88This is my first FanFiction story and I wasn't sure if I should upload it or not, so I decided to just upload the first few pages and see how that goes.
This story is narrated from Hailey's perspective.
Feedback would be greatly appreciated.
Chapter 1
While walking home I was absentmindedly digging around in my bag, looking for my phone. My fingertips had just discovered it when I heard a sharp yell.
"Hey, watch out!" A male voice echoed behind me right as I felt a heavy weight slam into me from behind and push me to the pavement.
I hit the ground hard, the weight now on top of me pushing the air out of my lungs. A shooting pain shot through my head and arm. Right when I managed to pull in a sharp breath, two deafening bangs, followed by the sound of metal hitting metal and glass shattering, filled the air.
"Stay down!" The man holding me down ordered. His voice was assertive, but I also picked up a hint of panic, a feeling, which I currently shared with him, while I lay pinned down in the street, my heart hammering in my chest.
The weight on top of me shifted and I heard the click of a radio. "Adam, Kev, are you okay?"
It took a few seconds before a female voice responded over the radio. "We're good, Jay. We've got him. It's all good. Offender is in custody."
When the transmission ended I heard him expel a deep breath he must have been holding. Quickly he rolled off me. I turned around and sat up, taking in and scanning the scene in front of me. The man kneeling next to me was wearing a vest with a star on it over his burgundy T-shirt. His green eyes watched me intently as I read the words 'Detective Halstead' on his vest. Glass shards covered the ground beneath the broken car window next to us and I recognised a bullet hole in the doorframe of the car. My eyes widened as an understanding of what had happened settled in.
"Hey, are you alright?" he asked, carefully reaching out to put a hand on my shoulder. His expression was soft and worried. I opened my mouth about to answer, but he kept going. "I'm sorry, I should have softened your fall better."
Once again confused, I noticed his gaze locked on a spot above my left eyebrow. Only then did the stinging pain set in and I felt something warm and wet slowly run down my temple. When I lifted my hand to the spot, the pain increased and my fingers came back stained red.
Finally, I managed to find my words again, my voice sounding slightly unsteady. "From what I understand you may have just saved my life, so don't worry about this," I said, waving my bloody fingers in the direction of the cut on my forehead.
A hint of relief flashed over his freckled features before his stare got serious again and he held up his hand signalling for me to wait. "Fifty twenty-one George, I need an ambo at our current location," he spoke into his radio.
As soon as I heard the word ambo I objected, "No I don't think there's a need for that. I feel fine!" I didn't want him to worry or cause any trouble. I had never liked people fussing over me and therefore always tried my best to hide it when I got hurt, so nobody had to worry about me or feel guilty.
But the young detective was having none of it. "Even so, I'd like the paramedics to have a look at you just to make sure."
I wanted to object but decided against it and gave him a quick nod and a smile instead.
"I'm Jay by the way." He smiled at me.
"Hailey," I replied and watched as two big men, also wearing vests, escorted a grim-looking man wearing handcuffs out of a building and towards a big, black SUV. The window next to the front door of the building was shattered.
"Is he the one who fired the shots?" I asked hesitantly, motioning to the broken window and bullet hole in he car.
"Yeah," Jay sighed. "We came here to arrest him. He knows he's going away for a long time and I guess he didn't want to go out without a fight and a bang," he huffed, "quite literally."
The man fumed and struggled against the tight grip of the men currently shoving him into the back of the car.
"And you happened to end up in the middle of it all." Jay finished his explanation.
"Are you two alright?" A young, brunette asked as she walked over to us and knelt beside Jay. She gave me a quick once-over and a comforting smile before she turned to her colleague.
"Yeah, that was a close one," Jay answered her, not taking his eyes off me. "I saw the guy lift his gun behind the window as we walked up to the house. Before I knew it I was pulling down this one. A little too hard I'm afraid." He motioned towards me and gave me another apologetic smile.
"I'm fine though. No harm done. Quite the opposite." I told both of them, while also not breaking eye contact with him. His stare was intense and I felt my heart beat faster again.
"That's good," the woman said, finally inciting me to shift my gaze over to her. "The ambo is two minutes out." She informed Jay before getting up and walking over to the rest of the team.
"Do you want to try and get up?" He asked holding out his hand.
I grabbed it and let him carefully pull me up into a standing position. Not letting go of my hand he placed his other hand on the small of my back supporting me. At first, I felt fine, but when I bent down to pick up my bag pain shot through my head, and before I could stop myself I drew in an audible, sharp breath.
"I got it, I got it," Jay reacted quickly, picking up the bag before I could try again.
The ambulance arrived and two women got out. Jay handed me my bag and helped me walk towards the ambo.
"Hey there, Halstead," the blonde paramedic said, "what happened here?"
"Hey Brett, Foster," Jay greeted both of them while Foster started examining the cut on my forehead. "This is Hailey, I pushed her over to dodge some bullets and she hit her head on the pavement. Pretty hard I think. Don't let her tell you otherwise."
A tiny shiver ran down my spine when he said my name and I smiled at how he had already seen past my tough-girl-act. "It wasn't that hard. Probably looks worse than it is." I wasn't willing to drop my act just yet, even though my head was pounding.
"Come and sit down in the back of the ambo and let us have a look at you," Brett said, choosing to believe Jay over me.
She opened the doors and gently pushed me into a sitting position on the step to the back of the vehicle.
"Do you remember everything that happened?" Foster asked while Brett started cleaning out my laceration.
"Yes. I didn't black out or anything." I answered truthfully and winced as Brett taped a provisional gauze pad to my forehead. I had expected Jay to say goodbye and leave once the paramedics took over, but he stayed put, watching intently while I was being questioned.
"Good. Any nausea, headache?" Foster continued.
I was about to shake my head but when I caught the mans gaze, I decided to be honest. "I do have a headache and I feel a tiny bit nauseous. But I get nauseous very easily when I get hurt, so that's not out of the ordinary." I quickly added.
"In that case, it's best if we have a doctor check you out. And you might need a few stitches. Hop on." Brett climbed into the back of the truck while Foster walked to the driver's door.
I didn't want to spend my day off waiting around at the hospital all day and the thought of getting stitches made my nausea flare up again. But I accepted that it was probably for the best and let Brett pull me up into the back of the ambo. Before she slammed the doors shut I turned back to face Jay.
"Halstead!" A gravelly voice yelled behind him. He quickly signalled the man calling out to him that he was coming, then returned his focus onto me.
"Thank you, again." I smiled down at him from inside of the ambo. "For saving my life."
I was already dreading the moment the doors would close and I'd see his face for the last time.
"Again, I'm really sorry. I hope it's nothing serious." He gave me a smile and a nod and turned to walk away, but decided to say something more. "I'll come and check up on you later at the hospital if that's alright with you."
He took the delighted look on my face as a confirmation and matched my expression as he closed that ambulance doors. I heard him knock on the vehicle twice before we drove off.
