"Jay, hey Jay. Are you still with us?" Antonio Dawson asks as they are going over the information that they know for their current case.

The detective in question gives the older detective a blank look for a moment before his brain catches up. "Yeah," he answers, elbows leaning on his desk, supporting his head in his hands.

"Are you feeling okay? You don't look so hot, brother," Kevin Atwater tells him.

"I'm fine," he tells them. He gets a look for everyone that they don't believe him, "Just a little headache," he lies, when in truth it feels like his head is pounding in sync with his heart, everything hurts, thinks he's running a fever, and starting to feel a bit nauseous to top it off. All but Hailey seem to believe him as they go back to discussing the case. Quietly, she slips two Tylenol pills to him; which he accepts, nodding his thanks. Taking the pills with the smallest amount of water possible, he goes back to trying to focus on the information.

"Hailey and Jay, check out the house," is the next thing that he hears. Not even noticing that Voight had come out of his office. Grabbing his jacket and gun he follows Hailey to her car.

Once in her car, Hailey looks over at her partner and sees him shivering in the passenger seat. Subtly, she turns up the heat and turns the vents towards him. "Did they Tylenol help any?" she asks him. He just nods in reply. "You really don't look good, are you sure you're up to this?" she asks his as she reaches to touch his forehead.

Anticipating her action, he moves slightly giving her the unspoken message not to touch him. "I'm fine. I can do my job, I'm not weak."

"I'm not questioning if you can do your job. And I don't think you're weak, but I can tell you don't feel one hundred percent. I wouldn't think less of you, no one in the unit would, if you went home sick. Taking sick time isn't weak, it's knowing your limits and listening to your body."

"We're here," Jay interrupts her, before getting out of the car to go up to the door. Hailey sighs at his stubbornness, getting out of the car to follow him.

At the door, the pair see that it is slightly ajar. Proceeding carefully, they clear the first room then go to separate rooms, when the suspect gets the jump on Jay and jumps him from behind. With his fever-clouded brain, his reflexes are slow allowing him to get pistol-whipped before fighting back, crashing into a table before getting the suspect under control and cuffing him.

Hearing the commotion, Hailey runs into the room, "Jay are you okay?"

"Yeah, fine," he answers as he attempts to get up, but loses his footing, falling into her legs.

"Whoa, careful, Jay," Hailey tells him, while grabbing his shoulder to keep him from face planting to the floor. Eyeing where the gun made contact with his face, she speaks into her radio, "5021 Henry to central. I need an ambulance at my location, non-emergency, and some uniforms,"

"Ambulance and patrol are five minutes out 5021 Henry."

"I'm fine. I don't need to go to Med."

"You were pistol-whipped and almost just face planted trying to get up. I want to make sure you didn't end up with a concussion," Jay goes to protest, but Hailey stops him. "I'm not messing with head injuries and before you say it's not an injury, you're bleeding."

Out of energy, Jay just leans his head on her leg, she can now feel the heat coming from his body.

The patrol car gets there first. When they get inside Hailey instructs the uniformed officers to take the suspect to their car before combing through the rest of the house. "We cleared it already. Give anything you find to the Intelligence Unit and take the suspect back to the 21st. I have a feeling that this one is done for the day," she whispers the last part as it seems that Jay had fallen into a light sleep, bruises already forming where the gun made contact.

Just after the two patrol officers go upstairs, Ambulance 61 pulls up. Hailey sees Brett and Foster walking in to the house towards them. "What happened?" Brett asks.

"From what I can tell after we split up, the suspect got the jump on him and pistol-whipped him. Can you check to see if he has a concussion? He doesn't need one on top of whatever he has," Hailey explains.

"What's wrong with him?" Foster asks looking at the sleeping figure who is leaning against the female detective.

"I think he has whatever is going around," she whispers not wanting Jay to hear and know they are talking about him, "He said he had a little headache, so for him to admit that it has to be pretty bad, and I think he has a fever."

"Okay, we can check him out in the truck, can you wake him?" Brett asks, having heard stories about what Jay has done to people when woken up unexpectedly.

Slowly Hailey wakes him, by rubbing circles on his back. Once she gets him awake, she asks him if he can walk, receiving a nod in reply. Stumbling a bit Jay uses her for support.

Hailey sits Jay on the bumper of the ambulance and starts to walk away to give him privacy, but he grabs her wrist stopping her from leaving. The look in his eyes asking the unspoken question.

"Jay," Brett grabs his attention, "I'm just going to check if you are concussed and get a set of vitals on you, and we can go from there sound good?"

"Yeah, fine."

After asking him the standard questions, shining a light in his eyes and checking how his eyes are tracking, Brett determines that he is not concussed. She then moves on to check his blood pressure, heartrate, and temperature. Frowning at all the readings. "Can I go back to work now?" he questions when she is finished.

"I don't feel comfortable clearing you to work. You're not concussed, but your blood pressure is low, your heartrate is racing, and your temperature is almost 103. You should go to the doctor and get tested, but I think you have the flu. Go home and get some rest."

"I can't, the cas-" he starts only to be interrupted by Hailey.

"You can. Voight and the team will understand your health comes first. Can you make it to the car on your own?" Jay answers by standing up to walk to the car, but sways as he stands. Grabbing his waist and throwing his arm around his shoulder she guides him to her car, making sure that he stays on his feet.

Getting him settled in the car she goes back to talk to Brett. "Should I take him to the hospital or is he okay just to go back to his apartment?'

"He doesn't need to go to the hospital right now, but keep an eye on his fever. It's at 102.8 right now; if it goes to 103 and you can't get it down after three hours or if it goes to 104, then you should take him. Also try to keep him hydrated, Gatorade and Pedialyte are good for hydration. If someone could stay with him, that would be good. I don't like how hot he's running."

"Okay, thanks Brett," Hailey says as she heads back to her car. When she gets there, she sees that Jay is once again asleep, leaning his head against the window. She decides to call Voight before she gets in the car so she doesn't wake him.

He picks up on the second ring, "Where are you two?" he asks.

"I'm taking Halstead home. I have uniforms bringing the suspect to the 21st."

"What happened are you guys okay?"

"Um, Halstead had a run in with the suspect. He was pistol-whipped and seemed disoriented, so I called an ambulance to make sure he didn't have a concussion. 61 checked him out, he's not concussed, but he's running a fever of 102.8 and Brett didn't like his other vitals. She thinks he has a bad case of the flu. I don't think it's a good idea to leave him by himself, so I was just going to work from his place"

"Okay, let him know that he needs to stay home as long as he has a fever."

"Will do." Hanging up she gets in the car, careful not to startle him awake when she shuts the door.

Before going to him apartment complex she stops to get Gatorade, Pedialyte and some other supplies, including things to make soup and some medicine he might need. While in the store she calls Will, hoping he's not too busy, to see if there's anything specific to get Jay, knowing he will be too stubborn to ask for anything himself.

"Hailey is everything okay? Is Jay okay?" he asks when he picks up his mind going to the worst about his baby brother.

"Yes, no, mostly," she answers the worried older brother.

"Well what is it?" Will asks, concern rising in his voice.

Hailey goes on to explain what had happened at the house, "Physically he's fine, he has a small cut and bruising from where he was hit, but he's pretty sick. He's running a fever of close to 103 and he actually admitted to having a headache; he said a little headache, but for him to admit that, you know. He's sleeping in my car now, while I'm picking some things up from the store before I take him back to his place." Will goes to interrupt her, but she stops him, "I'm going to stay with him, he's pretty out of it. Is there anything he likes when he's sick, what flavor should I get him? Brett said that Gatorade and Pedialyte are good for hydration. Or anything I should know?"

"Either Berry Frost or Blue Raspberry Pedialyte, he will drink Grape too. Gatorade is actually not great for you when you are sick, there too much sugar, plus Jay always complains that it makes him feel nauseous. Applesauce is good for him; he shouldn't have dairy if he's sick, but you might be able to get him to eat pudding. Mom always got us chocolate pudding when we were sick growing up. Be careful if he has a nightmare, he will wake up swinging."

"Is there something I can do to help with the nightmares?"

"Probably just contact, whatever you can do to help ground him. He usually gets them when he has a fever, he has since he was a kid and they've only gotten worse with his PTSD."

"Okay, and Brett said not to bring him in unless his temperature was at 103 for three hours or if it went to 104?"

"Yes. You can alternate Tylenol and Motrin," he tells her.

"Okay, speaking of fevers. What kind of thermometer works best? I doubt that Jay has one and I don't want to leave him alone to go get one," she asks.

"I actually stashed one at his place. It's under the sink; it's a dual forehead-ear one. Hey, I have to go, we're slammed, but I will stop by after my shift and stay with him tonight to give you a break. Call me if he gets worse," he hangs up abruptly.

Going back to her shopping, Hailey finds the items that the older Halstead sibling mentioned. After getting checked out, she goes back to her car to find Jay still asleep in the passenger seat, head against the now fogged up window from the contrast in temperatures. Reaching over to touch his cheek, she thinks that he feels warmer than before. Unconsciously he moves into her cool touch, Hailey tries carefully to move her hand as to not wake home up. Successfully, she starts the drive to his apartment complex.

A/N:

Conversions:

103= 39.4

102.8= 39.3

104= 40