"The scar will remain, but it is better for a man to lose both arms than his soul; and these hard years, instead of being lost, may be made the most precious of your lives, if they teach you to rule yourselves." - Louisa May Alcott

Serena stood outside the front door of Kelly and Shay's apartment and knocked on the door, she had been passing through on her way to a party since coming off a double shift and she had decided that she needed to talk to Kelly. For the last week or so she had been trying to avoid doing this but Serena couldn't ignore it any longer which is what brought her here to Kelly and Shay's apartment. After the conversation Serena had with Shay several days ago about Kelly, Serena knew that she had to confront him about his shoulder. The problem with his shoulder was too serious to ignore and Serena couldn't have that on her conscious, she couldn't be constantly worrying that Kelly's shoulder was putting him along with other people in danger whilst he was on the job. Serena had finally plucked up the courage to confront Kelly on the matter and she knew it wasn't going to be pretty but she needed to do this. Less than a minute after she knocked on the door, it slowly opened and there was Kelly standing there with a surprised look on his face.

"Hey Rocket…"

"Can we talk? It's kind of important." Serena questioned and Kelly looked at her briefly before opening the door wider and motioning for her to come in. Giving her old friend a small smile, Serena walked into the apartment but not going too far into the apartment as she had a feeling that this conversation wasn't going to be easy nor would it take too long. Regardless of that Serena still had to do this especially since she had received some disturbing information from Shay today about Kelly and how he was using narcotics to deal with this shoulder problem. It was that call that made Serena realize that enough was enough and she needed to tackle this problem head on.

"So what's the big problem Rocket?" Kelly questioned and Serena dug into her pocket and pulled out the prescription that she had wrote for Kelly and he hadn't filled which Shay had given to her.

"You didn't fill the prescription and before you lie to me and attempt to say that your shoulder is fine I'm going to stop you Kelly. I know that your shoulder is still giving you problems because you practically walking around with a broken neck." Serena stated, not beating around the bush about this had been a problem weeks ago and they were now at the stage of this being a serious problem. Straight away Kelly's face fell as he was no doubt surprised that she knew about his neck but Serena had made some calls and checked Kelly's medical records. "I also know that the reason you didn't fill out this prescription is because that your taking narcotics to deal with your pain."

"Serena…"

"What Kelly? What are you going to say try and justify what you are doing to yourself? Do you know how serious this is? You had Shay take a drug test for you because you've been working whilst under the influence of strong narcotics." Serena demanded as threw the prescription at Kelly as she was still in shock over all of this but most of all she was disappointed. As angry as Serena was she knew that Kelly was doing this all so he could keep his job but she was more worried about him then his job.

"Of course I know how serious this is Rocket! Why do you think I asked Shay to do my urine sample? I knew if I pissed in that cup then I was test positive and I would be suspended and get caught up in the bureaucratic red tape before eventually I'm kicked out the door." Kelly stated and Serena just rolled her eyes as he wasn't looking at the bigger picture, Kelly was just looking at what was right in front of him.

"Then why do this Kelly? I told you weeks ago that I would help you do whatever it took to help you but you just ignored everything I said and went straight to the narcotics. Kelly this is no longer just about you keeping yourself from being put on disability and losing your job. You are doing narcotics to keep this pain in check and you are not just putting yourself at risk but you are putting your entire house at risk as they count on you Kelly, those people trust you with your life! Not to mention the people you rescue every time you put on you're uniform and going to work. You can't keep doing this Kelly, somebody will get seriously hurt and maybe even killed–"

"–What like Andy? Are you blaming me for what happened to Andy?" Kelly accusingly shot and Serena could feel herself as losing her temper. Whilst she was doing the touch love act to try and get Kelly to face up to the fact that he had a problem and he needed help. Serena did not appreciate him bringing up Andy and insinuating that she was blaming him for what happened to Andy as Serena knew it was an accident. It was a terrible accident and neither Kelly nor Casey were responsible.

"I have never blamed you for Andy but if you want to blame yourself for what happened then go ahead Kelly. I'm no longer going to convince you that it was not your fault but don't you dare try and suggest that I blamed you for what happened because I have never done that. I would never do that to you!" Serena retorted full on yelling at Kelly because she was beyond mad that he thought so little of her. From the day of the funeral and all the other times they had spoken about Andy since he had died, Serena had reassured Kelly that what happened wasn't his fault. So him saying something like that really upset Serena.

"Rocket I didn't mean that." Kelly began as he took a step towards Serena and she shook her head as she took a step back. She wasn't going to let Kelly convince that everything was fine and that there was no problem and that his use of narcotics was nothing serious, because it was.

"You need to go to Boden, if you don't then I will and I won't hesitate to get my dad involved either." Serena bluntly stated as whilst she had previously let Kelly Severide use his blue eyes, good looks and charms to convince her of things on several occasions this was not going to be one of them. This was going to be hard for Kelly to hear but Serena was doing this because she loved him.

"I can't do that Rocket, I go to Boden and I will lose my job."

"No you won't Kelly, we don't have to tell him about the narcotics but you need to tell him about your injury. You'll get treatment and the worst thing that will happen is the cfd will poke around for a bit and you'll be on medical leave for a few months."

"But it's not just a few months Serena! My other doctor said that it would be at least six months I would be out for and I can't have that. I can't be out for that long." Kelly firmly stated with a shake of his head and Serena just sighed, it was like she was talking to a brick wall. "You don't know what this job means to me Serena so you can't understand why I can't lose it!"

"Your right I don't understand Kelly and that's probably because I would never operate on a patient whilst high on narcotics." Serena yelled knowing full well that it was below the belt but it was the truth. Sure she didn't run into burning buildings and rescue people but it didn't mean that her job wasn't hard or stressful either. The two of them were in the business of saving lives and they couldn't be putting themselves at risk because that would put the people they dealt with at risk too.

"Well not everyone can be you, the perfect Rocket McArthur!" Kelly spat.

"I am not perfect Kelly I am far from it but I am doing this because I care about you Kelly, you know how much you mean to me. But I can't talk to you about this anymore! You need to get some help, you need to realize that pretty quickly otherwise I am going to Boden in the next week!" Serena yelled before walking out of the apartment and slamming the door behind her.

Serena was exhausted. It had been a late night with Emma at some house warming party for one of the other nurses and even before then Phoebe was tired after coming off a double shift. All she wanted to crawl into bed and sleep for the next twelve hours after she got home from the party. But her plans of getting a well deserved rest was interrupted when her phone started going off and rolling to her side Serena picked up her phone from the bedside table and groaned when she read the caller id. Kelly Severide. It was yet another call in the stream in the endless ones that Serena had received in the last twelve hours after she had confronted him at his and Shay's apartment. Just like the previous ones Serena hit ignore. Kelly wasn't going to wriggle himself out of this one. Serena had been deadly serious about going to Boden as Kelly was seemingly unaware of the consequences to his actions. Not only was he putting everyone he worked with at risk, not to mention the people he rescued but also himself. His neck injury was a ticking time bomb and then there was the narcotics, Serena had seen countless people who had been abusing steroids and the results weren't pretty. Setting her phone back down on the bedside table Serena was about to turn over and go back to sleep when the phone started ringing and yet again it was Kelly. Serena sighed as she really needed to sleep but she wouldn't get that if Kelly kept incessantly calling her.

"Kelly I'm not changing my mind about this Boden thing no matter how many times you keep calling me about it so cut it out already!" Serena hissed down the phone after she reluctantly picked up the phone. The sooner she dealt with Kelly the quicker she could sleep.

"I'm not calling about that." Kelly quietly said and there was something in his voice that alerted Serena to the fact that something was wrong and she quickly sat up in bed. Kelly sounded worried and there was just something in his voice that let Serena know that whatever it was wasn't good. "Rocket, I know I am the last person that you want to speak to but I need you. Something's happened."

As much as Serena was pissed off with Kelly about the whole narcotics thing and putting himself at risk, whatever was going on she was going to be there for him. Kelly was her friend and she was his Rocket and if he needed her then she would help him. So as soon as Kelly said something had happened, Serena dragged herself out of bed and began rooting around for clothes to put on regardless of whether or not they were clean or not. "Kelly what's happened."

"There's been an accident, it's Shay." Kelly quietly announced and Serena stopped where she was. It explained everything.

"I'm on my way."

Half an hour later after drinking two glasses of water, a cup of strong black coffee and a toasted bagel Serena was walking, well rather briskly walking to the emergency department of lakeshore after taking a cab as she wasn't capable of driving. Serena was avidly looking out for Kelly but she couldn't see him. For once the ER wasn't absolute chaos and walking around Serena eventually spotted Kelly along with Chief Boden and several over members of Firehouse 51 all anxiously sitting in the waiting area. The look on Kelly's face said it all as soon as he saw and Serena couldn't help but go over and hug him.

"Thank you for coming, I know I have no reason to ask anything from you at the moment." Kelly quietly murmured and Serena just smiled at him before turning to the others.

"So what happened?" Serena questioned.

"Shay and Gabby's rig was hit a tow truck after it's tire had broken, Gabby's alright for the most part just some minor gashes but it's Shay whose the more critical. She was unconscious when she was brought in…" Peter Mills, the new candidate stated and Serena slowly nodded her head as she started thinking of possible injuries. Whilst Serena wasn't a neurosurgeon she had worked with them occasionally and had done a few rotations whilst she was in her residency.

"I take it no one has told you anything?"

"No, not yet." Chief Boden said and Serena knew what she had to even before any of them had even gotten around to asking her. They didn't need to ask her as Serena knew that they just needed some information as given who she was here at Lakeshore she could get that information and she would do it. Whilst she wasn't a firefighter, Serena came from a family that had a long line of men serving the CFD. She also knew that if the roles were reserved and a friend of family member of hers was in a fire or any kind of dangerous situation, she knew the boys of firehouse 51 would do whatever they could to help. Moving past Kelly, Serena headed away from the waiting room and over to the nurses desk where her favorite desk clerk Marty was sitting.

"Well if it isn't Rocket McArthur? I thought you were off today." Marty began and Serena smiled.

"I am."

"So what brings you in here? From what I hear you and Emma were really knocking back the margaritas and beers last night at Zoila's house warming party." Marty quipped and Serena wouldn't even deny it.

"A friend of mine has been brought in, Leslie Shay? A paramedic with the CFD after being involved with a traffic collision. I need some information Marty." Serena said knowing that was all she needed to say and she would get directed to whoever was treated her in order to get more specific information. Straight away Marty started getting to work on the computer much to Serena's pleasure, she loved her colleagues here at Lakeshore, from the scrub nurses upstairs to the desk clerks down here in the ER.

"Leslie Shay, huh? Dr. Zhang is the physician of record and they went up to get an MRI about five minutes ago so they should be there about now." Marty replied picking up one of the desk phones and punching in the number that would put Serena though to radiology. The phone rang for a few moments before someone finally picked up. "He, can you put me through to Dr. Zhang? I've got Dr. McArthur wanting to speak to her, she should be at MRI. Thanks."

Taking the phone from Marty, Serena held it against her ear and there was nothing but ringing and Serena sighed as she glanced back over to the waiting area. Eventually the phone was connected.

"Serena?"

"Hey Paula, I'm calling about the patient your with at the moment. Leslie Shay? I know your upstairs getting an MRI but I'm a friend and I just need to know how she's doing. I know you can't tell me any definitive until the results of the MRI but I just need something to stop me from going out of my mind here." Serena said in a nice friendly tone of voice.

"Well she's got a moderate traumatic brain injury, we don't know the extent of the damage but there is a bit of swelling is hence the MRI. Surgery may be necessary but I won't know until the MRI is done. I'll let you known when we're done." Paula Chang replied and Serena just sighed down the other side of the phone.

"Thanks Paula I owe you one, so next time you need someone to cover a shift or get rid of a difficult patient then I'm all yours." Serena stated in a rather grateful manner before putting the phone down. It wasn't the best news but it at least it was something that she could pass along to Kelly and the boys. "Thanks Marty, you know I'll buy you breakfast next time we're both on the night shift."

"I'm holding you to that Serena!" Marty quipped and Serena gave him a small smile before turning away and heading back to the waiting area, where all of them were looking as anxious as ever.

"You get anything?" Otis asked and Serena nodded.

"Yeah. Shay's got a moderate traumatic and there is a bit of swelling which is a slight cause of concern as Dr. Zhang isn't sure how much damage the accident done to her brain. Right now Shay's in the middle of having an MRI done which will give us a clearer look on the extent of Shay's injuries and determine the next cause of action."

"What does that mean?" Kelly questioned.

"It could mean that Shay's injuries aren't that serious and the swelling could subside on it's own or it could mean surgery. Like I said it all depends on the results of the MRI and the damage but Dr. Zhang is a friend of mine and she'll let me know what's happening once she gets the results of the MRI."

"Thank you Dr. McArthur, we appreciate you coming down all this way." Chief Boden stated and Serena just looked at Kelly.

"Anything for you."