Alex and Emma had been in the room for five minutes now, and Alex was resting in a chair beside her friend, her leg bouncing incessantly as drunken paranoia took over. Her eyes jumped around as she was scanning the people who walked by the room. She knew this was the ER where her brother Will worked, but she hadn't seen him much to her relief. She didn't know much about his work life, but she was fairly certain he rarely worked the night shift. However, that didn't do much to calm her drunken nerves. Because that was the last thing she needed - to run into her brother and then have him go narc about what she was up to, which clearly wasn't something Jay would approve of.
Emma had just thrown up another time in the gray basin the nurse had given her. "UGH! This fucking sucks," she complained as she threw her head back against the pillow. "Whyyyyy!" She was still feeling disoriented - like she'd taken 10 shots instead of 3, but the vomiting was starting to slow down thankfully now that she was resting in an ER bed.
Her friend's voice momentarily tore Alex from her lookout mission. She grabbed Emma's hand with reassurance. "The doc will make it better, Em. Hang in there." She comforted the best she could in her state of mind.
Just then, a doctor pulled back the curtain and walked in. A gasp escaped Alex's lips as she immediately threw herself to the floor out of sight behind the bed. Luckily, the doctor had turned to grab some hand sanitizer, so he missed the dramatic hiding.
"Hi, I'm Dr. Halstead. It sounds like you aren't feeling well, huh?" Will asked as he approached the bed.
"OH MY GOSH!" Emma exclaimed out of drunken excitement despite feeling like shit. "Alex, he has the same last name as you," she announced as she looked around to try and find her friend.
Alex cringed, knowing her cover was fully blown. "Fuck," she whispered harshly at herself.
"Alex?" Will called out, confused about what was going on. "Is that you?" He leaned over to try and see who was hiding.
Realizing that she had no other choice, she slowly stood back up and waved without making eye contact. "Hi."
Will's eyebrows flew up in surprise as he caught sight of his sister, looking somewhat disheveled. "What are you doing here? What's going on?" The brotherly questions came out of his mouth before he had a chance to think them through.
Alex rolled her eyes, resisting the urge to snap. "It's not what you think. Emma texted me saying she wasn't feeling well, so I brought her here."
Will took a moment to absorb the confusing situation. He wanted to dwell on the fact that his sister was here, and clearly trying to avoid him, but his medical training kicked in as he shifted his focus to the patient. "Why don't you tell me what happened…" He looked at his iPad quickly. "Emma."
Emma groaned again, her head spinning. "I swear I only had like a few drinks. This isn't normal. I keep throwing up, too."
Will's eyes danced over to his sister to see if she was going to elaborate or add any details. Alex hesitated, but caved. "Yeah, she did have some drinks, but we think someone might have...slipped something into one of them."
Will's expression subtly shifted from surprise to concern. "Okay, we'll run some tests to figure out what's in your system." He glanced at Alex, the doctor in him momentarily overshadowing the brotherly concern. He needed to make sure she didn't have whatever this was in her system as well. "Did you drink too?" The slightly glossed over look in her eyes answered his question, but he needed to hear it from her.
Alex sighed, her frustration evident, but she went with the truth. "Yeah, but not what she drank. I'm okay. Just worried about Em."
Will nodded, quickly jotting down some notes before signaling a nurse. "We'll give her something for the nausea while we wait on the test results." A nurse walked in and Will gave her some orders to draw blood so they could get to the bottom of what was slipped to the teenager.
"Stay put, Emma. We'll have you feeling better soon," Will explained as he headed for the door, knowing he had multiple other patients to deal with, so he couldn't spend time in here like he truly wanted. Since he was fairly certain that Alex wasn't in any immediate harm, he turned to give her one last stern look before he left. He said quietly, not wanting to cause a scene, "We need to talk after this."
Alex scowled but didn't say anything because she expected that at a minimum now that he'd caught her.
"Bye Alex's brother!" Emma yelled with a drunken giggle as he left the room.
Alex felt the daggers from Will's parting words, but when she heard Emma's exclamation, she couldn't help but burst out laughing, the alcohol clearly taking control for a moment.
Will didn't acknowledge the comment, because he had multiple patients on his plate right now, and he had to get back to work. Friday nights – hell the whole weekend – were always the busiest in the ER. His patients had to come first. But his mind was already running through a long list of ideas of what he was going to say to her when he got the chance.
"He's hot," Emma declared as the nurse came closer to draw some blood. The nurse bit her lip to keep from laughing herself.
"Emma, stooppppppp!" Alex begged in a hushed voice as she playfully smacked her friend's arm.
Emma, unfazed, simply winked at Alex. "What? It's true."
Alex rolled her eyes, a flushed hue of embarrassment painting her cheeks. "Yeah, yeah. Just... stop talking for a bit, okay?"
The nurse, trying her best to maintain a professional demeanor, carefully began drawing blood from Emma. "It'll be over soon," she assured, casting a friendly, understanding smile at them both.
With a sigh, Alex settled back into the chair, her initial laughter giving way to concern once more. The weight of the situation was slowly sinking in.
Emma, noticing the change in her friend's demeanor, reached out and squeezed Alex's hand. "Hey, don't worry about me. I'll be fine. We always manage to get in and, more importantly, out of trouble together, don't we?"
Alex chuckled, squeezing Emma's hand back. "Yeah, we do. But this isn't exactly the usual shit we get into."
Emma smirked. "True, but it'll make for one hell of a story."
Both girls shared a brief moment of levity before reality settled back in. With Emma's test results pending and a looming confrontation with Will, the night was far from over.
While they waited on the test results, they passed the time by alternating watching and creating SnapChat videos. Emma threw up two more times, but luckily the medicine she'd been given had started to take effect, so the nausea was subsiding. Between videos, Emma couldn't help but notice that Alex's mind was still distracted, and she knew that she had to help.
"Hey, pass me my purse," Emma requested after they'd finished a video. Alex handed it over without a second thought. "So I know things are a bit cray with your family right now," she stated matter-of-factly. Alex nodded, really having no idea where this was going. "When I'm about to get yelled at by whoever is pretending to be my authoritative figure at the moment, you know what helps?" She opened her purse, revealing a small bottle of vodka, like one that you'd get on an airplane.
"Emma!" Alex scolded immediately.
"Girl, trust me, it'll help with whatever stupid talk your brother wants to have. I can tell it's bothering you." Even in her poor state, Emma was trying to help her friend in her own way - even if the means were flawed.
Alex's eyes danced around the empty room. Her mind raced with the possibilities. Should she? Probably not - wasn't drinking in a hospital like crossing the line or something? But then again, drinking here or at an abandoned warehouse was still illegal, so did it really matter? And it would sure as hell ease her into whatever stupid confrontation she'd eventually have. With her current buzz starting to wear off, she made an impulsive decision.
"Okay, cover me." She snatched the bottle out of Emma's purse and hunched down behind the bed in case someone came in while she made her way through it.
Meanwhile, on the other side of the ER, Will had stepped into the doctor's lounge to take a moment to think. The conversation with Jay from earlier in the evening replayed in his mind. Jay was worried about Alex - suspicious that she was into things she shouldn't be. And here he had irrefutable proof, which he hated. Underage drinking wasn't the worst thing she could be into, but the fact that her friend's drink had in fact been spiked worried Will more than he'd admit. This was no longer teenagers just being teenagers like he'd said - it was crossing into new irresponsible territory where scary shit could happen to his little sister. He couldn't keep this to himself.
He wasn't sure if he'd regret this later or not, but he didn't have a choice. He pulled out his cell and called Jay.
The phone rang twice before Jay's voice answered, "Hey, Will. What's up?"
Will ran a hand over his face, gathering his thoughts. "Look, I think you were right about some things."
Jay chuckled at the randomness of his remark. "Damn straight I was right." Having no idea what this was really about, he added playfully, "Tell me more about how I was right."
Will took a deep breath. "About Alex. She's here in the ER."
Jay immediately sat up straight on the couch where he'd been relaxing. His heart skipped a beat, thoroughly confused and panicked now. "What? Why? What happened?"
"She's okay, Jay, but...," Will hesitated unsure what he should share, but he went with the full truth since his brother was a cop, "Alex's friend had something slipped into her alcohol at a party they were at. Alex brought her in, and thankfully she's doing okay. Alex's drink wasn't spiked though."
There was a moment of silence before Jay responded, anger evident in his tone. "I knew something was up. I can't believe this!" He knew she wasn't just hanging out with friends, watching a movie, doing homework, all the bullshit lies she'd been spewing. His suspicions were validated that she was up to no good, and the time had come to confront all her lies head on.
Will sighed, having expected that reaction. "I know you're frustrated, and I get it, but right now, we need to figure out how to handle this. Calmly."
Jay ran his fingers through his hair. "I'll be there in ten." The tension in his voice gave away the storm of emotions brewing inside him.
"Just...," Will hesitated, "take a deep breath before you come in, okay?"
Jay was already focused on his mission and hung up without another word. With a heavy sigh, Will hung up, bracing himself for the inevitable confrontation ahead. It was going to be a long night for the Halstead family.