Disclaimer: Chicago Fire is a property of NBC and Dick Wolf. The only thing I own is my imagination.
Ok so this idea came to me as I started writing my second chapter of Grief and Gain. While Severide is dealing with the aftermath of Shay's death, there's a story that I felt was worth telling. Christie and Violet are trying to navigate through their new living arrangements along with a new school and I felt that Violet's cry for help was worth telling. So here is a one shot told from Violet's perspective.
I was waiting in a diner for my uncle Matt to come meet me. I had called him and said that we'd have breakfast with my mother to make sure he would come. I was wearing a blackhawk's cap in an attempt to hide the latest evidence of another day gone wrong at school. When he locked eyes on me, his smile grew. He was clearly glad to see me.
"Hey, there she is." He kissed me on the cheek and sat across from me.
"Hey uncle Matt, thanks for coming."
"Where's your mom? You told me your mom was going to be there, what's going on?" I gave him a guilty look and looked down at the table. "Hey, look at me." He got up from his chair and leaned across the table. He removed my cap and moved my hair aside to reveal a nasty looking bruise around my right eye. "Violet." I could hear the worry in his voice.
"Mom doesn't know I'm here."
"What happened to you?"
"I got into a fight at school. You can't tell mom because I'm already in trouble. Can you sign this for me?" I slid my detention slip in his direction, praying he'd say yes.
"What happened to the latin school?" I could see he was out of the loop on so many things.
"I had to switch when we moved."
"You moved?"
"Can you sign it or not?" I was almost begging for him to do it so I could avoid another argument with mom about fighting.
"Yeah, I'll sign it." We ate breakfast and he asked me more questions about our latest living situation and how it came about. I vaguely told him what mom had shared with me and made him promise not to tell my mom about detention before we went our seperate ways. I had to be at school in thirty minutes and he had shift. I took the bus and when I got down, I waited on the sidewalk and hoped today was a better one then yesterday. I walked through the day with my head down, trying not to attract attention from the girl that had given me the bruise on my face. I took the bus after my last class and made it back home. As soon as I stepped foot into the house, I knew uncle Matt hadn't kept his promise of not telling mom about the detention.
"Violet, sweetie, we need to talk."
"Mom." I tried.
"Sit down Violet." I took a seat on the couch and waited for the lecture.
"Mom, I didn't want you to worry."
"This is not about me worrying Violet. You need to stop getting into fights."
"But you didn't hear what these other kids are saying mom."
"That is not a reason to get into fights."
"I'm only standing up for myself mom." I got up and was about to walk away when she spoke up.
"Go to your room and do your homework."
I didn't object and went up the stairs of the new house and closed the door to my room a little louder than my mom would like but nothing happened to show for it. I took my books out of my bag and started doing the ton of homework I had. I went back down when mom called me for diner and as quickly as I was done eating, I was back in my room for another round of homework. I didn't listen to the other sounds around me except the sound of my pencil on my paper until I heard two voices talking downstairs. I slowly got up and sat at the top stair so they wouldn't see me eavesdrop on their conversation.
"It's been going on for a year now?" I could hear the sadness in my moms voice as she talked with uncle Matt.
"At least, maybe longer."
"I thought we could work things out." she sobbed.
"I know."
"He allowed me to believe that."
"You don't have to go through this alone Christie, I'll be right by your side. We're going to get you a good lawyer." So it was true. What these girls were saying was true. Dad didn't love us anymore and wanted to leave us.
"No. I'm tired of fighting. I just want to settle this and be done with it."
"Christie, you can't let him get away with this."
"Matt, it's my life, I just want to get on with it." She was crying again. I saw Matt sit closer to her and wrap her in his arms. For a long time, uncle Matt ans my mom hadn't spoken because of what grandma had done to grampa and since she had been released from prison and put them back on the right track, uncle Matt had been in our lives. I ventured farther down the stairs when moms cries became louder.
"Mom?" uncle Matt got up and came to stand in front of me.
"Hey. Listen, I've been where you are Violet, it's going to be ok, I promise you that." One look in his blue eyes that matched moms told me he was going to make things better this time. "Come here." I walked down an extra stair and into his arms and wrapped mine around his neck. A few days later, mom talked to me about getteing her teachers certification back so we could start a new kind of life so when she was up to pass the test, she drove me to the firehouse so someone could keep an eye on me. Uncle Matt made his way to us when he saw us from the garage doors.
"Hey, you guys. You guys ok?"
"Hey uncle Matt."
"Sorry to bother you." My mom started but she was cut off by uncle Matt.
"You're not, what's going on?"
"I'm on my way to pass the teacher's test, you know to get recertified. I couldn't get a sitter. Do you think I could drop Violet off for an hour, maybe too tops?"
"Yeah, yeah. Hey, you want to go say hi to Pouch?" I smiled at uncle Matt's question and made my way into the firehouse in search of the dog, leaving both adults to finish their conversation. I went in and said hi to everyone before petting Pouch. Then she followed me towards the aparatus floor where i sat on the bumper of ambulance 61 and she just sat at my feet. I grabbed my phone when it dinged and found a vine video made from my friends at the latin school. I was watching it over and over as it looped onto itself when uncle Matt found me.
"What do you have there?"
"My friends from the latin school sent me a vine." He just sat on the bumper next to me.
"Hey, you ok?"
"I miss my house, and my school. I don't know why my dad is doing this to us. I don't know what I did." Matt pulled me in his arms and I snuggled against him, crying.
"It's not your fault, it's going to be ok. I promised." He looked me in the eyes to validate that I believed him.
He looked up and got up. "I'll be right back." I saw him go talk to a guy from Squand, Newhouse I think so I just went back to looking at my phone. Mom came to pick me up about two hours later as promised and we went back home. We ate and waited for uncle Matt and aunt Gabby to come over after their shift. Dad came by while we waited and mom sent me upstairs again so they could talk. After he was gone, we just waited together, snuggled on the couch.
"Why don't you get ready for bed while we wait for uncle Matt to come."
"Sure mom." I went upstairs and changed into my pj's and started my routine before bed. I finished brushing my teeth as the door to my room opened and I heard uncle Matt's voice.
"Violet?" he called out. I quickly ran to him and hugged him before pulling away.
"We're moving back to our old house and I'm going back to my old school."
"Yeah, I heard."
"I'm so happy."
"Your mom is too."
"I know."
"Come on I'll tuck you in."
"I knew you'd fix it uncle Matt.
"It turned out ok huh?"
"Yeah."
He kissed me on the forehead. "You know I'll always be there for you." I nodded and he turned off the light before leaving my room. After all that had happened and all that uncle Matt had done for us, I had no doubt that he'd be there for us always. I closed my eyes and fell asleep quickly, grateful to have uncle Matt back in our lives.
a/n ok so here it is. So this was supposed to be a one-shot but as I watched the two episodes that inspired my thought for this particular story, I fell in love with angry and protective Matt so I'll just make this a two shot and finish it off with Matt's version of these events.
