DISCOVERY
AUTHOR'S NOTE/DISCLAIMER
Because we were cheated out of a Severide/Casey scene tonight and it gave me ideas for the Kelly/Chelsea reality I created. Takes place after Anna's death and as usual, I'm ignoring Shay's death and Belongs to NBC and Dick Wolf. I own nothing.
Matt walked into the apartment, a little unsure of what he'd find. Hate that Shay's gone this week, he thought to himself. Kelly could really use her. Even though it had only been a few months, he and Anna had gotten closer becoming good friends and her death had obviously destroyed him.
"Sev?" he asked. Hearing laughter, his brows furrowed. Is he drowning out what he's feeling with a party? he wondered. It wouldn't be the first time he had done so. And he had been a wreck after Anna had passed, so…he then gave himself a mental shake even as a squeal of laughter was heard.
"Kelly Severide! Put me down!" he heard a woman exclaimed. She's not from around here, the Truck Lieutenant thought, his frown deepening. He followed the sound and found Kelly sitting on the floor in the spare bedroom, a bottle of Jack Daniels in his hand, watching something on the t.v. The blond looked at the screen and his jaw dropped. A younger Kelly was spinning a brunette around as she laughed. "Put me down, you goof!" she said in an unfamiliar accent. Grinning, he did so, kissing her once her feet were back on the ground.
"Kell?" he asked softly. Who is that? he wondered. And how come he didn't recognize her?
"She was beautiful, wasn't she?" he asked, the words slightly slurred, indicating that he had been drinking a while.
"Yeah, she is. Who is she?" he wondered.
"Damn, so glad we did it, Baby," he heard the younger version of his friend murmur.
"Me too. And I love being Mrs. Severide," the woman responded. At this, Matt's jaw dropped. Had he heard that right? He stared at the screen, his eyes zeroing in on the rings that were on the couple's hands. Wife? Kelly's married? he thought to himself. How come they had never met her? That didn't make sense. Well, okay, so Severide was private as hell, but surely not all of them would've missed this, especially not Darden.
"She was a firecracker," Kelly stated. He then chuckled. "That's what I called her: Firecracker," he recalled and then took a long swig.
"How-how'd you meet?" he wondered.
"Was on the last legs of my candidacy, had a vacation planned, met her. Fell in love," came the response.
"And you've kept her a secret all this time?" he asked in belief. Why? he wondered. That didn't make any sense.
"I didn't know until a few weeks after we met that she had been in remission for Leukemia." At this, Matt's face paled.
"Oh, damn. Kell."
"It, uh…it didn't last long. She got sick again. Apparently it was more aggressive this time around." Matt's eyes clouded in pain as he watched Kelly taking a large gulp of the Jack Daniels.
"Oh Kell." What could he say to that?
"She uh-she fought for a while, and we thought…" he trailed off as he took another swig. "The uh-chemo didn't work. She, uh…she died shortly after Andy did."
"Oh Kell." Matt's voice was broken as he slid to the floor to sit next to him, flinching a bit when the other man threw the bottle across the room, shattering against the wall. Damn, he thought to himself. There wasn't anything he could say. He had no idea what it was like to lose his spouse. Then the sobs started. Quiet at first, but they grew louder. Holy crap, he's crying, he thought. Not that he doubted that his friend cried at things, because he knew how tenderhearted he actually was, but he usually hid that side from other people. Making a quick decision, Matt did the only thing he could do for Kelly at the moment: he pulled him close and hugged him.
THE END
