If Severide had a dime for the amount of times he had been awoken by Casey being sick as of late, he'd be rich.
After the two of them had arrived back at the apartment, Severide had helped Casey to bed, gave him another pain pill, and watched as Casey quickly fell asleep. While Severide still didn't fully trust that Casey was telling the truth about what was going on, he figured things were okay enough to let it slide for the moment.
He had checked Casey for a fever again, to Casey's protest, and made sure that the incision site didn't look red and inflamed. Seeing no evidence that Casey's arm was the problem, Severide chalked up the pulsing pain Casey said he was feeling and the general 'sick' look the blonde had to overexertion. After all, Casey had only had surgery two days okay and while he was feeling better, he still had a lot of recovery to go.
Figuring that things would be okay and that he would check everything again in the morning, Severide had gotten changed and climbed into bed with Casey, falling asleep shortly after.
But, here they were. Once again Severide had awoken to a loud bang, quickly noting that Casey's side of the bed was empty. Rushing over, he found Casey sideways on the floor, leaning all of his weight on his good arm. Just as he was about to ask what happened, Casey's face had paled in a way that Severide knew meant trouble, causing him to spring into action.
Hauling Casey off the floor, they made their way to the bathroom. Severide had barely positioned Casey in front of the toilet before the man heaved, losing all the water he had drunk at the bar along with his dinner.
He took up his post next to Casey, rubbing his hand soothingly across his back. It was here that Severide felt an unusual warmth through Casey's thin cotton tee, setting alarm bells off in his head.
When Casey was finished heaving, he sat himself on the ground, groaning as he jostled his injured shoulder.
Severide had a glass of water ready, offering it to Casey to rinse the taste of vomit from his mouth.
"Rinse," he said, pushing the glass into Casey's hand.
Casey opened his eyes, squinting at the glass before he wordlessly accepted it.
Getting up, Severide heard Casey swish the water in his mouth before he spit it into the toilet. The sound of swirling water followed next as Casey flushed his mess away.
Locating the item he had been looking for, Severide joined Casey back on the floor.
"Open," he said, holding up the thermometer in his hand.
Initially confused, Casey's face hardened as he realized what Severide was doing.
"No, Sev, I don't have a fever. The chili must have upset my stomach. That's all," he pleaded, shooting Severide his famous puppy-dog eyes. While that could usually get Severide to crumble, he was determined to hold firm this time. When it came to Casey's health, there was no changing his mind.
"Alright, you don't have a fever. But to ease my mind, I'm going to use this anyway."
Casey frowned before opening his mouth the protest, but Severide took this as an opportunity. As soon as Casey's mouth was open enough, he shoved the thermometer in, causing Casey to jerk in surprise.
"Hey-" Casey started to protest, but Severide silenced him with a wave of his hand.
"No talking with the thermometer in your mouth."
Casey rolled his eyes, but didn't try and speak again, letting the thermometer do its work. After a minute, the device beeped and Severide removed it.
"So, what's it say?" Casey asked.
Severide shook his head, shooting Casey a glare. "You do have a fever, you big dummy. 99.5."
Casey scoffed. "That's barely a fever, Sev. Normal body temperatures can fluctuate between 97 and 99 degrees."
"Yeah? Well, yours is 99.5, that's .5 higher than normal range. Plus, you just had surgery and the doctor said that if anything happens, including a fever, that we should bring you right back in."
Casey paused for a moment and then his face softened. Reaching out his hand, he grabbed Severide's where he brought it to his mouth and gave it a delicate kiss.
"My love, I know that you're worried, but I'm okay. I'm sure my temperature is only up because I pushed my body too hard today. My arm doesn't hurt any more than it did earlier and I don't even feel sick anymore. I'll take it easy tomorrow and everything will be alright, okay?"
Seeing the sincerity in Casey's eyes, along with the fact that he had called him my love, a nickname he used only when they were being totally honest with one another, Severide let it go.
"Yeah, okay," he said, smiling at the thought of how lucky he was to be in a relationship with such an amazing man. For the first time it made him think of their future; how happy they could be if they spent the rest of their lives together. It was a thought that made Severide's chest burst with happiness. He wanted to marry the man in front of him. That was one thing he knew without any certainty.
Casey cocked his head, searching Severide's face.
"What are you thinking about? You've got that look on your face that you only get when you're really happy."
"Just about how much I love you," he said, not wanting to alert Casey to his future plans.
Casey grinned. "I love you too Kelly Severide. Now let's go back to bed, my butt is starting to hurt from sitting on this floor."
Severide chuckled as he helped Casey up, supporting him as they made their way back into the bedroom. "And here I was thinking you liked spending time on that floor given how often we've been in there this past week."
"Ha ha, very funny."
With that, both of them crawled back into bed, Severide's head filled with the thoughts of the future with the man he loved.
Severide groaned, trying to turn away from the thing that was disturbing his sleep when he recognized the voice. Casey.
"Sev- please. Wake up!"
Immediately awake, Severide sat up and saw that the sun was beginning to rise, lighting up the bedroom in its soft light.
Next he saw Casey, who was also sitting upright, hunched over and visibly sweating. His blonde hair was plastered to his forehead, while his t-shirt was soaked in sweat.
"What the- Casey ,what's going on?" he asked, trying to get a better look at Casey's face.
Casey hunched over further, cradling his left arm as he bared his teeth in pain.
"I don't-" his words got cut off as he groaned, squirming uncomfortably on the bed. "I don't know," he grunted, "woke up like this. Arm feels like it's on fire."
Severide watched as Casey sucked in a breath, trying to get the pain under control. Severide's heart sank. Casey had a high pain tolerance. If he was hurting this much, things were a lot worse than Severide thought.
"Is it still your whole arm?" Severide asked, trying to lightly grab the arm to check it out.
"No!" Casey practically screamed, pulling the arm out of Severide's reach, "please, Sev, don't touch it."
Severide immediately sat back, showing Casey his hands. "Woah, I'm sorry. I won't touch it."
Casey nodded shakily. "No, it's just my shoulder now. Feels like I'm being stabbed."
Getting off the bed, Severide made his way over to Casey to get a better look. Placing his hand on Casey's forehead, it was obvious his fever was much higher.
"Shit Casey, I think you have an infection. I need to check your incision."
Casey paled, panic filling his features at Severiede's words.
"I will be extra careful to not touch your arm," he reassured, gently pushing Casey's sweat soaked hair from his face, "I just want to peel the bandage up. That's all."
Casey considered this for a moment before he nodded, turning his slightly to the right so that Severide had better access.
Unclipping the sling, Severide let it drop naturally before he grabbed a loose corner of the bandage with as much care as he possibly could. Peeling back the gauze, he felt Casey tense as even the slight pressure caused him pain.
Severide grimaced at what he saw. What was once healthy looking skin, slightly pink around the edges of the sutures was now an ugly red, puffy with yellow leaking pus leaking out of the area of the stitches.
As he was examining the area, his finger accidentally brushed the site causing Casey to jump. The harsh reaction jerked his arm, making Casey stifle as scream as he rocked on the bed. Then, without warning, Casey's face went a pale shade of green before he was vomiting on the bed, sobbing between heaves as the spasms shot pain through his arm.
Severide had never seen Casey so sick. His arm was seriously infected and he needed to get to the hospital right away.
As soon as he was done throwing up, Casey sat back, tears streaming down his face mixing with the traces of vomit and snot. Seveirde's chest ached just looking at him. The pain that Casey was going through was something Severide never wanted to happen to him again. It made him want to throw up himself, his heart clenching with each whimper that escaped Casey's mouth.
Severide grabbed his keys off of the dresser, shoving them in his sweatpants pocket, before he threw the soiled covers off of Casey's legs.
"Alright, Case. It's okay. I'm going to take you to the hospital. They're going to fix you right up," he said shakily, reassuring himself more than Casey.
Casey didn't even seem to register that he was talking, stuck in his own world of fever and pain.
Severide stood there helplessly, not knowing what to do, before he kicked himself into gear. Casey needed to leave, now.
As gently as he could, but knowing he was going to hurt Casey any way he did it, he scooped the blonde off of the bed and into his arms. Casey groaned, but then went limp. Succumbing to the fever or pain, Severide wasn't sure. All that was on his mind was getting his boyfriend to the hospital.
Moving as quickly as he could with Casey in his arms, he rushed out of the apartment, not even bothering to lock the door, as he made it to his car in record time. Laying Casey on the backseat, Severide made him as comfortable as possible before he ran to the driver's side door. Wrenching it open, he hopped in and turned the key, causing the car to roar to life.
Flying out of the parking lot, Severide broke every traffic law there was as he sped to the hospital, periodically glancing at Casey in the backseat as he drove. He made it to the ERs doors in record time, throwing the car in park as he raced to pick up Casey from the back seat.
He knew he must have looked crazy, bursting into the ER with a limp Casey in his arms, but he didn't care. All that mattered was getting Casey the treatment he needed.
"I need some help here!" he screamed, watching as the nurses flew into action. In seconds, they had placed Casey on a stretcher, wheeling him into a room as they called out for the things they needed.
"What happened here?" a young nurse asked.
"Uh, he's my boyfriend. Matthew Casey. He had surgery on his shoulder a few days ago, but today he woke up in a lot of pain. He's got a fever and he threw up a few times. I think-" Severide's voice cracked, emotion beginning to take over. "I think his incision is infected."
The nurse nodded, taking down all the information.
"Alright Mr-"
"Kelly. My name's Kelly."
Alright Kelly, your boyfriend is in good hands. I need you to wait out here while we do some tests and as soon as we know anything, we'll let you know."
Severide nodded, barely understanding how any of this could happen. He watched as the nurse walked away, disappearing down the doors they had just rushed Casey through.
With his body on autopilot, he sank into a nearby chair and put his head in his hands as he began to cry. This wasn't supposed to happen. Casey was supposed to be okay.
With that thought, he rubbed his hands over his face, slowing his breathing as he tried to calm himself down. All he could do was wait; sitting in the same hard plastic chairs as the fate of his boyfriend was hanging on the edge.
To be continued! (I only recently realized I forgot to say that on the last chapter XD)