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starset21 · 11 months ago

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A Dark Day

A/N: Surprise! Here's an addition to the collection with another coming on Tuesday!

Standard disclaimer: I do not consent to the posting, translating, or publishing of my work to any 3rd party site, the only place it may currently be found is on tumblr and Wattpad under the name @.itswildflower

Looking for more? Chicago Fire Collection Masterlist

Word count: 2.5k

Warnings: cannon typical depictions of fires/accidents, explosion

“Please make sure you register at least 30 minutes before the race begins,” the announcer calls over the PA as Matt placed a box on the table. Gabby sighed, “Really? Goat shirts?” Dani brought over another box. “Those are collectors' items,'' Matt defends. “Yeah, garbage collectors,” Gabby laughs. “You guys gonna run the 10k?” Jameson, one of the guys from another firehouse asked. “Uh, Halstead and I are, Casey chickened out,” Gabby told them, high-fiving Dani. “I'm more of a sprinter,” Matt tries to defend himself. “Heard you're gonna introduce the commissioner later,” Jameson teased. “Yeah. Not sure how that fell on me,” Matt grumbled. “Well, a ceiling fell on you while you were saving a baby, baby,” Gabby smirked. Dani pretended to gag. “Hey. It's... it's Kim, right?” Gabby asked, hearing the clattering and turning to see a woman struggling with putting up a display for CPD.

“Yeah. Hey,” she replied. “Hey, you... you need some help?” Gabby asked. “I... I kind of have no idea what I'm doing,” she admitted with a laugh. “She was part of the team that got Diego back,” Gabby told Matt. “On it. Firefighters bailing out cops is a long tradition,” Matt teased. “Oh, okay. Well, when you need a police officer to…” she trailed off. “Yeah, I've got nothing,” she said and they all laughed. “Who's this?” Matt asks, referring to the young girl digging around in a box next to the table. “Oh, this is my niece Zoe,” Kim introduced. “How old are you, Zoe?” Matt asks, helping to set the frames up for the display. “I'm nine,” Zoe tells him. “Really? Let me see your driver's license,” Matt jokes. “I'm nine too,” another little girl comes up to them. “Wow. Well, uh, you're the designated driver because she doesn't have her license,” Matt tells them and they giggle. “Imogene, don't bother them. They're setting up,” a woman says as she approaches. “Oh, no, it's totally fine,” Dani reassured. “Do you want to go see them unload the animals for the petting zoo?” Zoe asked Imogene who nodded excitedly. “Go ahead,” Kim told her niece. “Stay where I can see you,” the other woman tells the two girls. “Okay,” they call out and run off. “Hey, you're the new pediatrician, right?” Gabby asks. “Yeah, Holly Thelan. Nice to meet you. I’m the new pediatrician, just moved here from New York,” she replies. “Well, welcome. Thanks for volunteering on your day off,” Dani tells her with a smile. “Yeah, my pleasure. I'll see you guys,” Holly tells them.

“Hey, I guess I'll go get started with registration,” Gabby tells Matt. “You’ll sign me in and we can meet at the starting line?” Dani asked her, stretching out her limbs. Gabby nodded. “Have a good race, I’ll be rooting for you,” Matt tells Gabby, pressing a kiss to her cheek. They finished setting up pretty much everything so Matt offered to walk with her to go find Gabby. The two girls go running past them with huge smiles and balloons in their hands. “Wait for me!” one of them called out. “Hey, I like the balloons,” Matt called out to them. Dani watches them with a smile and goes to nudge Matt when an explosion goes off in the hospital. The blast throws the two friends to the concrete and the world goes black for a moment. Dani’s ears were ringing and she felt someone shaking her shoulder. She let out a few coughs before blearily opening her eyes, spotting Matt checking her over quickly. She pushed herself up so she was sitting and took a moment to take in the chaos. A man with a bloody leg was limping away from the scene, and those that weren’t hurt too badly had already begun helping where they could. She could hear screaming and crying through the ringing in her ears.

“Danielle,” Matt called again and she could hear him clearer than before. “Oh my god,” is all she says as Matt stood up and grabbed her hand, helping her up. The two of them started walking towards the wreckage. There were cars flipped over and burning as they assessed the scene, a chunk of the hospital gone and crumbling. “Matt, look, the girls!” Dani took off for them. “Girls! Girls, can you hear me?” she asks, sliding to her knees in front of them, “Are you hurt?” “My head,” Imogene groans. “My tummy hurts,” Zoe tells her. “Hey. What's your name?” Matt asks a man who was getting up next to them, a bleeding wound on his head. “Vaughn,” he tells him. “Vaughn. I need you to run around to the other side of the hospital... and check to see if the ICU is intact…” Matt trails off as Vaughn ends up collapsing. “Hey! Hey!” Matt tries to wake him. “Oh, my God! Zoe!” Kim runs over and kneels beside Dani. “Imogene got knocked in the head. Zoe said her stomach hurts. This man just passed out,” Matt tells her, moving to assess the man. “Im? Im, talk to me, sweetheart. You know where you are?” Holly asked as she too kneels with the girls. “I'm at the race,” she mumbles. “That's right, honey. Are you okay, baby?” Holly asks. Sirens blared as emergency vehicles began arriving. “Ow!” Zoe cried. “Oh, my God. I think she might have a cracked rib,” Holly told Kim. Matt looked around for a moment before looking back to the women. “Hey. E.R.'s gone. We'll use that tent as triage,” he told them. “Okay, good.” They all nodded and jumped into action picking up the girls. “Everyone, this tent will serve as triage! Start moving people off the street and out of the rubble! Anyone that can help us, help us!” Matt yells.

“Can you move?” Dani asked Vaughn who had started sitting up again. “I think so,” he told her and Dani grabbed his arm, pulling him up and helping him over to the tent where paramedics were already beginning to triage people. “Chief! Chief!” Matt called out as he and Dani pushed through the crowd after spotting the trucks. “Big explosion, no idea of the cause,” he tells the Chief. “You okay?” he asks the two firefighters, pointing at Dani’s cheek where there was a thin line of now drying blood. “Yeah, we’re fine,” Matt starts. “It’s just a flesh wound, triage in that tent. E.R. took it hard,” Dani told the chief. “Alright, people are gonna be trapped up on those higher floors,” Herrmann says, stepping beside the Chief. “Okay, you, Otis, and Mouch... you get the aerial moving,” Chief orders. Herrmann nods, rushing off. “Exterior oxygen and fuel tanks are on the other side of the building. This couldn't have been an accident,” Chief begins briefing the situation as Otis and Mouch hand Matt and Dani extra turnout jackets and gloves. “A bomb?” Matt asks. “The structure's unstable. Where's Dawson?” Chief asked. “Oh, God. She went inside,” Matt’s eyes widened. “Dawson's in there?” Severide asks. “We think so,” Dani told him. “We'll get her,” Severide assures Matt. “Go! Cruz, Mills, stay back!” Chief orders and everyone else gets to work.

There was still debris falling closest to the collapsed zone. “Fire department, call out!” Severide yelled as the others pushed debris off of people they could easily get to. They helped people up and took trips carrying those who couldn’t walk over to triage. “Gabby? Call out!” Kelly yelled. “Hey! Dr. Arata, right?” Matt yelled up to a familiarish looking man. “Yeah,” he called back. “Did Gabby Dawson come in here? Have you seen her?” Matt asks. “Dawson... I did. I left her at the nurses' station,” the doctor told him. “She on this floor?” Kelly asked but the doctor burst into a coughing fit. “Hey! Casey, there's a ton of pockets in here. We'll find her,” Kelly tells Matt as Dani comes back over. “Hey! If you can move at all, get away from the exposed wall! Move back towards the center!” she calls out, noticing some people dangerously close to the edge of the exposed floors. “Gabby! Anyone! Call out!” Matt yelled.

“Hey! Hey! Seriously? What's your problem?” Matt yells as two men try to push past a man who was on the ground with a gurney. “We need to get this man out of here,” one of them tells him. “Here, take it,” Matt pulls the other person out of the way and he groans. “Hey, listen! A lot of people need to get out of here, all right?” Matt yells at them. Creaking sounded and Kelly looked up at the ceiling. “Casey, get back!” he yells but it's too late and part of the ceiling collapses. Matt coughs as Kelly helps him up. “I'm okay,” he grunts. “I'm okay,” he reassures. “Hey, stand back,” Kelly tells one of the men who was trying to get past Matt previously. “No, you get back! This is Alim Al Safir, ambassador from Syria to the United States. Ambassador Safir was here in your city's protection, and if he's dead…” the man begins. “Capp, Tony, get this guy to the "A" wing,” Kelly ordered. “You got it,” Tony told him, climbing over some rumble.

“Severide!” Matt yells, standing up from where he had been kneeling looking at the rubble. “Yeah?” he asks. “There's plenty of room under the debris, the way it's fallen. I'm going in. If Gabby's under there…” Matt starts and Dani shakes her head. “Casey, I don't know if that's safe. You guys get stuck under there…” Capp trails off. “We won't get stuck,” Matt tells him. “Casey, Severide, maybe you should have me go, I’m smaller and can fit through gaps easier,” Dani tries, falling back on her training. Matt looked at her with narrowed eyes as he shed his jacket, shaking his head. Dani looked at Kelly, who looked like he was debating it. “Casey, it makes sense, I follow her in,” Severide tells him. Casey still looked reluctant. “I’ll get her Matt,” Dani tells him. “Halstead,” Capp tosses her a flashlight and she sheds her jacket. “Ready?” Kelly asks and Dani nods, slithering down into the hole in the rubble. “Gabby! Hello?” Severide calls out. “Hey! Gabby! Anyone! Call out!” Dani yells. “Halstead,” Severide says from somewhere behind her. “Yeah?” she asks, pausing. “If we don't find a space big enough to turn around, we're going to have to do this backwards,” he tells her. “I know. It’ll be fine,” she tells him, crawling forwards again. “Well, it might not be the smartest course of action,” he tells her. “We're going to be smart about this now?” she asks him. “No,” he responds. “Then we keep going,” she called back over her shoulder. In the world above Herrmann and the rest of the truck's crew finished evacuating people from the floors above and began gathering with the rest of the squad. “Hey, Casey! Tony! Where's Severide and Halstead?” he asks. “Down there somewhere,” Tony told him. “All right, let's spread out. Let's go, guys. Dig 'em out.”

“I see someone! Call out if you can hear me!” Severide yelled. Dani didn’t quite hear him. “It's not her!” he yells. “What?” Dani yelled back. “She's dead,” Severide yells. “What?!” she yells back. “It's not Dawson!” Severide yells and Dani lets out a sigh of relief. “Gabby! Anyone! Call out!” she yells. “Gabby! Call out!” Severide yells. There is a distant metal clanging. “Shh, shh, shh, shh, shh. I hear something,” Dani shushed Severide. They froze, listening carefully for the clanging. “Keep going!” he told her and with a renewed vigor the two of them crawled through the dirt and debris. “The space up ahead is too small,” Dani tells him, moving some of the smaller rocks away and trying to make the hole a little bigger. “You can do it. I'm right behind you,” Severide encouraged. Dani managed to make it wide enough for her to crawl through into the next chamber. “Hey, Herrmann? Casey? Can you hear the banging?” Severide radios to the others. “Hey! Quiet everyone! Kill that torch!” Herrmann shouted. They listened carefully for any kind of banging and it didn’t take long to hear the faint metal banging. “Is that you, Severide?” Herrmann asks. “No.” Banging continues. “That's from over there!” Casey yells and everyone jumps into action, moving debris piles.

“Gabby! Gabby! Gabby,” Dani shouted as she shined the light and spotted a figure. “You came,” the other woman muttered as she quickly moved into a crouch, trying to check her over. “How bad?” Dani asked her. “It's just my head, but I think I'm okay. Matt and you okay?” Gabby asks, as Dani takes a closer look at the large cut on the side of her head. “Yeah, we’re both fine. Matty’s freaking out up there, trying to get to you,” she tells her. “Damn, Dawson. You look like hell,” Kelly says as makes his way into the space behind Dani. They all laugh. “I'm not 100% sure I'm not dreaming,” Gabby tells them. “Hey, guys, Halstead and I have Dawson. She's alive,” Kelly calls into the radio. The guys cheer and applaud. “We're not out of the woods yet, boys! Let's get this concrete off of them!” Herrmann yells. They worked swiftly to uncover them and set a ladder down in. “Drop the basket,” Severide tells them. The two of them carefully place Gabby on it and strap her in. “Ready to get out of here?” Dani asks her. “Yeah,” Gabby nods. “Lift her up!” There was more cheers and applause along with welcome backs from the guys as they helped Gabby free from the basket. Once Gabby was cleared Severide gestured for her to climb up before him. She was clapped on the back as she moved away from the area so Kelly could climb up. Matt was holding Gabby tight, relief evident on his face. The whole of house 51 migrated from the debris to grab water and rest for a moment as another company arrived and took their place. Dani leaned on a barricade, watching the scene when she noticed a blue SUV with flashing red and blue pulled up. Jay Halstead and the rest of the intelligence unit climbed out, looking around. Dani’s green eyes met Jay’s and he gave her a subtle nod in greeting before he followed his unit. “Hey, Chief, commissioner's here,” Severide says.

The commissioner walks over to them. “Fire commissioner,” Chief greets. “Deputy District Chief just brought me up to speed,” the commissioner tells him. “Dark day, sir,” is all Boden has to say. “That, it is. Listen, I am informed that you and your men from Firehouse 51 were first on scene and saved dozens of lives today,” the commissioner tells him. “Yeah. Plus one of our own,” Boden says. “Well… You can fall back, let some relief do some digging,” the commissioner tells him. Chief Boden looked at the company, everyone had stood, looking ready to get back to work, giving him the impression that they weren’t willing to leave so soon. “We think we'll stay,” Boden tells the commissioner.

#starset writes #kelly severide #matt casey #gabby dawson #dani halstead #chicago fire #chicago fire collection #one chicago

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