Spitting Bullets

Chapter 20

Kelly hated the fact that he had to wait in the car while Intelligence made the bust, but he understood it. He rode with Ruzek as they sped to the scene.

"How are you holding up man?" asked Adam, trying to break the silence.

"I just want my son," he admitted.

"We're going to get him."

They pulled up to the abandoned house, clearly separated a bit from the majority. They stuck the warrant in the door before busting in Hailey and Nicole took the main floor, Adam and Kevin took the upstairs, and Halstead went to the basement with Burgess. Just as they finished clearly the main floor, they heard Kevin's booming voice.

"Release the boy."

Immediately the rest of the team headed to the basement, guns drawn. Nicole pushes herself to the front of them, eyes landing on her baby boy...and the woman holding the gun to his head.

"Drop the weapon," ordered Voight and the woman tensed.

"I got this," Nicole told Hank, not taking her eyes off the scene, "I got this."

"Mommy!" cried Noah, squirming to reach Nicole."

"It's gonna be okay Noah."

"Shut up! Both of you!" the woman cried in anger and hurt.

"Carla...don't do this. He's just a little boy. He's my little boy."

"Yeah, well you know what happened to my little boy? Someone shot him! And you did nothing!"

"Noah is not Marcus. He is still alive and you can help him. I have an entire team behind me who would die for that little boy. So if you pull that trigger? There's no way you're getting out of here alive. Just put the gun down Carla."

"It's too late. It's too late. You deserve to no the pain I've gone through."

Her finger began to squeeze the trigger and suddenly the sound of a shot echoed through the room. As Carla's body fell to the floor, Ruzek jumped forward and grabbed Noah, enveloping the boy in his arms.

"I got 'em! I got Noah...I got 'em," Ruzek cried as he began cutting the ties off the little boy's wrists.

As soon as he was free, Noah ran into Nicole's arms. Tears ran down his and Nicole's cheeks as he buried his head in her chest.

"You were so brave. You were so brave buddy."

"That was scary mommy."

"I know. I know, but you're safe now. Okay? Momma's got you."

Everyone watched the scene with sad expressions on their faces. They all knew this was something that would affect Noah for the rest of his life.

"We're going to go to see Auntie Sylvie at the ambulance, okay?"

"Okay."

As they emerged from the building, Kelly fled the car. Noah lifted his head just in time to see him.

"Daddy!" he yelled.

"Oh buddy," Kelly exhaled as he wrapped Nicole and Noah in a tight hug, "I missed you so much."

"I missed you too daddy."

"You were so strong."

He briefly smiled at Kelly for a moment as his father gave him a kiss on the forehead. Then he quickly buried back into Nicole. They took him to the ambulance and Sylvie checked him out.

"His wounds are superficial. The worst is that he's a little dehydrated. Just lotion his wrists every few hours to help the irritated skin. The bruises on his arms and legs should go away soon. Noah's going to be okay, physically anyway."

"Thank God."

"We should take him to Med to make sure there's no other problems and to get him hooked up to an IV."

"Okay, there's just one problem. He refuses to let go of me."

"That's fine. We'll just work around you."

"Thank you."

***

A little later Nicole laid in a husband bed with a sleeping Noah cuddled into her, an IV dripping into his arm. Kelly sat in the armchair on the other side of Noah, not ready to leave his son quite yet. Nicole felt mentally and emotionally drained, but she couldn't bring herself to fall asleep. She was too scared that when she woke up this would have been a dream and Noah would be gone. Just as she began to overthink, she heard footsteps enter the room.

"Hey beautiful," Matt greeted as he walked in.

"Hey. I didn't know you were coming by," she grinned, "Where's Bella?"

"She's fed, changed, and out cold. Kim's watching her out in the waiting room," he explained, "I just wanted to come up and check on you guys. How is he?"

"As good as can be expected. He refuses to let go of me, though. It's going to take a long time for things to get back to normal...if things ever get back to normal."

"How are you holding up?"

"I'm just glad he wasn't seriously harmed. I still can't get over the feeling that this is all my fault. There's so many things I could have done differently-"

"Nic, none of this is your fault. You're an amazing mom, and everybody knows it."

"It's true," Kelly added, "When we're together he talks about all the cool things you do and how you're the best mom ever. You know they just did projects on what you're thankful for. His was all about you."

"There's a reason that boy won't let go of you. You're his rock. Yes, this is somethings that's going to effect him for a long time, but he doesn't blame you. He blames the people who took him. So don't beat yourself up about it."

"Thanks guys. I love you both so much," Nicole said to Matt and Kelly, "I wouldn't have made it through this without you both.

"We love you too."