You Have My Blessing: Chapter 1
Title: You Have My Blessing: Chapter 1
Type: two-shot; Peter Mills x Herrmann!reader, Christopher Herrmann x daughter!reader, Firehouse 51 x reader (platonic)
Warnings: canon-typical Chicago Fire action/situations, not proofread
Spoilers: none?
Notes: another thing that started as a one-shot then started nearing 3,000 words so i had to split it lol
As always, love and/or constructive/friendly criticism is welcome and encouraged!
Disclaimers: I do not own Chicago Fire, its characters, or plot
Word count: 1495
Firehouse 51 had a decent range of ages to its team. You had Herrmann and Boden, who were old enough to have families, those like Severide and Casey who were about middle-ranged, then the youngest ones like Y/n Herrmann. Being the youngest had its pros and cons - Y/n certainly didn’t have the most experience and she sometimes had the light hazing of being a candidate, but she also got to learn a lot from everyone else at the firehouse. Everyone there was also like family to her. Despite these things, Y/n was quite excited when Peter Mills came along to join the candidate pool. He was a few years older than her but the closest to her in age. Needless to say they hit it off not long after his arrival.
As happy as Y/n and Peter were to be a couple, they agreed to keep it out of the firehouse gossip for now, especially knowing that Chief Boden would have choice words for them. Herrmann knew, though; him being Y/n’s father made it a little hard for them to hide it.
Herrmann wanted to be happy for his daughter, but he worried about her career - it had been her dream to be a firefighter practically since she was born. And she, like Mills, had her eyes set on Squad. He tried talking to her nonchalantly about the matter, explaining to her the importance of all her classes and training right now, but didn’t have the guts to tell it straight - he didn’t think she should be dating right now.
He didn’t end up getting very far with her. So one day on shift, between calls, he brought Peter into an empty room. Peter, not knowing what this was about, swallowed nervously. Herrmann pursed his lips and sighed.
“Look, Mills - you’re a good kid…But right now, Y/n needs to focus on her training. She’s gearing up to be the youngest kid to join Squad - younger than you - let alone being a girl on Squad. So as a father - as her father - I’m asking you to let her focus on this ‘cause it’s her dream.”
Peter sighed and weighed his options. He eventually squared his shoulders a bit. “With all due respect, Mr. Herrmann, I’m leaving that up to Y/n. She talked with me about this and as much as I respect you, I want to respect her wishes. She told me before we started seeing each other that the academy comes first and she didn’t want to compromise her future and I understood that. But she still wanted to start a relationship and I won’t hurt her by backing down from that.”
Herrmann stared hard at the candidate. But he felt like he was between a rock and a hard place.
Y/n, who had been watching the two from around a corner, couldn’t hear them but knew what they were talking about. And she quietly worried for her boyfriend’s wellbeing if he chose to stand up to her dad.
Herrmann searched the younger man’s eyes and saw how resolute he was. “I respect you for not wanting to hurt her. But just know I still don’t like it,” he said honestly.
Peter went to reply but was interrupted by an alarm sounding.
“Ambulance 61, Truck 51, Rescue 3, house fire West 56th and East 2nd.”
The two men simultaneously ran out of the room to the apparatus floor, meeting with all the others who were about to go on the call. Y/n and Peter met eyes, sharing a look that meant they would talk later as they both pulled up their uniform pants, slapping the suspenders over their shoulders, and jumping into their trucks.
Everyone got updates to what exactly they were walking into as they neared the scene, sliding on final bits of equipment.
As they got to a stop outside the house, they saw a large mansion ablaze in front of them. A few people stood outside, coughing a bit but otherwise seeming ok.
Kelly jogged over to them, the rest of Squad 3 on his heels. “Ma’am, is there anyone else inside?” he asked the closest victim.
“My-My husband and two children are in there,” she cried.
“Where did you last see them?”
“My husband was in the living room and my-” a coughing fit interrupted her. After a moment she continued, “The kids are upstairs but they were playing hide-and-seek and the hallway was blocked by flames so I couldn’t get to them.” When she started sobbing, Kelly motioned for Dawson and Shay to come over.
“Ok, our EMTs are gonna check you out - my team and I will get the rest of your family.”
Severide motioned for his team to follow. “Casey, take half your team and sweep the downstairs for the husband, the other half go up to start venting the roof. Cruz, pull the truck around to the side of the house. Capp, get the ladder to that window over there,” he ordered. “Once we get it there, we go in and find the kids. Y/n, we go in with them.”
Everyone nodded and started getting to work. Y/n and Severide jumped up on their truck, holding onto bars until Cruz got them to the side of the house. As Capp extended the ladder, they climbed to the top of the truck and proceeded to go the length of the ladder to the second story window. Kelly broke the window to give them as wide of an opening as he could.
“Alright, let’s go!” he yelled, making his way through the window. The other three followed him and got to work, clearing rooms and searching for the children. Cruz found the first and he and Capp worked together to get him outside and down the truck ladder, leaving Severide and Y/n inside.
“Herrmann, we got the husband - head out!” Y/n heard called over their radios. Since there were technically two Herrmanns at Firehouse 51, both serving on different teams, her dad answered to ‘Herrmann’ and she was the only one called by her first name out in the field so they could tell who was being asked to do what.
The girl deflated a bit, knowing 2 of 3 people were now safe. But they still had to find the last one.
“Fire department, call out!” she yelled as she burst into another room.
“Severide, Y/n, the last kid’s name is ‘Brooke,’” Boden yelled over the radio. “Hurry up! Smoke’s getting darker!”
Y/n and Kelly began moving faster through the upstairs, finally coming to the fire in the hallway the first victim mentioned. “Lieutenant! What if she’s-”
“Help!”
Y/n spun around and heard the call again. She ran to a closet a few feet away, realizing it was the only door on this side they hadn’t checked. She opened the door and drew a blank until a small voice yelled, ‘up here!’
She looked up and saw a child, probably about ten years old, on the upper shelves of the closet. Seeing an opening in the ceiling, she guessed she must have tried hiding in the attic.
“Brooke, I’m gonna get you out of here, ok?” she said.
The young girl, tears painting clean trails through her smoke-covered face, nodded frantically. “My-My leg is stuck. I was hiding but came down when I heard my mom yelling,” she said, voice tearful.
Y/n grabbed her walkie talkie. “Severide, I found the girl but her leg is stuck. Do you have a vantage point to maybe come at her from the attic to free her leg?” Had they been in less of a time crunch, Y/n wouldn’t have dared to try and give Severide direction. But to her relief, it seemed he didn’t care as he gave confirmation.
She started pulling and stacking things to allow her to get eye-level with Brooke. She wiped one of her tear-stained cheeks and pulled her oxygen mask off. “I’m gonna put this over your face, ok, Brooke? It’ll help you breathe better. My friend, Kelly, is coming to help get you free but I need you to be brave, ok?”
The girl nodded as she took a few clean breaths of oxygen.
“Brooke, I’m Lieutenant Severide,” Kelly said from above them. “Your leg is caught on a broken board, this is gonna hurt but I’m gonna have to yank it free, ok?”
“I’ll be brave,” she said to Kelly, but maintained eye contact with Y/n, making her smile.
With a jerk from Kelly, and a contained whimper from the girl, her leg was free and she practically slid off the shelf she was on and into Y/n’s arms. She began rushing to the window with Kelly. He left first so Y/n could pass the girl to him and start getting out herself when the floor beneath her feet gave way.
“Y/n!”