Grace & the Windy City (Chicago P.D)

Chapter 7- A Through & Through

Grace's stomach dropped. She didn't know what to be angry about first; telling her that kind of shocking news over the phone or that it almost just caused her to crash her car.

"What?" she said softly. "What happened?"

"Where are you right now?"

"I'm getting off the I-94. I can be there in 10 minutes...Adam?"

"Yeah?"

"I'm sorry about last night, but please tell me he's going to be ok? Where was he shot?"

Adam hesitated and sighed, which prompted Grace to prepare for the worst. "It's ok, Grace. He's in surgery right now. No update yet..."

Grace realized there was nothing she could do from her car, even if Adam had answered her questions. "Ok. I'll be there soon."

Grace pulled her car into the parking lot of Chicago Med and bolted towards the Emergency Department waiting room. There were uniformed officers scattered around and it took her a minute to find Adam in the chaos. She spotted a few other members of the Intelligence unit with Adam and ran over to them.

"Adam!" she called out. Grace ran to him and he embraced her tightly. "Is there an update?" she asked. Adam shook his head. "Do they know who shot him? Are they going after them? What happened?"

Attwater appeared from behind Adam. "The whole district is on it. We'll get 'em."

Grace nodded thankfully to Kevin as she tried to hold the tears in. "Where was he shot? Do you know?"

Adam sat down and got quiet all of a sudden. "His...left shoulder...near his, uh collarbone. It was a through and through."

"So he'll be ok? It wasn't near his heart or lungs or major arteries." she sounded hopeful..

He didn't want to give her false hope, but there was no use in painting a pretty picture. "We should be getting an update soon and they'll be able to tell us more once they've opened him up."

Grace was in shock, "I saw him this morning. I talked to him this morning," she collected her thoughts for a moment, "What if we were supposed to have gotten in that stupid fight last night so I'd be able to see him one last time?"

"Don't say that, ok? You can't think like that." Jay comforted Grace.

"Grace," Adam agreed, with his arms around his sister. "Have you called your mom yet?"

"No, I— you called me and I drove straight here." Grace couldn't process how she would tell her mother. "I don't think I should tell her until we know how dad is. If it's bad, she shouldn't hear it from me." Grace took a seat between Adam and Jay.

"What were you doing up in Wisconsin, by the way? That's a random road trip to take."

"Dad, he asked me to check on things, you know the windows and stove...that sorta thing. The last time I was up there was forever ago," Grace explained while taking her parka off.

"I forgot about the cabin completely...hey, you know about last night, tracking your phone and everything...I was trying to protect you."

Grace crossed her arms and turned to face her brother, ready to hear what he had to say.

"With this job, you wouldn't believe how many times I've dealt with girls who've been taken advantage of and the scumbags who abused them. I didn't want anything like that happening to you. I need you to know that I was only doing it to look out for you, Grace."

"I get it." she finally said. "But Carter is cool. He would never try anything on me."

Adam wanted to bring up what Grace said the night before, about being hurt before but now wasn't the right time. "It doesn't matter. You're way too young to be part of that scene. It's illegal, you know. I could have you arrested myself."

"But you won't."

"Here comes an update." Erin stated, as a surgeon walked into the crowded waiting room.

"We'll talk about this later." Adam assured Grace.

A white-coat wearing doctor walked closer towards the cluster of police officers. "Family of Bob Ruzek?"

Grace and Adam stood up immediately. "Is he alive?" she asked. The doctor took a deep breath which made Grace prepare for the worst. She held onto Adam's arm while he wondered if this was really it.

"He lost a lot of blood during surgery...but he's going to be fine. He has a long recovery ahead. He should wake up in a few hours. I can show you to his room."

"Glad he's ok, bro." Attwater said. Erin and Jay looked relieved, as did the other cops in the waiting room.

"Thanks Kev..." Adam followed the doctor to the recovery wing with Grace.

When they arrived, Adam stood outside the door and watched his father who was lying in bed, with a half a dozen tubes everywhere. Grace entered first and sat down. She was too scared to hold his hand— she didn't want to hurt him. He glanced at Grace, who was trying to be strong. She didn't know how to feel either. The best she could do was sit by her father's side and think good thoughts.