1.
"Gear up!" Kelly called out to his men in the back of the truck. "It seems like we are going to have our hands full with this one!"
Kelly looked back out into the night and watched as huge flames licked the structure of the factory building in front of them. The flames lit up the sky with an orange hue that could probably be seen all across town. As they drew closer, Kelly could see people well out of the building from different exits. All of them stumbled their way out covered in soot and gasping for fresh air. Some were unable to get out on their own volition but had to be carried or led out with the help of someone else. Then there were those covered in grime and blood.
It wasn't a pretty sight, and something told him that this was just the beginning and that they had yet to see it all. The call had come into the station less than five minutes ago. A gas tank had suddenly exploded inside the factory in the middle of a shift. Hundreds of people were inside, working, at the time.
The truck pulled up alongside the ambo. Kelly's feet hit the ground before the wheels of the truck stopped moving. He immediately started to assess the scene more thoroughly. The people covered in blood weren't only suffering cuts from fallen debris and alike, they had burns and were missing actual limbs. Shay, his roommate, was already busy helping people sit down and giving them a quick once over. Her partner, Valentina Rossi, was the by the ambo pulling out kits and oxygen masks.
Kelly was just about to turn towards his men and call out orders when someone stumbled right into him. A man holding onto his left arm looked at Kelly as if he was looking straight through him. What was even more disturbing was the fact that his left arm had been torn to shreds and was barely attached to the guy's body.
"Rossi!" He called, almost in a state of panic. "We need your help over here!"
When he got no response, he looked over to the ambo. Rossi stood with a gear kit in her hands, white as a ghost and from the look in her eyes, she was a long way away from the factory. Kelly called again and Rossi shook herself back to reality. A blush spread across her neck and up her cheeks as she realised that she had just frozen on a scene.
She hurried over to them and immediately set to work on the man's arm. Kelly watched her every move. Why, he didn't know. He supposed he was waiting for her to freeze up again. But she didn't. She moved with purpose and her hands remained steady as they wrapped gauze around the wound to contain the bleeding.
Kelly watched for a few more seconds before he moved back to his men and delegated areas of the building to search. He threw on his gear and fastened his mask before he headed towards the burning building with Capp following him inside. The heat hit them like a ton of bricks as they systematically started to clear section for section. Any stragglers that came their way, they directed towards the exit. As they moved towards the zone that was furthest away from the exit, Kelly spotted something, or rather someone, on the floor over in the corner.
He hurried over and kneeled in front of the person to check if he could get a response. The man on the floor didn't react at all when Kelly shook his shoulders slightly. He remained limp with his eyes closed. At a closer look Kelly could see fresh burns all over the man's face. The skin had almost melted off from the heat of the fire that was eating everything in it's way. Capp came over and together they lifted the man up and threw his arms around each of their shoulders before moving towards the exit.
As they returned outside Kelly immediately found the dark-haired paramedic amongst the sea of scared and confused factoryworkers. He couldn't explain it, but part of him wanted to make sure that she was alright. Not because he thought she couldn't do her job, but because something had rattled her enough to get this haunted look in her olive-green eyes that Kelly would never forget. He didn't like the way he felt when he saw that look. He didn't like that she knew horrors bad enough. It didn't fit with the cheeky and joyous image Kelly had of her.
Over the past two months since she had joined Firehouse 51, he had never seen Rossi be anything but calm and collected. Shay had done nothing but rave about her new partner since Dawson joined the fire academy. She was good. To see that look in her eyes had been unsettling to say the least.
A knock sounded at the door as Kelly was in the middle of writing a report and interrupted his concentration. He looked up and found Capp standing in the doorway.
"Hey Capp, what's up?"
"Chow's ready."
"Okay, I'll be there in a minute."
Capp turned and walked away, and Kelly turned back to his report but immediately put down his pen again. He was starving and maybe some food would help make things go faster. In reality he was just looking for any excuse to avoid the paperwork. There was one thing he hated about being in a position of power and that was the paperwork that came with the responsibility. He became a firefighter because of the action, not because he wanted to sit in an office and push around papers.
He arrived in the kitchen and immediately got in line to grab some food. Ever since Mills became the candidate at 51 and in charge of the cooking, meals had seriously improved. No one missed a meal anymore. Kelly grabbed his plate before he walked over to the table and took a seat at the middle of the table next to Casey. Opposite him sat Shay and Rossi. As he took his seat a discussion was already in full swing between Otiz and Cruz. As was the norm around the house.
"He totally did! And I told him it would happen too!"
"He did not!" Otiz exclaimed and threw his arms in the air. "He was right there with me, and looked more like an idiot than I did!"
Everyone around the table burst into laughter at the latest antics of the two house-clowns. It never failed to amuse Kelly the things the two of them got up to together. Whether it was the topic of conversation, or a prank war gone wrong, Kelly could never predict what they would get up to next.
Kelly noticed that Rossi didn't laugh. Her lips didn't even twitch. She just stared down at her plate and absentmindedly moved a piece of chicken around with her fork. He frowned. Normally she would be an avid participant of the conversation, maybe even pitch in with a comment of her own. At that moment, it was like she wasn't even present to hear the conversation. She looked a million miles away.
Being quite at the dinner table wasn't the only discrepancy that Kelly had noticed since they returned from their latest call last night. Not only was she more withdrawn but she had withdrawn from the rest of the house completely. Normally, you would find her in the common room nine out of ten times. The other time you would find her by the ambo with Shay talking about one thing or another. Today she had been nowhere to be found. Kelly had heard multiple people ask about her whereabouts because they needed her for something, but no one knew where she was hiding out.
Dinner ended and Kelly hurried out of the common room to keep up with Valentina and catch her before she disappeared for the rest of the shift. Halfway down the hallway to the walk-up, Kelly caught up to her and grabbed a hold of her upper arm to stop her.
"Hey Rossi, wait up!" he called out. Valentina spun around to face him.
"What's up, Kelly?"
"I should be asking you, is everything okay?"
"Everything's fine!" she looked up at him with earnest, green eyes and Kelly lost all common thought. Before he had time to react, Valentina had pulled away and disappeared around the corner.
Something about their latest call had clearly triggered something with her, because this behaviour wasn't like her. Or maybe it was. Kelly frowned at the thought and realised that he knew next to nothing about the woman he was so concerned about. For two months he had watched as she was there for others, she got them to open up and gave advice about this and that, including himself.
Kelly walked over to the fridge through the dark apartment and grabbed himself a beer without bothering to turn on any of the lights. He uncapped the bottle of beer and took a long swig before proceeding over to the couch. Today's shift had been so long, and he was exhausted, yet his mind wouldn't shut down enough to let him get some proper sleep. He had been tossing and turning ever since he got home this morning. Every time he closed his eyes all he could see was the red seeping through his fingers as he franticly tried to stop the blood from flowing. Small hands. Wide, frightened eyes staring up at him. Broken voices and commands coming through the sparking radio. His speeding heartrate when the voices grew more frantic. The desperate cry of a grieving mother. The gurney getting covered up with a white sheet. The images haunted him.
The apartment was still around him. There was no upbeat pop music mixed with classic rock blasting from Shay's bedroom as she sang along without hitting a single note. Nor was there any slamming coming from the kitchen as she ran around trying to make them dinner. On any other day, Kelly would have jumped at the opportunity to have the apartment all to himself for a day or two, but not today. After today's shift, the sound and presence of his roommate would have been a welcomed distraction from the images that played in his head on repeat.
It had been a bad call in more ways than one. It had almost cost him his own life to try and save another, but to no avail. Kelly held great pride in his profession. He had been a firefighter since the day he was born. Days like today however had him reconsider his choice of profession and wonder how much more of the horrors that they faced he could take before it destroyed him completely.
A knock sounded at the front door and interrupted his train of thought. Kelly wasn't expecting anyone, and he couldn't for the life of him think of who it could be. Most members of the house were supposed to meet up at Molly's tonight and Kelly knew that Matt was spending time with Dawson, so it couldn't be him either. Kelly put down the beer on the low coffee table and walked over to open the front door with a sigh.
"Rossi?" he questioned. "What are you doing here?" the green-eyed brunette held up a six pack of beer in one hand and a white take-out bag in the other.
"Shay is out of town, so I figured you could use someone to watch the game with." she smiled gently. "It was a rough shift."
"I'm fine." Kelly spoke but he still backed away and her let come through the doorway.
"Is that why you were grumpier than normal when you got back? You don't fool me, Kelly." Rossi kicked off her shoes and walked over towards the couch where she put down the food next to his open beer. "I didn't remember what you usually order so I just got my favourites, I hope that is okay."
"You didn't have to do this." Kelly said softly as he joined her on the couch and turned on the tv.
"I know." She winked and handed him a white container of Chinese food and a pair of chopsticks.
´The game only worked as a partial distraction. Kelly spent most of it watching the woman next to him. The woman in question however was completely engrossed in the game, curled up in her seat and cradling the box of food. Once again, the Italian paramedic managed to surprise him. She didn't push him to talk, didn't nag or discreetly hint at the touchy subject. She was just there. A comforting presence that made normal commentary about the game.
Normalcy was good. Her actions told Kelly that she knew exactly what he was going through. She knew the motions and knew that Kelly knew them too. It wasn't the first time for either of them. She didn't need him to voice his thoughts out loud or go over what happened over and over again.
But despite how nice the company was or how fast paced the game was, it didn't stop the images from pushing to the forefront of his mind. Whenever that occurred, Kelly took a long sip of his beer and starred into space until he could get his thoughts under control again.
"It's harder when its kids, isn't it?" Valentina stated after he took another long sip. "It doesn't seem fair that someone who couldn't possibly influence their own faith gets taken away because of other people's actions."
"No. It isn't fair."
"I know that you already know this, but it was already too late for him when you found him." She turned in her seat to face Kelly instead of the TV. "You were the kid's best chance, and if you couldn't do anything, no one else could have."
"How would you know?"
"Because I, I wouldn't say that I know you, but I have seen you at work Kelly and the lengths you go to help those in danger. You are a good man, and damn good at your job, Lieutenant."
Her sparkling green eyes looked right at him as they tried to convey the truth behind her words. It was like she truly saw him. It was nice, but unusual for him to have someone hold him in such high regards. There was Shay of course and Matt for the most part along with the rest of 51. But while they might have faith in his ability as a lieutenant, they sometimes failed to believe in the other aspects and values of him.
But during all that time Kelly never heard her reveal anything about herself. He didn't know what she had done before she became the new PIC at 51. He didn't know if she had any family around. He didn't know what could have possibly triggered her at the scene earlier and he certainly didn't know how he could help her in a situation like this. He wanted to, but he was at a complete loss.