It's been too long for not updating this, but here we are! This is on the shorter side, but I wanted to give you all a new chapter and I needed to figure out where I planned to go for this again! I do have more updates ready to go, so I'll roll those out throughout the week!
To everyone still sticking around, thank you! It means the world to me!
Enjoy!
Erin wasn't sure how long she had been staring at the wall in the waiting room at Chicago Med. Jay never said a word on the drive over and as soon as they parked, they parted ways, Jay rushing to find his mom and leaving Erin to sit in the lobby.
As she registered that she didn't know how long she had been here, she glanced at her phone. 11:34. But she realized she didn't even know when they left the field. The exhaustion and worry that settled it wasn't enough to make her go home.
She was one of the few people in the waiting area. They entered at the ED entrance and that had become Erin's home for the last few hours. There had been a cycle of people in and out and she had tried to entertain herself and guess why people were there, but she eventually gave up. There had been one couple, that had been here since Erin arrived, and the grave look on their faces told her that things were not good.
She soon decided she had had enough and needed to do something, anything, to calm the growing worry she had in the pit of her stomach. She spotted the vending machines on the opposite side of the room, and after finding some cash in her bag, she made her way over. Just being able to stretch her legs was enough for her and she could feel some of her energy coming back.
The selections were bleak and questionable, but the universe gave her some sign telling her not to eat anything seconds later as a hard body collided with her, sending the granola bar she got to the floor. She didn't have the energy to argue with the guy but he still reached out to steady her.
"Hey, I'm sorry," he explained. "Kind of in a hurry."
"It's fine," Erin replied, looking up at the man. The second her eyes landed on his face, the lightbulb in her head began flickering.
"Have we met?" she asked, trying to place why he was so familiar.
He started shaking his head, obviously needing to be somewhere. But as he studied her, she watched his head cock to the side, his own mind forming realizations. It was then Erin saw the similarities, the way his eyebrows raised and the similar pattern of freckles across his face.
"Any relation to Jay Halstead?" she asked. The man looked taken aback, but he recovered, a smirk forming quickly.
"I'm his brother," Will answered. "And how do you know my brother?"
"I'm his girlfriend," Erin replied. "I'm guessing your flight just landed."
The smirk fell from Will's face as he nodded slowly. "I was the one that called Dawson to get Jay. I knew he had a game today. I'm not that much of an asshole."
Erin just nodded. She didn't know much about Will, but every time Jay ever spoke about his older brother, there was some animosity in his voice. She supposed right now she would give him the benefit of the doubt.
"How long have you been here?" he asked, sensing the silence between them.
"I'm not sure," Erin replied. "We left during his game and it's close to 11:30, so maybe two, three hours?"
Will hesitated, running a hand through his hair before looking back at his brother's girlfriend. It's quite a story to say the first time you meet the girlfriend to be in a hospital waiting room.
"It's going to be a long night, you should go and get some sleep. I'll let Jay know you're here."
"What's going on, Will?" she asked. Jay told her nothing and seeing Will here, all the way from New York, had increased the anxiety she was feeling.
Will hesitated, his creasing in a way that was so familiar to her, because Jay did the same thing when he was thinking.
"That's something Jay should tell you, but it's not good."
Erin nodded, mumbling a thank you to Will before letting him be on his way. She wasn't ready to leave, she wanted to be here for Jay, but it was getting late and she had already been dodging messages from their friends. She resigned to wait a few more minutes, hoping maybe Will stayed true to his word and let Jay knew she was here. And ten minutes later, he proved maybe he wasn't as much of an ass as she thought.
"Hey," Will said, walking into the hospital room. He had been in his fair share of them over the last few years, but his heart was pounding as he walked into his mom's.
Jay was the only one that seemed to hear him. His dad, as usual, was nowhere to be found.
"Hey," he replied, glancing up at his brother before back at his mom.
"Any news?" Will asked.
"They were in here earlier, but I didn't understand any of it. I told them my med school brother was on his way."
Will nodded, not missing the dig Jay had just given him. He wasn't oblivious to the fact his brother felt he abandoned him, leaving him at home with an abusive father. Will had never been happier the day Jay got out of that house, but he was also not surprised he chose to stay close to home.
"I'll track him down," Will said, not in the mood to get into it with his brother tonight. His mom wouldn't want that either.
"I ran into Erin in the waiting room," he said, watching as Jay's head shot back to him.
"She's still here?" he asked and Will just nodded.
"I don't think she ever left," he replied. There was a moment of silence between the two and Will could see Jay wanted a second to get out of here.
"Go see her, she looks like she needs sleep. Mom will be fine for a few minutes," Will encouraged.
Jay nodded, slowly getting up from the uncomfortable chair. Will couldn't imagine he was comfortable, coming straight from a game to sit in a hospital room.
"And Jay?" Will said, causing his brother to turn back to him. "I like her. Don't mess this up."
There was a small smile that fell on Jay's face, and Will knew that he was accepting the praise he was given. Their dad did nothing to be a supportive father, but Will was glad to help his brother for a few seconds.
"I won't," he replied before heading out.
"Erin," she heard Jay say, looking up to find him in the doorway leading to patient rooms.
"Hey," she said as he came over, pulling her tightly to him. She could tell he was exhausted by the way he held her and the ragged breaths that escaped him were evidence too. They stood like that for a while, her hand rubbing up and down his back in what she hoped was calming.
"I ran into Will, he told me I should head home, get some rest," she said, trying to gauge what he wanted her to do. She was his girlfriend after all.
"He's right," Jay said, pulling back and taking her hands in his. "We're going to be here for a while longer."
"Jay," she whispered, pulling him to follow her before heading outside, hoping it would grant them some more privacy. It was late, but the sounds of the city were still present, but they felt like they were in their own little world.
"What's wrong?" she asked, the question on her mind since they left the field. She could see the hesitation on Jay's face as he released a shaky breath.
"My mom," he started, his voice suddenly quiet and shy, a contrast to the confident man she knew. "She has cancer, has for the last few months."
Erin didn't say anything, not knowing what exactly to say, she just pulled him back into a hug. She trusted Jay would tell her more when he was ready.
"What do you need?" she asked after a few minutes.
"You," he answered with no hesitation. "She's going to be released soon. She started a new treatment this morning and had a bad reaction to it. They want to keep her for observation, but she's likely going to kick Will and me out soon."
He paused, reaching into his pocket to grab his keys.
"I'll be there soon. I just want to sleep and not think about tonight."
Erin just nodded, taking the apartment key from him. She leaned up, kissing him softly but he grabbed her waist, pulling her in closer. When they broke apart, his forehead rested against her, trying to savor this moment where he felt safe. When she left, he didn't know what emotions he would have.
"I'll be there," she replied, kissing him once more before walking towards her car.