A/N: Hey guys! I know it's been a while but I've been slammed with school work. Sorry about that, but I hope you all enjoy this chapter! I decided I wanted a little more action in this story (because it's never enough, right? Lol) So there will probably be 1-2 more chapters after this. Hope you all enjoy! Please drop a review and let me know! Thanks guys!

Disclaimer: I'm nota medical professional, I've done a ton of research though, so please forgive any obvious weirdness. Thanks!

Chapter 5

Severide walked into Firehouse 51, his second home. The trucks were gone, so he guessed everyone was out on a call, which was actually okay with him. This was his first time back at the firehouse since the accident almost 2 months ago. He hadn't been able to bring himself to come by. He didn't want to see his guys sitting around the Squad table with someone else in his chair who had come in to fill his spot until he was able to make it back—if he was ever able to make it back.

His surgeon and team of doctors had been optimistic after the surgery to repair his rotator cuff a week ago, but Severide was more of a realist. He was hoping for a good outcome, but he knew it was going to take a lot of pain and hard work on his part to even attempt to make it back to the firehouse. Not that he couldn't do it. If he could do anything, it was push himself through pain and hard work, he just didn't know if he was in the right mindset this time.

He had seen his family from Firehouse 51 at Molly's and they had all come to visit him often. His Squad guys always made it a point to tell him that they missed him, but then they would go on with stories or comments about the guy that was filling Severide's spot, Lieutenant Evans, and it was starting to make Kelly think that they didn't need him around anymore. That was definitely not the case, the guys were only trying to assure Severide that they would be okay with someone else until he returns, even though that someone was NOT Kelly Severide. Severide was their lieutenant, and it was impossible to imagine anyone else in that spot but him. He always took care of them and made sure each of them made it out of whatever situation they were in. He always put everyone else's safety above his own. That's just Kelly Severide. The Squad guys only told him the stories because they didn't want him to worry about them or Squad in the meantime when he had so much other stuff to worry about—the most important being his recovery, and Stella and the baby.

They hadn't meant to make Severide feel the way they did, all they had were good intentions, but the road to hell is paved with good intentions. And unfortunately Severide felt like he was on that road. He hadn't talked to anyone about how he felt, in true Kelly Severide fashion. Maybe if he had, the situation would've turned around, but he had lived most of his life like this and he was just fine. He wasn't about to start opening up and being vulnerable to people now.

Kidd had talked him into coming by, telling him she had a surprise for him. He had pretty much been at their apartment alone for the past week. Casey had stopped by to check on him a few times against his wishes, but he didn't want anyone else to come by. He hadn't even gone to Molly's when the guys had invited him a few times this week. He knew Stella was very worried about him, but he just didn't want the guys to see him weak and vulnerable. Now, after his surgery, instead of just a sling he was in a bulky, annoying shoulder immobilizer. He had a hard time doing much for himself with only one arm. He could barely sleep, not only because the immobilizer was uncomfortable, but also because he was constantly worried about everything.

This led to him being grumpy or in a bad mood for the past week. Stella was hoping that his visit to the firehouse today would change that.

Kidd found him on the app floor, just looking around, his back to her. She called his name and when he turned to face her she noticed the tears glistening in his eyes.

She rushed to him and gently wrapped him in a hug, being careful of his arm and her huge baby belly.

"Hey, listen to me. You'll be back here before you know it. We still need you around here you know."

"Do you?" Severide bit out, more harsh than he had intended.

Kidd stepped back and just looked at him, eyes wide. His tone had caught her off guard.

"I'm sorry," he said softly, quickly realizing how much those two words and his tone had hurt her. "It just seems like everyone is getting along just fine without me, and the Squad guys are loving my replacement."

"Okay, they may act like that in front of you because they don't want you to worry about them while you're trying to get better, but trust me, he isn't anything close to being Kelly Severide. I promise you that."

Severide smiled at her as the trucks pulled in to the station.

Everyone jumped out of the trucks, overjoyed to see Severide at the firehouse. It had been too long. They all greeted him with beaming smiles and gentle hugs. He had to admit, it was nice to be here with his family again.

As everyone started inside, Casey pulled Severide to the side to talk. "Hey buddy. I just wanted to tell you how nice it is to have you back around here. It's about time. We've been going crazy not seeing you here. And I think it'll be good for you too."

A smile formed on Severide's face, "Casey, I can't thank you enough for everything. For taking care of me and Stella, and making sure I wasn't alone this past week. Just being here for five minutes has already improved my mood."

As Severide finished, he noticed someone walking towards him and Casey in his peripheral. He turned and was surprised to see Julie Garnett, she had a basket of goodies in one hand, and Andrew and Noah were walking ahead of her, holding hands. Andrew suddenly recognized the firefighter standing in front of him and pulled away from his brother, running towards Severide.

Severide laughed and angled himself so he could grab Andrew with his uninjured arm and allow that side of his body to absorb the impact of the little ball of energy.

Suddenly, it was as if all of his worries melted away, and he had been functioning without the use of one arm forever, as he scooped up Andrew with ease, not even jostling his injured arm. Casey had stepped closer to Severide to help, but Kelly clearly didn't need it.

"Hey buddy!" Severide said excitedly, "how are you doing?"

"Good!" Andrew squealed, laughing.

Julie and Noah joined the two firefighters and Andrew, as Julie started tearing up, "everyone is okay now, thanks to you guys. I can't thank you enough for everything you did that day. Especially you, Mr. Severide."

"Please, call me Kelly."

Julie nodded, "I still can't believe what you did for my family, Kelly. You saved my boys' lives. I can never repay you for that."

"You don't need to repay me, ma'am. I was just doing my job." Severide told her.

"I know, but you did more than that. You risked your own life. I came by here one day to thank you, and your fellow firefighters told me what had happened to you after you saved my family that day. Me and the boys set up a bake sale for the community and collected donations for you since you are out of work."

Tears sprung to Kelly's eyes, "you didn't have to—"

Julie cut him off, "yes I did. It's the least I could do, I promise you. So here is what we collected, and some extra baked goods for you and your firehouse." She said presenting the basket.

Casey grabbed it from her as Severide expressed his gratitude, "thank you so much."

Everyone else had joined the five out on the app floor once they noticed what was going on, and now Stella walked over and stood next to Kelly, resting her hand on his back.

He looked at her with joy on his face and tears in his eyes.

"Surprise!" She said and let out a laugh as Kelly just looked at her with a look of admiration in his eyes.

Andrew starting wiggling in Severide's arm and said "Firetruck!" Pointing towards Truck 81 his eyes wide.

Everyone started laughing and Severide put Andrew down and let him lead the way to the fire truck. After a while of letting the boys check out how everything on the truck worked, Julie, Noah, and Andrew were heading out.

Severide squatted to tell the boys bye and Andrew flung himself into Severide's arm. It caught him a little off guard this time, and jostled his injured shoulder a little bit as well as almost knocking Severide off balance. Luckily, Casey was standing behind him and reached for his uninjured arm, bracing his hand against it and allowing Severide to stay upright.

Andrew wrapped his arms tightly around Severide's neck and buried his face in the crook of his neck. Kelly hugged the little boy back, rubbing his back, and feeling ten times better than he had earlier this morning.

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Soon after the Garnett's had left the alarm sounded, "Truck 81, Squad 3, Ambulance 61, Battalion 25. Multiple vehicle accident."

Everyone started gearing up and Severide stepped back with Kidd, the disappointment about not being able to work lodging itself in the forefront of his mind and showing on his face.

Boden came out of the firehouse and saw the look on Severide's face. "Hey, Kelly."

"Yeah, Chief?"

"Want to ride along?" He asked, and as Kidd looked about to speak up he added with a small smile, "strictly to observe from a distance?"

Severide looked towards Kidd and she nodded at him.

"Of course I would, Chief!" Severide said enthusiastically.

As Severide headed for Battalion 25, Kidd looked at Boden and gratefully mouthed, "thank you." Boden gave her a nod, then turned and jogged to his car.

Soon after they arrived at the scene of the accident, everyone was off to work. Severide's temporary replacement, Lt. Evans had instructed Cruz to get a harness on and work on rescuing the driver of a truck that was hanging off the edge of an overpass. Casey grabbed a harness and geared up right next to him.

It already rubbed Severide the wrong way that Evans had pushed the tough job off on someone else. Cruz was more than capable, but Severide just didn't like that the guy wouldn't go out there himself. If it were Severide, he would've been the first to get a harness on, leaving his men safely on solid ground.

He stood next to Boden and watched Gallo find an anchor point for Casey, becoming anxious as Evans become distracted while he supposed to be anchoring the rope that was holding Cruz.

Then Severide watched, in what seemed like slow motion, as the rope started to slip from the spot it was anchored to, due to a half assed job of anchoring it and the guy who did it now not paying close enough attention. No one else had noticed yet and Severide knew he had to do something. He rushed forward and grabbed the rope with his good hand just as it completely slipped from its anchor.

The rope that held Cruz's entire body weight was now pulling Severide towards the edge of the overpass while simultaneously slipping from Severide's grasp. He quickly twisted his wrist so the rope wrapped around his arm as his body slammed into the edge of the concrete barrier that ran along the edge of the overpass. He grunted, trying his hardest to bite back the yell that wanted to escape his lips as his injured shoulder collided with the concrete.

As quick as it had happened, Tony and Capp were grabbing the rope from Severide and pulling their guy to safety. Severide breathed a huge sigh of relief when he finally saw Cruz topside.

His relief quickly turned to anger and he stormed toward Evans. "Come on, you can't even anchor a rope the right way?! And you were supposed to be right there to make sure nothing went wrong! What the hell, man?!" He used his good arm to shove Evans' chest. Evans looked wide-eyed. He started to push Severide back, but Casey quickly put a stop to that. He grabbed Evans' arm and whirled him around to face him. "Trust me, you don't want to do that," he said, his tone ice cold. Evans just turned and scurried away, not wanting to face the wrath of any of the firefighters who were now staring daggers right through him.

Boden was there to gently guide Severide away from Evans, although, he thought the guy got what he had deserved. He probably should've let Kelly go at him a little more. But he was worried about Kelly and his injuries, the concern growing when he saw Kelly wince.

"Kelly, look at me."

A fuming Severide took a deep breath and looked into Boden's eyes.

"Good. Now, how's your shoulder?"

Severide just shook his head and looked away from Boden, hoping his Chief couldn't see the tears that sprung to his eyes. He had felt it, and he knew that it wasn't right. Suddenly, Casey was standing next to Boden, looking at him with a questioning look on his face. Severide knew that Casey had heard Boden's question, and now he was going to have to tell them the truth.

"Kelly?" Casey said, concern rising in his voice.

Kelly spoke so softly, they almost couldn't hear him, "it's not good."

Casey sighed and whirled around, ready to search out Evans and rip him a new one. Boden knew what he was thinking and grabbed his arm, "don't. It won't help anything. I'll take care of him."

They wrapped up the scene and went back to the firehouse. Kidd met them on the app floor, but her smile turned to a frown as Severide quickly walked past her and into the firehouse. Boden walked up to her to explain what had happened as Casey sent her a look and went to find where Severide had gone.

He walked into the locker room right as Severide slammed the fist of his uninjured hand into one of the lockers. Casey noticed Kelly's hand and forearm were red and blistered from the tension of the rope.

"Severide."

"It's over, Casey. I know it's bad, I can't do this anymore. I can't even freaking believe it. Everything happened and then I finally get the surgery and am on the road to recovery and now it's reinjured because of somebody not doing their job right." Severide was rambling.

"Kelly. Stop."

Severide looked at Casey.

"You don't know for sure. You need to go back and see your surgeon. We have tomorrow off. Make an appointment and me and Kidd will go with you." Casey was trying to be assuring. "Hey, you saved Cruz from serious injury or possibly even death. You are still making a difference and showing us that we need you around here."

Severide just nodded, "thanks Casey." But he didn't feel much better. Casey was wrong. Severide did know for sure. He knew something was wrong, he just didn't know the extent of the injury. He was hoping and praying that it wasn't as bad as it felt.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The next day Casey picked up Severide and Kidd and they drove to the hospital for an appointment with the surgeon.

Severide was quiet the whole ride. He had barely spoken to anyone after yesterday.

Boden had taken administrative action against Lt. Evans citing what had happened at the scene, and every single firefighter who had been there had backed up Boden. That type of behavior was unacceptable. That behavior is how people get killed.

Casey pulled up in front of the hospital and dropped of Kidd and Severide. The surgeon was waiting for them when they got to his office. He knew how anxious Severide was about all this, so he made sure he'd be available for them to come in today.

After hearing what happened from Severide, they ran some tests. After a while of silence between Severide, Kidd, and Casey, the surgeon came back in and Kelly braced himself for the results. Kidd rested her hand on his and he felt her eyes on him, but he couldn't bring himself to look at her. He didn't want her to see his immediate reaction when the surgeon told him he'd never be a firefighter again. Severide was sure that's what he was going to say.

"Well I have some good news and bad news. Unfortunately, your rotator cuff has re-torn. There was a higher chance it would because it was already a complete tear. The bigger the initial tear, the more likely it will re-tear. The good news is, I can go in there and do revision surgery. Since it's only been a week, it hasn't had that long to start healing yet anyways. But you have to promise me, no more acting heroic until you've completely recovered." The surgeon said with a smile. Severide smiled back, feeling relieved that the surgeon could foresee a good outcome.

The surgeon started to leave while saying "we'll get you set up with an appointment in the next few days for the revision." Then he locked eyes with Severide, "Kelly, seriously though, your guy was lucky you were there. You're one hell of a firefighter."

Well, that's it for this chapter! Hope you all enjoyed it!! :)