.
- What's all that? - Adoption application.
- Fantastic!
- Your brother Leon turned up in a CPD database.
Leon wasin a gang.
But I got him out there.
- I'm going to give you back your application.
- We can't approve adoptive parents
who might put Javi in close contact with a gang member.
- Good hustle, Macy!
- I'm gonna apply for the next CFD test.
- You're my first official recruit.
- Girls on Fire makes girls like me and Macy
feel like becoming a firefighter
could really happen.
- I see you, Kylie.
Get that foot behind the line.
- All right, first to open up their nozzle,
and knock our ballerina off her throne, wins.
Stay low, and keep your weight forward.
Ready, set, go.
[crowd cheering] - Go, Kylie!
- All right. - Yeah, let's go!
- Focus, focus. You got it.
You got it.
- Look's like Lieutenant Carr's course.
- Ah. - Minus the ball.
- Yeah, Macy set it up,
so she must have gotten it from his class.
Jess is holding her hose too high.
- Hold the hose tight to your body, weight forward.
That's it.
- Making my job easy.
Thanks, babe.
- Good, good.
Keep going. - Whoo!
- Get up in there. Get up in there.
- Oh, Kylie! [hose whooshes]
[crowd cheering]
- Yeah! - Yeah!
- We have a winner!
[crowd cheering]
- All right, everyone, bring it in.
Bring it in, bring it in, bring it in, bring it in.
All right, how do we think she did?
Because I think Macy's ready to be the newest
firefighter in the CFD.
[all cheering]
Listen, when I started this program,
I thought maybe someday I'd see one of you
go all the way through the academy.
And it is crazy that that day is already here.
Our first Girls on Fire grad.
I'm so frickin' proud of you.
All right, graduation.
11:00 AM, Saturday, at the Fire Academy.
I expect to see every single one of you there.
All right? - Uh-huh.
- Now get out of here before you're late for homeroom.
Go! Go! Go!
Great job.
- Congratulations are in order for you too, you know?
This is a great achievement.
- Thank you, Chief.
Ah!
Cruz, I think it's done.
- Huh? Oh, damn it.
Oh, sorry.
- Hey, it's fine.
No worries.
It adds flavor.
Everything OK, Joe?
- They put the adoption application on hold.
- What?
Why?
- Leon's name came up in a gang database.
- But that's not right.
He was working undercover.
- Yeah, I tried to explain that in writing.
I stepped out every detail.
I even referred them to Sergeant Voight,
but ever since then, crickets.
- They'll call.
[alarm blares]
- All units, multiple vehicle accident.
I-55 inbound, mile marker 82.
[sirens blaring]
[suspenseful music]
* *
[horns honking]
- Hey!
Hey! Hey, get back!
Squad, let's get airbags underneath this I-beam truck.
Get cribbing ready.
Engine, cover us with a hose line.
Get extinguishers on that semi.
Let's move.
- All right, Carver, get the scene locked down!
Mouch, Gallo, we're gonna pull that car out
as soon as it clears squad's air bags.
- On it.
- Hey, you two OK?
- I think so.
I had to lay my bike down.
I went right under that thing.
- I'm good, but that guy's in bad shape.
- We'll get him out of there.
In the meantime, let's have a look at you.
- Sir?
Sir, can you hear me? - [groaning]
- Hey, Kidd? - Yeah?
- I'll get in there and try and stop the bleeding.
- Copy.
- Hey. - Hey.
- There you go.
There you are.
Let's get you some more room.
- OK. - Oh, man.
[panting] That's a load off.
- Hey, what's your name? - John.
- John? Christopher.
- Hey, man, you got to get behind the line.
- Yeah, OK.
- I said back up.
- You're playing around with tape while there's
people over there in danger.
You're a real hero, huh?
- Get back. I'm not asking you again.
- OK.
[air hissing] - Good.
Yeah, nice and easy.
[screeching]
- Good for you wearing a helmet,
looks like you dodged a concussion.
- Might want to get a second opinion, buddy.
Just saying.
- Keep moving, pal.
- I'm behind the tape. - Hey! Lieutenant!
[tires squealing] - No!
No, no, stop!
[air hissing] - Oh!
- Damn.
* *
- Lost pressure!
Herrmann, stay down!
- Herrmann, you guys okay in there?
- Yeah!
Where we at?
- The hoses are shot.
We got replacements in the truck, Lieutenant.
- No time.
Let's grab two sets of jaws.
We'll raise it that way. - That'll work.
- Yeah. - Copy.
- Hermann, we lost pressure in the air bag.
We're gonna raise the I-beam with the jaws.
- Copy.
Hey, John? - Yeah?
- Let's take a look at this shoulder.
- OK. [groans]
Oh, man, it's crazy the things racing through my head
right now.
It's like they say, your whole life passing before your eyes.
- Hey, John?
We're going to get you out of here.
[whirring] - Keep going.
That's it.
Mouch, get the chain ready.
[creaking]
- All right.
- Ah, Katherine Harden, now there's a memory.
[chuckles, coughs]
- Easy.
Hey, who is Katherine?
- This girl I knew at Loyola. - Yeah?
- I couldn't take my eyes off her.
- Gather now.
Easy, Gallo.
That's it. Keep it level.
- So what happened?
- We-we became friends.
She's way out of my league, I knew that.
And I couldn't tell her how I really felt because
I was scared I'd lose her.
I did anyway.
She met another guy, and they got married.
Her life kept going.
Haven't heard her voice for 17 years.
[creaking]
- Let's get that cribbing in there, Ritter.
- Yeah.
- How's that chain coming, Mouch?
- Set!
- All right, Mouch, get ready to pull them out.
- It's not a bad way to go out, thinking of Katherine.
- Hey, like I told you, John,
we're going to get you out of here, so, okay?
Hey. - Hey, Hermann, here we go.
- Grab him slow, Mouch.
- That's it.
[truck beeping] Easy.
Whoa!
Okay, we're good!
- Okay, Gallo, you're on.
[whirring]
- Now, Carver, open it wide.
- You'll be fine.
49 years old, lost a lot of blood.
Starting to look a little shocky.
- Copy. C collar. - Here you go.
- All right. Easy.
- I got his head. - All right.
- One, two, three.
- Hey, you see?
Hey, you made it out!
- No, radial pulse.
His carotid is weak. Must be crashing.
- OK, let's go.
- Nice bike.
Gotta love a V-Twin, right?
- I'm going to miss it.
- It's not as bad as it looks.
Some new pipes, new cam cover.
Back on the road in no time.
- Not me.
I'm never getting back on that thing.
This was just a-- an expensive midlife crisis.
Time for a minivan.
- [chuckles]
[medical machines beep]
- BP 70 over 40.
We got to move. - All right, hang blood tubing.
I'll call the Med and let them know to have blood ready.
- Copy.
- You got to tell her.
- What? - Find her.
- Who? - Katherine Harden.
- John, come on.
- I need her to know how much she meant to me.
Please?
- OK.
I'll tell her, OK?
[dramatic music]
* *
[sirens blare]
.
- Gallo, sorry about that rogue SUV back there.
You good?
- Yeah, that bottle went after you like a missile.
- Yeah, no sweat. Nobody's fault. I'm good.
- I won't lose control of the scene again, Lieutenant.
That's a promise.
- What was the distraction there?
Was that guy giving you trouble?
- Me, the medics, guy just seemed to have
a beef with first responders.
- Was he involved in the accident?
- I don't think so.
- So he just stopped by to offer
his critique of our work?
- Huh.
Weirdo of the week.
- Right.
Hypothetically, would you want to know
if a friend from your past were in love with you,
even if you were married?
- Ooh, that's a fun one.
- And the friend, which maybe dying.
- And not fun anymore.
- He could pull through. It's possible.
- What kind of hypothetical is this?
- I told John, our victim from the pinnin',
that I would track down his long lost friend,
and declare his love for her.
But she's married, and it seems--
- Tricky? - And also,
he was in a bad way, and maybe he wasn't thinking straight.
You know, and maybe he's going to get better, and realize
that he doesn't want to get in the middle of her life
like that.
- Well...
- Hey, Brett?
What's the latest on John?
Did you get a chance to check in on him?
- I did.
Yeah, the doctors put him on a ventilator in the ICU.
They don't think he has long.
- Damn it.
- Hey, you said this woman that he knew, they were friends?
- Yeah, from 20 years ago.
- But she'd still probably want to know
about his condition, right?
- I would if I was her.
No matter how long it'd been. Yeah.
- Yeah.
I'll try and track her down.
- Are you trying to rub a hole through your equipment, Cruz?
- It's called cleanin', Cap.
You should try it sometime.
[phone rings]
Hello?
Robocallers.
I swear, man, there's a special place in hell for those guys.
- Cruz, put it out of your mind.
[truck beeping]
- Is that the bike from this morning?
- Whoa, Severide, did you swoop in
and buy it off that poor guy in his moment of doubt?
- Ha, you think I'm some kind of vulture?
- There she is.
There we go.
What's the matter? - You bought a motorcycle?
- I told the guy, why mess around with insurance,
take a hit on your premium?
Skip the headache, and sell it to me.
Got it for a song.
- Do you know how to ride a bike?
- More importantly, do you know how to fix one?
- Eh, I'll manage.
Hoping to get some help from--
- Uh, why'd you have it towed to the firehouse
instead of your place?
- Because Trudy cannot know about this.
Understood?
Not a word.
- Did you see Mouch's new project?
- Ugh, yeah, he's getting himself killed on that thing.
- [laughs] If the bike doesn't do it, Trudy will.
- [laughs] Probably.
- Is that dude watching the house?
- Gallo, I think that's the guy from the highway incident,
the one that was messing with us.
- For real?
[engine starts]
- All right, all right.
One, two--wait, where's Lucy?
I don't see her. [laughs]
Oh, there we go.
All right.
- Wait, Lieutenant, you got to be in this.
Mom, can you take one for us? - Sure.
- Thank you.
- All right. - OK.
One, two, three.
- Thank you. - Look at this uniform.
Like, damn girl! [laughs]
- Lieutenant Kidd? - [laughs]
Yes?
- Hi, you're Macy's mom, right?
So good to meet you.
Your daughter, she's amazing.
- She is.
And she's everything to me.
Do you have children?
- I don't, no.
- Then you might not understand this,
but I'ma say it anyway.
These days, every time I hear a siren,
I think that is going to be Macy risking her life.
All because of a flyer she saw in our neighborhood
three years ago.
A flyer you put there, right?
- Yes.
Yes, ma'am.
- If anything happens to her,
if I lose my daughter,
just know that's on you.
.
- There are 19 different
Katherine Hardens in the United States.
It is gonna take me days to find the right one.
- You just googled the name?
- Yeah, that's what you're supposed to do these days.
It used to be that you dial 411,
or look in the White Pages.
But now if you want to try and find someone,
you go to 15 websites, and they try to sell you a phone number
that might not even be theirs.
- Found her. - What?
You're lying. How?
- I searched her name and a couple of keywords.
Found a wedding notice, checked that against LinkedIn,
and there you go-- Katherine Harden,
now Katherine Joyce, graduated from Loyola--
- Loyola. Yeah, that's what John said.
That's got to be her.
- She's a high school music teacher,
and she lives right here in Chicago.
- Herrmann, her Facebook page says she's got a daughter,
and she's divorced.
- Divorced?
Ah, damn, John didn't know that part.
He probably would have reached out if he had.
- Now you can do it for him.
- Hey, Severide, quick question.
Sorry, guys, motorcycle talk.
When I pulled the pipes off,
these little metal rings fell out.
- Exhaust gaskets.
Don't reuse them. You got to buy new ones.
- Gotcha.
And that bent fork, can that be straightened, do you think?
Or do I have to replace it?
- I thought you said quick question?
- All right, a few quick questions.
Let me buy you a beer, and pick your brain.
- Use that money to buy a Haynes manual.
- A what?
- Then a car comes screeching through the scene
and goes over the hoses, which makes the air bottle--
pressurized at 4,500 PSI--
come flying right at me like a cruise missile.
- Dangerous.
- It could have put a hole right through me.
- Hey. - Hey.
- I'm sorry I'm late, post-graduation celebrations.
- No worries.
- How'd it go?
- Graduation was great.
I met Macy's mom.
She's not too happy with me.
She says if anything happens to Macy, I'm the one to blame.
And that's just--that's got me thinking about Kylie
and all the other girls, and--
- We can't control what happens on the job.
That's why I'm so tough on my cadets,
so they're ready when things get ugly.
- Yes, but your cadets came to you.
I recruited these girls into Girls on Fire,
and I did it to inspire and empower them,
but Macy's mom isn't wrong.
I'm putting them on track for a job where
their lives are on the line.
- It's the best job in the world.
You've given them the ability to be a part of it.
You have inspired and empowered them.
The rest is out of your hands.
- Hey, try not to let anyone die out there today.
- What? - You heard me.
- Hey. Is that the guy, the heckler?
- Yeah. - Careful, miss.
You could hurt a load of incompetent firefighters
that show up and make it worse.
- Ignore him, ma'am. - Hey, buddy,
why don't you hit the road?
- There a problem here?
- This is a public sidewalk, you can't kick me off it.
- No, sir, I cannot.
But if you threaten my firefighters
or any of our neighbors, that's a crime.
- I didn't threaten anybody.
- It's the same guy from that call,
and he was here last shift too.
- No idea what his problem is. It's so strange.
- Well,
hopefully that's the end of it.
- 25% left in the tank, how many minutes of air is that?
- Working five, at rest seven.
- Great.
What is the collapse radius for a five-story building?
- That's not in that flash card deck.
- It's still important.
- 60 feet? - 90.
Kylie, you gotta know this stuff inside and out.
And if you don't,
you don't have to take the exam in six months.
- Hold on, what?
- There's no rush. You know?
- I'm confused.
We always said I would take it when I turned 21.
- I know, but maybe you don't take it right away.
You have so much time,
and you could explore all your options.
- My options?
Wait, do you think I'm not ready?
- I think there is no harm in waiting,
that's all.
Just think about it.
[phone dialing] - [sighs]
[line ringing] [coughs]
- Hi, this is Katherine.
- Hi.
Hi, Katherine, my name is--
- I'm not available right now, but please leave me a message,
and I'll get right back to you.
- Oh. - Thanks.
[beep]
- Katherine, this is Christopher Herrmann,
and I'm calling on behalf of a friend of mine.
Well, he's not a friend exactly,
but you knew him in college,
and his name is John Millard.
And he wanted me to reach out to you,
and tell you some things.
[exhales]
[clanking] - [grunting]
Ah! [tools clank]
Could they possibly make this bolt harder to reach?
[grunting]
Ah, got it.
Nope, stripped it. Son of a--
- Mouch!
You're killing me, man.
- Here, get away from there. Let me get it.
- [sighs]
[alarm blares]
- Truck 81, ambo 61-- - Be gentle with it.
- Person in distress, 2800 South Sacramento Ave.
[sirens blaring]
[suspenseful music]
* *
- What's wrong? - I'm not sure, but...
Yep, we got a problem.
.
[sirens blaring]
- Permission to brake check him?
- Negative.
81 to Main, we need police on scene.
We have at individual interfering
with our emergency response.
- Copy that, 81.
- It's like he's getting bolder.
- Hey, do not engage.
Let the cops handle it.
[tires screech]
- Over here!
Over here! - [groaning]
- Hey!
- I told him that rail needed wax.
Didn't listen. - Oh, man.
- All right, hang in there.
OK, Gallo, grab the grinder.
- Copy. - Get the stretcher.
I'll pack the wound. - Copy that.
- OK.
- Be ready to support the fence when Gallo makes his cuts.
- All right.
- Sir?
Sir, please stay back.
- Hey, you might want to get your phone out and film this.
Good to have evidence if anything goes wrong.
- Why would anything go wrong?
- On account of incompetence, that's why.
- Dude, why are you saying that?
- Take it easy.
- Hey, shake a leg, man.
Can't you see he's in pain?
- You're done here, pal. Leave.
- Carver!
- I got this, Lieutenant.
- This is a public park, I have every right to be here.
- Keep moving.
- Don't touch me.
- Back it up.
Yeah, they're here for you.
- Good, I have plenty to tell them.
Officer, this fireman's threatening me.
- OK, come on over here and tell me all about it.
- Why me?
- Come on, let's go. - I didn't do anything.
- Let's go. - He's the problem.
- Forward. - He's the problem.
- Forward.
[saw buzzing]
[boy whimpering]
- Herrmann, I was just at Med. John's off the ventilator.
He's doing a lot better.
- Uh-oh. - Uh-oh?
- I left Katherine a long message.
I'm talking cut off by the beep long.
I told her that he probably wasn't going to make it.
I went into the whole rigmarole.
I mean, it is great news, of course,
but what am I going to do now?
Call her back and say, eh,
never mind everything I just said?
- Yes? - No.
No, I knew I shouldn't go messing
in other people's lives.
All right, I gotta--
I gotta talk to John first.
- OK.
- I'm going to give a call to Med,
and see if I can swing by after shift and see him.
- Hey, Lieutenant.
- Hey.
- You got a sec?
- Of course, yeah.
What's up?
- If, uh--
if I'm out of line, just tell me,
but I heard you quizzing Kylie this morning,
and it reminded me of when I was fresh out of the academy.
Have I told you much about my parents?
- I don't think so, no.
- Well, they didn't want me to go to the academy.
They thought I'd get myself hurt.
I remember my mom saying,
"Leave all that to the real men."
- Seriously?
- Yeah.
We had our issues, to say the least.
So I had to show them that I could be as tough
as my Uncle Anthony, the firefighter.
I studied hard.
I worked my ass off in the gym, and graduated.
But their words, they stuck,
and the doubt kept creeping in.
That's why Mouch found me in that stairwell, frozen.
- And I just put that seed of doubt in Kylie's mind.
- My uncle was my hero,
and Kylie's hero is you.
What you think means a lot.
- Hey, I hope your parents know now
you're a hell of a firefighter.
- Thanks to being here,
I don't really worry about what they think anymore.
I know I am.
Lieutenant.
- Thank you, Ritter.
- Yeah.
- Okay, that's it. - [whistle]
- Done.
She's got new forks, new pipes, gave her a tune up.
- She looks incredible. Cherry, even.
- Oh, yeah. Come on, let's hear that motor.
- Ah.
- Uh-oh. - [clears throat]
- Everybody out of the blast zone.
- It's cool, Mouch, tell her it's my bike.
- The hell you will.
- What's going on here?
The... [sighs]
I don't even know what to say to you right now.
You look like Marlon Brando!
[sweeping music]
[laughter]
- Hop on, baby.
[engine revving]
She's always been a hog fan.
See you, boys!
- Oh, okay. - Whoo!
- Hey! - [laughs]
[engine rumbles loudly]
- [laughs] Whoo-hoo! - Whoo-hoo!
- [laughs]
- Hey, have you guys seen Kylie?
- I think she just went to the commissary,
she should be back soon.
- Uh, hey, police called.
They got the name of our heckler, Edgar Weston.
On a hunch, I checked the name against our call logs,
and it looks like his father died
at that wedding fire that we responded to a while back.
- The tent fire.
The guy that Mouch and me pulled out?
- Yeah, I remember him.
He had some of the worst burns I've ever seen.
- So this Edgar isn't just some random crazy.
- He's coming after us because he blames us
for his father's death.
- This man, his son,
he's obviously going through something
that is driven by that loss.
- Cops arrest him?
- No, he hasn't done anything illegal.
Yet.
So if he shows up again, we keep our distance,
let the police handle it.
- You got it chief.
- Yes, sir.
- Be safe.
- Hey.
- You don't--you don't have to do that.
- Hey.
It is no problem.
I owe you an apology.
You are more than ready for that entrance exam.
If you could take it tomorrow, I'd tell you to do it.
- But you said that--
- I was doing a lot of overthinking.
You may have noticed it's a small problem I have.
- No way. - [chuckles]
Listen, just know this.
The more I care, the more I overthink.
[tense music]
- Chief?
- OK, heads up, people.
Ritter, radio CPD.
- Yep.
- You think you could sic the cops on me, scare me off?
I have rights.
- Hey, hey, back it up. Hey.
You wanna get physical, you will end up in jail.
Now calm down, Edgar.
- He's gone!
And you just go about your lives like nothing happened,
like you had nothing to do with it!
- OK, everyone.
Everyone go inside now. Go.
- Violet, what are you-- - You think you're the only
person who lost someone? - Violet--
- The only person who has had someone ripped away from them?
It is a living hell, and I know it.
Feels like you're drowning because
every day since he died, you haven't been able to breathe.
It doesn't make any sense, but every day you wake up,
and you realize that he's still not there, right?
It was an accident,
a tragic accident.
And looking for someone to blame
isn't going to make the pain go away, Edgar.
[somber music]
* *
- It would have been their 40th anniversary last week.
[voice breaking] My mom won't get out of bed.
* *
It's ruined us.
- I'm sorry. I am.
That's awful.
- I don't know how to make it better.
- You can't.
I think...
maybe only time can do that.
* *
- I was just real relieved
when I heard that you were doing better.
- Like you said, you'd get me out,
and you did.
- I also told you that
I'd track your friend Katherine down,
and I did that, too.
- What?
- Yeah, she lives here in Chicago.
- Oh, God. [laughs]
I wasn't thinking straight.
- Oh, I knew it! - Well, no, no.
It's just, she's married, and I really--
- Actually, she's divorced.
- God, OK. So that'll make it even worse.
Now she's going to think I'm--
I'm some kind of creep
that's going to be taking advantage of her.
That is not-- - John, let me--
let me say this.
Shake off those nerves.
See, if you're lucky enough to have the chance
to be with someone that you really care about,
you gotta go for it.
'Cause you never know
when that chance will just...
disappear, right?
- She's here.
[laughs] And she looks the same.
- John?
- Hey, Katie.
- What happened? Are you all right?
- Yeah, I'll be fine, just scratched up.
- Hey, I'm Christopher Herrmann.
Hey, please. - Thanks.
- Uh, I'm the guy that left a very long message.
- My heart stopped when you said John was in the hospital.
I hadn't heard your name in so many years,
but as soon as I did, all I could think was
"Play the Spice Girls!"
- But you never would. - No.
[laughter]
- Hey, you guys, I gotta go, but, um,
it was really good to meet you, Katherine.
- Same.
- Thanks, Lieutenant.
[indistinct chatter]
[laughs]
- So this guy's yelling at us,
and all I'm thinking is,
it's just like Macy's mom.
Like all of us, really.
If there's someone to blame,
you can be angry instead of sad.
Angry is easier.
- Lieutenant Morgan?
- Two big shot lieutenants visiting my firehouse
at the same time? [laughter]
- How's it going, Morgan? - Hey.
- Pretty damn good. To what do I owe this pleasure?
- Hey.
You got a new firefighter joining next shift.
Macy Vasquez.
Will you keep an eye on her for me?
She's one of my girls.
- You bet.
- So what's the occasion?
It doesn't look like you need seat fillers.
- No. No occasion.
I just wanted to spend some time with my girl.
You know,
I've been thinking about the first time
that I asked you out.
I never told you this,
but I almost didn't do it.
You were outside the cafeteria looking through your backpack,
and I started walking towards you,
and I just froze.
I lost all my nerve. - Yeah?
- Yeah.
Then I yelled at myself for a minute, and I said,
what, are you crazy?
Get your ass over there
and talk to her.
Thank God I did.
Because asking you out...
was the best decision of my life.
- You're damn right it was. [chuckles]
So the next round better have top-shelf tequila.
- Oh.
- What you said made a difference to him, Vi.
That was brave.
- Yeah, I feel for him, seems like
he's going through it alone.
Meanwhile, I have my whole 51 family
to keep me in one piece.
[phone ringing]
- It's her.
It's her! It's her, guys, it's her.
Um... [exhales]
This is Joe.
Uh-huh.
Mm-hmm.
Yeah.
Yeah, I understand.
Thank you.
The adoption's going through.
- Ah.
Javi's gonna be my son. - Let's go!
[all cheering]
- Congratulations.
[uplifting music]
* *
[wolf howls]