Heeey :)

Thank you so so much for the amazing feedback. I love reading your comments. They make me smile and laugh every single time. I can't thank you enough.

I've noticed that most of you are from English-speaking countries, which amazes me since English is not my mother tongue. I'm really glad you like reading it anyway and I apologise if anything I write sounds really awkward.

Just to remind you, Erin is NOT going to be in this story (as requested). However, I'm guessing she will be in future stories. It all depends on what you feel like reading, so let me know. (The Jay and Adam story is coming, I promise.)

PART 3

Will's P.O.V.

I'm fully awake and crawling over to my brother in an instant.

"Jay. It's okay. Just calm down." I instruct him, hoping to calm him down, but it doesn't work. He keeps trashing around violently, probably hurting himself in the process.

"Jay, stop!" I try again, unsuccessfully. He's trying to pull off his c-collar, barely able to take a breath. And that's when I realise this seems all to recognizable to me. The gasping and whirling. I've seen it before. He must be having PTSD. His eyes screwed shut, but I can see they're darting from one side to another under his eyelids. He's having a nightmare.

"It's okay, Jay. It's just a dream." I tell him, grabing a hold of his hands to prevent him from touching anything. "Wake up, Jay." I pin him down. "Look at me. Jay!"

Finally, he jerks awake. His confused eyes are filled with panic. "Wh-" he tries to talk while gasping for air.

"It was a nightmare, Jay. It's not real." I notice he's not really paying attention to me. To be honest, he seems completely freaked out. This must've been a bad one. I thought he hasn't had them in years.

"It's okay. You're alright. Just breathe." I say in a calm voice. "I've got you." But he doesn't listen.

"Take- off-" he slurrs between helpless gasps, referring to the c-collar.

At this point I accept the fact that he's most likely having a panic attack, and the plastic around his neck isn't helping him. "Okay, Jay. I'm gonna take it off. Hang on." I let go of his hands and he starts trashing around uncontrollably. I quickly loosen the collar and pull ot away as carefully as I can. If his neck's injured, then I'm officially and idiot but to be fair, he couldn't breathe, so I guess there was no right choice in this situation. "Alright, it's gone. Breathe. You're okay." I say as calmly as I can. Sadly, he still isn't any closer to calming down. He turns on his side, curling into a fatal position. Okay, so he's not paralysed. That's good. I wince, knowing he is laying on his left side (aka the severely injured side), probably jostling all of his ribs.

"Jay, lay on your back. You'll hurt yourself." I warn him, putting a hand on his shoulder. He doesn't jerk away, which means he's not catatonic. Lucky me, otherwise this could've ended badly with like a punch in my face or something of that sort. "Jay." I try again. No success, but I notice he isn't trashing around anymore. He's calming down. Finally. All that's left is the wheezing sound that wasn't there before. Now that is a bad sign.

I notice there is something running down his cheeks. Tears. My heart breaks for him. If he's crying, this must've been either a hell of a lot worse than I thought or he's in excruciating pain. I place a hand on his back, gently rubbing it in circles. That always used to calm him down when we were little. "You okay?" He shakes his head, but doesn't say anything. He just lays there, sobbing and wheezing helplessly. "Can you talk?" Again, there's no response. This is bad. "Whatever you saw, it wasn't real. It was just a dream, okay?" Still nothing. "Just relax."

Finally, he speaks up. Well, whispers. "Can't- breathe-" he pauses taking shallow and quick breaths. That's quite normal given that he just had a panic attack. "Hurts" he concludes. Now that seems wierd. Jay would never tell me he was in pain, unless it was bad. As in 'I'm about to die' bad.

"Okay, tke some slow, deep breaths." I instruct him, placing my free hand on his chest gently. "Breathe with me." I overexaggerate with my breathing, trying to get him to copy me. It doesn't work. I glance over at the oximeter. His levels have dropped down to 75. He's barely getting any oxygen.

"Srry- can't." he slurs out an apology as if it were his fault.

"It's okay. It's not your fault." This could be something serious and not at all connected to the panic attack. Suddenly, I put two and two together. Oh no. Please let me be wrong. "Jay, I need to check something. Do you think you could turn around for me real quick?"

He doesn't answer me at first, but then his hand grbs mine and squeezes. "Help."

This is horrible. I'm about to cry myself. Poor Jay, he doesn't deserve any of this. I desperately want to pinch something, but that'll have to wait. Right now, I need to help my little brother.

"Okay, just stay calm. I've got you. I promise." I soothe him, before placing both hands on his shoulder and hip. "I'm gonna turn you around, okay? Just take slow breaths." I place him on his back, his bare chest exposed. He is unnaturally pale, eyes screwed shut, lips becoming an ugly shade of blue. His hands are clutching at his chest, hoping to ease the pain, but failing. I notice the tips of his fingers are also somewhere between blue and purple. Oxygen deprivation. The oximeter now reads 71. "You're doing great. Just keep breathing." I grab the stethoscope and press it to Jay's chest. There is no breath sounds on his left side. I was right. Pneumothorax. Could this day any worse for my brother. What I'm about to do is anything but pretty.

"Jay, listen to me. Try to stay calm, okay? Your lung collapsed. That's why you can't breathe. Now, I need to treat that in order to save you." I pause, trying to think of a better way to say this. I find none. "There's nothing to numb you or knock you out with." I know he understands. He knows what the treatment for a pneumothorax is. Noone should ever have to go through this awake, but I have no choice. If I wait for him to pass out, it'll be too late. He's already in too much danger as it is. " I'm sorry, Jay, but this is going to hurt like hell. Do you understand I'm saying?"

He nods.

God, this sucks. "Just try to relax. It'll be over before you know it" I lie to him, knowing he's definitely going to feel it.

"Jus- do- it."

I swear I can feel my soul breaking inside my chest. "I'll try to be as quick as I can." Enough with the chitchat. His oxygen levels are already down to 68. I have to move.

Grabbing everything I need, I lean back over my brother. "I'm sorry, buddy, I have to do this." Thanks to the lack of energy he's experiencing, I only get a nod in response.

I quickly prepare everything and sterilize the area with some iodine. Jay's left hand is now stretched above his head to help.expose the area. "Try to hold still." I put gloves on and grab the scalpel. "Ready?" Another nod. Pressing two of my fingers to his chest, I count my way down to his fifth rib. The scalpel meets the skin and before I know it, there is an inch long cut stretching down my brother's side. He's desperately trying to get some air into his lungs. I decide to go as fast as I can, without explaining what's going on. I press my index finger into the incision, causing my brother to scream in pain. "I know, I know. I'm sorry, bro." I try to soothe him, while pushing my finger deeper and moving it around, making sure that the hole is wide enough for the tube. This procedure never used to scare me, but I gotta admit, I'm terrified. Part of me actually wishes that Jay would just pass out and make the torture stop. But it doesn't happen. Once I'm satisfied with the depth, I grab the tubing. "Almost done, Jay. You're doing great." I align the tube with my finger and shove it into my brother's chest.

I've never heard a scream this bad. Jay is biting into the knuckles of his right hand, eyes shut and tears running down his cheeks. He's grunting in pain, but stays still nevertheless. This is Jay Halsted for you.

I push the tube a bit further and finally hear a hissing sound, indicating that the chest tube is doing its job. Jay coughs and loosens the bite on his knuckles. "All done. I just need to secure it in place, okay?"

"Mhm" Jay rasps in response.

"I wish I could tell you this wouldn't hurt." I say, grabbing the prethreaded needle with one hand, while holding the tube in place with the other. Six stitches and a lot of screaming later, the procedure is finally over. I tape some gauze over the tube sticking out of my brother to keep it clean and lean over Jay. "You okay?" I ask, refering to the tears still trickling down his face. He doesn't answer me, occupies with his breathing. I glance over at the oximeter, which now reads 70. His levels are coming back up. I notice the blood running down my brother's arm. He actually bit through the skin on his knuckles. "Let me see" I gently grab the hand to clean it, and to my surprise he doesn't refuse. He must be exhausted. After it's wrapped in some gauze, the sound of my alarm goes off.

Concussion check time. Well, I already know Jay's sorta coherent and partially awake, though I haven't seen his eyes in a while. I take off my gloves and wipe the tears from Jay's cheeks. "Can you open your eyes, buddy?" He slowly blinks. "Follow my finger." I move it left, right, up and down. He tries his best to follow it, but doesn't quite succeed. "Good" I lie. I shine the light into them and notice that his pupils are almost unresponsive. Damn it. "Okay, how's the pain?"

"I'll live" he finally speaks up. I laugh and check his IV.

"Rest up." I say covering him with a blanket. I'm afraid to let him sleep, but he's barely conscious and I need him to keep fighting. "I'll wake you up in an hour." If his symptoms deteriorate, I'll have no choice but to keep him awake, but for now, he can sleep. As for me, I'll stare at him constantly just to make sure he's okay.

"I've got you, bro" I say patting his shoulder, but he doesn't hear me. He's already sound asleep as if nothing were wrong. I let out a breath I didn't know I was holding and finally let myself relax a bit. Jay was safe. For now. "I got you."

To be continued...

I hope you liked it. Please review, if you have the time. I really appreciate it.

This story is turning out to be way longer than I expected. The next chapter will be the last, I promise (unless you want more). And the next story will be (drumroll please) Jay and Adam. I'm so excited to write more. Thanks for the support.

Till next time.

Love, N