Work Text:
If you asked ten first responders, firefighters, paramedics, or cops, what the most challenging kind of call was, most of them would tell you the same thing. Anything that involves kids. Even if you're not much of a kid person, they still twist up your head, your gut and your heart—an innocent child, far too young to see the horrors they did. Horrors you know will stick with them for the rest of their lives. A young life over too soon, what would their future have been? Was this the life that would have cured cancer? Or solved the climate change crisis and saved the earth? Your mind drifts with it. No one likes calls like that. But it's precisely the type of call firehouse fifty-one had responded about halfway through their shift.
It was a house fire, the flames were raging by the time they arrived, but the neighbours insisted that they hadn't seen the owner, a young woman, come out yet. She worked from home, one had said. She might have kids, another had informed them, but they weren't sure. So Boden ordered a quick sweep of the house. Truck eighty-one had swept the main floor and squad three the top. They found the woman, Juliet Montolo, in the dining room; she was in rough shape, they had just sent off the ambulance when the call came out over the radio. There were kids there, three of them. Squad three had found them in the attic, but they were too late. The fire hadn't reached there yet, but the smoke had. Three kids, the oldest was only nine.
"The door was locked," Kelly had told them after the fire was put out. "They were trapped in there. Who would do that to a bunch of kids?"
But they all knew the sad answer to that question.
Everyone was quiet by the time they all got back to the house. Gallo had dumped his stuff and went straight to the gym. Ritter and Violet followed. Stella knew that cases like this hit too close to home for the young firefighter. She made a note to talk to him alone later, but it was better for now to let his best friend, and well, whatever Violet was to him, try and get through to him first. Hermann, Boden, and Cruz had all called their wives, spoken to their kids. While everyone else dispersed throughout the house, doing whatever they needed to do to refocus their minds and get ready for if and when another call came in. Stella had gone to bed, she only meant for it to be a quick nap to recharge her brain, but the bells had remained silent. She slept for nearly the rest of the shift.
When she woke up, the sky was growing lighter. The brunette checked her watch; there were only three hours left to shift. Everything around her was quiet, and she could see the lumps and bumps of her co-workers in their beds. Stella had just settled her head back against her pillow when she heard it, muffled voices from across the room. Sitting back up, she saw the light was on in Casey's office, and Stella could see the silhouette of two figures inside. Kelly and Matt. Stella knew they both took kid cases pretty hard. So she got out of bed and went to see if there was anything she could do for her fiancée and friend.
"I agree with you," Casey's voice came through the door. "Somethings off. I mean, you said the door was locked? You're sure it wasn't just stuck?"
"I'm positive," Kelly answered. "We ripped the door jam breaking in there; the only way that's happening is if the deadbolts flipped. Did you see the V-pattern in the living room, pretty sure it led to an outlet? The fire was electrical, I'm sure of it."
"That doesn't mean it was intentional," the captain put in.
"I'm telling you, Casey," Kelly said. "It was; I can feel it in my gut."
Stella wrinkled her nose. She hated it when Kelly Severide said those words. She had to head this off before he talked his best friend into doing something really, really stupid. Again. "Hey," she poked her head into the room. "You two okay?"
"Not really," Casey admitted and sunk back in his desk chair. "We're just talking about the last call."
"I heard," she nodded sadly. "You two know OFI's digging into it, right? They'll turn it over to the police if they have to."
"Yeah, but they're swamped," Kelly shook his head. "It'll take forever."
"But that's the job," Stella tried to reason. "They determine the cause, the origin."
Kelly cut in. "It was electrical, and it started in that living room."
"Which OFI will prove," she insisted.
"That husband, the kids' uncle," her fiancée kept going like Stella hadn't even spoken. "He was an electrician, wasn't he? He pulled up in a work truck."
Stella could see the wheels turning in his head, and she didn't like it. Not at all.
"I think so," Casey nodded. Great, now the wheels were spinning in his head too.
"Well, he'd know how to rig up something in the wiring," Kelly started. "Could make it look like an accident."
"Whoa," Stella cut across him. "That is a huge accusation, Kelly."
"No," Casey sat up straighter. "He's right. He could tamper with the outlet, mess with the circuit breaker so it wouldn't trip."
"Or it's an old house with bad wiring," Stella put in.
"Then how do you explain the kids?" Kelly asked and turned back to Matt. "Maybe we go to his shop, see if we can find anything."
"I'm sorry you want to what?" Stella shook her head. She must still be half asleep.
"Let's hit up Med first," Casey stood up from his desk. "See if he's there; get him to talk to us."
"Whoa," Stella blocked the door. "What are you guys thinking? It's five am, and you two are planning on what, marching into the hospital to try and question a guy who's there worrying over his injured wife. You know you two have no recourse to make him talk to you, right? Unless you're gonna pretend to be cops."
"We're not going to do that," Kelly dismissed. "We'll tell him who we are, flash our badges if we have to, most people are happy to talk to firefighters."
"And if he isn't?"
"Then we know he's hiding something," Casey shrugged.
Stella blinked, she wished she could say she was surprised, but that would be a lie. "Or," she said slowly like she was talking to a stubborn toddler. Though that might have been an insult to toddlers at this point. "His home is ash, his nephews are dead, and his wife is in the hospital. I think the man might have other things on his mind right now. And two guys coming at him with a bunch of baseless accusations probably won't go over well."
"We're just going to ask him a couple of questions," Kelly placed his hands on her shoulders. "See if he's willing to let us into his shop. It's no big deal."
"So you can find evidence that he might have started that fire?"
"That's right," Kelly nodded.
"You two wanna see if he has things like wire strippers and cutters, a voltage indicator or multifunctional tester, maybe even a wall chaser?"
"Exactly," Casey pulled on his jacket.
"So you're going to go to an electrician's workshop," she deadpanned. "To see if he has the kind of tools that an electrician would use every day."
Neither of them said a thing at that; They just shared a look. "Come on, Stell," Kelly finally said. "We're just going to poke around. We'll be back before shift ends. Tell Cruz he's acting Lieutenant if a call comes in."
"You know we have an elite group of actual detectives pretty much at our disposal right," she asked. She might have understood why they wanted to do this, but that didn't mean she couldn't try to stop it. "Any one of the guys at the 21st would be happy to give it a check if we asked them to."
But they were already making their way down the hall. Stella rolled her eyes; it was typical. Well, she wasn't going to put up with it anymore. And Stella knew exactly who could help her put an end to it. Heading back to her bunk, she grabbed her phone and tapped the contact.
"Stella," the groggy voice of Hailey Upton came through the line. "You okay?"
"Hey girl," she said into the phone. "Sorry to wake you up."
"No, it's okay," Stella could hear rustling on the line; Hailey was moving. "I heard you guys caught a rough one."
"Yeah, we did," the brunette shook her head. "That's kinda while I'm calling. OFI loop you guys in?"
"They did," the blonde said. Stella could now hear the clinking of ceramic and the gurgling of a coffee maker. "With three kids, the higher-ups want us ready to hit the ground running if need be."
"And does it seem like that's going to be a need?"
"Doubt it," Hailey said. "With where OFI was last night, it seems pretty cut and dry. It was an old house with old wiring. The Montolo's had just moved in, but it was a family house, so it got to skip the inspection phase. They probably didn't even know there was a problem."
"Wire corrosion," Stella finished. It was responsible for a lot of fires in older homes.
"Yup," Hailey said. "I mean, they're still investigating, but that's probably the way it's going to break."
"What about the kids?"
"Mmmh," Hailey hummed. "Wrong place, wrong time. Mrs Montolo was a freelance writer working on a novel, so she offered to watch the kids. That way, her sister didn't have to find care for them, especially last year with school being online. One thing the kids loved to do was play hide and seek. Especially there, it was an old house, with lots of little rooms and crooks and crannies for them to hide in. But lately, they'd been told that the attic was off-limits. Because the door was broken. Every time it closed, the deadbolt would slip, so it—"
"Locked," Stella finished. "And attic doors usually only lock from the outside."
"That's right," it's like Stella could see the slight sad little nod the blonde detective gave. "But they were kids, and kids break rules. So they go up there, the door locks behind them, then the house goes up, and they're stuck. It's all looking like it's shaping up to be just an unfortunate accident."
Stella shook her head. "Look, Hails, I know it's early, but can you do me a favour?"
"You know it."
"Kelly and Casey got it in their heads that the uncle rigged the fire, tampered with the electrical system somehow."
"Are you serious?" Hailey asked.
"Unfortunately," she nodded. "Now they're off to Med, see if he'll let them into his shop, and I don't know what else. Think you can head 'em off?"
"I can," Hailey said, already on the move.
"And Hails," Stella sighed. "Can you think of any way to make it so they won't do this again?"
*
When Hailey pulled up to Med, Will was already waiting for her. "So, they are here," her second favourite Halstead informed her as they walked through the ED. Hailey knew the doctor was on shift that night, so she called him to give him the heads up, have him encourage Josh Montolo to leave if he was still there. It wasn't uncommon for doctors to recommend family take a breather from waiting and hoping.
"And you told them to get out of here?" the blonde looked up at the redhead. "Like we talked about?"
"I did," Will nodded. "And you were right; they dug in their heels. Grabbed a couple of chairs and set up shop outside Mrs Montolo's room. When I sent security a few minutes later, same deal."
"How is Mrs Montolo doing?"
"She's got a long road ahead of her," the doctor explained as they walked down the hall. "But her doctors are hopeful, she should make a full recovery."
"That's great," Hailey smiled; it was the first good news to come out of this case.
"There they are," Will pointed out the pair. Matt Casey and Kelly Severide. The fire captains blond hair was dishevelled. He was leaned forward, propping himself up with his elbows on his knees. Kelly's salt and pepper hair was too short to show any signs of distress; his arms were crossed over his chest, his eyes fixed on the door to Juliet Montolo's room.
"Thanks, Will," she said, and the doctor departed with a nod. Hailey looked down the hall again and set her shoulders. It was time. "Hey, Frank! Joe! Over here."
The two firefighters turned towards her in unison. "Detective," Casey greeted her like he always did, polite and respectful. Still, Hailey was happy to hear the confusion that laced his tone.
Kelly was, of course, not any of those things. “What the hell are you doing here, Hailey?"
"We got some complaints," she shrugged her shoulders. "Two guys. Stalking a patient. Refusing to leave the premises. Now that wouldn't happen to be you two, would it?"
"Oh, come on" Kelly rolled his eyes. "That's crap, and you know it."
"Then what are you doing here?" she asked, giving them the same stone glare she used on perps in the interrogation room. Casey at least had the decency to look guilty. Kelly just stared resolutely ahead.
"Here's the deal, boys," she sighed. "I'm gonna start counting. If you two are up and on you're way back to fifty-one by the time I reach five, then we're good. You wrap up the last hour and a half of your shift. You wait for OFI to officially rule on cause. And I will keep you updated on everything. But if your butts are still parked in those chairs, I will slap the cuffs on you both. One."
"You can't be serious," Kelly snarked. "What are you going to charge us with, Detective, sitting?"
"You've been asked to vacate more than once," she said. "You haven't; that means you're trespassing. Two."
"Wait, is that why Will came over here?" Casey asked. "Did he call you?"
"Will? Who said anything about Will?" she shrugged. "Three."
"We’re not leaving until we talk to the husband, alright," Kelly said. "Once he answers our question, let's us take a look in his shop, maybe his truck, then we'll leave."
"And on whose authority exactly are you doing that?" she shot back. "You're not OFI, and you're not cops. Four."
"Hailey, please," Casey tried. "It was a suspicious fire; we have concerns. I don't think Josh Montolo meant for anyone to get hurt, but kids died."
"I know that. But unlike you I also know that it was an electrical fire, one caused by old wiring. The house's electrical hasn't been updated since before her grandmother," she pointed at Mrs Monotolo's room. "Inherited the place from her mother. And do you know how I know that? I talked to OFI, something you could have done instead of jumping to a weak conclusion. Five."
"Look, Hailey," Kelly snapped. "We're not going anywhere, not until we get the answers we want."
Hailey nodded and pulled a pair of cuffs from her belt. "Stand up," she ordered, grabbing Kelly's arm at his elbow. "Put your hands behind your back."
"What? Come on, you can't be serious," Kelly tried to shake the blonde off as she pulled him to his feet. "Get off of me."
"Can you grab him please," the blonde directed to a patrol officer that had snuck up on the other side of them and gestured at Casey.
"Hailey, be real here, get these things off me," Kelly struggled against her as she secured the cuffs snugly around his wrists. He watched as the patrol officer did the same to Casey. Hailey started reciting their Miranda rights as she and the officer marched the firefighters through the halls of the hospital and shoved them into the back of her waiting SUV.
Casey was stunned as Hailey got into the driver's seat of her car and started towards the district. "You're actually arresting us?"
"I Mirandized you didn't I?" she glared in the rearview mirror. "I cuffed you; I put you in my car. I even gave Trudy the heads up; I think she's waiting for us with a video camera. It'll be great footage for the next softball tournament. Y’know she's been trying to figure out YouTube, too; maybe it'll go viral."
"Seriously, Hailey," Casey tried. "We get it, okay? We screwed up, but the jokes over."
"Calm down," Kelly shot back. "She not arresting us. There's nothing to charge us with."
"Trespassing," she listed and turned the corner. "Misconduct. Harassment. Which I could probably get bumped up to witness intimidation, like that," she snapped her fingers.
"That's a felony, isn't it?" Casey sounded worried. Hailey schooled her features to mask her smirk.
"It can be," she said cooly as she pulled into her parking spot at the twenty-first district.
"Look, Hailey," Kelly started.
"Save it," she advised as she opened her door. "Little tip, guilty or innocent, and no matter what the cops try to pull, it's always better to exercise your right to remain silent. My advice, use your phone call, talk to your union rep, see if they can get a lawyer in for you."
"Sev," Casey looked over to his friend as Hailey got out of the car. "We could lose our ranks for this, or worse, get fired. And if there are felony charges? Then, no fire department will look twice at us."
"Shh," Kelly hissed. "Just keep calm, I'm thinking."
"Can we go to jail for this?"
"You absolutely can," They both jumped as Casey's door opened. Trudy was there, her phone raised as she snapped pictures of the two men. "This is going to look great on my Christmas card. You know I send one to the Mayor, right?"
Casey looked ready to throw up. "Are we really going to be charged?"
Trudy fixed him with a stern look. "What do you think?"
"We're so screwed," Casey leaned against the passenger headrest.
"Come on, chuckleheads," Trudy reached for Matt's arm. "Let's get you processed."
"Come on, Trudy," Kelly protested. "You can't do this."
"She can," the firefighters jumped again as Hailey opened the other door. "And she will if you two ever do anything like this again."
"What?" Casey squeaked.
"We're not charging you," Hailey said. "But think of this as your first and last warning."
Both men looked confused; Hailey rolled her eyes. "Listen, I get it, alright? You had a gut feeling, and sometimes those play out. But other times," she shook her head. "It's just grief. It's our minds trying to make sense of an accident. Because that's all this was. An accident."
They opened their mouths to protest, but Hailey kept going. "OFI just cleared it. The wiring in the Montolo's living room was corroded; that's where the fire started. And it wasn't the only place. According to them, it was only a matter of time before this happened, and it's a shame that the electrician who lived there didn't have the chance to update things before it did. But they hadn't even been living there a month yet. And the door to the attic was broken, the kids knew they weren't supposed to be up there, but they wanted to win a game. This was all just a horrible, tragic accident."
"I know you see a lot on your jobs. I'm sympathetic to that, and I get going above and beyond the call of duty. But if either of you tries something like this again, I will arrest you- for real. Everything I listed on the ride over, those are real things, real crimes that I could charge you with. I know that this isn't the first time. I know that you've broken into places; I know you've used your position as firefighters to coerce your way onto scenes or search private houses and businesses. I know you've damaged property to try and find evidence. Those are more crimes that I could charge you with. And I will if this happens again."
"If you wanna investigate fires," Hailey went on. "Then great, transfer to OFI. If you want to keep playing Hardy Boys, then take the police exam and go through the academy. Or get your PI licences or something. But you do this again, and it's a jail cell."
The two remained silent for a minute. "So you're letting us go?" Casey asked hesitantly.
"I am," she nodded. "But I'm pretty sure you're gonna wish I wasn't."
Kelly raised an eyebrow. "Why?"
Stella stepped out from behind Trudy, her eyes fixed and a cool glare. Hailey smirked as both men gulped audibly. "Yeah, I'm handing you over to her. And to be honest, I think you might have faired better in a cell."
"Come on," Trudy pulled Matt out of Hailey's car as the detective did the same for Kelly. "Time to go."
"Here are your idiots," Hailey took the cuffs off Kelly and encouraged him into Stella's waiting Jeep. "I officially release them into your custody, Lieutenant. Please don't kill them, though you know I'll cover for you if you do."
"Thanks," the brunette chuckled and pulled the blonde in for a hug.
"Of course," Hailey returned the embrace. "Any time."
"Alright," Stella pulled back. "I'm gonna take these two home, yell at them, a lot."
Hailey laughed. "Sounds like a plan."
Stella got into the car as Hailey headed towards the district. "Hey, Hails," Stella called, sticking her head out the window. "Think I could borrow those cuffs sometime?"