This wild idea came to me, and it wouldn't go away. It's Kelly-centric and a strange pairing, but I hope you give it a try and don't completely hate it.
I am back, baby. Back where I belong, Kelly Severide thought as he jumped from squad's truck to survey the warehouse engulfed in a familiar orange, flame of a mess. The lieutenant barked out orders, first to Capp and Tony, "Get in there and make sure we ain't dealing with any squatters." Then to Cruz, "C'mon, we'll hit it from the back."
Severide couldn't help but smile as he swept around the building with Joe. Casey saw that grin, exchanging a look with Chief, as he got his men ready with hoses to drown the blaze. The fire would put up its usual fight but it was as if it knew things were back the way they were supposed to be and finally gave up with a fizzle of water meeting flame. Steam rising as if in a final protest before dying for good.
Kelly leaned against the back of his truck, downing a Brett offered bottle of water, feeling like he'd just come out on the winning end of a battle. In a way he had. His job had been yanked out from under him, shaking his sense of self. His purpose had been stolen but he'd grabbed it back and had no intention of letting go. Severide couldn't help but feel every time he got his head above water something was there to pull him down. Sure, life was full of ups and downs, but it seemed the downs were piling up on top of each other.
Shay's death had almost pulled him under for good. Kelly survived only to find himself under attack in his house - 51. He'd felt like giving up more times than he could count, but something in him made him fight back. He was feeling one of those upswings, those little moments of light in life. As he sucked down a second bottle, this time offered by Chili, the fireman smiled, not at the paramedic per se but more a smile of contentment. Chili smiled back, "Glad to have you back, lieutenant." She gave him a quick pat on the arm and was off. Kelly's mind trouble for a split second - something about the look in the paramedic's eyes. He brushed it off and got back to reveling in his current glory.
He was back and everyone knew it.
The slaps on the back came so fast and furious, Kelly was sure he'd be displaying a bruise tomorrow. A happy bruise that he would wear with pride.
"Good to have my lieutenant back," Cruz said, slapping a hand on Severide.
Tony nodded and Capp yelled out a "hell yeah" as he headed to the showers.
Casey and Boden were the last to approach Kelly with a formality he wasn't used to.
"Glad I have my lieutenant back," chief said extending one hand while slapping the other against his fireman's back. He had never doubted Severide's ability to lead and certainly didn't think things would sink so low with his lieutenant at risk of never getting his bugle back. His own fight for his job putting a wrench in the fight for Kelly's.
"Glad I have my chief back," Kelly said, broad grin and sparkling blue eyes giving the fireman a lightness he hadn't had in months.
"Bout damn time for both of you," said Casey a smile spreading to the corners of his eyes, both hands on the backs of the men. There had been more than one time when he thought Kelly would say screw it and take his talent to another house. He was thankful his friend had stuck it out.
"No shit," Kelly muttered, earning laughs all around.
Chief headed to the kitchen thinking "no shit" for sure. He also thought about how happy he was to be back at 51. things were definitely pointing in the right direction - his house in order and his home in order.
"Just tell me what is going on with you!"
Kelly could hear the hushed tones of someone pleading with another coming from the locker area. He'd been back as lieutenant for a couple of weeks, and it was like he'd never been demoted. Patterson was a bad dream that would eventually fade to nothingness. Chief was back and tougher than ever. Everything was perfect.
Now, Kelly just wanted a damn shower, he thought weighing his options, turn around or barge on in. He stopped, hesitating a moment, seeing who owned those voices.
"Nothing! Can't you lay off? Let's just enjoy each other. No strings." It was definitely the new paramedic's voice, the one with the ridiculous nickname. Chili. What the hell kinda name was that, Kelly thought. Chili was something you put on Fritos, not call a 20-something girl.
"Let's enjoy each other, like right now, in this shower," Chili was the one pleading now. Kelly heard the spray of the shower come on.
Ah, hell no! Those two high schoolers were not getting it on for who knows how long, denying his need of a steaming, hot shower.
Barging in won out.
"L- lieutenant," Jimmy blurted out picking his pants back up, making a quick grab for his soaking wet shirt. "S-sorry," he stammered, moving in front of Chili who was struggling to get her shirt back over her head.
"Sorry, sir," she said stepping in front of the candidate. "All my fault," she added flashing a smile she thought would work some kind of magic. It didn't.
"No doubt," Kelly said giving one of his death stares that Otis knew so well. He crossed his arms feeling like the dad in the situation. He wasn't sure why they weren't scrambling out of there. It was like two deer staring into some Severide headlights.
Jimmy stepped in front of Chili, "This will never happen again," he managed to stutter out. "Would appreciate it if, if, you didn't men…"
"Not one to kiss and tell," Kelly said winking with a smile plastered across his face. The smile fell to another death stare, "And yes, this will NEVER happen again. Keep it in your pants at work."
The scared shitless look on Jimmy's face said he wasn't likely to fall under a cute young thing's spell in the house again. But as Jimmy made his way to the front, Chili caught Kelly's eye again.
She looked as if she was holding back a - what? A damn laugh? She thinks this is funny, thought Severide as he reached for a towel before stripping off his clothes. Yep. That little vixen likes the fact they got caught. Kelly chuckled as he walked to the shower feeling sorry for the candidate. That boy's got his hands full, maybe too full.
Jimmy avoided all Kelly Severide eye contact to such a point that Casey and chief thought there'd been some kind of altercation. They questioned the lieutenant who insisted all was great with the young gun and he was probably just intimidated by his bad assedness. The groans could be heard by everyone in the house.
"No, seriously, nothing. If he's got a beef with me, it's on him," Kelly stated saying the conversation was over. He was keeping his word about not mentioning the teens in heat moment he caught in the shower.
The candidate wanted to keep his good standing with Casey and promised himself he wouldn't mess up with Chili again. He was not risking confirming his brother's suspicions that he was a fuck up and not worthy of being a firefighter. Anyways, he was more worried about the state of Chili's mind right now and not her body. Something was up with his girlfriend, if she was even that, and she wasn't talking. He'd keep his head down with Severide and his pants on around Chili. Seemed easy enough.
"So, you kept your word," Chili whispered in the kitchen as Kelly got seconds of some hell-fire good stew thing Dawson whipped up. The paramedic would've bet a thousand bucks that the lieutenant was going to run and tattle to chief about her little rendezvous. But the more she thought about it, the more convinced she was that Severide had christened the shower area before, along with the equipment room, along with his office, and maybe even an ambo. She'd heard the rumors of a whoring around Kelly and one look at the guy said they were all more fact than fiction. Still, she was shocked he'd kept his trap shut.
"Said I didn't kiss and tell," he said, not making eye contact with the girl. Why exactly are you talking to me, he thought. They hadn't strung together more than two sentences since she joined 51. Kelly knew he was doing the "don't get too close" to anyone dance that Shay's death had taught him so well. Brett was considered a friend, but not until a few months had passed and her sunny disposition had gotten the best of him. This one though. He didn't want any part of her hippy, dippy free-spirited self. Herrmann and her were usually thick as thieves, plotting some get rich scheme that everyone knew would not end well.
Why are you talking to me, his eyes said as they finally met hers.
She looked down quickly, shutting her mouth and scuttling off to sit next to Sylvie.
What the hell, Kelly thought. Her eyes. No, some mistake, he tried to convince himself. Imagined it again. I did not see what I think I saw. Those pupils.
He plopped his plate down, shoveling in bite after bite, ignoring the conversations going on around him. The pupils. He'd seen those pupils before. In the mirror staring back at him.
"You've got pinpoint pupils," the haunting sound of Dawson's voice was filling his ears over and over.
Stay out of it, he told himself as he scraped the last of lunch on his fork for a final bite.
The argument made sense now. Jimmy pleading with the girl to "tell me what's going on." The way Sylvie was staring at her co-worker as if sizing the woman up for some deadly disease. He'd seen Brett in the laundry room talking in hushed tones to Chili, an urgency in her voice. All things Kelly hadn't paid any mind to, but all things that rang a certain warning bell in his brain now.
He was back to those pinpoint pupils. None of your business, his brain screamed. Brett and Jimmy would help the girl and get her back on track. They knew something was up and it they were any kind of friends at all they would do something about it.
One problem - Kelly was pretty sure the only experience with drugs or addiction the two had was maybe one time Sylvie had taken one too many Ibuprofen. Gasp.
Jimmy perhaps had got so drunk he had to puke, maybe even more than once. Gulp.
No, those two Scouts wouldn't know what to do with what he was pretty sure was going on with Chili.
Fuck it, he whispered as he rose from his seat and headed to the girl with the pinpoint pupils.
Thoughts? Hope you don't hate it.