Disclaimer: I am not a doctor so any medical misinformation is on me and my ability to use Google XD

The waiting was the hardest part. While Severide had spent way more time in the hospital waiting rooms than he ever wanted to, an unwanted perk of the job, when it came to someone you deeply cared about being behind the doors, the minutes passed like hours.

When the Paramedics had finally shown up, Casey had stopped seizing but was still unresponsive. They had asked Severide a few questions about his medical history, looking concerned when he informed them of Casey's recent and past head trauma before they whisked him away. Severide hadn't even been allowed inside the ambulance, as they said they needed the space to work. Reluctantly he had followed in his car behind them. That had been two hours ago and Severide had heard nothing since.

Leaning back in the hard plastic chair, Severide ran his hands through his hair in frustration. If he had only convinced Casey to go to the hospital after he had passed out, maybe he wouldn't be sitting here wondering if the love of his life was going to be okay. No use worrying about that now. What's done is done.

Sighing, Severide shifted so he was sitting upright again before he pulled out his phone. He let his thumper wander through his contacts, debating on whether he should let Boden know what was going on when a doctor approached, immediately shutting down all thoughts except for Casey.

"Family of Matthew Casey?" the doctor asked, his face unreadable.

Severide shot to his feet. "Yes, I'm his boyfriend. How is he?"

The doctor's face never wavered, but Severide could tell that it wasn't exactly good news. "Well, when he initially admitted Mr. Casey it was for the seizure and concern of effects from the blunt force trauma he received recently. As I understand, he suffered a major head injury in the past that required surgery?"

Severide felt his heart quicken, his blood beginning to rush in his ears. "Y-yes, about six years ago a wooden beam from a ceiling fell and hit his head during a call. He had a brain-bleed from it and they had to do surgery to fix it."

The doctor nodded. "A head injury like that can cause devastating long-term effects, especially in the case of another major head injury. Because of this, we did an MRI and ran some tests. I'm happy to tell you that Mr. Casey has no damage from his recent head trauma and it appears that everything from his previous trauma has cleared as well. His brain is functioning perfectly well."

Severide breathed a sigh of relief, feeling like a weight had been taken off his shoulders. It was only short-lived, however, as the doctor still had a grim look on his face.

"That's great, but why did he have a seizure then? Is there something else going on with him?" Severide asked, fearing the worst. If it wasn't a head injury, why was Casey sick?

The doctor paused for a moment before responding. "His bloodwork came back good. It looks as though the constant vomiting left Mr. Casey dehydrated, causing the seizure. It's a more severe effect of dehydration, but we have him set up to an IV where we're administering fluids and electrolytes and we see no reason for further concern there."

Severide could sense the 'but' before it was even said.

"However," the doctor continued, "his MRI did show us something that will need to be fixed. It appears that when Mr. Casey was thrown from the vehicle, while he sustained minor damage to his head, he also got a tear in his rotator cuff in his left shoulder."

"How did he tear his rotator cuff and not notice? He never once complained about shoulder pain, just the headaches he was having." Severide questioned. Casey had never mentioned anything about his shoulder since the accident, not even on the day it had happened.

The shock of the injury must have been evident on his face as the doctor gave him a small smile. "Small tears in the shoulder can sometimes be dismissed as muscle pain. A lot of the time it just feels like a small ache. I believe that this is what happened here. When he was thrown, he acquired a small rip in the cuff along with some swelling in the joint. This is what was causing his headaches as the swelling was putting pressure on some of the nerves in his neck. While not serious on its own, the fact that he also hit his head during the accident escalated the pain and caused him to have migraine-like symptoms.

"Now, a small tear can normally heal fine on its own as long as there is proper rest of the limb. The problem here is that Mr. Casey went back to work right away, aggravating the tear. The more he used it the worse it got. Unfortunately, the head injury and subsequent headaches distracted from this issue, allowing it to worsen over time. With his rotator cuff already damaged, I believe that the stress placed on it while he was having the seizure was enough to snap it completely, leaving Mr. Casey with a severe tear. I'm afraid it will require immediate surgery. As such, we have already scheduled him in tomorrow morning."

Severide sucked in a breath. Everything was happening so fast. "Am I able to go see him now?"

"Yes, you may. He was originally disoriented from the seizure, but he should be fully awake now. I'll take you to his room."

He followed the doctor out of the waiting room and down the hallway of patients' rooms. When they reached Casey's room, Severide immediately walked in, eager to see how his boyfriend was doing.

When Casey saw him enter, his face immediately lit up. Despite the multiple devices he was hooked up to, Severide couldn't help but smile back. He looked as beautiful as ever.

"Hey Case, how are you feeling?" he asked gently, sitting in the chair next to the bed as he gently clasped Casey's hand in his own.

Casey squeezed his hand. "I'm okay Sev."

Sevceride smirked, bringing Casey's hand to his mouth where he gave him a few playful kisses. "Oh yeah? The last time you said that you ended up seizing on our bathroom floor."

Casey grinned. "Ah, that was nothing. They gave me some fluids and now I'm all good to go." Severide noticed, however, that the grin didn't quite reach his eyes.

"Did they tell you what's going on?"

Casey's face fell before he quickly turned it into a neutral mask, hiding how scared he was inside. "Yeah, they did." Casey was quiet for a moment before he turned to look Severide in the eyes, his mask falling as tears filled his eyes.

"Sev, they said I'd be off work for four to six months. That I might not ever get my full strength back. What if I can never be a firefighter again? What if I have to give up my job? I don't even-"

"Shhh," Severide interrupted, standing up to wrap Casey in a much-needed hug. "Let's worry about that when the time comes okay? All we need to do now is focus on actually getting the surgery first."

He felt Casey shudder as he held back a sob. "You're right. I'm sorry. I don't know why I'm so emotional right now." He admitted, embarrassment evident in his voice.

Severide released the hug so he could face Casey directly. "Matthew Casey there is nothing to be sorry or embarrassed about. You're sick and hurt, but you're going to get better and I'm going to be here every step of the way, okay?"

Casey sniffed and nodded, a small smile gracing his lips. Severide sent him an easy smile back before leaning in and giving him a swift kiss on the lips. Quickly, the kiss turned into something deeper and more passionate. The pent-up anxiety from everything that happened released as they embraced each other. Severide wanted to stay in that moment forever, kissing Casey until all of his troubles were fixed, but a deep voice had him jumping back, whipping around in surprise at the sudden intrusion to their intimate moment.

"Tell me why I had to find out from Hank Voight of all people that one of my men was in the hospital?"

Severide felt a rush of heat bloom in his face at the visitor, panic spiraling in his chest at what they had just witnessed. "C-Chief! I was, uh- we were just-"

Boden raised his hand, cutting off Severide's poor attempt at making an excuse as to why he had just been making out with Casey. Suddenly, a huge grin stretched across the man's face.

"Do you really think that no one at 51 knows you're a couple? You two lovebirds are as subtle as a traffic light. We've had you guys pegged since day one. And as long as it doesn't interfere with your work, I don't care one bit. You two are good together."

Severide was speechless. He had no idea what to say, so he ended up standing there, a dumb expression on his face before Casey stepped in.

"Uh, thanks Chief. That means a lot."

Boden just nodded before he regarded Casey more closely. "What's the prognosis?"

Casey hesitated before answering, clearly still fighting with the reality of his injury. "My head is all good, but I tore my rotator cuff pretty bad. I could be off for up to six months," his face darkened. "I might never be able to work as a firefighter again."

Boden kept a calm look on his face. "Well, when you return to 51, I want you to know that your spot will be open. I know it's a long road ahead, but there is no doubt in my mind that you will be back to crawling hallways soon."

Casey bowed his head, secretly wiping a tear from his face. "Thank you, Chief. I'll do my best to get back to what I love."

Boden walked over and gave Casey's leg a comforting squeeze before he turned to Severide.

"I'm assuming you'll be requesting a leave of absence to take care of him?"

Severide hadn't even thought about that, but there was no way he was going to go back to work and leave Casey home by himself to recover. "Yes Chief, I think that would be best."

Boden smirked, clapping Severide on the back before he turned to leave. "I'll make sure to put in the requests as soon as I get home. I'll let 51 know what's going on during tomorrow morning's briefing. I expect an update about how Casey's doing once he's out of surgery. I'm sure all the guys at 51 will want to know as well."

"Absolutely. I'll let you know right away."

Chief nodded, giving Severide one more look before he left, leaving behind an air of disbelief. Had they really just outed themselves to the Chief? And the fact that the whole house knew they were in a relationship when they had worked so hard to hide it made Severide's head spin. He turned to Casey, seeing the same disbelief on his face.

"Well, that went well," Casey said, staring at the space where Boden had just been standing.

Severide chuckled, plopping himself back in the chair next to the bed.

"Definitely."

The day went by quickly after that. The doctor had come back in to tell them that Casey's surgery was scheduled for 8 am and while Casey had had some anxiety now that it was set in stone, Severide had been there to help calm him down, reassuring him that everything was going to be okay. Severide had to believe that; Casey would be back on the job in no time.

Nighttime finally fell and Casey had fallen asleep, snuggling into Seceride's side as he lay next to him in the hospital bed. While they knew it wasn't exactly allowed, the night nurse that had come to check in on Casey had taken one look at how peaceful he was sleeping and backed out, a small smile on her face.

Severide had been glad, knowing that both of them would sleep better next to each other and Casey needed all the rest he could get.

Looking down at his boyfriend's peaceful face, Severide rubbed gentle circles on his other arm. Just being in his company brought more joy and peace to Severide's heart than he had had in years. At some point, he must have fallen asleep as the next thing he knew a young nurse was gently waking him up, telling him it was time for Casey's surgery.

Hopping off the bed, he met Casey's startled eyes. Knowing the fear that was surely creeping into his boyfriend's chest, he quickly leaned over and gave him a soft kiss, whispering in his ear. "You got this Matthew Casey. You're going to be just fine. I love you so much."

Casey kissed him back before replying, "I love you too Kelly Severide."

With that, Severide watched as they pushed Casey down the hall and into the surgical wing of the hospital.

Severide settled himself back into the hard chair of the waiting room, but this time he didn't mind the wait. Casey had got this; everything was going to turn out just fine.

I just wanted to clarify that Voight is the one that called Boden because he happened to see Casey was in the hospital and gave a courtesy call to Boden to see how he was doing. I just thought that it would make sense for him to be in the hospital interrogating a bad guy or something lmao

Now, will things be as alright as Severide thinks, or are their stormy seas on the horizon for the couple? To be continued!