Disclaimer:I Don't own Chicago Fire. NBC owns it.
I got tired of waiting for my Happy Dawsey Family. So here I am, writing AU. I knew that Matt and Gabby would be awesome foster parents. I will always miss Louie. I loved that kid. This is a future AU with their daughter, and our favorite couple gets to be heroes in a different way again.
Warning for child abuse.
It started at school. They had a new student join the class. Her name was Ishbel Winters.
Andrea Casey was the odd one out since her school got redistricted, many of her friends had moved to other schools.
This was a chance to make a new friend. She raised her hand when Ms. Holly asked for someone to have Ishbel sit next to.
"Hi. I'm Andrea Casey. You can call me Andi, though. My friends do."
When it was silent reading time, she poked Ishbel.
"It's my turn for the reading loft, but Ms. Holly will let us share if I ask nicely."
They headed to the bookshelves, then climbed to the loft. Tons of throw pillows lined a loft lined with mats like they used in the gym for gymnastics.
Andi gathered some then flopped on them.
Ishbel grabbed one that looked like a cylinder, made of smooth stretchy fabric. It felt like a beanbag.
She wrapped both arms around it and plopped onto her side. They started to read, Ishbel starting The Boxcar Children, Andi continuing Pippi Longstocking.
Later, when they do their journal page for the day, Ishbel points out her spelling error. Not in a mean way, just trying to help
"I used to get that one wrong all the time. It's dumb that it's not spelled like it sounds. It would be easy if words worked like that. " Ishbel said as she colored the picture space at the top of the page.
Ishbel was good at spelling. It was easy. Math wasn't. She left with some other kids during.
The two girls swung on the swings at recess, singing songs they both knew after Andi asks to.
When Andi jumps off at the come -in whistle, she sees Ishbel pick something off the ground.
The girl runs to catch up with her new friend.
As the day ends, Andi and Ishbel part ways, Ishbel heading for the bus that takes her home. Andi walks by her for a tiny bit.
"I'm glad I met you, Ishbel," Andi says. Her eyes roam across the car lineup .
"My mom's here, I gotta go. Seeya tomorrow."
As she scrambled into the minivan and into her booster seat, Andi was bursting with excitement.
"I made a new friend, Mama! Her name is Ishbel, she just moved here. She knows how to draw real good and spell, and she knows all the fun songs. She sang with me on the swings, just like Jordan and I used to before she switched. "
Gabby's daughter's voice flits through the car like a hummingbird. This was good.
After Andi's best friend, Jordan Moore left Mapleleaf, Andi went quiet. This was their girl back. She'd probably talk Matt's ear off too, and he'd stop worrying.
"Seat belt on, baby?" Gabby gently interrupted her daughter. When she was excited, she forgot things, and they were nearly ready to pull out of the line.
"Oops." Andi clicked the belt home.
"What music do you want to listen to on the ride home?" her mom asks.
"Disney, please!"
'Do you wanna build a snowman' flows through the car, and Andi's small voice soars along.
Ishbel gets off the bus at Springwood Lane, the apartment complex they moved into. She walks over to the office and goes into the bathroom that all the people who live there use. She uses the toilet. and goes to the sink.
She pulls the quartz rock out of her pocket and washes it in the sink. She dries it with a paper towel, then sticks it back in her pocket. She washes her hands, then cups them under the flow for a drink.
She heads back to the big house that holds her apartment, and sits on the concrete outside, under the window of her mother's bedroom. There, she does her homework. And waits.
"Ishbel." A short bark sounded out from the upper window.
That was mommy calling her. Ishbel haphazardly tossed her bag on her back and scooped her books.
'You don't keep mom waiting. You deserve what you get if you do' whispers through her head as she dashes around the corner of the house.
"Hey, kiddo. "
That was Mr. Ashwinder. He lived in the apartment below.
The front door opens, and Rebecca Winters fills the dark space left behind.
"Ishbel." It's no nonsense, full of: Get over here. NOW.
All in a single word. She goes to stand by her mother.
Her mother's voice fills with sweetness, she places a hand on her shoulder.
"This one couldn't wait to go play. Couldn't even change, or leave her books inside."
"Ah, youth. Don't be too much trouble for your mom, ok?" he says, heading to the parking lot.
As soon as his back is turned, Rebecca's hand tightens into a claw on Ishbel's shoulder.
She jerks her inside, marches them both upstairs. She opens the door and rushes them both inside
"Are you trying to get me in trouble?"
"No, mommy."
"You'd love to get taken away, wouldn't you? Troublemaker. No one is gonna want a girl like you. I'll tell them, they'll just put you in a home for the bad kids. Take you off my hands."
"Ow. Mommy, you're hurting me…"
"Shut your mouth."
Ishbel knows what's going to happen next.
"Please. Mommy, don't! No!" She cries.
She tosses her into the hall closet, jamming a chair under the doorknob.
"Stay in there. I don't want to hear you, you crybaby. Be quiet. Be good, then you can come out," she says tiredly to the vented door.
Hours pass.
It's evening.
Rebecca opens the door.
"Bed, Ishbel. Now. I don't want to know you exist until tomorrow."
"Yes, mommy," Ishbel whispers.
As she curls up on the air mattress in her room, she plucks the quartz from her jeans pocket, from where her school clothes are neatly folded on the floor by her bed.
She hates this. She tries to do what her mommy wants. Tries being good. She always messes up. Always fails
Holding the stone, she drifts into dreams, hearing Andi sing and feeling the swing sway beneath her.
A/N-As you can see, these girls lead very different lives. Don't worry, happy endings are my thing. Although it will get worse before it gets better. It will change as the Casey family get to know Ishbel. Do you really think that Matt Casey and Gabriela Dawson would leave a kid to that kind of hell!? More to come as soon as it gets written.