A few weeks have gone by. News has spread of Alicia and Connor's engagement. A few days after the engagement, Alicia and Connor flew out to Seattle to break the news to everyone at Station 19. Matt has proposed to Shaylynn and they've begun the process of planning their wedding.
Alicia and Shaylynn are sitting in Shaylynn's kitchen looking through some bridal magazines.
'I'm guessing by the number of bridal magazines you've got, you and Connor have already chosen a date.' Shaylynn laughs.
'Yeah.' She nods. 'February 14th.' Shaylynn just laughs.
'Bit cheesy isn't it?' She asks.
'Well the wedding planner we met asked us for a date and when she said we hadn't really thought of a date, she told us to say a random date together and we both said February 14th and that's that. She wants us to create our own mood boards of what we want the wedding to be like.' Alicia explains. 'Connor has chosen Will as his best man so they're back at home doing his mood board. I'd like it if you were my maid of honour.'
'Really?!' Shaylynn exclaims. 'I'd love to!'
'My dad wants to pay for the wedding.' Alicia tells her. 'He can barely afford the place he's in now, Jay, Will and I are all helping him covering his rent, I go and cook for him a few days a week and clean his apartment.' She continues. 'Connor and Cornelius have said that they'd pay for the entire thing but I feel guilty. I feel like I should be contributing something to it.'
'You're marrying the guy!' Shaylynn says. 'That can be your contribution.' There's a moment of silence. 'Look, I get that you're worried that you're going to end up cheating on Connor but you haven't yet, have you? That's a good sign. If Connor didn't have any faith in you, he wouldn't have proposed.' Alicia just smiles and laughs.
'What would I do without you?'
.
It's been a few days. Alicia is sitting cross-legged on her bed in the bunkroom at 51 when Matt walks in.
'Halstead, Brett has called in sick so I'd like you on ambo until she's better.' Matt informs her.
'Sure.' She nods.
'Are you okay?' he asks, noticing the blank expression on her face.
'Yeah.' Alicia smiles as she gets off her bed. 'I'll go get changed into my paramedic uniform.' She walks through to the locker room, gets changed and five minutes later, she walks into the common room. As she's about to sit down, the alarm goes off.
Ambulance 61. Juvenile in distress. 365 Maderia Drive 60348
Alicia runs to the ambulance as Emily stands up but before Emily can move, Matt pulls her to one side.
'Keep an eye on Halstead. Something's up.' Matt tells her.
'Will do.' Emily nods.
.
Arriving at the address, they are met by the patient's parents.
'What happened?' Alicia asks as they follow the parents into the house.
'He was on the trampoline, he tried to do a front flip but landed on his neck.' The mom says. 'His name's Brandon. He's nine.' They're led out to the garden where a boy is lying on the trampoline.
'Call for extra manpower.' Alicia tells Emily. Emily nods and radios in asking for extra assistance whilst Alicia walks up to the trampoline. She sees that Brandon's eyes are welling with tears. 'Hi, Brandon.' Alicia replies. 'We're going to play a little game of sleeping lions. I need you to stay as still as possible for me. Okay?'
'Okay.' Brandon trembles. Emily joins them.
'Truck and Squad are three minutes out.' Emily says to Alicia.
'Why do you need them?' The mom asks, scared.
'Because of the mechanism of the injury, we need more assistance in getting Brandon off the trampoline without making his injury worse.' Emily explains. 'Would one of you mind going out front to bring them through?'
'I'll go.' The dad nods before walking off to meet Truck and Squad. Emily and Alicia return their focus to Brandon.
'Brandon, some people are going to come and help us move you off this trampoline but before we do, we're going to put something around your neck to protect it from getting hurt further.' Alicia tells the young boy, getting the C-Collar out of the jump bag. With Emily holding Brandon's neck in line with his spine, Alicia puts the C-Collar around his neck.
'Are you in pain anywhere else, Brandon?' Emily asks.
'No.' Brandon replies.
'I'm going to have to get on there.' Alicia whispers to Emily.
'Be careful.' Emily whispers back.
'Brandon, I'm just going to climb onto the trampoline with you so I can assess you better.' Alicia says to Brandon. Carefully, she climbs onto the trampoline but as soon as she steps onto the jump mat, he screams out in pain. 'I'm so sorry Brandon. We're going to give you something for the pain.' Alicia apologises as she carefully kneels down beside him. 'Foster, can I have an IV set?' Foster nods and hands her the IV pack. 'Mom, does he have any allergies?' Alicia looks at the mom.
'No.' The mom shakes her head.
'Great.' Alicia smiles. She looks back at Emily. 'Morphine.' Emily hands her a syringe of morphine. 'Brandon, before I give you this medication, I want to tell me if you can feel this.' She says, lightly stroking the bottom of his foot.
'Feel what?' Brandon questions. Alicia looks at Emily, concerned. 'I can't feel anything.'
'Okay, don't worry about that at the moment.' Alicia tells him. 'We're going to give you something to help with the pain now.' She cleans his inner elbow and stabilises it with her left hand, holding the needle in her right hand. 'You're going to feel a sharp scratch.' She puts the needle in and once she sees blood, she advances it in. Once the cannula is secured in place, Alicia opens the syringe package and takes the syringe out, put it into the cannula and pushes the medication through. Just as she's doing that, the dad returns with Squad and Truck. 'Okay, Brandon. We'll have you off here and to the hospital in a jiffy.'
.
Ten minutes later, Emily and Alicia are wheeling Brandon into Chicago Med. Ethan runs up to them.
'This is Brandon Cheston. Nine-years-old. He tried to do a front-flip on the trampoline but landed on his neck. Pulse is 85, SATs are 99, GCS 15 throughout and BP is 100/65. We've given him 5 of morphine so far. Tenderness in the C-spine and loss of sensation in his legs.' Emily does the handover as they wheel Brandon into a trauma room. They line the gurney up with the bed and Ethan, Emily, Alicia and some nurses all grab a handle of the backboard.
'On my count.' Ethan orders. 'One. Two. Three.' They transfer Brandon over to the bed. Emily and Alicia gather up their equipment and walk out of the room where Mr and Mrs Cheston are.
'He's in good hands.' Alicia smiles.
'Thank you.' Mrs Cheston nods.
'No problem.' Emily nods back. Both Alicia and Emily park the gurney by the nurse's station and make a start on the paperwork. As soon as Alicia sees Natalie, she turns to Emily.
'I'll be back in a couple of minutes.' She tells her. Emily nods and Alicia walks up to Natalie. 'Hey, Nat.' Natalie stops and turns to face Alicia.
'He's in treatment room 2 with Connor and Will.' Natalie tells her.
'Thanks.' Alicia smiles. She walks over to the treatment room and walks in to see her dad, Pat Halstead, lying in the bed.
'Alicia.' Pat smiles, breathlessly.
'What happened?' Alicia asks Connor and Will.
'One of his arteries is 80% blocked.' Will informs her. 'We're trying to get him to consent to surgery.'
'Let the docs do their thing, pops.' Alicia sighs.
'I'm not forking out on surgery when there's a non-surgical option available to me.' Pat replies.
'Is this non-surgical option long-term or short-term?' Alicia questions, looking at Connor.
'Definitely short term.' Connor says. Alicia looks back at Pat.
'Take the goddam surgery.' Alicia tells him, aggressively.
Halstead. Boden radios through to Alicia. Alicia grabs onto her radio and speaks into it.
'Yes, chief?'
We've taken 61 out of service for the rest of the day. I need you back at the firehouse as soon as you can.
'We're just finishing off at Med now. So we'll be with you within the next half hour.' Alicia replies into her radio. She lets go of her radio. 'I've got to go. I'll come back later to check on you.' She says to Pat. She quickly walks up to Connor and gives him a quick kiss. 'Take care of him.' She whispers once they've parted.
'Of course.' Connor nods.
'I'll see you later.' She smiles at everyone before leaving.
.
When Emily and Alicia arrive back at 51, Boden is waiting for them.
'Halstead, let's have a chat in my office.' Boden tells Alicia. Alicia nods and follows Boden through to his office where Ryan Tanner from Seattle Police Department is sat waiting for her with Matt.
'Ryan?!' Alicia exclaims, shocked. 'What are you doing here?'
'You might want to sit down.' Ryan says.
'What's going on?' Alicia asks, sinking down into a chair.
'There was a structure fire in Seattle yesterday. A big one. Practically all stations in Seattle responded to it.' Ryan starts. '19 were in the building when an explosion happened.'
'Is everyone okay?' Alicia gasps.
'Jack was injured, he was hit by glass shrapnel. A piece of glass got lodged in his heart. He's in the ICU at Grey-Sloan. They're keeping him sedated for another few days. Travis inhaled a lot of smoke.'
'He didn't have his mask on?' Alicia asks.
'No.' Ryan shakes his head. 'When Andy and Maya found him, he was unconscious and they haven't been able to bring him around since.'
~~~
Yasss! Any update for y'all (last time I gave you the gift of a Burning Love was October 31st!)
I've put my own twist into the Station 19 scenario (Travis was the one that was hit with glass shrapnel) to fit this book so don't be alarmed thinking I got them muddled up 😂
The character Shaylynn Voight belongs to RonnaSweeney
Let me know what you think down below!
Much love