Title: Needles, Nerves & New Beginnings
Chapter 2 – The Right kind of Remedy?

Severide leans against the side of the building and squeezes his eyes shut as each time he opens them the colorful aura around each spot of light seems to intensify and pulse until his head pounds heavier. Cars nearing seem to move faster and then suddenly slow down; making his stomach lurch. He looks up at the street lights that seem to warp and change shape for a few seconds before he closes his eyes and shakes his head wanting it to all go away but then instantly feeling sicker.

But in doing so, he makes himself a bit more nauseated and finally throws up some watery bile.

"Hey buddy…you okay?"

"G-great," Severide slightly slurs as he looks up with a frown and then offers a goofy smile. "Great. A bit…" he stammers as he pulls away and starts to wander down the street. But thanks to the drugs coursing through his system, all sounds are amplified and all lights are intensified, making his euphoric state something of a painful experience instead of an enjoyable one.

"Get out…of the light," Severide stammers to himself as he starts to stumble toward a darkened alleyway and then disappears into the shadows. He shuffles a few meters before his system starts to reverberate again and he stops and clutches his knees.

"Got any…change?"

"Huh…" Severide mutters as he looks up to see an older man step out from the shadows in a tattered coat and shoes.

"You look like you…need a drink."

"No I…where am I?"

"Earth."

Severide just offers a snicker as he tries to push past and then stumbles to his knees.

"Hold on there young fella…you're six sheets to the wind," the old man stammers as he tries to put his bottle into his pocket and help Severide up. But in his stoned state, he ends up spilling some of the whisky on him and then quickly grabbing the bottle before it could all spill out.

"Ah damn…" Severide curses as he claws his way to an upright position. "Sorry…so sorry…"

"Firefighter huh…which house are you from?"

"5 uh…I need to lie down or something…"

"Come with me."

"Okay," Severide agrees willingly as both disappear into the dark shadows once more.

XXXXXXXX

"He couldn't have gotten to far on foot," Boden tells the house as Shay looks at Casey and shakes her head.

"We'll find him," Casey assures her as he pulls away and rejoins Dawson to start the search; the rest of the house going in twos and Shay going with Erin.

"Okay so he's high on a psychotropic liquid hallucinogen and…I shouldn't have let him go!" Shay laments as Erin looks at her with a small frown.

"We need to find him before himself or someone else hurt."

Shay hears the genuine concern and panic in Erin's voice and nods in agreement. "Any ideas?"

"Okay so he comes out here…he's high. Things would have been super-heightened so…"

"So he'd want to find some way to escape," Shay interjects as she looks at Erin with an expression of sudden realization. "Sometimes cabs are waiting out here. Can one of your guys find out of a pickup was made from here and then tell us where he was dropped off?"

Erin pulls her phone and calls Mouse as she hurries toward her waiting sedan, Shay already instep with her and praying that they find something soon. "Yeah I'll wait," she replies as she looks over at Shay who closes the front passenger door. "He's checking now. Would he get…violent?"

"He could if pushed or backed into a corner and that's what worries me most. Or he could just find somewhere to get a drink and laugh and be the life of the party with whoever is around him."

"Life of the party huh."

"And regret it in the morning," Shay huffs. "Men."

"Women don't do that?" Erin lightly retorts as Shay smirks.

"Don't worry we'll find him before he does something he'll really regret…with some other woman."

"Well let's hope we find him passed out on a storefront or something," Erin states hopefully as Shay nods in agreement as her phone rings. "Hey…there was a pickup? When? Half hour ago? Yeah that's about right. Where did it stop? Send me the address."

"Step on it."

XXXXXXXX

"Thanks man…" Severide chuckles as he tries to stand up. But thanks to the drugs and now alcohol dancing in his system, standing up and trying to find solid footing isn't that easy and Severide crashes back down onto his hands and knees and starts to laugh. "Gotta…go…"

"You can stay…as long as you want."

"Gotta…get home."

"You're shivering. Tell me what Firehouse you're at and…and I can call them."

But Severide's fuzzy brain isn't listening, his head pounding and ears ringing; all sounds around him blurring into one. He finally manages to get up and then stagger toward the opening he just came through. "Whoa…where am I?" Severide squints into the bright lights and then ducks back into the alleyway just as Erin's car comes to a screeching halt a few blocks down.

He thinks he hears his name being called but hears what sounds like glass breaking behind him and turns to see two men emerge from the shadows.

"Hey man…got a light?"

"What kind of light?"

"You drunk?" The other asks as they near.

"Nope…high," he chuckles as the world around him starts to slightly spin once more. But when he turns to leave one of the men advance and try to pull him back, wanting to see if he has a wallet they can steal. However, not wanting to be physically man handled, Severide turns with his fists balled and a fight instantly ensues.

On the street, two frantic women continue to duck into each open establishment and conduct a brief but frantic search for their missing friend.

The first few punches, Severide is able to make his punches connect; with the jaw and face of his opponents. But not being able to aim his blows with any kind of accuracy, he ends up sustaining more blows that inflict some kind of pain than he delivers. Jaw. Cheek. Eye.

However, the two men soon start to realize that Severide is just wasting their time as he doesn't even have his phone on him, wallet was still in his locker.

"Ah man he has nothing on him!"

"He's a damn firefighter!" The other shouts as they both pick each other up off Severide's flailing frame and rush toward the mouth of the alleyway and then onto the street. "Damn firefighter!"

"Shay! It's Kelly!"

Erin hears the two men and then turns to watch them emerge from the alleyway and calls out to Shay before she darts into the shadows and hurries toward Severide's fallen frame. "Kelly!"

"Wha…ah damn…" Severide groans as he sees two more faces loom over him. "Have no…money," he groans as he clutches his stomach.

"It's us," Shay groans as Severide slips from her grasp.

"We need to get him out of here."

"Stop…fighting us," Shay huffs as Severide looks up and snickers. "Not funny."

Erin and Shay each take an arm and try to get Severide upright. At first, with his body wanting to rebel, they topple back to the ground but after another attempt they get him back up.

"Kelly, you're a mess," Shay scolds as they emerge into the light and finally see the bloody nose and mouth and dark circle forming under his left eye.

"Party over?" He snickers as they near Erin's police sedan.

"You just got your ass kicked," Shay retorts as Severide's brow furrows.

"Am I under arrest officer? Wanna cuff me?" He grins at Erin as Shay had pulled away to call Casey with an update. Despite his intoxicated demeanor, Erin can't help but offer him a small smile which he, in his current state, takes as an invitation and much to all their surprise plants a firm kiss on her lips.

"You're under…" Erin gently stammers as Shay looks at her in amusement. "We need to get him checked out."

"Alright Romeo…time to get you to Chicago Me…"

"Home! Just…take me home," Severide barks as they manage to get him into the backseat of the sedan; Severide rolling on his side in pain. However, Shay directs Erin to take him to Chicago Med to be checked out just to be sure before he's taken home to dry out.

XXXXXXXX

"You know…you didn't have to wait…oh wait…" Shay starts and then stops as Erin's lips crack into a small smile. "I'm technically still on shift. And he…can't be alone until he's fully sober. And if he goes back to the house…I'll take him back to 51. He can just try to keep to himself."

"My apartment is close to here," Erin tells her in haste as they both look up to see Severide walking toward them with a weary expression. "I don't mind. I know he can't be alone right now."

"I need…to lie down," Severide groans as he gives Shay a hug and then looks at Erin with a somewhat sheepish smile and then shakes his head. "Where to now?"

"Home."

"I can go back…to work."

Shay offers him a small snort as she bodily directs him toward the ER exit doors, casting a smile and wink at the attractive nurse behind her before the three of them disappear through the doors into the cool night air once more. "You were struck with some liquid pot. Yeah it's a thing and our John Doe from earlier stuck you with some. Bad news is you're gonna be a bit supercharged for a few more hours. Good news is in a few more hours you're gonna be throwing up, having night sweats and cursing your very existence."

"Groovy," Severide snickers as he literally collapses into the backseat.

"You sure about this?"

"I heard what the nurse said. The dosage is almost wearing off…a few more hours. Go finish the rest of your shift. If anything happens I'll call. I'm off the clock now."

"I don't mind putting him in the dry tank for the night."

"You'd do that?" Erin arches her brows as Shay shakes her head and gives her a hug.

"Take care of our guy," Shay whispers as she pulls back with a smile. "I was so right."

"Where'd Shay go?" Severide asks with a slight slur as Erin gets into the car and then turns and looks into the backseat. Even in his roughed up, drugged out state, she can't help but offer him a warm smile and allow his handsome looks to tease her weary brain even a little.

"She went back to work, but since you can't be alone, you're….coming to my place."

"Alright. And then what?" He chuckles before he lays down on the seat and rubs his face. "Damn…I feel horrible…and hungry."

"If you eat you might throw up."

"Vomiting's bad…" he groans as they near her apartment.

As soon as the car stops, he slowly tries to slide down the seat and then stand up; his body wanting to shut down and finally feeling the ill effects of not having anything in his system for the past few hours except some liquid cannabis and whiskey. So he starts to shiver.

"Damn it's c-cold."

"Hold on…" Erin whispers as she drapes her warm coat around his back; his bare arms trying to pull the leather closer over his slightly damp tee-shirt. "You're just gonna work through the rest of your withdrawals here and then you can go home."

"Your hair smells…good," he tells her somewhat absently as they manage to get into her apartment and then slowly stumble toward the waiting elevator. "I smell like…sweat."

"And booze. How much did you have?"

"Few mouthfuls."

"Kelly…"

"Damn bottle…spilt on me…when the old man tried to help me," he replies as her neighbors door opens. "Are we gonna have sex?"

"Uh…" she stammers as her face enflames just as the old woman looks at her in surprise. She quickly opens her apartment door and then helps him inside, locking it behind them just as he pulls away, nearly stumbling to the floor. "Oh…hold on…got you," she tells him as he looks down at her with a grin.

"You sure do."

"No matter what I say you won't remember later will you?" She counters with a small smirk as she helps him into her living room. "So how about…the answer would have been yes. To you asking me out."

"Really?"

"Really."

This time she just nods as she knows when he's fully sober, it won't matter as one of the side effects possible, was short-term memory loss. "Let me look at you," she states tenderly as she sits down beside him on the couch and looks at the cut on his lip and the bruise on his nose and then under his eye. "You really did a number on yourself."

"You should have seen the other guy," he grins as he leans in closer. "Wanna make out?"

She knows she does, she'd be lying if she said no. But she also knows that in his current state, the request was prompted from his drug-induced stupor and not from a genuine need to get closer. "Ask me again when your mind is fully clear."

"It is fully clear. But you gotta turn off those damn purple lights," he groans as he sags back down onto the couch cushions. "And why is your clock warped…whoa…" Severide's lips huff as he squeezes his eyes shut. "I need a drink."

"You need rest. So…" Erin states as she slowly stands up and heads for the hall closet to get a blanket and returns; his eyes struggling to keep open. "You rest and hopefully in a few hours…you'll feel better."

"Promise?"

She can't offer that either as she knows that in a few hours he'll start the withdrawal process and will feel a lot worse than he's felt in a very long time. Thankfully the dosage wasn't as strong or potent as it might have been but even still he'd start to feel the ill effects crashing down upon him. She's witnessed others going through withdrawals and just hopes that his won't be too bad.

Insomnia, stomach pains, irritability, nausea, possible vomiting and anxiety. Shay had warned her of what she could expect but said she was only a phone call away in case something major happened.

"Just rest up now. Hopefully in a few hours you can have some coffee or…whatever. Just close your eyes and try to rest."

Erin looks at Kelly on the couch, offering him a small frown as he turns over onto his side and then utters a painful groan and something incoherent. With that she turns and heads into her bedroom to put on something a lot more comfortable as she tell herself that it's going to be a long night.

However, it's about to get longer, for when she returns to the living room she sees the couch empty and Kelly Severide missing. She slowly turns to see her apartment door open and utters a small gasp as she hurries toward it and then looks into the empty hallway.

"Oh damn…I've lost him! Kelly!"

A/N: ah Kelly what have you done! Hehe wanted to interject some humorous bits in with the more serious stuff. But hmm where has Kelly gone and what will happen after he's come out of his withdrawals. Please do review before you go and thanks so much!