If You Play With Fire

Diagnosis

He was silent for the entire ride. The team of Truck 81 sat in the waiting room and waited eagerly for a message.

Matt, his head heavy in his hands, looked up to see his boy into his blue eyes. Matt took a breath and with a nod he made clear that he wanted to talk to Liam. They faced each other away from the others.

"I'm sorry. I didn't want to hit you," Liam said.

"It's okay."

"But Gabby is fine, right?" Liam asked in shock, "She stays with us, right?"

Severide explained to him on the way to Med that the ambulance 61 got into a traffic accident.

"I really hope so! The doctors have not talked to me yet," Matt said, "Liam, I don't want to argue with you. I know you can't stand me right now, but understand that I'm just trying to protect you."

"I know," Liam said.

"Such a game can end in death. Arson threatens the lives of many people, but also your own. And believe me, I can't bear to lose you too. Promise me that you won't cause trouble anymore. Promise me you stop setting fires," Matt said.

"I promise," Liam said, though he did not do anything. He still has not set the fires, but nobody wants to hear that. He looked his father for a long time.

"Come here," said Matt, hugging his boy, who hesitantly accepted the embrace. Somehow, Matt just needed a hug. Liam and Gabby were the most important people in his life. Even if everything is just going crazy. He had a long conflict with Liam over the fires and Gabby always protected Liam. In principle, Liam unintentionally caused the first real marriage conflict in their relationship.

However, Matt also realized that in the long run he was too strict with Liam. At least his tone was not really nice to his son, even though Liam did not do anything at all.

A little later, Dr. Choi and explained that both paramedics, Gabby and Sylvie, are fully recovered. Gabby has a concussion, laceration, bruises and a sprained foot. Sylvie, however, a broken collarbone and a concussion.

Relieved, they all exhaled. Blessing in disguise. Matt visited Gabby, who was lying on the bed in the treatment room.

"Hey!", Matt greeted his wife and gave her a long kiss on the mouth.

"Hey," Gabby smiled weakly. Her head hurt a lot.

"How are you?" Matt asked worriedly.

"Better than before. Sylvie is undergoing surgery, right?"

"Yes, but she will be perfectly healthy again," Matt said.

The next days Liam was allowed to stay home as a gabby sitter and did not have to spend the night at 51. Liam also took advantage of his freedom and investigated extensively against the arsonist. He visited the burned-out places and searched for clues the investigators might have missed. But there was not much left.

Now Liam was sitting in the psychiatrist's waiting room while Gabby and Matt talked to her. After the criminal complaint, there was a request that a psychiatrist should speak with him. Reluctantly, Liam took part in the therapy sessions. He had not really had a choice. He was also pretty sure she told them the diagnosis. It was typical that by now the whole world was against him. This psychiatrist clearly did not understand her job, but he did not need to explain that to his father and Gabby. In the last few days he learned to avoid everything and everyone. So he avoided a lot of stress and annoyance.

The psychiatrist took a deep breath. She was explaining the conversations of the last sessions with Liam and was pretty sure about her diagnosis.

"I think your son never coped with his mother's death," she explained, "She died from a fire and now, 6 years later, Liam sets fires. It may be his way of showing that he never got over her death."

"And the unknown man?" Gabby asked.

"Imagination. There is no man at all. Liam himself is the arsonist, but through the childhood trauma he has suffered, he no longer sees reality," she said, "Did he have a fascination with fire before?"

"He never gave me the impression that he did not process her death. Of course, the first time was very hard for Liam," Matt sighed. Did he not notice the warning signals? The infinite questions about Hallie's death. Should he have sent his son to a psychiatrist before? Maybe then Liam would never have started setting fires. It was not enough for the boy to have lost his mom and Leslie by fire. Or what was the kick that made the boy setting fires?

"After his mother's death, he had many questions about the function of a fire," Matt said.

"Liam has lost two close people by arson. I really believe that your son has never processed both losses and now Liam is trying to control a fire by setting some himself," she said, "Your son is traumatized. He can't separate reality and delusion."

"So you think Liam suffers from delusions?" Gabby asked in shock.

"Yes, it's also called schizophrenia," she explained.

"And what can we do about it?" Matt asked.

"I suggest a medicine treatment," she said.

BAMM. Do you believe the shrink? Is Liam an arsonist? Yes or no?