Burning Flames (Chicago Fire Fan-fiction) - Under Editing

Chapter 2: Ultimate Sacrifice (Edited)

Matthew Casey's POV
---
            "I'll be okay. Don't worry, I'll be okay," Dawson's voice comes over the radio, sounding hoarse. I stare up in horror at the building as the flames grow higher and then watch as it flashes over, with one of my firefighters still inside. Glass rains down around us and I cover my face as I grab my radio and yell, "Dawson! Report! Report back!"
            We all wait in dead silence as we stare at the entrance to the building, hoping she will come out dragging a woman with her, but after a few silent minutes we all come to the same conclusion. I turn to look at my truck crew, Squad 3, Pumper 51, and Chief Boden. I lock eyes with Herman and he looks like he's about to cry. He looks away and turns to Boden, asking quietly, "Chief, what do you want us to do?"
He looks up one more time at the burning building and starts to reply, "Open up the water can-"
The radios crackle with a short burst of static once before going dead, cutting him off, and then crackles again as weak voice says, "Chief, I... need some help... in here... The woman is still alive and... has no new injuries... that I can see... and I have minor... burns."
Boden breaths a sigh of relief and looks back at us. He takes a deep breath and orders, "Severide, Casey, take Herman and go up there and get our girl down."
I give a sharp nod of my head in reply and Severide, Herman, and I head over to the entrance of the still burning building. Severide puts his hand on my shoulder and says, "She didn't sound too good, you know."
I nod and reply, "I know, but I've got to hope she's okay. She's one of my firefighter's and best friends."
He nods and we mask up before heading inside the entrance of the building. We slowly make our way to the stairwell, working our way over multiple fallen beams, holes in the floor, and rubble that's fallen through from the floor above us. We reach the stairs and head up the two flights to the third floor where I had left Dawson to finish sweeping it.
When we reach the third floor and start searching the rooms. We work our way through the first room and then move on to the second. We walk in to the room and start searching it. As we work our way to the right and search the room I see a burnt table with half of it burned away and the other half still burning. I make my way over to the table and see a black boot sticking out. I pull the table away and see Dawson laying on the ground.
"Guys! I found her," I call over my shoulder to Severide and Herman. Dawson is laying on top of the woman she found and her mask is slipped over the woman's face, condensation appearing and disappearing as the woman breathes, but the tank almost empty.
I kneel down next to her and roll her off of the woman, slipping the mask off of her in the process. Herman and Severide pick up the woman and carry her out as I look over Dawson. Her back is burnt badly, and she has black rings around her nose and mouth from inhaling too much smoke. I shake her shoulder lightly and she groans, but she's definitely unconscious.
Her bunker gear has been burned almost completely through in some places and her skin is bright red in a couple spots that are exposed. I pull my mask off and put it on Gabby as Severide comes back from getting the woman out. When he sees the state she's in he shakes his head and says, "Casey, we can't move her. She has more serious injuries than what she told us."
"Well, we don't exactly have any other choice. We can't bring paramedics in to a burning building, Kelly. Now, let's move her. One, two, three, lift," I say, picking Dawson up under her arms as Severide grabs her legs.
We pick her up and quickly carry her out of the room and down two flights of stairs to the first floor. We rush her out of the building and as soon as we're out, they turn the water canons on the fire.
As we carry Dawson over to the ambulance, the woman from before sees us. She's lying on a gurney as two paramedics patch up her burns. She leans up on her elbows and calls out, "Where's the firefighter that saved my life, is she alright? Can I-"
She stops as she sees Severide and me carrying Dawson over to Shay and Mills' ambo. She covers her mouth with her free hand and looks away as they load her in to the ambo and pull off.
We lift Gabby on to the gurney and Shay pulls open her jacket. Mills starts treating her burns as Shay works on getting her gear off. She gets her jacket off her arms and shoulders and says, "We need to roll her on her side. On the count of three I need you guys to pull her to you."
"One, two, three. Now," Shay tells us. We roll her on to her side and Shay pulls her jacket out from under her. I look down and see burnt skin and a little blood through her shirt. Shay frowns at the burns and says, "Mills, we need to bandage these burns. She's got some nasty ones back here."
"Here. We need to hurry, Shay. Her vitals are dropping," Mills says, handing Shay a stack of gauze pads. Shay hurries and bandages the burns and then has us lay her back down. Mills and she load Dawson in to the back of the ambo and I say, "Take care of her. We'll be there as soon as we get the fire out."
"Don't worry, Casey. We'll take care of her," Mills reassures me, just before Shay shuts the doors and hurries to the driver's side. They pull off just a few seconds later, headed to the hospital.
I turn back and go over to where the Chief is standing and say, "They just left with her, Chief."
"Okay, Squad will stay and do the secondary search, load up and go. Pumper and Squad can handle this, take your crew and get to the hospital," Boden says, watching as Pumper 51 and Squad 3 spray down the dying fire.
I nod and call out to Mouch, Herman, Otis, and Cruz, "Pack it up, boys! We're going to the hospital."
They nod and start packing our equipment back up and loading it up on our rig...

---
Time skip
---

When we get to the hospital Shay and Mills are sitting in the waiting room. I head over to Shay and she says, "She's awake, and they're about to start treating her burns."
"Is there a Matthew Casey or Leslie Shay out here?" A nurse calls, hurrying in to the waiting room. Shay and I go over to her and she says, "Both of you follow me. Ms. Dawson won't let us start unless one or both of you are with her."
I shake my head and follow the nurse back to the trauma room they are treating Gabby in. Shay and I follow the nurse in and as soon as she sees us, Gabby gives a nod to the doctor. He starts removing the burned skin from her back and Shay goes and grabs Gabby's hand.
I pull my over coat off and go over and take her other hand as she squeezes her eyes shut. She gasps and says, "Distract me."
"Uh, well... Casey?" Shay stutters.
I clear my throats and say, "Is that window still holding up in your apartment? The one that I helped you fix?"
She nods and says, "Yeah, you did a good job on it, but one of the others needs fixing."
"I can come take a look at it once you get home," I say, squeezing her hand.
She nods and Shay says, "You know, you two would make a cute couple."
"Shay, not really the time to bring this up," Gabby replies.
I chuckle as Shay says, "You wanted to be distracted, that's something to distract you."
Gabby smiles and shakes her head before her eyes slip closed and the monitor she's hooked up to starts giving an alert sound. Shay pulls me back to the wall as they flip Dawson over.
"Come on, we need to give them room to work," Shay says, ushering me out of the trauma room. I nod and ask, "Is she going to be okay?"
Shay glances over her shoulder as she closes the door and says, "I hope so."

---
Time Skip
---

The doctor walks in to the waiting room about thirties minutes after Shay and I had come back out here. He walks over to us and says, "Gabriela is doing very well. She gave us a scare at the beginning, but we were able to stabilize her and we expect her to make a full recovery in about three to four weeks. I would take a few of you to go see her, but she is still asleep so we want her to rest for now. I'll have a nurse let you know when she is awake."
I breathe a sigh of relief at knowing she's going to be okay...