scripted reality (jay halstead / upstead / one chicago (cast))

chapter 15

"This is crazy," Lisseth muttered under her breath. She was sitting on one of the chairs in the waiting area at Chicago Med, bent over with her head buried in her palms. I exchanged glances with Tracy who was next to her, running a hand over her back soothingly, although she didn't appear any less worried herself. Most of the cast of both Fire and PD was gathered in the room, and everyone was in a mixture of weird shock and complete despair.

We all knew these scenes, when one of the characters was brought to Chicago Med, and everyone had to hang around in the small area and look at a doctor in hopeful expectance when he brought the news that everything was going to be okay. Just that this time, nothing was as it would usually be. Nothing was okay. We weren't on set; we were at an actual hospital. And we didn't know what was going to happen, because there was no script telling us that someone would walk in to let us know that Sylvie would be fine. That Kara would be fine. She took an actual bullet, for heaven's sake.

"This is ridiculous," I slightly changed Lisseth's words. "This should never have happened." We weren't police, the same way most people on Chicago Fire weren't firefighters, and Kara wasn't a paramedic. If she wouldn't have been on ambulance 61 today, this wouldn't have happened, and everything would be okay. We should have quit from the start. "You gotta think good thoughts," Tracy noted, making me look over at her. She sent me a sad smile and I returned it. I had a feeling she understood what I was thinking, but she was right. We didn't know how this was going to turn out yet. We had to stay positive.

"Can I talk to you?" I turned to see Nick standing next to me and I nodded slowly as I got up and followed him to the hospital staff break room. Closing the door behind me, I leaned against it and pushed my hands into the front pockets of my jeans. "Honestly...," Nick started. I observed him expectantly. "Did you find out anything useful about what's going on?"

"Useful?" I repeated. "I guess not." I paused for a moment, realizing that Nick had no idea about everything that was going on at the district and in Jay's private life, which essentially didn't leave any room for further investigations. At the same time, I didn't know much of what was going on at Med either. "How's it like, being a doctor?" I therefore asked. Nick shrugged. "On one hand, I feel like every day I'm more comfortable with the things I have to do, and I know things that I swear I never learned, like I'm turning into Will." I nodded. That sounded familiar to me. "On the other hand, I just want to figure out what the hell is happening and make this nightmare end," Nick concluded. "I was hoping you knew something more by now."

"Yeah, uhm...," I tried to find the words, "...nothing's really easy at the moment." That sounded more troubled than intended. "What's wrong?" Nick immediately asked. I silently contemplated my options. Considering all information, we were essentially brothers. And it was completely fine to tell my brother, right? "Nothing's wrong, really," I replied, which somehow just made Nick even more concerned. The look on my face must have given away that I was still freaking out. "Tracy's pregnant."

"What?" my friend questioned. His shocked expression probably matched the one Will would have shown if Jay told him the same on the show. "Tracy's pregnant," I repeated. "She thinks it's Hailey's baby and that I'm...," I took a deep breath, "...that Jay's the father." Nick raised an eyebrow at me. "What do you think?" I tilted my head to the side slightly. "I think the same," I admitted honestly.

For a moment, we just stared at each other. Then he ran a hand through his reddish hair. "When I said we'd talk soon, I didn't mean bring me a baby," he finally joked. I cracked a smile, although this was all still new and weird to me. "Yeah," I said. "I didn't mean to." Nick laughed, then he turned serious again. "Honestly though, that's impossible." Now, it was my turn to raise an eyebrow at him. "Did you sleep with Tracy?" he asked out of nowhere. "No." He shrugged. "See? Don't you think you'd remember if you did?"