Kelly nervous walked up to the glass door of Casey's room and looked in. Dr. Charles had informed him Matt had just come back from his examination, and looking in he saw the blonde man laying in the hospital bed with his head tilted back and his eyes closed. Kelly felt like he had a rock in his stomach, but he knew he couldn't turn back now. He opened the door and stepped in. "Matt?"

Casey tipped his head and opened his eyes and looked to the door, and when he saw Severide his eyes doubled in size and he started hysterically screaming, "No, no!"

Kelly stepped into the room and went over to the bed, mindful of Dr. Charles advisement that he'd have to leave if Casey told him to, he hoped he could talk to Casey before they reached that point.

"I didn't want you here!" Casey moved back against the bed, "Who told you? Did Dr. Charles call you?"

"Matt, calm down, it's alright," Kelly said, "it's alright, I know what happened."

"No!" Casey shook his head, "No!"

"Matt, Matt, calm down," Kelly told him, "It's okay. Breathe, Matt."

He did, rapidly, and if he didn't calm down he'd soon be hyperventilating. Kelly sat down by the bed and tried to get Casey to calm down, and after a few minutes his breathing finally slowed down, he stopped screaming, but it quickly gave way to crying.

"Matt...can I hug you? Is that okay?"

Casey looked at him with eyes full of tears and let out a sob as he leaned over and clung to Severide and pressed his head into the Squad lieutenant's shoulder.

"Matt, why didn't you tell me what was going on?" Kelly asked.

Another gut wrenching sob came out before any words did, "How could I? How could I tell you about this? I didn't want you to hate me."

"I don't, Matt, I could never hate you," Kelly said, "this wasn't your fault."

Casey started hyperventilating and his whole body trembled against Kelly's. Severide tried to get him to calm down, it took a bit but Casey started breathing normally again but the sobs wouldn't subside.

"Kelly," the tears were pouring down from his eyes as he struggled to talk, "I'm losing my mind."

"What?" Severide was confused.

"I have to be, I must be, it's the only explanation," Casey absently ran his hands through his hair, grabbed large handfuls and yanked it in frustration, "Why else would I keep having these dreams? And they never stop, I...I'm going insane."

There was a fear in Casey's voice as he said those words that took on a life of its own and Kelly could feel it coursing through Matt's body against him. He also felt a stone in his stomach as he realized Casey hadn't accused him of raping him, only in the dream. So what did it mean? Dr. Charles was insistent that Casey had in fact been sexually assaulted and the dreams were just the memories starting to resurface...if that was true, did Casey really not remember yet what had happened? Looking at it that way, it really made sense that Matt thought he might be losing his mind, and Kelly felt horrible for his friend. He didn't have any idea what the answer was.

Matt about started hyperventilating again as a new thought occurred to him and he told Severide in a panic, "I'll never be able to be a firefighter again if I'm crazy."

"You're not crazy, Matt," Kelly tried to assure him, "the doctors are going to find out what's going on, you just have to calm down."

Casey didn't seem to hear him, "Boden...he already said...he wouldn't let me come back..."

"Matt, calm down," Kelly said firmly, "We're going to figure this out, just take it easy."

"The dreams won't stop...they never stop...I can't sleep or they'll come back," Casey weakly carried on.

"Matt, you need to sleep," Kelly told him, "that's why you're here."

"I can't."

"Yes you can, you did before."

"I can't, Kelly, it's going to happen again!" Casey clung to him even tighter, "I can't, I can't, I can't! I can't go through that again."

Kelly was only vaguely aware of the fact he was likewise tightening his hold on Matt, "Matt, listen to me, it's going to be okay." Casey pressed his face tighter against Kelly's shoulder as a series of gasping sobs broke loose, Kelly rubbed up and down Casey's back with more force than was necessary and tried to soothe him, "Shhh, shhh, don't cry, Matt, it's going to be alright."

While this unfolded, Dr. Charles and Hank Voight watched it all from the doorway, unbeknown to either of the firemen.

"What's your take on this, Daniel?" Voight asked Dr. Charles when they moved to an empty corridor to discuss what next.

The psychiatrist shook his head, "No way Kelly's responsible for this. Even if they were in a sexual or a romantic relationship and Kelly was abusing him...we've both seen spouses cover for their batterers, it never looks anything like this, especially when they don't know they're being watched. Casey hasn't even acknowledged a real world connection to his nightmares, he never once said Kelly did it, just that he didn't want Kelly to know about it, and that he didn't want him here, because he didn't want him to know. And as traumatized as he was, if he actually thought Kelly was responsible, no way in hell he would want Severide near him, let alone touching him. Somebody did something to Matt, but it wasn't Severide."

"So what now?" Hank asked.

"Let me find the nurse who conducted the examination, when we actually know what we're dealing with, then we can figure out where to go from here," Dr. Charles said.

Dr. Marcel opened the door to Casey's room and walked in on the two firemen hugging. By now Casey had largely calmed down, but he hadn't been able to pry himself away from Kelly yet, and Kelly hadn't had the heart to let go. The sound of the door opening got their attention and they both turned towards Crockett.

"Dr. Marcel."

"Good to see you're up, Matt, how're you feeling this morning?"

"I..." Casey pulled away from Kelly and sat up in the bed, "I don't know."

"Well we'll take a quick look before I head over to ED," the doctor said as he approached the bed, and had notably better luck this time taking Casey's vitals. "Well you're improving...anybody given you anything yet today?"

Casey shook his head.

"Well enough time's passed since the Ativan, I'll get you started on a mild sedative, you're still not out of the woods yet."

"Dr. Marcel-"

"Don't argue with me, Matt...you my friend have racked up what's called a sleep debt, and by the looks of things, you still have quite a way to go, and you'll excuse me if I'm a bit cynical of the idea of you actually resting at home." Crockett turned his head towards Kelly and asked, "Lieutenant Severide, can I assume you'll be staying with him?"

"I'll keep an eye on him," Kelly said.

"That makes me feel better," Dr. Marcel replied with a hint of sarcasm.

Kelly sat beside Matt's bed and watched his friend, who'd been given a sedative by a nurse, and who he'd personally watched him take the sedative, resist against its effects. Casey was obviously exhausted and nearly asleep, but he was still fighting sleep with every fiber of his being. He lay in the bed, his eyes closed, weakly writhing from side to side, muffled sobs occasionally slipping past his closed lips.

"Matt," he wasn't asleep anyway, so there wasn't any point in being quiet, "Matt, you have got to sleep."

"I can't!" Casey said as he opened his eyes. He looked up at Severide and told him, "Kelly, I know you would never do anything like what keeps happening in these nightmares...but every single one of them just feels so real, Kelly...and all of them feel like they keep lasting longer than the one before it...and I'm scared that the next time I fall asleep and it happens...that it will actually become real, I know that doesn't make any sense, but I'm worried I won't be able to wake up from it, and that scares the hell out of me."

Kelly merely nodded in understanding. "It would scare anybody, Matt, I understand why you don't want to, but you still have to go to sleep. It's the only way you're going to get better."

Until today Kelly had never had to worry about crossing any boundaries, now he was scared to death to do any of the little things he'd done a million times before that involved actual physical contact with Casey, and how he might respond. He wanted to hug Matt but he didn't want to trigger a flashback or anything else that would send Matt into a panic. But, without asking permission, and knowing the chance he was taking by not doing so, he reached over and took Casey's hand in his and lightly squeezed it, and told Matt, "I'm right here, Matt, and I'm not going to let anything happen to you, you know that. Right?" Matt weakly nodded. "I'm going to stay right here, and if it starts to look like you're having a nightmare, I'll wake you up, okay?" Matt didn't say or do anything in response, Kelly asked again, "Okay?" Finally, Matt tiredly nodded.

Kelly thought they were going to leave it at that, but instead Casey turned on his side and clasped both of his hands over Kelly's one, then, slowly, Matt's hands moved up Kelly's wrist, up his elbow, and and instead he wrapped both of his arms around Kelly's bicep and clung to him like a lifeline. Kelly finally took the hint and decided he'd fair better in the bed than in the chair beside it. He half sat on the rail for the bed and asked Casey, "Better?"

Matt merely nodded with a tired smile on his face and closed his eyes. Kelly couldn't help grinning.

"I'm right here, buddy, you're safe."

"Thank you," Casey murmured before he passed out.

Kelly wanted to laugh, Casey looked so cute like this, it was hard to believe all the horrible stuff he'd been through lately. Even in his sleep Casey seemed to creep closer to Kelly, and Severide finally got the point and squeezed in the bed beside Casey, he heard Matt tiredly mumble something that sounded like he was laughing. He guessed he wasn't totally asleep yet.

A question came to him that he dreaded asking, but somehow he found himself able to smile as he asked Casey in a somewhat lighthearted tone, "Hey Casey...you're not afraid of me, are you?"

Casey weakly opened his eyes, and wriggled around on the bed and switched from hugging Kelly's arm to draping his arm around Kelly's back and nudging even closer to him, and he tiredly laughed at the idea as he drifted off to sleep.

"I guess that answers my question," Kelly commented to himself.