The Greatest Sense of Purpose

Late in the afternoon, Kelly was sitting in his office doing paperwork. There had been five squad calls that day so far, and he knew if he didn't get some of it done, he would be drowning in it later. The after Christmas returns and sales and whatnot seemed to make people a little crazy, although how anyone could have any money left to spend at this point was beyond Kelly. He and Stella were tapped out, but of course they had gone a little overboard for Jack's first Christmas. Still, he was pretty sure they were no more indulgent than a lot of parents. In any event, it made for a busy day all the way around.

Kelly heard a quiet knock and looked up to see Peter Stone at the door. "Coach!" he said as he got to his feet. "What brings you here?"

"Two things, actually," Peter answered. "I got a couple of little things for Jack." He nodded toward two packages he was holding. "And I wanted to talk to you about something."

"Okay. Shoot. And you didn't need to get anything for Jack, by the way. Believe me, he's had a pretty big Christmas." Kelly, in his turn, gestured to the pile of gifts on his bed. "And that's just from the folks here. I won't even confess what Stella and I did. Suffice to say we may have gone a little too far. As in, his birthday is taken care of, too."

Peter chuckled. "I guess we all wanted his first Christmas with a real family to be special," he said. "Anyway, here's what I wanted to talk to you about." Kelly took his seat again, and Peter sat down in an extra chair and leaned forward. "Kelly, the last few years, since my dad died, I've felt a bit...adrift. I've now worked on both sides of criminal law and all it fills me with is hopelessness. The best thing I've done, the thing that gives me the greatest sense of purpose, is coaching those kids last summer. So...I've decided to retire from the law."

"What?" said Kelly. "You're a fantastic lawyer!"

Peter shrugged. "That's debatable. But the fact is, my dad was a shrewd investor, and since I ended up with everything after my sister died, I'm okay financially. I don't need an especially lucrative job. So I've decided to take a few courses and get a teaching degree. I only need a few more credits and I'll be there."

"Wow. That's pretty drastic. But why are you telling me this?"

"Well, I've been serving on the board of a charter school that's due to open this coming fall. It's going to start with the middle school grades. The plan is to add a grade each year until it goes through high school. It's about three blocks away from here. The emphasis is going to be American Studies. So of course I thought of Jack. I'll be resigning from the board this summer, so that I can teach there."

"Wait..." said Kelly. "Is that the old factory they've been renovating?"

"Yep. The Chicago Academy of American Studies. What do you think? Jack would have no problem getting in. It's just down the street, and he would be set through high school, assuming that he's happy with that. Of course, he could probably go to college any time he wanted. You do realize that, I suppose."

"Yeah," returned Kelly. "Stella and I both realize that. But it's not really what we want for him. He hasn't had any time to be a kid, really. So we're cool with him staying the normal course."

"Makes sense to me," said Peter. "Anyway, I wanted you to know about the opportunity. No rush to decide. We won't be taking applications for another couple of months." Peter stood. "Is Jack around today? I'd love to see him."

"Sure. He's in the common room, I think. I'll walk you over."

Jack was delighted to see his beloved coach, and even more delighted when he opened Peter's gifts. One was a baseball autographed by several of the Chicago Cubs, and the other was a book on Constitutional law. Jack wasn't sure which one he liked better, so he thanked Peter enthusiastically for both. "Christmas just keeps gettin' better," he grinned.

Peter stayed to chat for a bit, and then left. Jack wandered into Kelly's office and curled up on the bed next to all of his gifts. Kelly just smiled at the scene. Jack fell asleep, and Kelly let him rest until time for supper, knowing that his sleep could be broken at any time that night, and also realizing that the day had been a bit much for the kid. He really wasn't accustomed to all this. While Jack slept, Kelly quietly removed the packages from the bed and lugged them out to Stella's vehicle, which they had brought that morning in anticipation of extra cargo.

At supper, Jack seemed groggy and a little out of sorts, but he wasn't rude to anyone. Just a little...off, Stella thought. She was concerned about him, but Kelly just put it down to Christmas overload and told her she worried too much. Her mom instincts were in full gear, though. Something wasn't right.

Despite his late nap, Jack was curled into a bunk and sleeping before 9:00 that night. Stella had questioned him, but he said he was fine, just tired from everything. She wasn't so sure, but she didn't press. She figured if he was coming down with something, sleep would be the best thing for him, anyway, so she let it go. Bells went off throughout the night. Kelly had two calls and Stella had four. Each time, Jack would groan and shift in his sleep, but he never fully woke up, not even enough to tell them to keep their badges off the wall. Even Kelly had to admit that was unusual for Jack, but he still wasn't especially concerned. Stella, on the other hand, just knew, the way moms do, that something was wrong with her kid.

By 4:00 AM, all of 51 was exhausted. The last few hours of shift were quiet, and the firefighters were able to catch a little bit of sleep. Jack, in the bunk next to Stella, slept on, but continued to be restless, shifting in his sleep frequently and occasionally moaning. Finally, at about 5:00 or so, he woke, visited the bathroom, and went into his dad's quarters, where he crawled into bed between Kelly and the wall. Kelly did not fully wake, but stirred instinctively in his sleep to make room for his son. Jack sighed, curled into the wall, and returned to snoozing.

By 7:00, folks were beginning to get up and move around, preparing for the end of shift. Kelly woke up hot. His first thought was that someone had turned the thermostat up way too high, but then he realized what was going on. He was lying on his side with his arm around Jack, who was radiating heat like a miniature sauna. Alarmed, Kelly sat up and laid a hand on Jack's head. He felt like he was on fire. "Oh, man," Kelly whispered. "Stella was right."

"Heard that," said Stella as she strode into the room. "I told you something was wrong." She, too, placed a hand on Jack's head. "Boy, he is hot. We need to take him to Med, Kelly. Something is really wrong here."

"Agreed."

Jack rolled to his back and opened his eyes to see both parents gazing down at him with concerned expressions. He swallowed painfully, then croaked, "M'throat hurts. Bad. Head, too." Then he closed his eyes again.

Stella said, "I'm going to hunt up a thermometer. Be right back." Kelly nodded, then sat up against the wall at the end of the bed and pulled Jack over into his lap, letting him rest back against his chest. Jack leaned back and sighed, but never opened his eyes. Kelly just sat there, caressing Jack's head and holding him tightly. He hated when his kid was sick. It was a completely helpless feeling.

Stella returned in short order with a thermometer. Jack still didn't open his eyes as she ran it across his forehead and down the side. "Okay," she said quietly, and showed the digital read to Kelly, whose eyes widened. It read 103.8.

"I'm gonna let Casey know we're outta here and grab our stuff," said Stella. "You get him to the car."

Kelly nodded. He eased Jack off of him, stood, and gathered the boy into his arms. As fast as he could go, he made his way toward the car. He slid Jack gently into the back seat and buckled him in. Jack was awake, but too woozy to either fight or cooperate. He just submitted limply to whatever Kelly did.

By the time Kelly had Jack situated, Stella was hurrying out, carrying both of their duffles and Jack's ever-present tactical pack. Kelly grabbed the duffle bags and Stella shrugged out of the backpack. They

threw everything into the back of the car, got in themselves, and hustled off to Med.

A short while later, April Sexton was swabbing Jack's throat as he gripped Stella's hand, not enjoying the process in the slightest. "I'm sorry, honey, I know that was uncomfortable, but we're done, okay?" said April. Jack nodded weakly, closing his eyes. April stroked his hair and looked across at Stella. "Poor thing. He's miserable."

"I know. I just want to make it stop. I can't stand it. And Kelly's just as bad. He so hates it when he can't make it go away. And this time is worse, because I tried to tell him something was wrong, but he didn't believe me, so now he feels guilty on top of everything else."

"Well, if this is the strain of strep we've been seeing for the past couple of weeks, it hits hard and fast, so he shouldn't feel too bad. It's not his fault he's not a mama. Mamas just know, but a lot of times, daddies don't. Just how it is."

"True that. I can always tell before he can. Drives him crazy."

"We should know something pretty quick. I'll be back."

"Thanks, April." April smiled and left the room as Kelly entered. He crossed and stood in the space April had vacated.

"How you doing, bud?" Jack just looked up at him and shook his head.

Kelly looked over at Stella. "I feel like a terrible dad. You tried to tell me and I wouldn't listen."

Before Stella could respond, Kelly felt a small, fevered hand on his forearm. He looked down and Jack shook his head again and whispered, "Best dad ever," before closing his eyes again.

Kelly smiled and gently rubbed Jack's shoulder. "Thanks, buddy."

Sure enough, Jack had the particularly nasty strain of strep that had been going around. After a shot of penicillin and a mild analgesic, he left the hospital as he had entered it—in his dad's strong arms. Kelly and Stella took him home and put him to bed, and he slept for most of the day. By the next day he was feeling somewhat better, and by the time the next shift came around, his fever was gone and he was able to accompany his parents to the firehouse, although he still wasn't a hundred percent. He spent the better part of the day in his dad's bunk, alternately reading and napping. At some point in the day nearly everybody came by to look in on him. He would smile and say a little something, but it was obvious he still wasn't himself.

The next day was spent fairly quietly at home, but by the following one, Jack felt well and whole again. He begged his father to take him ice skating, and Kelly couldn't refuse. So the three of them bundled up and set out to an outdoor rink that was within a reasonable distance. What with Christmas vacation, it was a bit crowded, but Kelly managed to teach Jack at least the rudiments of skating, and after about an hour or so, he was doing a pretty good job of keeping to his feet, at least.

Stella skated, too, but mostly she just watched her husband and her son. She loved to see them together, laughing and joking this way. She loved the love in both their eyes when they looked at each other. Right now, she was loving the glow on Jack's face, red with the cold, but also shining with joy as he learned to do something else new. He was so full of life that it made her want to cry. Remembering the thin, frightened child who had come to the firehouse on a snowy night just a year before, she could hardly hold back her tears.

Leaving Jack to go it alone for a little bit, Kelly skated over to where his wife was standing. "What's up, lady?" Peering at her more closely, he said, "Are you crying? What's wrong?"

"Nothing's wrong. I'm just standing here thinking how far Jack has come, how far we've come as a family, and how much I love seeing the two of you together. You were born to be a daddy, Kelly Severide."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah. I can't wait for Jack's adoption to be final so we can start thinking about adopting another kid. I think it might be our other calling."

"Yeah, I think it might be, too. Speaking of Jack's adoption, you haven't said anything to him, have you?"

"No. Have you?"

"No, of course not."

"Oh, Kelly, it's going to be so great."

"Yep. That it is."

It was New Year's Eve, but since Kelly and Stella had to work the next day, they spent it at home. Kelly had a beer or two, and Stella had some wine, and there was sparkling grape juice for Jack, as well. A few minutes after midnight, they all headed to bed, wishing each other Happy New Year as they did so. The Holidays were almost over.

The following Monday was not a shift day for Kelly and Stella, and Dunbar had a teacher work day before the kids returned on Tuesday. Kelly took Jack skating again, and he did so well that they went shopping afterwards for a hockey stick. Stella scolded Kelly, reminding him of the fact that Jack's birthday was less than three weeks away, and also of the pile of gifts still waiting at the Herrmanns'.

"I know," said Kelly. "But I don't want to wait for next winter. I want to start teaching him some stuff now. If he wants to learn, I mean, and he seems to want to. I don't think he has the aptitude for hockey that he does for baseball, but he could still be pretty good at it."

"Okay, Buster. But I never want to hear another word from you about how I spoil him."

"Deal."

And Stella had to laugh. Oh, how she loved her boys.