Cathy Woods was a frequent visitor to Firehouse 51 over the next several shifts, and she always brought something for the guys. One day it was a double batch of brownies, the next shift it was two containers of cookies, everybody else dove into them but Casey kept his distance. Nobody got sick, but Casey still didn't trust anything that she made, but he knew if he mentioned any of it to anybody else, they'd think he was nuts.

Severide especially was beyond reasoning with, half the time when there wasn't anything going on between calls, Casey actually found him just staring off into space, that same strange look on his face that Casey had been trying to place, and he finally came up with where he'd seen it before.

One day after a call, Kelly had made his way into Casey's quarters and made himself at home on Matt's bunk as usual, and after a few minutes of small talk, he said what was really on his mind.

"I really love her, Casey."

The words rang through the room like a gunshot, Casey couldn't believe what he was hearing, but he didn't say anything. He turned in his chair and looked at Kelly, and just waited to see what happened next.

He didn't have to wait long, Kelly told him, "It feels right this time, Matt...for the first time in a long time...I haven't felt like this since Renee."

That clinched it. There was no way that Casey could tell Severide what he was thinking. He saw Kelly's eyes literally light up as he talked about it. He knew he hadn't seen Kelly like this in a long time, he knew there'd been a reason for it, and now he knew.

"That..." he forced himself to respond, "That's great, Kelly...I'm...happy, for you."

He didn't like it, he didn't like it whatsoever. He didn't care if he wasn't being fair in that he'd decided from the first time he met Cathy that he didn't like her, there was something off about her, and he was the only one who could see it. And he knew Severide was never going to see anything he didn't want to see, so there was no point trying to talk to him about it, he had to grit his teeth and pretend he was happy for his best friend, but Casey just knew that Kelly was making the worst mistake of his life. But he had no idea how to help. He decided for now all he could do was wait and see, maybe, possibly, hopefully, something would happen that would show Kelly Cathy's true colors, and he'd see her for what she really was, and he'd get out of that relationship quickly. He hoped.

Casey turned himself around on his bar stool and looked towards the door, then turned back around to face the bar. Severide was supposed to have been there an hour ago, they'd made plans to hit Molly's that night, for the first time in weeks. They'd made plans several times before but at the last minute Kelly always called him with news they had to reschedule, something unexpected came up. This time nothing had come up and they'd planned to hit Molly's, have a few drinks and see what happened next. Casey had sent Kelly a text message when he arrived at the bar, but hadn't heard back from him. He'd figured Kelly was on the way and went on in and ordered a beer, and waited. And waited...and waited...60 minutes later, Casey was starting to get a good idea that Kelly wasn't coming. He'd sent half a dozen text messages, expecting some kind of explanation, he checked his phone again, even though he'd checked it about every single minute he was at Molly's, and there was still nothing.

"Something bugging you, Casey?" Herrmann asked as he came over.

"Hermann, did you hear Severide say if he was doing something tonight?" Casey asked.

"Uh, no, I didn't, why?"

"Oh...nothing...I thought he was going to be here...and he wasn't in earlier?"

"Ain't seen him since we opened the doors," Christopher answered, "everything alright?"

"Yeah...I've sent him six messages and haven't heard back...he's probably just...having trouble with his phone."

"Yeah well that's no surprise," Herrmann said, "last week I spent 2 hours at the place we have our phone plan through, trying to figure out why they shut our phones off when I know I got the bill paid on time. Before that happened, Cindy was on my case because I wasn't answering when she called...no calls came through."

Casey just nodded. "Probably something like that."

"You know who his provider is?" Christopher asked, "Cuz if it's the same sons of bitches we got, I-"

"I don't think it is, Herrmann," Casey replied, not in the mood to hear Herrmann ramble on for half an hour.

"Well, I'm sure there's a logical explanation for it," Herrmann said.

Casey nodded, finished his beer and said, "I think I'll call it a night." He paid for his drink and added, "Thanks, Herrmann," as he hopped up off the bar stool.

He left Molly's, got in his truck and started to head for home. Halfway there he changed his mind and went the other way, and swung by Kelly's apartment. He pulled up at the curb and saw the Mustang parked, the lights were out inside the building. Casey had half a mind to march up there, beat on the door and find out what was going on. But he was too tired to get into it tonight and decided to go home before he did something he'd regret. He'd never admit it to anyone, he half refused to believe it himself, but he got a sinking feeling in his chest at the idea that he'd been slighted for Severide's new girlfriend.

When he got home he headed to the bedroom, shed his clothes and settled under the covers, which were slightly chilled that night. He lay there in the dark just staring at the ceiling for a while, then finally felt himself nodding off.

The next thing he heard was his phone buzzing with an incoming call. He reached for the nightstand, grabbed the phone, and saw it was Severide's number, he also saw that it was 1:30 A.M. This had better be good.

"What is it, Kelly?" he asked, forgoing any niceties.

He waited a couple seconds, then opened his eyes wider in puzzlement at the silence that met him.

"Kelly?" he said into the phone. "Hello?"

Nothing. Then a click.

Casey tiredly tossed his phone back on the nightstand and settled back under the covers.

The next morning, Severide answered on the third ring.

"Hey Casey, what's up?"

Matt was glad Kelly couldn't see him, or he would not have appreciated the look on Casey's face right now.

"So your phone's working today?"

"What do you mean?"

"I called you last night, I texted you, you never answered me. Then your phone called me again last night and nobody talked," he explained.

There was a small pause on the line, before Kelly replied, "What are you talking about?"

"You never showed up at Molly's, I thought something happened, I sent you six messages."

"Casey, I don't know what you're talking about. I never got anything from you," Kelly told him.

Casey blinked. "What? That's impossible."

"There was nothing on my phone last night, or this morning," Kelly said.

"Then you need to take it in to the shop," Casey said. "I can understand missing one or two calls or texts, but I tried getting you for an hour. Where were you?"

"You know where," Kelly replied, "I told you I couldn't make it last night."

Casey felt something in him drop. "No you didn't."

"Yes I did. I had a migraine last night and went to bed early."

"What?" Casey blinked. "You didn't tell me that."

"I had Cathy send you a text."

"Well I didn't get it," Casey said.

"Oh, sorry..."

Casey sighed, "It's no biggie..."

"I'm sorry, Casey, I didn't realize you were waiting for me."

"It's okay...we'll try again some other night," Casey responded.

Then he thought of something and asked Kelly, "There's nothing on your phone from last night? No missed calls? No texts?"

"Nope, there's nothing," Kelly answered.

Casey slowly closed his eyes and shook his head in confusion. But he let it go and asked Severide, "How're you today?"

"Good, headache's gone."

Casey merely nodded even though he knew Kelly couldn't see it. "That's good."

"Casey, I'm really sorry about this...what do you say we get together after next shift and do something?"

"Yeah, that'll be fine," Casey answered with a half shrug.

"Great, we'll iron out the details later," Severide told him.

"Iron out the details," Casey grumbled to himself as he peeled off his jacket and threw it on a chair after he got in the door of his apartment. "A steamroller would be more like it."

He just collapsed on the couch when he heard his phone blip from an incoming text message. He took it out of his pocket and saw a short message. 'Where R U?'

He replied, 'Home'.

A couple minutes later another message came through. 'Why didn't u come?'

"Seriously?" Casey asked himself. Instead of replying he put his phone on the coffee table and curled up in a ball on the couch, exhausted, and ready to call it a night.

Clearly Severide had other plans, his phone started ringing.

"What?" Casey answered.

"What the hell's going on?" Kelly asked.

"You tell me," Casey said, "I went to the address you gave me, and it was the wrong club, on the other end of town, Kelly."

"What're you talking about?"

"You gave me the wrong directions, and you never answered me when I called you about it...I tried working my way back but I got tired of checking every club to see if you were there, and I just came home. Don't tell me, you didn't get any calls."

"I couldn't hear my phone ringing in the club, I got it out to text you and saw the missed calls...I didn't give you the wrong address."

"Obviously you did because you weren't at any of the places I went to," Casey replied.

Severide was adamant, "I know I didn't."

Casey rubbed his eyes and grunted, "Whatever, I don't really care, I'm beat, I'm going to bed. I'll talk to you tomorrow."

He hung up before Kelly could say anything else, he really wasn't interested in hearing any of it. Casey tossed and turned on the couch a few times, trying to ignore what he was thinking, and feeling. He wasn't just tired, he wasn't just angry at Kelly. The word didn't come to him easily, and he felt stupid for even thinking about it, he was hurt. He beat himself up over this fact.

You're not just paranoid, you're being stupid, he told himself. And he felt even more stupid when he felt his cheeks getting hot and felt his eyes burning, felt the tears starting to build up that he tried to stop, but they persisted. Casey really wanted to kick himself. He was acting like a dumb kid jealous because his best friend started hanging out with someone else. But at the same time, it was true. Kelly was so engrossed in his new girlfriend that he was either ignoring Casey, he'd been blowing him off for two weeks any time they had plans, or he couldn't keep his mind on what he was doing. Severide insisted he didn't give Casey the wrong address, maybe in his mind he was convinced of that, but the facts said otherwise. Maybe Kelly was just so preoccupied with Cathy that he wasn't even paying attention to what he was doing. It could be an honest mistake, they'd all done it, write something down or type something up and don't double-check to see that it's the right information, that would be understandable; but giving him the wrong address, not answering his calls and only thinking to ask of his whereabouts over an hour later, none of this was like Kelly at all. And Casey was starting to worry it was only going to get worse.

As much as Casey tried to get a grip and pull himself together, he just couldn't, instead he felt his eyes burning even more as more tears worked their way loose, and soon after that he felt a spasm sensation tightening in his chest. He felt like an idiot about it, but he couldn't stop himself, he turned on his side and half buried his face in his pillow, and laid there in the dark and waited for the tears to stop coming.

Casey wasn't sure what he was expecting to see when he drove past Severide's apartment the next morning, but as luck would have it, he saw Cathy coming down the sidewalk and heading out to Kelly's Mustang. Casey pulled his truck up and got out.

"Hey Cathy, you got a minute?" he asked.

She turned at the sound of her name, and for a split second there was a look of surprise on her face, but it quickly passed and was replaced by her huge, phony grin.

"Matt! What're you doing here?"

"Did you happen to give Kelly the directions for the club last night?" He'd had a hunch and thought he'd play it and see what happened.

"Yeah," she answered, "it's a great place, we love it, you should've been there."

"I was going to be."

Casey felt his heart speed up a beat as he realized that what he'd planned to ask her just went out the window, and a new and more disturbing thought came to mind.

"You gave me the wrong directions," Casey said. He hadn't mean it to come out that way, but there it was, a straight up accusation, and he had nothing to prove it, but he knew it was right.

The blonde woman's grin didn't waver a bit. "What are you talking about?"

"You intentionally gave me the wrong directions so I'd spend all night trying to find Severide," Casey said.

Her smile gradually dropped, but her face gave absolutely nothing away. Her eyes were dead locked on him and she was perfectly stone faced as she said to him in a matter-of-fact tone, "No, Matt, you're confused, I gave you the right directions, you just went to the wrong place."

"I went where you told me to go," Casey said.

"Then you should've been at the club with us," she insisted. "Face it, Matt, you made a mistake, and now you're blaming me for it."

"I didn't make a mistake."

"Sure you did," she responded, never batting an eye.

"And you never sent me a text saying Kelly couldn't make it to Molly's."

"I did so," she told him.

"I tried getting a hold of him for an hour, there was no message," Casey stood his ground.

"Yes there was, you have it wrong," Cathy told him.

He had to hand it to her, she could look him dead in the eyes and lie through her teeth, and he knew this and he still had an inkling in him to believe her because she was just so convincing.

Instinctively Casey knew that he wasn't confused about anything, but knowing it didn't stop him from second guessing himself after he confronted Cathy. He even found himself looking through his phone, double checking the directions to the club, and searching for any calls or texts from the night at Molly's. Nothing. And he knew he was being stupid by doubting his own judgment just because Cathy said so, but there was just something about how firm she was in her convictions about somebody else being wrong, even if you knew better, you still couldn't help but think she might be right.

"Hell with it all," Casey said with a sigh as he tossed his phone on the nightstand.

He got undressed, crawled into bed, and hoped for a few oblivious hours where he didn't have to think about anything that was going on.

That however, was shot to hell sometime during the night when he was awakened by his phone buzzing. Casey fumbled in the dark for it and finally felt the phone and picked it up, just making out Severide's number as he answered, "Hello?"

Before he even got the full word out, he was jolted wide awake by the shock of loud and obscene breathing and moaning coming through the phone.

"What the hell?" Casey looked at his phone then put it back towards his ear, "Kelly?"

His ear was assaulted by the heavy breathing and the high pitched grunts and groans, and tempted as he was to hang up then and there, his morbid curiosity got the better of him and he listened long enough to confirm that it was the sound of two people, a woman, and a man. The obscene noises got louder, and impossibly louder still, there were some incoherent words and a few high pitched screams and Casey finally disconnected the call, and threw his phone across the room. What the hell was going on?

He didn't go back to sleep easily after that, and it was a long night.

When the sun came up the next morning Casey felt like he'd never been to bed. He forced himself to crawl out of bed and look in the mirror, he looked like a zombie and he felt the part too. Every time he thought he'd been about to fall asleep, the whole obscene ruckus over the phone played over in his memory and haunted him. Just thinking about it made him nauseous, he couldn't even bring himself to consciously acknowledge what it was he'd heard last night. Who would do such a thing? Why? He couldn't call Severide back and ask him what the hell it was all about, for one thing he was too embarrassed to make that call and have that conversation with his best friend. For another, the way things had been going lately, Kelly would probably insist once again that he hadn't called Casey. So far Matt hadn't been able to come up with any explanation for how Severide's phone could be calling him every night, with nobody on the line, and it turned out each time that Kelly had never called him. If he told Severide now that not only had his phone called him last night, but that he could hear Kelly having sex over the phone, Severide would think for sure that Casey had finally lost his mind.

"Maybe I have," he said to himself in utter hopelessness.