The first time Grace ever skipped school and of course something like a train crash would happen. It all happened so fast she wasn't even sure what did happen, but when the confusion died down she looked around. It seemed like everyone was hurt, or bleeding, or calling out for help. It was chaos and she had no idea what to do, it was like she was frozen to the ground, a deer in headlights.

She snapped out of it once people started moving around. Grace looked herself over, she felt fine, she looked fine, so she figured she was actually fine. She saw a guy assessing people and without a thought she started following him. She wasn't sure why, but she wanted to help, even if she had no idea what to do.

Grace stopped at the end of the train and looked down at the crash site. "Oh God," she whispered.

The doctor came up beside her and shared a look with her. "I'm a doctor," he said. "Can you help?"

"Yeah," she nodded. "I'll try."

He helped Grace down and she followed him in search of victims. It was all just a blur for her. She helped in whatever way he needed her to so he could work, mainly trying to get to people they could and applying pressure trying to stop the bleeding of others. She was so consumed she never even heard the sirens and she never even thought about leaving until help started arriving the scene was getting under control.

"Grace," Sylvie stopped by her when she saw her in the triage area. "Were you on the train?"

"Uh, yeah," she said with a nod. "I'm fine though, just helping."

Sylvie glanced at Chili for a moment. "You should come with us," she said. "We just did our last transport, we're going back to the house."

"Oh, no, it's fine, I can get home on my own." She said.

"I don't think that's a good idea," Chili said. "And we don't have time to talk about it."

"He's going to find out either way," Sylvie said as she pulled her along toward the ambulance. "Why were you on the train anyway?" She asked once they were driving back to the firehouse. Chili was cleaning up in the back and let Grace ride up front.

"It's a long story," she sighed. "I didn't feel like being there today."

"You might want to think of something better to say than that to your Dad," she smiled gently at her.

Grace looked out the window and frowned. "It doesn't really matter what I say," she said. "He won't hear much past that I skipped school."

"He's a pretty reasonable guy," she said. "And fair from what I've seen."

"He's also very by the book," Grace looked at her. "And he likes the whole chain of command thing."

Sylvie grinned and nodded. "Okay, that's true, but from what I've seen he's done a pretty good job with you two."

The ambulance pulled into the garage and Grace tried to shrink back into the seat, hoping to disappear. She glanced around the garage, wondering if she could sneak away or hide, or do something to not be seen. She didn't see Casey or any members of truck in the garage, but Squad was at their table and the moment Grace stepped out of the ambulance, Severide was on his feet.

Grace was still in shock from what had happened. She wasn't hurt, but it was still a frightening thing to be involved in, and the things she saw she didn't have time to process at the scene, but she was processing them now. She knew she must have been a sight, standing there with other people's blood covering her arms, hands and parts of her clothing. She was suddenly overwhelmed and tried to get the blood off her hands but it was futile.

"Are you okay?" Severide asked in concern as he got closer to her. He kneeled in front of her and put his hands on the sides of her face. "Grace, what happened?"

"I was on the train," she said, trying to catch her breath. "It's not my blood, there was so much blood."

"Okay, it's okay, hey, look at me." He said gently. "You're okay, Grace."

"She's not hurt," Sylvie said. "Just a little shook up."

Severide nodded as he stood up and put his arm around her. "Come on, let's go inside." He said before glancing at Sylvie. "Tell Casey to meet us in the locker room."

Grace was sitting on the counter in the bathroom as Severide cleaned the blood off her hands and arms. "I was trying to help. It was chaos, actual, true chaos." She looked at him. "How do you do that over and over?"

"Grace?" Casey barged into the bathroom with Dawson right behind him, stopping for a moment when he saw her and the bloody sweater next to her. "Whose blood is that?"

"Daddy," she mumbled as she jumped off the counter and into his arms. Casey held her and shifted her slightly to look at Severide for answers. "What happened?"

"It's not hers, she was on the train." Severide answered. "She's okay, she'll feel better if she showers and changes."

"I've got it," Dawson said as Casey put her down just as a call was coming through. "Can I skip this one?"

He nodded at Dawson as he ran his thumbs under Grace's eyes, wiping away the tears as he touched his forehead to hers. "We'll talk after."

OOOOO

"How much frustration did that call burn off?" Severide asked once they were back in the garage.

Casey shrugged. "Enough of it," he said.

"It could have been a lot worse." Severide reminded.

"She shouldn't have been there in the first place." He sighed. "There was a lot of blood. It scared the hell out of me."

"I know," he nodded. "But she's okay."

"Since when are you lenient?" Casey grinned. "Usually you're harder on the twins than I am when it comes to this stuff."

"Maybe they finally wore me down," he smirked as Dawson approached them. "Did you get Grace to talk?"

"Not really, actually, she's still in shock." She said. "I think Grace has been having a hard time since you went undercover and then all that happened after."

"Where is she?" Casey asked.

"Your office, waiting for you." She said. "Do you want us to come with you?"

Casey shook his head. "I need to do this alone."

As he headed toward the office he had mixed feelings once he saw her through the windows. She was cleaned up, wearing clothes that weren't stained in blood and as glad as he was that she was okay, he was upset that she would put herself in that situation in the first place. He didn't know why she lied to him, or why she wasn't where she was supposed to be, but he did know that it wasn't like her.

Casey opened the door, glancing briefly at her before he turned to close it behind him. He paused for a moment before he put his hands on his hips and frowned at her.

"Why aren't you in school?" He asked.

"I skipped today," she said.

"You skipped?" He repeated with a nod. "Why?"

"Dad, I can't talk about this."

"Well, tough, you're going to." He said as he grabbed his desk chair and sat down in front of her. "What's this about, Gracie?"

"I just needed a break from it."

"From what?"

"From everything," she suddenly exclaimed. "You being undercover, a girl being killed in our kitchen, Jake falling apart, and the baby. It was just one thing about the other and I wanted a little time to myself."

Casey nodded. "You were going to the dance studio." He said, knowing her a little too well. "Why didn't you just tell me that?" He searched her face for an answer. "Come on Grace, talk to me."

"I wasn't going to dance for just any reason," she said. "I was auditioning and interviewing, for college, but I didn't want to say anything because I was already stressed enough about it."

"That's why the school didn't call me about you missing class," he said. "They knew about it, and I'm willing to bet they thought I knew about it too?"

"Yeah, I kind of forged the permission slip, but I was going to tell you about it tonight when I got home."

"Grace," he sighed. "Okay, I understand that things haven't been easy, and I even understand wanting to keep the dance audition private, but do you understand how keeping things from me can put you in dangerous situations?"

"Okay, but the train crashing was a fluke thing."

"Baby, you shouldn't have been on it." He said. "If you would have been honest with me, all of this could have been avoided. I could have taken you, or you could have taken the car, and none of this would have happened."

"I know," Grace mumbled. "But I'm fine, Dad."

"Yes, you are, this time." Casey said, catching her eye. "You might not be fine the next time, so don't shut me out."

Grace sighed, looking up at the ceiling as she shook her head. "I just don't want to talk about it," she looked back at him. "Why can't that be enough?"

"Because you're not dealing with it." He said. "I know you and you push it all down until it blows up in your face."

"That's what I used to do, when I didn't have a safe home or a parent who provided comfort and security." She said. "I have that now, so everything else that goes on in life, I know I'll get through it because you taught me how."

Casey moved to sit beside her on the bed. "Okay, as much as I appreciate that, and although I'm glad you feel safe, I still need you to talk to me."

Grace sighed and fell back on the bed. "I didn't want to tell you because it's not nice." She said. "When Gabby told me she was pregnant, I wasn't happy. I wanted to be, but all I kept thinking about was how soon you'd have a kid that was actually yours and even without meaning to, it would be different. It would feel different for you, and then she lost the baby."

"And you felt guilty," Casey nodded. "Grace, all of that was pretty natural worries, but what happened with the baby wasn't your fault, it wasn't anyone's fault."

"I know that, but I still felt like a horrible person for being jealous of this little life that was going to have everything I always wanted." She said. "That would have been the luckiest baby in the world."

"Grace, there is no doubt in my mind that you would have been one of the best parts of that baby's life." He said. "You're allowed to feel whatever you need to feel, and you can tell me anything, you should know that by now."

"I do know that, but this was different."

"It's not different, Grace." He said. "I know that sometimes you're still afraid that all this is going to disappear, but it won't, I promise you it won't. And I promise you that I won't either."

Grace smiled as Casey pulled her up and put his arm around her, kissing her head. "I love you, Dad."

"Love you too, Gracie."