Callie Western

by KyKy's mummy

Callie Western is a thirty-three-year-old firefighter, who started life in a tough situation, until the age of fourteen when her life changed drastically and in her opinion for the better and there was two other reasons for it, that Callie was immensely proud of. Callie was proud that after her tough start in life that she was now heading onto her fifth year of being a firefighter.

1. Chapter 1

Background of the main character Callie Western.

Callie Western is a thirty-three-year-old firefighter, who started life in a tough situation, until the age of fourteen when her life changed drastically and in her opinion for the better and there was two other reasons for it, that Callie was immensely proud of. Callie was proud that after her tough start in life that she was now heading onto her fifth year of being a firefighter within the CFD. Callie didn't have many friends and those she did have would come and go like the seasons. Callie never felt wanted at any firehouse previously, she was hoping that firehouse fifty-one and the people that worked within there would become teammates and eventual friends.

Callie Western

Callie wasn't normally a nervous person, but for Callie walking into a new firehouse was nerve wracking, previous firehouses never made her feel welcome, mostly because they were filled with over the hill, overweight old men who didn't like change or the fact a woman was on Truck with them. Callie had heard of the fabulous reputation of Firehouse fifty-one and wasn't one for listening to talk, she was an observer and so far in her five year career within the CFD it had served her well.

Callie must have sat outside the firehouse for at least twenty to thirty minutes, watching her teammates walking together up the apron, she observed a good mix of young blood and those that weren't relics but you could tell had a good few years on the young ones. Callie smiled from what she had witnessed so far she believed fifty-one was going to be a good fit, well she hoped at least.

After another five minutes Callie got out of her car, walked around to the trunk and took out her trusted CFD duffle, filled to the brim with spare uniform, toiletries and little nic naks she'd gained over the years, but the one thing that would take pride of joy in the inside of her locker was a photo of her family.

Finally adjusted her sunglasses, Callie shut the trunk of her car locked it and walked up the apron, she stopped in front of Truck eighty-one and smiled, Callie had heard good things about Captain Casey and was looking forward to working with him and the rest of Truck eighty-one.

Callie looked up to find a tall figure watching her from afar taking one last look at Truck she walked over, smiling once more and holding out her hand she introduced herself.

"Hi, I'm Callie Western I'm the new firefighter for Truck eighty-one, are you Captain Casey?"

The figure shakes his head "No I'm Lieutenant Kelly Severide, but most people around here call me Severide, welcome to fifty-one"

"Thanks, I don't suppose you could point me in the direction of Chief Boden's office?"

Kelly nods pointing in the direction he was about to describe "Go in through those doors, take a left, then a right go through the bull pen and straight in front of you will be Boden's office"

Callie nods, smiles and heads towards the doors, when entering Callie follows Kelly's directions to the letter and ends up stood outside of Boden's office waiting to be called in.

Kylie seeing Callie smiles "Good morning can I get you anything?"

"No thank you, but thanks for asking"

"No problem, if you need anything and I mean anything please don't hesitate to ask"

Callie smiles and notices Boden waving her in, Callie sets her bag by the chair and hands Boden her paperwork, standing ram rod straight she watches as Boden reads her file and nods on occasion, eventually he looks up and grins.

"You do realise that you can sit down?"

"Sorry Chief I was waiting for you to tell me to sit down, out of respect"

"You don't have to have permission to sit down on my account, I'm not that kind of Chief that makes my firefighters stand to attention and say yes sir, how high sir"

Callie sits down "Yes sir"

Boden raises his right eyebrow and grins, Callie giggles "Sorry Chief"

"Mmm, everything looks good with your file, now a quick tour and find you a locker"

"Oh a tour won't be necessary Chief, I can find my own way around, thanks"

Boden stands from his chair "Ok but at least let me find someone to show you to the locker room at least?"

"That would be perfect, thank you"

Boden picks up the duffle bag and finds it to be heavy "What have you got in here a dead body?"

"Damn it I've been found out!"

Boden's eyebrows lift into his hairline and stares at Callie, Callie bites her lip but eventually bursts into giggles "I'm sorry Chief it was a joke I don't have any dead bodies within my work duffle just spare uniform, toiletries and stuff"

Boden rolls his eyes and is about to ask Kylie to help Callie to the locker room when Kelly walks in "Ahh Severide could you please show Callie where the locker room is please?"

"Sure, follow me"

Callie started to walk away until a loud cough behind her made her stop in her tracks, Callie walked over to the Chief and grabbed her duffle before following Kelly out of the bullpen, Boden looked down at Kylie who was giggling.

Kylie looked up at her Chief "Sorry Chief"

Boden rolls his eyes and goes back into his office, smiling as he notices Kylie giggling to herself, meanwhile Callie and Kelly were in the locker room and found a locker beside Brett and Mikami.

"Quick question, first or last name?"

"Most people have put their last name, so you decide"

Callie nods and sticks her last name on the piece of masking tape currently stuck to the locker door, she turns to find Kelly gone and giggles, taking out her spare uniform, toiletries and photo she attaches the photo to the inside, smiling she shuts the door, attaches her padlock and follows the sounds of loud voices. Callie finds herself outside the briefing room all eyes turn and focus on her.

Boden points to the spare seat beside Gallo and addresses the house "Good morning I'd like to introduce out newest firefighter Callie Western, make her feel welcome fifty-one"

Everyone smiled and said welcome, once that was done Boden once again addressed the house "The monthly cleaning rota has hit second shift, I know you don't like cleaning but that's life. Truck you have the windows, Squad apparatus floor, Engine common room and bunkroom, sixty-one bathroom and shower room, I want things gleaming so I can see my face in them"

Callie whispered to Gallo "Did he really mean that?"

Gallo shook his head "No just means he wants it done before end of shift; I'm Blake Gallo I work on Truck"

Callie smiles and holds out her hand "Hi I'm Callie, who else do I work with on Truck?"

Gallo stands up "Here follow me and I'll introduce you"

Callie follows Gallo and feels like she has gained an instant friend in the young man, Gallo stops at the large table and as he's speaking points to who he's talking about.

"On Truck you'll find Mouch, Stella and Captain Casey"

Stella smiles "Finally another woman on truck, means we can keep the boys in check"

Casey stands up and smiles "That's never worked before so why would it happen now?"

Stella shrugs "One can hope Casey"

Callie giggles "Hey guys, I'm Callie. Just asking why are you called Mouch?"

"Ahh you see its nickname that was given to me by my fellow firefighters as a term of endearment"

"What he means is half man, half couch"

"I was getting to that Kidd"

"What next week? Maybe we should give you the new nickname Sloth?"

A piece of sausage was flung across the common room landing in front of Capp's plate, Capp did nothing but pick up the piece of sausage dip it in sauce and deposit it into his mouth, everyone looked on in disgust, fortunately Mouch hadn't taken a bite of the offending item, only he knew that.

Once breakfast was eaten, everyone went about their duties, Stella pulled eighty-one out of the apparatus floor and helped Mouch raise the aerial, Stella and Callie partnered up and ended up in fits of giggles as water from above from Gallo and Mouch kept dripping down and hitting them on the head, Casey stood observing he was glad that Callie had slotted in so well to the Truck team, he was also happy for Stella she had another woman on Truck.

Casey was no idiot he knew that with Callie and Stella on Truck the men were in for a tough ride, he could sense the quickly developing friendship emerging between the two women and boy if anyone hurt their girls, yes Casey, Gallo and Mouch's girls they would know about it, even though he knew they would be fine on their own.

Once the windows were cleaned and more daylight seemed to come through them, Casey allowed Truck to do their own thing, within reason, the within reason was generally put towards Gallo who had a habit of getting into messes rather quickly.

Stella went to spend time with Sylvie and Violet, which left Callie stood beside eighty-one with Gallo "So what now?"

"Well, I could show you around, you had the tour yet?"

Callie shakes her head "No I told the Chief that I could find my own way around, but I must have found the same closet three times, or fifty-one has three cleaning closets here?"

Gallo laughed "No that's the same one, look I can give you a quick tour before I have to start on lunch duties, how about it?"

"Lunch duties or the tour?"

"The tour but if you really wanted to help with lunch duties that would be nice too"

Callie winked at Gallo "Come on, the tour first then we'll see about lunch"

Gallo smiled, Violet who had been watching from sixty-one turned to Sylvie and Stella "Are they really flirting with each other?"

Sylvie sighed "Vi they are teammates he's just making Callie feel welcome"

"Mmm maybe's so but she's not come and introduced herself to me or you Brett, just all friendly with the Truck guys"

"Violet give her time she's only been here a few hours, besides she's so nice you'll see when she comes over, trust me or am I sensing jealousy on your part?"

Violet rolls her eyes at Stella "I'm not jealous, even if they are flirting with each other, she's too old for him"

Stella raises her eyebrows "Damn girl how old do you think she is?"

Violet shrugs "I don't know late thirties"

Sylvie giggles "I'm thirty-four does that make me old?"

"No of course not, what I mean is, she's too old for Gallo"

"Stella, I think your points been proven, jealousy"

"I'm not jealous! Just making an observation is all"

Stella pats Violet on the back and smiles at Sylvie "Keep thinking like that"

Truck eighty-one, Ambo sixty-one house fire 3434 West Wallaby Street.

Stella jumped up from sixty-one and ran towards eighty-one, Stella took one last look as Violet glared as Callie and Gallo appeared at eighty-one together, this just proved to Stella that Violet still had feelings for Gallo, sitting in the driver's seat Stella pulled out of fifty-one following Ambo, Casey also seeing the looks Violet gave Callie looked sideways at Stella, Stella shook her head and mouthed 'later' and Casey nodded.

On arrival the house was well on the way to be engulfed, a panic stricken women came running at Truck eighty-one Callie was the first out the Truck when the women started to scream.

"My daughter she's still in there, help her please?"

Callie turned to Casey "Captain?"

"Callie, Gallo go in do a quick search and then get out, you don't have much time, go!"

Callie and Gallo pulled up their hoods and attached their SBCA's placing their helmets back on their heads they both ran to the house, the smoke was thick Callie grabbed Gallo's arm and signalled to head upstairs, as they went up the stairs, they felt unsteady but made it to the top.

"Gallo you go left I'll go right, ok?"

Gallo nods "Sure thing Callie"

Callie and Gallo go their separate ways, Callie hearing Gallo shout out 'Fire department call out' Callie checked several rooms and came across nothing, she got to the last room and could hear crying from an infant, rushing into the room she found the baby in her crib, Callie picked the baby up and grabbed her radio.

"Casey, I have the infant and I'm making my way back out now"

"Got it Callie, Gallo did you hear that?"

"Sure, thing Captain, checked the final room and making my way out now, Gallo out"

Gallo and Callie found themselves at the top of the stairs, Gallo puts his right boot on the top step, and the stairs creaked a mere second later the stairs collapsed with Gallo's boot still on them as he started to fall Callie grabbed his arm and held on.

"Gallo you, ok?"

Gallo feeling a little dazed replied "Hey what?"

"Gallo are you ok?" Callie groaned she was only holding Gallo by his right arm with her left hand and the baby in her right arm "Gallo I need you to concentrate and pull yourself up I can't hold you forever"

Gallo looked down "Holy moly, yeah right ok"

"Callie? Gallo you ok in there?"

Neither one of them could reply, as Gallo pulled himself up, Callie pulled too, once Gallo was laying on the floor beside her, he grabbed her hand.

"Thanks"

"No problem, now we have to get out and down the stairs is not an option"

Gallo looked over the edge "Clearly not, so out a window we go?"

Callie nodded and hauled Gallo to his feet.

"Callie? Gallo are you ok?"

Callie grabbed her radio "Yes Captain, I was just preventing Gallo from falling through the stairs when they collapsed, going to have to vacate the house via a window, Captain its getting hot in here!"

"Give us five minutes to move the aerial"

"I'd be happier with three but ok"

Callie dragged a still dazed Gallo to the babies room, Callie turned to Gallo "Here hold her whilst I break this window"

Gallo nods and secures the baby in his arms, the baby suddenly starts to scream when the alarm on Gallo's oxygen tank starts to blare out, Callie turns to Gallo and finds him slumping to the floor.

"Gallo what the hell?"

Gallo gasping for air points at his tank, Callie smashes the window open and gets down on her hands and knees beside Gallo "Gallo? Blake talk to me"

"Air gone wrong"

Callie pulls her mask from her face and pulls Gallo's at the same time, Gallo shakes his head "No your air, you need it"

"We can share, damn it Gallo don't be stubborn!"

"Can't help it, it's in my nature"

Callie attaches her mask to Gallo's face she leaves the tank beside him and goes to the window "Captain we really need the aerial now, Gallo's got no air, he's using mine, I don't know how much longer we can hold out in this room"

"Callie two minutes"

"Captain, we don't have two minutes, the fires getting closer, and I have a firefighter down and a small infant with me" Callie looks down at the ground "I have an idea but you're not going to like it"

"Callie stay where you are"

"Captain I can see a trampoline from here straight across from the house grab it and we can jump down onto that"

"No way stay put that's an order"

Callie rolled her eyes and, in her mind, saying 'stay put' really does Captain Casey want us dead? Callie grabbed her Halligan and Gallo's and smashed hers into the wall and then criss crossed Gallo's above hers, she found the webbing in her turn out gear and went over to Gallo, who squirmed as Callie rubbed up his leg.

"Callie? What you doing?"

Callie coughed as the smoke from the fire approaching was thick "Looking for your webbing I'm not feeling you up"

"Oh? Ok it's in my right side top pocket"

Callie felt inside Gallo's right pocket and as she grabbed the webbing, she coughed again which caused her hand to slip, Gallo's eyes went wide within the mask, and he tried to move away "Callie?"

"Sorry Gallo"

Callie stood up and quickly weaved the webbing around the Halligan's, helping Gallo to his feet she attached the webbing around him and then herself, making sure the young baby was secure within her turnout coat Callie and Gallo got up onto the window sill, looking back into the room the flames were coming in from under the door, Callie looked at Gallo and nodded, they jumped down from the window sill hoping that the Halligan's and webbing would hold.

Casey looked up at the moment when Callie and Gallo jumped out the window, they jumped so quickly that Callie hit the wall of the house with some force, taking the wind out of her and for her to keep coughing, Casey could hear the crying from the baby and pointed at Mouch to grab a ladder and run to the house.

Casey was fuming at Callie for ignoring his orders, but quickly realised when the flames engulfed the window frame that she'd saved not only herself but Gallo and the baby too, he ran to help Mouch and took the baby from Callie.

"Captain I'm sorry I just knew we couldn't wait, I take whatever punishment you think I deserve"

Casey handed the baby over to Sylvie and pulled Callie into a hug, Callie was in shock her Captain was hugging her in front of everyone, she stood ram rod straight looking over to Sylvie, who nodded, Callie took that as a sign that she could hug Casey back, which she did.

Casey pushed Callie back "You need to be checked at Med you hit that wall at some speed, you too Gallo"

Gallo coughed "Don't I get a hug too Captain?"

"Second Ambo is on its way Casey"

"Thanks Vi"

Violet nodded and walked away to sixty-one, Callie followed and smiled at the mother of the little girl she rescued "Back safe and sound in the arms of her mom"

"Thank you so much, I'm so grateful, you were so brave I can't thank you enough"

"Don't thank me it's a team effort and so I now hand you over to Sylvie and Violet, they are the ones that deserve all the credit"

"My names Tia and this is Harley" Tia raised Harley's arm and made it wave a Callie.

"Aww thank you bye Harley, be good for mommy now" Callie nodded and smiled at Violet as she shut the doors of sixty-one "See you at Med I guess?"

"Sure, see you there Callie"

Callie walks over to the waiting Ambo and gets inside beside Gallo "You, ok?"

"Yeah, took in a bit of smoke but I'll be ok, can we talk about the..."

Callie nodded and smiled "Sure but not here, later"

Gallo smiled and stared at anything within the back of Ambo twelve, Paramedic Clarkson had to keep turning away she found Gallo's reluctance to look at Callie really amusing, Clarkson glanced at Callie briefly and Callie could only smile and shrug her shoulders, which made her wince.

"Need any pain meds Callie?"

"No just tender where I decided to become a human wrecking ball, I'll be ok"

Gallo snorts "Great now I have that Miley Cyrus song in my head, oh what's it called?"

Callie side glances Gallo before looking over to Clarkson "It's called Wrecking Ball, Blake"

"Ha so it is"

Callie whispers to herself "Oh my"

Clarkson partner PIC Sanders opened the doors of Ambo twelve and gave Callie and Clarkson a 'ok what the hells happened look?', before anyone can answer Gallo starts to sing very off key.

'I came in like a wrecking ball
I never hit so hard in love
All I wanted was to break your walls
All you ever did was wreck me

I came in like a wrecking ball
Yeah, I just closed my eyes and swung
Left me crashing in a blazin' fall
All you ever did was wreck me
Yeah, you, you wreck me'

Callie turned her head quickly and smacked Gallo on the arm "Shut up!"

Gallo giggled as did Clarkson, Sanders just walked with Callie into Med still none of the wiser and honestly was now past caring what it was all about as he was waiting to hand over his patients to any doctor that came, fortunately they weren't waiting long, Doctor Halstead arrived.

"Morning how can I help?"

"Callie Western thirty-three year old female fell from a two storey building and hit the side of a house"

"Right how are you even standing?"

Callie looks down at her feet and then at Will "Quite easily actually you see you put your two feet to the floor and there you go, it's called standing"

Will couldn't help it he laughed loudly which caused everyone around him to stop and stare, Will waved them all off and looked at Callie who smiled back.

"Sorry we had to jump out of the second storey window and the mechanism of the fall made me hit the wall"

"Hey I'm not surprised you hit the wall Callie, you were holding onto me and that little girl at the same time"

"Room four for you Callie and room five for you Gallo, I'll be in to see you shortly"

Gallo salutes Will and enters room five, Callie follows Will into room four and she instantly sits down on the bed, Will smiles and steps forward from the door.

"Hey I haven't seen you in a while, where you been?"

"Oh here and there, how are you? Any ladies?"

"Ha no, do any of fifty-one know?"

Callie shakes her head and removes her turnout coat and then lifts her CFD t-shirt over her head "No not yet and I'd like to keep it that way, for now"

Will nods "So I take it I'm the only one that knows?"

"Pretty much, the only one that hasn't judged me for it either"

"No never, does this hurt when I press here?"

"No" Callie turns to Will "So the verdict Doc?"

"Bruising to your shoulder blades, deep heat or a nice massage will do the trick, you're ok to return to duty"

Callie smiles as she tucks her shirt back into her pants "You offering the massage Will?"

Will coughs and looks up from his patient board "Wait? What?"

"I'm joking Will, you're my best friend, hey you told Jay I'm back in town?"

"Not yet he'd wet his pants if he knew"

"Ewwww William that's disgusting!"

Will laughs "Yeah well you always knew that Jay had a soft spot for you, as children didn't he ask you to marry him?"

"Oh god yes, what were we five at the time? Good memories until it all turned to shit!"

Will side hugged Callie "You know that was never your fault, right?"

Callie nods "Yeah I know"

"Right, I best go check over Gallo, you can wait for him in the waiting room, see you around Lis"

Callie smiles "You haven't called me that in years'"

"That's because I haven't seen you in years'"

Callie smiles and walks out the room and heads towards the waiting room to find Sylvie and Violet sat there, Callie sits down and sighs "Just bruising deep heat or a massage was recommended, do we have any deep heat back at the house?"

"I have some in my locker"

"Oh, thanks Violet, don't want a massage from anyone, I get the feeling the guys would take it the wrong way"

Violet laughed "So true, sorry but I have to ask do you like Gallo?"

"Ha no not in the boyfriend sense, he's too young for me what is he twenty-five or something?"

"He's twenty-six"

"Oh, he's Vi's ex"

"Brett!"

Callie laughed and patted Violet's arm "You have no worries on my part, his though is a different matter"

The forementioned person walked into the room and instantly pulled Callie into a hug "You, ok?"

Callie pushed Gallo back "Down boy, I'm fine and me touching you was an accident, I coughed my hand slipped end of!"

Sylvie and Violet burst into giggles as Callie mimes the drop the mike pose and walks out of the waiting room, Gallo laughs along with them and followed Callie out and towards Ambo. Once Callie was sat in front with Violet and Gallo in the back with Sylvie, Violet drove back to fifty-one and pulled onto the apparatus floor to find the whole house stood outside with Herrmann reeling in a hose back onto Engine fifty-one.

Callie stands beside Casey and Severide "So what happened?"

Severide turned to Gallo "Did you or did you not turn the oven on and leave a wooden spoon within the said oven?"

Gallo takes a step towards Callie and nods "Yeah sorry we got the call and then we had to go Med, Casey told us to go to Med"

"Hey I didn't know you'd turned the oven on and then left the wooden spoon inside the oven, what were you thinking?"

"I wasn't obviously"

Callie steps forwards "I have a confession to make it wasn't Gallo who put the wooden spoon in the oven it was me"

"You?"

Callie nods at Severide "Uh yes I was going to help Gallo make lunch and instead I tried to burn the fire house down, great first day this is"

Callie looked down at the floor and stayed looking down until she heard laughter from the whole house, she looked up to find Severide smiling at her "Welcome to fifty-one, try not to burn us down next shift hey?"

"I'll try not to Lieutenant"

"So, what do we do about lunch now?"

"Do you ever not think about your stomach Capp?"

"Only when sleeping"

"Which is all the time"

"Hey!"

Cruz rolls his eyes and holds out his hand to Callie "Joe Cruz, member of Squad three and day worker to Capp"

"Hey Cruz, I know how I can sort out lunch"

"Ooh lunch"

Callie stepped back and fell into Severide's arms "Whoops sorry Lieutenant"

Kelly smiled down at Callie "No problem, so how about lunch or Capp will start to eat you"

Callie steps out of Kelly's arms "Ok I know some people who work at the local deli, we could order in?"

Everyone's eyes especially Capp's raise in glee, Callie smiles "Ok anybody with allergies I should know about?"

Everyone shakes their heads, Capp walks over to Callie and holds her hands "Just order food, I'm hungry"

Callie steps away from the rest of the house and goes out onto the apron, she waits for the phone to be answered the other end.

Good afternoon and welcome to Bruno's deli, I'm Hollie how may I help you today?

Hi Hollie, its Callie Western here from firehouse fifty-one I'd like to place a huge order of everything from the menu, could that be possible?"

Oh of course Bruno will be pleased, he's been begging you for quite some time to use the Deli for lunches, oh here he comes now, Bruno its Callie.

Oh, Callie you ordering for your firehouse?

Hey Bruno, that would be correct, how are you? The kids, wife?

They are good thanks, so order of everything on the current menu? Any allergies I should know about?

No none whatsoever, how much do we owe you Bruno?

For you and your firehouse nothing, word of mouth is all I need, your friends eat and enjoy they tell their friends and so on, the order will be with you in the next twenty minutes, should I send Hollie and Grace with the order?

Callie thinks about it for a few minutes and then smiles I think that's a great idea, I have a good feeling about fifty-one.

Ok I'll still have the baseball bat to hand if they upset you Callie

Bruno thanks but I can handle it, and have been for five years

I know this Callie, but I've seen you grow up from the girl begging me for a job at sixteen to a firefighter a female firefighter at that in the CFD I'm proud of you, we all are at Bruno's deli, now I'll get going and do your order, keep safe Callie and bye.

Callie walked back into the firehouse and the common room and Capp was instantly out of his seat "So did you order food?"

"No, I thought I'd stand out on the apron for ten minutes talking to myself down the phone, what do you think?"

"Oh, that a yes?"

Callie rolls her eyes and sits beside Mouch on the couch, Callie leans over to Mouch "Is he always that simple?"

Mouch removes his glasses and smiles at Callie "Oh we have a few good stories to tell about our dear friend Capp here, but for your first shift I won't endure you into the pain"

Callie giggled and hugged Mouch's arm "Lunch will be here in twenty minutes"

"What do we owe you Callie?"

"Nothing Herrmann, I know the owner, in fact I worked for him before I joined the CFD, he's one proud ex employer"

Everyone settled down and waited for lunch to arrive, fifteen minutes later Callie's phone beeped signalling a text.

We're outside could use some extra pairs of hands if you could spare them?

Callie looked up from her phone and pointed at Stella, Sylvie and Violet and waved them towards her "Foods here but the delivery crew need extra hands, want to help?"

Callie, Stella, Sylvie and Violet walked out the common room and out of the firehouse and towards the delivery van sat at the kerb, on approach the two delivery girls smiled as Callie approached.

"Hey Callie glad you brought assistance you know Bruno goes over the top, in fact so over the top he's had to shut down the deli to restock"

"Which also means we get the rest of the day off"

"I didn't think of that Hollie"

Hollie grinned "I know you didn't, but I did"

Callie giggled "Come on girls, there's a lot of hungry firefighters in there that if left any longer will start eating each other, this is Stella, Sylvie and Violet my coworkers"

Stella, Sylvie and Violet wave and grabbed two boxes each of food out the back of the van, once all food was out of the van Grace shut the door with her hip, locked the van and followed the ladies back into the firehouse and then into the common room.

Casey made room on the long table and helped take boxes from Grace and Hollie, they both smiled as Casey pulled out two chairs for them to sit down.

"Can I get you anything ladies?"

"Yes thanks"

"Could I have some water please?"

Grace nods "Ooh yes water"

Casey grabs two glasses and fills them with water, he then hands them to Grace and Hollie and sits beside Callie.

Capp grabs several different sandwiches and looks at the two girls sat beside Casey and Callie "I love you"

Callie stood up and stood in front of Grace and Hollie "Refrain from saying you love my daughters would you Capp?"

Silence was all that was heard from everyone within the common room, Callie felt uncomfortable until Casey smiled and looked directly at Grace and Hollie.

"Welcome to fifty-one, you must be so proud of your mom, I'm Captain Matt Casey and your mom works with me on Truck"

Hollie smiles and speaks first "Captain Casey I couldn't be more prouder of my mom, she's the best"

Grace nods "Yeah I'm exactly the same, she might have been a young mom, but that never stopped her and it never will"

Callie smiled as the rest of the firehouse introduced themselves to her twin girls, Callie finally felt welcomed immensely at fifty-one by all and they certainly proved how much they cared and with no judgement thrown back at Callie or her girls she finally felt accepted.

Callie sat with her colleagues and twin daughters laughing and enjoying the delicious food from Bruno's Deli. Fortunately during this time the citizens of Chicago didn't need any help, this helped Grace and Hollie become fast friends with Stella, Sylvie, Kylie and Violet.

When it was time for the girls to leave the whole firehouse gave them a hug, Boden told the girls they were welcome anytime and they could have the tour, the girls were grateful and definitely found Kylie to be their best friend the three girls had arranged to meet up to go to the mall, Stella had even invited the twins to join Girls on fire, which they did. The whole of fifty-one covered their ears once the squeals of delight from Kylie, Grace and Hollie came out.

Even though fifty-one had welcomed Grace and Hollie and hadn't made Callie feel like a tramp, she still had underlying trust issues. That came about because of previous incidents at other firehouses, some of the names that had been shouted were awful not just to Callie but to her daughters.

The thoughts eventually got to Callie and she burst into silent tears, Callie happened to be sat next to Kelly who when hearing Callie sniff he looked up.

"Callie you ok?"

Callie shakes her head and stands up, Kelly follows and moves his hands in the down motion as he's spotted all of fifty-one standing, he finds Callie in the turnout room sobbing, he approaches with caution and gently slides on the bench beside her.

"Callie talk to me or anyone for that matter"

Callie sobbed louder, Kelly was at a loss of what to do, he jumped in surprise when Callie wrapped her arms around his neck and snuggled into his neck.

"Hey Callie talk to me"

"Kelly I'm just overwhelmed with the kindness the whole house have given me and my girls, I'm not used to it"

Kelly strokes Callie's arms "I can gather from the twins age that you were extremely young when you had them?"

Callie lifts her head from Kelly's neck "I did, but it wasn't my fault, I didn't ask for it, but here nineteen years later my girls are my world"

"You can definitely see that, they are a credit to you Callie, no more tears your here now and if you haven't noticed already, fifty-one is a family, so that makes you, Grace and Hollie family, those girls are going to have so many crazy aunts and uncles looking out for them now, you'll never have to worry ever again"

Callie wipes at her tear stained face and then kisses Kelly on the side of his face "Thank you, now to tell the whole house about how at thirty-three I have two teenage daughters"

Kelly stands up and smiles down at Callie, he holds out his hand which Callie accepts and he pulls her to her feet. Callie bites her lip and sighs.

"Want me to stand at the front with you?"

Callie smiles "Would you Kelly?"

"Sure, now come on I don't have a good reputation of being in the turnout room with beautiful females, normally means I've had my pants around my ankles and there's been moaning involved"

Callie stands open mouthed, Kelly groans and shakes his head "You didn't need to know that, the part about the moaning and half nakedness, I'm going to shut up now"

Callie giggles and again leans forward to kiss Kelly's face, at the exact time she was level with his right cheek, Kelly moved his head and Callie's lips landed on Kelly's.

Callie's eyes went wide but she didn't move her head, neither was Kelly, a few seconds later they moved back from each other and looked down at the floor.

Callie spoke first "Sorry Kelly but you did move your head"

Kelly smiled and grabbed Callie's right hand "Don't be sorry, it was an accident, don't get me wrong a nice accident and I don't regret it, do you?"

Callie shook her head "No not at all, what is this Kelly?"

"Two friends and colleagues that shared a kiss that's all, Callie I have the reputation of a womanizer and that's not fair on you to drag you into my inability to keep it in my pants"

"I understand and I'm glad I have a friend like you, right let's get this over with or they will start to think that we are in here with our pants around our ankles"

Kelly nodded a hint of red on his cheeks, Kelly had the vision of himself and Callie in the turnout room moaning loudly, he needed to get that image out of his mind and quickly or he'd need a cold shower.

Kelly followed Callie back into the common room and pointed to the briefing room, everyone got up from their seats and went into the briefing room, Callie walked in with Kylie and Boden, Boden took the seat next to Kylie and watched as Callie stood at the front with Kelly beside her, Boden smiled as Kelly rubbed Callie's arms and then kissed her right hand, Kelly then spun Callie on the spot and stood beside her smirking as Callie glared at him, she then sighed and took in a deep breath and briefly closed her eyes.

"Please bear with me as what I'm about to tell you is difficult for me and only one person knows what I'm about to tell you and if I start to cry please don't crowd me, only Kelly can hug me, that ok Kelly?"

Kelly nods, so Callie continues "I've always lived in Chicago, I was born on the twenty-eighth of May nineteen ninety, my parents were good people and I can remember how much they cared for me, then at the age of two years old my mom gave birth to my still born brother, it devastated them. My dad tried to stick it out and he did till I was twelve and then without question he upped and left. This caused my mom to start drinking heavily, she always seemed to find the loser of the pack and during that time I was an inconvenience to her, I lost count how much she told me that. She'd often tell me that it should have been me that died during pregnancy and not my brother, it hurt you know?"

Callie took a deep breath and wiped at a few tears, Kelly grabbed her hand and gently squeezed "I'd always forgive her, she was my mom no matter what was said. A year later we were good, we spent every waking moment with each other till just after my then fourteenth birthday she brought this guy home, he gave me the creeps, he was very touchy feely even with me, but my mom just laughed. I knew then I had to get out for me. So one day when they were both asleep from excessive drinking I grabbed what I could and ran to my best friend's house"

Callie had to wipe at her face again and squeezed Kelly's hand again "I managed several weeks hauled up with my best friends family until I decided I needed more of my belongings, my friend would beg me not to think about going back to my mom's without someone with me. Well I didn't listen. I went to the house alone and I crept in, the house was silent so I went around quickly gathering my last remaining items of belongings I wanted. Little did I know my mom's creepy boyfriend was there hiding as I was looking for my birth certificate he grabbed me from behind. He stank of alcohol and he pushed me to the floor. He kept calling out my mom's name as he ripped my clothing from my body. I just lay there hoping and wishing that the nightmare would end!"

Callie let tears flow down her face and blew out short deep breaths to calm her nerves down, she noticed not a dry eye in the room and continued "The torture didn't end, he didn't realise it was me or he did and was a damn site better actor than I gave him credit for. He...he...oh god...he raped me! I screamed and punched him but he didn't stop, he never stopped until he finished and collapsed on top of me. He fell asleep I had to use what strength I had to push him off me. I quickly dressed grabbed everything I collected and ran. I ran all the way back to my friend's house and collapsed on the porch. My best friend's mom found me an hour later and rushed me to Chicago Med. I went through the rape kit and talked for hours to the most lovely Sergeant I've ever met, just wish I could remember her name"

Mouch looked deep into Callie's eyes and raised his hands "I know who you talked to, my wife Sergeant Trudy Platt, that case still haunts her now, she'd love to see you again I'm sure"

Callie smiles "I'd like that thank you Mouch. The authorities took me away from my mom, my best friend and placed me in a foster home. My foster parents we're and still are very supportive, my foster mom even took me to the doctors and was there for me when I was told I was pregnant. You can image my world came crashing in on me, fourteen years old and pregnant I was mortified, but my foster parents supported me throughout everything pregnancy, birth and onwards. My foster dad cried when he met Grace and Hollie, his first grand babies he said, when the twins were six weeks old my foster parents adopted me. I have five older siblings who all work in the family business"

Callie smiles "I went back to school and thrived, my grades improved and I passed everything thrown at me with flying colours. My dad was crying when I passed at the Fire Academy and once again when my number came up. I don't regret that I'm a mom of nineteen year old twins at thirty-three if it wasn't for my foster and then adoptive parents I honestly can't say I'd be where I am now"

Callie took one last breath and looked over at the rest of the firehouse all in tears, Callie felt relieved that for once a firehouse she worked in didn't judge her and the atmosphere within the room Callie could tell it affected them all dearly.

Stella stood up from her seat "Can I please hug you now?"

Callie nodded and Stella pulled Callie into a bone crunching hug, Callie wasn't normally one for hugs but she needed this, she looked around at the whole firehouse stood there "Oh what the hell, group hug?"

Boden walked over slowly "I think you'll find it's more of a family hug, now get over here"

During the group hug, Kelly placed his right hand on Callie's ass and smiles at her, Callie giggles. The hug separates and everyone goes their separate ways. Callie follows Kelly towards his office, closes the door and shuts the blinds.

Herrmann and Mouch notice that Callie shut the blinds of Kelly's office Herrmann waves to Mouch to stand by the door, they listen intently to what's happening behind those closed doors.

"For god sake Callie stop hitting me?"

"Kelly, seriously what was with the ass grab? Friends don't do that to each other"

"Would you believe me if I said my hand slipped?"

"I didn't know the flying pink elephant was native to Chicago and currently over the firehouse"

Herrmann and Mouch giggled, Casey was walking to his office and stopped for a few seconds, he then moved towards the giggling friends and heard the tail end of Kelly talking.

"I swear it wasn't intentional"

"Bull!"

Kelly laughs "It was Elephants a minute ago"

Callie groans "Seriously Severide?"

Herrmann and Mouch were crying with laughter, Matt was smiling and coughed as Boden approached, Boden raised his eyebrows at Herrmann and Mouch and looked directly at Matt.

"Any ideas where Severide is?"

Matt pointed to Kelly's office and was about to explain the current situation when the alarm went off for a call out.

Squad three, Truck eighty-one, Engine fifty-one, Ambo sixty-one, Battalion twenty-five residential fire 7845 King street.

Hearing the call Callie gasped pulled open the door to Kelly's office and barged past Herrmann and Mouch and ran to Truck screaming no as she went, everyone got into the rigs within seconds and pulled out of the firehouse.

Callie within seconds was in full gear, little did she know Kelly was in full gear in Squad, Callie was bouncing in her seat tapping Stella's seat in front.

"Step on it Stella"

"I'm going as fast as I can Callie, what's the hurry?"

As soon as Stella was on scene, Callie jumped out of Truck and quickly put her hood and SBCA on and ran to the building, Kelly spotted Callie running inside and quickly followed, he found Callie searching frantically.

"Fire department call out!"

Kelly got beside Callie and held her arm "Western what the hell?"

Callie pulled her arm from Kelly's hand and screamed "FIRE DEPARTMENT CALL OUT!"

"Callie talk to me"

"No time, we need to find him, help me Severide or leave me alone"

"Callie who are you trying to find, tell me"

"My dad, please you have to help me find him"

Kelly nodded and started searching, he soon came across a body on the floor Kelly was about to get Callie's attention when Boden's angry voice boomed through the radio.

"SEVERIDE, WESTERN REPORT!"

"Chief its Callie's dad, I found someone I was about to assess when you called on the radio"

Callie ran at Kelly and bent down to find it was indeed her dad, she removed her mask and placed it over his face, Kelly looked to find Callie without her mask on and quickly pulled her to her feet.

"What the hell are you doing?"

"Kelly I can't lose him, please, I'm ok, please help him, please Kelly"

Kelly lifted Callie's dad up into his arms and grabbed hold of Callie's arm, he pulled her back out of the building and straight up to Sylvie and Violet waiting at sixty-one, Callie's five brothers appeared and pulled her into a hug.

"Cal you saved dad"

Callie coughed and shook her head pointing at Kelly, Violet handed Callie an oxygen mask and Callie shook her head "No I'm fine"

Callie coughed again and Violet smiled and placed the mask over her friends face "Tell me your fine when you stop coughing your guts up"

Callie's five brothers surrounded her and their dad, Kelly stepped back and stood beside Boden, Kelly side glanced his Chief and sighed "Sorry Chief, just needed to get to Callie quickly I had a gut instinct there was more to this, guess I was right"

"Excuse me are you the firefighter that rescued my dad?"

Kelly nodded "Yeah I was also helping your sister"

"I'm Grant, my dad wants to talk to you"

Kelly followed Grant towards his dad and found the whole family stood beside sixty-one, Grant's dad held out his hand for Kelly to take.

"You saved my life and the life of my only daughter, for this I'm forever grateful, I'm Bruno Western, you are?"

"Kelly Severide I work with Callie out of Firehouse fifty-one, glad you're ok, best let you get going the paramedic team really hate it when we firefighters prevent them from helping their patients"

Sylvie smiled and turned to the five men looking at Bruno and Callie "You can meet us at Chicago Med"

Everyone nodded, Grant stopped Kelly from walking away "Join us Kelly?"

"Sorry duty calls"

Boden hearing Grant's request pushes Kelly towards Battalion twenty-five "Go you know you want to"

"I… thanks Chief"

Boden nods and stands watching as the rest of the firehouse tackle the fire, in sixty-one Callie was holding her dads hands "You really scared me pops"

"I know but I remembered to get as close to the floor as possible, you taught me that"

"I did pops, pops I'd like to introduce you to Sylvie and Violet my work colleagues and friends"

Bruno smiles at Sylvie and waves at Violet driving "Pleasure even though the circumstances aren't the greatest"

"Don't worry about it, plenty of other times, especially ones where you're not in the back of my ambo Mr Western"

"Dear call me Bruno, Mr Western is too formal"

Sylvie smiles, nods and stands as Violet opens the doors and helps move the stretcher into Med, Will stood waiting and pulled Bruno's stretcher straight into exam room three, not even waiting for the hand over from Sylvie.

"Bruno what happened?"

"Dear William, fire at the Deli, smoke inhalation, but I dropped to the floor and stayed there"

"Dad you were unconscious when me and Kelly got to you, I gave up my mask for you pops"

"You daft girl"

"I agree, I'll get to you soon Callie" Will looks at Bruno "Answer me honestly how do you feel?"

"Good actually, how's Jay doing he hasn't been to the Deli in a few months, come to think of it neither have you, you haven't found somewhere else have you?"

Will shook his head "I wouldn't go anywhere else, would have your sons on my back"

Bruno smiles "Speaking of which?"

Out in the waiting room found Callie's brothers, Kelly and firehouse fifty-one waiting for any news, Grace and Hollie ran into the waiting room and ran up to Kelly.

"Where's mom? How's Grandpa?"

Kelly pulled the girls down to the chairs "Your mom is just being checked over as a precaution, your grandpa is being assessed as we speak"

"I need to see them"

Hollie nodded and hugged her sister "Kelly can you find out what's happening please?"

"Sure, give me a minute"

Kelly left the room and instantly Grant and his four brothers were beside the twins, Grant patted Grace's hand, she was starting to cry, Hollie was being comforted by her Uncles Robin, Jack, Oscar and Luke, meanwhile Kelly was attempting to find where Callie and Bruno were when he bumped into Will outside of room three.

"Can I help you Severide?"

Bruno hearing the familiar surname waved Kelly into the room, when Callie saw Kelly she jumped up from her chair and pulled Kelly into a hug and then kissed him on the cheek, Bruno smiled and tapped the bars of his bed.

"So Kelly you and my daughter?"

Kelly pushes Callie away "Nope sir just friends"

Bruno nods "Ok and Kelly its Bruno not sir"

"Right ok, oh damn sorry Callie didn't mean to push you so roughly, oh before I forget the girls are here and want to see you both, should I go get them?"

Callie and Bruno nodded, Kelly left the room quickly and entered the waiting room equally as quickly which caused Grace and Hollie to stand quickly and run at Kelly hugging him, everyone in the room was in shock at how quickly the girls had taken to Kelly, Callie's brothers especially.

Kelly pushed the girls gently away and looked directly at them ignoring everyone else "Hey now, what's with the hug, your mom and grandpa are ok, they just wanted me to come get you two first, sorry did my rushing into the room scare you?"

Grace nodded and wiped her tear stained face "Yes you did"

Hollie nodded at Kelly, Kelly sighed "I'm so sorry girls, want to come with me?"

Kelly guiding the twins to the room where their mom and grandpa was waiting for them, as soon as Grace saw her grandpa she leapt into his arms and cried, Hollie stood with Kelly and grabbed his hand, Kelly looked down and Hollie smiled weakly, Kelly gently squeezed Hollie's hand and then pushed her in the direction of her grandpa.

Callie walked over and grabbed Kelly's arm "Thanks, the girls are extremely close to my dad and looking at it you too"

Kelly rubs his face "Yeah don't know why they like me so much?"

Grace stood up and walked over "We like you because you're a friend to mom, she doesn't have many of those and you can see how much you care about each other"

Kelly held up his hands and looked at Bruno "Woah only as a friend, only known your mom, well not even a full shift, a friend that's all"

Callie smiled at her dad who chuckled "Relax Kelly, I maybe Callie's dad, but I recognise a valuable friendship when its right in front of me, do me one thing?"

Kelly nods and relaxes, Bruno laughs "Look after my girl when on calls"

"Dad I'm quite capable of looking after myself"

"Nonsense I'll relax more if I knew Kelly was looking after you"

Callie blew out a raspberry and threw her hands up in the air in defeat, Kelly smiled and watched as Callie hugged her girls and then her dad, she pointed to outside the room, Kelly followed and stood near the door.

"Will told me I'm clear, we can return to fifty-one"

"About that you have a choice on how you get back"

"Kelly what did you do?"

"Wasn't me, the whole firehouse and your brothers are in the waiting room"

Callie rolled her eyes waved bye to her dad and daughters and walked with Kelly back into the waiting room, Sylvie, Stella and Violet were at her side straight away and hugged her, Callie hugged them all back and then giggled.

Two months later found Callie, Kelly, Grace and Hollie sat in a restaurant, the twins repeatedly asked Kelly to come with them, he did decline several times but when Grace camped outside the loft and refused to budge till he agreed, he obviously relented and was now sat at the table with the girls.

Grace smiled sweetly "Thanks Kelly for coming"

"You didn't leave me with much choice"

Callie looked up from the menu "What did you do Grace Ayda Western?"

Hollie giggled loudly "Ooh your full name you're in trouble Gracie"

Callie rolled her eyes at Hollie and turned to Grace "Well?"

Grace looked at Kelly who smiled at her "I kind of camped outside the loft, oh did you know that Uncle Oscar is dating now?"

"Is he?"

"Ooh nice distraction Grace"

"Stop encouraging her you two, Grace that was creepy"

"Mom, Hollie is creepy when it comes to Blake"

"Jesus thanks Grace, I mean hi mom"

Kelly bellowed with laughter but relented when all three of the girls stared at him, the couple sat next to them on the table leant over and gently tapped Kelly's arm.

"Good luck my dear"

"Reminds me of the time you and our daughters ganged up on me, grovel is all I can say"

Kelly points at the twins and Callie "I'm not their dad, I'm just her friend"

The couple nod and smile returning to their meal, before anything else can be said the waiter turns up and scares Kelly who jumps in his seat, Grace and Hollie giggle and Callie shakes her head and orders her meal.

The meal was spent chatting and getting to know even more about each other, once the meal was finished Kelly paid for the meals, much to the protest of Callie and they all went their separate ways, after all Callie and Kelly were on shift in the morning and needed their sleep, god knows what the next day would bring?

On shift the next morning, once morning briefing was over firehouse fifty-one did inventory checks equipment checks anything around the rigs to make sure they were ready for any call out the Chicago residents were to throw at them, by mid-afternoon the hole house were getting antsy about the lack of call outs, little did they know the mother of all call outs was coming and hit one of the firehouse family really hard.

At exactly two thirty in the afternoon the call went out for the whole house to attend.

Truck eighty-one, Engine fifty-one, Squad three, Ambo sixty-one, Battalion twenty-five house fire 2222 Harold street and Damian.

All rigs were out in seconds and at scene within five minutes, neighbours were wandering around frantically, one women was being held back by two men, Boden walked across quickly.

"Hey, hey what's going on here?"

"She wants to go back into the house to get her son"

Boden turned to Matt "Reports of a child missing in the house"

Matt nodded and turned to Callie and Mouch who were closest "Gear up and find that child, move!"

Callie and Mouch within seconds had their hoods up and their SBCA's in place, grabbing their Halligans they quickly make their way in the house and up the stairs, even though Mouch was the more senior firefighter he waited briefly for instructions from Callie.

"Mouch you go left I'll go right, radio me if you find the child"

Mouch nodded and started searching the left side of the house, Callie went right, every room she came across was empty, it was bare, no furniture, nothing. She eventually came to the last room and found it padlocked, grabbing her Halligan she prised the padlock away from the door and opened the door, she came across a heavily decorated room, clearly a child's room, so the padlock on the door had her confused. Searching the room she came across a small child under the bed not moving.

Callie grabbed the child and grabbed her radio "Mouch I've found the child, I'm on my way out"

Callie stood up wrapping the child in her turnout jacket, grabbing her Halligan she found Mouch waiting for her at the top of the stairs, they made their way out together, Callie jogged towards sixty-one and laid the still child down on the stretcher. Sylvie and Violet looked down at the child and then within seconds up at Callie. Callie removed her helmet, and SBCA and shook her head at her friends.

"Do something"

Violet shook her head "Callie he's gone"

Callie shook her head again "Damn it do something he's just a baby"

Sylvie grabbed Callie's arms "Callie look at him, he's gone I'm sorry"

Callie screamed and threw her helmet to the floor, storming over to the mother of the child she let loose.

"Your son is dead because of you"

"No he can't be, he just can't"

"Well he is because of you! What sort of a mother locks her young child in their bedroom and then leaves them locked in the same room when the house is on fire, you killed you son!"

"You don't know me!"

Callie laughs "Oh I do, you don't deserve to be called a mom, you killed your innocent baby and I'll make sure your put away in the darkest place ever, your no mom you're a murderer!"

Boden pulled Callie away "Western walk away"

"Chief she sent us in there knowing full well her child was locked in his bedroom, the door was padlocked, she left him there to die, she deserves to rot"

"Western walk it off, go sit in Truck and calm yourself down, now!"

Callie rolls her eyes and storms off to Truck, she watches as the so called mom is comforted by the neighbours and then smirks as the police take her away, the rest of Truck eighty-one get back in, Gallo hands Callie her helmet and smiles, Matt looks back at her and then motions at Stella to drive back to fifty-one.

On arrival Callie jumps out of Truck, removes her gear quickly and storms off inside the firehouse, Kelly follows her with his eyes and sighs, he planned on going to find her but was called into Boden's office along with Matt.

Kelly and Matt sit on the chairs and wait for their Chief to talk, they didn't wait long "If what Callie says is true she's going to need a lot of support from myself, her Captain and best friend"

Matt nods "If looks could kill Chief"

Boden nods "Exactly, now I should reprimand Callie for her behaviour at that call, but I'm not, she needs us all to be supportive, it's never nice to lose someone in a fire but especially when it's a child"

Kelly stands "Chief permission to take fifty-one out of service for an hour or two, give Callie some time to come to terms with what's happened?"

Boden nods and grabs his radio, Kelly never waits for Boden to dismiss him before he's out of the office and half way to the locker room, he enters and finds Callie at the locker, door open staring at a photo in her hand.

Kelly sits down beside her "Calsie you ok?"

Callie leans into Kelly and sobs; Kelly wraps his arms around Callie and lifts her up into his arms, shutting the locker door with his hip, he carries Callie to his office and sits with her in his arms on his bed, Callie lifts her head up and looks around the office.

"How did I get here?"

"I carried you from the locker room to here, thought you might want privacy"

Callie looks up to find the office door wide open, she raises an eyebrow at Kelly and smiles. Kelly looks up at the open office door "Well the intention was there at least"

Callie removed her legs from Kelly's arms and sat on the bed "I shouldn't have said or done what I did at the scene but she killed that little boy, it hurts I'm a mom and I'd kill for my girls, yes sometimes I'd like to kill them but I would never do it, he was just a baby Kelly, a baby that deserved life and she took it away from him, she deserves to rot in hell!"

"Calsie I know, I went through something similar my first time as a young firefighter and it hurts and you grieve but eventually you get over it, you never forget it because you're only human, but you know the one thing that got me through it?"

Callie shook her head, Kelly continued "Friends and family, talk to people let them in and you'll see it does make a difference eventually, for now how about grabbing some boxing mitts and hit the boxing pads, I'll help"

Before Callie could protest Kelly grabbed her hands and dragged her to where the boxing mitts were and grabbed the boxing pads, he stood in front of her and held up the pads, Callie looked down at the mitts and then up at Kelly.

"Kelly I don't want to hurt you I have so much rage at the moment"

"Have at it, as long as you don't hit my face or body and just the mitts it's all good. Calsie do it"

Callie hit the pads in front of her fast the rage inside her coming out, Boden walked out on the apparatus floor and stopped, watching Callie pound the pads with so much rage, he watched for some time until Callie stopped and started to cry. Boden was about to approach when he saw Kelly throw the pads to one side, quickly remove the mitts and pulled Callie into a hug, Kelly pulled Callie to the floor at sat with her stroking her hair.

Boden smiled even though the circumstances were tragic, he quickly realised that Kelly's feelings for Callie were much deeper than friendship, he realised Kelly was falling in love, they'd be a time when Boden would have to have a conversation with his Squad Lieutenant, just like he had with Casey, until then he'd make sure the apparatus floor was out of bounds, Callie and Kelly really did need their privacy.

Kelly looked down after five minutes and found Callie asleep, he lifted her up, brushed her blonde hair from her face and walked towards the bunk room, laying Callie down on her bunk he settled into his office and did paperwork, every now and again glancing over at Callie's sleeping form.

Matt walked into the bunk room and smiled at Callie asleep, he then noticed Kelly in his office, instead of heading into his office Matt walks to his best friend's and gently knocks, Kelly jumps and sighs.

"Hey Severide, how's she doing?"

Kelly rubs his face "Honestly I don't know I don't know how to make her feel better and Casey man it hurts that I can't help her"

Matt walks in and sits on Kelly's bed "Sev you've got it bad"

"Why does everyone think I want to get into Calsie's pants?"

"Calsie?"

Kelly nodded "Yeah it's my nickname for her we are friends, I don't see her that way"

"Yep keep telling yourself that, seriously though it's nice seeing you happy and don't deny it Sev, Callie makes you happy. My best bit of advice if you do have hidden feelings for her don't wait too long like I did with Sylvie"

"Yeah I get it, Casey you got any cigars?"

Matt smile and nods "Sure, follow me"

Kelly looks out at Callie "I can't leave her alone"

Mouch wanders in and stands beside Callie's bunk, he turns towards his bunk and grabs his blanket, placing it over Callie, pulling it up to her chin, he smiles and goes to sit on his bunk.

Kelly and Matt look at each other and then walked out, Mouch looks up "Hey Casey, Severide you ok?"

Kelly stands beside Mouch's bunk "Can you do me a favour? Can you keep an eye on Callie for me?"

Mouch smiles "Of course, I understand Severide we look after family, go do what you need to do I've got this"

"Mouch thanks"

Mouch waves Kelly and Matt away and looks up at Callie, pulling out his phone he starts to type a text.

Hey can you come to fifty-one got a firefighter you really need to meet.

Randall what's going on?

Trudy it will be worth it.

Randall if you're wasting my time, the couch at fifty-one will become a permanent fixture.

Trust me, it will be worth your while.

Ok, you're relentless when you want to be do you know that?

Yes dear, see you soon.

Trudy never replied but Mouch knew she'd be trying to figure out what this was all about, Mouch looked up from his phone to find Callie looking at him.

"Hey you ok?"

Callie shrugs her shoulders "I guess so, where's Kelly?"

Mouch gets up from his bunk and sat on the end of Callie's, the bunk creaked Mouch stood up quickly and decided to sit on the chair beside the bunk.

"Best not do that again don't want to end up on the floor, it would look like a Turtle trying to get up, you think I'm joking, we have a crane on hire"

Callie giggled "Seriously?"

Mouch shook his head "No, just wanted to see you smile, did it work?"

"It most certainly did, thanks. Can I hug you?"

Mouch opened up his arms and that was how Trudy found them when she walked into the bunk room.

"I leave you alone for one shift and your already hugging the younger female firefighters"

Callie looks up and looks directly at Trudy, Trudy looks at Callie and they both realise that they know each other, Callie run towards Trudy and hugged her, Trudy hugged her back. Mouch stood and smiled at Trudy.

"Oh my god Sergeant Platt, I can remember you way back when"

Trudy smiled "Oh my darling, my heart was broken for you for some time and now you work with Randall"

"I sure do, I'm on Truck eighty-one with Mouch, I mean Randall, sorry Sergeant Platt"

Trudy laughs "Please call me Trudy, your what thirty-two now?"

Callie smiles "Nope thirty-three and I have twin girls, they are nineteen"

"You're a mom?"

Callie nods "I sure am, here I have a recent photo in my pants pocket"

Callie pulls the photo out of her pants pocket and opens it up to Trudy, in the photo is Callie in the middle, Grace to her left and Hollie to her right, all three blond haired women smiling at the camera. Grace and Hollie's hair was longer than Callie's, where as Callie's was on to the middle of her back, Grace and Hollie's was long enough for them to sit upon.

"Oh my Callie they look just like you"

"Thank you, so why are you here?"

Trudy pointed at a smiling Mouch "Randall text me to say there was a firefighter to meet so here I am"

Callie turned to Mouch "Thank you, you don't know how much this means to me"

"I do actually, in fact if it wasn't for the high demands of Trudy's job, you more than likely would have been in her care"

"Really?"

"Yes Callie after I spent that time in Med with you I wanted to foster you, single women high demanding job, they wouldn't allow it"

Callie hugged Trudy again "Well you're in my life now, could always have more friends, that means you too Mouch"

Mouch smiles and hugs both Callie and Trudy, as they separate Capp walks in "Callie the women from the fire is stood on the apparatus floor screaming for you to come face her"

Callie rolls her eyes and storms out of the bunk room and out onto the apparatus floor "What the hell do you want?"

"Justice, you took too long in getting to my son, you killed him!"

"Excuse me? I wasn't the one that padlocked my sons bedroom door shut, you killed your son, not me"

"Well prove it!"

Callie steps towards the women "Trust me I will prove it and then I'll have the great pleasure in watching you go down for murder"

Callie turned and walked away, the women glared at Callie's back and launched herself at her knocking them both to the floor, out of the corner of her eye Callie saw a silver blade and grabbed the hand holding the knife.

"Get off me"

"No you don't deserve to live you killed my son, now I kill you!"

"Look you don't want to do this"

"Oh I do"

Callie could see the whole firehouse frozen to the spot, Callie had to think fast "Look don't do this, I'm…I'm…I'm pregnant!"

The woman stopped mid-air and looked at the tears forming in Callie's eyes, she hesitated for a few moments, this gave Herrmann a chance to sneak up behind her and just as the women went to plunge the knife down into Callie, Herrmann grabbed her and moved her away, the knife dropped to the floor and clattered beside Callie's right shoulder, Kelly pulled Callie into a hug and allowed her to sob.

After Trudy had managed to get the women into the back of her Patrol car, Callie looked up at everyone around her and smiled through the tear stained face, Kelly hugged her tighter and wouldn't let her go.

Kelly whispered into Callie's ear "Are you?"

Callie shook her head "No I'm not and I'm not happy I had to use that line, but it stopped her from stabbing me in the chest"

"True, I'm just glad you're ok"

"So am I, just made my case a whole lot stronger"

Kelly nodded and moved away, he stopped when he saw Van Meter and Seager walking towards them, he nodded politely.

"Hey Van Meter, Seager"

"Hi Kelly"

"Severide we need to talk to the firefighter in question that got the child out"

Kelly pointed towards Callie and walked over to her "Hey Cals, Van Meter and Seager are from arson investigation and want to talk to you about the fire"

"Oh ok, would you like to follow me to the briefing room?"

Callie walked back into the firehouse and into the briefing room, Kelly walked in with Van Meter and Seager and took the seat beside Callie, Van Meter and Seager looked at each other and then took their seats.

"Can you tell me exactly what you came across when inside the house?"

Callie nods "Sure, we got the call to go to the house, on arrival a women stated her son was still in the house to Chief Boden, Captain Casey requested that Mouch and I enter the house and find the child, at the top of the stairs Mouch awaited my instructions, I sent Mouch left and I went right. Every room I checked was empty, no furniture, nothing. I get to the last room and find the door padlocked, I used my Halligan to prise the padlock off and I entered within minutes, the room was heavily decorated in children's furniture, I found the young boy under the bed and radioed Mouch to say I found him and that I was making my way out, I met Mouch at the top of the stairs and we came out, I rushed over to Brett and Violet at sixty-one and they realised straight away that the young boy was dead!"

Kelly squeezed Callie's hand "You wouldn't be here if you found something that proves Callie was right the mom is guilty"

Seager couldn't help it she nodded, Van Meter sighed "It's looking that way"

"Son of a b…"

Callie got up so quickly that everyone jumped, the chair clattered to the floor and Callie rushed out the room, Kelly went to go after her but was stopped by Van Meter's hand on his arm "Let her process Severide"

Kelly nodded and watched as Van Meter and Seager went to find Boden, Kelly walked into the common room and sat down on the couch burying his face into his hands, meanwhile out on the apparatus floor Callie was punching the boxing stand so hard it kept hitting the floor and bouncing back up, Callie hadn't realised that a guy in a suit was watching her until she turned around.

Callie jumped "Jesus, can I help you?"

"Yeah I'm looking for the firefighter that tried to help my boy today in a house fire"

"That would be me"

"I'm Luca, my sons name was Perry, he was four years old. Me and my ex wife were due in court in the next couple of weeks, I was filing for full custody, my ex-wife would have received the paperwork yesterday and now my sons dead and I need to know how"

"Look I can't tell you because that wouldn't be right"

"Please I need to know, he was my son, he was my baby! Do you have children?"

Callie nods "I do"

"Then you know how it feels to be a parent, please I just need to know"

Callie sighs "I can only tell you what I know, but it's being investigated by Arson and potentially homicide, Luca I found Perry in his room, the door was padlocked I had to use my Halligan to get the padlock off, that took me a few seconds, I found Perry under his bed and brought him straight out to our Paramedics, I'm sorry Luca I was too late, Perry was already dead when I got to him, I'm so sorry"

Luca burst into tears and fell to the floor sobbing, Callie removed the boxing gloves and sat beside Luca, when he stopped crying Callie stood up and pulled Luca to his feet.

"I can offer you some food and a drink if you care to follow me?"

Luca nodded and followed Callie into the common room, everyone looked up as Callie directed Luca to a chair at the table, once Callie had poured Luca a coffee and made him a sandwich she stood in the middle of the common room.

"Guys this is Luca, he's the father of the little boy we tried to rescue at the house fire earlier today, his sons name was Perry and he was four years old"

Luca looked up as everyone came towards him, patting him on the back, crying along with him. Luca noticed Callie sat beside Kelly hugging into him and he smiled as Kelly nodded at him, Luca was glad that Callie had someone to look out for her, he soon found out that firehouse fifty-one had his back, he wasn't alone and they promised to be there for him throughout the investigation, trail and afterwards.

Two months later found Callie and the rest of the firehouse sat in the court room, because of the substantial evidence from the Arson investigation, the attack on Callie this meant Callie didn't need to take the stand, the judge decided to take it straight to sentencing, everyone listened as he read through the evidence and then sat up straight as he came to his conclusion and then sentence, there was a collective silent cheer when the guilty verdict was passed. Jodie Green was found guilty and was sentenced to twenty five years plus.

Once the judge retired to his chambers Callie walked over to Luca and pulled him into a hug "You did Perry proud"

Luca shook his head and pointed at the whole firehouse "No you did him proud, the honouree guard and lining the streets towards the funeral home was special, my family thought that was such a kind gesture, especially as you only knew what Perry was like through them, Callie that meant the world to us and I'm grateful we became friends, now I'm not going to hug you again because I keep getting death glares from Kelly. Callie are you too together?"

Callie looks at Kelly looking over at them "No he's just really protective of me and my girls"

"Some advice from a friend, he likes you Callie, what have you got to lose?"

Callie looks over at Kelly and then back at Luca "A great friendship, he's my rock, he's always there for me"

Luca just nods and smiles, he pats Callie's arm and heads to within his firehouse family. Callie walks out of the court room and looks up at the ceiling, she spots Kelly coming towards her and looks to the floor.

"Hey you ok?"

Callie nods "Yeah I'm ok, so am I right in thinking its back to Molly's?"

Kelly nods, Callie walks away and towards her car, getting in she starts the engine and waits for Kelly, Sylvie and Matt to arrive, once they were all in the car, she made her way to Molly's, once inside Callie went straight to the disabled bathroom and locked herself in, sliding down the door Callie sobs into her hands, a slight knock comes to the door and then the quiet voice of Sylvie comes through.

"Callie let me in"

Callie stands up and opens the door, Sylvie walks in and locks it again, she guides Callie to the closed toilet and gets her to sit down.

"Callie what's wrong you've been so off today it's not you"

"I don't know, I can't get the image of Perry out of my head, he was four years old Sylvie, a baby he had his life to live and she took it from him all because she didn't want Luca to have full custody. I know I shouldn't feel this way but when you're a mom it hurts"

"I know I'm not a mom, but your best friend is out there wondering what the hell he's done wrong"

"Kelly's done nothing wrong, in fact he's been there through everything, whenever the girls have rang him in the middle of the night because I'm screaming in my sleep he's been there, I sleep better when he lies beside me, he's never done anything else than hug me and listened to me as I cry myself to sleep, Sylvie he deserves more than my messed up head"

Sylvie rolls her eyes "You two are the most stubborn people I know, it's as plain as the nose on your face, he loves you more than friendship, god I've heard it often enough when he's around the apartment and doesn't know I'm there, Kelly pours his heart out to Matt all the time, I've seen that man cry over you because he needs to see you happy and he doesn't know how because you start to get a little close and then you push back, his words not mine"

"He loves me?"

Sylvie nods "Yep and Grace and Hollie, he's even paid for an all exclusive trip to Disney World for you and the girls, that's not friendship love that's just plain old love, what have you got to be so afraid of?"

"Has he really?"

Sylvie nods "Go out there and talk to him, we're the first ones here, tell him how you feel don't be like how me and Matt were"

Callie holds up her arms in defence "Ok I get your point, ok I'm going to get Kelly and go somewhere else, this conversation can't be done at Molly's, too many ears"

Callie stands from the toilet and unlocks the door, she opens the door and comes face to face with Kelly staring back at her, Kelly grabs her hand "You come with me, we need to talk"

Kelly pulls Callie out of the bathroom and towards the door of Molly's, he lets Callie get into the driver's seat of her SUV and stares at her, Callie turns on the engine and drives away from Molly's just as everyone else turned up, meanwhile inside Molly's Matt and Sylvie were smiling proud of themselves for finally getting Kelly and Callie to at least start talking, when everyone came into the bar, nobody paid any attention to the fact that Kelly and Callie were missing.

Over at Navy Pier Callie and Kelly were sat on a bench staring at anything but each other, Callie started to giggle "Well this is awkward"

Kelly rubs his neck "Yeah it is"

"Look Kelly we do need to talk, what are we and answer me honestly"

Kelly sighs "We're best friends"

Callie rolls her eyes "Best friends don't do what you do Kelly, sleep in my bed to make sure I don't have nightmares"

Kelly laughed "Actually I did it once for Matt, when he went through a tough situation, he's my best friend, just don't tell him I told you that I slept in the same bed as him"

"I said be honest with me and all you can do is joke about things, talk to me Kelly"

"Ok I'll be honest, here goes. I don't love easily my reputation makes me out to be the bad boy the guy who can't keep it in my pants and I never want that to be hanging over you, I care about you Callie and your girls"

"I know about the Disney trip"

Kelly looks up from the floor into Callie's eyes "How did you? It doesn't matter I brought that trip for the twins birthday and for you so you could get away from it all, don't get angry with me but I arranged the furlough with the Chief, we leave Monday morning"

"You did what? Wait we? The girls aren't twenty for another three months"

Kelly nods "Yes we, you, me and the girls"

"I don't know what to say"

Kelly smiles and grabs Callie's hand "Yes hopefully"

Callie looks into Kelly's eyes and then down at his lips, she leans forward and kisses Kelly with so much passion, before it even registers with Kelly what is happening Callie is stood up and walking away, Kelly quickly stands up and follows Callie towards the car, when he gets beside her, Kelly pushes Callie up against the car and kisses her, before stepping back and getting into the passenger side of the car, he waits for Callie to get in and smiles as Callie sits in the seat in shock.

"Well I think that answers your question"

Callie nods "Are you sure? I have teenage daughters Kelly, they are part of the package"

"Callie I love you all, nobody hurts my girls"

"Your girls?"

"Yes you, Grace and Hollie are my girls, I'll shout it from the rooftops if I have too"

Callie giggles and shakes her head "No I believe you, do the girls know about the trip?"

"Nope, but your dad does"

"Oh? How did he take it?"

"Well told me if I ever break your heart he'd find a way to bury me and no one would be able to find me, I'm more scared of your brothers than your dad to be honest"

Callie smiles "As long as you don't break my heart you'll be fine"

"Ok want to head back to Molly's?"

Callie nods "Molly's, so this may sound totally blond, because I am, but are we dating now?"

Kelly laughs "We sure are, want to let the house know or do we keep it to ourselves for now?"

"Can we keep it between us for now?"

Kelly nods and kisses Callie's hand, Callie turns the engine on and drives back to Molly's, before they head inside Kelly and Callie kiss, separate and walk in, all eyes are on them and Kelly moves away and goes to sit with Matt and Boden, Callie walks towards Sylvie, Stella, Violet, Grace and Hollie.

Grace holds up her glass "Its only water mom, Stella wouldn't allow me to get one drink"

Stella looks up from her beer "That would be because the law states you can't legally drink till twenty-one, you my dear Grace are nineteen"

"What about you Hollie?"

"Water mom, so where were you?"

"Talking with Kelly that's all"

Stella raises an eyebrow "Talking hey, is that why your lipstick is smudged and partly on Kelly's lips?"

Callie touches her lips "What wait?"

Hollie laughs "Busted!"

Callie glares at her daughter "Just like you were when I caught you kissing Gallo last week?"

"I.."

"Mmm thought as much"

Hollie smiles and winks at Stella, Sylvie and Violet "So is Kelly a good kisser mom?"

"Yes…wait what?"

"Busted"

Stella, Sylvie, Violet, Grace and Hollie laugh, Callie rolls her eyes and looks over at Kelly and smiles, Matt and Boden notice and smile at each other.

"So Kelly you finally told Callie your true feelings?"

"Casey what on earth are you talking about man?"

Boden smiles "The lipstick over your face tells us it went well"

"Oh shit! I mean what lipstick?"

Boden and Matt laugh and pat Kelly on the back "So mine and Sylvie's plan worked?"

"Wait you told me to talk to Callie and Sylvie told Callie to talk to me?"

Matt nods smiling from one ear to the other "Sure man, why do you think the whole house didn't arrive till you both left?"

"They all knew?"

"Of course they knew, you two are never discreet about anything, I'm surprised we've not caught you at it anywhere in the house"

"Chief I might have done that in the past but Callie she's my future, I love her and the twins"

Boden smiles and pats Kelly on the back "Trust me when I say this the house is routing for you both, now show her what she truly means to you"

Kelly nods and stands up he walks over to Callie and taps her on the shoulder, when Callie turns around she's pulled from her stool and into Kelly's arms, Kelly dips her and kisses her in front of everyone. Callie forgets that she's in the middle of Molly's surrounded by her friends and daughters and pulls Kelly deeper into the kiss.

They pull apart and stand beside each other, Grace and Hollie jump up from their stools and hug both their mom and Kelly, Grace speak first "I'm so happy for you mom, Kelly's great the best thing that happened to you"

"Mom, Kelly I'm so happy for you both, you make each other happy and I'll say one thing, it's about damn time!"

Kelly giggled "Gracie, Hols when you go home tonight I want you to pack for a week's holiday"

"So you can get some alone time with mom?"

Grace giggles, Kelly rolls his eyes "No actually we all need to pack I'm taking you, your mom and Grace to Disney Land, we leave Monday morning"

Both twins squealed and pulled Kelly into a hug, after five minutes the girls were still hugging Kelly, Callie took a few photos and then tapped both girls on the arms "Give him some space"

"Oh sorry Kelly"

Grace nods "Yeah sorry, ooh I get to meet some of the Disney characters, Tigger is my favourite"

Hollie stands from her seat "Come on Gracie lets go home and pack, see you at home mom and you too Kelly"

"Hey I'm not presuming I'm invited to the house, so if not see you Monday morning"

"You'll be at the house Kelly, just keep it covered and put a sock on the door"

"Hollie!"

"What mom we're nineteen we know how it works in a sense, just don't make me a big sister just yet"

Callie groans "Oh for the love of god!"

"Bye Kelly, remember sock on door handle and keep it covered"

Callie groans, Kelly giggles and Grace and Hollie leave, an hour later Callie and Kelly left Molly's and drove to Callie's house, when they walked in they found two suitcases by the door and Grace and Hollie in their pyjamas watching a film in the living room, when Grace heard the door she went to the dining room whilst Hollie was pausing the film. Grace grabbed the package on the dining room table and handed the package to Kelly and went and sat back down.

Kelly followed Callie upstairs and into the bedroom and realised that Callie was changing into the same pyjamas as Grace and Hollie, intrigued he opened up the package and laughed Grace had handed Kelly a neatly folded men's set of pyjamas, the exact same pyjamas that Grace, Hollie and Callie now wore.

"Put them on Kelly, it means the girls except you into the family"

Callie left Kelly to change and walked down the stairs and into the living room, where Grace and Hollie were sat on the two chairs, a few minutes later Kelly walked into the living room and took the seat beside Callie on the couch. Callie snuggled into Kelly and the four of them settled down to watch a film.

During the film Grace and Hollie noticed that their mom and Kelly had fallen asleep, so the girls grabbed blankets, took a few photos and left the two adults to sleep, Grace and Hollie went to bed happy that their mom and Kelly were happy and looked forward to the trip to Disney World.

So here's to the first instalment of this story, hope you all like it. Now I'm going to do some writing for my other stories as meeting the great Amanda Tapping a few days ago has given me the inspiration to write again.