Chapter I
Wouldn't it be the perfect crime…
If I stole your heart…
And you stole mine?
"Why do I have to do this?"
"You're the only girl in the house," Mills answered, "And you'll know better than any of us how a girl would act when it comes to some of the stuff he'll say."
"You know, this isn't really fair," the red head complained as they made her stand in front of a makeshift restaurant table in the common area of Firehouse 51, "Just because I'm the only girl in this firehouse right now, doesn't mean I have to play the girl in this little date training exercise for Mouch." Kelly Severide, Lieutenant for Squad 3 just smiled at his childhood friend and watched as she rolled her blue-green eyes. He knew that there was no way that Raelynn Lowe, the Paramedic Field Officer for the firehouse was going to sit through with this without putting up some kind of fuss. She loved the guys on their shift, she really did, but sometimes they drove her just the tiniest bit crazy.
"Just do it, Lowe," Herrmann answered, "And stop you're whining."
"Fine," she huffed, as she felt Mills place his hands on her shoulders and gently push her into the seat that they needed her in.
"Sit," Mills ordered, clapping his hands together, "Okay, alright, ready Mouch." With a sort of purpose, the older gentleman that they were trying to help entered the room and came to stand next to their makeshift set-up, holding his hand out for Raelynn to shake.
"Hi Randy," she greeted, trying to sound as sickly sweet as she could, "It's nice to meet you."
"You too," he answered, not bothering to say anything else as he took the seat opposite her, pt on his reading glasses and lifted the menu that had been taken from the copious amount of take-out menus next to the sink in the kitchen. Without really meaning for it to happen, Raelynn's jaw dropped and she looked at him in complete shock, before looking at the guys signalling for them to lend the man a hand.
"Okay, hold on," Mills interrupted, smacking his knees, "Mouch, what are you doing?"
"Reading the menu," the clueless man answered.
"Why?"
"To see what they serve for dinner."
"Why so soon, I guess, is my question," Mills clarified, looking at the man curiously. Severide shook his head and threw his hands up in the air as they listened to Mouch struggle for an answer.
"Can I jump in here," Kelly asked, as Raelynn fixed him with a pointed look. If there was anyone in this room that would actually be able to point out to Mouch what he was doing wrong, it was the king of first dates himself.
"Yes, please," Mills answered exasperatedly, "Please." Sliding over in his chair, Severide came to sit next to Mouch, fixing Raelynn with a look and smile of his own.
"When you walk in to meet a blind date-"
"Look like you," Mouch finished for the Lieutenant, earning a chuckle from the rest of the group, "Well, that ain't happening, so she can take me or leave me warts and all."
"Can I finish," Kelly chuckled, fixing Raelynn with another look as she bit her bottom lip to keep from laughing out loud as Mouch apologized for the interruption.
"Okay," Severide started again, fixing Raelynn with his usual smirk earning himself the usual blush on her pale skin in response, "Engage in conversation, ask her something." Mouch turned back to Raelynn taking Kelly's instruction to heart.
"Okay, okay," he said, as Kelly rolled his chair back to the opposite side of the room, "Walk back in again or?"
"Start from there, you got it" Kelly answered, as Raelynn bit her lip even harder to keep from laughing. Part of her couldn't help it, but she knew that she would have to, what they were doing for the older man would be good for all of his future dates in the long run.
"Hello."
"Hello."
"So, where are you from," Mouch tried, earning himself a buzzer sound from Raelynn as all of the guys watched this train wreck of a training date continue.
"Can I jump in real quick," the other Lieutenant Matt Casey, chimed in, earning him a grateful look from the red head, who was now inwardly questioning why she let Kelly, Matt and the rest of the firefighters in Firehouse 51 talk her into these crazy little ideas during their shift down time. It was bad enough she decided not to be a part of the girl's weekend with Shay and Dawson and was now stuck Mr. Happy Go Lucky and Dr. Doom and Gloom, but now, she had to sit through this, for a lack of a better term, training exercise.
"Sorry," Matt continued, "You should already know where she's from because she has a profile on the website, just like you do." Raelynn pointed to Matt and nodded her head. He was completely and utterly right with where he was going with this.
"Good point, good point," Mouch conceded.
"So, if you ask a question that's already on the profile," Matt continued, as everyone nodded along, "She's going to think that you didn't bother to actually read it, okay? So, just branch out a little." Like a small light bulb had come on over his head, Mouch turned back to Raelynn to restart their previous conversation.
"Okay," he sighed, before pausing as everyone looked at him encouragingly, "Name five things that you're scared of."
"Uh," Raelynn stuttered, shooting a apprehensive look to the men that were gathered there, "Being here with you on this date just became number one for me right now, in fact, I would probably be calling Kelly to come pick me up with either the overprotective brother or the jealous ex-boyfriend bit just to make sure that you didn't follow me home. That being said, boys, this was; no, I'm not going to call this fun because that would be a lie and traumatic seems just a little too harsh. Now, one of you can be the girl because I have paperwork that needs to be done, might I suggest Severide. I'll be in my office, cursing the fact that I didn't go with Shay and Dawson."
"She wouldn't say that," Mouch interjected, as Raelynn made to leave the room, making sure to gently pat Severide's shoulder as she did. The guys shook their head and laughed.
"You know what," Matt started, as he finished laughing after a few moments, "I don't think I ever heard the story of how you and Lowe met, Severide." Kelly laughed and shook his head, leaning back in his chair slightly as he thought back to that day with a smile on his face.
"Yeah," Hermann added, "I mean, I know you met when her Dad was the POF and your Dad was working Squad with Boden, but you two kids were friends long before I even came to Firehouse 51." Severide smiled, looking around the group that was looking at him questioningly.
"What?"
"Come on," Cruz encouraged, "Tell us the story, it's got to be a good one."
"I wouldn't know about good one," Severide answered, "But, yeah, I guess, you could say that, we're still friends after all these years."
"Well, come on then," Matt laughed, "How did Kelly Severide and Raelynn Lowe become friends?"
"Well, it was early December…"
Snow was falling and the cold was hitting his face full on as he stood in front of the Firehouse that he thought of as a second home, he may not get along with his father, in fact most days they could go more than a few seconds with butting heads about something; despite all that he was happy to be there. Kelly Severide smiled as he made his way up the drive way and towards the door just as a petite looking redhead that was carrying a box that probably weighed more than she did.
"Whoa," he chuckled, just as the two of them almost smacked into each other.
"Oh, I am so, so, so, sorry-"
"Whoa, whoa, whoa," Cruz interrupted just as Kelly was getting started, "Raelynn, our Raelynn, the woman that has gone toe to toe with men twice her size and tackled drugged up teenagers for trying to jump the rig apologized?"
"Do you want to hear the story or not," Kelly asked, looking pointedly at Cruz, who sank back in chair, "Good, now where was I…"
"Oh, I am, so, so, sorry," the petite red head gasped, doing her best to keep a hold of the box in her arms, "I wasn't looking where I was going and I honestly wasn't expecting anybody would be behind me, which is probably why I almost bumped into you."
"Do you want some help with that," Kelly asked, reaching for the box in her arms just as she used her knee to help her balance the box, "A small thing like-"
"Whoa, buddy," the red head interrupted, looking at the taller, dark handsome teenager in front of her with an almost evil looking glare, "I can handle the box just fine, what I can't handle is some misogynistic ass hat from the local high school who is probably a complete adrenaline junky getting my dad and my second family hurt, so why don't you-"
"Whoa, whoa, whoa," Kelly interrupted, throwing his hands up in the air, "Just offering, thought you could use a little help because that box you're carrying looks to weigh more than you."
"And I can handle it," the red head barked, before closing her eyes and taking a deep breath, "Sorry, I shouldn't have snapped at you, I don't even know y-"
"Exactly, you don't even know me, so I think you owe me an apology-"
"I owe you an apology," the red head repeated, looking at him completely scandalised, "You're the one who insinuated that I couldn't carry a box-"
"Like I said, it looks like it weighs more than you do," Kelly argued back, "I was just offering to help you before you hurt yourself or got somebody else hurt because if you haven't noticed, this is a working firehouse and they don't need some snot nosed brat-"
"Snot nosed brat," the red head repeated again, "Well, for your information this snot nosed brat is the daughter of the Paramedic Field Officer of this house and I was just helping the new candidate make lunch for the house before I was asked to run this box over to head-"
"Ooo," Kelly growled, looking down at the red head in front of him with a slight glare, "Look who feels all important now because her daddy is the POF of the house, which sweetheart pretty much means he does nothing, but sit in his crappy little mall cop car while the real heroes do all the wo-"
"Kelly," a man's voice called, as he opened the door and fixed his son with piercing look, "What are you doing yelling at Raelynn like that in the middle of the driveway? I thought I taught you better than that. You should be offering to help her with the box and walking her to the car." Kelly looked up at his father before looking towards the red head who now a slight smile on her face.
"Sorry, Mr. Severide, I almost bumped into him on my way out and then-"
"No, no, no Raelynn this isn't your fault," Benny chuckled, as he took the box out of the young girl's hands with little to no fight from her and practically thrust it into the arms of his son, "I could have sworn that I taught him better than that and how many times have I told you, Mr. Severide, is my father, you can call me Benny."
"Mr. Sever-sorry, Benny, it was a misunderstanding, I swear," Raelynn insisted, taking the box out of Kelly's hands again, struggling slightly as she did, "Your son and I just got off on the wrong foot and had a bit of a misunderstanding, I could have killed him with that box and then I wasn't accepting his help."
"Raelynn," Benny chuckled again as he once again took the box out of his hands and placed it in Kelly's arms, "Take help when it is offered to you, there will never be anything wrong with that. Now, Kelly, you help sweet Raelynn over to her car and we'll have lunch when you get back inside, okay?" Kelly sighed exasperatedly as he began walking over to the only BMW Bug that was on the street as Raelynn stood in the driveway watching him walk in a completely different direction than her car.
"Hey Severide," she called, as she stuffed her cold hands into her pockets, "Where are you going?" Kelly slowly looked around before looking towards Raelynn who was just watching him with a curious expression on her face. She hadn't moved an inch from where he had left her.
"Going to your car," he answered, jerking his head in the direction of said BMW Bug, "Like my Dad all, but order me to do when you said you were perfectly fine just letting you-"
"Wrong direction, Severide," Raelynn chuckled, trying to bite back the smile that was threatening to appear on her face, "Wouldn't drive a BMW if my life depended on it, my cars down the block, come on follow me." Kelly groaned, as he followed behind the young girl that just seemed to be driving the tip of her shoe into his last nerve. The last thing he wanted to be doing was helping someone who obviously didn't want the help that he was practically ordered to give her. He wanted to be inside asking questions.
"Look, sweetheart-"
"First things first," Raeylynn interrupted, turning on her heel to look at him straight on, "My name is Raelynn, Raelynn Lowe, not sweetheart, not darling, not anything else. You can call me Raelynn, Rae or Lynn. We're going to have to learn get along aren't we? Both of our Dads work at the same firehouse and the last thing I want is for our issues to sp-"
"Whoa, hold up a second," Kelly chuckled, lowering the box slightly to look at Raelynn, "I'm not interested in making friends, least of all with so-wait, whoa, is this your, your car?" Raelynn blinked her eyes at the fireman's son as he stood next to the car that she inherited from her grandfather unblinkingly.
"Uh yeah," she answered, leaning down to unlock the door, "It's mine."
"Whoa," Kelly gasped, taking in every aspect of the car that he could while just standing there, "I mean, do you realise what you have here."
"Uh yeah, a '69-"
"Plymouth Barracuda," Kelly finished for Raelynn who was once again trying to hold back a smile as she watched the guy who was most likely about to tell her that he didn't even want to be acquaintances with her just because their Dads worked at the same firehouse go absolutely gaga over her car.
"Yeah, I know," she answered, "I'm the one who actually, you know, owns the car, but whatever, look, Severide like I was saying before you rudely interrupted me to talk about my car, maybe we just need to learn how to get along, the last thing I want to do is for our hostility to spill into the firehouse because a couple of teenagers can't learn to get-"
"Is this the original paint job," Kelly interrupted her again, leaning over the car to look at the scratchless paint on the card.
"I think it is," Raelynn answered with a slight shrug as she thought about what her grandfather had told her upon handing her the keys when the Chicago DMV had decided that he was no longer fit to drive his baby, "Look, maybe if you let me-"
"And everything else on the car is completely original," Kelly asked, looking through the windows at the seat that looked to be in great condition for what he could see, "The motor, the-"
"The starter had to be changed when I was a kid and my grandfather got the leather redone just before he gave it to me, but everything else is the original part, I think," Raelynn answered, looking at the car giving up trying to get her point across. Kelly Severide was completely taken with her car and there was no way that she would be able to get him to agree to what she was trying to say if this car was in front of them.
"Well, that changes everything," Kelly chuckled, looking down at the car, "I can't honestly no want to be friends with someone who has an amazing car like this one. Maybe, you'll let me take a ride in it sometime-"
"Take the car for a ride or me for one," Raelynn answered, her hands coming to rest on her lips.
"If they're both on the menu…"
"Severide, let me make one thing very clear to you right now," Raelynn started, leveling him a single look, "My car was my grandfather's pride and joy and now it's mine and there is no way I'm about to let some guy make me another notch in his belt in the backseat of said car. You want to be friends, we can be friends. You want to take my car for a ride, we can take my car for a ride, but you and I will go no further than friends, do you understand me?"
"Yeah, Raelynn, I get it," Kelly chuckled, opening the door, the moment she unlocked it and placed the box on the passenger side seat, "Friends, that's it, understood."
"Good," she chuckled, "Now, I got to get going, but when you want to take that ride, give me a call, I'm sure you'll find a way to get my number." Kelly chuckled, tapping the hood of her car as he listened to the ignition start.
"Bye…friend."
"Bye Severide."
A/N: Alright, I know I said Your Future, My Past was my focus writing, but I had this chapter running rapid in my head and there was no way that I could write the next chapter without difficulties.
Let me know what you think though.
xo