attacked a colleague. A friend," he sighed.
"You're under a lot of pressure. Everyone knows that," Will's face remained blank as she spoke, "If you apologise, I'm sure Juliette would understand,"
Will looked at her, eyebrow raised in question.
"It's her, right?" She smiled sadly at him, dropping her hand, "Why don't we raincheck dinner tonight? It's okay,"
"Thanks Zoe," he smiled at her as he went off in search of Juliette.
He found Maggie at the Nurse's station, but not the one person he was looking for.
He could tell by the look on Maggie's face, that she knew what had happened and she was not happy about it.
"Maggie, I need to find her," He knew Maggie would know where she was, "Please,"
She pointed to the staff room, "You gonna fix this?"
"I'm gonna try," he answered honestly.
He braced himself as he entered the staff room. He was relieved when he saw there was no one else but her in there.
Juliette had heard him come in, but chose not to acknowledge it.
It was only when he was standing next to her that she finally decided to speak, "I am in no mood Will,"
"I get it," he cringed at her tone. Jay was right, he had royally screwed up, "Juliette, I'm sorry,"
Juliette refused to look at him, even if he was apologising. The words he had said to her still stung.
"It wasn't the Vitamin K, I was wrong," he took a step closer to her.
"You wrong? Amazing," her sarcasm letting Will know that she was still pissed.
"Yeah. I've been an ass. Not just today, since the last week. Before that. I should not have yelled at you," Juliette could tell Will was being sincere, that he really was sorry.
She finally looked up at him, and Will recoiled a little at the hurt and anger that was marring her face.
"Why do you always take things out on me? You invite me in and then you push me back. You ask for my opinion and then completely ignore me. It hurts Will. You wouldn't treat anyone else like this, so why me?" the frustration in her voice making Will cringe slightly.
"Don't you know?" he once again ventured closer to her, invading her personal space.
"No," she stared at him in confusion.
He knew words wouldn't be able to do justice in telling Juliette the truth in how he felt.
So, he settled for doing the one thing he never thought he would ever have the courage to do.
Juliette watched him closely as he slowly leant forward and placed his hands on either side of her face.
She was completely unprepared for what happened next.
He closed the gap between them by capturing her lips with his.
It was soft, sweet, and filled with emotion.
It also ended quickly.
Will broke the kiss and took a step back.
He hadn't even given Juliette time to react.
The two stood in front of each other in a silent standoff.
Will broke that moment too as he walked out, not looking back.
Juliette remained standing there in shock, the feel of Will's lips on hers still lingering.
She did the only thing she could think of in that moment, she called the one person who knew them the best.
"What did he do now?" came Jay's exasperated voice.
"He…. I…. He…. He kissed me," Juliette finally managed to voice what had just occurred.
"About bloody time," Juliette could hear Jay grinning down the phone.
"What…. I…. What am I supposed to do now?" she was still in shock, and it was making it hard for her to talk and think clearly.
"I can't answer that for you," Jay giving her the answer she already knew.
She stared out at the man, who had once again put her in such a state.
Jay's repeated use of her name being heard through her phone.
What was she supposed to do now?