Into Folklore | W. Halstead

Freedom

Kevin and Olivia were inseparable. On the job, 9/10 they were doing something that required both of them. Not that that was unusual, that was exactly what partners were for in the first place. To be cover, backup. But it was different with them. Their friendship was just as strong outside of work as it was inside.

He was the only person that was actively invited over on days Olivia wasn't keen on being social. Which wasn't a lot, but when it did happen he was honored. Just like she was when he invited her over to his place when his neighbors were having parties. It was like an unspoken thing between them.

Like they were each other's person. Platonic soulmates if you will. Aside from family, it was always them at each other's beds when they were in the hospital. It was like time stopping if one of them got hurt, cause how do you deal with seeing your best friend and person you're supposed to protect lying on the ground in pain?

It was hard. And even now as Olivia sat next to his bed, her eyes drooping, fighting to stay open. Wanting to be awake when Kevin woke up. She was just thinking about how she wasn't there.

The best she could think was that she was there now . He wasn't alone. He wouldn't be waking up to a hospital room with doctors passing by hopefully noticing he's awoken. He wouldn't be laying there by himself when Ethan Choi came into the room to tell him 'Hey, you really almost died last night. You got real lucky.'

No, she was there and she would be there until he woke up. Tired or not. And just as her head finally fell against the side of the bed, craving just a few minutes of sleep, Kevin's arm twitched, pulling the girl right back up. "Kev?" She asked softly, as if saying anything too loudly would break the other person in the room even more than he already was.

His eyes fluttered open, vision still partially blurred as she stood, leaning over him. "Oh my god, I'm gonna go get Dr. Choi." Olivia smiled tightly as she let go of his arm, poking her head out the door. "Maggie, can you page Choi? Kevin's waking up." She dipped back into the room, taking a couple minutes to text the first team member that showed up in her messages to tell them Kev was awake.

A groan left Kevin's lips as he tried to sit up, "Hey, no, no, wait til Choi says I can move the back up," She lightly pushed against his shoulder, pushing her seat out of the way as said doctor walked into the room.

"Hey Kev, nice to see you awake."

"Glad to be, can we get my bed up?" Kevin was quick to ask about the state of his bed, hating to be lying back in it for too long. Said he always felt like it was one step from being in a casket, which... fair enough right?

As soon as Dr. Choi nodded Olivia reached and grabbed the control to his bed, lifting his back up. "That good?" She lifted her eyes to him, putting it down when he nodded. Choi looked over the vitals screen before shifting his attention back to Kevin.

He put his stethoscope to his ears, listening to the sounds of his heart and his breathing. "How do you feel?" Olivia stood back, letting Ethan handle things, her hand sitting, fiddling with the golden sun pendant she always wore around her neck.

Kevin shrugged faintly, "If I'm being honest, like shit. Like a fire truck landed on my abdomen." He spoke, glancing up at the girl who could do nothing more but give him a reassuring smile partnered with a thumbs up.

He reciprocated with a similar smile before wincing, "Is there anything else you can do for this pain because man it hurts." His words were met with a faint chuckle from the doctor as he nodded.

"Yeah, Doris, hang a bolus of morphine." Choi stepped back, clasping his hands in front of him. Military like pose, Olivia had seen Jay do it all the time and so did her dad. "Like I said to Olivia already, you were shot twice. In your chest and stomach. The first one just missed your lungs, went through the spleen. We were able to fix it so things weren't too hard there."