Conquering Chicago (Chicago Fire 1)

Stay close to me

After hearing the announcement from Mane, Emily bounced into action - she quickly wondered towards the Squad and put on her uniform. Less than a minute later everyone was taking their seats in the Squad and off they went. From Emily's view, the ride was quiet. The boys joked and laughed with each other, cracking jokes that Emily didn't really understand. Instead of contributing to the conversation, Emily just sat there - in her eyes, any contribution that Emily could put forward didn't seem worthy.

"Halstead" Severide called out to Emily, turning in his seat to talk to her. "Stay close to me, I want to keep an eye on you" He continued. The way Emily saw it, it was like Severide had no faith in her what so ever - even though she had spent the better part of two years working on Squad 6. But instead of answering him, Emily just nodded - knowing that if she spoke, there was a good chance that he would get a sarcastic reply. When they arrived at the scene, Severide and Emily jumped out of the Squad - making their way into the burning home. 

"Fire Department. Call out" Severide and Emily both called out, taking turns not to shout over each other. After walking through the whole of the house, they still hadn't found anyone anywhere. They noticed that the flames where starting to engulf the whole of the building, so at that point they decide to leave the building. As Severide walked in front of Emily, a sudden crack of a floor board took one of his legs in its grasp. Without thinking, Emily grabbed onto Severide's arms and used all her strength to pull him back up. But this came with no avail. 

"Go" Severide shouted at her motioning for her to carry on without him.

"I'm not leaving you behind" Emily shouted back at Severide, still keeping hold of one of his arms. Emily assessed the situation for a moment before a plan seemed to form in her mind. With one swift movement, Emily was able to knock out three floorboards - pulling Severide up in the process. After dragging him out of the house, Emily took him over to Ambo 61 - where Brett and Chilli looked him over before placing him in the back of the ambulance, taking Severide to Chicago Med. 

"Make sure Will Halstead looks at him. And tell him that Emily will owe him big time" Emily told Brett, closing the ambulance doors and hitting them. For a moment, she watched as the ambulance drove away. 

"Halstead, while Severide's away you are acting Lieutenant" Chief Boden said to Emily, he watched for a moment before nodding back at him. Making sure he was aware that she knew what to do now. It took a few minutes for all the equipment to be placed back in the Squad, but once it was done - they where off. When they got back to the firehouse all everyone wanted to know was what had happened to Emily and Severide in the fire, but Emily said nothing. 

"Severide will tell you when he gets back if he wants to" Emily finally said, after getting sick of all the questions. She really doubted that Severide would even want to have everyone knowing that his life was saved by the new girl. From the moment that Emily had walked into the firehouse, it had seemed clear that Severide didn't like her, so she didn't want him to come back to the house to everyone still asking questions - but she knew that this was the most likely thing to happen. The rest of Squad 3 sat on the designated Squad table on the loading bay, while Emily sat in the common room - with her feet on a chair as she read a book. 

"What are you reading?" Gabby Dawson asked, taking a seat next to Emily.

"The Last Men Out" Emily answered, placing her book on her lap. Gabby chuckled as Emily spoke, only really laughing about the fact that Emily was reading a book about the lives and adventures of fire fighters while she was sitting in a fire house - surrounded by fire fighters.

"Really? Is there not enough action around here for you?" Gabby asked Emily, still quietly laughing at Emily's choice of reading material.

"It was a joke present from a good friend" Emily told her, closing the book over before turning to talk to Gabby properly. "So, what's up?" Emily asked, wondering why Gabby had come over in the first place. 

"I was just wondering, if you were doing anything after this shift?" Gabby questioned, even though it sounded more like a statement to Emily. 

"There is a good chance I will just be eating pizza and sleeping" Emily told her, not holding back at all. "Why?" Emily asked, starting to wonder why Gabby seemed so interested in what she was doing after her first ended. 

"Otis, Herrman and I own a bar. So, I was wondering if you wanted to come and have a drink when this shift ends. You know, so we can get to know each other outside of the firehouse" Gabby Dawson said to her. Emily's heart was warmed by the thought of Gabby actually inviting Emily out in an effort for them to get to know each other. Before Emily could actually give her a proper answer, Kelly Severide walked into the common room - looking for Emily. 

"Halstead" Severide shouted to Emily, who just looked at him for a second while his usual face of thunder had gone and was now replaced with  small smile. So small that it could have been missed if Emily hadn't looked at him carefully. "My office now" Severide said to her, before walking towards his office. Emily quickly followed behind him, not wanting to give him a reason to go back to his usual moody self towards her. Before leaving her chair, Emily turned to Gabby and told her that they would talk later.

"What's up Lieutenant?" Emily asked Severide, not really knowing what else she could say. 

"I wanted to thank you for helping me in the house" Severide said to her, the small smile that had been on his face a few minutes ago had returned. "Also, I wanted to say thank you for getting your brother to help me out. As soon as Brett mentioned you he sent me for every test possible" Severide continued, laughing a little at the memory of Will seeming shell shocked just at the mention of his sister. 

"It's fine Lieutenant. Don't worry about it" Emily said back to Severide. She found herself catching the contagious smile that Severide had just had on his face. 

"You can call me Kelly or Severide" Severide said to Emily, laughing a little as she spoke. By saying this, Emily took it to mean that Severide had finally started to warm up to her. 

"Thank you Severide" Emily told him, before turning to walk out of his office. 

"Why didn't you tell anyone what happened in the house?" Severide asked her, wondering why she would want to keep her heroics quiet. 

"I didn't think that you wanted everyone to think that a female saved you" Emily told him. "All I want is peace around here" She continued. She knew that it was like to work in the boys club, and this made her aware that some guys didn't want everyone to know that they had their lives saved by a woman. 

"There is no reason to hide what you did in that fire. I'm always proud of any of my team that saves a life" Severide told her, standing up. "Come to Molly's after shift tomorrow and I'll buy you a drink to say thank you" He said. 

"I think that could be where Gabby was going with our conversation before you called me in here" Emily laughed, and to her surprise - Severide laughed at this comment too. "Can I go now?" Emily wondered out load. Severide nodded and smiled back at Emily, his way of telling her she was free to do what she wanted to. As Emily wondered back into the common room, Gabby was sat with Matt- both of them talking about life. Everyone else was engaged in their own conversations to even notice that Emily had wondered back into the common room. Emily spent the last few hours of her shift watching the clock tick, waiting for it to hit 8 am and for her shift to be over. 

"How was your first shift?" Matt asked Emily, as they made their way into the locker rooms - collecting their belongings to take home. 

"Good, it's really nice to be a part of a new fire house family again" Emily said, opening up her locker and pulling out her bag. "See you at Molly's later?" Emily stated and asked at the same time. She watched as Matt smiled and nodded back at her. 

"The new bee always buys the Lieutenants a drink after their first shift, you know. It's a rule" Matt said to her as they walked out of the firehouse together before diving into their different cars.

Hey guys, 

Thank you for your patients

This chapter has been edited and changed a little.