Chapter 9
They walked hand in hand down the corridor of the Maternity floor.
They were about to meet their new nephew.
Kelly squeezed his wife's hand and when she turned to look up at him, he couldn't help but smile.
This was a big deal...he and Lyssa had been together over a dozen years...more than ten as husband and wife. They had a ton of nieces and nephews from Alyssa's five brothers and their significant others...but Kelly had inherited them all, for lack of a better word. Baby Trevor was the first one who he would know from the beginning...who would always know him as "Uncle Kelly".
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And this was his first godchild.
That was pretty cool.
They had had the whole family over on New Year's Eve...right before he'd gone back to work. They had a lot to celebrate...and that's when Joey and Emma Lynn had announced that they were having a boy...and they had asked Alyssa and Kelly to be his godparents.
Kelly hadn't known what to say...he was so floored.
So Lyssa had said 'yes' for the both of them.
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They got Emma Lynn's room number at the nurses' station, and moments later they knocked on the half closed door.
Emma Lynn was in bed...but Joey was standing by the window holding his son.
This was a big deal for him too...he was almost forty-five...and this was his first biological child. He was a great step dad to Emma Lynn's three kids...but this was their first child together.
"Hey...it's the proud dad!" Kelly said with a grin.
He knew what Joey was feeling...
There was just something about holding your son for the first time...
"Hey...it's the Godfather!"
Joey grinned right back.
Lyssa and Emma Lynn looked at each other and just rolled their eyes.
"All right...give him here..." Kelly told Joe as he held out his hands.
Joey laid Baby Trevor in Kelly's arms.
"You gonna show me how it's done?" he quipped.
"Watch and learn..." Kelly said.
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He looked down at the little boy in his arms.
He took in the jet black hair that stuck out every which way. He'd never seen so much hair on a baby.
"Hey, Buddy..." he said softly.
Baby Trevor opened his eyes to the sound of Kelly's voice. And Kelly found himself looking into dark brown eyes...just like his wife's.
It was amazing...how different this little guy was from any of his kids.
"My God...he's built like a linebacker..." he marveled.
"Nine and a half pounds..." Trevor's proud papa said with a grin. "Definitely a keeper."
"That's like Andy and Jesse combined..." Kelly laughed.
Both twins together had only been about a pound more.
Maggie was their biggest baby...at six whole pounds.
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"Hey, Trevor..." Kelly said again.
He felt Lyssa's hand on his shoulder.
"How about you let somebody else have a turn?" she teased.
"Can't you see?" he asked. "We're bonding...right, Buddy? When you get bigger...I'm gonna take you for a ride in a fire truck..."
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As soon as he got to the firehouse the next morning, Casey was waiting.
"Hey...we're gettin' called to the Principal's office again." he said.
"What now?"
Casey shrugged.
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Antonio Dawson and Rich Allen were waiting to give them all another update on the investigation.
"Looks like you called it right, Severide..." Antonio sighed.
Kelly felt his stomach sink like a stone.
The mother...
"Turns out this...Jaclyn Fisher's...had over a dozen fires in her lifetime." Allen said. "First one..."
He flipped through a file folder...
"First one..." he went on "was her Grandfather's garage...when she was about twelve."
"For those of you keepin' score..." Antonio cut in, "That's a fire every two years."
"Pretty long odds..." Casey said, with biting sarcasm.
Most people went their whole lives without ever having a fire touch them...or any of their property.
"Anything else?" Boden asked.
"Oh...we're just gettin' started." Dawson said.
Severide wasn't sure he wanted to hear anymore.
But Dawson was reading down a laundry list...and every item was like another nail in the coffin.
The smoke detectors had been disabled...the toxicology showed cough syrup in the little boy's system...and the mother's behavior had been a bit more than odd.
Apparently she had called the coroner's office looking for her son's death certificate the morning after the fire.
The police were looking to question her. They were trying to track her down.
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The two lieutenants emerged from Chief's office shell shocked. Kelly had shared what he had learned from Wayne Hewitt a few days ago...They had more than enough probable cause to charge Jaclyn Fisher with murder.
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Kelly held open the door and Casey stepped into the common room.
The silence was deafening.
"Brrr..." Severide mumbled under his breath. "You feel the temperature just drop about twenty degrees?"
"Oh...good." Casey mumbled back. "We need a little more drama around here..."
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Shay and Dawson were over by the kitchen...Otis, Cruz and Hermann were congregated over by the couch...Capp and Clarke were hunched over the table.
Mills was missing.
Severide backed out the door looking for his team member.
He found him in the equipment room rearranging gear...busy work.
"Mills? Whaddya doin' in here?"
"This place is a mess..."
Severide looked around...the place looked the same as it had forever.
Mills, on the other hand...he was the mess. He looked like he'd been up for two days...he hadn't shaved...he was pale.
"What's goin'' on? You look like death warmed over..."
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Pete leaned back against the wall...and slid down into a crouch.
"It's over." he said softly. "Almost thirteen years...and it's gone."
"What're you talkin' about?"
"Me 'n Gabby. We broke up. She moved out."
"When the hell did that happen?"
They had been at Maggie's party less than forty-eight hours ago...and everything was fine.
Mills sighed.
"I asked her to marry me." he said. "Like I've done God knows how many times before."
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Kelly crossed his arms over his chest.
He knew Pete had wanted to move forward with his relationship for a while. He'd seen it when they babysat the kids...and now he knew what the hold-up was.
"When we got home after the party...I just asked her...once and for all...was she ever gonna marry me?" he went on. "She said she doesn't wanna mess up what we have, but I want kids...I don't wanna just keep spinnin' my wheels. So I asked her...and lemme tell you...the silence spoke volumes."
Severide took a deep breath and let it out slowly.
"I don't know what to say, Man..." he told Pete. "I'm sorry..."
Mills just shrugged.
"I just can't keep spinnin' my wheels." he said again.
"I get it...but you can't stay in here all shift."
"I know...I just...can't be in there."
He pulled himself to his feet.
"You know...it's been so long...I don't even know how to be without her."
Mills trudged toward the door.
Severide watched him go...wishing he knew some words to help his friend.