I Was This Close
By: Riley
Summary - A routine rescue hurts Severide more than he could ever imagine.
"What do we got?" Severide came racing out into the truck bay, pulling on his jacket as he went.
"Grease fire. City limits on the south side," Clarke called back.
Severide quickly jumped into his gear, climbing into the driving well of the Squad 3 truck, closing the door behind him. Cruz started up the truck with a determined twist of the key in the ignition. Severide took a deep breath, a sense of relief washing over him. No, not relief. Adrenaline, he had been on so many runs and rescues that every time the alarm blared his senses were immediately awakened and running at top speed. He knew and practiced keeping a level head, knowing what could happen if he got too confident or careless on the job.
The wheels beneath them began to move and Squad 3, Truck 81, and Ambulance 61 headed off towards the address they were being called to. The siren turned on, the calling card of Firehouse 51. Severide looked out the window, a stern expression on his face as they sped towards the house. What where they going to be greeted with when they got there?
Once they arrived, he briefly stared up at the house that was engulfed. Flames were rolling across the roof, windows were exploding outwards towards the street. People that stood and watched were getting in the way, he could see that already. Still, he was the Lieutenant of Squad 3 and he had to be the one to give orders and have things run smoothly.
No matter how scared he was.
Kelly Severide would be lying if he said he had never been scared of fires. When he had first joined Firehouse 51, the excitement had worn off quickly with his first real call. Afterwards when fire and fire came through, he started to become used to them. Then there was what everyone named "The Darden Incident" when a friend he had since they were kids perished while on the job. Since then, there was a tiny voice in the back of his head screaming at him, telling him he was crazy for continuing with the job when there was a high chance that something could happen to him too. There were always a few moments where he was gripped with fear and he had to try his hardest to rip free.
Severide jumped out of the truck, slamming the door shut and started to call out orders along with Lieutenant Casey who manned Truck 81. As Severide started to pull on his mask, a man raced up to him, eyes wide with fear. Severide turned to him placing a gloved hand on his shoulder. "Sir, I need you to get away from here, it's too dangerous!"
"She's still inside!" The man cried. "My daughter!"
Severide swallowed thickly. These were more of the harder jobs to do, when kids were involved. They only had a matter of time before kids' lungs filled with smoke, especially considering they usually hid somewhere when they were scared, rather than trying to get out of the house. There have also been a few times where the parents would run out and in their adrenaline rush, forget about their kids until it was too late. Severide looked around for a moment, then nodded at the man.
"Alright sir, just stand back and let us do our job, we'll have your daughter out of there in no time." He tried to stay calm, but by looking at the house, he could see that they didn't have a lot of time left. Even so, he tried to keep his voice calm so not to alarm the man that was still holding onto him. "What's her name?".
"Corey. Her name's Corey!" His eyes now frantically darted back between the house that continued to burn, and me. "Please, save her! Save my daughter!"
"Sir, we need you to stand back and let us do our job," Mills said, coming up on Severide's other side. Severide looked at him, Mills had certainly gotten the hang of being in Firehouse 51. He wasn't overcome with his excitement and arrogant attitude as he had been when he first started. "We'll get her out."
Severide and Mills started to pull on their oxygen tanks, turning as Chief Boden briefed them about the situation before they plunged inside the raging inferno. "Three ways to get in the house; front door, back door and basement. I suggest the basement because the main part of the house is engulfed."
Severide nodded and waved an arm at Mills. The two raced over to the side of the house and Mills reared back, kicking in the window. Severide got down on his stomach and crawled through. He dropped to the floor and turned back to Mills, watching as he did the same before the two started to charge up the basement stairs into the house. Severide looked around for stairs that would lead up to the bedrooms.
They were already burning.
"Fire Department! Call out!" Severide called. He waited a few moments, looking around with Mills, waiting to hear some sort of cry or scream. "Corey! Call out!"
"Over there!" Mills pointed as they heard muffled screams come from the hallway.
Severide and Mills raced down the hallway and over towards a closed room. Mills kicked the door open and the two backed up, throwing their arms over their faces. The room was engulfed, the smoke getting thicker and blacker by the second. "Corey!"
Corey screamed again and Severide followed the sound over to a closer inside the room. He threw the closet doors open and backed up once more. He could hear the shouts and thudding footsteps from the rest of Squad 3 and Truck 81 as he and Mills moved to gather Corey up off the floor. The walls, floor, ceiling, and clothes were all on fire, however it didn't appear to have reached Corey yet. She was crying hysterically, moving backwards as the men in scary gear moved towards her. Severide was suddenly stuck with how much she resembled Katie, the sister he had only recently found out he had. A feeling of needing to protect this girl washed over him. He had to get her out of the house!
Severide reached out and grabbed onto Corey, pulling her up into his arms. "Don't worry, Corey, everything's OK now," he tried to reassure her. He pulled off his mask and placed it over Corey's face, hoping the rush of fresh air would calm her down.
Severide and Mills turned and hurried from the room. As they raced back towards the basement, Severide instinctively stopped at a large cracking sound. Mills turned around to call out to Severide seconds before Severide found himself falling. He felt the floor give way below him and he was falling through the darkness, before dropping hard against the basement floor. Severide groaned, rolling onto his side.
He could hear Corey whimpering.
"Corey!" Severide called, following her voice.
He heard another cracking sound and moved faster, maybe if he moved fast enough—
Severide gasped for air, his eyes flying open. He sucked in gasps of air greedily, hoping to get every drop he could before registering to the bright light that hung above him. His eyes swung around and landed on Shaw and Dawson, who were standing over him. Shay gave him a small smile when she saw he was awake. Severide's eyes moved to the opposite side and he saw Chief Boden and Case standing over him on this other side. The two had their hands behind their backs.
"Wh-Where is she?"
The looks on Boden's and Casey's faces answered his question. "She's gone."
"No." Severide shook his head. He could feel his eyes pricking. "No. No! I-I had her! I know. I had her!"
"I'm sorry."
Severide closed his eyes, leaning his head back against the pillows behind him. No. No! He had her! He knew he did. She was so close. He knew he felt her before he had—before it had collapsed. The floor collapsed, the house had collapsed. He had saved her, brought her into his arms, protected her. He promised her that. No! And now…It wasn't fair! It just wasn't fair. Losing someone on a rescue was already tough, but having to lose a kid, someone who was only just starting to learn what life had to offer...a life ended too soon. It just wasn't fair! Severide brought his hands up to his face, clenched them into fists, and slammed them down onto his bed, gritting his teeth together. He could hear the footsteps of Boden, Casey, Dawson, and Shay as they left his hospital room. He didn't care what happened to him, he didn't care how long he was there to be treated, he had lost that little girl. He had lost Corey. He heard the door to his room close.
Severide closed his eyes, tears of anger sliding down his face.
He let out a cry of anguish.
Severide walked out into the truck bay, having been told he had a visitor. He reached up and ran a hand over his mouth, the stubble pricking his fingers. He could still smell the faint scent of smoke in his beard, reminding him of what happened.
Maybe he needed to shave it off.
He didn't need the constant reminder.
Severide walked out into the truck bay and when he saw who was waiting for him, his steps slowed. It was Corey's father. How was he going to face him? Severide stopped in front of him and nodded in greeting.
The man surprised Severide by stepping forward and hugging him. "Thank you for trying your best to save her." He swallowed thickly, holding back his tears, Severide could see he was trying his hardest not to break down. "Thank you. You're a hero"
"I'm not a hero, Sir." Severide denied in a low, subdued tone.
"You tried your hardest, that's all I could ask." Her father had tears in his eyes as he pulled away and walked out of the firehouse.
Severide watched him leave, both of them consumed with thoughts of the little girl that they had both been so close to.
A/N: First Chicago Fire work. As you can probably guess, Severide is my favorite character. I like how he shows how much he cares for his co-workers as well as Katie, when anyone could have rejected a siblings they just found out they had. I got the idea after thinking about what would happen if Severide couldn't save a little kid, after seeing how he was with Nathan in Joyriding.
My sister and I (who share this account) are thinking of doing a Chicago Fire and Chicago P.D. story (respectively) that may crossover with each other's, but with a twist in them, so you may see that soon, I haven't decided yet. I hope you guys liked it.
Cheers,
-Riles