Kelly spent the next week trying to get a glimpse of his new neighbor. He wanted to know what her deal was…there had to be something he could learn about her that would help him get her to talk to him.
Dawson told him that he was only interested in her because she had turned him down, which was probably true. But she also seemed like a real bad ass, and he just wanted to have a beer with her…not to mention she was hot. The guys all told him to make sure she knew he was a fireman…that she wouldn't be able to resist him. Due to this fact, Kelly had been all of his CFD shirts around the apartment complex.
It didn't help, though, because the mystery woman had a sporadic schedule and was either out all night or gone all day. She very rarely was in her apartment (at least that Kelly knew of), and he always saw her riding away on an extremely nice motorcycle. The couple times he did catch her in the hallways she was on the phone, usually arguing with someone or giving someone a piece of her mind. He had seen different glimpses of tattoos on her and had even seen her come home with a gym bag with boxing gloves hanging off the side.
Whoever this woman was, she was like nothing he had ever seen before.
CHICAGO FIRE
"Just ask your landlord what her name is," Mouch sighed, sick of hearing about this woman that Severide was too afraid to talk to.
"I can't just do that, Mouch. That's creepy."
"Well then stop being a pansy and knock on her door and ask if she's settling in okay," Mouch sighed. Severide was about to answer when the bells rang out for a call.
Hermann's face paled when he heard the address, looking at the team as he piled into the truck.
"That's a school. Not my kids' school, but I know it's a school."
The team nodded, nervous of what they would find.
CHICAGO FIRE
When the team arrived on the scene they saw a slew of kids, most of them panicking. The teachers were doing their best to get them calm, but the kids were not having it. There was one calm group of children, all sitting in a group at their designated safety spot, listening intently to the woman speaking to them. She nodded to all of them and then stood, moving on to the next group of panicked kids.
The Chief went up to her, her being the only one in control.
"Can you tell us what happened here, Miss?"
"No. I can't. I am assuming it is gang related, but I have absolutely no clue how it started. The fire came from the boilers room and three of the custodial closets. We got all of the kids out before it started spreading. I cleared the building myself," she said, seeming distracted as she watched the swarm of older students getting ansty.
"Are you in charge here?" the Chief asked, the woman laughing.
"If I was in charge here, this wouldn't be happening," she sighed. "Please excuse me and let me know if there is anything I can do to help."
With that the woman went to the group of middle school kids, all of them starting to talk to her at once. The Chief didn't know where the rest of the adults were, as they didn't seem to be helping with anything. As he scanned the area, he saw they were now sitting with the children the woman had already calmed.
The Chief started calling out orders when the woman ran up to him, looking apologetic.
"One of the kids went back in," she said breathlessly, the Chief nodding.
"Where?" he asked, the crew all listening to the exchange, freezing in their tasks.
"He went in the back door and is going back to his classroom. Some of the kids said that he said it was his fault and he was going to burn with the school."
"Do you know this student?" the Chief asked, watching as the school continued to go up in flames.
"Yes. I do. And the kids aren't lying. He will not leave. He is on the second floor in the room on the west corner."
"I'll send my men in for him," the Chief nodded, figuring he had some time to get the guys in for a last sweep before they needed to evacuate. The woman nodded, staying rooted in her spot beside him as he called out orders.
The team couldn't help but notice the woman the Chief was talking to. She was the only one in control, and she seemed to be the only one the students would listen to. Once the Chief told them there was a kid inside, barking out new orders, they snapped into action.
Severide was watching as Casey and his men went in to get the boy who went into the school when he noticed the woman standing beside the Chief. It was her, the woman from his building. She was the one who had been calming all of the kids and calling the shots.
Of course it was her. She was wearing her signature jeans, her curly hair free and an olive tank top on her top half. He noticed a cut on one of her arms, no doubt from helping some kids out of the widow he saw open near the front of the entrance, which was now engulfed with flames.
"He won't leave, Chief. We tried to get him out and he got violent. We lost our exit though. We need the areal and we need more help," Casey said, coming over the radio. The Chief swore, watching as Cruz directed the ladder to the window that Casey was located in.
Severide found his way over to the Chief, wanting to make a plan.
"He's not going to go with you guys. He doesn't want to be saved. You don't know him and he doesn't know you…he has no reason to trust you," the woman said, crossing her arms over her chest. "Let me talk to him," she pleaded, the Chief nodding, handing her his radio. The woman shook her head, pointing to the ladder. "Let me up there. He needs to see someone cares."
"He's got a room full of my men in there risking their lives for him. They care," the Chief said, a bit angry with the woman.
"He doesn't get that. I respect what you do, and I understand that this is real shitty of this kid to do, and that he should let your men do their jobs, but he doesn't know how. He feels useless and worthless and he wants to make up for what he feels is his mistake. This kid has no one in his life, he is trying to get out of gang, currently, and I have no doubt in my mind they started it. Burning is his only way out. So either let me talk to him up on that ladder, supervised by one of your men, or so help me I will run into that building myself and find a way to that room. Sir," the woman said calmly, tears forming in her eyes. Even though she sounded angry and tough, the Chief could tell that this was her last ditch effort to save this boy.
"Severide, take her up there. Leave Casey and Hermann in the room, get the other men down, and then let her up. You have got ten minutes," the Chief said, the woman letting out a sob.
"Thank you," she nodded, pulling herself together as she ran towards the truck. While the team followed the Chief's instructions the rest of the crew began sending water through the east side of the building.
Severide couldn't believe that the woman who had been alluding him all week, who seemed like such a mystery and a badass, worked at a school down the road from the firehouse and was about to climb forty feet in the air to save a child that isn't even hers.
"So when you climb up…" Severide started, the woman hopping onto the apparatus before he could finish talking. He clipped her to his safety belt and watched as she climbed up to the room.
The rest of the team couldn't believe that this woman was doing this…and that the Chief was letting her. Once the students saw their teacher on the apparatus, they calmed and fell silent. Dawson and Brett, who had been helping to calm one of the younger kids were shocked into silence as well.
The woman finally made it to the window, the boy arguing and threatening Casey and Hermann.
"Robby!" the woman shouted, catching the attention of the boy and the firefighters. The woman noticed a knife in the boy's hand but pretended she didn't.
"Miss AJ? What are you doing up here. You gotta get out of here…it's not safe," he pleaded, the woman shaking her head.
"I'm not leaving until you do, Robby," she said, noticing the smoke starting to get thicker in the room. The flames were dancing on one side of the room, not yet reaching the boy.
"I have to stay here. I don't have any other choices. This is because of me. Get out of here," he said angrily, the woman shaking her head. Before Severide noticed what she was doing, she had unclipped herself from his belt, climbing into the room.
"I am not leaving until you do, Robby," she said again, Casey and Hermann helping her ease into the room.
"Severide, what about the harness?" Casey snapped.
"She unclipped it," he hissed, climbing into the window.
"Tell them to leave. You all have to leave," Robby pleaded, the firefighters not knowing what to do. They stood behind the woman in a line, so that the heat from the fire was hitting them.
"They can't leave, Robby. It is their job to help you."
"Well it's not your job. You have to go…this is my fault and I'm gonna fix it," Robby pleaded, the woman shaking her head.
"This is not your fault, Robby. You did the right thing trying to get out of that gang. And what is happening today is on them. They set the fires, they put kids in danger. They did this, not you. You helped. You helped me get the little kids out and you broke up the fight in the hallway between Ben and Ryan. You helped. You are not bad. You are worth saving. This is not your fault. I will help you, Robby. I will help you get safe and away from the gang. I promise. But you have to help me by getting out of here. I can't leave until you do and if you want me to get out of here safely you have to help me," she said calmly, Robby shaking his head, dropping the knife as he wiped his eyes.
"Miss AJ, stop being stupid. I'm not worth it. Just leave…everyone else did and they always do. Just go. I hate you," he cried, the woman shaking her head.
"Do you want me to get hurt?" the woman said. The boy shook his head ferociously. He was becoming hysterical.
"You need to get him out of here soon or we have to leave him," Hermann said gruffly, the woman looking at him with daggers in her eyes.
"I am not leaving. Do you want me to get hurt, Robby?" the woman asked again.
"No…that's why you have to leave."
"I can't. I can't until you do, Robby. I am not leaving you because you are not worthless. I don't leave behind things that are important to me. Now either help me out of this damn building or watch me burn, I do not care. The choice is yours. But you have gotta choose," the woman was slowly walking towards the boy. When she stopped talking she was right in front of him, holding out her arms. The boy fell into them. Even though he was about six feet tall and the woman couldn't have been more than five two in her heeled boots, she stood strong as the boy collapsed into her arms.
"I'm sorry…" he sobbed. The woman kissed his head, turning her body so she could hand him off to Casey. Casey took him over his shoulder, beginning to carry him down the ladder, Hermann spotting them. The woman didn't say anything to Kelly as she climbed back out onto the ladder, talking to the boy calmly as she climbed down the ladder. Just as they got out of the room the flames over took the room, Kelly shaking his head, surprised they had gotten out of there.
Once they were on the ground the woman whipped off her tank top, revealing a camisole. She threw the shirt over the boy's face, leading him over to the ambulance. Once inside, she told Dawson to not use any identifying names for the boy when at the hospital. Dawson nodded, not asking any questions. She could tell this woman knew what she was doing. She trusted her, although she didn't know why.
Before anyone could talk to the woman she was on her phone, talking softly to the person on the other end. Once she hung up she went back with the rest of the children, comforting those who needed comfort, calming the ones who were angry and agitated, and doing whatever she could to keep the kids calm.
The team continued their work, Casey, Hermann, and Severide in a bit of a daze.
They had never seen a kid so willing to die. Casey and Hermann were convinced that the kid wasn't going to make it out of that building. They also were shocked that he didn't combat the woman that came in the room…and that she wasn't afraid of him. They knew she saw the switchblade in his hand because they saw the moment she sighed in relief when he dropped it during her speech. She saved that boys life in a way they wouldn't have been able to, no matter how hard they tried.
Severide couldn't believe she had climbed into a burning building. She was insane. And she was ballsy…he had never heard any one talk to Chief the way she had. She was unafraid. Aside from the bit of emotion she showed when she was asking the Chief to let her into the building, she was a rock.
Now he knew that is wasn't just about her rejecting him and ignoring him…he needed to know her because she was like no one he had ever met.
