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

Chapter One Hundred and Forty-Three: Ending in Sight

Four hours passed before Jay opened his eyes.  He was surprised to find he had slept that long but sitting up slowly he leaned back after pushing aside the blanket someone had placed over him and took stock.   The headache had thankfully disappeared.  His hip still ached but his wrist and fingers weren't so bad.  All in all he decided, as he got up gingerly, he was doing okay.  Opening the office blinds he caught a rare view of his friends from this angle.  They all looked so serious.    Antonio, head buried in a file, twiddling a pen as he considered what he was reading.  Kevin rubbing his forehead as he turned over a page.   Al as ever looking as chilled out as one could get even though his reading was unlikely to be of the light variety.   Voight was on the phone to someone shaking his head at the invisible listener, clearly unhappy about something.  He wondered if he looked as serious when he was doing paperwork.  Catching Adams' eye he smiled, something he couldn't remember doing in a long time, at least not genuinely.  Maybe things were finally evening out.  A knock on the door caught his attention and he realized he hadn't noticed his friend leaving his desk.

"Hey how are you doing?" Adam asked quietly as he entered the office and closed the door behind him.
"Good," Jay frowned as he one onehandedly folded the blanket as best he could, "everything okay?"
"Let's sit down a minute," Adam spoke as he absently bent down and picked up the now dry handkerchief, which had fallen on the floor at some stage, placing it on the desk.
"What? Jay didn't accept the suggestion, his earlier feelings suddenly dissolving like a mist.
"Sit down," Adam walked over and guided the anxious man back down onto the couch before sitting down beside him, "we've come up with a new theory and ....,"
"No one's hurt?" the shaken man checked hoarsely.
"No, everyone's fine. Now ...," Adam stopped and looked at his companion properly for the first time, "damn sorry man!  Didn't mean to scare you.  I just wanted to talk to you first, to give you a heads up."
"Okay," Jay shrugged nonchalantly as he tried to get his heart back in rhythm, cursing himself internally for assuming the worst and allowing his emotions to show, "so tell me what have ye come up with?"
"We've been assuming it's someone from your school days but now we're trying to find a tie in to Petrocelli."
"Where did that come from?"
"Antonio suggested it and once we gave it some thought we realized there could be something in it."
"But who? De Luca and Lombardi wouldn't go against Petrocellis' wishes and Brown is dead."
"Morettis' team hit pay dirt a few hours ago," Adam explained readily, "Franklin."
"Franklin?"
"Morettis' Brother-in-Law.   Remember we told you he's the Head of the Narcotics Division in LA?  Well he was up until two hours ago anyway.  He's now in lockup pending charges which will be brought first thing in the morning."
"Ye have something that ties him to me?  To what's been happening here?"
"Yes but at the moment he's only being charged with one count of murder and distribution," Adam looked at the other man before continuing, "Jay there's no easy way to say this ..... he's the one who killed Johnny."
"But .... why would .....,"
"Turns out Brown was tired of Franklins' efforts to make more money out of Petrocellis' operation so he gave him an ultimatum, kill Johnny and prove he was serious or just be satisfied with the deal he had.  Franklin was greedy."
"How can ye be so sure he killed him?   You said he was only arrested a couple of hours ago."
"Moretti spoke to him.  Turns out once he was caught he just caved."
"So how are things in here?" Hank asked as he stuck his head in the door.
"Just bringing Jay up to date."
"He told me about Franklin .... and Johnny."
"Ruzek I need a word with Halstead."
"Sure Boss.   I've told him everything except ...," Adam stood up after patting his friends' shoulder.
"The tie in to here," Hank guessed knowingly.

Chicago Med

Will, Conor and Dr. Charles were sharing a rare meal in the cafeteria.

"So things went well last night?" Charles guessed for his cousin had told him the injured Detective had seemed to finally relax by the end of the night.
"Yeah.  Jay actually seemed to become more at ease before he left," Will said with relief colouring his tone, "Sam spoke to him.  Don't know what was said though."
"That's Wills' subtle way of asking if you know what they spoke about?" Conor grinned around a bite of chicken salad sandwich.
"Not a clue," the Psychiatrist stated firmly, "Sam would never divulge anything he was told."
"But Jay isn't his patient," Will argued as he poured a sugar into his coffee distractedly.
"Will whatever their relationship is Sam wouldn't betray your brothers' trust."
"Come on Will you know apart from anything else Jay saved Sams' life," the Surgeon reminded seriously, "irrespective of a possible Doctor/patient relationship down the line Sam must want to repay him in some way.  In fact he told us as much."
"I know," the redhead recalled their first meeting in Mollys with the likeable Counsellor, "would love to know the story there.  How exactly Jay saved him."
"It's not a straight forward rescue story," Charles observed knowingly, "that much I do know.  All Sam ever said about it was that to save him Jay had to make an impossible call.   I've never pushed for more because Sam has been in a good place for several years.  Not like when he got back."
"I hear you Dr. Charles," Will easily accepted the unverbal order to avoid pressing the Counsellor for information on the incident, he hadn't intended to anyway knowing it would only alienate his brother if he gleaned the information that way,  "okay so I'm being over invested again."
"Don't think you can ever be over invested in someone you care about," Charles argued kindly, "especially your brother.   He's a very special young man."
"Wish there was a way to convince him of that."
"Maybe when things gets sorted and he's back home we can come up with something," Conor offered hopefully as he picked up a stray piece of lettuce.
"I'd like that.  Just hope things get sorted soon," Will commented around a yawn, "it's tiring me out and Jay is the one living through it."

21st Precinct

"So you're pretty up to date with where we're at," Hank got down to business as he motioned for his Detective to stay seated as he leant back against his desk.
"Doesn't make sense.  The Williamsons, Carter ....,"
"It didn't for a while," the Sergeant nodded as he folded his arms, "Michael Williamson knew the old man but apart from his brother the others who were in school with you have a link to Tom Franklin.   One we only found a short while ago."
"Well?" the young man was in no mood for waiting games, he still wasn't convinced that Franklin was the unsub they were after in Chicago.
"He went to your school you .........,"
"But ye said he's in his early forties.  I don't know him," Jay interrupted trying to keep his impatience in check.
"You probably wouldn't remember him but you probably remember his brother ........ Daniel Franklin."

"What could Danny have to do with this?" Jay got up gingerly, a hint of shock in his question.
"You remember what happened to him?" the Sergeant asked gently, seeing his subordinate go paler.
"Yeah," the Detective responded in a whisper as memories of a long ago night came back to life ....

tbc