F | I'll stand by you (One Chicago)

Chapter Five

A few days have passed. 

Engine 51, Truck 81, Squad 3, Ambulance 61, school fire. Central Chicago Academy. 

Engine, Truck, Squad and Ambulance run out to their vehicles and rush to the scene. When they arrive at the scene, Severide and Casey approach the principal to make sure that everyone is out. 'Fire started in one of the kitchens we use for food technology. We have one student missing. Emily Doherty.' The principal tells them. 

'Damn it.' Severide whispers to himself. 'LET'S GO!' He shouts. 'Brett, Dawson, be prepared for smoke inhalation and potential burns.' The two paramedics nod and Truck and Squad enter the building to try and find Emily whilst Engine sets up the hoses.

In the building...

'FIRE DEPARTMENT! CALL OUT!' Severide shouts. 'EMILY! CALL OUT!' He walks into one of the kitchen areas and sees Emily slumped against the cupboard on the floor. He checks for a pulse and sighs with relief when he finds one. 'I've found Emily. She's unconscious, she's got a pulse but it's weak.' He radios through to the rest of squad and truck. 'I'm bringing her out now!' He then picks her up and makes his way out of the building. As he does, he notices some of her clothes has been burnt, indicating that she's her skin has been burnt.

~

At Med, when Maggie gets the call about Emily, she pages the on-call trauma surgeon which happens to be Dr Connor Rhodes. He meets Sylvie and Gabby at the ambulance entrance.  'Emily Doherty, 16, caught up in a fire. She has inhaled a lot of smoke. Pulse 150, BP 110/80, SATs 94 and GCS 15. She was unconscious when she was found but regained consciousness en route.' Sylvie does the handover as they wheel Emily into the ED. She has been placed onto a backboard so that she can be transferred over to the bed easier.

'She has roughly 16% burn coverage.' Gabby adds. Covering the abdomen and going around, roughly, to the middle of the lower back.' Gabby motions roughly where the burns are on Emily, on herself. 'We've put a line of saline in and given her 10 of morphine.' They then wheel Emily into the trauma room and then transfer her onto the bed. After getting Emily off the backboard, they leave.

'Hi, Emily. I'm Dr Rhodes, I've treated you before.' Connor says as he listens to her chest. 'This is probably a stupid question, but are you in pain anywhere?' 

'My whole body.' Emily tells him. 

'How bad, on a scale of one to ten?' 

'100.' Emily laughs, she then groans in pain.

'Take it easy.' Connor tells her. 'Now, you do have a bit of a wheeze but that is to be expected with smoke inhalation. We're going to take some blood tests and then get to treating your burns.' 

~

It's been a few hours, Emily is up on high dependency getting oxygen treatment as her carboxyhaemoglobin levels were a bit high than what Connor would have liked. Her burns have been treated and the burns specialist is hopeful that there won't be any long lasting mobility issues and minimal scarring. Due to Emily's history of mental illness, Connor has asked Dr Charles and Dr Reese to do a psychiatric evaluation. They walk into the treatment room and see David sitting in a chair beside her. 'Hi, Emily.' Sarah smiles. She then sees that Emily looks scared, victimized and distant. She looks at Dr Charles who steps in. 

'Mr Shakespeare, can you step outside, please? We'd like to talk to  Emily in private.' He asks.

'Sure.' David nods. He then turns and glares at Emily before standing up and leaving. As soon as he leaves, Emily's eyes start filling with tears.

'Emily?' Sarah asks. 'Is everything alright?'

'Yeah.' Emily nods.

'You don't like alright.' Sarah says as she walks closer to her.

'Dr Reese.' Dr Charles warns.

'Has something happened?' She asks Emily. Emily doesn't say anything, she just nods. 'What happened?'

'I can't go back to the school. I- I just can't.' Emily shakes her head.

'Why not?' Dr Charles questions.

'Mr Shakespeare- David- he- he's been- he's been raping me.' Emily stutters. 'It's all my fault!'

'Emily, it is not your fault.' Sarah reassures her.

'I should have fought him off. I should have pushed him away. I should have told someone the first time, then- then he wouldn't have done it again and again.' Emily sobs.

'Emily, we can take a rape test. We can get him arrested.' Sarah says arrested and Emily nods. 'We can speak with DCFS. Get you somewhere else to stay, other than the school.'

'I don't want to live with strangers.' Emily shakes her head. 'No one wants a kid with mental health issues.'

'Emi-' Sarah starts.

'Can I be left alone now?' Emily snaps.

'Sure.' Dr Charles nods. 'Dr Reese.' Both Dr Charles and Sarah walk out and see Kelly but not David. 'Where did Emily Doherty's teacher go?' He asks a nurse.

'He left, in a hurry.' The nurse tells him.

'Call CPD. Intelligence. Tell them to get here ASAP.' He orders.

'What's happened?' Kelly asks.

'We can't disclose that information.' Sarah states. 'You can go in and see her if you want.'

'Thanks.' He smiles and then walks into the room. 'Have you not had enough of us already?' He smiles.

'Something like that.' Emily laughs gently, but then winces in pain.

'You OK?'

'Yeah, it just hurts to laugh.' Emily nods. 'Anyway, what can I do for you?'

'I just wanted to check up on you. See how you're doing.' Kelly replies. She then starts to cry. 'Did I say something?'

'No.' Emily shakes her head. She wipes her tears and smiles. 'It's just- no one has said something like that to me in a while. My parents, well, they don't want me anymore. My dad's closest friend, who also happens to be my teacher, raped me-'

'Oh Emily.' Kelly sympathies.

'Dr Reese wants to call DCFS, get me a temporary foster placement. No one wants a mentally ill teenager to look after.' Emily sighs. Kelly thinks for a minute.

'Why don't you stay with me.' Kelly offers.

'You're a firefighter. The last thing you need to worry about is looking after a teenager.' Emily shakes her head.

'No. I insist. I don't care if you have a mental health condition or not. You're human. Everyone deserves the same rights. Regardless.' Kelly responds.

'Thanks Kelly.' Emily smiles.

'I'll have to clear it with DCFS first,  but I don't see there being a problem.' Kelly adds.

~

An hour later, Kelly is speaking with DCFS and Boden. 'I can give him up to 3 weeks furlough.' Boden tells the DCFS representatives.

'That's roughly how long Emily will be in your care from the day she gets out of hospital, Luitenant.' A representative tells Severide. 'So we are agreeing to let Emily Doherty stay in your care. Sign these papers.' They say, handing him some forms. 

'Thank you.' Kelly nods.

'Some police officers will go to her boarding school and get her things.' They tell him. 'They'll drop them off within the next few days.' Kelly nods gratefully and goes to tell Emily the good news.