INBETWEEN SEASON 2 AND SEASON 3 (own script)

Ella had been in hospital for just over three days when her team of doctors, surgeons and nurses had called for a meeting with Jay and Will. "At this point, we've seen multiple positive signs that she is recovering and we think it's time to extubate her and take her off of the ventilator." Ethan explained to his friend who nodded. "We just need consent and to make you aware of any risks and complications." 

"She could immediately go into respiratory failure and that would mean going back on the vent. That could affect her health and the recovery process would lengthen. But, if we leave her on the ventilator for too lung, her lungs will become reliant and struggle when she is eventually extubated." Sam told his coworker and Jay as the two Halsteads nodded.

It had its risks, but so did everything that was worth doing. Jay and Will were willing to try anything and everything to help Ella. "Do it." Jay muttered after recieving a nod from Will. 

Henry was the one listed as an emergency contact and power of attorney but he was locked up in jail, innebriated, for the third time in three days he had been picked up by cops for drunken crimes.

April, Ethan and Maggie were standing around Ella's bed with the intubation tray, oxygen mask and a nasal cannula ready. Maggie injected medication into Ella's IV to override the sedatives that were in her system. It would take a few hours for her to wake up, but it was better for the patient and the procedure to extubate whilst unconscious as the process is often painful and uncomfortable. 

Ethan carefully slid the tube out of Ella's mouth and examined her throat, it was red and raw but didn't seem to have any injuries. After a few seconds her chest rose and fell, and her oxygen levels picked up. "Good girl." April smiled as she squeezed her friends hand. 

Since Will had started at Chicago Med, Ella was often there with bloody noses, smoke inhalation or fractured wrists. But also when Ella would have been home alone, she spent the time at the nurses station or in the staff room or family room. 

Will and Jay refused to leave her side, they were convinced that something would happen if they weren't there, they were playing the waiting game. Waiting for their little sister to wake up. Her heart monitor picked up on a faster rhythm than normal. The two were pulled out of their trances by a groan. "She's waking up." Will stated as he stood up and leant over her bed. "Go and get April or someone." He told his younger brother as Will took his sister's hand. 

Ella continued to stir and wake up, all while holding on tightly to Will's hand. She hadn't opened her eyes yet, but she was moving and responding to pain. Dr Abrams had been paged to perform a neurological exam, to see any long lasting effects. "Ella, I'm just going to ask you to do some things for me, okay?" He told her as he removed the sheet covering her, revealing multiple layers of bandages covering her bruised body.

"Wiggle your toes for me." Everyone's attention was focused on her feet, her left toes wiggled and moved whilst her right toes twitched once. "Good girl. Now your fingers?" Once more, their attentions were focused on her hands, both sets of fingers were moving, shakily but it was improvement. "Nerves are all intact from what I can tell. Just give her some time to come around." Dr Abrams told the two brothers, as Will sank into his chair in relief.

Those three hours the Halstead brothers spent sat in the chairs beside her bed were torture for them, the not knowing if she would wake up fully, or if there would be any long term damage, and worrying about how to tell her the news of her best friend's passing. Jay held one hand and Will the other, his other hand stroking through her hair. "mmph." Ella groaned as her hand twitched and her monitors picked up on a higher heartrate. Jay and Will jumped to their feet at the sound of their sister.

Jay continued holding her hand and stood over her, he had tears in his eyes at the sight of her awake and alive. "Ella, calm down for me sweetie." Will told his little sister when he saw the tears leaking from her eyelids, he used his thumb to swipe them away. April came in with Connor and Ethan behind her, at the sight of the hospital and doctors, she freaked out, only just then waking up fully. 

"Nno! No hospitals." She groaned as she tried to take away the oxygen nasal canula but Will held her hands down. Ella just shook her head, they knew her fear of hospitals and why she hated them, but that never stopped her being clumsy and needing them. "Let go of me!" The brunette snapped as she pulled her hand from her eldest brother's grip.

The two Halstead's looked at Ella in shock and concern as she cried, and tried to roll onto her side. "No, you have to lay on your back." Jay told her and gently rolled her onto her back, a pillow underneath her ribs and back. "That's it, good girl." 

After a few minutes, Ella began to calm herself down as her two brothers held her hands, a look of worry housed in their eyes. "What happened?" She whispered, playing with her hands together. Jay sighed and ran a hand down his tired face and rubbed his eyes, covered with heavy bags of exhaustion.

"There was an accident... An explosion on a call, you were found unconscious by Casey, you'd fallen through the floor. You had a seizure in the ambulance and coded as you arrived here." Will told his little sister as a few tears gathered in her eyelids, flashes of memories came back into her mind. "You've been out for around a week." Ella nodded and tried to pull herself up in a sitting position, pain erupting through her ribs and abdomen. Will carefully helped her to sit up.

Ella's eyes scanned the room but didn't find their target. "Henry?" She questioned, deep down she already knew the answer but she had hoped that he would find it in his heart, if he had one, to be by her side. Jay shook his head and she sighed, Jay ran his hands through her knotted hair. 

Will walked out of the room with his phone in his hand and texted Gabby, they'd promised to let her know when Ella woke up, he then sent another text to Henry, still with no answers. One last time, he tried to call his future brother in law, but it was sent straight to voicemail like the other hundreds.

They passed the time by watching a film together, Will sat besides the bed on the couch with Jay sat on the bed, Ella's head rested on his shoulder. Ella was a cuddly person, and clingy when hurt or sick, and with her boyfriend's absence, Jay had pulled his sister into an embrace. After harry potter and the philosophers stone finished on her laptop, they started the chamber of secrets. 

"No more!" Will groaned as Jay threw a pillow at his older brother, he hated the films, granted, but his little sister was more important and if he could suffer through the torture then so could he. "How can you like this stuff?" He moaned again, Ella was finally closing her eyes but kept waking up every few minutes from the pain in her ribs.

Ella had been waiting to find out if her baby was okay, but she wasn't sure if her brothers knew that she was pregnant and didn't want to start an argument. The door opened, jolting Ella awake as she winced at the pain exploding in her side, Jay carefully laying her back down. "You need to stop moving, Ella, doctor's orders." He instructed, a strict look on his face before they both started giggling.

Her focus moved onto the figures at the door. "Gabby." She smiled as Jay moved off of the bed to give the two space to hug. The latina's arms wrapped themselves around the brunette and rested in the tangles of her hair. A small but sad smile rested on her lips as she looked at her best friend. "Where's Shay?" Ella questioned, looking around for the loud blonde.

A sob formed in Gabby's throat but she fought to keep it down. Jay and Will took it as their cue to leave, going to the cafeteria to get coffee, Casey going too. "Sweetie." Gabby sighed, Ella looked up at the older woman and rested her head on her shoulders. "In the accident, Shay hit her head on a pipe and I tried everything, I really did. But she didn't make it... She was dead on impact." Ella's tears cascaded down her cheeks as a loud sob tore from her mouth, she shook her head as she struggled to think straight.

Panic set in as she realized that her best friend was dead, she suddenly felt so alone, Shay had always been there for her, she knew everything about Ella and now, she was gone and she didn't get to say goodbye. "Nno." The brunette refused to believe it, Gabby tried to hug her close but she shied away from her.

Her fingers pulled at the canula and IV in her arm as she pulled it out, she took away the nasal canula and painfully swung her legs to the side of the bed. "I need to get out." Ella gasped as Gabby recognized a panic attack, her stitches in her abdomen pulled as she moved, blood seeped through her gown. Gabby wrapped her arms around the crying woman and held on tight, she had to calm her down. "Let go of me!" She screamed as April and Natalie came running into the room.

"What happened?" Natalie asked as she tried to move her sister in-law back onto the bed. April held a gauze pad to Ella's arm where the IV had been, stopping the blood as Natalie held her hands onto her sister's arms, forcing her to lay down. Gabby was crying and looking at the state her friend was in. "Shay?" The doctor questioned to which the paramedic nodded, it all make sense. "Push 3mg fentanyl." Natalie told April as she held on.

The panic attack, the violence, the freak out, it was because she had just found out that her best friend was dead. April inserted another needle into the canula in her hand after cleaning away the blood and administered a sedative. After a minute or so, the struggling stopped and Ella stilled, her eyes looking at Gabby tiredly. Natalie noticed the blood on the gown and gently lifted it up, seeing that her stitches had popped.

April began to resew her stomach together with fresh, new stitches as Natalie spoke to Gabby. 

Within three minutes, Ella had fallen asleep and April had finished with the stitches, now holding her hand. Will, Jay and Casey re-entered the room to see the mess, pillows on the floor, April and Natalie carefully changing Ella into a fresh gown with Gabby's help, and blood on the floor. "What the hell happened?" Jay asked as he looked at his sister, tear streaks coating her face as he took in the state of the room.

"She had a panic attack and pulled out her canula and popped her stitches in her stomach." April told the brothers as she took away the bloody gown, blanket and gloves and shoved them in the hazard bins. Natalie brought in two new blankets and laid them over Ella. "She'll be fine, we gave her a sedative so she should be asleep for a few hours." The nurse then left and headed back down to the Emergency Department.