Chapter 2 The call

The car ride was quiet, Rafferty drifted in and out of sleep, her head resting on the passenger side window. Shay was trying to completely focus on driving but caught herself glancing over at Rafferty a couple of times. The only talking was Rafferty giving very vague directions to where she resided.

They pulled up to a pretty fancy looking apartment complex. Shay scanned the area, "Is this right?" She looked over at Rafferty who was practically unconscious. She paused for a moment, just staring at her sleeping partner before shaking her head and bringing herself back to reality. "Hey, Rafferty, You are home."

The drunken woman responds to her name, waking up and shifting to exit the vehicle. She opens the passenger door and stumble on to the road, a passing car is forced to swerve as Rafferty doesn't pay attention to her surroundings. Shay jumps out of the car and rushes over to Rafferty grabbing her shoulders and directing her towards the building. "Ok, time to get off the road."

The two stepped up onto the side walk and Rafferty pull away from Shay suddenly. "Don't touch me!"

"Sorry." Shay mumbled as she stepped back slipping her hands into her pants pockets. Rafferty pressed paused on the hostility for a moment and just stared at her partner, as if trying to figure out the next best/worst thing to say. Shay shook her head and turn to get into her car.

"Shay, wait!" Shay turned back around to face Rafferty with an expression that said- I am not going to take any more of your drunken crap.

Rafferty stepped closer to Shay putting her hand out towards her. Shay looked confused and just stood there. "You have my keys." Rafferty finally said.

"Oh! Right." Shay pulled them out from her pocket and place the gently into Rafferty's hand. Rafferty didn't snatch them away as Shay expected instead she allowed Shay's hand to light graze over her own before stepping back towards her building.

"Thanks. I'll see you at work." Rafferty turned and went inside the building. It took Shay a second to realize she was watching her leave before she stopped herself. Shay got in her car and drove home; all the while thinking about what was Rafferty thinking about tonight. She never did get an answer.

The next morning, to Shay's surprise, Rafferty entered the firehouse dining area holding two large coffees. Shay was sitting with Severide chatting and laughing. Both became silent and confuse when Rafferty walked up to them, "Hey." She placed one of the coffees down in front of Shay. "I just wanted to say thank you for last night. –for the ride, I mean." Severide turned to Shay with wide eyes, anxious to see and hear her reaction. "Oh…" was all Shay could stammer out followed by a quiet and an unsure "You're welcome?" that came out more as a question rather than a statement. Rafferty nodded once and left the dining area. Shay was thrown by the change of personality, suddenly she appeared… nice?

Severide grabbed the coffee while Shay was distracted and took a sip. Shays head snapped too looked at him. "What? I'm making sure it's not poisoned." He smiled having another sip before putting the coffee back down on the table.

A loud siren sounded through the fire house and then Shay heard "Ambulance 51" amongst an address and information about a stab victim. She jumped out of seat and rushed for the ambulance, taking her coffee with her.

Rafferty was already in the passenger seat of the ambulance ready to go when Shay jump in through the driver's side door. They sped out of the station into the streets.

An elderly woman waved them down near an old style, abandoned house. Shay stopped the ambulance and jumped out to meet the woman, who looked in distress. "He ran into the house- I- I tried to get him to lie down…" the woman was nearly hyperventilating. Rafferty came around from the other side of the ambulance and met up with Shay. "We got a stab victim who ran, IN THERE." Shay pointed to the run down house, clearly not enthused about entering it. Rafferty sighed, "Then were going, IN THERE." Rafferty pointed as well as grabbing Shays arm and leading her to the old house.

They got to the door and both immediately noticed the smeared blood across the handle. Shay slowly pushed open the door revealing a blood trail on the ground leading further into the house; she followed the blood with Rafferty close behind her. They got to the back of the house to what looked like a sitting area.

A young man (no older than twenty) is sitting on the ground covered in blood. He is breathing rapidly holding his stomach with one hand as the red liquid poured out and a small blade with the other. He tightens his grip on the knife when he sees the two paramedics enter the room.

"Hey there…" Shay starts. "We are going to need you to put that knife down, so we can help you."

"Get out!" was his only response. Rafferty loaded a syringe standing safely behind Shay as she tried to calm the man down.

"Look, we can't leave. You have lost too much blood, if you don't let us help you, you WILL bleed to death." Shay sounded stern and the victim did respond for a second, looking slightly afraid as she told him he was going to die. Shay inched closer and closer and Rafferty circled around slightly holding the syringe out of sight.

Shay knelt down in front of him looking him dead in the eyes, never once breaking contact. "We are going to help you." She said. The man tried to hold the knife up but he was clearly losing his strength.

Shay turned away for a moment to reach for her kit, breaking eye contact for only a second- The man lifted his weapon up with all his energy and was so close from slashing Shay when Rafferty lunged at him, digging the needle into his arm and injecting him. He and Shay looked surprised before his eyes rolled back and he was unconscious.

"Alright, let's stabilize him and get him out of here." Rafferty said. Shay just looked shocked as her partner continued normally.

"Thanks." She muttered after the man was stable. Rafferty just smiled, a genuine smile and Shay couldn't help but smile back.