Disclaimer: I own nothing except my imagination
A/N: So this story is completely out of the box I usually write, totally AU BUT I've been reading stories lately that are out of the box as well so the idea came and I just started writing because that's what I do and I just ran with it. Hope you're willing to run with me on this one.
It was late, he was sweaty, and he was tired, but Jay had to pick his brother up from Med before heading back to their place. He was waiting in the front of the ED, pinching the bridge of his nose out of lack of recent sleep. The team had been running ragged chasing bad guys and they were finally able to close the case tonight and he was thankful for that.
"Tough day?" He was startled by his brother hopping into the truck.
"Days." Jay corrected his brother.
"Everything squared now?" Will asked hopefully.
"Yeah, Voight gave us the day off tomorrow." He sighed. "I'm going to sleep and your ass better not wake me up." He warned with a chuckle.
"I've got an early shift tomorrow morning, you'll have the whole place to yourself."
"Even better, let's go." Jay drove into traffic and the ride was mostly quiet between the two brothers.
"Are you okay?" Will looked at his brother.
"Yeah, I'm fine. I just really need to sleep." He stopped at a red light. "What about you? Any plans for your next day off?"
"Aside from having to go settle some things for the new building, nothing much." Jay started driving as the light turned green. "Jay, look out." A car swerved quickly in front of them.
"What the hell?" Jay asked, stepping on the gas so he could catch up to the car. It only took seconds for the car to wrap itself around a lamp post, Jay hitting the breaks and he and Will coming out of the truck to assess the situation.
"The door is stuck, I can't pry it open." Will called out from the mom's side of the car.
Jay flipped his phone opened and dialled 911. "This is officer Jay Halstead, badge number 51163 with intelligence. Requesting an ambulance to my location and CFD backup. Female victim, unconscious, trapped inside her vehicle with a head injury and an under aged girl in the back seat." He slid the phone back into his pocket and looked at Will.
"We need to get them out of there quickly, I don't think she has much time." Jay could see blood coming out of a very deep gash on the mom's forehead, the safety bags deployed, the little girl crying in the back.
"Hey sweetie, my name is Jay." Jay knocked on the window that was opened just a smidge to get some air inside, trying to get the little girl to look at him. When her cries died down from the sound of his voice and her large brown ones looked into his blue, he spoke again. "Honey, my name is Jay and I'm a police detective. Can you tell me your name?"
"Avery." She sniffled.
"Ok Avery, can you tell me what hurts?" He could hear the sirens in the distance and they were becoming louder.
"My tummy hurts." She cried. "Mommy?"
"Help is on its way for your mom Avery but I need you to keep looking at me okay?" Her eyes moved back to his. "That's it." He smiled at her.
"I want my mommy."
"I know and you'll be able to see her as soon as my friends from the fire department get her out of the car and we get the two of you checked out."
"We've got her Jay." The next minutes went by like a whirlwind, Jay trying to stay as close as Avery as possible, Will giving her a quick assessment out in the field but wanting to bring her to Med to run more tests.
"Do you mind bringing my truck back to Med, I'll ride in the ambo with Avery and I'll give Voight a head's up."
"Sure thing." Will said before he left in Jay's truck, Jay quickly calling Voight to tell him what had happened.
"Severide." He jogged towards the Lieutenant once the mom was transported to the ambo and to Med. "I need you to secure the scene, Voight is on his way."
"Sure thing." They exchanged a handshake and Jay returned to the ambo where Avery was being loaded.
"Hey, is it okay if I ride in here with you?" She simply nodded, Jay looking at Brett who nodded and Jay hopped in, Kidd closing the door behind them. He spent the ride holding Avery's hand and keeping her entertained as Sylvie checked her out. He wasn't going to question her just yet, wanting her to be more comfortable and relaxed, and hopefully when her mother was awake to shed some light on what happened to them. "Can you tell me your mommy's name?" He asked as she drew different smiling faces on the back of his hand.
"Mom." He chuckled.
"And does mom get called by another name from other grown ups?"
"Auntie Nicole calls her Kimmy." It wasn't much but at least he had a first name, Kim he supposed. He'd have to look through her personal effects once he would make it to Med.
"What about your dad, what does Auntie Nicole call him?" Avery looked down at their hands. "It's okay, you can tell me."
"I can't see him anymore." She whispered. "Mommy says he's not very nice and Auntie Nicole calls him."
"Calls him what?" She asked him to come closer and cupped her hand close to his ear.
"An ass." Jay supressed a laugh but kept the information for later as the ambulance came to a stop.
"We're going to get you checked out, okay?" She nodded and pulled him closer. "I'll stay right next to you Avery."
"Ok." Jay's eyes followed the action of the ED and he locked eyes with his brother who was working on Avery's mom.
"You see over there?" Jay pointed towards Will. "That's my brother and he's a doctor so he's going to take really good care of your mother, okay?"
"Okay." She was quickly cleared after a chest X-ray so Jay sat next to her on the bed, her legs swinging gently. "When can I go see mommy?"
"I'm not sure but my brother will come see us to tell us what's going on."
"Is he nice like you?"
"If you ask him, he is."
"I think you're nice."
"Thanks." He looked at her with soft eyes, knowing he had to try to ask her a few questions. "Is it okay if I ask you just a couple of questions?" She nodded. "Where were you coming from when your mom had the accident?"
"The sitter dropped me off at mommy's work and we were going to get an ice cream."
"Do you know what your mommy does?"
"She works with kids like me, well sort of."
"What do you mean?"
"She says the kids she works with aren't lucky like me. They don't have mommy's and daddy's and when they do, they aren't always nice to them." Social worker, lawyer maybe.
"Your mom does very important work. And what else were you doing when it happened?"
"We were singing."
"Do you like to sing?" He always found it best to ask simple questions and fun ones between the harder ones to get kids to talk.
"Uh huh. We listen to music all the time and we dance a lot too."
"That sounds like fun." He smiled as she moved her hips on the bed. "Was your mom feeling okay when the accident happened?"
"She was scared."
"Do you know if someone was following you?"
"No, the light was turning red and she was just scared."
"Okay, thanks for helping me out Avery."
"Yup." Her little lips popped the p and Jay couldn't help his lips twitch into a smile.
"Look who's coming to check on us." Jay pointed towards his brother that was walking towards them.
"Hey, how's our little patient doing?" He was looking at her numbers on the ipad.
"Is my mom okay?" She ignored Will's question completely.
"She's worried about her mom, but you're doing okay Avery, right?"
"Yes." She smiled. "How is my mom?"
"Your mom has a cut on her forehead and is sleeping to get better so it's going to take a little bit before she wakes up, so nurse Maggie here is going to stay with you until she wakes up."
"NO." She took Jay's hand and gave it a hard squeeze.
"Hey, hey, it's okay." Jay shifted on the bed to face her. "I'm not going anywhere. If Will says we can, we'll go see your mom okay?" He looked at his brother for an answer.
"Yeah, it's okay, you just need to be gentle."
"Alright." Jay stood from the bed and helped Avery down, extending his hand to her. "Let's go." He gave Will's shoulder a tap before he left the room, Maggie pointing him in the right direction. "Are you ready?" She nodded and held onto his hand tighter. He wasn't sure what was waiting for him on the other side of the curtain, but he was pretty sure that Will wouldn't have allowed them to go in if it had been too much for the little girl. He pushed the curtain aside and guided Avery inside. He pulled a chair closer to the bed and sat down, letting Avery climb into his lap.
"Is she really okay?" She had an oxygen canula and she looked pale, stitched lined her hairline where her head the steering wheel
"My brother wouldn't say she is if she wasn't, he's a very good doctor."
"Will she wake up soon?"
"I hope so, you must miss her."
"Yes." They stayed like that for a while, Jay trading texts with Voight concerning the chain of events until he realized that Avery was dead weight against his arm. He rose and kept Avery close to his chest as he scooped her and lay her little body on the couch on the other wall of the room. He quietly exited the room, leaving it ajar so he could keep an eye on Avery but he didn't want her to hear anything if she woke up. He flagged Will as soon as he saw him.
"So, what can you tell me?"
"There is no sign of something medical happening that would have led her to crash. The gash on her forehead was deep but with the stitches it should heal nicely and make a minimal scar there."
"Her daughter only said that she was scared before it happened. Do you have any kind of ID on her?"
"Her name is Kim Burgess." Jay looked inside the room before looking back at him. "We called her sister Nicole who is on her way. She said she'd be here in about thirty minutes now." Will looked at his watch to make sure he was giving his brother the right information.
"Alright and does she have an emergency contact other than her sister?"
"Ex-husband but her sister told me in no uncertain terms that we were not to call him."
"Okay, that confirms what I thought from my discussion with Avery. The dad looks like a scumbag."
"Do you think he would have anything to do with this?"
"I don't know, I'm hoping to be able to talk to her sister about it, she seems to have an opinion about him." He smirked as he remembered what Avery had told him about an overheard discussion between her mother and aunt.
"That should be interesting."
"I'm looking for my sister Kim Burgess." The two turned at the sound of the voice. They walked together and Will put a hand on her shoulder.
"I'm Dr Will Halstead and this is my brother Detective Jay Halstead, we were the first on the scene and I treated your sister."
"How is she?"
"She's banged up but otherwise she's still unconscious. We're monitoring her but really it's just a matter of time before she wakes up."
"And how's my niece? I was told that she was in the car when the accident happened?"
"Yeah, she's asleep in your sister's room, I've been staying with her since we brought her in." Jay smiled at her, hoping to ease her worries a bit.
"Can I see them?"
"Yes you can but I was hoping to be able to ask you a few questions after I asked your niece a few ones while we were getting her checked out?"
"Sure, can I just see to make sure they are fine."
"Yeah, just this way." The brothers walked her back to the room while Will explained what they had done to her sister.
"Avery seems okay." The worry was still clear in Nicole Silver's eyes even if her body didn't show it.
"Yeah, she was mostly just sore to the chest and tummy but we ruled out pretty much everything quickly." Will confirmed.
"That's good." She nodded.
"Is there somewhere quiet I can take Mrs. Silver Will?"
"Yeah, you can take the doctor's lounge, evening shift just started so you should be able to have all the time you need."
"Thanks a lot." He guided Kim's sister to the lounge and got her settled at the break table, taking a seat opposite her.
"You said you had questions to ask me?" She played with her hands out of nerves.
"Yes, what can you tell me about your sister's ex-husband?
"He's a scumbag ass." She growled. Jay watched her fear turn into white hot anger.
A/N:Thoughts, ideas, i'm listening :) - Sarra