Hey everyone! My name is Zouzou816. This is my fifth story on this website and my 4th Chicago Fire fan fiction.
I am totally in love with the show and I love KELLY SEVERIDE! Taylor Kinney is awesome and I am totally in love with him. This story is totally Severide centric.
It will have an OC of my choosing. Please feel free to read my other stories. I am a student so I will try my best to keep updating as soon as possible. I don't know anything about medical/firefighting so please bare with me!
I hope you all enjoy and please review!
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Chapter 1-The Trauma
Part of this chapter is with Credit to: SocialShay3
Pilot Flashback
"Yo Severide, how soon until you can take Darden off my hands?" Casey asked over the radio on the way to 51's first call of the day. "Andy makes Squad the day after I am no longer in charge!" Severide replied with a laugh.
"Darden back out!" Casey ordered, just as Andy gained entry into the home through the window. Severide then radioed to Casey that there was no vent in the back. Casey panicked when he realized that Andy was already in the house.
Before Casey could react, he was almost engulfed by a huge fireball through the window Darden just went through. Casey looked up and instantly realized what had just happened to his friend. Andy is dead. He was really gone. There was nothing more he could do.
Casey walked into the firehouse and straight to the locker room. He just stared at the empty locker next to his of his fallen friend. "I just can't look at this anymore!" a frustrated Casey says to himself as he proceeds to clean out Andy's still filled locker. It just brought back bad memories.
"What the hell do you think you are doing?" Severide asked as he walked into the locker room to find his fellow Firehouse 51 Lieutenant. "I can't look at Andy's locker anymore. It just brings back too many bad memories. I was thinking of calling Heather later" Casey informed.
"How is Heather? She won't talk to me" Severide replied. He was pissed. "As good as could be expected I guess. She's just dealing with this" Casey said. "Just let me know if she decides to come by here, so I can make myself scarce" Severide replied as he took his leave from the locker room. Talking about Andy and his death was not a good subject for Kelly and Matt.
"You know, I don't know why Heather doesn't talk to me, since Darden was with you when it happened, you put him through that window" Severide argued as he stopped and turned toward Casey. "What the hell is that supposed to mean?" Casey countered. "I am saying that this whole thing seems like more your fault than mine!" Severide accused.
"I…" Casey started, but was cut off by Severide. He was just too mad to let it go. "Then tell me why the hell is Heather blaming me for this?" Severide yelled, clearly about ready to burst with fury, and not even giving Casey a chance to respond to his last decree.
"How could you say this was my fault?" Casey asked in a raised voice, gathering the attention of some curious onlookers, who always like to watch a good Casey/Severide scuffle. "Seems like a turf war…" Dawson said, turning to Shay as they moved to watch the fight commence.
"You know how this always goes, they are just marking their territory" Shay said smiling. "I feel like it shouldn't be, but it's mildly amusing!" Dawson said, unable to hold back a smile. Everyone knew that Severide and Casey were always at ends. "They both need to release some steam about the whole Darden thing, they are both hurting and expect to take out their pain on each other" Shay said.
"You know, that Kelly knew Andy since kindergarten, so this wasn't just a normal friendship, they've known each other for a long time" Shay informed. "I didn't know that…" Dawson replied. "This is really hurting Severide, it's very hard for him for two reasons. First, because his childhood friend just died, and second, because Heather blames himself solely for what happened and won't talk to him at all" Shay replied.
"Neither wants to come to grips with or face what just happened" Dawson said. "Boy I hope we get a call, they need some actual work to calm themselves down" Shay replied. On a call, the boys worked together. They forget their personal problems and focus on the situation at hand.
"Tell me! Tell me right now why Heather blames me, and only me for this! Why?" Severide boldly yelled. "Can we just drop this, I don't want to talk about it, much less argue with you about it!" Casey pleads. He didn't want to keep bringing up the same stuff.
"Any other day, I would continue to argue, but I don't have the energy for it right now, so it's your lucky day!" Severide hisses before exiting the room. "Severide! Casey! My office now!" Boden ordered in a slightly angry tone.
"Damn it!" Casey softly curses to himself at the same time Severide whined, "Not now!" he moaned. "What the hell has been going on between you two today?" Boden questioned after dragging both his lieutenants into his office.
"As if you didn't hear us?" Severide bellowed.
"This animosity, it's got to stop! You are both supposed to be leaders here. Lead by example! I can't have this in my house. First you were at each other's necks because of Michelina and now this. I can't have this in my house so you need to fix it. We all lost Andy that day. Everyone is hurting. You can't let your personal side of things tear this house apart. I won't let you so get yourselves straight. Do I make myself clear?" Boden announced.
Kelly and Matt just shoot each other a look at the mention of Mia. No one and I do mean NO ONE ever dares bring her up in their presence. It was just an unspoken rule at the firehouse.
"This has nothing to do with her" Severide said before running out of the office. He was pissed to point of steam coming out of his ears. Why the hell would the chief bring her into this? He thought to himself.
Michelina Patrizia De Luca is a very sore subject for Kelly Severide. He didn't talk about her and expected everyone else to follow his example. He walked out and to the Squad table. He picked up some cards and motioned for the guys to join him. He needed to get his mind off Mia.
Casey walked into the kitchen and noticed Otis hanging out with the rest of the guys. He was supposed to be giving a tour. "Otis, what happened to your tour?" he asked. He needed to get his mind off his fight with Severide.
"Our new Candidate took over" he replied with a smirk. He was officially one of the guys now that the house got a new candidate. He didn't have to do the grunt work anymore.
Casey looked on curious. He didn't know they were getting a new candidate. The new firefighter never came to introduce himself, so he had no idea who he was. He went out into the garage to examine what was going on.
He walked in on the Candidate and the tour half way through. The new guy was explaining one of the tools on their uniform.
"So this is called a PASS alarm. If a firefighter is totally still for more than 18 seconds, a loud alarm goes off until he/she moves again" the new candidate explained as he shook the alarm so the ringing sounded. The kids smiled and covered their ears. "That's loud" one of the kids exclaimed.
"This house is really special because it has a Rescue Squad. Squad 3 serves as a big piece of this city, they are experts at water rescue, and extraction, pretty much everything, and they're like the best of the best" Mills said as the pointed to the Squad table. Severide turned and smiled at the kids.
"Are they like the Marines or the Navy Seals?" this one little boy asked. Mills smiled and let out a laugh. "That's new one for me, but yeah I guess you can say that" he replied. The light in the little boy's eyes as he looked at Kelly and Squad 3 could shine a mile away.
"Are you with them?" this little girl asked.
"I plan to be. My father was on Squad years ago. I plan to follow in his footsteps" Mills replied.
"Mills, right?" Casey interrupted the tour. All eyes turned to him as Mills snapped to attention. "Yes sir" he replied.
"Last to show, first to go. Just ask the Rescue Squad" Casey quipped, therefore initiating another argument with Severide. He couldn't just let it go, the way the new candidate was going on and on about Squad.
"You Truck guys do such a good job getting ready for us, why would we want to take that away from you?" Severide remained calm and collected. He wasn't going to let Casey's comment affect him.
"Kids, you should know, they make the rescue helmets extra big to fit their heads inside" Casey added fuel to the fire.
"There are two types of firefighters. Those who are on Squad and those who wish they were on Squad" Severide quipped. He wasn't going to let Casey have the last word, no way.
"Ooooohhh…" Casey pretended to tremble in his boots.
Mills continued to take the kids through the firehouse, leaving the two lieutenants to themselves. Once the kids were out of sight, Severide rounded on Casey. "I bet I get an application from him by the end of the month!" Severide teased.
"He wants you, you can have him" Casey replied as he walked out. He didn't want to deal with Severide anymore.
'Truck 81, Ambulance 61, Battalion 25, Squad 3…Warehouse Fire….'
Severide and the guys grabbed their gear and ran towards their perspective trucks. "You good Lt? That seemed pretty rough" Capp stated. The guys could tell there was something up with Severide.
"I am good. I just need to go and clear my head with this rescue" he replied. Kelly and Matt needed to get their heads together.
The scene was a mess. It was crazy. The guys took their orders from Chief Boden and got to work. They knew what they had to do.
"Hey Capp, you found anyone yet?" Severide asked over his radio as he searched the warehouse.
"Not yet, this place is huge. Have you checked in with Matt?" Capp replied.
"Casey knows how to do his job. He's got more man power than me. He's fine" Severide retorted. The last thing he wanted to talk about was Casey. He had his own men to worry about.
"Are you sure you are okay?" Capp asked his lieutenant.
"I am fine. We just has a fight, it's nothing new. I'm sure you heard" Severide replied.
"I think we all heard. I think that everyone on the block heard" Capp said as he tried not to smile. They were always like that. It was nothing new when it came to Severide and Casey.
Severide was really annoyed with anything that had to do with his relationship with Casey. "Guys, I found 2 victims" they heard suddenly over the radio.
"Alive?" Kelly asked his men.
"Barely" Mark replied.
"Shay! Dawson!" Kelly called over the radio
"Dawson here" Gabby replied.
"Got 2 victims, they are in pretty bad shape. It's really bad in here. Might want to call for another rig" Severide said giving his descriptions about of the victims.
"We'll be ready, Shay's radioing for another rig" Dawson informed. They were getting slammed. It was a mess of victims.
"Great! We'll be out in a few" Kelly replied before rejoining his team.
Shay and Dawson saw Kelly coming out with another victim, his team behind him.
"We got this, you get the other one" Dawson directed the other paramedics of the second rig. The paramedics ran out to help the other Squad members.
"Damn, I'm not getting a pulse" Shay informs as she tries another spot to find one. She was not giving up on this guy.
"Still nothing" she relied after a minute.
"I'm calling it" Shay said.
Dawson nodded, "I'll call it in to lakeshore" she replied. She needed to inform them they were bringing in a DOA.
Back at the house
Chief had called everyone into one of the conference rooms. They only did that when something serious was going on. Kelly was not in the mood. They had a rough shift and he was still pissed at Casey.
"Today marks one month since Darden's Death" Chief stated as he looked around the room at all his men and women.
"Oh wonderful…"Casey mumbled sarcastically.
"Just what I need" Severide chimed in as well.
"Like I said before, we all lost him, but we can't do anything about it now, so it's best to learn from our mistakes and move on" Chief exclaimed. He knew this was hard for everyone especially his lieutenants.
Half way through the meeting, Severide had enough. He just walked out. He was pissed off. He needed to blow off steam, so he went to shower. Try and relieve some tension in his muscles.
He had just got out of the shower when Casey pushed his way into the bathroom. "Why the hell did you walk out of the meeting?" he asked.
"Just couldn't take it anymore. Why do you care? Besides, it's not my mistake to deal with. It's yours" Severide quipped back.
"Jeez Kelly just drop it already. I know okay. You blame me for everything. I am the worst firefighter to ever walk through these doors right? Well I am tired of you pushing it in my face all the time. I was just asking about you. Like a decent human being, you know what a nice person does. Why don't you try dropping the attitude" Casey went off on him.
Severide just stood there staring at Matt not really knowing how to reply. He's been giving Casey grief for a month. He's always just stood back and taken it. He's never expected him to stand up to him and actually blow up at him like that.
Before Severide could come up with a reply, the alarm went off signaling a call.
Truck 81, Ambulance 61, Squad 3, and Battalion 25…Apartment fire…
Everyone jumped into action. Casey jumped into the back of Truck 81 and suited up. He needed to focus and get his head in the game. He needed to forget about Severide, Darden and that whole situation. He needed to focus on this call.
"Hermann with me, we'll clear the main floor and work our way up. Cruz, Mills get on the roof and give us a vent!" Casey ordered.
Hermann followed behind him in the building. They were clearing floor by floor. Once they got to the third floor, they heard the chief in their helmet radio, "the smoke is rising. Go up" he ordered. Casey reached behind him and motioned for Hermann to follow him up. They made their way up as fast as they could.
On the stairs, the floor caved, taking Matt and Hermann with it. "Chief, Casey and Hermann are down. They are stuck" Cruz announced. Before Boden could respond, they heard the scariest sound of a firefighter ever called her; their pass alarms sounded.
"Squad 3 is arriving on scene" Boden informed.
Kelly jumped out of the Squad as soon as Tony rolled up. He walked over to Chief Boden for his assignment. "We've got two down. The stairs caved in from the main level. It's Casey and Hermann" Chief said.
Kelly's eyes squeezed shut. Of course his best friend was the one down. It didn't help that he got into it with Casey before the call. That only made things ten times worse. "We need to get Casey and Hermann. Let's go NOW!" Severide ordered his team as he storms inside ahead of his own team.
He needed to get his brother. He was Severide's best friend. He needed him in his life. He couldn't make it without Casey. He couldn't lose them. "Whoa…" Capp started to say as he started at the gaping hole before him.
"HERMANN! CASEY!" he yelled
"Get me ropes! I'm going down!" Severide barks, clearly showing his worry for Casey and Hermann. He went to Casey first. He needed help getting Hermann up. He wanted to make sure Casey was okay. Then he could focus on Hermann.
"CASEY!" Severide yelled, trying to rouse him. "Damn, what happened?" he asked, slightly confused, but coherent. "Good you're okay…" Severide said before he made his way over to Hermann. His PASS alarm went off and kept ringing.
"Capp! Hadley! Get ready to pull Hermann out, we need to work on getting him" Severide yelled as he and Casey went to help Hermann. He was still unconscious. They slowly flipped him over and panicked. "Dammit! He doesn't have air" Casey yelled.
Kelly tore the mask off his face and put it over Hermann's mouth and nose so he could breathe. "Breathe Hermann" he said.
Once he got some air, his eyes popped open and he gasped. "We'll get you out" Casey reassured as he helped Severide secure the harness around him. Once it was in place, Kelly gave his team the signal. "Pull him up" he ordered over the radio.
Once Hermann was up and safe, it was Casey's turn. They grabbed a table from the corner and pushed it in front of the hole. Severide helped Casey up first. Once he was on stable ground, he put his hand out for Severide. The table fell beneath his feet when he grabbed his friend's hand.
Casey struggled a little to pull him up, but the rest of his guys came to help their lieutenants. Once they were both on stable ground, they just laid there for a second taking in the reality of the situation. They almost lost the other. They almost lost another brother in uniform.
Once they were out of the fire, Kelly got Casey to the gurney. "Casey get to the hospital and get checked out" Boden ordered before they even had a chance to argue. He knew that he wouldn't go electively. He needed to be ordered.
"I'm coming with you" he said.
"You can't. We are taking Hermann and Casey to Lakeshore" Gabby said.
"Severide, let Dawson and Shay do their jobs. He'll be alright" Chief Boden said.
They rushed him to the hospital. Scott was waiting in the ER. He needed to be there in case they needed to get him on the operating table. "What do we got?" he asked. "He fell through the stairs. He was without oxygen for at least 5 minutes before Squad got him out. Possible cracked rib and mild smoke inhalation" Dawson relayed the vitals and explained the situation.
"Okay, let's get him into bay 3. Order a CBC, blood panel, cultures, chest x-ray and MRI. I want him on a c-pac to help his lungs NOW! LET'S MOVE!" he ordered.
The nurses and residents scrambled. This is one of their own and he was hurt. Within the hour, firefighters from Station 51 started arriving at the hospital. Kelly walked in as Chief Boden was talking to Scott. "Severide, this is Scott Clemmens. He's Casey and Hermann's doctor" Chief Boden introduced.
Kelly looked him up and down. He didn't know this guy. There was only one doctor in this hospital that he could trust and he would make sure Matt and Hermann got the best care possible. "How is he?" he asked.
"We ordered blood work, a CBC, a CT and MRI" he informed. "We think he has a possible cracked rib and some smoke inhalation. With the lack of oxygen to his brain, we are afraid of possible brain damage. I have him on an oxygen mask to help his lungs. We are worried about damaged lungs" he said.
Kelly nodded, "no offense doc, I am sure you are great at what you do, but I only trust on doctor in this place and I want her on this case" he said.
Scott nodded, "that's fine. You are allowed a second opinion" he said not knowing that his second opinion would be his girlfriend.
"DR. DE LUCA TO TRAUMA 3. DR. DE LUCA TO TRAUMA 3"
Michelina grabbed her stethoscope, put the chart down at the nurse's station and took off in the direction of the emergency room. She was in her office going over charts when she heard the page. They only called her when it was bad and the doctor needed a consult.
She walked up to the desk and grabbed the chart. "Where am I going? Who paged me?" she asked. The nurse directed her to Bay 3. She walked over and noticed Scott standing there talking to two people. They were blocked by the curtain so she didn't see their faces.
She walked over and stood by Scott. "Dr. Clemmens, I got the page. What can I help you with?" she asked. She looked into the room and froze when she saw Matt Casey sitting on the gurney. Bypassing Scott, she walked in and right over to Matt.
"Casey, what the hell happened?" she asked.
"He's got suppressed lungs. We have him on a c-pac to let his lungs rest. He fell through some stairs. He was without oxygen for at least 5 minutes. We are worried about brain damage. He's got a possible cracked rib and some smoke inhalation. We already ordered everything. We are waiting for the test results" Scott replied.
Mia nodded and took off her stethoscope. She started her own exam of Matthew Casey. She couldn't believe he was on her table. She always thought he and Kelly were invincible. She didn't want to think about anything happening to them.
Once she was done with her exam, she put her stethoscope away and turned towards the resident. "Turn his oxygen up to 100%. I don't want him in pain, so I am prescribing Toradol every 4 hours for the pain" she said. Before either Scott or the resident could protest, she walked out of the room, "let's go update the family" she said.
Scott motioned for the resident to hold off on the Toradol. It was obvious that Mia knew the patient. He just didn't know how. He needed to know if she could be objective. Deep down, Michelina knew the whole firehouse would be waiting for Matt. They were brothers and sisters. They truly were a family.
She was nervous about seeing Kelly again. She didn't know how he would react to seeing her; especially if he found out she was Matt's doctor. She didn't know he requested her to be paged.
All the guys jumped up when they saw the doctors approaching. Severide locked his eyes on Mia. She looked nervous but he knew she was trying to hide it. She would focus on the medical issues at hand.
"What's going on doc?" Chief Boden asked.
"We are waiting for the test results. We have him on an oxygen mask for his lungs. They are severely affected from the lack of oxygen and having to work extra hard to pump it through his system for those 5 minutes" Scott said.
Severide snapped his gaze to the trauma doctor. He didn't appreciate the accusation. "We got to him the fastest we could. I got my mask on him as soon as I had him" he informed. Mia snapped to look at Kelly when she heard he took off his mask while in the building, not that it surprised her. That's the kind of guy he was, selfless.
"I am sure you did, but in the meantime, his brain was without oxygen. His lungs had to work 10x harder to pump oxygen to his heart, which in turn had to work extra hard to spread it around to the rest of his body. We won't know for sure until the tests come back, but our main concern is the brain damage. If he developed severe hypoxia, then we would have to remove the damaged brain cells. If his lungs have severe damage, he may need a lung transplant. He's got a long road ahead of him" Scott replied very bleakly.
The firefighters of Firehouse 51 were saddened and grief stricken. They felt helpless. This is not what they wanted to hear about their lieutenant. They didn't know what to do or how to help and that was rough for them.
Michelina was on the verge of tears, but she tried her hardest to hold it in. This is her friend that's in trouble but she knew she needed to be strong for everyone. They didn't know how to handle this medical stuff. They didn't know Scott. They would look to her for support.
Kelly didn't believe what the doctor was saying. He couldn't believe it. He refused to believe that his friend was on the verge of death. He needed hope. He needed someone to be the light at the end of the tunnel and that someone was Mia.
He turned to her with a strong, emotionless face on. He needed to keep it together. "I want to hear it from her," he said to Scott before turning to Michelina, "What's the weather eye on the horizon?" he asked using their old pirates of the Caribbean reference.
Michelina looked down a minute to hide her tears and collect herself before she let out and nervous breath and faced everyone. She stepped forward and looked at all their sad, soot covered faces before stopping to land on Severide and Chief Boden at the front of the pack.
"It's not an easy road, but we all know that Casey is strong. He's been through worse than this and pulled through. He can pull through this. You all need to keep believing in your lieutenant and praying he makes it through this and we'll do everything in our power to bring him back to you" she said with conviction.
Kelly smirked and nodded. That's all he needed to know. He turned to Scott. "You do what you need to do to get him through this" he said.
The resident ran up to them, "Excuse me doctors, the test results are back and Lt. Casey is severely agitated. He isn't letting anyone near him" she said.
Michelina went into supervisor mode and snapped her attention to the resident. "He is in pain and he is confused. I told you to give him Toradol for the pain. Why hasn't he gotten any?" she asked the resident.
Dr. Winters was scared of her attending. They didn't call her Medusa for nothing. "I'm sorry Dr. De Luca, but Dr. Clemmens told us to hold off on the pain meds until the brain CT came back" she said.
It was only then did Michelina turn to Scott. She knew that he had to be confused. It was true she owed him an explanation, but now was not the time. They needed to focus on being doctors right now. "Why would you override my order? You asked for my help and my consult and then you go and disregard what I say?" she was pissed off.
He had no right to do that. "I didn't ask for your consult, he did" Scott said pointing to Kelly. Michelina turned to Severide surprised. She didn't think he would ever want to see her again.
"I need someone I…we need someone we trust on this. Matt is one of us and you get that. He doesn't. Please, I don't care about our past or what happened right now. Just save him. We can't lose anyone else today" Kelly begged.
Michelina could see and feel the emotion behind his words. She knew that was hard for him. Kelly Severide didn't show emotion. He tried to downplay everything. Today was different. He couldn't downplay this. He was close to losing his only other best friend and she couldn't let that happen. She wouldn't.
She nodded, "Okay" she said before getting down to business. She rounded the residents and gave them their barking orders for the case. He needed surgery so they were going to prep him and ship him off to the OR. She would deal with Scott later. Now she needed to focus her energy on Matt and nothing else.
The surgery was a rough one. There was a lot of damaged tissue they needed to clear. "So, are you going to tell me what the hell is going on?" Scott asked as calmly as possible. Michelina glanced at him before glancing at everyone in the room looking at them, waiting for her answer.
"Not now" she said.
They left it at that. There was nothing else to get into. She knew they were in for one hell of night though. She had a lot of explaining to do.
In the waiting room everyone was on edge. This was really rough for them. Everyone was quiet. They didn't know what to say or how to deal with this.
"How long has it been?" Mills asked.
"2 hours" Gabby replied with dried tears coating her face.
Mills nodded and staid quiet.
"All I know is that I am glad Mia is taking care of him. She'll make sure he's okay" Hermann said.
"She sounded pretty confident" Capp added.
"Of course she did. She's one of us. She knows how hard this is and she is an excellent surgeon. She is going to make sure he pulls through" Hermann agreed.
Kelly had enough. He got up and walked away ignoring the looks on his way out. He walked over to the vending machine and braced his hands against it so he could lean on it. After a second he got frustrated with the situation and punched the machine and let out a frustrated growl.
"Feel better?" he heard from his right.
Kelly turned and stood up when he saw Michelina's Brother Johnny watching him. "What are you doing here man?" Kelly asked.
"I came to pick Michelina up for dinner. Her car is in the shop and she's been working herself like crazy" he explained.
"Yeah well, I just added to her stress level. I asked her to help save Matt" he said.
Johnny knew what that meant. His sister was going to take it personal because Kelly asked her specifically.
On the way back to the waiting room, Kelly explained what happened. Johnny is a detective, so he understands the demands of the job. By the time they made it back to the waiting room, Johnny had his arm wrapped around Kelly's shoulder.
"Don't worry, you know my sister. She is going to work her ass off to make sure Matt is going to be okay. She'll get him back. If anyone can do it, she can" he said.
Kelly nodded in understanding. He knew Johnny was right. If anyone could pull off a miracle with a critical condition patient, it's Michelina. She's stubborn like that.
Another hour passed before the surgery finished. Mia and Scott cleaned off and made their way back to the waiting room to update everyone.
The guys jumped up when they saw the doctors walk back into the waiting room with blood all over their scrubs. Kelly watched Mia and could tell she was exhausted. He knew it was rough. She looked completely worn out.
"So, what's the verdict Lee?" Capp asked.