Vomit warning for this chapter

Finally arriving home after a long, but satisfying shift, Severide dropped all of his bags on the floor and headed straight for the couch. He flopped back onto the soft surface with a content sigh, letting his body relax. In the end, Marcy had finally realized the severity of the situation and had agreed to help them track down the rest of the active trucks delivering what was essentially gasoline to unsuspecting businesses. They had been able to make it to the last one before it leveled the whole block and had made sure that no one else had been hurt. The last he had heard, the whole factory where the soap was made was being shut down for overhaul and all businesses had gotten a notice to stop using the product immediately.

With that problem solved, however, Severide was free to focus on the other problem at hand: his stubborn boyfriend. Opening his eyes, he saw that Casey was in the kitchen, pouring himself a glass of water. His brows furrowed in concern when he saw him pop two pills into his mouth, washing them down with the water he had just poured.

Immediately standing up, Severide made his way over to the kitchen to confront him about it.

"What are you doing? I thought you said you were okay."

Casey turned to look at him, a smirk on his face. "And I was telling you the truth." Taking Severide's hands, he gave him a soft kiss on the lips before staring intently into his eyes. "I just had a lingering headache from all that soap junk. That perfume really made my head spin, especially after a whole truck of it went up in flames."

Severide stared at him for a few seconds, searching his face for any signs of deception, but he didn't find any. "Okay," he murmured, kissing Casey again. "But you tell me if anything gets worse alright?"

"I will. I promise."

Severide pulled Casey into a hug, letting themselves melt into each other's presence. Seeing him drop like that yesterday had scared Severide more than he wanted to admit. He was definitely going to keep a close eye on Casey from now on. He didn't know what he would do if he lost him. It was a thought that he didn't even want to fathom. Desperate to take it off of his mind, he released the hug and sent Casey a suggestive look.

"You thinking what I'm thinking?"

Casey returned the look, a knowing gleam in his eye. "Definitely."

With that, they both made their way into the bedroom, already taking their clothes off before they got through the door. The thought of losing Casey already miles away from his mind.

Severide shot up in bed, his heart hammering as he tried to figure out what had caused him to wake so suddenly. His heart leapt into his throat when he noticed that Casey's side of the bed was empty. He had just swung his legs off of the bed to go and find him when he heard the sound of retching coming from the other side of the bed.

Rushing over, he turned on the bedside lamp and was met with Casey kneeling on the floor, his hands on the bed and wall as he heaved. Severide barely had time to jump out of the way before he vomited again, heaving violently as a torrent of puke shot out of his mouth. Sidestepping around him, Severide squeezed behind the sick man, putting a comforting hand on his back as his sleep-riddled brain tried to catch up with what was currently happening.

"Holy shit Case, you alright?" he asked.

Casey just shook his head before he heaved again, adding to the growing puddle of vomit on the floor. Severide just rubbed his back, trying to ease the tension he could feel as his muscles worked to get everything out of his system.

After lurching forward once more, it finally seemed like Casey's system had reached its end as he fell into a relentless bout of dry heaving. Severide winced at how hard he was retching, barely able to take a breath before the next heave hit.

"Slow breaths Case. Try and relax your body."

Casey didn't respond, but Severide could feel him trying to take his advice as his shoulders dropped and he took a long breath in. After a minute of slow breathing, his stomach had finally realized it was empty, and he fell back at Severide's feet in a heap. His body went limp with exhaustion after everything that it went through.

Clumsily, Casey wiped at his mouth before he covered his face with his hands.

"Sev, I'm so sorry. I tried to make it, but I got caught in the sheet and as soon as I hit the ground I couldn't hold it. I'm really sorry, I'll clean it up, I promise."

Severide's chest ached as he took in the sick man before him. Tenderly, he brushed a few stray locks of hair from Casey's sweat-soaked forehead. "Shhh, it's okay Case. You have nothing to apologize for. You're sick. You can't control that."

Severide felt a shudder go through Casey's back as a sob tore through his throat. "It's disgusting. I can't let you clean it up."

Severide spun the man around so he was facing him, grabbing his face gently when Casey wouldn't meet his eyes. "Nothing is disgusting when it comes to you. I'm not going to let my sick boyfriend clean up his own puke. What you're going to do is get back into bed while I clean everything up." He kissed Casey's forehead for good measure, relieved when he felt the cool skin beneath him. At least he doesn't have a fever.

Casey leaned into his touch and let Severide tuck him back into bed. Severide quickly noted how he turned away from the light shining from the lamp next to him, however, and he quickly reached over and shut it off, plunging them back into darkness. The only light came from the big windows in the living room, the bright lights of Chicago shining through.

He placed a hand on Casey's arm, absentmindedly rubbing his thumb over it as he scanned Casey's face. "Is your headache worse than before?"

Casey hesitated before nodding slightly. "It was getting a bit worse when we went to bed, but I thought I could sleep it off. I guess I was wrong…" he trailed off, looking dangerously close to crying. This sent more red flags up as Casey only ever became this way when he was feeling really bad. It was the only time he let his guard down.

"I'm really starting to get worried here, Case. I should probably be taking you to the hospital. You could have a more serious head injury than I thought."

Despite his lethargic state, Casey sat straight up. "No! No hospitals. I'm fine Sev." Severide was about to cut in that he was clearly not fine as he kept insisting, but Casey beat him to it. Grabbing his hand, he squeezed it firmly, eyes wide in panic as he convinced Severide not to take him to the ER.

"Please, Kelly, don't take me to the hospital. I'm okay. It's just a migraine. I've had them my whole life. I promise that if it gets any worse or they don't go away, I'll let you take me to the doctor, okay?"

The fact that Casey had used his actual first name caused Severide to freeze. He only ever did that when he was either mad at him for something or he was scared. And while Severide didn't agree that they shouldn't be going to the hospital, he saw how much the thought was affecting Casey. Against his best judgement, he let it drop.

"Okay, this one time I will let it go. But if anything and I mean anything changes, I am driving your ass straight to the hospital, you hear me?"

Casey relaxed, settling back onto the bed. "Yes, I hear you."

Severide watched him for another minute, resisting every urge to not take him to the ER, but he let it drop knowing that Casey would never forgive him. Leaning down, he kissed the blonde on his forehead again before silently slipping away to clean the mess Casey had made on the floor. All he could hope was that he was making the right decision and that everything would be better in the morning. Please don't let me lose him. He's everything I have.

To be continued! Is Casey really fine like he says or is he hiding more than Severide knows?