Hi how are you?
I am really sorry for the delay; it has been more than 20 days! My beta and I had been really busy during those days with exam, finals, assessment…
Besides, in one week I will come back home. Finally, after six months I will be at home again =) but, during at least one or two weeks, I will not be able to write so much because I am going to spend time with my family. But don't worry, during the next week I will try to write more chapters and send them to my beta (af1011) so, he or she could check them and when I received, I will posted them.
I hope that you like this chapter and let me some reviews.
-Thanks to my beta af1011 for check all the errors XD
-M. Louise E: yeah, finally it looks like if everything is better again :D, Thanks for the luck
-Justicerocks: Don't worry, the kiss that everyone is waiting will be soon =). You are right, he shouldn't had shower with cold water^^
-Jscat2: I am glad that you like it the part in which he needs a shower
-Goldistic: I hope that you like how Gabby takes care of him in this chapter.
-Camila: Olá Como você está? Obrigado por seus reviews e suas idéias (sorry, I am not sure if I write it properly). At least, you don't have to wait so much for read what is going to happen. I hope that you like it and If you have any idea send me an e-mail.
-laua: Thanks for your review, I am glad that you like my fic and thanks for the favourite and the follower
-CTFXC-Zoe H: Thanks for your review, I am sorry for the delay
-mimie05: Thanks for the favourite and follower, I hope that you let me review with your opinion
- Vsanson11: thanks for the alert. I hope that you let me review with your opinion
- skicat82: thanks for the follower. I hope that you let me review with your opinion
- sheylly234554: thanks for the favourite and for the follower. I hope that you let me review with your opinion.
Just one more thing before you can read the new chapter, one week ago I write a one-shot namely "I love bring work to home" in this moment my beta is checking it and when I have it I will put again of FF so all of you can read it.
Thanks I hope that you like and let my some reviews!
Namine Redfield
Chapter 9: Nurse Severide
Matt was lying in his bed trembling under the sheets. In the middle of the night, he woke up felling really badly. His throat was irritated and he was sneezing and coughing throughout the rest of the night and he didn't get to sleep much. Tired due to lack of sleep, he got up out of bed but he started to feel dizzy and as a consequent, he started to throw up all the contents of his stomach. Luckily, his sister entered in the room before he fell on the floor and helped him to lie down again in the bed.
"Gabby is in her way," Christine said sitting in the bed near to him. "How are you?" She touched his forehead to check if her still has a fever.
"I'm cold," he whispered weakly.
"I know." She put a cold compress on his forehead. He moaned when he felt the cold cloth on his head. "I know, Matt," she repeated and put an extra blanket around him. She rose off the bed and ran to the front door when she heard someone knocking on the front door. "Thanks for coming," she said when Shay and Dawson entered into the house.
"Where is he?"
"In his room." Gabby sprinted to his room, took a deep breath, and opened the door. He was lying in the bed, cuddling on his side under some blankets. "Hey," she said softly, entering in the bedroom. "You miss me so much you got sick to see me again? You couldn't wait two days?" she asked jokingly. He smiled weakly at the comment and nodded.
"How are you?" Shay asked a couple seconds later.
"I threw up a few times, I'm cold, and Christine said I have fever."
"Ok, let me checked you." She took off the blankets and saw that he was trembling and covered with sweat. "Can you take off your shirt? I want to hear your lungs." He nodded and tried to move but every single move made his muscles ache in pain. Looking like he was having trouble, Gabby helped him take off his shirt.
"Where is the thermometer?" Gabby asked.
"Here," and she gave it to her.
"Open your mouth, Matt." He did what she ordered and she put the small thermometer in his mouth under his tongue. "How are his lungs?"
"Clean," Shay said. "His temperature?"
"103," Gabby said taking out the thermometer. "How high of a fever did he have when you called us?"
"101," Christine said worriedly. "His fever is rising fast."
"What do you think, Shay?" Gabby asked looking him. His eyes were closed and he was trembling.
"What about a cold shower? Christine, start to run the water. Casey, we need you to get up, you have to shower."
"No, please," he begged. "I don't want to take a shower."
"Come on, Casey." Gabby grabbed one arm and Shay grabbed the other, helping him to get up. Slowly, the three of them walked to the bathroom and they sat him on the toilet. "Matt, we have to take off your sweatpants." She grabbed the hem of his pants and began to pull them off.
"No, please," he repeated, grabbing her hands. "I don't want to take a shower." He didn't mind that they would see him in his boxers, it wasn't the first time; he just didn't want to shower because he was so tired and all he wanted to do was sleep.
"Matthew, take off your pants." his sister ordered.
He rose from the toilet and let Gabby helped him take off his sweatpants; he was only wearing a pair of blue boxers underneath. In that moment, he wasn't sure of what was happening around him, he knew that it had to be something serious because Shay and Dawson were there with him, and his sister was so worried. All he wanted was to feel better and sleep a couple of hours.
"Ok Casey, get in the shower," Shay said after checking the water temperature.
"No." He refused to get in the shower; "I am going to throw up again." Without losing a second, Gabby gave him a paper bag just before he threw up. During that time, Gabby was rubbing his back in small circles in his bare skin.
"You feel better?" she asked when he gave her the paper bag.
"Yeah." They helped him walk to the shower.
"Wait."
He was so pale that Gabby would not be comfortable with him being alone in the shower. She took off her uniform, and wearing only her lingerie, she approached him.
"Dawson, what are you doing?" Shay asked, shocked, holding her right forearm. "Are you crazy?"
"Have you seen him?" she asked, referring to Matt, who could barely maintain his balance. "He's pale and he could collapse or throw up again. I am going to get in with him. I can't see him through the shower's glass and wouldn't be able to do anything," she said finishing their conversation. She was the first one who entered the shower. "Come on, Matt." She helped him get in the shower. He looked like a small child and he moaned as soon as the first drop of water touched his warm skin. He tried to get out but Gabby held him, placing her hands on the back of his neck. "It's only going to be a few minutes, I promise," she whispered in his right ear.
"I want to get out," he said crying.
She hugged him and placed his head on her shoulder. "You can't, Matt." She rubbed his back and shoulder for a few seconds. He was still trembling under her touch.
Outside the shower, Christine was looking at them with tears in her eyes, nevertheless, she was also happy that Gabby was there for her brother. She didn't know what to do; it was the first time she has seem her brother like that, it wasn't the first time he was sick but, he never had such as high fever.
Shay was shocked after seeing how Gabby was able to relax Matt so easily. Spite of what she denied, she knows that they were made for each other; they just need time to figure it out and maybe a little push.
They stayed under the water for a little more. Matt's hands were wrapped around her waist because he couldn't stand up on his own and her hands were at the back of his neck. Their chests were touching as well as their forehead. "Ok, let's get out here." She was the one who got out of the shower and helped him get out. Immediately his sister grabbed a towel and started to dry him off.
"Hallie?" he asked looking at her after she took off the towel on his wet blonde hair. "When did you get here?"
"Matt, it's me Christine." She was shocked. He was having hallucinations because of the fever and he confused her with his dead ex-fiancée.
"Christine?" he asked more confused. "What are you doing here? What happened?"
"Shay, get ready, he is getting worse," Gabby said drying with a towel. "The shower only reduced his fever a little bit."
"On it." Shay grabbed the medical bag and prepared a syringe for the fever. "I am sorry buddy." Matt moaned when he felt Shay injected the liquid into his left buttock. "I am sorry Matt," she repeated. "This will reduce your fever."
"Come on, you have to put on some dry clothes and come back to bed." Christine helped him go back to the bed where he exchanged his wet underwear for new ones and a clean shirt. She dried his wet hair and laid him on the bed.
"Why did you do that?" Shay asked Gabby, who was redressing into her uniform.
"What did you want me to do?" She asked "Leave him alone in the shower? I couldn't do that? He is my friend and I am worried about him." And with that she went to the room. "I will not forgive myself if something happened to him while he was in the shower."
"And you said there is nothing between you two," Shay said to herself. "How is he?" Matt was lying in the bed and the sheets were covering the lower part of his body. She could see his chest rising and falling. He was asleep.
"He is sleeping again," Gabby said smiling "It's possible that the medicine is beginning to take effect on him." She looked at him sleeping under the sheets and caressed his cheek ."In a few hours he will felt better."
"Thanks," Christine said brushing Matt's hair. "I didn't know what to do. It was the first time I have seen him like that."
"It's normal," Shay said. "I mean, his body has been through a lot in the last couple of weeks and he didn't get enough rest and now his body is forcing him to do it."
"Ambulance 61, possible heart attack. 261 Marple St." Dispatch said.
"Copy that. We are on our way." Shay grabbed the medical bag.
"I will call you later." Gabby rose from the bed and followed Shay.
Both women sprinted to the front door at the same time Severide was knocking on the door.
"What are you doing here Kelly?" Shay was still annoyed with him since Gabby told her he had punched Matt. "Do you want to punch him again?" she said sarcastically.
"I am worried about him, alright? Chief let me take the day off to be with him and his sister in case they need something."
"Yeah, whatever," Gabby said. "We have a call"
"Be safe," he told them before they entered in the ambulance. "Hello," he said entering in the house.
"Hi Kelly," Christine said coming down the stairs. "How are you?"
"I am fine, thanks. I am sorry I came without calling. I was in Boden's office when Gabby said that you had called her. I was worried about him." He rolled his eyes. In spite of the fact he was still angry with Matt about his attempt of suicide and everything that had happen between them since that, he was really worried about him. He looked around the ground floor. "How is he doing?"
"He is resting now in his bed thanks to them" she said referring to Dawson and Shay. "They gave him something that hopefully will stop him from throwing up and it's supposed to reduce his fever." She smiled, she knows that Kelly was worried about her brother and being there asking how he was just confirmed it. "Do you want to drink something? Coffee, maybe?"
"Yeah. Coffee will be fine if you don't mind." Both of them went to the kitchen. Christine took the coffee maker and poured a little in a mug before giving it to him.
"Thanks." He took a small sip of it and added, "How is he doing? I mean apart of being sick."
"I think he is a little bit better." She smiled after remembering when she arrived at the house and saw her brother and Gabby sleeping together in the couch. "Yesterday, while Gabby was here with us, he looked like the old Matt. Always smiling and making jokes. I haven't see him like that in a while." Her eyes were filling with tears.
"Hey," Kelly said rubbing her back. "Don't worry. He'll be the old Matt that we knew. He just needs time."
"You are a good friend Kelly."
"I don't think so." He sipped more of his coffee.
"Of course you are. You and Andy Darden have been his best friends. When our father died and our mom went to prison, he changed completely." She paused because she wasn't sure if she should continue with the story. "He was a teenager one second and the next he was an adult. He was completely alone here in Chicago. Our father's family didn't want to take care of him, but our grandmother convinced them to do it. I was at a university on the other side of the country and I couldn't take him. However, when our grandmother died, and he turned 18, they kicked him out of their lives."
"He never told us anything about that."
"He becomes really withdrawn. When I was on summer break and I came back here to Chicago, he wasn't the same. He started to work by doing construction for a living."
"I remember that while we were in the academy, he always sat alone during the lunch break. He used to sit at the end of the same table that Andy, some other guys, and I would eat lunch. Sometime he looked like he wanted to say something, but I guess that he was too shy to ask us if he could eat with us," he said remembering like it was yesterday when he met hos friend for the first time. He was younger than he and Andy. They were 22 while he was only 20.
"It was hard for him."
"I remember that Andy was the one who went over to talk to him. I don't know what he told him but both of them were laughing and since then, every day, he sat with us."
"Later he met Hallie, and thanks to her he started to relate and trust more people." She didn't like Hallie so much because she didn't want to start a family with her brother. However, she still remembers when Matt came to her house and said that he had a girlfriend.
Flashback
Christine was finishing off cleaning the kitchen when someone knocked on the door. She left everything that she was doing and went to see who was knocking.
"Matt," she said, happy to see her brother on the other side of the door. "How are you doing?"
He smiled softly and said, "I'm fine."
"And your arm?" He had suffered a second degree burn on his right forearm during his last call two weeks ago. As a consequence, he was on medical leave for at least a couple more weeks.
"I just had another appointment with my doctor," he said shyly entering in the house. "She said that everything looks fine."
"Your appointment was with that cute doctor? What was her name? Thomas? Yeah, Dr. Thomas," she teased him. She met his doctor when she went to the emergency room to see how he was. She was a new doctor at Lakeshore and she was the same age as him.
"Yeah, that one," he said smiling. "Do you have a sec; I would like to talk with you about something?"
"Yeah, sure." By the tone of his voice, it sounded to be really important. "Tell me whatever you want."
"She and I had a date two days ago." He was blushing.
"No way. Really?" she said surprised. Although he was 21, he never had a girlfriend before. Moreover, his sister even doubted that he had sex with someone before.
"But that it's not all," he said blushing even more.
"There's more?"
"When I went back her to her house, we kissed and now we are a couple," he said smiling.
"That's great," she said hugging him, "I am really happy for you."
"Thanks. And how is your little girl?" He touched her belly.
"How do you know that they're not a boy?"
"I guessed."
End of the flashback
"Kelly, do you mind staying here with him? I have to go for at least an hour. There is a problem with my job," she said after checking her phone and seeing that she had some miss calls and a text from one of his friend.
"I don't know. I am not sure what I'm supposed to do if something happens to him again," he said scared.
"He is sleeping." She grabbed her coat. "If he wakes up, just check and see if he has fever. If he gets worse, call Gabby again. She will know what to do. If y'all get hungry, there is still some soup in the fridge. You just have to heat it up before eat it. Thanks, Kelly. I will come back as soon as I can." She left the house without giving him time to say anything.
"Alright," he said, not really sure what he could do. "I will go to check him." He went upstairs and tried to find the master room which it was difficult since he had never been there before. When he finally opened the correct door, he walked into the room trying to make as little noise as possible. He approached the bed and saw that Matt was still asleep; he took a blanket and tucked him. Matt opened his eyes after feeling the soft touch of the blanket on his body. "Hey." Kelly smiled to him and sat on the bed. "How are you feeling?"
"I'm cold, can you hand me my sweatpants and sweatshirt please?" Severide nodded and went to Matt's wardrobe to get his clothes while he got up out of the bed.
"Can you get dressed on your own?" Matt tried to get dressed by himself but it was still difficult to keep his balance. "Let me help you." Kelly sat him on the bed and helped him with the sweatpants. After that, he helped him with the sweatshirt.
"Thanks," he whispered.
"You're not going to try and go back to sleep?" He could say that Matt looked really tired and that he also looked like he hadn't slept that much last night.
"No, I don't want to sleep, I want to go downstairs." He knows that he needs to rest, however, he was tired of lying in bed and not doing anything. At least if he was downstairs he could watch TV or talk with Severide or his sister.
"Ok." Kelly grabbed him and helped him to get up. "Do you want to watch TV with me? I think there's a game in a couple of hours. The Blackhawks play the Detroit Red wings." Kelly smiled. Both of them love to watch hockey games. There was a point in time when they went with Andy to watch them at the stadium, but it had been a long time since then.
"That's going to be an interesting game," Matt said smiling too. "In the last game they play the Blackhawks lost because of a goal in the last minute."
"Don't remind me," Kelly teased. "They fowled in the last minute but the umpire didn't call it." Slowly, both of them were walking downstairs. It was difficult for Matt to keep his balance, so Kelly had his arm around Matt's waist while Matt's arm was around the neck of his friend. "Take it easy."
"It's not the first time that an umpire has seen something but didn't call it."
"Yeah. We are downstairs now, where do you want to go?"
"I need to use the bathroom."
"Why you didn't say anything before?" Kelly wasn't sure if there was a bathroom on the ground floor of the house. Matt moved to this house two weeks after Andy's death and he was so angry with his friend that he never came to see it when he finished all the construction that he was doing on it.
"I don't know. I didn't want to go before but I want to go now."
"Tell me you have a bathroom on this floor. If not, we will have to climb the stairs."
"Yeah, don't worry. It's that way." He pointed with his head to the right. A few seconds later they arrive at a door. "It's in here." He opened the door and they entered into the small bathroom.
"Are you going to be ok on your own?" he asked before leaving him alone in the bathroom. "If you want I can stay with you." He was worried that he would start to throw up again, or maybe lose his balance and hit his head against the sink.
"Yeah," he nodded smiling. "I will be fine."
"Are you sure? If something happened to you while you were in there Gabby, Shay, and your sister would kill me," he said trying to look scared but in reality he was joking.
"Don't forget my mom," Matt teased.
"Yeah, your mother too." He closed the door and let Matt do what he need to.
Meanwhile, he was looking at the different picture frames Matt put on the walls of the living room. Some of them are of firehouse fifty one. In another one, there was his sister and mother with him. The three of them were smiling at the camera. However, there was one that caught his attention immediately. In the picture there was a young Matthew Casey, with a man that looked like him.
"That was my father," Matt said behind him.
"I figured, you two look alike." He pointed to the picture and said, "You haven't changed a lot since you were a teenager."
"The only difference is my hair." In the picture, his hair was longer, as for the rest of his body, he hadn't changed that much.
"How old were you in that picture?"
"Fifteen," he said, a little nostalgic because a couple weeks after his mother took that picture, his parent divorced and he left with his mom.
"Where do you want to go now?" he said, changing the topic.
"Living room?" he proposed.
"You decide." Slowly, both of them went to the living room and Kelly helped him sit on the couch. "Are you hungry or do you want to drink something?" he asked, remembering that his sister said that there was some soup in the fridge. "Your sister said that there is soup in case you want some."
"Yeah, a little bit of soup would be great, it's my mom receipt and it tastes great. Where is Christine?" He didn't notice until that moment that his sister wasn't here.
"She said that there was an emergency at her job, so she had to leave. That was an hour ago," he said after checking what time it was.
"Did she say when she was coming back?"
"No. I'm sorry, until she comes back, you are under my command." Severide walked into the kitchen to heat up some soup for both of them.
"Nurse Severide," he joked.
"I heard that."
"Are you going to eat with me?" Matt asked, walking into the kitchen.
"Yeah, why not?" Kelly smiled. It was good to be with his friend again, but they need to talk about what happen in the hospital. "Go back to the living room."
"No way. You have already burnt my kitchen and it took me too many hours to fix it."
"Look who's talking, you can't cook anything either." He grabbed one of the kitchen cloths and threw it in his face. "And that was only one time at the firehouse when we were candidates," he said laughing.
"I still think you did that on purpose so Boden wouldn't make you cook again." Both were laughing but Matt started coughing violently.
"Are you ok?" He gave him a glass of water.
"Yeah," he said hoarsely. "Thanks." He took the glass and sipped the water.
"Come on, the soup is ready." He grabbed two plates. "Do you want to eat in the living room?" Matt nodded and both of them went there to eat the delicious soup. There was silence in the living room, only broken by the sound of spoons.
"Do you like it?" Severide nodded smiling.
"It's great. I don't remember when the last time I have eaten homemade soup."
"My mom used to prepare it when my sister, dad, or I were sick." he smiled, remembering how many times he had pretended to be sick so she would cook it for him. She always made him feel special. He was her little boy and he loved that she looked after of him.
"Do you want to watch a movie? The game is at 8. We have a lot of time."
"Yeah." He finished his soup. "I will clean this up," Matt said but Severide was faster than him and took the dirty plates, spoons, and glasses they used for lunch. "Hey," Matt said annoyed.
"You are not going to clean up. You are sick. Go to the couch and rest."
"But you cooked."
"No, I just heated it up," he said, putting the dirty items in the sink and started to clean them. "Come on, go to the living room and find a movie to watch. It will only be a few minutes." Kelly said but Casey didn't move. "Matt, if you don't choose a film now I'll do it, and trust me, If I do it will be a horror movie." He knows Matt is a little wimpy and he isn't a fan of horror movies.
"We can watch a horror movie if you let me cuddle with you during the scary parts," Matt joked and Severide looked at him surprised "What? Girls are not the only ones who can cuddle during a horror movie."
"I can believe it, are you telling me that you cuddled with Hallie while you two watched a horror movie?" As soon as he said her name he regretted it. Matt was shocked. It had only been two weeks since she died and he was still hurting. "I'm sorry, Matt."
"Don't worry, it's ok," he smiled. "I still find it difficult to understand that I am not going to see her again."
"I know what you mean."
"Can I tell you something?"
"Yeah, Sure, Whatever you want." Kelly dried his wet hands. Both went to the living room and sat on the couch.
"Hallie and I had sex the day before she died," he said after a few minutes of silence.
"Whoa," was all Severide could say. "But you two broke up a couple of months ago, after Thanksgiving." He remembered that after the car accident where Matt helped woman in labor on the highway, he and Hallie broke their engagement.
"She went to Molly's when she came back from South America. We had coffee together, some lunch, and I don't know how we finished in her bed."
"I am sorry, buddy." he patted his shoulder.
"The thing is, I guess I should be more depressed but I'm not. I don't know if that makes sense," he said frustrated.
"Of course that makes sense. You two broke up and that night didn't make any feelings for her reappear."
"But I am not sure because she died the next night."
"Casey, look at me." Severide grabbed his head. "You can't live in the past. The past is the past and you have to continue with your life. I know that it's hard because you think that maybe you don't deserve to continue on with your life," Matt had some tears falling down his cheeks, "But it's time that you move on with your life."
"Thanks." Kelly hugged Matt and ruffled his blonde hair.
"Matt?" Severide asked after a few seconds of silence. He felt the weight of his friend on his arm. He looked at him and saw that he was asleep. "It's going to be ok, buddy." He laid him on the couch and tucked him in with a blanket. "It's going to be ok."
Hi again!
I am going to start tonight or tomorrow with the new chapter of "I am not giving up my dream" and "how to save a life" I had finish the next one of "Let her go" and my beta is in this moment checking it.
I hope that you have a great week
See ya!
Namine Redfield