One Call Away

Chapter Twenty-One: From Bad to Worse

"How has he been?" Erin asked stepping into the room where Jay was, her eyes quickly finding Will who was seated next to the bed; he didn't look like he had gotten any sleep since Jay had been admitted into the hospital. 

The last twenty-four hours had been for lack of better word, a nightmare, and they were no closer to finding Edward or Caitlyn after what had happened; it was like they'd disappeared without a trace. 

"Connor says he should wake up soon. Surgery went well and the bullet missed anything vital and he'd been lucky, the main issue had been the bleeding since they couldn't find the bullet when he'd been admitted. 

Will didn't know what he would have done if his brother had died, he'd planned on asking him to be his best man at his wedding to Natalie. 

Their father had been notified but as expected Pat Halstead hadn't seemed to care and had been rather gruff with Will when he'd phoned to tell him that Jay was in hospital after being shot. 

"I can sit with him for a bit if you need to stretch your legs, go grab a shower or something," Erin offered with a weak smile, she was sure that Will would like the break and it could not have been easy to see his brother this way. 

Whatever issues Jay and Will had in the past, there was no denying that they always had each other's backs and looked out for one another; they had grown close again once Will had moved back to Chicago. 

Nodding his head, Will got to his feet and stretched offering a glance at his brother before heading out of the room; he'd been with him all night and hadn't really left the room. 

Taking the seat that Will had just occupied, Erin sat down and looked around the room not sure what to do; even after everything that they had been through this was the worst thing that had happened. 

A part of her wanted to blame Caitlyn, if Jay had stayed away from her then he wouldn't be here now; but after hearing what Alvin and Hank had said then she knew that the fault didn't completely lie with Caitlyn. 

It wasn't her fault that her biological father was a psychopath and had decided that the best way to play happy families was to abduct her.

Her eyes snapped towards Jay unsure if she had just saw him move, her eyes focused on him and she leant forward taking his hand; before she heard him mumble something that she didn't quite understand. 

"I'm here. It's okay, you're okay," Erin told him leaning closer, her heart pounding in her chest that he was waking up now while she was here with him; perhaps it meant that her feelings were still returned despite his interest in Caitlyn. 

If asked then she would deny the fact that it had stung to see him with Caitlyn, she was sure that in spite of everything that they had been through that the could work this out. 

"Caitlyn," Jay mumbled making Erin drop his hand, she shot up from her seat and turned away from him; a lump in her throat as she realised that he was calling for the other woman. 

A part of her knew that she shouldn't be surprised and that she should have seen it coming, but it hurt a lot more than she though it would; she moved to leave the room only to bump into Natalie. 

"Are you okay?" Will's fiancée asked seeing the look on Erin's face, the entire situation had come as a shock and Natalie was certain that things would turn around soon. 

She'd just arrived for her shift and had brought Will some fresh clothes so that he could get changed since she'd had to go home to look after Owen; the little boy had been rather upset that Will hadn't come home with her. 

The sound of her phone going off made Erin jump and she was almost grateful for the distraction; she glanced down at it to see an urgent message from Antonio.