Love at First Cut; A Will Halstead Fanfic

The Poison Inside Us

Yn's POV

"Hey, I haven't seen your big, red shadow today," Maggie noted as she approached me at the nurses' station. 

"He's running a little late. Said he had to run an errand for Jay or something. Have you uh, have you noticed Will acting a little weird lately?" I question. 

"He is getting married in a month," Maggi pointed out. "That makes most men act a little weird." 

"Yeah, I guess," I mutter and look back down at my tablet. About an hour or two later, since I was taking a slow day, I was mostly just treating small cuts and colds.

"Yn! I need your help!" Natalie shouted from a trauma room. I set my tablet down and ran over to see what was wrong, and I found Natalie in a room with a very pregnant woman.

"What's up?" I ask. Natalie gestured to the woman, who had began bleeding, meaning something was up. After a quick examination, I determined the cause of the bleed. "Your placenta abrupted. Was she in an accident?" 

"Yeah. A bike one," Natalie clarified. 

"All right, call OB, you need to get her upstairs for a delivery," I tell Natalie.

"Delivery? Did something happen to my baby? Is he going to be okay? What's wrong with my baby?" the patient quizzed. 

"Everything's going to be fine," Natalie assured her. "Let's get you upstairs, and then we'll figure out what happens next. Yn, can you-"

I cut Natalie off. "Alert them that you're coming up? Gotcha."

"Thank you," Natalie said and wheeled her patient off. Minutes after Natalie left, a commotion arose in the ED. Ethan tackled a man to the ground, and a canister rolled across the floor spewing gas and some liquid.

"There's a toxic spill! Evacuate the ED now!" Ethan shouted. 

"Code Orange! Everyone, out, right now. Get your patients out right now! Code Orange! Get out! Everybody, out! Go, move!" Maggie yelled. I helped a few people get out of the ED, and once I thought everyone was gone, I took one last glance around the room. However, there were still two people left; Ethan and the man who had caused the spill. Ethan was trying to help the man out, but it looked like he was struggling a bit.

"Ethan!" I call out and run over to him. "Let me help." By now, I had breathed in a bit of the toxic chemicals, but I pushed that aside and helped Ethan lift the man up. Together, we managed to carry him out of the ED and placed him on a gurney. Now we just had to wait for backup to arrive.

................................

"How long till you can detox my ED?" Ms. Goodwin asked chief Boden. 

"Depends on the floor plan, ventilation, size of spill. I'm sending Squad in now," Boden confirmed. 

"As soon as they get us the samples, we'll take them down to the lab and try and ID the toxin," Hailey added. 

"And what about Mr. Patrick?" Ms. Goodwin questioned. 

"We're looking into him now. Background, employment, family, anything that'll give us a lead," Hailey responded. 

"We already have 12 hospital staff and patients in respiratory distress. We need to figure this out and fast," Ms. Goodwin declared. As she walked away, I broke into a small coughing fit, and I could feel my face heating up.

"Hey. You okay?" Hailey asked me.

I waved her off. "I'm fine."

"Maybe you should sit down," Hailey suggested.

"Hailey, I'll be fine. I just need a minute," I claim. Since Hailey was Jay's partner, and I was close with him, naturally I got close to her. We had gotten close the past few months, and she was starting to become a close friend of mine. After awhile of running around trying to help out other patients, I was getting pretty winded. Will took notice to that and ran over to me.

"Hey. Were you exposed to the gas?" Will quizzed.

I nodded and coughed. "Just a little bit."

"Come on. Lets get you a mask," Will said and led me to an open gurney. I took a seat while Will grabbed me an oxygen mask, handing it to me once he had found one. "Stay here and take some deep breaths. If you feel any worse, you call out for help, okay?"

"Okay," I murmur and place the oxygen mask over my face. Once Will was gone, I waved Hailey down. "Please tell me you found something." 

"Jacob Patrick is an engineer at a textile factory. He has access to numerous industrial toxins," Hailey informed me. "We're hoping to have it narrowed down soon." 

"Okay. Please keep me posted," I exclaim. Finally, after what felt like forever, PD ID'd the toxin. It was cyanide. So, once the ED was clear, we sent the patients back in and got everyone who was affected a dose of hydroxocobalamin, which counteracts the cyanide. I was sitting on a gurney with my oxygen mask waiting for the medicine to kick in when Natalie walked over and gave me a hug.

"Thank you," Natalie muttered. I frowned. What was she thanking me for. 

"I heard about what happened with your patient. You did a nice job," I admit. 

"Well, I couldn't have done it without you," Natalie countered. 

"Um, I'm not following," I say. 

"The phone call with Dr. Charles. Thank you for getting me through the c-section," Natalie clarified. 

"Nat, I wasn't on any phone call," I confess. Natalie looked shocked by that and after she bid me goodbye, she walked off to find Dr. Charles. Once the medicine kicked in, and I was feeling a lot better, I went on a search for Will. I found him outside of the hospital, and he was clutching his stomach.

"Will, are you all right?" I ask. Will didn't respond and instead ran to the nearest trash can where he threw up. "That's blood. Were you exposed to the cyanide?" 

"Maybe," Will spoke. 

"Let's get you back inside," I declare and wrap my arm around him. "Let's go."

.....................................

"So it turns out it's not cyanide. It's an ulcer. Did you know this was happening?" I question. 

"I had no idea," Will admitted. 

"What is going on, Will? Are you stressed?" I quiz. 

"No," Will replied. 

"Really? Because I have to say you've not been yourself lately," I confess. 

"Yn, most ulcers are bacterial. They're not stress-related," Will pointed out. 

"I know that. With the way you've been acting, it is not-"

Will cut me off. "There's nothing going on. I promise." 

I sighed and gave him hand a soft squeeze. "Okay. I'll go get your antibiotics." Something was definitely up with Will. And if he wasn't going to tell me, then I was going to figure it out myself.