Dr. Redheaded Neighbor - Will Halstead

Telling Will

Parking my car outside of the hospital and in the parking lot. Getting out of the car I zipped up my firehouse 51 jacket heading towards the direction of the hospital entrance. I knew I needed to tell Will sooner rather than later. Going through the emergency doors in search of my boyfriend. Rounding the corner past the nurse's desk I found his familiar ginger hair. "Will! Hey, can I talk to you for a second if you're not swamped."

"Um, yeah I could use a minute to calm down." He responded leading me into the area where their lockers were located to keep their none work items.

Shutting the door behind me after I walked in the room watching my boyfriend pacing the room back and forth with his chest heaving up and down with heavy breaths. "Are you okay, Will?"

"My – my father is in the hospital. My brother is here too and our dad ain't looking too good." He finally admitted.

I covered my mouth with a hand not sure what else to say. "Oh Will. I'm sorry."

"Yeah it sucks cause I can't be on to help him either with it being the hospital policy and everything. I just - I don't know what to do. What's uh – going on with you, Mal?" He asked me sitting down at the round table inside the locker room.

I paused clicking my tongue debating on whether or not I should tell him the truth. "I got a call from my Lieutenant this morning."

"And what did he say?" He questioned softly.

I sighed dropping my shoulders heavily. "I might have to go-"

"Will, it's your dad. He's coding." The head nurse named Maggie poked her head inside cutting me off.

Will and I ran out into the hallway of the ED and inside his dad's room. I remained standing in the doorway seeing an older man laying flat on a hospital bed and alarms flashing on the computer screen with Will checking for a pulse. "No pulse. Bag him."

"Wait he's your dad. Shouldn't another doctor run the code." A blonde nurse touched his arm.

Will began pushing up and down on his dads chest. "You got one handy."

"What's going on here?" I heard a guys voice causing me to glance over seeing a guy that looked similar to Will just without the red hair coming into the room meaning it had to be his brother Jay.

Will had to shock his father a couple of times before the vital screening returned to somewhat normal as far as I could tell. "Get me Sam to check him out..." Will brushed past me and headed back into the room we had previously been in.

"Will. Will!" I called his name spinning around on my feet running after him and pushing my way through the door back into the locker room. "Hey, why are you calling in another doctor. I thought you're dad was okay after some wave lines came back on the screen."

He rested his hands against the metal locker. "They won't last, Mallory. He's - he's already gone."

"You're saying he's dead."

He swallowed thickly nodding his head yes still never looking in my direction. "He's brain dead. He ain't coming back – the machine is the only thing keeping him alive right now."

"Will, I'm so sorry." I felt sorry for him and I knew I shouldn't give him more bad news that I would be deployed out for another tour in a few months. He already had enough on his plate for today so I slowly walked about to leave the room.

But he called out to me by nickname with a croaking voice. "Mal, will you stay with me?"

"I don't want to intrude on you and your brother grieving. That wouldn't be the right thing to do. Besides I can't have Brett covering my shift for much longer."

Will turned around extended a hand out for me to take, sending me puppy dog eyes with tears. "Mal, please. I – I don't want to be alone right now."

I sighed deciding that he needed me more in this moment than the rest of the world. Crossing the room I wrapped my arms around his waist and he buried his head in the crook of my neck letting some tears finally fall. I slowly ran my fingers through his hair while we just stood there holding onto the other needing comfort.

"Thank you – um can we talk about something else right now. What did you come here to tell me earlier?" He drew his head back looking down at me.

I sucked in a shacky breath, holding onto his forearms. "I – I don't know if this is the best time to tell you what my Lieutenant said to me."

"Come on, Mal. It probably isn't as bad as this. You can tell me anything remember." He reminded me.

Slumping my shoulders I shut my eyes not being able to look him in the eye when I told him what was happening. "He told me this morning that they need to deploy me and Maxon out for another tour. He believes I will be deployed out in a few months give or take."

"Mallory, It's gonna be okay." Was the words I heard coming from his mouth.

Lifting my head up from his red scrub shirt I sniffed through tears. "It is – but I thought – I thought you'd be upset about this. I mean we didn't plan – even think this was going to happen. I was done with my tour because of my leg brace, at least that's what I assumed-"

"Mal, look at me. I'm not gonna be upset over something out of your control. That would make me out to be an asshole of a boyfriend."

I started crying happy tears this time laying my head on his chest, gently gripping his fabric of his scrubs. Will wrapped his arms around my waist resting his chin back on my head enjoying that he had calmed me down over this scary situation that was coming into our lives. "I was so afraid you'd be upset about me having to leave. I'm - I'm going to miss you so much."

"I'm going to miss you and Maxon too. But knowing you you'll get through this with no problem." Will gave me a smile kissing my forehead. "Now let's not focus on this. It took us this long to be together, that's all that is important right now."

I went back to our apartment building to spend time with Maxon until Will got done with his hospital shift. Yet unknown to me he took a detour before actually coming home visiting his brothers apartment on the other side of town. Jay opened the door seeing his older brother standing in the doorway. "What's going on, Will?"

"Do you still got mom's wedding ring?" He asked him where his younger brother let him walk inside disappearing to get the ring from the safe. Will smiled looking at the same picture that his girlfriend had on her phone with Maxon stuck in between the pair.

Comments really appreciated ❤️