"Incoming, CPD, trauma to the head." Maggie announces. "Doctor Halstead, I'm sorry but you'll have to stay a little longer."
"CPD? You know who it is?" he asks.
"No, but they're already getting here. Trauma 3 is open."
Will puts on some gloves and the automatic doors slide open, two paramedics come in, one ahead pulling the stretcher and another behind pushing. Jay, in one of the sides, coming in with them.
"Teresa Logan, 30. Traumatic head injury," one paramedic starts announcing.
Will quickly gets to the opposite side of the stretcher from Jay. He glanced at him but they had no time to talk.
"GCS of 11, she's been in and out of consciousness, breathing is slow but regular, unable to stop the bleeding from the wound."
They get to the trauma room and put the stretcher next to the bed, Natalie joining them to help.
"Okay, let's transfer on my account," Will starts as everyone gets their hands on the sheets where Teresa is laying, "one, two, three."
Teresa is put in the bed and the paramedics leave.
"Jay, what happened?" Will asks as he examines Teresa.
"I don't know, man. I just found her like that."
"Get blood, O negative," Will says to a nurse.
"We'll take good care of her," Natalie starts, "but you have to wait outside and give us some room."
Jay wanted to stay, but there was nothing he could do there, and he knew he had to give them space to work. Maggie, who was outside the room, grabs one of Jay's arms gently to get him out of the trauma room.
Natalie cuts Teresa shirt open with some scissors and Will starts rubbing her stern with his knuckles to get her to react.
"Teresa, hey? Can you hear me?"
A loud breath is muffled by the oxygen mask on Teresa, letting Will know she was reacting. Teresa furrows her eyebrows but doesn't open her eyes. Opening one of her eyes with his thumb, Will checks her pupil reaction to a small light and then does the same with the other. The reactions from both eyes were regular.
"Tell CT we're getting her up for a pan-scan, now."
Dr. Abram took charge of Teresa. He analyzed the CT and had an MRI afterwards as she continued to stay stable. There were no factures, and he was able to stop her bleeding, so now it was just to wait and see.
Dr. Abrams sedated Teresa, so that she'd rest properly and stop coming in and out of consciousness. She had to be intubated so that she'd continue to breathe. Since there wasn't anything they could do for a while, as they had to wait until morning when she started regaining consciousness.
Back at the house, CPD had kicked down a bedroom door on the top floor and dragged Theodor Logan into the district, by order of Sergeant Voight who wanted to start dealing with the case as soon as possible even though they had just finished up the other case just a couple of hours prior.
Voight told Jay to go straight to the 21st and get started with Theodor. Jay seemed reluctant to leave Teresa, but Voight ordered him, saying he was of no help at the hospital but could start figuring out what happened.
Apart from Theodor, there was no one else in the house. When Tom got to the house and saw the police there, stopping him from coming in he asked what had happened and then went to the hospital, in hopes to talk with Teresa and figure out where Tyler was.
Will was in the room with Teresa, holding her hand, when Tom came in. Since she wasn't conscious and there was nothing he knew, he told Tom to talk to the Intelligence Unit, since they were taking over the case and might be the only ones to help him find his brother.
For now, only Jay and Voight were at the CPD, since they had nothing to go with other that Theodor and all the others went home. Voight figured he and Jay could start and let the others rest and get their energies up for the next day to start getting a move on the case.
"Dr. Halstead?" Dr. Abram, returned from home the next morning, spoke up.
Will, with his head on the edge of the bed and still holding Teresa's hand, sat up straighter, opened his eyes and then sat up straighter. He didn't look at Dr. Abram, instead checking Teresa to see if she was okay.
"She's starting to wake up," Dr. Abram's says.
"Can I speak to her?" Will asks, wanting to be the one to examine her but knowing that Dr. Abram was her doctor now.
"Okay," Dr. Abram agrees after a few seconds.
"Teresa? Can you hear me?" Will asks as her eyes slightly open and close several times.
"Lighten the sedation," Dr. Abram says to the nurse.
As she looks more awake and moves her head slightly, Dr. Abram disconnects the tube in her mouth from the ventilator. She continues to breath and her vitals stay regular.
"Alright, she's breathing on her own," he announces. "Teresa, I'm going to pull your tube out. You'll feel some discomfort, but it'll be over soon."
Dr. Abram quickly takes out the tube and Teresa coughs a few times when she's free from it. She looks around, slightly confused. Dr. Abram looks at Will and nods, allowing him to make the next few questions.
"Do you know where you are, Teresa?" Will asks.
There were a few seconds of silence and then, with a weak voice, Teresa answered, "hospital."
"Good. You know who I am?" Will asks hopeful, but when it takes too long without an answer he asks again, "you recognize me?"
"Will Halstead. ED."
Will smiles with relief. "Good."
"Squeeze my hand," Dr. Abram orders as he puts two fingers on Teresa's palm.
She looks at him and then squeezes.
"Good," he takes out his light and points it at her, "follow the light."
Teresa did just that and Dr. Abram was pleased with what he was seeing.
"Do you know why you're in the hospital?" Dr. Abram questions.
Will looks at Teresa attentively as she looks at Dr. Abram with furrowed eyebrows, trying to remember.
"Uh... I..." Teresa closes her eyes. "I... I went home..."
"It's okay, no need to force yourself," Dr. Abram assures her as he sees she's thinking too hard. "We also aren't sure what happened, but you were hit in the head. You have a TBI, but thankfully no fractures. There's a big contusion around the trauma area all the way to your eye. Memory loss is consistent. What is the last thing you remember?"
"I remember finishing a case and... and I think I had to rush home..."
"Alright. You just rest now, okay?" Dr. Abram says. "All things considered I'm really happy with how you are. We'll discuss treatment in a bit, but it won't be nothing too much, okay?"
"Okay. Thank you."
"I'll notify P.D. that you're awake."
"Thank you, Doctor."
Dr. Abram and the nurse leave, and Teresa stays alone with Will.
Will squeezes her hand and she looks at him.
"How long was I unconscious?"
"A few hours."
With her free hand, Teresa moves to touch her bandaged head, where she had been beaten with a gun, feeling discomfort there, but Will stopped her.
"You have stitches there," he says grabbing her wrist and putting her arm down, gently. "Don't touch it. Is it hurting?"
"No... it's just like there's a pressure there. It's fine. Is anyone else hurt?"
"I think they found your father locked in a room, but other than him and you, there was no one else in the house, so I don't know."
Teresa releases her hand from his and reaches up to his face, caressing his cheek. She smiles at him and he smiles back.
"Have you been here the entire time I was out?"
"Absolutely, I even had to pee in a bottle to make sure I wouldn't miss a second," he light-heartedly jokes, winning a chuckle from Teresa.
"You fool."
He grabs the hand she has on his face and kisses it.
"I thought something terrible had happened when I saw you coming in," he confesses.
"It's okay. I'm fine."
Will sits down again and holds Teresa's hand between his.
"Do you know anything else? Do you know what happened?" Teresa asks Will.
"No. You were in and out of consciousness when you came here, so you didn't say anything, and I haven't talked to Jay or anything to find out what they know so far..."
"When will I get out of here?"
"Whoa, ease up, Tez. You have to recover. Head trauma is always bad, and it's not your first rodeo with it either."
"But, today it's Friday, right?" she confirms. "I have to go to the graduation ceremony tomorrow."
"You have to recover, calmly and with time. If it means you don't go tomorrow, you don't go tomorrow," Will affirms with seriousness. "And it's not like missing the ceremony means you won't be official graduate and you already have a job anyway, so..."
"I know, I just... I wanted to go."
"You'll be fine, Tez. Let's just wait and see what Dr. Abram has to say."
"You don't have to work today?"
"I do, but I still have an hour."
"You should take a power nap or something, then."
"I'm okay."
"A shift in the ED cannot be a piece of cake, so you should have as much rest as you can. You heard Dr. Abram's, I'm fine. So... get out there and do what you do best."
"One hour with you is enough to get my energy high."
Teresa scoffs and slightly rolls her eyes but smiles at Will.
"I do have to ask... where are you staying after being discharged?"
"At my house."
"The house that just got broken into," Will points out, passive-aggressively.
"The only house that I have, yeah."
"Maybe you should find somewhere else to stay, you know? Until they figure out who did that to you..."
"Okay. Are you going to buy me a house or do I have to take the money from my savings?" Teresa asks, unentertained by outside opinions.
"I'm not saying you should buy a house. I'm saying you could stay with me," Will offers. "Just for a couple of days until you're safe to go back to that house."
Teresa sighs, "No, you're right, I'm sorry. It's just... maybe I should have kept the apartment I had. Maybe staying there would have been better in the long run. At the time, for some reason, it seemed better to go back to the house. It clearly wasn't, so..."
"You know, you told me you sold the apartment because Toby was living there with you, even if he was going back to the Rangers, and you didn't want to stay there and wait for him to go back when he never would. But... don't you have a lot more memories with him back at your place in South Side?" Will questions. "I mean you lived there 18 years with Toby, so it'd make more sense if you'd want to stay away from that house and not the apartment."
Teresa looks at Will with furrowed eyebrows and wrinkled nose.
"I'm just saying," Will starts raising his hands in innocence, "maybe you're lying to yourself about the true reason to stay in that house. Maybe you want to be somewhere you have a lot to remember Toby by."
"I'm sorry," Teresa puts a hand over her chest dramatically, "I think Dr. Abrams needs to come in here and give me something, because I am tripping. When I look at you, I'm seeing gorgeous, red-headed Dr. Halstead. But my ears are capturing Dr. Charles and his psychology talk-whatever," she jokes. "So, there's something wrong with my brain."
Will chuckles at the light-hearted joke.
"I don't know. Maybe you're right. But right now, that house is what I've got."
"But stay with me, until they figure out who did this to you," Will says more serious as he reaches up and caresses Teresa's cheek. "Then you can go back there, and I won't say anything about your safety or anything ever again."
Teresa smiles softly at his affection.
"You don't even have to stay with me, I'm just suggestion one option. You can stay with someone else who's home didn't get broken into in the last few days."
"I don't think I have many options. Maybe Kim, but I don't know if she has space for me."
"You stay with me, then. When you get discharged, we go by your house and get you some clothes."
"Okay," Teresa nods in agreement.
Teresa was about to speak up again when Antonio and Kim walked in, interrupting her. Will removed his hand from Teresa's face and sat up straighter, turning to them.
"Hey Dr. Halstead," Antonio greeted. "Checking in on this walking disaster?" he jokes.
"Funny," Teresa says with a sarcastic smile.
"How are you feeling?" Antonio asks as he gets closer to the bed.
"I'm good."
"Is she really good?" Antonio confirms with Will.
"Yup, she's fine," he says looking at Teresa. "Dr. Abrams will check up on her again in a bit, but he says it looks good, considering."
"Yeah, considering she looks like that, I'd say it's good."
"Do I look that bad?"
"Like a walking disaster," Antonio repeats.
"I need a mirror..."
"Alright, I'm going back to work," Will says as he stands up. "I'll see you guys."
"Sergeant Platt says she won't let you take any car from the district from now on," Kim announces slightly humorous as she approaches Teresa from the side Will left. "First time she gives you one and you get into some serious trouble."
"But the car didn't have any scratch so... I'd say it's a win."
"Anyway," Antonio says getting more serious, "Voight wanted us to come in and take your statement."
"Uh... I don't know if I'm of any help guys," Teresa admits. "I can't remember what happened. Dr. Abrams said the memory lost is consistent with the trauma... He didn't say anything about a possibility of getting my memory back, so... I don't know."
"You really don't have anything for us?" Kim asks slightly disappointed and also concern for Teresa's memory loss.
"I don't... I just remember going back to 21st after Brianna was taken to the hospital and then I guess I had to go home."
"Okay, well... let's hope you can remember something," Antonio says with a sympathetic smile. "We asked neighbors if they saw or heard anything, but no one had anything for us."
"You father is at the district," Kim affirms. "I don't know if you already knew that..."
"Will said something about it. What is he saying?"
"Nothing," Kim says with a sigh. "Voight and Jay tried to get him to speak for a couple of hours, but he didn't, so they lock him in a cell and went home for a few hours. They're having a second go at him but all he's saying is that someone broke into the house and he locked himself in the room and didn't get out until police kicked open the door of the room."
"We would ask you about him being hiding when you got there, but I guess you don't remember..."
"I really don't Antonio, sorry."
"No, it's alright," he says encouraging. "Let's just get you better."
Two more people approached the room, stopping at the sliding glass door.
"Hey, guys," Teresa says with a weak smile to her brothers.
"Can we come in?" Tyler asks.
"Yeah, we also wanted to talk to you too," Antonio affirms.
"Why?" Teresa questions.
"Just to check more details and see if they can tell us something of interest."
"We talked to the cops last time," Tom says.
"Yeah, but you didn't talk with us. So I'm sorry if talking a little bit more is tiring, but your sister is lying in a hospital bed," Antonio raises his voice with impatient.
"Antonio..." Teresa sighs.
"Sorry, but it's true."
"Can you guys just give us a couple of minutes with them. Then they're all yours and I can just rest."
"Yeah, sure. We'll be outside." Kim squeezes Teresa's shoulder and she and Antonio leave.
"Shut the door," Teresa says to her brothers.
Tom does as she asked while Tyler approaches the bed.
"Where were you when I got to the house?" she asks him.
"I left..." Tyler shrugs, "I saw the men coming out of the car and I ran to the back door and when they got in I ran to the street and just... went away."
"What did you tell the cops?"
"I told them I wasn't there, which is kind of true since I left before anything happened."
"You told them where you were?"
"No. I said Theodor came inside the house and went straight upstairs and when he did I left."
"Good. You keep that story."
"You telling me to lie? Because that's not what you told me when I was in trouble a few weeks ago."
"I told you to tell me, because it's me. And I hate to say it, but we don't say anything about this to other cops."
"Why not, Teresa?" Tom questions with confusion. "Why can't he tell the truth? All he knows is that Theodor went home, some men in a black SUV followed him there and after a couple of hours of watching the house, they broke in. Why can't Tyler say that?"
"First, because he already gave a statement said he left when Theodor arrived, and he didn't know anything. Second... those men that walk in there were looking for drugs that Theodor stole from them. Drugs that should have never been in that house. I can't be associated with drugs!"
"So, we lie?"
"No. You were at work, so you just say that. Tyler omits the fact that he saw the SUV and that men were about to break into the house when he walked out of the back door. And I... I have no memory of it."
"So... you're lying?" Tom asks confused.
"I'm lying and you're not, and that's the end of it."
Tom and Tyler exchange a look.
"If that's what you want... I mean, you're the cop and the one in the hospital."
"We don't know anything about any drugs, Theodor has been out of the house for a few weeks now and whatever mess he was in, he didn't bring to the house."
"Okay, we won't mention anything about the drugs then."
"I should have known... I should have known that he had stolen all of that and that it would come back to hurt us," Teresa says shaking her head.
"It's on us, for letting him get into the house and not getting rid of it the moment we saw it," Tom comforts her.
"Did uh... did you guys fix the door?"
"Yeah, we got a guy there now, fixing the whole thing. Police didn't let us go in the entire night, since they were checking everything for stuff... evidence... I don't know. But as soon as they cleared it, we asked our guy to go there."
"It's likely that the men will return there. They want the drugs or the money so... stay alert and make sure the door is a good one." Teresa advises.
"The police will find them."
"Will they? Theodor will never confess about having drugs. He'll act as if he knows absolutely no reason for people to want to go into our house in revenge so..."
"Maybe that's why we should tell them."
"Tom," Teresa shakes her head.
"Okay, fine."
"I'll be out of the house for a few days. And when I get to 21st I'll investigate and make sure I get the guys."
"Are you passing by to get stuff or are you not going at all?" Tyler asks.
"Yeah, when I get discharged, I'll go get some clothes and stuff."
"We'll see you then. We don't have any job for today."
"Okay guys. Take care."
The boys leave the room, leaving the door open behind them. Kim and Antonio get closer to the door just to wish her to get well and then leave with Tyler and Tom.
With nothing to do and no one to talk to, Teresa leaned back on the bed and fell asleep again. She was woken up by Dr. Abrams to get another examination. He looked at the stitches and left the bandages on her head.
"Everything seems better than expected, so I will start with the discharge, but you do need to rest a lot when you get home."
"I have a graduation tomorrow. Can I go?"
"I would recommend to stay at home, preferably sitting or laying down, but when I discharge you, you do what you got to do."
Teresa nodded with a small smile.
"I'm prescribing you some pills for the pain and to make sure that you don't get an infection. Also some eye drops for that eye."
"Is it that bad?"
"You haven't seen?" he questions.
"No."
Dr. Abrams quickly gets a small mirror and hands it to her. Teresa doesn't look straight away, putting it down on the bed and looking at Dr. Abrams waiting for any more information.
"Anything wrong, any nausea, any vertigo, loss of consciousness or any more memory loss, you come back straight away."
"Yes, Doctor."
"But all I'm seeing is good and I believe you'll be perfectly fine. I'll start with the papers," he says before leaving the room.
When Teresa is alone she picks up the mirror and checks herself. The wound itself was covered with the bandages, that went around her head to stay in place. But there was a big visible contusion from her temple to the corner of her eye and a bit around her. The eyeball itself was red from a hemorrhage. She hated seeing it, so she quickly put the mirror down.
With the mirror down, she now saw Connor Rhodes at the door. He smiles at her when she finally sees him.
"Hey," she greets with a smile.
"I heard this morning that you were here, but when I came to see you, you were sleeping."
"There wasn't much to do, and sleeping is always nice."
"I heard you had it pretty bad," Connor says as he gets closer to the bed.
"Dr. Abrams says it's looking good considering everything."
"He's one of the best doctors I've met, so you're in very good hands."
"He's already filling the discharge papers." Teresa informs.
"That's good."
"What? What is it that you want to say to me that you're holding back?" Teresa asks knowing him too well.
"Is it bad luck or do you just have a natural inclination for trouble?"
"I was in the Marines for 10 years and I didn't die. I'd say it's Chicago."
"The damned Chicago..." Connor chuckles. "You'll be alright?"
"Yeah, Dr. Abrams said-"
"I know what Dr. Abrams said. I'm asking you if you'll be alright."
"I'll be fine. You know how resilient I am."
"Good." He nods. "Have you eaten? I can go and get you some food if you want."
"No, thanks. I'll just wait for the discharge and get some outside food."
"Okay, then. I'll see you around. Just not around the hospital. I think you've been here enough."
"Oh, I can't make you any promises, Connor."
"Stay out of trouble."
"I try..."
"Try harder," he says with his back turned to her already as he leaves.
With the discharged papers done, Teresa was allowed to get dressed and leave. She was finishign up dressing some clothes the nurse gave to her, since the ones she had came in with were cut, when someone knocked on the sliding glass door. Teresa got to the door and opened the curtains slightly.
"I'm just finished with work. You good to go?"
"I am."
"Let's go, come on," he says extending a hand.
Teresa rolls her eyes but holds it and Will makes her walk next to him.
"I'm starving," Teresa confesses.
"I'll get you some food at my apartment."
Will drives to her house at South Side. She wanted him to stay in the car, but he insisted on going in with her.
The new door was locked and Teresa didn't have the key so she knocked and waited. Tyler opened the door. Teresa could see that he was relaxing his arm and then looked at his hand, wrapped around a baseball bat.
"A baseball bat?" Teresa questions.
"It's all we had," Tyler defends. "But when we buy a gun, we'll let you know."
"Great."
Teresa walks in, followed by Will and then Tyler closes the door. Teresa gets her things as Will stays in the living room with Tom and Tyler. They were making small talk when she went down with a bag and her blues, her official police uniform, in a hanger, so that they'd be good to wear in the morning.
"I got everything I need."
"Great." Will stands up from his seat on the couch and grabs the bag Teresa was holding. "Let's go then."
"Guys, if you need anything, call me."
"Yeah. We'll be okay, don't worry." Tom says.
Teresa was in deep need of a shower, physically and mentally. So as soon as she got to Will's apartment she got into the shower.
She had her head down, letting the hot water run, without moving for a while until Will joined her. He put an hand on her shoulder, making her slowly turn to him. She rested her head on his shoulder as he surrounded her with his arms, letting the hot water soak them both.
Will moved his hand trought her hair, then kissed the good side of her head and then made her look at him, caressing her head.
"It's okay," Will assures her. "It's gonna be okay."
Teresa reached up and kissed him slowly. When she broke the kiss she hid her face on his shoulder again. She was questioning everything. She knew she shouldn't have lied, but she couldn't just tell Voight, or anyone else from Intelligence, that she had allowed Theodor to go back into the house with drugs all over the living room, that just happened to be stolen.
And she hadn't seen the faces of the two men that attacked her, so all she could tell was that Theodor had stolen drugs and now there were people looking for either the drugs or the money they were worth. And that information, Theodor could tell them himself. But he wouldn't, because if he hadn't admited it in the first couple of hours with Jay and Voight and just denied knowing any reason for people to break into the house while he was hiding in a room, he'd just stick to that.
But lying to her team was something Teresa had promised never to do, and now she had lied. It was a matter of either coming clean or having that on her conscience for the rest of her life.
"Hey," Will drags her from her thought as he puts a hand on the back of the neck. "I'm going to get some food, okay? Stay here as long as you need."
"Thanks, Will. I won't take long."
"Okay." He kisses the top of her head and gets out of the shower.
After a few longer minutes under the water, Teresa got out, dried herself and put on some clothes. When she joined Will in the kitchen he was already finishing up.
"Aren't you tired?" She asks as she surrounds his waist from behind.
"I can handle a few more hours awake with you." He turns around and puts an arm over Teresa's shoulder. "And I have some really good skills to bandage your head when we're done eating."
As they eat, Teresa's phone rings.
"Hello? Jay?"
"Hey, how are you doing?"
"I'm doing okay... Just eating something since I didn't touch the hospital food."
"I came by your place but your brothers said you weren't staying here."
"Oh, yeah..." Teresa clears her throat, flustered. "I uh... I figured it was best if I didn't stay there until you caught whoever broke into the house. By the way, did you find something?" She asks changing the subject.
"No, nothing at all. We released Theodor a couple of hours ago, since he insisted he didn't know anything. He hasn't been to your place yet, so I guess he knows something and he's running from it."
"And where are you going to go with the investigation?"
"We have to wait it out. There's nothing for us to go on with... Your brothers don't know anything either, so..."
"Yeah, I talked to them in the hospital and they weren't even at the house at that time, so..."
"Okay, well... Have a good rest and have a good ceremony tomorrow."
"Thanks Jay. I will."
"Okay. Bye."
"Bye."
"Are we not telling him you're staying with me?" Will asks as she puts her phone down.
"If we say that, we have to tell other things..."
"And when are we telling those other things?"
"You know what? Let's go to Molly's, the three of us and we can just tell him that... What are we telling him exactly?"
"We can tell him that we've gotten to know each other and that we like each other. There's no need to tip-toe around this, Tez." Will holds her hand above the table. "I know you work with him but this won't affect anything. And, if it makes you more reassured, if we have any argument I have a feeling Jay will side with you." Will jokes.
"He better. I'm the one that has his back when people are shooting at him."
"I know Jay will be happy that you're happy." Will shows her a smile. "You are happy, aren't you."
"I'm really happy," Teresa confesses in a whisper.
"Good. You deserve to be. Especially after everything life throws against you."
Teresa squeezes his hand and smiles.
***
So, I'm not a doctor and I don't really get that stuff nor did I find a case in Med like I wanted for Teresa, so excuse my poor description and treatment for the trauma to the head she had. I wanted it to not be serious (since she will have to be okay to go to the graduation ceremony just a little over a day after the incident) but I imagined it with lost of blood just for the drama of it...
Also, I've been thinking of a 'theme' song for Teresa and Will, you know, just a song that goes well with their story and for now I have two: Amber Run - I Found & Tom Odell - Can't Pretend.
Especially these lyrics for Teresa:
⁂ I'll use you as a focal point so I don't lose sight of what I want
⁂ I've moved further than I thought I could, but I missed you more than I thought I would
⁂ Love, I have wounds only you can mend
And this specific lyric for Will (but also the entire song):
⁂ And I found love where it wasn't supposed to be, right in front of me (this one because, even though I didn't go deep into it, in the beginning of this story I imagined Will trying to get with Natalie still, and that was the main reason why he and Teresa didn't get together as soon. I didn't write more because I just wanted to jump to them being together)
I might just start adding these little lyrics at the end of some chapters when I find songs that go with Teresa's and Will's relationship, idk
Thanks for reading!!