A Slow Burn // Brian 'Otis' Zvonecek // Chicago Fire ✔️

52 || FAITH

The clock ticking. The faint drip of the IV. The reoccurring beep of the heart monitor. These were all sounds that both Riley and Otis had had to hear more times in their life than either of them would have liked. Riley most of all.

Riley couldn't count on one hand the amount of times she'd had to sit by a hospital bed as someone she loved lay unconscious in it. She couldn't count the amount of times she'd cried within the hospital walls. How many times the doctors and nurses had seen her break down. How many times she'd prayed in the chapel despite not having a single ounce of belief in God.

It was becoming way too much of a regular occurrence for her, and if truth be told, Riley didn't know how many more times like this she had left in her.

The clock ticked faintly from its position high up on the wall, the long hand edging closer to 6pm on the very same day Otis had been shot. Riley had returned to the hospital around two hours ago after she spent some time at home, composing herself and cleaning herself up as she looked like a complete and utter mess after what had happened. Seriously, she'd never seen her face so tear stained or her mascara as smudged in her whole life.

Riley sat quietly by Otis's side, her hand holding his tightly through fear that he might be taken away from her or that she might be pulled away from him when visiting hours ended in a few minutes. She didn't want to leave him, not for a single second. Not when his stable condition could change in a matter of seconds and he could slip away from her.

If that happened, if Otis decided he couldn't fight anymore. That he couldn't hold on. Then Riley would want to be there. She needed to be there because if, God forbid, that's how this went, then she needed to be able to say goodbye.

A lone tear rolled down Riley's cheek as she thought the worst. Thought about having to say goodbye to such a huge part of her heart. Hell, all of her heart. She knew it would break her, more than anything else ever had. She knew she'd never recover, that she'd never be the same. She couldn't imagine her life without Otis. Couldn't imagine moving on to someone else, someone who'd never be able to replace that hole in heart, which is why she just had to keep praying that Otis would find the strength he needed to keep holding on.

"Knock knock." Came a soft voice from her left, a voice that belonged to someone Riley had forgotten was returning to Chicago for her wedding.

Her brother in law, James, who knew better than most how Riley was probably feeling right now.

"James." Riley breathed out, a weak smile on her face as she reluctantly let go of Otis's hand and stood up, making her way towards her brother in law who embraced her in a much needed and comforting hug.

"How you holding up?" James asked as they pulled apart, his hand remaining on Riley's shoulder as his eyes flicked between her and the sleeping Otis who lay still in the bed, a c-collar around his neck which didn't instil James with much confidence over his condition.

"I'd be lying if I said I was okay." Riley chuckled out softly, her eyes watering again as James had come as a reminder of what she'd lost the last time something like this happened. And a reminder that she'd have to cancel her wedding which he had travelled all this way for. "I'm sorry, I meant to call you and let you know what happened. Save you wasting your time driving here."

"Are you kidding? I'd have left the minute you told me what happened, you know that." James replied as he stepped further into the room, his attention moving from Riley back to Otis. "How is he?"

"He's hanging on." Riley said hopeful, backing up towards her seat and sitting down, immediately retaking Otis's hand the second she felt the cushioning beneath her. "They haven't removed the bullet yet but they're keeping an eye on him."