Last week on Chicago Fire, Severide declared that either he or Damon needed to leave Firehouse 51, but Wednesday’s episode also put Stella on the chopping block.
While talking to Severide, Stella admits that Damon isn’t a bad kid—oh, she’ll regret those words later—but there’s just too much baggage with him. Severide can’t argue with that. So Stella goes to Chief Pascal and tells him that she wants Damon back in the floating pool. Pascal is surprised to hear that, since there were never any issues mentioned in her reports. Stella explains that Damon lied about disobeying orders and has had trust issues in the past. But Pascal thinks Stella might be the problem, pointing out that Damon’s departure will mean even more personnel changes on her rig. Pascal ends their conversation by declaring that he will have the final say and that he will decide whether her leadership is part of the problem.
During his private conversation with Pascal, Damon reveals his true colors: He says that Stella’s orders aren’t always clear and that makes it difficult to do the right thing. How brazen!
Meanwhile, Pascal seems ready to fire Stella. He tells Mouch to “be ready” because “you never know” when a lieutenant position might open up. Mouch shares what happened with Stella, who tells him that she’s now the one being fired after requesting Damon’s transfer. Of course, Mouch is a good friend and shows up at Pascal’s house with Stella’s file, which speaks for itself, he says. On top of that, Mouch also pulled the transfer file so Pascal has all the information.
Pascal eventually decides to bring Damon back to the surface team after reviewing the files. Now that his trust with the lieutenant has been broken, firing him from 51 is the only option. Damon lashes out at Severide, accusing him of abandoning him on an arson case when he needed help the most. Worse yet, he tells Severide, “You’re Benny.” It’s un-brotherly.
As for Stella and Pascal, there’s a new surfacer today, but Pascal will let her choose who stays on the Truck. “Make sure this one stays, okay?” he adds.