F | Burning Love (One Chicago)

TWO: "Baby sis."

Boden and Alicia walk through to his office. Boden shuts the door and they both sit on the sofa. 

'CFD called a meeting with me earlier. What happened to you was brought up.' Boden starts. 'I know that you've undergone therapy and you're still undergoing therapy. It would help everyone here if you told them what happened.' 

'I know.' Alicia nods. 'But I'm not ready. Not yet. I've only just met them. I need to build some trust between them first. I will tell them within the next few shifts though. I promise.' 

'Just to warn you, Casey already knows what happened.' Boden tells her. 'Obviously, he has had to read over your file whilst I haven't had time. That's why I had a meeting.' He then looks at his watch. 'I've got to go but I'll have a meeting with you when I get back.' Alicia smiles and nods and Boden leaves. Alicia waits for five minutes before walking back into the common room. She sits at the table and outs her head in hands.

'Everything okay, Halstead?' Stella asks. Alicia looks up and smiles. 

'Yeah.' Alicia nods, unconvincingly. Everyone stares at her. 'No.' She shakes her head. 'My old captain was just diagnosed with cancer.' There are a few minutes of silence. 'Pleases, don't come at me with all the "I'm sorry"s.' After a few more minutes of silence, Matt stands up.

'How about we raise some money for Captain-' He looks at Alicia for the name.

'Herrera.'

'Captain Herrera.' Matt finishes. 'He's a firefighter which means that he's one of us and if he's family to Halstead, he's definitely family to us.' Everyone nods in agreement. 'Then it's settled. We'll fill a boot or two.' 

'His daughter would really appreciate that. Thank you.' Alicia smiles. 'Captain, can I talk to you for a sec?' 

'Sure.' Matt nods. 'Let' go into the conference room.' Alicia nods and walks into the conference room with Matt. 'What's up?' 

'I'd like to tell everyone about when I was sixteen.' Alicia tells him. 

'You don't have to do it so soon.' Matt replies, shaking his head. 

'I want to.' Alicia says. 'I feel like if I don't do it now, I never will.' 

'Okay then.' Matt nods. 'I'll get everyone in here.' Within a few minutes, everyone is sat in the common room. Alicia is sat with her legs crossed on a table at the front of the room. 'Halstead would like to share something with us she thinks we might find useful.' He looks at Halstead, nods and stands at the back with Kelly. 

'When I was sixteen, I dated someone who was with the wrong crowd. Eventually, I became one of them. I was staying out all night, drinking, doing drugs, going to raves. Once, I was invited to a rave in Cleveland. So my boyfriend, our friends and myself made the five-hour journey. The building the rave was in wasn't up to code. An electrical fault sparked a fire and because the part of the building the fire started in was mainly wood, the whole place went up within minutes. As I was trying to get out, I fell and broke my leg. My boyfriend and friends looked back but they didn't help me. They just left me there. I was trapped. Soon, I lost consciousness and I don't even know how long I was trapped in the building for. I woke up in the ICU at Cleveland general a few days later. I received burns down my back and on my chest. Luckily, they weren't that serious but I did inhale a lot of smoke hence why I woke up a few days later, I was intubated and sedated to be given pure oxygen therapy. I had to have skin grafts but as far as treatment went, that was it. Oxygen therapy and skin grafts.' Alicia explains. 'I've always wanted to go into the field of helping people, I just didn't know how. After that incident, I decided that I'd become a firefighter.' There's a brief silence. 'Will didn't approve when I actually went through with it and we grew apart. We used to be super close when we were kids. Jay, Will and I. We were even nicknamed the three musketeers.' She then looks down. 'I'm not doing this for sympathy but because I thought you deserved to know.'