Casey froze in his place. He stared at the couple in the middle of the dancefloor, putting on a show for everyone else. The light in his eyes disappeared and his face turned cold.
"Oh my god", Stella whispered and covered her mouth with her hand.
Kelly's look shifted from the dancefloor to Casey and back again. He was about to get up to support his best friend, when Casey slowly started to walk away from the table towards the exit.
"Hey Casey, wait", Kelly called out.
Casey turned around again. The look in his eyes almost broke Kelly's heart.
"It's better if I leave now. Congratulations you two and enjoy your party. I'll see you around."
Then he left.
While Kelly sat back down and tried to process what had happened, the rest of the guests were cheering loudly for Brett and Grainger, who were moving like no one else was watching.
"Does this really happen?", Stella asked, half laughing.
"I guess so, yeah."
Kelly didn't really know what to say. His mind was still processing everything. He remembered the last time he'd seen this look in Casey's eyes. That was when Casey had told him that Dawson had left for Puerto Rico. Kelly had felt awful. He'd just decided to be with Stella, and he'd been the happiest person alive in that moment when his friend came over to talk about Dawson's departure.
"Do you want to follow him?"
Stella's voice brought him back to the present.
"No, I think he wants to be alone right now. Besides, I can't leave my fiancée on our engagement party."
He kissed her and smiled slightly.
"Do you think he heads home?"
"Don't know. I hope so. I'll check on him when we're home."
She nodded and drew her eyes back to the dancefloor, since the music had been stopped a second ago. Then, she spotted Cindy over at the juke box. After a few moments, the song Say you won't let go from James Arthur rang out over the loudspeakers.
"Now, everyone grabs someone and joins me and Christopher on the dancefloor please!", Cindy shouted against the noise.
Stella laughed. Kelly smiled at Cindy, who dragged her husband out onto the dancefloor. They started moving slowly to the rhythm.
"Come on Lieutenant! Get your girl out there with us", Cruz said, and he and Chloe joined Herrmann and Cindy on the dancefloor.
"Shall we, Misses Severide?", Kelly asked bluntly.
"Sure", Stella answered with a bright smile and took his hand.
Kelly spun her around in his arms when they stood next to Cruz and Chloe. She gasped in surprise and buried her face in his shoulder. He placed his hands on her waist and drew her closer. She put her arms around his neck and joined his movements.
"Hey, you can't call me Misses Severide, we're not married yet", she whispered in his ear.
"I know, but I wanted to know how it sounds."
His mischievous smile made her knees go weak. She just stared at him and tried to figure out when this man had changed so much.
"What? Don't you want to take my name?"
She saw angst flickering in his eyes.
"Of course, but I don't know how that'll work within the CFD. You know, when we're both called Severide, could be complicated during calls."
"I'm sure we'll find a way. I thought you don't like how it sounds."
He seemed relieved that the work stuff was her only concern.
"Try again then", she said.
"What?"
"Say my name. Well, my future name."
She smiled encouragingly.
"Stella Severide."
She nodded and smiled at him.
"I love it."
"I love you", he said and kissed her.
She smiled against his lips and felt her heart exploding with love. He definitely owned her heart.
Then, the song was over, and they joined the others for the applause.
The first guests, after Casey of course, left around one a.m.
Kelly and Stella said goodbye to Cruz and Chloe, who had to head home to their son. Natalie and Will also had to leave to check on Owen and the babysitter. Tony wanted to call it a night and offered Capp a ride home.
The next round of departures was about one and a half hours later. Most of the guests left then. Almost the whole Intelligence crew, everyone from Med and some from 51 said goodbye and left Molly's in a good fit of laughter.
The only ones remaining were Kelly and Stella, Herrmann and Cindy, Boden and Donna as well as Gallo, Ritter, Voight and Kevin.
"Alright, I think that's it for tonight", Kelly stated and got up from his chair.
All faces turned to him.
"I want to say a massive thanks to Herrmann and Cindy, who've prepared all of this", he continued and smiled at them, "I don't know what I would've done without you two. That's why I want to stay here to clean up this mess. You don't have to do anything. Stella and I will manage this."
Stella nodded and rose from her chair.
"No Severide", Herrmann jumped in, smiling appreciatively, "It's okay. You're family, so we put our heart and soul in this. You don't owe us anything."
Kelly cocked his head.
"Come on Herrmann. It's our way of saying thank you."
"But I want to help as well", Ritter said and started to collect some beer bottles.
"Alright, everyone who wants to help is invited to stay, but no one minds if you leave. We're very thankful that you spent this special night with us and we don't want to hold you back. Go and enjoy a good amount of sleep before next shift."
Boden and Donna looked at each other.
"Is it really okay, if we leave? We'd like to take over from the babysitter and…"
"It's okay Chief", Kelly interrupted quickly, "go and thank your babysitter for keeping an eye on Terence."
Donna and Boden left.
Voight called it a night as well and Cindy left to check on Lee Henry who was at home, alone with all his brothers and sisters.
The rest started with cleaning.
"Oh god, I think I'll sleep for the next twenty years", Stella laughed, stumbling into the apartment at about five a.m.
"I get why", Kelly replied, chuckling while he tried to hold her steady.
"Shh, we should be quiet", Stella said and put her finger in front of her mouth.
While they'd been cleaning Molly's, they had to empty some drinks. Herrmann wanted to throw them away, but Stella and Gallo prevented that by just drinking them one after the other. Now, she was really drunk, almost like all these years ago when she'd been transferred to PR. Kelly remembered that night very well. She'd kissed him right after they'd got home without remembering it the next morning. Now, years later, he brought her home not only as a friend but as her fiancé.
How much can change within a few years, he asked himself.
"Come on, I want to go to our room", she lulled seductively and almost tripped over her own feet.
"Hey easy there, alright? Watch your step."
He tightened his grip around her waist.
"Wow, you're so strong. I like strong men."
He almost laughed out loud.
"Well, this strong man is going to get you to your room. You need to sleep off your high."
He entered their room and slowly opened her dress. He put a kiss on her shoulder and quickly jumped out of her reach when she tried to undress him as well. He walked over to her drawer and pulled out her favorite leggings. Then he turned to his own drawer and took one of his shirts, that he knew she loved. He unclasped her bra and slipped his shirt over her head. Now, she was too tired to fight back and obeyed every order that he gave her.
Soon, she was dressed for bed and he helped her to climb under the covers.
"I'll be there in a moment, don't wait for me. Sweet dreams babe", he whispered and kissed her forehead.
While he changed out of his clothes, he heard her breathing becoming deeper and slower.
He slipped out of their room and walked over to Casey's room.
He knocked on the door and waited.
"Yes?"
The call wasn't loud, but Kelly heard it. He opened the door and found Casey lying in his bed, studying something on his phone.
"Hey, I wanted to check on you. Are you good?"
"Sure."
Kelly cocked his eyebrows at his best friend. Casey closed his eyes for a moment, knowing fully well that he'd been busted. Kelly closed the door and took a seat on Casey's bed, waiting for him to start talking.
A/N: That's it for the second chapter. I hope you still like the story and I wanted to say thank you to everyone who wrote a review on the first one! Thanks guys, these reviews really made my day when I read them😊!
I'm sorry to leave you on these cliffhangers, but I must admit that I really love some good old cliffhangers at the end of my chapters, so you'll have to get used to it.
As always, reviews are very appreciated and I hope you're all healthy and good!
~ D.