Chicago Fire: City of Heroes

Chapter Twenty-One:

"What are you two doing?" Kelly inquires, stepping onto the apparatus floor, where he finds Capp and Alex in plank position.

"Plank competition," Tony replies, showing Kelly the stopwatch on his phone. "Going on for two minutes."

"Let me rephrase that: why are you two doing this?"

"Capp wanted to see if he could outlast me," Alex grins, peering at Capp, whose face is turning red. "You gotta breathe, dude."

"I don't understand how you're not shaking like him," Gabby comments, taking a sip of her coffee.

Alex snickers, now taking notice of Capp's trembling limbs.

"Oh, Capp," she sings in a taunting manner.

An annoyed grunt responds, and Capp falls to the ground in exhaustion. Alex sits on her knees, covering her mouth to stifle her laughter. Out of the corner of her eye, she spots a smile on Kelly's face, yet she sees through his facade.

"Squad 3, Engine 51, Ambulance 95. Structure fire. 2973 Oak Avenue."

Tony helps Capp stand before they rush to the Squad truck with Kelly in tow. Alex remains on the ground for a couple of seconds, thinking about what is next on her list of exercises and eventually setting upon pull-ups. With her attention on the bar above her, she fails to notice Matt and Wallace returning from headquarters.

"Looks like you're training for a marathon," Matt jokes as Alex drops from the bar.

Alex shrugs, "I wanted to get back into training. I guess this is my comfort."

"I heard you beat Capp in the plank competition."

"How did you..." Alex trails off, "Gabby."

"Yep."

"Anyways, how's Kannell doing? I heard that he's taking the fall for what happened at the sewer incident."

"Boden and I are trying to help him out, but he's sticking to his story."

"Well, I hope you guys can figure something out."

Alex backs away to the locker room, and as she sifts through her locker, she hears Kelly returning to his office after the rather brief call. She debates with her mind for a minute before she hesitantly approaches the office. Kelly notices her figure but doesn't say anything.

"You okay?" Alex queries, leaning against the door frame.

"Yeah." Kelly answers with a curt tone, "Yeah, I'm just... looking up stuff for Anna."

Alex hums, her eyes falling on Kelly's laptop, "Homeopathic? That's pretty far out for you."

"She's just always so damn tired. She's barely eating."

"Chemo side effects?"

"Yeah. One says acupuncture. One says massage. One... ginger milk thistle," Kelly lists, standing from his seat and facing away from her.

"After I got away from my father, everybody had a different theory about how to get through it. Go to therapy. Join a gym and let out everything that was pint up. Blah, blah, blah. Know what got me through it? Hamburger and French fries. Every day," Alex describes. "Give Anna my best. We're all thinking about her over here."

"Why do you care all of a sudden?" Kelly questions, stopping Alex in her tracks. "You said it yourself. You didn't want to deal with our personal lives."

Alex remains quiet while keeping her stare on the floor. She shakes her head and continues forward without answering him. Kelly curses under his breath, watching Alex as she escapes his sight. Alex reaches the common room, but Hank Voight greets her.