Before Howie had been wheeled away, when he was still alert and conscious, Nadine had grasped onto his hand tightly. Like a child searching for the tiniest touch of hope, that he would be okay. "Don't you die on me, Not today and not ever." They were the last words she had spoken to the man who was like an older brother, she never had or wanted but soon realized she needed him.

Howard Han was in a coma, high spirits were dragging in the firehouse and Nadine was praying he would pull through, that god wouldn't put her through this, again. She had lost everyone she cared about, except for 4 people, but she knew with her luck they would die soon. Now her work family was under the firing line too, and her older brother Howie was in a coma.

She prayed that he would be the first person in her family to walk back out of the hospital alive, and not be dead. If he died, Nadine didn't know if she would cope, or what she would do. So for now she prayed. Nadine had never been an overly religious person, her Grand-Mere took them to church on Sundays and at Easter and Christmas, but after she went to her Uncle's and then the system, she stopped believing.

But what she believed didn't matter in that moment, only that this was all she could do, this time she was helpless, she wasn't a nurse this time. Just a friend, who had to sit and wait endlessly in the waiting room for the slightest chance of positive news. Now she knew what it was like for patient's family, what it would have been like for Raegan and Taylor, and a two year old Hollie.

That's what they had to go through, waiting to find out if she survived, if their seventeen year old family member survived a traumatising ordeal. Now she felt guilty, she realized that she had caused this for three people that loved her, she hated sitting there and feeling so helpless, being useless.

For this she was a friend, a family member at the most, she wasn't a nurse, paramedic or firefighter, she had no control, and that, that was the part that terrified her the most.

After a few hours of nothing and the realization that they were still on shift for another four hours, the family like team reluctantly headed back to the station.

Nadine knew it was cruel to hope for a fire to start, or someone to get injured or even a cat in a tree, but she was praying for something to take her mind off of her feelings. So when the bell rang through the station, she felt the tiniest bit calmer, she rushed down the steps and threw herself into the passenger seat, not trusting herself to drive.

As the 118 arrived at the scene, they were filled with confusion, all they found was an abandoned truck surrounded by civillians and bystanders. That was when they heard it, the cries of desperation and of pleading, the weak banging against the metal of the truck. That was when Nadine realized that this was a human trafficking situation, they radioed for Police back up and started to work on getting them out.

The french woman, put a mask of steel concentration on her face and worked on getting the poor people out. Nobody knew how long they had been in there, but she knew it would have been a lot hotter inside the truck than outside, and that there would be a lot of dehydration and heat stroke victims.

Hen and Nadine being the only trained paramedics started to set up a triage as Buck and Bobby along with the members of another company, the 147 started getting the victims out. "Why couldn't it be a cat in a tree?" Nadine had muttered quietly to herself but Hen heard and nodded her head, smiling slightly.

Hen and Nadia made comments to each other as they worked, swiftly, knowing exactly what and when the other needed, working like a well oiled machine. It was benificial that they were close friends this only helped them work better together.

"What sort of asshole could leave people out in a truck in the middle of nowhere in a heat wave? It's cruel." Nadine had commented as she placed an oxygen mask on a little kid, no older than the age of seven, the look of fear that coated his features hurt Nadia's heart. That someone so young could be so fearful.

"I don't know but lets hope P.D find out." Hen had responded, getting back to treating her current patient, an old woman with severe dehydration, she ran an IV line wide open, that was when she realized that the normally vocal female had gone quiet.

"Nadi, what is it?" Hen asked with a hint of concern to her tone of voice, Nadine just responded with the shake of her head, then getting up to her feet and tying her hair back.

"Found the asshole." She responded before sprinting after a middle aged man who had caught her attention, hanging at the back of the crowd, watching as they treated the many victims he had caused so much pain. He kept running and so did she, her chest rose and fall heavily with each push of her arms, but it didn't stop her, nor the fact that she was tired, her anger fueled her.

Eventually she had caught up enough to tackle him, as she leapt up like a Cheetah, he turned, tripping over her foot and causing them both to tumble to the ground.

It took Nadine a few moments to recuperate, but after that she had no hesitation, she grabbed the mans wrists and held them behind his back, waiting for backup.  He got free and landed a punch to her right eye, but she shook him off, the anger she felt just made her tighten her hold.

"Suspect down, Need immediate Police Backup, in an alleyway." She radioed as she struggled to keep the man held down.

Then she became aware of yelling, she saw Athena and another two cops come running, Athena checked her over, wincing at her eye as the other two cops handcuffed the man and confirmed in fact that he was the one who put all the innocent people through that.

Athena and Nadine headed back to triage where she got stuck straight back in, she helped a little boy and ended up having to do CPR and declare the time of death, on an eight year old. "Fuck." She swore to herself quietly after doing twenty five minutes of cpr, with no pulse. She hated declaring time of death, but she hated it even more when it was on a child.

Her anger fueled her every movement, she stood up with her fists tightly clenched together and walked over to where the man was restrained. "A kid!" She screamed, a small collection of tears built up in her eyelids. "A little boy, an eight year old! You killed a kid!" She yelled getting increasingly hostile to the point Athena pulled her away, where she broke down.

"He was her age, eight years old and his life was taken so cruelly by an idiots actions. It's not fair!" She screamed, each word enounciated with a punch to the back of the truck, where they had sought refuge. Athena pulled the younger female into a hug and held her tight in her arms, she knew this wasn't Nadine, yes she was emotional and got too personally invested in a call but the excess anger and fear came from the fact that her best friend, who had saved her life two times so far, was in a coma.

"I know, I know baby girl." Athena soothed as she rubbed small circles on the blonde's back, between her shoulder blades, after five minutes she was calmer and the scene was essentially finished. All victims had been sent off in ambulances, P.D were heading to the station and Athena got in her car before speeding off in the same direction, leaving the 118 to get in the truck and go home and for 147 to do the clean up.

Only when they were on the way back to the station to change and head home, or to the hospital in Nadine's case did the bruise forming on her right eye gain any notice. "Nadine, what the fuck happened to your face?" Buck asked, causing all eye's who weren't on the road, to turn to her, she shook it off as she did everything and sighed.

"Asshole back at the scene got a punch in after I tackled him to the ground. I'm fine, not my first rodeo." She laughed, using humour as a coping mechanism, she often made snarky jokes about situations that were close to home and triggering for her, jokes that weren't funny but that was Nadine, it was how she coped so they got used to it.

"So much for first shift back, eh?" Nadine smiled slightly, her first shift after taking emotional leave had her dealing with an accident involving her best friend and then chasing down a criminal and then getting hit in the face. 

When they got back to the station, Hen did a once over on Nadine and determined that she was fine, not even a concussion just a bad and very painful black eye. "You want a lift home, Dina?" Hen offered, knowing that she often wouldn't be in the best state of mind to drive home.

"Nah, I'm alright Hen. See you guys later, bye." She dismissed before heading to the locker room, throwing her clothes into her bag and changing into the tracksuit she had worn when she came in for her shift the night before. She lied, she wasn't going home, but to the place she called her second home, to Nadine, she had four homes, The Grant's house, The Station, The Hospital and her house. And now she was heading to the hospital to be there for Chimney, to pray that he would wake up and that he wouldn't be alone.

Because she knew what it was like to wake up from a traumatic event alone and she wouldn't wish it on anybody, so that was why she found herself in the hospital's uncomfortable chair next to Howard Han's sedated form, holding his hand as she zoned in and out of a sleep like state at four am in the morning, like it was an ordinary everyday appearance she had.

Hen knew that with Nadine's past she would be struggling to keep everything together so she was disappointed when Nadine denied her offer and instead let it slide, not wanting to push her for too much too fast, so she just sent her a text. 

'Chimney will be fine, And when he wakes up he'll wind us up like he does. Don't worry.'

That was the text that a certain Francais woke up to at five in the morning, well that and an annoyed grunt coming from the door. She may have broken the rules staying there, visiting hours were well and truly over and not open for another four hours and she wasn't on shift, so technically she shouldn't have been there but she was.

"Nadine Strand." The voice spoke coldly, this made the young nurse stand up straight, she didn't expect to see her best friend on the Neurosurgery recovery and Intensive Care Unit floor, but she did and she was glad to. No other words were said, Nadine flew into Riley's arms and she was caught, where she then broke down.

"I can't lose him, not another person." She whispered like she was a scared child, which was how she felt, out of control and that was one thing that Nadine hated, feeling and being useless.

After half an hour, Riley's shift had finished and she had left Nadine to go home to the comfort of her warm bed, with the promise she would check in soon. Nadine had sat by his side all night and morning, that she had eventually fallen asleep in the uncomfortable chair.

The team walked in and didn't expect to be met with the sight of the youngest member of their family asleep on a chair clutching Chimney's hand, but they did. Buck took a quick picture of the two as everyone else settled down around the room, a support system.

After about an hour Nadine had begun to wake up and became more alert, that was when she realized that she wasn't alone anymore. "Hey guys." She smiled slightly, knowing she was about to get in trouble.

"Hey, did you even go home last night?" Hen asked the young paramedic with concern evident in her eyes, her thoughts were confirmed by the shake of Nadine's head.

"Didn't want to leave him alone. I've been where he is, hurt and scared, in a coma and I woke up alone, scariest thing." She muttered quietly to herself before she wiped the dust from her eyes and yawned, standing up and stretching.

"I'm going to grab a coffee, anyone want something?" Nadine had asked her family, feeling like she needed to get out of the room for a few minutes. Everybody refused her offer kindly and off she went, leaving them alone with their injured friend.

"Anything happens to Chim, even the slightest change in his vitals, you call me." She made Bobby and Hen swear.

Within an hour Nadine had gone to the bathroom and freshened up as much as she could, tied her hair back, splashed her face with water, and got a coffee. As Nadine walked back into the room she heard Buck's voice. "Can he hear us?" Nadine always treated any of her patients or family members as if they could, it was a source of comfort for her.

"I always treat them as if they can, Buck." She responded standing in the door way sipping her cup of coffee. He nodded his head slightly and she smiled, briefly.

"Chim, we're all here for you Buddy. Me, Hen, Buck and Nadine. Nadine didn't leave your side, she stayed in the chair all night, holding your hand. So why don't you wake up and hold hers back." Bobby had told his friend and colleague, the team knew he had ounces of guilt, that he felt it was his fault, which it wasn't.

Howard must have heard their Captain because the hand that was clasped by Bobby's was gently squeezed back by him, Nadine gasped as a small smile appeared on her lips. "Welcome back to the world of the living Howie." She smiled.

"Hey, Chim, I was thinking, maybe when you come back to work, you should do the maneuver instead of me." Buck had added, this caused a puff of laughter to escape the youngest lips, a frown to form on Hen's face and a smile on Bobby's to emerge. "Motivating him to get better." Buck responded to Hen's look.

"Buck, He can't do the maneuver." Hen hissed at him, lightly tapping the back of his head.

"He can do whatever he puts his mind to." Nadine had responded, for once she wanted to be the one that was full of positivity, even if she wasn't feeling it.

"You can do the maneuver, right Chim?" Buck had asked their friend, who's thumb had quirked up into a slight thumbs up, which Bobby had revealed by removing his hand.

"Your family's right here Chimney, so get better and join us back on shift. So Hen can have her favourite paramedic back." Nadine smiled at Chimney's whose eyes had slowly opened, and he smiled at all of them.

She was right they were his family and they weren't leaving and Nadine Strand would do anything and everything to ensure that this family wouldn't leave her behind.