AN: I overedit. So before I cull all the things out of this chapter because I am that worried about it. Here you go. Hope everyone is having a good start to the weekend/weekend depending on where you are!

Summer in Chicago was sweet and brief and just beginning. Severide could feel it. Barbecue fires and illegal fireworks comprised much of the fire department's calls during the first eager weeks of the season and he was still on light duty. He stifled a groan. The last x-ray of his tibia had looked good, physical therapy was kicking his ass to his chagrin but he was seeing improvement. He privately thought his doctor was being far more cautious than necessary. Once he'd understood Severide's chosen profession, he'd proceeded to be as meticulous as possible in how each and every goal post in treatment was handled. He either cared too much or had been yelled at by some previous firefighter during treatment enough times to do his earnest best. Severide didn't care which it was as long as he got better and he was. He could walk for short periods in the boot without crutches or pain so his leg was getting stronger, more accustomed to bearing his full weight. His gait didn't hitch up on his weaker leg to self-protect it from pain and he was cleared to do more weight work on the leg press machine to get himself back into top shape. Only within reason, the PT cautioned. Within reason was what you said to civilians with desk jobs in his honest opinion.

All in all, impatient as he was to be better, things were looking up. He wasn't using the prescription pills nearly as often as he could. He credited both Shay and Dawson with keeping him on track there. He'd successfully switched between the heavy duty drugs and a double dose of Advil liquigels on more than one occasion. He could handle a little pain, a little soreness as long as he was healing and it didn't impede his progress. He didn't want to be stagnating at a lower threshold of strength and capability. Severide was glad that being in the firehouse kept him sharp and showed him exactly what he was working towards. Campbell, God bless the man, was still serving as his relief on jobs despite being outed in order to save himself from attempted rape charges. People at Firehouse 51 were cool but the guy was getting flak from people he knew at other firehouses, according to Shay.

Severide didn't get it and didn't want to. The man had signed up to run into burning buildings for a living. Who he fucked was his own damn business. Speaking of which…

"Hey D," he was currently walking in the boot without crutches and he could count on Dawson to be-

"Oh my god Severide are you completely stupid?!"

the sort of paramedic who stopped what she was doing to lecture him and grip him, shoulder and forearm, to make sure he didn't fall for his own foolishness. She didn't even bother with the lecture this time. No one was around just then and so he let her guide him slowly and steadily back to the dispatch office which was this shift's current assignment. He figured she knew his game but didn't call him out because there was no point. He felt her sigh softly next to him and smiled. She wasn't really annoyed. Severide knew that. More than likely she enjoyed the excuse to touch him as much as he did.

"Where are your crutches Kelly?"

It was rare that she used his first name at the firehouse in an abundance of caution. He put his hand over hers on his forearm. "I'm allowed to walk short distances without them. I have to start somewhere Bri" he felt her startle at the nickname and didn't care. It was the quiet hours leading up to the end of shift and most everyone was trying to sleep a few hours. He could say what he wanted.

"Yeah but the firehouse probably isn't the best place to test your strength. Especially during the graveyard hours." She punctuated this declaration with a firm hold on his shoulder. He leaned into her just a little. Let her feel needed as much as she was wanted. Dawson was whispering for no reason so he pressed his lips to her ear:

"You know how I love a challenge,"

"I know you don't like to be bored, weak or relying on anyone else for help. So, what are you doing?"

"I miss being out there Bri. Holed up in dispatch isn't the same"

"It's temporary. And you asked for it!"

"The alternative was soap operas"

"And all the baseball you could want" she countered. They were outside the dispatch room door. He could hear the slight chatter, the hum of computers and a server. She kissed his cheek. "Don't push so hard Kelly. It'll happen."

"Are you talking about me or us?"

It was a quiet question. He didn't want to be joking and direct was always his approach to the things that mattered. Dawson was looking up at him without fear though. She brushed a hand through his hair. It was growing too long but he didn't care at the moment because she seemed to love it. Dawson kissed his other cheek, his nose and:

"Both," she said directly into his mouth. "Listen I-"

Firehouse 51. Ambulance 61. Hit and run. 115 Wabash. She turned him towards the door before running off to collect Shay and the ambo without another word. Severide frowned. She was always running away.

Things were going well which was probably why, to Dawson's way of thinking, things went south just as quickly. She shouldn't have kissed Kelly back at the house. Shay still wasn't on board and she still had shit to figure out but all the same she was hopeful. Watching him hobble down the darkened hall just to greet her with his smile. It had lifted her spirits. Then she and Shay received another call and everything thereafter was hell. Just after 2 a.m. Ambulance 61 got called to a partial structural collapse at a waterfront property. Turned out it was a restaurant on the water and soil erosion, global warming, pick an environmental factor and spin it sideways, the support beams on one side of the two storey building had begun to buckle unexpectedly. Dawson and Shay were first on scene. Protocol dictated they wait for either Truck or Squad to show up before they even attempted to enter the building. People were fleeing, screaming and Dawson radioed in for more ambos and set up preliminary triage.

Which was how she heard about Joseph, a dishwasher who was putting supplies away in a closet on the second floor when the building started to slide. The woman Dawson was treating for a superficial laceration was wracked with guilt. In a panic she'd fled without checking to see if he was behind her. She should have looked for him…

"Have you tried calling him?" Dawson asked calmly.

"Mary did. He said he was stuck. Please, Joseph has asthma"

Dawson and Shay looked at each other. Neither Truck nor Squad were on scene to provide the necessary support. The two paramedics were not field rated to attempt forcible ingress into a collapsed site as primaries. Not to mention Dawson was running point on triage but Shay was looking at her partner's face and seeing all sorts of flashing signs.

"Dawson," Shay said warningly but the cogs were already turning on their wheels in her partner's head. She'd done shit like this before when Boden wasn't around and Shay hoped she was wrong but Dawson was reaching for her radio:

"Dispatch. Ambulance 61. Do you copy?"

"Ambulance 61. Dispatch. Proceed." Dawson's eyes widened a little. Shit. Kelly. Kelly was running this job from the house. She cleared her throat loudly while Shay gave her a look. It didn't change a thing.

"Sitrep. Man pinned on second floor. ETA on Truck? Please advise."

The static over the connection crackled loudly. Dawson felt calm. Thinking through the possible scenarios, plotting a path into the building. Shay mouthed no, guiding another person to sit on the edge of the ambulance bumper. She knew the look on Dawson's face too well. It spelled trouble. It spelled field tracheotomy with a dull blade. Spelled disciplinary action. Another stint on suspension. Sometimes she was able to cut Dawson off at the pass and get her to see sense before she made the wrong call. This time though…

"Dispatch. Do you copy?"

"Ambulance 61. Dispatch. Truck still ten minutes out. Please hold" The last bit was just for her. She knew it. Ten minutes was ten too long. Restaurant looked like an open floor plan on the ground level, one staircase at the back leading upstairs probably. She had a helmet and her turncoat. She could be in and out. Give Truck and Squad vital information on stabilizing the structural damage. Get to Joseph and at least treat him on site while waiting for help to arrive. Dawson's face closed in. She spared a tight smile for Shay as she scrambled into the back of the ambo for her stuff.

"Dawson, if you think I'm going-"

"You're not. You're running point" the look of shock on Shay's face was almost worth the hair raising lecture she was bound to get from Boden. "Coordinate with PD, they're finally sealing the area off to civilians. See?" Dawson gestured behind them to the beat cops waving cars away from the turnoff onto Lakeshore Drive "Most of the injured have been treated. I don't see anyone who needs transpo to a hospital. The guy in the building definitely does. All you've gotta do is hold a command position site for Truck and Squad when they show up."

What struck Dawson sometimes is how calm she felt in the face of her heart-pounding reckless decisions. She wasn't rushing in. It was two a.m. on a Sunday morning. They were lucky the restaurant had closed for the night mostly when the collapse happened. They were unlucky that the nearest support team was still too far away because Saturday night traffic downtown and who knew what else. The building was already compromised and it would get worse for Joseph if she waited. She'd never forget the call where Kelly had waited with a man trapped under a beam, watched the man die slowly in front of him waiting for help to arrive. Rescue became recovery in minutes if not seconds. It was not worth contemplating. Dawson called through on the radio.

"Dispatch. Ambulance 61. Preliminary building recon to assess pinned victim" She didn't even make it a request because it wasn't one. Shay watched Dawson strap on her helmet and take out her BLS kit while the static cracked right over their radios. Dawson stepped down from the ambulance. She was taking what she could. The line opened on the radio.

"Negative Ambulance 61. I repeat. Negative. Hold until Truck 81 arrives to take point."

One small part of her thought it was terribly ironic that Kelly was the one cautioning patience and logic to her right then. Him of the fractured tibia and poor impulse control. She wasn't exactly smiling or stupid. So far there was no fire and while that held true she had a chance of retrieving the victim.

"Dispatch. Please hold." It was all she could say. She wasn't going to lie. Shay was staring right at her. Glaring really but knew there was no stopping her. Dawson gave her partner a tight smile. "I'll be right back you know."

"Boden is going to kill you"

"Boden knows when to make a tough call and live with it. I can't live with this. Switch the ambo radio to Channel 4. I'll call through that line so I don't distract Truck and Squad with chatter when they arrive"

Dawson grabbed a flashlight and started running across to the building before Shay could protest more. She switched channels on her radio as she came up on the side entrance. This side of the building was still intact and stable, she tried the door and it was still unlocked.

"Hey Shay, I'm entering the building from the west side entrance. Some of the lights in here are still going. Tell personnel to watch out for electrical wires."

Dawson shut the door behind her with a loud slap and paused. That had not been her intention. She wanted to move through the building quickly and gently. Without making the structure tip toward a speedier decline than it already was. Straight in front of her was a doorway that led to the main dining room area. Through it she could see the chairs tipped over, the one support beam cracked and listing to one side over what had once been a beautiful teak stained bar. To Dawson's right was the kitchen.

"Fire Department! Fire Department! Call Out!" No one did, and the creaking of the weakened architecture surrounded her, loud and busy with a thousand small and large failures. The building was quite literally on a slant towards the lakefront, like a boat taking on water. Dawson thought about that for a moment. She looked down at her feet and trailed her flashlight across the floorboards as far as she could see. They looked, damp, for lack of a better word. She swallowed quickly against her suddenly dry mouth and turned on her radio. "Shay please advise incoming personnel that the restaurant is slowly taking on water from below somehow. Have engine check into water main damage, pipes that pump groundwater to the lake, anything. I think we might have found the cause for the structural damage"

Shay responded but Dawson was already moving gingerly to her left, to the staircase she knew would be to the back of any two story building doubling as a restaurant. Mills had taught her that and she had the kit in one hand and her flashlight in the other. The stairs protested her weight. The very walls seemed to be moving, stretching and leaning over her with a sort of foreboding she understood. Her comm crackled.

"Dawson. Found out what the holdup was. Car accident, Truck stayed. Squad had to detour around. They should be coming up Lakeshore now." Well, that was perfect bad luck. Dawson breathed a small sound of relief when she made it to the top of the stairs in one piece. She looked around. Where was Joseph?

"Fire Department! Call out!" she yelled and Dawson stepped out onto the second floor with trepidation. At any moment the structure could decide to pitch forward further than she really wanted to go.

"Help!" Dawson turned towards the sound of that voice immediately. Carefully, she walked down the second floor hallway. She turned and debris cascaded from the ceiling right above where she'd just been standing. Dawson looked up. Exposed wooden beams, electrical wiring and HVAC tech were all moving and shaking wildly above her. She kept moving, nudging one office door open after another. On the second floor the lights were not working so she swung her flashlight in semi circles around her, left to right. Nothing.

"Call out! Joseph!"

"Here! Please" his voice cut out but Dawson ducked out of the office she was currently searching and walked further down the hall. She turned left into another room. One desk, file cabinets and there in the back, a young man on the floor pinned by a wooden beam, covering half his body.

"Shay. Found him. He's pinned by a support beam. What's the ETA?"

"Switch back to Channel 1. Squad's on site. So is Chief. They know about the water" Shay's voice was tight and urgent over the line. Dawson could hear it but she was too focused on the man in front of her. "How's the patient?" Shay asked.

Dawson leaned over the wooden beam. Joseph was prone, coughing, covered in dust and debris. His face looked pale and he was trembling with shock. She looked at the wooden beam. It was heavy. She could try to move it little by little off of him but… Dawson examined where the beam impinged on Joseph's legs. He was bleeding.

"Patient is in shock. He's having trouble breathing"

"Switch to Channel 1 Dawson, Now"

She did so immediately, the static rolling out into the eerily dark and creaking room. She asked Joseph what he was feeling while she checked his vitals. His pulse was thready and his breathing was strained and grasping.

"Dawson. Report."

"Chief. One man pinned in an upstairs office on the north side of the building." She said all this while pulling out O2 and a mask from her BLS kit. She slipped the mask over his face and attached it to the small O2 tank. It wouldn't last too long but it would help ease him in the interim. That crisis handled she looked down at his legs again. He was losing blood, not too quickly which suggested a major artery wasn't compromised. Or the beam was holding the damage at bay. She contemplated infection while she began to rig a tourniquet for the one leg she could reach. Joseph groaned in pain.

"Okay. Dawson, Capp and Tony are coming in. Sit tight."

Dawson went to respond but a sudden creak and thud had her scrambling to put her body between Joseph and more debris. She heard something give way above her head and muttered a curse. She waited ten long seconds and when the dust settled a little, Dawson peered up.

"Squad 3. Be aware. Passageway compromised" she coughed around the dust that blew up from her radio as she spoke.

"What happened Dawson?" Chief demanded briskly. Her flashlight wavered in the darkness, dust particles danced before the florescent light like small bugs.

"Roof support beam just caved into the hallway outside the room. It's blocking the door." Dawson blinked down at Joseph. His eyes looked dulled and his respiration was slowed but he was holding on. Dawson cleared her throat and looked away.

"We're trapped sir."

Thanks for reading!