Hi Everyone! Thank you all for reading, following, reviewing, and taking interest in my story. I really appreciate it.
This will hopefully answer questions about Kelly and Dani's past in relation to Cody Marks and the Halstead brothers.
Please continue to review and let me know what you think!
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Chapter 21- The Investigation
Dani sat on the couch and took in her new surroundings. "I would give you a tour, but this is pretty much it besides the bedrooms" Kelly teased.
Dani smiled and shook her head, "no, it's great. So, this is where all the bachelor's stay now a days" she joked.
"It would be if there were bachelor's living here, but now that Gabby has moved in and I have turned over a new leaf, this is more like a lover's den" he teased.
Dani laughed, "lovers' den huh? And what makes you think you qualify in that category?" she asked, a teasing sparkle in her eyes.
Kelly smiled right back at her, "take a look in the mirror sweetheart" he replied, not missing a beat.
He was glad she was up to joking around. He knew it would take time, but she was starting to sound like her old self.
"Hey, let's keep it PG you too. There are innocent ears here" Matt joined in the ribbing.
"HA, innocent my ass. I can't wait to pay you back for all the sleepless nights you and Dawson have given me Casey" Kelly retorted.
Dani just burst out laughing at the two. No matter their differences, they were always there for each other. Like true brothers. It was nice to see them get their brotherhood back. She also knew this is exactly what she needed to be to help her heal.
Dr. Charles words kept ringing in her head, she had people she loved all around her that would be there for her. It was up to her to open up and accept the help.
Getting around and going through the healing process was tough for Dani. She had a hard time learning to relax and let people take care of her.
It was hard to get used to living with Kelly, but she was really happy to get a chance to get her life back.
It was nice to see how he lives and how she can incorporate herself into his life. Everyone was really sweet.
All her friends from work, the district, and her family kept coming to see her, but no one was really talking about what was really going on.
They were all thinking about the incident and the investigation. Jay was trying his hardest to get something on Marks and link him to the attack on Dani. Unfortunately, Intelligence was not having any luck.
The guy was really good at covering his tracks. They needed something, something to get him. But they were coming up short.
Dani knew everyone was treating her like glass but she was the only one who could really help the investigation and lead them in the right direction.
Not being able to drive, she put on her coat and slipped on some toms and took the walk to the 21st district.
Kelly didn't live very far from everything, so it didn't take her very long to get there. It was actually a nice walk.
Sgt. Platt rounded the desk to greet the young doctor when she saw her walk in. "Dani, hey, what are you doing here? Are you okay? Did something happen?" she asked, wrapping her arm around Dani's shoulders.
Dani shook her head, "no, I talked to Jay about the investigation and I know that they are nowhere close to getting anything close to Marks. I am here to help" she stated.
Trudy Platt nodded in understanding. "I think it's very brave of you coming here Dani. Come one, I'll walk you up" she led Dani to the Intelligence Unit.
Jay was pacing the bullpen, as everyone looked at the whiteboard with Marks and Dani's face on it.
They had all the information about the case and the attack on it and lines to connect everything. There was not a lot of lines. They couldn't connect everything.
"Please tell me we have something" Voight said, coming in from his office.
"We know for sure that Cody Marks has been obsessed with Dani since they were in school, but we can't figure out why" Adam stated.
"Maybe I can help with that" Dani said from next to Sgt. Platt.
Everyone turned to her, surprised to see her there. "Dani, what are you doing here? Are you okay?" Jay ran over and took her from Sgt. Platt and helped her into a chair.
She looked up at him in gratitude. "Thanks" she took a minute to catch her breath before turning to all of them.
"How are you feeling Dani?" Voight asked her as he came out of the office fully.
She smiled at him, "I am fine, thank you. I came here today because I have been talking to Jay and I know that you guys are having some trouble with the investigation. I am here to help. Ask me whatever you need to ask me" she stated, looking at all of them.
"Are you sure about this Dani? This is going ot be really rough" Kim asked again.
Dani smiled at their concern. She knew they were all worried about her. That's how it has been since the attack happened. No one wanted to talk about it.
She was ready. She needed to get this out there. If this was going to help them, then it needed to be done.
"I appreciate the concern, but I know that you are all trying your best to successfully complete this investigation and you can't do that without the information I can give you. I am ready to get everything out there, so just ask whatever you need" she stated.
Jay nodded, "Okay, well start from the beginning if you can. Can you tell us about the first time that you met Cody" he asked?
Dani nodded and tried to think back. "Well, it wasn't really a meeting, I just ran into him" she started.
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Flashback
Dani was literally running across campus to get to her anatomy class. She was running really late and her professor was as ass, so she booked it from her last class.
She was running so late; she wasn't expecting to run into a brick wall. Falling back on her ass, all her books dropped and scattered around her.
"I am so sorry; I wasn't paying attention to where I was going" she apologized as she got to her knees and started gathering her papers and books.
The guy got down and helped her with her books. "It's no problem. Are you okay? You hit the ground pretty hard" he replied.
She shook her head, "No I am fine, thank you so much for helping me. Sorry again," she grabbed her stuff and went to leave, when he grabbed her wrist.
"Hey, wait a second, what's your name?" He asked.
"My name is Dani, and you?" she replied.
"Cody, nice to meet you. Where are you off too in such a hurry?" he pulled back and shoved his hands in his pockets.
"Nice to meet you too. Sorry for running into you, but I am really in a rush to get to anatomy. My friend is holding a place for me in class. Thank you for helping me" she said before running to the building.
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"Okay, so that's how you first met, but that doesn't explain why he is so obsessed with you" Atwater stated from her information.
She nodded, "well, what more can I tell you?" she asked.
"What happened next? What was the next time you bumped into him?" Ruzek prompted her to move on with her story.
She took a breath and tried to think back. "I was actually with Will and Amy the next time I saw him" she remembered.
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Flashback
It was the middle of the semester and they had just taken a big midterm. Dani and Amy were sitting on their favorite bench by the pond drinking their Machta teas enjoying their break.
"We were sitting by the pond drinking our teas, just gossiping about random things when I heard my name from clear across campus" Dani stated as she remembered what was going on.
"DANI…HEY DANI" They heard from clear across campus.
They both looked up to see someone running towards them. At first, they thought it was Will because he was coming to meet them after work but when the person got closer, Dani realized that it was the guy she ran into.
She honestly forgot about him.
When he got closer to them, they both looked at him curious. He came and stood in front of them, "hi Dani, I'm so glad that you are doing better. Are you on your way to class?" he asked.
"Hi, sorry, what's your name again?" Amy asked before Dani could say anything.
Dani was looking at him trying to figure out who he was, why he was talking to them, and how he knew so much about her.
"Oh, I'm Cody Marks. Dani ran into me a couple months ago on her way to anatomy and then we met, and I just saw her sitting here, so I just wanted to say hi" he informed Amy.
As he was explaining everything, it clicked for Dani. "Hi, uh, no. We just finished midterms and just destressing. How are you doing? It was really nice to see you again" Dani stepped in, standing up and grabbing her stuff.
She grabbed Amy's arm and pulled her up. "We'll see you around, thanks for stopping to say hi" she said pushing Amy to start walking towards the dorms.
They met Will on the way, who looked behind them to see a guy standing there staring at them. "Who's that? Why's he staring at you two?" he asked.
"He's no one, just someone that I ran into a couple months ago" Dani stated.
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"That's as far as our interaction went. I didn't even remember who he was" she stated honestly, nodding, accepting the cup of water from Jay.
"Well, that gives us a little insight into his obsession at least" Atwater stated.
Dani looked at them confused, "what do you mean?" she asked.
"Well, you said that your friend basically covered for you. You didn't remember him. You basically embarrassed him. Did he know you were pregnant?" Jay reasoned.
Dani shook her head. "No, I didn't realize I was pregnant until a couple months later. Even when I realized I was pregnant, only Will, Grace, and Amy knew and helped me through it" she explained.
"Okay, well, if you are ready, do you think you can keep going?" Voight asked, stepping in front of her.
She took a breath and nodded. She tried to think back to remember the next time she saw him.
"The next time I saw him was when I found out I was pregnant. Literally it was the same day" she scoffed thinking back on it.
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Dani, Will, and Grace were walking out of the trauma meeting at the hospital, coming towards the desk to gather their assignments for the day.
Will and Dani were assigned to the ER, while Grace was assigned to Peds. As residents, they went with the flow.
The ER was crazy busy, so they barely got to see each other and catch up with each other they were so crazy.
Will saw Dani standing at the desk going over a patient chart when he noticed that she was really pale and sweating.
"Dani, you okay?" he asked.
She nodded, smiling at him, "I'm fine. I think the eggs this morning does not agree with me" she said moving to turn and put the chart away when she got really dizzy and fainted.
"Whoa, Dani" Will ran over and helped her up, keeping his arms around her, "hey, are you okay? What's going on?" he asked.
"I don't know. I threw up like 5 times last night through this morning and have felt dizzy all day" she stated, holding on to him for dear life.
"Okay well, come on. We are going to get you checked out" he held her through the ER and led her to an empty exam room.
"What do we got?" Renee, the head nurse asked.
"23-year-old female had 5 episodes of emesis with dizziness and fainting" Will rattled off report of her symptoms and what was going on.
While Will was giving off report, Grace came running in. "Let's start with a CBC, CHEM Panel, BMP, LFT'S, thyroid, and a full work up" Will ordered.
"You are going overboard. I just felt a little dizzy" Dani complained.
"Let's add an HCG" Grace stated.
While they were waiting for the results of the lab work and Renee and Grace took her vitals, Dani was able to get back to work. After a bag of saline, she felt better. She was probably just dehydrated.
She made her way to the cafeteria to get something to eat and some Gatorade or something with sugar so she could feel a little better.
She was sitting alone with her green tea and a chocolate croissant when someone came up to her table.
She looked up to see Cody Marks standing in front of her. "Hi Dani, how are you doing?" he greeted her.
"Hi, what are you doing here?" she asked. She was starting to realize that the guy was really creepy. He kept showing up in random places.
"I am visiting a family member in the ICU. I just came down for something to eat and saw you sitting here alone. Are you okay?" he informed her.
She nodded, "yeah, I am fine. I am sorry about your family being in the hospital. Hopefully they get better soon" she said.
He nodded and took a seat in front of her, "thanks. I was going to ask you the last time, you seem pretty cool. I would love to get to know you more. Would you like to go out for dinner or drinks sometime?" he asked.
Dani played with the holder around her tea, keeping her glance on her cup, taking a couple breaths to calm her nerves. She knew this was coming.
"Look Cody, you seem like a really nice guy, but I just finished something really hard and I am not ready to jump into another relationship" she informed him.
She didn't want to get into details, that was no one's business.
"Was it another guy?" he asked.
"Something like that. I just finished a really serious relationship that was hard for me to end and I can't jump into anything" she stated.
"I could help you get over him" he tried again.
"I'm pregnant so I really just need to focus on me and my family right now. Thanks for the offer" she said before getting up and making her way back to the ER.
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"That night I found out I really was pregnant and my whole life changed. I had to reevaluate everything. My brothers found out and wanted me to come home, back to Kelly and back to living like a little Italian housewife, but I couldn't do it" she informed them.
"That's the nail to his coffin" Voight said.
"We can't prove that. All he did was ask her out. How did he go from that to attacking her? There's got to be something more serious behind it" Ruzek added.
"Well, the next time I saw him was almost when it was time for me to have my daughter. I mean, he just disappeared for a while after I saw him at the hospital. Even that was suspicious though, because I had a feeling that he was lying. I looked up his last name and the ICU patients and I didn't see anyone related to him. The nurses on the floor didn't even see him on the floor" Dani added to their information.
"So, there was a gap between you seeing him in the hospital and the next time you saw him. Do you know how long it was?" Al asked.
"Yeah, it was 8 months to the day" she replied.
She took a big deep breath and wringed her fingers in her lap before going into her next story.
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It was eight months before she saw Cody again. She was on her way to creative writing, holding her stomach, sweating, pale as a ghost, nauseas as hell, making her way across campus.
Cody Marks was standing outside the Art building smoking a cigarette when he saw Dani make her way across campus.
He saw her looking really sick, holding her stomach. Everyone knew she was pregnant, so he stood up a little straighter, watching her walk toward the building.
He watched her walk into the building, barely standing up straight, and making her way towards the bathroom on the first floor.
He stood back and waited for her a little while. When it was evident that she wasn't coming out, he walked through the building to the door of the girl's bathroom and knocked.
"DANI…HEY DANI, IT'S CODY. ARE YOU OKAY?" he yelled through the door.
He pressed his ear to the door to see if he could hear anything, but he didn't even her groaning. He couldn't even hear footsteps.
"Dani, I'm coming in" he called out through the door as he opened it slowly and peaked his head in.
He walked through the bathroom and saw Dani laying spread eagle in a stall with blood running down her legs and staining her jeans.
He froze, he didn't really know what to do. He got down on his knees and dragged her out of the stall, putting her head in his lap, keeping his arms around her.
He pulled out his phone and called 911.
"911 Operator, what's your emergency?" the operator asked.
"My friend is pregnant and bleeding. She needs help. Please come help. We are in the first-floor girls' bathroom of the Art Building of Harvard" he informed them.
"Okay, does she have a pulse?" the operator asked.
"Yes, she has a pulse, but she's really pale and unconscious. Please hurry" he rushed the EMTs.
"Okay, we are sending an ambulance your way"
Cody stayed with Dani, keeping his arms around her. He was basically holding her. He kept checking her pulse and checking to make sure that she wasn't still bleeding, but she was.
He finally took off his coat and outer shirt to put pressure between her legs to try and stop the bleeding.
It wasn't long before the EMS ran in, "please, she really needs help. She hasn't stopped bleeding; her pulse is really shallow" he said.
"She works at Boston General, right? I recognize her. Let's get her loaded up and hooked up to the machines to get her to the hospital" one of the EMTs said.
Once they got the call from the EMTs, the hospital got ready for the incoming trauma. Will and Grace were waiting for the ambulance when it arrived to the hospital.
Grace got defensive when she saw Cody jump out of the ambo. "What happened?" she asked.
"I found her in the bathroom bleeding pretty bad. She hasn't stopped bleeding" he informed them.
Will and Grace followed the gurney back to the trauma room and began to work on their friend.
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"I honestly don't even remember what happened. Grace and Will filled me in afterwards. That was the day that I found out my daughter didn't make it. The OB told me that I was so stressed from fear and anxiety over him, over Cody Marks, that I lost the baby. He was the one who made me lose my little girl. She was only a month away from being a perfect, healthy baby girl" she cried, taking a minute to wipe her tears.
"They had to cut her out of me. I told the doctors that I wanted to name her Kathrine Jessica Severide. I promised Kelly when we were together that if we ever had a girl, I would name her after his mom, Kathrine and my grandmother's name was Jessica, so I wanted her named after them" she ducked her head into her hands, sobbing in her lap.
Jay rubbed her back up and down, squeezing the back of her neck, pulling her into his arms, cradling her into his chest, letting her cry it out.
When he pulled away, Dani sat with her head up high, wiping her tears, looking at the sympathy on the teams faces.
Voight came in front of her and took her hands in his, "I am so sorry for your loss. No parent should ever have to bury their child, especially one as young as you were" he said.
She nodded with a sad smile, "thank you" she wiped her tears.
"Maybe we should stop" Jay was protective of his friend.
"No, please. I want to help you. I need to get this out and help you make leeway into this investigation" she stated.
"Okay, well, we already have the complex issue of rejection, which gives us a motive. At first you rejected him and then when you lost your daughter, he probably thinks that he saved you. He saw you bleeding out, found you, called 9-11 and saved your life, in his mind, so you choose Kelly over him made it seem like you were ungrateful. He probably thinks that you owe him" Adam summed up everything they gathered from her information.
"That doesn't make sense. He knew my daughter died. He was at the funeral" she argued.
"He came to the funeral?" Voight asked.
She nodded and took another calming breath before telling that part of her story.
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When Dani got discharged from the hospital, she got together with her friends at a local cemetery to bury her daughter.
Will, Grace, and Amy stood next to her with her friends from the hospital and school both stood around the grave site for Dani's little girl, being there for the funeral.
Bobby was the only family member there for her from Chicago. She didn't want Kelly to know and she didn't want him there. She was going through her own issues with loosing her daughter and her dad blaming her for it, she didn't need the extra pressure.
The priest was giving the final prayer when everyone stepped up and put a pink rose on her grave.
"My silent child, our precious baby,
Close to my heart I'll keep you with me.
An important job God has for you,
There is love to give, and work to do.
He needs an angel strong but small,
To shine light on many and give love to all."
The doctor gave her the wrist band that would have been given to her daughter with her birthday May 3, 2015. Dani stepped forward and put the wrist band around the rose and put it on the coffin. She bent forward and kissed the coffin, sobbing.
Saying her goodbye, she walked back over to her group of friends for support.
At the end of the funeral, they all turned to leave when Dani noticed Cody standing, leaning on the tree on the side of the grave site.
Dani walked over to confront him. "What are you doing here?" she asked.
"I wanted to say sorry for your loss. I did everything I could to help stop the bleeding and save your daughter" he said.
"I lost her because of the stress of this relationship and I just can't anymore. Thank you for your help but I can't" she said wiping her tears and moving away from him.
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"I lost my daughter because of him and did not want to start something at the funeral but I was done. The stress of the relationship and the anxiety of him creeping up somewhere, it was just too much" she said squeezing the locket with her daughters name and date of birth.
Before they could say anything else, they heard hollering coming from the stairs at the entry of the unit. Dani knew this was coming. Sooner or later her brother was going to find out she as there and throw a fit.
Bobby came running into the Intelligence Unit, staring at his sister, sitting there next to Jay with tears running down her face.
"Dani, what the hell are you doing here? What is going on?" he asked.
"I came to help with the investigation. I told them about what happened with me and Cody when we were in school" she said.
"You should be home resting and yet here you are going over what happened to you. You shouldn't have to relive all this" he replied, worried for his sister.
"Okay, well, this is done. Let's go" he stepped forward and helped her up and out of the squad.
She stopped at the top of the stairs, she turned to face the unit, "thank you guys for letting me get this out. I hope what you learned will help with the investigation, but I do have one request" she said finding Voight's eyes.
She met his gaze, "I want 5 minutes with him when you find him" she said directly to him. If anyone understood what she was going through, it would be him.
He nodded at her, "it's yours" he replied.
She nodded and turned to leave with her brother. The ride was quiet. Bobby didn't know what to say and Dani was still processing everything that went on.
"Dani" Bobby started to say something.
"Take me to the firehouse" she said.
He nodded and made his way to the firehouse. It wasn't long before he was parking behind Kelly's car and turning to help his sister out of the car.
Kelly saw Dani coming up the driveway with Bobby close behind, so he got up to meet them halfway. He was really happy to see her. It was a nice surprise.
That all changed when he saw her red eyes and tears streaming down her face. She walked right into his awaiting arms, burying herself in his chest, letting all her tears come out.
Severide wrapped his arms around her, alternating between rubbing her back up and down and digging his fingers into her hair for comfort.
"Hey, Dani, what's going on?" he asked instantly concerned.
"She went to the 21st district today and gave them information about Cody that could help their investigation" Bobby said from behind his sister.
Kelly met his gaze and knew what he was saying. She had to talk about losing Katie and everything Cody has done to her.
He nodded and squeezed her tighter into his chest, leading her into the house and straight up to his room.
"You should have told me, I would have been there with you" he said, kissing the top of her head, moving hair from her face, as she rested against him.
"I had to do this alone Kelly. I had to do it for me, for our daughter. He killed her. The stress of everything made my body reject my baby girl. After everything he's done, I had to help them anyway I could. I needed to prove to myself that I was strong enough to deal with this" she said against his chest.
He tilted her head up so she could meet his gaze, "you are the strongest person I know, no doubt. You wouldn't have been able to get through everything you did without strength" he reassured her, leaning down for a kiss.
"Well, I just hope the information I gave them helps with the investigation" she replied.