Sevasey Drabbles

Him

Shay opened the door to find Casey stood wearing just an old shirt and a pair of loose jeans, he was shivering from the cold. "What happened?" she exclaimed at the sight of his black eye and cut lip.

"I'm sorry it's late, I should have called," Casey responded as he looked miserably at the floor, his hair was jutting up at all angles and Shay just wanted to wrap her arm around his trembling form.

"You know you're welcome here whatever the time is, Matt," she replied with a soft smile. "Come in." She moved back to allow him entrance into the apartment.

"Is Kelly here?" he asked, still avoiding eye contact, as he walked into the warmth of the apartment.

"He's just in the shower, he won't be long," she explained. "I'll get you a hot drink, do you have a preference?"

Casey shook his head.

"Hot chocolate it is then, I can't bear to give you caffeine at this hour," she smiled.

Shay intercepted Severide as he exited the bathroom and informed him that Casey was sitting, still half frozen from the cold, sipping at a hot chocolate in the middle of their couch.

Severide slipped into some clothes and sat down on the coffee table in front of Casey. "Hey Case," he said softly.

"Hey," Casey replied tiredly, he sighed, "I'm sorry." He lifted his head, Severide got a better look at the bruise on Casey's face, his eye had swollen slightly but what concerned him the most was the bruises he spotted on Casey's arms because they weren't all new, they faded in intensity.

After a long stretch of silence Severide spoke up. "Talk to me Matt, that's why you came, tell me what's happened."

Casey looked him in the eyes. "I'm in trouble."

"I can see that," Severide said with a smile, encouraging him to continue, he'd had his suspicions for weeks that something was terribly wrong.

"Please don't hate me." He sniffled, making him sound much younger than his years, the unkempt hair didn't help.

"I'll never hate you, Matt," Severide said.

"I'm sorry," Casey shook his head.

"Someone hit you more than once and not just tonight," Severide summarised, he glanced at Casey's hands, "And you didn't fight back."

"I don't know what to do." Tears began to trickle down Casey's face.

"You'll stay here tonight, tomorrow and the day after, however many days you need to," Severide said, "But you need to leave her, you can't stay with someone who…"

"Him," Casey corrected him.

Severide said nothing and continued. "You need to leave, change your locks, block his number and stay away from him."

Casey nodded. "I'm sorry."

"It's not your fault," Severide reassured him. "And I'm glad you're here, I'm glad you told me."

"No, I'm sorry that I didn't do anything, I didn't hit him back, I'm sorry," Casey muttered.

Severide stood up from the coffee table and sat next to Casey. "Come here." He put his arm round his shoulders, pulled him gently towards him and waited for him to relax in his embrace. "Don't ever apologise for that, I'm sure that would have only made it worse." He sighed and asked, "Why did you wait so long to tell me? You know you can tell me anything."

"It's embarrassing, I'm a man, I'm a firefighter, an officer, I box, I know how to fight back… and…" Casey hesitated, "… And he said he was sorry, said he wouldn't do it again but… but this time he went too far and I don't think I even did anything wrong…"

"You never did anything wrong Case," he replied softly, gently squeezing his shoulders.