Thank you for the amazing reviews! Yes, I love Clarke too. Okay, don't be too mad at this update - hahaha! As old Will said, "The course of true love never did run smooth." How boring if it was smooth sailing, so I hope you enjoy. Also, try not to kill Erin with your thoughts.

Physical therapy is a bitch, a mean, cold hearted, take no prisoners bitch. Kelly knew this the first day he took that first step to recovery. This day will be the hardest, he told himself. First one always is. Turns out the second day wasn't any better.

On that next day, he let himself take a good look at what he was left with. Been in here over a damn month and I haven't even touched the thing, let alone really look at it.

The physical therapist took him through his light exercises, encouraging in an irritating way, and left. He figured he'd have about thirty minutes before a nurse, Monty, someone else would come shuffling in. Never a moment alone in here.

He drew back the thin sheet and was met with the hospital gown. He was still in a damn "gown." Yeah, he'd need to get Shay to bring some clothes. Kelly wished Clarke hadn't taken back the T-shirt and sweats he'd shoved him into the day he pretty much saved his life.

Pulling back on the gown, he saw something that couldn't be a part of him. Looked more like one of those dead branches you trim away in winter. Those good for nothing, shriveled, gray, branches that can be used for what? Firewood.

Monty's words echoed in his brain, "Trust me. It'll come back around. It's atrophied right now, but it'll bounce back."

Kelly never looked at it. Until now.

Didn't look like it was gonna be bouncing anywhere anytime soon.

Push bad thoughts away, he told himself. He began touching it from the upper thigh down, surprised at how much it hurt, still. Own damn fault, he told himself letting some of the negativity seep in.

That was almost two weeks ago, and he'd made so much progress. He'd put his head down and done the work. Just like when he first set out to be a firefighter, when he set his sights on squad.

"No matter what, you gotta push through. When you think you can't take any more, you do more. When you think you're done, you go on." The words of his new friend, Manny Zamora, popped into his brain.

Manuel Zamora, a lieutenant in the Marines, one of Clarke's best friends had taken a liking to Kelly when he visited the rec center. He saw the look in Severide's eyes and recognized something in it. His own look when both his legs were blown off four years prior in Afghanistan. It had take him a good year to deal. Now, he would pay it forward and help this guy deal.

He came by whenever Clarke stopped to visit and often stayed after the fireman left. He ended up telling his story, one of losing everything before getting so much back.

When he returned to the States, devastatingly injured, his wife had left him, his mom was sick with what would turn out to be cancer, and physically, he was half the man he'd been when he left.

His redemption story read like something in a cheesy Lifetime movie. But it was all true. The guy was now the picture of health, happy, beautiful wife, and adorable baby girl. You couldn't even tell two prosthetics were beneath the jeans he always wore when he visited Kelly.

Severide promised himself he wouldn't bitch and moan ever again. He had both legs...still attached. Monty again said his injured one would get to working, soon.

The anti-bitching vow lasted about an hour. Trying to get to the bathroom wasn't easy and there was no way he was makin' life simpler by wheeling around in that chair.

"Dammit!" he yelled to an empty room as he grabbed into the wall to stop from falling. He wasn't sure if he should fling himself forward toward the bathroom or crawl back to the bed and call for a nurse. He decided to just hang out there for a second.

Erin Lindsay walked in the room nervously...been so long. Two weeks since she'd seen Kelly and so much had happened. They'd caught and killed a terrorist, Jay was hurt in the shoot out, Voight was being investigated by IA, again, and Antonio was pissed at her for some reason.

She almost dropped to the floor seeing Kelly up, trying to grip the wall, looking twenty times better than the last time she'd seen him.

"Kelly, what're you doing? Which way?" she asked putting his arm around her.

"Thanks. The bathroom," he said hoping he could at least pee without someone's help. Finishing quickly, he put the lid to the seat down and plopped on it. He was catching his breath and avoiding going out there to face his girlfriend. Ex girlfriend?

How long had it been? He couldn't remember the last time he'd seen her.

Kelly took a deep breath and headed to the waiting detective. Erin was standing in the middle of the room. She rushed to his side, again draping his arm around her. He made it back to the bed and got himself on it.

"You look so much better, Kelly." Erin looked him up and down noticing the sweats, T-shirt, the color in his face, maybe put on some of the lost weight.

"Yeah, I'm doing better. I was gonna call, but..." Kelly started wishing he could get up and sit right next to Erin.

"No, it's okay. I'm glad you're better. It's been a hell of a two weeks."

So it'd been two weeks since she visited me, he thought. Sounded about right.

"I wanted to get around a little better and surprise you," he continued.

"Well, that would've been a surprise. A big surprise. You didn't talk to me for a month, Kelly."

Silence.

He took a deep breath. "I know, and I'm sorry. I wasn't myself, I was...I was...I don't know, a stupid ass."

Erin didn't touch the last comment.

"Like I said it's been a busy two weeks. We caught the guy, the terrorist. We found him holed up in a storage shed. Shoot out? Does any of this sound familiar? The news?"

Kelly hadn't turned on the news since before his injury. Honestly, he hadn't given one thought to the terrorist. I'm a selfish son-of-a-bitch, he thought shaking his head.

"Well, Jay was shot. He's okay, a clean shot in the shoulder, but I've been helping out..."

"You've been taking care of Jay?" asked Kelly squinting his eyes, knowing he just heard that wrong.

"Not taking care of him. Helping out really. You know his parents moved to Florida, so he's got no one..."

"Staying at his place? That kind of helping out?"

"Just for a couple of days. He can get around now on his own..."

"Thank God, he can get around now! I'll be able to sleep so much better tonight. Thanks for the update!"

"You are mad at ME? ME? This is incredible!" Erin was standing now towering over Kelly.

He hated that damn bed more than ever. He felt like a zoo animal with everyone always gathered around it, looking in at him, watching his every move. He tried to push himself up a little.

"I knew there was somethin' between you two. I knew it. And now you're playin' house with him?"

"Oh my God, you are out of your mind! I think that house landed on your head! You haven't spoken to me in a month! YOU shut me out. Remember?" Erin was screaming in Kelly's face, seriously thinking about slapping it.

Shay could hear yelling all the way down the hall. She picked up the pace praying silently. Crap. Please be okay, Kelly...

A group of three nurses was gathered outside Kelly's room, listening, contemplating going in. She pushed past them.

"What the hell is going on? I can hear you down the hall!"

"Apparently, Kelly's doing better. Did you know that? Of course YOU know that because you know everything about Kelly. Ugh! He's impossible!" Erin's voice cracked on "impossible" and she knew she was running out of time.

No way in hell this asshole is going to see me cry. I am not giving him the satisfaction... She ran out of the room past the gawking nurses, to the elevator, pushing "Ground" three times furiously. Click, click, click.

When the door finally shut, she let herself go. Dropping to the floor, face in her hands, Erin felt the pressures of the month boil over. Sobs ripped from her chest and she let out an actual scream before the elevator dropped to its destination. She scurried up and out leaving a sea of onlookers to wonder what was going on.

The last thing Kelly wanted was all of this. The conversation did not go as planned. Well, there'd been no plan. He didn't envision bringing Erin to tears. If she'd cried in his room, he would've lost it himself. Instead, he was losing it in another way.

He cursed out their fight, re-telling all that he remembered to Shay, leg hurting like hell.

"She hasn't been comin' around because she's been playin' nursemaid to JAY!"

"Kel, calm down. Please!"

"I am so pissed! I just wanna hit something! Anything!"

Shay had both hands on her best friend, pushing against him, making him stay down. The nurses joined her, one giving him a light sedative.

"Sssshhhh," she whispered, smoothing his hair back, stroking his forehead.

Kelly felt like he was in a light fog, the drug didn't knock him out...it was just enough to take the edge off.

"You know she hasn't come in two weeks?" he asked.

"Yes."

"Why?" he knew the answer, the authentic answer. He needed someone else to say it.

"Kelly."

Shay didn't want to utter one word. She didn't want to tell him the truth. She wished the last month away, but it wouldn't disappear.

"I love you. You know that?"

He nodded.

"Kelly, you pushed her away. You wouldn't talk to her. She was here every day at first. Then every few days. Then... less."

The nurses were gathered around acting busy, checking readings, all in an effort to hear what would come next. This was more drama than their favorite shows.

"I pushed you away too, but you always came back."

Shay had no answer.

"I wouldn't have left her." Kelly closed his eyes. "Not for one minute."

One of the nurses let out a little sigh and another wiped away a tear. They'd gone from disliking the ass in 305 to becoming his personal cheering section. They felt as if they'd just met Kelly Severide in the past two weeks. And they liked him.

Shay hadn't stayed the night in quite some time. She did that night. She also texted Casey, asking him to drop by tomorrow. Another text to Clarke. Manny would come too, he said.

There was no way this was going to derail her best friend. No way. She would keep her mouth shut about Erin. She knew he held half the blame, more than half. Funny thing though, when it's my best friend, I'm always taking Kelly's side, always.

Erin sat in her car crying. I'm done, she thought. I don't need this shit. Better to feel nothing, nothing at all. Her phone was vibrating, another call from Jay. He knew she was seeing Severide and wanted to know what happened, make sure she was okay.

"Hey," she answered.

"I'm headin' over," he said hearing it all in her one word.

"Yes," she whispered.

You have your Shay, she thought, picturing Kelly. I have my Jay, my partner. He gets me. He knows what I need. He doesn't infuriate me to no end. He doesn't drive me crazy. He doesn't make me scream at him.

"Yes, come over."

What do you think? There are a lot of Lindstead lovers out there, but I'm Linseride all the way. It's about to hit the fan...even harder. Hang on!