The firefighter's smile

Chapter Nine

"Can it just be I don't know, a hematoma to his spine?" Charly asked. 

"Until a new IMR, we can't be sure but you have to process that paralysis might be permanent" The neurosurgeon replied.

"The hell with that! He is a firefighter, okay? He needs his legs to work."

"I understand your concern..."

"Really?" She retorted.

"I'll keep you posted." He added before leaving.

She sighed before to face Kelly's best friend.

"Did I do the good choice?" She asked him.

"What?" Matt replied, trying to understand her question.

"Was I right to accept the surgery? I mean, one of the risks was the paralysis and now..."

"And now, we don't know if this is permanent, Charlotte."

"I... I got things to do" The former fiancée of the Squad 3 Lieutenant added.

When Matt was out of her sight, she literally ran to the exit. It's with anger that she punched the wall before leaving. She didn't come back for a week, during which Severide kept asking about her.

"Matt?" He asked when I woke up, desperately trying to find a family face near him.

"I'm here, Sev." His fellow Lieutenant said, approaching the bed so Severide could see him, the neck brace restricting his movements.

Before one of them can add a word, a bunch of doctors and medical students walked into the room.

"Glad to see you awake Mr. Severide" the neurosurgeon smiled. "You, your turn" he added, pointing a finger towards one of the students.

"Male, 34 years old. Car accident. Arrived unconscious. After exams, the injuries were diagnosed: middle concussion, internal bleeding, pneumothorax, 3 broken ribs, a dislocated shoulder, and a broken vertebra prior to the accident. Now, after 2 weeks, we can observe a paralysis of the lower limbs and a weakness of the upper limbs"

"Paralysis?" Kelly screamed, processing the word for the first time. "You said that might be the anesthesia or a hematoma or..."

As if the situation wasn't enough complicated, the Squad 3 Lieutenant started to hyperventilate and the monitors started beeping.

"Lieutenant, I need you to calm down" The doc replied calmly, waving to his students to leave.

"You said... I can't be paralyzed... I.... am.... a.... fire....fighter"

At the end of his sentence, he couldn't catch his breath. He was now gasping for air, his head starting to turn.

"Do something !" Matt shouted, worried.

"I...... Plea....se..." Severide mumbled, his hands moving to his burning chest.

After what seemed like an eternity, the doctor, in the room, grabbed the oxygen mask and put it on the wounded firefighter's face.

"Take a deep breath!"

When it started to get bad to worse, he had no choice but to push the emergency button. Two nurses rushed in it, one pushing Casey aside, while the other executed the surgeon's orders. Soon, everything regained normal. The room was empty, Matt at the bedside of his friend while this latter was asleep or rather sedated.

Looking at the man lying in his hospital's bed, he was glad to send Leslie home. Neither he or she slept this night. Leslie, like Matt, was worried about his best friend but about Charly too. She had tried to call her all the day, she had texted her messages, she even had come to Herrmann's place but still no news.

"This is probably the nineteenth messages I leave you and I don't know how more I will have to leave you but goddammit pick up your phone! You can't disappear like that. He needs you as much as you need him. For the millionth time, you are not responsible for his paralysis. Moreover, he'll pull through: he always did."

Shay was fusing. How can she just leave after all of that? Again? No way in hell! She grabbed her coat, her car keys before heading to the 21st District. Maybe Lindsay can help, after all, she was Charly's best friend.

"What can I do for you?" Sergeant Platt welcomed her.

"I need to talk to Erin Lindsay."

"One second, please."

Mouch's wife picked up the phone, composed what seems like to be Erin's number, talked to her for a minute before hanging up the call.

"She's coming"

"Thanks, Sergeant" Leslie smiled.

Even before she could sit down, the first female detective of the Intelligence Unit appeared.

"Follow me!" She instructed the paramedic. "What are you doing here?"

"Have you seen Charlotte lately?" Severide's best friend asked.

"Nope. Why?"

"I think she ran away. Kelly had a car accident two weeks ago and she got to make a decision for him as she's still his emergency contact, and now, he's paralysis and I think that she blamed herself for it. But, you know it's not her fault. He couldn't already feel anything when we rescued him. I just... How can she come here, rescue him, talk to him and run away?"

"Shay, you need to breathe" Lindsay replied. « I can try to trace her phone »

"You can do that?"

"Of course." the detective replied. "I just need twenty minutes"

"She's still in Chicago" Erin noticed. "I have an address"

"I'm coming with you"

After ten minutes path, the two women walked in the hall of the train station.

"You go this way, I take this other one"

Don't take this damn train, Shay thought, trying to find Severide's girl among all the persons presented in the station.

"Charlotte! Don't you dare to it again!" She shouted, recognizing her.

"Leslie, please!" She mumbled.

"No, you listen to me!" Leslie retorted. "I don't give a damn about your arguments. There is only one thing that Kelly fucking Severide care more about than his legs or his job and it's you!"

"Les..."

"I'm not finished!" The paramedic cut her off. "What nobody tells you is that when you left for New York, we lost Kelly: he was a dead man walking. He was here physically but mentally... hell! Even in this hospital's bed, plugged in everywhere, when he talked to you, when he hugged you, it was like he resuscitated. Don't leave him again. He needs you."

"I can't face him, Leslie. I... That's my fault...."

"No! It's not your fault. In the car, when he could have died, he didn't because you were there. Because you are his hope. He couldn't feel anything at the crash scene from neck to toes, and now, he can move his arms."

"I... I don't remember him, I don't remember us, Shay. The only thing I remember is him broken after he had been trapped under a beam. I... I felt helpless during all those days and now... it worst than anything. I don't want to give him false hopes." Smith eventually said.

"Crash at my place, please." Shay begged her.

"Okay. Can we just..."

"Go see him?" The 61's paramedic smiled.

"yeah"

"Of course!"

An hour later, Smith and Shay were walking in the ICU.

"What happened?" His best friend asked, noticing the oxygen mask on his face.

"Panic attack" Matt admitted. « One of the students let slip out he's paralyzed »

In no time, Charly was back by his side, stroking his grey hair and whispering some sweet words.

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Chapter 9 🎉