"Quiet down back there, guys! You're going to make Otis crash the truck."

Casey received a chorus of "sorry Captains" in response, each in varying degrees of apologetic. Truck was rowdier than normal today. They had just finished a huge job with Engine, Squad, and 61 where they had completed a huge save. With the help of everyone at 51, they had been able to rescue a whole family, including their two small children, from where they had been trapped in a collapsed basement. It had been an inferno down there, debris making things difficult and the smoke making visibility almost zero, but they had worked together and got the family out. The parents had been burned, but it seemed like they would all be okay.

It had helped that the rain was coming down in sheets, the weather torrential all day. The roads had turned into small rivers and the firehouse was caked in mud from their coming and going on calls making the apparatus floor seem like it was part of the earth instead of concrete. Chief had them trying to maintain some form of cleanliness, but every time one of their trucks came back the floor was covered with more water, mud, and debris. It was this kind of weather and the calls they were getting that got everyone riled up more than usual. Casey was going to have to get his team to run drills indoors to blow off some more steam.

They were the last ones back to the firehouse, except 61 of course who had taken the victims to the hospital. Casey could see that Severide had just jumped out of Squad and was hanging his turnout coat on the door. He smiled as he watched his boyfriend work, his form getting closer as Otis slowly backed onto the apparatus floor. It was these moments that Casey liked to cherish, the ones where Severide didn't know he was looking, focused on doing his job.

The breaks hisses as Otis put the truck in park and his team jumped out, shrugging off their soaked turnout gear and heading toward the kitchen to see what was for lunch. He was about to join them, his door swung open, but he realized he didn't have his radio strapped across his chest. He let out a soft curse, remembering that he had taken it off at the end of the call to inspect it as it had been spitting static, most likely from all the rain. Hopefully it was just between or under the seat. If not, he was going to have to file a report that he had misplaced it and he did not want to have to do that. If the rest of 51 found out that he, a Captain, had lost his radio of all things, he would never hear the end of it.

"Hey Case, you coming?" He heard Severide call from somewhere behind him. Casey had his back turned, facing toward the truck's cabin, as he stepped down so he was on the lower step to get a better angle of his seat space.

"Yeah, just one sec!" He called back and heard Severide grunt in conformation before his boots thunked as he walked away.

Peering down, Casey's chest was flush to the ground as his left leg jutted out, trying to propel himself a bit further to look deeper under the seat. When he didn't see the radio there, he pushed himself back up, intent on looking between the seat and the center console to see if it had dropped in between there. Unfortunately, the universe had other plans. His left leg, still hovering in the air from his stretched position to get a better vantage point, missed the bottom step as he brought it back down to step back into the rig. This caused a chain reaction as his right leg had already been pushing forward, his left hand on the butt of the seat and his right holding the door in a loose grip. With only his right foot on the step, as he pushed, the mud that slicked over all the surfaces lessened the traction of his boot and it slipped. With no time to move his hands in front of him, gravity pulled Casey toward the floor. It happened so fast that he had no time to react as his legs hit the ground, crumpling on impact, and then his chin smashed into the bottom step.

The world erupted in a burst of white hot flame, sizzling zaps of electricity racing across his face, down his jaw and neck and up into his head. His vision whited out as his teeth gnashed, reverberating in his skull. Casey barely felt the rest of the impact on the ground, legs splayed beneath him. He had landed awkwardly, his upper body hovering over the ground, left arm holding him up, as he instinctively grabbed at his chin and mouth with his right hand, holding it there like it was the only thing keeping his face together as waves of deep, pulsating pain blocked out the rest of his senses.

His chest heaved as his body tried to process what had just happened. It took a few gulping breaths before the pain lessened and the Captain realized that his face was spurting blood. It collected in his hand, hot and thick, and ran down his neck in small streams. He moaned as he shifted his jaw slightly and it screamed in protest. It felt tight and the whole bottom of his face was hot, like there was fire smouldering under his skin.

"Case?" A voice called and a rush of cool relief flooded Casey's veins, briefly combating the fire blazing through him. "Hey, where'd you go? I thought you said you'd be right in?" Severide asked and Casey heard the doors to the common room swing shut.

He wanted to shout that he was over here, that he had been an idiot and now he was paying the price, that he wanted Severide to make everything better, but he couldn't move his jaw.

"Seriously, Casey. Where-?" Severide's question cut off as Casey saw him round the back of Engine from the corner of his eye.

"Casey!" Severide rushed over, sliding on his knees as he rushed to get on Casey's level and check him out.

"Jesus, what happened?" The lieutenant's hands were then on his face, probing gently.

Casey flinched on reflex and groaned, knowing that any investigation would hurt more than he already did.

"I know, I know," Severide soothed, "but I need to look at your face, see what's wrong. Can you lower your hand?"

Casey's wild gaze locked with Severide's. He could see the fear that edged Severide's eyes, but the amount of calm that his ice-blue eyes radiated helped slow the Captain's pounding heart. This was his boyfriend, the person he loved more than anyone else. He would help him.

Slowly, Casey removed his hand from his mouth, a fresh spurt of blood following, and placed it in his lap, not knowing what else to do with it. It was coated in blood.

The change in Severide's face was immediate. His features hardened, his eyes crinkling, as he sucked in air through his teeth. "That looks like it hurts, bud," he said gently as he tipped Casey's head back slightly, fingers gently prodding his boyfriend's face. Casey flinched as Severide got close to a particularly sore spot, but didn't pull away, letting Severide finish his exam. His boyfriend's warm fingers started at his temple, applying light pressure as he went down Casey's face. His thumbs pushed his cheekbone next, then his nose, and he nodded when Casey didn't react. Next came the upper lip. It was a bit tender, but was barely noticed over the pain in Casey's bottom lip and jaw. Satisfied with everything so far, Severide's fingers finally moved to where Casey knew the real damage was. His thumbs traced over his jaw, much gentler than he had been with the top portion of the Captain's face. When his thumb brushed over the spot that had impacted the step, Casey couldn't help but jerk back as lightning flashed through his jaw. Severide frowned but didn't let go of Casey's jaw. He prodded it a bit more, ushering apologies each time Casey flinched, and then his fingers were gone.

In the next moment, Severide drew back, pulling his shirt off in one swift motion. Casey's brow furrowed as he watched, not understanding what his boyfriend was doing, but then the short was pressed against his lip and Casey hissed, opening his jaw for the first time since he had hit it. It hurt like hell, his jaw stiff like it had been wired shut for a month, but he was pleased to know that he was able to open and close it.

"How bad?" He croaked softly, barely opening his mouth but winced when the motions pulled at his lip.

"Hey, don't talk," Severide chastised as he pushed the shirt a bit tighter to Casey's face. "The good news is that I don't think your jaw is broken. There's a huge lump and bruise where you smacked it, since I'm assuming you slipped and went face first into the step, am I right?"

Sometimes Casey cursed Severide's ability to read a scene. He nodded slightly.

"You could have a hairline fracture where it impacted so you'll need x-rays. Your lip, on the other hand, is an entirely different problem. You split the bottom one pretty good. I think your tooth dug in as your chin impacted the step."

Casey shut his eyes and sighed through his nose heavily. This was exactly what he needed. A possibly fractured jaw and a badly split lip.

He opened his eyes to see Severide's face had softened. "How the hell do you get yourself into situations like this, Matty?"

"My luck," he whispered, making sure to keep his jaw as stable as possible.

"Can you keep pressure on this for a sec? I need to go tell Boden what's going on and then I'm driving you to the hospital."

He took the shirt in response, Severide making sure he was good before he stood and jogged out of sight.

The short haired man was only gone for a minute before he was back, still shirtless much to Casey's amusement.

"Boden's going to call in replacements for us and then he's going to drive us to the hospital. I told him you could hold out for a few more minutes," Severide said, a small smile on his face as he knelt before his boyfriend again, taking the shirt and resuming pressure on Casey's lip.

Casey rolled his eyes but was relieved that Severide had made it seem like it wasn't a big deal. The last thing he needed was people rushing to come to his aide. While it hurt like hell, he'd be fine and wanted to keep his idiotic moment as quiet as he could.

"Can you check my teeth?"

Severide raised a brow. "Your lip is split open and still bleeding freely and you're concerned with your teeth?"

Casey just shrugged. He wanted to make sure that none of them had been knocked loose. Severide laughed softly but did as Casey asked. He removed the shirt and then lifted Casey's top gum gently, pushing slightly on his top teeth. After a minute of playing dentist, Severide returned the blood-soaked shirt to Casey's face.

"Teeth look to be intact. You'll live to smile another day."

The doors to the common room swung open and footsteps sounded, more than just Boden. Herrmann, Otis, Cruz, Mouch, and Kidd joined their Chief on the apparatus floor as they came to investigate what was going on.

"Oh man, Captain. What happened?" Cruz asked as his face scrunched in sympathy, similar looks crossing the rest of the 51 team who had followed.

"Yeesh, that looks painful," Herrmann commented, his eyes on the blood all over Casey's front.

Severide took over since Casey couldn't really speak with his injuries and the shirt over his face.

"Casey here took a bit of a tumble. I'll let him tell you exactly how after he gets fixed up."

The group could see how Severide was shielding Casey, his protective nature coming out and they all nodded, knowing not to cross the lieutenant when he was like this.

"I'll back the car out of the garage. Just one sec," Boden said as he walked over to his suv and unlocked it.

While he did that, Severide helped Casey to his feet, steadying him as the Captain's head rushed. They turned to leave when Kidd suddenly spoke up. "Oh wait, I brought this for you," she said, handing Severide a folded up shirt.

His boyfriend took it, sparing a look at Casey to make sure he was still okay, before he pulled it on.

"Thanks."

"No problem."

As they turned, they heard Herrmann say, "You know Captain, there were easier ways to get Severide shirtless while on duty."

Casey glanced at the group and smiled slightly even though it pulled at his lip.

"Although, it's like I always said," he continued, "Severide's the kind of guy to give you the shirt off his back when it's needed."

"Really?" Cruz asked, turning to the Engine lieutenant with his hands raised. "You choose now to bring that back up?"

Herrmann said something in response but Severide was pulling him along toward where Boden was waiting, the back door already open for them.

Leave it to 51 to always find something to argue about, no matter the situation and Casey wouldn't have it any other way.

Hope you enjoyed :)