Bless the Broken Road that Lead Me Straight to You

Chapter 18

Will Halstead stood at the nurses station reviewing the electronic medical record for his next patient, Erin Lindsay.

Chief complaint: 28 yo female, attacked in her office.

Jesus. That didn't sound good. April had briefed him on her physical injuries so he could put the orders for the X-ray into the computer system, but she hadn't told him the cause of her injuries.

He hadn't actually been in to see her yet. After a particularly busy morning, he had been squeezing in a late lunch when she first arrived. By the time he returned to the ED, she was already being taken back to get the X-Rays he ordered. April had cleaned her wounds and bandaged her up after the scans, and was now in there to give her pain medications.

He opened up the X-Rays in her chart and scanned each bone carefully. She had X-Rays of her head and neck, and then a separate set for her arms and ribs. After looking through each set of scans, he opened the radiologist report to verify his findings.

The radiologists report matched his own. He exited out of the scans and pulled up her medical chart, clicking on each tab and skimming quickly as he went.

Past Medical History: None

Past Surgical History: Open reduction and internal fixation of the clavicle in 2000*

*Note: Suspected physical abuse; not confirmed.

Medications: Oral contraceptive pill

Allergies: None

Social History: Social worker for DCFS. Drinks alcohol socially, denies any history of alcohol dependence. Former cigarette smoker; 1/2 pack per day x 2 years, quit at age 15. Past history of substance abuse x 1 year, status/post rehab, quit at age 15. Denies any current drug use.

As he continued to click through her chart, April stepped out of the patient's room and came up beside him, still holding the two while pills in her hand. "She won't take the Percocet."

He closed out of the chart, and reached out his hand towards April. She placed the paper chart in his hand as he replied, "I'll talk to her."

He began walking towards her room, briefly checking over the paper chart for anything that may have been missing in the electronic medical record.

After reading the online chart, he wasn't at all surprised she was refusing pain medications. He was, however, surprised when he saw the last line of her paper chart.

Emergency Contact: Hank Voight.

It couldn't be. Could it?

Yes. It probably was. Shit.

Will had been out of town for the past two weeks, and he had been a little out of the loop where Jay was concerned. He went to visit their father in New York, and as much as they both had an 'agree to disagree' type understanding surrounding their father, Will wasn't exactly comfortable talking to him about it. And he was even less comfortable lying to Jay, so while he was on his trips to New York, he usually avoided talking to Jay altogether.

He spoke to him twice, and both conversations had been kept brief, so as to avoid Jay asking him any questions.

The bulk of the conversation had surrounded Grace, the four year-old girl that Jay had discovered hiding under a bed during a case and that had come to live with him and Maddie. He had known enough to call Jay this morning, that today was the big day.

But Jay had actually told him very little about Erin. He didn't know her last name, and he certainly didn't know that she had any sort of relationship with Voight.