"Have you spoken to him yet?" AnnaBeth asked Gabby as they got ready for work.
"No" Gabby replied shaking her head "With the case he's on, and Katya…. I will though"
Gabby had told her she was pregnant a few days ago. She had squealed so loud she was surprised the neighbours hadn't called the police, but she was just so excited for her friend. She understood why Gabby hadn't told Matt yet. She had gone over to tell him and found the body of a poor woman who had been working at the strip club he was doing the construction job at. The woman had been shot and left to die on Matt's kitchen floor. AnnaBeth didn't know how Matt and Kelly were still living in that apartment, she knew she couldn't do it. Gabby had admitted that Matt had been working an undercover case with her brother's unit into human trafficking. It all felt like something she would watch on one of those documentaries that made her so paranoid after she saw them. She did think more than ever that Gabby was just about the strongest person she knew.
"He is going to be over the moon" She reassured her "And I'm calling dibs on godmother just so we're clear"
"You got it" Gabby told her with a grin as she handed AnnaBeth her bag "Are you ready to go?"
"Yes" She sighed "Honestly with all the drama here lately I am seriously considering taking a vacation"
"Take me with you" Gabby replied.
"Deal" She said with a smile as she locked the door behind them.
AnnaBeth had been thinking about taking a few days to go back to Bluebell. She wanted to be there for Crickett, see her friends. She was sure her parents would be back from their cruise for a while before they headed off on the next one. She hadn't visited her sister for a while either. Chicago was home now but that didn't mean she didn't miss Bluebell.
"Hey" Kelly said as she walked over to him "Everything ok?"
"I was actually going to ask you the same question" She replied leaning against the turnout room door.
"Why wouldn't everything be ok?" He asked with an easy-going smile "Is this still about the apartment, nothing is going to happen to me"
"No" She said softly "I heard about what happened"
"Well then why are you asking?" He said his smile faltering "The whole things a joke"
"You know everyone here supports you" She told him.
Chili had told her that the Deputy District Chief had been in that morning to strip Kelly of his rank. Chief Boden had brought in his friend Captain Patterson. She hadn't been there that long, but she knew that Boden would go to bat for Kelly. He would for anyone at 51.
"That's why Boden brought in his poker buddy" He scoffed.
"So, Boden said you can't do anything?" She asked surprised.
"He said I need to take a management course" He told her "They'll reassess my rank later"
"It'll work out, you'll see" She said.
"Right" He said shortly.
He was clearly angry, and she could understand why but she wished he could see that Chief Boden would work it all out with him, as unfair as it was, he needed to follow the process.
"You know I'm thinking about taking some time off, going back home for a visit" She told him "Maybe you could come, take a boat out on the lake, barbecue's, you could go fishing"
He was about to say something when a car pulled up in front of the firehouse. Two men in CFD t-shirts jumped out and walked round to the trunk. They pulled out some poor half naked man wrapped in plastic with tape across his mouth and candidate misspelled on his forehead.
"What in the world" She said eyes widening.
That certainly would not be the impression she would want to make on her first day. Chief Boden didn't think so either seeing as he told the boy to leave and not come back. Chili took out a pair of scissors to cut him free.
"So" She said turning back to Kelly.
She sighed as the bells went for the ambulance, a woman in distress. Kelly took the opportunity to go back inside and avoid the conversation.
AnnaBeth jumped into the drivers seat quickly followed by Chili.
She drove them to the L train station they had been called to. A woman had been caught in the crossfire on the platform and had been left to bleed out.
No matter how often she responded to calls like that she could never understand it. The woman was pregnant and had been left to bleed out on the ground just for being in the wrong place at the wrong time.
"What's your name sweetheart?" She asked examining the patients wound.
"Alicia" The woman told her.
"I see an entry wound but no exit" She said turning to Chili.
"The baby" The woman said clearly in shock "It's a boy"
"I need to put this mask on" Chili told her "We're going to take care of you both ok"
The got the woman onto the stretcher and took her back out to the ambulance.
Alicia went into labour when they got her into the back of the ambulance.
"Call med" Chili told her "Tell her we're delivering the baby here"
"Ok" She nodded "I'll call for a second ambulance as well"
AnnaBeth had been at a birth before, she knew how to deliver a baby, but it wasn't usually in circumstances quite like this. She called ahead to med and requested a second ambulance. Chili was amazing delivering the baby.
She managed to get a pulse, but it was week as the baby was handed over to the next ambulance. Alicia coded in the ambulance. Chili told her to drive while she got an airway going.
AnnaBeth couldn't remember feeling so anxious on a call. Not for a long time.
"Damn it" Chili cried in the back of the ambulance hitting the side of the rig.
….
AnnaBeth put her arm around Chili as they got back to the firehouse, Chili's eyes were red with tears. She was doing her best to keep her own back; she was sure if she let herself cry then she just might not be able to stop.
"What happened?" Kelly asked furrowing his brow with concern as he saw them both.
"Just a bad run" She said softly.
"A young Mom got shot" Chili told him "We delivered her baby; she didn't make it and we don't know about the kid"
AnnaBeth followed Chili to the washrooms.
"We made the right call, didn't we?" Chili asked her.
AnnaBeth bit her lip. That was one of the hardest parts of losing a patient, questioning every decision, wondering if anything would have made a difference.
"We never would have made it to med" She reassured her.
She was surprised to see Kelly standing there when she came back out of the washroom.
"I need to go to this class" He told her "Are you going to be alright?"
"I'll be fine" She nodded "I'll see you when you get back"
She couldn't remember wishing a shift would just end as much as she wished this one would. Things just seemed to go from bad to worse the longer it went on. They ended up having another big call out before the end of the shift. The residents in the neighbourhood had gone as far as to block the street. They claimed the house was a known drug den and wanted it to burn. Because of it they lost another patient. Herrmann was so angry she half expected him to punch some of the bystanders.
She sat the next night at Molly's just running her finger around the rim of her wine glass lost in thought again. Kelly had asked her to come over, but she had told him she felt like she needed to be there for Chili. They had both had a really hard shift and she didn't like the thought of Chili going home alone to her apartment. Besides, she also knew Kelly had been asked to go to a mandatory squad meeting. She knew it was hard for him, but he really needed to make the best of things, so he didn't throw it all away. He hadn't been so happy about that.
She took out her phone feeling a little guilty and text him to let him know she would come by later if he was home.
"I have to know if that baby survived" She admitted.
She had been holding it in. She knew they were just supposed to drop the patients off and then move onto the next, not get involved, not get attached. But she just wasn't wired that way.
"We just have to assume he's ok" Chili told her.
AnnaBeth just gave a small smile. She knew Chili needed to know just as much as she did. Chili sighed and looked over at the bar.
"Ok, just wait here" Chili told her.
She watched as Chili walked over to Will Halstead. His face instantly brightened as he started talking to her. AnnaBeth was still just getting to know her new partner, but she did have a way of lighting up a room. She was a sweet girl.
Chili came back over with a satisfied smile on her face. AnnaBeth raised an eyebrow curious what the two of them had been talking about.
"Will is going to take us to see our patient" Chili told her "Just keep it quiet"
AnnaBeth mimed zipping her lips but picked up her phone to let Kelly know something had come up and she would check in with him tomorrow. She was worried about him too, but she really did need to know what happened to that baby or she just wouldn't be able to stand it.
Will took them to the hospital as promised. Seeing that baby boy through the glass made her feel a mixture of emotions. She was so happy that he was alive. But he was all alone in the world. He'd already been through so much and he was only a day old. It just wasn't right.
She leant into Chili as she put her arms around her.
"He's just so…" She started.
"I know" Chili nodded.