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New Parents

"We can't take on their mortgage Lace," Kelly was telling Lacey, a stack of papers between them on the table. The boys were upstairs in bed now, a long day for the both of them. Heather had taken a deal, pleading guilty to the man slaughter charges. She would only be in jail for 15 months rather than five to ten years.

"Then, do we move again?" Lacey asked. They had just moved into the Darden house two days before, barely able to unpack. "Move them?"

"We're going to have to," Kelly sighed. "I know...it's not ideal Lace, but we can't afford a house right now."

"No, I know," Lacey agreed, rubbing her forehead. "I just wish they didn't have to leave this place."

When Jack was born, Andy and Heather had decided to make Lacey the one that would take care of him if something were to happen to them. She had thought that it had been a joke, since she was only sixteen at the time. But Andy told her that he was serious and that he knew that she would take the best care of his kids. And, as soon as she was eighteen, they made it official. So now, with Andy gone and Heather unable to take care of them, Jack and Sean were legally hers. She had barely been ready for a new baby, now she had an eight and five year old to take care of? That terrified her.

"At least everything was still packed from the first time," Casey joked as he and a few others from the house were helping Kelly and Lacey move their belongings. They had found a small apartment last minute near the boys' school. It was only two bedroom though, so the boys weren't too thrilled about that. Lacey peered her head around a stack of boxes, glaring at him.

"Too soon?" he asked.

"Way too soon," Lacey told him, grabbing another box and carrying it outside where Dawson and Shay were, stopping to talk to them. Once she was gone, Casey turned to Kelly.

"Did you tell her?" Casey asked curiously. "About the arsonist?" Kelly shook his head. "What does she think happened to your car exactly?"

"Isolated incident," Kelly muttered, taping one of the opened boxes shut.

"C'mon Severide," Casey complained. "You remember what happened with your shoulder?"

"This is our third move in two weeks," Kelly nearly snapped at his friend. "Her sister in law got arrested for man slaughter and now we're suddenly parents." He sighed, rubbing his forehead. "And, suddenly not..." Casey nodded, his friend not needing to talk about losing the baby. "It just...already all sucks as it is so...that's just going to have to wait."

"What's going to have to wait?" Lacey asked, coming in.

"Moving the couch," Kelly told her and she nodded.

Deep down though, he knew he wasn't going to be able to keep the secret for long. He had already had his suspicions on who it might be, considering Peter Mills' family restaurant had just been set on fire two days before, the same as the fire that had started in Kelly's car and the building where his badge number was. The fires were all in their district and in dangerous buildings, if they weren't someone at 51's own property. He knew that it was a fire fighter and he knew who that fire fighter might be.

That night, after getting Lacey and the boys in their new apartment, he ran out saying that he would get take out for dinner. On the way though, he made a stop to talk to one of his old friends. He confronted Hadley about the fires, knowing that he would be the one that would have the problems with house 51. After all, he had been let go from there a few months prior and had trouble getting a job since. Rather than deny it though or tell Kelly he was crazy, he had only one thing to say. Prove it.

"I don't wanna go back!" Jack was complaining as Lacey was leading him and Sean both over to her car once school let out. Sean had been ok, but Jack had been especially hard to deal with lately. She understood though, losing his dad and now his mom, having to live with his aunt and share a room with his five year old brother. Saying that it sucked would be an understatement.

"I know," Lacey sighed, helping Sean into his side of the car first before walking around to the drivers side with Jack.

"The apartment sucks," Jack continued. "I don't want to share a room with Sean! Can't we live at home?"

"Honey, I know this is hard to understand-"

"I HATE this!" Jack said, getting into the car and slamming his door with a huff as he sat in the backseat. Lacey sighed, rubbing her forehead as she went to open her door. Dropping her keys, she leaned over to get them and when she stood back up she jumped at the sight of someone in her window's reflection standing behind her.

"Jeez," she laughed, turning around. "Hadley, you scared the hell out of me." She adjusted her bag on her shoulder, holding onto her keys. "How are you? I haven't seen you since-"

"Kelly let me go?" Hadley asked with raised eye brows and Lacey bit her lip. It wasn't Kelly's decision, it was Boden's. She figured Hadley was mad that Kelly hadn't made Boden let him stay though.

"What are you doing here?" Lacey asked.

"Picking up Tina," Hadley said, referencing his niece. Lacey knew that was a lie. She had Tina in her class and they had a going away party for her a week ago, she was changing school districts.

"Uh huh," Lacey nodded, looking him over. He was different since the last time she saw him, changed. He was normally kind of silly, joking around with the other guys at work. She had thought he was pretty funny, but then again he could take things too far.

"I heard about Heather," Hadley continued. "What do you think Andy would say?" Lacey's eye brows furrowed in confusion.

"If Andy was around to say something, we wouldn't be in this right now," Lacey snapped. How dare he bring up her family like this. She had hardly known him outside the fire house. Who was he to talk to her this way, just because he was pissed off at Kelly?

"I meant about you, raising his kids with his best friend," Hadley corrected himself. "Because, I know if my friend was banging my-"

"Is there a reason you came over to talk to me?" Lacey snapped again. She was glad she was getting angry at him, because she wouldn't give him the satisfaction of bursting into tears over this. Things were hard enough as they were.

"I saw Kelly last night," Hadley informed her. "He was accusing me of some pretty serious stuff. You should get him to back off." Lacey didn't say anything, she didn't tell him to go away. Instead, she got into her car and locked the doors immediately. Hadley rolled his eyes, walking away as she started the car.

"Who was that?" Jack asked.

"He used to work with daddy!" Sean remembered him from the firehouse.

"Uh huh," Lacey nodded, wiping at her eyes before any tears could come out. "Listen, guys, we're going to have to stop some place on our way home."

"Where?" Sean asked curiously.

"We're going to see Uncle Kelly at work," Lacey started to say, which Sean immediately cheered about and Jack quickly protested.

Kelly was sitting and playing cards at the table when he heard someone running in, calling for him and getting his attention. He was happy to see Sean there, but he wondered what he was doing at the firehouse alone.

"Uncle Kellyyyyyy!" Sean called as he ran in excitedly, dropping his back pack.

"Hey!" Kelly laughed, getting up and picking Sean up to hug him. "What, man, did you ditch school or somethin'?"

"No," Sean laughed. "School's over!" Kelly noted the time as a few others waved hello to Sean.

"Where's your aunt and Jack?" Kelly asked as he set Sean down, kneeling to his level.

"Outside," Sean answered innocently. "Jack doesn't wanna come inside." He lowered his voice to a whisper, like anyone else wasn't allowed to hear. "I think he misses daddy a lot."

"Yeah," Kelly nodded in agreement.

"I miss him too," Sean clarified. "But, Jack's really mad." He thought about it. "And, I think Aunt Lacey is sad."

"Why's Aunt Lacey sad?" Kelly asked curiously. He knew Jack had been giving them both a hard time, but neither of them let it really get to them since they knew what he was dealing with.

"Someone yelled at her," Sean answered simply. Kelly could see the curious looks he was getting from Boden and Casey who were nearby. "At school."

"Do you know who?" Kelly asked him.

"He sat there," Sean pointed, not knowing his name off hand. He was pointing at the seat that Clarke had taken over since he had been assigned to the house. "His hair was red."

"Mhmm," Kelly nodded, looking over to Boden as he stood up. He had asked Boden earlier about questioning Hadley over the recent fires and Boden has basically said no way. With the recent confrontation of his girlfriend though, where she worked, it changed things a little bit. Boden just nodded, as if to say it was ok now.

"You know what," Kelly told Sean as he stood up. "I'm going to go check on Lacey and Jack, what if Matt showed you around the house?"

"How's that sound?" Casey asked, coming over closer now.

"Cool!" Sean smiled, following Casey over towards the truck as Kelly went outside. He spotted Jack sitting on the bench while Lacey was kneeling in front of him, talking softly. As he got closer, he could hear what she was saying to him.

"I get it," Lacey assured him. "You know that, right?" Jack nodded quietly. "I don't even like going to grandma and grandpa's house, because that's where we grew up."

"You don't act sad," Jack said back.

"I am," Lacey nodded, seeing Kelly. "You know what happened to me the other day?"

"What?" Jack asked.

"You know that big park by the lake?" Lacey asked him. "The one where your dad took you to learn to ride bikes?" He nodded. "Did you know he took me there when I was five to teach me?"

"Really?" Jack asked. It was hard to ever imagine his dad and aunt as kids, being only eight himself.

"Mhmm," she nodded. "Him and Uncle Kelly. And, you know what happened?" Jack shook his head; Kelly remembered this story. "They were ten and put me on a bike with no training wheels, on my first try." She started laughing. "I fell right over and smacked my chin off the concrete. They took turns carrying me to the hospital and I had to get seven stitches."

"That story sucks Aunt Lacey," Jack told her and she laughed a little as she got up to sit next to him on the bench, ruffling his hair.

"You have got to stop saying sucks so much," she commented. "And, I know. But, I drove by that park the other day. And, you know what? It made me sad." She ruffled his hair again. "Can't keep avoiding all the stuff that makes us sad though. You know?" Jack nodded a little. His aunt was kind of making sense.

"I'll come in," Jack agreed. "But just for a minute."

"Fair enough," Lacey smiled at him, taking his hand as they got up to go inside.

"Hi Kelly," Jack greeted him, seeing him now.

"Hey big guy," Kelly high fived him, leading them inside. "Is it all right if you hang out with Matt and your brother, while I borrow your aunt?" Jack seemed unsure, barely convinced he should even set foot in this place. "It'll be two minutes, I'll bring her right back."

"Ok," Jack finally agreed, dropping his backpack by Sean's before going over to join his brother and the others.

"There's something I need to tell you," Lacey said as Kelly took her back the hall to Boden's office. He had already called Benny, who had been in town with the recent arson investigations.

"I already know," Kelly sighed as they went into the office and she looked at him curiously as he shut the door. "About Hadley."

"What?"

"Sean told me, he saw you in the parking lot," Kelly explained.

"He came to see me," Lacey told him now that he knew. "He said he was there to pick up Tina, but she moved districts." Kelly nodded. "He said that he saw you last night."

"Which wasn't the best idea on his part," Benny chimed in, but Kelly ignored his dad. The last thing Kelly should be giving their suspect was the attention he craved.

"What is going on?" Lacey finally asked.

"There's been a string of fires," Kelly started to explain. "First, it was an old house in our district. Then, it was my car. Then the Mills' diner, then more houses-"

"An arson?" Lacey asked with raised eye brows and he nodded. "And you think that it's Hadley?"

"There's a profile for this," Benny explained. "It pretty much describes Kevin Hadley."

"He's pissed off that he got kicked out of here," Kelly said.

"Well, he's especially pissed off at you," Lacey pointed out, recalling their conversation from earlier.

"I know," Kelly sighed, feeling responsible, even though there was nothing he could do or could have known to stop this. "I just needed you to know, so you can keep an eye out for anything strange."

"Like what?" Lacey asked, looking between the three men. Out of all the targets at fifty one, Hadley was taking his time to mess with Kelly for letting him go. That was apparent by the fact that he had cornered Lacey in the parking lot at school.

"Hadley hanging around," Benny started to say.

"If he comes near her again, I'm kicking his ass," Kelly interrupted his dad. "I'm not just going to ignore him and hope he slips up." Boden held up his hand to stop him.

"Just anything you find suspicious Lacey," Boden told her. "You report it to us, and we'll take care of this..." He looked to Kelly now. "How we're supposed to." Lacey nodded quietly while Kelly just shook his head; like he was actually going to just sit around during this.

"Walk me out?" Lacey said to Kelly and he nodded.

"I know this is a lot," Kelly said as he was walking her out. The boys were climbing out of the fire truck where they had been allowed to explore. "I didn't want to make you worry, I just..."

"Need me to keep an eye out," Lacey nodded as she motioned for the boys to follow her to the car. They waved a big goodbye to all of their dad's friends before grabbing their back packs and following Lacey out to the car, saying goodbye to Kelly before climbing in the back seat.

"You don't have to worry about anything," Kelly told her. "I'm going to take care of it, all right?" Lacey nodded as he kissed her once. "Are you going to head back to the apartment?"

"I was going to stay at my parents' tonight," she explained, having planned to take the boys there for the night while her parents were away on vacation. "Our kitchen stuff isn't unpacked, and I don't want to get the boys pizza." She laughed a little. "Again."

"Aw, but you'd be the coolest aunt ever," Kelly joked, kissing her again. "Just get a veggies lover pizza or something. Make it healthier."

"Uh huh," Lacey laughed, giving him one last quick kiss before climbing into her car. "I'll see you in the morning. Love you."

"Love you too," Kelly said, watching her drive away.

It was a fairly quiet night, with only a few calls coming in for the ambulance. Other than that, no one really moved that night, having a fairly easy shift. For now, they had just finished having dinner, everyone hanging out in the common room and watching the game. It was close to the end when the alarm went off, everyone listening closely to who was being called and where to.

Ambulance 61, Truck 81, Squad 3...house fire...

Kelly's heart dropped when he heard the address.

"That's the Darden's house," Kelly said as everyone was racing out to leave.

Kelly's heart was racing the entire ride to the Darden house. The entire way, he thought that they weren't driving fast enough or he cursed any car that was in their way too long. Shay and Dawson had gotten there first, the ambulance parked on the opposite side of the street of the house that had flames spouting from the windows. Getting out and running to the ambulance first, Kelly let out a breath when he saw that Shay was checking out Jack while Lacey stood there, holding Sean.

"Thank God," Kelly breathed. "Is everyone ok? Are you hurt or-"

"We're fine," Lacey stopped him, adjusting Sean as he hid his face in her collar bone. "You can-"

"I'm stayin' right here," Kelly shook his head, holding out his arms to take Sean from her. "You all right guys?" Sean nodded, his head resting against Kelly's shoulder now while Jack nodded through his check up. With everyone out, the only thing left was for truck to put the fire out. This was his family, Kelly wasn't going anywhere if he wasn't needed.

"What happened?" Kelly asked Lacey who was getting checked by Shay and Dawson last, sitting next to Jack on the back of the ambulance.

"We were baking, after dinner," Lacey tried to explain, shaking her head. "There was this weird smell." She sighed. "I thought it was my imagination, so I ignored it. We um...were watching a movie when the smoke alarms went off." She laughed, a bit cynically. "God, I thought it was the cookies...but the whole floor was filled with smoke..." She trailed off when she saw who was standing on their side of the street, watching the others put the fire out.

"Kelly," Lacey said and he looked over, seeing Hadley there, hands in his pockets as he watched.

"Take Sean," Kelly passed the five year old off to Dawson before he went marching over there.

"Kelly, don't!" Lacey called after him, trying to stop him but Shay held her arm, shaking her head. Luckily, a few others saw what Kelly was doing and went over to stop him before it got out of hand.

"Hey Kel-" Hadley was smirking at him, until Kelly grabbed him by the shirt and shoved him.

"You could have killed them!" Kelly shouted at him, taking a swing, his fist connecting with Hadley's jaw.

"Severide!" Boden and Casey were both calling as everyone tried to break up the fight. Kelly got another punch in, knocking Hadley to the ground before it took two of the other men to hold him back.

"I don't know what you're talking about," Hadley shook his head as he got to his feet, wiping the blood from his mouth.

"I know you started that!" Kelly said, lunging again but he was held back. "My nephews were in there!" Hadley was shaking his head with a laugh. "They're kids Hadley, little kids!"

"I don't need this," Hadley shook his head, turning to walk off.

"I'll kill him," Kelly was saying, not sure if he was saying it just to himself or to Casey. "I'm going to kill him for that, he-"

"We're gonna get him," Casey nodded, assuring his friend. "Promise."

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