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Twists and Turns

Lacey went with Shay, Dawson, and Katie to go bridesmaid dress shopping, with Heather saying she trusted them since she couldn't go herself. If Mrs. Darden had been free, Lacey would have started trying on dresses too. After all, she was starting to show just the slightest bit as she was close to three months pregnant now; you could tell if she was wearing something close fitted. With her mother working though, they were going to go later in the week.

The girls were unsuccessful that day in finding dresses, with Lacey calling it early at the one dress shop. She was claiming she was starving and craving Chinese food. Really though, she could have sworn that she had seen Eric in the coffee shop across the street and it made her uneasy. He hadn't said anything to her or come over at all, but just seeing him was enough to make her uncomfortable.

The girls spent some time at dinner, talking and getting to know Katie better. They were there a lot longer than they thought, with Katie leaving to go home since she had work early in the morning. Lacey, Shay, and Dawson went to Molly's. Casey had texted Dawson, telling them where the guys were; Shay and Lacey teased her on her 'secret' relationship, since it was obvious to anyone that knew them they had recently gotten together. Casey, Kelly, and a few others were there with Hermann who was working, having a drink together because their next shift was supposed to be their last one.

"Hey," Kelly greeted them as Lacey came up and stood next to his seat, putting his arm around her. "What are you doing out so late?" Lacey looked at the clock on the wall.

"It's ten o'clock," Lacey joked. "I didn't realize I had a bedtime."

"For six more months you do," Kelly teased her, kissing her cheek; Lacey could tell he was a little past buzzed and she would probably be driving home.

"God, six more months," Shay shook her head. "I can't believe it!"

"Six more months of him watchin' you like a hawk," Hermann told Lacey, having been there each time Cindy was pregnant.

"Then eighteen years of him watching Zoe," Casey added, his hand resting over Dawson's as she sat next to him.

"Oh, a lot longer than that," Kelly shook his head now, giving up his seat for Lacey.

"Yeah," Lacey agreed as she sat down now. "Gotta make sure she doesn't get pregnant at twenty-five with some sleazy fire fighter."

"Ohhhh," a few of the others were laughing.

"Don't I know it," Kelly agreed, kissing her head, hearing someone coming into the bar now but not paying much attention.

"Can I help you with something?" Hermann was asking the guy.

"Ah, yeah," the guy said back, the sound of his voice making Lacey's shoulders rigid. "I'm new to this block, I was just checking out some of the places around here."

"Well, come in and-" Hermann started off saying.

"No," Kelly stopped him, turning to the door. "You need to get out of here Eric."

"Jeez Kelly," Eric said, acting offended. "I'm not here about you, all right?"

"Then what are you doing?" Kelly demanded.

"Like I just said," Eric said sarcastically. "I'm new on this block, I just rented a place up the street." He looked at Kelly seriously. "Not everything is about you and your slut girlfr-"

"I said get out!" Kelly was fuming as he went to lunge for Eric now. It took both Casey and Clarke to keep Kelly from getting to Eric.

"Seriously, get out of here," Casey was telling Eric, Clarke trying to talk Kelly down now.

"I'll see you guys around then," Eric was saying as he walked out, Kelly lunging again and Clarke grabbing him by his jacket, pushing him back.

"C'mon, let's go," Clarke was saying, practically dragging Kelly out the back exit to the alley behind the bar. Kelly heard Dawson saying something to Lacey as he was being pushed by, asking who that guy was. Then Shay chimed in with curiosity, saying something about how she thought she saw him outside the dress place.

"I'm gonna kill him," Kelly was saying as Clarke finally got him outside, the door shutting behind them.

"I know you'd love to," Clarke agreed with him. "I've been there before, with Lisa's ex. Just kept comin' around, saying stuff he shouldn't."

"So, what do I do?" Kelly asked now, aggravated at the whole thing. "He's not going away."

"From my experience?" Clarke asked. "Call the cops and let them handle it."

"You're not serious," Kelly accused him.

"Trust me, I know," Clarke assured him. "Hell, part of me just wanted to let you go. One of my buddies let me though and I landed in a whole mess of trouble. Assault charges and everything." He shook his head at the memory. "Beating the hell out of him is a lot less satisfying when you get busted for it." Kelly shook his head, gathering his thoughts. He was just supposed to wait for this guy to cross the line before he was allowed to kick the crap out of him like he wanted to?

"Gabby's brother is a cop, right?" Clarke pointed out now. "Give him a call tomorrow during shift."

"Kelly?" Lacey came outside now, wrapping her sweater around tighter as the cold night air hit her.

"Hey," Kelly said now, going up to the door and urging her inside. "C'mon, it's freezing out here."

"I know you're mad, but-" He cut her off with a kiss.

"I just wanna get you home, all right?"

This had the potential to be the shift from hell, Kelly knew that. It didn't have so much to do with his shift though or the calls, but rather that they were fighting to keep their house open and he was trying to get a hold of Antonio to see what he could do about Eric. This was all while Kelly practically begged Lacey to stay at her parents' house while he was on shift, hoping Eric had at least some sense of self preservation as to not cross Lacey's father. With Mills heading out with some plan in mind to keep the house open, Antonio had just come by to see Kelly.

"What do you mean there's nothing we can do?" Kelly was asking, him and Antonio going back to talk privately in his office.

"Has he threatened you or your fiancee?" Antonio asked.

"No, but-"

"He hasn't assaulted either of you?"

"No, but he's shown up at-"

"He came by your place to see one of his old girlfriends," Antonio said. "He was getting coffee across the street from a dress place, in a busy part of town. And, I checked it out, he does live down the street from Molly's." Kelly was shaking his head in frustration. "That's all the law is going to see and that's not enough for a restraining order."

"Dammit," Kelly was muttering to himself, starting to pace.

"Look, the last thing either of us wants is for you to take this into your own hands," Antonio told him seriously, not wanting Kelly to get into trouble over this. "I'll go see what I can find on him. If anything like this has been brought up against him before, it might be enough." He looked Kelly over. "What's Lacey have to say about all this?"

"That he's just being a nuisance," Kelly scoffed at her wording. "That he's just going to feed off me acting like this."

"She could be right," Antonio offered.

"I'd rather not risk it," Kelly replied.

The house was on edge all day. Dawson was on edge because she got accepted to the fire academy, which Casey didn't approve of, among others. There was the tension of the house closing, but Mills had gone to his girlfriend who was working for the senator, getting him involved and ultimately saving the house. Now all Kelly was doing was sitting around and waiting for either a call or visit from Antonio.

That was when it happened, the call that was changing everything. Kelly felt a whole range of emotions as he was riding in the back of the ambulance with Dawson, trying to help with Casey while Shay drove like wild to the hospital. While responding to a house fire, Casey was searching the house for a newborn baby. He had found her and managed to save her, nearly getting himself killed in the process as a beam came crashing down on him. They were racing to Lake Shore now as he lost a lot of blood, his head sustaining a major injury.

They were all in the waiting room now, Dawson unable to sit as she worried about Casey down the hall, his care out of her hands. Shay had gone to see what she could find out about the baby that Casey had saved. Kelly sat there among the other firefighters, wondering what was coming next, hating the uncertainty. In times like this, he couldn't help but think of Andy, thinking about how he had lost his best friend to an accident on a call like this one. He forced himself to stop thinking like that though, based solely on the fact that Casey at least got to the hospital, he got to get treatment for his injuries. That gave him hope.

Waiting for Matt to get out of surgery was excruciating, the doctors saying he had an epidermal hematoma. Kelly had been on his fair share of traumatic calls to know how bad that was, as if the amount of blood Casey had lost on the trip to the hospital wasn't indicative enough. Kelly pulled his phone out now, hesitating on calling Lacey. He wanted to talk to her, but it was late and she was probably sleeping. In any case, it was too late for her to be out, and he knew that she wouldn't race to the hospital to be with her friends the second she knew. Like she knew that he was thinking about her, Kelly's phone lit up with a message from her. It was a picture she had taken, turning the camera around so she could show herself making a face next to an empty pizza box.

So, this used to be a pizza

Kelly fought off a laugh, a smile cracking on his face. His tiny little fiancee had taken to some pretty crazy eating habits since she had gotten pregnant, either in the amount or the combinations of food. Last week anything and everything she ate was covered in hummus first.

Zoe loves pizza. Must be my girl ;)

Lacey laughed, up alone at her parents house, having raided their freezer to find a pizza to satisfy her late night craving.

Good because that was seriously in question :)

Lacey was surprised when Kelly didn't text her back, but rather he called her now. He had to get out of the waiting room, and knowing she was up he wanted to talk to her about what happened with Casey.

"I was kidding," Lacey laughed into the phone, moving from the kitchen to relax on the couch now, not ready to sleep yet.

"No, I know babe," Kelly said lightly, but Lacey could tell there was something off in his voice.

"I thought you might be sleeping," Lacey told him. "Late call?"

"Ah, yeah," Kelly hesitated, not sure how to tell her.

"Wanna tell me what happened?" Lacey offered now.

"Casey's hurt Lace," Kelly told her finally. "We're at Lake Shore now, he's in some emergency surgery."

"Do you want me to come down there?" Lacey asked.

"No," Kelly protested right away, knowing she would do this. "No, I'll call you with anything."

"Are you sure?"

"Absolutely," he promised her, half smiling now. "You and Zoe get to bed."

"Ok dad," Lacey playfully rolled her eyes. "Is Gabby around?"

"Uh," Kelly looked down the hall to the waiting room, spotting Dawson with her brother. "She's with Antonio right now."

"All right, just tell her I love her," Lacey told her.

"Ok," Kelly nodded and she was quiet. "And?" he half laughed.

"Oh, tell Shay I love her too," Lacey teased him. "Good night Kelly."

"Night Lace," he said back, hanging up. He turned to go back to the waiting room but Antonio was coming down the hall, nodding at Kelly to follow him around the corner.

"What's up?" Kelly asked, seeing Antonio's serious expression.

"Right now, I'm not talking to you as a cop, ok?" Antonio told him and Kelly looked at him in confusion.

"Yeah, ok," Kelly shrugged. "What's this about?"

"I looked into Eric," Antonio explained. "Guy's been gettin' into fights since he was in high school, bar fights all through college. One of his other old girlfriends got a protective order against him, it's still in effect."

"He's done this to other people?" Kelly asked and Antonio nodded.

"Given this guy's history, I'd take seeing him around Lacey as less of a coincidence and more of a threat," Antonio told him. "You handle this however you want."

"I take it that's the non-cop part?" Kelly asked now.

"That's the husband and father part," Antonio told him. "You take care of your family."

thanks for reading! :) really hope that you liked it! and, just pointing out, i was inspired by the whole situation with clarke to write this part of lacey's past BUT i'm not going to have it go with kelly getting arrested, like clarke on the show (OMG that winter finale?! and casey?! i really don't know what to think about him...guess we'll see soon?) as i was writing this i was afraid there might come off that way, so i just wanted to say that...

also i wrote a one shot about kelly/lacey getting together called "our little secret" i thought it would be fun to write so please check it out and let me know what you thought :)

thanks so much as always, you guys are seriously great and i love to hear your thoughts! :)