While Stella was still recovering from being sick, Kelly had started bunking with Casey in the spare room while Sylvie slept out on the couch. Kelly woke up once in the middle of the night and wasn't sure why. He stared up at the ceiling and waited to fall back asleep, but while he was waiting, he thought he heard something. It was so quiet he wasn't sure what it was, or if he hadn't just imagined it. But he lay there quietly, at times holding his breath to see if he could hear it again, and he did. He turned his head and saw Casey curled on his side with his back to Kelly, he watched Matt as he breathed, the movements were slow, drawn out, and every so often shaky.
"Matt?" he whispered, "are you awake?"
He saw, as well as he heard, Casey take a deep inhale, and then freeze.
"Matt," Kelly reached over and put a hand on Casey's shoulder, "Matt?"
Casey wasn't going to move on his own so Kelly grabbed him by the arm and rolled him over to face him. It was dark in the room, but not too dark he couldn't see the slight glisten of tears trailing down Matt's face.
"Matt, what's wrong?"
A slightly louder sob broke loose, then a series of small hiccuping sobs followed as his whole body started shaking. Kelly pulled Casey over to him and felt Matt press his face into the crook of Kelly's neck.
"Matt, what is it?" Kelly asked, "what's wrong?"
It took a few seconds for him to actually say anything, and when he did he told him, "I'm sorry, I don't know what's wrong with me."
"You're not getting sick too, are you?" Kelly asked.
Casey shook his head. "Everything's changing so much, and it's all happening so fast, and now you and Kidd are gonna be married and...and..." he wheezed, and sniffed and told Severide, "You have no idea what it's meant to me to stay here the last two years..."
Kelly was confused and he didn't like where this conversation was going, "Whoa, hang on, what're you talking about?"
Casey sniffed again and answered, "I know you're not gonna want me around when you two get married, and I wouldn't expect you to..."
"Hold on, Matt, do you think I'd kick you out?" Kelly couldn't believe what he was hearing.
"I know you wouldn't," Casey shook his head, "I know you'd never admit that I was in the way, but I couldn't ask you to put up with me when you two are starting a new life together, I wouldn't ask you to do that."
"Matt, calm down," Kelly grabbed him by the shoulders, "Now listen to me, when I invited you to move in, I didn't mean until someone else moved in, no," he cut Casey off when he opened his mouth, "no matter what happens, you can always stay here, you understand?"
"But Kelly-"
"I mean it," Severide sternly responded, "I don't want you to move out, you are always welcome here," Matt opened his mouth and Kelly cut him off again, "Now I don't want to hear another word about it. You're not going anywhere, I'm not going to let you, okay? Okay?"
Matt nodded in concurrence.
"Good," Kelly lightly kissed him over one eye and brushed his tears away with his thumbs, "You're my best friend, you always will be, I love you, you know that, right?"
Casey meekly nodded again.
"Good. Now let's go to sleep."
Even though he thought they got that settled, neither of them went to sleep right away, Matt pressed his weight against Kelly, clung to him and softly cried until he finally fell asleep. Kelly wasn't sure when that was, but whenever it was, he followed shortly after.
Kelly was already awake and sitting up in the bed when Casey woke up the next morning.
"Are you okay?" Severide asked.
Matt looked at him and slowly nodded and asked, "Can we forget last night happened?"
"Why do you think I wouldn't want you around just because we're getting married?" Kelly asked him.
"Because being married is completely different than just living together," Casey answered, "I know, I've done it."
"Yeah, and you and Gabby both took me in after Shay died and let me live with you for over a year. Did you resent my being there?"
Casey leaned back and sighed, "There were a few times, it just depended what mood you were in."
"Okay, fair point, but did you ever want me to leave?" Kelly asked.
Casey shook his head.
"I seem to recall you arguing when I said it was time for me to get my own place," Kelly added.
Casey nodded. "I loved having you with us. But the thing is, Kelly, our relationship was doomed from the start, and having you stay with us helped balance everything, at least I always knew there'd be one person home I could rely on. But you and Kidd are nothing like Gabby and me, you two have a great relationship, I don't want to get in the way of that."
Kelly pointed at him and said matter-of-factly, "Any relationship where I have to sacrifice my best friend for my fiancee is not a relationship I'm having any part of. No matter what happens, you will always have a place here."
Casey smiled sadly, "I appreciate it, Kelly, but it's not fair to you and Kidd."
"Look," Kelly told him, "If you decide one day you need your own space, a place of your own again, I got no problem with that, but I don't want you moving out because you feel you have to. I want you here as long as you want to stay here, you got it?"
Casey pursed his lips together and meekly nodded.
"Good," Kelly reached over and ran his hand over Casey's hair once, "come on, let's get breakfast started."
"So was I dreaming last night or did I hear you and Severide arguing?" Sylvie asked as she and Matt stood in the kitchen drinking their coffee while Severide was checking on Kidd. "Is everything alright?"
Casey shrugged with one shoulder and explained, "I told him my plan about moving out."
Sylvie lowered her mug and rounded her mouth into a silent 'o' and asked hesitantly, "So what'd he say?"
"I told you, he'd never admit that my being here was a problem," Casey answered.
"I don't see how it could be," Brett replied.
"Like I said, it's going to be different when they get married," Matt told her.
Sylvie stepped around the table towards him and said, "Well, can I tell you something, as a woman?"
"Sure," Casey shrugged.
"Stella's not going to want to get married until her hair grows back," Sylvie said. "So you shouldn't have anything to worry about for a while."
"Maybe not," Matt responded, then asked, "but what about you?"
"Oh...I'll figure something out," Sylvie said. After a beat she asked him, "Do you think Kelly would mind if I stayed on here for a while?"
Casey laughed, "Trust me, if he doesn't have the heart to kick me out, no way in hell he could throw you out."
Brett smirked at that and said, "Well we should be good then."
"What's wrong?" Chloe asked Cruz as she walked in and saw him pacing the living room floor.
He stopped at her question and was quick to insist, "Nothing...why would you say that?"
"Because you're acting all nervous and antsy just like you did before you asked me to marry you."
"That was something wrong wrong with that?" Cruz's eyebrows knotted together inquiringly.
"Joe, what's going on?" she asked.
He composed himself and gestured towards the couch, "Sit down, there's something I want to show you."
"Uh oh," she said. "What is it?"
Cruz fidgeted on one foot like he couldn't decide whether to sit down with her or resume pacing, finally he sat down beside her and told her, "I've been getting a lot of orders for the Slammigan lately, some of them are even being sent out of state."
"That's great, Joe," Chloe's eyes lit up, "congratulations."
He nodded, but continued, "I've been going over our budget for the wedding, and if I add what I've made off of them into it, we can afford everything, we don't have to pick and choose or cut anything out."
Chloe looked him in the eyes, and waited, and asked, "But?"
He sighed, "I've just been thinking, there's something I want to do in honor of Otis, and if I did that instead, we wouldn't be able to afford everything for the wedding. I've never been married before, I want to do this right, I want you to have everything you dreamed of..."
Chloe put her hands on the sides of his face to look him in the eyes and told him, "Joe, I love you because you're an amazing man, and you always do the right thing. I want to hear about this plan for Otis."
A/N: BIG reveal coming up in the next chapter. This is going to be the moment everybody's been waiting for since this story began, hope you all enjoy!