Chapter 8
The team headed into the station ready to start their shift.
It was a cold and nasty day...March had definitely come in like a lion...and right now the wind was roaring. Should make for an interesting day...
They got through roll call and the morning briefing. Statistics were in from December and January and the department had responded to over one hundred fires in that period. It was about a ten percent increase from the previous year. And an overwhelming majority of those fires could be attributed to improper use of space heaters and jerry-rigged heating contraptions or improperly used/maintained fireplaces.
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When Chief left the room, Cruz called out,
"Hey...Lieutenant? What time tomorrow?"
Everyone looked over to Severide.
"Three o'clock." Kelly told them.
The official kick-off for Maggie's party.
Time to get their eat on...
"What does she want?" Clarke asked.
"Nothin' like shoppin' early..."Hermann joked.
"She's not fussy." Kelly said. "She likes dolls...books...play dough..."
Clarke nodded...
"Oh...and one more thing." Severide said, raising his voice slightly. "If anybody's thinkin' about gettin' her that stupid game with the crowns...forget about it! And if you already bought one...take it back!"
Everyone looked around the room.
Who would have bought that game?
All eyes fell on Otis.
"But it was rated one of the best games for three to five year olds..." he said defensively.
"Then you come play it with her." Severide said. "It's bad enough I gotta play Memory and Yahtzee and Uno and whatever with princesses. A man's gotta draw the line somewhere."
The bells went off.
"Engine 51...Truck 81...Ambulance 61...Squad 3..."
"Hope everybody had their Wheaties this morning..." Casey quipped as the team ran for the apparatus room.
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They rolled up on the scene. It was a house fire...one of those little cracker box houses they built after World War II. Maybe a thousand square feet if you were lucky...rooms about the size of walk-in closets. But that was folks' American Dream back then.
Shay and Dawson had a man in his forties sitting in the rear of the ambo, and as Severide rushed past he caught a glimpse of the guy's hands.
He slowed down a step, and looked again. And he felt his stomach turn over. They looked like burnt meat. Smelled like it too...
Severide kicked it back in gear right away.
He didn't want to know.
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The team brought the fire under control.
It was another statistic...the homeowner had lit a fire in the fireplace...left it burning all night in the drafty old house...and that morning he stoked the flames. He was adding another log once he got a good blaze going...and it must have fallen out of the fireplace and caught the rug on fire. The guy panicked...and Station 51 had their first call of the day.
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Kelly came out of the locker room and was headed for the kitchen to get something to eat. They hadn't really had breakfast when that call came in and he was starved.
Shay and Dawson pulled in and he stopped to wait for 'em.
The two paramedics climbed down from the ambo, shrugging off their cots and shaking their heads.
"What?" Severide asked.
"Now I've officially seen everything..." Dawson muttered.
"What?" Kelly asked again.
"I think we've reached a new level of stupidity..." Shay said.
Kelly just shoved his hands into his pockets, waiting for them to cut to the chase.
He wasn't gonna ask again.
He gave Leslie "the look"...
She sighed.
"The homeowner..." she began.
"Roger..." Dawson cut in. "Roger Wilson."
"Whatever..." Severide said.
"When he went to put another log on the fire...at least he had the good sense to put something on to cover his hands..." Shay said.
"Too bad he decided to use his wife's rubber kitchen gloves." Dawson finished.
"WHAT?!" Severide asked for the third time.
"The gloves caught fire and melted." Leslie said. "That's how he dropped the burning log on the carpet."
"And the rubber fused to his hands." Gabby made a face. "The most disgusting thing I've ever smelled in my life!"
The ladies were right.
Now they truly had seen everything...and they had definitely reached a new level of stupidity.
"The guys aren't gonna believe this..." Severide said as he reached out to open the door so Shay and Gabby could go into the common room.
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On Sunday afternoon the Severide house was bursting at the seams. The entire family was there to celebrate Maggie's birthday.
Except for two people.
Joey and EmmaLynn had gone to the hospital last night and at three thirty in the morning Trevor Anthony Boungiovanni was born.
And Alyssa and Kelly were godparents for the first time.
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This year Maggie finally got that it was all about her. She loved being the center of attention as she twirled around the living room in her new dress. It had a black top with a big pink heart made of flowers on the front...and a hot pink tulle skirt that was the little girl's favorite thing right now. She had her little black leggings on and her sparkly silver shoes.
Lyssa's mom had made a barrette to match the outfit, so Maggie's curls were gathered up in a hot pink and black bow on top of her head.
"It's my birthday! It's my birthday!" she sang over and over again.
"No it's not..." Andy said in an exasperated voice. "I told you...your real birthday's not till Thursday!"
She'd been saying today was her birthday since she woke up that morning.
"Leave her alone, Andy..." Kelly told him. "It's her day..."
He held out his arms to Maggie who leaped into them. He held her up over his head and she squealed with laughter as he let go for just a split second and she dropped a few inches. Then he caught her and pulled her close for a birthday hug.
And over her daddy's shoulder Maggie made a face and stuck her tongue out at her brother.
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Kelly carried his princess into the dining room where the table had been cleared of all the plates of pasta and the beef sandwiches and all the other leftovers and reset for dessert.
There were two towers of cupcakes...plates filled with a dozen different kinds of cookies...a fruit salad...and Uncle Matt and Uncle Pete were waiting to scoop out the ice cream.
And in the center was jumbo cupcake on a pink plate...
"Daddy!" Maggie cried. "It's a burple cupcake!"
Alyssa had been practicing all week trying to get the vanilla frosting dyed in exactly the right shade with the food coloring...
"I see that!" Kelly said. "And it's all for you!"
Everyone sang "Happy Birthday" and Maggie blew out the big number three candle. She probably clapped louder for herself than anyone else...and Kelly thought it was the cutest thing he'd ever seen. Well, maybe until he sat down with her in his lap and watched her attack the cupcake.
One thing about his little girl...she may be petite, but there was nothing dainty about the way she ate. She had crumbs and frosting all over her face...and Casey joked that maybe Kelly should have been wearing his bunker jacket.
He had frosting all over his shirt.
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That night he and Alyssa went through the house gathering cups and paper plates...forks and napkins...bits of wrapping paper and ribbons.
How was it possible that there were still ballerina dolls and Princess toys and books that Maggie didn't have?
At least Otis had had the good sense to take that Pretty Princess thing back.
Kelly couldn't help feeling like he'd dodged a bullet on that one. Or maybe Otis was the one who dodged the bullet.
"Hey, Lyssa?" he said. "Whaddya say we call it a night? This stuff'll still be here in the morning."
"My thoughts exactly..." she replied.
These parties were fun...but they were a lot of work.
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Kelly crossed the room and took his wife in his arms. He pulled her close and she lay her head against his chest.
"C'mon..." he said softly.
Arms around one another they headed for the stairs.
Alyssa cast one more glance into the living room.
"Where in God's name are we gonna put all this stuff?" she asked.
"Maybe I'll have Matt build me a shed..." Kelly said. "Instead of building Maggie a playhouse."
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True to form...Casey had been busy in his woodshop.
This year he went for quantity rather than the "wow" factor.
This year he had custom crafted a whole line of doll furniture for the new American Girl Doll Shaina and Morgan had bought yesterday on their trip downtown.
So now Maggie's new doll had strawberry blonde curls and it had taken some doing...but they had gotten one with eyes pretty close to blue/green.
And the doll had a new daybed that looked just like Maggie's, only shrunken down, with a lavender patchwork quilt that matched hers...a wardrobe that was already bursting with doll clothes and shoes and whatever else a doll needed these days. There was a table and chairs...for the doll sized tea set Hermann and Cindy had gotten. And there was miniature doll house for the doll to "play" with complete with furniture and everything.
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They climbed the stairs to their room and Alyssa turned back the covers.
As they climbed beneath the blankets and tangled themselves in each other's arms Kelly had a fleeting thought back to the night Mason Fisher had died in that fire.
They were going to put two and two together soon. He had no doubt about that. That woman was going to jail.
But what was going to happen to the baby...Lexi?