#darren ritter | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

amsgrey · 1 year

Text

Why would i lie to you?

AUTHORS NOTE: I started hating this like halfway through and I just kept going? but I hate this so if y'all do too I couldn't even blame you. This was supposed to be a request but I don't even like this enough to say it is.

synopsis: You and Gallo are targeted after accidentally coming across something you shouldn't.

warnings: some VERY bad writing, canon-typical violence, mention of kidnapping, head injury, very bad medical understanding, kind of meh ending

Working in CFD meant every shift had the potential to be crazier than the last. You were always expecting something crazy to happen that would spin the entire day into chaos.

The last thing you were expecting on a seemingly random Tuesday was to walk straight into a drug den. You and Gallo were ordered to clear the house next door and ensure no sparks would ignite the abandoned building. You both had to pry the door open, making your way through the front room to check the side for any signs of smoke. As soon as you made it through the front room you were greeted by the sight of enough fentanyl and cocaine to kill the entire house.

You quickly stopped Gallo from barreling in after you, aware of all of the powders around the room.

"Is that...?"

"Yeah," You whispered, hands shaking as you radioed Kidd.

"Hey Lieutenant, do you copy?"

"I Copy, what's up Halstead?"

"We're gonna need CPD and decontamination down here," You replied, "I think we just found a trap house."

There was a pause, you and Gallo looked at each other nervously. You could hear Severiade ordering what you asked for, no doubt also radioing Boden.

"Are you and Gallo okay?" Kidd finally said.

"Yeah," Gallo nodded, "We're good, Lieutenant."

"Gallo," You caught his attention, pointing out the powder on both of your turnout gear, "We need to get out of here."

Gallo nodded, clearly trying not to breathe too deep like you were.

"Lieutenant, we have an unknown substance on our turnouts," You informed, "We need might need Brett and Violet standing by, from the looks of this set-up, I think it's Fentanyl."

"Okay, Copy that," Stella rattled off what she wanted you two to do. She ordered you both to leave the house, following Cruz and Severiade to the hasty decontamination that had been set up. Cruz had all but said that it was CFD policy and you two would be fine, but everyone was still on edge. You and Gallo had to strip down to your underwear, washing any exposed skin that wasn't covered by your turnouts.

"Hey," Kidd entered the tent as you and Gallo wrapped yourselves in Towels, "CPD just confirmed it was fentanyl in that room. They're calling in intelligence."

You and Gallo shared a look.

"Well, do we get to have some real clothes? Or do we have to wait around in towels?" You finally asked.

Kidd shook her head, "Protocol says we have to take you two to Med to get checked out-" You and Gallo groaned "-I'll bring you some clothes there."

"We really have to go to Med?" Gallo pressed, both of you trailing behind Stella as she headed for 61.

She scoffed, "Uh yeah. Now get in."

Violet chuckled from inside the rig, pointing at the two spots next to her, "One of you get the gurney."

"Not me," You snapped, playfully jabbing at Gallo before climbing to sit next to Violet. Gallo grumbled about it being unfair, but climbed into the rig and sat on the gurney anyway.

When you walked into Med, they were already waiting for you. Maggie and Will stood at the ambulance entrance with stupid grins when they saw your frustrated pout.

"You always find trouble?" Will joked, gesturing for you to sit on the edge of the bed in Bay 3.

"I just thought I'd come to see you," You told your brother, giving him a massive fake smile.

Will rolled his eyes as he ran through his checks, "How do you even accidentally find a drug den?"

"Yeah, I'd like to know that too."

You and Will looked over to see Jay leaning in the doorway, an amused smile on his face.

"We hadn't caught up in weeks, so I thought Halstead Reunion, ya know?" You replied, laughing as Jay tried to ruffle your wet hair.

"You look like a drowned rat," he laughed, wiping his hand on the towel around your shoulders like it was disgusting.

"Wow, that's the thanks I get for doing your job for you?" You retorted.

"Settle down, Children," Will waved Jay away when he started getting in the way.

You had to sit for almost an hour waiting for Med to go through the checks. When they were done, Kidd gave you CFD sweats to change into. When you were sufficiently dressed to look like a cadet, you joined Kidd and Boden to see what CPD wanted you to do.

Gallo looked a lot better than you did, his hair had at least dried and the sweats were his size. You, on the other hand, did in fact look like a drowned rat. The sweats Kidd had given you were much too big. You had to tie the sweatpants to keep them sitting comfortably. Both you and Gallo had Truck 51 shirts on, the goat emblem on the chest making you look like candidates.

Will had given you a towel, helping you dry your hair while you waited. You looked less rat-like but still felt extremely uncomfortable. Will had jokingly said at least you weren't overdosing on narcotics and immediately apologized when you gave him a shocked frown.

"Alright," Jay said as he and Hailey walked up to your little gathered group, "We need you two to come down to the district with us, and go over what you saw one last time on record."

"Alright, then," Boden nodded, giving you and Gallo his 'please behave' look he reserved especially for the two of you. "Keep me updated."

"Will do, Chief," Jay replied, letting Hailey lead the way back to their car.

As you were walking back to the car you started giving Jay shit, "So, do we get badges now? Seeming we found you your case?"

Jay scoffed, "Yeah sure."

He opened the back door for you to get in, smiling smugly. He definitely got too much amusement out of putting you into the back of his car.

You narrowed your eyes at him, "Don't smile at me like that, Chuckles."

Hailey laughed, looking back at the two of you from the passenger seat.

When you were done at the Precinct, Boden had called and informed you and Gallo were off for the rest of the shift. Jay offered to give you a ride home, all but demanding it. As you were headed back to your apartment, you asked him about the case. He waved you off with a lie about it probably being something gang-related and an easy case. You didn't really care enough to press him any further. You had learnt a while ago that pressing Jay for information about the job wasn't worth it - he tried to hide most of the danger from you. At some point, you got so used to it that you always assumed whenever he was quiet it was worth just not asking anything more.

Eventually, he even stopped pressing you about the dangers of your job, it was a weird unspoken recognition between you and him. Not to ask too much.

When you jumped out of the car you wished Jay luck in the case, wanting nothing more than to go home and wash the day away. You were leaving the shower when your phone lit up. Clearly, Gallo had the same thought as you, what an awful way to spend the rest of an on-shift day.

Want to grab a drink?

You laughed, responding; only if you bring it here cbf going out.

Gallo let you know he would be at your apartment soon, no doubt bringing enough beer for you two to drown your sorrows about being benched.

Gallo arrived with a six-pack, putting them in the fridge and bringing two over for you both. He sat next to you on the couch, both of you silently watching the game and just trying to decompress from the day.

"I hate this," You finally muttered, sick of sitting doing nothing while your friends were at work.

"Me too," Gallo replied, looking as forlorn as you felt. After another moment of silence Gallo said, "When I was coming here, it was so weird, I could have sworn someone was following me."

You laughed, "Following you?"

Gallo turned to face you, looking extremely serious, "Yeah, following me. This black ford was behind me up to the store, I thought it was nothing but when I headed here it was two cars behind me, again."

You mirrored Gallo, turning to face him as he spoke. Any sense of drowsy self-pity had vanished and now you were growing concerned, "It followed you all the way here?"

Gallo shook his head, "No. It pulled off a couple of blocks before me, I figured it must have been someone taking the same route, but..."

"But?"

"it just felt strange," Gallo confessed.

You put your almost untouched beer on the coffee table, walking around the couch to grab your phone off the kitchen counter where I was charging.

"What are you doing?" Gallo asked, frowning at you, "You think it really was following me?"

"I don't know," You told him, "But I'd feel a hell of a lot better if Jay came and told us for sure."

You searched through your phone for Jay's name, quickly calling him and walking back to Gallo. As you heard it start to dial, you heard the unmistakable sound of a car screeching to a halt.

"Tell Jay what's going on," You ordered Gallo, shoving your phone at him for him to take. As Gallo rambled off what was going on to Jay, you slowly approached the windows. You pressed to the side of the window, trying to not be seen by anyone outside. You gently parted the curtains, glancing through the gap to see four armed men getting out of a black crossover.

You ducked away from the windows quickly, grabbing Gallo's arm and yanking him along with you to your ensuite. He handed the phone to you with a breathy, "Jay wants to talk to you."

You nodded, grabbing the phone off him, then pushing him into the bathroom, "Stay in here, get low and lock the door."

Gallo protested, "What about you?"

"I'll be fine, just do as I say," You snapped back shutting the door quickly and as quietly as you could.

"-Y/N? What's going on? Y/n!"

You held your phone to your ear with your shoulder, making your way back out of your bedroom and into the lounge to get a vantage point on the car in your street.

"Jay, there are four armed men outside," You weren't sure why you were whispering, the men hadn't even approached the windows so they wouldn't be able to hear you.

"Patrol is 5 minutes out, we're not far behind, okay?" Came jays response.

"Okay," You whispered. You ducked around your couch, using the furniture to hide your figure as you tried to look for a license plate on the car.

"Shit!" You cursed, barely having time to press yourself flush to the ground before three of the men unloaded their magazines into the front of your apartment.

"Y/N?" You could hear Jay's concerned voice coming from your phone, but it had skidded out of sight when you hit the ground.

The rain of bullets left your ears ringing, all around you were shrapnel of your apartment. Tiny fragments of glass mixed with the ripped-up wood of the floors, essentially creating one hell of a scene.

You dared raise yourself off the ground, getting to your hands and knees and psyching yourself up to crawl to the kitchen to hide behind the counter. The ringing in your ears subsided briefly for you to hear the crunching of footsteps approaching. The footsteps belonged to a pair of dark military-style boots. Before you could think too much about the fact, one of the boots came down on your back, kicking you to the floor and winding you.

You let out a puff of air at the force, gaping and hiccuping trying to regain your breath. The pair of boots were joined by another and you were hauled to your feet.

"Where is it?"

Both of the men were dressed in military-style tactical gear, all black aside from their vests which were camo. Their faces were covered by goggles and balaclavas. It was no doubt meant to be intimidating, but all you could think was what the fuck did they want with you.

"I don't enjoy repeating myself, where is it?" The man on your left snarled, he had a tight grip on your arms while the man on your right loosely trained his rifle on you.

You didn't know what to say, this was all so absurd. Instead of replying to the man you just laughed, a laugh of shock and surprise. The two men looked at each other, and then one of them punched you straight in the stomach.

"Jesus Christ," You swore, doubling over and struggling not to empty your stomach on their boots, "I don't know what you're talking about, okay?"

The sound of police sirens and the bright flashing lights were surrounding you at once. You could hear the patrol cops shouting orders at the men outside your apartment, then the repeated sound of gunfire.

"Last chance," He warned, "Tell us where it is, or we'll kill you."

You almost screamed when the man's chest exploded, his blood spraying over your face and chest. At least you were expecting it when the second man went down too.

"Chicago PD!"

In your line of work, you had been covered in other people's blood more times than you cared to count - but this was different. As you stood shell-shocked, a swarm of officers filled the room. The ringing in your ears grew and grew, all you could do was stare at your shaking hands that were covered in the men's blood.

Someone was grabbing your arm, pulling you towards the door and away from the bodies. Your legs shook so badly that had to support you as you walked. Your vision was blurring from tears that clung to your lashes, every step you took felt like you were slowly sinking into the pavement. You were led through the sea of CPD to an ambulance then gently sat on the back step. You could hear the rustle of action going on around you now, but the blood rushing in your ears drowned most of it out.

Someone was gently taking your face in their hands, guiding you to look up at them. Hailey smiled down at you, slowly talking you through the wave of panic that held you. She wrapped a thick blanket around your shoulders, tucking it under your chin as you sat immobile. Hailey sat down next to you, grasping your hand tightly in hers and rubbing a soothing hand up and down your back.

"Just breathe, you're safe," She kept saying, whispering it quietly into your ear as she soothed your hair away from your face.

Once you finally felt like the world had stopped shaking and the ringing in your ears subsided you realized what was really going on.

You let out a small sigh, turning to Hailey with wide eyes. You wanted to ask what the hell had just happened, to swear and shake the anxiety out of you. Instead, you just looked at her, distraught.

Hailey knew what you were trying to say. She smiled softly, her tone was so soft it almost made you feel warm and safe, "Don't worry about that right now. What matters is that you're okay."

You nodded, letting her pull you into a tight hug and hold you there for a moment. When you both pulled away, she waved over the waiting paramedics, who gave you a few damp wipes to clean your face.

Hailey helped you wipe the blood off your face and neck, watching you struggle to not be ill at the idea of someone else's blood covering you. She kept you calm and held your hand, reassuring you that everything was alright the whole time.

When you were done clearing your face, she took both your hands and started whipping your arms and hands. As she did, your eyes wandered to the scene around you. There had to be at least 6 or 7 patrol cars all parked haphazardly around the street. Uniformed officers were already setting up the tape and directing crowds and media away from the debris field. You could see Gallo sitting in a different ambulance, he looked unharmed, probably just as shaken as you were. Kevin and Kim were standing by, talking to him and the paramedics.

Voight was standing with the rest of intelligence and Trudy, commanding the uniformed officers and lab techs around the scene. As you looked over you spotted Jay, who was standing with his arms crossed over his chest. He glanced over as you were looking, making eye contact and breaking away from the group.

Voight and the others watched him approach you and Hailey. When he got up to you, he quickly pulled you into a hug. He was squeezing you so tight it was almost constricting. You didn't have the heart to tell him that. When he pulled away he forced you to sit back down next to Hailey.

"Are you alright?" He asked gently.

You couldn't find the words to reply, just shaking your head.

Jay grimaced, nodding in understanding. "Hailey is going to go with you to Med, yeah? I'll come as soon as we finish here."

You nodded, your voice still having not returned. Jay pressed a kiss to your hairline, helping you to your feet and into the ambulance. He sent you one last smile before he shut the doors and watched the Rig pull away.

"She okay?" Voight asked as he rejoined the gathered officers.

Jay sighed, "I don't think so, she's really shaken."

Kim nodded, "Gallo told us what happened, she locked him in the bathroom like she knew they would open fire on them."

Jay remembered all the times he told you when you were younger - the safest place in that situation is in the bathtub. Seeming you didn't have one, the bathroom had been your attempt to make do with little resources. The team kept looking at him like they were expecting him to snap, such a brazen attack on his sister with so many witnesses meant there was something bigger at play here. Jay wasn't angry - he was seething. The white-hot fury that slowly burns away at your heart, that would make you act like never before.

Will was feeling something similar when he watched you walk into med for the second time that day. This time, however, he knew you were hurt. Hailey was holding you up, tightly gripping your forearm and steering you into the ED. You had refused to be wheeled in on the gurney, adrenaline coursing through you still, making you unable to feel the pain.

Will dropped his tablet on the desk, running over to you and taking your other arm as you pitched to one side.

"What the hell happened?" He asked, taking in the smudges of blood on your skin and the stains over your shirt.

Hailey answered for you as you fought to stay present, your mind wanting to swallow you whole and ignore the outside world.

Will helped you into the bed, the deja vu of the situation made your skin crawl.

"Hey, what's going on?" Dr Marcel asked as he wanted in, a nurse on his heels. Will looked at you to explain, but you were replaying the night before you. Watching your apartment rip apart again, hearing the crunching of footprints over and over.

"Y/N?" Will grabbed your hand, smoothing your hair back as he tried to calm you down. The monitors started to beep as your heart rate rose and oxygen levels dropped. "Try to breathe, squirt."

You shook your head, unable to slow your breathing or gather any control to do so.

"Can we get a cannula on her please?" Dr Marcel ordered. You could feel the tube being placed on your face, looped around your ears. It made you uncomfortable but there was nothing to do about it.

You gripped Will's hand even tighter, choking on sobs and your own gaps for air. Will watched helplessly, trying to calm you to no avail.

"Will," Crockett spoke, ".5 of versed?"

Will knew the last thing you would have wanted was to be sedated but your oxygen stats were dropping, even with the cannula. He nodded to Marcel, letting him know to go ahead.

He prepped the meds quickly and behind his turned back, when you caught on to what was going on you were already too far gone in your own panic attack to protest. Eventually, the versed did its job of calming you down enough to allow you to relax and feel safe.

"Sorry," You croaked, throat raw from the earlier events.

Will smiled, "You just had to see me again, huh?"

You laughed a little, the movement sending an ache through your stomach, "Don't make me laugh," You pouted holding your abdomen as if it would help.

Crockett watched you two with an amused grin, now that you had calmed down, he asked where you were hurt.

Will had to give you his stern 'I'm the eldest so you do as I say' look, knowing how you and jay both resisted hospitals greatly.

"My right side," You explained to Crockett, gesturing to your right ribs where you had been cruelly sucker punched.

Crockett gently lifted your shirt off the area, even through his gloves you could feel how cold his hands were. He pressed against one of your ribs, causing you to let out a strangled, "Fuck," at the sudden pain.

Crockett smiled sheepishly, "Sorry."

You scowled at him, "Yeah, sure you are."

"Glad to see your humour is still intact," Crockett joked, laughing at Will who looked less than impressed at the two of you bantering.

You smiled at your brother, trying to reassure him that you were fine now. Even though your mind was still full of fog. Every time you stopped to think about it, you were brought back to the events in your living room.

When Dr Marel finished his prodding, he said he would get you on the waitlist for a CT, but that it might take some time. You had to bug Will to go back to his shift, promising that you wouldn't pull a Jay and try to break out. He had only agreed after Hailey promised she wouldn't let you leave either.

"How's Gallo?" You asked Hailey, having not seen him since the ambulance.

Hailey smiled, "He's alright, Sarg took him back to the precinct until we figure out the best way to handle all this."

"Okay," You replied, sighing at the idea that this wasn't all over, just yet.

After the CT scan Dr Marcel assured you and Will - although mostly Will - that you had no broken ribs, but some gnarly bruises that might leave you stiff for a few days. You had grumbled about not being able to go back to work and Dr Marcel laughed at how irritated Will looked.

Hailey had helped you get dressed in some clean clothes, some of your sweats she'd nabbed from your apartment. She helped you put on a zip-up, apologizing at your winces when you had to move too fast. Will had given you a gentle side hug as you and Hailey left, promising that you could crash at his.

After you got done at the precinct and relayed your statement for the umpteenth time, Jay drove you to Wills. He hovered more than usual, giving you his jacket to keep you warm and letting you know he would go to your apartment and grab some of your stuff.

“You don’t have to go out of your way,” You laughed, letting him bring you a coffee.

“I won’t be,” Jay replied, gently squeezing your shoulder, “Working the case remember?”

It took a week for you to get back to work, the bruising had gone from purple to green, looking more gnarly than before. It didn’t hurt so much anymore, at least not enough that you couldn’t work. You walked into the firehouse at the start of your shift expecting the ‘surprise’, but it still scared the living daylights out of you. When you walked into the common room, there was no one around. Expecting them all to be gathering in the locker room like they normally did, you thought nothing of it.

When they all rounded the corner into the room shouting you jumped hallways to the roof.

“What on earth?” You asked, laughing as they handed you a small box.

“Ah,” Hermann waved his hand, “Just open it.”

You laughed, flipping the box open to reveal a plastic police badge. Immediately you burst out laughing, “A police badge?” “Yeah! Seeming you got Intelligence that case, you’re like a cop now,” Gallo joked, playfully elbowing you.

“Oof,” You grabbed your side, slightly doubling over where Gallo elbowed you.

Brett was at your side instantly, grabbing your arm and asking what was wrong. Gallo had gone pale, looking terrified he had just hurt you again.

“Are you alright?” Kidd asked, coming to stand next to Brett with her eyebrows knitted.

You straightened up, dropping your hands, “Yeah, I’m fine.” You grinned, “Just wanted to mess with Gallo.”

Everyone laughed, cheering about how it was good to have you back. Gallo grabbed you into a hug, complaining about how that prank was cruel. You sat down to have breakfast with them all, telling Gallo, “It’s payback for that god-awful date you set me up on.”

Being back to work was exactly what you needed. As much as you loved your brothers, they were hovering a lot and it was nice to get back to a little bit of normality. Your apartment was being repaired, the landlord taking her time and dragging her feet about the ordeal. So, living with Will had meant everything still felt strange. Your truck never treated you any differently though, being back sitting with Gallo and Carver in the truck was the best you’d felt since the incident.

After a couple of shifts, you’d fallen back into the rhythm of it all, you and Will worked differing shifts so you would often get home to him leaving for work or vise versa. The more you were back on the job the more you started to forget the whole incident. You were at Molly’s one night after shift when Jay and Hailey had come to chill. They had let you know if passing the case was still unsolved and that the police chief had set them up on another case seeming that one didn’t have any leads. You didn’t mind much, it was easier to leave it in the past. Besides, the men who had attacked you and Gallo in your apartment had been locked in prison out of state, you barely had to testify seeming the entire encounter was captured by your neighbour's security cameras. You had gone back to your normal life, responding to fires and car crashes and the occasional ‘how did they get stuck there’ calls.

“All Units, Structure fire, S Canal St.”

You all jumped into action, suiting up and climbing into the rig.

“S Canal street? Isn’t that warehouses?” Carver asked.

“Yeah,” Kidd replied, frowning at her screen.

When all the companies pulled up the address, all of you climbed out to see the seemingly abandoned area.

“Where’s the fire?” Severiade asked no one in particular.

You were all suited up, Truck, Engine and Squad prep with SCBAs with no fire to respond to.

“Spread out, see what you can find,” Kidd ordered. You, Violet and Brett walked around the side of the warehouse to see if you could find anything. As you were approaching the back of the building you saw a door left open.

“Lieutenant,” You spoke to the radio, “There's a door open on the B side near the back.”

There was no reply, you frowned and tried again. When there was still nothing you turned to Brett and Violet, “Maybe the radios are down?”

Brett frowned, trying her radio to no response.

“Help!”

You looked back into the warehouse, trying to decide what to do.

“Okay,” You sighed, “I’m going to go in, maybe you guys can go back and get the others?”

Brett looked apprehensive but agreed, telling Violet to go get Kelly and Stella while she grabbed the gurney. You walked into the warehouse, grabbing your tac light and turning it on to look around.

“Fire Department, Call out!”

There was no response, the warehouse was so quiet you could hear your footsteps echoing off the walls.

“Fire Department, Call out!” You repeated. This time you could hear a reply. As you headed further into the warehouse you heard a loud slam. You frowned, turning around to see the door you entered from was shut.

“Brett?” You spoke into the radio, “Anyone copy?”

You started to get uneasy, there was something wrong here. Turning back to where you heard the victim last, you came around a corner to see a room full of machinery.

“Fire department!”“Here!” As you stepped into the room, you knew for sure something was wrong. It felt like your entire body was charged with nervous energy, the hair on your arms standing on end. You had got to stop getting into these situations.

You raised your halligan a little higher, ditching your flashlight and opting for the more weapon-like thing you had. You tried to check every corner and crevice as you walked through the room, but there was nothing to see. Or nothing that you could see. You walked around the final corner where you saw a man lying on the ground, half under what looked like some kind of crusher.

“Sir?”

You took an apprehensive step forward, lowering the Halligan. As you did, you felt the smooth metal of a blade being pressed above your collar.

“Drop the bar.”

You did as you were told, letting the metal clang to the ground and offering the suspect your hands. The man who was on the ground got up, simply sliding out from where he was.

Just my luck.

The man lowered the blade and grabbed our hands, pushing you forward towards a door back to the main warehouse room.

“...stead… do you… rep…”

You were dragged from the first floor to the basement, zip tied at the wrists and forced to your knees. A man with a rifle stood at the doorway, wearing the same black military tac the men t your apartment were wearing.

‘Is this about the drug den?” You demanded, “Because I told your buddies when they destroyed my apartment, I don’t know where the police put your stuff.”

One of the men walked up, your mind immediately started to go over the features you could see from how covered he was.

6’2”, brown eyes, white.

“I don’t believe you, Lady firefighter.”

Texan accent. Texan Accent?

“Why would I lie to you?” You snarled, “I really don’t feel like dying in the dirt and I’m clearly not a cop.”

You could hear the smile in his voice, “I don’t care about the product anymore, love.”

“Then what?”

“You got four of my best men locked up.”

“Clearly they aren’t the best if they got themselves locked-”

His fist slammed hard into the side of your face, sending your head snapping to the side. You could taste the copper in your mouth from the blood. You licked your lips, feeling the split that started bleeding.

“Halstead… …are you…”

Texas reached for your radio, he fiddled with the buttons as if trying to inspect its functions.

You pointed to the button on the side, “You hold that button to turn it off,” You told him, smiling pleasantly knowing it would irk him.

“...firefighter Hal… …respond… …you copy…”

Kidd was sounding more and more frantic in the broken bits you could hear.

Texas was clearly getting fed up with the interruption, he held down the button on the side. The radio crackled signifying it was relaying to the team.

“You know, they will call the cops if I don’t respond,” You said, trying to act casual.

“Let them,” Texas hissed, “You’ll be dead before they get inside.”

He let go of the button, frowning at it and waiting to see if there were any more responses.

“...Repeat that…”

“...CPD… the way…”

“You fucking bitch.”

You smiled, teeth stained red from the blood on your lips, “You really should know how to use a radio, jackass.”

Violet came running around the corner up the Kidd and Severide as they stood trying to figure out where the caller is.

“We found the entrance,” She told them, “We heard someone, Y/N went in”

“Alone?” Kidd demanded.

Violet nodded, gesturing to Sylvie, “Brett had to get the gurney, our radios aren’t working.”

Severiade gestured for Violet to lead the way to the door as Kidd rounded up the rest of the company.

When they all got to the door, they realized it was locked tight.

Severiade tried opening it, pulling it to no avail.

“We could force it open?” Stella asked.

Kelly frowned, gesturing to the door, “It’s an old-style security door, the hinges are on the inside.”

Kidd turned to him, “Something doesn’t seem right.”

“I agree,” Kelly responded, looking up the building for signs of other ways to get in.

“Can squad get the door open?”

“Yeah,” Kelly replied, “But it’ll take some time.”

As kelly started barking orders to the gathered firefighters, Kidd stepped back at tried the radio.

“Halstead,” She spoke into the radio, “Do you Copy? Report.”

There was no response.

“Our radios weren’t working at all before,” Violet offered, “Maybe there's some kind of interference from inside?”

The group watched as Cruz and Severiade made slow work cutting through part of the door, trying to find a way to break into the door. They had to keep replacing the blades to the saw that broke, making the job tedious.

“Halstead, are you okay?” Kidd tried again

She sighed, “Gallo, Carver, did you find any other entrance?”

Carver shook his head, “Only an old garage door, but it’s bolted up from what we could see.”

Kidd sighed, knowing the best chance would be to get you on the radio somehow.

“Firefighter Halstead, respond. Do you Copy!”

There was a crackle in everyone's radio.

“...know… …call the cops…”

Everyone grimaced at the sharp scratch the radios made.

“... dead before…”

“That wasn’t Y/N,” Mouch noted, it was definitely a male voice who spoke the second time.

“Y/N, can you repeat that?”

Silence.

“Dispatch, this is truck 51 requesting immediate police backup. We have a possible hostage situation here.”

“Copy that, Truck 51. Patrol is on route.”

“Halstead? CPD is on the way, what’s going on?”

Adam took the stairs two at a time, bounding into the Bullpen and telling them all to be quiet. He turned the volume up on his radio.

“...Units on the city-wide, any available units to 1399 S Canal St, Truck 51 reported a possible hostage situation with a firefighter.”

Jay stood up from his desk, grabbed his phone and called you. The phone rang and rang but you didn’t pick up. He frowned, searching through his contacts until he found Stella Kidd's name. He only had her name for emergencies and this was definitely one.

“Jay?” Kidd answered.

“Stella, what’s going on, we heard dispatch call for cars to your location.”

“Listen,” She responded, “Y/N went into a warehouse and the door locked behind them, we can’t reach them on the radio. We got a broken bit of a conversation, she said ‘call the cops’ and a man responded ‘dead before’.”

Voight immediately ordered the group to tac up and head to the location, knowing how important this was to them all.

When they all arrived, they joined the firehouse at the side door. By now, Squad had almost got the doors open, they only had to pry them open with the jaws before it would all be a go.

Voight ordered everyone but Severiade and Cruz back to the trucks, but the firefighters all stubbornly refused.

“We’ll stay out of the way but we gotta be close, what if they need us?” Kidd had argued.

Voight didn’t have time to argue, letting them stand far enough from the door that they wouldn't be in the line of fire if there was an offender at the door.

“Ready?” Severiade asked the gathered officers. “On three. One, two, three.”

He and Joe pulled the door open, getting out of the way for the 7 police officers to rush inside.

The team quickly and quietly cleared every room, making it around the basement until they found the stairs to the basement. Voight gave them the clear to make their way down the stairs, letting Kevin and Torres lead the way. At the bottom of the stairs there looked like there was nothing. The room was pitch black, the only light from the teams flashlights.

Kim sweaped her flashlight across the room, "Hey, Adam?"

Adam joined her side, "What is it?"

Kim pointed to a door, a large metal vault door similar to the one outside. It was cracked open slightly, sending a slight draft around the room.

Adam nodded, gesturing for Kim to lead the way to the door. Adam opened it and Kim lead the way into the next room. The room was less a room and more the landing to fire escape.

Kim called out to the rest of the team, they all gathered on the landing, coming to the same conclusion, the suspects had left the building and now they were playing catch up.

All you could think about was all of the times Jay told you about these kinds of cases, about how he and Atwater found Kim through Kim's persistent efforts. How most of the time victims had to fight to be found. He mentioned once how he responded to a call as a patrol officer, to find a women had jumped out of a moving car to avoid being kidnapped. At the time it was his way to teach you to be careful, but you were freshly 21 and laughed him off.

You really should have payed more attention.

It hadn't been long, definitely less than an hour since Texas had forced you out of a fire escape and into the back of a car. You'd given about as much trouble as you could, kicking him in shin when he'd shoved you into the care. You knew it had to hurt with your uniform boots, but he didn't seem too happy about it.

You had passed at least two blocks and tried to count, but the warehouses made it hard to focus. The driver turned down a street and then into a car junkyard. You would have laughed at the irony had it not meant upsetting Mr texas more.

When he and the driver got out of the car, they stepped away to talk to a new person you didn't recognize. She was at least dressed like a normal person if more fancy than you would have thought necessary for a junkyard.

As a last-ditch effort you tried the radio, "Lieutenant, do you copy?"

There was no reply. You were on your own.

The door was thrown open and you were dragged out of the car. As if they finally remembered they were kidnapping a firefighter, they roughly grabbed your SCBA and threw it to the side, ditching the equipment somewhere near a line of crushed cars. Texas and the driver grabbed you by the arms and pulled you along the gravel until you were towards the back of the yard. You kicked and screamed, trying to break the ties on your wrists or bring any kind of attention.

They threw you on the ground, Texas brandished his revolver and pointed it at you. All you wanted to do was scream and plead, but there was no time. The gun went off and you hit the ground.

The first thing you recognized was the PASS alarm. It was far enough away that it was slightly muffled, but you could hear it clearly through the yard. You hoped that maybe someone would hear it over the traffic noises going on around you. Any sense of fight had left, it was clear this wasn't a kidnapping it was an execution. Now all you could do was lay hopelessly in the dirt.

"Dr Acher, Dr Asher, we got incoming!"

"Brett, talk to me!" Hannah called as she joined gourney rolling through the doors.

"Y/N Halstead," Brett started to rattle off, "GCS 9, perforating head wound. CPD found her in a car yard, no idea how long she was there."

Will had to hold Jay back from barrelling straight into the room, trying to persuade him that it would be okay without fully believing it himself.

"Page Neuro," Dr Archer ordered, "Let's get a CT and push fluids."

Hannah's face was hovering over you, you could feel a sharp pain in your chest as she performed a sternum rub.

"Y/N?" She pressed, "How are you feeling?"

You groaned, trying to swat her hand away but being held back by the nurses. Everything was moving so fast, it felt like your head had been hit by a sledgehammer. Any sense of time or spacial awareness was gone. It was like an out-of-body experience, but not the fun kind.

When you were next aware of your surroundings, your hand felt clammy. You forced your eyes open and grimaced at the brightness. You pulled your hands towards your face, trying to block the light.

"No, hey, don't," Jay protested, grabbing your hands and pulling them away from the bandages on your head.

You frowned at him, unable to muster up any more energy to fight him. You were half asleep, the feeling of not knowing if your dreaming or not. Jay was at your side, holding your hand. You wanted to tease him about how clammy his hands felt, but talking was too much energy. Hailey was beside Jay, she smiled brightly at you and pulled a blanket higher around your body.

After a while Will came into the room carrying coffee cups, he grinned when he saw you half awake. He gently pulled you into a hug, helping you prop yourself up on the bed.

"I don't get a coffee?" You croaked, attempting a chuckle that ended in coughing.

Will helped you sit up, holding your arm as you coughed like a child.

He and Jay helped you lay back down, Will fussed over the monitors and jay pulled the blanket back up again. You lazily pushed his hands away mumbling about being fine and he was smothering you. Jay ignored you and continued fussing.

You spent 3 weeks in the hospital, Dr Abrams had kept telling you about how lucky you were to be alive - let alone spend such a short time in the ICU. During that time, Will and Jay were almost always around. If they weren't, it would be someone from 51 or all of them.

You had woken up one day to the entire lot of them crammed into the room, somehow managing not to wake you with their rowdiness. They had all teased you about the situation,

"Only you would get yourself in that situation, Halstead," Violet joked, playfully poking your arm.

You had shrugged and proclaimed you wanted the paid time off.

When you were released, Dr Abrams had schooled Will on everything to look out for, warning the both of you to be on high alert. You were expecting it, but still the scolding only made Will more protective.

He always doctored you and Jay, but now it felt like he was less your brother and more a live-in doctor. Staying with him meant you didn't have to worry about your own apartment - which you had essentially been evicted of. And gave both Will and Jay peace of mind. It also meant that Jay could come around whenever he wanted because he had a key.

Will had found you both on the couch one day after his shift. Jay was watching some rerun of a hockey game and you had your legs thrown over his lap, completely passed out covered in blankets.

Even after you had gotten much better, Will insisted that you stayed with him. Jay had teased the two of you were lonely and had gotten used to each other's company and neither of you could argue because he was right. You had been cleared by Abrams to do light duty and got to play Fire Cop alongside Lieutenant Seager. Joe hadn't stopped giving you shit about it. Every time you came to Molly's he'd declared, "The fire cops here!" and envelope you in a massive hug.

After almost 8 months of doing nothing and working a desk job, you finally managed to beg Boden and Abrams to sign off on letting you back on Truck. The company had been functioning without you for so long that you worried they might eventually have to replace you. It took more convincing Jay to let you go back to work than Will. Will knew you were stronger than ever - having come with you to most of your appointments. Jay however, was worried about you getting hurt again.

You had rolled your eyes and said, "what like you do?"

Hailey had to hold in her laughter at the stare off the two of you had.

You'd sworn your brothers and Boden to secrecy, knowing they would accidentally tell the house if you didn't tell them to keep their mouths shut. You'd even gone so far as to bum a ride off Will, not wanting to let them know you were there.

You'd walked into the briefing room when Boden was declaring there was a new addition to Truck. You hadn't known he had set you up for an entrance - which made it all the more amusing for you when you walked into the briefing room and they all but exploded with excitement. Violet and Brett were the closest to you, they both jumped out of their chairs and pulled you into a hug. When you pulled away, Gallo and Ritter were pulling you into their own hugs.

When the hugs and welcomes were done, you felt like you were finally home. Things were back to normal, sure they were different than before, but maybe even better.

164 notes · View notes