Warning: The story contains spoilers for season 3, 2 and 1
Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters or the plot of Chicago Fire and Chicago PD. I do not own the lyrics of the songs used. I do not own the text taken directly from the show. This story is intended for fun only and I am not making any money with it!
Chapter 17
Before Casey had the chance to wrap his head around what was going on, Hadley burst into the attic room, stopping in front of the fireman and grabbing his hair, lifting the hand holding the unsealed packet of chlorine powder above Matt's head. "Seems that we both die today…"
"You…go…hell!" Casey uttered, but as soon as the words escaped his mouth, his throat constricted, cutting the oxygen supply to his lungs.
"Casey! Hey, look at me!" Antonio instructed, getting Matt's full attention. Voight was busy aiming his gun at Hadley, the only thing stopping him from pulling the trigger was the packet of chlorine in Kevin's hands.
"FIRE'S SPREADING OUT QUICKLY!" Ruzek radioed from downstairs, his voice not revealing the full extent of the disaster.
"Help…us." The older child cried out, pulling her wheezing sister closer to herself, the younger girl barely conscious.
"You can get out of here alive!" Voight barked, his mind frantically looking for a solution. They needed one quickly, before the flames reached them, before the poisonous gas left them in the same condition Kelly was.
"Better dead than in prison - "
"No." Olinsky said in a soft whisper, trying to win them some more time to come up with a plan.
"Casey!" Voight barked when Matt's eyelids fell, covering his eyes. "Stay with us!"
Voices were coming from downstairs, the terrifying sound of burning wood too loud to allow them to make sense of the words.
"When Severide and Boden decided to ruin my life, you know what they said?" Kevin snickered, Matt putting an enormous effort to open his eyes, expecting Hadley to continue. "That's right! Because you didn't care!...They said I'm stupid." He snorted, his fingers playing with the top of the packet in his hand. Who's the stupid one now, huh?"
"She's…she's not breathing!" The CPD officer shouted, his petrified eyes pointing the younger girl. The fire was forming a barrier between Casey and the other three victims, the poisonous gas building up in the room.
"Traitors must be punished!" Hadley glanced at the officer, not touched by the tears running down the older girl's face.
Kevin got distracted, for a second…giving Matt the opportunity to deliver a kick just above the ex-fireman's knees, not powerful enough to send him on the floor. Hadley stumbled forward, a grin spreading across his face. Antonio acted instinctively and jumped on Kevin just before the packet of chlorine powder slipped out of Hadley's hands, landing inches away of Matt's right foot, Dawson falling on top of Kevin. Hadley was no match for the Detective, but he wasn't about to give up and neither Voight, nor Olinsky had a clear shot…
"CASEY!" Hank yelled, flames engulfing Matt's jeans, the fireman sluggish frame resting on the wall.
The sound of broken glass caught the attention of the detectives, Voight already by Matt's side, using his jacket to fight the flames. "Fire department! Call out!" A Squad Lieutenant commanded, standing on a ladder at the window.
"CAREFUL! Chlorine powder's everywhere!" Olinsky instructed, opting to help the innocent girls and let Antonio deal with Hadley on his own.
Hadley had nothing to lose, nothing. Using all the energy he had, he rolled over, sending Dawson into the flames. Antonio didn't let the pain and fear mess up with him. He rolled over in the opposite direction, remaining flat on his back for a few seconds to until the fire eating his jacket reached his skin. Cursing, he sat bolt upright and shed the burning piece of clothing, using his legs to kick it aside.
Kevin jumped Voight from behind, locking his arms around the Detective's neck, the sight of Matt unconscious, struggling for air, satisfying his desire for revenge.
"NO!" Antonio's voice boomed, Casey opening his eyes, the smirk on Hadley's face greeting him. Truck's Lieutenant didn't think, didn't hesitate…he lifted his right hand and grabbed Hadley's hair, Kevin hissing in pain. Dawson ran in their direction, using his hands to push Hadley directly into the flames…
Matt had no idea what had just happened, only one thought occupying his mind. "Sev..." He uttered before letting his body relax, the darkness welcoming him once again.
"OVER HERE!" Voight yelled, working to untie Matt's hands, losing the weak pulse he had felt seconds earlier…
"Stop…moving!" Antonio uttered, fighting the flames eating Hadley's flesh, the ex-firefighter's body convulsing mercilessly on the floor…
Xxx
Erin was refusing to leave the area in front of Kelly's ICU room, was refusing to even go to her hospital room, sign her discharge papers and get dressed…she had been sitting on one of the chairs for hours, numb, tear marks on her cheeks, but she wasn't crying anymore…there were no more tears left to be shed, her throat unable to let another cry out. It was a waiting game now…waiting to see whether his immune system would have mercy on his lungs, whether his organs would get enough oxygen to function properly, whether his brain would recover, whether a simple infection would end the war and pull him out of his misery.
"You want to do it now?" A nurse, Anna, emerged from Kelly's room, having just connected something to his feeding tube. She was one of the handful of people allowed to go in, following a list of procedures longer than the Bible, to assure the room remained sterile.
Erin nodded, slowly getting up. Anna handed her a device resembling a tiny microphone, wirelessly connected to the intercom in the room. Lindsay stepped closer to the window, focusing her eyes on Kelly's buried under tubes and bandages face…
"Hey…hero…" Her voice broke, the small device jumping up and down in her shaky hands. "I'm here…right here with you." She sobbed, cursing herself for lying, for not being inside the room with him, for not being able to hold his hand or touch his cheeks. "You're…you're not going to leave me, you hear me, Kelly! You can't leave me now, or I swear, I'll follow you wherever you go…You're…you're stronger than this…and I need you here with me…" She wanted to say a lot more, deep down hoping to get a response…and it killed her when nothing happened. She desperately needed to touch him, feel the warmth of his body, make sure he was alive and the machines taking his vitals weren't lying…because a man who was alive would have responded to her pleads…
A gentle squeeze on the arm startled her, pulling her out of the prison of her own mind. She lifted her eyes to see Benny, now staring at his son. "It's over." Severide Senior uttered, unsure how loud his voice actually was, hoping that both the Detective and Kelly could hear him. "They've found Matt- "
"You hear this, Kell?" Erin asked firmly, aware she had no idea how bad Casey was. "Casey's going to be okay. You have to be okay, too!"
"They are on their way to the ER." Benny added, trying to keep his emotions at bay.
"How's - "
Benny shook his head, pressing the end of call button on the device in Erin's hands before turning to look at her. "Wallace said three ambulances are heading here, two critical patients…"
It went without saying that one of the critical patients was Casey, none of them voicing it, afraid Kelly would hear it through the walls.
Three ambulances meant a lot of people hurt. And the thought that one of them could be a member of Intelligence was just as frightening. As much as Lindsay wanted to stay with Kelly, she had to make sure her team was safe…so she followed Benny to the elevators, joining the rest of Fifty-One at the entrance of the hospital…
"They've lost one of the critical…" One of the nurses awaiting the ambulances informed the doctor behind her, keeping her voice down not a priority for her.
"No…" Gabby mumbled, Chief providing her with a shoulder to cry on…
Xxx
"C'mon, Matt…I need you…Kelly needs you!"
Casey heard a familiar voice, his brain slowly making sense of the words…was it Gabby speaking? But had he just seen Hallie…and Shay? Something about Kelly…why was his head hurting so much?!
"Doing well." It was a gruff male voice…what was he talking about?!
Matt concentrated all the energy he had into lifting his eyelids, but a brief second later they dropped back down. He tried again…and again, giving up after the fourth time. He could feel his heart pounding in his chest, a soft female hand squeezing his…what was wrong?!
"Don't do this to me, Matt!"
He wanted to wrap his fingers around Dawson's, but the sudden numbness in his limbs frightened him further. "Guess we both die today" Hadley's face flashed in front of his eyes, forcing him to finally open his eyes and look around in confusion.
"Good to have you back." The corners of Chief's mouth lifted to form a smile that vanished instantaneous, Gabby wiping the tears in her eyes away.
Casey couldn't think of anything else but the dull pain in his head and the burning sensation in his eyes. He tried lifting his hand to rub them, getting frustrated when his upper limbs didn't cooperate.
"Wha…t's - " Truck's Lieutenant uttered weakly, the other half of the sentence getting stuck in his sore throat.
"Hadley?" Boden shot his Lieutenant a concerned glance, unsure what to begin with.
Matt remained still for a few seconds as memories rushed in his head…Spellman, Kevin kidnapping him…He didn't trust his body to cope with a node, but he managed to move his head up and down, regretting it when a wave of nausea hit him.
"Stay still." Gabby whispered in his ear, gently moving her fingers through his greasy hair.
"Burned…"
"He's dead." Gabby didn't hide the joy in her voice. It was a small victory in a war with too many casualties…
"It's been three days." Chief rubbed his eyes involuntary, his actions proving how tired he was. "They had to sedate you, but managed to…prevent the worse." Boden bit his lips to stop himself from adding that Matt could have developed the same syndrome that was slowly killing his best friend, caught between life and dead in the adjacent ICU room.
But Casey understood. He opened his mouth to ask about Kelly, not realizing his hands were trembling until Dawson rested hers on top of them.
"Another subdural hematoma!" Dawson uttered, no need to reveal the full extent of the injury he had suffered as they knew well what the consequences could be. "They…they had to drill another hole in your skull!" She raised her voice, mad at…mad at everything, the whole world, the destiny or whatever it was…
"No prognosis can be made yet." Chief explained before Matt had to chance to ask. "You've suffered a severe poisoning as well. The ethylene glycol in the brake fluid and the chlorine are messing up with your central nervous system. Your Doctor's confident that with some physiotherapy it is not going to do any permanent damage, but the effects would last for a few weeks. They'd be able to assess the damage the hematoma's done afterwards. You've been through two courses of dialysis to clean up your blood from the toxins, might need another one…"
"Girl..s?"
Dawson hesitated for a few seconds before answering. "The older one is going to be okay…the younger's in a coma…It's not fair she's paying for her father's mistakes…"
"The CPD guy's sharing a cell with Spellman." Boden added, finding no comfort in that…They were going to rot in prison, Hadley was gone, but the damage they had done was permanent…
"Kelly?" Casey uttered, his eyes fixed on Boden, begging for the truth.
Chief sighed, preparing to relive the horrible events from the past few days once again…
Xxx
"Ahhh." Casey grimaced in pain seven hours later, his hands grabbing the edges of the wheelchair he was in, trying to push himself upright once again. But his hands were too weak to support his weight and he ended up back in the chair. Benny, Boden, Erin and Gabby were around him, standing in front of Kelly's ICU room, watching as Doctor Andres and a nurse poked the Squad's Lieutenant with needles, drew blood, examined his legs, toes, arms…
"Hey, what's wrong?" Dawson turned to look at Matt, nothing but worry in her eyes.
"Everything's!" Casey snapped, his trembling eyelids driving him insane. He hated feeling so helpless, dependent on others, unable to get up and punch something, anything, scream at someone... "Can't…see him." He explained, attempting to get up once again. But this time two strong hands slid under his armpits, Chief pulling him upright and supporting Matt's weak frame…because it wasn't only Kelly who needed to know the other was alright. Casey had to make sure, too, and in that moment Boden couldn't offer much more…
Casey didn't say another word in the next few minutes, partly because he didn't trust his voice, partly because his mind wasn't there…
Matt was forced to sit back in the wheelchair when his legs completely gave out, and this time he didn't protest. Doctor Andreas joined them seconds later, another nurse bringing a pile of papers that required Benny's signature.
"So?" Lindsay shot him an eager glance, tired of waiting, exhausted, sleep deprived. But she had sworn to not take her eyes off of her hero again, and she fully intended to keep her promise. He couldn't die on her watch, right?
"Let's have a sit." The Doctor's suggestion went as if unheard, no one moving.
"No…" Casey and Erin mumbled at the same time, a word the Detective had used a lot more in the past week than in her entire life.
"The ventilator's not supplying his body with enough oxygen. His skin's getting mottle, his legs are blue already, indicating cyanosis."
"Then just give him higher doses!" Benny growled, not giving a damn if it was even possible.
"It doesn't work this way."
"You do something!" Erin commanded, looking away to hide her glassy eyes.
"There's one last thing we can try - "
"Last?" Casey's eyebrows were pulled down in frustration…he couldn't believe it…didn't want to believe it.
Doctor Andreas answered with a nod before continuing. "It's called ECMO…basically it uses an artificial lung to oxygenate the blood and remove the CO2, outside of the body."
"Outside?" Chief repeated, becoming a victim of his own imagination.
"It…resembles dialysis." Andreas shot Matt a glance. "The blood is pumped out of the body through a vein, goes through the machine, and is returned back into another vein. It's not a therapy, but on top of the ventilation it might supply him with just enough oxygen to - "
"Do it!" Erin cut him off abruptly.
"You should know there are significant risks of neurological injury and bleeding - "
"Do it!" Benny nodded firmly, glancing through the room's window as If to make sure his son was still there.
"Okay then…We're going to start the procedure in an hour."
"I wanna be there with him!" Lindsay blocked the Doctor's way, making it clear she wouldn't take no for an answer.
"You know how risky - "
"He's dying…anyways…" Casey growled, a wave of violent coughs that came next stopping him from finishing his thought.
Andreas sighed, not breaking eye contact with the Detective. "Okay. But you sneeze around him, it might just kill him…"
Xxx
The next three days were a living hell for everyone. Casey was on the edge, Dawson powerless to help him, Hadley's image haunting him whenever he had to leave Kelly's room. Things spiraled out of control after he got so sleep deprived that Gabby had to ask a nurse to slip him a mild sedative and wheel him back to his own room for a good night's sleep…The following night Voight dragged Erin to his place, not letting her go until she ate all the decent food he made, until she slept in a real bed for seven hours, screaming Severide's name before waking up.
Kelly's blood had been pumped in and out of his body for three days, a medical team standing by his side 24/7, monitoring the blood flow, the oxygen levels, his lungs, heart, kidneys…expecting him to bleed to death any second…
Three restless days after the ECMO had been initiated, Kelly was lying flat on his back, Lindsay sitting on a plastic chair, squeezing his hand gently, Matt not having the strength to protest or fight the wheelchair, just staring at Kelly, fear washing over him.
Doctor Andreas had just informed them Kelly's lung's function had improved, the oxygen levels had gone up. Not by much, but by enough to allow him to do a trial and assess whether he could stop the life-threatening procedure.
"We wait until he regains consciousness before we start the weaning process." Andreas explained, another doctor, an ECMO specialist, standing beside him, not finding it necessarily to add that the sole purpose of the trial was to check whether their friend's lungs were healthy enough to do the job with some minimum support from the ventilator. "It might take a couple of hours for the sedatives to wear off. I'd keep him on the paralytics for now, to make sure he doesn't hurt himself when he wakes up…
Xxx
He was cold…extremely cold…Kelly could feel his blood moving through his veins, as if it was leaving his body, then slowly making its way back, hurting him, amplifying the burning sensation in his chest…it hurt, hurt so much, his entire body…he was cold, but it felt as if all the water had been drained out of him…he wanted to scream, but something was blocking his throat…God it hurt so much…Why couldn't he move…he had to…had to run after her. Her world was better, beautiful, painless…but he couldn't follow her...distant voices were calling out his name, a hand dragging him to hell, Hadley's hand…
"Shaaay." His mind screamed, the tube stuck in his throat not allowing for words to escape his lips. His eyes snapped wide open, nothing but horror in them…
Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Yay, Hadley's gone…gone forever! Who's happy? But yeah…the damage he's done…On the other hand, Spellman's going to have one more unpleasant meeting with ? before getting what he deserves…well, he already got it, his daughter's paying for his mistakes…
I've not written Casey angst until now, have to admit I enjoy it, what do you guys think? Your warm comments and the cross-over event inspired me to add more Lindsay emotions, I know I needed I tissue while I was writing her talk over the intercom…
Kelly's in a world of pain and darkness, let's hope he passes the trial…
Thanks for reading and all the support, you're awesome! Would love to hear your opinion so please review before you go :)