Best Friend To The Very End

Two Families

All Night. For what felt like an eternity Kelly had sat b his daughter's bedside holding her hand, watching and waiting. Holding out hope that she would wake up. He couldn't face losing her. He'd already lost so much. Andy, Shay and now Katherine. Losing Hannah would break him. Kelly looked at his watch. 7 am. He knew everyone from 51 had gone home about 11 pm last night, and Lindsay got called back to the district at midnight. He knew her grandparents would want to see her, but he didn't want to leave Hannah. There was a knock at the door. It was Lindsay.
'Hey' She said
'Hey' Kelly replied, still by Hannah's bedside.
'How is she?'
'Not much change, she had a rough night'
'What about you? Did you get much sleep?'
'I got enough' Kelly replied
'Have you eaten anything?' She asked
Kelly shook his head
'Come on, I'm hungry'
'I'm not leaving her'
'Kelly, you need to look after yourself, your gonna be no use to Han if you burn yourself out'
Kelly looked at her
'She'll be ok, and we won't be too far away'
Kelly nodded his head. He kissed Hannah on the forehead. 'I'll be back soon Squirt' He whispered

'What did Will say?' Erin asked as she drank her coffee while she sat at a table with Kelly
'They're gonna do another scan today to see if the swelling around her brains going down. If not, she'll have to go into surgery again and they'll put a shunt in' Kelly explained 'Will said its a pretty common procedure'
'What about her arm' Erin asked
'If she's stable enough they'll put a plate and screws in'
'Hows Katherine's parents?'
Kelly shrugged his shoulders 'I haven't seen them since last night'
'Have you called our dad?'
'No' Kelly said shaking his head
Kelly rubbed his eyes and let out a sigh
'How about you head home, get some sleep?'
'I'm not going home' Kelly replied
'I'll stay here, I'll make sure she's ok' Erin promised
Kelly nodded his head 'I just want to hear the test results first'
'Sure' Erin promised

'What did the scan say?' Kelly asked as Will walked into Hannah's room
'Pretty much what we expected' He replied
'What does that mean?' Kelly questioned
'The swelling around her brain hasn't gone down' Will explained 'But in saying that it hasn't increased, which is a good sign'
'When do you expect it to go down?' Erin asked
Will shrugged his shoulders 'It's hard to say, it's only been 24 hours but we should be seeing some kind of improvement in the next couple of days'
'And if we don't?' Kelly questioned
'We've just got to focus on the fact that it hasn't increased' Will reassured
'What about her arm, Is it safe to put the plate in it?' Erin asked
Will nodded his head, 'Yeah, we're hoping to do that sometime this afternoon'
Erin looked at Kelly
'I've got to go but I'll be back later to check on Hannah' Will explained
'Thanks' Erin replied as Will walked out of the room
'I just want her to get better' Kelly said, about to cry
'She will get better' Erin reassured 'Bit you need to go home, get some rest. I can stay here with Hannah, I'll make sure she's gonna be ok. I promise'
'My cars still at the firehouse'
'Take mine' Erin said handing him her keys
Kelly nodded his head and put Erin's keys in his pocket
'I love you squirt' He said as kissed Hannah on the forehead
'She'll be ok'
'Thank you' Kelly said hugging Erin

Kelly got in Erin's car. Put the keys in the ignition and looked at his phone before he started the car. Missed calls and messages lit up his lock screen. Casey, Dawson, Capp, Brett, Boden. All asking how Hannah was. He unlocked his phone and searched through his contacts. He dwelled on it for a second. He knew once he said it he would finally realise it was all true. Not just some horrible dream he was hoping to wake up from soon. He pressed dial. He waited for someone to pick up on the other end. It rung out.
'Hi, you've reached the Benny Severide, sorry I can't get to the phone right now, leave a message and I'll call you back'
'Dad' Something he wouldn't be saying
'You need to come back to Chicago, there was an accident and' Kelly paused for a second, he couldn't bring himself to say it 'You just need to come back please'
Kelly ended the call. He went back to searching for another contact. He pressed dial
'Hi you've reached Leslie Shay, Sorry I can't get to the phone right not but leave a message and I'll call you back'
Kelly let out a sigh 'I just needed to hear your voice again, I need to know that everything's going to be ok'

Kelly walked through the door of the empty house. The house where he, Katherine and Hannah lived. Their family home. What was meant to be their family home? The silence was painful. The house was already incomplete but now it felt even more. He went into Hannah's room. There were different colours of paint on the walls, boxes on the ground and her bed. She was supposed to help him finish the house that weekend, not be in the hospital fighting for her life. He sat on the edge of her bed. The silence got to him, he let out a sigh as he began to cry. He had been holding on all night, trying to be strong for his daughter but for a moment he felt he could let his guard down. He could finally come to terms with what was happening to his family.

Kelly's phone buzzed. He looked at the time. 5:23 pm. He had been asleep for almost seven and a half hours. He picked up his phone and looked at the screen. There was a message from Erin.
'You need to come back, something happened' He read from the text
Kelly jumped out of Hannah's bed and quickly got the car keys and got in the car.

'What happened?' Kelly asked as he went up to Erin
'They fixed her arm, but the swelling around her brain's increased so they've had to put a drain in.'
'I knew I shouldn't have gone home' Kelly said to himself
'Hey it's OK, they've got it under control. It's just a minor set back'
'What did Will say?'
'He was waiting for you to get here, to explain it to you better'
'I'm gonna go see her'
'Not yet Kelly'
'Why?'
'Katherine's parents are in there at the moment' Erin explained
Kelly nodded his head
'Come on, let's wait in the waiting room' Erin said holding Kelly's hand
Erin and Kelly walked into a full waiting room.
Herrmann, Borrelli, Casey, Dawson, Brett, Boden and Jay were all in the waiting room.
Boden came up to Kelly. He put his hand on Kelly's shoulder.
'Thanks' Kelly said 'Next shift, I-'
'Don't you worry about it, we've got it covered. Take however long you need' Boden said before Kelly could finish what he was about to say
Kelly nodded his head. 'Thank you'
Kelly looked around at everyone in the waiting room. That's when he realised this was their family, their second family and that they could get through this.
Katherine's parents came out of Hannah's room into the waiting room. Her dad went over to Kelly.
'Can I talk to you?' He asked
'Sure' Kelly replied
They went somewhere more private and quiet
'We need to start planning Katherine's funeral' Her dad explained 'And whether we do it now, or we wait'
'What do you mean?' Kelly questioned
Katherine's dad let out a sigh 'Whether we let them be together'
'No' Kelly replied 'Hannah will get through this, I'm not giving up on her'
'We need to look at this logically Kelly'
'No, not now. Not until Will tells me different'
'Alright then' Her dad replied 'Well wait. Hopefully, Hannah will be well enough to go.'
'Have you told her about Katherine?'
'No, we'll leave that for when she wakes up'
'Thank you' Kelly replied

Kelly and Erin went back into Hannah's room
Kelly went over and held Hannah's hand
'I'v told you this before squirt and I'm telling you again. You need to fight. You've got two families you need to fight for and they're gonna be with you all the way'
He kissed Hannah on the forehead
'We need you Han' Erin said as she ran her hand through Hannah's hair.