BURNED - A Chicago Fire Fanfiction

Chapter Twenty Eight

"Herrmann, there's nothing to forgive."

"No, there is. I treated you like shit and what do you do? You—" Herrmann sniffled. "You saved my life."

"Hey," I softly smiled. "51 is my home, you're all my family, okay?" I carefully reached my right hand out to him and gave his hand a gentle squeeze. "You are my brother. I wasn't about to let my brother die." Herrmann gently nodded and the tears instantly began to roll down his cheeks.

I carefully pulled him into a hug. His quiet sobs muffled into my shirt and all I could do was sit there and hold him. I looked down at Herrmann and all I could think about was how I wished I could have this moment with Jamal. My eyes began to sting, making me realize that I was crying too. Herrmann quickly sat up as a gentle knock filled the room. The sliding door opened and Dr. Choi and Dr. Rhodes entered the room, freezing at the sight of us.

"Oh, uh..." Dr. Rhodes cleared his throat. "Were we interrupting something?"

"No," I softly smiled and wiped the tears from my eyes. "We were just..."

"Making up for lost time," Herrmann smiled.

"Well, we have your x-ray results," Dr. Choi smiled. "It's just an anterior shoulder dislocation."

"That's good...right?"

"It's the most common type of dislocation," I informed. "Should be rather easy to fix as long as there are no other issues."

"Which, amazingly, there isn't," Dr. Choi informed. "You fell how many feet?"

"I don't know, ten feet?"

"Fifteen, max," Herrmann nodded.

"Amazing. With all the weight between both of your gear and body weight, it could've been a lot worse, it should've been."

"Guess I got lucky," I half shrugged.

"Very lucky," Dr. Rhodes nodded. "Next time you feel like pressing your luck, get a lottery ticket."

"I'll be sure to weigh my options the next time Herrmann falls through a roof. Save Herrmann...win a million dollars...tough decisions." Herrmann playfully laughed. Making room for the doctors, Herrmann pushed the chair back against the wall and stood at the foot of the bed, watching as they prepared to pop my arm back in place.

"Do you want anything to take the edge off?" Dr. Choi asked. "I can give you a little fentanyl—"

"No way," I declined. "I take that shit, I won't be able to work."

"You're not gonna be able to work anyways," Dr. Choi informed. "It's an injury that takes a minimum of four weeks to recover. Even after that, you're still going to be possibly prone to re-dislocations."

"And you two must be patients of Dr. Charles' if you think I'm going to be benched for this. I'll take light work restrictions, but I'm not gonna be stuck at home for four weeks with Bless the Rains Down in Africa out there." I motioned towards the door. Everyone turned to look and saw that K'eon was dancing to Africa at the nurse's station with the nurse who had took my vitals. April, I think was her name. "I'll go insane."

"Okay," Dr. Choi chuckled. "I'll see what strings I can pull."

"Are you sure you don't want anything?" Dr. Rhodes asked. "It's going to be very painful."

"I'm sure," I nodded. "Just do it quick like a bandaid." Dr. Choi and Dr. Rhodes exchanged glances and took their places; Dr. Rhodes stood on my right side to hold me still and Dr. Choi took the left side to set my shoulder.

"Herrmann, you might want to leave the room for this."

"No way," Herrmann shook his head. "I'm not leaving her side." Herrmann looked to me. "I mean...it's what besties are for, right?"