Gabby's POV

I watched as Naia sprinted away and all of Firehouse 51, including me, raced after the girl. I had to admit, she was pretty fast and was very nimble on her feet.

Just as I rounded the corner, I watched Naia run onto the street and heard a car horn. The colour drained from my face as my mind quickly put the pieces together.

I knew what was going to happen before it did.

"Naia!" I screamed but it was too late. The car hit Naia and her little body went flying against the concrete road.

"Brett! Grab the jump bag from the ambo!" I yelled and quickly ran towards Naia.

A lady got out of the car, clearly traumatized. She clapped her hand over her mouth when she saw that she indeed did hit someone.

"I didn't see her coming, she just ran out of now where!" The lady said as she stumbled towards Naia. "Is she okay? She isn't dead, is she?"

"M'am, I need you to take a seat over here so the paramedics can do their thing," Matt said and led the lady over to the side of the curb before sitting her down. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine," The lady brushed off Matt's question, "Is she going to be okay? I swear, it's like she just came out of nowhere."

"Just let the paramedics do their job," Matt replied, "She's in great hands."

Even though Naia was awake, I checked her pulse anyway.

Brett came rushing over with the jump bag from Ambo 61.

"Strong pulse," I said to her.

"That's good," Brett said as she wrapped the c collar around Naia's neck.

"We're going to take good care of you Naia," I said and took her hand into mine. "Can you squeeze my hand sweetie?"

I felt Naia's hand slightly squeeze mine.

"Good, that's good," I said and watched as Brett use the stethoscope.

"Shortness of breath." She reported when she saw me looking and I nodded.

Severide came running with the spinal board and we carefully slide it under Naia. Then we lifted her and towards the ambulance.

Matt opened the ambo door and we gently placed her on the stretcher.

"I'll drive," Brett told me and I hopped in the back with Naia. Matt closed the door and gave it a loud thump before Brett drove off with the sirens on.

"Incoming!" Maggie called out and Dr. Manning and Dr. Halstead came running over.

"What do we have?" Dr. Halstead asked.

"11-year-old female. Naia. She was hit by a car. Possible spinal and internal injuries. BP 93 over 58, heart rate 70." Brett replied.

"You're going to Bagdad," Maggie directed us and we rolled Naia into the room.

"On my count," Dr. Manning said, "One, two, three."

We lifted the backboard onto the bed.

"She was hit by a car," I repeated.

"Have you called the family?" Dr. Halstead asked.

"I wouldn't." Dr. Manning replied and I remembered that she had treated Naia last time.

I snorted. "Exactly."

Brett started pulling me out of the room but I fought her, wanting to stay with Naia. The poor girl was probably scared out of her mind. She was probably confused and didn't know what was going on.

"Let's give them room to work," Brett fought me back, "She's in good hands here."

"I'll do a fast scan," Dr. Manning said and as she pulled out the stuff. She looked carefully at the screen.

"There's free fluid in her abdomen, looks like she's bleeding internally," Dr. Manning said and Dr. Halstead nodded.

"Let's get an x-ray," Dr. Halstead ordered and an apron was quickly put on him. "Alright, everybody move back."

The lights were turned off as the x-ray started.

"Looks like a hemothorax in the right lung," Dr. Halstead, "Start an IV, I'll get a chest tube in and then let's get her in an OR to address the internal bleeding."

I felt myself start to pale and my legs start to shake at those words.

Internal Bleeding.

Hemothorax.

"You okay?" Brett asked as we started walking out of the hospital.

"It's all my fault. I pushed her too far or I shouldn't have let go of her arm." I said.

Brett shook my head and wrapped her arms around me, giving me the hug I needed.

"It's not your fault. It was a fluke." She whispered as we broke apart.

I shook her head. "It's all my fault if she doesn't make it."

"Naia's tough. You know it. She'll pull through," Brett told and I nodded.

"Maybe if I wasn't so insistent about her showing us her arms," I rubbed my eyes, "I should have just dropped the topic. I mean, we were hoping that she would come to visit right? And she did, and then I scared her off again."

"She might still come back to the firehouse," Brett consoled, "The fact that she even came back today means that she's starting to trust us, right?"

I groaned, "Yeah, and then I messed it all up. Now we're back at square one."

"Hey, you don't know that," Brett said.

"I should have taken things slowly," I whispered, "She wasn't ready for that, and I knew that."

"Okay, you need to stop beating yourself up about this," Brett told her, her voice firm, "What's done is done. You need to have happy and positive thoughts right now, for Naia's sake."

Brett was right.

Naia needed at least one person to be thinking optimistically about this. Her foster siblings didn't know about it so they couldn't be thinking happy thoughts and neither did her foster parents, though I doubted they would be thinking positively even if they did know.

"Right," I nodded and let out a breath, "Happy thoughts."