Hey everybody! I'm willing to hear suggestions or requests for future stories as I explore and play with my muse! I've really appreciated all of the support and interest my stories have been receiving!

The minute he exited the hospital, Severide realized he could finally breathe easier. The sterile hospital atmosphere had been almost suffocating. That, combined with his anxiety for Matt, had nearly driven him crazy in the small hospital room. But now he was fine, he reminded himself. Matt was fine and he had a job to do, and not a lot of time to do it.

Shaking his head to clear his mind, Kelly began looking for his car. After a few minutes of searching the parking deck, he found it and set off towards his destination. It was time to get some answers.

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Leslie Shay sighed softly as she claimed the chair nearest Matt's bed. She knew exactly where Kelly was going; she'd known the second Matt had confessed to the kiss. Unfortunately, she also knew that there would be no stopping Kelly when he got this focused. She supposed she should be proud of her roommate for taking her advice and hearing Matt out without losing his temper. But there would undoubtedly be fireworks when he confronted Heather. Frowning, Shay glanced over at Matt's sleeping form.

Had Kelly not asked her to watch over the blonde, Shay would have insisted on accompanying her fiery-tempered roommate. Hell, had Casey been awake, he probably would have insisted she had too. But she'd let him go and now all she could do was wait, and hope he didn't do anything too stupid.

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The drive to the Darden's house from the hospital was hauntingly familiar to Severide. He drove on autopilot, his mind whirring with various memories. Helping each other home after an injury on the job, following behind Andy's car with flashers on as they escorted Ben and Griffin home for the first time, the memories continued on and on. Some were fond and brought a brief smile to his face; others reminded Kelly of the anxiety he'd felt just hours before. But as he pulled into the familiar driveway, nothing could distract him from his frustration and anger. Taking a deep breath, he parked the car and headed for the front door, bounding up the front steps.

After knocking on the door, he heard pounding footsteps from within and smiled in spite of himself. Muffled voices reached his ears as he spotted a small head peeking through the window.

"Uncle Kelly!" Ben cheered, flinging the door open.

"Hey kiddo!" Kelly greeted, opening his arms just in time for the boy to leap into them. "How are you?"

"I'm great! I'm learning about bugs in school," the Ben continued, oblivious to his uncle's frustration.

"Really?" Kelly smiled. "I bet your mom just loves that…"

Still carrying the boy, Severide let himself into the house and closed the door behind him. Just as he did so, Heather came around the corner, already frowning.

"Benjamin! How many times have I told you not to answer the door?" she scolded harshly.

"But it was Uncle Kelly," her son argued. "Dad always said Uncle Kelly and Uncle Matt were okay to open the door for."

"I don't care who it is! I say that you don't open the door, unless I'm right here with you, okay?" Heather continued, seemingly content to leave Kelly unacknowledged.

"Yes ma'am," Ben sighed, before turning to his uncle. "Where's Uncle Matt, Uncle Kelly? Were you guys at the firehouse today?"

Kelly winced slightly, catching Heather's attention. "Yeah we were there today, bud. Uncle Matt is getting some sleep right now, he got a little banged up, but don't worry! He's just fine."

"Speaking of sleep, that's where you should be headed, mister," Heather interrupted. "Off you go, tell Uncle Kelly goodnight and tell your brother he needs to read until I come check on him."

Severide gave the boy a hug before setting him on the ground, smiling as he trotted off to do as his mother asked. Andy would be proud of the young man his sons were becoming. Turning back to Heather he was reminded of his reason for coming. Opening his mouth, Kelly frowned when she shook her head and grabbed his arm, dragging him into the kitchen. Once there, she began washing the dishes in the sink, leaving the fireman to lean against the opposite counter.

"Out with it, Kelly," she bit out suddenly. "What did you and Matt get into this time?"

"Like I said, he just got a little banged up on the job, he'll be fine…"Severide explained, thrown off by both Ben and Heather's sudden interest in his day. He'd intended to confront her about Matt but he found himself forgetting some of his anger at her concern; it was so similar to when Andy would drag the two of them home after a rough shift, only to receive pampering and food from Heather.

"Bullshit," she retorted, turning to face him. "If you were getting off of shift you'd be sweaty, smell like smoke, and have soot or dirt smudges on your face, so you either weren't on call, or something else happened. And after this morning's drama, I'm pretty sure you and Matt were both on call today. Besides, it's barely 8 o'clock, that's only 12 hours of shift."

"What if I showered before coming here?" he argued, not even sure why he was bothering to defend himself. "Or Boden let us off early?"

"If you'd showered after shift, you wouldn't still be wearing the pants and boots you wear on call," she continued, unfazed. "You've never done that, in all the years I've known you. And you told Ben Matt was sleeping, at 8 o'clock. So something must've happened during shift that 'banged Matt up' and resulted in you needing to change and getting relieved of today's duty. I'm not Ben, Kelly, so don't sugarcoat it for me. What the hell happened?"

Groaning, Kelly ran a hand over his face. He hadn't anticipated having to relive that morning's nightmare so soon. Well of course she's gonna care about what happened to Matt, he mentally ranted to himself. "The House got shot up this morning," he began, moving to stare out the window. "Gunshots peppered the loading bay and Matt, well Matt knocked me out of the way and got shot. He took a shot to the upper right chest/shoulder but made it through surgery fine. He's in a sling but awake and already making jokes so…there you go."

Heather was silent for a minute, prompting Severide to turn from the window to look at her. She was gripping a dish towel, twisting it in her hands, looking somewhat close to breaking into sobs. "Why did you have to change, Kelly?" she asked, dangerously calm.

"What?" he asked, caught off guard. He'd just told her that Matt, the man she'd been coming on to for weeks, had been shot and she cared about his apparent change of clothes?

"Why did you have to change your shirt, Kelly?" she repeated, biting out the demand harshly. "You don't appear to have been shot, so why the hell did you have to change?"

"Because…because I…there was blood and I used my shirt and…" Severide trailed off, momentarily flashing back to the crimson slipping through his hands, watching Matt grow paler and paler. "I used my shirt to stop the bleeding," he finally managed.

Heather appeared sympathetic for a moment before her eyes hardened. "So is that why you came here? To tell me that Matt got shot? That he spent this morning bleeding all over you? Is that what you've become Kelly Severide? A physical representation of bad news that just shows up on my doorstep whenever you feel like it?!"

"What? What are you talking about?" Kelly demanded. "That's not at all what I came here for!"

"Oh? So you weren't going to tell me about Matt," she raged. "Fine, I see how it is Severide."

"No, I wasn't, I mean I would've told you about Matt, but that's not what I came for," he continued, growing more and more frustrated. "I came here to talk to you about this morning, and about your intentions towards Matt."

"My intentions?" Heather repeated coldly. "Intentions? What the hell, Kelly? What is this? You're playing chaperone or something? Matt's a grown man and he can do whatever the hell he wants! You have no say over what we do!"

"I'm not a chaperone," he protested, feeling a bit like a cornered animal. "But Matt's my brother, and I'm going to look out for him, no matter what you say. And I don't think what you're doing is a good idea, Heather! What sort of game are you trying to play here, Heather? Is this real for you, or is this some attempt to feel again after Andy, or what? Because Matt doesn't mess around, okay? Matt feels and if you hurt him…"

"What? What'll you do, Kelly? Huh?" she demanded angrily. "Forbid me from seeing him? Lower his curfew? What?"

"He's my brother, Heather," Kelly repeated firmly.

"Yeah, like that's a great position for him to be in!" the woman exclaimed, beyond reasoning. "All of your 'brothers' end up in mortal peril!"

"What? What are you saying?" the fireman said, much softer than his previous outbursts.

"Andy was your brother too! And look what that got him!"

"Andy…" Kelly felt like he'd been physically slapped. "Andy was a horrible tragedy, but he died doing what he loved."

"No, Kelly. He died doing what YOU loved!" Heather fumed. "YOU always wanted to be a fireman and Andy followed YOU. It's because of YOU that my husband died in a fiery inferno! It's because of YOU that my sons don't have a father to look up to as they grow older! So excuse me if Matt being your 'brother' is a comfort because it looks to me like it almost got him killed, just like Andy!"

"You're wrong," Severide managed, feeling a tsunami of emotions threatening to overwhelm him at any minute. "I'm sorry you think I'm the reason Andy died, and I'm sure you'll continue to pursue Matt. But know this Heather: I won't lose Matt, not again."

With that, the emotional fireman left the once friendly house, feeling more drained and distraught than he had the energy to deal with. Climbing into the car he drove off, unconsciously choosing his new destination. His eyes watered in a frustrating manner, making him scrub angrily at his eyes. While Kelly hadn't truly expected the conversation with Heather to go smoothly, he had never anticipated the response he got.

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Inwardly groaning at the discomfort she felt in her back, Shay shifted, trying to will the plastic chair to become more inviting. Needless to say, it was unsuccessful, and did very little to aid her muscle aches. A soft snicker drew her attention to the bed. Whipping her head around, she noticed bleary blue eyes staring at her.

"What's so funny?"

"You're getting sore, huh?" Casey commented.

"A bit," Shay admitted. "These sad excuses for seating arrangements are making a lot of money for chiropractors!"

The man snickered again. "Yeah, Sev called them the chairs from hell!"

Shay smiled lightly, but frowned when Matt mentioned Kelly. He'd been gone for longer than they agreed upon, and she was starting to get worried. Matt noticed the distraction, but ignored it temporarily.

Instead, he slowly worked to scoot farther to one side of his hospital bed. Patting the now empty space next to him, he inclined his head. "C'mon, Shay…come join me on the bed. It's a lot more comfortable than the chairs," he offered.

"I don't know, Matt," she hesitated.

"Oh, come on," he insisted. "You're not going to hurt me, and I'll even let you use the little clicker to raise and lower the bed."

"Well now you make it an offer I can't refuse!" she grinned, gently clambering up onto the bed.

Sitting shoulder to shoulder with the other blonde, Shay felt her anxiety start to grow. Kelly should be there; he should've been back by now. Her roommate should have been in one of the other seats, bantering about who got to share the bed with Matt. The third part of their newly developing trio was missing and Shay didn't know what to do.

"Kelly went to see Heather, didn't he?" Matt asked after a few minutes. Shay nodded, not knowing how to elaborate. "You're worried because he isn't back yet, huh?"

"I'm a little concerned," she admitted, once again impressed by the truck lieutenant's observation skills.

"I'm sure Kel will be back soon," he soothed, and the each fell into a comfortable silence, each praying their anxiety was misplaced.

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Across town, the man in question was unaware of his friends' worry and concern. Sliding his car into the vacant lot, the Squad Lieutenant slowly stumbled towards the granite stone that marked the final resting place of his fallen brother. Seeing the name engraved on the tombstone, Kelly sank to his knees, finally allowing the emotions of the day to take over. There, in the protective watch of his fellow fireman, Kelly Severide cried for his brothers, one lost and the other barely saved.

Well? What do you think readers? Leave me reviews with your thoughts and any requests you may have!