Hey everyone, here is Chapter 21 of Right Kind Of Wrong. I hope you all like it and please don't forget to leave a review or comment about it :) This chapter deals with Season 9 episodes 1 and 2 with my twist on things.
CHAPTER 21
"You sure you can keep working?" Casey asked Brett.
"Yeah. I don't want this guy to think he's gotten to me." Brett said.
"I just want you to be careful." Casey said.
"I will. Hopefully shift is smooth sailing from here." Brett half smiled.
"It's 51, so it's hard telling." Casey said.
Brett headed to the bunk room to try to get a little sleep while Mackey was in the common room getting to know everyone. Restless and anxious, Brett paced the floor of the bunk room. Casey noticed and turned as soon as Brett caught him looking at her. She chuckled and just shook her head. Shift went by pretty smoothly the rest of the day. After changing clothes in the bathroom and grabbing her things from her locker, and met Casey in the parking lot to head home.
"What's wrong?" Casey asked.
Brett was looking around as if someone was watching her.
"Nothing." Brett said.
"Sylvie, I know that look. What's wrong?" Casey said.
"Ever had that feeling like you're being watched but you don't see anyone?" Brett asked.
"Yeah, why?" he asked.
"I don't know. I just have this strange feeling that someone is watching me." she said.
She got into the truck and Matt drove them home. The drive was quieter than usual. Casey could sense that Brett was a bit freaked out from the call she got earlier and tried to reassure her as best as he could that everything would be alright. They got back to their apartment and noticed that the door was opened. Casey called the landlord, who denied coming to the building. They searched the apartment and Casey found a picture of the brother who died.
"Sylvie, look." Casey said as he pointed to the picture.
"I'll call Burgess." Brett said.
She called Burgess and within a few minutes, Burgess and Ruzek showed up and had the crime scene unit do a sweep of the place. After the crime scene unit left, Burgess and Ruzek asked them questions.
"We'll get the fingerprints from the photograph and the door and see if we can get a match in our database." Burgess said.
"Brett, it's best if you don't go anywhere alone until this guy is caught." Ruzek said.
"That won't be a problem. I'm still waiting on the insurance to pay for my car." Brett said.
"Thanks guys." Casey said as he walked Ruzek and Burgess out the door.
"Well that was fun." Brett joked.
"Hey, they are gonna catch Halleck. It's just a matter of when." Casey said as he hugged her.
She returned his hug and then pulled away.
"I just wanna go to bed. See you in the morning." she smiled.
"Goodnight." he said in a low voice.
"Goodnight." she whispered.
Brett headed to bed. She was still shaken up and wasn't sure she could sleep. She changed into her pajamas and crawled into bed. The next morning, she woke up and headed towards the bathroom. Casey was already up and ready just drinking coffee as Brett came walking in on her way to the bathroom. He had a construction job he had to go do and was getting ready to leave. Brett was trying to tip toe so Casey wouldn't notice, but it didn't work.
"Morning." he said as he took a sip of coffee.
His voice startled her.
"Morning." she said as she closed the bathroom door.
Little did she know that he caught a glimpse of her walking by. She had a pair of pink pajama bottoms and a pink spaghetti strap shirt on.
Casey smiled to himself and then shook his head.
"Don't even think about it." he told himself.
Brett finished her shower and then got dressed. She quickly texted Foster to see if she wanted to catch up since she had the day off and then after drying her hair, she walked out of the bathroom. She walked over to the couch where Casey as sitting and sat beside him.
"So, I have a construction job I have to go to. Not sure what time I'll be home. I know with you not having a car, it's hard to do anything and even though you have a police detail on you, do you think you will be ok by yourself?" Casey asked, concerned that she wouldn't be alright.
"Yeah. I'm waiting to hear back from Foster and we might hang out but I'll be fine." Brett said.
"You sure? I mean, I can call and cancel if you want me too." Casey said.
"No, I'll be fine. If something happens, I'll call you." Brett said as she reassured Casey.
Casey gave her a look and she gave him one right back to let him know that it was ok.
"Call me if you need me." he said as he gave her a look.
"I promise." she replied.
"Lock the door behind me. I'll be back as soon as I can." he said as he left.
Brett locked the door after Casey left and immediately went over to the window and watched him as he got in his truck. He looked up from his truck after he got inside and gave Brett a smile. She smiled back and then he left to go to his job. Brett walked around the apartment trying to find things to do. She did laundry and then did some dusting and cleaning around the apartment. For a man, Casey was surprisingly clean. Otis and Cruz were so messy, so having a man who kept things clean was a nice change. As she finished dusting the shelves, her phone rang.
"Hello?" she answered.
"Hey, I got your text. Wanna meet up say around noon?" Foster asked.
"Well, I still don't have a car and Casey is at one of his construction jobs or he'd give me a ride." Brett said.
"I'll come over. I have a lot to tell you." Foster said.
"Sounds good. See you then." Brett said with a smile.
Brett and Foster hung up the phone and Brett went back to cleaning. After the laundry was finished, she folded and put them away. She cleaned out the refridgerator and then the cabinets. A few hours later, Foster called to say she was on her way to Brett's apartment. Brett finished cleaning and sat down for a little bit until Foster arrived. About thirty minutes later, Foster arrived. Brett let her in and then closed and locked the door.
"Hey, what's with locking the door?" Foster asked as she came back into her former apartment and sat down on the couch.
"So, yesterday while on a call, this crazy man who was all high on meth or something, pulled a gun on me and my new partner, Gianna Mackey. He threatened to kill us if we didn't help his brother. His brother passed away at Chicago Med and because I don't have a car until the insurance company comes through with all of that mess, I basically have to rely on others to help me. Anyway, long story short, the CPD have placed a protective detail on me until this guy is caught. Casey and I think that he broke into the apartment, so we called Burgess and Ruzek. Needless to say, it's been a week." Brett explained.
Foster took a moment to soak in everything that Brett had just told her.
"Wow." Foster mustered up.
Brett knew that Foster was trying to find the right words to say.
"What else has happened? I feel bad for not being there for you." Foster said.
Brett rehashed everything that has happened since Foster left and Foster felt bad. She felt bad because she bailed on Brett at a time when Brett needed her, but she decided to make it up to Brett. They ordered take out and just talked.
"You can't tell me you and Casey don't have a thing for each other. You two were practically giving each other looks all the time. And now,
you're living together. I told you before and I'll tell you again, jump the man's bones already." Foster said.
"That's just it. I can't do that. He was married..." Brett said as Foster interrupted her.
"...to your best friend. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I've heard that before. Look, you keep saying that Casey's ex, um, uh, Gabby, is your best friend but she's never once reached out to you other than that time she popped up at 51 out of the blue with no warning. She only went there to see Casey. Tell me something, did she ask you to have dinner or lunch or something while she was in town?" Foster asked.
That threw Brett off guard but Foster did have a point.
"No, she didn't." Brett said.
"Exactly. What kind of friend is she if she just stops talking to you for no reason?" Foster asked.
"Even when she was in town, she wouldn't answer my calls or texts. I guess I should have known that she really didn't care about our friendship." Brett said in a defeated tone.
"Brett, you are far too nice and kind to have a friend like that. She doesn't deserve your friendship. I don't know her and have only met her the one time, but from what I saw when she was in town, she's not your friend and Casey didn't seem to be too thrilled to see her either." Foster said.
"I know. I just...I like to think that maybe we were friends at some point. I just wish I knew what I did wrong." Brett said.
"Listen, I don't know her and I might be overstepping here, but hear me out. If Gabby was any kind of friend, she wouldn't have just bailed on you, Casey, and everyone at 51. We all have our problems but some of the stories that Cruz and Severide were telling me about her, well, it made it seem as if she only put herself first and everyone else second. Even when I had a brief conversation with her at 51 that day, she seemed to be all about herself." Foster explained.
Brett pulled out the picture of her and Gabby that Gabby signed "LOVE YOU, PARTNER" and showed it to Foster.
"Brett, no friend would ever write "PARTNER" on a picture to give to their friend unless they were saying something like "PARTNER IN CRIME" or something like that. I'm just saying that if this is what she wrote on a picture of the two of you and you're supposed to be best friends, then she's not a real friend and only considered you to be her coworker." Foster said.
Brett took a minute to process what Foster said. Foster wasn't wrong about any of it. If Gabby were truly her friend, she wouldn't have wrote that on the back of the picture and she wouldn't have kept avoiding Brett like the plague.
"Look, I didn't mean to upset you. I just think that what you and Casey have is real and you should pursue it." Foster said.
"How can what we have be real when we haven't even gone out on a date?" Brett asked.
"That's where I guess I'll just have to work my magic." Foster joked.
Brett and Foster let out a laugh.
"Em, please. Don't do that. Before anything happens between us, if anything does happen, he needs to make sure that Gabby is in his past because the next man I'm with, I want a future with." Brett said.
"I won't do anything, I promise. Just promise me if something happens, I'll be the first one to know." Foster smiled.
"Deal." Brett smiled back.
They ordered take out delivery since most places were closed due to the current pandemic going on. Within thirty minutes, the delivery man came by with their food. Brett paid for it and then closed the door and locked it behind her. She brought the food over to the coffee table in the living and sat it down. Brett walked over to the kitchen, grabbed a few bottles of water, paper plates and some paper towels, and then walked back over to where she and Foster were sitting. They began eating pizza and talking about everything that has happened.
"I can't tell you the last time I had a day off from school work and volunteering at the hospital." Foster said.
"How's that going?" Brett asked.
"Considering the circumstances, it's going well. Between classes and volunteering, I'm tired. I'm just truly blessed that the college accepted me back into the program. Lucky for me, they are allowing me to start as an intern next year if I pass my classes this semester. Each college is different with their programs and such, but before they allow me to become an intern, they want me to take classes this year. They said it was due to my past of cheating on my boards and that I have to take two semesters of classes as well as have so many hours of community service, hence all the volunteer work I am doing. It's part of my probation." Foster explained.
"Em, that's amazing. I'm so proud of you. I know I was upset with you about your decision to go back to med school, but honestly, that's where you belong. I guess you could say that I didn't wanna lose one of my closest friends considering everything that's happened over the last year or so." Brett said.
Foster smiled. She knew that going back to med school was the right decision for her but she also knew that Brett didn't want to have yet another partner.
"So, how's your new partner doing?" Foster asked.
"She's doing well given that she's been on the job for like a day." Brett said.
"I'm sure she'll get the hang of things. She's got you as a partner and ultimately she'll have you as a friend. If there's one thing I learned from you, it's that trust and friendship is earned and not given automatically." Foster smiled.
They continued to eat and talk for a little while longer.
"You know, I hate to leave, but I have a huge test tomorrow and I need to study a little bit." Foster said.
"Absolutely. I understand. I'm just glad that we finally had a chance to hang out." Brett smiled.
"Same. I'll do my best to keep in contact but with school and volunteering, it's been hard." Foster said.
"No, I get it. I'm only a phone call or text message away." Brett smiled.
Foster and Brett hugged each other and then Foster left. Brett closed the door and locked it and began cleaning up the mess left from the pizza she and Foster had ordered. While cleaning, she heard a loud noise. She shrugged it off as one of the neighbors in the apartment beside of her's. A few minutes went by and she heard it again. She grabbed a knife from the kitchen and held it in her hand. She walked over to the door and when she heard keys, she ran over to the window to see if Casey came back home. She was relieved to see his truck outside and released the tight grip she had around the knife. The door opened and he came in. Casey could see the sheer terror on her face and realized that he should have let her know he was on his way home.
"Hey, hey, it's ok. It's just me." Casey said in a calming yet soothing voice.
Casey reached for the knife in Brett's hand and took it from her. He placed it on the coffe table and then pulled her into a tight embrace.
"I thought..." Brett said as tears filled her eyes.
She clinged onto him and just let the tears fall down her face.
"Sylvie, I'm so sorry." he whispered into her ear as he held her in his arms.
She cried into his shoulder for a few minutes before pulling away and wiping her eyes.
"I'm sorry for crying like that. I don't know what is wrong with me. I think it's just the fact that I was held at gunpoint yesterday and all that, it's just hitting me harder than I realized." she said.
"It's perfectly understandable. I mean, you have been through a lot in the last 24 hours." he said reassuring her.
Casey wiped away her tears and looked into her eyes for a minute before Brett pulled away. It was close to 6:00 p.m. and Brett wanted to make sure the apartment was cleaned before their shift tomorrow just in case there was another break in.
"So, I'm gonna get back to cleaning." she smiled.
"Want some help?" he asked.
"Uh, sure, if you don't mind." she said.
"So, what do you need me to do?" he asked.
"Uh, can you wash the dishes that are in the sink? There's not that many and then if it's not too much trouble, could you dust the top shelves?" she asked.
"You got it." he smiled.
He went into the kitchen and washed up the few dishes that were in the sink and then dusted the top of the shelves. Brett finished sweeping and cleaning up. After they were finished, they sat on the couch and played the game "Heads Up." They were guessing accents and Casey kept passing on all of them.
"No, you can't do that. That's the third one you decided not to do." she said with a laugh.
"But it's Transylvania. I have no idea how to do that one." he joked.
"You wouldn't even do a New York or Boston accent." she laughed.
"But I suck at those." he teased.
"Alright, I'll make you a deal, if you the next one, then I'll do any accent you want." she joked.
"Oh really? Alright. Challenge accepted." he said as he smiled.
Brett flipped the phone for the next accent and it was Australian. Casey tried to get out of it but was unsuccessful.
"I can't do that." he said.
"Wait, what? You said that about the others. You made me a deal." she smiled.
Casey huffed a little bit and finally caved in.
"Hello there, mate." he said in the Australian accent.
Brett busted out laughing so hard and then Casey did the same.
"That was so bad." she smirked with a laugh.
Casey kept laughing.
"Alright, I did it and now it's your turn. You do the same accent." he challenged.
"Alright. Give me a minute." she said as she tried to compose herself.
After trying to stop laughing, Brett took a deep breath.
"Good day, mate." she said in the Australian accent.
Both were laughing so hard.
"That was worse than mine." he said while laughing.
"I know but your accent was just..." she continued to laugh and couldn't finish her sentence.
"You are so mean, you know that?" he joked.
"Yeah." she continued to laugh.
They laughed for a few more minutes before stopping.
"I'm getting a little hungry." he said.
"Oh Foster and I didn't finish all of the pizza. There's literally almost a whole pizza left if you want some." she said.
"I just might get some." he said as he looked at her with a smile.
She looked into his eyes and smiled.
"Oh, um, I think I'm just gonna soak in the bathtub for a bit. It's been a long two days and I just need to relax." she said as she stood up.
"Alright. Well, I'll just eat a bite and maybe watch some TV. Take as much time as you need." he smiled.
She gave him a smile and got up to go to her bedroom. She grabbed her pajamas from her dresser drawer and then grabbed a pair of black lacey underwear and a black lacey bra and then headed towards the bathroom. Although she felt drained from work yesterday, she wanted to just soak in the bathtub for a while. She brought her air pods and her iPod with her to the bathroom to listen to music while she was in the bathtub. She ran the bath water to her specification and then turned it off. She grabbed a towel and washcloth from the linen closet, got undressed, and then got in the bathtub. She washed her hair first before putting the air pods in her ears to listen to music. After she washed her hair, she put the air pods in her ears, turned on the music on her iPod and began to relax a little bit. Casey was in the living room watching TV. About an hour later, Brett emerged from the bathroom in her pajamas and headed to her bedroom. She placed her dirty clothes into the clothes basket in her bedroom and then walked back into the living room and sat down on the couch beside of Casey.
"Anything interesting on?" Brett asked.
"Not really." Casey said as he placed the remote on the couch between him and Brett.
It was around 8:00 p.m. and they had work the next day.
"Would you mind if I called it an early night?" Brett asked.
"No, go ahead. I think I'll head that way myself after I take a shower." Casey smiled.
"Alright. So, I'll see you in the morning. Goodnight." she smiled.
"Goodnight." he smiled back.
Brett walked into her bedroom, closed the door, set the alarm on her phone, and then went to bed. Casey grabbed a quick shower and then headed to bed himself. Brett forgot her iPod and air pods in the bathroom and Casey smiled. After he put his sweat pants and gray shirt on,
he knocked on Brett's bedroom door. She got up and opened it.
"Hey, you forgot these in the bathroom." he grinned as he handed her the iPod and air pods.
"Thank you." she quietly replied as she grabbed the items from Casey's hands.
They looked at each other for a few minutes before saying goodnight to each other again. Casey walked away and headed to his bedroom while Brett closed her door, placed the items on her dresser, and then went back to bed. The next morning after they got ready, they headed to work. Once shift started, it was busy. The morning announcements by Boden were interrupted by the bells. There was a call they had to go to.
"AMBULANCE 61. TRUCK 81. SQUAD 3. ENGINE 51. BATTALION CHIEF 25. STRUCTURE FIRE. 254 South Eleanor Street." the dispatcher said over the intercom.
It was a structure fire at a photography studio. The building was old and was already on the verge of falling apart when the fire started to rip through the building faster than anticipated.
"Severide, this place looks bad. Why don't you guys take the front and we'll take the back." Casey said over the radio.
"Copy that!" Severide replied over the radio.
"This place is cooking!" Capp yelled.
"Let's go! Let's go! Let's go!" Cruz yelled.
A victim came walking out, coughing while trying to catch her breath.
"Ma'am, it's ok. Do you know how many are inside?" Boden asked the woman.
"Dozens. It's a photography studio and we were doing a photoshoot for a magazine when all of a sudden we heard a spark and then the fire started." the woman said.
"Brett! Mackey! Set up triage over there! Ma'am, I need you to go over there and get checked out by the paramedics." Boden said.
The woman walked over to Brett and Mackey where they examined her.
"Lungs sound clear but let's get her some oxygen to be on the safe side." Brett told Mackey.
"On it." Mackey replied as she hooked up the oxygen tank.
Mackey gave the woman the oxygen mask to wear to help her breathe. Inside the building, the fire was spreading like wildfire.
"Casey, one of the victims said she heard sparks. Look for some sort of machine or pyrotechnics that could be in the building and report back to me." Boden said over the radio.
No sooner had Casey and his team opened the door, they all saw sparks flying from a pyrotechnic machine.
"Kidd, second floor. Mouch, first floor. Gallo, you're with me. Let's meet up with Squad in the middle." Casey said.
"Copy that, Captain." Mouch said.
Severide and the rest of squad were searching the building for victims.
"Fire department, call out!" Severide yelled.
"Severide, over here!" Tony yelled.
Severide rushed over to where Tony was. There were several victims trapped on the other side of the door.
"Tony, grab that rod over there!" Severide yelled.
"Lieutenant, it's getting bad over here! There's not a lot of time!" Capp yelled.
Severide managed to pry the door open and get the victims out.
"Tony! Capp! Get them outside! It's spreading fast!" Severide yelled.
Tony and Capp escorted the victims outside and directed them towards Brett and Mackey.
"Fire department, call out!" Cruz yelled.
"HELP!" a victim screamed.
"Severide, over here!" Cruz yelled.
"HELP!" the victim screamed in agony.
"We're gonna get you out of here. Cruz, help me." Severide said as he tried to move a shelf that had fallen on top of the victim.
Cruz and Severide moved the shelf and was able to get the victim out. Cruz helped the victim to the ambulance while Severide met up with Truck in the middle of the building.
"Casey, report!" Boden said over the radio.
"We just met Severide in the middle. We are getting the last victim out as we speak." Casey reported.
"Copy that." Boden said.
"Chief, there's two civilians who went the wrong way. Severide and Kidd went after them!" Casey yelled over the radio.
"You have less than two minutes to get out of there!" Boden said.
"Copy that." Casey said.
"Casey, I got them! You go!" Stella yelled.
"You heard Boden. Two minutes!" Casey said as Stella ran towards the way the civilians ran.
Stella found them and managed to escort them to Casey, who then escorted them out of the building.
"Mayday! Mayday! Severide's down! I have eyes on him right now!" Stella said over the radio.
"Kidd, how bad is it?" Boden said.
"I can get to him!" Stella yelled as she tried to move the debris that was on top of Severide.
Severide was coughing.
"Where were you?" Severide asked.
"Doesn't matter. Boden called it! We have to leave!" Stella said.
Severide got up and both he and Stella managed to walk towards the exit.
"Kidd, report! Severide, report!" Boden yelled.
Just when Boden was about to say something, Stella and Severide came out of the building.
"Herrmann!" Boden yelled.
"Alright 51, you heard the Chief!" Herrmann yelled at his team as they turned on the water to the hoses and tried to put the water out.
After cleaning up the debris and and putting out the fire, everyone except Brett and Mackey returned to the firehouse. Brett and Mackey were at Chicago Med dropping off a victim from the fire.
"That was intense." Mackey said as she and Brett left the hospital entrance.
"That's nothing compared to what I've seen. Mackey, you are doing a fantastic job but here's some advice. Trust your gut. Don't ever second guess yourself because that's when mistakes are made. There's gonna be times where it's crazy and times when it's not. If there's one thing I want you to learn from this, it's that you should never second guess yourself because that's when a mistake is made. Always trust that your partner has your back. You do that, and everything will be alright." Brett said as she tried to give Mackey advice.
Brett and Mackey returned to the firehouse and headed inside once the ambulance was parked. As they started to walk into the common room, Casey stopped Brett.
"Hey, how's Mackey doing?" Casey asked.
"She's doing surprisingly well. I think that last call got to her a bit, but she's doing good." Brett smiled.
Before Casey could say something else, the bells went off again.
"AMBULANCE 61. WELLNESS CHECK. 5211 WEST CORTLAND STREET." the dispatcher said over the intercom.
"Never fails." Brett joked and then took of running to the ambulance with Mackey behind her.
They got into the ambulance and headed to the address the dispatcher gave them. As Brett continued to drive, she and Mackey began talking about how busy it was at the firehouse but all of a sudden, Brett caught a glimpse of someone driving a car that was swerving all over the place.
"What's going on?" Mackey asked.
"I don't know. Could be a drunk driver." Brett said.
As the car got closer to the ambulance in the other lane, Brett saw that it was Halleck, the man who had held a gun on her and Mackey during last shift. Halleck pointed the gun at Brett and tried to fire it but he couldn't keep his hand steady enough to pull the trigger.
Halleck then resorted to bumping his car into the ambulance. When it didn't work the first time, he tried several more times.
"Mackey, call a 10-1." Brett ordered Mackey.
"This is Ambulance 61 requesting a 10-1." Mackey said.
"Mackey, hold on!" Brett yelled.
Halleck had hit the ambulance hard enough with his car that Brett couldn't stop the ambulance in time and crashed into the guard rails and over the bridge. Halleck then lost control of his car and went over the bridge behind Brett and Mackey. Brett and Mackey were unconscious and lost radio communication. The call about the 10-1 came over the radio at 51 and it concerned the whole house. As soon as Casey heard the 10-1 come over the radio, his heart sank. He was worried about both women but his main concern was about Brett.