#halstead sister

[poppadom0912]

Together : Series Masterlist

Started: 03/09/23 - Finished: 10/11/23

Summary: What was supposed to be a quick trip cleaning your dad's cabin turns into something so much more.

Warnings: Graphic descriptions of violence, stabbing, guns, arson, drugs etc.

Halstead Cabin

Halstead Hurt

Halstead Lost

Halstead Help & Severide Worry

Halstead Number Two

Halstead Stubborn Part Two

Halstead Tough

Halstead Blood

Halstead Tears

Halstead Smiles

Epilogue

#one chicago x reader #one chicago imagine #jay halstead x reader #onechicago #chicago fire #chicago med #chicago pd #will halstead x reader #halstead sister #halstead brothers #kelly severide x reader #jay halstead x sister!reader #will halstead x sister!reader #masterlist #series masterlist

[i-spaced-sorry]

Followed

Hey! I've had this idea floating around in my head for a little while now and finally got it out on paper. Halstead! Sister is followed while trying to go to a coffee shop. Hope you enjoy reading and stay safe out there y'all, it's a wild world we live in unfortunately.

“What are your plans for today?” asked Jay the minute you walked into the kitchen. 

“Well good morning to you” you sassily replied while walking to the fridge to grab the milk. 

You were off from work and had been looking forward to this day since last Monday. 

“Hmm, I was thinking of maybe going and visiting an old friend from the old neighborhood and then maybe get coffee from my favorite spot before returning home and lounging and doing nothing” you answered while sinking your spoon into your cereal. 

“Solid plan. Remember if you need me for any reason and I don’t answer, call Al.”

“Al?” you questioned when you swallowed your cereal bite. “Usually you tell me to call Hailey.”

Swiping his keys off the counter, Jay looks at you and says, “Voight switched up the partners this week and I’m with Al while Hailey is with Kevin, so I repeat call Al if you need me and I don’t answer”

“Okay” you mock saluted. 

“Pick up. Pick up. Come on pick up” you muttered while your phone was up to your ear and you looked over your shoulder while picking up the pace a bit. 

“Hey this is Detective Jay Halstead, I can’t come to the phone right now. Leave your name and number after the beep and I’ll get back to you as soon as possible” the familiar voice mail message spoke out into your ear. 

“Fuck!” you muttered while ending the call and picking your pace up a bit more after looking behind you and still seeing the person who had been following you for the past 3 blocks behind you.

“What’s a pretty girl like you doing out and bout?” asked the man while also picking up his pace. 

You ignored him and kept walking. Wondering when the hell you were going to hit 35th street. 

“Are you headed to work or school?” the man asked when he got shoulder to shoulder with you. 

You ignored the guy again really wishing your brother would have picked up. 

Gripping your phone in your sweatshirt pocket you picked up your pace again, walking slightly more ahead of the guy. 

Pulling your phone out again, you quickly ran through your contacts and clicked on Olinsky before letting it dial. 

“You’re really pretty you know that?” the man started again while finally keeping his distance from you but still following you. 

‘36th street… 36th street place… 35th street! Finally!’ you thought while reading the street signs. Al’s phone also went to voicemail. Meaning they must be at a crime scene or in the car or something.

Turning right onto the street you notice the guy who had been following you for the past 5 blocks is no longer following you but of course you don’t get far enough away before you hear, “Have a great day sweetheart! You're gorgeous!”

Visibly shuddering you honestly feel disgusting and don’t even want coffee anymore. Mainly because you're shaken up but also because it means you have to be in the area for longer. 

So you quickly pull your phone out and call a number you didn’t exactly want to call. 

“Trudy?” you sniffled when she picked up. 

“Kid, what's wrong?” she asked on the other side. 

 “Is my brother and Al on a call right now?”

You hear some rustling and then the sound of a buzzer and heavy footsteps before someone speaks again. 

“Y/N? Are you okay?”

“Jay!” you all but shout!

“What’s wrong?”

“Why didn’t you pick up when I called you? Why didn’t Al pick up when I called?”

“I’m sorry, we were doing an interrogation. What’s up.”

“Uh, can you come get me?”

“Why? Can’t you take the bus? I thought you were visiting a friend and getting coffee?”

“I visited with my friend, it was a good time but I uh got followed and cat called and feel dirty and just want to go home”

“Cat called? Followed? For how long? Al and I are on our way! Where are you?”

“Uh from 37th street all the way to 35th street. I’m walking up 35th right now. I can wait by that school that’s right there if that’s easy enough of a landmark for you guys to find me.”

You hear the car start and doors being shut before you can hear your voice echo.

“Kid, we don’t care where we pick you up. Wherever makes you feel safest is good enough for us.” you hear Al say. 

“Uh, uh, yea the elementary school should be good. I’ll be on the sidewalk.” you stuttered out while running a hand through your hair. 

“Sounds good, we should be there in 20” replied your brother. 

“Hang in there kid” added Al before the call ended. 

The next twenty minutes were the longest twenty minutes of your life. You still felt really dirty and uneasy and just wanted to be in the safety of your brother or even better the safety of your own bed. 

“Hey Y/N, get in” you heard. You looked up to see Al’s Dodge Magnum car in front of you and your brother’s window rolled down. Quickly shuffling to your feet you scramble into the back seat and audibly let out a sigh. 

“You okay?” your brother asked while turning in his seat to face you. 

Nodding, you reply, “now I am, thank you for coming and getting me. I’m sorry you had to leave work.”

Al pulled into a parking space near Scoops ice cream and stated reassuringly, “Kid, you’re family. Meaning you're important to us. No case will ever be too important to come and get you”

Smirking, you asked, “Let me guess, are you just saying that cause the guy you guys were interrogating was jamming up and you weren’t getting anywhere with them?”

 Shaking their heads, Al and Jay looked at each other knowingly. 

“But we are being honest kid, if you ever have a problem or encounter again like today you call anyone in intelligence and they will have your back!”

“Copy! Can we get ice cream now?” you chuckled.

#chicago pd #al olinsky imagine #jay halstead #jay halstead imagine #al olinsky #one chicago #chicago pd imagine #one chicago imagine #jay halstead x sister reader #jay halstead x reader #al olinsky x reader #halstead sister #halstead!sister #jay halstead fluff #jay halstead x sister!reader #jay halstead x y/n #jay halstead x you

[amsgrey]

Can you do a story of the Halstead siblings with their younger sister (14 or 15). They all have a family dinner (Will, Jay, and Y/n) together and movie night and Y/n starts choking and Will has to save her but they comfort her and they get all scared and protective and have to take her into the hospital to get checked

Deja Vu

Warnings: Hospital stay, mention of seizures and vague insinuations of epilepsy, terrible writing, not proofread and general bad understanding of medical conditions and procedures lol

read part II here.

Sunday night dinners were Halstead tradition and you liked to think there was nothing that would stop it. That was until one of your brothers had a work emergency and was called in. For the last two weeks, one of your brothers couldn't make it, so as a way of making up for it, they both made sure to be there this Sunday.

As a way of making up got it, Will promised to make mac and cheese and garlic bread. You grinned and claimed it was the best winter comfort food. Jay rolled his eyes, for reasons beyond you he wasn't the biggest fan of Mac and Cheese. He claimed it was because it was all you ate when you were younger and he got sick of only eating it for days on end.

You rolled your eyes, "You can't be related to me."

You were sandwiched between both of your brothers on the couch, watching the game with dinner on your lap. You were tucked under a blanket with fluffy socks and comfy PJ pants on. Jay and Will were focused entirely on the hockey game on the TV. You were chewing on a piece of garlic bread when Jay and Will started cheering at the screen.

You felt like your soul left your body from the fright. You should have been expecting them to start cheering, but you were too engrossed in your garlic bread to realize. You started to chuckle, trying to clear your throat of the garlic bread that had lodged there when you had gasped from the shock.

Will and Jay didn't seem to notice, you were always kind of jumpy. Especially when they started cheering loudly for their team. You coughed a few more times, only succeeding in getting the bread stuck in your throat more. You started to panic, now the bread was choking you fully, blocking the air you kept gasping for.

You coughed a few more times, grabbing Wills forearm and clenching tightly.

"You okay?" Will asked, giving you a few hard pats on the back.

You shook your head, grabbing your chest as your throat started to burn.

"Y/N?" Jay asked, turning his full attention to you and trying to sooth you with a hand on your back.

You were sure the world was moving slowly, the last few seconds were dragging so excruciating slow. Will started to get more worried when you stopped coughing, not gasping at all. He quickly got to his feet, pulling you up off the couch and trying to dislodge the bread with the heimlich. In the process you were sure he moved all of your organs but it was a fleeting thought that flashed through your oxygen deprived mind.

"Will, it's not working," Jay said, standing in front of you with a terrified look.

"I know, Jay," Will said back, just as panicked, "I know."

By now, you were sure thing were slowing down. In the corner of your eyes you could see the hockey game continuing, but it was like the the player were moving at half the speed they normally did. The sounds of the room started the echo and distort, your brain fighting your lungs for oxygen and not able to win.

Eventually, Wil gave up on the heimlich. Feeling you grow more and more limp in his arms. His brain was clouded with his own panic, he had to fight himself to help you and not freeze in terror. He lay you down on the ground, watching your face that was filled with panic.

He pressed two fingers to your neck, feeling your racing pulse beneath his fingertips.

"Jay," Will called, "I need you to get me a knife and a pen."

Jay hesitated, "A pen-?"

"Yes!" Will shouted back, "Just do it!"

Jay rushed out of the room. WIll could hear him frantically opening drawers and rummaging through them. Moments later he came back with the knife and pen, shoving the knife towards Will and waiting for his further instructions.

Jay had seen enough things on the job to know what was coming next. He watched you pass out, completely limp on the floor at his knees. Will ordered him to unscrew the pen, then get on the phone with 911 and get an ambulance there straight away.

Jay did what he was told, watching as Will cranked his little sister with the little supplies he had on hand. When Will had finished his makeshift crank, he breathed a few breathes into the pen to try prompt your body to breathe for itself.

What felt like an entirenity later there was a loud knock on the door. Jay raced to the door to let the two paramedics in.

"Dr Halstead?" Brett asked, shocked to see him hovering over his little sisters limp body.

Will started to rattle off what had happened, but he stumbled over his words unable to fully explain. He worked in a high pressure environment every day but now he was struggling to get the words out to help his own sister. Brett and Violet weren't at all fazed, just immediately started working. Jay and Will helped them transfer you to the stretcher then the ambulance.

Will climbed into the back, vaguely registering Jay say he would follow in his truck. Will's mind was racing, he wasn't sure exactly how long it took before he could get you oxygen again. It felt like forever, but it couldn't have been more than 4 minutes. What if it was 5? Will knew the likelihood of a hypoxic brain injury increased significantly after 3 minutes, he had no idea how this would turn out.

The drive to Med felt even slower, Will fumbled with his phone to call ahead to Maggie, knowing she would have things prepared.

"Hey Will," Maggie answered, the sounds of the ED almost overpowering her voice.

"Maggie," Will's voice broke, "i- uh"

Will had to pause, compose himself.

"I'm on the way with Y/n, she- uh, she choked. I need abrams," Will stuttered.

Maggie was silent on the other end for a few seconds, "How far out are you?"

Will relayed the question to Brett in the front, who called back, "4 minutes!"

"We'll be ready, Will," Maggie said.

Jay hadn't left your bedside the whole night. After getting you to med, Dr Abrams had completed a neurological exam that had given Jay a sickening sense of Deja Vu. It felt so much like what they had gone through with your dad. You had only been 6 when he had died, you knew nothing about what was happening. Jay and Will had to try and shelter you from it all. But now Jay had the same sinking feeling.

The only thing that was keeping him sane was the way Dr Abrams had said your results were promising.

Will came and stayed for a few hours, before an emergency had Ms Goodwin asking for his help in the ED. It didn't bother Jay, he knew Will was just outside the doors should he need him.

It was almost 3 in the morning when the monitors started beeping in a strange symphony. Jay looked over at the array of screens, but he knew nothing about what was going on. He got up quickly, pulling open the door and calling for Maggie.

Maggie took one look and sent over Dr Archer, ordering himaroudn while she paged Abrams.

Dr Archer took one look at the screens and declared, "She's overbreathing the vent."

He headed to the screen nearby, punching in some numbers or whatever he needed to do. Jay was more focused on you and how you were. He only looked up when Will came bounding into the room followed by Dr Abrams.

They conversed and decided on trialing taking you off the ventilator, knowing there would be a risk but ultimately it was worth it. Extubation went well, Dr Archer sutured the hastily cut crank and promised to check in later. Abrams had hovered as well, he mentioned something about a test but that he would have to transfer you to the neuro floor to run it.

Jay nodded along but understood little of what was being said. Will handled the doctor talk, just gently guiding Jay about what was happening once everyone had left the room.

Will stood at the end of the bed, "Doesn't this give you Deja Vu?"

Jay looked from your peaceful face and then to Will, "I can't do this again, Will. I can't."

Will nodded, he walked around the bed and pressed a hand to your forehead, smoothing back your hair from your face, "I won't let it."

When you finally came round your brothers had to use every ounce self control not to pull you into the tightest hug.

You smiled and gave a little finger wave, but were too exhausted to do much else. Jay pressed a kiss to your forehead, muttering about being relieved that you were okay. You let out a quiet reply but couldn't muster much of an answer.

Will did pull you into a gentle hug, holding you close but being careful not to squash you. He pulled away with a big grin, you could see the relief in his eyes.

Will relayed information to you about how Dr Abrams wanted to observe you overnight on the Neuro floor but that hopefully you would be able to. gohome soon after. You were much too exhausted to complain or argue, just nodding along and letting them transfer you upstairs.

Jay refused to leave your side, he stayed right beside you for as long as he could. You had gone back to sleep after being transferred and Jay hovered the whole time holding your hand or stroking your hair off your face.

Will came in at 5 am with coffees, dressed for his upcoming shift.

"How is she?" He asked, handing his brother the coffee.

Jay sighed, "Tired but okay I think."

Will nodded, taking a seat opposite Jay and looking over you, "She'll be okay."

Jay could only nod.

Your brothers watched you sleep for a few more moments before Dr Abrams came in and interrupted the peace.

"Dr Halstead," Dr Abrams started. It woke you up with a fright, the sudden noise clearing the drowsiness from your brain.

"Hey, hey," Will grabbed your hand and cradled your cheek with his other hand, "It's okay. Take it easy."

Will smiled as you relaxed again, sucking in a deep breath.

You let out a small yawn, "Sorry, i just... got..."

Will frowned as you paused in the middle of your sentence, staring off into space instead of looking at him like you were before.

"Y/N?" he said, trying to draw your attention back to him.

After a few seconds you blinked a few times, looking back at your brother and frowning, "What?"

Will looked startled, he looked from you to Dr Abrams, who looked just as surprised as Will.

Abrams came around the bed and stood at your side, "Y/N, can you tell me what just happened?"

You just looked at him with a frown.

Abrams gestured for Will to follow him out of the room, "I think what we just witnessed was an absence seizure."

Will scrubbed a hand down his face, "So what do we do?"

"We do an EEG, hope that it's a temporary symptom of the Anoxic Injury."

"But you don't think it's temporary do you," Will pressed. He worked with Abrams enough to know his bad news face.

"I don't," Abrams confirmed, "I've had patients who have TBI's have epileptic seizures."

Will couldn't form words, unable to even respond to Dr Abrams.

"Will," Jay stepped out of the room, closing the door behind him and crossing his arms sternly. "What's going on?"

#will halstead x reader #will halstead #jay halstead x reader #jay halstead imagine #jay halstead #halstead brothers #halstead!reader #halstead sister #jay halstead x sister!reader #will halstead x sister!reader #one chicago x reader #one chicago imagine #chicago med x reader #chicago med imagine #chicago med #chicago pd x reader #chicago pd imagine

[fangirlfrom-hell]

One of Those Days || Jay Halstead x Halstead Sister

We deserved more interactions between Kim and Jay, that's all I'm saying.

I was thinking about this day where I was feeling super shitty at school, my self harm habits were horrible back then and I always wanted to cry. Since my mom was working, I texted my aunt and she took me to her house. She knew I was pretending to have a headache, but anyway followed my game. My little cousin lend me her bed to lay down and she decided it was a good idea to read The Little Prince for me to fall asleep 💕

“Do you want me to call your dad?” The receptionist at school asked the girl infront of her. Her head was slightly lowered and her hair covered a good part of her face.

“Can you call my brother instead?” Becca asked in a low crackly voice.

The receptionist sighed, “Sure. But you know I can’t let you go without your dad’s permission”

The girl nodded and sat in the hard plastic chairs of the office to wait while the woman spoke on the phone.

“…Yes, she has a headache…She’s alright, but seems like it’s getting worse. The nurse checked her, but can’t really do much. Sure, she’s at the office. Thank you, Mr. Halstead”

“Becca, your brother will be here as soon as he can. Go get your stuff, I’ll call your dad to let him know”

She didn't really have a headache, but it seemed like "fake it 'til you make it" was a real thing because she was now starting to feel discomfort in her head. Although it might have been because she was struggling not to cry in front of everyone. Her nose was now red, and her eyes were watery. Everybody thought it was due to allergies or the flu, but in reality, she was swallowing hard, trying to retain tears rolling down.

“Let’s go, Beccs”, Jay said while picking up his sister’s backpack from the floor.

The walk to the parking lot was silent; she knew that if she talked, she would burst into tears. A hole in her chest appeared the minute she saw her brother, and now it was growing fast inside of her.

Jay was eagerly typing on his phone, dealing with work issues he couldn't leave for later. He was worried; since he received the call from the school, his gut told him Becca's emergency wasn't about being sick, and now, even looking at her sideways, he could confirm it.

The detective opened the car a few steps before they reached it. Both siblings went to the same side of the truck, the girl ready to jump inside, while her brother was putting her belongings on the back seat. When Jay closed the door, Becca was still outside waiting for him. She was scratching her eye, and as soon as their gazes crossed, she started to silently cry. Instinctively, brother and sister took a step forward to hug each other; there was no time for Jay to bend to her height, so she squeezed his waist tightly.

"Did something happen, or is it only the feeling?" He tilted his ear to be able to hear the answer.

Becca moved her head, saying no, her face still sunken in his stomach, "Only the feeling."

"Alright," he softly said. They stayed like that for a moment before actually going inside the truck.

With a mixture of affection and concern, Jay stared at his sister before starting the car. "Do you want to talk?" He spoke gently. Her delicate attempt to wipe away the evidence of her tears with the sleeve of her sweater tugged at his heartstrings.

Becca despised being seen in such a fragile state; the vulnerability on display only heightened her emotions. It struck her as ironic that the very person who made her feel secure and shielded, her brother, was the one in front of whom she felt the most exposed. In the tumult of her emotions, Jay remained her safe person, the only one she could trust.

"It's the pain in the chest, the black hole. It's growing."

He frowned with a slight nod. Jay knew perfectly what she was talking about, and he hated to be so powerless about it.

"I don't want to go home," she begged. Becca's face made Jay's heart drop; you could see the pain in her puffy eyes and her cheeks a bit swollen along with her pink nose.

He swallowed hard, "I honestly wouldn't take you there even if you asked me to. You are coming with me, but I still have things to do at the bullpen."

“I can wait”

On the road back to the 21st District, Jay’s phone never stopped ringing, but anyway he passed by a drive-thru to get an ice-cream for Becca, a nice attempt to cheer her up a bit.

“Feeling a bit better?” He asked before getting inside of the building. At least, the crying was controlled for a moment. “Alright, let’s go”.

It was obvious she had been crying, but nobody said a thing about it. All the cops, detectives and seargets greeted the girl with a warm smile and acted normal around her.

Becca stayed in the coffee room and never got out of there. After all the weeping, exhaustion took its toll, and she found herself drifting into sleep on the arm of the sofa. Jay periodically entered to check on her, his stress evident as he felt the weight of time pressing against him. The clock relentlessly ticked away, yet the workload showed no sign of diminishing.

Kim noticed, and after preparing to leave by taking her coat and bag, she approached her friend. "Hey! I'm already done here and heading home. If you want, and if she wants to, I can take Becca with me. I just need to pick up Mak from school, and then we'll be home."

The detective hesitated, “Uhm—“

"Look, I don't know what's going on with her, but at least she can properly rest there..." Kim's voice carried a note of genuine concern, her eyes reflecting a mix of empathy and worry for both of them.

They turned their heads to see how the girl was all tangled in her spot.

“Are you sure?”

“Positive. That way you won’t have the pressure—I mean, you’ll still have the pressure, but it will be different knowing she’s comfortable in a safe place…I know the feeling, Jay”

After a few seconds of deliberating in his mind, he thankfully agreed only for his sister’s comfort.

“Don’t worry, don’t rush. You can pick her up whenever you can, doesn’t matter if it’s late”, Burgess said before departing and Jay knew she was honest, “I’ll take care of her”

Makayla was delighted with Becca's presence but was too shy to interact with her. Since they didn't have visitors often, this was kind of a new experience for her.

"Mak," her mom called, "Becca is not feeling very well, would you lend her your bed for a little while so she can rest?"

"Sure!" Despite her short life, Makayla's tender heart had already weathered enough storms, shaping her into a compassionate soul capable of understanding when someone else was beaten down or in pain. She sensed all that in Becca and was willing to make her feel good. "I can even lend her my stuffies," she added as an innocent gesture. Now addressing their guest directly, she continued, "They'll keep you company and won't be scary if you wake up in the dark."

Kim guided Becca to the room and arranged everything for her, picking up some clothes and toys that her daughter had left on the floor. Meanwhile, Makayla was opening drawers and climbing them to reach the highest shelf where the books were placed.

"There you go, make yourself comfortable," Burgess said while still fixing the unmade bed.

“And I’ll read you something to help you sleep”, Makayla approached holding a big book with her small hands.

“Mak, sweetie, no. We’re going out while she sleeps, okay? But you can read to me”, she took her hand to lead her out.

“No, mom. She doesn’t need to be alone right now”, Makayla’s big dark eyes were over Becca. “She needs a story, that’s what you do when I am sad”

Suddenly, the pain in Becca's chest intensified, and the gaping hole seemed to expand. It was as if her new little friend could read her mind. Becca yearned to be alone to release the pent-up tears, yet a lingering understanding told her that solitude might not be the best course of action.

“It’s alright, Kim. This her room, after all”

“Yas!” Mak jumped out of excitement. “Now, you lay down here and close your eyes. I’m going to read you a story that always make me feel better when I am not happy…”

With a smile and slowly going out of the room, Burgess leaved the two girls alone.

“The Little Prince is one of my favorite books too, Makayla”

“I knew it” her smile was bright.

As Becca listened to the reading, she feigned sleep. A few tears escaped her eyes, but she skillfully concealed them. Eventually, the reading ceased, and Becca sensed Mak's tiny face drawing near, checking if she was truly asleep. The youngest Halstead heard Makayla's footsteps departing from the room, but then she returned, placing a stuffed animal between Becca's arms. "Don't leave her alone, Buttons," she whispered before descending the stairs with her mommy.

Slowly, Becca opened her eyes and as soon as she made sure she was alone, she started an intense crying, trying not to make a lot of noise. She turned to give her back to the door, hidding in case someone came in. Clutching the stuffed animal tightly, she cried until exhaustion enveloped her, eventually lulling her into a fitful sleep.

She awoke in Jay's bed, disoriented about how she got there, a Mak's plush toy still nestled between her arms. Rising from the bed, a sudden wave of dizziness hit her, her head throbbing, and the discomfort in her chest persisting. When she emerged into the living room, her brother was seated on the sofa. Becca raised Buttons with one hand, a question mark etched on her face, silently seeking an explanation.

“Makayla insisted you should take it for tonight”, he answered simply.

“Oh. That's sweet”

"How are you feeling?" Jay asked, standing up to approach her, but she just shrugged. "Stupid question?"

"It's just—"

"One of those days," he completed. "I know."

"A terrible one, and it's not over yet" There was a long silence and Jay knew she was trying to say something, so he gave her time. "I was scared, Jay."

Those last words sent shivers down his spine, he understood what she was referring to and was also frightened but couldn't admit it in front of her. He masked his concern, assuring her, "You should never be scared, I'm here with you."

"I know", she gave him a hug.

"Do you want to talk now?" Becca hurriedly said no only with her head, and her brother understood.

"Okay", Jay sighed, "You haven't eaten a thing all day. Food should make you feel better. What about pizza, a movie, and the company of your favorite brother, hm?"

"What? Is Will coming?" Becca teased him, finally smiling.

"Ha! A joke, that's a sign that you are already feeling better."

The evening unfolded and laughter echoed through the room as they enjoyed the movie. Yet, even in her weariness, Becca managed to stay awake for a fleeting moment. As she drifted into sleep, the pain in her chest, a constant companion throughout the day, was miraculously eased by the gentle touch and care of her brother.

#Jay Halstead #Jay Halstead x sister #Jay Halstead x Halstead Sister #Halstead Sister #Chicago PD #One Chicago #Jay Halstead fic #Kim Burgess #jay halstead imagine

[marvel-and-chicago-fan]

Break Through Au

Word Count: 1.6k

Summary: You go out ice skating on the lake with your brothers and Things don’t go as planned for you three

Warnings: CPR/Death, Falling through Ice, Hospitals, Yelling

—----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

You were on the ice with your brothers Will and Jay, even though you weren’t allowed to, you guys still went regardless.

It was 10pm, no one would be out here to get in your way or yell at you to get off the ice.

“Cmon Y/n/n, it's better out here” Jay said while attempting to slide farther out to the lake. 

“I don’t know Jay, I kinda wanna stay over here. That way I get off easier than struggling to get off if I'm way over there.” you shrugged.

“Alright then, me and will be over there if you need us' ' He pointed towards the middle of the lake.

“Alright, I’m just gonna slide around.” You shivered. Maybe I should work more layers. You thought to yourself.

After a while you got bored and decided to go over to Will and Jay who were “fighting” over who got the better hockey stick.

Will pulled out his phone and checked the time. “Guys it’s 11 o'clock, she should head home now, if we all get a cold moms gonna know that we went outside without asking her, especially if Y/n gets sick”

“But I'm getting good at hockey,” you whined.

Will and Jay just have you that look. “Alright alright let’s go” You caved.

Because your brothers were better on ice than you were, they went up ahead of you. 

“GUYS! I'M NOT AS FAST AS YOU SLOW DO-“ Before you could finish your sentence a loud Crack interrupted you.

That made the two Halstead brothers come to a halt and turn around to you. “No,” Jay whispered. “Y/n don’t move, just stay still we’ll come to you”

Before you could say anything the Ice broke.

Jays pov:

“Y/N, SHIT NO” I screamed, my little sister just fell through the ice.

Me and Will immediately slide over to where she fell in and I immediately throw my whole arm in the freezing water to see if I can feel Y/n

“Give me your other arm so I can pull you once you get her!” Will shouts.

“Once I touch something that feels semi to a human arm I pull. I can tell it’s Y/n because once I pull I feel a bit of weight. 

“PULL WILL, PULL” 

Once we were towards the edge of the Lake I pick y/n up bridal style and rushed over to land.

“Put her down here.” Will says. 

“What the hell do we do?” I cry

“She’s not breathing, Jay, you need to run back to the house and call someone” Wills is studying medicine so he knows a couple of things about what to do in a life or death situation.

“WHO DO I CALL?” I shout

“I DO GIVE A FUCK, CALL 9-1-1 AND HURRY”

My body moves into autopilot as I’m running through the forest making sure I don’t trip on any rocks or roots. 

My legs are burning and I can’t breathe but I can’t stop, if I stop Y/ns gonna die and it’ll be all my fault.

As I reach the house I punch in the code to the door and run upstairs to my bedroom. 

I basically almost threw my  phone into the air while trying to pick it up.

“9-1-1 what’s your emergency?”

“It’s -it’s my sister, she fell into the lake and I don’t know if she’s breathing”

“Check if she has a pulse”

“My older brother is with her at the lake, he-he's studying medicine so he knows what he’s doing”

“What’s your name sweetheart?”

“Uhh jay, my names Jay”

“Alright Jay, How old is your sister and how long was she under water for?”

“I don’t- 5 minutes maybe, and her name is Y/n, but we all call her Y/n/n. I don't know what I’m gonna tell my mom, that my littler sister died because we didn’t listen to her?” I’m panicking.

“Jay, I’m gonna need you to take a deep breath, I have help coming on the way right now”

How did she get my location? I didn’t even tell her.

***

The paramedics arrived and Jay led them to the lake where Will was with you. 

Will did successfully get you back but you were still unconscious. 

Why didn’t we just listen?

***

“15 Year old Female Y/n Halstead, Hypothermia after falling through ice, Was unconscious on site and Has a history of Heart issues.” The paramedic listed off all the things

(Ik that Grey's anatomy is in Seattle but because the show is so old let’s just pretend that this happened with them, it’s been awhile since I’ve watched it so if I make mistakes Woops)

“Alright,on my count if we move her. 1…2…3”Alex said.

Alex looked you over and started telling Jo things to do. “I want a head Ct, Keep me updated on her temperature and get me Derek for a consult.” Jo nodded.

Jay and Will followed Dr. Karev outside. “Is she gonna be ok?” Jay asked.

“She’s not out of the woods yet, but we won’t know more until she wakes up which will be a couple of hours” 

***

“Jay Halstead and Will Halstead” A stern voice called to them that made them Gulp.

“What in the world happened, and why did the Atwater’s call me and say that something happened on the lake and I needed to come home?” Your Mom stoked with her hands on her hips.

Jay and Will glanced at each other and knew they had no way out of this so they just decided to tell the truth and get it over with.

“I have told you guys time and time again not to play on that lake during the winter,

If you want to go ice skating go to the bigger one. Y/n has been punished enough, and as for you too, just until we get home, me and your father Will real with you. Do you understand?”

“Yes mom,” The boys said together.

“Alright, either the Atwater’s or the Uptons are going to pick you guys up and take you home. I will stay here with your sister, your father should be at home by now”

“But mom-“ Jay said. “No buts, wait here”

***

It had been a couple of weeks since the incident and A lot had happened. 

You were on the News, people came to your school and spoke about Ice safety. Jay and Will were indeed grounded but only for two weeks. The lake was now closed off while they were still doing an investigation. Which you didn’t understand why because it’s not like anything else happened but it was whatever.

“Y/n hurry up you’re going to miss the bus!” Jay shouted from downstairs.

“HOLD ON IM COMING” You grabbed your backpack and ran down the stairs.

After getting all your stuff in your backpack you got all your stuff ready to walk to the bus stop.

“Alright, what’s the rules?” Will questioned you.

“No wandering off to the other lake, don’t take off my jackets unless I really need to and don’t get anything that will drop my body temperature” 

“Good.”

“Do you still have to put my hat and Jacket on for me? I’m 15 years old.”

“Because of recent events and mom being gone and I’m going to leave soon I need to make sure you're ok, plus your body temperature is still not to its normal temp yet so layers it is.” You rolled your eyes at what would be said.

“I will pick you up for your doctor's appointment maybe 30 minutes before school ends, and Jay will drop your lunch off at the front office” Will said as he started walking at the door. 

“Bye will see you later” 

Once Will was gone, you ate the last of your waffles and grabbed your hot chocolate or what Jays calls “Jay's famous Hot chocolate” but it tasted like any other drink.

***

“I miss having you out on the lake by the middle school” Your friend Ellie said.

“Me too, but ever since my mom died Will and Jay have been strict on what I can do since my dad won’t really do much and they're trying to get me to learn stuff before Will leaves for New York and Jay leaves to serve” You shrugged.

“But I did convince Jay to get you some fries and nuggets” You laughed 

“You are literally the best, I really didn’t feel like spending all my money in my account today” Yeah the school food was expensive but it’s because you guys had fast food restaurants in your cafeteria so I guess it made sense.

***

“Hey Nugget” Will greeted you as you got into the car.

“Hi Will, can we please get McDonald’s after my appointment?” 

“Sure, where’s Jay? I told him he could get out of school early since he has a free period this week.”

“He said he wanted to stay at school, so he’s probably just walking around the hallways or doing whatever Jay does” You shrugged.

You thought about it for a while, your life was somewhat falling apart. Will was leaving for New York. Jay was getting deployed so you weren’t gonna see him. And your mom was gone so all you had left was your Dad, and your dad wasn’t the best person now since your dad died.

“Hey Will?”You broke the silence 

“Yeah Nugget?” 

“I’m- I’m gonna miss you when you leave” Here comes the water works.

“Me too Y/n me too”

Life from now on was going to be way different for you , and everyone around you knew that. You were going to get through it and it was going to be Ok. Right?

Well that’s at least what you thought…

#chicago pd #halstead brothers #one chicago #chicago #jay halstead #halstead sister #will halstead #hospital mention tw #x reader #chicago med #chicago fire #one chicago imagine #ice skating #hospitals #hailey upton #history #hank voight #jay halstead x reader #halstead #adam ruzek #kevin atwater #upstead #upstead fic

[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

[cpd21district]

Hi,stranger

Connor Rhodes x Halstead!sister reader

So I had this idea in my head for a bit  let's see how it goes I apologize in advance for my English, I hope I can spend more time on it and improve

Coming back to Chicago was quite easy, starting a new job right away  it allowed me to create a new routine and I also met new people and I started making new friends too, even if the hardest part was seeing my brother again after years of complete silence.

It was also difficult because the last time we saw each other we were kids you can say while now we are adults, but it didn't take us much to get back on track, moreover Jay and I have always been too similar.

Six months ago I started my new job as a nurse in the Gaffney ER, last month Will was back in town too and for the first time in years we are all together and we even get along, hopefully it will last a long time.

Today seemed like any other day we were all ready for the inauguration of the new department when the party was interrupted by a train accident, a disaster.

From the moment the first patient arrived we didn't stop even for a moment now it's night my shift ended hours ago, but the situation has calmed down only now.

I'm in the locker room while I change to go home I think of the new doctor who arrived in a rather daring way today, I thought I had left him in the past but here he is and it seems that we should work together starting today. However, I decide to leave these thoughts aside and go home, I'm exhausted.

I'm in the hospital parking lot when I hear someone call my name, I turn around and there he is Connor Rhodes...

"hey"

  "hi stranger" I thought I'd sleep on it before meeting him again but here we are

" how are you?" connor asks and smiles at me and i will never admit it out loud but i missed him

"tired, I can confirm that this doesn't happen every day, definitely a first day to remember right?"

“Definitely not what I expected, I didn't expect to see you, how's it going in Chicago? and your brothers?”

"well I must say I missed home and my brothers you should have already met one"

"well of course Dr. Halstead of course, luckily you don't look alike" he smiles at me

After a while we say goodbye and part ways once at home I head to the shower to wash away the day before watching an episode of 2 broke girls with my beloved ramen.

#one chicago imagines #One Chicago #chicago med #connor rhodes #connor rhodes x reader #halstead sister #will halstead #connor rhodes imagine

[plotting-against-you]

My Own Worst Enemy

Fandom: One Chicago

Characters: Halstead Sister Reader, Jay Halstead, Will Halstead, Dr. Charles, Ethan Choi, Maggie Lockwood

Summary: You have a relapse in your anorexia, and no one knows until you show up at Med.

Warnings: Eating Disorders (i.e., anorexia) and their symptoms and habits.

Author's Note: I know nothing about anorexia, so I had to google it. If this comes off in any way incorrect, please know that I'm sorry. Also, if you ever find yourself in this situation, please seek help...I know it's hard, but we want you safe and healthy.

It started with a harmless comment. That’s what anyone would have thought, though you knew it wasn’t harmless. Not to you at least.

You had just gotten a full-time job at your local library, which seemed heaven-sent. You’d always loved being around books, so it all seemed to click when you found this job online.

Then the comment came.

You were eating during your allotted thirty-minute lunch break in the staff break room a week after starting when two women walked in from another department. You hadn’t met them yet but cringed when you saw their figures.

You hadn’t had the easiest time growing up. You were constantly picked on and developed an eating disorder at sixteen. Coincidentally, that was when your mom got sick, so you hid your illness in an attempt to keep the focus on her. It worked…until it didn’t.

You’d landed in the hospital where they diagnosed you with anorexia, and you’d had to work extra hard to come back from it ever since.

Seeing the women and their “perfect” figures didn’t make you recoil as it once would have, but their comments did.

“Girl, you brought a whole package of turkey to work? How many sandwiches are you planning on making?”

The other woman shrugged. “Don’t make fun of me! I like my turkey sandwiches, okay? Besides, you know I could eat a whole horse and not gain a pound.”

You looked down at the leftover beef stew in front of you and slowly laid down your fork. You had been having a stressful time recently with the new job, and your already fragile psyche took the hit as if it were a personal attack on you.

Boxing up what was left of the dinner you’d had at Jay and Hailey’s the night before, you tossed it in the garbage and grabbed a water.

“This is all I need today.” You told yourself. “I’ll do better tomorrow.”

…

You hadn’t done better tomorrow.

In fact, it had been weeks since you had started up your old habits. Luckily for you, it was easy to hide the signs from your family since it was just Jay and Will, and they’d both been working weird hours, making it impossible to see each other.

You had just gotten home from your day at work, having had nothing more than a bottle of water for lunch, and leaned against the couch in exhaustion. Though you grew increasingly tired every day, you found it hard to sleep at night.

You knew that was a symptom of the disease that had come back in full force, but you refused to accept it.

Dropping your bag, it made a thud on the floor, and you blinked your eyes a few times to clear them of the dots that danced in your vision. You were dizzy, but you refused to call your brothers for help.

Just as the thought entered your mind, your phone rang, and everything went dark as you reached to answer it.

…

You woke up on the floor behind your couch, your head pounding, your stomach growling, and your phone still ringing.

Reaching out an arm to search for your phone, you pulled it to your ear and scrunched your face in annoyance. “Hello?”

There was a pause. “Thank fuck.”

You continued to lie on the floor but opened your eyes in confusion. “Excuse me?”

“I’ve called you like twelve times.” Jay’s voice said on the other line. “I thought maybe you had been hurt or something.”

“I was napping.” You lied, though you figured it was close to the truth. “It’s been a long day.”

Jay snorted. “You work at a library. How hard can that be?”

“You’d be surprised.”

He ignored you. “Well, did you forget that you were supposed to meet Will and I at Molly’s for a drink tonight?”

“Shit. That was tonight?” Between focusing on work and spending your free time counting your calories, you’d forgotten about the invitation from your brothers. “I’m sorry. I’m exhausted.”

“Are you sure nothing’s wrong?” Jay’s voice sounded concerned.

“I’m fine, honest. Just tired. Rain check?” You ignored the fact that you were still lying on the ground.

Jay sighed, disappointment filling his tone. “Okay. We’ll do it another night.”

“Thanks, Jay.” You told him as you hung up.

Then you lay on the floor, resting a hand on your aching stomach. It had been some time since you’d put anything other than water and some nuts into it but couldn’t bring yourself to care.

You would soon be at your ideal weight, and everything would return to normal.

…

You nearly screamed when you brushed your hair the following day and found a large chunk of it tangled in the brush. Your hair started falling out again, as it had when you were younger, and you sighed.

You knew you needed help, but you didn’t want any. You liked this control, and you liked having this ideal image in your head.

Ignoring the anxious pit in your stomach, you continued to get ready for work and left your apartment. Everything would be fine, you told yourself.

And it was…until midday.

You had been in the stacks trying to locate a book for a patron when the dizziness set in. Blinking it away, you reached for the top shelf when the world tilted on its axis, and you were suddenly lying on the ground staring up at the ceiling.

People were around you immediately, but everything sounded like a train flying past your ears. Sitting up, you waved everyone off but let your director pull you into the first aid room.

He grabbed a bottle of water and had you sit while he pulled out your emergency contact information. “You’re okay, Y/N. I’m going to call your emergency contact to pick you up and get you checked out.”

Groaning, you tried to stop him. “It’s okay, really. My brother is a doctor. I’ll just get him to check me out after my shift.”

The last thing you needed was for him to call Jay, your first emergency contact, or Will, your secondary contact. They would freak out, and you didn’t want them to know anything about this.

“Y/N, you collapsed. That’s not something we play around with here.” Your boss told you.

You shook your head and went to stand when the world went black again, and you crumpled to the ground.

…

“Dr. Choi! We’ve got incoming.” Maggie yelled to the physician and turned to the ambulance bay as the doors opened.

“What do we got?” He asked, running over and meeting the eyes of the paramedic.

“Thirty-year-old female collapsed at work twice. Lost consciousness on the second fall. Severely malnourished and dehydrated. BP is low, and so is her blood sugar.”

Looking down at you, Ethan sighed. He knew what this probably meant and knew your brothers would be worried. “Mags, keep them out of my treatment room until after I’ve finished.”

“You got it.” She told him and looked at you worriedly.

As they transferred you to a hospital gurney, Ethan shined his pen light into your eyes. “Y/N? Can you hear me?”

Your face contorted in disgust, trying to escape the light as you nodded. “Hmm…yeah.”

“Can you open your eyes for me?”

“If you stop shining a light in them….” You muttered but instantly felt terrible. “I’m sorry….”

Ethan shook his head. “You’ve got nothing to be sorry for, Y/N.”

He rattled off a bunch of tests to the nurse before you bit your lip. “I’m screwed, aren’t I?”

He sighed. “Y/N…you know how this looks. You can either let me run a bunch of unnecessary tests, or you can let me call Dr. Charles, and we can get this over with sooner.”

“What about my brothers?” You asked meekly.

“I can keep them out until after you talk to Dr. Charles if you want?” He suggested though he knew he’d have a battle on his hands.

You nodded. “Please.”

“Okay. I’ll have Maggie page Dr. Charles, and we’ll go from there.”

…

While he usually walked into work at a leisurely pace, Will found himself rushing inside to meet his brother. “What happened?”

Jay shrugged. “I don’t know, man. Her boss called and said she’d passed out twice at work today, but when I got here, Maggie and Ethan told me I had to wait out here.”

Turning to look at the nurse, Will’s eyes held fury before Ethan stepped in. “Will, she asked for some time. Dr. Charles is in with her right now, and then you can go in.”

“Dr. Charles?” Jay asked him. “But why would-”

The thought dawned on both brothers simultaneously, and they looked sadly at each other. It had been nearly fifteen years since they had dealt with this, but it looked like your worst enemy was back and swinging.

The door opened, and Dr. Charles walked out of the treatment room. “Boys. You can go in now.”

Jay took off the second the words came out, but Will stayed back, looking at his colleague in fear and anguish.

“Is it…it’s back, isn’t it?” The redhead asked him.

The seasoned doctor sighed. “She’s permitted me to tell you this, so yes…her anorexia is apparent again. She said she’s been dealing with it for a few weeks now.”

The eldest Halstead looked towards your room and sighed. “I wish we’d known. It’s the same thing that happened before, you know? We didn’t know until she ended up in the hospital.”

“This can be a tough thing.” Dr, Charles told him. “But you know as well as I do that recovery is possible, and you had to know that a relapse could happen.”

Will nodded. “Yeah, I just thought we were in the clear.”

“Well, I can tell you that we came up with a therapy plan and scheduled a meeting with a nutritionist. I can also tell you that your sister is very strong but very scared of what you might be feeling, so please…go in and see her.”

Nodding almost robotically, Will moved over to your room and sighed as he took in your appearance. “Hey, kid.”

You raised your tear-filled eyes to him but kept your grip on Jay’s hand. “I’m so sorry.”

Will moved forward instantly and came to your side, brushing the bangs out of your face. “You have nothing to apologize for, Y/N/N.”

“What happened?” Jay asked quietly.

You bit your lip. “I’ve been really stressed lately, and then someone made a comment at work…it just slid away from there. I didn’t mean for it to get this bad.”

“When I called you last night, and you said you’d been napping?”

You looked at Jay sadly. “I had passed out in my apartment and didn’t want to tell you.”

“Y/N…you can’t be doing this to yourself,” Will told you. “I know you’ve started on a plan with Dr. Charles, but will you let us help you, too?”

You nodded slowly. “Please. I need help.”

“And you’re going to get it,” Will promised his little sister.

Jay sighed. “Listen, I think you should move in with Hailey and I…at least for a little while. It might be easier to handle if you have support around you.”

You snorted. “You just don’t want me home alone in case I relapse again.”

He looked at you sadly. “Can you blame me?”

You shook your head. “No…no, I can’t. And I will take you up on that offer so long as Hailey’s okay with it.”

“She will be. You know she loves you.” Jay smiled, though it was strained. “You know we love you, too, right?”

You nodded. “Yeah. I love you both right back.”

#one chicago fanfiction #halstead sister #jay halstead #will halstead #nbc chicago pd #chicago med #eating disoder trigger warning

[herrmannhalsteadproduction]

Fine is a Four-Letter Word (Chapter Two)

Summary: This is Part Twenty-Two 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: Mature

Relationships: Christopher Herrmann & Original Female Character, Jay Halstead & Original Female Character, Will Halstead & Original Female Character, Jay Halstead & Will Halstead, Greg 'Mouse' Gerwitz/Original Female Character, Will Halstead/Connor Rhodes, Assorted OC Couples

Warnings: Injury Recovery, Trauma Recovery, Graphic Depictions of Violence, Angst, Hurt/Comfort, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Protective Siblings, Family Feels, Team as Family, Road Trip, Kissing, Romance, Mild Sexual Content, Swearing, Eventual Happy Ending

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Kira

The morning sun was just starting to peek through the clouds when Kira flopped down on a chair, resting her elbows on the cafeteria table.

She’d basically been living in the hospital for two—no, three, it was Tuesday, three days now—and she was definitely over the food. Malia and Devon and Isaac had been in and out while she spelled off with Sam and they’d brought meals when they could, but sometimes she was on her own. Like now.

She stared down at the sad looking breakfast burrito.

Really on her own.

Back when she’d agreed to be one of Emery’s emergency contacts, she never thought something like this would happen. Or that Bex would be hurt at the same time. Kira thought that they’d be facing whatever happened together.

Not that she’d be talking with doctors alone, trying to understand what the hell they were saying and praying that the treatments she was agreeing to were actually the best way to go.

Thank god for Connor. Right now, he was spending most of his time with Will—understandably so—but he still made time to check in. To explain things properly. To keep an eye on Emery.

And she’d had a chance to visit with Bex yesterday which helped a bit.

Although Bex had looked like shit and was trying to pretend she didn’t feel even worse. Kira had wanted to tell her everything about how things had been going with Emery and get her thoughts and lean on each other like they were supposed to, but after one look at her, she just…couldn’t.

Bex needed to focus on her own healing right now.

And Kira…she only had to focus on not letting one of her best friends die.

No problem.

“Well, that’s not a ringing endorsement for today’s breakfast burritos.”

Kira’s head jerked up at the sound and she started at the sight of an older gentleman in a white lab coat standing beside her table. “Sorry? I—what?”

“You seem a little upset,” he said, offering her a napkin. He gestured at his own face after she took it, making a wiping motion when she just held the napkin in her hand and stared at it.

She reached up, surprised to find her cheek was wet with tears. “Oh. Um. Thank you.” She wiped at her face and tried to ignore the twinge of embarrassment in her gut at being caught crying over her breakfast in the hospital cafeteria.

“Mind if I sit?” The gentleman asked, barely waiting for her nod before pulling out the seat across from her. “I’m Daniel Charles,” he said. “I work here with Bex’s brother, Will…you’re one of her friends, right?

“Yeah, uh—” Kira gave her head a shake and offered her hand. “Kira Cole. Nice to meet you.”

Daniel shook her hand with a little smile before sitting back and taking a sip of his coffee. “Your other friend,” he began, gazing at her over the rim of his cup. “How’s she doing?”

The sigh slipped out before she could stop it. “Better? I think? They’re talking about bringing her out of the coma today,” Kira said, all of the facts and scenarios and possibilities Connor laid out for her still running through her brain. “They pull back on the medication and then we wait and see.” Kira scoffed. “I’m starting to hate that phrase now. It’s all people keep saying to me. Wait and see, we have to wait and see—like, that’s my only option, to stay here and watch and wait to see if one of my best friends—my family—to-to-to see if she’s going to die. ‘Cause…that’s a normal thing to do.”

She caught herself then, horrified at how she’d just word-vomited her stress all over a stranger.

“Right, uh, sorry about that,” Kira huffed out a laugh as she poked at the edges of her burrito. “Short answer is, hopefully better. Soon.”

“It’s not easy,” Daniel said. “Being the person who waits.”

Kira felt tears prick her eyes again and all she could do was shake her head.

“It might feel like an exercise in futility,” he continued. “But it’s the furthest thing from that. It’s about having hope, Kira, and that kind of hope—that kind of love? It needs a lot of fuel. Your friend…”

“Emery,” Kira whispered.

“Emery.” Daniel nodded. “When she wakes up later, I don’t want to have to explain to her why we let you eat that sad looking burrito. That’s no way to get through the day.” He side-eyed it, making her laugh again.

“Across the street though, there’s this bakery,” he said, getting a kid-sneaking-a-cookie little grin on his face. “Has cheese croissants that melt in your mouth and cinnamon buns as big as your face. Coffee’s nothing to sneeze at either.” Daniel stood up and jerked his head toward the exit. “What do you say? It’s on me…”

On any other day, she’d be way more stranger danger about this whole thing, but she’d heard Bex talk about Dr. Charles before and if she was being completely honest—she was too tired to be anything else—he had a real parental vibe that she was seriously in need of at the moment.

“Yeah, okay,” Kira said, standing up to join him. “I’m in.”

That earned her a mega-watt smile and he ushered her forward. “You’re in for a treat,” he said. “I’m serious. Big as your face!”

Kira laughed and for the first time since Friday, felt the tiniest bit lighter.

***

Otis

“Otis…” Joe stared down at the plate in front of him. “What is this?”

“Scrambled eggs,” Otis shot back as he glopped another pile onto a plate and handed it over to Brett. She took it without a word, eyes going wide as she held it at arm’s length all the way back to the table.

Severide peered into the pan. “Are we one hundred percent sure on that?”

Otis slammed the spatula on the counter, levelling a glare at him. “Nobody said you had to eat it, Severide,” he snapped. “Toaster’s over there.”

“Alright, relax, man.” Severide raised his hands in front of him, backing away. “Careful there, Casey. He’s cranky today.”

Casey ignored him and came around to stand beside Otis at the stove. “What’s going on?” he asked quietly. “This is going a bit beyond your usual ‘I hate doing the cooking’ routine.”

“I just—” Otis sighed. “I hate feeling so useless.”

“Useless?” Casey raised an eyebrow. “At your job as a fireman where we regularly go out and save people’s lives?”

“You know what I mean,” Otis moaned. “I genuinely don’t,” Casey said. “But I’m trying to. Talk to me, Otis.”

“It’s this whole thing with Bex and-and Emery and Will,” he said, trying to find the words to explain. The whole break room quieted down as everyone listened in. “I wish that there was something we could actually do to help them, you know? There’s nothing to fix. I need something we can fix. I just—” Otis cut himself off with another sigh. “It’s stupid. I’m sorry, Ignore me. I’ll, uh…I’ll make a new batch of eggs. Please don’t eat those.”

“Too late,” Capp announced cheerfully. “I kind of like them. I ate Tony’s too.”

Shay shoved her plate in his direction and then turned back to face the rest of them. “You know…there might actually be something we could fix. If they let us.”

“Yeah?” Casey leaned back against the counter with his arms crossed. “What are you thinking?”

“Emery’s place was—well, it was pretty much trashed after what happened,” Shay said and Brett nodded solemnly. “If we’re allowed, it could be nice if we went in and cleaned it up before she’s out of the hospital? Give her a proper place to come home to when she’s ready?”

“It would probably make Bex feel better too,” Joe said. “Knowing that Emery wouldn’t have to deal with any of it?”

Casey and Severide looked at each other for a moment before coming to some kind of silent agreement and nodding. “I’ll make some calls,” Casey said. “If I can get it cleared, we can head over after shift. Anyone who wants to help out is welcome.”

Otis flashed him a grateful smile and Casey clapped a hand on his shoulder, giving it a squeeze. “Don’t take it out on the poor eggs next time, okay?”

“Yeah, yeah.” Otis rolled his eyes as he scraped out the pan. “Okay. Who’s ready for round two? No, not—Capp, you’ve had at least three breakfasts already, dude.”

“Bet you five bucks I can do six.”

***

Mouse

Mouse squinted at his phone, trying to make sense of the notification he just received.

CINDY added you to the chat ‘Secret Squirrel Chat’

That was…hm.

Questions.

He had a lot of questions.

MOUSE: Hi?

CINDY: Hi, Mouse! Welcome to our chat!

MOUSE: Our?

CONNOR: Hi

CINDY: It’s our secret in-laws chat

Mouse’s brain blue-screened for a moment.

CINDY: Relax. Breathe. I use the term loosely.

CINDY: It’s just a space for us to chat and plot as needed. I’ve been meaning to add you, but figured I should REALLY add you now considering everything that’s going on.

CINDY: So. How’s everyone doing today?

CONNOR: Will developed a fever and he started another bleed so he’s off getting some scans and bloodwork done. Waiting to find out if they need to go back in.

'Go back in' meaning another surgery, Mouse was guessing. He grimaced at the thought of telling Bex about that bit of news.

CONNOR: They’re going to try and bring Emery out of her coma this afternoon.

MOUSE: That's good, right?

He had his fingers crossed for something good to counteract the Will news.

CONNOR: Hopefully. There's a lot of variables at play. They might have to put her back under if it causes distress. It's kind of a wait and see situation.

CONNOR: If Will's okay to be left, I'll be headed up there so I'll try and keep you posted.

CINDY: And how are YOU, Connor?

Three little dots appeared and disappeared for a solid half a minute before Connor’s reply finally popped up.

CONNOR: Worried, but okay.

CINDY: I'll be by later to spell you off. No arguing.

CINDY: How’s it going over there, Mouse?

Oh. Okay. He thought for a moment before he started typing, not quite sure what to share.

MOUSE: Bit of a rough night.

Connor already knew that though.

Mouse thought back to Bex waking them up at 2 am with a piercing scream and then them trying to wake her up without aggravating her injuries. She’d been so out of it, even after she’d opened her eyes, grasping at them, asking if they were okay—

If this was real.

Jay called Connor so he could reassure her that he and Will and Emery were all still alive. It wasn’t until after that call that she finally seemed to be fully awake and refused when Jay offered to call Chris as well.

They’d ended up camping out her room; Jay setting up a little nest on the floor and Mouse dragging the arm chair she had in there over to beside the bed so he could stay close without jostling her. None of them slept much. Not with Bex still jolting awake every so often and Mouse and Jay’s eyes flying open every time she even twitched.

And now this morning…

MOUSE: Bex is still feeling sick. It’s hard to find stuff she can handle eating.

He was currently in the kitchen, making her some toast and cutting up an apple. Anything to make sure she could take her meds.

MOUSE: She’s still in a lot of pain, but Jay brought her his ribs pillow.

CINDY: His WHAT?

MOUSE: He’s got this pillow that he uses when he’s got hurt ribs. Hugging it makes them feel better so he’s loaned it to Bex. She says it’s helping.

CINDY: That’s great. I’m just stuck on the fact that he’s got a designated pillow for it. #HalsteadProblems

Mouse blinked at his phone. He definitely hadn’t had enough sleep to deal with this.

CONNOR: Glad to hear Bex is using a pillow. That’ll help. Now. How are YOU, Cindy?

CINDY: My parents have the kids today and Chris made me promise to rest, but I’m still worried about everyone so you have to keep me updated! Use the chat!!!

CONNOR: We will if you keep your promise to rest.

MOUSE: Go put your feet up.

CINDY: I’ve been horizontal this whole time.

CINDY: PS Chris is making the rounds this morning so…incoming. :D

Right on cue, there was a knock on the door of the apartment and the sound of Jay and Chris talking shortly after that.

MOUSE: He’s already here.

CONNOR: 😂

CONNOR: On that note…

CINDY: Updates! Don’t forget!

Mouse and Connor signed off the chat after reassuring Cindy once more that they’d keep on top of sending her updates. He pocketed his phone and sighed, scrubbing a hand over his face. He didn’t want to add to the stress that Connor and Cindy were already carrying, but part of him wanted to dive back into the chat and ask for more.

For more advice about what to do next. For reassurance that he and Jay weren’t completely screwing up here. Were they being selfish? Thinking that they could help and not just…add more hurt.

No. Mouse picked up the tray of food.

They could do this.

It had been a rough night, but they’d made it through. He could hear Chuck’s voice in his brain telling him to take it all one step at a time. They could do that, right?

He stood in the middle of the kitchen for a moment before blinking and shaking his head. “Why am I waiting for someone to answer me?”

He seriously needed a nap.

***

Bex

“I told you, I'm not hungry, Mouse,” Bex called out when a knock sounded at her bedroom door.

It cracked open anyway. “You still gotta eat,” Chris said, poking his head through the gap. “Don’t make me send Cindy over here.”

“Hey, what are you doing here?” Bex struggled to get herself a little more upright on her pillow pile, ignoring the shooting pains in her side. “Is everyone okay?”

“I said I was gonna check in,” he said, pulling the door close to him and not actually making his way into the room. “And I, uh, I may have brought you a visitor…”

A flash of irritation went through her. She’d told him she wasn’t ready to see the kids. No one was listening to her about anything. “Chris—” Bex’s sigh was cut off by a very familiar whine. “Kol?”

An excited bark followed by an ‘oof’ from Chris as he was pushed out of the way when Kol bounded into the room.

“Wait, Kol,” Chris called out and Kol froze just as he was about to leap onto the bed. “Remember what we talked about.”

Kol let out a plaintive little ‘aroooo’ as he looked back and forth between Chris at the door and Bex on the bed. Chris shook a firm finger at him. “You have to be gentle.”

Bex had to hold back a giggle as Kol snorted and huffed at Chris before hopping up onto the arm chair and then placing one very delicate paw onto her bed and then the other. He whined again as he got closer, tilting his head as he looked her over.

“Hey, boy.” Bex held out her good hand and he sniffed it all over before letting her pet his head. “I missed you,” she said. “Did you miss me?” He huffed again, licking her hand once and then tucking himself in beside her and snuggling in.

“He was going a little nuts at our place so I thought we could try out a visit since I was stopping by anyway,” Chris said, coming in and plopping down into the chair. He passed over a handful of papers. “Brought you presents from the kiddos. They made you some get well cards and pictures. Will and Emery too.”

“Aw, that’s—that’s really sweet.” Bex looked over the pages and pages of pictures and little notes from her nephews and niece.

“They were upset about not being able to see you yet—” He held up a hand, cutting off the argument that was ready to burst off of her tongue. “I’m not trying to pressure you. I get it, okay? I’m just explaining why you’re probably going to have enough artwork to repaper this room by the end of the week. Sending you stuff made them feel better.”

“Please tell them I said thank you,” Bex said, smiling a bit at the pages from Max. He was writing her some kind of get well story and had sent her the first chapter already. Then the next drawing caught her eye. “Uh…did you see this one?”

Chris leaned over to peer at it and groaned. “Yeah, Annabelle didn’t really get our explanation of what happened. Cindy’s on it.”

“Is this—is this me?” Bex tilted the drawing, marvelling at the amount of red. “And am I holding Ty’s head?”

“She’s very proud of you,” Chris said, a weary smile tugging at his lips as he shrugged.

“Yeah, that’s definitely going on the wall.” She passed them back to Chris and he set the pile on her side table.

He turned back, setting his feet up on the edge of the bed and levelling a look at her. “Heard you had a rough night,” he said.

“It wasn't that bad. I think it's just the medication messing with my dreams,” Bex said and he narrowed his gaze at her blatant lie. Whatever. She was exhausted and she didn’t feel like getting into it right now.

Chris opened his mouth, probably gearing up to push the issue, but there was another knock and then Mouse coming in with a tray full of toast and fruit while Jay lingered in the hall behind him. “Alright, kiddo.” Chris slapped his hands on his knees. “I gotta talk to the boys so you focus on eating that—and I mean all of that—and I’ll come say bye before I go.”

“What do you have to talk about?” Bex tried to crane around Mouse who was settling the tray in her lap and aim a proper glare at Chris. “If something’s going on—”

“We’re just talking about schedules and boring crap like that,” Chris said, eyes darting off to the side so she knew he was fibbing and something clearly was going on. Something they wanted to keep her out of.

Well, that was bullshit.

Bex stared at Chris as she picked up a piece of toast and bit into it with a smile. “Sounds good.”

She waited a solid ten seconds after they had left her room and poked at Kol. “Kol,” she whispered and his head popped up. “You want treats?” Bex fed him a small piece of toast, smiling as his tail went crazy. “Good boy. Okay, you’ll get more in a second, but first you have to help me out.”

“Awoof.”

“Quietly.”

Kol boofed at her softly and she patted his head. “Open the door for me, Kol,” she said, nudging him toward the edge of the bed. “Just a little bit. And remember—quiet.”

He shuffled off the bed onto the chair and then down to the floor, hardly making a sound.

“Good boy,” Bex whispered as she watched him carefully make his way across the floor. Once he reached the door, he got up on his hind legs and grabbed the door handle in his mouth, gently pulling it down.

The door popped open. Bex and Kol froze, listening. The conversation in the living room didn’t pause and Bex had to hold herself back from cheering. Success!

“Okay, come here,” she whispered to Kol. He snuck his way back to his spot beside her on the bed and snuggled in. Bex fed him the rest of the toast and her apple slices as she strained to listen in on what was happening down the hall.

Something about Will…he had a fever? And he'd started bleeding again? That was—that didn’t sound good at all. What were they doing about it? Would he need more surgery? She had so many questions. Shoving the tray aside, Bex leaned further toward the door, wincing at the pain in her side. Now they were talking about Emery.

They were going to try and bring her out of her coma today?

Bex bit back a gasp. Frustrated tears sprang into her eyes and she scrubbed them away. She should have been told about all of this—someone should have—she should be there.

Ugh, she hated this. Hated not having her phone to keep in touch with Connor and Kira and everyone. Hated being kept out of the loop. For what? Her own good? Because she couldn’t handle it?

Bex had been handling everything life could throw at her since she was six.

This, for the record once again, total bullshit would not stand.

The sounds of the living room conversation started to slow and Bex returned to her spot on her pillow pile as quickly and as quietly as she could. She closed her eyes and slowed her breathing.

Two could play at deceivery…no…deception-ness? De—ugh, her stupid, tired brain. Two could play at BEING A LIAR.

Her door creaked open and she heard a low huff from the doorway. “Bex?” Chris called out softly. She snuffled and turned into her pillow a little more.

“She’s asleep,” he whispered. “Looks like she ate everything though.”

“Oh, good,” Jay whispered back. “Finally.”

“Kol looks like he’s behaving so I’ll leave him here for now,” Chris said quietly. “I think he cheered her up a bit.”

“Keep us posted, okay?” Jay asked, his voice getting fainter as they walked back down the hall.

Bex waited, hearing the click of the front door closing, the murmur of Jay and Mouse talking to each other, and then the whoosh of water as the shower went on.

Okay, one of them was definitely occupied in the bathroom for the next few minutes so now was probably her best chance.

She braced herself, biting her lip against the pain as she got out of bed. Kol’s head popped up and she shushed him when he whined at her. “Stay here, okay?”

Shuffling as quietly as she could down the hall, Bex risked a peek into the living room.

Empty.

There was a clang from the kitchen and the sound of water sloshing as Mouse washed the dishes. Perfect. She sped up her shuffle walk as much as she could, snatching a hoodie off the back of the couch and grabbing her bag off the hook. Holding her breath, she opened the door—

Clink of dishes.

Shower still running.

No one noticing a thing.

Bex exhaled slowly as she slipped out into the hall, pulling the door shut behind her. Step one complete. Now she just had to figure out how to get to the hospital. Driving was out of the question, but once she was outside, she could try and hail a cab? Or call an Uber? Was her phone even in her bag?

She started up her shuffle again, making her way to the elevator. Screw it. She’d walk the whole way there if she had to.

A flurry of barks had her jolting, clutching at her side as it throbbed in pain at the movement. Kol. “I can’t believe he’s freaking tattling on me,” she grumbled to herself. Maybe she could at least get inside the elevator before—

The door of the apartment opened. “Bex?”

—before that happened.

“Bex!” Mouse called out, voice high and frantic. “Where are you going? What’s wrong?”

Jay came stumbling out after him, a pair of sweats clearly hastily yanked on and getting slowly soaked by the water dripping steadily down from his hair. “Kol, stay—stay! Mouse? Where’s—what the hell, Bex?”

She leaned against the wall, turning to glare at them as they rushed over. “No, you what the hell? Were you even going to tell me about Will and Emery?” She scoffed at the look they exchanged. “Unbelievable.”

“We were going to,” Mouse began.

“But you need to rest too,” Jay cut in. “We all knew—”

Mouse coughed.

Jay sighed. “Chris and I knew exactly what would happen if we told you everything right away, which was this by the way—you tearing off to go see them—and I'm sorry, Bex, but you’re not up to going back to the hospital right now.”

Bex straightened up carefully, willing back the pain so she could stare him down. “Fucking watch me.”

“You’re not even wearing shoes!” Jay exclaimed, flinging water everywhere as he gestured at her feet.

Bex looked down and blinked at her—hm.

Yup, those were her socks.

A bang had her head snapping back up—ow—and Jay and Mouse whipping around to look at the apartment door which was now very much closed.

Jay tried the handle, cursing when it wouldn’t budge.

Kol barked joyfully from the other side and Bex took back everything she said about him tattling. He really was the best boy. She settled against the wall again and watched as Mouse searched his pockets, shaking his head at Jay who hadn’t stopped cursing.

Bex cleared her throat, getting their attention. “I may have forgotten my shoes, but I’ll give you one guess as to what I didn’t forget,” she said, patting her bag and smiling as her keys jingled inside. “Let’s negotiate, shall we?”

Click here to read Chapter Three.

Click here to read Fine is a Four-Letter Word on ao3:

And here is the tag list (let me know if you wish to be added or removed):

@sorry-i-spaced, @thegirlwhowishedeveryonelived, @thewannabewriter, @lexhalstead3

@foxes-and-cats, @sensitivemallysix, @emme-looou, @thebejeweledwatercat

#a herrmann/halstead production #one chicago #chicago fire #chicago pd #chicago med #rebecca 'bex' herrmann #jay halstead #oc character #will halstead #christopher herrmann #greg “mouse” gerwitz x original female character #greg “mouse” gerwitz #greg gerwitz #hurt/comfort #trauma #emotional hurt/comfort #injury recovery #trauma recovery #family feels #team as family #halstead brothers #halstead sister #herrmann family #fluff #humor #romance #road trip

[poppadom0912]

Excuses

Warnings: Mentions of fainting, diabetes, canon-typical injuries

Summary: You suffer the consequences just because your teacher thought you were making excuses.

A/N: First fic of 2024!!! I had plans that I was going to post weekly in the new year just like last year but things went downhill. This january and february has had its very good but also really bad moments and even writing this was a struggle. I've found myself in a weird place of wanting to write but struggling and all of a sudden not being able to balance my schoolwork and writing. So I took a lil step back to solely focus on my work but looking at everything now, my fic updates will be much less frequent but hopefully just as or if not, more fun to read.

I feel bad for not saying or posting anything since the new year but I'm here now and hopefully will be more alive. I've got lots planned for you beautiful people, several series and way too many fics in my drafts that I cannot wait for you all to read. This wasn't as long or as juicy as I intended but my brain completely failed me so I hope this is good enough. I initially wanted to post this at the beginning of March but I finished the final editing today so here you go!!

Final note before we start, I have general knowledge about diabetes but that's all from my grandma. I have no idea if it's the same for teenagers so I'm sorry for any mistakes. Happy reading!!

Your biology teacher had been on maternity for three weeks now and you were seriously contemplating life.

Because of the crappy rules surrounding maternity leave, when your teacher refused to return before her three months ended, your school had a supply teacher fill in for her till she came back.

Since day one, you knew you hated her.

It was mid lesson and you knew as soon as you started feeling sluggish that your sugar levels were dropping. Your thoughts were only confirmed when your Dexcom receiver let you know of your decreasing glucose.

This wasn't a usual occurrence. Will and Jay always made sure you had eaten enough and you had the means to maintain the needed glucose levels so that nothing happened.

Alas, you were up late revising and you were stressing about keeping up your good grades. Jay was rushing you out the door because he needed to go to a scene he'd just been called to and Will was out walking Kol and hadn't seen you leave.

In conclusion, it'd been a hot minute since you last ate something.

The school were well aware of your diabetes. It was one of the very important things your brothers stressed them about when you first started.

Most students knew about it actually, having seen your Dexcom and not understanding since a diabetic child apparently wasn't common according to them.

So, when you randomly pulled out a snack from your bag mid class, no one questioned it and instead would make sure you were okay. There'd never been a problem before in school and everyone wanted it to stay that way.

However, this new teacher, Mrs Byrne was apparently completely unaware of your medical condition.

"Y/N. You know the rules about eating in class." She said strictly, pulling away all the attention from the board onto you.

She stopped you in the middle of opening the packet of fruit gummies. You frowned, looking at her confused along with your classmates.

"I have diabetes." You said bluntly, continuing to open the packet. "I don't eat this and I'll pass out."

Mrs Byrne only rolled her eyes, smiling at you condescendingly. "I've heard that excuse hundreds of times, give those to me."

You scoffed at the audacity, refusing to hand over what was yours.

It was when she started walking towards your desk with a pep in her step that the entire class got involved. Their raised voices overlapped, some angrier than others over what was happening.

However, you too were Stubborn alike to your brothers so you kept as firm of a grip of the packet. You turned a blind eye to the anger fuelled cover teacher. You continued to smile as she spewed threats of all sorts.

Due to your frustration and annoyance over the teacher who wanted to take your gummies away, you didn't notice how everything started change; how hard it was to move your eyes and lips, your limbs getting heavier and you thoughts slowly getting muddled up.

Lost in a daze, you were no longer able to fight back when she pulled harder, successfully snatching the small packet out of your hands. It was now that the class got furious, your friends were already up and at your side but now they were verbally attacking the teacher.

Fed up with her petty behaviour, you were going to get up and go to the nurses office who would take care of you but getting out your seat was harder said than done.

With one of your friends help, you weren't too sure who was helping you from your hazy sight that cleared when you blinked too many times.

You were wobbly on your feet, taking slow and hesitant steps towards the front of the classroom but before you could leave, you felt your legs give out and everything went black.

*****

It turned out that supposed crime scene that he was imminently needed at was nothing but a prank by a bunch of college boys resulting in a grumpy Hank putting them in cuffs and having them fined for a very reasonable reason.

That's how the rest of the unit found themselves finishing up paperwork, catching up about life in general as they debated what they were getting for lunch.

Jay was smugly sitting back, eyes flickering between Kevin and Adam who were bickering over something trivial when his phone rung, catching everyone's attention.

They were all so bored and normally when one of their phones went off during work hours, it meant something came up and they were needed.

In interest, everyone turned their heads towards Jay and waited for him to tell them they got a crime scene.

Picking up his phone, Jay's brows furrowed at the number, confused as to why your school was calling him in the middle of the day. They'd only call him if two things happened: You'd gotten in trouble or you got hurt.

"Hello. Is this Y/N Halsteads brother Jay?" A voice he couldn't recognised asked, most likely some lady from the main office.

"Yeah, that's me." Jay confirmed, sitting up in preparation for whatever he was going to be told.

"So sorry to interrupt you sir but Y/N collapsed in class." The lady said with guilt laced in her words. "Your other brother didn't pick up the phone. We called to let you know we had to call the paramedics and they've taken her to Chicago Med."

"Uh yeah." Jay said, collecting his jacket and keys. "Yes, thank you."

Not waiting for a reply, Jay hung up and quickly knocked on Hank's office door frame.

"Sarge, I gotta get Y/N-"

"Go get her. We're done here."

*****

Wanting to pull his hair out, Will rubbed his eyes in frustration, glaring at his patients scans that only confused him further. He was tired and was coming to half way through his twenty four hour shift.

"Dr Halstead- Uh, Dr Rhodes in T4." Maggie stumbled, looking down at her brick and making sure she read it correctly.

"What's wrong?" Will asked, confused as to why Maggie changed her mind which she usually never did.

"It's Y/N."

Now fully awake, Will followed Connor towards the ambulance bay where you were being rolled in. You were groggily sitting up on the stretcher, you hair a mess and a few scratches around your face and hands from when you fell.

"Sylvie, what happened?" Will asked the blonde paramedic while looking you over. He desperately wanted to check you over himself but let Connor do his thing. He really did not need Ms Goodwin on his case today.

"Teachers didn't tell us much but her classmates said she collapsed after not being able to eat." Sylvie relayed the minimal information she knew, shrugging her shoulders when the two doctors looked at her weirdly. "No one would tell us anything more."

"Y/N, it's Connor. Can you hear me kid?" Connor said while pulling out his penlight. He was like another brother to you, his concern just as high. "Can you tell me what happened?"

You groaned, mumbling nonsense with your eyes screwed closed. Your words were mostly unintelligible but Will understood them mere seconds later.

Fixing the problem you complained about, Will turned down the lights and let Connor continue fussing over you.

It didn't take long to find out the cause of your collapse, Will sighing at the news when he read the numbers from your tests.

"I thought she was always on top of her sugar levels." Connor said, closing the room door so you could sleep in peace.

And what he said was completely true but they weren't aware of why you couldn't today specifically of all days.

"She is." Will said, rubbing a hand down his face in frustration. "Maybe her dexcom malfunctioned or something."

Connor hummed, agreeing with his friend.

"Hmm, maybe."

*****

Arriving at Med, Will gave Jay a detailed rundown of everything he new about your medical state but also the events pre your hospital arrival.

Getting a good look at you, holding your hand in his and kissing you on your forehead, Jay was more than happy to leave you in your oldest brothers safe hands while he got to the bottom of this entire ordeal.

He noticed Sylvie was still at Med, Foster mentioning they were running low on a few supplies so they needed some stocking up. Jay took this opportunity to interview the two paramedics and try to get further understanding on this situation that wasn't making much sense to him.

Arriving at your school, Jay had some thoughts in mind but they weren't very concrete and his confidence wasn't as strong as he'd like it to be.

Walking into the school, Jay immediately noticed an entire class sitting and standing around in the corridor waiting in front of the principals office.

One of the girls who had been sitting in a chair had caught sight of Jay, her eyes widening before she smiled, gently nudging the girl next to her and pointing in his direction. The girls reaction was the exact same.

This created a sort of domino effect as the boy next to her noticed Jay and everyone was telling the other of his sudden arrival. The once silent corridor was now beginning to fill with murmurs and whispers, all their eyes glued onto his figure that moved down the corridor, their shocked faces quickly changing into smiles and smirks.

It seems that Jay had a reputation of sorts.

"Why are you making so much noise? What did I just say about talking-"

The principal cut himself off from his scolding when he suddenly noticed Jay's presence, his face blanching as all the pieces clicked into place.

"Detective Halstead! What a surprise, we weren't expecting to see you so soon-"

This time Jay cut him off, not too bothered about his lack manners. "My brothers with Y/N at the hospital so I thought there was no other perfect time."

The principal remained silent.

"Now, why don't you explain to me why my sister fainted under your watch?"

The students behind Jay couldn't help but snicker knowingly.

#onechicago #one chicago x reader #one chicago imagine #halstead sister #jay halstead #will halstead #jay halstead imagine #jay halstead oneshot #jay halstead x reader #jay halstead x sister!reader #will halstead x reader #will halstead imagine #will halstead x sister!reader

[i-spaced-sorry]

Happy Halloween Eve! I am posting 2 stories about Halloween (today and tomorrow), today's is a Halstead Sister one and tomorrows is a Halstead brothers one. Both stories actually happened to me growing up, so enjoy!

What are you supposed to be?

“Mama mama, can Jay and Will take me trick or treating this year?” y/n asked. Y/N was 7yrs old and wanted to be a big kid just like her 10 and 13 year old brothers. 

“As long as you stick close to Will and stay in the neighborhood” replied your mom. 

“Yes!” you shouted while running to put the finishing touches on your costume. 

An hour later, Jay walked into your room dressed in his army guy costume, 

“Are you ready to go?” he asked. 

“Yup” you stated while shoving the rest of your hair into your hat.

Turning around Jay shook his head, “weren’t you that last year?”

“Yea and what’s it to ya?” you sasses back. 

“Nothing, sorry I said anything, let’s go. Will said the house at the end of the street has king sized bars”

To any child, especially under the age of 10, that was the music to your ears and thus you grabbed your brother’s hand and pulled him towards the door, where your other brother was.

“A wizard? Again?” asked Will when he took in your costume.

“What’s wrong with recycling a costume?” you asked.

“It’s just -” started Will but he cut himself off when he noticed your mom walking in the room with a camera. 

“Just what?” you dared to ask.

Will stayed silent and wrapped his arms around you and Jay in a way to distract. 

“Just what, Will? You pestered while turning to look at your eldest brother.

“Leave it Y/N” hissed Will while turning your head to face your mom.

“Cheese” the three of you smiled. Once your mom was done with taking the pictures, you bugged Will again, “Will, come on spit it out. Why does me wearing a costume over again matter?”

“Leave it Y/N” hissed Will again. 

Jay, who had enough of this whining blurted out, “because it makes us look even more poor than we are Y/N, happy?”

“Jay!” shouted Will

Jayson Alexander” shouted your mother from the other room. 

“Oh” was all you could mutter shyly.

******

“Let’s hit up the house at the end of the block, Connor was saying they have king sized candy bars” exclaimed Will while you guys walked away from Ms. Carmicals house. 

“Yea!” you and Jay exclaimed while slinging your pillow cases over your shoulders. 

As you approached the house, you noticed little kids dressed as various different animated characters walking away from the house. All with big candy bars in hand. You skipped ahead in anticipation for your chance at the big candy. 

“Well, what do we have here, a buzz lightyear, an angel, and a mario” stated old man O’Riley while dropping candy in each of the trick or treaters bags. “You all look so good” he stated while they walked away. 

Next in line was you, Jay, and Will. 

“Well, Well, Well, what do we have here? An Army man, a doctor, and ah-” faltered old man O’Riley.

“What are you supposed to be, little man?” he asked. 

“I’m a girl” you stated confidently. 

“Oh, my, well what are you supposed to be?” Old man O’Riley asked again while your brothers stifled laughs. 

“I’m a wizard!” you exclaimed while holding out your pillowcase in hopes of getting your candy. And sure enough, old man O’Riley placed a king sized bar in your bag. 

“Thank you” the three of you exclaimed while walking away. 

****

“I remember that! You were mortified” laughed Jay while taking a bite of his pumpkin pie.  You and your brothers were sat around the kitchen table reminiscing on Halloween growing up.

“And I remember you and Will just laughed and made fun of me” you bit back. 

“We can’t help that you were such a tomboy growing up that you even chose costumes that were geared towards boys” stated Will.

“Costumes shouldn’t be defined as girl or boy centered, I always liked the idea that you can dress up however you like” you confidently replied. 

“And that’s what we will always love about you” started Will

“You dance to the beat of your drum,” added Jay. 

Smiling, you ate some pie and asked, “So, do you guys have any crazy stories from Halloween growing up? Maybe one I haven’t heard before?”

“Did we ever tell you the time Jay walked right into someone’s house while trick or treating?” asked Will while looking at Jay. 

“No? Do share” you choked out after swallowing your pumpkin pie bite. 

____________________________________________________________

tag list: @fangirlfrom-hell

#jay halstead imagine #will halstead imagine #will halstead x reader #jay halstead x reader #halstead sister x halstead brothers #halstead sister imagine #chicago pd #jay halstead #will halstead #halstead sister #halstead!sister

[amsgrey]

Clutz

warnings: bad writing lol

synopsis: You wipe out while doing Girls on Fire, Kidd makes Kelly call your brother.

The first time you were introduced to Firehouse 51 was when Jay took you to a game and Kidd and Severiade were there. It was almost like Jay and Severiade were copies of each other, with the same sense of humour and attitude. Kidd had taken you under her wing, explaining what was happening at the game while Jay and Severiade cheered. When the game ended Stella encouraged you to drop by the Firehouse sometime to meet everyone else, seeming that everyone at Med and the district were all close.

You took Stella up on that, stopping by when they were on shift with baking. Normally you would take it to Jay or Will at work but they were both too busy today to stop and talk. When you wandered through the doors into the break room, immediately Stella jumped up to greet you.

In her Milwaukee accent, she declared, "This is Y/N Halstead! She's welcome here whenever." She said the last bit to you, grinning. She quickly went around the room rattling off the names of everyone.

You smiled, holding up your container, "I bought brownies."

Cruz got up from the table and mockingly raising his hands like he was thanking the lord, "You're a saint."

It became some kind of routine, often you would bake something a week, dropping it to the district and to the firehouse. They were always excited to see you; soon it became exactly how intelligence treated you. Like you had gotten a bunch of aunt and uncles overnight, who all cared about you.

Eventually, Stella convinced you to join Girls on Fire, roping Kylie into convincing you it was a fun program. Kylie told you about how Stella annoyed her until she committed to staying in Girls on Fire and now she was helping run it. When you joined, you loved it. It was nice to be around other girls who were like you and also be training in a fun way.

When Jay would pick you up after, he was always amused by how excited you were to tell him about what happened. Will was also impressed with the first aid they were teaching. He teased you about how he had tried to teach you and you didn't care, but now when it was someone else you were interested.

"That's because you suck at teaching," You replied.

Girls on fire was normally cancelled when it snowed, but today it had been on and off so Stella said she'd find something to do on the apparatus floor. Boden allowed Stella to park the squad and truck rigs on the driveway so you could use the floor. After a while of running around in turnout gear, you all started to complain about being overheated. Kylie had said something smart about getting used to the feeling if you wanted to actually fight a fire. Kidd had agreed, but opened one of the doors anyway so that there was some airflow.

There was a little snow here and there, but mostly clear. Jay had said that morning it was typical spring, somewhere in the middle of everything. The group was doing hose drills when your partner lost control of the spiralled hose. It slipped out of her hands and down the driveway. You all laughed and you went to grab it. Your partner had mixed up the couplings, meaning you could easily do a shoulder roll as you gathered up the hose. Kidd cheered on your technique, explaining what you were doing as you went. You held one arm around the hose and jogged back towards the group. As you headed back, you hit black ice. You felt yourself falling face first and threw your unoccupied arm out to stop your fall. When your palm hit the ground, your wrist buckled and you could almost feel the break.

You dropped the hose, immediately snatching your wrist to your chest and letting out a string of hushed curses.

Kidd came jogging over, "You good?"

You groaned, "Peachy," you gave her a thumbs up with your good hand.

Kidd chuckled, she offered you a hand up. You let her pull you up, groaning with the jolt in your wrist.

"Let me take a look," Kidd offered, she gently rolled up the sleeve on the turnout coak and looked at your wrist. It had swollen up to twice its size and turned bruised.

You screwed up your face, "Just my luck."

"I think you broke it," Kidd chuckled, amused by how irritated you looked. "Might have to get you to med,"

She walked you back towards the Firehouse, now more careful of the ground. When you got inside, Brett and Violet were waiting with Boden and Kelly. Boden gave permission for Violet and Brett to take you to Med, seeming it was easier than calling your brother. Violet and Kidd helped you out of the turnout gear then jumped into the back of the ambulance with you.

As you were pulling out onto the street, Kidd asked if you had your phone.

"Crap," you cursed, patting your pockets, "I left it in my bag at the station."

Violet laughed, "Worrying about breaking your phone but not your wrist?"

Kidd laughed, "I'll call kelly."

Jay answered his phone on the second ring, "Halstead."

"Hey Jay," Kelly spoke from the other end, "Kidd asked me to call you-"

"Is everything okay?" Jay interupted.

"Uh-" Kelly hesitated, the silence allowed Jay to hear the blearing of the dispatch bells through the phone, "Kidd, Sylvie and Violet took Y/N to Med- look, I gotta go, I'm sorry. Kidd will meet you at med." Kelly rushed through his words, hanging up so that he could respond to the call.

Jay slowly put down his phone, a frown. If you were hurt you would have called him, but why would Kidd be taking you to Med if you weren't hurt?

"Who was that?" Kevin asked as he walked past Jay's desk.

"Kelly Severiade," Jay responded, "He said Y/N's been taken to med."

"What?" Hailey quickly walked over, "Why?"

"He didn't say," Jay came to his senses, grabbing his keys and phone, "Just that Kidd was taking her to Med with Sylvie and Violet."

Voight caught the tail end of the conversation, urging the team to pack up so they could all go to Med for support. He could tell from the look on everyone's faces how they were all quietly worried.

Jay had to hold back the urge to flick on the lights and sirens. and speed across town to Med.

Will could hardly control his laugh when he watched you walk into Med, cradling your arm.

"Laugh it up, William," You scolded, letting him help you onto the bed in an exam room.

"I will," He chuckled, gesturing for you to give him your arm so he could look at it.

You pouted, "Can't I have a decent doctor?"

Will rolled his eyes dramatically.

"I doubt you'll find one here," Maggie said as she walked in, coming to stand at your good side with a hand on her hip, "What have you done to yourself?"

You grinned sheepishly, unable to find the words.

Kidd came to your rescue from the doorway, explaining how you managed to wipe out and land on your wrist. And then going on to explain how you left your phone in your bag so you couldn't call Will or Jay before.

"Let's get an X-ray for that wrist then," Will said, watching Maggie type it into her tablet, "It's probably broken so we'll put a call into ortho to get it casted."

Maggie nodded along, putting her tablet away and propping your wrist on a pillow and placing an ice pack over it.

"Ortho is backed up, it might be awhile before they get down here."

"You can use that time to think of what colour cast you want," Will said with a playful grin. He let you know that he would have to check on a few different patients but he would be back to see the X-rays and check on you later.

Kidd took a seat next to you, smiling and asking how you felt.

"Like an idiot," You replied, "You always warn us to be careful and I had to go breaking my arm."

Kidd laughed, "Hey, at least you got us out of the firehouse for a bit."

You smiled, watching Sylvie and Violet come over to the door after stocking up the ambo and making a hot coco trip.

Sylvie put a cup on the tray next to you, "Hot coco for you."

"Thanks," You replied, cradling it with your good hand.

Violet jokingly ruffled your hair, "Anything for our favourite patient."

You laughed, bidding your goodbyes after they said that they had to leave for the firehouse. Kidd asked you to keep her updated and even if you couldn't do girls on fire, you should still come along. You said you would, you could stand on the sidelines and cheer like her and Kylie.

You were left alone for a little while before Will finally returned with the X Ray tech.

Will showed you the Xray on the screen, "Well it's definitely broken."

"Oh thanks, doc," You scowled, "I couldn't tell."

Will laughed, taking a seat and leaning on the bed while you spoke with the Ortho resident. The resident offered you your pick of four colours and you had made Will choose because you couldn't. Will had immediately chosen Black and you scoffed, 'No way.'

You almost hit the roof when Jay came running into the room. He looked terrified and completely out of breath. He stood staring at you and Will for a moment, then the rest of Intelligence came barreling in after him.

"Hello," You said slowly, confused why they were all there.

"Kelly called," Jay said.

"I forgot my phone at the firehouse, Kidd didn't have your number," You said sheepishly.

Jay let out a sigh, "I thought you were seriously hurt."

Will was laughing quietly, "Why didn't you call me?"

Jay frowned, "I tried," He argued, "You didn't pick up."

Wills smile fell, "oh,"

You burst out laughing, "Wow, one job big brother."

Jay turned back to his team, telling them they could go seeming you clearly weren't about to die. He came around the bed and took a seat at the end.

He gestured to your arm which was now cast in bright yellow, "What happened?"

You waved your casted wrist around, "Broke my wrist."

Jay shook his head in disbelief, "How did you manage that?"

"I slipped on black ice," You shrugged.

Jay looked a little disappointed, "Of course you did."

"What is that supposed to mean?"

Will smiled, "He only means you aren't always the most sure footed."

You faked being offended, "Are you calling me a clutz?"

"Yes," Both your brothers replied.

Will and Jay laughed as you crossed your arms and sunk into the bed with a pout, "Thanks a lot."

#will halstead #jay halstead imagine #jay halstead #halstead brothers #jay halstead x reader #chicago med x reader #chicago pd x reader #will halstead x reader #chicago fire x reader #halstead!reader #halstead sister #halstead!sister #chicago med imagine #chicago med #chicago pd imagine #chicago fire imagine #Stella Kidd #Sylvie Brett #violet mikami

[fangirlfrom-hell]

Letter to Santa || Jay Halstead x Halstead Sister

This ended up being something totally different from what I had planned.

“Guess what I have for homework today, mommy!”

“What do you have for homework today, hunny?” Mrs. Halstead looked at her daughter through the rearview mirror with a wide smile.

“My letter to Santa!” She screamed excited from her baby chair.

“Oh! That’s so exciting!” She was somehow relieved, since she was struggling on finding a present for her youngest. This was the perfect opportunity to know what she actually wanted. “And what are you going to ask Santa to bring you?”

“Uh-uh, not gonna tell. It’s a secret!”

“A secret? You can’t have secrets with me, I’m your mommy!”

“Yea, right”, The baby worried, “But…I want it to be a surprise!” She said a bit saddened.

“A surprise for me? But it’s your present not mine!” Mrs. Halstead stayed quiet, wondering a few minutes, she’d have to try again later.

"Well, in that case, I have a surprise for you!” She resumed the conversation with lots of emotion in her tone.

Becca opened her mouth with excitement, “A surprise?”

“Yes, and you are going to love it”

“Give me a clue!”

“Can’t, you’ll guess it right away”

But the girl wasn’t satisfied and she begged, “Mommy!”

“Think about what you wish the most right now, that’s all I’m saying”

“I know what I wish”, she muttered, “But that can’t be”

Becca’s belly started to hurt when her mom parked the car in the garage. She was nervous to know what the surprise was, the little girl knew it couldn’t be what she wanted, but was still clinging to hope.

“Wait here and close your eyes”, her mommy ordered, “No cheating!”

The girl shut her eyes as tight as she could, trying to go against the uncertainty of opening them. She could hear a los of noices, some quiet laughing, muttering, the front door opening and steps.

“Ready?” Mrs. Halstead was obviously nervous, “You can open them now!”

"JayJay!" Tiny Becca screamed her lungs out when she saw her brother coming out of the house in his soldier uniform. Eagerly, she tried to untie her belt, but failed to do so. Laughing, her big brother approached to help. As soon as she was untied, she climbed into his arms and hugged him with all of her strenght, climbing from his neck. From the distance, their mother was recording the moment.

“This is just what I wanted”, all the girl’s emotions translated into a hard sobbing.

“Then why are you crying?” Jay finally spoke, wiping away her tears. She just shrugged.

Mrs. Halstead, also with watery eyes, came close to Jay and Becca, who’s head was now resting on her brother’s chest; he managed to hug them both.

“We should go inside”, he said avoiding to join the chorous of crying too.

There was a welcome cake for Jay that day and Becca couldn’t separate from him for the rest of the day, she was scared he’d disappeared from her life again. She was asking questions and telling him all she had done during his absense. It was time to sleep, but Mrs. Halstead didn’t have the heart to send her to bed. The little girl resisted as much as she could, until her eyes slowly began to close and she fall asleep in the couch, hugging her brother’s arm.

“I need your help, Jay”, his mother said when they were alone in the kitchen. He got scared. “I need you to help me find out what Becca wants for Christmas”

“Oh!” He was relieved, “Why don’t you just ask her?”

“I’ve tried millions of times, but she says she doesn’t want anything. She’s now saying she wants it to be a surprise for me”

“Hm”, he frowned.

“She knows something, for sure” All of the family had tried to hide Mrs. Halstead illness, but the little one was perceptive and she had sensed something was wrong.

“Why don’t we just get her a generic doll or something?” Her son proposed ignoring that last coment, “She’s not that difficult, she’d love that”

Mrs. Halstead stopped what she was doing and stared at her son, a gaze that made him feel shivers down his spine.

“This has to be her perfect Christmas, Jay”

“Mom…”

“No, don’t say a word. You know that”

An intense silence filled the room, they stayed in their places without moving and avoiding eye contact.

“Okay, I’ll talk with her tomorrow” He concluded.

The next afternoon, Jay sat at Becca’s tiny desk to help her do her homework.

“I don’t know how to write, so I am going to draw what I want for Christmas and we’ll send the letter to Santa at school” The youngest Halstead explained as she started to work on it.

“Cool. So…what are you going to draw”

“Uh-uh, it’s for Santa, not for you”

“Hold on a second, but I’m your brother, you always tell me everything”

“Are you sad?” She stopped.

“Because you don’t want to share it with me? A bit, yea”

Becca leaved the colors down and leaned her elbows on the table, toughtful.

“I am so sorry, Jay. I love you, but just can’t let you know, ‘cause you’ll tell mom”

Now he was very intrigued. He helped her cut and decorate the envelope, leaving it opened on purpose.

“Ok, got the letter”, Jay showed it to his mother later on the day. Carefully, she opened it and smiled to the drawings and glitter decorations. She stared at it for a while, caressing it as if she was looking at her own daughter, thinking about all she would miss from her if her threatment didn’t go well.

“This all is really cute, but I can’t understand a thing”, She felt hopeless.

Her son analized the drawings, there were some squares and rectangles with what he tought were letter on them, but didn’t have a clue on what they might say. He the pointed to a stick figure with orange curly hair, “That’s Will, for sure”

She sighed, “Well that present is going to be impossible”

“Hey”, Jay tenderly hugged his mother, “I know this is important for you. I’ll find out, don’t worry. I’ll work on that”

But she felt guilty of putting this pressure over him, knowing he had his own struggles after war, “No, son. You already have a lot to deal with”

“But this is more important”, he meant it.

On Monday morning it was Jay who took Becca to school and picked her to take her home. On their way back, they passed by to get a milkshake, the first step of his plan to gather information out of her. He let the car parked and she moved to the front seat.

“Don’t tell mom I led you had it before dinner”, he threatened her while she was sipping the beverage without a pause. She raised her pinky to make the promise, he followed her game. “And stop it or else your brain will freeze”

“Ok, now that we’re here I have something to tell you. Bad news”

“Oh, oh! Did I do something wrong?” She worried.

“No…well, it depends on how you see it”

“What!?”

“I got a letter from Santa, it was your letter, actually” Becca swallowed hard. “He returned it because he didn’t understand what you asked him for”, Jay explained.

The little girl’s heart was pounding hard and her big round eyes looked like glass, “My drawings were bad? but I did my best, it’s just that I don’t know how to write words!”

“I know”, He was now regretting what he tought was a good plan.

His sister was now having trouble to breath, her concern scalated quickly, “He understands our drawings, that’s what my teacher said! She lied!”

“No, no, no, Beccs it’s alright, there’s a way to solve it, I’m gonna help you solve it”

But his little sister wasn’t listening anymore, as she started to despair in a way he had never seen her before, “Now momma’s— not going to— receive her me— medicine and— it’s all my— foult”. That being said, she exploded in an uncontrolabble bawling.

“What?” Jay felt terrible for making her feel so bad, but he had no idea it would end that way. The girl was now angry and sad, she started to kick the seat. She was usually so calmed, he had never seen her like that, but this was not a tantrum, this was something else.

“Hey, hey, hey!” Jay tried to help her breath, it took a while for the little girl to regain control over herself and it was until that moment that she led her big brother hold her. He was scared, “What happened?”

But she just moved her head. By her body language, it was obvious how devastated she was, on top of all, she was feeling stupid.

“Don’t call yourself that”, he said calmly.

Some tears were still rolling down her cheeks, “But is my foult!”

“What is it?”

“That mommy’s not getting her medicines for Christmas”

It took few seconds for Jay to connect the dots, that was the surprise and the reason she didn’t want anybody to know what she asked Santa. Becca wanted her mother’s medication to make her feel better.

A lot of toughts came into Jay’s mind, “How do you know she needs them?” She wasn’t supposed be aware of that.

“I heard daddy saying they were expensive and that he was going to work double to pay them. It takes the pain away”

A deep silence invaded the space between them, for Jay it was painful, for Becca was filled of uncertainty.

“Is she sick?” She asked not really understanding the meaning of her question.

Jay ignored it, “You don’t need to give up for your present and you shouldn’t worry about adult things, ok? Santa wouldn’t like that”

“But is she—"

“I know you are worried for what you heard dad said, but everything’s going to be fine” His smile carried a bit of sadness. “What you did was very kind, Becca, really. But I’m sure mom would be happier if you get a present for yourself”

“You think?”

“I know”, but his little sister wasn’t convinced. “I will get the medicine, I promise”

“You have the money?”

“I’ll…I’m working on it”

Jay passed a napkin to her so she could dry her face, she was finally feeling better. While his sister was recovering and finishing her milkshake, he was questioning himself if he should let her mother know about this or if he should keep it a secret.

“I wanna go home with mommy” Little Becca yawned. After all this strange conversation, all she wanted was to hug her.

There was no more evidence of her turmoil, so Jay started the car, “Yea, we’re good to go”

“I want Will for Christmas”, Becca stated on the way back home.

That made Jay get mad towards their eldest brother. He should be at home, if he was able to come back, Will had it easier, it was just that he didn’t wan to, “I don’t— I don’t think Santa can make that happen”, he tried to be still.

“Oh” She shaded.

“What if you ask for something only for you? Like a toy. Isn’t there a toy or game you’d like to have?”

“I’ll think about it”

Their mother received them in the front door, Becca hurried to give her a tight hug, “I love you, mommy!” She smiled.

“Did she tell you?” Mrs. Halstead asked later when they were alone, she was getting a bit anxious, “We’re running out of time”

Jay hesitated, he knew he had to tell his mother about the letter, but it wasn’t the right moment, “Sort of, but I’m getting close”

In that moment, Becca entered the living room where her brother and mother were talking, she was holding a sheet with her both hands, and a box of colors under her armpit “I need your help”

“What is it, hunny?”

“I did my letter again, only drawings, but can you two help me with letters? I want Santa to understand this time”

Her brother peeked into the sheet and once he made sure there were no medicine boxes drawn on it, he smiled wide “Sure”

The little girl placed her materials on the coffee table and sat in the middle, “I want mommy to do it”

“Ok, so what do you want?” She prepared herself to start writing.

“I know what you said”, Becca talked to Jay, “But this is Will again. I gotta try” She pointed to a stick figure and with a pang in the heart, their mother wrote her son’s name under.

The woman pointed to a crooked drawing, “Ok, and what’s this?”

“That’s a doll that can talk and eat and closes her eyes to sleep”

“Oh, yeah, yeah. I have seen those on TV” Jay mentioned outloud, but the comment was mostly for his mother, who nodded with relief. A sense of comfort finally filled the space.

“All of my friends at school have one of these, but they cost money” Jay frowned, it made him feel something strange to realize how his young sister was so aware of her context, he wished it wasn’t like that.

“That’s something you should’t worry about…”, her mother stroked her hair, “…because Santa is going to make it for you”

“Yas! That’s what I tought” Becca smiled.

“Now…”, their mom continued, “What about movie night?”

“I’ll make popcorn”, Jay stood up and during all the time he spent in the kitchen, he tought and planned how to raise enough money for the medicine and the doll in such little time.

#jay halstead #one chicago #chicago pd #halstead sister #jay halstead x halstead sister #will halstead #jay halstead imagine #jay halstead x sister #halstead sister!

[marvel-and-chicago-fan]

Killer Cookie

A/n: I finally finished and I don’t know what else to say but I hope you love reading this since it’s the last part

Word count: 3.3k

summary: You get into a fight at school and Hailey helps you and your brother to stop fighting

———————————————————————— It was a chilly, no… freezing day in Chicago. It was snowing but not as much currently because the storm is supposed to hit later tonight.

You decided to walk to the firehouse instead of riding the bus because you didn’t feel like hearing everyone screaming whenever the bus would almost crash, even though you were one of those people with your friends.

Your class won a food party because they collected the most votes on the door decoration contest. Luckily none of the food had strawberries. Because you are deathly allergic to strawberries and always needed an EpiPen with you just in case.

Which reminded you to tell Will or Jay that you needed a new one since you lost your last one when you went out sledding with them.

But when you opened your locker to get your backpack and Jacket there was a box of chocolate chip cookies.

~inside the box

don’t worry there’s no strawberries, 

-secret admire ;)

You screamed internally because you lived  for Chocolate chip cookies, and you had a secret admirer?

*** 

On your way home you were starving since you didn’t eat much at school, only really some fries from the restaurant.

So you decided to eat 2 cookies and let everyone else fight for the rest, they were yours after all. 

Opening the box carefully so you didn’t drop the box and whatever was in your hands.

You shoved the whistle cookie in your mouth. You may do girl things but you eat like a grown man, especially a football player.

Not even 10 seconds after swallowing the cookie your throat started to feel dry and you couldn’t breath 

(Give me a break today this is all going to be in mine right now)

“Shit. There’s no strawberries in these, unless.” You picked up a cookie and broke it in half. “What kind of psycho put strawberries in chocolate? I- I need to get t-to the house”

***

You basically pushed everyone aside who tried to greet you and rushed to the kitchen.

“Ayy, Y/n how’s my favorite Halstead sibling doing” Kelly joked

Jay hit Kelly in the elbow hard. “C'mon man it was a joke, I can have favorites”

“Nah, I see how it is, guess I’m never bringing food over here again. And you can keep Y/n forever then” Jay shrugged.

“I was just trying to cheer her up, she looks upset” Kelly usually payed attention to

Your face whenever you came in. He would know if it was ok to make jokes or he needed to pull you to the side and talk to you. Right now you are upset but that’s because you weren’t processing anything.

But clearly ignoring everyone was for nothing because you barely made it to your drawer of the kitchen before you fell and your backpack cushioned your fall.

At least you didn't  hit  your head.

“Y/n you good?” Jay stood up from the chair he was sitting at. This was so unlike you. You always came in and said “Hi” or “Hello” to everyone whether or not you were having a bad day

“Y/n?… SHIT Y/N!”Jay screamed 

“Take her back pack off,” Matt said. “What’s wrong with her? She turning blue”. Someone else’s voice came out from the other 10 voices.

“Give her CPR or something” Jay spoke as Kelly was rubbing your sternum.

“Jay we don’t know what’s wrong with her let alone why she’s turning blue it could be the cold” Kelly said “cmon y/n come back to us”

“I DONT CARE TJATS MY FUCKING SISTER WHOS DYING.” Jay roared.

Hailey practically runs in due to all the commotion with Stella and Sylvie right behind her

Sylvie and Stella ran over to you and started assessing you while Stella started CPR.

Hailey walked over your bag which was thrown a few feet away from you and decided to go pick it up, to help out.

Hailey picked up the box and your backpack so it was out of the way but when she looked in the box she saw something that she thought you wouldn’t have. 

“Shit, where does Y/n keep all her stuff in here” Hailey was looking at both Sylvie and Stella but she hoped at least both of them would answer.

“Uhh bottom drawer far left”

Hailey rummaged through the draw until she found a tube with a bright orange tip. And sprinted to you and pushed everyone out of the way.

As everyone was yelling at Hailey like she was crazy she rolled up your pant legs and Jabbed the Epi Pen in the middle of your thigh.

“HAILEY ARE YOU CRAZY? WE DON'T EVEN KNOW WHAT'S WRONG WITH HER” Jay screamed 

“Strawberries- she had strawberries” She sighed

***

My head feels like it’s underwater

Everything seems so muffled 

What-what happened?

Your eyes flutter open and immediately shut them due to the light.

“C'mon y/n come on back to us” a soft voice says

“Give her space guys” as time goes on the voices get louder and it forces you to open your eyes. 

“Just rest, we’re not gonna push you to talk, we’ll talk at home. We’re gonna leave soon”

Hailey had to go home while you were passed out because she had an early shift tomorrow so Will drove over to the firehouse to come and get both you and Jay.

“How is she?” Jay looked in his rear view mirror to see you guys.

Will checked your pulse again and looked at the watch on his wrist “her pulse is better but her breathing is slow, I might give her oxygen when we get home”

“Why would she eat strawberries?” 

“They were cookie Jay, maybe she didn’t know. It happens” 

“Well it better have been an accident or me her are gonna have a serious talk” Jay grumbled 

“Don’t be to harsh on her”

****

You woke up around 5:30 am and couldn’t go back to sleep, and the one thing you hated the oxygen.

You’d much rather have the nasal one but you can’t exactly argue with adults on what’s better for your health so you just have to deal with the mask. 

Eventually it got hot and you got bored since you couldn’t find your phone. You assumed it was still at the firehouse or Jay had it.

You dragged your little tank/ machine across the room and grabbed your comforter (the very top blanket on your bed) and your pillows and one stuffed animal  and stuffed them into the bathtub and you found your laptop and you put on your favorite show.

This was better than being in your bed. 

Will woke up to the sounds of Jay screaming in his ear. So much for trying to sleep in.

“Wake up, Y/n’s gone she’s not in her bed” Jay almost screamed at the top of his lungs.

“Are you crazy? Check her bathroom, I found her sleeping in there one time after a reaction and I heard sounds coming from there this morning” Will turned his back to Jay.

Jay ran into your bathroom which was connected to your bedroom and what he saw made his heart melt. 

*** 

“Here’s the real story, the PTO had a cookie drive where you could buy cookies for your friends and stuff like that and they would put it in your locker and we would find them, mine had a note that just said that “thanks for being great friend, don’t worry there’s no strawberries” Okay, so maybe you lied a little but it’s better than jay beating up some poor boy.

“Did it say from who?” Jay asked in his detective tone

“Nope, and I’m pretty sure Hailey told me she threw the box away while I was passed out” you shrugged.

“I guess it’s fine, maybe the PTO forgot. It’s not like anyone hurt you on purpose so it's fine. Right jay” Will sent Jay that look to just drop this subject this one time.

“Yeah right…” Jay picked at his pancakes. He wanted to look into it more but Hailey would kill him.

But… the laughing and the image of you guys faded into his mind.

Flashback end… (WHAT?!??)

Will realized it, it was Milly. Milly was somewhat an old friend of yours and he remembered the day you said you told her that you were allergic to strawberries when she was over. You’ve only been allergic for around a year and half. There hadn’t been anyone else you told. 

Except for Milly…

Will shot up from the couch, grabbed his keys from the bowl and ran outside to his car.

Will attempted to call Jay but he didn’t answer. So he was probably out with Hailey. 

“Jay when you get this meet me at the Jail they have Y/n immediately. There’s not a lot of time” 

***

“Uhh yeah, I just opened my locker and they were there. I didn’t think anything of it, I guess I was just excited” You shrugged.

“Did you tell anyone else about your allergy other than Milly” Jay spoke

“No, not until after the incident, I honestly don’t remember much from that day, but I don't really care to be honest.” You shrugged once again.

“Y/n listen to me, you’re going to have another court date. You’re going to tell everyone exactly what you told us. We’ll get security footage from the school and we’ll also get statements from everyone at the house” You’re lawyer was pretty strict and prescient on getting you out.

It wasn’t the first time someone has gone against Milly in court and you’re lawyer had won 4 cases against 2 

***

1 year and 7 months ago

“Well well well isn’t it the detective's little sister?” 

“What did I do not milly?” You sighed.

“Nothing, I just wanna make your life a living hell. Your brother is horrible and if I can’t do anything to him I might as well hurt what’s best to him, his little sister-.” Milly had a smirk on her face.

“Please Milly, I’m just trying to fix my makeup” you rolled your eyes and looked back at the mirror.

“Let’s see if make up can fix this” before you could ask her what she meant when you felt stinging on your right eye.

“WHAT THE FUCK MILLY, WHATS YOUR PROBLEM?” You screamed.

“It’s not you I have a problem with. It’s your brother's little squad.” She spits as the rest of her group come in and corner you.

A kick from behind throws you to the ground. 

As you try to fight back Milly and get friends they overpower you as it’s 1v5 

(And yes this happened at my school but in the hallways❤️)

After a few more kicks to the stomach one of the girls speaks up. 

“Let’s go, don’t kill her.”

“You’re off the hook for now Halstead.” She kicks you once more in the stomach and you cry out in pain.

***

As soon as you got home you peaked behind the wall to see if Jay was watching Tv to make sure the coast was clear. Nothing 

You ran to your room and to your bathroom.

You pulled open your draw of Makeup and crabbed your concealer. 

(I don’t wear much makeup yet so give me break on how it works😭)

“Y/n? Are you good in there?” Jay knocked on the door

“Yeah, yeah just fixing something” you replied 

“Alright, Will called and asked if you wanted to go out for dinner” 

That made you freeze. You can’t go out like this… Will and Jay could tell the signs of when you used too much makeup. 

“Uhh, I don’t really feel like it. Can her just pick up chick fil a or something” 

“Are you ok? You love going out” Dam it Jay, did you really have to pick a being detective as your job.

“Yeah, I rather just hang out with you guys tonight y'know”

“Alright I���ll call him”

***

“Y/nnnn… Y/N”

“Is this one of those seizure things she used to have when she had that head injury?” Jay whispers to will

“No, it doesn't look like it. I’m hoping it’s not because I will sue this place down if they let her get a head injury and didn’t let any of us know.” Will grits that last part between his teeth.

“Y/N!” A voice pulls you out of your thoughts.

“Yeah, tell them in court got it. I gotta go bye”

“Alright, call me if you need to schedule anything or if anything happens” your lawyer stood up from the chair.

“Yeah thanks Chris” both Jay and Will got up and shook his hand and walked out.

“What was that about” Will mumbled

“I don’t know, Y/ns strange but you never know what’s going up in that head of hers.” Jay shrugged as he walked down the steps.

Just three weeks left Will said to himself, three weeks. And then you could go back to school. You missed a whole school year so you would be a year behind all of your friends. 

How could Jay not care, he hadn’t fought or visited you as much as he did. 

He would talk to him when they got back to his apartment. This was gonna be another fight 

“Jay?” 

“Yes will”Jay hummed

“You seem to not care about y/n all you do is sit her all day and watch these stupid games” 

“First of all the games aren’t stupid, and second of all how dare you say that I don’t care about her. It seems like you don’t care about her”

“ME? Oh no you sit here and go to the district come back home and drink like your Addict” 

“And you? Don’t act so innocent. You’ve been sitting there on your couch rotting away when you’re not at work” Jay scoffed

“At Least I’m trying to help, I’m trying to read about how we can help Y/n. Do you ever use your brain or are you so fucked up inside? You gonna turn up like dad if you don’t check yourself” Will shoved his finger in Jays chest.

Jay flung wills hand away. “Watch who you’re talking to. Don’t bother  coming over. And you can have y/n when she gets out since I don’t care about her. Now get the hell out of my house”

Like I said, the Halstead siblings are falling apart.

***

January 29th 2024

Court date

“All rise” Everyone stood up as the judge walked into the room

Will,Jay and your lawyer Chris had given you a talk on behaving and doing exactly what they said.

You were gonna follow through with those rules but you had something else in mind to add. A way that everyone would see the true face of Milly.

***

“I have a question for my client”

“During your first court, Ms. Taylor accused you of abusing her over the months, and looking over CCTV footage from your so called confrontation Michelle walked over to Ms Halstead instead and she threw the first punch. If you had looked at the cameras you would have seen it”

Milly looked astonished that someone had said her real legal name and not Milly. 

“MR. Olsen, I did look at the security cameras and I saw what I saw” The judge shrugged.

You had enough, the judge kept lying, Milly kept telling fake stories and everyone wans´t helping.

“I’ve had enough” You stood up. “Y/n what hell are you doing sit down” Jay yelled in a whisper.

“Back off Jay, Your name isn’t Milly Parker. It's Michelle. Isn’t that right? Ms, Taylor? There’s video proof of everything and every single one of your group of friends. You think I haven’t had an outsider for months? Giving me all the information I know right now. I knew it was you who tried to Kill me with the cookies. I got video permission and I saw it. Best part is I didn’t even have to wait for you to be proven wrong in a couple of years because IT'S ALL HERE. YOUR A FUCKING SNAKE, A LIAR AND BITCH”

Jay and Hailey got up and pulled you out of the courtroom before security did it themselves. 

“Y/n are you crazy, you’re going to end up getting more Time in jail” 

“You don’t understand Jay, she’s the one who hit me first. She’s the one who gave those strawberry Cookies” You cried.

Jay pulled you into a hug, so you wouldn’t run off and he could comfort you. “It’s alright, you’re ok. I’ll figure it out.” “Go get that footage on that screen, if they try to stop you someone named Harrison Butler will help you” Jay whispered to Hailey and she nodded back.

“Y/n I’m gonna leave you with Kevin for 5 minutes while I talk to Will about something really quick. Is that ok?” He could feel you nodding in his chest. 

***

“Natalie, It’s Jay. I need you to send Y/ns medical records from when we came for a check up after she had a reaction”

Jay kept humming in response when Natalie kept asking questions

“Alright thank you” 

“I’m getting super tired of the crazy shit” Jay mumbled to himself. 

***

“You need to listen to me. When you go in there don’t get up and scream, don’t accuse, don’t exaggerate. Stick to what Voight told you” Jay was on your level giving you a pep talk. This was the final court session. It would be decided who was guilty and who wasn’t. “Do you understand?”

“Yes. If I get to go home can I get McDonald’s?” It was worth asking.

“Of course y/n. I’ll buy you all the McDonald’s you want and whatever you want.” 

“Y/n it’s time, let’s go” Your lawyer Chris came out.

 ***

“Can Ms. Y/n Halstead come up” The judge “would please tell your side of the story to settle this once and for all.”

After the longest speech of your life which was almost 40 minutes. And other people are coming up to talk. A decision was made.

“I sentence Michelle Taylor 30 years for attempted murder, 10 years for fraud and 3 years for assault.” 

“For Y/n Halsted, she and her family will be compensated 10 thousands from the star and 25 thousand from the Taylor family from what she has been through.” You looked at Jay with a shocked face, that was a ton of money. “Case closed.” The Jude spoke. Everyone around you started clapping and cheering. 

People from your school who had also been affected by Milly were there, News stations, Your family from Med, Fire and Pd. The whole state had heard about your story and it finally worked, people came out told their stories with Milly and this Past year of Hell was over. 

You won

***

Now in the car With Jay and Will you guys were one of the last to leave since people were interviewing you guys like crazy. You were starving for something, not prison food. 

“Can I have McDonald’s now?” 

Jay and Will looked at each other and then looked back at you “taking that as a yes, I’m tired of prison food so let’s go”

***

IT'S OVER, I don’t know if I’m gonna pick this up and add to it again but I want to say I’ve been adding to this every now then since late December early January ish.

I love this and now I can focus on working on some other stuff I have to write😁

Sorry it took so long as well. I wanted to make it good but I got tired of writing this like 2 weeks ago so it’s kinda bad.

Love yall so much and thank you for all the support

#chicago pd #jay halstead #chicago #halstead brothers #one chicago #will halstead #hospital mention tw #x reader #chicago med #halstead sister #Jay Halstead X reader #Will Halstead X reader

[irislikeswriting]

Finally, an imagine. I am working through all the requests, slowly but surely, as well as a few other ideas of my own.

This was a request by @alannnina for a halstead!sister who is in an abuse warning.

This is a heavy one and there’s a few big TWs. So tw for graphic scenes of psychical and verbal abuse. Mentions/hints of rape and sexual assault to minors, as well as a description of what rape is. Lots of misogyny towards women and misogynistic language is used.

I do have ideas for a part two if people enjoy this. It’s also not fully edited so any mistake please point them out! And without further ado, enjoy!!

"You're late."

You jumped at the sudden intrusion of the silence, knowing it was just Jay, and so let the door slam shut, not bothering to close it quietly anymore.

"I know," You were uncomfortable, you always were when Jay took the authority role, way more so than with Will, "Sorry."

Jay would use his police voice on you, some sort of an attempt to psych you out, or to scare you. You didn't know which was more important to him but you did know it wouldn't necessarily stop you from doing whatever you'd done again. Not know that you knew why he'd use that voice. And, it was Jay, you brother, who you were never scared of because you knew him. You trusted him.

"Jesus, Y/N, where were you? I was worried," Jay dropped the bad-cop act and instead let his voice show emotion, "I tell you a time and you've gotta be back by then."

"I know," You shrugged, "Time just got away from me, I guess."

"Time just got away from you? You're sixteen. That's not an excuse."

"Sorry." You shrugged again, what else were you meant to do?

It was just something that happened to every teenager, a bit of healthy rebellion or just having fun. God knows that Jay must've done that, even if you weren't privy to that stuff.

Jay searched your face, just standing there slightly illuminated by the moonlight coming through the window. Jay hadn't shut the blinds in the living room, he never did.

It was a few more beats until Jay spoke again, "Go to bed. We can talk about it more in the morning. And I mean go to bed, no sitting on your phone or whatever you think I don't know that you do."

You couldn't help but smirk a bit at that one, because you did know that Jay knew, you were way too confident in his detective abilities to assume anything else. But he never told you off.

“You want me to turn the light on?" Jay asked, his hand reaching up the light switch.

“No!" You said, a bit too quickly and a bit too loudly and Jay furrowed his eyebrows at you, "No. It's fine. I'm used to the dark."

Jay knew something was up, of course he would now, how could he not? He wasn't going to let it go, and it was going to become harder and Jack was going to become meaner and it was all more things that you'd have to deal with when you were already dealing with enough-

Suddenly the light was blinding your eyes, and causing a headache to begin to pulse in your head.

"Jay, no. I said no!" You tried to turn away from Jay before he could see your face, even if it was pointless because he'd see it anyway, he wouldn't let it go now.

"Y/N," Jay's voice suddenly sounded very, very old, "What happened?"

"You're not angry?" Was the first thing you could think to say. You'd spent so long being angry at recently.

“It was Jack." Jay said, not a shake in his voice.

“No," You shook her head, suddenly feeling a very deep need to explain it all before it could get out of hand, "I mean, yes, it was but Jay you don't understand. It's not what it seems like."

“What does it seem like?"

“Abuse." It was the first time you had said that word out loud.

“If it's not then why did you say that?"

You felt hopeless, you felt that returning feeling rising up from your stomach, numbing your body, "It's what it looks like, I guess. But that's not the case, I swear."

“Will needs to look at your face," It wasn't phrased like a question, but Jay was still watching you, and you knew he was waiting for permission.

“Okay but can we- can you not tell him anything. I don't want him to get the wrong idea or anything."

Jay just looked at you.

—————————

"So, I've heard you're having a bit of a tough time recently. You want to talk about it?"

You were sat opposite Dr Charles, it'd been a week since you'd come home to Jay waiting in the dark for her. You hadn't been able to see Jack during that week and so you'd refused to go to school. You'd see him there, is what you said. Really, you just didn't want to go. You hated it and you'd hate it even more with a massive bruise on you face.

Jay had relented almost immediately, and you had your way. You had your phone and you could just leave the apartment during the day. Jack would skip, and then you could explain this all to him and he would understand and it'd all be fine. Some big misunderstanding.

That hadn't happened. Instead, Jay took your phone and when you got it back you couldn't find Jack's contact, nor could you add anyone new to message. Not just on your texts, on anything. And to be honest, you were shocked. You didn't think Jay knew about any of these apps, or at least not enough that he'd know to do all this.

But it was whatever, it was fine. You could still go and meet Jack during the day.

Except Jay had other plans for that. So you went and sat in the break room at the precinct and did work online. You couldn't even leave the room because of all the stuff the team were doing outside. However, true to his word, Jay hadn't told anyone about it. The team were confused, sure, but no one looked at you any differently. Even if they were trying to hide it.

Will, however, had known almost immediately. You had told him he had it wrong, and he didn't argue. Just fixed your face and told you to get some rest. No doubt so he could sit and talk to Jay about you.

"Y/N?" Dr Charles said again, "You with me?"

“Sorry," You said, you didn't want or need to be here but you liked Dr Charles and so you would play along, "Just got a lot on my mind."

“I bet," Dr Charles smiled lightly, "So, Will didn't tell me too much. You want to fill me in?"

“Sure," You sat forward slightly, putting your hands under your thighs, "It's not a big deal or anything, though. Just so you know."

“That's fine," Dr Charles smiled again, "Just take you time."

“Uuuh," You shrugged slightly, "They think my boyfriend, Jack, is abusing me."

“But he's not?"

“No," You shook your head, "It's not abuse. I'd know."

"And, if you don't mind me asking, how would you be able to tell if it was abuse?"

“I'd be scared. Of Jack."

“You aren't scared?"

You shook your head, "I'm not scared of Jack. I'm scared of the way he acts when his brother is around."

“Is that not the same thing?" Dr Charles asked.

“No." You said, because it wasn't and you knew that even if Dr Charles didn't.

“Alright," Dr Charles smiled, "I want to talk about Jack and his brother some more, is that okay?"

“Do I have a choice?" You asked.

“Yes. Of course," Dr Charles said, "If you don't want to we can have a game of chess, how about that? I already talked with your brothers and I'll see you every week but it will all be at your pace, Y/N."

“Okay," You knew Jay or Will would probably be pissed but Dr Charles was the psychiatrist, not them, "Let's have that game of chess."

————————

The team had been gone for a while and you were bored. You'd been left with school work to complete, Geography, and you had finished hours ago.

Normally, you'd wander downstairs, maybe say hi to Trudy. But today something felt wrong, deep in your stomach you could just feel that something bad had happened.

Your fears were confirmed when everyone arrived back and Jay had that look on your face and he was trying not to look at you but he still was. And so he was talking about you.

He came towards the door of the break room and you almost wanted to ignore him, pretend you were annoyed with him so he'd go away and wouldn't tell you whatever bad news he had.

“Y/N, I need to talk to you." Jay shut the door behind him, so it was just the two of them.

“What?" You asked, ready to try and delay things, "Now? I'm, like, busy."

“You need to sit down," Jay pulled another chair out, opposite yours and so you listened to him and sat.

“It's about Jack. Y/N, I need you to listen to me."

You nodded, sick of hearing about Jack but the tone of Jay's voice almost made you feel sick.

“He has a younger sister, right? Sarah."

You nodded, "Yeah. She's 11 I think. I went to her last birthday."

Jay nodded but you knew he wasn't fully listening, "Jack, he hurt Sarah. She's in the hospital."

“Hurt? What do you mean he... hurt her? Like he hit her or?"

“He did something much worse, Y/N. I can't tell you the details but he hurt her."

“It was because of those videos, right?" You couldn't stop the words from spilling out because if you had just told someone then maybe Sarah wouldn't be hurt.

You had known the videos were bad news but you'd just say and watched them and nodded and agreed to what Jack said to appease him.

Maybe he hasn't abused you. But he'd hurt Sarah and he had hurt you. Even if that wasn't him. It wasn't the Jack before his brother showed him videos. It wasn't the Jack that you knew Jack was.

But it had been Jack who had hit and punched and strangled and apparently really hurt his sister.

“Videos?" Jay frowned, leaning in closer to you, "What videos."

“Um. He used to show me these videos that his brother shared to him," You said slowly, not looking at Jay, "They were of these men and they were saying stuff about how your girlfriends should behave. How women should behave. I just, I thought that, that..." You trailed off because you didn't know what you thought. You didn't fucking know.

Jay paused for a second before talking, obviously realising this was progressing to something that may need to be recorded, “Y/N, Kim is going to join us." Jay said and you nodded. That was fine. Kim was fine.

Jay gestured through the window on the door and Kim came in, smiling at you and pulling a chair up. Jay spoke to her in a low voice and she nodded

“Y/N, can you tell me what the men in these videos said?" Kim asked, "You can stop if you feel uncomfortable."

You bit the inside of your lip, "I guess. For Sarah."

“Y/N, you don't have to do anything you don't want to. But it would help."

You nodded, "I know, so I'll tell you."

You didn't know where to begin because the videos were all so long and the men in them all had their own ideas and opinions but you just said what you remembered. Starting slowly and it all came tumbling out afterwards.

“They said your girlfriend should do what you want. If she didn't, you should punish her. Like, hit her or slap her. If she misbehaved too often then you should get her to count the bruises. Tell you what they were for. If you want to kiss, she should kiss. If you want to.. have sex, then she owes it to you. You shouldn't let her speak out of turn, or be rude to you. You shouldn't let her mock you in public and she should just let you show her off."

Jay had written most of it down, but you could see where his handwriting had gone weird, or messy. Presumably because of the things you were saying.

“That's really helpful, Y/N. If it's okay could you tell us about an instance of where Jack hurt you?" Kim asked, smiling at you.

You shrugged, "I guess."

Kim nodded for you to go ahead and so you did, but not before taking a deep breath.

“We went to a party. One of those massive house parties you see in the films. I was 15 so it was like, 6 months ago I guess..."

“I didn't know these actually existed!" Y/N clung on to Jack's hand, looking around the room.

There were people everywhere, they were even holding those little red cups that the teens do in the movies. Fuck yeah. You were one of those teens now.

You and Jack both grabbed your own red cups, filled with some nondescript alcohol that burned your throat when you drank it.

After saying hello to your friends, Jack led you over to a group of boys on the sofa. You recognised a few of them, being Jack's older brother and his friends.

They whistled lowly when they saw you, one going as far to wolf whistle. It made you feel uncomfortable and you went to look at Jack to let him now but he wasn't looking at you. Instead he was beaming over to the group of boys. Looking like he was showing off a trophy.

And so you didn't say anything, letting Jack pull you down on to his lap. You tried to move off, to have your own space but he held on to you tightly and tilted your face over to his.

“Gimme a kiss, baby." He said, tapping his cheek.

You did as he asked but it was weird. He'd never called you baby and he'd never asked you to do that and he had never acted like this with you in front of his brother.

After giving him a kiss he pulled you back down, kissing you. His hands made their way to your dress straps, pulling them down and there was whoops on the background and what the fuck was Jack doing?

You pushed him off of you, "Jack," You hissed, "What are you doing?"

“He, like, shoved me off his lap then and his brother said something to him. But I was trying to pull my dress back down and fix it so I didn't really hear. But then Jack dragged me away and I let him because I wanted to get away from all those boys. They scared me."

“I just didn't want to sit on your lap and make out in front of all those people, Jack. They're older than us, it just freaked me out!" You stepped away from him when he shut the door to the room he had dragged you in.

“So my brother and his friends freak you out?" Jack's eyes were little slits and you would be lying if you said you weren't a little bit scared. But you were mostly annoyed, very annoyed.

“That isn't what I said and you know it." You shook your head, "I'm going to go find Katie or someone, I'll see you later. There's no point us hiding down here fighting."

Jack grabbed onto you wrist and you turned around, your eyes already rolling, "Jack, c'mon."

Suddenly your back was smacking against the wall and you couldn't even cry out because you were so fucking shocked. You didn't know what had happened.

“Jack?" You was staring, wide eyed and his name was the only thing you could get out because what the fuck? And your hands were shaking and your voice was, too. And you felt a bit sick.

Jack pressed his forearm against your throat, cutting off your air supply slightly, "When I want to make out, we make out."

“Jack?" You said again, it was all you could say and you instantly wished you hadn't when Jack pressed his arm harder and okay, now you couldn't actually breathe. At all.

“I could knock you out, right here. I'm in charge, bitch."

You didn't know what to do and your entire body was pulsing with fear because you were so fucking scared. You'd never been so fucking scared before in your life and all you could think was that you were scared.

“Do you understand. Y/N!" Jack barked your name at the end and you opened your mouth to speak but you couldn't because he was pressing against your throat too hard.

Jack laughed then, and let his arm come away from your throat a bit, "Stupid bitch."

“Yes," You gasped out, "Yes, Jack."

Jack smiled then and stepped away, "Good girl, Y/N. I'm sorry I had to do that but you embarrassed me, y'know. My brother and his friends, they'll laugh at me if you don't listen to me. They barely believe I have a girlfriend, it hurts."

You held your throat, trying to ignore the pain in it and the ache in your chest from the lack of air and listened to what Jack was saying to take your mind off it.

“Please don't tell anyone. I was just scared. I act out when I'm scared and I'm sorry....."

"... I won't do it again. I promise. I'm sorry." Y/N recited the words Jack had told her that night, still avoiding looking at Kim or Jay.

“I knew then I wasn't going to tell anyone."

“Why, Y/N?" Jay said from beside you.

You stiffened slightly, "Because he was right, his brother was a dick to him. And it was easier. I loved him. I really did, and I didn't want to lose him."

“How often do you think these events took place?" Kim asked, still not looking at you any differently.

“It wasn't like... regular or anything, it was just here and there."

“Could you tell us a few more of the instances? What he did and what happened before and after?" Kim asked gently.

“Yeah, I guess," You didn't know where to start, what would be most helpful to Sarah's case, "Uh, the night I got back late. We... I just told him I had to go, because it was late. But I'd told him I'd ask Jay if I could stay round, even though I knew he was going to say no. Jack got mad that I couldn't, I guess. I said I had to go and started to leave but Jack followed me downstairs and we argued for a bit. Then his brother, Aidan, was stood in the kitchen right next to us. He was laughing, or smirking, I think. And then Jack got angry. I mean, so angry."

“Why do you love to make me into an idiot, huh? What the fuck is wrong with you?" Jack was in your face and you wanted to get away from him but there was no room.

“Jack, I don't- I don't do that. I just, Jay he'll be angry I can't stay." You spoke as quick as you could, needing to get the words out.

“Wow. I wouldn't let my girl speak to me like that, Jack. Mine would be apologising." Aidan called from the back of the room.

You closed your eyes, wanting to get out of this situation.

“He's right. You love to make me look like a fool, why are you denying it?"

“I'm not-"

The slap came so quickly you ended up hitting the wall behind you harshly, biting your lip to stop yourself from crying out.

“You are, you bitch." Jack hissed, spit hitting your face.

“I'm sorry," You forced out, "I'm sorry I don't think you're stupid. I love you, Jack. I'm sorry. You're right, I do."

“I am right," Jack nodded, "You should be grovelling."

Aidan started towards the two of you, talking as he came, "She admitted it. So she needs to be punished, little brother."

“I'm sorry." You said again.

“How many bruises does she have this week?" You heard Aidan say to Jack.

“I don't know," Jack turned to you, "How many bruises do you have, bitch?"

The number was burned into your memory, it always was, "Seven. I have seven. I'm sorry. I swear, I'm so sorry."

Neither boy listened to your apologies, "It's eight now, I guess." Aidan shrugged and then clapped his little brother on the should, "You're the boss." He said before smirking at you and walking away.

You shrunk away from Jack, "I'm sorry, I won't do it again."

He rubbed a hand over his face, "I don't want to do this, Y/N! But I have to. You have to be better, okay? You understand that?"

You nodded, "I understand." You sniffed, preparing for the hits to come.

Jay looked like he was ready to leave, whether to cry or to kill Jack, you didn't know. But he was on the edge of his seat, his eyes small and his leg moving. He never jogged his leg unless he was seriously upset.

Kim was hiding her true feelings, you had no doubt, "That's really helpful. And I'm sorry that happened."

You shrugged, not replying.

“I need to ask you a quick question, okay Y/N," Kim said, and you nodded, half knowing what Kim was doing to say anyway, "Did he ever force you to have sexual intercourse against your will?"

“No," You shook you head, "We did, uh have sex but it wasn't rape. He didn't, like hit me to make me." Y/N almost blanched at the word rape and the fact that Jay was sat right next to you as you were saying all this.

Kim leant forward, ever so slightly, "Did he ever pressure you into having sex, and I don't mean did he hit you. I mean did he tell you you owed it to him, because you were his girlfriend? Or did he just keep saying he wanted you to make him feel good? Maybe you refused at first but eventually agreed because Jack seemed like he really wanted you to?"

You clenched your jaw, "That's not rape, okay? It wasn't rape it was just a girlfriend helping out her boyfriend. And I don't want to," You turned to Jay, "Can we stop? I'm finished I don't want to do this anymore?"

Kim stood up before Jay replied, "I'll leave you two here. You did great, Y/N. It will really help Sarah."

Kim left and you and Jay sat in silence for a few seconds, and you knew he was going to say something but you had to first.

“I don't want to talk about it right now, Jay, okay? You can send me back to Dr Charles and I'll took to him tomorrow but right now I just- I just want to ask you something and then I want to go home. I don't want to think about this anymore today." The tears were coming to your face and you wiped them away angrily, "Why did Jack do it? To Sarah? To... me?"

“We can't know for sure yet, Y/N but those videos you described? It sounds like they radicalised him." Jay answered, focusing on your question and for that you were grateful.

“He's just a kid. How can a kid do all this?"

Jay took your hand suddenly, squeezing it tight, “What he did wasn't okay, Y/N and we will get to the bottom of it. But you don't need to worry about him anymore."

“But there's going to be a trial, right? For Sarah. Maybe for me. This is going to be hanging over my head for years until it's done. And I just want for Jack to be gone. I don't want this to have happened to me, Jay."

Jay pulled you into a hug and you clung on to him, the sobs coming so suddenly you could barely breathe.

“You don't think these things, do you? That the men said?" You had to ask him, you had to know.

“What those men said is wrong. It's not true. I will never, ever expect anything from you or from Hailey. Or from any other women. I will never look down on you. I will never punish you, or Hailey. I swear to you, Y/N."

You believed him, you'd always believed that. But you had to ask because you had to be sure. You had to know that there were men like your brothers out there, among all the bad.

You'd have to face Jack and a trial. You'd have to tell people what he'd done and what you hadn't done. You didn't have a choice.

But you did have two brothers who loved you and who didn't blame you. Not only did you have them, you had people they worked with who were basically a family. Who would all fight to support you.

Nothing was okay right now, but with the love from the people surrounding you, you believed it could be.

#halstead sister imagine #halstead sister imagines #halstead sister #halstead!sister #halstead reader #Jay halstead imagine #will halstead imagine #one Chicago imagine #Chicago PD imagine #Y/N imagine

[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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