Firehouse 51 was not the same place it had been a month ago. That much was obvious. Casey saw it in the subdued voices of the tenants. He saw it in the clear division between the companies. He saw it in the animosity that was barely contained most days. But most of all he saw it in the absence of Andy. Andy who could make anyone smile. Andy who was a disaster in the kitchen but was always so keen to help anyway. Andy who had saved him, even when he hadn't known he needed saving.

Casey sighed and ducked under the rising garage door. He was purposefully early so he wouldn't have to deal with a certain Squad Lieutenant earlier than need be. He moved swiftly through the firehouse, intent on a goal born from a sight that had been making him sick to his stomach for the last three shifts.

He forwent changing in favour of snapping the lock off of Darden's locker. He methodically went through the belongings inside, knowing that allowing himself to feel would only inhibit him. He heard the shuffling of someone joining him in the locker-room but didn't pause.

"What the hell are you doing, Casey?"

He bristled at both the incredulous tone and the intrusive question. "Can't stand looking at this another day," he told Vargas coolly, his tone leaving no room for discussion.

"Heather might want it."

Casey's hand twitched, but he didn't slam it into the locker door as he so desperately wanted to. Did his men think he was so cold-hearted that he wouldn't think to offer the contents to Andy's widow? He took several controlled breaths before nodding, "Yeah, I'll call her."

Casey pulled the final photo from the door and tried to ignore the jolt in his stomach at the sight of his best friend. Up until a month ago it had been one of his favourite shots; in it he, Andy and Severide were sitting around the Squad table playing cards. It had been taken just after Severide had transferred to 51. It had been a great day, with barely any calls and a lot of laughs shared between the friends. Casey felt both a pang of nostalgia at the memory and a jolt of bitterness at the fact that he didn't have anything resembling the friendship anymore. He tucked the photo into the box he'd snagged from admin, repressing the urge to rip it up as he had done with his own copy. Heather might want it.

He was just dumping the last hoodie stuffed at the back of the locker into the box when Vargas told him that the chief was looking for him. Casey sighed again and shut the door, ripping the tape bearing Andy's handwriting from the door and sticking it onto the front of the box.

Casey was planning to go see the chief after he put the box in his quarter's but Boden caught him on his way and gestured for him to step into his office. He changed course and headed towards him.

"Rumour's floating around you're going to box in the drop-a-cop," he said, voicing the question that had been on everyone's tongue for days. "Fight that guy who slept with your first wife?" he continued, when Boden made no move to speak.

"It was my second wife," Boden corrected, his tone unimpressed, but Casey knew he wasn't too mad. "And she's his problem now, not mine. So, no, I'm not boxing him."

Casey nodded and stepped into the office, hearing the click of the door behind him. He faltered slightly at the sight of Severide perched on the arm of a chair. He was surprised to see him here so early, but not surprised enough to say anything. They pleasantly ignored each other as they took their place before the chief who sat at his desk.

"Mayor Emanuel's coming by on Saturday to mark the month since Darden."

Both men shifted at that, uncomfortable with the reminder of the friend they had both lost. Casey fiddled with the box tucked under his arm, preferring to focus on that than either man in the room.

Boden sighed at the lack of reaction and gestured impatiently between them. "This animosity has got to stop. You're both supposed to be leaders here. Lead by example."

The pair shifted again at that. Both had thought that Boden hadn't noticed the clear divide that had appeared between truck and squad, the company's taking their cues from their Lieutenants. But apparently the chief wasn't as oblivious as either had thought.

"We've all been through it. Andy was a friend to all of us."

Apparently the opportunity was too good for Severide to pass up because he looked at Casey and said pointedly, "Yeah, he was."

Casey opened his mouth to retaliate before thinking better of it and taking the more political approach. "Something you want to say?"

The men glared at each other while the chief huffed irritably. "See this? This right here. This is exactly what I'm talking about."

There was a long pause and the Lieutenants looked away.

Severide chose to speak, knowing a happy chief was a thousand times better than an angry one. "You're right," he said placatingly. "I'm sorry. It's all good."

"We're fine, chief," Casey added, although it was clear to all present both were lying through their teeth.

Boden glanced between the pair and sighed dismissing them. He knew that they both had said whatever they thought was necessary to get out of his office and that it was going to take more than a few stern words from him for them to put everything behind them. But he didn't have the time nor the energy to lock them in a closet until they got over themselves so the thin truce would have to do for now.

Severide almost didn't want to watch, but the sight of the new candidate struggling through a tour was too good to pass up. It might seem cruel, but he'd seen new candidates be forced to do a lot worse on their first days. Besides, he was bored. The squad men were either playing a card game that he'd already folded from or checking their equipment which he had already done, Shay had pulled out with Dawson on a call ten minutes ago so there was no chance of entertainment from her, and the satellite was busted in the kitchen. Besides, that was too far into Casey's territory for him to chance it on mediocre day-time television.

Moreover the candidate was actually doing well. After stumbling through the first few minutes, Mills had come up with the idea to haul out a set of gear, put it on and point out each part to the children. It wasn't the most interesting idea but it had the children sitting quietly and watching so Severide figured that was the best he could expect of the little monsters.

Mills was just talking through the finer points of a PASS alarm and moving on to the function of a rescue squad when Severide caught Casey's appearance out of the corner of his eye. He watched the kids purposely, ignoring the other Lieutenant who was intent on surveying his new candidate.

"They're, like, the best of the best," Mills finished and Severide suppressed a proud smirk.

"Why aren't you with them?" The innocent question was like icing on the cake, just so Severide could see the look on Casey's face. It was no secret that Casey got irritated when he trained a new firefighter into being one of the best just to have him transfer straight to rescue squad as soon as he was able. Back when they'd been together it was something that he'd joked about every once and awhile. For some reason Severide didn't think he'd be so blase about it now.

"Well, I mean, I plan to be. My father was a member of this squad years ago."

And there was the face. The pale eyes went hard and the lips disappeared as he frowned but then it was like a wave washed over his face, the face went blank, no emotion at all. Typical Casey. But then Severide saw that old spark in his icy eyes and knew instantly that Casey had something to retaliate with.

"Mills right?" He said earning everyone's attention including his new candidate's. "Last to show, first to go. That's the rescue squad."

Even with his hackles rising, as his job was insulted Severide noticed the recognition in Mills eyes as the kid realised just who Casey was. Casey had this authoritative air that Severide mostly lacked. It wasn't that either was a better Lieutenant, it was just when people looked at Casey they knew straight away that he was in charge. It had always irked Severide but since the split and he'd started to notice just as often people deferred to Casey over himself for judgment, he'd really started to hate it.

Unable to just let it go, Severide was quick with his comeback. "You truck guys do such a good job getting everything ready for us; why would we want to take that away from you?" He feigned nonchalance and shot a smirk at the other Lieutenant hoping to annoy him.

No such luck. Casey was, as always composed. "Right," he snorted back and turned to the group of kids on the ground. "Kids, you should know they make the rescue helmets extra big to fit their heads inside them."

"There are two types of firefighters. Those we are on squad, and those who wish they were on squad," Severide countered, knowing full well it wasn't true.

He saw Mills out of the corner of his eye stare wordlessly between them, picking up on the tension between them. It wasn't that Severide and Casey had never insulted each other before, they had; they'd been after all friends much longer than they'd been lovers after all but there had always been some sort of love or affection behind the words. This however was just plain nasty, and both knew it.

To salvage the situation Mills gathered the kids up and lead them away to show them something else.

Severide waited until the last waddling kindergartener was out of earshot to swing around in his chair to smirk arrogantly up at Casey. "Bet I get an application from him by the end of the month."

Casey, calm as ever replied, "If he wants you? You can have him." And with that verbal punch to the gut, Casey made his way back inside. Severide sat in stunned silence for a moment before swinging back around in his chair and tapped on the desk, signaling to deal him into the next card game, mind divided between Mills' potential and Casey.

Only a week after their break-up and Andy's death, rumours had started flying around the house that Casey had gotten back with his ex Hallie. Severide had had to fight really hard not to flip the squad table at hearing that.

It wasn't that he didn't like Hallie. She was actually a nice girl. It was just she'd been dating Casey around the same time he'd been first recognising his feelings for the younger man. And that of course had made her the natural enemy. At the time Andy had told him he was like a child with a toy.

"Sev, you're the child, Matt's the toy and Hallie's the other kid who's picked the toy up. Before Hallie came you couldn't care less what Matt did. But now that Hallie's picked Matt up, you realise you don't want to lose him," Andy had explained over a beer in Matt and Kelly's apartment.

Matt and Hallie had gone out on some fancy date and Severide wanted nothing more than to get drunk and forget about the two of them together.

"Are you calling me a child," Severide slurred, much more drunk than Andy.

Andy slapped him over the back of the head. "Idiot, I'm telling you to tell Matt how you feel 'cause you're driving everyone crazy."

One long month later, Severide finally got to the end of his rope and in the middle of a fight with Matt decided to kiss him full on the mouth and tell him how he felt. Two weeks later, Matt and Hallie broke up. Another two weeks had passed and he and Kelly were going out.

And that was that.

He and Hallie had consistently clashed during the three years she'd been with Matt. He'd always thought she'd suspected that he'd had a thing for Casey which was why she always wanted to get between them. Casey had chewed them both out numerous times for not being able to get along with each other. Not that Severide had ever really tried. But he'd acted civil with her for Casey's sake.

He didn't blame Casey for not wanting to be alone, he'd always had a thing about that. God knew that Severide had been at bars every other night searching for one night stands. But that didn't mean he was happy at all that'd he'd decided to run back to her.

So when a week ago, it had come out that Casey had proposed, Severide actually had broken something. He'd spent that night smashing the most expensive things he could find in his and Shay's apartment, only stopping when his roommate managed to calm him down and they'd talked it out. The next night he'd gone out drinking, spending the night with the first person he got his hands on. And if the guy he'd gone home with happened to have blonde hair, blue eyes and the same slight build of a certain Lieutenant, well that was nobody's damn business but his own.

The blare of alarms jerked Severide from his musings and he swung himself out of his chair, the apparatus floor suddenly alive with motion. Shay and Dawson who had just gotten back from their last call swung themselves back into their rig. Casey was striding along flipping the switches to open the garage doors. Everywhere protective pants and jackets were being donned, helmets and oxygen tanks being pulled from the equipment room.

Both the ambulance and truck screeched away while the squad members were still gathering their gear. Casey had been right in that as a Squad they generally had a little more leeway with their response time but they still couldn't afford to waste time.

"Come on, let's move it," Severide ordered, climbing into the truck and banging on the side to get their attention, Casey's words echoing dully in his ears.

The scene Truck 81 pulled up to was fairly typical as far as accidents went. Casey spent the ride lecturing the new candidate, assigning Mouch to keep track of the kid and make sure he didn't get into too much trouble. The last thing Casey needed was a candidate getting under the feet of his men while they worked. Before he could think better of it, Casey finished with, "Oh and Mills? Don't be a crow." He could see the confusion in the kid's eyes but didn't bother to explain. He'd work it out.

As expected they arrived well before the rescue squad but Casey didn't let that deter him. He'd never needed Severide there to hold his hand. After checking in with the victims pinned in the car and trying the car door handles, Casey yelled for a saw and halligans, having to make do with the weaker equipment until the Squad truck was there with the jaws. Not for the first time, Casey internally cursed his limited equipment.

They were still working on the first door of the car, crumpled in on itself from the shock of the crash when ambulance 51 screeched to a stop, the squad truck right on their tail. Casey quickly updated Dawson and allowed her to step closer to the car to check the condition of the victim, while he circled the car looking for the best angle to get at the victims. He barely glanced up when he sensed Severide's sudden presence behind him.

Half expecting an argument, it was shocking when Severide moved off immediately when he requested the jaws. Casey instantly berated himself for being surprised. Severide was one of the best firefighters he had ever worked with and he knew that the other man would never let his own personal problems get in the way of the job.

Most of the truck men had backed off, hovering near enough that they could be helpful if need be but far enough to allow the paramedics, the squad company and Casey to work. The metal of the car groaned in protest as Severide worked with the powerful jaws on one side to pop off the front door. The metal on Casey's side too was screeching as he tore at it with a halligan.

Neither realised anything was wrong until they heard the chief's voice over the radio, "We think we've got one in the river."

Severide caught Casey's eye over the top of the car, a moment of silent communication passing between them. Then Casey was rounding the car to take the jaws from him and nodding.

"Go. I've got this one."

Severide nodded shortly and hurried off leaving Casey to free the little girl from the backseat, the mother already being carried away by paramedics. The scene was a mess of confusion, behind him Casey could hear Severide shouting orders at his men, Dawson from inside the car was talking calmly but incessantly and Casey just had to take a moment to breath and refocus.

He didn't get much of a chance however because the fuel that had been steadily leaking since their arrival suddenly caught fire, kicking everyone's movements into overdrive. The engine boys were quick to get a hose on the small flame and Casey finally wrenched the door from it's hinges and set it aside. Distantly he heard Mills yell something about the driver and run off but that was Severide's problem now. He had to focus on the little girl and guiding her fragile body out of the car and onto the waiting stretcher.

"Cancel the dive, there is no one in the water." Now that the little girl had been taken away in the ambulance, Casey could finally tune into the drama and had to fight not to swear when he saw the driver being lead away by uniformed police. There was no way Severide would be happy about being sent into the water after nobody. And he knew Severide well enough to know he wouldn't just hold his tongue and simmer on it. Sighing and resigning himself to the fight he knew would go down back at the house, Casey ordered his men to start packing up.

The ride back to the house was quiet and sombre. Mouch, embarrassed by his mistake was completely silent and any attempts at conversation were shot down almost immediately. They pulled into the driveway slowly and exited the truck lethargically. Although it had not been the worst call they'd ever had it had been unusually draining.

Casey tried to head straight for his quarters after he'd hung up his gear, hoping to avoid both Severide and the inevitable argument but he was caught by Otis before he could make it more than a handful of steps.

"Say, Lieutenant, now that we have a new candidate, I don't have to be Otis anymore."

To be honest, Casey had been waiting for this ever since Mills had arrived this morning so he didn't even have to think about his answer. "You're still Otis."

"But I thought I could learn to drive the truck and we could put Peter Mills on the elevators."

Hoping to end this discussion as quickly as possible, Casey grabbed the closest firefighter - which happened to be Herrmann - to prove his point.

"Herrmann, what's this guy's name?"

"Otis," Herrmann replied instantly, sounding as though he thought Casey was insane for asking.

"No his real name."

Herrmann frowned as he thought before taking a guess. "Bart?"

Casey turned to Otis with a raised eyebrow, his point proven.

"Brian," Otis corrected, calling after the retreating Herrmann. "Brian Zvonecek. He knew," he implored to his Lieutenant.

"You're staying on the elevators, which makes you Otis. Sorry," he offered when he say the other man's downtrodden expression. He clapped a consoling hand on his shoulder and made for the door, noting the still empty squad table.

"Hey."

Casey knew it had to be too good to be true. He wheeled around at the insistent call, ready for the ensuing argument.

"Guy in the water? How about a guy with his head up his ass?" Severide's voice was loud and challenging and Casey saw Mouch pause where he was undoing his boots and slowly straighten. Although Casey thought Severide had a point, there was no way he was going to let the Lieutenant talk about his men like that. It was his job to manage the firefighter's in his company as he saw fit.

"You handle your firefighters. I'll handle mine," he said, a hint of tiredness creeping into his voice. The last thing he wanted was to stand here and have another fight with Severide. But apparently that was all Severide wanted.

"That's a good theory, Casey. How about giving it a try?"

The anger in Severide's voice pushed him over the edge and Casey found himself answering before he could really think about it. "Know what? I'm getting real tired of your bull, Severide." Casey had moved forward as he spoke, less than a foot of distance now separating them.

"I don't give a damn what you're tired of." Severide took a threatening step closer, putting them chest to chest and Casey desperately tried not to notice how the other Lieutenant wasn't wearing a shirt. As much as he hated Severide in that moment he grudgingly had to admit that the Lieutenant looked as good as ever. Regardless of his attractiveness, both men were wound up enough for the fight to soon come to blows so it was a relief to everyone in the station when Chief Boden stepped in. The firefighter's were uncomfortable with the sudden shift in house dynamics but would do what they had to to defend their Lieutenant's.

"Hey!"

Both officers looked around to see the chief pounding away at a punching bag.

"I thought you all should know I am gonna fight that Dick Olmstead who slept with my wife in Saturday's drop-a-cop."

Although his words were casual enough his tone was anything but and both Lieutenant's waited for the berating they were bound to get.

Sure enough Boden threw another set of punches at the bag before leaving it swinging to address his officers directly. "Or we could all just throw the gloves on right now, beat the hell out of each other. Maybe when the mayor comes on Saturday that's what he sees." He gestured to their close proximity with a glove. "Truck versus squad. It's as old as the CFD, so deal with it." The chief glanced around at the gathered firefighter's to talk to them all. "We all lost Darden. A month ago, Friday. And that ain't changing. So maybe we need to."

The words hit everyone deep and with the dismissal clear the men slowly dispersed. Casey and Severide stood side by side, refusing to so much as glance at each other. Severide opened his mouth, maybe to apologise or maybe to continue their argument, neither was sure. But before he could speak Casey had already stepped away, turning his back on the other Lieutenant. Severide snapped his mouth shut again at the brush off and he too turned away, the moment lost to their own stubbornness.

The next morning, just before the shift change, Casey retrieved the box labeled 'Darden' and headed out into the cool morning air to wait for Heather. It wasn't more than five minutes when a familiar blue land rover was pulling into the station driveway. He hitched the box under his arm and went to greet the occupants.

"Hey, Heather," he smiled.

The woman, smiled warily and leaned in to kiss his cheek, murmuring her own, "Hey." Casey tried not to dwell on the tired circles under her eyes or the new lines on her face that seemed to have appeared since the last time he'd seen her.

"Hey guys," he called into the back where Heather's two sons, Ben and Griffin were sitting.

"Hi."

"Hey."

"Thanks for meeting me out here. I just can't go in there," Heather started.

Casey nodded understandingly and didn't press the issue. "How are you?" He asked instead.

Heather touched a hand to her mouth and nodded absently before shrugging helplessly. "What do you want me to say?" She said without malice. Her eyes drifted to the box in his hands. "So that's it, huh?" She asked, voice growing cold. "Twelve years at this station and it all fits into a box."

Casey felt suddenly desperate to explain to her how much Andy was missed at firehouse 51. "Heather, there's not a single place I look and don't see him. Bells go off, and I think, 'The truck can't leave yet. Andy's not on it.'"

Neither spoke for a long moment and just stared at each other, mutual pain reflected in their eyes. Then blessedly Heather changed the subject.

"Why don't you and Hallie and I get together? I could use a Margarita or four," she joked weakly.

"Of course. I'll have Hallie call you."

Neither seemed to feel the eyes on them.

Inside the station Severide watched their conversation from the window. He watched on as Casey talked to Heather for a few minutes before rounding her car to deposit a box into her boot. Casey waved her goodbye until the car was out of sight.

The change in demeanour was instantaneous; Casey's arms came up to wrap around himself protectively and his head dropped to his chest and Severide knew he was hurting. Part of him yearned to go to his ex-boyfriend and comfort him, wrap his arms around him and promise that everything would be ok. But that part was small and easily overridden by the larger part of himself who relished the sight of Casey in pain and savagely thought it was good that it was him in pain for a change.

Severide pushed away from the window and stalked away scrubbing a hand tiredly over his eyes. He was so sick of being at war with himself.

He'd almost made it to the locker room to collect his bag before leaving, ignoring the pangs of longing the entire way when it suddenly became too much and he doubled back the way he came, convinced that it was time to put his anger behind him. But as he turned he caught sight of Andy's graduation photo on the wall of fallen comrades and the anger he had pushed to the pit of his stomach came bursting right back up again. He wheeled back around and continued on to the locker room thinking miserably, that it was agonising to hate the person you had once loved so much.

He was pulled from his depressing thoughts by the sudden appearance of his room-mate.

"Kelly," she said as way of greeting.

"Yeah?" he asked, his exhaustion weighing on him.

"Come here?" she muttered and indicated the corner they were approaching with a tilt of her head. She waited until the pair of firefighter's passing through had moved on before withdrawing something from her pocket and pressing them into his hand. "Here," she said, accompanied with a long searching look.

He opened his fist to see a vial of strong painkillers and he quickly tucked it into his pocket.

"Thanks," he muttered and walked away, trying not to think about how much it felt like a drug deal every time they did this. Now that he had the painkillers burning a hole in his pocket, the steady ache of his shoulder increased and he headed towards the bathroom.

He ducked into a stall, toiletry kit in hand. He sat on the closed lid of the toilet and flexed and clenched his right hand trying to work away the numbness spreading from his shoulder to his fingertips.

When it was clear that wasn't going to work he gently kneaded the spasming muscle while he popped the lid of the vial Shay had given him. He pulled a needle from his kit, drew the medicine from the vial and rolled up his sleeve, preparing to inject himself right into the source of his pain. The pinch and slide of the needle was barely noticeable anymore after weeks of performing this ritual. But it didn't matter how many times he did this, how many times he felt the relief spread throughout his body, it always managed to feel wrong and dirty.

Kelly had always thought of himself as a pretty honest guy. Often described as too honest, he could be relied on to be upfront with how he felt. Which was why it was so hard to keep this from the most important people in his life. Even Shay didn't know how seriously he was affected by the pain. How sometimes when he was out on a call, he could barely function through the pain. Or even worse, how sometimes the feeling in his arm left him entirely.

He sat on the closed toilet for sometime, slowly tensing and relaxing the muscles in his arm, slowly working the final bursts of pain the limb. It was only the bang of the door against the wall that had Severide jerking from his stupor. He waited a few moments before flushing the unused toilet and leaving the stall, only to find Casey at the sinks. Their eyes met for a fraction of a second before Casey looked down at his hands again.

Severide approached the sinks casually, trying not to seem bothered at all by the sight of Casey. The tension between them was unbearable and practically tangible. It was clear that both were thinking of their argument the afternoon before but neither seemed willing to address it, that being a small miracle itself. Severide only allowed himself a flicker of a glance as he moved to leave; Casey was washing his hands with methodical precision, obviously ignoring him. Severide was glad to be finished in there and left as quickly as he could while still seeming casual, hoping to put as much distance as he could between them.

Finally getting to leave the station was a strange relief. Casey loved his job as much as the next man and considered the people there his second family. But there was something about getting to go home and forgetting about the horrors he faced daily, if just for a few hours.

He forced himself to stop however at the sight of Dawson, who looked a little lost as she leaned against the door of her car, staring into space.

"You okay, Dawson?"

She jerked upright as though she hadn't noticed him approaching until he'd spoken and offered a tired smile. "Yeah, yeah. It's, just uh some days, you know? Don't worry about it," she added when she saw his worried expression. "Uh, listen, some of us are going over to Buzzard's tomorrow night if you and Hallie wanted to come."

Casey shifted uncomfortably. "We would, but we go a date night thing. Just us. But maybe we'll try," he added when he saw her downcast expression.

"Yeah don't worry about it. That sounds nice."

Casey smiled thinly and said goodbye, ready more than ever to get back to the comfort of his own home. The ride back to his place was relatively short; barely over ten minutes long. It's closeness to the station was a big reason why he'd bought the quaint little town-house in need of a bit of fixing up.

He dumped his stuff just inside the door and mentally set a reminder to clean up around the place tomorrow. He was just helping himself to some cold pizza from the fridge when someone knocked on his door. He opened it, piece still in hand and his fiancee's face smiled back at him.

"Hey."

Her eyes found the pizza in his hand and her smile widened further. "Pizza? Again? You can't live like that," she said and held up a bottle of juice and a brown paper bag, presumably filled with food.

He just smiled and stepped back, silently asking her to come in.

"I've only got a few minutes before my shift," she told him as he took the food from her and turned away to deposit it in the kitchen. Casey had noticed the scrubs she wore and the brightness of her eyes had told him that she was going not coming.

He turned back around to see her pulling the engagement ring from her finger. Meeting his eyes, she dropped the ring apologetically onto the dining table.

"I- I can't still wear this if I'm not still engaged to you. Am I?"

Casey sighed and dropped into the nearest chair. He'd been afraid that this had been coming but he still wasn't ready to deal with it. A night together a month ago the night of Darden's funeral had turned into a weekend together, which turned into a week and pretty soon they'd dropped back into the relationship they'd been in so many years ago. Which was why he'd proposed after just three weeks back together, something that he'd been planning to do before they'd broken up the first time. But that whirlwind romance that had been so exciting as it'd happened had caught up with them painfully fast and Matt had moved back to his house to allow some distance between them and all the arguments.

"You tell anyone you moved out?" Hallie asked softly.

"No. You?"

"No."

"So what are we doing?" Casey asked. "It's clear we're both miserable apart, so why are we doing it?"

"I'd marry you tomorrow, Matt. If I thought that it was what you wanted."

Casey kept his face perfectly blank. "I don't know what you're talking about."

Hallie smiled sadly, "I think you do. I think you know exactly what I'm talking about but you don't want to face it. Call me when you've worked it out." With one last small smile, Hallie stood from her own chair and left, the door clicking shut behind her.

Casey buried his face in his hands. Everything was such a mess.