He didn't know what to do now. Will Halstead was a total mess. His proposal plan got destroyed and then, when he did ask, he got turned down.
He somehow drove himself home and got there safe. But once inside, he couldn't escape his demons. He punched the wall, his fist putting a hole in it. After blowing off steam by punching and throwing stuff all over his apartment, he took to the alcohol. He downed bottle after bottle of beer until he ran out. Then he turned to the harder stuff: whiskey, vodka, and tequila. Anything he could find, he drank until he was in a very dark place.
All his bad memories and regrets flooded back: not being here for his mom when she was sick, not being there for Jay after she passed, once again not being there for Jay after he got back from Afghanistan, being a bad son and brother and boyfriend, it all became too much for him.
The drunken ginger stumbled to the bathroom and opened the medicine cabinet, finding painkillers from an old injury. He grabbed them and went back to the living room, where he had left a bottle of Jack Daniels.
He began downing pill after pill after pill, taking them until he was out. Then he realized what he had just done and he panicked as he felt himself growing weak.
He redialed his most recent call in his phone, needing help and not caring who it came from. He heard a voice pick up after the first few rings: it was Jay.
"What's up, Will?" Jay answered, having almost fell asleep before his phone rang.
"Help." Was all Will could slur out, his body weakening fast.
"What? What's wrong? Where are you?"
"..Home...Help me...please."
"I'm on my way, hang tight." He said, not hanging up. "What happened?"
"Booze...lotta painkillers..."
"Stay awake, William." Jay said as he got in his car and sped to his brother's apartment.
By this time, Will had fallen unconscious but Jay could still hear his breathing into the phone, which comforted him a little, letting him know his brother was still alive.
When he got there, he kicked his brother's locked door in and ran inside, finding Will unconscious on the couch and his apartment completely trashed.
"Oh, Will, what've you done!?" Jay said as he began carrying his older brother to his still-running car. Once getting him on the backseat, Jay jumped up front and began speeding to Med, calling Maggie as he did.
"Hey, Detective Halstead, what's up?" She answered, the buzz of the ED in the background.
"I'm on my way in with Will, I need you guys to get prepared." Jay said, blowing a red light.
"Why? What happened?"
"All I know is he was drunk and took a lot of painkillers, probably Vicodin from his shoulder surgery last year."
"Okay, I'll get prepped. What's your ETA?"
"Three minutes."
"Okay." And in three minutes, Jay's car halted to a stop in the ambulance bay and Connor, April, and Maggie came running out.
"Help him, please. He's been unconscious since I found him." Jay said as they loaded him onto a stretcher.
"We've got him." Connor assured him as they ran back inside the ED.
An hour later, Connor approached Jay, who was pacing the waiting room.
"He's okay, he's stable." Connor said before Jay could even ask. "We pumped his stomach and have an IV hooked up to him. Most of the drugs and alcohol are out of his system now, so he'll just be sore. After a 5 day psych hold, he can be discharged if deemed mentally stable."
"Thanks Dr. Rhodes." Jay said, already running to see Will. When he walked in Will's room, Jay saw his brother awake in bed.
"I'm sorry." Will said immediately. "I shouldn't have done that. I just drank too much and started feeling really depressed and couldn't handle it."
"Alcohol aides your demons, bro. I know it first-hand. You'll get through this and I'll be here the whole way."
