"Hey Brett, you alive in there?" Sylvie could hear someone knocking on her door, she groaned and reached for her phone. 5:15am flashed across the screen. "I'm leaving in thirty, if you're riding with me you need to get up." Kelly yelled from the other side of the door.
"I'm coming, give me a couple of minutes" Sylvie responded her voice still full of sleep.
It had been six weeks since she moved in with Kelly and two months since her and Antonio had decided to get back together. They had agreed to take things very slow, they had a habit of falling into bed and nothing ever got accomplished that way. For now they were going on dates in public places and avoided apartments if possible. It seemed to be working they were getting along better than they ever had.
She was still not feeling to well, like she was just worn down. Antonio and Gabby were constantly trying to convince her to go to the doctor but Sylvie was stubborn and avoided doctors at all costs, she was a paramedic and thought she would know if she was bad enough to need a doctor. She reasoned with the fact that the vomiting had pretty much stopped and she was starting to put a little weight back on after losing nearly twenty pounds off her tiny frame, so she just needed to catch up on sleep and gain her strength back. Antonio was skeptical but arguing with Sylvie about something she knew more about was pointless so he let it go.
"I'm ready, is there coffee?" Kelly handed her a cup and smiled. "Already poured it for you." She eagerly took it and walked towards the door.
Sylvie hadn't driven to shift one time since she moved in with Kelly, she loved that she could just fall back asleep on the way there. She hopped in the car and put the coffee in the cup holder, she was asleep before Kelly made it out of the parking lot.
It was July and the heat index that day was supposed to be 115 degrees, the hottest day of the year, with no end in sight. The city was experiencing rolling brown outs meaning the firehouse was running on a generator and the air was not working. Luckily Sylvie and Gabby had been on calls the majority the morning, which meant air conditioning in the Ambo.
"God, this feels good" Gabby said as she shoved her face into the air vent after dropping a patient at Med. "I hope the power comes back on at the house soon, I don't think I can take much more of this" Gabby pouted.
Sylvie pulled out of the Ambo bay "you wanna stop somewhere for ice cream? We could take our time getting back" she smiled at Gabby. "Awe…look who has her appetite back, just took Tonio to fix it" Gabby teased Sylvie.
"Haha, funny Gabby…watch it or you'll start hearing stuff you really don't want to" Sylvie chuckled and pushed Gabby's shoulder knowing Gabby was terrified of accidently hearing a personal story about her and Antonio.
Gabby was truly happy Sylvie and Antonio were able to work things out and hoped that this time it would stick. She had her reservations in the beginning because there's just something about feeling like a third wheel to your best friend and your brother that can make you a little crazy. But even Gabby had to admit the two of them were better together.
She had been worried about her friend over the last several months when Sylvie was constantly sick and was looking like she was a skeleton, having lost a lot of weight not being able to eat. But she had gradually gotten better over the past few weeks and was starting to return to her normal self, she still wished she would go see a doctor just to make sure.
Sylvie pulled into Dairy Queen and parked the rig. "Come on, what do you want? My treat" Sylvie was trying her hardest to get back to her normal self. She was tired of everyone constantly thinking she was sick and nitpicking at her to go see a doctor. She just had to prove she was fine and if that meant eating an ice cream she really didn't feel like eating then she would do it.
Pulling back into the firehouse, Sylvie noticed Antonio's take home truck outside. "Hey Gabby, Tonio's here, did he tell you he was stopping by?" Sylvie took out her phone and checked for a text from him, when she didn't find one she was a little confused.
"Nope, didn't say anything to me". Now Sylvie was curious, she followed Gabby into the common room and there was no Antonio. "
Hey Mouch, is Tonio here?" Gabby asked the older fireman. "Yeah back in Boden's office with Casey, Severide, and Voight." He said nonchalantly.
"Do we know why…?" Sylvie asked hoping Mouch would elaborate. Mouch shrugged, he obviously had no clue what was going on nor did he care.
Boden appeared in the door way to the common room, "Brett, Dawson…my office" he sounded pissed. The paramedics looked at each other, neither of them could think of a reason the Chief would be mad at them, maybe the heat was getting to him.
Gabby and Sylvie moved quickly in the direction of the office, entering the four men, Casey, Severide, Antonio, and Voight, turned and greeted them quickly. Sylvie made eye contact with Antonio and gave him a little smile; he returned a grin trying to let her know everything was okay.
"Umm…Chief, I know I haven't done anything to piss anyone off lately, so what's going on?" Gabby was half joking with the chief but she gets herself into a lot of trouble with her mouth so maybe she missed something.
Voight was the first to speak up. "Actually you're not in trouble…quite the opposite actually, we need your help again."
"I haven't agreed to anything yet and I have final say if they do anything" Boden firmly stated from his spot behind his desk. He was pissed his paramedics were being asked to do this again, why the hell can the police not get undercovers for this.
"People like paramedics, they trust you guys. This is basically a repeat of the last time you guys helped us. Mrs. Johnson over on Cullerton, you two make frequent visits to her house right?" Antonio asked staring straight into Sylvie's eyes.
"Yeah she's one of our frequent flyers…a diabetic, she forgets to eat and take her insulin" Gabby loved Mrs. Johnson; she was the sweetest old lady.
"Good, you think she would let you in the door if you just show up?" Voight asked eagerly.
"Of course she will, we check on her in between calls often, we bring her food and check her insulin." Sylvie made a point to check on her at least once per week if they didn't hear from her.
"We need to know if her grandson is in the house, he's wanted on multiple murder and drug charges and we've had no luck verifying he is in the house, have you ever seen anyone there with her in the past?" Antonio was hoping they could verify him so they could hit the house in the next 24 hours, this guy needed to be off the streets ASAP but he hadn't been seen out in almost six months. Intelligence was certain he was holed up with grandma.
"Yeah a guy about thirty is always there with her, usually stays back in the kitchen while we check on her, it bothers me that there is someone there but she still gets so sick." Sylvie said with a little venom in her voice. It made her angry when families treated the elderly poorly.
"We need this done today, you think you two can do this?" Voight asked getting straight to the point.
"I still haven't agreed, I need to be assured they will be completely safe." The Chief was not going to just send his girls in without knowing they would be looked after.
"Look, you have my personal guarantee that nothing will happen to them, I would never put them in a situation that I thought they would wind up hurt" Antonio looked Boden dead in the eye trying to convey the seriousness of his words.
"Okay, I will pull ambo out of service but those two wear vests…I'm not taking any chances." Boden's word was final.
Sylvie pulled the ambo up to Mrs. Johnson's apartment building. She was feeling nervous it was making her stomach, chest, and side hurt and her head was starting to spin, she felt like she was going to have a panic attack. "Ugh, why am I so nervous? We've done this before" she said to Gabby.
"Just breath, it will be okay, I promise" Gabby squeezed Sylvie's shoulder to offer her support.
Sylvie jumped out and grabbed the bag out of the back and walked around the ambo to meet Gabby on the other side. She made it to the second floor, she was winded and breathing heavy but she persisted. Gabby knocked on the door. A male called through the door, "Who is it?"
Gabby replied, "Paramedics, we're here to do our weekly check on Mrs. Johnson, can we come in?" Antonio had shown the girls a picture of the offender, the girls were wearing a camera but they also wanted an eyewitness for the identification. "Yeah hold on a minute, I'll go get her and bring her to the front room."
Gabby and Sylvie stood outside the door and waited for the front door to unlock and them to be let in. Mrs. Johnson was the one to open the door, when they entered the male was nowhere to be found.
"Hey Mrs. Johnson, how are you feeling today? Have you been eating and taking your meds? I'm glad to see your air is working today" Sylvie was trying not to ramble and was trying to sound sincere.
"Yes honey, I've been trying to keep up with it, I promise" she smiled sweetly at the both of them.
"Well, me and Sylvie here are going out on vacation for three weeks and we need to make sure you are being taken care of. Is there anyone we can show how to give you insulin in case of an emergency?" Gabby was looking for excuses to get the male to come into the front room.
"My grandson, he should be able to do it, hey baby can you come here and let these young ladies show you how to take care of Nana?" A man who looked an awful lot like the picture Antonio had shown them emerged from the kitchen area of the apartment. Gabby sighed softly, thanking god he took the bait.
Just as the man walked over to where Mrs. Johnson was Sylvie winced and grabbed her side. "You okay Sylvie?" Gabby rushed to her side; worried that Sylvie was doubled over.
"I think so, my side just hurts" she gasped and winced in pain again and let out a yelp of pain. She tried to stand but fell to the floor. Gabby tried to catch her so she wouldn't hit her head when she hit the floor. She checked her and Sylvie was out cold. She checked her vitals, she was tachycardic and her breathing was off. She radioed it in and stated she would transport, to not send another ambo, she knew Antonio was down the street in a van but didn't want him to blow his cover.
"You, I need you to watch her breathing, if she stops yell for me, I have to go get the chair out of the Ambo" she yelled at the offender.
"Man, I don't know what I'm doing" he complained. "Look I need you to do this just hold your hand right here on her chest if her chest stops moving, yell for me, I'll be right back one minute okay?" she showed him how to do it.
"Don't blow your cover, I'll get her out," she whispered into the camera she was wearing as she ran down the stairs out of earshot of the offender. She grabbed the chair and ran back for the house.
"Help me lift her," she ordered the offender; he grabbed her under her shoulders while Gabby grabbed her feet and they lifted her on to the chair.
"What the hell is going on?" The offender was starting to freak out and was getting fidgety, it was clear he was starting to doubt the paramedics intentions.
"She's passed out, she's sick, I need to get her to the hospital, now! please move and let me do my job." Gabby said forcefully.
"What about my Nana? Ain't you supposed to be showing me how to save her or some shit?" Gabby gave him a 'I dare you to try to stop me' look and continued toward the door.
"I need you to help me get her down the stairs" she ordered him.
"Nope, I don't leave the front door" he said.
"Look my friend is sick and needs a hospital, she's a paramedic which means if I call for help to get her down, the police will show, if you don't want that…I suggest you help me" he hesitated for a moment and nodded agreeing to help her down the flight of stairs. Gabby checked Sylvie's vitals again, she wasn't any better.
Outside Gabby pulled out the stretcher and tried her best to load Sylvie onto it by herself and get it back into the Ambo. It took a few extra minutes but she accomplished it. She ran to the driver door and took off in the direction she knew the van was at.
Antonio was already standing outside the van when she pulled up. She jumped out. "You drive, were about five minutes out from Med…get us there now" she yelled at Antonio as she jumped in back with Sylvie.
The drive to Med seemed like an eternity. She hooked her up to the heart monitor and started an IV. "Sylvie, come on honey, wake up…I need to know what's going on…hang in there, we're almost to the hospital, it'll be okay." Gabby felt tears running down her face but she didn't have time to think about that at the moment.
They pulled up to the Emergency Room and Antonio threw the Ambo doors open and started to help Gabby pull the stretcher out. Dr. Manning ran out to meet them.
"28 yo female collapsed from unidentified pain in the field. GCS 12 , BP 126 over 80, pulse 125, sats in the high 80's" Dawson gave her vitals to Dr. Manning.
"Take her to trauma 2" Maggie yelled. Gabby finished wheeling her in and helped transfer her to the gurney, Antonio stood frozen outside the door.
She stood there staring at the chaos in front of her for a minute before she realized April was trying to ask her exactly what happened.
"I'm not sure she was fine, said she felt nervous before we went in, then all of a sudden she's grabbing her side and collapsed. We've been in the heat all day, the last two hours we've had bullet proof vests on…could she be having a heat stroke?" April started to usher Gabby out of the room towards where Antonio was standing to give the doctors room to work.
"I'm not sure, just let the doctors check her. Has she been sick, had any problems lately?" April was looking between Gabby and Antonio hoping one of them could give them some insight into what could be wrong.
"Actually..umm..yeah, she's been sick off and on for the last 4 or 5 months, she just can't seem to get better, as soon as she's over one thing something else hits her, vomiting constantly, nausea, weight loss, no appetite, fatigue, and headaches, it's been bad…but she's been better the last week or two, even has been gaining weight back." Gabby was trying to hold it together but was failing miserably. She turned into Antonio and started crying into his shirt.
"Do you know who her emergency contact is? We don't have one on file here." April needed to know, she knew Gabby was close with Sylvie and she thought she heard Antonio and Sylvie were dating again but neither were family and if Sylvie didn't wake up soon, someone was going to have to make decisions for her.
"I don't but Chief Boden will be here soon, he will know." She said still hanging on to Antonio. April went back into the room to relay Gabby's information to the doctor.
"What the fuck do you mean Joe Cruz is Sylvie's emergency contact?" Antonio was livid; he did not want to deal with his girlfriend's ex-boyfriend who has boundary issues.
"She changed it when she moved in with Cruz and Otis and hasn't updated it since, talk to him, I'm sure he's more than willing to let you make decisions." Boden was trying to help Gabby calm Antonio down. He was pacing back and forth in the waiting room, ready to pounce if someone even looked at him wrong. The nurses weren't letting anyone back in the room with Sylvie until Cruz appeared and gave them permission.
"Get him here now" Boden grabbed Antonio's shoulder and told him that he was already on his way.
Cruz arrived at the hospital and went straight to the ER to find a doctor to talk to. "Umm…I'm here for Sylvie Brett, I'm her emergency contact Joe Cruz." He knew he should probably go to the waiting room and find everyone else first but he needed to see Sylvie and check on her.
"Cruz, hey" Dr. Manning greeted him. "Hey, Dr. Manning what's going on with Sylvie?" He was really worried for his friend.
"Actually she's still out, possibly a combination of exhaustion, fever, and pain. We're running tests and are going to do an ultrasound and possibly an MRI to figure out what is causing the pain in her side" he nodded his head agreeing to the procedures.
"So how long before you think she will wake up?" He didn't like seeing her lying there in the bed with oxygen on and a heart rate monitor. She looked so small and helpless like a little child he just wanted to go to her and hold her hand.
"We're not sure, we may need you to sign some forms, unless there's someone else you think she would prefer?" Cruz being Sylvie's emergency contact confused Dr. Manning, she knew they had dated but that was years ago so she was trying to give him a chance to hand it off to someone else.
"No I can do it, she'd be fine with it" He made up his mind and decided to stay until her test results came back then he would update the others.