Since he had come home to Stella's after the trial with Renee two days ago, he and Stella had spent most of their time in her apartment. After the last couple of weeks, they really needed some time to just be together. He quite happily would have spent more days like that. But, if the trial was two days ago, that would mean that today they had shift again.

He moaned, not wanting to wake up yet. As he finally decided to open his eyes, confusion washed over him. This wasn't Stella's apartment and this definitely wasn't his room. He was quick to remember that last night they had decided to come back to Kelly's apparent, because he needed a change of clothes before the start of shift. After dinner and a movie, they had ended up in Stella's old room. Since Stella had left, he hadn't set foot into that room. The absence of her stuff made the room feel foreign to him. Luckily, she was there now to make up for that feeling.

Turning over to look at her, he could see that Stella was still fast asleep besides him. A quick glance at the clock alarmed him that they would have to hurry if they wanted to have a decent breakfast before they had to leave. He slowly rolled over to her. He placed a kiss in her neck, hoping that that would be enough to wake her, although he knew how deep she could sleep sometimes. The only response that he got out of her with that was a soft sigh. It didn't surprise him. He brushed some of her wild curls out of her face and whispered:

"Stella, I'm going to hop in to the shower and then make us some breakfast. Get some more sleep."

The small smile that appeared on her face and a soft "mkay" confirmed to him that she at least had heard what he had said. Satisfied, he made his way to the shower adjacent to Stella's old room, not bothering to walk all the way to this own.

Stella's additional minutes in bed didn't last long, though. As soon as Kelly had set foot in the shower, there was a knock at the door.

"Kelly, you open it." She pulled the sheets over her head.

No answer.

She pulled the sheets back down again and slightly sat up.

"Kelly!" she said louder.

There was more knocking on the door.

"yeah, yeah. I'm coming".

She let out a frustrated sigh and dragged herself out of bed. Who would come to Kelly's apartment this early in the morning?

Opening the door, she was met with a distraught looking figure. The bags under his eye's and the faraway look in his eyes told her that something was up.

"Casey, hey! Is everything alright?"

"Hey" He responded. "Is Kelly here?"

His avoidance of her question together with the lack of comments on her presence at Kelly's apartment, only seem to confirm her feeling.

"Yeah, he is just in the shower. Come on in."

He walked over to the dining room table and slummed into one of the chairs. With his head in his hands, he faced away from her. This didn't seem like a situation for her to be involved in. She decided that it was probably better for Kelly to handle this. So, she opted make some coffee instead.

Luckily for her, Kelly's shower didn't take long. He soon walked, cleanly showered, into the living room as Stella poured the black liquid into three mugs. Completely oblivious to the presence of his friend in the room, he sneaked his arms around Stella and kissed her cheek.

"You know I said that I was making breakfast, right?"

A smile appeared on her face while she instinctively laid her left hand on his arm. Her task was momentarily forgotten.

"We have company" she gestured with her head towards Casey, who still hadn't moved since he had sat down.

"Casey? What are you doing here?" he said as he stared to walk over to him.

There was no response. Kelly put his hand on Casey's shoulder, slightly shaking him.

"Hey man, you okay?"

"She left. She's gone" His reply earned him confused looks from both Kelly and Stella.

"What? Who has left? Dawson?" Answered Kelly as he sat down.

Casey just ignored the question. "We had this fight and now she has left. She's leaving Chicago too."

Although Casey never said her name, it seemed obvious that only something happening with Dawson could have this effect on Casey.

"What do you mean "she's leaving Chicago"?" Stella now joined the conversation as she put the coffee mugs on the table and sat down next to Kelly.

"She is moving to Puerto Rico. She volunteered to help there. She never even told me that she wanted to do that."

"For how long?" Kelly just could not see that things would end between Casey and Gabby. They always seemed to pull through the fights and misunderstandings. He had always seen them as an example of how married life could be for him.

"I don't know. She didn't say. She is leaving to today. I don't know what to do. She won't return any of my calls."

"Look Casey, let me call her." Stella offered. "She would never leave to some other country without saying goodbye to 51. She will talk to me."

Casey just shook his head in agreement.

Kelly didn't like the sight in front of him one bit. He knew what had happened to Casey after Hallie had died. That time Casey had completely lost it. Wanting to prevent anything remotely like happening again, he offered:

"We'll figure this out. I'll call Boden and see what we can do about today, okay?"

"No, I can come to shift today." Casey protested.

"Dude, look at yourself. That's not going to happen. We are here for you, man."