The firehouse was not what Maya had expected in the least. Everyone had welcomed her with big grins and no one made her feel unwanted or out of place. It was strange, but it was nice.
That afternoon, Maya stood with Gabby and Sylvie watching as both Truck and Squad performed repel drills down the side of the building. Kelly and Matt easily took on their leadership roles, guiding their teammates with both structure and encouragement. Stella gave her sister a wink before her turn and Maya couldn't help but be impressed with her big sister who repelled effortlessly down the side of the building.
Gabby gave the teen a nudge, "Pretty cool eh?"
Maya smiled, "So cool."
All of a sudden the alarms sounded, "Firehouse 51, Truck 81, Ambulance 61, Squad 3, House fire, 206 S Jefferson St."
"We gotta roll." Gabby told Maya as she headed towards the ambulance.
"We'll be back soon, you can hang out in the common room." Sylvie called over her shoulder.
"Uh, okay," Maya replied as she moved towards the edge of th garage and watched the firefighters drop their things to gear up.
"Maya we'll be back soon." Stella called echoing Slyvie's statement as she climbed into the rig and truck was off. Maya watched them go and caught Kelly's eye who nodded at her, somehow, making her feel better in all the organized chaos.
The sirens wailed and the horns honked as Firehouse 51 arrived on scene to find a large house engulfed in thick black smoke.
"Kidd with me." Casey called as he hopped down from the truck,: Hermman and Mouch around back. Clock's ticking. We'll take the first floor. Let's go."
Chief Boden watched as his men moved methodically, "51 to main, we have a fire, fully involved."
Severide pulled his gear on, "Me, Tony and Capp will take the top floor. Let's go!"
The team charged fearlessly into the burning building, but Severide couldn't help but hope Stella had her head on right for this.
"Looks like we got some squatters in here Chief," Casey's voice buzzed over their radios. People were yelling, sirens, radio chatter, and coughing could be heard as the fire roared on.
"You've got five minutes," the Chiefs voice could be heard over the radio.
Severide pushed further into the building with his team, "Fire department. Call out!" the smoke was getting thicker when he spotted someone, "Hey! You okay?" he called out to the man, "Stay low" he instructed before handing him off to Tony, "Get him out and stay low! Got another one." He helped the man reach Capp, "Go, go, go! I'm right behind you."
"You have one minute. One minute." the chiefs voice rang clear.
"Copy that, Chief. Last hallway," Severide replied, "West wing's clear."
"I'm clear too." Casey's voice replied over the radio.
"Okay, I'm calling it. Everybody out. Pull back. Everybody out!"
Severide turned to head to the exit when he caught site of a foot on the ground, he gripped his radio, "I got one more, Chief." he replied as he made a dash towards the person who was on the floor and appeared nearly unconscious, "I got you, buddy. Easy. Easy. All right, we're gonna get you out of here." He hoisted the young man onto his shoulders just before a massive beam dropped in front of them blocking their exit.
"First floor's all clear. Severide, what's your status?" Casey's gripped his radio with one hand and motioned his team to keep moving with the other. No matter how many times they did this, it never got any easier waiting for your team to show up safe. "Severide, talk to me." Casey glanced around and cursed inwardly. Truck was out of harms way but Squad was no where to be found. He locked eyes with the Cheif as his knuckles turned white, just as Capp and Tony emerged from the flames.
Casey eyed the blackening smoke but Boden's eyes told him to not even think about running back into that building. "Severide, talk to me. Severide, talk to me now!"
Severide maneuvered his way through the flames to the back door and managed to make it into the stairwell, that, while thick with smoke, appeared to be a safe way out. "Top floor's all clear, Chief, I'm on my way out via the back stairwell."
"Okay, everybody, fall back!" The Cheif called out, relieved to hear his Lueitenants voice over the radio, "Let's get ready to fire up the water cannons."
"You got it, Chief." Casey replied as he began moving towards the truck. Hermann and Mouch followed but Stella remained stiff watching the building smoke get thicker as the panic rose in her throat, "Kidd," Casey called and she turned after a beat, "Hose."
"Yes Captain." Stella managed pushing down the fear that something had gone terribly wrong. Severide should be outside the building by now.
A moment later Kelly emerged from around the backside of the building Capp, Tony, Dawson and Brett jogged over to help.
"Got everyone accounted for?" The Cheif asked Kelly.
Kelly wiped his brow and frowned, but gave a nod as he watched Dawson and Brett load the teenager into the ambulance. He didn't want to think about if he had missed the kids shoe. He shook his head out of his thoughts hoping the kid would pull through.
When they got back to the house Stella found Kelly in the back room hanging up his jacket. He looked up at her, "Hey."
"Hey," she replied quietly, leaning into the jackets.
Kelly's brow furrowed in concern, "You okay? Is Maya okay?" He asked immediately closing the gap between them.
Stella let out a shaky breath, "For a moment there I..." she looked away as tears clouded her eyes. She didn't know why she was so upset, they faced this sort of thing all the time, today shouldn't be any different, but it was.
"Hey," Kelly wrapped her in his arms tightly and Stella began to shake, "I'm here okay? And I'm not going anywhere."