Pretty
Cough
Casey forced his eyes open, worried he'd be faced with the inner walls of the boat cabin he was relieved to see the bright hospital room, it took a few moments for him to focus. Someone had hold of his hand. Slowly he moved, the hand slipped away, he pulled the blankets up closer to his head, they must have fallen down whilst he was sleeping. The task was made much more difficult than usual, his whole body felt incredibly weak and his chest ached.
"Are you cold, baby?" - baby? - Casey frowned and looked over to his right.
"Gabby?" he questioned, the frown still played across his pale face.
"How are you feeling? Are you in any pain or anything? Do you need a drink?" she asked.
"What are... are you doing here?" he slurred.
"Antonio told me what happened," she explained with a thin smile.
"What?" he tried to hide the panic from his voice, but was still too groggy to cover up his emotions. "What do you mean he... he told you?"
"Just that you were with some guy you knew, and got hurt…" she began. Antonio and Severide had told her very little, that he had been on a boat with someone called Harvey and he'd ended up in the water.
"What? I didn't know him… he…" he trailed off.
"What happened? Who's Harvey?" she questioned.
"Why are you here?" he countered.
"I just wanted to know what happened, Antonio barely said anything, I wanted to make sure you were ok," she explained softly, shocked at his tone.
"Well, I'm fine so you can go," he stated.
"Matt…" she began to protest.
"It's lieutenant to you," he said harshly. "You can't just come in here and call me baby."
"Fine, I'll go then, I was only trying to help," she replied, taken back by his tone.
He didn't say anything more, he watched her leave, the door slammed shut behind her, he wanted to move onto his side but his chest ached and he could still barely move his arms.
A nurse entered his room and announced, "I just need to change your bandage." She sat down by his bed and gently took his arm. "Are you still feeling nauseous?" she asked, he'd felt like he was going to throw up when he'd woken up earlier on in the day.
He shook his head. "Not anymore."
"Good," she smiled as she unravelled the white bandage that was covering the laceration on his right arm. "And this looks good too, are you in much pain?"
"Nothing I can't handle," he smiled tiredly, and his statement was true. Although the cut was deep it hurt very little, his chest and head ached a little but they didn't hurt.
"Do you feel up to getting up and out of bed?" she asked, smiling brightly. "I can get rid of this then," she indicated the catheter.
"That would be good… but I'm…" he trailed off, he felt so weak right now and he didn't want to admit it.
"You're exhausted, don't worry," she smiled, "You'll be up and about in no time at all, your body's been through a lot so don't worry so don't worry if you don't feel up getting out of bed right now."
"Sev?" Casey questioned as he woke up groggily a few hours later.
"Yeah, it's me," he replied. He'd been sitting by Casey's side for half an hour but visiting hours would be over soon. "I've brought you some things from home."
"Thanks," Casey muttered, he still felt exhausted despite having slept most of the day. "Sev… I'm sorry about earlier."
"Already forgotten," he shook his head.
Casey sighed. "Does everyone know?"
"That you're here? No… Actually I need to call Boden, let him know that you won't be on shift tomorrow," he replied.
"Did you bring my phone?" he asked and Severide pulled it out of his jacket pocket and placed it on the table by him. "Thanks. I'll call Boden, can't have you doing my jobs for me…"
"You're in hospital, you can let people do stuff for you," Severide replied.
"Dawson was here."
"I didn't…" Severide began, he didn't want Casey to think that had anything to do with him; he'd been even less inclined to talk to him.
"I know," he smiled thinly. "Does she know much? She thought I knew…" he broke off, he didn't want to say his name.
"She knows less than me, and I barely know anything," Severide replied.
"I don't want to tell anyone," he muttered.
"I know you don't, but you know you're going to have to," Severide said gently.
"I don't want anyone to know, don't want anyone to know why I'm here… I was… I… I couldn't move… I couldn't move and he…" he shook his head. "I don't want anyone to know."
"Whatever happened, Case, I'm not gonna think any differently of you, ok?" Severide tried to reassure him.
"That's a lie; you and everyone else already do. You found me, right? I think I remember that, did you find the boat too? Were you with the cops?" he questioned.
"I know about the pictures in the cabin," Severide replied, he saw no point in lying.
"I woke up and was surrounded by them," he began as he stared up at the joint between the wall and the ceiling. "I tried to get up but I just fell and then he… I'm tired, you should go, it's late," he glanced at the moonlight shining through the window.
"Case…" Severide started.
"I'm fine," he replied, he saw that Severide was about to protest, "Ok, I'm not fine, but I will be."
"That's sounds better."
The next morning he ate very little of the breakfast that was brought into his room, he had no appetite. Later on the catheter was removed so with a bit of assistance he got up and out of the bed. His whole body ached and he was incredibly weak but he managed it nevertheless.
Back in bed he asked the nurse, "When do you think I'll be discharged?"
"You'll need to eat some more, and keep it down," she indicated the barely touched food on the table, "But I'm sure it won't be too long, the doctor isn't worried about your heart anymore."
"I could have had a heart attack..." he said quietly, remembering what the doctor had told him during rounds early that morning before the ECG monitor was removed.
"The cold does crazy things to our bodies," she smiled, "But you're in the clear, you don't even need monitoring now."
He nodded. "That's…" he broke off into a short coughing fit, once he stopped his face fell, he didn't want to be kept here any longer, he wanted to get home, away from everyone's questions and prying eyes. "It's just a cough," he stated.
"Let me listen," she grabbed her stethoscope and leaned forward, "Breathe in… out… good. Cough for me… good."
He watched as she wrote down some notes on his chart. "All good?" he questioned.
"We just need to keep an eye on it," she replied. "Do you want anything before I go?"
Before Casey could reply there was a short knock at the door.
"How you doing Casey?" Antonio asked as he entered the room with Voight. "We need to ask you some questions."
"Matt?" the nurse questioned.
"It's fine, thanks." But his tone wasn't fine, despite being worried over his cough he had been relaxed before but now he was suddenly on edge. She left the room.
Casey eyed Voight with distrust. "I'll wait outside," he stated before stepping back out of the room.
"I have a question for you," Casey looked straight at Antonio once Voight had left.
"Sure, what is it?" Antonio replied with a small smile.
"Why did you tell your sister I was here?" he asked, he didn't look directly at him but he spoke harshly enough to get his anger across.
Antonio frowned. "I thought you'd want her here…"
"Why did you tell her what happened?" he questioned
"I thought…" Antonio began, shocked at Casey's reaction.
"She has nothing to do with this," he tried to refrain from yelling; he didn't want anyone running into the room wondering what was happening.
"Casey, I didn't…" he tried again.
"Get out," Casey said forcefully, "I'm not answering any of your questions."
"Casey, we need a statement from you," Antonio stated.
"Get out!" he yelled and as the door shut behind Antonio he broke into another coughing fit. In his anger he flung the cup of water off the table, sending it flying across the room.
The nurse quickly entered the room. "Matt? Are you…"
"I'm sorry," he said quickly as he looked at the now empty cup on the floor, he began to push the bed covers back. "I'll…"
"Stop, I'll do it," she replied.
He sighed. "Did everyone hear that?"
"Pretty much," she replied.
"Sorry..." he coughed.
"Don't worry about it," she smiled. "I'm going to go and get the doctor."
"What?" he frowned, still coughing
"I'm worried you're getting a chest infection and he can start you on some antibiotics," she explained.
Severide strolled into the hospital the next day. He had called Antonio during his shift to discover that Casey had kicked them out of the hospital room, and they were no further along with the investigation. He smiled at the staff as walked down the corridor to Casey's room, he was surprised when he entered and he didn't try to hide his thoughts. "You look worse than when I left you."
Casey only coughed weakly in response. All the colour that had returned to Casey's skin had gone and there was a nasal cannula providing him supplementary oxygen.
The nurse, who was replacing the empty IV bag, replied, "He had a chest x-ray yesterday afternoon, confirming pneumonia."
"He'll be all right?" he asked urgently, he saw Casey nod tiredly from the corner of his eye. "I don't care what you say, Case, you'd tell me you were gonna be fine if you hacked up a lung or something…"
"The antibiotics are working, he should feel better in a few days," she replied.
"How…" he began.
"It can be a common occurrence after hypothermia," she explained.
"But he's going to be ok?" he questioned again.
"I'll be fine," Casey muttered, "It's just a bad cold."
Severide shot him a look. "Last time I checked pneumonia isn't just a bad cold," he said pointedly.
"You need anything, Matt?" the nurse asked.
He shook his head.
"I'll be back in later then," she said before she left Severide alone with Casey.
"What are you doing?" Severide asked as Casey slipped off the nasal cannula and start to push the bed covers away.
"Bathroom," he stated.
Severide looked around, spotted a bedpan and held it up.
"No," Casey replied firmly.
"Fine, let me help you at least," Severide sighed.
Casey slowly moved the covers away and put his legs over the side of the bed; he grabbed hold of the IV pole and began to stand up. "Actually… I'm not sure I can…" he muttered in defeat when his weight nearly sagged beneath him, sending him back down to the bed.
"Here," Severide gently put Casey's arm over his shoulder and helped him back up off the bed; he stopped half way to the bathroom and waited for Casey's coughing fit to subside.
He finally made it to the bathroom but he paused. "I… I think you'll have to stay…" he murmured with embarrassment.
"Don't worry, I wasn't planning on leaving you to fall over," Severide smiled and he stood and held Casey as if it were the most normal thing in the world. "Sorted? Let's get you back to bed before you keel over."
"That was a bad idea," Casey coughed as he pulled the covers back over himself, he didn't protest as Severide straightened them out.
"It's not the worst idea you've ever had," he scoffed and a smile crept across his face, "Kicking Antonio out yesterday may not have been a wise idea, but I understand why you did it."
Casey sighed. "Everyone knows everything now anyway… might as well have answered his questions…"
"Case, no one really knows what went down," he replied.
"I am going to have to give statement to the cops, explain what happened, you should stay," Casey said tiredly, "You'll know what happened then, and I won't have to talk about it again."
"Thanks, Casey, I…"
But Casey interrupted him, too worried he would fall asleep before he said what he wanted. "You're really the only person in the world that I would tell… don't think I can stay awake any longer now..." he admitted.
Severide smiled down at him. "I'll be back tomorrow." What Casey had said was true of both of them, although Severide doubted he would remember admitting it, now Shay had gone he had no one left but Casey, even if they had their moments deep down they both knew when it really mattered they'd be there for each other. They'd both been through so much since Andy had died, he didn't think anything would break them apart again.
"Thank you," Casey slurred as he drifted off to sleep.
TBC
