A.N I wanna say thanks to the people who have reviewed! You're awesome :) And to When I Make It Shine you pronounce Emma's last name as Al-Dane ;) I know it's a different last name but i think it sounds cool! Anyways keep reviewing guys! Here's chapter three for you! :D
~Writinggurl101
Chapter 3
When they arrived back at the station, there was a family of kids and a mother, who Emma found out belonged to Hermann. The kids were holding out a banner that said thank you to the EMT's for saving their dad. Emma thought it was really sweet. But she couldn't help but notice Kelly just stand there, kind of in a trance by it, before sneaking off and leaving.
She decided not to go after him because she knew he was probably still thinking about Peter, and also the white board meeting that was going to be happening in just a few minutes.
And sure enough, they all met up in the board room. There was an instructor at the front, explaining how if the vent had been cut off in the back, the fire never would have made it upstairs, therefore eliminating the risk of one of their own guys being taken out.
Emma was right by the door, and watched as Kelly crossed the back area, brushed past her, and left the room.
"Kelly," the Chief said, but it was too late and he was gone.
As soon as the meeting was done, Emma went out looking for Kelly but came up empty.
They sat around playing cards for a while, and then Kelly appeared. Emma excused herself from the game and went to get some coffee like Kelly.
"Hey," she said and he looked up.
"Hi," he said and she looked to him.
"Are you gonna go show Peter's wife the message he left?" she asked him and he nodded.
"Yeah," he said.
"Oh, alright. That's good, I guess." she said, not sure how to continue on the subject.
"You're gonna come with me, right?" he asked and she raised her brows.
"Oh, I wasn't trying to get you to ask me-" she started but he shook his head.
"It's fine Emma," he said and she liked the sound of him saying her first name. "I think you should. You were there the whole time too. Makes sense." he shrugged as she nodded.
"Sure, thanks." she said with a small smile. "He was a great guy..." she trailed as Kelly just nodded a bit. "So that story about the barber shop and the street, that really happened?" she asked as they both laughed.
"Yeah it did." he nodded. "Irony's funny that way." he smiled as did she.
"Yeah, my mom always said she never wanted a dog that shed. Nothing big or furry or anything like that. And she just happens to come across this puppy, lying in the street, all by itself with no owner or anything. So she brings it home," Emma leaned against the counter with her coffee as Severide leaned on the one opposite her. "and we take care of it and then what does it grow into but a husky, malamute mix. Which are," she was laughing and shaking her head. "the biggest, furriest dogs you could combine."
They both laughed as Severide took a sip of his coffee. "Still have the dog?" he asked and she nodded.
"His name's Ace, he's about seven now...Getting up there." she said, sipping her coffee.
"Yeah, I had a dog named Bruno when I was little. He was responsible for all the stress in my house cause he was constantly getting himself into trouble." Kelly smirked. "I'll never forget the time he went into our neighbour's yard, locked himself in the green house, and then tore his way out of it, and spilling this giant bag of fertilizer at the same time."
"Hey," Otis nudged Casey who was looking at his hand of cards.
Casey looked up and followed Otis' gaze which led him to see Emma and Kelly laughing while holding their coffee. "Well look at that...Kelly's got a crush." he smirked and Otis frowned.
"He better not, Aldaine is all mine." he said and Casey laughed.
"In your world maybe." Casey said with another laugh as Hermann joined in.
"You think he'll ask her to the barbeque? I don't think she knows it's happening." he said and Casey shook his head.
"No clue...But I haven't seen Kelly that happy with a girl he's just met since Michelle."
Michelle was Kelly's fiancee three years back. He came home and found her things packed up, the ring on the table, and a note saying she couldn't be married to someone who was risking their lives everyday. Kelly hadn't ever been the same with girls since.
Well not until now. Thought Casey looking at the two. The laughing had stopped more now, and they were still in conversation, but the odd laugh or chuckle would pop up every now and again.
"So, are you planning on going to the barbeque?" asked Kelly and Emma raised her brows.
"Barbeque?" she asked and he nodded, and pointed to one of the posters which advertised the event.
"Happens every year. Two o'clock at Smiths Park." Kelly said and she nodded.
"Oh, well I wasn't planning on it, but yeah I guess I should go." she said. "You going?" she asked and he nodded.
"Yeah, I'm on grill duty." he told her and she laughed.
"Well that worries me," she said and looked to her with a confused look.
"Why?" he asked and she smirked and shrugged casually.
"I don't know. The idea of you cooking meat on a grill. I don't know how good a cook you really are..." she trailed and he smirked back and looked to her with something in his eyes. Emma wasn't sure what to call it...Maybe cunning. But as he looked to her that way he said,
"Well I assure you, I am an excellent cook. Especially when it comes to grilling." he said sure of himself and she nodded, still sceptic.
"Alright, well I'll believe it when I taste it." she said and he nodded.
"Well don't worry, cause you will." he said with one last gulp of his coffee.
Shift ended and Emma peeled off her clothes tiredly in the locker room. She heard the door open.
"Oh, sorry." she heard the voice of Kelly behind her as she pulled on her shirt.
"Don't worry about it," she said humoured and turning around. She let out her hair and tousled it with her hand. "You heading out?" she asked and he shook his head.
"Not quite yet, I have to get some reports back to Chief." he said and she nodded.
"Fun," she said and he nodded with a laugh.
"Yeah." he agreed and opened his locker, and she saw he grimaced.
"You alright?" she asked and he nodded.
"Yeah, fine. Just an old injury popping up. It's nothing." he said as she slung her bag over her shoulder.
"You should get that checked out," she told him as he nodded dismissively.
"Sure, sure," he mumbled as she laughed at his tone.
"Well I'll see you tomorrow," she said walking past him.
"And Saturday too, I hope." he said and she smirked, looking over her shoulder.
"Of course, you gotta past my test." she said with a wink and he nodded.
"I'll prepare myself," he called to her as she was leaving.
"Good idea," she called back before he heard the door close entirely, leaving him to his own thoughts.
Emma left and picked up Isabella from daycare and drove home and unloaded Isabella and her things tiredly. Putting Isabella in her play pen, she made dinner for herself in the kitchen while also making some formula for Izzy. She plopped her baby into her high chair before getting out some sweet pea and carrot baby food for her. While eating her dinner, she told Izzy about her day while feeding her at the same time.
Emma knew how incredibly pointless this was. Talking to her child that didn't even know common words like 'momma' or 'dada'. But it made her feel better. She could vent all her feelings to the one person she knew, didn't care, didn't know what they were saying, and didn't judge her.
"And you know what sweetie? There's this very nice man named Kelly at my work. He's very very attractive. I mean, he's super model gorgeous and he works at the same fire house I do. I was down in this hole today, trying to help a man named Peter, and Kelly stayed with him the whole way up until the doctor came. The sweetest part was though, is that Kelly told me things would be okay, and then he took off his gloves." Emma explained to the child who was still gumming down her food. "Now I know you don't think that means much, hell, none of this means anything to you, but it was kind of symbolizing he was done; done trying. So even though he was feeling terrible about the whole thing, he still told me it was going to be okay." she smiled with a girly laugh. "And he invited me to this barbeque you and I are going to. I hope he likes kids, because if he doesn't," she rose from her seat and cleared up her dishes. "We're going to have a problem." she dumped the dishes in the sink and turned to her child who was looking at her with big green-blue eyes, full of question and wonder. "Alright miss, time for bed." she said, scooping Izzy up into her arms. Emma kissed her soft brown hair gently before carrying her up into Izzy's bedroom, where after being changed, she was laid down to sleep.
The next day both Emma and Izzy slept in. Izzy was awake for part of the night, so in giving up, they both fell asleep in Emma's bed and woke up around ten. Emma was lazy that morning, being extra slow with everything. She and Izzy had a long bubble bath which was followed by eating pancakes and watching The Wiggles which Izzy thoroughly enjoyed because she squealed several times and was bouncing around. Izzy was already sitting up and crawling all over, which provided a lot of exercise for Emma when she wasn't at work.
Emma saw it was nearing noon, and decided that she should change.
So setting Izzy on her bed with a rubber key chain of toys, she opened her drawers and closets and looked for something suitable.
She finally settles on a white floral dress which hugged her slim shape. Despite having Izzy less than a year ago, she quickly lost the baby fat in the month she used to prepare herself to go back to work. People asked her why she did it so soon; went back to work. And the reason was not because she didn't want to be around her baby, it was because she felt that she had to go out there and save other people's babies.
She dressed Izzy in a cute pink dress and tights with little white shoes and a flower headband.
"You are the cutest thing that has ever been on this planet, you know that?" cooed Emma, kissing Izzy's cheek and taking her into her arms before exiting her room. "We're gonna make some pies Iz!" enthused Emma as she took the dough she had made already from the fridge out. She made the filling of apples and blackberries as Izzy bounced and babbled in her high chair. The pies baked in twenty minutes, which Emma used to find Izzy's stroller and put it in the car which took much longer than needed because she kept on forgetting things. But finally getting back inside, the pies were done. She loaded them into a cooler and put them in before setting Izzy in the car seat.
Emma left and it was just nearing ten minutes to two. She arrived at Smiths park right on time, and after wrestling with her stroller, was able to get Izzy in it hassle free. She slung the cooler over her shoulder easily and walked towards the picnic tables and grills where she saw familiar faces of fifty one.
Casey saw Emma coming across the grass and just shrugged it off. But then he looked back and saw she was pushing a stroller.
"Hey, guys," he turned to his truck crew. "Emma has a stroller with her." he said and everyone turned to see.
"You really think she's doing this job and being a mom too? A single mom at that." Dawson added.
"It's possible," Shay shrugged.
"Severide's gonna wanna know that," Otis said with a hint of mischief.
"Ten bucks says it's her niece or nephew," Hermann began betting and Casey smirked.
"Fine, I'll go with that. I think it's her kid." he said and they shook on it.
"Well you guys better shut up about it cause she's right here," Dawson muttered.
"Hey guys," Emma smiled as Dawson and Shay went over to hug her. Emma did her rounds of saying hello and Shay looked down to the baby.
"And who's this?" she asked and Emma immediately smiled.
"This is Izzy," she lifted the child out of her seat. "my precious little girl." she said kissing her daughter's head.
Izzy had her fist in her mouth as onlookers ogled at the pure cuteness Isabella withheld.
"Can I hold her?" asked Dawson carefully as Hermann slid money across the table to Casey who smirked.
"Sure," Emma handed Izzy over with ease and Dawson took the child into her arms.
"Hey baby girl," she cooed as Shay stroked her hair.
"She's so cute," Shay said with a smile and Emma laughed.
"Don't let it fool you, she can throw one hell of a fit," people laughed. "but yeah. She's beautiful." she looked and saw Kelly at the grill, sipping beer. She spotted a cooler not far from him and used it as an excuse. "I'm just gonna go grab a drink. Oh yeah," she set the cooler on the table. "I baked pies. They're still warm so help yourself." she said as the men opened it eagerly and got to work cutting it. Emma laughed a bit. "Think you guys will be okay here?" she asked and now Izzy was in Casey's arms, and he looked completely overjoyed at her presence.
"Oh yeah, we'll be fine, hey Izzy?" asked Casey as Emma laughed.
"I'll be back," she said and walked over to the ice tub of beer. "Hey," she greeted Severide.
"Hey, you made it." he said and she smiled with a nod.
"Yup, I managed to fit it into my totally crammed schedule." she said with a wink.
He nodded. "Well I'm glad you found time to squeeze this in." he said. "What's going on over there?" he asked and she looked to see his gaze set on the table where everyone was fussing over Izzy.
"Do you have a minute?" she asked and he looked to her, curiosity in his eyes at her odd question.
"Sure.." he trailed, coming out from around the table and walking over to the table with her.
"Stop it! That's making it worse!" Dawson scolded Otis who was trying to rock a crying Izzy.
"Oh good! You're here!" Shay gushed, who took Izzy from Otis and handed her right to Emma.
"Hey baby, shh, it's okay," she cooed, tucking Izzy's head into her neck and bouncing slightly.
"See?" asked an annoyed Dawson. "That's how you console a baby. Not shaking it."
Otis glared at her. "Well I'm sorry I didn't go to mothering school," he said and Kelly looked to Emma.
Emma bit her lip and jerked her head over to the open lawn. "I forgot my drink," she said and Kelly took that as his cue to follow her.
"So, you have a baby," Kelly said and she laughed a little.
"Yeah. This is Isabella. We usually call her Izzy though." she told him. Emma was trying to keep her tone light as she saw the sun shining off of Kelly's bare skin. He was wearing a wife beater and it looked more than good on him.
Izzy had stopped crying now, and straightened up to look over to Kelly with her big eyes. He laughed at the sight of the questioning child. "Well she definitely looks like you," he said. "If you don't mind my asking, what happened to her dad?" he asked and Emma sighed.
"When he found out I was pregnant he wanted out right away but stayed for some reason," Emma even now sounded confused by her former fiancee's act. "I mean you expect that when someone proposes to you that their in for all of it. And Chris sounded like he was, and then as soon as it was real he flipped. He stayed for about a month, but we were fighting so much about it I just said that if he wanted to leave so badly like he was saying, then to go." she shrugged as Kelly watched her gaze which was still fixed straight ahead as they walked.
"And then he did the whole 'I'm sorry' thing. But I just couldn't hear it. I took all his stuff, loaded it into some trash bags, threw them on the porch, shoved him on the porch, and told him to get the hell out or I'd beat his ass." she smirked while Kelly laughed.
"Funny thing is is that I believe you. Pretty sure he would too," he said with a smile and she nodded.
"Like hell he believed me. He knew that if I was strong enough to carry full grown men out of fires, I was obviously strong enough to hurt a full grown man." she said before sighing.
"I'm sorry about him leaving," Kelly said as she picked up her beer off the table, and took a sip while shrugging.
"Don't be. It was a while ago," she said and he nodded, accepting that.
"Well he was stupid for wanting out of something like this," he smiled down at Izzy.
Emma laughed lightly. "Yeah...Wanna hold her?" she asked him, looking up into his greyish blue eyes which were then wide.
"What?" he asked but Emma was already placing Izzy in his arms. "Oh no, Emma," he was saying but Izzy was already situated in his hold.
"Look at that," she smiled. "You're doing just fine," she said looking up to him as he looked down at Izzy.
"She really is something," he mumbled as Emma nodded with a smile. "Hey Izzy," he bounced her lightly, just like Emma was doing earlier, but without needing to think about it.
"Well one thing's for sure, you're a lot better with her than Otis," she laughed as did Kelly.
"I'm better at a lot of things than Otis," he added and she smirked.
"A lot of people are," she joined in as they laughed again.
Emma stroked Izzy's cheek, and Izzy captured her mom's finger in her little hand and waved it around while spouting off nonsense. "Oh yes Izzy, that's very interesting." Emma nodded as she went on. Severide watched the motherly side of Emma come out and he couldn't help but think what a beautiful mom she was. "Really?" she asked. Then Izzy suddenly screamed out in a happy tone with big eyes, causing both Emma and Kelly to start laughing. "Oh wow, that really does sound crazy Iz," she laughed.
"She's quite the talker." Kelly said and she smiled.
"You have no idea, I'll be making dinner and she'll be in her pen, talking away..." she trailed with a noticeable caring tone.
"Must get that from her mom," Kelly said with a smirk.
"Are you calling me a chatter box?" she asked and he shrugged.
"Your words not mine," he said which earned him a smack in the shoulder from Emma.
"Kelly!" she exclaimed as he snickered. Izzy joined in with the laughing and he looked down in amusement.
"Yeah, aren't I right Iz? Of course I am. I'm always right." Kelly said as Izzy continued laughing.
"Uhm, no. He's not. He isn't ever right Iz, don't trust him." Emma said with a smirk as he looked to her sternly.
"Watch your mouth Emma, this is your lieutenant you're talking to here," he reminded and she smiled playfully.
"Well, seeing as no one's working today, I'm not talking to you as my lieutenant. I'm talking to you as Kelly Severide, civilian." she said and he nodded with a amused look.
"Well then I guess I'm talking to you as Emma Aldaine, mother, civilian, and annoyance."
Emma shot him a look and hit his shoulder again. "Shut up..."
Kelly snickered again.
"Well would you look at that," Hermann said loudly, calling the table to look at him.
Everyone looked to see Emma, Kelly and baby Izzy all standing across the yard.
"If you didn't know you'd think they were a family." Casey said as people nodded.
"Have you seen Severide like this before? I mean holding babies, thinking about other people and planning on staying with a girl for more than one night?" asked Otis with a smirk. "I swear, the guy's whipped."
He was immediately smacked upside the head by Hermann.
"Hey! Just because he likes a lady and her kid does not make him whipped. It means he's a good guy." Hermann said firmly as Otis still smirked, hiding it from him.
"They'd be cute together," Shay said, tilting her head and watching the two. "And it was nice while it lasted. Look who showed up," she said bitterly.
Everyone watched as Nicki crossed the field to where they were. They exchanged hellos before Emma just nodded and was handed back Izzy from Kelly. Then Emma walked away, Nicki moved in, and Kelly looked sort of disappointed that he wasn't with the others.
Emma was now getting herself some lunch while Kelly and Nicki were still talking.
She returned to the table, all smiles and seemingly unbothered by what had happened.
They all carried on conversations, and Emma met Hallie before she started to feed not only herself but Izzy too.
But Emma saw, not raising any attention, that Kelly cut it off with Nicki and was now walking towards the table which had cleared out a bit. Dawson had gone to see the kids play, Shay and Corine had left, Hallie was still around after saying hi to the Darden family with Casey, Hermann was seeing his family with Otis, and Dawson's date, the doctor, had left.
Leaving just Hallie, Izzy, and Emma at the table.
Emma saw that Hallie was watching Casey and Dawson talking with great interest but pretended not to notice. Kelly saw down beside Emma.
"Well how was that?" she asked him and he looked to her.
"Huh? Oh, Nicki...It was nothing. She's nice I guess." he shrugged and she nodded.
"What time is it? I've gotta grab groceries," Emma was searching for her phone but Kelly was wearing his watch.
"It's almost four. You know I'm going to grab some too," he said and she laughed just as Hallie excused herself.
"Why does it sound like you're almost trying to go out on a grocery date with me?" she asked him with a blush on her cheeks, and he shook his head.
"I honestly do. Shay's been bugging me for the last week and a half to grab some. And if I don't do it now she'll have my ass. Besides, carrying a huge load of food and Iz doesn't sound easy." he said looking to the toddler as Emma nodded.
"I'll admit, it does take some skill, but it's okay. Really, you don't have to come. It isn't very fun anyways." Emma said and he nodded.
"Don't worry, I know. And I'm sure it'll be even more boring with you going on and on...But I feel like i should do it because it's the right thing," he said and she gasped and glared at him.
"Have I ever mentioned how incredibly irritating I find you?" she asked and he smirked.
"No, but I'll take that as a compliment." he said and she shook her head while packing up Izzy's food.
"Well don't." she replied with a clearly light bitter tone.
