Evan woke early the next morning. He stared at his ring for a moment, thinking of Shay, and how he wishes she could be here for this next step of their life. Although Even knows she's up there rooting for them, she will always be their biggest fan.
Evan sighs deeply, resulting in waking his fiance.
"You ok babe?" Kelly asks, rubbing the sleep from his eyes.
"Yea, just thinking about Shay …" Evan admits.
"Oh?" Kelly prompts the other man to continue.
"Just how I wish she was here for this next part of our lives and how she's probably rooting for us from above. Just i fucking miss her Kelly." Evan says, his voice shaking slightly.
Kelly lets out a sigh, then cups Evan's face as he says "I know baby me too, every day, but we have our memory of her and she'll always be in our hearts. I wish she could be here with us too."
Evan nods, wiping the tears from his face. "I love you Kel."Evan says softly.
" I love you too." Kelly says kissing Evan tenderly.
—-
After making sweet love, they get up and shower, then get dressed and pack their stuff from staying the night in the hotel.
Once done they go grab breakfast at the hotel restaurant.
Once there and they order, Evan's phone pings.
Kelly raises an eyebrow, asking "who's that?"
"Boden he sent over the files last night after you fell asleep for the squad guys and I picked two then told him about Eddie and he just confirmed that Eddie was okay to join while getting his certifications at the academy at the same time. He also confirmed the two members I picked." Evan explained taking a sip of coffee that the waitress just brought.
"Oh, okay. That's good that he's good with Eddie joining Who did you pick?" Kelly asks.
"Mills and Blake Gallo." The blond replies.
Kelly smirks at Gallos name.
"What?" Evan asks.
"I trained Gallo for the squad, he's on truck with Matt, he joined as a candidate two years ago. He's been trying to get on squad 3 for the last six months but there's no room. So he's been patiently waiting for a spot. He's got raw talent. You're lucky to have him on your team '' Kelly explained, taking a bite of his eggs that were just brought over to their table.
"Oh okay. Are there any other new faces at 51?" Evan asks
"Yea, Daren Ritter, who's on the engine with herman. And Violet Mikami has been on ambo with Sylvie since Gabby left." Kelly says.
Evan nods, just as Kelly gets a call.
He answers
Kelly: Hello, Severide here.
Woman: Hi, this is Jane Walton from DCFS. I got a letter of recommendation for you and your fiance, Evan Buckley, to adopt. Also I know Matt Casey and he said that to give you a call as you and your fiance wanted to adopt.
Kelly: Okay, wow. I'm guessing he's the one who wrote the letter?
Jane: Yes, he is.
Kelly: Okay, well yes me and my fiance want to adopt. We want a family.
Jane: Okay, well I might have a good match. Can you come to the office tomorrow morning? I'm doing this as a favor to Matt, but also I respect what you and Mr.Buckley do for a living and I'd love to give these siblings that I have in mind for you both, a loving and caring home. Do you think you can provide that?
Kelly: Yes absolutely, and how many siblings are there? We can meet tomorrow, what time?
Jane, perfect, there 4 of them, a 10 year old boy, a girl 7, another boy 5 and a two year old little girl. Is that alright? Say 10am?
Kelly: Wow, that's perfect. And 10am works fine.
Jane: Okay see you both then.
Kelly:Ok, thank you very much.
Kelly hangs up, still shocked. He looks up to Evan who has a concerned look on his face, kelly smiles brightly at him and says, "we might be dads as of tomorrow"
Evan's shocked to say the least, this is what he wants, he's always wanted with the man he loves so much.
.
"How?" Evan asks, taking Kelly's hand in his.
"Apparently Casey called in a favor with a worker at DCFS and wrote a great recommendation letter for both of us. We might be fathers to 4 siblings though, she said that she thinks they would be a perfect match for us… what do you think?" Kelly says and asks, worried that it will be too much for Evan right now.
Evan takes a deep breath in, then smiles brightly , that megawatt smile of his at Kelly then kisses his fiance's knuckles, saying "I'm so happy right now. Yea it's a lot right now, especially since we don't have a big enough place for them. But I'm so excited." Evan is practically bouncing in his seat with excitement making Kelly chuckle lightly at the younger firefighter.
Evan continues "what age are they? How many boys or girls?" He asks to take a big bite of pancake.
"Two of each, the boys are 10 and 5 and the girls are 7 and 2." Kelly says, taking a drink of coffee, and checking the timing on his phone.
Evan gasps, he's so happy right now. He's going to love those kids with everything he has. He knows it's one more kid than they pictured themselves with but that doesn't matter, evan has enough love for all four of them and kelly.
"I'm so excited, I hope we can adopt them. I'm gonna love them with everything I have, Kel. I know it's one more child than we pictured but I'm completely okay with that are you?" Evan says and asks.
Kelly nods saying "of course i am. I'm nervous as hell, but I can do anything with you by my side. But we gotta go, it's 7:32 and we need to be at the airport for 8am." Kelly explained, making evan curse under his breath, downing his coffee and waving the waitress over.
They pay for their meal and then head out.
They arrive at the airport with 2 minutes to spare, they race to the check in desk. They show all their required information, then head to security. Once there is where they meet up with Eddie, Chris and Carla.
"Hey" Eddie greets, then adds "didn't think you guys were gonna make it." He admits
"Yea neither did I" Kelly says, as his fiance hugs Christopher and Carla.
"Hey superman, Carla I don't think you have met my Fiance yet." Evan says and states.
"No sugar, I haven't had the pleasure." Carla says, eyeing Kelly up.
Evan chuckles, he takes Kelly's hand and says "Carla this is my fiance, Lieutenant Kelly Severide, Kel, this is Carla." Evan introduces them, with a wide grin.
"Nice to meet you ma'am, I've heard a lot about you." Kelly says extending his hand, for a hand shake. Carla brushes off the hand shake and pulls him in for a hug saying "first off its Carla, none of the ma'am crap, also it's very nice to meet you." Then she whispers in his ear "look after my buckaroo ok?" She tells him
"I always will," he reassures her.
She pats him on the back as they pull away from their hug saying "I like him buckaroo, he's a keeper." Everyone chuckles as Evan lets out a breath he didn't realize he was holding. Carla's approval means so much to him.. He then says "thanks Carla, I appreciate that."
They chat for 10 minutes until it's time to board their plane.
Once they put their luggage in the overhead space and Evan helps Eddie with Chris, they all start chatting about chicago. With Eddie on one side of Evan and Kelly on the other, the younger firefighter is lost in his thoughts. Eddie nudges his shoulder as Kelly and Carla are talking.
"You okay buck?" Eddie asks.
Buck nods, he answers with "fine, just a lot on my mind."
Evan can't believe he could be a dad in less than 24 hours. He's been dreaming of having a family with Kelly since he was 18 years old. He can't believe it might finally happen.
He's brought out of his thoughts again by Eddie saying "what's up? Are you having second thoughts or something?" He asks.
Evan quickly shakes his head saying "hell no, we got a call this morning from DCFS, a friend of ours put a call in and we might be parents as of tomorrow." Evan confides in his best friend. Eddie is shocked to say the least.
"Wow, I'm very happy for you both. That was fast though, how are you doing with it?" Eddie asks, concerned about his best friend.
"I'm great, it's just a lot especially since the worker has 4 siblings she wants to place with us. It's a lot to digest. I'm scared I'm gonna mess up man." Evan tells the other man.
Eddie can't believe that his best friend might be a dad to four kids as of tomorrow.
"Wow, that is a lot, I'm happy for you. How old are they and are they boys or girls?" Eddie asks.
"Two of each the boys are 10 and 5, the girls are 7 and 2." Evan says scrubbing his hand over his face..
"Wow, well congrats man, I know you're scared of messing up but the secret to parenting is messing up, you can't be perfect. There's no such thing as a perfect parent. As long as you give them what they want they need not only food and a roof over their head and clothes but mentally and emotionally as well. Love them with all you have, which I know you will." Eddie explained to the young firefighter.
"Thanks Eddie, I appreciate the pep talk. I needed it." Evan says, smiling brightly.
"Not a problem, Buck, I'm always here." Eddie says matter of factly with a little nod.
—--
They land a few hours later, grabbing an uber they go to the loft.
"Well this is our home, for now at least." Kelly says as he opens the door to the loft.
"Wow this place is so cool, look dad he has a basketball shootout game." Chris says excitedly, making the grownups chuckle.
"Yea Chris, it is pretty cool, thank you again guys for letting us crash here. We will get a hotel though if you guys bring the kids home tomorrow though." Eddie states.
Kelly looks at Evan who looks at him apologetically.
"Well thank you, I appreciate that, but as I'm sure Evan told you we aren't quite sure how the process is going to go yet." Kelly says dropping his bag by the island and making a pot of coffee.
"Yea, I know, just letting you know you don't have to worry about us." Eddie says, putting his and Chris bags by the door, watching Chris explore the loft with wide eyes and bright grin.
"Okay, I'm lost. What kids" Carla asks, looking from back to Kelly and back again.
Evan sighs, scrubbing a hand over his face, then explains about them trying to adopt and the four siblings.
"Wow, well I hope it all works out for you guys, I know you'll both be great dads. I know Buck has a lot of love to give and I can sense that Kelly does too." Carla states pointing a finger between the two.
"Thanks Carla." The couple says in unison.
—--
After a few hours Chris is put to bed after they ordered pizza for dinner and played some rounds of basketball.
Kelly, Buck, Eddie and Carla are all situated around the island talking, when Buck pipes up, saying, "we should go Molly's."
Kelly nods saying "yea we should. Eddie, you wanna come with us?" Kelly asks
Eddie sighs saying "I'd love to but I gotta stay with Chris."
Carla shakes her head saying "you go I got Chris." Eddie thinks this over for a beat then asks "are you sure?" "Absolutely " Carla says then adds "now get out of her you three!" The men all nod and thank Carla and head to Kelly's Mustang. "Wow, nice car," Eddie says, admiring the car.
"Thanks, she's my baby." Kelly says as he opens the driver's door.
"Hey I thought j was your baby." Evan says with a pout, making 5he other two chuckle. "Yes baby, you are too." Kelly says getting k to the driver's seat. They all get in then drive towards Molly's.
Once at Molly's they get out, Kelly locks the doors, then takes Evan's hand. "You ready?" He whispers to his fiance.
"Yea, just a lot of memories coming back." Evan says, sighing , then adding, "I haven't been here in nearly four years, and the last time I was dragging Shays drunk ass home.." Evan says sadly.
Kelly chuckles lightning, "I remember that night. She was loaded, and so was I. You took care of both of us that night." Kelly says.. evan nods then says "okay let's go in, I'm ready." "Okay." His fiance says.
Evan looks at Eddie who's staring at the building and says "you ready to meet your new firehouse family?"
Eddie nods once, then says "yea, I am." "Okay" and with that the three of them enter the bar.
When the members of 51 hear the bell ring over the door, and glance to see who's entering, their gasps and squeals, as everyone comes to hug Evan. There's three new faces that Evan figures are the members Kelly told him about, looking confused as hell. "Hey what am I chopped liver?" Kelly asks after Sylvie hugs Evan. "Ahh, Sev, we just saw you 3 weeks ago. We haven't seen Evan in almost four years." Casey says patting his best friend on the shoulder then giving Evan a hug.
Once they all say hi to Evan, he clears his throat saying "everyone I'd like you to meet Eddie Diaz, he will be on squad 9 with me. Along with Blake Gallo and Peter mills." Evan says announcing who's on his squad.
"Congratulations break out around Mills and the young man Evan figures is Blake.
Casey is the first to come up to Eddie.
"Welcome to 51, I'm captain Matt Casey
But you can call me Casey or Matt but very few people call me Matt, we usually go by last names beside s for Evan and Violet." Casey explains.
"Thanks captain. I'm happy to be starting at 51 on Monday, and will do so." Eddie says
Casye nods and lets people introduce themselves.
Evan and kelly walks over to the bar, Evan sees the three young new members of 51 watching them.
Once they reach the bar, Herman says "what can I get the happy couple?" Making the pair chuce."two beers please Herman." Kelly says placing a ten dollar bill on the counter top.
"Coming right up." Herman says.
Once Herman's getting the beers Evan asks his soon to be husband "what's up with the three newbies staring at us?"
Kelly follows Evan's line of view to Gallo, Ritter and Violet who are staring at them.
"Probably didn't know about me being Bi or probably not understanding everything. Let me introduce you and Eddie, especially where Gallos is going to be in squad 9 with you both." Kelly says
Evan nods as he says "sure, if we can peel Eddie away from Stella." Making them both chuckle.
Kelly nods as he grabs his beer that Herman just put on the bar top. They go over to Eddie, Kelly explained what they are about to do, then they go over to the millenials.
"Hey guys." Kelly says, greeting the trio.
"Hey Lieutenant." The three say.
"I'd like to introduce my fiance Lieutenant Evan buckley of squad 9 that's joining 51 as of monday and this is Eddie Diaz he will be on Squad 9 as well." Kelly tells them.
"Nice to meet you both." They all say in unison.
"So Gallo, you're on squad 9 as of monday. Kelly tells me he trained you, so I'm expecting a lot from you." Evan tells the younger firefighter.
"Absolutely Lieutenant, I'll give it all I've got." Gallo says, raising his beer to the Lieutenants before taking a swig.
"Good." Evan says
"Why don't you guys sit?" Ritter aks
"Sure." The three men say in unison as Evan and Kelly sit across from the millenials and Eddie sits at the end of the table.
"So how did you meet each other, Lieutenant?" Ritter asks.
Evan and Kelly chuckle and look deep into the other's eyes as they remember the day they met. " It was almost 12 years ago now, Evan was an 18 year old candidate fresh out of the academy. He had become fast friends with Andy Dardin, my uh best friend who died 9 years ago in a house fire. And my other best friend Shay, who Sylvie took her place at 61." Kelly says, sadly.
"It was love at first sight, but Kelly was too much of a gentleman and didn't ask me out until I was 21. He asked me out on my birthday actually. " Evan says, chuckling.
Eddie is enjoying this story as he hasn't heard it either.
"Well I couldn't wait a minute longer. I had already waited 3 years, I wasn't going to let you get away." Kelly says caressing the other man's cheek.
"Well, I was waiting for the day to come that you would finally ask me out as well. We went out for about a month before we made it official on October 8th, 2013. We were together for nearly 5 years." Evan says, looking right into Kelly's soul.
"You guys broke up? Why?" Violet asks
Kelly's sighs, scrubbing a hand over his face then answers with,
"Shay had just died and I was spiraling, becoming a self destructive bastard, so Evan lest and I never blamed him. He did what was best for him and his beautiful heart. He went to L.A and has been there until now. I decided it was finally time to fight for the only man that has ever had my heart, and I went to L.A three weeks ago. I had every intention of staying in L.A with him." Kelly explained.
Gallos the next to speak "what made you decide to come back Lieutenant? Gallo asks Evan.
"51s home, always has been, probably always will be. I couldn't stand being away from our family any longer, especially since Kelly and I were back together. My captain In L.A had also made me realize that the 118 wasn't a true family, not like 51 anyways." Evan explained taking a swig of his beer.
"Okay, so did you and Eddie work together on a squad in L.A?" Gallo asks.
Evan and Eddie chuckle, but shake their heads. Eddie speaks up saying "L.A is a lot different then Chicago from what Buck- I mean Evan has told me. We were on truck as there's no rescue squads in L.A.we did work together, and I decided it was time for a change so me and my son are moving here, I'm taking my squad certifications at the academy starting Tuesday , thanks to Kelly, and I'll be on squad with you guys." Eddie explained, offering up more information than was asked for.
"Wow, I cant believe there's no rescue squad in L.A" Gallo says then adds "are you used to the rescues squad then?" He asks
Eddie nods, saying "mostly, I've never done water rescue. I've done a good rescue though."
"Oh, okay." Gallo says
"Our first rescue we did together was something Evan's squad wouldn't attempt, a guy had a live grenade in his leg and Eddie took it out while I helped." Evan explained. He finishes off his beer as he sees the shocked faces on everyone including his future husband.
"You never told me that." Kelly says finishing off his own beer.
"Yep, Eddie was a medic in the army so he knew how to disable the grade, it brought back memories of the grenade in med though when you were nearly Black tagged, though." Evan says his voice shakes a bit at that memory.
"You never told me you had another experience with a grade, how was Kelly nearly black tagged?" Eddie asks
"Kelly tackled the guy with the grade after the guy pulled the pin. He was so near dead, it was terrifying and it was only three weeks after Shay died, so I wasn't ready to lose my boyfriend right then, me Sylvie, Mills and the doctors at med made it so he was stable as I'm an EMTb as well thanks to Shay." Evan explained.
"Wow." Was heard from all around the table.
"Well I'm gonna get another beer then we should head out as we have that meeting with DCFS in the morning." Evan says to Kelly who nods, saying "yes, we should go see Casey and Brett, you can come over when you get the beers." Kelly says and Evan nods. Evan turns to Eddie who is staring after stea. "She's single Evan whispers to Eddie who smiles shyly at his best friend, then he says "I'm gonna go sit at the bar for a bit." Evan and Kelly nod to him as they all go their separate ways.
Stella waits on Evan, "Hey Evan, what can I get you?" She asks. "Two beers., please." He says she nods and grabs the beers. Once she places them on the bar she asks Evan " what's up with your friend from L.A that will be on Squad 9? Is he single?" She asks, cheeks turning pink.
"Yes he is, his ex wife and mother of his child died two years ago, his ex left him recently but I couldn't help noticing he's been staring after you all night. Go talk to him" Evan says.
"Okay I will, he has a kid, how old?"
Evan smiles thinking of Chris. " Christopher is 8, he has
cerebral palsy, but he doesn't let that stop him. Though. He's Eddie's world though." Evan explained.
Stella smiles softly and nods. "Kkay, I'm going to talk to him, thanks Ev."
"No problem." The Lieutenant says.
—--
Stella and Eddie talk for almost two hours. Kelly and Evan catch up with Casey and Brett. Casey lets the couple know that he's got a house for them to look at tomorrow and they can close quickly on it. The couple thank him, not only for the house but also his help with DCFS. The three have a great night. Eddie and Stella are going on a date Tuesday night, which makes his best friend happy for him.
They all go back to the loft and sleep for the night, as tomorrow will be a big day for Evan and kelly, they just don't know it yet.