Brace yourselves, it's intense. Kay, ready? Good.
Sipping his cup of coffee, Casey was lost in his train of thoughts. The make out session he had had with his candidate, fun as it had been, was a mistake and could very well interfere with both their carreers.
A strong minded woman was just what he needed. Someone who was not afraid to call on his bullshit, someone who could handle a house on fire and still look hot covered in ashes. That special someone had been hard to find. Gabby embodied each and every fantasies he had envisonned for the perfect woman. Honest, hard-headed, go-getter not afraid to fall and get back on her feet right after it.
Would that be enough though? A lieutenant is to be respected, orders would be harder to take coming from somebody so close to you. Somebody you care so much about.
"Hey" Gabby said, laying the day's paper flat on the table. She dragged a chair in with her and sat right next to Casey. She smiled a winked at him. He forced himself not to respond.
"Candidate" he raised his cup as to acknowledge her presence.
Her smile took on the hint of a cringe and then she looked at Mouch across the table.
"So, Antonio told me you tried to get your Sergeant girlfriend to take care of a few parking for you. How's that been working so far?" she said, chuckling.
"Go ahead, laugh at me but don't tell me you've never tried that with your brother"
She frowned.
"He's in intelligence. Parking tickets are probably the least of his concerns."
"You've never tried, did you?" Otis asked, inserting himself in the conversation.
She shook her head and saw Mills pour himself some coffee.
"Hey, can I get some, too?" She said, raising a finger.
"Sure" He flashed a big smile "How do you like it?"
"Black and one sugar"
"You should try next time. I'm sure it'll work" Mouch took a bite of his honey glazed donut.
"Here's your coffee Candidate" Mills handed it to her, the same smile stretching his lips.
"Well aren't you so charming?" Casey said, adressing to Mills.
"That smile's only for the ladies" he flashed it again, showcasing his perfectly white teeth.
"Hey, hey. What did you call our candidate again?" Casey put a hand behind his ear as to hear better.
"A lady" Mills replied, more as a question.
"Dawson's a candidate. Period. No special treatment" He dragged the newspaper to his side, and looked for the sports section.
Isn't a hot make out considered 'special treatment'?
"When has that ever been the case?" Herrman asked, out of the blue.
"Since her ladyness got her out of cooking duty yesterday, And shower cleaning this morning. No special treatment. Am I making myself clear?"
Mills had been a doll with Gabby, pulling her chair, assisting her while cooking. The perfect gentleman.
"Got it Lieutenant" Gabby said. "But, yesterday, I was doing something else at that time. Do you remember? Lieutenant"
He lifted his eyes from the paper, pressed his lips together and sneaked a silencing glance at her. She smiled, holding up her coffee with both hands, right in front of her mouth.
"Oh yeah, I remember, she asked to talk to you in private!" Otis said, "Everything ok with you Dawson?"
"uhm, don't worry about it. I just had some hot business to take care of"
Casey seemed to hide behind his hand when an early call surprised everyone.
All three teams were required.
Gabby took a donut from the box Brett had brought and grabbed her gear. Mouch looked at her as if she were a criminal.
"What?"
"No food in the truck. Casey'll flip out"
"I got it" She flared her hand as to say 'don't worry'
Gabby remained silent in the truck, making herself as scarce as possible as she sneakily took bites out of her donut.
On site, a young man dressed as a butler jogged toward them. The look on his face was a mixture of fear and incoherence.
"The elevator got stuck between the 21 and the 22nd floor. they're really old ones so they're tight," He said as Otis listened in for the details.
"Power's off?" Chief Boden asked,
"Yeah" the butler replied, putting a hand to his mouth.
"Is there a key hole at any of those levels?", When the butler nodded, the team rushed to the staircase.
Casey slowed down and waited for Gabby to get close enough.
"This should be quick, people often get anxious in elevators so brace yourself for the reactions once they're out"
Otis had opened the doors of the 22nd floor.
He peeked down to evaluate the situation.
"Wow!" He said, with staggering startle. "Good thing squad's here"
Severide pushed Mouch to the side and took a glance at the incident. "Sir, what were you thinking? And you, below. What happened there?" He said in a patronizing tone. The team could hear a man sob and cry.
Shay got closer and hushed Severide.
"Sir, it's going to be ok" She reassured in a controlled voice.
Hearing the appeasing tone, the man looked up. He was caught up between two of the elevator cables.
Severide turned to his team "Ok, the elevator's closer to the 21 floor so we're going to let casey's team get the people who are actually in the elevator, then we'll figure a way to cut him loose"
The man scowled in pain.
"Hey Sir, what's your name?" Shay asked
"Jay, Jay Black"
"Ok Jay, I'm going to need you to stop moving. Can you tell me what hurts?" she asked.
"I don't know. Everything" he took his breath and appeared to focus, "my stomach,"
"Are you bleeding?"
"I.. I can't see" his voice started trembling.
"Remain calm. We are here to help. Stay still. Just help me help you. Can you do that?"
He nodded with fear in his eyes.
"Are the cables over or under your skin?"
"I don't know?" He looked down and put a hand on his stomach then brought it to his eyes "It's not bleeding so over?"
"You don't sound certain"
"I'm not, I just want to go home" he cried, "get me out, please get me out"
Casey and Otis opened the doors and eyesized the tight space.
"I can do it" Gabby said,
"I can too. Are you going to know what to do?" Herrman asked
"Yeah I did it at the academy" confident, she no longer addressed to Hermann, she seeked Casey's approval.
"Kay'. Dawson you're up. If you have any problem doing it, just say so. We'll get Herrman up"
"Got it. Lieutenant"
Casey and Otis gestured for Gabriela to use their joined hands as a ladder. The foot and a half access to the inside of the elevator was plenty of room for her slim frame. She grabbed the edge of the elevator floor and pushed on her hands to get her body up.
"Guys, push my leg up", the extra push sent her leg on the floor of the elevator. She put all of her weight on that leg and that stability was what got her inside.
A couple was inside, the man attempted to reassure his girlfriend while looking equally as scared. A teenager was on the floor.
Anxiety, that must be it.
"Dawson, how many people are in the elevator?"
"3 and a half" she answered.
She tapped on a man's leg "You all right?"
"Get me down, get me down, oh my god, how did I get here? I told my wife I never cheated but she didn't believe me. She said, go to a hotel or go to hell, but you're not sleeping under my roof! And I might be going to both!" He burst into tears.
"What do you mean and a half?"
"Someone's legs are hanging from the top exit." Two women and two men" Gabby took her radio and got it close enough to the woman. "What happened here?"
"The elevator stopped a few floor over this one. We've been here for hours so we got tired of waiting. The first guy climbed up to get help because he was very impatient. But when he got out, the elevator dropped a few floors down. And this girl hit her head" she pointed at the girl Gabby thought had fainted.
"We heard him scream, that's when Jay went to help" The man took the woman's hand.
"Wait, Jay. Is that the first guy we found?" Casey wondered alout, he took out his radio." Severide, the elevator is unstable. It moved before we got here. Can you get it stabilized?"
"Sure"
"Also, Apparently, someone else is stuck a few floors up. Can you see anything from where you are?"
He could hear Kelly's voice echo in the elevator cabin.
"I see him. I think we're too late though, Capp, Mills go there and get him out," Severide then asked for a few truck men to help stabilize the cabin.
Capp first observed and measured up the issue. The man's limbs were lifeless and he seemed to have been dead long before they got there. He was pale with blueish lines drawing out his veins. Capp's second thought was to get next to him. The body hung right in front of the doors. Good, that would be simple. He could cut the cables, but they seemed to thick. He could bend them. But then Jay could bleed out if the cables he got stuck between cut him.
He went over to the edge, right where the doors would be and put a hand on the man. At this contact, the arm seemed to twich. Capp staggered and looked at Mills. It happens, he reminded himself. He took a saw out of his squad case and started sawing it loose. Fast, efficient, the way to go.
"Hold the cable. Once it's cut, it can't fall on Severide and Jay. Would be counter productif, don't you think? He kept sawing the cable and the twich came back, stronger, more than just a muscle contraction.
"You're medic trained, right?" he asked
"Ha" Peter confirmed
"Do your thing, I think he's alive"
Capp move out of the way and Mills immediately took his pulse.
"Weak but still there" he concluded.
Severide glanced up again, the man's body folded slack as broken in two and only hung by a thread that wrapped around his waist.
"I've never seen anything like that" he said, he grabbed a rope fom Clark and prepared to go down and stabilize the cabin.
"Wai wai wait! What's going on? Why is it shaking?" Jay yelled, he held tighter to the cable.
"Jay' we want you home just as much as you do. You need to let us work. Ok?" Shay took on the most calming voice she could have.
"He's alive, we need a medic', 29th floor" Mills said, through the radio.
Severide turned around to Brett but she had already grabbed her first aid bag.
"Be right there" she got her yellow board and jogged to the staircase.
"Ok, Gabby. Your call. How do you want to proceed?" Casey said as though ready to take orders.
The woman was slim enough to fit through the small space. The men would have to wait a little while. She tapped on the hanging legs again.
"Hey, you ok?"
"Yeah, hanging in there" he weakly chuckled.
"Humor, ha? I guess you're good," she placed a hand on the woman next to her.
"I'm going to send the woman down, get ready to catch her"
"Alright" she heard them move around "Go ahead" Casey said.
"Sit down and let you legs hang there" she instructed,
The woman did and checked with Gabby to see if she was doing it right.
"Great, now slide yourself down. There are big, strong firemen waiting to make sure you don't fall so don't worry. Right guys?"
She heard Herrman assure, "Right here. Hard as a rock" in his usual optimistic tone.
The woman had pushed herself enough for the guys to catch her and carry her to the ground, safe and sound.
"Ok, one out. Three to go" Casey said," whenever you're ready"
"Uhm, about that" she started.
Brett arrived, struggling to master her breathing pattern. She took the split of a second to recuperate and dashed right into the problem.
"What do we have here?" She looked at Mills, knowing he was a medic too.
"I think his blood has a hard time circulating which explains the slack limbs and white and blue skin."
"Cut him loose and have hands ready. I don't want him to fall anywhere" she said, placing her hands on both his back and stomach.
Capp started on the saw again, he tried to ignore the complains of the other victim, a few stories down.
The cable finally gave in, Mills had caught him and twisted it to another one to make sure it would go anywhere. They both helped Brett hold the victim to the stretcher.
A wound made by a cable started bleeding but Brett reacting quickly and stopped it.
"Lieutenant. The guy's out. We're bringing him down as we speak," Capp updated on his radio.
"Ok, attention everyone" Severide called out. "We're running out of time. This guy is exhausted and frankly. I'm staring to feel claustrophobic. We're all focusing on this guy. Casey and his team will worry about the elevator captives. Understood?" He ordered.
"Whatever you say Lieutenant." Clark finished securing the elevator and started toward the elevator.
"I'm going down," Severide climbed down and stayed on the edge of the wall, where the cabin sits as it stays still on each floor.
"Look, Jay. You're going to push a cable away from you. The tighter o.." Severide fell silent. A metallic buzzing indicated that something was wrong. He tried to process what was happening.
It shouldn't have happened, it couldn't. They had secured it. And yet the elevator was engaged in a rageous race toward to bottom of the building.
Severide's eyes couldn't unscrew from the racing elevator. Even the highpitched squeal resonating next to his ear didn't break his daze. A few drops projected on his face and the rusty, well known taste of blood tore him out of his stupor.
His eyes widened and his reflex was to stick his body to the wall, avoiding any rebel cables. The cables followed the insane cadence of the elevator which didn't seem to be stopping.
I hope everyone is out of there.
"Severide report" Chief Boden ordonned on the radio.
"Chief, Jay. He didn't make it. I'm good. If I don't move until the elevator stops I'm gonna be good, was everyone out?"
"Stay put" Chief Boden said.
"Chief, is everyone out?" Severide asked again.
"I. Said. Stay. Put." He ended the communication.
"Chief, Chief!"
"No,no, no, no, NO!" Casey stuttered, his voice getting louder each time.
"Dawson, are you there?" He shouted, his eyes started welling.
"hHH" her breath was all that was audible, along with the panicked screams of the men.
"Dawson! Shit. Gabby'. Did it stop?" dumb question, he knew it hadn't.
"Lieutenant," her voice trembled. " it's not stopping" you could hear the panic take control of her body.
Matt swallowed loudly, closed his eyes really hard and punched the wall. His hand hurt like hell, he took his radio again and tried one more time.
"Gabby"
"Matt," She started "Matt, I'm going to die"
His stomach sunk.
I promise I'll bring the hot, sexiness back. Just wanted some action lol.
