He ran his fingers through Jay's hair and whispered to his unconscious brother for God knows how long. He was broken out of his bubble by a light knock on the door and a quiet, 'Will...'
Not surprised to see who stood in the doorway, he greeted his brother's team with a weak smile.
He let out a little chuckle as they all sighed at the same time, "He woke up for a minute..."
That was Erin's cue to move into the room and stand on the opposite side of the bed. She stared down at her partner...boyfriend...and put her hand on his arm, just needing to feel the warmth of him...that he was alive.
Tears sprung to her eyes again and she sank down onto the chair in relief but didn't let go of his arm, hanging her head to hide her tears of relief. The rest of the team joined her, scattering throughout the room. Ready to practice patience once again as they settled into their silent vigil and waited for Jay to wake up for them.
8 hours Later
Jay woke up with an internal groan, feeling horrible and not knowing why. He didn't think he could do anything about the pain and chills wracking his body, but the hissing air being pushed up his nose could be remedied.
He clumsily walked his fingers to the tubing laying against his cheek and after fumbling twice, was able to hook a trembling finger in it. He pulled it off one ear and started working on the other before he was stopped with a gentle hand covering his.
"Hey kid...leave that be...it's oxygen, you need it."
Acquiescing to the quiet demand, he let his hand drop, too weak to fight it, and laid still while Al, mindful of his bruised face, set the wind to gusting up his nose again.
Breathing through the pain that was growing with each waking moment, he squeezed his eyes shut and pushed his head into the pillow, swallowing any noise that would give away the depth of his pain. But apparently it was obvious to those in the room even without sound.
He heard a mad scramble to fetch the nurse and call Will, while others told him in surround sound from the sides and foot of his bed, that it would be okay and help was coming.
Looking at Al and Erin at his sides and Hank at the foot of his bed with a comforting hand on his shin, he wanted their presence to make him feel better or at the very least distract him from the pain but it wasn't working, if anything their small movements and extra noise awoke his concussion causing him to puke without warning.
The pain of the retching turned up the volume on every injury he suffered and before pain meds could even arrive in his room, his brain took care of business and he passed out.
Jay's head dropping down and to the side when he passed out stabbed all of them in the heart. Even though the heart monitor continued its steady rhythm, they expected it to stop, because right then, it looked like Jay had just died.
From the time Al put the cannula back in place, to the time Jay puked was maybe a minute. Mouse arrived almost immediately with Will, a nurse following while Adam, Kevin and Antonio waited anxiously outside the door.
"Hey can you guys step out a second."
Seeing Jay stir, they all immediately complied, not wanting to be in the way.
Banished from oblivion to the land of the living and overwhelmed by the pain, Jay slowly lifted his head, sucked in a breath through his teeth and released it in a weak sob, pleading eyes finding his brother, begging for relief.
"Hold on Jay...just a sec...you'll feel better in a minute..."
He didn't acknowledge Will's promise, just scrunched his eyes shut and tried not to move, to sob. In doing so, he increased his pain by holding his weak body so stiffly. The tears rolled from his eyes as he waited for his brother's promise to be fulfilled.
A minute later Jay was out, really out and wouldn't be waking up for hours. As much as the members of Intelligence wanted to move back into the room, they gave Will and the nurse room to take care of Jay.
They all tried not to react when the nurse peeled the soiled gown off Jay and exited to get a new one while Will wiped the small amount of puke that missed the gown from Jay's chest.
Jay's injuries weren't a mystery to them. They had seen the havoc wreaked on his body when they got him out of there, but it was alarming to see his bruised ribs and the huge bruise enveloping his shoulder. It was almost as dark as the black strap securing his injured arm against his side and across his belly.
But what kept their anxiety at an eleven was the bruise in the middle of his chest with wires crisscrossing over it. The leads to the heart monitor above and to the left of it had their eyes glued to Jay's chest, a reminder of the life saving compressions Will had to perform on his brother.
Adam can't help himself and asks from the doorway, "What's that? The thing in his neck."
Will looked at the bandage on his little brother's neck and the tubing running from it and taped along his shoulder blade. From there the red wires were on their own and continued on to the gray device at the side of the bed.
"Those are the pacing wires..."
Adam paled...he forgot about that. He gave them all a shaky nod and walked backed to the waiting room...pacing wires...Jay's heart needed help beating.
