Thanks so much to the guest commenter on the last chapter who made this suggestion! I had a plan, but liked yours better. :)

Chapter 29

"Get down," Voight ordered.

Gunfire burst through the warehouse and Jay slid behind a wall. Erin pressed in next to him, holding her gun. Jay could feel her pressed next to him, breathing hard. They waited for a break in the fire. The heavy powered rifles didn't let up. Jay looked through the shadows and saw Ruzek and Atwater taking cover behind oversized machinery across the cavernous room. He couldn't see the rest of the team. He cut off those thoughts quickly. He had learned as a soldier not to think of anything beyond the present danger. Focus on this, get through this.

The sound of the heavy steel doors sliding open sounded in the space between gunfire and Jay took the opportunity to swing around the corner, opening fire. From the corner of his eye, he saw Ruzek and Atwater do the same.

Sunlight broke into the shadows of the warehouse through the open doorway. Jay blinked at the light as something was thrown into the building. He barely had time to register the grenade hitting the floor toward Ruzek's side of the room before there was another staccato round of gunfire and something slammed into his shoulder, pushing him back. He heard Erin yell for him and then the bomb went off.

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Jess took her bowl of chili to the common room table next to Brett and sat down.

"Sour cream," whispered Brett.

"What?"

Brett slid the container of sour cream to Jess. "If you don't want to scorch every taste bud off your tongue, add as much sour cream as you can. Trust me. You only make the mistake of eating Cap's chili plain once."

Jess bit back her grin and took the container, adding heaping spoonfuls to her bowl. She hesitantly lifted the first bite, but the overhead tones announcing a call stopped her before it reached her mouth.

"Squad 3, Truck 81, Ambulance 61, structure collapse."

All the chairs in the room scraped back in unison. "We dodged a bullet," Brett whispered to Jess. "We'll pick up lunch on the way back."

Around the garage, the firefighters suited up. Doors slammed as they got into their trucks. Jess fastened her seatbelt and braced for the sirens to get switched on. Two weeks working at Firehouse 51 and the sound only caused a slight skip in her heart, not the full blown panic it once had.

Dispatch came through the radio with additional details.

"Be advised plainclothes officers are on scene. They're reporting multiple gunshot victims within the structure. PD is securing the scene. We're sending additional ambulance support."

Jess' heart didn't skip. It stopped.

Brett didn't take her eyes off the road. "It's ok, Halstead. It doesn't mean it's Intelligence at the scene." But Jess noticed she pressed down on the accelerator and the ambulance picked up speed.

Jess didn't register any of the landmarks on the way to the building. She could see the dust in the air from the collapse.

The ambulance had hardly slammed to a stop before Jess was out.

"Halstead!" Brett yelled. "Halstead, stop! Jess!"

The sharp command in her partner's voice halted her, but Jess wildly scanned the building. It was only partially collapsed. Two walls crumbled, but the upper floor was still mostly in place.

"Jess," Brett said firmly, grabbing her arm. "If you're going in there in a panic, you're no good to me. And I will lock you in the rig."

Jess pulled against Brett's iron grip on her arm. "We need to get in there. If Adam's in there—Jay could be hurt—let me go!"

Brett blocked her path and held her by the shoulders. ""Jess," Brett said sharply. She gave her a small shake. "Can you get yourself under control?"

Jess pulled her eyes away from the sights in front of her and looked at Brett. Brett raised her eyebrows in question. Jess closed her eyes and drew a ragged breath, then a second. She opened them, her vision cleared, everything coming into the sharp focus she had felt in Afghanistan when she had put aside the reality of what was happening.

Jess watched the firefighters running toward the building, Severide calling out directions to Squad and Casey and Hermann motioning the others to get tools.

"I've got this," she promised Brett.

Brett studied her before slowly releasing her shoulders.

Chief Boden was making his way toward them.

"Halstead," he said. "I talked with the officers on scene."

He paused and she knew what was coming. She could feel the words rise up in her, she wanted to tell him he was wrong.

"Intelligence is inside."

Jess fought against the realization of what he was saying. She had to shove that aside. She had to—

"Ok, Chief, the structure is stable. Send the medics in. We've got multiple injuries in here," Severide's voice crackled over the radio.

Holding onto her control with every fiber of her being, Jess grabbed the jump bag from the back of the ambulance and ran with Brett to the building.

Cruz was coming out. Jess' breath caught in her throat when she saw him helping a man out of the building. The man limped, his face covered in dust. Jess got close enough to recognize him. Dawson.

"Where's Adam?" she demanded. "Is he in there? Where's Jay?"

Dawson shook his head as if clearing cobwebs. "I don't know. We all got separated."

Brett had gloves on and was gently probing the lump on Dawson's head. "Take him over to triage," she told Cruz.

Dawson's out of focus gaze landed on Jess. "We got split up. The gang opened fire. Then they threw in an explosive."

"Triage," Brett ordered again. "Come on," she said sharply to Jess.

The curt order was the only thing making sense in Jess' world. Follow Brett. Find Jay. Find Adam.

"Over here!" Casey called to them.

Jess and Brett picked their way quickly over the rubble of bricks and wood that had once made up the walls of the warehouse.

Jess saw the body and it snapped her thread of control.

"Jay!" His name echoed off the demolished brick walls and mixed with the sounds of the rescue efforts around them. Jess scrambled over a beam and got to him first.

"Jay," she gasped. "Oh my—Jay are you ok?" She touched his arms, his head, trying to reassure herself he was alive.

He groaned and squinted up at her. "Jess?" His voice scraped, like it was coated with the dust in the air around them. He started to lift a hand to her, but sucked in a sharp breath and pulled it back to his side.

Blood seeped through his shirt at his shoulder. "No," Jess said when she saw the bullet wound. Too much blood was seeping out. Brett was next to her, opening the jump bag and handing her a stack of gauze. Jess pressed them to her brother's shoulder, ignoring his flinch at the quickly looked him over. His eyes were closing.

"Jay, where's Adam?" she asked before he passed out. "Is Adam in here?"

"He was…he was by the…the bomb…" Jay's head fell to the side and he was unconscious.

"Jay," Jess said, panic rising in her throat as her brother lost consciousness.

A few feet over, Hermann was helping Erin to stand. Erin looked dazed.

"Jay?" Erin asked. She saw him and took a step toward him before losing her balance. She would have fallen if Hermann hadn't caught her. She tried to break free from him, but her weak fighting accomplished nothing and she sagged against Hermann. He picked her up and started the long route of carrying her out through the debris.

It was chaos around them. Firefighters sweeping the area with their flashlights instructing anyone in the building to call out. They had brought in their air bags to lift beams, the sound of halogens slamming against doors that wouldn't budge rang through the air, and her brother was bleeding out beneath her hands. Jess had never felt so helpless.

"Has anyone seen Adam?" she asked Brett, her voice cracking.

Brett shook her head. "Focus on Jay. He needs you."

Jess looked back down at Jay. "We need…we need IV access. He needs fluids. He's losing blood." She fought to focus on the task at hand. Brett quickly got the IV started and called for a backboard to get Jay out of the warehouse.

Across the building she heard Severide call out. "We got a body over here. Give me a hand!"

And then the answering yell. "It's Ruzek!"

Jess' breath choked her. She couldn't breathe. She looked down at Jay, blinking his eyes, trying to open them. Otis was bringing the backboard to Brett.

"Let's get him out of here," Brett said, in charge of the situation.

Severide yelled again. "He's trapped under this beam. Bring the air lifts!"

"Adam," his name escaped her lips. Then she was moving, climbing over a downed beam. A sliver gouged into her hand, but the pain barely registered. She slipped on a pile of shattered bricks, the clattering mixing with the shouts and sounds around her. She was almost to Adam when hands grabbed her and held her back.

"Not yet, Halstead."

"Let me go!" Jess fought against the restraining hands. She could see Adam's legs. She couldn't see his face, Severide knelt next to him, blocking her view.

"Let them get him free first. You can't go over there."

Casey's firm words would have been rational if it had been anyone else trapped less than ten feet away from her. But it was Adam. She needed to get to Adam.

"He's clear," Severide said to Tony. Cruz was back in the building with them and the three of them lifted the beam enough to slide Adam free.

It was enough to get Casey to loosen his grip on her shoulders and Jess took her chance. She scrambled to Adam's side and fell to her knees next to him. He was too still.

Jess just wanted him to open his eyes. "Adam," she said. She put a hand on his face, his beard rough against her palm. "Adam, open your eyes," she begged.

"Get Brett over here," she heard Casey say behind her. Jess closed her eyes briefly. She was a medic, she reminded herself. Look at Adam, see what he needed, what she could do.

All she could see was his whiskey colored eyes were closed. His breathing was too slow, too shallow. Blood smeared across his face, and blood seeped through his flannel shirt in too many places.

And then Brett was there. She was giving orders as quickly as the firefighters could carry them out. Adam's shirt was cut away and he had a pressure dressing on two of the deep cuts. He had an IV in, quickly running in saline to make up for the blood flowing out of him. A c-collar stabilized his neck. He was on a backboard, being carried out by Severide and Tony.

The sunlight was too bright outside the destroyed building. The light pierced Jess' eyes painfully, but she didn't blink, didn't look away from Adam's still body.

Two medics from Firehouse 20 were there, guiding Severide and Tony toward their ambulance. One of them lifted Adam's eyelids and shined a penlight in them. Jess couldn't hear what he said to his partner. She tried to catch up to Adam.

"You need to step back," the other medic told her, blocking her path to Adam.

"Like hell I do," she bit back. "Get out of my way."

"Let us work," the medic said, squaring his jaw.

"Come on," Severide said, trying to ease her away from the back of the rig. "You know they need to do their jobs."

"They need to get out of my way and let me see Adam," she said, her voice rising.

Jay was on a stretcher next to the ambulance parked by Adam's. He pulled at his oxygen mask "Jess!" he called out, grabbing at his shoulder in pain from the effort of yelling. He fell back against the stretcher, the effort of sitting up, too much.

Jess looked to Jay, she tried to see around the medic to Adam. She was torn. She pressed a hand to her mouth to hold back the scream that threatened. Her entire world was collapsing along with the building that had trapped her brother and the man she loved. She tried to get around the medic to get to Adam, but he wouldn't budge. She backed away, going to Jay's side, keeping an eye toward Adam. The other medic had out his stethoscope, pressing it to Adam's chest.

"Jay, what happened?" she asked. "Are you ok? What..?" She didn't know what to ask. Because the one question she wanted answered, he couldn't. Jay couldn't know if Adam would be ok.

Jay shook his head. His breathing labored. "It was supposed to be a sting. They were tipped off. They opened fire, then tossed in a grenade." He looked around. Dawson was slumped on a stretcher, two medics putting an oxygen mask over his face. Burgess pressed a hand to her head, looking overwhelmed as she turned in a slow circle, taking it all in. Cruz and Tony were helping a limping Atwater out of the building. Voight strode toward them.

"Halstead," he said. "You ok?"

"Is everyone out?" Jay asked, ignoring the sargaent's question.

Voight nodded. "They just brought out Atwater. We're all clear."

"Is everyone…?" Jay wheezed out. Jess could see her brother brace himself for the answer. She reached out and took his hand, not wanting to hear the answer herself.

"We're still regrouping," Voight said. He met Jess' eyes and the look on his face told Jess how scared he was for his people.

"Get away from me," Erin's annoyed voice came over to them. "I'm fine." Wrapped in an ambulance blanket, her face smeared with dirt and grime, Erin shook off the medic trying to treat her. "Jay!" she called. "Are you ok?" She reached out and brushed a hand across his forehead.

"Fine, I'm fine," Jay said.

Jess looked at the bandage she had placed, already soaked through with his blood. The paramedic who had taken over treating him gripped one side of Jay's stretcher to lift it into the ambulance. "We need to go," he said.

Erin followed the stretcher into the back of the ambulance. She met Jess' worried look. "I'll call you when we get to Med."

Jess nodded as they closed the doors. The siren started up and the ambulance pulled away.

Jay would be alright, she told herself.

"We need to move." The voice of the medic who was treating Adam carried over to her. "He needed to be at Med five minutes ago."

Adam still hadn't opened his eyes. Jess caught the back door before the paramedic closed it. She pulled herself into the rig, silently daring the medic to throw her out. Instead he called to his partner up front. "Let's go."

Jess reached over for Adam's limp hand. She squeezed it tightly. "Adam," she whispered, leaning down toward his ear. "You better wake up." Her voice cracked, her whisper dropping as she fought for control. "Please don't leave me," she rasped out.

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