It had been quiet in Molly's all morning. Jenna Lewis started to clean the counter, bored. Six years ago, she had started working in Molly's, to earn some money so she could go to college. But in the end, she never went to college, but kept managing Molly's. It had been in the hands of the fire station, but the firefighters were delighted that she could take it over. Tonight, all the firefighters would gather here again, including her boyfriend, Lt. Tate, to attend the memorial of the firehouse 51 drama, which was already a decade ago.

Only 15 at the time, she had been awake all night, listening to the sirens that kept rushing through the street, as they lived close to the fire station. The next morning, there was no fire house 51 anymore.

Suddenly the large wooden door opened and Jenna looked up, surprised to see somebody enter who didn't work in the firehouse. But the instead of walking towards the bar, the person walked towards the wall in the back, where a row of candles were standing by the pictures of casualties of the fateful night a decade ago. The man picked up the group picture, the picture that always had made her emotional, as it was made only several weeks before the tragedy had happened. The man put it back, carefully. Jenna wasn't sure what to do, should she walk up to him? comfort him? talk to him? Instead of doing something, she watched as he picked up another picture frame. The girl. Tate had told her she was an EMT. He picked up several more, watching at them for a few seconds, putting them back very careful, afraid to drop them. His hand went in the pocked of his jacket and he put a small candle in front of the group picture. He tried to light it with a candle but it seemed to be empty and Jenna grabbed one out of the cabinets behind the bar, walking up to him.

''Sir?''

The man looked up to her. His blue eyes were full of tears and his eyes went up and down, looking at her. The right side of his jaw and face were covered in burn scars, which seemed to continue down his neck and now she saw his right hand reaching out, it was covered in scars as well.

''Thank you.'' He mumbled as he picked the lighter over from her, turning back to the candle. Jenna walked back to the counter, she had expected people to come and light candles today. Especially a lot of the people they had saved were coming by to light a candle, as a sign of respect. After a few minutes of complete silence the man turned around again, walking towards the bar and pulling himself on a barstool.

''I had expected that most people had forgotten about them.'' The man slowly mumbled, looking back at the long row of pictures with the candles.

''Nobody really did. There are still candles being lit a lot here. Nearly once a week. If not, we keep the candles burning, as they should be.''

The man nodded; ''they should.''

''Can I get you something?'' Jenna asked, as the man was handing her back to lighter.

''The strongest you got.'' He mumbled, staring down at the wood, scratching it with his nail.

''There is a memorial for fire house 51 tonight, in case you want to honor those men..''

''I know, that is why I am here now and not tonight.''

Jenna nodded, put down a shot of strong smelling liquor in front of him.

''Are you from around here? I never saw you here before.'' She asked then, interested in what the men was doing here and why he lighted the candle.

''No, I live in Maine.'' The man mumbled, although his accent stated otherwise. He did sound like he was from around Chicago. Also, his face seemed familiar

''Who is the boss of Molly's now?'' He suddenly asked, frowning, looking around.

''The firefighters of 51. I just manage it.''

''Where did Christopher Hermann go?'' The man asked, looking back at her.

''He left before I started here. All I know is that he moved away with his family.'' Jenna moved her head sideways; ''did you know the firefighters? I mean the ones fro-''

''from the fire house drama, yes. I knew them.''

The man bow his head again.

''Did they save you?''

The man laughed, nearly soundless.

''I am the reason most of them are dead now.''

Jenna frowned; ''How can it be your fault?'' She shook her head; ''the responsible are in prison.''

''You won't understand.'' The man stood up, walked back to pictures and returned with the picture of one of the lieutenants and held it out to her. 'This one doesn't deserve to between the others.''

She looked at the picture and looked up at the man again. Suddenly she understood.

He wasn't a person they saved, he was one of the few that survived the night. The blue eyes had become older, with deeper lines around them and the hair had become a little greyer. They were in the same short model as in the picture. He laid the picture on the counter and took his jacket off, laying on his barstool. He sat down, drank the shot in one for and looked at the picture. Jenna tried to remember the Lt.'s name, she was sure Tate had told her once.

''Kelly Severide?'' The name suddenly came back to her.

The men looked up; ''Matthew Casey.'' He held up the glass as she filled it again. She took the picture of his hand, put it back at the table in the back of Molly's. He was a part of the men. He deserved to be there.

''I looked prettier once.'' He stated dryly as she came walking back without the picture. Looking down at his arm Jenna also looked at the burn scars, they seemed to be worse than the ones in his face.

''I heard that without you, everybody would have died.'' He was the one that helped the other people out of the building, but instead of a hero, he felt like the bad guy. She could only imagine how hard it was to live as one of the only survivors. It could never be his fault. The responsible were in prison.

He shook his head; ''without me, nothing would have happened.''

Matthew looked sideways, out of the window, thinking back about the day ten years ago.

...

NOTE: New story! I hope you are interested. The story takes place a few weeks after the season 1 finale as well as 10 years after that.

Hope the storyline till now is understandable enough, how long did it take you to figure out it was Casey?

Thanks for reading! Hope that you will also read the upcoming chapters

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