A huge thanks once again to everyone who has taken the time to read and review/message - your support has kept me going. Not too much more to go in the story now.
Boden had, unfortunately, long since become accustomed to hanging around hospitals waiting impatiently for news, but that familiarity never made the exercise any easier to bear, especially with a child's life in the balance. Kelly had been rushed through a pair of doors that he had firmly been told he was not allowed to enter before a harried nurse herded the Squad Lieutenant off to a small waiting room with a multitude of forms that she hastily shoved into his hand.
He had briefly looked over the forms and realised straight away that there were going to be problems – primarily, what the hell did he do about next of kin? He knew that with Kathleen Severide firmly ensconced in the psychiatric wing of UIC and Benny Severide remaining doggedly MIA, Kelly had become a ward of the state. Wallace also knew that Kelly's injuries had come from the very people who were supposed to be safe-guarding his well-being in his hour of need, and if the boy's earlier comments were to be taken into account, one of them was likely an ex-cop.
With evidence of a beating so obvious across a minor's body, it was clear that Child Services would be called, and, more than likely, the police. Boden knew that the police, like the fire brigade, tended to stick together and that could mean problems for Kelly down the line, especially if his carer was believed and the teenager was shipped right back to the clearly violent man's arms.
He had been in the waiting room for who knew how long, taking turns pacing and looking resentfully towards the forms and anxiously towards the doors that separated him from Kelly. He'd even tried getting a hold of Benny a few times, only to find the increasingly frustrating man still unreachable. He didn't know if the man was genuinely out of reach or if he was aware of what was going on and simply avoiding it all – if it was the latter then Boden was going to forget their shared brotherhood from years on the job together and kick his arse!
Boden had just thrown the half-filled forms aside once again and got up to pace when the waiting room door was opened. He hesitantly turned, dreading the potential news from the doctor, only to find himself face-to-face with a stranger…a stranger with a police shield attached to his belt.
"Who are you?" Boden asked, knowing all too well that his tone was brimming with suspicion.
"I'm Detective Torretti," the man replied, offering a hand that Boden eventually shook despite looking askance at the man. "I'm here because I asked to be kept informed about Kelly Severide."
"Why?" Boden demanded, his suspicion only deepening.
Vince shook his head ruefully. He was pretty sure he knew why that look was being directed his way, suspected that Kelly had plenty of reasons to be wary of cops right about now and, evidently, he had shared some of those reasons with the man standing before him, a man Kelly clearly trusted. Kelly had been hurt, that was true enough, but there was a whole queue of people looking to protect him, probably more than the boy was even aware of, and Vince drew a lot of comfort in that.
"I got a visit from my next-door neighbour the other day, if you know Kelly then perhaps you know him – Andy Darden?" the surprised look he got in return convinced the Detective that he was right. "Can I ask who you are?"
"Lieutenant Wallace Boden from Firehouse Fifty-One," Wallace replied, a little tension easing as he realised the policeman might well be there to help.
"Well, that is definitely a name I've heard of – I've heard stories about you and that firehouse of yours for years, so it's nice to finally put a face to the name. Thanks for all you've done for Andy, especially after his father died," Vince said sincerely, offering his hand once again only this time out of respect rather than simply by rote.
"He's a good kid," Boden stated, shaking the proffered hand with far less hesitation.
"Yeah, he is," Vince agreed. "So is Kelly, and that's why I'm here. He's got a lot of very worried people back home trying to figure out how the hell they can help him, and that boy is not making things any easier."
"He's a stubborn one," Boden agreed with a sad smile. Kelly rarely seemed to make things any easier on himself, so used to dealing with problems by himself due to a physically absent father and an emotionally absent mother. "What had Andy worried?" he asked, trying to figure out if the kid knew more than they did, given how close the two boys were.
"At first it was just a matter of finding out what group home he'd been sent to," Vince shrugged. "Obviously things got a little more complicated."
"Yeah," Boden murmured sadly.
"They knew that Kelly's mother had been admitted to a psych unit and they knew that he had been hurt, beyond that, the kids didn't really know a great deal. I told them that Kelly was in a group home in Logan's Square and even without their requests I felt compelled to check it out."
"You work in the Crimes Against Children Unit or something?" Boden asked, curious as to why the Detective was so involved with the case.
"No, I work Homicide," Torretti informed the other man. "But I've lived next door to the Darden's for years and while I wouldn't say that I really know Kelly, I know enough – him being out of touch with his friends, Andy especially, was reason enough for me to be concerned."
"Ok," Boden accepted the man's explanation, feeling a lot more at ease with the man who seemed genuinely concerned for Kelly.
"I got to the group home and spoke to one of the carers there, a guy named Jenkins. He instantly set off just about every alarm bell I possess, but without proper cause there wasn't a lot I could do. Obviously, that pissed Andy off some," Vince added with a small, sad smile. "I made some calls, had people looking into the staff at the home, trying to find something that gave me probable cause for entering the property and questioning those inside – it was a simple matter of waiting.
"I made my way out to Logan's Square this morning to see Kelly, only to be told by one of the carers that he had run away – I demanded to be kept in the loop, let the precinct know and then called Andy and his friends, hoping that maybe Kelly had headed for home. They hadn't heard a thing, and I heard nothing whatsoever until I got a call from Kelly's social worker about half an hour ago telling me he had been admitted to hospital, and here I am."
"So no one has the full details of what happened, then?" Boden asked. He had been hoping that someone somewhere knew what had happened, if only to give Kelly's story more credibility. He believed Kelly wholeheartedly, but he also knew that going up against a cop's word was never going to be an easy thing, especially with for kid like Kelly, who came with a troubled past and plenty of emotional baggage despite his young age.
"Not yet," Torretti replied. "But we'll get to the bottom of this, I promise. Can you tell me what happened on your end? How did Kelly wind up here?"
"Some stranger brought him to Fifty-One. He was a mess – bruised and jumpy as hell, which is not at all like the kid. I took him to my office, and he told me about his mom and being put into a group home, and hinted that an ex-cop there was responsible for his bruises. I asked if there was anyone else who could verify that, not because I didn't believe him, mind," Boden stated firmly, looking Torretti directly in the eyes as if daring the man to contradict him.
"I'm sure," Vince nodded, trying to appease the man, all the while thinking back to the case files he had already drawn up about the carers – two of them were former officers, but Vince would lay money down on Anderson being the guilty party, as the guy set more alarms ringing than even Jenkins had managed and he'd never even met the guy. However, he would have to wait for Kelly to wake up for solid confirmation. "Then what happened?"
"Kelly got rather…distressed," Boden said, finally settling on a word he felt was wholly inadequate but unable to come up with a better alternative. "From what little I could gather before his collapse, there was someone else at the group home that was perhaps in danger?"
"As soon as his social worker told me that Kelly had been admitted to the hospital, I got in touch with the relevant departments – the home and its staff are being investigated and the kids are being questioned. It's unlikely that anyone would be so brazen as to hurt the kids now with so many extra bodies in the group home – police and social workers have been in and out of that place all morning." Vince tried to reassure the other man.
"You really think it's going to be that easy?" Wallace asked sceptically, all too aware of the intricacies involved with a case of 'he said/she said'.
"No, we can only really get the result we want if the kids are prepared to talk, but seeing as how they're the ones that run the risk of ending back with their so-called carers if their story isn't believed I can see why they'd be reticent, and who knows what sort of threats have been levelled their way already." Vince sympathised with the kids – as infuriating as a victim's silence could be, he knew that the system was far from perfect and that those who suffered when it failed tended to be those already vulnerable members of society.
"So at the moment, these carers are walking free?" Boden asked uneasily.
"Innocent until proven guilty, Lieutenant," the Detective reminded him. "Now, I have my suspicions but we don't yet have any proof, not a single shred of evidence, besides the word of a troubled teenaged boy that was clearly unhappy with his situation, that suggests whatever it was that happened to Kelly, happened in that home. If, which I suspect, it did, then I don't imagine for one second that all of the carers there are guilty of misconduct, so we need to be careful that we don't ruin someone's life because of someone else's sins. This isn't a witch hunt, Boden – we only want the guilty parties to pay for their crimes, no one else."
"I'm not suggesting that we go after anyone by association," Boden clarified. "I just wanted to know what it might mean for Kelly."
"And I understand that," Vince replied calmly. "But right now, with Kelly here, I really don't think they pose much of a threat to him."
"Detective Torretti?" came a timid voice from the doorway.
"April?" the policeman was surprised to see the young woman. "What are you doing here?"
"I was at the Darden's when you called – Mrs. Darden is at the nurses' station trying to fill in some of Kelly's missing details and Andy's gone to try and get a hold of Scott, but I know that his mom managed to pick up an extra shift so he's probably looking after his brother and sister," April rattled off nervously.
She knew that she was in full on ramble mode, knew it but couldn't stop it. Normally she was pretty level-headed, cool and calm in her approach to problems, but when she got nervous she tended to babble away about anything and everything that came to mind.
Unlike the three boys she had befriended, her life was, for the most part, relatively normal – she hadn't lost a parent to disease like Andy had, or to drink like Scott had, and unlike Kelly, both her parents had stuck around and managed to keep their sanity intact. Apart from a little teasing at school about her bookish nature and the one round of vicious rumours that Kelly had quickly quashed, her life was pretty much problem free, and so the ongoing drama overflowing from Kelly's situation was more than a little crippling of her usual coping mechanisms.
Kelly had become a true friend over time, and their friendship had grown from simply sitting near each other in class to hanging out after school and so much more. They were complete opposites in so many ways that April often felt as though their friendship shouldn't work.
Outside of school, April came from a loving and stable home in a rather affluent neighbourhood, her parents were both well-educated and active in the community, frequent volunteers at the local shelter and encouraging their daughter to do the same, never pressuring her into unwanted activities but trying to show her the right path, nonetheless. They allowed her to enjoy her youth, doing all they could to shelter her from the harsh realities of the wider world while they did their best to prepare her for it.
Kelly's family life had long since turned into a disaster that was matched only by the decrepit tenement block he lived in. There was no one to encourage him or protect him, as his father's physical absence and his mother's mental absence had forced Kelly to grow up quickly, abandoning his childhood and creating a jaded young man required to give every spare second towards helping his mother keep a roof over their heads and food in the cupboards.
In school, she was the resident goody two-shoes, a dedicated student and favourite of the teachers who always put that little extra effort into her schoolwork and whose trips to the principal's office were never about condemnation but rather praise.
Kelly was a problem student, the despair of teachers as his intelligence was constantly overshadowed by his fights and his truancy, and who pretty much had his own private seat in the principal's office.
When April had first been partnered up with Kelly due to nothing more than the alphabetical proximity of 'Severide' and 'Sexton', she had felt despair, sure that her impeccable grades were about to take a nose-dive, dragged down by the broody bad boy next to her. However, it hadn't taken long to realise that although he clearly didn't like school, Kelly was no idiot. His calm attitude in the face of her panic about grades and deadlines helped keep her grounded, his quiet, teasing sense of humour kept her going through the more taxing assignments and his steadfast nature gradually won her over.
In the end, despite their differences and her expectations, they became friends – April never condemned Kelly for his rather laissez-faire attitude towards school, and Kelly never mocked her for her more studious approach. April never rejected Kelly for the consequences of his parent's actions, and Kelly never resented her for her good fortune.
Indeed, there were often times that April found herself gravitating towards Kelly – like any teenaged girl, her hormones were racing and she couldn't deny that she found Kelly attractive. At a party she would find an excuse to stick by him, not just because she frequently felt out of her depth at such events and his presence helped calm her, but because she found herself more interested in him than in any of the many guys who tried to hit on her. She was embarrassed to admit it, but once, during a thunderstorm, she had pretended to be afraid of lightning just so that it gave her an excuse to cuddle up to Kelly - it had grated against her independent streak but the warmth she got when she snuggled up to Kelly and he wrapped a protective arm around her was a source of comfort too great to give up, pride be damned.
She certainly knew that Kelly found her equally attractive – his blunt manner in such areas meant that he had long since told her she was 'smoking hot, even with the whole bookworm thing going on', but he had never tried to hit on her. There was the occasional bout of flirtatious teasing, but it had only ever been mild and Kelly had never pushed the matter and for that April was grateful – she had too few friends to risk screwing up a friendship as valuable as theirs for what was likely a doomed romance.
It was that friendship that currently had her twisting herself up in knots, wracking her brain in an apparently fruitless effort to try and figure out a way to help Kelly.
"…but I can't really tell you more than that, we'll have to wait for the doctors," Vince said and it occurred to April that perhaps she should have been paying better attention, lost as she was in her thoughts she had missed whatever it was that the Detective had been trying to tell her.
"We're still waiting for the doctors to come and give us an update," Boden summarised once he looked at the young girl and caught the slightly bewildered look on her face. He'd never met April, but he'd heard Andy tease Kelly about her more than enough times – he'd also heard Kelly refute any and all claims that there was anything more than friendship between the two. It was a shame – from everything he had heard, the girl could be good for Kelly.
Boden's thoughts were interrupted by Elizabeth Darden coming through the door, a ream of paper in her hands as she sat down on one of the large padded chairs with a heavy sigh. She looked as though she had been crying, her eyes red-rimmed and puffy, and her hair looked as though she had run her hands through it several times over in her distress.
"I don't know half of the things these forms want to know," she said, her voice a little hoarse. "I know his name, I know his birthday and I know his address, but that's about it. I don't even know if his parents have any insurance sorted out for him."
"If not, we'll make sure there are no problems there," Boden promised solemnly. People at Fifty-One cared about Kelly, and not just because he was Benny Severide's kid – a whip round would raise some immediate funds and any extra that was needed Wallace fully intended to beat out of the boy's father.
"I asked for an update but because I'm not family all they would tell me was that he was in surgery," Mrs Darden shook her head sadly. The guilt she felt was crippling. If only she had listened to her son then all of this might have been avoided, and she knew that Andy felt the same way – knew for certain because Andy had been quite vociferous on the matter.
However, even as much as her heart had desired another outcome, she knew that her options with regards to Kelly were limited. Money had been a constant struggle since she lost her husband – with nothing to her name but a high school diploma, she was limited in the work she could get and minimum wage didn't get you very far with two kids and a mortgage. She worked her arse off all week and even then she still sometimes had to resort to borrowing money off her sister just to make ends meet. Adding the burden of another mouth to feed, even if it was a boy she had come to greatly care about, was just not feasible.
"I still can't get through to Scott," Andy said quietly as he entered the waiting room. He sat down on the opposite side of the room to his mother, regretful about the hateful things he had said to her earlier but still too furious at the whole situation to forgive her for not helping his friend.
"Kelly's going to be ok," April stated, her voice shaking slightly as her conviction in the validity of that statement wavered.
"Even if he is going to be ok after this, they're just going to ship him off to another group home once he gets out," Andy muttered sourly. "You saw him at school, he was already a mess after one week – what do you think he's going to be like after a couple of years of that?"
"He won't be there that long," April shook her head in denial.
"How the hell do you know that? Do you really think that the authorities are just going to hand him back to his mom after everything she did? She attacked her own son! She's in the nut house! No way will even the softest bleeding heart in DCFS want to see that particular family reunion happen!" Andy shouted, his ire rising with each statement.
"Andy…" Boden tried to interject.
"And where the hell is Benny Severide, huh?" Andy demanded. "Why the hell haven't you dragged his sorry ass down here? Oh, I forgot, you guys are just like the cops, always looking after your own – what the hell do you care about what happens to Kelly!"
"Hey! That's enough!" Boden shouted firmly. "I am here because Kelly came to me for help – Kelly came to me! I'm helping him, not because I give a damn about Benny Severide, but because I care about that kid. He came to me, told me what was going on and then he collapsed in my arms and I have been pacing this damn room for God knows how long desperate to hear just one bit of good news from a doctor, a nurse, even a damn orderly – someone to tell me that he is going to be ok. Now I know that you're upset but you're not the only one, and you have absolutely no right to tell me that I don't care about that kid!"
Silence followed as everyone digested that little outburst. Andy had never seen Boden furious before, had never seen the man so much as raise his voice – Andy hated it when Boden was angry with you or upset and his voice got all quiet and low as he told you how you'd disappointed both him and yourself, and it could be just as infuriating when you were spitting mad only to have a calm Boden talk you through it with an even tone and some sickeningly reasonable words when you just wanted someone to agree with you in your moment of intense irrationality. To say that the outburst was out of character for the man was a gross understatement.
He regretted the words almost as soon as they left his mouth, just as he had with his mother, but the anger inside him was bubbling up so much that it needed an outlet. He couldn't seem to calm himself down and every time he tried, the next bit of drama seemed to come along and blow up in all their faces.
Mrs Darden was not shocked at her son's outburst, having experienced that for herself several times over the past few days, however, she was surprised at Boden. It wasn't that she felt the man was unjustified in his wrath or that she held his outburst against him – the words were not harsh and unforgiving, they did not tear Andy down in any way other than to highlight the fact that he wasn't the only one suffering and Boden's words were true and sincere and full of the same sense of helplessness they had all been feeling. However, while the words were not out of character, the outburst was and it only raised the anxiety she was feeling about Kelly's situation. What had Boden seen that had him so on edge?
April cowered slightly in her seat, feeling as though her miserable attempt to be optimistic had caused the whole debacle in the first place. She, like Andy, was angry at the whole situation – she only knew this Boden guy from a few things Kelly had said and she didn't know the Detective all that well, either, but she was quite sure they weren't to blame for anything that had happened. She was also quite sure that Andy wasn't yet ready to hear that and wished she could find the necessary words to get through to him, knowing in her heart that the only one likely to succeed such a feat was lying on an operating table.
"I think everyone needs to take a deep breath," Detective Torretti suggested. He only knew Kelly in passing and so was not as emotionally invested as the other occupants in the room, not to mention his job as a cop required a little compartmentalisation from time to time. "Now, everyone is worried, everyone is feeling more than a little helpless and everyone is just trying to figure out a way to help Kelly. But this," he gestured wildly to everyone in the room. "This is not going to help him or yourselves."
"What can we do?" April asked quietly, desperately.
"Not a lot," the Detective replied honestly. "We have no control over what's happening in that operating theatre, we have no control over his mother's mental well-being or over what his father's doing, or rather, not doing, we have no control over where DCFS will place him next time and we have no control over how Kelly is going to handle all of this. What we do have control over is what we can do to help Kelly.
"Andy, April, the best thing you can do for your friend right now is be there for him – it's a crappy answer to a crappy situation but it will help him more than you know, trust me on that. You can't fix this situation for him, you know that and he knows that and that's probably why he didn't come to you with any of this earlier, but you're his friends – he trusts you and he needs you. Christ, he left Logan Square in the middle of the night and he crossed the city on foot to get back to you.
"Elizabeth, Kelly is not going to hold any of this against you. His own mother? Probably. Benny? Hell yeah! I imagine that boy has some serious anger issues regarding his father right now. But from everything I know of the boy personally, from everything you've all said, you're the last person he'll blame - he's made your home his sanctuary of sorts for years, and the fact that he keeps coming back should tell you how much he values you and all you do for him.
"Lieutenant Boden, Kelly came to you because he trusts you and you have done nothing to show him that his trust was misplaced in you. You'll probably have more luck getting him to open up about what happened in that group home than I will, than some stranger with a badge ever will.
"Now, we will wait here until a doctor or nurse comes and tells us what is going on with that boy, we will keep civilised tongues," Vince said, looking pointedly at Andy. "We will keep a lid on our anger and anxiety," he pinned both Boden and Mrs Darden with a piercing gaze. "We will remain calm and optimistic," he said offering April a soft, encouraging smile. "Kelly's going to need us when he wakes up so we need to try and stop tearing each other to shreds."
"You're right," Boden nodded firmly. "I apologise for allowing my anger cloud the real issue at hand."
"Me too," Andy offered quietly. "I just get so worked up every time I even think about Sev being sent off to some strange group home the other side of Chicago, where things could be just as bad, if not worse than the last place DCFS stuck him in!"
Elizabeth Darden walked over to sit by Andy, taking her unresponsive son into her arms as he silently tried to hold back the tears. Just as she was about to try and offer what words of comfort she could find, the door to the small waiting room opened once again and a doctor walked in, momentarily taken aback as everyone lurched to their feet at the sight of her.
"Hi, I'm Doctor Evershed," she introduced herself. "I'm the surgeon who operated on Kelly Severide. I understand that none of you are family?"
"I'm Detective Torretti. His mother is currently in the psychiatric wing at UIC and we haven't managed to get hold of his father yet," the Detective informed her. "His case is a little…complicated."
"Yes, the police presence outside his hospital door told me this was a complicated matter," she stated, the questioning tone more than evident in her tone of voice.
"He's a potential witness," Torretti supplied. "The uniform is probably unnecessary, but we didn't want to risk leaving Kelly vulnerable to anyone looking to keep him quiet."
"I see," Evershed replied, although the frown indicated that she didn't wholly understand what was going on.
"Everyone in this room is here for Kelly, so anything you can tell us about his situation would be gratefully received."
"Ok, where to start," the Doctor said more to herself than to the expectant people in the waiting room. "He has a minor bump on the head – he'll likely have a small headache for a few days but there's no evidence of anything more serious going on. He'll be taken back for a couple more scans during his stay here, just to make sure, check for slow bleeds and the like, but I really don't foresee there being any long-term issues there.
"He has a couple of broken ribs and a few are cracked – luckily they don't seem to have caused any internal damage, but there is very little we can do for him with those injuries other than provide him with something to fight the pain. He'll need to take it easy for four to six weeks, allow his ribs to heal, and we'll need to keep an eye out for any respiratory problems – with these types of injuries there is an increase in risk of chest infections as it can become much harder to clear secretions with the pain ever present.
"The most troubling injury, the one that required surgery, was the damage to his liver. Thankfully the damage wasn't as extensive as we'd first feared and it was only a relatively small rupture – we'll need to keep an eye on it and make sure we managed to repair all the damage as well as keep an eye on his blood-work to make sure nothing nasty got into his system, but his stats are looking good so far, so I'm feeling pretty optimistic. The liver is also one of our more durable organs and with a little time and care it will be as good as new, so no long term problems there either.
"As for the rest, there's really nothing to worry about. There appears to be a little damage to the muscles in one of his shoulders and as soon as he is able to move about the arm will be put into a sling to try and reduce the movement, giving the joint time to heal properly. The rest of the injuries are very minor, a few cuts and bruises that will heal up in a matter of days.
"He's breathing on his own and now that the internal bleeding has been sorted out his vitals are rapidly improving. He's on some morphine for the pain, some antibiotics to ward off any infections, some anti-inflammatories to help reduce the swelling and some sedatives to see him through the worst of it all – he's not going to be awake for at least twelve hours, and when he does wake up he will be very groggy and disorientated. You should go home and get some rest, because Kelly's got a long, hard road ahead of him and he's likely going to need his friends."
"Can we see him first?" Andy all but begged.
"They're just getting him settled in post-op. As soon as it's possible we'll take you through to see him for a very brief visit," the Doctor said firmly. "Only two at a time."
"Thank you, ma'am," Boden offered sincerely. It was a lot to take in, but from everything the doctor said, Kelly would be fine in time.
Andy and April entered the room together, each unsure of what to expect, neither one in any kind of condition to have absorbed all that the nurse had tried to explain to them about the machines hooked up to their friend.
It was hard to believe the small figure on the bed was their friend – they were both so used to Kelly's seemingly invincible façade that the fragile body lying deathly still seemed utterly foreign. The white hospital blanket covered him up to his waist, exposing the bandages over his lower torso and highlighting the mass of bruises against his pale skin. They could also see just how much strain the past few weeks had placed on their friend, as his weight-loss was apparent in the way they could count his ribs all too easily, even through the mottled skin.
Kelly was thankfully free of any machines that would be needed if he required any help to breath, but with his face fully exposed, neither teenager could ignore the frown that marred his face even in unconsciousness. They hesitantly approached the bed, afraid to disturb him even though they knew the drugs would keep him under, the irrationality of it all seemed natural given the way that events had spiralled so far out of control.
April gently placed her hand on one of Kelly's, a little alarmed at how cold his fingers felt. His fingers didn't clasp her own as they usually did when she went seeking comfort from him, and the lack of response hit her almost as hard as his battered body.
"We have to do something…" Andy muttered to himself. "There has to be something that we can…"
"Your neighbour's right," April interrupted dejectedly. "There's nothing we can do but wait for him to wake up and be there for him when he does."
"If he gets put into another group home half way across the city, then how the hell are we supposed to be there for him?" Andy demanded, keeping his voice to a furious whisper. "He needs us! We can't help him if he's locked away in some group home trying to avoid rocking the boat so much that he has to take a punch from some asshole carer or risk staying in the system until he's eighteen. God, we really need to get him away from those idiots at DCFS who put him here in the first place! I've tried to talk my mom round but, as much as I hate to admit it, I know that she's right - I just don't know how else we can help him…I don't know what to do."
April stared at the unconscious form of their battered friend, wondered if Kelly could hear them, knew that they were desperately trying to help him. He would have a plan, it would likely involve punching someone or at least threatening them, but threats from a high school kid only really held water in high school. The situation they faced required an adult's touch, but Kelly's parents were either unable or unwilling to step up, so they'd have to find someone else.
"Come on, we should let your mom and Boden have a turn before the nurses throw us out," April told Andy who was standing almost as far away from Kelly as he could, anxiously focusing on the rise and fall of his chest as if worried that the movement would cease were he not watching carefully enough. She leaned over and kissed Sev on the forehead and squeezed his hand one last time before heading out. "I'm going to go and call my parents."
"Yeah, they're probably worried about you," Andy said, still staring unblinkingly at his friend's breathing. "You should probably let them know what's going on if you're planning on sticking around the next few days."
"I fully intend to," April muttered quietly to herself as she took one last look at her injured friend before leaving the oppressive atmosphere of the hospital room. It was clear that Mrs Severide was in absolutely no position to help and apparently Mr Severide was completely unwilling to even try, and while Mrs Darden wanted to help she was unable to do so, but April knew that there were good people out there, and she planned on going and begging for the help of two of the people she trusted most in the world. For the first time that she could remember in their friendship, Kelly needed her help, he really needed her, and she was going to be damned if she let him down after everything he had done for her.
Let me know what you think and if you spot any errors. Ta!