Thanks for the reviews/messages. Sorry it has taken me so long to update. My grandmother died and then a couple of weeks later my father did too, so all in all life has been pretty shitty lately and I haven't really felt much like writing or doing much of anything to be honest, so thank you for your patience.


He couldn't pinpoint exactly what it was that pulled him from sleep, but as he tried to rub his aching eyes he felt a tug on the skin on the back of his hand and at the crook of his elbow, there was a pinching sensation around one of his fingers that he couldn't place, and there was a heaviness to his limbs that he couldn't explain.

He opened his eyes before immediately closing them with a quiet groan once the too-bright light hit his retinas. Much more slowly, he cracked open his eyes and gave them a chance to adjust to the brightness of the lights bouncing off the stark white walls. Eventually, he opened his eyes a little wider and tried to take stock of his situation.

The first thing he noticed was that he was surely in a hospital. The mixture of chemical smells, the beeping sounds and low murmuring, the stiff, railed bed and the scratchy gown were clues enough. The pulse ox clipped onto his finger was an odd sensation, needling him a little but not ostensibly painful. It was a similar thing with the catheter and the IV attached to his arm, uncomfortable where the tape keeping them in place pulled against his skin but not overtly sore.

He tried to push himself up a little to try and get a better sense about the rest of him, but the pain that shot through his entire body stopped him dead. His head pounded with the slightest movement and muscles all along his body that hadn't moved for far too long ached as pins and needles spread throughout his limbs, however, that was swiftly overwhelmed by the pain that seemed to centre on his torso, alternating with vicious speed between his abdomen and his chest.

"Easy, Kelly," came a familiar voice from the side. Kelly turned his head towards the sound, clenched his hand around that of whoever had just grasped his palm, but with his eyes screwed shut in pain he hadn't yet been able to place it. "Just breathe in slowly," the voice soothed him. It was low and strong and Kelly knew that he recognised it but the agony seemed to have robbed him of the face that went along with it. "And out," the voice coached him, and Kelly found himself relaxing, aware that even though his sluggish brain seemed determined not to help him out with a name it was at least telling him to trust it. "That's it, nice and slow."

"Boden?" Kelly asked once the worst of the pain had abated somewhat, finally cracking open a single eye while doing his best not to move his head, or indeed any other part of his body.

"Hey, kid," the Lieutenant replied with a small, sad smile. 'Kid' had always seemed entirely wrong for Kelly as a nickname, given how much had fallen on his small shoulders as a boy and how much of his childhood he had lost because of it, but while Boden had sat by the teenager's bedside praying that he make it through without further complications, Kelly had never seemed smaller or more vulnerable, and 'kid' had never seemed more apt.

"What…?" Kelly started, but the dryness of his throat caught up with him and yet another kind of pain reared its ugly head. Luckily, Boden figured out the problem and offered Kelly a couple of ice chips to whet his thirst. Kelly has shown signs of emerging from his sedation for about an hour, and one of the nurses had brought in a small cup of ice chips about ten minutes earlier. It was mostly just a lot of cold water now, but a few bits of ice remained and Kelly gratefully accepted a few before he tried to talk again.

"What happened?" he asked, looking slowly to Boden and taking stock of his appearance. The Lieutenant's thick black moustache was still prominent across his upper lip, but there was a slightly thicker dusting of hair across the rest of his jaw than usual, too, that suggested he hadn't shaved for a couple of days. The bags under his eyes seemed more pronounced, too, and spoke of more than simply a difficult shift. The clothes were casual, not his uniform, but they looked more rumpled than even jeans and a sweater had a right to.

"What happened is that you came to my firehouse and scared ten years off my life," Boden said, only half joking.

Kelly's eyes narrowed in frustration as he tried to fill in the blanks. "The group home…?" he half-asked, half-stated. Boden leaned forward, eager to see just what the kid could recall – hopefully enough to nail Anderson to the wall. "And Cesar…" the stranger who brought Kelly to Fifty-One, Boden remembered. "I…I don't know," Kelly finally said, frustrated with himself and the entire situation, unable to recall what had happened between going to the firehouse and ending up in the hospital.

"Do you remember what happened at the group home?" Boden asked carefully.

Kelly remained quiet for a few minutes and Wallace couldn't quite decide if that was because the boy was struggling to remember or if he simply didn't want to do so.

"I remember," Kelly eventually replied quietly, although by that stage he was no longer looking at the Squad Lieutenant and had curled in on himself, regardless of the pain any movement may have caused him.

"Detective Torretti, Andy Darden's neighbour?" Boden started, waiting to see some sign from the brooding teenager that he recognised the name, unsure of how the boy would react to any cop at the moment. Kelly nodded and finally looked up to meet Boden's gaze, a question in his own eyes. "He's been trying to find out what happened."

"He works homicide," Kelly stated with confusion.

"Apparently, you're friends decided to get him on the case regardless," Wallace said with a smile at the tenacity of the teenager's friends. He had come to know all of them a little better during their stay in the waiting room as they paced and hounded the staff together. Andy, he knew from before, and he had even met Rice at the firehouse a couple of times, but April was a relatively new addition, for all that he had heard plenty about her, and Boden was pleased to see that while Kelly had a lousy support system at home, his friends were fiercely devoted to him.

Boden had listened with a sad little smile as Andy talked about all the ways Kelly had helped him deal with his father's illness and subsequent death, as Scott talked about how Kelly was always there when the violence at home became too much and as April recounted the story of Kelly helping her out with a vicious jock and equally malicious rumours.

The Lieutenant had always known that Kelly was fiercely protective of those he deemed friends, had seen it the very first time he'd shown up at Fifty-One with the Darden boy in tow and sheltered the shy boy from the crasser side of firehouse life with an almost aggressive determination until Andy felt more comfortable in that atmosphere. Sadly, it was also present in the way Kelly defended his mother, even to himself. It was good to see it returned in the love and devotion afforded to him by his friends and the lengths they had gone to in an effort to try and protect him as much as he tried to protect them.

"Anyway, Torretti's on his way," Boden informed Kelly, not wanting to leave the clearly unsettled boy open to surprises of any kind. "He has an update about what's been happening with the group home and we both thought you should hear it. I also called Andy, so I imagine your friends will be descending upon you any moment."

Kelly frowned, not sure how he felt about any of that. Andy's next-door neighbour had always been nice to him, if a little suspicious at first, and he had never treated Kelly unfairly, even during his more troubled days. But still, the man was a cop, and the boys in blue tended to stick together, leaving Kelly shit out of luck if the homicide detective decided to take Anderson's word over his. As to his friends, well…he didn't know what he was going to say to them.

Compared to the boys, he and April had a relatively new friendship and while they got along very well and she would likely be the most effusive with her concern, thankfully she wasn't yet very adept at reading him and he could hide the worst of it from her. He wasn't sure how easy it would be to brush off her concerns and would likely have to suffer through a few lectures on how to better look after himself or calm the fiery passion that blazed on his behalf, but she didn't yet understand him well enough to know where to poke and prod for the dark truths of the whole sorry affair.

Scott would be easy enough to distract – the guy was a born storyteller and liked to talk more than anyone Kelly had ever come across, and getting him to talk was as simple as asking him how he was before a non sequitur led to a long-winded anecdote about a bicycle accident five years earlier, or an incident where a slice of toast ended up stuck on the ceiling, or the mystery of the house duck. Most of the stories Kelly had heard at least once already, but if he simply smiled and nodded in all the right places, then Scott would likely be happy enough not to delve too deep and ask any probing questions.

Andy, however, was a different matter altogether. They had known each other since kindergarten and had long since picked up on each other's cues and tells, and hiding anything from his best friend was going to be hard. Convincing him that nothing was wrong beyond the obvious would be nigh on impossible, and Andy was too tenacious and protective to ever let the new-found damage on his friend's body go unanswered and unexplained.

"I'm going to go and find a doctor, let them know that you're awake," Boden said as he caught sight of the deepening frown on the teenager's face. He stood up and gently lay a hand on Kelly's shoulder, decidedly ignoring the way the child flinched under even the softest of touches. "I'll be back in a minute."

Kelly cursed himself for the instinctual reaction – he trusted Boden, there was a reason he went to Fifty-One, after all, and it was nothing to do with nostalgia about his father's old house. Still, he had a feeling that anyone coming near him right now, when he felt so weak and vulnerable, would get the same reaction out of him, whether it be a towering firefighter or a tiny child.

He closed his eyes tightly and tried to ignore the pain and the fatigue, desperately wishing that everything could go back to two weeks ago, when life, while anything but simple, had at least been bearable.


When Kelly next felt the unwelcome pain of consciousness, it was to the hushed voices of his friends. He looked at them through half-lidded eyes, watched as they smiled and quietly laughed amongst themselves frequently sending brief looks towards the bed.

He hadn't realised how much he'd missed them until that moment. Logan Square had kept his mind busy and everything had been so up in the air after his mother's breakdown that, except for the occasional bout of self-pity, events had spiralled too quickly for him to really stop and take stock of the situation.

He had missed Andy's constant friendship, full of gentle teasing and fierce over-protectiveness. He had missed April's dogged concern and easy hugs. God, he had even missed Scott and his stories!

Even though he wasn't inclined to tell his friends the truth of all that had happened in the group home, he very much needed them…needed people who would be on his side no matter what happened with the cops and Anderson…needed people who would fiercely defend him without hesitation and without a moment of doubt creeping into their minds.

"Hey," he offered quietly, his voice still croaky from his parched throat.

That quiet greeting, however, was the best thing Andy, April and Scott had heard all day and their heads whipped round as one to see their battered friend staring at them through half-opened eyes, a small smile playing on his lips even as the pain was evident in the rest of his expression.

"Kelly," April breathed out happily before quickly making her way over to her friend and gently hugging him, taking care to avoid holding him too tight or brushing against his injured ribs too heavily. She knew that she probably should have avoided touching him at all until it could be done without causing him any pain, but April was equally sure that her friend needed a kind touch, a gesture to remind him that not everyone was out to hurt him.

"Finally!" Scott enthused. "I didn't know you could be so lazy, man. Lying around in bed, sleeping through the day," he smiled, relief pouring through him and finally relaxing, his shoulders aching from where the tension had been pulling on the muscles. He grasped Kelly's hand, the one without the catheter, and gave it one firm squeeze to reassure them both that it was really happening.

"Sev," Andy offered quietly with a small but achingly sincere smile. He hadn't felt so on edge since his father's last few days but finally there was some relief from the heavy emotions that had weighed brutally on them all since Kelly had first appeared in school, angry and bruised, only days ago despite feeling like the drama had been dragged out over a much longer time frame.

Andy and April had stopped by to visit Kelly once he'd been settled before being turned back out by the nurses. Seeing their friend so vulnerable in the hospital bed had hit them both very hard and Andy had struggled to fight back the tears as anger, helplessness and, of course, worry ate away at him.

April had gone home after that to check in with her parents, but Andy had known that she would return as soon as she could, even if that meant whiling away the hours in the small and uncomfortable waiting room.

Andy had, for his part, decided to stay regardless. The anger he felt at his mother had abated somewhat now that he knew his friend was going to be ok, but he was still too absorbed in his own feelings of despair at the entire situation to feel comfortable enough to leave his friend. His mother had had to go and ready herself for work, but she had left Andy with a fierce hug and words of forgiveness that he wasn't entirely sure he deserved but had certainly needed to hear nonetheless.

Vince had quickly disappeared, determined to get more answers about what had happened at the group home with a promise to keep them all informed, and Andy had been left alone with Boden.

He regretted his outburst at the Squad Lieutenant almost as much as the ones he had directed towards his mother, but he hadn't yet gathered up enough courage to talk to the man. From his own experience, Boden had never been anything but nice – firm, certainly, but always fair and always patient. During the darker days of his father's illness, when his anger at the whole situation was all encompassing, Boden had been there, ready and able to distract him as best as he could and talk of a future that lay beyond it all, offering hope at the end of a very dark tunnel.

With Kelly, it had always been something more. He knew how much Sev respected the fireman, knew that Boden had frequently treated his friend with more love and affection than Benny had ever seemed capable of doing, even when the man was still married to Kelly's mother the relationship had always been tense. When everything started to go wrong with Kelly's home life as his father left physically and his mother checked out emotionally, it had been Boden who seemed to ground Kelly.

Boden was one of the few adults in Kelly's life who had not disappointed him – the fireman spent a great deal of time encouraging Kelly to achieve his goals, commiserating with him when times got tough, and berating him when he acted out. Because of that, Andy knew that Boden was the fireman Kelly aspired to be, the man he strived to emulate, not his father.

There had been an awkward silence between them in the waiting room as they both waited for further news, or better yet, permission to sit with Kelly. Eventually it was broken by the arrival of Scott, who rushed in frantic and desperate to find out what had happened. He'd been forced to wait at home until his mother returned from shift to look after his younger siblings, and the wait had only filled him with anxiety.

Boden, who had met Scott on one of the few occasions he had accompanied Kelly and Andy to the firehouse, had stepped in and calmed the teen down, explaining all that they knew and what they were expecting to happen once Kelly was transferred from post-op to the ICU. Whether it was relief they all felt to acknowledge out loud that Kelly was really going to be ok, or whether it was simply a matter of Scott's naturally verbose personality, Andy couldn't say, but it seemed to open the floodgates and a steady stream of conversation grew between them and all the stories revolved around Kelly one way or another.

Eventually, once Kelly had been moved from post-op and into a single room in the ICU, a policeman still standing guard outside, they had been told they could sit with him. The steady beep of the heart monitor had been equally annoying and reassuring, and they continued to talk about their friend, careful to talk in hushed tones to avoid disturbing him, even though the drugs would undoubtedly have kept him under through a riot.

Eventually night came and their parents had all insisted that they go home, to shower, eat and rest up before returning to the hospital the next day. Only Boden's quiet but firm reassurance that he would remain and that Kelly would need them all on the top of their game had succeeded in getting them to leave.

The call from Boden that Kelly was finally showing signs of waking had come at breakfast, and they had all rushed to the hospital, bellies only half full but full of relief and eager to see their friend only to find he had fallen asleep. Resolute in staying until the next time he awoke, they settled down, their chatter more animated and much lighter in content than it had been last time.

"Hey," Kelly said again, focusing on the silent form of his best friend.

"You scared the hell out of us, man," Andy said, gently resting a hand on his friend's shoulder, frowning at the way Kelly's entire body stiffened at the gesture, but unable to ask about Sev's reaction as Boden and Torretti entered the small, crowded room.

"Well, well, look who's finally decided to wake up," the Detective said with a smile on his face. "Boden said you were beginning to stir so I thought I'd stop by, let you know what's going on. Someone from the right department will be by for your statement once you're ready to give it, but I thought you'd want to be kept in the loop. You ok with this lot being here or would you rather I speak to you alone?"

"Hey…" Scott started indignantly before a swift elbow from April quietened him down.

Kelly took a moment to examine the cop before him, trying to gauge just what is was exactly that he knew. He hadn't told anyone exactly what had happened except for Cesar and the man, despite his kindness, was a stranger who'd stopped being involved in the intricacies of the drama once he'd dropped Kelly off at Fifty-One. He certainly couldn't see Anderson or Jenkins confessing to anything. Deciding that the physical abuse he had endured at the group home was plain to see, he warily nodded his head towards Torretti, figuring his friends were only likely to pester him for the details later anyway.

"We've got people looking into the group home," Torretti started without preamble. "One of the other boys there, Manuel, showed clear signs of abuse," he watched with interest as Kelly flinched at that. No one else had seen it, as they were too busy looking at him waiting for an explanation, but Vince was sure that Kelly knew more about Manuel's mistreatment than they had managed to drag from the near-mute of an eleven year old. "He's not saying who's responsible, so we're interviewing all of the carers.

"The two carers that were on when you ran off, Anderson and Jenkins," the policeman continued, taking note of the way the teen's eyes narrowed and hands clenched into fists at the mere mention of the carers. "They're obviously top of the list, but so far they've denied any wrong-doing. However, they've been suspended while the investigation is ongoing – if nothing else, they failed to look after you properly given that you left the building in the middle of the night.

"Social services are keeping a close eye on the other kids but none of them are too keen on telling us much of anything, and without someone coming forward and reporting them, there's not a lot we can do," Vince said, eager to make Kelly understand that he might be the only one able to bring a stop to the abuse in the home. It was a heavy burden for a sixteen year old, but it was already on his shoulders and it was likely that the only way a positive outcome could be reached was if he stepped up and told a truth that Manuel was unable to and the other boys were unwilling to.

"Now, someone will be by, maybe tomorrow but probably later today, given that the nature of this case has everyone wanting to get it sorted asap, so they will take your statement. It's important that you are as honest as you can be in this, Kelly – any omissions now might make rectifying this whole mess a damn sight more difficult further down the line and I really don't want to see you get sent back to a dangerous environment just because you weren't sure who to trust. Trust me, if no one else, kid, ok?"

Kelly nodded, staring sightlessly into the distance, as he tried to decide on what he would tell the police when they came knocking.

"Alright, kid," Vince said with a soft sigh at Kelly's lack of a response, looking towards Boden and noting an equally concerned look in his eyes. "I've got to get back to work, but if you need anything, ring me," he offered the troubled teen a card with his contact details on them. "Anytime for anything."

"Thanks," Kelly offered quietly, still avoiding the policeman's eyes.

Once he was done, Vince gestured subtly to Boden to meet him outside Kelly's room. He was not looking forward to this conversation, but it needed to be said. Kelly clearly trusted Boden, and if anyone was likely to get through to the kid it was the fireman.

"I didn't want to say anything in front of the others," Torretti started quietly, anger and sadness warring in his expression as he moved away from the room keen to make sure he wasn't overheard. "But there is evidence that the little boy from Kelly's group home was abused…sexually as well as physically."

Boden cursed quietly, quickly turning around to hide his expression as he clenched and unclenched his fists in a desperate effort to gain control over his turbulent emotions. It must have been the thought of an eleven year old Manuel that had elicited the near-panic attack in Kelly right before he collapsed. "And Kelly?" he eventually asked, not sure if he really wanted to hear the answer.

"As soon as I found out I talked to his doctor – when they admitted him, once they'd uncovered obvious signs of physical abuse on Kelly, they did a brief examination just to be safe but thankfully they could find no obvious signs of sexual abuse. They agreed that there was plenty of evidence of physical abuse, but he seemingly escaped much worse," Torretti concluded, all too aware of how bad the abuse could have been having read the reports on little Manuel.

"Thank god!" Boden breathed out with a quiet sigh of relief before Torretti's sobering remark brought him back to reality with a bump.

"Just because there's no evidence of molestation it doesn't mean that it didn't happen, and even if Anderson or Jenkins or whoever didn't succeed, that doesn't mean they didn't try," the Detective warned the Squad Lieutenant. "I'm pretty sure he's not going to open up to the cops any time soon – although Ramirez, the cop who'll take his statement, can be a little more frank in his questioning if Kelly's alone, I'm not sure how ready Kelly will be to trust him or anyone else in blue, for that matter. But he trusts you, Boden, and he's going to need help with this – no matter how much crap he's gone through before, this is something entirely different."

Boden nodded, his throat going dry, the burden already sitting heavily upon his shoulders. He had a great deal of affection for the boy but Kelly was not his son, and Bennie, even if he had still been in the picture as a father should be, was perhaps an even worse possibility to try and handle the situation.

Ever since Henry Mills and Ross McGowan had died in that fire, things had been more than a little tense between him and Benny. But in all honesty, their friendship had started to sour even before then – the fact that Kelly chose to follow Boden around Fifty-One rather than his father had not gone down too well, despite the fact that it only happened in the first place because Benny had never paid any attention to his son when he came visiting the firehouse. As they spent more time together, Boden had, naturally, come to care for the boy and had felt his ire towards Benny grow every time Wallace was forced to see the detrimental effects of his parenting or lack thereof.

But at the end of the day, no matter how many times he had talked Kelly through some of the more difficult times in his life, despite all he had done to distract him and teach him and inspire him, Boden was not the boy's father and he wasn't sure how much weight his words would hold when Kelly was clearly not interested in sharing what had happened. How could Boden possibly hope to fulfil the role that Kelly would so obviously need after all of this?

He wasn't sure he wanted to know any potentially sordid details of Kelly's time in the group home, and he certainly didn't know how on earth he could encourage the boy to share those details with the police without losing Kelly for good at the end of the day.

He shook Torretti's hand, thanking him for the information and headed back to Kelly's room as he desperately sought to uncover an answer on how to broach the topic with the troubled teen. Just as he was about to enter, however, Andy, April and Scott all came out.

"Apparently they're going to take him for some more tests," Andy explained. "I think they're worried about the bump on the head because Kelly's being so quiet," he offered with a frown.

"He always tends to get pretty quiet when things are shitty," Scott offered.

Boden was saddened to see the other two nod their heads in agreement – this was not the sort of tell that belonged to a sixteen year old boy.

"Anyway, the nurse said that they probably wouldn't be done by the time morning visiting hours are done so we're all going to head back and get some more rest," Andy informed the Squad Lieutenant. "None of us really slept that well last night."

"Understandably so," Boden agreed, as he hadn't slept all that well either. Thankfully he knew some of the members of staff reasonably well and, given the situation, they had pulled some strings and allowed him to camp overnight in the ICU – however, the chair by Kelly's bedside, even though it was padded, was a far cry from a bed of his own, and his worry and discomfort had kept him from falling asleep much, and he had awoken stiff and sore and in desperate need of a shower. A fellow member of Squad had brought him a change of clothes early in the morning, but that was the only concession he had allowed himself so far.

"You're going to be here still, right?" April asked.

"Yes," Boden confirmed with a smile. No matter how much he wanted to crawl into his own bed, he didn't want to leave Kelly by himself.

"I…er…" April started before abruptly closing her mouth, clearly unsure of how to end.

"Yes?" the fireman prodded gently.

"I talked to my parents last night and I asked them if Kelly could come and stay with us until his mom got out of the hospital," April confessed. "They're looking into it, seeing if they can actually do that, so nothing is set in stone yet. The thing is, I don't know what to tell Kelly. I'm sure he's worried about where he's going to go next, but I don't want to get his hopes up about going somewhere safe, either, if it all turns out to be impossible. Of course, he may not even want to stay with me…" she finished chewing nervously on her lip.

"It's a very nice idea, April, and I'm sure he would be more than happy with it," Boden reassured her. "Do you know how long it will be until your parents get a solid answer on whether or not they'll be able to take him in?"

"They hope to get somewhere by the end of the day, but DCFS are not exactly being…forthcoming," she huffed, sure that it was a politer way of saying they were dragging their arses.

"I'll make some calls of my own," Wallace stated. "But I would hold off on telling him anything today unless it's been confirmed by evening visiting hours. He's got to be feeling pretty rough as it is, and I'm not entirely sure how much he's taking in right now between his injuries, his exhaustion and all those drugs. With the police coming to interview him after everything else that's happened I'm pretty sure he'll need a moment to gather his thoughts."

"Ok," April agreed quietly before leaning in to hug the older man. "Thank you," she said sincerely. "Kelly needs at least one adult in his life that gives a damn about him."

"From what I've seen he has more than one," Boden offered with a wry grin as he thought of himself, Vince Torretti and Elizabeth Darden pacing the waiting room in step, as he thought of Cesar and the promise of violence if Boden didn't look after the boy correctly, as he thought of all the members of Fifty-One who had already filled a boot to help out and had seen several of the men and women of the firehouse stop by and ask after the boy, only halted from actually seeing Kelly by the ICU's strict visiting hours and the guard at the door.

"But you're the one he trusts most," April replied, as if that statement should be obvious and perhaps, Boden thought as he looked through the window at Kelly sleeping through the nurses preparing him for the tests, there was some truth to that given that out of all the places Kelly could have gone to in Chicago, he had chosen Fifty-One and its Squad Lieutenant.


"You'll be pleased to know that your head is apparently still relatively intact," came an amused voice from Kelly's right. He let out another groan as he opened his eyes and turned towards Boden who was smiling despite the clear exhaustion on his face.

"I slept through it all?" Kelly asked with disbelief. He'd been hypervigilant since that first night in Logan Square and sleep had been hard won since. The nurses had told him about several tests that needed doing and Kelly, who'd already been feeling beyond tired, had felt exhausted just thinking about it all.

"They've got you on a fair few drugs, Kelly," Boden informed the teenager. "I reckon you could probably sleep through the apocalypse with everything you've got running through your system."

"Is that why everything feels so fuzzy?" Severide wondered aloud.

"I'm guessing it's certainly a contributing factor," the Lieutenant laughed. Already Kelly seemed to be more responsive, more aware, and the relief he felt from that was overwhelming.

They continued on with a little small talk for several minutes, with Kelly becoming increasingly alert – they avoided the elephant in the room and kept the conversation light with Boden doing more of the talking than his teenaged counterpart, but Kelly was aware enough to absorb and respond to whatever the fireman was telling him.

They were eventually interrupted by a knock on the door and a short Hispanic man entered the room. He had a round face and thinning hair and the bags under his eyes spoke of more than one sleepless night, but his expression was open and honest, a small smile softened his features.

"Hey," he greeted them quietly but jovially. "I'm Detective Ramirez. I understand Vince told you I was coming?"

Kelly frowned, trying to think through the opiate-induced haze that seemed to have turned his brain to little more than a ball of cotton wool.

"He did," Boden responded. He had stood up and automatically placed himself between Kelly and the stranger, moving aside slightly once he knew the man's identity but still not trusting him until he had proven himself. He turned to Kelly, "Do you want me to leave while you talk to the Detective?"

Kelly looked at Boden, took in the expression of concern etched deeply onto his face, the haggard appearance, the red-rimmed eyes – Boden had clearly opted to step in and look out for him, a role he had frequently taken on over the years and one that had long since earned Kelly's trust and respect, as it was certainly more than Benny had ever done for him.

He knew that the interview with Ramirez would be uncomfortable, knew that he was going to have to talk about a lot of things that he really didn't want to, but he also knew that he had to if he was going to help remove not only himself from Anderson's sadistic and perverted grip, but Manuel, too, as well as any other vulnerable children that would pass through the group home in the future.

Kelly knew that Boden wouldn't think any less of him, knew that the Lieutenant would be nothing but supportive and would more than likely get severely pissed off on Kelly's behalf. The teenager might be having doubts about how much he could trust the police at the moment, but he had no doubts surrounding Boden. At the same time, he didn't want to jeopardise the fireman in any way.

"Do you want to stay?" Kelly asked. "It won't…I don't know…come back on you, somehow?"

"The only way the asshole who did this to you is going to get away with what he's done is if you keep your mouth shut," Boden replied, touched over Kelly's concern for him and saddened that even now Kelly struggled to be the kid, playing the part of 'concerned adult' that he had been pushed into much too young. "And I think we both know you're not likely to do that."

"I obviously don't have all of the details yet," Ramirez interjected. "While I can't deny that cops have a reputation for sticking together, that's not strictly the case when one of them turns out dirty. Cops don't like child abusers any more than cons, and that is a pretty strict, pretty universal code with the boys in blue."

"I'm here if you need me, Kelly," Boden offered sincerely. He dreaded some of the things he might hear, but he was determined to keep it together for Kelly's sake.

"Ok," Kelly nodded. "I want you to stay."

"Then I'll stay," Boden stated firmly as he sat back down beside Kelly's bedside with what he hoped was a reassuring smile.

"I don't really know where to start," Kelly confessed to Ramirez, who had pulled up a chair of his own and pulled out a notepad.

"Tell me what happened once your mother was admitted," Ramirez suggested. "And we'll see how we go from there."

"Ok, well, I guess after that, my social worker found me a place in Logan's Square…"


Please let me know what you think and if you spot any mistakes. Ta!