Howdy All!

I venture forth, then will scurry away, back to SEAL Team! (Hang in there L, I'm coming back, I promise!)

1) These little fluffs-of-stuff, just popped in my head. There is no rhyme or reason. There is no order. Sense isn't meant to be made. I jump around. Chapters are stand alone.

2) I know it is a show and the characters are written and portrayed by professional writers and actors. I am neither, so if medical inconsistencies and a character written out of character bothers you, read no further.

3) Though I tend to favor Severide, I adore Chief Boden (and I LOVED Peter Mills). I don't dislike or hate anyone or any character, but my hero is male…..I like it when the man 'saves the day'…(I don't like when TPTB dumb down a male lead - looking at you Chicago PD (Ruzek and Halstead) - and make the female bigger, badder better; better driver, fighter, shooter)...if that puts a label on me….move on.

4) Though I try to follow the show, I may have events and when characters were on, out of order, and there will be events/stories that were never shown/told on the show.

5) *sigh* I apparently have a fetish. It is labeled 'whump' and I have a double 'trifecta'; Dean Winchester. Clay Spenser. Kelly Severide: Blue jeans, t-shirts, boots. Oh, dear.

"Sev! Hey, wait up a minute, Sev."

Silence. The room went silent, still. All motion ceased, no one spoke, no one moved.

"Don't. Call. Me. That." The words were heated, uttered quietly, lethally. "Don't ever call me that."

"But he….just…." gulp, "….uh….did."

And Kelly's temper smoldered….his emotions tugged at the leash he normally kept a tight control on. He turned around, his anger evident by his look, the set of his jaw, the clenched fist, his fighting stance.

The mood in the room didn't shift….no one breathed.

"Your name Casey?"

"No." One quirked eyebrow from Severide and he hastily amended his statement. "No, sir."

"Your mother call you Matt?"

"No, sir."

"Then you call me Lieutenant Severide." Kelly clenched both fists, the use of his nickname by anyone other than the person who bestowed it upon him, and the only person allowed to use it and keep his teeth, nearly sent him over the edge. It had been an emotionally raw day and he would love to punch something – someone. "No one calls me that." He saw Casey, slouched against the wall, arms crossed over his chest, send him a smirk. "Except him." He pointed to his smug friend. "He's the only one who gets to call me that."

"Should we do something?" Ferraris asked Capp who shook his head. "He's a second away from flooring….."

"No worries," Capp grinned easily. "Casey's here, let him handle Severide, no one does it better." Their boss was on his way out of the room anyway, he'd just been passing through.

Casey didn't move, just sent Glenn, the newest kid on engine, a smug smile. He lazily uncurled one arm and pointed his thumb towards his own chest.

"Me be Matt Casey," he grinned, "my mom say's so." He gave the kid a slap on the shoulder and ambled off after Severide who had all but made it out of the room.

Glenn looked around bewildered. "What the hell?" He threw his hands out, palms up. "What'd I do?"

"You nearly wet your pants, is what you did!"

"Your knees still wobbly?"

"Legs still shaking?"

"Severide is touchy."

"Has anger issues."

"Doesn't like nick-names."

"Remember that mess with Rice?"

"Only one way to get through to Severide."

"Yeah, but when you do, he comes around."

"Only one person got through to him."

"That was Otis's fault."

"Me? Mine? How do you figure that?"

"You should have gone to Casey with your suspicions and let him confront Severide and handle the situation."

"Yeah, 'cause once Casey did, Severide took care of Rice…"

"See how that works Otis?"

"I thought when Severide got married…." Began Gabby.

"He's married?" Glenn interrupted in astonishment.

"Not anymore."

"He took Shay's loss hard."

"Harder than Casey took losing Hallie."

"Just as hard."

"Just in a different way."

"One was a girlfriend/fiancée for over 8 years, the other a lesbian, best friend roommate."

"His wife was named Shay?" Glenn was trying to keep up with the many voices all talking at once. "Or Rice?"

"Very hard."

"No one expected a paramedic to perish in a fire."

"She died? How?"

"So hard he got hitched in Vegas."

Gabby glared, not liking being her time holding the floor derailed. "…..Matt would ask him to get his own place."

"Didn't happen."

"Nope." Gabby agreed. "Didn't."

"Doesn't help, Boden always has his back."

"Yeah, those three."

"Patterson didn't like it when Boden roped Severide in."

"Wait, Dawson, wasn't it you, who moved out?"

Herrman handed Glenn a cup of coffee. "Don't let it get to you. Casey's a fair guy and a great boss."

"Yeah, and don't worry, Severide doesn't hold a grudge."

"For long!"

"Never takes it out on the guy neither."

Glenn grimaced at the raucous laughter.

Herrman sighed, waved the kid to a seat at the table, sat down across from him. "Look, whatever you heard Casey call Severide, you gotta know it's between them."

"Sev." Glenn said perplexed. "Casey called him Sev…..his name." He was baffled. "It's his name."

"Aah." Herrman shook his head. "That."

"That, that? What's that?"

"He doesn't like his name shortened."

No one knew the story behind the nickname Sev. Or why Casey was the only person allowed to use it. All anyone knew was some event had happened while they'd been in training. Over the years, he'd heard a person or two shorten Kelly's surname, but they'd promptly been corrected. If anyone had dared be stupid enough to persist, well, broken jaws could be – and had been – repaired.

Hell, in all his years at Station 51 and serving with Casey, he'd heard the word Sev come out of his mouth only a handful of times. He wondered what had happened now, that one or another needed a shoulder to lean on.

"Did you walk in on something?" He asked casually. Hell, he was human, he was curious. The call that morning hadn't ended horribly, had been tense for a bit but nothing serious….so, which one was struggling? And why? Though they usually worked through their feeling with cigars; a close, physical moment between them wasn't that unusual.

There'd been that time, Severide had been on the aerial ladder, and Casey had been trapped in a room, the fire on the other side of a door….an explosion had propelled him as he'd been bolting across the floor, out the window before he'd been ready to go.

On the ladder with a barely conscious victim, Severide hadn't been prepared to catch a vaulting fireman coming through a window, but had managed to do so all the same.

They'd all stood below, collective breaths held, watching helplessly as Casey fought for purchase on the ladder, hanging by one hand on a rung. When Severide had finally hauled him onto the safety of the ladder, they'd taken a moment, hugged tight before finally descending….once on the ground, claimed they'd had to catch their breath.

Yeah, right.

Herrman chewed on the plastic stir straw. To be honest, once they'd both been on firm ground, a lot of hugging had gone on.

"….they were in the showers…." Glenn trailed off, the wrong conclusion dawning. "Oh." He couldn't help it, he blushed so deep, his neck turned red. "They, uh, got something going on? Not that it's wrong." He added quickly. "A relationship between them is completely normal, acceptable! It doesn't bother me… I mean…."

Herrman lost control of his mirth that had begun to bubble when he realized what Glenn was thinking, guffawed so loudly, everyone looked over. He slapped the table with his palm several times, hootin' and hollerin' until his eyes teared from laughing so hard.

"Ssshs!" Glenn hissed. "Sssh! Geesch! Will you stop?!"

Herrman pushed to his feet, clapped his hands. "Ladies and gentlemen, would you bring your attention to me?" He beamed, relishing this little on-dit and his opportunity to share it. "Gabby Dawson, our little sleuth here, has solved your relationship problems with Lieutenant Casey."

And shouts of encouragement rang out.

"Hear! Hear!"

"Come on! Share already!"

"Speak!"

Herrman glanced down and in a rare moment of solidarity, took pity on the flushing, blushing kid who was, in his opinion, barely old enough to shave.

"Awww." He waved everyone off, shrugged at the boos and hisses he received in return, sat down. "Kid, the only relationship between them is friendship – platonic," He picked up his coffee cup, toasted the air. "They go way back, follow one another anywhere, no hesitation." He hesitated. "Severide lost Shay, his friend and roommate. Casey lost his fiancée. They both lost a friend they called brother.….but each other? They'll punch one another bloody, but they ever lose the other …." He shook his head.

Glenn frowned, sipped from his mug despite not needing anything hot to further flush his skin – his ears were still burning. "What are you saying?"

"Nothing." Hermann said easily. "Just…love and a bond, ya know? Their bond with one another….well, I'd say it's unbreakable."

"So….no one calls him Sev?" Glenn asked tentatively. "It's not an insult or anything."

"And get away with it? No. He warns them once, they try it again or tease him about it, their jaw's wired shut and no one saw nothing, you get me?"

"I think so….yeah. No, yeah, I get you. I get it. Yeah."

"You stick around, you'll see. Sometimes, you'll think they hate each other, or are jealous of the other, but when one is stupid and needs to be fetched or decides to go play hero and needs a sidekick….where there's one, you'll find the other."

Glenn nodded. "So, Lieutenant Casey is with Dawson?"

"He is."

"And Lieutenant Severide was married to Shay?"

"No. Oh. No. Oh no. Brittney was his wife. He went to Vegas after losing Shay, met her at a gaming table, got hitched, brought her back to Chicago. Long story for another day. Doesn't matter, just know your place." Herrman friendly advised. "You'll see how things work around here. Severide tends to keep to himself, he's a hot head who can't stay on the handle…."

Glenn blinked, stay on the handle? What the hell did that mean?

Herrman realized Glenn didn't understand the reference, sighed. "He doesn't know you, doesn't trust you, you're not his friend and your place isn't to try and get close to him. It doesn't work that way around here. You got a problem with him, you go to Casey, you hear me? Know that sign at the zoo? Don't feed the animals? Don't poke a sleeping bear? Don't tease the tiger?"

"Yeah, okay." He paused. "Just…not the Chief?"

"Work wise, yes, you go to Chief Boden. If it's personal, tell Casey…..trust me on this. I'm only gonna tell you once, you're gonna feel they don't like each other, notice they don't act like friends, but you wait…..you watch…..you listen and you'll see."

Glenn nodded. He had an older brother who looked out for him, would do anything for him, but it was just family obligation. He wondered what it'd be like to have a friendship like the one obviously shared by the lieutenants.

"So, you like your teeth the way they are in your mouth?" Herrman stood up.

"Uh, yes, yes sir."

"Then…." He paused for meaning, waited until Glenn nodded, "It's Severide."

"Yes. Right. I got it."

He did. And he was looking forward to observing this odd friendship.