A/N: This chapter introduces Gabby and is focused mainly on her perspective, as does the story as a whole. The story does also provide some of Boden, Mills, and Sylvie's perspectives. I felt as though it was important for both Gabby and Mills to come back for this, as I don't feel like either of them would stay away if something like this happened in the show. This story doesn't focus on any specific pairings, it does have hints of Dawsey as well as very slight hints of Brettsey.

Gabriela Dawson sat at the bedside of her ex-husband, holding his bandaged hand in hers. Her eyes were glued to the monitors, unable to look away as she silently prayed that he would pull through. Although they'd been divorced for nearly three years now, there was a part of her that still loved him and always would.

Three days ago, she had been in Puerto Rico, working on one of their currently relief projects, when her cell phone had rang, Boden's name flashing across the screen. She'd wrinkled her brow in confusion, surprised to be hearing from him. While they'd kept in touch since she left, it was mostly by text message or when she'd call Matt while he was on shift and got the opportunity to speak to the rest of her family at 51. Boden had never called her before.

"Chief?" Gabby had quickly answered. "Is everything okay?" When she hadn't hear anything for a few minutes she'd been about to hang up, assuming that it was a bad connection. But just before she did, she'd heard a sob come from the other end. "Chief?" Gabby had asked, concerned. "What's wrong?"

There had been another pause and some rustling before she heard Donna Boden's voice on the other end of the phone. "Gabby? It's Donna. I'm afraid I have some bad news."

Gabby had sunk to the ground, her legs suddenly no longer able to support her body. "What is it?" she'd whispered around the lump in her throat.

"They were at a fire, and a boiler exploded, causing a flashover," Donna had begun gently, her own voice shaky. "Everyone was inside when it happened. Wallace and the paramedics were on the ground floor while everyone else was in the basement, but the explosion caused the floor to collapse."

"How bad is it?" Gabby had cut in before Donna could continue. "Who is it? Is it Matt? Is he…" she hadn't been able to bring herself to finish her sentence.

"It's bad," Donna had replied sadly. "Casey, Severide, Mouch, and Cruz…they're in critical condition."

A sob had broken free from Gabby then. Four of them. Four of the men that she'd worked side by side with, who had been friends, mentors, brothers, and, in Casey's case, lover, were in critical condition. She knew all too well what "flashover" and "critical condition" meant. It meant the chances that any of them would make it out of the hospital were extremely slim.

Donna had continued, "I'm so sorry Gabby, but there's more. Brett...her arm got trapped between two pieces of rubble. They're examining her now. Wallace and Foster, the other paramedic…they weren't injured other than some scrapes and cuts, but they're pretty broken up."

Gabby had felt an arm come around her as someone sank to the ground next to her, and she'd known without even having to look that it was Antonio. She had leaned against him, letting him support her completely, no longer having the energy to hold herself up.

"Gabby…the others; I'm sorry to be the one to have to tell you this, but they didn't make it," Donna had continued brokenly. "I'm so sorry, Gabby."

"Tell…tell Chief that I'll be on the next flight out," Gabby had managed to say before hanging up the phone. She'd buried her face in her brother's shoulder as sobs had wracked her body. They were gone…nearly everyone that she'd known and loved and worked with was gone. And of the few remaining, four of them still might not make it.

Once she'd been able to talk again, she'd filled Antonio in on what was going on. She had seen her heartbreak reflected on his own face, and she had been reminded that he'd also known and loved so many of the firefighters who had been her brothers and sister. He'd taken care of booking her flight and had helped her pack, promising that he'd fly in for the funerals, but would come sooner if she needed him.

It had been two and a half days since she'd arrived, and she'd spent that time alternating between Matt and Severide's bedsides, sitting with one while Boden sat with the other. Trudy had been a constant fixture at Mouch's side, and Cruz's girlfriend, Chloe, whom she'd met for the first time shortly after she'd arrived at the hospital, had barely left his side.

She'd heard the alarms going off this morning when she'd been visiting Severide, and she'd stepped into the hallway, holding her breath, praying that they didn't belong didn't anyone from 51. Her hopes had immediately been dashed when she'd spotted Chloe sobbing outside of Cruz's room, a panicked look on her face as doctors and nurses frantically rushed into the room.

She'd reached Chloe at the same time as Trudy, and together the two older women had done their best to comfort Chloe, all while praying for Cruz to make it while simultaneously being relieved that the alarm didn't belong to the man they loved. Boden, who had been with Matt while she'd been with Severide, had joined them shortly after, and had been there when the doctor came out of Cruz's room, shaking his head apologetically.

"I'm so sorry," the doctor had stated sadly, "but Mr. Cruz's injuries were too severe; there was nothing we could do."

She'd seen tears begin to stream down Boden's face, his heartbroken expression matching her own, before she'd been distracted by Chloe's legs giving out from beneath her. She and Trudy had held the younger woman up as Boden left to get Chloe's parents from the waiting room, where they'd been since Chloe had called them with the news that Joe had been injured. She knew that Donna was in the waiting room, as well as Hank Voight, and she was grateful to know that both Boden and Trudy had someone there to support them even as she felt so very alone herself.

A knock sounded on the door to Matt's room, startling her from her thoughts. She looked up to see Will Halstead standing there.

"I just heard about Cruz," he told her sympathetically. "I'm so sorry."

"Thank you," Gabby replied, fighting back a fresh wave of tears. She thought by now that she wouldn't have any tears left, but somehow, they just kept coming.

"Is there anything I can do? Do you need anything?" the redheaded doctor asked. The emergency room staff at Med had been devastated when the firefighters and paramedics had been brought in and they'd learned the fate of the rest of 51. They'd been up daily, checking on the status of the four survivors and bringing food and coffee to those holding vigil at their bedsides and in the waiting room.

Gabby shook her head sadly. "No," she murmured, glancing back at Matt. "Not unless you can make all of this go away."

Halstead shook his head slowly. "If only I could," he replied his voice betraying his own grief. The firefighters from 51 had held a special place in their hearts; they'd gotten to know them quite well due to the fact that they'd flooded the ER waiting room anytime one of their own was injured. They'd immediately known that it would be a miracle if any of the four pulled through, but that didn't make losing one of them any easier.

Gabby nodded, turning her attention back to Matt. When she heard another knock on the door a couple of minutes later, she turned back around, expecting to see Halstead still there, but he wasn't. Instead, standing in his place was Peter Mills.

"Peter Mills?" Gabby whispered, blinking her eyes a couple of times to make sure she wasn't seeing things.

"Hi, Gabby," Mills replied, his eyes growing sad as he took in the sight of Matt's bandaged body lying on the bed behind her.

Gabby stood up from where she had been sitting next to Matt's bed, and in a few quick strides, Mills had crossed the room and had wrapped his arms around her, holding her as she cried.

"What are you doing here? When did you get in?" she asked once she'd pulled herself together again. "How did you know?"

"The news," Mills replied. "It's been all over national news. I got in earlier today. I wanted to come sooner, but we had a big catering job yesterday and I couldn't leave Mom and Elise to deal with it on their own." The truth was he could have; they could have hired someone to take his place. But it had been a convenient excuse for him to delay his trip. He'd known that as soon as he stepped off of the plane in Chicago and set eyes on 51, everything would become real. At least when he was in North Carolina he was able to pretend that it was all just a bad dream.

"I'm glad you're here," Gabby told him. "They would be glad to know you're here."

Mills smiled sadly. "I wish it hadn't taken this to bring me back to Chicago. I should've come visit. I should've done better at staying in touch."

"We're here now," Gabby replied softly. "That's what matters. We can't change the past." She had been having the same regrets as Mills. Why hadn't she stopped by 51 when she came back to tell Matt she was going to Puerto Rico for good? Why hadn't she called more? Why hadn't she made more of an effort to stay in touch? Why hadn't she come back to visit?

"Boden…he looks rough," Mills observed, glancing out the window into the hallway and observing the chief standing outside Mouch's room, looking through the window to where Trudy sat at her husband's bedside.

"I can't imagine what he's going through right now," Gabby admitted. "To lose nearly everyone..." She sighed. "They disobeyed his order, you know. He ordered them to evacuate, but they refused. There was nothing he could have done, but he still blames himself. I don't know if he'll ever recover from this."

Mills nodded. He hadn't known about the crew disobeying the order to evacuate, but it didn't surprise him. If they thought there was even a slight chance that they could save people, the men and women of 51 would do whatever it took to save them. "Are…Casey, Severide, and Mouch; is there any chance?" Mills asked. He knew from the news reports that they had all suffered severe burns and were in critical condition, but that didn't tell him what he'd really wanted to know. Would he lose three more brothers? Casey and Severide…they'd been his mentors and lieutenants. They'd trained him from a rookie firefighter and turned him into a member of the most elite rescue squad in Chicago.

Gabby looked at Matt, her gaze lingering on his face, which was one of the only areas of his body that hadn't been burnt, before turning back to Mills. "It's bad," she told him brokenly. "I…it will take a miracle. And we seem to be short on those lately. The doctors are trying to be optimistic, but I can see it in their faces. Their expressions don't match their words. I think they've already given up hope."

Mills nodded, fighting back a fresh wave of grief. "Do…do you mind?" he asked, gesturing towards Casey. "Can I have some time with him?" If he was going to have to say goodbye, he wanted a chance to thank him while there was still some possibility that Casey could hear him.

Gabby nodded understandingly. "I'll be in Severide's room," she informed him, slipping out of the room. She glanced over to where Boden still stood outside of Mouch's room. She made her way over to him, standing next to him and following his eyes to Mouch's bandaged body. "How is he?" she asked softly.

"His oxygen levels kept dropping," Boden replied. "He's on a vent now. It will be a miracle if he makes it through the night."

*Two Days Ago*

"Chief," Gabby called softly, standing in the doorway to Casey's ICU room where Boden was currently sitting by his captain's bedside.

"Dawson," Boden replied, standing up and walking over to her, giving her a brief hug.

"I got here as soon as I could," Gabby informed him, her voice hoarse from all of the tears she'd shed since she had received that heartbreaking phone call. "How are they?"

Boden's shoulders slumped as he realized he would once again be delivering bad news to his former paramedic. "The doctors have warned us that they suffered extensive burns," he informed her. "They're doing everything they can, but they've said that all four of the men have a long road ahead of them. Mouch's mask was damaged, partially melted, and although his burns aren't as extensive as the others, his lungs were damaged. Cruz is probably the best off of the four; he was further into the room than some of the others, so he didn't get the full force of the flashover. Severide…when he saw that not everyone was going to make it in time, he headed towards the door, I assume in hopes that he'd be able to help. He was nearly there when the explosion happened. He got hit in the chest by a piece of shrapnel from the boiler and was burned pretty badly, especially in that area. And Casey; it's a miracle he survived at all, as he was one of the last ones into the room, but he was against the wall, so it must have shielded him from the worst of it."

"What happened, Chief?" Gabby asked softly. She needed to know. She needed to know how ten members of her family lost their lives, and how four more lay in critical condition, fighting to stay alive.

"We responded to a factory fire. It wasn't even that bad, so I didn't call for another house," Boden began. "I wish to God that I had, but I didn't. Something happened that made it spread faster than any of us could have expected. The boiler…it was old and probably not up to code. Herrmann and Ritter were dousing it with water, trying to keep it from exploding, but it just kept getting hotter. Severide and Cruz were trying to open a door that had trapped a bunch of workers behind it while the rest of Squad and Truck worked on evacuating everyone. Casey asked me to send Brett and Foster in to help with the evacuation, so I went in with them. There was two feet of cement between us and the basement, so we thought it was safe." Boden paused, taking a shuddering breath.

"Herrmann called over the radio that the boiler was going to blow and told me to get everyone out while he tried to hold it off. I called for an evacuation, and that's when Severide let me know about the fortified door. I told them to evacuate…." Boden repeated brokenly. "Casey…he decided he was going back for Severide, and the others must have followed him. The next thing I knew, the floor was collapsing beneath us. When I came to, I immediately called out. Foster was okay, but Brett's arm was pinned. I put out a mayday call, but nobody responded, and that's when I knew," Boden's voice cracked, and he paused even as a tear trickled down his cheek.

"When I found them…" Boden continued brokenly, "I didn't think I'd find any survivors. There were PASS alarms going off all around me, and I didn't know where to start. I had to call Foster away from Brett to help search for survivors. Some of the men…they were covering civilians with their bodies and turnout coats. They died saving lives." Tears were now freely falling from the normally stoic man's eyes. "Kidd and Otis…they were alive when we first found them. But they died before help could get there. Their face masks were melted, like Mouch's, and their lungs were too damaged."

Gabby's heart broke for her former chief. She couldn't imagine the hell he'd been through in the past twenty-four hours. "Thank you, Chief. Thank you for telling me," she told him softly, resting a hand on his arm.

*End Flashback*

"I'm not ready to say goodbye to another one," Gabby whispered around the lump that had formed in her throat.

"I know," Boden replied simply. "I know."