Chicago Medical Center, Chicago Illinois
Dr. Halstead ended up keeping Sierra the night at Med under observation to make sure there weren't any complications from the brain surgery. Connor and the entire team stayed with her until visiting hours ended around 8. "Get lots of rest and get better, I'll call you all the time to check in," Garcia said before they left.
Connor spent the night next to Sierra's bed and around 7 am Dr. Halstead stopped by and, checked over Sierra before he signed her discharge paperwork. "I want you to get lost of rest, no TV, no screens, nothing that will stress you out or make you overthink, if you start hearing any ringing, headaches that seem to only get worse, or sudden loss of vision I want you to come right back here okay," Dr. Halstead said.
Sierra nodded, "I'll keep an eye on her, she's gonna be staying with me until she's clear to go back to work," Connor said. "I don't remember us having that conversation," Sierra replied looking at her brother. "Staying for Christmas but- but nothing, you nearly died and I'd like to keep an eye on you and make sure you don't fall into a coma or have a massive brain hemorrhage," Connor replied.
Connor Rhode's Penthouse, Chicago Illinois
Connor drove Sierra back to her hotel to pick up her stuff before he drove her to his apartment building. "Are you sure you don't mind me invading your space, I can stay at a hotel I don't mind," Sierra said as she followed her older brother off the elevator and down the hall of the 28th floor. "Si, I'm more than happy to have you stay with me. Plus I can keep an eye on you and make sure you rest," Connor said as he unlocked the door and stepped inside the gorgeous penthouse.
Connor showed Sierra around his penthouse before showing her to the guest room where she'd be staying. The first two weeks Sierra spent sleeping in Connor's guest room, when she'd bring it up to her older brother he'd just say it was her body and concussion healing which is why she was so tired and sleeping so much.
It wasn't until after Sierra had her follow up appointment two weeks later with Dr. Halstead that Connor finally agreed to go back to work. in Dr.Halstead's words, "Everything seems to be healing really well, but I still want you to take it easy and get lots of rest." He set up another follow up appointment in two weeks.
Sierra spent another week sleeping, eating showering, and repeat, she was starting to go crazy with boredom. She knew she needed to heal and rest but she felt restless, Sierra ended up making her way out of the guest room and over to the couch in the open living room. She left the TV off, looking around the spacious and definitely expensive penthouse.
As Sierra scanned the room her gaze landed on a photo frame on a bookcase near the window. She stood up and walked over to the photo, picking up the frame. The photo was of her and Connor the summer before he moved away, they were smiling sitting on their family yacht on Lake Michigan. Sierra had a pair of ray band sunglasses on and she was smiling next to Connor who had matching sunglasses.
Sierra smiled at the memory of that day, she didn't know he kept that photo of them let alone got it framed. A knock at the door pulled her attention away from the photo and memory. She made her way across the room and over to the door. Sierra glanced through the peephole in the door before she pulled it open. "Surprise!" Penelope said with a massive smile as she stood in the hallway with JJ and Emily.
Sierra smiled as Penelope engulfed her in a hug, "Hey, what are you guys doing here?" she asked them happily, yet surprised to see them. "We wanted to check in on you, see how you were doing," Jj replied as she pulled Sierra into a hug. "You guys didn't have to do that," Sierra replied as she let go of JJ only to be hugged by Emily. "Yeah, we know- We figured we'd have a girl's night," Penelope said cutting Emily off excitedly.
"A girl's night?" Sierra asked them a bit confused, "Yeah, we can order food, hang out, and catch up," JJ suggested. "Sounds good to me," Sierra agreed as JJ, Emily, and Penelope stepped inside and she shut the door behind them. "Whoa... what does your brother do for a living again?" Penelope asked wide eyed looking around. "He's a surgeon right?" Emily asked Sierra who nodded. "Trauma surgeon," she replied, as the three walked over to the large window off the living room that overlooked the entire city of Chicago.
The girls ended up ordering Pizza and Wings, and they ended up sitting on the couch catching up and laughing for a few hours, "So what's up with you and that detective? Halstead?" JJ asked Sierra earning a confused look.
"What do you mean?" Sierra replied, "Come on, it's kinda obvious you two have a thing for each other. The way he brought you into the ED, stayed with you, brought you flowers," Emily added noticing it too. "Ooo what detective? I hate not being in the loop," Penelope said looking between the three. Sierra shrugged, "There's nothing going on with me and Halstead, we're just old friends," she replied. "Now that I think about it I don't think he left your side the entire time you were at the hospital," JJ mentioned. Penelope smiled at Sierra, "He is totally into you," she agreed. Sierra rolled her eyes and shook her head at them letting out a small laugh. "I haven't even seen or heard from him since I got back from the hospital, like I said there's nothing going on there," Sierra replied.
The front door opened and closed causing the agents to look up noticing Connor at the door. "Hey sorry I'm late, there was a pile up on the I-90..." Connor said but paused noticing the three women and his sister. "Connor, you remember JJ, Emily, and Penelope," Sierra said more than asked as her brother walked into the room. "It's nice to see you, ladies, again, I'm gonna shower, get change, and head over to Molly's. Let you ladies hang out," Connor said as he kissed the top of Sierra's head and made his way down the hall toward his room.
"So how's everything at the BAU?" Sierra eventually asked as the night went on. "Catching serial killers and patiently waiting for you to return," JJ replied with a smile. "You are coming back right?" Penelope asked, "I'd love to, but I also don't know if the bureau will let me given my medical file," Sierra replied honestly. On paper, she looked like a massive liability, even more so with this second serve head injury, and not just one but two brain surgeries.
"They can't fire you, can they?" Penelope asked worried. Sierra shrugged unsure, "It all depends, there's other agents still with the bureau that have a longer medical file than you. The next time you see Morgan ask him," Emily replied. "Alright enough talk about work, what have you been up to?" JJ asked her. "Sleeping, mostly" Sierra replied with a light laugh.
Penelope, JJ, and Emily ended up crashing the night with Sierra having a sleepover in the living room. Which was easy after the four of them managed to pull the king sized mattress into the living room so they could all crash on the floor watching movies.
In the morning before the three agents left to go back to Virginia, Sierra took them out to breakfast at one of her favorite restaurants. After lunch they said their goodbyes and promised they'd come back soon for another girl's night and to hang out again soon.
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Hey everyone, I hope you liked this chapter! I've been thinking of doing a time jump to halfway through Sierra's medical leave. Especially since she's gonna need a couple of months to recover. Let me just say, prepare yourself for the roller coaster she's gonna step into when she returns to the BAU. It's gonna be a lot...
Let me know in the comment along with your thoughts on the story. Thank you all for your love and support <3 Chapters 13 and 14 should be posted this weekend ( March 23rd and 24th, 2024)
-Muskokagirl204
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No Mercy (One Chicago/ Criminal Minds Fanfic)
FanfictionCo-Writer: @BrooklynDaniels32 At 17 Sierra Rhodes ran away from home and joined the Army Rangers. By 23 she was on her 5th tour in Afghanistan and her last after ending up captured and tortured by the enemy. Luckily she was rescued, brought home and...
