A/N: as always I do not own the characters from Chicago Fire, PD or Med. I just like playing with them. I do own my own characters, Katherin, Ken and anyone else I come up with.

I'm kind of excited about this story – it was a seed that grew overnight and I really hope you like it !!! Also I am so NOT a medical person , so I am throwing out things I have no idea about (numbers and drugs and procedures) please forgive me if I say anything wrong!

Warning: Domestic violence, and sexual abuse mentioned ; rated for language and future scenes. Some of these are going to be a bit graphic, please feel free to skip over them.

Chapter 4

Kat looked down at her watch and realized she has spent most of the day at the fire house. She hadn't felt this relaxed and safe in a very long time. The crew had a relatively easy day, not too many calls. Squad was called out once, and Kat hung out with the office staff until they got back . During a lull in the conversations she checked her phone and saw 57 missed calls and groaned. The crew glanced at each other but no one said anything . "Guys it's been really great hanging out today. Seriously it's been the best, but I have to run. " She started to listen to the voice messages that where left as she made her way to get her coat then out to the truck bay. Kats face turned red when she heard the voice screaming obscenities on the other end, and decided she should listen to them later . She pushed end and turned around to see the majority of the house standing there. "Shit. I guess you heard that. "

"People in Wisconsin could hear that." Herrmann muttered . "That's the guy? The one from last night?"

Kat nodded, shrugging into her coat. "Yeah he came to my house and saw I wasn't there…I should have been there." She pulled the hat Kelly gave her down over her ears and wrapped the scarf around her neck breathing in that scent that was distinctively his. "Thanks again all of you." She waved and took off towards her car.

"Captain, Lieutenant… " Herrmann started "She shouldn't be alone. That guy is going to kill her."

The men agreed and Kelly messaged Jay to see did they could ping her phone and to go her house . Their shift would be over in a few hours and then they could help too.

Jays phone buzzed. He read the message and slammed his hand on the desk , causing the bull pen to jump and Hank to come out of his office . "What. "

"That was Severide. Kat just left the firehouse and apparently that dick called and left a bunch of screaming ranting messages for her. They're afraid he's going to kill her." He got up and pulled on his jacket. "Did she write down her home address on her information?" Hank retreated to his office and brought it back for him. "394 Wabash. Sarge…"

He nodded "Halstead, Upton. You two go. I'll see if we can dump her phone, get recordings of the messages. " the two detectives took off and the rest of the unit got to work pulling what information they could about this "King pin" and Kat.

Kat pulled up in front of her house and sat in the car for a moment. Guess I should listen to these messages . She pressed the number sequence and the voice messages started : " Kat baby I'm at the house , where are you?" "Kat, I'm not kidding where are you?" "Listen bitch, if you think you can actually leave me you've got another thing coming!" "Kitty Kat, I'm sorry…. You know I don't like when you ignore me…" "Stop ignoring me you whore!" Kat shut her eyes tight and let the messages play on and on, until she heard a different voice come on the line. "Hey Kat, it's Kelly… um… Severide… from the firehouse. Listen can you call or text me and let me know when you're home? The entire team is concerned . Okay bye. " she smiled. This guy, he was something . Actually they all were. No one had ever shown concern or caring about her before, it caught her a little off guard. She started a message back to him letting him know she was home and just about to go inside, when she heard pounding on her window. She opened the door to get out of the car and felt a hand wrap around her arm ,pulling her out. She landed on the sidewalk with a thud.

"Bitch where have you been?! I've been calling you all day! You were out with someone weren't you!" Ken stood over her , towering. He was 6'4, and solid muscle. Dressed in a grey suit and black coat, he might have looked dashing if he wasn't so menacing. "Get up!" he pulled her up by the back of her coat, grabbing her hair and causing her to yelp.

"I did errands , I had my phone on silent I'm sorry!" she started apologizing immediately, and tried to hurry inside the house so her neighbors didn't call anyone. That had been a bad night, when the cops came by because of noise and Ken had to deal with them. As she was walking up the sidewalk she heard a car stop and voices yell out.

"Hey! Let go of her!"

Oh my gosh, someone is here to save me. Kat couldn't believe it. She turned around and saw Jay and a woman getting out of their car. Kat recognized her from last night . .. Hailey. That was it, she remembered the name because it was pretty just like the woman was.

"I'm sorry officers what seems to be the trouble ?" Ken turned his smooth talking voice on that he saved for people he was trying to bribe.

"Detectives. Halstead and Upton. We got a call regarding this house, a possible domestic disturbance." He walked over to Kat and held out his hand towards her. "You okay?"

Ken shoved her up the steps of the house – He knew if she was inside they wouldn't be able to follow. "She's just fine Officers." He said that with a snarl. "She just fell getting out of the car is all. She's clumsy, aren't you dear?" he stepped up one step, trying to get her inside.

"Hey, stop. Step away from her , this way." Hailey had one hand resting on her gun but didn't draw it, and motioned at him with the other.

Ken thought for a good 30 seconds before he nodded and walked down the steps towards Hailey with his hands in the air. That's when Jay motioned for her to come with him, so she did. She kept her head down and walked past Ken. She could practically feel the anger rolling off of him in waves. Jay put her in their car and walked back to Ken. "Listen, you need to stay away from her. I don't want to have to come back here you got it?" They couldn't charge him with anything , so they just waited until he took off before getting in the car and turning to Kat in the back seat. "You need to go to med?"

Kat nodded. When she landed on the sidewalk she hit both her knees hard on the concrete, and was afraid she might have actually broken something this time. Jay nodded and radioed to dispatch that they were taking her to Med. Kat remembered she hadn't sent the text to Kelly so she deleted it and responded with "I'm with Jay and Hailey." She saw Ken was already blowing up her phone with messages, so she turned her phone off after she sent the one to Kelly. She leaned back against the back seat , closing her eyes , trying not to cry.

The trio made it to Med pretty quickly . Jay had called ahead and a pretty nurse met them with a wheelchair. "I don't need-"

"Hospital policy honey. Come on , let's get you in a room." She helped Kat into the chair and the group went through the doors and into a room.

"April what have we got? Jay? What are you doing here?" a tall red haired man came walking through the door to the room she was placed in. The nurses helped her into the bed and Jay answered the doctor.

"Will, this is Katherin Bend. She took a hard fall on to both her knees she needs them x-rayed. "

"Okay… but why are you here?" the doctor looked at him strangely, and Kat did too.

"Kat this is my younger brother Will Halstead. He is the best trauma doctor in all of Chicago. Will, Kat is a friend.. " He didn't want to have to tell him about the case but ke knew he needed to. "And we are working on her case. "

Will snorted at his best trauma comment. "You need something don't you." He directed at his brother, who stood there quiet .

Kat just sat still, letting the medical personnel do what they needed to do. When they tried to put monitoring leads on her one of them made a noise that caused the whole room to look. She had pulled Kats shirt down and saw the bruising. "Okay, anyone non essential out. I need to talk to my patient. " the nurses and Hailey left , leaving the two brothers and Kat. "Fill me in, what's going on."

"My ex threw me down a flight of stairs yesterday, that's the cause of the bruises." It was getting easier to just come out and say it. "Today he pulled me out of my car and I hit the sidewalk right on both knees. I heard a crack, not sure if something broke. " She closed her eyes and waited. When she didn't hear anything she opened her eyes again and saw the brothers staring at each other, like they were talking by telepathy. "Its okay, just ask whatever you need to."

Will cleared his throat "Okay, how about history. Age, weight etc. Usually all this is done already when you come through the ER…"he threw a glance at his brother who shrugged.

"Sure, that's easy. Age-30. Height - 5'6. Weight – 120 lbs. Hair – blond Eyes- blue grey. I like long walks on sandy beaches too…"

Will smiled at that comment . "I'm going to have a nurse come in and help you change to a gown, so we can see the extent of what we're dealing with. Pain level?"

Kat shrugged "Body about a 6. Knees are definitely a 10. Is their a number higher than that I can say ? Cause… they hurt."

He called for April again, the nurse that had met them at the car. "Get her changed into a gown and let me know when you're done please, I need to evaluate her knees before assigning any pain meds or next step okay? Jay, a word." He ran his hand under the hand sanitizer pump , smiled at Kat and walked out with Jay following.

"What the hell Jay? She got thrown down a flight of stairs ? Where did you meet this girl?" Will was standing near the desk directly outside her room but far enough away from the door Kat couldn't hear him.

"Actually, she walked into Molly's last night . The firehouse 51 guys were there, her ex showed up causing a disturbance and Casey messaged Antonio to stop by so we all did. She was at the fire house today , and decided to make a statement so Voight and I went there." He glanced towards the room for signs of movement coming towards them and saw none. "She's got bruises covering most of her upper half, I documented them earlier. She did say there were more but we didn't have a female officer or paramedic around so Voight said we didn't need to see them."

"Who the hell is this guy? Tell me you got him." Will was turning as red as his hair.

"Ken Bowman, big time Irish mobster from South Chicago. I can't really say anything else-"

April poked her head out "You can come in now. "

The two men walked back in and couldn't contain their gasps. Kat had changed into a gown so her top half was covered but now her legs were showing . They had multiple purple marks on them, and both her knees were swollen. "I know right ? I look like a Jackson Pollack painting ." Kat felt her face flush again. "So the pain is about a 15 in my knees…" she sucked in air when Will began to touch them, trying to assess the damage.

"She definitely needs ex-rays of both. Tell Radiology we will be on our way as soon as they're available ." He directed these comments at April. " In the mean time have you eaten today?" he turned towards Kat.

"Um, this morning I had toast? And coffee… does that count ? "

He gave her a look like not even close. "Hang an IV of fluids , and give her 5 ml of morphine . Your body needs rest to get better. " He explained when she made a noise.

"Yeah but, I can just go home and sleep. Really, I don't want to be a bother …" she made a small cry when the nurse put the IV line in .

"Sorry honey all done. I'll come check on you in just a bit." April patted her hand and walked out.

"Jay can you let Kelly….know…." She was out before she could finish the sentence.

Jay looked at Will "Is that normal?"

Will nodded "She's tiny, and hasn't had a lot to eat so it hit her fast. I'm going to get her to radiology as soon as possible. Are you staying?"

Jay shook his head "I need to get back and update everyone."

"Okay I'll call if there's an update before you get back." They hugged and set off their separate ways. Jay pulled out his phone and called Severide to let him know what was going on.

Kelly was getting into his car when he heard his phone buzz. "Halstead what's up? How is she ?"

"I left her at Med. She is getting ex-rays of her knees to see if she broke anything when she fell, and Will gave her morphine to help with the pain. It knocked her out, and she should be down a good few hours. She wanted me to update you. I'm heading back to the station with Upton, if you wanted to check in on her. "

"Yeah, I'm on my way right now. Thanks Jay." He hung up and immediately sent a group message to second watch to update them. They all responded back that they would be at the hospital as soon as possible, so he took off towards Med.

When he got there he walked up to the receptionist area and gave his name and who he was there for. The receptionist said she would have a doctor come out and let him know what was going on soon, so he sat and waited. Soon the room filled with firehouse members , sitting and waiting on word. The doors opened and Will walked out, surveying the room and smiling . "I'm guessing you all are here for Kat?"

"Prognosis doc? She okay ?"

"Yes Christopher. Knees are going to be sore and swollen for a few days, but no fractures of any kind. We did a full body scan to make sure she didn't have any breaks or anything anywhere else , and she's clear. Just going to be sore for a while." He smiled at the crowds excitement . "I did tell her I don't think it's a good idea for her to be alone, especially going up and down stairs. Do any of you know if she has any family around?"

They all shook their heads. "We just met her last night Doc. But, I already offered her my place if she needed somewhere to go." Kelly stepped forward .

"Perfect. She should be ready to go in an hour or two, just want her to get some more sleep. I'm prescribing her pain medicine to take every 2-4 hours as needed . Make sure she eats something before she takes it, or she'll pass out. She needs a lot of rest for the next few days."

"Done. Thanks Will." Kelly shook his hand. "Can we see her?"

Will narrowed his eyes. Telling this group no was going to go over like a lead balloon. "Yeah, but just a small group and only for a few minutes okay?" he started through the automatic doors and Kelly, Matt, Herrmann and Sylvie followed him . "Here you go, seriously guys 5 minutes . " He pointed to the room and walked off.

They entered the room and found Kat staring up at the ceiling . "Hey there girl… doc gave us the good news, no breaks!" Herrmann patted her feet gently and it caused her to lift her head up and smile at them.

"Hey. What are you guys doing here?"

"We came to see you silly." Sylvie snuck in next to her, and grabbed her hand. "How are you feeling?"

Kat looked at her, but couldn't focus. The pain medicine was way more than she had ever taken before and it was messing with her. "Tinkerbell. That should be your nick name. You guys like nicknames right?" The group laughed and realized this would be a short visit.

"Okay, but only you can call me it." Sylvie leaned down and kissed Kat on the forehead. "We will let you get some more rest." She motioned for the men to follow her but Kat grabbed Kelly's arm stopping him. He nodded at the group and said he would meet them out in the waiting room.

"Hey." He grinned at her, pulling up a stool next to her bed and sitting down. "So Doc said you will be released in a few hours, and that you need to be around someone so I thought I would re offer you my place."

"Yes. I'll stay with you. " She said that with extreme clarity and quickness.

"Good." He squeezed her hand . "Whatever you need we're here for you. " She looked away from him, almost afraid to ask. When she looked back up his eyes were staring into hers. "What?"

She moved over gingerly in the bed. "Will you lay with me? I know it sounds stupid, but…" he didn't let her finish. He just kicked off his boots and climbed up next to her, wrapping his arm around her gently. She laid on one side towards him, her head in the crook of his shoulder and hand laying on his chest. She closed her eyes and breathed in, that smell that she called the Severide scent. The one that was on his scarf, smoke and something woodsy. She took another deep breath and drifted off somewhere peaceful.

They laid like that for another two hours , until she started to stir and Will came in to check on her . "Your crew was about to send out a search party for you Severide. " He grinned at the two of them.

"Oh my gosh I'm sorry Kelly I didn't mean to keep you." Pain meds had worn off and she had just had the best two hours sleep she ever had.

Kelly just smiled. "No biggie." He got out of the bed and pulled his boots on. "I'll be in the waiting room to take you home." He kissed her forehead and walked out.

"Well, normally we don't allow that but… you guys looked too peaceful to disturb . " Will handed her the clothes she came in with. "You need help changing?" she shook her head "Okay let me just unhook you here and you can change and be on your way. " He unhooked the monitors and withdrew her IV, placing a cotton ball and bandage over the red mark. "I'll wait in the hall."

She nodded and when he closed the door she took off her gown, pausing for a moment to look down at herself before putting her clothes back on. She came close today, Ken would have killed her if Jay and Hailey hadn't shown up. She needed to make some plans. How to get away from Ken permanently . Her telling him she was done wasn't doing it. TROs didn't work, he had too many corrupt cops in his pockets. The people in Intelligence seemed nice, like they could be trusted . Kat decided she would talk to Kelly about them when they got back to his place. She pulled her shoes on and called out to Will she was done. He walked back in, handed her a bag with a prescription in it, had her sign a few forms and told her she was set. She grabbed her purse and coat, and followed him to the waiting room where the entire second watch was there waiting.

"Oh guys, you didn't have to wait!" her face turned red but she was appreciative.

"I told them that, but they insisted ." Kelly stepped forward, holding out his arm for her. "Ready?"

She smiled and nodded at him. Turning back to Will she thanked him, and then the whole crew left the waiting room to go to their respective vehicles.

"Molly's , tomorrow night! I know you need to sleep tonight so…" Christopher pulled her into a hug, and tears sprung to Kats eyes.

"Thank you, all of you. That's so sweet" she hugged each crew member and waved as they drove off.

"Home?" Kelly pointed her towards his car and she nodded.

"Home."