I've always been curious about Severide's mom on CF. He never mentions her, ever. Also, what kind of a mom doesn't see her son before neck surgery or when he's been accused of a terrible crime? I'm thinking next season we'll find out she's dead, but I decided to make her very much alive in this chapter. Enjoy the drama!
"Jesus Christ, Corinne. It's been, what? Twenty years?" Boden was smiling so brightly the men in the house were wondering who took their chief and replaced him with this bumbling idiot.
"More like fifteen, Wally. Great to see you. You look good." Kelly's mom glanced from Boden to her son, then around the room looking at a sea of shocked faces.
"Kelly." She awkwardly hugged Kelly while he stood by stiffly. His arm still holding onto Shay's.
"What are you doing here?" The coldness in Kelly's voice was everyone's signal to clear the room. There was a little mumbling about nice to meet you and having to do this or that. Shay remained by Kelly's side...his lock on her arm prevented her from leaving.
"Hi Mrs. Sev..." started Shay pulling her arm free and extending a hand out to this stranger.
"Mrs. Kapelos, but call me Corinne. And you are?" Kelly's mom smiled widely.
Shay couldn't help but stare at the beautiful eyes looking at her...Kelly's eyes. Yes, this woman was his mom.
"Leslie Shay. Paramedic here. Umm, and good friend." Shay smiled back hoping Kelly would say something.
He never talked about his mom. Never. Shay had pried, but Kelly never said more than,"She wasn't the best mom." That was it. Shay often wondered if his mom was even alive.
"May we have a moment?" Corinne asked turning back to Kelly.
"No, stay," Kelly grabbed Shay's hand.
"Kelly, please. I just found out from Benny's sister what's been going on with you. From Benny's sister! Jesus!"
"Well, I'm fine. You've seen me. I'm great. You can leave."
Shay didn't like seeing Kelly like this, so cold to his mom. This wasn't Kelly. This wasn't the man she knew.
"Kelly. You broke your neck! You almost died in a fire! You didn't think to let me know, a simple phone call. Hell, Benny could've called. I'm your mother!" Corinne's eyes were filling. She blinked one more time and the tears came.
"Mom," he said softer. "I'm fine. I didn't see the point in worrying you. We hadn't spoken in..."
"Yes, I know how long it's been. I love you. I should've been there."
"Well, you're here now," said Shay trying to lighten the mood. "And you're in luck. Kelly's taking me out to Francesca's tonight after shift. A bunch of us are going and we have a big table reserved."
Shay could feel Kelly's eyes burning a hole right through her. She knew he was not happy with her, so avoiding eye contact seemed like the smart thing to do.
"Why don't you join us? You can get to know Kelly's friends. It'll be fun," Shay couldn't stop herself. If she could fix Kelly and his mom, she had to try. Everyone needed their mom, right?
"I'm sure she's busy." Kelly knew he wasn't going to like the response.
"Umm, no, actually I'm in Chicago just to spend time with you, Kelly."
"It's set then. Why don't you meet us at 8:00?" continued Shay still avoiding Kelly's look.
"Thank you, Leslie." Corinne gave Shay a hug then turned to her son and squeezed his arm. "See you at 8:00."
Kelly nodded and waited for Corinne to make her way out.
"Jesus Christ, Shay! I am so pissed at you right now I can't talk to you." Kelly stormed out not sure where he was going. The station was only so big. He wished he was on another planet at the moment.
Shay, of course, followed.
"Kelly, wait up!"
"Stay away from me right now!" Kelly's heavy footsteps pounded through the front and straight out to the street.
"Kelly!"
Shay watched as Kelly walked down the street.
Kelly walked back and forth in front of the station. He kept within earshot in case of an alarm, but he had to get away from all of them.
When Kelly finally came back in, Shay was waiting, of course.
"I am so sorry. I had no right. I don't know what the story is with your mom." Shay ran at Kelly wrapping her arms around him.
"Yeah, you don't, but now I've gotta sit through this dinner from hell. Thanks a lot." With that, Kelly pushed Shay's arms away and headed to the showers.
Well, at least he's going, thought Shay. She wasn't sure if that was really a good thing after all.
Francesca's was a great restaurant completely wasted on Kelly and Shay that night. Uncomfortable would be the way to describe the atmosphere.
Kelly sat on the opposite end from his mom and discovered it was a mistake. They were facing each other, no way to avoid eye contact.
Boden had made the dinner after all. He said he couldn't come but miraculously changed his mind when he found out Corinne was going.
Casey, Dawson, and Mills rounded out the table. Yes, uncomfortable was the perfect word.
"Corinne, what have you been up to these past few years?" asked Chief trying again to start some sort of conversation.
"I've actually been helping my husband run his shipping business...learned so much. It's exciting, all new to me." She looked at Kelly waiting for some reaction to the mention of her husband, a man Kelly had never met. Nothing.
"Kelly, you should come out. You should see some of Niko's boats. They're amazing!"
"Who's Niko?"
"My husband, Kelly. You got the wedding invitation, Nikolai Kapelas."
"Oh yeah. I forgot about that one," said Kelly stuffing a piece of bread in his mouth wondering where the damn food was.
"You know Kelly works on sailboats," blurted out Shay. I'm an idiot she thought.
Kelly glared at her to shut up.
"I'm checking on the food," said Kelly getting up.
"Yes, he's always loved boats. Always. That and saving people," said Corinne softly as she watched her son walk away.
"I bet you've got some stories," said Boden hoping he could get some sort of conversation started.
"Oh God yes!" smile Corinne eyes lighting up.
"I knew he was going to have some sort of job helping people from when he was, God, probably four. He was always doing something for his friends, giving them his lunch in preschool, standing up for his little buddies."
Shay liked where this was going. She could picture little Kelly doing this.
"By the time he was in elementary, he was always coming home with a shiner, some scrape, sticking up for the littler ones."
The group laughed. Kelly walked back feeling like he was the brunt of some joke.
"Food's coming, finally," he mumbled.
"We were just talking about what a little defender of the weak you were when you were little," said Corinne hoping Kelly would jump in with a story.
He didn't. He just shrugged his shoulders and attacked the bread again.
"Oh remember that one time you tried to rescue old Mrs. D'Angelo's cat from that tree?"
"Mom, please." Kelly obviously didn't want to take a trip down memory lane.
"Well, he gets it in his mind that he is saving this cat...it's WAY up in this huge oak. I'm watching him from the kitchen window then all of a sudden he's gone. I go running outside and he's got a hold of this cat in one arm and hanging on to a limb with the other."
Everyone laughs picturing their tough friend rescuing a cat. Kelly tries to force a smile, it's just not coming.
"He's stuck! Now, keep in mind he's five, six tops. He's 'rescued' this cat and now he's just frozen, not knowing what to do. I'm terrified and don't know what to do either. He is way up that tree."
Shay reached under the table and gave Kelly's hand a squeeze. Hold it together she silently wills him.
"I call Benny and he just laughs. It's funny now because obviously Kelly didn't break his neck, but at the time I'm frantic. Benny finally gets home, yells up to Kelly saying something like he got himself up there so he needs to find a way down."
Everyone grew silent at the table sensing this story didn't have a happy ending.
"Finish it, mom. You started it. Tell 'em what happened. They're waiting." Kelly's voice was stone cold.
"We get the idea, Corinne. No need for all the details," said Boden trying to help Kelly's mom out.
"Kelly stayed up there for another hour. It was dark, windy, I just didn't know what to do. I should have called the damn CFD, that would've shown Benny. His friends having to rescue his son."
"But you didn't," said Kelly.
"No, I didn't. Kelly tried to climb down. He fell and broke his arm. We spent all night in the ER. He needed surgery on it. It was the worst night of my life. I swear to God, I think Benny was proud of him."
"You left out the part where the doc said my arm would never be the same. Remember that? I do."
"Of course I do, Kelly. Thank God he was wrong. Yes, worst night ever."
"When you say 'worst night' do you really mean the worst or just ONE of the worst?" Kelly was furious and no one around the table could understand why.
Yes, it was terrible that he fell out of a tree and had to have surgery as such a young boy. But it was really a testament as to what an asshole Benny was...is.
"The worst, Kelly. You, so small in that big hospital bed."
"Let me get this straight...you think THAT was the worst night?!"
"What do you want me to say Kelly?! Do you want me to tell your friends right here, right now at this nice restaurant that the absolute worst night was about five years later? Is that what you want?" Corinne was looking at Kelly and it seemed neither one wanted to blink.
They were challenging each other into saying something.
"You win son," said Corinne looking away.
"Never mind, not important. Not AT ALL important. Let's get the hell out of here." Kelly threw his napkin on the table and stood up glancing at Shay.
"The absolute worst night of my life was," started Corinne. The friends listening while knowing they didn't want to hear what was coming next, kind of like looking at a car wreck and not being able to turn away.
"When you walked in on me in bed with your football coach. You happy now, Kelly? Huh? You happy now?" Corinne stood up, pushed Kelly out of the way and ran out the door.