SHOT | JAY HALSTEAD

2 | shift

"So, how was last night?" Will asked as he smirked.

Rhea rolled her eyes at her best friend, "Nothing happened. We talked. Jay is a nice guy but he's clearly going through something and needs all the help he can get. I'm being his friend because that's what he needs. Don't turn this into something that it's not." He sure knew how to get under her skin but she loved him nonetheless and he was her best friend. They had been through hell together.

Will put his hand up in surrender, "Fine. I get it. Thank you for talking to him. Lately it just seems like he's slowly losing himself and there's nothing I can do to help him. Thank you."

"I get it. But you also have to understand where he's coming from,she's someone that means a lot to him and he feels useless not being able to do anything for her. You don't have to say much, just let him know you're always there for him. He needs you." Rhea explained.

Will nodded, "I will. He's my brother and I'm not giving up on him. You're right, I'm always going to be there for him."

"Good. Now get back to work." Rhea shooed.

Will rolled his eyes, "Rude. Fine, I'll go."

Rhea had spent the morning attending to patients before having to finish some paperwork as part of her starter pack for being able to continue to work at Chicago Med. Paperwork had always been something Rhea had hated, that was never going to change. In fact, Will had teased her all morning regarding the paperwork that he knew she had to do as he had to do it himself.

It had been a roller coaster of a morning, especially after a young woman was brought in. She had clearly been abused, and from Rhea had gathered, both physically and sexually. The young woman was also deaf so Rhea had spent the morning translating while Natalie carried out her assessment.

Working with Natalie had been great. Rhea was glad she was finally getting to know the rest of the staff, as well as the woman her best friend was madly in love with. It was nice bonding with a woman as she was used to being around men, professionally and personally. Rhea had always gotten along with people but for some reason lacked female friends.

"Hello, stranger." Someone spoke from behind her. Rhea turned around to find Jay Halstead standing there with a cup of coffee and a hand in his pocket while wearing a leather jacket that looked good on him.

Rhea smiled, "Hello to you too."

Jay smiled back as he handed her the coffee, "Natalie told me you helped translate for our victim?"

That's why he was there, Rhea thought. She now understand why he was at the hospital as she knew he didn't have anything planned with his brother.

"Unfortunately. What can I do for you?" Rhea spoke as she sighed softly. Just think about the young woman and what she had been through, upset her greatly.

"We don't really know much. We were wondering if there was anything you could tell us so that we can find out who did this. Natalie says that she bonded with you?" Jay questioned.

Rhea nodded in understanding, grabbing the young woman's chart, "She says her name is Samantha Harrington. She's 17 and deaf. She had bruises on her arms, legs and torso. She had difficulty breathing and moving without being in pain. She had clearly signs of vaginal tearing, on multiple occasions. She's mentally traumatised. She's refused any male staff and wakes up screaming whenever she falls asleep. The girl has been through a lot and I hope you find however did this to her. Natalie and I are currently her primary staff with help from April. That's all I've got so far."

"Thank you so much. That's more than we had. We will do the best we can. No one should ever suffer the way that she did. She's a child and sick bastard traumatised her." Jay spoke as he shook his head.

Rhea placed a hand on his arms, "Calm down. I know you and the rest of Intelligence will do everything they can to find this bastard. Don't let your anger make you emotional, rather let it motivate you. Samantha deserves justice and I know you can get for her. You're strong enough to do this, there's a young girl counting on you."

Jay looked at her, smiling softly, "How do you always know exactly what to say to make me feel better?"

"Once again, it's a gift, Halstead."

Finally it was the end of the shift and Rhea couldn't wait to get home. However, when she finally opened the door to her flat, she found that her whole apartment had been trashed and it wasn't pretty. All the furniture had been thrown aside, tv broken, cutlery everywhere, picture frames on the floor with broken glass and papers everywhere.

Rhea was quick to pick up the phone to call Jay. "Guess you couldn't get enough of me today?" He teased as soon as he picked up the phone.

"Jay?" Rhea managed to whimper out.

"What wrong? What happened?" Jay asked in concern when he heard the sound of her voice.

"Someone broke into my place."