Grace & the Windy City (Chicago P.D)

Chapter 13- The Cabin

On Saturday morning, Grace woke up alone in Adam's apartment. She had a couple unread notifications, from Audrey, and Becca and her father. Audrey sent her some funny video on Instagram, Becca was asking if she wanted to go shopping at North Bridge later, and her dad asked if she could go up to the Wisconsin cabin again to check on the property since there was a bad snowstorm the other day. She guessed he was getting busy again with work, after spending the last few months recuperating. She looked outside the window and saw a light snowfall; she'd have to bundle up today. Not wanting to leave her cozy bed, she nestled back in her comforter for a couple more minutes.

Eventually, she got up and went into the kitchen to prepare herself a bowl of cereal and a strong cup of coffee. While she waited for the coffee, she FaceTimed Becca to tell her she'd have to reschedule their shopping day.

"My dad's got me doing an errand for him up in Wisconsin, at the cabin." she explained. "I'll drop by later tonight and we can binge watch that new reality show."

"Which one?"

"You know, the one about the people on the island," she trailed off. "Gotta go, I'll talk to you later."

She got dressed in dark jeans, a sweater, beanie, puffer and boots then hopped in her car and drove up north to the cabin. She had the windshield wipers going almost the whole way, thanks to the flurries that were set to hit the midwest that weekend. Grace drove down the road to the property. She could see that since the last time, the snow piled up immensely. She hoped the humidity would help melt most of it. As she slammed the car door, something felt different. It was one of those winter days that was completely silent with just the snow falling. No cars, no kids playing outside; and out there, no hunters that particular day...

Grace did the usual checks but found the heat to not be working and the faucets stuck. It was absolutely freezing inside. What was she supposed to do now? She pulled out her cell and tried her dad, Adam, even her mom, but no luck. Why did they never answer when she needed them? Grace made a mental note to criticize her brother later about paying attention to his phone. She was about to trek to the Keller's next door to see if the dad was around, since she knew he was handy when she remembered Casey and Severide. They were up at Severide's father's cabin in Kenosha, about a half hour away. She googled Matt Casey Construction and found his number.

"Hi, Matt? It's Grace Ruzek, Adam's sister."

"Oh, hey Grace. Is everything ok?"

"Yeah sort of, I wanted to borrow your expertise for a second if you're not busy. I'm up at my dad's cabin near Burlington and the heat and the water isn't working. I think the pipes are frozen. Any idea how I can fix it? I remember you were talking about your construction side job at the Christmas party..."

Casey explained what to look for on the propane tank meter.

"The meter is sitting just under 80%. That doesn't sound bad." she said, confused.

"It should be working fine. Are you staying up there long?"

"No, I only come by every once in a while to make sure nothing is damaged. Sometimes my dad does it but he's been really busy lately."

"Because it's mild today I wouldn't worry about it, and I don't want you playing around with the propane...and for the water, did you make sure it was turned on?"

Grace stopped in her tracks and sighed. She probably sounded so stupid right now. "I did not. Hold on," she walked over to the water valve. It was turned off. "I guess I did turn it off last time...I must have forgotten." Grace turned it back on and walked upstairs to the kitchen to turn the faucet on. It was working fine.