Self-defence
Warnings: Mentions of toxic/abusive relationships, death, blood, violence and injuries.
Summary: You could explain yourself, you were a teacher, you'd never kill someone in cold blood.
A/N: Hello!!!! So it's been a little while. I started uni and it's taken a bit of getting used to and I just got back from holiday a few days ago. I've had the urge to write but zero inspiration so I hope this is good enough for all of you. Hope you enjoy!!
*****
The evening was like any other.
You were cooking dinner in the kitchen, your one-year-old sitting in her highchair eating and playing with her dinner on the table behind you and your husband working from home today, upstairs in his office finishing up with his final meeting for the day.
You were almost falling asleep at the stove. After a long day of working with a bunch of hormonal teenagers, you had to rush to daycare to pick up your daughter and then come home and take care of all the chores around the house that hadn't been done yet.
And you still had more to do: cleaning the kitchen, feeding your husband and yourself, washing dishes, showering and putting your daughter to sleep and then waiting for anything your husband needed till he would let you sleep.
He hadn't always been like this.
You met and started dating around six years ago, getting married after two years and having your baby four years later. You were more than thankful that after having your daughter, he wasn't too eager to have another, and it was more than likely that he would settle for a single child or would insist on having a son later down the line.
He'd been the perfect boyfriend, fiancĂŠ, and husband. So perfect in fact that your brothers had approved of him up until recently.
It was around the time, just before you told them you were pregnant, that they began noticing things that you failed to properly hide such as bruises, unusual behaviours and slips of your tongue.
You were very sure that they knew what was happening but were unable to get you to leave, especially since your daughters birth.
Right now though, with your heavy eyes, vegetables on the chopping board, baby babbling behind you and your husbands presence practically undetectable, that you took Jay's offer on getting you out.
All of a sudden, the sound of glass smashing broke you out of your daze, the shards exploding against the wall and ricocheting towards you and your daughter.
Her cries were instant. Despite being so young, no matter how much you tried to protect and hide her from her father, she'd also become a witness but was yet to become a victim to his hands.
Her cries wear ear piercing, definitely being heard by both your neighbours.
"Get it to shut up!" Your husband snarled, veins popping on his arms and forehead. You could tell he was drunk, gone beyond any sort of reasoning and how this escalated so far was beyond you.
Before you could even turn the corner of the island, he was snatching you up by the tightest grip on your forearm, his fingers no doubt adding to the specifically shaped bruises all across your arms.
You were in a daze, being thrown across the kitchen, head hitting the marble island counter, legs landing on the glass.
"Samuel please!" You tried to scream, pleading with him to stop so you could get to your baby. Usually you were able to de-escalate before it got to this extreme but something must've set him off.
Before you could reorientate yourself, he was pulling you back upright and pushing you against the stove, the burner very much still on.
You screeched, unable to try keep quiet like you usually would as to not alert anyone and your daughter followed suit, her screams and cries increasing to a shattering level.
Despite the dress you were wearing, not having the time to get changed after work, you could feel the burn through your back, the pain unlike anything you'd felt before.
You weren't thinking clearly, lost to the pain and innate need to protect your daughter.
It felt like you weren't present in your body. Using the hand that was free from his grasp, you felt around the counter for anything, barely registering the handle of what you were holding before you struck.
All of a sudden, blood splattered across your face, staining your skin, clothes and all the surfaces nearby.
Looking down towards your hand, you couldn't fully comprehend, only seeing the knife in his chest. Looking up, you were once again face-to-face with your increasingly paling husband, the gravity of the situation falling like a wave crashing over you.
Pushing him away from you, you scrambled away from him, stumbling on your bare feet on the still glass covered tiles to get to your baby whose cries were muffled in the fabric on your shoulder.
His body fell, smack down on the harsh tile, the sound making your head ache impossibly so.
Even with all the adrenaline still rushing though your veins, your legs were unable to keep you upright, your own body following his down to the floor.
"Shh, shhh, it's okay baby. Mummy's here, you're okay my love."
*****
The sun was just setting and Intelligence was pretty much finished for the night. Half was packing themselves up while the other half was finishing up paperwork and getting the final bits up for a court appearance they all needed to attend at the end of the week.
Jay was reading over a few bits the lawyer had sent over with Kim when his phone rung with an unknown number.
Groaning internally, he ignored everyone's eyes on him, all of them just wanting to go home and have an early night for the first time in months.
"Is this Detective Halstead? Y/N's older brother?" The voice started before Jay could say anything, their words putting him on edge.
At the sudden tension that was visibly filling his body, everyone was looking at Jay with stern faces and hard eyes.
"That's me, what's wrong with Y/N?" Jay slowly stood from his seat, already reaching for his keys and jacket while Hailey went to alert Hank.
"You gave me your card last year when I moved in, you said to call if I was ever worried about Y/N." The female voice spoke, another voice in the background was muffled as they also spoke. "Yeah, yeah- we heard a bunch of screaming and crying from Y/N and Mia. Gosh it's horrible, you can still hear Mia crying, I've never heard her like that before."
When Jay said his heart stopped, that would be an understatement.
He remembered giving your neighbours his cards when you first moved in, giving them again when one of them moved out and new ones moved in.
Him and Will were basically one hundred percent sure Samuel was abusing you but at every bruise they pointed out, you always countered. But, both brothers worked in professions where knowing these things were second nature and to see it happen to their baby sister who constantly denied it, even after the birth of your daughter, it broke them to know what he was doing.
And every time they tried to confront him, trying to gather evidence against him, you would be their backing him.
Now, to have your neighbour calling him, reporting that you and his niece could be heard screaming and crying, Jay knew exactly what was happening.
"Don't do anything - don't leave your house, don't go to hers or do anything whatsoever okay? I'm on my way."
Without even having to say much, everyone was following, rushing forward to their cars, stepping on it when Jay said, "It's Y/N."
The drive felt like a blur, Jay driving towards your house without even paying too much attention which was definitely dangerous, but you and your daughter mattered more.
Intelligence arrived first, the police that the other neighbour called yet to arrive.
Jay wasted no time in opening the door, using his spare key to get in.
The house was eerily quite when he first stepped in, Hailey and Kevin by his side as everyone slowly followed in from behind when he stopped in the hallway.
Everyone split up, half going upstairs whilst the rest remained downstairs with Jay who had his gun in hand as he went through the living room and towards the kitchen.
The scene before him caught him so off guard that Hailey bumped into his back in the doorway when he abruptly stopped.
Blood was splattered across the counters and floor, blood flooding the tiles from underneath Samuel's body where a knife was sitting in his chest. He was, undoubtedly, dead.
Glass was everyone, scattered like paint splatters making it impossible to walk without crushing it beneath their feet.
Across the island, sitting against the pink highchair was you. Your body was shaking, swaying as you whispered into Amelia's ear, calming the baby who was no longer crying and was almost happy to be so closely cuddled with her mother.
From where he stood, both of you were injured. Just at the sight of blood on both your bodies made Jay seethe.
"Y/N?" Jay said lowly, trying his best not to scare his younger sister. "Y/N it's Jay, is it okay if I touch you?"
After much coaxing, your eyes finally left your husbands body and landed on Jaywho was crouched a few feet from you.
At the sight of your older brother, you felt yourself losing composure.
"Jay." Your voice was hoarse from all the screaming. "Jay I think I killed him."
Jay didn't say anything, only coming closer to you, arms outstretched to hold you.
"Hey it's okay, it's okay." He shushed you, wiping a few tears away. "Don't thing about him, where are you and Amelia hurt?"
"Mia? She's hurt?" You gasped, pulling your daughter from where she was hidden in your neck to look for any sign on injury.
Your heart dropped from a ledge at the sight of red scratches all across her face. "Oh my baby."
You lightly caressed her face, trying not to touch any of the scratches. "Oh baby, mummy's so sorry, I'm so sorry."
"It's probably from the glass, it went everywhere." You shuddered.
"Okay that's fine, easily treatable." Jay said reassuringly, looking behind you at Hailey at Hank who were already calling for paramedics and forensics.
"What about you Y/N? Where are you hurt?" Jay was almost too scared to ask.
"It hurts everywhere." You whispered, feeling a little shameful. "Arms, legs, back, head and stomach - everything hurts Jay."
It was reminiscent on when you were all younger, when you were always so clumsy and getting hurt over the simplest things, running to your older brothers who would always fix things and patch you up. You sounded so much life your child self no matter how old you were.
"Paramedics are here. Good for them to come in?" Hailey asked, looking at Jay who looked at his sister imploringly.
Knowing that your daughter was hurt, red marks and small lines of blood all across her chubby face, it was easiest question you'd ever answer.
*****
You hadn't let your daughter go.
Jay helped you onto the gurney, accompanying you in the ambulance while the others stayed behind to sort everything out, Hailey saying she'd drive to Med as soon as she could.
In the rush of everything, Jay hadn't been able to call Will, but Kim did.
As soon as they arrived, Jay got off first, easily finding his redheaded brother and he didn't need to say anything, his face said it all.
Will stepped aside so that Ethan could go forward and take charge, both brothers following close behind, Will listening closely to try make sense of what they were dealing with.
Parking you in the bay, no one could treat you with Amelia still in your arms.
"Y/N?" Will gently called, crouching slightly so he could be as eye level as he could. "Can I treat Mia while Ethan gets a look at you. I promise, we'll be right next door and no one's going to touch her but me, Jay and Maggie."
"She's not leaving our sight, we promise." Jay added, both brothers willing to put their life on the line for their niece.
Your arms were visibly shaking from the exhaustion and adrenaline crash as your fingers relaxed from its grip on Amelia's shirt, allowing Will to swoop in and pick her up.
Pressing a kiss to your forehead, Will smiled as much as he could given the situation and slowly moved away so as not to scare you too much.
Luckily for him, you were so tired and the pain was finally hitting you all at once, that you barely paid much attention to your brothers and daughter.
In the treatment room right next to yours, Will turned to Jay.
"Take Mia and sit down on the bed. These scratches don't look too bad so I doubt they'll need stitches, just some cleaning and she should be good."
Following his instructions, Jay gently cradled her in his arms, sitting on the bed, keeping a close eye on his niece whose wide eyes were watching her uncle bustle around and collect items to clean her face.
She cooed, watching with interest as Will snapped gloves on, opening multiple anti-bacterial wipes and gently wiped her the already scabbing scratches on her face.
At the cold sensation rubbing against her cheeks and forehead, Amelia giggled, her fingers trying to catch and hold onto Will's hand.
Both brothers smiled at their niece, a whirlwind of emotions painted on their faces, in awe of their niece who was giggling after the trauma she experienced but with deep sadness knowing that she was hurt due to her father's abusive tendencies towards her mother.
Eventually, Amelia's eyes starting drooping, Will's ministrations putting her to sleep, something which neither of them stopped, letting her fall asleep withing minutes.
Will sighed, cleaning the last bit of blood that managed to get on her neck before putting everything in the bin.
"He's dead." Jay said under his breath so as to not wake the slumbering baby on his chest. "No one's sure what actually happened but it's obvious she killed him in self-defence."
"God." Will looked conflicted as he took his gloves off. "From what the paramedics and Ethan said, she's been burnt, probably second degree, a concussion and lots of bleeding and bruising. Her ribs are also probably bruised from repeated trauma but we'll have to wait for her scans to come back."
The brothers fell into silence, relishing in the silence of the closed off room, content to watch the rise and fall of their nieces breathing.
*****
A few hours later, you were moved to a different ward, Jay sitting beside you with Amelia fast asleep on his chest.
You just finished giving your statement to Hailey, finally admitting to years of abuse that started just after you got married.
You didn't know what to think. On one hand, you were thankful, you were free from your husbands abuse, he could never hurt you nor could he even try to hurt Amelia but it was only because you killed him.
He couldn't be arrested, forced to suffer years behind bars for his horrific actions.
Both Jay and Hailey assured you nothing was going to happen to you, you weren't going to face any charges because it was clearly, from your statement as well as your neighbours and Will and Jay's admissions that they had been suspicious for a while now, self-defence.
As Hailey was writing the last few details in her notebook, you suddenly remembered something. You perked up, body screaming at you for the sudden action but the pain was slightly dulled by the painkillers.
"Cameras." You breathed out, looking at Jay and Hailey.
"Samuel installed cameras after we moved in, he put them all around the house so he could keep an eye on me when he wasn't working from home."
Without saying anything, both detectives already knew what you were trying to say.
"I'll call Voight and let him know." There was a certain gleam in Hailey's eyes that you sometimes saw in Jay's that let you know that this was a good things.
As Hailey walked out, Will walked in, several things in hand as he slide the door shut behind him.
"Okay so here's the extra blanket you asked for." He said as he opened it up and lay it on you, letting you adjust it to your liking.
"Also some water and cookies for later because you need to eat at one point." Will's eyes were stern when you tried to interject.
"I've also got some morphine if you want it and news about your scans."
Huffing, you said yes to both of them, letting him inject you before he settled on the bed by your knees.
"Like me and Ethan said before, your ribs are only bruised from repetitive trauma, there's no fractures or any sort of internal bleeding anywhere." He paused, waiting for you to nod before he continued.
"There's a mixture of bruises, scratches and gashes on your arms and legs. The bruising on your arm is quite severe so you'll have to stay in the brace for a few weeks and not put too much strain because it can get worse - yes, if that means getting help to look after Mia because you struggle to hold her, then so be it."
You didn't like the sound of that. You loved to hold your daughter and she loved being picked up and held by anyone, but you especially.
"You've got also got a concussion so I'll run you through the concussion protocol later. The burn on your back is a second degree burn so while it's treatable, there will probably be a mark left behind. It's severity, no ones sure about that, but if you treat it correctly and let us help you, then it shouldn't be too bad."
"That's it?" You asked timidly, voice still sore.
"That's it." Will nodded in confirmation. "We're keeping you overnight for observation, maybe the next day too but I've already discharged Mia. Her scratches weren't bad at all and there'll be no scars afterwards."
You choked back a sob hearing that. Knowing that she was technically fine and would be scar free in just a few weeks was the biggest relief.
"That's good." You finally let the tears fall. "That's really good, I'm glad."
Your brothers let you breakdown, surrounding you in a protective circle, shielding you from the outside world, whispering reassurances, gently carding fingers through your hair.
You weren't too sure how much time had passed, but there was a knock to the door that brought you out your sobbing.
Hailey poked her head in, making sure not to step in.
"Voight just got back to me. They found all the cameras and they're pretty much one hundred percent certain they can prove it was all self-defence Y/N."
All you could do was breakdown again, trying to muffle your cries as to not was your sleeping daughter but you couldn't help yourself.
That was it. Your husband was dead and it would take a while before you felt like you were free from the torment and trauma of him and his hands but with your daughter and you older brothers by your side, you had everything you needed to feel whole again.
