Severide woke up the next morning, groaning as last night's events played back in his mind. He had screwed up big time. He rubbed his eyes as he blindly searched for his phone. He didn't know if he was hoping for a message or a call but he was certainly disappointed when he didn't see anything on the screen. He dialed Lindsay's number and put the phone to his ear.

It immediately went to voice mail.

"Hello, you've tried to reach Erin Lindsay but I'm not available at the moment. Leave a message and I'll call you back."

Beep

He sighed and hung up without leaving a message. What was he supposed to say? That he was sorry, beg her to take him back? She had gone behind his back as well, he wasn't the only one at fault there.

He got up to take a shower. He wasn't on shift that day and he didn't have anything to do. He had panned on seeing Erin that night but showing up on her door wouldn't be the idea of the year.

When he got downstairs, Shay was eating breakfast. She lifted her head when she saw him.

"Uh oh. What's going on?" she asked worriedly.

He feigned dumb. "What do you mean?"

"You look like you haven't slept all night."

He sighed and sat down across from her. "I went to Erin's last night. You know after yesterday's shift, I didn't wanna be alone. When I got there, she was having a drink with Halstead."

"Halstead , as in her partner?"

"That's the guy. Anyway, I snapped and basically said I was sorry for interrupting their quickie."

Shay gasped. "Kelly! You didn't!"

"I don't know what got into me. I just got jealous."

"Because she was having a drink with her partner? I often had drinks with Dawson when I was with Clarisse, and she didn't mind."

"It's different, Dawson is not gay. Halstead is very much straight, and I don't trust him."

Shay rolled her eyes. "The important point is, do you trust her?"

Severide nodded. "Yeah, I guess."

"Then that's what matters. So pull your head out of your ass and call her, Severide. Erin is a great girl, I think you've found your match, Kelly, I really do. Don't let her go."

Severide sighed once again. "I've already tried, she won't answer."

"Then stop by the headquarters, woo her or something. Just apologize."

Day after

Bam bam bam

Lindsay shielded her eyes from the sun and tried to place the noise drifting through her apatment. The door. She looked at the clock and scrambled out of bed as fast as possible when she realized it was already 10 am.

She grabbed her cell phone, not surprised that she had three missed calls from Voight. He was also the one behind her door right now. She wrapped her robe around her body and quickly walked to the door.

"I was about to break it down, Linds," Voight said. "Thought somethin' had happened to you. Care to explain why you're 2 hours late? I was worried sick."

"I'm so sorry, I had a tough night and fell asleep without putting on my alarm."

"Right," he walked into her apartment and turned to face her as she closed the door behind him. "What happened?"

Her eyes were bloodshot, and she looked as if she hadn't slept all night.

"Nothing, I'm fine."

"Erin..."

"You should go, I'll be in in half an hour."

"Fine, just withdraw like you always do. You've gotta stop doing that, pushing everyone away, like you did with that firefighter."

Erin gritted her teeth. "My relationships are none of your business, Hank! Don't you dare meddle with them."

"Alright, you know what, if you don't wanna be happy, your problem. See you at work, Linds."

He walked past her and slammed the door shut behind him. Erin closed her eyes and leaned against it, wondering how everything had turned upside down like that.

Erin grumbled something under her breathe as she climbed up the stairs to the Intelligence Unit quarter. She pushed the door open and flung herself into her seat. Jay looked at her.

"Trouble in paradise?"

She glared at him icily. "Don't start."

Halstead held up his hands. "That guy doesn't deserve you."

Lindsay's mouth hung open. "I'm sorry, are you deaf or did you just choose not to hear what I said?!"

He shrugged. "Just voicing my opinion."

She grabbed a file and leaned back into her chair. "Well I never asked for it, so shut it."

Antonio snickered from his seat and gave Erin a thumbs up. Jay rolled his eyes, before sitting up and pulling his feet off his desk as Hank came into the room.

"We got a trail on that killer. Let's go." All of them sprang to their feet and followed their leader. Lindsay strapped her glock to her belt and was about to push through the door after the others when she felt everything shake around her, and then, the floor gave out beneath her. She let out a strangled scream before darkness surrounded her.

Engine 51, truck 8, squad 3, ambulance 61. Building explosion, 19th W. Roosevelt Road.

Severide's head shot up as the address of the place rang into his ears. Police headquarters. Erin. Erin's workplace. He rushed to the truck and put his gear on.

"Let's go!" he yelled at the other ones for them to get in there faster. Luckily the distance to the police station wasn't too important. Two minutes later, they were on the scene. Half of the building had collapsed, people were running everywhere in panic, alarms were ringing, it was the total chaos, just like a month before. They had hit again.

He shared a look with Casey and both of them sent their teams looking for any survivors. Firemen already on the scene had already started helping people out of the rubbles. When Severide saw Erin being pulled out, his breath caught in his throat. He rushed to her and she flung herself into his arms.

"Are you hurt?"

She pulled away and shook her head. She had a small gash on her forehead, but other than being obviously shocked, she seemed fine. "I don't think so. Dawson and Voight are still in there. They were ahead of us, you've got to help them."

He nodded, but he couldn't leave like this. He cupped her face a pressed a kiss on her lips. She grabbed his wrist, preventing him from pulling away and whispered good luck before he got to work.

"Fire department, call out!"

They had been searching for three hours. Antonio had just been found, and other than a broken leg, he seemed fine. They were all actively looking for any other survivors.

Severide caught Erin's gaze as she waited nervously, a blanket wrapped around her shoulders, for them to find Voight. He knew she wouldn't budge until they had found her foster dad.

"I see someone!" Casey shouted. They moved the stones out of the way and both him and Severide went down. "It's Voight."

"He's unconscious, still breathing." Severide said as he checked his pulse. "Possible head trauma, we need to get him out, fast."

A board was passed down to them and they strapped him to it, giving their partners a thumbs up for them to lift it away. As soon as he was put on the gurney, Lindsay rushed to it.

"Oh god." she cried out. "Hank, can you hear me?"

The paramedics started working on him and pushed a motionless Erin to the side so they could work better. They loaded him into the ambulance and Lindsay climbed beside him.

Once they had got everyone out of the rumbles, Severide asked squad's driver to stop by the hospital and leave him there. He went to the emergency waiting room and asked for Hank Voight. When he got his room number, he walked there and found Erin sitting by his bed, her hand in his. He was still unconscious, and intubated.

He knocked on the open door softly. She turned around, and that when he got a look of her teary eyes and exhausted face.

"Can I come in?"

She barely nodded and turned back to look at Voight, as if expecting he had woken up in the meantime. He hesitantly walked into the room and took another chair, sitting down beside her.

"How is he?"

"H-he has a head trauma. They say they're not sure if he's gonna wake up, his brain may be damaged. Basically he's in a coma."

Her voice shook as she spoke, and he could see she was trying very hard not to break down.

"I'm so sorry."

She looked at him briefly before setting her eyes back on Voight. "You pulled him out, thank you for that."

"I wish we had found him earlier than that."

"It would not have changed anything," she whispered. There was a moment of silence before she spoke again. "He's the only family I have. He took me in when my father went to jail and my mom couldn't even make me food because she was so high all the time. He put a roof above my head and kept me safe, helped me get back on my feet. I've seen him as someone who couldn't get hurt because he seemed to always be protecting me. And now I feel powerless in helping him. He has spent half his life taking care of me and now I couldn't even take care of him," a sob wracked her throat. "How messed up is that? He can't leave me. He just can't. I need him."

As she broke down in front of him, Severide couldn't help but wanting to take her into his arms. He tentatively ran his hand over her back to do so but she shrugged him away. He was the one feeling powerless now.

"Erin..."

"You should go," she said after a beat, controlling her emotions. "I'm still mad at you for what you've said, and I don't want to get into a fight. Not here, it's the last thing I need. I let you kiss me earlier because I was scared. Now I'm just angry. Angry with you for not trusting me, angry with the people who did this," she looked at him icily. "Just go, please."

Severide's mouth opened and closed several times. His radio informed him they had another call and he gently stood, his eyes not leaving her. He place a kiss in her hair and squeezed her shoulder before walking out of the room, defeated.

*hides behind screen* You didn't think it would be that easy, did you?