Halstead Brothers

Being There

It started with a shot. One single gun shot. Will knew as soon as he saw the girl rushed into the ED; it was going to be one of those days. A day he wouldn't forget for a while.

After they had the girl stabilized, Jay and his new partner Upton showed up with the mother. After explaining everything to the parents, they settled the little girl in a room. Will let out a sigh. It was always harder when kids were the innocent victims.

Another hour passed, and Will was finishing his rounds when he noticed his brother hanging outside the little girl's room.

"Her vitals have stabilized and she's holding her on," he started with knowing Jay would ask first thing.

"So she has a chance?"

"Yea."

"That's great news," Jay said even though he appeared tortured. Will knew he took cases with kids personally.

"You ok?" He asked even though his pager was buzzing.

"No, not really man," Jay said as Will watched him fight to reign in his emotions. Will was all he had left to lean on and he knew he couldn't lie to him.

"Look I know it's hard to see some punk sh..."

"I shot her. I shot her. Bullet came from my gun."

"Your gun?" Will asked disbelievingly. He was trying to wrap his head around what Jay was saying and how he knew his brother was feeling.

"Yea so..." Jay trailed off knowing Will would get his meaning.

"I'm sorry Jay," he said truthfully before his pager buzzed again. He let out a huff before saying, "A'ight come 'ere." He wrapped his arms around his little brother tight giving him some comfort before he knew he had to race back to work. "You just stay strong alright?" He said giving Jay another squeeze.

"Thanks man," Jay said as Will headed off. He didn't want to leave Jay, but duty called and he knew Jay understood.

/
Jay met with the shooting team and had finished some work with the team when Kim gave him the news. It was like his already tilted world titled some more and he was struggling to find balance.

He raced to the hospital. He needed Will's explanation. He needed to know why. He slammed his Jeep in park in the parking lot and raced inside.

"I was just about to call..." Will started seeing Jay rush into the ED his emotions simmering just below the surface. He pulled him to an empty ED room knowing Jay could lose it any second.

"You said she was gonna make it. You said she was gonna make..."

Will interrupted knowing Jay wasn't really blaming him. He was blaming himself, and it killed Will to see his little brother like this. "I said she had a chance. She was in bad shape... lost too much blood... There's... There's only so much we can do."

"I know... I know... I'm sorry..." Jay trailed off as his emotions were eating him alive. He saw the parents walking out and it was too much. He turned from Will walking off and Will let him. He knew his brother needed the time to process what had actually happened. He knew if he went after him right then, Jay would push him away harder. He'd get him after shift and make sure he was going to be ok.

/

Will was clocking out when Maggie showed him the news conference and Jay in the background. Will let out a sigh and a nod. "Thanks Maggie," he said quietly.

She gave his shoulder a squeeze. "Be the good brother I know you are Will. He needs you now."

"I know. I will. I'm going to track him down now."