"You know, when we talked about me needing to learn how not to allow others to use me, I didn't expect that you'd end up practically living with me."
"First of all, I'm visiting and not living." Severide argued sitting comfortably on the couch with beer in his hands.
Casey simply rolled his eyes at this statement. After his mother's departure they tried to give Shay and Clarice a little more privacy and relocated to his place. Somehow Severide saw that as an invitation and now stayed there even without Casey around.
"And! Everything I'm doing is for your own good." Severide continued. "Each time I let you out of my sight you manage to find yourself problems."
"As if you're any better." Casey smirked, throwing a pillow at him.
"The next time you'll throw things at me, make sure it's something edible." He laughed trying to chew the pillow. "You know what, just to prove you wrong I give you your freedom and then we'll compare the results."
"Oh, one more bet! You're still hoping to win, aren't you?" Casey teased his friend.
"Cockiness doesn't fit you." Severide grumbled in return.
"Are we starting right now? Because I'm sure it won't take you long to find problems with Shay or Clarice."
"Cheater. Don't dream about that. We start tomorrow and you'd better prepare to lose." This time the pillow was thrown back at her owner.
"Well then I shouldn't waste our time together sitting here. Let's go!"
"What? Why should I go anywhere?"
"Weren't you the one who spoke about not letting me out of sight?" Casey pointed out. "Or Lt. Severide is too old and tired for any activities?"
"You're that close to be killed, you know. And you said you didn't get yourself in problems."
"If by problems you mean killing me then you'd better think twice."
"Don't challenge me." Kelly growled.
"Oh, but I don't." Casey answered with as sincere look as possible. "Just think about Shay's reaction on you killing me before I managed to finish repairs. And of course there's Clarice' birthday…"
"Shit!" All jokes were forgotten immediately because Severide knew Shay too good to imagine her reaction on him forgetting such thing. "What are you giving her?"
"You mean could you join me?" At first Casey planned to torture his friend a little more but one look on Kelly's face made him change his mind. "That was the original plan."
"Thank God!"
"Aren't you going to ask what it will be?"
"I trust you to choose the best option."
"Good for you. Because our plan for today is to buy it."
"What? I thought you already got the present."
"Nope. I already chose it. But considering it's from both of us…"
"Ok. I got it." Severide gave up. "Show the way."
"What the hell, Casey?! Are you fucking kidding me?"
"What's the problem?"
"What's the problem? You don't see the problem?" Severide was almost red from indignation. "This damn store is the problem."
"It's the best one in Chicago."
"Yeah, for those who want to try and buy media-centers with karaoke! Am I looking like one to sing in front of all the passers-by? "
"How else should we choose which one to take?"
"I don't know. But I damn sure won't sing anything."
"Okay. Fine. I'll try and see which are more user-friendly. That leaves you with all the technical stuff."
"Deal." Severide calmed down a little. "But why this thing?"
"Because Clarice likes to sing and this way it will be easier for her to make Shay join her."
"Oh, I'd want to see that."
"Don't even think about that. That's for them to use, in private if they want to." Casey stopped him. "They deserved to live on their own."
"Not when I'm in the next room."
"That's one more thing I wanted to talk to you." Casey paused. "Having a baby isn't a game. It'll change the whole rhythm of their lives and yours as well if you're living together. Are you ready to be a father?"
"What?" Severide choked on these words. "First Shay, then you. What's wrong with you guys?"
"I'm not teasing, just wondering that maybe it's time for you to move out and leave Shay and Clarice to live alone."
"Oh. I… This… I didn't think about that." He finally managed to say.
"At first I thought about helping them to find their own house but it will take a lot of time and energy which Clarice doesn't have right now. And of course all the remodeling for the baby..."
It looked like Casey had been thinking about this for a while now and Severide wondered why it had never occurred to him that they couldn't live as flat mates forever.
"Well, we could make this as a gift to them. But where do you suggest for me to go? Or is it your way to ask me to move in with you?" He smirked.
"Definitely not." Casey answered with a mock fear. "You may be irresistible for women but I know you too well."
"Come on, I'm not that bad."
"Hmm, guess you're right. I'm sure guys will be fighting for the chance to live with you. Who do you prefer? Cruz? Otis? Mills? Or maybe Mouch?"
"Hey. What's up?" Shay looked at her friend worriedly. She knew Dawson didn't like Clarice but most of the time she had been reacting to her stories even if in a negative way. Today, though, she was strangely quiet.
"Nothing."
"Is it about Mills?"
"I told you it was nothing."
"Should I ask you one more time?"
"Ok. You aren't going to leave it, are you?!" Dawson sighed. "It's nothing in particular. Just the whole thing with Antonio. I don't know what I would do if he… "
"I understand." Shay squeezed her hand.
"I'm not proud of what I had to do and that I owe Voight now but I couldn't leave Antonio. And the hell if people don't understand that."
"Is it about Casey again?"
"No it isn't about him. It's his right to react the way he did. Everybody can think that I was a fool to go to that bastard but it helped my family and that's the only thing that matters."
"I understand sweetie." Shay didn't know what else to say here. She could relate to both Casey and Dawson but saying this will only make things worse.
"You see, that's why you're my best friend." Dawson smiled at her and Shay smiled back but the only thing she could think about at that moment was that she wouldn't be called that if she tried to disagree with Gaby.
"Pete asked me to move in with him." Dawson announced out of nowhere.
"Here we go!" Severide said as a greeting. "Be ready to lose."
"First catch you hare and then cook him."
"Hunting metaphor. Nice. It's almost like my father is here somewhere."
"Hi guys! Are you going to chatter all day instead of working?" Shay yelled passing them.
"What have you done?" Casey turned to his friend.
"Nothing. Why do you think it's because of me?!"
"Maybe because she's living with you and Clarice and somehow I doubted Clarice had something to do with it."
"Well it certainly doesn't have anything to do with me." Severide muttered offended.
"If you say so."
"Truck 81, Squad 3, Ambulance 61, building on fire."
"We'll discuss it later."
"Of course. Right after I enjoy the work of great truck team." Severide smirked.
"Hope it'll teach you something." Casey teased back already on the way to his men.
"Keep that 2 ½ on the roof line. I don't want a flare-up spreading to the other buildings." Boden commanded.
Severide watched Casey and his men disappeared inside the building but in spite of all his jokes the only thing he wanted right now was to be there with them.
"Oh, hey, sir, sir."
His whole attention was on the building so it took him a second to notice an old man. "Stand back, okay?"
"It's my restaurant, are my employees safe?"
If there may still be people then the squad can go in and help, Severide thought immediately.
"Hey, Casey, you got a search status?"
"Building is clear." Casey answered.
Severide hoped this would be enough for the owner but the man started telling him about it not being an accident and all. If that was right then it was CPD job to investigate.
"Okay Chief we're almost done; send the engine for the wash do…"
The rest of the words were override by Cruz's yell. "Casey!"
The man still tried to keep Severide's attention but he ignored him rushing to the building. The next moment he saw Cruz pushing Casey and himself out of the window. Matt was burning.
"Hit him with the hose." Boden yelled and once again Severide was left to simply watching. Even Casey's I'm fine wasn't good enough. Because it was the same rake once again but this time there wasn't another friend to blame, only him betting about Casey finding problems and hell he didn't mean it that way.
"Come on. It's fine. Seriously. It didn't burn through my gear." Casey tried to calm Shay down but to no effect.
"Then what is this?" She frowned at him showing the hole in his gear. "You realize that couple more seconds of whatever that was that dumped on you and it wouldn't have stopped at the jacket."
Casey just shrugged but Severide winced imagining that few more seconds. How could things go so wrong?!
"Homemade gasoline fire bombs in the ceiling." Otis announced and it meant the owner was right in his suspicions.
"The old man told me about being threatened and now this" Severide said while waiting for Dawson to treat Casey's burns.
"Kelly, calm down. It'll be investigated." Shay started knowing too well what her flat mate was capable of especially if his friend got hurt.
"Damn sure, it will."
"Look, Severide." Casey even didn't get to finish before being interrupted by Severide's growling.
"And you should watch your whereabouts much better. I think it was taught on the first lesson." With that he left.
"It didn't go well." Casey muttered.
"Come on, it's Kelly. He's always grumbling when he's scared and you really scared us, you know." Shay smiled sympathetically.
"Not that I planned it that way."
"I know. Just give him some time. And maybe let him follow you for a little while. It was the same with me after the crash."
A/N: I started this chapter aiming for fun. Then I watched Chicago fire episode with Dawson being so self-centered that I just couldn't help myself writing my (or in this case Shay's) thoughts of the situation. And then after all of this I decided to add some events from the original plot and somehow it ended how it ended. Most of the plot lines won't be in my story for different reasons: because I'm not interested in Mills, because I want for Shay to be happy and so on. But few of them will still take place, so maybe next chapter will be a little serious too. Hope it's okay with you.
Me, I'm so happy to hear that you love my Shay. Of course there will be more of Casey-Shay duello. I love them too much to miss the opportunity. As for boys interaction, things get better. I really enjoyed the broment from the previous episode (you could see it in this chapter, lol), but I agree there could have been so much more with all the problems they could discuss together.