Tolerance Book I (Chicago PD/Med FF) by Frances51163

Chapter Seventy-Nine: Convincing Will

The living room had been plunged into silence the following night as Jay, with Adam at his side, had outlined to Will and Conor the basics of the plan the Unit intended to put into action in a weeks' time.  The two medical professionals exchanged looks of disbelief before Will finally found his voice and muttered expletives while glaring at the pair.  For his part Conor didn't bother cursing.  Instead he considered the possibility of having Jay fitted with a straight jacket. Maybe he'd go further and get the whole damn Unit measured up!

"So let me get this straight," Will finally looked at the two men sitting by the fireplace, "you're going undercover to bring this Gun Dealer down although he has no connection to whoever sent the tapes.  Is that right?"
"Yeah," Jay agreed calmly.
"So while working on one case ye're also working on another?"
"That's about it," Adam replied, "we do work more than one case at a time regularly. They're all at different stages.  This guy we're going after is difficult to shut down.  He's managed to avoid arrest so far."
"Shouldn't ye be concentrating on the tapes?" Conor countered, surprised the Unit was shifting focus from Halstead Seniors' accomplice.
"They are connected like we told ye.  The rifles came from this guy."
"But ye said his men are definitely not involved in sending the tapes."
"Right," Jay nodded as he stood up, mindful of his injured head, "Will ..... Johnny needs this."
"Hank told me about the Jacksons," Will spoke thoughtfully, "but I don't get why you have to be involved."
"Johnny ...........," Jay hesitated as he turned to face the fireplace on the pretext of warming his hands not sure how to explain why he needed to be the one going undercover, "Johnny .... isn't doing so good."
"And you are?" Will demanded ignoring the warning look from Adam who now rose to his feet.
"Guys we can't tell ye all the details," Adam sent a pleading look to the Surgeon on the sofa, "but this is important to the Unit .....,"
"Oh well that's okay then!" Will stated crossly.
"Will let him speak."
"This guy we're after has killed numerous people with bad drugs," Adam gave the black haired man a subtle look of gratitude, "ye've probably dealt with some of them at Med. Anyway as we explained this is the first opening we have had to get someone inside the operation."
"How will that even work? How will you get inside Jay?" Conor asked.
"It's what we do Doc," Jay turned around to face the room, "nothing for you to be concerned about."
"Wish I could believe you," the Surgeon got up from the sofa with Will at his side, "you need to know that if you don't take it easy for the next week I'll tell Voight you're unfit."
"No you won't," Jay stated fiercely, "this is my job and I'm a grown man!  You need to remember that."
"Never said you weren't," Conor pointed out quietly without any rancour as he approached the upset Detective after sharing a look with Adam, "but you have a habit of forgetting to look after yourself and putting everyone else before you.  I'm just looking out for you."
"Sorry," Jay said in embarrassment at his outburst, "it's just ......,"
"Jay you can yell at me anytime," the Surgeon offered with a fond smile.
"How about me?" Adam decided to lighten the mood.
"Sure," Conor said, as if he had considered the question seriously, as he gestured towards the door, "Jay can yell at you anytime as well."
"Hey that's not what I meant! I meant if could I yell at you!" Adam followed the Surgeon out, still arguing, after sending a pointed look to the watching redhead.

"Okay," Will said once the two brothers were alone, "why does it have to be you?"
"Because Johnny will only trust me," Jay sank back down in his armchair, "he's had a hard life."
"You always did like protecting people," Will sat down on Adams' vacated armchair and looked across at his little brother who always gave him lessons in selflessness, "but with someone out there after you isn't this placing you in even more danger than a normal undercover job would?"
"Shouldn't make a difference. In fact might even help," the younger man elaborated with a forced smile, "let's face it who's going to expect someone under witness protection to go undercover."
"True," Will conceded, "still surprised Voight went along with it."
"How do you mean 'went along with it'? He's the Boss."
"You telling me this was his idea?" Will challenged as he raised an eyebrow.
"Doesn't matter whose idea it was."
"I know you too well Kid."
"That's what you think."
"That's what I know," Will threw back before becoming serious, "just how bad is Johnny?"
"He looks like a walking dead man," Jay admitted sadly, "like all the life has been sucked out of him."
"Did he know you?"
"Not at first but then he remembered.  It upset him.  Me seeing him like he is," Jay shook his head, "took a while to get him talking.  Turns out his mother disappeared when he was eight years old.  Just walked out one day to go to the grocery store and never came back."
"Damn."
"I asked him if she was ever found. I thought he meant she had been abducted or something ......,"
"She wasn't?"
"Turns out she left a note saying she didn't want to be with his father any more and she couldn't afford to take him with her," Jay thought back to the conversation with his childhood friend, "he never told me that when we were kids.  Wish he had."
"It was probably too painful for him."
"Yeah. I reckon it was."
"I didn't know you knew him well."
"Why would you? You are way older than us," Jay jibed.
"Smart guy. Voight mentioned you said ye used to walk home from school together."
"So?"
"Guess I'm wondering if he's another kid you helped out."
"You're not making any sense," Jay stood up, "I'm starving.  You want a pizza?"
"Don't know why you get so embarrassed when someone finds out you did a good thing," Will was not willing to be sidetracked as he stepped in front of the smaller man then asked knowingly, "so what happened?"
"Nothing.  You have a vivid imagination."
"So if I ask Voight and he checks with John he'll say he wasn't being bullied?"
"You won't ask Voight anything about Johnny," Jay instructed with a voice of steel.
"Not if you tell me what happened."

"Will it doesn't matter."
"It does to me."
"Look a guy was picking on him okay.  He saw me coming and took off."
"Something tells me that you left out most of the story," Will shook his head and placed a hand around his siblings' shoulders, "but I'll drop it for now.  So what kind of pizza do you want?"
"Cheese and tomatoe," the smaller man decided as they headed for the door.
"You really need to be more adventurous."
"Never wanted to be adventurous," Jay noted.
"Oh sure!  That's why you became a Police Officer."
"What do you mean?"
"You always loved Cops shows.  I'm right up to a point anyway," Will insisted as they walked along the hallway, "you became a Cop so you could help people.  The adventure part is probably something which attracted you also."
"What are you talking about?" Jay demanded as he stopped and looked at his brother, "I'm beginning to think you're the one with a concussion!"
"Hey man I'm just telling it like I see it.  You telling me you don't enjoy car chases or facing down criminals?"
"'Enjoy' is not the word for it," Jay contemplated his brothers' words as he started moving again, he knew that he did feel the adrenalin kick in when on a chase or during a shootout but that was normal, "things like that are part of the job and yes at the end of the day it feels good knowing you got through a dangerous situation but that's the nature of the work."
"Nothing wrong in that," the redhead smiled as they reached the kitchen, "guess we both got jobs we like."
"Guess we do," Jay decided not to investigate his brothers' serious train of thought, sensing there was something else going on and afraid he might not like what lay behind it.

tbc