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

Chapter One Hundred and Sixty-Five: Banishing Nightmares

Three days later found Jay opening the door to Will and the Sergeant. A frown formed as he eyed the unexpected visitors. The young Detective had woken the day after his revalations feeling regret and shame over what he had divulged. Will had phoned that afternoon seeking confirmation all was okay and Jay had done his best to deflect the redhead. Now he stood facing the older men. He had not acknowledged it but he had seen the anger both men had tried to conceal after hearing about the day from so long ago. He was not going to upset either man any further.

"You going to invite us in?" Will prodded as his sibling seemed to be distracted.
"Oh yeah ... sorry," Jay stepped back and the two entered, "ye want a coffee?"
"Nah I'm good," the Doctor declined as he sat down in the sofa.
"Just had one," Voight chose an armchair after assessing his subordinate, "you look like hell Kid."
"I'm fine," Jay countered as he picked up his steaming mug and sank down in the remaining armchair, "so what's up?"
"Just checking in. Thought you might tell us some more about your childhood," Voight explained honestly, "you get any sleep since the other day?"
" Yeah," Jay replied, he wasn't lying even if he had only slept fitfully for a few hours, "look I know ye mean well but ....,"
"You need to talk," Will interrupted evenly, "what you told us the other day only scratched the surface."
"And I'm guessing you've been questioning if you were right in telling us what you did," the Sergeant observed knowingly, "you were."
"Not really sure what ye want from me."
"It's not a matter of wanting anything from you," the redhead pointed out patiently, "we meant what we said. You can talk to us about anything and we'll listen. Jay you know you need to talk. You can't go on like this."
"I did talk to ye!"
"Sure you did Kid but there's a a lot more," Voight acknowledged gently, he knew they needed to thread carefully.
"I'm done talking. Told ye before it doesn't change anything."
"it won't change what happened," the Sergeant concurred readily, "but it might change things now. You can't go on not sleeping ....,"
"I did sleep," Jay quickly cut in.
"Sure you did but not enough obviously."
"Don't ye have better things to be doing?"
"Nope," Will replied, "we're right where we want to be so how about you tell us some more."
"What am I? A project for the two of ye?" Jay queried sarcastically, too weary to hide his frustration at the situation he found himself in.
"We're just worried about you Jay," the redhead replied evenly, ignoring the anger easily for he knew it wasn't really directed at Voight or himself.
"You want to come back to the Unit Kid you got to be able to put in a full days' work," the Sergeant spoke plainly but quietly, "and for that you need to be getting some proper sleep."
"I don't want to .... cause hassle ...."
"You're not causing any hassle," Will put in firmly, "how about telling us about the time the old man caught your fingers in the car door?"
"Why bring that up?" Jay raised an eyebrow.
"I hadn't thought about it in years but a kid was brought in yesterday after having his hand caught in a car door," Will explained, "that's when I remembered what happened to you."
"Did .....," Jay seemed to pale as he spoke, "did ..... someone do it ...... on purpose?"
"No, no it was an accident," the redhead quickly assured, trust his brother to be overly concerned.
"Good, that's good," the younger man felt sweat hop out on his forehead and eyed his companions for a long moment before deciding to divulge another part of his past.

                        - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

A week later found Jay on his second day back on the job. He had shared some more of his childhood with Will and Voight and as the nightmares became less frequent he was able to get more sleep, eventually losing the dark patches under his eyes. Sam had signed off on his return to work. Although the Counsellor had privately advised Jay that there were still a lot of things he needed to deal with he had acknowledged that significant headway had been made.  Sam had informed Jay once again that his door was always open and anytime he needed to talk he would be available.  The Detective had merely offered his thanks without accepting the offer.  Now looking around the open plan area Jay found his gaze travelling yet again to Voights' closed door.  Platt had come upstairs ten minutes ago carrying a thick brown A4 envelope.  Her terse greeting to the team was taken as her normal demeanour but after walking into the Sergeants' office and closing the door she had been sending worried looks Jays' way and he figured whatever was in the envelope had something to do with him.  He was debating going into the office to get some answers when Voight opened the door and left Platt out.

"Halstead I need to talk to you."
"Reckon we'd all like to know what's going on," Al put down the file he was working on and eyed his old friend as the others turned their attention towards the serious looking Sergeant as Platt looked at Jay before heading for the stairs.
"I'll brief ye after."
"Might as well tell me here," Jay stood and gestured to his friends and colleagues, "what is it?"
"A package was delivered for you earlier. Platt had it checked to make sure it was safe," Voight spoke as he held up the envelope, "turns out Petrocelli liked you more than we thought ......"
"What the hell does that mean?" Adam demanded as he went over to stand beside his clearly shocked friend.
"This gives all the details of when a bomb is meant to be planted in Central Park," Voight passed the envelope over.
"It's addressed to you and me," Jay noted with a frown.
"I think he did his research," the Sergeant pointed out sardonically, "reckon he knew if you got it alone you might try dealing with it solo."
"What did he say?" Antonio asked impatiently as he eyed the pale Detective retrieve a pair of gloves from his desk before withdrawing a bundle of pages with a handwritten note on top.
"Basically that he had intended to bomb an army recruitment facility in New York but after spending time with Jay it brought home to him that his son would have been ashamed of him."
"So where does Central Park come in?" Kevin frowned as he watched Jay plop down on his chair shaking his head in disbelief.
"Petrocelli had to recruit someone outside his organisation to carry out the bombing. He provided the finances and one Simon Wells procured the goods but when Petrocelli changed his mind Wells refused to destroy the components of the bomb. He informed Petrocelli that he had plans of his own for Central Park. Before Petrocelli could take any steps to retrieve the bomb equipment Wells went to ground.
"So how did he get details of where the bomb is supposed to go off?" Al wondered.
"Wells left the plans behind. It appears he got wind Petrocelli was going to make a move to retrieve the bomb and he skipped town."
"Seems a bit careless," Jay noted sceptically as he finally handed the note to Adam who eagerly read the contents aloud for the others once he had donned a pair of gloves also ...

'Detective Halstead, I know you did not expect to hear from me again but I find myself compelled to reach out to you in the hope you will be able to avert a major incident. Although the threat I speak of relates to New York I find that you alone are the only Cop I truly believe I can trust and therefore I am entrusting the following information to you ...'

tbc

Authors' Note - 14th March, 2020.

Sorry it has taken me a while to post this. Still dealing with health problems. I hope ye are all doing okay during these trying times. It seems like we have all become unintentional extras in a disaster movie! Please be careful (and American Readers please ignore Trump!) and stay safe Frances 💜💜💜☘️