"Does It Hurt When I Do This?"

Summertime in Chicago meant an influx of people in the city and an increase in heat, water and adventure related rescues. Stations all over the city were busy with calls, especially those with Rescue Squads.

Squad 3 had been out of the station longer than they'd been in it, back-to-back calls causing them to leave directly from one scene to another. They were tired and each of them were sporting bruises or scratches from their various rescues, not to mention starving since they hadn't had time to eat breakfast or lunch. Severide promised the guys he'd call dispatch and take them out of service for a few hours once they finished this call. With that in mind, they hoped their rescue would be quick.

Pulling up to the scene, they immediately realized that would not be the case.

Trapped on one of the bluffs of Lake Michigan was a rock climber, tangled in his ropes.

After assessing the scene, Squad moved their truck to the top of the bluff, directly over where the climber hung. The ambulance had already arrived, and the paramedics were ready and waiting for their patient.

The Squad guys climbed out of the rig and got set up for their rescue. They didn't know how injured their climber was, so Severide and Cruz would both be repelling down to him while Capp and Tony stayed up top, watching the ropes.

Severide and Cruz made their way down the bluff to the climber, one on either side. When they got to him, he was unconscious but seemed relatively uninjured apart from the cut on his forehead where his head hit the rocks.

Cruz clipped a safety line to the climber's harness, connecting the two of them, then held him steady as Severide began to try and untangle his ropes. They were working against the clock; the climber's equipment looked old, there was no telling how much longer it would hold. The climber's rope was also pulled taut and even if the climber was hooked safely to Cruz and wouldn't fall if it snapped, it could still cause some trouble.

As Severide worked to try and free the climber from his twisted ropes, the climber came too.

He was panicked, naturally, and began flailing despite Severide and Cruz trying to calm him down. Their attempts to calm the climber, who told them his name was Hunter, failed and the excess moving from his panicked flailing caused his equipment to break.

Cruz and Severide both felt Hunter's rope give way. They also heard Capp and Tony calling down to them, warning them to watch out. Hunter's carabiner, which had connected him and his ropes to his anchor at the top of the bluff, had snapped under the weight of his flailing and had broken away from the anchor spot. The force of the break sent the carabiner sailing over the edge of the bluff.

Severide saw the large carabiner hurtling towards them and moved to cover Hunter. That move, however, put him right in the carabiner's path.

The large metal carabiner hit Severide on the left side of his chest, in between his neck and shoulder, with a crack so loud those on top of the bluff heard it with perfect clarity.

Severide yelled, pain lacing his voice. "Son of a b-"

"Lieutenant, are you ok?!" Cruz asked, interrupting Severide's yell.

Severide moved one of his left arm from Hunter and held it tightly against his side. "I'm fine," he groaned, the pain in his voice an easy giveaway that he was lying.

Using just his right arm, Severide got Hunter untangled from the ropes—a task far easier now that there was plenty of slack.

Once Hunter was free and safely secured to Cruz, Severide radioed for Capp and Tony to pull them up.

… … …

The journey back to the top of the bluff seemed to take forever but after a few minutes, all three men arrived on solid ground.

Once they had detached from the ropes and harnesses, one of the paramedics began checking Hunter while the other moved to check on Severide.

"Does it hurt when I do this?" the paramedic asked as she moved her hands around Severide's neck and shoulder.

Severide shook his head.

As she moved her hands closer to his collarbone, the medic felt him tense. "That hurt?"

"Yeah," Severide answered, clearing his throat to try and hide his discomfort.

The paramedic nodded and continued her assessment. "Can you straighten your arm for me? Down by your side?"

Severide did as he was told. His movements were slow and it was obvious he was in pain. The paramedic put him through a range of motion test, observing closely.

After Severide failed to lift his arm to a certain degree, the paramedic decided she'd seen enough. "Well Lieutenant, I think you broke your collar bone."

"Seriously?" Severide groaned. "Are you sure?"

"Pretty much. It could be some bone bruising, but we'll let the doctors at Med take some X-rays to be sure."

Severide's expression morphed into one of disgust at the mention of Med.

Severide radioed dispatch and took Squad 3 out of service while the medic began bracing his arm against his chest. Arm secured, Severide was led to the ambulance.

Since Hunter was in the back, heading to Med for stitches and a concussion, Severide rode in the passenger seat.

Capp, Cruz and Tony followed behind in the Squad truck and Cruz called Boden to fill him in. He knew his Chief would be alerted that Squad 3 had been taken out of service, but he wouldn't immediately know about their trip to Med. And, quite frankly, Cruz knew that Severide wouldn't be overly forthcoming about the information either.

… … …

The members of Truck 81, fresh off of their second call of the day, entered the common room. Casey looked around. "Squad's still not back? They've been gone since morning briefing."

"Mullanax at 78 said their Squad has been on multiple calls today too," Herrmann announced from his spot at the table.

"This is the longest stretch of nice weather Chicago's had in a while," Mouch added from the couch. "And after two summers in a pandemic, people are taking advantage of it."

"But it's been almost 8 hours of continuous calls for Squad," Stella said. He was sitting at the round table with Brett and Violet. "I mean, have they even gotten a chance to eat anything today? Or sit somewhere other than the Squad truck?"

Casey hummed. "I'll talk to Boden—see if he can get dispatch to take them offline for a while."

Casey turned to go find Boden when the Chief walked into the common room. "Hey Chief, can you call Main and have them take Squad offline? They've been out on calls since morning briefing."

"Squad 3 has already been taken offline." Boden announced, addressing the room. "Severide called dispatch after their last rescue. They'll be returning to the station once they're finished at Med."

"Why are they at Med?" Brett asked. She hated when any of her teammates were injured, but she hated it more when she wasn't one of the paramedics helping treat them.

"According to Cruz, Severide is getting x-rays for a possible broken collarbone."

"Is Kelly OK?" Stella asked, concerned.

"How the hell did that happen?" Herrmann wondered.

Boden held up a hand to stop any further questions. "I don't have all the answers. Cruz didn't seem worried but he is going to keep me updated and when I know something, you will know something."

The others nodded.

"Thanks Chief," Casey said on behalf of the group.

An injury and a trip to Med was not how any of them wanted Squad to get their much-needed break.

… … …

After being poked, prodded and x-rayed at Med, Severide was officially diagnosed with a broken collarbone. It was a nasty break, but it was clean and would heal on its own without surgery. He was going to be stuck in a sling and off work for a while, but it could have been worse.

He was sure he'd be more annoyed at his situation later, but he was too tired and way too sore to think about it right then.

… … …

Eight and half hours after their first call of the day, Squad 3 pulled back into the station.

They piled out of the truck and into the common room where the others were waiting for them.

Cruz, Capp, and Tony entered first, all of them finding a chair and collapsing into it.

"Dinner will be ready soon guys," Gallo announced from behind the stovetop. "There's leftovers from lunch though, if you need something to hold you over."

"I'm too tired to move," Cruz whined from his chair.

"I don't think I've ever been on that many Squad calls in one day." Capp exclaimed, though his words were muffled around the handful of chips he'd just shoved in his mouth.

"Well, at least you guys get a few hours to rest and grab some food." Brett said with a smile, bringing them each a bottle of water.

"Where's Kelly?" Stella asked.

Before anyone from Squad could answer, he walked into the room followed by Boden and Casey. Stella immediately walked over to her fiancé.

"You OK?" She asked, handing him an ice pack. "What's the damage?"

"Severide nodded and gave her a small smile. "Complete break, but it's clean so it will heal without surgery. I'll have to do some PT and can't work for a while but I'll be fine."

Stella nodded.

"Squad, you're down for a few hours. Eat and get some rest," Boden ordered. "I've called in for a replacement Lieutenant."

"Thanks Chief."

Severide joined his team at the table. It had been a long day, one of the longest he'd experience in a while. He was tired, he was starving, his shoulder hurt, but he was proud of his Squad. They'd helped a lot of people that day and that made it all worth it.