We're four episodes into Chicago Fire season 12 and things are getting hotter. Here's your Chicago Fire season 12 episode 4 recap for "The Little Things."
Good morning?
It's a busy morning at the 51. Ritter (Daniel Kyri) quickly picks up that Mikami (Hanako Greensmith) slept with Carver (Jake Lockett) based on their flirting and lack of bickering. Herrmann (David Eigenberg) offers Cruz congratulations on taking over for Severide (Taylor Kinney), but when he brings up Brett's (Kara Killmer) wedding, Cruz realizes he hasn't gotten an invitation. Kidd (Miranda Rae Mayo) praises Gibson's (Rome Flynn) breakfast skills; he brought his "A-game" for his first time cooking. Brett comes in with baby Julia because the sitter cancelled, but Boden (Eamonn Walker) tells her the firehouse has her back and they'll help with Julia.
A call comes in and the team ends up putting out a porch fire on a garage behind a house. The woman who lives there looks shaken and has no idea how it started, but then Kidd finds a little girl hiding inside the garage. When she starts to ask questions, the girl's mother gets defensive and takes her back inside the house. The team questions whether the little girl was responsible for the fire, with Kidd not seeming so sure about the situation.
Back at the station, the guys are trying to build a little playpen for Julia. Ritter suggests letting her watch television. Cruz spots an invitation in one of the guy's pockets, which leads to a whole conversation about the wedding. Cruz realizes he might be the only one who hasn't gotten one.
Brett asks Boden to officiate her wedding, which he would be honored to do. Their conversation gets cut short though when he gets a text. His son James is waiting to see him and says his mom is in jail.
James reveals his mom has been going back and forth to Canada to help her friend open a new bar with supplies. However she was busted with thousands of fentanyl pills that she had no idea she was transporting. Her public defender wants her to take a deal but that would put her in jail for three to five years.
Looking for clues
Kidd can't shake the feeling she has about the little girl. She asks Mouch (Christian Stolte) if he noticed the burned fabric on her jacket. Kidd doesn't think it was from the fire that day. Gibson says girl firebugs are rare, but Carver points out it's not impossible. Gibson gets on a neighborhood app and discovers there have been several fires in the neighborhood recently.
Kidd and Carver ask one of the neighbors about his burned down fence. He says the girl has been acting strangely lately and he thinks the little girl, Harper (Annabelle Toomey), was near his fence when the fire started. The mom comes home but she evades the team's questions. Kidd decides they need to look deeper into this case.
Boden meets with his lawyer friend, who tells him James' mom's case is going to be long and complicated. He asks if Boden is ready for it, but he raised James on his own for a long time and he's doing it for him.
Cruz asks where Julia is when he walks in and finds the guys watching cartoons. A call comes in and they find Julia with Herrmann, who teases them about not knowing where she was.
At another scene, a young man accidentally ran over his brother in a parking garage and now he's stuck under the car. His jacket is stuck, making it hard to pull him out. Once he's out, though, the two brothers start arguing.
Kidd is still thinking about the firebug. Later, she meets with Van Meter for help on her investigation. He mentions how glad he is Severide changed his mind about the arson program.
Boden meets with his ex-wife. He apologizes for being "absent" the past few years but he's glad James feels comfortable coming to him for help. He tells her he believes she's not guilty, but she to his surprise she says, "I'm guilty."
Hard truth
Later, Boden and Herrmann have breakfast and talk about what's happening with his ex-wife. She felt overwhelmed and turned to running drugs. Boden says his she asked him not to tell James the truth, but Boden doesn't know how he's going to do it. Herrmann advises him to tell the truth because kids always know.
Kidd says Van Meter is going to send someone to check on the family. The mom shows up at the fire station and demands she stop the investigation because it's going to destroy her family. She reveals she's going through a divorce and her husband wants custody of their daughter, which is putting a strain on them all. She's afraid her ex will use this against her and she can't lose her daughter, even though she's been getting into trouble lately.
Boden returns from his meeting and tells James his mother is guilty. He automatically starts to blame Boden for not wanting to help and storms out, leaving Boden frustrated.
Cruz suspects that he wasn't invited to the wedding because he and Brett dated. He's going to ask her about it when a call comes in. It's for the same house, but this time the whole house is engulfed and they arrive to see the mom jump out of the second-floor window. Kidd sends her teams inside to look for Harper. Kidd finds her under the sink in a bathroom. She asks if her mom is OK and says the fire was an accident. Kidd carries her into the hallway but the floor starts to collapse. She manages to hand off the little girl to Gibson so she can free herself. Outside the little girl cries for her mom as Kidd gets overwhelmed by emotions.
Later, Boden tells Kidd the mom is going to pull through. She sends Severide a message saying she misses him. The team gives Julia some extra attention, taking turns holding her. When Carver holds the baby, Ritter asks Mikami if it's still a one-time deal. Despite their flirting earlier, she insists it is. Cruz sees one of the third shift guys with an invitation to the wedding and Brett realizes she put it in the wrong locker. As she's leaving, Kidd gets a text from Severide that he's on his way back.
Boden is close to home when he sees James waiting for him. James says Boden has never lied to him and his mom hasn't been acting right for several months. Boden apologizes to his son for not checking in on him more. He wants his son to feel welcome with him and offers him a place to stay if he needs it. When James starts to get emotional, Boden pulls him into the house.
Chicago Fire airs Wednesdays at 9 pm ET/PT on NBC, and streams the next day on Peacock.
