'Partners forever' // An Upstead Story 🤍

Chapter 44: Holding on to 'Faith'

Hailey's POV
My pulse is racing and I feel sick, I am barely aware of my surroundings. I know Will is next to me trying to talk but I can barely hear him. I'm brought out of my thought when I hear the door open. I look up thinking it was Dr Rhodes but it was Jay and the unit. Will walks up to them all, I try to listen to what he is telling them. "Faith was shot in the chest, she has lost a lot of blood but she is in surgery with Dr Rhodes, I'm going to go see if I can find anything out" I hear him say then leave. I feel Jays presence next to me and he pulls me into a hug but all I can do is cry. "Shhhhh" he whispers. "Hailey what happened?" Kim asks as she places a hand on my shoulder.

"we....we're leaving...Molly's" I stutter as my hands shake. "Hey it's okay just take your time" Voight says softly. I nod slowly before taking in a deep breathe. "it was a sniper" I cry. "Wait who would someone want to shot Faith?" Kevin asks confused. "No one. She has no enemies. No one would of even known she was here." I say and I feel everyone tense up. I look at each other their expressions and the realisation finally hits me. "You-you guys think it was for me?" I stutter. They don't say anything. "Ohh my god. It's my fault.....the hit was ordered for me" I cry as I place my head in my hands. "No hey that's just a possibility. We don't know that for definite" Jay says as he places a hand on my back.

"There is no other possibility's Jay. It was supposed to be me" I stutter. No one knows what to say to me and to be honest the only thing I wanted to hear was the Faith was okay. Nothing else is important. I feel the shake in my hands return as I think about how I can't live with myself if she doesn't make it. Voights phone starts to ring, he walks away while he answers it. He finishes his phone call and comes back over to us, he looks to me. "We have patrol at the scene and they have boarded everything off. Trudy is leading the investigation for now." He says. I just nod, I can't do anything else, I can't say anything else. Every time I close why eyes i see her laying there on the floor, telling me goodbye, but when I open my eyes I am still stuck here. It's not a nightmare it's real, this is her blood on me. 'Why did I make her stay?' I think to myself 'this would never of happened'.

15 minutes later

Everyone is just sitting on a chair in silence, Jay is rubbing his thumb over my knuckles as I stare down at the ground then up at the clock. I can feel the anxiety bubbling up inside of me and I don't know what to do with it, do I scream? Do I talk? Do I leave the room? Do I run? My leg starts to bump up and down as I try to control myself.

The door opens and I look up to see Will entering the room, I quickly stand up and walk towards him. "How is she?" I ask worriedly. He closes his eyes then looks at me. "Hailey........I'm so sorry but Faith died in surgery a few minutes ago" he says sadly. The words didn't make sense, I feel like I'm in slow motion. The world collapsing around me. My breathing picks up and I feel like someone has just stabbed my heart. My legs give out from under me as I fall to the floor. Someone grabs a hold of me and I just start screaming. "NO! PLEASE NO!" I sob as I break down.

Jays POV
I don't know what to do or what to say to her. She looks so broken and fragile sitting next to me. Her hands are shaking and covered in blood. She is just staring into nothing. Her eyes are swollen from crying and her skin looks pale and purple. She looks exhausted and scared. She's nervous and can't keep herself still, her leg keep bumping up and down as she looks from the floor to the clock.

Will opens the door and enters. She stands up and rushes towards him and the rest of us stay behind her. I knew by the look on Wills face that it was bad. Something was wrong. "Hailey.......I'm so sorry but Faith died in surgery a few minutes ago" he says sadly. My eyes go wide as I comprehend what he just said. I look over to Hailey and I see her struggle. Suddenly I feel myself rushing towards her as her legs give up on her. When her knees hit the floor she just starts screaming and crying out in pain. It was the most heartbreaking thing to hear, it made us all tear up. "NO! PLEASE NO!" she sobs in pain. "I'm so sorry" Will says sadly. I try to pull her up to her feet but she just unfolds and starts to crying. "Hailey" I say with a shaky voice as I try to take her back to her seat.

I look back to the rest of the unit for help and see Kim balling her eyes out and they rest of them tearing up. It's breaking all our heart to hear Hailey in this much pain. The worst part is I know that I can never heal this kind of pain. I hold on to her right as she sobs but I know that it's not helping. Voight walks closer to us and goes to Hailey's other side. He takes her other arm and looks at her. "Hailey come sit down" he says softly. We both pull her up and take her back to her seat, helping her sit down. I sit down next to her and wrap my arms around her as he crouches down in front of her. He takes her blood stained hands in his and squeezes them lightly. "Hailey you are my family so that makes Faith my family, I promise you we are going to find who did this to her" he says but she does say anything she just buried her head in my arm and continues to sob.

After a few minute I feel Kim place her hand on my shoulder. "Can I have a minute?" Kim asks as she wipes her tears away. I nod at her and then look back at Hailey, I kiss her head and whisper "I'll be right outside if you need me" before following the rest of the guys outside to leave Kim with Hailey.

Hailey's POV
I can't breathe, it hurts to much, I feel like I am having a heart attack but somehow it's worse. Being stabbed was less painful than this. I can feel Kim's presence as she kneels down in front of me, placing a hand on my knee. I know she is crying to, I can tell by her voice. I slowly raise my head to look at her and she gives me a soft sad look. I break down and fall to my knees in front of her. She pulls me into her arms and hold me tight. "Shhh it's okay" she whispers as she hold a hand on my head. "I got you it's okay".

"This is all my fault" I sob. "No-" "It is I told her to stay, she wasn't sure and I didn't listen, I didn't listen to her I just wanted to spend more time with her." I sob. "It's not your fault Hailey" she cries. "It was meant for me" I sob. She doesn't say anything but I feel her grip tighten on me as she hold me.

She holds me for a bit, trying to calm me down as she rubs circles in my back. I wait a couple of seconds before I finally decided to get up.

⚠️ trigger warning ⚠️

I walk out of the room and I see everyone turn to look at me. They all have sad and sorrow eyes on them but Jay has tears in his. Kim walks out behind me as I scan the area. I see Will standing next to a desk and I walk over to him. When he sees me approach him he puts his tablet down and looks at me. "I want to see her" I say as I wipe away my tears. He looks at me unsure. "Hailey I don't think that-" he starts but I cut him off. "Will where is she?" I ask again as I look him in the eyes. He looks down to me and then over to the unit. He closes his eyes then let's put a little sigh. "Follow me" he says as we both start to walk towards the doors to the O.R.

"Now Hailey have to warn you what your about to see is horrific. If your going to now is when you should change your mind" he says. I look at him and nod. He looks at then opens the door. I walk in and he closes it behind me. When I look up from the floor I see her laying on a metal table, pale and lifeless. There is blood everywhere, all over the floor, all over her. Will was right it's horrific, I see dead bodies and blood all the time on this job but never in my life would i have pictured seeing Faith laying on this table.

I slowly walk over to her. Her body is covered all the way up to her collar bone. I rest my shaky hand on her forehead. "I am so so sorry that this happened. You didn't deserve it." I cry as I move a piece of hair from her forehead. "Come back. Please. Come back to me" I sob as I start to break down again. I bit my lip as I try to stop myself from sobbing. "You promised me that you were the one who would stay" I cry as I rest my head on her. "I love you" I sob quietly.

I lit my head up and look down at her. I see the see has our silly friendship necklace on as well. I let out a sigh as I bring my shaky hands to my neck. I unclip my necklace and take it off. I tie it around her neck, clipping the magnetic half hearts together. The necklace is complete, best friends. I take her cold hand and remove the ring from her finger. I take it in my hand and carefully lay her hand back down. I place it in my pocket and then I go back up to her head. "We'll be together again" I cry to her as I kiss her forehead.