Chapter 4

Craddock walked into the firehouse armed with the printouts of all the articles he'd uncovered and a list of things he wanted to ask Lieutenant Severide.

But when he got to Station 51 Kelly was just leaving Chief Boden's office…and hustling out the door. He didn't even say hello…good-bye…stay out of the way.

Craddock cursed under his breath.

He already had a call in to the producers of the show to tell them he wanted to go a slightly different direction with his character.

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Kelly had barely had time to get a cup of coffee after roll call when his phone went off.

He frowned when he didn't recognize the number…it was local…but it wasn't anyone he knew.

Those kind of calls usually meant some kind of trouble.

"Severide…"

He heard some heavy breathing on the other end…

"Kelly?"

"Mr. Garibaldi?" he asked as he recognized the raspy voice.

"Yeah…" the old man wheezed.

Kelly couldn't figure why Mr. Garibaldi would be calling him…it had never happened…not once in the seven plus years he'd lived next door. If they needed something, usually it was Mrs. Garibaldi who called…and always on the land line.

"Can you come down here?" Mr. Garibaldi's voice crackled. "I need to talk to you. It's real important."

Mr. Garibaldi was in a nursing home…where he'd been living since his house was gutted by a fire last Christmas. When he wasn't in the hospital.

"I'm on shift right now." Kelly said.

"It's important…" the old man said again.

It was hard for him to talk…and even over the phone Kelly could hear the hiss of the oxygen mask.

"Yeah…let me go talk to Chief." Kelly told him. "I'll be there as soon as I can."

"Thank- you." Mr. Garibaldi sighed in relief.

"Okay…be there soon."

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He walked down the hall to Mr. Garibaldi's room. He hated this place…it was so depressing. But then again, all nursing homes probably were. And the smell…it was just old… and waiting to die.

Kelly shuddered.

Please God…he hoped he'd never be in a place like this.

He rapped on the door and walked into Mr. Garibaldi's room.

The old man looked worse…it had been a few weeks since Kelly had seen him…not since the last time he was in the hospital for pneumonia.

He was getting oxygen through a nasal cannula…nothing new there…Mr. Garibaldi had been dependent on the O2 tank since Kelly met him. But he had lost more weight…he probably weighted less than a hundred pounds.

"Hey, Mr. Garibaldi…I'm here."

The old man opened his eyes slowly…and a tired smile crossed his face.

"Kelly. Pull up a chair…" he wheezed.

Kelly did as he was asked.

"What's goin' on? What'd you need to talk to me about?"

Mr. Garibaldi seemed to be gathering his strength.

"I decided to go into a hospice program." He said. "I'm gonna stop most of my medicines…I'm not gonna go to the hospital any more…no more tests, no more treatments…no more stickin' me like a damn pin cushion twenty times a day…they're just gonna do what they have to to keep me comfortable."

Kelly's eyes went wide.

"Did something happen?" he asked. "To make you decide this?"

"I'm tired, Kelly…I'm ninety-seven…I miss my Gloria." He said. "It's time…it's just time."

"What'd your daughters say?"

Mr. Garibaldi took a few breaths…and coughed.

"They're against it…but they're so damn far away. And they ain't no spring chickens themselves…"

Kelly didn't know what to say…it was a lot to take in. On the one hand, he could see Mr. Garibaldi's point. To be old and sick like he was…and to lose your wife of sixty-seven years…

But on the other, Kelly cared for the old man…and he didn't want to think about him being gone.

"So what do you need from me?" he asked…his voice sounding very far away.

"I'm gonna sign the papers on Monday…" Mr. Garibaldi told him. "And before I do…I wanna see Andy and Jesse one last time. I want 'em to remember me like they always known me…before I get much worse. Can you and Lyssa bring 'em? Please?"

Kelly let his breath out. He hadn't brought the boys down here…he'd brought the cards and pictures they made…and he brought Mr. Garibaldi photographs every time he came. But he didn't know how the boys would handle a place like this.

But this was the old man's wish…he specifically wanted to see the twins.

Kelly knew he had to make it happen.

"I'll talk to Lyssa…we'll bring the boys on Sunday." He said.

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Back at the firehouse, Craddock was getting impatient. The men had been out on one call since Lieutenant Severide had rushed off to wherever he'd gone…and he was waiting to talk to him.

He sat down at the Squad table.

Capp was reading the Trib…and Hadley was playing some game on his phone.

"Do we have any idea when the Lieutenant's comin' back?" he asked.

Capp gave him a dirty look over the top of his paper.

"Prob'ly soon…" Hadley said, not looking up from his game.

"Where'd he run off to?" Craddock wondered out loud.

"Somethin' 'bout his old neighbor…" Hadley filled in. "He's pretty close to the old guy."

Craddock remembered the articles he'd read last night.

"Is that the one he saved from the fire? The one he got the commendation for?"

Capp folded up his paper and got up. He left the table without a word.

Lieutenant Severide was gonna blow a gasket when he heard Morgan had been snooping around. And Capp wanted to be far away when it eventually happened…well outside the collapse zone.

Hadley, on the other hand was a blabber-mouth.

"Yeah…how'd you know 'bout that?" he asked.

No way in hell he'd heard it from the Lieutenant.

Morgan shrugged.

"I Googled…"

Hadley chuckled…that was one way to find out about a man who played everything so close to the vest.

"The old man's in some nursing home. And Severide got a call…guess it's important. Maybe the guy croaked."

"What's the story there, anyway? I read about a bunch of fires…and I saw a picture of the Lieutenant on crutches…"

Hadley looked around…making sure Capp and Mills weren't around. They'd both tear him an new one for gossiping like an old woman…

"There was a kid in the neighborhood…he was like The Bad Seed or something. And he set…like half a dozen fires…the first one was to the neighbors' house. The old man and his wife were in there…and Severide and his dad got 'em out before we even got there."

"The article said the Lieutenant wasn't on duty…that he was recovering from a work related injury."

"Yeah…he got hurt 'bout a year ago…he got knocked down some steps…and busted his knee. He was goin' for rehab when this all happened."

"And he still went 'n pulled those people out?"

Hadley shrugged.

"Yeah…that's Severide for ya'. Guy's got balls of solid rock."

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When Kelly got back to the firehouse he went straight to his quarters.

He'd stayed about an hour with Mr. Garibaldi…and now he needed to talk to Alyssa.

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When he was done…he headed back to the common room.

But Craddock cut him off at the pass.

"What'd you want?" Kelly growled.

He was in no mood to be dealing with Hollywood.

"I wanted to talk to you 'bout some stuff I found on line." Morgan said. "How's your neighbor? Is he okay?"

"Who told you 'bout my neighbor?"

"Hadley said that's where you went. Is everything okay?"

Severide was gonna kill Hadley…stupid putz didn't know when to shut his hole.

"That's the guy you saved, isn't it? The one you got that award for?" Craddock went on…without a clue he was treading on thin, thin ice.

"Listen, Craddock…you're here to observe…not to go stickin' your goddamn nose in my business!" Kelly said in a low, threatening voice.

"But this is good stuff! This is the kind of stuff I gotta know about for my character! And I gotta go find it on Google… 'cause you won't give me the time of day!"

Kelly was so angry…he actually saw red. And right in the middle of that red was Morgan Craddock.

"You been here two weeks…and you don't know the first thing about being a firefighter. It's got nothing to do with awards and commendations…or gettin' your name in the paper. If you wanna play this part…and play it right…you better that through your head real fast."

And Severide turned and walked away…before he did something he might regret.

He might regret it…but he doubted it.