Good evening everyone! (Yes, here in France, it's 7pm so it's dark outside)
I hope you're still following this story ;-)
I haven't published a chapter (for this fanfiction) since the beginning of the month, and I was asked to publish a chapter for this story (emergency apparently). So here it is ;-)
After this, there will be three more chapters (the last chapter, the epilogue, will be very long, but I can't cut it), and this will be the end.
I hope I have answered all the questions that you may ask to yourself (with this chapter), and if you still have questions in mind, don't hesitate to let a reivew, I would answer in private ( with some spoilers if affinity :-D)
I Hope I didn't make too many mistakes...
Chapter 14: Take a deep breath...
"Doctor? An OR will be ready in fifteen minutes" Olivia confirmed.
"He needs to be operated, now!"
Everyone was tensed, and outside the exam room 1, nobody understood what was happening.
"Dr. Rhodes, you are an emergency surgeon, isn't?"
"More a thoracic surgeon, Stephen".
Stephen was the doctor heading the radiology.
"So it's you call. You can operate here? We will guide you with the angiography".
Looking everyone one by one, then sighing, Dr. Rhodes understood. Everybody had agreed with the radiologist: they had to operate right here, right now.
"Okay, bring all the necessary equipment in this room and sterilize the room once closed. And we do this damn operation before it kills him!"
Out of the room, it was chaos. All women firefighters were there, around a worried Christie: her brother worried her and she was weeping bitterly.
"It's going to be fine Christie. Dr. Rhodes is a good doctor", Cindy, Hermann's wife, stated. She was also worried about her husband.
"I-I... I don't care for that, it's just... It's my little brother and... And he had just told me... That Gabby was pregnant and... Well you know what I mean?"
Cindy was speechless, like the other women around her.
"Gabby will be fine, I'm sure about this. She did everything to save Matt, she will do everything to save everybody, including her baby. Their baby. And when it's done, we will congratulate them as they should be, right?"
But Christie didn't have the mood to laugh. Not at all. She turned back to the door of the exam room1, where Dr. Rhodes seemed to give orders. It was a large medical dancing she had never seen, or dared to see one day. One hand on her forearm brought her out of her thoughts. Suddenly she turned and saw that it was one of Cindy's hands.
"We are here. Together. We're a big family in 51. Okay?"
She let Christie the time to nod before continuing.
"Matt will pull through. Just as those who are still under the rubble. Capp said that the mayor was on the site as well as media. We can follow the intervention on the television in waiting room, the time for someone to come here and say something about your brother".
Christie was about to nod and follow Cindy when the door opened, revealing Dr. Rhodes. She didn't need to ask the question, the one that everyone wanted to ask: if her brother was fine.
"I don't know if Maggie told you, so I will pretend that no".
Dr. Rhodes took a deep breath.
"Your brother has developed an aneurysm of the left common iliac artery, the one from your left leg. This aneurysm has inflated this artery but also compressed the abdominal aorta. Therefore, a part of his body isn't properly irrigated".
"And... And it's fixable? I mean... Uh..."
"With your permission, we will proceed to an angioplasty. The aim will be to develop a stent in the aneurysm level to avoid a rupture of the artery. We will also develop one to expand the abdominal aorta and help to restore the blood flow".
"This is... It's safe?"
"The biggest danger is if we do nothing: the artery might rupture, and as the aneurysm is very close to the abdominal aorta, it would rupture too. This would cause death in minutes without being able to do something".
Christie and the others closed their eyes.
"You can save my brother?"
"It's my job ma'm".
"Then do it. Save my little brother. No matter how, I want my little brother back".
Connor nodded, keeping his eyes on the blond woman in front of him.
"I would come bock to you when the operation will be over".
He turned and went back into the room, closing the blinds. Cindy then guided Christie in the waiting room so she would be surrounded by her second family and she could contstantly have news of the other firefighters. As for Connor, he gave orders to the group.
"I want a doctor to go with these measues up to achieve the stent. We have only one try. If we fail, he dies. Copy?"
Outside the collapsed house, firefighters of the firehouses 44, 51, 57 and 95, the bomb squad and the two extraction teams were still clearing the primary area while six firefighters were under the rubble to do a passage to reach the four still trapped firefighters.
"Dawson! Borelli! Anyone, call out!" Boden screamed.
But noone answered. It worried him. Either they didn't hear because they were still too far away, or they were unconscious. And if tis was the case, they had to so very fast. In front of them, there were two galleries. One was narrower than the other, but they had to consider all possibilities.
"We split into two teams of three firefighters. Patterson, you take Cruz and Debra, I take Hermandez and Silven. We take the material and the first to find them call the other team. Understood?"
"Loud and clear".
Patterson and Boden then took two different galleries, the first taking the narrowest gallery while the latter was in charge of the other gallery. It became long for everyone, whether inside the galleries and outside the collapsed house. Kenny and the mayor of Chicago were very tensed, just like Will.
"If they doesn't find them in the next hour..."
"What?" the mayor asked. "What will happen?"
"There will probably a dead fireman".
"W-what?"
As a doctor, he knew what he was saying, but Will wasn't used to talk in non-medical term to someone who was the mayor of his city.
"Listen, Dawson explained that Severide has a peritonitis. It's been two hours now. If we wait too long, he will go into sepsis, and adding the peritonitis, he won't make the trip between here and Chicago Med alive".
They now understood, him and Kelly, that time was running out.
"Vlad, any new?"
"Apparently, the group splited into two teams. I think that chief Boden and Captain Patterson spread to cover more galleries".
"Two teams of three? Who knows who is who?"
"My experience? There are more beacons activated in this gallery on the left of the screen. The right gallery seems more... More narrower than the other one. According to their fits, I will say that in the gallery on the left there, it's chief Boden, Hernandez and Silven. The other one, probably captain Patterson, Cruz and Debra. They have smaller fits. It's just a supposition, but I would have done this if I had been down there".
"Thanks Vlad. Keep us updated".
"No problem".
The media tried to poke their noses everywhere for some crispy informations, despite the police.
"Mr. Mayor!" one of the journalists shouted. "Do we know a little more about the firefighters who are inside!"
He turned to Kenny. He understood the unaked question.
"Don't say too much Mr. Mayor. I have worked with the firehouse 51, their members are close. If one of them is in hospital, their families are also there. And something is telling me that they are watching the news".
"Thanks".
He took a deep breath and approached the group of journalists.
"What we know is that two hours ago, all the firefighters from the firehouse 51 were called here for a structure fire. The house then exploded, burying four firefighters inside. Two of them have volunteered to go find them. They have both the experience of firefighters and paramedics and were the only ones who could go under the rubble. When the group was located, they rescued one of the wounded, but there was another collapse. A rescue team is in the gallery to try to locate the firefighters at as we speak. I can't tell you more".
"Mr. Mayor, is this true that this tragedy could have been avoided?"
For the mayor, this was the 'too much' question. He took another breath, and this time spoke with his heart, as an ordinary citizen.
"Without the composure and the quick thinking of Lieutenant Casey, there would have been more wounded and probably dead. This tragedy, as you call it, it couldn't have been avoided, but we have avoided the worst, thanks to Lieutenant Casey. So now you'll stop asking questions and let the firefighters do their job to save their brothers. Do you all understand?"
He didn't wait for an answer to turn his back to all journalists who were open-mouthed, speechless. He returned to the tent.
"So how did it go Mr. Mayor?"
He closed his eyes and sighed.
"If I want to get out of the tent once again, promise me that you will tie me to that chair".
"Uh... Copy that sir".
"How do you do? I'm the mayor of this town, now..."
"No offense sir... But theoretically you are like the supreme commander of the firefighters. And from what I know about you, you have applied to be a firefighter when you were younger. You know our job, you know the risks. So yes. This situation is hurting you. For you, the firefighters of your town are brothers".
Depp down, Kenny was right. The mayor knew that.
"Do you know why I haven't been assigned to a firehouse?"
Will listened attentively, without meaning to, the conversation between the battalion chief and the mayor of Chicago.
"No sir".
"Because I didn't pass the physical test. I couldn't finish in less than seven minutes, and I didn't want to do this test again because of my... Claustrophobia. At the time, I didn't think I could overcome it, and I think I still can't do today".
Capp, who was not far from them, interrupted their conversation.
"Gabriela Dawson is also claustrophobic".
The mayor and Kenny turned to Capp with questioning eyes.
"Lieutenant Casey and lieutenant Severide helped her to overcome her fear, and to pass the test. And today she is under the rubble to rescue her brothers despite her pregnancy".
"My gut tells me that it was more to save her fiance that her 'brothers' as you say", the mayor added. "It is a noble cause, I confess. But private life passed into the working life on this case".
"Officially, Dawson went down because she was one of the only people who could go under the rubble. And with her former PIC post, she could provide the first aid and direct the rescue. Her relationship with her lieutenant and her pregnancy passed long after everything else in her choice".
Capp was very convincing. But he told the truth: Gabby hadn't thought about her pregnancy when she had volunteered. Of course she had thought of Matt, which made sense since she loved him with all her heart, but it didn't interfere with her choice.
"Gentlemen? The rescue team of Patterson is almost at the level of the four emergency beacons".
At the hospital, in the waiting room, it was a scene to cry. All watched the television which was diffusing the intervention. The journalists were all close to the tent in which were the mayor, a doctor and two firefighters in turnout gear.
"Mr. Mayor !" the journalist in front of the camera began. "Do we know a little more about the firefighters who are inside!"
All could see the mayor turning his back to the camera, and talking with one of the firefighters. Then the mayor came to meet the group of journalists.
"What we know is that two hours ago, all the firefighters from the firehouse 51 were called here for a structure fire. The house then exploded, burying four firefighters inside. Two of them have volunteered to go find them. They have both the experience of firefighters and paramedics and were the only ones who could go under the rubble. When the group was located, they rescued one of the wounded, but there was another collapse. A rescue team is in the gallery to try to locate the firefighters at as we speak. I can't tell you more".
"Mr. Mayor, is this true that this tragedy could have been avoided?"
Christie, the other women and Danny held their breath. The group wanted so much to be there to hit the journalist who asked this awful question. But the mayor answered.
"Without the composure and the quick thinking of Lieutenant Casey, there would have been more wounded and probably dead. This tragedy, as you call it, it couldn't have been avoided, but we have avoided the worst, thanks to Lieutenant Casey. So now you'll stop asking questions and let the firefighters do their job to save their brothers. Do you all understand?"
Then he turned and went back into the tent while the journalists were still standing there, unable to speak. Cindy then turned her head to Christie. This burst into tears.
"Hey, it's okay, everything will be okay".
"My... My little brother has avoided a tragedy... Sacrificing himself for others and... And your husband is still under the rubble. How are you doing to overcome it and not cry?"
"I have faith, that's all. And I pray that God won't take my husband with him. They will save our men, Casey will be okay. Don't worry, everything will be okay".
At the same time, the door to the exam room 1 opened, revealing Dr. Rhodes and surprising everybody in the waiting room. He had a dark face, and was walking toward them. Christie then realized that something was wrong when Dr. Rhodes came and sat face to her. And took her hands.