If You Met Me First

Chapter 3

Hermann walked into the waiting room. He looked around and finally saw Dawson, Casey, and Kelly sitting together. He walked right over to them. "Have we heard anything?"
Casey looked up. "It's bad Hermann."
"How bad Casey?"
Casey took in a Sharp breath. "She's bleeding internally. They rushed her to the OR. She has a fractured eye socket, Split lip, and couple cracked ribs. They couldn't even tell where one bruised ended and a new one began."
Hermann couldn't believe what he was hearing. He ran his hand through his hair "And you think this was her ex?"
Kelly snapped his head up to look at Hermann. "I know it was. You should of seen the way she reacted when he showed up. But she told us he was harmless. I shouldn't of believed her."
"Severide don't blame yourself. No one knew." Casey was trying to comfort his friend.
"My gut told me! I should of went and checked on her." Kelly got up and just walked away.
"I'm gonna go call the Chief." Hermann walked away and started making phone calls. Within an hour all of 51 had shown up at the hospital.
Then her dad showed up. He walked right over to the Chief Boden. "What the hell happened?"
"Paul I do not know. Hermann called me and told me. She stumbled into Molly's barely alive."
"I knew she shouldn't of come here. She's coming home with me."
Kelly over heard the conversation and walked right over and got in Commissioner Davis face. "She's not going anywhere! It was her ex that did this and you brought him here!"
"Eric? He would never hurt her. Now I suggest you get out of my face lieutenant." Commissioners Davis temper was flaring.
Casey jumped up and got between Kelly and Commissioner Davis. "Severide don't ." He could see the anger in Kelly's eyes.
"You didn't see the look in her eyes when she saw him earlier at the firehouse! He followed her home to get his stupid ring back." Kelly was furious. How could this man be so blind.
Will emerge from behind the double doors. Everyone stopped and looked at him. Will could sense the tension building. "She's out of surgery. She is in ICU. She has a lot of bruises and injuries. She is going to need to rest and recover."
"When can she fly?" Will just looked at the commissioner confused as to who he was. "I'm her father."
"Ah. Well I recommend she shouldn't try and travel for at least a month. I'm honestly not sure when she is going to be able to leave here at the moment. She's in room 236 and she's waking up."
Chief Boden gave Will a nod. "Thanks Doc."
"Try and keep it down. She is really only supposed to have 2 visitors."
Everyone nodded and Will left. Everyone walked down to her room. Kelly entered her room first and was shocked at the site. She looked nothing like the girl he knew. Everyone else followed suit.
Her dad walked over to her bedside. "Hey princess how are you doing."
"I'm okay." She could barely talk. Everything hurt.
"What happened?"
"It was Eric dad." She had tears coming down her cheeks.
"What did you do to make him act like this?" Everyone's heads snapped and looked at her dad. "If you would of just come home everything would of been alright."
"Paul?!"
"Stay out of this Wallace."
"No Paul I will not!She is apart of the 51 family. And you do not get to blame her for this!" Boden was angry. How could a father act this way?
"She's always doing something! She never listens!"
"Dad stop please." Shelby was crying at this point everything hurt.
"Shelby you are coming home and working things out with Eric."
"Are you crazy? You want your daughter to go back to that lunatic?" Kelly was standing on the other side of her bed staring her dad down.
"She is my daughter! And she will do as she is told!"
Being the father figure of the house Hermann stepped forward. "She is also our daughter! Our Sister! Our Friend! Now I think it's time for you to go Mr. Davis."
Shelby's dad looked around at all the firefighters ready to throw him out of her room. He chose his battle and left her room.
"Shelby is there something you need to tell me? You know you could of always called me or Benny. We thought of you as family. "
Shelby choked back a sob. "Uncle Boden can I talk to Hermann and you alone?"
Boden gave a nod to his men and they all filed out of the room. Chief and Hermann then took a seat next to her bed. "Tell us what's going on."
"It all started after 9-11. He was so angry all the time. At first he would just yell and break things. But then he'd run out of things to break. My mom couldn't take it. So she just left one night and I haven't seen her sense." Shelby took in a shallow breath.
"Shelby did he hit you?" Shelby just nodded her head. Chief Boden was angry. Commissioner Davis was a good friend and a sweet man. "I'm so sorry. We won't let him near you and you are not going back to New York."
"Thank you." Shelby just started crying. Boden and Hermann gave her a hug and left the room.
They walked back out to the waiting room. Chief looked at his men and women of 51 "Commissioner Davis is no longer welcome at house 51. Am I understood? If he shows up you call me immediately."
"Yes Chief."
Everyone started to file out. Kelly stopped Casey. "Hey i'm gonna stay here. She shouldn't be alone."
"Sounds good man. We will catch a ride with Hermann. Call us if anything changes."
"Will do." Kelly headed back towards Shelby's room. Kelly walked in and just looked at her. "Hey davis."
Shelby looked up to meet Kelly's eyes. "You know you can call me by my first name right?"
"Alight... Shelby." Kelly smiled and walked over taking a seat next to her bed. "How are you doing?"
"I'm in a lot of pain."
"Do i need to get someone?"
"No not at the moment." But as if the nurse already knew she came walking in with a dose of pain meds. "Kelly you don't need to stay."
"I'm staying. I want to make sure Eric or your dad don't cause any problems."
Shelby gave Kelly a smile and fell asleep.
************************************
It had been a week since Shelby went into the hospital. She was never left alone. The guys at 51 switched off and sat with her. Neither her dad or Eric had shown back up.
Shelby was sitting their chatting with Kelly when Will walked into the room. "Hey Dr. Halstead!"
"Hey Shelby." Will walked over with his iPad in hand looking over her chart. "So we have a couple options today." He looked to see if they were paying attention. "I can let you go home IF someone is with you at all times for the next couple weeks."
"I don't think that will be a problem Doc."
"I didn't believe so. After all I don't think you've been alone since you got here."
Kelly looked up at Will. "She can stay with me till she can by herself again."
"Perfect. Well let me get your discharge papers together and we will get you out of her today." Will left the room.
"Yes!!" Shelby was so ready to get out of the hospital. Kelly laughed at her. "Can we swing by my apartment to pick up some of my stuff?"
"Sure and then we can stop at the firehouse so everyone can see you."
A nurse came in and went over her discharge paperwork, gave her a bag of prescriptions, and got her in the wheel chair.
Kelly got her situated in the car and headed towards her apartment. Once they arrived Kelly helped her out of the car. They went upstairs to her door.
Shelby just stopped. Her door was cracked open. "Kelly has anyone been by my place?"
Kelly just shook his head and Call Antonio. "Hey Antonio can you come to Shelbys apartment? We just got here and the door is cracked open." Kelly hung up the phone. "Antonio said we she wait in the car." Shelby nodded and followed Kelly back out to his car.
About 10 minutes later the whole intelligence team had shown up. Shelby and Kelly got of the car to greet them.
"Shelby what's going on?" Jay and her had become friends with the occasional benefits.
"I just got out of the hospital and we came her so I could grab some stuff and we noticed my door was cracked open."
"Alright you two stay here we will go check it out." The intelligence team headed inside to her apartment.
A few minutes later they came back out. Jay looked at them. "It's all clear but the place is trashed. Did anyone have a key to your apartment?"
"No. Just me. Can I go in?"
"Yes but don't touch anything."
Shelby head into her apartment. Jay was right it was absolutely trashed. Everything had been pulled out of her kitchen cabinets and thrown on the floor. The couch cushions were cut into. Shelby walked into her bedroom and it had also been tossed. Someone even took the time to shred her clothes. Shelby couldn't tell if anything was missing.
"Do you think Eric did this?"
"I'd be willing to put money on it."
Jay walked in. "Is there somewhere you can stay? We are going to need to take pictures and evidence."
"She's staying with me. Doc doesn't want her to be alone for a while."
"Oh okay." Jay was trying to hide his disappointment. "Well that's good."
"Kelly can we just go? There's nothing here I can take." Shelby was upset. Everything she owned was destroyed.
"Sure thing. Let's go."
"Thanks Jay. Call me when you guys are done."
"Will do Shells."
Kelly wrapped an arm around her shoulder and led her outside. Once they were both seated in the car Kelly drove to the firehouse.
"I'll have Casey help me move your car later. Doc says you shouldn't be driving while you are on the pain meds."
"Thanks Kelly." Shelby stepped out of his car and closed the door. They walked up to 51. The doors were closed since it was so cold outside.
They walked into the rec room.
"There's our girl!" Hermann came over and gave her a hug. "How are you doing?"
Shelby was trying to look happy. "I'm good. Just glad to be out of the hospital."
Sylvie came over and gave her a hug. "I'm so glad you are okay."
Shelby winced a little bit and Sylvie let go. "Let's be a little careful with hugs for a bit?" Sylvie smiled and nodded.
"So when can you come back to work?"
"Not for a couple more weeks. I'll be staying with Kelly. Doc doesn't want me by myself."
"Well we just made lunch. You guys should sit and eat." Shelby smiled at Sylvie and followed her over to a table.
Kelly motioned for Hermann and Casey to follow him. They stepped out in the bay. "What's up Kelly?"
"We stopped by her apartment after she got out and the place is trashed. Someone broke in."
Hermann and Casey's eyes grew big. They thought it was all over since no one had heard from her dad or Eric.
"Intelligence is there documenting everything but she has nothing. Everything is trashed."
"We will pass the boot. It's the least we can do for her so she can at least get a couple things she needs."
"Thanks Hermann but wait till after we leave. She's upset enough already and I know she won't accept the help." Casey and Hermann nodded. They then headed back in to eat lunch.
They stuck around a little while after lunch till a call came in. Once everyone left. Shelby and Kelly headed to his apartment.
"Kelly I really appreciate this."
Kelly just smiled "We are always going to be there for you. You are part of the 51 family. We don't leave one of our own out high and dry."
Kelly parked the car and they headed inside. Kelly unlocked his apartment and they stepped inside. "I don't have a bed in the guest room but you can take mine. I'll sleep on the couch."
"Kelly no. I can sleep on the couch."
"No. I insist. You're still healing and I want you to be comfortable." Kelly was a true gentleman. Shelby didn't bother to argue she knew it wouldn't do any good.
"Well since all my clothes were destroyed. Do you have something I can barrow so I can take a shower?"
"I bet I can find something. Come on." Kelly took her to his room. "The shower is through that door. You go ahead and I'll look to see what I can find."
"Thanks Kelly." Shelby kissed his cheek and went to go take a shower. Almost all of her bruises had fade and would be gone within the next couple days. She turned the shower on and stepped in.
Kelly went through his clothes. He found an old shirt and sweatpants that no longer fit him. He also grabbed a pair of his boxers. He poked his head in the bathroom. "Hey I found you something. I laid it on the counter."
"Thanks Kelly."
Kelly closed the door and sat on the bed. He was playing with his phone when he heard the shower turn off. A couple minutes later Shelby stepped out of the bathroom wearing what he had found. He couldn't help but smile. She was so perfect no matter what she was wearing. And there was something about her wearing his clothes that made his heart skip a beat.
"What Kelly?"
Kelly must of been staring for longer than he realized. "Oh sorry. There's a Blackhawks game on tonight."
"Okay sounds good. We could order some pizza for dinner?"
"Sure sounds like a plan."
Shelby walked over and sat next to Kelly. "I think I'm gonna lay down for a bit. I'm pretty exhausted. And I'm start hurt."
Kelly put a hand on her leg "I'll grab your meds and some water."
"Thanks Kelly." He left the room to retrieve her meds and a bottle of water. Shelby peeled back the blankets and laid down. His bed felt so soft and safe.
Kelly came back a couple minutes later. He sat in the edge of the bed next to her. "Here you go." Kelly handed her the water and pain meds.
Shelby took a drink of water and two pills out of the bottle and swallowed them. "Thank You Kelly."
"Your welcome." Kelly moved a strand of her hair out her face and tucked it behind her ear. They bother were smiling. "You sleep. I'll be in the other room."
Shelby nodded and curled up snuggling the blanket. Kelly got up and turned the light off, closed the door and went to the living room.
He collapsed on the couch and ended up falling asleep himself.