"I should not be left to my own devices."

Mikey's Apple watch pings, he looks down at it and sees the alert. "Crap, she's having a seizure!" His eyes widen as he looks back up at Matt and Kelly. "She's most likely in the library." Matt and Kelly look at each other and nod before looking back at Mikey.

"We'll come with," Kelly states. The three of them rush to the library and sure enough, Maddison is there. She's on the floor, on her side, still seizing. The librarian, Emma Strauss, who also happens to Mikey's mom, is kneeling down next to her. She has her phone next to her with a timer that shows nearly three minutes. When Mikey, Matt and Kelly approach her, they see a jacket has been placed under Maddison's head. Emma looks up at them.

"Seizure has been going on for nearly four minutes now." Emma tells them, glancing at the phone. "Mrs Caffrey radioed and alerted all staff of the situation. She's called the police, but let me guess, she tried to touch Maddison?"

"Yeah." Mikey nods. He turns to Matt and Kelly. "Maddie is also epileptic. One of the triggers for her seizures is being in a heightened mood. So what happened in that classroom when the principal went to touch her is the reason for this."

"Has she had seizures this long before?" Matt queries.

"Yeah." Mikey nods. "We'll call an ambulance once it reaches five minutes."

"That'll be now," Emma announces, "Mikey, come and keep an eye on her, I'll go call one and let Caffrey know." Emma stands up and walks off. Mikey takes her place as Matt and Kelly squat down with him.

At the 21st district, Adam is doing case notes on the computer when his desk phone rings. He picks up the receiver and puts it to his ear.

"Officer Ruzek." He answers.

"Ruzek, it's Carter from dispatch." Comes over the phone. Adam sighs, knowing what's coming next. "We got a call from Maddison Eaton's school. She assaulted a teacher and refused to leave the school grounds. Apparently."

"What do you mean, 'apparently'?" Adam questions.

"We received another call regarding Maddison for medical aid. Five minute plus seizure in the library, so I can't help but think that the principal exaggerated." Carter tells him, knowing Maddison's background.

"I've met the principal and she definitely exaggerated somewhere there." Adam replies. "I'll make my way over there now."

"Thanks, Ruzek." Carter states before hanging up. Adam logs out of his computer and stands up.

"Jay." He gets the attention of his partner for the shift. "We gotta go." Jay also stands up. "Chicago High School called 9-1-1 twice. Once for Mads assaulting a teacher, another for a seizure." Adam explains as they make their way out of intelligence.

"But she's never assaulted a teacher," Jay furrows his eyebrows, "and if she's had a seizure too, that means-"

"That said teacher must have really pissed her off." Adam finishes. "We'll get the full story when we get there."

Back at Chicago High School (CHS), Maddison is just coming around from the seizure, Mikey had put her in the recovery position as soon as the in the end, it lasted nearly seven minutes. Mikey is holding her hand when her eyes slowly open.

"Welcome back, Maddie." Mikey smiles slightly. "You're okay, you had a seizure." He helps Maddison roll onto her back and from one look at her, he knows that she's experiencing a verbal shutdown. "Do you want to stay lying down or sit up?"

Sit up. She signs. When Maddison first started experiencing verbal shutdowns at 13, she learned sign language and so did those close to her like Mikey, Emma and Adam.

"Let's get you sat up then." Mikey nods as he helps Maddison sit up. "Floor or chair?" He asks and Maddison points to the floor.

How long? Maddison signs.

"Seven minutes." Mikey tells her. He grabs her bag and takes out a water bottle. "Drink." He orders. Maddison narrows her eyes as she takes the bottle. "Hey, you're the one that told me I need to order you to drink water after you've had a seizure." Mikey laughs. Maddison takes a few big gulps of her water before handing the bottle back to Mikey. She raises her right hand above her hand, makes a half-open 'C' shape and rotates it, signing,

Ambulance.

"On the way." Mikey nods. "I'm sure Adam will be on his way too." Sure enough, a couple of minutes later, Emma leads Adam, Jay and two paramedics into the library. They walk over to them. Mikey looks up at Adam. "Verbal shutdown." Mikey informs him.

"Okay." Adam nods. "I'll step in and help with the paramedics and can you tell Jay exactly what happened?"

"Yeah, sure." Mikey nods. Mikey, Kelly and Matt stand up and walk over to Jay.

"What are you two doing here?" Jay asks Kelly and Matt confused.

"They were giving a talk to our class, so they can confirm what I'm about to tell you." Mikey says to Jay.

"No, I will be the one to explain what happened." Mrs Caffrey saunters into the library and up to them. "Miss Eaton was disrupting my class, standing on the table, shouting and in clear violation of dress code then out of nowhere, she attacked me."

"You do realise that lying to the police is a criminal offence?" Matt asks.

"I thought you were taking them to the main office?" Mrs Caffrey spins to Mikey, ignoring Matt.

"He was taking us there, then he got the alert that Maddie was having a seizure. Being firefighters with first aid training, we came with him to make sure she was okay." Kelly responds. "Halstead, Mrs Caffrey is withholding the truth. You'll get a better explanation from Mikey." Kelly tells Jay, not taking his eyes off the principal.

"Jay, you see the top that Maddie is wearing? Do you recognise it?" Mikey asks the detective and Jay peeks over at Maddison.

"Yeah." Jay looks back at Mikey. "That's her comfort top. She wears it when she's having a bad day or thinks she'll have a bad day."

"You should know that Mrs Caffrey is fully aware of this and still decided to dress code Maddie and tell her it was a distraction," Mikey tells Jay before giving him the full rundown of what happened.

"You two can confirm all this?" Jay asks the two firefighters.

"Everything happened exactly how Mikey described it." Matt nods in confirmation.

"Then," Jay looks at Mrs Caffrey, "we will not be arresting Maddison today. It was self-defence, plain and simple. However, I will be making a call to the school board about your fitness to be a school principal."

"You-you can't do that." Mrs Caffrey stutters, turning bright red.

"I think I will also make a call to the school board." Kelly smirks. "Over concern about a vulnerable child being discrimated against."

"Not that you mention it, Severide, I'll also make a call to them," Matt adds, "being a former Alerman, my complaint will hold a lot more weight." Mikey smiles at the fact that these two strangers are standing up for his best friend. Adam joins them.

"You get the full story?" He asks Jay.

"Yep." Jay nods before giving a brief version of what happened.

"Sounds like self-defense to me." Adam folds his arms, looking at Mrs Caffrey. "I think it's best that you go elsewhere, they're taking Mads to hospital and if she sees you when she leaves, it's not going to be good for her. She's already experiencing a verbal shutdown because of what happened."

"Please," Mrs Caffrey scoffs, "she just uses that as an excuse to avoid consequences of her actions." They hear a bang come from where Maddison is and turn around. They turn and see a chair on the ground and Maddison glaring at Mrs Caffrey.

"She pushed the chair over." One of the paramedics states. "She used the notes on her phone to tell us she won't go to hospital unless the principal goes away." Adam sees the concern in the paramedics eyes.

"She won't hurt you guys, don't worry. She knows you want to help her and get her to hospital. Just don't do anything or touch her for now." Adam, Matt, Kelly and Mikey turn back to face Mrs Caffrey. "If you don't leave, I will arrest you for obstructing medical aid."

"Look, she's refusing to leave. That's not me obstructing anything." Mrs Caffrey sticks her ground. "I am not leaving until I personally see that she is off school grounds." Adam looks at Jay who nods. Adam takes his handcuffs from his back pocket.

"Mrs Angela Caffrey, you are under arrest for obstructing medical personnel on the execution of their duties," Adam states, taking Caffrey's hands and cuffing them behind her back as he reads her her rights. "Halstead, will you take her down to the district? I'll stay with Mads."

"With pleasure." Jay nods, taking hold of Caffrey's upper arms and taking her out. Adam and Mikey join Maddison, Emma and the paramedics.

"She's gone, so are you going to let the paramedics take you to hospital?" Adam asks Maddison and she nods.

"I'll accompany her to the hospital," Emma tells Adam, "I'll also sign Mikey out, we'll follow in my car to the hospital, I assume that you'll want to go with her in the ambulance."

"Yeah", Adam nods, "thanks." Emma turns to her son. "Can you take the firefighters out? We'll meet you out there." She quickly takes a notepad out and writes a note for Mikey to be let out before handing it to him.

"Sure." Mikey nods. He rejoins Matt and Kelly. "I'll take yous out to the front now." Mikey tells them. They both nod and follow Mikey out. When they reach the front desk, Mikey hands over the note and they sign him out, no questions asked. Whilst that's happening, Matt and Kelly hand over their visitor passes and sign out themselves. Once all three of them are done, they walk out. "I just wanted to thank you two for standing up for Maddie to Caffrey."

"Of course." Matt nods. "It was pissing me off seeing what she was doing."

"Not to mention the fucking ableism coming out of her." Kelly shakes his head. "The cop you mentioned that helped her, it's Ruzek isn't it?"

"Yeah." Mikey laughs and nods. "Maddie doesn't have a good relationship with her parents but, despite the fact that Adam has arrested her a fair few times, he's like a father to her. He even went as far as learning ASL for when Maddie has verbal shutdowns since that's what she prefers." They look to the entrance of the school and see the paramedics wheeling Maddison out on a stretcher with Emma and Adam following them.

"We better get going," Matt tells Mikey. They say bye and Matt and Kelly make their way to their vehicle just as the paramedics, Emma and Adam reach Mikey with Maddison. Emma and Adam stay with Mikey whilst the paramedics take Maddison over to the ambulance and load her in.

"They're gonna take her to Chicago Med. She's familiar with Will because of Jay and from other times she's had to go to the ER, so I've already called ahead and ensured he's available. He'll be waiting for her when we get there." Adam informs Mikey.

"That's good." Mikey nods. "She'll be more likely to accept the help."

"I've also tried calling her mom and dad but they're not picking up so I've left a message for them," Adam adds. He looks over and sees the paramedics are ready to leave. "They're ready to take her so I'll meet you two at the hospital."

.

Ten minutes later, the paramedics are wheeling Maddison into Chicago Med with Adam following, carrying Maddison's bag. Dr Will Halstead joins them as one of the medics starts the handover.

"This is Maddison Eaton. She's sixteen. She had a seven-minute seizure. Known epileptic. She is autistic and currently experiencing a verbal shutdown, her preferred method of communication is ASL which Officer Ruzek will help with. She will also use text-to-speech on her phone." They say as they wheel her into a treatment room. The other paramedics run down the obs as they get Maddison set up on the hospital bed and hooked up to the hospital monitors before leaving.

"Hey, Maddie." Will smiles, standing at the side of the bed.

I've had better days. She signs. Will looks up at Adam for interpretation.

"She said she's had better days." Adam laughs. "Mads, do you want to continue with the signing or do you want to use your text-to-speech?"

"I think I'll just speak." Maddison nods, earning a chuckle from both Will and Adam. "I feel a lot calmer now."

"Okay, then." Will smiles. "Do you know what triggered the seizure?"

"Teacher tried to touch me whilst I was already heightened," Maddison states.

"And did you hurt yourself at all?" Will asks.

"Nope." Maddison shakes her head.

"Right, what we'll do, is because it's been a while since you've had a seizure this long, we'll run some tests, a head CT, blood work. You know the drill."

"Yes-siree." Maddison nods with a smile.

"I'll go and order those tests, we'll get them done as quickly as we can," Will informs her before leaving.

"So," Adam starts, walking to the side of the bed and leaning on the bedrail, "is that blood work going to show any drugs?"

"Might do." Maddison looks down, fiddling with the sheet on the bed, "but not enough to cause the seizure," she looks back up at him. "It will be from when I did that thing for you. I don't know if it'll still be in my system."

"You haven't taken anything else since then?" Adam queries and Maddison shakes her head.

"I didn't even try and get my cool today." Maddison shakes her head. "I'm so fucking stupid." She carries on, slamming the bottom of her hands into her forehead repeatedly, tears falling from her eyes. Adam gently grabs hold of her wrists and stops her.

"Mads, it's okay." He says softly, bringing their hands down. "You had every right to go off on one. It's not your fault. She should have known better." He lets go of her wrists and moves a strand of hair from her face. "It's not your fault." He repeats, reassuring her. "Okay?"

"Okay." Maddison nods slightly, wiping her tears. "Did you guys really arrest Caffrey?"

"Yeah." Adam nods, laughing. "She wouldn't leave which led to you refusing to be bought her. So, she was essentially blocking the paramedics from doing their job. She won't be allowed to work in a school again." Just then, Mikey walks in with Emma. "I'm gonna go and try to call your mom and dad again, okay?" Maddison nods and Adam walks out. As he does, Emma and Mikey walk to Maddison's bedside.

"The whole school got wind of Caffrey's arrest." Mikey grins. "Some kid that that was running late recorded it."

"Karma's a bitch, huh." Maddison laughs. She looks at Emma. "So, do we know who's taking over as principal?"

"I just got off the phone with the school board and they've decided that I will," Emma replies. "I'd interviewed for it, but Caffrey got the job. The school board want a full restructuring of the school's senior staff members."

"That's good." Maddison nods. They spend the next half hour talking before Maddison is taken for her scans and tests.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Chapter 2 is here!! I really struggled with how to end this chapter but hey-ho. 

Let me know what you think!

Much love