Back to Chaos

C H A P T E R - F I F T E E N

Alyssa Torres was more cautious with her return to Firehouse 90 for the second time. As before, the members of Firehouse 90 were excited to see the woman but the atmosphere felt tenser.

Previously, all of them were at least partially sure that Julian Black had fled the city, maybe even the state.  But this time, now that he had been seen in Chicago, all of them were positive that Black was in Chicago and all of them were sure that he was coming back for Alyssa Torres.

Liam King seemed to be more worried than anyone. It had made sense - she had fallen into him after seeing Julain Black.

For the first three hours into Torres's first shift back at 90, King had not let her out of his sight. When she was in her office working on paper work, he was in his office, glancing up at her through the window every few seconds to make sure that one, she was okay and two, that she was still there. When she went into the commons, he'd wait about half a minute and then follow her in.

"Why are you following me?" Alyssa finally asked as she stepped around a corner down the hallway from her office, knowing Liam was going to be right behind her.

"I'm worried about you, Lys," he confesses.

"I know you are, Liam," she sighs, leaning against the wall as the man rounds the corner, leaning against the wall opposite of her. "But you can't live your life around me. We did that as kids and we know how that turned out."

"You collapsed in my arms, Alyssa," Liam responded more firmly this time. "We search city blocks looking for him and we couldn't find him. It was like he disappeared in thin air. If he can appear and disappear with no one seeing him, how do we know you're safe here? Or at your apartment? Or at 51."

"Liam," she groans. She knew he wasn't wrong. But was it so much to ask for to have him just tell her that it'd be fine and that nothing would happen? For him to just call her instead of feeding the nagging thought in the back of her head. "I know. Okay, I know it all but ... I am terrified," she admitted, her voice quivering as she spoke. "I am terrified of leaving the house, I am terrified to leave this firehouse to go on calls. I am terrified to be myself because look what happened last time I was."

"I'm sorry," Liam says, his voice quiet. He knew that she was worried and he knew the little nagging thoughts in her head. "I worry about you. And I know that's Severide's job now but nothing it going to stop me from worrying about you."

"You're my best friend, Li, I don't expect you not to worry about me."

Squad 6, Ambulance 12, Truck 23. House fire. 3836 West Fairview Road.

"Let's go," Liam says with a small smile, draping his arm across the woman's shoulder as they head for the apparatus floor together.

But as they walked together towards the apparatus floor, Torres felt the nagging feeling in the back of her mind. What if Black was there again? What if he was setting the fires? What if he had tuned into the firehouse radio system? Would he be at every call? What would happen if he was? Would she quit her job? Go into protective custody?

"You alright?" King asks the woman when he felt her walking pace slow.

Alyssa paused for a moment, looking up and making eye contact with the man. Was she okay? Not really. Was she going out on the call anyway? Of course.

She nodded meekly, her face pale at the idea of possibly seeing Black again.

"Lys, you can stay here if something's wrong, we can get Severide over here so you're not alone."

"No," she stated firmly, shaking her head. "I'm fine. I want to do my job."

Liam glanced at her again, not certain he should let her leave the firehouse. But he also knew that he couldn't let or prevent the woman from doing anything, she was too strong-headed to listen to other people - especially if it was something that she was passionate about.

"Let's go," Alyssa said as she continued to walk to the apparatus floor, knowing they were the last ones to load into the rigs.

King was hesitant to follow her but he did anyway, a few feet behind her. He watched as she pulled on her turn-out pants and buckled the suspenders before shrugging on her jacket and climbing into the seat. King followed her motions, pulling on his turn-out gear before climbing into the backseat.

He received a few confused glances as to why they were so late but King brushed them off. He didn't need the other firefighters worrying about their lieutenant's ability.

"Is she alright?" Noah Johnson asked. He was hesitant to voice his question, afraid that he either wouldn't like the answer or that he'd get snapped at for asking it.

"She's fine," King nodded, not meeting the other firefighter's eye since he was trying to catch Alyssa's gaze but she was focused out the windshield.

He had half the thought to text Kelly Severide just to see if there was something that could be done but he knew it was it wasn't fair to reach out to Alyssa's boyfriend. She was simply doing her job despite the concerns.

Short chapter, sorry! I got my wisdom teeth out a few days ago and I have less energy than I thought I would. I know I told you guys there would be updates out a few weeks ago but everything was so crazy. I do have a chapter of Lieutenant's Candidate coming out soon as well!