Grace walked up the driveway of Firehouse 51 late one afternoon to see one of 51's firefighters. It was a week since the shooting at the Blueprint and Grace was trying to keep a low profile. Lower than she usually did, at least. Luckily no one was killed.
Earlier in the day back at Adam's apartment, she discovered her key to his place was missing— probably left on the other side of the door. She tried calling both Adam and her father but neither picked up, as usual. Even the landlord was three hours away, so Grace figured she'd try her last option and make an appearance at the firehouse.
As she walked through the door, she heard the typical background noise of a firehouse: a voice on the intercom, tools clanging on the concrete floor, and somewhere far in the kitchen Mouch arguing with Herrmann about something or other. Sitting at the table by the trucks was Kelly Severide and the rest of Squad 3. Capp nodded to Severide that they had a visitor.
He turned his head around, "Hey Grace, are you looking for someone?"
With her hands in her pockets, she walked confidently towards him. "Yeah," she sighed. "Abigail Keys."
"What do you want with Keys?" a voice belonging to Matt Casey boomed across the floor. Man, Casey could be intimidating but Grace knew he was kindhearted.
"I just need to ask her something."
The firefighters looked at her strangely. Grace sighed, not wanting to expose their colleague's personal life and spewed something about a school project. Grace followed Casey through the firehouse to the kitchen, where Abigail was sitting at the table.
"You have a visitor, Candidate."
She looked up at Grace, a bit confused. "Hey Grace...is everything ok?" It indeed was a little awkward. The two barely knew each other.
"Yeah, nothing that bad. I got locked out of Adam's place, but he's busy working some case with the rest of Intelligence and not picking up his phone. His landlord also happens to be away, so if I'm not mistaken I remember seeing you with one?"
Abigail looked a bit embarrassed, mostly that the guys of the firehouse knew her business. Although, if any of them were at the Christmas or New Years party at Molly's, they had to have seen Keys leaving with Ruzek.
"Yeah, I've got it in here. C'mon." Grace followed Abigail to the locker room and retrieved what she came for. "Here you go..."
"Thanks." Grace smiled, trying to make the interaction as painless as possible. "Will I see you there tonight or should I leave this with Adam?"
"You can leave it with him. I won't get off shift til late."
"Got what you came here for?" Severide caught Grace by the door as she was leaving.
"Yeah," she dropped the key in her pocket. "I guess everyone sort of knows about them." she laughed.
"Ruzek and Keys...yeah it was kind of hard to miss on New Years." Severide spilled.
Grace made a face. "Good to know...do you have any plans for the weekend?" she asked politely. She knew the deal: 24 on, 48 hours off.
Severide nodded. "My old man's got a cabin up in Kenosha. I think we'll go ice fishing this weekend."
"We?"
"Casey and I."
"Sounds like a good time...my dad's got a cabin up in Wisconsin too, near Burlington."
"Your brother mentioned it once or twice...hey, Grace?"
Grace wondered what he wanted to tell her. "Yeah?"
"I know you were at the Blueprint a couple nights ago." he said slowly.
"Wh-what?" she grinned, confused he knew her whereabouts. "What are you talking about?"
"I work with paramedics who responded to it. One of them saw you in the back alley. That pink backpack is hard to miss, even at night. I don't know what the situation is so I didn't say anything to anyone, but you should tell your brother—"
"—I can't."
"— Apparently the police are looking for one of the workers from the concert hall."
"What?" she snapped.
Severide didn't expect that reaction. "Do you know who they're looking for?"
Grace shook her head, "No, of course not."
Severide shrugged as if to say she had nothing to worry about.
On the walk to her car, Grace pulled out her phone and went to call Carter.
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