The Halsteads

𝐚𝐧 𝐮𝐧𝐞𝐱𝐩𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐝𝐢𝐚𝐠𝐧𝗼𝐬𝐢𝐬

"Bye Kolly girl, we'll see you after school" Jay said, as his five year old daughter hopped out of his truck, at the school drop off line early in the morning. "Bye daddy! Bye mama! Love you!" Kolly said, blowing both her parents a kiss, before turning to walk into the school, and head to her class. Little did they know, this wouldn't be the only trip to the school today, that wasn't the usual pick up time.

After dropping of Kolly at school, Jay and Hailey made their way to the district for work. Finn was already with Jessica for the day, like usual. Jay drove the two of them off to work, and they all went in.

Everything was fine at work. The worked not only in the office, but Intelligence also got a case out in the field. The entire team loaded up in their vehicles, and all drove off to the scene of the crime.

While they were on the scene, Hailey's phone rang. She pulled her phone out from her back pants pocket, to see who it was. When she saw that it was Kolly's school, she began to get a little nervous. She turned to Jay and said, "It's Kolly's school. I have to take it" She said, before walking a reasonable distance away to answer.

"Hello?" "Is this one of Kollyns Halstead's parents?" Came the voice on the other end of the line. "Yes, this is her mother. Is everything alright?" Hailey asked, worriedly. "Kollyns is in the nurses office right now, she came down after she got sick when they were heading to music class. The nurse says she's got a low fever as well, so we'll need you to come pick her up and take her home." the woman said. "Of course. I'll be there as soon as I can" Hailey said, before hanging up and rejoining the team.

Jay lightly grabbed Hailey's arm as she came back. "Everything okay? Is Kolly alright?" He asked her. "She got sick. She's got a fever, so I've got to go get her. You stay and finish, I'll pick her up and take her home, and I'll let Jess go on home." Hailey said, as Jay nodded. Hailey then went to tell Voight what was going on, before she climbed into her car, and drove off to Kolly's school.

When Hailey got there, she parked outside the front office, before going through the front doors of the school, and to the office. "I'm here to pick up Kollyns Halstead? I got a call that she's sick." she said, as the secretary nodded. "I'll let the nurse know."

The secretary disappeared to the nurses office, before emerging with Kolly, who looked like she felt pretty rotten. Hailey signed Kolly out, and both of them made their way to the car. "You really don't look like you feel good, Kolly" Hailey said. "I'll get you home and in bed, and get you some medicine, okay?" she said, Kolly simply nodding in reply.

As they entered the house, Kolly looked up at her mother. "My belly hurts, mama. Really bad" She told her. "I'm sorry baby, I'll get you something to hopefully help you, okay?" she said, closing the door behind them.

By the time they got in the house, Kolly took off towards the bathroom. "Is she alright?" Jessica asked, as she got ready to leave. "I think so, I hope so." Hailey said.

After Jess had left, Hailey made her way to the bathroom to check on Kolly. "Oh Kolly, baby" she said, before cleaning up the five year old. After that, she took Kolly to her bedroom, and helped her in the bed. From there, Kolly didn't do much, other than lay there and drink some water, and eventually fell asleep.

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Jay came home from work some time later. Kolly still was feeling rather rotten, if anything worse than earlier. Hailey walked into her bedroom to take Kolly's temperature, while Jay finished feeding Finn.

"Jay" Hailey called out, as he made his way to Kolly's room. "I think we need to call Jess and have her come stay with Finn. I think we need to take her to the emergency room." She told him. "That bad?" He asked. "Her fever shot up. It's way too high to be safe. She looks awful, she's thrown up multiple times, it's not good. Is Will working tonight?" She asked, mentioning Jay's brother, who worked at the hospital. "I'll ask him." He said, getting in touch with Jess, who immediately made her way over, before he called Will.

"Jay? Everything alright?" Will asked through the phone. "Are you working tonight?" Jay asked his brother. "Yeah, I'm there now. Why?" he asked. "Kolly got sick at school, and she's only gotten worse. Hailey just took her temperature and it's high, we're bringing her in as soon as Jess gets here for Finn." Jay said. "I'll be on the lookout." Will said, as they hung up the phone.

Jessica soon arrived to their house, where she retrieved Finn from his parents. Jay picked up Kolly, and he and Hailey headed straight for his truck, and off to Med they went.

After about twenty or so minutes, they had arrived. Jay picked Kolly up from the backseat, and into the hospital they went. Will was right at the door when they got there. "Bring her here" He said, getting to a room, where Jay laid the little girl down on the bed.

"This just started today?" Will asked. "Yeah. She seemed fine this morning when we dropped her off, but it was maybe two hours after that when I had to pick her up. She's gone downhill from there." Hailey said. "I want to run some tests on her. It will help us find the problem" he said, Hailey and Jay both immediately consenting. "Whatever you've got to do."

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After what felt like years, there finally were some answers.

"Everything's come back clear. Except one thing, but I want to see if that's really the issue." Will said, Jay and Hailey looking right at him. They had given Kolly some medicine and fluids, and she seemed to be turning a corner.

"What did she eat before school?" he asked the parents. "She had some waffles and a couple pieces of toast and an egg" Jay told him. "Does she eat that often for breakfast?" "Recently, yeah. She loves waffles like that" Hailey said. "That's our problem." Will said.

"Kolly's test results show major issues with gluten. Based off of this, it's really evident that she's got celiac disease."

"How? She's been fine her whole life." Jay asked. "A lot of times, that's what happens. Her body has just started to reject it, and really take it out on her. That's why she was so sick." Will told them. "So how do we fix it?" Hailey asked. "There's no cure. But what Kolly needs is a fully gluten free diet. If she has a small amount, this probably won't happen, but it's better to stay away from it altogether. When she gets sick, just do what you normally do. It'll pass, probably in 24 hours or so. Other than that, she'll be just fine. Just take her home, and let her rest for tonight." Will said.

After they had Kolly discharged, Jay and Hailey headed home with her. When they got home, they relieved Jess once again, paying her extra for the craziness that had ensued. Hailey put Kolly back in bed, and made her way back to Jay, after he had put Finn down for bed.

"Celiac disease. No gluten." Hailey said, repeating what Will had said. "That means we have to go through everything, and get brand new stuff, for Kolly's sake. Or else she'll get sick like this again" she said. "Not necessarily. We can still keep it for Finn, for us, we just have to modify Kolly's diet. We'll be fine, we'll get through it together. You and me. And Kolly and Finn. Together." Jay said, pulling Hailey in for a hug.

"You're right." she said. "We can do this." She told him, and smiled. The two checked in on Kolly one last time, before sitting down to talk about their next steps with Kolly's new diagnosis.