A\N 1: Alright friends, here it is a brand new story. This is one of my very first stories that isn't going to be about Dawsey so I'm a little nervous about posting it. A huge thank you to my beta reader for editing this chapter for me.

A\N 2: In this story since its A\U I changed a few things first thing I changed is that Gabby never had a miscarriage and she and Matt have a four month old son. Second thing I changed is that Antonio and Laura never got a divorce and they're still married.

Disclaimer: I may have copied some lines right from the episode but I don't own anything. That includes Chicago Fire, Chicago PD, Chicago Med, NBC and everything else.

Spoilers: This story is set post 4.20 "The Last One for Mom" and goes A\U from there. This chapter has spoilers for 4.19 "I Will be Walking" and 4.20 "The Last One for Mom"

Warinings: None

Chapter 1

J.J. was sitting at the squad table interviewing Dawson for his project. Severide sitting behind him and watching, he'd been at the firehouse for a little under an hour and so far things were all right, "So, what's your favourite thing about the job?"

Suddenly, they heard sirens coming down the street and without any warning they stopped in the driveway of the firehouse.

Kelly locked eyes with Gabby and she nodded that she'd watch the boy. Kelly walked into the driveway and saw his friend get out of one of the cars "Hey Antonio," Kelly saw the Detective step out of one of the cars.

"We need to talk in chief Boden's office," Antonio told him, "Now."

"Yeah, of course," Kelly nodded his head, "We'll go in the side way," He said as he led Antonio and another woman into the building. Kelly had a sinking feeling that this was about Detective Halloway but all the way to Chief Boden's office he said nothing. "Chief Boden," He knocked on the door, "Antonio and-" He stopped when he realized he didn't know the other cop's name.

" Sergeant Emma Crowley, I'm Detective Holloway's Sargent," She stepped into the office and shut the door.

"Okay," Boden stood up, he was somewhere between being slightly annoyed at her barging into his office and concerned; he knew something was wrong. "What's going on?"

"Detective Holloway's been shot." She cut to the chase, "The shooter must have been somewhere across the street from the courthouse. As soon as she stepped out of the car she was shot. She's in critical condition but they're getting her ready for surgery at Chicago Med now."

"Alright," Severide was trying to stay calm, "I'll get J.J. and take him down there," He glanced at Chief Boden for the okay, he nodded.

"No," Sergeant Crowley," Shook her head, "The shooter had a getaway car. We can't risk J.J. being anywhere near that hospital it is on strict lockdown."

"Okay so what do we do?" He asked, a hint of annoyance in his voice. "Has her family been contacted?"

"She doesn't have any," Sergeant Crowley explained, "Her parents died a year ago and she was an only child. She never talked much about J.J.'s father but I don't think he was in the picture for long. We've alerted DCFS to the situation if-"

"If what?" Kelly lost it how could they even be thinking she might die. He took a deep breath to try and calm himself down and then said, "He's eight years old but he's a smart kid, you put him with DCFS he'll know something's up."

"That's why I'm here," Antonio spoke next, "I knew Bianca when we were both in Vice together. J.J. knows me and I can say I'm just here on another case or just visiting. In reality though I'm here as protection with some squad cars that are going to be parked out front."

"Aright," Kelly nodded, "But say you're here to help him with his project he has to do one on community heroes."

"I can do that," Antonio nodded. "Diego an Eva had similar ones to do when they were in the third grade," he said thinking of his own children who were now ten and fourteen.

"Aright well we should update your crew let them know why there's squad cars out front," Sargent Crowly told Chief Boden.

"Yes," He nodded, "Antonio can you stay with J.J?"

"Of course."

"He's interviewing Gabby,' Kelly explained as he led him out of the office and back into he garage. "Hey J.J. someone's here to see you?"

"Mom?" The boy tuned around fast only to be slightly disappointed to see Antonio, "Hi Detective Dawson. I didn't' know Gabby was your sister.'

"Unfortunately," He laughed at his younger sister's expense, "She give you anything useful for your project?"

"She did. She showed me pictures of her son too and that's when I saw him with you and I told Gabby I knew you."

"Gabby don't bore the kid with baby pictures," Kelly laughed trying to stay positive for J.J's sake, "Besides Boden needs to tell us all something in the meeting room. J.J. you stay here with Detective Dawson alright."

"Okay Kelly," He nodded his head, "Where's Pouch? I want to show her to Detective Dawson?" He looked around for the dog who was usually near him.

"I'll see her later bud," Antonio walked towards him, "Your Mom told me about your project. Anything I can do to help?"

"Can I interview you?" He asked hopefully his eyes gleaming, "I wanted to spend the day at the District but Mom was to busy. Did she send you over here instead"

"Uh yeah," Antonio thought quickly on his feet. "She told me you really liked the gym too the day you came by."

"Oh yeah!" He smiled; his mother had signed him up for boxing classes at Antonio's gym. "Is Diego going to be in my class? He's cool."

Antonio let out a chuckle, "Diego's a few years older then you bud so he won't be but I'll tell him you said that."

"Oh no," The boy backtracked he didn't wan Diego to think he wasn't cool, "Don't ell him. He's okay I guess."

"Right. Well what did you want to ask me?"

J.J. held up the IPhone and held the 'record' button, "When did you first decide you wanted to become a police officer?"

"Oh," Antonio let out a small chuckle, "I always knew. My father's a police officer and there wasn't anything I ever wanted to do except follow in his footsteps."

J.J. lowered the camera and smiled, "I want to be a cop just like my Mom. She loves being a police officer. She's been really busy lately though."

"Yeah sometimes cases can get busy. I'm always busy with cases. But you know what always make me feel better?."

"What?" J.J. asked his curiosity getting the better of him.

"My wife's bakery," He pulled out a box of doughnuts from a bag, "I was just there when… when your Mom called me and asked for this favour?"

"Hey!" Gabby came walking onto the apparatus floor, "Are those Laura's double chocolate doughnuts?" It was her first shift backs from maternity leave and she was feeling really guilty about leaving Dominic for the first time for an extended period of time. He was with her parents so she knew he was all right but she was still checking her phone all the time to make sure he was okay.

"Who says you get one?" Antonio pulled the box back laughing a little as Gabby slapped his hand and took one anyways.

"Shut up," She took a bite of the doughnut, "Hey J.J." She looked at the boy, "How about you go and play with Pouch for a bit and then we can finish, my interview," She wanted to talk to Antonio in private see how Detective Holloway was doing.

"Okay Gabby," J.J. walked off again and walked into the firehouse.

"How's Detective Holloway doing?" Gabby turned to her older brother and asked,

"Not good. She lost a lot of blood. The doctor's are doing everything they can but…" He shook his head, "Dad's at Med waiting for any news," He spoke of their father who was Chief of District twenty-one's precincts."

"Poor J.J." Gabby lowered her head, "Chief Boden talked t us and we're going to make sure J.J. has the best day here until he has to be told I-"

"TRUCK 81, SQUAD 3, AMBULANCE 61 STRCTURE FIRE MICHAEAN AVENAIE AND LAKESHORE!"

"I'll stay here with J.J." Antonio called out as the house got ready to leave for a call.

Three hours later when the house got back from the call J.J. was on the apparatus floor throwing a ball for Pouch to catch, the dog running to get it and then coming back. The fire trucks honked and J.J. moved out of the way going to sit at the Squad table. He watched the firefighters jump out of the trucks and out of their gear.

Without really meaning too he focused on Kelly; his father had walked out on him and his mother when he was a baby so he didn't have any memories of him at all. He'd like to think though that he if di have a father he'd be something like Kelly.

"Hey bud!" Kelly ruffled his hair, "Antonio feed you?"

"Antonio cook?" Gabby raised an eyebrow, "Do you want J.J. to get sick? Antonio doesn't even know how to use a grill. Why do you think Matt has to do all of the BBQ'ng at all of the family events.

"Oh very funny!" Antonio rolled his eyes, "And for you information we ordered pizza. But since you're not interested I won't tell you where it is."

"Its in the fridge," J.J. said as he scratched Pouch's ear. "Kelly can I watch you do some reports?"

"Sure bud," Kelly smiled, "But have you worked more on your assignment" He wondered.

"I'll do I later; but guess what Antonio said?"

"What?" Kelly asked smiling a little at the boy's excited face. He could only hope that his mother would be okay and that he wouldn't have to know what happened to her.

"Since Mom registered me for boxing lessons at his gym he said he could give me some lessons if it's okay. I'm going to need to know how to box if I'm going to become a police officer! Diego wants to become a police officer too."

"Diego? He's ten right?" Kelly looked at Antonio.

"Yeah Laura's just letting him box now. That was the age we agreed on since before he was born."

"Agreed on!" Gabby finished taking off her gear and scoffed, "If it was up to Antonio, Diego would have learnt how to box before he learnt how to walk but Laura always gets her way! He's whipped!"

"Do you mind?" Antonio looked at his sister and tried to act annoyed, it didn't work. "Any news from Ma about Domi?"

"She sent a text, said he's doing alright. I still miss him though."

"We'll see him in a few hours Babe," Matt came up behind her and kissed her on the lips much to J.J's slight disgust.

"Kissing is kind of gross," He announced, "Kelly can we go to your office now?"

"Sure thing buddy," Kelly patted his shoulder and led him off towards the officer's quarters. Pouch followed J.J. quite happily and jumped up on Kelly's bed with the boy, "Who do you still have left to interview?" He wondered.

"You," J.J. looked t him, "All of the Squad guys, Matt, Chief Boden, Otis, Borelli, Hermann and Mouch."

"Well how about you go and interview Matt right now?" He suggested, "His office is right next door to mine."

"Aw, but I wanted to watch you work," He pouted slightly.

"You can watch me work later, it's not all that exciting anyways, now get going."

"Yes Sir," J.J. got off the bed and walked in few steps to Matt's office, he knocked on the door and Gabby opened it, "Hey bud," Matt grinned up at the boy from his chair, "What's up?"

"Can I interview you Matt? For my project?"

"Of course you can," Matt nodded, "Come on in and have a seat, my reports can wait."

"I'll talk to you later," Gabby waved and left the office,

"Is that Dominic?" J.J. asked pointing to the pictures he had on his desk of him and Gabby and a small baby.

"Yeah," Matt nodded looking at the pictures proudly. He loved being a father and he loved Dominic more then he could even say, "He's almost four months old now. Maybe you could see him some time."

"Sure," J.J. nodded, "He's pretty cute," He looked at the pictures, he didn't really know what made a baby cute but he supposed all babies were cute and that's what you were supposed to say to a parent, "Now," He held up Kelly's IPhone and pressed the 'record' button.

"So tell me what you love most about your job?"

"What I love most about my job?" Matt repeated the question, "I think I l love knowing that I'm helping people everyday of their lives and knowing that I'm making things a little bit safer for my fiancée and baby."

"What made you want to be a firefighter?"

"For me, there was no other option. When I was around your age firefighters cam to my school and brought all of their gear and I knew then that I wanted to be a fire fighter. They even let us climb up on the ladder and it was amazing."

"Can I go up on the ladder?" J.J. asked hopefully.

"I don't see a problem with it but maybe we should ask Kelly what he thinks," Matt was sure Kelly wouldn't have a problem with it but he thought it was right thing to do to ask.

"Okay," J.J. nodded his head, "Can I ask now?"

"Sure," Matt said and watched J.J. run back out of the office he stood and watched as J.J. ran into Kelly's office and jumped on the bed.

"Kelly can I climb up on the ladder of Matt's truck? Please?" He added knowing his mother would be disappointed in him if he didn't sue his manners.

Kelly turned to look at his best friend who was now in the door of his office and then back to the young boy, "After you finish your report you can. Go and interview some other people. If my Squad guys give you hard tome tell me and I'll make them do any drill you want."

"Okay," J.J. grinned and walked off again.

"You're great with him you know that," Matt told Kelly, "It's really great to see you with him.

"He's a good kid, hyper sometimes but he's eight."

"Yeah well I think he really likes you," Matt added.

"Yeah I like him too," Kelly smiled and then went back to finishing up his paper work Matt doing the same thing.

"Kelly!" J.J. came running to his office half an hour later, "Capp wasn't really answering my questions."

"Oh he wasn't," Kelly turned in his chair to face the boy, "Why doesn't that surprise me? Alright, what should we have him do?"

"Something really hard!" J.J. decided, "But first can I interview you?"

"Sure,"

J.J. sat on his bed and turned the phone to him, "Do you ever wish you were anything other then a fireman?"

"Yeah, I thought of other jobs. It's hard being a firefighter sometimes. We meet people on one of the worst days of their lives and the job is hard," He took a deep breath and the continued. "You know that feeling in the pit of your stomach when something's going to go wrong?" J.J. nodded, "Well it happens on calls sometimes, and sometimes you can't save everyone or sometimes they get hurt and have to remember that bad things happen to goof people and that those good people will have good things happen to them again soon."

"It must be hard," J.J. said softly, "How do you tell people tat you can't save everyone?"

"It's hard, there aren't any magic words to say to let everyone know it'll be alright because sometimes it's not."

J.J. nodded his head and turned off the phone and looked at Kelly, "Mom hasn't really dated much, says most men are idiots. I think my Dad really hurt her but she likes you, she calls you Kelly and she lets me hang out with you."

"Yeah," Kelly nodded he could understand how that would affect her, "I like her too. I like you too buddy now lets go an get my guys to d some drills what to you ay?"

"Oh cool," J.J. grinned and happily followed Kelly out of his office.

The rest of the day went by relatively fast with J.J. doing his report and interviewing everyone while Antonio stayed around and watched him as the house went out on calls. At five o'clock just as Gabby was getting ready to make dinner Sergeant Crowley walked into the firehouse and straight to Chief Boden's office.

"Hey J.J." Gabby walked out of the kitchen area and toward where he was playing with Pouch the floor, "I think Pouch wants to go for a walk. Why don' t you and Antonio take her." She suggested.

"Alright, Pouch is already exited, "J.J. grinned at the dog and walked away with her to find Antonio.

Meanwhile Connie was going to Severide's office and knocking on the door, "Chief Boden wants to see you," She said, "You to Lieutenant Casey!" She called to the other Lieutenant on the shift, his office door opened.

Having a bad feeling Kelly walked with Matt and Connie back to Chief Boden's office, Connie stopping at her desk and Matt and Kelly walked into the office.

"No!" Kelly shook his head as he saw Chief Boden's face and the face of Sergeant Crawley, "NO!"

"They operated three times to try and save her heart but she was gone, I'm so sorry," Sergeant Crawey hated this part of her job.

Kelly backed away hitting the closed door, this couldn't be happening. It was just a dream. What was he supposed to do now? Wait. Why was he worried about himself? He suddenly remembered J.J, the young boy was now basically an orphan, "J.J. what about him?"

"DCFS is on its way to come and take him into custody."

"Let me tell him." He looked at everyone, "It should be me."

Crawly looked at Boden who nodded his head, "Alright,"

Kelly took a few deep breaths before looking at Matt, "Let's let him go on top of the ladder first then I'll tell him. I want him to have the best day ever."

"Good idea," Matt nodded his head in agreement.

Fifteen minutes later Antonio and J.J. came back from walking Pouch to see Truck 81 parked in the firehouse driveway and the ladder up to the highest possible height.

"Cool!" J.J let go of Pouch's leash and looked up at the ladder, "Does this mean I can go up there now?"

"It does," Kelly told him, "But I'm going to go up with you make sure you're safe. You want to take the phone up there with you. Maybe make an ending shot for your video?"

"Okay," J.J. nodded and he took the phone Kelly offered him, he climbed up the ladder Kelly behind him holding him as he climbed. He got to the very top and carefully turned don the phone and recorded the view while saying, "This is why fire fighters and police officers do what they do, they do it to protect our city." He turned off the camera and saw squad cars with sirens pull into the firehouse, "Is that my Mom?" He asked excitedly.

"Come on J.J. we need to talk." Kelly knew this was going to be the hardest thing he ever had to tell anyone but he knew it had to be him to say it. He and J.J. had grown really close over the past few weeks.

"What's going on J.J. got to the ground and looked up at Kelly, "Where's my Mom?"

"Come on," Kelly led him into he firehouse and towards the conference room, "Sit down, we need to talk."

"No!" J.J. began to cry, "NO!"

"Listen J.J." Kelly grabbed onto his shoulder and knelt down to his level, he locked eyes with him and then said "There was a shooting and your mother got really badly hurt. The doctor's did everything they could to save her but they couldn't I'm so sorry buddy."

"NO! NO! SHE'S COMING TO PICK ME UP! SHE PROMISED SHE'D COME!" He screamed, he didn't want to believe, couldn't believe that this was happening, "No… no…" He sputtered out words as he cried.

"Come here," Kelly pulled him into his arms and held him as tightly as he could.

"Where I'm I going to go?" J.J. looked up at Kelly tears still burning in his eyes. "Foster Care?" He began to cry even more.

"Hey," Kelly knelt down to look at him, he took a quick glance and saw the DCFS agent outside the door, "You listen to me," He turned back to J.J. "You're family now and that means that you can come back here whenever you want. Don't think this is the end of everything I'm going to keep in touch, make sure you're doing alright and I'll send the video to your case worker."

"Case Worker?" J.J. asked, "What's that?"

"It's someone who's going to find a home for you alright.'

"But I want my Mom back! He screamed,

"I know buddy," Kelly took his hand and led him out of the room.

"Hi J.J." The woman stepped forward she was friendly looking and Kelly supposed she was very nice but J.J. didn't seem too eager to go, "My name's Melanie. Can you come with me?"

J.J. shook his head and gripped tighter onto Kelly's hand, "I want to stay here!"

"I know you do," She spoke calmly, "And you must be feeling so scared right now but I'm here to help you. "I promise," She held out her hand for him to take.

"Go on J.J." Kelly encouraged the boy but bent down and gave him a kiss on the had first, "Say goodbye for now."

"Bye," Kelly looked at everyone who was gathered in the common area, "Thank-thank you for helping me today!" He started to cry again and sniffled before bending down to hug Pouch, "Bye Pouch," He hugged the dog tightly.

Pouch whined as she ran J.J. and scratched the door looking at Kelly as he got into the car, "I wish he didn't have to go either Pouch," Kelly told the dog sadly.

TBC

A\N: So, what did you think? Please review and let me know

Up Next: Will Kelly go and see J.J? What will Matt tell him that'll change everything.