Grace & the Windy City (Chicago P.D)

Chapter 22- Finale (2)

11:56 pm

Grace sat at Adam's desk, scrolling on her phone. She was following the gang shooting that Intelligence was responding to live on the news, and it looked like there was a second victim. They wouldn't say whether the person was dead or not, they were probably headed to the hospital and would be declared there. The glowing screen casted blue and red light onto Grace's face. Through kidnappings and psych unit admissions, her face remained angelic. Fatigued nonetheless, but angelic.

12:17 am

Grace stretched her arms up high and heard her joints crack as she closed her eyes tightly. She placed her phone down on a pile of beige file folders, thick with case information and left Intelligence for the downstairs vending machine. At the reception desk, Sgt. Trudy Platt stood with three large boxes of pizza sitting idly.

"Hey Sergeant Platt." Grace smiled.

She looked up from the desk, "Oh hey, are you hungry? We have leftovers. It's been a long night."

She glanced at the crumbled dollar bill that would buy a bag of chips and a soda from the vending machines, then put it back in her pocket. "Thanks, I'm starving," Grace took a slice of pepperoni out of the box.

The two chatted for a while before the district became too busy with bookings, and Grace went back upstairs. She looked at the time and became annoyed. She hoped Adam was on his way back.

12:44 am

The headache inducing noise of someone buzzing upstairs to Intelligence interrupted the research Grace was conducting online about federal and state money laundering charges, which she remained confused about. She looked up and saw Platt trudging upstairs followed by another officer, also higher up in the ranks. The expressions on Platt's face sent the most horrible feeling through her body.

    Too scared to speak and now knowing what to say, Platt broke the silence, "There's been an accident."

Dad. It was Dad. Something happened at the jail. Or was it Adam? The unit responded to a shooting.

"Adam has been shot and is being brought to Chicago Med."

Grace didn't know what to say or what to do. She began to sweat and her hands felt shaky. She stood up without realizing it, while Platt explained the officer that was accompanying her would drive Grace to the hospital.

Once outside, the officer opened the car door for her and as she hopped in, Grace began thinking how anything and everything can change in an instant. The universe didn't care about what one has or hasn't done or if they've loved or are loved. It had no mercy, she knew that much.

"I've been here too many times", she thought as they pulled up to the Chicago Med ER. Part of her wanted to stay in that police car forever and have time stand still, but she knew what could happen with each second that went by. It was one more second not being with her brother.

Grace burst through the ER doors and saw the entire Intelligence squad and a dozen other officers look in her direction. Not knowing what to do, Grace ran over to Erin who embraced her tightly.

"He's been in surgery for a while already and should be out soon. It was a through and through in his lower abdomen." she explained.

"Was he awake in the ambulance?"

Erin wasn't going to lie to her. "...No, he wasn't."

Grace took a deep breath and as she breathed out said, "I can't believe this is happening. Why am I back here again?", shaking her head.

"Let's take a seat."

Grace sat between Attwater and Halstead, with Erin across from her. Attwater noticed Grace fidgeting with her hands, looking restless. He reached out his hand to her, to hold in case she wanted. It took a moment, but she looked up to Attwater and her tense demeanor faded away once she placed her hand atop of his, balancing on the arm of the waiting room chair.

"You holding up ok?" Erin asked quietly.

Grace replied with her voice cracking, "I-I don't have anyone right now. My mom is a trainwreck of a human, my dad is in jail, and my brother could be dead right now."

"You've got us," Jay replied sincerely.

Suddenly, Grace remembered Kate. She wasn't very close with her, but she was Adam's sister too. "Oh my god, I need to call Kate. She should know...she should be here. Did anyone call her?" Grace suddenly remembered.

"Platt did," Erin told her. "She's up in Lake Geneva with Sammy and some friends. She'll be here tomorrow before noon."

That allowed Grace to breathe a sigh of relief. Besides Intelligence, she wasn't in this completely alone.

Around 2 am, a doctor entered the waiting room and updated Grace on Adam's surgery. If he made it through the rest of the night without any major complications, there was a better chance of him having a full recovery.

"Can I see him?" Grace asked.

The doctor nodded.

Grace sprinted into Adam's room and nervously looked around at all the tubes and IV's attached to him. The color in his face looked pale and dull. Had she looked like that, too?

She nervously rested her head on the edge of his hospital bed, and spoke to him softly, "You can't die. Not tonight. You can't die because you're all I have."

    Erin, Halstead, and Attwater stood outside while a few of the doctors explained to Grace the extent of Adam's injuries. Shortly after, Voight appeared at the doorway while Erin, Halstead and Attwater retreated back to the District, by his command of course. He entered the room and carefully gave Grace a pat on the shoulder to let her know he was there. Voight looked at his phone. It was past 3 am, and he was worried about her. The past 24 hours had been stressful for him and he couldn't imagine how Grace was doing with all of this.

"Hey Grace," he said softly. "You should get some proper sleep at home."

Grace lifted her head up from the bed. "What home?" she asked. "I can't go to my dad's— it's roped off as a crime scene. Becca and her family are on vacation in Europe and won't be back for two more weeks. And I don't want to be at Adam's alone...I don't want to be in that apartment alone right now, I can't do it..."

"You don't have to be alone, Grace.

"Can't I just stay here tonight? Tell them I'm 18 so they don't call social services. I've already dealt with them once today," she nodded her head to an older blonde nurse peeking into the room from afar.

He noticed that Grace didn't mention her mother, meaning she really had no one else. "Why don't you stay over at my place?" he offered.

"I can't make you do that..."

"And I can't let you sleep in a hospital for a night when you don't need to. Grace, don't make yourself spend any more time in a hospital than you already have."