Hello hello everyone! I know it's been a while since I did update in here, but I barely got time to write something down these past few weeks, and I surely won't have much time until june or summer holidays. I am sorry, but my scholarship first (you can understand, right?)

I started writing this one shot two weeks ago, before the photo promo from the next episode of chicago fire got puplished, and I realized since then that my story has a (kind of) link with what would happen in 5x05^^ In a way, but not entirely.

I also used my short free time to write another chapter for Stay alive (for those who alos read my other stories, update tomorrow night _EU time_), and I am working on the next chapter of Face it together (and it will be a hard time for Matt).

For now, just enjoy this OS ^^

What a strange sensation to feel like you are falling. This impression of emptiness between your own body and the rest of the world, what surrounds you. This presentiment that everything seems frozen, or working in slow motion when in reality, it is not the case at all. Brain can play with you like a piece on a chessboard, as if you are a toy for it. You think living again your own life in reverse, as if everything can escape you. You can stretch out your arm and try to catch it, but it just escapes between your fingers. And you continue to fall, again and again, while you see the scene you are living going further away. How long this fall would last? Minutes? Hours? In reality, it lasted only a few seconds, maybe five, but five seconds were long when you are in such a situation. It was an impression of living your last moments, as if death would take you after this fall, this gaping black hole, this void that formed when your heart stopped beating, when your lungs ceased to work, when the brain was definitely gone. When death came, everything was over. And when the man's body landed on the ground, it was in a monumental crash. His oxygen bottle still stuck on his back, he felt it sink into his flesh, as if the force of the fall was so powerful that his shoulder blades surrounded this metal bottle. He heard his back crack under the pressure, preceding a sharp pain in his neck and lower back. But the fall was not entirely over. The base of his head hit the burning floor and his limbs, his arms and legs, were attracted by the unstable floor. The most horrible part to live was to feel his lungs squeezing tightly, as if he was now unable to breathe. He tried, but not a gasp of air came out of his lungs. This suffering was so unbearable that this sudden and violent shock and his inability to breathe properly made him quickly lose consciousness, lost in this burning immensity. All the firefighters had seen what had happened, in every detail. Surprise and fear had paralyzed each of them, and after a few seconds, after shaking their heads, they really understood what they had just seen. One of them had just passed through the floor and had just landed several floors below. Christopher Herrmann was the first to truly react, while the other members of the team remained frozen. He carefully approached the hole left by his colleague and friend, and urgently caught his radio. He turned it on, and started screaming, not hiding his panic.

"Mayday, Mayday! Man down! Casey just fell through a hole on the floor!"

Outside the building on fire, it was panic. As the chief and the responsible of the entire call, battalion chief Wallace Boden was trying to keep his calm and his composure, but deep down, he wanted to scream and run inside the building to save his men. Moreover, in an instinct, he had made a slight step forward before changing his mind and catching his radio. The paramedics, Sylvie Brett and Gabriela Dawson, were also both worried. It was logical after all, Dawson was now married to the lieutenant in charge of Truck 81, Matthew Casey. And they perfectly had noticed this slight step from their chief, this gesture he had made to catch his radio as fast as possible and turn it on.

"Herrmann, do you have a visual?"

The couple microseconds following this question were a long and slow agony. Nobody didn't know what Christopher would say, or would explain. In fact, no one knew anything.

"Uh... I can see his torch, but... The smoke is too thick!"

Boden was praying with all his strength. He wasn't a believer, but he was praying with all his heart, he wanted Matt to only have superficial wounds.

"Oh, dear Lord, he's unconscious! I can hear his pass-device, it has just set out!"

In order to listen the whole conversation and get as much information as possible, Gabby had approached Boden, deeply worried. She had just heard Herrmann scream into his radio,yell to explain that Casey's pass-alarm was now activated. But Boden knew that it sometimes happen to turn it on in order to be found in the smoke when something happened. Yes, they were all panicked, but they were hoping that this alarm meant nothing but 'find me'. The battalion chief was truly out of his mind, but he had to remain calm, he was in charge of this call and he had no right to be distracted, even if it was legitimate.

"Spread in two teams, one continues the search and rescue, and the other rescues Casey. Squad 3, what's your ETA?"

"This is Squad 3, ETA two minutes!"

Of course, the whole team had heard everything on their radio. And obviously, Kelly Severide was the most worried. Was Casey conscious? Badly injured? Or was it to be found more easily in this burning space? So many questions and no answers yet. He felt a hand resting on his shoulder, and by instinct, he jumped and turned his head. It was Cruz, and he was worried too. He had been his team leader, and he knew that this situation didn't bode well. Because Casey hadn't yet spoken into his radio, and it necessarily indicated that Casey had lost consciousness.

"Casey is head-strong. We'll get him out", Joe Cruz assurer to his team leader, sketching a slight smile to counter his concern.

Seeing this effort made by one of his men to reassure him, he relaxed and smile nervously.

"Yeah, you're right. Capp, Tony, you'll help the search and rescue team. Cruz and me are gonna help Herrmann."

"Copy", they said with one voice.

As Truck 81 had to continue the search and rescue while rescuing their team leader, Engine 51 couldn't delay the fire spread with the hoses, it could only make things worse. With chief Boden's approval, they decided to exceptionally go on their 'support' mode, meaning that they were going to do the same tasks as Truck 81 to help them. It was rare, but they all had gone to the Firefighter Academy of Chicago, they knew what to do or not, they could be useful. The team spread, Mouch and the new Candidate going out of the building to use the aerial in order to continue their job, because the hole was as large as the corridor and they couldn't get through. Stella Kidd and Herrmann took the stairs to get to the floor to which Casey had fallen, paying attention to the unstable wooden floor which was catching fire slowly. Dawson had remained near the chief, seeking as much comfort as possible by listening the radio and telling herself that everything was fine, that she knew Matt so well. She would have felt it if something bad had happened, and it wasn't really the case. She just had a presentiment and she was concerned, of course, but it wasn't invasive, it was just logical. Brett had made a gigantic effort to go back to the ambulance and prepare the stretcher, the backboard, a neck brace as well as their two aid kits. When Herrmann and Kidd finally arrived near Matt, their first reflex was to cut the activated shrill alarm on his right shoulder and t check the extent of his injuries. Despite the thick smoke depriving them of their sight, they were close enough to Casey to see that his eyes were closed through his oxygen mask, and that he had a very difficult breathing. Kidd removed one of her gloves to place her fingers at his carotid to perceive his pulse. She waited a few seconds before shouting.

"His pulse is very fast and his breathing is shallow!" she announced to Herrmann.

"He must have some broken ribs or something!" he said, catching his radio once again. "Dawson, Brett! I need a backboard ready and a neck brace!"

At the same time, Kelly's team arrived on scene and they all went down quickly. As expected, Capp and Tony immediately took the aerial to join the search and rescue team with their SCBA on their back, while Cruz and Kelly headed toward their chief and the two paramedics.

"Squad 3 just arrived on scene. Cruz and Severide will bring you this", battalion chief Boden explained to Herrmann.

"Copy! We're on the second floor!"

Each firefighter were looking at each other, everyone knew what to do. Kelly's gaze fell on Gabby, telling her without a word that he was going to bring Matt back to her as Cruz grabbed the backboard and the c-collar. Arriving at the entrance door of the building, they put on their mask to protect themselves from the inhalation of smoke, lit their lamp hooked to their gear and entered by bending slightly forward and slightly kneeling down. All firefighters knew that at ground level, smoke was less thick. Difficultly, they found the stairs, carefully ascending the steps one by one to not fall. Noises of cracking began to resonate in the space invaded by the flames, a major sign of the instability of the structure. On the second floor, Herrmann and Kidd were still trying to access Casey's injuries while moving him as little as possible. Having his bottle still on his back and landing on it after falling three floors, nobody wanted to risk a spinal cord injury. As Stella was the most qualified for the paramedic things, as she had passed her certification at the same time as Gabby, she was busy determining the injuries of her lieutenant. Since he was still unconscious, Stella formed a fist and rubbed Matt's sternum. A sharp wave of relief seized Herrmann and Kidd as they heard Casey grunting very slightly. It was barely audible, but it was there. It was a short relief, because instantly, Matt tried to move his head slightly and was seized with immense pain. His first reflex was then to frown, squint his eyes, make a grimace and open his mouth, and of course, all this at the same time.

"Lieutenant, try to move as little as possible. You hear me?"

At first, his brain assimilated absolutely not what Herrmann had just told him, but the pain was so imposing that he knew that at the slightest movement, it could trigger a new wave of unimaginable suffering. Instinctively, he decided to remain motionless, trying to understand what was happening to him. Why did he get hurt? What had happened? Where was he? This pain didn't allow him to think properly, but he made a great effort to try to answer these questions. The building on fire. Access to the fifth floor. The sensation that the floor slipped under his feet. His inability to catch up. His fall. Pain. Black out. He remembered now, everything came back in successive and intrusive wave and.

"Casey, can you open your eyes?"

Trying to concentrate more, he noticed his hard breathing, and it was only several seconds later that he perceived this sharp pain in his chest. All his right side seemed to be inflamed. Each puff of air he was trying to take became harder to catch than the previous one. He wanted to scream, to cry with all his strength, but no sound came out, he was hurt and lacking air. Nothing could help him focus on anything other than this excruciating pain felt. It took him several seconds before he could truly understand and assimilate that he had just been asked to open his eyes. Why? To have even worse pain? No, he didn't want to. But these voices were so insistent that he had to do it. Very gently, his eyelids began to move as he opened them, letting him glimpse a horrible world. There were flames everywhere, several shapes moving around him, but he couldn't distinguish anything, everything was too blurry. Then he decided to close his eyelids again, he was too tired and he didn't like what he was seeing. It was a nightmare, and he wanted everything to stop, right here right now. His cries inaudible of agony made him mad, the pain he felt in his back and especially in his neck had no qualifier, and even the word 'hell' had no meaning to express this horrible suffering.

"He's in shock", he heard a female voice explain. "Look how he trembles."

"Or maybe it's the pain that makes him tremble?"

"Or both?"

He didn't understand what it meant. What did all this mean? Why did no one answer him? He felt deep inside him that he wanted to speak, that he wanted to put words on his pain, but only his lips were moving, and no sound came out, each word remaining stuck in his throat. Was hew shouting now? Was he the one who was screaming desperately? Did he really hurt? The people around him seemed to be agitated, but although he was trying to concentrate on what they were saying, it was impossible to calm down. Suddenly, the world had fallen silent and he could only hear him. His own voice echoed in his head, and radiated throughout his body, as if his voice had the power to move his limbs, as for hypnosis.

"Casey! Matt, calm down! I know you're in pain, but you have to calm down!"

Despite all the words of Herrmann, his leader didn't calm down, quite the contrary. The more he spoke to him, the more he seemed to panic. It was only when Kelly and Cruz arrived near the group that Matt began to shout slightly less.

"Hey, Casey! Everything's fine, I'm here, don't worry."

These words were the first to penetrate his mind since his sudden panic attack. The fact that his best friend gently put his hand on his left shoulder relieved him so much that he regained control of his body and his mind, and suddenly stopped screaming. Through the split mask, surely due to the force of the impact, Matt could glimpse Kelly's features, he could also feel big drops of sweat, undoubtedly mixed with those emerging from his eyes, flood his face.

"I'll get you out, Matt. I promise. But it will hurt."

The lieutenant of Squad 3 then took a knife out of his pocket to cut off the straps of the SCBA. It was necessary that Casey could be placed on the ground, even better on the backboard, and no longer on his oxygen bottle.

"Cruz! Lay the backboard here, and give me the c-collar!"

"But, lieutenant..."

"No buts, Cruz!" He interrupted, shouting, not in anger, but above all to be heard by his colleagues. "Come on!"

Cruz executed, placing the backboard where Severide wanted it to be.

"Okay! Stella, can you put your hand in Matt's back to ensure his stability?"

"Like it's done!"

"Cruz, Herrmann! We'll slide him on the board! Herrmann, you're going to take his head and put your hand in his neck to keep his head straight! Cruz, you're gonna grab his hips!"

"Copy!"

All had perfectly assimilated what Kelly wanted to prevent Matt from suffering too much during the transfer from the ground to the backboard. They all set up, and Kelly came to catch the stretcher and stick it perfectly next to Matt, so that his fellow firefighters had only to drag him over.

"On my count ! One ! Two! Three!"

This movement lasted only a few seconds, but they were so painful for Matt that he began to scream even more, so much was grief seized him. He had the impression that his own body was disconnecting from his head, as if nothing retained it. However, he always had his sensations of tingling everywhere, and his chest seemed to be on fire, as if he had swallowed a fire itself. Was it the end? Was that how we would die? The same hand came to rest one more time on his shoulder, it calmed a little.

"We'll get you out of here in a few minutes, okay? First of all, I must pass the c-collar around your neck!"

Matt said nothing, he no longer screamed, he waited for the end to come, peacefully. He could no longer endure this agony, this unimaginable suffering. He could no longer struggle. He felt, however, something cold to stick to him, to his neck, which relieved him for a brief moment, before his head was moved to close the neck brace and keep everything straight. He then felt that his arms were grasped and placed just below his chest and that safety devices were used to keep his body perfectly straight on the board while he was being taken out of this hell. Expected by the two paramedics, the rescue group finally came out of the building, each of the four firefighters being on each side of the stretcher and trying to keep it as stable as possible. Sylvie and Gabby rushed towards them without Boden's approval, and lowered their stretcher so that the firemen could lay the backborad on it. Once done, Herrmann and Severide struggled to remove the oxygen mask that Matt was still wearing. After a minute of hard work to move Casey as little as possible, they were able to remove the back strap of the mask and he finally breathed the icy air from outside. The contrast of the cold on his skin, the frozen air he breathed at low and fast puffs with the burning sensation he felt, made him shudder. This shudder rapidly gained the base of his back and went up the length of his spine, causing him to yell even more painfully inside.

"His pulse is fast and thready, and I think he has several broken ribs and a pneumo, left side", Stella said.

Gabby grabbed her stethoscope in his emergency kit, and with the help of Christopher and Kelly, Sylvie unfastened Matt's jacket and then gently cut out his shirt. A large bruise had already formed along his rib cage, just under his left arm. His skin was stained with bright colors, blue, purple, even black in some places. Brett had no choice but to grimace at the sight of this bruise, just like the three other firemen around the stretcher. Trying to stay as alert and calm as possible, Dawson blocked the earcaps in his ears and placed the head on his chest to listen to his breathing and the beating of his heart. She focused, not paying attention to what was going on around her. What she heard in the stethoscope didn't please her. The sound of his breathing was diminished on the left side, indicating a possible pneumothorax, but in view of the hematoma formed, everything indicated a hemothorax. This sound of breathing was jerky by the very rapid beating of Matt's heart, as if he was choking. In just a few seconds, although everyone thought it had been several minutes since she was working, she made a diagnosis while trying to feel whether her husband actually had fractured ribs. She paid attention to the level of the wounded area, and was perfectly aware of Matt's inaudible cries. She knew that he was suffering, but that he had too little air to make a sound.

"He has a haemopneumothorax and his lung is partially collapsed. He must be taken to the hospital, and quickly!"

"Chicago MED is the closest."

"Then drive as quickly as possible to take us there", she commanded her colleague and friend.

Sylvie nodded and turned urgently to the ambulance to take the wheel while Gabby, aided by the four firefighters, entered the stretcher in the back of the ambulance. Kelly then turned to the battalion chief, as if he wanted to ask him one more thing. But he didn't have time to say anything, Boden understood.

"Go ahead. Capp will cover you."

He had guessed everything. Severide was unable to work when Matt was the one on the stretcher. This had happened only a few times, but these were the only times that were ranked among the greatest terrors of his life. To thank his leader, he nodded and went into the ambulance, so that Cruz could close the doors and give the starting signal by tapping twice on the window of the back door. Sylvie then started the ambulance while Gabby was busy placing an oxygen mask on the face of the man of her life and regulating the oxygen bottle at its maximum flow.

"Kelly, you know what to do."

She couldn't do everything by herself, she needed help. Then, as she grabbed patches to stick them on her husband's bruised torso, Kelly got up to look for an IV port in the many drawers. Luckily, he knew where they were and found them the first time. He took one, and not without difficulty, he withdrew Casey's fireman suit, murmuring an apology to his best friend if he hurt him. Once removed, he placed the tourniquet just above the elbow in order to possibly see a vein, but even using all his concentration, he saw nothing at all.

"His veins are collapsed, I think", he said, keeping his composure, even though deep inside him, he was panicking.

"Let's trade our places."

Within seconds, Kelly was in Gabby's place and vice versa. She tightened the tourniquet made by her friend more closely and eventually found a semblance of vein, even though she didn't know if it really was. Luckily, she pricked properly, and she could quickly connect the IV port to a bag of saline to keep Matt haemo-dynamically stable the time to get to the hospital. At the same time, Kelly hurried to connect Gabby's patches to the ambulance's portable monitor, at least to know Matt's vitals. A regular and very rapid alarm then invaded the ambulance

"His heart rate is at 156."

"I'll inject a dose of morphine."

Gabby stood up and placed her face above Matt's. His eyes were still open, but it seemed like a battle he had trouble winning, he struggled not to close his eyes, he could concentrate on nothing but the pain he felt. It was relatively unbearable for his wife to watch him suffer in silence while she knew he just wanted to scream in pain. So she put her left hand on his right cheek to get his attention, and once their eyes met, she smiled nervously.

"Matt, babe, I'm going to inject you some morphine. This will relieve your pain, okay?"

Before she had his consent, she prepared an injection, implanted it in the IV port and emptied the syringe completely. Quickly, the pain dissipated, even if it persisted slightly, it had just become bearable. His heart rate also decreased under the effect of the injected painkiller, to the great relief of Kelly and Gabby.

"Heart rate dropped to 134", Severide said.

"Brett, ETA?"

"We're here!"

Since the bag of fluids was already almost empty, Dawson connected a second one while Sylvie parked the ambulance right in front of the emergency entrance. She went out to open the back doors, and then helped Kelly and Gabby pull out the stretcher and head towards the hospital doors. When they opened, April Sexton and Dr. Ethan Choi rushed at them, followed by Dr. Will Halstead.

"Thirty-eight-year-old man, falling three floors through a hole and landing on the oxygen bottle!" She explained, remaining as objective as possible despite the tears that seemed ready to flow over her tanned skin.

Arriving on the paramedics and seeing Kelly near the stretcher, the doctors and nurses understood almost instantly who it was. This new patient was Matt, Gabby's husband, Louie's father, their alderman.

"Possible SCI, several fractured ribs and left haemopneumothorax", Gabby continued in a trembling voice. "Pulse at 134, BP at 164 over 137, O2 stats at 96% with the oxygen mask. Injection of five of morphine and two bags of fluids."

"Room 2 is free! Let's go!"

"I want a full blood test: ABG, CBC, and I want to know his hematocrit! And tell the blood bank that we may need blood! Gabby, you know his blood type?"

"Uh, he's O positive", she stammered.

"Maggie?"

"I'm on it!"

"I need x-rays! Now!"

"Coming!" A nurse shouted.

Matt was reconnected to a monitor, this time to the ER monitor, and April was able to read the results.

"Pulse at 142, blood pressure at 171 over 154, O2 stats at 95%."

"x-ray is here!"

Numerous seconds passed as if they were minutes or even hours. It was horrible for Gabby to know her man in such a critical condition, and she had to restrain herself from shedding tears, even if it seemed perfectly legitimate. She wanted to stay with Matt, but a nurse took her out of the room where he was, just like Kelly. They were paralyzed by what they could see, by these doctors who were busy around Casey in order to make the final diagnosis. Several tens of minutes passed without any information, in an absolute blur. Brett had called main to put the ambulance out of action for a while, and about thirty minutes later, the paramedics and Kelly were joined by all the members of the firehouse 51. Everyone was worried, especially Casey's teammates, which seemed logical. Another half hour passed before they could see a doctor approach them.

"For a three-story fall, Casey is doing pretty well. As you know, he had a haemopneumothorax on his arrival in the ER and a possible spinal cord injury. The haemopneumothorax was caused by one of his ribs which pierced his left lung. We have placed a chest tube to drain the pleural effusion, but our best option is surgery to prevent recurrences and treat his lungs. As for his spine, Casey has a stable C4 fracture, and he has a significant bruise in his lower back due to the oxygen bottle. We will monitor the fracture, but it is stable enough for a simple immobilization of the neck. He also has other rib fractures as well as bruises, but nothing significant. As I said, he was very lucky."

"I guess he'll be out of work for a while?"

"Indeed. The time to recover from a fracture is already long, but even more when practicing a dangerous job. Everything will depend on his recovery time, but he will be out for at least eight weeks."

"And uh... Can we go see him?"

"He will leave in a short time for surgery to repair the damage caused by his ribs, but I let you see him for a few minutes. He's pretty groggy because of morphine, so be very careful", Will advised them by pointing out the way. "And if possible two or three people at a time in the room, not more!" The doctor said.

He knew the firefighters too well and was suspicious of them, in the good sense. But no sooner had he turned his back, they all rushed to see him, Gabby and Kelly entering to be with Matt, and the others stopped right at the door. The two friends approached the bed, preferring to stand, each on one side of the bed. His breathing seemed to be less of a problem, even if it remained fast, thanks to the chest tube that had pulled out the pressure in his rib cage. Now, he needed only a nasal canula to get an extra dose of oxygen, and his heart rate had also dropped below 120 beats per minute. His neck remained immobilized thanks to a rigid c-collar with chin and thoracic base, to ensure the perfect immobilization of his neck and the complete and rapid healing of his cervical. Hardly, his eyes opened, to the great pleasure and relief of Gabby, who sighed longly.

"Hi, champion", Kelly said, smiling.

Matt had much less pain now, even if it always seemed difficult to breathe or move.

"Hi, did I miss you?"

"You especially frightened me, great idiot."

"Sorry..."

"What is that?"

All the firemen turned to a redhead doctor, surprised by this crowd.

"Luckily I said 'if possible two or three people at a time in the room'...", Will Halstead whispered, laughing at the same time.

He should have suspected that this sentence was not going to work with the firemen.

"Doc, technically, they're only two in the room, we're outside", Herrmann remarked.

The other firemen began to laugh when they saw the head of the ER doctor. After all, they were right, they had taken him at his word by not going into the room. They let him pass, however.

"Firemen…"

He walked over to the bed, realizing that Matt was awake, though still groggy because of the painkillers given to him earlier.

"The OR is free, we'll take him to surgery", Will told Kelly and Gabby. "I promise we will bring him back soon", he reassured Dawson.

While making Matt move as little as possible, Gabby kissed him to give him courage.

"You have to come back quickly, Louie is waiting impatiently for you, and me too."

"Will do my best…"

One last kiss, and Will separated the fresh married couple to take Casey into surgery. Again, they had all had a big fright, and it could have turned into drama, because a three-story fall was not nothing. Especially since it was not his first attempt. Luckily, he was like cats, he had nine lives. He now had five lives left, which he would no doubt preserve.