After the next shift, Kelly was gone most of the day running errands and didn't get back to the apartment until the evening He walked in and found Casey packing his stuff that was spread out over the couch in the living room. If Casey heard the Squad lieutenant enter the living room, he made no sign of it. Kelly walked up behind him and said out of the blue, "I don't want you moving out."
Casey paused, but didn't turn around, he responded as he kept packing, "You are not going to want me around once Stella moves in and gets settled."
"Don't tell me what I'm thinking," Kelly sniped.
"How about I tell you what Kidd's thinking?" Casey straightened his back and turned to face Kelly, "She is not going to want me here while you two are still in the honeymoon stage."
"Stella's not going to care that you're here," Severide told him.
"No, she's not going to admit that to you or in front of me, there's a difference," Casey replied, then turned back to his stuff, "It's better that I move out."
Kelly knew this wasn't going to be easy, no matter what he did, but he wasn't taking no for an answer.
"You're not moving out," he stated, as if he actually had the power to make that happen.
Casey turned and looked at Kelly with mild interest, "You can't stop me."
"Want a bet?"
Casey snorted, and turned back to what he was doing. He was oblivious to the fact Severide was stepping closer towards him and quickly closing the gap between them, until...
Casey yelped as he was pushed face down on the couch and he had Severide's whole body weight pressing against him. He tried to get loose but Kelly was too heavy.
"What the hell?" he yelled as he struggled to get loose, but Kelly's weight pinned him in place, but that didn't stop Casey from struggling underneath him, "Dammit Severide, get your fat ass off of me."
"Shut up," Kelly replied as he bounced on his knees to further press his weight down into Casey's back for good measure, drawing a pained yell out of the man beneath him. Kelly couldn't resist smirking at Casey's misery as the blonde man struggled underneath him moaning and yelling the entire time.
"Kelly?" The door opened and Stella was halfway in when she got an eyeful of the sight before her. "Whoa! Sorry, as you were," she said as she quickly backed out and pulled the door shut behind her.
"Stella, get back in here," Kelly called as he kept Casey pinned under him.
The door opened just enough for Stella to slowly stick her head halfway in and asked uncertainly, "You sure?"
"Yeah, come on in," Kelly answered as he took his weight off Casey and got up, allowing Casey the chance to roll over on his back and sigh in relief at not having the lieutenant crush him.
"Okay," Stella said, still not sounding entirely convinced.
"I want to get something settled right now," Kelly told both of them as Casey slowly got to his feet and Stella entered the living room. "Stella-"
"Don't," Casey started to say.
"You shut up," Kelly told him. Casey surprised him by actually closing his mouth. Kelly turned to Kidd and asked her, "Do you have a problem with Casey being here?"
Stella looked at the two of them with a vexed look on her face and took a stabbing guess, "I think...this is a conversation that doesn't actually concern me..."
"I told you," Casey said.
"Shut up," Kelly repeated. He looked at Stella again and told her, "Stella, just tell him the truth."
Kidd opened her mouth hesitantly, and after a couple pauses said to Severide, "Can I...see you, outside for a moment?"
"Anything you have to say you can say in front of Casey," Kelly said.
"Uh, believe me," she replied, "I need to talk to you outside for a minute."
"What's going on?" Kelly wanted to know.
"I don't think that what's going on here is about the two of us," Stella told him, "It could just be Casey's ready to get his own place."
"Then why wouldn't he just say so?"
"Oh, because you're always so open about everything, right?" she asked.
"Has Brett said anything to you?" Kelly asked.
Stella furrowed her brows together and squinted her eyes for a second, "Brett? What's she got to do with anything?"
"You mean you didn't know either?" Kelly asked.
"Know about what?" Stella asked. After a hesitant pause she told Kelly, "I...haven't actually talked to her much for...a few weeks now."
Kelly looked at her and it took a few seconds for him to realize what she was saying, and suddenly he felt like he'd gotten hit by a truck. "Casey was right."
"About what?"
Kelly brought her up to speed on the conversation he'd had with Casey before last shift.
"I was hoping he was wrong," Kelly said, "I was hoping there was some way he was making this bigger than it actually was...how...how'd I miss this?"
"Time gets away from us," Stella shook her head, "it happens, to everybody."
"This shouldn't have happened," Kelly told her, "We've been friends for 20 years, how did I not see this?"
"I get it, it sucks," Stella agreed, "but...sometimes that's just life."
Kelly shook his head, "That's not an answer, it can't be."
"Then what's the alternative?" she asked.
"I don't know," he responded hopelessly.
"Oh-"
The small voice drew both their attention and they turned and saw Sylvie standing at the top of the stairs with a shopping bag clutched in her hand. The blonde woman looked from one firefighter to the other, as if gauging if she'd interrupted something.
"Sorry, is this a bad time?" she asked.
Kelly sighed, "No." He nodded towards the door, forcing himself to be civil all the while wanting to blame Brett personally for what was happening, even though he knew it wasn't her fault, "Go right on in."
"O-o-o-okay, thanks," the blonde woman replied as she stepped past them and entered the apartment. Kelly waited until the door was shut to pick up where they left off, keeping his voice lower so the two blonde people inside didn't hear them.
"I don't like this, Stella," Kelly told her.
"I know you don't," she responded, "but it's Matt's decision, there's nothing you can do about it."
"There has to be something," he said.
"What's the worst that can happen if he moves out?" she asked. "You guys lived apart before, he survived."
"That was different," Kelly insisted.
"How?" she asked.
"That was..." Kelly stopped, suddenly unable to finish the thought. Stella looked at him curiously, waiting for the full answer, silently nudging him. "That was before he was nearly murdered in his own home."
Stella blinked, then slowly nodded. "You want him here to keep an eye on him."
"I know he's safe here," Kelly said defensively.
"He's a grown man, he doesn't need a keeper," Stella pointed out, "he knows how to take care of himself."
"He did the last time too and he still could've burnt to death in his apartment," Kelly pointed out.
"The odds of that happening again are very slim, Kelly," Kidd mentioned.
He looked at her for a few seconds before reluctantly admitting, "I know..." His eyes moved to look to the side wall, "I haven't had to worry about him since he moved in, he's right here, I know what's going on, I can see what's going on, I know he's alright."
"He'll be alright, Kelly," Stella told him. "You can't be scared to let him leave the nest if this is what he wants to do."
He looked back at her and asked, "What if it's not what he wants to do? What if he's just moving out because he thinks he has to?"
"Why would he do that?" she asked.
"Because you're moving in," Kelly answered.
Stella raised one eyebrow inquisitively, "Ohhhh-kay, and the connection is?"
"He said you wouldn't want him around, and you wouldn't admit it to either of us," Severide told her.
She looked at him for a minute as she pursed her lips together. "Honestly? Not how I'd have planned it if I had my pick. But I'm here, and I'm not going anywhere, and Casey knows that."
"Then why won't he stay?" Kelly asked cluelessly.
"Uh, no offense, alright?" Stella said, "but maybe he feels held back here...maybe he wants his own life and a place to live it, and a place with an actual bedroom if he meets a woman he wants to bring home."
Kelly automatically squinted his eyes shut and his whole face grimaced as a very unwanted image popped into his head of Casey and Brett.
Then he remembered the blonde paramedic was in his apartment with Casey right now.
"Oh God," Kelly groaned, "What do you think they're doing in there?"
Stella noted the door was ajar and commented, "I think we're safe. Let's go see."
Kidd just barely set foot in the door with Severide right behind her when a sudden "SURPRISE!" gave them both a jolt and they knocked into each other.
"What the hell's going on?" Kelly demanded to know as his eyes were able to focus and he saw the two blondes in the living room by the couch and saw Sylvie holding a cake.
Sylvie answered, "Well we couldn't very well let Stella move in without a little housewarming party."
Stella made a confused face and pointed out, "I'm not moving in until next week."
"That's where the surprise part comes in," Brett answered, "we were trying to figure some way to pull it off without you knowing."
"We? You mean, you two?" Stella asked. She squinted one eye at Casey and asked him, "You were in on this too?"
"That's where it started," Casey explained. "Nothing stays a secret at 51, everybody knows that, so the only way to make sure this didn't leak out, was to give everybody at the firehouse something else to talk about."
"Which at the same time made it very easy to plan everything without anybody finding out," Sylvie added, then rolled her eyes as she explained, "In fact, everybody else just got the message about the party six hours ago, so expect a stampede of firefighters to show up any minute for the party."
"I don't get it," Kelly said, and stepped to the front and asked the two blondes, "That's what's been going on this whole time?"
The Truck captain and the paramedic glanced at each other for a second before Brett told them, "Ever since Stella announced she was moving in anyway."
Stella opened her mouth and tried to say something a few times but only a bunch of jumbled sounds came out before finally, "I'm confused, you actually planned this...for me?"
"Well this is a big occasion," Casey answered, "we had to do something."
From the street they heard the sound of several cars pulling up and doors slamming.
"Here comes the stampede," Sylvie commented.
"So you were jerking our chains this whole time?" Foster asked Brett.
Sylvie rolled her eyes and told her partner, "I didn't do anything, I told you there wasn't anything between us."
"Yeah, but that's not the body language you were putting out," Foster replied.
"What body language?"
Foster did a double take, "Guy enters the room and you about swallow your tongue."
"I told you, I swallowed wrong," Sylvie said.
"Ugh" Foster threw her head back in frustration.
A few yards away in the living room, Ritter stopped and asked Casey, "So there was never anything going on between you and Brett?"
"I never said that was," Casey pointed out.
"Yeah, I know, it's just..." whatever it was, Ritter didn't finish the thought and instead told Casey, "I'm going to stop right there before I say something I regret."
Casey nodded knowingly, "Wise choice."
A few feet away from them, Cruz and Chloe were talking to Severide and Stella.
"This is going to be great for you two, Stella," Chloe said, "I know I can't wait for our wedding day so we can move in together."
Cruz lightly chuckled and added, "It would make the rent a little easier to figure out."
Stella half choked on a laugh and replied, "Yeah well...that part's still not on the agenda yet..." she turned to Kelly and asked, "Is it?"
He merely shrugged and remarked, "Say the word, I'm good to go."
An hour later the party was starting to wind down but few people were leaving yet, though while nobody was looking, Casey and Brett slipped out into the hall.
"Well, we actually pulled it off," Sylvie was still in amaze of this fact.
"Mm-hmm," Casey nodded as they walked over towards the elevator.
"Thanks for helping, Matt."
"No problem," Casey said as he shoved his hands in his pockets, "though when I get back I need to clear the air with Severide. The other day he started asking some questions and so he wouldn't start putting two and two together I said some things I probably shouldn't have. I figured the best way to make sure he didn't figure it out was to put him on the defensive."
"You two are still talking, right?" Sylvie asked.
"For now," Casey replied as he reached over and hit the button to bring the elevator up.
"So..." Sylvie turned to him, "I guess now we go back to ignoring each other on a regular basis, right?"
"I guess so," Casey let out a small laugh. "Almost too bad though, it was kind of fun letting everybody's imaginations run away with them."
"Yeah," Brett nodded, "It's not so bad being the subject of the firehouse rumor mill when you actually start the rumor. You were right, you said Stella would never figure it out."
"I told you."
The elevator dinged and the doors opened. Sylvie got in, but before she hit the button to go down she turned to Casey, "Matt...if I ever need to talk to someone, can I call you?"
He shrugged, "Sure."
"I have a confession to make," Sylvie said, "I love what I do and I love being part of 51, but it is a bit intimidating being one of only three women in the whole firehouse...and I love Foster and Kidd, I really do...but I really miss what I had with Cruz and Otis when we were all roommates. At different points we all thought there could've been something between us...but, it didn't work out that way, and it was fine, I just loved what we had as roommates and friends...it feels like a lifetime ago, before Cruz got engaged to Chloe, before...everything happened, everything changed...it all changed too quick, and I don't like it."
"I get it, believe me, I do," Casey told her.
And he had a good feeling that Kelly got it too.