#halstead!sister fanfic

[deanstead]

Coming Home

Pairing: Will Halstead x HalsteadSister!Reader x Jay Halstead

Requested: yes, by anon

Summary: Y/N returns to Chicago to surprise her brothers but she’s not telling them everything. Meanwhile, a series of mysterious calls and texts seem to hint at something else brewing in the background.

Word Count: 4.6K+

Square Filled: Kidnap/Hostage for #resa.3kfiestabingo

Warnings: canon typical mentions of kidnapping, stalking

A/N: Hi guys! I’m still on vacation but I managed to get this out while I was recharging. Might have some mistakes but overall I still hope yall like it!

HALSTEAD!SISTER MASTERLIST

“Y/N?”

An incredulous look crossed Jay’s face, like he couldn’t believe what he was seeing - you, standing right in front of his door.

Before you knew it, Jay was right in front of you, pulling you into his arms and lifting you off the ground as if you were a small child once again yet you couldn’t help the laugh that burst out of you. A genuine laugh that you felt hadn’t left your lips in months.

“What are you doing here?” 

You gave him a look. “Seriously? We’re doing this out here? With my luggage?”

Jay smiled. “Give it here.” He took your carrier before he opened his door, pushing it open with his foot so you could step into his apartment.

Jay’s apartment was almost like how you remembered it, as if almost no time had passed since you’d gone off to study and decided to stay in Europe for some experience. You knew your brothers would have preferred for you to at least return to America but they also agreed that you needed to do what you felt was right. 

But it really was nice to be home. 

“Does Will know you’re back?” Jay asked, handing you a glass of water. When you didn’t answer immediately, he narrowed his eyes. “You went to his place first, didn’t you?”

You let out a small guilty laugh at his accusatory tone and shrugged. “I figured he was the one with more regulated hours. But I couldn’t find a Halstead there. He moved?”

Jay nodded. “Yeah, you know things happen.” 

You nodded absentmindedly. “At least you didn’t.”

“That’s kind of the reason I didn’t.” Jay said with a smile.

You looked up. “What if our baby sister couldn’t find either of us?”

“I’m not a baby.” You shot back.

Jay let out a chortle. “You will always be a baby.” He teased gently.

You didn’t let on the exact reason why you were back and although Jay knew something was a little off, he didn’t push. Instead, he called Will, with a vague phone call so that you could surprise your oldest brother as well.

“Jay, I’m coming in!” Will said, his strained voice from the other side of the door telling you that he was a little worried.

The door opened, Will freezing in the door frame for a second before a look of surprise with a happy smile. “Y/N!”

You allowed the oldest Halstead to give you a tight hug, enveloping you in his arms and you felt another wave of security as well as ease wash over you, reaffirming your decision to come home.

Jay ordered in, so the three of you could spend some quiet time together, Jay’s apartment resounding with laughter like it usually did when the three of you were together.

“How long are you back for?” Will asked, taking a sip of beer.

You shrugged. “I might be staying.”

You didn’t miss the sparkle of hope in both their eyes as they glanced at each other.

“I mean if I can crash here.” You said, a slightly cheeky tone slipping into your voice. 

Jay rolled his eyes. “You can have the whole freaking apartment if you want.”

You laughed. “Yeah, I just… well I missed you and I thought it was time. But I came here with no plan so you’ll have to feed me until I find a job.”

Will smiled. “I think the ED has a spot.” 

You raised an eyebrow. “As long as you promise to not breathe down my neck.”

You’d taken the job.

There’d been a bit of a turnover lately and Maggie needed an experienced nurse, which was just as well. You were sure being a Halstead also helped.

“Remember what you promised me.” You said through gritted teeth on your first day.

But working at Med had turned out much better than you’d expected. Other than the fact that Will had kept his promise and tried his best to keep out of your way, the people you worked with were really great. Even the paramedics and firefighters that came in were a hoot, and you’d quickly become friendly with almost everyone. 

So things seemed really good.

Until it started up again.

It had seemed mostly innocent enough, getting a few missed calls from unknown numbers while you were on shift. You’d barely put any thought into it, letting the phone ring as you moved quickly through the ED, from room to room, just another day in the ED.

The mistake you made was picking up one day after your shift.

“Hello?”

When you were met with silence, you paused and repeated the greeting. “Hello?”

Now, there was a slight crackling. You frowned, pulling your phone away from your ear to make sure the call was still connected, before you took a quick screenshot and tried one more time. When there was no response still, you disconnected the call, slipping your phone back into your pocket.

You didn’t give the call much thought, especially since there were plenty of scam calls going around and you figured this was just one of those calls. 

But the calls didn’t stop and you’d even asked Jay if there was anything that could be done but the numbers kept changing and based on what Jay could do at this point of time, considering there was no apparent threat, it didn’t lead to anything much.

Of course, you’d kept the frequency of the calls from Jay, which was why he wasn’t as worried as he probably should have been. You’d even kept the weird “I see you” texts from Jay since you figured it was probably some prank or a wrong number.

It only hit you one day when you were heading out of Med, alongside Will, when you thought you saw a familiar figure standing a distance away.

Your head whipped around and you felt that familiar feeling of dread, a feeling you hadn’t felt for months since you’d been back in Chicago, surrounded by friends and your brothers. 

“Y/N?” 

Will looked slightly concerned as he glanced over your head from where he towered over you, trying to see what had caused your reaction. 

You looked back at him, before glancing over your shoulder again, where there was no one. 

Maybe you were just imagining things. Maybe it was just one of those empty deja vu feelings. 

You shook your head at Will with a smile. “I just thought I saw…”

Will looked like he was waiting for you to finish your sentence but you shook your head with a smile. “Come on, let’s go. Jay’s gonna complain if we’re late again.”

Will looked slightly unconvinced but smiled. “I bet he’s not even there yet.”

You didn’t respond, pulling your brother to his car, once again unaware of the pair of eyes that were watching you from afar.

Jay glanced up at the clock with a sigh. The bullpen was already empty and he’d wanted to be home slightly earlier today so he could have a meal with you. But looking at the time, you’d probably be at least half asleep by the time he got home. 

His phone buzzed just as he pushed his chair back, stretching as he did. With a small smile, he leaned over to answer the call on speaker, sure you were just going to whine over the phone about him being late and probably asking for some late night snack.

“I’m leaving, I swear. What can I get you?” Jay spoke with an amused smile, grabbing his jacket.

But the words that bounced back at him made him freeze in his tracks.

“What are you doing here?”

Your voice shook slightly with an emotion that sounded a lot like fear. 

Jay frowned, quickly shrugging on his jacket, grabbing his phone and rushing down the steps. He couldn’t hear much of what the other person was saying, so he just pushed himself faster, speeding past the front desk his phone still pressed against his ear, barely hearing Trudy’s “Where’s the fire, Halstead?” comment before he was out the doors.

What was at most a 15 minute drive felt like forever, as Jay sped through the streets, finally pulling up outside his apartment building, not even bothering to wait for the elevator.

The door to his apartment wasn’t even shut properly, the door merely resting on the frame. Jay pulled his gun out as he’d done so many times at other places, except that he could feel the bad feeling turn his stomach over.

Jay nudged the door open with his foot, pulling his focus forward and using trained eyes to glance around his apartment. 

Stuff was strewn all over the floor, pieces of broken glass from a shattered cup, leaflets spread across the floor. He knew what he was seeing - a struggle. Most definitely.

“Y/N?” He called, even though he knew it was useless. This wasn’t a random robbery or attack. You’d known the person who’d come in. You had been the target. 

Even so, Jay cleared each and every corner and room, before he called Will to get him to come over before he called Voight.

It was only after he’d finished calling everyone he needed to call that the information he’d already known finally clicked into place, settling into a dark place in his chest. 

Someone had taken you.

Jay could hear people talking but he wasn’t processing anything, his mind trying to sift through the few months since you’d been back, trying to figure out what it was that he’d missed or what you hadn’t told them. 

“Jay.”

Kim touched his elbow gently and he glanced up now, realizing he was supposed to provide some sort of response. 

“What?”

Kim exhaled gently before she repeated herself. “Adam’s taking Will’s statement. I’ll try to make this quick, alright?”

“I’m working this.” Jay responded, looking Kim straight in the eye.

Kim nodded. “I don’t think Voight’s taking you off. Just talk to me, so we can work this together. That’s the fastest way we’ve got to find her. Because we will.”

Jay exhaled before he nodded, letting Kim ask the questions, swallowing down the annoyance of feeling like a victim’s family.

“She didn’t tell us anything. But she was jumpy, everytime her phone rang. She stuck a little close to us when we were out, even at Molly’s, as if she was five all over again. Damn it, I should have wrangled it out of her.”

Kim glanced up at her friend. “Jay, let’s focus, alright?” She paused and he nodded. “So she didn’t say anything?”

Jay shook his head. “She didn’t even really tell us why she was back. I bought the whole ‘new environment’ excuse for a bit, but things were a little different.”

Kim nodded. “Okay, tell me about the phone call.”

Jay exhaled slowly. “She knew this guy, I’m sure of it. But I couldn’t make out what he was saying…”

Jay looked back almost helplessly at his friend and Kim nodded. “Listen, we’ll find her.”

Jay nodded again, glancing back at the bullpen now where Will had just emerged from Voight’s office. He turned to glance at Kim again. “Let’s do this.”

You glanced up now, feeling the defiance in you rise to almost the same level as your fear, the figure pacing in front of you now a familiar one. Your hands were fastened securely behind your back, the cable ties so tight they were cutting into your skin. 

This was the reason you felt the need to return home standing right in front of you.

“You followed me here?” You asked, doing your best to keep your voice steady, not to betray even a sliver of the actual fear that you felt. 

You were pretty sure that your frantic call to Jay had gone through, even though your phone was now probably still stuffed in the corner of the couch, where you hoped Jay or someone would find it. Which gave you a sliver of hope that was only present because of the fact that you’d returned home. At least you were in Chicago. Jay and Will would find you. You just needed to hang on until then.

“You wanted me to find you.” 

You exhaled slowly, not really succeeding in blocking out his voice, the memory of the first time you’d met Tobias Mills still clear in your mind.

He’d come in after an accident in a lot of pain, so you’d done what you did best. As you assisted the doctor on call in the ED, you connected with the patient. Except that this time, it had backfired. Mills had become totally obsessed with you, so much so that you’d been forced to get a restraining order. But even that hadn’t stopped him. He’d watch you from across the street, or send you messages. To this day, you still had no idea how he’d even gotten your number. So as a last resort, before you lost your last shred of sanity, you’d left, packing your bags almost overnight and taking the first available flight straight to Chicago.

But now he was here.

What was worse was that he’d somehow managed to follow you all the way to Jay’s apartment, picked a night Jay was late and practically taken you by force. 

“I should have known.” He muttered as he paced in front of you, as if he’d forgotten you were there. “This was why you turned me down. But two of them?” 

His voice raised at the last question and he looked furiously at you.

“Two?!” 

You flinched, even though you were trying hard not to. Even so, your brain was already putting all the pieces together. He’d stalked you, seen you with your brothers and put everything together into his own narrative. Again.

Jay put down the phone a little harder than he’d meant to, but the rest of the bullpen barely flinched, like they hadn’t heard it, the sound of furious typing and vague telephone conversations not pausing.

Jay could feel his anxiety mounting as each second ticked past but he glanced towards the pantry where Will was sitting, looking down at his hands and reminded himself that at least he was able to do something and that the both of you were counting on him.

He closed his eyes for just a second, even though he knew Kim had looked up and was watching him now.

There was something missing and he knew it. There was something he was not seeing and he just needed one piece to put it all together. At least that’s how he felt. 

With not much to go on, seeing as they weren’t able to find much prints, the team had tried to backtrace your steps but even finding your phone was futile because the burner phones were practically untraceable. After exhausting all possibilities in Chicago, Jay was pretty sure it was something that had followed you home from Europe. Or someone. So Intelligence had put in more efforts to try to connect with the contacts you had had there.

But there was still nothing. Jay had no idea why someone had taken you, what they wanted. He couldn’t think of anyone who wanted to hurt you, but if it was someone who wanted to hurt him, there would have been a ransom call, a message, something. The silence, the lack of knowledge, it was killing him.

Jay heard the door click open, Will motioning towards him with a flick of his head. Sighing, he pushed back his chair, knowing that nothing good would come out of going to his brother with little to no answers.

“Jay, you have to tell me something.” Will said, before the door was even fully closed. “I’m climbing the walls here.”

Jay exhaled, before he looked up at his brother. “We don’t have a lot to go on.”

There was a pause before Will spoke again. “You’re telling me you have nothing.”

Jay didn’t answer.

“Jay, you have nothing? Nothing that could help us find her? She’s out there, somewhere, scared out of her mind and there’s nothing?”

Jay couldn’t even blame Will for raising his voice. Frustration, that was all the emotion behind Will’s voice, frustration that Jay himself couldn’t even express since he was in no position to at this moment. He couldn’t, he had to focus. 

Jay exhaled gently. “We’re working on it, Will.”

Will knew that, he’d just let his frustration get the better of him. He hadn’t meant to make Jay feel worse but just as he opened his mouth to tell his younger brother so, the door opened. 

“Jay. I think you need to take this call.” 

Without another word, Jay gave his brother a look before he headed back for the bullpen and Kim led the conversation. “Hey, Stacie. It’s Kim. Can you repeat what you just told me?”

Jay listened with quiet building anger as the girl on the line talked, explaining that she had been your roommate and had also worked alongside you at the hospital. Then she talked about the patient who’d come in and formed an unhealthy attachment to you, how he waited in front of the apartment building, how he came to the hospital, but she didn’t have a conclusion for the team.

“I don’t know what happened after that. I tried to convince her to continue staying with me so that I could look out for her but she said she didn’t want to create trouble for me. She was worried that he’d do something to me too, so…”

Kim’s eyes flicked to where Jay was gripping the edge of the table so hard, his knuckles were turning white. That sounded just like you, and that really tore at Jay. He didn’t know why you didn’t tell him, or Will. Why didn’t you call to say you were having a tough time, or tell them when you’d come home?

But Jay spoke anyway, keeping his voice so steady, a stranger wouldn’t have realized they were talking about his sister. “Do you have a name?”

Tobias Mills.

Jay was now staring at the records that they’d barely managed to wrangle out of the European authorities. 

Stalking. Threatening behavior. But nothing that could get him convicted.

“I got him.” Adam broke the silence, finally looking up from where he had been studying the airport footage for almost an hour.

“Facial recognition missed him because of what he’s wearing but I’m pretty sure that’s him. Right?” Adam asked, playing the footage again.

Jay gave a grunt of acknowledgement before he studied the footage playing. Tobias had reached Chicago slightly two weeks after you had and someone had met him at the airport.

“I’m on it.” Kim said, before anyone else could say anything, already running facial recognition on Mills’ acquaintance as the rest of the video played out. 

Ben Mason.

Facial recognition popped quickly with a record that didn’t make Jay feel any better. Multiple counts of assault, misconduct, illegal firearm possession, the list went on.

“The money trail. Mills must have paid him for his help.” Kevin said quietly, glancing at Jay.

Jay growled, the worry blooming in his chest. What exactly had Mills paid for?

But thankfully he didn’t have much longer to blindly worry. “Mason’s uncle owned a factory that’s now out of business. As far as we can tell, it’s been abandoned for at least a year. It’s under his mother’s maiden name so…”

Kevin didn’t finish his sentence before Voight nodded. “Gear up.”

You could feel your heart pumping in your chest, feel the adrenaline working through your veins as you now lay on your side, unsure where the pain was coming from, other than the cable ties cutting into your skin. Maybe the roots of your hair were still smarting from when he’d pulled your head back roughly to look at him, or maybe it was when he’d raised his leg to kick you in the chest in his frustration, making your entire body topple backwards. Or maybe it was just the ache from having your arms pulled backwards for such a prolonged time.

“If I can’t have you, no one can.” 

The words echoed in the empty area, bouncing off the walls as if to intimidate you further, even though he’d left a while ago.

Mills had been prepared. That, you knew. Maybe he’d hidden you somewhere no one else would find you. Maybe that’s why Jay hadn’t come for you yet, because you had no doubt that Jay would be here if he knew where you were. 

There was a slam, which signalled his return and you felt your breath pick up. You were sure that if Jay didn’t come soon, things were going to get ugly soon. He was either going to do whatever he wanted with you or kill you in a fit of rage - you didn’t know which was worse.

You tried to breathe slower, reminding yourself you weren’t going to show him fear no matter what. You didn’t raise your head as the footsteps got closer, and you wondered what he was up to. If you didn’t know any better, the footsteps sounded… tentative.

“Y/N!”

The voice you’d been waiting for, the sound of safety you’d known your entire life and you raised your head now, slightly worried that you were imagining things.

His name felt like it was stuck in your throat, the energy suddenly sucked out of you as you felt the adrenaline drop all of a sudden.

“Oh my god.” His voice swept past you, landing on you gently, just as he reached you. You heard his knees hit the ground as he bent over you. “Are you hurt?”

You still didn’t answer him, the fog in your brain worried that it wasn’t true, that when you looked up it would be Mills again. 

But the pressure on your wrists lifted as Jay sliced through the cable ties. “Are you hurt?” He asked again, pulling you up against him, his eyes scanning you up and down.

“Jay?”

Jay nodded now, a small frown forming on his face. “Yeah, it’s me. You’re okay. We’re here. Will’s right outside.”

You didn’t answer but your body now slumped against your brother’s.

Jay turned and nodded at Kevin so that he could bring Will in. Jay knew it would be better to take you outside but he was a little worried about any injuries you might have and if moving you would make things worse. You couldn’t even seem to articulate if you had any injuries.

“Jay? Y/N!” Will’s voice reached you now, as he got to his knees next to Jay, his fingers going straight to feel your pulse, peering at your pupils now. 

“Y/N, does anything hurt? Look at me, Y/N.”

You raised your eyes now to meet Will’s before you shook your head, the fog finally pushing back down again. “Will.”

Will let out a breath that sounded like relief, before he nodded. “Okay, if you’re not hurt we should get you out of here first. Come on.” 

Jay nodded, as Will put an arm around you as well, helping you up. Jay let Will take over as he repositioned his hold on the gun in his hand, getting to his feet as well.

But what threw a wrench in their plans was the back door opening.

Both you and Will looked up at the sound of a door opening and you saw the look on Mills’ face change, the absolute wrath that crossed his face as he saw you pressed against Will’s side. Will felt your hand close around the shirt he had on, the material crumpling in your hand. Jay pressed down his confusion that Mills had gotten past the patrol cars that were supposed to be stationed out there, raising his gun.

“I told you. You’re mine.”

His sentence was cut off by a simultaneous growl from both Jay and Will as you coiled backwards.

Will’s eyes caught the flash of metal first as Mills raised the gun in his hand.

Instinctively, Will pulled you against him and turned, as if he’d done this a thousand times. You let out a sharp inhale, confused for a moment if it was really Will who was now standing between you and Mills, before the gunshot rang out. 

You could feel the fear that gripped at you so hard that it felt like it was hard to breathe. You were afraid to even turn, afraid to know if Will was hurt because of you. 

“Y/N, you okay?” Will’s voice in your ear.

“Will, you…”

You felt Will shake his head. “I’m okay, are you…”

That’s when you felt the energy leave your legs, your body only supported by your oldest brother’s arms around you. 

You turned but Jay stepped behind Will now to block your vision. “It’s over, let’s get you out of here.”

Your brothers took you to the hospital to get checked out. But other than some bruises, pain that would last a few days and some dehydration, you weren’t badly hurt. 

No one had told you much details, but you were sure that the gunshot you thought was Mills shooting Will was from Jay. And if it was between Mills and Will, you were glad Jay had shot the bastard, even if it made you feel dirty inside for even thinking it when someone had died.

You could hear Jay’s voice behind the closed door, raised as he questioned someone on the line.

“What the hell do you mean? My brother and sister could have died! Any one of my team members could have been shot!”

Will turned to look at you now, giving you a small smile. He looked like he was about to say something when the door slid open, Jay stepping in and closing the door behind him.

Your brothers exchanged a look like they’d already had a discussion among themselves without you.

So you knew they wanted to talk, wanted to ask you something. It didn’t take a genius to figure that out. 

“Why didn’t you tell us?” Jay broke the silence first, unable to keep the sadness out of his voice.

You glanced up, surprised. You thought he’d be pissed, like really pissed. Maybe just slightly less than the anger he’d shown while he was on the phone outside.

When both of them didn’t say anything, you let out a short breath. “The whole point of a new environment was for me to grow up. I was supposed to grow outside the shelter the both of you had created for me since I was a baby.” You paused glancing up at them. “I didn’t want to worry you. I thought I could handle it, I didn’t think he would…”

Will moved first, heading towards your side and pulling you tightly against him before he sat on the side of your bed facing you. 

“You’re our younger sister. Worrying us is part of your make up. Jay worries me all the freaking time.” Will said gently, earning him an annoyed puff from the younger Halstead. 

“Yeah, says Dr Halstead who got beaten up within a day since he returned to Chicago.” Jay slightly mocked, moving closer as well.

You laughed, the chuckle bursting forth and making your side ache a little. 

Jay smiled at you. “Promise me something.”

You glanced up at your older brother.

“Don’t keep such serious things from us. Once it starts feeling funky, you tell one of us. Tell Kim. Tell Sylvie. I don’t care who, just tell someone.”

You were quiet for a second, before you nodded. “I promise.”

They both leaned in at the same time, Will putting a hand on the back of our head gently as they squashed you between them, the three of you emanating the same feelings, glad that you were all here together.

Home.

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[h4lfaheart]

Invisible String, a Halstead!Sister fanfiction

Chapter 8 on!

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[fangirlfrom-hell]

Several Missed Calls and a Sprained Ankle || Jay Halstead x Halstead Sister one shot

*re-posting this because I'm stupid and accidentaly delated my blog 🫠

Also appearing Will and Connor Rhodes because I miss him.

I'm not a doctor, medical topics are vague.

Friendly reminder that Becca is Halstead sister.

☆

The Intelligence squad had just came back to the bullpen with a suspect in custody when Sergeant Platt came inside to interrupt whatever they were having.

-"Hey, Halstead! I've been receiving calls from your sister's school all day. They said they called your father, but didn't answer, so she asked them to look for you, but your phone was off".

-"I was in a UC run, I always turn the personal off...". He tried to explain himself with guilt.

-"That's what I tried to explain to them. Apparently she's injured and needs to be picked up as soon as possible".

-"Wh-what happened?" He hadn't even finished taking off his jacket and now he was hastily putting it back on.

-"They didn't elaborate on the matter, but they've been calling like crazy every half hour. I even volunteered to go and bring her here, but they did say it would be impossible if I'm not in the list". She pulled a face with that last statement. -"Can you believe that?"

Everybody settled in at the bullpen, all detectives listening to the conversation.

-"Boss..." Jay looked at Voight.

-"Sure, go. What are you waiting for?". He ordered with his arms crossed. -"We can take care of this".

Jay nodded his head as saying "thank you" and walked himself down to the parking lot trying to look chill, although on the inside he was really unsettled for whatever had happened to his little sister. He couldn't avoid being the overprotective big brother, it ran through his veins.

-"Hey, Detective. Make sure you put my name in that freakin' list!". Platt yelled before he crossed the door. -"I don't want to feel so humiliated again". She said in her usual exaggerated way. Then she muttered to herself: I'm a CPD Sergeant, who dares to say 'no' to me like that?

The long road to Becca's school in Canaryville wasn't helpful to ease Jay's mind. He was also feeling abashed for not being able to answer the call on time, although he was not responsible for attending those emergencies, therefore he was not aware of them. And where the hell was his father? Why didn't he answer those calls from school? He cursed him. This wasn't the first time something like this happened.

-"I'm here to pick my sister, Becca Halstead".

-"Oh, sure. We've been calling you for hours. Literally hours". The secretary gave him a judging look, which Jay tried to ignore. -"She's upstairs, the nurse is accompanying her. I'll notify her you're here. Follow me".

Jay followed the woman through the halls of the school until they went outside to the back yard. From the second floor of the building in front of them, he recognized Becca's ginger blonde hair. She was leaning on someone else to walk, looked like she couldn't do it by herself and there was some pain in her tiny face.

-"What happened?" Jay asked without taking his eyes off her.

-"She sprained her foot on the stairs, she didn't roll or hit her head, so there was no need to call an ambulance. It was an accident, some kids were playing around and pushed her unintentionally. We already took action on the matter, don't worry about that".

He walked upstairs to help his sister. As soon as he was able to entirely see her, he noticed how her foot was in the air, shoe untied.

-"Jay!" Becca said with relief.

-"It's all right". The secretary told the nurse. -"Her brother will handle it from here".

-"Is it your ankle? You can't put your foot down at all?"

-"No, it really hurts". Becca moved her head from one side to another.

-"It's a little bit swollen". The nurse talked. -"I applied ointment and ice for the pain, but I can't really do anything else in here. I think it's just a sprain, but she should be checked at the hospital".

-"Yes, I'll take her straight to The Med. Thank you!"

Jay took his badge and gun from his hips and placed them somewhere else in his jeans.

-"Sorry". He said, feeling the alarmed gaze of the two women. Then, he took the girl's backpack and put it on his shoulder. -"All right, Becs. Come here".

Jay hugged Becca and lifted her to carry her down the stairs. It was very easy for him, light weight, the girl was smaller than an average 10 years old. She placed her arms around her brother's shoulder.

-"Take care, Beckie". The nurse waved goodbye as she was taken by the detective.

-"This is so embarrassing". She said looking around to check if somebody was watching them, but the yard was empty, everyone was inside of the classrooms. Jay couldn't resist to laugh a bit. It was a cute funny scene: a big, tall, muscular man with a girly purple backpack hanging from his shoulder and a girl with an embarrassed face in his arms.

He didn't put her down until they were back to the office, where he had to sign some papers before leaving.

-"Is that all?" Jay asked.

-"Yes, you can take her now".

-"Oh! Before I forget". He said turning around one more time to the reception. -"I want to add another person to the list of people who can pick her up".

-"Sure. She does need that". She didn't miss the chance to look at him with a judgy face. -"What's the name of the one?".

-"Trudy Platt". He smirked. Becca just gave him a look.

At the truck, Jay placed her in the co-pilot seat and then opened the back door to put the backpack away.

-"What do you carry in this? Rocks?" He freed his shoulder from the weight.

Becca wasn't a talkative girl, but still she was unusually quiet during the road to the hospital. She only broke the silence to groan in pain, that's when he noticed her teary eyes.

-"Does it hurt?" Jay asked, knowing the answer.

-"Yes. I think it's getting worse".

-"We're almost there, just hang up a little bit".

He wanted to ask Becca about how she had fallen, since his detective instincts knew that it was due to something more than an accident. He opened his mouth to say something he had been holding up, but an incoming call interrupted his intentions.

-"It says Hailey Upton". Becca announced, grabbing his phone.

-"Gotta answer that". He sighed. -"Would you put it in the speaker for me, please?".

Both siblings knew each other quite well. Becca knew how Jay noticed something strange was going on, but she didn't want to be interrogated. And Jay knew how Becca was aware of that and was reluctant to speak.

-"Soooooo...Is Sergeant Platt coming to pick me now if I get sick?" She changed the conversation as soon as the call ended.

-"Is that a problem?" Jay laughed out loud.

-"Well, it's kinda scary".

-"She told me to put her name in the list, I don't know if it was true, though. The thing is that today I was on the streets working a case when all this happened. I didn't have my phone with me, that's why I didn't answer".

-"I imagined that. That's why I told them to call directly to the 21st".

-"Which was very clever of you. I'm sorry I wasn't there earlier, I should have".

-"You don't have to be sorry, I'm not blaming you for anything. You are not even supposed to be responsible for me, anyway".

She had this sort of way to make claims to his father and mother without even realizing it. That last statement made the rest of the road extremely quiet.

The moment Becca crossed the entrance door sitting in a wheelchair, she realized she had never been at The Med as a patient before. Maggie was pushing her to the ER where Will was waiting for his siblings. Due to the type of injury, Dr. Rhodes was assigned to Becca's case.

-"This is too swollen". Connor said while checking her foot. -"On a scale from 1 to 10, how much does it hurt?"

-"Uh, I don't know. Maybe 5?"

Both of her big brothers stared at her teary eyes and her sick gesture, not believing her answer. She was trying so hard not to cry.

-"6?"

-"Are you sure?" The doctor gave her a warm smile. -"I was expecting you to say 10 or maybe even beyond 10".

Becca remained silent, pressing her lips.

-"Ok. We'll do an X-Ray just to make sure it isn't more than a sprain. Meanwhile, the nurse will administer you some pain killers".

He went out of the room to order the studios and made a sign for the siblings to follow him outside, leaving their sister alone with the technicians for a few minutes.

-"What do you think?" Dr. Halstead asked.

-"I don't think she just simply twisted her ankle. For the damage, it must have been a harder impact".

-"Is it bad?" Jay asked with concern.

-"Can't tell until I see the X-Ray. What worries me the most right now is how hard she's trying to take the pain".

-"Yeah, that's something she does". Jay sighed. -"Not only with physical pain".

When the three men entered back to the room, Becca was silently crying, wiping her tears away. Jay was the one that approached to hold her. Her bruised and swollen ankle was a standout in the room.

-"Becca, you have what we call a severe grade 2 sprain and I'm pretty sure it hurts more than a lot right now. Why don't you say anything? You can complain about the pain, that's what hospitals are for".

-"I don't want to be a bother". The girl answered quietly, tears still dropping from her eyes.

-"What are you talking about?" Will walked to be close to the bed.

-"Becca...". Jay sat next to her and bent to be face to face. -"You are not a bother and you will never be".

-"It's just...I'm scared you'll stop answering the phone calls too".

In that moment, everything fell into place and Jay's heart dropped. The conversation suddenly closed to just the two of them, although everyone could hear their words.

-"Bec...I will never stop caring for you. I won't lie, sometimes it gets hard with my work, but I will do what is necessary so that something like today does not happen again. I promise".

-"But you shouldn't, like, you shouldn't be the one in charge of me. I'm a burden".

-"I know what you mean, and I know how you feel about dad, but believe me when I tell you how much it makes me happy to be here for you. I'm your big brother, it actually is my job to protect you. I love you, silly. I would never forgive myself if something happens to you. I wouldn't forgive myself if you didn't have the confidence to call me either".

With all being said and those emotions off her chest, her crying increased in tears and sound.

-"It's a 20. The pain is a 20" She managed to say in what seemed to be overacted, although it was only the natural response to having endured so much physical and emotional pain in such a short time.

-"Let's apply more pain killers". Connor talked to the nurses. -"And let's finish this up". He smiled at the little girl.

Jay found her reaction a little bit cute and couldn't resist smiling a bit when she jumped into her arms.

-"You will have to use the walking boot for at least 4 weeks". Dr. Rhodes informed when he finished. -"That if everything goes well".

-"What about dance lessons?"

-I'm sorry, Becs". -Dr. Halstead got into the conversation. -"That's going to be impossible. You need to give it a rest".

-"Not to mention the pain that would cause you".

-"Is she going to be able to be back when her ankle heals?"

-"If she listens to my recommendations in the letter, I don't see why not". Connor then turned to Becca: "I know this thing is very uncomfortable, but is necessary. You might start feeling as if you don't need it before the set time, but it is important that you do not take it off until I say so. If you trust me and you do this, You'll be fine and back to dancing soon".

Becca nodded sadly.

-"I understand this is very important to you, Becca. I can arrange to see you each week instead of two weeks to check how it is going".

-"Thank you, Connor''. His colleague said.

Becca yawned more than once on their way back to the Bullpen. She was discharged from the hospital, so she couldn't stay there and there wasn't any other place Jay could leave her. She was tired, her stressed body only wanting to rest.

-"Look at that!" Platt exclaimed when she spotted both Halsteads crossing the front door. -"It is my favorite Halstead!"

-"I'm glad to hear she's your favorite, because you are in the list now, Serge".

The Desk Sergeant smirked at the news.

-"I take this honor responsible".

-'All right, girl". Jay said, bending in front of the stairs. -"Let's do this again".

Becca hopped into her brother's back and he carried her upstairs, where all the squad greeted her with enthusiasm and good wishes. She sat in the coffee room waiting for him.

-"The punk confessed. We have enough evidence. It was an easy case, we're done for now". Voight informed Detective Halstead.

-"I'm sorry I wasn't here for interrogation, Serge. There was no one to take care of her...".

-"There's nothing to be sorry about''. Hank waved his hand from one side to another. -"Besides, you did your job, a good job capturing him. Now, you all are dismissed. You should take your sister to rest".

Detectives were able to go back home relatively early that day. The bullpen was empty when Jay went out of Hank Voight's office. There was only a blonde woman sitting at the desk in front of him.

-"Why are you still here?"

-"Your sister fell asleep on the couch. It didn't feel good to leave her alone in her condition". Hailey answered.

-"Thank you for that". He said honestly.

-"The same thing happened to me when I was a little bit older than her. I know it hurts like hell".

-"Yeah, she had a bad time. She's tired and drugged in pain killers, I should take her home".

-"Tell me if you need help with anything, I'm here. For real, partner". Detective Upton took her coat and walked herself downstairs.

-"Thanks again, Hails".

-"No problem".

It took him a while to stop staring at the stairs before going into the coffee room. There she was deeply asleep, it looked like she was melting.

-"Becca". He softly called her. -"Becca, it's time to go". But there was no answer, not even when he shaked her.

-"Well, third time's the charm. What could go wrong?" He muttered to himself and took Becca in his arms, this time as if she was a baby.

#Jay Halstead #Jay Halstead x sister #Jay Halstead x Halstead sister #one chicago #chicago pd #chicago pd fanfic #once chicago fanfic #trudy platt #haileyr upton #hank voight #Jay Halstead imagine

[anotherspnfanfic]

Rain Check

A/N: I finished a thing! For the first time in over a year! It is also my first time writing for One Chicago. Thank you @resanoona and @muchamusedaboutnothing​ for the beta reads!

Pairing: Halstead sister w/ best friend Kelly

Word count: 4,076

Square filled: Sick!fic for TMAS Bingo @supernatural-jackles

Warnings: illness, hospitalization, sibling bickering...

Summary: She says she’s fine. Luckily, Kelly and her brothers know when she’s lying.

Masterlist

-----

You heard your phone buzz from where you had dropped it on the coffee table three and a half hours ago when you got home from work.

You heard your phone buzz from where you had dropped it on the coffee table three and a half hours ago when you got home from work.

You, me, Jay - Molly’s in an hour, you read the new message from your best friend, Kelly.

Groaning, you shifted to grab and unlock your phone. I feel like shit. I left work early. Rain check.

Another ding as a sad face popped up at the bottom of the thread. You sighed as you set the phone back down, wishing you felt up to hanging out.

You spent the next forty-five minutes tossing and turning on your couch in an attempt to find a comfortable position. The second half of Safe Haven played across the screen, but you weren’t really paying much attention.

Suddenly, you heard keys jingling outside your door before the deadbolt clicked open. The only other people who had keys were your brothers, and they never used them to come in while you were home.

Before you could further analyze the intrusion, Jay hollered through the barely-cracked door. “We’re coming in. Am I going to be scarred by anything I might see?”

You rolled your eyes and sat up, wincing at the flare of pain in your abdomen. “I’m not naked, if that’s what you’re asking. And who is ‘we’?”

“We brought you soup,” said Kelly from the kitchen. “I also grabbed tissues, cold meds, Excedrin, and Midol. I wasn’t sure what you might need.” You heard the rustle of bags and clunks of things being set on the counter.

“I didn’t need any of that, but I appreciate the thought. However, I don’t really appreciate you telling my brother I feel crappy.”

A moment later, Jay was snatching the remote from you. “I just came for the beer and the game.” You knew he came because he was worried, even though he wouldn’t admit that.

“Hey!” You reached to take it back as he lifted it over his head. “I thought you guys were going to Molly’s.”

Jay tossed the remote back once he’d turned on the hockey pre-game. “Kelly wanted to come hang out with you.”

“Wow. I love you, too, bro.” You carefully laid back down, shifting a few times until you found a somewhat comfortable position. “But since you are here… can one of you go grab my heating pad from my bedroom closet?”

Jay simply nodded before disappearing down the hall, returning a minute later with the heating pad in hand. He also had your favorite blanket tossed over his shoulder. It was his way of silently showing his concern. He plugged in the heating pad and tossed it and the blanket on the couch next to you.

“Thanks, Jay.” You smiled gratefully.

“Do you want the soup?” Kelly asked. ”Or we have pizza coming shortly, too.”

“Um, no. Nothing right now.” You shook your head. “I’m too nauseous. Thank you, though.”

Jay sat down in the recliner as Kelly came in and handed him a beer.

Kelly then lifted your feet and set them on his lap as he sat down. “You sure you don’t want anything else?”

You shook your head and pulled the now-warm heating pad across yourself. “This is all I need at the moment. But I’ll let you know if I change my mind.”

You made yourself comfortable as the two of them started to discuss the hockey game as well as how the rest of the season had been going. A little while later, there was a knock at your door.

Jay stood quickly. “I got it.” He returned a minute later with two large pizza boxes as well as a smaller box you suspected held cheesy garlic bread. He set the stack on the coffee table and slid one pizza toward Kelly before opening the other. “We got your favorite. We will try to save you some.”

You leaned up and punched him in the shoulder. “You’re so mean.” You tried your best to hide the wince from your sudden movement.

“Ouch!” he said, grabbing his arm dramatically. “If I was mean, I wouldn’t have offered to save you any.”

“Mmhmm,” you hummed. “You said try, not that you would save some.”

Before long, there were several slices missing from both boxes and the two of them were cheering and booing loudly at the television. You laughed and silently hoped they weren’t disturbing your neighbors too much.

During the first intermission, Jay’s phone dinged with a new message alert. He pulled it out of his pocket and quickly read the message on the lock screen before pocketing it once more. “Will is on his way over.”

Tossing the heating pad over the back of the couch, you rolled your eyes and groaned loudly. “Seriously? You couldn’t let me suffer in peace? He’s gonna be all doctory.”

Jay shrugged. “He wanted to watch the game. I didn’t even tell him you didn’t feel good.”

You scoffed. “Uh huh. You told him you were here instead of Molly’s so he already knows something is up.”

About ten minutes later, you heard your front door open without so much as a warning knock.

“Do none of you have manners anymore?” You asked him as he entered the living room. “And for the record, I am fine so do not ask.”

Will chuckled as he raised his hands in surrender. “Hello to you, too.” On his way to sit on your loveseat, he grabbed a slice of pizza. You watched as he and Jay exchanged pointed looks.

Over the next half hour or so, you noticed all three of them sending worried glances your way until, finally, you poked Kelly in the thigh with your foot. “Can I have that soup now? Maybe it’ll help my nausea.” You didn’t think it would, but it might get them to stop looking at you like you were about to break.

He nodded and got up, walking into your kitchen to warm it up for you. You shifted to sit up while you waited for him. Struggling to find a comfortable position, you noticed that Will was watching you more intently.

Kelly brought in the soup and sat down once more. “How do you want to do this?”

“Umm, can you pull the coffee table closer for me?”

Jay stood from his chair to push the end of the table towards you and move the pizza boxes out of the way. Kelly set the soup in front of you and handed you a spoon.

“Thanks.” You smiled as you slurped a spoonful of broth. Continuing slowly, you drank about half the broth and ate some of the noodles. Unexpectedly, your stomach flipped uncomfortably. You dropped the spoon back into the bowl causing a loud clatter.

All three sets of eyes were on you as you stood suddenly. You didn’t even attempt to hide the pained whimper that escaped with the movement.

“You okay?” Will and Jay asked in unison as Kelly reached out, prepared to steady you if necessary.

You groaned. “Yeah, peachy. Stay,” you directed them as you moved as quickly as you could to the bathroom. Flinging the door shut, you fell to your knees just in time to empty your stomach into the toilet. The pain in your knees was almost unnoticeable with the stabbing pain that flared through your right side. You tried to breathe through your nose as another wave of nausea crashed through you. Maybe you weren’t fine after all, but you weren’t ready to admit that to anyone, especially Will.

When you were pretty sure you were done, you flushed before sitting back against the wall. A knock broke you from your thoughts. “You alright in there?” Kelly asked.

“I’m fine.” You stood slowly and rinsed your mouth out before pulling the door open and meeting his concerned green eyes. “I swear. I’m really fine,” you lied. “I shouldn’t have tried to eat.”

Kelly’s hand hovered behind you as you made your way back to the couch. As you sat, you pulled the heating pad back over your lower abdomen, even though it’d done nothing to help the pain earlier. However, now you were chilly, and it would help with that.

“Is that normal?” Will asked. “Nausea and vomiting with cramps?”

You shrugged, debating what to tell him. “It’s happened before, but not always, no.”

He hummed, clearly deciding if he wanted to push. “Is anything else weird today?”

“Not really. Not unless you count being four days early.” Spinning to lie back down, you pulled your blanket over yourself.

“Are you cold?” Jay asked.

You glared at him. “Maybe a little. I just like to have a blanket when I feel crappy. Does that mean something to you? You’re the one who brought it out here unprompted.”

“Have you actually started your period?” Will asked.

Groaning, you asked, “Can we not have this conversation?” He just stared at you waiting for an answer. “Ugh, fine. No. No, I haven’t yet.” 

Will stood and walked over to you. He placed the back of his hand on your forehead.

You knew there was no convincing them at this point, but decided to try anyway. “How many times do I have to tell you? I am fine!” Will narrowed his eyes at you before he walked away. You heard him opening the cabinet in the bathroom. Looking between Kelly and Jay you asked, “What is he doing?”

Jay shrugged. “How am I supposed to know?”

Rolling to face towards the back of the couch, you groaned.

Will was back a moment later. He knelt down in front of the couch and rolled you back to face him. “Open,” he directed, lifting your thermometer into your view.

“No.”

Will just sighed. “If you're right, then this will be normal and you can say ‘I told you so.’ Just humor me?”

“When I’m right, you are going to buy me dinner next week. Somewhere nice.” You held out your hand for him to shake.

He took your hand without shaking it. “I’ll buy you dinner next week, regardless, if you stop being difficult.”

“Fine.” You shook his hand, took the thermometer from him, and placed it under your tongue.

It was quiet as you waited, the game having been muted at some point. When the thermometer beeped, you pulled it out and handed it to Will, not even bothering to check it as you gave him a smug grin.

Jay leaned over to see the reading for himself as Will announced, “101.6, you have a fever.”

You shrugged. “So what? I have cramps and the flu or something. I don’t know what that proves.”

Will shifted to sit on your coffee table. He pulled off your blanket and heating pad despite your protests. He pushed just above your left hip bone.

“What are you doing?” you asked.

“Does this hurt?” asked Will. You shook your head as he pressed just below your belly button. He moved his hands over once more, and you started to shake your head again as he pressed down on your right side. As he started to pull away, you gasped, feeling a sharp pain similar to the one you had felt in the bathroom earlier. It was significantly worse, and you threw your head back hard against the armrest as you tried to recoil from the cause of the pain. “When did the pain start? Any other symptoms you aren’t telling me? How long were you using the heating pad?”

“Geez, one question at a time! It hurt a little, like barely even noticeable, last night around midnight. I don’t think so. And I don’t know, not that long. Why?”

Will stood. “Because it’s not cramps, it's appendicitis. We’re going to Med. Right now.”

“No,” you argued. You hated hospitals even more than Jay.

Jay pulled his keys out of his pocket. “I’ll pull the truck around.”

Will nodded to Jay before turning back to you. “This isn’t debatable. Sorry, kiddo.” He handed his keys to Kelly and bent over to lift you off the couch.

You grabbed his arm to stop him. “I can walk at least.”

Will proceeded to pick you up. “We don’t have the time to wait for you to make it down to the truck.”

Kelly flipped off the television and unplugged your heating pad before following you and Will out of the apartment and locking the door.

Will set you in the backseat of Jay’s truck and then ran around to get into the passenger side next to you. Kelly handed Will his keys as Jay peeled out of the complex.

“Jay, turn on the radio or something. It’s too quiet in here,” you complained.

Kelly looked over his shoulder at you. “Can’t take a comfortable silence with the three of us?”

“What part of this is comfortable?”

“It’s fine. We are only going to be in the car for ten minutes,” said Jay.

“Please? Just turn on someth—” you froze mid-sentence.

“Are you okay? Is the pain worse?” Will asked.

“Um, no. It actually doesn’t hurt anymore.” You frowned in confusion. “Why doesn’t it hurt anymore?”

“Damn it,” Will muttered. “Jay, go faster.”

Sinking further into the seat as Jay floored the accelerator, you glanced between Will and Kelly. “What? Why go faster?” You couldn’t help but finally start to worry.

Will took your hand in his and squeezed reassuringly. “Because if it stopped hurting, there’s a good chance your appendix just ruptured.”

“But that’s bad, right? Like, really bad?” You took a sharp inhale as the realization hit. “Like, I could die from an infec—”

Will squeezed your hand harder to get your focus back on him. “No. You’re going to be just fine.”

“I’m so stupid. Why didn’t I say something? I lied earlier. I’ve never had nausea or puking with period cramps. I knew I should have said something before you even came over because the heating pad wasn’t helping. The heating pad always—”

“Y/N, breathe!” Will interrupted your rambling.

Kelly reached over and squeezed your knee, almost painfully, in an attempt to ground you.

“It’s okay,” Will reassured. “You’re going to be fine. You are right—untreated, it can be very dangerous, but we are almost to the hospital. Look at me.” Your eyes met his. “Just take a deep breath. You will be fine, you hear me?”

You nodded and tried to focus on your breathing rather than the panic swirling through your mind.

Less than two minutes later, Jay was pulling up to the ambulance entrance to the ED. You barely even had time to open your door before Jay was there gently lifting you out of the truck and heading inside.

Connor saw the four of you enter, you in Jay’s arms, and immediately moved to meet you. “Hey, what’s going on, guys?”

You threw your head back in annoyance. “You could have at least gotten a freaking wheelchair. This is just ridiculous.”

Kelly just chuckled as Jay scolded, “I thought you agreed to stop being difficult so Will would buy you dinner.”

Will ignored the three of you in favor of answering Connor. “I’m pretty sure she’s got a ruptured appy. Pain onset was around midnight. She tried to eat some soup about twenty minutes ago and vomited. Temp was at 102, and she had right-sided rebound tenderness. About five minutes ago, she said it stopped hurting.”

“Let’s get an ultrasound to confirm.” Connor turned around to find Maggie. “Maggie, where am I going?”

“Treatment 3. Monique, you’re with Dr. Rhodes.”

Jay set you on the bed, kissed your forehead, and then shifted by the foot of the bed. He placed his hand on your shin. “Just let me know if I’m in the way.”

“No, you're good there,” said Connor. “Monique, let’s run a CBC and a BMP.”

Will handed Connor the ultrasound probe as Monique wrapped the blood pressure cuff around your bicep. She clipped the pulse ox on your index finger. To distract yourself while she placed the IV, you focused on Jay and Kelly, who was hovering in the doorway.

“It’s definitely a ruptured appy,” Connor announced, handing the ultrasound back to Will. “Let’s get her up to the OR.”

The panic you’d been trying to suppress since the truck bubbled to the surface again, and you started to hyperventilate. Jay stepped forward to take your hand.

Connor gently squeezed the opposite shoulder. “Just take a deep breath, sweetheart. I know you hate the hospital but I need you to try to calm down.” He shifted away to grab an oxygen mask before placing it over your face.

Will reached around Connor to take your hand. “What did I tell you? You’re going to be fine. Surgery and some antibiotics, and you’ll be good as new in a few weeks.”

You managed to take a couple slow, deep breaths. Locking eyes with Connor, you asked, “Can— Are you doing the surgery?”

“Yep, I’m all yours.” He and Will pulled the gurney out of the room and towards the elevators.

When they pulled you off the elevator, Jay squeezed your hand once more before letting go. Kelly took his place, kissed your forehead and squeezed your shoulder. 

Finally, Will placed a kiss on your knuckles. “We’ll see you on the other side.”

A moment later, Connor was pushing you into the operating room. He pulled the oxygen mask off and set it beside your head. “These nurses are going to get you settled. I have to go scrub in and then I’ll be right back, okay?”

You nodded. Connor turned to leave, but you stopped him. “Wait! I’m gonna be all loopy after, right? Like all those videos online?”

Connor cracked a smile. “Probably. It takes a bit for the anesthesia to clear your system, and you’ll get some pain meds.”

You scowled at that thought. “Okay. Do me a favor—don’t let those three see me while I’m still drugged and loopy. If they end up with something to tease me about, you are dead to me.”

Connor laughed. “Yes, ma’am.”

The next few minutes were a blur, and before you knew it, someone was asking you to count backwards.

As you started to wake, there was a new, different ache through your abdomen. You groaned and peeled your eyes open, meeting Connor’s bright blue irises.

“Welcome back. How’re you feeling?” he asked.

Scrunching your nose, you considered how to answer. “Hmm, a little sore. Sleepy. And cold. Can I go home soon?”

“How about we talk about that later?”

“Can I have a blanket?”

Connor gave you a sad smile. “Sorry. Not right now. You still have a fever.”

“Please?” you whined. Before he could answer, another thought hit you. “Hey, where‘re my brothers and Kelly?”

“You threatened me to not let them in here yet!” Connor huffed. “They will be waiting for you once we move you out of recovery.”

You vaguely remembered what you’d told Connor. “Oh, yeah.”

“It’s late. How about you try to get a little more sleep?” Connor suggested.

You gave him a lazy thumbs up before quickly falling back to sleep.

—————

Connor found Jay, Will, and Kelly in the waiting room. All three were scrolling through their phones. “Everything went perfectly. She is in recovery now, and a nurse will come get you when she’s back in a room.” Connor explained.

Will huffed. “Why can’t we go see her now? Or one of us at least?”

“Nope.” Connor shook his head. “She threatened me to not let you see her while she’s loopy. So, no. You’re waiting until she’s moved. It should only be about half an hour.”

“Come on. She probably won’t even remember anything she says.” Will argued.

“She wasn’t worried about what she’d remember. Seems to think her big brothers might tease her,” said Connor. “I promise, she’s fine. She was sleeping when I left a few minutes ago.”

—————

About an hour later, Jay, Will, and Kelly were sitting around your hospital room, waiting for you to wake up.

You jerked awake suddenly with a gasp. The sudden movement pulled on your stitches. “Shit. Ow.”

All three guys were beside you in an instant, your brothers on either side while Kelly took up the space at the foot of the bed.

“Are you okay?”

“Did you have a nightmare?”

“What hurts?”

In your half-awake state you weren’t even sure who had said what as they spoke over each other. You simply groaned in response.

“Can I check your incision?” Will asked. “Need to make sure you didn’t just pop a stitch.”

“Not like you’re going to take no for an answer,” you said. You pulled on the gown to get it out of his way. Due to the sleepiness or the pain meds, maybe both, you were slightly uncoordinated. He helped you pull the fabric aside so he could get access to your bandage.

Connor came into the room as soon as Will had pulled the gauze up. "I'm pretty sure that's my job."

“Sorry, she had a nightmare and jerked pretty hard when she woke up. I wanted to be sure.”

Connor checked the incision as well. “It looks good.” He turned his attention to you. “Scale of one to ten, how’s the pain?”

“Not bad. Maybe a three.”

Connor nodded. “When you need more pain meds, just use the call button or tell Will. I’m going to let you get some rest. I’ll be in to check on you in the morning.”

“Thanks, Connor.” 

Jay, Will, and Kelly took turns shaking Connor’s hand as he headed out.

“Thanks, man,” said Will, following Connor to the door. “You here all night?”

Connor nodded. “Yeah, I’ll be in the ED.”

“Want to talk about it?” Jay asked as Will came back to your bedside.

“About what?”

“That nightmare,” Jay clarified.

“Oh. No, I don’t really remember most of it.” He looked like he didn’t believe you at all. You opted to change the subject before he could press. “Do I get to go home tomorrow?”

Will sighed, knowing you weren’t going to like his answer. “No. You’ll need IV antibiotics and monitoring for infection for at least a few days.”

“This sucks. What is the point of having a doctor for a brother? I want two fancy dinners.”

They all laughed.

“Sure. Next time you don’t feel well, are you going to just tell me up front?” Will asked.

“Eh, probably not.” You smirked. “But honestly, 9 times out of 10, it’s nothing.”

“Just continue to always tell me. I’ll loop them in if need be,” Kelly offered.

“‘If need be’?” You rolled your eyes. “You brought Jay over without even knowing anything!”

Kelly just shook his head. “I know you never leave work early. You had the stomach flu last year and didn’t even miss any work.”

“Well, clearly, you know me too well.”

“Clearly, it’s a good thing I do.”

“Alright, stop rubbing it in. You guys might as well go home and get some sleep,” you suggested despite not wanting to be alone.

“Nah, you’re stuck with us tonight,” Jay said.

Hoping your relief wasn’t obvious, you smiled. “You guys don’t have anything better to do than sit around and watch me sleep? Creepers.”

————

Five days later, you were signing discharge papers as Jay and Will argued about which one of them you should stay with.

“I have a guest room,” said Jay. “You want to make her sleep on a couch?”

“No, jackass,” Will countered. “She can sleep in the bed, and I’ll take the couch.”

“My place means no one is sleeping on a couch.”

“Guys!” you interrupted. “I’m going to my own apartment.”

Will sighed. “You shouldn’t be alone, at least for a few days.”

“My couch is open,” you shrugged. “Fight over that, take turns. I really don’t care. But I am going home to my own bed.”

“I’m off tonight,” said Jay. “I’ll stay.”

“I’m off, too. I can stay.”

“Quit arguing,” you groaned. “I love you both, and I appreciate that you both want to help me. But I will kick you both out and call Kelly instead.”

“Sorry,” they said in unison.

“We will figure out a schedule,” said Jay.

“Awesome. Now, will you guys, please, get me the hell out of here?”

Will grabbed the wheelchair a nurse had brought in earlier. “Gladly.”

-----

Tagging a couple possibly interested people: @mertes4cker @halsteadlover @i-like-sparkly-things @hereforhalstead @fighterkimburgess @afriendlyneighborhoodhufflepuff @eagerforthesky​ 

#halstead sister #Tell me a story bingo #jay halstead x reader #will halstead x reader #kelly severide x reader #one chicago #one chicago fanfiction #chicago fire fanfic #chicago pd fanfic #chicago med fanfic

[study-coffee-chicago]

You Got This, Kid (A Halstead Brothers + Halstead Sister Imagine)

A/N: I'm back! Please enjoy this imagine about what I've been going through with grad school applications and everything else these past few months. It's a long one (the longest I've ever written, clocking in at 23.7k words), so grab you might want to grab your snacks now. Finally, thank you for reading, and don't forget to reblog/like and comment!

Enjoy!

Okay, so maybe checking your email when you were out to lunch just trying to have a relaxing afternoon before taking a nap before work was a bad idea.

"Yeah?" Jay asked when he answered his phone.

"I'll know if I got into East Carolina by 6 pm today," you told him. You had been researching and applying to Ph.D. programs in clinical psychology since August and had decided to apply to five in total. It was currently January and you had yet to hear back from a single one. And, East Carolina University was your top choice.

"Oh, wow. Just take a couple deep breaths. I guess today was a bad day to have us get the new appliances put in, huh?"

"Yeah."

For Christmas, Hailey's Christmas present to herself and Jay's Christmas present to her were all new appliances in the apartment. You had no idea how they got around that since they were renting, but you had a suspicion that them both being cops had something to do with it.

"Well, the appliance people just left, so you can come home any time," Jay told you. "Think positive."

You rolled your eyes. "You know you're talking to the world's biggest pessimist, right?"

"It wouldn't kill you to be a bit more positive is all I'm saying."

"It's not like you're a ray of sunshine either, Jay."

"Fair point."

"Well, I've got two pages left of this chapter and then I'm coming home."

"Okay, drive safe," Jay told you and then you hung up the phone.

You knew you needed to get home soon because the more time you had to sleep before work tonight the better. And, you knew it would be hell falling asleep because you'd be counting down the minutes until you knew whether or not you got into ECU.

***

"This is fucking ridiculous," you muttered as you walked out of your room and into the kitchen.

"Language," Jay warned from his place at the kitchen table, case notes spread out in front of him.

"I'm 23, Jay."

"Fair point. What are you doing up anyway?"

"I can't sleep," you whined as you grabbed the kettle from the stove and began filling it with water. "And, why are you working when you're not at work?"

"I can't relax. You know that."

"Apparently I can't either," you muttered.

You felt like you were going to throw up from nerves. What if you didn't get into this Ph.D. program? And, if you didn't get into this one, what if you didn't get into the other four? If you didn't get into a Ph.D. program and a Ph.D. was required for your degree, then what were you going to do with your life?

You dug the fingernail of your pointer finger into your thumb to ground yourself. You knew it wasn't the healthiest coping/grounding mechanism, but hey, it worked.

The kettle was whistling, so you turned off the burner and grabbed a mug and a peppermint tea bag. Maybe the peppermint would help your nervous stomach settle. After all, Will told you peppermint tea was supposed to help with period cramps, so maybe it would help with this, too.

"You want some?" you offered. "I'm making peppermint."

"Sure, why not," Jay agreed.

Once your tea was finished you handed a mug to Jay. "I didn't put any milk or sugar in yours because you're a health nut."

"Now you sound like Hailey," he said and stood up to add a splash of milk to it.

"I'm gonna go read until I can't keep my eyes open," you told him. "The faster I fall asleep, the faster the time will go, so the sooner I'll know if I get in."

"Night, kid," he said.

Then, you made your way to your room and turned on a calming instrumental playlist on Spotify, turned on a lamp so that the lighting was dim, but enough that you could see, and then curled up in your bed with the book you were currently reading and your mug of hot, peppermint tea.

***

As it turns out, sleeping for a long period of time to make time go faster was easier said than done.

You tossed and turned for half an hour until your eyes were finally drooping while you were reading. And then, you woke every hour for the next three hours. The last time you woke up was 5:45 pm.

The email said you'd know your results by 6.

A knot formed in your stomach as you reached for your phone. You opened your flagged emails and located the one which had the link to the application portal. Then, with shaking hands, you clicked on it.

You took a deep breath and logged in.

You felt your heart beating out of your chest as you hit the tab that read application status.

You closed your eyes and took a deep breath and opened them.

Despite the contents of your application, we are a very competitive program...please don't let this deter you from applying to other or future programs...

Tears began to prick your eyes.

"Fuck," you muttered. "No, no, no, no."

You grit your teeth to keep the tears from falling and grabbed your phone and then left your room and walked out to the kitchen, where Jay was cooking dinner.

"Hey," you said quietly.

"Hey, you didn't sleep very long—" But then, Jay saw your face. "Oh no. ECU?"

"Denied," you told him as you continued to hold back tears.

"Hey, there's still what? Four other programs you applied to? And, you just emailed a school in Florida yesterday about how to check your application status, so maybe you got in there. Did they email you back yet?"

You shrugged, Jay was always the rational one though, so you opened your phone and once again navigated to your emails. Sure enough, University of Florida emailed you back with instructions on how to check your application status.

"They emailed me."

Jay nodded, but you didn't see because you were too busy hitting the link the school had sent you and then typing in your username and password.

When it loaded, your heart dropped.

There, in big, red, bold letters after application status, it read Denied.

"No," you choked out as tears began to stream down your face. "No, no, no no! If I didn't get into either of these, how am I gonna get into Wayne State because that's the best neuropsychology school in the country? And then I only have two left and—ugh!"

"C'mere, c'mere," Jay said softly and took a step towards you and wrapped his arms around you.

"I just- I worked so hard on the applications!" you sobbed as your tears began to soak his shirt.

"I know. I know you did, kid. It's their loss. There's a school out there for you."

"But what if there's not!"

"There is." He paused and then his parental/brotherly instincts kicked in. "Now, do you want to stay here and eat or go back to sleep?"

"Go back to sleep," you mumbled.

"Okay. I'll wake you up in two hours so you don't have to set an alarm. Sound good?"

"Okay," you muttered.

When you started to make your way to your way to your room, Jay said after you, "You go this, kid."

***

It had been two days since you learned you had gotten denied admission to East Carolina University and the University of Florida. You had thought about your plan and what you were going to do next. The only options you had come up with were (1) apply to PsyD programs (more clinical, less research, but also less funded) if you could find some with later deadlines that were still accepting, (2) go to school in Europe (but that might pose issues with licensing if you ever wanted to come back to the US and practice), or (3) take yet another gap year.

You had relayed these options to Will, Jay, and Hailey the night before when Will stopped over with some I'm sorry you got rejected from two Ph.D. programs so maybe this will make you feel better coffee from one of your favorite coffee shops before your shift last night.

"Morning," Jay said when you walked upstairs later that night. Despite it being 7 pm, since you worked night shift, this was technically your morning.

"Morning," you said, your voice monotone.

"You feeling okay?" Jay asked as you grabbed the container of cold brew from the fridge and then grabbed a glass.

"Physically, yeah. Emotionally...not so much."

"Good enough to figure out your next steps?"

Luckily, you had finished pouring your cold brew and put the cap back on the container or else you knew you would have spilled it everywhere at that question. "What? I'm trying to figure it out, Jay!"

Jay put his hands out in front of him in a calm-down gesture. "I know. I'm not saying you aren't, but well, I have access to tech at the district that you don't have that might make looking for more schools easier."

"Okay...and?"

Jay muttered something under his breath about having to spell everything out for you all the time...which luckily you didn't hear. "Me, you, and Will are going to the district to do some research on grad schools."

You cocked one eyebrow. "You're trusting Will to use state resources?"

"No. God, no. He's there to research on his own laptop and then read over some of your essays...if we get that far."

You nodded. This was all just so overwhelming that despite how grateful you were for both your brothers' help, that was all you could do.

"Leave in an hour?" Jay asked.

"Yeah, yeah, that's fine. Just, give me time to shower and eat something."

And by something, you meant a piece of fruit and maybe a granola bar. Seeing how riddled with anxiety and frustration and whatever other shitty feelings you had been feeling the past two days since you got denied from the only two schools you had heard from so far, your stomach hadn't been feeling that great and your appetitive was half as much as it was before you got your results...if you had an appetite to begin with. You felt like that last complete meal you had eaten was the night you had gotten those results and Jay had dinner for you. For the past two days, you had mostly eaten what you felt like you could stomach without feeling nauseous, which was mainly smoothies, fruit, protein shakes, and snack foods. You knew your appetite would come back eventually and your nausea would go away eventually, but for now, it was here and you just had to deal with it...much like you had to deal with the fact that you had to do even more work to get into grad school than you had previously thought.

***

"I brought pizza!" Hailey announced when she got upstairs and into the bullpen. You, Will, and Jay had been researching grad schools for three hours. Jay had found two that still had deadlines open and didn't require the GRE, so you were working on writing essays to get into those.

After you finished the first one, you emailed the essay to Will and he edited it. You figured he'd be the best one to edit these essays because he'd had to write them to get into med school.

While Will was editing and making notes in the margins of your essay on google docs, you opened the links to the other schools that Jay had sent you. And, you had added two more to your list (making the total you would currently apply to four at the moment) when Hailey walked in with the pizza.

"Thank God," Will said and quickly closed his laptop. (You thanked God that you were working in google docs and that everything automatically saved so that his edits wouldn't be lost.)

"You're literally just editing," you said and rolled your eyes at how overdramatic your oldest brother was being. "I'm the one who has to look over the programs, make sure they're a good fit for me, and actually write them, and then I have to email--" you cut yourself off as your eyes widened in realization. "Oh, God."

"What? What's wrong?" Jay asked as he entered the break room with Hailey since he had been out in the bullpen because he was using one of Intelligence's desktops.

"I have to email my profs and ask them if they'll write me more letters of recommendation."

You hated doing this part because it meant that the application process wasn't entirely in your control. One of the letters of rec might not be emailed to the right email address or the application system wouldn't let you put in a certain recommender and then you'd have to contact the school and--

"Y/N." You hadn't even realized Hailey had crouched down in front of you. "You need a break."

"But I can't! I--"

"Y/N, some of those schools don't have deadlines until March or April. You can take half an hour to eat," Jay told you.

But you couldn't; your stomach was in knots just thinking about all the work you had to do.

"I'm not hungry."

Will looked you up and down. Of course, your physical appearance hadn't changed in two days obviously, but he knew how stress held itself in the body, in a person's posture; in their facial expressions. But most of all, he knew how much stress he had gone through during his med school application process and how some of his classmates could barely eat without throwing up because they had been so stressed out.

"Y/N, we know you're stressed out. But, you have to eat something. You can't write great statements of purpose that are gonna get you into a program without food in you, kiddo."

You sighed. "But I feel like I'm gonna throw up."

"It's just nerves," Will reassured. "We just want you to eat something."

You looked at Jay, hoping for once he'd side with you and not Will. "One piece of pizza," Jay said. "And then, if you still don't want to eat, you don't have to. I'll even go get you a Sprite from the vending machine downstairs to help settle your stomach."

"And, we can talk about Outer Banks," Hailey bargained. "Me and Jay just finished the new season."

"I thought you guys had four more episodes to watch!"

"Just finished it yesterday," Jay said.

"We spent half of our RDO watching that," Hailey said.

Will just looked between the three of you. "I'll go get her the pop because I have no idea what you guys are talking about."

"It's a show on Netflix! It's really good! These kids are treasure hunting and--"

"Eat your pizza, Y/N, and then maybe you can convince me to watch it," Will told you.

You took a bite of your pizza while maintaining eye contact with Will, which made Jay burst out laughing and then Will stood up to go get your pop while muttering something about you being a creeper under his breath.

"I need a John B," you said after your second bite of pepperoni pizza. "The way he held Sarah's hand all the way up the mountain, just—ugh! I love it. At first, I thought I needed a JJ because of how he broke into Kitty Hawk for Kiara, but he's a little too crazy for me."

"Uh-huh, sure, that's why you chose John B," Jay said while rolling his eyes.

"What's that supposed the mean?"

Jay grabbed a piece of pizza and took a bite without even bothering to grab a plate. This caused Hailey to gently smack him on the arm and push a paper plate into his empty hand. He took another bite and then set the pizza on the plate. "I'm just saying, don't you like brown-haired guys more?"

"They're called brunettes, Jay. And, yes. But, how the hell did you even notice that?"

"Think of all the celebrity crushes you've had over the years, Y/N."

Of course, Will had chosen that exact moment to walk back into the break room with your pop. "Oooh, we're telling Hailey all about Y/N being a crazy teenager. I love this game."

"Like you didn't have a stash of PlayBoy magazines under your bed, Will!" you shot back.

"Did you..." Will trailed off as he looked at Jay.

You burst out laughing. "He never told me anything. But you just confirmed it! Ha!"

"Y/N's first celebrity crush was Zac Efron!" Will shouted.

"Technically, it was Troy Bolton," you corrected.

Hailey just shook her head and laughed at your banter.

"And then there was Bieber—"

"No, she liked Nick Jonas before him, remember?" Jay corrected.

"Oh, yeah," Will said. "There was Nick Jonas, then Bieber, then a couple hockey players, then 5 Seconds of Summer—"

"Specifically Luke Hemings," you butted in.

Jay laughed. "You really have no shame in this do you?"

"None at all. Continue, Will."

"And...I think that's it."

"And John B, from Outer Banks," Jay said. "That's her current one."

"Is he even a real person?" Will asked.

"Nope. Now, Hailey, if you were in Outer Banks, what character would you be?" you asked and then opened your Sprite and took another bite of pizza.

She thought for a moment. "Probably Sarah. Our dads are both pretty messed up."

She said it jokingly but also matter-of-fact. Despite this, Jay still gave her a sad look but quickly recovered to his neutral facial expression. (He knew how much Hailey hated people pitying her due to her past.)

"What about you?" you asked Jay. "Wait! You have to be John B because you have to marry Sarah and you and Hailey are married."

Jay let out a chuckle. "I mean, I guess, I was gonna pick him anyway."

"Why?" you asked.

He shrugged. "He's the leader of the group. He thinks things through more than JJ. And, I'm not as smart as Pope. Will would be Pope."

"Is that a good thing?" Will chimed in.

"Yeah," you told him. "Watch the show and you'll find out."

Will just rolled his eyes.

"Who would you be, Y/N?" Hailey asked.

"Me? Oh, I'd die in the first season. I'm not the kind of person to do crazy illegal shit."

"Oh, c'mon!" Jay groaned. "You gotta pick someone!"

"Fine. I'd be Wheezy. I'd still be helping, but not in like an illegal way."

"Fair enough."

The three of you continued talking about Outer Banks as you finished another piece of pizza and a breadstick, making the total you'd eaten while you were talking two pieces of pizza and one breadstick and, seeing as you hadn't technically had a meal since you learned about your first rejection, only snacks, you considered this a win.

You pulled your laptop back out and groaned. You didn't want to keep having to write essay after essay, but you knew you needed to because that was the only going to get into a school. Despite this, you still had that nagging thought in the back of your head that all of this was for naught and you were just going to continue to get rejection emails from all the schools you worked so hard to apply to.

You rummaged through your backpack, pretending to look for your chapstick, which you knew was there. Then, you groaned and stood up and walked to where Jay was once again seated at his desk in the bullpen.

"Jay, can I have your keys? I think I left my chapstick in your truck," you lied.

Jay fished them out of his pocket. "Here, but be quick. It's dark out."

You rolled your eyes. "You know if all of this works out, I'll be in a different state in less than eight months, right?"

"Don't remind me."

You just rolled your eyes again and made your way downstairs and out the back way to Jay's truck.

You quickly unlocked it and jumped in the backseat. You just sat there as your head spun with worry, each worry connecting to another like a spider connecting pieces of a web in your mind.

Will I have to stay at my job another year or God forbid forever because there's not much I can do with a BA in psychology?

If I don't get into a program this year, will I apply next year? And, will my profs even write me letters of recommendation next year because they won't have had me in class for two years at that point?

If I have to do this for another year, should I take a couple of classes next year so that I have other professors to write me letters of recommendation and so that I can show the schools I'm applying to that I'm still learning about the field I'm going into?

When should I start looking into schools and the process of going to school in Europe if I don't hear back from all the programs I'm working on applying to soon?

What am I going to do with my life if I can't get into a program?

You jumped when someone gently tapped on the window. Then, you scooched over so that they could open the door and come inside the truck.

"Jesus, Will!" you exclaimed when he was inside and had shut the door. "Don't do that!"

"Sorry, I would've texted you, but you left your phone inside. You find your chapstick?"

"Um...about that..." you trailed off and looked away. You knew that if you started telling him your worries, you'd break down and you really didn't have time for that as you just needed a few minutes alone and then you needed to get back inside to work on the stupid essays for these stupid applications because these other stupid schools didn't want you because you needed a stupid doctorate degree for you stupid career to make stupid money and have a stupid life.

Will nodded, quickly understanding that there hadn't been a lost tube of chapstick to begin with. "You know, I didn't match for a residency at first," he told you.

You turned to face him, even though you could barely see him because it was the middle of the night. "Really?"

"Yeah, and it was terrifying."

"But you're a doctor. You have to do a residency to be a doctor."

"Mhm," Will confirmed. "I had to do the SOAP process."

"What's that?"

"It's where all the kids who finished med school who didn't match to a residency try and apply for the ones that people didn't want or are left over."

"So, you got everyone's shitty leftovers?"

Will smiled and shook his head. "Basically. I never wanted to go into plastic surgery. It seemed so..." he trailed off while he searched for a good word to describe it. "Vain," he finally said. "Don't get me wrong, there are some people who need it because of accidents and things like that, but giving rich men's wives nose jobs, that's not what I wanted."

"So, what you're telling me is to go into another specialty if it's open? Even if I don't like it," you asked. If this is what he was getting at, his pep talk wasn't a very good one."

"Sort of," Will answered. "But, there's a bit more to the story. I always wanted to go into emergency medicine, so when a job opened up at Med, I jumped at it. So, even if there's roadblocks, you'll get the career you want; you just have to be patient. You need to be a doctor in clinical psychology for your specialty, right?"

"Yeah."

"Okay, and there's a lot of things you can do with a doctorate in clinical psych, right? You don't have to go specifically into neuropsych?"

"Yeah, I'll be a clinical psychologist with the doctorate so there's other stuff I can do," you confirmed.

"Okay. Then you get into a clinical psych program and you go from there. And, if you can't do your fellowship or whatever it's called--"

"Post-doc," you told him.

"Right. If you can't do your post-doc in neuropsych, then you can do it in another specialty. Once you make some money, you can always go back and do another post-doc, this time in neuropsych, okay? This whole process doesn't have to be linear to work out. And, honestly, the application part and getting in is harder than the degree itself."

"Really?"

"Really. Now, Hailey put on a pot of coffee when I came out here, so c'mon. Let's go drink some more coffee and look at more grad schools. Jay found some options in Arizona because we know you want to go where it's warm."

"Perfect." Will opened the door to get out and you scooted over to get out of Jay's truck next. "And, Will?" He turned back to look at you. "Thank you."

He smiled and gave your shoulder a squeeze. "Anytime, kiddo."

***

"You have actual food tonight, right?" Jay asked two days later, Sunday night, when you grabbed your lunch box from the fridge to go to work. "Not just snacks?"

You rolled your eyes. "Yes, Jay." Ever since your brother noticed you weren't eating full meals, he'd been on your ass about it. But, yesterday you ate like a normal person and so far today you have, too. "Shouldn't you be finishing the game and going to bed?"

"It's at intermission. It's—"

"Don't tell me! I'll watch it at work."

"Pretty sure those sites you use to watch it are illegal, but whatever."

"Shouldn't you know for sure if they're illegal or not?"

"Well, you're not on the dark web and you're not selling anything and you're not the one uploading the games, so I'm pretty sure I can't arrest you."

"Well, that's a good thing because if I get arrested, then I can't get into grad school...not that I'm sure I'll get in now, though."

"Hey, we found what? Six programs for you to apply to? You'll get into one. But, you better get going before you're late."

"Says the man who rushes to work every morning."

"Really, it's Hailey who holds me up in the morning."

"No, it's not!" Hailey yelled from the living room. "He's the one who hogs the shower!"

"Gotta go!" you said quickly and grabbed your keys from the hook by the door before you got in the middle of their arguing.

***

About half an hour into your shift, you got a phone call asking you to come over to another building to talk to a coworker.

"I have to go talk to Tia," you told your two other coworkers.

"Tia? What does she want?" your coworker, and also one of the veteran staff at your work, Tamara, asked.

"No idea. I haven't been over to that building since the beginning of last week, so if I did something wrong, I forgot about it."

"Okay, well, see you later."

"See you," you said.

Then, you slipped on your coat and buzzed yourself out of the current building, and made the quick and chilly walk to the other building.

"Hey, where's Tia?" you asked when you walked in and saw another one of your coworkers.

"Oh, hey, Y/N," she greeted. "She's in the office."

"Okay, thanks."

You made your way into the office where Tia was sitting at the computer.

"Hey, Tia. You wanted to talk to me?"

"Yeah. What's your problem with my schedule?" she asked you rudely.

You didn't have a problem with her schedule per se, you just had a problem with there not being enough coverage with her schedule. And, since you worked at every building, you'd have nights when you worked here alone—which you shouldn't be doing, but management didn't care—because she worked long shifts for eight days straight, and then the other six, it would usually just be you or someone else working here alone and you had brought this up to your supervisor when he asked if you'd come across anything you wanted to fix.

"I- I don't have a problem with your schedule. It's just that sometimes there's only one person here and it gets hard in the mornings." Since you worked with kids, sometimes when you were by yourself, you'd have to get them out to the bus stop and that made it hard to do because you couldn't leave all the other kids in the building alone while you went to do that, so you'd have to call other buildings to see if they had a staff available to come help you. Contrary to popular belief, you couldn't be in two places at once.

"Yeah. And that happens to me sometimes, too. But we do it. And now because of what you said, my schedule might get changed—"

"That wasn't my intention, it was just—"

"Can I finish?" You nodded. "And now my schedule might get changed and this is the schedule that works for me. You only pick up here, so if you don't like it, don't pick up shifts here."

Tears began to prick your eyes. "I get scheduled here. I don't pick up." You took a deep breath. "My intention was just to figure out a way to get coverage, not to have your schedule get changed."

"Well, maybe you need to tell your supervisor that you don't want to be scheduled here anymore if you don't like the way we do things over here."

At this, the dam broke. You frantically wiped at your eyes. "I'm sorry. It's- It's not this. I just got rejected from grad school and it's just everything. Sorry."

At this, she softened. "I'm sorry, sweetheart. Don't let anyone here make you cry, not even me. It's not worth it."

You nodded. "Yeah. Can I- can I go now?" You asked while trying to stop the tears from falling. You didn't feel like walking out of the office and having yet another one of your coworkers see you cry.

She nodded and you quickly wiped your eyes once more and walked out of the office, just willing your eyes to stay dry until you got outside.

You sniffled all the way until you got to one of the buildings the kids used for gym class during the day that you knew would be empty because they were all sleeping. You buzzed yourself in and then quickly made your way to the bathroom and locked yourself in a stall.

You leaned your head against the door. "Fuck," you muttered.

Everything about the past few days came flooding through you and you began to cry so hard that you could barely catch your breath. And, you weren't even an hour into your shift.

Your breath was coming out in short bursts as you pulled out your phone to text Tamara and tell her that you were in the gym bathrooms because you needed a minute and that you'd be back soon. Then, not caring that this was a bathroom, you slid down and leaned against the wall and pulled out a breathing app on your phone that you had for times like this. You hadn't had an anxiety attack or whatever the fuck this was that was prompting your frantic breathing in a year and a half, but you had kept the app because you knew you might need it one day. Today—well tonight—seemed to be that day.

You were focused on your breathing—breathe in through your nose, hold, breathe out through your mouth—for three minutes before your breathing returned to a semi-normal rate. Then, you continued the breathing exercise for two more minutes just to be safe.

When you closed the app, you saw that Tamara had texted you and asked if you were okay and if she needed to come over there. You told her you were on your way back to your building now.

Then, you pocketed your phone and splashed some water on your face, and dabbed it dry with some paper towel. Your eyes were still red, but at least you didn't have tear stains on your face. After taking one last deep breath, you left the bathroom and then the building and began your quick and cold walk back to the other building and the coworkers you actually enjoyed working with.

When you got back inside, you told your coworkers what had happened and then Tamara asked if you wanted a hug, which you gratefully accepted.

You knew a bigger breakdown over grad school rejection was going to happen eventually, you just didn't think it was going to happen at work.

And, if the first half of January was anything to go by, you were in for one hell of a month.

***

"Well, look who's finally awake," Will chirped when you walked into the kitchen after waking up for your day...which was everyone else's night.

"I went to bed at 10 am," you shot back. "And I don't like to talk to people when I first wake up, remember?"

"Oh, yeah, that's right. The one time of day when you're actually quiet."

You went to flip Will off when Jay quickly butted in. "Y/N, there's leftover pasta in the fridge for you to take to work."

"And there's loukoumades for you, too," Hailey added.

"Hailey's my favorite sibling!" you exclaimed and then began to make your coffee as you drowned out the noise of Will and Jay trying to argue about why they should be your favorite sibling...well, mostly Will because Jay knew Hailey was his better half by a long shot.

Once you made your coffee and a bowl of yogurt and fruit for breakfast, you made your way back upstairs to your room to read for a while before you started getting ready for work.

***

When you took a sip of your coffee, your lips puckered in disgust. It was way too bitter and...you had forgetter creamer.

"Ugh," you groaned and then stood up from your chair. You were so cozy with your robe and slippers on and a blanket covering your lap that you almost decided to forgo your coffee, but who were you kidding, you needed that caffeine.

You grabbed your mug of now lukewarm coffee and made your way out of your room. You started down the stairs as normal until your slipper caught the edge of one of the stairs.

***

Jay, Hailey, and Will were all still sitting at the table, each enjoying a cold beer when they heard a thump, thump, thump on the stairs above them.

Jay and Hailey's reflexes kicked in just a hair faster than Will's and they sprinted over to the steps to see you laying on the landing of the stairs with coffee spilled all over you and your head against the wall.

You swear you had never seen Jay run as fast as he did then. He cursed to himself as he bounded up the stairs two at a time and quickly crouched in front of you.

"Can you move your arm?" he asked. You hadn't noticed that your arm was placed between you and the wall. You lifted up your arm and nodded.

"My coffee," you cried.

"You can make more coffee, Y/N. Did you hit your head?"

You nodded tearfully and Jay looked back at Will. Your two brothers traded places and Jay picked up your empty coffee mug—thank God it hadn't broken—and then made his way downstairs to grab the first aid kit and some towels. Hailey followed him to give Will room to work if needed and made her way to the freezer to grab an ice pack.

"Where'd you hit it?" Will asked you and you leaned forward and put your fingers on the back of your head. Will nodded and you put your hand down and he felt around the area and looked for blood. "No blood, so that's good. There is a little bump, though. Any dizziness? Nausea?" You shook your head. "Okay, good. But, I'm still gonna have you stay home from work tonight because those symptoms can have a delayed onset, so I don't want to miss something and then have you have to be rushed to the hospital while at work. I'll write you a doctor's note if I have to."

You were about to protest because if you called out now since it was only three hours until your shift, you could get written up. But, you'd only used a single one of your sick days out of the five you had and they reset in April, so you figured you'd be fine if you explained the situation. "Fine," you agreed. "Can I go back to bed then?"

"Nope. I want you to stay up for a couple of hours. It's not good for you to go to sleep right after hitting your head even if you do feel fine. After that, you can sleep all you want. I just need to see if you puke or not."

"She good? No hospital?" Jay asked since he and Hailey had been waiting at the foot of the stairs with supplies.

"No hospital. Just stay home from work and ice her head. Doesn't look like the coffee was hot enough to burn her based on her skin and her not telling me, but if she says anything, give me a call."

"I'm right here you know!"

"Oh, we know," Will said. "But, you're still under Jay's health insurance."

You rolled your eyes and then held out a hand for Will to help you up. He did and you made your way back upstairs and to your room to quickly grab a different pair of pajamas and then head to the bathroom to take a shower to get all the coffee off of yourself.

Then, you made your way back downstairs—carefully this time—and saw that Hailey had made you a new cup of coffee and had a small plate of loukoumades sitting next to it.

"After you eat those, you need to ice your head," Hailey told you.

"Uh-huh."

"C'mon, the boys are getting the tv set up for us."

"What are we watching?"

"I may or may not have convinced them to put on Outer Banks since Will still hasn't started it."

You smiled. "Yay!"

Then, you picked up your coffee and plate of Greek donuts and made your way to the couch where Jay tried to steal one of your loukoumades, but Hailey quickly swatted his hand away.

"You already had yours. Now press play, Halstead."

***

"Y/N, hey, wake up," you heard as you felt someone shaking your shoulder. In your sleep-addled brain, it took you a moment to process that it was Jay waking you up. "Y/N, can you hear me?"

"Mhm," you answered. "Wanna sleep."

"You've slept for at least twelve hours."

This got you to roll over and check the time on your phone. 5:37 pm. You had slept for over twelve hours; Jay was right.

"What time did you go to bed?" You went to answer, but then Jay stopped you. "Wait, any dizziness? Nausea? Blurry vision? You feel like your head is going to explode?"

"I feel fine."

"Okay. So, what time did you end up going to bed?"

"I fell asleep on the couch until three, and then I woke up and went on Tik Tok until five and then I went back to sleep." You yawned. "I shouldn't be tired! What the hell?"

"Just, get up and get moving around and then you'll probably wake up more."

Then, Jay left your room, but not without turning your light on which then forced you to either get up or get up out of bed and turn off the light and go back to bed. You were already up anyway, so you figured you might as well have a slow morning before going into your shift, so you decided to just get up and go downstairs to get some food and coffee.

After making yourself breakfast and a cup of coffee, you went to the bathroom before heading back to your room and saw that you had gotten a surprise.

"You've got to be fucking kidding me," you mumbled and then grabbed a tampon from the cabinet under the sink. You had just gotten your period two weeks ago, you weren't supposed to get it again! But, at least the panic attack made sense now.

You left the bathroom to once again be met with Jay.

"You didn't puke in there, did you?" he asked. "You were in there for a while."

"Jesus Christ, let me guess? Will put you up to this?"

"Yup. He told me to monitor you closely since you slept so long."

"But you still went to work today and left me by myself," you said. "And for your information, I got my period. So now I have a reason why I had a panic attack at work the other night and I'm not just crazy."

You went to grab your food from the counter but were stopped from going up to your room by your brother.

"Whoa, you had a panic attack at work? Why didn't you tell me? Or Hailey? Or Will?"

Shit. You had forgotten that you just went straight to bed after that shift and didn't tell anyone.

You sighed and sat down at the table with your food and coffee instead of going upstairs. "Because I was tired after work and I went right to bed and then I just forgot to tell you. I journaled about it though."

"That's good. Do you still want to talk about it?" he asked.

So, you launched into the story of your night of being chewed out by Tia and then having a panic attack in the bathroom.

"She had no right to talk to you like that, you know," Jay said once you were finally finished.

"I know. And she's on my shit list for it." You would've said she's on my fucking shit list for it, but you knew Jay hated when you dropped the f-bomb. A year ago, he would've hated you swearing in any capacity, but now you thought that he was finally coming to terms with the fact that you were a grown woman and would swear whether he liked it or not and whether he heard you or not.

"I knew the mental breakdown from all this school stuff was gonna come sooner or later, but I didn't think it was gonna happen at work."

Jay nodded; he honestly had no idea what to say at this moment. Did he agree? Comfort you? Finally, he settled on a mixture between comfort and encouragement while you focused on blowing on your coffee to make sure that it wasn't too hot.

"Hey, you'll get through this, alright? Just keep applying. You didn't work your ass off in school for nothing. And, it's their loss if they don't want you."

You smiled. Jay was oblivious to some things, but he always knew just what to say when you needed a pick me up.

"Thanks, Jay."

"Anytime, kid."

***

You were going to lose your damn mind. You had all this stuff to do and submit and one of the people who said that they'd write you letters of recommendation for your PhD programs said that they're really busy and they might not be able to get to the ones for the PsyD programs you were applying to. And Jay and Will heard all your bitching about this. How fucking hard was it for her to change the date and the name of the school on the letter and send it in? Unbelievable.

You couldn't think of anyone and you were running out of time to get these in.

"Fuck," you muttered.

You heard a knock on your door. "Y/N? You still up in there?"

Shit. You forgot it was Jay and Hailey's RDO today.

"Yeah, why?"

It was only half an hour past the normal time you'd be sleeping anyway.

"Me and Hailey are going out for breakfast. You wanna come? Or we can bring something back for you."

"Bring something back," you said quickly. You were not in a state to be out right now because you knew the minute that you saw lots of people, you were going to have a full-fledged breakdown.

"Okay, I'll send the menu so you can tell me what you want. Goodnight."

"Night," you answered.

***

"I'm just gonna go check on her," Jay said when Hailey asked him why he was walking towards your room instead of their room once they'd gotten home from going out for breakfast. The two had planned on having a lazy day of watching tv on the couch along with a few beers. And, instead of going to change into comfy clothes right away, Jay decided to take a peek into your room.

The sight he saw when he cracked open your door broke his heart.

You were pacing your room and pulling at the roots of your hair while your breathing came out in short bursts.

"Hey, hey," Jay said quickly as he opened the door wider and made his way into your room.

You turned around at the sound of his voice. "I- I—"

"Don't try and talk. Let's just sit down, okay?"

You nodded and he gently placed his hand on your shoulder and helped lead to your bed.

You both sat down and Jay offered you his hand for you to squeeze. You took it.

"Breathing app," you told him through your rapid breathing. "On—" Breath. "—Phone." Breath.

"Say cheese," Jay said as he put the phone in front of you, screen-facing, so that he could open it. "What's it called?"

"Ti-ide," you said and grabbed his arm.

"Tide?" You nodded. "I gotcha, I gotcha," he said and then sat down next to you and held the phone between the two of you. "In," he narrated as you watched the circle on the app expand. "Hold..." Pause. "Exhale." The circle deflated.

"It's not--"

"Just keep breathing," Jay encouraged. "Think of a bubble, just like on the app."

You continued to hold on to his arm and continued to follow the breathing on the app for six more minutes.

Jay handed your phone back to you after he saw your breathing had evened out and you confirmed you were okay.

"Is this what happened at work the other night?" he asked gently.

You nodded. "I think I need to go to the doctor. I can't keep living like this, Jay!"

"I know you can't. And I'll do everything in my power to help you. But, don't you mean therapy?"

"No, a doctor. My period's being all weird and my anxiety's bad and maybe I need to be on Xanax or something. I can't keep doing this!"

"I know. Do you know why this happened? For my PTSD, there's always a trigger, was there one for you?"

"Just all this grad school stuff."

"Still can't think of anyone else to write you a letter?" You shook your head. "Could you use your supervisor at work?"

"Probably," you answered. "Maybe I'll use my old one from when I was on dayshift though because I like her better."

"Okay, send her an email. The worst she can say is no."

"And then I'll have to think of another person--"

"We'll cross that bridge when we get there. For now, just email her and then schedule a doctor's appointment. You should be able to do it online. And, me and Hailey got you some food so come out and grab it whenever you're ready. I'll put it in the fridge for you."

"Thanks, Jay."

He didn't know if you meant the help with the panic attack or the help with grad school or getting you food, but no matter which one you were thanking him for, the answer was still the same: "Anytime, kid."

***

"Okay, Y/N," Hannah said when you came to see her in the ED one day. (This was a planned appointment, but you knew she could possibly have to run out of the appointment if she is needed in the ED.) "So it says here in your online chart that you wanted to come in because of irregular periods and anxiety?"

"Yeah," you answered.

"And how long have your periods been irregular?"

"A month and a half, two months," you answered. "Around the time I started getting rejection letters for grad school."

"Yeah, Will's told me you've been applying. I bet that's really stressful."

"Yeah, it is. And now I have to apply to different degree programs because I didn't get into Ph.D. programs, so it's been a lot."

"Well, stress can play a big role in our cycle. So, what I'm gonna do is ask you some questions and then do the physical exam, see if there's anything I can find that could be causing this. I also want to run some labs just to check your blood work."

"Okay, but does it have to be fasted?" you asked. "Because I just came from work, so there's food in my system."

"I'd be concerned if there wasn't food in your system after working all night," Hannah joked. "But no, it doesn't have to be fasted. I mainly want to get your thyroid levels checked.

"Now, the anxiety, tell me about that. Is it more general? Is it panic attacks? When does the anxiety start? That kind of thing."

"Um, it's more general, I guess. I've only had two panic attacks, but I get like anxiety attacks when I see that there's gonna be a lot of people."

"A lot of people like what? Can you give me an example?"

"Like if I'm at the gym and there's a lot of people there, then I want to leave because I'm getting anxious."

"Okay, so in looking at your chart, I saw that you're on an antidepressant. So, based on what you just told me, there are two options. The first is that I can put you on hydroxyzine, which is an anti-anxiety medication that you can just take as needed. Or, I can increase your dosage of antidepressants and get you set up with one of our social workers here at the hospital who can teach you some coping skills or refer you to a therapist," Dr. Asher told you.

"Is there any way my body could constantly be PMS-ing? Because I used to get anxious around my period and now I'm having my period a lot more, so could that be it?" you asked.

"It definitely could be, which is why I want to have you get your labs done so we check your thyroid levels. But, if you don't want to do anything with your meds, we can always just have you meet with the social worker and see how that goes."

"What would you recommend? In terms of the hydroxyzine?" you asked.

"You've told me you've only had two panic attacks so far, so based on that, I think you could do either way with the medication. We could always increase your antidepressants and then when I follow up with you in a month, if nothing's changed, we can get you some hydroxyzine. It's completely up to you."

"Okay, let's just up my meds for now and if I need to go on the hydroxyzine later, I can."

"Okay, perfect, let me go get someone to get those labs done and then you're free to go."

"Thanks, Hannah."

***

3 days later

When you woke up, you saw that you had a voicemail and that it was from Hannah. You assumed it was regarding your labs.

"Hi, Y/N, it's Doctor Asher. I have some information I'd like to share with you concerning your test results from the blood panel that was done. These charts are also available in your online chart if you would like to see them. Please call me back when you get the chance. And if I don't answer your call, please leave a message with the best time that you can be reached. Have a good day."

You quickly logged into your chart to see the results yourself since you knew that your results would be there.

What you saw was something that you assumed might be the problem based on the research you had done on your own since you went to see Hannah a few days ago. (There was no way in hell you were talking to Will about this, and you had to beg and plead with Jay to convince him not to talk to Will about it. But, in the end, he agreed because you cited that he wouldn't be able to give you the check-up in the ED anyway since he was family, and by law, he couldn't do that. And, you also promised that if it was anything serious or if there was anything wrong at all, you would loop Will in yourself or that you would give Jay permission to loop him in.)

Your thyroid levels were slightly elevated, and in the notes, it said that during the physical exam, your thyroid did feel a bit enlarged. Because of this, Dr. Asher would recommend having an ultrasound of the thyroid...At least, that's what you gathered from all the medical jargon you read. And, because of said jargon, you assumed that this is why Hannah wanted you to call her back so that she could explain it to you.

You called her back.

"Hello, this is Dr. Asher," she greeted when she picked up.

"Hey, Hannah, it's Y/N Halstead. I'm calling because you told me you had my test results back."

"Yes, I do. Just give me one second to get it pulled up here..." There was a pause on the line and you could hear her typing away on the computer. "Here it is. Did you get a chance to look at your results from your online chart yet? If not, I can read the results to you over the phone."

"I looked at them," you told her.

"Okay, so what I'm going to do is just break down the results for you and then tell you the next step. Feel free to stop me at any time with any questions, okay, Y/N?"

"Okay, yeah."

She broke down the results for you and they were exactly what you had assumed from your online chart...and what was actually written in your online chart. But, you assumed that it was just standard protocol for her to have to break down the results to you over the phone or in person.

"So we just want to get an ultrasound of your thyroid to see if the thyroid is actually enlarged since your thyroid hormone levels were slightly elevated and your thyroid gland was slightly enlarged from what I gathered from the physical exam," Hannah finished.

"So, what happens now? Like, after the ultrasound?" you asked.

"If the thyroid isn't enlarged, then we just continue what we talked about, taking the increased dose of Zoloft and then meeting with the social worker and following up with me in a month about the anxiety and the irregular periods," she told you. "But, if the thyroid is enlarged, we'd put you on medication for that so that your levels can stabilize."

"Okay."

"Any more questions?"

"Nope," you answered.

"Alright, well, I'm gonna give you the number for scheduling so that we can get you scheduled for that ultrasound of the thyroid. But, feel free to call me or send me a message on your online chart if you have any other questions or concerns, okay?"

"Okay, thanks, Hannah."

"No problem, Y/N."

She gave you the number and told you to have a good day and then you said the same to her and ended the call.

You grabbed your book and started to walk upstairs to tell Jay when you thought of something: he might not even realize that you could get an ultrasound for other things besides being pregnant. Your other brother knew this, but you weren't sure if this one did.

These next few minutes were going to be really interesting.

***

At least, you thought it was going to be the next few minutes. Turns out, you had a few hours to talk to Jay because all he told you was a raid went sideways. Granted, it was mid-week, and for some reason, crime was slow during on Monday and Tuesday and ramped up a bit on Jay and Hailey's RDO, which was Wednesday, and they'd usually come back on Thursday to a full-fledged case. It was almost like criminals hated Mondays as much as the rest of the world did.

So, to calm your nerves about grad school and everything else that was a fucking mess in your life, you decided to make yourself—and Jay and Hailey—pasta salad with chicken for dinner.

You turned on one of the tv shows you had to catch up on and then started boiling the water for the pasta and took the veggies out of the fridge along with a cutting board from the cabinet and a knife from the knife block to start chopping up the veggies.

***

An hour later, you had let the chicken nuggets and the pasta cool in the fridge for half an hour and had just finished cutting up the chicken nuggets and were about to mix everything together when the door opened.

"Hey, I made pasta salad for dinner—" You turned. "Will? What are you doing here? I thought you were Jay or Hailey."

"Jay told me you had a doctor's appointment a couple days ago and I figured I'd come over and check you out, see what's the matter, and then start the Hawks game with you guys."

"And Jay knows you're coming over? Did he tell you to come over? Or just tell you I had a doctor's appointment?" you asked, stopping your stirring of the pasta salad so that you could give him your full attention...and to make sure you were making eye contact to try and figure out if he was lying to you or not.

"He just told me you had a doctor's appointment the other day and that he's worried about you. I told him I'd come and check you out, but that's all he told me." Will's phone buzzed. "Speak of the devil. It's Jay. Said he and Hailey are picking up Gino's on the way home." He glanced at the bowl in front of you. "But, it looks like you already made something, so..."

"I'll just save it for lunch for the next couple of days; I'm not passing up Gino's pizza." Will tapped his phone screen a few times. "What did you just tell him?" you asked and took the spoon from the pasta salad that you had begun to stir once again and pointed it at him.

"Just gave him a thumbs up. Now, tell me what's going on, and finish making your food so I can give you a check-up."

"Don't really wanna tell you," you mumbled.

"Hey, whatever it is, I promise you I've seen worse. Nothing will phase me. Unless you're pregnant. Then there might be some issues, more with Jay than with me, but still."

"It's the exact opposite of being pregnant."

"So, you're not pregnant?"

"No, I'm not pregnant, Will! Jesus."

"That's the same thing that Mary thought when she was pregnant with Jesus."

"Will!"

"Fine, fine. I won't push you. But, I can promise you that whatever it is, I've seen worse. Plus, If you don't tell me, I'll just convince Jay to tell me."

You sighed. Jay still didn't know that you needed an ultrasound for your thyroid, so maybe telling Will first would help so that Jay doesn't pop off on you when he hears the word ultrasound and his brain automatically goes to pregnancy.

"Just, let me stir this and cover it and put it in the fridge first."

Will nodded and sat down and you finished stirring the pesto into the pasta salad and then covered it with Saran Wrap and placed it on a shelf in the fridge.

Then, you sat down in your usual spot at the table.

"I've been getting my period a lot," you told him.

Will nodded, his eyebrows furrowing as you knew his brain was running through all the possible medical problems that have period issues as one of their symptoms. "How much is a lot? Like, constantly? And when did it start?"

So you went into the whole spiel you had already told Hannah, including the increased anxiety and what you and Hannah had decided to do about it.

"Does Jay know about this?" Will asked after you were finished.

"He knows about everything except the ultrasound. I just got those results a few hours ago."

"Do you have them on your online chart?" Will asked and you nodded. "Mind if I take a look?"

"Knock yourself out," you told him and then opened your phone and navigated to your test results on your online chart and then passed him your phone.

You sat in silence for a minute while Will looked over the results.

"So, you need an ultrasound of your thyroid?" he asked, even though he already knew that it was recommended from what he read on your chart, he didn't know if you had agreed to it.

"Yeah. I was gonna ask you to come with me though after I told Jay and Hailey tonight because I've never had an ultrasound done before," you said.

"Of course, I'll come. Just tell me the date and time and even if I'm working, I'm sure Maggie can cover for me after I explain what's going on. You want me to tell you what happens at an ultrasound?"

"I know what happens," you answered. "They put gel on me and then they put this wand thingy over top so that they can look at my insides."

Will stifled a laugh at how you described it, but he had to give it to you, you were right. "That's exactly what happens. Now, can I feel your neck so I can see if I can feel if your thyroid is enlarged?"

"On one condition." He cocked an eyebrow at you, silently urging you to continue. "You have to tell Jay that I'm getting an ultrasound because he'll flip out and think I'm pregnant if you say it."

"Deal."

***

"Anything from the doctor?" Jay asked as he put a slice of deep-dish pizza on your plate and then passed it to you.

"Which one?" you asked and looked at Will.

"I mean, did you tell him what's going on?"

"I did," you confirmed.

Now Jay's attention was wholly on Will. "So, what do you think is going on?" Jay asked Will.

"Well, I wasn't the one who examined her, but I did what I could here and read the results of her thyroid test."

"And what did they say?"

"I'm right here, guys!" you exclaimed, causing Hailey to laugh.

Jay turned to you. "Yeah, but you're not a doctor, so I want to hear it from someone who understands doctor language himself."

"Technically, it's medical terminology," you muttered and then began eating your pizza, curious as to how Will was going to reveal to your non-doctor brother that you were going to have an ultrasound and the reason for it was not because you were pregnant.

"She has to get an ultrasound," was what Will decided on.

"What?!" Jay exclaimed. "I thought you couldn't get your period when you're—"

"She's not pregnant, Jay! She needs an ultrasound of her thyroid," Will clarified.

Hailey was just laughing at how stupid her husband was while you just rolled your eyes. "I could've done that," you told Will.

"And I should've taken a video! That was priceless!" Hailey chimed in.

"And she needs an ultrasound because...?" Jay prompted Will.

And so Will launched into the details that he was better fit to explain than you were while you just ate your pizza.

"And you'll come to the ultrasound with me?" you asked Will once again, just to double-check. "I've never had one done before and what if something's really wrong with me?"

"First off, the worst case scenario is that you have to go on a medication for your thyroid," Will began. "And, yes, I'll go with you. Just tell me the time and date and I'll come and wait with you. I don't think I can go in, since the rooms are pretty small in radiology and you're not a minor, but I'll be in the waiting area the whole time."

"You promise?"

"I promise. And if it's a day I'm working, I'm sure Maggie could cover for me," he repeated.

"Okay."

"So, how's the applications coming?" Will asked.

You groaned. "Ugh, don't remind me. I've submitted all of them except I just have to resend my transcripts to one of them in Arizona because I sent it to the wrong email address."

"How do you send it to the wrong email address?" Jay asked.

"He wouldn't know because he didn't go to college," Will fake whispered to his sister-in-law who was sitting next to him. Jay just rolled his eyes.

"I sent it to the psych department, not the graduate admissions committee," you answered.

Jay nodded. "Any word from the school in Hawaii yet?"

"Nope. You'd know if there was."

"You just want to go to Hawaii, babe," Hailey said.

"Yeah, and? Beats winters in Chicago."

"And it's super expensive, so hopefully I'll get assistantships or scholarships," you said.

"What about the one in Chicago, Y/N?" Hailey asked. "I know that's bottom of your list because it's cold and because Jay would pressure you to stay at home—"

"I would not!"

"Yes, you would!" you, Will, and Hailey yelled, causing Jay's eyes to widen.

"Uh, that was freaky. How about you guys never do that again, okay?" Jay said. "I thought it was the beginning of February; not Halloween."

"Hailey, I don't know what you see in him," you told her, causing Jay's jaw to drop.

"Hey! For your information—"

"I didn't hear back from anyone yet," you said loudly, cutting Jay off before he said something that would discreetly hint at his sex life with Hailey. "And when I do, I'll tell you guys. Now, can we finish eating and watch the game? I really don't want to have to think about this more than I have to."

Hailey nodded in understanding, since she too suffered from anxiety and then she proceeded to tell the story of the antics that Adam and Kevin had been up to today in the bullpen while everyone had been listening to the wire for their latest case (which they now had a lead on and would be picking up tomorrow, hence Jay and Hailey getting home later than usual).

***

One week later

"So, Y/N, tell me about what's going on," the social worker, Marsha, asked you at 12:45 pm that afternoon as you sat in her office for your scheduled appointment on your day off (as in, you hadn't had to work the night before, but had to work tonight. Even Jay got confused with your schedule sometimes. Will, on the other hand, understood since he had worked many a night shift during his residency).

And so, you launched into the story about grad school and anxiety.

"So, I can definitely refer you to a therapist if you would like that," Marsha said. "Or, I can work with you and teach you skills to manage your anxiety."

You'd always had some anxiety, it had just increased in recent weeks because of the rejections you'd gotten and all the added stress of trying to find another program that still had open applications.

"I think I want to learn some skills," you answered. "Seems like this is just gonna be something I have to live with."

"Ok, so I want to tell you about anxiety and why it happens and how it's sometimes a good thing and then we can move on to some skills you've tried..."

***

"And I'm gonna give you some homework this week," Marsha said at the end of your session. She passed you a piece of paper. "All I want you to do is notice when you have anxiety and what the physical symptoms are. You don't have to write them on this piece of paper; it's just a list of possible physical symptoms and the anxiety pyramid that we talked about if you want to reference them if you want. All I want you to do is notice when your anxiety flares up. Then, we can figure out what to do in these types of situations."

"Okay, sounds good," you told her.

Then, she stood up and you followed her out of her office and back into the waiting room. "You know your way out from here?" she asked.

"Yup," you answered.

When in reality, you didn't. But, Will said he'd meet you outside the waiting room doors at 1:50 to go with you to your ultrasound appointment in the radiology wing, and it was currently 1:55.

"You're not in your scrubs," you said when you saw him right when you opened the doors to the hallway.

"Nope. Ms. Goodwin gave me a half day today, so we can get lunch after if you want."

"As long as we can get coffee for me to bring to work, sure." You noticed his backpack. "Can you put these in here?" you asked, holding the two pieces of paper out to him. "I only brought my lanyard with all my keys and stuff."

"Yup." He took the papers from you and put down his backpack and put the papers inside. "You ready?"

"Yeah. You promise it won't hurt?" you asked, slightly nervous.

"I promise. It might just feel a little cold at first."

***

"See? I told you it wouldn't be so bad," Will said once you were out of the ultrasound.

"Yeah. But I won't know the results for a few days so can you—"

"I'm not gonna look at your chart and tell you the results," Will stated as you exited the waiting room.

"But why not? I give you full permission so it's not against HIPAA."

"Technically, it is because I can't just go in there and look at a family member's chart. That, and I'm not a radiologist. When they send you the results, I can look them over if you let me see them. But, before then, I can't. And, I'd trust a radiologist's opinion on this more than mine."

"Fine. Now, how about IHOP for lunch?"

"Already a step ahead of you. It'll be ready for pickup in ten minutes."

"And you got me the pancakes I like?" you asked and narrowed your eyes at him.

"Yes, I got you the cinnamon roll ones."

You broke out into a smile. "You're my favorite brother...just don't tell Jay that. He thinks he's the favorite."

***

One week later, late February

You got your results back. After skimming them, you figured you'd understood them, but wanted to call Will just in case. And he confirmed it. There was nothing wrong with your thyroid.

"So it's all in my head?" you asked. "My body hates me because I'm stressed? God, I can't even do basic human functions right."

"Y/N, what did I tell you? It's normal to be stressed out like this. It's a big thing," Will said over the phone.

"Don't you think I know that?! This is my whole career here! My whole life!" You took a deep breath. "Sorry. I'm sorry. You didn't deserve that."

"It's okay," he said. "You're super stressed out. But, you'll get in somewhere."

"Yeah, that's what everyone keeps saying." Then, your phone vibrated. "Hang on. That might be a school."

"They're calling you? That's a good sign, Y/N."

"They're not calling me; I put their emails as important so it'll notify me. I'm putting you on speaker while I read this."

You quickly put Will on speaker and then navigated to your emails. "It's the one in Hawaii," you told him. You held your breath as you opened the email. You skimmed it. And you stayed silent.

"What? What's it say?"

"I didn't get in," you said quietly.

"Aw, man. I'm sorry, kiddo. But, you still have five more to hear back from."

"Yeah. I just...I really wanted to go to school in Hawaii," you lamented. "I know it was a long shot to get in because I missed their priority deadline because I was still waiting on my Ph.D. application results, but still."

"Hey, look at it this way," Will began, "when you're making bank as a world-renowned neuropsychologist, you'll have more than enough money to vacation there a few times a year. Just make sure you don't forget to bring your favorite brother with you."

You rolled your eyes. "I dunno about world-renowned."

"Fine. USA-renowned."

"Goodbye, Will," you laughed.

"Bye, kiddo. Have a good night at work. Maybe drink a glass of wine before going to work. Just... don't tell Jay I said that. You've got what, seven hours before your shift?"

"That's actually a good idea. I'll swipe some of Hailey's pink Moscato. She's fine with it. She barely drinks it anyway."

"Alright, just one glass," Will reiterated.

"Bye, Will."

***

Two weeks later, early March

You woke up and checked the time. 2 pm. You still had two hours to sleep until your alarm went off. But, as was customary for the past two months, you navigated to your emails.

There, at the top, was one from Southern Arizona University.

You felt like you couldn't breathe as you opened the email.

Hello,

We have reviewed your application, evaluated your credentials and letters of recommendation, and would like to invite you to interview in person for the Doctoral program (Psy. D.) in Clinical Psychology at the SAU campus.

Your jaw dropped as you continued reading the finer details such as the date, time, location, and how to RSVP.

Today was Wednesday, Jay and Hailey's RDO.

You ran out of your room.

"Jay! Jay! Jay!" you yelled.

He immediately woke up from where he had been dozing off on the couch with Hailey next to him who had been wide awake. She grabbed her phone while he jumped up.

"What? What's wrong? What hurts?" he asked as he quickly looked you over.

"No, no nothing's wrong! I got an interview with Southern Arizona! It's in person in two weeks!"

"That's great, Y/N!" Hailey said at the same time that Jay said, "See? I told you that you'd get in somewhere!"

"I didn't get in yet, Jay," you told him.

"I know, but you're still one step closer."

You pulled out your phone. "I know Will's working, but I gotta text him and tell him!"

Hailey groaned as she looked at her phone's calendar. "Shit, Jay. We have that mandatory training that week for our detective's recertification."

Jay threw his head back and groaned. "It's not even that important. Voight and Platt will let us out of it."

"You know this isn't their call. It's the Ivory Tower that schedules this one. And it's the last one of the quarter. We don't go to this one..."

"We can't work until mid-April at the earliest. We'll be suspended," Jay finished.

"Exactly."

"Will can come with me," you said. "I can't just not go and I'm not going to Arizona by myself."

"Yeah, even if Will has to work, we'd find someone to bring you," Jay said. "Maybe Kim as a backup. No way in hell are you going to Arizona by yourself, you're damn right about that."

"Listen, we'll figure out the logistics of everything later," Hailey said. "For now, you just go back to bed so you're not too tired at work and then focus on being prepared for your interview. Just forward the email to me and Jay so we have the right place and date and time and we'll get everything figured out, okay?"

You smiled. "Okay."

"Now go back to sleep. You're going to Arizona for that interview no matter what," she reassured you.

"And, you're gonna do great," Jay added.

"I haven't even prepped for this yet."

"Still, I know you," Jay started. "You're gonna practice and know everything and then you'll do great. Now try and get some sleep before you have to go in tonight."

You nodded and turned around, still with a giant smile plastered on your face.

***

Five days later, Monday

You rolled over and checked the time. Fifteen minutes until you planned to get up, so you knew you wouldn't be able to go back to sleep no matter how hard you tried.

You immediately navigated to your emails as you had done for the past two months.

There, at the top, was one from Kansas City Health College and University in Missouri.

Hi, Y/N!

We have reviewed your application, and the committee is interested in offering you an opportunity to interview. Are you available this week or next?

Your jaw dropped and you broke out into a smile.

Another school wanted you! You might have options now!

You knew Hailey and Jay were unlikely to be home right now, so you went to your text messages and opened the group chat between you, Jay, Hailey, and Will.

I got an interview for Kansas City! you wrote.

Not even fifteen seconds later, your phone rang.

"Did you get my text?" you asked when you answered Will's phone call.

"I did," Will confirmed. "Good job! But, is the interview in-person?"

"I don't know," you answered. "I'll email them."

"Okay, just let me know. They approved my PTO request to come to Arizona with you in a couple weeks, but I don't know if I can swing another vacation. Jay or Hailey might have to go with you to this one."

"Okay, and it's an eight-hour drive from here, so we don't have to fly there if the interview is in-person."

"It seems short now, but it won't feel that way when you're driving for that long."

You rolled your eyes. "Uh-huh. Did you look up flight tickets for Arizona yet?"

"That's what I was doing before I called you. Is it your weekend off before the interview or after the interview?"

"Before the interview," you told him.

"Okay. I work a shift on Saturday, so the earliest we could fly out is Sunday morning. Then we have all day Monday to look at Pheonix and apartments and stuff and Tuesday you have to interview and we could fly home Wednesday or Thursday. How long did you take off for?"

"I have to go back into work that Thursday night."

"Okay, so we'll fly back Wednesday night, then you can sleep all day Thursday because my next shift is on Friday."

"Okay. And, I can stay at your house the night before if it's an early flight, right? I am not driving to your house at 3 am. Or you can sleep on the couch here."

"If it's early, it's probably better that you stay over here because I won't get home from work until 8:30 and then I'll probably have last-minute stuff to do. You know how it is."

"Yeah."

"Okay, well I'm gonna go so you email them and I can keep looking up flights. I'll let you know everything when I figure it all out."

"Sounds good."

Then, the two of you said your goodbyes and you emailed the school and responded to Jay and Hailey's congratulations texts.

Even if it was only two interviews out of the eleven schools total you had applied to so far, you were getting somewhere.

***

Four days later, Friday, day of virtual Kansas City interview

You opened the fridge and grabbed a hard seltzer just when you heard someone clearing their throat. You turned around with a sheepish expression on your face to see Jay standing there.

"So, we're drinking at 7:30 in the morning now, are we?" he asked.

"Your 7:30 in the morning is my 7:30 at night," you told him. "And, I have my interview later. Need something to calm my nerves before I go to bed."

"You've practiced more than enough; you'll do great. You don't need alcohol to calm your nerves."

He was right of course, on both fronts, but you weren't going to tell him that. You had researched questions you might be asked during your interview and then wrote down your answers and quizzed yourself multiple times until you were confident that you knew everything. You even had your coworkers quiz you on them last night and had Jay quiz you on them Wednesday night so that you knew for a fact that you knew everything. There were obviously questions that could come up that you weren't prepared for, but you had prepared for it as best you could with the information you currently had.

"I know," you begrudgingly agreed. "But still, let me do this. It's not like you haven't drank to calm your nerves before."

"She's got a point, Jay," Hailey said, seemingly appearing out of nowhere and maneuvering around Jay to get to the counter and begin making herself a cup of coffee.

"Why are you always on her side?" he asked.

"Technically, I'm not taking sides, just stating a fact. Let her have the drink. It's not like she's gonna get drunk. She's too smart to get drunk hours before her interview anyway."

"Thanks, Hailey," you said and then walked past Jay, who made no move to argue with you.

"Just, remember to put the can in the recycling when you wake up. And good luck with the interview later. Don't miss your alarm," he told you.

"I won't. I set one for like every minute from when I need to wake up to ten minutes after," you reassured.

And, when you made your way to your room, you could've sworn you heard Jay whsiper something along the lines of You're gonna be the death of me? You know that, right? to Hailey.

***

You felt like the interview went well. There were only two questions you hadn't practiced answering: (1) tell me about working with people from diverse backgrounds and (2) tell me about a time you had too much on your plate. How did you go about handling that?

Not to toot your own horn, but you felt like you gave pretty good answers to those questions despite being under pressure and not having practiced those beforehand.

Now though, it was time to calm down and try to go back to sleep for a few more hours before work. You had only gotten five hours of sleep before the interview and wanted to get at least another three before having to wake up again, do your morning routine, and go back to work.

So, now you needed to calm down and fall asleep without taking melatonin. So, you decided to go take a nice hot shower.

You didn't take long, only about fifteen minutes, and the minute you went and sat down in your bed to read to try and get your adrenaline to go down a bit more, your phone rang.

Will.

"Hey," you answered.

"So, how'd it go?" he asked. Honestly, he seemed more excited to talk about this than you did.

It was at this moment that you actually grasped how well you might have actually done during the interview phase.

"It actually went really well! There were only two questions I didn't know the answer to."

And then, you talked to Will about what the questions were and the answers you gave so that you could be prepared for your interview with SAU in a little under two weeks.

"Well, I'm gonna let you go so you can get some sleep, okay?" he said.

"Yeah. Hopefully reading for a bit will make me tired. I already took a hot shower to calm down, and it's calmed me just a little bit."

"It's the nerves," Will began. "You've been trying to get to this point for so long and all your adrenaline just hit you. You'll crash soon and sleep hard, though. Go, I dunno, make some tea to drink while you read or something," he suggested.

"That's actually a good idea. Thanks, Will."

"Anytime, kiddo. Now try and get some sleep. Make sure to text Jay and Hailey that the interview went well too because they probably want to know even if they're out chasing criminals all over the place."

"Doubt they could get to their phone to see the text if they're chasing people," you pointed out.

"You know what I mean. Now get some sleep."

***

5 days later, Wednesday

You woke up to someone gently touching your shoulder and saying your name.

"Y/N, you okay?"

Jay.

You grumbled, "Mhm. Why?"

"It's ten o'clock at night," he answered.

You rolled over and touched your phone, causing the screen to illuminate. Lo and behold, Jay was right. 10:02 pm.

You had worked six days straight since it had been your weekend on, and normally after these long stretches, you did sleep like ten hours, but you had never slept twelve. Granted, you did go to bed at around 10 am instead of your usual 8:30 because you had a doctor's appointment to follow up on your irregular periods (which were getting back to normal finally) and then you woke up around 1 pm for about an hour, but still, it was weird that you had slept this long.

"Guess I was just tired," you said. "I'll get up soon."

"Don't sleep all night. That's gonna mess you up for your shift tomorrow night."

"I know, Jay. I've been on nights for eight months now; I think I know what I'm doing."

"Okay, well, there's dinner in the fridge if you want some."

"Thanks."

Then, he left your room and you turned on your bedside lamp and sat up in bed, and opened your phone.

As was normal for you now, you navigated to your emails to see if you had heard back from any schools.

A few emails down was one that made your breath catch in your throat and your hands begin to shake.

From: Kansas City Health College and University

Subject line: Update KCHCU Admissions

You opened it and there was what looked to be a scanned document with the school's logo on top and the very first word was bolded and in cursive.

Congratulations!

Your eyes widened and your jaw dropped. You felt your heart beating out of your chest.

We are pleased to inform you that you have been admitted *with a Conditional Acceptance* to our program of: Doctor of Clinical Psychology (PsyD) for the Academic Year 2023-2024.

We hope this is one of many achievements in your professional career as a result of your continuous efforts.

*Please be aware that this is not your official acceptance notification. Official acceptance letters will be sent out upon completion of the required documents. Please fill out the attached documents as soon as possible.*

Sincerely,

The Admissions Office at Kansas City Health College and University.

A huge smile formed on your face as you shot out of bed and ran to Jay and Hailey's bedroom.

You quickly knocked on the door. "Nobody better be naked in there because I'm coming in!"

Without waiting for a reply, you opened the door. And, luckily, the only piece of clothing Jay was missing was a shirt (and you could see this because he had quickly sat up in bed and turned on his bedside lamp just as you opened the door).

"Some of us have to work in the morning, you know," Jay said.

At this, Hailey walked out of the bathroom, clad in her pajama bottoms and a t-shirt with her hair wrapped in a towel.

"You probably laid down two seconds before she knocked on the door," Hailey said.

"Technically, it was ten seconds," Jay sassed.

"Yeah, yeah," you said dismissively. "But I checked my emails and I got into Kansas City!" you exclaimed.

Hailey gasped. "Yay! Congratulations!" Then she made her way over to you and gave you a hug.

"See, I told you you could do it," Jay said and stood up and hugged you, too. "But, your first pick is still Arizona, right?"

"Yup," you told him. "But at least I have a backup school now if I don't get into SAU."

"So, what do you have to do now?"

"Fill out some documents." You passed him your phone. "Here's the email."

Jay told you to make sure you send in the documents by the deadline, which caused you to roll your eyes.

"Don't you have to pay something to secure your spot?" he asked.

"I think so," you said. "But it shouldn't be a ton, so if I get into SAU and have to tell them I decided to go to another school, I shouldn't be losing out on too much."

"Okay, good. See, I told you you'd get in somewhere."

"And I still have another interview."

"And you better text Will before he gets mad he had to hear it from one of us," Hailey pointed out.

"Oh, yeah," Jay agreed. "You better do that."

"I'll do that right now. Get some sleep, you guys."

"Night, Y/N, I'm so proud of you," Hailey said and gave you another hug.

"Night, kid," Jay said and gave you another hug as well.

Then, you made your way out of their room and into the kitchen to make yourself some food and coffee. As you were waiting for your coffee to finish brewing though, you made sure to text Will to let him know that you had at least gotten into one school, even if you considered it your backup school.

***

4 days later, Sunday

Your alarm sounded at 3:30 am and you silently cursed Will for wanting to get out on the first flight available. You rolled over and groaned into your pillow, but then quickly decided to get up because you knew if you kept laying down, you'd fall back to sleep and then Will would have to wake you up and you'd have to rush or you'd end up missing your flight altogether.

You heard the shower running as you grabbed your overnight oats from the fridge and then popped a pod into the Keurig.

Ten minutes later, you were rubbing your eyes and trying to stay awake while finishing your coffee when Will came into the kitchen.

"Morning," he greeted.

You groaned in response, looked up, and took another sip of your coffee. "I only slept five hours."

"And, I only slept three."

"That's not healthy for you."

"Neither is five."

You glared at him and he just smiled.

"Do you have Dramamine?" you asked.

"In my backpack. You should probably take it when we get to the airport, though."

"As long as I can get more coffee at the airport."

"You and me both," Will agreed.

***

You were not happy, let's just put it that way. There were so many people at Midway (since Jay wasn't flying with you, you and Will could fly out of Midway. Jay basically had a phobia of this airport now because he was abducted from here years ago) even though it was a 6 am flight on Sunday, that you and Will couldn't get more coffee.

"I'm gonna go find a vending machine," you said. "Can I have your card?" you asked.

You had time before you needed to board your flight and by finding a vending machine, you wouldn't have to waste time waiting in line. And, Will had told you to only bring your ID and some cash because he didn't want your debit or credit card getting stolen.

So, you went and found a vending machine and got yourself a Starbucks bottled frappuccino, and grabbed Will a boring plain latte.

"Here you go," you said and handed the coffee and his credit card to him.

"I didn't ask you to get me anything."

"Well, one it's your money, and two, don't take this the wrong way, but you look like shit."

Will rolled his eyes. "Thanks. I'm so glad I'm spending money to put up with you for a couple of days."

"Nah, you love me...at least, I'm your favorite sibling out of me and Jay."

"That's debatable. But you getting me this definitely earned a couple of points in that category."

Your phone buzzed. "It's Jay," you said after reading the text. "He said to have a good flight." Why your other brother was up at 5 am on a Sunday baffled you, but you figured it had something to do with his need for a consistent schedule and structure from his army days.

"He text it to the group chat?" Will asked.

"Yeah, why?"

"I have my phone on silent and if he only texted you that, then I'd be offended."

"That would mean that I'm his favorite sibling then," you pointed out. "I'm both your favorite siblings."

"Oh, you're the favorite something alright," Will muttered under his breath. Then, he remembered something. He quickly unzipped a pocket in his backpack and handed you the packet of Dramamine. "You should probably take this now."

"And this is why you're the doctor because I probably would've forgotten."

Will just shook his head. "I know. And then you'd be miserable for the entire flight, which would make me miserable and it just wouldn't be a good time."

You just took the pill in response and handed the package back to him. "I get the window seat," you told him.

"I already planned on it," Will answered.

And fifteen minutes later, you were in line to board.

***

After waiting in line for an hour to get your rental car, you were finally out of the airport in Pheonix. Because of the time difference between Pheonix and Chicago, you got into Pheonix around 8 am, and it was currently a little past 9 am. And needless to say, you and Will were hungry.

"You sure you're good to drive?" you asked. "They said I could drive it, just that I can't be the main renter."

It shocked you that you could actually drive a rental car since you weren't 25 yet, which is the age that you could legally rent a car. But, turns out, you could be a driver, just not the one who was the primary renter.

"I was there, I know," Will said. "And, I'm good to drive. I've worked lots of 24-hour shifts running on little sleep, so I'll be fine."

"Okay. But if you need to switch drivers, let me know."

"I will. Now, what sounds good to eat?"

"I say IHOP."

"Pancakes and a pot of coffee it is then," Will agreed.

You put in the address for the nearest IHOP and made your way there.

And when you were at the restaurant, Will may or may not have taken a picture of you devouring your pancakes and sent it to the group chat that only contained him, Jay, and Hailey.

***

The next day, Monday

"I say we leave Jay home more often," you said when you woke up the next morning around 8.

Jay was always the one who was go, go, go while on vacation like he couldn't relax. He'd have had you running around Pheonix until midnight if he were here and he more than likely would've woke up at 6 to workout and then made a ton of noise rummaging around for his suitcase that he would've woken everyone else up in the hotel room, too.

"I would ask you if you slept well because you said that," Will began, "but I know you did because you were snoring. I should've smothered you with the pillow."

"I'm telling Jay if I come up dead in here that it was you," you said.

"And I'm telling him that you don't want him to come on vacation because he wakes you up early."

"He knows that! It's common knowledge!"

Will rolled his eyes. "Hurry up and get ready or do whatever you need to do so that we can go get some breakfast downstairs before all the good stuff's gone."

"Can we get coffee somewhere later? I looked up some coffee shops near here."

"Let's just get breakfast first and then we'll go from there."

***

The morning was spent looking at possible apartments, going to a bookshop that doubled as a coffeeshop (and buying a new book of course), and then going out for Mexican food for an early lunch (which had the best salsa you had ever tasted).

Then, you went back to the hotel and got ready to go to the pool.

"You can go down without me," Will said.

"You're not coming?" you asked.

"I gotta make a phone call. Work stuff," Will lied.

"Okay, see you down there," you said and grabbed a room key, and left to go to the pool.

Two minutes later, when Will was positive you were at least off the floor you were staying in, if not out to the pool by now, he pulled out his phone and dialed Jay's number.

"Everything okay?" Jay asked the minute he picked up.

"Yes, everything's okay."

"Well, if you're only calling me to brag about the chips and salsa you got, then it's in your best interest to hang up now." You had been sending pictures to the group chat between you, your brothers, and Hailey, and needless to say, Jay was jealous.

"Okay, fine," Will relented. "Everything's not okay. I don't know if I want Y/N staying here."

Now, Will had Jay's full attention. "Bad neighborhoods? What's it like? I can try and look into stuff for you, but I don't have jurisdiction there, so it might be hard to do."

"Dude, it's like Chicago, but it changes a bit faster here. You have wealthy people on one side of the street and then poverty on the other. The building her school is in is just down the street from a homeless encampment. And, she's a girl living by herself. I dunno about her living her, man."

"Well, all the schools she's applied to are in big cities, so she's gonna get that anywhere."

"I know, I know. It's just, the shit we see every day..."

"I get it," Jay agreed. "How did she react to the apartments? And the school?"

"Well, her face dropped when we saw the school. It was like in an industrial area and it's just a building. And, the apartments, the one she likes and the one she said would probably be safest would run her like $1800 a month just for the apartment, not including utilities, groceries, etc."

Jay whistled on the other end. "Shit. But, it's like that everywhere."

"I know. If she goes here, you're gonna need to fly out here and look at apartments with her because you might be able to figure some more stuff out."

"Yeah, if she gets in me and her will take some time to look at apartments out there. Maybe bring Hailey, too."

"Okay, good. And, I'm willing to pay a little bit of her rent if it means she'll be safe."

"Me too," Jay agreed. Then, he remembered something. "Hey, I think one of my old army buddies does construction for apartments out there. I'll see if he can give you some places to check out that he thinks are safer and text you if he tells me anything."

"That would be great, Jay. How's the training going?"

"Let's not talk about that when me and Hailey are on our lunch break, okay? It's a pain in the ass but I have to do it."

"Alright then. I'll let you wallow in your own pity while me and Y/N go chill at the pool. Bye, Jay."

"You're an ass," Jay laughed. "But have a good night. I'll text Y/N tomorrow before her interview and I'll talk to you guys tomorrow. I want to know how it goes." Will heard someone's voice on the other line, he assumed it was Hailey. "And Hailey wants to know how it goes, too." (Will was right.)

"I'll make sure to tell her. Have a good night you two."

Then, Will ended the call and changed, and headed down to the pool where you were soaking up the sun while reading a book on your iPad.

"Hey," Will said after he sat down next to you. "I talked to Jay. He's got an old army buddy that does apartment work around here. He's gonna talk to him and see if he can give us some apartments to look at."

"Okay, good," you said and then paused your reading timer. For the first ten minutes you were down here, you had began making a pros and cons list on your iPad. "Kansas City's looking pretty good after looking at rent prices and the cost of living over here."

"So, you're leaning towards Kansas City then?" Will asked. He'd be lying if he said he wasn't surprised. SAU had been your first choice since you had gotten the email saying that they wanted you to come for an interview.

You passed him your iPad. "You can look at my pros and cons list."

He took a minute to read it and then handed it back to you. "Kansas City has a study abroad program? You never told me that."

"Because I don't know if I'll be going or not. They have a campus in Spain and they saw that I minored in Spanish, so they said that if that's something I want to do, that it's an option. And, I had to miss my study abroad because of covid. It all depends on if I feel comfortable taking all my classes in Spanish though and how it will work out with my classes and my practicum schedule."

"That's great, Y/N! If you go to Kansas City, you should definitely look into it. And, I'm sure some of the students speak English and would be more than willing to help you if you needed it. The profs probably speak English too."

"I know. It's just, learning about the brain and psychology in my second language after not having learned much in undergrad even though I have my minor in it, is a little scary."

"Then you don't have to go. But, you have the option at least if you go to Kansas City. And, Kansas City doesn't have assistantships?" Will asked.

Assistantships are where a student does some kind of work for the university and, depending on how many hours you work, half or all of your tuition is paid for by the university and they'll give you a living stipend.

"No. But, SAU does. I just don't know if the assistantships are for the campus I'm going to or the main campus. It's more expensive here and if I don't get an assistantship, I don't know how I'm gonna be able to afford rent," you told him.

"What's the tuition cost for the programs?" Will asked.

"About the same," you answered.

"So, Kansas City: Spain, no assistantships, lower cost of living. And SAU: no Spain, possible assistantships, higher cost of living?" Will asked.

"Yeah," you answered. "Them having assistantships at that campus is gonna play a big part in if I go to school here or not."

"Let's just focus on the interview for now and make sure to ask them about that tomorrow. You got into one school for sure. Just focus on what you can control tomorrow and then decide. Okay?"

"Okay," you answered.

"I know it's hard to do right now, but just relax. Everything will work itself out eventually."

***

Tuesday, day of SAU interview

"You're gonna do great," Will reassured as you bobbed your leg up and down on the twenty-minute car ride from the hotel to SAU's south campus.

You went to open your coffee that Will bought you downstairs before you left (you weren't drinking nasty brewed coffee from the hotel and you cited the fact that you wouldn't have time to get coffee before the interview as the reason why you needed some now. Plus, you weren't going into arguably the most important interview of your entire life without caffeine in your system.) but you had to close your eyes and take a few deep breaths before you could actually open it because your hands were shaking.

"I don't know about that," you said after taking a sip of your coffee. "I could barely open my coffee."

"We practiced last night and you got all the answers right. You'll do just fine, Y/N. Did you and your social worker come up with strategies for this?"

"Mhm."

You and Marsha had talked about how to manage your nerves during your two interviews at your previous in-person session. Your plan was to remember that you had rehearsed these answers so much that you knew these answers. And to imagine yourself answering them at your desk at home with a candle and a cup of coffee in front of you like how you had actually practiced at home. Plus, the image was of a calming environment, so it might help slow your breathing and heart rate down. And, hey, you already got into one school, so why wouldn't you be able to get into this one?

"I just don't know what to expect in the group interview."

"Just be yourself while being professional. You'll be fine."

Your phone buzzed.

Jay.

You got this! You're gonna kill that interview!

Then another text came in.

Hailey.

Good luck, Y/N! You'll do great! Think positive thoughts (easier said than done, I know, haha). Love you!

You responded to each of them with a thank you and with Jay's, you added a smiley face emoji to the end, and to Hailey's, you added a heart to the end.

Fifteen minutes later, you pulled into the parking lot.

"Take a couple deep breaths," Will told you. You closed your eyes and did as he said. Then, you opened them and nodded. He squeezed your shoulder. "You practiced. Just remember that. Good luck."

And then, you stepped out of the car, grabbed your bag and your coffee, and walked into the place you hoped you'd be going to school at for the next five years.

***

Two hours later, 10:00 am

The group interview went fine. It felt just like a conversation more or less...which kind of made you nervous. Wasn't it supposed to feel like an interview? It was just sort of weird in your opinion. You basically just talked about how fucked the US mental health/foster care/social services system was and how each of you wanted to change that.

But now it was time for the part where you knew what to expect, and this part arguably had more riding it than the group interview: the individual interview.

You were interviewing with someone named Dr. Haldon.

She led you to her office and you sat down. She first asked you how you were doing and you said good, a little nervous, but good.

Then, she jumped right in.

"Your statement of purpose was a little confusing to tell you the truth," she said.

You furrowed your eyebrows. Your statement of purpose seemed pretty clear-cut and easily digestible to you. "It was?"

"Yes. You talked a lot about sports psychology, but why you want to go into neuropsychology and how you want to do more with the mental health side of things, but that you want more precision. So, explain that."

"Which part?" you asked. "The sports psych, neuropsych, mental health, or precision part?"

You swore she could hear your heart beating out of your chest.

"The precision part."

So, you went into it. You explained how you wanted to be a sports psychologist because you loved hockey and always wanted to do something with sports, but that you were also passionate about mental health. So, when you found sports psych, you thought it would be perfect for you.

But, then you took a class in sports psych and realized it was more behavior-based. Plus, it wasn't as precise as neuropsych where you'd be analyzing test results based on previous data and sometimes looking at brain scans.

You also explained how when you were little, you saw your brother becoming a doctor and, being the impressionable little girl you were, you wanted to be a doctor, too. But, then you realized you were scared of blood and weren't super good at hard sciences like chemistry.

So, when you found neuropsych after not wanting to go into sports psych, you knew this was what you wanted to do because it sort of married the two: you'd get to work in the psych field with more precision than sports psych and you'd get to work in a hospital and be on a treatment team without going to med school.

(This was all mentioned in your statement of purpose--minus the med school part--so you really didn't understand why she wanted you to repeat it all.)

"Define what you mean by precision," Dr. Haldon requested.

"Um, neuropsychologists get to look at brain scans and those are more precise than some psychological testing."

"Neuropsychologists don't look at brain scans," she told you.

"They don't? When I researched them, they did. I didn't get to take a neuropsych class though because the class was full when I decided I wanted to switch specialties."

"Well, they don't. That's the neurologist's job. And, sports psychologists get to work with mental health. Are you sure what you took was a sports psychology class?"

"Yes," you answered. It was a full-year class, not just one semester, so you knew the ins and outs of this class that you had taken your senior year of undergrad.

"Well, sports psychologists do still get to work with the mental health of the athlete."

"Oh. I was taught that they had to refer out since it would be a conflict of interest."

"No. I have my post-doc in sports psych, which is why I wanted to interview you."

There it is. That's why you weren't being interviewed by the faculty you said you wanted to work with in your statement of purpose. It was because she wanted to groom you into a sports psychologist...which made half as much as a neuropsychologist, but had the same of amount schooling required.

You just nodded.

"I think you close doors before you even open them all the way."

You just took a deep breath.

Then, she started asking you some questions, most of which you had not prepared for.

"Sorry," you started in response to one of the questions. "I'm thinking. I'm just nervous."

Without missing a beat, she asked, "So, how's your anxiety?"

You stared at her. "What?"

"Well, you've mentioned you were nervous several times."

Twice. You had mentioned your nerves twice. And, any sane person would be nervous during an interview!

You didn't know what to say, so you just blurted the truth out.

"I'm going to therapy," you answered.

"I see. So how is that going?"

You should have told her that your medical/mental health history was none of her damn business, but you wanted to go to this school, so you answered the question. At least, you thought you wanted to go to this school.

"It's going well. Helps a lot," you answered. Now you decided to take charge because, after the conversation you had with Will by the pool last night, you knew that your decision to go here would be riding on whether or not you could get an assistantship at this campus. "Do you have any assistantships available?"

"Oh, yes, I was going to ask you about that as well. We don't have assistantships available. I don't know where you found that information."

You furrowed your eyebrows. "But, on SAU's website, it said that there were assistantships available. Is that only for the main campus?"

"Yes, there are no assistantships for this campus, unfortunately."

"Oh."

There was a pause as if Dr. Haldon were waiting for you to comment further. When you didn't, she posed the question, "So, explain to me why you chose the PsyD route instead of the Ph.D. route."

"Well," you began. Did you tell her that you initially applied for PhDs and PsyDs were just the backup because you didn't get into any PhD programs?

Fuck it. She already knew you had anxiety, it couldn't really get that much worse.

"I applied to PhDs first because they're fully funded. But, since I didn't get into any of those, I applied for PsyDs. And, I like the clinical aspect more than the research aspect, so there's that," you answered.

"You were going to do research even though you don't like it? A Ph.D. is five years, that's a long time to do research if you don't like it. Why?"

"Because they're fully funded," you said quieter than you had answered all of her other questions but still loud enough that she could hear you.

"So you were going to do something you didn't like for that long because the program is fully funded?" You nodded. "I see."

You went through the rest of the questions she had been prepared to ask you and you asked her if she had any recommendations on where to live around here or where current students live, in case you got into the program.

But, during all of this, all you felt was defeat. Even if Dr. Haldon's behavior was making you want to go to Southern Arizona University even less, well you had just bombed your interview; even if you still wanted to go, there was no way they still wanted you.

***

"How'd it go?" Will asked with a smile when you got in the car.

You closed the door and scoffed and shook your head. "Shitty."

"What?" he quickly moved the car into a parking spot so that you two could talk. "Why?"

"I didn't even get to interview with the faculty I wanted to interview with! And the lady who interviewed me was bitch! She questioned my abilities and made it seem like I was supposed to know everything and- and- ugh!"

You blinked your eyes rapidly and fanned them so that you didn't cry and then have to wipe your face and smudge your mascara and foundation everywhere.

"Okay, calm down. Take a deep breath. What happened exactly?"

And so, you relayed the story of your individual interview with him.

"First off, she was wrong to question if you had anxiety or not. That was unprofessional. And secondly, if you knew everything, you wouldn't be here; you'd already be a neuropsychologist. She can't expect you to know everything. That's why you're going to school."

"Yeah, I guess," you agreed.

"And, at least you interviewed here. That way you saw this now instead of seeing it when you got in after deciding to come here. Remember, you're interviewing them as much as they're interviewing you."

You sniffled. "Thanks, Will. Sorry, I made you take time off work to just come down here and for me not to get into this school."

"Hey, no. It was a nice little vacation from the cold. And, you might still get in."

"Yeah, but I'm leaning towards Kansas City now even if I do get in."

"Okay. Wherever you want to go. It's your decision. I know you wanted somewhere warm, Y/N. But Kansas City might be the place for you."

"Yeah," you agreed quietly.

"I drove around and looked at some possible apartments for you, but now I think we should just go get some ice cream. What do you think?"

"I think that sounds like a great idea."

And then, instead of ice cream, you got the gooiest chocolate chip cookie of your life topped with caramel. It didn't fix everything, but it sure made it better.

And, when you called Jay in the car to explain to him everything that happened at your interview, he'd be lying if he said he wasn't a little relieved that you probably wouldn't be moving 25 hours away from him.

***

A month and a half later, early May

It was finally time for you to go to Kansas City to look at the school you would be attending and start apartment hunting. You had been apartment hunting as much as possible online, but it was really hard to know an area and know if you liked an apartment by looking online. So, you and Jay were driving down, and then Will was flying down after his shift later tonight so that he'd be with you to visit the school during the interview later morning tomorrow. (You figured he was the best bet to bring since he knew more of this stuff than Jay. And, you weren't gonna bring both brothers. You were in graduate school, not undergrad; bringing both of them would be overkill.)

You were a little over four hours into your drive and the sky had started to darken about half an hour ago. Since you were currently the passenger and Jay was driving (you planned on switching drivers when you got into Kansas City so that you could practice driving there with someone else in the car), he had you check the forecast to see when it was going to rain.

Your phone had told you in about two hours, and you hoped to be close to Kansas City by then.

And then, yours and Jay's phones went off at the same time, almost giving you a heart attack. You looked at the alert.

"There's a tornado warning near us," you told Jay.

"A watch or a warning?" he asked.

"Warning."

He cursed under his breath. "Hopefully we'll miss it. Keep an eye out for funnel clouds. How far away are we from where it was spotted?"

You went on your phone to start looking for more information, and not even two minutes later, it started hailing.

You grabbed your sweatshirt from the backseat so that in case the hail shattered your windshield, you'd have something to put over your face to protect your eyes.

The area beneath the overpasses quickly started to become full of cars and semis that were finding a place to hunker down for the time being. Jay reached down flip something and then cursed when he realized what he was looking for wasn't there.

"And, it's in your car. Great," he said.

"Why? You want a new truck if we were driving yours and the windshield breaks?" you asked as you continued to scroll through your phone for more information.

"No," he answered. "I could put on my lights and sirens and probably find us a police station to camp out at. And, I'd be able to listen to important stuff like where an accident is, from my scanner. And, my windshield and windows are bulletproof. The hail's small enough now that it shouldn't break your windshield, though."

You nodded. "And, that bulletproof glass isn't going to help much if we drive into a tornado."

"That is true," he agreed. "Can you text Will and Hailey and let them know what's going on?"

You did so and immediately got responses from both Will and Hailey.

Hailey: WHATTT???

Will: Go find somewhere to post-up.

You responded to the group, even though you were mainly responding to Will's question, by telling them that you were trying to find something to take cover underneath, but that the areas underneath the overpasses were all full, so you were gonna keep driving.

Then, Will and Hailey replied with some form of stay safe and Will told you to keep them updated. Hailey also said to tell Jay that she loved him.

"Hailey says she loves you," you told Jay.

Jay laughed. "This is arguably safer than us getting shot at every day. But tell her I love her, too. You can tell her the getting shot at thing, too, if you want."

"She'll probably send a middle finger emoji if I tell her that."

"Yeah, probably."

You texted and told Hailey that Jay said he loves her, too and Will responded asking if he's chopped liver. So, you told him that you and Jay loved him too, but that you should both be fine and that you'd stop driving once you found a place to hunker down at.

After driving for ten more minutes, the hail was coming down so hard that you and Jay could barely see, so he took the first exit he saw.

"Look for places with empty spots," he told you, referring to places with awnings over them so that you'd be covered.

You looked and there was a bank...full. A church with a small awning...full.

Then, Jay spotted a self-service car wash and did what was probably an illegal U-turn to turn into the parking lot.

There were three stalls and the last one on the right was empty. You both thanked your lucky stars and pulled inside.

Jay breathed a sigh of relief as he put the car in park. "Tell Will we're safe."

Then a thought came to mind. "You think Will's gonna be able to fly out tonight?"

Jay looked at the clock. It was almost 3 pm and Will's flight didn't leave until 11 pm. "His flight doesn't leave for another eight hours, so hopefully. If not, I'll just go tour the school with you."

"Okay."

"It's always an adventure with you, isn't it?"

You laughed and shook your head. "And we're not even to Kansas City yet."

After hunkering down for a bit, the hail had let up and you got back on the highway and continued driving. As it turns out, you had been driving the way the tornado was heading. Hail started up once more, but only kept up for five minutes. And, twenty minutes later, there were blue skies on the horizon.

You took a picture and texted it to Will and Hailey telling them you were safe and driving again and told Will to let you know if his flight got delayed or canceled.

***

The next day, Monday

The rest of the night went fine and Will's flight left as scheduled and you and Jay picked him up from the airport and then went for some late-night ice cream. The three of you got breakfast at the hotel and you bought a bottled latte from the market area—Jay and Will thought bitter and acidic hotel coffee tasted fine; you did not.-- Then, the three of you went back upstairs to your room and you and Will proceeded to get ready for the day while Jay got back into bed and proceeded to drink his coffee, call Hailey (who was on her into work), and watch highlights of last night's NHL playoff games.

You and Will went to Kansas City Health College and University and right off the bat, you already got better vibes than those at SAU. Everyone was friendlier, maybe that was just a Midwest thing, but either way, you'd take it.

You toured the school (well, it was more like a building) and you liked it better than SAU as well. They were all about their students here and it was obvious they cared about them and their success. There was a student area complete with a fridge where you could store your lunches for the day and a microwave to use, as well as some comfy chairs and a couch for students to study on and relax. There was a little bar area where students could eat or study. And, there were even two gaming consoles in front of a flat-screen tv, a foosball table, and a ping-pong table for students to use so that they can chill out and hang out with friends. The lady who was giving you a tour even said that last week, they even had a staff vs students ping-pong tournament.

Then, you went and looked at some of the classrooms along with the lab, which you would be using for your neuroanatomy lab and she went over some of the other things the school offered, such as counseling services.

Then, she gave you time to ask any questions you might have for her, you met with the program director and asked her program specific-questions, such as scheduling and the like, and then you met with the dean of students who just wanted to introduce herself and let her know that you could come to her with any concerns you might have.

The entire tour and meetings/question and answer sessions only lasted about two hours, but one thing was for sure: you had found the school for you.

(And, once you were completely finished, Will took a picture of you outside the school that you planned to post on your Instagram tonight.)

***

"How'd it go?" Jay asked when you and Will walked back into the hotel room. This time, Jay's hair was wet and you assumed he had gone to the gym and then taken a shower while you had been gone because you'd now been gone from the hotel for a total of three hours, and despite relaxing when you had left, you knew Jay couldn't sit still for three hours watching random sports highlights or shitty, unrealistic reality tv.

"She loves it," Will said before you could even answer the question.

"Really? Better than SAU, then?"

"Way better. They really care about their students." You then recapped everything you learned, including the student lounge area, how small the cohorts were, etc.

"I'm glad you like it. Ready to go look at apartments?"

That was what was next on your agenda, apartment hunting. You had used up the rest of your sick to take some time off in June to come back if you still needed to find an apartment, but you really didn't want to come back and look again if you didn't have to. You'd prefer to use that time to do things you needed to get done before moving such as going to the eye doctor to see if you needed new glasses and going to the dentist. And, not needing to use that time to come back down here to look at apartments meant that you could use those days for job interviews as well. That was another thing you needed to do after apartment hunting: job hunting.

"Just let me change first. I am not wearing dress pants to look at apartments. And, I'm putting my hair up," you told Jay.

After quickly changing into something more comfortable and putting your hair up, Will changed his clothes as well and the three of you went out to the car to start apartment hunting.

***

You had been looking at apartments online in a historic district called Regent's Circle. It looked very pretty in the photos, but they couldn't really do it justice. Once you parked and walked around, you knew this was where you wanted to live.

Since it was a historic district, it had old townhouses and cobblestone sidewalks, as well as a little coffee shop that Jay said you could go to after you looked at some apartments, a park right in the center of the area, and even a community garden.

It made you think of all the vintage cities you saw in photos and, since your grad school didn't have that old-timely Harvard/Yale feel, at least the place you were living would...if you could find an apartment here, that is.

You had three apartments you wanted to check out that you had found online, but if you found ones while walking around, you'd look at those as well.

The first one you looked at was nice, but it was really dimly lit and dark inside, which you didn't really like. You'd live there if that was the only thing available, but you didn't want to. (At least it was a loft and had exposed brick like you wanted. But, you had filtered for lofts. You wanted something like Kelly and Stella's apartment, but on a smaller scale...and something that you could afford.)

The second one you looked at, you absolutely fell in love with.

It was more expensive than the previous one, but it had a pool. And, something Jay liked was that the parking lot was gated and you needed a code to get in and you'd be on the second floor.

It was a one-bedroom and was a loft style, of course, so it was very open. There was a long marble island, so you wouldn't even need to buy a table, just a set of barstools. The main wall in the living/kitchen that faced the back of the building—as well as the dog park, so you could see cute puppies while watching tv—, was all exposed brick with some windows on it. There were also beams exposed in the ceiling.

The bathroom sink was separate from the shower/tub and the toilet, meaning someone could do their makeup while someone else was going to the bathroom if needed. But, this wasn't your favorite part about the bathroom. No, your favorite part was that it was a wide, circular bathtub/shower, a soaking tub if you will, which would come in handy for taking warm, relaxing baths after long days of classes, studying, and practicums.

And, something that Jay pointed out, the floor was concrete, so you didn't have to worry about spilling something on the carpet and staining it and getting charged for it. (You assumed Jay was speaking from experience during his bachelor pad days, but when you asked him, he said he was pleading the fifth.)

The apartment definitely gave you Stella and Kelly vibes and it was in a safe area.

Then, you finished the tour by looking at the fitness center and then gave the manager who had helped you your email address and phone number and he gave you a few pieces of paper with information as well as his business card.

"That's the one I want," you told Jay and Will when you were sitting outside at the little coffee shop a quarter mile away from the apartment you had just toured drinking a latte and eating a danish.

"It's a bit pricey," Jay pointed out.

"They're all like that if she wants it in a safe area," Will said.

"Would you rather have me be safe and live in a bit more expensive apartment? Or not be safe and live in a cheap apartment? Plus, there's an in-unit washer and dryer, which you know is a deal-breaker for me."

All the way back when you were in Arizona, you had told Will that having an in-unit washer and dryer was one of your non-negotiables for your apartment. You knew that being a busy grad student, you wouldn't have all day to spend at a laundromat or in a community laundry area in your apartment, so you needed an in-unit washer and dryer.

"She's got a point, Jay," Will agreed. "And, she's got some savings to pull from if she can't find a job right away."

"And it's five minutes away from school and I don't need to drive on the highway. I'm saving money in gas and time without all the traffic."

"And here I thought Will was the boujee sibling," Jay said, causing Will to roll his eyes.

You smiled. "I'll take that as your seal of approval."

And three days later, when you were back at work and had downtime during your shift, you applied for the apartment.

***

Two and a half months later, mid-July

Everything was in place. You secured the apartment you wanted in Regent's Circle in Kansas City, you had gotten an online tutoring job that was flexible where you could work from home, so you could work around your school and practicum schedules, and you were mostly packed up. (And you had gotten into SAU even after bombing the interview, but decided not to go because they—especially Dr. Haldon—absolutely did not pass the vibe check...and they got back to you two months later instead of two weeks like they had originally told you.) Your favorite coworkers had even thrown you a little surprise goodbye party complete with mini cupcakes and a few gifts, which included a card, two energy drinks, and a Starbucks gift card.

And now, you were leaving in two days, which was why you were very confused when Jay had made you stop doing laundry and packing up last-minute things and told you to get ready because you were going somewhere.

"Hailey, help me out here," you began, "where are we going?"

"Can't tell you that," she told you.

"Okay...how do I need to dress then?"

"Casual," she answered. "With a little bit of makeup."

You nodded. "Still didn't give me any hints. Rude."

And then you walked into your room to change and do your makeup with Jay and Hailey laughing in the background.

***

"Molly's? Really?" You asked when Jay parked on the street where Molly's Pub was located. "You couldn't have just told me that?"

"I'm just picking something up from Kelly," Jay answered. "And, I thought you might want to see Stella one more time before you leave and she's bartending tonight."

The three of you got out of Jay's truck—Hailey citing the fact that who knows how long Jay and Kelly would talk as her reasoning for not staying in the truck—and then walked into Molly's.

"Surprise!" was what you heard when you walked in.

You looked around with wide eyes to see a banner that said Farewell Y/N! and everyone from Intelligence, 51, and everyone you knew at Med. Even Voight was here and from snippets of conversation you had heard here and there, he was one step above being legally barred from entering Molly's.

You put your hand over your mouth as tears came to your eyes. "You guys."

"You didn't think we'd send you off without a party, did you?" Kelly asked.

"I wasn't expecting one, no."

Then Stella walked up to you. "Well, you got one. And all your drinks are on the house tonight." She handed you a drink. "Starting with this cherry vodka sour."

Stella knew that was your favorite.

A few minutes later, after everything had died down a bit, Voight came up to you while you were talking to Stella and Kelly at the bar.

"Congrats, kid," he said.

"Thank you," you replied.

"You've always been sort of like a daughter to me and to everyone in Intelligence for that matter, so I'm gonna keep it short." He handed you an envelope. A fat envelope at that. "For rent. And, there's the numbers of a sergeant and a couple of officers I know down there in case you run into any trouble."

"I can't accept this. It's too much." You hadn't even opened it, but by the thickness of the envelope, you knew it contained a lot of money.

"You can and you will. Justin never really used his college fund, and I wanted it to go to something worthwhile."

(This was in fact, a lie. This was money from Voight being Voight, but you didn't need to know that. And more importantly, Jay didn't need to know that...even though, after you counted out the bills, Jay would have his suspicions.)

You nodded. "Thank you."

"You're welcome. Stay out of trouble."

And then, he gave you a hug and left the bar because even though he was legally allowed to enter, he knew he still would never be accepted there. And, the less time he spent there, the better.

***

After talking and laughing with everyone for about an hour, Hermann yelled to be heard over the noise.

"Okay, everyone! Listen up!" The room quieted. "It's time to give Y/N her presents."

Then, Ritter came out one of the employees-only doors, pushing a food service cart containing multiple gift bags and boxes wrapped in colorful wrapping paper.

You were just about to say something when the door opened and you whirled your head around.

You jumped off your barstool and ran up to him.

"Casey!"

He pulled you into a hug. "You didn't think I'd miss my favorite kid's going away party, did you?"

"I thought you were in Oregon!"

"Just in time," Will said.

Then, you looked between your two brothers and at all of the firefighters in the bar. They didn't look surprised to see Casey at all.

"You knew about this?"

Jay laughed. "Who do you think told him?"

"Enough with the logistics," Casey yelled. "Get this kid a drink! On me!"

"Her drinks are already free tonight!" Kelly yelled. "Which you would've known if you got here on time."

"Nice to see you, too, Severide," Casey shot back.

There were a couple of chuckles heard throughout the bar and then Hermann spoke up again.

"Open the gifts so we can get this cart out of here, will you?"

You laughed and shook your head and then opened your gifts, thanking every single person as you went.

51 got you a fire extinguisher and a Slamigan, which Kelly explained was less about opening doors and more for whacking someone over the head if they tried to break into your apartment. All the doctors and nurses got together and made you the best first aid kit you had ever seen, complete with more stuff than even Jay had in the first aid kit at home and you thought his was the best at-home first aid kit around. And, Intelligence got you a master lock for your door just for some added security. Also, Kevin and Adam got you a Taser. (They had to specify that it was just from them because Jay vetoed it for the joint gift, so they got it for you themselves.) And, Gallo, Ritter, and Violet gave you a case of their lightest IPA and a 12-pack of grapefruit seltzer so that you Jay, Hailey, and Will would have something to drink while working on moving you into your apartment.

Then, they did something that was even more unexpected than giving you all these gifts: they started chanting speech.

"Here, take this," Stella handed you a shot of what you assumed was vodka. "Liquid courage."

You took it and then took a deep breath.

"I wasn't really prepared to give a speech—I wasn't prepared for any of this since it was a surprise—so it might not be the greatest," you began. You looked around the room at everyone who had come out to celebrate you tonight, of all people. "Thank you all for coming, it really means a lot. Stella, thank you for making my hair beautiful for all my dances senior year. Sylvie, thank you for helping me with my biology homework when Will was busy at work so he couldn't help me. Thank you to all of 51 for making me laugh when I had to spend days there when I was younger when Will and Jay were busy and couldn't stay with me. Kelly and Matt, thank you for teaching me how to use a fire extinguisher and how to change the batteries in a smoke detector.

"Everyone at Med, thank you for putting up with me when I went to Med to find Will even if I was pulling you away from your jobs. I'm also sorry about that." That got a couple of laughs from some people. "Hannah, thank you for all your help earlier this year. I would've been even more of a mess if it weren't for your help.

"Trudy, thank you for putting up with me when I'd run into the district looking for Jay and for always giving me money to go get a snack and a pop from the vending machines. Kim, thank you for helping me with my Spanish. Kevin, thank you for taking me for my very first ride in a cop car when you were on patrol and Kim was pulled up to Intelligence for the day. Sorry, Trudy." She glared at Kevin, but then laughed, so you knew it wasn't that serious. "Adam, thank you for teaching me how to pick locks because Jay told me that he'd never teach me that."

Now, you turned to face Hailey and your brothers and the tears started to fall.

"Hailey, thank you for coming into my brother's life and for loving him and during that time, for loving me as well. Thank you for becoming the closest thing to a mom that I've ever had."

Hailey put her hand over her mouth and blinked rapidly to hold back her tears, but then just gave up and let a few of them slide down her cheeks.

"And to Will and Jay, God I can't even put into words how much you two mean to me. You became like father figures to me. Your both have put your careers on the line whether that be to pick me up from school on time, or to leave a shift to come to one of my academic awards ceremonies. Thank you. And thank you for putting up with me for these past six months and for being there and helping me through this process. I couldn't have done it without you both."

By the end of your speech, there wasn't a dry eye in the house.

And, despite saying that you didn't really think you'd miss Chicago and would relish living on your own, by the end of the night, you knew that in two days, you'd feel pangs of homesickness when you drove away from all these people who had become like a family to you over the years.

***

4 days later

You looked around your apartment at all the hard work you, Jay, Will, and Hailey had put in during these past two days. The four of you had hauled ass the past two days to get you completely moved in by Sunday night so that Will, Jay, and Hailey could leave and be home at a decent time in the morning so that Will could make it to his 3 pm-3 am shift on time.

"We should probably get going," Will stated. He had said that an hour ago, but there had been a silent agreement between the four of you to prolong your brothers' and sister-in-law's stay as long as possible. Even though you said you were more excited than nervous, it didn't mean that you wouldn't miss them.

You were not going to cry because you knew if you started crying, you'd want to jump in Jay's truck and go home with them, and you knew you couldn't do that.

"One last picture," Hailey said and pulled out her phone, and handed it to Will, who was the tallest of the four of you.

You all crowded together while Will held Hailey's phone and took a selfie.

Now, it was time for goodbye.

Hailey was up first.

"I'm gonna miss you," she told you.

Tears sprang to your eyes. "I'm gonna miss you, too. Make sure Jay doesn't get shot, okay?"

"I'll do my best. You know he's a bullet magnet."

"Unfortunately."

Then, you gave her a big hug. She knew how much she meant to you and vice versa, so there wasn't a need for a long, drawn-out goodbye between you two.

Next up, was Will.

He pulled you into a hug and told you he'd love and miss you and then pulled away and put his hands on your shoulders.

"You call me if you need anything, okay? And I mean anything."

All you could do was nod because you knew if you said anything, you'd just start crying.

Last but certainly not least, was Jay.

He gave you a bone-crushing hug, during which you tried not to sob.

But, when he pulled away and you saw him trying his best to hold back tears, that's when the waterworks started.

"I'm gonna miss you, so much!"

Jay hugged you again. "And I'm gonna miss you, too. But I am so, so proud of you."

You nodded and wiped your tears. "I love you, Jay Jay."

"Love you, too, kiddo."

Jay took a deep breath to steady himself. "We need to go, but if you need anything at all, I'm only eight hours away, about five or six with lights and sirens."

"I know. Voight might kick your ass for using them all the way to Kansas City, though."

"That would probably be Platt, which is arguably scarier."

Then, you walked the three of them to your door and watched them leave.

Hailey sent you the picture and you posted some highlights of these two days including another picture in front of your school of the four of you that you had a passerby take and some funny videos you took while moving in, one of which was Jay and Will arguing over how to build a couch because Jay refused to read the directions.

Then, you posted all of these on your Instagram with the caption Onto the next adventure.

Jay and Hailey both reposted the post on their Instagram stories with Jay captioning it Not a dad, but I think this is what being a proud dad feels like with a heart emoji at the end, and Will posted the picture of the four of you in front of your school on his account with the caption Soon, there will be two Dr. Halsteads.

And, little did you know, Jay, Will, and Hailey did not have to be back tomorrow because Will had to work. That was a lie. They were getting a hotel room to make sure everything went okay on your first night alone in your apartment.

Because even though you were living on your own and would be a state away, they would do anything to help you succeed, whether that be helping you with applications, going with you to an ultrasound, or telling you a white lie so that they could make sure you were okay.

You wouldn't trade them for the world.

And, Jay had been right: you got this.

A/N: If you made it this far, congratulations! You finished my longest imagine ever! If you liked it, don't forget to reblog/like and comment because I love hearing what you guys think! As always, if you want to be added to my taglist, just tell me and I’ll add you!

taglist: @theambracer88 @virtualreader @kelelas-life @celyndavies @brookerz122493 @musicismyescape27 @anotherfan07 @thexplosivegirl @dreamingwithlens @xoxmariaxox @911ls-tarlos @iamasimpingh0e @i-like-sparkly-things @herecomesthewriterwitch @liampayne88 @glitterquadricorn @luvreading67 @smoothdogsgirl @afriendlyneighborhoodhufflepuff@actlikesummerr @lcothr523 @star-wars-lover​

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[jayhalsteadsimp2019]

Changes

Summary: When Lyla’s world is turned upside down, she turns to harmful and unhealthy coping methods.

TW: Self Harm, Alcohol, Substance Abuse, Vaping, Blood, Sexual Assault, Anxiety, Swearing, Awful Writing

Word Count: 7k

Note: Hi!  This is the first fanfic I’ve ever posted so it’s kinda bad but oh well lol I hope you like it (:

     Lyla woke up in a cold sweat, desperately gasping for air.  She sprung up in her bed, clutching her blanket like a lifeline that would help her escape.  Obviously, it didn’t work.  She told herself to take deep breaths, in and out slowly, and after what felt like forever, her breathing slowed, heart following suit.

     She checked the time, groaning softly in annoyance as it was only 2:57 in the morning.  She rested her head against her headboard, allowing the tears she felt forming to fall.  It was her fault.  It wouldn’t have happened if she would’ve just stayed home.

     It was supposed to be fun.  She was supposed to have a good time, enjoying herself, her brothers not knowing a thing.  Of course, Jay and Will would never let Lyla go to a party, but they didn’t have to know, right?  It would be fine.  Her and her best friend Caleb would sneak away, have a drink or two, then Lyla would make it home before Jay and Will did, since they had to work late anyway.  She’d be fine, besides, if anything went wrong, Cal would be there for her.

     Well, that’s what Lyla thought, anyway.  She had known, trusted, and loved Cal in a platonic way since they were little.  They did everything together.  They told each other everything.  They shared their fears, their insecurities, the problems they each faced as teenagers.  They trusted each other.  She trusted Cal, until that trust was broken in a way Lyla never imagined possible.  Her best friend betrayed her, leaving her to pick up the pieces.

     She reached over for the hydro flask on her nightstand and pulled up the straw.  She hesitated for a second, knowing she’d regret it later, but took a large sip of the alcohol she put inside, having stolen it from her brothers.  It helped her fall asleep, even if it didn’t keep her asleep.  She hadn’t been sleeping well since the party.  She just wanted to sleep, so badly. 

     She put her water bottle back on her desk, resting her head on her pillow.  What would Jay and Will think, she thought, if they knew what she was doing to herself?  If they knew what Cal did to her?  She couldn’t tell them, she couldn’t see the look of disappointment on their faces.  She couldn’t and she wouldn’t.

     After a while she gave up on trying to go to sleep.  When she saw that it was only 3:14, she groaned in annoyance and stared up at her ceiling.  She thought about how things would be different if she didn’t go to that party.  If she would have just listened to Jay and Will, everything would be fine.  Why couldn’t she just listen?

     Her heart began to race as guilt presented itself.  She sat up and put her head in her hands, tugging roughly at her hair as if that would help.  When it didn’t and the guilt got worse, she grabbed her phone from her night stand.  She then jumped off of her bed and rushed to her bathroom, making sure the door didn’t slam, and locked her door.

     She turned on the light and put her hands on the counter, looking at herself in the mirror.  She knew she’d feel guilty later, but she told herself it’s what she needed to do, because she’d feel fine now, and the pills would help later.  She hesitated for a moment longer, and then grabbed her phone.  With shaky hands she removed her phone case, revealing the blade she kept inside.

     She grabbed the blade and looked at it for a moment, considering if this would be a good idea.  She shook her head as if to shake away those thoughts and carefully set the blade on the counter.  She then rolled up the sleeve of her hoodie, revealing the already cut and scarred arm.  She took a deep breath, grabbed the blade and put it to her arm.  She began cutting, watching as the blade pierced her skin, blood pooling around the blade.  She removed the blade, and when the guilt still resided, she made another cut.  Guilt finally gone, she rolled her sleeve down, blood trickling down her arm, and made sure no blood was on the ground.  After cleaning what was on the ground, she put her blade and phone case back, turned off her light and exited the bathroom.

     She laid back down on her bed, putting her phone on her night stand, and pulled her blanket around her.  Somehow, and she had no idea how, she managed to fall asleep.

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     Lyla’s somewhat peaceful slumber was interrupted by a knock on her door, making her jump.

     “Lyla, it’s 6:00.”  Jay announced, and Lyla rubbed her eyes.  When she didn’t answer, he knocked again.

     “Don’t make me come in there.”

    “Okay, okay, I’m up!”  Lyla pulled the covers off and hopped out of bed.  She thought about making her bed, but she decided against it.  She chose an outfit- a dark colored long sleeved shirt, gray leggings and her favorite black hoodie, and made her way to her bathroom.  She washed her face, brushed her hair and teeth, and began getting dressed. 

     Everything was fine, until she changed her shirt, and she remembered what she had done to herself earlier that morning.  The guilt began coming back and tears began to form in her eyes.  Why couldn’t she just keep clean?  Why didn’t she just tell Jay and Will?  Why didn’t she stay home in the first place?

     She quickly put her shirt on and rolled up her sleeves.  She then made her way out of the bathroom and grabbed her book bag.  She opened the smaller pocket in the front and began searching around with her hands, until she found her vape.  She knew this would make her feel guilty, so she closed her book bag and moved to her bed.  She grabbed her pillow and slowly grabbed the bottle of pills she hid, making sure not to shake them.  She then moved to her window, opened it, and hit her vape a few times.  She closed her window and made her way to her bathroom, vape still in hand.  She closed her door and poured one onto her hand.  She swallowed it, without water, and placed the bottle on the counter, looking at herself in the mirror.  She hated herself for this, but she couldn’t tell Jay or Will.  

     It was a constant cycle, drink alcohol to sleep, cut to get rid of the guilt from drinking, vape to get rid of the guilt from cutting, pop pills to get rid of the guilt from vaping, cut to get rid of the guilt from popping pills.  It started to drive her crazy, but she couldn’t stop.  She wanted to, but it was the only thing that helped her with the triggers, the stress, and the guilt for not listening to her brothers.  

     She felt a tear fall, and she wiped it away quickly.  She put the lid back on the bottle of pills and made her way out of the bathroom.  She quietly put her pills back in her pillow case and decided to make her bed, because she knew Jay and Will were beginning to catch on.  She didn’t want them searching her room, because she knew she'd get in so much trouble.  She then put her vape back in her book bag and slung her book bag over her shoulder.  She grabbed her phone and ear buds from her night stand, deciding to leave her hydro flask.  She put her hair up in a messy bun as she checked the time-6:26, turned her light off and exited her bedroom.

     “Good morning.”  Jay greeted as Lyla made her way down the stairs.  She made her way to the island and took a seat as Jay made breakfast.

     “Morning.”  Lyla mumbled, opening her phone and scrolling through Instagram.

     “Someone’s grumpy.”  Will retorted as he entered the room, taking a seat next to Lyla, who just rolled her eyes at the comment.  They sat there, a somewhat comfortable silence falling over them, until Will spoke up.

     “You okay?”  Will asked, showing concern for his sister.  Jay and Will noticed changes in Lyla’s attitude and noticed she had become distant.

     “Yeah.”  Lyla replied, keeping her focus on her phone.

     “Are you sure?”  Jay butted in, setting a plate of pancakes in front of his sister, “You’ve been acting a little different.”

     “Yeah, I’m fine.”  Lyla and her brothers knew she was lying through her teeth, but she didn’t care.  Jay and Will shared a look.

     “Hey,”  Will started, his voice soft, “You know you can talk to us if something’s wrong, right?”

     “Yep, but like I said, I’m fine.”  Lyla was starting to get irritated, the pills not having kicked in yet.

     “Lyla, if something’s going on we just wanna-”

     Lyla slammed her phone down, making Jay and Will jump.

     “I said I’m fine!  How many times do I have to tell you guys?  Just leave me alone!”  She grabbed her phone and air-pods, jumped off the stool and made her way to the front door, despite how early it was.

     “You’re not gonna eat?”  Jay asked, still shocked that Lyla had just snapped.

     “I’m not hungry!”  She yelled as she slammed the door, leaving her brothers dumbfounded.

     “That went well.”  Will remarked, still shocked Lyla had reacted that way.

     “Yep.”  Jay replied as he sat down next to his older brother, worry for his sister growing by the second.

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     Lyla made her way to the park, shocked at the way she had just acted.

     She had never, ever yelled at Jay or Will like that, and it scared her.  

     She threw her book bag on the picnic table and pulled her vape out.  She closed her book bag and made her way over to the swings, sitting down on one and placing her bag on another.

     She put her air-pods in at full volume and hit the vape a few times, trying to block out the world and what had just happened.  When that didn’t work, she let the tears fall.

     She was angry at herself for the way she had just acted.  She knew her brothers were just trying to figure out what was wrong so they could help her.  She was beyond pissed and upset, because she was taking out the anger she felt for herself on her brothers.

     After a while, she stopped crying and she felt the pills kick in.  She checked the time and saw that it was 7:15, which was the time she’d normally leave.  She hopped off her swing, put her vape in her back pocket and grabbed her backpack, slinging it over her shoulder.  She slowly walked to school, knowing she’d hate herself even more later.

     Lyla was sitting in her third hour class, drawing on her desk, not even paying attention to what was going on.  Unfortunately for her, the pill was starting to wear off.

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

     “Mr. Doherty?”  The school’s secretary, Mrs. Lewis, called over the intercom.  Lyla didn’t think anything of it, because the secretary called all of the teachers frequently.

     “Yes?”  Mr. Doherty replied.

     “Could you send Lyla Halstead to the office?”  This obviously caught Lyla’s attention.  She looked up at her teacher, confused.

     “Yes.  She’ll be right there.”

     “Alright.  Thank you.”  Mrs. Lewis hung up, and Lyla made her way to the classroom door.

     “Do you know what they need you for?”  Mr. Doherty inquired as Lyla reached the door.

     Lyla looked towards her teacher, “No.”  Then, she opened the door and left, confused as to why she was being called down to the office.

     When she got in there, the principal, Mr. Kramer, was waiting for her, which scared her.

     “Is everything okay?”  Lyla asked, worried and confused at the same time.

     “Yeah, everything’s okay.”  Mr. Kramer started, which eased Lyla’s worries a bit.  Mr. Kramer continued, “We just need you to get your book bag.”

     “Am I being signed out?”  Lyla inquired, confused as to why they would need her book bag.  She wasn't sure this was the case, because they would've told her teacher over the intercom.

    “Not exactly.”  Mr. Kramer stated, “Just get your bag and we’ll go from there.”

     “Okay.”  Lyla replied, still very confused, and left the office to go get her book bag as instructed.  She made it to her locker, put her combination in, and grabbed her book bag, trying to think of a reason they would need her bag.  Then, she closed her locker, making sure it was locked, and made her way back to the office.

     Once she got in there, she handed Mr. Kramer her backpack.

     “Have a seat, Lyla.”  Mr. Kramer instructed, and Lyla did so.  

     Lyla watched as Mr. Kramer opened her bag and began searching.  She didn’t say a word, still confused, and it wasn’t until he opened the small pocket that it hit her-her vape.

     Lyla had been careful, or so she thought.  She rarely vaped at school unless it was outside, and she didn't think anyone would've seen her.  Even if it wasn't the vape he was looking for, he'd find it now, but was that what he was looking for in the first place?

     The latter was revealed to her when Mr. Kramer stopped searching and pulled out her vape.  At that moment, she was very glad she didn’t bring her hydro flask.

     Mr. Kramer sighed and turned to look at Mrs. Lewis, showing her the vape.  She too sighed, surprised that Lyla would ever do such a thing.  

     “I’ll call her brother.”  Mrs. Lewis stated and picked up the phone.  Mr. Kramer turned back to Lyla, who had a look of guilt on her face.

     “Go get the rest of your homework for the week.”  Mr. Kramer instructed, and Lyla stood up and left the office.  

     The whole time, she was pissed, at herself, at whoever told on her, because that’s what had to have happened.  She was just pissed at the world in general.  What would Jay and Will think?  This thought made her want to cry, because she knew they’d be livid and disappointed in her.  How would they be able to trust her?  She felt so, so guilty about everything, and it was stressing her out beyond belief.

     Once she got her stuff from Mr. Doherty’s and her homework from the rest of her teachers, she grabbed the books and notebooks necessary for her work from her locker and made her way back to the office, putting her stuff in her book bag.  She sat down in the seat, leg bouncing in anticipation.  

     Usually, she would’ve hoped it wasn’t Jay that showed up, but this time, she hoped it wouldn’t be Will that showed up, because first, doctors and vapes are like oil and water and second, the looks of disappointment she was sure he’d give her would destroy her even more.  She couldn’t do that.

     Unfortunately for Lyla, when the office door opened, it was Will that walked in and not Jay.  He immediately looked to Lyla, who was staring at the floor.  

     “Mr. Halstead, please have a seat.”  Mr. Kramer instructed.

     “Please, call me Will.”  Will started as he took a seat next to Lyla, “What’s this about?”     Mr. Kramer stood next to Mrs. Lewis, clearing his throat, “Well, a student came to my office this morning stating they had seen your sister vaping.  We didn’t believe it until, well, we found this in her bag.”  Mr. Kramer pulled out the vape, and Lyla looked up for a split second to read Will’s face.  His features went from one of surprise to anger, and when he looked at her, she regretted looking up.

     “Wanna explain yourself?”  Will asked, a tinge of anger present in his voice.  Lyla just stayed silent, returning her gaze to the ground, knowing he was more angry than he seemed.

     Will sighed and looked back at Mr. Kramer, “What kind of punishment is she looking at?”

     “She’s being suspended for the rest of the week and she’ll have one day of in school suspension.”  Mr. Kramer said, and Will ran a hand down his face, disappointed and shocked Lyla would do this, still angry of course.  Actually, angry would probably be an understatement.

     “Alright.  Is there anything you need me to sign?”

     “You just need to sign her out.”

     Lyla stayed seated as Will stood up and signed her out.

     Once finished, Will turned to Lyla, “Let’s go.”  Lyla got up and walked out of the door.

     Before Will left, he turned to Mr. Kramer, “I’m sorry about this.  I don’t know what’s gotten into her.  I can assure you this will not happen again.”

     “I’m sure it won’t.  She’s a good kid.  Don’t be too hard on her.”  Will nodded his head, then followed Lyla out to his car.

     Before Lyla made it outside, the bell rang, and students flocked out of the classrooms.  She caught a glimpse of Cal, who actually waved at her as if nothing had happened at the party, and it made her want to throw up.  She put her now shaking hands in her pockets as she made it to Will’s car, sitting in the backseat so she’d be as far away from him as possible.

     Lyla had just buckled her seat belt when Will entered the driver’s seat and slammed the door.

     “What the fuck Lyla?  A vape?  Really?”  Will yelled, turning the car on and buckling his seat belt.  Lyla just acted unfazed, because after what she had just seen with Cal, she knew she would crack, especially now that the pills were wearing off.  She couldn’t do that, not right now.

      Will turned around to face Lyla, “I’m so disappointed in you, Lyla.  I didn’t think you could stoop this fucking low.”  Then, Will turned around and began driving, trying his hardest not to drive like a mad man.

     Lyla tried to act unfazed, but those words kept echoing through her head.  “I didn’t think you could stoop this fucking low.  I didn’t think you could stoop this fucking low.  I didn’t think you could stoop this fucking low.”  Her heart began to race and she felt like she was going to cry, but she couldn’t do that, she couldn’t give in.  She needed to calm down, and the only thing that would calm her was cutting, and she couldn’t do that right now, not in Will’s car.  

     “I didn’t think you could stoop this fucking low.”  She began to pick at her thumbnail with her index finger, something she did when she was stressed.  Even though she was glad she didn’t bring her hydro flask, she kind of wished she did.

     “I didn’t think you could stoop this fucking low.”  She wanted the words to go away, she needed them to.  Although she tried to stay calm, she began to breathe harder.

     “Do you know how fucking dangerous vaping is?”  Will yelled, not aware of how Lyla was feeling at all, “You’re so lucky I don’t take you to med to get checked out right now.  And don’t think I’m not telling Jay about this.”

     As Will kept ranting, Lyla thought about the look Jay would give her when he found out, how he’d yell at her as well.  She then thought about Hailey.  They’d both be so disappointed in her, for everything.  

     “I didn’t think you could stoop this fucking low.”  

     She pulled her knees to her chest as best she could with the seat belt in the way and buried her head in her knees.  She thought of the party, of what Cal had done to her.  She couldn’t handle the rush of memories, Will yelling, the looks she imagined Hailey and Jay would give her.  She started silently crying, wishing Will would shut the fuck up and these images memories and words would leave her head.  

     “Out of all the things you could have possibly done, you chose to vape?  Really?”

     “Please stop.”  Lyla begged softly, but Will couldn’t hear her.  She felt like an object, like she didn’t matter to anyone.  She felt like she couldn’t carry this weight anymore.  She started to shake slightly as she wrapped her arms around her legs as tightly as she could and put her hands in her hair, tugging softly.

     “Do you know how many kids your age I’ve seen in the ED because of vaping?  Do you?”  Lyla whimpered softly.  Will looked in the rear-view mirror and sighed.

     “Lyla-”  Will’s voice became softer, kinder.  He took a breath, “I’m sorry.”  When Lyla didn't say anything, Will guessed it wasn’t just the vape that had been bothering her.

     Will sighed, “Lyla, can you please tell me what’s going on?”

     “No.”  Lyla replied through tears, and it broke Will’s heart.

     “Please?  I just wanna help you.”

    “I said no!”  She took her hands out of her hair and gripped her arms, slightly digging into her cuts through her thick sleeves.  Will sighed and just continued driving, knowing if he kept pushing she’d become too distressed and likely have a panic attack.

     Lyla felt like she was going to explode.  She just needed to make it to her bathroom.

     She wished the words, images and thoughts would just leave, just until she was alone.  She couldn’t take it.  For the first time, she felt like giving up.

     After what felt like hours, Lyla felt the car come to a stop.  She looked up to see that they were finally at their house.  She unbuckled her seatbelt, grabbed her book bag and exited the car.  She waited for Will to unlock the door, and after he did so, she rushed to her room.

     “Lyla-”  Will tried to talk to her, but she was already halfway up the stairs.  Her door slammed and Will sighed.

     Lyla immediately made her way to her bathroom, phone in hand.  She quickly removed her phone case and rolled her sleeves up.  She began cutting, the most she’d cut at once, making new cuts and reopening older ones.  She took a deep breath, cleaned the blade and counter top with toilet paper, put her blade and phone case back, rolled down her sleeves and exited the bathroom.  She laid on her bed, face in her pillow, and cried silently to herself, guilty because of the vape and what she had just done to herself.  She was glad she wore black because nobody would be able to see the blood, and the fact that she did this broke her even more.

     She laid there for a while until she heard a knock on her door.

     “Lyla, I’m coming in.”  Will’s soft voice announced.  Lyla rolled onto her back and sat up as the door opened.  

     “Are you feeling okay?”  Will asked, seeing as Lyla had been crying.  Lyla nodded.

     “Do you want some water?”  Will offered, and Lyla nodded her head.  At this moment, she realized she had heard those words before.

     “Alright.  I’ll be right back.”  Will told Lyla, and he walked out of her room to go downstairs and get a water bottle, Lyla's mind shifting to the night she'd heard those exact words before.

     Lyla had been stressed with upcoming exams, hence coming to the party.  She had a pretty bad headache, and the loud noises from the event weren’t helping, the opposite actually.  She made her way to the kitchen where Cal was sitting.

     “Are you feeling okay?”  Cal asked, sounding concerned.

     “Yeah, I’m good.  I just have a headache is all.”

     “Do you want some water?”  Cal offered generously, holding out a water bottle.

     “Sure.”  Lyla accepted his offer, and Cal handed her the water bottle.  Lyla took a few sips, feeling the cool liquid run down her throat.

     “Thanks, Cal.”  Lyla thanked sincerely.

     “Yeah, no problem.”

     If Lyla would’ve known what Cal had done to that water, she wouldn’t have accepted it.

     “Lyla?”  Will called out.

     “What?”  Lyla asked, having forgotten about their previous encounter.

     “I got your water.”  Will answered, concern filling his voice as he handed her the water.

     “Thanks.”

     “Yeah.”  Will replied, “You alright?  I called your name like 50 times.”

     “Yeah.  I’m fine.”  

     “Alright.”  Will replied skeptically.  He was about to say something else, when his phone went off.  He pulled it out of his pocket and groaned as he read the notification.

     “I have to get to Med.”  Will sighed, “I’m gonna call Stella and see if she can watch you, alright?”  Lyla nodded her head, and Will brushed a strand of hair out of her face, “I love you.” 

     “I love you, too.”  Will planted a kiss on her forehead, then left her room.

     Lyla waited until Will was gone before getting out of bed.  Will had texted her saying Stella was on her way, so she knew she had to do this quickly.  She grabbed her near empty hydro flask and made her way to her bathroom.  She quickly washed it, then made her way into the kitchen.  She opened the fridge and grabbed the bottle of Tequila that belonged to her brothers, opened her hydro flask and filled it up about half way.  She put it back in the fridge, closed her hydro flask, and went to the main bathroom.  She grabbed febreeze so Stella wouldn’t be skeptical, sprayed some, put it back and made her way up the stairs, hydro flask in hand.  She closed her bedroom door and connected her air pods to her phone.  She then chugged the contents in the hydro flask and made her way to her bathroom.

     Once inside, she rewashed the hydro flask, brushed and flossed her teeth, then rinsed out with mouthwash.  She made a few more cuts to take the guilt of drinking alcohol away.  She cleaned the blood off of the counter, not really caring about cleaning her arms.  She rolled up her sleeves as she exited the bathroom, putting her blade back once she was by her nightstand.  She grabbed a packet of gum out of her nightstand drawer, popping three pieces into her mouth.  She grabbed the water bottle Will had given her earlier and poured the contents into her hydro flask.  She shuffled her Spotify playlist she’d been listening to lately and put her air pods in.  She laid down on her bed, putting her phone and air pods case next to her.  She pulled the covers over her as she quickly fell into a peaceful, drunken slumber.

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     “Hey, Stella.”  Jay greeted as he, Hailey and Will walked in, “Was Lyla good for you?”

     “Hey!  I checked on her once and she was asleep.  I haven’t seen her since.”

     “Oh.  Well, thanks for being here anyway.  I owe you one.”

     “Don’t sweat it.  I’m happy to help.”  Then, Stella grabbed her stuff and left, heading for her shift at Molly’s.

     “I’ll go check on her.”  Will informed Jay and Hailey who nodded.  He turned around and made his way upstairs to Lyla’s bedroom.

     “Lyla?”  Will called as he softly knocked on her door.  When he didn’t get a response, he became kind of worried, and opened the door.  He saw that she was fast asleep, which calmed him down.  He was about to leave, when he thought he saw something on her right arm.  He decided to check it out, just to be sure.  When he made it over there, he saw what looked like dried blood that had trickled down her arm, which worried him.  Curiosity got the best of him, and he gently grabbed her arm, slowly rolling up her sleeve.

     When he saw the cuts, he wanted to cry.  He flipped her arm and saw more cuts.  He was relieved there weren't very many, until he realized her other arm would likely have more, being that she was right handed.  This realization made him want to throw up.  He didn’t think something could have been bothering Lyla this badly.  

     Lyla jolted awake from the contact, a nightmare having begun when Will opened the door.

     “What the fuck?”  She muttered, then she saw Will, “Will, what are you-?”  She followed his gaze and saw her arm.  She sat up a little in bed and slowly looked up, meeting Will’s worried eyes.

     “Will, i-it’s not what it looks like-”  Lyla tried to protest, but she was at a loss for words.

     “Jay!”  Will called for his younger brother.

     “Will!”  Lyla hissed as Jay came rushing in.  She banged her head on her head board in annoyance and guilt.  She was sure her secret wouldn't be a secret anymore.

     “What’s up?”  Jay inquired worriedly.  He walked over to Will, and was shocked to see Lyla’s arm.  He bent down and inspected it.

     Jay was honestly at a loss for words.  Lyla just ran a hand through her hair in exasperation and fear.

      Jay walked over to Lyla’s left side and bent down.

     “Can you roll this sleeve up?”  Jay asked gently.  Lyla knew there was no escape.  She rolled her other sleeve up, revealing cuts all up and down her arm, at least twice as many as her right arm.  Lyla felt tears form in her eyes and her heart began to race.  

     “Lyla,”  Jay started, his voice soft, “Can you tell us why you did this?”

     Lyla stayed silent, putting her hands to her eyes to try and stop the tears from flowing.

     “Lyla,”  Will spoke up after a moment, “Can you please tell us?  We can help you.”     “No.  I-It doesn’t matter.  It’s my fault anyway.”

     Jay and Will shared a look, then Jay spoke up, “Lyla, please.  I promise we won’t be mad at you.”

     Lyla looked at her brothers, their gazes a mix between soft and concerned.  She knew it was now or never.

     She sighed and took a deep breath, putting her head back and closing her eyes, “I snuck out to go to a party and Cal drugged and raped me.”  

     Even though the words were rushed, Jay and Will still heard them, and to say they were pissed at Cal was an understatement.

     Lyla drew in a deep, shaky breath, “I-I’m sorry.  If I would’ve listened-”

     “Hey, look at me.”  Jay instructed, his voice soft.  Lyla met his gaze, and he grabbed her hand, “None of this, and I mean none of this, is your fault, okay?  It’s Cal’s and only Cal’s.”  Lyla nodded her head.

     Will opened his arms, “Come here.”  Lyla accepted the embrace and cried in Will’s arms while he rubbed her back soothingly. 

      He looked at Jay, “Go get him.”  Will mouthed, rage in his eyes.  Jay nodded and walked out of the room, Will turning his attention back to Lyla.

     “Hey, what happened?”  Hailey asked as she saw her husband coming down the stairs.  She could tell he was beyond livid.

     “Call Voight, tell him we have a case.  I’ll explain on the way.”  Jay grabbed his coat and keys and stalked out to the truck, Hailey following suit.  

     Meanwhile, Will had gotten Lyla to calm down.

     “I want you to know none of this is your fault.  Just because you snuck out doesn’t mean you’re the one to blame, okay?”  Lyla nodded.  Will planted a kiss on her head and got up.

     “Will?”

     “Yeah?”

     “Can you stay with me?”

     “Yeah, of course.  I’m just gonna grab a blanket and pillow from my room, okay?”  Lyla nodded her head.

     After a few minutes, Will came back with his blanket and pillow.  He turned off her light and laid down next to her, wrapping an arm around her protectively.  She rested her head on his chest, enjoying his warmth.  After a while, she finally fell asleep, feeling the safety she’d craved.

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

     “Voight.”  Voight’s gruff voice came over the line.  Jay and Hailey were in the truck, Jay racing towards the district, obviously using his lights and sirens.

     “Hey Sarge.”  Hailey started, “Jay has a case.”

     “Talk to me, Halstead.”  

     Jay sighed, “Lyla told us she snuck out to a party and was drugged and assaulted.  The offender is Caleb McCarthy, 15, no priors.”

     “Alright.  Do you know how long ago this happened?”  

     “No.  I’ll call Will and have him ask Lyla.”

     “Alright.  I’ll call the team.  Do you know where this prick lives?”  

     “Yeah.”

     “Alright.  Come to the district, we can debrief the team there.”

     “Okay.  Thanks, Sarge.”

     “You don’t have to thank me.  She’s family.  I’ll see you in a few.”  Then, Voight hung up.

     Hailey rested a hand on Jay’s arm, “We’ll get him, Jay.”

     “Yeah, I know.  I just feel bad for her, you know?  She had to carry this by herself for God knows how long.”

     “Yeah.”  Hailey squeezed Jay’s arm as they pulled into the district.  Hailey got out of the truck and made her way to the bullpen as Jay called Will.

     “What’s up?”  Will asked, answering on the second ring.

     “Can you ask Lyla when the party happened?”

     “Yeah, hold on.”  Will put the phone down and turned his attention to his sister.  He gently rubbed her back.

     “Lyla.”  He said softly, and Lyla opened her eyes.

     “Hey, I’m sorry to have to wake you, but I have to ask you something.  Do you remember when the party happened?”

     Lyla thought for a moment before answering, “October 15th."  

     “Alright.  Thank you.  You can go back to sleep now, okay?”  Lyla nodded her head, resting it where it was a moment before. 

     Will picked up his phone, “October 15th.”

     “Alright.  Thanks man.”

    “Yeah.  Go get him.”  Will hung up and pulled Lyla closer to him, planting a kiss on her head.

     Jay walked into the district and buzzed himself up to the bullpen where the team was waiting, already aware of the situation.

     “October 15th.  That’s when the party happened.” 

     “Alright.”  Voight started, scratching his head, “We’re gonna need more evidence.  Go through his phone records, check his social media, anything we can.  Let’s get this prick.”

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

     Will knew Maggie was on shift, so when he knew Lyla was asleep, he called her to tell her he was gonna need to use some of his vacation days.  He didn’t tell her exactly what happened, just that it was a family matter. 

     Will was beyond pissed.  He just hoped Jay would get that son of a bitch that had hurt his little sister, causing her to spiral to the point she was hurting herself.  It broke his heart.  He really wished they would’ve caught on sooner, because he knew they’d have more evidence.

     He looked at Lyla who was currently sound asleep.  She felt so fragile in his arms, so vulnerable, so scared.  He figured that was the reason she had started vaping.  He wanted to ask her if she was doing anything else, but he didn't want to push her.  All she needed right now was her brothers to be there for her, and Will knew this.  

     Will didn’t understand how someone could do something so evil, so wrong, especially someone he knew Lyla trusted with her life.  That’s what pissed Will off the most, was the fact that she trusted him since she was little.  Her and Cal had been best friends since kindergarten, and he broke that bond so selfishly.

     Suddenly, Lyla jolted awake, heart racing.  Will’s heart broke, knowing exactly what was going on.

     “Hey, hey, I got you.  I’m right here.”  Lyla’s heart slowed and she leaned into her brother.

     “Did you have a nightmare?”  Will asked gently, and Lyla nodded her head.

     Will planted a kiss on top of her head, “It’s okay.  Do you want your hydro flask?”  Lyla nodded her head.  Will used his free arm and grabbed the hydro flask, flipping the straw up.  He handed it to her, and Lyla took it, taking a few sips of the water inside.  She closed the straw and put it on the nightstand closest to her, feeling tears well up in her eyes.

     “I should’ve stayed home.”

     “No.  Just because you snuck out doesn’t make it your fault.  It’s not your fault, and it can not and never will be your fault.”  Will pulled her closer, wanting her to know that she was safe and that none of this was her fault.

     “Can you tell me a story?”  Lyla asked.

     “What kind of story?”

     “I don’t know, like something you and Jay did together.”

     Will thought for a moment, then chuckled when he thought of the perfect story.

     “Okay.  You know the Target by your school?”  Lyla nodded her head, and Will continued, “One day, Jay and I ditched.  We walked around, and when we got up to the Target, for some reason we decided to steal a shopping cart from the parking lot.”

     “Jay jumped in the cart and I pushed him all the way until we got back to the school.  I then had the idea to push the cart up the wheelchair ramp outside the front entrance and then push him down the stairs.”

     “What happened?”  Lyla inquired, kind of intrigued.

     “Well, you know that big ass scar on his right arm?”  Lyla nodded.  “He has that because the cart flung Jay forward and he almost broke his arm.  When Mom and Dad found out they grounded us for a month and we had to pay for the shopping cart we stole.”  

     “I thought you were smart.”  Lyla retorted playfully.

     “Hey!”  Will protested,  “I am smart!”  Lyla giggled, and Will chuckled.  He was glad he made her laugh, because that was the first time in forever that he saw her actually smile.

     Lyla yawned, and Will held her tighter.  After a while, she fell asleep again, leaving Will awake and pondering.

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

     “I think I got something!”  Kevin announced from his desk.  Everyone stood up and made their way to Kev’s desk.

     “This tweet was posted around 9:00 the night of the party.”  Kevin informed the team.

     “Didn’t think drugging someone would be that easy.”  Kim read the tweet, which was posted by Cal.  It angered everyone, especially Jay.

     “Doesn’t that count as a confession?”  Jay asked Voight eagerly.

     “To the drugging, yes, but to the rape itself, no.  Anyone have anything else we can use?”

     “I might.”  Adam started, opening a vanilla folder, “I recovered some deleted texts Caleb sent to a contact named JJ that were sent the day after the party and, well, they’re pretty, um, gruesome.”  Adam handed the paper with the messages to Voight, who began reading to himself.  Let’s just say Voight became angrier by the second, and when Voight gets angry, well, you don’t want to mess with him.

     “Kim, you get a warrant.  Halstead, Upton, once we get the warrant, we’ll get this prick.”  Voight demanded, and the three of them grabbed their coats.  Voight would’ve made Jay stay, but after reading those texts, he didn’t really care.

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

     Having secured the arrest warrant, Jay sped off to Cal’s house, Voight following close behind.  When they got there, Jay parked the truck in front of Cal’s house, and he and Hailey hopped out, Voight following behind.

     Hailey knocked on the door, and after a few moments, Cal opened the door.

     “Hi, Hailey.”  Cal greeted, “What’s up?”

    “Hey, Caleb.”  Hailey replied sarcastically, faking a smile, “I need you to get against the wall for me.”

     “What, why?”  Cal asked, seemingly confused.

     “Get against the wall, now.”  Jay commanded using his don’t fuck with me tone of voice, and Cal did as told.

     Jay pushed in front of Hailey and walked into the house, handcuffs out.  He first patted Cal down, then he began cuffing him, when Cal’s mom and dad came into the room.

     “What’s going on?”  Cal’s mom inquired, confused and worried at the same time.

     “We have an arrest warrant, ma’am.”  Voight informed the confused parents, handing her the arrest warrant.

     “Th-This is insane!  He couldn’t have done anything wrong!”  Cal’s mom exclaimed, not even reading the paper the sergeant handed her.

     “Oh yeah,”  Jay started, anger present in his voice and features, “Tell that to the fifteen year old girl he sexually assaulted.”  Jay turned his attention to Cal, pushing him forward and leading him out of the house, “You have the right to remain silent.  Anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law.  You have the right to an attorney.  If you cannot afford one, one will be provided for you.”

     Hailey made her way to the passenger side as Jay opened the back door and shoved Cal inside.  He slammed the door and walked over to the driver side, hopping in and starting the car.  He drove to the district, Voight following closely behind once again.  Once they got there, Jay walked through the garage and roughly handed Cal over to Kevin, who brought him to the interrogation room.  He was about to follow, when Voight stopped him.

     “Halstead,”  Voight called, and Jay turned around to look at his sergeant.

     “Go home, be with your sister.  She needs you.”  Jay nodded in agreement, turned around and went towards the garage door, receiving a pat on the back from Voight.  Hailey opened the garage for him.

     “Thanks, Hails.  I’ll see you at home.”

     “See you at home.”  Then, Jay walked out and went to his truck, Hailey closing the garage behind him and making her way to the interrogation room.  Jay started the truck and drove home, choosing not to use the sirens so he’d have time to calm down and gather his thoughts.

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

     It was about 11:30 now, and Lyla was still fast asleep, much to Will’s relief.  He was deep in thought, thinking about Lyla’s road to recovery, when Jay walked in, snapping Will out of his thoughts.

     “Hey.”  Will greeted softly so he wouldn’t wake Lyla up, “Did you get him?”

     “Yeah.  How’s she doing?”  Jay asked as he walked towards Lyla’s bed.

     Will sighed, “She’s got a long road ahead of her, that’s for sure.”

     Jay laid down next to Lyla on the other side, and Will moved his arm so Jay could replace it with his.

     “Well,”  Jay started, lowering his voice to a whisper.  He planted a kiss on Lyla’s head, “We’ll be here for her, every step of the way.”

     Will nodded in agreement, and after a while, they both fell asleep.  Lyla had woken up when Jay came in, unbeknownst to her brothers.  Shortly after Jay had come into her room, Lyla fell into a comfortable slumber, thankful that she had her brothers to help her heal.

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*Finish*

I hope you enjoyed!  If you have any questions, requests, or if you ever need anyone to talk to, feel free to reach out to me.

#jay halstead #hailey upton #will halstead #stella kidd #hank voight #kim burgess #adam ruzek #kevin atwater #will halstead imagine #jay halstead imagine #chicago pd #chicago med #chicago pd fanfic #chicago med fanfiction #chicago pd imagine #chicago med imagine #halstead!sister #fanfic #fanfiction #fandom

[lnchicagosreads]

LNChicagosReads

Main Accounts:

TV Show : @samantha-chicago F1 : @lnlightning81

I shall be reposting fics I have read on this account rather than on my main account so authors still get the credit they deserve without me sharing them over my own fics.

#chicago pd #jay halstead #arthur leclerc x reader #ollie bearman x reader #max verstappen x reader #lando norris x reader #logan sargent x reader #f1 smau #liam lawson x reader #pierre gasly x reader #f1 x reader #f1 #f1 fanfic #f1 imagine #f1 fic #formula 1 #charles leclerc #lewis hamilton #lando norris #one chicago x reader #chicago fire x reader #chicago pd x reader #christopher herrmann x daughter #ethan choi x reader #chicago fire #chicago med #kelly severide smut #kelly severide x reader #kelly severide x sister #kelly severide x sister!reader

[i-spaced-sorry]

New fic alert!!!!

Point of Intersection

Summary: When a string of attacks are happening on various bus routes and no one seems to be able to find how they connect. What happens when a beloved honorary member of the team becomes victim number 5? How is she the key to solving the case?

#chicago pd #jay halstead #hailey upton #adam ruzek #kim burgess #halstead sister #chicago pd fanfic #Chicago pd imagine

[herrmannhalsteadproduction]

Congratulations on Not Dying (Happy Birthday, Chris!) [Chapter Three]

Summary: This is Part Sixteen of my series A Herrmann/Halstead Production. It is an AU where Christopher Herrmann's mom had an affair with Pat Halstead resulting in a baby. The series follows this OC character (Rebecca "Bex" Herrmann) as she grows up and gets to know her brothers and the various Chicago teams. It is very much an AU, just to underscore that. It doesn't follow the same timeline and characters will follow different paths.

Click here for the Series Rundown where you can find the links to read all of the previous installments (which I highly recommend you do so that this one makes sense.)

Rating: Teen and Up

Relationships: Christopher Herrmann & Original Female Character, Christopher Herrmann/Cindy Herrmann, Jay Halstead & Original Female Character, Will Halstead & Original Female Character, Jay Halstead & Will Halstead, pre-Greg 'Mouse' Gerwitz/Original Female Character, pre-Will Halstead/Connor Rhodes, Assorted OC Couples

Warnings: Language, Light Angst, People Making Bad Decisions, Referenced Domestic Violence

A/N: To underscore my previous note, this is an alternate universe so things have unfolded differently. This will not follow the canon arc exactly by any means. But I hope you'll still enjoy it!

Chapter One Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Bex

“The reinforcements have arrived,” Adam declared, spreading his arms wide as he strode into the backyard, Kevin and Mouse following closely behind.

“You guys, thank you so much for coming,” Bex said, breathing a sigh of relief.

Mouse stepped up and bumped his arm against hers with a little crooked grin.

“Where do you need us?” Kevin asked as he pulled Otis in for a one-armed bro hug and Bex gave them a quick overview before pointing out the trampoline.

“That’s going to take the longest,” she said. “So, I think we should start with it?”

“Whoa, cool!” Adam launched himself on top of it in two steps and bounced around lightly. “Sure we have to take this down?”

“Yes!” Bex laughed. She pointed a finger at the other three who looked like they were itching for their own turn. “We need the room. Come on—off, off, off!”

Adam hopped down with a pout and Bex could feel herself weakening. Her phone chose that moment to start buzzing and she shot them a look. “One person bounces at a time and make sure everyone gets a turn. I’m going to take this and then we’re cleaning up.”

She chuckled at the whispered chorus of ‘yes’ as she pulled out her phone and frowned down at the name before answering.

“Hey, Matt! How’s it going?”

“Hey, Bex,” Matt said, drawing out the ‘hey’ in a way that had her heart sinking. “There’s an accident up ahead so I think we’re stuck here for a little while.”

“Stuck?” All four guys looked over at her in concern. “For how long? Can you get off the highway?”

“Trying to,” Matt sighed. “We’re going to take the next exit, but traffic’s barely moving. I think it’ll take us at least half an hour to get to it.”

And they hadn’t even made it to the party place yet. “Okay…okay,” Bex said, swallowing back the urge to ask a million more questions. Matt couldn’t predict how long it would all take, but she knew he’d do his best to make sure they got back as quickly as possible. She trusted him. “I’m so sorry you guys got stuck. I owe you big time.”

“Just feed us when we get back,” Kelly yelled in the background.

“Deal,” Bex agreed with a smile. “Keep me posted, please.”

“Will do.” Matt said as he ended the call.

The guys had caught enough of the conversation that she didn’t have to rehash everything for them and they were quick to reassure her.

“There’s still plenty of time,” Adam said, grabbing her shoulder in a comforting squeeze. “The four of them should be able to load quickly and the trip back will be fast.”

“You know Casey and Severide’ll handle it,” Otis said. “Let’s make sure this place is ready to go once they get here.”

They were right. She’d wasted enough time freaking out today. Taking a deep breath, Bex shook it off and refocused. “Let’s do this.”

Tackling the trampoline was short work between the five of them. Once it was safely stored away, Adam and Kevin moved the playhouse while Mouse and Otis started taking down the hammock. Bex was working on gathering up the toys when her phone buzzed again.

This time it was Gabi. Their regular supplier was closed. She and Stella had already been to three other places trying to source booze for the party. “We still have other places to check though,” Gabi said. “I just wanted to let you know why we were taking so long.”

“You think you’ll be able to find a place though?”

“Absolutely,” Gabi said.

“We’ll raid Molly’s if we have to,” Stella chimed in and Gabi laughed.

Bex shook her head and huffed out a little laugh, catching the look Otis was sending her. “Yeah, I don’t think Chris would appreciate stock from Molly’s being sacrificed for his party.”

Otis’s eyebrows went sky high.

“Last resort,” Gabi declared. “Seriously, Bex, don’t worry. We’ll find a place. We’re on it!”

Bex stared at her phone after Gabi said bye and reminded herself that she was being chill.

A phone buzzed again, but this time it wasn’t hers.

Otis pulled his phone out of his pocket with a quiet apology and answered it. He stepped away to have a hushed conversation that kept increasing in its intensity. The call ended abruptly and Otis cursed quietly before turning back to her.

“So, that was my cousin,” Otis began.

“Your cousin who is in charge of the music for the party?” Bex asked, willing the answer to be something along the lines of ‘yes and he’s totally on time with no issues whatsoever’.

“Yeah,” Otis said slowly. “Turns out he’s sick, but—” Otis flung out a hand, stepping closer when Bex started rubbing at her forehead.

“But he has a replacement lined up,” Otis said. “The only problem is that he needs me to come and pick up the equipment and give his replacement a ride.”

“Oh,” Bex straightened up, pleasantly surprised to hear an immediate solution. “That’s great. Do you need anyone to go with you?”

“Nooo,” Otis said, voice going a bit weirdly high at the end there. “No, I’ve got it. No worries. I’ll head out now. Be back in a bit. See you.” He scooted up the back steps to the house and was out of sight in seconds.

Yeah.

There was definitely more to that story, but Bex was not asking questions.

And now her phone was going off again.

“We’ll keep going with this stuff,” Mouse said, jerking a thumb over his shoulder at the last of the kids’ stuff littering the yard. She nodded gratefully and answered the call.

“Sylvie? You okay?”

“I’m so sorry, Bex, I got the lights and everything, but my car broke down and now I’m stuck and I’m waiting for a tow and it’s taking forever and—”

“Sylvie, breathe,” Bex interrupted her and waiting until she heard her take a few breaths. “First of all, are you okay? Are you safe?”

“Oh, yeah, I’m fine,” Sylvie said. “I was able to pull off the road as soon as my car started making that noise. I’m in a coffee shop parking lot.”

“Okay, good,” Bex said, glad to hear at least one crisis had been averted. “Text me the address and we’ll figure out who can meet you so you have a ride once the tow truck arrives.”

After a few more rounds of apologies, they ended the call and Sylvie’s text with the address came through. “Hey, guys?” she called out to Adam and Kev. “Would you mind going to pick up Sylvie?”

“Sylvie?” Kevin perked up. “She okay?”

“Yeah, her car broke down and—oh, my god!” Bex pressed a hand against her mouth.

“What?” Kevin dropped the kiddie clubs he’d been gathering and jogged over with Adam and Mouse.

“I forgot about the cake,” she gasped. “Someone needs to go pick up the cake!”

The three of them sagged in relief. “No problem,” Kevin said. “We’ll go get Sylvie and pick up the cake on the way back. We’ve got this.” He held up his hand for a fist bump, raising an eyebrow at her until she bumped back.

“I’ll send you the addresses,” she said, forwarding Sylvie’s text to him and adding the location of the bakery. “The order’s under my name and it’s paid for so all you have to do is pick it up.”

The two of them nodded and headed out. Bex watched them leave and then buried her hands in her hair, sighing up at the sky.

Was that…

Don’t even think about it, Bex thought as she glared up at the grey looking clouds.

***

Adam

Adam and Kevin checked in with the kitchen crew to see how things were going.

“Anyone mentioned the forecast to Bex yet?” he asked as he attempted to sneak a slice of red pepper and got his hand smacked by Sergeant Platt for his efforts.

“No,” a whole chorus of voices answered him.

“Okay, then.” Guess they were crossing that bridge when they came to it. In the meantime, they had a paramedic to rescue and a cake to pick up.

***

Bex

A thought occurred to Bex at that moment.

“You’re here,” she said to Mouse.

“That I am,” he replied with a cute little smile that she was not going to be distracted by at this moment.

“You’re here and Kevin and Adam and Trudy are here,” she said, watching as Mouse tilted his head in question at her, waiting for him to follow her line of thought. “Kim is out with her sister and Anthony is with his kids, but they're both coming to the party later.”

“Okay,” Mouse said slowly.

“Intelligence isn’t on shift today,” Bex continued, trying to keep the sharpness out of her voice because Mouse wasn’t the one it needed to be directed at. “None of you are so what the heck is Jay doing at work?”

“Uhhh…”

“That’s what I thought.” She grabbed her phone and stabbed at her brother’s contact. “Are you even working?” she demanded as soon as he picked up.

“Bex, what—”

She forged ahead, not letting Jay fumble his way through any excuses.

“I needed your help today, Jay,” she said. “Everything’s falling apart. Will got called in—”

“Will’s not there?” Jay sounded surprised which…why? He’d expected her to fall for the same excuse.

“Yes, he actually had to help out at his job today,” she snapped. “But you’d know that if you were here. And you’d know that the venue cancelled so we have to make all of the food and get the drinks and the tables and the decorations and—”

Bex lowered her phone, clenched tightly in her hand and did a slow count to three. He hadn’t known about any of this. He clearly still needed space.

Even though she’d needed him.

Two things could both be true and all that crap.

The faint sound of Jay calling her name came through her phone speaker and she lifted it back up. “Are you still able to get the balloons at least?” she asked quietly.

“Yeah, of course,” Jay said.

“You know the order,” she said because Jay had helped her plan all of this even if he was dipping out now. “We’re setting up at Chris and Cindy’s now so get here when you can.”

“Bex—”

Mouse gently took the phone out of her hand before she could hang up on her brother. “Let me.”

She let him do whatever it was he needed to do and took a lap of the yard to settle herself. She could hear Mouse talking softly over on the patio, catching enough to know he was filling him in on the many roadblocks of their day.

“Okay, bye,” Mouse said and headed over to pass her the phone. “He’s going now to get the balloons.”

“That’s something I guess,” she said. Mouse shot her a careful look, clearly weighing anything he said next and Bex scrubbed a hand down her face with a groan. “I’m sorry. I know I’m being a menace about this party.”

“You’re not that bad,” Mouse chuckled. “Trust me.”

“I do,” Bex said. “You’re in charge of making sure I don’t go beast mode over this thing.”

Mouse tilted his head thoughtfully. “Is it terrible if I’d kind of like to see that?”

“Yes,” Bex laughed, feeling a bit lighter already.

Second wind. Let’s go.

***

Jay

Mouse was there.

Helping Bex get ready for the party.

Talking on her phone.

With everything that had gone down with Chris and then the case and then Erin, Jay had been distracted. But now the issue was right smack in the middle of his face again.

Something was going on between Mouse and Bex.

His best friend and his sister.

His sister who was also one of his best friends, really.

Had they even thought this through? What happened when it all fell apart?

What would their family look like if the two of them imploded and couldn’t even be in the same room together anymore?

He knew they were friends. Good friends. And he loved that. Hanging out with their whole gang was awesome, but hanging out with Mouse and Bex was the best. The fact that they could add Will into the mix now was even better.

They didn’t even know what they were risking.

Maybe he could nudge them. Help them understand what they were walking into before it got too far. Share what he’d learned from experience.

He was pretty sure he could get through to them before things went sideways.

Plan beginning to form, Jay gathered up his stuff and headed downstairs.

Upton was at the desk chatting with the desk sergeant.

“Hey!” she smiled at him. “What are you doing here? Don’t you have party business or something?”

“How do you know about that?” He knew Bex invited her, but—

“Bex told me the whole plan at Molly’s the other night,” Upton explained. “She was very excited.”

Jay felt a complicated wave of affection for his sister and regret for how much he’d punked out of today. “Uh, yeah,” he said. “I’ve got to go pick up balloons.”

“Need some help?” she offered and that wasn’t a half bad idea.

Bex wanted what was probably more balloons than one person could wrangle.

“That would be great actually,” Jay said, waving her forward. “Did you drive?”

“Nah, I decided to walk today and enjoy the weather while it lasts,” Upton said. “Hopefully your party doesn’t get rained out.”

“Don’t even say that.” Jay’s eyes widened. “Bex’ll hear you.”

“Yeah, okay.” Her laughter trailed off when he didn’t crack. “Okay! I take it back!”

“I’m gonna uninvite you,” he warned, finally breaking into a grin.

“Didn’t realize this party business was going to be so intense,” she said as they climbed into his truck.

“You’re about to get a crash course in how we do things around here.” Jay smirked at her and peeled out of the parking lot.

***

Hailey

Working in Intelligence had been an…interesting experience so far.

She’d worked closely with a partner before. Been a part of a team.

Never one as entangled as the Intelligence crew seemed to be though.

From what she’d gathered, one of the former detectives was a pseudo-daughter to Voight and had been dating Halstead. Ruzek had a father-son thing going with Olinsky and an on-again, off-again think with Burgess.

As far as she could tell it was on again.

Halstead and Mouse were basically brothers and Atwater and Ruzek were tight. Burgess had been partners with Atwater before too so they had a special bond.

It went on with history after history.

And that didn’t even include the connections with the staff at Med and Station 51.

It was like she’d joined a very intense and involved extended family. And solved crimes with some of them.

She was still working out how she felt about it all, but she didn’t think she hated it.

She’d see how things went with this party business first.

“You ever date a friend before?” Halstead asked her suddenly.

See?

Entangled.

Hailey took a minute to figure out how to answer that question without revealing too much. “Why are you asking?”

Halstead shifted in his seat, keeping his eyes firm on the road. “Call it research, I guess,” he said. “Verify that it’s a bad idea.”

“For yourself?” she guessed.

He chuckled darkly. “No, I got it plenty verified for myself,” he said. “I just—” They stopped at the next red light and he glanced over at her. “Keep this between us?”

She nodded. Keeping things close was something she’d learned early and used often.

“You know Mouse, right?” Halstead said. “I think he and my sister are circling around something and—and there’s no way that’s going to end well, you know what I mean?”

Hailey hummed, aiming for a non-answer on that minefield of a question.

“You disagree?” Halstead shot her a quick look, raising an eyebrow.

“I think it’s the kind of thing you let people figure out for themselves,” she said. “People need to make their choices and they don’t usually appreciate you declaring them a mistake before they’ve even made them.”

This time he hummed in response and she let it drop when he didn’t say anything further.

“So, what’s the story with Molly’s,” she asked, aiming for less risky territory. “How did it become the official bar for everyone?”

“My brother Chris owns it with a few other firefighters,” Halstead said with a little grin.

“Ah.” She nodded, picturing who he meant. “The Chris this party is for, right?” She’d heard about what he’d been through and didn’t blame them for wanting to celebrate.

“That’s the one,” Halstead said as he pulled into the parking lot of a party store that sat at the end of a small strip. He nodded at a coffee shop next too it. “Order balloons and then grab a drink? On me?”

“Sounds good.” She hopped out of the truck and started following him to the store’s entrance. A loud voice caught her attention. There, a few cars over, was a tall blond guy was berating a young woman. Her wavy hair was covering her face as she shied away from him.

“See that?” she asked Halstead and he peered over at the couple.

The guy jerked on the girl’s arm and her hair fell away as she looked up at him, murmuring apologies. Halstead suddenly stiffened beside her. “What’s up?”

“I know her,” he said.

***

Jay

Emery.

Bex’s friend who had got caught up with a dirtbag boyfriend and kept falling in deeper. He knew Bex and her friends kept trying to reach out and help, but sometimes—most times—there were no magic words.

Emery had to be the one to decide to be ready.

But like he told Bex, that didn’t mean you stopped trying.

“Do me a favour?” he asked Upton as he watched the dirtbag storm into the coffee shop, leaving Emery alone by the car. “I don’t want to risk him seeing me talking to her, but you could pretend to be asking for directions.”

“Going to fill me in?” she asked him.

“Later, but I want to do this now.”

She nodded for him to keep going.

“Give her your card,” he said. “A clean one if you have it. Tell her that you’re a friend of Bex’s and that you can get in touch with her if she needs it. Remind her she has people ready to help, you know?”

Jay reached into his pocket and pulled out his wallet, handing over two twenties. “Emergency money,” he said. “For a cab. To get to Bex’s or the station. Whatever she can do. Whenever.”

Upton nodded and reached into her own wallet for a blank card. One with only her first name and number. Every cop knew there were plenty of situations where having their title listed wasn’t exactly helpful.

She took the cash and he gave her a small, grateful smile before stepping back behind the truck. Keeping out of sight, but keeping an eye out through the windows.

He watched as she made her way over and approached Emery, pointing out at the road to maintain the directions cover story in case the dirtbag happened to look out the window of the coffee shop. Upton kept talking to Emery until the girl gave her the smallest nod and Upton discreetly passed her the card and cash.

Upton walked away then, heading into the party supply store while Emery sagged against the car. He watched for a few more minutes until the guy came out of the store—Ty, that was his name. Ty barked at her to get into the car and they drove off.

Jay sighed. It wasn’t nothing and maybe this time, it would be something.

He walked into the store where Upton was waiting for him. “My sister’s friend,” he explained. “Been tangled up with that guy for awhile and Bex has been trying to get her out. Figured we might as well take another run at it.”

Upton nodded at him, something unreadable in her eyes. “It’s good,” she finally said. “That you’re trying. It’s good.”

Didn’t ever feel like enough though, Bex was right about that.

“Let’s get those balloons,” he said instead and they made their way to the back counter.

A lanky teenager was standing there looking bored. Jay took in the red-rimmed eyes and spacey gaze and exchanged a look with Upton who was already smirking.

“I need to place a special order,” Jay said, stepping up to look at the colours on display on the board behind the kid.

“How special are we talking?” the kid drawled, focusing in on him finally and…wait.

Dammit.

Bex was going to kill him.

“How special are you talking?” Jay countered.

The kid stared at him for a moment, wheels clearly, painfully turning in his brain. “Are you here for…balloons?”

For the love of—

“What else would I be here for?” Jay snapped out, placing his badge on the counter.

The kid stared down at his badge, looked up at Jay, and down at the badge again.

Then he fucking booked it.

Jay watched him race toward the front entrance and sighed as he and Upton took off after him.

“Do you think we can make him do the balloon order before taking him in?”

***

Cindy

The zoo had been a hit, but the kids were at their limit and she still had a few hours to kill before they could go home. Christopher was making noises about calling up Bex or Mouch and she needed to nip that in the bud right now.

“Who wants to go to Grandma and Grandpa’s house?” she called out and the kids all cheered.

“Really, Cinds?” he murmured to her. “On my birthday?”

“I didn’t say we were going there,” she whispered back. “We’re just dropping them off.”

A hurried explanation to her mother had the kids all square away and left her free to put the second part of her plan in motion. She swiped the keys out of Christopher’s hand on the way to the van.

“I’m driving, birthday boy,” she said.

“Bossy,” Chris said as he ambled after her. “I like it.”

He futzed with the radio as she drove, settling on a classic rock station and serenading her while she drove. Soon they were at a familiar destination.

“Hey, I know this place,” Chris said, looking out the window at the secluded area she’d parked in, surrounded by beautifully leafy trees. “We used to come here to make out back in high school.”

“We did,” Cindy agreed, waiting for it to click.

Chris slowly turned to look at her, eyes going wide as his eyebrows raced for his hairline.

She nodded at him.

“Here?” He whispered, a giggle sneaking out. “Right now?”

“Happy Birthday, sweetheart.”

“I knew you were planning something,” he said, undoing his seatbelt with a flourish and reaching over to hit the button on hers. “My wife is a genius.”

“Don’t you forget it,” Cindy grinned as she leaned in.

***

T-minus five hours to the party.

***

Sylvie

Ruzek and Atwater—Kevin, she whispered to herself—showed up right on time. The tow trunk driver had just finished loading up her car and was about to take it to the garage.

“My heroes,” she said and Ruzek did a little bow while Kevin grinned at her.

“Happy to be of service,” Kevin said.

“Let’s go get that cake before Bex implodes,” Adam said as he ushered her toward his car.

They helped relieve her of some of the bags she was carrying with all of the supplies she’d picked up and deposited them in the trunk.

Everything seemed to be getting back on track until they got to the bakery.

“The order is under Rebecca Herrmann,” Sylvie said again. “It’s all paid for. It should be ready.”

“And I’m saying there’s nothing here,” the girl at the counter said.

“Just a second.” She turned away and tried to send the least alarming text she could to Bex.

Do you have proof of your payment? They need to see it.

Bex sent a picture of her receipt moments later. It listed the cake style and said paid in full.

“See?” Sylvie showed the girl her phone.

The girl—Stef, her name tag read—squinted at the receipt number and typed a few things into her computer. “Okay,” she said. “I’ve found the record of the payment, but somehow the order itself was lost.”

Oh, no.

“So, what do we do?”

“I have this flavour of slab cake in the back,” Stef said. “It’ll take me about twenty minutes, but I can get it decorated for you.” She slapped a form down on the counter. “Write down what you want it to say and I’ll go get started.”

Ruzek grabbed the paper and a pen from the counter as she walked off. He scribbled something down, chuckling to himself.

Kevin leaned over and read it. “You best be changing that if you don’t want Bex to murder you,” he said, shaking his head.

Sylvie took a peek and shot him a look because seriously? “Too soon,” she frowned at him.

“I bet you ten bucks Herrmann laughs,” Ruzek said.

“Again, Herrmann is not the one you should be worried about in this scenario,” Kevin said.

“Alright fine.” Ruzek put a line through what he’d written and wrote out ‘Happy Birthday, Chris!’ underneath it. “Happy?”

“Happy to not be playing with fire?” Kevin asked. “Yes.”

Stef returned and picked up the paper, reading it over. “You want it exactly like this?”

“Yup,” Ruzek said, dropping the pen back in the cup by the register. “Please and thanks.”

“Okay, then.” She waved them off. “Come back in twenty.”

“Come on,” Kevin said. “There’s a diner across the street. We can grab a coffee.”

Sylvie agreed happily. She could use one after the day they’d had already.

Felt like they’d just dodged a bullet.

She still had to fess up to Bex about the delay though.

***

Bex

She stared down at her phone.

A massive screw up with the cake that apparently was on its way to being fixed.

She’d believe it when she saw it actually arrive.

And now Jay was delayed because the balloon store guy was a drug dealer?

What else could possibly happen on this cursed day?

Oh, shit.

“I didn’t mean it,” Bex said, looking up at the sky and whatever gods might be listening.

A raindrop hit her face.

Click here for Chapter Four Click here for Chapter Five

Click here to read Congratulations on Not Dying (Happy Birthday, Chris!) on ao3:

And here is the tag list (let me know if you wish to be added or removed):

@sorry-i-spaced, @iunnowatuwant, @thegirlwhowishedeveryonelived, @ivyalmighty, @thewannabewriter, @lexhalstead3, @multifandomgrl08, @foxes-and-cats, @sensitivemallysix,

#chicago fire #chicago med #chicago pd #one chicago #christopher herrmann #jay halstead #will halstead #halstead brothers #oc character #rebecca 'bex' herrmann #halstead sister #found family #team as family #alternate universe #not canon #not beta read #my first fanfic series #A Herrmann/Halstead Production #light angst #low self esteem #bad decisions #sibling conflict

[deanstead]

all in a day

Pairing: Matt Casey x Halstead!Reader

Requested: yes & yes, by anon

Summary: Y/N's brothers find out by chance who she's dating. Later that day, an incident with a patient sends all three of them rushing to check on her.

Word Count: 1,390

Warnings: canon-typical mention of injuries

A/N: I combined two requests here so as usual I changed up some stuff but still hope you guys like this! Original requests can be found in the hyperlinks above as usual :D Hope yall like this!

MATT CASEY MASTERLIST

HALSTEAD!SISTER MASTERLIST

You climbed out of the car, not forgetting to turn back around to give Matt a goodbye kiss. “Thanks for the detour.”

“Always.” Matt smiled back at you.

“Stay safe.” You whispered back before you closed the door and turned around to the sight of both your brothers staring back at you.

Will was clearly much calmer, just blinking back at you with his eyebrows raised. Meanwhile, Jay had his arms crossed, looking like he was about to kill someone.

Damn it.

You straightened your expression as you headed towards them, turning to Jay first. “What are you doing here?”

Jay ignored your question. “Something you want to tell us?”

You exhaled loudly, glancing between your brothers. “Matt and I are seeing each other.”

“Y/N, are you sure about this? A firefighter?”

You rolled your eyes. “How is that different from you getting guns waved in your face every other day? We’re not even spared from violence in the ED when we have…”

“Do not jinx it.” Will warned you and you shut your mouth mid-sentence.

“You should have told us so that I could have a word with him. If he even dares to…” Jay paused as he spotted the look on your face.

You glared up at him. “This is exactly why I didn’t tell you.”

Jay froze and you sighed. “Look, I love you guys alright? And I appreciate you looking out for me but I’m an adult. I know what I’m doing. Can you trust me?”

“I trust you.” Jay said. “It’s him that I don’t…”

Will elbowed Jay in the ribs to get him to stop talking but it was a little too late.

You stared back incredulously at Jay. “We are talking about the same Matt Casey, aren’t we? You know, Matthew Casey, Lieutenant of Truck 81? The Matt Casey who always has to do the right thing? The Matt Casey you happen to know?”

Jay scrunched his face up as Will stepped in. “We’re going to be late. We’ll talk about this later, alright?” Will directed the last question at his younger brother.

Jay glanced at Will but nodded, reaching out to put a hand on your head. “See you later?”

You gave him an exasperated look but smiled. “Yeah, okay. Stay safe.”

Jay smiled back at you before he patted Will on his shoulder and headed back out.

You knew Will had been trying hard to steer clear of asking you questions all day but you could practically hear the tension in his brain.

“What?” You asked him, spinning around from the computer in the lounge to look at him.

Will shrugged then looked up. “How long have you been seeing each other?”

You sighed and smiled. “A few months. I wasn’t trying to keep it from you and Jay, I just… we wanted things to kind of stabilize a little first, you know?”

Will nodded. “Yeah, I know but you can’t make us stop worrying about you.”

You gave a small laugh. “I know, I just…”

You were interrupted by the sound that meant there were emergent patients coming in, so both you and Will sprang to your feet and headed out the door and back into the ED.

You glanced at the patient’s chart before you looked back at him.

It didn’t make sense. Based on all the tests and vital signs, he should already have regained consciousness and yet your patient hadn’t. You were just turning away to leave when you heard a sound behind you and turned back towards him.

One second you were turning behind you, the next he was already lunging at you, never mind the wires he was dragging along behind him.

You barely heard the sound of crashing equipment before you were on the ground yourself, the back of your head making an impact with the floor of the ED but you didn’t have time for anything else as his large hands went around your neck, practically blocking off your airway.

You could feel the air being sucked out of your lungs, thinking that the last thing you were going to see was this guy’s face. Just as the white spots appeared across your vision, the air rushed back into your lungs and you heard Will’s frantic voice.

“Y/N, are you with me? Y/N!”

You coughed, trying to get up but Will pressed your shoulders back down gently. “Don’t move, let me check you out.”

“I’m… I’m fine.” You panted. “I just… I just need a minute.”

You glanced up at Will and nodded when you thought you were steady enough to stand.

“Come on, let’s get you out of here.” Will muttered, leaning down to pull you up, his arm still tightly around you before he led you towards the doctor’s lounge.

Will glanced down at you as he helped you into a chair in the lounge. Save for your body still shaking a little, you felt pretty okay but Will squatted next to you. “We should get you checked out.”

You shook your head but stopped as your head gave a light throb. “I’m fine.”

If Will hadn’t been so worried he would have rolled his eyes. Instead, he looked back into your eyes, his fingers touching your head gently to make sure you weren’t more injured than you’d let on.

“What the hell happened?” You asked.

Will sighed. “We think he might have been in a dissociative state. I don’t think he knew what he was doing.”

You gritted your teeth gently. You couldn’t even be mad at him.

“You’re really not going to let me check you out properly? You might have a concussion.” Will said, his voice gentle but still firm.

You were about to answer when the door opened and Matt came flying through it.

“Hey, you okay?”

You frowned, glancing up. “Matt? What are you…”

“I was just stopping by and Maggie told me.” Matt explained, his eyes grazing across yours worriedly as he leaned towards you. “Are you okay?”

You gave him a small nod. “Just a bit shaken and…”

“Have you gotten checked out?”

You gave him a look, which Matt returned you. “Come on, Y/N. Just get a workup in case.”

“Fine.” You exhaled, not missing Will’s eye roll behind Matt. “I saw that.” You shot at your brother.

Will glanced at you. “I’ve been telling you the same thing for over fifteen minutes.”

You made a face before you let both Will and Matt take you to a treatment room.

Jay came bursting in a short while later. “I’m fine.” You groaned.

Jay didn’t comment about Matt being in the room, just glanced at Will and then back at you. “Who did this?” He growled.

Will didn’t answer the question. “It’s a mild concussion so she’s okay. But off work for the next few days.”

You narrowed your eyes at him but all it did was make your head hurt and you sighed. “Fine.”

“They’re pulling in a lieutenant to cover me for the rest of the shift so I’ll take you home.” Matt said, before he realized that in the chaos of making sure you were okay, he’d forgotten that your brothers hadn’t exactly been told about the nature of your relationship.

Matt glanced down at you and you gave a small chuckle. “Oh right. So… my brothers caught you dropping me off this morning. So I guess everything just came together like this.”

Will just gave Matt a small smile. The way Matt had been with you on a day like today seemed to have made it clear for your oldest brother.

You glanced hopefully at Jay, who seemed to be having his own internal struggle before he stuck his hand out towards Matt and you knew reason had finally won. Not that you’d doubted him. Jay just needed time getting there, especially when it came to you. “You take care of her.” Jay said, his voice low.

“Always.” Matt answered, shaking Jay’s hand and you were sure Jay’s grip was stronger than it usually was.

“That’s more like it.” You answered, grinning back at Jay, who made a face but reached forward to take your hand and squeeze it anyway and you knew that things would only look up from here.

All in a day’s work.

THANK YOU FOR READING!! PLEASE TELL ME WHAT YOU THOUGHT OF THIS!!

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Character taglists are open!

#resa.fics #matt casey x reader #matt casey #matt casey x halstead!reader #halstead!sister #jay halstead x sister!reader #will halstead x sister!reader #matt casey fanfic #matt casey oneshot #matt casey imagine #halstead!sister imagine #halstead!sister fanfic #halstead!sister oneshot #resanoona request #chicago fire #chicago med

[h4lfaheart]

Invisible String, a Halstead!Sister fanfiction

AO3

Wattpad

#halstead!sister fanfic #lizzie halstead #halstead siblings fanfic #halstead!sister #halstead siblings #halstead sister #will halstead #jay halstead #chicago pd fanfic #chicago med fanfic #one chicago fanfic #halstead!sister fanfiction #fanfic #ao3 fic #wattpad #aimeemk on wattpad #aimeemk on ao3 #wattpad fanfic #ao3 fanfic

[fangirlfrom-hell]

The Fragile Bonds Part 4 || Jay and Will Halstead x Halstead Sister

*re-posting this because I'm stupid and accidentaly erased my other blog 🫠 If you were following this story I'd appreciate your reblogs 🙏🏻

Summary: After their father's death, Becca moved in with Jay. This is the first time the detective brother has to go undercover since his sister has been under his full care, creating a challenging situation for both. Reluctantly, Becca will have to live with Will and his family during those days, even though she doesn't feel very welcome in that household.

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

It was a cloudy afternoon, with no sign of the sun in sight. The rain had subsided, and if it weren't for the gentle drops trickling down the windowpane, it might have gone unnoticed.

Becca lay on her bed, engrossed in the book Mr. Olinsky had given her. The story revolved around a lonely orphan girl who discovers the existence of a giant and goes with him into his world. Becca enjoyed the book, but at that moment, she found it hard to concentrate on her reading. She placed it on her chest and turned her gaze toward the window. She remained still for a few minutes, imagining Hailey's car pulling up on the street. She hoped that this would happen, as the detective had promised to visit her that day. Nevertheless, Becca was accustomed to last-minute changes in plans, a common occurrence in a detective's line of work. She continued to gaze outside, lost in thought, until her reverie was interrupted by a knock at the door from Will.

"Everything okay?" Will asked, but no words came out of his sister. She simply nodded.

"What are you reading?" Her brother approached and took a seat on the edge of the bed, prompting her to do the same. "The BFG?"

"The Big Friendly Giant," she replied. "Mr. Olinsky gave it to me, and he always asks me about it. I want to finish it for the next time I see him."

"Oh," Will was uncertain about how to react. It felt a bit strange to him that she was close to Jay's co-workers. For a moment, it tugged at his heart that she might be becoming closer to them than to him.

"Did you finish your homework?" Will inquired.

"Uh, no. It's Friday, and I don't feel like doing homework right now. I still have the whole weekend," Becca replied.

"Well," he said, taking the book from her hands, "I suggest you finish it today. We're planning to go to the aquarium tomorrow." He smiled from ear to ear.

"The aquarium?" Becca asked without much excitement.

"Yeah! We've been wanting to take Owen for a while now. Tomorrow's a great chance to do it, and you get to come with us," he said, excited and genuinely thinking Becca would be too.

"But tomorrow is my..."

"What?"

"Um, never mind..." She rolled her eyes, hoping that Jay would return at any moment. She was accustomed to Will always forgetting her birthday and other important events related to her, anyway.

"It will be fun!" Will tried to persuade her.

At this point, Becca couldn't even muster a fake smile. As soon as she was left alone in the room, she buried her face in a pillow, muffling her scream of frustration.

It felt as though time had ceased to exist that afternoon, a strange and surreal feeling. Becca spent most of the time in a state of half-sleep, drifting in and out, as if she were trying to fast-forward through the day. She didn't want to be awake.

By the time she finally woke up for good, it was already dark outside. She realized she had slept for a long time and suddenly remembered Hailey. Her heart raced with worry, fearing she might have missed a visit from the detective. "No, no, no," she muttered, reaching for her phone in the drawer. She discovered three missed calls and a text from Detective Upton.

Something surged, I'm sorry

The tone of the text conveyed the urgency. She put her phone in the back pocket of her jeans, just in case Hailey called again, she didn’t want to miss another call from Jay.

Leaving Mr. Snuggles behind, Becca ventured out of her dark room and was momentarily dazzled by the brightness of the rest of the house. The cold hit her immediately, and she shivered, regretting her choice of wearing only a light sweater over a tank top.

There were a lot of noises. The animated voices of cartoons emanated from the TV, Owen's plaintive cries echoed through the air, and Natalie's soothing reassurances cut through the clamor. Meanwhile, on the other side of the house, the clinking of plates, the splashing of water, and the rhythmic hiss of flames on the stove created a symphony of domestic activity. It smelled good. 

Upon entering the kitchen, Becca found her brother, Will, busy at the stove.

"Pasta!" He exclaimed, snapping his fingers and pointing to his little sister. "You can eat that, right? You can't be allergic to pasta!"

A smile graced Becca's lips as she responded, "Yeah, I can eat pasta. That's actually what Jay makes whenever he's too lazy to cook... which is often." Their shared laughter infused the room with a comforting sense of camaraderie.

"Well, dinner's almost ready. I bet you're hungry."

"Yes, I actually am. And it smells delicious." Becca's gratitude was evident in her words, and Will's smile in return felt like a small victory, he finally made Becca feel good.

"What's wrong with Owen?"

"I don't know, he just doesn't want to sleep. We didn't take him to the park because of the rain, so it might be all of his pent-up energy."

"Oh." Just as they were discussing Owen's restlessness, the baby's cries subsided, and the volume of the cartoons from the TV surged. Becca turned to glance at the wall clock; it read 7:00 PM. It was still relatively early, and she realized she hadn't slept as long as she thought.

"It's freezing," Becca mentioned, crossing her arms to ward off the chill.

"Here," Will offered, taking off his own sweater. "I don't want you to get sick." It was evident that he wanted to ensure Becca remained in the room with him, not wanting to break the peaceful moment they were sharing.

"No, it's all good," Becca quickly responded. "I'll get one from my bag. I'll be right back."

The door of the room was open, but the girl didn’t pay much attention to that detail. However, when she got in, she immediately noticed something amiss. The bed was empty. "Mr. Snuggles?" she thought, her heart sinking. She approached the bed, thinking she might have hidden the stuffed animal beneath the pillow, but her search yielded no trace of the beloved cat.

"Oh, no!" Panic gripped her, and she began frantically throwing pillows and blankets onto the floor, desperately searching for the missing plush companion.

“WILL! WILL!”, she screamed anxiously.

The redhead was at the door frame in an instant, a mixture of alarm and concern etched across his face.

"Wha--? What happened?" His own fear was palpable as they observed Becca, her tearful countenance and the disheveled state of the bed sheets. Quickly, he closed the distance and moved to her side.

“Mr. Snuggles is not here, HE’S NOT ANYWHERE!”

Will was confused, he didn’t understand what she was talking about.

“My stuffed animal!”

“Oh, the cat?” He finally realized. “Did you look well on the bed? Under?”

“WILL, I’M TELLING YOU–”

He could not understand why his sister was overeating that way, but he could feel her anxiety and exasperation. 

He put a hand on her shoulder and continued with a soothing tone, "ok, ok, let's go. I'll help you find it". 

Then, he proceeded to look under the bed, but there was no trace of the cat. "I don't know, Becca. Are you sure you leaved it in here? You didn't take it outside? Look, it's alright, tomorrow when we get out of the aquarium, we can go get a new one, I promise". 

However, this offer only seemed to exacerbate Becca's distress. She started bawling, and Will could see the profound sadness in her eyes, even if he didn't fully comprehend the situation. All he could do was embrace her, but Becca remained unresponsive, not reciprocating the hug.

"It's okay, Becca. You'll get a new one, and it will be even better. That cat was already old." Will tried to console her, although he was still perplexed by the depth of her attachment to the lost stuffed cat.

Becca's tears flowed uncontrollably as her mind became a whirlwind of memories from that special birthday when she had received Mr. Snuggles. She could see her mother's warm and loving smile, and picture Jay's supportive presence as he helped her unwrap the gift box. Those recollections also brought back the bittersweet image of their father, sitting at the table, all of them sharing a birthday cake. But what weighed most heavily on Becca's mind was the recollection of her mother's gentle voice and the overwhelming fear that gripped her – the fear that she might forget her mother's comforting scent and her cherished appearance if she were to lose Mr. Snuggles. It was this fear, this painful possibility, that had driven her to such intense distress.

In her frustration, Becca pushed her brother away, her actions betraying the depth of her anguish. "You don't get it," she groaned. The rawness of her emotions was palpable, and it left a profound ache in Will's chest as he struggled to comprehend the intensity of her distress and find a way to comfort her.

In that moment, the sound of laughter echoed from the living room, and it was at that moment Becca pieced together what had likely transpired. With a sense of urgency, she darted out of the room, her brother following closely behind. There, in the living room, she found Mr. Snuggles in the firm grasp of Owen, who was gleefully swinging the stuffed cat from side to side, dancing to the music of his cartoons.

"Mr. Snuggles," Becca whispered in relief.

Natalie, seated on the sofa, turned to look at Becca, initially unaware of the distress that had gripped the girl.

"Oh," she remarked to Becca. "It was the only thing that could calm him down. I was walking him around the house, and he wandered into the guest room to find it. I told him we would borrow it from you."

Will's voice came from behind, breaking the tension. "Good that we found him," he sighed in relief. "You still have my word about the new stuffed animal, though." He reached out and hugged his sister by the shoulder, still puzzled by her intense reaction and concerned by the fact that she was still upset. He wished he could understand and help her better, but for now, all he could do was be there for her.

"Will, I--thank you," Becca whispered in a hushed tone, ensuring her words were only for her brother's ears. "But I don't need or want another one. I need Mr. Snuggles, and I can't let Owen have it, I really can't."

Will glanced at Owen playing with the black cat. He didn't initially see the issue, but the intensity of Becca's emotions was impossible to ignore. He furrowed his brow and returned his gaze to her, realizing that she was genuinely suffering. It was clear that the stuffed animal held immense significance for her.

"Okay, alright," he said gently, attempting to wipe away her tears.

"Owen, come here," Will knelt to be at the boy's level. "Buddy, this little cat here is already tired. It's time for him to go back to sleep." As he tried to take Mr. Snuggles from Owen's small hands, the boy became upset and clung tighter to the toy.

“Will, what are you doing?” Natalie intervened.

“Becca wants, needs her plush back, that’s all”.

“He’s been restless for two hours, this thing is the only thing that has calmed him”.

“Yes, I know, but it’s not his, and we should have asked Becca first if we wanted to take it”.

Becca felt a warmth in her heart as she watched her brother stand up for her in front of his girlfriend, something that had never happened before. 

"Owen, pal, please," Will implored. He managed to gently take the stuffed animal from the boy's hands, but Owen's reaction was immediate – he started crying and throwing a tantrum.

Becca couldn't help but feel awful. She didn't want the baby to cry, and a wave of guilt washed over her for not letting him have Mr. Snuggles. But she just couldn't, if it were any other toy, she wouldn't have hesitated to lend it to him.

"Will!" Natalie scolded, and the cat went back into Owen's hands.

Will found himself in a difficult position, torn between wanting to please Becca and not fully comprehending the depth of her attachment to the toy.

"Becc, just lend it to him for a while. He'll get tired of it soon, you'll see."

Becca watched as Owen continued to play with Mr. Snuggles, her heart heavy with mixed emotions. She shuddered when she saw him putting one of the toy's ears into his mouth. The thought of her mother's scent slowly fading away from the cherished stuffed animal weighed heavily on her mind, making it even more difficult to let go.

“No, I can’t”

Will tried to stop her, but he didn't have the heart to do it.

"Owen, baby, I'm sorry, you need to give it back to me, please," Becca pleaded with a soft, gentle tone. However, Natalie intervened defensively.

"Becca, stop acting like this. It's just a toy, and he's just a kid."

Seizing the opportunity when Owen momentarily left the cat on the floor, Becca reached for it with a sense of relief. But at the same time, Natalie grasped it by the tail, and in the struggle to pull it towards herself, the stuffed animal tore in two.

Becca clutched the body of Mr. Snuggles in her arms, her eyes filled with horror as she stared at the torn tail on the floor. Her beloved companion had been torn apart, and she was left in shock, aghast at the sudden, painful loss.

"NO!" Becca's anguished scream pierced the air, sending shivers down Will's spine. Her cries escalated into a torrent of tears, her emotions a chaotic whirlwind of anger, sorrow, and anxiety. She felt trapped and overwhelmed, and all she wished for was to escape that painful moment.

"I wish I was dead too!" Becca's words, spoken with laboring breaths, were a heartbreaking cry for release. She bolted towards the front door in a desperate attempt to escape, but Will managed to reach her in time, pulling her into a hug from behind, trying to be gentle and cautious, afraid of hurting her in the process. His embrace was a lifeline, an attempt to anchor her and provide the support she desperately needed in that agonizing moment.

"Let me go! Leave me alone!" Becca's cries reverberated, her voice laced with anguish and despair. No one had ever witnessed her in such a state; she appeared as if she were possessed, kicking and hitting, doing everything in her power to break free from her brother's embrace, as if she were fighting against her own tormenting emotions.

"I can't. I can't let you go like this. I need you to calm down, sweetie. Calm down, Beccs, everything's okay," Will implored, his words filled with love and concern.

But those last words pierced her like a dagger to the heart. Nothing was okay; everything felt wrong. Her world was fractured. She no longer had her dad, her mom, or Jay. The only thing that still connected her to her mother had been damaged. She didn't have a home, and she couldn't find her place in this world. In her anguish, Becca acted without thinking, biting Will's arm to break free from his embrace, her pain manifesting in a desperate attempt to escape her overwhelming emotions.

“Will, she bit you. Do something!” Natalie’s accusations rumbled in her ears.

“No, no. It’s ok, Beccs. It’s alright”, Will tried to calm his sister, whose little face looked frightened.

Everything happened so fast and Becca managed to break free and escape through the front door. She ran as fast as her legs could carry her, her vision blurred by tears, making it impossible to see clearly where she was headed. 

Unheeding of Natalie's protests, Will chased after her, desperate to catch up.

"Becca! Becca, please!" His voice reached her ears, calling her name at a distance, but it grew fainter and fainter as she continued to run. "Becca!" She heard one last anguished cry, a long and agonized scream that filled the air with sorrow.

When she finally came to a halt, she was exhausted, her breathing labored. She looked around, but the surroundings were unfamiliar, and she couldn't identify the street or any nearby landmarks. She was lost, but returning the way she came wasn't an option, so she continued to walk, trying to find her bearings and make sense of her tumultuous emotions.

It was dark and cold, and she wasn't properly dressed, lacking a warm sweater. Her nose turned red, and her face and ears stung from the biting chill, but she didn't stop walking. She suddenly remembered she had her phone in her pocket and, without breaking her stride, she pulled it out. She dialed the number, but the call didn't connect; the number she called was turned off. Nonetheless, she decided to leave a message on the voicemail.

"J-Jay..."

Will was overwhelmed by fear, his mind racing with countless scenarios. He rushed back inside his home to retrieve his car keys, wasting no time, and then immediately returned to search for Becca. Determined to find his sister and make sure she was safe, he set out with a sense of urgency.

Meanwhile, Becca continued walking along a dimly lit street, too afraid to stop and ask for help. At this point, even if she wanted to, she couldn't return to Will's house, as she was unsure how to find her way back. Eventually, she came upon a bench in a park that seemed relatively safe, with a few children and their mothers nearby.

With trembling hands, she retrieved her phone from the back pocket of her jeans and called Hailey's number multiple times, but there was no answer. Frustrated and desperate, she decided to send a text:

Hailey, I need you. Please, call me

Becca quickly noticed a man approaching her, which instinctively made her stand up and call Hailey one last time.

"Hey, girl!" The man continued walking toward her at an accelerated pace. "Are you alone?"

Once more, there was no answer on the other side of the line. This time, however, Becca decided to speak to the voicemail. Her voice trembled and cracked as she cried out of fear, "Hailey! Hailey! I really need your help..."

The stranger was now just a few steps away from her and made a gesture as if he was trying to take her arm. In a panic, Becca screamed at him while still on the call, "No, get off!" She then began to run once again, desperate to escape the approaching stranger.

After several minutes of wandering around, shivering from the cold and filled with fear, unable to stop crying, Becca found herself standing beneath a well-lit area outside a small store where a steady flow of people passed by. She retrieved her phone once more, but her heart sank when she realized the battery was dead. Cursing her misfortune, she felt a touch on her shoulder and startled in fear.

"It's okay, honey," a woman's voice reassured her. "I'm not going to hurt you. Are you okay? Are you lost? Do you need help?"

However, Becca was now too paranoid and frightened to trust a stranger. She took a few steps back, her guard up.

"Okay, okay, don't go. Don't worry," the woman said, trying to be reassuring. "I'll call the police, and they'll help you get back home, okay? I'll stay here with you."

But as soon as the woman briefly took her eyes off the young girl, Becca seized the opportunity to slip away and disappear into the night.

"Did you find her?" Natalie inquired, even though it was only Will who returned to the car. He was overwhelmed, his stress and anxiety apparent as he sat on the entrance stairs, his elbows on his knees and his hands on his face. His girlfriend knelt beside him and rubbed his back in a soothing manner. "She'll be back soon."

"Are you sure? She's a 12-year-old girl wandering the streets alone at night. She's never been out alone!"

"She must be hiding somewhere, like in a game. She just wants to get your attention. Give her time."

Will couldn't bear the waiting any longer. "She's anxious, stressed, and sad. She was crying her eyes out. She must be frightened and cold right now. And it's all my fault," his voice quivered as he spoke. Will ran his hands over his face in frustration. "We should call the police," he suggested.

"What? No!"

"It's been three hours now!"

"If you call the police, Jay will find out about this!"

Determined, Will stood up. "He'll find out anyway."

Natalie continued to resist, "...and we'll have the entire Intelligence unit here. Is that what you want?"

"Actually, yes, Natalie. I want every cop in Chicago looking for my little sister, if that's possible!" 

The 21st district was empty, the only sound filling the station was the echo of footsteps ascending the stairs. Jay was the first to enter the bullpen, followed by the rest of the Intelligence detectives and officers, all dressed in their tactical gear. He was the sole individual in plain clothes, and he looked thoroughly exhausted.

"Good job!" Voight patted Halstead on the back. "All of you. Now, go rest. The paperwork can wait until tomorrow. These punks aren't going anywhere." Before retreating to his office, the sergeant turned back to address Jay again. "Take a day off, you've earned it."

"Thanks, Sarge," Jay acknowledged.

"Alright, it's 10:40. Still time to head to Molly's to celebrate," Adam announced to the room. "First round's on me. Who's coming?"

They all accepted the invitation, including Hank from his desk.

"Jay, you coming?" Kevin inquired when he noticed Jay hesitating.

"No, I'll pass, guys. I'll just shower and go straight to pick up Becca. She must be losing her mind after a week with Will," he quipped with a smile. "If I hurry, I can still be the first one to wish her a happy birthday."

#jay halstead #will halstead #jay halstead x halstead sister #will halstead x halstead sister #one chicago #chicago med #chicago fire #will halstead fanfic #jay halstead fanfic

[study-coffee-chicago]

Halstead Headcanons Pt. 5

A/N: I wanted to write a Halstead Thanksgiving imagine and I also had a headcanon where Halstead sister chokes sitting in my drafts. Since they're both pretty short, I decided to combine them into another installment of Halstead Headcanons.

Enjoy!

Thanksgiving:

You anxiously looked at the forecast for the third time this hour. But, at this point, you knew it was no use. It was currently Monday morning and a snowstorm had hit Chicago late last night. Seeing as your 9 am Monday class was the only class that hadn't been canceled this week, you planned to leave right after class and make the eight-hour drive from Kansas City to Chicago, and planned to get back home around 9 pm at night. You, Will, and Jay had been discussing this possibility of you not coming home since last Thursday when the storm had been forecasted.

You sighed and looked at all you stuff that you had lined up in the hallway of your apartment, right beside your door. You figured maybe they'd be wrong, so maybe you'd be able to leave today...it wouldn't be the first time meteorologists had been wrong.

You dialed Will's number and put your phone on speaker as you started to make your coffee.

"Hey, kiddo," he answered.

"I can't come home. It's supposed to keep snowing and there's accidents everywhere when I get about two hours from home and--"

"Hey, hey, it's okay," Will said.

"But it's not! I wanna come home for Thanksgiving, Will!"

"And you will. Thanksgiving's on Thursday. It's only Monday. You can always make the drive on Wednesday if it clears up."

"But what if it doesn't!"

"Hey, don't think like that. The plows will be out soon and then we'll go from there, okay?"

You sniffled. "Okay."

"Now, get ready for class and me and Jay will keep you updated on the road conditions. Sound good?"

"I guess," you answered.

"If there's one thing I know about Chicago weather is that it's unpredictable, so think positive."

"Yeah. I'm gonna go now. I'll text Jay and tell him I won't be coming home today. He's probably gonna call me in the next thirty minutes, too."

"Good idea. Have a good day, kiddo. And, there's still three days until Thanksgiving, so don't stress."

"Easier said than done."

***

Wednesday, 7 am

Jay stood in the kitchen, pouring himself a cup of coffee. Then, he looked outside. It wasn't snowing as hard, but after one quick look at the traffic and road conditions online, he knew most of the roads were still glare ice. There was no way you could make the drive back.

"Morning," Hailey said. She grabbed a mug from the cupboard. "Roads not looking any better?"

"No. I don't know what to do, Hailey. I don't want her to miss Thanksgiving, but it's not safe for her to drive. I mean, we could try to go there later in the day, but with traffic and everything..."

"We wouldn't get there until the middle of the night," Hailey finished.

Then his phone buzzed. It was a text from Will. There was also a picture attached.

Train tickets? the text read with a picture of train tickets that left at 9:30 am and got into Kansas City around 5 pm.

"Don't tell my brother I said this," Jay began, "but he's a genius." Hailey furrowed her eyebrows and Jay passed her his phone. "The Amtrac is still running."

Hailey smiled. "Nine-thirty, huh? Guess we better start packing."

***

You curled up on your bed. Even though it was only 6 pm, it was dark. And, hey, maybe you'd sleep for over 24 hours and could sleep through Thanksgiving. You and Jay had talked this morning and he told you it still wasn't safe for you to drive home. He said that if he could drive out, he would. But, even he knew it was unsafe to drive long distances in this weather.

You were just about to turn your phone on silent and put it in sleep mode when a call came through. It was from Jay.

"Yeah?" you asked while you held back tears.

"Come to your window. We're outside."

"What? Jay, I think I heard you wrong."

"Just, come look out your window," he repeated.

"You're scaring me. I'm not gonna go look outside without knowing what I'm gonna see. It's dark outside! Is there a serial killer near me? Is that why you want me to look outside? I didn't get an emergency alert or anything!"

"Y/N, nothing's wrong. But, the Amtrac was still running and we rented a car when we got down here and--"

"You're here?!" you exclaimed and jumped out of bed and ran to your window.

You quickly peeked through the blinds and sure enough, there were Jay, Will, and Hailey standing in front of a small, blue rental car, the headlights illuminating them.

Your face lit up. "I'm coming down!"

Then, you hung up your phone and quickly threw on a hoodie over your t-shirt and slipped your feet into your shoes, not caring if the sweatpants you were wearing had a little stain on them.

You ran from the walking gate to the parking lot. "How did you guys...Scratch that! When did you guys think this up?"

Jay pulled you into a hug. "Ugh, missed you, kid. Morning's aren't the same without you trying to steal my coffee."

"You loved it," you joked.

"And, to answer your question," Will started and you gave him a hug, "It was my idea."

"Jay even went so far as to call him a genius," Hailey supplied.

"I told you not to tell him that," Jay muttered.

"Oops, must've been all the drinks I had on the train."

"You didn't even—" Jay cut himself off with a sigh. "Forget it. Happy wife, happy life."

"Glad I wasn't on that train," you muttered.

"Wasn't too bad," Will said. "If you had headphones."

"You're an ass," Jay said.

"Well, this ass was the one who had the idea to get Amtrac tickets."

"So, you're a smart ass then?"

"C'mon you guys," you said, trying your best to stop their bickering. "Grab your stuff. Let's get inside and then we can order from the pub across the street."

"Sounds good to me," Will said. "I gotta try that fried chicken sandwich you're always talking about."

***

"Holy shit," Will said after he took his first bite of the fried chicken sandwich. "You weren't kidding."

"I think this is one of the best things I've ever tasted," Jay agreed.

Then, Hailey quickly reached over and stole the other half of her husband's sandwich.

"Hey!"

"I wanna try it!" Then she took a bite. "You guys are right, this is really good!"

Then, she gave Jay his sandwich back and dipped her five cheese grilled cheese that she'd gotten in her bowl of tomato soup.

"So, what are we doing for Thanksgiving tomorrow?" you asked.

"Shit. I didn't that far ahead," Will said.

"Can't get a turkey now, wouldn't thaw in time," Hailey said. "They'd probably be sold out anyway."

You stood up and started looking through your fridge. "Let's see...I have eggs, bread, milk, a bunch of condiments, wraps..." you continued listing off what you had in your fridge, freezer, and cupboard. "I probably have the stuff for sweet potato casserole, mashed potatoes, broccoli, and we can do sandwiches instead of turkey. Oh! I can also make these apple butter cinnamon rolls I've made a couple times when I have friends over."

"We can probably find rolls somewhere in the morning," Jay supplied. "And maybe some carrots somewhere for cooked carrots."

"I can make spanikopita if I can find the ingredients tomorrow," Hailey said.

"And I'll find the wine aisle tomorrow," Will said.

"Or Trulys. We can always have those," you suggested. "The tropical pack, though."

Will rolled his eyes. "Of course you'd suggest that."

"So, me and Will will go to the store tomorrow morning and you can make the cinnamon rolls. Hails, what do you need for the spanikopita?"

Hailey then told Jay what she needed and he wrote it down on his phone. Then, the four of you continued eating and thinking about everything you needed to do tomorrow.

***

"Morning, sleepy head," Hailey greeted when you woke up the next morning. She was standing at the stove making eggs, a cup of coffee sitting on the counter next to her. "Want some eggs?"

"Oh, you don't have to make me any. I can cook for myself," you answered.

"I know you can cook for yourself. But, I'm already cooking, so if you want some, I can make you some."

"Okay," you answered. "Thank you."

"No problem."

You went back to your room and grabbed the current book that you were reading.

"Here you go," Hailey said a few minutes later and handed you a plate of eggs and toast along with a cup of coffee.

"Thanks, Hails."

"You're welcome. Hey, you mind if I steal a book from you to read?"

You shook your head. "Go right ahead," you answered. "I'd highly recommend The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue."

"Alright, I'll read that one then."

Then, the two of you ate your breakfast and read your books and you had a quiet morning with your sister-in-law before you started cooking.

***

Six hours later, the grilled sandwiches were made and all the sides and the cinnamon rolls and wine were on the counter. There was a Blackhawks game on your tv since none of you watched the game that they played yesterday. And, even though it wasn't the Thanksgiving you had in mind, your brothers and Hailey still made it one to remember.

END

Choking:

Request from anon on tumblr: Hey can you pls do a story of like the Halstead siblings with y/n Halstead (their sister) and they are at dinner and she starts choking and they like save her and she passes out and worries them

A/N: The age in this one is first grade.

For Jay and Will, grades had always been something important...well, Will a bit more so than Jay. But, they were important nonetheless and they had instilled that in you. Because of this, you were super excited to show Jay your report card after school because you had gotten all As (the A in math could definitely be attributed to your brothers going over subtraction flashcards with you almost every day). So, Will sent a quick text telling him to meet the two of you at Applebees because that's where you wanted to go for dinner. And, if you got all As (or all As and Bs, but you didn't know about the B part, which was between Jay and Will), you got to go wherever you wanted that night for dinner. Tonight, you chose Applebees.

"Will!" you exclaimed when you saw him while waiting for your table. "I got all A's!"

"I heard!" Will said, matching your enthusiasm. "You might be smarter than me!"

You quickly shook your head. "Nuh-uh."

"And what makes you say that, missy?"

"Because you a doctor!"

"Well...you're definitely smarter than Jay."

"Hey!" Jay yelled, faking offense.

"You did mess up that subtraction problem that day," Will reminded him.

"I had been up for over 24 hours!"

They quickly stopped their petty bickering when Jay's name was called for their table.

***

Half an hour later, you were eating your chicken tenders and fries while your brothers ate their food.

You swallowed a big bite and felt it get stuck a bit, so you took a sip of water. It still wouldn't go down and you still had the water in your mouth!

You started to cough and the water spewed out of your mouth.

Jay saw your red face and quickly started hitting your back, trying to get the food to come out.

"Keep coughing, Y/N," Will told you as he stood up and got right next to you.

You did three big coughs and still nothing.

Will crouched down next to you. "Y/N, I'm gonna get this out."

Your head was starting to feel weird, so whatever Will said, you didn't hear him. But, the next thing you knew, you felt hands wrap around your belly and then you felt yourself go forward and then back quickly and then then the big piece of chicken tender came flying out of your mouth and hit the spot in the booth where Will had previously been sitting.

You gasped for air.

"You okay, kiddo?" Jay asked and ran a hand through your hair.

You shook your head and buried your face in his chest.

"I'll go get the bill and order a milkshake for her to go," Will said and stood up.

Jay nodded and just continued to hold you.

"No more chicken and fries!" you told him.

"It's okay," he said. "You don't have to finish them. Will's gonna get you your milkshake and pay and then we're gonna go home. Does that sound okay?"

You nodded.

No more chicken tenders for you!

***

The next day when you came home from school, Jay inspected your lunch box and saw that all you had eaten out of it, was your juice box. It had taken a bit of coaxing last night to get you to drink your milkshake, but they finally got you to drink it by explaining that you didn't have to chew.

He walked into your room to see you grabbing some stuffed animals, presumably bringing them out into the living room to play with.

"Are you feeling okay, kiddo?" Jay asked and crouched down to your height and handed you your stuffed cat.

"Uh huh," you told him, even though your head felt funny.

"You sure? You didn't eat your lunch today."

He put a hand to your forehead. You didn't feel warm.

"Wasn't hungry," you answered.

At that, your stomach growled.

"Well, you're hungry now. How about you come eat your sandwich or Goldfish, alright? Your animals can come with you, too."

At this, you started to cry. You were scared, you felt funny, and you were hungry.

"No!" you wailed. "Just juice! I want juice!"

"Why just juice, Y/N? Why don't you want Goldfish? You love Goldfish."

"Don't want Goldfishies cause they get stuck. Like the chicken nugget!"

"No. They won't," Jay reassured you.

"How you know?"

Jay thought for a second. How could he make a first-grader understand this.

Then, a lightbulb went off in his head.

"C'mere. I gotta show you something," Jay told you.

You followed him out of your room—arms full of stuffed animals—and into the kitchen. He grabbed an empty cardboard toilet paper roll from the recycling bin and set that on the counter. Then, he grabbed a piece of bread from the fridge.

He held up the empty toilet paper roll. "This is like your mouth, okay?" You nodded. He crumpled up the piece of bread. "And pretend this is the chicken nugget you ate last night."

"But that's not a chicken nuggy! That's bread!"

Jay smiled. "I know that. But just pretend. Just like when you pretend you're a princess."

"Okay!"

"When you put a big piece of food in your mouth, like this–" Jay tried his best to shove the piece of bread into the empty roll. "--it gets stuck," he finished. "Then, someone has to help you get it out." With a little effort, Jay managed to squeeze the piece of bread out. "Like this. That's what happened to you last night and then Will had to help you get it out."

"Uh-huh," you agreed.

Jay then proceeded to rip the bread into little pieces. "But, when the food is smaller, it doesn't get stuck. See?" He fed a few pieces of bread through the empty roll and then let them fall out the other side and onto the table. "Then they go into your tummy. You just need to make sure the food is small and chewed up."

"I just gotta bite my chicken nuggies and then they don't get stuck anymore?" you asked with a curious look on your face.

"And chew them good," Jay confirmed.

"Can I have chicken nuggies now? And Goldfishes?"

Jay laughed. In a normal scenario, he wouldn't let you have both chicken nuggets and Goldfish; he'd make you eat your sandwich that was leftover from your lunch. But, seeing as you've barely eaten today, he figured one time wouldn't kill you.

"I think we have some Dino nuggies somewhere."

You gasped excitedly. "You got me the Dino ones?"

"I did. Now, how about you and your animals go sit down and I'll bring them to you, okay?"

You did as Jay suggested and went and sat down, putting your stuffed animals on the other chairs at the table.

And, when Jay told Will about everything and how he convinced you to eat with that demonstration, Will told him that he could be a science teacher. Of course, Jay had laughed and told him no way. You were more than enough. He didn't think he could deal with twenty of you.

END

A/N: Thanks for reading! Don't forget to reblog and comment!

taglist: @theambracer88 @virtualreader @kelelas-life @celyndavies @brookerz122493 @musicismyescape27 @anotherfan07 @thexplosivegirl @dreamingwithlens @xoxmariaxox @911ls-tarlos @iamasimpingh0e @i-like-sparkly-things @herecomesthewriterwitch @liampayne88 @glitterquadricorn @luvreading67 @smoothdogsgirl @afriendlyneighborhoodhufflepuff @actlikesummerr @lcothr523 @star-wars-lover

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[jayhalsteadsimp2019]

Well, This Is Awkward

Summary: Lyla walks in on something she didn’t expect to see.

TW: Making out 

Word Count: Somewhere around 543 

Note: Hi!  This just randomly popped in my head whilst thinking about Upstead. (I read it after originally posting [if that makes sense 😭] and edited it slightly but yeah anyway) I’m working on some more scenarios, idk if you really care but oh well if you do you know now lol.

Anyway, I hope you like this one! (:

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     “What did you guys do?”  Will inquired on the other line, Lyla struggling to control her laughter.

     He was referring to the prank Lyla and Mia pulled on Dante, and it was pretty funny.

     “Just tell me!”  Will whined, Lyla trying to suppress her laughter.

     “O-Okay.”  Lyla cleared her throat, taking a sip of her water before speaking, “We might’ve made all of his shirts pink.”

     “Lyla!”  Will exclaimed, Lyla bursting into laughter.

     Lyla calmed down once again, making her way to the front door, “Hey, at least he won’t look homeless anymore!”

     “You have a good point.”  Lyla smiled in pride at herself as Will continued, “How did he react?”

     “He was pissed.”  Lyla put her phone between her ear and her shoulder as she opened the door, taking another sip of her water as she stepped inside.

     Lyla’s eyes went wide with surprise as she began to choke on her water, shocked at the sight in front of her.

     She knew Jay and Hailey had to have had feelings for each other, sure.  What she didn’t expect was to witness a makeout session on the couch in the living room.  No, she was not expecting that at all.

     Lyla finally stopped choking, Jay and Hailey looking at her, embarrassment on their faces.

     “Well,”  Lyla chuckled nervously, clearing her throat, “This is awkward.”

     “What’s awkward?”  Will inquired from the other line.

     “Shut up Will.”  Lyla muttered, closing the door behind her.

     She made her way across the house before turning around and walking backwards.  She pointed to the stairs, “I’m gonna be in my room if you need me but uh, you guys seem pretty busy.”  

     “Lyla-”  Jay started, trailing off at the end.

     Lyla turned on her heels, running up the stairs, “Bye!”

     Jay groaned in embarrassment as Lyla shut her door, making her way to her desk as she tried to get those images out of her head.

     “What’s awkward?”  Will asked, curiosity in his voice.

     “Can you and I do something tonight?”  Lyla suggested, ignoring the question.

     “Sure.  Do you want me to see if Jay-”

     “He’s a little busy at the moment.”

     “What- what does that mean?”

     Lyla sighed dramatically, “I think I’m gonna be scarred for life.”

     “You’ll be fine.”

     Lyla chuckled, “Yeah, I totally didn’t just see my brother and his partner half naked on the couch.” 

     Will’s eyes widened as he parked his car, “Actually?!”

     “No, I’m making it up.”  Lyla replied sarcastically, “At least there’s one thing I can say.”

     Will sighed, knowing exactly what Lyla was going to say, “What are you gonna say?”

     “I told you so!”

     “Yeah yeah.  I’m outside.” 

     “Okay.  I’m going through the back though.”

     “Good idea.”

     Lyla rolled her eyes, standing up from her chair and grabbing a hoodie as she hung up the phone.  As she made her way downstairs and to the back door, she got a notification.

     She pressed it, snickering as she read the text message from Jay.

     “Don’t tell Will.”  

     “Too late.”  Lyla hit the send button, pocketing her phone as she made her way outside.

     “Finally.”  Lyla thought as she made her way to Will’s car, glad that her brother and his partner were finally more than what Jay described as ‘really good friends.’

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*Finish*

I hope you enjoyed!  If you want to request anything feel free to

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[callmemana]

Jay Halstead Fanfics: 1

🚨Don’t forget to reblog your favorite fanfics to show your love to the creators! They work hard and deserve every bit of love🚨

🧡if you have any recs that you like and want me to add don’t be afraid to tell me!🧡

Key: smut - 🌸/ fluff - 🦋 / angst - ☂️/ personal favorite - 👓/

Call It Love 2 @sheetsonfire 🌸🦋☂️👓

Distress @resanoona 🦋☂️👓

Down The Aisle @resanoona 🦋👓

Every Step @resanoona ☂️ (miscarriage)

First Word @thebookreader12345 🦋👓

For You @resanoona 🦋☂️

Fuck Buddies With Jay @twoheartshookingup 🌸🦋

Glad You’re Safe @resanoona 🦋☂️👓

Hard For Me @resanoona 🦋☂️👓

Heartbeat On The Line @thebookreader12345 🦋☂️

Home To You @sheetsonfire 🦋☂️👓

I Am The Apocalypse Mini Series @resanoona 🦋☂️👓

Invasion @resanoona 🦋☂️

In My Eyes @resanoona 🦋☂️👓 (plus sized reader)

In Trouble @resanoona 🦋☂️

Lockdown @resanoona 🦋☂️

Murder Next Door Series @resanoona 🦋☂️👓

One Plus One @resanoona 🦋☂️👓

Pieces Series @resanoona 🦋☂️👓

Protective @resanoona 🦋☂️👓 (severide! Sister)

Secrets @street-smarts-baby 🦋☂️👓

Somebody’s Watching @resanoona ☂️👓

Taken @resanoona 🦋☂️👓

Ten Years @resanoona ☂️👓

The Innocent Detective Series @poppadom0912 🦋☂️👓

Where Have You Been Series @resanoona 🦋☂️👓

Your Hand In Mine @sheetsonfire 🦋☂️👓

#one chicago imagine #foryou #one chicago x reader #fic rec #one chicago fanfiction #one chicago #jay halstead #jay halstead smut #jay halstead x reader #jay halstead x y/n #jay halstead x you #callmemanaficrecs