Her AU Book Three

Santa Bites

"KELLY!" Ana shrieked, racing forwards to help him only to find herself held back by Herrmann instead.

"Hey, hey, Captain! Calm down, calm down! Look!" He urged and the brunette obliged, unable to do much else.

The Squad Lieutenant had gotten his foot back up and he hoisted himself back onto the ladder with a grunt. Ana released a huge sigh of relief and Herrmann let her go a few seconds later.

"Severide!" Rick's voice yelled through the radio.

"Yeah!" Came the somewhat strained reply a moment later.

"The wife is still in the bathroom!" He explained, urgently.

"Got it!" Kelly assured and Ana watched as her husband entered through the window with Capp right behind him.

They reappeared about a minute later and began making their way back down, Kelly with the wife in his arms.

"Do you believe this clown?" Herrmann scoffed as Mouch walked over to join both him and the Captain. "Last winter we have a guy literally lay across his entire family to save them, and he can't get out that window fast enough." He shook his head.

The other man mimicked his friend's actions while Ana just shot them both a slight glare. She, of all people, knew that you should never judge a book by its cover.

*In the Common Room: A Little While Later*

"Hey, Mouch, turn it up." Rick called from his spot next to the man on the couch. "Severide, check it out."

Kelly looked up from where he was sitting in between Ana and Otis at the round table to see a news story playing out on the TV. The man he had rescued not even two hours ago was giving an interview.

"I saw she was down, and something inside me was screaming out, 'do something, do something,' you know? So I picked up the heaviest thing I could find, and I threw it through the window, and I yelled out, 'over here, over here!' The fire was out of control at that point, and all I could think of was, 'I have to help my wife.' The smoke was so thick, I was choking on it. And, anyway, I'm thrilled I could help alert those guys and save my wife in time." The man recalled.

"Oh, come on." Otis muttered, standing up and leaning over the back of the couch to get a better view.

Everyone else had gathered around the TV at this point as well and Joe just crossed his arms and laughed in disbelief.

"And this was the scene earlier where the Chicago Fire Department arrived just in time to save Veronica Carlisle, but not quickly enough to save the house." The news anchor took over. "Compelling story, Glenn. Glad there's still some local heroes this time of year. In other news. . ."

"Oh, compelling story, Glenn. Sir, could you tell us exactly what happened?" Otis prompted in a mocking tone of voice before turning to Joe and miming holding out a microphone to him.

"Oh, of course, Dwight. Well, um, my house was on fire, and I nearly wet myself, so I barreled out of a window, nearly killing a fireman, while leaving my poor wife to die." The Truck Driver replied in a high-pitched nasally voice.

"Oh!" The Elevator Man rolled his eyes and mimed tossing the microphone over his shoulder.

Kelly grinned and looked down, wrapping arm around his wife who couldn't help but laugh at their antics.

"We should call the station and tell our side of the story." Mouch suggested.

"Who cares? Let the guy say what he wants." The Lieutenant shrugged.