Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Hi everyone, I have decided to publish this set of stories trying to challenge myself. I wish I could write two stories for each letter, one about Will halstead and one about his brother Jay. I read a lot of a-z about the detective, but none about the doctor and I decided to create a work that contained both of them.
I still have difficulty with some letters. The real challenge is finding a word that matches the letter in both my native language and English. Advice on what is missing is welcome, but also positive or critical comments on what I have written.
Having said that here are my ideas:

A) WILL - Allergy (food)
A) JAY - Allergy (mites)

B) WILL - Bomb
B) JAY - Boat

C) WILL - Cold, where are you?
C) JAY - Caries

D) WILL - Doctor
D) JAY - Drugs

E) WILL - Exhausted
E) JAY - Effort

F) WILL - Fentanyl
F) JAY - Family

G) WILL - Games
G) JAY - Games

H) WILL - Hacker
H) JAY - Honey

I) WILL - Intestinal flu
I) JAY - Inside me

J) WILL - Jallyfish
J) JAY - Jallyrogers

K) WILL - Knife
K) JAY - killing young boys

L) WILL - Lies with short legs
L) JAY - Labyrinthitis

M) WILL - Malaise
M) JAY - Malaria

N) WILL - Night
N) JAY - Nostalgia

O) WILL - Organs
O) JAY - Organ ( gallbladder)

P) WILL - Pfo
P) JAY - PTSD: an episode

Q) WILL - Quiet
Q) JAY - Quarter of an hour

R) WILL - Responsability
R) JAY - Recovery

S) WILL - Suicide
S) JAY - Seizure

T) WILL - Trauma
T) JAY - Tuberculosis

U) WILL - Urethra stones
U) JAY - Ulcer

V) WILL - Vomit /> V) JAY - Vortex

W) WILL - Wipped by mistake
W) JAY - Will

X) WILL - Xenograft
X) JAY - Xenograft

Y) WILL - ?
Y) JAY - ?

Z) WILL - ?
Z) JAY - ?

Chapter Text

It was a beautiful and sunny summer morning, precisely on June 25th. It was a very special day for Will, it was his sweet Natalie's birthday.

Every year he looked forward to that day to surprise his beloved with party and special gifts.

But this year would have been a little different. Natalie's parents, Carol and Luis Conte had insisted on organizing the party for her, but asking Will, who had always taken care of everything, if he had special requests.

The doctor left them free to choose whatever they liked. The only thing he asked was that there were no peanuts that he was allergic to. At least he asked them for food without a trace of such dried fruit so that he could eat it.

Not having to think about the party, then Will set about finding the perfect gift.

It had to be a jewel, of that he was sure.

A couple of days earlier he started touring various jewelers. It was difficult to choose among the thousands of beautiful things in each of the shops he visited.

In the end, Will decided what he would get from her: a pair of earrings with diamonds and aquamarine. They would have looked great in the doctor's ears. He already imagined it ...

The day before the party, early in the morning, around 8:30 am, before starting his shift at the hospital, he went to the jewelry store to collect the gift and finish paying for it.

Everything was ready, he couldn't wait to see Natalie's face when she saw and put them on.

The party was organized for the next day at 8:30 pm in a small Chicago place.

In one of the breaks Will also ordered a huge bouquet of flowers for his girl which was to be delivered to her at the end of her shift at 6pm.

By doing so, Halstead could have seen the astonished reaction of his beautiful doctor. He was no longer in the skin.

Will's greatest desire was to make her and Owen happy. They were, along with Jay, the most important people in his life.

Finally, after a long wait, the day of the party arrived. All of Natalie's colleagues had been invited to it.

It had been Will's job to give out the invitations. Meggie Lockwood, April Saxton, Ethan Choi, Connor Rhodes, Sharon Goodwin, Daniel Charles, and others such as Monique would have been present. Everyone could have gone to the party alone or with husbands, wives, boyfriends or with simple companions.

Jay had also been invited, who had been pestering Will with calls in the previous days to get some advice on what he should buy as a gift for his sister-in-law.

At work, that day had been pretty quiet for Will and Nathalie with lots of breaks.

At 6:00 pm, punctual as clockwork, the delivery boy arrived and delivered the flowers to Dr. Manning. It was a beautiful bouquet with many roses. When she saw him she gasped.

Obviously all the nurses, especially Meggie, were curious to know who she was who sent their. Fortunately Natalie had removed the note by hiding it in her gown away from the eyes of the curious, pretending that the flowers were anonymous, without dedication.

Placing the bouquet in a temporary vase in the doctors room, in a moment when she was alone, the doctor took the note from her pocket, opened it and read its contents.

On it was written one of the sweetest dedications ever made to her:

"A bouquet of flowers for a fabulous princess. I love you, light of my eyes. Happy birthday Will."

And who could have sent her flowers if not him? It was a gift from her sweet love.

The doctor waited for Halstead to finish the visit she was having, dragged him into an empty room and gave him a very strong kiss thanking him for the flowers. After doing that she greeted him. She was going to get ready for the party, then they would meet again there.

Will continued to visit patients for another hour and then once his shift was over he too ran home to get ready. It must have been gorgeous for his beautiful girls

At 8:20 pm punctually Will was at Natalie's house, he had picked up her and Owen to go to the party.

As soon as the little boy saw the doctor's car from the window he opened the door and jumped into Will's arms. Together they then, that evening, waited for the doctor to arrive.

She was beautiful, Halstead gasped as he saw her walk through the door. She wore a sheath dress with a tight-fitting bodice on the chest that then came down a little bit wider at the hips in turquoise.

The doctor, recovering from her shock, took her under her arm and made her get into the car by opening the door for her. Then after fixing Owen he got on the driver's side and left to reach the party venue.

The place where Natalie's parents had organized the party wasn't far away.

The three arrived quickly and were greeted as soon as they entered the room by the first guests who had already arrived.

Will went, with Owen who followed him everywhere when he saw him, to greet Natalie's parents.

Carol after asking him what he thought of how she had organized the party she showed him the foods that he could have eaten, those without the presence of peanuts.

The woman had paid great attention and had many things prepared especially for him.

She liked Will a lot and she didn't want him to feel sick.

In the restaurant there were several tables with lots of good things, sweet and salty in quantity.

On a table at the back of the room in a central position there was also a large and beautiful cake.

The evening passed and it was relatively quiet. Everyone ate, drank and had a lot of fun.

The doctor blew out the candles, she took the usual photos and in the end there was the cutting of the cake.

Will was happy, seeing Natalie happy made him feel over the moon.

The doctor had also delighted the guests by singing and playing for his girls that evening, he had brought the guitar with him. He knew his girlfriend would love to hear him play and sing for her.

Before taking a piece of cake, however, Carol approached him asking him to taste one of the pastries she had made for him.

- I made them with my hands excluding peanuts just to avoid you having problems. I want you to taste them. - the woman told him.

- Thank you,- she said, immediately taking one. She couldn't refuse after such a request.

- It's a family recipe, we've been passing it down for generations.- She said.

- Really good, - the doctor confirmed.

What Will sadly couldn't know was that Owen had taken a spoonful of peanut butter from the jar that was on the table and a few drops had fallen right on the pastry he was eating.

Will had been really lucky he had managed to take the only cookie, among those that Carol had made especially for him, on which had fallen a bit of peanut butter which the child had then immediately cleaned up with his finger.

Immediately the doctor began to feel strange, but he didn't give the situation any weight.

He continued to enjoy chatting with colleagues and playing with Owen who was always around him.

After about half an hour he began to pinch his throat, in fact from time to time he coughed and his nose ran.

Even then, however, Will didn't care about those symptoms, he just thought he had caught cold.

Despite everything, he gladly accepted when Sharon Goodwin asked him to sing another song.

Halstead sat down and started playing the guitar. This time, however, there was something different, something was wrong.

The doctor tried to intone a few notes, but unfortunately the more he did it, the more he felt the need to cough. He then decided to just play and let others sing.

He didn't want anyone to understand that he was sick. Especially he didn't want to let Natalie guess. He didn't want to ruin his party. Knowing that he wasn't feeling well she would be worried and she wouldn't enjoy the rest of the evening.

From time to time he went out feeling the need to take a breath of oxygen. All of a sudden there seemed to be so many people in the room that they even ran out of air.

He couldn't understand what was happening to him.

His throat was getting more and more sore and he felt more and more the need to cough.

Back in the room he went to the table where the drinks were and took some water.

Of course everyone started making fun of him because he didn't drink alcohol.

Only Jay didn't, on the contrary, noticing what he was doing, his brother came up and asked him if he was feeling well.

- I'm fine, quiet. Is it possible that a man who drinks water must cause so much laughter and concern? replied the doctor, coughing from time to time.

The detective thought that all in all his brother was right, but there was something about him that didn't make him feel comfortable.

He decided, therefore, to keep an eye on him.

Jay Halstead's hunch was well founded. Will's health was deteriorating rapidly.

While he was arguing with Meggie and April the doctor sensed something wrong with his stomach that was twitching making him feel upset. A strong sense of nausea took hold of him enough to force him to apologize and to move away from the two nurses to go to the bathroom.

As soon as there he felt the need to empty the contents of his stomach and began to vomit.

As soon as he finished he walked over to the sink and stood with his hands resting on it for a while.

He was dizzy and even breathing was difficult. He was fatigued, he was panting and with each breath it was possible to hear a hiss.

In addition there was that annoying cough resulting from that equally annoying burning in the throat he had been having for a while. Moreover, everything around him seemed to be in constant motion, as if the bathroom was rotating. The doctor was confused, he saw everything out of focus.

Meanwhile Jay was looking around for his brother.

He was distracted for a second and lost sight of him. He took a quick look inside the room but was unable to find him.

So he went to look for him outside the club. Will, however, wasn't even there.

The only place he hadn't gone was the bathroom. As soon as he entered it he saw it. His brother was there, leaning over the sink, panting, pale, sweaty.

He was greeted, as soon as he was inside the room, with the acrid, pungent smell you get when someone just threw up.

When he noticed his brother enter, whom he recognized despite seeing blurred, Will tried to move towards him.

The slightest shift the doctor made caused a new wave of nausea making him feel the need to throw up once more.

Unfortunately, unable to move, he began to do it where he was, in the sink, unable to move to reach the toilet again.

Jay understood that his suspicions were well founded, his brother was really sick.

Immediately, without hesitation, the detective stepped forward and stood by the doctor's side to support him and help him in all respects.

Will went on for a while longer trying to throw up even more than was actually contained in his stomach.

It was then, however, that things got even worse.

Dr. Halstead had a feeling that his throat was closing. He could hardly even breathe anymore. His legs had gone limp and he fell to the ground in a quadruped position, trying to get as much air as possible.

With what little breath he managed to catch he turned to Jay:

- Ask ... help ... .. Please ...-

The detective could not understand what was happening, he was terrified, but he did not remain idle and immediately did as he was told.

He came out of the bathroom and dragged with him back a few moments later the first person who came in front of him and who according to him could have helped his brother.

The place was full of doctors, so he was spoiled for choice.

The first person he ran into was dr Rhodes, who couldn't figure out what was going on. He was quietly sipping his drink sitting at one of the tables near the bathrooms. The doctor was dragged off by the arm by a person who stood behind him.

Once he entered in the bathroom, however, everything became much clearer.

In front of him was his friend and colleague who seemed to be very ill and near the bathroom door was his brother Jay. It was the latter who had picked it up and brought it there to the doctor.

- Will, what have you got? What happens? -he asked him kneeling at his side.

It didn't take long for Connor to realize that his colleague was having an allergic reaction and it was clear that he needed to be rushed to the hospital.

- Where's your epipen? Rhodes asked

"Au..to," Will replied.

Jay wasted no time. He took his brother's car keys from his jacket that was in the coat rack and went out of the room.

The detective then started running in search of Will's car. There was no time to waste. After searching everywhere he found it in a corner of the trunk and so he ran back into the room, in the bathroom, handing the box to Rhodes.

The doctor therefore wasted no time, helped his friend lie down and injected it directly into his thigh.

- Jay calls an ambulance right away. Connor ordered shortly after.

-No ...- Will answered - car ...-

The red-haired doctor wanted at all costs to avoid ruining his Natalie's evening. He also didn't want everyone to know that he was sick.

So the detective and Connor shared Will's weight and walked out the side door to prevent the other guests from seeing them.

After walking a few meters, the three approached the nearest car and made Will get into it.

The car was that of Connor, who after having placed his friend on the seat, got into the driver's seat and left for the hospital driving as quickly as possible.

Upon arriving at the ER, Dr. Halstead was immediately taken to a vacant room and connected to the respirator and various machinery according to Rhodes's orders. A central line was also inserted into his arm to give him the necessary antihistamine medications.

Fortunately, Will slowly recovered and as usual he had begun to ask to be let go home. Connor, on the other hand, wanted to hold him back by making him spend the night in the hospital.

Meanwhile at the party Owen had told Natalie and her grandmother that he had dropped peanut butter on one of the cookies. Carol added that Will had eaten one of them and that she had taken it from the very side where the jar of butter was.

The two women began to look for Halstead far and wide, also calling him on the phone which unfortunately had remained there at the club on one of the tables.

So Natalie, more and more worried, decided to call Jay, who explained where they were. Before long she had achieved her love for her at Med.

- Why didn't you tell me anything? the doctor asked Will

- I didn't want to ruin your party. - He replied before falling asleep under the influence of the drugs.

Chapter Text

The Intelligence team had gathered early in the morning. It was just seven o'clock and the boys were already preparing to go into action armed to the teeth. They were all loaded and ready to arrest robbers.

They had followed them for days, they knew of their life, death and miracles.

The group had attacked two banks without ever being captured. That's also why the case was turned over to Intelligence. They usually solved cases where others failed.

Jay and Hailey, Kevin and Kim, Adam and Al, and finally Antonio often together with his sergeant had observed the movements of the robbers recording habits and schedules. All until they figured out who the boss was. They had discovered that the latter would leave at 08:40 in the morning on a direct flight to South America.

They had to get it first. If he had left they would have lost track of him and they too would have failed miserably.

At 7:15 am everyone was positioned and ready to put their plan into action.

In pairs they surrounded the house waiting for Voight's signal to take action.

Antonio and Voight himself were in the main entrance, Al and Adam in the east, Kevin and Kim in the west, and finally Jay and Hailey in the back.

A few minutes passed and the signal arrived. Voight had ordered by radio to enter and that was what they all did.

What they did not expect was that not only the boss would be in the house that morning, but also his two "helpers".

- Perfect - thought Voight - three birds with one stone. Three in one go. Maybe it was too easy.

In fact, while Kim and Kevin and Al and Hailey had arrested the two present downstairs, after a small fight, someone upstairs was preparing to escape by silently exiting the window and walking down the fire escape.

Fortunately, his attempt was in vain.

Halstead, who was a very good detective immediately noticed the attempted escape and ran out of the house to take the suspect.

They were there for him. They couldn't settle for small fish.

So the chase began, the suspect ran, went on with Jay who was behind him along with Adam who, noticing the situation, had begun to follow his colleague in case of need to help him.

They ran for some time, in fact even Jay himself, who was fit and exercising every morning, to check his PTSD too, was out of breath.

The suspect decided, at some point to enter a house, perhaps he wanted to recover the stolen goods, or part of it before continuing to flee or perhaps less likely it was a clumsy attempt to hide to catch his breath.

It was a very dark place. What little could be seen in the flashlight showed furniture covered in sheets with kilos and kilos of dust on them and on the floor.

It was noticeable that it was a house that had been abandoned for years, if not decades.

It didn't take long and the two began to fight each other. The thug perhaps wanted to take advantage of the darkness to take Halstead by surprise.

Meanwhile, Adam had lost sight of them. He hadn't started immediately behind Jay, he had followed them with a moment's delay and there was a small margin of distance between the couple and the policeman. Precisely for this reason Ruzek therefore had not seen them enter that house.

In the meantime, the two gave of a holy reason. Some of the shots had hit, others missed. The detective held the small flashlight between his teeth as he used his body to fight.

A very strong blow to his chest forced Jay to kneel down and a second blow to the back of his neck knocked him to the ground unconscious.

This blow, fortunately, was not very strong and the detective recovered shortly after getting up from the ground in pain and panting. The thug was still there, looking for something that was hidden in one of those rooms.

He didn't realize Jay had recovered, so it was relatively easy for the detective to surprise him, stun him and arrest him.

Halstead, however, couldn't wait to get out of that house. There was something in there that made him feel bad and it wasn't just the pain of the blows he received. He had started sneezing several times and his throat was itching so much that he had to cough resulting in chest pain from being punched.

With his finger he was rubbing his nose that he had started to itch.

Meanwhile, Adam outside the house kept calling Jay on the radio.

- Jay, I'm Adam where did you go? -

He had done it several times already, without getting an answer.

Halstead was busy fighting, he couldn't answer his colleague. As soon as the thug was unconscious on the ground, he finally picked up the radio and answered even though he was stunned and in pain:

- Here Jay, Adam are inside the house down the block. I got the suspect. -

After a few moments Ruzek arrived in front of the house and with the torch on he continued to call his colleague and then reached him following his voice.

The same was true for the other colleagues (Hailey and Antonio) who, after having got in the car with Al and Voight a criminal and with Kim and Kevin the other, they too ran to join Jay.

The latter helped by Adam was carrying out the leader of the gang who was still unconscious.

Once inside the other two detectives Antonio took Halstead's place, who immediately ran out. He needed to catch his breath.

The robber was soon handcuffed and put in a heavy car.

Antonio took Ruzek with him to take the arrested man to the district, but he did not leave until he checked his colleague's condition.

- Hey, are you right? Dawson asked Jay.

Meanwhile, Hailey was behind his partner and Adam standing near the open door of the car on the passenger side.

Everyone was waiting for their colleague's response.

- I'm fine, I just have to catch my breath, there was no breathing in that house. - Halstead replied.

So in the end Antonio got in the car and left with Adam for the district.

- Are you sure you're okay? Hailey asked again

His partner was a rag. Visibly tired, pale, he coughed, he sneezed constantly. His eyes must have burned, there he touched constantly, closing them from time to time for the annoyance that the light gave him. They were watering a lot, plus his nose was running.

- Shall we pass by the Med for a moment? - Upton asked - Will might take a look at you -

- No, I'm fine. Let's go to the district, - Jay said.

The two then walked towards the car and after getting on they left.

Hailey was keeping an eye on his partner anyway.
______________________________________________________

A couple of hours had passed since the arrest. Voight and Olinsky were questioning the robbers and the rest of the team was waiting for news.

Meanwhile Jay had isolated himself from the group, he was sitting on the sofa in the relax room trying to recover with Hailey from time to time she went to check on him.

The symptoms he had worsened. The detective had his chest closed and was struggling to breathe. His hands were red and he was just scratching them.

He also felt a severe itch on his face and hair.

Gradually, as time went by, he had the feeling that his throat was closing completely. He couldn't breathe, he was really struggling.

Jay, then, at that point, feeling suffocated, he attracted the attention of Hailey who immediately approached him.

- I ... I need ... Will. - he said they try to find as much air as possible.

She immediately helped him up, but she noticed that the detective was too weak to stand alone and she decided to call Antonio who was in the room next to help her.

Once in the car, Upton left immediately for the Med.

On the way she also called Will to inform him of their arrival.

- From the symptoms you are describing to me it seems a reaction to something. As if it were an allergy. But as far as I can remember my brother has never been allergic to anything except latex. -

Once they arrived at the hospital Jay was immediately taken to one of the vacant rooms and was connected to the respirator. A central line for drugs was also inserted.

When the needle was inserted there was no resistance from the detective who had a phobia for them. This was a sign of how out of his mind he was already.

Ethan who had taken charge of the case began to administer various drugs: antihistamines, bronchodilators and even a dose of cortisone.

It was just a bad allergic relationship. Fortunately, however, the detective recovered slowly. He had never been allergic to anything, but when he told what was in that house everyone understood that anyone could have a reaction like his by staying in that place so dusty and full of mites. By falling to the ground he had actually come into direct contact with them and this had triggered the whole thing.

Chapter Text

It was a beautiful spring day. One of those where everyone would have liked to take a nice trip to the lake, the mountains or the sea. Everyone could wish to do it, only some, however, could really plan and do the trip.

Unfortunately, it was not the case of Dr. Halstead who was on duty that day.

It was one of those exhausting days, a lot of people to visit, the emergency room always packed.

It was 2pm when a tall, stoutly built man walked into the ED.

He was immediately noticed by everyone, despite the fact that it was spring and the days began to be warm, he was wearing a light gray raincoat.

He was a distinguished, well-dressed man.

He was bent over, he seemed to be holding his stomach.

Maggie approached him getting a first idea of his condition. Determining that he had nothing serious, she made him sit down saying that as soon as he was released a doctor would call him.

The man sat in the waiting room next to a mother who had her two four-year-old twin daughters with her. One of the two of them was playing quietly near her mother's legs, while the other, who was not feeling well, was in the woman's arms and seemed to have dozed off.

He watched them and smiled at them from time to time.

Time passed and the emergency room was finally starting to empty. Doctors paced back and forth through the corridors and rooms like spinning tops. They didn't stop for a second, not even to catch their breath.

It was almost 5:00 pm and the man in the raincoat was still there waiting to be examined. As is normal, after three hours sitting waiting he was starting to get impatient.

The only thing that seemed to keep him calm was the presence of those two girls in the waiting room that he observed with a smile.

Shortly thereafter, Dr. Manning got rid of her by seating the woman and her daughters in one of the rooms and began to visit the child.

From time to time the man, having removed what for him was a diversion, got up and started walking back and forth. He often stopped in front of the nurses' desk and asked the one he met nearby how long he still needed.

- I've been here for three hours! -he repeated he now impatient.

About 15 minutes later, Dr. Will Halstead arrives in the waiting room.

The red-haired doctor put his hands on the nurses' desk, breathing deeply.

- What a day! Guys I can't really take it anymore! - he exclaimed sadly speaking to Meggie.

Will was a tireless doctor, so if he said he was exhausted there was only to imagine the comings and goings of that day.

- And it's not over yet my dear. - replied the nurse. - you have to visit that man.-

- Meggie please ... - he said disconsolately

- I'm sorry but you're the only one free and that man has been waiting for hours. - she answered resolutely.

- Okay, give me a couple of minutes to drink some water and then I'll check it out. - concluded Will and so he walked away for a moment.

Five minutes later the doctor had returned to the waiting room and was approaching the man to ask him to follow him and make him sit in one of the rooms.

The scene that faced him, however, left him speechless.

The man was yelling:

- Is this how you treat your patients? It is 5:20 pm. I have been waiting for more than three hours to see a doctor to be examined. - said the man very angry.

- Mr. Sanders excuse us. Today was a very busy day. We had to organize everything according to the seriousness of the problems. Then I needed a break. We are people too. - Will apologized - Now I'm all of him, if he wants to follow me. Come on, let's go to the other room. -

Sanders, Will knew who it was. And when he said that name, Meggie remembered him too.

He was the husband of one of Dr. Halstead's patients.

She didn't remember exactly what problem the woman had when she arrived in Ed, but the thing that stuck in everyone's mind was that she died taking her children with her.

She was pregnant with twins. The doctors had tried to save them, but they were too young to survive outside the mother's womb.

It had not even been possible to keep their mother alive to allow them to grow so that they were old enough to be born.

The doctor had tried them all. He was not one to give up on the first try, but sadly all three died in the end.

The woman's husband never forgave Will, he had put all the blame on him for what had happened, and it was very strange that that day he showed up there to be examined and then that he had accepted that Will was the doctor who would treat his problematic.

Will was also visibly uncomfortable talking to him, but a doctor's duty was to visit everyone without making exclusions or choices.

While they were talking one of the twins had returned in waiting room to take the doll that she had forgotten there. She had fallen under the chair where her mom and her little sister had sat before.

Mr. Sanders just at that moment took off his raincoat showing a load of not indifferent explosives connected to a detonator that he kept hidden in his right hand.

- Let's see if I will be listened now. I have no physical problems dear doctor. I'm here because I want to make him pay. It's been three months today since my wife and children died. Now it's my turn, and he'll come with me. - Sanders said.

Seeing the bomb sent everyone into awe and everyone tried to escape. There was a comings and goings and a tremendous confusion, people ran away screaming.

The little girl, however, seemed calm. She didn't seem to understand what was happening and she looked hesitantly at the man with an innocent smile on her lips.

Her mother was with her little sister and Dr. Manning locked in one of the rooms. Given the danger, the woman, no one else was in the various rooms was not allowed to go out.

Will could have escaped. He could take advantage of the general stampede to get away from there and save his life, but he didn't.

He felt guilty for losing his patience.

And then that man showed up there for him. No one was to risk their lives besides him. Especially that four-year-old behind the men. She wasn't to blame, it had nothing to do with it.

- Mr Sanders I'm sorry for your wife, when you came here there was already nothing more to do.- the doctor tried to explain. - please there are a lot of people here. Forget the bomb and let's talk about it. I understand that you are angry with me and I'm ready to take my blame, and also to pay if necessary, but here there are people who have nothing to do with it. -

It was at that moment that everything fell apart.

Will realized that there was no way to convince the man not to take the detonator, to make him desist from his intent.

But it was important that he didn't do it there with all those people present. It would have been a massacre.

All those who were there in the hospital, whether they were doctors, nurses, patients and family members in a short time were taken out of the Ed or in protected places.

Meggie had also called for help, she had contacted Jay, his team and the fire department.

Dr. Halstead felt he had to protect the little girl at any cost. She had remained there, she was like petrified with fear, although she did not fully understand what was happening.

She stared at the doctor with terrified eyes pleading for help.

He started running towards her wrapping his arms completely around her just as the man allows his button.

From there it all happened in a second. The mother of the little girl who witnessed the scene was screaming, Dr. Manning was crying.

Mr. Sanders lay there lifeless on the ground gutted by the bomb.

And Will ... He was on the ground, hit and pushed away by the energy of the explosion covered in various debris.

Jay, as soon as he arrived, found himself faced with that macabre scene. His brother lay there, he seemed lifeless.

The detective was in shock.

Will seemed to have died instantly.

The doctor's colleagues after returning to Ed were trying to verify his condition, trying to save his life.

But under the doctor something was moving. Nobody expected what they saw. Will had shielded the child with his body. The little girl was safe and sound. He had saved her life.

Shortly thereafter the little girl was brought back to her mother that she will be forever grateful to the person who had saved her.

Chapter Text

It was July 25, a beautiful Sunday. Jay and Will had decided to take advantage of their free day by taking a boat ride.

A nice outing between brothers.

The owner of the vehicle, a very rich person, had problems with loan sharks who blackmailed him and the detective had helped him out.

So, Mr. Petersen, this was his name, had decided to give Jay and another person he chose, to spend a relaxing day on it.

The detective thought about it quite a bit.

He was undecided.

He had originally thought about spending the day with Hailey, but then after meeting his brother and seeing him physically and emotionally down he decided it was time to let him go with him.
_____________________________________________

The big day finally arrived.

Early in the morning, around 06:30, the two met under the detective's house and from there they reached the meeting place, at the Navy Pier.

There they met with the owner who put at their disposal the captain of ship to make sure that he would carry them around all day.

The two brothers had brought everything with them, for breakfast, lunch and in case something for dinner.

At around 7:30 they were already on their way, by boat on the river in the city of Chicago.

A cool, pleasant breeze enveloped their bodies.

The two brothers chatted a lot, laughed and joked while observing everything around them.

- How good it is to be here together. - Jay said

- Yes, you're right - said Will - Thanks for thinking of me. -

- Well actually I would have preferred Hailey - the detective joked.

- Yes, sweet, beautiful, nice and above all a woman - the doctor replied to the joke.

- Seriously Will, I chose you because I noticed that you were a little down these days. I think I did well.- Jay said.

- I was not down, maybe a little tired of the daily routine. But on one thing you were right, I really needed a break.- replied the brother.

And ever since then they continued to enjoy the day that was flying away fast.

At lunchtime the two ate what they had prepared, continuing to chat about this and that.

In the afternoon, however, they tried their hand at fishing. Both, however, were quite clumsy, in fact it turned out a funny curtain.

Only Will could say he was good at tying the hook to the rod.

However they both remained dry-mouthed, they could not catch even a small fish.

Shortly after 7:00 pm they reached the dock again and Mr. Petersen was already there awaiting their arrival with his family, wife and five-year-old daughter.

The two brothers felt great, energized, relaxed and happy as never before.

They had a wonderful day.

After thanking Mr Petersen Jay and Will, after taking all their belongings, headed for the detective's car.

A burning smell, however, reached the nose of the young Halstead who stopped immediately.

But what was going on?

Will turned around having noticed the strange expression on his brother's face who was slightly behind him and was staring at something. They both saw flames rise in the engine area of the boat they had left not long ago.

Immediately they ran back, they had to do something.

Will stayed on the edge to help them get out and heal them if needed, while Jay threw himself into the flames to save them.

The detective easily managed to get the husband and wife out of that fire and went back in search of their little daughter.

The doctor, on the other hand, helped them off the boat and approached the owner's wife who had small burns on her right leg to treat her.

While trying to do what he could with the few tools he had found in the medical box from the boat, Will occasionally looked on it, hoping that his brother and the little girl would come out of that fire that had now grown.

In the meantime, he took his cell phone out of his pocket and dialed his friend Matt Casey, the fire captain and then having to continue to medicate the lady handed the phone to Mr. Petersen so that he could call for help.

- Will bye - the fireman immediately replied having read the doctor's name on the display.

- I'm not Will, I'm Mr. Petersen,- the man said visibly agitated.

- Tell me, what's going on? Where is Will? - Matt asked having sensed that something was not going right.

He had already guessed it from the fact that someone else had answered the phone instead of the owner of the vehicle and he had confirmation of it hearing the tone of the voice of that unknown man.

- There's a very big fire, Will's here. Jay no, my daughter no we have need help. - this was what Petersen told the captain. The man was visibly in shock.

- Where you are? We arrive immediately. - Casey said

- Navy Pier,- the man replied.

So the captain ended the call while already gesturing to his boys, the team and his boss to get ready to leave to help his friends.

He also told the ambulance 61 to follow him, their intervention might be needed.

While they were called for help on the dock, Jay was in the middle of the flames. He was surrounded and a cloud of black smoke prevented him from seeing and breathing well.

He couldn't find the baby anywhere, but he couldn't let go.

He was only five years old and a life ahead of her.

All of a sudden he noticed something small holed up in a corner. He walked over and she was crouched there, terrified.

Making her way through smoke and flames, after having enveloped her with his body, he managed to reach his brother who, after having taken her in his arms, began to make her a general check-up.

Luckily the little girl was fine too. She had breathed in some smoke but otherwise she was all right.

Everyone was finally safe and sound, so Jay reached out to Will to help him down.

He was hot, his eyes were watering and burning with smoke.

The detective was about to move but he was distracted by something.

He thought he spotted someone else in the smoke.

He couldn't be the captain, he had gone down with them as soon as they arrived at the port and they had seen him leave in his car.

Was it possible that there was someone else on the ship besides the 3 family members?

In no time at all he was back to check again.

He couldn't wait for reinforcements. In fact, he didn't even know that the firefighters had been warned and were on their way.

The calls of his brother who had tried in vain to stop him were of no avail.

The detective disappeared, once again in the blanket of smoke and from that moment on he was lost.

A few seconds later there was an explosion that had generated very high flames.

No, Jay couldn't have saved himself. He was surely dead.

- Noooo ... - Will scream desperately - jaaayyy !

The flames were now blazing and there was no trace of the detective.

He hadn't come out of that stake.

When the firefighters from Truck 81 and Team 3 arrived, they immediately set to work to put out the fire and look for Jay.

Casey after giving orders to their and the team approached the doctor.

- Will what happened? What triggered the fire? - he asked him

But the doctor did not answer, he stood still staring at the boat that was burning and those flames that were burning his brother alive.

It was Mr. Petersen who explained the situation to the captain.

- Detective Halstead is still on the boat. He saved all of us, but then he got back on the boat. - He said

Casey immediately communicated to Team 3 that the boy was there on the vehicle and everyone went looking for him.

Meanwhile Will, after having struggled in vain to get on the ship, being blocked by Matt, burst into tears.

Casey tried to console him by saying:

- Come on Will, do not despair you'll see that we will find him.

Having said that Boden asked Mr. Petersen to follow him to tell him a little about what had happened.

FLASHBACK

The detective had turned back. He had noticed someone in the flames and absolutely had to check.

Without thinking twice, he released his brother's hand and plunged back into the flames. More and more he could hear Will's voice yelling at him to stop, but he couldn't do it.

He could not abandon that person to that cruel fate, that atrocious death.

It was, however, more and more difficult to walk in the midst of the smoke that filled his lungs, preventing him from breathing and making his eyes come to tears and then in the middle of it he was getting hotter and warmer.

He had to be very careful not to get burned. He had nothing. He didn't have the right equipment.

Once he got to where he had noticed that someone was there, he saw that it was a pole on which a hat and a jacket were hung, now almost destroyed by the fire.

From a distance they might have looked like a man, but they weren't. Yes it was just an optical illusion.

Turning to the right he saw a petrol can, which must have been brought on board by the owner in case of need during the trip.

The flames were now very close to it. In seconds they surrounded it. Soon the latter would have been further increased and for sure there would have been a new explosion.

PJay knew he had to leave as soon as possible or else he would die.

What he did not know, however, was that the tank, which had actually been brought in case of need for refueling by the owners, had been specially placed there by someone who wanted to cancel the Petersen family once and for all.

Below where the tank was the cook with the methane tank needed for cooking.

A few seconds passed and there was a great explosion.

Jay ran as fast as he could to the stern of the ship and launched himself into the sea also pushed by the energy of the blast.

The firefighters got into the boat with hoses and the fire extinguishers had to put out the flames as quickly as possible.

Team three began the search for Jay, but they didn't believe much in being able to find him alive, especially after witnessing that huge blast.

There was no sign of Jay on the boat.

Severide then, stepping away from the other men about him and the truck who were still looking for and throwing water on the fire, headed over to Will to inform him.

- No, please don't say that,- Will said crying.

- We couldn't find him. He may have been a victim of the flames, we may have arrived too late. Or it is possible that he threw himself into the sea, pushed by the explosion, but even then it is difficult that he could have survived. I'm sorry. - Kelly answered.

Will's legs gave out and he fell to his knees and continued to cry.

A deep sadness also filled Severide's heart as he began pacing the dock back and forth.

It was then that he noticed that there was something in the water, it looked like a body.

- Capp, Tony, - called the lieutenant, waving them to join him. The two were now down, being convinced that Jay had not been saved.

Once they reached their lieutenant the two firemen saw him dive into the water and swim towards a floating body.

Kelly didn't think twice, he threw herself as he was, dressed, taking off only the boots and tools he carried with him during the rescues.

He dragged the body to the edge of the dock where the other two of the team then waited. As soon as he arrives, they pull him out of the water and then help Severide to get out.

They immediately approached Jay Brett and Foster who began to visit him and Will was there by his side.

Silvye started giving him heart massage, his condition seemed critical.

Shortly after, the boy recovered by spitting out what little water he had ingested.

He was fine enough. The explosion had left him stunned, he was confused, plus he had a slight burn on his right arm and his lungs were filled with smoke.

All in all it had gone well, they were all safe and sound

Chapter Text

We are in August.

Finally, doctors Halstead and Manning have decided and have been able to take a week off, the long-awaited vacation.

What they were doing that day were the last hours of work for both of them and then they could enjoy a couple of days of well-deserved rest.

- Then? Where are you going? - Meggie asked Natalie curiously

- Will booked a vacation in Italy, but he didn't want to tell me much, he says it will be a surprise. Early tomorrow morning we will take the plane and then finally seven days of complete relax. - said Dr. Manning.

- Enjoy yourselves. - She said the nurse moving away and then adds, attracting the doctor's attention again - Obviously, as soon as you return you will have to tell me everything, understood? -

Natalie smiled at her.

At the end of their shift both doctors headed to their locker, changed and went out to reach their cars.

Will would have to pick up his suitcase and then go to Natalie's house so that in the morning they could leave directly from there to go to the airport.

Just as he was about to get into the car Mrs Goodwin walked over to them.

- Dr Halstead, I need you. - she told him.

Will greeted Natalie by saying to start going and then walk over to his chief.

- Mrs. Goodwin tell me. - he said

- One of the doctors on the night shift had a problem and asked me for a couple of hours. I know I am asking a lot and that you will go on vacation tomorrow, but I am really with my back against the wall. I am sure that you understand and that he can help me -.

Hearing those words Will was very sad he would still have to stay at work changing his plans. Given his too good nature he could not say no and so he went back inside, changed again and went to work not before calling Natalie to warn her.

The two had to change their plans. The doctor was supposed to cover the colleague for another six hours, finishing at 2:00 am. At six in the morning they should have taken the plane and Will an hour earlier would have had to pick up Natalie and Owen to arrive at the airport and show up to check in.

05:00 am

Will was already in the car, he was on his way to Natalie's house to pick her up and Owen to go to the airport.

He was exhausted. He had been awake for more than 24 hours now and he had a really heavy day shift, not to mention the night. He seemed to have all been feeling bad that day.

Luckily he had seven days off ahead of him so he could very well recharge his batteries.

He stopped under Natalie's house and yawning helped them load their bags so they could leave.

Arrived at the airport they carried out all the procedures and boarded.

They weren't in the skin.

They were delighted to spend time all together. Especially Owen who was jumping around near them and often hugging Will happy to spend seven whole days with him.

We got on the plane and after fastening the seat belts the plane took off.

Breakfast was brought to them and a short time later Will had collapsed, he was fast asleep.

Natalie looked at him smiling and little Owen wanted to wake him up even though she explained to him that he was exhausted and that if he had rested as soon as they arrived they could have more fun.

They had a very long journey ahead of them, they had to face 12 hours of flight.

Will would occasionally wake up and watch Natalie play with Owen or read the paper, but then he would collapse again.

She was stronger than him. He couldn't keep his eyes open.

He managed to sleep with some awakening from time to time for about six hours.

It was past noon when he woke up completely.

- Good morning, dad sleepyhead,- Owen greeted him

- Good morning little one,- he replied smiling, feeling like the happiest person in the world when he called himself dad.

Then turning to Natalie he said giving her a kiss - good morning my love, I'm sorry, I fell asleep. -

- Good morning, do not apologize you were destroyed. - she replied

The rest of the trip passed quietly between laughter, games and relaxation.

It was nearly one in the morning when they landed.

In Chicago it would have been about 7 pm.

- Dad but why is there so silence here? And why is everything so dark? - asked the child.

- Compared to where we live here there is a different time. It's late at night here, so it's normal for everything to be quieter and dark. What do you do at night? - Will answered

- Bedtime,- the little boy said with a smile.

Two hours later they arrived at the hotel, took a shower and relaxed. They noticed how many things were different from their home, but they were loaded for a week of pure fun.

After resting and sleeping for a couple of hours they went out to visit the capital.

The day was very hot, 40 degrees in the shade.

They visited the Roman remains, the Colosseum and other areas as wellof the city.

4th day

Time was passing between relaxation and fun. The three had rented a car to get around the city more comfortably.

It was a beautiful holiday full of joy and good humor.

The only flaw, if you really could find one, was the heat.

They being Americans were not used to such high temperatures.

Especially Will seemed to suffer more. He was sweating a lot, but he didn't show he was too bothered. He wasn't quite the type to complain.

That day they had decided to go shopping. They went around the shops looking for something for them and even gifts to bring to their friends.

Will was also very affectionate towards Owen, and he was attentive to every detail, to every possible need: the cream, the hat, making him drink.

Things that he, however, he forgot for himself.

A few hours later, more or less around 17:00, the three decided to return to the hotel to take a shower and then go out in the evening.

Little Owen, however, was not of the same opinion.

- Mom will you take me to the rides? - churches

- Honey, let's get some rest first and then we'll go to the rides.- replied the doctor

- Come on .. please ...- the child said a little whimpering.

The little one, in fact, had begun to throw tantrums.

Meanwhile, Will was not feeling well at all. He had an upset stomach and severe nausea. Obviously he didn't want to ruin Natalie and their puppy's vacation.

- Yes, come on, bring it. Just a ride though and then immediately to the hotel. In the meantime, I'll start taking a shower. - said the doctor.

- Okay, I'll take you there. But as Will said just one ride.- said the doctor.

- Three, please Dad Will three rounds. - Owen asked

- Two, no more. - said the doctor, smiling to himself.

So Natalie and the baby headed for the rides and Will went upstairs.

As soon as he got there in the room he felt the need to run to the bathroom to empty the contents of his stomach. Maybe he ate something that hurt him.

Maybe taking a shower would make him feel a little better.

The doctor turned on the water to take a shower, but his legs became unexpectedly soft, he felt faint and shortly after he found himself lying on the ground. He was passed out.

Meanwhile, her girlfriend, unaware of what was happening in the hotel, was queuing up to pay for the rides on the carousel for her son.

After a few minutes Will came to, he didn't understand how he ended up there on the ground.

He felt confused, dizzy, had a severe headache. He got up slowly and stepped under the cool shower. The feeling was quite pleasant. His body gave off a lot of heat.

Once finished he put on something comfortable wishing he could go to bed. But first he was forced to go back to the bathroom feeling the need to vomit again.

Once finished he sat on the ground for a few seconds breathing heavily. The contact between his skin and the tiles made him shiver.

When he felt ready he got up and walked to the bed and almost immediately having lay down under the covers he fell asleep.

In the meantime Owen had finished the two rides on the round and as he got off he said to his mother:

- Mom we can go now. Dad Will said two laps and I did them. Thanks to you too mom for bringing me. -

The little boy was a little man, a bit capricious at times but if there was one person who always listened it was Will. With Natalie he was different, sometimes some arguments would arise or he would sulk a little even if in the end he always obeyed. With Halstead this did not happen.

The doctor smiled and decided to give the sheet a third turn.

- This is from me and Will. A gift because you behaved well by stopping at the two decided laps. -

So then the little one made another happy round and then the two left to go back to the hotel.

When Natalie entered the room she had a strange feeling. The room was dim and inside there was a surreal silence.

Where was Will?

Looking more closely she noticed a figure asleep under the sheet.

Strange that his love for him slept like that in the afternoon and then so was the fact that he fell asleep in such a short time.

She and Owen had been gone for about 15/20 minutes, maybe even less.

However, Manning decided to let him sleep and fix Owen first. They would be late in the evening so it was better to let him take a nap to avoid, as had happened sometimes in Chicago, that he collapses in Will's arms and that he has to carry him all the time.

She would give him a quick shower and then put him to bed.

As soon as she entered the bathroom, despite the window being open, Natalie smelled a peculiar, acrid and pungent smell. She used to smell it working in the hospital, it was that smell she got when someone had recently vomited.

In that momentum understood why Will was asleep at that hour, he was not feeling well.

Once finished with Owen and after the little one was asleep he sat on the bed next to his love. She reluctantly decided to wake him up, he had to understand how he was, how he felt.

As soon as he was beside him, he felt that Will's body was giving off excessive heat.

You didn't need a fortune teller to know that he had a really high fever.

To check he put a hand on his forehead, his temperature was really very high.

Natalie had to do something. She stood up on tiptoe, opened the suitcase and took the thermometer she had inside the beauty case, she always carried it with her along with some drugs, especially since she had Owen.

- Will love, wake up. - the doctor tried to shake him delicately.

It took a while, but finally the doctor had the long-awaited reaction.

He faintly opened his eyes, looked at her and said:

- Nat ... I'm ... I'm sorry ... I don't ... I'm not feeling at all well.-

- Hey, don't worry. There is nothing you should be sorry about. Take the thermometer, I think you have a high fever.- Manning replied.

Halstead did as he was told, and as the time it took for the instrument to take the temperature passed he had fallen asleep again.

Hearing the beep of the thermometer Natalie picked it up and she was very worried when it read 104.9 F (40.5 Celsius) on it. The temperature was really too high.

Without remaining with her hands she took a towel and after having wet it with her, she passed it several times over the doctor's head and neck. Her body was totally dry, despite the heat there was no sweating.

Natalie then understood what had happened. They had been around all day. Will had heat stroke. He had a lot of attention for her and their little Owen, but evidently he had neglected himself.

He had to act quickly, he took the bottles of water they had bought earlier and which were still fresh and put them under his neck and armpits, then put a suitcase on the bed by putting his legs over his legs to raise them up from his body.

From her beauty case he pulled out some Tylenol and with a glass of water she tried to make Will swallow it.

The doctor let him sleep by waking him up from time to time to check his condition. In the meantime she continued to bathe him to try to lower the temperature and from time to time gave him small sips of water to drink in order to prevent him from becoming more dushydrated.

Dr. Halstead slept for several hours, occasionally being woken up by his fiancée to drink or take medications or sometimes because he felt the need to vomit.

Around 8:00 pm Will woke up, he was still a little confused, but he seemed to be doing a little better.

The temperature had dropped although it continued to be high.

It was 102.02 (38.9 Celsius).

After making him eat some pizza that she had sent in room, even if against his will, Natalie gave him some more tylenol.

The doctor fell asleep again, but after about 3/4 of an hour he had to rush to the bathroom because his stomach refused to hold the pizza. Softly, once finished, he went back to bed.

- I'm sorry Natalie ... go have fun, I must have caught the flu. Don't ruin your vacation because of me.- he said.

- Love, what are you saying. We could never have a good time knowing here on our own that you're sick. We will stay here and take care of you. Just little man we're going to heal dad so he can be well soon and come back to have fun with us? - he said then turning to his son, who replied with a nod of the head and a smile hugging Will who was lying under the covers.

- I don't think it's flu. I'm pretty sure you've had heat stroke. - she concluded explaining to Will what she hypothesized.

The night passed relatively quietly with Dr. Manning who continued to take care of her boyfriend by refreshing him and making him drink from time to time.

The next day Will woke up around 11:00 and luckily he was already much better.

His temperature was 100.04 F (37.8 Celsius) and he was able to have breakfast without needing to throw up after a while.

He got out of bed and spent the time playing with Owen having a lot of fun.

While he was sleeping, Natalie had gone for a moment with the baby to the souvenir shop near the hotel and they had taken him a little thought and had it wrapped as a gift.

- This is for you! a little thought from us, - Manning said to Halstead with a big smile.

- A gift? What's this? - he asked curiously.

- Open it and you will know. - she replied.

After opening it she looked a little confused at Natalie. In his package was a red hat with the words "Rome" and a nice bottle of fresh water.

- So next time you'll remember to take care of yourself by hydrating and protecting you from the sun. -

The three burst out laughing. Will knew Natalie was right.

Chapter Text

It was September 14, a day that had nothing special, indeed it was a bit boring.

In the 21st district, the archive was being reorganized by updating the different folders.

- Guys I need a break. - Jay said, stretching a little.

The detective got up and went, then, towards the relaxation room, took a cup of coffee and began to sip it, savoring its taste.

A few moments later Kim entered the room and called the others to join her, including Sergeant Voight.

- Guys, I wanted to take advantage of the break to tell you that today is my birthday - she said and while everyone was greeting her she took a package and opened it after placing it on the table. - For the occasion I have prepared some sweets that I hope will be to your liking.-

So everyone began to eat them complimenting them because they were excellent.

Kevin even asked her for the recipe, he wanted to prepare them for his brothers.

As Jay bit his treat on his face it created an expression of pain that did not go unnoticed in Hailey's eyes.

- Hey, what's up? - she asked him

-;Nothing,- he replied, pretending that everything is ok as always.

- What was that look of pain you had on your face just now? - asked the colleague.

- Nothing really, I felt a little pain in one tooth while I was biting the pastry. - replied the detective.

- How long have you not been to the dentist?- Hailey asked

- I don't know, but I think quite a lot. I went there a few times when I was little.- Jay said sincerely.

- You should get checked out. - advised the colleague

- But no, you'll see it was just a coincidence. -

And so everyone went back to work and the conversation between the two remained pending.

September 15

That day Sergeant Voight had decided to give his team a day off due to the absence of cases to follow and the archive already sorted.

Will had come to know by chance that his brother wouldn't have to work that day and so he had decided to invite him to lunch with him and Natalie.

They could finally spend time together.

The two engaged couples occupied the morning dedicating themselves to the kitchen preparing a slap-up lunch all for Jay.

The detective, on the other hand, had decided to take the morning to relax a bit. He then did everything calmly, even going for a run a little later instead of doing it early in the morning.

At about 11:30 he came home, took a shower, changed and went out to go to his brother's lunch. Shortly before arriving at their house, he also stopped at the pastry shop to get some pastries.

It was 12:40 when he came to them and shortly after they sat down to table.

- Oh my, how many things,- Jay said.

- Well maybe we got carried away a little - Will replied, laughing

The detective rarely saw all those good things or at least not all at once. He had never been a very good cook when he only had to do it for himself. He often forgot to do the shopping and when he was at home he was content with quick things, sandwiches or take-away food.

- Come on, let's eat and ... Jay don't pay compliments. - Natalie added

So the three, together with little Owen, ate the appetizer, the first, the two seconds and the related side dishes.

- Enough, I'm really full. - Jay said at that point - really all very delicious.

The three remained at the table for a while chatting when the little one then approached Jay and said in a low voice:

- Uncle Jay, can we eat the pastries you brought? -

And so after everyone had a good laugh they took the pastries and began to eat some.

The detective remembering what had happened the day before in the district decided to eat the pastry on the side where there was no tooth that did not hurt.

- And finally there is one more surprise,- Will said at that point

- No, please stop,- Jay laughed. He was really full.

- Well I think you won't say no to that - his brother said again, taking the famous Halstead iced coffee shaken out of the fridge.

- You made the coffee like your mother did! - the detective said pleasantly surprised

- Exactly,- the doctor explained.

- I've always loved it. Thanks brother. -

Having said that Jay began to drink it sipping it and savoring it.

- I haven't drunk it for centuries. - The latter added.

After a couple of sips of that delicious drink, that annoying pain in the tooth reappears again. And like the previous day, that grimace of pain and discomfort on his face reappeared.

A few seconds passed and Will asked the typical question:

- Something go wrong? -

The doctor had learned over the years to read his body language as he always said he was fine even if half dead.

In fact even that time ...

- No, it's all OK, - he replied.

At first Will seemed to accept the answer and the three continued chatting among themselves

It was not long and another sip of that cold drink caused Jay a new pang of pain and this time the doctor, who was watching him even more closely, could no longer believe that there was nothing wrong.

- Jay ahead talk what's wrong? - asked the doctor.

- But nothing, do not worry. - replied the detective continuing with the farce of him.

- I saw your expression well. Something hurts or bothers you. - said the older brother.

- Will stop it, you're not my mother. I told you I'm fine. - the detective replied annoyed given the pressure of the doctor.

After saying so, however, Jay regretted immensely. His brother did everything for him and if he worried it was because he loved him.

Will for his part felt hurt, sad and at the same time angry. From that moment on he became very silent.

If Jay hadn't been the type to hide his ailments, he wouldn't have worried like that.

- Excuse me a moment,- said the doctor, walking away from the table to avoid arguing.

He needed to be alone for a moment. He had to let off steam a little. There was no need to create a question of state.

Being a doctor it was professional bias to notice if there was something wrong with someone or when a person was failing to say something.

Will at work was attentive to all the details of his patients, verbal and non-verbal, let alone if he was not with him his brother.

Even the detective felt sad he did not want to answer badly to his brother only that sometimes his constant asking annoyed him even though he knew that he did it because he loved him.

Initially he sat at the table silently mulling over what had happened and then, after apologizing to Natalie telling her that he would be back right away, he went to look for his brother to get forgiveness for his being rude to him.

He looked around, Will seemed to have vanished, he couldn't find him anywhere.

When he got to the front of the bedroom he caught a glimpse of him through the door that wasn't closed, just turned. The doctor was sitting on the edge of the bed across the hall, so his back was to his brother.

Jay felt the need to knock before entering.

- Will I come in? - he asked politely, but his brother remained motionless there on the bed.

Then the detective stepped forward, continuing to talk.

- Will, I'm sorry. I shouldn't have answered you that way. I know you do it because you love me. I'm really sorry. -

At that point the doctor looked his brother in the eyes.

- Jay it's just you and me. You are my little brother, of course I worry about you. Especially if, as you usually do, you hide things from me. - Will explained.

The two remained a few moments longer to look into each other's eyes then shook hands and embraced.

Eventually they both sat on the bed.

Natalie worried that they might argue with each other, as they both had quite a bad temper, she went looking for them.

Then hearing them talk amiably, she calmed down and returned to Owen who was building a puzzle by completing tidying up the kitchen.

- So you want to tell me? what's going on? - Will asked

- Nothing special, really. Since yesterday I have noticed that my tooth hurts when I eat certain things like sweets or drink things that are too cold or too hot. Jay replied

- You should go to the dentist. You may have tooth decay. - supposed the doctor.

- Yes, but ... A caries means being an anesthetist and therefore syringes, needles .. - replied the detective.

- I know, but you can't keep your toothache forever. Isn't it better to act before it gets worse? - Will said.

- Yes, you are right, but there are also, not to be forgotten, the allergic reactions I might have. Do you remember as a child? - Jay explained worried.

There had actually been a precedent when he was little. To heal a tooth, he had been terribly ill. He didn't have a needle phobia then, but he'd had a bad allergic reaction after going to the dentist.

He was allergic to several things (grasses, drugs….)

- What if I went with you? - asked Will trying to support and reassure him.

- Would you really do that? - Jay asked in amazement

- And why shouldn't I? - said the doctor, looking at him doubtfully.

- Thank you,- the detective replied simply.

The latter knew that his brother would always be there and for whatever he needed, even what on the outside might have seemed the stupidest thing in the world.

September 16

Will had called his trusted dentist and told him he needed an urgent apartment. He too had taken the opportunity to explain his brother's problems to him.

Jay had slept little that night, he was worried about how the situation might turn out. It was early in the morning when he started texting Will.

J: Will what if something goes wrong?

W: Be quiet it and don't think about anything. I will be there with you.

J: What if my PTSD were to activate?

W: I'll be there with you and help you get back.

J: What if I have a reaction to the anesthesia?

W: I can't tell you it won't happen, but whatever happens we will face it together.

Around eight o'clock Jay called the sergeant to warn him that he would be late because he had to go to the dentist.

An hour later Will was in his brother's house. He had picked it up to go to the doctor's appointment.

Jay was agitated, his hands were sweating and his heart pounding, but he still tried not to show it.

- I know you're scared, don't hide your emotions, at least with me .- Will told him.

The dentist, as soon as he arrived at his office, made them sit down and began to evaluate the situation.

The first thing needed was an overview. And this was not at all problematic.

- So Mr. Halstead, you have cavities on your left lower molar. Do you see? - said the doctor showing him the overview.

- It is deep enough that's why it feels pain. It would be advisable to act as soon as possible to be able to cure it. said the specialist

And here Jay began to fidget not knowing how to explain his situation. He was a former US ranger so a man in one piece and he didn't show himself weak.

- I already know of his particular condition and we will face everything step by step and both his brother and I will be at his side and we will stop whenever we feel the need. - Said the doctor allowing the detective to breathe a sigh of relief not having to explain anything.

Again Will had already sorted everything out.

The doctor then proposed to arrange the appointment to start treating the caries.

- Couldn't we start right away? -Jay asked surprising everyone.

- I thought you wanted some time to get ready for what we're going to do.- said the doctor.

Fortunately, the dentist was free and given the patient's request he decided to start the procedure that same day.

The first thing the doctor wanted to do was the anesthetist, but Jay decides to try without first.

He had a fairly high pain threshold in fact the first part of the work was done more or less easily.

However, at a certain point, things got complicated. The pain had become unbearable.

The dentist was reaching for the nerve area.

This was how the anesthesia was prepared.

The syringe was small and narrow with a long, thin needle.

As soon as Jay saw it he began to fidget. His heart rate increased and he began to sweat as his body shook like a leaf.

In no time the detective found himself traveling with his mind, finding himself lying on a bed with a military doctor with syringes in his hand ready to prick him.

Seeing the situation, the dentist stopped by letting his brother take over.

- Hey Jay, it's me, lt's ok. I'm here with you. ,- said the eldest of the Halsteads

The detective was agitated, he moved trying to repel anyone who approached him.

Will avoiding the blows of his brother and trying to make sure that he did not hurt himself approached his ear and whispered sweet words to calm him.

Once Jay relaxed and returned to the present, Will moved to prevent his brother from seeing the needle coming.

- Jay look at me, focus on me little brother. It will only take a second.- he told him.

In doing so, all happened without great difficulty.

The dentist then stopped for a few more moments to check the condition of his patient, waiting for the anesthesia to take effect.

- So what's up? - churches

- Everything ok, - replied the detective.

After obtaining his permission, the dentist then proceeded with his work and completed everything.

- Well done, we're done, Mr. Halstead. - said the dentist.

Will let out a huge sigh of relief, luckily everything had gone pretty well.

The doctor there let go shortly after placing the swabs in his mouth advising the detective to keep them as much as possible. Furthermore, he had asked his patient to rhyme for ten minutes in the waiting room to see if any reactions to the anesthesia had developed.

Of course Jay was impatient, he had to go to work. It had already been too long to say about him. And he was one who never went away except when he was forced as in that case.

Eventually time passed without anything happening and so the two brothers were free to go.

Once they got into the car they set off, Will was accompanying Jay to the district when the color of his brother's face changed to greenish.

The doctor immediately realized that it was necessary to stop the car and this was just in time for the detective to open the door and throw up.

Something was wrong. But maybe it was just the tension that somehow needed to be discharged.

- Will, I'm fine, really. I think I discharged the anxiety and agitation of everything that happened in this way. - Jay explained.

Despite his worries, the doctor, however, was persuaded. He wanted to avoid being too apprehensive.

Will then dropped him off in front of the district 21 and headed to the hospital to start work. He left only after making a promise, however, that Jay would call him for any need.

Detective Halstead entered the precinct and immediately got to work.

There was evidence that had been collected by colleagues for a case to be analyzed.

But the detective felt that there was something wrong with him.

He needed to vomit again and so he was back and forth from the bathroom.

To that, however, other strange symptoms were slowly added: his arms itched, he had stomach pain and his heart was beating very quickly.

At first he tried to ignore those symptoms and focus on his work, but it was really hard to do

One of the many times he got up to go to the bathroom, his blood pressure must have dropped suddenly because he found himself on the ground unconscious in front of all his colleagues.

He was immediately rescued by all the boys.

After more or less recovering from his fainting, the only thing he could do was ask to call Will.

The detective looked dazed, confused so the colleagues decided to take him to Med immediately.

Hailey meanwhile, as Adam drove and Antonio tried to keep him awake, called Will to warn him of their arrival.

After several tests it was revealed that Jay was having an allergy to one of the substances in the anesthesia.

It was therefore necessary to hospitalize him and treat him with different drugs: local antihistamines and cortisone for the rush and itching that he had on his arms; bronchodilators because of the difficulty he had recently had to breathe.

Slowly Jay recovered completely.

That was a really bad misadventure. The worst thing for the detective, however, was that he passed out in front of all his colleagues. He did not like to feel bad in public and therefore, as already said, appear weak to others.

Chapter Text

Will had been in the hospital for just over an hour that day, updating his files when he was distracted by the arrival of a woman.

This she was tall, stout, had long black hair and green eyes.

The woman appeared to be pregnant. She entered the hospital screaming and was immediately rescued by Ethan and April who took her to one of her rooms.

Will noticed that, near the Ed entrance, right from where the lady was rescued, he was wet and asked Monique one of the nurses to have that area cleaned up.

The doctor then also went to Ethan to warn him of the liquid present near where the woman had entered.

The latter along with April was already helping the lady to deliver her baby. The liquid present at the entrance was due to the breaking of the water. The woman had just entered the ninth month, but the baby was in a hurry to come into the world, so much so that he did not even wait for the arrival of his father who worked in a city two hours away from Chicago and who after being warned by the woman was immediately left to join his wife.

He will remain there to observe what was the miracle of life.

That day he was one of those with few patients, it could be said that he was relatively quiet and that was how he could stand there watching and then make it useful by helping.

- Mom, here's your son. - Ethan said handing the small wad to the woman.

"Madam, she's gorgeous," Will added. - will you come call him?

The doctor was amazed when the woman answered.

- His name is William, Will Lockhart. -said the woman and looking at the funny expression of the doctor she said -Do you like this name?

-Eh well, I hope so ma'am, it's her too. - Ethan replies

And everyone had a good laugh.

After saying goodbye and congratulating the lady again, who was then transferred to the maternity ward, Will went back to the nurses' desk and just at that moment there was a man who came running scared and said:

- Please someone help me, I need help. -

- What happens? - Meggie said as she began to approach the man followed by Will.

- My son, he no longer answers me, he is in the car please come - said the agitated man and immediately started running towards the car.

Will was running after Meggie when his foot landed on something slimy that made him slip and fall tumbling to the ground.

After a few seconds he got up a little dazed and in pain and slowly walked towards Meggie who, helped by other nurses, was bringing the patient inside.

He was about to approach the stretcher trying to stand up from everything around him such as the walls present when Connor and Ethan arrived who had witnessed the scene.

Doctor Choi ran to meet Meggie and the patient taking him in charge, while Rhodes stopped by Will's side.

- Wait, forget it. Come on, get help.-

The two slowly made their way to one of the free rooms with Rhodes holding Will limping.

Rhodes was almost near the bed and was about to make Halstead sit up when the latter's legs went limp and in no time he found himself lying on the floor as gently as possible by Connor.

The latter immediately looked out of the room to ask for help.

Will as soon as he began to recover, as soon as he opened his eyes he tried to get up.

He was blocked by Rhodes and excruciating pain in his leg, especially in his knee.

- Hey, take it easy,- Connor said, helping him sit up slowly.

- What happened? - Halstead asked a little confused.

- You first slipped into the waiting room and thanks to the adrenaline you got up immediately. Maybe even too quickly. Your body needed a few moments to recover and you passed out. - replied the doctor - how do you feel? -

- I'm fine, apart from the leg that hurts me.

It was help to get on the bed and so that Connor could start visiting him.

- We need to do an MRI. The knee is starting to swell. We must rule out that there is anything broken. - said the doctor

- Oh no! We really hope it is not.- Halstead replied.

Fortunately with the resonance the fracture was excluded, but it was still a nice distortion.

The doctor was then sent home to enact the Rice protocol to be revisited later.

It was Jay who picked him up from the hospital and drove him to his house.

Will had to stay for a while with his knee at rest, placing ice on it every few hours for about 15-20 minutes at a time, then he had to wrap it in an elastic band and keep it raised to avoid loading it.

He also took painkillers as needed.

After some time and a few of physiotherapy, he was finally able to go back to work, not before giving him four to Megan who that day, taken by so many things, had forgotten to clean that area that Will had asked her for.

Chapter Text

Jay was preparing for undercover action. He had to infiltrate the family of the drug-dealing boss by pretending to be a driver, expert in drug trafficking.

They had created a respectable identity for him. Everyone knew about him that he was wanted and that no one had ever managed to catch him.

At first everything went well, but a few months later the coverage of him fell through.

He was recognized by one of the buyers who was an old acquaintance of him.

He had arrested him a few years earlier and then he had managed to escape.

That man had spent his entire life thinking about how to make that worm pay for it who had put him in handcuffs.

- Who is that? - asked the man

- He's called Denny, he's one of the best drivers around. - replied one of the gang Jay had infiltrated.

- Oh yes? And who says it?- the buyer asked again.

- Everyone says it. He is a ghost, no one knows where he is and when he operates he leaves no trace.- replied the other

- What if I told you that slimy worm is a cop? - explained the man

- No, Denny a cop, what are you saying. - the other replied incredulously, laughing

- He put me in four years ago. I still have a picture of him in my wallet, I cut out the article that was written about my arrest. Here, look: Detective Jay Halstead, Intelligence. I swore to make this infamous pay. He will have to suffer a lot, at least as much as I suffered in prison. - said the criminal.

- What a filthy worm. He tricked us. - the other interlocutor said, getting nervous.

- Let him come with us. I will reserve him a slap-up service. In the meantime, you can think of taking off the rest of the police that you will surely soon have on your heels. - the man said

- Ok, I'm in. Thanks for the warning.-

And so, the detective was handed over to Driwer.

The only problem was that Jay didn't understand who he was.

By the time he got out of prison the man had changed his appearance a bit to not be easily recognized.

Jay was forced to go with these other people. He was told that they needed his skills for a transport and that then when the job was done he would return to the boss.

The detective couldn't refuse, but he absolutely had to report the change to Sergeant Voight.

Unfortunately the material time was not there at that moment and therefore he could not do it, not there in front of everyone. He was in danger of being discovered and the detective did not want to throw away so many months of work.

Jay was forced to follow the course of events even if something smelled rotten.

Halstead, who was a very cunning fellow, quickly found what he thought might be a solution that could work.

- Before I come with you, I should go and get my things. - said the detective

He hoped he could go there, so at a time when he was the only one he could take advantage of it to send a message to his sergeant too.

He didn't expect Driwer's answer, however.

- Where we go, you won't need anything. It will be a quick quick thing and then you will come back here. - he told him

So he made him get into the car and they left to reach the place of that phantom transport that had to be done. Jay didn't know what to expect, what the man had in mind.

Driwer had for years planned to kill him as soon as he had him in his hands, but when that happened he changed his mind.

If he killed him he wouldn't suffer enough.

- So my dear Mr. Danny or should I say my dear Detective Jay Halstead. - said Mr. Driwer as they were in the car and were moving away.

Hearing those words Jay's mind froze and that sentence made his blood run cold. How did that one know who he was?

- Who is he? - churches

- But how you don't recognize me? What a pain to know that you have forgotten about me. - said the criminal.

It was at that moment that the detective remembered that voice.

No, it couldn't be him.

- Mister ... Driwer? - he hoped he was wrong. He was different from how he remembered it. Even though it had been years since he had arrested him and risked his life.

Yes, because after handcuffing him his accomplice shot the detective that he was in hospital for quite a while.

- Oh! Bravo my dear detective. I'm glad I was impressed by you. Really very happy. - The guy replied and while the two sitting on either side of Jay held him back, he turned around and punched him hard enough to make him lose consciousness.

His lip was split open and blood flowed from it and his nostril.

When he began to come to Jay he felt a metallic taste in his mouth and a strange stench around him. But where had it gone?

His head hurt and he couldn't move.

Where the hell had they taken him?

He forced himself to open his eyes. The last thing he remembered was that he was in the car.

Looking around, he realized that it must be a dungeon. It was dark and the area was only illuminated , artificially, by some light placed here and there.

He was sitting in an armchair, it looked like the dentist's, but smaller, and a little less inclined.

He had his arms tied to the armrests and his feet were also blocked with a rope that held them tight to the chair.

Around him various tables, some had plans on them and others instead of strange machinery.

On a small trolley there were also syringes and tourniquets.

But where did he go?

Thinking about it for a moment, he understood. He was in a drug lab.

But if Mr. Driwer had all of this why had he bought that quantity of the drug?

There was only one explanation: he wanted to use it to experiment by mixing it with other substances. This is how the badly cut or unclean drug that claimed so many victims was created.

But what did he have to do with all this?

Whatever it was it wouldn't do. Surely the thug would have made him pay for his arrest years ago.

He had a weird feeling, like those needles were there for him.

Anything they would do to him with those would have been far worse for Jay given his PTSD.

- I am pleased to see that our dear detective has woken up. Did he take a good nap? -said the thug with a laugh that he knew of something disturbing.

- What do you want from me damn? - he asked shouting Jay, wriggling

- Yet I thought you already understood .- said Driwer slyly

- I understand that you are trying to make a new kind of drug and this is your laboratory. - exposed the theory of him the detective.

- Fireman. You were good, but you were wrong about one thing. I am not trying to create, I have already created a new drug and you will be the first to experience its effects. - the man explained with great happiness.

- Don't you dare even try. - Jay yelled in a panic.

But it was all in vain.

Mr. Driwer motioned to his three henchmen. Two held him motionless at shoulder height, despite him being tied up, and the other put the tourniquet around Jay's arm and then walked away to begin preparing the syringe.

The detective was now in total panic.

He couldn't move, the grip of those two thugs was iron. His heart was beating fast, his breathing was labored. It didn't take him long to hyperventilate, the syringe had a very long needle. Shortly thereafter his pupils swirled back and he passed out just as the third man was about to insert the needle into his vein.

- What a cowardly detective. Pass out before being touched, and then for a prick then. Wake him up. - the boss ordered and immediately one of the men hit Jay in the face with a bucket of water. It took a few moments, but eventually he recovered.

A few moments later the detective opened his eyes and looked around again, he was confused.

Mr. Driwer just waited for him to turn in his direction to prick his arm and push the substance into his vein.

Jay, once the substance began to circulate in his body, he began to feel strange.

Everything around him was floating. He felt good though, he was happy like he hadn't been in a long time. As someone in the first stage of a hangover, he was elated.

Even the man felt happy, he had finally succeeded, he had created the Driwerdrug.

- Great detective. See you tomorrow for the new dose. - and so the leader followed by his henchmen left leaving Jay tied up there in the dark.

His lights came back briefly in the evening, when dinner was brought to him.

The detective, however, did not have much appetite, but was forced to eat by force being fed since he was tied up.

His stomach was upset, the stuff they gave him had lost that positive effect he initially had.

Although he did not feel well, fatigue took over and he fell asleep. It was a complicated night made up of numerous awakenings.

The next morning, when the sun was already high in the sky ...

- Good morning detective, how did you spend the night? asked Driwer, but Jay didn't answer.

One of the men came over and gave him some water to drink.

- Are you ready for the second round? Today it doubles. He'll give you one dose this morning and one tonight. I want to see what effect it has on you. You seemed delighted last night. - said the criminal.

- I don't want a drop of that crap anymore! - Jay said angrily even if what was seen outside was a slight anger because the detective was exhausted.

"As if you could choose," the chief replied, laughing and then walked away.

Left alone the detective let himself go, some tears began to fall from his eyes. By now it was the end for him, he would die at the hands of that crazy criminal. He would never see him again his brother, Hailey, his grandson, his working family. Yeah, intelligence.

Surely the team was looking for him. But how could they ever find him if they didn't know they find out where it was, with no clue ...

Shortly after, immersed in his thoughts, exhausted as he was, it is not known whether as a result of what they had given him or not, the detective fell asleep.

It was about half past twelve when he was awakened with blows to his face and lunch was brought to him.

Mr. Driwer had decided that Driwerdrug should be injected this time after the detective ate.

Even on that occasion, being able to ingest something was a real struggle, he felt like throwing up and couldn't swallow anything.

Eventually he ate a little something as Driwer's men as the night before had fed him forcing him to swallow.

- Well, I see the detective is in a hurry to get dessert. Guys proceed. -Ordered the criminal stopping him who tried to keep him eating.

Once the second dose was injected, the first of the day, the detective began to feel confused, euphoric, almost ecstatic and in addition he felt hot.

The thugs left him alone again and passed into the room from time to time to see the effects that were taking place in him.

After 20 minutes the detective was still elated even though he was completely out. He figured it had only been a few minutes since the group had left.

After an hour he was relaxed and calm, as if he had no problem, as if nothing had happened to him.

After that first phase of well-being, however, everything changed again.

Jay had a dry mouth and at one point he started to cold sweat and vomit for quite a long time

He completely emptied his stomach on the ground without being able to stop retching.

The detective had the same effect with the evening dose.

The criminal continued like this, following this pattern, for about a week, increasing the number of doses until the fourth day (four doses) and then keeping it constant until the seventh.

But his goal was to make the detective suffer.

From the dawn of the eighth day Mr. Driwer decided not to give him anything more.

The detective then began to feel really bad. Withdrawal crises were being created in him.

His pupils were dilated, every muscle in his body ached. He had stomach cramps, accompanied by nausea and various retching. His body was shaking, as if he felt cold, he was shivering. He was all sweaty, his nose was running and tears were running down his face as if he were crying. He felt scared, anxious and really very very sad, he was now at the end of his strength, he was at the end.

He even went so far as to beg the criminal for more drugs without even getting any. Jay wasn't him anymore

Mr. Driwer, for his part, enjoyed seeing him suffer.

Jay was out now if he was crying, screaming, squirming. His wrists and ankles were marred by the constant rubbing against the ropes that held him bound.

Detective Jay Halstead everyone knew was gone. He was screaming, trembling, hallucinating and very strong pains, he hadn't slept for days and was too tired to stay awake.

Fortune would have it, however, that in the family of the drug kingpin in which the detective had infiltrated there was another undercover policeman.

A couple of days after Denny's disappearance, he had found out what had happened to him and so, as soon as he could, he talked about it with his boss, who knew that the boy belonged to Voight's team.

The sergeant was then informed of everything and so after various searches Jay, with not a few difficulties, was found.

The intelligence group entered the basement at dawn on the tenth day and there was a firefight in which the police got the better of it.

When Voight walked up to the Detective and it broke his heart to see him in that condition, he was out of his mind. The same happened to Hailey and Antonio who were very sad.

Jay also found it hard to recognize them. He was now in a thousand pieces, he was panting hoarsely, his whole body was limp.

His gaze was empty, dull, his eyes did not follow what was around him.

When the ambulance arrived, the boy was rushed to the hospital where, among others, his brother was also waiting for him.

It was a really bad surprise for him too, to see him reduced to those conditions.

The detective had a long road ahead of him to recovery and detoxification.

What awaited him wasn't going to be easy at all, but luckily, this time, he wasn't alone. His friends, his beloved Hailey and his brother were there by his side.

Chapter Text

Will was a very sweet and kind person, but he had one big flaw he couldn't say no. And so he often found himself exhausting himself without realizing it.

One day he woke up very early and went to work as usual.

For about a week his shifts were not as usual, the patients were very numerous.

Then that day was the worst. It was one of those where the emergency room was so full that it didn't allow to have a moment's break.

His shift started at 7 that morning, which meant having to be awake at least an hour and a half earlier to fix up the house and get ready to go out and then add the car ride to the hospital.

And so from the beginning of the shift the cases had followed one another. Will had seen all sorts of things: simple illnesses, seasonal influences, tumors, accidental falls with fractures or sprains, gunshot wounds, knives ...

He was looking forward to the lunch break to relax for a moment. It was once again a tough day.

Fortunately, as it was full, time seemed to pass quickly and when Will looked at his watch it was only a few minutes to 13:00.

Not much more and he would have enjoyed some free time. Not much, but at least he had a moment to recharge the batteries.

When the time came, the doctor dropped everything and warned Meggie that he would go on break for a while.

- Meggie, I'm taking a break. I need to recharge the batteries, I eat something on the fly and back.-

He was about to go to the canteen when he met Natalie.

- Hey my love - he greeted her giving her a kiss

- Hey, - she replied, reciprocating.

- I see you tired. - he said, observing her.

- I didn't sleep much last night, Owen had a fever and I stayed up to check on him. - explained the doctor.

- Oh, poor thing, I'm sorry. How is he now? - Will asked worriedly

- He seemed to be feeling a little better this morning, thankfully. -Natalie said

- Is he with Carol now? - asked the doctor

- Yes, I wouldn't have felt comfortable leaving him with someone other than my mother. - Manning that moment their chat was interrupted by Maggie calling the doctor back to order.

- Natalie there is an arrival. Five minutes, get ready.

- And it continues. - she said with a tired smile.

- Why don't you go get something to eat and get some rest? I'll replace you. - Halstead suggested.

- Really? No, it's your break. You need it too, I'll stop later. - she replied

- No, I'm really fine, go. Don't get begged. - said the doctor.

- Thanks, half an hour maximum and back. - Replied the doctor who did not know how to thank her boyfriend.

- Don't think about it and don't rush. Eat something and relax for a while. When you come back, I'll take a break. - Will told her.

- Thanks. - she replied giving him a kiss.

- Here we go,- Meggie said, drawing Natalie's attention to the arrival of the it was Halstead who arrived.

- What have we got? - asked the doctor

- Weren't you on break? - asked the nurse.

- Natalie needed it more than me right now, I'll go there later. - he answered and then headed over to the paramedics to be briefed on the case.

- Male 39 years old, complains of chest pains ...- and so the doctor left with the usual routine.

Anamnesis, exams and then subsequent treatment or in case of need to intervene he sent the patient to Rhodes and to the other colleagues.

Half an hour later the doctor decided to go to the doctors room to get at least some coffee or some water while Natalie arrived.

When he entered the room, however, what he saw made him smile. Dr. Manning had gone to lunch and after finishing she sat on the sofa sipping her coffee and eventually she was asleep.

Will grabbed a blanket, laid it over her, and then slowly, quietly, walked out of the room.

He then walked over to Meggie again.- Megs, Natalie will be out for at least another hour. - he told her and explained about Owen and the fact that she was sleeping on the sofa.

And so the doctor continued to visit the patients in the waiting room, trying to cover up Natalie's absence as well.

An hour later, around 2:30 pm the doctor woke up and immediately after giving herself a quick fix she was back in operation in Ed.

- Hey, love I'm sorry, I fell asleep .- she apologized after reaching Will

- Easy, you needed it. - he answered softly.

- Go on break, I'll replace you now. - she concluded by sending him away the Manning.

The doctor was about to do it, but something stopped him for the umpteenth time.

- Code blue, Dr. Halstead is your patient. Ethan said after Ed had gone off the alarm from one of the examination rooms.

And so the doctor went to the room and did everything to save his patient's life.

And then here are several new arrivals. Two rival gangs had clashed and there were numerous wounded, some more seriously, some needed all the available staff, so goodbye break.

Everything that happened then made Will go on uninterrupted until 4 pm almost without breathing, drinking only a few sips of coffee from time to time whenever possible.

- Finally I finished. - Will said with a sigh to Natalie and Meggie

- Now a little relaxation, - said the doctor.

- Perhaps. - he said with a sigh - I promised Jay to help him put things in the boxes. He decided to freshen up his house. We have to do it today, Voight gave him the day off and we have to take advantage of it. Then, God willing, a little relaxation -

- Try not to overdo Will. - said Maggie.

He told them to be quiet and went to the lockers when he was stopped by Goodwin.

- Dr. Halstead, I was looking for you. - the chief told him.

- tell me - Will said

- I need some more of him. I'm short of doctors and ED is overflowing today. - she told him- I ... I would have already made a commitment. - replied the doctor trying to think of a possible hypothetical solution.

- Ok, then as unspoken. - said the woman moving away from him.

- Mrs. Goodwin wait - Will called her again - I could go and deal with this business with my brother and then come back here.-

- I would be grateful if you could do it.- Goodwin replied not knowing how to thank the doctor

- Yes, there are no problems. -

And having said that, greeting everyone, Will ran away.

He had to get to Jay's as soon as possible and get back to work once it was finished.

A quarter of an hour later, driving like crazy, he was already under his house. He quickly climbed the stairs two by two and rang the bell. He was out of breath and was all sweaty.

- Hello brother what happened to you? Jay asked.

- Nothing, I came running - he replied- There was no need. - the detective said sorry.

- Yes, unfortunately, at work it was a chaotic day and as soon as I finished I have to go back there. - answered doctor Halstead

So the two set to work tirelessly in order to finish as soon as possible.

- Can you lend me a shirt? I can't go back to work so sweaty. Will said to his brother.

So the doctor gave himself a quick rinse, a fixed one and ran off to go back to the hospital. The only problem was that he was exhausted.

It had been a week since he had slept little and that at work he had full shifts of patients to visit. Obviously that day was worse than the others.

- Another time here? - Maggie asked seeing him enter the Ed's sliding door.

- Goodwin asked me to help out due to a shortage of staff. - Will answered

- Did you eat something? did you stop for a moment to catch your breath? - asked the nurse who, however, did not get an answer given the new cases arriving.

And so the doctor picked up where he left off by going back and forth without stopping for another six tiredness, however, was beginning to make itself felt and he could no longer run as he had done and had been doing it all day.

He was starting to feel unwell.

- Hey Will, still here? - Natalie asked

- Oh yeah.- he said with a sigh

- I see you tired, - observed the doctor

- A little, yes,- Halstead admitted

- Did you eat anything? - she asked

- No, not recently.- Will replied, omitting that the last time he had touched food was in the morning for a fleeting breakfast.

- Why don't you take a break and grab something at the bar? - Natalie suggested.

- I don't have much appetite.- the red-haired doctor said sincerely. In reality, he felt more upset than hungry, had an upset stomach and growing nausea.

Natalie had a syrup in her hands, she was carrying it to a little girl she had visited a few minutes earlier.

The substance had a strong, sweet smell too strong for Will to bear at that moment.

- Excuse me a moment,- he said, hurrying away.

All of a sudden he had turned very pale with a slight yellow / greenish tint to his face. He put the files on the nurses' desk and ran to the bathroom. He felt the need to empty his stomach.

Yes he pulled away from the two women holding his breath and pretending nothing and then once out of their sight he ran to the toilet.

After throwing up, once fully recovered, he washed his face and came back as if nothing was at work. He had to resist and go on.

He grabbed the tablet he had placed on the nurses' desk and tried to figure out where to start, but there was something odd about him something different.

When he started reading his patients' records he noticed that he was having trouble seeing well.

His right eye seemed to be fogged up. He didn't see well at all. Yes, he found himself rubbing it with his fingers to see if the situation changed.

- All you right? Maggie asked

- Yes, all right. Something must have gotten into my eye. - replied the doctor.

The nurse believed him, although not totally, something was wrong.

Will's pupils looked different, as if one were a little bigger than the other. Obviously it was not an easy thing to notice, but an expert like her could not escape. He also looked a little wobbly when he moved.

Halstead had walked a little over a meter, on his way to the patient's room that he was to visit, when everything began to turn around him.

He leaned against the wall with his hands so as not to fall while a myriad of black dots danced in front of his eyes. In a short time his legs went limp, his mind was as if it died and he ended up falling to the ground unconscious.

Immediately Maggie who was observing him at a distance from her approached him attracting the attention of Doctor Choi who immediately reached her.

- What happened? - asked the doctor.

- I don't know, I was watching him because he seemed a bit strange.- replied the nurse.

Maggie recounted what had happened just before Will passed out, from when he turned pale and moved quickly away from her and Natalie to when the pupils seemed to have a different size and his body was Choi, as he listened to the information, began to underestimate the vital signs of his colleague.

- The heartbeat is a little irregolar, but strong, the pressure ... it's a little low, I'd say he's just passed out. - Ethan concluded and the two after loading on a stretcher and taken to a room tried to wake him up.

Halstead shortly after opening his eyes for a few moments, but closed them again. He had a very strong migraine, one of the crazy ones.

The light only made it worse.

- Can you open your eyes for me? -Ethan asked.

The doctor tried to open them again, but his head throbbed too much for him to be able to keep them open. He tried to shake his head to say no, but that too made the situation worse.

- How do you feel? - Ethan then asked. His goal was to evaluate his cognitive status.

- Mmmh! ... head ... ouch - he replied.

Halstead looked confused.

- Do you know where you are? - asked the doctor

The other could not answer.

- You know who I am? - Choi asked again.

- Dude - Halstead found it hard to speak, mumbled the words.

Dr. Choi worried a lot about what was happening, what his colleague presented could be traced back to something serious.

- What's my name? - he asked him again without getting any answer.

- What's your name? - he asked

- Will ... H ... sted,- he replied.

It was difficult to understand his language.

Choi speculated he might have had a stroke. But he was still so young.

- Do you know what day it is today? What month is it? in what year we are? - the doctor continued with the questions.

Will could not answer, he was oriented neither in time nor in space.

He didn't understand where he was. But what was happening to him?

Halstead himself was afraid. He could not explain himself as he wanted, to think, to reflect. His head hurt too much. Yet he had to make him understand how he felt.

He therefore decided to communicate with gestures.

Although his body trembled he managed to bring his hand to his forehead and touch it. Then he started to move the other one to show that he was in pain.

Dr. Choi arranged several tests for Will including a CT scan to check for stroke.

Fortunately, everything was normal.

Ethan then ordered that a cannula be inserted into his arm to allow him to be hydrated and then to get the drugs.

Painkillers were administered and slowly the doctor seemed to have fallen asleep.

A couple of hours later Will opened his eyes and saw that Maggie was still there beside him. She watched him with a sad look. He was sorry that her close friend was unwell.

- My head hurts, it looks like it's bursting,- the doctor nurse immediately noticed that the doctor's way of speaking had improved considerably and then called Dr. Choi who decided to redo the cognitive skills test.

- Ethan, what happened to me? - asked the doctor.

- You passed out in the hallway. Don't you remember anything? replied the colleague.

- No nothing. Except that I could not read what was written on the tablet, I saw fogged up and then just a strange sensation. - replied the patient.

Choi decided to ask him some questions again.

- Will you know where you are? -

- Yes to the hospital, to the Med, - he replied

- You know who I am? - he then asked

- Yes, sure! My colleague and friend, Dr. Ethan Choi,- Halstead said

- Do you know what day it is today? - Ethan continued

Yes on February 3, 2021. But why all these questions? Will asked then.

The doctor explained to his colleague that for some time he had been out of this world, that he had not been able to answer any of those simple questions.

With the help of the drugs Will was recovering, but it took a couple of days for him to get back to 100%.

Fortunately it hadn't been anything serious, just a very severe migraine.

Those difficulties the doctor hadp simply been the warning signs of the migraine coming.

Will realized he had gone too far and so he was bad for it.

From all this Halstead had learned a lesson.

From that moment on he would take better care of himself without exaggerating and maybe he would even say a few more no to avoid the risk of getting sick again.

Chapter Text

Mr. Harry Oderthings was an unscrupulous man. He was hired to complete particular tasks.

This, in fact, was what had happened ...

One day he received a phone call from a drug dealer who had been arrested by the Intelligence team and who shortly after had managed to escape from prison.

This man wanted Jay Halstead, the culprit of the situation he was experiencing, to pay for it.

It was the detective who caught him and put the handcuffs on him.

He didn't have to be killed, he had to suffer a lot. If he was dead then it didn't matter. The key thing was to make him suffer like a dog first.

So Mr. Oderthings start following the detective to figure out when the best time to be able to act undisturbed.

He followed him for three days and eventually figured out when it was appropriate to attack him.

During the day he was always surrounded by people. Going to his house was from since the house was in an apartment building. Neighbors heard the detective scream or saw him run away.

There was only one moment when Oderthings could act undisturbed and that was when the detective went to run.

Jay did it out of habit, he told us early in the morning. Doing so allowed him to release the tension within him and at the same time helped him manage his PTSD.

Depending on when he was supposed to start work, at eight or nine he would say he ran at six or seven in the morning.

The ride lasted about an hour and the journey was always more or less the same. He left home, came to the little park next to it, which was also not far from the Med and eventually came back.

That day, meanwhile, in the district ...

- Guys, I have decided that tomorrow being a day of paperwork you will leave early, - Voight said. - but caring always available if there should be a case.-

All the guys on the team were happy with the news.

- Jay? Hey, what are you thinking about? - Hailey asked.

- Huh? Nothing. I was just trying to figure out how to organize myself tomorrow. Finishing before I can go for a run in the afternoon and in the morning devote myself to something else.- replied the detective.

The sergeant then called them and sent them back to work. He looked like the teacher grooming schoolchildren at that moment.

The day after..

Jay woke up very early that morning, it was still five when they opened his eyes. That day he was supposed to start at 9.

He had also assumed that he would go for a run in the afternoon once he was finished at work, but since he was already awake he decided to do it in the morning.

But it would have been better if he had changed his plans. Unfortunately he couldn't know.

After spending a little more time turning in bed, he will meet and get ready to go for a incontrerà e si preparerà per andare a correre. Before leaving he fixed everything, he loved to see everything in order.

Once he put on his overalls jacket, he headed for the front door when his cell phone rang.

A message had arrived. It was from Hailey:

"Gourmet breakfast for 8:30?"

It was a good idea, he then replied in the affirmative, but instead of putting the phone back in his pocket he put it on the table, maybe he was distracted by some thought and eventually went out leaving it there.

Everything seemed as usual. The detective left his house and headed for the nearby park.

It was nice to run in the green, to breathe some purer air.

A short time later, however, Jay realized that this was not a day like any other, he had a strange feeling, as if someone was watching him.

The detective could only find a portly man a little further than where he was at that moment, he was waiting for him hidden in the trees with an iron bar in his hand.

As soon as Jay was about to pass in front of the man he came out hitting him with all the strength he had, at the height of the abdomen.

Halstead doubled over in pain and the other hit him twice on the lower back and shoulder again causing him to fall to the ground.

The man continued to beat him until the boy passed out.

Once he had done his duty, satisfied he went away leaving him there.

Jay had passed out. Some of the passersby noticed it and sadly passed by.

Nobody stopped to help him.

Maybe they thought he was dead.

In the meantime, time passed inexorably and it was almost time for the appointment with the colleague.

Not seeing him arrive, the detective began to worry. It wasn't like Jay to miss appointments or be late.

- Maybe he just got home, - Hailey thought.

She tried to call him several times, the phone rang but in the end she didn't get any answer.

After having a coffee then the detective left. They would see each other later in the district, and maybe she could give him a little wink for not showing up on their appointment without even warning.

When she got to work, Upton noticed that her colleague hadn't arrived yet. This was also very strange as Jay was often, if not always, ahead of the others.

Gradually, as time passed, the other colleagues arrived and set to work.

Hailey's concern grew more and more, especially by the time the detective arrived at 10:30 am he had not yet shown up at the district.

- Where is Halstead? - Voight asked

- We do not know. He has not yet seen. - she replied

The sergeant was worried. Jay was not one who was missing from work for no good reason. If he had a need he always warned.

- Upton tries to call him. - he asked

- I've done this several times already, the phone rings forever, but he doesn't answer. - replied the detective.

- Okay, go with Antonio and see if he's home. - Voight ordered - Mouse traces his cell phone. -

Upton and Dawson left for Jay's apartment and minutes after they left the district Greg called them to warn them that their colleague's phone signal was coming from his home.

What could have happened? Why was Jay still home?

The most negative thoughts filled the minds of the two detectives.

They didn't know Halstead wasn't home. That very day, in fact, their colleague had forgotten his cell phone on the kitchen table.

Flashback

After some time Jay had recovered and with great effort he had managed to sit up trying to breathe.

He was in a lot of pain.

Little by little he got to his feet and by dragging himself he managed to reach the tree-lined side of the road.

He leaned panting against one of the logs and let his back slide to the ground.

Those little movements he had made had left him exhausted and sore.

Sitting there he tried to rest for a moment and catch his breath.

The Detective was not a fool. He knew that his condition was serious. He needed help.

It was well known his hatred of hospitals, but he did not lack the will to seek treatment.

He was looking within himself for the necessary strength to get up and walk at least as far as Med, where at least he could ask his brother for help.

His belly hurt more and more even more than his back. His heart was beating fast, he felt a certain tachycardia and his breathing was rapid. He was sweating profusely and his face was growing pale.

He tried to take the cell phone from his pocket, but to his surprise it wasn't there.

Could he have forgotten it at home? Or maybe the man who had attacked him had taken it from him when he passed out?

He unfortunately he could not call his brother him to be reached and treated.

There weren't many people around him to ask for support, even just for the short ride to the hospital.

The only two or three people who had passed so far ran and he didn't have the strength to scream to get their attention.

It was difficult for them to look towards him.

With the strength of desperation he got up holding on from the protrusions of the tree that was behind him and once standing he dragged himself leaning gradually on the next plant.

He had to be able to get to the hospital. He could not and did not want to die there.

The Med wasn't that far from the little park where he was now.

He was about a 10-minute walk away, but to Jay, in his condition, it seemed like an eternity. He had also lost track of time.

What time was it at that time? How long had he been unconscious?

From time to time his legs gave way and he finds himself on his knees or in a quadrupedal position. But Jay wasn't about to give up and every time that happened he would get up with more difficulty but also more strength and determination than before.

Finally after a very long time he made it to the entrance of the Ed.

As soon as he was in the waiting room, he tried with his eyes, leaning his back against the first nearby wall and supporting himself from the door, to find his brother. He was soaked in sweat, pale as a ghost.

He had to find Will as soon as possible and shortly after he saw him near the patient rooms.

Dr. Halstead also saw the detective and did everything to reach him having noticed his being strange.

Each was going in the direction of the other, but when Jay pulled away from the wall a little, having almost run out of energy, he fell tumbling to the ground.

Will, who had witnessed the whole scene was shocked.

What happened to his brother? Why was he lying there on the ground? Why was he so sick?

As soon as he reached him he knelt beside him trying to put aside his fear and agitation to remain cool and aloof enough to pick up his vital signs.

At first glance he noticed the pallor which was worse than when he had observed him from a distance. Placing a finger on the carotid, I assess the heartbeat, he noticed that this was accelerated as well as the breathing, which was superficial and rapid.

His skin was cold despite the sweat.

A short time later Maggie also approached him, who had observed the whole scene from her station.

The nurse helped the doctor to lay his brother on a stretcher to take him urgently to one of the rooms to deepen the examination and understand what he had.

- Maggie, let's connect him to the monitors and set up a Iv to administer fluids. Let's do the blood tests, let's ... let's try to revive he, connect to oxygen, - Will said without even breathing.

It was evident that the doctor was not thinking with a cold head. He was in the ball, he was too agitated even though he was trying in every way not to point it out. His heart was certainly beating even faster than Jay's.

- Will you need to calm down. Stop you can't cure he. He is your brother, you are too emotionally involved, you have to let one of your colleagues take charge of him. - said the nurse.

- Maggie, there's no time. Please do as I told you. I don't know what happened to him. I have to help him. - said the doctor, trembling.

While Will was trying in every way to find out what his brother had the nurse approached the door and called Dr. Rhodes who immediately joined them.

She later approached Dr. Halstead away, allowing Connor to visit Jay.

Will stood by the window and watched his colleague visit his brother.

His eyes filled with tears and some fell down his cheeks. Those tears were hard to hold back.

The doctor felt ill, he would have liked to run away more than to be seen as fragile by someone but he could not leave his brother alone.

It was at that moment that Jay opened his eyes.

- Will, Will where are you? - he called him scared.

Immediately the doctor wiped away his tears and walked over to the bed.

- I'm here Jay, - he told him

- Please help me, I don't want to die - the detective asked him.

For the doctor hearing those words was a blow to the heart, his brother hardly asked for help and did not say he said he was sick.

- Will, it hurts. Too bad. - Jay panted. His pale face was taking on a bluish tint.

- Where do you feel pain? - asked Dr. Rhodes

- The stomach ... the belly ... That's all ... - replied the detective trying to show with his hand where the problem was.

Meggie moved the detective's shirt to better assess the situation and what was seen leave everyone shocked.

Will blanched.

Everything was a mass of purplish blue bruises.

Connor immediately began the palpation of the abdomen and with each touch the detective jumped into the air.

- Meggie prepares everything for an ultrasound. - ordered the doctor.

After doing the latter he revealed severe bleeding and Dr. Rhodes decided to take him to the operating room immediately.

The detective was prepared and brought up in no time.

Meanwhile Hailey and Antonio had arrived at Jay's house, after knocking several times they opened the door with the spare key that was under the doormat.

Everything was dark, the two called the detective far and wide for the entire apartment.

Everything was in order, everything was perfect.

Antonio finally found the phone on the table, it had been there for a couple of hours judging by the number of calls that hadn't been seen.

Everything seemed perfect, but no trace of the detective.

The two finally decided to call Voight to inform him that they had not discovered anything. But their boss's phone was busy, so they decided to go back to the district.

The sergeant was talking to Will.

- Voight,- he replied

- Sergeant it's Will,- the doctor said agitatedly

- Will what's wrong? We haven't heard from your brother, he hasn't come to work.- said the chief

And so Dr. Halstead explained the situation to him.

- Please sergeant find who did this to my brother. He has to pay for it. - concluded the doctor.

Voight before closing the call reassured the doctor that the culprit would be caught and that they would see each other in the hospital to gather more information and to understand how the Jay was doing.

To act they needed more information and the only one who could give it to them was the detective.

They would all be there, next to their friend waiting for him to come out of the operating room.

Will joined them waiting, even though doing nothing drove him mad.

Fortunately, after about two hours the surgery ended and Dr. Rhodes joined the large family who had gathered in the waiting room to get news.

- Then the surgery was perfectly successful. We drained the internal bleeding and repaired the liver. He will take a while, but he will make a full recovery. - Connor said allowing everyone to breathe a great sigh of relief.

- Can we see he? - They all asked a little.

- He needs to rest. He is still under anesthesia. It will take a while, but then you can see he -

So the team repositioned themselves in the waiting room waiting to be called to go to the room of the colleague, while Will was accompanied by him. He pulled the seat closer to the bed and waited for Jay to wake up.

He had to spend another hour or so before the detective opened his eyes.

- Hey little brother,- Will said as soon as he saw he was waking up.

- Hey, - he said weakly

- How do you feel? - asked the doctor

- Like I got under a train. - Jay replied and then asked in a faint voice - What did he do to me? -

Will was a little surprised at the way the question was phrased.

He meant that Jay knew or at least knew something about who had hurt him and could therefore give something extra to help his colleagues arrest the criminal.

As soon as he felt more or less ready Voight, Hailey and Antonio joined him and he told the whole story.

The Intelligence group began to investigate and eventually managed to catch the culprit and Jay returned to work after a rest period.

Fortunately, that time too had gone well. He was tenacious and had tremendous willpower. Without it, perhaps this time he would not have been saved.

Chapter Text

It was Captain Matt Casey's birthday and the fireman had invited all of his colleagues and friends to celebrate with him.

Obviously Will could not be missing and Natalie accompanied him.

- A beer with friends, what better way to celebrate your birthday with your friends?- Casey thought

And so everyone gathered to celebrate the colleague and friend.

In a corner of the room, however, there was a man, whose wife had recently died. He had a serious illness, but the thing that had stuck with the man was Dr. Halstead's inability, according to him, to cure it.

The woman was now at the end, taking four doses of fentanyl a day.

The doctor was not at fault, but you know, unfortunately sometimes the human mind makes strange tricks.

By experiencing extreme pain such as that caused by the loss of a loved one, you can also look for a scapegoat, someone to blame for what happened.

Dr. Halstead had to pay and it was time for the man to put his plan into action.

Everything had been organized at the moment, nothing had been planned, much less that evening he expected to be in the same place as the doctor he hated so much.

He had passed by chance taking a car ride without a precise destination and had then decided to stop for a drink.

Looking at the doctor, he saw that he too was drinking beer.

He walked over to the counter and ordered one from Stella. After obtaining it he then returned to his table.

Without anyone noticing, he took the box of drugs that belonged to his wife, he always carried it with him, he took five and after putting them in a napkin he started to crush them to make them.

He had gotten good at it. He did it for the woman he had loved all his life who in the end he couldn't even swallow.

The lady obviously took a pill four times a day, but the doctor had to pay for his inability and therefore he had exceeded the daily amount by deciding to administer it.

Once he had finished crushing everything he put the powder into the beer bottle, making sure that nothing strange was noticed in it.

Shortly after he approached a boy who was leaving.

- Sorry, are you leaving? - he asked

- Yes why? - asked the guy

- Listen could you do me a courtesy? See that red-haired man? - the man said.

- Dr. Halstead? - asked the boy

- Yes, right. Some time ago he saved my life and I promised him a beer. But I would like him to understand who sent it to him. Could you kindly bring it to him? Just a moment before leaving. - he explained

The boy reluctantly agrees, but in the end he did as he was told, without asking questions.

He took the bottle of beer and walked over to the doctor.

- Doctor Halstead? - he called him

- Yes? - replied the doctor

- This is for him. - said the boy

- Thanks, but what do I have ... - asked Will curious to know who it was from.

- Someone sent it to him. He said he'll have to figure out who. He says he saved his life. Good night. - said the boy.

The latter, after saying goodbye, walked away leaving Will amazed and immersed in his thoughts. The doctor, trying to figure out who the man was, sipped his beer, unaware of everything.

An hour later, however, everything changed.

The drug was working and Halstead was no longer in good shape.

He felt tired, he was sleepy.

Could it be that he felt this way all at once?

- Will, are you okay? asks Natalie

- Yes, Nat all right. I'm just a little tired. I got sleepy.- he replied

- So say it's time to go home.- concluded the doctor.

- Yeah, I'll ... I'll take you and then ... I'll go to bed right away. - replied the doctor with a somewhat strange way of doing things. It was as if he couldn't keep his eyes open.

His mouth was dry, despite having been drinking until recently.

As soon as he stood up and his head started spinning.

What was happening? He remained motionless for a few moments before starting to take the jacket from the chair to put it on.

- Will, sure you're okay? - Manning asked

- Yeah, just stunned. - he replied, strangely struggling

Once they had everything, the two boyfriends headed for the car. The doctor, however, was a little wobbly, which made his girlfriend worry.

- Will you want me to drive? she asked

- No, I can - he replied

The doctor seemed odd, but she let him.

Shortly after leaving the doctor, however, put the arrow again and parked on the side of the road and after opening the door he began to vomit.

Once finished, he leaned back in his seat to catch his breath.

- But how much did you drink? - asks Natalie seeing in what condition the doctor was in.

- Three ... not ... drunk. - he said

Will was very pale, so the doctor helped him out of the car and into the passenger side. He was unable to drive.

- I'll take you home. - she told him.

During the journey the two were forced to stop two more times to allow the doctor to vomit again.

Several times Dr. Manning had asked him to come to his house so that she could keep an eye on him.

Finally, exhausted, Halstead had fallen asleep and the doctor let him rest until they reached the doctor's house.

- Will, wake up. We have arrived. - she told him

Although he had closed his eyes a short time ago it was very difficult to wake him up.

Eventually, though, she managed to get him to open his eyes, get him out of the car and get him to his apartment.

It was a great deal of work as Halstead's weight was almost entirely on the doctor's shoulders.

Once inside he accompanied him directly to his room making him sit on the bed with his back leaning against the tavarca.

After helping him undress and put on something more comfortable, the doctor made him lie down and covered him with the blanket.

She was helping him put on his sweatpants when he fell asleep.

- Will I'm going ...- the doctor tried to say and then he realized he could hear her.

Dr. Halstead's behavior was very strange indeed. Natalie was sorry to have to leave him alone. Several times she had asked him to stop by her, but he had always politely refused.

The doctor couldn't stay with him, she had to go back to Owen to get the neighbor's daughter home, and it was already late at night.

Then he took his cell phone from his jacket pocket and made a phone call.

- Halstead, - he replied

- Jay it's Natalie, did I wake you up? - chiese

- No, don't worry, I just got back. What happens? Some problems? - the detective said starting to worry as it didn't happen often that you receive a phone call from your brother's girlfriend especially in the middle of the night

Dr. Manning told of his brother's strange behavior, of the fact that he had vomited several times and also told him that she would not be comfortable knowing he alone.

- Unfortunately I have to go home to Owen. I proposed to Will several times to come to me, but he didn't want to.

- I'm coming. - Jay replied putting on the shoes and the jacket that he had just taken off.

The detective took the keys and headed for the car.

After about a quarter of an hour he arrived at his brother's house and a few minutes later he was already in front of his door.

He went up the stairs taking the steps two by two and when he arrived he noticed that the door was leaning against it.

Natalie was in the bedroom with Will. She was helping him as he was throwing up again in the bucket he had on his legs.

While waiting for Jay's arrival, Manning had rummaged through the medicines in the house and had taken something for nausea. Once he had finished emptying the contents of his stomach she made him take them with some water in the hope that the doctor would be able to keep them.

After putting him back on the bed by putting an extra pillow under his head and making sure he was back asleep she kissed him on the forehead and prepared to leave.

Before leaving he greeted Jay who in the meantime had taken a very quick shower and after wearing something comfortable for his brother, he was lying on the bed next to him.

- Whatever you call me.- she told him.

Jay was there by Will's side, watching him, not taking his eyes off him for a second.

The doctor seemed to be sleeping peacefully and so he too was overcome by fatigue and fell asleep. They both managed to rest for a couple of hours.

It was around 7:00 am when the detective was awakened by some moans.

Initially the young man did not understand if they were real complaints or if he had only dreamed of them. Will still seemed to be sleeping peacefully. Shortly after, however, when he sat down on the bed, the doctor started to whimper again without waking up.

Jay couldn't tell if it was nightmares or real pain. He had to wake him up and ask him sparingly so he gently tried to shake him a little.

- Hey brother wake up. - he whispered in his ear.

The doctor was all sweaty even though his skin was fresh to the detective's touch.

- Jay - called him in a faint voice

- Yes I'm here. Everything is fine? asked the younger Halstead with great concern.

- Mmm ... All right - he didn't want to worry his brother so he initially decided to lie.

- Tell me the truth, please - Jay told him back that knowing him well understood his vain attempt to lie

- Help! help me! I beg you! - Halstead whimpered

- What's going on with you? If you don't tell me I can't help you - the detective said starting to get agitated.

- My stomach ... my head ... my chest is bursting ... - said Will almost with tears in his eyes.

The doctor was very agitated and frightened, he was breathing very quickly.

Jay, panicked, without making Will understand, walked away for a moment with an apology and picked up the phone and called Natalie.

- Nat, Will is really sick - he said all in one breath to the woman who was on the other end of the phone.

- I think at this point it is better to take him to the Med - she replied

- Ok - he said agreeing.

And so the detective helped him put on his jacket and shoes and took all of his weight to carry him down to his car. That operation, however, proved to be really difficult. Will couldn't move, he was folded in on himself in pain.

Jay was then forced to desist from his intent and after making him lie down again he picked up the phone again and called 911.

- 911 Hello what's the emergency?- replied one of the operators.

- Detective Jay Halstead, badge number 51163. I need an ambulance, my brother is very ill - said the detective introducing himself

- what's the problem? - asked the other man at the side of the telephone.

At that point Jay quickly described what Natalie had told him the night before and described what were the symptoms he had listed earlier by his brother.

- The ambulance will be there in about 4 minutes.

And so it was, after that very short time the ambulance was out of Will's apartment.

The doctor was dozing again when Brett and Foster came to him.

- What do we have here? - Silvye asked

-I don't know, he's been sick since tonight. He threw up several times and told me he had pain I think in the stomach, in the head and perhaps especially in the chest - Jay replied

- Did he take anything? - Emily asked

- No I do not think so. My brother takes nothing. Just something for the nausea and I vomit. Last night when I arrived I saw Natalie trying to get him to take the pills. Apparently, however, they did not help much.

At that moment Will opened his eyes in terror. His body began to shake involuntarily and his head swiveled back.

- Take off the double pillow under his head, quickly, - Brett ordered.

Jay immediately did as he was told.

Will's eyes were shut and his body was completely limp. A few moments later his whole body began to tremble

Silvy positioned herself to control the involuntary movement of his head to prevent him from knocking it back despite being resting on the pillow.

Meanwhile, Foster took from his bag several things that could have served him by acting as quickly as possible. Among the many things she had also taken the necessary for the drip to give him fluids being dehydrated having vomited so much.

Meanwhile, Brett was also timing the duration of Will's seizures

- Emily gives 5 mg of lorazepam, - she said

Meanwhile Jay stood there agitated and in shock seeing his brother feel so bad.

- Brett the lorazepam isn't working, - Foster told his colleague. - we should take him to Med immediately.-

Will's body meanwhile continued to contort with unnatural movements.

The doctor's mouth filled with white foam and the muscles of his bladder swirled, making him wet the gray pants of the overalls he was wearing.

He was having convulsions.

Silvy helped by her colleague put him next to him and Will started throwing up. Once he had calmed down they transferred him to the stretcher and with the help of Jay who himself was shaken out of his numbness they took him to the ambulance.

As soon as the patient was charged, Brett connected a central line to him, injecting physiological dehydration and a drug for seizures while Foster, who had started driving, set off with sirens blaring towards the hospital.

Jay got into the vehicle to be with his brother and during the journey he witnessed another fit of convulsions followed by sudden vomiting.

The detective broke his heart to see his brother in such a condition.

Once he got to the hospital everyone was shocked to see Will as a patient.

Natalie would have liked to take charge of him already knowing the story of the night and what I had mentioned Jay on the phone, but Maggie saw her involvement and replaced her with Ethan.

The doctor could not help but join a terrified and desperate Jay in the waiting room.

- Nat, I don't know what he has. He had convulsions, I didn't know what to do - he said to her trembling when he saw her as a tear ran down his face.

Meanwhile, in one of the hospital rooms, Dr. Choi was visiting his colleague.

- Maggie, let's hook him up to the monitors and start giving him fluids, with all the times he's vomited he's dehydrated. You do me all the blood tests, CBC, and even a tox. - he ordered and after bringing Natalie over, Jay at the entrance to the room added - tell me in detail what happened and the symptoms it presented.

Shortly after Will recovered and opened his eyes. He was very pale, he struggled to breathe and the monitors around him began to ring as he was bradycardic.

Immediately Ethan approached him again, connected him to oxygen so that he could breathe better, the saturation was decreasing.

Halstead's head was spinning and the doctor looked confused.

- Hey Will, how are you feeling? - Ethan asked trying to assess the conditions by asking him direct questions.

- Help - was the only word Will managed to say.

- What happens? What hurts you? - I keep asking the doctor.

Dr. Halstead tried to answer, but it was obvious that he was struggling.

His skin was cold and clammy.

Just then Maggie had returned to the room with the results of the tests. The routine ones were normal as opposed to the toxicological. There was a high presence of opioids in the blood.

Either Will had taken a disproportionate dose of drugs or someone had drugged him. Obviously the second option was the most credible.

But what substance? How could this have happened? Who was it? When? Like?

Looking closely at Doctor Choi's body he noticed several things that others had missed, given their involvement.

Will's hands, ankles and feet were very swollen and some parts of his body were red and certainly Halstead felt itchy.

Adding these new data to what the doctor already knew and to the results of the analyzes Choi realized that it was an overdose of substances such as Fentanyl.

It was necessary to act quickly to save his life.

Chapter Text

The shift in the district had ended very late that day. The intelligence had cleared a bandage of robbers and after questioning them stopped to write reports and complete the various paperwork.

It had been a very busy day, one of those days that hopefully ends soon and never seems to end.

It was 11:30 pm when they finished and Jay immediately took his car home.

He was exhausted, he felt cold, he had spent all day running here and there to catch criminals and then as icing on the office job.

He couldn't wait to go home, take a relaxing shower and then jump into bed. He was so tired he didn't even want to eat.

As soon as he got under his apartment, feeling a little mentally accelerated and physically charged, he decided to take a stroll before returning home.

It was then that he ran into a man who was torturing a child in the hall of his house in the middle of the night.

The little one, who could have been no more than six / seven years old, was in a corner crying as the man was hitting him repeatedly.

- Hey, hey, stop .- he shouted

- What does he want? - asked the man

- Detective Jay Halstead, Chicago PD. - introduced himself.

- So what? What he wants? - the man asked impatiently again

- Doesn't he know that children don't touch? - Jay said with a great anger growing inside him

- He is mine and I educate him as I please. -

After saying this, the man backfired the boy in the face with a backward slap. The little one began to bleed from his nose and Jay could no longer see us in anger.

- Children do not touch - he repeated screaming at him

- He's mine!- The man replied, pouncing on Jay.

So it was that a fight was born and in the end after a few blows and someone received the detective got the better of and arrested him.

- Now come with me damn! - he said handcuffing him.

Holding the man in front of him he started walking towards his car which was parked not far from there. Turning behind him he finally asked the little boy to follow him.

Arriving in the car, he made the man get in behind and the little one in front of him.

In no time Jay arrived at the district, handed the man over to his colleagues and picked up the baby and carried him with him.

He hoped that Voight was still at work, it was in his office that he was headed.

Going up to his boss's office, it was there that he met him, luckily he hadn't left yet.

- What are you still doing here? - Voight asked

- I caught a man who hit this kid. - replied the detective

- What a bastard! Children do not touch .- exclaimed the sergeant

- Look, he lent it to blood. - Jay proved

- I would say to question him. Did you hear it? - Voight asked him

The detective nodded yes, he was tired, but the damn man couldn't get away with it.

Before joining his boss in the interrogation room, however, he went to Platt's to give him the baby.

- Hey baby, this is my friend Trudi. Will you stay with her for a while until I get back? - Halstead asked the little boy.

The kid, Ralph was his name, was terrified and didn't want to leave Jay's neck, but then he was convinced.

- Halstead, let's go, - the sergeant called.

So the detective greeted the little one and went to his boss.

He was really exhausted, it was the adrenaline that allowed him to stand still.

That man's interrogation was handled by Voight and Jay stayed in the room to assist.

In order to stand up he leaned against the wall, from time to time shifting his weight from one side of his body to the other.

The man, Mr. Enry Thompson, said he was the boy's uncle and that what the detective had seen and interrupted was simply his way of educating him.

Voight decided to keep him for the night.

- We'll leave him here for tonight. But we have no proof. If we still don't have anything by tomorrow, I'll have to release it. - he told him

- You can't let go of a man like that. - Halstead replied disappointed

- Find me the evidence. I can't just blame him for what you saw. Unfortunately, that's not enough. - the sergeant concluded.

With that said Jay returned to the baby and advised Voight that he would take him to Will for a checkup and then he would start investigating.

So saying he got into the car with Ralph and went straight to Med.

During the trip he told him about his brother and his girlfriend who were the best doctors in the hospital.

He wanted to make sure that the child did not get scared when he arrived at the hospital, in fact he told him that there were all his friends there.

Once inside the Ed Jay met the head nurse.

- Hello detective and who is this beautiful baby? - she said, referring to the little one who was more or less hidden behind the policeman's leg.

- Hi Meggie, this is Ralph. - he said and then turning to the little one she added - this is one of the friends I told you about.-

Jay had crouched next to the baby to talk to him, when he got up he remained motionless for a moment.

When he got up his head started spinning, but luckily he recovered almost immediately.

- Meggie, I absolutely need my brother. - he said after recovering.

How lucky that both the nurse and the brother were on duty that night.

Will never worked night shifts. That time he was doing it after the request of della Goodwin due to staff shortages.

- I think your brother is busy with a tough case.- Lockwood replied. - I think he will have some for a while. If you want I can talk to Crockett, he should be free.-

- No, thank you. We will wait. - He answered.

Jay had decided that this child could only Will touch and heal him.

He had promised the little one too, and then that doctor, Marcel, he didn't like at him let alone if he would have agreed to have him cure him.

He didn't know why but he didn't really like it.

After about twenty minutes Will finally freed himself and Meggie directed him to the waiting room.

Arriving there, the doctor smiled seeing the scene that was created.

His brother and the little boy had fallen asleep overwhelmed by exhaustion.

Jay had his head turned back leaning against the wall and the baby instead had his head on his legs.

- Jay, little brother wake up. - Will said softly.

The detective shortly after opened his eyes, he felt terrible.

He didn't remember feeling this way before falling asleep.

He had a headache and all his muscles were screaming for revenge after the physical exertion made during the day.

Obviously he had decided, as always, not to let Will understand. He had to devote himself scrupulously to the little one, as his way of doing, without distractions of any kind.

The detective got up gently without waking the baby and after entrusting him to Meggie for a few minutes, he walked away with Will to talk to him.

- Will you have to take a look at the little one .- he asked him directly

-What's wrong with him? -Asked his brother

- He was with a man, he was beating him. I think ...- Jay then began to explain the situation to him.

The two were sitting on the sofa in the doctors room when the detective suddenly collapsed onto his brother's shoulder.

- Hey Jay, what ... - said the doctor not expecting that situation.

His brother had collapsed on him and his body was radiating enough heat.

- Damn Jay, but you are hot! you have a high fever. - he said entering medical mode Will - I have a bed made so you can lie down and I can visit you. Then I will also do it for the little one. -

And having said this, the doctor placed his brother on the sofa and moved to go and call a nurse. As he spoke the detective, however, recovered and stopped him.

- No, Will. Stop ...- he said getting up.

Immediately the doctor turned back because the other was swaying dangerously.

- I'm fine, I'm just a little tired. - Jay explained

- But, you have a high fever ... - the doctor said alarmed

- It's nothing, I told you. Nothing that a little rest cannot solve. - the detective tried to reassure him and then added - Will you have to visit Ralph. When I arrived the man who was with him was beating the shit out of him ..

but how can you? how can you harm such a small and defenseless child ...

The young man was desperate.

Will hugged him tightly and once he was calm the two went back to the baby.

The little boy was still fast asleep.

Jay tried to pick him up to follow his brother who had found a free room for the three of them, but being weak he couldn't do it so Will went back and it was he who took the baby.

Little Ralph was stretched out on the cot and Will began to visit him.

Heart rate was regular as was blood pressure.

The kid had several bruises and previous bruising marks on his body. It wasn't the first time he had been beaten.

As soon as the visit was over Will approached Jay and woke him up to inform him of what he had discovered.

The detective had fallen asleep again, he was having a hard time keeping his eyes open.

- Will - he said moving, but immediately stopped groaning from the headache and because everything around him seemed to be in motion.

A cough, nausea took over him and the doctor who understood what was about to happen took a basin and placed it under Jay's chin who threw up everything he had in his stomach.

- Sorry, I'm sorry. - he said once finished.

- Do not worry. Have a drink - said the doctor handing him a bottle of water.

- I do not want to. I don't think I can hold it back. - explained the detective

- Either water or a drip - he replied

- the IV, -Jay said

He must have been really sick if he'd rather be punctured by a needle than drinking a few sips of water.

The detective, however, wanted to avoid unnecessary discussions. He had only a few hours left and if he had not discovered anything, the man would have been set free and would have recovered the child by continuing to beat him.

- How do you feel? - Will asked after a few minutes

- the child? he answered back.

- Jay! - he admonished him

- Will I have to know how he is .- the detective asked in a desperate voice

- All in all he is fine. He has bruises on his abdomen, chest and back, but luckily there are no internal injuries. - explained the doctor.

- I understand, - Jay said with a sigh. He really hoped he could achieve something more ..

- There are signs of previous wounds, various scars. I told April to check if there's anything in our files on Ralph. Jay! - Will continued calling his brother at the end of his speech.

As the doctor spoke, however, the detective was again fainting from exhaustion.

Will then let him sleep and prepared the kit to insert a IV to give him fluids.

It would take a while to do all the necessary research and verification so he could have taken the opportunity to heal his brother by allowing him to rest for a while.

Jay was shattered and sleeping so soundly that he felt nothing.

The doctor took a thermometer and silently checked his brother's temperature. It was 100.9F ( 37,9 C). Luckily It wasn't so tall that he had to give something so he decided to wait and measure it again later.

As he left the room to get a blanket to put on his brother, little Ralph opened his eyes.

He immediately looked in Will's direction with terrified eyes.

- Hey hello kid. Don't be afraid, I'm Jay's brother Will. - said the doctor trying to reassure him.

- Where is he? - the little one asked immediately.

- He is there - the doctor pointed out - he was so tired that, like you, he fell asleep. Why don't you rest a little longer too? You are safe here -

And so the little one let himself be persuaded and in a short time he fell asleep again.

After an hour the detective woke up feeling dizzy and painful the room was dark and Ralph was still sleeping on the cot. He had a band-aid in his arms. The brother must have put him on a Iv as he had said and once finished he had taken it off.

He staggered out to Will who was next to the nurses' desk.

- Did you find anything? - he asked.

- Yes, I have something - answered the doctor surprised to see him there - how are you?

- Well, tell me what you found out - Jay told him lying

- I'll tell you everything but I would like you to lie down and rest a bit - his brother told him trying to convince him.

- Will enough! I don't have time to rest now! I have to finish the case and then I'll stop. Without evidence, the suspect will be released.- Jay explained, getting angry.

The doctor understood that his brother had taken this kid's case to heart.

- So, there are numerous visits for different traumas. And we have the mother's name and number. -

Immediately after taking the file, Jay decided to contact the woman on his cell phone.

- Hello? replied a sleeping woman. The detective was calling in the middle of the night.

- Am I talking to Ralph's mother? -Jay asked directly

- Yes, who are you? Did something happen?- asked the frightened woman.

- I'm Detective Jay Halstead, your son is here with me at Chicago Med. I need to talk to you. - he explained introducing himself

- Please tell me what's happening ... - the woman said agitatedly.

- It's okay, but it would be better to talk in person - Jay explained to her

- I'll join you right away - she replied

After about 15 minutes, the woman arrived at the hospital.

- Detective Halstead contacted me, - the woman explained to Maggie

So immediately the person concerned was called and the two sat down in the doctors room to talk more quietly.

The detective recounted everything he had witnessed and the woman began to cry

She left her son with his father a few days a week, the two were divorced and had joint custody of the child.

The night in those days when the child was with him, he stayed with his uncle because the ex-husband of the woman did a night job.

- He often came home hurt and in pain, I always had the feeling that he was hurt, but I couldn't imagine such a thing. Ralph has always been a distracted kid who hurts himself but I don't ...- the woman was crying bitterly now.

Once she had calmed down, the detective took her to the room where the kid was.

- Hey my little one wake up ... - she said softly.

The kid opened his eyes and immediately jumped into her arms calling her mommy ...

- Ralph, baby, I need to talk to you. But you have to tell me the truth - said the detective

The kid replied in the affirmative with a nod of the head and he recorded what the little boy was saying to him with his cell phone.

Eventually Ralph, despite being afraid that the truth would come out, had confirmed what the detective and his mother suspected.

His uncle beating him sistematically for years every time he was with him.

The man was not the blood brother of the woman's ex-husband. He was the second husband of his sister who had died a few years earlier from a bad disease and so the two men after the divorce had decided to live together to divide the costs.

Ralph finally said that when they were alone they could have fun laughing and playing together, but it was after dinner that everything changed.

The man got drunk and beat the child systematically.

Once all the information had been collected, the three left the hospital and when they reached the Detective's car they left to go to the needed to repeat what had been said in front of the sergeant.

Jay drove automatically. He was in pieces, he was running out of his energy supply. He often he rubbed his eyes with his fingers because they misted slightly.

What kept him on his feet was the anger towards the damned who hurt the children.

The little ones for him were not to be touched even with a finger.

As soon as they arrived they entered the district and the detective approached the attendant who was in front of the entrance.

- Excuse me, where is Voight? - he asked him

It was almost morning, it was now past 4. The case had to be closed as soon as possible, before daybreak.

- It should be in his office,- the attendant replied.

Jay went upstairs headed by his sergeant followed by Ralph and his mother.

The little boy confirmed what he had said in the hospital in front of Voight and the woman denounced the man, so the sergeant took action to make the man confess that he remained there in custody.

The detective went with his boss again. He wanted to be there when that damn was arrested. Meanwhile, Ralph and his mother stayed downstairs to wait.

The man was charged with maltreatment of a minor and was sentenced to 3 years in prison with the obligation also to clean himself of his alcohol addiction.

Now little Ralph could finally live quietly.

Once the interrogation was over Jay went to Ralph's mother to inform her of everything about him and then had her escorted to the hospital to allow the woman to take her car and go home with her son.

It was now 7 in the morning and the colleagues were about to arrive.

It was no longer time for Jay to go home.

The detective then went back to the office and started working on the PC.

Voight had noticed that he was exhausted and had repeatedly told him to take the day off and go home.

- I'm fine Sergeant, thanks. There is no need. - he repeated him like an enchanted record.

Around 8 o'clock one after another the team members were all in the office and were proceeding to complete reports of the latest cases.

Jay instead was trying to write the case report he and his boss had solved overnight.

But he was completely in pieces his body was screaming for revenge he needed rest. Despite this he did not give up and continued to work.

At one point he decided to get up to have a cup of coffee hoping the caffeine would give him some more energy.

As soon as he was on his feet, however, his legs gave out and he fell to the ground unconscious.

Antonio and Al who were the closest were immediately next to him to help him joined by Hailey.

The three realized that the detective had a high fever. He had tried his best to complete the case, he had asked his body for more than he could give him.

To her surprise, the doctor was already aware of everything and then he told the detective that he would go to his house to check around nine pm after finishing the night shift.

The young man had taken a good flu, not caused by viruses, but by the fatigue and stress he had undergone at that time.

He was forced to rest in bed for a couple of days and then he was finally able to return to work.

This, however, only after Will, who had always been by his side in those days, had confirmed that it was 100%.

Chapter Text

Jay and Will were having a great week. The detective, Hailey, the doctor, Natalie and Owen had managed to get a week off. It was an absurd thing to think, they could never have imagined that their holidays could coincide.

In fact, that was the first time such a thing had happened.

The four, taking advantage of being free at the same time, had decided to spend a week in a cottage surrounded by nature. It was seven days of complete relaxation, carefree fun.

Unfortunately, as always, good things come to an end sooner or later and the last day of vacation quickly arrived. The four decided to spend it having a picnic in the open air and the Halstead brothers enjoyed playing with little Owen, while the two women watched them laughing out loud.
The two men looked like children running free on the lawns.

Everyone needed that little break to recharge their batteries before returning to everyday life.
Especially Jay who hadn't even had nightmares in those days. He really looked like another person. He felt safe, peaceful close to his family (his brother to him) and to the love of his life.

25 August

It was late in the evening when the group got into the car to drive back to the city. Will was driving with Natalie beside him. In the back seat there were Jay, Hailey and little Owen who, sitting in his seat, had fallen asleep shortly after leaving.

After about an hour of travel, Jay, who had decided to enjoy his vacation until the last minute, noticed a sign for a motorway restaurant.

- Will, hey, could we make a pit stop? I got hungry - the detective said.

He was known to be a good fork, he always had been, from an early age. Things had changed a bit in times of pain, when Jay could not feel comfortable and carefree.

Will was forced to take a small detour despite only an hour and a half to get home.

Jay grabbed a nice ham sandwich and a beer and then got back in the car.

The doctor watched his brother and was happy. He hadn't seen him that way for centuries. He looked as free and lighthearted as he was before he enlisted. He had also regained his usual appetite and good humor.

However, he was also aware that this would not last long. Back in Chicago and above all at work, unfortunately, everything would be back to the way it was before. In his heart, however, he hoped it wasn't like that.

- Try not to make too many crumbs please! - Will said as soon as the young man got into the car. When he was little the detective was always scolded because he was always hungry, he ended up eating in the car and dirtying everything where he was sitting.

Jay said nothing anyway, he was too busy enjoying his sandwich. He bit into it then tasted it. In the meantime, Hailey was also watching her boyfriend, happy to see him like that too.

But everyone knew that once in Chicago things would be different, but what they didn't know was that this was the calm and quiet before the storm.

The doctor arrived in town accompanied Natalie, picked up Owen and placed him in his bed, kissing him on his forehead and then helped her to get out and enter her suitcases.

Then the two brothers, after accompanying Hailey, continued their journey until they reached Will's apartment.

- I arrived! Are you sure you don't want to stop from me tonight? - the doctor finally said

- No, thank you. I'd rather go home, I have to go to work early tomorrow. - Jay replied as he got out of the back seat and climbed onto the driver's side. Will had driven his pickup truck. Then with a sigh he added feeling again catapulted into reality - the free ride is over.

- Oh yes, unfortunately. From tomorrow we will return to the usual life. Goodnight - he greeted him sighing to himself.

-Night, brother! - replied the other happy and satisfied despite everything for what he had experienced in those days. He had to thank Will who, wanting to surprise him, had organized everything down to the smallest detail.

Jay waited until the doctor got to the door of the building and then left.

Will took the house keys from his pocket, the journey had been a bit tiring, even though it hadn't been very long.

He was already looking forward to taking a refreshing shower, given the heat it was still going on, to prepare a quick dinner and then have a good night's sleep in his bed where he would stay for at least seven or eight hours.
He looked at the watch on his wrist, it was already 11:45 pm.

Insert the keys in the lock and after opening the door, he turned on the light in the house and found that he had company.

- Hello doctor - said the man sitting on the sofa in front of the entrance.

- Who are you and what are you doing in my house? - Asked the doctor terrified, looking for something to protect himself.

Unfortunately, however, there was someone moving in the shadows behind him, and without making the slightest noise, attacked him by hitting him on the back of the head with what appeared to be a stick. Everything in front of the doctor's eyes went black and Will immediately fell to the ground unconscious.

For that attacker, however, having hit him was not enough. The man dragged the doctor out of the house and then, taking his weight, loaded him onto a car.
Before leaving he also injected something into his arm. It was a strange cherry red liquid of his invention that he had previously prepared by keeping it in the syringe ready to use.

August 26

Jay arrived in the district early that day. He felt full of energy, ready to go to work.

Before going there, however, he had stopped at the bar to get breakfast for everyone, including the sergeant: coffee and croissant. It was the least he could do when he got back from vacation for those who had continued to work without going on vacation.

All the colleagues thanked him and biting into their croissants began to fill him and Hailey with questions, curious to know how their vacation had gone.

Since he had arrived at the office and settled at his desk, the others had begun to pester him with questions. Colleagues were also looking for spicy details about his days with Hailey.
Once their thirst for knowledge had been satisfied and some questions that were a little too personal had been sidetracked, they all went to work.

The hours passed quietly in the silence of the room when suddenly the detective's cell phone began to vibrate insistently in the pocket of his jeans, distracting everyone from what they were doing.

Jay took it and after reading on the display who was calling him he answered.

- Hello Nat - he replied greeting his sister-in-law

- Jay do you know what happened to Will? - the doctor asked without preamble and without answering the greeting.

- As far as I know he should be there in the hospital by now - she answered thinking about it, the detective observing the time on the clock that was hanging on the wall in front of him.

- No, he hasn't turned up yet and his shift started at eight. - Natalie informed him

The detective at that point began to worry. The clock he had checked a few moments earlier read 9:45. His brother was nearly two hours late.

- It's strange. Will is never late, he hates to be and if something happens to him he always warns .- concluded the doctor, almost reading her mind.

- Don't worry, you'll see that I'll find out where it's gone.- Jay replied at that point.
________________________________________ Will opened his eyes feeling lightheaded and sore. He couldn't figure out where he was. He was a prisoner in a hole, in a tiny little room, it looked like a dungeon. He was afraid, where had he gone? His heart was beating hard in his chest, so much so that he seemed to be able to hear the noise himself without using any instrument that amplified the sound. His breathing was quick and shallow with agitation. The key thing, however, was that he was able to remain calm. He had to think, he had to find a way to get out of there. He stood up and a little staggered he started walking around the room looking at the details. The walls were rustic, brick and concrete. There was very little space, the room was so small it looked like a box, a square. In front of him, finally, there was a sheet metal door. The room was still empty, there was nothing inside, not even a piece of furniture. In one corner, abandoned, there was only a small cell phone. ___________________________________________________

After talking to Natalie, once he hung up, Jay immediately dialed his brother's number without thinking twice and started the call.

One, two ... Five, six rings ...
Nothing, no answer.

But where the hell had Will gone?

Putting his cell phone back in his pocket, annoyed, he was about to go to Voight to ask if he could go to his brother's house. He began to think that maybe Will was feeling sick and might need help when it started vibrating and attracting everyone's attention.

- Today you are really wanted - Adam said a little annoyed, but trying to make a nice joke.

The detective ignored what his colleague had said and frantically pulled his cell phone out of his pocket once more. He assumed it must be Will calling him back.
Looking at the display, however, he immediately realized that he was not his brother. It was an unknown number.

- Jay Halstead - he replied

- Hey little brother, it's Will - said the voice of the person on the other end of the phone. He seemed to have just woken up. He sounded hoarse and groggy.

- Will, where did you go? You're late for work, Natalie just called me! She is worried. You better go to the hospital right away. Come on, and don't tell me you didn't hear the alarm this morning! - he said in one breath with a hint of concern in his voice.

- Jay ... I don't ... I don't think I can go to work today. - replied the doctor, always in that somewhat strange tone of his.

- Oh, come on! Don't be funny - said the detective after hearing what his brother had said. He still couldn't understand why he said that. In his mind he was trying to find a plausible explanation for that matter that slowly seemed to smell of rottenness.

- Jay, I'm not kidding ... - Will said sighing with a tone so serious that it left no room for doubt.

The detective got up from his desk and started walking towards the relaxation room to avoid the curious glances of his colleagues who he already felt fixed on him. From his brother's voice, moreover, he sounded agitated, nervous, almost frightened. Jay was really starting to worry. He didn't understand what was happening, but he had to admit that something was wrong. Was it possible that his brother had drunk his brains? No, something had certainly happened.

- Will you tell me what happened once and for all? Where have you ended up? Are you OK? - he asked him after a few seconds once he arrived in the relaxation room.

- That's the point Jay. I do not know. I have no idea where I am! - Said the doctor while his brother, on the other end of the phone, listened incredulously in silence. - Last night there was a man in my house and he was certainly not alone. He hit me and I think I passed out. When I recovered I found myself here, locked in a .. room. -

- What?!?!?!?! - Jay yelled getting just what he had tried to avoid that is to draw the attention of colleagues to him again.

- I am in the middle of nowhere, enclosed between four very high walls with a strip of small windows at the top near the roof. It's empty, I only found this phone and so I called you.

Hearing those words the young Halstead began to feel bad, his skin became more and more pale and the sense of guilt was making its way more and more in him.

Will had been kidnapped by now it was clear, and if that had happened for sure it had to be because of him. Someone wanted to make him pay. He had to be someone who was mad at the detective.

Who could ever blame a man as sweet and kind as his brother who did nothing but make himself available to those in need, doing everything to make people feel better?

Trying to move as fast as he could, staggering slightly and breathing heavily as his stomach twisted in agitation he tried to rush to Voight's office.

- Sergeant someone has kidnapped my brother! - he yelled, throwing open the door without knocking and then trying to breathe by inhaling more air and failing miserably.

The man sitting at the desk was stunned, he hated when someone opened his door without knocking. Not that Halstead was one who used to do that.
Under normal circumstances, the sergeant would certainly have lectured him, but that wasn't. If he had been for sure the young man would never, ever have behaved in that way.

The older man, moreover, after a few moments to record the words spoken by his detective, made him enter and sit on the chair, having the impression that if he had not made him sit down his boy would have fallen to the ground at any moment.

- Halstead what's going on? - he asked, handing him a glass of water.

Jay sat down, took a small sip and told everything he had just learned from his brother earlier.

Immediately the sergeant contacted Mouse so that he could trace the number from which the call came.

- Will can you describe the person who kidnapped you? Can you tell me what's there near you? - Voight asked the doctor directly after Jay had plugged in the speakerphone trying to get any clue he could.

- No, Sergeant. That man was wearing a balaclava and there's nothing here, just this phone. Wait a moment - said at that point the doctor who had also inserted the speakerphone.

- What happens? - the detective and his boss asked in chorus

- Here is a message .. - the doctor informed them after seeing the cell phone display. After reading the contents he gasped, shocked.

- "This vacation was given to you by Jay Halstead" - the doctor read aloud and then continued - Jay please tell me this is a stupid joke! -

In Voight's office not a fly flew, no one had the courage to say anything, neither the sergeant nor the boys who, having sensed that something serious had happened, had rushed to make themselves useful.

Jay was more and more terrified, obviously he hadn't been the one to organize it all, but it was now clearly clear that the real target of the criminal was him.
Will was just a way to get to the detective, to hit him deep inside.

Young Halstead shivered like a leaf and his blood chilled just as the extremities of his body were frozen. His stomach was twitching more than before making him regret accepting the water that his boss had previously offered him, even though he had only taken a small sip.
What evil and sick mind could have concocted all this?

The silence that had been created was broken by Mouse who, returning to the room, frightening everyone present, said:
- Guys, unfortunately this is an untraceable number. -

This for Jay was yet another cold shower, they had no clue to help his brother.

- Jay please, tell me that you understand where I am and that you come and get me. - said Will now in a panic.

- I ... I don't ... I don't have ... the ... faintest idea - stammered the detective with difficulty, keeping his gaze down, shaking his head.

Jay knew he had to do something right away, he couldn't lose his brother. It was his only family. No, such a thing was not possible.

The detective tried to get the bad thoughts out of his mind by forcing himself to think positive, but that wasn't easy. His body was also opposing his will. He felt faint, he was weak. He had panicked and his guilt was overwhelming him more and more.

- Will are you sure there is nothing else on the phone? -asked the sergeant once more.

The doctor was increasingly terrified and desperate. He was trying to find other clues to help his brother and the others find him, but nothing.

Wandering around the phone, after opening the phone gallery he noticed the presence of a photo. When he opened them, his heart froze and he began to go into the balloon. It was difficult for him to even breathe. It was as if his lungs refused to do their job. Will felt a lump in his throat, he wanted to cry.

- Will, are you okay? - Jay asked in a faint voice, more and more frightened, having sensed his brother's hesitation.

- I found a photo in the gallery ... it's from ... my arm .. I recognize it, l can see my watch ... - at that moment he paused and panting and then went on mumbling the words - Jay, I think they injected me with something, in the photo you see a syringe inserted directly into the vein .. -

The detective felt himself collapse, his heart was now beating madly in his chest and he was almost hyperventilating, his face was very pale. What had they given his brother?

Will on the other hand was in even worse shape. He was a doctor and needless to say that whatever was injected into him was sure to have repercussions.

What if he was kidnapped to be treated as a test subject for experiments? What if he was going to die?

No, it couldn't be true. Before doing so, Will would have liked at least to say goodbye to his brother, his girlfriend, Owen his little son ... and if there was still time for his friends.

His mind was a constant frenzy of desperate thoughts and in the meantime he kept staring at that damn photo. What had they injected into him? What the hell could that substance be? Having that substance circulating in his body could never lead to anything good.

As soon as he felt ready the doctor continued: - It seems there was a liquid inside ... It looks red, a pale red ... But I don't know what it is ...-

Jay, as everyone listened to what Will was saying while on speakerphone, turned and saw Adam walking out of the room. The yung boy, without anyone saying anything to him, had left his boss's office to search, using his computer, for some more information on that substance.

Not long after, with his quick and determined step, Sergeant Platt also entered the room, headed like a missile towards Voight's room.

The woman didn't even look around, she went straight to her target having seen the open door. She was looking for her favorite detective of hers and was a little angry at her.

She knew he was there in the office. She hadn't seen anyone from Intelligence leave the district and she didn't miss anything, she saw who came in and out of her post.

- Detective Halstead, this envelope is for you. It was left in front of the entrance. - she said entering the room heading towards him and so saying she gave it to him - next time you tell your correspondents not to throw it on the ground and that I am not your postwoman.

Jay turned to her looking at her. He couldn't follow her. He didn't understand what was happening. It was as if, at that moment, his mind couldn't register what she was saying to him.

The gray-haired woman was amazed at the young man's attitude and she began to observe him and then look around her. Something strange was happening there. Why were all the Intelligence boys gathered in Voight's room except for Adam who had glimpsed fiddling with his computer? Why did Jay seem so strange?

The sergeant, however, after a few moments, left the room without asking any questions and almost ran into Ruzek who was returning to his colleagues.
Everyone present looked at him hoping that he had found something, but he shook his head saying no disconsolately.

The detective after that news began to tremble and without saying a word, disappointed by everything that was happening, he looked at the envelope that he still held in his hand.
He was looking for the sender, but there was nothing on it, only his name printed on a computer was written on it.
He slowly then he opened it under the watchful eyes of Voight and the other guys on the team.

Inside it was a letter and obviously it too had been written on the computer and then printed.

Whoever had come up with that plan had done so without neglecting the slightest detail.

Jay's hands were shaking too much preventing him from reading the contents of the letter, his eyes burned from unshed tears preventing him from focusing on what was written and his mouth was so muddy that the few words he said were not easy to understand.

Antonio, therefore, noticing the difficulties of his friend, took the sheet that the other held in his hands and began to read aloud.

"Dear Detective Halstead, It has been a long time since we last met. You arrested me several years ago. I introduce myself, my name is Mike Grimberg and I am sure my name will not be new to you. For sure you will remember me. ... "

- Grimberg? No, it can't be - Halstead thought to himself.

All the boys after hearing that name looked at each other.

That man was a New York herbalist with a passion for illegal drugs. He had moved to Chicago to carry out his own experiments, until Intelligence arrested him.

It was Jay who had put the handcuffs on him. It was one of his very first arrests of him the year he joined the team.

That criminal loved to combine substances, licit and illicit, as he pleased to create new drugs and then test their effectiveness by experimenting on unaware human beings.

- I can not believe it! He was released from prison for good behavior three months ago. - Mouse said after doing a quick search on his laptop.

It was clear as day that he was going to make Jay pay for it.

"During the time I spent in prison I thought about you a lot. The first time we met you won, but now I'm back and I want to challenge you, I want a rematch. Why don't we play a good game? to organize one down to the smallest detail. "

Antonio kept reading and in the meantime Jay was getting more and more angry. The blood was boiling in his veins and his face was growing red. If Grimberg had been there in front of him at that moment, he would surely have strangled him.

"You know, it's a very special game. I'm sure you've already talked to your brother William. Well he's an integral part of our game. You need to know that while in prison there are several ways to pass the time. I spent many years in my cell and I had the opportunity to read many books, especially medicine and botany. I learned many things that once free I could experiment. I spent the last three months experimenting to create something special that I have reserved for this occasion. I invented a powerful poison that I administered to your brother last night. "

The detective, who jumped to his feet while his colleague was reading, stood there, petrified, motionless. His muscles were so stiff they felt like violin strings that they could snap at any moment. His hands were clenched into fists, his knuckles were almost white from the force with which he squeezed them, and his nails were stuck in his palms.

- Damn,- he said through gritted teeth as a few tears ran down his face.

Meanwhile Antonio continued reading. Seeing his colleague's reaction, he would have preferred to stop. He wanted to be close to Jay even though it was as if Jay had built a wall around him and didn't even want to be touched or approached by anyone. So he went on.

The only way he had to help his friend was to uncover clues to find his brother as soon as possible.

"I was able to isolate the individual toxins and then lengate them together creating a vast array of symptoms.
Am I or am I not a genius? If you play with me, eventually your brother will be free. As long as you manage to win and get the antidote by giving it to him in time. If you decide not to participate or if you lose, I will destroy the vial and your brother will slowly wear out until he dies slowly and painfully. The next time you see him, it might be for his funeral. Provided that you too manage to stay alive. "

Jay was struggling to stand up now, but he refused to sit down. His body swayed dangerously and in a fit of rage, while listening to the words of that cursed criminal read by Antonio, he punched against the desk of his sergeant making everyone present jump and injuring himself making the knuckles of his right hand bleed without however blink in pain.

"Of course I'm sure you'll choose to play my game. It's the only way to find your beloved little brother and save his life."

Jay didn't want to play with that madman, but he didn't want to lose on his brother either. So he had no choice if he wanted to save him.

Meanwhile Will, still being on the line, listened in silence to what Antonio was reading.
Hearing those words, however, he began to feel bad. Panic was taking hold of him more and more and copious tears began to fall from his eyes. He was afraid for himself, he did not want to die and although he was in that situation because of his brother's work, he felt the same feeling for Jay because he knew that the latter would do everything to save him even at the cost of jeopardizing his life, his own life.

- You won't hurt my brother - Jay yelled with all the strength he had in his body with the terror that took hold of him more and more. His heart was beating wildly and it seemed to want to get out of his chest.

How much sadness was accumulating in the hearts of all present and especially of Antonio. Sadness and anger that however pushed the latter to continue reading. There had to be some news, some clue to start with.

"I guess you are wondering what effect my poison will have on him. Over time he will develop various physical and psychological symptoms. It will be really fun to see him suffer. Soon I'll tell you in detail what I'm talking about. You'll see, it's a list. handsome rich and you will witness the appearance of each of the symptoms, if as I believe he has already found the phone that I left in the room and contacted you.
At least he will be in the company of him in his last hours during his suffering. As you can see I'm not that bad. Indeed, if as I think he is listening while you are reading, I think he too will be happy to know in advance what will happen to him from here on out.
So if you are ready I would start listing them one by one: sleepines, migraine, confusion, anger, depression, anxiety, dyspnea, abdominal pain..."

For a moment Antonio stopped, watching his friend out of the corner of his eye, having noticed that his malaise was getting worse.

Jay couldn't stand his brother taking so much from him and his work.
Every symptom he read was for him a blow to the heart, a stab. His guilt was crushing him.
His ashen face was gradually taking on a greenish color and Dawson sensing what was going to happen grabbed the basket that was under Voight's desk putting it just in time under Jay's chin allowing him to vomit the contents of his stomach.

Often the young detective, in moments of great stress and anxiety, reacted in that way. He was trying to get rid of everything. It was the only way to give him a little relief.

- Maybe we better stop for a moment - Antonio said then once Jay had finished throwing up passing the basket to Kevin to get rid of the contents.

- Go on, please,- said the young Halstead in a faint and thick voice.

- But Jay ... - tried to dissent the colleague seeing him so pale, but Halstead did not want to hear reasons.

- I said go ahead! - the young man then said with more force.

"...tremors, cough, nausea, fever, cramps, hypothermia. You have no idea how complex but most of all fun it was to create a substance that combines all these symptoms.
Oh I forgot to add the conclusion of everything: obviously death."

Will was increasingly terrified. He had confirmed that he would eventually die and that scared him, even more so now that he had heard how it was going to happen.
He would never see his brother again, his beloved Nat, little Owen, his friends.
His fate was now written, if his brother had not found him in time. He crouched in the corner of the room and wept.

Jay's body meanwhile listening to the list had become limp and his legs a few moments after Antonio mentioned the last symptom bent risking to end up with his face on the floor. Fortunately Al, who had sensed what was about to happen, moved forward to support him.

The young detective moved his lips and the sound of his voice was almost inaudible.
He was hyperventilating and as he did so he repeated to himself:
- Will please hold on tight, don't leave me.-

Olinsky accompanied the young man to the small sofa in Voight's office making him lie down its. Staying beside him he began whispering reassuring words in his ear to try to calm him down a little. It was evident that he was in shock, everything could have been expected, but not to live a nightmare like that.

What was clear, however, was the need for him to recover because he was the only one who could do anything to save Will.

Jay was standing there on the couch motionless, looking like he had passed out even though his eyes were open.

At the other end of the phone, a crying Will was huddled in a corner. What the latter did not know, however, was that he was about to experience the first of the symptoms listed by that crazy criminal.

Suddenly it was as if someone had hit him right in the chest between the ribs. He felt an excruciating pain, unbearable, so much so that he felt the need to scream. And that's what he did.

The doctor curled up even more on himself and dropped the phone from his hand.

Hearing that heartbreaking scream Jay shook himself out of his numbness and turning to his cell phone and trying to control his trembling voice so as not to transmit his fear to his brother said:
- Will, what's up? Talk to me please -

"If my calculations are correct, soon the first effects of my poison should begin to be felt ..." Antonio read in shock in the letter.

- Jay,- Will said softly, panting.

- What happens? How do you feel? - Jay asked again, grabbing the phone Hailey gave him.

Initially on the other end of the phone the detective received no answer, it took a while before he could hear his brother say in a faint voice:
- I... I am fine... -

"Don't worry too much about these early symptoms. They are just signs of what's to come next."

- Why are you angry with him bastard and not directly with me? I arrested you he did nothing to you. -Jay asked almost with tears in his eyes as if the man could hear him.

"Dear Dr. Halstead obviously has no faults, he's just part of the game."

- Game? What kind of game would put people's lives at risk? - Voight said, banging his fist on the table.

Unfortunately none of those present managed to give him an answer.

"I have decided that, for this adventure, you will not be alone. You can ask for help from one of your colleagues to help you pass the various tests I have prepared. If you succeed you will win and you will get the antidote for your brother. If you lose or decide. to give up then you will have to say goodbye to the doctor."

Jay started looking around by pulling himself up and sitting on the sofa he was lying on after more or less passed out. He was confused, he felt he was dying, the world revolved around him and everything seemed out of focus.

All the intelligence guys stepped forward to pair up with him. That group was like a family to the young detective and everyone was keen to help him, starting with Hailey and Jay was grateful to each of them for it.
Without thinking about her he chose to leave Hailey out, he had always made sure to protect her and so he had to continue to be. This situation was no different from the others, in fact it seemed quite dangerous.

The detective then looked up in the direction of Antonio, the only one who at that moment gave him the confidence to be his support and help.
He communicated fear, anger and determination to save his brother and Dawson responded to this with a firm and determined gaze expressing equal confidence and determination.

Jay needed that, to have a man by his side who knew him and was a point of reference for him.
And so it was that the detective chose his partner.

"Good! No more chattering, choose your mate and let's start the game. Ah, I forgot! To make things a little more complex I have decided to give you a limited time as well. You have less than 24 hours to save your brother after that you already know what will happen to him ...you have to hurry, time is running out and the countdown has already begun! Grimberg "

Antonio finished reading the letter and once again checked the envelope that contained it. There was nothing else inside. Turning the page, however, he realized that there was something written on the bottom right in small print.

Meanwhile Jay had risen to his feet and holding on to his desk, he remained motionless, pale, swaying.

Hailey had approached him to try to disinfect and bandage the wounds on his hand after returning with the emergency kit that she had rushed to grab without wasting time. Touching her colleague she could feel the tension in his body.

Jay didn't know and didn't understand why he was reacting like this, he was getting consumed with fear instead of being strong for his brother.

Before Antonio read what Halstead had found he turned to his brother to reassure him, but also himself.

- Will how are you? - the young man asked with great concern

- I'm fine,- the doctor replied in a faint voice, still panting and sore.

- Please hold on tight, I'll find you soon! - He told him.

At that point Antonio began to read the written text.

"If the doctor want to free
where it is comfortable you must go.
If the clue you want to find
in his electronic instrument you must look. "

When the older detective finished reading, while the group was wondering about the possible solution to the riddle, Will in a somewhat confused way attracted the attention of his brother, he began to feel unwell again ...

Jay took his cell phone and put it to his ear to hear better. The doctor's voice was little more than a whisper and it was evident that the young doctor was having a hard time pronouncing the words at that moment.

- Ja ... y - said the doctor

- Will! Here I am! What happens? - asked the detective

- I ... I can't ... breathe ...- he replied panting

The doctor was fumbling more and more trying to get air into his lungs.

- This is one of the symptoms listed by
Grimberg. - Hailey said, checking the list.

- Will, try to stay calm, we'll come get you, we're almost there. - the detective tried to reassure him.

But that was an almost impossible request for Will. How could you stay calm?
He was desperately trying to collect as much air as possible, but it was as if someone had sucked in all the air in the room. He tried to say something to his brother himself but couldn't make any sound.

Jay was even more agitated than his brother. How could he expect to reassure him. He wanted to cry, scream. He was about to explode. He would never have imagined that all this would happen when he returned from vacation.

The symptoms, However, that the mad criminal described, were showing up all too quickly. Maybe in that case the substance injected into Will had nothing to do with it and his brother was just panicking.

Jay, therefore, was about to escape from the room, but then, thinking about this possibility, he thought of a possible solution to reassure him.

Will felt like he was underwater, his lungs unable to fill with air.
Was it his time already? He was about to let go when Jay's words came from the other end of the phone.

- Will thinks of Owen! when you play together, when he smiles at you! Think how much he loves you -
Will did as he was told, slowly his mind was filled with different memories, events, situations and after a while he finally managed to calm down.

His lungs were starting to do their job again ... his breathing was finally normal again ...

- Hey little brother it works! - the doctor said smiling

And just at that moment Antonio joined the conversation.

- Hey Will, hello, is there something in the room that marks the passage of time? - He asked

- No, in this room there is nothing at all. I only have my wristwatch. - replied the doctor.

- Check the phone again, - added Adam, who had been a little more on the sidelines until then. - maybe there is something there about that too ...

At that point Will lowered the phone that he had placed on his ear and, after putting the speakerphone on, pressing on the clock he noticed that the chronometer was running and so he communicated it to the two detectives.

- How much does Will's phone count? - asked Antonio

- Twenty ... 22 hours and 30 minutes! - replied the doctor

An hour and a half had already passed. That was the time he had left to live.

It was then Voight who attracted the attention of the two detectives

- Hastead, do you understand what the clue means?-Voight asked

Everyone looks at each other and Jay shook his head saying no.

- Let me see that sheet again,- asked Antonio, picking up the letter he had placed on the table and which Voight had taken.

- If only I had accepted to stay with him last night as he asked me all this would not have happened, I could have helped him ... - the detective said disconsolately

- Jay don't feel guilty, you just wanted to go home. If I had been there then by now we would have had to look for you too! - Hailey replied trying to calm the flow of her thoughts.

- I understand! - Antonio said suddenly.

- Thing? - Jay asked, returning to reality.

-The solution is his home. - Dawson said

- His house? - Jay asked, having difficulty understanding.

- Yup! Will's house. The place where each of us feels at ease is his home. - explained the older detective better.

Jay at that point wasted no time as much as possible on how he felt. He grabbed the paper and cell phone and after looking for Voight's consenting gaze, he walked out of the office followed by Dawson. The two got into the car and headed for the doctor's house.

Once arrived, Antonio parked and the two got out of the car.

Jay felt terribly guilty about what was happening to Will. What if he couldn't save him? The detective shook his head hoping to chase that thought away.

Antonio picked up the phone and preventing Will from hearing and sensing what was going through the mind of his colleague said to the latter:
- Jay what happened is not your fault. You don't have to feel responsible -

- That's not true, it's my fault instead! -Exclaimed the young man trying to send back the tears that threatened to fall from his eyes seeing the lump in his throat.

- I too felt guilty when something happened to Laura or my children. Then I realized that by taking on the responsibility you are just hurting and not solving anything, on the contrary you are not lucid and focused on what you have to do.- Dawson explained

- Maybe you're right ... - Jay said taking a slow deep breath that came out a little shaky.

Immediately after, the detective picked up the phone to reassure himself about Will.

- Hey Will are you there? - churches

- Yes, of course there are! I didn't go for a walk! - the doctor replied annoyed.

- Will, please calm down - said the other saddened by his answer.

- Take it easy, take it easy, don't get upset! It's easy for you to say. You're not locked up here - he replied sadly and annoyed.

The doctor no longer looked like him and the detective felt hurt by what he was hearing.

- Maybe this behavior of him is also due to the substance that was injected into him. - Antonio said.

- Maybe you're right, my brother isn't like that ... - Jay replied.

- So you want to go and come and get me? - shouted the doctor.

Will paced back and forth in the room. His heart was filled with anger and hatred. He was strange, he had never experienced such a sensation. He had never addressed his brother like that.
He was so out of his mind that at one point he started punching the wall screaming in a desperate attempt to let off steam.

- Will! Will what's up? - Jay shouted back hearing his brother.

The doctor did not answer, dropped the cell phone and remained silent, breathing as deeply as possible, trying to calm down. He felt too nervous.

- Will what's going on? Everything is alright? - Jay asked more and more worried

What if his condition worsened? What if he passed out or the cell phone no longer allowed the connection due to line problems or because it was broken?
The young man could not understand what was happening.

Chapter Text

Will thought he was going crazy. After throwing a flurry of punches against the rough wall in front of him, he collapsed to his knees, staring at his hands full of cuts and bruises from which blood had already begun to leak.

Luckily, in that moment of anger, he hadn't thrown or slammed his cell phone against the wall he had and which ensured him the only contact with the outside world, the only contact with his brother.

With his anger gone, however, a deep sadness began to take hold of him.

Grabbed his cell phone, which was not far from him, tried to call his brother hoping that he was still there and the detective, for his part, was relieved when he heard his voice again.

- Jay, I ... I ... I'm sorry for how I behaved ... I don't understand what's happening to me ... I ... I'm .... I'm sick ... my head hurts. It seems to me that it is about to burst ...- he almost said it with tears in his eyes.

Jay and Antonio were relieved to hear him again, but at the same time they were worried about the new symptoms the young doctor was showing.

- Jay I'm an idiot. I am incapable. I only make trouble. - said the doctor sadly, continuing his monologue.

Jay then tried to convince him that he was wrong, that what he was saying was not true, but the other did not want to hear reasons from his idea.. In the end, in despair, Will ended the conversation again by placing the phone on the floor and holed up in a corner of the room crying profusely.

Jay kept calling him, it took a moment before he realized the call had been dropped, but obviously what he got in response were only those typical sounds of when a phone call is closed.

- This is also a symptom ... - Antonio said attracting the attention of his colleague who was again getting lost in his thoughts

- Yes, he seemed so sad and depressed ... - Jay said with a sigh. Then looking at the list of symptoms he added: - then there is also a migraine. It's hard to feel it like that. -

- I know - said Dawson disconsolately

Meanwhile Will was standing there, the tears that had flowed from his eyes a few seconds before had finally stopped, but he was still feeling sad and desperate.
He wanted to call his brother back, apologize to him once again for how he was behaving, but at that moment he couldn't, it was like stuck.

What the hell was going on with him ,? Was it possible that all this was due to the poison?

While the doctor was deep in his thoughts Jay and Antonio had come to his house e taking the key from under the doormat, they entered and began to inspect the various rooms in search of clues, always keeping the gun at hand.

But after a first round of patrol, the two found nothing.

Jay was feeling so frustrated. He was about to leave his brother's house when his eyes were on his computer which was in an unusual place compared to where Will kept it.
Something in his heart was telling him to take it and open it.
As soon as the detective touched it, it lit up, it was on standby. It looked like Will had left it on and was working on a Word file. But that was not possible as they had been on vacation until the night before and as far as they knew Will had been kidnapped immediately after entering the house.

The document page appeared to be blank at first glance but then going down with the cursor he found a Word message with a message written on it.

"If you are reading this, it means that you are playing. Bring your computer, you will need it"

Grabbing the computer, Jay headed out of the house to catch up with Antonio showing him what he had found.
Detective Halstead was destroyed, he hoped to find more in that message he had been left with.
Despite this he was trying to hold on, he had decided to take the computer with him to allow his team to find out if there was more, he also wanted to talk to his brother again, which he did until the latter called back.
Once in the car, however, after closing the house they left for the district.

Once they reached their destination they headed for Mouse. Jay, he trusted him blindly. He put Will's computer on his desk and with a mixture of anger and fear said to his friend:
- Greg please get something out of this pc.

The detective knew that if there was something on the computer, he would be the only one who could find it.

- Ok, I'll get to work immediately.- said the technician starting to fiddle with the computer by typing various keys.

Jay sat down in one of the chairs across from where his friend was working and prayed that something might actually come up.

He watched him as he fiddled with concentration on that computer, he could see how he cared about helping his best friend too.

Fortunately, Mouse caught Jay's attention after a short wait. The latter had not realized that he was distracted, that he had been captured by thoughts.

- Hey Jay! I found a password protected Excel document. - he said after a few minutes.

It was strange to the detective that his brother had a secret document, so he asked his friend to open it.

After several attempts, Mouse managed to find the password and what they found inside the file was just an address and a number followed by a letter of the alphabet.

- Navy Pier 14A-

Jay, after thanking his friend, joined Antonio and the two left immediately to head to the dock.
It took a short time and once they got there they began to look around. They had to find out what the acronym stood for and it didn't take Jay long to do that.

- Antonio I understand! - he said - 14A indicates one of the places to dock the boat.

The two detectives then started walking on the pier until they reached number 14A. There was a small boat docked there and the two got on it and began to inspect it.

Nothing! Everything seemed calm and normal. They had checked every inch of the boat to no avail.

Jay was then the first to come up from below. He was sad, disappointed. They hadn't gotten any clues to find his brother. He was starting to think that this protected file might really belong to Will and therefore was not inherent in the case.

Antonio, however, discover the truth. When he reached his colleague on the bow he noticed a small box with a bright dot positioned in a hidden recess.

- Jay look.- he said attracting his attention. His friend was staring at the sea immersed in his thoughts.

- What's it all about? - Jay asked

- Here is something, it looks like a red light- he said showing him.

The two moved closer. The box was packed like a gift and it was upon seeing it up close that the two realized what it was.
It was a bomb, a rudimentary device, but powerful enough.

The red light Dawson saw was nothing more than the activation light and below it you could also see the timer that highlighted the time remaining before the explosion.

- 10 minutes and 56 seconds - Antonio read

Meanwhile, Detective Halstead quickly called his boss.

- Voight - answered

- Sergeant I'm Jay. We have reached the address. Here is a boat .. and there is ... there is a bomb on board.
We need the bomb squad immediately. We only have 10 minutes. -

Voight without wasting time tried to contact his colleagues, but unfortunately they were already busy, they had received numerous calls that day.

Jay and Antonio were therefore alone. One misstep, one wrong choice, and they would be blown up.

Grimberg's real goal was to hurt Detective Halstead. He had to suffer psychologically, but also physically. Even better if he was eventually dead. He would be free of him forever.

Meanwhile, the two colleagues were desperate, but luckily Antonio had an idea. He picked up the phone and tried to contact a friend of his who later specialized in bomb defusing.

Meanwhile Jay's cell phone started ringing too.

- Halstead -

- Hey, little brother,- Will said, wiping away the last tears that had fallen from his eyes.

The doctor couldn't realize that everything he was feeling was caused by the poison.

His heart was filled with fear, with pure terror. He began to fear that he would not be able to save himself. He knew that death was getting closer and closer to him. It was a matter of hours ..

He was beginning to believe that his brother, despite all his efforts, would not be able to find him in time.

It was for this reason that Will eventually found the strength and courage to call Jay. It was one of the last times that he could have talked to him and so he wanted to use the time he had to also feel less alone.

- Will, how nice to hear from you. How do you feel? - the detective immediately replied.

- It looks good for now. - he replied.

Antonio caught Jay's attention while he was talking to his friend. It would have been difficult to defuse the bomb over the phone and not in person, but it was always better than nothing.

The two confabulated for a moment and Halstead made sure that Will didn't hear anything.

But the doctor figured something was wrong. He was not a fool.

- Jay what's going on? - he asked him

- Nothing, don't worry ...- the other replied vaguely.

But the detective had never been good at lying, especially to his brother who knew him like the back of his hand.

- It's just ... there's ... there's a bomb to defuse. - he said with apparent calm.

- A bomb? - shouted the doctor on the other end of the phone in shock. Up until that moment Will had been thinking about his near end, but it was at that moment that he realized that his brother was also taking a lot of risks.

The detective then put the doctor on speakerphone and got ready to go to work following the instructions of the blaster.

- Jay please forget it and get out of there ..- Will shouted even more terrified not wanting his brother to die too.

- I can't go away and ignore Will - said the young detective, always dutiful, resolutely.

At that point, the two of them retrieved the toolbox from the captain's cabin and set to work.

It wasn't hard to guess what Grimberg had come up with for the rest of the game. He had placed small fake bombs around the city so as to engage the bomb squads and leave the real one to them.

Antonio began with extreme delicacy to unscrew the four external screws and then carefully removed the lid.

At that point, both the detonator and several threads tangled together were visible.

The Hispanic detective in the meantime was describing what he saw to his friend bomb squad.

- Charlie there are four different colored threads red, yellow, green and blue.
The yellow and green are not connected to the detonator, the others are.

- So according to the model you told me to be and the photos you sent me I would say that the threads to be cut should be red and blue. said the expert.

- Should they or are you sure? - the two detectives asked in unison.

- It should be so, unfortunately there is never any certainty in this world .. you have to cut them perfectly in the same second. The red is the detonator of the device, the blue must be the one connected to the timer and that therefore turns it off .- the man explained.

- So dude are you ready? - Antonio asked Jay

- Honestly no, not at all - Halstead replied facing yet another moment of despair. - all this is absurd. -

- Jay look at me, we chose to play the game and save your brother. We are now faced with this test. If we do nothing in less than six minutes we will blow up, if we cut the threads we will have at least some chance of saving ourselves. - Dawson said

- Okay, let's do it - the younger detective said by now convinced by the words of his colleague

- Jay forget it, run away ... - Will screamed.

- My brother, we have no choice. We have to do it. Remember that I love you. - Jay concluded.

At that point, the eldest of the Halsteads said nothing more, standing still and praying that everything would be for the best with his heart once again going to a thousand.

Meanwhile, Antonio, looking in the toolbox, found a cutter and a pair of scissors. Maybe they had left them there especially for them.

- Come on, we can do it, I cut the blue thread and you the red.- Antonio said.

Looking at the timer, they noticed that it was now three minutes away.

- Are you ready? - Dawson asked and they both got into position.

- Okay, then we'll do it on three. - continued the older detective. - one ... two .. three ...-

After cutting the threads the timer seemed to stop at 02:46.

The two colleagues heaved a sigh of relief. They had made it, they had defused the bomb.

Antonio picked up the phone and after informing his bomb-bombing friend and thanking him for his help he greeted him.
Soon after he dialed Voight's number to inform him that everything had been resolved.
He had just turned away when Jay, who was informing his brother of the success, caught his attention by calling out his name.

When he turned to look at him he could see the terror in his colleague's eyes and following his gaze he realized what was happening.

The bomb timer had restarted and was running much faster than before
The numbers were spinning in the timer box looking crazy.

The two colleagues were unable to defuse the bomb. There was obviously a double circuit.
The two detectives then prepared for the impending explosion. There was no time to escape. It was the end for them. They hadn't made it.

The detective couldn't have saved his brother, but at least he wouldn't have survived to live without him.

The two colleagues closed their eyes and waited for the end.

In their minds, images of what they had experienced and people important to them passed by as if they were on a moving train.

Antonio didn't want to die. He wanted to see his children grow up, his last thoughts about him went to them.

Jay wasn't afraid.
He was sad for his brother, but what consoled him was that they would be together even after their departure.

The two colleagues, then, with their eyes closed, waited for the end.

A few moments before the explosion, however, Antonio grabbed his colleague's hand, dragging him with him, throwing himself into the sea.

Will on the other end of the phone that was abandoned on the ship, as well as Dawson's with Voight and the rest of the team on the line, he heard nothing, no explosion.

- Jay? - then he called in a trembling voice.

He couldn't understand what was going on. Maybe the phone had broken, maybe Jay had thrown it away from where they were.

The doctor heard only silence, which as positive as it was was deafening.

His heart was still beating fast, the tears that made his eyes sting began to fall again on Will's face as he desperately kept calling his brother's name.

Antonio meanwhile had emerged from the water and had started looking for his friend who was a little stunned a short distance from him.
He helped him back to the dock and waited a few moments for him to fully recover.

The two of them were soaking wet. Shivering from the wind that they perceived as even colder, the two got into the boat and retrieved their cell phones

v

- Will, I'm here ... It's okay. We're fine .. - replied the detective in disbelief with a trembling voice.

Dr. Halstead knew that his little brother lived with danger, that it was the order of the day for him.. He was used to seeing him arrive at the hospital injured and could not help but feel anxiety and agitation when this happened.. But in those minutes, what he felt was ten times worse than usual.
After hearing his voice again he sat there in the corner of the room sighing in relief that his little brother had been saved from death.

Eventually the timer stopped.

00.00.03 three seconds before the explosion. The perfect number. They had saved themselves by the broken cap. They could have avoided throwing themselves into the sea, but theirs had been a last attempt to escape a death that at that moment seemed certain.

- Jay, I'm glad you're okay .. but if you can't find that man ...- Will began bringing the two, who were still enjoying that moment of joy, back to reality

It wasn't hard to imagine what I doctor would say so the two detectives decided to block him. They didn't even want to hear those words.

- It will all be fine! - answered the young Halstead who seemed to have finally regained some confidence.

While the three were talking on the phone, a sound coming from the same instrument distracted them.
Jay had received an anonymous message.

The latter, without wasting time having his phone in his hand, opened it immediately.

It was an audio track that the three of them started listening to right away.

"Hi detective! Well done, I see you're still alive! You managed to defuse the bomb! Did you like the double timer trick? However, it's a shame, I was already looking forward to seeing a pile of ash reduced in it ... "

The message was from Grimberg, that voice had become unmistakable. After this first part the man began to laugh coarsely and the young detective commented:

- You couldn't hurt us damn - Jay said angrily.

"I guess I'll have to settle for just one Halstead in the end ..."

The man continued and then resumed laughing in amusement.

Jay was once again getting a mixture of panic and anger. He was starting to turn pale again and to breathe heavily and quickly. This happened every time the man reminded him that his brother could die.

- Come on, damn it! Tell us the new clue and let's go through this lousy game. - Antonio said who was beginning to get impatient as if he could get an answer. Hearing those messages and those amused laughter was irritating.

The man went out of his way to waste time and make them more and more nervous. It was a pleasure for him to know that he was hitting Jay making him suffer. That was his main goal. He didn't care about Antonio or the doctor.

"For sure you'll be in a hurry to move on ... it's a shame you can't enjoy the situation..." the man said in the message as if he had heard what the Hispanic detective had said.
"... Unfortunately for you, however, I have decided to make you wait a bit. It is so nice to see you cooking in your own broth. You don't know how funny it is to see how you rack your brains while waiting to go on ... "

And so the damned laughed again, irritating even more the detectives who were already nervous about the words they were hearing.

Grimberg didn't really care about them. Eventually he would get what he wanted. He was making the detective suffer by using his brother as a test subject for his experiments. It was a pleasure to witness their suffering. And if they died, all the better for him, he wouldn't have them any more.
What was also clear was that the latter was observing them, was close and was following step by step all their movements.

- Don't laugh damn. Tell us the clue. - Antonio repeated, burning with anger towards him, more and more worried about his colleague.

They had to find Will as soon as possible both to give him the antidote to the poison that crazy criminal had given him and because Jay seemed to be unable to hold on for much longer.

"Of course there is always the option to stop the game," he added with the sole purpose of making the two even more nervous.

Will listened in terror and silence to the message. Meanwhile Jay continued to stand still as a marble statue, white just as this stone could be and was hyperventilating.

He didn't utter a word, he seemed to no longer have the strength to react, the man's methods were annihilating him.
The fact that he felt so weak and incapable at that moment made him even more angry with himself.
In his life he had never let himself go, he had never thrown in the towel. Yet at that moment he was doing just that.

His insides were twitching making him nauseous. The watery bile from an almost empty stomach made him feel its sour, pungent taste in his mouth.
He had the feeling that he could collapse at any moment.

"Okay. Let's move on ... The next address is ... 43 Dock street. The next clue will be in an area that is initially invisible to the human eye."

With a sigh of relief at finally getting the clue, Antonio began to think about where the place was and what was the quickest way to get there.

But first, observing his colleague, he realized that he had to shake him a little to get him out of that abyss where he was once again sunk.

He had to hurry though. The time available was less and less. Every moment was precious in that moment.

Detective Halstead was about to pass out when Dawson caught his attention.

- Jay! Jay look at me! - he called him, shaking him a little vigorously taking the phone from his hands and making sure that Will could not hear.

The doctor already had his problems, he didn't need to worry about Jay being sick too.

- Tony I ... I'm scared .... Not ... We will never find him in time ... I don't ... I can't ... I can't lose him ...- he said shaking and panting the young detective who had shot up his gaze to look directly at his colleague with some tears escaping his control running down his face as he shivered from how he felt more than from the cold being soaking wet.

At that moment Dawson could really see the terror his friend and colleague was feeling. He had never seen him like that, he had always been the strong and reckless Halstead, contemptuous of danger.

- Jay, slow down, breathe with me ... we'll find it was the last thing we do. - he told him looking him straight in the eye, continuing to hold the face of the colleague so that he too looked at him and followed him in breathing.

Jay stood still for a few moments looking at him. His tears continued to sting his eyes even as he did everything to keep them from falling on his face.

What struck the young man, however, was the determination he saw in his colleague's eyes. It was this thing who managed to shake him a little. With the back of his hand he wiped away the very few tears that had escaped his control and nodded his head slowly stopping panting and managing better the air that entered his lungs.

Staggering a little then Jay stood up and leaning over the edge of the ship vomited up what little was left in his stomach.

As soon as he recovered a little, he too began to think about how to get to the area that Grimberg had indicated as quickly as possible.

The place was about half an hour from where they were, but at that time the area was quite busy due to the presence of schools and offices.
That would have wasted some time for the two of them, just what they didn't have.

Immediately the detectives ran to the car and Antonio was the quickest to get to the driver's side.
Jay was unable to drive, although he would never admit it.

Tony started the engine, but he had to wait a few more minutes to get going. Before the two of them set off, the colleague felt the need to vomit again even if what came out was mostly dry retching and bile.

So when they were ready, they set off and the detective driving opened the hot air to the maximum. They were freezing, their clothes had slowly started to dry. Unfortunately, they didn't have the opportunity or time to change clothes.

Meanwhile, Will's health was also deteriorating.
His heart had started beating even faster than he already did. He seemed to want to come out of his chest, almost like he wanted to burst, and his breathing was gradually increasing in speed. He was coughing due to these tantrums that his heart was doing.
His body ached. Every muscle, every little part of it was causing him pain. These sensations had a variable duration and then everything was quiet for a while.

He was starting to wonder how long it had been since he was locked up there. The more time passed, the more the hopes that Jay would find him diminished. However, wishing that the detective remained as quiet as possible, he decided to remain silent for a while.

- Hey Jay, what time is it? - Antonio asked in the meantime

- 2:30 pm - replied the other with a sigh

Time passed inexorably. Will now had about nineteen hours left.

The two detectives, as they feared, found themselves stuck in traffic.

Jay was always quiet and angry. Dawson could see this from the way the boy was clenching his fists. He was agitated and nervous and his muscles were pulled as if they were violin strings.

Will meanwhile, recovering from that umpteenth malaise, called his brother trying to cheer him up. He had sensed that something was wrong with him.

Arriving in the place described by Grimberg, the two parked on Dock street and walked to reach number 43. It was a 6-storey building and in each there were two houses.

Most of it was done. It was therefore necessary to understand the second part of the clue.

- We need to understand what "an area that is initially not visible to the human eye" means.- Antonio said.

Seen from the outside, the building looked completely normal and so the two colleagues decided to enter the building.

Jay was following Antonio but was lost in his thoughts.

The interior of the building, however, was in decay, everything had been abandoned for some time. The two decided to take out their guns and start looking around anyway.

As he reached the stairs to the upper floors, Jay realized that there was a ramp leading to a basement.

- Tony - called him pointing to the stairs leading downstairs asking him to follow him with a nod - maybe that's what the clue meant. -

Halstead actually got it right. The answer to the riddle posed by Grimberg was precisely the basement, the one that could not be seen from the outside.

That place was so dark. It resembled a cellar where old, dusty furniture and boxes were piled up there.

Antonio took his cell phone out of his pocket and started lighting up the room. Since everything was abandoned there was no light and as there were no windows not even the day window could enter.

After taking a general look, the two colleagues speculated that there must be a laboratory there. Halstead their guns, Tony and Jay began looking for something that could be useful to understand where Grimberg wanted to lead them.
But unfortunately there seemed to be nothing of interest.

The two, who then split up, each tasked with searching a part of the floor, found themselves near what appeared to be a table. It was covered in white packaging plastic and there seemed to be a great deal of dust and objects on it.

Because of all that dust, Jay couldn't help but cough a lot.

Dawson and Halstead then took stock of the situation. After all that searching they had found nothing but a pile of old furniture, the remains of an abandoned workshop.
But if that madman had made them go there, there had to be something.

Jay was desperate now. He paced back and forth with his arms stretched along his body, fists clenched and looking down.

- Damn! - he screamed out of the blue making Antonio jump, punching the wall with so much anger that in the end he injured his hand.

Tony and Will tried their best to calm him down, but that wasn't easy.

Jay looked up and in it Dawson could see all the anger burning inside him. His eyes were bright again and he did everything to chase away the tears that once again threatened to fall on his face.

It was then, though, that something caught his attention.

In one corner of the table was a box with a herbalist's logo on it.
Maybe that was exactly what Grimberg wanted the two to see.
He was a herbalist and besides, that container had hardly any specks of dust on it.
This was due to the fact that the package was surely placed there specifically for them at a later time.

Jay walked over to the box and moved it around a bit so he could open it. The movement raised a blanket of dust causing him an allergic reaction making him sneeze several times, but he did not stop and opened the box under Antonio's watchful eye starting to pull out what was inside, after taking pictures.

They were packages of dried plants that were typically used for the composition of herbal products. On each package there was an image of the plant and a small number from one to nine. One, on the other hand, without a reference number or image, contained something that looked like earth.

Jay stood there doubtful, observing and manipulating those bags trying to make sense and meaning to everything.

After approaching Antonio, he took his cell phone and called Voight. He needed him. He asked him to join him and take the team and especially Mouse with him.

Of course he informed him of everything they had discovered, and in his heart he knew that if there was anyone who could find out anything from those elements it was Greg and that maybe Adam with his computer skills could help him.

Jay, after the call ended, kept pacing nervously back and forth as he waited for his colleagues to arrive. He was so agitated that he was unable to sit still. The only thing he could do at that moment was wait, that is, let some of that time pass that they didn't have.

In fact, looking at his watch, Jay realized it was almost 5pm and doing a quick calculation, of the 24 hours he had been given he had only sixteen left.

- Jay, don't worry. I am convinced that you will be able to find me. - said Will breaking the silence that had been created.
He himself began to believe less and less what he had just said, but he knew he had to somehow support him his brother.

Immediately after speaking the doctor started yawning, his eyes burned and as a result he was struggling to keep them open even though he tried in every way to succeed. He was so tired. He was sleepy, so sleepy that his ears only received confused and muffled sounds that his mind was struggling to understand. How he wished he could continue talking to his brother. Although he tried to prove himself strong in any situation, Jay needed all the support the doctor was capable of. Unfortunately Will could no longer follow the flow of his thoughts, he stammered and even he didn't understand the words he was saying. Eventually his eyes closed and his head often lolled forward several times. The doctor refused to fall asleep and every time this happened he would snap them open again. Obviously he was feeling worse and worse. His eyes were ablaze and his vision was blurred, blurry and double. His voice had become thick and his tone waning. This was typical of an exhausted person about to fall asleep. The two detectives, through the phone, tried to understand what was happening and at a certain point they began to hear nothing but a deafening silence. Will kept hearing them, but his mind was now turned off, he could not grasp the meaning of what they said. He felt like his head was in the clouds and the numerous efforts to resist sleep only made him nervous.

- Enough, please don't talk .. Don't ... I can follow you. - he said with great sadness that could be deduced from his voice.

The doctor had developed two more of the symptoms on Grimberg's list. Will's head looked like it was going to burst, and when he tried to think it got worse.

He was so tired, he needed to sleep and so Antonio picked up the phone and ended the call asking Will to rest and call them when he woke up.

Obviously Jay disagreed and got angry at his colleague. He needed to hear his brother, it was the only way to know if he was okay. He was starting to speculate that this might be the last time they spoke.

Dawson was trying hard to calm him down, but that was really complicated. Jay couldn't accept that his brother was dying because of a damned fool who wanted to make him pay for him.

Detective Halstead was now screaming and his face was now fiery red from the anger he felt growing inside him.

- Jay we're dealing with a coward. He is afraid of you and he knows that you are stronger than him and that you can beat him again and therefore he attacks you in the wrong way. He has developed a hatred of the police in general by targeting you for putting handcuffs on him. - Antonio said in a firm and determined voice.

Jay, hearing it, stopped, staring down and his hands close to his body in fists. He knew the colleague was right.

Grimberg owed his two brothers his life: Jay saved him from certain death after being seriously injured in an exchange of views in prison. He and Al were there to talk to another criminal they had arrested and having seen him on the ground panting and bleeding Halstead had not hesitated to approach to rescue him by bumping into the wound. Once the ambulance was called, then Grimberg was taken to the Med and taken in charge by Will who had treated him before sending him to surgery.

If only that day he'd let him die this wouldn't have happened and Will would be fine.

- Jay! Antonio said in a decisive tone. He had to shake his colleague from his thoughts by forcing him to look him in the eye - we can't help your brother if you're in the ball. You need to calm down now! -

- You're right, I'm sorry - he said sadly, looking at him with lost puppy eyes.

Feeling the need to get away from that basement, then the latter ran away up the stairs and running until he came outside the building. Only then did he begin to take deeper breaths to try to calm down.

His colleague initially speculated to follow him, but then stopped thinking it was better for him to stay alone for a while.
He needed to clear his head, to be as lucid as possible in order to help his brother.

Halstead started pacing to let off some steam by walking around the block several times.
He was trying to convince himself that they would be able to save his brother.

Being at the back of the building sometimes, he didn't notice the team's arrival and, as soon as they got there, they immediately got to work.

As soon as he got back, realizing the others were coming, he immediately went to work alongside Mouse.

In the meantime, time passed inexorably, between one search and another and when Jay read on the PC display of his colleague and friend that it was already past 7pm and unfortunately there had been no news or phone calls.

The young detective kept looking around. Could there be nothing else useful?
Often he also checked his cell phone. He was afraid that with it in his pocket he might not hear if Will called him.

- Guys maybe I found something - Mouse said out of the blue attracting everyone's attention.

When they got close, then the tech began to inform them about his discovery. The ten packages contained herbal material. In none of them was there the antidote.
They were just simple plants used to make cosmetics or various things in herbal medicine.

- And what are they supposed to do for us? - Jay asked, now more and more discouraged.

- Honestly, I don't have a clue - his best friend replied.

Of course there had to be a reason why Grimberg had left all those things there and it was up to them to find out.

- What exactly are they? - asked Antonio, retrieving a sheet and a pen from the young technician's briefcase and starting to write down the list that the latter was doing orally.

- So it is: Linden, Oregano, Ocimum, Knautia, Fumitory, Oenothera, Rosemary, Mallow, Eucalyptus. I arranged them in ascending order given the numbers on each packet. The last sachet, on the other hand, contains some soil, but I haven't been able to figure out what type yet. The forensics are dealing with it.-

Dawson and Jay started staring at what the former had written. They were sure of the message, but could not find it.

Jay and Antonio kept staring at that piece of paper for a while and eventually the young man caught the attention of his colleague.

They were all proper names of plants and therefore started with a capital letter. Focusing on them alone, Halstead finally understood what the message was.

- Antonio read the letters in block capitals! - the young man exclaimed without continuing

- "L-o-o-k-f-o-r-m-e" - read Dawson following his colleague's directions.

That was the last clue, the last message that crazy Grimberg had left them.

- He left us everything we need to find him. Now it is up to us to understand where it is to have the antidote. - Antonio said

The only thing they could do then was wait for forensics to figure out what kind of soil it was.

Unfortunately, it took some time to do this. There were analyzes to be carried out and then the area where that soil was located had to be defined.

It would take a few more hours to get those results.

It wasn't easy for Jay to have to wait any longer. Time passed inexorably and the clock struck 20:30, there were only 12 hours left.

- I'm going to update Voight - Antonio said walking away. Even he could not stand with his hands in his hands.

Jay's phone, meanwhile, started ringing in his pocket.

- Hey, brother! How are you? - Will asked as soon as the other opened the call.

- Proceed ...- replied the detective a little discouraged, but then anxious to know his condition continued - how are you? -

- So-so ...- answered the doctor

While talking on the phone Jay, like Antonio, had also left the building and approached the car parked where letter was talking to the boss.

Everything seemed quiet, but suddenly what Halstead took his breath away made his blood run cold.

Will had started screaming, he was in pain, he was in excruciating pain.
His stomach looked like it had been ripped open from the inside with a knife.
The doctor was standing, doubled over, writhing in pain.

Terrified Jay started calling him loudly but got no response.
Will did nothing but scream with all the voice he had in his body.
His stomach seemed to want to explode, a thousand blades were thrusting into it.

In a short time the doctor let go and fell to his knees panting unable to breathe properly.

Jay was growing paler and shivering like a leaf when he felt that condition. In his eyes you could read the terror he felt.

Antonio unaware of what was happening, after finishing his phone call he turned to the wall in front of where they had parked and began to angrily hit an old wooden door destroying it, tearing it to pieces.

Mouse, meanwhile, had followed his friend out of the building, to be by his side ready to support him. This wasn't the time to say anything, but he just wanted to make Jay feel his presence. He would never leave him alone.

Fortunately, the pain slowly, after an interminable time, began to subside and Will was finally able to answer yet another call from his brother.

- Jay, everything ok, it's over ... - he said with a trembling voice, continuing to pant a little

The detective and the other two who had joined him breathed a sigh of relief.

But Will kept shaking, he couldn't stop. He was freezing, the cold was penetrating to his bones and suddenly a strong sense of nausea in him causing him an irrepressible desire to vomit.

- I ... don't ... I don't feel well. - said

- What's going on Will? - Jay asked with great concern as Antonio checked the list in his pocket.

- First excruciating pain in the stomach, now I can't stop shaking and yet until recently it wasn't so cold. I have a great desire to throw up and ... - said the doctor listing what was happening to him being interrupted by a coughing fit.

- He feels cold .. - Jay said to Antonio making sure that Will didn't feel him - it's about ..

He deliberately did not go on to refer to one of the latest symptoms described by the crazy creator of the game.

- I don't think so .. - Antonio replied that having quickly understood what he was referring to - I think it's his body temperature rising, he sure has a fever. -

Then Dawson turned to the doctor and said:

- Will listen, from now on you will slowly start to get worse, but you have to hold on. Soon everything will be just a bad memory, but you have to hold out a little longer. -

- I'm not a child, I understood that, - replied the doctor, continuing to cough profusely.

Jay was completely silent in all of this and his heart was filled with sadness.

- Brother - said Will attracting his attention - l have no doubts, you will find him. -

The detective was amazed at this. He himself wasn't so sure.

Returning to the district then the two colleagues found a tired Natalie, exhausted from the grueling shift she had at work and worried not having news of her boyfriend who had disappeared for a day

Jay walked over to her and followed him to the break room so he could talk privately.

After sitting on the sofa, the detective began to tell her everything that was happening, it was right that she knew too. However, he decided to omit some details too painful for her.

Natalie listened in strict silence, but crying profusely. .

- I'm sorry, it's all my fault ... that man kidnapped him to make me pay. - he said starting to cry too.

She looks him in the eye and the only thing he said was:
- Find him! Please bring him back to me! - and having said that I run away continuing to cry.

Jay had kept everything inside for most of the day and now he was finally breaking into a liberating cry. He needed it, but he didn't realize it.

When the doctor left he got up and went to the bathroom.  Closed the door behind him, he let himself go crying desperately, throwing out what he had long repressed.

Once he was done, he washed his face and then went back upstairs where all of his colleagues and Voight were waiting for him.

- How is he? -he asked Antonio who had the phone in his hand, pulling on him with his nose.
He wanted to pretend that nothing had happened, but it was clear that he had been crying.

- Unfortunately not good - the colleague replied desolately

- Hey Will .. - he called him grabbing his cell phone.

The doctor felt terrible, he had pains practically everywhere and a very high fever that perhaps was close to 104 °. He was aware that he didn't have much left now.

- Have you found he? - he asked in a whisper the latter.

- Unfortunately, not yet, but by now we are close to him. You have to hold out a little longer - Jay replied

- No, you don't need to resist ... I can't ... Don't ... no ... - he panted without even having the strength to speak.

- No, Will please! Do not give up! Stay with me! Talk to me! - Jay replied starting to go back into the balloon.

- Little brother, please ... play ... my ... favorite songs ... at the funeral. - said the young doctor. That was an Irish custom.

- Stop it. There will be no funeral. You will live, you will heal and we will still be together. - the detective said with tears running down his face once again.

- Jay .. no .. we both know what awaits me ... I remember what .. he said .... Grimberg ... and then they remain ... less than ... eleven hours ... I've been poisoned, but still my head works.

Jay was silent, he knew his brother was right.

- Jay ... I ... I know you are doing ... everything possible ... and ... you ... thank you. - the doctor said and was then interrupted by yet another pain in his stomach that forced him to lie down on the floor collected in a fetal position to try to manage the pain.

Antonio, who could no longer sit idle, took the car keys from his desk drawer and dragged Jay with him ..

After a short trip they were back at Will's house.

While awaiting news from forensics, they could have taken a further look at the doctor's apartment. Maybe he had missed something last time.

Unfortunately, even on this occasion nothing came out.

It was almost 11pm when Jay checked his brother's health.

Will seemed to be feeling a little better He was sweaty, wet from head to toe, a sign that his fever had dropped, plus he no longer felt as much pain as he did before.

- Brother, how are you?

- A little better - he replied, moving his hair that had stuck to the sweat on his still warm forehead - do you have any news from forensics? -

- Unfortunately not yet ... - Jay answered while his colleague called for news.

Fortunately, the forensics had managed to narrow down the field by finding the various places where that type of soil was present and to make a selection by eliminating those less likely.

Unfortunately there were still too many for the two of them to search for themselves.

It would take at least another three / four hours to reach them and check them all, too long for someone to have.

Back in the district Jay and Antonio once again went through the criminal's file for information. There were all the reports of his arrest about ten years ago and eventually, overcome by exhaustion, they fell asleep bent over Jay's desk.

Will on the other end of the phone was also trying to get some rest. He could not sleep a wink, but remained silent imagining that his brother and colleague had dozed off needing to rest at least a little.

It was Voight who woke them up with a start, and with his very delicate manner called the two colleagues in a loud voice.

- Halstead! Dawson! Where are we at? Are there any news? -

The two got scared as they couldn't figure out what was happening. They didn't realize they had fallen asleep.

- I understand you're tired, but we can't afford to rest right now it's less than five hours to go.- continued the sergeant.

- Yes boss, you're right. - Antonio replied, and so the two went back to work.

The two were people and needed some rest, but at that moment that wasn't possible

- Will? Will how are you? - Hank asked facing the phone that was resting on the desk.

- I-I'm - f-ine,- replied the doctor.

The two detectives hearing him raised their heads from the documents, they realized that something was wrong

- Are you sure?- Jay asked

- Y ... yeah, I...m ... f ... f... fine. - the other replied, stammering a little.

- Will you're shaking - Jay said

The doctor tried to hide it, but without success.

- Y..es... yes.... he...re ... it's.... free...zing ... - he explained

Through the cell phone, they could distinctly hear his teeth chattering from the cold.

- It's one of the symptoms ... - Jay said with a bitter sigh.

- It's ... hypothermia - Will added finally.

He was a doctor, what his symptoms were related to. Then he went on: - it's the ... last symptom o ... on the ... list... right?

- Yes - Jay replied desperately - but we still have some time. I will find you, we will bring you the antidote. You will save yourself little brother. -

- Te...tell you that it's... not your....fault... It...won't... do... any good...right? - added the doctor.

Jay was about to answer him when Antonio's cell phone started ringing.

It was Gloss, the head of forensics who luckily had some news. -
It took them a little longer than they imagined, but in the end they managed to drop the addresses down to twelve.

Jay was relieved they finally had something to start with to find the criminal who attacked Will physically and the detective psychologically.

After receiving them via email, Mouse printed them out and started reading them.

The three of them, Voight, Antonio and Jay first looked at him oddly, not thinking he was still there and then Jay thanked him by taking the list from his hands.

He knew his best friend was there for him and he was really grateful for that.

Also thanked Gloss for his work, the group began to check the various addresses while the head of forensics tried to streamline the number again.

Each checked address was ticked off the list. Managed to take out eight quickly.

They had checked what was in those places and asked for information, but no one had ever seen Grimberg, not even those who sometimes woke up at night and looked out the window. Jay was worried. He feared that even that could lead to a hole in the water.

- Come on, - Antonio said, sensing the mood of his colleague / friend, placing a hand on his shoulder. - there are still four.

- Yeah and the time we have is less and less.- Jay said with a sigh.

Antonio rubbed his eyes and then looked at his watch in amazement. He didn't think it had been that long already. It was already early in the morning, it was a quarter of an hour to six and there were only three or so hours left of the 24 that Grimberg had given them.

Meanwhile, Will was getting worse visibly. The cold had increased, as had the tremors, and he was really exhausted.
He was lying in a corner of the room, he couldn't move anymore, he seemed to struggle even to breathe and even his heart was making an enormous effort to beat again.

The last symptom had already manifested itself and it didn't take a wizard to understand that the end was getting closer and closer.

- It...doesn't...ma...tter...Jay, it...doesn't...matter! T...thanks...for...every...thing brother! -

It was the last thing the detective heard coming from the phone, from his brother's voice.

In fact Will, not wanting Jay to hear him die, said that sentence and then ended the call.

It wasn't fair for him to witness his last moments in life. He was already blaming herself for something he hadn't caused.

- Will wait, hold on a little longer. We're almost there, we're on our way. Everything will be fine, there is still time.- Jay said with his heart beating at a thousand per hour. - We will find you and arrest that cursed.

The doctor smiled, his movements were now so slow that he was unable to end the call.

- Leave..Jay...alone. It's...use...less. There is... no more... t...time...I do...n't feel...any...thing....any...more! -

The detective was silent, unable to say anything. In his heart, with tears rolling down his cheeks, he prayed that his brother could hold out a little longer.

With the little energy left in his body, Will then added:
- Jay...plea...se...t...tell...Nat...that...I...lo...ve...her.... She...a...nd...O...wen!...A...nd...you....m...must...know tha...t I lo...ve you....too. Fro...m to...day you wi...will... be the o...nly Ha...lstead sti...ll ali...ve.-

His strength was failing him and he no longer had the energy to hold on to life.

- Tell the...m tha...t ... that... I'm ha...ppy, tha....t I fou....ght! Tell the....m that ... tha...t I ha...ve no regre...ts, no...remorse ...-

With that said he closed his eyes, he was so tired, so exhausted and as the tears started running down his cheeks he said:
- Ja...y, tha...nks for every...thing! And tha...nks to you...too, To...ny for try...ing, and fo...r not giv...ing up! -

- Will- Jay said in a faint voice trying to block the tears that fell from his eyes.

Unfortunately from that moment on, his brother didn't answer anymore.

q

With a last effort he thanked the detective and his colleague for everything they had done for him and then he ended the call, ignoring the brother who yelled his name.

So he let himself go. A thousand thoughts invaded his mind, and there lying on the ground, freezing he awaited the arrival of his hour.

Crawling tried to reach one corner of the room, but it was too hard to get around.

Tears were now running down his face and his eyes were burning. He tried to stop his teeth from chattering, but that too was useless.

That is until slowly everything ended.

His body was now still, his breaths faint, almost imperceptible, his heart beating so slowly it seemed to have stopped.

He felt so much sadness inside himself. He would never have imagined dying like this, leaving Jay, his family, his friends.
He didn't understand how it was possible that such bad people in the world ...

But it didn't take long for her mind to go completely blank and everything stopped. He had been swallowed by the darkness.
_______________________________________

Jay was dumbfounded, he was in shock. He couldn't believe that what he feared most in that moment had happened.
Will could not be dead, it was so close now to save him.

- No Will! please do not leave me alone. she repeated he murmured with a barely audible tone between tears.

The only one who still believed it at that moment was Antonio. He didn't believe he was dead. Being hypothermic he could only have passed out.

Halstead then wiped away his tears and tried to convince himself of that too. After all, there were still two hours to go.

Meanwhile, the intelligence group had split up the remaining addresses. In pairs they had each gone to the appointed place. Doing so would cut down on time and find Grimberg.

Olinsky and Ruzek, Atweater and Burgess, Voight and Upton, Dawson and Halstead were the various teams that were very carefully looking for clues.

The addresses to check, after the various checks had been four and Antonio and Jay had touched the last on the list. They hoped to be lucky. Hailey and Olinsky had already warned that there was no one in their addresses so there were two possibilities.

Jay, he wanted to be the one to find him, he wanted to make him pay for it himself.

Antonio stopped shortly in front of what appeared to be a dilapidated and abandoned farmhouse. There didn't seem to be a soul.

Looking towards the building, however, Jay noticed a figure in the distance. Someone was running away or hiding.

It was there! Grimberg was in the cottage. They had finally found him.

Ran inside and the two began searching with their weapons pointed in front of them.

A voice came out of the shadows shortly thereafter.

- You look, you're here ... I didn't think you could make it. However it was time -

- Damn come out! Where are you hiding? Come out and give up. - Jay ordered him now, hardly containing himself.

- You know I had a blast and I finally got my revenge. Your dear little brother is suffering excruciating pain, and you too are no less. You shouldn't treat me like that anyway, remember I still have this. - said the criminal coming out of the shadows and making himself visible.

Putting his hand in his pocket, he pulled out a vial of blue liquid. It was precisely the antidote. After so much effort he was there, in front of them.

- What do you still want from us? Kill us? Torture us? - Antonio said in exasperation

- Absolutely no. This vial is yours, you have earned it! And on this piece of paper is the address of where I locked up the doctor. - having said this, he put the bottle on the ground and backed away.

Halstead at that point wasted no time ran to get it without wasting any more time and when it was in his hands he stared at it for a moment, they finally had the antidote.

Grimberg then took the piece of paper on which the address was written, crumpled it up and tossed it into the darkness of the room.

The two colleagues started looking for him in the large, dark room, letting the criminal escape.

Jay wanted to chase him, but Antonio stopped him:
- It's not worth it, reinforcements are on the way. They will take care of it. We are dedicated to finding the address.

So the two of them started looking for

Finally it was all over. That damn game was over, they had won.

But they realized that they had made a serious mistake. They had let their guard down and that was when it all fell apart.

Grimberg hiding in the shadows pointed his gun at Halstead and fired.

Jay was stuck he didn't realize it, he wasn't expecting it.
Fortunately, however, Antonio looking up had seen the gun barrel shine at the last second thanks to a faint ray of sunlight that had entered through a window.
He started running towards his colleague calling him loudly.

It all happened in a few moments. Dawson threw himself at Jay knocking him to the ground, being hit by the bullet intended for the young man.

After the shot, Jay, who had just turned around when he heard the call, realized what had happened and quickly pulled out his gun and returned fire.

There was a scream in the dark, the detective had hit the mark. He had hit Grimberg but he had escaped anyway.

Antonio, meanwhile, bleeding, was on the ground and complained of pain.
He had been wounded in the shoulder, fortunately not seriously.

Jay walked over to help and he sat up. He was stunned, from both the bullet and the blow he received in the fall. For a moment it was as if he didn't remember anything.

Then he immediately turned to Jay and said:
- Come on, let's go to Will. We have no time to waste. -

- Antonio wait, you're hurt .. - Jay said helping his colleague to get up.

The detective was bleeding enough from his right shoulder.

- Don't worry it's nothing. Let's find Will and then I'll get treated. - he replied.

The two argued for a while, but Tony didn't want to hear any reason. In fact Will had priority and there was no time to waste if they wanted to have at least a slight chance of saving him.

Finding the piece of paper that Grimberg had thrown, the two detectives ran to the car.

Jay, snatched the keys from his colleague's hands, he started driving and in the meantime "ordered" his colleague to call Voight to inform him and to contact two ambulances by sending them to the address they had.

Jay's heart was beating wildly. He was happy because he would finally find his brother him, but on the other hand he was afraid, he was terrified to find that he was too late.

When we got there, glancing quickly at the clock in the car before getting out, he noticed that there was only a quarter of an hour left. Only a quarter of an hour, they had to hurry.

Immediately the two started looking around, they were in the middle of nowhere.
There was not a living soul, there were no dwellings. It was the most desolate area of the city, a great expanse of green.

They were so close to finding him and yet they seemed to be so far away.

The two then decided to split up, in the meantime the rest of the team, except Atweater and Burgess who were taking the criminal to the district, having captured him, joined the two colleagues to to help them in their searches.

There were only ten minutes left and a faint hope ...

Jay walked around looking around until he tripped over something and fell to the ground and injured his knee.

Looking closer at what was there in the high grass, he noticed the presence of a kind of elevation with small windows.

Will had found it, he could feel it inside.

With all the strength he had in his body he started screaming calling the others for help and found the door he began to do everything to open that hatch.

They had finally found him.

Opening the hatch, what they saw broke Jay's heart. The doctor lay there in a motionless corner.
It seemed it was too late, he was dead.

The two colleagues then looked for something to reach him. There was no more time to waste, there were only five miserable minions left. They had lost some time to open the hatch.

Searching in the grass, not far from where they were they found a ladder and after placing it with Ruzek holding it together with a battered Antonio, Jay went down to the basement followed by Voigt.

When he got close to his brother, he knew that the time available was almost over.

Will's body was stiff and cold, he really looked like he was dead. His eyes were closed shut, his lips had taken on a slight blue tint that was clearly visible given the pallor of his face.

Young Halstead wasted no time, however. After a quick check he could fortunately see that his brother was still alive. He was still struggling, he was breathing hard, but he was doing it.

The detective wasted no time taking the vial out of his pocket and trying to make Will swallow the contents poured it into his mouth.
Doing this was by no means easy. The doctor was motionless and Jay was forced to have him do everything mechanically.

At that point, we just had to wait. Time was up.
Jay was anxiously awaiting a reaction, but sadly nothing happened.

He stood there by his side holding him close, crying bitterly, praying that he could be saved.

Will felt the substance enter his mouth followed by a strange heat.

He began to wonder if anyone was there with him.

He wanted to open his eyes, but he was too tired to do it. So he decided to concentrate all his strength to move his hand slightly by touching the nearby person with his fingers.

Jay immediately felt her touch, although it was weak and a great happiness pervaded him.

Will was still alive and reacting.

- Come on little brother, open your eyes for me! - he said while his were filled with tears of joy.

Hearing his voice, Will realized it was his brother. Eventually he had managed to find it. Unfortunately he didn't have the strength to open his eyes or make any movement.

Seeing no reaction, however, Jay went from joy to despair again in an instant.
Thus began to shake his brother despite Voight who had motioned to the paramedics to join them, tried to restrain him.

- Will come on wake up. Do it for me, for Natalie, for Owen, the little one needs you. - the detective begged him

After the shocks he received, Will opened his eyes slightly. He was terrified and was breathing rapidly. It took him a few moments to realize that only his brother was next to him.

- Will, don't worry, it's all right - the detective crying with joy.

Will, don't worry, it's all right - the detective crying with joy.

- Jay, little brother ... how nice to see you. - replied the doctor with a faint voice and tears running down his eyes. - You saved me ...-

Just then the boys from 51 went down to the basement.

The paramedics reached Will starting to give him the first treatment followed by team 3 who, after loading him on the table, tied him to lift him up.

Will was happy to breathe fresh air, to feel it on his skin, to see the sunlight again.

Loaded into the ambulance and taken to the Med. He had been fine luckily.

Antonio, like Will, was entrusted to the paramedics who would take him to the hospital.

Jay had boarded the ambulance with his brother, although before doing so he dropped to the ground feeling very weak.

The tension was playing a nasty trick on him and to that was fatigue.

Seeing him, Silvye caught up with him and helped him get to the ambulance by picking him up.

The journey was rather quiet, but short. Both brothers were fatigued, stunned.

Once they got to Med Jay he was checked and advised to rest, he was fine even though everything he had experienced had taken away even the slightest residue of energy.

Will was hospitalized to check his condition and to check that there were no side effects of the poison.
He too needed time to recover and a lot of rest.

Once he was settled in one of the rooms, Dr. Halstead fell asleep and his brother sitting next to him did the same thing after a few minutes.

Antonio's bullet was extracted and his shoulder medicated. Fortunately it was nothing serious, finally Voight had returned to the district to question Grimberg who was sure to pay dearly.

Chapter Text

It was February 26th and Dr. Halstead was at work as usual.

He had started his shift at eight and since then he had been busy treating the various patients who arrived in the emergency room.

It seemed like normal routine, but what Will didn't know yet was that he would remember that day for life since it would have changed it radically.

He had spent the night before his girlfriend and in the morning, early in the morning, he left his house to go to the Med and start his shift.

He only had a few minutes to change before being called to order by Maggie, who informed him that an ambulance was coming. What could be better to start the day?

- 32-year-old woman, found at home by a neighbor, was beaten up. You definitely have broken ribs, a fracture of the nasal septum and pelvis ... - the paramedics said starting to inform the doctor about the patient.

It was a sensitive case, but the doctors and especially Will who was treating it. They still weren't aware of what situation they would have to face shortly thereafter.

The woman had been beaten several times by her abusive husband and had been seen in various hospitals across the country more than once.

A few days before this latest beating episode happened, she had decided to report her husband. He couldn't go on like this, it wasn't life he was leading.

Obviously the man who shared her daily life with her, the one who said he was her husband and loved her madly, he swore to make her pay dearly if only he tried to report It or simply talk to someone about what was happening.

That man was crazy, after the wedding he started drinking and he raised his hands whenever he got nervous, even for trivial things or even when things were not done as he wanted. Lately this was happening more and more frequently.

As Meggie always did, once the patient arrived at the ER and the paramedics informed the doctor that they would be looked after, she had indicated the room in which the visit was to take place.

In that case, room three was indicated as it was free.

Dr. Halstead and a nurse pushed the stretcher into the room and once there they moved the patient as gently as possible from where she was on the bed.

At that point Will began to do the anamnesis, gathering as much information as possible, taking a quick look at the wounds that the woman presented.
Sifting through the on his tablet, leafing through the patient's medical record in the hospital archive, he discovered several things.

- You are Mrs Soledad Lopez? - asked the doctor.

- Yes - the woman replied painfully.

And so Halstead started asking the woman more questions.

After giving her the first few treatments, he decided to do some more thorough tests. He had her do, for example, an x-ray of the ribs, pelvis and nose. From them it turned out that there was a fracture of two ribs, of the pelvis and of the nasal septum. Two other ribs were also injured.

After stabilizing her pelvis and giving her painkillers to relieve the pain a little, Will said:

- I see you have been here a couple of times in the last two years.
- Yes, unfortunately I'm a bit clumsy and I get hurt easily - she said, forcing a smile.

The woman knew she couldn't keep everything inside, but at the same time she couldn't talk about it and trust anyone. Fear blocked her from asking for help.

Even though Dr. Halstead with his sweet, confident and decisive demeanor, had told her that he was someone who could be trusted. she was always hesitant and wary.

Her husband was just like him at the beginning from the time they met until the first months of their marriage, but then proved to have a dark side that had led the woman to distrust all men.

- Well these are not injuries that one causes by distraction madam. - said Dr. Halstead reading the medical records on his tablet the list of traumas that the woman presented the various times she went to the emergency room. - At least not all of them can be considered as such and injuries are too frequent.

Will had sensed that something was wrong. It smelled like lies from a mile away.

The woman also decided to trust him. She knew that now that doctor was very close to putting two and two together and understanding what she was hiding.

He was a wittier doctor than the others he'd met up to that point.

He had gone beyond the surface.
It was better for her to tell him everything. The farce of her falls and accidental injuries was beginning to fail.

- I ... - she starts keeping her eyes down.

But soon she broke off as she noticed her husband coming through the glass door that was closed behind the doctor.

Will noticed that the woman was looking at something with eyes full of terror and turning, he too saw the man approaching, dark-faced and with a firm step.

- It was him? - the doctor asked directly, eager to know the truth before her husband arrived.

- No, it was me, it's my fault .. too insecure, too clumsy - she said in a terrified way, stiffening and withdrawing more and more into herself.

Unfortunately, Soledad, however, was not at all good at lying. She said one thing, but her body, her expressions were as if they were saying another.

Before long, the woman's husband threw open the door to the room, interrupting the two.

Will turned and his gaze fell on him. Although he was aware of his imminent arrival he was struck by his entry into the room.

Dr. Halstead, perhaps without realizing it, in his naivety, he did not look at the man in the normal way, as he usually did with the relatives of patients.
He gave him a look as if defiantly, as if to make him understand that he understood what was happening and that he found him guilty.

- What are you looking at? You think about taking care of my wife. - the annoyed man asked.

Beginning to feel like he's been caught then he turned to his wife and asked:
- What did you tell him? -

- Nothing, I swear to you. I explained how I fell down the stairs - she replied crying the woman terrified.

She hoped her husband believed her, otherwise she knew it would be in trouble for her.

- You must be Mr. Furlong - Will interrupted them - his wife was telling me that being clumsy she fell off a ladder and got these injuries. -

Dr. Halstead broke a spear in the woman's favor but couldn't get that accusing look off his face.

Even the man didn't seem to believe the doctor's words and hurriedly walking away he said:
- Damn you will pay me -

Before leaving the room and going away he finally added, turning to the doctor:
- You will all pay for me, too.

As the man started to scream as he was about to leave, the hospital staff rushed to force him to leave and move away from them.

At that point, Will being finally free to act again, he ordered the nurses to proceed with the medications and whatever was necessary for him.

Once he leaves the room, after recording all the exams he ordered on his tablet, the doctor took the phone from his pocket and dialed Jay's number.

There was something strange about that story and he believed that the woman's husband was surely the culprit of all her suffering.

Will wanted to see clearly and luckily the detective answered him almost immediately that time, after a few rings.

- Hey brother! - he said as soon as he opened the call

- Hi Jay, I need to talk to you. - answered the doctor.

- Tell me everything ...- Jay said with a little worried frown
- Could you come here to the hospital? - Will asked, not wanting to discuss everything over the phone.

- Yes, of course. Did something happen? You're making me worry ... - he answered

- No, I would just like to talk to you about a case that arrived here in the hospital and that I would like you to investigate. - explained the doctor

So the two said goodbye and Jay, being already in the car with his colleague, changing the route he was following, heading towards the Med, also he alerted Voight to what was happening.

A little over ten minutes, Detectives Halstead and Upton were standing in front of the ED entrance and Jay quickly plunged into it in search of his brother.

Although Will explained that it was a case, the young man still felt quite agitated and worried. He speculated that something might have happened to the doctor without him telling him anything over the phone.

When he finally managed to find him, the detective was relieved to see that he was fine and calmed a little by taking a sigh of relief.

A few minutes later, the two brothers were sitting in the doctors room, where no one could disturb them, and Will was telling Jay why he called him.

Dealing with cases of domestic violence and harassment was not an easy thing and often the victims did not want to cooperate, even if what they suffered was evident.

Sol would have to go through a lot of challenges to get rid of the man who was ruining his life. However, it could not go on like this.

But what Will didn't know was that his life too would soon come close to being turned upside down, destroyed.

The patient's husband was a computer technician and a great hacker. It was able to easily crack passwords that protected sensitive data and various programs, such as those used in a hospital.

Mr. Furlong had decided to make his wife pay, he wanted to kill her, making her suffer, putting the blame on the doctor who was treating him, that is, on Will killing two birds with one stone.

Obviously, to muddy things up and deflect suspicion from himself, he decided to target not just his wife, but also some other patients always followed by Dr. Halstead.

He wanted the latter to be accused of negligence and inability to carry out his profession.

Positioning himself in his car, fiddling with his computer for a while, the man cracked the hospital passwords.

Obviously, this turned out to be very easy for him to do.

After finding his wife's file, Furlong altered the drugs Will had prescribed by adding others, unnecessary or allergic to the woman, some of which he had found on the Internet.

Soledad was simply given painkillers to allow her to better manage the pain she was experiencing from the various fractures she had.

The man was having a great time. He finally got rid of his wife and that "cheap medic", as he called him, who had dared to challenge him.

Reading through allergies or medicines to avoid for other patients, the man entered those in Will's other patient files.

Of course, within a short time, several of Halstead's patients began to get worse and worse.

Will, unaware of what was happening, finished making his rounds, as it was lunchtime, he went to the hospital bar to get something to eat.

It had been a pretty quiet morning up until now, despite that case that required the intervention of his brother and his team who were investigating.

Doctor Halstead had about half an hour break at that point and hoped to be able to have lunch at leisure enjoying what little time he had available.

When he got there at the cafeteria, he lined up for something to eat and then later, with a salad and a sandwich on his tray, he went to one of the free tables ready to start his meal.

As he was about to bite into some lettuce leaves he had picked up with a fork, after putting on the various toppings, he was distracted by an insistent vibrating from the pocket of his uniform.

They were calling him urgently from the ER.

- Maybe a serious accident or a gang war ...- he thought to himself as he quickly returned to work, sighing softly at not even being able to touch what he had taken to eat.

The doctor believed he was called because all the doctors available were needed to deal with an emergency.

What he found himself in front of as soon as he got there, however, left him stunned.

Ms. Furlong was acting strange, she was confused, she was delirious, she could hardly speak. The woman was persistently trying to say something, what came out of her mouth was incomprehensible.

A few moments later, while various doctors and nurses attended that show trying to organize themselves to do something, the monitors started blaring wildly.

Doctor Choi, who was there in the room, was desperately trying to manage and at the same time turn off the alarms by acting to make the lady feel better.
Unfortunately, however, things fell apart.

Suddenly Soledad started having difficulty breathing and her heart slowly stopped.

Choi was only able to save her because she promptly began resuscitating using the paddles and stimulating her heart. They had taken her by the tops of her hair.

Dr. Halstead meanwhile watched the scene petrified. What the hell had happened? What had he left out that led the woman to be close to death in a very short time?

- Will, what ... - Ethan said as he went through the woman's folder on his iPad noting that his colleague was right in front of him outside the room.

- What's wrong? - Asked the doctor bewildered, not being able to understand what the problem was so serious.

- You gave the patient painkillers .. - Choi said, pausing for a moment.

- Yes, of course, to allow her to endure the pain until they brought her to the operating room to reduce the fractures. - Halstead answered calmly sure of what he had done.

- Will these doses are three times those recommended, you were going to kill her! - Ethan said in shock. - If I hadn't arrived in time, your patient by now.... -

- What? - the red-haired colleague asked in a very loud voice and then added after looking on the iPad - I haven't scored such a high dose.

- Will this is what is written here and I don't think there is anyone here who enjoys taking your tablet and entering your password to make changes. I feel compelled to report to you - said the rules-abiding Doctor Choi.

Halstead was getting more and more agitated and desperate. That was an absurd situation for him to be sure of what he had done.

Unfortunately, however, the troubles didn't end there. It happened other times in a short time that various of Will's patients came to be close to death due to, for example, anaphylactic shock caused by allergies to drug excipients.

And eventually the doctors who were taking action to save their lives would say to Will:
- Doctor, I'll report to you! This is pure negligence! -

It was all so absurd, Will didn't understand anything anymore. What the hell was going on? Was it possible that all of a sudden he was no longer able to do his job?

He was getting more and more agitated, nervous. His heart was beating madly, everyone looked at him badly and suspiciously.
With his iPad in hand, trembling, he did nothing but look at the files of those patients and noticed various inconsistencies.

His colleagues were right to be wary of him, but the doctor knew what he wrote and it wasn't what he was reading right now.

Will was certain that he hadn't given his patients the wrong drugs and that he hadn't marked them with overdoses of these.
He was going completely into the balloon and looking paler and paler.

- Will, there is an arrival - Meggie called him, unaware of what was happening, bringing him back to reality.

The doctor, who had been sitting for a few seconds feeling almost faint, remained motionless and hesitant for a moment, but then aware that he could not escape his duty, he got up and walked towards the paramedics who were entering with a child on the stretcher.

- I'll take care of it - said Dr. Choi arriving breathlessly.

Will then stood on the sidelines watching what was happening around him. He felt slightly relieved to see Ethan replace him.
He was ashen in the face, terrified as he didn't understand what was happening, but surely he would look for a way to clarify the situation.

The eyes of the colleges meanwhile were all on him, they looked at him wrong, everyone thought him guilty.
Dr. Halstead, too, had slowly begun to doubt himself.

- Maybe I'm going crazy - he repeated to himself-

Those looks that others gave him, however, had not gone unnoticed by a careful scrutinizer like Meggie who soon approached him, just when the doctor was letting himself go and falling apart.

Will was having a nightmare. He didn't know how, but he seemed to have it all wrong.
The heart was beating faster and faster, it was as if it were trying to get out of the chest. His breathing was quick and shallow.
He was on the verge of a crisis, he had panicked.

Without his realizing it, just as Nurse Lockwood was approaching him, his knees gave way and the doctor found himself falling unconscious on the floor accompanied by the woman.

- Will, what's the matter with you? I need help here! Will you hear me? - she said drawing the attention of everyone present in Ed.

Maggie's requests for help caught the attention of Will's friend Dr. Rhodes, who immediately approached them.

After checking Will's vital signs as he slowly began to recover, she helped him, after letting him sit down for a while.

Connor had started to speculate about what might have happened. He believed, for example, that his fainting could have been caused by a low sugar after seeing him run away from the cafeteria without touching his lunch.

But Dr. Halstead was acting weird anyway, he sat there trembling with his eyes down, so maybe it was not caused by what the colleague was thinking.

After crouching down beside him, Connor started talking to him trying to get some reaction from him.

- Will, look at me what's going on? Talk to me please ... -

All of a sudden Will looked up his eyes that had filled with tears and crying said:
- I'm going crazy ... Connor please help me! I ... -
Rhodes and Maggie exchanged a confused look. He didn't understand what was happening, but they were determined to get to the bottom of the matter.

But their talk was interrupted by the arrival of Goodwin who turned hard and decisively to the doctor who, supported by Doctor Rhodes, had just got up from the ground.

- Doctor Halstead! in My office. Now! - he said

Will, detached himself from Connor, staggered after her without uttering a word with his head bowed with tears continuing to pour from his eyes.

Doctor Rhodes and Nurse Lokwood, on the other hand, stood there astonished without understanding what was going on, but I decided to inquire to understand how to help their friend.

A few minutes later, in her office, Goodwin started giving her lecture to the doctor.

- But I say: did he go crazy by chance? How did you come up with the idea of randomly giving your patients drugs? -

Will stood there, silent, motionless and with his head bowed, listening in silence to what his boss was saying to him, sobbing silently.

- I can't understand how such a thing can happen. You have always been a very good doctor. How could he do this? - repeated Sharon remarkably angry.

- Mrs. Goodwin, I ... I swear to you that ... I didn't ... I didn't do anything ... I gave the correct drugs - Will tried to explain.

Unfortunately, however, the woman couldn't believe him. She had to stick to the facts and what she saw was the contents of the folders.

- Correct? Correct? But is he kidding me? I'm sorry, you're fired - she concluded directly.

The doctor left the room without being able to say anything in his defense.
He was in 1000 pieces, he had lost his job, the one he cared so much about and to which he had dedicated all his life making a thousand sacrifices.

And now he had lost everything to a mistake he knew he hadn't made.

Will stood for a few moments just ahead of Goodwin's office.
He put one hand on the wall and the other on his head.

He had lost everything by now. All he had to do was go to the doctors room and empty his locker once and for all.

With his head down, with a heavy weight on his heart and eyes full of tears he wandered the corridors and once he arrived in front of his locker he began to take his things and place them in his backpack.

Meggie and Connor, meanwhile, had seen him pass and had decided to join him to understand more of what was happening.
- What's going on Will? What did Sharon want? - Maggie asked directly.

- What are you doing? - Connor asked instead amazed

Will continuing what he was doing and without looking his friends in the face simply said.
- I was fired -

Tears began to pour down his face, despite the fact that he tried to hold them back at all costs and he stopped holding onto the locker with one hand.

- What?! - the two shocked chorus said - but why ?! -

- She say that I purposely poisoned my patients - Halstead replied.

- But that's not true, you put your heart and soul into it and do everything to save them - Connor said

- You would never do such a thing - Maggie added

- The beauty is that I am aware that I have not done it, but in my iPad everything is different from what I wrote.- Dr. Halstead replied very sincerely following his friends and sitting down with them.

- Do you think someone could have changed your prescriptions? - Connor asked. - would need to find out your login password. -

- It is difficult I know, but it is not impossible. Either this happened or I went crazy - answered the red-haired doctor who then added - however I don't think we'll find out. Goodwin refused to hear reasons. She fired me without my being able to say anything. -

- Don't worry.We'll clear everything up. I think you should call Jay - Rhodes tried to calm him down.

- And what would I solve by calling it? I'm out Connor. Nothing can be done - answered Will now resigned. Then he got up and after taking his backpack and putting it on his shoulder he left the room without looking back.

Chapter Text

It was a winter day in Chicago and the whole city was covered in snow.

Jay had been invited to lunch by the Carsons, and having the day off from work, he had decided to accept.

Mrs. Carson, as always, had cooked in large quantities, all kinds of food. Whenever she made him eat there she prepared a meal as if she were feeding an army.
It was like that when she had guests.

Lunch began with the appetizer and then continued with the first and even two seconds with relative side dishes followed by the final dessert.

It was a fabulous day that went by like all good things all too quickly.

In the end, between a chat and the other, Jay had eaten a lot.
The lady had also begged him to do some encore too and he could not refuse to taste everything since everything was really too good

The woman's cooking reminded him a lot of his mother's, also often her very sweet and protective ways towards him.

When it came time for the dessert, the detective was really satiated, he wanted to refuse to eat it, but the woman looked at him with pleading eyes.

- Come on Jay you can't not taste it. I did it with my hands especially for you .- she said.

Hearing her say those words he couldn't say no and so he tasted it. A small piece just not to say no.

Not having eaten a portion that satisfied the woman, she prepared a dish for him to take home, adding something else that was left.

Ever since Jay had first entered that house, the woman had treated him like a son by taking care of him and preparing food for him to take home.
She was aware of the story of the young man who had lost his mother years before she met him

Like everything Mrs. Carson had made that day, the dessert turned out to be really good too.

Jay, had it been a different occasion and had eaten less, he would have gladly done encores and tris, he had liked it so much.

He was not the type who liked sweets, but that had something special about it.
He liked him so much that in the end, before leaving, he begged the lady to even give him the recipe, promising to prepare it for Will and Hailey to taste.

Jay came home around 5:40 pm. It had been a very long lunch and then he had taken a little walk hoping this would help him digest a little.

Once back Jay got everything he needed and took a quick shower having to catch up with Will.

The two brothers had vowed to spend a couple of hours together taking advantage of the fact that they both had the day off. The two worked like crazy and had hallucinating hours, so they couldn't see each other often.

Arriving in front of the building where his brother lived, Jay went upstairs and rang the doorbell of his apartment.

- Hello little brother - I greet him by opening the door the doctor and inviting him to enter - I just arrived I was late. -

- Hello - replied the other - do not worry, take it easy -

- I'll take a shower and I'll be right with you,- Will added

Jay, waiting for his brother to finish getting ready, sat on the sofa and turned on the TV. Finding nothing of interest, he started zapping between one channel and another.
He couldn't find anything that really caught his attention.

In fact, he wanted so much to be distracted because there was something bothering him and even though he didn't know what he was either.

He felt a strange itch all over his body, he could not stay still, he needed to scratch vigorously to try to make him stop.

In his mouth, since he got in the car to join Will, he tasted very unpleasant, as if he had eaten something bitter and the detective also perceived it as dry and dry.

Something was wrong ...

The detective in the meantime, therefore, decided to have something to drink. He had the feeling that he had not digested anything and attributed this to the fact that, as he really was, he actually ate so much.

Fortunately, his brother always kept some lemon shepes at home, he was crazy about them, but at the same time he found them useful for digestion.

Without wasting time, hoping that the drink could help him, he took a bottle from the fridge and opened it.

That fresh liquid was initially like a cure-all for his mouth and stomach, so he decided to go back to the sofa and continue sipping his drink while continuing to zap with the remote in hopes of finding something that would help him pass the wait. .
Will was terribly slow when it came to taking a shower, he loved to enjoy everything calmly after a tiring day.

Unfortunately, however, that initial feeling of well-being had lasted very little, in fact the more time passed and the detective felt strange.

In fact, his unusually dry and dry mouth was also added to the stomach that he had started, about ten minutes after drinking the shepes, to annoy him and make him really bad.
He also needed to cough from time to time as his throat stung quite a lot.

It was all so strange. He couldn't understand why he felt this way.

In a short time the detective, moreover, without being able to explain the reason, finds himself drenched in sweat. The sweater he was wearing could be wrung out. Yet he hadn't done anything, he had been sitting on the couch the whole time.

- Everything is alright? - Will said entering the room through the door that was behind him.

The doctor had finished showering and joined him in the living room. His brother had seen him unbutton one of the last buttons of his shirt and try to loosen the collar of the sweater he was wearing.

- Yes everything ok - Jay replied as always - I'm just hot. -

DA QUI-----------

- It doesn't seem normal to me that you sweat like that having been sitting on the sofa. Looks like you ran a marathon - replied the doctor.

- Will come on, don't be a doctor with me. There is no need, I told you: I'm fine - the detective replied irritably, then added calming down a bit - can I take a shower too? -

- Yes, sure - answered old Halstead - give you something quickly-.

The doctor went to his room to get a suit to give to his brother while, in the meantime, the detective went to the bathroom.

After turning on the water, he began to undress, taking off his clothes to get under the hot shower.
Feeling the water on his body was pleasant, he didn't feel so sticky anymore.

Meanwhile Will, without entering, respecting Jay's privacy, opened a crack in the door and left the things on a stool.

The bathroom quickly filled with steam, the heat spreading throughout the room was pleasant, he made him want to never leave there again.

As soon as he finished, however, Jay began dressing in what his brother had left him, but he soon stopped his every movement.

He had just put on his sweatpants when severe pain in his abdomen forced him to double over and try to catch his breath.

A few moments later the detective was forced to bend over the toilet caught by retching that led him to try to empty the contents of his stomach.
Soon he had thrown away everything he had eaten for lunch.

After he finished, he sat on the ground panting and shaking with exertion for a few minutes trying to recover.
His skin was pale, his eyes wet with tears from the effort made.

He leaned his back against the cold bathroom tiles shivering at the different temperature and stood there for a while breathing deeply trying to recover completely so as not to worry Will.

As soon as he felt ready he got up and after rinsing his face he finished dressing by leaving the bathroom.

When he reached the living room, Jay dropped onto the sofa and collapsed as if he were a man with no energy.

Meanwhile, the doctor had begun to observe more carefully, but his brother was bewildered.

There was something wrong with him, but he couldn't figure out what it was.
Jay was very reserved and when he was sick he kept his mouth closed and always replied vaguely, saying he was fine, getting nervous if someone tried to ask him more questions to try to understand.

Continuing to zap for a while remaining silent, the two found a broadcast describing the highlights of the sporting events that took place during the week and began to watch it, merely commenting on it.

Jay seemed distracted, however, and that didn't escape Will's watchful eye.

It seemed that the young man was focused on his breathing, as if he were trying to control It, to manage the malaise that was bothering him at that moment.

He was also trying to resist the itch that was spreading throughout his body, especially on his arms and chest.
He couldn't scratch, he didn't want to scratch in front of Will.

The brother would have started after various insistences to check him and visit him.

From time to time, however, unable to resist neither it nor his angry stomach, Jay was forced to get up and, pretending to speak on the phone, walked away from the lounge with Will following him with his eyes.

He was holed up in the bathroom still feeling the need to vomit even if in the end nothing came out as his stomach was now empty. He just let out some dull gagging that he tried to make as quiet as possible to make sure his brother didn't find out what was going on.

He knew that if Will understood that he was sick he would insist on getting him something or, in case, take him to the hospital.

He didn't need him to turn into a mother hen like he always did since he was little and he was sick or hurt.

There was no need to worry. He had only eaten too much especially not having been able to say no to those who had invited him. At least that's what Jay thought.

Back on the sofa, the detective tried to concentrate on the TV show, but without success. Watching TV bothered him enormously. His eyes burned and a few tears from time to time fell on his face making him feel the need to close his eyes.

- Hey little brother is everything okay? -Will asked that he had remained silent until that moment, but that he felt he could not do it anymore.

- Everything ok, - replied the detective who, imagining that the doctor would not have fallen for it, added - I must have eaten too much at the Carsons today, they cook too well ...-

Fortunately Will seemed to believe that explanation which seemed convincing enough as even the young man himself believed it was the cause.

- Wait,- the older Halstead said after a moment.

The doctor left for a moment and went into the kitchen to make a lemon and baking soda concoction that his mother always made. - keep drinking! You will see that it will make you feel better. -

- Things? - Jay asked hesitantly, not wanting to take medication.
- Quiet, it's not about drugs - Will replied as if he had read the detective's mind. - Mom taught me. - Just water, lemon and a pinch of baking soda. Swallow it, you'll feel better in a while. -
Jay did as he was told and drank the concoction, really hoping it would have the effect Will had said.

In fact it was, after about half an hour Jay's stomach stopped rumbling and he was able to enjoy his brother's company.

But the calm did not last long, it was an apparent calm.

The detective was wrong to believe that he was finally getting better.

In no time at all, his condition rapidly deteriorated. That stagnation he had experienced was just the calm before the storm.

His head all of a sudden started to hurt him, at first it was a slight headache of those but annoying, then it turned into a real continuous hammering. His nose was running continuously and his eyes were watering as if he had forgotten the open water fountain.

Before long, the doctor's living room table was almost entirely hidden by a mountain of used handkerchiefs as Jay was doing nothing but blowing his nose.

- Little brother, have a look. - Will said that he was keeping an eye on him and realized that his condition was rapidly deteriorating.

- No, Will. It's nothing. Maybe I got cold. - the detective answered hoarsely.
While the latter was speaking the doctor wasted no time and approached him to touch his forehead without giving weight to his words.
Luckily Jay wasn't hot, he didn't have a fever.

- Why don't you stop here for the night? - Will asked hopefully. That way he could keep his brother in check without letting him feel his constant attention to him.

- No, thank you. No need, I'll keep this bad cold at bay. - replied the young detective preparing to go home.

- Okay, but call if you need anything,- the doctor said, more and more worried about his pale little brother.

He would have gladly kept him there, he would have already controlled him from the start, but he didn't want to be overwhelming forcing him to do something he didn't want and then apparently it didn't seem to be anything special. Maybe he was really just indigestion associated with a bad cold. But Will was not calm. A flea in his ear kept him alert.

It was around 8:30 pm when the brothers said goodbye and Jay headed out of Will's apartment.

As he walked down the stairs, however, Jay had a terrible feeling.
All of a sudden it was as if his throat was closing. He could no longer breathe, as I also had a stuffy nose.

He was terrified, scared, trembling, it wasn't a good feeling.

Slowly he slid down the wall in the middle of one of the flights of stairs unable to move to go back up to his brother and speak as he couldn't catch his breath, took his cell phone from his pocket and quickly dialed Will's number hoping he had. the phone nearby and answered as soon as possible to come down to help him.

A sprightly and amusing ringtone invaded the doctor's apartment, there were several rings, but Jay finally got no answer.

The detective ended the call and dialed the number several times. Will was looking out on the balcony waiting to see his brother come out of the building so at that moment he still hadn't heard the sound of his cell phone and was unaware of what was happening a short distance from him.

Obviously a few minutes later he began to wonder why his brother him was taking so long to go out starting to worry.

Will immediately put himself on alert. Something had certainly happened. Immersed in his thoughts, he began to walk back and forth on the balcony and, passing in front of the window, he finally heard, even if only by chance, the ringtone of his cell phone coming from the living room.

Approaching the coffee table he began looking for the phone that was buried by a mountain of tissues that had been used by Jay.

This had muffled the sound slightly and while he was looking for it, it had stopped playing.

Will at that point, unaware of having received numerous calls, took it in his hand and wanted to put it in his pocket to be able to go out again on the balcony to see his brother go away.

Something, however, caught his attention. The display was flashing and there were five missed calls.
He wondered who could have called him so many times and so he checked who they came from as he walked to look out again.

He froze immediately as soon as he saw that they were all called his brother.

With his heart in his throat he pressed the callback button and ran, grabbed the first jacket he had seen and took a blanket out of his apartment to join Jay.

He had gone out in slippers, without wearing shoes, taking the house keys and thus closing the door behind him.

It didn't take long to get to Jay, who had barely made it to the end of the second flight of stairs.
He had started to feel bad in the middle of this, unable to make the remaining two to get out.

Seeing him, Will was frightened. His brother's face was very pale and a bluish color was starting to be noticed especially around his lips. His neck seemed to be more swollen than normal and the young man was struggling to get some air to breathe.

Seeing Will arrive in a great career, he tried to call him out loud, to ask him for help, but what came out of his mouth were only a series of minimal and muffled moans.

The detective was now almost lying on his side with his back touching the wall of the staircase. The phone fell from his hand and hit the floor, but luckily his brother was on his way.

However, the call had remained open and the speakerphone had arrived in the fall.

The detective slid completely towards the landing floor, placing both hands on the ground. It was as if he was in a quadruped position.

Seeing him like this as he went down the stairs Will sensed that his brother was really sick and that he had something serious.

-Jay calm down, I'm on my way - he said in a high tone before closing the call.

Without wasting time as he descended the last few steps to join his brother Will, he dialed and called 911.

But nothing could prepare him for what he saw when he got close to him.

The situation was worse than what he had seen in the distance.
Making the first assessments of him he described his hypotheses of him to the operator who had answered as his heart shattered into a thousand pieces on seeing his brother in those conditions.

Jay was lying on the ground at the foot of the ladder, with his legs bent. He had dropped sideways from the position he was in. His eyes were wide open and lost in terror. His neck, from under his chin, was getting swollen.

Will immediately got busy placing his cell phone on one of the steps.
The doctor opened Jay's jacket and also the sweatshirt of his suit to allow him to receive a little more oxygen and was horrified by noticing what could be seen on his chest.

The detective's skin at that point was covered with red patches, it looked like hives.

And as he gave his brother mouth-to-mouth, Will began putting the pieces together.
Vomiting, stomach pain, cold, sore throat, possible headache, swelling, hives ... these were clear signs and symptoms of an allergic reaction, serious enough to judge by how quickly it developed.

Jay was not new to these reactions. He was allergic to bees and latex, but he was reluctant to carry the epipen with him not liking to use pouches and bags that could contain such tools.

Like the good brother he was, careful and foresighted, Will had hidden two boxes of these, just in case, one in his brother's car and the other in his.

The only problem was going to get them. The two cars weren't that far apart, but the doctor didn't feel like leaving his brother alone. If he had chosen to stay there and not take the epipens Jay could have died, but at the same time that could have happened even if he had chosen to go and get them.

Usually Will was able to think clearly while remaining detached from the situation, being a doctor, but at the moment it was impossible for him to do so. The patient was his brother and it was very difficult in this case not to get involved.

Fortunately, in the end he was not forced to make the agonized decision by being ripped from his thoughts by the arrival of the paramedics.

- Ambulance 61 where are you? - Brett shouted from the entrance to the building.

- Silvye - called Will recognizing her voice - we're on the second floor, please hurry. -

The doctor was now in a panic. Being the only one who could do something he had held out, but now that the paramedics had arrived he could let himself go to the emotions as his brother was dying before his eyes.

After quickly explaining the situation Will started running towards his brother's car having taken the keys from his hands to take the epipen and like a lightning bolt he returned to him and without waiting he made one in his brother's leg.

Brett and Foster had watched his movements, he was a doctor and he knew what he was doing. Furthermore, the two colleagues had an idea of what was happening and agreed on the patient's problem: severe allergic reaction.

It was absolutely necessary, if one or two doses of epipen were present in the hope that it was not late.

Moreover, while the doctor had run in the car, Emily had inserted a cannula into the detective's arm to inject him with drugs while Silvye was trying in every way to intubate him without succeeding. His throat was blocked and too swollen.

An emergency tracheotomy was needed.

- Will, do you want to do it? - Brett asked the doctor that he didn't expect such a question.

He remained motionless, on his knees and staring down in a tone of voice broken by fear of him, with trembling hands, said:
- I can't do it, I'm sorry. I can not do it -

Will hadn't felt like operating on his brother, but he knew he was in the hands of two of the best paramedics around and he had known several of them working in the hospital.

It all happened in a matter of seconds and Jay was loaded into the ambulance and rushed to the Med.

During the trip Jay had finally begun to recover thanks to the drugs injected and the epipen.

Will was always by his brother's side and did his best to keep him calm knowing how much he didn't like ambulances or hospitals.

Eventually the detective also fell asleep from the effect of the drugs and remained under observation for a night to verify that he had no other reactions.

He had been really good at it. He had had a bad allergic reaction.

In the hospital, carrying out various tests, Jay having explained several times that he had not been stung by a bee or that he had touched anything latex, it was revealed that it was an allergy to honey that had developed as an adult.

That time he had pulled out of the broken cap. He who knows if he would have learned his lesson about him from that moment and would have stopped lying about him how he felt and his symptoms of his.
Will, too, had learned her lesson from him. Certainly as soon as he saw the strange brother he would do anything to be told what he had.

Chapter Text

It was a day like any other at Chicago Med. One of those in which you could not stop for a moment.

It was flu season and the emergency room was targeted by many parents who accompanied their children to visit them. Among them there were also sick adults and elderly people.

Even among the doctors and nurses there was someone who had fallen ill. For example Lhatam, Charles, Choi, April and Megan had caught the intestinal virus that was circulating at that time.

The doctors still at work were few, they could be counted on the fingers of one hand and were also forced to do double shifts to cover absences.

This was the case, for example, of Natalie and Will in the emergency room and Connor who was dedicated to the operating room.

- Will there is an arrival. - Meggie said attracting the attention of the doctor who, very tired, after so much work, had sat down to take a very small pause to catch his breath.

Taking a sad and resigned sigh, Will stood up and joined her and was joined by the paramedics who were entering at that moment pushing the new patient's stretcher.

A small girl was lying on it, curled up on herself and seemed asleep, it was evident that she was ill. At first glance it looked smaller than it was.

- Sarah Brown 4 years old, temperature 101,84 °. Dehydrated with constant vomiting.

Dr. Halstead then took charge baby and brought her into the room.
He already had an idea of what the child might have: the flu.

- Hi baby, I'm Will. - said the young doctor showing off one of his wonderful smiles attracting his attention - Be calm, I will do everything to make you feel better. -

Halstead was a man who, just looking at him, inspired confidence and who, besides, really knew how to deal with children. He loved and they perceived this and they, in fact, trusted in him.

- Room six is free doctor Halstead -;Meggie said, smiling to see the complicity that had been created between the two. She was satisfied with the choice to entrust the baby to him, a decision she had not made by chance.

So it was that the doctor, while the nurse was watching him, took the child into the room and made her settle on the bed followed by the little girl's mother who had joined them and followed them.

-So little, but how beautiful you are.- Will said smiling trying to put the little one a little more at ease than her .- I need to do a check to see how you are, okay? -

- Will you hurt me? - Asked the little girl innocently, a little frightened.

- No honey, I promise you. I will not hurt you and I will explain step by step what I will do. - he replied. - do you see this? It's a stethoscope, I'll use it to hear what's going on inside of you. I will place it on your chest and then on your back. It will be a little annoying because maybe you will feel it a little cold ...-

And so the doctor began his visit. The more he evaluated the conditions of the little girl, the more he confirmed the idea of what that little girl could have that he had had when he had seen her for the first time and the paramedics had informed him by giving him the first useful data. To confirm it he first had to exclude all other possible problems that could be framed and similar with the symptoms presented.

- You tickle me - said the little girl, laughing weakly, causing the good mood of all the people in the room, including the mother who was worried about her daughter.

All of a sudden though, as Will was leaning over her, her little girl sneezed in his face twice in a second without putting her hand in front of her. It often happened that children forgot to cover their mouths.

- Sarah - the mother immediately warned her - how many times have I told you that when you sneeze you have to put your hand in front of your mouth? Apologize to the doctor. -

- Sorry doctor, I'm sorry - she said really sorry.

- Don't worry honey,- Halstead said softly as he instinctively wiped his face with his hand. It wasn't the first time this it had happen to him - now Meggie will give you a little prick in your arm to get some blood so you can do some tests to see what is making you sick, okay ? -

When she saw the nurse enter the room with the supplies for her removal, her child stiffened and curled up more and more in herself in fear.

- You don't have to be afraid,- Maggie said. - you will feel nothing, just a pinch for a few seconds. -

Hearing this, the little girl calmed down slightly and had the blood sample done. Her great surprise to her was just as the nurse had told her, you feel nothing.

Lockwood, after taking the blood sample she needed, inserted a central line to give the baby the necessary fluids as she was dehydrated along with some medications.

As the visit proceeded, meanwhile, the little girl seemed to have strangely dozed off.
The doctor decided to take her temperature again, as it had been done after the paramedics left she with the doctor. At that time this was the same, but remeasuring it had increased to 103,64°.

- I am more than convinced that it is the flu virus that is circulating in this period. I want to wait to have the results of the analyzes to be sure.
In the meantime, I started giving her antipyretics to lower the temperature and I also added something against nausea so that as soon as the fever drops she can start eating something again. Finally, I put some fluids into her drip to rehydrate her. - explained the doctor to the little girl's mother.

- Thanks for everything, doctor. - said the woman extremely grateful to the doctor for the kindness, courtesy and attention she had had towards her daughter.

Will thanking him in turn, the lady went away waiting to have the results, stressing that he would come back as soon as he had the results of the analyzes.

In that half hour of waiting, until the results of the child's analyzes were ready, Dr. Halstead visited other of his patients and as soon as he had the results he immediately went to Mrs. Brown to tell her that the little girl had nothing but a simple influence.

Once the fever dropped and little Sarah was given the right treatment, Will continued his grueling shift, going from one patient to the other without stopping for a moment, deciding to have the child remain under observation until the next day before sending her home the high levels of dehydration she presented.

Back home after finally finishing his many hours of work, he took a quick shower and finally went to bed.

The next two days were not far behind, the usual routine with many sick patients waiting to be examined.
In the period of the flu, as often happened, since many doctors were absent due to illness, the grueling shifts followed one another continuously, lasting even for a whole week.

And usually Will was one of those doctors he had to do. He was the one who resisted the most, he never let himself be beaten down by anything and seemed tireless.
All the colleagues gradually, one after the other, sooner or later collapsed and had to stay at home waiting for the flu to take its course before being able to return to work.
But Will no, he seemed to have created a virus-proof barrier. It had been several years ago when he last got sick, at least it had been like that up until then.

After two days, however, Will seemed to have felt the pinch. Since the morning he had been up feeling a little strange, but he still showed up at work for his shift. He didn't feel like taking a day off especially with all the absences that were there at that time.

It was in the evening that day that things started to get worse and Will began to collapse. He was not himself, he was tired, pale, he felt so strange that he did not even know how he was.

Despite this, however, Dr. Halstead decided to continue working tirelessly without stopping and when they asked him he also gave his availability for the night shift when he discovered that Connor had also raised the white flag and had returned home being ill.

Not even he, on reflection, was at his best, he was not even remotely the portrait of health.

After giving his availability for the next shift, he immediately regretted it. Obviously Will was a man of his word and once he got his word he wouldn't hold back.

What he hoped in his heart was just that the night might not be as chaotic as the day shifts had been.

Fortunately, his prayers were answered, the night passed peacefully and Doctor Halstead as well as made some rounds among the patients to check their conditions, treated some new ones who, however, fortunately presented not serious problems.

The rest of the time, however, Will spent sitting at a desk reading some medical articles just to pass the time a little by trying to make it pass quickly.

Thus it was that the doctor spent the night until about three in the morning. He was sitting and trying to read the latest medical research.
The more time passed, however, the more he felt as if he could not concentrate on anything.

He had the impression of having swollen eyes and often they burned and started to water.
He had pains all over his body, both in his bones and muscles.
The more time passed, the more the headache he had and that he had presented a few hours before, at first lightly and quite silently, also increased.

The more time passed, the more he felt like he had a jackhammer in his head. He sneezed often and willingly, his nose was like blocked up and his throat was itching forcing him to cough from time to time.

There was little to do, it was not difficult to understand what was happening to him, he too, the reckless Halstead enemy of flu viruses, was falling ill.

He too had caught the flu and although he tried to resist, ignoring the symptoms, he felt worse and worse.

His stomach had started to protest and a strong sense of nausea had forced him to go to the bathroom several times to vomit. He was just knocked out and he was growing paler in the face with his heart beating rapidly in his chest.

Around 4:30 am Will was called for an arrival and so he got up from his desk, which had become his refuge at the time, to quickly head to the ER entrance and then the patient arrived there with the paramedics.

Once on his feet he was seized with dizziness and his stomach already upside down protested noticeably causing him another wave of nausea that the doctor was able to control and manage not being able to run to the bathroom.

Fortunately, the boy who had been brought into Ed had nothing serious so Will took a short time to visit him and after having hypothesized a diagnosis with relative care he sent him for confirmation tests.

Once finished the doctor finally headed for the bathroom to throw up what little was left in his stomach of what he had eaten for dinner.

This time he had to wait a long time for his stomach to calm down. It was when this was finally empty, after countless dull gasps that Will was able to sit on the floor to catch his breath.

He was soaked in sweat, wet as a chick. His hair was soaked and glued to his forehead. His body shuddered as Will leaned back to catch his breath, once he felt the cold of the tiles that was in stark contrast to the heat radiating from his body.

His head had begun to beat even more violently than before, in unison with his heart.

As soon as he felt ready the doctor then stood up, washed his face and went back to Ed as if nothing had happened. But it was noticed that he was bad looking at him well. It was no longer possible to hide it.
Doctor Halstead really looked like a ghost of himself, he was very pale.

Without speaking to anyone, he settled back at his desk and with his head down he pretended to continue reading the famous research in the magazine he had taken earlier.

At least that was what the doctor wanted others to believe as they watched him as they passed.

Will, on the other hand, kept his eyes closed, breathing deeply and trying to control the nausea and that annoying jackhammer in his head.

The only thing that consoled him was that being 5:00 in the morning he had very little time left at the end of his night shift. At 7:00 he could finally go home to rest for a while and recover.

But sitting there, slowly, overcome by the exhaustion and high fever that was now rising, he fell asleep.

At around 06:30 Natalie arrived in ED refreshed from a good night's sleep and full of energy ready to get to work.

-Good morning Meggie - greeted the doctor after seeing her friend of hers already behind the counter. - already at work? -

- Good morning Nat, how radiant we are this morning - replied the nurse - yes, this morning I started the shift an hour earlier than expected with this shortage of staff ...-

- Thank you,- she said with a smile and then asked, - Did you see Will anywhere? -

The nurse turned and pointed to the doctor sitting at the desk.

- He's there,- he said, - I'd be curious to know what he's reading .. he's so focused, so absorbed.- It has been since I arrived half an hour ago that I have seen him read carefully without ever looking up from that magazine. -

Natalie then moved away from Maggie thanking her friend for meeting her love for her.

She came up behind him and hugged him from behind her giving him a kiss on the cheek, then she walked away to take the breakfast she had brought him from inside her bag.

- Coffee and croissant for my favorite worker. - she said smiling.

Her smile, however, darkened when she saw that her trusted boyfriend had not reacted to either the touch or what she had said. She began to worry and then smiled again when she realized that her love for her had fallen asleep.

- My poor love, you must be exhausted. - she said to herself as she approached him to wake him up with a tender kiss.

As she approached her forehead frowned even more, Will was giving off a great deal of heat and also trembling like a leaf. Taking the stethoscope around his neck she began, then, somehow, given his position, to check it.

She heard a hiss, it was as if it were all clogged up. Then she walked away from him for just a moment to get a thermometer.
Once back she held the device to his ear and she was shocked when she read the numbers that appeared on the display.

The young doctor had a temperature of 104,18

There was no doubt that Will had caught the flu.
Sensing someone beside him eventually the doctor began to wake up. He opened his eyes, which were small, small because of his discomfort. She looked around and saw Natalie standing in front of him.

Gently she came even closer to him and helping him to get up she said:
- Love come, I'll give you something for the flu and then I'll take you home so you can rest and heal. -

Even the strong and resilient Dr. Halstead sometimes gets sick.

Chapter Text

After several weeks of Chicago crime seeming to never stop, finally the long-awaited day of rest arrived for the Intelligence.

The team recently investigated numerous murders, thefts, robberies, drug dealing, without stopping for a moment, without having a breather.

Finally, however, the long-awaited pause arrived and, as there were no cases to investigate,Voight decided to give his boys two days off after they completed their pending reports.

Obviously everyone happily set to work to finish as soon as possible, but time, tyrant, never seemed to pass.

Even Jay, despite being exhausted, destroyed, as indeed all the others set to work to complete the various paperwork in order to be able to return home soon.

The detective hated that part of his job, but unfortunately it had to be done. He loved the action, the adrenaline, all those good strong feelings one felt after arresting a suspect or a criminal.

Most of his colleagues snorted as they filled out their reports. It was actually a boring thing to do, for some more for some less.

But Jay wasn't getting bored right now. He was focused on his work, he wanted to finish as soon as possible to be able to go to his apartment as soon as possible to sleep as much as possible, hoping not to be tormented by the usual nightmares.

It was 5:45 pm when Halstead finally finished and, taking his things, after saying goodbye to everyone, he left the district heading towards his car.

Only later did he remember that Hailey had come to pick him up that morning. He would have to wait for her to finish too to be able to give him a ride.

As it was a beautiful spring day, the detective decided not to wait for her. He decided to take a nice walk.

His house was not far away and walking would help him release some of the tension he had built up over the past few weeks.

So he texted Hailey to warn her and off he went.

It was so nice and enjoyable to be outdoors. The warmth of the sun warmed his skin, the not excessively hot air caressed his face.

Before long he came to a small park and sat down on a bench. He closes his eyes and began to breathe deeply. His breathing was so calm and slow, the song of the birds reached his ears and his face was warmed by the sun's rays.

It was so nice to be there.

Unfortunately, what Jay didn't know was that this wasn't going to be a smooth ride. He had no idea what was going to happen to him.

A burly man was hiding from his view sitting on one of the benches in the park. He had been following him for a while and was waiting for the right moment to attack him.

Taking advantage of the moment when the detective was distracted and above all in the piece of road he was traveling on without anyone else being there, the man sneaked up from behind and hit him with a branch of a tree that a gardener had cut down a few days earlier, leaving it with the others stacked there in a corner.

The blow was very strong, precise and decisive. Jay screamed in unexpected pain and fell unconscious.

In order not to take risks and avoid that the detective wake up, before reaching the place where he wanted to take him, the man covered his mouth with a handkerchief soaked in chloroform, making him breathe it.

That big man had a wonderful surprise for Jay, even though the detective most likely wouldn't have been of the same opinion.

It took about an hour and a half for the detective to start recovering. He felt strange, sore. His head hurt, as did the muscles in his arms and abdomen that he could feel pulling. His hands were tied tightly with something.

He absolutely had to figure out where he was and so he slowly forced himself to open his eyes. What he saw made him realize he had been kidnapped. It was hanging from what appeared to be a pipe. His hands were firmly tied to it with what looked like a thick, strong rope over his head.

His body was dangling and his feet could only touch the concrete below.

From the back of his neck he felt something warm, he imagined it was blood coming out of a wound. It was an all too familiar feeling. He had unfortunately found himself numerous times in similar situations.

His thoughts were interrupted by the thud of an iron door opening.

- Well well, I'm glad we finally woke up, my dear detective! - said a man with his face covered by a balaclava and his voice counterfeited by a voice transformer.

- Who are you cursed? What do you want from me? - asked the young man

- They are your worst nightmare - the man replied, laughing coarsely - and if you really care about your life you don't want to know. -

- What do you want from me? Why did you kidnap me? - asked the detective again.

- I just want to make you suffer like I am suffering. I cannot understand how you managed to overcome what you experienced in Afghanistan - said the kidnapper

- What do you know what I lived there? - asked the detective who had guessed that he was a former soldier.

- Dear Jay Halstead, I know a lot more than you think - said the man

- You do not know anything about me! I ... I live every day with the pain of what happened over there - the detective said sincerely looking into his eyes, the only visible part of his face not covered by the balaclava.

- Who do you think you're kidding? You built a life after that time, you have a job. You don't look like someone who suffers. Perhaps you have forgotten everything we have lived ...- said his captor starting up a computer and a projector.

It was therefore easy for Jay to understand that he was a colleague of his from when he was in the army.

From that moment the man started showing pictures of what had happened during the war in Afghanistan on the wall in front of the detective. Most had been recovered from Internet.

There were photos of soldiers, but mostly of children who had been killed or were about to be killed by gunshots or grenades.

The criminal knew that children were the detective's weak point.

Shortly after starting to look at Halstead's eyes, in fact, they filled with tears that the detective refused to bring down his face.. It was so hard to resist in front of those images so crude, in reliving that suffering and pain of those who have experienced them and who every day try to bury them in the deepest part of his mind, then wearing a mask so as not to show what he really feels

- Stop, please stop. I don't want to look anymore. I don't want ... I can't relive those days. - Jay shouted, keeping his eyes closed.

- You have to watch! - the man forced him starting to whip him with a whip on the belly and back, turning around him.

The detective, now in the grip of physical and emotional pain, shouted, among the copious tears that fell on his face, he continued to glimpse glimpses of that military life he had tried with all his might to forget.

After about a quarter of an hour of pure agony, a time that seemed to be endless for Jay, the video ended and the projection panel that was previously in front of Jay was picked up allowing a glimpse of the glass of a obscured rectangular window to make sure that no light enters to show the screen clearly.

Observing the room better, without the cloth that was positioned more or less in the center

Observing the room better, without the cloth that was positioned more or less in the center, this seemed similar to that of the districts where detectives conducted interrogations.

Jay, after that torture, heaved a little sigh of relief . Despite the physical pain he was happy that at least the psychological one was trenibaro8ml gr

Or at least that was what he believed and what he didn't know was that that, for him, was just the beginning of a nightmare. Purtroppo non era come lui pensava..

Once the panel was rewound, the room in front was lit up and in it the detective could see, through a glass, the presence of four people. A man and three children who had entered one after the other.

The first was from behind and was closest to the glass. He had a rifle on his shoulder, like those used in war, and he kept it in the rest position.The other three were leaning against the wall, facing the window. They were three children of different nationalities. There was a Chinese, a black child and one who appeared to be European. They were no more than 4 or 5 years old.

All four wore military uniforms and the man had a hat in addition.

What was happening? What were they doing in there?
Jay couldn't understand what was going to happen, but what he did know was that whatever it was was going to be no good.

The answers to his questions were not long in coming. A few moments later the man loaded the rifle and aimed it at the children. Jay prayed, hoping that what it really seemed was not happening. He seemed to be witnessing a full-blown execution.

The soldier began to shoot taking aim and one after the other those little children fell to the ground making a thud. Three precise shots to the head, a few seconds apart from each other, with great precision. All died instantly.

They were just children, three innocent souls without guilt and they had a life ahead of them. Jay started screaming like crazy:

- Damn bastard, you're a fool, how could you? They were just children!

- You suffer detective you suffer ... - Said the man laughing heartily continuing to hit him with the whip just for pure enjoyment.

What Jay was facing was a former military man, just like the detective. The difference between the two was that Jay, thanks to the support of his friends and his fortitude, had managed to recover after the horrors experienced in the war. He still had aftermath of his PTSD, but he was able to manage them and recreate a life for himself. The other, on the other hand, had not succeeded and was trying in every way to destroy those who had made it. And he did this not only by acting on the physical of these people, but above all from a psychological point of view.

That criminal, in fact, had tortured Halstead by hitting him hard with the whip, but he had created much more serious wounds than those on a psychological level showing him scenes of war, but above all making him witness the execution of those three innocent children firsthand.

Jay had been in a lot of pain at that time. Fortunately, however, after a while, everything finally seemed to end. The detective, after having shed many tears and after receiving numerous blows that resulted in various injuries, was captured from the darkness and passed out. Then when he found everything seemed different..

A few hours earlier, around 10pm, the intelligence guys were texting each other.

"Guys I know a great place to take a trip, and maybe a nice picnic. If you like ... " Vanessa suggested in a message to her colleagues.

Gradually everyone accepted, arguing that it was a good idea to spend a day together without having to work.

So everyone agreed, the only one who still hadn't expressed his opinion was Jay. He hadn't actually replied to any of the messages sent to him by the team, and he didn't seem to have even read them.

"Okay, everyone agrees, only Jay is missing," Adam wrote.

"You'll see he'll agree too," Kevin replied.

Seeing that his partner did not respond by joining the conversation, Hailey decided to call him. Jay's phone, however, rang forever and nobody answered.

It was all so weird, it was absurd that he hadn't even heard his phone ring between texts and calls. True, the detective wasn't the type to use his phone too much, but he always carried it with him and answered at any time.

After several phone calls and leaving numerous messages on the machine, Hailey decided to call Will.

- Will Halstead - answered immediately after the first ring

- Hi Will, it's Hailey. - she said

- Hi Hailey, did something happen to Jay? - he asked worriedly. He didn't get calls from the young detective very often, and when that happened there were problems with his brother.

- Well, I don't know, we can't figure out where it went. He does not answer messages or even calls .- she explained.

- If he doesn't answer you it will be because he is sure to be sleeping. In fact I'm sure of it. We spoke in the afternoon and he said he was going to take a shower and go to sleep. I heard from his voice that he was really exhausted - said the doctor

- Ok, okay. It will certainly be so. He will answer in the morning as soon as he wakes up. - concluded Hailey.

And so they ended the call. Detective Upton was hesitant, but she decided to chase away those strange omens that gripped her and to think it was as Will had told her. After notifying the others, he then texted with them for a while longer, worked out some details for their outing and then fell asleep.

The doctor, on the other hand, who was already lying on the bed, collapsed immediately after closing the call. He was exhausted, after a grueling shift, and fell asleep as he thought about going to his brother's house to check if everything was ok or not.

It wasn't nice every time to see someone crash into your house so out of the blue.

He had calmed Hailey, but a flea had crept into his ear.

The next morning both Upton and Dr. Halstead wake up early and find themselves in front of the detective's house ready to enter. It was about seven o'clock, and the two had independently decided to go and check that the young detective was okay.

When they got to Jay's door, the two started knocking several times without receiving an answer. Eventually these, more and more worried about the young man who might have felt bad or worse be hurt, they opened with the spare key they knew was under the doormat peeking inside the apartment..

The house was still mostly dark. Only a few shy rays of sunlight entered through the holes in the windows.

The two realized that something strange was happening, but decided to think positively.

Maybe Jay was still asleep and they had come to his house to disturb him.

It seemed so absurd to think of such a thing. Usually the detective woke up early and went for a run and in addition he must have already been awake if, as had been assumed the night before, he had gone to sleep very early.

The two split up and began checking out the apartment.

- Jay, where the hell are you now? - they thought.

Hailey looked into the kitchen and living room, Will into the guest room and bathroom, but found no one.

Eventually they both found themselves in front of Jay's bedroom, but the young detective wasn't even there.

The whole house was in order, even the bed, it seemed not to have been touched, but one detail caught the doctor's attention: the blanket was slightly pulled from the side opposite to that of the door, pointing out the sheets underneath on that side.

Jay, having had a military education, was very meticulous and made sure that everything was in perfect order before leaving the house, so it was not possible that he had left the bed that way.

It was a small detail, perhaps insignificant, it could happen that something was not precise and perfect as someone wishes.

Will reflecting on this little detail walked into the room followed by Hailey to check it out further.

Jay was really there. The first thing the two saw was his foot, then proceeding forward they found his entire body. He was lying on the floor beside the bed, the one less visible from side of the door.

He was still wearing the shirt he had worn the day before at work, but this time it was covered in cuts and blood.

Will soon leaned over him calling and was relieved when he realized that his brother had just passed out.

This must have happened probably because of somebody's pain.

He immediately started visiting him. His heartbeat was strong and his breathing was regular. There were just countless open, bleeding wounds on Jay's back and then his abdomen and sternum as well.. Will noticed after turning it over.

The brother kept calling him, shaking him slightly.

It took a while for him to open his eyes and having done so the detective looked first at Will and then at Hailey.

His expression was blank, he looked bewildered and you could see pure terror in his eyes.

- Jay talk to me, how do you feel? - Will kept calling him and asking him, but he didn't answer.

The detective closed his eyes again and stood motionless for a moment without reacting

The two who found him had their hearts in their throats beating very quickly. They were afraid for their brother / colleague.

Shortly thereafter, just a couple of seconds later, Jay groaned and immediately opened his eyes.

- Hey little brother - said the doctor

- Will - replied the detective weakly and then looking around him also called his colleague by name. - what ... -

- How do you feel? - asked the doctor.

- Good - the detective replied as usual

- Jay seriously, don't mess around. How do you feel? - Will repeated

- Tired, dizzy, in pain. - he replied stammering and sighing at the end telling the truth.

- Can you sit up? - the doctor asked him

- I think so - he answered

And so the two of them helped him change his position.

Unfortunately that movement, however, caused him dizziness and also a strong nausea that led him to have retching and vomiting on himself and on the ground what he had in his stomach.

- Sorry - he said when he finished feeling a great shame.

- Don't worry, I'll take care of it later - Will replied, reassuring him

- Don't worry, I'll clean up. - the detective then said helping his brother to undress Jay by taking off his clothes by cutting off the now unusable shirt.

What the two then saw shocked them, Jay's body was covered in bloody gashes.

- Jay who did it to reduce you like this? - asked Will

- What happened to you? - Hailey went on investigating.

- I don't ... I don't know ... I ... I don't remember anything ... I'm sorry. - he replied

Shortly after they finished changing it, the two helped Jay sit up on the bed and then leisurely to lie down on his side, avoiding the wounds on his torso and back to ensure that he does not cause further pain to the detective.

Will walked away for a moment to get the first aid kit. A very strong anger filled his heart and he was happy to be alone and on the sidelines at that moment. He couldn't and didn't want to be seen like that by his brother.

He headed to the bathroom and stared in the mirror for a couple of seconds.. His shaking hands gripped the edge of the sink and his knuckles were turning white now. He tried to breathe deeply to be able to calm down at least a little.

A thousand doubts and questions filled his mind. For example, he wondered: who could have reduced his brother like that.

Looking at himself one last time in the mirror, then before leaving, he blinked back the tears who bully threatened to get out of his eyes and once he felt ready, when he finally regained control of himself, having calmed down a little, having put aside his anger not being useful at that moment, he returned to the room and turned all his attention to his brother.

- Jay, I'll take you to the Med. I need to have you checked - the doctor finally said after having cleaned and medicated the various wounds on the detective's body, covering the deeper ones with gauze.>

- I'm fine, it's not necessary - replied the other panting a little for the pain felt. He would do anything to avoid the hospital.

- Jay you are not well - he said calmly. - your body is full of wounds that could become infected and you could also have some internal damage. You don't remember what happened to you so they need to visit you. You may have a head injury and this could lead to amnesia. -

The detective knew that his brother was right, he had complete faith in him, but hating hospitals he found himself, with what little strength he had to oppose.

Unfortunately for him, but also fortunately, he didn't win and So soon Will was trying to take off the rest of the clothes he was wearing and then put him in a comfortable and clean overalls.

The doctor took a loose sweater from the closet that would not cause him problems adhering to the wounds and after having made him wear it he also put a sweatshirt to give him some warmth. Finally, seeing Jay's trembling, Will also put a heavy blanket over his shoulders because it was cold outside as it was winter despite being broad daylight.

The detective was shaking maybe from this or maybe from shock.

Once he was ready, Will loaded almost all of his brother's weight on him with some help from Hailey too. Jay looked very weak and every movement, even the smallest one, caused him pain. The doctor tried to support him without touching his wounds to avoid hurting him and he did the same to get him into the car by gently placing him on the passenger seat, arranging him so that it was comfortable, even if it wasn't easy.

After fixing up his brother Will he left for the Med and as soon as he got there he parked near the entrance, leaving the car in the middle of his feet, arousing the indignation of those who were observing the scene.

- But look at this yourself. Who do you think you are to be able to park there? - someone asked

- You see, just because he's a doctor in this hospital he believes he has the right to do whatever he wants. - said another

These were just some of the comments made by those present.

Will felt a strong rage build up within him as he listened to them, the very one he had been able to control with difficulty earlier when he found his brother in those conditions.

At that moment, however, he couldn't indulge them and he couldn't waste time talking to those he considered imbeciles because they talked without knowing.

The doctor had to think about his brother and there was no time to waste, so he went into the ER and turned to Meggie out of breath:

- I need a stretcher, Meggie soon! -

- What's going on? - She replied as she got everything ready.

So he began to quickly explain the situation to him and when he reached the car, the detective was always very delicately placed on the stretcher and carried inside.

He was given to Dr. Choi as Will could not cure him as he was a family member and so Ethan started asking for more information to get a more complete picture of the situation.

- What happened to him? - he asked

- We don't know, we found it like this. - Will said starting to undress him gently. - he was on the ground near the bed. He threw up several times and looks really confused.

And so she started helping Jay undress to put on the hospital gown. Compared to when they were at home, the young man was quite confused and very sleepy, in fact during the trip he had dozed off several times and was woken up by Will and Hailey.

Once he was ready, Jay was laid back on the bed and a grimace of pain appeared on his face that increased every time he tried to move even if by a few millimeters in search of a more comfortable position.

- Jay, do you know where you are? - Dr. Choi asked

- In the hospital. - answered

- Do you know who I am? - He asked again

- Doctor Choi - Jay said confidently

He answered correctly to these and other questions even if gradually mumbling more and more. It was increasingly difficult to decipher and understand what he was saying while sleep demanded it.

Excluding excessive sleepiness, Jay seemed to be well oriented in both space and time. He also answered correctly when the doctor asked him for the complete date with day, month and year.

Choi then began to have him undergo tests, such as x-rays to check the state of the ribs, an ultrasound to exclude any bleeding. and a CT scan of the skull to check for the possible presence of a head injury given the wound on the nape of the neck

The nurses immediately started preparing Jay for the various checkups and Ethan in the meantime dismissed Will and Hailey telling them to go to the waiting room adding that he would let them know as soon as he heard.

As they left they could hear Jay fidgeting and moaning from the sharp pain of moving his body.

- Will! Will! Don't go! Will where are you? Don't leave me alone! - Jay cried in terror when his brother was out of sight.

The monitors to which the young man was connected began to ring wildly. So Dr. Halstead went back and placed himself next to his brother again.

- Jay I'm here. Don't worry, I'm not going anywhere. But now calm down a little - Dr. Halstead told him looking into Choi's eyes who gave him his permission to stay.

Once Jay realized his brother wasn't going to move from his side, he finally began to relax.

Will was mostly on the sidelines, the patient was his brother and there was nothing he could do. Eventually, however, he was asked to help disinfect and bandage the numerous wounds on Jay's body and he accepted and went to work.

It didn't need to be stitched, but they did need painkillers because the detective's whole body was a pile of pain.

Days passed, about four, and the detective began to recover, especially from a physical point of view. On the psychological side, things were a bit more complicated.

He was back at work with Will and Chioi's approval. Unable to stay home doing nothing, Jay agreed to do office work to do something.

In front of his colleagues, the young detective acted as if nothing had happened, he tried to be seen smiling and happy, as if everything was ok.

On the other hand, when he was alone, he would let himself go and torture himself because he couldn't remember what had happened to him that night and that was absurd for him.

Jay was trying to retrace his thoughts from the time he left the district to when Will woke him up and found himself on the floor next to his bed..

Unfortunately, however, all his efforts turned out to be in vain. The memories of him were interrupted almost immediately, until he was taking a walk, then total darkness and this made him nervous you feel really bad.

Even with Hailey and Will he pretended to be fine and every time they asked him how he was he would reply: "I'm fine".

But that wasn't true and his colleague and brother were aware of it. They knew when he wore a mask, they knew him all too well and could read those little signs that were beyond his control..

But the more time passed, the harder it became for Jay to hide what he felt inside. The facade he had built was crumbling.

One day, in fact, the detective was alone in the room and lying on the bed was trying to remember once again what had happened that day. The nervousness inside him, the annoyance of not remembering were so great that they made him burst into tears..

And so he was sitting on the bed with his hands over his face crying with big sobs.

That's when Will arrived. He had just returned from a grueling shift at work and he immediately went to his brother to ask him if he wanted some company since he was both free. Will was doing everything to make Jay feel better psychologically too, so he wanted to spend time with him even though he was exhausted and just wanted to go to sleep.

Before entering the room, Will decided to gently knock on the door. He didn't want to scare his brother.

As soon as the latter realized he was coming and that he would soon be entering, he turned away from the door making sure that his brother could not see him in those conditions.

The detective did not like those who let themselves go showing their emotions, he hated crying and at the same time he hated being seen doing it even by his own blood.

It wasn't his way. He showed he was fine even when he was broken.

What he wasn't aware of though was that Will had already seen everything through the door and had also heard him sobbing as it was slightly open..

- Hello little brother - he said entering as if nothing had happened.

Jay didn't answer, didn't trust his voice.

- Come on Jay, it's me Will - said the doctor.

At that precise moment the detective turned to his brother and looked him in the face for a moment. His eyes were red and swollen.

"Who knows how long he's been crying." thought the doctor with a heart full of sadness.

What the latter didn't expect, however, was that Jay would turn around and hug him. Hiding his head under Will's right shoulder, the young man continued to cry and sobbed for several minutes before finally calming down.

- Jay come on, talk to me what's going on? - asks the doctor

- Will I don't ... I don't remember anything that happened the other day and this fact is driving me crazy ... - answered the desperate young detective.

- Quiet little brother, we'll find a solution. But now he tries to calm down and try to get some sleep. - said the larger of the two.

And so, after helping his brother get under the covers, he turned to leave the room, sighing sadly. He wanted to go talk to Dr. Charles to ask for help.

- Will! - Jay called him who then asked him with lost puppy eyes that he did not want to be alone: - Are you staying with me? -

- Yes, of course. I will not move from here. I'll be here when you wake up. -Will said, settling next to his brother in his bed, stroking him gently..

And so slowly Jay relaxed, letting himself go into the doctor's arms, falling asleep exhausted almost immediately./p>

Will, on the other hand, stayed as he said by his side and continued to hold him close all night. Obviously he could not sleep, as well as due to the uncomfortable position from which he had not moved so as not to wake Jay., also because he continued to rack his brains to try to understand what could be done to make his brother feel better.

In the end, however, without finding a solution, he too let himself be overcome by fatigue and fell asleep by his side despite the fact that the position was not ideal..

After about two hours, Dr. Choi came into the room to do some checks, as he had done in those days since Jay came home.. He went there from time to time to check it out as Will had asked.

As soon as he arrived he had started fixing some things he might need and taking the detective's pulse gently so as not to wake him he noticed that he had an irregular heartbeat rhythm. The young man's sleep was agitated, often studded with nightmares.

The noise from the instruments and medicines the doctor took made Will wake up with a start with his heart beating wildly in his chest.

The young doctor believed it could be a criminal who had snuck into Jay's house to attempt his life or to complete what he hadn't previously done. Immediately Ethan, noticing that he had scared his colleague, immediately reassured him by saying:

- Shhh.. quiet, it's just me. I took some parameters from your brother and I have better adjusted the dosage of the drugs he is taking. -

Doctor Halstead, realizing that this was not a threat, but only his friend and colleague, tried to compose himself by taking deep breaths to calm down, then rubbing his neck a little bit painful due to the position in which he had slept and getting out of bed to stretch his legs a little as well as the rest of his body.

- Sorry I didn't realize I fell asleep.- Dr. Halstead apologizes

- Don't worry, you must be exhausted. Sorry me, I didn't mean to scare you. - Ethan answered

- Don't worry, I'm fine, - Will said

- Why don't you go over there to rest? - asked the colleague, you could see in his face that he needed it.

In fact, Will after a grueling shift had been forced to do other overtime hours and then as soon as he got home he went directly to his brother. He was still dressed like when he left the hospital, he hadn't even changed.

- I can't rest, Jay needs me - Halstead replied, turning to look at his brother lying on the bed still fast asleep.

- Yes, you are absolutely right, he needs you, but you serve him in full shape, he does not need a half-service brother. - explained Choi

- I promised him that I would not move from here and that he would see me as soon as he woke up. -Will said with the real reason why he stayed there.

He actually would have done it even if Jay hadn't asked him.

- Yes, but that's how you destroy yourself.- the doctor was trying to make Dr. Halstead reason

- Ethan, Jay's not okay ...- Will pointed out

- It seems to me that he is recovering well instead - Choi stated what he saw from the physical point of view - he is back to his everyday life. Today is my last check-up, the wounds are looking, he can stop these drugs, he will just have to continue with the antibiotic for another two days. -

- Yes, but there is something wrong yet ... - Dr. Halstead added, sighing sadly

- Why are you saying that? Ethan asked

- Well first of all Jay hates not only hospitals, but also being visited and monitored all the time. He's been in the facility for several days though and you've been coming here for a while and he still hasn't complained like he usually does.. Also when I got here he was crying profusely because not being able to remember what happened to him is driving him crazy. Obviously asking him continuously what happened that night does not help him. I also understand, however, that Voight needs to know in order to be able to arrest the damned who hurt him.- concluded Will

- I understand ... Look, maybe I have a possible solution. Have you thought about hypnosis? - Ethan suggested

Will looked at his colleague doubtfully, he had never considered this methodology, also because he never happened to need to use it.

- Sometimes, when we suffer a trauma, our mind allows us to forget, to put aside memories that could be traumatic for us. It is a more defense mechanism quite powerful. With hypnosis you could make Jay relive the event and get some more information. - explained Choi

- You could try ... - Will hypothesized that wanting to help his brother tried not to exclude any possibility and being a bit perplexed he added: - But won't it be dangerous? I don't know how he would react after ...-

-Will take it easy. The procedures are not risky, as long as they are done by competent people, and luckily I know one. What happens next will be addressed slowly. From what you told me I understood that not remembering is driving him crazy anyway so why not try? - the colleague tried to convince him

- Yes, it's true. One could try. I'll tell him as soon as he wakes up. - the older Halstead replied knowing that he had to speak to Jay first to see if he agreed to make this attempt to undergo hypnosis.

After chatting with Will, Dr. Choi left, but not before leaving him the number to contact his colleague who practices hypnosis. However, he stopped in an adjacent room to talk on the phone before leaving the house.

Will went back to his brother shortly after, as they had drifted off while they were chatting so as not to wake Jay.

He then lay down beside his brother again and soon fell asleep again.

About half an hour later, maybe even less, Jay woke up and started looking around calling for his brother

- Will, Will where are you? -

His eyes rolled from right to left looking for him, but he couldn't see him.

Ethan, who had taken his things to leave, heard some noises and went back to check what was happening in the room where the two brothers were. As he passed the door he noticed that the detective had woken up and was agitated, he seemed unable to find his brother and was therefore terrified.

Will, on the other hand, was curled up in the corner of the bed under the covers and was sleeping soundly, he was so broken he couldn't hear his brother calling him.

His colleague needed some rest, so he decided to go back into the room to reassure young Halstead.

- Hey Jay, it's me Ethan, don't worry, it's okay. - he tried to calm him

- Where is my brother? - Jay asked almost with tears in his eyes

The doctor without saying anything pointed to the silhouette of his sleeping brother and so he calmed down by relaxing almost immediately.

Shortly thereafter Will woke up, so Ethan took the opportunity to recommend hypnosis to Jay, if he wanted to try.

Jay was initially very hesitant, but not putting up with the fact that he couldn't remember he eventually chose to give it a try.

- Are you sure you want to do this? - the red-haired doctor asked worriedly.

- Yes, it is always better than how I would be doing nothing. - replied the detective.

Jay was scared. Hypnosis meant losing control over things which he always tended to have, but he would have gone mad not to remember.

The next day, the young man went to the hospital. He had called Ethan to tell him that he had made an appointment with Dr. Brown for the following day.

Needless to say, the detective spent the night sleepless, on the one hand out of concern of not knowing what might happen tomorrow, on the other hand, because he was beginning to realize that if he didn't remember maybe there was a reason, because maybe he had experienced something terrible.

Will stayed with him that night too. He didn't feel like leaving him alone. He settled on the sofa because the living room was closer to Jay's bedroom than the spare room.

He made that choice because it made it easier for him to hear if his brother needed something.

Even Will couldn't sleep that night and would often try to hear the noises coming from Jay's room. He could hear him moving constantly, tossing and turning in bed without falling asleep.

Several times than tried to go to him, but he avoided entry. If he needed him he would have called him, but he also knew that his brother needed his space.

What Jay was going through tomorrow wasn't going to be easy at all.

After a long night, therefore, the two brothers, more tired than when they had gone to sleep, prepared for the appointment with Dr. Brown. They were supposed to be in his studio at 10:30.

Jay was a lot quieter than usual that morning. The tension in that house could be cut with a knife.

Jay had a stuffy stomach and felt upset, nauseated, so he didn't want to have breakfast. Obviously Will understood the situation and avoided begging him.

Arrived at the specialist, after a very silent journey, the two brothers sat down and shortly after came to make you sit.

When Dr. Brown's secretary told them they could go in to Doctor Will he hesitated, sat for a moment as Jay walked to the room pointed out by the woman. The older Halstead wanted to give his brother some privacy by thinking he wanted to go in alone. He was convinced that the latter did not want to share that personal event with him.

Will eventually had to change his mind and in fact was amazed when the detective stopped at the door of the doctor's office and turned around saying:

- Will you please come too? -

Immediately the red-haired doctor got up and joined him and they both entered the large study.

Jay was on edge, he was afraid of losing control as mentioned above and he was terrified of hypnosis itself even though he had read something about it on the internet during the night. He feared his brother's possible reaction when it was revealed what had happened that night.

Will, for his part, wanted to understand what had been done to his brother. He hoped this method would work. If not, Jay would have continued to suffer from what he did not remember. He was also worried about what they would have to face next.

But they were there now and they had to try.

After the various pleasantries and the usual questions about Jay's general health, the latter was made to sit on the bed and there he was explained what would happen and was also reassured.

And when Jay was calm enough, the procedure began.

- So Jay now you will have to follow my movements carefully. Gradually you will feel more and more relaxed and calm. Nobody will hurt you ... As soon as you are ready we begin. - said Dr. Brown

- We can start, I'm ready.- replied the detective not before turning to Will to get even more reassurance on his part and a nod of understanding.. He was much calmer now after being informed of what was going to happen, but he was still a little nervous about what he could remember.

Meanwhile Will was ready to write down whatever came out of the session and might be needed to arrest the culprit who had hurt his brother. He would pass the information to Voight so that he and his team could arrest him.

The sergeant had asked Hailey to convince Jay to have at least her and if possible some other members of the team attend the session in such a way as to listen to what was said and obtain the information necessary to arrest the criminal, but the detective had been adamant, no one but Will could be present. So in the end Hank had opted to ask Will to collect the information mainly to create an identikit of the man or the name if the young man recognized him and could remember him.

Shortly after starting the procedure, Jay stretched out comfortably on a table and watched the doctor's movements, and slowly what he had said earlier happened.

The young man relaxed so much that he seemed almost asleep with his eyes that after a few minutes seemed to have closed themselves.

Meanwhile Will was observing everything from a distance, he was positioned in a corner of the room and observed everything that was happening with a small notebook on his legs.

- Jay listen to my voice - Brown continued - in this moment you are relaxed and calm, nobody is better than you. Slowly you will find yourself on a train, you are sitting by the window. And you stand there, and you are looking out of it. Many events, situations from your past life follow one another and you simply observe them letting them pass.

- Yes, I saw my mom with Will when we were little. -Jay started describing what he saw

- Well now, if you like, you can stop the train and get off, you could say hello to your mother and your brother. - said the doctor

Jay agreed to do it and so under hypnosis he stopped to talk to his mother hugging her, happy to have met her again.

Will, meanwhile, listened while remaining isolated in a corner of the room. He didn't want to interfere with the procedure. His heart tightened and he was moved to hear Jay tell about the meeting and talk to their mom.

The young detective looked so good there, he would stay there forever. He had everything he needed: his mother, his unconditional affection and his brother he was very attached to.

Unfortunately, however, it was time to leave, and so Dr. Brown said:

- Well Jay, I think it's time to get back on the train. I know you don't feel like it, but I'd like you to say hello to your mother.

Ok, now the train is moving on and you keep looking out the window once again. The various events follow one another, the good ones and the bad ones, up to today. What do you see for example right now? -

- I see my first day in Intelligence, my colleague Antonio, my best friend, talking about me in Voight ...- told the detective.

- Wow the start of something new. Unfortunately, not all the events you see are positive ...-

- Yes, I saw ... when I was at war ... In Afghanistan .. - Jay then said

The young man remained vague about those events and Dr. Brown asked no questions. That wasn't what interested him at the moment. The request was made about a specific episode and the doctor was coming to it slowly. So finally came the important moment. The detective was working quietly, finishing his working day and then leaving. It was there that the train stopped, and the doors swung open again so you got off.

- Can you tell me what you see? - Brown asked cautiously at that point because he did not know how the young man would react reliving those moments.

- I'm in the district, just finished work and can't wait to get home. I feel tired.- Jay began to relive - I want to get home as soon as possible to go to bed.

At that point he added that he had gone, being on foot, in the park under the house and having decided to take a little walk to release the tension. Everything he said described a wonderful relaxing afternoon. But at one point he froze and screamed.

- What's up Jay? asked the doctor.

- Someone hit me ... everything went black. I must have passed out .- answered the boy.

-- Ok, now you're waking up ... where are you? Can you tell me? - Brown said

- No, I don't know where I am ... it's all dark here ... my head hurts, my muscles also, they pull me. My hands are tied to something, above my head ... - explained the detective.

- Linked to what? - the doctor said that he was trying to find out as much detail as possible that could be useful for the Intelligence and in the meantime Will wrote everything.

- It looks like a water pipe ... I can't tell precisely because I can't see it, but it looks just like that ... one of those used once, big and thick ... I have a tight chain around my wrists. Wait a minute ... someone comes ... - the detective said, stiffening

- Who? Who is Jay coming? - Brown asked knowing that this information would be useful, if not essential for intelligence.

- A man, I don't know who he is. He wears a balaclava and then ... he's dark in here! There is a light on, but it is far away ...- explained the young man who suddenly shouted: - Help ... Enough please. That's enough! -

- What's going on Jay? - asked the doctor - remember that what you are experiencing is just a memory. He can't hurt you.

- He's hurting me ... it hurts ... he's hitting me with a whip ... - the detective kept telling what he was reliving, and as he did so the tears fell from his eyes. The pain he felt was quite real.

Even Will without realizing it, as he transcribed the interaction between the doctor and his brother, began to cry. He could not accept that someone had brought so much suffering to his brother.

After several interminable minutes the whiplashing ended and the detective was now curled up in himself trying to manage the pain.

Taking a deep breath then the young man resumed describing what he was reliving and did not remember, relaxing slightly.

- He asked me how I got my life back after the army, he couldn't. - said the detective.

Hearing this Will lifted his head from his notebook and stared into space.

Again Jay was dealing with his past and his only fault was that he managed to emerge from the abyss he had ended up in after returning home.

- There's a projector here - Jay went on impressed by what he was noticing. The room he was in was so dark it didn't allow him to see much, but I was the man who showed him what was needed.

- È attaccato sul tetto, - proseguì il detective - E quell'uomo lo sta accendendo... -

Pochi istanti dopo poi Jay riprese a tremare, i suoi occhi si riempirono di lacrime che cominciarono a scendere copiose sul suo viso e urlando disse:

- No! Ti prego! Non voglio vedere... per favore...-

- Cosa sta succedendo Jay? - chiese il dottor Brown

The detective opened the eyes he had closed holding them tightly, unable to cover them with his hands and with a terrified look lost in the void he continued to describe what he was seeing.

- He is projecting images, they are all children ... It's like in Afghanistan, please stop him ... They are all wounded, dead. I don't want to see please ... Ahhh ... Don't whip me .. don't force me please ... - now the detective was crying, sobbing and screaming in pain.

Even Will by now, had slumped against the wall near where he was sitting and slid against it.

He crying stting on the ground with his knees bent and his hands on his face. Big tears were running down his face.

- Why? Why did they do this to you, Jay? - lthe doctor wondered in his mind.

- Don't hate me because I made up for it once after Afghanistan. - shouted the detective in the meantime.

So that was the problem. The real reason why the criminal had done all this finally came to light.

What Dr. Halstead sadly didn't know was that it wasn't over. He believed that everything he had found out Jay experienced was already too much, but he didn't know it was even worse.

Eventually the detective sighed and recovered slightly. It was finally over, the projector had been picked up. Breathing deeply wiping away the last tears then he began to relax slightly.

Observing his behavior, Will speculated that this was the moment when his brother fled or when he was let go. But what he didn't know was that this was just the beginning for him.

Jay then went on to tell what was happening:

- There's a window here, it was behind the projector screen and it's covered with a heavy curtain. It has now been opened from the outside. I can see a pateo and another man, another soldier has positioned himself in my view in front of me, but on the opposite side from where the window is. He is in uniform, has the rifle on his shoulder. I can't recognize him, he wears a hat and a mask on his face. Only his eyes are not covered, but it is dark and the light that the two street lamps present at the corners of the perimeter make is not enough to allow me to see them.

Other people are entering ... they are children, three to be exact. They positioned themselves in front of me near the window, their backs to the soldier. They are of different nationality and they are really small. Now they have turned their backs on me. Oh my God, no! No, please no ...-

- What's going on? - Asked the doctor, noting that the young man had stopped and his eyes were filled with tears again. His heart was pounding and he was panting.

Will, as a good doctor as he was, immediately realized that something was wrong and suddenly got up and ran towards his brother. When he was almost beside him, however, he was blocked by the doctor who with a determined look, but sure of what he was doing made him desist from going further and touching him.

- Jay what's going on? - Dr. Brown repeated not having received an answer the first time - Breathe, no one can harm you, you're on the train of memories ..-

It took a while for the detective to calm down a bit, but eventually he did. With a trembling voice full of terror and horror then the latter continued to tell the killing of those three little ones.

Will knew how difficult it was for Jay to live with it. Whoever had attacked him knew him well as he had attacked him in his weak points.

Eventually the detective said the windows had been closed again and that the man who was with him did nothing but laugh rudely at his suffering. He approached him with one hand and touched his face.

Young Halstead tried to retreat from the touch, but was unable to as he was tied up and stuck with the wall behind him.

Making that gesture, however, allowed Jay to notice the small tattoo on the back of his hand that involved the lower part of the thumb, just above the wrist.

He looked like it was a little girl's face and Jay was sure it was, even though he had only glimpsed it.

Obviously the young man had seen him before and remembered that this had happened when he was in Afghanistan years ago.

One of the army rangers when he was in Afghanistan for his second tour had a very similar one: ranger Macwir was called.

Eventually everything before Jay's eyes had gone dark. He must have passed out either from the pain and suffering he was feeling or because he had been hit by something.

After that, the doctor started gently waking Jay up. They had finally gotten what they needed. They had a name and there was no need to go any further.

When the detective opened his eyes, fortunately, he didn't seem to remember anything of what he had relived.

he He seemed fine, a little sad and tired maybe, but nothing special.

Jay was amazed to see his brother with the puffy, red eyes typical of someone who'd been crying for a long time.

He was unaware of what had happened in the room while he was under hypnosis.

Will communicated everything that had emerged from the session to Sergeant Voight and through that information, Intelligence was able to arrest the culprit.

In the end it was just another, yet another bad adventure for Jay Halstead, even though he still didn't remember anything at the time.

- Will you tell me what you got? - the detective asked his brother when they left the doctor.

- Nothing, don't worry. Do you feel like driving? asked the doctor, remaining vague.

Jay soon got into the car and started the engine, Will sat on the passenger side with a heart full of sadness.

Chapter Text

It was a beautiful sunny day despite it being winter and Will had woken up that day with a strange feeling, he felt his heart light and a great joy inside him.

That was going to be a great day. One where he felt it would save lives. And so, finished getting ready, he left the house and after having removed the snow from the windshield of his car he left for the hospital.

It took about 20 minutes for him to arrive, he couldn't go as fast as he wanted due to the icy roads. But that did not matter, he had arrived on time anyway and then nothing would have ruined his day.

- Good morning Meggie - greeted the nurse with a big smile.

- Good morning to you, how radiant we are this morning. Did something happen? - asked the nurse, seeing his friend so lively and happy in the early morning, despite the fact that it was a midwinter day outside, perhaps the stiffest of the year and knowing how much he hated the cold.

- No, nothing happened, I just have a feeling that this is going to be a fabulous day. - the doctor answered and, smiling at her once more, he walked away from the nurse's desk to get to work.

The morning started with a lot of people coming and going and everyone Will managed to find a solution to their problem. He was really happy, the day was going great and he was really happy to be able to help so many people.

After his lunch break, Dr. Halstead went back to the ER ready to get back to work.
In front of him, however, there was an excited Dr. Rhodes who was going out to act in the field and was looking for some other doctor to go with him
Will didn't think twice, ran into the doctors room, put on his coat, scarf and hat, and took the tools he might need and joined him.

It was a quiet time in the hospital so there wasn't much to do.
That day Will had a great energy and desire to do, even more than usual, so he decided to follow him.

After about half an hour of travel, the two arrived at a boarding school. They had been called because several boys and teachers of that institute had felt ill and therefore food poisoning was hypothesized. The patients were very numerous and a single doctor was not enough.

The two colleagues divided the patients, mostly boys, visiting them one after the other and confirming the problem.

Soon after, Connor and Will moved downstairs where there were some rooms where teachers and some janitors slept. All had contracted the same pathology.

It was all so weird in that place. The two were supposed to just do their jobs, but it was easy to smell rotten.

After the last visit, Will decided to join Connor to see where he was and if he needed help. It was at that moment, moving down the corridor that the young man saw a tall and frail man, who had been referred to as the science professor, run in the opposite direction of him with a bucket in his hand.

Intrigued, Halstead followed him to find out what was going on. Maybe someone had gotten sick? Maybe he could have made it useful.

The man, sensing that someone was following him, suddenly turned and slipped and the bucket, which seemed to contain simple water, It spilled onto Will's arm as the latter tried to help the man and prevent him from falling with his face to the floor.

The doctor could not have known, however, that this episode would have risked his life.

What went on his arm wasn't just plain water. What he was unaware of was that the man had been pretending to fall.
Its goal was to make the water fall to the ground and kill the microorganisms that were inside in such a way as not to discover what he was up to in the event of a possible check.

Illegal traffic with very dangerous experiments was taking place in the basement of the school and no one had been aware of it until that day.. Apparently it seemed normal, this seemed to be a normal boarding school.

After Will helped Connor finish visiting his patients, the two of them prepared to return to the Med.

The red-haired doctor, however, was no longer feeling as fit as when he arrived at the hospital that morning. Yet he couldn't figure out what was wrong. Maybe it was some strange feeling, maybe something else.
He had dried his right wrist which was the only part of his uncovered arm that had come into contact with the water, and he was still wet the sleeve of his shirt almost to the elbow.

Once they got into the ambulance they had arrived there in, the two left to return to the base and it was during the journey that Will began to have problems, looking considerably annoyed.

- Hey, is everything okay? - Connor asked

- Yeah, all right. - Halstead answered continuing to hold his arm with the opposite hand squeezing it from time to time with Rhodes who, without saying anything, had decided to keep an eye on him.

Out of the blue, however, not long after, the red-haired doctor started screaming in pain, he was in excruciating pain.

Everyone present, paramedics and Connor, were stunned for a moment as they couldn't understand what was going on, but then Dr. Rhodes, realizing that it could be something serious, immediately started checking his friend.

Halstead wasn't the type to complain easily, so the doctor knew he had to get to the bottom of the situation.

Rhodes then began to visit his colleague and also checked his heartbeat.

- The heart is in fibrillation. - he shouted to the paramedics - we have to stop. Help me spread him out on the stretcher.

The young man's condition was drastically worsening by the second.

- Doctor has something wrong with his arm - said one of the paramedics who had noticed that Halstead had done nothing since they got into the ambulance but hold his right wrist.

- I can't understand what's happening to him. Until a few minutes ago he was fine. - Rhodes replied worriedly. - that I know of some water has gotten into him, but I don't think it could be the cause of his state.

Returning to focus on his friend then he added:
- Come on Will, come on hold on. I'll understand what you have and you'll be fine soon.

After the first checkups, the doctor started doing something to at least try to calm the pain.

- 2 mg of fentanyl - he told the paramedics and one of them immediately injected it into the doctor's arm who immediately began to relax - take some ice, we need to place it on the wrist. -

- What do you think is doctor? - asked one of the paramedics after he had discovered his arm which was hot and red.

- I don't know, it looks like some kind of contact reaction - Rhodes replied

- A reaction to water? - asked the other handing the dry ice to the doctor.

- I don't know. - The man said sincerely taking the compress from his hands and wrapping it on Will's arm.

- It looks like some kind of puncture ... - said the other paramedic, carefully observing Halstead's arm which was starting to turn even more red with various spots.

- Sting of what? - Rhodes asked quite surprised.

- I don't know ... very reminiscent of jellyfish. It was a specific species, but I can't remember what it was called. I went to Australia to see some relatives and they showed me pictures of similar injuries telling me not to swim in the sea without the proper protection. - continued the paramedic.

- Come on, try to remember what kind of jellyfish it is. If it is a poisonous one, he risks his life, but if you are right and we find out what it is we could save it.. Meanwhile, let's go, let's go and run to the Med. - said the doctor who didn't want to waste time.

Meanwhile, on the way to the hospital, the young paramedic kept mulling over the type of jellyfish. The fact that he didn't remember his name at that moment was unnerving him a lot especially because he knew that the doctor's life depended on him.

- Hiruje, Hiruji.. I don't remember exactly - he said agitated.

- Irukandji? - asked the colleague

- Exactly! Yes, just that. - answered the first.

- But this type of jellyfish can cause death, and here I know that luckily there aren't any. I had seen something about it and it said they were only in Australia. - the other said again

- Well in theory they only exist there, but obviously one has arrived here. We need to get to the Med as quickly as possible. If you're right, we don't have much time. - said the older paramedic he had knew about jellyfish as he often watched documentaries on TV.

And so they darted through the streets of Chicago with sirens blaring while Rhodes did everything to give Will the first treatment supported by the other paramedic.

- Is it possible that we have not noticed anything? Yet we were all there - said the paramedic next to the patient.

- It was impossible for us to be aware of their presence, they are as small as a pin point and then we weren't at the sea.. - the driver answered - the question we have to ask ourselves is: how did an Irukandji jellyfish end up in a boarding school? -

- I don't know, but we'll find out. - Connor said

- Will he be okay? - one of the paramedics asked, looking visibly worried.

- I don't know, a sting can be lethal. - replied the other.

While they were on the road Will recovered and began to fidget by addressing Connor who was watching over him.

- Will, stay still. Do not move. - the doctor immediately said, trying to keep him still.

- I have to go ... I'm late ... Natalie ... - Halstead sputtered

- Will is calm, we're on the ambulance, we're going back to the Med. Soon you'll be fine.- the doctor tried to explain.

- Connor, my arm… it hurts, very bad - whined the red-haired doctor.

- I already gave you some fentanyl for the pain. Unfortunately, I can't give you any more for a while. We are arriving at the hospital and once there I will be able to give you something else .. Don't despair Will, you'll be better off in a little while. - Rhodes explained to him

- Nat, Nat where are you? Don't be angry please. - at that moment Halstead was having hallucinations, he kept fidgeting about things that didn't exist at the time. The young doctor was actually not there with them.

- Will it's me, Connor, we're in the ambulance .- said the doctor trying to bring the red-haired young man back to reality.

Little by little, fortunately, this more or less happened Will began to calm down and doze off again.

Rhodes heaved a sigh of relief, and things were getting better, but unfortunately that didn't last long.
All of a sudden, in fact, things quickly got worse.

- He's collapsing - said the paramedic looking at the monitor to which the young doctor had been connected.
His line soon went flat.

- We have to revive him - answered the doctor - let's start the compressions, 1 mg of adrenaline ...

Rhodes had started putting pressure on Will's chest. They had to hurry or their friend would die.

- Doctor there is no heartbeat. - the paramedic informed him. - Curse! Load the plates to 200 ... free! - the doctor said shocking the patient and waiting to know if there had been a reaction.

- No heartbeat. - the paramedic answered again

- Upload again ... free! -Connor again ordered that he did not want to give up.

And so Connor looked up to look at the paramedic who once again shook his head saying no.

- Charge to 300 - asked the doctor - come on Will you can't give up right now.-

After what seemed like an eternity, the paramedic finally spoke the words everyone present wanted to hear.

- I feel the pulse - replied the paramedic after the last shock and this was also confirmed by the small monitor present there.

And that was how Will recovered, panting and breathing again, albeit laboredly.

For the rest of the trip, the red-haired doctor remained in a semi-conscious state, as if he were asleep.

Shortly before arriving at the hospital Halstead began to move slightly as if waking up.

- Will, hey Will can you hear me? - Connor said trying to get his attention.

- What are we still doing here? - Said the doctor after looking around and seeing that they were still in the ambulance.

His saying caused a loud laugh from everyone present. They were happy that the doctor was better. Finally it could be said that the worst was over.

Once we got to the Med Will was brought in and Connor continued to take care of his friend with the proper medicines and tools..

When Will recovered, he immediately spoke, along with Connor, to Jay and the Intelligence to find out what was going on in that boarding school. and why the Greater Halstead had developed those symptoms so quickly without anyone else risking their lives.

Chapter Text

Jay and the intelligence team had managed to solve a tangled case and Sergeant Voight had given them two days to remarry. Upon their return in the absence of any cases, they had spent the days completing backlog reports.

The days of vacation and a little paperwork were also used to allow the kids to recover their energy.

By day two of paperwork though, Jay was really exhausted, tired of having to sit there and write. What he liked about his job was the chases, the catching of criminals. In short, he loved being on the field.

So after spending so much time filling out the reports it was perfectly normal to see him snorting at his desk playing with his pen in his hands.

- What's up Jay, is something wrong? - Vanessa asked that she had recently joined the team and she still didn't know much about her colleagues.

- No it's okay - Halstead replied

- Quiet our friend does not digest paperwork, he would always like to be at work in the field - Adam said

- Sure! Do you want to get the thrill of slamming criminals into being here and writing? How I wish there was a case ... - Jay said with a sigh.

Hearing his words, his colleagues smiled and went back to work.

A few minutes later Voight walked out of his office and made his way to his detectives, attracting their attention.

- Guys - he told them - we have a case. -

Hearing his words all the guys on the team turned to look at Jay and a gesture-based conversation began. The colleagues seemed to be saying to Halstead: "There you are served" and he seemed to reply to them: "What do you want from me? What should I tell you?"

A few moments later they were all there listening to Voight's words.

- Something serious is happening in our city. Police have had several reports of teenagers going missing. the sergeant explained. - it is about boys and girls, students between 15 and 20 who disappear from one day to the next.
The colleagues were not able to dig a spider out of the hole so, given that the disappearances are continuing and becoming more and more frequent, the boss has decided to entrust the investigation to us. -

- Where do we start from? Do your colleagues already have something in hand? - asked Antonio.

- Let's start from scratch - replied the sergeant - you will divide into groups and you will go and talk to the parents of the boys and you will be told everything they know about when their children have disappeared. -

And so the detectives, getting the missing boys list, did as they were told.

The couples consisted of: Jay and Hailey, Adam and Kim, Atweater and Rojas, Al and Antonio.

The list consisted of 20 people so each couple took five names who lived in the same area so as not to spend too much time moving around and so they began to investigate.

From the parents of the boys they all got the same answer:
- Everything was as usual, he left for school that morning, but he never got there. When we went to pick him up they told us they hadn't seen him.-

None of them could say anything else, except one, a woman, Keira's mother who he confided in Jay having found his secret diary hidden in one of the drawers of his desk a few days after the girl's disappearance while tidying up his room.

- I ... I shouldn't have read it, but I wanted to know what happened to my daughter. - said Mrs Johnson trying not to burst into tears.

- You don't have to feel guilty ma'am, what have you found out? Jay asked, also trying to console the woman.

- My daughter got engaged a few months before she disappeared. You know detective as it is among kids, the first crushes. Keira is only 15 years old. -

- Were you aware of this? - Jay asked again

- Yes, my daughter and I talked often, she told me everything. She had fallen in love with a great guy Jamie Lorenz is called. He has come here several times to our house. A very sweet and caring guy with her, but also with me and my husband he never disrespected us. - explained the woman.

- I understand - Jay said simply

- Did you also tell this to the other agents who came to you right after Keira's disappearance? - Hailey then asked.

- No, honestly, I recently found the diary and I didn't know it could be important. - the woman replied regretfully.

- Did Keira seem changed before the kidnapping? - Halstead went on

-No, she was still the same. Maybe she only she had become infected by Jemie and his passion for video games. She spent his time talking to me about a game. Here it is, look, she said, thinking about it, - the woman showing them the stickers on her diary. On them there was the writing "JOLLY RODGERS". <

The two detectives thanked the lady for the useful information given to them, they had the diary delivered as useful evidence for the investigation.

Once all the family members of the kidnapped boys had been interrogated, the detectives gathered to analyze the information obtained.
Jay and Hailey were amazed when they discovered that Jamie Lorenz's name was also on the missing boys list.

Thanks to the information they gathered, the group realized that the missing boys had something in common. Everyone was playing a game called "Jolly Rogers".

Keira had the stickers stuck on her diary and Jay as soon as he returned to the office began to leaf through it, reading a few pages of it, managing to find various information.

The other kids, on the other hand, had the game sticker stuck in the bedroom or on their school books and notebooks.

At that point the team realized that that was the common denominator and that it was certainly perhaps the cause of the disappearances of all those boys..
It was necessary to find out more about this new game that was so fashionable among teenagers.

Hailey and Kim then began to search the internet for information about it, Antonio found testimonials from guys who used that game.

Adam who was very good with the computer had created a fake account posing as a teenager and once he entered the game portal, he had started a new game trying to figure out if something more could be hidden under a normal role-playing and strategy game.

Meanwhile, Jay was continuing to peruse Keira's diary looking for some other useful information.

Almost all the detectives had had excellent results from the searches they had carried out and this boded well for the resolution of the case. Unfortunately, however, this was not true for everyone.

Antonio and Al, for example, hadn't discovered anything so striking. Nothing strange had emerged from the stories of the parents of the various missing children, except for the common denominator of participating in that game.

Even Hailey and Kim hadn't been able to find any great news from their searches there at the district /> The lucky ones were Jay and Adam.

Halstead had discovered that a few days before disappearing the two sweethearts had been contacted by a boy who called himself by his nickname JollyRogers who was the organizer of the game. The latter had proposed them, according to what the girl had written, to participate in a kind of competition linked to the game they were passionate about, claiming that they were two of the best players.
This race would have been more realistic precisely because it would have taken place in reality.

Ruzek also obtained news relevant to the investigation. Thanks to the tricks found on the internet, playing the video game he immediately stood out as one of the best players by obtaining high scores.
In fact, in a very short time he too had been noticed and immediately recruited to participate in the role-playing game in reality.

All this news was then communicated to Voight, who decided to send Adam undercover by supporting him with Kim to pretend to be his girlfriend (although it really was).

Late in the evening Ruzek received an email about his fake account from JollyRogers, who informed him of the rules of the royal challenge and of the date and time of their appointment.
They would meet the next day at eight in the morning in an area in the suburbs of Chicago.

Ruzek and Burgess after getting some rest, gathered around seven with the team and got ready to look more or less in their 20s. Adam was even forced to shave his beard reluctantly because without it he looked even younger. The beard gave him a slightly more mature look.

Once ready, the two left and headed to the pre-established place followed at a distance by the rest of the team who was in disguise ready to intervene in any eventuality.

Once they reached the established place, the two found themselves in front of a farmhouse surrounded by large green spaces.
A not too burly man joined him inviting him to follow after he had told him his nickname and the password he had received in the email with the instructions.

Once they entered the cottage, the couple found themselves having to go from one room to another without quite understanding where the man was taking them.

The decor of the place was minimalist, there was really the bare minimum.
Finally they came to a huge room where they reunited with most of the missing boys. They were all there waiting their turn to play.

Everyone commented on their difficulty with the virtual game.
There were those who said they couldn't pass a level, some another and everyone shared the hope of having better luck in this version of the game that took place in reality.
There were also those who quietly commented on the fact that various boys, after being taken away to face the various levels, had never returned.
The administrator of the game, a boy with a pirate mask on his face said that those young people had managed to complete the game and returned home.

.

Kim and Adam also started playing after being set up by JollyRogers. Everything there seemed not to add up, starting with that young man wearing the mask. He certainly did it a lot because the spirit of the game was rooted in him, but at the same time not to be recognized.

Meanwhile, Jay stationed outside the cottage listened to the conversations of his colleagues from the headset he had in his ear and reported what was happening to the team.
Adam had a very small microphone inserted inside the checkered shirt he was wearing, towards one of the buttons

.

- Guys let's wait a little longer and then let's get into action. - Voight's voice thundered through the radio. - be ready and armed. -

Obeying the order received, everyone prepared and waited for Voight's command to take action.

A few hours later, when Adam and Kim had faced and passed the first levels, the simplest ones, the team approached the cottage, lurking even closer to it.

The two infiltrated boyfriends had proved to be very skilled in the game and gradually continued to overcome, one after the other, all the levels and traps that presented themselves on their way.

Meanwhile, Jay had found a position that allowed him to observe what was happening inside the cottage, when, however, he was noticed and joined by one of JollyRogers' henchmen
Even the best sometimes discovered.

- And who are you? - asked the boy under the orders of the game administrator

- Nobody - he replied putting the headphones on the ground secretly without being noticed, leaving him alone where he could be found by a member of the team.

The young man took him inside with him
pushing him to play and to face and overcome the various levels.

Unfortunately, Jay wasn't as good at that game as his two colleagues.

In the meantime, Adam and Kim, after they had passed all the levels, were taken to a last room to play the final one.
They should have won or suffered the consequences.

Unfortunately, Jay hadn't had the same luck. He had almost immediately lost all five lives stipulated by the regulation and therefore was immediately sent to the punishment room as it was called.
As soon as there the "examiners" started with the questions:

- What's your name? -:they asked

- Mark - he replied

- How old are you?-

- 22 - invented

- How did you know about this game?-

- From my cousin Charlie (Adam) - he replied

- Why was I standing there, out spying on us?- they finally asked

- Because I was curious to participate in this game, but not being very good, I didn't receive the email... - he always answered using what came to mind at that moment..

And so, after what appeared to be an interrogation, having believed what Jay had said, they directed him to a smaller room where a girl was waiting for him sitting at a desk,

Also that was a practically almost empty room and behind the woman there was only a bed.

- Hi... - the young woman stopped questioning not knowing the boy's name.

- Mark - replied the detective

- Well Mark, I hear you've been having a bit of trouble with this game. - she continued.

-Well, unfortunately I'm not that good-explained -Jay showing regret - And how did you end up here? - churches

- Because I love video games, I was curious to see what this new game was like and I wanted to try it. - said the young man

- Well well, you know you're a real nice guy, too bad you ran out of lives. - continued the woman making him various compliments.

- Unfortunately sometimes it goes like this, you can't always win. - said Halstead even though he was perplexed by the woman's last words

Everything changed in an instant. A young girl entered the door behind the detective, perhaps a nurse holding a syringe.
Her movements were so silent that Jay didn't notice anything. Furthermore, the woman who was in front of him did not blink at the girl's entrance without making any movement that could suggest that there was another presence in the room.

With firmness and determination, the nurse stuck the syringe into his back, pressing the pistil so that the liquid penetrated Jay's body.

The detective felt a prick in his back, but everything happened so quickly that he didn't have time to react to avoid being hit.

After pricking him, his hand withdrew, running away without leaving a trace of his passage.

Jay felt the sting and tried to turn around, but couldn't. A few moments after the liquid had entered his system, he began to feel tired, his body had become limp, limp and so all of a sudden his legs gave out and he found himself lying on the ground having fallen like a dead weight. His whole body ached, he had thorns stuck everywhere. A great heat was taking more and more of him and he was no longer able to move.
The worst thing was that he was still conscious and aware of everything that was happening to him.

Jay was grabbed by weight and put on the bed by two thugs to whom the woman had beckoned to enter and she then began to do with him what she wanted.

The detective tried to oppose that torture, but unfortunately all opposition was in vain. His mind was still functioning properly, but he seemed trapped in a prison. His body no longer responded to hiscommands.

Once finished, the woman withdrew and composed herself.

-Congratulations indeed,- she said - the best time. Nothing to do with anyone else, not bad for just a guy . - she said making sure that the young man looked her in the eyes.

Young Halstead wanted to scream in frustration, but he couldn't do either. He wanted to sink into that moment.

- I must say I'm sorry it ends like this - continued the woman - if I had known you were like this maybe I could have spared you by giving you a different end. But now it's late, I must say that I really enjoyed with you. Slowly now you will fall asleep like the others and slowly, when even your breathing stops, you will die. -

Jay looked at her with terrified eyes. Was it possible that his end had really come? How sad to die from being drugged and sexually abused in a thousand agonies.

At a signal from the woman, her two henchmen returned to the room, grabbed him by weight and carried him, throwing him into a room where there were also other bodies, boys and girls.

Some were still alive and dying, just like him, others had already passed away, in fact in that room you could breathe rotten air. There was a truly awful, nauseating smell that immediately reached Jay's nostrils as the door opened.

Detective Halstead had finally discovered what was hidden behind that video game and the disappearance of the boys

Young people were kidnapped under the guise of gambling and then used to satisfy the sexual desires of at least two people, a woman and a man.

How much evil there was in the world, but it couldn't end like this. Who knows how many kids were already dead. Perhaps others had been kidnapped who weren't on the list that had come to them.

Jay was on the ground in a corner, leaning almost on his side on another body lying below him and from that position he could see the horrors present in that room. It must have been underground, in fact, at least two flights of stairs had been descended to reach it.
Taking a quick look around, in this dimly lit place, there were at least a dozen bodies.

The detective knew in his heart that he had to do something, he absolutely had to stop that massacre.

But how?
The two men had the decency to dress him before throwing him into that room. Luckily they hadn't noticed that Jay still had his phone inside his pants. It was hidden in an inside pocket of the trousers, quite accessible, but very complicated to find.

Jay felt the presence of the cell phone as it rested against his thigh, he felt its coldness as opposed to the great heat that emanated from his body, especially in the lower part.

He absolutely had to be able to grab it to call for help.

The only possibility was to use the right arm, the one resting bent on the side that did not touch the body on which it was resting, insert it in the trousers, in the pocket and start any call.
It was by no means an easy thing to say or do.

As he pondered how he might do what he had surmised the two men arrived and dropped another dying boy beside him.

In that critical situation for him, however, Jay had a little luck.

Before hitting the ground, the young man tapped Jay's arm bringing it right next to his pocket.
Most of the time it was done, he just had to reach out and take out the phone.

After a thousand attempts, with his fingers moving slowly, perhaps even more than a snail, with great effort he managed, putting two fingers in his pocket to grab the phone.
That had already seemed like a feat to the detective, but it was nothing compared to what awaited him. That slight movement of the arm and hands caused him terrible pain. His muscles were tearing.

But Jay knew he couldn't give up. With millimeter movements and with tears flowing from his eyes he absolutely had to and wanted to achieve his goal.

He managed to push the phone out of his pocket with his fingertips.
Jay was heartened that he was able to move even though the injected substance was still in his system. His movements were small and slow and complicated and very painful, but they were doable

The detective understood that the substance's purpose was not to immobilize, but rather to relax the muscles to prevent the intended victims from putting up a resistance. It was not necessary for them to stiffen so much as to prevent complete movement.

When finally, after a thousand attempts, he managed to pick up the phone, he dialed Hailey's number who was in the speed dial list and started the call. Slowly he then brought the phone as close as possible to his mouth.

The communication tool was really heavy and finally slipped on the top of his chin near his lower lip. Jay groaned in pain as he took the blow, sure he'd earned a good bruise. He was also afraid that the call was closed with the fall and that all the efforts made had been useless. Fortunately, however, his negative thoughts were interrupted by a silent but unmistakable sound: "beep".

It also took the detective a very long time to carry out all these movements and he didn't have much of it now.
His muscles were almost completely relaxed and he was starting to struggle even to breathe.

He lay there, lying on the ground praying that his colleague would answer the call as soon as possible and they did. The young detective answered after only three rings and before doing so, having noticed that it was Jay who called her, she put the speakerphone on her cell phone and placed her radio near it so that all colleagues could hear what he had to say.

- Jay, where are you? Everything is alright? Hailey asked worried. Everyone had witnessed the scene when they had picked him up and brought him inside the villa.

- Hai...ley li...sten... - the detective said panting really very slowly.
Hai...ley lis..ten... - the detective said panting really very slowly.
His breathing muscles were also starting to ache. - gu...ys who... lo..se... syr...inge... sex... dea...th heee...lp un...der...neath!-

Halstead used as few words as possible to explain what was happening. What he said, in itself, seemed incomprehensible, but in his heart Jay knew that Hailey could get the message.

Once he finished delivering his message he let himself go trying to catch his breath.
In the distance he could hear Hailey terrified, having understood the message, kept calling her name. However, his time was running out a few moments later, in fact he lost consciousness and remained there passed out, but happy because in his small way, he had managed to do something.

After receiving the message, Hailey reached her colleagues who had gathered in an abandoned house, not too far from the cottage.

- So did you all hear what Halstead told us? - Voight asked, looking more and more worried.

- Yes, but it was really not understandable. - Kevin said at that point.

- I know Jay is in danger, maybe he's hurt. I didn't like his tone at all and he sounded breathless as he spoke. I wanted to ask him more, but he didn't answer when I called. However as far as I understand, what he meant should be easy to guess- Hailey said after she finished sorting through the notes she took while listening to her partner's message.

- So what? Al asked

- He should have said you have guys who don't pass the game are injected with some substance and then something related to sex. Perhaps a sexual performance is demanded of them and then they are left there to die. What worries me is his final plea for help. -

- Come on guys, it's time to enter! Let's stop these bastards. - Voight said and all the boys took up arms and headed for the cottage.

The detectives made their way by force and with weapons in hand, overcoming the defenses organized by the promoters of that massacre. Several shots were fired both by them and by some of the criminals.

Voight and Al, along with Kevin managed to arrest the infamous JollyRogers. Taken him all his followers became little lambs.

Meanwhile, Hailey and Antonio were looking for Jay. Recalling that at the end of the message Halstead had repeated the word "below" several times, Upton hypothesized that there might be a lower, underground floor.

And in fact it was. Going down two flights of stairs, the two found themselves in front of a large slightly open aluminum door and were catapulted into a gruesome environment.

Two of the henchmen were preparing a boy for the woman sitting at the table to have fun.
The two detectives remained behind the door to observe what was happening, averting their gaze when the woman did her "job".

When the woman finished, she nodded to the criminals who dressed the young man in some way and carried him through a door in the room.

After getting rid of the body, the two headed towards where Antonio and Hailey were hidden to go away and leave the woman alone waiting for another victim.

The two detectives, noticing that the criminals were heading towards them, immediately moved and hid, taking advantage of the darkness and silence of the place where they were. Once the two were gone, joined by Adam and Kim who had rejoined the team when they broke in, they sneaked into the room.

Hailey and Antonio without being noticed passed behind the desk heading towards the door on the right which led to the room where the boy had been taken leaving Ruzek and Burgess to take care of the woman.

Once the door was opened, the two were greeted by a strong stench, the smell of death.
With cell phone flashlights they began to look at the bodies to check their status. They were trying to figure out if there was anyone alive. A sense of unease had invaded them moving their stomachs. They couldn't wait to get out of there, but they knew they had to do their job all the way and so they kept going.

They had checked about half of the young people present and found only two still alive, even if at the end.
They were about to continue when the goons re-entered the room carrying two more bodies. It was probably a boy and a girl.

The two detectives hid again in the shadows and after the two men left they resumed their work.

Hailey in a quiet moment called Voight to inform him of their findings.

- Sergeant we are in the cellar of the house. There are several dead, there are many kids who participated in the game. Others are dying. We need several ambulances and they need to be taken out as soon as possible. - said the young woman

- All right Upton I'll get the ambulances. Did you find Halstead?? - Hank asked worried.

- Not yet... I really hope he's not here... - Hailey said sighing.

- Keep looking for him and give me news.- concluded the sergeant.

The two agents then kept looking for when something distracted them and attracted their attention, a dim light came from under one of the bodies.
Hailey approached it trying to find out what it was. She was surprised when she realized it was a vibrating cell phone.
When she read the name written on the display, the girl's heart stopped and then started beating wildly, her hands were shaking like leaves and tears began to flow from her eyes.

Will Halstead was calling the owner of the phone.

Hailey looked up terrified at Antonio and showed him the phone so that he too could read. The detective immediately understood the message and so, with the torches they began to illuminate the area where the cell phone was. There was no doubt that what the young woman had found was Jay's phone. Looking at the various bodies, both were shocked when they discovered that what they feared most was real. Their colleague was there among the various corpses.

Antonio, wasting no time, knelt down next to him and began to check their colleague's vital signs. Upton, on the other hand, was as if frozen, devoured by terror.

- Breathe again - he said allowing Hailey to release that breath that he didn't realize he had been holding and then continued - his heartbeat is very slow. He's still alive, but I don't know how long he'll last. -

Hailey then grabbed her cell phone and called her sergeant again.

- Voight - replied immediately> - We found Jay - she said directly in a trembling voice almost crying, but trying to restrain herself ..

- How are you? asked the man who had already guessed that something was wrong upon hearing the detective's voice.

- We urgently need an ambulance. I don't know what happened to him, but he doesn't have much time - Antonio answered beating Hailey on time, who was now crying profusely taking advantage of the fact that the young woman had put on the speakerphone.

While Voight was on the phone earlier, he had given Al the task of calling 911 to get as many ambulances sent as possible.

Olinsky also had the task of calling the fire brigade to open the iron windows of the cellar which despite being small could act as an excellent exit point as the team cleared the house.

We had to act quickly. There was no time to lose. Luckily, after a few minutes, the ambulances and firefighters from team three arrived.
The firefighters commanded by Lieutenant Severide had immediately started pulling away the grates of the windows to allow the paramedics to get out and help from there too. The firefighters also brought out the corpses and people to be taken to the hospital It was a more complex way, but faster than the internal flights of stairs. Instead, Intelligence had broken into the house and had engaged in a close fight with its inhabitants until they defeated the whole gang.

Antonio and Adam were injured in the scuffle, although fortunately nothing serious.

Once all the suspects were arrested, the intelligence guys were forced to return to the office to bring them to justice, but everyone had a heavy heart because they couldn't stay to check on Halstead's condition.

It took about ten minutes for the detective to be reached by the parameters and it was necessary to shock him to bring him back to life, since his heart had now stopped. The paramedic was also forced to intubate him because he was not breathing. His condition was very very serious. Once stabilized, however, the young man was loaded onto a backboard and transported to the ambulance. His life was in danger this time too, but thanks to his sacrifice, dozens and dozens of boys were able to save themselves from a tragic end.

Chapter Text

The profession of the doctor is perhaps, in its various facets and typologies, one of the most beautiful professions in the world.

It's wonderful to know that you can do something for others, to make the other person feel better.

Of course, as with any job, there are pros and cons that a person may or may not like.

Will Halstead, for example, had chosen to become a doctor precisely because of the desire he had to be able to help others, to be able to do something to improve their condition. Being able to do something for people who suffer was a wonderful thing for him.

Every day he awoke with great energy and enthusiasm, ready to face whatever challenges the day would throw at him.

And it was like this also on that day, that October 15th. What Will didn't know though was that this would be a day that would mark his life forever.

That morning he woke up around 6:00, his shift would start at 8:00 o'clock
He had had a good night's sleep and was therefore ready to face the day.

The previous evening, before going to bed, he had changed his alarm time because he had promised Jay to have breakfast with him before going to the hospital, and to Natalie to stop by the laundry near the Med to pick up some clothes for a dinner they would have a few days later.

As soon as I woke up, therefore, he began to fix the house. He fixed the bed and then washed the dishes from the previous day's dinner and arranged the kitchen.

He hadn't tidied up the night before because he was too tired from a grueling shift.

So after all was in order, Will took a quick shower and after dressing in a shirt and a pair of jeans, taking his jacket and putting on his tennis shoes, he left the house. It was around 7:00.

A few minutes later the doctor parked his car near the city park and relaxed waiting for his brother's arrival by listening to music.
The detective joined him ten minutes later.

- Hey, brother good morning - he greeted him

- Hi Jay - replied the other

So the two went to the nearby bar and sat down at one of the tables to have breakfast. It was pleasant, from time to time, to eat something together early in the morning.

Unfortunately with the work they did they had completely different schedules and if they hadn't taken advantage of those few moments they would never have seen each other.

After a good chat that lasted about half an hour, the two brothers said goodbye. Jay didn't know, that this might be the last time he would all have breakfast with his brother.

Will then went to the laundry to collect the clothes and at 07:55, right on time, was parking in front of the hospital.

Once inside the Ed, he changed and walked over to the nurses' desk to greet Maggie, full of energy to face his shift.

While he was talking to the nurse, Natalie approached them.
Dr. Manning had done a colleague a favor that day by accepting a night shift that ended at nine.

- Good morning love - greetings Will

- Good morning to you, - she replied

After embracing and giving each other a quick kiss they were about to go back to work when:

- Will you went to pick up the clothes? - she asked him

- Yes, of course. The clothes are in the car. - He answered

- Thank you my love. Could you please put them on my car? I go home before you, so as soon as I get there I put them in the closet. We risk getting wrinkled. - she said.

And so, this being a fairly quiet moment there in the emergency room, the doctor decided to make the move right away and then he took his car keys and those of the doctor, leaving and heading towards the parking lot.

Once there, he took the envelopes he had previously collected and walked to take them to his fiancée's

That day he had to walk a bit. Usually the two parked more or less close to each other, but the night before when she had arrived at work Natalie had found it busy and had been forced to park a little further away.

Once he put his clothes in the car he closed the trunk and walked towards the emergency room when something distracted him.

A little further on from where he was he glimpsed a shoe. A woman lay on the ground bloodied and shaking, she was terrified, but still alive.

- Lady, don't worry, I'll help you. - Will said going closer and closer to her.

The woman kept staring at him with eyes full of terror, she was in shock.
Will knew he had to do something, he was the only one there at the time. He had to assess the condition of the ladies and then call for help.
And so, kneeling at her side, he began to check the main functions, verifying what caused all that blood to leak and therefore where the young woman had been injured.

Unfortunately, however, the doctor was so busy acting promptly to save the woman's life that he did not notice that a man had positioned himself exactly behind his shoulders.

The young woman was not staring at her savior at all, but at her executioner with fear-filled eyes.

The man's name was Noah Mc Holland and he was of English nationality. This one was still holding the murder weapon, a large kitchen knife. He was a psychiatric patient, an old acquaintance of the doctor Charles.

What was lying on the ground was his sister he had attacked her for no reason.
And now, taking advantage of not being seen, the man pulled the knife out of his pants and stuck it straight into Will's lower back.

He too had struck only because he was guilty of wanting to save the life of the person who had to die for him.
The man had sworn he would kill her and anyone who tried to help her.

The doctor immediately felt excruciating and unexpected pain. Having previously stood up he staggered forward and then collapsed a few steps from the woman losing consciousness.
And so Halstead lay there beside the woman.
The two needed help immediately, but no one knew about them and, unfortunately, they were in an inconspicuous place.

Several doctors passed and frolicd by, but no one noticed them. Before passing out Will tries unsuccessfully to call for help, but no one hears him.
Gradually everything went black and Halstead was enveloped in darkness just as he reached for his cell phone to call for help.

Meanwhile in the emergency room, Natalie had finished her shift and was getting ready to leave. Meggie joined her in the medical room.

- Hey did you see where Will went? - the churches

- I saw him about an hour ago, you were there too when I asked him to put some clothes he picked up at the dry cleaners in the car. It must be around. Now that you mention it, he still hasn't brought me the keys.- answered the doctor.

- Well if he came back he was very good at not being seen. He doesn't appear to be with any patient and I urgently need him. There is a patient over there who asks to be seen only by Dr. Halstead. - explained the agitated nurse

- Have you looked around? Maybe he's really visiting, - Manning asked keeping calm

- Nat, I've asked everyone, no one has seen him. He seems to have evaporated. Vanished into thin air.

- Wait, have you tried calling his cell phone? - she asked again

- Yes i did it! I rang it endlessly, but no one answered. - Maggie said

- I try to call him. - and so the doctor took her cell phone and dialed her boyfriend's number and started making his phone ring.
- As soon as he answers we'll tell him four - Nat said smiling to the nurse.

The doctor was more than convinced that there was a logical explanation and that Will was there and was examining.

Meanwhile, outside the medical room April who was passing in the corridor was blocked by Ethan who was arriving at that moment. The doctor started his shift at nine that day, while his girlfriend started it two hours earlier.

- Hey - he said greeting her with a kiss

- Hey - she replied

- You left while I was sleeping. I called you several times this morning, but you didn't answer - Choi said

- Oops! I must have left my phone in the car. - Said the nurse running out to get him taking advantage of a moment of calm.

April had also met Meggie leaving the medical room and warned her that she was going out to get the phone in the car.
So she headed out of the emergency room a little bewildered by what her colleague had told her:

- All right, go, but don't disappear too! -

A little behind April, Connor also came out and was heading towards his car having finished the night shift.

- What did Meggie mean? - asked the doctor.

- Well, I really have no idea, - replied the nurse

The two walked part of the way together and then said goodbye as the nurse had arrived at her destination.

April was about to unlock her car when she was distracted by a sound that sounded like a cell phone ringing.
This rang insistently with no one answering.

Taking her cell phone, she then decided to follow the sound to figure out where it would take her.He wondered if someone's phone had been dropped.

What he saw next took her breath away. The young woman was shocked.

Dr. Halstead was on the ground in a pool of blood and a little further away from him there was a woman also immersed in the same liquid.

He immediately started yelling for Connor and hoping he hadn't gone away yet.

- Doctor Rhodes - she screamed out of breath, motioning him to approach after having glimpsed him. Then noticing Natalie leaving the ed April called her too yelling. - doctor call for help!
So the latter went back to call someone while April and Connor ran back to the site of the massacre.

Immediately Rhodes crouched next to Will, the first one close to his direction, starting to assess his condition, while April did the same with the woman. Both were in bad shape, but still alive.

She had a throat wound and other less serious wounds on the rest of her body, Halstead, on the other hand, had been hit twice in the rear side and the whole thing could have been made worse by the fact that the blade had been extracted.

In fact, the man had taken it and fled, taking it with him.

A few moments later the two were joined on the spot by Natalie and Ethan followed by Meggie and Megan. Everyone was shocked to see the scene before them.

Ethan went to immediately support April as Natalie approached Connor.

Although the doctor was in a panic and with eyes full of tears that threatened to flow down at any moment, she busied herself to help her colleague check the conditions and stabilize her boyfriend before moving him.

The two nurses, having recovered from the initial shock, however, ran back to the emergency room and then brought out of it two stretchers on which the two wounded were laid.

Both doctors yelled:
- Come on, come on, run to the trauma room.-

Natalie had followed Rhodes hoping she could stay as close to her love as possible, but was eventually forced away from him by staying out of the room.

Natalie hated waiting. This thing drove her crazy, colleagues had closed the doors of the halls a palm away from his nose. She knew very well that by entering she could have been in the way, but after all she was a doctor and wanted to understand exactly the state of her fiancé.

. Meanwhile, inside the room, both Will and the woman had been arranged and prepared for more in-depth and accurate visits.

- Will! Will! Can you hear me? We do a metabolic profile and a hematocrit. Now! - yelled Connor with his heart pounding. He had to save his friend and he didn't have much time.

- The airways seem free - continued the doctor while he was examining him - he doesn't respond to stimuli! Damn Will. Glasgowh? -

- On Will, try to open your eyes. - Maggie told him - Glasgow 7 doctor.

- How long will they be out there? - asked one of the nurses present in the room.

- Enough to allow them to lose quite a bit of blood - replied another.

None of those present could understand how it was possible that no one had noticed anything.
A lot of doctors had arrived at the hospital and just as many had left after their shifts and so, an argument flared up in the room promptly interrupted by Connor.
You had to be focused on what to do, not thinking about how and why, at least not at that moment.

- Enough now, let's get busy. We talk later, not here in the room - Connor said angrily.

And so then the doctor was turned sideways to check the wounds.

- Then he received two stab wounds in the left side, one near the second lumbar vertebrae, the other further down the fourth. - said Ethan, also there to help treat his colleague. The doctor then added worried turning to Connor - do you think the spine was affected? -

- We really hope not! However it depends on the angle from which it was hit. - Connor answered.

- Doctor, the pressure is 75 of 50, pulse 120. - said a nurse interrupting the conversation between the two.

- Meggie insert a IV and infuse two liters of saline. - answered the surgeon specialized in this type of surgery who had been called for a consultation before operating on Will.

- Immediately! - answered the nurse doing as he was told. -

- Doctor, the oxygen is 93%. - said another.

The medics present had to be able to stabilize Will before they could act on the wounds.

- Ok, let's wait to intubate, put the mask on, do the tests and bring me an x-ray machine. Come on fast. - ordered the surgeon.

Connor was grateful that his colleague was present at the time. He couldn't have done it all by himself. He was agitated and his hands were shaking. The daredevil Doctor Rhodes who would stop at nothing and nobody was raising the white flag. He was afraid he might lose a friend, one of the few he'd ever had.

Meanwhile outside trauma room three, in the waiting room Dr. Manning called her brother-in-law to brief him on the situation.

- Jay, it's Nat. They hurt Will. - she said crying in despair the doctor.

- Natalie, calm down, tell me what's going on. Who hurt Will?- answered the detective jumping up from his desk hearing the trembling voice of his brother's girlfriend, thus attracting the attention of all colleagues with his behavior.

- They hurt Will, come here Jay please... - she continued

- Don't worry, I'll be right there. - He said ending the call.

So the detective took his things and went running to Voight who was standing in front of his office door.
Unwillingly Jay had increased the volume of his voice frightened by the news he had received and by the fact that he knew nothing of what had really happened. He'd talked loud enough to drive his boss out of the office.

- Sergeant, I ask permission to go out, they hurt my brother. - he said breathlessly

- Ok go, and keep me informed. - answered Hank.

Jay hurried off taking only his phone and car keys and immediately hit the road to the Med.

In the office, meanwhile, Adam was browsing the internet when he found himself on the news page and an article caught his attention.

- Hey come - he said drawing his colleagues close to him starting to read - listen here: ambush at Chicago Med, woman injured in parking lot of the city's well-known hospital. A doctor who works in that hospital was also injured. -
After those few lines Ruzek stopped reading.

Everyone present looked at each other. It was obvious it was Will, he was the injured medic, that's why Jay was called

So, without talking to each other, got ready, packed their things and left to join their colleague. They wanted to stay close to him and find out who it was that hurt their friend.
In the hospital it would have been a lot to do, also having to keep the press at bay, which, having become aware of the fact, was looking for news.

Jay, meanwhile, who had arrived at the scene. He had darted through the streets of the city arriving in a very short time at the Med.
Arrived in the waiting room, he joined the doctor who was slumped in one of the chairs that were in front of the door of the room where Will was.

In the meantime, the checks carried out had fortunately excluded the presence of a lesion in the spine and while they were carefully considering what to do
Will began to recover and look around agitatedly

- Will, hey Will! watch me! Hey, do you know where we are? - asked Ethan who was in front of him at that moment.

- Ah! My back, it hurts. - he replied whimpering and without listening to what he was asked

- I know it. They stabbed you, but we're treating you. Everything will be OK. - Connor answered from behind his back.

- There was a woman outside, I was trying to help her where is she?...- asked the terrified doctor.

- They're treating her... Hey Will, don't worry, everything will be fine - Connor tried to calm him down

Moments later Halstead began screaming in panic, his blood pressure started to drop again, and the doctors rushed to get him into surgery. Blood was invading the intestines and the saturation had dropped to 90.

- Will, we're going to the operating room, stay awake, please - Connor told him. - keep your eyes open. Don't give up on Will.

The patient had a renal laceration and was hypotensive.

- Connor tell me the truth - Will said panting while he was still awake in the operating room - it's serious right?

- - Unfortunately yes Will, the kidneys are involved. - Unfortunately yes Will, the kidneys are involved. - Doctor Rhodes answered frankly.

Just as Halstead was listening to his colleague's response, the anesthetist was giving him two mg of Versed to help him relax a bit. Soon they would have intubated him thus starting the operation.

Halstead was a doctor, his mind while not wanting to think about it had begun to analyze all the possible problems he could have.

- Connor, thank goodness you're here - he said to his colleague as the anesthesia began to take effect. Knowing that he would operate on him made him feel a little calmer, he knew he was in good hands.

- Don't make jokes - Rhodes answered

Will eventually fell asleep and was intubated and prepared for surgery while Connor began washing up with the colleague who would be attending the surgery with him.

. A few minutes after...
- Swab please - Connor asked - there is still kidney bleeding

The other surgeon who was operating on him said:
- Damn the colon is torn, silk 3.0 with needle I have to suture. No, there's blood in the ilus too. -

- I'm isolating the renal artery, CLAMP. Connor said.

It was at that moment that the annoying sound of machines began to be heard in the room and the pressure had started to drop.
 
Will's situation was truly desperate.

Chapter Text

Jay Halstead had left his military career many years ago and he had been working for ten, thanks to Antonio Dawson, as in the police. He was an intelligence detective.

Since he had arrived, until today, ne aveva viste di cotte e di crude.
He thought he had already seen the worst that was possible, but he was wrong.

That last case he would have shattered his world, making him sick.

The team had been contacted about a homicide. Two boys had been found dead in a suburban area of the city.
They had been killed near a railway. The bodies were unrecognizable and it was difficult to figure out what was the cause of death.

As soon as he heard the news, Voight gathered his boys and decided to assign specific tasks to each of them, already from the district.
After that, everyone left to reach the place where the tragedy had taken place.

The first to arrive at the scene were Hailey and Jay. Immediately after parking they got out of the car and approached the scene.

There was the coroner completing his paperwork by jotting down the information he had gathered.

The two detectives first approached those two white sheets that covered the bodies.
They stood looking at them for a while, as if they were afraid to look under them.
Obviously, given the work they were doing, they couldn't refuse to do it, so the two colleagues approached and each pulled up one of the sheets. What they saw was horrific. Whoever had been the author of that macabre murder had had no mercy on those two poor kids.

Jay after seeing them looked up terrified looking for that of Hailey. His heart was pounding, his stomach had started to twist even from the smell and his hands had started shaking even as he tried to control himself.
The detective couldn't get over the fact that there could be such a despicable man in the world as to be capable of doing such a thing.

The other colleagues, then, once they arrived on the scene, began to collect information and clues.

The group remained at the scene for several hours, talking to everyone who lived nearby who hypothetically might have seen something. Unfortunately, however, no one managed to achieve much.

That criminal seemed to have been operating in the shadows, no one had seen him.
What was left was just a trail of blood. The two bodies that appeared to have been dumped there from a conveyance at a point close to where they were found and then they had been dragged to where they had been found.

Meanwhile Jay had distanced himself from the rest of the group, he was isolated, he felt so bad. He would have liked to escape from there, he had never been able to digest cases involving children.

- What do we know? - Voight asked his boys once they reached them
Jay and Hailey started telling him what they had discovered

- The two boys were beaten to death. It was not an accident as he would have us believe. - concluded Hailey

- It was all premeditated. It was absolutely no accident, - added Jay

Meanwhile, the coroner, who had approached the bodies again to verify some details, he walked away from them pulling off his blood-stained gloves and the team led by Voight approached him to talk to him.

Jay was a whirlwind of emotions. Ever since he had looked under his sheet he seemed restless, nervous. He was looking down, looking at the ground. It didn't take a wizard to figure out that what he had seen had disturbed him.

It wouldn't be easy to find the culprit, but Halstead, like the rest of the team, wouldn't give up until he was in jail.

Unfortunately, to complicate things even more, the rain had taken care of it and washed away possible traces of the murderer or murderers from the bodies, and there were no eyewitnesses who noticed anything. As they say then, it had rained on wet.

- The two boys were beaten like dogs. Whoever did it must have been pretty angry with them - Antonio told his colleague Upton

But Hailey wasn't listening to him at the time as he was focused on something else. The detective continued to watch Jay. It wasn't hard for her to guess how he felt. She knew him well and she knew what he had been through. She couldn't wait to get him out of there. Although she knew him well, however, she could only really imagine, to the end, how he felt at that moment.

Jay had never had a hard time handling difficult cases, but she felt the need to protect him because she knew eventually everything would fall apart and she didn't want to see him get hurt.

- Someone must have noticed something. Two little boys in a late afternoon in such an isolated area...- Jay said at one point shaking himself out of his torpor as he followed the trail of blood.

Hailey followed him immediately while, at the same time, Antonio and Adam resumed looking for clues near the discovery area, while Kim and Kevin were busy questioning the few people who lived near the railway to see if anyone had seen anything.

Upton and Halstead came to a point where there was a larger bloodstain.

- They were fixed up as we saw them after they were killed. They took them out and then put them on the tracks. The train driver said he only saw them at the last second and that they didn't move even a millimeter to avoid the impact. From this it follows that they were already dead and the damned man tried to stage the train crash - said Hailey.

Having gotten no response as a result of her reasoning, the detective looked at her colleague and noticed that he was standing there staring at the pool of blood.

- Everything is OK? - she asked him after she approached him

- Yeah, I was just trying to figure out why anyone would kill innocent children and then bring them here. And then how is it possible that this happens without anyone noticing. Yet this is a fairly busy road out of the city. - Jay said

- Perhaps the children knew their killer and quietly followed him. Then he killed them.- Hailey added.
___________________________________________

Jay always got involved with the various cases assigned to the team. That was no exception, in fact the detective stayed in the office late going over the clues he had managed to obtain with his colleagues.

Even when he finally got home, Jay still pondered everything they'd discovered.

As he happened to do a few times, even on that occasion he had brought home some clues, photos and notes. He knew that the material would have to stay in the office, but being aware that he certainly wouldn't be able to get much sleep, he had decided to break the rule.
That night, in fact, after a very few hours of sleep, before going for a run, he arranged everything he had on the kitchen table trying to think about how the facts could have gone and who could be the culprit.

On a few occasions, just like this time, Hailey had slept over at Jay's and often woke up to find her co-worker's side of the bed empty. In order not to wake her, Halstead settled silently in the kitchen.

That night though, Hailey got up to drink some milk and finally found out.

- Since when do you take work home with you? - she asked, finding him sitting at the table sifting through some papers.

The detective as always was completely engrossed in what he was doing and was startled with a start. He didn't expect Hailey to wake up in the middle of the night. He had been caught red-handed.

Obviously he didn't answer the question, trying to change the subject.

- Hey, but it's possible that every time you approach you do it so silently... you sneak up... you almost gave me a stroke.- said the detective

- I didn't sneak up, I just walked in. You're the one who was so focused you didn't hear me. How long have you been awake? - she answered.

Jay had deep dark circles under his eyes. He was pale and the signs of his tiredness were clearly visible on his face.
Before to this case, the team had already investigated another that was just as difficult and finally successfully completed by finding the culprits.

Jay already in those days had slept just as little as his colleagues, if not more.

Now Hastead was continuing into the wee hours, if he could get any sleep at all.

- I've been awake for a while, - answered the detective, now feeling cornered as he put the documents on the table back into the folder. - I just wanted to check one thing -

Without another word, Hailey hugged Jay, who was still sitting, behind him and gave him two massages before heading to the fridge.
His colleague was tense, his muscles were a violin string and those little touches were a great refresher.

Looking at the time, Hailey decided to make breakfast. The wall clock in the kitchen read 04:45 in the morning.

Unfortunately, however, the woman can't find anything in the fridge because Jay, as usual, had gotten busy with work and had forgotten to do the shopping.

The detective then closed the fridge and took the coffee pot and prepared the coffee and once it was ready she poured it into two cups, one for Jay and one for herself.

His colleague meanwhile had reopened his folder again and was once again concentrating on making ends meet. Now there was no longer any need to hide.

Hailey placed the cup on the table right in front of him, who almost immediately looked up and said:
- Thanks, that's what we needed. -

- Didn't you tell me yesterday that you were going to go shopping in the afternoon? - she said wanting to distract him from what he was doing.

Halstead looked at her and immediately after a moment of confusion remembered that he hadn't gone to the supermarket after work.

- Damn, I completely forgot about it. I'm sorry,- he said apologetically.

- Well, if you want, I could take care of the shopping. If there is anything in particular you would like to let me know.-

At that point Jay, rubbing his eyes and stretching a bit, after asking for the folder replied:
- You do. Anything is fine with me. -

The detective seemed destroyed, he had quickly drunk all his coffee, but this didn't seem to have given the desired effects.
It would have taken an industrial amount to reload Jay Halstead at that moment.

The young man was so tired that he gave up running that morning.
After analyzing verbally with her colleague what they had on the case, he then began to prepare to go to the office.

Jay took a nice hot shower which managed to make him feel a little better and after putting on a pair of jeans, a shirt, a sweater, shoes and a jacket, he left the house followed by Hailey.

That day he was so distracted, perhaps due to his tiredness, that he had forgotten almost everything on the kitchen counter. The only thing he had grabbed on the way out were his car keys.

In fact, the young detective was following him holding, in addition to her belongings, the house keys, the portfolio and her badge.

Having reached the car parked under the building where Halstead lived, he approached the opposite passenger side ready to drive, but the colleague stopped him forcing him to get on the passenger side.

Jay was not in condition to drive, in fact a short time later, pampered by the soft and relaxing music coming from the radio and by the warmth he had created in the car, the detective fell asleep.

Unfortunately the ride was short so Hailey was forced to wake up Halstead who was much more dazed than before.

The two then entered the district convinced that they had arrived first as it was still very early, however, with great surprise, they realized that this was not the case.

Adam, who was usually always late, was already working on his computer. And besides him, Kim and Antonio were also present. Just like Jay, he too had taken the case to heart. Dawson was a father, his eldest daughter about the age of the two boys killed.

- We got their belongings - Ruzek informed them. - and we know their names. Johnny Prace and Harry Lorell were both 12 years old.

- We have addresses for both. I think it's time to go talk to their parents.-

Obviously the most suitable to do so were considered them and so Jay and Hailey left the district and headed for the home of the victims.

Once the detectives arrived they were greeted, in both cases, by people worried about their son. Their faces frowned and fear filled their hearts as they knew that when the police knocked on the door it was almost never good news.
Although several hours had passed since the boys' disappearance, the parents still hoped to have them home safely.
It was a heartbreak for Halstead and Upton to have to inform them of the passing of their children.

It was heartbreaking for them to see those scenes. Yet they must have gotten used to it by now. It happened quite often that they had to give such communications, but one never feels ready, especially when it comes to children.

Watching those destroyed mothers let themselves fall on the sofa in tears and those fathers, strong and muscular men, collapsing thus losing their virility, broke the hearts of the detectives every time.

Once the parents had calmed down a little, as far as that was possible, they said, between sobs, that the two boys the previous day had decided to go on a trip.
They had left by bicycle, backpack on their shoulders, in the morning to reach a small lake which was located beyond the railway not very far from where the two lived.
It wasn't the first time they had done it and the parents could never have imagined what would happen.

Hailey and Jay decided, after these talks, to also go to class to talk to the two youngsters' classmates.
They wanted to know if any of them had noticed anything strange about them lately.

Back in the car Jay was itching to drive to school, but Hailey adamantly didn't let him this time either. He had really slept too little.

After having obtained the authorization from the principal and from the various parents of the students, the detectives went to the classroom to talk to the latter.

The two boys were class mates, best friends, inseparable.
Once he started asking questions, Ashley, one of the little girls sitting in the front row by the door she began to tell:
- In the last few days of the exit, Johnny and Harry often talk to a boy a little older than us. -

- Can you tell us who he was? - asked Upton.

- No, when we asked them, they said his name was Jerry and that he was a friend of theirs. He worked in the hotel where we stayed when we went on a trip a month ago.- the girl answered.

So the two detectives obtained the name of the hotel where the boys had stayed overnight, thanking everyone for their cooperation, they walked out of the classroom and then out of the school heading to their car.

Jay then headed straight for the passenger side. He felt so tired. After he got out of school he let himself go and yawned several times, so many that his eyes started watering.

- Sorry, I'm sorry - he said to Hailey
She smiled at him and watched him adjust his belt. His hands were shaking slightly, another sign of how tired he was.

- Don't worry. - she replied. - if you want you can relax a bit until we get to the district.
The detective did not want to let go, he tried in every way to resist. There had been other times when the Intelligence guys hadn't slept, but it had never been for so long.

Voight usually gave them a day or two off at the end of a case, but not on this occasion. They were almost done with the paperwork and the sergeant was about to give them one when the sound of the telegon interrupted what he was about to say. And with that case finished the detectives were immediately thrown into another.
________________________________________

Jay was getting a little too carried away by this double homicide. It had been two days since they'd found the bodies, one since they'd talked to the boys' mates.

From that moment they started looking for that Jerry assuming that he could be involved.

Antonio and Adam, in fact, showed up at the hotel where he worked, obtaining only his surname, Coleman.

Unfortunately, however, he had not been hired. He had done a trial period that ended on the day of the murder of the boys and from that moment on he had been lost.

The case was therefore at a standstill.

Everyone then returned to the district continuing to look for a new starting point to try to frame the killer. And so it was for days. From morning to night they continued to dig for new information.

Jay, most of all, now seemed to have taken up residence at the district. He seemed to be the first to arrive in the morning and the last to leave in the evening. At least that was the impression others had watching him. He seemed to come home only to sleep for a few hours and then get to work very early.

Instead, Jay had gotten into the habit of getting little or no rest in the car or on the couch in the break room at the district. By now he no longer had a private life, he was completely focused on the case.

Will had passed by Jay's house several times in that period, first of all he wanted to see him since it had been a long time since they had spent some time together, he had also asked his brother to lend him a shirt and a pair of shoes for a particular occasion he had to attend.

The doctor then, finished working, would drive to the detective's house without ever finding him. He had also tried to call him several times and in those few occasions in which he had answered he had told him that he was at work and that he would finish late.
But Will didn't fully believe him and was starting to worry. He hadn't seen the condition his brother was in.

Jay hadn't eaten or slept properly for days now, his cheeks were sunken, the dark circles under his eyes could be seen from afar. Everyone looked at him strangely, but said nothing.

Only Hailey did everything to make him understand that he was reaching the limit and that he had to stop yet he dismissed her by telling her he was fine without allowing her to object.
However, the young detective didn't give up, she absolutely had to change that situation, she had to pull her partner out of that spiral into which he had fallen.
But Jay wasn't even listening to her anymore.

One day, she had an idea. She would contact the detective's brother. He sure would have made him come to his senses.
As soon as she got into the car, ready to go home, she took the phone out of her jacket pocket and dialed the number. This was the right time especially since Jay wasn't there to listen.

Will was in the medical room changing to go home when his phone rang.

- Halstead - he replied.

- Hi Will, disturbance? - Hailey asked

- Hi Hailey, nope! Do you need something? said the relatively quiet doctor. He had heard from his brother and he was at the district, even though he smelled something burning as if he knew that deep down he was telling him a lie or like there was something she wasn't telling him.

- I...wanted...I wanted...to tell you about Jay - Upton said, appearing hesitant and agitated, something that didn't go unnoticed by Will.

- What happens? - He said starting to worry seriously.

At that point the detective informed him of what was happening and above all she also explained the need for Jay to stop for a while.

Continuing in that way the young man would have only endangered his own life and that of his team.

Finally she begged him to intervene, only he could do something because stubborn as he was he didn't want to listen to anyone.

In the end the doctor reassured her by telling her that he would take care of everything and so the two said goodbye.

Hailey was definitely more relieved because she knew everything was going to be okay.

The next day a tired, agitated and nervous Will went directly to the district to talk to his brother. After getting the detective's call he had thought and thought about what she had told him and how he could have gotten his big-headed brother to step back and raise the white flag.

Once up the stairs, the first to notice his arrival was Hailey who, placing the small stack of documents in her hand, reached him. She too looked very tired and tried, just like the others that the doctor glimpsed.

Will knew they were doing their best to solve the case they had been given, but at the same time he knew that Hailey, in addition, was doing everything to stay behind his brother to prevent the young man from self-destructing.

Hearing his colleagues greet Dr. Halstead, Jay, who was sitting at his desk sifting through papers, raised his head and looked at him.

Will almost got scared, his brother was nothing but a draft of himself.

- Hi Will, what's going on? Why are you here? - asked the detective

Will wanted to scream, but he decided against it. He'd been asked to get Jay to take time off and after seeing him he was even more adamant that he wanted to do it, but not here in front of the entire district.
So, having approached he addressed him saying:
- Get up and come with me. I want to talk to you for a moment. -

After a moment's hesitation, unable to understand what was happening, Jay stood up and walked out of the district with him. As he disappeared down the stairs to the intelligence office Will met Hailey's gaze. It was as if the detective begged him to let his brother know it was time to stop. She put all her hopes in him.

- Jay what's going on?- Will asked once outside and alone.

- What do you mean? - he asked, still not understanding.

Will understood that it was therefore necessary to be direct and so he explained why he was there.

- I work Will - answered Jay a little annoyed

- To work does not mean to destroy yourself - he answered remarkably angry. - and don't tell me to mind my business. -

Jay looked at him bewildered, he didn't realize what he was doing nor the point where he had arrived. He had fallen into a spiral from which it was not at all easy to get out. -

- Can you tell me what's wrong? -
Will who had started pacing back and forth to relieve his nervousness a bit and shortly after, all of a sudden, he stopped in front of him and looking at him he said:

- Why don't you tell me what's happening to you? asked the director.

- I? You're the one who showed up here early in the morning angry asking me to follow him because he wants to talk to me - Jay then said getting defensive and staggering for a moment before moving away from his brother.
Seeing him standing there unsteadily Will realized that his brother was even worse than when he had seen him at the desk.

- I think it's only right that I'm angry. You are giving more importance to work than to yourself. -the doctor exclaimed

Jay couldn't believe his ears.
- Are you really mad that I want to put behind bars a goddamn criminal who hurt two poor innocent kids? - churches

- Absolutely not, I'm angry that you're sacrificing everything else to do it. When was the last time you had a decent sleep? When did you eat? Jay hasn't been home for two days or maybe even longer. I've been to you several times. Look at your long beard and dark circles under your eyes... - the doctor admonished him.

- Will I.... Is that every moment is precious. We are putting together more and more pieces to solve the case. It's very close now to catch the killer. I can't waste time. You don't understand, you don't do my job.

- Yeah, but have you looked in the mirror lately? No sleep, no food, no rest, you'll collapse, continuing like this.- Will tried to reason with him.

- I know what I'm doing and how far I can go without collapsing, stop treating me like a child. - the detective answered him angrily.

- Either you settle down or I... - the doctor threatened him

- Or you what? - he asked

- Or I'll talk to Voight about getting you off the case. - continued the major.

- You won't do it - Jay answered trying to calm down a bit.

Will hated seeing his brother in that state, it wasn't his intention to make him angry and so he tried to make him understand his point of view.

- Listen Jay it's all up to you. You're the one who can make me do it. You don't want to listen to me, you don't actually hear anyone. I'm not the only one who's trying to make you understand, even Hailey is trying. You are unable to continue, it seems you may collapse at any moment. - Will said sincerely

- I'm not going to collapse! - Jay answered in a tired and trembling voice looking away from his brother starting to assume that he was right - I'm fine

Will watched his brother with deep sadness, no longer with anger.

- Why don't you say it looking at my face? - said the doctor much calmer than before.
Jay still remained with his gaze down staring into space, then sighing closed his eyes with his face in his hands.

Will had won, he had finally made him aware, but he wasn't at all happy about it. He approached his brother and putting his arm behind his back he hugged him.

The two remained like this for a while, until sighing the detective whispered:
- I'm so tired Will, but that criminal has hurt some poor defenseless children... He has to pay Will..-

- I know - replied the other hearing Jay's trembling breaths.

Shortly after, back in the office Will began to help his brother with his work by doing what he was allowed due to the privacy of information. Everyone watched their behavior bewildered and doubtful. They were curious to find out what had happened outside, but they were aware neither Jay nor his brother would speak

The group, therefore, limited itself to listening and commenting in a very low voice.
Some said they heard them arguing, others that it must have been a bad fight because then the detective was quite isolated, on his own, looking very down.
Shortly after Jay got up from his desk taking without being noticed by all his things and pretending to go to the toilet went away.

Fifteen minutes later, Hailey having completed what she was doing, approached Will. The doctor was rereading and correcting what the brother had written.

- Something wrong? - asked the doctor

- Well I think you have to tell me - answered the detective.

- What do you mean? - asked the doctor, unable to understand.

- Jay left fifteen minutes ago. - she explained - he told me that he wasn't feeling well and that he needed to go home. He told me you knew and so I'd like to know what happened out there.

- He wanted to finish this case at all costs, without thinking about himself. Of course I know he's capable of fixing it, but not at this price. He could end up in the hospital, or worse if he continues like this - said the doctor, sighing worried, only learning at that moment that his brother had gone away.

- Well, I don't think he's coming back here anymore, at least not until tomorrow. - Hailey said leaving the district with Will after they had said goodbye to everyone since that day they would have a longer lunch break to regain some energy - Will, please keep an eye on him.

The doctor got into the car and gave a hard slap on the steering wheel with his hands. Instead of helping his brother he had been making things worse. It even made him run away from him.
Desperately wanting to fix the problem by settling things once and for all, instead of going back to his house, he stopped by Jay's apartment.

Running at breakneck speed he climbed the stairs and opened the door with the spare key.

Everything in the apartment was shrouded in darkness, the blinds were down, the shutters closed.
Only one small light was on and it came from the living room.

Will at that point walked, without wasting time, towards that single light source hoping his brother wasn't still checking papers and documents related to the case.

Arrived there, he found him curled up on the sofa. Young Halstead was finally asleep. He was still wearing his jacket and this suggested that he was really in pieces. Usually when I got home the first thing he did was take it off then change into something more comfortable before doing anything.

Deciding to let it rest there for a while, Will closed the small lampshade on the coffee table next to the sofa next to his brother lighting one a little further away and went to take a shower.

He too needed to relax a bit and release the tension accumulated during the day. However, he was happy to have achieved his goal, to win his brother to rest.

When he was done, he went to Jay's bedroom and borrowed something from the closet. He put on a pair of gray tracksuit bottoms, a short-sleeved T-shirt and a sweatshirt that fit slightly small to him due to a different build from the detective's.

Before going to check the latter also turned the bed.

Jay still felt deeply .

- Hey little brother, wake up - he said gently approaching him. - you can't sleep here all night.
Jay, however, instead of opening his eyes, turned on the other side, giving him his back and went on sleeping.

Will tried calling him a couple more times, but got no answer.

At that point he stood up and took off his shoes and gently pulled off his jacket. Jay in response moved adapting to those changes without waking up. Once finished, he picked him up and carried him with enormous effort to his room, placing him on the bed and putting a blanket over him, leaving him to rest.

After a couple of hours of sleep and some good food, Will was convinced that Jay would finally have the energy to bring that accursed killer to justice.

Chapter Text

My name is Will Halstead, I have a medical degree and have been working at Chicago Med for about seven years.

I have always put my heart and soul into my work. I know I'm not perfect, but the thing that distinguishes me is that I do everything to make sure that the people who are entrusted to me heal or get better. I'm the first to get busy and the last to quit.

In these long years, all sorts of things have happened to me, both in terms of the types of cases with pathologies that have arrived in the emergency room where I work, and in terms of the adventures I have had there.

For example, it happened to me that I was called back for having saved a woman believing that that was her will. But she wanted to die!

Oh yes, you got it right. I misrepresented her requests, or perhaps I willfully ignored them, the only thing I know is that I could not let a young mother of two children die.
She had terminal cancer, this is true, but I can't tell you if at the moment when I asked her about it she didn't tell me that she no longer wanted to live.

In the Chicago Med emergency room, however, good things also happened to me, I met love!

I fell in love with a beautiful woman as soon as I saw her. She was really beautiful and she also had a very nice name: Natalie.

When I first met her she was pregnant. She was expecting her first child by Jeff, a soldier who unfortunately died on a mission.

Just knowing that she was engaged to a soldier had me thinking. From that I guessed how much strength was hidden in her. Living with the risk that your love could die at any moment.

She then she was a mere attraction, ever since I saw her. So I approached her and started helping her, staying close to her.
At the time she tied us a great friendship. She wanted me to assist her even in the moment of her birth ... That she struggles with her mother-in-law Hellen.
Of course being the mother of Natalie's deceased husband it was only right that I was close to her, but the doctor wanted me close to her and not her mother-in-law.

After little Owen was born, I bonded so much with him.
I loved that little baby almost as if he was my own child and I suffered a lot when I saw that both Natalie and the baby had to face difficulties in giving birth to it.
...and when we didn't hear him cry....
However in the end everything went well and the baby is growing healthy and strong.

How I loved Natalie... And how much I still love her...
You may not know that we were getting married. We had planned a fairytale wedding, only then a few months before I got involved with Jay in a police action.
Still wondering why I said accepted!

I'm unable to say no if someone asks me for help, unfortunately I can't help it.

My brother Jay came to see me in the hospital with his colleague Officer Lee at first they seemed to be passing through, but instead they had come to talk to me.

Intelligence had discovered that I was treating a rather elderly man, who my brother and I had known for several years, since we were children.
Yes he was Rey Burke, we were friends with his children.

The latter came one day to ask me for help for their father who was ill and as usual I said to myself:
- How can I deny my help to a person who is sick? I am a doctor! -

And so I got involved in that mess that ruined a great period of my life, perhaps the most beautiful, just the one in which I was about to get married.

Ray had made mistakes and Jay and his team wanted to arrest him to pay for his crimes. Obviously, if one is wrong, it is right that one pays his debt.
But who am I to judge the actions of others?

In the end, making it short, I came to risk my life. I was operating out of tools in an unorganized location with a gun to my head.
I would say a less than ideal way of treating a person, actually not at all.

Tom Burke killed my friend, his brother, in cold blood in front of my eyes and held me at gunpoint.
My heart was racing, my body was shaking, but I absolutely had to try to stay as still and lucid as possible or I could have killed that man. His life was in my hands and if he died the paper would blow my brains out.

Luckily Jay and his friends got there before I could start and so they saved me, just in time to prevent that man from shooting me.

I couldn't wait to see Natalie, she was already waiting at the altar. When the Burkes took me, I was already wearing my tuxedo which, unfortunately, got ruined.

When it was all over and Jay saved me I got in the car to go to my wedding venue, which by the way I had thanks to Rey Burke.

What I didn't know though was that I would never get married. I only had time to apologize to my future wife as Officer Lee and my brother had informed me during the car ride that they were going to put me in the witness protection program as Tom Burke was still on foot free.

Having to stay away from my city, from people close to me, without being able to do my job, was the most complicated, saddest and most painful period of my life.

Having said that, it can be concluded that I have never been bored in this life.

Since I moved back to Chicago, obviously everything has changed. Nothing is like before, I'm not the same anymore.

Natalie had waited for me, but it wasn't the same anymore. In the end, in fact, we broke up and she found another man. Obviously this displeases me and makes me suffer, but I still wish you to be happy.

Returning to my misadventures, I would like to tell you a truly regrettable fact.
During one of my many shifts at Geoffrey general hospital when they even accused me of being a thief.
Well yes! You read right, I'm a thief.
Now I'll tell you...

It was more or less the month of January and the Christmas season had just ended.
During the holidays for us doctors the work triples as there are so many accidents especially when the house is decorated with colored lights such as on the roof or fireworks are used. Not to mention the car accidents caused by the presence of ice and snow on the roads. All this must then be added to the various pathologies and seasonal ailments.

Luckily, a certain calm had re-established in these days, if it can be defined as such, even if the Christmas atmosphere was still felt.

It was more or less mid-morning, in a break moment I was sitting at the nurses' desk and I was joking with Meggie and Natalie (at that time we were still engaged and they got along very well). We were chatting about this and that and I remember that they were laughing heartily, even if I don't remember why, I probably made a joke.

Just then a little girl named Lucy walked into the emergency room who was, if I remember correctly, about 11 years old.
She was cold and scared, soaking wet and shaking like a leaf.

That day it was pouring rain and obviously she was very cold.

Yes she approached us crying and we immediately interrupted our conversation by stopping laughing and getting serious again dedicating ourselves to her.

- Please help me, my mom is sick. - he told us all in one breath between tears

- Where is your mom? - I asked ready to act to help that woman.

-She's out here in the car. - she answered starting to leave the emergency room.

I moved to follow her and Natalie came with me. Meggie also came with us bringing a wheelchair with her.

The girl pulled up beside a red utility with the bumper and tailgate a bit dented. Behind the wheel was a middle-aged woman who had passed out.

- What happened? - Natalie asked while I had already begun to visit the woman.
We were under the water that was pouring down.

- She was moaning, she was in a lot of pain. We made it this far and then she passed out. Please help her. - the girl told more and more terrified for her mother.

I listened to her and then refocused on the woman. First I checked her pulse, she was a little weak, but still regular and the woman was breathing without problems.

After carrying out a first visit, I took her in my arms and with the help of Natalie and Maggie I placed her on the stretcher that the latter had taken instead of the wheelchair and we took her inside the Ed .

First, I ordered a CBC and a tox screen, that's standard practice, and had Maggie insert a cannula needle to give her some fluids.

The little girl was there with us and watched everything that happened from a corner of the room.
I tried to get her to go out, but she didn't want to leave for any reason.

It wasn't fair for her to see everything we did to their mother. Although she was already a grown-up, she was still a little girl and she could be traumatized.

Despite her tender age she looked older than she actually was.

While treating the woman I continued to observe Lucy, I was worried about her.

But as time went on, she didn't seem as scared as she did at first.

I thought it was because she knew we were going to help her mom get well, but I didn't know at the time how wrong I was.

When the lady finally recovered I started asking questions as I needed to know more.

Out of the blue the woman felt sick and she threw up right on me.
I know it really sucks, but it happens pretty often when you're dealing with people who are sick.

Once the woman was stabilized, Natalie had left us to devote herself to other patients, Maggie that had remained by my side, she had gone away at that instant to get me a clean coat and a clean shirt.

Without thinking twice I took off my white coat and laid it on the chair and while I waited for Maggie to return and for the cleaner to arrive, I concentrated again on the woman who obviously did nothing but apologise.

Taking advantage of the confusion Lucy asked Meggie if she could go to the bathroom and she showed her the way to get there.

The little girl, Maddy, this is her real name, with such nonchalance, taking advantage of a moment of distraction, she managed to steal something that belonged to me.

In hindsight I can't understand how she got it without me realizing it.

The little girl stole my card that was hooked to the pocket of the coat that was on the chair at the time.

I usually take it off right away and put it on the clean one when I get dirty, but today I was waiting for Maggie to get me a clean one.

In addition to being necessary for recognition by patients, our card allows us to access specific areas such as the medicine room.
And that was exactly the girl's goal.

It was really very simple for her. Asking where the bathroom was she went out with Maggie and once she was gone she walked out of the room where she had left her and she went to the medicine room.

After waiting until no one was around, she entered posing as me and stole vials of morphine, ten to be exact, and two boxes of Fentanyl containing five vials each and then returned to her mother as if nothing had happened.

Maddy had quite a plan and who knows how many doctors had already fallen into her trap.

Obviously, in the end, when they realized the lack of medicines, I was the one accused.
I still remember the meeting with Goodwin as if it happened now.

- Doctor Halstead doses of morphine and Fentanyl have been stolen and you are the last person to enter the room. - said Sharon rightly.

- I didn't enter the room at all today, ma'am. - I answered

-Dr. Halstead from the computer it appears that you have entered your card to enter. I want to know why! Why did he do it? And why did he subtract all those doses? - continued the chief

- Mrs Goodwin you are calling me a thief. I'm not, I absolutely didn't get them. - I added my defense.

- I see myself forced to fire you doctor. - Goodwin concluded without giving me the benefit of the doubt.

- Are we crazy? Fired for something I didn't do? I have my badge in my pocket. - I said agitated.

I started frantically searching my pocket for it and couldn't find it. I was about to say it wasn't there when the security guys came to us, bringing with them the little girl and the woman I was treating.
It goes without saying that the woman was fine, she had never been sick.

- Doctor, look - one of the surveillance guys told me. - they were running away from the emergency room... look what we found in the little girl's purse. -

As soon as the man opened it both Mrs. Goodwin and I noticed the many vials missing

- And besides, she had this in his pocket. - added the guard

- My badge! - I exclaimed

Luckily the guards stopped them before they left the emergency room and eventually the situation was cleared up.

On that occasion I risked really big.

Chapter Text

- Good morning everyone - greeted Jay as soon as he entered the district.

Colleagues greeted him and looked at him strangely, they were amazed. The detective had something different that morning.
He looked more tired than usual, even more so than when he spent his nights having nightmares and getting very little sleep.

That day had been the last to arrive. It was usually first, or one of the first, but never last.

Furthermore, that morning he was late, five minutes, no big deal, but that for Jay who was always early or on perfect time was already a lot.

His hair was tousled, nothing like the way he showed every morning perfectly groomed covered in wax.
He was dressed as usual, on this occasion in blue jeans and a shirt. The odd thing, for a precise guy like Jay, was that the buttons on his collar and cuffs were unbuttoned.

Everyone wondered: what's happening to him?
He wasn't the Halstead he always was.

- Hey Jay - Hailey greeted him - are you okay? -

- All is well, thank you - he replied even if looking at him one could very well say the opposite.

After returning to his colleague's greeting, the detective turned to go to his desk only a few steps away from where he was at that moment.

Jay was starting to move when he veered visibly.
He looked like he was moving in the corridor of a ship that was crossing a stormy sea.

That was actually how he felt.

It had been really complicated that morning getting ready and getting to work.
And even if he tried to prove that everything was fine as usual, some small details had gotten out of his control.

The night before Jay, as he did by now, had activated the alarm clock he kept on his bedside table which was set at 5:30 and then fell asleep quickly being very tired.

It had been a stressful time as several cases followed one another. It was as if the crime had chosen precisely that period to act undisturbed all at once.

In the last week, the Intelligence guys had even accepted two cases which then turned out to be linked to each other. In reality, they had been forced to accept both.

- Orders from above - Voight had said.

The detectives had been sleeping a few hours a night for weeks, two or three at most. It was therefore not strange for a person who had difficulty falling asleep and nightmares to fall into a deep sleep early in the morning.

But usually Jay had a tendency to always wake up before the alarm went off, except on that day.

For better or worse, the detective had managed to sleep through the night even if with a rather disturbed sleep, even if this time not from nightmares though.
When he opened his eyes that morning it was 05:37, the alarm had already been ringing for a while.
He must have been really heartbroken that he hadn't even heard from it.
Realizing the delay, he got out of bed, had to tidy up the house, go for a run and then once back home he had to take a shower and then get ready to go to work. This was now the routine of every morning.
But something strange happened that day.
Soon after he got up, he started feeling unwell. Everything around him was spinning, it was as if he were in a washing machine. He tried to move a little, to hold on to try to understand what was happening, but in the end he found himself lying on the ground passed out.

After a few minutes he recovered and slowly stood up. He didn't know what had happened, he didn't understand how he ended up there on the ground.
The dizziness was gone, but he felt a little confused, lightheaded and a little upset.

He was feeling better than when he was passed out, but not quite right yet.
He decided that maybe for this time it would be better to leave the race alone.

He then chose to lie back on the bed to relax and recover a bit. He had never felt this way in his life.

Around 07:20 he woke up with a start, he was asleep again. He tried to get up as quickly as possible even if with a little effort, he got dressed and arranged more or less the house before going out.

That extra hour of sleep had contributed to making him feel more dizzy, agitated, confused, and wobbly on the move.

He didn't feel like having breakfast, his stomach was a bit upset and he also didn't want to stay in front of the mirror to fix his hair like he always did.

It was when he reached his car that everything got worse. He managed to sit back in the seat moments before his head started spinning again.
He started sweating a lot, in fact his hair was stuck on his forehead. He felt very nauseous and his heart was pounding.

It took several minutes for him to recover from that new wave of dizziness that had arisen.

He was forced to stay there with his back leaning against the seat and with his eyes closed trying to breathe deeply.

When he finally felt a little better, he tried to drive, but he soon realized he wasn't able to.

It was already 7:45 and he had a journey ahead of him that usually lasted about 10 minutes without the presence of traffic.

He wasn't feeling well at all, but he still had no intention of staying at home.

He took out his cell phone and thought of calling Will to give you a lift. He knew his brother's shift would start at 8:15, so he must be almost ready to go out. He was hesitant about calling him or not because he didn't want to become his patient. On the other hand, he had nothing wrong, for sure it was just a little low blood pressure. He knew that with him he would have had to do everything so that he didn't notice anything.

He was about to place the call when he remembered that Will was away on a business trip with Natalie at the time. They would have attended a medical conference. .

He then hypothesized to call Hailey, who would have started asking him questions about how he was anyway since it wasn't hard to understand that there was something wrong with him.

In the end, however, he dropped the phone on the seat, choosing to leave by himself and go slowly.

20 minutes later, driving with difficulty, he finally reached his destination.
Jay parked as close as possible to the district entrance and moving as fast as possible made his way to his office.

Looking at his watch, he winced as he noticed the time. It was 8:05, he was 5 minutes late, which never happened being a precise person who liked to be punctual.

Luckily it was a day of paperwork so he would be seated without having to run back and forth to catch fleeing criminals. He'd always hated being forced to spend all his time writing, but today he didn't mind.

After saying goodmorning to all the colleagues who were already at work, he walked towards his desk staggering a bit. All the eyes of those present were fixed on him, but he ignored it.

Once seated, he then began to work updating the various folders left on the table the day before.

- Jay, do you happen to have a red pen? - Hailey asked finding an excuse to approach him.

The detective didn't answer immediately, he didn't seem to hear. He was resting his head on his left hand and partially covering his ear, and with the other hand he was writing something to complete the reports. He was so concentrated that he didn't seem to have noticed the presence of his colleague speaking to him.

The detective went around the desk going to the opposite side to attract the attention of the young man who, immediately seeing her, jerked his head up and turned completely towards her.<

But that movement didn't do him any good, he didn't realize he had moved suddenly.

In a very few moments everything around him began to spin again and again he began to sweat profusely and an annoying buzzing was becoming more and more pressing in his ear so much so that he feels completely dizzy.

Meanwhile, the detective continued to watch her partner with concern. She had never seen him in that state.

The boy appeared dazed, his movements were strange, minimal, slow and this, however, had not escaped the attentive eye of his colleague. A stream of saliva seemed to have formed from the corner of his mouth and some hair was stuck on his forehead which was glistening with sweat.

What was happening to him?

- Sorry Hailey, I didn't hear you - said the rather tired detective

- Are you sure you're okay? - she asked him

- Yes, everything is ok, I was just concentrated - he answered trying to breathe as deeply and normally as possible.

Everything was like the other times, he just had to remain as still and calm as possible and everything would pass. It had already happened to him twice that morning.

- Did you need something? - he asked again as soon as he felt ready

- Yes, a black pen - she answered, forgetting that she had initially said red, in fact she earned a strange look from Kevin who was nearby.

Nevertheless, everyone got back to work after that situation and were only interrupted a couple of times by Voight inquiring about how things were going.

Even the sergeant, looking at Jay, realized that something was wrong with him, but he didn't say anything. He just kept tabs on it, knowing he wasn't the only one doing it.

Even though the umpteenth episode of dizziness and nausea had passed Jay wasn't feeling well at all, he had difficulty concentrating. It seemed to him that everything around him was kind of blurry and his ears were really hurting. From time to time his vision blurred and he had to stop and rub his eyes several times before he could see normally again and then do what he was doing.

Obviously, his every movement was under the watchful and attentive eye of Hailey, Voight and Antonio. The latter limited himself to observing his colleague from a distance without saying anything.

Around lunchtime, the whole Intelligence group, being well advanced with the update of the files of the resolved cases, decided to go to lunch in a newly opened restaurant

Around lunchtime, the whole Intelligence group, being well advanced with the update of the files of the resolved cases, decided to go to lunch in a newly opened restaurant just near the district.

The only one who was late with his reports though was Jay.

- Guys, how about going to the Orwell Bistrot for lunch? - asked Adam

- Are you talking about that place just up the road that opened last week? - asked Kevin

- Yes exactly! It's a must try! - Ruzek said

-Yes, why not! - Antonio answered - Jay, Hailey, what are you doing? Will you join us? -

- That's fine with me! - answered the detective - Halstead didn't answer, just kept writing as if he wasn't listening to the others. He seemed not to hear them, as if nothing was happening around him.

- Hey Jay! - Antonio said calling him back, shaking him slightly.

He raised his head slowly, he felt as if he had just gotten off a roller coaster. He was dizzy and a strong nausea was taking hold more and more in him making his stomach twist.

The detective looked bewildered at his colleague, his face was pale and increasingly strange.

- Hey, are you sure everything's okay? - Antonio asked his colleague again

- I'm fine - Jay replied using as few words as possible and continuing to breathe to try to lessen the nausea.

- So are you coming with us for lunch? - he asked him again pretending nothing happened, wanting to take advantage of the break to deepen the discussion. p>

- No, I have to see Will - he answered, also trying to use very few words in this case, saying the first excuse that came to mind.

And so everyone went out to taste the new delicacies, leaving Halstead alone at his desk.

As soon as he just closed his eyes breathing deeply. Everything around him now had that slight but constant movement that made him feel like he was still on a boat on a stormy sea.
The nausea was getting stronger and he felt a great desire to vomit.
He couldn't move, he felt his stomach rise in his throat. Every slightest movement made him feel worse.

Aware that he couldn't vomit where he was, he tried to get up to go to the bathroom, but eventually fell back on the chair. He just had time to grab the trash that was under his desk and place it under his mouth just moments before starting to empty his stomach.
He had to be as quiet as possible because in the next room, even if up the stairs, there was still Voight who could have heard him and once he found out he was ill send him home.

That was something he really didn't want.

Once calmed down, after having finished vomiting, moving slowly he disposed of the contents of the basket and headed to the relaxation room to rest
His head was starting to ache and it was throbbing and Jay figured some rest might do him some good.
Once there he settled down on the sofa and picked up the phone and decided to call Will.
He had to make sure his alibi held up.
The detective knew that his brother was out with Natalie that day and he was sure that Hailey would call him to verify if he had told him the truth. Jay was aware that she had sensed something, she had definitely noticed that he was sick.

- Hello little brother - Will answered happily

- Hello - Jay answered trying to be as active as possible even if he was tired and dizzy and not feeling well p>

- There is something wrong? - his brother asked, moving away from the table where he and Natalie were having lunch.

There was no way to lie to him, the doctor understood everything.

- No, everything is fine! Just a little tired - explained the detective

- Are you sure? - asked the doctor again

- Yes, don't worry. Listen, I called you because I told everyone I was supposed to meet you on my lunch break -

- Jay! Why did you tell a lie? why didn't you go to eat with the others? what happens? what are you not telling me? - Will asked, increasingly agitated, putting in tons of questions without waiting for an answer.

- Nothing, really, believe me I'm fine. I ate something quick and then it's Hailey's birthday soon... I'd like to find her a special gift. I came to shop around to have a look please don't tell her anything keep my game keep the secret - Jay lied.

- Ok Don't worry, I'll cover you - replied the doctor, deciding to play along, even though he felt inside that something was wrong.

After saying goodbye, Will returned to the table to Natalie.

- Everything ok? - the doctor asked once he reached him.

The doctor was about to answer her when he was interrupted by the ringing of his phone.

- My goodness, if it's really popular today It's a good thing we're on vacation - said Natalie

The congress they were supposed to attend had taken place the previous day and the two had decided to take another day off.

- Oh yes unfortunately! I don't know what's happening to my brother, but he asked me to cover for him. I accepted but I'm certainly convinced that there's something else going on. - Will explained.

- Do you think there's something he's not telling you? - asked the young woman

- I think so, but I wanted to believe him. However now I still couldn't do anything. I'm going to see him tomorrow before starting my shift at the hospital.

And having said that, he went away again to answer the cell phone.

-Will halstead,- he sighed. He had taken the day off and was doing everything instead of relaxing.

-Will hi, I'm Hailey - the voice on the other end of the phone greeted him.

-Hi Hailey, how are you? What happens? - he asked pretending not to know anything. p>

- Nothing, I just wanted to ask you to confirm one thing - the young woman asked

-Tell me everything- he replied p>

- Did you happen to meet Jay today? - she asked

- Yes, he's here with me why? - he asked lying to keep up with his brother p>

- No, nothing, I saw him a bit strange today and I figured he was telling me a lie. - concluded the detective a little more relieved

- No, we took something together and then I'll leave it to the district again. - said the doctor.

The two were about to say goodbye when the detective asked:
- Will, how do you feel? -

- Who?- he asked.
He knew who Hailey was referring to, but he said pretend he has his brother in front of him.

- Jay - she said

- A little tired, but otherwise ok. - he replied realizing that there really was something wrong and regretting having agreed to cover it up.

Hailey shared what she had noticed in Jay, both in his appearance and in his behavior.

So, confirming that he too had noticed this and with his colleague promising to keep an eye on him, the doctor pretended to have to go back to work, and the two said goodbye.

Back at the table with his girlfriend Will was even stranger than when he finished talking to his brother.

In the end, the two decided to return home in the late afternoon, giving up the overnight stay in the hotel.
Will was worried about Jay, and Natalie knew he wasn't going to enjoy the rest of their tiny vacation.

When they returned to the office about twenty minutes after the phone call between the detective and the doctor, colleagues found Jay sitting at his desk just as they had left him.

- Are you sure you met your brother? - asked Ruzek

- Yes sure! Are you calling me a liar? - he replied annoyed, suffering, putting himself irritably on the defensive Jay p>

- If he says that he met his brother, it means that he is - answered Hailey going to the rescue of his partner

And so they got back to work only to be interrupted about an hour later by Voight.

- Guys, Christopher Jeffrey has escaped from prison. We have to catch him and make sure he never gets out of there again. - explained the sergeant.

Jay prayed in his heart that there were no cases for that day, but sighing then listening to the words of his boss began to sort out his things.

In a short time the boys managed to get the right news thanks to Hailey's informant and so they get ready to go and get him.

Quickly they were all ready and equipped for action.

The only one who was late was Jay. He moved slowly, seemed to have difficulty keeping his balance when he was standing and for this reason he always tried to stay close to a wall or leaned against it or against an object trying to make sure that no one noticed his difficulty.

Once outside, despite the dim light of the sun while everyone was preparing to leave with the cars towards the pre-established place, everyone could observe Jay. He was very pale as a ghost and his cheeks were red in stark contrast to the rest of his face.

The detective was in terrible shape, and the more time passed, the worse he felt.
He felt cold, despite wearing the jacket. His body radiated a lot of heat and the context between the temperatures made his shiver.

Hailey, who was about to get into the car with him, looked at him without saying a word, but more and more worried. She was convinced that at that moment, Jay wasn't capable of handling an action-packed situation like the one they were about to face.

She looked up and then met Voight's who without speaking asked her how Jay was doing for her.

The detective shook her head back.

Soon after everyone was on their way to reach the appointed place.
This was pretty uneventful except, though, for Jay.

Due to the movement of the machine, between weakness and malaise, his head was spinning like a top and he had a great desire to vomit. He had to make an enormous effort not to do it there in the car and especially in front of Hailey.

The cold he felt was more pronounced than it really was and this was due to the fever that was gradually increasing. Despite this he tried to keep the window as open as possible. The fresh air made him feel a little better even if not for a long time.

The streets of the city were busy and Hailey was forced to brake constantly.
Jay's face was now more and more of a pale greenish. Luckily, at that point it wasn't long before we got there.

As soon as he parked, he opened the door and, without being noticed, vomited a little even though he didn't have much left in his stomach. Once finished, he got out of the car and joined the others despite being in pieces.

- Atwater and Burgess at the back entrance, Al and Ruzek at the sides, Antonio and I at the main entrance. On my signal we go in and take the bastard. Hailey and Jay stay out and keep eyes open.  - said the sergeant

So everyone positioned themselves waiting for the signal to take action.
Jay was the only one confused and dazed and Hailey was keeping an eye on him.
Voight understood this and kept them out of the action.

The detective just stood there, going back and forth sad and angry at being left out. It was 17:00 and it was starting to get dark.

Hailey however that although she was attentive to the scene she never took her eyes off her colleague. Seeing him increasingly strange, however, she took the cell phone determined to show it to Will.

Jay walked back and forth or at least that's what he thought he was doing, instead he skidded walking mostly on an oblique line.

After making a small video, and sending it to the doctor, the detective heard noises and saw the criminal Christopher Jeffrey trying to escape. Putting the cell phone back in his pocket and grabbing the weapon again, she immediately started running after him.

As soon as he realized what Hailey was doing, Jay did the same thing too. He wasn't feeling well at all, but it was his duty and he couldn't stand still.

That day, however, he just couldn't keep up with him. Just moving fast made him feel worse than ever.

In a few moments, however, fortunately, he was seen alongside and then overtaken by Adam and Kevin who seemed to be running at twice the speed of him.

- Luckily they're here, they can give Hailey a hand - he thought and then, now at the end of his strength, he slumped to the ground and everything turned black before his eyes.

______________________________________________________

Meanwhile, Will was desperately trying to contact his brother at the hotel. What Hailey had told him didn't make him feel comfortable. Furthermore, a few minutes ago he had received a video in which he saw him moving in a strange way. He absolutely had to check for himself.

- Will, honey what's going on? What's going on with you? - Natalie asked seeing him strange.

- Nat I'm worried about Jay - and having said that I showed her the video.

- Let's go home. - she answered.

- No, I don't want to ruin this evening for you too. I'll be back in town, check on Jay's status, and if I can, I'll catch up with you later or pick you up in the morning. - he said wanting his fiancée to relax a bit before going back to Chicago

Said that, he kissed Natalie and left. He had a journey of about an hour and a half ahead of her.

______________________________________________________

- Jay! Hey Jay can you hear me? - Antonio called him.

Hailey and Antonio were crouched beside him, while Adam was standing next to them.

The detective was passed out, he seemed not to hear the constant calls of his friend, colleague or of the sergeant.

Shortly afterwards, Upton approached his face and began to touch it gently, but in a present way, making herself felt and it was then that Jay slowly opened his eyes.

He looked at them with a dull look, gasping for fever and immediately closing his eyes again. He could not hear who was speaking who was seated to his left. The other ear, her right, was covered by who knows what.

Slowly the detective then opened his eyes again, his vision was like blurry, he felt strange, weak, tired and his head kept spinning.

Everything around him was still, but not because of him, who felt a little upset, just like one feels once you get off a ship that has crossed the sea in a storm.

- Hey Jay how are you feeling? - asked the sergeant.

-I'm fine- he replied, slurring a bit.

A stream of spit trickled from the corner of his mouth as he spoke. It was evident that something was not right as he was supposed to.

- I think it's time to call for help - said Adam

- No...no, I'm fine - Halstead said immediately.

So saying, he grabbed Antonio's arm and I helped him sit down.

After changing position he had to wait a bit before moving again and as soon as he felt ready he stood up and everyone started to go to their cars to go back to the district

They had asked him to get checked even going directly to the hospital, but he had been categorical.

Put down the seat of the car they laid him down and Hailey drove to the district with Antonio in the backseat for whatever needs Jay had.

During the ride, Halstead's cell phone that was left in the car vibrated once again. Upton picked it up and read Will's name that was on the display aloud.
- Give me the phone, I'll talk to it - Antonio said from behind.

- No, me - Jay said with great effort. That car trip was destroying him.

- Will - he said wearily and with a faint voice

- Jay finally! Tell me what the hell is going on! How are you? - said the worried brother having received confirmation that the young man was ill not only from the video but also from the voice he had heard on the phone.

- Something is wrong - he answered with disarming sincerity.

Yes he felt really bad, Jay was the type that even if he was broken he said he was fine, but on that occasion he hadn't done it, a sign of something not going in the right direction.

- Don't worry little brother, I'm coming, I'll be with you soon. - answered the doctor

- But you... Natalie? - Asked the detective knowing that his brother was out for two days.

- Don't worry about her. Hold on, I'll be with you soon. -
Having said that, the two ended the call and Jay relaxed a bit even if he had to control the strong nausea caused by the movement of the car.

Arrived at the district, the detective was helped out of the car and into the relaxation room to lie down on the sofa.

Antonio was forced to support part of his weight as the boy visibly swerved.

An hour later Will arrived. The doctor already had an idea of what it could be, but he had to see for himself.
He helped him get up and made him do some tests with his eyes open and closed and through these he confirmed his suspicions.

- Jay listen, how long have you been like this? - he asked

- Since this morning - answered the dazed brother

- I really think your inner ear is inflamed. We need to go to the hospital to do some more thorough checks and then I'll ask Ethan to take a look at you and write something down. I really think it's labyrinthitis. . - concluded the doctor.

Reluctantly Jay agreed, he just couldn't handle it anymore.
Will took most of his brother's weight on himself and after getting him into the car he set off for the Med.

Once the various tests had been carried out, Dr. Choi could only confirm the detective's problem and so gave him the right treatment to do for a while.

Chapter Text

The doctor's job is not easy at all. Full days, exhausting 10/12 hour shifts, little time to rest, a few days off and we often work even on holidays and with temperatures elevated.
To Will, however, all this did not matter. It was what he had always wanted to do, since he was a child, even more so since his mother got sick. He had sworn he would get a medical degree so he could treat her and all the people in need.

Even in the middle of summer, with more than forty degrees, he continued to work tirelessly, without complaining, unlike some of his colleagues who used to say every time they got to work:
- Mamma mia, we die -

Or:
- My God when will this heat end! Can't take it anymore! You can't work like this! -Or:

Not Will, he always came with a smile, ready to get to work without ever saying I'm tired, it's hot or any other complaints like that.

He was a guy who hardly said no.
At the end of the shift, when he left, he was exhausted, but happy and satisfied to have helped so many people.

Often, however, to help others, he forgot to take care of himself.

The summer in Chicago that year was one of the hottest, one of the hottest on record. The mercury column touched and often exceeded 104°F.

There were those who had the opportunity to go on holiday to the sea or the mountains and have fun and those like Dr. Halstead who were forced to work.

Another problem to consider in that period was that given the many people who moved for the holidays or simply to spend a day out, by the sea or in the mountains, in the city it had become difficult to make even small journeys.

The doctor, in fact, was forced to leave the house even earlier than usual to reach the Med due to traffic. It usually took no more than 15 minutes to cover the whole distance, but these days it took at least half an hour, if not more.

His car also had a broken air conditioning cooler and therefore he was forced to travel with the windows down even if not a breath of air was passing through.

That day, in fact, he found himself, a few minutes after leaving home, stuck in traffic and soaking wet as a chick.

Being someone who suffers enough heat, Will, in those conditions did not feel well at all.
His blood pressure had dropped abruptly and his vision was blurry.
Being a doctor, having sensed what was about to happen, he knew he had to stop.

From a distance he noticed a free parking space and after having parked with his heart that seemed to want to leave his chest he remained there motionless for a few minutes. He was really pale in the face.

When he recovered, he looked in the mirror dazed. He more or less wiped his face with a tissue and took a few moments to realize what had happened to him. He had passed out, lost his senses.

Luckily he had sensed that something strange was about to happen and had managed to park in time and avoid having an accident.

A woman, his former patient, had just left the bar after buying a bottle of tea and one of cold water, and seeing him in trouble, she approached him.

- Dr. Halstead, are you all right? - she asked him

- Yes everything OK.- Will answered muttering, still a little dazed having just recovered from fainting.

- Wait... - said the woman who, taking a handkerchief from her bag, wet it and in a motherly way passed it over the doctor's face.

It was pleasant to feel that freshness on the skin even if the touch of the handkerchief made him shiver.
The woman then filled a large glass of water and made him drink it slowly.

The doctor recovered completely thanked the woman for helping him and as soon as he felt ready he left for the hospital.

He arrived ten minutes late that morning, which usually rarely happened.

- Will, welcome - Meggie said

- Sorry I'm late, I got stuck in traffic - he replied

- Sure it's just that? Do you feel OK? the woman asked, seeing him pale and sweaty.

- Yes I'm fine. The air conditioning in my car is broken and today it would have been really useful being stuck in traffic. Anyway, I'm going to change so I can immediately get to work. Why is there this coming and going? the doctor finally asked, noting that in the waiting room, which was already swarming with people, there were others going back and forth with instruments.

- Unfortunately, the air conditioning broke here too and there are technicians who are fixing it. - answered the nurse smiling.

Having said that she went back to work and Will after changing began his shift going back and forth through the corridors between patients.

Everything seemed normal, a typical day filled with people to visit and help.

Unfortunately what Will didn't know was that it wasn't going to be a normal day for him.

It was around 11:00 that something strange happened. Dr. Halstead had just finished seeing a patient when he began to feel tired, strangely fatigued, weak. The young man felt as if everything was turning around him and he was very hot, very sweaty.
Suddenly he turned pale, more than it already was in the day, his heart felt like it was having difficulty beating. Before long he was lying on the ground in a faint.

Immediately his colleagues, Dr. Charles and Dr. Choi approached him to help him.
Ethan checked the main parameters, the heartbeat was slow but strong, he immediately understood that it was just a fainting spell of which, however, he had to verify the cause.

As the Asian doctor ordered the nurses to bring in a stretcher Will began to recover. He'd been out a minute or so. He immediately started moving and tried to get up, but was immediately blocked by Charles.

- Will, wait, stay down a little longer. - he said calmly, and so Halstead listened.

In a short time everything had returned more or less to normal, his blood pressure was low even if not excessively and his heart had started beating more or less regularly.

- Will you remember what happened? - Choi asked helping him to sit up and giving him some water and sugar to drink.

- I don't remember much, I had visited Mr, Mr... I can't think of the name and then I was going to Maggie's to take charge of someone else... all of a sudden i felt weird and then i woke up lying on the floor with Ethan staring at me… Oh my it's hot in here. - said Dr. Halstead

- You passed out, Doctor Charles and I saw you slip to the ground and ran to help you. Ethan said

- Thanks for the help,- he said standing up and heeling slightly again.

- April take a cannula needle and insert a central one - Ethan asked the nurse, making her understand that the patient was Will.

- No need for April, thanks. I am fine. Really guys I'm fine. - Having said that, she walked away from the two colleagues and went back to work as if nothing had happened.

Sometimes the doctor was really stubborn, but on that occasion two decided to comply with his requests, but to keep him under control.

It was really a strange day that. Will found himself again making several changes, once again being drenched in sweat.

April meanwhile so sweetly asked him to follow him to the medical room and there she made him, mostly "ordered", to drink some juice and eat a banana rich in potassium.

- Thanks April, but really I'm fine, I don't feel like eating right now. - he replied to her requests.
Eventually, however, he listened to her and did as she was told.

At 16:00 finished the shift Will then returned home to his beloved Natalie who was free that day and little Owen.

That afternoon he took a nice shower with the intention of relaxing even if it made him feel very tired and so after having just nibbled on something for dinner he headed straight to bed.

The next morning, Will woke up once again feeling strange, but he didn't mind and got ready for the shift.

Throughout the car ride Will kept his eyes closed, supposedly to relax a bit. Natalie was driving that day and Owen was behind him playing silently.

This time the journey near the hospital was relatively uneventful.
Will only had a slight dizziness once he got out of the car, but recovered almost immediately upon entering Ed and starting to do what he loved, his job.

He was convinced that today would be better, he felt better.
In fact, everything proceeded normally until lunchtime.

- Meggie I'm going on break, if you need to page me. I'm going to the bar. - And so Will walked towards the bar to get something to eat.

That day, however, there wasn't much that whetted his appetite so much so he decided to have two ham and cheese sandwiches.
He had time to eat about half of one before Meggie paged him to get him back to work.

A little over an hour later Will began to feel sick again. His range of vision was noticeably diminished. It was as if he had a tunnel in front of his eyes like the one children do with a roll of paper towel in front of their eyes.

His head had begun to spin again and he had a strong nausea, accentuated by that continuous vortex in which he was.
Knowing that he would not have reached the bathroom in time, out of the blue, in a sheltered corner of the corridor, picked up a trash can, Will began to vomit what little he had eaten for lunch and slowly sweating profusely he passed out again. It was the third time he had these faints within two days.

The doctor remained there for a few minutes, no one had noticed that he had felt ill again, he was in a more sheltered and dimly lit point of the corridor

When he recovered he still had the need to vomit something that was left on his stomach.
He was very pale, but once again he changed to go back to work.

Unfortunately, from that moment on, however, nothing was as before, everything had changed. He was feeling really tired and really struggling to keep going.
In fact, he often and willingly approached the nurses' counter and sat down with an excuse. Often chatted with Maggie, or acted as a search for something on the computer.

After about a fairly quiet hour, where he visited only two or three people, his attention was attracted by a sound, a blue code that came from the room of one of his patients.

There was no time to waste, he had to run to see what was happening, so immediately Will stood up grabbing the stethoscope and started moving quickly towards the crash cart. Unfortunately that sudden change of position caused him a new crisis. Once again he turned pale and his heart started pounding again. He felt like he was on a boat in the middle of the sea and although he was sweating his body was shaking, he felt cold.

Will tried to hold on to the cart, but as everyone watched, he finally fell flat on the ground.

Immediately Maggie approached him rescuing him followed by Natalie and Ethan.

- Stretch soon, - shouted Dr. Choi who this time would check his friend.

But like the previous time, even at that moment the young doctor refused to be examined, saying he was fine.

After moving from supine to sitting position and taking several deep breaths he said:
- I moved too fast, I'm fine, let me go. -

After being helped to his feet, however, he was forced to stop. Natalie got him something to drink at the bar, some beetroot juice to be exact to allow him to recover the minerals he had lost, and he was made to sit down for a while to keep Meggie company.

When the nurse stepped off the balcony to help one of the doctors the phone rang. Sure of the fact that there was a new arrival and being the closest, Will decided to answer.

- Chicago Med -

- Hi, it's Foster, ambulance 61, we have a patient. Yes, it's a Chicago police detective. We'll be there in five minutes. - said the paramedic while Brett desperately tried to stabilize the patient.

After saying this Emily ended the call leaving the doctor in suspense.

- Chicago police detective? - thought Halstead,- what if it was Jay? -

It takes a few moments longer, but finally she closed the receiver of the phone.

A few minutes later Foster called back saying there would be no need to wait for action because the detective was dead.

Will was petrified, hung up and turning to Natalie said:
- I have to go. -

- Where are you going? Will wait.. - Dr. Manning said trying to stop him, but every attempt was in vain, Will had now left the hospital without turning around to hear what his fiancée was saying to him.
Once outside the young doctor had started running wildly towards the accident site that had been told to him by Emily in the first call.

He was so afraid of seeing Jay dead that in the end he went out without taking anything, neither his jacket nor his car keys.

Will and Natalie had gone out in the doctor's car that morning and she would never have given him the keys since he wasn't well. Going to talk to her then was just a waste of time.

The crash site was not far away and the doctor kept running at breakneck speed. Once in the area it was easy to locate the place well.
On one side of the road, many people were gathered, watching the scene from a short distance. A little further on, a white sheet spread on the ground covered in blood.
In the corner of the roadway Voight and his team, but Jay was not among them.
The fact that he could not see him supported his thesis that the man was under the sheet.

Of course, he couldn't tell for sure until he saw it for himself.
Will then began to make his way through the crowd, he absolutely had to get closer.
That mad rush, however, had done nothing but make the doctor feel bad again.

Will was hot, soaked in sweat. His heart was pounding especially for the physical effort made, his vision was blurry and he was out of breath with his head starting to spin again. It was around 104 degrees and running in those temperatures wasn't ideal, especially if you suffered from low blood pressure.

Despite everything, however, Will kept going, he had to verify if it was Jay or not.

When he was a very short distance from the sheet, his attention was drawn to something that was on the ground and glittering in the sunlight. Yes, it was a Chicago Police ID card.

Will bent down and took it in his hand, opened the container and read the name that was written on it:
" Detective Jay Halstead" -

It was his brother's ID. If he was there he meant only one thing, that the man under the sheet must be him.

Will at that point felt his blood freeze. His brother was shot, Jay was dead.
The doctor turned very pale in the face, even more than it was already after the physical effort.

Moments later his legs went limp and he collapsed to the floor in a faint.
However, a few meters behind him was his brother Jay who, as soon as he saw that he was arriving, had done everything to reach him by continuing to call him.
The detective wondered why he was there at the scene of the accident.

Unfortunately, although the distance between the two Halsteads was not much, the large number of people who had gathered on the scene slowed down the young Halstead who was unable to reach the doctor in time.

As soon as he saw him pass out, however, the latter began to run towards him, making his way through the crowd.

As soon as he got to Will's side, Jay crouched next to him and started gently patting his face to bring him back together.

- Will, hey Will! Brother, wake up. -

It took a while, but finally the doctor opened his eyes and dazedly turned to the detective

- Jay are you here? - and after that he closed his eyes again, it was as if he had lost consciousness again.

The detective attracted the attention of the 61 paramedics who immediately approached. Multiple checkups on the doctor showed dangerously low blood pressure and a slow heartbeat.

In the end it was Will who was loaded into the ambulance and taken to Med.

As soon as there, not having the strength to resist, he was taken to one of the trauma rooms and underwent many tests such as blood tests and other to rule out various problems, for example at the heart level.

Dr. Choi took charge of him, after taking a complete medical history and after excluding the presence of other pathologies that could cause fainting, he realized that it was the vasovagal syndrome consisting of benign syncope due to several factors.

To make him feel better, he was given a diet with a greater hydro-salt intake and he was also advised to avoid staying in too hot and crowded places for too long. not to make abrupt changes of position and to avoid severe pain as much as possible.

Chapter Text

The intelligence team was immersed in a complicated case. Detectives needed to testify the head of one of the largest drug operations ever to take place in the city of Chicago.

That man was called El Jefe because he gave orders to everyone and no one could contradict him or command him to do something.

A large quantity of drugs was exchanged with a very wealthy Arab sheikh.

The two had made an appointment so that one could check the cash and the other the goods he was about to buy.

Thanks to a tip from an informant from Adam, it was discovered that the two groups would meet at Navy Pier on Friday of the following week at 12:30 in one of the hangars present there.

All the city's police forces were used for the roundup, but the main one was intelligence and Voight was the one who managed all the activities despite the disagreements with these

On the day the exchange should have taken place, everything had been organized down to the last detail.

The team was hidden behind various containers and, without being noticed, armed to the teeth, they waited for the right moment to act.
p As soon as Voight gave the order, the detectives would take action and arrest the criminals.

The two criminals had been caught red-handed, just as El Jefe and the Emir were making the exchange. Voight had signaled to his men to intervene and fights broke out between the police and the criminals, in small groups.

All the intelligence components came out of that fighting a bit bruised, the only one who was more or less well was Antonio who was a great fighter.

Jay, of course, suffered the worst of it, even if, fortunately, it wasn't serious injuries. He had received a blow on the nose which made it bleed profusely and a deeper one on the arm.
The man with whom he had fought at one point, during the fight, had pulled out a knife attacking him with them and wounding him.
In the end, however, the young man managed to disarm him.

However, the detective was getting the upper hand
To knock him out, however, Antonio's intervention was necessary.

Once everyone was arrested and taken to the district Dawson approached Halstead.

- Hey, Jay, are you okay? - asked the older colleague.

- Yes, everything is ok, a little bruised, but I'm fine - the younger one replied, giggling.

- I always say it and I repeat it, I absolutely have to teach you lessons.- Tony said laughing handing him a handkerchief so that he could block the nosebleed that kept coming down.

- Thank you. Yes, I think I really need some lessons. - answered the detective

Despite refusing to do it, eventually Jay reluctantly had to go to the Med to check that his nose wasn't broken.

Once he got there his brother was terrified when he saw him as his face was a mask of blood.

Fortunately, from the various checks carried out there were no fractures, the blood was cleaned up and the bleeding due to the blow stopped. The nose was only bruised and therefore purplish, but everything would heal perfectly. Finally, three stitches were placed on her arm where the thug had stabbed him with the knife.

The sergeant, having been engaged in a maxi operation, gave the whole team two days off.

Jay spent them in complete relaxation. The first one he spent in the mountains in the company of Hailey, the next was at lunch with his brother and Natalie also spending time playing with the little Owen.

Everything was going great. They got on well with her colleagues and so Jay was planning to ask her to marry him. At that time, the detective was very happy, serene, as he hadn't been for a long time.

These positive feelings of his were also evident at work with colleagues with whom he appeared to be a little more free and relaxed and with his brother with whom he no longer argued as frequently as in the previous months.

Cases were closed quickly, Jay was smarter than usual and picked up information and connections that others missed.
The detective was really beaming.

Unfortunately, however, that period was destined not to last that long. What Jay didn't know was that the man he had fought against had the better of Antonio's support, he had an unpleasant trick in his servant that would have really created problems for him.

His happiness lasted ten days. Jay was another person. His mood was skyrocketing, his PTSD was asleep and therefore he felt completely different.

All until that strange morning.
The night before Jay had gone to eat at Hailey's and then around midnight he had come home.
After taking a quick shower and wearing something comfortable he was able to fall asleep almost immediately. He had been able to rest for several nights now without the nightmares disturbing him too much.
They were always present, but fortunately with a lesser intensity than in previous times.

That morning he was supposed to go to work at 10:00. They had no cases and were supposed to complete reports so Voight made them choose whether to go to work later or go out first.

Jay and Hailey, having already planned a romantic dinner out, chose the first option, as did Adam who never said no when he had the opportunity to wake up later. He was such a sleepyhead, in fact every time he arrived late in the morning saying he hadn't heard the alarm clock.

Other colleagues, on the other hand, had chosen the second option, to go home earlier, such as Kevin, who had decided to take his little brothers to the cinema.

That day, however, Jay didn't feel well, he felt strange. Inside himself, not everything was right.
He had a very slight nausea that made him feel a little upset and it was that slight malaise that woke him up that day around 6:45 about half an hour before the alarm rang.
He felt annoyed staying in bed, it was as if lying down made him feel worse, so he got up and began to tidy up trying to figure out whether to go for a run or not.

Around 7:30, feeling a little better, he put on the suit and decided to do his daily rounds.
He loved running through the streets of the city, he liked doing it early in the morning when everything was silent and in the dark, but even later it was not bad. The city was starting to wake up, people going to work, mothers taking their children to school...
It was nice to hear from the neighbors of the little ones. Everything was busier, but there was no rush hour chaos.

Back home an hour later, he took a nice hot shower in the company of that annoying feeling of nausea that had returned to make itself felt.

By 9:00 sharp, he was ready, dressed, and settled. He took the keys and still missing an hour to go to work he decided to call his brother to say hello p>

- Will Halstead - the doctor replied absently without looking at the display with a tired voice already in the early hours of the morning.

- Hey hello brother - the detective greeted him beaming, despite not feeling 100%. Hearing the doctor then asked worried - everything ok?

- Hi, yes everything is ok. Sorry I didn't see it was you. It's okay, I'm just tired. Since this morning I've been spinning without stopping for a moment like a top.

- Did you at least have breakfast? Then don't tell me you don't feel as well as usual. - admonished Jay.

Will had the habit of skipping breakfast and often felt bad because he wasted energy and couldn't work. At times, he even passed out.

- I'm having a coffee in the medical room right now. Unfortunately this morning both Natalie and I didn't hear the alarm clock and we did everything in a hurry so as not to be late for work. - explained the doctor

Jay was ready to make a joke of him even if he finally held back, it was not the case. Instead, he decided to surprise his brother.

- I'll be with you soon, I'll bring you breakfast. Later. - he said greeting and ending the call p>

- Wait Jay not... - Will said being interrupted as Jay had said goodbye hastily just to avoid him telling him it's not worth it, which in fact the doctor was just about to say.

At 9:15, Jay stood outside his brother's favorite bar. He didn't really mind either. He had something familiar to them now. Every time you entered it, you could smell the excellent aroma of freshly brewed coffee and the scent of excellent sweets. There they made the best croissants in all of Chicago and the great thing was that even if you went late you can always find them freshly baked.

It was hard to resist, in fact, even on that occasion Jay assumed he would eat one too, despite not feeling very well early in the morning.

Unfortunately, however, that day nothing as usual. Entering the bar he immediately felt overwhelmed, annoyed by all those smells that previously had always seemed so good to him ...
The nausea had returned and was stronger than before. He was forced to grit his teeth so as not to vomit there in front of everyone.

He grabbed two croissants, a peach and three big coffees for his brother, Natalie and his friend Maggie, then quickly got out of there trying to settle his stomach a bit.

There was nothing to do, he had resisted too much. Placing the trays on the roof of his truck, he began to retch and vomit something even though his stomach was still practically empty. Having decided to go to the bar, he had assumed to have breakfast there not expecting that situation.

Around 9:30, fifteen minutes later, when he finally recovered, late on his schedule, he got into his car and headed to the hospital.

The Med wasn't far from there, in fact five minutes later it was already parking in front of the emergency room.
He was still a little pale and dizzy, but he was starting to feel a little better, the nausea, in fact, had subsided a bit.

Entering the ER, Jay stopped at the nurses' desk.

-Hello Maggie-greeted him and then offering her what he had brought her p>

- Thank you Jay, you didn't have to - replied the nurse who then, opening the packet, said smiling - my favorite dessert thanks!

- Can you tell me where I can find my brother and Natalie? I have a delivery for them too. - he said smiling showing the packages.

- I call them right away. - and so he did and the detective sat in the waiting room waiting for the two to arrive.

- Hey Jay, what are you doing here? - Natalie said advancing towards where the young man was sitting - is something wrong?

Will hadn't warned her of his brother's arrival, they hadn't seen each other caught up in the work /> Seeing him sitting there, the doctor became worried then not having seen the packages he was carrying.

- Everything ok, just a special delivery for you and my big brother. - he said with a smile showing her what he had brought.

- Jay, thanks little brother - Will said arriving in a waiting room and taking what the latter was offering him - as I was about to say on the phone before you closed, though, you shouldn't have.

- You missed breakfast. - explained the detective.

- Will did well, above all you have to be careful because suffering from low blood pressure you have to take care of yourself and respect meals. We don't want you to feel sick and pass out. - said Maggie.

Actually they were right.
And also Will was happy, his brother had so much attention towards himi. He was also happy to see him well in that period, attentive to the world and to everything and those around him. P>

For some time now, the detective no longer seemed to have the weight of the world on his shoulders.

The two doctors stopped at the nurses' desk with Maggie for a couple of minutes, as there was a bit of calm at the time, to eat the sweets and drink the coffee and then escaped back to work.

That pause, albeit brief, was a panacea for the doctors. As soon as his brother and sister-in-law left, Jay also left the Ed to go to the district.

Meanwhile, the feeling of nausea he had gradually became more annoying and insistent.

He arrived at the district early as usual for him and, after saying goodmorning to the colleagues who had already arrived, he sat down at his desk and started writing reports on the latest case that they had solved

The detective hoped that getting to work would distract him a bit, but it didn't. He was the only one to get up from his position from time to time, sometimes he moved to get some water and other times he approached the radiators because he had the impression that they didn't give off enough heat.
Every time she returned to her desk she shook more and more. Every time he returned to his desk he shook more and more. When he went out that day it didn't seem like a cold morning so he only wore a shirt.

The first and at that moment the only one to notice was Antonio who approached him with his gray sweatshirt in his hands.

- Hey Jay - he called him blowing it up. - Everything is OK? -

-Yeah.. good...- he replied trying to keep his teeth from chattering as his body shook.

- Are you sure? - the colleague asked again and then continued using a low tone of voice to prevent the others from being informed. - why don't you wear this? you seem to be feeling a little cold. -

At that point Jay looked up and I gladly accepted his colleague's offer.
- Thank you... But you? - he asked seeing him in short sleeves.

- Well I feel warm here and if we have to go out I have a jacket. replied Dlawson. - watch out for the tle pleròl. I don't like your wax. For anything, ask me -

And having said that he walked away to go back to his desk to complete his work leaving Jay who was wearing the sweatshirt.

With that on the detective seemed to go a little better even if he still felt cold. It was as if he felt it in his bones and moreover the nausea he felt was becoming more and more pressing by the hour.

Antonio, noticing that Jay was continuing to struggle to try to warm up, went to the kitchen and prepared a nice hot tea with lemon, he brought it to him inviting him to sit in his place since his desk was near the radiator so as to stay warmer.

Jay gladly accepted and moved on. Dawson already knew there was something wrong with his partner, but for now he just watched him in silence. Looking at what the older detective was writing, he noticed that his writing was also shaky.

Jay was feeling worse and worse. Every part of his body ached. Even moving his hand while he was writing caused him a slight but annoying pain, and moreover, even the various muscles, if rubbed or touched, made him feel pain.

An hour after settling in the new position, he still felt that hot tea he had drunk on his stomach and at that point he felt the need to vomit.

He was about to get up to go to the bathroom when Voight entered at that moment and began informing them of the various compliments that had been paid to them after busting two of the biggest gangs in the drug trade. Some time had passed, several days, but still everyone continued to compliment them.

Jay felt the contents of his stomach rise and fall almost reaching his throat. There was a sour taste in his mouth, but at that moment he couldn't pull away. He tried in every way to breathe deeply keeping a hand nonchalantly in front of his mouth just in case. He hoped that no one would notice his situation even if Hailay was already watching him carefully to understand if something was wrong.

At that moment, Antonio's phone rings, interrupting Voight's soliloquy.
It was his wife informing him that they would be having dinner with his parents that day.
Noticing his friend's state and the greenish color on his face, as soon as the call ended, he pretended to have spoken to one of his informants who asked him to meet with him.

So Antonio began to move away and put on his jacket and took that of his colleague and said by throwing it in his direction:
- Jay come with me! -

Obviously it was all an excuse to get the young man out of that situation.

Once we got out of the district Jay headed to a secluded spot where he could empty his stomach and Dawson was there with him supporting him.

Once he was done the older detective made him get into the car and lowered his seat so that he was more or less lying down. Noticing that he was still shaking, he opened the hot air trying to warm up the room a bit.

Jay on the other hand seemed to doze off and wake up all the time. He was very agitated and annoyed and this could be seen with the naked eye. However, only the young detective could know how he really felt and where he felt pain.

Dawson feeling his colleague's body give off a lot of heat brought his hand to his forehead and noticed that it was burning a lot. He had a really high fever.

- Jay, hey Jay can you hear me? - he called him after about half an hour.

- mmmmmm.... - he answered

- I think I better take you home. You have a high fever, you can't stay here at the district... Perhaps it would be better to take a trip to the Med. Your temperature is too high. - said the older detective reasoning.

- Med no... Please... At home. - he said almost whimpering the younger one gasping. p>

Antonio, while Jay dozed off again took some water from a small bottle that he had in the car and after wetting a handkerchief he placed it on the forehead of his colleague who shivered at the contact. At that point she left to take him to his house.

While driving he called Voight to explain the situation who was understanding and told him to take him home and stay with him as long as necessary. He also told him to call him anytime in case of need.

Once finished with him Antonio called Will who answered almost immediately. Obviously he wasn't happy to hear that his brother had refused to go to Med. However, he imagined it because it wasn't new.

Dawson described everything that had happened in the morning, from his shivering from the cold to nausea, vomiting and fever.

The doctor advised Antonio to take him home and put him to bed. Once the temperature was taken if he had exceeded 38 he should have given him something. The detective was supposed to have Tylenol in the house.

- If the temperature is high, use the two pads. I hope to be able to free myself soon to jump there. Otherwise I'll come as soon as the shift is over. Write to me anyway and keep me informed. I'll keep the phone in my pocket. - he said before saying goodbye.

Once they arrived at the detective's house, Antonio helped him stand up and climb the stairs to his apartment.
As soon as they entered his home, he took him directly to the bedrooms, took off his sweaty sweatshirt and helped him change into something more comfortable and above all dry.

Jay was dizzy and before collapsing he felt the need to vomit again due to all that moving and the car ride.

Once in bed he fell asleep again with his friend and colleague Antonio at his side who took care of him like a loving father.

Dawson went to the bathroom to find the thermometer and the medication Will had told him about. Doing this wasn't complicated since his colleague was a very orderly and schematic guy.
.

Back in the room, I placed the thermometer in the young detective's mouth without waking him up, just as he often did with his children, and waited for the instrument to read.

As soon as it rang Antonio removed the device and didn't believe his eyes, the temperature was really high. The thermometer showed 40.5°C (104.9°F).

After waking him up with difficulty, he forced him to swallow the two pills with a few sips of water and then let him go back to sleep.

From that moment everything seemed to be calm, until two hours later, whenJay woke up again with a start, his eyes widening and gasping.
He felt his heart beat very quickly and in addition he felt pain in his stomach.

Antonio tried to keep him calm, you could see that he was terrified. Meanwhile he tried to update his brother through messages.
He had preferred not to call him so as not to upset his young friend who was against contacting his brother because despite everything he said he was fine.

Will on his own was getting more and more worried. Reading the messages he wished he could be home to check on his brother with his eyes.
The doctor had tried several times to ask Meggie to cover for him for a while to be able to escape from him for a moment, but unfortunately every time he did then the phone rang and there was a new arrival

He would have had to wait until the end of his shift which would have been at 10pm that evening

Around 19:00, Hailey also arrived at the detective house, having learned that Jay was sick and she wanted to be close to him. He thus relieved Antonio who was able to return to the district and then home.

Jay, meanwhile, sleep most of the day. He woke up feeling much better around 20:20.

-Hey, wake up, - Upton said as she was sitting next to him on him bed and reading a book.

- Hailey? What are you doing here? - He asked sleepily.

- Are you sorry I'm here? - she asked - I was worried about you and so I relieved Antonio.

- Oh yes! I remember he was here. I have to thank him. - Jay said

- Oh yeah. You can do this as soon as you feel better. - she replied

- I'm already fine. I was fine before too. - said the detective

- Oh well. - said the colleague sighing.

In fact, the young detective was much better, the fever had almost disappeared when Will came to him to check him out.

The next day everything seemed to return to normal, as if nothing had happened. So the next one the boy was able to go back to work normally.

Three days after the first time, however, everything came back with the same pattern: nausea from the morning, pain, vomiting and high fever, tachycardia.

This condition created many problems for them at work, especially when it happened on days when they had a case.

Jay got very nervous having to leave everything to go home, he obviously couldn't do anything and connect with such a high temperature.

Will whenever he was sick always came to the end of his shift when Jay was feeling good. If he didn't know his brother inside out, the doctor could tell he was taking it

He had begged him to come to the hospital when he started to get sick, but Jay had refused to do so.

This high fever, however, had to occur four times in a row before anyone took action. This lasted longer and longer, often even at night and then the next day it was just a memory.

As long as they continued to do office work, however, it was not so problematic to leave everything and go away, the problem was when they were busy in the field.

The fourth time the same line came up, the Intelligence guys were on a case.

Jay and Al were positioned in a hidden location with sniper rifles aimed at the scene.

Jay kept shaking making it difficult to aim.

- Boy are you okay? - Al asked remembering what had happened in the last few days.

- Yes,... I'm... Fine,- he answered chattering his teeth from the cold he felt. He didn't want to and couldn't give up and above all he couldn't admit defeat because of the fever.

Immediately after saying that, however, this time he passed out and lay still on the ground. Obviously Al, who was at his side, didn't hesitate, helped him and called for help. Warned Voight, the sergeant sent Ruzek to take over for his colleague.

The young man was placed on the ground next to the two colleagues and gave no sign of recovering. This worried both Adam and Al a lot, but they couldn't do anything, they had the criminals at gunpoint and if they had come out at that moment they would have been discovered.

Often Olinsky was also forced to call his colleague back so that he could concentrate on what they had to do and not on Jay

After blocking and arresting the criminals, Al and Adam had taken Halstead by weight and took him to where their cars were.

- Hey, what's wrong with him? - Antonio asked very worried

The same sentiment was shared by Hailey who, like her colleague, watched Ruzek and Olinsky as they put the boy on the car seat.

As soon as they arrived at the Med they were joined by Will who was immediately alerted with concern seeing the group arrive from afar.

Immediately the doctor nodded to Meggie who reached the detectives in a wheelchair where the detective was then placed.

After a few seconds Will also approached the others and started pushing his brother to take him to one of the free rooms to have him examined.
Unexpectedly however Jay started shaking and flapping as if someone was shaking him.

Dr. Halstead got emotional without being able to be an impartial doctor and rushed, trembling himself with agitation, transferred him to a stretcher which he saw was close to them.

He got to the nearest trauma room and asked Maggie to immediately inject him with two mg of ativan as Jay was having a seizure.

Will knew how much his brother hated needles and was aware that he was the only one who could prick him, but unfortunately the doctor couldn't do it at the time. His hands were shaking and he wasn't able to keep them still, his brother was really sick and he panicked.

After injecting the drug, the detective began to calm down and his brother began to connect him to the various monitors. From these it was evident that the heart rate and the temperature were quite high and not being able to do much being a family member Will just paced around the room waiting for one of his colleagues to arrive to visit him.

It was hospital policy. He could not take charge of it. Unfortunately, however, at that moment, everyone was busy and the doctor was beginning to get very nervous.
Jay was too ill and it was necessary to act as soon as possible, so he decided to cure him.

Meggie, since it was necessary to wait had gone to help one of Will's colleagues.

The latter at that point took the leap and chose a good nurse, but who had only recently been there in the hospital and did not know the relationship between him and Jay.

- Lizzy so let's do a complete blood count and I need an ultrasound of his abdomen. You organizes everything please. - said the doctor.

The woman noticed that the patient had the same surname as Will, but she ignored it. Sometimes it happened that patients arrived at the hospital with the same surname as that of one of the doctors present there and there was not always a relationship.

And so all the tests were done and Will understood almost immediately what it was. Ultrasonography showed that the spleen and liver were enlarged from normal size and then there was that fever that increased and disappeared to return more or less every three days.

It was malaria and so without wasting time Dr. Halstead began to organize the treatment which was then done by Dr. Rhodes who didn't spare a tug of ears for what his colleague had done.

The detective was eventually admitted to the hospital to get his spleen under control, which was excessively enlarged.

Obviously Jay was always complaining, he felt well most of the time and had no intention of spending his days in the hospital.
Once the concern for a possible splenic rupture had subsided and a cure was organized that the detective could do at home, the young man was discharged with a prognosis of at least two weeks.

It was also necessary to understand how Jay had contracted the disease. It wasn't a common disease in Chicago and the detective hadn't been to Africa

It was more Voight, however, who clarified everything when, one of the first days the young man was in the hospital, he called to find out how he was.

At that time the sergeant informed him that the man Halstead had been fighting with had died in prison due to complications from untreated malaria.

Chapter Text

Will was forced to leave Chicago after a truly terrifying experience.

He was almost dead.
There was really very close.

He had accepted, also considering his brother's prayers, to be a doctor working below deck.
He already imagined how it could end. Not knowing how to lie, you would have been discovered and in the end you would have made them pay.

The intelligence team had suspicions about Ray Burke. Since he had health problems, who better than his doctor to get help placing bugs too? He had free access to the old man's house and could easily place them.

Unfortunately though, things went wrong, even worse than Will could have imagined.
The doctor had been discovered, the elderly man's condition had worsened so much that Halstead advised him to go to the hospital to undergo an operation.

Obviously his children did not accept that he was brought there and forced Will to operate on him with a gun to the back of the head, in an improvised place without adequate medical equipment.<

Fortunately Jay and his team arrived just in time, arrested one of the sons of the man (the other, a friend of Will, had been killed by his own blood) and Rey Burke himself.

For his safety and to be protected Dr. Halstead was taken away from Chicago, to another city for some time.

He was supposed to get married that day. Natalie. The woman was waiting for him to go to the altar, however, she had seen him only in a moment on the entrance stairs of the church with his crumpled tuxedo and shirt soiled with bloodstains.

- I am sorry! I'm sorry Nat.. I... - the young man repeated

The woman could only observe how the one who was supposed to be her future husband was seized by weight and taken away by the police.
When the poor woman must have suffered.

Unfortunately, however, nothing else could be done. If it were up to him, he would have refused, but it wasn't possible.

And now he finds himself alone in Phoenix in a small house.

How lonely he felt.

He had no one with him, no one to talk to or hang out with.
Even his brother was seen and heard very rarely above all because of work, but above all to avoid the risk of being followed or spied on, putting the doctor in danger.

Jay was afraid for Will.

The Burkes had known them since they were children, they knew of their kinship so it would have been easy for Tom to follow the detective to reach the red-haired Halstead.

The detective therefore avoided contacting or visiting his brother, doing so only when he really couldn't help it because he couldn't not see or hear him.

For his part, Will had to stay there as long as necessary, at least until Tom Burke was caught and taken to prison.

And so he stayed there in a different country where he didn't know anyone, without having contracts with the outside world, in a tiny little house.

The only ones who came to him were two policemen who gave him everything he needed.

Will spent his days watching television and reading newspapers, books or surfing the internet.

How boring it was to stay there.
It was really annoying not being able to go out, not being able to talk to anyone other than the cops who were on duty with him.

Phoenix was a completely different city than Chicago. Even the temperatures were different.
Where he was now it was much hotter and he suffered for this too.

Will felt so alone, so sad. The only thing that kept him going was the desire to return to his beloved and his little son, to his life.

He also missed his job, he wasn't the type of man who could sit idly by and despite trying to update himself it wasn't the same thing at all.

Those were really difficult days.
As soon as he got up he forced himself to have breakfast. His brother's colleagues had done the shopping for him and had made him find the house full for every need, but he didn't have a big appetite.

After nibbling something, he usually went back to bed and read some magazines or turned on the television and zapped with the remote control until he could find something that could do it. Often, however, there was nothing that really attracted him to push him to see it.

Once he got up, he took a quick shower and got ready for lunch.

In the afternoon, on the other hand, he did more or less the same things, sometimes he even opened his PC and without accessing his private account, he wandered around the internet in search of scientific articles or rarer diseases.

The days went by quite quickly, though not like when he was in Chicago.

However, the problem was at night because he was able to keep busy during the day.

It was really hard for the doctor to adjust. Even for sleeping he had all the possible comforts, without however exaggerating, but equally it was not the same thing as his home. P>

What he had experienced had really marked him a lot.

Will played tough, fearless. He showed the others that he was calm, but inside himself it wasn't quite like that.
A whirlwind of emotions invaded his heart.
The dark of the night, that darkness made a thousand thoughts come back to his mind. P>

After dinner, always eating just a little something to avoid starving, he went to bed relatively early. As they say go to bed like the chickens, Will went there even before them.

He felt physically and mentally tired.
Every night he hoped to be able to sleep at least a few hours to regain some energy, but that was really complicated for him.

Dr. Halstead would go to bed and turn off all the lights, try to close his eyes after resting his head on the pillow, but this only lasted for a few seconds.
Immediately after that, it suddenly reopened.

A thousand fears crowded his mind.
"What if all this never ends? What if I never go back to my old life? What if Burke doesn't find me and hurts my family, Owen, Natalie?"

All this made him feel bad and at night, instead of sleeping, he often ended up looking at the ceiling, only to open the television again. At that moment, he wasn't looking or listening it, he felt the need to fill the darkness with light and fill that deafening silence with the buzz of the people who spoke in it.

This made him feel less alone, he didn't care what was broadcast and said.

In the end, the doctor collapsed from exhaustion around 2/3 in the morning and unfortunately that too was not a peaceful sleep as it was studded with nightmares.

At that moment he could understand Jay.
He understood what his brother must feel, how he felt after every night he spent in the company of nightmares.

Unlike Will, however, the detective was used to this by now and knew he had to live with them. Every night he knew they would be on time.

Even for the doctor, however, they were becoming usual.

After a short time that he closed his eyes, in his mind, the events of the last few days in Chicago came back clear as if he were living them in that moment.
He always woke up with a start in the same place in the dream: when Tom Burke pointed the gun at his head, when he could feel the cold barrel of the weapon resting on his forehead.

He opened his eyes suddenly, his heart was pounding, he panted, trembled and then burst into desperate tears.

He demanded himself, almost in a fetal position. He didn't have anyone who could help him, console him or be near him at that moment. He could only count on himself.

Often he wanted to contact his family, his brother, a friend, but he didn't have the opportunity.

Jay and his colleagues were trying to protect him and save his life, he couldn't repay them by calling his colleagues and blowing the cover, or running away to go home.
Will just had to hold on and wait for time to pass. He had to resist.

Now the doctor was going on by force of inertia. There was very little left of the handsome, plump man, ready to marry.
By now he was pale, tired, emaciated, with pronounced black bags under his eyes.

The only thing that kept him going was the thought that Natalie, her little Owen and Jay were waiting for him.

Chapter Text

That day began like any other for Detective Halstead, but what he didn't know was that that very day he would have an experience that would change him forever.

Like every morning, even on that occasion Jay woke up very early and after tidying up the house he went for a run.

By now this had become his daily routine, a habit, even if, that day, he felt the need for it more.

After an hour of running, he returned home and had plenty of time to take a nice hot shower and get ready to go to work.

Surely he would meet Hailey at the entrance to the district and she would offer him a steaming cup of coffee. The two took turns getting breakfast for both of them, it was a way to take care of each other.

As usual, Jay arrived at the office a quarter of an hour before his shift began and, as he imagined, Hailey was waiting for him in front of the entrance with two takeaway glasses in hand.

That hot liquid was a healthy touch to warm up on winter days. Jay loved to sip it in the company of his colleague sitting in the relaxation room chatting about this and that.

Unfortunately, however, time passed, always too quickly according to the detective and slowly the two began to hear the footsteps of their colleagues entering the office.

That day was promised to be dedicated to paperwork as long as no information related to any case had arrived.

In his heart Jay wished this would happen, he hated the days when he spent his time writing reports. He was made for action, he loved to track down criminals, chase them and finally handcuff them and bring them to justice. That was what was important to him, not the paperwork.

Unfortunately, however, his prayers were not answered and this was also confirmed by the words of Voight shortly after entering the office.

- Guys, we don't have any cases to deal with today so get busy filling out the outstanding reports. As soon as it is finished you can go home, of course, however, remain available. -

Hearing those words Jay sighed sadly and sat down at his desk and organized himself to start work. Not only would he have to spend part of the day writing, but the afternoon schedule also didn't seem to be all that appealing.
Once the paperwork was done, he would go home and spend his time lounging on the couch.

The thing was, he didn't want to be alone. Mentally he had started thinking about what he could organize and with whom, but hearing the comments of his colleagues he understood that everyone was already busy..

- Adam, what do you say if we organize something in the afternoon?- Kim said to her boyfriend in a low voice, but quite audible to those close to him like Jay for example.

It was clear that the two wanted to spend some time alone.

- Wow, today I'm taking my brothers to the cinema. - Kevin added in a loud voice.

Everyone was busy. He already knew that Hailey was supposed to go to dinner with her parents and had already asked Voight for time off several days earlier.

Halstead had no desire to go home and be alone, but unfortunately that was what was in store for him.

It was a special time for him, a week later it would be the anniversary of his mother's death and the memories of that time filled his mind.

Resigned to spending the evening on the sofa, he started completing the reports even if he did it slowly to take up as much time as possible.

Midmorning Jay decided it was time for another hit of caffeine and after pouring himself a cup of that hot drink he took the phone out of his pocket trying to contact Will without getting any answer.

After rinsing the cup, he then returned to his desk and got to work again.

Everyone noticed how slow he was and was starting to wonder if everything was okay.
Even Hailey asked him more than once, when they had chatted that morning it hadn't seemed so strange.

- Jay - she called him - is everything okay? -

- Yes sure, everything is fine. - he answered

- Are you sure? You are so weird. - she pointed out to him

- Don't worry, it's just that I just can't stand drawing up reports.

The detective accepted his answer and, smiling, got back to work.

Just before lunch break, Jay's phone, which was sitting on his desk, vibrated and after reading on the display that it was his brother who was calling him, he headed back to the relaxation room to be able to talk to him.

- Jay sorry I couldn't answer earlier, today is a busy day. Everything OK? - asked the doctor

- Yes, everything is ok - the detective answered softly.

- What's up I hear you down. - Will asked, hearing that his brother had a strange voice.

- Nothing, are you free in the afternoon? Maybe we could spend some time together.- he told him trying to sound ok.

- Today I am on duty until 21:00. - replied the doctor.

He wasn't available either. Everyone was busy that day, it seemed like a conspiracy.

- OK Do not worry. - he said clearing his throat getting ready to greet him.

- Jay don't think of dismissing me like that. Tell me what's going on. - Will told him gently, but also firmly.

The detective who was previously sitting on the couch stood up and went to the window and looking out explained the problem to his brother.

- Will is nothing... It's just that - he said while his voice cracked a bit. - next week is... -

- Mother's anniversary - said the doctor with a sigh. He hadn't realized at the time that today was so close. That year would have been ten since their mom had been gone.

The two brothers didn't experience it the same way. Will was in New York at college when she was ill and had only come home for her funeral, Jay, on the other hand, being on medical leave from the army, had been by her side day and night and the last week of the woman's life had been really hard.

Every year in that week the detective tried to always keep busy to avoid having time to think and repress himself.

- Will I... I just wanted to avoid being alone doing nothing. - he said in a trembling voice as a tear ran down his face. p>

- I'm sorry I can't be with you.. - he said sighing sadly

- Don't worry, I'll find something to do. - answered detective

- Jay, don't disappear, make yourself heard. Come and see me here if you like. - concluded the doctor who after receiving an affirmative, albeit unconvincing answer from his brother he greeted him and ended the call, the two each went back to their own activities.

About ten minutes later Jay was interrupted by Adam who had taken the trouble to get some dishes from the nearby diner in the district, offering everyone lunch for once.

Obviously everyone took the news well, even Jay who was happy that someone had thought of him.

Unfortunately, the detective didn't have much of an appetite that day. His stomach closed up at that time of year and he threw tantrums to swallow food. He ate part of the rolls that his colleague had offered him, demonstrating that he appreciated his gesture and, pretending to have finished, he put the container aside. He had eaten less than half of it.

Around 15:30 everyone had already finished their reports and were slowly starting to leave.
The last of the colleagues to leave was Hailey while Jay was the only one still bent over his papers.

The last of the colleagues to leave was Hailey while Jay was the only one still bent over his papers.

-Jay I'm leaving - said Upton to her partner p>

- Ok, have a good trip - replied the detective without taking his eyes off the papers.

- Is it possible you're not done with those reports yet? There is no one left here. - she told him looking at the now empty office.

- Don't worry, I'm almost there - he answered and then the two said goodbye and she went away.

A quarter of an hour later, as Jay tried to reread for the umpteenth time the last report he had just compiled to check for possible errors, Voight walked out of his office convinced he wouldn't find any of his boys at the district. He had heard them laughing and joking as they walked away.

He was very surprised when heading up the stairs to exit the building he noticed Jay still bent over his desk.

- Halstead - he called in his hoarse but gentle voice

- Yes sergeant! - lanswered the young man after jolting a little not expecting to be called by his boss.

- What are you still doing here? - he asked

- I'm re-reading the last report and then I'm done. - he answered. In reality, he had been standing there reading that sheet for a while, but being also quite distracted, therefore having difficulty concentrating, he feared he had forgotten something.

- stop and go relax. you will read it again tomorrow. - ordered the sergeant

- but... - the detective tried to say.

The boss didn't want to hear any reason why, sighing, the young man got up and after having replaced the documents, took his things and put on his jacket and went out followed by his sergeant.

Once outside Jay got in the car and started the engine. Not wanting to go home he began to wander aimlessly through the city and without realizing it he found himself in front of the Carson house.

Stopping in the street in front of the house, he remained to observe the door that he had passed through for many years as a teenager. He had been engaged to their daughter for a long time.

How nice it was at that time...

Gail and Denny Carson had allowed Jay in those years to feel the love that existed in a family, which he had lacked.

Since he and Allie split, meetings with his parents had drastically decreased, especially after their son Ben's killer was arrested and paid for his crimes.

It had been almost a year since they last met. It had been a random occurrence.
Once Jay had gone to buy a take-away pizza in a Chicago restaurant and the Carsons were sitting at the table.

Obviously, after seeing him at the counter, they convinced him to sit with them, ending up spending the evening together.

Even though he and their daughter had broken up, Gail and Debby had continued to harbor feelings of affection for him, considering him as a son.

The temptation to go downstairs and ring the bell that afternoon was really great. He felt lonely, sad and what he needed was just sincere affection.

He felt a great weight in his chest, he thought back to his mother, her sweetness and he really felt so much nostalgia.

How he missed his mom...

Gail reminded her very much with her mannerisms and her kindness.

He was about to start the engine when the woman, looking out the window, saw him and called him.

- Jay, hey... - he called him and then went back into the house after a few moments, quickly exiting the door to approach the young man's car.

- What are you doing here? - she asked smiling at him. p>

- I... nothing... I'm here for work. - he invented - We are investigating some thefts that have taken place in this area lately-

The young man replied by saying the first thing that crossed his mind.
But there was some truth in what he had said. He had read the news of the thefts days before in the newspapers and he was still a police detective.

- I understand! Why don't you come in? It's been a long time since you visited us - said the woman, inviting him to sit in the house.

- I can't, I have to work. - he replied. p>

Jay wanted nothing more than to be with people who loved him, he didn't want to feel and be alone. Unfortunately, however, he was unable to accept Gail's offer. He had the impression of taking advantage of their hospitality and kindness.

- Ok, I'm sorry you can't stop, but I understand - Mrs. Carson said sadly.

As a good mother, however, she had noticed that the young man was strange, something was not going right, so she decided to try and insist again. Perhaps taking him by the throat would have hit the mark.
In his eyes Jay looked more wasted than usual.

The lady had always thought that the young man was too thin and every time she stopped by they tried to stuff him well to make him put on a little more energy and maybe, why not, even a few kilos.

In the years that the detective had been engaged to her daughter, Gail had understood that the boy was having problems at home, especially after the death of his mother.

Actually perhaps with the woman's absence he no longer considered hers as his home.

- Sorry, though. You know today I made a chocolate cake following a new recipe and after seeing you from the window I immediately thought I'd let you taste it. -added Mrs. Carson.

When Jay was little more than a teenager he was easily bought by requests to taste the new dishes prepared by her, especially if they were desserts.
Not that Halstead was a particularly greedy type, it was more because by eating them he tried to erase the bitterness deriving from his family life.

- Come on, give it a couple of minutes and then you'll go away - the woman said again

- All right, Gail, I'll try your cake, but I'll be short. - he said getting out of the car - I don't know why, but I can never say no. -

The young man's face lit up instantly and the corners of his mouth moved upwards, he had smiled at her dispelling that gloomy expression he had initially even if only for a few seconds

It is useless to hide that the woman was happy to have convinced him and to have him with her at home.

After getting out of the car, Jay walked around it, reaching the woman to enter the house.

Gail took the time to observe her friend and was amazed to find out what condition he was in.

He'd lost a lot of weight, even more, since she'd last met him at the grocery store, one of Jay's rare trips there.

The jeans he was wearing were saggy in various areas: on the buttocks, on the legs and were held up by a miserable belt that could be glimpsed under the sweater that covered a lighter shirt, also too large compared to Jay's size.

The detective looked tired, large dark bags were present under his eyes, a sign that he hadn't slept well in a while. His gaze, although he tried to hide it by masking his true emotions, was veiled in sadness.
His posture was a bit stooped and hugging him as she greeted him, Gail could feel his stiff muscles loosening slightly under her motherly touch.

"What's going on?" she couldn't help but wonder to herself as they walked into the house.

Once inside, Mrs. Carson ushered Jay into the kitchen and began making various offers of what she could give him.

First, the woman cut a nice slice of cake and gave it to the boy.

- Gail is too big, I don't think I can eat it all. - said the detective.

- Never say no to this woman Jay - Danny said as he entered the kitchen smiling and approached his wife.

Immediately the young man jumped up and greeted the man. The fingers of his right hand intertwine with those of his and finally the man pulled him towards him in a half embrace.
It was their classic way of greeting.
It had always been that way, and Jay saw the man as the much-desired father figure he'd never had.

At that point the young man sat down again and tasted the cake. He had no appetite, he still felt stuffed with what little he had eaten for lunch.

That cake, however, was very good. He reminded him of the ones his mother made and in a short time his heart became heavy and his mind filled with memories. P>

Seated at the table Jay was hunched over, silent and had his gaze down turned towards the white linen tablecloth that covered the table.

Gail immediately noticed the change in her friend and with a fleeting glance met her husband who observed the scene and sighed.

- Jay… Jay… Are you sure everything's okay? - the woman asked at that point approaching him wrapping her shoulders with her arm. p>

Hearing the call several times and sensing the contact, Jay raised his head and saw the woman who was observing him with care and concern, being quite frowning.

The detectives' eyes were full of unshed tears ready to fall down his face were it not that the young man tried to push them back with a great effort.

Gail wanted to hug him and hold him tight, but she didn't know if after so many years the gesture would be welcome, so she limited herself to offering him something to drink with the aim of distracting him from his thoughts.

- What do you want to drink Jay? - he asked - I have some juice, alcohol, spirits, but you said you're working for which I think you can't...-

- Gail, thank you, that's okay - he said clearing his throat and continuing to pretend to eat but mostly playing with his fork.

- I found I'll make you some hot tea. It's a type of infusion they gave me. It'll do you good if you have to walk around the neighborhood in this cold. - said the woman.

And so, taking the kettle, Mrs. Carson began to prepare the drink and as soon as it was ready, she put a hot and steaming cup just sweetened on the table.

Young Halstead took it in hand and began to swallow a few sips of that inviting red liquid. It was so pleasant to feel it go down his throat, his whole body was crossed by that sudden heat.

Unfortunately, that positive feeling did not last long, giving way to a general sense of unease.

In a few seconds he felt his mouth go dry, his throat closing up without giving him a chance to breathe. His vision was blurry, his body started shaking and he slipped to.

- Denny call an ambulance soon! - yelled the woman who in a few seconds was at the young man's side trying to put him at ease and help him not understanding what was happening to him. p>

Her husband came running to her as the phone in hand waited to dial 911.

In a few minutes, ambulance 61 arrived
Silvye gave him an anticonvulsant drug and after the patient was stabilized she loaded him on the truck with Emily to take him to the Med.

Her heartbeat was racing, her skin was cold and sweaty, her cheeks flushed slightly. Furthermore, since the young man was struggling to breathe, the os mask was placed on him.

Jay was rushed to the hospital accompanied by Mrs. Carson who could not understand what was happening to him.

- Did he ingest anything in particular, ma'am? Brett asked.

- I don't know. He tasted my cake and had a sip of tea when he was with me, but there was nothing special about it. I made the cake with my own hands. - said the terrified woman

- Did he put anything special in the cake? -;Emily asked as she drove.

p>

- No, nothing beyond the normal ingredients. My husband and I ate it too and we're fine. - said Gail

- Do you know if Jay is allergic to anything in particular? - asked Silvye

- I don't think... I... I don't know... - the lady said shaking the case.

At that moment Jay started to move and opened his eyes. He looked around, he couldn't figure out where he was and immediately after taking his hand Brett said to him:
- Jay everything's fine, we're going to the Med. You'll be better soon.-

That moment of consciousness and awareness, however, did not last long. In fact, the young man slowly closed his eyes again, falling into unconsciousness once again.

The detective's mind was light years away from that ambulance where everyone really was.

The young man had been catapulted into a different world. He was walking on steep paths that appeared to be mountainous.

It was nice to be there. Jay loved being outdoors and although he didn't understand how he got there, he was enjoying it

The sun was high in the sky, a light breeze touched his skin, the song of the birds reached his ears like a sweet melody.
It was so relaxing to be there.

Before him there was a huge green expanse, meadows, trees, flowers, nature and nothing else.

Jay felt happy, calm, there was no more tension in him.

Walking in those rural areas, a short distance from him, the detective noticed a female figure.

She was sitting on a rock right in the middle of the greenery.

At first the young man assumed it was Gail and was ready to ask her why she had brought him there. The last thing he remembered was that he was at the lady's house sitting at the table eating cake and drinking tea.

The woman was seen from the back, had long red hair tied by a gold clip and was wearing a striped dress. She was different from Gail.

Although he hadn't seen her face yet, Jay liked her, he was attracted to that figure and so he began to slowly approach her. But it was when she turned around that the detective gasped.

Jay backed away a few steps after seeing his face losing his balance and falling to the ground sitting up.

He knew that woman well, she was his mother.

Yes, she was right there and looked at him with her eyes in which the young man saw hers.

- Mom? - he called her doubtfully getting up from the ground and approaching her with his heart pounding wildly feeling a mix between emotion and fear.

-  Love - she answered

- Mom - the young detective repeated crying

-How beautiful you are my love - she said to him caressing him and kissing his head.

The boy held her tightly to him. It had been almost ten years since she had died, already ten years since she was gone. She how could she be her there in front of him?

After recovering from the emotion and then after having stopped crying, the detective asked:
- I'm dreaming isn't it? -

The young man was experiencing a wonderful moment that he had wanted for years and that in reality could never be achieved.
He was happy as a pound, unaware that in real life he was fighting a battle to recover and return to life.

Chapter Text

Everything was business as usual at Chicago Med. Doctors went from one patient to another and did everything to make the person they were treating feel better.

After working a grueling 12-hour shift, Will could finally say he was done that evening.
He was exhausted, he had done nothing but go back and forth through the corridors of the emergency room going in and out of the different visiting rooms.

Mr. Perry was his last patient. A man with severe food poisoning.
After explaining what he had and giving him the cure, Will exited the room and headed to the med room..

He quickly changed and prepared to go home. He couldn't wait to take a nice hot shower and then jump into bed to get a long sleep.

- Bye Maggie, see you tomorrow - Halstead greeted her, yawning

- Wait Will... I have an arrival... - she answered

The doctor was stunned he didn't expect it, but as a dutiful man he placed his backpack on the counter and headed back to the medical room to put on a gown once again.

He was muttering under his breath, he was really exhausted.

- Hey Will, come back here. - said the nurse - come on, see you tomorrow, I was joking. -

And so Will laughing came out of the Ed, Maggie had played a joke on him. At the same time, however, he was already hypothesizing how to reciprocate.

To reach his car he had to walk for a while. His usual spot was taken that morning and he'd parked further away.
While he was walking, however, a black metallic sedan, which was proceeding at a rather high speed, caught up with him from behind and braked suddenly as soon as it was close to him.

The doctor jumped at the screeching of the brakes.

At that point everything happened in an instant. The sedan stopped alongside the doctor who had moved aside to avoid being run over by turning in the direction of the noise to understand what was happening.

- Are you a doctor? - asked a man after opening the passenger door getting out quickly while the car was still stopping.

- Yes I am. - he said regretting it almost immediately.

Those situations when someone comes that way never lead to anything good.

- Please, you have to help me. My sister is sick ..- said the boy looking desperate.

-Where is she? - asked the doctor who could never say no if there was someone who was ill and so he needed help.

- At home, please come with me, help her. said the young man, calling him you this time.

Will was really hesitant, he was torn and didn't know what to do. Was he supposed to go or not?

He was afraid there was a scam underneath. But what if he refused and instead it really was someone who needed help?

In a few seconds he made his decision and got into the car with the young man.

April was also added to him who had approached and listening to them talk, seeing what the doctor had chosen to do, decided to join them.

After a 15-minute journey they arrived at a farmhouse that looked abandoned from the outside.
Around them nothingness, desolation.

As soon as I got off a very strong stench filled the doctor's and nurse's nostrils making them immediately nauseous and the two tried to keep themselves from vomiting on the ground in front of them, even if with difficulty.

But what was happening? It was all so strange...

- Come, it's over here. - Said the boy making himself follow

Once inside, the two noticed that there was the bare minimum in the house. Everything seemed to be except a dwelling.
.
The two were made to sit on the sofa in the living room and after several minutes they were taken to one of the rooms where there was actually a girl lying on the bed

Immediately Will smiled to himself. There really was someone to help and he was glad he trusted his instincts.

But what Halstead didn't know was that that girl and the young man weren't really related and that behind everything he was experiencing there was a real organization.

The doctor began to examine the girl. The young woman was awaiting a kidney transplant. By now she no longer had much time to live, her conditions were getting worse visibly.

The boy then asked Will to follow him and took him to an adjacent building with two large rooms, a sort of double garage outside the house..

One of the two rooms was locked, while the other door was open.

The interior was lit by several windows high up near the roof, and there was a table, a chair, a glass-fronted cabinet containing what appeared to be drugs and a hospital bed.

- It is the room where my sister is undergoing dialysis - the young man hurried to explain.

As soon as we entered there, the boy asked the doctor to sit behind the desk and handed him a box that was on top of the cabinet.

- Start organizing yourself - he said. - I'll be right there.

Once the box was opened Will realized its contents. There were cards with names, photos and blood types on them.

It was necessary to find the right person in order to ensure that the dying girl who was waiting for a transplant could survive.

The young woman was on the hospital list, but there were many other patients before her and it was too long to wait, the time she didn't have.

The "brother" got involved in an organ ring for money. He was doing everything to save her.

Will was a doctor, but he absolutely couldn't do what the man was asking of him. He couldn't randomly pick a person to operate like this.

There was a whole procedure to follow and the person had to be consenting.

He was immersed in thoughts of him when the boy then returned to the room followed also by April.

- Come on, hurry up, tell me who! - ordered the young man

- There is no one here who has suitable parameters. - lied the doctor trying to avoid problems.

- Take the test yourself! - I then ordered the boy pointing a pistol at them.

Will and April were shocked and looked at each other's faces.

- Well well, it's time. Doctor, get ready - the young man said again, turning to Will.

- What? What should I do? - asks the red-haired doctor.

- Check your colleague's blood type, and she will do the same.

Once the operations were done, the cards of the two were put together with the others.

- Great, I think we found what we needed. - exclaimed the young man happily. - about doctor get ready for surgery.

- But I'm not a surgeon. I don't do this type of surgery. -said Halstead agitatedly. He was a doctor, but not the kind the man was looking for.

- We didn't understand each other, I'm giving the orders here and you have to carry out. - Said the boy pointing a gun to his head. -

- You're crazy if you think I'll help you in all this....- said the doctor

- You didn't understand who he was dealing with. Time is running out and that over there is the daughter of a very influential politician. He paid me handsomely to get his daughter to get the kidney she needs

Everything was becoming clearer. The young woman was not his sister. He had been paid to recover the kidney.

- how many people died in all this? - Will asked

- Look, they sacrificed themselves for a just cause. You're asking too many questions for my liking. Unfortunately I don't have the time to get rid of her and find someone to replace her. The girl is about to die and as she too said during the visit, she must have that compatible kidney as soon as possible.

- Do you think killing us will solve your problems? - asks April at that point

- Obviously not, it will be only you who will die and you will do it slowly, feeling a lot of pain and this will happen in front of his eyes doctor.-
Having said that, the boy headed towards the blood group cards, where there were also those of Will and April.

- Very well, that's luck,' he said.
one of the victims is B negative. She will be the only one. No one else will have to die today. -

Having said that, he went to the door and, gesturing to the other man who was outside, asked him to bring the body of that person there.

- In the meantime, you guys start organizing yourselves - he added, turning to Dr. Halstead, pulling April to him and making her sit in a corner holding her at gunpoint.

So the doctor put on his gown and gloves and approached the body that had previously been prepared on an improvised operating table.

- So can we start yes or no? - said the boy sitting down to watch the scene.

- I'm telling you again, I can't do this. Will tried to justify himself. It's not like he harvested organs every day. He didn't go to the operating room, that was the job of his colleagues such as Connor Rhodes.

- Then I could almost kill us both, tear you apart and then get rid of your remains...- said the boy. - Will please... - April said from her corner, frightened

- At that time? Are we ready to try? Listen to your nurse.- the young man said at that point.

- Yes, of course - Will answered, not convinced. He's terrified too.

He sure didn't want to die, and he didn't want to be the cause of anyone being killed. At least if it was a friend of his.

At that point he began to evaluate the body and...

- I can't take this woman's kidneys. - Will said moving away from the body and raising his hands.

- Again, then we didn't understand each other...- answered the visibly nervous man

- No, I can't because I'm no longer alive. Whoever killed this woman damaged their kidneys. - said Halstead.

At that point the boy started to get agitated.

- Damn it. You absolutely have to find someone else  - he said.

Will and April were left alone in the room.

- What a situation we've gotten ourselves into - Will said disconsolately - and because of me you're risking yourself too...

- You don't have to feel guilty, it was I who wanted to come, I did it of my own free will.- the girl replied

- Why does it keep keeping us alive? - she asked

-We serve him ..- she said sighing Will then turning to the young woman that she was panicking he added - Hey... hey April look at me... you'll see, it'll go..-

The doctor was interrupted by the nurse:
- Don't say everything will be fine please. -

After that, the boy's henchmen entered the room, silenced them and held them both at gunpoint.

A few minutes later, the man arrived with a new card in his hand.

- It's the day of surprises! We are lucky. We have two with negative group 0.

It was the only blood type that was compatible with all the others.

- You doctor and your nurse are really 0 negative. But you look, two universal donors. Of course you can't be sacrificed since it's needed for operations, her friend instead...-

Will froze. Alredy had no intention of operating on anyone, especially now that it was his friend. No, he would never have done that, at the cost of sacrificing himself.

- At this point you will obviously tell me that you will not even touch your friend with a finger and I will remind you that if you want to continue living you have to do it. - the boy said. It seemed like she read his mind.

Turning to her then ordered them to put it on the table.

Will tries to fight back by screaming, but in a very short time he was blocked and threatened with a gun by one of the boy's henchmen.

- I can't operate on you here, this isn't an operating room. There are no anesthetics, there is no respirator. There is nothing. I can't do that. - said the doctor

- Well if he can't do it he can use the manual - said the boy showing him a huge book. - and as for the anesthetic here is chloroform.

Halstead stood still and so was the boy to act. He put a handkerchief over the nurse's mouth and put her to sleep. Then, taking a scalpel, he prepared to engrave by observing the photos in the book when.g..

- No, please wait.- Will stopped him

- Do you think about it? - said the boy

- Yes - said the doctor with a trembling voice.

Will then got to work, he had studied medicine so he knew very well how to do it. However, having never put the theory into practice, he decided to keep the manual close to him for safety.

His body was shaking, fear was taking over and he couldn't control himself.
He took the disinfectant and rubbed it on the part where he had to engrave.

Just then the boy was called out of the room and Will was left under the control of one of the henchmen.

- If he does something wrong, kill him, but don't hit her. - the man said as he left.

Halstead was left with only one other person. That was the time to act, only he could do something, only he could save himself and his young friend. P>

- I need help here - Will lied trying to attract the man and make him put down the gun

- Absolutely not - the man answered, continuing to point the weapon at him.

- I can't continue unless something is done. - said the doctor.

- What,? - asked the other

- You have to take off her bra, the skin is tight here and I can't cut properly. - Will said with an apology.

- Why don't you do it.. - the man scoffed.

Not wanting to waste time, the man did as he was told and Will did. As soon as he let his guard down the doctor blocked him by hitting him from behind.

-Ok, but then he'll have to wash again. - he explained starting to undress. p>

Not wanting to waste time, the man did as he was told and Will did. As soon as he let his guard down the doctor blocked him by hitting him from behind.

Will had never been good at fighting, but evidently he was being helped by adrenaline at the time.

In fact, a blow was fired from the scuffle that took the other henchwoman who was left in a corner surprised by what was happening.

In a short time the doctor had managed to knock out both men who remained to control him.

Meanwhile, outside the building, the boy noticed the arrival of the police and began to run away.

Kevin and Adam ran after him. Meanwhile Jay and Hailey broke into the cottage where they had heard screams, screams and finally a shot. Will was to give a thrashing to two thugs. He was taking all his anger out on him.

Jay approached him pulling him away. At first he kept squirming, then he let himself be wrapped up in his brother's embrace crying desperately.

Finally it was all over, he and April were found safe and sound. Hailey, after having handcuffed the criminal and ascertained the death of the other, approached April to verify that she was still alive.. Luckily the nurse was only sleeping.

Dr. Halstead, after more or less recovering, trembling, helped by his brother, approached Sexton and woke her up. The young woman was scared and he calmed her by hugging her when she too started crying.

- Everything is fine! It's all over! We are safe! - he repeated several times to her with the tears flowing copiously from his eyes, showing her the detectives present.

All's well that ends well. Jay and his team had arrived on time. Luckily, someone had noticed something strange when the car had stopped in the Med parking lot and so had warned the police.

Chapter Text

It was February 20, it seemed to be a day like any other, but that didn't apply to Intelligence.

The team was on a fairly complex case.
An 18-year-old boy had been kidnapped, tortured and killed.

In those days, all intelligence constituents looked pretty rehearsed.

Someone was so involved in the case that they didn't even have time to eat properly and/or rest enough.

Hailey, for example, had noticed that her partner was weird. Also on that occasion she had asked him if everything was ok and had obtained, as always, an affirmative answer.

Jay was the kind of guy who doesn't like to admit when he's sick. He only says he's not okay when he has to or when he can't hide it anymore.

The problem, however, was that the detective was damned good at not letting anyone notice how much he was in pain.

Upton, his partner for some time now, knew him well and could pick up on the signs when something was wrong. She could read him as if he were an open book.

One evening the team had decided to go and eat a pizza in a little place that had recently opened. Adam and Kim knew the owner.
Each of those present ordered a pizza and a beer and in a short time they had gobbled it up.

Jay on the other hand, who didn't have much of an appetite, had struggled to eat and left a good portion of it. He'd adopted as an excuse that he'd eaten at Will's for lunch and therefore was still full.

Actually Halstead was almost completely fasted, he hadn't been feeling well all day. He wasn't hungry at all, he had a stomach ache and a strong nausea.

These sensations had been accompanying him for a couple of days now, even if since that evening things had considerably worsened. Despite everything, however, he managed not to vomit what little he had eaten and when he got home he immediately went to sleep.

Unfortunately the next morning things were no better.

Jay had gotten up early, as was his habit since he went for a run. This time, however, he felt too tired to do it and therefore decided to stay in bed.
He tried to fall asleep again, but then having failed he decided to watch some TV. He turned it on and looked for something to distract him. Not finding anything that attracted his attention, he took his cell phone and began to wander around the internet reading the news of what had happened in Chicago.

Without realizing it, however, in the end he was overcome by fatigue and he fell asleep with the phone falling between the pillows.

When he opened his eyes the daylight was penetrating through the shutters of the house and so, having found his cell phone rummaging among the pillows, not having seen it on the bedside table he saw that it was 8:15. He had just 15 minutes to get ready and leave the house, having an appointment with Hailey to have breakfast together.

Even that morning he had no desire to eat, his stomach continued to be upset and he had a slight nausea that had gripped him since he first woke up.
He felt really dizzy, he couldn't do things as quickly as usual and a slight headache was creeping up his tired limbs.

Despite this, he slowly took off the shirt he had used for the night and put on a white shirt.
He was sitting on the bed with his legs dangling out to the side when it all came crashing down. As he buttoned his shirt Jay felt a sharp pain in his abdomen that got worse if he touched the area with his hand.

He hypothesized that the pain was due to a blow received in action. He wasn't the type to worry about a slight pain, quite the opposite. and then he received many hills.
Resisting the annoyance, he put on jeans and a sweater given the cold it was in those days in the city, settled down more or less at home, put on the jacket and he took his keys, cell phone and wallet and left the house to get to his car.

After opening the hatch to get in, however, he was forced to stop. His movements, though slower than usual, had been too fast for his stomach and he cried out at that moment
Without realizing it he began to cough and retch, but being on an empty stomach he was unable to vomit anything except bile and saliva.

As soon as he felt better, he got into the car and left to join his colleague. He was all sweaty and his hair, which he hadn't fixed that day with gel or wax, stuck to his forehead.
He was terribly late, which he hated.

Hailey at 8:35 started calling him worried since he was always more than punctual indeed often early.

- Jay Halstead - he answered looking a little tired

- Hey, is everything okay? You're late - said the colleague with a slight frown feeling it strange.

- Don't worry, I'm almost there, I just have to park - he replied emitting a few coughs from time to time and starting to feel some slight twinge of pain in the abdomen.

Five minutes after that call, Jay was walking into the bar and to his surprise Voight was waiting for him as well.

- Sorry, he was here when I arrived, he told me to join him and I finally informed him that I was waiting for you. He wanted us all to have breakfast together. I couldn't refuse,- the detective told him in a low voice to avoid being heard by her chief.

- Don't worry, you did well - replies Halstead.

Jay would have preferred to spend time alone with his partner, but he knew in his heart that if she refused to sit with them, the sergeant would sense that there was some tenderness between them..

The detective sat next to his colleague and together with her they waited for their boss to join them. The latter didn't take long to return to the table.

- I took the liberty of ordering for everyone,- Hank said.
A few moments later the waiter arrived with three coffees and three giant peaches. Jay, who had been ill until a few moments before was a bit dazed to see those beautiful sweets there on the tray.

- Come on, don't make compliments, help yourself guys - he told them noting the hesitation especially of his young detective.

Hailey listened to his words and immediately took one of those sweets by biting into it, while Jay seemed to be lost in thought. He was trying to find ways to avoid eating it. After the nausea he had before leaving, his stomach had more or less calmed down so he didn't want to tease him, ending up feeling sick again.  Obviously it would have been better to avoid drinking coffee as it would have done nothing but irritate his stomach, but in the end he decided to accept at least that and taking it in hand he began to sip it slowly hypothesizing an explanation for his refusal of the dessert.

- Come on, Jay,- the sergeant said, urging him to take the enormous pastry

- I don't.... - the detective tried to answer, trying to come up with an excuse that unfortunately hadn't occurred to him yet. He couldn't tell that he wasn't feeling well. It was a small thing and he didn't want to risk being sent home or worse. If they found out they would, or they could send it to Med to be checked.

He hated going to the hospital and above all he didn't want to meet his brother as a patient because he would be all over him becoming overprotective. This unnerved him even more than being in a hospital room.

- Come on, don't make compliments. Maybe you don't like it? If so, you can choose what you want. - continued the sergeant. The man tried to spur him on, he saw him a little wasted and the father in him tried to take care of him.

The detective, since he was in Intelligence had always avoided disappointing his mentor and foster father and therefore was unable to refuse for long. He picked up the peach and began to forcefully eat it. Small bites chewed more than fair.

Arrived at the district then the two settled at their desks and began to work. They had to find out where a murder suspect was hiding in order to go and arrest him.

Jay felt really knocked out. Unfortunately they were in the middle of a case and he couldn't back out and decide to go home.

Since he had forcibly eaten that dessert he felt even worse. His stomach was protesting again and he felt like the food he had swallowed that the food he had eaten was returning up his throat.
He was suffering, but he tried in every way to resist, he couldn't feel bad in front of everyone.

Usually if he went away for a longer time than normal, someone from the team, especially Hailey or Antonio, would go looking for him. Of course, if they found out he was sick, they would have interceded for Voight to send him home or to Med for a checkup.

They had to arrest the murderer that couldn't happen. No longer able to stall, the young man, with an excuse, therefore decided to leave the group and go outside the district to prevent his colleagues from reaching him by looking for him in the bathroom.

- Guys I'll be right back - he said trying to use as few words as possible. He knew he had to hurry and act quickly, and occasionally he had to put his hand over his mouth to clear his throat and send back the bile that it made its way further and further into his mouth. He was just about to vomit and was trying to handle it by breathing deeply.

- Where are you going? - Hailey asked him that she was worried about him from what had happened in the morning

- Are you leaving us like this? - Adam said jokingly but only managed to irritate him.

- No, don't worry, Ruzek. I forgot something in the car, I'll go get it and come back. - saying so, he walked away as quickly as possible, not giving his colleagues the opportunity to make any other comments or questions.

He went down the stairs two by two and when the others didn't see him by now he put a hand in front of his mouth aware that he would start vomiting soon.

As soon as he left the district he moved away as quickly as possible from the entrance and found a garbage can in a more isolated area, where no one could hear or see him, he began to empty all the contents of his stomach into it.
The whole thing lasted several minutes. It looked like he ate like at a wedding.

As soon as he finished he gasped and to recover he sat next to the wall making his back crawl against it.
The young man turned his head upwards, also leaning against the wall, trying to breathe as much as possible, trying to calm down

It was only after about ten minutes that the detective got up feeling ready to go back to the other colleagues.

He was very pale, shivering, felt very cold in his bones, but his mind told him that he could not give up. Back in the district he wanted to sneak unseen to the bathroom to rinse his mouth and face and make himself presentable. Unfortunately, however, it was not so.

Once inside Sergeant Platt called to him making him jump. He was immersed in thoughts of him and concentrated on putting in place a semblance of a person in top form.

The sergeant was a good observer. Nothing about her escaped her, she had immediately noticed the strange behavior of the young man. She had seen him leave the district with one hand on his stomach and one in front of his mouth. It was easy to guess what would happen shortly thereafter.

- Detective Halstead - she called him as he returned.

- Yes sergeant - he answered approaching her trying to hide the little breath he had and clearing his throat which was still burning from the bile and the acid he had vomited shortly before. He had forgotten to bring a bottle of water with him.

- Everything is fine? - she asked worried.

Trudy would never admit it openly, but she had a soft spot for him. She loved his outspokenness, stubbornness and at the same time being sweet, kind and always ready to help others.

- Yes, everything is ok - he said making a small grimace of disgust as he swallowed his saliva.

You could see that he wasn't telling the truth he was pale as a ghost panting and trembling and even his voice was affected. He had a sour metallic taste in his mouth.

- Okay, if you say so! Platt replied.

So he turned around and headed for the stairs to go up and get back to work trying to look as stable as possible. Sometimes, however, his body was shaken by shivering and from time to time without realizing it he brought a hand towards his abdomen, remaining still for a few moments. He was definitely in pain, more than in the previous days.
Previously this was only determined mostly by skin contact and was lighter now instead, slowly the young man had real pangs that with the passage of time were intensifying in intensity and number.

The detective had just left when the sergeant called him back

- Halstead, I think this might help you! - he said pulling out a paper bag from under his desk.

As soon as he picked it up Jay looked at its contents curiously and it was then that he realized that Platt had it all figured out.
The sergeant was able to guess everything before anyone even spoke. She was like a mom taking care of everyone there at the district.
She was a tough and outspoken person, but at the same time behind the facade she was a caring woman who was always ready to help others.

- Thank you sergeant - he said with a smile and headed towards the changing rooms.

Once there, he removed everything inside from the bag. He took the bottle of water and took a few small sips. Then he took the two blister packs of pills to read what they were for.
To his surprise he noticed that they were medicines that were just right for him. One type was for nausea and the other was a pain reliever. He took two pills, one of each type and then took the last thing out of the bag that was left. It was a heavy, warm sweatshirt that he immediately put on over his clothes, without taking anything off, not even the sweater. The garment wasn't his size, it was a little large, but it was hardly noticeable given the state of thicker clothing underneath.

Before leaving there, one last thing, he looked in the mirror trying to fix himself up to be presentable.

He pulled up the hair that had stuck to his forehead and rinsed his face, removing the patina of sweat he had.
When he had finished, he remained a few moments in the mirror and was amazed by how, once again, Platt had had a long eye. He thought he had to make sure no one else found out how he was feeling especially since they were on a case.

At that point, as soon as he felt ready, he went out to get back to work.

Platt, who was always there at the desk near the entrance to the district, smiled to herself as she saw the young man go by

- Detective - she called him again attracting his attention - please try not to overdo it. -

At that point Jay left to return to the office, thanking her with a gesture and a big smile.

Arrived on him sat down at his desk. Adam was certainly ready to make his joke for the time that was missing, but was interrupted by the arrival of the sergeant.

- Guys do we have any news? - he asked

- We have two addresses where the subject has been sighted lately - Kim answered.

- Jay and Kevin grab your gear and go snap some pictures at the first address, Hailey and Kim at the other. - ordered Voight.

Atwater left immediately, like the two colleagues, while Halstead remained at his post until his boss called him back, catching his attention.

- Jay come on, let's not waste any time. Go to this address with Kevin and take some pictures.- Repeated the sergeant looking at him with a frown of concern in his eyes.

At that point the detective stood up and took his jacket to Kevin.

- Hold Jay, - the latter told him - I got the equipment for you too

- Thank you - he replied.

The young man felt quite tired and this did not go unnoticed by his colleague

- Jay - called him again as he took everything to carry it in the car and head to the address assigned to them - everything ok? -

- Yes, everything is fine - he answered while trying to take the last suitcase that was near him.
He pulled at it with his right hand and a pained grimace appeared on his face. It all happened suddenly and the detective had no way of hiding it.

Kevin didn't ask any more questions, however, but planned to talk to him again as soon as they got back to the office.

Halstead got into the car and turned the heaters up to full before setting off. Despite the many layers of clothing and the thick sweatshirt he was wearing he was numb from the cold. His body was frozen.
Plus he was sleepy, he felt really tired, but he still had to complete his task.
Kevin started the engine and left not before making a joke about the excessive heat in the car.

After a stakeout of about two hours and after a myriad of photos taken, the two then left to go back to the office.

Once we arrived Jay said to his colleague:
- Go ahead, I'll join you immediately. So he made a detour to the nearby café for a cup of coffee.
He knew that having felt sick earlier he shouldn't have taken it, but he felt so tired, it was as if he was going to fall asleep on his feet. The detective hoped that drink could give him the energy he needed to face the rest of the day.

He preferred the one in the bar over the one in the break room because the coffee was stronger there.
After having swallowed it in a short time, he took everything from the car and headed for the office.

As soon as he entered he handed over the camera to have the photos developed and while waiting for them to be ready he sat down at the desk keeping his right hand close to his body as if to protect himself. An unbearable pain was radiating up his back to his shoulder. The cold was more and more and he was shaking like a leaf. Luckily at least that wasn't noticeable thanks to the thick sweatshirt he was wearing.
His teeth chattered from time to time, but realizing it he stopped them.

Luckily at least that wasn't noticeable thanks to the thick sweatshirt he was wearing.
His teeth chattered from time to time, but realizing it he stopped them.

Once the photos arrived, he stuck them on the blackboard. The district was deserted at that time, colleagues had all already gone to lunch. All except him who, having no appetite, had found an excuse to decline the invitation made by Adam, whom he had met on the stairs.

While he was standing activating the photos he had taken he was slightly hunched over with his back, his right arm was folded towards his chest and he was holding the photos in his hand who in a shaky way tried to attack with his left hand.
They were all crooked and too far and low compared to usual.

The detective was a very strong guy and tried in every way to resist the pain. He had taken a painkiller some time ago and it was strange that he had already finished its effect.

It was, however, attaching the last photo that things came to a head. Jay couldn't take it anymore. A shooting pain suddenly presented itself between the abdomen and the upper back. The young man felt the blow, he bent even more on himself and remained motionless trying to breathe.
A tear rolled down his face and he clenched his hands into fists as he tried to manage the pain. Each deep breath made it worse. His heart was pounding, he was starting to get scared too and he could feel his head pounding in unison with it.
His legs suddenly gave way and he found himself kneeling on the floor with tears now streaming down his face.. He was crying like a little baby and was thankful that there was no one there at the time.

Until then at least, as Olinsky and Voight were on their way back to the office.
They immediately approached him trying to understand what was happening.

- Hey kid what's going on? - asked Al immediately approaching him touching his back

- Jay what's wrong? - Voight echoed him

The young man didn't answer, he just clenched his fists more. His grip was so strong that his fingernails were digging deeper and deeper into the skin of his palms.

Jay was shaking and panting. Olinsky and Voight grabbed him by weight carrying him towards the relaxation room, placing him in a sitting position on the sofa.

Al knelt down to be in the direction of his eyes and with the hand that stroked his knee he tried to calm him down a bit and at the same time to understand what was happening to him.

Meanwhile Voight moved away for a moment and took a blanket and returned and placed it on his shoulders.

Jay a few minutes brought his left hand in front of his mouth, an eloquent gesture with his cheeks that were swollen a bit so Al nodded to Voight who immediately took the basket and he gave it to his friend who positioned it by holding it under the detective's chin.

The boy had remained in the same position so the sergeant who approached him moved his hand from in front of his mouth saying:
- Come on get it out, throw it all out. - he said.
Jay felt the urge to vomit, the sour taste of the bile mixed with the coffee he'd been drinking filling his mouth, but he didn't have the energy..
So he remained motionless for a few minutes. His eyes were closed, his facial features were tense and you could see he was gripped by pain and total panic. A few tears fell from his eyes from time to time and he kept his teeth clenched.

Soon after, everything developed on its own. The two men knew it was only a matter of time before the boy would throw up. After a few moans and empty retching his cheeks swelled up again and he opened his mouth and began to empty all the contents of his stomach into the wastebasket.

His throat burned from the acid flowing through it. Voight walked around the couch placing a hand on Halstead's forehead and helping him. As soon as he touched it, both he and the detective jumped at the touch. The first for the warmth that the young man radiated, the latter for the coldness of his Sergeant's hand.

The young man's condition was quite worrying. Hank stood behind Jay until he finished throwing up and then in a low voice told Al to contact Will.

They thought it might be a flu, they didn't have any information on how the boy actually felt.

The comment made by the two about having to call his brother, however, was overheard by Halstead who immediately said softly, panting:
- No... please don't... call Will... I... I... I'm fine. -

- Boy you're not well - Al underlined.

- Let's do one thing, stay here and get some rest. As soon as you wake up, we'll decide what to do, - concluded the sergeant and the two helped him lie down.

Hank had thought about sending him home, but he didn't want him alone. He'd rather have him there than the district where he could keep it under control himself.

Jay lay down on the sofa curling up and fell asleep in a short time.
In a paternal way he spread a blanket over him so that he would stay warm.

The young man slept for about two hours, but when he woke up he felt worse than when he went to bed.

His head kept pounding, harder than before. The detective realized he had a fever. His temperature had risen a lot compared to a few hours before. The pain in the abdomen had remained as it was and had disturbed his sleep that he had not been completely calm.

He was a little confused and it took a few minutes to realize where he was at. Realizing that he was at the district he tried to stand up. He didn't want others to see him there. But he didn't remember much at the time of what had happened.

Obviously the movements that he began to make trying to get up did not help him, on the contrary they made the pain much worse, which was a little more manageable than before him. p>

As soon as he was on his feet, though, he jumped. The young man was not alone. Sergeant Platt was sitting in the corner of the room, she had been there watching him the entire time, while the team went on a sweep to catch the criminal.

- Where do you think you're going? - asked the sergeant

- Where is everyone? - he asked back in a weak and a little suffering voice. p>

- They went to arrest the criminal. - Trudy explained giving the young man a bottle of water.

- I should have gone with them... - Jay said sadly after thanking her and taking a few small sips of water.

- You're not well and therefore you're not moving from here - the woman said firmly

- I'm fine - he said back
The detective had been wearing a mask since he saw he wasn't alone. He was good at hiding how he felt from others.

- Voight told me you have a fever - added the sergeant

- No, I have nothing. - he said, but stopped when he saw that the sergeant already had a thermometer in his hand ready to measure his temperature.

When he realized it was an old fashioned device, like the one his mother used when he and Will were little he smiled to himself. In his high school years he had learned the tricks to pretend to have a fever and not go to school or not to have fun. So it was easy for him to cheat Platt by showing him that he has a lower temperature than reality.

At first the woman looked puzzled at the thermometer. She wasn't the type to take the bait easily..

- Maybe it wasn't in good shape. - she said forcing Jay to measure it again.

When the result she read was more or less similar to the previous one, the sergeant was convinced to let him go after all he had no fever.

After thanking the woman, the young man got ready by taking all the necessary equipment and once he got into the car he reached the address that he had read on the blackboard under the photos.
It was right where he had gone to take pictures in the morning.

All of his action unfolded more slowly than usual, but eventually he took off and arrived at the scene immediately joined Hailey who was outside the building.
She had remained there to check that the criminal did not attempt to escape, while her colleagues broke in and checked all the rooms in the house.

- What are you doing here? Voight said you were sick - she told him seeing him appear at her side

- Don't worry, I'm fine - he replied, and she accepted the answer even if she wasn't entirely convinced.

Obviously the criminal attempted to escape by jumping from the bathroom window that overlooked the side of the house at which point Halstead began chasing him without a second thought.

Hailey grabbed the radio and warned her colleagues before following them.
- Suspect fleeing north, we're in pursuit. -

Before she left to join her partner, she was stopped by Voight,

- You and who? - he asked aware that everyone was inside the house and she was the only one left outside.

- Me and Halstead - she replied p>

- Go with him quickly - said the sergeant worried and so she too left quickly to reach her colleague

The sergeant was very worried about his boy, he really hoped that he was feeling well, but he doubted given what he had seen earlier.

Once Upton was away he rounded up the posse that had now exited the house and also sent Kevin and Adam in pursuit.

In the meantime, Jay had managed to block the criminal and was about to start a fight with him. The man had grabbed a metal bar and was trying in every way to hit him.

The detective managed to avoid all shots, except one. The man reached him giving him a blow right where he felt pain.
It had been hard to go after him, but as soon as he received the blow he remained motionless, unable even to breathe.
The pain was sky-high and his headache seemed like nothing in comparison.

With the strength of desperation, not wanting to fail in his duties, in the end, he forced himself and although the pain had again spread to the shoulder blade and back, the detective stepped forward. Luckily the man, thinking that the young man would not have reacted, got distracted and so Jay was able to kick him in the lower parts and then handcuffed him. When Hailey reached him he had just locked his hands behind his back.

- Congratulations - she said approaching the two.

Jay was standing there and the man was on his knees in front of him both in very pain. However, the boy did not react to the words or to the presence of his colleague.

- Hey Jay... - Hailey continued worried as she didn't get any response from him.

As she approached her colleague, the detective noticed that the boy was shaking. She first put her hands on the suspect's to allow Jay to remove hers. She wanted to bring it to Voight, but even she froze when she felt the ice of her partner's fingers.

As soon as there was contact, however, Jay withdrew his hands and remained motionless.

Hailey handed the arrested man over to Adam who had joined them and then she approached Halstead again to figure out what was happening.

Everything at that point happened in an instant.
Jay's trembling left hand wrapped around his stomach and his legs buckled under the weight of his body.

He was passed out, lying there in the shape of half a donut with his legs still bent. His eyes were open and staring, he looked dead.

- Jay, Jay - called Upton who had witnessed the whole scene. She was terrified of what she was seeing.

- 10.1 10.1 agent down, I repeat agent down. I need help and an ambulance, - she cried into the radio after kneeling beside the fallen detective.

Immediately she checked his pulse and breathing. They were both present even if a little accelerated. Luckily he was alive.

Helpless and not knowing what to do so Hailey just stood there by his side watching her colleague.

The young man who seemed fine until the morning, now seemed to have something serious. Maybe it was she who didn't observe him well or as usual Halstead had been very good at fooling him with the mask of ghin who always says "I'm fine".

While she tried to shake him even if not too vigorously, to try to make him recover she finally could observe him well, Halstead's mask had fallen off.

His face was ashen and on it, especially around the eyes and lips, there were signs that made us guess how much the detective was suffering.
On his forehead, however, the hair was glued together. This was covered in a patina of perspiration which was distinguishable not only by her hair, but also because there appeared to be small glitter on it.

Obviously the sweat could easily have been the result of Jay's effort to catch the criminal.

Without thinking twice about her, the detective put her hand on her forehead as she was brushing her hair back and it was at that moment that she realized that he was giving off a lot of heat, much more than normal.

While sirens could be heard in the distance, Jay, who in the meantime also had Sergeant Voight nearby, began to move slightly gnashing his teeth and moaning in pain.

- Hey, Jay, take it easy, it's okay. Help is on the way - the sergeant tried to keep him calm

- It hurts goddamn. - he said gritting his teeth. p>

A few moments later, however, the young man was already trying to pull himself up to sit up, but his chief and his partner held him with enough strength to keep him lying down, making sure that he remained on his back and not on his side as he was previously .

- The suspect? Did he escape right? - he asked breathlessly

-He rest assured, he is in good hands - Voight replied p>

- You took him, Jay - simply said Hailey.

Hearing those words, the detective began to relax. Tiredness was taking over again and seeing the waning of the adrenaline his eyes became heavy and gradually closed more and more.

In the end, Hailey and Voight's jolts came to nothing, their pleas to stay awake. Jay let go and fell asleep. He didn't have the energy to fight the tiredness he felt at that moment.

Fortunately, the paramedics arrived a few moments later and immediately began to visit him and then loaded him into the ambulance to take him to the hospital.

What heartened all the intelligence guys and also their sergeant was that the paramedics immediately said that their colleague was not in danger of life.
However, it was clearly visible that he was not well at all and that he needed urgent treatment.

- We'll take him to the Lakeshore. We'll be there in four minutes. - said one of the paramedics.

Hailey asked if it was possible to take Jay to Med explaining that they knew him there without saying that his brother worked there, but they refused as the other hospital was closer.

Eventually the ambulance left and Upton went with him.

Meanwhile, Voight had met up with all the guys on the team and then, each taking their own car, they headed towards the hospital, all except Kevin and Adam who before had to take the suspect to the distrect.

Voight was with Al and while he was driving he tried to contact Will.
He made numerous calls to warn him of his brother's condition and that they were taking him to another hospital, but unfortunately the doctor did not answer any of them.

The same did Hailey while traveling in the ambulance sitting next to her partner holding his hand.

Jay was asleep again and she tried to warn her brother of what was happening.

Unfortunately, neither she nor the sergeant had any luck.

Arriving at the hospital, the doctors examined Halstead and also realized from the swelling and pain in the upper quadrant of the abdomen that the detective needed emergency surgery. His gallbladder had to be removed and it would take a period of rest before he could return to his usual life.

Chapter Text

Sometimes some problems affect our body coming unexpectedly, so suddenly, and change our lives until we can solve them.

Will Halstead is a young doctor at Chicago Med.
He is a beautiful tall man with red hair and brown eyes, of average build and has never had any major health problems.

His life was booming, he excelled at his job and had recently moved into the home of his colleague Dr. Manning to whom he was engaged. The two were also planning the wedding.
With their union Will would also become like a dad to a little Owen that he loved very much and was reciprocated.

Everything was fine even at work. Will was a great doctor, he had always managed to solve the most intricate problems and was a guy who never gave up if there was even a slightest hope.
He was almost never missing from the hospital, he went there even if he wasn't well, unless he was forced to stay in bed perhaps due to a bad flu.

Fortunately, however, he was a person who rarely got sick, despite being in contact with germs, bacteria and viruses of all kinds every day.

One day, May 20, however, a really strange thing happens to him. His life changed as he developed a rather disabling symptom.

The night before after finishing his shift he had gone to the supermarket to do some shopping and then he had headed home and prepared dinner for his love. He had decided to give her a nice surprise. .

Natalie finished her shift an hour after him and then she had to stop by Hellen's that day to pick up Owen.

Will therefore had plenty of time to organize everything, thus preparing something unexpected for his girlfriend.
He had prepared a very good dinner from appetizer to dessert. He had cooked everything except dessert. He bought a gorgeous cake at Natalie's favorite bakery.
The doctor knew how to cook very well, but with desserts he was really bad.

Everything was arranged to the smallest detail. Even the table was set with everything needed.

The last thing he did was put the roast in the oven and then he went to clean up, he wanted to be beautiful for his love.
There wasn't a particular occasion and just something he wanted to do.

After taking a nice shower he dressed elegantly and put the gel in his hair which, having just been washed, seemed to have gone crazy and had taken on a shape of their own.

As soon as he finished, finally, with a few drops of perfume, he prepared a nice hot bath for his fiancée, aware that she would need it after a day's work.

Everything was ready. After checking the roast in the oven he then sat down on the couch and turned on the television.
He was wandering the canals looking for something interesting and just then the bell rang.

It was 9:30 when Natalie got home. Little Owen as soon as Will opened the door immediately jumped into his arms. The doctor greeted him hugging him and then gave a kiss to her love making him enter.

- They smell good - she said as she entered

- I've prepared dinner, - he replied

- Wow what are we celebrating? - asked the doctor

- Nothing... just that I love you - he said

- l love you too,- she said giving him another kiss on his lips.

- Go take a nice bath, I've already prepared everything for you. We'll eat soon Owen will give me a hand in the meantime. - he ordered softly

The doctor obeyed, she really needed to take a nice bath and the little one immediately went with Will.

It was a fabulous evening. The little family celebrated their union by laughing and joking heartily.

At the end of the evening Natalie stayed in the kitchen to put the dishes in the dishwasher and put everything in order.

- It is mine that I can do after all that you have arranged for me.she told him with a big smile.
She wanted to thank her love for that fabulous dinner.

Meanwhile the doctor, having offered to help her, went to lie down in bed to play with Owen. - He had even told her to forget everything that he would do it the next morning as soon as he woke up.

Dr Manning was on duty at 10 on May 20, Dr Halstead at 9:30. Although she had to work first, the young man had offered to clean up everything to relieve his girlfriend.

When Natalie finished she headed to the bedroom and was faced with a very sweet scene that made her smile.
Will and Owen had fallen asleep. The doctor was semi-reclining in the center of the bed and the little one slept lying on him with his head resting on his chest and his legs on those of his new dad. Halstead held him tightly in a hug with his arms wrapping around him keeping him close to his body.

Natalie guesses that Will was certainly exhausted and yet he did everything to make his woman smile.
Finally, as she often did, she took Owen in her arms and carried him to his bed in the bedroom and then returned embracing her love after waking him up slightly so that he could settle well under the covers. But what the doctor didn't know was that for a while it would be the last day her boyfriend would be well. He was about to start a nightmare for him.

Will had chosen that night because he knew they could both be late. They were supposed to be at work a little later than usual the next morning.
Dr. Halstead had therefore hypothesized that after a nice dinner he could have a good restful sleep and then be full of energy for work.

Unfortunately, however, things did not go quite as Will had anticipated.

The doctor woke up around 5:30 that morning feeling strange. His head was spinning and every movement made everything worse. His movements, although minimal, woke up the doctor who turned to look at him.

- Hey, are you okay? - she asked him worried

- Yes, sorry, I didn't mean to wake you up. - answered the mortified man

- Don't worry, what's going on? asked the doctor, getting up a little so that she could see his face

-Nothing, I just don't feel very well.- she said sighing and sincerely WillTranquillo, what happened

- What's going on with you? - asked the worried doctor entering medical mode.

- Nothing special, don't worry, just some dizziness. - answered the young man trying to move as little as possible.

- Wait, let me take a look - she began.

- Don't worry, it's not worth it. It's nothing. Maybe she made me sick the wine last night. - guessed the doctor

- Maybe, but it's better to check - she replied - wait I'll measure your blood pressure forDon't worry, it's not worth it. It's nothing. Maybe she made me sick the wine last night. - guessed the doctor

- Maybe, but it's better to check - she replied - wait I'll measure your blood pressure for safety

And so the doctor got up, took the device and began to measure it. In fact, the pressure was a bit low, but not so much as to cause such a condition.

Will, who was usually quite an early riser that day, stayed in bed until 8:00. When he was forced to get up he did so despite feeling unwell and after getting ready he left the house to go to work.

Driving was not easy for Halstead and occasionally during the shift he had to stop to catch his breath.
Sometimes he tried to close his eyes, but that only made it worse.

As the days went by, however, Will felt worse and worse. It was like he was constantly on a boat at the mercy of rough seas.

Unable to bear the situation, Dr. Halstead had spoken to one of the neurologists who, after examining him, had given him a drug against dizziness and vertigo.

Will started the treatment immediately by taking a pill in the morning as soon as he woke up, in the hope that they would take effect as soon as possible.

This however, unfortunately did not happen, the more time passed and the worse he got.

June 10, ten days after starting to feel sick, was perhaps one of the most difficult days for Will.

He'd spent the night mostly between standing and lying down on the couch so as not to wake Natalie who had to work early just like him.

Both of them were on shift at 7:00 that day and so they woke up even earlier. Unfortunately, the dizziness didn't give the doctor any respite, who continued to take the pills that his colleague had already given and which, however, were of no help.

Natalie's heart broke to see how her boyfriend was doing.
His status was no longer a mystery. Everyone was starting to notice his discomfort.
Since he had arrived at the hospital, Maggie,Ethan and Charles had asked him if he was feeling well and he had always answered in the affirmative.

That day Will was very pale and also wasted. Since he had started to feel bad he ate very little.
Natalie was behind him urging him to eat respecting at least the main meals.

Dr. Halstead had always been a good fork. He loved good food, he liked to eat especially when in company.

Around one o'clock that day, after seeing many patients, it was finally time for lunch.

Will couldn't stand up, his head was spinning and he wanted so much to lie down somewhere to get some rest. But what was possible because Natalie invited him to get something to eat.

- Honey, I'm going to the bar, will you come with me? --- the doctor asked him

- Hey! I don't... - the young man tried to say, trying to refuse.

- Don't try to say you're not hungry. You know how I feel, you have to eat something. - she said resolutely

- Nat, I just can't take it. - he said sighing

- Will you look in the mirror? You look like a ghost! You can barely stand up,- Manning admonished him.

Eventually the doctor was convinced and the two of me headed to the bar where Halstead got a little light to eat just to make Natalie happy and be able to last the rest of the shift.
Had it been up to him he would have remained absolutely fasting.

After he finished lunch Will went back to work, but he didn't feel well at all. Due to constant dizziness his stomach was completely upset.

"Maggie, I need a break," she said, approaching the nurse who was at the counter.

- All right,- she said. Her friend absolutely needed to stop for a moment she saw it with the naked eye - are you sure you're okay? -

- Yes, calm down. I'm just a little tired - he lied.

If he had told the truth, the woman would have stopped him to carry out numerous checks on him, which he had already done by the way. He had even spoken to the doctor who was treating him about the lack of improvement with the drug and he had adjusted the treatment.

Having received the go-ahead from the infirmary, Will slowly walked away from the emergency room and went up to the terrace. He hoped that some air might ease his condition.

Once there he began to look at the view and breathe deeply.
Sadly, however, that didn't help much either.

Indeed, a short time later, due to those continuous dizziness he began to have a strong nausea which soon caused him to retch.
Will walked over to the trash can and started throwing up everything he ate.

He was exhausted, increasingly pale and it was difficult for him to even stand up.

He placed both hands on the edge of the bin trying to hold on as he continued to vomit. His legs were shaking and threatening to give out.

Meanwhile in the emergency room, a tired Dr. Rhodes also decided, feeling the need to take a break.
In a moment of calm he too chose to go up to the terrace to breathe some air and relax while looking at the view.

Once there Connor immediately noticed his friend and seeing that he was sick approached him.

The surgeon arrived just as Will was catching his breath, while still holding on to the bin.
The young man was panting, he was all sweaty and his body was shaking.

- Hey Will, is everything okay? - Rhodes said approaching him

The doctor didn't answer, he leaned forward to throw into the bin a mixture of bile and gastric juices that was still left in an otherwise completely empty stomach.

Connor who was now at his side supported him until he had finished emptying his stomach and then tried to help him sit down for a moment once the dry and empty retching ended.

As soon as Will let go of the bin, however, having run out of energy, he let himself go. His legs became limp and Rhodes had no choice but to accompany him to the ground making him lie down. Young Halstead was passed out.

The doctor took off his jacket crumpling it to create a pillow by placing it under Will's head and then walked away for a moment looking for something that could be useful to him
Unable to find anything nearby, the doctor returned to Will, elevating his legs to improve circulation.

It took some time, but eventually the young man recovered and opened his eyes.

- Connor... what happened - he asked softly, putting a hand to his head and then rubbing his eyes in order to better focus on what was around him.

- You felt bad. When I got there you were throwing up and then passed out. - answered the surgeon.

As soon as Will felt ready the other helped him sit up and after asking him questions Dr. Halstead told him about what had been afflicting him for some time.

- Have you ever thought that it might not be just dizziness? - Rhodes asked him

- I don't know Connor, I just know that I can't go on like this. I don't know what's happening to me, I had a visit and they gave me a drug which, however, was not having an effect despite the doctor having adjusted my treatment by increasing the dosage - Will explained

After having the visit that had been made to him and the drug treatment that had been given to him explained in detail, Connor said:
- It's obviously not the right cure! Come on, let's run some tests and find out what's going on. -

So Rhodes helped Will up and the two then went down to the emergency room again.

- Maggie Dr. Halstead has finished his shift for today - said as soon as he arrived at the emergency room as he accompanied his colleague to one of the free rooms, helping him to lie down on the bed.

The nurse was dazed hearing those words, but she too realized that something was wrong with the doctor. Without wasting time, he immediately began looking for a replacement in the hope of being able to reach Dr. Rhodes soon to understand what was happening to Will.

The doctor was lying on the bed with his eyes closed when she arrived and Connor, who had connected him to some monitors was checking all his parameters.

Rhodes suspected that Will's dizziness could be caused by a heart problem and if so, the surgeon was aware of the need to act as soon as possible.

- Maggie put it on the list to do a transesophageal echo and a transcranial echo. You try to get him to do it as soon as possible though. Then we do routine blood tests. - Connor said and the nurse immediately got to work.

The doctor then added: - also insert a central cannula to allow Halstead to obtain fluids, medicines for dizziness and nausea. He is dehydrated as much as he has threw up.

Will slowly turns around and grips Rhodes' wrist.

- Please Connor make them stop - said the exhausted young man. It had been going on like this for ten days and it was getting worse and worse.

- Don't worry Will, have a little more patience and everything will get better. - He answered

Confident Halstead, exhausted, having not rested well during the night, partly due to the effect of the drugs, fell asleep.

That day Will was hospitalized to carry out all the tests which fortunately were done in the following two days.

Rhodes asked Dr. Abrams for a consultation who agreed with him on the tests to be done and before these were scheduled to be carried out, he gave Will the Romberg test.

- Will you please stand up - she asked him

-I really have to-replied the young doctor that since he had been hospitalized there he had moved as little as possible, if not only to go to the toilet.

- Come on Will, do as Sam says and then lie down again - added Natalie who was by his side

- It will be a matter of a few minutes - said Abrams and so Will obeyed. The more the doctor moved, the more he stood, the worse the dizziness got. That was why he was reluctant to do what Dr. Abrams had asked of him

The neurosurgeon asked him to stand for 30 seconds with his legs closed and to do it first with his eyes open and then with his eyes closed. Subsequently the doctor made him do the same thing but with his arms stretched out in front of him so as to form right angles with the rest of his body.

The result was surprising. Halstead, whether he kept his eyes closed or whether he kept them open, he couldn't sit still.
Unconsciously the young man swung back and forth, right and left and when he couldn't see he also made semicircles.

This exam had confirmed the presence of the problem which was then confirmed with the other exams Will had been subscribed to.

The transesophageal ultrasound revealed the presence of a hole in the heart and the transcranial instead showed a serious shunt that had caused micro ischemia to the brain seen by the magnetic resonance.

Dr. Halstead's situation was quite serious and it was necessary to intervene as soon as possible. It was not possible to act pharmacologically.

As soon as the results of the tests were obtained, Rhodes explained to Will what he had and informed him of the need for surgery.

- Will with these results that we have had from the tests there is no doubt. You have a patent foramen ovale. - he said

- We must therefore operate - said the young patient with a sigh. Being a doctor he knew what needed to be done.

Halstead was expected to undergo PFO surgery to close a patent foramen ovale. In a nutshell, it was necessary to insert a small umbrella to be able to close the hole in the heart.

Fortunately Will had a friend like Connor who is a great heart surgeon and in a very short time he was organized surgery.

The following morning Maggie joined him to start preparing him and once he was ready he was taken to the operating room.
Connor was there waiting for him, and when everything was ready he started the operation starting from the groins.

He never expected to have heart surgery. Natalie, Maggie and Jay were in the waiting room that day waiting for the doctor to come out.

It took a couple of hours between the preparation and the surgery. The operation went well and the doctor then needed to recover and this was looked after by Natalie and Jay. After a short time everything returned to normal.

Chapter Text

May is the month of flowers, the one in which nature awakens, reborn after the rigors of winter. In Italy, for this very reason, this is dedicated to the Madonna.

Furthermore, throughout the world, on the second Sunday, Mother's Day is also celebrated, which falls on the second Sunday.

Among the Italians, a people of ancient beliefs and popular sayings, that even those who believe that, precisely in May, there is a fatal day that we don't know what exactly it is.

Will and Jay know what theirs is though. It is May 22, the day their mother, who had been ill with cancer for some time, died.

The Halstead brothers hate that month. It's too rich in memories for them: many beautiful, for example when they celebrated their mother on her feast day and others painful and sad such as the period of illness and death.

Jay is in a lot of pain during that time, much more than Will. The detective lived his last moments alongside his mother, unlike his brother who was away because he was in college.

In those days the younger Halstead changed completely. He became even more withdrawn, distracted, silent, taciturn and isolated himself more and more.
But only he could know what was in his heart in those days.

In addition to the pain he felt in those weeks with the memories filling his mind, his post-traumatic disorder also tended to reactivate. Seeing his mother die had been a trauma for him.

His psychological state also had repercussions on a physical level, in fact Jay had less appetite and was unable to sleep and this, moreover, also influenced him at work, resulting in being tired and with little energy.

No one could do much, no one could erase what had happened so many years ago, no one could erase the uneasiness he felt. The only thing Will and the team could do was simply stand by him and help him face the days waiting to pass.

The hardest part for the detective, however, was the night. Every time he fell asleep here come the nightmares that were there to torture him.

That night as usual Jay had gone to sleep and the memories had clouded his mind, such as those when he was in the hospital next to the bed of his dying mother.

As often happened he eventually collapsed from exhaustion into a disturbed sleep and finally found himself stuck in a nightmare.

The Intelligence group had just solved a case so the next one should have been a day off for everyone.

Before going to bed Jay had therefore lowered the ringtone of his mobile phone slightly and removed the morning alarm that he always kept on it though he always woke up long before it rang each time.
That alarm clock served, according to him to bring him back to reality, as an external sound if he was stuck in some nightmare.

Unfortunately, however, crime does not go on vacation and so at 3:45 in the morning Voight had called everyone to duty for a murder that took place a few hours earlier.
The sergeant had managed to locate everyone but Halstead and so Upton had offered to go to him before joining the others at the scene.

Fifteen minutes after ending the call with her boss, Hailey was climbing the stairs of the building where Jay lives to reach the floor of his apartment. As if by professional deformation, the detective moved carefully observing her surroundings to be sure that everything was ok. Everything seemed to be in place and when she arrived at his door she started knocking.

The apartment was dark and shrouded in silence and there seemed to be no one inside.
The young woman continued to bang on the door with ever-increasing force, although she soon began to believe that her colleague was not at home and became concerned as a result.. It did not occur to her that being three in the morning the young man was sleeping. He should have woken up hearing his cell phone ring. , although the detective was never such a heavy sleeper.

What he couldn't know, however, was what was happening inside the house.

Jay was having a nightmare. He was lying on his bed, but with his mind he was light years away.

He was in the hospital, sitting next to the bed where his mother lay and sifting through his phone as he searched for a position that might be comfortable enough to lighten his injuries..
Suddenly the machinery that surrounded him began to play wildly and the doctors poured into the room without him being able to realize what was happening.

- Doctor is in asystole... - said a nurse and immediately everything was clear to Jay, his mother was dying.

- No! No! No! Mom! - He found himself screaming through tears as several nurses tried to hold him down by blocking his constant fidgeting trying to carry him out of the room.

- Time of death 3:53pm. - finally said the doctor.

The detective felt suffocated, all those hands touching him, grabbing him and holding him tight trying to drag him away from his . The young man was gripped in a vice, so much that he could not breathe

Just that lack of air was his salvation together with shots coming from somewhere inside his apartment.

Jay, who had done nothing but toss and turn in bed clinging to what he found (sheets, pillows ...), suddenly opened his eyes. He was panting, his body was shaking and he was all sweaty
He was stuck in the sheet that had coiled like a rope around his legs and neck.
It took a while for him to recover and be able to break free.
He lay down for a moment to catch his breath and it was only then that he became aware of the knock on his door.

He grabbed his cell phone and looked at the time. It was 4:10 in the morning and he started wondering who it could be.

He felt sick, his stomach ached, he had cramps, he felt upset, he was nauseous and everything around him, perhaps from the previous lack of air, was spinning in a whirl.

The young man had been lucky. If he hadn't woken up he could have died with that sheet around his neck.

Trembling and with enough difficulty he sat on the bed and then slowly stood up and holding on to the various pieces of furniture he reached the door.

Before opening it he turned to the mirror that was there at the entrance and was frightened himself seeing the figure that was reflected in it.

He was pale, his eyes were swollen and red from crying, there were black bags under them, a sign of the fact that he hadn't slept well for days. His face was hollow, wasted, since he was eating very little at the time.

After looking who was at the door he took off the chain having seen that it was Hailey.

-Jay, - he said looking at his colleague with concern.

The young man before him was but the ghost of himself.

- What happens? - he croaked hoarsely at what he had shouted rubbing his hands

- We have a case, Voight tried to call you like he did all of us, but since he couldn't reach you I came myself.

- I'm sorry... - said the detective

- You were sleeping, don't worry, I know.- the young woman answered knowing that it wasn't the time to ask questions.
They didn't have time to talk, they had to rush to the district and knowing Jay well, Hailey knew he wasn't going to open up so easily. He wasn't ready to talk right now.

- Come in - the detective said with a downcast look - give me some time to get ready. -

- Jay, we'll be late. They're waiting for us - said Upton with sadness at not being able to give her colleague and boyfriend some more time to compose himself.

- Only ten minutes, time to change and we go out. There must be coffee in the kitchen if you like. Maybe it's cold.... you can do it again if you want. - Halstead told her before heading to the bedroom.

Hailey at that point goes to the kitchen and starts preparing a good coffee considering that Jay would need it later.

In the meantime, after having more or less settled in the bedroom, the young man took some clean clothes and headed to the bathroom to take a quick shower.

He turned on the water and ran it to get the hot water and sat on the edge of the tub hoping that the world around him would stop for a while.

Unfortunately that wasn't the case, he was continuing to sweat despite the fact that it wasn't so hot and shortly after his stomach gave a strong spasm that forced him to bend over the toilet to vomit what little he had managed to eat a few hours ago.

He was happy that the noise was being muffled by the water and hoped Hailey didn't hear a thing.

Once finished he flushed the toilet and dove into the shower making a very quick one just to get the sweat off his back.
After getting dressed and brushing his teeth he then joined Hailey in the kitchen getting his things ready to go.

Upton, unaware of all that had happened, handed him a cup of steaming coffee and he, despite knowing that it was better not to drink it given what had happened before, sipped it quickly because he was aware that without caffeine he would not be able to stand.

They got in the car then headed to the district where the rest of the team was waiting for them.

- Jay are you sure you're okay? - Hailey asked during the trip

-Yes, I'm fine-he replied dryly and without turning towards her, continuing to stare at the road.

- You know you can tell me about anything - said the colleague

- Yes I know. - he replied turning to the window hoping that she would understand the fact that he wanted to end the conversation.

It was going to be a long day for Jay, but with the help of his working family and his brother Will, they would get him through it.

Chapter Text

Will Halstead was a very capable doctor. He was a young man who enjoyed excellent health and rarely got sick.

He almost never missed the hospital, he loved his job and always did it with great dedication.
Nothing could stop him, he always got up in the morning full of energy and ready to face the new day and the challenges it presented to him.

That was not a very easy period for him, he was overworked. In fact, in the hospital, they were short of staff and therefore he, Ethan, Natalie, Connor and a few other colleagues were forced to cover exhausting shifts going back and forth all day visiting various patients.

Not that he minded it, he loved his job and helping people get better.

Two weeks earlier Will had lost his father, with whom he had recently reconciled, and working late also helped him not to think and suffer less.

With Dr. Manning, his girlfriend, they saw very little of each other anymore. In the evening Will was exhausted at the end of the shift and often asked Jay to pick him up when he was free to take him to the house.
The distance between the doctor's house, where he had moved a couple of months ago, and the hospital was not far and despite this he often fell asleep.

When we arrived at the car park it was his brother who had to wake him up by shaking him a little.
Before letting him go down Jay looked at him and his heart ached seeing him so broken. Each time it was difficult to wake him up and the detective increasingly hated having to do it, but unfortunately he couldn't make him spend the whole night on the uncomfortable seat of a car.

There was no way he and Natalie were going home together. Yes, sometimes it happened, but their schedules didn't always match and since there were many things to do, each of them preferred to leave without waiting for the other to finish.

When Jay worked late, Will still took his car or the subway.

Once he returned home, more stunned than ever, he met Hellen or Carol who were there to spend the days with little Owen.

When the doctor returned, the child was watching TV, playing or was ready to go to sleep.

As soon as he heard Will open the door, he ran towards him shouting: Daddy, Daddy. While he closed it behind him, his baby clung to his legs, holding him tightly.

That was one of the best moments of the day for the doctor.

- Daddy, how beautiful! you're back! - exclaimed the little one

Unfortunately, due to being too tired, Will didn't have the strength to play with him, so he hugged him tightly and then one of the grandmothers said:
- Come on, Owen, leave Will alone, he's tired, come over there with me, mum's coming soon -

How sad to hear those words... he loved that child, he had seen him born.

- I'll take a shower and then let's play - he told him often and willingly.

It was actually what he wanted to do, but every time after the shower he fell asleep in bed without even having dinner and whoever was at home put a blanket over him to prevent him from catching cold..

And to think that Natalie's ex-mother-in-law and parents helped in every way, even preparing dinner.

The doctor was really grateful for the help they gave her.

Given the exhausting shifts, the two didn't even see each other, let alone if they could think about the house and meals.

They slept together, yes, but when she arrived home she was already asleep, unable to wait for her awake even though he made a point of doing so and the same thing with reversed roles was valid for when the doctor arrived first.

Tonight had been no different. Will returned home around 9pm and was greeted by Carol who went to meet him.

- Hi Will, welcome back. I made dinner if you want to eat something. - the woman told him

- Carol don't be sorry, but I'm too tired to eat. - replied the doctor

- Will, sorry if I dare, but you should make an effort and eat a little something. Look how you're shrinking, you're wasted.
Come over there with me, Owen will be happy to have you at the table too. - said Natalie's mother

The doctor wanted to refuse, that evening he was much more tired than usual. But he couldn't and so in the end he sat down at the table with the child.

After eating some salad and a slice of roast he said to her:
- Carol thank you, but I'm really full.

The woman didn't force him. She was already happy to have managed to get him to eat a little something. Will couldn't get by with several coffees and light meals at the hospital cafeteria.

Once the doctor was done I kissed Owen on the forehead and after a quick shower he got into bed.

His sleep was so deep that he didn't even hear when Natalie got into bed.

Around five, however, something woke him up, something that bothered him.

Running a hand over his face Will turned to the bedside table and took his cell phone and looked at the time.
It was still really early. His alarm was set to go off two hours later.

The young man felt his mouth dry, he tried to swallow some saliva, but it didn't seem to help, in fact it made him itch.
He felt like he had to cough so slowly he got out of bed trying to be as quiet as possible so as not to wake Natalie.

He didn't want to move, he wanted to stay warm under the covers, but he still needed to drink some water and the night before he had forgotten to bring a small bottle to put on his bedside table. He always had and sometimes he didn't even use it.

Arriving in the kitchen, Will opened the refrigerator and took a small bottle and opened it. After coughing a couple of times trying to clear his throat he then began to take long sips.

The sensation of the water flowing from his mouth to his throat was pleasant, it eased that burning sensation with its freshness.

Unfortunately, that feeling didn't last long.

Still feeling tired and still having about two hours to rest, the doctor at that point decided to go back to bed, settling coldly under the covers just as he was before he left.

- Mhhh...Will, what are you doing? It's still early.- Natalie said yawning and turning towards him.

- It's nothing, sleep peacefully - he replied whispering...

Will finally tried and tried to fall asleep, he just wanted to rest, but he couldn't. His throat hurt, really, really bad.

At seven the alarm clock rang inexorably, time had flown by and Doctor Halstead didn't feel any better.

Natalie was already in the kitchen preparing breakfast for everyone.

Owen was sitting at the table waiting for his mother to give him milk.

- Good morning dad! - the little boy exclaimed as he saw the doctor arrive in the kitchen.

Will's eyes shone with happiness when you want Owen to call him dad.
On that occasion, however, he didn't say anything, he approached and gave him a kiss on the cheek and then did the same with his girlfriend.

The young man was really quiet that day, he didn't feel well at all, his throat hurt so he wasn't very talkative.

Obviously, being someone who talked a lot and who especially in the morning radiated happiness and energy from every pore, it was really strange.

- How silent we are today! ,- exclaimed the doctor.

Once again Will remained silent as he hugged her from behind.

- What time does it start today? - asked Natalie after a while'.

- Nine - he replied simply, trying to use as few words as possible.
Even saying just those two syllables was, however, quite painful for him.

- What happens? Did you swallow a toad this morning? - Manning said with a smile on her lips.
-
Will just shook his head and sighed, and so the doctrine became concerned.

-Hey! What happens? - she asked, approaching him - are you feeling well? -

The doctor didn't answer, he just shook his head and looked down at him and then held his throat with his hand.
He knew that by making that gesture his girlfriend would understand.

Feeling his throat itch then Will began to cough and Natalie without wasting time immediately handed him a glass of water which the man drank quickly.
This time the cold liquid wasn't all that effective at cooling him down, in fact after drinking the doctor continued to cough.

- Have you caught a cold? -asked Manning although from her tone it could also be seen as a statement.

Halstead looked at her and shrugged.
Natalie immediately approached him in doctor mode and began examining him.
He put his hand on his forehead to check if he had a fever, but the young man did not appear to be warm.
He gently pushed it away from her, other than her throat felt good.

- You should take a day off and get some rest. - said the doctor - Will, don't look at me badly, I know very well that there are only a few of us left at work and that we can't have the luxury of being absent, but you're not going on holiday. You are sick and health is important. You can't even speak, how do you expect to be able to work? -

- No, I'll come. I can work. - he said with a voice similar to a whisper, distorting his face a little due to the pain he felt.

When they arrived at the hospital Natalie had her boyfriend take a look even though Will didn't agree. It was just a stupid sore throat after all.

Dr. Manning had already guessed that it wasn't just that, but since Dr. Halstead wouldn't listen to her, she asked Ethan to take a look at it. to him

Will's throat was sore, he was hoarse when he spoke, and he had done nothing but cough dryly during the visit. Halstead also felt the need to clear his face oftenWill's throat was sore, he was hoarse when he spoke, and he had done nothing but cough dryly during the visit. Halstead also felt the need to clear his face often his throat.

- Will you have bad laryngitis - concluded Choi. - you must have strained your vocal cords in some way (at which point Will shook his head no,) then you must have caught a cold or an infection.

- The doctor here would like to work! - exclaimed the doctor

- Don't talk about it! - Ethan replied - you can't talk, I can't say half a word without coughing. How do you plan to visit patients and explain to them what they have and what they need to do to cure themselves? Here's what you'll do: let your voice rest, without speaking. A week or two and everyone should pass. But you know this very well of course. -

At that point Will looked at him annoyed. Obviously he wasn't angry with his colleague, but simply with this problem that was temporarily blocking him

It was so snowy. He had work to do, there were already few of them. But he actually didn't know how he could do it without speaking.

Dr. Choi also advised Will, refreshing his mind, to drink a lot and take some throat lozenges.

- If your symptoms do not resolve within two weeks, please let me know. I will check you again and if necessary we will start a new, more specific treatment.

- Come on, I'll call Jay and have you take me home. -Natalie said, but she was blocked by Will who made the gesture of writing.

Taking a few pills and some water then the two approached Maggie.

- Will I thought you didn't come this morning! - she said , not having heard his voice and his contagious cheerfulness. Then observing him he added, moving his gaze towards Natalie - what's happening? Something wrong? You seem down to me.

-It's sad because he won't be able to work for at least the next two weeks or so. - Natalie replied. -I'm trying to convince him to come home, but he doesn't want to?

- Don't worry, I know what to make him do! - so Maggie put him to work right away. It would have been a long and boring two weeks in which he would have dedicated himself to completing, reorganizing and updating patients' medical records on the computer. At least he would work though.

As always, Will did everything tirelessly without stopping for a moment and throughout the day he was forced to drink a lot and eat rather liquid things like yogurt and smoothies so as not to irritate his throat.
The problem was that he didn't feel like eating at all.

That evening around 9pm Natalie finished her shift and went to the nurses' desk to look for Will and take him home..

Halstead would have finished his shift at 10pm, but considering how he had felt since the morning she thought it was best to let him go home an hour early.

- Maggie where's Will? - she asked her friend.

The nurse showed him with her eyes.
The doctor was sitting in front of the computer and was comparing the records with the paper ones. When Natalie looked he was rubbing his temple and the woman knew he must definitely have a headache.

Taking an electronic thermometer she snuck up and directed it towards his forehead before he could realize it and refuse to be checked.

When it rang the doctor raised his head and the doctor read 100.22°F.
He had a fever, not high, but it was there.

Natalie took him with her and brought him home snuggled up.

The next day the doctor was free and even her boyfriend, amidst his protests, took care of him all day.

Will remained at home for several days cared for by the love of his fiancée, and the affection of Carol and Hellen.

Once he recovered he went back to work and everyone who met him said:
- Halstead we missed hearing your voice!

Chapter Text

Jay had been kidnapped, drugged with a cheap sleeping pill and finally loaded into a van which then sped off through the streets of Chicago.

Alicia Sanchez was the mastermind of the plan. She wanted to make detective Halstead pay for having sent her father Gonzalo Sanchez to prison. She had organized everything and even had an accomplice help her.

The man, who was driving the vehicle, after parking, got out of it and took Jay, dragging him without caring about the blows he might take rubbing his body on the slippery asphalt made of stones and earth.

He took him inside an abandoned farmhouse that the woman had chosen as a hiding place. No one would have looked for them there.

The criminal threw the detective into a corner like he was a sack of potatoes and simply made sure the young man remained in that induced state of sleep until his boss arrived.

Before moving away from him, the man tied his hands and feet so that he could not escape or react if he woke up.
_______________________________________
TO THE DISTRICT

Around nine o'clock all or almost all the Intelligence detectives reached the district. A half hour later Voight also arrived ready to organize desk work for everyone.

They didn't have a case, but they had to finish writing a myriad of reports that had remained incomplete given the amount of crimes that had occurred up to that point.

- So guys, it's time to get to work completing all that paperwork we left aside. - said the sergeant who then realizing that someone was not present added: - where is Halstead? -

- We don't know! - said Adam

- It's strange that he hasn't arrived yet, he's usually always the first here - added Kim

- I gave him a ride home last night and watched him enter the building before leaving. Maybe something happened!- Hailey hypothesized.

The group decided to wait a little longer before becoming alarmed and everyone set to work hoping to see him come through the door soon.

An hour later, however, around 10:30 the team had a new case: finding Detective Jay Halstead.

- Hailey and Antonio go to his house, Adam goes to Mouse and try to figure out where his cell phone signal is. Kevin, you try to call him and then you and Kim view the footage from the cameras near Jay's building to see if there's anything strange. - Voight said

Once they received their orders, everyone got to work.

Unfortunately, the detective's research did not yield the desired results. At home everything was fine and it turned out that his truck was parked there near the district.

We therefore came to the correct conclusion that the young man had arrived at work, but he had never entered

Sergeant Platt who was at the entrance, in fact, had not seen him.

Viewing the cameras in the area, Halstead was seen reaching the door of the district only to then, as it was early, turn around and go to the new bar they had opened.

From there there was no further news of him. The young man had never left the door he had entered and his behavior had also been quite strange from the stories of the boss and the her apprentice.

The latter said that she found him asleep sitting at the table in the corner of the room, that she woke him up and supported him to get him up with the help of one of the customers who, however, she didn't know. They then made him exit from the side part which was closest to the table.

From that moment, however, no trace of Jay was lost and all the detectives returned to the district to take stock of the situation.

4pm

Everything seemed to be business as usual at the district, Trudi was at the entrance watching who was coming in and out as well as working on some paperwork, while the others were still verifying all the information they had on Jay to understand what happened to him and where he ended up.

Out of the blue a small mustard packet, an envelope for letters, was thrown into the district, as if it were a freesby. Having heard the strange noise, Sergeant Platt checked the front door and saw a man dressed in black, now far away, running away.

After returning inside, the woman looked at the envelope, checking that there was nothing dangerous in it and then, putting on gloves, he picked it up so he could look at it more closely. On the back there was a small computer-generated writing: INTELLIGENCE and so Trudi went straight up to the office where Voight and his family were to deliver it to him.

- Sergeant, this was literally thrown into the district. It is addressed to you. -she said to Voight

- Thanks - said Hank and taking the envelope he approached one of the desks, leaning against it and starting to open it.

Inside it there was a small transparent plastic package and a microSD inside. The sergeant grimaced when he saw it. It was quite unusual for them to receive something like this and the few times it had happened it had never been good.

Without wasting time Voight handed the small card to Adam:
- Ruzek put it in the computer and let's see what it contains.

The young man put it in the computer on Jay's desk which was the closest and all the detectives arranged it to be able to see its contents.

p>

- There is a video - said Adam and having received his boss' order he started it by putting it in full screen.

The images showed their colleague. Jay had been kidnapped and the group realized that the culprit of everything was a woman.

- I'm going to have fun with him and then make him pay for what he did to my father. He died in prison in just 15 minutes, a quarter of an hour after the attack... - said the voice recorded in the video .

The woman had a high, shrill voice. She could be compared to a psychopath.

Jay was lying on the concrete floor. His hands and feet were locked with chains wrapped around metal tubes.

The clothes he was wearing were now mostly in tatters and open, bleeding wounds could be seen from them. The worst ones appeared to be on the torso, right leg and left arm.

The young man seemed unconscious, he didn't move and everyone was aware of the fact that he was still alive for the woman's words. Maybe he had also been drugged...

At a certain point Janny, the name the woman had invented for her cover, snapped her fingers and a man came out from a dark corner of the room and hit Jay in the abdomen with full force.
Obviously his face wasn't framed by the camera just like the woman's.

The detectives, including the two sergeants Platt and Voight, had no idea where the young man could be found, they could not see any clues that could lead them to guess the place where was held prisoner..
They too, like the others, were there to suffer when they saw what that woman was doing to them.

- My father Gonzalo Sanchez didn't deserve that end and I will avenge him! - exclaimed the woman - I decided that we will play a game, I feel good and so I want to give you a chance to save him. In due time I will give you a clue so that you can more or less guess where your colleague is. You will only have 15 minutes to find him, after which the detective will have no chance. As long as I can get to that moment alive. -

Alicia concluded her speech with a loud laugh. According to her, it was impossible that the detectives could have found their colleague in such a short time. Young Halstead would surely die and she would finally have her revenge.

With that said, the woman approached Jay and began to torture him herself. Grabbing the taser she hit him straight in the stomach making him gasp.
His body began to twitch and move convulsively as the electricity coursed through him.

Halstead let out barely audible moans, but he was now without the strength to react.

The state in which the young detective found himself indicated that the torture had been going on for several hours now and God only knows what damage and wounds could have been hidden under the parts of the body covered by the pieces of fabric from the clothes that were still intact.

-Come on boy! hold on! Do not give up! We will be with you soon! -Voight repeated in his mind.

The last thing seen in the video was Jay's face. The zoom showed a pale young man, white as a sheet with wrinkles on him that expressed the great pain he was feeling.

If you looked carefully you could also see the marks left by some tears that had fallen down his cheeks.

Voight had realized everything, he was attentive to everything concerning what he considered his son and he was aware that he no longer had much time to find and save him.
Furthermore, there was the issue of the 15 minutes that needed to be clarified and which reduced their action time even further.

No one could even remotely imagine what the woman had in mind.

- Come on, let's not waste time! We have to find Halstead! Adam and Kevin go to Mouse and try to figure out if he tracked Jay's phone and see if he can find any clues about this video. Kim, Hailey, take a walk around here and try to get more information. Someone must have seen something. Antonio, Al you have the footage from the cameras nearby sent to you and check the videos. Let's find something, let's move damn it! - he said before returning to his office, slamming the door and starting to view the files on Gonzalo Sanchez that Sergeant Platt had brought him. .

- Jay I will find you, I swear I will find you. Even if it were the last thing I do! - he exclaimed

Away from the cameras, Alicia continued to torture Jay. She hit him several times with her taser making him wince still moaning in pain and then taking out a knife he began to cut him on the abdomen, shoulders and legs.
He made more or less deep cuts, but without causing too much damage. P>

- Why don't you just kill me... - Halstead said, suffering and out of breath.

- Not so detective, it's not time yet. - Janny replied

- Why are you doing this to me? - asked the young man looking for explanations.

- You killed my father - said the woman

- No I didn't. - Jay replied, not having been guilty of the crime she was accusing him of.

- Yes you killed him! by sending him to prison you signed his death warrant. There they stabbed him and then left him to bleed to death. You will end up like him, you will die at my hands. Before I kill you, however, I want you to suffer, like him and like I did when I discovered all this. My father, Gonzalo Sanchez, was a good person, he didn't deserve to die and especially not in that way! - the woman said, shouting.

- You... are you... Alicia? - the young man said, gritting his teeth in pain, resisting the urge to close his eyes and let himself be captured by the darkness. Finally everything was clear to him.

- Well I see you remember me... I was just a little girl then... I had to wait a long time, but I can finally get my revenge! - the woman said, thrusting the knife she was still holding back into his shoulder.

Jay let out a desperate cry and then suddenly he couldn't hear anything. He had resisted too long, that latest blow was the last straw for his already tortured body. P>

It was precisely at that moment that the woman prepared to implement the second part of her plan.

As Detective Halstead lay in the corner of the room tied up and unconscious, she delicately produced two small rudimentary orders from a small box placing them one on the left wrist and the other on the femur of the right leg.

Everything was finally almost ready, just as she had imagined it would be. Everything was going according to his plans plans.

Jay's life was hanging by a thread. If the sergeant and his colleagues had not found him in time he would have bled to death.

Alicia's accomplice at that point untied the boy who was now mostly dead weight and positioned him by sitting him on a chair, tying his feet and arms around it with ropes.

A few moments later the young man began to wake up. His whole body hurt, his mouth tasted horrible, metallic, blood.
The position he was in was uncomfortable and so he tried to move to find a better one, but he was stuck with both his wrists and ankles and couldn't move. It was at that moment that he realized he was no longer in the same place as before.

He then forced himself to open his eyes and lift his head which was drooping and heavy. The young man was so tired, he just wanted to fall back into unconsciousness, but unlike him he forced himself to start to look around. .

The view in the room was different, Jay had a different perspective. Looking down he then realized he was sitting on a chair tied to it that on his leg there was a kind of strange bracelet, which was annoying for him as it was very tight.

Even on his left wrist that he couldn't see, Jay felt, in addition to the pain, a certain discomfort because something, which he thought were the ropes, was tied very tightly.

Obviously his awakening did not go unnoticed.

- Welcome back detective. I'm glad you woke up! It will be even more fun. - Alicia said appearing euphoric

- What more can you do to me - the young man mumbled, tired and annoyed by the pain he felt.

As if his head wasn't enough, it had started to hurt, it felt like it would explode at any moment. In fact, the young man hypothesized that he had taken some blows there too, although unfortunately he couldn't remember.

- Well no big deal my dear! I took the opportunity, while you slept, to place some small gifts on your body. What you see is a little clock-shaped bomb. - said the woman - Another one is on your left wrist. They are time bombs. The timer will start at my precise command. -

The detective sighed, he didn't want to die. At that moment his thoughts were aimed at the people he loved and who he would most likely never see again. P>

Despite everything, however, he still hoped in his heart that the team would look for him and find him in time. Perhaps right at that moment, while he was racking his mind, Voight and his colleagues were about to raid where he was.

- The bombs are not calibrated to kill, but... - added Gomez.

- Why don't you do it instead? Kill me once and for all! - asked the detective interrupting her desiring from a certain point of view that she would end it with him.

- Don't worry, I will kill you, but not immediately, you have to suffer just like my father, you will bleed to death. Your colleagues will never be able to find you in time. I'll give them 15 minutes... actually... it's time, right now they're definitely reading the note I sent them. I'm about to activate the bombs. Goodbye my dear detective. - having said this, Alicia, after pressing a button on her cell phone starting the countdown, she ran away from the room walking away from the building followed by her accomplice.

The display of the device Jay had on his thigh, the only one visible to him, lit up and numbers appeared on it. However, it was not difficult for the young man to understand that the same was also happening on the one on his wrist.

00:15:00 then 00:14:59 and so on.

Voight and the rest of the team, once they read the message, immediately got into the car after deciphering the clue that the woman had sent them.

Meanwhile, Jay could do nothing but pray that his people would be able to find him before the bombs exploded or at least before he bled to death.

Those seemed to be the longest 15 minutes of his life.

Leaving alone, the young detective continued to pray, but time passed inexorably and the door in front of him always remained completely closed.

...00:10:00...

...00:08:00...

Everything was dark, Jay would have died there, alone in that desolate place. He knew that sooner or later it would happen, he had come close too many times, but....  He never imagined it would happen like this.

..00:05:00...

...00:03:00...

His thoughts went to Will. Now there was very little left, he would die and he would remain the last Halstead. Will... he hadn't heard from him for some time, he had been too busy with work and hadn't found a moment to even call him to say hello... How he wished he had. He wanted to hear from him one last time, say goodbye to him and tell him that he loved him.

....00:02:00...

He thought about Voight, who was like a stepfather to him. Jay knew his affection was reciprocated. His boss considered him like a son.

Hank had already lost two of his children, Erin and Justin, and now, ironically, he would lose the last one left. He would have suffered, having grown fond of him will only cause him pain in the end

...00:01:00...

Finally, his thoughts turn to his mother, who would soon join her and they would finally be together, together again.

...00:00:50...

...00:00:40...

...00:00:30...

30 seconds, Jay closed his eyes waiting for the end.

...00:00:20...

...00:00:10...

...00:00:05...

...00:00:03...

...00:00:00...

A sound pierced the air, a bang echoed through the room. Jay felt excruciating pain, his leg and wrist had started to bleed profusely. He clenched his teeth while screaming and several tears rolled down his cheeks

He was still alive. He opened his eyes to assess the damage and judging by the blood already starting to pool in a small pool near his foot, it wouldn't be for much longer.

Tears filled his eyes and began to fall down his face. Yes, he was crying. He had always shown himself to be a strong and fearless man, but he was still a man and like everyone else

Tears filled his eyes and began to fall down his face. Yes, he was crying. He had always shown himself to be a strong and fearless man, but he was still a man and like everyone else he was afraid. He was terrified at the thought of having to die, afraid of doing it alone.

In the end, however, feeling his strength abandon him, the young man closed his eyes and let himself go.

Chapter Text

Will Halstead was a great doctor, always ready to help people who were sick. He did everything to save their lives and never threw in the towel even when a patient's condition was desperate.

Being a doctor was a good job and he loved it. He had chosen to do this profession when his mother fell ill.

It had been a hard period for him, even though he was distant, he spoke to his mother by phone and knew that the treatments they were giving her were not producing the desired results.

He had chosen to become a doctor to treat people like his mother and perhaps to do some research to discover more effective treatments for diseases that were incurable at the time.

When he discovered that his mother's cancer had returned, Will threw himself heart and soul into the study and began searching for new experimental treatments.

He rarely saw each other at home, but it wasn't because he didn't want to see his mother and because he was busy with parties and parties.

Will went to class and then after studying a bit to be able to take the exams he dedicated himself until late at night to his "personal" studies which however often ended up being a failure.

Sometimes he accepted party invitations from some of his friends to distract himself and ended up drinking to drown the sadness of his failures.

His mother had less and less time and neither he nor the researchers he read about had found anything.

After the death of the most important woman in his life, Will vowed to save lives as much as he could.

Obviously it wasn't always possible for him to do this and it made him feel bad.

Dr. Halstead gave everything he had to save his patients, especially children or cancer patients.

For example, one day a young man rushed to the emergency room carrying a little girl in his arms.
The little girl was tiny and appeared to be lifeless. Her arms were dangling and her head was turned behind her resting on her father's arm. It was covered in blood, there was a lot of it.

Will, who at that moment, when the gentleman entered, was near the nurses' desk talking to April, immediately ran towards them followed by the infirmary.

- Help her please! - the man shouted in shock.

- What happened to him? - asked Doctor Halstead while he was already examining the little girl who had been placed on the stretcher.

- We were in the park and she was playing... they shot... and my daughter... She fell to the ground... they hit her... - he said through tears

After hearing the man's story Will immediately pushed the stretcher into one of the rooms. They had shot that poor little girl and what was worse was that she wasn't the target, she was just an innocent victim who was in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Dr. Halstead needed to check where the little girl had been hit and whether the bullet was still inside her.
Once in the room the young man had April connect her to the monitors to check her vital parameters, and in a short time he was forced to intubate her.

The little girl was continuing to lose a lot of blood, the bullet had hit her aorta and was still inside her. A CT scan had been needed to find out where she was.

Will called for Rhodes as he clamped the artery with his fingers.

The little girl had to be taken to the operating room and Connor, having found out about the case, immediately ran to get ready.

Unfortunately, Jenny, just 6 years old, never reached Rhodes' hands.

Her little body couldn't stand it.. She went into shock due to the copious blood loss, her parameters suddenly collapsed just before she was moved and unfortunately there was nothing that could be done.

The little girl died despite all attempts made to save her by Will and other doctors and nurses.

- Time of death 4:43 - said Doctor Halstead, covering the poor little girl's face with the sheet.

After leaving the room he took off his bloody gloves and after regaining his composure for a moment he headed towards his father who was in the waiting room to give him the bad news.

- Noooo - the man said softly, crying.. - I only had her... She was everything to me.... -

He was a broken man, his Jenny was the only thing he had left. His wife had died of cancer six months after giving birth to her, and the couple's eldest daughter had followed her mother after a car accident two years earlier. She was 16 years old.

Life had been cruel to that man. He had a beautiful family, but in the end he was left alone

Even though he had done everything he could to save her, Will felt guilty. He wished he could have done even more.

Two days later the doctor showed up at the little girl's funeral and offered his condolences to the man who seemed to be acting strangely.

Will noticed it, but didn't pay much attention to it, he was still a man destroyed by grief having lost his daughter, the only important person in his life. He had lost everything.

After leaving his business card with his personal number with the man, the young doctor left.

Walking towards his car to go home he reflected on how bad it must be to lose the only person you have left in your life, your own blood.

He thought of Jay, his brother, who was the only one alive for him in his family.

A week later, however, the unthinkable happened.

Dr. Halstead sat in the doctors' lounge sipping coffee, a little break before getting back to work. It was 4.30pm when his cell phone started ringing from inside the locker and he hurriedly opened it to take it..

- Hello? - he replied, unaware of who was on the other side of the receiver.

- Am I talking to Dr. Halstead? - asked a man

- Yes, who do I have the pleasure of talking to? - he asked

- I'm Mr. Lorenz - he replied

- Mr. Lorenz, hello. How can I help you? - Will asked at that point recognizing the man. He was the father of the little girl who had died the previous week

-I... I... I know who did it.... I know who killed my daughter...-the man said, whispering.

- Why are you telling me this and not the police? I could get you to talk to my brother, he's a detective... - Will explained. As a doctor he had nothing to do with the murderers.

- I can't talk to the police, you're the only one I can trust with this information. - the man replied almost in a whisper. - come to the parking lot, please. -

- I'm on duty right now... I... - he said, hypothesizing how he could get away for a moment. - wait there, I'll see what I can do to reach you. -

Once the call ended, Will reached Maggie and told her he would be away for a moment.

- Will there are a lot of patients - said the nurse

- I will be right back! - he told her, walking away
Coming out of the Ed, Will immediately noticed the man, he was standing near a column.

- Mr. Lorenz - he greeted him

- Dr. Halstead, thank you for coming. - he said - I needed to talk to someone, as soon as I found out who had killed my daughter I ran to you.

- I think you should talk to the police anyway - said the doctor once again.

- I can't, I told you. That man has to pay, but I don't want him to know that it was me who spoke. - said the man walking and taking Will to a slightly more secluded area of the emergency room.

What Will didn't know, however, was that the man wasn't alone. Two of his "friends" sneaked up behind the doctor and grabbed him, holding him down.

- Mr. Lorenz, what's happening? - asked Halstead starting to get scared with his heart pounding in his chest.

- I told you, whoever killed my daughter must pay! - explained the man, rubbing his hands.

- Let me go! - Will shouted hoping someone would hear him. Unfortunately there was no one there in the car park at that moment.

- My little Jenny was your responsibility! it's your fault that she died! you had to save she! - he shouted at him, hitting him several times.

The young doctor screamed in pain as he was unable to move to avoid the blows as he was held back.

He eventually fainted after receiving a blow to the head and was left there in a pool of blood.
_______________________________________
Two hours later Will opened his eyes, he was lying on a hospital bed and next to him were his brother, Natalie and Maggie.

He couldn't understand why he was there. He didn't remember going to sleep. He had a bad headache and I put my hand to his forehead and felt a large bandage. Many tubes were also coming out of his body.

- Hey Will.. you finally woke up! - said Natalie - don't touch the bandage!

The doctor was dazed, his head seemed to explode, everything was upside down.

-What...- he tried to ask.

- You told me you were going out for a moment, but you never came back. - explained the nurse - no one saw you until an hour later when Dr. Choi, who had finished his shift, found you unconscious and bloody in the parking lot.

Will was stunned, he couldn't remember anything of what had happened. He closed his eyes, trying to rest, convinced that his brother would find whoever had done all that to him.

Soon the issues would come home to roost.

..

Chapter Text

It was a morning like any other, Jay was at the district and was putting some documents in order.

Having no cases to work on, the Intelligence detectives were dedicating themselves to sorting out their archive.

It was a slow and boring day and the hours struggled to pass.

From time to time the detective looked at his watch, but each time he noticed that only a few minutes or at most about half an hour had passed since he last checked.

He hoped Voight would come out of his office screaming as he usually did when a crime was committed:
- Guys we have a case! -

Unfortunately, however, this did not happen and it slowly became evening.
Between one coffee and another, a few breaks, the paperwork and the recordings of these on the computer, the hours finally passed.

Only at the end of the day did the sergeant leave his room and, going down the stairs, announce:
- Guys that's enough for today, you can go home. Consider yourselves free tomorrow too, but always available in case of need.

One by one the detectives then, after grabbing their things, left the district and headed to their cars.

After traveling for a while together, everyone took different paths.

This was one of the few times they hadn't planned to do something as a group.

Sometimes they chose to eat out together, other times, much more often to meet at Molly's for a beer, especially if, as in that case, they were free the next day.

That evening, however, Adam and Kim had chosen to go to dinner at a restaurant to celebrate their engagement anniversary (they had also invited the others to go with them, but, as they hoped, everyone had declined the invitation.
They were all aware that the two wanted and was right to be alone.)

Atweater would have taken advantage of that free evening and the following day to spend it with his grandchildren who were visiting Chicago in those days..

Antonio would go pick up his children to be with them and Hailey would take the opportunity to spend an evening with the family since it was her brother's birthday.

Only Jay had nothing to do. He had tried to contact Will to meet him at Molly's, but his brother had declined the invitation.

The doctor had been working for almost 36 hours straight and, tired as he was, at the end of his shift at 9pm he would go home to get some sleep. Many doctors were absent due to illness and the remaining staff, being few, were forced to work double shifts.

So Jay would spend that evening alone. He didn't really want to stay at home without company, but he had no one to spend his time with.

Sighing, he entered the road that would take him to his house.

It had been a bad day since morning. The sky had always been dark, gloomy and it had never stopped raining.

- This evening I have everything against me! - he thought, sighing, keeping his eyes focused on the road with the asphalt which was quite slippery.

Luckily there wasn't much left, he soon arrived at the intersection before the last stretch that reached his building.

The traffic light was green and so he proceeded, carefully without stopping, continuing slowly given the wet asphalt.

Jay was so focused on what he was doing that he didn't realize what was happening until it was too late.

A car was speeding when the traffic light in front of it turned red.

The driver, realizing this only at the end, suddenly braked, but the wheels slipped and squealed on the asphalt. and the car found itself spinning until the center of the crossroads just as Jay was passing by.

The detective only noticed the car when the lights were almost close to his truck, illuminating his face.

He didn't have time to avoid contact.

In fact, while he was driving, the car hit Jay's vehicle right on the driver's door, causing it to slide forcefully on the asphalt until it stopped in a ditch after hitting a pole. .

The impact was really strong and Jay lost consciousness.

Everything happens in an instant. The young man noticed the dazzling light and heard the screech caused by the braking of the other car as it hit the asphalt.

He didn't even have time to think, the car hit him full on. The door swung back inwards and the closed window shattered.

Jay was stuck in the wreckage of the car. The impact force pushed him forward, causing him to hit his chest and then his head against the steering wheel.
And he remained like that, slumped over with his eyes closed.

He regained consciousness only after some time and realized that he was no longer alone. In the distance, sirens that seemed to be from an ambulance could be heard and there were many people judging by the noises he could hear.

His head was pounding, his vision was blurry. He struggled to breathe and it hurt to do so.

His head was turned towards the passenger side which remained intact, despite the blow taken against the pole which had caused the bumper to crumple right on the detective's side.

Everything was so confusing, he didn't understand what was happening or even remember what had happened. What he knew, though, was that there were people there with him.

There wasn't a part of his body that didn't hurt, even the position he was in was uncomfortable.
Every time he tried to make minimal movements to move, however, a shooting pain begani.

He was so tired, his eyelids closed on their own, but he knew he couldn't sleep. He couldn't let go, he was afraid of never waking up again.

The detective realized he had dozed off only when he found himself forced to open his eyes and raise them towards the window in front of him.

It was really tiring to do this, he just wanted to be left alone, but someone was knocking.

- Detective... Jay.... Hold on, we'll get you out soon. - Severide said

The young man listened to his words, he recognized him, it was his friend Kelly, and despite feeling quite confused he tried to follow his directions.

In a very short time a paramedic who the detective had never seen entered the car and began examining him.  He put the collar on him so that he remained still and then said firmly addressing the firefighters:

- We have to get him out, we don't have much time! -

The young detective's heartbeat was slowing down more and more and a mask was placed over his face to help him breathe.

Unfortunately the parts of the car were quite stuck together and despite the jaws the firefighters were having difficulty extracting it.

- We have to take into consideration the option of amputation... his leg seems in bad shape, it bleeds a lot.. - the lieutenant said at a certain point, sighing sadly, when he approached the paramedic who had exited the car, leaving room for his colleague to allow her to insert an IV.

- Yes unfortunately... I call the Med to have a doctor sent to me and to get authorization. - she replied and walked away, returning to the ambulance to forward the request.

The detective's condition was serious and he was getting visibly worse. We had to act quickly.

Chapter Text

Will had been back in Chicago for about two months now and wasn't having a great time.

He had been placed under protection for the Burke case and had been forced to stay away from his city and the people he loved for some time.

In that period the only thing that kept him going was the desire to return to his home, to his girlfriend, to his little son, to Jay.... he wanted to take back his life and go back to work, forgetting this bad adventure.

He hoped that once he returned to Chicago everything would go back to how it was before, but unfortunately that wasn't the case.

Will found himself living a completely different life. Before he had everything and now nothing anymore.

Natalie had left him due to several misunderstandings and so he had been forced to pack his bags and move.

He no longer had his apartment, he had left it when he moved in with Natalie and so the only place he could go was his brother's house.

Having used all his little savings to pay for his part of the wedding, he didn't have enough money to pay rent, bills, etc...

He felt so alone, tired, down physically and emotionally.

Everything had become difficult to do. He struggled to sleep at night, get out of bed to go to work, or even eat.

He was convinced that everything that had happened to him was his fault, he was worthless. He had the feeling that everyone was angry with him, that they were tired of being around him.

Jay himself had become distant and elusive during that time. He always said he was busy with work and kept increasingly strange hours which meant he was out for many hours a day. He and his brother almost never saw each other, at most they exchanged a greeting every now and then because when Will left to go to work he came back or vice versa.

The days passed inexorably and Will felt worse and worse.

His heart was filled with sadness and he felt a pain that couldn't even be quantified.

He had ruined his life with his own hands.

His colleagues at work had begun to look at him strangely, he was increasingly thinner, scruffy, tired...

Maggie pointed this out to him one day, encouraging him to do more for himself.

So the next morning he decided to make himself a little more presentable at least for work. He had no one who cared about his appearance and even though he didn't really want to go to hospital, he couldn't lose his job, he needed the money.

So he took a shower and then started shaving his beard. He was amazed when he looked in the mirror at how long it was. He hadn't realized he had grown so much.

It was only in that moment when he looked carefully in the mirror, and not distractedly as he had been doing lately, that he saw what he had become.

His curly red hair was a shapeless mass and its color stood out a lot, as did his freckles, in contrast with the paleness of his skin.. There were two dark bags under his eyes, a sign that he hadn't been able to sleep for some time now.
Furthermore, his face was gaunt, hollow, gaunt.

It wasn't him anymore, it was a completely different person.
As often happened, he stopped to think and as he did so he twisted and turned the razor in his hands until he cut his finger with the blade. The pain brought him back to reality and was quite liberating, even though it was a small, almost insignificant cut.

Without thinking, a few minutes later, he found himself sitting on the floor choosing where to make the new cut. Not being able to use my arms as the gown has short sleeves (everyone would have noticed what he was doing) he chose the thighs and after taking off his trousers he began to cut into the skin several times.

He created cuts long enough and shallow enough to ease his discomfort, but without causing harm.

As soon as he was satisfied he then disinfected the wounds by covering them with gauze so that they did not bleed through his clothes and got ready to go to work as if nothing had happened.

This went on for several months.

One day everything came to a head. It was a bad day for him.

On that occasion he lost two patients who had already arrived at the hospital with very little hope.

They were a mother and son involved in a car accident.

The father arrived at the hospital shortly before his son died and when Will approached him to give him the news of the disappearance of both his family members, he attacked him, telling him that he was inept, an incompetent person using really bad words. The man then grabbed him by the collar of his lab coat and pushed him against the wall.

Will was stunned by the blow he had taken and shocked by what was happening. He couldn't say anything to defend himself.
Security took the man away and the doctor slid against the wall until he was sitting on the floor breathing heavily.

Maggie, seeing the scene, approached him being worried about him and asked him if he was okay. Initially the doctor didn't answer, it took some time. Then with a few words he reassured her by telling her that he felt well and that, however, he preferred to go home.

He felt the need to vent and he could do it the only way he knew how. So a very short time later he found himself on the subway and then half an hour later finally at home.

Without even taking off the jacket he was wearing he headed into the bathroom and locked the door to make sure that if Jay came home for any reason he wouldn't find out.

He took his razor and removed the blade and began to cut himself as he always did on his legs now almost completely covered in fresh and healing cuts.

That day, however, cutting didn't have the same effect as always.

He was so upset that not even inflicting physical pain on himself made him feel better.

After disinfecting and bandaging the new wounds and after cleaning up the blood that had fallen on the floor, he rinsed the blade, considering whether it was necessary to use something stronger at that moment.

A voice in his head always repeated the same thing:

"You are good for nothing, it was of no use. Nobody wants you. You are not even capable of doing your job, you are not a good doctor. Nobody wants you, nobody misses you. What's the point of living with this pain? Get it over!"

And so it was. Will saw different types of medicines in the cabinet and being a doctor he knew well the effects these substances could have on his body.

Tears were pouring down from his eyes, he just needed to breathe again, for all that suffering to end once and for all.

He filled a cup from the sink, then took a handful of different pills, placing them in his mouth and swallowing them while drinking a few sips of water. So then crying he sat on the ground waiting for the moment of the end.

Chapter Text

Jay has always been a hard worker. Always ready to throw himself body and soul into cases trying to solve them. He often even got so involved that he forgot to take care of himself

This especially happened when children were involved as was happening at the time.

Browner was one of the most hardened drug criminals.

Some informants had tipped off the detectives by telling them that this man had created real laboratories in Chicago to produce a new type of drug.
Furthermore, to evaluate its effects, he kidnapped children between the ages of 5 and 10. Once removed from their families, the children became her experiment.

Many of them then died directly in the laboratories or in the hospital.

The Intelligence was given the task of investigating this case, but it was not easy to discover the hiding place or hideouts of that criminal.
Browner was damn good at covering his tracks.

As Jay and his colleagues tried to find out where he was, more and more kidnapping reports came across their desks and Will often called or went there to the district in person to inform them of how many children were dying.

The first day had passed without anyone being able to find any useful connections to the case and Voight sent everyone home to recover their energy.

- I'll see you early tomorrow morning so we can try to understand what's happening with a fresh mind. - said the sergeant

In fact, continuing to stubbornly tired as they were was of no use at all and so everyone slowly collected their things, saying goodbye and returning home.

Everyone except Jay who only pretended to leave and then returned to the office when everyone had left.
From his point of view, going home was useless. He would continue to torture himself and brood over the case trying to find a solution.
The children were dying one after another and there was no time to waste if they wanted to save them.

Jay sighed as he looked at the documents in front of him on the desk and in his PC and headed to the relaxation room. He needed the energy to concentrate and stay awake so he made a large cup of coffee and then went back to work with the steaming liquid in his hands.

The hours passed quickly and the detective felt more and more frustrated as he couldn't find a solution.

Soon it was morning and it wasn't until around 6:00 that Jay decided to take a little break. He went down to the locker room and headed to the bathroom to rinse his face. After changing his shirt, feeling like he was sweaty, he then went back upstairs.

- Kevin, Kim are you here already? - he asked, noticing the presence of his two colleagues.

- Yes, we couldn't stay at home. - replied Atweater.

- We have to arrest that criminal. - having said this he then got back to work but not before having had yet another cup of coffee.

Jay continued this way throughout the day and the next, focusing on seeking information while drinking coffee and bypassing moments of need for self-care.. He had put nutrition and rest on the back burner and continued to work tirelessly.

All his colleagues, including the sergeant, were observing him, trying to understand if he was okay, but up until that moment he had given no sign of slowing down.

On the outside he looked like the same old Halstead, a little tired as the others were, but on the inside the young man wasn't feeling at his best.

After spending the second night in the office without sleeping, working on the PC, eating nothing and drinking only coffee, Jay began to feel the pinch.

Around 5am his brother called him after finishing the night shift to inform him of the death of three more children. In his heart he knew that the young man was already awake at that time.

Jay thanked his brother and after hanging up the call he slammed the phone on the table and shouted:
- Curse! -

Three more victims and they had nothing in their hands. Three children who still had their whole lives ahead of them were no longer there.

Sitting down at the computer he started all over again, continuing to sift through the documents from the beginning.

However, the turning point in their investigations only came around 5pm.

Antonio's phone rang suddenly.

- Dawson,- the Hispanic detective replied.

It was his informant who, having learned that the group was looking for Browner, tipped him off.

He told him about a certain Sterry. As far as he knew he was the criminal's right-hand man.

"If you're looking for Sterry, you can meet Browner," he had told him.

By investigating this new person a little, the detectives discovered that the two had been cellmates and had since begun to collaborate.

Josh Sterry was married with two children and detectives had his address in the database.

The intelligence arrested the man without making any effort. Sterry did not resist and immediately followed them to the district, asking only not to be handcuffed in front of his children.

The man had helped Browner in the creation of the new drug, but as soon as the experiments on children were discovered he left. He wanted to report it, but he had been threatened.

With the information obtained from the man, the intelligence group was able to organize a raid on the house where the criminal was hiding.

The next morning, in fact, early, led by their sergeant, fully armed, the detectives entered the house and arrested the men present, catching them in the act.

The only one who escaped with their raid was Browner, but he didn't get far.

Jay immediately chased him, separating the others as he noticed his escape.

- 5021 George, the suspect fled. I'm chasing him! - he had screamed into the radio while he ran.

A moment of hesitation was fatal for Browner, Jay was at his side in a short time, engaging him in a hand-to-hand fight without omitting blows.

Halstead kicked and punched the criminal and injured him in the stomach, back and other areas. At the same time, however, he also received blows in almost the same areas. He was starting to feel sore, but thanks to the adrenaline in his body the young detective continued to attack the man without focusing on what he felt.

Browner was at a clear disadvantage, Jay was having the upper hand. Before long he had him falling to the ground, causing him to lose his balance.

Detective Halstead, however, was starting to feel slightly dizzy given the blows he had taken and his tiredness, and hoped that some of his colleagues would reach him soon.

He was pulling out the handcuffs while holding Browner down when the criminal delivered the final blow, pushing him forcefully backwards.

The young man, taken by surprise, staggered, hitting his head against the wall, remaining stunned for a few moments, but still managing to regain control and hold back the criminal.

Meanwhile Hailey and Antonio came around the corner grabbing Browner.

Dawson pulled him along while Hailey stopped with her partner.

- Are you OK? - asked the detective worried

-Yes I'm fine. - replied the young man without mentioning anything, not even the blows taken.

In fact, apart from the blow against the wall, he had not received any blows capable of causing serious injuries.

About an hour later the group returned to the district and began interrogating the criminals they had arrested. Voight and Al were in the room with Browner, while the others were outside. Jay looked through the glass, while Hailey's eyes were fixed on him.

The young man wasn't feeling well, he had a headache, a pain that gradually continued to increase even though he pretended nothing had happened.

Once the interrogations were over, everyone returned to the office.

Jay, as soon as he was at his desk, unnoticed, swallowed two painkillers to keep the pain at bay.

- Well, we did a great job. Grab your things and go, see you tomorrow. - said the sergeant.

Jay, like everyone else, did as he was told, but he was quite slow. The headache was torturing him, the medication he had taken didn't seem to have had any effect yet.

Everyone started to leave and slowly Jay was almost the only one in the office. He took it quite easy because he had to wait for his colleague to return.

Hailey had gone to run an errand on Voight's behalf and would pick him up shortly after, having arrived at the district that morning in the young woman's car.

The only ones left in the office besides Halstead were Voight who had retreated to his room and Olinsky who was not far from him and was talking on the phone.

Jay stood up approaching the gate to go down the stairs when he felt faint.

His eyes rolled back in his head and the young man fell to the ground with a thud. His body was stiff, he began to tremble with unusual jerky movements. The young man was having convulsions.

- Oh shit! I'll call you. - Al said quickly closing the call having noticed what was happening.

- What happens? - Voight asked from the door of his office, attracted by the noise.

- I do not know! He was walking away when he fell to the ground. He's having convulsions. His eyes are completely white and he gasps. - Al said

- Holy shit - said the sergeant running down

Voight got down on his knees, took off his jacket and placed it on his legs so that Halstead's head was resting on top of him.
We had to prevent the young man from hitting his head on the ground.

Dawson, who had turned back because he had forgotten his cell phone, immediately approached the three ready to help.

- Antonio calls an ambulance - Voight ordered while together with Al he turned Jay on his side so that the white foam that had created in his mouth could come out so that he wouldn't suffocate as his body continued to contract and release.

The crisis had been frightening, it had lasted a minute and a half. Jay was shaking, cold and scared because he didn't understand what had happened.

- Jay? - Voight called him softly

- Wha... what happened? - asked the young man, groaning.

- You had convulsions - said Al - hold on, the ambulance is coming.

Antonio helped Jay clean his mouth and then change his pants since there had been a small accident during the crisis.

- Boy, did you hit your head while fighting Browner? - asked the sergeant.

- Who? - he asked dazed

- Do not remember? - Antonio then asked.

- I... I remember that we were preparing to break in, but everything is so confusing... Ouch... My head... - replied the young man

- The ambulance will be here in 15 minutes. The road is blocked. - said Antonio

The ambulance will be here in 15 minutes. The road is blocked. - said Antonio

- No ambulance... I... I'm... I'm fine-he said, trying to get up.

Al and Voight helped him and moved away from him a little once he was stable. They finally take him out and put him in Voight's car.

The sergeant and Al got in the front while Antonio sat in the back seat resting his friend's head on his lap.

Chapter Text

It's been a while since I updated this story. I'm stuck and I don't know what to write. I have no ideas for the letter t... If anyone has any suggestions I will gladly accept them...See you soon.

Chapter Text

It's been a while since I updated this story. I'm stuck and I don't know what to write. I have no ideas for the letter t... If anyone has any suggestions I will gladly accept them...See you soon.

Chapter Text

Will Halstead is an excellent emergency room doctor, but he is also a very accident-prone person.

October 10th had been a tough day.

Will had started his shift at 7:00 am and was supposed to work until 10:00 pm. A 15-hour shift in which there were dozens and dozens of patients.

In addition to those who went to hospital due to seasonal ailments, there were also those who had come because they were involved in a major collision.

A car had slipped due to the wet asphalt and ended up in a strange way, involving numerous other cars which hit it and each other, creating a chain collision.

Fortunately there were no victims and this was the important thing, but only a coming and going of people with traumas, bruises and various injuries from the blows received.

After visiting what would be his last patient, Will headed to Maggie's to hand over his iPad and then change to go home.

- And that's all for today! - he exclaimed giving her the device

- Have you finished? - she asked

- Yes, fortunately. It was a terrifying day. - He answered

-Lucky you, I still have two hours..- she said, sighing

- Come on! It's not long now - the doctor tried to cheer her up by showing off a contagious smile. - I'll go to the bathroom for a moment and then go home. -

- Will the doctors bathroom is broken. They should come and fix it tomorrow. - she said - if you want you can use the patients' one.

Will rolled his eyes thinking, "what else could go wrong today?"

Thanking Maggie for the information, he headed towards the bathroom anyway, aware that he wouldn't be able to wait until he got home. He'd had to go there for a while now, but he hadn't had time. When he finished he then headed to the sink to wash his hands, but before he could do so, someone shouted for help.

It sounded like a woman, it was a female voice and it came from one of the bathrooms adjacent to the one he had used shortly before. The woman was weak, she seemed terrified.

He had almost reached the sink when, hearing the voice, he turned and changed direction.
He managed, however, to take only two steps towards the voice he had heard, for he soon found himself lying on the ground.

The floor was wet and therefore slippery. His feet lost traction and he fell.

- Damn it! - he exclaimed, gritting his teeth in pain.
He had taken a really good blow, his back hurt and also his head having hit both on the ground.

Slowly he began to sit up. His head was throbbing, causing pangs of excruciating pain. His vision was a little blurry and he felt dizzy.

He didn't really feel like getting up, but he couldn't just lie there on the wet floor all night hoping someone would come in and find him either.

It was after 10pm and the chances that someone would enter there at that time weren't that great.

His amaranth uniform was getting wetter and wetter with the water on the ground.

Holding onto the sink, Will sat down and remained like that for a few moments and then forced himself to stand up groaning in pain.

Staggering, after several minutes, he headed towards the door, then attracting the attention of Ethan and April who were talking near the nurses' desk. The two were also followed as they headed towards the bathroom by Maggie, who wanted to find out what was happening.

The excited voices of the three caused pain in Will's head. They were so annoying, they sounded like an out-of-tune orchestra playing at full volume.
He wanted to stop, take a break, let the day finally end, but first there was a woman to help.

Hearing the woman's desperate cries, Ethan and April headed towards her to help her.
She was a pregnant girl of about 20 years old, who had broken her waters there in the bathroom and was now about to give birth.

While the young woman was loaded onto the stretcher that Maggie had brought to be transferred to trauma three for the birth, Lockwood stopped to observe Will.

It was strange that the doctor was still there, the back of his coat was wet and it was as if something was wrong. It was different from when few had seen each other

- Are you OK? - the woman asked worriedly

- Yes, I'm fine! I slipped because it was wet on the ground. The lady must have all the waters here and I fell and hit my head. - he said lying to her explaining the situation so that his head continued to throb painfully.

,

He was a doctor and was able to understand if there was something wrong and how it should be treated.

Maggie became agitated at this confession and tried to control him.

- Have you lost consciousness? - she asked him, starting to investigate.

- No, I didn't faint or at least I don't think so - he said looking away and washing his hands. - Everything's ok, don't worry Mag. -

Having said that he turned towards her for a moment longer and said, noticing her frown: - It hurts a bit, but I'm fine, I mean it Meggie! -

The young man was about to leave the room when the nurse added:
- I think you'd better get yourself checked out! -

Maggie loved him and was really worried about him.

- No, don't worry. I'm already much better. I just need to go home and get some rest. It's been a long day...-he said greeting her.

- Ok, but if you feel bad, call! - she added in a slightly louder voice so Will could hear her.

He has not lost consciousness, his vision is not blurred, he thinks he is fine and will not be alone at home. Jay is waiting for him for dinner, even if it will be late at night. The two have no schedule, but the young man will still keep an eye on him and that's all he needs, that and a good night's sleep. P>

The doctor turned slightly towards her, responding with a nod and walking away, entering the doctors' room to change. After leaving the hospital he had to reach the metro stop. His car was at the mechanic's and he wouldn't get it back for two days. But maybe it was for the best, maybe it was better for him not to drive with a ferocious headache like the one he had.

After walking along the small stretch of road that divides the hospital from the stop, he waited there for the arrival of the vehicle. He remained sitting on the bench breathing his pain before the screeching of the trains announced the arrival of the subway making him jump. As soon as he got in, he sat down on one of the free seats and, leaning his head back against the seat, closed his eyes.

He didn't realize he had fallen asleep until a gentleman who was sitting more or less close to him called him.

- Sorry if I bother you, your stop is nearby - he told him.

Will thanked the man and got out of the vehicle. She didn't know him, but she had seen him several times there on the subway. He had probably watched him always get off at the same stop. The fact is, however, that if he hadn't woken him up, the doctor would still be on the bus sleeping, passing between one stop and another, arriving who knows where.

Lost in his thoughts he then opened the door of the house, shivering from the cold.

- Hi Will, welcome back! - said a voice from the kitchen.

It was Jay, he had come home early from work and was preparing dinner.

The two had been sharing an apartment for several months now and had decided that whoever came home first would take turns preparing food for the other as well.

That day it was Jay's turn to do it and judging by the scent everything was almost ready.

The detective looked out from the kitchen and said:
- Take a quick shower and come to the table. It's almost on the table. -

Will responded only with a nod, his head hurting like hell, nodding and heading to his room to get a change of more comfortable clothes to wear after the shower.

- Are you OK? - Jay asked following him.

- Yes, good! - he replied - I'm just tired and have a headache. p>

The detective was sorry to see his brother in that condition, but didn't say anything else. He let her relax for a while as he went to finish making dinner.

The doctor took a nice hot shower which helped him a little by making him feel a little better and then he sat down in the lounge on one of the armchairs, leaning his head back and closing his eyes.

Just then Jay arrived with two plates of stew. He had organized everything there on the table to watch the replay of the match.

- Are you sure you're okay? - he asked again looking at her brother.

- Yes, don't worry. I'm a little sore from falling at work, but I'm fine.

The detective frowned even more after that confession, but didn't add anything and just started eating just like his brother was doing.

After all, Will worked in a hospital and if he was sick they would have noticed him and visited him. Or not?

He was worried, but decided to keep an eye on him. Will realized this and said;

- Jay is nothing serious, nothing that a painkiller and a night's sleep can't fix. - he said smiling at him.

Once dinner was finished Jay sent Will to bed and stayed to clean up before going to sleep himself stopping every now and then to check on his brother.

Before going to bed the youngest Halstead went to visit the eldest once again finding him still asleep and hearing a light snoring spread through the room.

The detective would have slept with one eye open to check on him, but luckily it didn't seem to be anything serious.

Chapter Text

Jay had finally returned home. After four days of hard work in which he had only been there for a very short time, just to take a shower, change or take a quick nap, now it was there to stay.

Intelligence had finally managed to arrest Erik Spencer, a criminal who distributed poorly cut drugs to high school students, causing their deaths.

They just wanted to get a little high and instead they lost out with their lives.
Spencer was damn good at staying in the shadows, but in the end he had made a mistake. He had made himself known.

In order to catch him, however, Jay had been forced to collide with him, managing, however, in the end to handcuff him by pulling his arms behind his back and forcing him to stand up.

Jay dragged him with him for several meters before his colleagues reached him.
A strange thing that the young man didn't give any weight to was that the criminal continued to cough, he did it continuously.

Spencer, when faced with the detective, spat in his face and this made Halstead quite nervous who wiped his face with his hand, realizing only later that the Intelligence was not alone.

The anti-narcotics chief was next to Voight and his men were the first to approach and take over the criminal.

-Everything OK? Hailey asked

- Yes, everything is ok - Jay replied to his worried partner.
_____________________________________________________

And so after so much effort here is the well-deserved rest. He was in bed with his love at his side. He would have spent a wonderful day cuddling with her, and this would have allowed him to return to work more recharged than ever.

He was happy, everything was going well at that time. The periodic checks at the doctor had given excellent results and soon he would finally be in good shape, despite having already been deemed suitable for field work.

What he didn't know, however, was that danger was just around the corner.
______________________________________________________
A couple of days later, instead of continuing to improve, young Halstead began to feel strangely fatigued and this did not go unnoticed by the others.

- What's happening to you? - asked Antonio - you seem a bit out of shape.

- Hey Halstead, what's with slacking? - Adam then said, irritating his colleague quite a bit.

Jay was giving it his all but was having a really hard time, especially trying to hide how he felt from Hailey.

He had no intention of returning to the hospital, there was no reason to. The doctor had told him that he was fine and he wouldn't let a little tiredness stop him.

But from that day it started to get worse and worse. He felt really tired, especially in the morning when he woke up... it was almost more so than when he went to bed the previous evenings.

His stomach was almost completely closed and he couldn't eat and if he did he took very little and fought against nausea,  trying to hide the evidence that his condition was worsening.

At lunch, in fact, even when it was work he always tried to take something small and light just to be able to eat it without arousing suspicion.

The strange thing is that he wasn't hungry at all. It was usually quite a good fork.

Hailey had noticed that he wasn't behaving as usual, but at first she preferred not to comment, deciding to wait to discover, to understand more.
______________________________________________________

Jay was increasingly aware that something was wrong. 15 days had passed and he felt worse and worse

One morning he woke up with a sharp pain in his chest. He had felt that type of pain before, but this time it was really very strong His throat itched and he felt the need to cough.

Not wanting to wake Hailey who was sleeping next to him, he took the shirt he had left on the chair near the bed before going to bed and put it in front of his mouth trying to muffle the noise.

Hearing the movement and the muffled noise, however, the young detective woke up and became worried.

- Hey, is everything okay? - she asked, sitting next to him and rubbing his back

Jay was unable to speak at the time, so he simply nodded and continued coughing until the coughing stopped.

Once he finished, the young man cleaned what he thought was saliva from his face and rolled up the t-shirt he was holding, throwing it carelessly back onto the chair.
After clearing his throat he then replied:
- Yes, I'm fine. -

Hailey raised her eyebrow unconvinced of what her boyfriend was telling her. She tried to touch his forehead, but he moved away. Despite this, however, even by simply touching him she realized that he was warm

- Jay, you're hot! - she said - you should stay at home today!

- Love, you know it's not possible, there's work to do. - he replied annoyed, starting to get up

His girlfriend, however, did not agree and, being good at persuading, she managed to convince him in the end.

In fact, he didn't feel like going to work that day at all.

- Okay Hailey... okay... I'll do as you want... I'll stay home. - he said sighing, laying back on the bed, observing her as she prepared to leave and informed the sergeant of the young man's absence.

After she had been gone for a while, Jay got up and headed to the bathroom to put the t-shirt, which he had abandoned earlier, in the washing machine.

He threw it through the porthole absentmindedly, but something then caught his attention, making him turn towards the appliance again. Something intense red stood out against the white of the garment.

Jay crouched down and grabbed the shirt, opening it. What he had noticed was only a small part of a larger spot.

Something was going on inside him and Jay wasn't stupid. Lo aveva capito da un po', solo che come al solito non aveva dato importanza ai sintomi che aveva e fu in quel momento che, vedendo il sangue, si spaventò.

He was afraid, but he was aware that his condition was worsening day by day.

He absolutely had to get help from a doctor. Coughing up blood couldn't be something to take lightly.

In his mind a whirlwind of thoughts, his heart beat hard and fast with fear, his hands trembled.

And in the meantime another coughing fit, the hand in front of the mouth covered in blood once this was over.

Rising up from where he had been crouching, he turned on the water in the sink and washed his hands. He observed the pink color of it as it went down the drain, deciding to keep everything for himself. He didn't want to worry others, his love, his brother, his friends even if he didn't entirely believe it was right to keep them in the dark.

He would have told him, but later, at a later time.

Slowly he then went back to his bedroom and got dressed. He knew it was better not to, that he would have to stay in bed with a fever, but he still decided to go out.

Jay wasn't crazy, he had a very specific reason: he didn't want to be alone.
Before leaving he took a quick look on the internet, entering his symptoms and only one disease corresponded to them: tuberculosis, a disease with a frightening name and a terrifying course. _______________________________________

Hailey sat at her desk filling out reports on the cases they had solved. Every now and then she would look up and sigh at Jay's empty desk and then stare at the clock on the wall. Time seemed to never pass that day.

She had tried to call her boyfriend several times, even though he had only recently been at work, but he had never answered and the young woman assumed he was sleeping.

- Hey, is something wrong? - Adam asked her, noticing her strange behavior

He knew her well, they had had an affair when she arrived at Intelligence, before the young woman fell in love with Jay and he with Kim.

Ruzek knew Upton like the back of his hand and she couldn't hide things from him for long.

In fact, she finally opened up about her concerns about Halstead and about his health conditions.

- Upton why don't you go home? - said the sergeant who had heard their conversation from a distance.

- Sergeant I.. still have to finish writing this report and then close the case. - explained the young woman.

- Nonsense, you're done for today, the others will take care of it. Come home and keep us updated.- the cheif ordered her.

Voight had been informed by telephone in the morning that one of his detectives would not show up for work that day because he was ill. Being the young man he considered like a son and having seen Upton so agitated and worried, the sergeant didn't think twice about sending the young girl home.

Hailey put on her jacket and grabbed her things and ran out of the district after saying a quick and distracted goodbye to everyone.

It was the middle of winter in Chicago and it was bitterly cold.

The detective got into the car, opened the heating and left, eager to get home as soon as possible.

It had taken almost 30 minutes to arrive, the snow slowed down travel causing inconvenience.

Parking the car Hailey ran into the apartment climbing the steps two at a time as if to try to make up for lost time.

When she opened the door she was amazed, the apartment was dark. This seemed quite strange to her, but she thought that Jay had decided to make everything dark so that he could rest better

Convinced that her love might still be in bed, she therefore headed into the room to check on him, but to her surprise he wasn't there.

The room was empty and everything was perfectly tidy, starting with the bed which had been made.

Assuming that Jay might be in the bathroom, she ran there, repeating at the closed door, but no one answered her.

Finally entering there, noticing that this room was also empty, just like the entire apartment, the worried detective picked up the phone and called Voight.

A thousand thoughts ran through her head. Where could a man with a cough, certainly aches and high fever have gone? Without a car because Jay's was at the body shop to be fixed after being targeted in a firefight.

Understanding the situation, the sergeant tried to calm the young woman who feared that her love might have been kidnapped and told her that they would set out to look for him. The paperwork could wait, they had to find a missing detective.
________________________________________________
Jay was on the street, the wind was blowing stronger and stronger and at first he cursed the decision he had made wishing he had stayed in his apartment.

But now he was there and he had to move forward, he couldn't, he didn't want to go back.

So he put his hands in his pockets in search of a little warmth and continued walking, one step at a time, sinking into the snow.

- Not long now, I have to get to the district! - he repeated to himself, trying, among the few energies he had, those that would allow him to reach his destination

The wind blew against him and he was increasingly weaker due to his illness.

Suddenly his legs gave out making him collapse there in the snow and Jay was left lying there in that white blanket without the strength to get up.
The cold was penetrating more and more into his bones and he was trying to ask for help.

He shouted hoping someone would hear him, but when he tried a second time all that came out was just a small sound interrupted by a loud cough, which colored the hand that was near the mouth and the surrounding snow red.

He felt so cold, and he was so tired and sore...

Another coughing fit hit him and he just tried to breathe while waiting for it to end and then remained there, exhausted, inert surrounded by reddish-tinged snow.

Chapter Text

It was a January day and it was bitterly cold outside... The air was freezing and many meters of snow covered the streets.

If only he had been able to, Will would have gladly stayed in bed, thinking that that should have been his day off... if only he hadn't offered to cover the shift of a colleague who had had to leave for family problems.

- Because I didn't mind my own business - he thought

But then he thought about the reason that pushed him to work so much and to offer himself for extra shifts: he needed to earn more to pay off his debts.

So early in the morning, at five thirty to be exact, he got up and started getting ready.

The young doctor felt strange, he was tired and felt a slight pain, more like an annoyance, in the lower part of his back.

At the time Will didn't pay attention, everything seemed normal.

The night before he had had dinner at Helen's house who had invited him together with Natalie and Owen and in the end he had helped the woman move some furniture. He attributed the pain in his lower back to having taken something too heavy, or to having made the wrong move, the tiredness to not having slept enough.

He had gotten up early in the morning even though his work shift didn't start until seven. Even though he didn't live far from the hospital, he was forced to wake up early because the journey was complicated by the heavy snow.

Numb from the cold, around 6:15, wrapped in his coat, hat and gloves, he began to free his car from the snow and ice.

Once he had finished, after several attempts to start it, he set off, arriving at the hospital only slightly late.

Only by a few minutes, but that was enough to annoy Will who always tried to be punctual.
______________________________________

He must have been immersed in his work. There were so many patients to treat, so many car accidents that followed one another because of the snow arrived at his home.

It was only around 11 that the young man stopped for a moment and approached Maggie to ask her to contact an orthopedic surgeon for a consultation.

- Maggie, Mr. Stendord has a fairly serious injury to his leg, from the first tests it seems the pedal bone was affected. It seems to be damaged, I think surgery will be necessary to fix the limb. Can you call someone from the orthopedic department to come and take a look? - he said looking a little tired

- Yes, I will do it right away - replied the nurse.

For a few moments she remained watching him and then asked him: - Will everything okay? Are you feeling okay? -

- Yes... I'm fine - he said slowly, obviously lying.

He didn't feel that bad, but he wasn't in such good shape either. He wasn't at his best anyway and as time passed the worse he seemed to be.

The pain he had been feeling since he woke up had gradually increased in intensity and was now quite strong, so much so that it was causing him shooting pains and making him sweat profusely. He would freeze every time he heard one trying to breathe.

- I'm not sure... why don't you get a look at yourself... - Maggie added

- I will if it's necessary. - the doctor replied, moving away from the nurses' station, which he seemed to be holding on to to keep himself upright, to get a coffee in the break room and get comfortable for a few moments.

He knew that coffee wasn't a good choice for him at that moment, but he needed it to get going and face his shift.

- Halstead, are you okay? - Rhodes asked, entering the room. Will was lying on the couch, deep in thought, he jumped - you look like you ran under a train today.- "

- Yes... everything's fine. I'm just tired... - he replied with a grimace that he tried to hide from his colleague's eyes.

- If you change your mind and want to talk to me about what's wrong, you know where to find me.. - Connor then said, leaving the room.

The young doctor rolled his eyes, after all he was fine.

- Will there is an arrival - Maggie's voice brought him back to reality, he was lost in his thoughts again.

As they left the room she added gently grabbing his arm:
- Hey, if you don't feel like continuing you can go home. You're pale as a ghost.-

The doctor ignored her words and headed towards the paramedics who were entering at that moment pushing the stretcher listening to what they were telling him.

But maybe the nurse wasn't completely wrong. Will noticed that he was struggling to follow the information that was being given to him, he had to put in more effort than usual because his mind was confused and he also felt the beginning of a bad headache.

His body was cold, his hands were freezing, a slight tremor ran through him, he definitely had a fever too.

Something was wrong and the more time passed the clearer it was to Will.

After fixing the patient, the young man disappeared for a moment and, before returning to begin examining him, took a painkiller hoping that it would ease the pain he was feeling.

Another in his place would have stopped, would have given in to the discomfort, but not him. He was there after all, he could very well work and finish the shift. That extra money was really useful to him.

After finishing examining Will he felt the need to go to the bathroom, but he had difficulty urinating. He tried and tried again, without success.

In pain he returned to work and headed back to his first patient of the day since the colleague he had been waiting for so long had arrived.

Observing from afar Halstead noticed that it was Dr. Ollistein, a rather unpleasant guy to everyone and he was sure that he would have argued with him, having, that guy, a very bad temper.

He took a deep breath before starting to approach but was forced to stop once again because of the pain that radiated in him.

- Hey, Halstead, why did you call? We are very busy upstairs! - said the doctor as the other slowly approached

- Ollistein! Just... I have a patient who needs you - he replied through gritted teeth both to try to manage the pain and to control himself not wanting to argue because he didn't have the strength.

Entering the patient's room Will explained everything to his colleague and he informed him that they would transfer him upstairs and organize the surgery.

Halstead leaned on the door jamb, outside in the room, trying to breathe through the pain.
It had gone well. This time he hadn't felt the need to argue and he had been lucky feeling disgusting.

To the mix of symptoms and pain he already had, his stomach had also added. He had cramps and felt slightly nauseous.

Doctor Ollister however did not miss the opportunity to make his final joke before going back upstairs. That man was so annoying.

- Go away Halstead, we need doctors here, not ghosts or human wrecks.

Will gritted his teeth and his hands into fists. How she wanted to answer him in kind or rather punch him in the face. Instead, no, he remained still trying to breathe.

- Will... Will... - Maggie called him trying to get his attention.

The young doctor opened his eyes, which he didn't know he had closed and slowly and awkwardly turned towards her.

- Are you okay? - she had been watching him all morning and it was easy for her to guess that something was wrong with him.

- Yes... I... I'm fine - he replied continuing to lie trying to control the pain.

- Will you are really pale... It worries me to see you like this... - said the nurse.

But the young man walked away pretending to have been called to get out of that conversation. He felt terrible and the more time passed the worse it was and it was becoming increasingly difficult to keep it hidden.

The doctor just wanted to be able to finish his shift. Then he would finally be able to find home.

His head was about to explode, every movement caused the feeling of pounding in his temples. Plus he felt that hint of nausea that was making its way inside him making him want to vomit.

Plus there was that dull pain in his back and the fact that he still hadn't managed to go to the bathroom.

Alone again, Will holed up once again in the medical room leaning as comfortably as possible on the sofa to sip a cup of coffee, but in a short time, without realizing it, he fell asleep.

After what seemed like a few minutes he was woken up by Connor and Ethan who were on break and had come into the medical room to get some coffee.

- Hey Will... - Rhodes said

The young doctor woke up with a start, he hadn't realized he had dozed off.

The cup of coffee that had been steaming before was there on the table in front of him, now cold.

Will ran his hand over his face and sat up straighter as a grimace appeared on his face. He didn't know how he had managed to sleep with that pain he was in. It had been a pretty restless sleep anyway.

- You were asleep, but you were complaining so we decided to wake you up. Is there something wrong? Did you have a nightmare? - Ethan asked

- Yeah, something like that! - Will replied grateful for not having to make up an excuse right away as soon as he woke up.

Sleeping, however, hadn't helped him at all, he felt worse than before.

The pain in his back hadn't gone down, nor had the pain in his head. In fact, you could say that both had gotten worse.

- Have you finished your shift? - Connor asked.

- Not yet, I have a couple of hours left. - he replied

Looking at his watch he was surprised, he had entered the medical room more or less at lunchtime and had slept about two hours, it was just after 3 pm.

- Have some hot coffee, it will fix you. - said Dr. Choi.

- Maybe you should eat something though... Did you have lunch? I have a sandwich here. - Rhodes added almost in a monologue. - or maybe you'd prefer to go to the bar... -

Will didn't feel like anything, he wasn't hungry at all, on the contrary. He had a headache and a stomachache and he felt like throwing up. In addition to the pain in his back that was now more than unbearable.

- I.. I ate something earlier, I don't have an appetite now... I'm just a little tired. - Will replied.

At that point the young man pushed the sandwich aside and so the colleague put it back and took the new cup of steaming coffee from the other's hands and started to drink its contents.

At first the warm liquid going down his throat made him feel good, but that didn't last long.

What a few moments before had gone down into his stomach now threatened to make its reappearance.

Feeling the urgent need to vomit Will stood up and excused himself. He put a hand in front of his mouth and, pretending to clear his throat, headed towards the exit of the room and then towards the bathroom as quickly as possible.

In addition, his phone had started to vibrate in his pocket and he seized this opportunity to walk away.

Instead of seeing who was looking for him, however, the doctor, as soon as he was out of sight of his colleagues, rushed to the bathroom, arriving in front of the toilet just in time to kneel down between one groan of pain and another to expel the meager contents of his stomach.

Once finished, after several fruitful and unsuccessful retches, he stopped for a few moments where he was trying to catch his breath, fighting against the pain with the metallic taste of bile in his mouth

He was crying, tears were falling from his eyes. They were due to a mix of the effort made and the pain he was feeling. They were falling on their own, without the doctor being able to stop them.

Then he slowly got up from the ground, trembling, and staggered towards the sink to rinse his face and mouth.

Unable to stand up, he leaned against the wall, trying to get rid of part of his weight and, taking his phone from his pocket, he checked who had been looking for him.

His head was beating in unison with his heart and every movement, as well as the sound of her voice, bothered him.

- Hey love! - a radiant Natalie greeted him
Instinctively he moved the phone away from his ear, answering with a simple "hey" said without conviction.

- Are you okay love? - asked the worried doctor hearing him like that.

- Yes.. I'm fine.. just a little tired... - he answered repeating the same old story. He didn't want to and couldn't worry his girlfriend.
Natalie wasn't convinced, but she decided not to go any further at that moment, not to ask her boyfriend anything else because she wouldn't get anything more. They would see each other in the evening, when Will would have finished his shift. She was free and had organized a little evening together.

After hanging up the call, Will left the bathroom, after putting on his usual mask that was now about to fall apart, and went to the nurses' station and sat there pretending to look through something on the computer without, however, being able to concentrate.

Maggie approached quietly and when she was behind him she put her hand on his forehead.

The young man hadn't realized anything, until the nurse's hand was in contact with his face. At that point it was too late to avoid it.

- Maggie... I'm fine... - he tried to say

- No Will! You're not well! You have a fever, you're not well at all. Is there anything else wrong? You look so pale and in pain - said the nurse worried about her friend.

- Nothing, Mags... Just a little headache and stomachache - he said sincerely.

He had been discovered, it was no longer worth pretending, but before he could say anything else, to tell her the main symptom, the nurse was forced to leave because she was called by one of the doctors to assist him..

- Go home Will, I'll call you later. - she said walking away.

The doctor sighed, there were still three hours to finish the 12-hour shift, but he felt he couldn't do it, so he decided to listen to the woman's advice and went to get his things to leave.

He would go home, he would take something for the fever and with rest he would surely be better. After all, he was a doctor and could handle what he thought was a simple flu.

Having put on his coat and vomited a little in a bag fortunately found there, he left the emergency room.

But not everything went as planned.

Having got rid of the bag, he slowly reached the car that was parked not far from the entrance to the emergency room and, having removed the snow from the glass, went to open the door to get in.

An excruciating pain caught him off guard. It was stronger than ever and the young man fainted, falling face down in the snow.

- Will? - Rhodes called, who had followed him.

His colleague immediately ran to his side and crouched down next to him.

Will wasn't responding, the pain was so great, he was just trying to manage it, to get himself together enough to go home.

- Will, let's get up, you can't stay here immersed in the snow, you'll freeze. - Connor said

The young man came to and knowing that his colleague was right, he opened his eyes and slowly forced himself to stand up.

A good part of his weight was on Connor and after locking the car, the two headed back to the emergency room.

Will shuffled his feet in the cold snow until he stopped suddenly, doubled over with a loud groan, starting to gag.

His legs suddenly buckled and he would have fallen if Rhodes had not been at his side to hold him up.

The surgeon needed help and it was at that moment that he glimpsed Silvye in the distance, who was leaving in the ambulance. She was the only one out there at the time and he called out to her asking her to get a wheelchair to help him while Will continued to vomit, crouched almost to the ground, writhing, moaning more and more from the pain he felt.

The paramedic acted immediately and in a few moments Will was placed in the chair, and when he had finally calmed down, he was pushed inside by his colleague.

- Get well soon doctor Halstead - he said before saying goodbye and getting back into the ambulance.

A few minutes later Will was in one of the rooms of the Med and Connor was examining him together with Maggie who had immediately followed the two as soon as she saw them enter.

- Will is there anything else that is not okay besides the headache, the pain in your stomach and the nausea? Maggie informed me, and your stomach is slightly bloated. - Rhodes said.

- My back hurts - he said in a voice full of pain, but honestly this time. - and I .... I can't pee. -

- How long has it been since you were able to urinate? How long have you had a fever? - Connor asked

- It all started this morning ... I took some anti-inflammatories hoping they would help a little. - said the young man

- Maybe it's an infection... that's why the fever - said Rhodes as he continued to examine him. - Maybe you have stones.

Connor began to feel Halstead's stomach and almost at the end, in the last quadrant Will felt an excruciating pain and began to scream unable to hold back.

Given the reaction, the doctor did an ultrasound to have further confirmation and that's how he saw it.

- There it is, do you see it Will? It's him that's causing you all this trouble. It's not big, but not that small either, it's stuck in your bladder. I'll give you some medicine, you should be able to break it and send it away. - explained the doctor speaking of a stone as if he were referring everything to a patient and not to his colleague.

- I know how it works, Connor - replied Will unable to bear the pain any longer.

- Come on, just a little more patience and it will all be over. - said the doctor.

Maggie then took Will's temperature, which was 102.2°F, and then inserted an IV into his arm, giving him medicine and an antipyretic to bring his temperature down.

A couple of hours later, Dr. Rhodes told his colleague that he could go home, as long as he wasn't alone. It was just a matter of time now, of waiting.

Finally, after Will had done some tests and being hydrated, Maggie called Natalie who picked him up from the hospital and took him home to her.

When they arrived at her apartment, the doctor made Will lie down on the bed and he moved around a bit until he found a comfortable position.

The young man was a little dizzy, perhaps due to the effect of the medicine he had been given.

Natalie decided to take his temperature first to make sure it wasn't going up, but he didn't agree with her.

- Nat I'm fine! - he said in a pained voice.

- Shut up and rest, you know well that I have to monitor your temperature and your condition.- she said and when she had finished Will's eyes closed and he fell asleep exhausted, even if annoyed by the pain he felt.

Doctor Manning in the meantime lay down next to him and stroked his hair even though it was sweaty.

The two fell asleep and Natalie was then woken up by Will's moans.

- Will... Hey Will... - she said trying to wake him.

The doctor was nauseous and at the same time had a great need to go to the bathroom, plus she only had to touch him to realize that his temperature had increased and that he had a high fever.

The few steps from the bed to the bathroom, which was in the room, were agony for Will, every step he took he felt the stars. Tears silently fell from his face while he leaned heavily on his girlfriend.

After several minutes he reached the bathroom and then Will slowly knelt down and started vomiting, shaking like a leaf while Natalie caressed his back.

The doctor began to think about what to do. Maybe it would be better to take him back to the hospital and have him operated. He had already had the medicine to break up the stones and it didn't seem to have worked.

When he had calmed down she wiped his face with a wet towel trying to give him a little relief before taking him back to the bedroom. Without thinking about it anymore, however, instead of making him lie down, she made him put on her jacket and after having wrapped him in a blanket she lifted him up taking on most of her weight, dragging him down to the car.

His temperature was really high and he was definitely dehydrated she couldn't leave him at home.

Natalie managed to get to the car just in time and open the passenger door before Will's legs gave out and his whole body went limp just as she was placing him in the seat.

Once they arrived at the hospital, Manning then asked for a stretcher and Will was placed on it and taken into the emergency room.

- Maggie which room is free? - asked the doctor

The nurse answered by indicating the trauma room two, then calling Connor before joining his friends.

By the time Rhodes arrived, Will had recovered a little, although he looked quite confused, very very pale and sweaty.

- He's in pain and dehydrated - Manning said as Will started vomiting again this time without bringing out almost anything.

- I've already put him on an IV to give him fluids - Maggie said

- Good - Connor replied - also put him on an antipyretic, what's his temperature? -

- 103,64° doctor - Lockwood said

The doctor did another ultrasound and, noting that the drugs had had no effect, waited for the temperature to drop a bit and then had him prepped to take him to the operating room.

It was a relatively simple procedure. The young doctor was put to sleep with anesthesia and then Connor inserted a tube endoscopically destroying the stone with the laser.

Will woke up several hours later in one of the hospital rooms. He was a little confused because of the anesthesia and because the last thing he remembered was being at his girlfriend's house. He was also relieved that he didn't feel the same as before. The pain was finally gone.

At his side was Natalie, who looked after him and cuddled him, taking care of him.

The doctor had to stay in the hospital for three days, but he was never alone. His brother, his friends and colleagues often came to visit him, especially when Natalie had to go home to be with her son or was on duty at the hospital.

Those days in company passed quickly and Will was soon able to go home and after a few more days spent resting, also to work.

Chapter Text

For some time now Jay had started feeling strange, although, according to him, there was nothing to worry about.

He was busy with the team fighting crime. Those were weeks of fire for the city of Chicago. Robberies, drug cases and murders followed one another without giving the poor detectives a break.

On March 6th, Jay had set his alarm to go off at 6:00.
He intended to go for a run, like every morning, to release some tension, but on that occasion, he stayed in bed instead.

Leaving the house at that hour was asking too much of himself.

That night he woke up with a start feeling dizzy. Around 3:40 his stomach began to churn causing him to feel very nauseous.

He had already felt ill in the evening, around 10pm, vomiting everything he had eaten about an hour before when he returned home.

In the end he collapsed on the bed exhausted, hoping to be able to sleep a little to recover his energy and face a new day of work.

Something was happening and he knew it. It wasn't normal to feel the way he did at that moment.

Yes, he would wake up in the middle of the night sweating and shaking from nightmares, but that wasn't the case.

Unable to lie down any longer, Jay slowly began to get up and sit up in bed.

His stomach was bothering him, it hurt and he tried to ease the pain by massaging it a little.

Unfortunately, it wasn't the first time it happened, the pain had been torturing him for days.

Dull or shooting pains would strike him, especially at night, preventing him from sleeping.

Furthermore, for days he had been eating very little, on the one hand because he was overloaded with work, on the other because of the nausea he often felt and which led him to vomit more and more often.

Precisely because of the nausea he had also started skipping meals, limiting himself to consuming coffee, also in slightly reduced quantities. He could not allow himself to feel sick at work, he was needed, the criminals had to be stopped.

His symptoms had been presenting for more than a fortnight. At first he had assumed that it could be food poisoning or the flu, but as time passed he began to doubt this.

Rubbing his eyes he got up, it was still dark outside, the dead of night. He should have stayed in bed and tried to fall asleep again, which is something you expect to do at almost 4 in the morning, but he couldn't.

He slowly began to move around the house. His head hurt, which he said was caused by lack of sleep and perhaps by dehydration since he was vomiting quite often, at least once a day.

He felt dizzy when he moved and began to lean on the walls and furniture of the house to go to the bathroom. He even avoided turning on the light, thinking it might accentuate his migraine.

But Jay had to get back in shape to go to work.

When he reached the bathroom he turned on the small light above the mirror, wanting to avoid the brighter one. He was about to wash his face when he stopped to look at his reflection.

He was very very pale and must have lost a few pounds as he appeared to be less plump than before.

After undressing, shivering from the cold he felt, he entered the shower looking for some relief.

He felt so strange, so confused and it was starting to affect him at work, where luckily no one seemed to have noticed yet. He was managing to hide it well with others.

The warm water made him feel a little better and he stood under the shower for a while trying to wash himself.

It would have been better to go to the hospital and get checked out, or maybe even just call Will and ask for advice, but he didn't.

Something was wrong, he knew it, but finally he shook his head and grabbed his towel, stepped out of the shower and tremblingly headed to the bedroom to get dressed.

He put on a short-sleeved shirt and a blue sweater over it and a pair of jeans. It was March, but it was still cool, especially early in the morning.

He slowly made his way to the kitchen, nibbling on some dry toast hoping it would help with the nausea, and then headed to the couch, turning on the TV and channel surfing.

A few moans escaped his lips and he let himself go, curled up on the couch, trying to deal with the pain, which came in waves, breathing deeply with his eyes closed.

The next thing he heard was the doorbell ringing, which startled him awake. He hadn't realized he was asleep.

Someone was knocking on the door, firmly calling his name.

Groaning he headed for the door, it was his colleague Hailey.

- Jay, finally! You had me worried! - she exclaimed as soon as she saw him.

Then noticing the strange expression on his face she continued: - We had an appointment at the bar, I waited for you for half an hour but you didn't show up, and so I came here. - she said all in one breath and then added in a low voice - I thought something had happened to you...-

- No, I... sorry... I'm sorry... - Jay stammered trying to connect and wake up completely - come in, I'll get my jacket and we'll go.

And so he did, also taking the cell phone and the house keys, following his colleague to her car.

He was happy that she was there and that she was giving him a ride. He didn't feel like driving.

- Bad night? - Hailey then asked seeing him in the passenger seat while he was sighing with his eyes closed.

- Uhm? Yes... - he replied

- Nightmares? - she asked and he nodded once again leaving her unaware of the real reason.

- Headache? - the detective asked after a while.

- Atrocious.. - explained the young man, noticing that his colleague had stopped. They had arrived in front of the bar near the district.

Without adding anything else, she offered him two Advil, but he refused, saying he had already taken them for fear of making his stomach pain worse.

Shortly after purchasing two coffees, the two headed to the office, each reaching their desks and getting to work.

- Let me know if anything changes... - Hailey told him in a low voice before walking away while he responded with a nod.

Jay was fine, he was just tired.

He was trying to concentrate on putting together some clues regarding the murder they were investigating when Voight arrived and started asking questions and giving orders.

- Halsted? - he called with his gruff voice being the only one distracted, he hadn't noticed his presence. - Jay? -

- Yes, sorry... I was just checking.... - replied the young detective trying to construct an excuse.

- Is everything okay? - asked the sergeant in a paternal manner.

- Yes, good... - he replied, then interrupted by Adam.

Jay tried to concentrate while listening to the information his colleague was giving and without being noticed he put his arm around the aching stomach that wouldn't leave him alone.

The car ride had made him feel worse, the nausea had increased. He had even pretended to drink his coffee, hiding it to avoid feeling sick.

He had to put the pieces of the case puzzle together as quickly as possible.
He had to concentrate, connect the information, only then maybe he could go home to rest.

But doing this was not easy.
His head was pounding in unison with his heart and even though he was quite dressed he felt cold, right down to his bones even though he tried to control himself from shivering.

A sharp pain in his stomach hit him unexpectedly while Jay was still sitting behind the computer. The young man did not move, trying to breathe through the pain, through the unshed tears, keeping his face stoic and expressionless.

If someone had observed him carefully, however, they would have noticed how he was breathing or how he was gripping the pen in his hand so tightly that it was breaking.

In the room at that moment there were only Hailey and Antonio who were looking at him worriedly.

The senior detective approached the young man, placing a hand on his forehead to check his temperature after exchanging glances with his colleague who was further away at the time.

But luckily Jay didn't have a fever, it was something else that was bothering him.

- Are you sure you're okay? - Dawson asked, making sure he was in his young colleague's field of vision. - You look pale.

- Yes, I'm fine - the young man replied almost through gritted teeth. - I'm just tired...-

Jay wanted to cry, to scream about how he felt, but he couldn't. He would only let go when he was home alone.

However, sitting in front of the computer was making his headache worse, and so the young man preferred to shift his attention to his paper notes.

He rested his head against his hand and slowly, without realizing it, his eyes became heavy and his eyelids closed. He had fallen asleep right where he was, sitting at his desk and what was worse, at his workplace.

Hailey and Antonio noticed him and chose to leave him alone, deciding not to wake him as long as possible. They had considered moving him to the break room and making him lie down on the couch, but in the end they chose not to, knowing that Jay would refuse.

Every now and then they saw him start and frown, but the young man was always deeply asleep, although bothered by something.

About an hour later Kim and Adam returned to the district after having gone to speak once again with the victim's parents and at about the same time the sergeant came out of his office and headed towards the detectives.

Antonio, who was sitting on Jay's desk, hit the young man in the arm, causing him to wake up, covering him for a moment to allow him to recover.

Jay reacted by almost attacking his colleague before realizing where he was and rubbing his eyes.
He felt worse than he had before he fell asleep.

His head was exploding and it felt like someone was twisting a knife in his stomach.

He tried to straighten himself out before his colleague moved away from in front of him, though.

- So? What's new? - asked the sergeant.

- The Corbays confirmed the presence of a white van near their home in the days preceding the murder and described a short white man who was wandering around the neighborhood.

At that moment Jay's mind lit up. He had seen someone like that on surveillance video from one of the nearby facilities.

- We have a correspondence! - he exclaimed, trying not to let the tremor show in his voice.

He had started typing something on the computer to show his colleagues and the sergeant when another pang hit his stomach leaving him breathless for a few seconds.. His body stiffened, his breathing hitched and his face scrunched up in pain that luckily no one seemed to notice as they were all standing behind him waiting to see what he wanted to show them.

- Jay? - the sergeant called after him as he stopped.

Slowly the young man began typing again, showing images of a man walking through the neighborhood, observing what was happening in the nearby houses.

- Enlarge the image Halstead! - said the sergeant

The young man was sweating coldly, the pain was really strong, but despite this he tried to do what he had to do.

Once he saw the images Voight ordered everyone to find the man's name and hiding place and Jay was grateful for the fact that he could hide behind the PC screen again.

Everyone was busy for about two hours before taking a break for lunch.

Jay was getting worse and worse and, strangely for someone like him, he was thinking about going home. In his state he just couldn't go on.

- I made sandwiches for everyone,- Kim exclaimed, carrying a tray into the room where everyone was working.

- Wow, what are we celebrating? - asked Antonio

- Nothing,- Burgess replied.

- And who can assure us that you don't want to poison us? - Adam added jokingly.

Kim responded with a fake laugh and as her colleagues approached to get their Halstead sandwiches, she slowly walked away.

- Jay where are you going? - asked Hailey who never lost sight of him

- You better get the sandwich before they all disappear. - Adam added

- Yes, I'll be right back - the young man replied, trying to keep his voice steady.

He needed a moment to himself.
So he headed to the bathroom, the furthest one, the one isolated near the cabinets, and rinsed his face, taking the time to breathe and recover for a moment.

He felt terrible, his throat was burning, he felt very nauseous and so he found himself hunched over the sink vomiting a mixture of bile and gastric juices without even having time to move towards the toilet.

What he saw terrified him. There were red stains in the sink, which could only be one thing, blood.

His heart was pounding in his chest with fear and it was pounding in unison in his head.
He didn't know what was the right thing to do, he had to at least warn Will or run to the Med.

In the end, however, he simply tried to calm down, he would solve the case and only then contact his brother.

It took a while, but he eventually recovered and regained his composure enough to return to the others.
He stopped at the lockers to change his shirt into a heavier one because he was shivering and feeling cold, really hoping that someone had eaten his lunch in the meantime.

- You're late, - Adam joked again as he saw him enter the bullpen.

- Too bad! - Jay exclaimed, pretending to be sorry, and drank a few sips of water to get rid of the bad taste in his mouth.

- Here, I put one aside for you, - Kim said, handing the sandwich to his colleague, whom he considered a brother.

- But when did you get it? - asked Adam

- Before you could devour it! - she replied.

Jay sat back down at his desk staring at the sandwich in his hand with no desire to eat it.
Maybe he should have admitted he was sick, even if he would have been sent home.

- Hey, are you okay? You look really pale... - Antonio asked, approaching him and pulling him out of his thoughts.

- Yes I'm fine.. I'm.... just tired... I'm not sleeping well these days. - said the young man

- Are you sure it's just that? Jay, I can see you're not well! You're pale and you've lost a lot of weight lately. - continued the older detective - If you want to talk about it, I'm here. -

Feeling the eyes of his colleague, Hailey and Kim on him, Jay reluctantly took a bite of his sandwich, complimenting the girl who had prepared them.

With each bite his stomach reacted with revulsion and after taking a few more small ones, taking advantage of a moment of distraction from the others, he hid the sandwich pretending to have finished it.

An hour later the group finally had a lead. They had discovered the identity of the killer and where he was hiding. So they all converged on the agreed upon location.

They got into the car in pairs and drove to an old farmhouse that looked abandoned. Jay was in the car with Hailey and had spent the ride sitting with one hand on his stomach and his eyes closed trying to deal with the nausea since the motion of the car wasn't helping.

Despite everything, the young detective was still standing and struggling to move forward.

When they got on the scene Voight gave the orders and everyone settled in.

Hailey and Kevin were on guard outside the house, the sergeant entered through the front door with Adam and Kim, Jay and Antonio through the back door.

The house appeared to be completely uninhabited and every room that was searched was found to be empty.

After checking the kitchen Halstead and Dawson headed towards the living room when a movement behind them caught the younger man's attention.

.

A man resembling the suspect had just escaped through the back door.

Jay immediately took off running after him and Antonio followed him a few moments after giving the escape alarm over the radio.

Unable to run any longer, the suspect stopped and attacked Halstead, throwing several punches. One of them hit the detective in the stomach, right where he was sore.

The young man remained motionless and breathless for a moment, but then reacted by blocking the man and handcuffing him.

Kevin, Adam and Antonio arrived at the scene almost simultaneously.

- You're a great Jay! Awesome as always! You managed to catch him! - Ruzrlk said

But the boy didn't answer, he didn't say anything. He continued to hold the suspect still with clenched teeth, fighting against the pain.

- Take Simons and take him to the districtp. - Antonio ordered his two colleagues who obeyed, taking the man from the young man's hands.

As soon as his hands were free, Jay placed one of them on his stomach and, trembling, began to move towards his colleague.

- Are you okay? Did he hit you? - Dawson asked him.

- Everything's okay... - Halstead replied, a little out of breath, only having time to take a few steps away before doubled over and vomiting the little he had ingested.

Antonio was immediately at his side to give him support while waiting for the boy to recover.

Jay was vomiting profusely, alarming his colleague especially when he noticed what was on the asphalt.
Among the food, the gastric juices, there was something red, in a fair amount.

- Shit Jay you're vomiting blood! - Antonio exclaimed and with his free hand, while supporting the young man who was slowly collapsing without strength, he took out his cell phone to call an ambulance.

- I... am fine... - Jay mumbled, dazed, sitting on the side of the road.

- Stop talking bullshit! You're not well, you're going to the hospital! - Dawson exclaimed very worried

- No hospital... no... please... - Jay felt faint and despite everything he continued to try to resist.

The 61 arrived on the scene about three minutes later and Dawson was grateful that his sister and Shay were there to help him.

Halstead was not an easy customer at all and the senior detective was convinced he would fight to avoid being transported to the hospital.

But this did not happen, because the young man, who was sitting on the ground with all his weight against Antonio sitting next to him, had almost fallen asleep.

- What happened? - Gabriela asked, approaching her brother.

- I don't know, he chased and caught a suspect and a few moments later he vomited, there's blood.

The two paramedics began examining Jay and Silvye inserted the needle into his arm to put him on an IV without him even batting an eyelid.

Suddenly, young Halstead turned around, vomiting some more bile mixed with blood, and was then loaded into the ambulance and taken straight to the Med.

Dr. Choi immediately took him into his care and the tests carried out revealed that he had a fairly serious ulcer which was immediately treated with drugs.
He would remain in hospital for one night for observation and then return home where he would continue the antibiotic treatment for at least two weeks.p

Chapter Text

Good morning, does anyone want to give me a suggestion for v? Infinite thanks to whoever writes to me

Chapter Text

Will wasn't feeling well. When he woke up that morning he knew something was wrong.

He was uncomfortable, annoyed.

In reality, his body had been trying to send him signals for days, but the doctor was so busy carrying out his duties that he didn't realize it.

Too many things to do, too many thoughts in his head: the rent to pay, the car to fix...

The alarm had been ringing for about half an hour but he was still in bed, and even though he had just woken up, he felt tired, exhausted, dizzy.

But slowly he forced himself and stood up to get ready. He only had an hour to get to the hospital and start his shift. He couldn't afford a day off, he wasn't feeling that bad.

Many people would have needed him, various pathologies that he could have cured by alleviating their suffering.

This was exactly why he became a doctor, to help people who are suffering by doing everything he could to make them feel better.

He had promised himself this when he saw his mother begin the ordeal of the disease. He would help people get better.

He always put others before himself, he gave them more importance while neglecting his own being.

Will had been feeling a slight pain in his stomach for a couple of days. Nothing too severe, a slight discomfort that he thought would go away on its own with time, but things don't always go the way you want or imagine.

He knew he needed rest, but there were too many things on his mind to even consider staying in bed.

He was so tired.. he was dragging his feet around the house and his movements were slower than usual.

Around 7:40 someone rang the intercom.

It was Natalie, she had come to pick up Will because his car was at the mechanic for a change. She and Will had arranged it the day before, but the doctor didn't remember at that moment.

- Good morning, he said, sighing wearily once he reached the car and sat down in the passenger seat.

- Hey good morning - Natalie replied giving him a kiss on the lips - is everything okay?

- It's okay, I didn't sleep very well last night - he replied trying to act as usual so as not to worry his girlfriend. After all, he had nothing. Just a slight stomachache and that wasn't the end of the world.

- Come on, you need to recover a bit though, we have a hard day of work ahead of us. I know what you need! - she said earning a questioning look from him.- of a nice cup of coffee. How about we stop and grab one at the bar? We still have a few minutes to spare.

- No thank you, I got it at home. - Will lied. He really needed a good coffee, but he didn't want to aggravate the discomfort in his stomach.

So the two went straight to work and started their activities.

Will began to visit one patient after another without stopping for a moment. The emergency room was full of people waiting to be seen, and focusing on them helped distract him and take his mind off his discomfort.

Even though he felt tired and just wanted to lie down and sleep, he kept going, trying to resist. He seemed to be on autopilot.

Around 11:30, after almost 4 hours, Will stopped at the nurses' station. He hadn't seen Natalie since and was kind of glad about that.
She sensed that he wasn't in top form and didn't want to have to pretend and lie to her.

Will, however, had not considered Maggie. She too was capable of recognizing the smallest signs of discomfort. She was very attentive, especially with the people she cared about and the doctor was like a brother to her.

The nurse was chatting with Ethan, Connor, Doris, and April. Everyone was laughing and joking, except Will.

Usually he was an active participant in conversations, but on this occasion he remained silent and on the sidelines. That, to Lockwood, was an indication that something was not right with him.

Diverting conversation Maggie approached Dr. Halstead...

- Hey Will! - she called smiling, attracting his attention.

The young man raised his head from the magazine he was pretending to read, unable to concentrate, and after blinking he put on his mask and turned to her with a lopsided smile.

It wasn't difficult to understand, however, that it was a fake, constructed smile, since it didn't light up his eyes.

- How are you? Everything okay? - Maggie asked starting the conversation, wanting to try to find out something.
Looking at him closely he realized how pale his friend was, much more than usual.

- Yes, I'm fine.. - he said trying to be convincing.

At that moment, however, there was a new arrival.
Two paramedics entered the emergency room pushing a stretcher with an elderly lady on it.

Maggie was forced to walk away, but she had promised herself that she would look into the matter further at another time.

Will was relieved not to have to explain himself and slowly returned to work.
He needed to do something to distract himself, the pain in his stomach was gradually getting stronger.

As time passed, the young doctor became more aware that he was not well, and even though he continued to maintain his charade with others, he knew that something was wrong.

He felt cold to the bone and had recently started shivering. He definitely had a high fever, but despite that he took a few deep breaths and tried to compose himself before going into the waiting room to call another patient.

- Doctor Halstead - Doris called him - patient for you, expected 10 minutes.

Hearing this, Will wasted no time, organized everything that could be useful to him and then left the emergency room to wait for the ambulance to arrive.

He sat down on the bench near the door, but when the ambulance arrived the patient was already dead. There was nothing he could do.

Back at the hospital, he headed to the bathroom. His forehead was sweaty, his heart was beating fast and he was struggling to breathe, he was panting.

If it had been anyone else in his place, he would have burst into tears by now, he would have screamed...

From an early age, it had been instilled in him that the Halsteads were strong, tough men who endured the hardest times and never cried.
He had learned over the years to hide his pain, his ailments. He could not let himself be seen as weak.

He was now good at keeping his mask on, he smiled and talked to everyone he met and managed to put his patients at ease despite everything.

As soon as he entered the bathroom, however, a piercing pain hit him.
His stomach was on fire and he managed to get into one of the boxes before sliding against the wall, taking a while to recover and get back on his feet.

It took several minutes and all his willpower but he finally left the stall and went to the sink to rinse his sweaty face.

- Will - Connor called him

Young Halstead was frightened. He had not noticed his presence.

- Are you okay? - he asked him

- Yes, I'm fine, just a little tired - the red-haired doctor replied, trying not to show the pain he was feeling, trying to ignore it and manage it by taking longer breaths.

Even though he tried to lie about his condition, Connor, like Maggie and Natalie, had realized that he was a cheater. Unfortunately, it was a crazy day and without a moment's rest, so he couldn't go into more detail either.

After leaving the bathroom, Dr. Halstead went back to work without stopping, not even for a lunch break.

He felt weak, tired and had no appetite. A slight nausea was creeping into him and so he preferred to continue visiting patients rather than going to the hospital bar.

In a rare moment of respite in the early afternoon, Will headed into one of the spare rooms, a secluded one, and lay down for a bit after taking a stomach calmer and a mild painkiller.

Lying there on the bed made him feel a little better, helped by having taken the medicine even though he was aware that perhaps it would have been better not to take it to avoid the risk of making the situation worse.

>

Having about half an hour to spare, he let himself go and, overcome by exhaustion, slipped into a disturbed sleep until his pager went off and he was forced to force himself to get up and go back to work.

He had to lie still for a few minutes, holding himself up in bed to stop the dizziness, and take deep breaths to control the urge to vomit.

After leaving the room, he headed towards the nurses' station to grab his tablet and get back to work, when a sharp pain in his stomach suddenly hit him, forcing him to stop once again.

The doctor grabbed the edge of the table, squeezing with all his strength and doing the same with his teeth, as hard as he could without crying and screaming even though he wanted to so much.

It was a piercing, unbearable pain.

But no one noticed his suffering even though the mask had collapsed. At that moment, everyone was busy with work or still on break. He seemed to be reading something on the counter.

Will was feeling terrible, the more time passed the worse it got. He had never felt so bad.

In addition to the pain in his stomach, he was having trouble focusing his eyes, had a high fever, and the nausea was increasing by the minute.

Halstead, nonostante tutto, cercò in tutti i modi di resistere, ma iniziava a non farcela più. Voleva urlare, si sentiva svenire ed aveva le vertigini.

Fu allora che tutto crollò.

Moans of pain escaped Will's lips and he suddenly began to slump toward the ground. His eyes were closed, hoping to stop the movement of what was around him, and one hand was clenched into a fist in front of his stomach.

The first to notice the situation was Maggie who immediately approached him to help him and support him before he fell to the ground.

Immediately behind her was a tired, but alarmed Connor who had just emerged from the operating room.

- Hey Will, don't worry, we got you - she comforted him worriedly, helping him sit on the floor.

The doctor was now sitting with his back to the counter, hunched over and consumed by pain. His heart rate was elevated from his state, but also from the fear he felt.

The surgeon looked at him and froze. Crouching down so that he was facing his colleague, he noticed that Will was crying.

Tears were streaming down her eyes as she was breathing heavily.

Halstead opened his eyes suddenly and his colleague and the nurse could see pure terror in them. The younger one was in a panic.

- Maggie get a stretcher - Connor ordered, assuming it could be a heart attack. Will's voice, coming out as if it were a whisper, however, stopped him:

- I... I don't... - the red-haired doctor tried to say, bringing a shaking hand to his mouth - I'm vomiting.. -

Rhodes moved behind Will to support him and rub his back while Maggie positioned the retrieval bowl under his chin just in time for him to start vomiting.

It took a while but Will finally collapsed sideways, without an ounce of energy left, onto Connor.

The surgeon and the nurse looked at each other in terror after seeing the contents of the basin and Will's still dirty mouth. The young man had vomited blood.

TO BE CONTINUED

Chapter Text

Amidst the hustle and bustle of Chicago, Jay, a police detective, found himself confronting not only the city's crimes, but also an internal battle that tested him to the limit.

At 33, his life seemed perfect: he had a job, a network of trusted colleagues, his family, and, Will, his brother.

Everything was going swimmingly, until one day, he began to feel strange.

Jay was experiencing dizziness and mild difficulty balancing.

In his opinion, stubborn as he was, it was all due to accumulated fatigue from his job.

The long hours spent questioning suspects, reviewing evidence, and chasing criminals through the city streets were starting to take their toll.

As the days passed, however, the symptoms worsened.

He often woke up in the middle of the night, the room spinning around him like a crazy carousel, and often in the morning he found himself vomiting in the bathroom, nausea gripping his throat.

Despite it all, he decided not to stop. The idea of appearing weak in front of his colleagues frightens him more than the illness itself.

With a forced smile, he continued his work, shuffling around the precinct and out.

Naturally, his colleagues began to notice the change.

Jay wasn't responding as usual, he was increasingly isolated and seemed distant.

Sometimes, he'd even stop talking, staring blankly into nothingness.

His ears didn't seem to hear their voices, so Jay convinced himself he'd gone deaf.

One day, while he was examining some evidence, he felt worse than ever.

He was alone in the office at the time. Given his condition, Voight had left him at his desk.

He'd been feeling that slight tingling around him for days, but suddenly he seemed to have entered a vortex.

His stomach was in turmoil and twisted with intense nausea.

Feeling like he was about to vomit, Jay rose from his chair, hoping to reach, if not the bathroom — too far to reach in his state — then at least the break room.

As soon as he stood, however, his legs wobbled, and Jay fell to his knees, unable to stand up as everything kept moving.

Wanting to maintain some composure, as his mouth filled with saliva and bile, he grabbed the wastebasket he found in front of him and began emptying the meager contents of his stomach into it.

The world began to go dark. He felt so sick. The dizziness was truly unbearable.

Just as he was losing consciousness, his colleagues arrived, came up the stairs, and saw him collapse to the floor.

Everyone was worried, immediately surrounding him, but he seemed distant, not there at that moment.

Antonio was at his side, taking control of the situation and ordering everyone to move away while gently shaking him.

- Move over, give him some space. Let him breathe! - he said. - Kevin, take care of the wastebasket. Jay? Hey, Jay, can you hear me?-

When he came to, the detective began to look around in a daze, even though his world was quite blurry and in motion.

He could make out Antonio, even though the contours of his face weren't clear. He was saying something; he noticed his lips moving, but he couldn't make out what.

It was as if he were trapped in another dimension where sound no longer existed.

- Al, get Will Halstead,- the sergeant ordered, crouching behind Jay's head, trying to get his attention while simultaneously keeping him calm.

Unfortunately, Will wasn't at the hospital that day.

He was on duty in the ambulance, ready to treat anyone in need, as there was a city event.

The doctor had his cell phone with him, which was vibrating insistently in his jacket pocket, but he didn't notice.

He was treating a child who had fainted, apparently due to the heat that day, and precisely because of the mugginess, the doctor had taken off his uniform and rolled up his sleeves.

- He's not answering! - Al exclaimed loudly after making two calls, letting the phone ring until the last ring. Then he added, - I'm calling the hospital.-

- Chicago Med, - said the voice on the other end.

- Meggie, it's Al, - the detective replied, recognizing the nurse. - I need to talk to Will Halstead, but I can't reach him.-

- Will's at the demonstration with the paramedics today, he's on ambulance duty,- Lockwood explained. - What's going on?-

- Jay's passed out, he's dazed. He's awake, but he's not responding when we talk to him. I was hoping he could pop over and check on him, without having to call an ambulance. You know how Jay is...- he said.

- I can try to contact him, but I doubt he'll be able to get there. Wait, maybe I could send Ethan over there. - Maggie said and then the two said goodbye.

The nurse called Choi and began explaining the situation when the emergency room doors opened and Will entered, pushing the stretcher with the baby.

He was performing compressions as the stretcher was wheeled in.

While examining the boy, the doctor had noticed that there was more to him than just heat, so he decided to take him to the hospital for further tests.

Unfortunately, everything had gotten worse during the trip.

As soon as she saw him, the nurse ran toward him, pulling him away from what he was doing, allowing Choi to take over.

- Maggie, what the...- the young doctor exclaimed in surprise as she pulled him away.

- Al called, something's happened to Jay, he's fainted! He needs you. Ethan will take care of the baby, you run! -

Will told him, running back to the ambulance and they immediately set off for the district.

The doctor's heart was pounding with worry, and the few minutes it took to get to the station felt like years. In his mind, he kept repeating:
- Don't worry, little brother! I'm coming! Hang in there! -

A thousand scenarios flashed through his mind, some serious, not having so much information.

When he entered the building, Trudy Platt accompanied him.

He climbed the steps two at a time and then found himselve in front of Jay, who was lying on the floor. He was pale and shaking, and the young doctor immediately rushed to his side.

- Jay, come on, talk to me. I'm here, little brother! - he said, but his words seemed to vanish into thin air, as if they'd never reach the detective's mind.

Desperate, Will decided to take him to Chicago Med and, with the help of the paramedics, got Jay onto the stretcher and loaded him into the ambulance.

Once at the hospital, Will met Ethan, who, being free, took charge of Jay and began examining him immediately.

Choi knew Jay's history and his determination well.

After a series of tests, Ethan discovered that Jay suffered from acute vestibular disease, a rare and debilitating condition.

He explained that, even though he had ignored his body's signals, he could make a full recovery.

While Jay was being treated, Will stayed by his side and never left him alone, without being replaced by any of his colleagues.

The young detective felt a sense of relief knowing he wasn't alone and that, even though he was fragile at that moment, he could gather his strength and fight to return to a normal life.

As therapy progressed, Jay slowly regained control. The nausea subsided, the dizziness diminished, and finally, the oppressive silence began to dissolve.

Sounds returned, and with them the awareness of how precious communication, human interaction, is.

Young Halstead understood that there was nothing wrong with asking for help and that vulnerability can become strength.

When Jay left the hospital, he hugged Will gratefully.

- Thank you for helping me, Will! - he exclaimed, tears in the corners of his eyes.

The road to complete recovery would still be long, but Jay knew he wouldn't face it alone because his brother, as well as his in-laws from the district, would be with him.

Chapter Text

Hi... any suggestions with the letter W? For Will... I'm not a native English speaker and I'm having difficulty with these last letters.

Chapter Text

Halstead was a good doctor. One of those who truly listened to his patients, who wasn't afraid to get his hands dirty or fight for what he believed in.
He was cheerful, empathetic, capable of a kindness rare in the frenetic world of the emergency room.

That morning, young Halstead entered Chicago Med with a quick step and an attentive gaze. He nodded to a couple of colleagues, exchanging a few words with them, and then headed for the locker room.

Putting on his white coat, which for him was more than just a work outfit, but a part of him, he grabbed a cup of coffee, sipping it for a moment before starting work.

He hadn't even had time to leave the room when Maggie intercepted him in the hallway, tablet in hand and her eyes as bright as ever.

- Will, I need you. You need to go to Trauma 2. A man just arrived with a deep stab wound to the abdomen. He's stable, but we need to intervene,- the nurse told him.

Halstead nodded without hesitation.
- Okay. I'm going.-

The doctor entered Trauma 2, where the patient, already hooked up to an IV and monitor, was located.
He was a pale, middle-aged man with a large temporary bandage on his stomach. His eyes were wide and he was breathing heavily.

- Good morning, I'm Dr. Halstead. What's your name? - Will said, introducing himself.

- M-Michael...- the patient replied.

- Okay, Michael. You're at Chicago Med. You're safe. You have a wound in your abdomen, but we're taking care of you, okay? - the doctor asked, starting to examine him.

Will put on gloves and positioned himself beside the patient. Calmly, he asked April for scissors and gauze, who was assisting him as she began to stitch. As he worked, he spoke in a calm, almost paternal tone.

- You did well to come right away. Do you remember how it happened? - He asked.

Michel replied:
- Yes, but the details are fuzzy.-

Will concentrated: the wound was very deep, but fortunately, it hadn't severed any vital organs. All it took was precision and a lot of calm.

And Will had plenty of that.

Having finished suturing with sure hands, the doctor covered the wound with a new dressing.

Michael thanked him as the young doctor discarded his gloves and prepared to leave the room.

A strange feeling gripped him. It wasn't fear, but he didn't know what to associate with it.

Still, he said nothing, preparing to leave, but first he turned to April: - Let's monitor the parameters, I'll see him later.-

He was about to leave the room when his eyes fell on Michael's right arm, where the sleeve was slightly raised. The man had a tattoo.

It was a stylized snake wrapped around a skull. It looked professionally inked.

But Will didn't pay much attention and left the room.

What no one knew—not Will, not the Med staff—was that Michael was one of the most feared names in Chicago's drug trade. A faceless man in the web of organized crime. Injured, but still in the game. And now, right in the heart of the hospital, he had found the perfect refuge.

Will headed toward Maggie. He was about to check the next patient's file when the cell phone in his lab coat pocket began to vibrate.

"Jay" flashed on the screen.

Will sighed and answered. He felt a knot in his stomach.

His brother almost never calls him during the day, especially when he knew he was on duty.

- Jay? What's up? Are you okay? - he asked in a breath.

There was a brief silence on the other end. Then Jay's voice came, serious but calm:
- Will, I'm fine. But you have to come to the precinct. Right now. Voight wants to talk to you. It's... urgent.-

Will breathed a sigh of relief, but his heart was still pounding.
- Christ, you freaked me out. I thought something had happened to you. -

- I know. Sorry. But I really don't need you to come here to the district. -

Will paused.
- Wait, what? Jay, I'm on duty. I just finished with a patient with a stab wound. I'm working, I can't just drop everything like this.-
he replied.

- I know. But believe me, it's not a request. Voight never says 'urgent' unless it really is, - Jay replied.

Will was silent for a second. He tried to read between the lines. Jay would never bring this up unless it were truly important.

The young doctor hesitated, then nodded, more for himself than for his brother.
- Okay. I'm coming. -

He ended the call and turned, to find Maggie standing behind him with her arms crossed.

- Problems? - she asked, looking at him.

Will hesitated for a moment, then shook his head.

- I hope not. Jay needs me to get to the district. He says it's urgent, Voight wants to talk to me.-

Maggie raised an eyebrow.
- Voight? -

- Yes. Him, - Will replied.

Maggie looked at him, serious but understanding.
- And your patient, Michael?-

- Stable. I already fixed him. Can you cover for me for an hour? -he asked.

She stared at him for a second. Then she nodded, saying, - Okay. I've got you covered, but be careful, Will. And if you need anything... just call.-

Will gave a sincere smile, but it was strained. - Thanks, Megs. -

He stepped away from her and quickly shrugged off his scrubs, placing them on one of the chairs in the break room before heading toward the emergency room exit, his head full of questions.

What could Hank Voight possibly mean? And above all: what did he have to do with it?

Soon the young doctor arrived at the 21st district, as there was no traffic at the time.

His heart was pounding in his chest and he felt nervous. He really didn't know what to expect from this meeting.

The building had that gray, imposing look typical of places where important decisions are made.

Jay was waiting for him at the entrance, his jaw clenched and his gaze determined.

Without saying a word, he accompanied him inside, up the stairs to the Intelligence Office and then up to Voight.

The door to the sergeant's office creaked open, and behind the desk stood him: a robust man, his face marked by age and the hardness of someone who'd seen too much.

But behind that mask of gruff authority, his eyes held a different light when he looked at Jay, whom he considered a son, and therefore Will.

- Come in, Halstead,- Voight's voice was hoarse, hard, but not without a certain kindness. - I brought you here for something important.-

Will closed the door behind him and sat at the desk while his brother stood behind him, leaning against the wall with his arms folded.

Voight crossed his arms, staring at him. - Do you know who Michael Bons is? -

Will nodded. - Yes. He's a patient of mine; I treated him before I came here for a cut to his abdomen. Why? -

The sergeant nodded. - Will, he's one of the main drug kingpins here in Chicago. We've been keeping an eye on him for weeks. We're close to dismantling his network.-

Will swallowed and then asked, - And what do I have to do with this?-

- You have access to his room; you're his doctor. Michael is hiding from you. You're the perfect man to plant a walkie-talkie among his things now that he's in the hospital. So we can monitor him and act when the time is right, - the sergeant explained.

Will shook his head hesitantly. - I... I'm not an officer. I'm a doctor. My priority is treating patients, not spying on them. -

Voight stood up and approached the older brother. His presence was imposing. - Halstead, I won't take no for an answer. Not when the safety of this city is at stake.-

Jay intervened, placing a hand on his brother's shoulder. - Will, I understand your reservations. But if we don't do this now, Michael will continue to hurt so many people. We have to stop him.-

The doctor looked from Jay to Voight. He felt the weight of responsibility, but also loyalty to his brother and the city he loved.

After a deep breath, he nodded. - Okay. I'll do it.-

Voight smiled faintly, as if he'd won a battle. - Good. And remember, Will, we're all on the same side. -

Will and Jay walked away from the sergeant's office, walking down the district corridor with measured steps.

After gathering their supplies, the detective accompanied his brother to his car.

Will paused before getting in, looking at him with a serious expression.

-Jay, I... I don't know if I can do this. Hiding a walkie-talkie in a patient's things... I'm a doctor, not an undercover agent.-

Jay looked at him, his voice firm but understanding.
- I know, Will. It bothers me, too, to involve you in this. But sometimes, to protect people, you have to step out of your comfort zone. You can make a difference from within.-

Will nodded, but the doubt remained.
- I just hope this doesn't end up compromising what I believe in...-

Jay patted him on the shoulder.
- It won't. You're stronger than you think.-

Back at Chicago Med, Will headed to the medical room to put his scrubs back on and took a moment to compose himself before getting back to work.

He took the small package Jay had given him and turned it over in his hands before putting it in his pocket and leaving the room.

Maggie waved at him, her face distant. She continued working, knowing this wasn't the right time to ask questions. She knew this wasn't a normal day for Will.

Having entered the room to check on Michael, after checking the parameters on the monitor, Will, taking advantage of the fact that the man was asleep, prepared the materials to hide the transceiver with almost surgical care. He placed it among his personal effects. He had chosen the right moment to act without attracting suspicion.

After completing the task, he walked out of the room and headed to the nurses' station to get the next patient's chart and get back to doing what he does best: saving lives.

His heart was pounding in his chest, his hands were shaking, and he had to make a great effort to calm himself.

The day continued, but in his heart there was a new tension, a secret.

Soon the end of her shift arrived. It was 7 p.m. and the emergency room was starting to empty. The buzz in the waiting room was getting quieter, the lights warmer.

Will placed the last folder on the desk, but his gaze was distant, nervous.

Maggie, who had been watching him, approached with a worried expression.

- Will, are you okay? Since you got back from the district, you've become strange, serious, distant...- she said.

Will shook his head, trying to smile, but it was tense. - I'm fine, really. Just a little tired, nothing to worry about.- She looked at him for a moment longer; she knew him well, and it wasn't just tiredness. But she decided to pretend to believe him, respecting his privacy. - If you change your mind, you know where to find me.- Will thanked her and headed for the locker room to change. He took off his lab coat, folded it carefully, and stored it in his locker. Then he grabbed his thinks and headed for the exit. The parking lot was semi-deserted at that hour, illuminated by the moonlight and the scattered streetlights.

His hand was still shaking slightly as he inserted the key and opened the car door.

He sat in the driver's seat and closed his eyes for a moment, taking a deep breath.

The tension wasn't going away. It was still there, a silent presence reminding him that his world had changed that night.

Will shook his head in frustration and started the car, but it wouldn't start.

He tried again, but nothing. Nervously, he slammed his left hand hard against the steering wheel, immediately feeling a stab of pain.

He gritted his teeth, but the pain was mild.

Just then, across the parking lot, Connor, who had also finished his shift, was heading for his car.

He arrived just as Will slammed his hand on the steering wheel with a tense expression and approached his colleague's car, attracting his attention.

- Hey, Will! What's going on? Are you trying to start a tank- Connor joked, approaching.

Will looked up and smiled wearily.
- If it were a tank, at least I'd know how to start it. This car looks more like a piece of junk than anything else. -

Connor shook his head, amused.
- Come on, I'll give you a ride home so you can get a break from this fight.-

Will nodded. - Thanks, really. I needed that.-

As he settled into the passenger seat, Halstead added,
- Connor, if you don't mind, could you drive me to the district0? So I can grab Jay's car and run a few errands before heading home. -

Connor nodded with a smile.
- No problem. You're still my favorite passenger, after all.-

Will laughed softly, and Connor was glad he'd cheered him up a bit. Then he noticed Will's hand; it was a little red.
- Hey, that hand doesn't look so good. What happened? - he asked, pretending not to notice.

Will shrugged, trying to look casual.
- Just a little hiccup in the steering wheel. Nothing major.-

Connor looked at him intently for a moment, as if trying to read between the lines.
- Are you sure? You know I can tell if there's something you're not telling me.-

Will met Connor's gaze and smiled, trying to lighten the mood.
- Come on, don't complicate things. Today was just a bad day... the usual routine.-

Rhodes nodded, but his look remained concerned.
- Okay, but if you want to talk, I'm here. -

Will nods gratefully.
- I know. Thanks, buddy. -

Before leaving, Connor takes one last look at Will's hand.
- Ice that hand, okay? I don't want a Halstead halfway between us, - he said as his partner got out of the car.

Will laughed and added before closing the door,
- I will, I promise. -

Will arrived at the district and entered with a determined stride but his gaze still a little tense.

- Doctor, what are you doing here? - asked Trudy Platt, sitting behind the desk in the entrance.

After Will had informed her, he was introduced to Jay, who was sitting updating reports while sorting paperwork.

- Jay, - Will said, approaching, - can I get your car keys? -

The younger Halstead looked up and nodded.
- Sure, wait, I'll give them to you right away. -

He opened a drawer, took out the keys, and handed them to him.

- Thanks, my car abandoned me, - Will replied, taking them. - I'll be quick. Do you want me to pick you up later? -

Jay smiled.
- No, don't worry. One of the guys will give me a ride. Maybe you could fix me some dinner. -

Will nodded, and before he left the bullpen, his brother added,
- Oh, I forgot, don't make too much trouble. -

Will laughed lightly as he headed for the parking lot.

Outside the district, he took a deep breath, tucked his keys in his pocket, and headed to the nearest supermarket, determined to get through the shopping as quickly as possible.

He concentrated on the various foods available, trying not to think too much about the tension weighing on him.

Finally, he filled his cart with the essentials and, after paying, returned to his car with his bags in hand.

Once home, Will would prepare some dinner for himself and Jay and then go to bed.

After parking the car in the space near his house, Will noticed that the surrounding lights were burned out.

He took a moment to breathe deeply, trying to put the difficult day behind him.

As he got out of the car, he noticed a shadow moving quickly on the sidewalk, but he didn't think much of it. Something like that could happen in the city.

Once he closed the door, he felt a shiver down his spine, but he attributed it to just the evening breeze.

As he moved to get groceries in the backseat, Will mentally debated what to prepare. He would plan a light dinner and spend the rest of the evening chatting with Jay.

But fate had a surprise in store for him, one that only Jay's world could bring to light.

In moments, he found himself surrounded.

The hands of the three criminals gripped him forcefully, dragging him back.

Their presence was oppressive, and Will felt overwhelmed by a fear he had never known before.

- What do you want? - the doctor asked.

- You have to be careful, dear detective, you have to leave us alone! - one of them exclaimed.

Will tried to explain, but the words caught in his throat.

What should have been a moment of tranquility quickly turned into a nightmare.

The blows began raining down on him, brutal and relentless, barely giving him time to breathe. Each punch struck him like a hammer, and the pain spread through his body in overwhelming waves.

The young doctor received numerous punches and kicks to the chest, abdomen, and back. Each blow took his breath away, while the pain spread rapidly, making it difficult to concentrate.

One of the criminals kicked the young man in the back, forcing Will to bend forward from the impact. A sharp pain shot up his spine, and he felt his ribs crack under the pressure. His lungs burned, and a feeling of nausea set in with each blow.

Relentlessly, the criminals continued their assault, striking him again and again. A fist slammed into the side of his face, sending him reeling.

A metallic taste filled his mouth as the wound on his cheek opened, and blood began to trickle down his neck. He felt his head spinning as he desperately tried to defend himself.

He found himself on the ground, his hands outstretched to protect himself, but the sharp, unrelenting pain prevented him from reacting.

The criminals, still believing him to be Jay, showed no mercy.

One of the three turned, walking away for a moment, then returned with a whip, swinging it at him.

Will closed his eyes, bracing himself for the worst, and the blows struck him hard and continuous, tearing his skin, which had begun to bleed.

The whip whistled through the air before striking him. The sharp pain mixed with horror as he tried to protect himself, but every attempt seemed futile.

After a few moments, the brutality seemed to stop, but the fear remained. Will, panting and wounded, crawled on the ground, trying to get away from his attackers.

The criminals watched him amusedly but said nothing, laughing among themselves at his helplessness, before disappearing into the shadows, certain they had achieved their goal: to hurt Jay Halstead and make him understand that he had messed with the wrong people.

Will lay there, at the mercy of the darkness, his heart pounding and the pain from his wounds taking its toll.

Trying to regain control, the young doctor tried to analyze his injuries.

He felt a searing pain in his chest and hypothesized that one or more ribs were broken. The air seemed to disappear from his lungs with every breath. His shaking hands rested on his side and felt a wet spot: blood.
- I must have taken a blow to the side...- he mused.

But those weren't the only problems.

Glancing around, he tried to find a way to get up.

The left side of his face was throbbing from the blow, and the taste of blood in his mouth told him the situation was serious.

The pain was unbearable. Will lay on the ground, his mind clouded as he tried to focus his thoughts.

Every breath felt like a struggle, and the world around him blurred into a tangle of faded colors and muffled sounds. It was as if he were in a dark dream, and images of his attackers' faces danced before his eyes in a whirlwind of fear and helplessness.

With a gasp, he felt the urge to vomit rising. Despite his desperate attempts to control himself, his body gave out. The remains of his last meal spilled onto the floor—a symbol of his vulnerability. Each wave of nausea was excruciating, accompanied by a sharp pain in his chest, and Will realized the situation was more serious than he had thought. His mouth tasted coppery, metallic. He was vomiting blood.

With a final effort, the doctor tried to stand, but the pain, especially in his back, was unbearable.

- I have to get away from here,- he muttered to himself in a broken, trembling voice. - I have to go home. -

He wanted to go to the place where he knew Jay would surely find him, hoping his brother would return as soon as possible.

But reality hit him like a punch: that house, that refuge now seemed so far away.

He had no idea where his phone was. Before, it had been in his pocket. He couldn't call for help and didn't have the strength to scream. Even if he screamed, no one would hear him. He was alone, completely alone.

He struggled to get up, but couldn't. He lay on the ground, his body in pain, his skin torn and dripping with blood. His breathing was heavy, ragged. His eyelids slowly closed, while the world around him blurred.

With a shudder, darkness swallowed him completely.

Will opened his eyes slowly after a long time, his vision still blurry.

Pain throbbed in every corner of his body, a dull echo that reminded him of the violence he had just suffered. Blood was also dripping from his lip, now swollen, and that bitter, metallic taste still lingered in his mouth.

With difficulty, he got up on all fours, then knelt, trembling. Every movement was torture, but he knew he had to go home.

With uncertain steps, Will headed toward his house. His body ached, every step a burden, but he didn't give up.

Arriving home, he unlocked the door with his keys, struggling to insert them due to his shaking hands.

The young man dragged himself inside, closing the door behind him with a sigh.

He wanted to collapse on the couch. His breathing was labored, his heart pounding.

With a final effort, he tried to grasp the armrest with his hand, but his legs buckled under his weight.

He collapsed to the floor, right at the foot of the couch, his body responding less and less to his commands.

He felt exhausted.

His face rested on the floor as a cold sensation enveloped him. His breathing became slow and shallow, as a deep darkness approached again.

- Jay...- he thought, one last desperate thought, before the stillness overtook him again.

Chapter Text

Jay leaned against the car door, smiling as Antonio got behind the wheel.

-:Will took my car to go grocery shopping. At this point, I’m expecting at least a gourmet dinner in return.-

Antonio laughed as he started the engine.
- With a white tablecloth and a lit candle, I’m guessing.-

Jay nodded seriously.
- At the very least. I want the full three-course menu—and none of that sad salad a doctor on a diet would eat.-

Antonio glanced at him sideways, amused.
- Knowing Will, you’ll be lucky if you get reheated soup and have to deal with it.-

Jay grinned.
- Well, that'll teach him not to steal other people’s cars.-

The two shared a knowing look, laughing as the car pulled away into traffic, lightening the weight of a tough day with a joke.

Jay got out of the car, thanking Antonio with a wave.
- Thanks for the ride. You're a real friend.-

Dawson laughed.
Come on, Jay. Don’t mention it.-

The detective headed toward his apartment, but as soon as he reached the door, he noticed everything was pitch black. No lights on, no signs of life.

His heart sank.

- Will? - he called out, raising his voice.

No answer.

With quick steps, he opened the door and rushed into the apartment, moving from room to room, calling his brother’s name over and over.

- Will? Where are you? -

Silence. Only the echo of his voice bouncing off the empty walls.

A creeping sense of dread started to take hold. Something was wrong.

Jay entered the living room—and froze.

Will was there, lying on the couch in an unnatural position, his face pale and bruised, his shirt soaked with dried blood, cuts clearly visible along his arms and side.

- Will!- he shouted.

The detective rushed to him, shaking him gently but firmly.

- Hey, man... come on, wake up... Will! Please! - he kept calling.

But there was no response.

Will’s breathing was slow and shallow, his face pale, his body still—frozen in pain.

Jay’s heart pounded wildly. Fear gripped his throat and paralyzed him for a second, then he grabbed his phone with shaking hands and dialed 911.

- I need an ambulance! Right now! My brother... he’s unconscious, he’s bleeding... I think he’s been attacked! - he said all in one breath.

The dispatcher tried to guide and calm him, but Halstead could only hear his own ragged breathing and the heavy thud of panic rising inside him.

While still on the phone, Jay looked at Will—still passed out on the couch—and clenched his jaw.

- Hang in there, please! Stay with me!- he said, eyes stinging with tears.

The sirens in the distance never seemed to get any closer fast enough.

The paramedics arrived just a few minutes later, though to Jay it felt like a lifetime.

The door burst open and two EMTs came in with a stretcher and medical bags slung over their shoulders. They dropped to their knees beside Will, checking his pulse, his breathing, unbuttoning his shirt to examine the wounds.

- He’s got deep bruising on his chest and sides… possible internal bleeding - Silvye said.

- He’s lost a lot of blood,- added Foster, then turned to his partner.- Heart rate’s unstable—get the oxygen ready.-

Jay stood there, frozen, fists clenched at his sides. Every technical term the paramedics said felt like a blow to the chest.

He couldn’t take his eyes off his brother’s face—swollen, battered—like he was really seeing him vulnerable for the first time.

- It should’ve been me… they were probably after me, he muttered under his breath.

The thought hit him like a punch. His eyes filled with anger and fear.

- We’re taking him to Med right away, - Foster said, snapping him back to reality.
- He needs surgery. We have to stop the bleeding.-

Jay nodded silently and followed as they lifted Will onto the stretcher.

The doctor flinched slightly from the pain—just a tiny, involuntary movement—but Jay caught it, and it broke something inside him.

The detective climbed into the ambulance like he was in a trance, without even asking permission—though no one tried to stop him.

He sat beside Will, watching him struggle to breathe through the oxygen mask on his face.

The sound of the ambulance, the rapid beeping of the monitor, the flashing lights outside the window\... it all felt distant, muffled.

Jay lowered his gaze.

- Hang in there, bro. I’m here. I’m not leaving you,- he said quietly, wiping away a tear that had slipped down his cheek before he could stop it.

And for a moment, even with the world falling apart around him, Jay held on to those words like they were the only thing keeping him standing.

Meanwhile, at Med, Maggie glanced at the clock on the monitor at her station—just a few minutes left in her shift.
She was exhausted, but her thoughts drifted back to Will—he’d seemed off earlier.

- I should call him - she told herself.
- Maybe tonight… or I could stop by and check in on him.-

A small smile tugged at her lips. That guy always managed to get himself into trouble—but he’d found a way into her heart a long time ago.
He was more than a coworker, more than a friend—he was like a brother to her.

A familiar sound made her turn around—the sliding doors flew open and a patient was wheeled in.

The paramedics were moving fast, pushing the stretcher with urgency. Just behind them, Jay Halstead walked in, his stride purposeful, his face tight with worry.

- Another police case…- Maggie thought.
- Maybe one of his teammates got hurt.-

She stepped away from her desk and approached him.

- Jay, what happened? Who’s the patient?-

But she didn’t need an answer. The stretcher rolled past her—and she saw who was lying on it.

There was so much blood. His shirt was torn, his face bruised and cut.
The profile… familiar. Too familiar.

Maggie froze, her heart sinking like ice in her chest.

- No… no.-
She took a step forward, in disbelief.
- Is that… Will? -

Jay nodded, his voice broken.

- They must’ve thought he was me. They… they beat him, Maggie.-

Lockwood brought a hand to her mouth, her eyes instantly welling with tears.
- Oh my God…-

Her professional instincts kicked in before panic could take over. She turned, immediately giving orders:

- Get a room ready—now! He’ll need blood, a chest X-ray, and call Rhodes or Choi—right now! -

Then she looked back at Will, lying there so still, and for just a second—only one—she let the pain hit her.

- Stay with us, Will. Please. Stay with us,- she whispered to herself.

Choi took over in Trauma 1. After examining Will, he came out of the room with quick steps, his face tense, eyes locked on Maggie and Jay waiting just outside the door, holding their breath.

- He needs surgery. Right now - he said bluntly. - He’s got internal bleeding and multiple fractured ribs. It’s bad—but he’s fighting.-

Jay lowered his head, hands shaking at his sides.
Maggie held her breath for a moment, then turned to coordinate the transfer.

Right then, the locker room doors opened.

Connor Rhodes, in jeans and a T-shirt with his backpack slung over one shoulder, walked into the hallway heading for the exit—his shift just ended.

He stopped when he saw Maggie’s stricken face and Jay’s stunned expression.

- What’s going on? - he asked, slowly setting his backpack on the nurses’ station counter.

Maggie looked at him, hesitating just a moment before speaking softly, almost in a whisper.
- It’s Will. He was attacked.-

Connor went pale. He moved closer to Jay, who couldn’t even speak.

- Where is he? - he asked.

- Trauma 1. Choi says he needs emergency surgery - Maggie replied.

Connor didn’t say another word. He left his backpack behind and turned, quickly heading toward the trauma room—only to find it empty.
He rushed for the elevator leading to the OR floor.

Ethan turned when he saw him approaching.

- Connor… I thought your shift was over.-

- It is - Rhodes said, his voice low and sharp. - But I don’t care. Will’s my friend. I know him. I’m doing this surgery.-

Choi started to speak, but Connor stopped him with a look.

- It’s me or no one, Ethan.-

The other doctor hesitated only a second, then nodded.
- Alright. He’s yours.-

Connor entered the OR without another word, scrubbing in and putting on his surgical gown.
This time, he wasn’t just a surgeon—he was a friend. A brother.

He washed his hands with steady, forceful movements, eyes fixed on the running water.

He hadn’t put on his mask yet, and the face staring back at him in the mirror was one of determination—but also pain.

- You’re not just a surgeon now. You’re his friend—the one who’s seen him laugh, lose his temper, mess up, and get back up again… you *can’t* afford to fail.-

He closed his eyes for a second, clenching his jaw.

- You’re going to save him.- he told himself.

He dried his hands, put on his gloves and mask, and stepped into the operating room.

Waiting Room – Chicago Med

Jay sat motionless, elbows on his knees, hands clasped in front of his face.
He hadn’t spoken in minutes.

Maggie sat beside him, watching him every so often. She knew exactly what that kind of waiting felt like—and how words were mostly useless.

She glanced at the clock. Her shift had ended a while ago.

She stood, sighing softly as she removed her badge.

- I’m going to change, but I’ll be right back - she said.

Jay nodded, not even looking up.

The nurse paused for a second, placing a gentle hand on his shoulder.

- He’s in the best hands. Rhodes won’t let it go any other way.-

Jay closed his eyes for a moment, then nodded again.

Maggie walked toward the locker room, her steps slow, her mind heavy.
As she slipped off her scrubs, she whispered to herself:

- You’re gonna make it, Will. You have to.-

Waiting Room – Late Night

The silence was deafening.
Cold lights. The ticking clock on the wall. Distant footsteps in the hallway… everything felt far away, muffled.

Jay ran a hand through his hair, his breathing short and uneven. His chest was tight, his throat closed—it felt like there wasn’t enough air in the room.

He shut his eyes.
*Broken ribs. Internal bleeding.*
Choi’s words echoed in his head like a hammer.

And Will was in that operating room—while he was stuck out here, useless.

- I was supposed to protect him - he muttered.

Jay shot up suddenly and began pacing. His hands trembled.

He stopped and looked at the small plastic bag containing Will’s personal belongings.
Reaching inside, his fingers brushed against something—a crumpled note.

He pulled it out with shaking hands.

He recognized it immediately. It wasn’t Will’s handwriting.
It had been slipped in—probably after the attack.

He slowly unfolded it.

> *Hope the lesson was enough this time. Maybe now you’ll finally get it, Jay—leave us alone.*

His heart dropped.

The note was for him.

Will had nothing to do with this.

Jay staggered back and sat down again—more from instinct than balance.
His eyes burned. His blood roared in his ears.

- It’s my fault…- he whispered. -They were after me. Those hits were meant for me -

The room was spinning. The world was tilting.
Jay bent forward, his hands tangled in his hair, trying to control his breathing.

In that moment, the waiting room felt too small to contain the weight of his guilt.

He clenched the note in his hand once again.
The words were etched into his brain by now.
"Leave us alone."
A warning. A threat. A declaration of war.

With trembling hands, he pulled out his phone and dialed a number—ignoring the late hour.

- Voight. - The sergeant always answered, no matter the time.

- Sarge… - Jay’s voice was hoarse. - They hit Will. They thought he was me.-

There was a short, tense silence on the other end.

- How is he?-

Jay swallowed hard.
- Bad. He’s in surgery. Rhodes is operating.-

Voight let out a breath—not in frustration, but in tightly-held rage.

- Give me what you know. Where it happened. Any details. I’ll get Atwater and Ruzek to start pulling camera footage from the area. If they showed their faces, we’ll find them.-

- They left a message - Jay said, reopening the note with stiff fingers and reading it out loud.

Voight didn’t respond at first. Then, in a low, steady voice:
- We’re not letting this slide, Jay. I promise you that.-

About thirty minutes later, the automatic doors opened and Hailey Upton walked in—jeans, leather jacket, fast stride, eyes locked forward.

She spotted Jay and walked straight to him without a word. She sat down beside him.

- I came as soon as I heard - she said softly.
- How is he? -

Jay handed her the note.
- Not good. This… this was meant for me. -

Hailey read the message, then folded it neatly. Her expression sharpened.

- We’ll find them.-

Jay looked her in the eyes.
- I know. I just… I’m scared to lose him.-

Hailey rested a hand on his shoulder. She didn’t say anything. She didn’t need to.
Right now, she was just *there*—solid, real, an anchor.

And while silence returned to the waiting room, the investigation was already underway.
Chicago hadn’t said its last word yet.

An hour passed.

Jay sat next to Hailey, hands clasped, body bent forward.
He looked still on the outside—but inside, he was crumbling.

Every minute with no updates, every heartbeat pounding in his ears, was slowly tearing him apart.

Then—suddenly—he started to tremble.

First his fingers.
Then his arms.
Then his whole body.

Hailey turned sharply.
- Jay? -

He didn’t answer.

His breathing turned shallow, rapid, uncontrollable.
He brought a hand to his chest, as if something was crushing him from the inside.

- I… I can’t…- he gasped. - I can’t breathe…-

Hailey jumped up, placing both hands on his shoulders.

- Hey. Look at me. Jay. You’re here. You’re safe.-

But Jay wasn’t hearing her anymore.

The lights blurred.
The sounds faded.
Everything slowed down, like the world was shutting off.

Then he just… stopped.

Like his body had shut down completely.

His eyes were open—but vacant.
He was gone.
Dissociated.
Somewhere else.
Out of himself.

Hailey recognized it instantly.

She dropped to her knees in front of him, hands steady now, her voice calm and grounded.

- Jay, come back to me. Breathe with me, okay? One, two, three… Look at my eyes. Stay here.-

Jay tried to follow her voice.

- Breathe with me - she kept repeating.

He tried—but every breath was a battle.

He inhaled… but it felt like no air was coming in.
He exhaled… but it caught halfway.

A wheezing sound clawed up from his chest—more like a gasp than a breath.
It was like having asthma, but it wasn’t asthma.
It was *panic*—raw, brutal, uncontrollable.

His heart pounded.
His eyes burned.
The room spun like the floor had tilted beneath him.

Then came the nausea—sudden and violent.

Jay doubled over, hands covering his mouth, face twisted in pain.

Dry heaves.
Empty.
Harsh.
Relentless.

His body was looking for an escape—but there was nothing left to purge.
Just spasms.
Tight. Desperate.
Choking.

Hailey placed one hand on his back, the other on his forehead, steadying him.

- You’re okay. It’s just panic. You’re safe. I’ve got you.-

Jay didn’t respond—he couldn’t stop.

The retching got worse.
Harder.
Harsher.

Then suddenly, a bitter, yellow stream of bile erupted from his mouth, searing his throat and leaving behind a hollow, burning emptiness that only deepened the pain.

It was violent. Unstoppable.

Like he was vomiting up everything —not just food, but weeks maybe months of darkness and pressure and guilt.

His throat burned.
His chest ached.
But still—it didn’t stop.

Each heave ripped his breath away, left him gasping, begging for air.

The vomiting kept coming—wave after wave—until he had nothing left.

Tears streamed down his face, mixing with the heat and salt of panic.

The room spun harder now, and Jay felt small. Fragile.
Completely lost in a body that no longer obeyed him.

His face was pale, drenched in sweat.
His hands shook violently where they rested on his knees.
Every breath was torture.
Every spasm—a punch to the heart.

- Will’s dying… and I’m just sitting here. It’s my fault. They came for me. It should’ve been me... -
He choked on the words between heaves.
- What if he doesn’t make it…? What if I lose him… and I’m left alone? -

Hailey moved in and wrapped her arms around him.

- You’re not alone. You won’t be. And Will’s not giving up. But even if he did… I’ll still be here. -

Jay didn’t answer. He couldn’t understand anything anymore.
He was breaking apart—piece by piece—like a dam finally bursting under too much pressure.

That’s when Dr. Charles arrived—called by a nurse who had seen what was happening from down the hall.

- Hailey, can you step aside for a second? - he asked gently but firmly.

She moved back, letting the psychiatrist take over.

Dr. Charles knelt beside Jay.

- Jay, I’m Dr. Charles. You’re safe, okay? What you’re feeling—it’s your body reacting to trauma. It’s normal. It happens. You’re not alone. -

His voice was warm and steady, each phrase followed by a pause, leaving room to breathe.

He knew Jay’s mind was trapped—crushed under anxiety so deep, even his body couldn’t carry it anymore.

Charles looked at him—kind, attentive, fully present.

- Jay, I’m here to help - he said softly.
- You don’t have to do this alone. Let me help you breathe, okay?-

He sat next to him, calm and solid, guiding him—word by word—back toward the surface.

- I know you’re going through something awful. Your body is reacting this way because your mind is overwhelmed. Let’s try to breathe together, okay? Inhale slowly… one, two, three… now exhale, nice and easy.-

Jay tried to follow, but his heart was still pounding wildly, and his breath came in short, broken gasps, like a knot was tightening around his throat.
Panic crept in again—and with it came a wave of fierce nausea.

Once more, his breathing became frantic, and the vomiting surged back in waves.

Maggie, nearby, stepped in to help.
She handed him tissues and began cleaning the floor, comforting him with soft words—never pushing, never judging.

- Don’t worry, this happens often during panic attacks. You’re doing well, Jay. You’re not alone - she said gently, but firmly.

But Jay couldn’t stop.
Every time the panic spiked, the vomiting attacked again—wave after relentless wave.

His skin was pale as wax. Sweat beaded on his forehead.
His hands trembled uncontrollably.

Between episodes, he seemed disconnected from reality.
His eyes fixed on nothing, vacant—like he wasn’t really there.

Charles immediately recognized the signs of dissociation.

- Jay, can you hear my voice? You’re here with me. You’re safe. I want you to squeeze my hand, just to remind yourself that you’re still here.-

Slowly, Jay responded—his trembling fingers weakly wrapping around the doctor’s hand.

- I’m here… but… I don’t feel right…- he whispered, voice flat and distant.

- It’s okay to feel like this - Charles replied softly.
- Sometimes the mind shuts down to protect you from pain and fear. But I’m here with you. I’ll stay with you, one step at a time.-

Maggie kept a silent vigil by his side.
She pressed a cool cloth to his forehead, staying with him, offering presence rather than words.

Time stretched into a blur—an endless cycle of ragged breathing, nausea, vomiting, and drifting in and out of awareness.

Jay felt like a prisoner in his own body—helpless, terrified.

Finally, after one last violent retch, his body gave in, and he collapsed into a light sleep, driven purely by exhaustion.

That’s when Rhodes walked in, removing his surgical gown—his expression grim, but relieved.

Hailey noticed him immediately and gently shook Jay, helping him sit up.

- The surgery went well, - Connor said. - Will’s going to make it.-

Those words were like a balm to Jay’s shattered nerves.
He lifted his gaze slowly toward Connor—his face still lined with anguish, but a faint spark of hope flickered in his eyes.

A wave of gratitude washed over him.
For a moment, the crushing weight eased.

But his body was too far gone.

With one final, ragged breath, everything he had held in rushed back at once.
His heart started racing again, his breathing grew erratic…

Then suddenly, Jay collapsed—slipping into a deep, necessary, inevitable sleep.

A few hours later

Jay slowly opened his eyes, like he was rising from a deep, dark abyss.
Every muscle ached.
His head felt light, distant—like he hadn’t fully returned.
His skin was clammy.
His breath, shallow.

But he was awake.
He was present.

In the dim light of the room, Hailey was sitting beside him.
Her eyes lit up the moment she saw him stir.

- Hey… - she whispered, leaning in. - It’s okay. You’re safe. You just fell asleep, that’s all.-

Jay stared at her for a few seconds, confused—until the memories returned all at once.

- The guys…? - he murmured, his voice barely audible.

Hailey nodded slowly.
- They were arrested. They confessed. They said… they were coming after you. It was mistaken identity. Will had nothing to do with it.-

A faint, broken sigh slipped from Jay’s lips.
There was no real relief—just a strange emptiness.

Then, in a voice so quiet it almost cracked:
- Will? -

Hailey turned toward the bed next to them.
Jay followed her gaze—and saw a familiar figure, lying still under the covers.
Pale. Hooked up to machines.
But there.
Alive.

He forced himself to sit up.
His body felt like lead.

Hailey tried to stop him, but he gently pulled away.
His legs gave out for a moment, and she reached out, catching him with gentle arms.

- Let me go to him - Jay whispered stubbornly.

Staggering, he managed to reach the chair beside Will’s bed and collapsed into it.
Elbows on his knees, head in his hands.
He didn’t say a word for long seconds.
Only silence and the sound of his breath.

Then the door opened quietly, and Connor Rhodes entered the room, his face tired but less tense.

- He’s stabilizing. The surgery worked. Will will recover, Jay. But it will take time.-

Jay lifted his gaze, eyes glistening, speechless.
He truly breathed—maybe for the first time in hours, maybe days—a full, real breath.

He didn’t say anything. He didn’t need to.
Just a simple, silent:
- Thank you.-

He slowly sank into the chair, his hand reaching out to barely touch his brother’s, as if to convey all the strength he had left. The steady ticking of the machines was like a heartbeat of life, reminding him that not all was lost.

With an effort, he slowly lifted his head and looked at Connor, trying to find in his words the comfort that always seemed to elude him.

— No matter how long it takes — he said in a hoarse voice — I will stay here, by his side. I won’t leave him alone.

Connor nodded, placing a hand on Jay’s shoulder, a simple gesture but full of solidarity.

Jay closed his eyes and let the exhaustion wash over him again, but this time with a different weight, less oppressive. Because he knew that that night, in that room, he was not alone.

And as the city continued to breathe around them, in a silence broken only by Will’s slow breathing, Jay found a fragile but real hope: love, loyalty, the strength of those who never give up.

Chapter Text

The silence of the operating room was broken only by the rhythmic sound of the machines and the voice of Connor Rhodes, focused and sharp as ever.

- Clamp... Good... Stitch... Flow is regular... Will, do you want to check your atrial pressure? -

Dr. Halstead approached, but his hands lingered for a moment. A tremor, minimal, but present, which he masked with a fluid movement.

- Everything is normal - he said, but his tone was dull and opaque..

Connor looked at him sideways for a second. He didn't say anything, but something in his gaze betrayed suspicion.

The valve was in place, the boy's heartbeat was stabilizing. The transplant, at least on paper, seemed to be a success.

Before him, that adolescent heart was beating steadily for the first time in years. Yet, something didn't convince him.

- Beta-7 xenograft valve, porcine tissue, - the company representative had said days earlier. - Absolutely safe, with less than a 2% rejection rate in European trials.-

Will had trusted.

The mask was bothering him. He'd started to feel a little dizzy, but he'd put it down to tension. A drop of sweat rolled down his temple, but he ignored it; he couldn't afford to be distracted.

When the patient was stable, the doctor removed his gloves and left the operating room with a strangled sigh.

His shirt under his lab coat was soaked.

He sat down for a moment on a bench in the corridor, his heart beating too fast and it wasn't just stress.

- Are you okay, Dr. Halstead? - April asked, passing by with a tablet.

- Yes, I just need... a coffee - he replied, sketching a tired smile.

Later, he found himself in one of the rooms examining an elderly patient with heart failure. His hands were shaking slightly as he listened to the chest.

- Maybe I didn't sleep enough or I'm just hungry - he thought

After the second patient, however, he was forced to lean on the edge of the bed.
A wave of nausea gripped his stomach. He turned sharply, running toward the bathroom.

He suddenly vomited and managed to reach the sink; it was painful and acidic.

He rinsed his face with ice-cold water and looked at himself in the mirror. His face was pale, his eyes red.

- Not now - he whispered. - I can't fall apart now.-

Yet, he left the bathroom, put his gown back on… and returned to the ward.

Will was talking to the mother of a pediatric patient when he felt the room spin. The woman's face seemed blurry, as if a dull filter had been placed between him and the world.

- Dr. Halstead? Everything okay? - she asked

His breathing was short and his heart was racing in his chest, but he had to hold on.

He left the room staggering slightly, his lab coat plastered to his back. He leaned against the wall, trying to mask his fatigue with deep breaths. His heart seemed to be beating too fast, too hard.

- Hey, red. -

Maggie Lockwood's voice hit him like a punch straight in the stomach. — familiar, solid, but full of concern. She approached with her arms crossed, watching him.

- You're about to tell me that everything's fine, and I'm going to tell you right away that I don't believe you even by mistake.. -

Will sketched a smile.

- I'm just a little tired Maggie -

- Your dark circles look like two black holes. And you're sweating like you're in a sauna. Are you sure you want to continue today? -

- I have to do it. That boy... I need to follow up on his post-op.- He said.

- Okay, martyr doctor, but I won't pretend nothing happened. I'm taking notes. -

A few hours later, Will was standing at the nurses' station, trying to fill out a medical record, when he felt a pang in his chest. Not strong, but sharp.
He started to get up, but the world spun. He leaned on the desk with both hands, taking a deep breath.

The door opened behind him, but he didn't notice. Ethan Choi emerged from one of the trauma rooms and approached him with a puzzled expression.

- They told me you threw up this morning, and now you look like a zombie. -

Will looked up, trying to compose himself.

- Nothing a little coffee can't fix. -

Ethan crossed his arms, serious.

- Will... Did you take your temperature? - he asked worriedly

- I don't have time.- replied the colleague.

- Will… - Choi sighed

- Not now, we'll talk about it later..-

Around 4 p.m., April intercepted Halstead in the hallway, as he was trying to enter a room. His forehead was beaded with sweat, his lab coat was wrinkled. He looked like he was walking against the wind.

- Will, you're not well. Why are you still wandering around the hospital?? -  she asked him worriedly

- Because I have patients, April. Patients who...- he responded dutifully to his duty

He turned to continue walking, but after a few steps he stopped. His hands were shaking visibly, and his mouth twisted in pain.

- Okay, that's enough - April grabbed him by the arm. - Come with me. Now. -

- No, wait, I... -

But he didn't have time to finish. The corridor angled sharply before his eyes, a pang of pain gripped his chest, and everything went black.

The sound of the heart monitor seemed to materialize out of nowhere: his heart was beating rapidly.

When Will came to, he found himself lying on a bed in one of the examining rooms.

Next to him are Maggie, Ethan and April.

The young man lay pale, disoriented.

Connor rushed in, still in his operating gown..

- What the hell happened?? - he asked

- He collapsed, he has tachycardia and a fever of 39.8 - Maggie informed him. - We're monitoring it, but.... -

Rhodes approached Will, who was trying to get up..

- Stop, stay still. You're a patient now, okay?

Will whispered, his voice breaking:
- It's the... the... transplant. I think... something went wrong. The... the tissue... maybe it was... contaminated...-

Connor looked at him seriously, for the first time he was truly worried.

- Are you saying you may have been exposed…? - he asked, leaving the sentence hanging

- Yes. And.... if it happened to me... it could... happen... to others. - he added 

The monitor started beeping, the frequency was erratic, and Will passed out.

- Let's take a blood sample: complete blood count, toxicology! NOW! - Rhodes shouted and then turning to Maggie angrily added - Do you have any idea what we have on our hands? -

Maggie didn't answer, she kept her gaze fixed on Will who, motionless in bed, looked like a child lost in a storm.

Dr. Halstead had been unconscious for nearly twenty minutes. The monitor showed irregular heartbeats, with worrying spikes. His face was pale, his skin slick with sweat, his lips dry and lifeless.

But the nurse never left him alone. She sat by the bed, one hand on Will's shoulder, as if trying to keep him anchored to the present.

- Stay with me, red,-  she murmured. - Don't piss me off more than usual. -

The monitor's beeping suddenly quickened, and Connor entered with a folder in his hand, his jaw tense.

- We have the first results. The C-reactive protein levels are skyrocketing, the fever is resistant to antipyretics, and…- he paused.. - C’è una reazione immunitaria sistemica in atto. Il suo corpo sta attaccando qualcosa. -

Ethan joined him, reading the same file.

- You say it's connected to the transplant valve? - the latter asked his colleague

- Yes, in fact, almost certainly. There's traces of anomalous biological material, and there shouldn't be, ever. -

Maggie slowly turned towards them.

- So… it was contaminated. - he asked

- Or exposed to something alive. Perhaps the tissue wasn't completely devitalized, or someone skipped some steps.- Rhodes concluded

Ethan looked his colleague in the eye: - Is it getting worse? -

- Yes and quickly. - he answered sadly

Maggie squeezed Will's hand tighter, then stood up and pulled out her phone.

- I don't care if he doesn't want to. I'll call his brother... he should know.. -

Jay Halstead was in the middle of a meeting when his phone vibrated. He saw Maggie Lockwood's name on the screen and immediately knew it wasn't just any call.

- Halstead - he replied, already standing as he walked away from his colleagues.

- Jay, you need to come to the Med right away. It's about Will. He's sick, he collapsed during his shift... it's serious. -

A sudden emptiness gripped his stomach.

- As serious as? - he asked fearing the answer

- There's a suspicion that he was exposed to something... something... experimental. - Maggie explained.

Jay didn't answer, just grabbed his jacket and left the meeting room without even giving any explanation.

- I am coming.- he added only before ending the call.

The hospital doors burst open about ten minutes later, as Jay rushed in, panting. He saw Maggie at the end of the corridor, waiting for him. Her eyes were filled with tension and affection.

- Where is he?? -  Jay asked with his voice already breaking.

- Room 3. Connor and Ethan are with him. He's struggling, Jay, but he's still with us. - the nurse informed him..

Jay strode toward the room. When he opened the door, his breath caught in his throat.

Will was lying on the bed, hooked up to IVs, a monitor, and oxygen. His skin was pale, his hair plastered to his forehead, his chest barely rising..

Connor looked up as soon as he saw him enter.

- We're trying to suppress the immune response. We're giving him antivirals and immunosuppressants, but his body is... at war. -

Jay approached slowly, as if every step weighed on him.

- What did you do to him… - whisper.

- It's not their fault, - said Maggie, softly. - Will was exposed during an experimental transplant, but no one knows yet how..-

Jay settled himself next to the bed.
He looked at his brother, so vulnerable, and thought of all the times he'd seen him upright, firm, more stubborn than anyone else. Now he looked broken.

- Hey, Will, - he muttered. - Don't play any jokes, come back to me. -

A sob escaped his lips.
Maggie put a hand on his shoulder.

- He's a Halstead, he always fights. -

Chapter Text

Jay had been sitting in an uncomfortable chair next to his brother's bed for hours. His eyes were red, his jaw clenched. He hadn't moved, nor had he slept. Every beep from the monitor startled him. Every sigh from Will, even the faintest, dug into him.

- You can't leave me Will, not now... not like this. - he repeated

The young doctor looked like a shadow. Still pale, still under sedation, but alive. And that was enough, at least for that moment..

Jay stood up and ran his hands over his face. The nausea he felt had nothing to do with his stomach. It was fear, helplessness, anger.

Then he heard footsteps behind him.

- Halstead.-

The voice was hoarse, authoritative, unmistakable.

Jay turned around. Hank Voight was staring at him with that soul-searching look of his.

- I heard, I'm sorry, really. -

Jay nodded, but didn't say anything and the sergeant approached.

- But it's not over, Jay. The lab that supplied the tissue for that transplant has skeletons in the closet. And I need my best man.. -

- Voight, no... you can't ask me this... my brother... -

- I know, - he cut it short. - But do you think Will would want you to just sit here and watch him sleep? Or do something about it? -

Jay remained silent and his gaze returned to Will.

April, Ethan, Maggie, and Connor were waiting for him outside the room. They looked like a small family, placed there specifically to keep him upright.

- Go, Jay - Maggie said, her voice firm. - If anything happens, you'll be the first to know.-

- I swear we'll be on him every second - added April.

- Will is strong - Ethan said. - But if we don't find who's behind all this, someone else will end up in that bed..-

Connor finally patted him on the shoulder.

- Do it for him too and then come back. -

Jay took a deep breath, and with one last look at his brother said:

- I'll be back soon, Will. I promise..-

Jay slowly walked out of the room. His shoulders were tense, his throat tight. He had said yes to Voight.

He knew it was right, but every step away from that bed felt like a betrayal.

The corridor was silent, but inside him his mind was screaming. He imagined scenarios, worsening events, that machine suddenly beeping...
What if something happened while he was gone? What if he didn't return in time?

He felt the knot in his stomach transform into something more physical. He stopped in a corner of the corridor, away from prying eyes, leaned against the wall, and vomited violently, without saying a word.

His breath was short, his head light, his hands trembling. It wasn't weakness, it was love, fear, anger.

He stood up, running a hand over his mouth, and headed to get his car to go to the district.

The air in the Intelligence office was thick. Jay entered and immediately got to work, even though his heart remained in that hospital..

Kim Burgess watched him as he leafed through files with shaking hands.

- If you need a break, Jay...- she told him

- I can't, I have to find out who did this and then I'll go back to Will - he replied

The laboratory involved, Novassue Medical, had already been under observation for some time for shady practices: falsified clinical data, transplants performed outside of protocol, and internal corruption.

One name emerged: Dr. Harry Kroft, a former researcher fired from the hospital and now linked to the trial.

- Kroft had access to the project's tissue, and coincidentally, he's been missing for 48 hours. - said Kevin Atwater.

- Let's go to his house - Jay said. - Now.-

When they arrived, they found the place empty, but something didn't add up. The furniture was dusty, but there were still dirty dishes in the kitchen.
A sign that someone had been there recently.

Jay moved cautiously down the corridor.
A noise, a shadow, caught his attention. An armed man emerged from a side room.

- CHICAGO PD! STOP! -he shouted

The shot went off before Jay finished his sentence.

The bullet hit him in the right side, under the ribs.
It was like a fire opening in his belly. The pain doubled him over, but he managed to get out of harm's way before he blacked out.

- JAY! - Atwater shouted, rushing in and covering him as the suspect ran away.

Jay knelt down, pressing his hand to the wound. The blood ran warmly under his fingers.

- I'm... fine...- he lied.

- No, damn it, you're not! Call an ambulance.! - Kim shouted.

A few minutes later, the detective was lying on the stretcher. His breathing was shallow, the pain coming and going in waves.

- Kroft? - Jay asked, catching sight of the sergeant.

- In custody, Halstead - he replied

- We have to take him to the Med - the paramedic said to the sergeant who nodded

- Halstead? His brother works at the Med. He will be happy to have him treated there. - explained the other, unaware of what had happened to the doctor.

Jay gritted his teeth.

- Don't... let me faint.- he muttered

- Don't worry. You'll make it. - said James the chief paramedic

Jay closed his eyes. Will's face came back to him, still in bed.

Not today, not both of them. His brother needed him; they couldn't fall together.

The ambulance arrived with sirens blaring. April rushed out as soon as she heard who was coming.

- Gunshot wound, right side - said the paramedic. - Stabilized, but lost a lot of blood.

Jay barely opened his eyes, he was dizzy and panting.

- Will... where is my brother? -

April took him by the hand.

- He's alive, he's still fighting, but let's think about you now, okay?-

They took him to the trauma room. Connor and Choi took turns checking his parameters. The wound was serious but clean. No vital organs were involved, but there had been significant blood loss.

- You were lucky, Halstead, - Connor said, treating him. - but you will need days of rest. -

- I can't afford it. I want to be with Will.. - said the detective to test it

- If you get up now you will faint - Ethan explained, hoping to make him see reason.

- Then get me a wheelchair - the young man growled. - I'm not leaving there.-

April looked at him, then nodded.

- Let's take him to Will. - sigh

Jay was placed in a reclining chair with an IV in his arm. His legs were stiff, his wound still painful, but his eyes were glued to Will, always.

Maggie walked in and saw him there, pale, hunched, but determined..

- You're crazy, you know that? -

- I took after him - Jay smiled weakly referring to his brother

- I know, that's why I'm not sending you away.- said the nurse as she left

Jay walked over to Will and took his hand.

- Hey, little brother... I'm here. I'm not going anywhere..-

Will didn't answer.
In fact, his breathing began to quicken, his heart rate quickened, and the monitor beeped sharply.

- Something's wrong! - Jay shouted - WILL! -

April rushed in.

- His blood pressure is dropping. He's going into shock. - said the nurse.

- Get moving! Do something! -
Jay tried to get up, but the pain stopped him. The wound was pulling, his head was spinning, and so he didn't move.

- Will! Hey! Not now, brother! Don't leave me, please! - he whispered

The doctors worked quickly around the bed. Jay watched them, his hands gripping the edges of the chair, his heart pounding like a broken drum.

- Keep him alive... please...- he whispered with tears in his eyes.

Will's heart rate was plummeting.
The monitor was beeping wildly as April and Connor tried to stabilize it.

- Saturation below 80! - Sexton said

- He's having a respiratory crisis! Prepare for intubation! - Rhodes ordered

Jay then shot up from his chair, staggering, his eyes filled with pure panic.

- NO! NO! WHAT'S HAPPENING?! -

The pain in his side exploded. A sharp blow, the wound reopened, a gush of blood stained his shirt, but at the time Jay didn't notice.

- DO SOMETHING! DON'T LOSE HIM, PLEASE.DO SOMETHING! -

My breath caught in my throat. My chest tightened, my ears rang.
Jay suddenly vomited, leaning forward, his hands gripping the top of the chair.

It wasn't just the pain, it was my heart. It was a full-blown panic attack.

- Jay! - April shouted, seeing him turn pale.

- I... I can't do it... I'm losing it... I'm... -

His legs buckled, and Jay fell to his knees. There was a sharp thud, the IV disconnected, and blood began to flow.
It was at that moment that he lost consciousness.

- Let's split up! April with me on Will! - Connor shouted and then made himself heard from outside - Ethan get Jay! Now! -

Ethan and a nurse entered the room and moved Jay onto a stretcher, applying pressure to his side to staunch the reopened wound. His face was as white as a sheet, his forehead sweating, his eyes closed.

- He lost blood, his heartbeat is irregular, let's take him to trauma 1! -

Maggie walked in at that moment, and froze for a moment, seeing both Halstead brothers on the ground.

- No, no, no... not like that... - he said sadly

Jay regained consciousness briefly, a couple of minutes later. The light above him was flickering. He couldn't figure out where he was, but he had only one thing on his mind.

- Will... Where is Will...? - he asked in a hoarse, pain-filled voice

- He's alive,- Maggie said, leaning over him. - But he needs time... and so do you.-

Jay tried to get up, but was blocked.

- No, you have to stay still. Your wound has reopened, you're dehydrated, and you just had a panic attack. Do you want to end up in the operating room too? -

The detective said nothing, closed his eyes. Two tears rolled down his temples.

"I'm losing everything..." he thought

Will, meanwhile, was immobile, his body full of cables, tubes, IVs and now a machine was helping him breathe.

Connor and April had done what they could, but they had been forced to intubate him.
Now it was up to him, his heart, his willpower..

A few hours later, Jay, still weak, was pushed in a wheelchair to his brother's bedroom door. He had managed to convince them to let him come visit.

- Just five minutes - said Maggie. - But please, don't scream, don't cry. You need to calm down. -

The detective nodded, stepped quietly, and approached the bed.

- Ehi...- whispered - Will. Be you the forte. You are the one who saves others. Now let others save you.-

He bent down slightly, achingly, and took his hand.
Non c'era risposta, ma il contatto era reale e per Jay, in quel momento era sufficiente.

The detective was then moved to the room next to Will's.
Only a wall and glass divided them, but to the young man it looked like a chasm.

He had asked to stay there to feel close to him since they didn't make him stay on the armchair next to the bed, but now... that silence was killing him.

He was lying on the bed, eyes staring at the ceiling. They had given him painkillers, but the wound inside was far worse than the one on his side.

No one had been in for minutes, or maybe hours. It was then that he heard the noise.

It was an alarm, the beeping of a car changing pitch.

A voice yelled
- emergency cart- behind the wall

Jay's heart skipped a beat.

- No... no, no, NO. Still...-

He stood up again, against the opinion of the doctors. He did it too quickly. The side protested, but he didn't care.
He approached the door of the room. No one would have stopped him. Saw April running, Connor behind her.

- WE ARE LOSING HIM! - said someone in Will's room

Jay remained motionless. The words crashed against him like shattered glass.

We're losing him... Will.

- NO! - he shouted, hitting the wall with a fist. - NO! IT CAN'T END LIKE THIS! -

The legs yielded. His side started bleeding again from an angle of the wound.
His breath became short, too short and once again the world began to spin.

As had happened previously, Jay threw up. This time on the floor of the room with his heart going crazy in his chest. He lay on the ground, his eyes open, but empty.

Jay Halstead was shutting down. Not for the wound, not for the physical pain but for what he thought he had lost.

Doctors found him soon after.
His blood pressure dropped, he was tachycardic and still dehydrated. He was having a sharp payoff.

In it, however, there was no direct organic cause.
Just... so much, too much pain.

The young man had fallen into a state of apathy, he did not speak, he did not react.
He stared into the void, asking for nothing more, not even Will.

No one could explain that collapse.

Time passed, but everything remained unchanged.

Even late at night, with the lights down Jay stood motionless with his gaze turned off.

Voight approached quietly. He sat in the chair next to the bed and watched his detective. Seeing that he was not asleep he said:

- You know, I thought I was tougher than that.-

No response.

- I don't recognize you, Halstead. Are you the one who jumps into buildings to save a stranger, confronts killers with his bare hands and now… you surrender? -

Jay stared at him, slowly.

- Will is dead...-

Voight shook his head ,

- he's alive, intubated, but stable. He had another seizure, but they picked him up. -

Jay looked at him.

- I heard... we're losing it...- whispered

- You heard it, but it wasn't the end, not yet. -

There was a long pause, then Voight moved towards him.

- You want to know what the truth is, Jay? every second you spend like this, thinking you've lost him, you're throwing everything away and Will doesn't deserve it. He always saved you, now you have to do it yourself.-

Jay narrowed his eyes, his voice shaking.

- I... I don't do it...-

Voight looked straight at him.

- Then pretend. Fake it, fuck it. Get up, breathe and… fight. Not for me, because I'm telling you. Do it for him! -

The following morning light filtered through the curtains. The air was still dense, but there was a small, imperceptible hope.

Connor walked out of the room and stopped in Jay's.

- It's still critical. But... - made a half smile - He squeezed my hand, it's just a slight reflex, but it was there.-

Jay closed his eyes. The tears this time were not of despair, they were of relief.

- I knew it. -

Maggie came closer, resting a hand on his shoulder.

- And you? How do you feel? -

Jay, devastated, feverish, exhausted, barely smiling.

- Alive enough to keep fighting. -

Both brothers were alive, both were in pieces, but neither was alone.