Pallada: as always thank you for your kind words and I'm glad I'm still able to keep you entertained. And I'm especially glad you liked the mirror-part. I was concerned it would be too much drama, but I wanted to show how much Matt is struggling with his own emotions. He is in a very difficult spot right now. He has many issues that are needed to be addressed. Kelly's still trying to get him to see it, but he's getting frustrated because Matt's still deflecting whenever he has a chance too.

FrankieFandom: Welcome and thank you for your review. I am so happy and excited when new people discover my little fic and I'm even happier when they like it! I totally agree with you on Casey's past. His history is what's defining him and his actions. And it adds a lot of drama to his character.

For all those who were waiting, I'm sorry it took me so long, but here is the next chapter.

Chapter XXVI

Casey was sitting on the gurney back in his cubical, waiting anxiously for Will to arrive. He was certain that he didn't manage to fracture his wrist, but on the other hand, he could be wrong, which meant he would have to expand his sick leave. And this time it would be for weeks, not only days. He didn't want that to happen, although he wasn't so sure about returning to work. He had thought about it the last couple of days. Matt loved his job, but the fact that he wasn't acting command on truck, for now, took away the joy of coming finally back. To be honest, he didn't know how he should behave towards his team. He knew they all had their opinion on him and his way of handling certain situations lately and he felt embarrassed about the fact that the Chief thought he couldn't do his job right. So, given that circumstance, he wasn't exactly comfortable of returning to the firehouse.

Casey was lost deep in his thoughts when the sliding door opened, and a man Casey didn't know entered. He was wearing a greyish coat which led Casey to think that he may be one of the medical assistants in this hospital. The man was a bit obese, and under his coat, he wore an ugly vest and a wrinkled shirt with an even uglier tie.

"Hello, Mr. Casey. I'm Dr. Charles," he introduced himself.

"Nice to meet you. You're the one stitching me up?" Matt was glad that someone finally showed up, which meant he could go home soon.

"That's quite an impressive cut there," the doctor said as he looked briefly at Casey's hand. Then he looked up and asked, "How're you feeling today, Mr. Casey?"

Matt smiled at him and told him, "Actually good. I just want to go home, so I'd be glad if we could speed this up."

"I can totally understand that. Who wants to spend an evening in the ED, right?" He snorted, to emphasize his statement. Then he took the little stool, which stood in the corner of the small room and placed it in front of Casey and sat down, "You're with the CFD, right?"

Casey looked surprised but answered nonetheless, "Yes. I'm a firefighter at station 51."

Dr. Charles looked up and nodded, "Ah, Chief Boden's house, isn't it?"

Matt nodded and said, "Yes, Boden's my Chief."

Charles smiled at Matthew and told him, "I know Wallace for quite some time now. He's a great guy! And I guess he's a great leader too, isn't he? Men like him are rare, and we should treasure them more."

Matt frowned but honestly returned the answer, "He's the best."

Dr. Charles nodded again and then pointed at Matt's hand, "So I guess this happened on the job?"

Casey felt a bit irritated by that guy, but he tried to stay polite and answered this question as well. "Not exactly. It was an accident at home."

"I see," the other replied and added, "most accidents happen at home, right Mr. Casey? Or can I call you Matthew?"

"Yes, they say that's the case. And it's Matt," responded Casey.

"Okay, Matt it is." Dr. Charles smiled at the other man and then asked him, "You want to tell me what happened to your hand? Looks rather painful."

Casey looked at his hand and opened and closed his fingers as if he tried to test the man's theory about the pain. Charles was right his hand was hurting, which actually resulted in Casey getting annoyed and he impatiently asked, "Is doctor Halstead coming?"

"Unfortunately, not. He's busy at the moment, but I'm sure he'll stop by later," the doctor told Casey and then tried once more, "So, what exactly happened? If you don't mind me asking."

Matt was getting tired of this doc who kept asking him about his hand. All he wanted him to do was take care of his injury so that he could go home and rest. But it seemed that this doctor wasn't genuinely interested in stitching up his hand, so Matt straightened up and frowned while asking, "Uhm sorry, but … are you the one stitching up my hand?"

Dr. Charles again put on a bright smile which was meant to underpin his apology, "I'm afraid I'm not. You see, I'm not that kind of a doctor."

Casey was puzzled, "Oh ... o - okay," he tried to get to the bottom of this, "So well, what kind of doctor are you?"

The elder one smiled at a confused looking Matthew, and with a casual voice he introduced himself once more, "Dr. Daniel Charles, head of the psychology department in this hospital."

Casey, now, looked at the coat more closely, and at the sight of the embroidered emblem, it fell like scales from his eyes. "You're a shrink," he stated.

"Guilty as charged," Dr. Charles smirked.

Matt wasn't as pleased with the doctor's revelation, as the other had hoped, "Okay. Uhm, so, what are you doing here? I cut my hand, not my wrist," he said snottier then he had intended to.

Dr. Charles didn't comment on Casey's improper comparison. He just stated calmly, "doesn't mean that I can't talk to you."

Matt huffed and mumbled, "apparently not." He glared at the other man and asked, "Dr. Halstead called you?" His voice was presumptuous, and you could tell he had a hard time to stay polite and calm.

Dr. Charles didn't let himself be intimidated by Casey's rude and barking behavior, "No, he didn't."

Casey was irritated. He was sure Will had called the shrink to talk to him. Halstead was the one who accused him of having some sort of mental problem. And he was a coworker of this doctor, so it had to be him. Who else would do this?

He looked at Dr. Charles and addressed him once more, "Than, why are you here? Who put you up to this?" Matt contemplated a second before he finally asked, "Kelly Severide?" He hoped it wasn't Kelly who thought he needed to see a shrink. He didn't want his friend to think of him as a nutcase. But then again, Kelly urged him lately to talk to someone, so maybe he was the rat, so to speak.

Charles shook his head, "No. I don't know any Kelly Severide. Is he a friend of yours?" The psychiatrist tried to get a hold of the conversation, but Casey didn't answer him, because he was determined to get an answer to his question. "But someone must have told you about me. Otherwise, you wouldn't have come," Casey explained more to himself than to his speaking partner.

Dr. Charles didn't give up, and even if he didn't give Casey precisely the answer he wanted to hear, he didn't deny that someone had sent him, "and if that's the case? Would it be so bad that someone cares enough about you, that they suggested that I talk to you?"

Matt's features displayed shock and grudge, "that someone thinks I need a shrink? Yeah, I guess that's bad." Casey was silent for a few seconds as he tried to gather his thoughts, then he came to the only conclusion that fitted, "and I guess it's particularly bad when it's your boss, who thinks, you've gone mad."

Dr. Charles ignored this statement as well and didn't contribute to Casey's conclusion, even if he was impressed that he caught up on it rather fast.

He looked at a grim looking Casey, and gently he explained, "and if I tell you that everyone at some point during life is in need to talk to someone. I don't think of it as bad at all. I honestly think it's only human to experience rough patches in life. Doesn't mean it has to be some kind of mental illness. We all have troubles from time to time."

"Maybe, but I don't." Matt snapped at hearing the doctor's opinion.

"Okay then you're a very lucky guy," Daniel told the young firefighter. "But I can tell that you're highly agitated by our meeting right now. Which strictly speaking counts as some kind of trouble, at least for now. Am I right?"

Casey didn't look at the Psychiatrist as he mumbled, "I'd have a solution to that."

Dr. Charles smiled at that. He hadn't expected anything different and continued with his explanation, "I do understand your defense, though. But it also tells me something about you. You see, people tend to get emotional when they're bothered by something. Some of them get snippy and rude. Other's might get aggressive, while some people simply deflect. People use these kinds of emotion as some sort of hideaway. The reason for them to act in that way is mostly because they're dealing with something they can't quite understand. Maybe something happened to them, or it's something they did, or they're still doing. And it makes them scared, or they feel embarrassed about it."

Matt began to feel more uncomfortable minute by minute and of course, Dr. Charles had picked up on it. He could tell it by Matt's behavior, and he even felt bad for the young man as he pushed further, "and I guess, the way you've hurt your hand, plays some kind of role in your overreaction concerning my visit." The psychiatrist explained to a by now nervously fidgeting Casey. "Which could count for problem number two."

Matt turned his gaze at the doctor as he stated, "It was an accident. Like I said before."

Both men looked silent at each other. Dr. Charles just waited for Casey to do the next step.

"I want to see Dr. Halstead now," Matt demanded, "Could you please let him know that I'm waiting?"

Dr. Charles smiled politely at Matt, "I'm sure he knows that, and he'll be seeing you when he finds the time to do so. Meanwhile, I 'd like to keep you company if that's alright with you."

Now it was Matt's chance to put an end to this unfortunate meeting, "I don't want you to have the impression of me being rude, …. Dr. Charles, is it?" His voice toned smug, and he didn't even try to hide it.

"Yes, but you could call me Daniel if you'd like to. And don't worry, I know the difference between rudeness and discomfort. Like I've told you, interestingly enough it's not just you, who's uncomfortable talking to a shrink, as you put it yourself."

Matt huffed at the long interruption, "as I was saying, Dr. Charles. I don't want to be rude, but I'd rather want to be left alone. And to be clear, I don't feel uncomfortable talking to you. I just don't think that it's necessary."

"Matt, I can totally understand your resentment towards me. That's something I'm also used to. People always see me as some concept of the enemy in the beginning. I just want to talk. I have time, and you're stuck in here until some doctor here can stitch up your hand. So, it's actually a win-win situation for both of us."

Matt sat in silence before he finally asked, "and if I don't see it that way? You're going to sit here, waiting until I'm allowed to go home?"

Dr. Charles shrugged and just said, "I could sit here in silence with you if that's what you're comfortable with. But I thought you could tell me more about that accident."

Matt just shook his head, and after a while, he asked with a very stern voice, "Why? You don't even believe it was an accident, do you?"

"I'm just curious, that's all," admitted the doctor. "If you don't want me to know, I can't force you to tell me."

"No, I suppose you cannot," Matt told him with his smug voice again, even if he toned it down by now a bit. Then he asked because he was curious himself, "why is it even important how I've got hurt?"

David smiled at Casey's curiosity and tried to satisfy it, "because, sometimes accidents are dramatically life-changer, in some kind of way."

Casey frowned at that and then stated, "Yeah, well that's not what happened here. I was clumsy that's all."

Now it was the doctor's time to frown, "you don't strike me as the clumsy one."

Matt just shrugged, "well, today I was."

Dr. Charles sensed resentment in Matt's voice, but this time he wasn't the addressee. He found it interesting but didn't mention it, instead, he said, "sometimes in life, we're simply distracted by something, doesn't necessarily mean that we're clumsy."

Casey nodded, and he finally relaxed a bit, since the doctor seemed to roll with his version, of an accident.

"So, Matt. Do you like, being a firefighter? It's a tough job you're doing. I bet you see a lot of drama and experience quite a bit of intense moments yourself, by doing what you do."

Casey looked down at the floor and admitted, "Never wanted to do anything else. It can be tough, but it's not particularly harder than any other first responder job. And I guess drama is rather your specialty."

Dr. Charles laughed at that and nodded, "You're probably right." The doctor observed Casey as he absently played with his bruised hand by clenching and unclenching it into a fist. The cuts and scratches hurt, and the deeper cut on the back of his hand began to bleed slightly again.

Finally, the doctor said, "You should probably hold that hand still until someone patched it up. You're not doing yourself a favor by moving it." But Casey didn't react, and Dr. Charles stood up and took one of the sterile compresses, lying on the tray next to the gurney. "Here take this to cover the bleeding." Matt flinched as he was surprised by the other man's sudden movement. He looked at the little white cloth, held in front of him and asked stunned, "What?"

"I said you probably should hold that still. Otherwise, it won't stop bleeding," Dr. Charles repeated what he had said before. Casey took the compress and pressed it against the wound, "Thanks. I guess I didn't think of that."

Dr. Charles sat down again and sighed, "No problem. Like I said, sometimes we're not as focused as we should be. It's perfectly normal, and it happens to the best."

Matt managed a small smile, "Yeah. I guess. But in our jobs being distracted means making mistakes."

"How true," Dr. Charles agreed with Matt. "Does that ever happen to you? Getting distracted while fighting a fire?"

"I guess I wouldn't be sitting here if it would."

"Good point," Dr. Charles had to agree. "And today? When you were injured at home?"

Casey smirked at the older man and finally recognized, "You're not gonna drop that, are you?"

"I guess that's part of my job. I can't help it, but I'm an incredibly nosy person if you haven't recognized it by now."

"I've got the impression, yes."

Matt couldn't think of any story which he could come off with, but he also knew, that telling the truth, wouldn't be an option either. So, he opted for buying some time by asking question's himself, "Why did you become a shrink?"

"Ah good question, Matt. Maybe the reason was that curiosity, I've told you about. People are interesting, and they're unique and actually pretty amazing from time to time. I wanted to learn more about their behavior and what's defining them."

"And, did you learn something about them?"

"Oh! I've learned plenty. Still, do. And I've learned plenty about myself too. It is quite fascinating to learn about oneself." Dr. Charles smiled at Casey then he told him in a sincere voice, "But I have to tell you a secret, the day I started my own therapy, I wasn't thrilled at all. Can you believe that?" and he chuckled as he remembered, "A shrink, who actually isn't thrilled about therapy. It's an oxymoron. Don't you think?"

"Don't know." Casey shrugged and admitted, "I'm a firefighter, doesn't mean I'm overly excited to run into burning buildings."

"Touché," David said, "And yet we love what we're doing. Kind of fascinating."

"I guess you become used to these kinds of things. As a little kid, I was terrified of candles. But maybe that's because my mother described them to me like they were the devil himself. As I grew older, I recognized that they're actually pretty cool stuff."

"Right at you! Mothers' and their endless fear something could harm us. My mother is precisely that kind of mum. Daniel, don't do this; Daniel, don't do that! Every day long," he let out a loud laugh as he continued, "and that was last weekend."

Casey had to smirk at that, even if he doubted that this doctor's mother was still alive, but he had to give him credit for trying to be funny and likable.

"You're close with your mother?" Charles asked, hoping to get some kind of information out of this conversation.

"Not really. We haven't talked in a while with each other. It's complicated and not really a great story to tell, but I made my peace with it a long time ago."

"That's good for you! Families can be a delicate topic. You should ask my daughter! … On the other hand, don't ask her! That's something I've never had been curious about, but that's maybe because I don't want her to tell me how badly I've messed her up. Do you have kids of your own, Matt?"

"No. I'm not a father. And it's probably the best, the way it is." Matt's voice sounded sad, and Daniel knew that there was more behind that story. From the first few minutes, since he entered Casey's life, he realized, that Matt was a man of many layers and stories. But the doctor also knew that he wouldn't get the chance to hear them today.

"Don't know if you're right about it being the best. But you're still young. Plenty of time for starting a family. You're married?"

Matt inhaled a deep breath before he showed his wedding band, still in its place where it should be. The thought of taking the ring off had never crossed his mind.

"Ah! So, you are. That's great! Is the lucky lady with you tonight? She must be worried. Should I go get her?"

"No need. She's not in town. She's currently working in Puerto Rico. She's also with the CFD, helping get everything smooth after the Hurricane. She's a paramedic."

"I'm sorry to hear that. I mean it's great that your wife 's doing something great like that, but I guess a long-distance marriage isn't exactly easy to manage."

"No, it's not." Matt played absently with his wedding ring on his finger, "Listen! I really appreciate you taking time for me and all, but could you check on Dr. Halstead and ask how much longer I have to wait? My hand starts to hurt more, and I think it's still bleeding. I guess someone should look at it."

Dr. Charles noticed Matt's abrupt and rushed attempt to end this little conversation right after mentioning marriage and his wife. He knew he had touched a sore point, but he was long enough in this business to know when to stop pushing too far too soon. So instead of asking further he just said, "Absolutely, Matt. I appreciate you talked to me. I know that it wasn't something you wanted to do. I could tell, the minute you recognized who I was." Dr. Charles stood up and made his way to the door as he turned around and walked back to Matthew. He held a card towards him and told him in a sincere voice, "I'd like you to call me! We could continue our little talk, and maybe someday you actually can satisfy my curiosity by telling me the real story behind that injured hand."

Matt was taken off guard as he reached for the little business card. "I can't make any promises," he honestly told him.

"That's okay and totally up to you, Matt." Dr. Charles reassured him, "I just want you to know, that I'm willing to take time if you're ever in need of a good talk or advice in life."

"Thanks, Dr. Charles, but I think I'm good."

"You never know what's going to happen in life, so be sure to give me a call when you need to."

"I consider it. Thanks."

"You're welcome, Matt and take care!"

With that, the doctor left Matthew alone in his cubical and Matt let out a deep breath. He was glad that the shrink left and that he managed to hold his own during the conversation. He shook his head in disbelieve about what had happened. He really was in trouble, if the Chief arranged this little talk with his shrink-buddy of his. Now he more than before was hesitant about going back to work.