The Fear of the Past

Avoidance

Severide's POV:

"So what's this situation all about?" Chief asked looking from me to Stella.

"Nothing." Stella said. "Its all under control, nothing to worry about." I glanced at Stella wondering why she was lying to Chief.

"Uh huh." Chief said weaving his fingers together and leaning back in his chair. "So all of that urgency was over.. nothing?" He didn't sound convinced.

"Its really nothing." Stella said.

"Well if you ever need to talk about "nothing" don't hesitate to talk to me. We are a family here at 51, and family protects each other." Stella nodded. "Kelly, anything to add?" Chief asked me.

"No Sir." I replied.

"Alright then. You are dismissed." Once we were out of the office I stopped Stella.

"Are you crazy lying to Chief?" I whispered. "He didn't buy that at all!"

"What was I supposed to do Kelly?" she shot back.

"Tell him the truth?"

"Its not that simple Kelly."

"Why not?!" I said, my voice raising. "This house is family." I looked at her "We're family." Before she could say anything I walked away. I ran my fingers through my hair. "Arrg, why is she doing this?" I thought to myself, aggravated. "She has too much pride."

"Hey Kelly—" Matt started. I pushed past him, made my way to my office and slammed the door. I put my head in my hands. I started thinking about Stella and what her sister had told me. I knew she hadn't told me all of it. "Maybe Stella will tell me one day." I thought to myself. As I kept thinking about the information that I had just learned, my thoughts started to turn dark. I was thinking about what their father had done to them, and that what I had been told was just sugarcoated. I could feel my eyes water and my throat start to ache. I pressed the heels of my hands into my eyes trying to stop the tears that felt like they were about to pour out of me. I heard a knock at the door. I took a deep breath, wiped my eyes quickly and looked up. Matt gave me a small wave from the other side of the door. I nodded for him to come in.

"Hey Kelly. What's going on with you?" He asked me, looking concerned.

"Its nothing, I'm fine." I replied, giving him a small smile.

"Yeah, well Gabby says that too, but I've learned never to believe that answer." He chuckled. I gave a small chuckle. "Does this have anything to do with where you went earlier today?" I nodded. "Well," he said, "since I'm the Captain, personal concerns are part of my job description, so I'm going to have to require you to tell me what's going on." he smirked.

"I can't do that Matt." I said. "I went with Stella down to CPD to talk to Antonio. Its her information to tell."

"And I understand that Severide, but if this information has details concerning the safety of any of the members of 51, I need to know about it."

"Chief tried Matt, and she doesn't want to tell anyone." I said.

"Then why'd she let you go?" he asked, suspicious. "Is there something going on betw—"

"No. Not at the moment, no."

"Not at the moment?" He asked, his eyebrow raised.

"I don't know..." I trailed off. "Maybe someday."

"Okay..." Matt said. "But seriously Kelly, I need to know."

"I-I don't know what to do." I said my voice cracking. A concerned look shadowed Matt's face. He closed the door behind him, crossed the room, and sat down on my bed.

"What's going on Kelly?" His voice getting serious. I briefly skim over the story, not giving too much detail. When I finished Matt looked at me with a deeply worried look. "She's been dealing with this on her own for this long?" He looked at me. "Did you know about this before today?"

"No." I said, lowering my head.

"Okay.." he said, watching me, "Well, thank you for telling me."

"Yeah." I said. I watched as Matt got up and headed towards the door. "Hey Matt." I said.

"Yeah Kelly?"

"Just don't tell Stella."

"You know I can't do that Kelly." He squeezed my shoulder and walked out of my office. I sighed, leaning back in my chair, just as the alarm sounded and speaker said "Squad 3, Truck 81, Ambulance 61, overturned gas truck—" I didn't wait to listen to the address. I sprinted to the floor, throwing on my fire suit and quickly as I could. This was going to be one of the most horrific scenes I'd seen in a while.