"Did you hear about Hailey?"
The air whooshes out of Jay's lungs and the feeling of dread only gets heightened. Will doesn't even live in Chicago himself anymore, after a move to Seattle to be with his old girlfriend and her son, so the fact he's calling about Hailey somehow makes this even more urgent than if he was still working in Chicago Med. Jay also hasn't heard the worry in Will's voice like this in a very long time.
"What about Hailey, Will? You're scaring me." He croaks out.
"Shit! I was hoping you would have heard from someone else already and been on a plane… Sylvie Brett called me, apparently Hailey was brought in to Lakeshore this morning. I don't know all the details except that she was shot in the left shoulder, which isn't the worst part… Apparently the blowback knocked her head into concrete or something and she has some internal bleeding and swelling in the brain… Jay, they had to put her in an induced coma." His brother rasps out.
Jay nearly drops the phone. He's fairly certain he screams in agony, and he fights the overwhelming gag reflex he's experiencing. It's a full minute before he realizes his brother is still talking to him. Yelling now actually.
"JAY! Jay! You alright? You still there?"
"Yeah. I'm here. Will, what does this mean?"
"I'm sure they induced her in hopes to alleviate the swelling to the brain, but I can't know for sure without being there or seeing her chart. I can try to put a call into one of my contacts there and get back to you…. But Jay, Sylvie also mentioned this was apparently Hailey's last week on the job? She gave her notice. Did you know anything about this?"
Jay closes his eyes tightly, trying to squelch the pounding in his head and process everything, plus stop the panic attack he knows wants to rise up into his chest. "No. I had no idea." He states simply in defeat. He pushes all the pain and fears aside and starts quickly packing his duffle bag.
"Look Jay, forget your contract assignment. Fucking go AWOL if you have to… just get home to your wife while you still can!"
"Already packing my bag. I'll call the major en route to the airport." He says, then after a long pause, whispers and pleads to his brother. "Will, I can't lose her man. I just can't…"
"I know. I know. But hey, Hailey's always been a tough SOB, right? She's a fighter. She'll pull through! She's as stubborn as you!"
"Yeah… you're right. Thanks, man! Please call me or text if you hear anymore. I'm going to try to get on the first plane out."
"Of course. Take care of yourself bro. She needs you!"
"Thanks, will do!"
Once they hang up, Jay finishes what little packing he gives a shit about and quickly heads out the door. He doesn't bother to turn out the light, doesn't bother to lock the room, doesn't even look at some of his coworkers walking back from the bar and questioning him as he runs out of there like a bat out of hell. The only thing he cares about right now is Hailey. His wife. And getting to her as quickly as possible. Coming home like he should have back in May, hell even earlier than that if he's honest with himself. He puts a call into the major on the ride to the airport, explains the whole situation, and apologetically, actually demandingly, says he needs to be relieved of his duties immediately. Afterall, it's not like he's an active soldier anymore, he's just a contractor. Due to the dire circumstances, his major gives him no issues, and once Jay signs the paperwork that will be mailed to his home address, he'll once again be unemployed. Jay doesn't even care about any items he may have left behind, he has no intentions of ever coming back.
With that wrapped up, he finally reaches the airport and parks the truck, leaving the keys under the carpet for one of his old team to pick up. He quickly shoots off a message letting them know the location of the truck, grabs his duffle, and runs inside. After speaking with an attendant, he knows the next flight out to Chicago isn't until much later in the morning, but there is a flight to Atlanta with available seats that will be boarding soon. He yanks out his credit card and buys that immediately, knowing Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta airport is a major hub and he should be able to get on a sooner flight to Chicago from there, can potentially even buy a ticket while on this flight. After he gets through security, it's not a long wait at all before the plane already starts boarding. At least one silver lining in this whole chaos. Once he's on the plane and situated, he can finally start to process the enormity of the situation again and he has to hold back tears. He silently prays to himself, to whatever is out there that will listen. He can't believe his wife is shot, wounded, and comatose while he's no where near her. He can't help but feel if he was still her partner watching her back, it would have never happened. She needed him, needed him this whole time and he ran away to find himself again. What a cop out… literally. He intends to make up for it though once she's okay. Because she HAS to be okay. He'll divorce her if that's what she really still wants, but there's no world he's living in without Hailey's light. She's a fighter like Will said, and she will come back to him, even if she doesn't come back to him. But he prays for that too, because he knows she's his soul mate, and he can't be one half of a whole.
The flight gives him a lot of time to think, to reflect. He's questioned for months whether or not he made the right decisions this past year. He knows he had to leave Intelligence, no question… things had just become too muddled for him. He was embracing too much doing questionable things for the right reasons. But he does regret leaving Hailey like he did, even if he thinks he was able to salvage his morals again to be the better man for her. He has no excuse for his lack of communication at times, he really doesn't, other than the fact he was embarrassed. He loved Hailey with his whole heart, he really did, but he felt ashamed that he hurt her so badly, that after everything, he was the one to validate her past traumas… not Voight, not being a cop, not even her father, but him. He didn't know how to right that wrong over the phone from thousands of miles away, so it just became easier to put their conversations off. If he had any defense at all, he was outside the wire a lot, but he knows that's no excuse. No excuse for not telling her himself that he took that extension, he didn't know how to after he had broken her so much already… even though his intent was always to see through this assignment and come home, to her. These were parts of the little discussions they started to have again before she got kidnapped in May. But she still felt he wasn't putting enough effort in, and really he couldn't blame her. He was her anchor and vice versa, and he had drifted out to sea. But he vowed then and he vows now he'll return as a better man. Be the good man she always believed him to be.
Between his reflecting and his worry, before he knows it his plane has landed in Atlanta and he's rushing off to his connecting flight to Chicago that he did manage to secure. He has about two more hours left of wallowing to do on this flight time, but he knows he'll be landing at O'Hare with a clear mind that once Hailey pulls through, because she has to, he's going to make the best of this potential second chance he's being granted. He's going to be there for her even more than he was when they were at their best, he's going to be there for her for as much as she'll allow. So he closes his eyes and prays some more, and before he knows it, the plane is touching down and he's back home for the first time in 312 days. He rushes through the airport and grabs a taxi the second he steps outside. Finally on the last leg of trip to get to the hospital to be with his wife. He exhales in a momentary relief that he's almost there and takes a beat to look at his watch. 9:43am local time… almost a full 24 hours since Hailey was brought in. Given the circumstances, it was excellent time to make, but he should have been with her that first second. Or he should have been the one taking the bullet that put her there. He pushes the thought aside because he can't change the past, and exhales again when the taxi pulls outside Lakeshore Hospital. He swipes his card on the machine in the back of the seat to pay and then he's sprinting again.
He runs up to the information desk and barely gives the attendant a chance to glance up before he's rushing his speech. "Hi, my wife, Detective Hailey Upton, was brought in yesterday morning. Can you please tell me what room she's in?"
She informs him that Hailey's in Room 803 and that only two visitors are allowed at a time. Jay quickly thanks her and rushes off again to the elevators. This whole time, he wasn't even considering other visitors. Hell, he didn't even think to contact his old team, he was just in such a rush to get here, it slipped his mind. But now that he has a second to think about it, he gets angry wondering why none of them bothered to contact him. Why did he have to hear from his brother so many hours after it happened? He could have been here yesterday. He knows they're likely not the biggest fan of him at the moment, but dammit, she was still his wife. He at the very least was owed a text message. He clenches and closes his fists, trying to contain that anger rising up and remember that his priority is Hailey… everyone else be damned. It was a good process in theory, until he stepped off the elevator, reaching Hailey's room shortly, and seeing Kim Burgess sitting at his wife's bedside. Before he could even get a good look at his wife, the brunette heard him walking in and turned her head to look back. Recognition set in her eyes, with a quick passing of warmth and sorrow, before it turned to something else. She stared at Jay as he entered, and you didn't have to be a detective to know she was enraged…
{A/N: Thank you everyone for the love on Chapter 1, and for just giving this a read in general. This chapter answers part one of the what's going on with/happened to Hailey cliffhanger... getting closer to an Upstead reunion, yes, no, maybe so!? See you soon!}