Chapter 8

Casey waited to get buzzed in to Severide's apartment. He'd been at the houses all day…and things were moving along right on schedule. He was really pleased with himself, because it looked like his goal of getting the families back in their homes by Christmas was actually gonna happen.

He had decided to upgrade Alyssa's kitchen as a gift to the family…all the family…the firehouse included. Now she had two ovens along the wall…and one was a convection oven. She had a double wide refrigerator/freezer and a gooseneck faucet beside the five burner stove. The countertops were polished granite and he'd nearly doubled her cabinet space.

His mouth absolutely watered when he imagined all the dinners that were hopefully gonna come out of that kitchen.

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As he rounded the corner on his way up to the second floor he breathed in deeply…taking in the heavenly smells permeating the stairway as he knocked on the door to the apartment.

"C'mon in!" he heard Severide call out. "It's open!"

Casey let himself in and stopped in his tracks.

The twins' toy box had blown up in the living room…nothing unusual about that. When you had twenty-some "aunts" and "uncles" doting on you practically 24/7 you tended to get a little spoiled. The men and women of Station 51 kept Target and Toys R Us as well as Barnes and Noble and a few other places running in the black.

What surprised him was the boys' new playmate…Casey shot Kelly a strange look at the sight of Morgan Craddock sitting on the floor…and Andy and Jesse showing "Hollywood" how to use a toy Halligan.

Kelly looked up from the script he was reading…and grinned at his buddy. Casey still looked confused and cast a sideways glance at the door…checking the apartment number "2". That was right…so he'd obviously stepped into some alternate universe if Morgan was actually a welcome guest at the Severide home.

"What's goin' on here?" Casey asked.

The twins looked up and jumped to their feet…hopping through the scattered toys to hug their godfather.

"Uncle Matt!" Andy said. "We're teaching Morgan how to be a real firefighter!"

Jesse nodded.

Casey grinned…and stifled a chuckle.

"Really? And how's that workin' out?"

He looked down at Craddock…who was slowly getting to his feet.

The actor looked a little shell-shocked.

"It's goin' pretty good…" he said cautiously. "I just hope I can remember everything they're tryin' to beat into my head…"

Andy and Jesse giggled.

"We only hit you once!" Andy said.

"And it was a accident…" Jesse added.

Casey looked confused.

And Kelly cleared it up.

"Pike pole…" he said, nodding in the direction of the little plastic pike pole lying on the ground.

"Ah…" Casey nodded.

Every firefighter since the dawn of time had probably gotten knocked upside the head with that particular piece of equipment.

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Alyssa came out of the kitchen…and she hugged Casey.

"Just in time…" she told him.

"I've got my own internal clock…" he replied, as he patted his stomach.

Alyssa just rolled her eyes and laughed.

"So it's true? The way to a man's heart is through his stomach?"

"Works for me." He said.

She laughed again…then she turned to the rest of the men in her living room.

"Okay…lets 'get cleaned up…put your toys away…wash your hands…and we need to get the table set."

"Can Morgan stay?" Jesse asked.

"Of course…" Alyssa said. "Let's get moving. Dinner's ready to go on the table."

The boys and Morgan started cleaning up the toys.

Kelly was still looking over the script.

"Kelly?" she asked.

He looked up.

"I'm not supposed to lift anything…remember?" he said, indicating to his bandaged arm.

Alyssa rolled her eyes again.

"I love how you always play that card when it's time to set or clear the table."

She turned and headed back to the kitchen.

"Don't forget about when it's time to put the dishes away!" he called after her.

"Just you wait, Severide." She called back. "Just you wait. I'm working on a "Honey Do List" for the day those stitches come out."

The last of the toys in the toy box, Casey ushered the twins into the bathroom.

"Is Daddy in trouble?" Jesse asked.

" Oh yeah...Big time…" Casey answered.

"Are you gonna help him?" Andy said.

"Not a chance…he's on his own." Casey replied.

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Kelly chuckled to himself as he set the script aside.

"C'mon, Hollywood." He said. "Chow time."

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They had chicken parmesan, tossed salad and garlic bread…and between two real firefighters, one "Hollywood" firefighter and two "Junior Candidates" there wasn't a crumb left.

Morgan leaned back in his chair and rubbed his stomach. He couldn't move…he couldn't think about moving.

"Hope you left room for dessert…" Alyssa said as she stood to clear the table.

Kelly gave the boys a look…and they stood up to help their mom.

"There's more?" Craddock asked in disbelief.

"Nobody ever leaves the Severide house with an empty stomach." Casey said as he got up to help as well. "I think it may be one of the Ten Commandments."

"No it's not, Uncle Matt!" Andy said.

"Maybe it's number eleven then…"

"How can it be eleven when there's only ten?" Jesse asked.

"It's a joke, Jess…" Kelly said. "You'll understand when you get older."

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After a dessert of Italian sponge cake Lyssa went to get the boys ready for bed and to read them their stories.

The men sat at the table helping themselves to seconds on the cake…thirds in Casey's case.

"So, I'm really curious, Lieutenant…" Morgan said. "What do you think of the script."

"It's good…" Kelly said. "You should let Casey take a look too…"

"Absolutely…" Morgan said immediately.

"I never read a TV script before…" Kelly said.

"There's another actor coming in next shift." Casey said. "Someone named Dylan McEwan."

"He's gonna play Lieutenant Perry." Morgan told them. "He's kind of like the counterpart to my character. We've got kind of a one-up thing going on…"

"Two lieutenants trying to one-up each other?" Casey asked in mock surprise. "Where'd they ever get that idea?"

There was good natured chuckling around the table.

"We've had a couple pissing contests over the years…" Kelly said.

"More like a couple thousand…" Casey corrected.

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After the twins came out in their pj's Casey lifted his godson's into his arms.

"I gotta take off, guys." He said. "Some of us gotta work tomorrow."

He hugged the boys and set them back down. Then he hugged Alyssa.

"Thanks for dinner…again."

She hugged him back.

"Beef stew next time…bring your appetite." She told him.

"I'll be here with bells on." He promised.

Morgan stood up too.

"I'm gonna go too." He said. "Thank you so much for everything."

He held up his hand to Andy to "high five"…then Jesse.

"You guys are such awesome teachers…" he told them.

"There's more!" Andy said.

"Yeah…" Jesse said. "We didn't even show you our firefighter books yet!"

"Save something for next time…okay guys?" Kelly told them. "Morgan'll be back…especially now that he's had your mom's cooking."

Kelly looked at Craddock…

"Why don't you meet me at the firehouse at ten…there's some stuff there I can show you since I can't go out on calls."

"That'd be great, Lieutenant."

"Just plain Severide's fine." Kelly told him. "You don't gotta be so formal."