Gina and belletane, thanks so much for the reviews. I appreciate them so much, and I admit it's nice to see that someone's reading.

I hope you'll enjoy the next chapter as well. I choose to switch between the scenes, so to speak. I hope it's easy enough to follow.

Chapter XLVI

Kidd looked around the elevator. Her colleagues were a sorry sight. The firefighters were all still dressed in their work gears, and their hair and faces were covered in soot and dirt. For a split second, she was glad she was on ambo-duty today. Otherwise, she would be dressed in sweaty pants and smokey jackets, just like her colleagues were. Their facial features reflected the last hours, and their anxious mood bounced off of their body language. She knew how much his men valued Kelly. She planned to have them say their hello's and then send everyone home. Severide needed his rest now.

The sound of the elevator let them know they arrived on Kelly's floor. The Intermediate Care Unit, or IMCU, was a hectic place. Unlike in the intensive care unit, the beds were only separated by partition walls and curtains. The patient's monitors gave constant alarms because patients were awake and moving, and the number of visiting relatives increased the noise level. All in all, not really a place to find peace.

Cruz was the first to rush towards the station desk. His walk was quick and expectant. Kidd tried to catch up.

"Okay, guys! Kelly needs rest. Let's not forget that. I think it's best Tony and Capp go in first. Then Joe and me."

Everyone nodded and seemed to agree. Capp was excited and didn't wait long, "okay, Kidd, where does Severide hide?" Stella grabbed him by his arm and looked at him sternly, "Not a word about Casey. You heard the chief."

"You don't need to tell me. I know how it's done. And for your information, I'm not exactly keen on being the one to tell him either. So, back up, okay ?!"

Kidd felt attacked for a brief moment but understood why her colleague reacted that way. They were all irritable and worried.

"Sorry, Capp. I didn't mean to be bossy. It's just ... it's Kelly." She released the grip on his arm and patted him, "I'm just worried, that's all."

Capp nodded at her, and with a sigh, he told her, "We all are."

She smiled at him and pointed to a segregated area, "he's behind curtain three. Go on. I'll let the nurses know we're here."

Boden could feel his own nervousness running thru his body. Even though he knew Casey was in good hands, he still felt the responsibility he had for his team member.

Casey was pale, and his skin looked a little grayish. The ventilation machine made his torso go up and down in rhythmic movements. His eyes were covered with cotton wool patches. Boden found the sight irritating and almost unnatural. He remembered Casey's extremely bloodshot and watery look. "What about his eyes?"

"The smoke has inflamed his cornea. Treatment is saline, and eye drops every hour. They'll recover quickly."

Boden took a few steps closer to the bed, "I have to say he looks worse than I thought."

"That's because of all the wires and machines. Look at the heart monitor—steady sinus rhythm. Blood pressure is stable. And the saturation is as expected. All in all, we can be really satisfied."

Boden shook his head with so much worry that Halstead felt terrible for him.

"Seriously, Chief! Casey's doing good so far. It looks worse because he's sedated. But believe me, you don't want us to wake him up now."

Boden sighed again. The red-haired doctor gently pushed him a little closer to Casey and put a chair behind him. "I'll leave you alone now. Keep it short. If something's wrong, call the nurse."

Boden nodded and thanked the doctor. Then he pulled the chair closer to the bed and sat down. For a moment, he wasn't sure what he was going to say to his injured man. A few hours ago, he thought he had to deliver one of his angry but educational speeches to him about being responsible for not only his life but that of his team. That, being a captain meant more than controlling a dire situation, and so on. Now he had to face a much heavier situation he didn't prepare himself for that morning when he got up and went to work.

"You gave us all quite a scare, Casey." Strangely enough, it wasn't as difficult for him to speak as he feared it would be. "Severide is fine. I know you're worried about him, but there's no need." Boden leaned forward a little as he informed his unconscious captain, "He'll have to stay in the hospital for observation too, but he's awake and responsive. And he'll give me hell about what happened." A light chuckle escaped him, masking his nervousness he felt.

The quiet sound of the ventilator was almost soothing.

"I'm sure he'll visit you soon. I plan to try and stop him from doing so, but I guess it will be a wasted effort." Boden was sure that Matt would have smirked at that if he had been awake.

"He's gonna be mad at you, at first, but don't worry. He'll come around, eventually."

Another slight pause was held before he whispered, "You and Severide!" He shook his head slightly. "Herrmann and I were talking about you two! And Andy, since you, ... yea, well, since you mentioned him, today. Cristopher called you the 'three musketeers.' I guess it fitted... You three were always in trouble. And a real nightmare for your boss, I can tell you that!" A slight laugh broke out of him. "Darden would have kicked both your asses after what stunts you two pulled today."

Wallace smiled at the thought at first, then his expression changed and became more serious, "Or he'd be in one of these rooms too. Who knows?" Boden sighed, and with honesty, he said, "He was a daredevil, Casey!"

The statement lingered in the room, between the chief and his captain. Boden almost could feel Casey's uncomfortable disagreement, which he would display if he wouldn't be a sedated mess. So, he tried to justify his last statement. "Don't get me wrong. He was a sweet guy and a great man. He was funny as hell, and he made our house a bit brighter. The class clown, as you always called him. And not a single day goes by where we shouldn't mourn his loss. But it's been a long time, and you have to move on. Make your peace with it, ... with him."

Boden felt the heaviness of his proposal, but he also knew that Casey had to get past his anger and frustration about what had happened that day.

"He was your friend, and I get it. And Kelly's." The firefighter paused again, "Kelly had been hurt in two ways that day, and he started to lash out, and I get that too. I should've advised you better. To get the two of you talking," Boden huffed in annoyance at himself how he handled the situation back then.

"Bottom line, Darden was under your command, and I know how hard that must've been for you." Boden knew the feeling too well.

"Andy was a good firefighter. Quick and without hesitation." Wallace remembered him clearly, "but he was also hard to manage. Even more so than Kelly and you are. Andy was one of those guys who smile at you, even if flames threaten to swallow them up."

Boden looked up at Casey's face. Slowly he raised his hand and placed it on top of his captain's freshly bandaged one. He applied light pressure, hoping the other would sense his presence. In a clear and impressively serious voice, he said, "It wasn't your fault."

"You take it easy, Lieutenant. Hope you can sleep in here. I know you're spoiled by your corner office. It looks like tonight it's more like the bunkroom. Maybe that's a good thing. You finally can walk in our shoes." Capp laughed. "Could be a nice way to let our officers know how badly they treat their underlings."

"Watch it," Kelly replied tiredly. But he was used to Capp's humor and wasn't really offended. He looked in the direction of the curtain as it moved. His eyes lit up when he saw Kidd approach.

"Everything all right here," she asked? Her eyes met those of the two visitors. She tried to read the atmosphere in the small space. It seemed friendly, and as far as she could tell, Severide acted relaxed. Tony recognized her questioning look anyway, and with a naturalness, he said, "We just reported to the lieutenant that Squad was able to leave while truck and engine are still busy with overhaul."

Kidd smiled knowingly and said, "Yes, yes! Of course!" She almost sounded too pleased. She was just grateful that Tony came up with a simple but absolute plausible excuse for the captain's absence. And she tried to play along, "Chief wanted to make sure how his squad-lieutenant is doing. So, he sends squad along. Classic Boden manner."

Kelly seemed to be unimpressed by the strange exchange. Maybe his head was more bruised than they all suspected. He blinked and cocked his head and let Stella know, "S'all good. Capp just wished me a good night's sleep."

Stella smiled and faked an overly cheered friendly, "oh, that's so sweet of him." She patted Capp's shoulder and told him, "Hey, your time's up. The Lieutenant's all mine now. Go, shush."

Capp and Tony nodded and told their goodbyes to Severide and went out of the IMC- Unit.

"Hey there," Kelly greeted.

"Hey, there yourself," Stella retorted, "How are you holding up? Pain any better?" She made her way over and sat next to him on his bed and ran her hand thru his short grey hair, careful to not touch his slight bruise he was sporting on his forehead. The doctor had patched it up when he was still in the E.D.

"A bit," he told her. "I've probably slept the last hour or two." He stretched his muscles a bit, "I have no idea what they're giving me, but mostly I feel like I've had a scotch too much." Then he spotted someone standing in the back. "Hey, Cruz! Come on. I'm not contagious."

"Yea, course, sorry, man! I'm glad you're doing fine." He approached the bed and continued, "you look good, Lieutenant."

"Eh, well, I'm getting there." Severide blinked, "Still seeing two of you, but otherwise, I'm good."

"Sorry to hear that," Cruz mumbled. The man had been eager to see his lieutenant a few minutes ago, but now, he was nervous to say something stupid and cause trouble. Severide could tell he was behaving strangely but tried to ignore it.

"So, how is everyone doing?" He attempted to sit up a bit. He lightly touched his forehead. "I can't really remember what happened. I mean, I know we were at a house fire, and a boy was missing." He shook his head a bit and looked up, "Is he alright?"

"Uhm, yea. He's somewhere at this hospital. Don't worry." Cruz informed him.

"Oh good. Who got him out?" Severide asked. "Was it you? I think I put you on it, didn't I?"

Cruz straightened and nodded, "Yeah, yeah, you did. It was nothing, really. No problem. Clean save!"

"Good to hear," Severide smiled. He looked back and forth between the two firefighters.

He captured a strange mood that seemed to emanate from them. Kelly couldn't quite make out what it was, but something felt off. His head was pounding, and he wanted to push past the thought and ignore the whole thing, but he couldn't shake the feeling. He already had noticed that Capp and Tony were acting weird before, and his inner radar screamed out loud that something wasn't right. Eventually, it was enough for him and, against his own sanity, he asked, "Okay. Guys! What's going on here?"

Boden was just on his way to see his squad-lieutenant. He had left Casey a few minutes ago. When he entered the IMC-Unit, he immediately noticed one of the separated cubicles, in which apparently a discussion was going on. He could hear voices that sounded a bit too excited. He went to the nurse's desk and was about to ask for Severide when he heard his voice, "just say it!" He nodded to the nurse and just sighed, "It's okay. I already know."

The brunette gave him a stern look and warned him, "please try to turn it down. It's a hospital, and people want to rest." Boden turned around while going and shrugged his shoulders as he told her, "I'm on it."

And he took a deep breath to prepare for what was to come. He knew he couldn't hide the truth about Casey from Kelly for long, but he didn't want to overwhelm him either. First, he had to keep his people in check and the volume at an acceptable level.

"What's going on in here?" his voice cut the conversation short between the three firefighters.

Severide looked up and huffed, "Good, Chief!" For a moment, he glanced past him, like he was expecting someone.

Boden looked at him and greeted gruffly, "Severide."

"Chief, what the hell is going on?" Kelly blurted out. "These two won't tell me anything."

"I could ask you the same thing." Boden tried to buy some time, "as far as I know, this is a hospital, not a fish-market. The nurse told me to shut it down in here. There are sick people here!" He looked grimly at Severide, "and you're one of them. So, please be quiet and take a break."

Severide looked insulted at his boss. He crossed his arms and pressed his lips until they became a thin, white line. He held his breath and waited impatiently for information.

Boden didn't care about his lieutenant's childlike behavior and turned to Joe, "Cruz, you should go now. I'll see you next shift. And be ready to step in for Severide."

"Yes and no problem, Chief," Cruz said and turned to Severide, "get well soon. I'll swing by tomorrow."

Kelly released his tense posture and thanked his colleague. Then he turned back to Boden, "so, what is it, Chief? What aren't you telling me?"

"First, I want to know how you're doing?" And his voice made sure he was going to get an answer.

"I'm fine, Chief. It's just a headache. It'll pass." Severide's nonchalant attitude didn't impress his boss at all.

"You're in the hospital! It's a concussion and not just a headache. A whole floor collapsed on you, so pardon my worries."

Severide shook his head, "Yeah, whatever! But I'm alright. Doc said it's just a precaution. I don't think I even need to be in here." And he looked annoyed at the electrodes and wires attached to his chest.

"That's not your or my call to make. So, stick to the doctor's plan," Boden told him. And again, there was no room for Kelly to argue.

Severide looked at him with wide angry eyes, "I already do that! I'm here, aren't I?"

Boden could sense his irritability. "I can see that, and I like to keep it that way," Boden warned him.

Severide snorted loudly when it broke out of him again, "Damn it! Just tell me already! I'm not dumb. I know something's going on."

Kelly could feel his heart starting to do double beats, threatening to give him a panic attack. Deep down inside, he knew exactly what this was all about. He had already known after his squad-guys left. And his suspicion only grew larger since his chief's arrival and obvious hiding demeanor.

Casey would have shown up here by now if he could. Or at least now, with the chief in tow. Kelly was sure of that. But the fact that Boden visited him alone could only mean one thing.

Kelly felt his stomach tighten, his hands began to tingle slightly, and his entire body seemed to be shaking as it tried to hide his fear and tension. He looked into the faces of his boss and his girlfriend. In both, he could see the tiredness that he felt himself. His eyes began to sting, and his anyway blurry vision got worse. Kelly could feel the tears building up, but he wouldn't let them come out. He slowly closed his eyes and took a deep breath. Then he turned his gaze to Boden and finally managed the courage to asked, "How bad is it?"