Thank you for the amazing reviews and all those follows and faves! This is my record and it feels so good. Fun to read the reviews - I really crack up when I get one that says "update soon." It tells me you're looking forward to this and still enjoying it. Thank you!
Voight and Jay shuttled Erin off to a beautiful hotel room at The Tides more suitable for a weekend getaway than a dry out session that would hopefully leave Erin far removed from the ugliness that went down in a very different room.
"How the hell did you let this happen?" hissed the older man, venom spitting with his words.
"Where the hell were you?" Jay countered ready to unload some blows, frustration at his sense of helplessness overtaking any rational thought.
"Both of you, simmer down," piped in Erin, smile on her face, feeling no anxiety now. It would come later.
"This worked out... they don't suspect anything! We can get 'em tomorrow," she suggested wondering why she hadn't felt this good in so long. Too long.
"You, go! Get 'em tomorrow. I'm stayin' here with her. Call me when it's done." Voight opened the door signaling for Halstead to leave.
"I'm not goin anywhere. Are you crazy?" Jay pushed the door shut, slamming it to punctuate the point that he wasn't leaving Erin. He had the sense that he'd let her down. He needed to make up for it.
"This was all for nuthin' if you don't finish it!" growled Voight opening the door again.
"He's right," stated Erin flatly smiling at her partner, nudging him to the door. She didn't have a clue why the somber faces, looked like a damn funeral in such a beautiful room. In six hours it would all become as clear as the beach water a few feet from the hotel.
Jay reluctantly left, kissing Erin on the head, holding her a few seconds too long.
In a few hours the euphoria was wearing off and the panic of what she'd done was beginning to come to the surface. The undeniable illegal act was showing its unwelcome face and Erin didn't want to look it in the eyes.
"Oh my God, Hank! I am going to be fired! I'm going to be arrested! Just take my ass in!" she was up, pacing back and forth the length of the bed in a frenetic walk Voight thought might wear a path in the carpet.
"That is not gonna happen. No one has to know about this," he rasped out gruffly. "No one!"
"Yes, O knows, Jay, you." She ran her hands through her hair plopping on the bed, resting her elbows on her knees, dropping her head.
"Olinsky will take stuff worse than this to his grave for me. And Jay? He'd go to the grave for you. This ain't as bad as you think." Voight dropped next to his protege, putting a protective arm around her shoulders.
Erin sat silently, hands cradling her head, wanting to shout at the top of her lungs, to let out a primal scream so loud guests on two floors above would hear. Instead, she remained quiet.
"Hank. What if I want to do it again?"
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Kelly worked a double filling in for Red shift's lieutenant out with a strained shoulder. Boden didn't like it when his guys were on for so long, but he could tell Severide was trying to keep his mind off something. Add to that his desperation for a replacement lieutenant for one shift, and Kelly was in luck.
"Everything alright?" Boden questioned his squad member, not expecting an answer beyond "all good, Chief."
"Yeah. Erin's UC and it's got me worried and just sittin' on my hands. Thanks for agreein' to this," Kelly ran his hand across his face quickly, other hand deep in his pocket.
"Is she okay? Tough case?" Boden didn't think Kelly would engage...he knew his lieutenant had to be struggling with whatever situation the detective was in to admit this much.
"Yeah, some harebrained scheme that's got her in Florida. You believe that? Why don't we go put out a two alarm at a beach house in South Beach? Doesn't make sense."
Boden chuckled shaking his head sure Voight had his reasons. Erin must've thought they were valid ones to take off so far away.
"Well, we'll keep you busy and she'll be back...when?"
Truck 81...Ambulance 61...Squad 3... Apartment fire...Montrose and...
"Good talk, Chief," smiled Kelly running out of Boden's office and rounding the corner to his truck.
The building was engulfed with residents still inside. The thing couldn't go up when they were at work...no, this one was a particularly evil incarnation that chose the dead of midnight to strike. Sleeping children tucked safely in, moms and dads just nodding off, some still up watching tv.
Plenty of people escaped to the outside, but Kelly guessed plenty more were still inside.
"Candidate, you're with me. Stay on my heels. Got it?" Severide barked at a new guy on Red shift. He had to admit, he liked getting 'em green...he could train them up the right way, or his way.
"Yes, sir!" answered Luis, the young man anxious to be working with one of the best lieutenants out there. He'd heard plenty of Severide lore and felt honored to experience the man himself.
Kelly let truck's lieutenant take the lead. He knew he was a stand in for the next two days and didn't want to step on a brother's toes.
"Squad, you go all the way up! We'll start on one. Meet in the middle?" Lieutenant Jakes looked at his fellow lieutenant for confirmation.
"Sounds like a plan. You heard him, let's hit it." Kelly motioned to the unfamiliar squad guys and they headed up, taking two steps at a time. "Good, Luis! I can feel you breathing on my back," joked Kelly once they got up to eight. He remembered that fresh new car smell, when you were so new you squeaked. The nervous energy, the feeling of wanting to jump out of your skin. Anything to lighten the mood of running into burning buildings, he thought.
"Yes, sir!" Luis smiled so broadly Kelly could see that ultra watt set of teeth through his mask.
"Enough of that shit. You ready to save some people?"
"Hell, yeah!" There was that smile again.
Kelly showed the candidate how to sweep rooms in record time. They directed a few residents out of the burning apartment, all able to leave will little assistance. By the time they worked their way down to four, the blaze was getting more intense.
"Feel that?" asked Kelly, taking the few seconds extra to offer some instruction. "That heat kinda reaching your eyebrows now?"
"I think so."
"Listen." There was a silence tempered with a slight cracking sound, ever so slight.
"Yeah," said Luis mesmerized that he could hear exactly what the lieutenant was talking about.
"That means we got about ten minutes. Remember that feel, that sound."
Luis nodded his head.
"Now, you take these two rooms. I'm doin' the ones in the back. Quick! Go!" Kelly directed him into the closest room knowing he'd do four rooms in the time it took this kid to do two.
The candidate hesitated a second, not used to doing anything on his own.
"You can do it. Go!" Kelly knew this candidate was ready and probably being babied to death on Red shift. Shane was a good guy, but gettin' up there in years, grandfatherin' the guys, almost eligible for retirement.
The door to the last unit at the end of the hall was stuck, being a stubborn bitch. Kelly back kicked the door several times, stuck...somethin' holding it shut. He heard a muffled call from inside.
"Fire department! Call out!" he yelled through the door and heard a coughing response. Shit. He tried kicking at the door one more time, feeling a pounding in his leg vibrating from his foot up to his thigh. Definitely something blocking it. Kelly could guess it was some old guy or gal who shored up the door like a soldier standing guard...all in an effort to keep the fire out.
He used his ax and made quick work of the cheap wood. A huge dresser next in line. Kelly pushed the heavy oak dresser slowly sliding it back out of the way. He reached a frightened elderly man crouched in a corner. In a wheelchair. Severide put a gentle hand on his shoulder.
"You ready to get outta here?" asked Kelly smiling. He picked the man up throwing him over his shoulder wishing for a smaller, frailer version. This guy was huge. As he went through the door, a large piece of the frame fell way landing on his free shoulder. He wanted to drop to a knee, but powered through the way he did time and time again.
Luis was at his side. "Lieutenant, let me grab him!" he offered pulling the old guy off Severide's shoulder. He had him and was barreling down the stairs before Kelly could muster up one argument.
"I'll be damned," muttered Kelly on the young man's heels. They made it out, sucking air, exhausted beyond the limits of normal men.
"Good job, candidate," encouraged Severide patting Luis in the back. "But don't you ever take a victim off me again," he added laughing.
"Yes, sir. You just took it pretty good in the shoulder. Thought you could use a break." That damn white smile was back.
Kelly could only laugh some more at that enthusiasm. He'd be talkin' to Boden about this one.
Seeing if he could transfer to his unit.
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Erin eyeballed Voight as he eyeballed her.
"I'm not turnin' into a pumpkin," she commented, slightly amused at the anticipatory way he was surveying her. "No withdrawals from one hit. You know that, right?"
"Yeah. I wanna make sure you don't freak out on me."
"I already did that," she admitted, trying to formulate the right words to send her firefighter. Staring at the screen and a plethora of increasingly frantic Severide texts didn't allow her to form anything that had the semblance of sanity.
"Can you give me a minute?" she turned to Voight needing a hug before he stepped out. He obliged, grabbing her roughly, his raw emotions coming to the surface. A few minutes in the hallway would do him some good, he thought.
Erin called Kelly knowing a text would only create more worry.
Voicemail. His short greeting that was more of a 'why'd you call me' than an actual greeting. She smiled thinking about the first time she called it, over a year ago...all that damn Keeler mess. She'd thought, what an asshole the first time she heard it.
"Kelly, give me call. I'm comin' back early, tomorrow. Flight gets in around noon."
He didn't even wait till he got back to 51 to call. Squad's truck full, no privacy, but he couldn't wait.
"Erin, talk to me. What happened?"
The look on Kelly's face went from worry to sick. He didn't know what to say.
"It's gonna be okay. I love you," he finally assured. "Just get back here."
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Kelly met her at the airport after being told she'd meet him back at their place. The second he saw her drawn face, the dark circles, the deep wrinkle between her brows, he knew what she'd been through. It became crystal clear.
He wrapped his arms around her, offering the only thing he had. She let the storm go, the torrent of tears, the scream she wanted to release hours earlier came out now in the form of shaking sobs.
In their apartment, Kelly made some tea, covered his girl with her favorite blanket, snuggled in close knowing his arms were the only things keepin' her in one piece.
"You think you can outrun your past, escape it. But it always has a way of catching up with you. You'll never be free of it. I'll never be free." Erin said softly.
"That ain't how it works, Erin. We live through it doin' the best we can. Learn a thing or two. Move on."
"I've done some bad things, Kelly. They're gonna haunt me forever. Aren't they? They're gonna find a way of punishing me."
"I sure as hell hope not. If that's the case, I gotta lot of punishment comin' my way."
"No, Jimmy coming back, this. It's my past."
"That's the biggest load of bullshit I've ever heard. We wouldn't be together if that was true. I wouldn't deserve you, don't deserve you. But I got you."
"Yes, you got me. Don't ever let go, okay? No matter what I do. Promise me."
"Never happenin.' Promise."
"I love you, need you."
"Now you're soundin' more like my girl."
"I'm trying to hold in the crazy," she said, cracking a small smile for the first time.
"Try harder. You're failin' miserably," teased Kelly pulling her in so tight.
Erin punched him in the arm, feeling him flinch a little, through his gruff laugh at his own joke.
"Rough shift?" she asked rubbing the arm she just love tapped, knowing it must've been a "beat you up" kinda shift. The one that left him muscle weary, bruised...ah, the glamorous life of a firefighter, she thought.
"Non stop. Sore a little. Didn't do any drugs though, so I'm callin' it a win," he laughed louder with Erin taking aim at his other arm. "No, no, I'm sorry. That one's worse!" he protested covering his body defensively with his hands, still laughing.
"Too soon, Severide. Too soon."
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The promised time off turned into ten days, Voight sanctioned and approved. Kelly made sure the sergeant wasn't gonna be callin' or bothering Erin with anything that resembled police work.
"She needs to recover from whatever hell you and her partner let her go through. How that even happens I will never understand."
"You better hold up right there. The wire went out, Halstead had a gun to his head..."
"I don't care if he had five guns to his head! You don't let that go down! Don't call her, don't text her for the next few days. She needs this...needs to get her head straight. Tell Halstead the same." Kelly stormed off leaving a wake of questioning looks as he slammed Voight's door.
He slipped into the apartment before Erin woke up. He sat by the bed watching her sleep, drawing comfort in the rise and fall of her chest. With each breath, he felt his anger subside a little, replaced with sadness.
They stayed in their little sanctuary for two days...she didn't step foot outside once. On the third day she was more herself, ready to head out for a beer, some dinner.
"I think it's my cookin' that's got you stir crazy," commented Kelly whipping up an omelette... again.
"No, you make a fine omelette. I might need something other than egg though," Erin teased coming up behind him.
"You're not gettin' any," he mumbled dumping it on a plate.
"Of what? The omelette? Or something else?"
Kelly smiled knowing he couldn't deny her a damn thing. Not one damn thing. His smile grew wider thinking about the event he had planned for Thursday, just two days away. It would be just what the doctor ordered.
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Erin stepped out of the car anxious, excited...Kelly was acting like a teenager but gave no clues what the surprise was. They were at Navy Pier.
"Sooo, this involves water I'm guessing?"
"Detective, you're gonna have to do better than that." Kelly grabbed her hand and quickly led her down one of the docks.
"You got reservations at Riva?" Erin guessed it. Her detective skills remained on point, she thought.
"No. I didn't know you wanted to eat there," said Kelly losing a tad of that little boy enthusiasm.
"I don't. I mean if we're going there, that's great. If not, that's good too." Keep your mouth shut, Erin. Let the surprise unfold.
He led her far down one of the docks hand over her eyes to a beautiful sailboat.
"You bought me a boat?"
Kelly chuckled at how clueless she was, how the surprise was perfect.
"Nah, I can't afford this beauty," he said slowly. "But I've got it for the day. It's ours for twelve hours."
Kelly'd worked on the thing over two years ago, lovingly getting it to this state. The owner was a young guy with old money. But a nice, unpretentious, young guy... An accountant who'd disappointed everyone in the family by crunching numbers instead of entering the family business, law. Just like most of the owners he did work for, the guy offered him the boat "anytime you want." He'd never taken anyone up on the offer. Till now.
Sailing, the cutting through the water, the rhythmic motions, they'd always had a calming effect on Kelly. He hoped it would do the same for his girl.
He led Erin onto the boat where a picnic basket was laid out on a cute red and white plaid tablecloth, fancy glasses, a bottle of something. All of it screamed Shay and Dawson.
"Wow, this is incredible," Erin breathed, opening the basket, peeking inside. "Yum, what are those sandwiches?"
"Roast beef, your favorite." Kelly was beaming, Erin decided, looking ten years younger than his actual age.
"I think this is..." she stopped, tears forming.
Oh shit. I screwed up, thought Kelly standing awkwardly to the side. "We don't have to stay," he began.
"No, this is the sweetest thing anyone's ever done for me." It was not lost on Erin that she'd said those words to Kelly before, her surprise birthday party.
"You like it?"
"Love."
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Kelly was workin' it hard...one end of the boat, rushing to the other end, tying up some line. Erin watched mesmerized. He looked like he could have been born on a boat, belonged on a boat.
"Let me help you," she said rising to her feet. "Teach me."
Kelly gave her an easy job of holding a line to the mainsail so it wouldn't hit him while he worked the jib in the back. Everything was adjusted for the wind...he was satisfied. He'd drop anchor in a few minutes when they reached a protected area, then he could relax and take in the water, his girl. He'd never shared this experience with another human being, not even Shay. She got sea sick on a damn paddle boat, he thought chuckling.
"Are you laughin' at me helping you?" Erin asked popping another olive in her mouth, pouring them both another glass of wine.
"Nope. Just happy. Feelin' better?" he asked gently.
The contented smile on her face answered, wrinkle between her brows smoothed out.
"You're sweaty," Erin commented.
"Let me drop the anchor. I'll grab a quick rinse off below." He furled the jib, dropped the mainsail and dropped the heavy weight.
"Or not so quick rinse off," suggested Erin raising one eyebrow.
Kelly's lopsided grin said that was the best idea he'd heard all day. He grabbed her hand, leading her below, thinking about their last shower. Hard to forget that one.
As he lifted off her T-shirt, the brightness was back in her eyes...the sparkle, the life.
His grin looked especially devilish...he knew she was gonna be alright. She'd been through hell.
He vowed to give her a little piece of heaven, right now.
I totally rewrote this chapter and the next one...rethinking my original outline. I didn't want to rush Kelly's comforting of Erin because sweet Kelly is my favorite. What did you think? More soon because Ch. 21 is halfway done.