Trust Her

Sacred Ground: Part 1

A/N Here we are! First chapter of the new book!

First things first: as you may have already gathered from the title, I'm splitting this episode up into two parts. There's a 3 month time gap in this one while in the PD Epsiode "Doubt" there is not and takes place right where "Reckoning" left off.

For this fic's sake Kelton's body isn't found until a few days after Ana killed him. The how or why is up to you but really it was so I could fit in the Chicago Fire Episode "I'm Not Leaving You."

Anyway, this first part of "Sacred Ground" is everything leading up to the huge time jump so it is, in fact, way shorter than usual. Then the next chapter will be PD's "Doubt" and after that it'll be the rest of "Sacred Ground," after the time jump.

With all that cleared up, please relax and enjoy the (short) read.

~Princess <3

Ana scrambled to her feet and gazed up at the building, unsure of what to do. Her right hand slowly crawled up to her radio but she didn't activate it. The brunette just stood there, frozen, unable to bare the thought of even one member of her firefighter family being hurt.

Her eyes suddenly shot to the smoke pouring out of the factory's entrance. The female Captain could've sworn she heard a cry of pain coming from that direction. Sure enough, Matt and Foster appeared with Sylvie in between them and Chief following not too far behind.

The blonde was covered in dust and her right arm was in a splint. Upon, noticing this, Ana instantly ran over and helped guide her to a nearby ambulance. Once she was situated, the male Captain turned to the brunette.

"Hey, you okay?" He wondered, eyeing her for any visible injuries.

"Oh, I wasn't inside." She shook her head.

Matt furrowed his brows and looked at Chief for an explanation.

"I ordered her to stay out here while I went inside with Brett and Foster." He replied.

"Well, thank God for that." The male Captain panted out, a little breathless and, after what just happened, he had every right to be.

Ana wanted to give both men a big old hug but she suddenly paled, slightly, as a new though occured to her.

"Where's Sev?" The brunette demanded and their eyes suddenly flew as wide as saucers.

The three instantly turned back towards the smoky entrance just as Kelly came out, followed by Capp and Tony. The brunette let out a huge sigh of relief but it was short lived when another group of firefighters emerged from the building, carrying one of their own.

"FIREFIGHTER DOWN! Firefighter down!" Joe shouted as him, Herrmann, Mouch, and Stella brought an unconscious Otis over to a nearby stretcher.

Kelly immediately rushed over to help while Matt stood there in shock and Chief closed his eyes in dread. Ana just stared at the fallen firefighter, blankly, with one thought running through her mind.

Not again. Not another one. Please, God, not again.

Those three sentences were played on a loop in the brunette's head as Otis was loaded into the back of an Ambulance and rushed to Chicago Med.

*Said Hospital: Waiting Room*

Everyone from Firehouse 51 had piled in and prepared themselves for the long, dreadful, wait. The hours ticked by and some people were starting to get a little bit restless. Those pacing around would know just how long they'd been there if they managed to catch a glimpse of the now dark sky through a window or glass door. Most of the firefighters were all lost in their thoughts, hoping and praying that Otis would be all right. Eventually, aside from the normal noises from the hospital around them, a silence fell over 51's occupants.

An undeterminable amount of time passed by before an extremely quiet, almost inaduible, sob ripped through the tense atmosphere. The three firefighters who's ears were most attuned to that sound instantly turned towards the brunette in the center of the small, protective, circle they had subconsciously formed around her with their chairs.

"Hey." Kelly murmured, furrowing his brows in concern.

"What's wrong?" Matt inquired, softly with worry coloring his features.

"What is it, Ana?" Chief prodded, gently, leaning forwards a bit from where he was seated across from her.

"Nothing. It's just. . ." She sniffled and wiped at her eyes a bit. "Staring up at that God-forsaken building with no clue if any of you were still alive-"

The brunette's breath hitched and whatever she was about to say next got cut off by another sob. Matt and Kelly each placed a hand on one of her shoulders and shared a look when they felt how bad she was shaking. The two younger men glanced at Chief who merely closed his eyes in response.

He'd been in Ana's position several times over. He knew exactly how she felt and yet he had no clue how to go about comforting the poor woman. Chief just leant forwards a bit more and placed a hand on her knee.

The three men continued to soothe the brunette to the best of their ability and her sobs eventually tapered off into small sniffles every now and then. Chief glanced over her shoulder and instantly shot up when he caught sight of a doctor a few feet away.

Every firefighter in the room held their breath as the older man walked over and talked him. A few more seconds went by and Chief's crestfallen face told them everything they needed to know.

Matt and Kelly turned and buried their faces in Ana's shoulders. The brunette wrapped her arms around them and held her sons close as she started crying again.

The older woman suddenly looked up a few minutes later when she felt someone standing in front of her. It was a patrolman and his partner was lingering not too far behind him. He looked conflicted about what he wanted to say and, after the day she just had, Ana's patience was pretty much nonexistent.

"What is it?" She inquired, snappishly and let go of Matt and Kelly to wipe at her eyes again.

The two just stayed where they were, though. They could guess at what about to happen and wanted to get all the comfort they could before she had to leave.

"We're sorry, Ma'am. We know this isn't the best time but we overheard on the radio about something going down at the Superintendent's house." The Officer explained, quietly. "They're calling in all units in the area and said that Intelligence was on scene. We just thought you should know."

So they finally found the bastard's body. Took them longer than I thought it would.

"Thanks." She muttered.

He nodded in reply and walked back over to his partner. Ana stared at the floor for a few seconds before wrapping her arms around Matt and Kelly again. She dropped a kiss into the male Captain's hair before doing the same to the Lieutenant's. The brunette gave them one last comforting squeeze and stood up with a sigh.

Ana glanced, tiredly, around the room and caught sight of Chief standing a few feet away. She walked over and just stood next to him until he noticed her presence, which he did almost immediately.

"Wally, you mind driving me back to the Firehouse?" The brunette asked, quietly. "I just got word that my team caught a case and it's one that can't wait no matter how much I want it to." She mumbled and her voice dipped into a soft whisper near the end.

Chief just looked down at her with a sad, yet understanding, gaze.

"Of course." He nodded.

A/N And that's a wrap! I hope you enjoyed and I'll see you on Monday where, hopefully, everything will come together and make a whole lotta sense.

Till then!

~Princess <3