Chapter 1
Casey knocked on the door.
"Enter!" Boden's deep bass called out.
Casey shot a look at his fellow lieutenant, Kelly Severide, and opened the door.
The two filed into the office.
"You wanted to see us, Chief?" Casey asked.
"Yeah...sit down."
The men did as they were told. Once they were settled Boden shoved a personnel jacket slowly across the desk. Kelly reached out to pick it up.
"What's this?" he asked.
"New candidate...he's gonna be with you on Truck, Casey."
Kelly handed the folder over to Matt, who flipped it open. He glanced through it, before handing it to Kelly.
Severide looked down at the form. It was all the demographics. All the basics.
The guy's name was Trey Wilson...twenty-five...graduated at the top of his class at the Academy.
51 always got the cream of the crop...they'd had some damn good firefighters pass through their doors.
Kelly glanced through the pages.
Kid had military experience...four years in the Navy.
That should strike a chord with Chief Boden.
"Looks like a good fit." Severide commented as he handed the jacket back to the chief.
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Alyssa was alone in the store...alone with Lexi and Maggie.
Maggie sat on a high stool at the counter coloring in her new no-mess coloring book.
God Bless whoever the genius who created Color-Wonder was.
And Lexi was in the port-a-crib playing with her toys.
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Lyssa was signing donation letters...
Dear Mr. or Ms. So-and-so...thank-you for your generous donation to St. Pasqual's Helping Hands...something about counting your blessings and sharing your good fortune with others...
It was all for a good cause and they were doing something positive for the community.
But there was so much paperwork.
Helping Hands was a resale shop she and her sister-in-law had conceived about five years before after their homes had been gutted by fires. The church community had really banded together and helped their families out with donations of household supplies and when their homes were repaired they decided to find away to pay forward the generosity shown to them.
They did a lot of work with organizations that helped women get out of abusive relationships and get themselves and their children into safe homes...often times in reduced rent apartments...and the women came to the store to get items they needed to set up house.
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The bell above the front door jingled, and Alyssa looked up to see a young woman...a girl, really...walk in. She was small...extremely thin...with long, mousey brown hair falling in her face. And even though it was almost ninety degrees outside she wore jeans and a long sleeve shirt.
She stayed along the outside wall...working her way around the shop...looking at everything. She picked up a couple of items...a colander and a two-cup measuring cup...and a picture frame. Holding them close to her she approached the counter.
Alyssa smiled and set her papers aside the register.
"I see you found a couple things..." she said.
Now that the girl was standing in front of her, Lyssa was surprised to see that she was actually quite tall. Well...quite tall when compared to her. But the girl kept her head down, and her shoulders rolled forward...making her appear smaller than she was.
The girl didn't say anything. She just kept staring at the counter top.
"We get new items in pretty regularly." Alyssa said. "Every day or two...are you looking for any particular items?"
The girl shook her head.
"No." she said softly...almost in a whisper. "Just a few things for the apartment."
"My name's Alyssa...and these are my daughters...Maggie...and Lexi."
The girl raised her eyes...and smiled a tiny smile.
"I'm Veronica..." she said.
"Well, it's nice to meet you, Veronica." Alyssa said as she held out her hand.
Veronica just stared for another moment, then she tentatively took Lyssa's hand and shook it.
It was a weak handshake...even for a girl.
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Alyssa rang up the items.
"That'll be three fifty." she said.
Veronica dug into the pocket of her jeans and pulled out a wrinkled five dollar bill.
Once she'd made the change, Lyssa wrapped the frame and the measuring cup in paper, then whispered to Maggie to get a plastic bag from under the counter.
Maggie did...and she held it opened so her mommy could put the girls purchases inside.
"That's my big helper..." she said, as she ruffled the strawberry blonde curls. "What do you say?"
Maggie looked up and smiled a huge smile.
"Tank you for shopping a' Helpin' Hans!" she said proudly.
Veronica gave the little girl a slightly bigger smile...and nodded. Then she collected her bag and left the store, the bell over the door jingling once again.
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Alyssa watched her go...walking east down Irving Park.
"Mommy?" Maggie asked. "Why dat girl so sad?"
The four year old was perceptive.
Alyssa turned to her daughter.
"I think maybe she's just shy." she said gently. "Maybe she's new in the neighborhood."
That answer seemed to work for Maggie, and she went back to her coloring. But Alyssa couldn't help but think there was more to it than that.
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She was still thinking about it when Kelly came home the next morning.
"Hey..." he said tiredly as he came into the kitchen from the four seasons room.
Alyssa looked up from the bacon and sausage patties she was frying.
"Hey yourself..." she answered.
He dropped his bag and came up behind his wife and wrapped his arms around her.
"God, I missed you last night..."
She turned into him.
"Rough night?" she asked.
The city was in the middle of the worst heat wave they'd had in ten years. The temperatures soared to over a hundred during the day, and barely cooled when the sun when. Compounding that...there hadn't been a cloud in the sky for three weeks.
That had made for some disastrous incidents all over the city...and Station 51 responded to their fair share.
"A couple of winners..." Kelly told her. "Buncha kids...playin' with firecrackers in the park. Set a tree on fire."
"Oh, God..."
"Then we had a genius who turned his basement into a swimming pool...he just forgot to cut the power."
"He electrocuted himself?"
Kelly shook his head.
"No...he had a rat problem. Had..."
The depths of some people's stupidity never failed to amaze him.
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But it was over...for the next forty-eight hours.
"What's the game plan for today?" he asked.
"The boys have camp...Mouch is taking Maggie to her program..."
"And you have a doctor's appointment." Kelly said.
"At eleven." she nodded.
"I wanna go with you..." he told her.
He wanted to see how Alyssa was coming along after the surgery she'd had six months ago. She had just finished an extra eight weeks of PT, trying to get some more strength and increase her range of motion..and he was anxious to see if she needed more treatment.
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Kelly had taken a four month leave of absence from the department when Lyssa had the surgery. How could he not? She had nursed him through God only knew how many things...sprains, strains, bruises, broken bones. But what he hadn't realized, was that while she was taking care of him, she was also taking care of everyone else too.
He thought he would go crazy...four kids on different schedules...some days he felt like he was being pulled in four different directions. And he didn't even think about how hard it was to keep up with the house, the laundry...how the hell did she do it?
Those four months had given him a new appreciation for his wife...that's for sure.
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"I figured as much..." Alyssa said. "Mouch is taking Lexi when he comes to get Maggie. He said he'll walk her around the museum while Maggie's at her class."
Last summer Mouch, a retired firefighter from 51 had found a program at the Chicago Children's Museum for Maggie...and he'd taken her every day for three weeks. She had loved it so much, that he signed up again. It was their special thing...and now Lexi was getting in on the act.
Kelly nodded...
That was another thing. Station 51 was like a family, whether you were on the job or not. And the kids were like everybody's kids. His...Hermann's...and Darden's, before he was killed. Their mom had taken them and moved to Florida years ago.
Severide hadn't thought of Ben and Griffin in years. Griffin was in his twenties now...Ben was probably right around twenty. He wondered what they were doing...did they go to college? Did they just go to work? Did they want to be firefighters?
Oh well...that was in the past.
He made a mental note to go by the cemetery to Darden's grave. He hadn't been there in a while.
But right now he could hear the twins moving around upstairs and he leaned down to give Lyssa a kiss before they were interrupted by the pitter-patter of little feet.