IN THIS SKIN -- CHICAGO FIRE

45;

The stairs in the District had never looked more steep. Marley had been stood outside for almost twenty minutes, just staring at the double doors. She wanted to go in- no, she needed to. Day by day, she felt herself slipping deeper into sadness, and she knew that she needed to start getting back to some sort of routine in order to feel normal again. She wanted her job with intelligence back. The job she had once shared with Nadia.

It took another five minutes to gain the courage to enter the building. Reaching the door, she began to push it, only stopping when an arm reached around her to hold it open for her. She turned to thank the person and immediately smiled.
"Adam!" She exclaimed happily.
"Marls! I thought that was you," he began, embracing her in a gentle hug and leading her into the building.
"It's good to see you, Adam," she said softly, trying to ignore the memories of the last time she saw him in the courtroom that had come rushing back suddenly.
"It's so good to see you Marley! You look great," Adam complimented the girl, trying to ease the obvious nerves she displayed.
"Thank you," she began, a smirk growing on her face as she took his appearance in. "Puberty finally hit you, huh? You finally got that beard you were desperate to grow?" she teased, shoving him slightly as they approached the stairs to the unit.
"Hey," he laughed, glad that she felt immediately comfortable enough to start busting balls again. It felt like no time at all had passed between the two and they were both immensely grateful for that.

The desk where she and Nadia had worked from looked different now. Where there was once two tables side by side, with two computers and two phones, there remained only one. Marley knew they had gone through all of Nadia's things and returned most of them to her family, so everything that remained she assumed were her own belongings. She approached it slowly, Adam staying close to her. Voight, who was in his office with Antonio and Erin immediately headed towards the girl, the latter following. Alvin, Jay and Kevin who had been sat at their respective desks filling out paper work and talking went quiet, allowing Marley the chance to return to her desk and take it all in. Marley hadn't even looked at anyone before she sat at her chair. Her hand reached for the drawer slowly, where she remembered there was a photo that she hadn't been able to get off her mind.

Nadia and Marley stood side by side, Nadia had her arm around the younger girls shoulders, and Marley had both wrapped around Nadia's waist. The pair had large smiles on their faces- it looked as if they were mid laugh. It was taken just before Yates had ruined everything for them. They both were happy. Marley smiled at the photo and the memories it held. Memories of a happier time. She took the photo out of the drawer and placed it next to the one she had framed of Kelly, Shay and her. Voight watched her cautiously, they all did, as if scared she was going to breakdown. If Marley was being honest, she was also a little scared herself of having a breakdown. Her own strength had surprised her.

"Voight," she began, looking up at the Sargent. "I think I'm ready to come back, if you'll still have me?" Voight couldn't hide the grin on his face as he approached her desk. He stood for a moment, observing the girl. Within a few seconds, he outstretched his hand.
"Welcome back, kid." The pair shook hands, and immediately Marley was surrounded by her Intelligence family all wanting to welcome her back.
"This calls for celebrations, right?" Alvin said softly, smiling at the teenager.
"Book a table for us all somewhere nice, Marls. My treat." Hank smiled, happy to have the girl back on his unit. Sure, for now it was the basic call answering for her, but he was hopeful that with her knowledge, she could work with them more, especially alongside Mouse.

Kelly was incredibly proud of his daughter. In spite of all of the stress and drama in her life, she was still proving to everyone daily how strong a person she was. He often found himself in awe of her, and today was no exception. If he was being completely honest, he was thankful that she wasn't at the firehouse today. Whilst everyone, including Marley, had sympathised with Jimmy after the loss of his brother, Jimmy had gone too far, and seeing him receive his suspension would have been extremely distressing for her, as it was for them all. 

Evening rolled around and before long Kelly's shift was over, and he had agreed with Stella and the others that a small celebration for Marley's job was in order, so they headed to Molly's. Stella was working behind the bar when she decided to take out the trash. What she hadn't prepared for was her ex-boyfriend, Grant, stood there waiting for her.

Adam Ruzek had agreed to drop Marley off after the Intelligence unit had finished their meal together. She had insisted she didn't mind the walk, but was immediately grateful that she had accepted the offer when they arrived and saw the place had decended into chaos. An ambulance and two patrol cars were parked out the front. Panic rose in Marley's chest, Adam noticed immediately. 
"Just breathe Marls," he mumbled softly, unbuckling his seatbelt and exiting the vehicle, Marley keeping close to him. She was making a concious effort to breathe properly, but seeing Kelly Severide's arms and torso covered in blood did little to help her.

"Kelly!" She yelled, quickening her pace to get to her dad. Adam did his best to hold her back, his instinct telling him that something was very wrong. 
"Marley," he gasped, allowing her to wrap her arms around his chest. "I'm okay, baby, I promise."
"Kelly Severide," A tall officer interrupted, "you need to come with us to the station."
"Dad? What's happened?" Marley asked frantically.
"It's okay, Marley." Kelly said as he followed the officer.
"No, Kelly? What did you do? Who's hurt?" She was growing more anxious and frantic by the second. Before he had a chance to respond, Kelly was out of sight. 

Marley looked around everyone trying to gage what had happened. There was a solemn look on everyone's face, but with more than one person not there, her mind was in overdrive trying to figure out who it was that was hurt. Her anxiety grew and grew, and no matter how she tried to calm herself, nothing was working. Adam was on the phone to Voight, asking if he had any idea what had happened. He was deep in conversation when he turned and saw the girl stood alone and panicking.
"I gotta go Voight," he hung up quickly and made his way over to the teenager. "Marls, you doing okay there?"
"What's happened? I don't know where Kelly's gone," she gasped anxiously, looking down. Almost instantaneously, her panic grew. There was a layer of red covering her once white sweater. "Who's blood is this? Adam, whose blood is this?" She wailed, her panic reaching a peak.
"Marley, I need you to breathe for me. Deep breaths, okay? You're safe. I have you." Adam soothed, turning her head to his and holding eye contact. Marley nodded, holding onto his every word. Slowly, she began to calm down. "Good, that's good Marley. Come with me, I have a clean hoodie in my car you can wear, we'll go back to mine and figure out what's going on, okay? Together?" Marley nodded, feeling immensely grateful for the man whom she had never previously been particularly close to outside of the unit. 

She changed into his CPD hoodie and sat back in the car with a heavy sigh. Why was nothing ever straightforward?