The Heart of This House
Follow the story of Andy Darden's younger sister and her relationship with Firehouse 51 and a certain Lieutenant. Naomi Darden is a surgical resident at Gaffney Chicago Medical Center (Chicago Med) but her heart is at Chicago's infamous Firehouse 51 where her family risks their lives every day. This is set across the entire Chicago franchise (so may turn into a PD/Med crossover)
Chapter 5 – Go Get Yourself A White Dress.
The fitting was not going particularly well. Hate didn't quite encompass how strongly Naomi felt about the garment currently adorning her body. She cupped her chest in desperation trying to hold up the mounds of fabric, pulling at the sweetheart neckline gently, "Could we… um… could we maybe add some straps or something?"
The seamstress frowned, "I'm not sure Mrs Archibald would approve of straps."
"Mrs Archibald doesn't have to wear this for a day, does she?" Naomi snapped, trying to work out the best way to keep the very heavy dress from dragging her (and her boobs) down. It was bad enough that her future mother-in-law hadn't actually come to the boutique for the fitting (despite the constant and irritating reminders), but she'd had the designer add more layers of tulle and lace as well as a tonne of tiny little beads and crystals and god knows what else, which meant that the sheer weight of the dress was ridiculous. Naomi couldn't help but roll her eyes; only Alison Archibald could get Vera Wang to alter a dress so drastically.
"I'll consult the designer and see what we can come up with."
"Am I allowed to take it off yet?"
"No, Ms Darden we need to make a few adjustments."
Naomi reached for her bag, before the chirping and tutting started. Apparently, she wasn't allowed to move. "Could I have my phone please?"
She huffed as it was handed to her, pressing the speed dial and hoping the person on the other line had the day off, "I need you."
xxx
"May I help you sir?"
Naomi laughed as she heard an uncomfortable voice from the front of the boutique, "I got a call from a friend of mine. She said she was trying on her wedding dress."
"Kelly?" Naomi called from the back of the store, behind the silk curtains where the seamstresses were sewing even more beads onto her dress. A shop assistant led him to the back area of the boutique where she heard him settle onto the garish gold thread sofa in front of the raised platform surrounded by mirrors.
"Will you promise not to laugh?" She said, as the seamstress gave her the nod to go out and inspect the "improved" dress in the huge gilded mirrors.
"I'm not going to laugh at you in your wedding dress, Naomi."
"Just you wait…" She muttered, bracing herself for the mirror and her waiting friend.
The seamstress pulled back the curtain and Naomi watched Kelly sit up as she shuffled over to the platform. She couldn't read his expression so stepped into the waiting stilettos, which raised the trailing tulle by six inches, and inspected her reflection.
"It's ridiculous…" She sighed into the mirror, taking in the dress that drowned her.
"Pixie, you look beautiful." Even though the dress didn't suit Naomi at all, the sight of the girl he'd watch grow up in her wedding dress took Kelly's breath away.
"I look like a meringue." The young woman pouted, in a fashion that reminded Kelly of her early teen years and he had to stop himself from laughing.
"It is… um… rather big, isn't it?"
Naomi carefully lifted up the skirt and dropped it, just to emphasise how many layers the dress had. In the mirror she saw the shop assistant pull an enormous sheet of fabric from a garment bag. She pointed at the woman in the mirror with an almost comical terrified expression on her face,
"What is that?" Her question was slow, punctuated and the angry undertone had the shop assistant shrink away slightly.
"Mrs Archibald requested a veil."
"She did what now?" Kelly tried not to laugh as Naomi's voice seemed to increase an octave, "All this, and a veil?"
Naomi could tell that the shop assistant was more scared of her mother-in-law than her, so she allowed her to place the endless trailing piece of fabric over her head and secure it into the very messy bun that she'd piled on her head. There were suddenly three more shop assistants stretching out the material and Naomi ran her hands over the veil in front of her eyes. She frowned as she noticed how the veil stretched really far behind her, almost reaching the sofa that Kelly was sitting on.
"For goodness sake, I'm not Kate freaking Middleton."
"You do look just as lovely."
"Kelly, you're not helping."
Naomi sighed, defeated and asked the shop assistant to take the veil off. Just before she did, Naomi noticed Kelly lift his phone. She pointed at him in the reflection, "No…. Delete that. Right now."
"What are you talking about?"
"Delete that photo!"
"I don't know what you're talking about…"
"I swear to god, if you send that photo to my brother or to Leslie or anyone… I will actually fucking kill you."
"Seriously though Naomi you look lovely…"
She folded her arms, flashing him her signature death glare, "Flattery will get you nowhere, Kelly Severide. Delete that picture right now!"
After Kelly reassured her that he had in fact deleted the photo, Naomi turned back to the mirror and sighed. Kelly noticed how her face fell as she ran her hands over the dress. "Pixie?"
"It's not what I want."
"What are you talking about?"
"None of this is me. The poufy meringue dress, this whole stupid big white wedding… all of it. I always dreamt of simple… None of this fuss, with that stupid woman making all the decisions. For god's sake, I feel like this stupid thing gets bigger every time I put it on…"
"Every time you put it on?"
"Do you know how many times that cow has made me try this stupid dress on already?"
"I assume you mean your mother-in-law to be?"
"This is my sixth fitting and every time she finds something to add to make this thing even more ridiculous… "
Kelly kept his mouth shut, although he did agree with her. The dress was too much for Naomi. It drowned her in fabric and beads and she looked miserable.
"Can I get out of this thing please?" The shop assistant noticed her discomfort and quickly began removing Naomi from the dress. She stepped out of the dress and grumbled as it stayed stood up without her in it. Kelly quickly averted his eyes as the blonde stalked past him in a tight slip and the some very high heels. When she emerged from the dressing room she was slightly more appropriately dressed, although her expression scared him.
"I need a drink." She said shortly, "Something very strong. Ten minutes ago."
xxx
Naomi had been knocking back drinks for a good few hours and was still not in much of a better mood. She sat at the bar with her chin in her hand, staring blankly at the wall of bottles behind the bar. Kelly hovered at her side but her responses were single syllables
"Naomi, I've got a question."
She'd shaken out her hair, so the blonde tresses tumbled around her face as she nodded.
"Why are you having the big white wedding?" Kelly noticed how she grimaced at the word and took a big gulp of her drink. "I thought you wanted something low-key, barefoot on a beach somewhere. Maldives wasn't it?"
"I know," she swirled the glass around, "It's just… Harrison wants the big wedding. He's so excited by it all, I just…. I don't want to take that away from him. He's so happy."
"But what about you? Surely, your happiness is important too?" Kelly reached out and put his hand on top of hers.
"I am happy…" She replied, looking anything but.
Kelly took out his phone and slid it across the table.
"I thought you deleted this, Kelly." She stared down at the phone, at the picture that he'd taken in the boutique. She inspected her expression in the photo; she looked as deflated as a week old balloon.
"Naomi… you're not happy."
She finished her drink, "I want to marry Harrison. I don't care how it happens and if the big white wedding in the stupid meringue dress makes him happy, then I'll do it… Another round?"
Kelly frowned, "Don't you think you should maybe slow down..."
She pouted, getting up and promptly losing her balance. She giggled when Kelly caught her and sat her back on the stool. It reminded him of when Naomi was learning to walk.
"Okay, Pixie. We should probably get you home…"
"You're no fun, Kelly."
Luckily for Naomi, Kelly hadn't had much to drink so offered to drive her back to Harrison's apartment. She giggled the whole way.
"God, it's like you're in high school again, Naomi." Kelly helped her out the car and walked her over to the door.
She laughed, allowing Kelly to wrap his arm around her shoulder to steady her, "It was wine coolers in high school, not straight whiskey."
He said nothing, handing her the high heels that had been discarded in the back of his car.
"This was nice…" Naomi leant against the door frame smiling at Kelly.
Kelly smiled as the blonde kissed his cheek, lingering like she always did to whisper, "I love you Kel…"
"You really need to go to bed, Pixie." He kissed her forehead and started walking back to his car, but she caught his hand.
"You have to say it too," Naomi pouted again, still worried that Kelly was beating himself up over the incident at the CFD gala.
Kelly sighed, squeezing her hand and pulling her in for a final hug, "You know I love you too, Naomi."
"Keep reminding me…" she murmured, as he walked back to his car. She always hated to admit how much she relied on the boys. Since she was three, she'd been fiercely independent but every so often she dropped the façade and was reminded of how much she needed them in her life, especially Kelly. This had been the longest they'd gone without speaking after a fight, with Matt and Andy bugging both of them to make up almost daily. Most of her conversations with her brother since the gala went exactly the same:
"Have you made up with Severide yet?"
"That's none of your business, Andrew…"
"What did he do this time anyway?"
"That's none of your business, Andrew…"
"Okay, seriously, the pair of you need to sort yourselves out because Casey and I are so sick of you both wandering around like lost puppies unable to look at one another."
"Fine. Then I won't come around the house anymore… you'll just have to get your wife to bake your brownies."
"Nim-bob, you and I both know that my wife will burn down my house before she manages to bake a batch of brownies."
"Then stop asking me about Kelly."
Naomi smiled as she fumbled with her keys, feeling infinitely less stressed about her looming nuptials than she had when she left Harrison's apartment that morning although she had an inkling that had to do with the single malt currently working its way through her system. She had no idea about the nightmare that waited for her behind that door
A.N. Whoops, SORRY! Apparently it's been more than two years since I updated this story (or any of my stories for that matter)... Life got away from me. I've got a lot of free time at the moment and I've been watching P.D, so I'm going to try get back into writing again. (I might even dust the cobwebs off some of my old stories)
The next couple of chapters are going to jump into the Chicago Fire timeline and see Naomi interact more closely with the rest of Firehouse 51, especially Casey and Kelly. This story has been very Kelly-centric so I think it's about time to explore the relationship with Andy and Matt more closely. I'm still undecided about what to do with Harrison, do we keep him around or say goodbye?
I'm very excited to be back, please R & R - let me know what you think.
All my love,
~ C.I
xxx