"That's the trouble, I can't forget him. He was everything to me, except mine." - Jennifer Worth
Kelly Severide had a problem and that problem was that he was unable to say no to one Serena McArthur, for some reason anytime she asked him for something he couldn't help but say yes even though he knew he shouldn't because of his shoulder. But he was a complete and utter sucker for those green eyes of hers which lately seemed to be able to convince him of anything. Which is how he ended up helping her move. Serena had called him a few days ago and told him that she was finally moving into her own place and needed help moving in and asked if he could help. Being unable to say no to Serena McArthur resulted in Kelly agreeing to help her move on a Sunday when he had better things to do with his time. When Kelly had arrived at the building that Serena was going be living in he saw that she had recruited several others to help her move in. Kelly wasn't surprised that he recognized everyone who was standing by the moving truck outside Serena's new apartment building as they were all firefighters except for her two brothers Rory and Finley. No doubt Serena or her dad had called in a few favors for today with the family given that the moving truck read McArthur family movers. Like most firefighters, Serena's family specifically her brothers Hayden and Callum had a second job which was that of movers.
"Well look what the cat or rather Serena dragged in; Kelly Severide, it's been a long while." Finley McArthur began and Kelly made his way over to shake his hand. Finley was second youngest of Chief McArthur's children but one of Serena's four older brothers.
"It's good to see you too Finn, just wish it wasn't because your sister was forcing us to help us move." Kelly honestly replied as he got on well with all of Serena's brothers, they were great guys especially when it come to ganging up and teasing Serena relentlessly which was one of Kelly's favourite pastimes.
"Speak of the devil." Finley replied and Kelly looked behind him to see Serena walking out of the building, dressed in clothes that he didn't exactly deem suitable for moving furniture. It fact it looked like she was going out which was ridiculous as there was no way she was leaving them to do all the handwork. As when Kelly agreed to help Serena out he was kind of under the assumption that Serena would be there and helping them despite the fact that they'd be doing all the heavy work.
"So there's been a slight change of plan, I kind of have to go to work…" Serena sheepishly said.
"C'mon Serena, are you kidding me? I thought you said you took the day of work!" Hayden stated in mild annoyance as in Kelly's experience it was damn near impossible to be angry with Serena for longer than an hour. "There's no way I'm carrying up all this furniture if I don't get to see you attempt to move some of this furniture and be that terrible at it that we have to save you!"
"I did take the day of work but I got a page and I called them back to say I'm not on call and it turns out that the attending on call whose covering the ER has had to go home because of a family emergency and they need me to come in and cover his shift as right now there is a forth year resident in charge whose apparently in way over her head." Serena replied with a small shrug of her shoulders, trying her hardest to look like she felt incredibly guilty over this when Kelly knew she was anything but.
"Go save lives baby girl, we got this…" Chief McArthur said.
"Really dad? Your don't mind?" Serena asked.
"Of course not, we understand so you go do what you need to go do and by the time you get home we'll have you all moved in sweetheart." Chief McArthur replied and Kelly watched as Serena beamed before walking over to her dad and placing a kiss on his cheek before handing over a set of keys.
"Thank you! There's beer in the fridge and money on the kitchen counter for pizza!" Serena called out before walking away and leaving the men to it and Kelly couldn't help but wearily look around. He wasn't too sure how he felt about being with Serena's family for the entire afternoon without her being here, it made Kelly slightly nervous.
With good reason it seemed, as it only took two dozen pieces of furniture being taken from the moving truck and into Serena's condo until her brothers began to question him and his relationship with Serena.
"So Kelly what's going on with you and our sister? Apparently you two have been hanging out quite a bit since the shrimp came back home." Callum asked as the two of them had just walked into Serena's condo after carrying her couch up several flights of stairs. There were boxed every where in the open plan kitchen and the only available space for the couch seemed to be on the other side of the room by the by the dining room table and chairs.
"Oh! You should seen the two of them looking all cosy together at my place last week, I walked in and I might as well have walked back out. They were literally ten minutes away from making out on my couch like a couple of teenagers!" Finley added which just set him and the rest of his brothers off much to Kelly's dismay as he had no idea how they could joke about their little sister's love life with their dad in the room.
"We're just friends." Kelly said as he began weaving through all the boxes on the floor to get to the furthest end of the living room whilst holding Serena's couch, his repose however caused Hayden to laugh and Rory to snort in amusement.
"Come on Kelly you can tell us as we all love Serena and Serena knows that otherwise we wouldn't be here shifting all this furniture up four flights of stairs whilst she doesn't have to lift a thing as she used work to get out of this." Hayden said trying to convince Kelly to confess to something that wasn't even true, exactly… He adored Serena and loved her in a way that a friend would as he wasn't in love with her anymore.
"There's nothing going on with Serena and I, we're just friends." Kelly stated.
"That's too bad Severide." Chief McArthur absentmindedly said Severide was so caught off by this that he almost dropped the side of the couch that he was holding.
"We were always been convinced that the two of you were eventually bound to get together, in fact we thought you came pretty close to getting together but then Serena ended up dating the guy who was an accountant." Callum said expanding from where his father had left of before turning to his brother just as he and Kelly had put down the couch. "You guys what was the name of that guy Serena dated before she left for Boston? For the life of me I cannot remember it–"
"Richard and we called him Rich the Dick behind his back because he was so up himself and a bit of a dick." Rory provided for his brother which just set Callum off in hysterics much to Kelly's amusement.
"That's it! Rich the Dick, god I hated that moron…"
"Join the club." Finn added.
"-Wait? You all hated Richard too?" Kelly asked as this was the first he was hearing about this and all four of Serena's brothers looked at him as if he had grown another head. Richard or Rich the Dick as the McArthur's referred to him as was Serena's boyfriend and the two of them had been dating when him and Serena had hooked up. Things kind of went downhill after that given that Serena had a boyfriend when they slept together and they had fallen out about it, well Serena had stopped talking to him, broke up with her boyfriend and moved to Boston. Andy had hated Richard as did Kelly although they may have been because during the time that Kelly had fallen in love with Serena…
"Of course we did, the guy was an utter toolbox and no way good enough for our little sister." Hayden stated and his brothers all murmured in agreement. "Nice to know you thought he was a jackass too Kelly..."
"Do you remember when they broke up? Ten minutes after Serena had called dad to tell him what happened, he called us and told us to come over for dinner and bring steaks. We ended up having that barbecue to celebrate the fact that Rich the Dick was gone." Finley asked his brothers and they all started laughing and Kelly couldn't believe what they were hearing.
"Chief McArthur did you really do that?" Kelly asked.
"Severide you know it's Ed on the weekends and yes I did do that, Rich the Dick as my sons called him was not good enough for my daughter in the slightest and when Serena finally got rid of him I felt that I had to celebrate the fact that we'd never see him again." Chief McArthur explained and there was one thing Kelly was sure of in this moment; the entire McArthur family were down right crazy but they were crazy in a good way. They were always fun to be around and they clearly all loved each other, especially Serena.
"Does Serena know about that?
"God no and she never will Severide…" Chief McArthur stated with a shake of his head.
"Kelly you've seen Serena, if she ever found out about the barbecue and all the other stuff we've done to her previous boyfriends then she'd probably kill us. You do call her Rocket for a reason after all and that's because off her temper." Callum explained with a small shake of his head and Kelly realized Callum was right, Serena would literally blow a lid if she found out about any of this stuff.
Chief McArthur nodded in agreement with his sons before turning to Kelly. "You know you should ask her out Kelly."
"Who? Serena?"
"Kelly we're not romantics, between the five of us we barely have a romantic bone in our body but we're not blind, we all saw that you and Serena had a thing for each other ever since you two met but just couldn't get your acts together. One of you was always in a relationship until Serena moved to Boston and now your both here and you want our opinion? You and the little shrimp deserve each other and should make a go of things." Rory advised with a small smile and Kelly couldn't actually believe that conversation was happening.
"Judging by the gormless look on your face Kelly we've probably confused you so let me break it down, Serena is the youngest out of us all and we love her very much, well it's kind of hard not to. Anyway my point is that we're always going to think no one is good enough for Serena but if anyone is going be close enough then it's you Kelly, when you stop screwing around and get your act together of course." Hayden said managing to compliment and insult Kelly at the same time.
"Right back to work boys, promised your sister we'd have everything in before she got home and the sooner we finisher, the sooner we can start drinking!" Chief McArthur ordered and his sons all got up and followed him back out the condo whilst he trailed back at bit, he needed some time to digest everything he had just heard.
"Two years and they'll be married, I guarantee it…"
"I'll take that bet."