Happy Endings (Chicago Fire FanFic)

Chapter Five

"I should just go back and talk to him." She sighed, getting to her feet. "This is ridiculous."

"No." Kelly shook his head, getting up and blocking her path to the door. "You're not going anywhere until we've heard from Erin."

"Her going to speak to him isn't going to do anything other than wind him up." She told him again. "I appreciate what you're trying to do Kelly, I do but it's not worth it." I'm not worth it. She didn't say it out loud but he could see it in her face.

"Hey." He took a step towards her and placed his hands on her shoulders before drawing her into a hug. "Don't think like that. It's going to be okay."

She was tense for a moment and then relaxed against his strong, muscular frame. He made her feel safe and she trusted him, something she'd never had with Jack. She found herself standing there, breathing in his familiar smell, and wondering how things might've turned out between the two of them if Jack had never existed.

"What are you thinking about?" He asked quietly, his warm breath tickling her neck.

She hesitated before she spoke, her words muffled against his chest. "I was just thinking about how things might've worked out between us, if Jack hadn't existed." She told him sadly. "I know it was the wrong thing to do, but those dates we went on before you knew about him. That's the most alive I've felt in years."

He held her just a fraction tighter. "I'm sorry I reacted the way I did."

She shook her head. "You had every right. I should've been honest with you from the start. Now you're stuck with me camping out on your sofa. Not quite so appealing now you know I'm married and a drug addict, hey?" She tried sound joking but it fell flat.

"Don't talk like that." Kelly told her unhappily. He released her from the hug and guided her back to the sofa again. "I'd never judge you, especially not for the drugs... I've um... I've been there and I get it."

She raised an eyebrow at this new information.

"I fractured my spine." He elaborated, seeing the curiosity in her face. "I was so terrified that I might have to give up work that I refused to go to the doctor and I was getting Shay to steal medication off the ambulance for me. Then when she refused to do it any more I started sleeping with this drug rep and she was supplying instead."

"I'm sorry Kelly." She said softly. "Are you all sorted now?"

He nodded, his fingers going up to trace the thin silver scar that was just visible above his shirt. "I ended up having this experimental surgery. I realised I needed help and I couldn't just keep burying it in the pills."

"I thought about it last night for the first time in ages." She admitted, feeling so ashamed of herself. "When I called you... If I'd known where to go to score I probably would've done that instead." She glanced up at him hesitantly.

There was no judgement in his face, only sympathy and understanding. "You did the right thing." He said softly. "And that's why you're going to stay here until this all gets sorted. You don't have to do this on your own."

"It's not fair on you though." She sighed. "You barely know me and you're doing all this for me." She hated the feeling that she was being a burden on him.

"Well I can think of a way to solve that." He smiled. "We're stuck here for the day so why don't you tell me about you- and I mean you. I don't want to hear about him."

And she did. She found herself telling him everything, her life growing up in Florida, her parents and her younger sister, when she finally decided she wanted to be a doctor, the years at med school and her internship that followed.