Liv moves to the sliding glass door leading to the deck flanking the is nicely distracted by chasing after Klaire."He told me not to call you but don't know what else to do here because that fuckin' doubebag gunning for commissioner was breathing down their necks, and they asked Kelly to deal with the whole arson thing even when it meant sending his own mentor down the river, then Patterson can't decide which side of the fence to be on and called Kell out in public over his commitment to his job. I am done."
"I don't fight fair sweetheart." He points out.
"Who said I do? Benny his back is against the wall and they are railroading him because he's a Severide and doesn't follow the rules if it means it makes him a lesser fireman. Like I said I am done."
Benny laughs. "What?"
"You're so much like his mother before I tore it all down, that it scares me. You'll make him angry."
Liv smiles into the phone."You say that I like I don't live to piss him off. I've pissed him off twie this week and its only a Wednesday."
"Fight just to make up?"
"Pretty often yeah."She admits.
"Be my date to the Fireman's Ball?"
"I'd be the talk of the fire wife gossip circle but why not, Kelly is better about sharing these days." She retorts.
-/-/-
He turned onto his side, and looked down at her, her face is half light by morning light and the display of the alarm clock that never gets used."Look baby, I don't think Erin blames you. I think she knows you were doing what you had to in order to protect your children."
She sighed,"Yeah then why am I getting phone calls from Owen saying he saw her and Jay making out in Molly's and didn't even know they were anywhere close to together again. Unless she's holding a grudge and feeling like Jay was the only one there for her!"
"Owen found out the way he did because…karma. And we both know you were there when it counted."
"Was I?"
"Yes! She crawled into your lap bawling and you, you held her together. You did that, no one else."
There's a knock at the door." No….let's stay in bed forever and hope they go away." Kelly whined pulling her into his arms.
"Look I'm all for you treating Patterson's shitty little jab at you like a vacation but Mama has the new dress for the departments ball to pay for. So I gotta get up anyway."
"You won't stay and be my concubine?" he asked.
"Not unless you pay the big bucks handsome."
"But…sex…"
"Answer the door Kelly Benjamin." She kissed him.
"Fine!" he muttered putting on pants. "I even used a big word and no appreciation." He mutters as she pops him on the ass.
"What it's there in my face, I can't not..." She defends smiling when he scowls.
-/-/-
He puts on his pants and journey's downstairs to open the door and find Benny on the opposite side.
"Pop what're you doing here?"
"What do you think I'm doing here?"
"Olivia!" he shouts up. "What did you do?" After a few moments she appears on the landing to the third floor in neon green scrubs.
"What? Oh Hi Benny!" Kelly glares at her. " He could be here to visit his grandchildren. What makes you think I had anything to do with-"
"Baby…" He hedges,
"Okay Christ! I was trying to help! I think it's time we fight fire with fire figuratively speaking."
He sighed "Come on in Pop." He hands Kelly a manila envelope.
"Do I even wanna know?"
"Uh hell yes." LIv answered for him.
"Since when did you go all vigilante justice on me/
"Since people started fucking with our lives, hold on I gotta get Aaron up. Will you get Kalire? She does better for you."
"Because I'm nice about it Mommy drill Sargeant." He quipped peering up at her.
"We're doing that love challenge thing Mommy recommended this week. Remember we can't be negative toward each other for a whole week."
"You're very organized baby, it's an enviable trait." he corrects.
"Thanks Kell!"
"Love Challenge?"
"My mother in law is one of those self helper types and well Liv wants a marriage like her parents and I want to always be married to her so it never hurts to work on stuff even when you're good. We stay positive, have sex every day, do something for the other once day and pray with and for each other all week."He answers foolowing after Liv.
-/-/-
Benny fixes himself a cup of coffee and waits in the kitchen for everyone. He listens to the sounds of the morning routine.
Liv laughing and shrieking. "Kelly he peed on me again!"
Kelly''s answering laugh. "That's my boy."
"Oh shut up!" She laughed. "What do you want for breakfast? I have time to scramble eggs."
"I got breakfast since I'm off."
Kelly comes down the stairs first. Klaire clinging to him in a "Tangled" nightgown her ratty slept on hair in her face when it's not hidden in the curve of Kelly's neck.
"Hi Klairey."
She groans at him and hides again as Kelly pats her diapered but and sways. "She's not a morning girl."
"Hi Penny." She grumbles her new name for him. A combo of Papa and Benny.
"Wanna go to Penny while I start breakfast? So I can make sure Mama eats something today?" He asks trying to hand her off.
"No, Thank you." She replies primly.
"What are we doing this morning? I can help until She gets awake enough to let you go."
"That's not likely Benny. Klaire's a Daddy's girl." Liv puts in coming into the room.
"Daddy." Klaire agrees.
"Keep him sweetheart, I'm not stealing him." Liv says sitting Aaron in a dark green onesie in his high chair.
She crosses the island and hugs Benny. She takes the proffered envelope and opens it.
Kelly's cracking eggs into a bowl one handed as Liv whistles lowly reading the file. "What?"
"Patterson has a record. A Juvinile one but still. He liked to boost cars."
"We can't use that!" He replies scrambling the eggs.
"Why the hell not? Knock his superiorly self important ass down a few pegs. As he's already proven he's not afraid to step on you get where he's goin' just remind him you got your own turnout boots to stomp a bitch with."
She rolls over and Klaire goes easily into my her arms. "Hello to Mama."
"Hello baby." She finger combed her way through Klaire's bed head and pulled into a ponytail.
"That feels dirty Liv." She kissed Klaire's head as Klaire held Liv's hands fully away from the wheels of the chair as if forbidding her from moving from Kelly's side,
"And the things done to you weren't dirty? The ...man..." she paused editing her vocabulary for Klaire's benefit. "called you a bad fire fighter."
"I agree with your wife, only with more expletives I can't say in front of my grandchildren."
"See, I'm always right my love..."Liv said grinning up at him
Klaire nods along helpfully. "Say yes ma'am daddy."
"Klaire Katherine Eliza! You're supposed to be on my side."
She shrugged. "I love mama."
"Well I love Mama more. So there."
She shook her head."I love Mama more than anythings."
"Beat that Daddy." Liv joked as Kelly cooked and plated the eggs.
"Who taught you more than anything?"
"Um Mama!" Klaire explained.
"I love you both more than anything..."
"More than fire?" Klaire said in wonder.
"Baby, I don't love fire." Kelly retorts laughingly.
"Okay." Klaire said sounding not at all convinced.
"So baby?" Liv tries to prod an answer from Kelly.
"Can I think about it before committing to playing dirty?"
"Sure...but..."
"Don't worry I still love dirty games involving you Liv." He jokes quickly and gets a laugh from her.
"Your Dad needs a date to the Fireman's ball." Liv says glancing down as Klaire played wither wedding bands.
"Dad, you can't take my wife as your date because...she's my date!"
"Share Daddy...Sharing is nice." Klaire advising parroting one of Liv's rules.
"Just look semi coordinated boys and I'm good."
Liv's phone rang. She picked it up before it could finish its first ring. "Severide, talk to me...Maggie I'm not due in for another twenty minutes. Fine..." She whined watching as Kelly piled her bacon and eggs into a tortilla. " But you owe me one."
She rolled her eyes. "No Maggie I didn't want to have sex! I wanted to have breakfast. Yes, I know I have a lot of sex. Well where's Nat?" Kelly rolls up her burrito and hands it to her.
"I left the kids clothes in their room, are you sure you got them both?" Liv directed at Kelly.
"I got it!" He leaned down and kissed her.
"I was kissing my husband goodbye Maggie! I'm hanging up on you now." She hung up growling in frustration.
"What was that about?" Kelly asked as she hung up.
"The Newbie Doctor though exceptionally attractive, smart, and bilingual tends to fuck up the filing system. Since I helped run it til they hired him guess who gets to teach and re-teach him because calling for IT takes too long. You guessed it, your wife." She answers gesturing to herself
"Exceptionally attractive?" He asks pausing with surprise
She took a bite of breakfast burrito eventually downing it in four bites."Baby, you married me. You didn't suddenly blind me to all other men. He's nice to look at, actually he reminds me a bit of you."
"That's not helping, I'm a whore who wasn't above pursuing married women."
"Lucky for you, you're the only man whore I want." She grinned at him and kissed him a final time. She let down Klaire.
"Bye Bye Kiss." She said and Klaire turned as Liv stooped down to kiss her.
Klaire borrowing Kelly's face grab move kissed Liv. "Byes Mama."
"Did she just face grab you?"
"She watches closer than you think." Liv goes around to kiss Aaron and pull on her lab coat.
"Penny!" Klaire points to him "Penny gets byes."
"Shit! I forgot my rings to." She said coming back to hug Benny.
"I gotcha Babe. Take a breath, Maggie can wait two minutes." Kelly said coming around as she slid off her wedding bands and dug the safety pin out of her pocket.
She placed her rings in his palm and handed him the pin. "I had your nice thing of the day all planned and now there isn't time."
"Consider Morning sex my nice thing, once I get the gang up and running? I'll bring you coffee and Nat's baby gift you left upstairs." He fixed her rings in place. "Have a good day, I love you."
"I love you too. Be- I don't have to say today. How very weird."
He grabbed her face and kissed her. "Who's better at that move?"
Liv laughed. "Oh my god! I'm leaving!"
"What?"
"Go put on a shirt before the bacon grease makes you its bitch. Bye all I love you."
Kelly turned to find Benny smiling at him. "What?"
"Nothing,,, you're watching them by yourself?"
"Well yeah...they are mine."
-/-/=
"He's an asshole."
Liv looked to heavily pregnant brown eyed brunette who was the peds resident for Med's main ER. She got the cases not sent to Liv. '"Nat you disagree with him on treatment protocol, and yes while he's both cocky and a little entitled it doesn't mean he's an asshole."
"What would you do?" She says as they walk down a corridor.
"That patient is old enough to make his own choices-"Liv says referring the consult she's just given on a late stage cystic fibrosis patient.
"Thank you!" The other woman said in satisfaction.
"But that doesn't mean Rhoades is wrong Nattie. Maybe the patient needs to reminded the light is still there at the end of the tunnel. Trust me, I get it. I've been that tired of my circumstances but I had people pulling for me." Liv further confided.
Shock flitted through her colleagues face. "You've been tired enough that dying seemed better?"
"At my lowest? Yeah, until you know what it is to live in a broken body you can't judge but there's a difference between accepting fate, and flat out giving in. I think he's tired but not truly done."
"What was it you accepted as your fate?"
Liv shrugged. "That my life wasn't ever going to look the same as everyone else's, that it was going to be harder, That it was never fair. That I could live the life I chose in some ways and sometimes I'll live with things I didn't choose broken body and all but either way, that kid has to do his own choosing. Give him enough time to really do it, don't push, don't rush that choice, and what is left of his time is his. Send Dr. Charles his way." She shoved her hands under a sanitizer. "Gotta roll."
-/-/-
There is a coffee kiosk and an outdoor dining area that Med and Comer's share. Its open air a wide terrace and is one of Liv's favorite places to have coffee and update her files. Today Maggie one of the senior nurses in Med's ER join's her.
"You gonna help us put together Nat's crib for the baby tonight?" Maggie asks picking at a salad.
"Liv shook her head, red ponytail swinging. Even if April and I manage to set aside our shit I couldn't I have the CFD Gala tonight, with my guy."
"You guys need to bury that sweetheart." The older black woman advised.
"You think I haven't tried Mags, she basically tried to sleep with my husband. Then, she called me his pity fuck when he didn't throw himself at her and rip her clothes off. He's my husband Maggie!" Liv said at length trying to head off her anger. Everyone has hashed this out with her multiple times. Liv had no idea how she was the wrongdoer in the situation but people had their own opinions she supposed.
"Liv-"
"Look I get it, April is your protégé. It means you like her more and I respect that, but she needs to apologize not me."
"All I'm saying is it's awkward."
"And all I'm saying is she made it that way. She offended Kelly do you know how hard he is to offend?"
"Had she not brought up? He'd have kept on flirting and toeing the line and you know it." Maggie offers up with a raised brow.
"There's a difference between toeing a line and crossing it. He didn't cross it."
"This time."
"Okay lets change the subject." Liv says.
"There's a pot going on to see who is going to sleep with Rhoades first."
"Reese is out. Too shy, Nat is really into Will, Maybe April? That chick in surgical Carver likes Zinetti Maybe her? I'm out because I'm married."
"And if you weren't?"
"In a heartbeat." She looks up to find Maggie smirking. "Shit, Kelly's right behind me isn't he?"
"A heartbeat huh? Then why'd it take me seven dates?"
"It was ten, and I liked you. I had to make sure you weren't a weirdo with a chicks in chairs fetish. Hi Baby!"
He tilted her head back to kiss her by pulling on her ponytail. He kissed her. "Hey Livvy, I brought you good coffee and the babies." He says plopping down into an empty chair with Aaron. He sat the cofee cup on the table.
Liv watches with curiousness as Klaire undoes the brakes on her chair, pull her back to climb into her lap unassisted. "Please hold me."
"Okay sweet girl." Liv answered eyeing Kelly as Klaire settled herself on Liv's smiled at a sleepy Klaire.
"Don't ask me, she's been in a I want Mama mood."
"You feel sicky Klairey?"
"I feel happy, I miss you."
As Klaire cuddled up Kelly handed her the cup of coffee. "How do you take them places all by yourself? I tried getting gas, I had to buy Klaire cheetos and Aaron cried the whole time."
"She's magical, like a unicorn." Maggie retorts. Liv laughs before she can stop it.
"Klaire what did you guys have for lunch?"
"Cheetos, burrito, and a root beer."Klaire reports dutifully.
"Kelly!:
"What I fed her, burritos are Mexican! She's Mexican it was a lesson in her culture."
"And Aaron?"
"A bottle and part of my churro."
"You fed my children gas station food." Liv says slightly aghast.
"I tore everything in little pieces like you do! I only let her have like half the root beer."
Liv starts laughing and can't stop. "Stop laughing!"
"I can't..."
"She's never still. Every single time I put her down to get Aaron, she kept trying to run. It was evil and scary."
"Klaire what is Mommy's rule?" Liv asks playing with the ends of Klaire's ponytail.
"Hold on to Mama's wheel until you say it okay and I stay by you always."
"Same rule goes for Daddy."
"Daddy got no wheels..." Klaire points out and Maggie laughs at Klaire finding a loophole.
"Hold onto his pants pocket!"
She nods. "Sorry Daddy."
"It's okay Klairey.
"Okay." She cuddled into Liv and started to drift off to sleep.
"Kelly if she doesn't perk up in about an hour and half bring her back, I'll get Jason to check her out."
"Baby she just wanted her Mama."
"We both know she's all about you unless she feels bad."
"We see Home-Bees Mama?"
"Maybe..."
Within minutes she's sleeping soundly. When Liv has to go back to work Kelly puts Aaron in his car seat and carries Klaire whose still knocked out on his hip.
The carrier in his other hand.
Yes his hands are full, yes he is very tired but he loves it. As Klaire cuddles closer her breath falling on his neck, arms tight around his neck trustingly. He wonders how Benny could have given this up as many times as he had.
He also wonders how the fuck he's going to unlock the car doors.
-/-/-
"I'm home Kell!" She announces tossing her go bag on the floor. She wants nothing more than to shower and sleep but she knows she doesn't have time.
"I need your wheels!"
"Excuse me" she laughed looking up at him on the second landing.
"I need your legs. Please vacate the chair."
"You're being weird."She points out.
"It's a surprise my love."
"Fine, come it get it while I'm in the shower."
"What are you up too?" She wondered aloud.
"My nice thing for the day."
"I thought that was the coffee?"
"I lied, go shower." He grinned at her.
She showers and does her hair and make up, and the chair is still nowhere to be found. She sits at the vanity sink in her towel.
She texts Owen. "Kelly is fucking with Standy Sandy."
"What? Oh your chair I thought it was a woman. Dad is there he's not going to let him break it."
"Daddy?!"Liv calls out. Surprised. She knew her mother was staying with the kids, Grady had wanted a job and responsibility him watching Klaire was an easy and cheap way to do it with supervision.
"Hey Ollie! Almost done, Mommy will help you into your dress." He calls back.
Liv's sitting on the chaise at the end of the bed when Kelly comes in pushhing himself in the chair and Cole walking behind him. There are castors on the bottom of the underside of the chairs front wheel mounts.
Kelly sits her in the chair. "you can safely move while in standing position the back wheels raise now. We'll take up a chunk of the dance floor but if you want we can dance tonight."
Liv looks up at him. "What? Why are you looking at me like that?"
"Because this is really sweet."
He shrugged as she stood I just updated some hardware, I read about it in that newsletter you get from your chair manufacturer. Besides, this is safer than when Erin spins you around all crazy."
She adjust the hem of her gazy peach colored. Cap sleeved high-low dress. The the waisy line is heavily jeweled in silver and laughs as she jerks her hand back as the wheels rise with her. She pushes it side to side. And then back and forth.
'l'l need a bit more room on either side of me at work maybe behind me too... It's rolling smooth."
"Any wobbling baby?" Kelly asked.
"A little but it might just be that my center of gravity feels higher. Wanna practice dance?"
"I'd like to dance with you please." Cole asked clearing his throat.
Liv feels a bit like she might cry. "I'd love that." She hasn't danced with her father since she got too big to fit on his hip.
She grabs her phone. "Mind if I borrow one of our songs?" She asked Kelly.
"Go ahead."
She pulls up her favorite James Bay song. He pulls her into his arms and more or less guides the chair just with just his own movement. "What's this song called? It's pretty."
"Running..." She answers resting her chin his shoulder. She looks up to find her mother holding up her phone. "Really Mommy?"
"Yes Really!"
Cole goes to spin her around in twirl and almost takes Kelly out.
"We're doing that right next to Patterson's toes just cause I don't wanna play dirty don't mean we can't be petty." He said.
Liv laughed. "I'm rubbing off on you."
Cole kissed liv's cheek. "This new hardware that hasn't been tested. Stay close to something stationary or to Kelly alright? I Don't want you falling."
"Daddy.."
"How many chairs have I repaired?" He says in the tone that always told her when to accept defeat.
"A lot."
Yes, so when I tell you the brakes for the castor system seems iffy listen to me."
"Alright Daddy. I love you."
"Love you more."
"We should get going, Benny is probably waiting downstairs." She said as Cole let her go.
"He's meeting us there."
"Oh okay. Can you see my underwear in this dress Mommy?"
"No."
"I'm really sad you decided to wear underwear at all." Kelly laments.
"I'm still in the room Kelly." Cole points out.
"I like her. She looks really hot."
"How is the love challenge going?"
"It's only what day three? We haven't killed each other yet or been mean so good I guess?" They walk to the elevators.
"I like the sex every day part best myself but yeah what Liv said."
"Mara you told them to have more sex? We're going to have sixteen grandchildren just from Liv alone."
-/-/-/-
They get to the party and meet up with Benny at the bar at which point Liv makes them take a picture. "Selfie boys?"
"Babe..."
"We're doing it Kelly so smile." They stand on either side of her Kelly with an arm looped poosesively around her waist.
She orders her drink and then kisses Kelly leaving him to talk shop with his dad. She goes to find, chief sitting alone.
"Chief?"
"Olivia."
"I just wanted to apologize for the things I said to you, I had my reasons for doing it but none of that really matters if I made you feel disrespected and I think I did, so I'm sorry."
"You were trying to protect him, I always understood that apology accepted. I'm sorry I told you to leave the fire house, you're family, more than that you're his world. You make him a better firefighter."
"Um, my life has been in a spiral for a few months and people I love have been hurt and I've been powerless to stop it, I can't help. I just wanted to help him and I did it wrong."
"What counts is the trying Livvy."
-/-/-
A few hours into the party Kelly realizes he's lost Liv. He looks around and spots her bright peach dress. a woman in neon green has her cornered.
He looks to Gabi. "Who's talking to Liv?"
"Chout's girlfriend. Go save her, don't subject her to Chout it's mean."
"Who would date Chout?"
"A masochist." Otis adeed.
He caught her eyes. "Yup, she needs rescuing, She's giving me the look she gets when someone traps her between Erin and Owen's wife. Gotta go."
He weaves his way through tables and people. He stops next to the pianist. "Will you play something slow?"
"This isn't a high school dance."
"You're playing sugar we're going down..." He slaps down a twenty. "Just make it slow."
"Fine, might as well request what you want."
"You know John Legend's all of me?"
-/-/-
She recognizes the abruptly changed melody almost instantly. She cocks her head at Kelly laughingly, Chout's girlfriend takes her laughter as interest.
"Hey chout and..."
"Paisley, Paisley Rollins."
"Nice to meet you I'm Kelly and I kinda need to steal my wife and keep a promise." He looks to Liv. "Wanna dance?"
Neither of them miss their curious expressions when she nods and says "Love too."
He pushes her to the dance floor. "Stand up."
"People are going to stare."
"Fuck em' let em' stare." He said plainly.
"My legs are really visible in this thing, I have no clue why I let Viv talk me into this dress."
"You let her talk you into because it's what I thought you looked hottest in. I promise you the men checking you out in this room aren't noticing you legs, they're looking at your rack, or maybe the way you're smiling at me right now. So stand up already."
She stands up and he pulls her into his embrace. One hand on her back the other holding her hand. "So I'm more than a little drunk, there's only so long you can hear about someone's passion for Taxidermy before you're driven to drink." She whispers near his ear.
"Do what?"
"Chout saves lives, Paisley preserves them."
He laughs. "You're kidding." She looks at him nonplussed. "You're not... I should have rescued you sooner I'm sorry."
"I gave serious thought to sending up smoke signals but then I remembered the crowd I was in." She said and he laughed happily
He kissed her quickly. "Ready for the spin? I think I figured out how to do without knocking myself out with a stray wheel. I just fling you out... and...too far its suddenly a tango."
She reached over and wheeled herself closer to him and completed the turn laughing. "This is fun...how much you pay the pianist?"
"Twenty, I think we deserve at least one more song. You up for some "Do You Wanna Build A Snowman?"
"There's a special place in hell for Frozen." She can feel Kelly's smile against her pulse point. "How is it you can't use your legs and you're still a better dancer than I am?"
"Cosmic balance, something had to offset all that pretty." His smile blooms into silent laughter and in that moment Liv is perfectly happy.
-/-/-
AN: Nat, Maggie, Rhoades, Will, April, Reese, Choi, and Charles, all belong to Chicago Med. I own nothing but Liv, Klaire Aaron, and The Grsyne's. If you liked this please tell me.