Won't Happen Again

1

Jay spotted him slumped over a beer in the far back booth. It was one of the rare occasions he felt sorry for the guy. But he was sure today had been a tough one for him so when he'd called and asked Jay to meet him for a beer Jay didn't hesitate to agree.

Jay stopped briefly at the bar to greet a few friends and order a beer before making his way to the back of the bar. He plunked his beer on the table and sat on the stool across from his brother.

"Hey, how you holding up?" Jay asked Will.

Will raised his head and gave a forced smile as his answer. "Hey, thanks for meeting me."

"Of course," Jay nodded.

They sipped their beer in silence, both casually scanning the bar, watching the patrons laugh and drink their daily stress away.

"You okay?" Jay asked after a few minutes. Will was the talkative one of the two and his lengthy silence had Jay concerned.

"Do you know that most doctors consider suicide at some point during their residency?" Will asked, still shocked by this fact.

Jay's back straightened, his eyes inspected Will looking for signs his big brother was sending him distress signals.

Will raised his hand. "I'm fine. But that's just it. It never occurred to me. I never got to that place. I had no idea so many residents struggled like that." He took a swig of his beer. "I don't know, maybe it's the Halstead genes. Push everything down, don't feel too much and sure as hell don't talk about your feelings." He laughed bitterly. "Can you imagine what dad would say if he walked in here right now? The names he'd call us?"

Jay snorted and took swig of beer.

"And now we have these women in our lives, wanna talk about feelings all the damn time," Will moaned.

"Speak for yourself," Jay said flatly. "Erin's harder to crack then a damn bank vault."

"I don't know man, the way that girl's eyes light up whenever someone says your name, she can't hide those feelings," Will teased.

Jay smirked confidently, "Well, I mean when you've got the best," he bragged.

Will laughed shaking his head, "Shut up."

"Seems to me you're the one who's got all kinds of feelings to work out," Jay teased, putting air quotes around the word feelings.

"What are you talking about?"

"Dude, you're living with one girl and can't shut up about another," Jay observed.

"That's not true!" Will said defensively.

"No? Nat this, Nat that, all the damn time," Jay mocked. "Nina's gonna catch on soon and you're gonna find yourself homeless," Jay warned. "And don't," he continued raising his finger and pointing at Will, "even consider crashing on my couch. No way am am I dealing with you and Erin first thing in the morning."

"Not much of a morning person is she?" Will asked laughing, avoiding Jay's comments about Natalie.

"You have no idea," Jay laughed but there was something in his eyes that told Will Jay was perfectly content to deal with Erin's grumpy moods.

Will laughed too. He'd never seen Jay like this before. His dark brooding little brother, who would rather hide in his room than deal with the world and then later ran away to war so he wouldn't have to deal with his own demons only to be saddled with even more demons, seemed more settled and more at peace these days, happy even.  He'd had his doubts about Erin, especially after she dropped into a self destructive spiral without concern that she'd gutted Jay, but clearly she had got her shit together and was helping him carry his load.

"Hey, where'd you go?" Jay asked, drawing Will's attention back.

Will second guessed himself for a moment before speaking, but after today he knew he just needed to say what was on his mind. "I'm sorry I wasn't there for you when we were kids and after... after you got home. And I'm sorry you had to deal with dad on your own when mom died," he blurted out.

Jay didn't respond at first, just took a swig of beer and swallowed, grimacing like the liquid burned going down. "It the past man," he said, waving off Will's apology.

"Well, it won't happen again. You need anything..."

"I'm good, but thanks. Besides you called me remember?" Jay said interrupting Will.

"Yeah, I did," Will nodded.  The silence stretched between them again before Will grew impatient with his own mood. "Okay enough of this, you see the Sox game last night? Quintana pitched like shit!"

"It's only spring training," Jay reasoned. 

Will and Jay argued baseball and drank beer after beer until a petite brunette placed a hand on each of their shoulders.

"I don't know why you waste your breath, the Cubs are gonna kick their asses again anyway," Erin announced amused.

"Erin! What are you doing here babe, thought you were having dinner with a friend tonight," Jay asked as he leaned over to kiss her.

"I was, that was hours ago and then I got a call from the bar owner," she said thumbing in Herman's direction, " said there were two rowdy Irish boys disturbing the peace and drinking all his beer," she laughed. "Poor man wants to close up and go home."

Jay and Will looked around the now empty bar then at each other and laughed drunkenly. They had lost track of time and closed the bar down.

"Hermann!" Will called, "since when you shy about kicking people out?"

Hermann laughed as he walked over to them. "Since never, but I know you had a rough day, figured I'd bend the rules a bit for you."

"Well I appreciate that," Will said slightly slurred,  "but you didn't have to call us a chaperone. We know how to hail cabs."

"Eh," Hermann shrugged. "I'll sleep better knowing you two goons aren't out inflicting your enthusiasm for the Sox on the rest of this fine city.  No one deserves that." He said in mock seriousness while walking them to the door.

Will flung his arm around Erin's shoulder. "Lindsay, I like you," Will announced, "even if you are a Cubs fan."

Erin laughed up at him and shook her head. When drunk the Halstead boys thought the were even more charming.

"Hey," Jay called a step behind them. "That's my girl you got your grubby hands on." He moaned.

"Relax Halstead, I ain't trying to steal your girl," Will mocked as he pulled Erin closer to his side, knowing it would fuel Jay's fire.

Erin rolled her eyes, it was gonna be a long drive getting these two home.