Casey looked around the quiet apartment, he knew he had everything packed that he'd accumulated since his apartment burnt down, but he'd feel like an idiot if he actually forgot something. He double checked and was sure he had everything in his two bags, and as he looked around at the living room half striped blinding gold from the sun rising outside and pouring in the window, he realized there wasn't any point in dragging his feet anymore and it was time to get going.
He heard the bolt turn in the bedroom door and looked as it opened and Kelly slowly exited, already dressed for the day.
"For a while there I thought you weren't going to get up today," Casey commented.
Kelly sighed, "I thought about it."
He made eye contact with Casey but the Truck captain could tell by looking in Severide's eyes that he wouldn't be able to maintain the contact for too long before his emotions got the better of him.
"But I didn't want to miss you before you left," he added.
Casey smirked at that. He could appreciate how hard this was for Kelly to hold everything together, and he hated to make it any harder on the Squad lieutenant than it already was. He closed the gap between them and hugged Severide.
"I'm gonna miss you, Case."
"I know," Matt replied, "I love you, Kelly."
"I know," he remarked, "I love you too."
Casey couldn't help beaming at that, as long as he lived he didn't think he'd ever get used to it, but it was nice to hear when it actually happened. He pulled back from the embrace and saw the tears starting to build in Kelly's eyes despite his attempt to smile and act like everything was normal. Casey smiled as he cupped his hands on the sides of Kelly's face and brushed the tears away with his thumbs as they started to trail down Severide's face.
"It's gonna work out, Kelly, you'll see."
"I know...I'm still gonna miss you."
"I'll miss you too," Casey told him, "but it'll be fine."
He hoped anyway. He still hadn't gotten over the shock how hard Kelly was taking this, but he knew he was just delaying the inevitable if he didn't leave now.
Kelly lay awake in his bed that night anxiously drumming his fingers against his chest as he looked around the dark room. The clock on the nightstand said it was 12:45 A.M., but he wasn't paying it much attention. He'd talked to Casey a couple hours after he'd moved into his new apartment. That was over 12 hours ago and it was the last time he'd talked to Matt. A dozen times that afternoon he picked up his phone and started to dial Matt's number or started to send him a text, then stopped himself, and resigned himself to the fact Casey moved out to put some space between them, he couldn't horn in on him now. No matter how much it was driving him up the wall not knowing what was going on with Casey, not having any contact with him.
On the nightstand his phone pinged with an incoming text. Kelly jumped at the sound and looked at the phone as if it might jump up and bite him. He reached over and grabbed it and saw it was a text from Casey.
It was short and to the point:
I'm fine. Go to sleep.
Kelly tiredly chuckled as he set the phone back on the nightstand and relaxed against the pillows.
Kelly groggily stumbled into the kitchen and started the coffee maker and was very slowly coming around for the morning. As he took stuff out of the refrigerator to start breakfast, his phone pinged again. He reached in his pocket, took it out and saw a picture had come through of Casey holding his phone as he took a selfie of himself in the kitchen cooking breakfast. Kelly smiled at the picture and a small laugh came out.
Then his phone was snatched away as Stella entered the kitchen. "Gimme that. Ahhh, so that's who's getting all your undivided attention each morning, maybe there was something to that night I walked in on you riding Casey like a pig."
Severide busted out laughing and jokingly elbowed her, "I was not."
"I don't know," she said teasingly, "I might have something to worry about."
Kelly laughed and grabbed his phone back from her. "Give me that."
Stella smiled at him but her expression became slightly more somber as she asked him, "So this...this does something for you?"
Severide looked at his phone and at the picture of Casey and answered, "Yeah...yeah, it does."
She didn't respond, but slowly nodded and merely conceded, "Okay."
Casey was jerked awake by the sound of somebody pounding on a door. He opened his eyes and looked around the bedroom and realized the banging was coming from the front door. The red digital numbers on the clock said it was 12:50. What the hell?
"Kelly?" he kicked the covers back and made his way through the apartment, turning on lights as he went. He'd sent Kelly a text before going to bed, Severide knew he was okay, what'd he want now?
The knocking persisted as Casey made his way to the living room, "Kelly?"
"Lemme in," a slurred voice called. It wasn't Kelly.
Casey blinked. "Brett?"
The knocking was slightly weaker now as Casey undid the locks on the door and threw it open. Sylvie stood on the other side of the door, her arms out to the sides and gripping the door frame to keep her balance, her appearance was slightly disheveled and it was his educated guess she'd been drinking, heavily.
"He-e-ey, Matt," she said, "Can I come in?"
"What's going on, Brett? Is something wrong?" Casey asked.
It took the paramedic a couple seconds to process his question, she stood a little straighter and tried to insist, "No...no, nutthin's wrong...I jus...I..." she sputtered for a few seconds before she stopped, and looked at Casey with somber eyes and said with slight hesitance, "Foster's out on a date, and Cruz is out with Chloe...and I just can't be in that big empty apartment tonight...can I stay here, please?"
Matt sighed. He wasn't unsympathetic to what Brett was going through but he sure hadn't seen this one coming.
"Yeah, sure," he held the door open, "come on in."
"Thanks, Matt, you 'ave...no idea how mush I re'lly appresiat th...thi..." Sylvie turned and just about fell off the stoop as she doubled over to vomit.
Casey rolled his eyes upward to face the ceiling and dryly commented, "This is gonna be fun."
He waited until Brett had shifted to dry heaving to bring her inside. Kelly had been the only one to see his new place, so he directed Sylvie over to the bathroom so she could freshen up. She came out a few minutes later with her hair fixed, her face washed and some color back in her cheeks.
"Thanks, Matt," she said, "I'm sorry about the mess."
"Don't worry about it," he replied as he led her to the living room, "Are you alright?"
"Yeah...yeah," she tried to sound convincing, "I jus...I hate the way things are now...I'm happy for Joe, and I'm happy for whatever Foster's doing...but I just miss the way it was when it was me and Cruz and Otis there...you know?"
Casey nodded, "I know...I think Severide's going through something similar right now."
"What do you mean?"
"Can I show you something?" Casey picked up his phone.
He sat down beside Sylvie on the couch and showed her the series of messages and photos he'd sent Severide since the move.
"He has to hear from me at night or he won't go to sleep," Casey said, "and he has to see that I made it through the night without being kidnapped or murdered, even the days we're going on shift in an hour."
Brett weakly laughed as she looked at the pictures, "Oh wow...I mean, I knew you guys were close but...I don't know, I thought nothing ever bothered Kelly."
"You and me both," Casey replied, "Least of all I never saw this coming. I thought he'd be thrilled I was moving out and he and Kidd can have some privacy."
Casey just about jumped out of his skin at the sudden outburst beside him as Sylvie broke out sobbing. Casey's eyes were open to their maximum capacity. "What's wrong?"
Sylvie ran the back of her hand under her nose and said, "That's what's gonna happen when Joe marries Chloe, they're not gonna want me around."
Casey didn't know what to say, but he thought the silence might be worse.
"I don't think that'll happen, Brett."
"They won't say it," she replied, "I know how Joe is, he'd never deliberately say something to be hurtful, but it's true. When they get married, they won't want me there getting in their way." She folded her hands on her knees, hung her head and cried, "I feel so alone. If I had anyone to stay with, I wouldn't have come here...but there wasn't anyone else I could go to."
Casey was definitely nothing if not sympathetic, but he still didn't have any idea what to say to her.
"Well, I still don't think that'll happen, but if it does, you could always stay here." The blonde woman slowly turned her head to look at him. "I mean until you found another place, it's not much but..."
Sylvie's eyes were barely half open now as she asked him, slurring some of her words, "Can'I jus'stay here t'night?
He nodded. "Sure."
He could tell she wouldn't be awake much longer, so he got up from the couch and helped Brett lie down, draped the quilt on the back of the couch over her, and put a wastebasket on the floor right by the couch incase there were any repeat performances of what she'd done out on the stoop.
"You okay?" he asked.
Sylvie's eyes were closed and she hummed contentedly in her throat and just barely got out the words, "Yes, thank you."
Casey nodded before turning and heading to his bedroom.
Casey was in the process of getting dressed the next morning when he heard a knock at the door. He hastily finished buttoning his shirt and headed out to the living room and went to the door. Unlocking it, he saw Severide standing on the other side.
"What's going on?" he asked. He hadn't even sent his usual morning picture to Severide yet, so he couldn't figure out why Kelly had come over so early.
"There were a couple things I wanted to talk to you about before shift, and I thought it'd be easier to do in person," Kelly started to say, then stopped, and Casey saw his eyes widen as he looked at something past Casey in the room. Matt turned around and saw Sylvie still passed out on the couch tangled in the quilt. Casey turned back to Severide and shot him a warning look that said it all, 'Don't even start'. He flashed back to what happened with Heather Darden and he was in no mood for a repeat of that.
Kelly took the hint and quickly dropped whatever he was going to say. "None of my business."
"No, it's not," Casey told him, and added, "But it's also not what you think."
Brett moaned and hummed as she rolled over onto her side, it sounded like she was actually trying to form words. Both firemen went over to her to see what was going on.
"What is it, Brett?"
Sylvie groaned as she slowly opened her eyes and said, "Oh man...how much did I drink last night? Where..." she tilted her head back and saw the men standing over her, "Hey Casey...where...how'd I get here?"
That made Casey think of something, he turned to Kelly and asked him, "Is her car out there?"
Kelly shook his head. Casey turned back to the woman on the couch, who for some reason had pulled the quilt over her head and was bunched up inside of it like a large worm, and asked her, "Brett, how'd you get here last night?"
"I dunno," the muffled response came as the giant worm rolled over on the couch, "I dunno where I am now."
The two men looked at each other and Kelly commented, "I'll start the coffee."
"Sounds like Brett had a rough night," Kelly said as he poured three cups after Casey finished recapping the events of the previous night to him.
"That's putting it mildly," Casey replied as he took a sip of his.
Severide put his lips on the rim of his mug but didn't drink it yet. Hesitantly he added, "And I guess...you can relate."
Casey stopped, and looked at him, and slightly nodded, "I guess you could say that."
"Casey..."
Matt shook his head, "Don't apologize...everything that's happened was just supposed to happen, that's all there is to it."
"That's a cop-out, Matt."
"Well I choose to believe it," Casey replied, "everything's happening for a reason, I'm meant to be here, you and Kidd are meant to be together alone."
"And Brett?" Kelly asked.
Casey pursed his lips together and thought about it, "Well...let's just say she might be a frequent flier here. And get that thought out of your head."
Kelly chuckled.
"It doesn't say much when I'm the only one she can turn to right now," Casey said.
Severide murmured and shrugged, "Beats the alternative, at least she knows she's got one friend in her corner."
Matt nodded, "I guess that's saying something."
A/N: I'm not sure if I'm going to continue this story or not, so for now it's just going to be left in limbo.