Chapter 32

The day after Christmas Kelly was asked to report to Chief Boden's office at the beginning of his shift.

It had been a busy couple of days...first with the twins' birthday...and then the usual excitement of Christmas. Now with four kids in the house, the holiday was even more out of control than usual.

The twins had each gotten new bikes...and they were going to a week-long sleep away basketball camp at Northwestern University in Evanston. And of course there were toys and games and books...they couldn't wait to try out the radio controlled airplanes that Uncle Matt had gotten them. Not only that...but downstairs in the basement...in the man-cave...Kelly had spent almost the entire day putting together a racing track with steep banks and not one, but two gravity defying loops.

Maggie had gotten more dolls...more ballerina's...and a pink dollhouse with five rooms of furniture.

Lexi made out like a bandit for her first Christmas with the Severide's. She had a new baby doll...a little kitchen in her size...a pink school bus...a pink airplane...and a smaller pink doll house all her own.

There had been the special gifts too...apparently Alyssa's mom and Casey had gotten real chummy...so there had been a gift for both girls. Casey had made a honey stained trunk with a castle scene stenciled on the front and the words "Once Upon A Time...". When they opened it up, there were over a dozen different rag dolls Nadine had sewn by hand. There was Little Red Riding Hood, Granny and the Wolf...Three Bears and Goldilocks...Three Pigs...and Dorothy, the Scarecrow, the Tin Man, The Lion and the Wicked Witch from the Wizard of Oz.

There had been a special present for the parents and the grandparents too.

At Thanksgiving...before Lexi and Trevor had covered one another in mashed potatoes...somehow, some way...they had gotten all the grandkids arranged on the steps of Joey and EmmaLynn's new house...and taken a picture of the whole crowd. Twenty seven in all.

But Kelly and Alyssa had gotten the best present they could have ever hoped for.

On Christmas Eve, Mrs. Hillford, Lexi's DCFS case worker had called to tell them that her biological mother had signed away her paternal rights. The woman had taken agreed to a deal that gave her life in prison...and she had realized that her daughter was in a good place, with people who loved her, people who took good care of her. So she had actually made a decision that was in someone's best interests other than her own...and cleared the way for the Severide's to adopt Lexi.

And that's exactly what they intended to do.

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But first they had to get through Alyssa's surgery.

The day was looming ahead of them...like a dark cloud over the horizon. No one was looking forward to it...they'd have to be insane if they were. The procedure to restore the mobility in her shoulder...to break up the adhesions that had formed in and around the joint capsule...sounded absolutely barbaric.

But if it worked...if it allowed them to put off having to actually replace her entire shoulder joint for even five years...it was worth it.

They had a long road ahead of them.

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As soon as they had the date for the surgery, Kelly had put in for FMLA, the Family Medical Leave Act. Alyssa had been there for him through God only knew how many injuries...the surgery to repair his fractured C5 vertebra...two knee injuries...and during the nine months after Chesnick nearly killed him...she never left his side. Whatever he wanted, whatever he needed, she did without a second thought.

Well...now he was going to be there for her.

Severide knocked on the door of Chief Boden's office.

"Enter!" Chief's deep bass boomed.

Kelly stepped inside the office...and saw not only the Chief...but Dick Beauchamp...the President of the Union.

Beauchamp was a world class dick...as Hermann put it, "he's no fireman's fireman."

No one Kelly knew had voted for him...so how the guy had got elected was a real mystery to everyone at Station 51.

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Right away Severide tensed up.

"Kelly..." Chief said. "Mr. Beauchamp needs to talk to you about your FMLA application."

There was a hint of a sneer on the "Mister". Probably too subtle for this asshole to catch...but there nonetheless.

"What about it?" Kelly replied tersely.

Beauchamp cleared his throat.

"You applied for four months off, Lieutenant."

"That's right." Kelly said. "My wife's having surgery...and the doctor said it would be at least a four month recovery period."

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"You've taken a lot of time already." Beauchamp said, looking at a file he'd pulled out of his monogrammed brief case. "You took four personal days last spring..."

"We took in a foster child. I wanted to be there to help get her settled in."

Not that it was any of Beauchamp's business. They were personal days.

"And you took emergency leave at the end of September." the President went on.

"My kid got hurt. He got a concussion playing football! He was in the hospital!"

Kelly was getting angrier and angrier. Who did this guy think he was...

"And you've been back to work less than a year after a nine month medical furlough."

Severide crossed his arms over his chest. If he opened his mouth again he was liable to say something that would get him fired.

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Chief cut in.

"The Lieutenant was injured in the line of duty, Dick. Read your file there...it's a miracle we got him back at all."

"Well...that's still a helluva lot of time off...and now he's asking for more."

Beauchamp leveled what was presumably a penetrating glare in Severide's direction.

"I'm denying your request, Lieutenant Severide."

"Then I quit." Kelly replied.

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Dead silence...except for the ticking of the clock on the wall behind the desk.

"Kelly..." Chief started.

"No." Kelly said. "I've got my twenty-five in."

He gave Beauchamp a hard look

"My wife's gotten me through 'bout half a dozen different injuries. If it wasn't for her, I prob'ly wouldn't even be here right now!"

Severide took a step back, one step closer to the door.

"Now she needs me to be there for her. And if the department I served all these years doesn't think that's important...then just sit tight there, Dick. I'll fill out my retirement papers right now and you can sign those."

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Again...the silence was deafening. Kelly and Beauchamp stared at one another...and Boden's eyes went back and forth between the two men...wondering who was gonna back down first.

Finally...after what seemed like an eternity...Beauchamp took a paper from the file and laid it on the desk. Then he reached into his breast pocket for his expensive fountain pen, removed the cap, then leaned over and signed his name with a flourish.

He tore the yellow duplicate off and handed it to Kelly. Then he put the top back on his pen...shoved it in his pocket...and walked out of Chief's office.

Severide looked down at the piece of paper in his hand.

His leave was approved. Starting January 30.

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"You're lucky he didn't call your bluff." Chief said.

Kelly looked up.

"I wasn't bluffing." he said. "You know what Alyssa's done for me. Now I've gotta take care of her. Family first...isn't that what you always say?"

"Damn right." Boden said. "And you're not alone here, Kelly. Every man and woman in this house is here for you. For you and Alyssa."

Family first.