A Spark of Hope (Chicago Fire)

Chapter 1

"Grace Everly, I swear that if you walk out that door it will be the end of us."

I looked down at my hand, resting on the doorknob. The diamond ring on my left hand shimmered as the sunlight from a nearby open window hit it. I released the doorknob and turned around slowly. Andrew stood there, his hazel eyes ablaze with anger and frustration.

"Oh, Andrew. I love how you think that threatening me would make me stay. You made your bed when you cheated on me with your ex. Now go lay in it."

I pulled the ring off my finger and shoved it into my pocket before turning and walking out the door.

"Everly!"

A loud voice in my ear forced me out of my thoughts, bringing me back to reality.

"What do you want, Dawson?" I asked, pushing my partner/PIC away from me.

"There she is!" Hermann said, laughing.

I stuck my tongue out at him before turning to Gabby and punching her in the arm.

"Ow! What was that for?" she asked, sitting next to me at the table.

"Don't yell in my ear like that!" I said, laughing.

"I only yelled because you weren't responding," she defended, holding her hands up in surrender.

"Sorry. I was just thinking," I explained.

"Were you thinking about Andrew again?" she asked quietly, sympathy flashing in her brown eyes.

I sighed and nodded. It had been three months since I had left Andrew alone in our apartment. I had finally decided it was time to stop hiding and had left my ring at home before coming to shift this morning. I had been living with Gabby and Matt, but nobody else knew what had happened, so I was dreading the questions that were sure to arise when people realized there was no diamond on my finger.

"Grace, it's okay to be sad," Gabby said, squeezing my hand gently.

"I'm not sad. I'm just disappointed."

Dawson rolled her eyes but didn't push further. I pushed away from the table and headed towards the bunkroom in search of my phone. I dumped the contents of my bag onto my bunk, riffling through the contents to no avail.

"Looking for this?" I heard a familiar voice ask.

I turned and saw Severide standing there, holding my phone. I took it and shoved it into my pocket.

"Where was it?" I asked.

"I found it on the apparatus floor. I meant to give it to you at roll call, but I completely forgot," he said, watching with amusement as I shoved all of my things back into my black leather duffle.

"It must have fallen out of my pocket. Thank you," I said, shooting him a smile.

"No problem. Are you okay though? You looked pretty distracted earlier."

"Yeah, I'm fine. It's just been a crazy few days," I explained.

A look of skepticism played across Severide's face as he opened his mouth to say something. He was interrupted by the sound of the alarm bells.

Truck 81. Squad 3. Ambulance 61. Person trapped.

"We're not done with this conversation," Severide said as we headed towards the door.

I rolled my eyes and followed him out towards the apparatus floor. Dawson was already in the ambulance when I got there.

"Let's go, girl!" she said, starting the engine.