Adam Ruzek stood pacing the waiting room of the Surgical ICU back and forth waiting on any type of news, although he knew it would be honestly hours before he truly heard anything. Suddenly the team came rushing through. First Hank, Al, and Antonio. And then Kevin, Hailey and Kim were right behind.
"Adam how is he?" Hailey asked about her partner's condition.
"He's alright right?" Kim asked.
"Adam" Kevin pushed.
Adam just shook his head.
"I... I don't think...I honestly don't know." Adam managed to get out still in shock over what he had just witnessed.
The team looked around amongst themselves. They knew Jay was injured obviously and the chance that he had serious injuries was pretty high but only Hank knew how grave Jay's condition was.
"Where is he Ruzek? Where's Dr Reagan? Where's Detective Reagan.?"
Hank asked his young officer. Then suddenly they had answers but not from Adam. The team looked up to see Will.
"He was taken right away into surgery. Dr Rhodes is operating. Ellie is with him. She won't leave him. And Danny's here somewhere. My best guess is he's calling his family. Specifically the Commishioner." Will answered. "I'll let you know when I know anything. Sit tight though. I expect it to be a while. They're trying to stabilize his heart." Will returned back to where he had come from.
The team looked around. Shocked by the words Will had used.
"Stabalize his heart what?" Kim asked in wonder.
Adam looked up at Hank.
"Boss. His heart, it stopped." Adam whispered, scared to actually say the words out loud, as the rest of the team looked on. All they knew was that Jay seemed to be stable, waiting for Ellie near the back of the ambulance and then Adam had come to get Ellie in a panic, something was obviously wrong with Jay. Then all of a sudden, the ambulance took off and Hank was yelling at his team to take off and head to Med. That Jay was in distress. But they didn't know the severities of it. Hank placed his hand on Adam's shoulder.
"I know Kid I know" Hank said calmly. "Were they able to...?"
Adam nodded. "Yeah. Ellie began administering CPR like the minute it stopped. They kept shocking with the defibrillator. And he came back, but he was down for a while and then Sylvie and Ellie kept talking about a heart attack."
"Wait, Jay had a heart attack?" Hailey asked trying to get information.
"He, uh he had been tortured for 24 hours striaght and we don't really know everything that happened but we do know is that he had been tased repeatedly and that..." Adam tried to explain but trailed off.
"All the electricity running through his body threw his heart out of rythym." Al finished realizing what had happened.
"Oh God" Antonio whispered.
"So being tased all that time gave Jay a heart attack?" Kevin asked.
Adam shook his head. "Um not exactly. It wasn't a typical heart attack." He said.
"What does that mean?" Kim asked.
"He didn't exactly have the heart attack right away. He went into full blown cardiac arrest." Hank finished.
"He was down for awhile but Ellie and Sylvie they got him back but then things still weren't right. His heart wasn't beating right still. That's when Sylvie started talking about a heart attack." Adam explained.
"So he didnt have a heart attack and then go into cardiac arrest? He actually went into cardiac arrest, was brought back and then had a heart attack?" Hailey questioned.
"Yeah something like that." Adam said.
Al reached forward. "He'll be alright Adam. This is Halstead. He's a tough one."
For the first time in his career, Adam wasn't sure if he could believe Al. Adam shook his head. "You weren't there Al, it was awful."
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EARLIER...
Adam Ruzek sat in the back of an ambulance seated beside Danny Reagan of the NYPD and he watched his best friend fade. It was something he knew he'd never be able to get out of his head, he'd see and hear the images for years to come..more than hearing Jay's hoarse cries as he was being beaten and tasered...it was having to watch his best friend and colleague Jay Halstead the second his heart had stopped.
"Oh My God" Danny breathed beside him in the back of the ambulance.
Ellie sprung into action. She had been sitting on the stretcher with Jay, facing him, holding his hand, running her fingers soothingly through his hair but the minute she heard his heart flatline on the monitor, she didn't wait for Sylvie to react and take charge. She jumped up and straddled Jay and began compressions on his chest immediately. Adam and Danny looked on in horror.
"Come on honey, don't do this to me" Ellie begged in a whisper.
Sylvie felt for a pulse while Ellie administered chest compressions and even leaned forward and gave Jay a handful of rescue breaths but nothing.
"He's in cardiac arrest" Sylvie observed. And Ellie kept trying to revive Jay furiously.
"Ellie, ..." Sylvie tried.
"No. No I'm not stopping until he wakes up. " Ellie promised.
"We need to shock him, Ellie, that's our best chance in getting him back" Sylvie said as Adam and Danny watched in horror at Ellie's futile attempts to revive Jay and Jay's completely lifeless body laying on the stretcher. Adam couldn't get the sound of that monitor flatlining out of his ears.
They hooked Jay up to a portable AED, and Danny reached forward and he and Adam pulled her off of Jays stretcher, off of Jay's body so Sylvie could administer the shock. Danny held onto his baby sister and Adam watched Jay's body arch against the shock. Ellie looked up at the vital monitor Jay was attached to.
"Nothing," Ellie whimpered. "Charge to 300 Sylvie" she said and the young paramedic followed the Drs instructions.
"Ok charged to 300. Clear." Sylvie spat out. And once again Jays body arched to the electrical jolts but it wasn't enough to restart his heart.
Sylvie looked at the monitor and shook her head.
"Jay honey please don't do this. You have to come back." Ellie begged. "Try again at 300 then go up to 350" Ellie said.
Sylvie Once again administered the shock but no response from Jay.
"Damn it Jay this is not the time for you to be stubborn." Adam yelled at his best friend.
" ok 350. Clear. " Sylvie advised as she administered the shock and once again Jay's body jolted in the air with the electricity but it was doing nothing to revive his heart.
"Nothing." Sylvie said.
"El, he's been down several minutes now" Danny whispered.
Both Adam and Ellie shook their heads furiously.
"No don't you dare stop Brett. Don't you dare." Adam warned.
Sylvie nodded. "I'm not giving up on him." She promised.
The woman who loved Jay Halstead wanted to crumble but the Dr in Ellie Reagan wasn't going there yet. She had turned into a typical Reagan, stoic as could be.
"Sylvie one more time at 350" Ellie instructed.
Sylvie did as instructed as Jays body's jolted but still the vital monitor he was hooked up didn't budge. It remained a flatline.
"Ok. Ok. Go up to 360. That's our last chance. If he doesn't come back at 360, we have to let him go." Ellie said trying not to crumble.
"What?! No? Ellie?!" Adam exclaimed and Danny just held onto his sister's shoulders.
Ellie looked over at Adam with tears flooding her blue eyes. She shook her head. "Adam, he's been down almost 5 minutes. He could be brain dead. You know he wouldn't want to live that way." She said softly.
Tears came to Adam's eyes as well as Ellie reached out to touch his hand. Adam reached out and pulled Ellie away from her brother and into his arms.
"Ok. Charged to 360 one more time. Youve made it this far. Don't back out now Halstead. " Sylvie said.
Ellie buried her head into Adams chest. She couldn't bear to watch and Adam rested his head on top of Ellie's just before Jays body jolted with electricity. Danny reached over and put one hand supportively on Ellie's back and the other on Adam's shoulder.
Suddenly the sound of the monitors went from the loud horrid sound of a flat line to the sudden sound of Jays heart beating.
Danny, Adam, and Ellie slowly looked up to the monitor to see Jays heart rhythm detected on the screen.
"He's back in sinus" Sylvie announced.
All 4 of them riding in the back of the ambulance released a breath they all were holding.
"He's been down a long time though. Do we know?" Danny asked, although he couldn't stand to finish his own question.
"Not until he wakes up and they'll have to run EEG tests at Med." Sylvie responded.
Ellie removed herself from Adam's grasp, and rushed back to Jays stretcher sitting on the edge. She grabbed his hand, leaned forward and kissed his forehead, and ran her fingers through his hair as Sylvie began working on him. Sylvie replaced the oxygen cannula with an oxygen facemask. Suddenly Jay began to groan. Both Sylvie and Ellie looked at each other happily. If Jay was groaning, he had enough mental capacity about it, and he surely wasn't brain dead. Adam and Danny also breathed sighs of relief.
"Jay? Sweetheart?" Ellie asked sweetly.
Jays eyelids fluttered open as he focused on Ellie.
"Ell?" Jay weakly whispered behind the mask.
"I'm right here. Danny's here. Adam's here. We're almost at Med. Conner, Will, Maggie, and April are waiting on you. We're going to take care of you, honey." Ellie promised.
Jay just weakly nodded. Ellie looked at Sylvie. "Hand me a scope" she asked. And Sylvie handed over a stethoscope. Ellie placed it in her ears and laid the bell on Jay's chest moving it around. Ellie looked concerned.
"What are you hearing?" Sylvie asked lifting up Jays wrist and holding it close to her, paying attention to Jay's pulse.
"He's still throwing out PVCs." Ellie said looking up at the monitor.
Sylvie ran another EKG and Jay groaned again.
"Hey I'm right here. Hang in there for me ok?"
Jay weakly nodded again. "My chest hurts so bad, babe" He admitted, his weak breaths fogging up the oxygen mask on his face as Ellie wrapped the stethoscope around her neck.
Ellie nodded worried. "I know it does honey. We're going to take care of you. " She said as she rubbed Jay's hair back softly. "Don't talk just rest save your energy."
The EKG strip began printing out and Sylvie grabbed it quickly.
"Uh oh. Dr Reagan. The EKG is showing an ST elevation." Sylvie said as Ellie looked from Sylvie to back down to Jay. "Jay. Your EKG has shown a severe ST elevation. I'm going to medicate you so no further damage is done to your heart. I need you to stay calm. " Sylvie told her patient. And Jay just nodded his head with what little strength he had.
"Oh God" Danny muttered
"Wait what does that mean?" Adam asked.
"He's having a heart attack which could cause him to go back into cardiac arrest" Ellie answered.
"What?! No!! " Adam shouted.
"It's ok. Sylvies going to medicate him and she'll be able to stop it before it does any more damage so he doesn't go back into cardiac arrest" Ellie said to Danny and Adam and Sylvie nodded in agreement as she administered meds into Jays IV.
"Hey look at me. Look at me" Ellie instructed Jay. His eyelids were getting heavier by the second but he focused on Ellie. "Everything is going to be fine. You're going to be ok. I'm right here"
Jay maintained eye contact with Ellie and nodded.
"Hey you remember that pact we made?" Ellie asked him.
Adam and Danny looked at each other their eyes wide.
"You proposing to me in the back of an ambulance Reagan? That's kinda my job" Jay said trying to keep himself from going in and out again. This time though it was the drugs and no doubt the stress on his body from the cardiac arrest and current heart attack.
"Don't tempt me but no the one where we're not allowed to leave each other. " Ellie admitted.
"I remember" Jay told her weakly.
"Ok well I've been holding up my end. This would be the time to hold up yours." Ellie told the man she loved with seriousness.
"I came back to you didn't I?" He asked and Ellie smiled tears in her eyes, leaning over and softly kissing his forehead. "I won't leave I just need a nap babe"
Ellie, Danny, and Adam all looked up at Sylvie. "His vitals are holding for now. But the meds are making him drowsy. Hes stable now. Hes back in a sinus rythym. " Sylvie said as she placed a doppler on Jay's chest and performed an echocardiogram. And Ellie studied it.
"You were lucky honey. There was minimal damage done to your heart muscles.. Ok you rest but you have to wake up" Ellie told him as Sylvie removed the Doppler wand from his chest. Jay nodded and held on tight to Ellie's hand resting it over his heart on his chest. "Its ok you rest, I'm right here" Ellie assured him.
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Adam sat in the waiting room leaning forward in his chair, his arms resting on his legs. Kim was right beside him, her hand on his back.
"Hey this is Jay we're talking about. Hes going to be fine. " Kim said trying to reassure him and Adam looked over at her.
"Kim, his heart stopped. Like he was talking to us, we could tell he was trying to hang on but still, his heart stopped and he had a heart attack. Jay Halstead had a heart attack."
"He had a heart attack, because he was tortured for well over 24 hours and he was tased so much that he threw his heart off rythym. It's not like he had a normal heart attack " Kim tried to make the situation a bit better
"Does it matter though it still happened?" Adam questioned.
"Yeah I suppose you're right." She said and they both looked across the room to see Hank pacing around the floor.
"You do know if something happens and Jay doesn't pull through this..."
Kim cut Adam off. "Hey , hey don't even think that. Jays going to be fine."
"I'm just saying if he's not, if something happened, " Adam continued, morning towards Hank, "I don't think he'll come back from that " Adam suggested. And he and Kim just stared at each other, thinking of the possible outcomes.
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Back in New York City, Frank Reagan sat at his desk in his office at 1PP when his office door opened, and Abigail Baker stood there. " Sir, Detective Reagan is on line 1 for you. It's important. " She advised.
"Thank you Baker. " Frank said, not even waiting for her to walk out the room before he picked up the phone to answer it.
"Danny? Tell me you've located Jay." Frank addressed his oldest living son.
Danny stood outside Chicago Med in the parking lot, pacing around talking to his father.
"Uh yeah. We got him back. He's at Chicago Med. Uh Dad look um I get the whole Reagan name, it comes with power. But it also comes with responsibilities and we're held to higher standards and I get that Dad, I do but and we've never taken handouts bc our dad was PC but..." Danny was rambling.
"Daniel Fitzgerald, what in the hell does being a Reagan and being held to a higher standard and me being your Dad and PC have to do with Jay... Oh Danny what did you do?"
"I didn't Dad I'm just saying now would be one of those times to let it slide."
"I'm going to ask you again Danny"
"I'm just suggesting that maybe you get in touch with Jamie's C.O. And get him a few days off. I just think that Ellie's going to need him."
"Danny talk to me. What's going on with Jay. Hes not being kept for observation is he?"
"No. Hes in surgery Dad. He uh he went into cardiac arrest. He had been tortured, beaten, tased for over 24 hours. No food, no water. And all the tasing messed with the electrical system of his heart. He was in cardiac arrest and down for minutes Dad, he had a heart attack and he's in surgery now because Ellie said he had internal bleeding and damage so I don't know what's going to happen. And I'm here. I'm here for her but I just think..."
"Danny, Danny, Danny!!"
"Yeah Dad?"
"I need you to shut up so I can get off the phone and go get your brother so we can head to Chicago."
"Oh ok Dad thanks"
"Hey Danny?"
"Yeah?"
"Youre right. You're a Reagan. You will always be held to a higher standard but family comes first. Jay is family now."
"Yeah I know Dad thanks. Just get here."
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Will and Ellie sat in chairs beside Jays bed waiting for him to wake up. Ellie sat there leaning forward onto the bed holding his hand securely. And Will sat beside her.
"He's going to pull through. He will. He has to." Will told her.
Ellie and Will were watching Jays heart monitor intently, thankful for every beat they heard which meant Jay was back in a normal rythym and resting since his surgery.
Jay lay there sleeping peacefully, he was hooked up to numerous wires and machines. He had a blood pressure cuff around his left arm, multiple IVs were inserted in his left arm. An IV port in his left hand was being used to administer IV meds into his system, there was an IV port located inside the wrist of his left hand that was used to administer fluids, Jay had been severely dehydrated and had already gone through multiple bags of saline. He also had a IV line administered into the vein inside of his elbow to administer blood as he had required a few blood transfusions already. He had an oxygen mask placed firmly over hos mouth, a pulse oximeter on his forefinger of his right hand. He was hooked up to a vital monitor measuring out his heartrate, heart rythym, blood pressure, respiration rate, temperature, and his oxygen saturation. And then there were the wires placed into his chest through his heart, a temporary pace maker which had required the placement through surgery earlier on.
Ellie grabbed her stethoscope from around her neck, placing it in her ears, she leaned forward gingerly placing the bell of the stethoscope on Jay's chest over his heart.
"Ellie you do know we can see his heart rate, watch and hear his heart rhythm right here right?" Will asked his best friend
She nodded. "Yeah I know. I just want to hear it for my self. " she said studying the beats of Jay's heart. After a few minutes she put her stethoscope away and sat back in her seat.
"I missed it." Ellie said out of the blue
Will looked over at his best friend with a confused look on his face.
"What did you miss?"
"When we got him out. I knew he had obviously been tortured for over 24 hours. I knew there would be significant injuries but I missed the cardiac injury."
"Oh Ellie come on don't beat yourself up. Like you were immediately going to check him for a cardiac event. "
Ellie shook her head.
"We got him to the back of the ambulance and it was clear he had been beaten and he complained about his upper back, his neck, and his shoulder blades being the most painful."
"Yeah ok that makes sense"
"Will cardiac events aren't always what they're made out to be. They're not always the dramatic event that Hollywood portrays. Some of them, most of them linger and present signs for days. And I thought his pain was all musculoskeletal."
"True. You're right. But he was beaten and tortured for a day. So yeah he's going to have musculoskeletal pain and had he been brought in here you would have gotten to the EKG and echos after finding out about all the tasings, you would have. Just stop beating yourself up over this. He wouldn't want you to. Why don't you focus on the positive here?"
"You really think he'll be ok?"
"I do. This is Jay. But that's not what I'm talking about. You, Ellie Reagan you went in there like the badass Reagan you are and you got him out. You got him out of that situation and you got him back home."
Ellie looked at her best friend, faintly smiling and nodded.
"Can I just say one more thing?" Will asked.
"Sure."
"Joe Reagan sure would have been proud of his baby sister today."
"That he would have been." Will and Ellie looked up to see the voice coming from the doorway and there stood the NYPD commishioner Frank Reagan along with Ellie's twin brother Jamie Reagan.
Ellie bolted up from her seat, and quietly rushed around the bed to hug her dad and brother.
"Daddy, what are you doing here?" Ellie asked.
"Are you kidding? We've been on pins and needles ever since we heard about Jay. We should have just come then." Jamie answered.
Ellie shook her head. "No there was nothing you could have done. And Danny was here. Which was nice."
"Well I had been waiting on a call and it finally arrived. Danny told me about what happened on the ambulance ride, kiddo. I went to the 1-2 and got your brother and we headed out. Which reminds me, you need to call your sister, she's worried about you." Frank told his daughter.
"Yeah and I don't think Pop knows yet so shits gonna hit the fan when he realizes we left without him." Jamie added.
"Did he know about Jay being abducted?" Ellie asked.
"Very little. We told him he was on a deep UC assignment that could turn at any minute." Frank told her.
"That's good. No reason to worry him over something he couldn't control." Ellie said.
"That and he would have had Dad bring the whole family down here and the minute we stepped into the 21st the former PC Henry Reagan would take charge" Danny said from the doorway. "Couldn't have that."
"Oh I don't know, I would have paid to see that" Will said with a chuckle.
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In the cafeteria, Adam sat down at a table with Frank, Jamie, and Danny.
"Jamie, when we leave we need to take some food back to Will and your sister." Frank said.
Jamie nodded. "Yeah she wouldn't leave him." He said.
"Your Sgt and Detective Olinsky is spending some time with him," Frank told Adam.
"Yeah you know, we don't have to see eye to eye with Boss on a regular basis for him to be there no matter what when times get tough." Adam explained. "He and Jay have a special relationship."
"Adam, where is Jay's dad? Is he coming?" Danny asked.
Frank and Jamie looked around at everybody. They were aware of the relationship between Will and Jay and their dad. And Jamie knew it was worse between Jay and their dad than it was for Will.
Adam shook his head. "I really don't know. But my guess is no." Adam said. "I think Mr Halstead would end up upsetting Jay even more when he wakes up and Will is worried about that. So he thinks it will just be better to tell him after the fact. Boss has left Antonio in charge and he and Al are here so they'll be here for whatever Jay needs."
Frank was hanging on to Adam's every word. He was familiar with the Halstead family back when Will lived in New York but was more familiar with Will's story but now that his daughter was in love with and living with Jay, he was aware of the issues Jay had with his dad. As a father though, Frank Reagan couldn't fathom that. Sure he had issues and power struggles with his children. All 3 of his sons had been police officers, his oldest daughter was the Bureau chief for the Manhattan D.A. office and his youngest was a trauma surgeon so all of his children were held to higher standards because he was the police commishioner, and his father had been before him. But Frank just couldn't wrap his head around it. He loved his 5 children unconditionally. And before May 15, 2009 he would like to think he didn't take any of his children for granted. But one thing Frank was sure of, as of May 15, 2009, he didn't take one of his remaining 4 children for granted. He never let the sun set on an argument. And he made sure his children knew they could disagree, but nothing in this world could ever stop Frank Reagan from loving his children. And that day nearly 9 years ago changed his life forever. Having to bury his own son, Frank buried a piece of him. And when he learned Jay had been captured, he was taken back in time. He hadn't known Jay very long, but Will and Ellie had been friends a long time and he knew that Ellie loved Jay and he knew that Jay wanted to spend the rest of his life with Ellie and he couldnt let Ellie go through this again. Once Danny called with details on Jay's condition, Frank knew he and Jamie had to get back to Chicago for two reasons. One, because they were worried about Jay, and two, because they needed to be there to support Ellie. But sitting there at that table, Frank just made a new commitment. Yeah, sure Jay had Ellie and Will, and Adam and Hank and Al, and his whole team, but Jay wanted to marry Ellie and Jay wasn't going to have to wait to marry her or even ask her for that matter to inherit a new family. Frank wasn't just here for his daughter, he was here for his future son. And that's the thing in the Reagan family. There are no in-laws. Linda was not his daughter in law, she became his 3rd daughter. So Jay would not be his son in law, but his 4th son. He would stay as long as Jay needed him. Because they were Jay's family.
Frank made eye contact with Adam once again.
"Everything will be ok. Jay's family is here. And we're not going anywhere."
Jamie and Danny both looked at their Dad and nodded.
"I have tons of vacation days. I never use them." Jamie said.
"I second that. Wouldn't hurt to stay out of the city for awhile. The boys can stay with Erin." Danny echoed.
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Jay finally started to come around. But every muscle in his body was hurting. He knew this was coming. But his chest especially felt like it was on fire. He remembered the beatings, the tasings, but he couldn't place any injuries to his chest. Jay slowly opened his eyes with a loud groan.
"There you go, wake up, sunshine. Welcome back to the land of the living." a familiar voice insisted. Jay turned his head in the direction of the voice, and his eyes slowly focused on his brother, Will.
Jay saw Will in a chair by his bed, on the window side of the room. He saw Ellie curled up in the chair beside Will and she had her head curled up on Jay's bed.
Off in the corner, Frank nudged Jamie who had fallen asleep as well. "What?" Jamie groggily whispered, sitting up in his chair.
Frank handed him a Styrofoam coffee cup. "He's waking up. " Frank told Jamie. Jamie sat up straighter and nudged Danny to the other side of him.
"For the love of God, Jamie. Something important better be going on" Danny muttered.
"It is. Jay's awake" Jamie told his older brother.
Danny shot up straight in his chair and all 3 Reagans stood as Will softly nudged Ellie awake.
"Mmm. What?" She groaned.
"Hey Jay's waking up." Will told Ellie.
Ellie sat up in her chair and moving forward to Jay. "Jay? Honey can you hear me?"
Jay squeezed Ellie's hand and focuses his eyes on her. "Ellie?" He hoarsely whispered.
"Yeah honey I'm right here." She told Jay.
"We're both here little brother, you really scared us this time." Will told him.
"You can say that again." Said a voice at the end of Jay's hospital bed. Jay moved his eyes to realize the voice came from the commishioner and on either side of him were Danny and Jamie.
"Frank?" Jay asked.
"Yeah son we're here too. You just rest, there will be time to talk later." Frank told him.
Jay directed his focus back to Ellie.
"I love you" he got out before passing out again from exhaustion.
TO BE CONTINUED.....
Ok guys, I'm so sorry this is the one you've been waiting on, there is still another part to this story because there's just so many elements to this story and so many relationships I'm trying to bring in through this one injury. So there will be one more part before moving on to the next injury. But it was too long for one chapter and you've already waited so long, so here is part 3, part 4 should be up soon by the end of this week. ❤💙