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herrmannhalsteadproduction · 4 months

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That Herrmann/Halstead DNA (Chapter Seven)

Summary: This is Part Twenty-One 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: Graphic Depictions of Violence, Angst, Hurt/Comfort, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Major Character Injury, Assault, Stabbing, Gunshot Wounds, Blood and Injury, Whump, Trauma, Eventual Hopeful Ending

A/N: I received my degree from the medical school of Television Drama which means while things might not (*cough* will not *cough*) be accurate, they will be exciting. *jazz hands* SEE END FOR MORE NOTES

Chapter One Chapter Two Chapter Three Chapter Four Chapter Five Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Jay

Jay was about ready to crawl out of his skin.

He needed to do something—anything—but…Mouse was taking care of Bex, Connor was with Will, and Chris was on the phone updating Cindy.

Ms. Goodwin had come by and said she would take care of checking on Connor and Will. (And hopefully get an update about how the operation was going.)

Nobody needed snacks. (He’d asked.)

He couldn’t even work the friggin’ case. (Detective Medeiros said so.)

Waiting around, not knowing what shape Bex was in or if Will—

If Will was going to—

Jay scrubbed a hand down his face. He was two seconds away from losing his damn mind.

“Halstead!” Platt came charging down the hall with most of Bex’s school friends trailing behind her. “They put us on lockdown upstairs and just let us out now. Said there was a shooter. What the hell happened down here? Everyone okay?”

A debrief. He could do that.

Jay looked at the huddle of worried faces in front of him and gave a pared down version of what happened, trusting that Platt could read between the lines.

“But they’ve got him now?” Isaac asked, sending an anxious glance back at the elevators. “Ty? He’s in custody? Sam’s up with Emery by himself. Is that—”

“There’s absolutely no way he’s getting loose again,” Jay reassured him. Between Detective Medeiros and Voight, that was an iron-clad guarantee.

“Any word on how Will’s doing?” Devon asked quietly and Jay shook his head.

He was trying not to think about it too hard. Surgery like that always took awhile and they really hadn’t been gone that long. Will was strong. He was going to be okay. He had to be.

Jay wasn’t going to accept anything less.

“Yeah, no, we, uh, we haven’t heard anything yet,” Jay said, sighing. He jerked his chin in a little nod at Chris as he ambled toward their group, finishing up his call with Cindy.

“I love you too,” Chris said, stopping to stand beside Jay. “I will. Yes! I promise!” he said into his phone, raising his eyebrows. “He’s right here. It’ll be the first thing I do. Yup. Yup. Okay. Hug the kids. Love you. Bye.” Chris ended the call with a tired smile. He stuffed his phone into his back pocket and turned to Jay, immediately pulling him into a bear hug.

“Wha—”

“This is from Cindy,” Chris said, squeezing him tighter. “You gotta take it. No arguing.”

Jay hesitated a moment before letting himself melt into the hug. He had a feeling Cindy would somehow know if he didn’t accept it and would immediately call Chris back.

Besides, he was tired. So tired of this shitty, shitty day.

He needed the damn hugs.

Chris gave him a couple of pats before finally letting go. “Guess who we forgot about?”

“I can’t even think right now,” Jay said. “Just tell me and—oh, crap, it’s Kol, isn’t it?” Poor dog had been left alone for hours now. “We have to go get him. Where can we—”

“Hey, it’s okay,” Chris said, reaching out to squeeze his shoulder. “Cindy realized as she was leaving and swung by Will and Bex’s place to pick him up. Thank god she’s in charge of the spare keys. The kids are thrilled to be looking after him for a few days and honestly?” He rubbed at his face and sighed. “It’s a good distraction for them right now.”

Yeah, Jay didn’t envy Chris and Cindy trying to navigate explaining everything that had gone down to the kids. Annabelle and Max would probably be satisfied with the bare bones now that they had Kol there, but Lee Henry and Luke were getting to the age where they caught on when their parents were trying to hide stuff from them. And were insisting more and more that they could handle it all.

Jay could barely handle it.

Ms. Goodwin returned just then and Jay felt Chris stiffen beside him, neither of them sure how to read the look on her face. Jay was almost afraid to ask, but he forced himself to try. “Were you able to—”

“Yes, I have an update from Dr. Allan,” Ms. Goodwin cut in immediately, a small smile pulling at the corner of her lips. “Dr. Halstead lost a lot of blood and there was some damage to his spleen, but they’re making good progress with the repair. I think we can be cautiously optimistic.”

Okay. Jay let out a shuddery breath. That was—he would take that.

“How’s Connor doing?” Chris asked.

Her smile gave way to a sad frown. “I’m not sure he even knew I was there,” she said. “He’s very concerned about Dr. Halstead and I—I think the sooner we’re able to convince him to get some rest, the better.”

“We’ll work on him,” Chris promised. “Thank you, Ms. Goodwin, for checking on them.”

“They’re my people too.” She handed Chris a card. “This has my number on it,” she said. “Please keep me updated on—” she waved a hand through the air “—all of this, as you can. I’m going to see what I can do about covering the ED for the next few weeks.”

Chris pocketed the card with a grateful nod and she headed off. A clatter of wheels in the hall had Malia craning her neck to take a peek and she let out a soft gasp. “It’s Bex.” She and the others moved aside to let Chris and Jay through.

Sure enough, Dr. Fahir and a nurse Jay didn’t recognize were bringing a bed with Bex back to her room. Mouse was walking along beside, talking quietly to Bex as they went. More surprising was seeing Dr. Abrams consulting a tablet as he followed along behind them.

Was Bex’s concussion more serious that they’d thought?

Chris and Jay followed them into Bex’s room, hanging back while they got her set up again. Tried to hang back anyway. Bex spotted them right away and started to push herself up with a grimace which set off Dr. Fahir, Dr. Abrams, the nurse, and Mouse; all four of them quickly trying to get her to lie back down.

“Ms. Herrmann,” Dr. Abrams said firmly. “Remember what we talked about.”

“Rest,” Dr. Fahir added.

“But—”

“You gotta try and stay still,” Mouse urged as he leaned in, stroking her hair away from her face. “What do you need? I’ll get it for you.” He followed her finger, understanding dawning when he caught sight of Jay and Chris. “Oh! Yeah, one sec.”

Mouse waved them over, moving back so the two of them could stand closer to Bex.

“Wh-what’s happening with Will? Is he—is he okay?” Bex looked up at them with teary eyes as she took a shaky breath. Jay wished more than anything that he had good news for her.

“He’s still in surgery,” he said. “But it sounds like it’s going well—whoa!” Jay reached out, trying to steady Bex as she fought to sit up again. “No, hey, come on—what are you doing?”

“Need to go,” she muttered. “Gotta see him.”

“Bex, sweetie.” Chris moved in to gently stop her and made eye contact with her. “Will is in surgery. You can’t see him right now. We will tell you as soon as we hear anything else.”

“He—Will’s hurt, Chris.” Bex’s voice cracked as a tear slipped down her cheek. “I need—”

“I know, baby girl, I know.” Chris kept whispering to Bex as he coaxed back down and got her settled against the pillows. “I promise he’s being taken care of and I’ll take to you see him as soon as I can. But for now—can you close your eyes and rest for a minute while I talk to the docs. Can you do that for me?”

Bex grumbled something that Jay missed, but made Chris smile. Her eyes fluttered shut finally and Chris stepped over to pull a haggard-looking Mouse into a quick hug. Jay grabbed him for another one immediately after.

Fuck it. Tonight was hug night now.

“How’s she doing?” Chris asked quietly, looking between Mouse, Dr. Fahir, and Dr. Abrams. The nurse turned down the lights in the room and they all moved closer to the door to speak in low tones.

“The fractures in her arm and ribs have been aggravated further,” Dr. Fahir said. “One of her ribs has become subluxated.” She caught was Jay was sure was a completely confused look on his face and took pity on him. “That means it’s slipped out of place, but hasn’t been fully dislocated. It will heal on its own along with the fractures, but she’ll be in a lot of pain.”

“Did the contusion get worse?” Chris asked. “What about the internal bleeding?”

“The internal bleeding has slowed, but not as much as I’d hoped,” she said. “We’re still keeping an eye on that and the contusion along with her concussion symptoms.”

“How bad is the concussion?” Jay asked as he dug out his phone so he could start writing this stuff down.

“Mild, luckily,” Dr. Abrams said. “Aside from the pain, she’s also dealing with some confusion. There was…a bit of difficulty getting her to stay still for the scans.”

“She got upset while she was getting checked out because she forgot Will had been shot,” Mouse murmured to them. “Doc had to give her something to calm her down.”

“Her memories of the last few hours are foggy and that may or may not clear up,” Dr. Abrams said. “Someone should stay with her to make sure she doesn’t make it out of bed on her own.”

“Yeah, we can, uh, we can handle that,” Chris said, running a hand through his hair. “Gotta say, Dr. Abrams, I freaked out a little when I saw you here. Had me headed straight for the worst-case scenarios.”

“I was having dinner with Ms. Goodwin and Dr. Charles when she received the call about the shooting and we all returned to the hospital,” Dr. Abrams said in that very clipped and professional tone he had. “When I heard about Ms. Herrmann’s injuries, I offered to do a consult since I was here anyway.”

His voice was all business, but Jay caught the ever-so-slightly fond and faintly worried glance he gave Bex. She might be right about him being a secret softie.

“I know you all have your hands full at the moment,” Dr. Fahir said, drawing Jay’s attention back to their discussion. “But I cannot emphasize enough how important it will be for Bex to truly rest over the next few weeks. Overexerting herself will set any healing back exponentially.”

Jay bit back a groan as he met Chris and then Mouse’s eyes.

Make sure Bex stays still and rests.

While Will and Emery are in the hospital.

“I mean, we’ll do our best,” Chris said, shaking his head. “But it’s gonna be a battle.”

Jay and Mouse snorted, but Dr. Fahir’s next words had them sobering up.

“She’ll be in too much pain the first couple of weeks to get very far.” Dr. Fahir gave them all a stern look. “The medication can only do so much.” Jay remembered that from his own times at Med. Rib injuries especially were a beast.

“Rest. It’s the most important thing, gentlemen,” Dr. Fahir repeated. “I’m counting on all of you to help her navigate this.”

“None of us want to see her back in a hospital bed anytime soon,” Dr. Abrams added.

After promising to check back in tomorrow, the medical team swept out of the room, leaving Jay, Chris, and Mouse watching a restlessly snoozing Bex.

“Tying her to the bed is probably out,” Chris whispered. “But what are the odds on us getting her a prescription for that sedative to last the next few weeks?”

“I mean…I know a guy,” Mouse said, holding up a hand when Jay smacked him in the side. “Kidding. Jeez.”

There was a soft knock at the door before Platt stuck her head in. “Got a pile of firefighters out here hoping for an update.”

“You guys can go,” Mouse said, pulling a chair over to the side of the bed. “I’ll stay.”

“You sure?” Jay would rather stay too, but he didn’t blame 51 for wanting to know what was going on. Bex was as much their family as Chris was. And he really didn’t want to leave Chris to face what was guaranteed to be a flood of questions all on his own.

“I, uh, I don’t think I’m going to be able to leave this spot any time soon, man.” Mouse carefully took Bex’s hand in his own.

Jay felt that down to his bones. He was pretty sure Bex’s pullout couch was going to be his new home for the foreseeable future.

“We’ll be right outside,” Jay said, following Chris to the door. “Yell if you need anything.”

He and Chris didn’t make it very far. Platt hadn’t been lying about the pile of firefighters. It looked like all of 51 was crammed into the hallway. Boden, Severide, and Casey standing at the front with matching worried frowns etched into their faces.

“What the hell happened after we left?” Severide asked.

Jay sighed as he leaned against the wall and Chris huffed out short laugh. “The answer to that depends,” he said.

“On what?” Severide demanded.

“How long your break is?”

***

Connor

“—nor? Connor. Look at me, please.”

Maggie’s voice broke through the rushing pulse of blood pounding in Connor’s ears. He tore his gaze away from the flaking patches of blood—Will’s blood—on his hands and met her eyes.

“There you are,” she said softly. “The surgery is done—”

“Done?” Connor scrambled to his feet, gripping at the sink as he peered through the window. Which was empty save for a couple of orderlies doing clean up. “Wh-where is he? What happened? Is he okay? Maggie, I—”

“Need to breathe,” Maggie said, gripping his hands in hers. “He made it through surgery. Dr. Allan was able to repair all of the damage and Will is stable. She’s taking him to observation.”

“Oh,” Connor gasped out, trying to what she was telling him sink in. “Oh. That’s—that’s good, that’s, uh—jesus, that’s—” Maggie helped guide him back to the floor as his legs gave out and his words crumbled into sobs.

She rubbed at his back, holding onto him for who knew how long as everything Connor had been trying to keep a lid on for the last few hours bled out of him.

When his sobs petered out into sniffles, a paper towel appeared in front of his face. Connor looked up to see April crouched in front of them with a sympathetic smile on her face. Ethan stood behind her with a bundle of clothes in his arms.

“Dr. Allan said you can come with her to let everyone know the good news, but you’ve got to get cleaned up first,” April said.

“She said you’re going to terrify the patients if you want through the halls like that,” Ethan added.

If he looked half as bad as he felt, Connor figured she probably wasn’t far off.

“Okay.” Connor took a bracing breath before heaving himself to his feet and reaching down a hand to help Maggie up. “Gimme five minutes and I’ll be good to go.”

“Yeah, we’re not trusting you to do this without keeling over yourself,” April said. “Strip that top off, Rhodes. It’s nothing we haven’t seen before.”

Connor was too tired to argue. He let himself be manhandled until they deemed him fit for the public eye again. After he was dressed in fresh clothes, Ethan handed him one last item.

Taking it in his hands, Connor unfolded it, throat growing tight as he recognized it as one of Will’s hoodies.

“Grabbed it from his locker,” Ethan said, not quite meeting his eye. “He may or may not need a new lock.”

Stifling his laugh against the fabric, Connor took a moment to breathe in Will’s scent before putting it on. “I’ll replace it,” he said. Connor looked around at the three of them, ducking his head in a grateful nod. “Thank you. All of you.”

“You’d do it for us,” Maggie said as April and Ethan nodded. “You and Will—you’re our family too, you know?”

Maggie and April hugged him while Ethan clapped a hand on his shoulder and steered the group of them out the door.

“Let’s go,” April said, breaking away to lead them toward the stairs. “The sooner we let everyone know the good news, the sooner you can go and see Will.”

Connor sped up, beating her to the stairwell.

He didn’t want to wait another second.

***

Mouse

Bex stirred shortly after Jay and Chris left the room. She blinked blearily at him.

“Mouse?”

“Hey,” he said, leaning in. “I’m right here.”

“Will?”

He shook his head. “Nothing new yet.”

“Time izzit?”

“Uh, late?” Mouse laughed softly, letting go of her hand to pull out his phone. “Yeah, it’s after midnight.”

“You should go home,” she mumbled. “Get sleep.”

“I’m good right here,” he said before pausing as doubt crept in. “Unless, I mean…do you want me to go home?” He seriously didn’t want to do that, but if she didn’t want him here, he’d go and sit in the hall or something.

“No, wan’ you to stay.” Bex frowned, reaching for him and he took her hand again. “But…”

“But what?” he prompted when she trailed off.

“We were gonna have our big date,” she sniffled. “And now you’re stuck taking care of me.”

Mouse reached out with his free hand to gently wipe away the tears that were welling up in her eyes. “Bex, if it was me in this bed and you in this chair, would you consider yourself stuck taking care of me?”

“Can’t shake my head,” she grumbled. “Hurts. But you know.”

“Yeah, I do.” Knew without a doubt she’d be doing the exact same thing if their situation was reversed. Wouldn’t even question it. “Of course, I want to be here, Bex,” he said. “I lo—”

“No!” Bex’s eyes flew open and she winced back against the soft light. “No, don’t—”

“Don’t what?” Mouse hoped the problem wasn’t what he thought it was.

“Don’t say it,” she whispered and his heart sank. Did she not—not that she had to. They’d come so far already. It didn’t mean she had to be ready to say or even be ready to hear—

“Stop,” Bex said, squeezing his fingers. “Stop thinking bad stuff. It’s not—I just—I don’t want you to say that because of today. We can’t—it’s not fair.” She paused, closing her eyes and taking a breath before opening them again. The next sentence came out slowly. Deliberately. “I don’t want that memory to be tied with today. Does that—do you know what I mean?”

Once he’d parsed through her words and thought about it, he did. They both deserved better than a declaration that was partially a knee-jerk reaction to fear and trauma.

But this was—it wasn’t that. It was different and more than that in its own way and he couldn’t let it go, not completely. “I promise this is not me saying it or making a big declaration,” he said. “But I need to say this. Please.”

“Okay,” Bex whispered, giving his hand another gentle squeeze.

“I almost lost you today.” Mouse shook his head, trying to clear away the haunting images from the last few hours and focus on what he wanted to say. “I heard that shot and for a few horrible minutes, I had to live in a world where I didn’t know if you were still in it or not.” He scrubbed at his face with his free hand and Bex made a soft sound.

“Yeah, it was, uh, it was kind of terrifying,” Mouse said. “I kept thinking, I haven’t said enough. I haven’t—I haven’t shown her how much she means to me.”

“Mouse—”

“Hey, you promised.”

She pressed her lips together tight and watched him with shiny eyes.

Mouse took a deep breath, collecting his thoughts. “You’re my family, Bex,” he said. “You and Jay. And you know—you’ve, uh, you’ve been that for a lot longer that you and I have been circling each other.” He tapped his fingers against his chest. “You’re here. You’re a part of my heart—like, a pretty large and permanent piece. That’s, uh, that’s what I needed you to know. I’m full of regular, lower-case love. For you.”

He didn’t even want to think about what it would have felt like if he’d lost her and never had a chance to tell her that.

“Nothing regular about it,” Bex whispered.

True.

But she was right before—now wasn’t the time for that. Mouse could wait until it was.

They both deserved that.

Bex tugged him closer and he hugged her as carefully as he could. She mumbled something against his chest.

“What was that?” Mouse pulled back, still hovering close though as he returned to his seat.

“I said I’m full of regular, lower-case love for you too,” she said, sighing into her pillow. “If you were wondering. And to be clear about what kind of moment we’re having.”

“Still a good moment.” Mouse raised her hand and pressed a kiss into her fingers. “You gonna let me take care of you now?”

“Yeah.” Bex sighed. “My feet are freezing.”

He grinned, remembering the bag from Lucy that Ed had given him. “I’m on it.”

***

Jay

“Hey,” Jay whispered as he and Chris came back into the room. The 51 crew had headed back out on shift and Chris had managed to convince Bex and Emery’s friends to go with Platt and rest in the ICU lounge. It had better couches and was closer to Emery. And the three of them had Bex covered for now. “How’s she doing?”

“Her medicine’s really kicking in and she was pretty out of it,” Mouse said. He looked down at Bex and the side of his mouth ticked up in a smile. “She was, uh, she was pretty cold and I got her some socks, but that wasn’t enough so she tried to talk me into getting in the bed with her. Said I was warmer and she wanted to sleep inside me like a tauntaun. I gave her my hoodie instead.”

Jay pressed a hand to his mouth, trying to smother his laugh as Chris looked between the two of them in confusion.

“Like a what now?”

“A tauntaun,” Mouse repeated. “It’s from Star Wars—when they’re on Hoth and Luke is about to freeze to death so Han cuts it open—”

“And stuffs him inside!” Chris finished for him, finally making the connection. “She said that? What the hell, Bex?”

Jay snorted at Chris’s flabbergasted look, but then they all froze when Bex stirred, holding their breath until she settled again under Mouse’s hoodie.

Chris shook his head as he stared at her. “She’s such a weirdo,” he whispered, half to himself. “I raised a friggin’ weirdo.”

That set off another round of laughter in Jay that he tried to keep quiet, but he lost it again when Mouse just shrugged and said, “I thought it was sweet.”

Jay dropped down into one of the chairs and buried his face in his hands, muffling the sound as his shoulders shook with giggles.

Chris sat down beside him and patted his back. “Okay there, Jay?”

He sat back up, wiping at his face, a little startled to realize there were tears running down his face. “Yeah,” he said, sniffling. “Shit.” Mouse handed him a tissue and Jay wiped at his nose. He sighed. “I just—I love you guys.”

“We love you too,” Chris said and Mouse murmured his agreement.

“I, uh, I wish Will had been here for that,” Jay said, turning to Chris. “Your face—”

“You can tell him all about it when we see him,” Chris said quietly before grinning. “In full detail so he can roast Bex too.”

“What are we roasting Bex for?” a tired voice asked for the doorway.

The three of them were on their feet as soon as they turned to see Connor standing there.

“How is he? How did it go? Is he okay? Is he—is he good?” Question after question spilled out of Jay as Connor stepped back to bring them out into the hallway. Maggie, April, and Ethan were standing there along with a doctor Jay had never met. Chris joined them in the hall and Mouse hung back in the doorway, keeping one eye on Bex.

“He’s okay,” Connor said, reaching out to squeeze Jay’s shoulder.

Jay slumped back against the wall in relief. “That’s—I mean, Ms. Goodwin said it was going well, but I’m really, really happy to hear that.”

“You and me both.” Connor gestured to the short woman standing beside him in wrinkled scrubs. “This is Dr. Allan,” he said. “She performed the surgery on Will and can give you all of the details.” He came over to rest on the wall beside Jay, leaning into his side a bit as they listened to Dr. Allan give the details on Will’s injuries and how he was doing.

Which was pretty good for someone who got a big hole blasted through their middle.

There was a long list of things they were keeping an eye on and things they’d have to watch for—most of which Jay was going to have to get Connor to translate for him later—but he made it. And he was going to be okay.

And Bex made it. And she was going to be okay.

And Emery made it. And if there was any justice in the world, she was going to be okay too.

Jay didn’t think he could ask for much more than that.

Dr. Allan left after giving her update and Maggie, April, and Ethan said their good-byes shortly after that. Maggie with strict instructions for Connor to get some sleep.

Good advice for all of them at this point.

“Well?” Chris shot a look at him and Connor and Mouse. “How do we wanna do this? Divide and conquer?”

“I’ll go with Connor and you stay here with Mouse?” Jay suggested.

“Keep our phones on and keep in touch,” Connor added.

“Works for me,” Mouse said, nodding at them, already turning back toward Bex’s bed.

“Go team,” Chris said with a little grin. “Say what you want, but we sure can handle a crisis.” He gave Jay and Connor a pair of back-slapping hugs before heading into the room.

Connor and Jay stood there in the hall for a moment while Connor checked his messages for Will’s new room number.

“Mind if we take the stairs?” Connor asked as they started walked and Jay shook his head. “Thanks,” he sighed. “Think I need a few days before I can step foot in the elevator again.”

Jay got it. Probably more than Connor realized. But he was also happy Will was only one floor up. He could’ve forced himself to do more if he had to, but the sooner he could find a chair to pass out in, the better.

“So,” Connor began while they both focused on putting one foot in front of the other up the stairs. “What are we roasting Bex for?”

The laugh Jay let out echoed around them in the stairwell. “Apparently she was cold and the socks Mouse had weren’t cutting it…”

***

Connor

The sun was peeking up over the horizon when Will finally woke up.

Connor had been watching him, cataloguing every breath and twitch he’d had since they’d moved him into this room, waiting for that first flutter of his eyelids.

Not wanting to miss it.

Not quite able to believe Will was going to be okay until Connor could look into his eyes.

“Will?” he whispered, gripping his hand as he leaned in. “Hey. There you are. Hi.”

“C’nr…” Will mumbled, groaning softly as he scrunched his eyes shut again for a moment.

“I’m here,” Connor said quietly. “You gonna wake up so I can see those pretty brown eyes?”

Will blinked a few times before managing to focus on him. “Hi.” A loud snore cut through the quiet and Will’s eyes widened. “Was that me?”

“No.” Connor shook his head with a little laugh. “That was Jay.” He shifted to the side so Will could see his brother sacked out in a chair on the other side of the room. “He’s been pretty worried about you guys.”

“Bex—”

“Is okay,” Connor cut in quickly, running a gentle hand through Will’s hair. “She’s got a mild concussion and a little bit more rib damage, but she’s been checked out and Chris and Mouse are with her now.”

“Good. Okay.” Will settled back into his pillows with a quiet hum, face tilting into Connor’s hand still stroking his hair. “Hey, Con?”

“Yeah, Will?”

A tired, but still fully shit-eating grin spread across Will’s face. “Saved your life.”

The surprised laugh that burst out of Connor quickly became mixed with sobs. “My hero,” he managed to get out.

“C’mere.” Will pulled him in for a hug, fumbling to pat at him with clumsy hands as Connor buried his face into his neck. They stayed like that for awhile until another snore from Jay had them giggling and pulling apart.

“Don’t ever do that to me again,” Connor whispered as he tangled Will’s fingers in his. Every bit of fear and frustration and anger from the last few hours bubbled up in his throat, but Connor swallowed it back when he saw Will’s eyes already starting to fall shut.

“’m sorry,” Will mumbled. “Love you.”

“I love you too.” Connor leaned in, pressing a kiss onto his cheek. “So much.”

Another little smile flitted across Will’s face before it relaxed as he fell asleep again. Connor scooted his chair forward, keeping Will’s hand tight in his and rested his other arm on the bed. He watched his chest rise and fall, needing to reassure himself a little while longer before he could close his eyes.

That Will was still here. Still alive.

Still Connor’s.

***

Saturday morning

***

Bex

Bex was miserable.

Everything hurt.

Everything.

Chris and Mouse had told her that Will made it through surgery and was doing well and Dr. Latham was happy with how Emery’s stats were trending although they were keeping her sedated for a while longer.

But Bex wasn’t allowed to go and see either of them.

Wasn’t allowed to move.

Not that she could move much if she wanted to because again, everything hurt.

But still. She wanted—needed to see them both. For herself.

Apparently, that was out of the question.

She was trying not to be miserable—on the outside at least—because she could see how tired and stressed everyone was and she didn’t want to add to that, but if she wasn’t going to be allowed to see Will or Emery, the least people could do was leave her alone.

“So, this Detective Medeiros,” Mouse was saying, bouncing his leg as he sat beside her bed, like he always did when he was nervous or stressed. “She wants to ask you some questions about what happened and she was hoping to take some pictures of, uh, of your injuries.” His head whipped up and his eyes met hers as he frowned. “But you don’t have to, Bex,” he said. “We can do it tomorrow or never. It’s up to you.”

Never honestly sounded pretty good. But Bex knew that wasn’t really an option. “It would help the case though, wouldn’t it?”

Mouse nodded reluctantly and Bex sighed.

That was important. Probably more important than how she was feeling right now. She wanted to know she’d done everything she could to make sure Ty gets put away for hopefully forever this time. And she knew enough about how things worked to realize this—her statements, her injuries—were all important pieces to making that happen.

“I’ll do it,” she said.

“We can stay with you,” Chris said quietly from where he’d been standing at the end of her bed. “If you want.”

“No,” Bex said quickly. Maybe a little too quickly judging from the tiny flash of hurt crossing both of their faces. “It’s not that I don’t want you here…”

But she didn’t want them to see.

Not yet.

Not when the little glimpses she’d caught on her own today showed ugly purpling skin and angry red scrapes. Technicolour violence that hurt to look at. She knew it would hurt worse to see them looking at it. Whether that made sense to them or not, she just—she couldn’t have them here.

Not for this.

“Is Cindy here?” she asked and Chris’s face softened with understanding.

“She’s already on her way,” he said. “I’ll let Detective Medeiros know we’re waiting until she gets here.”

“Anyone else?” Mouse asked. “There’s time to get them and you should have as much support as you want for this, Bex.”

Bex thought it over. Dr. Fahir was going to be there to help document her injuries. Even though they’d only met yesterday and under some pretty crap circumstances, Bex liked her. She was straightforward and…kind, but not in a pitying kind of way. Bex had a feeling she’d help make the process as short and too the point as possible.

She honestly didn’t want many more people in there with her. It was going to be hard enough without feeling like she was on display.

“Just Cindy, please.”

Twenty minutes later, her room had been cleared of everyone except for Detective Medeiros, Dr. Fahir, and Cindy. The door was closed. The lights were still low. And Cindy had a gentle grip on her good arm.

“We’ll go as slow as you need to, Bex,” Detective Medeiros said. “Let’s start at the beginning…”

***

Chris

Chris paced the hall as he typed away in the 51 group chat. Everyone had been making plans to come by and see Bex, but he’d had to nip that in the bud. She hadn’t been in any shape for that this morning and she definitely wasn’t going to be after this interview.

They all understood, obviously, but had wrangled a promise from him to let them know as soon as they could come by. No one was going to be happy until they’d had a chance to see her for themselves. And he had a suspicion there was some kind of giant card in the works.

Maybe that would put a smile on her face.

Not that she wasn’t trying to put on a good front, but even her best front didn’t much of a chance against what she was dealing with. Poor kid had been through the wringer and she was in pain. So much pain. Chris hated seeing her like that.

He just wished there was something more he could do to help. To make it better.

Wished he could be in there with her right now.

At least she let Cindy in. Cindy could always see right through her and she’d put a pause on things if Bex needed it, even if Bex wouldn’t. Especially when.

Kid was too damn good at plowing her way through shit.

She’d fallen apart a bit yesterday, but Chris could see her already shoring things up. Putting her focus on Will and Emery. The case.

What she needed to focus on was herself. He hadn’t been joking yesterday when he said getting her to do that would be a battle.

He needed to make some kind of game plan with Jay and Mouse and Cindy and anyone else who was going to help take care of her. Make sure she didn’t try to plow her way through recovery.

Chris stopped his pacing when the door to Bex’s room finally opened. Cindy, Detective Medeiros, and Dr. Fahir came out and Mouse slipped back inside.

“Thank you for all of your help,” Detective Medeiros said to Cindy and Dr. Fahir. “I’ll be in touch.” She nodded at Chris before heading down the hall.

“I need to start my rounds,” Dr. Fahir said. “But I’ll be back to check on Bex soon.” She patted Cindy’s arm with a smile before leaving.

“Hey, hun, how did—” Chris didn’t even get the question out before Cindy was throwing herself into his arms and burying her face in her chest. He wrapped his arms around her, holding her tight when he felt how much she was shaking. “Hey, it’s okay. I’m here. Talk to me, Cinds, please.”

“It’s not okay,” Cindy said, voice muffled by his shirt. She finally looked up at him with red eyes, sniffling as she shook her head. “It’s not—Christopher, she—what he did? God, he hurt her. He hurt her so much and I’m just—oh, I am so angry. I want him to pay and I want him gone and I want to never ever let Bex out of our sight.” She let out a hiccupping sob as he pulled her close again.

“I’ve already been working on my pitch to convince her to move into our house,” Chris said, running his hands up and down her back as he kissed the side of her head.

Cindy huffed out a laugh. “The kids would be over the moon.” Then she sighed. “How do we get her through this?”

“It’s just gonna take time,” he said. “And patience.”

“I wish there was something we could do right now,” she said. “Something that would help even a little bit.”

“Actually, I think I have an idea about that.”

***

Jay

Jay sat up as he read through the text from Chris. He’d been trying to distract himself while Will slept, knowing he couldn’t pop down and see Bex while she was being interviewed.

Detective Medeiros wanted to keep them separate since Jay was a witness.

He knew why—it was a process he’d been on the other side of any number of times—but knowing the why, knowing the process almost made it worse.

He knew exactly what Bex was going through right now. Reliving everything. Having to sit there and be catalogued.

At least Cindy was there with her.

And now Chris had a genius idea that would probably be helpful to not only Bex, but Will too.

The soft sounds of conversation had him standing and walking over to the bed. Connor and Will both looked up at him, pausing their quiet chat.

“Feel up for a chat with Bex?” Jay asked, waving his phone at Will.

“Yes!” Will’s eyes lit up. Jay laughed at the grabby hands he made, shooting off a confirmation to Chris.

“Okay, let’s get you set up.” Between him and Connor, they very carefully moved Will into a slightly more raised position. Jay grabbed the table tray and moved it into place before setting his phone on top. He started up a video chat with Chris who answered after a few seconds.

Sort of.

“Chris,” Jay called out as Will and Connor chuckled beside him. “Chris! You’ve gotta—you’ve got the camera turned around, man—”

“Aw, heck.” Chris’s muffled voice came through the speaker and then finally, instead of a view of a table and sheets, they saw Bex’s face.

All three of them tried to cover their shock, but Will couldn’t quite stop the wince at the sharp breath he took. She’d been in rough shape yesterday, but now that her bruises were starting to come up, it was—it was hard to see.

“Will?” Her voice shook a bit as she peered at the screen.

“Hey, Bex,” Will said, smiling softly at her.

“Hi.” She smiled back…and then her face crumpled and she burst into tears.

“Oh, shit.” Will tried to reach for the phone, but fell back with a grunt. Connor grabbed it and held it closer for him. “Bex, I’m here. I’m okay, see? Dr. Allan said I’m going to be fine.”

That didn’t help much. Bex just cried harder and Jay was at a loss for what to do. She might hurt herself at this rate.

Chris’s face came on the screen, looking tense. “Hey, guys,” he said. “We’re gonna hang up for now and maybe try this later, okay?”

“Chris?” Will called out faintly.

“Yeah, bud?”

“Just…give her a hug for me, okay?”

Chris nodded at the screen. “Always.” The call ended and the three of them slumped back.

“Well,” Jay said eventually. “That didn’t go as well as I’d hoped.”

“Help me up.” Will held out a hand to Connor, shaking it impatiently when he didn’t take it. “Come on, we can get me in a wheel chair and I can go down and see her.”

“Absolutely not,” Connor said, crossing his arms as he stared Will down.

“I’m in better shape than she is right now—”

“Bullshit!” Connor exclaimed.

“Dude, you were shot,” Jay chimed in. “You might have come through surgery okay, but now’s not the time to get cocky.”

Connor nodded, but Will ignored him to point a finger at Jay. “Yeah, I’m not taking advice from you on how to safely navigate recovery.”

Rude.

“Okay, okay, okay.” Connor sliced his arms through the air, cutting off the rest of their argument. “Listen, there’s a solution here that I think will make everyone happy. I can make it happen, but there’s one condition.”

“I’m listening,” Will said slowly.

***

Chris

Chris was on board as soon as he heard Connor’s plan. He didn’t care about what anyone else thought at this point. He couldn’t sit through Bex crying like that again. Not if he could help it.

Or Connor, rather.

Dr. Fahir took a bit of convincing, but she agreed to it once she realized they could get it all done while Bex was sleeping. Minimal disruption seemed to be her magic words.

It was actually kind of fun, whispering and sneaking a whole hospital bed through the halls while Bex slept. She was going to be so surprised when she woke up.

Oh, god. Chris hoped she didn’t cry again.

That would be counterproductive.

As the medical team worked on getting Bex set up in the new space, Chris went to stand beside Jay, whistling under his breath. “This is pretty sweet,” he said, looking around at the spacious private room. Will and Bex’s beds were side by side, but there was also not one, but two couches and a few plush arm chairs. Chris lowered his voice, tilting his head toward Jay. “How much do you think—”

“Ah.” Jay held up a finger. “That’s the one condition,” he said. “We’re not allowed to ask how much it costs. Something about not wanting to have to fight about it with Will later.”

“Fair enough.” Chris nodded. “But seriously, is he like loaded loaded because this is a crazy nice room.”

Jay shushed him, shaking his head as he laughed.

“Yeah, alright, no more questions.” Chris grinned at him. “Man, I kind of want to wake Bex up just to see her face. I’m joking!” He held his hands up when Dr. Fahir sent a glare his way.

Time to go sit on that fancy looking couch and stay out of the way. He plopped himself down and immediately waved Cindy and Jay over. “You gotta try this. It’s better than Jay’s!”

***

Bex

Bex blinked as she slowly began to surface, eyes still a bit sore from her, ugh, ridiculous cry session from earlier. She started to rub at them and someone gently pulled her hand away.

She blinked again, focusing. “Jay?”

“Hey, sleepy head.”

“Why aren’t you with Will?” He was supposed to be keeping an eye on him along with Connor. He shouldn’t—

“I am,” Jay said, grinning as he stepped back.

Bex squinted in the dim light, looking around the room. Mouse was on her other side. Chris and Cindy were…on a couch? Where did that come from?

Wait.

Was this a different room?

A quiet chuckle on her right had her turning to see Connor standing beside…another bed? And—

“Will?”

“Surprise!” He waved at her while Connor did jazz hands.

“How—”

“They decided to put all of their problem cases in one room,” Jay said, quirking an eyebrow at her. Chris snorted and Cindy shook her head, leaving the couch to go and stand beside Connor.

“Ignore them,” Cindy said, wrapping an arm around Connor’s waist. “It was his idea and he made it happen too.”

“Thank you,” Bex whispered to him and he came over to give her a smooch on her forehead.

“Now I can keep an eye on you both,” he said,

“Can we bring Emery in here too?” Bex asked hopefully, but Connor shook his head.

“Not yet,” he said. “She’s needs to stay in the ICU, but I promise you they’re keeping a close eye on her and she’s doing really well.”

“For now, you focus on resting,” Chris said, turning a stern eye on her and Will. “Both of you.”

Bex looked over at Will and he smiled at her again. “Hey.”

“Hey yourself,” she said, trying her best not to tear up again at the sight of him. Here. Alive.

“You know what I think would help us rest right now?”

“What?” Bex asked, voice going hoarse.

“French fries.”

They both laughed and then groaned, clutching at their sides.

“Okay, maybe this wasn’t the best idea,” Connor said, shaking his head at the two of them.

“No,” Bex said. “It’s perfect.”

***

Statesville Correctional Center

The guard—Peters—stood outside of the cell, shifting his weight on his feet nervously.

He was the perfect kind of lackey. Easily bought and yet ferociously loyal after the fact. And still wary enough of the stories he’d heard to have a healthy amount of fear during their dealings.

He’d certainly lasted longer than some of the others.

And he was proving himself to be quite diligent.

“That name you wanted me to keep an ear out for,” Peters said. “It came up. There was an attack.”

That deserved attention. “What happened?”

“Domestic of some kind, it sounds like? Trying to help her friend?” Peters shrugged. His attention to detail would need to be addressed. All in good time.

“And?”

“And what?” Peters squinted at him.

“How is she?”

“Oh! She’s alive, but it sounds like she’s pretty banged up,” Peters said. “They got her at Med.”

A hospital stay.

Hm.

Distressing.

He should send flowers.

“Thank you, Peters,” he said, dismissing the man. “Let me know if you hear anything else.”

Waiting until Peters was on the other side of the doors, he headed back to his bunk, digging out his phone. A few messages had his plan in motion.

But what to send?

He couldn’t include a card. Not yet. It was too risky.

But flowers had their own beautiful language. If he picked carefully, there would be no way his songbird wouldn’t know they were from him.

***

Sunday

***

Cindy

“More flowers!” Cindy exclaimed as Chris accepted another delivery.

Will and Bex’s room was almost overflowing with flowers and balloons and treats that neither of them were cleared to eat, but that Chris, Connor, Jay, and Mouse were steadily working their way through.

“Oh, those are beautiful.” Cindy took the bouquet of red asters and set them over by the window. She plucked out the card and, hunh, that was funny. “They say they’re for Bex, but there’s no message or name on it. Any idea who they could be from?”

Bex frowned as she stared at them. “No,” she said. “I feel like everyone I know has already sent something so I have no clue.” She frowned harder. “I want to be able to thank them though.”

“Why don’t we post a picture,” Cindy suggested, scooping up Bex’s phone. “We can put it on all of your accounts so you can say thank you and mention there was no name on the card. Maybe it was just a mistake and whoever they’re from will speak up.”

“That’s a good idea.” She sighed. “Would you mind doing it? I’m not supposed to look at screens still.”

“I’m on it,” Cindy said, setting up the shot. “Hashtag, beautiful flowers. Hashtag, mystery gift!”

Bex giggled a bit which was exactly what Cindy had been hoping for. “Thank you. I appreciate it.”

“Ten bucks says Capp will try to pretend it was him,” Chris said.

“Hand it over then because he sent those daisies,” Bex said, pointing at the shelf behind him.

The rest of the guys laughed as Chris squawked and stalked over to read the card. “Hunh. He didn’t even try to piggy back on Tony’s gift. That’s a first.”

Bex wasn’t wrong about pretty much everyone they knew sending something. They’d had to be pretty firm about spacing out the visits and keeping them to one or two people at a time so Bex and Will didn’t get overwhelmed. As it was, Cindy could already see them fading.

And no wonder. Her eyebrows flew up as she caught sight of the time. “It’s lunchtime! I bet you’re all starving.” She set Bex’s phone down and started hustling Christopher toward the door. “We’ll go grab something and bring it back up here. Any requests?”

“I will eat literally anything you put in front of me,” Will said.

“Not you, mister.” Cindy waggled a finger at him. “I’ll be following your restrictions until Dr. Allen tells me otherwise.”

“Cindy, anything you can grab will be wonderful,” Connor said, reaching for his wallet. “Let me—”

“Nope.” Mouse beat him to it, handing a card over to Cindy. “This one’s on me.”

“Ooh, get extra cookies,” Jay called out from where he was lounging beside Bex’s bed.

“Thank you, Mouse,” Cindy said, ignoring the general shenanigans of the room and utterly charmed by how he blushed when she smiled at him. “Behave yourselves,” she told the rest of them. “We’ll be back soon.”

Soon turned out to be a generous estimate.

Christopher, sick of hospital food, insisted on going to a sub shop “nearby” that was apparently delicious, but still took almost ten minutes to get to. It was a hole in the wall kind of place with a perfectly worn feel that made her think his claims of deliciousness probably weren’t too far off. That and it was incredibly busy—even for a lunch time rush.

Forty minutes later, they made it back to the room with their miniature feast only to find the whole gang passed out cold.

Will and Bex were asleep in their beds. Connor was curled up in an arm chair beside Will’s bed and Jay was sacked out on one of the couches. Mouse was tucked in on the edge of Bex’s bed, one hand gently keeping hold of her un-splinted arm.

“Guess this’ll have to keep,” Chris whispered to her, smiling as he shook his head at their family. They put everything that needed to be kept cold in the fridge and left the rest on the table. Chris tugged on her hand, leading her over to the other couch and pulling her down into his lap.

Cindy relaxed back into him with a sigh.

It was the first truly peaceful feeling moment they’d had since Friday. Cindy could hardly believe everything that had happened since then. It was too overwhelming.

Took her right back to—to when Chris was here and they all rallied together, scared and unsure of what was going to happen, but helping each other through it as best they could.

It made her want to weep sometimes, how much violence and heartache her family had been through. How many scars they now bore.

“You look like you’re thinking heavy thoughts,” Christopher murmured, nuzzling his nose into her hair. “Wanna talk about it?”

“I just—” Cindy brought her hands up to press over her stomach. “What kind of world are we bringing this little bean into?”

Chris was quiet for a moment before he placed a hand over hers. “One where they’ll be surrounded by family,” he said slowly. “A family that will support them and help them learn how to be strong and smart and kind and brave and silly. It’ll be a world where they will always, always know that they are loved.” He held her close. “Always.”

She tilted her head back to look at him. “How did you get so wonderful and wise?”

“You.” Chris smiled, leaning in to give her a kiss. He gave her a little squeeze before settling the both of them into the back of the couch. “Now, come on and get comfy,” he said. “We need to get back into practice.”

“What on earth are you talking about, Christopher?”

He gestured at their sleeping family. “Gotta sleep when the babies sleep, right?” Cindy stifled a giggle and he shushed her. “I’m serious!” he whispered, fighting his own giggles. “Nap time!”

Their giggles settled down as he snuggled into her side and closed his eyes, quickly falling asleep and Cindy followed him soon after.

***

Bex

Bex cracked her eyes open, smiling to herself as she watched Cindy and Chris sleep tangled up in each other on the couch.

Mouse stirred beside her. “You okay?” he asked quietly.

She thought about it for a moment before answering. “Yeah.” Definitely not all the way, not yet and maybe not for awhile, but—

“I will be,” Bex said.

Because she had her family. One that was strong and smart and kind and brave and silly and that she knew always, always loved her.

Click here to read on ao3:

A/N #2: If you haven't read the rest of the series, that Statesville scene is a call back to one that happened in a 'Honesty. Horrible, Horrible Honesty.' Consider this to be the start of a slow burn villain arc.

A/N #3: I'll do another 'coming up next' post for those of you who enjoy spoilers so keep an eye out for that.

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

@sorry-i-spaced, @thegirlwhowishedeveryonelived, @ivyalmighty, @thewannabewriter, @lexhalstead3, @multifandomgrl08, @foxes-and-cats, @sensitivemallysix, @thebewingedjewelcat, @emme-looou, @trulylavandedarling

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