Chapter 5

Kelly and Alyssa came through their back door. After their dinner, they'd gone to a coffee shop, and shared slices of peach cobbler and Dutch Apple pie. Then they'd walked back to their car...and come home, expecting peace and quiet, and some more alone time.

Instead they found Morgan and the twins locked in battle over a video game.

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"What are you guys still doing up?" Kelly asked. "It's almost eleven thirty!"

"Uh-oh!" Morgan said.

"Uh-oh yourself..." Kelly told him, shooting his friend a dirty look.

"We're sorry Dad..." Jesse said contritely.

"Dad! Look what Morgan brought us!" Andy was too excited to be contrite. "It's the coolest game ever! And you can't even buy it in the store!"

Kelly looked over at Hollywood...who clearly had some explaining to do.

Morgan sighed.

"It was a surprise...I got an advance copy of this new Xbox game, Inferno." He started. "It's loosely based on our show...and me and a couple of the other guys provided the voices."

"You get to put out fires, Dad! You have to go on rescues...and it's just so awesome!" Andy was practically hyperventilating, he was so excited. " We started playing...and we're already on level six!"

"You gotta see this, Lieutenant." Morgan said. "It's pretty incredible...the graphics...the sounds..."

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Kelly was torn. One the one hand he would have liked to sit down and played...but it was way past Andy and Jesse's bedtime.

"It's late, guys." he said...parenting winning out over playtime. "I'll have to see it another time."

"Morgan said it's ours to keep!" Jesse told him. "We got the only copy in the whole city!"

"Great. You can show me tomorrow after church."

That was something he never thought he'd ever hear coming out of his own mouth... talk of going to church. Over the years the guys had given him a bunch of flack when they'd finished a shift on a Sunday morning and he'd gone over to St. Pasqual's to meet Alyssa and the kids. But he had three kids now in Catholic school and they were expected to go to Mass every week. And what was he going to do? Tell his sons that it was important for them to go and then stay at home and sleep or watch TV himself?

Eventually the guys had all accepted it...and even though there was still some ribbing, once in a while Casey or Cruz or Dawson even joined him.

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After he had turned off the TV and herded the twins up the stairs, Craddock took Severide aside.

"I want to talk to you about a couple things..." he said.

Curiosity getting the better of him Kelly, he turned to his friend.

"Whaddya need?"

Morgan went over to the dining room chair where he'd laid the black leather messenger bag he carried around. He searched for a moment, then pulled out a folder. He held it out to Kelly who looked at it like he expected it to explode.

What was all the secrecy? Why couldn't people just say what's on their minds?

He thumbed through the pages...it looked like pages from the script for the show. Nothing he hadn't seen before.

"What am I looking at?" Kelly asked.

"That's a scene from the season finale. I wrote it...and they're gonna run with it." he said. "There's two kids and they're playing at a construction site. One falls into a hole, and gets hurt. The other goes in after him and they both get trapped. They're in there for a while, till someone finally hears them screaming for help and when we get there they're stuck in this small confined space, it's unstable...so Whitlock goes in...he tries to get the kids but the whole thing's threatening to cave in at any moment. It's a tense episode, lots of heightened drama. You get the idea. Eventually the team gets them all out. The one kid is hurt, Whitlock's injured slightly...but it's all good in the end."

"Sounds good...sound realistic..."

Sounded like something Kelly would do. Sounded like something he had done...more than once.

"I'd like Andy and Jesse to be the kids...having them as brothers adds a whole layer of drama." Morgan went on.

Severide's eyes went wide. The kids had made appearances on the show...as extras and once the twins had each said a line. But this was a whole 'nother animal. They'd likely be in the whole episode and have several pages of dialogue.

"Can they do that? I mean just hire them? They're not actors..."

"We can have them read through a couple scenes for the director and the producers with me. If they're okay, I don't see why not." Craddock didn't seem concerned.

"Do they need an agent or anything? I mean, aren't there contracts and stuff?"

"If it gets that far, I'm sure mine could help you out. Or Shaina's..." Morgan said. "That's something else I wanted to tell you...Shaina's pregnant...about six or seven weeks. I'm gonna be a dad!"

"Congrats, man!" Kelly broke into a smile and slapped his buddy on the back before pulling him into a "man-hug". "That's great!"

Morgan would be a great dad. He had always had a way with the twins...and Maggie. She had him wrapped around her little finger...along with every other male in her life.

"We're gonna put it in the show...Rebecca's gonna suspect she's pregnant, but she hesitates about telling Whitlock. After the situation at the construction site's resolved she'll tell him."

"Rebecca" was a character Morgan had created...and she was his on-screen love interest in season two. A lot of their story was eerily similar to Kelly and Alyssa's 's story. Somewhere along the line Shaina had developed feelings for Morgan...and vice versa. They'd been an item for about six months and she recently moved into his apartment on the Gold Coast.

"Well...I'm really happy for you." Kelly said. "I'll talk to Lyssa about the show...see what she thinks and I'll call you tomorrow."

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After Morgan and Shaina had left Kelly headed up the stairs, stopping first in Maggie's room. There was his little princess, fast asleep in her big girl bed. She still didn't get the concept of pillows and blankets. she kicked all the blankets to the foot of the bed and the pillow ended up on the floor. she slept on her tummy with her knees drawn up slightly so her little butt stuck up in the air. She sucked her left thumb...making little slurping noises that Kelly thought were the most adorable thing he'd ever heard.

Next he stopped outside Andy and Jesse's door. He hesitated for a second before he turned the knob and slowly...silently eased it open. There was a good chance the boys weren't asleep yet. They'd both been pretty keyed up from that game. But as he listened, Kelly heard their soft even breathing and he knew they were out cold. Even in their sleep they breathed in unison.

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He closed the door just as quietly as he'd opened it and headed for his own room.

Alyssa was turning back the covers...and she had already changed from her jeans and sweater into one of his Squad shirts.

Even after so many years Kelly couldn't help but feel himself swelling up with pride at the sight of his girl in his shirt. She loved him, he knew...and she was proud of him and what he did for a living. And she loved to wear his shirts to bed at night.

That and she was damn hot. Other men could drop a week's pay on sexy lingerie from Victoria's Secret or whatever for their wives. But all he had to do was retire an old t-shirt. He didn't need anything else.

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He caught her from behind and pulled her into his arms. She slipped hers up around his neck and he leaned down to kiss her. He still hadn't given up on the idea of trying for another baby...maybe now that she'd had time to think about it Lyssa would be more open to the thought.

They reluctantly came up for air...and he pulled his shirt over his head. Lyssa backed toward the bed and he dropped his jeans, stepped out of them and followed her.

She drew the covers up around them and settled deeply into his arms. She had always felt so safe there...as if nothing bad could happen. Kelly was her rock...and her one true love.

"I think we should plan on going to eleven o'clock tomorrow. I've got a feeling nobody's gonna want to be up for nine." Alyssa said with a sigh.

"Did Maggie stay up late too?"

"Yeah...Shaina read her about fifteen stories. She kept saying "One more...please?" I thought that trick only worked on you..." she teased.

"Morgan just told me they're gonna have a baby. Shaina's about two months along."Kelly told her.

"I'm happy for them." Lyssa said with a smile. "She wants to take Maggie to the American Girl store next Saturday. Her sister's driving up from Kentucky with her three girls...and that's what they wanted to do in the big city."

It never failed to amaze him how people always wanted to do for his kids. The team from the firehouse had been showering the boys with toys and trios to the movies...out for pizza...Great America...whatever since they were little. Maggie was Mouch's favorite...he took her to the children's museum...and he had just taken her to a children's theater production of Beauty and the Beast last weekend.

"Morgan wants to have the boys on the show for the season finale. He wrote this story about two kids getting trapped at a construction site...and Whitlock gets to be the big hero. He left the pages so we could look 'em over."

"Do you think it's a good idea?"

Kelly shrugged .

"We can let 'em try. If it doesn't work, they can get some other kids." he said. "But we can think about that tomorrow. Right now I've got something else in mind."