It seemed to take forever to get to the hospital, even with Dawson driving as fast as she could. As soon as they arrived, the ambulance doors were thrown wide open, with the trauma team waiting just outside. They pulled the gurney out of the ambulance and made their way into the hospital, with Shay spouting everything she knew about the extent of his injuries to the doctors. Severide and Herrmann were left staring at the hospital doors as Casey was wheeled straight towards the OR.

Severide, Herrmann, Shay, and Dawson were in the waiting room when the rest of 51 entered the hospital. Boden went straight over to Herrmann and sat down next to him. Severide was being comforted by Shay and Dawson, they were sat across the room from Herrmann which Boden found a bit strange, but he knew that Herrmann was struggling to keep himself together.

'Any news?'

Herrmann glanced up from where he'd been staring at the floor and shook his head. It had only been an hour or so, and they knew if he was in surgery it could take a lot longer. It was going to be a long night.

'He's strong Herrmann, he's gonna be just fine.'

Herrmann looked at Boden and gave him a small smile.

'Yeah. I know. He better be fine; I need to tell his ass off for sending me out of that building when he was clearly more injured than I was.'

Boden chuckled at this and patted Herrmann's shoulder. Herrmann then glanced over and looked at Severide. His face hardened and he got up out of his chair abruptly and made his way over to the Lieutenant. He grabbed hold of Severide's shirt and threw him against the wall, with his shirt balled up in his fist. Everyone was stuck frozen, shocked at this turn of events as Herrmann began to yell at Severide.

'YOU OF ALL PEOPLE HAVE ABSOLUTELY NO RIGHT TO BE THIS DAMN UPSET THAT CASEY IS INJURED. AFTER THE WAY YOU HAVE TREATED HIM FOR THE PAST FEW MONTHS. HE BLAMES HIMSELF; YOU KNOW. FOR DARDEN'S DEATH. AND IT DOESN'T HELP WHEN YOU ARE GOING AROUND PLACING ALL THOSE IDEAS IN HIS HEAD THAT IT WAS HIS FAULT. DO YOU KNOW WHAT HE SAID TO ME EARLIER AFTER YOUR SHOUTING MATCH OUTSIDE? I FOUND HIM ON THE FLOOR IN THE LOCKER ROOM. HE SAID IT SHOULD HAVE BEEN HIM. HE THINKS HE SHOULD HAVE DIED IN THAT FIRE, AND DO YOU KNOW WHO PUT THOSE IDEAS IN HIS HEAD? YOU DID! AND NOW HE MIGHT ACTUALLY DIE. IS THAT WHAT YOU WANTED? HUH? IS IT?!'

Boden ran towards Herrmann and dragged him off Severide. Severide slid to the floor, eyes full of tears and face looking shocked. Boden dragged Herrmann down the corridor with Mouch and they pulled him outside. Boden looked at Herrmann who was still huffing to himself furiously, fists balled up, he looked like he wanted to hit something.

'Herrmann. Take a walk. Cool off. We're all worried about Casey. You need to calm down. Being angry at Severide isn't going to do anything to help Casey right now.'

Herrmann took a deep breathe and paced up and down in front of the hospital. He was still clenching and unclenching his fists, and Boden was about to say something else when he saw Cindy running from the car park towards her husband. Boden breathed a sigh of relief, if anyone could calm Herrmann down it was Cindy. Boden gestured at Herrmann and Cindy nodded, as Boden and Mouch turned around and walked back into the hospital.


Cindy forced her husband to sit down on the wall outside the hospital. She knew how he felt towards Casey, to be honest she was also very protective over Casey, often inviting him around for dinner, as she knew he didn't really have any family. Cindy looked at her husband and without anything needing to be said knew what had happened.

'So I'm guessing all this anger you have is not just because Matt has been injured. I'm guessing you are out here because of a shouting match with someone… possibly Kelly. I know you're angry at him for how he has treated Casey these last few months. But now is not the time to be taking your anger out on him. He is also upset that Casey is injured. You all need to stick together and be there for Casey when he wakes up. He doesn't want to wake up and find you all arguing. You need to put it in the past and move on. Now, you're going to go back in that waiting room, and you are going to get along with everyone and wait for the news that Casey is fine. Okay?'

Herrmann looked up from where he had been staring at the floor. His eyes were sparkling with unshed tears and he sighed and rubbed his face. He gave his wife a watery smile and kissed her. Cindy always knew what to say to calm him down. He stood up and took her hand, and they both walked back into the hospital waiting room.


It had been several hours and they still hadn't heard anything about Casey's condition. Boden had gone up to the nurse's desk several times, but there was nothing new to be said. Herrmann glanced around and noticed Severide wasn't with the rest of the group. He wandered over to Shay and glanced at her questioningly.

'Where's Severide got to?'

Shay sighed and gestured towards the toilets.

'He said he was going to the toilet. That was about half an hour ago.'

Herrmann nodded and made his way over to the toilets Shay had pointed at. He opened the door and saw Severide leaning on the sinks and staring down at his feet. His face was tear stained and eyes were red. He'd obviously been crying. Herrmann sighed and made his way over to the young Lieutenant. He placed his hand on Severide's shoulder, which made him flinch and come out of the trance like state he seemed to be in. Herrmann sighed again and led Severide over to the wall. They both sat down and Herrmann looked over at Severide, who was still staring at the floor. They stayed sat like that for a few minutes, before Severide began to speak, it was barely more than a whisper but Herrmann heard every word.

'The last… the last thing I said to him… was… you were the one who put Andy through that window. I was just so angry. But not at Casey. I know it's not his fault. But for some reason I took my anger out on him. And now… I could lose him too. I couldn't live with myself if I lost them both. I just… I can't.'

Severide sniffed and wiped his face roughly, getting rid of the stray tears which had begun to fall down his face. Herrmann sighed and looked at Severide. He placed his hand on his shoulder and squeezed gently.

'I know it's hard. But you've gotta be strong for Casey. He's gonna pull through this. You'll see. He's gonna wake up, and you'll be there in the room with him. And then you're gonna apologise for your behaviour, because I'm not gonna lie you have been terrible towards him the past few months, remember he lost his best friend too. And he's gonna make a joke, he will say he's fine, even though he's obviously not, and then ask when he can go home. But right now you need to get your ass up off this floor and get out into the waiting room so we will be there when the news comes in that he's okay. Got it?'

Severide smiled slightly and nodded at Herrmann. Herrmann got up and offered his hand to the Lieutenant, who took it and pulled himself up. He rubbed his face once more and then the two men walked back into the waiting room to wait for news on their friend.

A little while later the doctor walked into the waiting room. Severide has fallen asleep with his head on Herrmann's shoulder, so Herrmann nudged him awake and they both stood up and walked over to the doctor. The doctor looked up from his notes and smiled slightly. All of 51 listened closely as the doctor began to speak.

'So, he made it through surgery and is stable and resting. He had some internal bleeding, but we fixed the problem. He broke a few ribs and had a punctured lung but we fixed all that. He's going to be in quite a bit of pain, but we've got him on painkillers. He'll need to rest, and won't be back to work for at least 2 weeks but he's out of the woods.'

Everyone breathed a sigh of relief, smiling properly for the first time in hours. Herrmann smiled and looked at Severide, who was looking extremely relieved.

'That's great doc, when can we go and see him?'

The doctor smiled and looked up from the notes he had been taking.

'Well, he should be waking up from the anaesthesia in a little bit, so a couple of you can probably go and be there for him when he wakes up.'

Boden looked around at everyone before looking at Herrmann and Severide.

'Herrmann, Severide. You guys go and be there for him when he wakes up. We'll wait out here and see him later.'

Herrmann nodded at Boden and grabbed Severide's arm before hauling him towards Casey's hospital room. He wanted to make sure Severide was there when Casey woke up. They needed to sort things out between them and he was going to make sure they worked it out.


It was another half an hour before Casey showed any sign of waking up. Herrmann and Severide were sat either side of his bed. Herrmann was looking at his phone, answering the numerous text messages he'd been receiving asking if Casey had woken up and if he was okay. Severide had not taken his eyes off of Casey the entire time he had been in the room, hoping desperately that Casey would wake up. The first sign that he was waking up was the frown that appeared on his face. Herrmann and Severide didn't notice this until they heard a small groan come from the bed in front of them. They both shot up out of their seats and walked closer to the bed. They were both relieved that he had woken up, and smiled as Casey opened his eyes and squinted at the people standing above him.

'Casey, how you feeling?'

Casey took a minute to respond, rubbing his hand over his face and wincing as he moved, because of his broken ribs.

'Urgh, I feel like I fell through a hole in the floor, three stories down and into a basement… after all that's what happened…'

Herrmann chuckled and patted Casey's shoulder.

'Yep, that sounds about right. Except you left out the part where you hid your injury, ordered me out of the building and gave us a right scare.'

Casey groaned again and looked up at Herrmann, before smiling slightly and then locking eyes with Severide. Severide grinned as he looked down at Casey.

'Case, you do know once you've recovered you're never gonna hear the end of that from Herrmann right?!'

Casey chuckled, causing him to groan once more. He was obviously in pain. Herrmann ruffled his hair and began to walk towards the door.

'I'm gonna see if I can find your doctor, I need to tell him you're awake. I can also see if they can give you more pain meds. And don't try to tell me you're fine, you're in hospital for God's sakes. You are not fine!'

Before leaving the room Herrmann looked back and locked eyes with Severide, giving him a nod before exiting. The room goes quiet for a minute or two, with Casey closing his eyes again, although Severide knew he wasn't asleep. He knew he needed to say something. It wasn't going to be easy but he wanted, no, needed his best friend back.

'Matt…'

Casey's eyes snapped open and he looked over at Severide. It had been months since Severide had used his first name, and hadn't looked at him with anger and hatred in his eyes. Casey thought back to their last fight before the fire, and knew Severide still hated him, even though he was in his hospital room now, it was still his fault their best friend had died. He was the one who put him through the window. His eyes welled up with tears and he turned away from Severide before speaking.

'I'm sorry Sev, it is my fault. I put him through that window. I didn't do enough to stop him going in, I should have gone in that room and pulled him out.'

Casey was sobbing now and tears streamed down his face. Severide took a deep breathe, he knew what he had to say.

'Hey, Matt… Case, it is not your fault. I know that. I always knew that. I don't know why I took my anger out on you but I did. It's nobody's fault that Andy died. He went through that window and we both know he was going through that window whatever anyone told him. I just want us to be friends again. I have hated not speaking to you properly these last few months. All I wanted to do was talk to you like before, and I can't believe it took you almost dying to help me do that. I'm so sorry Matt. And I promise I don't blame you for Andy's death. It wasn't your fault.'

Severide now had tears streaming down his face as well. He held his breath as Casey turned his head and looked at Severide. Then he smiled at him as Severide pulled him into a hug.


Herrmann stood outside Casey's hospital room, just out of sight and smiled as he saw Severide hug Casey. He heard someone walking up behind him and turned around to see Boden making his way over. Boden looked through the window and smiled as he saw his two young lieutenants hugging and smiling for the first time in ages. Boden glanced at Herrmann, a slight frown on his face.

'So… I'm guessing you had something to do with this Herrmann…?'

Herrmann smiled and just shrugged his shoulders. Boden chuckled and looked back into the hospital room, where Severide was now fussing over Casey, and trying to persuade him to drink the water next to his bed. This made the two older men smile, before they walked back towards the waiting room to give the lieutenants time to themselves.