Set during the season 1 timeline. For Pallada and Isensiel who wanted to see a Sevasey road trip.
Road Trip
"No Severide or Casey?" Hermann asked before roll call.
"Nope." Shay looked up from her magazine. "Road trip. They've been planning it for ages."
"So how many shifts are they out for?" he asked.
"Four," she answered.
"You think it'll go all Brokeback Mountain?" Herrmann grinned.
Shay frowned. "Herrmann… have you seen Brokeback Mountain?"
"Nope." He shook his head, the others in the common room laughed and Shay raised an eyebrow, shook her head and scoffed.
Casey and Severide had been on the road less than an hour. They had left later than Casey had planned, much to his annoyance. Severide urged him to relax, the world wouldn't end if they were half an hour behind schedule.
"You're slowing down?" Casey questioned.
"I'm pulling in here, I want to get coffee." Severide indicated to the gas station.
"I did pack coffee," he stated.
"It's not the same; it won't take long!" Severide grinned. "Besides we're already a little behind schedule… and I bet you added extra time in?"
"For emergencies and traffic," he explained.
"Well, I don't think we're going to have any issues with traffic." Severide nodded to the unoccupied road ahead.
"And I don't think this counts as an emergency," he said as Severide pulled up in the empty parking lot.
"You want one?" Severide asked with a small grin.
He sighed and shook his head at his friends disregard for the schedule. "Sure."
Severide left Casey in the car looking down at the schedule for the road trip. They had talked about for doing it for a year and had started planning it with Andy just a few weeks before he died. It had been six months since his death. Severide and Casey were amicable, not back to their friendship before their friend died but they were getting there, they were talking. This trip was for Andy and it had brought them together again.
They had spent the first night in a motel, Severide had refused to camp every night, he wanted a decent shower, a bar and a mattress to sleep on. Severide laughed aloud as Casey unpacked a few of his things ready for their first night camping. "You're like a little boy scout! Prepared for anything, aren't you?"
"Are you?" Casey questioned as he glanced down at Severide's shoes.
He frowned. "They're comfy and we're doing a lot of driving."
"Did you bring boots?" Casey asked.
"Might have chucked some in the back before I left." He shrugged.
Later that night, their make shift campsite lit up by firelight.
"Andy would have liked this," Severide stated, "He'd have been complaining about all the insects and creepy crawlies but would have liked this."
Casey nodded solemnly, gazing into the fire, a smile soon crossed his face. "He'd have been more prepared than you."
"Only because Heather would have packed everything for him!" Severide grinned.
"She'd have packed your stuff too," he said with a smile.
Over the next couple of days Severide and Casey travelled further down south.
"Are you sure you don't want me to do any driving?" Casey asked loudly. The windows were open so the air was blasting through the car keeping them cooled from the hot temperature outside.
"My car," Severide stated, "No one drives my car."
Casey laughed. "Should have come in my truck then."
"Bored being a passenger or just don't like my driving?" Severide smiled boyishly. "Besides my car is way cooler than your truck."
"My truck is practical," he argued, "And not just for work."
"Because you're a true boy scout at heart." Severide grinned.
"Was never a boy scout," Casey admitted.
"Really?" he was genuinely surprised.
"Really," Casey confirmed.
"Didn't expect that," he stated. "How come?"
"Just wasn't." Casey shrugged.
"Well, that's a lame excuse."
"It's not an excuse, I just… I wasn't allowed," Casey replied honestly.
"Thought my parents were bad, you weren't allowed to be a boy scout?" he questioned, still a little shocked.
"Nope," Casey replied with a small smile, he did that often, hid everything behind his smile and impossibly bright eyes. "They were busy, they weren't going to be able to volunteer and help on trips or anything, and my sister used to do a lot of dancing and gymnastics. She was actually quite good but it took up a lot of time."
"Oh… I didn't know that," he said.
"I didn't tell you, not something that usually pops up in conversation," Casey replied. "So, can I drive?"
"Nope." Severide grinned as he looked onwards.
The next day the car jolted.
"That doesn't sound good," Casey spoke.
Severide slowed down but carried on until it happened again, only this time smoke was creeping from under the cars bonnet.
"Damnit," Severide swore. He pulled up to the side of the road. The car had overheated.
"So… we're just gonna wait for it to cool down then?" Casey wondered aloud.
"It'll be better to leave it overnight; how far away are we from the next stop?" Severide asked.
"A while, we could just go steady tomorrow and come back a day later?" Casey suggested.
"Sounds like a plan," he agreed.
"What do we do now? Set up camp here? It's only midday," Casey asked.
"Did you bring a pack of cards? Or anything?" he asked, knowing Casey was likely to be prepared for anything but the look on Casey's face told him otherwise. "You didn't, did you?"
Casey shook his head. "We could go for a walk, the road map has trails on it, I'll have a look for something."
After deciding on a route and packing a bag of supplies they were nearly ready to leave
"Didn't put any boots in did you?" Casey questioned as Severide closed the trunk of the car.
"These shoes will be fine," he shrugged.
"Do you want my sneakers? They might be better..."
"We're just going for a little walk Casey, not hiking in the wilderness," he reasoned. Casey frowned and looked around to emphasise the fact that they were in the middle of nowhere.
Soon they were setting off across the dry sandy ground, Casey had his backpack of supplies and was dressed in his cargo shorts and shirt that was already slick with sweat from the afternoon suns heat, he had his walking boots and a pair of shades on. Severide had a similar ensemble on, minus the backpack, preferring to carry a single water bottle in his pocket, and of course, he went without his walking boots.
They stopped after half an hour. "Hold up, you need more sun cream on," Severide spoke.
The heat had gotten too much and they'd both taken their shirts off, disgruntled Casey slowed to a standstill.
"Do you want to look like a boiled lobster?" Severide mocked. "Take that off, sit and I'll do your back," he instructed.
Rather reluctantly Casey sat down on the ground, slipped his backpack off and allowed Severide to gently rub sun cream onto his back, he wouldn't admit it but the ministrations eased the ache in his shoulders.
"Thanks," he said and took the tube from Severide's glistening hands and applied more to his arms and chest. Once he was done he asked Severide to turn around.
"Geez, Case!" Severide yelled with a hint of mockery.
"What?" he questioned.
"You're hands are rough," Severide explained simply.
He frowned. "What did you expect? I'm not some one night stand."
"Don't you moisturise?" Severide questioned.
Shocked at the prospect that formed in his head he asked, "Do you?"
"… Yes..." Severide admitted.
"You've been living with Shay too long," he laughed.
"At least I have soft hands." Severide smirked. "What does Hallie say?"
"Oh," he began slowly, "We're not seeing each other anymore."
"For real?" Severide asked.
"Yeah, Kelly, for real," he replied.
"I just mean you guys are on and off quite a lot," Severide said.
"I know." He sighed. "I think this might be it though… she's left the country," he began to explain, "A week after I suggested kids again she left the country… shouldn't have mentioned it again. We only got back together because I said we'd just take things day by day, not plan for kids or anything."
Severide turned and looked at him seriously. "It'll happen one day, Casey, you'll have your own little family." Severide then grinned, the conversation having got a little too serious for the both of them who usually kept their feelings hidden away inside. "I, on the other hand, am perfectly happy stuck with our little firehouse family…"
"And your very healthy relationships with women?" he grinned.
"Yup," Severide smiled, "You should try it."
Casey averted his eyes away.
"Come on, Case, you're allowed to have fun… When you and Hallie have been on a break have you never just gone to a bar and gone home with some…"
He shook his head. "No."
"You really are good." Severide frowned. "We should go bar crawling when we're back to civilisation."
"I'd like that."
Severide's inappropriate footwear soon got the better of him. He'd slipped on a rock and managed to twist his ankle badly. It had swollen almost immediately, so they decided it was best to cut their walk short, turn round and head back the way they came. Casey's inner dialogue spouted several 'I told you so's' but the words never left his lips.
Despite their early return the sun began to set at an alarming rate, their pace had slowed, Casey was carrying most of Severide's weight along with his backpack. He was quickly exhausting himself. In his tiredness Casey took a misstep, rather than stepping onto the large rock in the middle of the path he stepped straight over it and a sharp pain erupted up his left leg. He stumbled but tried to hide it, only his vision began to blur and his leg sent up spikes of pain each time he took a step.
What Casey hadn't realised was that Severide had understood immediately that something was wrong, he'd been calling his name, telling him to stop walking ahead, ordering him to stop and sit down so he could look at his leg, he hadn't been listening.
"Case! Just stop will you! I want to see what you've done to your leg… stop… Matt?"
Slowly Casey turned round, he was pale and sweaty. "Kelly," he slurred, "I don't feel so good…"
Severide's ankle protested as he moved to catch Casey when his body began to crumble to the ground.
He gently lowered Casey down, he was conscious but Severide wasn't sure how long that would last, he had now lost all the colour in his face. "Casey, what is it? Where does it hurt?"
Casey looked up at Severide's distorted face, he had heard him but was finding it incredibly difficult to get the words out to respond but eventually he managed to answer him. "My leg."
Instantly Severide's hands scrambled from their comforting position on Casey's shoulders to his legs as he tried to find the source of Casey's pain. "Oh God..." he uttered to himself when he discovered the two puncture marks just above Casey's boot.
A snake had bitten the inside of his left leg.
Trying his best not to sound too alarmed Severide asked, "Casey, where's the phone?" Before they had left Chicago they'd decided to only bring one phone for emergencies, they hadn't wanted to be contacted during the trip, it had been about getting away from home, they hadn't wanted to bring their side jobs with them.
"Pocket," Casey replied.
Severide felt Casey's shorts to find which pocket he meant.
"Why?" Casey continued.
Severide looked up, directly into Casey's eyes. "We need to get you to a hospital."
Casey pushed himself up onto his elbows. "I'm ok, think it was the heat, don't feel so dizzy now."
"Bet your leg feels like hell though," Severide said as he looked down at the bite mark that was steadily oozing blood.
"Oh..." Casey breathed as he saw the two puncture marks.
"Lie back down," he ordered.
Casey did, he was kept partially upright by his backpack, if he'd been lucid enough to realise it he would have known that his position was going to help slow the flow of venom to his heart.
"Damnit..." Severide swore.
"Sev?" he questioned breathlessly.
"No service and the battery's low," Severide explained.
"In my bag there's…" he began.
"There's another phone with signal?" Severide said sardonically. The whole situation had gone from bad to worse. He blamed himself.
"I'm ok, Kelly..."
"Yeah, right, you've been bitten by some sort of venomous snake because you were concentrating on me and not on where you were putting your feet, but you're ok," he scoffed.
"I'll be ok..." Casey muttered, "Not your fault..."
"You'll be ok? Matt, there's no service, I don't know which way to go to find signal and the battery's already low," Severide reeled off.
"In my bag there's…" Casey repeated but had to stop himself as a wave of nausea hit him. "In my bad there's a snake bite kit," he explained once he decided that his stomach's contents weren't about to make an unplanned exit. "It's yellow… Me and Hallie went camping…"
"Casey." Severide nudged his chest. "Can we stay in the present please?"
"Sev..?" Casey was breathing heavily.
"Yeah?" he prompted when his friend fell silent.
"Sev..?" Casey repeated. "What... what are you doing here?"
Severide frowned. "We went for a walk?"
"Oh, right, yeah, sorry..." he said quickly.
"I need to move you, I need the backpack," Severide explained.
He helped Casey sit up and pulled the bag from his back. The quick movement made Casey feel even more nauseous, so when Severide removed the bag he let his body fall back to the ground in order to lie on his side and grip his stomach. The pain in his leg was now excruciating. It was pulsating and sending waves of pain throughout his entire body.
Quickly Severide scanned the instructions and used the snake bite kit, but couldn't help but wonder if it was too little too late. He repositioned Casey so he was once again sitting slightly upright, only this time he used the bedroll that Casey had been carrying in his bag. There was also a small blanket, some energy bars but there was very little water left.
By the time night fell Casey was delirious. He was shaking violently from the cold and the fever and had already thrown up the contents of his stomach. The temperature had dropped but Severide knew he would not find any fire wood. They were out in the open and exposed to the elements.
"Sev?" Casey muttered
"Yeah, I'm still here," Severide replied.
"My leg?" he slurred.
"It's still there, Case, I promise," Severide reassured him. The pain had subsided but only because Casey could no longer feel anything below his left knee, he'd taken his boots off in case there was any swelling, but left it covered by the blanket after rinsing the wound through with a small amount of the water they had left.
Severide lay next to Casey, sharing body heat in an attempt to stop Casey's body trembling from the cold. He only hoped Casey's fever would break and they could both make it back to the car in the morning so he could drive Casey to the nearest doctor.
Casey flittered in and out of consciousness, his lucidity changed constantly. Severide's heart broke when he heard a single word muttered from Casey's dehydrated lips. "Dad?"
He hesitated before speaking softly, "He's not here, Matt. It's me, it's Kelly."
"Kel?" Casey slurred, he was dehydrated and his voice was barely audible.
"Uh huh," he replied, he ran a hand soothingly through Casey's dirty blond hair. "You're going to be ok, if I have to drag your unconscious body back to the car in the morning then I will, I will complain about it every step of the way, but I will do it," he mocked.
"Sorry," Casey said.
"Not your fault."
"No," Casey countered. "I'm sorry Andy isn't here."
"Don't," he warned.
"I tried…" Casey began, "Tried to stop him... should have gone straight in after him and... pulled him back… I'm sorry."
"It wasn't your fault, I shouldn't have blamed you," he explained.
"I'm sorry," Casey repeated.
"Casey I just…" he frowned.
"Please… I'm sorry…" Casey wasn't listening to him.
"Case?" he questioned sharply and when that didn't bring Casey's attention back to him his shook his shoulder gently.
"Sev?" Casey frowned.
"I really need you to concentrate, Matt, I need you to stay with me, I know it hurts and you feel awful but you gotta stay with me, ok?" he urged.
"Mmm..." Casey nodded slowly.
"Good, how about you talk about your latest job? What are you doing?" he questioned, he wanted to keep him alert.
"Decking," Casey replied.
"Yeah? How's that going?" he asked.
"Finished... nothing on so I... I could do this trip," Casey explained.
"Oh… When we get home we deserve some fancy five star... all you can eat, a pool, beds, very comfy beds…. hotel," he said tiredly but Casey didn't reply. "Matt?"
"Can we... just not argue again?" Casey asked. "Hate it when we argue..." he admitted, "Have no one… Just you. Hallie's gone... Andy's dead because of me… I just have you…"
Severide knew under any other circumstances Casey would never admit his feelings like this, and he doubted he'd remember any of this. "I hate it when we argue too… All those weeks after Andy… I should have seen how much I was hurting you, how much you were already hurting… I did see… I just… I wanted someone to blame so I blamed you, and you blamed yourself, I'm sorry."
But Casey had fallen asleep. Severide put his hand to his head, checking his temperature, and then let it run through his hair in act of gentleness. He pulled the blanket up around him and lay back down.
Casey's fever finally broke as the sun rose, Severide had relaxed a little as his breathing became less laboured.
Blearily Casey opened his eyes, he squinted at the brightness of the sun. "Sev?" he questioned the shadow by his side.
"Hey," Severide greeted him. "Here, have some water, just a few sips." After Casey drank he asked, "How are you feeling? You look better."
"I'm ok, I think," he replied tiredly, he groaned as he sat up. "Well, I can definitely feel my leg again… That's a good sign, right?"
"How badly does it hurt?" Severide asked.
"Pretty badly," he admitted honestly with a grimace as he flexed his ankle. "How's yours?"
Severide replied, "Not as painful as yours, think you'll be walk back today?"
"Walk? More like hop." Casey laughed wearily. He shook his head. "We can't exactly wait, can we?"
"All right," he nodded. "Have this, then we'll get going." He handed Casey an energy bar.
Slowly and steadily they made their way back to the car. Casey's fever and the pain that still existed in his leg had sapped away all of his energy and Severide was running on zero sleep. They stopped for breathers often, they'd ran out of water by mid-morning and the heat was getting to them. The sun glared down at them, Casey was thankful for the sun cream but his back felt like it was burning and sweat was dripping down as if it were showering him. If they didn't get back to the car or at least find some water and some shade soon at the very least they were both going to get heat stroke.
They limped along, helping each other, Severide was carrying Casey's backpack and his ankle screamed in protest each time he placed it on the ground but Casey's whole leg was on fire, sending stabs of pain throughout his body, he was grateful for Severide's help.
"Don't think I've ever been so happy to see your car." Casey smiled as he saw the car in the distance.
"We actually made it," Severide said.
Tiredly Casey frowned. "You didn't think we would? Did you doubt my ability to get us back?" he smiled lopsidedly.
"I doubted your legs ability to hold your weight," Severide retorted.
"Ah yeah… It certainly can't do that anymore," he replied and as if for effect he stumbled as he took his next step.
Back at the car they drank, ate and whilst Severide fixed the car Casey slept in the shade. Before driving off he shook Casey awake, he was unsure whether the venom was still in his system and he didn't want to risk him falling asleep and not waking up again.
"I'm fine," Casey protested tiredly. "Can we just go home?" he slurred.
"I'm taking you to a doctor," Severide stated. He'd checked the map to see if it was closer to head back or drive further on for the nearest town. By his calculations they should reach the next town in less than three quarters of an hour if they carried on their planned route.
The medical centre was small and old, and the same could be said of the doctor who saw Casey. He was given a tetanus booster and they were sent on their way. Severide was more than a little disappointed that the doctor hadn't given Casey a barrage of tests but he did already seem much better, much more himself, and it seemed that he couldn't remember most of the previous night.
Severide kept his word and they found a swanky hotel to stay in for a few days before making their journey home, when they had arrived Severide walked up to the front desk and asked for the best room they had available which just so happened to be the honeymoon suite. The porter took their bags and showed them to their room, Severide tipped him.
"Thank you, they'll be a complimentary bottle of champagne brought to your room tonight," the porter said.
"Really?" Severide asked, smiling.
"The hotel provides them for all couples in this suite," he explained.
"Oh… We're not…" Severide began awkwardly.
"Thank you." Casey just smiled and the porter left.
Severide looked to Casey. "They all think…"
"You did get us the honeymoon suite," Casey reminded him.
"I asked for the best room available," he argued.
"Which just happened to be the honeymoon suite," Casey grinned, "Thank you, honey."
"Don't," Severide glared mockingly.
"What? I'm comfortable with my sexuality." Casey shrugged. "Order some food, I'm going to have a nice long shower because I have half a desert in my hair and blood on my leg."
They enjoyed their dinner, and complimentary champagne in the comfort of their luxury hotel room.
"I didn't say anything embarrassing last night, did I? Hallie said I talked allsorts that time I got bronchitis and had a fever for two days…"
"No, you were out of it all night," Severide replied.
"Ah good." He smiled.
"You know, Matt, even if we're arguing I want you to know… look, I can be an ass but I'll still have your back, ok?" Severide said.
Casey shrugged. "I can be an ass too, doesn't Shay always say it's because we're both too stubborn for our own good?"
"Your stubbornness did you good last night," Severide pointed out. "You scared me, didn't think you'd make it through the night, I thought about going to find help but you'd specifically told me not to."
"I did?" he grinned, "See, listening to me is good even when I'm delirious!"
Four days later they arrived back home, having decided not to tell the others about their misadventures and their stay in the honeymoon suite, fully refreshed and ready for work.
In the future several people would question Casey, they would ask him how he got the two little scars on his leg, and every time he would reply, "During one of the best road trips ever." Because despite everything that had happened he was glad it had because it had brought Severide and him closer together again.
The End