Casey felt like screaming as he and Severide left the garage. "$3,000 for new tires, I don't believe this."
"I'm sorry, Casey."
"Sometimes, I hate people," Matt said.
"Me too," Kelly replied.
Wanting to change the subject and hopefully lift Casey's spirits a bit, Kelly asked him, "You doing anything after next shift?"
"I don't think so, why?"
"You want to come over for dinner? Cathy's going to cook, she thought it'd be nice to actually get acquainted with some of the people from 51," Kelly said.
Casey looked at him, "Who all's coming?"
"I don't know, you're the first one I've asked."
He thought about it for a minute. "Sure, I'll come over. Do I need to bring anything?"
"Nah, she said she'll do the cooking."
"Oh, a showoff," Casey said, "I like it. What's she cooking?"
"I don't know yet."
"No matter...yeah, I'll be there. What time?"
Casey noticed the cars pulled up outside Severide's building and figured it hadn't been a huge turnout but he guessed Severide had been able to talk a few of the guys from 51 to coming over, and he suspected they weren't there just for the food. He'd seen the way everybody stared at Cathy when she left the station house, he was sure they wanted another good look. He stood on the stoop and knocked on the door and waited. The bolt turned and the door opened.
"Hey Casey, get in here," Kelly said.
"Sorry I'm late," he said as he entered the apartment, and immediately noticed Cruz and Otis and Capp in the room. "Where's everybody else?"
"Couldn't make it," Severide answered.
"Where's..."
Before Casey could ask his question, Cathy popped out of the kitchen in a slinky black off the shoulder top and a short skirt and a skimpy apron clinging to her breasts.
"Hey Matt, you're just in time," she said, "everything's ready."
On. Off. That's the impression he was getting of that woman, a light switch. The last time he saw her she didn't seem capable of waiting to get rid of him. Of course all the witnesses in the room probably had something to do with the change in her demeanor.
You're being paranoid again, he thought to himself. He'd come over early in the morning unannounced, that could put anybody in a bad mood. This dinner had been her idea, to meet the people Kelly worked with. Still, Casey couldn't help feeling out of place, he felt like he at least should've brought something. Habit of alternating who cooked at 51, he supposed.
He was drawn out of his thoughts by Cathy's borderline bubbly voice announcing, "If everybody wants to come into the kitchen and start dishing up."
The guys couldn't have moved any faster if the building had been on fire. Casey found himself dead last in line, and he tried to see past the others to see what they were having, but it was only after everybody else had pushed past he saw a large bowl of salad in the middle of the table and a large glass pan of scalloped potatoes and ham and another glass pan with green bean casserole. Casey helped himself to an ample portion and found a spot back in the living room where everybody sat around talking and got acquainted with Severide's new girlfriend.
Casey was content to sit back and let everybody else actually ask her questions about her life, her job, etc., he waited for the inevitable moment that Capp would say something stupid, as usual, but somehow it never came, the whole dinner conversation went downright smooth, and everybody seemed as smitten with Cathy Woods as Kelly was. It all made Casey hope that this time things would actually work out for Severide, God knew he needed something to go right for once in his life, and the menagerie of women who had been in and out of his bedroom over the years sure hadn't cut it.
When his fork scraped against the empty plate and he realized he'd gotten through the whole meal without a word, and in fact looking around, finished before any of the others, he felt out of place and wished he was back at his apartment.
"Matt."
The voice broke through his thoughts and he looked over at the woman, who was staring intently at him.
"Is something wrong?"
Now he really felt like an idiot, he just shook his head and said over the half mouthful of food still lodged against his cheek, "Good dinner."
That got a laugh out of everybody else as he excused himself and went to the kitchen.
The next morning Kelly had called Casey, but only gotten his voicemail. He tried several more times, and texted Casey, but there was no response. That wasn't like him, and Kelly decided to head over and make sure everything was alright.
He pulled up outside Casey's apartment and saw the truck was still parked there. He went up to the door and found it unlocked, the apartment was dark and quiet.
"Casey? You here?"
He went through the rooms and saw a light on in the bathroom, opened the door, and felt his heart drop when he saw Casey, a couple shades paler than usual, still wearing the clothes he had on last night, lying on the floor beside the toilet curled on his side.
"Casey! What's the matter?"
Matt looked like a ghost as he weakly raised his head off the tile floor and got out a weak, "I got the flu."
Kelly stepped into the bathroom and crouched down beside him. "What happened?"
Casey weakly rested his head against the floor again and murmured, "'ve been throwing up all night."
Tears were actually forming in Casey's eyes and started to trail down his face as he told Kelly, "I've never been this sick in my life."
That worried Severide. He knew there were some bad flu seasons but as far as he knew they weren't in one now.
"Do you need me to get you to the hospital?"
"I dunno," Casey quietly said. "I just stopped a couple hours ago...I'm scared to move."
"Casey, we've got to get you off this floor...have you had anything to drink?"
Casey tried to shake his head but only had the energy to move it to one side. "Can't keep anything down."
"Hang on, I'll be right back," Kelly headed for the kitchen and looked through the contents of the fridge.
There was no ginger ale but there was half a six-pack of 7Up on the bottom shelf, and a half drunk bottle of orange Powerade on the second shelf. Kelly wasn't sure which one would be better for Matt so he pulled a can out of the plastic holder, grabbed the bottle and took both of them back to the bathroom. Casey hadn't moved.
"You need to drink something, Matt."
Casey tried to shake his head, "Just throw up again."
"Just take a sip," Kelly yanked the pull tab back and heard the carbonated soda hissing at him. He crouched down again and helped Matt sit up enough to drink the soda. "Nice and slow, take it easy...that'll help...how long have you been sick?"
Casey weakly shrugged, "I 's getting ready for bed, got a horrible stomachache...just made it in here...half an hour later, same thing...finally just stayed here..."
Kelly placed his hand on Casey's forehead.
"You'll get sick," Casey told him.
"I'm not worried about that," Kelly replied, "you don't feel warm...you got a thermometer?"
Casey made a small sound and pointed up to the medicine cabinet. Kelly got up, opened the door and took out the digital thermometer, turned it on and pressed it against Casey's temple. A few seconds later it beeped.
"98.4, you don't have a fever...what other symptoms do you have? Chills, pain?"
Casey shook his head, "Everything hurts from throwing up all night...I'm soaked..."
Kelly had noticed.
"Let's assume the worst of it's past, can you get in the tub to get cleaned up?" Kelly asked.
Casey tried to respond but the words didn't fully come out, but it sounded to Kelly like he said 'I don't know'.
"You need to get clean, Casey," Kelly reached over and turned on the taps and shut the drain plug in place, "you'll feel a little better anyway."
Casey moaned and whimpered from where he sunk back down on the floor. Kelly made sure the water was tepid, he didn't want it to get hot and risk upsetting Casey's stomach again, while the tub filled he grabbed Casey by the arm and pulled him to sit up again, Casey leaned against Kelly like a limp rag, no strength left in him. He dropped his head against Kelly's shoulder and closed his eyes, Kelly put his arm around his friend and soothingly rocked him as they waited.
"I'm sorry you're feeling so bad, Matt...why didn't you call me? I would've come over."
"Couldn't stop...long enough to get to...phone..."
Kelly grimaced at this piece of information and slightly tightened his hold on Casey, wishing there was something he could do to take away any part of his suffering.
When the tub got full, Kelly turned off the taps, and with less of a fight from Casey than he anticipated, helped Matt get undressed, and helped him ease into the tub. Casey was trying to breathe regularly but not hard or fast and get himself going again, he seemed to be using all his energy to focus on that, so Kelly took it upon himself to get a wash rag, dip it in the lukewarm water, lather it up with soap and wash Casey. He scrubbed over Casey's upper back, around his neck, then grabbed Casey's hand and extended his arm out to the side and washed his armpit, then the other, then scrubbed over his chest.
"You doing alright, Casey?" he asked.
Matt weakly nodded in response, words seemed beyond him right now.
"You want to just soak for a while?"
He nodded again.
"Don't fall asleep in there," Kelly told him as he got up and headed for the door, "I'll be back."
He went back to the kitchen to see what Casey actually had on hand that would be any good for somebody who'd been puking all night. As usually, Casey's grocery shopping skills left something to be desired, there was no orange juice in the fridge, no canned soup in the cupboard, no saltine crackers. He opened the freezer door and felt a little relief when he saw a netted bag of large freezer pops that were frozen solid.
"Casey, you never cease to surprise me," he murmured to himself as he cut the bag open, took one out and cut the top off the plastic tube.
"Casey," he said as he headed back into the bathroom. He stopped and saw Casey had his head dropped to his chest and was about asleep. "Casey, wake up."
Reluctantly, Matt opened his eyes and looked at him.
"Here, eat this," Kelly said as he handed him the freezer pop.
Casey looked at it from both ends and finally saw where the opening had been cut, and using his thumb and index finger to break it up in the middle and squeeze the top half through the slit, put it in his mouth and sucked the top piece out and let it melt in his mouth before swallowing it.
"You feeling any better?" Kelly asked.
Casey shrugged, and seemed to have a little more energy for it now. "A little, I guess..."
Kelly watched as Casey made quick work of sucking the contents of the freezer pop out of its tube, until only a small amount of liquid was left in the bottom, then sucked that out as well, if he used anymore force he'd probably inhale the plastic wrapper from the inside-out. Severide reached for the bottle of Powerade on the counter, took the lid off and handed it to Casey and warned him, "Go a little slower with this, or you will be sick again."
Casey slowly drank a little, then handed the bottle back to Kelly.
"You want to get out?" he asked.
Casey weakly nodded. Kelly saw him grab the edge of the tub with both hands, bracing himself to stand up, and he also saw all the muscles in Casey's arms twitching and tensing up, it was obvious that right now the Truck lieutenant didn't have the strength to pull himself to his feet.
"Okay, hang on."
Kelly grabbed a towel off the rack, then raised the drain plug, and as the water gurgled down the drain, he grabbed Casey by the arm and helped him up, wrapped the towel around his torso and helped him step over the edge of the tub. Casey shakily walked the short distance back to his bedroom and sat on the edge of the bed. Severide got a good look at him, he was still pale, he was shaky, and he looked ready to drop dead from exhaustion.
"Why don't you lie down for a while and try to get some sleep?" he suggested. "You'd feel better if you could rest."
Casey's eyes roamed around as if considering his options, then finally, almost reluctantly, he nodded.
"You want to get dressed first?"
Casey shook his head as he leaned back against the pillows, "I'm too tired."
Kelly turned the thermostat down so Casey wouldn't get hot, and draped the covers over him so he'd be comfortable. He also brought the Powerade and 7Up from the bathroom, and the waste basket just in case and set it near the head of the bed.
"Go to sleep, Casey," he told the blonde man who appeared to be struggling to stay awake, "I'll take care of everything around here."
"Thanks, Kelly," Matt closed his eyes, and in a few short minutes was in a dead sleep.
Kelly left the bedroom, left the door open incase Matt needed him, and went to work cleaning and disinfecting the bathroom.
Casey slept until 3 o' clock that afternoon, Kelly finally went in to wake him up since he needed to drink more than he had, and saw the blonde man laying flat on his back, an almost contented look on his face, his color had returned to normal. Kelly almost hated to wake him up, but...
"Casey...Casey..."
"Huh?" Matt slowly opened his eyes.
"How're you feeling?"
Casey moved around under the covers and half turned on his side and said decisively, "This isn't the flu."
"What do you mean?"
"Every time I get the flu, I get a sore throat so bad it feels like there're razor blades in it...and it burned all night and this morning from throwing up...but it doesn't hurt...I'm not miserable..."
"Then you should be able to drink some more." Kelly had taken the Powerade away earlier and put it back in the fridge to keep it cold. He held the bottle out for Casey to take, he did, and swallowed a mouthful.
"Doesn't hurt," he concluded.
"Maybe it's a stomach virus going around," Kelly thought. "You think you can eat something?"
Casey grimaced at the thought. "I don't know..."
"You are the worst shopper, you know that?" Kelly teased him, "You don't have any saltines...I did find a carton of chicken broth...but I know the smell can be hit or miss when you're sick...think you can swallow some yogurt?"
Casey shrugged, "I guess so."
A sudden, strange sound grabbed both men's attention.
"What was that?" Kelly asked.
"My stomach," Casey said in disbelief.
"You are hungry then."
"That never happens with the flu either," Casey said, "not until the second day anyway."
"Well, you should be safe then," Kelly replied, "vanilla's nice and bland."
"You..." Casey looked at the clock, "you've been here all this time?"
"Yeah," Kelly said in a 'well duh!' tone, "where else would I be?"
Casey shook his head. "I don't know what to say..." he looked at Severide as he thought of something else, "If you get whatever this is..."
"I'll be fine," Kelly insisted. "Feel like getting up?"
Casey moaned softly as he tried to sit up, every muscle in his body protesting after lying in one place for several hours, but he finally managed to straighten his back and bend his knees and said, "I'll get dressed and be out in a little while."
"I'll be here," Kelly said as he headed out the door.
Casey finally emerged from the bedroom dressed and slowly made his way over to the couch and settled down on it, feeling better than last night but still not back to normal yet. Kelly sat in a chair next to the couch and was scrolling through the channels and stopped on one. "Hey look, M*A*S*H is on."
"M*A*S*H is on 12 times a day," Casey said, "it's no big feat."
"Well it's just that good," Kelly replied.
Casey managed a weak smile as he adjusted himself against the cushions.
"You feeling alright?"
"Better, still tired," Casey said.
"You think you're gonna be up for coming in tomorrow?" Kelly asked.
"Probably," Casey answered.
Kelly knew that was no big feat either, usually Casey would come in to work no matter how bad of shape he was in.
"Oh man," Casey groaned as something dawned on him, "if everybody else gets this, they're gonna have to close the firehouse."
"We survived the flu before, we will again," Kelly said. Then suddenly he threw Casey off guard by asking him, "You want me to stay here tonight?"
Casey turned his head and looked at him. "You don't have to do that."
"But do you want me to?"
Casey dropped his head to his chest, and the fact he wouldn't or couldn't turn down the offer, told Severide all he needed to know.
"I was so sick last night," he said as he finally picked his head up, "I thought I was going to die."
And it was obvious that Casey wasn't convinced that it was all behind him.
"If it happens again, I'll rush you to Med myself," Kelly told him.