Ring in the New

It was New Year's Eve, and everybody from Firehouse 51 was at Molly's waiting for midnight to approach as they had some drinks and snacks and were screaming at each other to be heard over the music playing and everybody else talking, and continuously glanced at the coverage of Times Square on the TV hanging over the bar. Herrmann had never seen the place so busy, and Otis was trying to alternate between tending to bar orders and visiting with his current girlfriend who was perched on the stool nearest him.

Kelly Severide had been drinking steadily through the night, not drunk, yet, but before the night was over that was a good possibility and he knew it. For the time being he felt great and he was enjoying the party.

Matt Casey had also been drinking steadily throughout the night, unlike Severide who had knocked back several strong concoctions, Casey stuck to his beer, as he drank he mingled with the other bar patrons, he chatted with a couple of women, he helped himself to some of the chips and nuts, and every so often he looked up at the TV to see what was going on a thousand miles away in just as cold of weather as they were having there in Chicago, but unlike New York, they had the sense to stay indoors where it was warm.

"Hey Severide," Herrmann said as he made the rounds at the bar and came back to the Squad lieutenant, "You might want to ease off the strong stuff, we still got a couple hours before the ball drops."

"Just keep 'em coming, Herrmann," Kelly said, "I'm fine."

"Your funeral," Herrmann replied as he went to mix another drink for Severide.

Kelly turned on his stool and saw a good looking brunette woman over in the corner who was talking to a blonde in a tight black dress. He watched the brunette for several minutes and noted that aside from her current companion she didn't appear to be in anyone's company, and he decided to try his luck. Some people were dead set on having a date for New Year's, his luck was half and half, sometimes he had a date, sometimes he didn't, sometimes he found one at the bar, sometimes he struck out. He'd gone solo at last year's New Year's Eve party, so if he could hit it off with someone tonight, it'd be fine with him. He put one foot on the floor and moved to get up, his foot slid out from under him and his butt fell back on the cushion of the bar stool. Everybody was too involved in whatever they were doing to notice, so he tried again, this time he got up. As he did he happened to look up and noticed over the brunette's head was a piece of mistletoe that like the rest of the Christmas decorations that covered the bar, hadn't been taken down yet and wouldn't be taken down until the day after tomorrow. Well, maybe it wasn't Christmas anymore, but tradition was still tradition, and who could argue with tradition? It would be a hell of a way to first meet somebody, but who was to say it wouldn't work?

Severide made his way over to the other side of the room and pushed past 20 dancing, loud mouthed drunks to do it, the two women were still talking to each other as they sipped their drinks. Kelly realized it might go better for him if he actually said something to the woman before jumping head-on into this idea, and he went over in his mind what he was going to say. He stood behind the brunette woman, opened his mouth to get her attention, and forgot what he was going to say. He turned around as he tried to remember what it was, but he came up empty. Finally he decided to just take his chance, he felt the breeze of someone behind him turning around, and he turned back around, leaned over and kissed her.

And everybody from 51 erupted in noises of shock and disbelief and laughter, and when Kelly opened his eyes he realized it was because the woman he'd been eyeing for the past half hour had stepped away and so had her friend, and Casey had been the poor dumb bastard who unknowingly stepped under the mistletoe. Kelly felt his eyes bulge as he stepped back, and if the expression on Casey's face was anything to go by, he was just as confused and disgusted as Severide was.

"What the hell, Kelly?" he demanded to know.

It took Severide a couple seconds to recover and when he did all he could get out was, "Sorry, I thought you were somebody else."

Casey eyed him skeptically as he wordlessly stepped away and put as much distance between himself and Severide as was possible within the confines of the bar.

"You were saying something, Severide?" Herrmann asked from the bar where he was waiting with Kelly's next cocktail, himself just barely managing to keep a straight face.

Kelly momentarily covered his face in his hands in total embarrassment, then slowly made his way back to the bar and told Herrmann, "Alright...get me a beer after this." Turning around, Severide looked all over the bar, but the brunette he saw was nowhere to be found. Damn.

And in true firefighter ball busting form, his own guys made their way over to him, cat-that-swallowed-the-canary looks on all their faces.

"Is there something you've been holding out on us, Kelly?" Capp inquired, struggling to keep back a laugh.

"Yeah, if you swing that way, why do you keep getting in trouble with all the women on the job?" Tony was just about to bust a gut as he tried to keep a straight face.

"Ah shut up both of you," Severide told them as he set his empty glass on the table and got lost in a crowd of drunk customers, the noise of the party still not loud enough to drown out the sound of their laughing.

Kelly looked around at everybody but didn't see Casey anywhere. He ducked into the men's room and saw him at the sink washing his hands, looking at his reflection but didn't seem to actually be seeing it.

"Casey."

"Now what?" he asked as he turned off the tap and ripped off a paper towel.

Kelly went over towards him, and once again felt his mind go blank, anything he'd planned to say was suddenly gone. So he decided to wing it.

"Well...I'm sorry, it was an accident."

Casey turned his head to look at him and responded, "I should sure as hell hope so."

"There was this woman and..."

Casey nodded, "I get it, just forget it."

Kelly snorted, "Good luck with that, there're about 20 firefighters out there that don't forget anything." He took a step closer to Casey and asked him, "You alright?" He couldn't put his finger on it but Casey hadn't seemed himself all night.

Matt shrugged, "Just looking forward to the night being over."

"So you haven't had any luck meeting anyone either, eh?"

"It's not that, it's been a long week and I'm tired."

"It's been a long year," Kelly responded. They'd all been through a lot, that went without saying, and everybody knew the next year would bring much the same, some parts would be better, some would be worse, just everybody tried not to think about those because there wasn't anything they could do about it. "If you're not having fun, why don't you just cut out now?"

"I don't want to do that," Casey said, and added cynically, "besides, if I do now, everybody's going to think it's because of what just happened out there, firehouse gossip is bad enough without that floating around 51."

Severide chuckled. "Might be too late. Come on, let's see if there're a couple sisters out there we can meet."

"Boy you just reach for the stars, don't you?" Casey dryly asked as they left the washroom.

When Casey and Severide left the men's room they realized the bar had suddenly gotten a lot noisier. Half of the customers were blowing into foil horns and party blowouts and swinging loud metal noisemakers that clanged and clanked and clapped and whirred and all made a very deafening commotion. Kelly was sure nobody had them before, and he was sure he hadn't had so much to drink that he just wouldn't remember it. He made his way over to the bar and yelled at the top of his lungs to be heard over all of it, "Herrmann, did you do this?"

It was obvious from the look on Christopher's face that even he was just barely holding it in, but he maintained a professional smile and said simply, "Hey, people who enjoy themselves are more likely to come back, it's tradition, Kelly, you want quiet, you lose business."

It was hard to argue with that, but it was also harder to enjoy the party with all that racket. Kelly looked around, and everybody did seem to be enjoying themselves, except Casey, who sat at a booth at the far end of the bar and had his head down on the table and actually seemed to be trying to sleep amidst all the ruckus. Severide turned back towards Herrmann and asked, "Got any more?"

Herrmann reached under the bar and raised a bowl full of brightly colored party blowouts onto the counter and told him, "Knock yourself out."

Kelly took out a blue and white finger trap patterned blowout, then thought about it and picked up a red and white one too, and went over to Casey's table, and blew into it right by Casey's ear. The Truck lieutenant jumped, first from the noise, then from the blowout unrolling to its full length which actually touched his ear.

"What the hell is wrong with you?" Casey screamed at him.

Kelly grinned toothily around the plastic mouthpiece still lodged between his teeth, he opened his mouth and the noisemaker fell out and he responded, "Still got over an hour to go until midnight, might as well live it up."

Casey just glared at him. Kelly forcibly squeezed into the booth beside him, pushing Casey towards the wall, and he said in his ear as best as he could to still be heard over the noise everybody else was making, but not to be heard by everyone in the near vicinity, "You want to leave right after midnight, I'll take you home, in the meantime we might as well make the most of it." As a peace offering he held out the second blowout.

Casey looked at the coiled horn and seemed to consider it for a minute, then finally he took it, and blew into it, and when it unrolled to its full length it practically touched Severide's nose. Kelly scooted back in the booth and blew into his again, and the two continued to blow their horns into each other's faces for a couple minutes. Their attention was finally drawn to the realization somebody was standing beside the booth staring at them, they both turned and saw it was Herrmann.

"I'm starting to reconsider letting my kids spend anymore time around you two than's necessary," Christopher commented as he walked on by.

The two lieutenants looked at each other after Herrmann left, and after a few seconds they both busted out laughing.

"Hey Herrmann, I said another beer!" Kelly said as he realized he hadn't grabbed a bottle off the bar but a glass filled with champagne that had a pinkish hue to it.

"It's almost midnight, Severide," Herrmann said, "if we're gonna do this let's do it right. Here, take this one to Casey."

"Where is he?" Kelly asked.

Herrmann pointed and Severide saw Matt talking to Cruz. Kelly took the second glass, this one had a light orange colored champagne in it, and headed over.

"Hey Cruz, I think you're wanted at the bar," he said, breaking up whatever they were talking about.

"Okay, thanks, Severide," Joe said as he left them.

"Herrmann sent this over, I guess they're giving it to everybody," Kelly said with a clueless shrug as he held the glass out to Casey.

Casey didn't say anything at first, then he took it and just got out a simple, "Thanks." Then he looked at his, and at Kelly's, and asked, "Why's yours a different color?"

Kelly shrugged. "Different flavor I guess, what kind'd you get?"

Casey took a small sip of it to test it, and made a face. "I think it's peach. What's yours?"

Kelly sniffed it and the bubbles burnt his nose. He swallowed a mouthful of it and said, "I think raspberry. Wanna trade?"

Casey shrugged one shoulder and held his glass out, Kelly took his, and Casey took Severide's. Behind them everybody was counting down, and after 'one' the whole bar erupted in a chorus of "HAPPY NEW YEAR!", horns blew and confetti fireworks BANGED and POPPED, a lively instrumental version of 'Auld Lang Syne' started playing and half the people in the bar started kissing each other and others were dancing as large handfuls of confetti were tossed in the air. Kelly and Casey downed the rest of their drinks in one swallow and seemed to stand apart from the rest of the festivities. Casey looked around at the confetti that was everywhere and said into Kelly's ear, "Glad I'm not stuck with the cleanup."

Kelly laughed, "You and me both." He looked around at all the happy couples who were still making out, and as if Casey could read his thoughts, he heard the Truck lieutenant say warningly, "Don't get any ideas, Severide." Kelly just laughed in response. He turned to Casey and motioned to their glasses, "Want to get a refill?"

Casey looked at his own empty glass. "Sure."

The two of them stuck around for a couple more rounds of champagne and joined in a chorus of 'Auld Lang Syne' with everyone else, but Severide kept his word and decided it was time they called it a night. They got their coats, said a round of goodbyes to their crew and exchanged New Year's greetings with everybody before they went out the door and were immediately slapped in the face by the bitter cold winds of the wintry night.

"Where's your truck?" Even out there Kelly had to yell to be heard over the gusting winds that seemed to howl at them.

"I walked down," Casey answered.

That made things easier. "Come on!" Kelly motioned as he made his way to his Mustang.

The inside of the car was cold from sitting unused for so many hours. Kelly turned the heater on full blast as he maneuvered around the other parked cars and got them out of there. Between the snow and all the parked cars, it was one hell of a time. Severide had lived in Chicago and more importantly been a firefighter in Chicago enough to know which streets to avoid at all cost on New Year's Eve, all the drunken idiots out in the middle of the streets blocking traffic, he'd learned well after all the calls 51 had answered on the night in question and nearly run down a couple hundred drunken pedestrians who wouldn't get the hell out of the way despite all the lights and sirens. Avoiding all those hot spots, the streets were unusually quiet, the only sound either man heard was the engine of the car and the warm air blowing out of the vents on the dashboard.

Kelly felt a need to say something, the silence was starting to bug him. "So you have a good time tonight?"

Casey grunted hesitantly and replied, "All things considered...yeah."

"Got anything planned for tomorrow?" They didn't go back on shift until 8 A.M. January 2nd.

"Nope," Casey answered simply.

Kelly merely nodded as he turned and got them on another street. This one it turned out hadn't been salted as well as the other streets and the car started to skid. Casey let out an initial yelp as the car swerved to the side but otherwise didn't seem to be too concerned. They were literally the only car on the street so even though Severide inherently knew he had to get them back in the right lane, the lack of any cars or people they could hit almost made it a fun experience sliding on the ice. He corrected the swerve and got them back on the right side of the road a few seconds before they would've hit the curb on the other side of the street, then the pavement was smooth again and they didn't have any problems after that.

"Hey, we're here," Severide announced as he pulled up to the curb outside Casey's apartment.

There was a tired hum in Casey's throat as if he'd just woken up, Kelly hadn't really been paying attention, but he noticed now that Casey was rubbing his eyes as he looked out the window. Somehow Severide had the idea it'd be best not to leave Casey to his own devices to get inside in one piece. He reached for his door and got out.

The year might be new but it was still the same old freezing Chicago cold, any exposed skin immediately got chilled through once Kelly stepped out of the car. He rushed around to the other side and saw Casey just getting out and throwing his door shut.

"Come on, let's get inside," Kelly told him as he grabbed Casey to make sure he didn't do something stupid like trip on the way and fall on his face. "Give me your key."

Casey grumbled tiredly as he fished through his pockets and finally found the keys and gave them to Kelly as they got up to the stoop.

It took Kelly two tries to get the key in, the first time he realized he had it upside down, he turned it over and tried again and this time managed to get the door open and they went in and he slammed it shut behind him, even his bones felt cold as his knees lightly knocked together as he fumbled along the wall for the light switch.

"Brrrrr!" he shook as he rubbed his hands together. "I think this was the coldest night yet."

"Could be," Casey said as he shrugged out of his coat and hung it up.

Kelly turned towards him and asked again, "You alright?"

Matt nodded. "Yeah, just glad to be out of Molly's."

"Why'd you come tonight if you didn't want to be there?" Kelly asked, genuinely curious.

Casey walked over towards the couch and started to sit down, and almost fell on the floor because he missed the cushion entirely. Instead he sat in the chair by the couch and answered, "We said we'd all go, I didn't want to let anyone down."

"You getting sick or something?" Kelly asked.

Casey shook his head, "Just tired..."

Something hung in the air that Casey wasn't saying. True their job took both a physical and mental toll on them, but Severide guessed there was something else Casey wasn't telling. And he thought he knew what it was. As they'd seen at the bar, all the couples were out tonight having a good time, and Casey had had a year of ups and downs in short lived relationships that didn't pan out. So had Severide, but he prided himself on not looking for any real commitment, it was different for him, Casey on the other hand was always looking at the bigger picture, finally marrying someone, starting a family, all that stuff that Kelly planned to avoid at all costs, even though he actually had gotten married once. And as miserable as it probably was being alone for New Year's Eve and being surrounded by dozens of people who were together and enjoying themselves, it probably beat sitting around the apartment all night totally alone. It made sense he didn't really feel he could let loose and enjoy himself, but he hadn't even been able to fake it, which was usually his strong suit, trying to convince everybody else that he was fine even when he wasn't.

Kelly felt awkward standing in the middle of the room, he sat on the edge of the coffee table to see Casey and asked, "You going to bed?"

Casey shrugged helplessly, he looked tired but he told Kelly, "Don't really feel like it."

Even though they'd left the celebratory environment of Molly's, and the mood had taken on a much more serious air, Severide still felt like he was on a cloud, maybe it was just something about the night. He thought and tried to figure out a plan for what to do next, and something came to him, and a mischievous smirk formed on his face as he got a knowing gleam in his eyes.

"What?" Casey asked.

Instead of answering, Kelly reached for the remote and turned on the TV. "The 'Twilight Zone' marathon should still be on, we can catch part of it."

He found the channel he was looking for, then put the remote down, and he got up, and started pulling the cushions off the couch and throwing them on the floor.

"What are you doing?" Casey asked.

Severide didn't answer. Instead he went over to the front closet and started hauling out pillows and blankets, and came back with two armloads of them and promptly dropped all of them on the floor and started piling them up.

"Kelly, what the hell are you doing?" Casey asked again.

"Didn't you ever do this as a kid?" Severide asked.

Casey shook his head. "No, what?"

"Beats watching TV in bed, come on, Casey, new year, try something different."

Matt didn't get it but he decided there wasn't any harm in trying it out. He slowly pulled off his shoes, sank out of the chair onto the floor and crawled onto a pile of bedding and cushions. He had to admit it was comfortable. He propped his head on his arm to look up at the TV screen. Kelly settled on the other side of the makeshift bed and the two lieutenants watched reruns of 'A Twilight Zone' that dealt with a player piano, a stopwatch, and a flight crew that got lost somewhere in time. During the next episode, 'The Masks', what Severide considered to be the greatest episode in the whole series, it had been the first one to effectively scare the hell out of him as a kid, he realized that Casey was asleep. The blonde lieutenant was curled on his side and fell asleep hugging the pillow under his head with both arms.

"Casey...wake up, Casey," Kelly shook him, trying to get a response. There was none, just the steady breathing and the even movements as Casey's chest rose and fell during it.

Severide realized the night was finally over and decided to cut out. He drew up a quilt over Casey's body, then got to his feet, put on his coat, headed to the door, and took out his car keys...and stopped.

If he'd been paying better attention it probably would've hit him hours ago that while he hadn't drunk enough to actually get drunk, he was definitely buzzed, missing the brunette woman and kissing Casey under the mistletoe should've been his deadest giveaway, but thinking back over the events of the night, there were several clues. Him losing his balance when he stood up, the very idea of kissing a random woman he didn't even know, and not thinking there could be any immediate ensuing consequences, him losing control of the car momentarily and not even having the reflexes to realize how dangerous it was. He'd scraped the curb as he pulled up outside, he couldn't even get Casey's key in the door right...and that had been at midnight when everybody was staying right where they were to celebrate. It was 2 hours later and by now a lot of parties would be dying out and there would be 500 drunken idiots out on the road, those same icy roads he'd skidded and swerved on, and he would be dead in the middle of it.

His mind flashed back to all the previous times over the years that 2nd Watch had worked New Year's Eve, if Halloween was a hellish day to be a First Responder, New Year's Eve was the 7th circle of hell. He couldn't even remember how many times they barely got done responding to one drunken car accident before they got called to another, they dealt with rollovers, T-bones, head-on collisions, hit and runs, and the times the drivers were still alive and on the scene, and there had been a lot of them, they were always so far past the legal BAC limit, and so stupid that they all insisted they were fine to drive home, usually very oblivious to the lives they had just ruined. Severide never saw himself in any of those people, he had a high tolerance for alcohol, most of the time he didn't get drunk and when he did, the bartender usually took his keys and when that happened he had the sense to either walk home or take the el train. He had it all under control. And yet...he'd also lost count of all the times over the years that all those drunken morons said the exact same thing, all the while there was one or two crashed cars and a few mangled and/or dead bodies not 10 feet away from them. Sometimes they weren't even all that drunk, just a little over the limit and they quit paying attention for one minute, and that was the minute that changed everything. Lives were ruined, some were ended, the drivers went to prison, all because somebody had a couple more drinks than they should've and they let their guard down while driving. And Kelly knew he was too old to act as stupid as all those people they pulled out of the wrecks, only about half of them even had the excuse on their side of being young and stupid, a lot of them were his age, and even older. That in itself was a very sobering realization.

He put his car keys back in his pocket, and took his coat off.

"Move over, Casey," he said as he climbed in behind Matt on the makeshift bed and straightened out the quilt covering Casey so it draped over both of them.

Casey was still rolled on his side with one arm wrapped over and one wrapped under his pillow, he was completely oblivious to anything going on around him. Kelly watched him while he slept for a couple minutes, and he had to laugh, Casey looked cute when he was asleep, it was like all the years and all the stress and strain that had accompanied them that showed on his face even when he tried to act like everything was fine, just all fell away.

What happened back at Molly's was strictly an accident, but Kelly was well enough aware of what he was doing now. He leaned down and lightly kissed Casey on the hairline over his temple, he still didn't move.

"Happy New Year, Casey," Kelly quietly said as he settled down on the other half of the pillows and blankets and got comfortable. He spent a few minutes tossing and turning, trying to get comfortable enough to fall asleep, and he slowly felt himself drifting away, still he was alert enough to be consciously aware of the fact that before he finally did fall asleep, he turned over on his side and wrapped an arm around Casey's stomach, and rested his head on the blonde lieutenant's shoulder. Again, there was no response.

The morning came, and the sun rose, and started to shine in through the windows, and Casey was still on his side on the living room floor with his face buried in the pillows. Severide had already gotten up and around, and though he knew Casey didn't have anything planned for the day, he decided he at least owed Casey the decency of not waking up alone and wondering what the hell happened last night. Casey hadn't drunk as strong of stuff as Severide did but it had been obvious even to him in his impaired state of mind that Casey hadn't been firing on all cylinders last night.

"Wake up, Casey, it's morning."

Casey grumbled in protest and tried to burrow even further under the covers, but Severide crouched down and wrapped both arms around his waist and dragged him out of his warm bed and to his feet.

"Come on, Casey, it's a new year, time to face the world."

Casey grumbled again and reluctantly forced his eyes open. It was definitely obvious now that he'd had too much to drink last night and he definitely looked it, no doubt how he felt.

Kelly made sure Casey was balanced on his feet and wasn't going to collapse on him before he finally let go of him, he tapped Casey on the cheek and said, "Hey, you need to get a shower, you'll feel better."

Casey rubbed one eye and asked weakly, "What time is it?"

"8 o' clock, you said you didn't have anything planned for today?"

Casey shook his head.

"Then you're not late," Kelly told him. "Go get a shower and freshen up, I'll get this straightened up."

Casey continued to grumble tiredly to himself as he padded over to the bathroom, while he waited for the water to heat up he brushed his teeth and rinsed his mouth to get the aftertaste from last night out of his mouth. Then he slowly stripped off his clothes, stepped into the shower and pulled the curtain shut behind him.

Kelly folded up the blankets, put the cushions back on the couch and piled everything else back in the closet. Then he went to the kitchen and put on some coffee, and he decided after all that Casey had had to drink last night it probably wouldn't hurt to make sure that he ate, and to err on the side of caution, something relatively bland. He fried up some bacon, then searched the cupboards, there was an old box of oatmeal, which Kelly chucked in the trash, not that bland, and he looked again and found a box of grits. They were past their date but he opened it up and saw it hadn't developed any weevils, so he put a pan of water on the stove and cooked enough for both of them. Even though the box said they cooked in five minutes, it was closer to half an hour before they were fully cooked and ready, and Kelly noticed Casey still hadn't come out of the bathroom. He tried not to think that something could've happened, but he decided to check and just make sure.

He went to the bathroom and knocked on the door and called Casey's name, but there was no response, he turned the knob and stepped in. The shower was still running, and other than that, nothing in the room was moving, and he didn't hear anything over the water.

"Casey?" Kelly called again. Nothing. He went over to the shower and asked, "You fall asleep in there?" He grabbed the curtain and pulled it back.

"Severide!"

Kelly quickly replaced the curtain and nonchalantly responded, "Just checking. You gonna be out soon? I got breakfast made."

"I'll be out in a minute!" Casey snapped at him.

"Okay," Severide responded, unfazed.

"You look better anyway," Kelly said when Casey stepped out in a new change of clothes. "You feeling any better?"

"I will after this," Casey picked up his coffee and stared drinking it. Then he choked and spat some of it back into the mug. "What is this?"

"Coffee."

Casey held it up towards the light and saw it was a light brown, he took another sip of it and deduced half of it had been diluted with milk. "What the hell, Kelly?"

"You need something more to run on than just black water today," Kelly told him.

Casey looked at the table and saw two plates with grits, bacon and toast.

"You cooked?"

"Hope you don't mind, I thought I'd get something to eat before I left," Severide said.

Casey nodded, "That's fine."

"So what happened last night?" Kelly asked as they sat down to eat, "You really looked terrible."

"I drank too much beer and I ate too much junk," Casey said, "That's all."

Kelly nodded. He wouldn't push, if Casey wanted to expand on it, he would in his own time.

"So I didn't get a chance to ask you last night," Kelly said, "you got any resolutions for this year?"

"Besides the usual, try not to die in a fiery heap on a call?" Casey asked.

"Well...yeah."

He shrugged. "I don't know...you?"

Kelly also shrugged. "I don't know...I mean think about it, what could the two of us possibly have to improve on?"

Casey choked on his toast and laughed at his comment.

"Why did you stay last night?" he asked Severide.

Kelly paused before answering. "Because I'm too old to act as stupid as I used to."

He didn't elaborate on what it meant, but Casey thought it over for a minute and finally decided, "Sounds like a pretty good resolution to me."