Happy Endings (Chicago Fire FanFic)

Chapter Sixteen

"I know I've said this about a thousand times but you don't have to do this," Kelly reminded her.

They'd been sitting in the car parked just around the corner from the house for the past fifteen minutes, Amber bending the envelope containing the divorce papers back and forth as she tried to pluck up the courage to get out of the car and walk in there. "Yeah, I do." She mumbled.

"I'll come in with you," Kelly suggested. He didn't really know what else he could offer at this point. She was so nervous she looked like she might throw up any moment and he wondered why she'd thought this was a good idea in the first place.

She shook her head. "We both know you and Jack in a room together is not going to end well."

Kelly muttered something under his breath that she didn't quite catch.

"Right. I'm going in." She announced, undoing her seatbelt and opening the door.

"You can do this," He encouraged. "I'll be right here waiting for you the second you want to leave."

****

She hesitated at the front door unsure whether she was supposed to knock or just walk right in. It had been her home for years but it wasn't anymore... her home was in Chicago with Kelly, she was sure of it.

Before she could knock the door swung open, Jack standing in front of her. "I wasn't sure you were actually going to show up." He looked surprised to see her.

"Yeah well, neither was." She shrugged, stepping around him and heading inside.

Nothing had changed in the months that she'd been gone, that was the first thing that had hit her. There was still a patch of blue paint on the cream walls of the hallway where she'd experimented with the colour not long after they'd moved in and never got around to painting the rest of the hallway. A rush of homesickness hit her, not for the house but more for the person she had been back then. Before all of it.

"I brought the papers." She said quickly, thrusting the envelope at him. She wanted to get this over and done with as quickly as possible.

He took them from her, went to open the envelope and then stopped. "Amber, can we just talk about this?" He pleaded.

She looked up at him, his expression catching her off guard. He looked upset, it was the first time in years she could remember seeing anything other than anger when he'd looked at her. "There's nothing left to talk about Jack." She dismissed him quickly.

"I've been sober for two months." He told her quietly.

"I'm pleased for you, Jack." She sighed, leaning back against the wall. "But that doesn't change anything."

"It changes everything!" She cringed as he raised his voice. "I did nothing but stand by you and support you when you were doing drugs... you could've gone to jail if I hadn't helped you!"

She took a deep breath. "I never would have been in that position if it wasn't for you, Jack." She reminded him. "I didn't come here so that we could go over all this again, I came here so you could sign the papers like you said you would. Then I'm getting on the plane back to Chicago and we won't have to see each other again."

"And what if that's not what I want?" He asked. "I love you, Amber."

She should've known that it wasn't going to be as simple as just turning up here and getting him to sign the papers. Nothing was ever that simple where Jack was involved.