Chapter 25
Calm...Alyssa told herself. Focus.
Calls from Kelly when he was at work always set her heart racing. But at least it was Kelly that called her, not someone from the department. At least if he could call her then she knew he'd be all right...eventually.
She was going through the motions...all the things she needed to do.
First...the girls.
She hit Kathy's number on speed dial.
"Kathy..." she said when her sister-in-law picked up. "I just got a call from Kelly...can I bring Maggie and Lexi over?"
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Of course the answer was 'yes'...and she started throwing things in a bag for them...books, quiet toys, a couple of movies...she threw some pull-ups for Lexi in another bag along with a sippy cup. Then she ran upstairs and threw together a bag for Kelly...sweats...long sleeve t-shirt...socks and gym shoes.
The last thing to do was go downstairs to the basement and grab his crutches out of the storage room.
They'd more than gotten their money's worth out of those things...she thought ruefully as she hustled back upstairs to get the girls into their coats and hats.
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Declan was just getting home from his classes when Alyssa came dashing across the street, Maggie and Lexi struggling to keep up with her.
"Aunt Lyssa..." he said. "What's goin' on?"
He knew it had to be something bad. His aunt was usually pretty calm, cool and collected...but right now she was frantic.
"I got a call from Kelly..." she replied, leaving the eighteen year old to decipher for himself what that all entailed.
Declan nodded.
Uncle Kelly was hurt.
"I'll take a ride with you." he said. "I'll drive."
Relief flooded over Alyssa. She was on the verge of losing it...and dealing with the traffic and everything was not going to help.
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Kathy Boungiovanni came outside.
"Did you girls come to play at my house?" she asked her two youngest nieces. "What are we gonna do?"
Kathy was the mom of three boys...Declan was the oldest, Aiden was fifteen and a freshman at St. Pat's...and Connor was a year older than the twins and in the seventh grade at St. Pasqual's . So to have little girls around was always a welcome treat.
"We gots our books...and magnets...and color stuff..." Maggie said to her Aunt Kathy.
"An' pink fi-tuck!" Lexi added, taking her hand from Lyssa's so she could hold the toy with two hands.
"Oohh...I can't wait to play with the pink fire truck." Kathy said as she reached for the girls' bag of tricks Alyssa was holding. "Say 'see you later, Mommy'..."
Lyssa knelt down to kiss her daughters.
"I'll be back soon...and maybe I'll even bring Daddy home from work early..." she said.
Kelly had told her he had a broken ankle...surely he'd be able to come home with her.
"Bye-bye..." Maggie said.
"Buh-bye..." Lexi echoed.
Kathy ushered the little ones toward the house.
Alyssa heard her talking to Lexi.
"Did you know my daddy used to be a firefighter too? Just like your daddy?"
"Let's go, Aunt Lyssa." Declan said.
"I've already got the stuff in my car." she said, handing her nephew the keys.
They picked up the pace to a light jog...and a few moments later they were on their way to Lakeshore's ER.
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Kelly just wanted to know what was goin' on out there. He'd been waiting for someone to come in...but except to get him out of his turnout pants and boots, and prop his foot up on a couple pillows with an ice bag...he hadn't seen another soul.
He sure heard them, though. A lot of them. Across the hall in the Trauma room. He heard orders being shouted out, he could see people running in and out...equipment being rolled in and out. They were all working on Capp.
If only he could just get some news. Twenty-six years as a firefighter...and he'd seen bad things happen to people. But this...if he had taken the point...if he had been just a few feet further ahead...it might be him lying in that other room. That was a sobering thought.
They brought Wilson in too...and Kelly couldn't figure out what had happened to him. How had he ended up where he had? He didn't look like he was hurt. He had all his gear on...presumably in working order. What had caused him to collapse like he had?
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"Kelly!"
He looked up to see his wife running to his side. He couldn't remember the last time he'd been so happy to see her.
Kelly held out his arms and Lyssa was there. They held each other close for several long moments...both just grateful that they could. It wasn't lost on either of them that the last time they were in an ER, at least for Kelly was three years ago and the circumstances were very different.
"What happened, Honey?" she asked as she helped him to resettle himself back against the pillows.
Kelly held tight to Alyssa's hand, not wanting her more than a few inches from him. She began to comb her fingers through his hair, still matted with sweat.
"It's okay..." she whispered. "It's okay."
"Wilson stumbled into a bathroom and ended up down in the back...and we had to go get him...then the ceiling came down...and I tried to get out of the way...and this huge chunk of plaster landed right on my ankle...but Capp...Capp got crushed under this...huge...slab...the thing weighed must've weighed over a hundred pounds...I couldn't get it off him! "
His breath was coming hard and fast...and beads of perspiration were forming on his forehead.
"It was like...forever till they got to us...and I was trying to lift that thing...but I couldn't get up...I couldn't move it...I..."
"Okay...okay..." Alyssa cut him off. "Shhhh...shhhh...take a deep breath."
"I just wanna know he's gonna be okay...nobody's come in here...I can't see what's goin' on."
"I'll go see if I can get some news, Uncle Kelly." Declan said.
Kelly nodded.
"Yeah...go..."
He turned back to Alyssa.
"Can you take that ice off?" he asked.
She carefully removed the half melted bag of ice from his ankle...and then the towel that was acting as a barrier.
"My God..." she gasped as she looked down at his swollen foot. "Kelly..."
He struggled to sit forward...to see for himself...and his stomach turned as he took in the livid purple bruise.
Alyssa helped him to lay back again.
"It's broken..." he said. "It can't not be..."
"We'll see, Honey..." Lyssa whispered soothingly. "We'll see what the doctor says..."
"I just...I wish I knew what was goin' on out there..."
"Declan'll be back in a few minutes."
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Suddenly the entire ER exploded with activity. Machines started beeping wildly, voices escalated and dozens of people came running.
"Code Blue...Trauma One...Code Blue...Trauma One...Code Blue...Trauma One..." blared overhead.
"Oh God! Capp!" Kelly struggled to get up. "Capp!"
Alyssa really had to fight to keep him down.
"Kelly! Kelly! Stop!"
"Let go! I gotta get in there!" he cried. "Damnit, Alyssa! Let me go!"
But she just held him tighter.
"There's nothing you can do in there..." she said. "He's in good hands, Honey..."
The fight went out of him...and he slumped back down in the bed.
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Capp had to be okay...had to. They hadn't had a fatality at Station 51 since Darden...almost fifteen years ago. They'd had some bad injuries...but for the most part they'd been damn lucky.
It was like time stood still...Kelly kept craning his neck to see what was going on out there...mentally willing Declan...Casey...Shay...anybody to come in and tell him what was going on. And Alyssa tried her best to soothe him...whispering that it was gonna be all right...gently sponging his face with a cool cloth...but mostly telling him that she loved him.
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Finally...finally...the door to the exam room swung open and a harried looking doctor came in.
"I'm sorry you've had to wait so long, Lieutenant." he said. "It's been crazy out there."
"Is Capp okay?" Kelly blurted out.
He had no time for formalities...and he didn't care about anything else right now.
The doctor drew himself up straight...and Kelly knew right away the news was not good.
"Please..." Kelly said. "I was with him...I've been working with him for almost twenty years..."
The doctor nodded slowly.
Kelly squeezed Alyssa's hand tightly and braced himself for what he was about to hear.
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"I'm not gonna lie to you, your friend's in bad shape. His heart stopped...and we were able to get him back...but there might be brain damage from the lack of oxygen."
"How long was he gone?" Kelly asked.
"Twenty-four minutes." the doctor said.
Twenty four minutes...that was a long time...in the Academy they were taught to cease resuscitation efforts at thirty minutes...but the magic number was really more like fifteen to twenty.
"His spinal cord was severely compressed...between the collapse and his air tank...if he makes it..." the doctor went on. "If he makes it, he'll most likely be paralyzed from the chest down."
Severide felt like someone had just punched him in the gut. He squeezed his eyes shut...and held tight to Alyssa's hand.
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This wasn't happening. This couldn't be happening. Any minute now, he'd wake up and find it had all been a horrible dream. He'd wrap his arms around Lyssa and hold her as he poured everything out to her...and she'd rub those gentle circles against his shoulders and whisper to him that everything was okay...that he was safe now.
"Kelly..." she whispered.
He opened his eyes to find that he was indeed, still in the ER...that he was still hurt...and that Capp might not make it.
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"Let's get you taken care of, Lieutenant." the doctor said.
They went through all the motions...and Kelly barely registered anything that was said.
They rolled in a portable x-ray machine...and Lyssa had to don a lead apron because he wouldn't let go of her hand.
He couldn't lose contact with her. Without it, he'd lose it completely. It was the only thing keeping him together.
The x-ray didn't show a break...and Kelly looked at the doctor like he was insane. Didn't they teach this guy how to read an x-ray in medical school? All he had to do was open his eyes...
So the doctor had put the film up on the light box.
"There's a lot of soft tissue damage..." he said. "That could be obscuring the image. My advice for now is we treat it like a fracture, and you follow up with your own doctor in a few days."
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So the PA came in and applied a mold...and Alyssa helped him into the sweats and shirt she'd brought.
Just as she was handing him his crutches...Declan came back in the room.
"Where the hell have you been?" Kelly asked.
The kid had gone to get some news over an hour ago... and he was just coming back now.
"Sorry, Uncle Kelly..."
"What'd you find out?" Kelly said. "I already know about Capp..."
"Yeah..." Declan nodded. "They're gonna move him up to ICU in a little while. Chief Boden called his brother in California...and his sister in Ohio. They're trying to get flights right now."
"What about Wilson?" Kelly wanted to know. "What's the story on him?"
"Smoke inhalation...he didn't have his mask on properly. The filter wasn't completely attached. He was taking in smoke with every breath of air."
Severide shook his head in disgust.
That was one of the first things they taught you at the Academy. How to check your gear and how to put it on correctly.
"They're gonna admit him for observation." Declan told him.
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They went out to the desk where Kelly signed his discharge papers...then they made their way over to the waiting area where the team had congregated. Boden and Casey stood up to meet him.
"You go on home..." Chief said. "Nothin' you can do here."
"No way..." Kelly replied. "I'm stayin'."
"Kelly..." Alyssa said.
She understood why he wanted to be there...Capp was one of his men...he was responsible, and he took that responsibility very seriously. But he was injured...and the only place he should be was home resting.
"Chief's right." Casey said. "You go and get some rest. I promise, I'll call you if anything happens."
Kelly looked defeated...and Alyssa gently put her hand against the small of his back.
"C'mon, Kelly..."she whispered. "The kids are waiting for us..."
He sighed...and began to make his way toward the door.
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They made it as far as the lobby when Veronica came running in.
Both Alyssa and Kelly stopped in their tracks when they saw her.
She was a mess. Her hair was hacked to pieces...some places almost down to her scalp...and her blouse was torn. She was pale...and she had dark bags under her eyes...like she hadn't slept...and it may have been a trick of the fluorescent lighting...but it looked like she had bruises on her neck.
They all stared at one another. Veronica's eyes darted back and forth between Alyssa and Kelly...like a cornered animal.
But Alyssa set her mouth in a hard line...and gently nudged Kelly forward without saying a word.
She was angry. Clearly she had been right about Trey's miraculous reformation...but Veronica had made a clear choice, despite everything she'd said. And now, because of a mistake on Trey's part...Kelly was hurt...and Capp might be paralyzed for life. If he even lived.
She had no desire to say 'I told you so'.
She urged Kelly toward the door...and out of the corner of her eye she saw Veronica watching them go, before she walked up to the front desk.