A/N: Firstly, I am super duper sorry for the long wait, its been absolutely ages! School has been crazy, not that that's any excuse. I owe a bigger sorry to stagediva23, she's been waiting for the new chapter for a while haha. Hope you enjoy it!

Casey had just finished his tea and was beginning to start a new crossword puzzle when the recognisable buzz of the alarm went off.

"Truck 81 and Squad 3 required at 27 Vernon Park Place. House fire."

Alarm bells started ringing in Casey's head, taking over every sense and feeling with pure anxiety. Hadn't Dawson and Shay just gone there? He shot a glance at Severide across the table, both faces plastered with concern, and they leaped from the table to run over to their vehicles.

"Mouch, lets get going!" Casey shouted after observing that the firefighter still hadn't left the couch. He could see that Cruz and Otis understood what was going on — the familiar look of unease in his co-workers' eyes gave him the reassurance of support.

Casey threw open the fire truck door and started the engine, waiting for the rest of his men to climb into the back. The pressing idea of Dawson in danger enveloped his head; he knew how seconds could be the difference between life and death in fires. Casey pulled out of the firehouse and broke numerous speeding limits on the way to the house — he didn't care. Different scenarios began playing out in his head; what if Dawson and Shay hadn't gotten out of the building? What if they were trapped inside? ...What if Dawson was already dead? Tears began welling up in his eyes; afraid of what he might find when they arrived. Hermann, sitting next to him noticed Casey's distress and did his best to reassure him.

"Hey, Casey. There gonna be fine. They're probably not even in the house, alright?" Hermann rubbed Casey's shoulder comfortingly. "Don't worry."

Casey wiped away his tears with one hand in embarrassment and coughed. "Thanks, Hermann." He tried his best just to focus on driving the truck and getting to them as soon as possible without his emotions interfering. His fellow firefighters had no idea about him and Dawson, how he felt about her... About how he messed it up last time. No one was expecting Casey to react so extremely to the minor chance of Dawson or Shay being in danger.

After what seemed like hours, they arrived at Vernon Park Place. Casey's eyes desperately darted around, hoping, wishing to see the paramedics outside somewhere, but couldn't find them.

In pure panic, Casey radioed Boden. "Chief, they're not outside. I'm going in." Casey had never been this reckless before, but he couldn't help it. Yes, he was directly disobeying his initial orders to wait for Squad to put out most of the fires before going inside, but he would do anything not to find Dawson's charred body inside.

"Casey, do not enter that house. Let Rescue Squad take care of it." Chief's urgency coming from the radio was washed away by the urgency in Casey's head. Casey didn't care if he got in trouble for this. He grabbed his helmet and rushed towards the burning building, breaking the door down with his shoulder.

"Casey! Wait!" He could hear Severide calling and running into the building after him.

The initial heat of the fires engulfing the house was more intense than anything Casey had ever experienced before, but his desperation to find Dawson took priority over everything else. He took a moment to adjust his vision to the orange fiery, raging flames before shouting out for the paramedics.

"Dawson, Shay! Call out!"

A wave of relief washed over him when he heard the familiar call of Shay.

"Casey, over here!"

Both Casey and Severide rushed towards the sound of her voice, but the lack of any sound from Dawson made Casey apprehensively anxious. After figuring out which room Shay was in, they ran in to see her lying straight down on the floor with tears streaming down her face.

"Help her!" Shay rasped miserably before releasing a strained cough.

Casey didn't need to be told what happened for him to realise what had happened to Dawson. He sprinted over to where Shay was lying and upon seeing Dawson, his heart broke into a million pieces. In front of him was Dawson's broken, battered body pinned under the slab of concrete.

Severide bolted over to the dizzy Shay, cautiously lifting her up and examining her face for any wounds.

"Shay, hey. We need to get you out of here, ok? The fire's spreading."

Shay, in protest, refused to leave Dawson.

"Listen, you need to be outside to treat her when she gets out — we'll do everything we can to save her." Severide carried the paramedic out of the room, much to her objection.

Casey stared into Dawson's fading eyes, feeling completely helpless. He pulled off his helmet, not interested in his own safety.

"Stay alive, Gabby. Stay alive for me." Casey said, his voice shaky.

Dawson smiled weakly, not thinking Casey would care this much about her.

"Hey, Matt. About time." Dawson joked before wincing in pain.

Casey returned a smile of solace, doing everything he could to give her a bit of hope.

"I promise we're going to get you out of here, ok?"

The image of Dawson in so much pain shattered Casey's heart. He would do absolutely anything for them to switch positions. Gabby was good, innocent. She didn't deserve this. He watched in torment as an incessant flow of thick blood trickled down her face, sticking to her beautiful hair and her perfect eyebrows. Staring at her face, he was completely oblivious of the raging fires surrounding them.

At Severide's return with a group of Rescue Squad members, Casey stood up to try and lift the concrete with their help.

Before they had a chance, Severide stopped them.

"Wait a minute!" Severide shouted in anguish and took a few seconds to examine the room's structure. Casey knew something was wrong when Severide's face creased with despair.

"The concrete's attached to that beam over there. You lift it even an inch and the roof collapses."

Casey stared in unnerving disbelief at Severide while he radioed Chief Boden.

"Chief, we're gonna need some help."