Hold My Hand

Unsure of how to react to her mom’s sudden appearance, Taylor excused herself from the table and led her mom out onto the apparatus floor.

“I’m sorry for barging in,” her mom said after a long silence, “I’m heading to rehab in the morning and I just wanted to see you...”

“How long for?” Taylor asked, though she’d had the same conversation with her mom numerous times before and the result had always been the same.

“Six months, maybe longer and there’s no contact with anyone outside the facility this time.”

“Well, I hope everything works out.”

“Taylor...”

“We’ve been here before and I refuse to let myself get hurt again,” Taylor stated, “Every time you’ve entered a rehab program, you’ve given up and things have spiraled even more out of control.”

“I’m going to do it this time and I’m going to prove to you that I want to change,” her mom promised, “Perhaps then we could start working on building some bridges between us.”

“Perhaps.”

“Tay, is everything okay?” came Kelly’s voice from behind her.

“Yeah, Kel, everything is fine.”

“I’m Sara, Taylor’s mom,” her mom introduced with a flirtatious smile.

“Er... Kelly.”

“It’s nice to meet you, Kelly.”

“Look mom,” Taylor added, “I’m glad that you’re getting help for yourself, but I’m working and we’re in the middle of Thanksgiving dinner.”

“Why doesn’t your mom come and join us?” Rebecca suggested as she joined them.

“I’d love to,” Sara replied with a smile, following Rebecca into the rec room and leaving Taylor standing with Kelly.

“Hey...”

“You should go finish your dinner with the others, I’m not hungry anymore,” Taylor told him, before disappearing into the equipment room and dealing with the inventory check.

Unable to concentrate, Taylor gave into the anger that was coursing through her and launched the helmet that she’d been holding at the wall. Stood by the truck rig an hour later, she counted the equipment that was already loaded up and signed the sheet with the time to show that the check had been done.

Taylor pulled on her turn-out gear as the alarm sounded, jumping onto the rig and sitting in silence as they headed to the scene. The fire was pretty small when they pulled up, but it was spreading quickly and they needed to get everyone out as fast as they could.

With the top floor cleared, she heard the roof groan above her and headed out of the building as it began to cave in. Fresh air hit her as she removed her mask, grabbing a bottle of water and turning as Boden’s voice caught her attention.

‘Severide, Capp, come in...’ he called over the radio, waiting for a response and trying again when he didn’t receive one.

Panic began to stir in her chest as she moved to stand with him, looking towards the building and pleading silently for one of them to answer. A hand soon landed on her shoulder and she glanced over to find Rebecca there, immediately brushing it off.

‘Chief, it’s Capp’ came a reply after a few moments of silence, ‘I’m fine, but Severide is trapped under a beam on the top floor and I can’t shift it.’

‘I’m sending some help your way, Capp’ the chief promised, although Taylor knew that the building was unstable and he was taking a huge risk by sending anyone back inside.

“I’ll go,” Taylor volunteered without hesitation.

“I don’t think that’s a good idea, chief,” Rebecca added, earning a glare from Taylor and watching the chief expectantly.

“Stay the hell out of it, haven’t you interfered enough for one day,” Taylor snapped.

“Go Taylor... take Tony with you,” Boden instructed.

Taylor put her mask back on, before motioning to Tony to follow her and carefully making her way up to the top floor. Relief washed through her as she spotted Capp, making her way over and crouching down at Kelly’s side to properly assess the situation.

They had been there for nearly fifteen minutes, but finally, they managed to move the beam and Capp helped Kelly outside. Sat in the rig on their way back to the firehouse, Taylor could feel eyes on her and looked over to find Rebecca watching her.

“I was only trying to help, you know,” Rebecca stated as Cruz parked up.

“No, what you did was question my ability to do my job,” Taylor replied as she jumped down, taking off her turn-out gear and retreating to the locker room without another word.