It was a few hours later when Firehouse 51 saw a familiar blue van pulling up the driveway, everyone knew it was Heather Darden. It was just Casey that went out to greet the widow with a box containing her late husband's belongings. Sasha, more than anything, wanted to go out and embrace the mother of 2 but knew that Heather was lost in her grief and anger, some of it aimed at the young Lieutenant. Heather Darden had made it clear that she didn't wish to ever set foot in Firehouse 51, and most people understood that. Having lost her beloved husband only a month ago, and now raising 2 young boys who were still confused about their circumstances, Sasha could sympathise, and so she remained inside. She stood with Kelly who watched the exchange between the grieving widow and Truck Lieutenant, he was sad and hurt that Heather would rather converse with the man that he believed was responsible for his friend's death.

"She needs time Kelly. She'll come around" she said snaking an arm around his shoulders and nuzzling into him.

"Yeah..." he sighed shrugging her off and walking away.

She had noticed he'd been off for a little while now, she thought it was for sure just from Andy's death, but lately it seemed like something more. He was being more secretive and sneaking around and she wasn't liking where these signs were pointed. She knew it wasn't her place to question his decisions in his personal life, it's not like they were together, but he was still her best friend. And after losing Andy, she wasn't all that keen on losing another brother.

Next day

"Oooo Lieutenant Casey's making Saturday Corned Beef! I must be in heaven," Sasha exclaimed, making her way to the kitchen. The truck boys usually took over the lounge area, knowing that Severide and the Squad boys made a habit of marking their table as Squad territory. But Sasha was different, she liked coming and hanging out with 81, Joe Cruz being another bestie in the house.

"You still made the best Chicken Parmigiana I ever put in my mouth though," she heard Mouch call from his usual spot on the couch.

"Why did that sound oddly sexual Mouch?"

"I don't know what you're talking about little lady."

"Oh, dear God, I'm walking away from you now."

She snuck up behind Joe, wrapping arms around his torso, "So Casey, you picking a new side gig? Holly Homemaker?"

"Oh, ha ha, call everyone for chow."

Sasha turned around and barely above a whisper did she call for lunch. She swung back around to Casey with an eyebrow raised, "Really?"

She shrugged her shoulders, "What? I'm a growing girl. I don't wanna have to knock your boys on their asses before I get my protein in for the day." She smiled, eyeing up the platter of delicious meat

Casey rolled his eyes and called the rest of the house to the kitchen for lunch. She waited patiently till the truck Lieutenant officially set lunch, her soul focus was on the meaty platter in front of her. The guys from truck were already tucking in at the long table before the rest of Squad 3 made their way to the kitchen. She could tell from the way that Kelly was carrying himself that he wasn't all that into Casey making lunch. When she saw that he eyed up the platters that Matt had been slaving over but diverted to eating an apple she spoke up,

"Really Kelly? Stop being so childish please?"

He looked to her then to Casey and finally bit into the apple swaggering back out to his leather chair outside. She just rolled her eyes and gave Casey a sympathetic look before turning back to her food. She knew that Casey had followed Kelly outside but knew that the boys needed to sort their problems out on their own.

Later that night

Sasha and Joe were sitting at the table, playing an intense game of 'Go-Fish' when she heard Otis and the others talking about the Mayor's visit. She was on the winning end of the game when Casey told Truck 81 they'd be going for a ride to watch Chief Bowden's boxing match.

"You lose by default!"

"Hey, no fair. I have to obey my commanding officer!"

"Not my problem Cruz. You owe me beer and pretzels. I will expect my reward before next shift."

He rolled his eyes and followed his company out to their rig.

After about 10 minutes she heard Otis' commentary coming through the house radio. Sasha thought Mr Brian Svonecek could actually be quite the entertainer sometimes, he definitely made her laugh. Capp and Hadley joined her sitting around the radio listening in on the fight updates for the firefighters versus policemen boxing match.

"What's that?" she hadn't noticed Kelly coming over as well,

"That is Otis" Capp said. It seemed to interest Kelly and he made Sasha get out of her seat so she could sit on his lap. She turned the radio up so that everyone could hear more clearly,

"Chief Bowden won back in 1992..." she heard him giving a brief history about the beef between their esteemed Chief Bowden and the man who took his second wife back in the day.

"There goes the bell, and here we go"

She could feel Kelly rubbing small circle on her back with his thumb. It was comforting knowing that even though she stood up for some of the truck boys, and was constantly wanting the feud between the commanding Lieutenants to end, that she still had her best friend there. Even if he was up to something.

"1. 2. 3 to the chin. Bowden's already in trouble folks."

She was getting frustrated now,

"Come on Chief!" she exclaimed, while her squad friends sniggered.

The chief finally started getting some momentum in the fight when the alarm bells went off

Accident building fire. 241 South Franklin Street. Ambulance 61. Engine 51. Truck 81. Squad 3.

Gearing up, the team made their way to the rig, the girls in 61 having already left and Truck 81 at the boxing match. It wasn't unusual for things like that to happen. Just when things seem to be quiet, or something important was about to happen, the Firehouse gets called out in full force.

Approaching the burning building, Sasha could already see the billowing flames trying to escape in search of Oxygen. It was a fire like this that started her Candidacy at 51. Not a night she liked to remember.

Of course Squad arrived after Truck had entered, them having been closer to the scene. It made her wonder how the new candidate was doing on his first fire. Truck 81 had already managed to get most of the residents out of the building before Squad had showed, but that was when a loud collapse inside the building was heard. The chief had alerted them to the fact that Casey and Hermann were both in the basement.

Sasha followed Kelly into the building searching for the collapse sight and the fallen firefighters. Their pass alarms could be heard blearing, which was not a great sign. Severide called for a ladder to the 5th floor, west side window to get Otis and Vargas out of the building safely, then turned to assess the scene where the motionless firefighters lay.

"Get me ropes." He called to Capp, "Cannon and me will go down."

The team hooked Severide and Buchanan up to a rope pulley system and anchored themselves to the floor above,

"Down. Down. Lower." They both relayed to their teams before touching down on the ground "Offline."

Severide went to assess Hermann while Sasha went for Casey. She heard him coughing a bit, a good sign that his body was still fighting the smoky environment. Hermann on the other hand didn't seem to be reacting to anything which was never a good sign.

"Lieutenant. Get up." She yelled, hoping Casey could walk and be able to hold his weight. "Can't miss the Mayor's visit, Casey. You alright?"

"It's cooking down here. We need to get Hermann out now." Severide yelled urgently into his radio. The two other Lieutenants turned to see Severide turning Hermann over and noticing he wasn't getting any air through his smoke mask. So, Kelly quickly took his own off and putting it over Christopher's face, in the hopes that what little Oxygen he could get from the mask was enough to keep him alive till he got outside.

The team worked quickly to get Hermann up to stable ground and out of the burning building as quickly as possible. Not an easy feat in barely any visibility and an unconscious firefighter. The hooked Sasha and Hermann up to the pulley system and the team up top pulled them up. She and Capp then went on to carry Hermann out to the Paramedics, although she wanted to, she didn't dare look back. She had to focus on the barely conscious man in her arms, not the 2 stuck on the basement level.

When they reached Shay and Gabby, Capp and Sasha helped lift Hermann onto the gurney, waiting to hear the paramedics' assessment of his health. Though when she saw that he was in good hands she turned back to the building, wanting to run back in, but the Chief stopping her.

"They'll be fine Cannon, no one is going back in."

She knew better than to question her Chief's decisions, he had personal experience with allowing firefighters into buildings when they shouldn't.

"Yes sir."

She could hear the stress in Gabby's voice as she assessed Hermann, and she was worried…but she still hadn't seen Kelly come out of the building. Then she heard a group of coughing fits and knew the others had made it out.

No matter how many burning buildings she ran into, she always felt the stress that came with knowing her best friend was still in danger. She didn't particularly care about the arrival of the Mayor, only that her Squad members were out and safe.

She looked around and saw the huge smile on the candidates face. He must've been stoked at the results of his first fire.

"Candidate! Congratz on your first fire. You can now call yourself a firefighter." She called over to him with an equally big smile of her own. She turned back to Capp who was giving her a knowing smirk and wiggling his eyebrows,

"Shut it cue ball." They laughed making their way back into the rig, preparing to get back home.

After shift, while everyone was getting ready to leave the firehouse, she noticed Kelly in the kitchen, eating a piece of Casey's corned beef.

"Well well well, he finally caved. I knew you couldn't resist Saturday Corned Beef."

She smiled when he turned to smirk at her, "Well I am a growing boy."

"Yeah yeah, let's go get a drink and head over to Lakeshore."

She smiled linking arms with her long time best friend.

Later

They made their way into the waiting room of the hospital finding nearly the entire Truck team together waiting for updates on their friend and brother. She quickly made her way over to sit on Joe Cruz, making herself comfortable in his lap. The whole lot of them looked like they needed long baths and 10 hours sleep, but here they were, waiting to make sure Hermann was going to be okay. That's what it meant to be a part of Firehouse 51, to be a part of their family. They were supposed to be there for one another, for the good and the bad. Hopefully they would continue getting back on that path, after all they had been through and were going to go through, that is what they were going to need.