A/N: This chapter came a lot faster than I thought it would. Probably from watching the crossover event last night, haha

A/N2: I own nothing but my characters and plot...


Two

Walking home from the grocery store wasn't something she did a lot, especially not a night time. It had been a week since she yelled at her neighbor and she hadn't seen him since she stormed out of her own apartment. After she got off shift the next morning, she came home to flowers and cookies from the bakery from Jay. It made her feel bad about how she treated him. She knew that she hadn't told many people about why she is so emotional that day, but maybe she should reconsider telling some of her friends about it. If she was honest with herself, she knew she owed it to Jay to tell him the truth.

Pausing against an old brick building, she pulled out her cell and pulled off her glove off and shoved it into her pocket. Unlocking her phone, she went into her contacts and found Jay's information and texted him.

Avery: I'm sorry about last week. And I should have said thank you for the gifts earlier.

Jay: We cool then?

Avery: I think I might want to talk about it, if you are up for it.

Jay: Tonight?

Avery: How about Friday night? I'll bring the wine you bring the food?

Jay: How does Chinese sound?

Avery: Perfect.

With a smile on her face, Avery placed her phone back into her pocket and placed her glove back on her her way back to her place with her bag of groceries and a pint of ice cream, she couldn't help but feel better. Maybe talking about Brandon was something that she needed to do, maybe she should have done it years ago. Only that meant talking about her father and that was something that she couldn't do. It was still painful to even think about him or what he did.

Avery was five feet from the entrance of her building when she saw three men. Two of them had what looked like guns out. That's when she heard two loud pops and the third man fell down and didn't move. With her experience as a paramedic, she knew that he was dead. Doing her best not be noticed by the two murderers, she made her way to entrance of the apartments and entered her key code. That was when she looked back and saw one of them looking in her direction. Quickly, she moved behind the door and made her way to the stairs to get to her apartment. Once she was behind her own apartment door she locked it and didn't turn on any lights.

Swiftly she put everything away and then went to her bedroom. She wasn't sure if she should call someone or not. Would anyone believe her? Avery knew what she saw, but now she was terrified. Would those men come after her? Did they see her? God, she hoped they wouldn't.

She just had to get through the night, then she would go to work and after that she would see Jay and she could tell him what she saw. Maybe she was wrong? But that wasn't likely. She just watched at two men killed someone. It was a needless thing to do, murder never solved anything. At least not in her opinion and boy did she have an opinion on the subject.

Pulling her phone out of her pocket once more, she went to her texts and opened her thread with Jay. It was easy since she had just texted him not too long ago.

Avery: Are you by chance home right now?

Jay: No, working a case. No one is leaving tonight until we get this guy. I promise I'll be there tomorrow night.

Avery: You still have my coffee cup?

Jay: How can you tell with a cupboard full of them?

Avery: Because it happens to be the one you always take when you steal coffee from me. Btw, I got you some coffee for your place.

Jay: Haha, I'm still getting it from your place. Maybe I'll buy a cup and leave it there.

Avery: Dream on. Maybe I'll teach you how to make a good cup of coffee instead.

Jay: I gotta go, meeting my team.

Avery: Stay safe, Jay. All of you.

Jay: Will do.


Firehouse 51

"Hey, Casey!" Sylvie Brett, the paramedic in charge of Ambulance 61 called to the Lieutenant in charge of Fire truck 81.

"Yeah?"

Walking over to Matt Casey, she gave him a small smile. "You haven't seen Avery have you? She was supposed to be here three hours ago and no one has seen her. I tried calling her cell but it just rings before voicemail picks up."

"You think something might be wrong?" he questioned her.

"In all the time that she has been here at 51, how many times has she been late? Or not called in if she was going to be late?" Sylvie asked him.

"Alright, I know where she lives," Matt said. "I'll take Kelly and head over there to see if there is anything wrong."

"Thanks," Sylvie said. "I hope I'm wrong, but this just isn't like her."

"Don't worry, we'll check it out."

"Thank you."

Matt watched as Sylvie walked away and he went to Chief Boden's office. There was no way that Avery just didn't show up to work. It just wasn't how she worked. If there was a car issue she would have called someone for a ride or something, not showing up at all wasn't how she did things. She might have only been here for half a year, but she was family and very dependable.

Knocking on the door to Chief Boden's office, he saw that his friend Kelly Severide was already in there. That worked perfectly since now he wouldn't have to repeat himself with the story.

"You need something Casey?" Chief Boden's deep voice asked as he watched the young lieutenant walk in and close the door. After a moment of silence he looked between Matt Casey and Kelly Severide. "Lieutenant?"

"Brett just came to me," Casey said as he crossed his arms over his chest. "Avery is three hours late and she hasn't called. Also when Brett called her she said it rings before voicemail picks up."

"You think something is wrong?" Kelly questioned him.

"I think it is possible," Casey admitted. "She has been here for six months and not once has she ever been late to work without calling someone with a good reason. The fact that she isn't even picking up her phone has me worried."

"That doesn't sound like Avery at all." Kelly admitted as he looked from Casey to Chief Boden. "Chief, we know where she lives. Would you mind if we go and see if we can find her or something there?"

"Let Herman know he's in charge of the truck until you get back," Boden told them as he nodded his head in approval. "Let me know what you find."

"Will do Chief." Both Kelly and Casey told him as they headed for the door.


Parking their car on the street in front of Avery's building, Kelly Severide got out of the passenger side and looked around. He was searching to see if he could see anything that would make her not show up for work, but there was nothing obvious on the outside.

Using the key code that she gave Matt for use of emergency, he keyed it in and waited for Kelly to enter before walking inside himself. Using the stairs, the two of them made it to the right floor and went to the apartment. Knocking on the door, there was no response. Then Kelly used his fist and pounded loudly on the door. "Avery, open the door."

"She's not home," the voice of Jay Halstead said from across the hall. "She's at work."

Turning Matt Casey looked at him and shook his head hiding his surprise at seeing the police officer there. "No, she was supposed to show up three hours ago and no one in the house has seen or heard from her."

"Are you sure?" Jay asked, taken back by the news that his friend and neighbor hadn't shown up to work. "Give me a second, I have a key to her place."

The two firefighters nodded their heads, but kept knocking on the door in hopes she would hear them and open the door. Without saying a word, the two of them knew the other one was worried about the paramedic. She was a good fit at Firehouse 51 and they really hoped it wasn't anything serious.

It didn't take Jay long to reappear with the key to her apartment. Once he unlocked it, the three of them walked inside. That was when they knew something was wrong, the place was completely trashed.

Papers were all over the entry way, the glass table by the door was shattered. There was no way that Avery would do this to her own apartment. Her shelf of movies and tv shows were thrown all around and the shelf was on the floor broken along with two of her tall floor lamps. Bending down, Jay pulled out his clutch piece at his ankle and surveyed the room.

Kelly made his way to the bedroom as Jay and Matt carefully walked around the main room, making sure no one else was in the apartment. When Jay got to the other side of the couch, he could feel his stomach plummet.

"Oh god! Avery!"

Swiftly making his way to where his friend was laying on her side where there was a pool of blood next to her. He made sure to be careful as not to disturb the scene.

"Call for an ambulance!" Jay yelled at Matt Casey as he felt for a pulse. "Her pulse is slow, but it's there."

"What the hell happened here?" Kelly asked as he came back into the main room. "Who would do this?"

"I have no idea," Jay said shaking his head as Casey made the call. "But I intend to find out."

Luckily for them, it didn't take the ambulance long to arrive. And when it did, it was from Firehouse 51. Sylvie and one of the paramedics from swing shift came in. Sylvie knew that she had been right, but now wasn't the time to talk about it, she had to help her friend make it to the hospital.

"We need to intubate her," Sylvie said out loud. "One of you riding with her?"

"I'm riding with you," Jay told them. "Make sure you head to Med."

As soon as it was done and Avery was on the backboard, they had her on the stretcher and they were heading towards the ambulance. Jay was shaking his head as he climbed in the back with Sylvie. How could anyone hurt Avery in such a way and leave her for dead?


Upon getting to Chicago Med, Jay didn't see his brother but that didn't mean he was going to leave Avery if he didn't have to. Maggie, the nurse in charge was surprised to see him, he could tell by the look she gave him. When her gaze turned to the one on the stretcher, she took a deep breath. As a paramedic, Avery had a working relationship with the staff at the hospitals that they transported the victims to.

"Avery?"

"She was beaten severely. We found her in her apartment." Jay said looking at Maggie.

"Dr. Manning! Trauma Room Three is open for you."

Nodding her head, the brunette doctor rushed over to the patient. Following the stretcher they went into the room and as carefully as possible they moved her from the stretcher to the bed. Jay watched from the entrance as the nurses and Dr. Manning worked on her injuries. "Do we know what happened?"

"She was three hours late for work," Jay said speaking up. "Two of the firefighters from House 51 came to see if she was home. I had stopped by to get something when I heard them. I have a key to her apartment for emergencies, so when they told me she hadn't shown up I unlocked the door and the place was destroyed and she was laying on her side with a pool of blood near her."

"There is a deep cut to her abdomen. We packed it the best we could," Sylvie said. "We had to intubate before we could transport her."

Dr. Natalie Manning looked back at them. "We will do our best," she told them as another look at her stats. "Do we know her blood type?"

"She's A positive," Sylvie told them. "We donated at an event and she said she was A+."

"I need some bags of A positive," Dr. Manning ordered. "I also need a complete panel, tox screen, rape kit and a pregnancy test."

"You think she was raped?" Jay questioned her as he took out his phone.

"I don't know, but I don't want to take a chance-" Dr. Manning stopped mid sentence as she saw that Avery's vitals were crashing. "I'm sorry but you need to leave. I need a crash cart!"


A/N: Here's chapter two! Hope you liked it! Let me know what you think!