Halstead Sister

Hiding Sickness

A/N: This is a request for @marry43gg. Thank you for requesting! Feel free to send me more!
Also this one is written in 3rd person. Do you guys prefer 3rd or 1st person better?

Tess 15 years old

Tess woke up feeling sick. Her head hurt, her body hurt, and she had the chills. All she wanted to do was cuddle up under the covers and stay in bed but, this afternoon Tess had a dance competition and she knew that if she told her brothers she didn't feel well, she'd be forced to stay home.
"T, c'mon, get up. You're going to be late for school" Will stuck his head in her room. Tess groaned but pushed herself out of bed. She slowly began to get ready for the day. Despite it being warm outside, Tess was freezing and put on sweatpants and sweatshirt. She tied her hair back in a messy bun before flopping back down on her bed.
A few minutes later Will knocked on her door. "Tess? You almost ready?" He asked. Tess got up and opened the door. One look at his sister told Will something wasn't right. She was pale and sweaty and was dressed way too warmly for the day. "You okay?" He asked as he went to put a hand on her forehead.
"I'm fine" Tess lied as she dodged his hand.
Will rolled his eyes. "Then you won't mind if I feel your head" he placed one hand on Tess's shoulder so she couldn't get away and the other on her forehead. "You're warm" he said with concern. "You feel okay?"
"Yes" Tess sighed. "Can we just go?" She was weak and standing was tiring.
"Maybe you should stay home" Will said worriedly.
Tess shook her head. "No. I'm fine. Let's go." Tess grabbed her backpack and headed toward the door.
"You'll call me or Jay if you get worse, right?" Will asked as Tess put on her shoes.
"Yes. But I won't need to." Tess told him. Although he still felt something was off, Will nodded and followed her out the door to drive her to school.

During her morning classes, Tess was barely able to pay attention. Her headache was getting worse and she overall felt miserable. By the time lunch rolled around, she was exhausted.
"Tess, you good?" Her best friend, Lucy asked her.
Tess nodded. "Just a cold. I'm fine."
"You better be. We need you for the match later." Lucy reminded her. Tess hummed in response. She sat in a daze half listening to her friends' conversation. The bell rang and Tess stood up but swayed slightly. "You sure you're good?" Lucy asked again. This time, Tess wasn't so confident she was fine. She was dizzy, hot, and the vision in her left eye was all blurry.
"Need'ta c'll Will" she slurred before collapsing onto the ground and having a seizure.
———
Jay was sitting at his desk when his cellphone rang. "Halstead" he answered without checking the caller ID.
"Hi Mr. Halstead, it's Jack Cole, a vice principal at Westlake School." The caller introduced himself. Jay was confused. Tess was a good kid and rarely got into trouble. "I'm calling to let you know Tess experienced a seizure during lunch. She is with the nurse now and we have called an ambulance."
Jay immediately jumped up and grabbed his wallet and gun from his desk. "Tell the paramedics to take her to Chicago Med. I'll meet them there." Jay swiftly hung up the phone.
The rest of intelligence was staring at him. "What was that about?" Hailey asked.
"Tess, she uh," Jay started walking to the stairs. "She had a seizure at school. I gotta go. Tell Voight..."
"Go" Voight stood in the doorway to his office. "Let us know how she's doing." Jay nodded and flew down the steps and out of the precinct.
———
"Dr. Manning! Incoming patient" Maggie called to Natalie. Natalie quickly made her way over to the ambulance bay doors to meet the medics. Gabby and Sylvie wheeled the patient in and Natalie froze.
"Maggie, get Halstead!" She shouted. "What happened?" She asked the paramedics.
"She had a generalized seizure about 20 minutes ago and another en route just prior to arrival. She never regained consciousness." Sylvie reported. Natalie nodded and she and the nurses transferred Tess from the gurney to the bed.
"Tess" Natalie said loudly. "Open your eyes." She rubbed her knuckles against the girl's sternum. Tess moaned and blinked open her eyes. "There she is." Natalie smiled at her. "Blink if you can hear me." Tess slowly blinked her eyes. "Good."
"Nat!" Will barged into the room. "What's going on?" He made his way over to the bed and was relieved to see Tess lying there with her eyes open. "Hey, Tiny T" he smiled at her. Tess struggled to keep her eyes open. "Hey!" Will exclaimed, causing Tess to force her eyes open. "Stay awake for me, ok?" Tess gave a small nod. Natalie proceeded to examine Tess. A few seconds later, shouting could be heard in the hall and Will was fairly certain he recognized the voice. He excused himself and left the room.
"Will!" Jay called when he saw his brother. "Where is she? Is she ok? What's going on? Maggie wouldn't let me in." He glared at the charge nurse who rolled her eyes.
"Relax" Will said calmly. "She's ok." Jay let out the breath he had been holding. "She had 2 seizures fairly close together. They're sending her for a CT since she might've hit her head. She's awake but not talking."
"Can we see her?" Jay asked. Will nodded and led his brother into the room. When they walked in, Tess was sleeping and Natalie was entering information into the computer.
"How's she doing?" Jay asked softly.
"She's alright." Natalie whispered. "She has a slight fever though. Did she mention anything about feeling sick?" Natalie asked the Halstead men. Jay looked at Will.
Will sighed and folded his arms. "No. But she looked it this morning. She was pale and felt warm. I should've known." He shook his head.
Natalie put a reassuring hand on his shoulder. "You can't blame yourself. Besides, even if you did notice, you don't have a special power to prevent seizures." Natalie tried to comfort him.
"Yeah but maybe she wouldn't have hit her head if I forced her to stay home." Will scowled.
"W'll" Tess mumbled and attempted to sit up but she was too weak and tired and laid back against the bed.
"Hey, kiddo" Will rushed to her side. "How you feeling?" He asked as he gently brushed some hair off her forehead. Tess moaned and looked miserably at her brother. "That good, huh?" Will joked, earning himself an irritated glare from his sister.
"Home?" Tess asked hopefully.
"Not yet, T. You're going to have a CAT scan first" Will told her. Tess sighed. "Shouldn't be too long."
"Hey sweetheart," Natalie approached the bed. "I have a few questions for you. Do you think you can answer them?" Tess nodded. "Can you tell me your name?" Natalie asked.
"Tess" she croaked barely audibly.
"Good. Do you know where you are?" She asked next.
"Med?" Tess was a little less confident with that answer.
Natalie nodded. "Do you remember what happened?" Tess shook her head. "That's alright. You had a seizure. How are you feeling?"
"Head hurts" Tess winced. "I feel sick."
"That's probably because you also have a fever." Natalie told her. "Were you feeling sick earlier?" Tess looked down but nodded.
"Tess!" Will sounded exasperated. "You told me you were fine. Why didn't you tell me you didn't feel well?"
"The dance competition" Tess leaned her head back. "I really wanted to go."
"Well, you're certainly not going now" Will said harshly. Tess nodded and avoided eye contact. Will sighed. "I just worry about you, kiddo." Tess smiled slightly. "I know. And I am sorry I lied. I thought I'd feel better."
"Now that you're getting taken care of, you should start to feel better." Will told Tess. "But no more lying, deal?" Tess nodded. She was tired and despite her best efforts to keep her eyes open, they were closing. "Get some sleep kiddo. We'll be here when you wake up." Will said softly. Tess allowed herself to drift off to sleep knowing that her brothers were there to make her feel better.